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When Leigh came to she had an even greater hatred of elevators and a growing headache. She was surprised to wake up at all after the Cerberus assassin had gotten the jump on her. Shame welled up in her chest at the thought. She had been distracted, thinking about the threat of the Reapers and what more she could do when she’d instinctively felt the presence behind her. Too late she had sprung to action and it very well might have cost her live if the man hadn’t let her go.

Whatever his reason had been, whether instructed by the Illusive Man to flex Cerberus’s metaphoric muscle, an act of vengeance for her foiling the attempt on the Council, or even if he was just a freak who got off on that, she was thankful to be alive.

She pressed herself into a corner of the elevator and stared up at the ceiling of the car. It was sealed as if nothing had ever happened and sat well beyond her reach. Out of reflex her left arm rose but the omni-tool’s display wouldn’t come up when the device lay smashed on the ground. Well there goes that idea. With any luck the Keepers would know about the stuck elevator car and have her out in a jiff. She just had to keep positive, she’d gotten quite good at it in the last few years.

With a jolt the elevator began to descend back towards… she honestly didn’t even remember, her mind still simmering at the defeat. And why was the assassin back? He couldn’t have been back for another attempt on the Council. That would have been plain insanity, not that Cerberus struck her as the most rational group. She doubted it was another attack either, C-Sec had stepped up security too much for Cerberus to get anything onto the station after their coup and their inside man had met his end at her hand before Ashley had to go through with it herself. So what else could it be? The doors opened before she had an answer.

Bailey and a pair of turians were waiting outside when the door opened. “Shepard? What happened in there?” His eyes fell to the pieces of omni-tool and then to her throat which throbbed with a forming bruise.

For a split second she wanted to lie, to hide her failure. There was no place for pride in this war and she confessed after a moment. “That Cerberus assassin is back on the station. He got into the elevator and knocked me out.”

“Glad you made it out in one piece,” Bailey told her. “You alright?”

“I’m not happy he got away. Again. But I’m fine. Just do me a favor and see if you and your men can’t catch him before he gets away.”

Bailey nodded and got on his comm to alert the rest of his men while one of the turians made up an incident report with her help. After too many questions she was released so she could get back into the elevator, a different one this time, and head towards the markets for a new omni-tool.

As Leigh was transferring credits out of her account to the friendly salarian that ran the small electronics shop she was caught by a peeved Liara.

“Shepard, Joker’s been calling me for the last ten minutes because he can’t reach you. We have a- what happened?” All the ire dropped from her voice when Leigh turned to face her, the dark stripe clear across her throat. “Are you alright?”

Only two people had asked and she was already sick on answering. Couldn’t she wallow in self-pity and shame for just a few minutes before the weight of the galaxy fell back upon her shoulders?

“We can discuss it back on the Normandy,” she replied. Liara quickly applied a dose of medigel to the human’s throat and Leigh rubbed her neck at the pleasant tingle. “Thanks. What does Joker want?”

“We’ve gotten word from the Quarian Fleet,” Liara began but was quickly interrupted.
“Tali?” Leigh asked with hope. With Garrus, Liara and Ashley back at her side it was almost like old times, enough to make her miss her old friends a little more than usual. At least she’d gotten to see Wrex for a few minutes before he tried to repopulate his species. She was glad she hadn’t been on Tuchanka long enough to see that part, especially after Wrex had cheerily informed her about the breeding requests for her; hearing about that once had been more than enough when she had helped Grunt with the Thresher Maw.

“I’m not sure, he just said they’d made contact and then he started whining about how he couldn’t reach you.”

“That sounds like him,” Leigh smiled and headed towards the transit module to call a ship.
“So are you going to tell me what happened?” Liara pressed again. “I can always find out other ways.”

“I’ll tell you on the ship,” Leigh urged looking out at the lake until the shuttle arrived.

Liara was persistent however, and as soon as Joker was flying them towards the relay that would set them on their path to the Quarian Fleet she was back on her about what had happened on the Citadel.

“Shepard, you said ‘on the ship’. We’re on the ship. Please, Leigh, what happened?”

She had to go and break rank didn’t she? Regardless it worked, Liara was a good friend and deserved an explanation. Leigh just hoped the truth wouldn’t send her on a righteous warpath for vengeance like with what happened with Feron.

“I got attacked by the Cerberus assassin that went after the Council. He trapped me in the elevator, smashed my omni-tool and then choked me,” Leigh paused and took a deep breath, not realizing how shaken she had actually been. “I thought I was going to die, Liara.”

The asari gave her a sympathetic look and settled a hand on her commander’s shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. “It’s alright now, Shepard. You should see Dr. Chakwas to make sure you’re alright.”

“I’d rather shower to be honest, you know how Cerberus stains if you don’t wash it out right away,” she joked only half-heartedly. If she were really being honest she wanted to take a bar of soap to her mouth and then shove her face in a decontamination tank for a week; she could probably manage with a bottle rubbing alcohol instead.

Liara’s smile looked forced but Leigh was sure that she understood the necessity for levity in such dire times, assassin or not. “Go see Dr. Chakwas.”

One resigned sigh later and she was headed towards the good doctor’s office, so to speak. The fall had caused one hell of a lump, Chakwas told her, but her cybernetics had toughened her skin enough to keep the blow from concussing her, and her throat would be a little sore for the rest of the day but she was in good health aside from that.

Leigh stepped out of the med bay and watched a few of the crew mill around, a couple joking with each other and one walking around the area as if he was pacing, not that she could blame him after all that had happened. She considered going to the battery, telling Garrus what had happened, how she’d been sullied (for a lack of a better word) with the hope he’d tell her it wasn’t her fault and that she was safe now.

Leigh laughed to herself a little too loud and had to wave away the stares of her crew. She never thought she’d want that sort of comfort so badly. She had always been so self-reliant, never burdening her crew more than needed or putting them in unnecessary danger. When had she softened so much? Regardless, she wanted to be with him, and headed to see her beau.