Disclaimer: Not making a profit, just having fun.
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Her Other Mother
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"Mum, wake up," came the whisper, followed immediately by a gentle shake and another, more urgent, "Mum!"
Another shake, and Samantha was finally awake. Beside her, Jane appeared blissfully undisturbed, while at the other side stood their six-year-old daughter, sporting a fierce, determined expression that would have given a Reaper pause had it not been for the tragic case of bed head and the utterly darling varren print pajamas.
"Hannah, sweetheart, is everything all right?" Samantha murmured groggily, instinctively reaching for her daughter as she briefly glanced out the window. Seeing it was still dark out, she checked the time - 3 AM, the clock read - and drew her daughter closer, gently asking, "Did you have a bad dream?"
At that, the young Shepard scoffed.
"No," was the petulant response.
Samantha smiled and lovingly stroked her daughter's unruly hair.
"No?" she cooed. "Did you just want to sleep here, then?"
This time, the reaction wasn't as immediate. Instead, there was a pause, some blinking, and then a longer pause of careful consideration, and finally, an answer.
"Maybe..." Hannah mumbled, and then that fierce, determined expression came back. "Mum, I wanna ask you something."
"Ah," Samantha simply said, having long grown accustomed to her inquisitive daughter's bouts of curiosity.
Slowly, she sat up, her free hand moving to rest on her slightly swollen belly. She inched closer to Jane until their shoulders bumped and patted the now available space beside her. Not needing further encouragement, Hannah climbed on the bed and found a spot to sit.
"Now," Samantha prompted, "what would you like to know, sweetheart?" she asked her daughter. "It must be important if it can't wait until the sun's up. This hasn't kept you up all night, has it? I do doubt that, though. I recall you could barely keep your eyes open when we tucked you in."
"Mum, stop fussing. I haven't been up long," Hannah said with a huff and a scowl, which then turned into a pout and a whine. "And I'm supposed to be the one asking questions."
"Oh, all right, all right," Samantha conceded with a huff of her own, though the laughter in her voice was telling. "Ask away, sweetheart. I promise to answer to the best of my abilities," she chimed, giving her daughter an encouraging smile. "Though," she quipped, "if the information you're looking for is something a six year old has no business knowing, then I'm afraid I'll have to entice you with sweets and hope you won't ask me again until you're older."
"Does that mean I'm still too young to know how babies are made?" Hannah said, pouting. "You already told me where they come from, why can't you tell me how they're made?"
Samantha laughed and patted her swollen belly.
"You asked that just two months ago, sweetheart," she pointed out, this time giving her daughter an affectionate pat on the head.
"And now I'm two months older!" Hannah declared. "Can I know now?"
"When you're older," Samantha said, repeating exactly what she had said two months ago.
"How much older?" Hannah asked, green eyes going wide in excitement. "When I turn seven? Can I know then?"
"We'll see," was Samantha's ambiguous response.
"Okay," Hannah said, looking pensive for a moment before perking up again. "Can I have ice cream even if you answer my question?"
Samantha's smile turned into a playful smirk.
"Perhaps."
Hannah pouted again, then asked for something else.
"How about a dog? Can we get another dog, Mum?"
Samantha took a moment to respond, a moment she spent gaping.
"Well, now, I certainly didn't see that coming," she muttered to herself once she had recovered, both surprised and impressed. "Why do you want another dog, sweetheart? Do you not love Urz anymore?" she asked her daughter, referring to the family's golden retriever.
Hannah looked horrified at the suggestion.
"I love Urz!" the young Shepard exclaimed. "I'm doing this for him. I don't want him to be lonely when I'm at school and you and Mama are working."
"That... is a good point," Samantha admitted.
Hannah bounced in place.
"So, can we, Mum? Can we get another dog?"
"I'll speak to your Mama, and then we'll consider it."
"Can we get a varren instead?"
Samantha raised an eyebrow at her daughter, who looked about as innocent as her wife after being caught sneaking a Cain into the basement. She made a mental note to have a chat with Wrex and Grunt and make it perfectly clear that neither of them were going to give Hannah a varren for her birthday.
"Just because I allowed your Mama to name Urz after a varren does not mean I'll allow a real one in this house," she told her daughter, using a tone that left no room for arguments.
"Aww, okay," Hannah mumbled, dejected.
"There's also the very likely possibility that the varren will eat Urz, sweetheart," Samantha added, hoping to lessen her daughter's disappointment.
Only, Hannah, also being the daughter of Jane Shepard, was equally stubborn and, judging by the following statement, was proving to be just as crazy.
"Not if we get a baby varren. Then we could teach it not to eat Urz!" the young Shepard said, evidently proud of herself and her idea, which was about as good as headbutting a krogan.
Samantha shook her head, amused and mortified all the same. It was a feeling she was quite used to, as it came hand in hand with being a wife to Jane and a mother to Hannah, because while Hannah looked like her - the green eyes were the only physical trait she had gotten from Jane - Samantha could see a lot of her wife in her daughter's personality.
"Are you sure that would work, sweetheart?" she asked, knowing better than to outright say no.
"Yes!" was the immediate and expected response.
"You're absolutely certain Urz will not get hurt?"
"Ye-" Hannah started to say, then suddenly stopped and frowned, looking troubled. "I don't want Urz to get hurt." Then, a moment later, the young Shepard decided, "Let's just get another dog, okay?"
Just then, the other Shepard at Samantha's other side stirred and shifted. Soon, there was an arm around her stomach and sleepy grumbling at her ear. With a roll of her eyes, Samantha lay on her side and allowed Jane to spoon her, effectively putting a stop to the grumbling. Having appeased her wife, she turned her attention back to her daughter, who was regarding them curiously.
"Mama and I will talk about getting another a dog first," she said, preferring to keep Hannah focused on pets instead of babies and how they were made. "Was that what you wanted to ask, sweetheart? If we can get another dog?"
"No, Mum," Hannah absently replied, and Samantha noticed that those curious eyes were now fixed on her belly and the protective arm wrapped around it. Hannah then looked at her, then at Jane, then back at her and said, "Can I call Mama 'Dad' from now on?"
It was Samantha's turn to blink and pause.
"Say again, sweetheart?" she managed once she found her voice.
"Can I call Mama 'Dad' from now on?" Hannah said again, word for word, as was asked.
"I see," Samantha murmured, realizing that her daughter was quite serious. "Why is that?"
"The kids in school are stupid," Hannah muttered, very similar to how a certain commander used to gripe about the ignorance of the galaxy. "Whenever I tell a story about you, Mum, they always think I'm talking about Mama. Then they make fun of me, saying I don't even know my own Mama and they call me stupid. They're stupid, not me!"
Knowing exactly how to handle that rising temper, Samantha drew Hannah into her arms and soothingly rubbed her daughter's back.
"Is that why you got into a fight with that batarian boy?"
Hannah squirmed and looked at her with wide eyes.
"You know about that? Mama promised not to tell!"
Samatha grinned and tapped her daughter's nose.
"She didn't."
Hannah frowned.
"Then how did you know, Mum?"
"I have my ways," Samantha chimed, and, seeing the worry in Hannah's eyes, she resumed the soothing back rubs, reassuring her daughter. "I trust your Mama's already given you a long lecture about it - for her sake, she better have - but I do wish you didn't get into fights, sweetheart. Can you promise me you'll try harder not to let it happen again?"
First there was a rude, defiant snort, then a heartfelt, "I'm sorry," then a sigh and a, "Okay, Mum. I promise."
"That's my girl," Samantha happily praised, kissing the top of her daughter's head. "I'm surprised you talk about me at all, sweetheart," she remarked, knowing and understanding that compared to her wife - the woman largely responsible for saving the galaxy from the Reapers - there was very little to be said about her.
But then, Hannah looked at her, then stared at her as though she had grown an extra pair of eyes, and she wondered if she had said something wrong.
"Why are you surprised, Mum?" Hannah asked, looking so confused Samantha would have found it adorable had she not been even more confused than her daughter. "Mama told me she couldn't have saved Auntie Jack, Uncle Jacob and Aunt Miranda without you!" Hannah exclaimed, sounding appalled that her mother seemed to have forgotten these things. "And Mama says we beat Cerberus because you found where that bastard Kai Wang was hiding!"
"It's Kai Leng, sweetheart," Samantha lamely blurted out, strangely feeling as timid as she did all those years ago when she shyly presented the Grissom Academy distress call to Jane. "And, Hannah," she went on, finding her composure, "you shouldn't say that word."
"Bastard?" came the innocent chirp.
"Yes, that."
Hannah pouted.
"But Mama said that, and she always said Kai Wang! Kai Wang!"
"Very mature," Samantha drawled, remembering that Jane Shepard, savior of the galaxy, was also the same woman who had quite a few giggles with Joker after telling the then shackled EDI to probe Uranus twice.
Behind her, Jane stirred and nuzzled her. Samantha smiled fondly and placed her hand over Jane's, which somehow came to rest on the swell of her belly.
"Mature?" Hannah echoed. "What does that mean?"
"Something your Mama forgets to be from time to time, sweetheart," Samantha told her beloved, curious daughter.
Hannah nodded, not really understanding but more interested in something else.
"Can I call Mama 'Dad'?"
Amused, Samantha asked, "Why 'Dad'? You don't want to call Mama something else?"
Hannah frowned, confused by the question.
"Aunt Liara calls Matriarch Aethyta 'Dad' and she's a girl, like Mama."
Samantha nodded.
"Yes, but Aunt Liara and Matriarch Aethyta are asaris."
"But Matriarch Aethyta said Aunt Liara didn't come from her tummy and that means she's the dad," Hannah protested, "and she said because I came from your tummy, Mum, it means Mama is the dad!"
"Well, I..." Samantha faltered, unsure of what to say. "I can't argue with that," she eventually admitted, and frankly, she didn't want to, not with her six-year-old daughter.
Sensing victory, Hannah went in for the kill.
"So can I, Mum? Can I?"
Samantha laughed and let go of the squirming, excited bundle in her arms. Hannah hurried back to her previous spot and proceeded to bounce in place as she impatiently waited for her mother to give her an answer.
"I think you should ask your Mama that question, sweetheart," Samantha said, and just as she said that, Jane peeked from behind her and flashed their daughter a big grin.
"Mama!" Hannah squeaked. "You're awake!"
"Mama? I thought I was 'Dad' now," Jane teased, looking like she had been awake far longer than just a few seconds.
With a happy squeal, Hannah scrambled off the bed and ran to Jane's side. Jane just barely separated herself from Samantha and sat up before Hannah came jumping into her arms for a hug.
"Can I really call you 'Dad' now?"
Jane grinned at the question and kissed her daughter's head.
"Sure can, kiddo," she said, chuckling. "If it helps you make those kids understand that I couldn't have saved the galaxy without people like your mother, then I'm all for it. Besides," she added, pulling back a little to ruffle Hannah's hair, "I can't have anyone else claiming to be your father."
Samantha rolled her eyes.
"As if there's any doubt."
"Yay!" Hannah squealed, giving Jane another hug. "I love you, Mam- Dad! I love you, Dad!"
"That's going to take some getting used to," Samantha remarked, smiling fondly as she watched her wife and her daughter.
Later, after taking Hannah back to her room and tucking her in, Jane and Samantha cuddled in bed, hoping to get some sleep before the sun rose.
"So..." Samantha sleepily murmured against Jane's neck.
"Hm?"
"Shall we save ourselves the trouble and have our next daughter call you Dad from the start?" Samantha asked, giggling.
Jane sighed.
"Next time we go to Thessia, I'm going to headbutt Aethyta."
AN: In hindsight, referring to Hannah as 'the young Shepard' is horribly awkward, and weird. But that's okay because the whole thing is fluffy awkward fluff, fluff, daddy fluff. Also, the kid is named Hannah because this Shepard is Earthborn and it was convenient (or meaningful, if you swing that way) to name the kid after Spacer!Shep's mom. Oh, and Urz (the varren). I love Urz. I just wanted to say that. Back to playing ME3!