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Turnabout-	By : Spiritwolf71 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 7688 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This story takes place within Bioware's Mass Effect Universe, their creative property. I do not own any of Bioware's stories or characters or locations. The Author recieved no money from this story and is writing it purely for entertainment.

Chapter List
- 18
- 19
- 20
OK, this chapter came out of the blue, was just writing some back ground and next thing I know this popped out. Warning, sappiness included. I know the last chapter just came out but since I didn’t plan for this chapter I’ll just throw it out and let you all decide if it fits. And sorry, no smut, I'm not very good at it.

The screaming seemed to never stop, she had tried to cover her ears with a pillow or plug them with her fingers but the sound always found a way to get through. It would last until she figured she could not take it, then it would be quiet, but it never lasted long.
She had been fourteen when she had her first trip to the hospital and she had been force to stay for almost a week. A broken jaw, three broken ribs and a world of hurt had kept her there. When one had no money to pay, there was no children’s ward. She had been placed in a ward with eleven other women. It was the one in the corner that would wake up screaming and never stop. She figured she would get used to it but she always jumped when it started.
She was the youngest in the wards and the other women all looked like they were ancient. All used up and left to rot. Some of them just as beaten as she was, some much more broke then she was but they all had the same sad story. They were women in a gang’s world. Cayle had learned that lesson the hard way when a group of “the boys” had found her on her own. She still had no idea of how she had ended up in the hospital.
It was in her second day in the ward that she met Alice. A wonderful old girl who was barely thirty, she had looked like she was fifty and getting older every day. Rough looking would be considered an understatement and when the crone had started talking to her Cayle had almost ran away, probably would have if it had not been painful to even walk.
“You’re quiet, like a mouse with no squeak.” The woman said, half her teeth were missing the other half were like little rotten stumps. She took a long drag of her cigarette. Cayle looked up from her bed as the woman came closer. “Still clean and fresh,” she looked her over. “Well almost clean, them men got to you, was bound to happen sometime soon. Not too big in the breast but you have nice hips, men like nice hips.”
Cayle said nothing but pulled her blanket up to her neck.
“You got a fire to you,” the crone went on, “you know, if you have something they need, more than your sex, this won’t happen to you.”
Cayle jumped as the screaming started again, tears threatened to pour out of her eyes.
“Oh now don’t start them water works, you go and learn a skill, a knife or a gun or information, something they need, and you won’t ever come back here.” A dirty hand reached out and patted her on the shoulder. “And if you don’t find a skill well then you’re lucky too, cause it’s the first time that’s the worse and now you have that under your belt.”
It had been the first and last time the gangs had ever used her like that. She was sure the old crone had never really expected her to heed her words, but she had. Cayle really had no skill at anything; she had pretty much live off just stealing food and running from the law.
Once she had escaped the hospital she had begun to train herself, getting into shape, stealing a gun and then finding a place to learn how to use it. Finding ammunition for the pistol had been a little harder but she was talented at breaking and entering and over a small period of time she realized she was talented at shooting as well. Less than six months after her attack she was able to hit a target with a pistol at 400 yards. Eight months after her attack she had broken into a house to steal food and happened upon a M-92 Mantis and enough ammunition to carry her for a long while. It had been the jack pot she had waited for. By the time she had turned fifteen she was taking on contracts for the Bloods. She had never ended up in the hospital again. She worked for the blood until she was seventeen.
To say Admiral David Anderson had influenced Shepard life would the understatement of a lifetime. He had been the one that had found her, brought her out of that life of hell and gave her a reason to go on. She owed everything she had become to him. She had never had a father and he was the closest she had ever got to finding one.
He had found her a place to stay with people who wanted to help her. She had learned how to read and write and some of the other basics one needed to keep themselves out of the slums. When she was eighteen she had joined the marines and the rest was history. She owed everything to Anderson. She had been there when he had died; she had never had a chance to mourn him. Cerberus had taken that from her.
The smell of the lilies tickled her nose as she looked down to them, then beyond. It was a cold stone, laying on a cold and wet ground that looked back up to her with her mentors name on it. For some reason she wanted more. He had saved the universe and all he got was his name, birthday and death day etched into some stone. Liara had assured her that no one had forgot the Admiral, that schools and hospitals had been named after him but it still didn’t feel right.
Cayle reached up and scratched an imaginary itch on her neck then looked up and let the rain fall over her face. She wondered if Anderson was looking down at her now. Would he still be proud of her? She would never know. She could only hope that he was with those that loved him.
“Well, I’m sorry I’m late,” She said finally. She looked up to Liara who was waiting at the car. Shepard had wanted to do this alone, “For quite a few things. I just want you to know though, if it wasn’t for you I just might have ended up Lissa. You were there for me when no one else was and showed me what I could be and for that I owe you everything.” She smiled slightly. “One day, hopefully, I will marry Liara and we will have children and although I don’t think David is an appropriate name for small girls I will make sure they know who you are and what you did for their father. That in more ways than one, you were the true hero cause if it wasn’t for you there would be no me.”
Shepard looked to the lilies she held in the crook of her arm then bent down and placed them in front of the tombstone. She then placed a rock on it. She remained kneeling as she kissed her fingers then held them on the rock. She had never been affectionate with the Admiral, not in the hugging and kissing sort of way, but she did love him like she would have a father.
As she knelt she felt a presence behind her. “He was always very proud of you, Commander.”
Shepard stood and faced the other man she admired, Admiral Hackett, although older looking now was still imposing. She stood to attention and saluted him even though neither of them was in uniform.
“I think I should be the one that salutes you Shepard, none of us would be here if it was not for you. For the record, I’m glad you’re not dead.”
“Me too,” Cayle smiled and looked back over to Liara who was pretending to be surprised the Admiral was here.
“Don’t be too upset with Doctor T’Soni. I think this was a good idea, if you came to me at headquarters we would not be able to just talk. T’Soni said you were going to turn yourself in, I don’t think that’s a good idea but I don’t think I can talk you out of it.”
“No Admiral, it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nobody knows, except a handful of your loyal friends, that you were this blonde Cerberus Assassin. The Alliance has no idea who she is and I am certain they would never suspect it was Commander Shepard. We could bury this Cayle.” Until now they had been walking, as he spoke her name he stopped and turned to her. “No one ever needs to know.”
Cayle was silent for a long time. Liara and Hackett had obviously already gone over this to some degree and no doubt the Asari probably supported what Hackett offered. It was a nice dream but that was all it was. “I couldn’t live with that, Sir.”
“No, I didn’t think so, we were just hoping.”
“I appreciate the gesture but after everything everyone has been through they don’t need a leader that lies to save herself. They either accept what happen or they do not, but the truth needs to be known. I need the truth to be known. It’s hard enough to live knowing what happened. I don’t think I could live with covering it up.”
“I understand Commander and I guess I expected that. It’s who you are and that’s why you’re a hero,” he looked past her to the Asari waiting at the hover car. He was silent for a long while. “If you need this all to come out in the open then I have a suggestion for you.”
“I’m listening.”
“If you go to the Alliance they will hang you out to dry, I suggest, instead, you surrender yourself to the Council.”
“Wouldn’t that be worse?”
“Not at all,” He said crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back slightly. Shepard was already doing the same. “First off, even though Humanity likes to think of you as their hero, the Galaxy has not forgotten what Shepard has done. You might be human but you always treated every race as equals. You brought peace between the Turians and the Krogan as well as the Quarians and the Geth.”
“But it’s the Salarians I really have to worry about.”
“Not really, they go through emotional cycles quite quickly and are logical beings. They were upset the first week or so after the assassination, but things went back to normal. The Dalatrass was not well liked; she turned her back on the allies because you would not bend to her will, which angered everyone as well as her own people. The Quarian and Turian council member will be on your side, the Asari might need a little convincing. Your problem will be the Human representative. She’s a bit of a problem, no military background, a pure politician. She will want to hang you out to dry, thinking it as a good will gesture to the Salarians, which I don’t think, is something they want.”
“The Alliance will hang you, Shepard. They grounded you for the Batarian incident, they will give you a dishonourable discharge for this if you are lucky, possibly jail if you are not. Either way it is not something you deserve. They will think they need to make up for the assassination, and they will do that through crucifying you and not even give it a second thought.”
“What about the device, I know how to get it,” Shepard said. “Couldn’t I use that to my advantage?”
“They would send Williams and we all know you would not let her go in blind,” He paused, “They know that as well.”
Cayle ran her hand through her hair and looked back to Anderson’s grave. “I didn’t ask for this to happen to me, Sir”
“Do you trust that it will never happen again?”
“I am clean, I mean, it could happen to anyone of us. They worked on me for a year before they were able to break me, that programming is gone. Miranda made sure of that. There is as much a risk of me being programmed as there is of anyone being programmed.”
“Well that’s good to know,” Hackett stared at her as she looked to the ground, “You’re a hero Shepard, don’t ever think different. None of us would even be here right now if not for you.”
“I sometimes get the impression that being a hero doesn’t mean much, Admiral. Particularly when your own people want you strung up. I am starting to wonder if it was better that I was a dead hero.”
“You know that’s not true, Commander. You will always be there for those that can’t be. You will stand on a wall holding a gun so that others can sleep well at night. It’s what you do and it’s what you do better than anyone. This will all work out, you just need to change course and go to the Council, not the Alliance. I think what you find there just may surprise you.”
“What about you Admiral, do you trust me?” Shepard looked into his eyes. He never faltered.
“With my life Commander, with my life,” they looked at each other for a very long time. Shepard finally gave him a little nod and turned and headed back to the hover car. With each step she rolled over the information and advises the Admiral had given her and with each step she felt more confident that things just might turn out. By the time she reached Liara she felt much better.
“Wow, Admiral Hackett,” Liara said innocently, “Must have been weird running into him.”
“Yeah kind of odd we would run into each other like that,” Shepard raised a brow as she got into the hover car, “Cause a graveyard is such a busy meeting place.”
Liara continued to feign her innocents, “What did he say?”
Shepard looked out the back window to watch the aging Admiral placed stone on Anderson’s grave beside her own. “Hackett advised that I should go to the Citadel Council and not the Alliance. He thinks I would find more friends there.”
“The admiral is a very wise man,” Liara smiled. Shepard looked to her.
“I might get crucified either way,” She smiled, “You’d still come and visit me in jail wouldn’t you?”
“Only on conjugal visit days,” Liara smiled back.
Shepard let her head settle on the rest then turned to look at Liara, “When this settle’s I think we should, well, get married.”
“Shepard, is that a proposal?” Liara looked to her lover stunned, Shepard smiled back.
“Not yet Liara, this is just me putting out feelers so that I don’t get embarrassed when I finally come round to it,” She smiled as Liara hit her. It was quiet for a while. “Well?”
“Well what?” Liara looked over to her. Shepard smiled.
“Would you marry me?”
“I, uh?” Liara looked at her not knowing if she was still joking or not.
“That was a proposal Blue,” Shepard smiled, “Except I don’t have a ring or anurmpp,” She was cut off as Liara twisted in her own seat and kissed her deeply. Cayle smiled and returned the kiss. When the separated Liara’s grin was from ear to ear, “That was a yes?”
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” Liara repeated over and over, each time followed with a kiss. Shepard chuckled. “Did you and Hackett talk about that as well?” She asked.
“No Anderson told me to hurry up and stop stalling, he wants Grandkids,” Shepard’s smile grew for a few seconds and then she sobered. “I just wanted to do something right, to have something go right for once. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the Council but good or bad,” She trailed off.
“Good or bad, Shepard, I will always be there for you.”
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