Author's Note: I literally have no idea why the idea of a turian babby interests me so much. I had to write this, and I regret nothing. Slightly nsfw at the beginning and end. Originally posted on tumblr. Enjoy!
She had him just where she wanted. Pinned beneath him with no hope of escape. She grinned with a predatory look in her eyes and she felt the prick of his talons on her lower backside. Leaning down and pulling his arms up some, Shepard pressed her lips against his plates. She felt the rumble in Garrus' chest and the sensation traveled further between her legs, making her shiver. His slender tongue darted out to greet hers, and they were lost in the moment, wrestling match forgotten. It was only going to end up being a tie, anyway, so maybe a tiebreaker was in order…
And then there was a squeak that was much too high to be Garrus, and it was definitely turian.
"Damn it." She hissed quietly, sitting up with a huff and glancing over by the couch at the source of the offending noise.
The baby girl cocked her head to the side, mandible flicking as she let out another squeak, and then failed her arms with a giggle at the sudden attention.
"What can you expect? She wasn't going to nap forever." Garrus chuckled, propping himself up on his elbows, looking over at the girl.
They had picked her up off some backwater planet just as the reapers were swarming the planet. Well, they had unintentionally picked her up. She'd been stowed away in a crate. This was nearly two weeks ago, and the planet had been completely wiped of all life, unfortunately. And the Normandy was still 3 days from the Citadel, if they could ever get a break from the missions being thrown at them. The plan was to take her to an orphanage as soon as possible.
"Yeah, but I was hoping she would at least nap a little longer." she sighed, picking up the girl, immediately beginning her customary cooing as the turian girl clutched to her exposed shoulders. "You just want to ruin my fun, don't you?" she said, sitting on the couch.
The girl chirped and leaned closer to nuzzle her chest. The rough texture of her carapace was something to get used to, to be sure, but her silent request was something that Emma recognized readily. Pulling her closer, Shepard gave her a firm hug, pressing her cheek to the top of her head. She happened to glance over at Garrus, who had a very soft look on his face.
She knew how much this meant to him, but now wasn't the time to be thinking about this sort of thing. They had a war to worry about - their very lives. The thought of adopting a child with Garrus was pretty far down the list of her concerns right now.
"How much longer until we get to the Citadel?" Garrus asked casually.
"A few days. And that's after we get this issue with Wrex and Victus sorted out. So probably another week, at least." Emma sighed, reaching up to tuck her darkening blonde hair behind her ear, proceeding to bounce the small girl in her arms as she began fussing. Garrus nodded, and stood up to go sit next to both of them, reaching up to brush his talon under the girl's chin, purring happily at her. She gave a soft chirp and turned to face him, reaching out. Emma sighed, handing her over.
"What's the sigh for?" Garrus asked, taking her and immediately nuzzling the top of her head.
"She likes you better. It's not fair." Emma muttered, stretching her arms upwards and listening to her back pop as she leaned forward some.
"I'm familiar." he shrugged, then suddenly looking over, "Why does it matter if she likes you? I thought you didn't want to get attached to her." Emma shook her head with another sigh, trying to come up with something to say. "Unless-"
"No, Garrus." Emma said, nearly whipping around to give him that look. Normally it shut him up.
"You can't tell me you haven't been at least thinking about it, Emma."
"I shouldn't be! That's the problem. I mean…" she shook her head, throwing her hands up, "Even if we did - let's just pretend that we do for a second - where is she going to stay? The Normandy is hardly a safe place-"
"And the Citadel is?"
"Yes! I mean no! I-" she let out a growl of frustration, sighing heavily and going to throw herself on the bed, face up. "Garrus, this is just… Too complicated!"
"What are you really afraid of?" he stood up, gently soothing the girl as she fussed more. She was apparently very sensitive to the mood of the conversations around her. Emma wished they knew her name, at the very least.
"A lot of things, really."
"Well, start with the first thing that comes to mind, and go from there." Garrus said calmly, blocking her view of her fish tank. She scowled a little, but sat herself up, nodding and going through everything, putting it in a list. It took several long minutes, and she kept catching herself staring at the child with a little smile as Garrus kept her distracted with a tiny doll someone had kindly found and donated.
"I just want her to be safe, above anything else. And it's hard because safety is.. relative. I don't know that the Citadel really is safe, but I really don't want her on a fu-… freaking warship."
"What was that?" Garrus chuckled. Emma blushed and looked away. She hated cursing in front of kids, even if they didn't understand her. Emma strove to be that good influence, regardless of their memory capacity.
"Don't like swearing in front of kids, it makes me feel bad." she muttered, eyes slowly making their way to his. He nodded, thinking for a minute.
"To me, it seems like the Normandy would be safer, and before you tell me why it's not, let me tell you why I think it is safe. You never intentionally put the Normandy in danger, in fact you send it away from danger more often than not. It's constantly moving, and therefore less likely to get caught by Cerberus, or Reapers. And on top of all that, there's not a soul on this ship that wouldn't be willing to protect her, because she is our future. She's a reminder of why we're fighting, Emma. That kind of reminder can do wonders for morale."
She mulled it over, giving in and nodding in agreement, hanging her head as she leaned forward on her elbows. She felt the bed shift beside her, but there wasn't the presence of heat. Instead, there was a small hand resting on her leg. Smiling, she sat up again.
"Hey, baby girl." she cooed, watching as she chirped, and began crawling slowly towards the middle of the bed to explore. Once she was out of the way, Garrus slid closer.
"I think we could make it work, Emma. Maybe we can… pretend, until we get to the Citadel. It'll give you a better idea of what you want, and you don't have to worry about anything being really permanent."
"But what if I mess something up?"
"That's why we're in this together. You know I won't let you mess up if I can help it. But I don't think you'll need a lot of saving, you're pretty good with kids from what I've seen." his voice had that familiar, soft purr in it. It was a genuine compliment, and Emma didn't know how to feel. She was used to appraisal, but it was different coming from someone she cared for. So, she leaned her head against his shoulder, letting out the last, tired sigh for the night.
"Alright. Can you give me some time alone, then? I need to clear my head."
"I'll go find someone to watch her, and come back up with dinner in a half hour, then." Garrus nuzzled her cheek, not giving her an option. He'd just hack the door open, anyway.
"You mean we'd actually get ten minutes to ourselves?" Emma chuckled, leaning back to gently pull the young turian closer, so she could get picked up by Garrus.
"Ten minutes, and ten more after that." he smiled, already turning to leave, humming and making soft noises at the girl.
The first thing she'd have to talk to him about was giving her a name. Regardless of whether they adopted her, or gave her to an orphanage, she would need a name. Smiling, she leaned back on the bed, eyes shut. The bubbling of the fish tank was calming, which allowed her to slowly go through the other things bothering her - things related to the war - one by one. She got up after a solid five minutes, and went to put everything on a datapad. She always had an easier time getting things done if they were on lists.
Then, on a whim, Emma made a second one for the child, putting a few things down. With a hum of approval, she went to clean up the small mess of blankets left by the girl on the couch. After that, she fixed the sheets on the bed, and looked for other things to clean up in her already meticulously neat room. She found nothing and sat down to wait for Garrus' return, hoping that they could continue what they started earlier. The grin she wore made Garrus wary when he returned. But that was quickly turned around when she tackled him to the ground after he set the tray of food down.