Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect at all. That is the sole exclusive property of Bioware. If I did, I would be making the Shepard and Tali relationship canon. All hail Tali :D!

The Little Things We Cherish

A Mass Effect Short Story by Chidoriprime

….

Commander John Shepard, formerly of the Alliance Navy, Hero of the Blitz and Savior of the Citidel, was completely, utterly exhausted. Letting a jaw-cracking yawn escape himself as he trudged out of the Normandy's CIC and into the elevator in the back, he could only half-heartedly wish Kelly a good night's sleep as he punched the button leading further down into the belly of the ship, leaving the cheerful red-head to be concealed by the twin steel doors. As the compartment began its slow descent toward Engineering, the tired marine could only close his clear blue eyes and rub them in a vain attempt to shave off the temptation of sweet, blissful sleep.

"Christ, I'd forgotten how must money it takes to keep a starship in perfect working condition. Damn Ilium repair costs. 'Affordable rates, best in the Terminus…' Yeah, best my…"

It had been a very, VERY long day for the commander. As if dealing with the trials and tribulations that investigating the Collector threat brought with it wasn't stressing Shepard out enough, the day to day mishaps of the ship's crew had kept him on his feet for hours on end. It was like every time one problem had been dealt with and put aside, ten more would pop up in its place.

First had been that 'little argument' between Hawthorne and Mess Sergeant Gardner about how last night's krogan-style varren casserole may or may not have given Hawthrone a bad case of indigestion. A few cross words and one flying ladle of tomato soup later, Shepard had sent Hawthorne to Doctor Chakwas to treat his upset stomach and asked Gardner to at least try some of his more experimental dishes himself so another mishap like now wouldn't happen again. Not that Shepard thought that Garder's cooking was bad most of the time (John could attest to the excellence of the calamari gumbo he had tasted when he had gotten the mess sergeant those ingredients from the Citadel), but sometimes even the Commander found himself wary of the dishes the cook had often come up with, especially the turian-inspired ones.

Then had been the 'minor accident' that had occurred in the Normandy's science lab. Mordin had been doing some tests on some of the scraps of tech that Shepard and the ground team had managed to take from the Collector dreadnought. Something had happened when Mordin had run a deep-layer scan on a seemingly harmless-looking device, and barely two seconds after the thing had explosively self-destruct, wreaking the sensitive equipment surrounding it and propelling the good doctor toward the door and slamming right into Jacob, who had the misfortune of walking into the room on his way from the armory to the CIC.

Surprisingly, neither one had been hurt too badly, but Miranda had been less than pleased with the destruction of such an expensive piece of equipment. Shepard had heard her raging from the other room as he had quietly backed up to leave the unfortunate salarian scientist and former Corsair to his XO's wrath, not wanting to catch her ire by being in the same room.

Sadly, he hadn't been as sneaky as he'd hoped.

And as if the heavens themselves wanted to play havoc with his already-frayed nerves, he had to step in to stop a sparring match between Jack and Grunt that had quickly gotten out of hand.

Grunt had landed a lucky punch on the tattooed biotic that had blooded her nose. Obviously, the pissed-off convict had decided to smack the tank-bred with a biotically-charged fist of her own that had sent the kogan soaring (and quite comically, according to Garrus) into the bulkhead behind him, which in turn had devolved into a raging slugfest between the two that had sent the crew members watching them scrambling for as much cover as they could find.

It had taken the combined efforts of Shepard, Garrus, Zaeed, Samara, Thane and a handful of crewman brave enough to help to finally separate the crazed combatants, with the two other biotics on the team restraining Jack with their abilities while the commander, turian vigilante and veteran mercenary had leapt at Grunt with the other crewmen and wrestled the struggling krogan to the ground in a massive dog pile. Both were now stewing in their quarters until if and when Shepard decided to let them back out.

"Which is a decision I will be more than happy to leave until tomorrow after I can finally get some sleep" Shepard grumbled to himself as the elevator opened up to reveal the window looking out over the Normandy's hanger. "Just got one last thing to take care of, and then I'm hitting the sack. Now what was it Tali needed my help for again…?"

Taking a right out the elevator, John started heading for Tali's work station, ignoring the muffled growls coming from Jack's cot downstairs in the maintenance tunnels. But just as Shepard was about to open the door to Engineering, a piercing, feminine scream of terror tore through the air from behind the door.

"KEELAH!"

And a very familiar scream at that.

"Tali!?" Shepard burst through the door, half expecting to encounter someone holding the quarian hostage, given the fear in her voice.

However, the scene in front of him was…far more confusing, to say the least.

On the right by their stations stood Gabby and Kenneth, who for some odd reason were trying to keep from collapsing in laughter, with Gabby giggling from behind her hands and Ken clutching his sides, roaring in merriment. In front of John was Tali, sitting on top of her console with her arms wrapped tightly around her knees and a look of absolute panic in her eyes as she kept her sight locked onto something on the deck.

"Uh…what's going on here?" John asked, completely lost. That seemed to be the last straw for Kenneth, as he collapsed onto the ground, still laughing like a lunatic. Tali, on the other hand, looked overjoyed to see him.

"John! Oh thank keelah you're here! Quick, kill it before it gets away!"

"Hah?" Said commander asked, still trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

"There, by your foot! Kill that! Kill it!" As if she were afraid whatever was spooking her was about to jump at her if she moved wrong, Tali pointed with a shaking finger at a spot on the deck near his right foot.

"What on earth are you talking about Tali?" Shepard looked where she was pointing and saw nothing at first. But a shift on the decking soon cleared up his curiosity. John knelt down to get a better look at the little creature.

"What the…is that a spider?"

"Yes, yes, it's a spider Shepard. Now just kill the damn thing already!

"…why is there a spider on the Normandy?"

"I don't know." Tali was starting to sound desperate. "Shepard, please just kill it."

Shepard was silent for a moment, before an idea came to him, and he let a grin spread across his face. "I think I've got a better idea Tali." He said as he stood up and walked over to her.

"Huh? Shepard, what are you doi-whoaa!" Tali's sentence was cut off in a startled yelp as the marine swept the quarian up into his arms. Thanks to her visor, Shepard wasn't able to see the massive blush that had appeared on her cheeks. Something that Tali was extremely grateful for.

"Why don't I just rescue the lovely damsel-in-distress and carry her to safety instead?"

"I…uh…o-okay." Tali smiled, shaking her head at her commander's actions.

In spite of everything that had happened today, Shepard was glad that this had happened. As long as Tali was here, life would be full of little moments like this.