Chapter 10: Up and at 'em

After standing there in bliss with her love for what seemed like hours (when only about a minute had passed), Shepard, being the ever caring person he was, took a step back from their embrace and cast his worry on Tali.

"Is this a clean room? We only just got back together. I don't want you to wind up sick," Jackson said, thoughtful concern showing through his voice.

With a half crooked smile, Tali responded; "Remember when I said there was so much to tell you? I guess this is as good a place to start as any." Tali sat them back down at the table in the side lab. "Alcatraz, can you call Maelon and ask him to drop off my bag?"

"Right away, Tali."

Jackson was slightly confused at first, but then the memory of the battle for Rannoch came to the forefront. "Alcatraz? Your geth partner?"

"Yes. You remember I told you he was acting as my suit's AI for awhile. Well, now he's more like a close friend and personal assistant."

One of Jackson's eye brows shot straight to the sky with that statement. "So, he isn't your suit's AI anymore? Are you sure you are okay with giving that up so soon? I thought they were helping the Quarians along to make you stronger?"

Just then, Maelon arrived at the door to their room. He opened the door, pushed in a rolling cart with Tali's belongings, and went back to his work. Without saying anything right away, Tali merely went to the cart, grabbed her clothes from her bag, and got dressed. The look on Jackson's face could not possibly convey the immense confusion he was feeling at that action.

After fastening the last button on her shirt, Tali turned to face him. "Now about that explanation," she said plainly, seemingly to purposely torture his curiosity. "Truth be told, no one really knows how to explain it. When you fired the Crucible, so many things changed. All over the galaxy, there were so many strange phenomena. Among other things, Quarians were healthily free of our suits, AIs gained understanding of Organic existence, and Joker survived getting smashed in the face by Vega without crumpling to the ground in a heap."

"All that other stuff sounds interesting, but there is a story behind this Joker thing. Let's go there first. I just woke up, so I think I could use a good laugh."

As they sat at the table, Tali went on to tell Jackson of his disappearance, the Normandy crash landing on Eden Prime, their discovery of the effects of the Synthesis Wave, the Reapers' breaking free of their malevolent programming, Harbinger's assistance, and everything that happened in the seven months since the final push to Earth. All the while, he was mesmerized by her big blue eyes.

"Hold on. So let me get this straight… Garrus hopped his drunken ass up on a table and yelled to the whole colony that he was in love with a pastry? Oh man, that is too good!" he said while barely containing a giggle fit. "I really wish I could have been there… I understand the situation, and it would have made sense for you to move on, but, for what it's worth, I really am glad you couldn't let go. You brought me back out of love, not to be your tool like Cerberus did," he said while staring straight into her eyes.

Suddenly, Tali smirked an evil little grin, and mustered the most mischievous voice she possibly could. "Well you know, I very well might have brought you back just to be my… 'tool'. I guess you'll just have to find out, won't you?"

In the back of his mind, the perverted part of Jackson's conscience was trying to get him to say aloud 'We'll bang, ok?', but he didn't want to let it out so soon after being reborn. Instead, he simply nodded and smiled real big in agreement while trying to hide the raging response his manhood was now sporting because of her statement. On the up side, it made him feel good to know that his new plumbing was working properly.

Tali's smirk died down after a moment when the weight of what she had just said rested on her. She looked down and with a hint of shame in her voice said, "As much as I would like to say that I went about bringing you back for a noble reason like giving the galaxy its hero back to thank and adore, deep down I know that I did what I did because I just wanted to be with you." The shame morphed into an almost overwhelming sense of dread and drew a single tear. "Regardless of how everyone would see what I did in a positive light, I will always know that you were brought back to existence because of my own selfish need for your affection." The single tear turned to a few, and then the few turned into a stream. The stream was followed by full on sobbing as guilt hit her like a rocket.

Jackson, almost out of instinct, was instantly at her side and holding her tightly. "Whether you brought me back for the galaxy or to be your personal play thing, which by the way I would have zero complaints with and hope its a standing offer, this simple fact remains. I'm alive again and you were the one behind it. Point blank. Period. I owe you for my third chance at life." He pushed her away just enough so he could look into her eyes. "And now you being able to be out of that suit is just so… I don't even know what say about it. Your eyes. I can't stop staring into them. I just get lost in them."

Though she still felt the dread of shame and guilt hanging over her head, his words had a soothing effect on Tali. And, as it always had, his touch had a different affect on her. A more physical one. With that thought now floating around in her head, the shame began to fade, being replaced with that strong physical attraction she had held for him over the years. Good old fashioned lust. But she pushed those thoughts away for the time being and would wait until they were some place a bit more comfortable and private.

When he noticed the tears had stopped flowing, Jackson stood and headed for the door. "Even before all this, it's been forever since I saw my mother. Time to go play Catch Up." Tali grabbed Alcatraz and lead Jackson toward the main office portion of the laboratory where Admiral Shepard was waiting. Tali knew that even though he loved her with all his heart and soul, you still can't stand between a person and their family. Particularly now that she knew how strongly his attachment to his family could be after hearing about his aunt.

In the office, Maelon was excitedly discussing their success with Hannah. Upon seeing him, Jackson instantly thanked his sense of good nature for having convinced Mordin to spare Maelon when they found his Genophage testing trial lab on Tuchanka. When they saw him, he stepped forward to Maelon with a welcoming hand out. "Professor Maelon, I hear I also have you to thank for my triumphant return."

Maelon, in typical overly excitable Salarian fashion, took his hand, shook vigorous, and began talking at a turbo sped pace that Jackson and Tali would not have been able to understand at all had they not spent so much time with Mordin. "My goodness. Commander Shepard! It is so good to see you up and about so soon. You have no idea the complexity of the calculations and computations put forth to make this all possible. Even with the ancient Prothean knowledge we used to make it all happen, we still had to put in a lot of hard work and sweat to…"

Hannah, head spinning from the blur of words, chimed in and cut Maelon off. "Whoa! Easy there tiger. If you talk any faster, I think the part of brain that comprehends speech will start hemorrhaging. Man, he's like a hamster on coffee."

Jackson and Tali both had to laugh at that last part. "You know, Hannah, our crew therapist when we were after the Collectors said the exact same thing about his teacher Mordin. Only he had a habit of omitting certain words to condense his sentences so he could talk faster. When we tried to get him to speak slower, he attempted for awhile and reverted back to his normal speech patterns, saying slowing down was... problematic. I swear, his mind moved faster than an overclocked octo-core zettahertz processor and half the time, his mouth couldn't keep up," Tali said through her giggling.

Dumbfounded by the possibility of their having been someone harder to follow than Maelon, Hannah let a somewhat shocked look hit her face and just mouthed the word 'wow'. Once it passed, she turned back to her son. "Come 'ere, boy!" Hannah scooped him up in a big bear hug and held him still a moment, just soaking in his presence. "I'm still trying to absorb the fact that you're alive again. The logical part of me didn't want to wrap around the idea of you coming back again. The emotional side kept praying that we could make this thing work. And you have Tali to thank for it all. She gave you your third try at this crazy life game. Third time's the charm."

Letting him go, Hannah turned her attention to Tali. "I'm telling right now, son. Hold on to that one. She's definitely a keeper. She's smart, funny, loves Cajun. And you wouldn't believe the heart she has. Before the idea to bring you back came up, she was going to lay you to rest right next to Jane."

Jackson's eyes widened a bit on hearing that last part. Just as the same had happened to Tali before when she had first heard about his aunt Jane being his inspiration in life, Jackson felt so much pent up affection well up so strongly inside that he felt it might start leaking out from somewhere. He walked toward her and just grabbed her tight. He felt a single tear drop fall and managed to get out one sentence. "You have no idea how much that means to me," he said, his voice threatening to crack.

Tali squeezed him tight in return and said, "You have no idea how much it meant to me to hear that the man I loved was fueled by a desire to honor fallen family." He understood right away what she meant. He knew about how tightly knit Quarian families tend to be, even if her own was certainly not the model of the concept. He knew how close most people in the flotilla were, even when separated.

Hannah again hugged them from the side and added, "Let's get out of here and go to the house. With the war over, you'll need a place to live, boy. I kept the house all these years with the intent to retire in it. Given what you did for the galaxy, I'd say you've more than earned it as your own." He certainly wasn't going to argue with that assessment, particularly since it held strong sentimental value for him.

They all left the lab building, and as soon as the sun hit him, Jackson couldn't help but cover his face. It was relatively dark inside the lab building, and it was the reborn Shepard's first outing into sunlight. Driven by memory, he reached into the inside pocket of his hoodie and produced an old pair of Aviator sunglasses. After putting them on and allowing his eyes to adjust, he looked over and saw Tali. She was bent forward putting their things into the back of his mother's car. That sight certainly did him some good. He cocked his head, bit his bottom lip, and mumbled something under his breath right as Hannah passed by him. Oblivious, she responded to what she had thought he said… "Yes, it has gas." He laughed to himself and got into the car.

Author's Note: Yes, there was a "Dat Ass" reference. Come on now. We all know Bioware created Tali's particular physical form to have some "ample" portions.