{2160 CE – Palaven}

"Can you hold this, Garrus?" My father's hands were so much bigger than mine. They reached out to one of my own, and pulled me closer. I was so close to the stove, too close. It was hot and my mother had always told me never to touch it for any reason.

I glanced up at my father, afraid of what might happen if I touched the metal like he wanted me to. He looked back down at me, and a saw a faint smile on his face. "It's okay, son. This isn't hot." I heard the reassurance of his subvocals as he showed me by touching the handle jutting out from the stove with his bare hand. I tentatively reached out a hand and touched it myself, ready to jerk my hands away if any pain came.

But it didn't. So I wrapped my fingers around the handle and held it like he showed me, as he walked over to the table to retrieve the seasoning jars. I glanced up from the pan and saw him leaning over my baby sister, Solana, who was cradled in my mother's arms, sleeping. He pressed his head to hers gently before returning to the stove.

"How do you like your eggs, Garrus?" He asked, setting the seasoning jars down and reaching for the basket of eggs my mother had set out before my sister started crying and interrupted her.

"Um…" I fumbled for the word, but all I could think of what they looked like. "…mushy?" I answered, and my mother chuckled from her seat at the table.

"Scrambled, dear."

"Scrambled." I echoed quickly, still holding to the pan just like my father had told me to. He nodded and cracked an egg directly into the pan, and it began to sizzle and pop so loudly that I let go, cowering away from the noise and the heat.

But my father's hand was on my shoulder, and he pulled me back towards the stove. "There's nothing to be afraid of." He said sternly, the smile gone from his face. "It's just noise and heat." His voice sounded mad, and I wanted to back away, but he reached for my hand again and jerked it towards the pan, curling my fingers around the handle. "Now stand here and watch this while I get you a plate."

Noise and heat.

That's all it was. I was four years old, I wasn't afraid of noise and heat.

I repeated those words to myself as I stood there watching the eggs turn from liquid to a fluffy pile of mush. Eventually my father took the pan from my hands, and I gladly let go of it when he did. He moved the eggs onto a plate and carefully handed it to me. "Be careful not to drop it." He said, adding a fork to the plate.

I was careful, and I brought it over to the table where my mother pulled out a chair for me to sit next to her. When I settled into the chair, she pulled it close and I felt her head against mine. "That looks really good, sweetheart. You did an amazing job."

"Want to try some?" I offered her a bite, and she accepted it. The smile on her face widened as she chewed the eggs.

"They taste even better than they look, Garrus!" She said, running a hand along my crest. "I'll have to get you to make me some next time."

"Can Solana have some?" I asked, eyeing the tiny form of my sister. Her eyes were barely open, but I wished she would grow faster so I would have someone to play with.

"Not yet." My mother replied, gently patting me on the head. "But she should be able to soon. And you can cook breakfast for her every morning if you wish."

My father came to the table then, and slid a plate of food in front of my mother. "Want me to get her?" He asked, motioning to my sister. My mother handed him Solana and began to eat the food he had cooked for her, her arm around my shoulders, telling me a story as we ate.

Later that day, I wanted to take Solana outside. My mother and father hadn't taken her out of the house since she was born, and I thought she would enjoy the sunlight.

I climbed onto my parents' bed, being as quiet as I could. My mother was asleep, she had slept a lot more than usual since Solana was born. I didn't want to wake her, my father always got angry when I woke her by mistake. Looking over the pillow between Solana and the edge of the bed, I saw that her eyes were open. When I leaned over her, she looked at me, but didn't cry.

"Hi, Solana." I whispered, leaning down and touching my head to hers, soft and gentle like my mother had taught me. "Do you want to go outside?"

I knew she couldn't answer me, my mother said it would be months before she started making noises besides crying. But she didn't cry when I asked her, so I moved the pillow and tugged on the blanket she was wrapped in as I scooted myself back off of the bed. Once I was standing on the floor, I pulled her closer to the edge of the bed until she was in my arms.

My mother had taught me how to hold her, how to cradle her head with my arm to protect her neck, how to be gentle with her soft leg spurs. I was careful, and I left the room with her without waking my mother up.

I walked carefully through the house, taking little steps so I wouldn't scare Solana by walking too fast. She stayed quiet, but kept watching me. Her eyes were the same color as my father's, but she looked happier than he usually did. I squeezed her closer as I walked towards the door, excited that I was going to get to show her the yard outside where we would be able to play one day when she was old enough to walk and talk and play with me.

"Garrus!" My father's voice startled me, and I jumped as Solana let out a shrill cry from the noise and movement. I could hear that he was angry again, and before I turned around, he was pulling me around and taking Solana from my arms. "What do you think you were doing?"

I was afraid, and Solana was crying. I could see her hands waving, the blanket I had made sure to keep around her had fallen off of her arms. My father reached out a hand and pulled on my arm so I was facing him. "Answer me, Garrus, what were you doing with your sister?"

"O-outside." I began to say, but he interrupted me.

"Speak up, I can't hear you."

"I was taking her outside." I managed to say, looking down at my feet as I spoke. "I wanted Solana to see the sun and the yard."

"Didn't your mother tell you what could happen to Solana if she went outside? Look at me." His voice was still angry, but I looked up at him. "Didn't she tell you?"

"Y-yes." I whispered, glancing at the blanket I had made sure to bring with me. "But I brought her blanket so the sun wouldn't hurt her, and-"

"A blanket won't stop solar radiation, Garrus, she doesn't even have a carapace yet." He spoke louder so that I could hear him over Solana's crying. "You could have-"

"Aerilus, what's wrong?" My mother interrupted him as she came into the kitchen. She looked from my father, to me, to Solana whose fists were waving still as she cried.

"Garrus was at the door, trying to take Solana outside when I caught him." He turned to my mother, offering her Solana. "Take her, so I can have a talk with Garrus."

My mother looked past him, to me, and shook her head. "You take her, if you rock her for a while she should go back to sleep. Let me talk to Garrus."

My father looked over at me, as well. I saw him shrug and take Solana from the room, her cries still echoing as they left.

After my father left the room, my mother walked over to me and crouched down, running a hand along my fringe. She didn't look angry, even after what my father had told her. She didn't even sound angry when she spoke. "Garrus, sweetheart, why were you taking Solana outside?"

"I wanted to show her the sun." I whispered, clutching my hands together as I spoke. I didn't want to cry, I wanted to be a grown-up like my father told me to be. Grown-ups didn't cry. "I had her blanket, I didn't want to hurt her."

My mother smiled, pressing her head to mine before she pulled me into a hug. "I know you didn't want to hurt her, but she can't go outside until she starts developing her carapace. Otherwise she could get sick, and we'd have to take her to the doctor."

"I'm sorry." I hadn't wanted to hurt Solana, I didn't want her to have to go to the doctor. I hugged my mother as she patted my back.

"It's okay, sweetie, just ask me next time before you want to do something with Solana, okay? Once she gets a little older, we'll go outside together and have a picnic with her, okay?" She stood up and took one of my hands in hers, walking me towards the bedroom where my father was rocking Solana, she had fallen asleep and stopped crying.

When we walked in, my father reached out an arm towards me. I looked up at my mother and she smiled at me, letting go of my hand and nudging me forward. I moved towards him and he pulled me into his lap, sitting on his knees.

"I'm sorry I was rough with you, Garrus." He said, his arm around my shoulders squeezing me in a hug. "I was afraid for a minute that you'd hurt your sister." I nodded, watching as my mother laid back down in her bed.

She put a pillow under her neck and saw me watching her, and she reached out a hand, smiling. "How about you take a nap with me and Solana?" She asked. I jumped down from my father's knee and climbed onto the bed. She pulled over my smaller pillow to tuck under my neck, and a blanket to throw over both me and Solana once my father laid her on the bed between us.

My mother began to sing a song as my father rocked in the rocking chair next to the bed. Her voice made me feel happy and safe, and soon I fell asleep next to my mother and baby sister.