Well, they knew it would happen soon enough, but they hadn't planned on it hitting them when they least expected it.
They were on Illium to see Liara when Shepard's water broke.
The entire squad buckled down after that, trying their best to get her back to the Normandy as quick as possible. The Commander didn't say a word, however, doing her best to ignore the pain. When she finally reached the med bay, Dr. Chakwas and Mordin were waiting for her in full garb. With the help of Garrus and Samara, they got Shepard on the bed in order to do the vaginal exam. "Well, Commander, looks like you're coming along fine right now. You're three centimeters dilated and going."Dr. Chakwas told the woman, "How are you feeling? Are the contractions giving you any trouble?"
"Oh, I'm fine," The Commander replied, malice in her voice. "I know this is gonna be like puking a football out the other end, but I'll be fine with that,"
"Commander, let me remind you that this was your decision-" The doctor told her before Mordin interrupted.
"-Best possible decision. Anything else causes harm to mother and child. Believe this was discussed, doctor,"
"Yes, but is having her go through all of this without help-"
"-Not without help. That's why we're here. Garrus, too. Has lots of help that won't kill her,"
Dr. Chakwas decided to shut up at that point. Shepard groaned, feeling a rather large contraction flow through her. Garrus grabbed her hand.
"Shepard, are you alright?" he asked, genuine worry in his voice.
The woman smiled, squeezing his hand. "Don't worry, Garrus. I got this,"
The professor inspected the woman, inhaling deeply when he came back up. "Five centimeters dilated. Going fast,"
"Y-yeah, I hope so," The Commander said, nearly crushing Garrus' hand as another powerful contraction hit her, "I don't really want to be in here all day."
"Patients rarely in labor for more than three hours," he turned away, making sure the supplies were in check, "Hate waiting for full dilation, always takes too long,"
"Doctor Solus," Chakwas warned flatly, "I doubt anyone complaining about it will make it go any faster,"
The woman let out a laugh at the two, "Are you guys going to be fighting through my whole delivery?"
"No. Simply passes time," Mordin replied, checking over their supplies again. Chakwas took her turn in inspecting the Commander.
"Hm... Six centimeters now. Looks like you're slowing down a bit. Are your contractions slowing down?"
"Yeah, a little bit," She replied, "Hey Garrus, you okay? I don't think they want to deal with a fainted Turian along with the baby,"
Garrus laughed openly at that, "Don't worry about me, Shepard. I think I can handle it. How are you holding up?"
"A little better. The contractions aren't bothering me as much as they were earlier, but I have a feeling it's going to get a whole lot worse,"
"Eight centimeters. Very good," She heard Mordin say, but she ignored it to keep her attention on the Turian beside her.
"You know, despite the galaxy of pain I'm about to have to endure, I'm glad this happened," She released his hand to pat his scarred cheek, "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy, Garrus,"
He flashed his mandibles into a smile at that last phrase. "Heh. Thanks, Shepard. I'm just glad I could be here for you,"
"Alright, boys and girls," Chakwas announced loud enough to grab the attention of the two soon-to-be parents, "You're now ten centimeters, which means that you are about to deliver this baby."
"Well, shit," Was the only thing the Commander said before her loins erupted with pain. She screamed, grabbing Garrus' hand again.
Chakwas immediately kneeled down, spreading the Commander's vaginal lips. "Alright, here comes the baby!" She shouted.
Shepard screamed again as she pushed the baby further out. Dr. Chakwas observed as the baby's head pushed past the walls of the mother.
"Come on Commander, keep on pushing!"
Garrus looked panicked. Between the howls of pain and the apparent haze of fear, he began to rethink his decision on letting her do this naturally. "C'mon, Shepard, you can do this!"
The baby was pushed out further, and the two doctors quickly grabbed hold of the head, pulling on the child to get it out quickly. As soon as the mouth had passed the vaginal walls, Mordin stuffed a suction bulb into the child's mouth, sucking out the fluid from the child's air passage. After that, the child was easily pulled out of Shepard with the most disgusting display of afterbirth fluid and blood that Garrus had ever seen.
After a small bit of time passed, and the baby was cleaned of most of the afterbirth fluid, Chakwas exclaimed happily, "It's a girl, Commander. Congratulations!"
The mother smiled weakly. "Awesome. Now that wasn't so bad, was it Garrus?"
The Turian looked on in complete shock as the two doctors handled the baby expertly. The realization of him being a father took him by surprise as he stood silent in awe.
"Garrus?"
"Oh! Sorry. Th-this is... This is amazing." He smiled as best he could as one of the doctors put a clamp on the umbilical cord.
"Garrus, do the honors?" Mordin said to him, placing a pair of scissors in his free hand. He stared at them for a moment before freeing his other hand from Shepard and walking towards his little girl.
"Of course." He said, still smiling as he cut the cord where they told him to and watched as they took the baby to get cleaned further. He turned back to Shepard, embracing the woman fully. "Oh man, Shepard, that was amazing,"
"We're not done yet," The mother mused, still grinning like an idiot. "We still have to name her,"
"Oh, r-right," He looked back to his lover, releasing her from the hug but taking her hand in his, "Any ideas? Because I really don't know,"
Shepard thought for a moment, staying quiet. "Hm... How about Vespa?" she could hear him scoff.
"Why that? It sounds weird,"
"Well, that was my sister's name. Before Mindoir, at least,"
Now it was the Turian's turn to shut up. He stayed silent until Chakwas handed the baby over to the Commander. "Alright, Vespa it is," He smiled again, lowering his head towards the little girl in the head-bump custom he had used on her mother so many times. "Sounds fine to me,"
He then turned back to the woman, doing the head-bump to her. "You did good, Shepard... I love you."
