Y'all wanted some motherfuckin babies, you got some motherfuckin babies. And this got A LOT more feelsy and angsty than I had planned…
PS, Hoooooly crap thank you all so much for all the love I got for the first installment! I'm blown away!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect. I just like to suffer.
…
"Sara."
She started with the faintest twitch as the voice sounded over the private channel. She had dozed off, mind drifting, as she stood at the bridge.
The stars took her attention from where they idled just outside of Aya's orbit.
Her blunt nails resumed a rhythmless tapping on the console.
"Yeah?"
SAM didn't use her given name often, no matter how many times she told him that it was okay to refer to her as 'Sara' and not 'Pathfinder' when they were in private.
Now for him to just use that out of the blue was definitely something that caught her attention.
There was a pause for a beat, a bit longer. Hesitation. And SAM wasn't often hesitant.
"SAM," she pressed, "What is it?"
"I am detecting unusual levels of human chorionic gonadotropin in your blood."
Sara blinked. It wasn't like she expected SAM to beat around the bush regarding whatever he had to say, but that blunt fact was shocking and incomprehensible.
"Uh, I don't know what that is, SAM. Layman's terms, please."
Another pause.
"It is a hormone produced by the human body when a fertilized embryo attaches to the uterus. I am detecting it in your body."
She opened her mouth and shut it, his words sinking in. Still not exactly layman's terms, but she got his meaning. And the world tilted, enough that Sara reached out and gripped console for balance.
"So, that means?" she squeaked, just needing the creeping truth told to her.
A cold sweat spread over her skin.
"I believe it means you are pregnant."
Right.
She turned on her heel, Suvi's concerned question falling on deaf ears.
The short path from the bridge to her quarters was travelled as if on autopilot. If Liam said anything when she passed him before ducking into her room, she didn't hear it. The door closed on his trailed-off words.
"Lock the door. No access," Sara exhaled.
Her chest felt tight, too tight, a rush of blood in her ears.
"Are you sure, SAM? Are you positive?"
"I am."
Sara shucked off her jacket and rolled up her shirt to reveal the relatively flat plane of her stomach.
"I suppose congratulations are in order," SAM said.
There was some kind of inflection in his voice, something she couldn't identify. He was learning. And this was definitely something new for both of them.
Sara tried to laugh and made more of a choked noise.
Maybe he couldn't gauge her reaction.
She couldn't either.
Elation, fear, anxiety.
She yanked her shirt back over her stomach. It was foolish to try looking for a difference. She knew that nothing would be noticeable yet, if the child—the embryo—had literally just embedded in her body. Gods, SAM just had to make it sound like she was afflicted by some kind of freaky parasite.
It was likely only a few dozen cells large, won't get big enough to make it obvious for a while. Not that she could remember anything from biology or sex-ed when her mind was swirling.
She was pregnant. With Jaal's child.
And then there was the panic, enough to turn her knees to jelly. She sat down on her bed, leaning heavily on her knees.
Sara wasn't an expert in biology, but she was good enough to know that this wasn't, shouldn't have been possible.
She wasn't asari. She shouldn't have been able to even get close to being pregnant by someone of another species.
And yet…if what SAM was saying was true, she was.
Pregnant.
It wasn't like she hadn't thought about the idea. A flight of fancy while in a sex hormone-induced craze, the strangely primal desire to bear her angara partner children. It had been nice to imagine at the time, incredibly hot, even, though she knew it wasn't going to happen.
And yet…
"How is this possible?" she whispered.
"Perhaps interfacing with Remnant technology over long periods of time altered your DNA, making you genetically compatible with angara."
"Can that happen?"
"The Jardaan were able to create an entire sentient species capable of reproduction. It is unlikely that their ability to manipulate life would be so limited as to your pre-existing genome."
Sara cringed, not really liking the idea of an alien technology worming its way into her cells and fucking with her DNA.
"Coupled with Jaal's mating heat and the way it altered your hormones, your body became incredibly fertile, increasing the chances for conception exponentially."
A scoff. That was just a cascade of things that brought her to where she was at that moment.
Well, she supposed in the end it didn't matter how this happened. It happened.
"What do I do?" she whispered.
"You have options."
Genetic differences aside, she was Pathfinder, dealing with countless issues. She barely had time to keep up her relationship with Jaal in the first place, much less have a child.
Activating Meridian and taking down the Archon did much to alleviate the workload, but still. She had a hundred and one things to deal with.
Gods, how was the Initiative going to react to this? Both the fact that their human Pathfinder got herself knocked up and that a human was able to get pregnant by a Heleus race.
If there was a viable child—the possibility for more—between a Milky Way and Andromeda species, it would be hope for the future, ensured survival for at least two species.
'Viable' was the caveat. Sara didn't know if this pregnancy was going to end in the next couple minutes or days or weeks or months with no child.
Fear made her hiccup, tears burning in her eyes.
Right. She couldn't get her hopes up.
"Options, huh?"
Fingers drummed on her knee.
"Yes," SAM mused. "You could keep the child. It would likely require an above-average amount of prenatal care. Or—."
"I'm…gonna keep it," Sara spoke up, too loudly, cutting SAM off.
She didn't want to hear what else he had to say.
A lovely possibility. A bundle in her arms, probably wailing and screaming, human and not. Squishy and soft and vulnerable.
Hers.
But, it was a possibility, she wasn't certain that this was going to happen.
She amended, "Try to keep it, at least."
"I understand."
She glanced down at her stomach and back at the closed door. Hopefully, suspicions hadn't been raised by her behavior.
If anyone else other than SAM talked to her right now, this new secret would come spilling out. There was no question about that. Gods, especially if Jaal came knocking at her door, full of love and concern.
The father of her child. Their child.
Every fiber of her being wanted to jump up and tell him.
"Should I wait to tell Jaal?"
"You fear you will miscarry?"
Just the word said aloud made her throat burn. It was like she had swallowed broken glass.
"Well, I just conceived, didn't I?" she whispered.
"Yes. Approximately an hour ago."
"And there is a chance that this will just not work out."
"It is a possibility, just as with any regular pregnancy. Typically, it is within the first three months after conception where the risk is greatest."
Sara rubbed her face with her hands.
Of course, three months, ninety days. And it could be even longer for this kind of pregnancy.
"You are strong, Sara. You have traversed this new galaxy and done many things no one else could do.
"If anyone could do this, it is you. You can do this."
She smiled slightly, just a twitch of the mouth, feeling a bit warm on the inside.
"I'm not getting Jaal's hopes up only to miscarry within the hour," she said, the choice clear in her mind.
"Very well."
"Tell him without my permission and I will tear out my implant with my bare hands. Clear?"
This time, there was no delay in SAM answering.
"Of course."
…
Angst-fest, right? Not to worry, things will get better soon. Maybe. Probably.
All feedback is appreciated!
Come say hi on my Tumblr and drop a Jaal/Sara prompt in my inbox until June 21 7pm PST! tiaraofsapphires!
Cheers!
~Tiara of Sapphires