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"You still hanging onto this?” Shepard frowns at the old Katana VII her mother’s had since they moved here after Mindoir. A shotgun wouldn’t have done them any good against the batarians, but that knowledge doesn’t change the what ifs and never agains.
Hannah shrugs and settles into the seat across from her daughter, the apartment silent. The rest of the squad's been sent back to the Normandy. “Haven’t needed to use it.” She knows how, is a pretty good shot at the range, but her neighborhood’s safe, the building even safer.
Shepard purses her lips and, after a moment, unholsters her own shotgun and sets it on the table. Master Spectre gear, fully modded with optics and a kinetic coil, loaded with hammerheads. “Here.” She pushes it toward her mom. “Take this.”
Hannah pushes it back. “You need that.”
Shepard pushes it back across the table again and leaves her hand on the gun, preventing Hannah from refusing it. “I have plenty.”
Narrowing her eyes, Hannah purses her lips, studying her child. “What’s going on?”
"Nothing,” Shepard says, a little too quickly. “I…I have a feeling, is all. Take the gun, Mom.”
Hannah reaches out, covers her daughter’s hands with hers. “I don’t know where you’re going or what you’re doing, but come back alive, kid.”
Shepard hears the subtle shake in her voice and the unspoken rest of the sentence. She turns her hands over and squeezes, hoping the gesture is comforting. “Always do.” After a moment, she looks at the clock. “I should get going.”
At the door, Hannah hands her a black bag; it’s utilitarian enough to not look misplaced with her armor. “For the trip.”
”Mom, you really don’t need to feed my crew every time we dock here.” She takes the bag anyway; it’s heavier than it looks.
”Bullshit. I’ve seen what the Alliance calls food.” She pulls her into a hug. “Good luck. I love you.”
Shepard holds on a little longer than normal. “I love you too.”
The next time Shepard lands on the Citadel, it’s a crash through a mass relay and the Mako flies into the wall, the destruction barely noticeable against the fires on the Presidium. She takes a deep breath and straightens, trying not to think of what the Wards must look like if the Presidium is this bad, tries even harder not to think about the cookies still in the center panel of the Mako. The last bit of Ilos got a little heated, there wasn’t time for a snack.
She draws herself upward and unholsters her assault rifle, ready to end this, finally. With a nod of her head toward the elevator, they leave the Mako behind and start the final journey. “Please be okay,” she breathes as the elevator ascends. When it stops and they’re forced to switch to zero-g gear, her brain locks down the part that’s desperately worried about her mother, and she focuses on nothing but getting to and killing Saren.
When it’s all over, when Saren’s well and truly dead, when she, Liara, and Tali are well and truly alive, when she’s put Udina on the Council (and she bets she’s going to regret that decision inside of two weeks), she allows her brain to unlock. She draws Anderson aside. “I have to find my mom.”
”Go,” he says, almost an order, noticing that Liara and Tali follow after her.
She runs into Garrus, Wrex, and Kaidan on the way, all headed to the Presidium for congratulations, but they quickly change direction and suddenly Shepard has her entire crew behind her on the way to the Wards, looking for her mother. They reach Hannah’s block and slow; the place is a mess, worse than the Presidium when Saren was done with it. Someone’s hand settles on her shoulder, encouraging.
There’s an odd clanging sound and Shepard looks for the noise and sees someone breaking down dead geth units on a front stoop. She blinks, and counts the doors, not quite believing what she’s seeing. She starts off slow, but is in a full-out run by the time she reaches the building.
Hannah looks up from the shock trooper she’s ripping apart.
”Hell of a shotgun you gave me.” She looks behind her daughter, sees the Normandy’s entire ground team. “You kids want lunch?”