I was in a mood for Shenko and their kids. Decided to make my own for Halloween. Takes place after my unfinished fic Priority: Babies.
Oh, and a special thanks to my friend Asiramx (Marisa) for helping me with Tali and Garrus's kids' names.
In the years since the end of the Reaper war, much had happened. Couples had gotten married, kids born and adopted, neighbors moved in next door to the Shepard-Alenko apartment. Aside from the intimate details, something a bit unexpected happened. After the war, humans began taking their children trick-or-treating on the Citadel on their human holiday of Halloween. Rarely did aliens pay any attention to other races' holidays, but the idea was so simple, so fun. Dress up, be spooky, and give out candy. Non-human children began to whine for their parents to take them trick-or-treating, and most of those parents gave in.
As a result, several years after the war, the formerly human-only tradition had spread like wildfire through the galaxy. Soon every child, regardless of being human, asari, turian, salarian, krogan, quarian, or anything else was going door to door asking for tricks or treats in costumes. Adults had great fun in decorating their homes, and the krogan in particular loved the day. The race enjoyed haunted houses, and often they got more pleasure out of scaring people than getting candy.
Shepard and Kaidan were no exception; they loved Halloween as much as anyone else. As soon as their kids were old enough, they took them trick-or-treating. Kaidan himself suspected Shepard loved Halloween even more than their children. Every year she stuck up decorations of all sorts, black cats, fiber-optic pumpkins, gargoyles, and jack-o-lanterns galore. She'd ask the kids for whatever candy they didn't want, put on the horror movie channel after they went to bed, and promptly cuddled with her hubby as they watched. They liked taking their kids out on that day, and they did everything they could to make sure they wouldn't lose track of them.
This year, the walls were covered in fake spiderwebs, black cat figurines and miniature pumpkins resting along tabletops along with skulls, spiders, and everything Shepard could find to put up. Many of them were electrical and shined in multiple shades of orange, black, purple, and green. By the door downstairs, more than one pumpkin was carved intricately by Jane Shepard's hand, the television playing the old but still classic It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. In the cascading wall fountain on the way to the office
downstairs, a skeleton had been laid out on the rocks on the bottom, a red pirate hat and plastic cutlass in hand. Put simpyl, it looked like Halloween had come in the apartment and vomited everywhere.
"Daaad! Dragons don't wear flashing pins!"
The protest came from Shepard and Kaidan's five year old son, David. He was a scrappy little ginger boy with his mother's green eyes and freckles aplenty on his face, and a stubborn attitude to go with it. At the moment his hair was mostly obscured save for a few red strands falling out from under his purple dragon costume. The dragon mouth and jaw surrounded his face. Kaidan himself was knelt down to the ground and pinning a flashing orange pin to his son's chest, the face of a jack-o-lantern in the middle of the pin. They were in the hallway upstairs, between the master bedroom and the children's bedroom.
"So you'll be the first flashy dragon. It's good to be unique." Kaidan replied calmly. He finished fastening the pin to the child and stood up. His son grumbled and pouted.
"But Daaad, only lame dragons are flashy! Why do I have to wear it?"
"Because in the event we somehow get separated, your mother and I want to be able to find you easily."
"I can take care of myself! I can even use biotics to get your attention! Watch!" The boy's body was covered in a blue glow, and he lifted his limp black bag he was using to go trick-or-treating. He let it hover in the air until he got tired and released it, the glow fading from the child and bag. Kaidan clapped his hands proudly, smiling at his son.
"Good job using biotics. But we're still going to keep the pin on you."
"But why?"
"Because I love you, that's why."
"Fine." The boy huffed. Kaidan picked up the trick-or-treat bag and handed it to his child.
"Good. Why don't you run off to the kitchen? Your grandmothers are in there waiting to say hi." Kaidan suggested. The boy did not need to be told twice, and scampered off towards the kitchen to greet his grandmothers with glee. Kaidan chuckled and headed to the twins' room, where Shepard was struggling to keep a sparkly black and purple witch's hat on her daughter. The girl already had her flashing pin on her chest. Jane finally pulled away and examined her daughter.
"Alright, Ashley, I did my best to put bobby pins on to keep the hat, but you may have to grip it if it falls off."
"Let me try." Kaidan said as he walked into the room. The children's room was cleaned up, all toys safely stowed in a chest against the wall. The large bed that used to be inside had been replaced with two smaller beds. Ashley herself looked more like her father; she had dark hair and her father's eyes. She had freckles like her mother, and biotics just like her brother. She excitedly beamed as her father came in.
"Hi, Daddy!"
"Hi, sweetie. Let's see what I can do with your hat." He knelt down and looked at his wife's bobby pin placement. There wasn't much space to clip the inside of the large brim of the hat to the thick hair, and even he couldn't see anything else to do. Shepard shrugged.
"I did my best, but I don't know how much those pins can accomplish with that hat."
"I can see. Sorry, Ashley, that's about all we can do."
"That's okay, I'll just pull it on tight if it falls off." she said cheerfully. She plucked her orange trick-or-treat bag from her bed, where it had been resting. Ashley skipped downstairs to greet her grandparents. Kaidan took the moment to quickly kiss his wife, who kissed back and smiled when he pulled back. He and Shepard stood up, and Shepard crossed her arms.
"We have the cutest kids ever." she stated proudly. Kaidan laughed.
"That we do." Husband and wife headed downstairs, turned around the corner, and walked a few feet to the kitchen. The kids were sitting in the laps of their grandmothers, Ashley in Hannah Shepard's lap and David in Kaidan's mother's lap. Both of the grandmothers' hair had since grayed, though Kaidan's mother had a darker gray. The kids were chattering endlessly and giddily.
The mothers looked up and smiled at their children. "There you two are. You didn't tell us how big they're getting!" Mrs. Alenko exclaimed. Kaidan chuckled.
"Yeah, they sure are. Keep outgrowing all the clothes we get them."
"It's 'cause we're not little anymore! We're big!" Ashley chimed in. David vigorously nodded.
"Yeah! Big!" he agreed.
"You certainly are." Jane Shepard said, looking amused. Hannah patted Ashley's back affectionately.
"And since you're both getting so big, how have your biotics been?" the rear admiral asked. David grinned, clearly proud of himself.
"Oh! Oh! Really, really good! We're gonna be the best ever at using biotics!" he squealed.
"Yeah!" Ashley said, "Best biotics!"
"Good to hear. So are you two looking forward to going trick-or-treating?" Kaidan's mother asked. Both of them bobbed their heads up and down.
"Trick-or-treat all night long!" David declared. Kaidan crossed his arms.
"So, you mean until about eight-ish?" he asked. The twins frowned in protest. Ashley shook head head side to side in abject protest.
"No! At least nine! Nine, I tell you!" Ashley protested. The father threw his hands up.
"Okay, nine. Or as long as you can go."
"In which case we carry them home like we did last year." Shepard murmured into her husband's ear. He held in a snort of laughter. David looked up at his mother.
"Mommy, why can't we go yet? We're all ready." he asked impatiently.
"We're waiting for Aunt Tali, Uncle Garrus, and your cousins Otari and Kyran to go trick-or-treating with us. That, and Aunt EDI and Uncle Joker. Let's not forget Uncle Javik and Aunt Liara. Can't forget them either, now can we?" Shepard pointed out. Both of her kids, although still wanting to go as soon as possible, sighed, understanding well enough the reason.
"We can't go without them." Ashley agreed. "A crew's gotta stick together!" Just as she finished, the doorbell rang. The kids hopped out of their grandmothers' laps and ran over to the door with their parents. Shepard glanced down at them.
"Kids, it might just be more trick-or-treaters. It may not be family yet." she said calmly. The kids insisted on following, and as Kaidan opened the door, it was revealed to be Garrus, Tali, and their two children. The two children were a quarian girl raised without a suit and a turian boy, their names respectively Otari and Kyran. Otari had been born by Tali via in-vitro fertilization, and Kyran had been adopted. Both of them were four years old, just a year younger than Shepard and Kaidan's children. Otari looked a lot like her mother without the mask; long, slightly curly black hair, white eyes, a few black lines running along her face, with an infectious smile. She was dressed up as a witch, costume nearly identical to Ashley, whom she had decided to go with as a pair of witches.
Kyran had a much darker carapace than his adopted father, and yet his face had dark blue markings like his father, courtesy of a bit of face paint. He was a lot like David; he was stubborn and feisty, determined to be quite the adventurer. He was in a makeshift, white varren costume. Both of the kids wore the same flashing pins Ashley and David wore.
Otari's eyes glistened with excitement. "Ashley!" she squealed in her soft, high-pitched voice.
"Otari!" The two girls ran toward each other and embraced in a hug. Kyran stuck his tongue out in disgust.
"Girls are weird." he said, his voice flanging. Garrus chuckled.
"Don't be so judgmental. They'll kick your ass more than once in your life, Kyran." he said. Of course, Garrus's words were quickly forgotten as Kyran spied David. The two boys quickly engaged in a ritualistic chest and fist bump. Tali rolled her eyes.
"And he says that girls are weird."
"They just never understand, do they?" Shepard asked, smirking slightly. Tali sighed.
"No, never, Shepard. Are you that surprised?" She hugged Shepard quickly and hugged Kaidan in greeting. "It's so nice to see you all."
"We see each other every day; we live next door." Shepard pointed out.
"It's still nice to see you." Garrus replied, "Anyways, the kids are all dressed up and rowdy and they haven't even had candy yet."
"It happens. Usually they're less hyper even after they eat it, because they're always so tuckered out by all the walking." Kaidan explained. Tali giggled.
"Of course. It's always so funny to see them get so worked up and then pass out on the floor after consuming too much candy." They came in and headed to the kitchen while the kids scurried off to watch It's The Great Pumpkin. Soon enough the door rang again, and Shepard went to answer it. Upon opening it, Liara and Javik were present outside the door. Liara beamed at her best friend.
"Shepard! It's so nice to see you." She hugged her, and Shepard hugged back. Liara pulled back. Javik merely looked at Shepard.
"Commander." he addressed respectfully. Shepard withheld an eye roll; Javik was always so firm (unless he was drunk). Nevertheless, she nodded back.
"Javik, how are you two?"
"Good, Shepard." Liara said cheerfully. "I-"
"Let us exchange pleasantries inside, yes? While we are speaking, I feel I should mention that I still do not understand this primitive holiday." Javik interrupted. Shepard was about to step aside and allow them in when another voice came from behind Liara and Javik.
"It's pretty simple, it's dress up and get candy." It was Joker's voice. Liara and Javik turned around to see Joker walking alongside EDI. "Good to see you guys." He threw his hand up in a wave.
"The party could not start without us, Shepard." EDI teased. "Happy Halloween."
"Happy Halloween to you guys, too. Come in; the hall's chilly."
As soon as the door closed behind them, the four children came scrambling towards the entrants, squealing with excitement, yelling their names in glee. All the adults' eyes, save for Javik's, lit up in response. Liara knelt down and held her arms out, waiting for the hugs she was due. She was nearly knocked over from the impact of four excited kids, and she grunted and smiled widely at them.
"There's my kids! I'm so happy to see you all." the asari chimed.
"I love you, Aunt Liara." Otari piped up. Liara ran a hand through the quarian's hair affectionately.
"I love you, too, Otari." Liara said affectionately. EDI feigned a pout and crossed her arms.
"Now, where is my hug?"
"Yeah! We can't forget Aunt EDI!" Ashley chirped, starting the flood of love to be spread to EDI. EDI returned the affection, even giving them kisses on the head each, ignoring the boys' grimaces. Joker merely ran a hand over their heads with a grin.
"Good to see you too, copilots. Why didn't any of you dress up as Uncle Joker for Halloween?" he asked teasingly. All of the kids made a face, though it was hard to discern on Kyran.
"You're not scary, uncle Joker. You're cool, but not scary We wanna be scary!" Kyran explained. Joker snorted.
"Just wait until you become adults. Your parents are all crazy, and you're gonna be just as frightening as Aunt Jane when she's mad."
"They'll get it down before they reach eighteen." Shepard said proudly. The kids withheld from hugging Javik, but they did vocalize their joy to see him with a couple of excited hi's. Javik glanced down at them, a rare smile given only to the children growing on his face.
"Yes, they shall all grow to be powerful warriors, just like their parents. Count on it." he said proudly. The kids scurried back to the television, and the adults congregated in the kitchen once more. They only had time to chatter for a few moments before the herd of kids came back to the kitchen, all holding their trick-or-treat bags.
"Mooom, can we go now?" Otari begged, looking to Tali.
"Pretty please?" Kyran added, looking at his father. Ashley and David grinned widely, hopefully looking to their own mom and dad. Kaidan, Shepard, Tali, and Garrus all shared a glance.
"I'm ready to go if you all are." Kaidan said with a shrug. Tali pulled herself from the seat she had took on the counter, stretching herself, ready to go. Garrus stood up straight, and finally Shepard nodded.
"Alright."
The children squeal with joy and utter excitement. Shepard held up her hands. "Hold on," she said, stopping them, "we need to discuss just a few things before we go."
"First of all, no removing the flashing pin." Kaidan started. "Secondly, none of you are to go much father than a few feet away from us. Stay close. Third, if we somehow get separated, don't panic. Go to the nearest spot where Avina is, tell her your full names, and she'll let us know where you are so we can get you."
"Fourth," Tali continued, "Don't eat any of your candy until we get home. Shepard and I want to inspect your candy to make sure that you don't get certain candy in your bags; levo-amino candy in David and Ashley's bags only, dextro in Kyran and Otari's bags only."
"Fifth, let's have some fun. You all understand the rules?" Garrus asked. The kids nodded in unison, and Shepard turned to the occupants not leaving the apartment.
"Can you guys give out the candy? Food's out, and if you need more, you know you can get whatever you want from the fridge."
"We have it handled, dear." Hannah Shepard said with a wink.
"Alright, then. Let's go." Tali announced. The kids excitedly bounced alongside the parents as they headed for the door, ready to leave. They were almost out the door when it rang again. Shepard, assuming it was a trick-or-treating child, grabbed the candy bowl and answered.
She was right. Urdnot Grunt was standing at the door, expectantly holding out a pillowcase. "Trick-or-treat, Battlemaster?" he asked politely. The large krogan was in a blue and white shark costume that covered his hump and fake jaws surrounded his head. Shepard raised an eyebrow as she subconsciously dropped a candy in his bag.
"Grunt? You're trick-or-treating?"
"Heh. Yeah." He patted the heads of the children as he talked. "See, guys, I heard you were going trick-or-treating, so I decided to come. I've already scored some candy. I even have a shark costume!" he said proudly. Garrus crossed his arms.
"No offense, Grunt, but...aren't you kind of old to go trick-or-treating?" he asked. Grunt laughed.
"Nope!" he said proudly, "I may have been grown into an adult, but at heart and in my age in years, I'm within age to go. And I see they get shiny, flashy pins. Why don't I get a flashy, shiny pin?" he demanded. Shepard raised an eyebrow.
"Grunt, we can see you clearly over everyone. You don't really need a-"
"Are you forgetting the rules, sweetie? All the children going get pins. We have an extra." Kaidan said with a wink. Grunt laughed and smirked as Shepard's husband went back in, got a pin, and came back out. He fastened it onto Grunt's chest and patted the krogan on the head. "You're good to go, Grunt." Kaidan said playfully.
"Yeah! Let's get our candy on!" He gave a high-five to the other trick-or-treaters, and the parents shared only a quick look of amusement before walking, starting the night that came once a year.
"Mom, Dad?"
Shepard and Kaidan yelped in unison and turned off the T.V. as their heard their daughter approach them. They were downstairs in the living room, watching an old horror movie on the couch and cuddling. The two of them had believed their children were asleep by now, so they wouldn't see the movie and get nightmares. The parents turned their heads to see Ashley standing at the stairwell in light pink pajamas, looking a little concerned. "What's up, sweetie?" Kaidan inquired, running a hand through his hair. Ashley bit her lip.
"Grunt's in our shower and he's asleep. What do we do?"
"He's what?" Kaidan asked, nonplussed. Shepard, on the other hand, merely stood up and walked towards the stairs. Her husband, though still a little confused, followed her as their daughter led them to their room and to the bathroom. David was standing in dark green pajamas by the shower, staring at Grunt.
Grunt was fast asleep in the shower with the water running, snoring loudly and muttered in his sleep in-between snores. He was cradling pillowcase of candy protectively, getting soaked by the water. The pillowcase no longer had candy in it; it was only full of wrappers. Kaidan and Ashley stopped and gawked. David looked up at his mother. "He's out cold. What do we do?" he asked. Shepard stepped forward and knelt down next to Grunt and shook him gently.
"Grunt?"
"Wha? Yeah. I got five candies..." he muttered in his sleep before dissolving into another loud snore. Shepard bit back a laugh, reached into the shower, and turned off the water. Grunt muttered something in response to the lack of water, half-opened his eyes and looked around and when his eyes met Shepard's he merely closed them again and began snoring once more.
Jane doubted that the action was more than a reflex or that he had woken up at all. She turned to her family. "Are you kids okay with letting Grunt sleep over in the shower?" the mother asked in a whisper. They nodded calmly. Kaidan didn't look very pleased by the idea, but he crossed his arms and said nothing. Shepard stood up, waving her hand to the side. They moved out of the bathroom, and she turned out the lights and left the door open. Grunt responded with a low snore. The kids giggled and after receiving a good night kiss from both of their parents, they scurried back into bed.
Kaidan turned the lights out, and headed back downstairs with Jane to resume watching their movie, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.