The stars that drifted past the observation window were the only observers tonight, the opportunities for some alone time few and far between during the war. Shepard leaned back against the hard plated chest of her favorite turian and his arms slid around her stomach. In moments like these, it was easy to let herself forget, if only for a few hours, that this could all be taken away.

"Okay, my turn," she said. "I was in a band when I was 16."

"Really? Hmmm . . . never pegged you as the type, Shepard." Garrus' voice was a low rumble at her back, his mandibles flicking lightly against her hair.

"Yep. Me and some other spacer brats got together two or three nights a week to play old Earth tunes in an unused storage shed. I was the drummer."

"I bet you were badass."

"Hell yes I was." She brought his hand up and kissed his knuckles. "Your turn."

"I was in a production of 'The General and the Justicar' years ago."

"No shit, really? I love that play." It was one of her favorites, and it played out a bit like Romeo and Juliet; the two main characters fell in love, but their positions wouldn't allow them to pursue it. "What role were you?"

"I was the guard who had to stall the salarian ambassador so she wouldn't catch them together."

"Oh, that's priceless. Wonder if any vids exist of that?"

"I had them all destroyed, so don't bother." He combed his talons through her hair and she closed her eyes. "Okay, now you."

"Hmm, I think I've told you just about—oh, I worked as a nanny one summer in high school. Right before I enlisted."

"That had to have been fun," Garrus said a little sarcastically.

"Actually, it really was. There were two kids, a five year old girl and an eight year old boy, both human. Their parents were both busy trying to build up a new colony, so they hired me to keep an eye on them. Great kids, really well-behaved. I took them out to the docks to see the shuttle bays and watched old movies with them. They really liked ones with lots of sword fighting, and I remember one night we stayed up until one in the morning reenacting the whole ending fight between Fernand and Edmond from the Count of Monte Cristo." She chuckled to herself at the memory. "We had towels around our necks for capes and I almost broke the couch, but it was worth it."

"Sounds like you would make a great mom."

"I've never really thought about that. Having kids of my own. Either I wasn't ready or it wasn't the right time . . ."

"Or biologically impossible." There was something off about his voice and Shepard turned to look at him. He was trying to make his face unreadable, but she could see the pinched look in his eyes.

"You know that doesn't matter to me."

"That's what you've said, but . . ."

"Garrus, when have you ever known me to lie to you?" She stroked his jaw and he turned his face into her hand. "If we decide to have kids later on, there are options for that. DNA isn't the only thing that makes a family, you know."

"Fair point." Shepard nodded and went back to lying against him, playing with his fingers. He purred, his chest rumbling against her back and sending warm shivers down her spine.

"You ever think about having kids, Garrus?"

"Sure, sometimes." He stroked her abdomen and nuzzled her neck. "I wonder about what you'd look like carrying my child, and what it would be like to feel him kick." He palmed her stomach, his hand spanning almost from hip to hip and she laid her hands over his.

"Oh, so we're having a boy, are we?"

"Yeah, an older boy and younger girl, so she has a protective older brother to beat the crap out of anyone who messes with her."

"I could teach them to shoot."

"As long as you let me teach them to drive." She bumped him with her elbow in mock indignation and he chuckled.

"You know, just because we're not able to yet doesn't mean that we won't. Who knows, there might be a scientific breakthrough that would make a human-turian hybrid baby possible."

"Maybe if we tried a little more, we could just bend biology to our will."

"Stranger things have happened." She turned around so she was on her knees facing him and put her arms around him to stroke the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and hummed in pleasure. "You up for trying right now?"

As it turned out, they both were.