Blue Suns

"Don't go," she said, looking at me with those soulful eyes.

Of course I didn't want to leave her. There's nothing I would have liked more than to go back inside and lay back down in our bed. But when I saw her standing there in the doorway, her hands resting on a belly so swollen that she looked like she was about to pop reminded me of why I needed to go.

"Go back to bed," I said as I pressed my forehead against hers. I lingered longer than I should have, but her scent and her warmth are calling me back inside.

"Today's shift is going to be pretty easy," I said, trying to lessen the blow. She hates the job, but understands why I do it. Why I have to."I should be home early." My mandibles flared in a grin that she didn't return.

"Just be safe, Doren," she says as she steps back through the door.

Be safe.

Looking after an ex-cop in hiding wasn't exactly what I would have called honorable work, but it was work that paid the bills, and we had a lot of bills.

Living on the Citadel had never been cheap and there was only so much work someone like me could get.

My superiors during my mandatory service said the Spirits must have been watching my backside for me to be able to survive without a hole in the head. I'd never been the brightest star, but I did try…

They might have been right about someone looking out for me… I don't know how else to explain my winding up with Gia.

Giadora was funny, smart and way out of my league. What she ever saw in a guy like me, I'll never know.

Eventually, we moved in together. When she got pregnant, I knew that working as a groundskeeper's assistant wasn't going to cut it anymore.

It would only be a matter of time before she wouldn't be able to work, we'd eventually need a bigger place, and of course there was the trip we had to make to Palaven to tell the good news to her folks, my folks…

My shift was going like any other: We played a little cards, watched a couple of vids. Nothing ever happened on this babysitting detail, but we were supposed to be there, just in case. Everything was running smooth until the call came in that we had company coming our way.

Even though it was the first bit of action I'd seen on this watch, I didn't sweat it. One thing I could do was hold a gun. Point and shoot, it wasn't very hard, and with the auto-targeting, I didn't have to be very accurate. Unless we were facing a small army, no one thought there was much to worry about.

Now, I wish I had.

No sooner had I taken the safety off my piece than I had Commander-god-damn-Shepard baring down on me.

I held my ground and fired back because it was what I was paid to do. Besides, I didn't think he would have taken my surrender seriously.

You don't take out an army of Geth and live to tell the tale by being merciful.

…The fight didn't last long. My shields couldn't hold up against that type of firepower and soon they sputtered and died. I took two shots to the chest, and that was all she wrote.

As I hit the ground, Shepard and his cronies stepped over me without giving me a second look, too focused on whatever their goal was. I don't really know what else I expected from them… I wish I could have been that focused.

My body grew cold as my life spilled out of me and onto the warehouse floor. My thoughts, of course turned to Gia and how I wished I could lay with her now to keep me warm. I wanted to smell her scent, to hold her, to see our baby being born, to watch him grow up…

I should have gone back inside.