This prompt is for PATR1OTJD. This prompt is actually a direct sequel to another prompt written by Synweaver in Snippets, the fanfic this is an unofficial sequel to. The prompt, 'Surprise!', detailed Rael'Zorah having survived the events of ME2, and learning of Shepard and Tali's relationship during that scene on the geth dreadnought (the one where they flirt). Now, the scene itself at the end seemed to suggest the two had sex right there on the spot (which, even for comedic purposes, was a bit too much in my opinion), so while this is a sequel to that prompt, I will be carrying on based on the assumption that part never happened, but that everything before it did.

Hope you enjoy this chapter, PATR1OTJD. This one was definitely...interesting to write. XD. But interesting in a good way. It was quite fun.


The Battle for Rannoch had turned from what had supposed to have been a total victory to a near total defeat. The quarian's lightning attacks, strikes and assaults had cut through the fortified geth border with ease utilizing Xen's new countermeasures, and the Migrant Fleet had swept through their former systems, retaking world after world. Operation Perseus Strike had been turning into a brilliant boon, despite the murmurs of concern and skepticism ringing through the Conclave in the lead up to the war.

Just yesterday, the last geth controlled system outside of Tikkun, Dholen, had fallen to a task force of 80 quarian ships, who swiftly defeated what should have been a numerically superior force.

Led by none other than Admiral Rael'Zorah himself.

The past year had been an odd one for Rael'Zorah. Just over seven months ago, he had been on his personal lab ship, the QMFV Alarei, running experiments for a secret experiment known as Project K: the Special Projects program to develop anti-geth weapon systems in preparation for Perseus Strike. Admiral Xen had given her full approval: after all, she had provided the Alarei to him in the first place. All she had asked for was to be kept constantly updated, as she had a vested interest in developing weapons capable of countering the geth. While he had never liked her more ambitious plans involving reenslaving the geth, their fixation on retaking Rannoch had made them reluctant allies, and thus, Project K had Xen's full sanction.

Only problem was...Project K was a classified project. So top secret that the rest of the Admiralty Board, and the Conclave, were kept in the dark about it. Raan, Gerrel and Koris were completely unaware of what occurred on the Alarei. Xen had been meticulous in making sure the Alarei's registry had it pegged as belonging to the Civilian Fleet, even creating the necessary paperwork to make it believable. Only Xen, Rael, the ship's captain and the Project K science team knew anything about it, and they were sworn to secrecy. After all, what Project K was doing was tantamount to treason.

So when Xen got annoyed at Rael's lack of progress, forcing him to switch to live geth testing, and said geth subsequently actualized and slaughtered the ship's crew, Xen cut all ties and wiped her hands clean of it all. With no ship tied to her authority, and no evidence of her ties to the project, she could 'pretend' to have no knowledge of it, using Rael as a scapegoat if he survived. Which he did.

He was lucky. Just as the geth breached the corridor he was in, he had managed to access a nearby storage room and lock it behind him: the geth had no knowledge of where he was, and thus he went undetected until finally saved by Commander Shepard, his daughter and their team. He was horrified that his actions had ended with his daughter put on trial, but just as he had been ready to sacrifice himself to save her future, the Commander had successfully redirected the blame to political manipulation on behalf of the admirals, resulting in the trial being declared null and void, and both Rael and Tali exonerated.

And now here he was, leading an attack into the heart of the geth's territory, bringing his people within striking distance of their ancestral homeworld. He was convinced Xen's countermeasures, part of her own Project Z, were based off the work he had done on the Alarei, and that she had somehow covertly saved the data and used it to complete her own work, this one sanctioned through official channels. Xen would take the credit for his work, but he would never be able to tell anyone about it: less he admit to the lie he told all those months ago.

What was odd was that he somehow felt as if he had gotten a second chance. His brush with death on the Alarei had been illuminating, demonstrating to him just how far he had fallen in the period following his wife's death, and the folly of his logic. And all he needed to look to as proof of this was his own daughter: Tali'Zorah.

He had never told her this...but he was proud of her. The things she had achieved were nothing short of awe-inspiring. She had been a prodigy of engineering in her youth, out performing everybody else in her tech and mathematics classes. She had taken up dancing as a hobby when she was a teacher, which he suspected was the influence of her mother, who had regularly taken to dance clubs during her pilgrimage, and thus had a natural affinity for it. When he learned she was fighting alongside a human captain on a state-of-the-art warship to wage war on the geth and take down a rogue Spectre, he had been skeptical, but the more he heard of her exploits, especially following the Battle of the Citadel, the more pride he had felt. When she had elected to stay on the ship instead of completing her pilgrimage, he had been both angry and totally unsurprised.

Seeing her now...she had grown up to be a remarkable young woman. Dedicated, open-minded, a quick study, an engineering genius and a talented combatant and marine. She was everything a father could want in a daughter.

But up until the Alarei incident, he had done nothing to acknowledge those achievements. He had been cold, uncaring and indifferent. He had treated her accomplishments with nothing but disappointment, constantly pestering her to do better. 'Excellent' was never good enough. He had heckled her excitement over joining the Normandy's crew and treated her like a child. During her adolesence, any attempts to draw emotion or love from her father hit a unresponsive wall. By the time of her pilgrimage, she had given up, and a noticeable rift formed between them: their relationship had gone from familial to professional.

And he was ashamed. Not of her, but of himself.

When her mother died, Tali was devastated. She would cry for hours at a time, and when her mother was sick, she would refuse to even leave the room, despite being directed. Tali had even said that her 'mummy wasn't allowed to get sick'. Back then, she understood the concept of death, but hadn't readily accepted it as a part of life. So when her mother finally passed, and it finally sunk in, Tali's only recourse was to turn to her father for comfort. And she was met with nothing but indifference. The poor girl needed her father then more than ever, and he had rebuffed her. It was no wonder she had grown so bitter about him. He hadn't been there for her.

Its not like he didn't love her. He did. He just had a different way of showing it: evidently, the wrong way. He thought that if he retreated into his work, did everything he could to return his people to the homeworld, that he could build them a home. And once he had, he would finally show her the affection and love she craved, and he would be the father she wanted.

Except it took too long, and by the time they were finally ready to take the fight to the enemy, Tali had grown up, and all but given up on dreams of returning home. The distance between them grew larger, and every opportunity he had to come clean and tell her how much he loved his daughter came and went. Until the Alarei, at least.

Like he said, the incident on that ship, and his brush with death, was an educational experience, and an eye-opener. For the first time in his life, he was very close to dying. He had always thought that the Migrant Fleet was the safest place to be: sure, quarians died, but only when they neglected their suit repairs or elected to remove their suit, like his wife had, leading to her death. Their defenses protected the Fleet from pirates, and they were at no risk of geth attack because they never left the Veil. It was the safest place to be...or so he thought. He imagined he'd have all the time in the world to keep his promise to Tali, and survive to the day he could enjoy it.

So when the geth broke loose, and he had almost died...he'd realized the irrationality of his actions. His sheer arrogance. In the time he spent focused on his work, even risking treason to make it happen, he had forgotten that he was not immortal, and that he was not untouchable. After the Alarei, he had made sure to rectify that. But with Tali out fighting the Collectors with Shepard, he had not been afforded the opportunity. The day she returned, a few days after Shepard had apparently turned himself in after the Bahak incident, was the day he leaped on the chance to make amends.

In a moment of unprofessional behaviour, he had welcomed his daughter with a hug. And from that point forward, he made sure to treat her with the love she desired to be reciprocated. And to his everlasting gratitude, she accepted it with open arms, despite her initial surprise at it all.

And, funnily enough, six months after that, the invasion of the Perseus Veil went ahead as planned. So in reality, dropping his cold demeanour hadn't diminished his chances of getting his dream to come true after all: in the end, it was going to occur anyway, and he only needed to wait. In a way, it was thanks to Xen that this was even happening, even if it was because she based her research off of his own work.

In six months, he had achieved many things with his daughter. He understood she wasn't ready to show her face to him yet (which had actually struck him deeper than she knew, given the level of trust needed for one quarian to show another their face, meaning she didn't trust him that much), and they had been able to perform other activities together. Sharing rations together after work. Discussing fleet tactics and strategy for the upcoming invasion. Talking about her recent adventures. He had noticed she placed a lot of emphasis on her time with Commander Shepard, but at the time, he had thought nothing of it. Harmless admiration for one's captain was not uncommon in quarian society: in fact, it was the norm. The fact she was considered one of his best friends surprised him, but after meeting the man in person for the first time just seven months ago, he had quickly become impressed with the man. Tali's lavish praise suddenly didn't seem so lavish.

However, what did shock him was her attitude towards geth. All her life, she, like all other quarians, hated the geth with a passion for what they did during the First Morning War. Kicking them out of their home, slaughtering their people, exiling them to live in aging ships and enviro suits for the rest of their lives. The geth were a nightmare story told to children, and by the time they grew up, that fear turned into dispassionate hatred for their people's enemy, leading to generations of quarians who despised their creations. The only quarians who didn't hate geth were those who identified with the Pe'geth political movement in the Conclave, but they were a large minority, even if Zaal'Koris was a member of their group.

So, suffice to say, one would expect Tali to support a large-scale invasion plan by the Migrant Fleet to attack and reclaim the Perseus Veil, finally enacting revenge on their people's arch enemy.

Instead...she joined the pe'geth movement. Not only that, but she openly campaigned against going to war with the geth, and even suggested peace with them.

All the admirals had been shocked by this. Koris, because he had convinced himself anyone who hated the geth was his political enemy and threat, and thus had not expected to find the person who he had tried to exile only months before become his ally. Gerrel, because he was disappointment that his adopted niece had chosen to oppose his policy. Xen, but only because she could no longer manipulate Tali for her own purposes. Shala, mostly because she wasn't sure what had triggered this change. And Rael, because the daughter he thought he'd finally come to understand had hit him with a bombshell that shattered all his previous preconceptions.

What had happened to his Tali? Before she even left the Fleet after her trial, she still hated the geth with a passion, despite showing contempt for what he had done. There was no trace of the woman she had become. In the span of just over two months, she had changed into a geth apologist and peace supporter. What happened? What caused this change in behaviour?

Sure, Tali had explained that there was a schism in the geth consensus, and that the geth they had been fighting in the Eden Prime War and in subsequent raids were a faction known as the heretics, and that the majority of the geth wanted an end to hostilities, but that hadn't explained how she had come by this information and exactly why this changed her stance. These heretic geth didn't exist during the Morning War, and they certainly weren't responsible for their exile...so why was she defending them? On that, Tali wouldn't tell him. And it only annoyed him even more.

Still, he hadn't let that come between them. Even when Tali and Koris' votes were overruled and the Fleet mobilized for war, Tali had silently gone along with it and assisted. Due to her combat experience in the Eden Prime War, her part in numerous marine raids following that war, and her part in wiping out the heretics at Haratar Station, Tali was taken onboard by the Admiralty Board as their foremost advisor in geth weapons and tactics. She had expressed regret that the peace option had been dismissed, but had nonetheless committed herself to helping them prepare for war regardless.

He had misjudged her clearly.

Everything between them had gone fine from that point forward...until now.

As the quarians pushed onto Rannoch, they ran into a problem: the geth were no longer vulnerable to Xen's upgrades. Initially baffled by this development, they quickly learned that it was because a geth super-dreadnought, a warship unlike anything they had ever seen, was transmitting Reaper code to all geth ships and troops within the Perseus Veil, allowing them to overcome Xen's countermeasures and fight back with increased effectiveness. With the quarians trapped, Tali was sent with the rest of the admirals to get help from Commander Shepard, who Tali was confident would help them. Rael had stayed back to hold the line and, true to her word, Commander Shepard had arrived, on the Normandy, to help them. So much so that he had actually kept the admirals onboard and headed straight for their position, leaving the envoy ship way behind and forced to catch up.

Rael'Zorah had been shocked, once again, at how much Commander Shepard had gone out of his way to help them. He had expected the man to care more about his own people, and scoff at the notion of helping suit-rats out of a situation they created. But not only had he rushed to help them, but he had even gone as far as to suggest leading a team onto the super-dread, led by himself, to take down the signal.

Rael had to ask himself: why was the man doing this? What was his motivation?

He was beginning to wish he had never found out the answer.

He had been so dense. Raan had subtlely suggested it without him ever knowing it: the odd side look at Tali, the brief attempts at telling him that Tali wanted to tell him something. At one point, she even outright told him that Tali was seeing somebody. His first impulse was to assume she had a boyfriend on the Fleet, and assumed it was Kal'Reegar, given how much they often talked. And the more and more obtuse he got. What a fool he had been.

Finally, after seven months, he learnt the truth: through mission comms. Shepard had agreed to set up a QEC comm link with the Normandy during the mission to allow them to relay constant mission updates to the Admiralty Board without risk of the geth detecting, monitoring or jamming their transmission. Shepard had taken a small team consisting of himself, a human marine named James Vega, and Tali, who had insisted on going with Shepard. It had all seemed harmless of course: the two had served together, and were friends. Right?

Wrong. Before he knew it, the two of them were shamelessly flirting on the comms, seemingly forgetting that Rael, and the other admirals in the room, could hear them. And within moments, the confirmation of what he was slowly beginning to realize: Shepard wasn't just Tali's friend...he was her lover.

To say he was furious would be an understatement. He had restrained his anger enough not to verbally assault Shepard on the comms, but the man could surely feel the fury directed at him.

Damn that man. How dare he use my little girl like that. How long has this been going for? Is this why Tali was so infatuated with him? What's his end goal here? What does he intend to do with her? Is this a fling, or a serious relationship? I don't care what his intentions are...I'm going to kill that man. The moment he gets onboard this ship, I'll...I'll...

In truth, he really didn't know what he'd do. The man was a special forces operative with untold experience fighting geth, mercenaries and other enemy combatants in hand-to-hand: he seriously doubted he would simply stand there and take it. But what else was he to do? Tali was his daughter, and Shepard had been secretly consorting her behind his back and without his blessing. What was he to make of this? And to think that this man may have seen his daughter's face before her own father got to...

No. Tali wouldn't be so irresponsible as to...give herself to him. Surely not. She understands the dangers of copulation between quarians, let alone with an alien. I mean, humans certainly look close enough to us, but...that's besides the point! I cannot believe she would hide this from me!

But then he realized another, darker reason for why she might have done so.

What reason does she have to tell me? I've never shown her any love in the past. She probably doesn't care what I think. She might have done this just to spite me, in fact. And I thought I was making progress towards being a good father...

Whatever the case, Rael was not happy about this. As Tali's father, he deserved to know about this. And, as he turned to Shala and gave her a stern look, he realized that perhaps Raan had known about this all along. The fact that one of his fellow admirals, let alone a dear friend to his family and clan, would hide this from him as well, seemed almost like a stab of betrayal. Had Tali put Shala up to this? Sworn her to secrecy? Or does Tali not know of Raan's knowledge of her relationship, and Shala is simply operating off of a woman's intuition? She always knew Tali better than I did. Shala was the only motherly figure she had after Meru died...perhaps that's how Shala knows.

She feels closer to Clan Raan than she does her own father...I've failed as a parent far worse than I predicted.

But soon...that would be rectified.

He had not cut the communications, and simply kept listening. A few minutes more into the mission, and the squad was ambushed by geth troops whilst on an elevator, and Shepard had been caught in the middle. Tali had pulled him up when the elevator collapsed. She expressed concern and worry, while Shepard brushed it off with what seemed like a blase attitude (Ancestors help him, he was going to punch Shepard). Tali, puzzingly, tried to make it seem as if she was more worried for her reputation, to which Shepard responded with yet another jestful quip. Their repertoire of behaviour seemed to center around a weird combination of jokes and flirting that confused him, making it seem as if their relationship was one that was casual, and lacking any real seriousness...which was tantamount to taboo in quarian society.

Quarian relationships were serious affairs. Casual flings and flirting were all but unheard of. So to have this man and his daughter being so blatantly remissive on comms where he can hear every single word they're saying filled him with unbridled rage. He gripped the table tightly, red clouding his vision as he thought of all the things he was going to do to Shepard when he got back on this ship.

I will kill him. Ancestors help me, I'm going to kill this bosh'tet.

The rest of the mission had continued normally, with very little intimate interaction between Tali and Shepard. There had been a brief period of confusion when the team's comms went silent, EDI reporting that Shepard cut communications on his end, only to reestablish them exactly eleven minutes later, with no explanation offered as to why they were cut in the first place.

Not that it mattered. Because within another few minutes, after the super-dread's barriers and defensive systems were confirmed to be offline, Admiral Gerrel through another wrench into the works when he ordered his Heavy Fleet to attack and destroy the geth flagship while they were crippled. Horrified that Gerrel would give such an order, Rael had protested, with Shala quickly joining him. Xen didn't care though, and Gerrel wasn't listening, actually muting Shepard and Tali's own protests on their end as he gave orders to his fleet to hit the super-dread with everything they had. Rael was furious, shouting at Gerrel to stand down, only for the admiral to reaffirm that the Heavy Fleet was his to command, not Rael's. Shala later capitulated and helped when Gerrel pressured her to do so, warning that their Heavy Fleet would be destroyed if her Patrol Fleet didn't help. Shala really had no choice in the matter.

Rael was left to fume in agonizing silence as Gerrel passed on his orders, watching from the Normandy's screens as the Heavy Fleet opened fire on the super-dreadnought, with Shepard's team still onboard. With Tali still onboard.

I'm going to kill Gerrel when this is over. He better hope my daughter gets out of there alive.

It was impossible for him to tell how much time had passed: he had long since stopped paying attention. With the comms muted and Gerrel unwilling to unmute them, he had no way of knowing whether or not Tali had gotten out of there alive. All he could do was wait for news, and hope that it was good. He silently prayed she was alright.

He would get his wish. Less than six minutes later, EDI, the ship's VI (although he strongly suspected she was actually an AI, given how she talked and acted) announced Shepard's team had gotten out alive, and were on a commandeered geth fighter heading for the Normandy. He blew out a collective sigh of relief, feeling his shoulders slump and grip unconsciously loosen and relax, the tension easing out of his posture as it drained from him. Everything was going to be okay. His daughter was safe.

Gerrel looked far too satisfied with himself, "See? The Commander and Tali got out of there in one piece, and my ships destroyed the geth flagship. Without that signal, the geth will be vulnerable to our countermeasures again. Thanks to me, victory is back in our reach."

Rael's head snapped up, turning to face Gerrel. The nerve of the man. There he was, arms crossed and head held high in pride, as he gloated over his victory. A victory he had almost paid for in his daughter's blood. A victory he had risked quarian ships for, and deviated from the evacuation plan for. Instead of retreat, Gerrel had pushed forward. If the signal hadn't been disabled when it was...Gerrel may have just put victory in the geth's reach.

Fists tightening and rage returning, this time directed solely at Gerrel, he rounded the table, coming to stand where Gerrel was situated, facing the side where the war room entrance was. His mask came inches from Gerrel's, who had noticed Rael's sudden explosion of vehemence and braced himself. Rael's voice was a hiss, "Tali was on that ship, Gerrel. Your actions could have gotten her killed. What were you thinking!?" His voice quickly elevated into a shout, shoving aside the professional and calm posture he had often been associated with.

"I think you're overreacting, Rael," Gerrel replied cordially, "No one died. Tali got out okay. The flagship was eliminated. The only dead hostiles here are geth."

"For which she is lucky," Rael hissed, "If she had been a few seconds longer, she'd be dead, and you know that. How dare you-"

"Gerrel!"

The acidic bark caused both Rael and Gerrel to flinch, heads snapping towards the door, both Shala and Xen equally shocked by the sudden booming voice. What they found was the armoured silhouette of a tall human man standing in the doorway, alone, bright blue eyes shining with unfiltered wrath. His eyes fixed on Gerrel with pure disdain, and with a loud clatter, they watched as the helmet he had been pinning under one arm fell to the ground, left forgotten. Seconds later, with clenched fists, the human stalked forward.

"Shepard," Gerrel hesitatingly replied, watching as the human continued his silent approach towards him, "You're military. Explain to Rael how-"

"You piece of shit," Shepard hissed, cutting Gerrel off as he finished his approach. Moments later, like a flash of lightning, his hand shot forward and gripped Gerrel around the throat, before shoving him down like a rag doll, pinning him against the war table with a gasp as Gerrel's oesophagus was constricted, breaths coming out in loud rasps and wheezes. Violence brissled along Shepard's frame, veins popping along his naked neck as the very sound of gnawing teeth could be heard as Shepard leaned forward. Rael took a step back, shaken by the sheer naked outrage he was being exposed to, trepidation filling the room, "I told you to stand down. We had the situation under control. Instead, you opened fire on the ship we were still onboard, and you almost killed Tal-my squad! Who the fuck do you think you are!?"

"Admiral...of the...Heavy-"

"You're fucking nobody," Shepard snarled, briefly picking Gerrel up before slamming him back against the table, "I'm seriously tempted to rip your mask off and cough. You arrogant little pus sack," the man then looked up, eyes circling the room, "And all of you..." he then landed specifically on Rael, pointing at him with his free hand, "Especially you...should have stopped him. Your own daughter was on that ship...and she was almost killed. What the fuck do you have to say about that?"

"N-now w-w-wait just a m-minute!" Rael snapped back, stuttering slightly before regaining his composure, "I tried to stop him! I ordered him to stand down, he ignored me! How dare you try to suggest I don't care about my daughter! Who are you to-?"

The door opened again, the voice of a woman he didn't recognize filtering into the room, "Ma'am, you can't just-!"

Then a voice he did recognize.

"You bosh'tet, I don't have time for your stupid weapons check! I need to get in there!"

Moments later, a quarian female draped in a purple realk and faceplate stepped through the doorway. She was quite different from what he was used to seeing on her: she had sections of ballistic battle plate littering her form, small sections of armor strapped to her torso, legs, shins, arms, shoulders and mask. She had a geth-designed plasma shotgun on her back, a trophy from her days fighting the geth heretics, and a small pistol sidearm on her hip. A small bandolier was wrapped around her waist, in it at least ten slots for grenades to be slotted in, almost all of them empty except for two. Her suit was dotted with blotches of white liquid, indicative of the fluid the geth used to lubricate their internal mechanisms, and thus acted as their substitute for 'blood': essentially, she was covered in geth blood.

Upon seeing the sight before her, she rushed down the steps into the war room, "Joh-ah...Shepard! Don't!"

"Back off, Tali," Shepard snapped in response, ignoring her feeble protest, as he turned his attention back to Gerrel, "I'm not done. This fucking piece of shit almost got us-"

"-killed, I know. I was there," her voice took on a softer tone now, and as Rael watched on, she gingerly reached forward with a single hand and touched his shoulder. Shepard flinched, but he didn't lash out, and instead seemed to ease at the touch. Frowning, Rael watched on as Tali squeezed his shoulder, stepping closer and shaking her head, "Come on. I think Gerrel's learnt his lesson. Please, Shepard, this doesn't help anyone. What Gerrel did was stupid, but this isn't the way to deal with it."

"You-" Shepard began, but a moment later, shook his head, explosively sighing as he finally released his herculean grip on Gerrel's neck. The admiral gasped long and elongatingly, rubbing his abused throat as he nearly collapsed to the ground from the onset of fresh oxygen, his lungs quickly compensating as he breathed deeply. He shot Shepard a scowl that the commander promptly ignored, turning to Tali with...a much softer gaze as he nodded. The nod seemed almost like a reassurance...one Tali took in stride, hand sliding off his shoulder to squeeze his arm lightly, "You're right."

Rael just frowned. What just happened?

Gerrel stumbled to his feet, still massaging his tender throat, coughing faintly, "Thank you, Tali...glad to see someone is seeing common sense. I would appreciate it if-"

"Admiral Gerrel, shut up," Tali snapped, "Not another word, you bosh'tet."

"E-e-excuse me?"

"You heard her," Shepard's voiced joined hers, fixing the admiral with a glower, teeth gritted as he visibly restrained himself from lashing out again, Tali's actions having apparently tamed the man, "Shut your mouth...and while you're at it, get the fuck off my ship."

"This is ridiculous!" Gerrel protested, quickly turning to the rest of the room for support. Xen wasn't even paying attention to the argument, having already returned to reading data off her omni-tool, the conversation disinteresting her. Shala crossed her arms and simply glared back at him, making her stance clear. Finally, Gerrel, for whatever reason, believed he'd find support with Rael, eyes locking with his for a brief moment, "Rael, tell Shepard this is absurd. As admiral of the Heavy Fleet, I made a tactically sound decision-"

"The commander told you to leave, Admiral Gerrel," Rael interrupted, motioning his head towards the door, "I suggest you do so."

Momentarily shocked by his best friend's rebuttal, Gerrel, realizing he had no allies in the room, finally huffed and left, marching up the steps and out of the room, door shutting behind him. Silence filled the room as Shepard's anger finally evaporated, glad to have the subject of it absent. Rael, however, wasn't even looking at Gerrel as he left. His eyes were already fixed on Shepard: the next target for his ire.

Don't think I've forgotten you, rek'sag metta'ney!

Without even thinking, Rael acted. As Shepard turned to address Rael, his body was already moving. In an instant, his fist clenched and came flying through the air in a flash. Shepard, despite having plenty of time to block the attack, simply watched as the three-fingered fist rammed into the side of his cheek, head whipping back from the impact.

The room fell into silence once more. Xen paid them no mind. Shala gasped. Shepard made no sound, simply turning back around, a bright red bruise forming along his left cheek, somewhat bewildered by what had just occurred, but not looking too surprised, almost as if he had expected the action at some point.

Tali, however, was having none of it. Her own fists clenched, she whirled to face Rael, voice raised several octaves in shock and choler, "Father! That was absolutely unacceptable!"

Rael, filling himself unhinged emotionally by the knowledge of what Shepard had been doing with his daughter, pointed at her accusingly, "You know what else is unacceptable? That you didn't tell me you were...mating with this man! I expect better from you, Tali!"

"I beg your pardon?" Tali snapped back, arms crossed, "You expect better from me? Better from...what exactly? Shepard...no, John, is a man of principle. He cares about me, and I care about him. Everything we've done for each other has been to protect the other or make them happy. As far as I'm concerned, I'm the luckiest girl not just in the Fleet, but in the entire galaxy. I've done better, father. I've found someone who loves me and appreciates me for who I am! Who doesn't find fault in every little thing that I do!"

"I deserved to know!" he spat, waving his arms frantically in desperation, scrambling for a foothold in the argument, "I'm your father! When Shala said you were dating someone, I thought she meant another quarian! Instead, I have to find out through mission comms, by accident, that you've...copulated with a human!"

"Why did you deserve to know? You haven't been a father to me for years!" Tali fired back in response, "I am a grown adult, and I can make my own decisions without your approval. I initially chose to hold back my feelings towards John because I was afraid what you or the Fleet might think. After I joined his crew again, I decided I didn't care. And I couldn't be happier. I thought you'd be happy to know I'd found someone! Instead, you punch him!"

"Why didn't you tell me!?" he barked.

"Because I knew this is how you would react!" she roared, finally putting a damper on their back-and-forth arguing. Rael fell silent, noticing the form of his bristling daughter infront of him. Striking Shepard had prompted a fierce response from her, one he hadn't expected from what he had heard on the geth super-dread. He had assumed their relationship wasn't serious, and thus had felt disappointed in Tali for engaging in such inappropriate behaviour, and hated Shepard for taking advantage of her.

But this entire time, he had noticed Shepard hadn't attacked him in response for the hit, neither had he tried to block it when he clearly saw it coming. He simply watched the two of them as father and daughter argued, waiting for an opportunity to speak his mind. Finally, with the argument subdued, he found his way in, and cleared his throat, "Look Rael...can I call you that?"

"Admiral Zorah will do fine," he bitterly hissed. Tali shot him a glare, but he ignored her, gaze fixed firmly on Shepard, interested in what he said.

"Very well...Admiral," Shepard continued, looking entirely unaffected by Rael's intense stare, almost as if he felt the quarian was insignificant compared to him, "This was my fault. I should have confronted you about this a lot sooner. I've been interested and had feelings for your daughter ever since her pilgrimage days, but I never acted on them. I regretted not doing so, and when I finally did, it was rewarding to have your daughter reciprocate them. I don't know what you think this is, but its not that. I care for Tali...deeply. This isn't some casual fling, and I'm not using her for some political leverage. Tali is unlike any other woman I've met in my life, and she's shown me more love, support and loyalty than any other girlfriend I've had brief relationships with. Not only is your daughter special in this regard, but she's also selfless to the point of stubbornness, remarkably brilliant, brave, willing to put herself at risk for others, constantly puts her needs behind those of others, and refuses to accept compliments...and if it means anything, your daughter is also very beautiful."

Shepard didn't know it, but that last one caused a twinge in his neck, causing one of Rael's eyes to twitch. I knew it. He's seen Tali's face. He got to see my daughter's face before even her own father. An alien.

"Is this...going somewhere?" Rael asked, trying to sound as cordial as possible.

"Yes," Shepard cleared his throat, licking his lips as he did, "What I'm trying to say is that Tali is special to me. She's not a phase. She's not part of some hormonal episode. She's not a trophy. I value her friendship immensely, and her love even more. She keeps me sane, and we keep each other together like glue. And I also want to make one thing perfectly clear," Shepard's voice took on a slightly darker tone this time, one that was very noticeable as the air seemed to get a little colder, "I will not tolerate anyone trying to drive a wedge between us. Not some racist scumbag, not some jealous admirer, and not even her own father. So I say this to you, her father, man to man, that if you try anything that could undermine our relationship, or upset Tali in anyway, I will come down on you like a fucking hammer, and I will not hesitate in making you pay for every single tear that drops down her cheek. Have I, in anyway, been unclear?"

Rael simply stared back at him, finding everyone of his expectations ruthlessly cut up and served up on a bloody silver platter. Not only had Shepard spoken with a conviction that made his heart seemingly stop beating from the intensity, but his body posture had communicated everything. Clenched fists, tensed muscles, curled lips, gritted teeth and firm gaze. Whilst talking about Tali, he had stolen a few gazes at the quarian in nature, who watched Shepard with rapturous admiration, and his state had noticeably softened each time, reminding him of the looks he used to share with Meru across the ration table in their quarters every night.

I loved Meru so much. She was my entire world. Her death very nearly destroyed me. To see this man sharing the same gaze with my Tali as the one Meru shared with me all those decades ago...keelah, this man really is telling the truth. I can't believe it.

For whatever reason, Commander Shepard, galactic champion and galaxy-renowned and feared war hero, had fallen for his daughter of all things...someone whose face he couldn't even see on a day-to-day basis. Somehow, he had chosen to suffer through all that, simply because he loved Tali.

And in the face of that...how could Rael find any further fault?

"I..." he began, his throat feeling dry from a lack of saliva as he formed a response, meeting Shepard's intense gaze with equal ferocity, "...thank you, Commander. I needed to be sure...I was worried you were using my daughter. I'm...pleasantly surprised. I'm...just glad to see my daughter has found happiness with someone, like I once found happiness with her mother. She's so much like her mother already...perhaps I was reminded a bit too much of her."

After a few silent moments, a small hand gripped his shoulder, and he looked up to find Tali peering at him, the angle he was provided of her visor allowing him the slight curvature of her lips underneath the tinted glass, and the sad smile they had formed, "I...wanted to tell you, father. But I was afraid...of what you'd say. I thought you'd reject John. And while it ultimately wouldn't matter, and I'd be with him regardless of what you say, I...value your opinion much more than you think. I wanted your blessing, father. I wanted your approval. I still want it."

Rael felt elation at hearing that, perking up at hearing it. Despite the rift that had formed between them, regardless of how he had treated her, Tali had still desperately craved her father's love so much that she felt the need to get his approval for the man she wanted to live her life with. It warmed his heart to know she still loved him in this way, and that his preconceptions about her attitude towards him at been completely wrong. She resented him, but never had she stopped loving him. And it was clear that she was beginning to realize her own preconceptions of him were beginning to fall apart as well.

"And...you have it," he stated softly, before raising his voice so Shepard could hear him as well, turning towards Shepard with a small smile and a nod, "For better or worse, you have my approval to be with this man. You better treat her well, Shepard, or you will find my wrath is just as potent as yours."

A grin formed on Shepard's lips, "Of that, I have no doubt."

"Well," came Xen's voice, everybody turning to find the admiral had been patiently, or rather impatiently, waiting for their conversation to wrap up before she intervened, "If all this drama has finally been dealt with, perhaps we can-"

"Keelah! GETH! GET DOWN!"

Rael, frowning, found Xen and Shala taking cover, the latter of which having shouted in alarm, and quickly spun around to the source of the perturbation. What he found caused his blood to chill and his brain to freeze, his eyes locked on the subject in question as he found himself rooted to the spot in a mixture of fear and apprehension.

There, framed in the doorway, stood the enemy of his ancestors. The root of his people's misery and heartache. The final obstacle between them and their homeworld.

A geth.

"Shepard-Commander," the machine announced, its electronic voice booming across the room, bright flashing optics making its head easy to spot as it stepped from the shadows and stepped down into the room, "We offer assistance."

Rael, his fear forgotten, spun to face Shepard, who was now looking very awkward, rubbing the back of his neck. Tali rubbed her faceplate, her knowledge of this event obvious and baffling to Rael, even as the quarian tried to make herself scarce. To the geth's credit, its optics twisted around the room, trying to evaluate why its prompt was met by silence, and after it received no acceptable answer, it finally turned back to Shepard, "Shepard-Commander, has this platform erred in its phraseology? Or have the Creators not yet been informed of this unit's peaceful intentions? We do not wish to cause harm."

"Keelah," came Tali's subtle, exasperated whisper.

Rael's gaze remained fixed on Shepard's, and the commander finally turned to address him.

His voice was like a raspy crackle, "Commander...what in the hell is this!?"

The geth's headflaps shifted slightly, moving up and down, before coming to rest in place around its head again, "Shepard-Commander, we believe there has been a miscommunication. An explanation would seem preferrable to preserve this platform's safety."

It appeared there was a lot of things Rael'Zorah didn't know about the Commander. And he couldn't tell if he was looking forward to learning more, or terrified at the prospect.

Just who had his daughter fallen for?


And there you have it, PATR1OTJD. This prompt wasn't nearly as difficult as I was expecting it to be, so I'm happy about that. I also re-read the original Snippets prompt this was a sequel to so that I could understand the mindset of Rael at the time, and perfect the circumstances leading up to the situation. And, as I already mentioned, I deliberately removed the section where it was implied, if not directly confirmed, that the two had sex on the dreadnought, because even for comedic purposes, that scene was a) blatantly unrealistic, and thus violated my one rule for fanfiction making and b) was just a tad over-the-top, and probably turned what was a funny prompt into something that required a suspension of disbelief. I feel like them flirting was more than enough: having them drop to the deck and performing a live presentation of the birds-and-the-bees documentary really stretched the believability to the max, if not exceeding it.

Anyway, so yeah, that was removed, and I hope it didn't compromise the effectiveness of the prompt for you, and that you still enjoyed it. Rael'Zorah in ME3 definitely is a concept that hasn't been explored much by other fanfiction writers from what I've seen, and I may even incorporate it in some later fics that I write. Maybe. Its got the potential for some interesting new situations. Only other story I've seen where Rael survived was Absence of the Heart by SneakyFox, and...well, we all know what happened to her, unfortunately. :(

Anyway, I'm rambled for too long. I hope you enjoyed the prompt! Feel free to make more in the future!