This idea was kicking around in my head for quite some time and I finally got around to writing it down. I have loose ideas for the new couple of chapters - it wouldn't be very long. I also have the idea for an epilogue too. Depending on how this is received, I hope to work on the rest over the next few weeks/months. Hope you enjoy - I really appreciate feedback.
Booted feet pounded heavily on the metal floor. The door was so close – if he just reached a little further he could hit the panel and he would be fre- The shot rang out, echoing in the confined space, and the legionnaire crumpled to knees, fingers barely touching the door. Four eyes stared, unseeing at the metal wall – a hole through his head as he completely flattened on the floor.
"Bullseye!" Shepard whooped, punching a fist in the air. "50 metres, moving target, clean between the eyes!"
The redhead hopped over a crate and crossed to her kill, securing her pistol at her hip as she moved. She was a dab hand with a sniper rifle and took these more mundane missions to hone her pistol sharp shooting. She rolled the blue suns merc onto his back and examined the wound briefly. Perfect shot – from behind and everything.
"Clean kill, Siha." Thane pitched in at her side and she flashed him a grin.
"Of course it is. I'm even better than ugly over here." When she received no response she scoffed. "What's the matter, Garrus, you in a sulk?"
But when she turned her head her blood rapidly grew cold in her veins. The spot over her right shoulder was empty. It was never empty. A quick scan of the room told her that he was nowhere to be seen. There was only a sparse covering of crates in this particular room, enough for cover but little else. Not really enough to hide the form of her turian if he was out cold or.. No, he probably just hadn't heard her.
"Garrus, come in." She ordered sharply but to no avail. She glanced at Thane and he shook his head.
"EDI?"
"Yes, Commander." The AI immediately responded.
"Where is Garrus?" It slightly irritated her that EDI always listened in and yet she still had to ask in a serious situation.
"Officer Vakarian is in the previous room, 30 metres to the south east. His vital signs are steady. But, Shepard-"
"That's all, EDI." The pair set off in a run, Shepard leading the way as Thane trailed behind her, always just a few short steps at her rear.
The mercenary base was made up of several rooms in a linear pattern, making it as easy for them to clear out as it was for the mercs to fall back to a defensible position. No Blue Suns were a match for any member of her crew, let alone her two best marksmen. The mission had been the usual – head to the base, retrieve the intel, and then clear out the hordes of back up which responded to the base-wide alarm which seemed to always sound no matter how well she checked for triggers. That last batarian had led them right to the back entrance. How the hell could Garrus have gotten himself into trouble in such a short space of time?
The room they had backtracked to had a lot more crates and boxes than the last, affording plenty more cover and space to hide. The only things she had come across, however, were the corpses of the various mercs they had dropped along the way.
"Garrus!" She called out, trying to follow EDI's instructions as best as she could guess. A soft grunt answered her and she raced to find the source.
She rounded a rather large crate and came to an abrupt halt, Thane skidding right into her back. Steady hands caught her around the waist but she couldn't even think to thank him as her brain was fixated on the scene before her.
Garrus was sat on the metal floor, knees up, cradling something impossibly tiny to his armoured chest. His visor was off, she noticed, and his brilliant blue eyes immediately met hers in a sheepish look, mandibles flickering. She was about to open her mouth and ask why the hell he hadn't answered her when the thing in his arms moved.
"What is that?"
"I- uh.. I found him. He was in literally stowed inside an open crate, my visor picked up his vitals. Before it got fried, I mean."
"Wait, he?"
Garrus ungracefully got to his feet, careful not to upset his precious cargo, and offered Shepard a look. She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw it. "A baby turian. You found a baby turian."
The little creature in his arms was wriggling but seemed to be quite happy, as far as she could tell. He had dark grey plates, vivid green eyes and no colony markings. She was under the impression that turians received their colony marks as children so perhaps this one was just too young. She would have to ask Garrus later.
"An infant stored in a mercenary base." Thane was suddenly at her side, examining the child just as she had been. "Your missions never fail to surprise."
Shepard sighed and ran a hand through her hair, immediately snagging her armour on her visor and knocking it out of place. She growled and fixed it roughly. "Garrus, give the baby to Thane. Thane, take him to Mordin."
"But, I- Shepard." She was pretty sure that the look he was giving her was the turian equivalent of a kicked puppy.
"Just, do it."
Thane carefully took the child as he was offered and cradled him close, turning away from the pair. She watched as Garrus gazed after them, eyes on the baby wrapped in a rough beige blanket, mandibles tight against his face. Until she punched his shoulder as hard as she could manage.
"Hey!" He stumbled to the side a step. "What was that for?!"
"Don't you ever frighten me like that again!" She pointed a finger in his eyes. "I thought I'd lost- Just.. Don't do it again."
She stormed off back to the ship, ignoring his calls. She was getting weak and she didn't like it. She didn't like the gut wrenching fear. Nor did she want to admit just what seeing two of the most dangerous men she knew holding a tiny baby, did to her feelings.
"Infant. Turian. Male. In good health. Roughly 7 earth months old, given that this is mainly human ship. Similar on Palaven, regardless, 8 months to turians." Mordin was chirping away when she stepped into the lab, busy scanning the baby in Thane's arms with his omni-tool.
"No obvious signs of neglect. Well fed, happy disposition. Normal infant." The orange glow of the omni-tool faded as the professor lowered his arm. She heard Garrus' heavy footfall behind her. "Concerned to hear child found in merc base. Would never expect."
"I found him in a box of old blankets and rags. Didn't even cry." Garrus' mandible spread into a smile.
"Chance that child accidentally ended up in crate, accidentally made it to base?"
"Who knows, Mordin. But so long as he is healthy we can try and get him back home. EDI, scan the crates in the base before we leave. Garrus will show you the correct one so you can track it."
"Yes, Commander."
"I suppose we need to think about feeding him in the meantime. Any suggestions?" She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Suggest dextro food on board in small amounts. Possibly blended. Will send research down to Mess Sergeant." Mordin had hurried to his console and was already tapping away on the screen.
This entire time Thane had been holding the baby and Shepard took a moment to watch him. She was aware of Garrus at her back but she didn't care. She didn't want to disturb the drell as he slowly walked back and forth through the lab, humming softly to the little baby. He stayed that way for many minutes until he finally lifted his gaze to see them both watching him. For the briefest moment she was sure that she saw something in his dark eyes but then it was gone.
"I should return to my room and meditate." He placed the baby back in Garrus' arms and gave a sharp bow before leaving the lab.
Shepard glanced at Garrus and felt all warm and fuzzy inside at the sight of him, so taken with the tiny mini person. Maybe she could get used to warm and fuzzy. But as she walked past she patted him on the shoulder. "Don't get too attached, big guy."
"Hmm."
The elevator doors opened on the crew deck and the freshly de-armoured Shepard stepped out, making a beeline for life support. She could hear some of the crew chatting away happily in the mess and smiled. Even though it had been months since the collector attack it was still good to hear them all again. She pressed her palm against the green panel but didn't cross the threshold.
"Up for a guest?"
"I always have time for you, Siha." Thane turned to face her as she entered, seated, as per usual, at the small table in the room.
"I wanted to apologise for what happened up there." She stopped beside the table and waited, only to realise he was waiting for her to explain what she meant. "For thrusting the baby into your arms."
"I fail to see why you should apologise." She just knew there was a blush tinging her cheeks and she grimaced, hating it. "Ah."
"Thane.."
"No, I understand." He stood from his seat and fully faced her, hands clasped behind his back. "Because I had a somewhat troubled relationship with my son, you fear that holding the child may bring back memories which would be both bitter and sweet?"
"I.. Yeah, I guess."
"You need not be concerned. Kolyat and I are doing better and better as time goes on. We message quite regularly, now, and I get the feeling that he really wants to talk to me. As for bittersweet memories, I have a single word. Drell."
"Drell." She repeated dumbly, blinking at him for just a moment. She rolled her eyes and smacked her palm against her forehead. "Of course – the whole memory thing. You'd think I would remember that."
Her companion chuckled and returned to his seat. "I think I can forgive you. You are only human, after all."
"Touché, Krios, touché."
"What?"
She waved her hand when she realised what he must have heard. "Loses something in translation. I will leave you to your meditations then."
She patted his shoulder and he gave her a nod before she departed. The door slid shut behind her and she froze. The mess hall was a lot louder than it had been just a few minutes ago. She walked around the elevator shaft and very nearly laughed at the scene that greeted her. Today was just full of surprises.
It seemed that every last female in the ship had congregated in the (admittedly rather small) mess hall. Even Jack had made an appearance and she saw Miranda lurking at the entrance to her office. All of the woman were giggling and staring at Garrus. The turian was talking to Gardener, seemingly unaware of all the attention but she knew better. He was likely fully aware and no doubt milking it for every last drop he could manage. Shepard spied Tali near the back and stopped beside her friend.
"Keelah, Shepard, don't just creep up on me like that!" Not for the first time, Shepard wondered if she could possibly hear Tali blush seeing as the mask blocked the view but she knew full well.
"Creep up on you? Remind me not to bring you on any more missions. Must be growing jumpy in your old age." Another thing she could tell without seeing her face – when Tali was glaring at her. "It seems I am missing out on all the fun."
"I- I'm sorry, Shepard. I just came up to see what all the fuss was about and.." Shepard grinned and folded her arms over her chest. "Just look at him! Just look at him with that little baby in his arms, he's so large and strong and then the little one is just so.."
"Careful Tali, you sound a little breathless there." She nudged her in the ribs. Another glare. "So, let me get this straight. The entire female crew has turned up to check out my boyfriend because of his little mini me?"
"Mini who?"
Shepard let out an exasperated sigh and waved it off. "The baby."
"Of course! Can you blame us?" She gestured wildly in Garrus' direction. "He is a strong soldier, a sniper, a hero and a vigilante, with a baby."
Okay, now she had to laugh, Tali's tone was perfect. "Would now be a bad time to mention that Thane was holding the baby earlier?"
She could pretty much hear Tali's jaw drop. "Shepard.."
"I'm being honest. Scout's promise! Well, I wasn't a scout but.." She shrugged. "I can show you the vid later."
"Keelah se'lai! A vid! Shepard, you are going to kill me."
She laughed hard as she turned to leave, not one to just stand around and stare when she could stare later on. "And he was humming to him!" She sing songed, her laughter turning into a form of cackle when she heard Tali's exclamation behind her.
Several fish swam close to the glass when she stood before her aquarium, interested in this creature lurking so close to the edge of their world. They looked good; it seemed that Garrus was doing wonders for the longevity of her fish as well as for her sex life. She raised a hand to touch the glass and the small group rushed to try and touch her. She smiled and lowered her hand again. Watching her Ilium skald fish was hardly going to help her figure out what to do with the newest addition to her ship. Yes, she had told EDI to track down where the crate had come from but she doubted that would yield anything as to the origin of the little guy.
Wait, yes it did. Definitely not taking him to Ilium.
Omega was a sure-fire no-go by default. Her mind immediately drew up only two viable options; Palaven or the Citadel. She highly doubted that Palavan command would appreciate a ship formerly tied to Cerberus attempting to land on their soil. But the Citadel could be just as dangerous to children as Ilium or Omega. She would just have to bite the bullet and face a bunch of grumpy turians.
"Joker."
"Commander."
"Set course for-" The 'whoosh' of the door cut her off.
"What was that? I need a destination, Shepard, that's kind of how it works."
She ignored his sing-song tone and turned to her guest. "Leave it for now."
"Aye, aye, Commander."
"Are we going somewhere?" Garrus' deep voice filled her rooms.
"Not right now." She folded her arms over her chest. "What's going on?"
"I came to explain about earlier. And I came to-"
"No." She held her hands out in front of her as he advanced, baby in his arms. "Don't you bring him over here just to soften me up. I am still angry."
"Don't you want to hold him? He's very good, you know. He won't make a peep, I promise." The smug bastard was still advancing upon her and if she didn't stop soon she would end up on the bed. Eventually she placed her hand upon his chest, realising he had changed out of his armour.
"I am still angry, Garrus. You weren't responding."
He looked down and at least had the decency to look a little guilty. "My visor was fried, comms, shields, the lot. I am sorry, Jane. I didn't mean to frighten you."
She couldn't blame him for damage done in a battle. Just like she couldn't blame him for her fears. She shouldn't take her anger out of him. She sighed and a whole bunch of tension fled from her body. "It's all right, Garrus, it wasn't your fault. I just jumped the gun a little bit."
His serious look turned into a smile and he gently butted his forehead against hers. "Now would you like to hold him?"
She laughed. "All right, all right, hand him over. Let's see what baby uglies look like."
He chuckled at her teasing tone and handed her the baby, instructing her on how to hold him properly, positioning her hands just right so he wouldn't feel unsafe or get hurt. "Just how do you know this? Thane, I understand, but.. Are you hiding some illegitimate kids from me, Vakarian?"
He laughed louder and gave her a look. "I know I am dashing, Shepard, but I am a big boy and know how to not make little dashing baby Vakarians."
"Glad to hear it, wouldn't want to share." She huffed playfully and looked down at the little baby in her arms. He seemed to be sleeping; his eyes closed and mouth hanging slightly open. She found herself smiling and cuddled him closer when he made a gentle noise.
"I guess he is sort of cute.." She whispered to herself, lightly running a finger along a tiny mandible. It twitched and she laughed, but otherwise the baby remained asleep. When she lifted her gaze she found Garrus staring intently at her. "What?"
"Nothing.. Nothing." He cleared his throat and glanced around. "I- uh. I also came up here to let you know what EDI and I found. We couldn't trace the cargo so it looks like we are keeping him for a while."
"He's not a dog, Garrus." He smiled at her admonishment, amused by how the tables had turned.
"I think the mercs took him for a reason."
"Why is that?"
"I changed his blanket and found this." He held up a memory chip between his thumb and forefinger. "You should see what's on here."