What did you do today in ME?

I started playing ME1 early last year.  I've been playing the trilogy repetitively since then.  Minor breaks for other stuff (DAT, FONV/3/4, MEA, Technomancer, others) but nothing has captivated me the way the trilogy has.  I liked everything I played but LOVE the trilogy.

Ahmed Shepard:
1. Did some shopping. Bought some new armor for himself and some of his squadmates. His own armor is not as protective as his previous armor, but it has a second mod slot which is more important at this time.

2. While still on the Citadel, he ran into that creepy Conrad Verner guy for the third time. Conrad wanted to become a spectre. Ahmed shoved a gun in his face and told him to get lost. Conrad cried and ran away. It was a harsh lesson, but Conrad needed to learn it: he cannot handle it.

3. Wrex told Shepard about some Turian scum named Tonn Actus that had some armor that belonged to Wrex's family. Shepard decided to go get it back.



3. Some biotic extremists took Chairman Burns hostage aboard a ship. Shepard boarded the ship along with Kaidan and Garrus. They killed the welcoming committee, then confronted the three bad guys holding Chairman Burns at gunpoint. Ahmed Shepard tried to reason with them, but they shot the Chairman. Shepard then painted the walls with their blood.



That is the last of the side quests I can play at the moment, so I am ready to start playing the main mission soon. I will probably go Noveria > Feros to make sure I have good enough equipment to handle the Thorian Creeper rush.

Still undecided if I should play Pinnacle Station. It can be a bit of a slog, but the reward is worth it, especially since I end up swimming in credits by the end of the game. Maybe I will drop the difficulty down to normal so I can blast through it.

Oh yes, not arguing about it.
The curious thing is if you kill everyone and everything you still gain a ton of resources. LOL

I can only imagine if Britain betrayed the french at WWI, France wouldn't be THAT strong in the end (generally speaking of course, France industrial centers were pretty much destroyed by the end of WWI).


On the other hand... I talked with Hackett today and mommy is OK! She was promoted to rear admiral, is helping with the Crucible and says she's very proud of me.

Jeph Shepard:

- Took out Helena Blake's second crimelord. Just have to meet up with her to finalize things.
- Found a Cerberus base on Binthu. There were those creepy monsters the Thorian made there. Was it still alive or was Cerberus just messing with things they shouldn't? Or was Cerberus linked to ExoGeni? Second facility had these green, exploding bugs. Don't know what they were. At a third facility, found a giant bug hovering near Admiral Kahoku's body. There were no signs that the bug killed him, but instead there were injection marks. They had done experiments on him just like Corporal Toombs. Finally, found another Prothean pyramid.
- Love the skies of Agebinium. Here to find an old probe armed with a nuke sent to turian space prior to the First Contact War. And it was now in a mine which was highly suspicious. It was a trap from some asshole whose day was ruined when the Alliance held against the Skyllian Blitz. This guy had been the instigator and thought his reputation could be restored by killing the first human Spectre. Immediate mistake in believing I couldn't disarm the nuke. Second was that I wouldn't track him down and stick my boot up his ass. I had the authority to kill virtually anyone I want so no chance I was going to bother with some legal loophole.

- Discovered another Cerberus base on Nepheron. These guys are everywhere. Found some intel about Cerberus. Some anonymous agent of the Shadow Broker wanted me to hand it over to him. Like I'd trust some random asshole.
- Another damn pyramid on Chasca! Coincidence that the Protheans built like we did or something else? Did they show us how to make them when they visited Earth so long ago? A colony here had been completely turned into husks which was a damn shame. A science station had dragon's teeth. Cerberus was behind it. Bastards.

Jeph Shepard:

- Found more of those creepy plant clones on Nodacrux near an ExoGeni facility. Inside said facility, I found ExoGeni scientists. They wanted me to keep it quiet but I wasn't interested, not after what I'd seen on Feros. She turned her mercs on me and they all died for it.
- I found the MSV Cornucopia floating derelict. It was loaded up with husks. Logs said the crew found an artifact they brought on board. Then they immediately plotted a course to the geth in the Perseus Veil. Obviously something that indoctrinated them and then had them serve as a message to stay away.
- Discovered a geth outpost on Magi but it was clear there were more in the system. Also, there was a great view of the skyline.

- Another geth base down on Casbin. Two, actually.
- Found a bunch of dead geth near a thresher maw nest on Antibaar. Got what they deserved. Nearby there was another Prothean ruin, this one similar to the one on Eletania, but without the giant reflective sphere overhead. Took out a third geth base.
- Rayingri hosted what we thought was the final geth base but a signal led to one more planet.
- The last geth outpost was on the moon, Solcrum. In that final base, after the last geth falls, a monitor turns on. It shows a quarian singing a sad song, which is transmitted to the geth worlds. Peculiar and I'm surprised Tali had nothing to say about it.

Ahmed Shepard:
1. Went to Noveria to track down Benezia, immediately got into a confrontation with port security. Luckily it did not come to a shootout.

2. Spoke to someone named Gianna Parsini who told him to go see Administrator Anoleas.

3. Helped a Hanar merchant smuggle in some mods, because why not?

4. Talked to the administrator, who was a spiteful little Salarian. He told Ahmed where he needed to go, but told him he could not actually go. Like that has ever stopped Ahmed before. Gianna told Ahmed to go speak with someone named Lorik Quin.

5. Some Asari wanted Ahmed to help her plant a virus in Binary Helix's network so she could steal data. Ahmed gave the Binary Helix representative the device instead and he gave it to his techs so they could feed the Asari false data. Then Ahmed went back to the Asari and told her the job was done. He even convinced the Asari to pay him more than promised.

6. Talked to Lorik Quin. He offered his garage pass in exchange for receiving data from his office, which was currently being ransacked by Administrator Anoleas' thugs. Ahmed agreed to the exchange then went to the office.

7. The security guys in the office refused to leave on their own power. A few minutes later, their next move would be to the morgue. Ahmed retrieved Lorik's data from his office computer (surprised that the Anoleas' men would not search that first). On the way, Ahmed ran into one of the security officers he nearly shot at the port entrance. She vowed to kill him. I think we all know how that turned out.

8. Gianna Parsini met Ahmed outside the elevator on the ground floor. She told him to meet him upstairs in the bar before talking to Lorik Quin. He met her and she told him she was from Internal Affairs and wanted him to convince Quin to testify about Anoleas' corruption before the board.

9. Ahmed asked Lorik Quin if he would testify. Lorik Quin refused, so Ahmed agreed to the original agreement and gave him the data. Lorik then gave him the garage pass and their deal was concluded.

10. Ahmed went into the garage and was immediately attacked by Geth. Luckily a tank was nearby, so he hopped in and shot them all dead. Captain Matsuo was left with another mess to clean up.

11. Went to Peak 15, destroyed a lot of Geth and turrets along the way.

12. At Peak 15, fought some more Geth, Krogan, and then some bugs like the ones they found at Cerberus bases. Rachni? Seemed impossible...

13. Finally found some survivors. Talked to Captain Ventralis who did not seem to know much about what was going on, other than the fact that bugs kept attacking every few hours. They were on stims and very much on edge.

14. Found a guy named Dr. Cohen who wanted help researching a cure for a bioweapon. Ahmed agreed to help and created the cure, only to be attacked by some Asari and Geth. Benezia/Saren really wanted him dead it seemed.

15. Talked with a Volus named Han Olar. He told them the bugs were Rachni. Seems Binary Helix found a
Rachni egg in space. They hatched it, and it turned out to be a Rachni Queen. They used the Queen to breed more Rachni, but the Rachni went crazy. Needless to say, Wrex was not pleased at the news the Rachni lived again.

16. Went down to the Hot Labs, looking for Benezia. She was not there, but a human doctor was and he explained that the Rachni may have went crazy sincce they were separated from the queen and did not develop properly. He said the Rachni had to be destroyed using a neutron purge. He gave Shepard the codes, but died when a Rachni killed him from behind (and somehow Shepard, Wrex, and Garrus did not see it coming). Shepard killed the Rachni.

17. Shepard activated the purge, then killed a bunch of Rachni that suddenly blocked his way to the elevator. Then Ahmed took the elevator back up to go find Benezia.

18. Ventralis stopped Shepard and told him that Benezia wanted him dead. With no choice in the matter, Ahmed killed everyone left alive in the facility, before finally confonting Benezia.

19. Benezia was not pleased to see Shepard, and she attacked, sending waves of Asari commandos and Geth after him, but Shepard fought them all off. For a brief moment, Benezia regained some control of her senses and explained that Saren could control minds, or maybe it had to do with Saren's ship called Sovereign. She gave Shepard the location of the Mu Relay which would help find the conduit. Then she grew angry again and tried to kill shepard. This time Ahmed put her down for good.

20. The Rachni Queen took control of an Asari body and tried to convince Ahmed to let her live. Wrex argued against it: "My species died taking these things down. Don't let them come back!" Garrus tried to argue against it, but accidentally made an argument for killing it. Shepard agreed that it would be best to kill the last remaining Rachni (again), then dumped acid on it until it died.

21. The mission complete, Ahmed and his squadmates headed back to the Normandy. The Council was a little shocked at hearing Binary Helix had been breeding Rachni -- the Turian Councilor even threw out the term 'genocide' when mentioning Shepard killed the entire species. But Shepard dismissed their concerns and told them the mission was his priority.

Jeph Shepard:

- Paid a visit to the MSV Fedele, currently owned by a Dr. Heart aka Dr. Saleon. Guy is a black market organ dealer. Or, as Garrus refers to him, "the one that got away". There were creatures that looked a lot like those Thorian creepy things. Dude tried to play innocent but I wasn't having it. Garrus put a bullet in his head to end things.
- Dropped by to see Helena Blake on Amaranthine. I was reasonably sure she was also part of the crime syndicate and merely wanted me to remove her unwanted cohorts. However, she agreed to get out of the slave business. I could live with that. Made a tidy profit from it.
- A derelict ship led me to the surface of Xawin. First thing I encountered was a thresher maw! There was another geth trap, too. Maybe they were seeding worlds with thresher maws. Found the captain of the MSV Majesty in orbit. Or his corpse. Don't know why he was killed but I put an end to his murderers.
- Went to Noveria. Matriarch Benezia had come through. It was a corporate world and everyone thought their business secrets were more important than saving the galaxy. People screw with me and I screw back. I needed a pass to Peak 15 and Director Anoleis stood in my way. Someone else suggested I talk to a turian and get one through him. Since Kaira Stirling was also in my way, and was dirty, she went down hard. I got what the turian wanted and, at the insistence of internal affairs agent Gianna Parasini, convinced him to turn over evidence against Anoleis. Couldn't be happier to see that guy go down in flames. When I got to the garage, I was attacked by geth. They'd been packed in crates by Benezia. Assholes were finally starting to understand that just because Benezia was an investor it didn't mean she was safe.
- Peak 15 was full of geth and those giant bugs I'd encountered in Cerberus facilities. I had to fix the damn place in order to get to the Hot Labs and find Benezia. A volus named Han Olar told me those bugs were called rachni, a race that was said to be extinct for almost 2500 years. I fought my way through Peak 15 guards to Benezia. Figured they all worked for her anyway. We fought and it became apparent that, as Shiala had said, that Benezia was under Saren's control. She broke free briefly but said it wouldn't last. Benezia said a final goodbye to Liara before forcing us to kill her. She also gave us the location of the Mu Relay, beyond which was the Conduit Saren sought. That just left the queen bug. She wanted me to spare her but I knew the rachni had nearly decimated galactic society until the krogan were uplifted to destroy them. Thing was, her "children" were out of control. She said the same had been true all those years ago, implying that the Reapers had been in control. But this just meant they couldn't be trusted. Reapers or no, there were easily turned into weapons of mass destruction. I couldn't risk keeping her around. She had to die. Then initiated a neutron purge to get rid of all the rest.

Jeph Shepard:

- Virmire Squad, together again for the last time.

- Geth pulled out all the stops with several Colossus's along the way. Had to disable an AA battery so the Normandy could land. However, there was a problem when we reached the salarian STG team. Saren was breeding krogan that he would use to march across the galaxy. There was no way we could leave until the facility was destroyed. Wrex was unhappy with the situation. Somehow I managed to talk him down, and I wasn't all that nice about it, but he knew the score. He knew the krogan would be enslaved to Saren the way that had been tools of the Council.
- Captain Kirrahe rigged his own ship's drive core to turn it into a nuke. His plan was to blow up the breeding facility but he wanted the help of my team. I sent Kaidan off with Kirrahe. Hate to say it, but I wanted him far away from that bomb. I took Tali and Garrus as my team. First thing we did was disrupt geth communications. Next went the satellite uplink. Third were the geth flyers. Lastly, we disabled the alarms. That made things a little easier for both of teams. Inside the base, we saw lots of indoctrinated salarians coming at us. Had to assume anyone inside was indoctrinated from this point on so everyone had to die. Well, with one exception. He seemed to be thinking clear and he didn't attack when I opened the door. His fellows in the next cell over were behaving oddly and I killed them rather than let them exist as slaves.
- An asari scientist seemed to know a lot about indoctrination. She even suggested that everyone on the base would become indoctrinated. I assumed she probably was, too, and now I think I should have killed that salarian commando. Of course, the salarian was a captive and this Rana woman chose to work for him. That made it simpler. I put her down, but not before she gave me access to Saren's lab.
Bye, Rana:

- It was in the lab that we found another beacon. I accessed it but it didn't wipe me out. I assume the Cipher made the difference.On the way out, we encountered a hologram, but there was some substance to it. It was Sovereign and I now understood that it was a Reaper. Also learned that the Reapers had created the Citadel and the mass relays. I had to admit that it made more sense given that the mass relay and the Citadel had never fallen into disrepair like the beacons. Sovereign did claim to "have no beginning" but I assumed it was full of shit. Or else it was some weird cosmic force that I didn't understand. Still, if there's one thing I understood well it was that you don't show fear in the face of your enemy. I told Sovereign I was going to stop it. Then it blew up the walkway and a message from Joker said the physical ship was heading our way. Seems like I'd pissed off Sovereign and it wanted to deal with me personally.
Here's the old bastard:

- We got to the bomb site and Joker delivered the bomb with the Normandy. Ash was going to arm the bomb. It had been really simplified so that anyone could do it. Then I got a message from Kaidan that he was pinned down at the AA Tower. He told me to leave him but that wasn't an option as far as I was concerned. I left Ash with the bomb while Liara, Wrex and I headed toward Kaidan. It got worse when the geth sent reinforcements to the bomb site. Then Ash did the unthinkable and armed the bomb to make sure it went off in the face of overwhelming odds. Damn. My decision made for me, I continued on toward Kaidan.
- Maybe it was for the best since Saren showed up at the AA tower. It gave me a shot at him and kept him away from the bomb. Saren claimed he was doing this just to "save" organics, since living as slaves was preferable to extinction. I disagreed. We fought. He was better than me but allowed himself to get distracted long enough to receive a punch in the face. He fled when the Normandy showed up. From orbit, I watched the nuke go off, ending the krogan army threat and Ash's life.

- Kaidan was sad that I picked him over Ash, blaming himself because whatever it was that was going on between us definitely impacted my decision. We hadn't done anything but I couldn't let him die. Liara thought maybe the Virmire beacon could have filled in what was missing and wanted to get into my head again. I let her and she was right. We found out the message had been a warning sent out across the Prothean Empire. She also realized the images were of Ilos, a world that could only be found on the other side of the Mu Relay and which contained Prothean ruins. Now we had a destination. However, we knew Saren would have an fleet with him so we'd never make it in alone. We needed help from the Council.
- We contacted the Council, and they believed in the threat of Saren and the geth, but not the Reapers. Still, they seemed to be supporting me, though the turian was as hostile as ever. I did head back to the Citadel because I wanted the Normandy at the head of the fleet.
- When we got there, they made it clear they had no intention of going to Ilos and that they didn't trust me enough to go in. Udina locked down my ship and called it "politics". Bastard was going to pay for that. I told him as much. I returned to the Normandy, even knowing there was nothing I could do at the moment. Kaidan showed up. We talked. Almost had a kiss until Joker interrupted.

- Anderson wanted me to meet him at Flux so that's where I went. Anderson agreed that I needed to go to Ilos. He was willing to waltz into Citadel command to release the Normandy lockdown but that sounded dangerous. The alternative was the use Udina's own terminal and risk treason. We went with that one. I'd rather he were in jail than dead, though if we didn't stop Saren he'd be dead anyway. Headed back to the ship. I don't know what Anderson did but I was standing next to Joker on the bridge when the lights went green. We wasted no time taking off.

So I actually managed to finish this run on Sunday (went to bed at 2 a.m. ), but I didn't have enough time yesterday to finish the write-up, so here it is now!

"Alright, mom. Ready for the last round?"
"Already the last, huh. This flew by like nothing..."
"Yeah. And you can believe me, when it finally really happened, time flew as well. Which I'm very glad for..."
"I can imagine. So... tell me about the beginning of the end."
"After the Normandy was good to go, we took the fight to the Illusive Man's base. We encountered heavy resistance, but my team and I fought ferociously. Everyone was fueled by the thought to take down this organisation for good. Especially after we saw some logs about what was going on in that base. The Illusive Man had completely lost it, implanting himself with Reaper tech."
"Oh that surely went well."
"He had also kept the human Reaper remains from the Collector base... such a madman. I couldn't wait to get to him, but he had already made it off the base. However, we did find our priority, the Prothean VI, and learned that the Citadel is the Catalyst, that the Illusive Man fled there, told the Reapers about our plans, and that the Citadel had been moved to Earth as a result. Well, guess you know that last part already."
"I do."
"Well anyway, Kai Leng appeared and attacked us, but he didn't get away this time. You know I'm not one to enjoy killing, but I cannot tell you how satisfying it felt to finally finish off this bastard."
"I can imagine, honey. And from everything you told me he really deserved it. And I'm usually not one to say that either."
"I know. So... Then it was time for the final push."
"I remember. That moment when the Crucible started moving. I was nervous, agitated, but hopeful."
"Yeah. I can imagine. I was so ready to finish this as well. We approached Earth, and it looked bad. My team and I touched down and fought our way through Reaper forces to shut down an anti-aircraft gun close to where we had landed, then a shuttle picked us up to get us out of there. Just in time. Anderson was inside and we approached the FOB. From there, everything went fast. I took Tali and Kaidan through the enemy lines until we reached a tank with missiles. The plan was to get rid of the Reaper that sat in front of the beam the Citadel had generated, so we could get up the beam to open the arms of the Citadel. The first try missed, as the Reaper was still too close to the beam. We had to wait until it was closer to us to give it a go again. It was our last chance... we were down to two missiles."
"Wow, really? Unbelievable how much depended on these two missiles."
"Yeah. Fortunately, this time they hit the Reaper. The path was clear. We started running towards the beam and gained ground, but a flipped Mako almost got Tali and Kaidan at some point. Both were caught in an explosion, and thankfully none of them were seriously hurt. But that was the point where I knew I couldn't risk it. I wouldn't risk their lives for this, especially not Tali's. I wanted her away from this craziness. So I called in the Normandy for an evac, saying my goodbyes to her, and Kaidan."
"That couldn't have been easy."
"It wasn't. It was the hardest thing I've ever done, but I wanted to believe everything would be alright. Well, that was before I almost got hit by a Reaper beam that severely burned my armor. I'll spare you the details, but I felt like death. I was bleeding, but I made it to the beam. Inside, Anderson contacted me. He had followed me up, but we didn't end up in the same place. It was creepy as hell. Human remains scattered everywhere, so much blood. I pressed on as best as I could and met Anderson further in. That's when it all happened. The Illusive Man appeared and controlled both me and Anderson. I couldn't do anything. He was so obsessed with control and the possibility of it that he had to set an example. Mom, he... he made me shoot Anderson. I couldn't--"
"Oh, sweetie. I'm so sorry. But this wasn't your fault. This... monster was responsible for all this! I hope he got what he deserved."
"He did. I shot him. For one moment, I felt strong enough, felt like I was myself again, and I pulled the trigger. But Anderson, he... he didn't survive."
"I know, honey. But you can't blame yourself. Don't you ever."
"I know you're right, mom, but right now it's still so fresh in my mind. Wondering if I could've done anything differently."
"I understand how you feel. Give it some time, hm? You'll see everything will be fine again."
"Yeah. I hope so. Mom, you cannot imagine how it felt. Sitting there, all alone. I was ready to die along with Anderson. I felt all the life draining from me. All I wanted was to sleep and never wake up again. I was so exhausted. And then Hackett over the comm, telling me the Crucible didn't fire yet. It took all the strength I had left to reach the control panel, but I collapsed before I could actually do anything. I woke up in a weird place. A... holographic image of a boy I saw die back when I left Earth came walking towards me. I think he brought me to this place. To where the Crucible had docked. He revealed himself as the Catalyst. An AI. The AI Leviathan had created. The damn AI that controlled all Reapers."
"So why did it do what it did? Why all the cycles?"
"It told me the reason was that organics would always be wiped out by synthetics they created. That they brought order to the chaos we'd cause. I can't remember much else from what it said about their reasons... I didn't really understand it either. But the most important part for me was when it told me that the Crucible would be able to destroy the Reapers. The Reapers caused so much pain, so much suffering... they needed to go. But like the Catalyst told me, all synthetics were targeted. I... heard from Tali that EDI didn't make it. Heh. Remember when I told you about the rogue VI on Luna?"
"Yes."
"That was EDI gaining awareness."
"No way."
"Yeah. Interesting how it all turned out, isn't it? First foe, then friend. An AI I learned to trust. The first one. And now she's just... gone."
"You lost her, but you made the right choice, honey. I know about the other solutions of the Crucible's energy."
"You know about them?"
"Yes. When Hackett called to inform me you had regained consciousness and that he had already talked to you, he sent a report along, with everything you remembered from the moment you went up that beam... the possibilities the Crucible was capable of. Destroying them was the only way. I did read the report immediately after you and I had spoken. Okay, well not immediately because I probably broke down first and cried from relief that I was actually able to speak to my son again."
"Ma, I'm sorry you had to go through this. Sorry I had you worried."
"Oh please, honey. Having this time now with you was worth all the anxiety back then. I love you so much, sweetie. And I'm just so happy to have you back."
"I know, mom. I love you too. Things will finally be normal again."
"That they will, my dear. That they will."

Last pics!


One death at the missiles, was trying to jump over some debris, but the game wouldn't let me. Flanked from behind. Deaaaad
And of course the 3 husketeers got me. Then I switched the difficulty to Narrative. Buh-bye Marauder
Fired the Cain in London at the Banshee for the first time, it was awesome!
Tali's romance surprised me, even though the Citadel DLC apartment scene was cringy, but still, I enjoyed it a lot as a whole.
Jesse grew more dear to me than I had anticipated, and it's mostly thanks to how I could roleplay him in the games. I enjoyed it a lot that I could play him pretty much exactly how I had envisioned him, it was pretty cool!
And now? Time for another Shepard, yaaaay

The cycle must continue, so I started a new Shepard After my previous run, I can't stay away from the trilogy. I'm supposed to replay MEA, but what can you do...

My goal was to make a Shepard who would look even a little bit like the default Shep in ME3, but it was a doomed attempt, unfortunately. Here's Amy Shepard, Paragon/Spacer/Lone Survivor:



Mug shot from another angle. Doesn't really resemble ME3 femshep at all, but at least she ended up looking rather different than what my Shepards usually do in ME1.



Here's her with Shaira, wearing armor with a ridiculous color scheme White and orange, that's even worse than Ashley's default armor.



Anyway, haven't yet gotten very far in the story. I'm trying to be more completionist and do more sidequests this time, because it seems to be that the more I do sidequests and put my mind into any given game, the more I seem to enjoy it. This was the case with DA2, ME2 and ME3, so maybe this will make me appreciate ME1 more as well.

Not much else to tell at this point. I'll romance Kaidan this time and try to persuade Ethan Jeong to help the colonists on Feros. Now I'm in Noveria and hoping to make some kind of an impact. Also planning to recruit Liara at the last minute, right before Ilos I've always done the main quests in a particular order, and I'm going to break that pattern this time. 

So this isn't from the game of course, but I started fiddling around with this idea when I had ME withdrawal symptoms a few months back when I played other games during that time

"Hey... You alright?"
I hesitate a brief moment before I turn my head to the source of the warm, concerned voice behind me. My husband, standing in the door to my work space, a gentle expression on his face. I nod and look down, open letters strewn across the floor where I sit.
"I thought... maybe you wanted to read them, so I left them here for you. You fell asleep at your desk again and I didn't want to wake you. The note said they had to clear out the depot on Mindoir you always sent them to and returned them as per your request."
"Oh, I..." My voice comes out thin and I clear my throat. It's been a long time. I had pretty much forgotten about these letters, them being a part of my past and not my present, but I never forgot the person I used to write them to.
"Thanks. There was a time when writing these meant the world to me."
"I know. And I also know he is still important to you. As it should. First loves aren't easy, are they."
I scoffed, smiling. "You could say that. But I haven't read any of them. I was just... surprised to see them here now, after such a long time."
"Well, then maybe you should read them" my husband replied, a genuine smile, then the smirk on his face I love so much. "You know, it's just like you to write on actual paper. You're so stuck in the past."
"Shut up."
"Love you, too."
I shake my head at him and chuckle as he leaves to check up on the little ones, and then I'm left alone with my letters. It's tempting to read them, to remember him, remember my past. So much has happened since I wrote the last letter, and now...
I am happily married and we just adopted a baby boy and girl a couple weeks back. Twins. We're building a family. My husband and I helped each other through the hardest of times and he means everything to me. I don't need the letters... but I can't deny that, now that I have the chance, now that I hold them in my hands, I do want to read all of them again.
I start to pick them up and put them into order, then I let out a sigh and sit down in my chair. Here they are on my work space desk in front of me, and I stare at them intently for a few moments, as if they'd tell me what to do. I take the first letter from the stack and hesitate briefly again before giving in, focusing on the words in the familiar handwriting, a strange feeling of nostalgia washing over me.

"Dear Alec..."