Commander Shepard woke up, her head resting on a pillow of hard carapace and leathery skin. It should have been uncomfortable, and it was certainly strange, but any discomfort was overshadowed by a feeling of utter contentment and peace. She supposed that was as good a mindset as any to start what could be her last day in the universe.

She looked up into dark, birdlike eyes and smiled. Garrus returned the look with that turian expression that was very unlike a smile, but conveyed his own happiness and contentment just as easily. Her smile grew into a grin as she sat up and stretched, trying not to think too hard about what was to come. That could start when she left her room. For now, for a few fleeting moments, it was just the two of them.

Garrus got up to get dressed, and then paused to stroke a hand through Shepard's hair, who replied by wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing his forehead to his. She then planted a kiss on his upper mandible and pulled away. The gesture still seemed to bewilder Garrus, but human habits died hard and Shepard knew that he did not mind. Far from it.

They did not speak as they prepared for what was to come. The time for words had been last night, after tentative and awkward and thoroughly enjoyable sex. What they had done, what they had shared, was unlike anything the two of them had experienced before. Thier conversation after had been a long one, and nearly as strange and satisfying as the sex itself. Shepard found herself, not for the first time, extremely glad that she had taken the leap to step up thier relationship.

Finnaly, the moment was almost passed and Garrus, fully dressed, walked over, put a hand to her cheek, and pressed his forehead against hers once more. As an afterthought, he pressed his mouth to her forehead as a vague echo of a human kiss. Shepard beamed. Garrus looked at her tenderly and left.

Before following him down the elevator,Shepared thoroughly checked the condition of her armour and shields.. She would need them more in the upcomming mission more than she ever had in her life. The smallest glitch, she sensed, could be the difference between life and death.

Everything checked, armour donned, Shepard walked toward the elevator. The moratorium on thinking about the mission now lifted, she alowed herself the stray thought that this may be the last time she would see her room,hat her first time with Garrus last night would also be her last.

As she approached the elevator door it opend, and she was startled to find herself face to face with Miranda.

"Shepard," She said frostily, although she was always cold to her now.

"Miranda"

"I saw the turian leave your room just now. Spent the night here, did he?" Her tone was cutting and disgusted.

Shepard froze. The tone, and refusing to use Garrus's name, infuriated her and warned her; this would not end well.

"I don't see how my private life is any business of yours Miranda but yes. He did." Shepard's voice was short and clipped. She didn't miss the disgusted look on the other woman's face, and she felt her anger build.

"I am a Cerberus operative, as well as head of the Lazarus project. It is my business because it is my duty to report any threat to humanity," Miranda replied, anger seeping into her voice, turning her cold tone icy.

"What the hell does who i sleep with have to do with threatening humanity? I'm out to save the Galaxy, just like you!"

Miranda's face twisted into an ugly expression. A detatched part of Shepard noted that it would take an extreme amount of hate and anger indeed, to turn such a lovely face so unnatractive.

"No, Shepard, I'm here to save humanity. I have the best intrests of human beings in my heart, and it is the ONLY race that matters to me. Just like Cerberus. And you Shepard, are only alive because of the Illusive Man and here you are shitting on what he did for you!"

Shepard's tenuous hold on her temper slipped, and she strode up towards the other woman, forcing her to back up against the far wall of the elevator, and slammed her fist into it, right next to the other woman's head. It took almost all of her self control to keep her blow from Miranda's face

"I appreciate the Illusive Man rebuilding me. What i do not appreciate is this xenophobic bullshit that will fracture the unity of the galaxy if unchecked. All races, every sapient being must be unified in order to fight the reapers! You know this, Miranda, it's why you're here, it's why the Illusive Man rebuilt me, and I never made any secret of the fact that I welcome aliens on my team!"

Miranda glared and curled her lip in disgust. "You're nothing but a spineless appeaser of aliens. You'll lie on your back like a bitch dog in heat to please them, and this just proves it. I always thought you were a whore for the aliens. Commander," The title was spat out, an insult on her lips, "But i had never known how literal that was. Until now."

Shepard saw red, and part of her itched to punch this woman, and keep punching her until she shut that xenophobic bitch mouth of hers. Another wanted to shoot her, and she knew she had shot people for less.

But no. This was the eleventh hour, what could be their last moments in the universe. She could not afford to further alienate Miranda, and the rest of her team, by resorting to violence so soon before this last suicide mission. So instead she clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, glaring at Miranda with more fury than she'd felt in a long time.

"You do not want to be my enemy, Lawson. Greater powers than you have fallen as a result."

For a moment, Miranda looked like she might be intimidated enough to take her words back, to decide that perhaps she didn't want to be Shepard's enemy after all. But in the end, it seemed, Her arrogance and faith in her genetically enginieered abilities won out.

"If we return from this insane suicide mission Shepard, I'll take my chances." They glared at each other for a few minutes before Shepard slowly backed out of the elevator, allowing the Cerberus XO her dramatic exit. For a few moments after the door closed, she simply shut her eyes and tried to find calm. The peace and happiness of earlier was gone, and try as she might she could not get it back.

That upset her more than any insult Miranda had thrown at her.