Twenty-nine years had passed since the Reapers were destroyed. Many had called the won war a miracle, given that the Crucible hadn't worked after not being able to figure out the catalyst. It was a miracle Shepard managed to unify the races of the galaxy; it had taken all the power she gathered to extinguish every last Reaper and everyone knew that although the victory had taken a great deal of casualties, it was a victory nonetheless. Thanks to her.

Sure, the Reaper War twenty-nine years ago had taken a lot of luck to win- but it was no miracle. Shepard held the picture of her son, smiling as she handed it to Bakara and Wrex. Her son's birth had been the real miracle. And to think, if it hadn't been for Mordin, none of it would have happened.

Shepard could still remember her reaction when she found out about Mordin's unfinished cure. 'Take a look at this,' Garrus said, his eyes gleaming. She couldn't believe their good fortune, it was no wonder Mordin had taken to poking and prodding her and Garrus so much whist aboard on the Normandy; he had been preparing a second cure, a cure that allowed cross-species offspring for turians and humans. 'It's not complete,' Garrus said quietly, 'but it's hope.' Her smile nearly faltered until he rested his forehead on hers. She beamed. It was more than hope, it was a possibility.

Despite the terrible death and destruction of the war, no sooner had it ended that leaders of all species poured in to thank her, offering her support in anything else she might ever need. It was Garrus who took the lead on this one, asking for sponsorships and scientific support from all the species to finish Mordin's gift. Not a single species refused. It had taken nearly five years to finish what Mordin did in a few months. The schematics were then used as foundations for other species. Shepard smiled, deep in thought.

"I never saw so many salarians working on one cure," Wrex recalled. "I'm glad they did it. I've always wondered, though," Wrex began, eyeing Garrus from the side, "why you had to give him such a long name. Ian Mordin Shepard Vakarian."

"You're beginning to sound like Grunt," Shepard replied with a glint in her eyes, "when he last saw Ian, he suggested we change his entire name to Runt." Wrex laughed, and Garrus' mandibles flared at the memory. "How's he been, anyway? He hasn't sent me a vid in weeks."

"He's been busy training the new Aralakh members. I don't know what you said to him, Shepard, but he set his standards for Krogan females too high for his own good."

"Don't be crass, Wrex, all our females are worthy. He's simply not in a hurry to settle down," Bakara corrected him.

Garrus made a chuckling sound in his chest. "I always imagined he'd be more of a playboy, the way he talked about Krogan females," the turian said, wrapping his arm around Shepard's shoulders.

"My guess is you and Shepard made an impression on him," Bakara said with a smile.

"Better that than Shepard's driving skills." Garrus shivered, earning him a playful glare from his bondmate.

"Definitely," Wrex added, handing Shepard the newest picture of her son back. "Well," he said, turning to Garrus, "Ian's got some quads if he's willing to put your turian tattoos on his face. Now people are going to be able to tell his father is the turian with the stick up his ass."

"Wrex!"

"By your standards," Garrus began, interrupting Bakara's reprimand, "without the tattoo, Ian could very well be mistaken for the son of any male turian."

"Hah!" Wrex laughed, with even Bakara joining in.

"Hey!" Shepard indignantly protested, whilst Garrus' mandibles opened wide into a smile. "Besides," Shepard said as the couples quieted, "I'm a one turian kind of woman."

"As it should be," Garrus said, tightening his grip on her shoulder. "It's almost too bad Ian doesn't have his namesake's affinity for explosives. Almost."

"Yeah, I bet you wouldn't be living in this nice house if he did," Wrex said wisely.

Garrus gave Shepard a squeeze. "Mordin was just our kind of crazy," he said fondly.

Shepard smiled sadly. "Explosions and all, I miss him."

Bakara took her friend's hand in hers and squeezed it. "But he left a great legacy behind him."

"Yeah," Wrex agreed, adding, "and you don't have to worry about people forgetting about him; can't go a day in Tuchanka without another Mordin popping its little krogan head into the world."

The friends smiled, and looked out into the star-speckled sky. Shepard hoped somewhere in the afterlife, Mordin could see them now. She silently thanked the salarian for his gift, like she did every day after Ian was born twenty-four years ago.