Had to cut this one a bit short to keep the updates comin'. Thank you SO much for all the faves/follows, it's the most I've ever gotten! Anyway, on with the show!
Day two of Shepard's Christmas gathering seemed promising enough. Wrex and Grunt would arrive late in the evening, James and Kasumi were due to be there just before breakfast, Kolyat would show up whenever, Kaidan was scheduled to be there sometime that morning, and Liara, Falere, and Samara would be there by noon.
In the mean time, Shepard left Mordin and Garrus to start breakfast while she woke everyone up. The closest room to her own was Fury's, whom she found knocked out on the floor after apparently having rolled off of her bed.
"Come on sweet heart, time to get up."
Fury rubbed at her eyes sleepily, rocking slightly as she stood up. Both she and Shepard were in footie pajamas of all things, adorned with hanar and elcor wearing Santa hats.
"Auntie Ara coming today?" She asked, half dead as she swayed on her feet.
"Yup, Miss Falere and Samara are, too."
"YAAAAAAAAY!"
And suddenly there was nothing sleepy about her as she rushed out of the room to wait for her blue companion.
Shepard chuckled, moving down to the next bedroom to wake up her first house guest. On the door 'Solana' was hung up in cursive, designed and colored to look like a twisted candy cane. As she opened the door and called "wake up, sis!" she found herself with a mouth full of pillow.
"Be down in a minute," Solana slurred, pulling a second pillow over her head to block out the light from the hall.
Shepard shook off the loose feathers in her hair and moved on to the next door. This time 'Zaeed' adorned the door, shaped like an evergreen tree. Shepard was relieved to find him already awake and dressed in a white sweater and jeans, pulling on a watch.
"Mornin' Shepard. I'm on my way downstairs."
"Awesome. Wanna help me wake up Jack?"
"Hell no. Good luck though, you're gonna need it."
Shepard sighed as Zaeed passed her, dreading the task of waking Jack. As luck would have it, the next door read "Tali & Kal" in snowflake handwriting.
"Wake up, love birds!"
Both of them groaned, but got up and stretched, humming their good mornings.
The next door had 'Jack' written in black licorice font, and Shepard groaned as she opened the door.
Before she could even get a word out, biotics shoved her to the ground and the door shut in her face.
"Good morning to you, too."
Miranda and Oriana's rooms were next, but both were already up and getting dressed. Joker and Irenah were sound asleep when Shepard entered, but gave her no trouble when she woke them up.
With the guests taken care of and breakfast cooking, Shepard could focus on getting Fury and herself dressed.
Upon entering her bathroom she found Fury, already showered and in her shimmering gold dress and playing in Shepard's makeup.
"What are you up to?"
Fury put down the mascara she was holding and refused to turn around.
"Fury, regardez moi."
Fury turned reluctantly to face her mother, looking guilty. She had expertly done her face up, white and red shimmering eyeliner creating candy canes on her eyes, white mascara creating a snowy effect, and white sparkles decorated her colony markings.
"Mommy?" Fury muttered, deeply intimidated by Shepard's stern gaze. "I-"
"Forgot the blush."
Shepard knelt down and properly finished of her daughter's masterpiece, smiling.
"Just ask Mommy next time, okay?"
"Okay."
"Will you do Mommy's markings when she gets out of the shower?"
Fury smiled up at her mother, nodding as she let out a cheerful "mm-hmm!" and set to work on pulling on her red tights.
Shepard took a brief shower before pulling on her own gold dress and stockings. While Fury's dress had short sleeves a a poofy tulle skirt, Shepard's dress was skin tight and covered only what was necessary and had no sleeves at all. Shepard also opted for sheer maroon stockings instead of bright red tights.
"You look...edible."
The low rumbling compliment came from Garrus, who had entered the bathroom to let Shepad know breakfast was ready.
"Ewwwww, Daddy that's icky!"
"Oh hush, how do you think you got here?"
"A birdie?"
"Keep dreamin'."
Shepard rolled her eyes at the two as she finished curling her long black hair and applying gold and red eyeshadow.
"We'll be down in a minute, Garr', she has to do my markings."
"Speaking of which, is she wearing makeup?"
"Out with you!"
As Garrus left the bathroom and Fury set to work cleaning her brush off for Shepard's markings, voices could be heard from just below the open bathroom window.
"So then I realize I'm all outta bullets and I got this Krogan comin' for me, so I drop the gun and run straight at him, and I'm all like 'FALCON PUUUUUUNCH!'. You ever punch a full-grown krogan in the face? Not pleasant. Took care of things though. And now here I am."
"Impressive. Not many people fight krogan in close quarters combat and live to tell the tale. I'm impressed."
"Yeah, well, you know. So what have you been up to, Shades? Stealing as usual?"
"Oh sure, I've been on a couple heists since you left, but mostly I've been working with Jondum Bau. Turns out there are a few covert operations my...erm... Talents come in handy with. So while you've been off playing N7, I've been promoted to honorary spectre status!"
"...I hate you Shades."
"No, you love me, you just hate anything that threatens your 'macho man' status."
"...Whatever. Hey what's taking Lola so long? Think she heard the bell? S'freezin' out here."
"Oh she knows we're here. She's been listening to our banter from Hock's master bathroom this whole time."
"What?"
Shepard, now fully dressed and marked, scooped Fury up and leapt out of the window, using her biotics to cushion the fall.
"Hey, Shep, Merry Christmas! And nice dress! I may just have to steal it..."
"Hey Kasumi! Don't even think about it, I paid a fortune in credits for this thing. Come on in, looks like it'll snow."
Shepard opened the door and lead them into the dining room where everyone was tucking into breakfast.
"This the little one?" James asked as they pulled up chairs. "She looks just like you!"
Fury smiled shyly from behind her mother, taking notice of Kasumi's outfit. She had a hood on, as usual, but she was wearing a purple dress rather than a sneaking suit, revealing her long, pale legs.
"Awe you hiding?" She asked.
"What? Oh! No, I just don't like to show my face."
"Awe you fugly?"
"Fury!"
Kasumi laughed, ignoring Shepard's distress, and quickly explained her profession to Fury, who seemed very interested in the artwork she stole.
Breakfast was a loud affair as everyone caught up with each other, explaining what they'd been up to, discussing inter-galactic policies, and, of course, Yule tide as they wrapped up.
"We should TOTALLY have a snow ball fight, Lola," James suggested, smirking devilishly.
"I still don't know how I feel about you calling my wife 'Lola'," Garrus growled.
"Oh, lighten up Scars," Shepard teased, causing Garrus's mandibles to once again turn blue as everyone laughed at him.
Mordin's omni tool bleeped as received an alert on the house's status.
"Incoming Alliance vessel. Suspect Spectre Alenko."
"Kaidan?"
All heads turned to Miranda at her hopeful whisper.
"NAAAAAAH, must be some other Alliance soldier! No shit, princess!"
"Hey! Leave Miranda alone, Jack!"
"Its ok, Ori, she's just teasing."
Oriana still shot the very smug Jack a warning glare as she helped her sister up to answer the door.
Kaidan looked slightly more rugged than Shepard remembered- perhaps a result of his Spectre status. He now had dark scruff on his face, which also seemed a bit gaunt, and he looked noticeably thinner under his thick, red turtleneck and jeans.
"Hey, sweetheart! I missed you!"
There were lots of 'aww!'s as Kaidan pulled Miranda into a tight hug.
"I missed you, too. Come in here, it's starting to snow!"
'Starting to snow' didn't even begin to describe the absolute blizzard that had erupted around them. Snow was falling in droves all around the house, coating the grounds in white blankets of the crystalline precipitation.
"Speaking of snow, I almost forgot. Hang on a minute."
Shepard and the rest of the guests watched as Zaeed disappeared upstairs and Kaidan walked Miranda over to a chair.
"Kaaaaidan," Shepard sang sweetly, placing a hand on Kaidan's shoulder. "How long have we been friends?"
"Gosh," he muttered, "a while I guess."
"So tell me... WHEN WERE YOU GONNA TELL ME YOU WERE DATING MIRANDA?!"
Kaidan turned beet red as he stumbled to answer the question. Shepard now had a fistful of his sweater, and was giving him a look that could make a yahg shit its pants.
"Uh..well.. I mean... Well we didn't think it was going to last, Shepard! And you were so busy with the wedding and tabloids and Mercury! There wasn't time to talk about it!"
"Fyuh-wi"
"What?"
Fury was now standing beside Kaidan, wide eyes staring up at the Spectre.
"My name is Fyuh-wi. Muk-awi is too long."
"Oh...sorry. Fury, then."
"Yeah, well while you've been running off playing soldier, Miranda is pregnant with your child!"
"Oh my God! She's pregnant?!"
Kaidan looked at Miranda with pure shock before giving Shepard an annoyed look.
"No, really Shepard? Of course she is, we talked about it. I'm not the love 'em and leave 'em type."
Shepard shrugged off his rebuttal before turning to Zaeed, who had returned with a rather large grey chest.
"Forgot I brought these damned things. Figured us vets could have some fun."
Zaeed knocked off the lid of the chest with his foot, revealing neon colored fake guns of all shapes and sizes.
"No way... Snow guns?"
Garrus moved forward to pick one of the guns up, an orange mock up of a widow, the muzzle widened to shoot snowballs rather than bullets.
"I thought they banned these in Council Space after that kid got nailed in the chest and went into cardiac arrest?"
"Well one," Zaeed grumbled, "that kid had a preexisting condition. Two, I've had these since I was a little brat and three, we'll all be going for headshots anyway I'm sure."
Shepard laughed as she returned a snow-phalanx she had been inspecting back in the box, shutting the lid.
"I'm game!" she said, punching Zaeed in the arm. "I say we wait until everyone gets here. Give the snow some time to pack."
Threats of snow to the face started flying around the table as the doorbell rang. Solana got up, stretching as she made for the door.
"I've got it, Shepard, It's just my parents."
Mazia and Archeas both rushed into the house, shivering from the cold.
"It's a mess out there!" Mazia cried, sweeping snow from her frost-blue dress. "I hope all your friends make it out here ok!"
"They should be okay," Shepard offered in earnest, "I was just about to make some eggnog, do you want to help?"
"Oh I'd love to!" Mazia cooed, ignoring Archeas's agitated stare. "Solana and I found a simply wonderful levo recipe!"
Solana, Shepard and Mazia got to work on the eggnog as everyone settled in on the family room couch.
Just as Shepard began to fill glasses with their creation, Mordin wheeled up to her, voice very low.
"Vessel inbound. Think you should have Fury open door."
"Why would I do that? She's so shy as it is..."
"Trust me Shepard."
Shepard began to argue when the bell rang. Seeing the mischievous glint in the doctor's eye, she realized she had no choice but to trust him.
"Fury, can you get the door?"
"But I don't wanna!"
"Now honey."
"But-"
"Maintenant!"
Fury removed herself from the couch where she had been listening to Kasumi explain how a fresco painting was done and the best methods for stealing one.
Fury stumbled for the door and Shepard returned her confused gaze to Mordin.
"Shh, listen. Will see my plan."
Shepard heard the swish of the front door being opened and Fury's scream.
"Fury?! Mommy's coming!"
But there was no need, for at the front door, holding a sobbing Fury was Liara T'soni in all her glory, dressed in a tight black evening dress cut similarly to Shepard's, and black heels. Behind her, Falere looked on awkwardly as more people started to pool into the room to see what all the commotion was about.
"I-missed-you!" Fury gasped in between sobs.
"I missed you too, sweetie."
Fury's birth was a complete surprise to everyone, even Shepard and Garrus. It had turned out for the last 22 weeks of her campaign against the reapers, she had been unknowingly pregnant with a child. Her cybernetics mixed with turian genetics meant Fury's birth came much sooner than a human child. After having been hospitalized after what was deemed 'The Crucible Incident', Shepard gave birth by C-section while completely unconscious. Shepard remained in a coma for the first two months of Fury's life, leaving Liara to take care of her. The bond between the two never weakened, as Liara often visited Fury. The last few months, however, proved busy for Liara, and her visits, which had been almost weekly, became few and far between.
As Liara pulled Fury inside and began to explain why she hadn't been able to see her, Shepard pulled a very upset looking Falere away.
"You gonna be ok?"
Her eyes shifted all around, nervous, refusing to meet Shepard's gaze.
"I just...what if someone doesn't feel comfortable with me around? Or freaks out or-"
"Falere, you are in my house with my friends, some of which you've already met. If anyone gives you trouble, you tell me and they'll have me to answer to, ok?"
Falere smiled slightly reassured.
"Aluna?"
Shepard reentered the family room where everyone had once again settled down. Liara was in the kitchen with Solana and Mazia, Fury holding onto her leg as if she'd disappear if she let go.
"I thought you should know. Falere's mother won't make it until later tonight. Her flight from Lesuss was delayed indefinitely because of the snow."
"Lesuss? What was she doing there?"
Archeas had been speaking with Garrus nearby, but upon hearing Lesuss be mentioned, he made his way over to the kitchen bar.
"Didn't I tell you? The asari government beginning to reassess the treatment of... Well people like Falere. They see her as a case study of their misjudgment of their ability to successfully reintegrate into society. They think now the best way to treat them would be rehabilitation, not exile."
"But I though Falere was the last of her kind?"
"Only the last documented," Liara clarified, "there were still a few out there with the non-lethal variation of the disease. 6 to be exact. But they've all already been fully integrated into society, hiding behind the scenes, fully capable of living normal lives!"
"That's great news!"
"Hold on a minute."
Shepard, Liara, Falere, and Fury all looked up from their task of pouring eggnog to see Archeas's disdainful face.
"You mean to tell me we're in the presence of an Ardat-Yakshi? Are you trying to endanger us all, Shepard?!"
Falere's head drooped, misery flooding her face as tears began to stream down her cheeks. Liara's expression was that of pure rage as she fired up her biotics before-
"STOP IT!"
Fury ran up to Archeas and started pounding on his legs with little balled up fists.
"You've been mean to my mommy and her fwiends, and now Auntie Ara and her giwl-fwiend! Now say sowwie to ebery-one for being so mean!"
Archeas look shocked as he looke around the room, seeing everyone, even his wife waiting for an apology.
"I...I'll be at the hotel if you need me."
They all watched as he stormed out of the house and into the cold, leaving everyone dumbfounded.
"Well forget what I said before, Falere! If anyone gives you crap, they'll have to answer to Fury!"
The group laughed as some of the awkwardness was lifted, returning to their conversations.
"I'm sorry about him Shepard, He'll warm up to this, I'm certain. Just give it time," Mazia sighed.
"I know, I know. He just, isn't a human fan..."
Meanwhile Liara was doing her best to calm her girlfriend down.
"It'll be all right Falere," she soothed, raking her fingers up and down Falere's back in a comforting motion. "Nobody here cares what you are."
"Thanks, Liara," Falere murmured, giving her a small kiss in thank you.
"Shepard? Shepard you in here?"
The new voice came from beside the front door, the guest evidently having let himself in after Archeas let himself out.
"Kolyat? Yeah, come on in, we're all in the family room."
Kolyat Krios walked in, wearing a grey hoodie and toting a large book bag. He was much older now, and more clearly resembled his father. Even his voice was was now an almost perfect match to the deceased assassin.
"Hey Shepard...Thanks for inviting- Aunt Irenah?"
Irenah had walked up to him, placing a hand on his cheek and giving him a loving, motherly look as she whispered:
"You are such an idiot."
And with that she reared back and slapped the hell out of him.
Oh the joys of Christmas time.
Ok! Next chapter will be the rest of the guests arriving, the snow ball fight of the century, and Shep akwardly explaining Christmas for the aliens. French: 'Look at me' and 'Now!'. Thanks again for the support, your reviews are so inspiring, so keep 'em comin'!