~How Jack Met Her Mother~

For Jack, the day started out as boring and normal as usual. No sudden explosions, running for her life, or shooting random enemies that seemed to come from nowhere. No, her day began with waking up to Shepard's empty side of the bed (with a loving note set on his side table- he was such a boy scout) and eating the warm homemade breakfast that her boyfriend had made earlier that morning and kept in the oven for her before leaving to help put the world right side-up again.

Grissom Academy was on a break of indeterminate length. Its students were all either looking for family and friends they lost contact with or helping rebuild all the major cities on earth with their biotics. The teachers were all pretty much doing that same thing, except Jack. No, Jack was keeping track of all her students through the use of any means necessary without actually leaving the new Alliance capital, which was decided to be London (don't ask Jack who made that decision- she doesn't know. Although she has a sneaking suspicion that a certain boy scout pulled some strings to honor a lost mentor).

The biotic smiled to herself, letting her bit of happiness shine through her immense annoyance at being cooped up in the crowded, rebuilding city. Shepard was the one who told- no, ordered her to stay. Jack would never admit it to anyone, but it was nice to be cared for by someone enough that he demanded she didn't leave.

Doesn't mean she didn't start a massive screaming match about it, but hey, she wanted to see her kids.

After pretty much throwing the plate into the sink, Jack stalked over to the window, taking in the city. The reconstruction was actually going pretty fast, and a good half of the city wasn't in ruins anymore. Take the apartment she and Shepard shared. Other former members of the squad took up some of the other apartments in the building, as well as higher ranking officials from the Alliance government. They were small but in almost perfect condition, which is more than other people can say.

Everyone looked like ants from her viewpoint at the tenth story window. There were mostly humans, but there were also turians, krogan, asari, even a volus moving things, helping each other- it's too bad it takes a Reaper apocalypse for everyone to get along better.

Ping.

Raising her head, Jack looked across the room where she put her omni-tool down. Message! Maybe it was one of her students that haven't responded yet. Walking quickly, she sat down on the side of the bed and put in on as fast as she could, clicking the blinking envelope icon.

Would you like to meet your mother?

What? That can't be right. Jack checked the sender- unknown. She re-read the simple sentence again.

Would you like to meet your mother?

A million thoughts raced through her mind. Was this a scam? How did this person know who her mother was? Was her mother even alive? Would she want to meet Jack?

"Your real first name is Jennifer."

Well, fuck. Blue. It had to be. Who else knew her first name?

Of course I don't, that b-

I'd rather sleep with a-

No-

Every time Jack tried to reply negatively, something in her made her backspace. Probably her inner kid or some bullshit like that, wanting to know the woman who gave birth to her and then gave her up.

Jack wanted to know why.

Sure. Why the hell not?

That was an okay reply. Not too enthusiastic, makes it sound like she didn't fantasize about meeting her mother practically every day as a child. Not at all nervous. Nope.

Ping. The small noise made the young woman jump, not expecting a reply that fast.

Demetria, 1700 tonight. Reservation under McAlester. Okay. That's alright. Jack's alright. She's only meeting her mother at the only fancy fru-fru place around for miles, which required a reservation made at least a month earlier. She'd rather meet her at a bar, but whatever. It's all good.

...What was she going to wear?

The dress that she borrowed from Blue was tight in all the wrong places. Like, everywhere. Sure, Jack's used to tight clothing. She's usually as comfortable as hell in them. But not ones that cover nearly every inch of her body.

It wasn't that she didn't want to give her mother a good impression or anything. She just thought that maybe a nice place like Demetria would kick her out if she showed any extra skin that's not considered family-appropriate, and all the clothes she had would fit into that category. She's not hiding her tattoos. The ones on her chest are clearly visible above the sweetheart neckline that didn't show any cleavage (a very strange thing for a woman who used to prance around practically topless).

Walking- no, she was mainly waddling towards the hostess, her left hand combing through the hair she let down on one side, leaving the other shaved side out in the open. The hostess looked up and scowled at her. Probably thought she was trying to sneak in or something along those lines.

Usually, Jack would've started a scene, but it wasn't worth the effort. Even now, when her anger would usually be overflowing at the judging she's always undergone because of her appearance, a slight tinge in her stomach became even stronger than the anger and the hostess was ignored. Her eyes combed through the good-sized crowd for anything that would suggest a woman who looked like she could be her mother.

"Can I help you?" the sneer wasn't disguised by the fake smile the hostess shot her way. Kinda reminded Jack of the cheerleader. A chuckle escaped before she could help it, but died down when she got an even bigger twinge in her stomach. No, Jack wasn't nervous.

"I'm here for the McAlester reservation." Short, sweet, to the point. Just the way she likes things.

"Right this way, ma'am." Jack didn't miss the eye roll that- Yvonne, it said on her tag- shot a coworker.

She wouldn't be acting like that if Shepard was here, like he tried to be. But this was something that Jack had to do herself.

Swallowing a bit, Jack made sure to stick her head high and waddle with complete confidence. When in doubt, act like you own the world. Not that Jack was in doubt or anything.

Passing table after table, Jack kept sweeping her gaze all over the place, but couldn't guess at all who her mother could be. Hell, she barely even remembers her!

The hostess was leading her to a secluded table in the back, where Jack could see the back of a woman's grey head of hair. Was this her?

"Your table, ma'am." the hostess gestured to the two-person table and briskly walked away, not knowing that a reunion twenty years in the making was going to happen.

Looks like this woman was it. Jack stood behind the chair where the woman- her mother- was sitting, and cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, but are you the person... are you the woman..." Jack couldn't finish her sentence. Her mother got up from the table an turned around. She was almost a carbon copy of Jack, only older and shorter, with more wrinkles and less tattoos. Her eyes... were the exact same shade of Jack's own brown.

"Jennifer." all she said was that one name. Jack nodded, cursing at the tears that were filling up in her eyes, and took in the person in front of her, not even bothering to mention that she goes by Jack now. Her mother wasn't looking at her tattoos or her scars that were clearly visible above the dress' neckline. The older woman was staring into her face, her eyes, like what she saw was the most beautiful thing in the world.

Then Jack was glomped by her mother for the first time for as long as she could remember. Damn, the woman was small but the was fucking strong!

"Those bastards that took you away from me better be dead, because if I ever see any of those sons of bitches again they'll be fucked up so bad they'll wish they were in hell already."

Yep. This was definitely Jack's mother.

A/N- Yay, it's done! This is just a little blurb that I couldn't get out of my head, so I decided just to write it down. Type it down. Whatever. I'm not used to third person POV (I'm much more comfortable writing first person) but I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and practice using different styles of writing. Yes, I know this probably isn't perfect, but I wrote this in like, an hour. Made sure I used spellcheck but just incase I missed anything or did any grammar boo-boos, please let me know. Hope you enjoyed it.

It was fun trying to get into Jack's mind. I tried to convey her accurately, but don't get all up in my business if she's out of character. I enjoyed the cussing she usually employs in her speech. I don't usually cuss in my writing, so I felt like I was letting loose a bit XD I'm a nerd, I know.

But anyway, this is the first pic I posted up in a long, long long time and right now it's the only one I have up there. Hopefully that'll change but if I know myself, it'll be awhile before I put anything else up. Maybe another one-shot. Maybe.

The cover pic has nothing to do with anything. Just though it'd go with the fancy dinner thing.

Hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please review, and if you didn't, please review anyway!