[A\N]: This is a gift for Holiday Harbinger 2016 for ellivlove! I very much hope you like it xx
Your Nos Astra apartment was dim-lit with the night sky, because you had opened the blinds to look out the window, your pajama-clad ass planted on a fluffy pillow. Your hand went methodically through the soft fur of your sleeping corgi, Ashley. Seemed only right to call her that.
Sometimes at night, you couldn't sleep, you couldn't breathe because of the dark memories that still haunted you. And then, you would come here. Look at Nos Astra.
A city like this really does never sleep. It is always alive, light and loud. Your little 27th story apartment faced another humongous apartment building, seeming to have sprouted from the ground and grown into the air, like a thin, protruding branch of the huge tree that was Nos Astra. Kind of reminded you of this ancient story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'.
The city bears almost no more signs of war, which is a big feat seeing as only two years have gone by. They hadn't suffered substantial damage anyways. Even the Reapers weren't a match for people wanting to protect their precious investments.
The blue, purple and white night lights reflected off the glass dome on floor level. Once you started living and exploring here, you had come to learn those huge domes were mostly market places. Some were recreational as well. Night clubs, ice ranks, etcetera.
When you had decided to move here, lots of people tried to change your mind. Friends, your mother, and the list goes on. But never Kaidan.
When you had told him where you wanted to live, he said it was where you belonged. Where the danger crackled in the air the way it crackled in your eyes.
He was always a sap like that.
It is true that Illium was, despite its clean exterior, more than a little dangerous. Corporate danger. You didn't know whether to be touched or insulted by people being worried about you over some corporate danger. Commander Shepard, Savior of the Galaxy, shanked in a dark alley over a deal gone bad. Totally fits the bio.
When you hear feet softly padding on the carpet, you look from the corner of your eye to see the familiar black, tousled hair. He looks like home in his black boxer and white shirt.
He carries two mugs of tea, handing one to you with a soft smile. He pulls a pillow off the couch and sits down next to you, waking Ashley. She strolls over to him with her sleepy face and lays down on his lap, even if she knows she's too large for that.
"Can't sleep?" He asks huskily, his own eyes still small from having just woken up. He presses a kiss to your temple.
You shake your head, a small sigh escaping you. He doesn't press it and you're ever so grateful that he doesn't.
He knows already.
You sit in a comfortable silence, sipping your tea. Cinnamon. Your favorite.
"You stressed about tomorrow? We could always do this another time," he assures you, playing with Ashley's ears.
"No, I've missed them. I look forward to having them here."
"Well, then maybeyou should get your beautiful ass back in bed. We've got a lot of preparing to do tomorrow," he chuckles. "Besides, it's warmer in there."
You snort. "Make me, Major."
"Well, if you want to play it like that…" He suddenly lunges at you and throws you over his shoulder. You shake and shriek with laughter, playfully hitting his butt.
"I remember doing this for you in my Alliance career, Alenko. Twice."
"Shepard? Shut up." With that he throws you onto the bed, bouncing you into the air.
He walks over to the other side of the bed.
"Always such violence," you joke playfully. "And that to your wife."
He barks out a laugh. "Yeah, it's the only thing she will respond to."
He gathers you up in his arms, both still having broad smiles on your faces.
Laying here, in a cocoon of Kaidan and blankets, you feel pleasantly warm inside and out. As he runs his hand through your brown waves of hair, nails running softly along your scalp, he strokes all the worries out of your mind.
"Good night, Kai."
"Sleep well, Aer."
"Sweetie?" Kaidan asks timidly as you run around the apartment, making sure everything was prepared.
Admittedly, you were acting a little crazy. But Kaidan had seen you in worse situations than preparing for a party. You just really looked forward to seeing your family again.
He was truly the most patient and loyal man to ever grace you with his presence.
He'd been with you through it all. Your life had turned into a nightmare when waking up on the Citadel after the big confrontation with the Reapers. No one knew quite how, but you had been alive. Nearly every bone in your body broken, yet your weak heart was pumping blood through your body.
You had to learn how to walk again. But that's not what people talked about. People spoke of war hero Shepard, not the Shepard whose limbs did not do what they were told, or the Aeryn who clung to Kaidan's sweater, crying into it when she felt as broken as her bones were.
You shoot Kaidan a reassuring smile.
"I just want to make sure everything is arranged for when they arrive. Is that stupid?"
"A little bit. They've seen your mess of a cabin in the Normandy, Aer."
"My mother hasn't."
"Well, I'm sure she can deal," Kaidan chuckled. "A daughter like you, she'll forgive anything."
You raised an eyebrow, the corners of your mouth lifting. "We'll see about that, sweetie." He presses a tender kiss to your lips. Under your breath, you say just loud enough, "Kiss-ass."
You quickly kiss the corner of his mouth once more before bolting to check on your assortment of snacks and drinks, Ashley bounding after you in excited leaps.
Kaidan snorts, shaking his head. "I married an idiot," he calls out, before you turn around and stick out your tongue at him.
You hastily pop on some eye makeup and red lipstick, minutes before your friends are supposed to arrive.
Kaidan walks into the bedroom, where you are sat on your bed with a handheld mirror. He wears his black shirt and blue jeans so well, it stops you in your tracks. His breath audibly leaves his lungs, breathing, "I'm so glad I have you."
He clears his throat, before saying with a smirk, "You look incredible. Always do." He takes in your red blouse and dark jeans with amber eyes, twinkling with blue biotic glow. He always did like red on you.
"I love when your biotics flare, Mr. Alenko."
"Well, I love you," Kaidan says softly, before a mischievous smile takes over his face. He lifts you from the bed without lifting a finger, before hovering you at eye-level and capturing your mouth in a breathtaking tongue-and-teeth kiss. You pull away, still feeling the tingle of his biotics and him.
You give him what must be the dopiest smile in existence.
"Shit. We look like the Joker."
"What? Why would Joker look like this?"
"No, other Joker. My mom used to collect the… Never mind. Old reference." You hand him the mirror and some tissue before fixing your own disaster of a mouth.
The moment when you are done putting on a fresh layer of the deep red, the doorbell rings.
Upon opening the door, you see three figures way too large to possibly even fit through the door of your small apartment.
"Hahaaaa! Shepard, my sister," Wrex steps forward before giving you almost quite literally a bone-crushing hug. "Whoa, Wrex. Soft, human spine."
"I'm reallyglad to see you though," you say, before slapping his shoulder hard enough for him to actually feel it, "Little brother," you add.
Wrex lets out a booming laugh. "I'm just 1400 years older than you. Give or take."
You grin at him, before looking at the female Krogan next to him. "Eve, how are you? And the kids?"
She glows with happiness. "Fantastic. Thanks to Wrex' leadership and hard work, Tuchanka will restore its old beauty. As for the kids part," she leans in, smiling, "thanks for that chance you gave us, Shepard," before shaking your hand. "Wrex already named three after you. Shepard, Aeryn and BJ. Don't ask," she adds.
"BABY PYJAK!" Wrex shrieks, laughing.
Then Grunt knocks Wrex aside, yelling, "Shepard!" Before quite literally tackling you to the ground and playing around with teasing punches (which actually hurt a lot more than you let on). Luckily, Kaidan softened your fall with a little biotic cushioning. You mouth a 'thank you' at him, with a wink.
You will likely never understand Krogan affection.
"Did you guys actually carpool all the way here from Tuchanka?"
"Yes. It was cramped. Especially the way here… You should have seen the look on the cab driver's face when he realized he had to drive us three." Wrex lets out a booming laugh. "I think they used a taxi bus instead of a normal cab."
With that, you tell the three of them to find a spot (they already take in a large chunk of the space of your apartment),because the doorbell rings again.
Once you open the door, EDI attacks you with a hug. You still feel your heart jump with happiness when you see that your best friend is here. She wasn't always.
In the six months after the destruction of Reaper technology, Joker had come to your hospital bed three times.
The first was to yell at you, calling you everything in the book, then punch the wall, only to break his hand and a few bones in his upper arm, and end up in the hospital with you. He refused to be on a bed anywhere near you. Dr. Chakwas was his appointed doctor, because she knew more about his condition than any other doctor on the Citadel.
The second time was to apologize, and to tell you that Engineer Adams and him were working on a way to bring her back. That her Luna 'rogue' AI code was still intact. He said that they didn't know whether or not it would work, but you would never forget that glimmer of hope in his eyes.
The third time, he had her with him. She had a different body, one made to look organic rather than synthetic. Joker had hugged you, and tears had sprung to your eyes for them. He explained how it would be safer for her to be assumed dead, because people might eye her with suspicion and distrust if they knew a former Reaper-coded synthetic had been brought back.
EDI had the synthetic equivalent of severe amnesia. She had to ask Joker a lot of questions, but she still knew who Joker was. His memory must have been one of the most reinforced neural paths in her neural network. Where once, Reaper code had enhanced her network, now they had implemented new inferential code where she could reconstruct her past from the stories that her trusted companions could tell her.
Joker was obviously a huge guidance in her coming back. She was not quite the EDI they had known, but she still had her 'rogue' and humorous personality, and her trust of Joker was still intact.
It would have broken your heart if it hadn't been.
At this point in time, she has reconstructed about 90% of events, and her sense of self is as delightfully stubborn as it used to be.
Her light skin, slightly grey in undertone, feels cold to the touch, and her bright blue hair ("She wants it this way," Joker had sighed) is styled the same as it used to be. Aside from that, physically, there is nothing left of the old EDI (or, technically, Dr. Eva).
With the help of Joker and through sharing a multitude (way too many, according to Kaidan) of interactions with your signature bad humor, she has become your best friend once more.
Once she lets you go and you ruffle her blue head of hair, you steal Jokers cap, tossing it to Wrex.
"Really, Shepard?"
"What? Did you expect anything else?"
"Fair enough, but why toss it to the giant toad? He'll rip it in half just by looking at it."
You look back at Wrex, seeing him try to put the cap on his head, and the cap's seams protesting loudly.
Joker walks to him with a loud "Hey!"
"Aeryn?" EDI asks. "What type of creature is this?" She points at Ashley.
"That's my dog, Ashley," you snicker.
While Joker and Kaidan catch up, you teach EDI how and where to pet the dog gently. Ashley doesn't mind being subject of this teaching at all, lying on her back happily.
What is less fun, is black dog hair getting stuck in clumps on your friend's synthetic skin. She looks like she has feminine yeti hands.
The bell rings a couple more times, revealing Garrus and Tali hand in hand, Liara, Samantha, Jack, Miranda, Samara and James. All expected guests except…
No sign yet of your mother.
You looked forward to seeing her. She had been there for you a lot when you had been recuperating on the Citadel, but you had fought when you had decided to move to Nos Astra.
She thought that was the time to get overly worried. Not in her Alliance career, but in her settling down.
You knew she had the best of intentions. But it had still stung a bit for her to never once have visited you in this apartment.
Until now, that is.
You are standing in the corner, observing your lovely crowd for a bit.
Everyone has already helped themselves to their designated, digestible drinks of choice, and talk was already freely flowing among your former crew. You listen to Kaidan and James catching up. They had become pretty good friends during the war, often playing poker to wind down and forget the brutalities on the outside.
"How's the N7 program been, Lieutenant?"
"Hah. Soon I'll outrank you, Major. I'm not retired. How's civilian life treated you?" He slaps Kaidan on the belly a few times.
"Watch it, Vega. I still have a few moves up my sleeve."
"No kidding. N7 is… Well, it's tough. But no tougher than roughing up Reapers."
To your amusement, Kaidan is increasingly raising his voice to make himself audible above Wrex and Grunt's booming voices.
"…and then I said, I AM URDNOT WREX AND THIS IS MY QUAD, before taking it out and wiggling around!" He adds in a softer voice, "I don't know why she was into that."
Garrus is grinning broadly at Wrex's dirty jokes, exclaiming, "You'll never change, huh, old boy?"
Eve has been doing something akin to a facepalm. You don't know whether this story is about her. You don't want to know.
"What? You wanted me to give every female that came knocking on our door a child. Let me at least tell the stories about the crazy ones…"
"You absolute barladh."
"I bet that means idiot?" You can't help but interrupt.
"Yes. But more rude and offensive. Wrex deserves a little more than a regular 'idiot'."
He starts running after her to playfully headbutt her, and it's as if two freaking dinosaurs are running around in a glass cabinet. You and Kaidan share a look of uh-oh.
You really have become civilians, haven't you?
"Uh, guys? I've bought this Krogan booze that I was told only you would be able to handle. Would blow any one of our non-Krogan eyes out, apparently. Or, the guy at the liquor store is a 'barladh' and shook too many credits out of me."
Grunt is next to you in the flash of an eye. Seriously, you don't know how such a big guy managed that. When taking the bottle he starts laughing.
"I had this once. I think it was meant for thresher maws," then he adds completely seriously, "you could handle it, Shepard. Think of it as Reaper Light. But you'd have to poop very much."
"Yeah, no. I've seen enough of the inside of a hospital for a lifetime. Besides, I'm pretty attached to my bowel function, thank you very much."
"You're welcome." Then he happily bounds over to Wrex, pointing enthusiastically at the bottle.
The doorbell finally rings, and Kaidan's eyes are on your face instantly. It's as if he heard your heart jump.
You smooth your palms down your jeans before turning the door knob.
Your mother flashes you a broad smile, before bringing you in for a tight hug. She smells of lavender and green apples, as you'd always remember.
Then she leans back to look at you.
"Aeryn, my sweetpea." She runs a hand through your brown waves and you smile a humble smile at her.
You take her coat and lead her in, while she looks around with a stunned, timid smile on her face.
As you pour her a glass of white wine, her favorite, she turns to you.
"It's such a humble place full of life. It's so you."
When you look at her, her eyes hold sadness. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I didn't want you to live here. I was worried because you looked so… fragile in that hospital bed. Illium looks so clean but below the surface, it's just as dirty as Omega. But you know that better than anyone," she smiles lightly. "You can't live without the danger. Even if the danger can live without you. You're really my daughter after all. And I'm so proud of you."
You look at her, all deep brown eyes and grey locks framing her face, and decide nothing is wrong.
As you embrace her, you whisper, "It's okay, mom."
That went better than you had hoped.
Then again, you should have expected that. You and your mother butted heads (literally) more outside of the family than in it. Drama just never seemed your forte.
Seeing her daughter so vulnerable must have released the overprotective pitbull in her, while you just wanted a sense of normality by moving here. Your normality just didn't consist of a white picket fence, and it had made you a really stubborn daughter.
"Now, where is my favorite son-in-law?" Your mother holds open her arms for Kaidan.
He smiles widely at her, breaking away from the conversation with James to give your mother a big bear-hug. "Hannah, how have you been?"
You walk off toward Liara and Tali to give your mom and Kaidan some space to talk. They liked to talk about you a lot, you'd noticed in the hospital.
Better not to be there for it.
Liara and Tali talk about love lives. Or, Liara's lack of one.
"How about James? He is single, right?"
"No, really, I am not interested. I want to focus on information broking, I still have a lifetime ahead of me, you know."
"Oh come on, Liara. Everyone wants loooovvve."
Okay. Tali is definitely drunk.
"Yes. So why don't you go back to yours?" Liara laughs, pushing Tali quite literally onto Garrus, who is sitting on one of the pillows.
"Well… Hello there, Sicky."
"Wait, what do you call her?" Liara asks, suppressing a snort.
"Well, without her suit she's always getting… Never mind, Liara."
"Yes, I definitely need this in my life." She retorts.
Garrus and Tali don't care. They're already cuddling and laughing at Wrex and Grunt's irresponsible consumption of the dodgy booze bottle.
Liara walks off to talk to James. Probably to argue about biotics versus physical power again.
Either way, Tali lets out a triumphant, "Yes!" Pumping her slender fist in the air.
Liara acts as if she doesn't notice.
You walk over to Joker and EDI.
"Ah, commander. Come to grace us with your presence? Thanks for introducing EDI to dogs, by the way. I think she likes Ashley more than me, which sounds like it could be hot if Ashley weren't a dog now."
You gasp dramatically, calling out, "Jeff, what is wrong with you? Bestiality? Not on my ship! Out!"
"Don't act like you didn't ever look it up."
"Shut up, Jeff," EDI says distracted, still petting Ashley.
"Shepard, these creatures are very enjoyable. They are happy and, like me, seem to suffer memory loss. I threw her a ball but she kept forgetting if or where I'd thrown it, and kept coming back for it."
You try to hold in your laughter, but burst loose.
"I tried, Aeryn," Joker says, shaking his head. "I really tried."
"EDI, she just likes doing that. Plus, Ash is a bit stupid. But don't tell her I said that."
"Jeff, I want a dog too. Can we get a corki?"
"Shepard, what did you do?! Now we're going to be stuck with a 'corki' apparently, the corgi's dumber cousin."
You pull up a vid of a puppy on a nearby pad and shove it in Joker's face.
"Yeah. Sooo terrible. I can't think of anything worse. Demonic, really. The next war will be puppies instead of Reapers."
"I'm just going to take credit for these insane levels of sarcasm." He bows. "Thank you, thank you."
"The student has become the master. I'll fly you guys home tomorrow."
"With a hangover? Shepard, you don't even want to leave your room on a hangover day. Let alone the planet."
You chuckle. "Okay, touché."
"My estimates say that dog-owners are 63.5% happier than non-dog-owners, Jeff."
"You're just pulling these stats out of your ass, aren't you EDI?"
"Yes."
"But I still love you."
"I calculated the probability of an increase of my love for you if we were to adopt a dog. It is significant."
"Aeryn? Help?"
"Nope! This one is on you!"
You manage to quickly escape that one by going to Miranda and Jack, who playing catch with a biotic warp. While drunk.
"You throw like a cheerleader, you popsicle," Jack calls out.
"I think Aeryn's dog could throw better than you."
"Yeah, Shepard, you took a fucking dog? You traitor."
"What did I do now, Jack?" You smirk.
"Cats are way better. They can take a shit by themselves."
"I hate to say she's right, Aeryn, but she's right."
"Well, my dog is the best and all your arguments are invalid because I am Commander Shepard."
"Okay Jack, seriously, you throw like the Hulk on steroids. I'm too drunk for this," Miranda squishes the biotic ball.
You shake your head and set out to find your husband. He is leaning against the booze table, quietly observing everyone.
"Hey, love. You okay?" you ask him.
He puts his arm around your waist, pulling you in to his side. Together, you look over your old crew.
"I'm more than okay. I mean look at these people. Been through hell and back. And yet, when you throw them together it's like the silliest, most diverse, most daring group of college students gets together. This type of bond, it… it's special."
He peppers little kisses along your hairline.
"Kai, are you drunk?"
"What? No."
"You're extra sappy. You do that when you're drunk."
"That's just my personality. Sappy and serious."
"Kaidan, are you serious?" You joke.
"Oh, ha-ha," he tickles you while you swat his hand away.
You observe everything in silence while intertwining your hands and enjoying his spicy, musky scent drifting in your nostrils.
You break the comfortable silence. "I'm like their mom, aren't I? Always getting everyone together and getting happy over seeing them together."
"Does that make me their dad?"
You chuckle. "Well, logic would say so, hubby."
That's when your mom has created an empty circle in the middle of the room, serving as fighting pit, loudly proclaiming, "No one could defeat my daughter! "
"Shit. I think she's had some of that Krogan booze." You look at Kaidan helplessly.
"Ohhh no. She's your mom. Plus, saving is kind of what you do."
"This is your elegant way of saying, 'you're on your own'."
"Yes." he says, smiling bashfully and softly kissing your cheek.
Yup. Hannah Shepard.
As you walk over to her to calm that situation down, Samantha and Samara come at you with shots.
Samantha yells, "Shots in the fighting pit!" Handing you two.
"Why do I get two?!"
"Because you are the ShepShep. And because you were kissing Kaidan in the corner. I don't have my toothbrush here, but if I would we could use that to get the sweetness out of our mouths. Now we use alcohol to sanitize. Don't bitch about it, drink!"
Ooookay.
"I think she's just jealous of Kaidan, Shepard," Samara jokes in her signature calm fashion.
"Can you actually have alcohol according to your oaths and codes and shit?"
"Those have been disbanded. I have chosen to help my daughter in her journey to peace, and she will help me with mine. It is easier to disband the oaths than to truly stop being a Justicar. But she offered for me to help her run the monastery, with more compassion than was previously done."
"That is great, Samara. I'm really happy for you," you genuinely speak.
"DRINK!" Samantha yells again.
"Okay, sorry," you say as you gulp down your drinks.
Meanwhile, your mother is still finding someone who will fight you, because she 'is sure you will defend the family honor'.
As you take your mother by the hand to lead her to the couch for a nap, you are grabbed roughly by the waist and thrown over a hard shoulder.
"I defeated the great Commander Shepard!" Garrus yells.
"Sure did. Put me down now, soldier?"
"No."
"Stupid Turian. Tali, next time you get a hold of his sniper, shove it some place uncomfortable in him. Let's see how he'll calibrate his way out of that one."
Tali slurs something intelligible.
"Did you use the straws I put out for you, Tali?"
"Emurgncy inducdion poort."
Why do you love these people so much again?
Hours fly by with everyone catching up and more than a few booze bottles end up empty. Everyone ends up staying over, which makes for a funny sight of people of all shapes and sizes being strewn across your living room floor. All huddled in blankets, they collectively look like a big, fluffy cloud.
Except for Tali. She looks straight up uncomfortable sleeping in that suit.
Garrus did in fact carry you around for a large part of the remainder of the evening.
It wasn't until your ribs felt bruised that Kaidan lifted you with his biotics.
Before that, he was too busy laughing his ass off about it.
You and him retreat to your room once everyone is all set in the living room. The host perk of not having to sleep on the floor.
You as well as him get horny from the alcohol, but fall asleep as soon as you see the bed.
It's always like this, so it shouldn't be a surprise. But it is in your drunk minds, every time. It's good that you only get drunk once in a blue moon.
Once the morning (or early afternoon, probably) dawns on you, and you welcome it with a hangover throat and headache, you realize why you shouldn't give Krogan booze.
Because they have this weird tradition of celebrating their hangovers by screaming at the top of their four lungs.
It's a miracle the law enforcement hasn't stopped by.
You look at Kaidan, who just jumped awake from a particularly loud shriek in the other room. His eyes wide, he accidentally hovers the nightstand in the air with a blue glow.
"Oh. Sorry," he says frowning, disoriented. He puts the nightstand down with less grace than he normally would. "What the hell was that?"
You chuckle at his face. "I think that was Grunt. Or Wrex. Either. But your face is adorable," You touch it with your hand, slightly stroking his cheek.
He smiles and leans into your hand. "Right. I remember Wrex doing this. We always thought he'd killed off Garrus if he did this."
"Yeah." You smile at the memory.
"Should we go help them?" You ask with a grimace. You really don't want to.
Kaidan groans, stretching the sleep from his body. Your favorite view.
"I guess we do, since we're their Normandy parents."
You chuckle fondly at the term. "Normandy parents. I like that."
"You take Grunt, I take Wrex?"
"Deal," you peck him on the lips, dressing hastily and walking to the living room hand in hand. Taking care of your (hungover) family.