She had never been to the Presidium before - simulated sky and sun, vibrant vegetation, the steady hiss of the fountains in the pool below, and everything gleaming silver and white. It was… nice, she supposed, but it all had a feeling of falseness about it. Traynor's gaze met her companion's across the table. Her company, at least, was more genuine than their surroundings. Wearing a rose sundress that complimented her golden brown skin, her short chestnut hair swept and spiked up in the front, Melinda Shepard smiled a little sheepishly at her. There was a little daub of whipped cream at the corner of Shepard's mouth.
Biotics burned up a lot of calories and energy. Samantha knew this, and yet she still couldn't believe the amount of food Shepard had consumed during their lunch together: not one, but two varren steaks smothered in gravy, roasted rosemary potatoes, strange little bean-shaped things that grew in abundance on Thessia, steamed vegetables, pasta salad, half a basket of buttery, flaky breadsticks, and now the sundae they were sharing. It was a delightful, almost scandalous, concoction of crisp waffles topped with melty vanilla ice-cream and whipped cream with chocolate sauce drizzled delicately over it all.
"My eating habits have grossed you out, haven't they?" Shepard said, still grinning sheepishly.
"Oh, not at all," Samantha replied, reaching out, using one finger to wipe the cream from Shepard's mouth. "Just felt a little moment of sympathy for your parents. Keeping food in the house must have been quite the feat." She popped her finger between her lips, licking away the sweet taste of cream.
Shepard chuckled, her grin turning sly. "Oh, you have no idea. I'm the oldest of six, I've got five brothers. My poor mother was always making grocery runs."
"Tell me about your family," Samantha said, one hand propping up her chin and the other spooning a bite of waffle and ice-cream into her mouth.
"Well, my parents lived on Earth, owned a little coffee shop in Perth. My oldest brother Malcolm and his wife also lived on Earth with their little girl Mindi, she just turned five. The next brother in line is Nicholas, he lived on Earth too. Then there's Alexander. He's right here on the Citadel, actually, lives and works down on Bachjret Ward. And Benjamin, he just graduated from high school and, finally, my youngest brother is Kevin, a decent biotic and a real math genius. He was at Grissom Academy, but my parents brought him home not long after I returned to Earth for my trial."
"And your family… they're all okay?" This was always a delicate question in these times.
Shepard nodded, swirling her spoon around in the chocolate drizzle before putting it in her mouth. "I warned them of what was coming and they had several escape plans in place. They got off-world soon after the reports of the Reapers' invasion started coming in. They came here to the Citadel, but decided to travel to Sanctuary. Alex was the only one who stayed behind. He's a nurse at Sula Atrus Hospital and didn't want to leave his patients. Malcolm managed to get a hold of me a week ago, saying they would be coming up on Horizon soon. I don't expect to hear much from them once they're there, most comm systems are congested all to hell or down." The woman's gaze lifted to Samantha's face. "What about your family? Are they still on Horizon?"
Traynor shook her head, "After what happened with the Collectors, they didn't feel safe on Horizon anymore, so my parents packed up their belongings," she chuckled a little, "and my grandmum, and went to stay with my sister on Joab." Sam sighed, teeth worrying at her bottom lip as her brow wrinkled slightly. "Sometimes it's very hard not to worry every minute, every day."
"Agreed," her companion replied. "But that's why we have little moments like these… with people we care about." Shepard reached across the table and took Samantha's hand in hers. "Blow off a little steam, keep our minds intact."
The warmth of Shepard's hand sent a little tingle racing up Samantha's spine. She smiled, "How right you are… Mel." She saw that their sundae was gone, eaten up, the white bowl streaked with leftover chocolate. "Shall we order more dessert?"