Daddy Was a Rolling Stone: Short Version

She didn't belong here.

The Presidium of the Citadel bustled about as it had for centuries. Beings of many races moved with purpose across the arching bridges that spanned manicured parks. Few gave the armored, blond haired human more than a glance as they went about their various tasks. Military personal rarely had free range on the Presidium. This was the venue for diplomats and powerful businessmen. But this was no ordinary soldier. This was one of the most famous members of the Citadel Counsel's elite operatives. She was the first human Specter, Commander Kira Shepard: hero of the battle for the Citadel!

Because of the events of that battle, many non-humans feared and even hated her. Her decisions -though heroic- led to the deaths of the original counsel ...and its replacement by a Human-only counsel, headed by Counselor Udina.

As Commander Shepard leaned on the curving railing of the bridge, looking out at where the habitat ring curved out of sight, a tall dark haired man walked up beside her. Placing an arm comfortably around her waist he said, "Credit for your thoughts." She stood straight, a frown on her face.

"I'm really regretting my decision to support Udina as the head of the Counsel. If he doesn't watch it, he'll find out that his title doesn't afford him the same protection as a biotic barrier."

A frown then creased Kaidan Alenko's face as well. "You really shouldn't say things like that. You're already on thin ice with the powers-that-be, because of your association with Cerberus."

The look she gave him spoke to the conversations that they had had earlier. Kaidan knew just how close he had come to losing her. Shepard had always seemed invincible. Standing against Saren and Sovereign when few believed she wasn't out of her mind. But then came that terrible day when the Collectors destroyed the Normandy and she sacrificed her life for Joker. But then, two years later, she miraculously showed up on Horizon and saved the colony from a Collector attack!

Upon seeing her then, Kaidan was both elated and hurt. Had she "faked" her death as the rumors had said? Why hadn't she contacted him? And the further shock of finding her in the employ of Cerberus was almost too much for him to bear. How could she work for them after all the atrocities they had witnessed committed by Cerberus operatives -not to mention what those operatives had done to Admiral Kahoku?

Kaidan had felt betrayed. After he had allowed his emotions to calm, though, it sank-in that she, too, had paid a price. The glowing scars that had lacerated her face were testament to the lengths that Cerberus had gone to bring her back.

But now the Collector threat had been defeated and, to his shame, he had not stood beside her. The mission she had now taken on was to prepare the galaxy for the coming Reaper invasion. She didn't know when it would come. A year? Two? A thousand? No one could know. But that mission is what had brought her back to the Citadel and back into his life. Somewhere along the line she had fixed the scarring on her face, but the fire behind those eyes still burned. It had taken some time for them to work past their various feelings and get back to a semblance of their previous relationship.

"Well at least Cerberus takes the threat seriously, unlike that self-important bureaucrat."

He understood her frustration. After she had "died", she'd gotten a state funeral and a plaque with her name on it...and then they promptly swept everything she had said under a rug.

"You have to cut them a little slack. The attack is still fresh in their minds. The lower wards are still cleaning up the mess -and that was just one Reaper. Now you're telling them there is an entire armada -bent on wiping out all life- headed their way? Of course they don't want to believe it!"

She opened her mouth for a rebuttal when she was interrupted.

"Excuse me, but are you Commander Kira Shepard?"

They both turn to the new arrival. He was short for a Human, balding, and wearing an old style business suit that was completely out of place on the Citadel. Shepard looked down at the man and simply replied, "...Yes..."

"Oh, my heavens! I cannot tell you what I have been through tracking you down! I have a message from your father!"

Fewer words could have been spoken that could have had a greater impact than those uttered by this odd little man.

The problem was that Shepard had never known her father. He had left her mother when she was pregnant. Her mother had died when Shepard was only five years old, and she had grown up on the streets of New York in a gang called "the Tenth Street Reds." For some reason things from her past seem to be popping up lately. First it was Finch from the old gang - and then Major Kyle from Torfan - and now a message from her father!

"...What kind of message?"

"Pardon my excitement, but who could have known that this message -put in our care all those years ago- would lead one to a genuine hero!"

"Would you just get on with it?"

"Right you are! My name is 'Milo Wolowitts', of Hammon, Stern and Wolowitts, PA." He handed her a small rectangle of paper which appeared to magically jump to the end of his fingers. "My firm was contracted to deliver this message to you on your twentieth birthday!"

Kaidan chuckled at that and said, "I think you missed it by more than a few years" -for which he got an armored elbow in the ribs.

"Yes, well, you were a might hard to track down! We thought we had tracked you down last year, after the attack on the Citadel, but then you were reported as having died! Imagine my delight at having found that not to be true!"

Kaidan knew the warning signs. Shepard was about to do something violent.

"We are happy for you, but could you just - give - her - the - message - already?"

"Right you are! Right you are! But first things first. If you could just put your hand on this DNA scanner, to verify your identity..."

At which point Milo reached into his archaic briefcase and pulled out a piece of equipment that at least looked like it had been manufactured this century. After getting a positive scan result he then produced a sealed plastic envelop. Opening it up, Commander Shepard found an old-style video disk. Looking back at Milo she sniffed, "You're kidding, right? I doubt that I could find anything to play this thing with anywhere on the Citadel."

"Not to worry! Not to worry! I have a player right here!" At which point he pulled out a portable viewer. "It has its own screen, but it's also wireless...so you shouldn't have any trouble hooking it up to any view screen. And now -with your kind permission, Commander- I can go back to Earth!"

After the small man had left, the two headed back to where the Normandy II was docked. "Sooo...a message from your father. Do you remember anything that your mother might have mentioned about him?" Looking pensive, Shepard replied "Now that I think about it -what little I can remember, of course- she never spoke badly of him. As a matter of fact, I think she once said that he was a hero."

"What kind of 'hero?' Was he in the military?"

"I don't think so. Maybe...Ah, hell -I was only five when she died, and it's not really something I've dwelled on."

Arriving on the Normandy II the pair was greeted at the airlock by a guard. While it had been well-lit on the Citadel, the lights on the Normandy where only set at half -being that it was late in the ship's evening. Few of the crew were about, and the two headed to the lift. Arriving in the Captain's Cabin, Shepard turned to a display right inside the door.

"Edi I have a rather old video disk player. Can you connect to it and display the image over on the armor-select console?" A pleasant, if somewhat artificial, woman's voice responded, "That's not a problem Commander."

Shepard and Kaidan walked down the stairs from the cabin's "office" to its living space. Sitting on the edge of the bed they looked at the holographic display on the port side bulkhead. An image formed of a man of middle years, with dark brown hair and a neatly trimmed moustache. He was, if anything, a rather nondescript man...but there was something in the eyes: a hidden intensity...a quiet resolve.

A woman's voice, not unlike Shepard's, said off-camera "Alan it's recording."

The man smiled pleasantly and announced, "Yes, Kira, you have a father." At which point he chuckled at some inner joke. "My name is Alan Johnson, and I'm your father. I've asked Helen not to tell you much about me, as whom and what I am is a little...er, complicated. So I'm recording this as a twentieth birthday gift, and I really hope that you will understand all that I have to tell you...and maybe forgive me for not being there as you grew up." A sadness filled his eyes, but he quickly got it under control and the smile returned.

"The first thing I need to mention is that I'm not from your world. I am from Earth, but not this Earth."

Shepard's mouth opened, to voice a question that never came.

The recording of Alan continued. "Several years ago I and several others were involved in an event that -well- shunted us from our reality...and we have been trying to get back to it ever since. I'm not going to get into all the science behind it as it doesn't really matter at this point. What does matter is that I don't have a choice in leaving. If it had only been me travelling, then I would have stayed here with you and your mother. I can only hope that one day you'll understand how, sometimes, obligations can override any personal desires you might have to the contrary. Also...if the choice was there, I would have brought you and your mother with me - but the journey is hazardous, and I will not risk your lives. This is - in case you were wondering - why you have your mother's last name. I don't exist here and bureaucracies handle unanswered questions better than answers that aren't covered by one of their forms."

Alan's eyes strayed toward the ceiling and he stroked his moustache, his voice briefly muffled behind his hand. "I think you might be wondering just who I am. Well...I was born in Chicago...in 1960."

Chuckling, he continued, "Oh, I'm not as old as all that! One of the problems with travelling between realities is locking onto the date. Again, it's complicated - but I think we are getting better at it. By trade I'm an engineer. By hobby, well ...that might be a little hard to believe. This Earth has only just started to reach out to the stars, and you have yet to encounter any non-human civilizations...although by the time you see this, that might not be the case. Once humans encounter aliens you might find that they have abilities that humans don't, such as telepathy or telekinesis."

"I'm telling you this because you yourself might have these abilities! Because on my Earth they are not uncommon and...well...I, and other members of my family, have them."

"WHAT?" That last comment by Alan had brought Kaidan to his feet, staring in disbelief between the screen and Shepard.

"Edi pause please." The image of the man stopped moving just as he was opening his mouth to say something else.

Kaidan continued. "Were you or weren't you exposed to Element Zero?" Shepard smiled up at him, guiltily.

"Actually...I wasn't."

"As a matter of fact, I never even had biotic implants until Cerberus got a hold of me. After I joined the Alliance Military and started using my abilities, everyone just assumed that I had implants...and I didn't see any need to dissuade them of the idea. Now, are you going to sit down so we can continue this?" Shaking his head, Kaidan suspiciously returned to his spot next to Shepard.

"Edi please continue the recording."

Alan continued to speak, "On my Earth people with abilities are called "Phenoms"...and occasionally some would band together for various reasons. As it turns out, I am a member of one of those bands ...which is how I came to be on this little journey. As for how your mother and I came to be together… well, you can't always predict who you'll connect with, or the situations you might find yourself in." Shepard and Kaidan briefly looked at each other.

"I fell in love with your mother and I'm not sorry. Never regret love. If you ever have the opportunity to fall in love, cherish it. It may not last, but that's no reason to avoid it."

"Helen, get over here and say hello to your daughter! I know young people never believe that their parents were once young, too." Alan slid to the side and a young woman stepped into view. Except for the hair style and the makeup, she could have been Shepard's twin. She must have been very early in her pregnancy, because she didn't show at all. She smiled and said, "Hello, Kira sweetie. Happy birthday!" She blew a kiss and stepped out-of-frame. Kaidan looked over at Shepard and, while her face might have been carved of stone, tears rolled down her cheeks.

The antiquated disk continued its recording of Alan Johnson, the father that Kira never knew. Alan introduced his high-spirited, optimistic allies...fellow stranded "Phenoms" -human and startlingly extraterrestrial- with superhuman abilities. These were the surrogate "Aunts" and "Uncles" that Kira would never meet, from a home-Earth that she would never see. Alan told a few anecdotes, attempted a few jokes, and made numerous apologies for not seeing Kira grow up. He and his fellows were now gone. No...not gone...just elsewhere.

Regardless, the recording of Alan Johnson assured Commander Kira Shepard that she has a home-world...a familial explanation for her abilities...and a father that loves her.

All too soon, the recording ended. The screen went dark and Commander Shepard sat speechless. Edi interrupted with, "The disk contains a variety of still pictures. Would you like to see them?"

Shepard stared at the now-blank screen for several seconds more. "No thank you, Edi. That'll be all for tonight."

"Good night Shepard."

Kaidan stood and stretched, asking no one in particular "...So...do you actually think that's real?"

Shepard laid back on her bed, staring out though the skylight at the nebulous clouds that surrounded the Citadel. She smiled, wistfully. "At this point, I'm not sure."

"...But I choose to believe it is."

6