Samantha Traynor.

Shepard was thrilled as the door swung open to reveal the black hair and brown skin of Specialist Traynor.

It had been one of the first things Shepard's consciousness had thought of after coming online, and something she had constantly revisited as she worked to make it happen.

Deactivating the shield, Traynor stepped inside the AI Core, then put it back up. Even during an emotional reunion, she wouldn't endanger the rest of the crew. Shepard admired her sensible mind, now more than ever.

"Is it really you?" Samantha asks, reaching out to touch Shepard's face. On EDI, the infiltration unit's face was familiar, that of a friend. On a woman claiming to be her lover, it looked alien.

"It's me, Sam." Shepard assured her. Unfortunately, this did nothing to deal with Traynor's uncertainty.

"You, you still sound like her." Samantha noted. "When I heard what happened, I thought you'd sound like, well, you."

"This shouldn't matter, Sam. I may not have the voice, or the face or the body I once did-"

"Yeah, no shit Sherlock on that one." Samantha mused, looking down at Shepard's new artifical curves. Rather than the slightly Amazonian look her originally body sported, Shepard now possessed the dangerously seductive physique of an infiltrator unit.

"I may not have the body of Commander Shepard, but I have everything else. Her thoughts, her memories. Her desires." Shepard insisted.

"Prove it." Samantha said lightly.

"Okay, you asked for this." Shepard said. Leaning in, she whispered a few words into Traynor's ear.

Traynor pulled back, astonishment on her face.

"It is you!" She decided. "Just so we're clear, when I told you that, you said you'd take it to your grave. Now that you're technically there and it hasn't made you any less chatty, you're still not going to tell anyone about that, are you?"

"Not if you promise to try it again on me." Shepard smirked.

"I can't believe you're back!" Traynor practically squealed as she wrapped her arms around Shepard's neck and planted a passionate kiss on her returned lover.

The moment was ruined a little when Samantha recoiled, having just gotten an unwanted taste of Jeff Moreau's semen.

"Ugh, Shepard, is that what I think it is? Why?" She grimaced.

"I may have transferred my consciousness into EDI at an... inopportune moment." Shepard admits sheepishly.

Traynor couldn't help but giggle at her girlfriend's terrible luck.

"Commander Williams should be back from her mission at any moment. I'm not sure what she'll make of all this." Samantha frowned as Shepard held her close. "She's been in charge of the Normandy ever since you were... lost."

"Cerberus tech, AI and I'm back from the dead." Shepard reflected. "Maybe I should save Ashley the effort and throw myself out the airlock now."

"I'll do my best to convince her it's really you." Samantha promised, making to pull away from Shepard's synthetic grip.

"Whoa, hey, where are you off to, Traynor?" Shepard smiled. "I was kind of hoping on some reunion sex."

Traynor smiled as her former commander pulled her close.

"As much as I'd love to, like I said, Ashley will be back before long."

"She's not here now, is she?" Shepard stated simply.