A/N: I could have probably written a follow-up chapter for this party and include some more guests, etc. but since there's only one more chapter to go in this story I kinda wanted to finally wrap it up... There'll be an author's note at the end of the next chapter which will tell you how I'm going to continue but for now... enjoy! :)
As always: thanks a lot for your reviews!
"I've never met anyone like you, Miranda."
.
"Hey... there's my little girl..." Shepard smiled at the baby happily wiggling in Miranda's arm.
Her former XO huffed and brushed a loose strand of hair from her face after she'd handed the baby over to Shepard. "Well, one of us had to bath her before your guests arrive and since you decided to sleep in today..."
"Our guests," Shepard corrected her while she secured her daughter in her arms, gently running a hand through the baby's (thanks to Miranda freshly shampooed) hair. "They like you too, you know..."
Miranda gave a short laugh, causing Emily to imitate her mother's sound immediately. Shepard's eyebrows rose in delight. "Aww, did you hear that? Soon she'll be able to raise an eyebrow and retort sarcastically just like her mommy..."
Miranda's eyes narrowed in warning, which only earned her Shepard's index finger, pointing at her in excitement. "See? I bet she'll learn that next!" the redhead exclaimed before hurrying down the stairs, a squealing Emily in her arms, before Miranda could find something to throw at her – or order Niftu to hide her socks again, that little pest!
"Why couldn't you wear the tie I bought you last month? It looks so good on you..."
Jack waved Kelly's hand off as the former yeoman tried to smooth down her lover's loose, white shirt, which she wore under her usual leather jacket. Under the circumstances (namely, a baby being present today) the former convict had decided to wear a bit more clothing than she was normally used to... There would still be time to act as a bad influence on Shepard's child later...
A smile crossed her face while she thought about all the words she would teach the tiny Shepard offspring, but the smile immediately vanished again when Kelly started pulling at Jack's ponytail...
"You know," the former yeoman's brows furrowed, "I really think you should let your hair down more often..." Delighted by her own joke, a short giggle escaped the redhead while she activated the door's bell in front of them.
Jack growled dangerously and did her best to evade Kelly's once more persistent hands, but just as she was about to decide whether to stash the former yeoman's body behind the impressive (though still ugly as hell) alien statue prominently standing in the middle of Shepard's front yard or if she could manage to squeeze it into a dark corner in Garrus and Tali's (unlocked – she'd checked it...) shuttle, the door in front of them finally opened and Shepard spread her arms in a welcoming gesture. Upon noticing Jack's expression, she only nodded and took a step aside to let them enter. "Bar's straight ahead," she announced and Jack thankfully rushed into the house.
"Aria. I'm glad you could make it."
As expected, the asari's face showed no emotion while she gave a short nod of acknowledgment. "Just wanted to make sure my present has arrived..."
Shepard nodded eagerly. "Yup, all three shiploads of liquor have arrived this morning. I would have preferred a warning, though... I mean, sending the Blood Pack, Aria? Really?" Shepard shook her head, absent-mindedly rubbing over her still bruised knuckles when a short laugh escaped her at the memory. "I was about to knock out the third one when I noticed the Omega logo on the skycar transporters hovering behind them..."
Finally, a small smile started tugging at a corner of Aria's mouth and she patted Shepard's shoulder, leaning closer. "That was part of the present," she stated, "Didn't want you to get soft..."
One of her eyebrows rose involuntarily when she caught sight of something behind Shepard's shoulder and, her poker face back in place, Aria casually nodded towards the bar. "Who's that?"
"Hm?" Shepard turned and scanned the living room already filled with most of her former crew members, searching for the cause of Aria's interest when a smile formed on her face. "Matriarch Aethyta, Liara's father. And she's single, as far as I know..." she added helpfully, a suggestive eyebrow raised.
Aria nodded, her face expressionless once again – except for the almost invisible spark in her eyes. "Well, I guess I'll go and introduce myself, then..." she announced, straightening her jacket, and shoved past Shepard. The pirate queen was about to approach the oblivious asari talking to a large krogan when she paused once more. Leaning in to Shepard's ear for the second time, she added, "I guess you should make sure my three shiploads last a little longer..." And with that, she headed towards the bar, Shepard's confused eyes following her.
"What do you-" the human's eyes widened when they fell on the bar – or rather, the alien leaning against it. "Grunt! Get away from that liquor RIGHT NOW! Have you even reached adulthood yet?"
The tank-bred krogan simply shrugged, unimpressed, and downed another drink before he quickly stepped away from the bar when he saw Shepard storming towards him.
Karin Chakwas touched Miranda's arm lightly and smiled as she followed the other's gaze. "She has your eyes," the doctor announced and Miranda finally turned away from Emily who was currently in "aunt" Tali's arms, looking at the people gathered around her just as wide-eyed as they were looking at her.
"Yes, she does." Miranda smiled in contentment but couldn't resist casting a triumphant look at Shepard a second later.
The commander, however, didn't have time to notice it, as she was momentarily occupied with trying to keep a slightly staggering krogan away from the bar; a task that turned out to be quite the challenge... Even drunk, Grunt was still a krogan and thus more than twice the human's size... a painful fact Shepard had to learn more than once every time she unsuccessfully tried to block the krogan's way back to get a new drink with her own (still weakend) body...
Following Miranda's line of sight once again (intrigued by the dark-haired woman's amused, if somewhat devilish, smile) Dr. Chakwas gave a short laugh as she joined most of the party's guests in their observation of the scene before them.
Once the mayhem had somewhat settled down – mainly due to Wrex who'd decided to join Shepard's fight and, after a few exchanged headbutts, was now sitting on top of a struggling Grunt while the former commander had time to catch her breath – Dr. Chakwas turned back to Miranda.
"You know, when the result of her behavior started showing on her face after only a couple of missions on the rebuilt Normandy, I was slightly concerned about her way of dealing with the job..." she started and Miranda turned away from Shepard, honest curiousity gleaming in her eyes while she waited for the older woman to continue. Dr. Chakwas smiled at the memory and continued, "I tried to warn her about the influence her behavior would have on her looks, but she never seemed to care about the scars." She shrugged. "Sometimes I think she was even proud of them, god knows why..."
Miranda's expression darkened and she crossed her arms in front of her chest, sighing. "Oh believe me: she was very proud of them..."
"That's what I feared..." Dr. Chakwas nodded, shooting Miranda a sympathetic smile, followed by a shrug. "She has always been a hothead... But seeing her now... with her daughter... with you..." The doctor sighed, fixing Miranda with a warm look. "You've changed her... To be quite honest, I never thought I'd see the day when the great Commander Shepard would settle down or be able to hold a baby and making it look like an actual human being instead of a gun..."
Miranda nodded absent-mindedly, her eyes searching Shepard across the room. The things you don't know, Karin... the things you don't know...
"Miri, please... it just keeps screaming! What am I supposed to do now?"
Miranda turned away from Tali's mobile – where she'd unsuccessfully tried to change the blinding red light Shepard had activated by accident – and crossed her arms in front of her chest while she eyed the other woman sitting in a chair in front of her.
"First of all, Shepard, it's not an 'it'. It's your daughter and her name is Emily," as if on cue, the small bundle in Shepard's arms turned up the volume of its screams to an even higher level, causing the redhead to wince in pain, "And second... you're her mother, aren't you supposed to instinctively know what to do in a situation like this?"
The former commander's brows furrowed in concentration but after a second, she simply shrugged, her pleading eyes back on Miranda. "No..."
"She is beautiful." Liara linked arms with a still slightly exhausted Shepard, leaning against the former commander's side. "And she has your eyes."
"Yeah..." A proud smile spread across Shepard's face as she cast Miranda, who was standing in one of the living room's corners scrolling through a datapad Dr. Chakwas had just handed her, a triumphant look.
Noticing the look, Liara gave a short laugh. "She was so cold when I first met her, you know... Completely focused on her duty." She turned her head back to Shepard, a warm smile adorning her lips. "You have no idea how much you've changed her." She took a sip from the drink in her hand and leaned her head on Shepard's shoulder.
"Hey, kid."
Liara's head shot back up again and she stared at her father in disbelief.
"Dad, what are you doing here? You were supposed to babysit our daughters!" she exclaimed, searching the room for Shiala to return home immediately.
Aethyta raised her hands to soothe her daughter's panicked outburst. "I was invited." The matriarch shrugged, grinning. "Besides, some commandos still owed me a favor..."
Liara sighed, taking another sip from her drink to calm her nerves. "Well, it seems at least they're in good hands..." she stated dryly.
Aethyta nodded eagerly. "Yup. Couldn't take better care of them myself." Her eyes settled on Shepard. "Hey, you know who this Aria is? She claims to be the queen of... something..."
"Omega."
"Right, that's it. Heh, honestly, it's been decades since I've last visited Omega. Was kinda busy traveling where my daughter went..." Aethyta winked and gently nudged Liara who just rolled her eyes.
"Nobody said you'd have to follow me everywhere," the younger asari declared and leaned closer to Shepard, lowering her voice. "She wanted to move into an apartment right next to ours..."
Aethyta, who'd still heard her daughter, waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, won't be necessary anymore now that you've found yourself another protector." She snorted, shaking her head in disbelief. "My daughter and Nezzie's acolyte together... who'd have thought I'd live to see the day...? I'm sure you have a lot to talk about... once you're tangled into each other, sweat running down your spent bodies and soaking the bedsheets-"
"Dad!"
"And you think it could work?"
Dr. Chakwas gently rubbed Miranda's arm, giving her an encouraging smile. "There's no guarantee, of course, but I think we have a good chance this time... The rest your body has received over the last couple of years has greatly improved its powers of recuperation. It should be strong enough now for us to start the procedure. From there, it's still a long way, but I think we're ready to try it. As soon as you're ready, of course..."
Miranda nodded absent-mindeldy, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips... Was it wrong that, even though they already had a healthy one-year-old, the possibility to test the procedure that had taken her and Dr. Chakwas years to develop was causing the scientific part of her mind to do backflips?
She was about to open her mouth when a loud voice interrupted her.
"So..." Jack let her eyes wander around the room, rubbing her hands in anticipation. "Where's the proud father?"
As if Miranda could feel Jack's gaze (which she probably could), Miranda turned around and her eyes widened when she saw the ex-convict approach her, a devilish smile almost cutting Jack's face in half... "Nice job, Lawson!" She patted Miranda's shoulder, causing the former operative's cheeks to darken immediately.
"I'm not..." Miranda shook her head, clearing her throat in irritation. "That's not... how it works, Jack..." she stammered, her eyes darting around the room in search for help. They pleadingly fell on Dr. Chakwas standing next to her, but the doctor quickly took a step back, raising her hands.
"I've had my fair share of broken bones to heal on the Normandy to know not to step on her toes, dear."
With Chakwas out of the picture, Miranda's eyes continued scanning the room for another possible savior until they found Shepard's, her body relaxing immediately when the redhead noticed her pleading eyes and, with a short nod, approached them.
Smiling, Shepard put a new beer in Jack's empty hand, patting her on the back while softly shoving the tattooed woman away from her still flustered former XO. "There you go, Jack. Now go check if Vega is already drunk enough to get that unicorn tattoo we were talking about earlier..."
Jack's attention was immediately drawn to the full bottle in her hand (as well as the chance to finally put her pocket tattoo machine to good use and see if she was actually able to tattoo while being drunk, as she'd loudly bragged about on more than one occasion) and she smiled happily as she walked away, having forgotten all about her previous outburst already...
Once Jack was out of earshot, Shepard turned back around and shrugged before she wrapped her arms around Miranda from behind. "That's how you handle her..." she grinned and nodded towards Dr. Chakwas. "So, what have you two been talking about?"
Smiling at the couple warmly, Dr. Chakwas joined them again. "Hello Commander. I was just informing Miranda about the possible success of our developed procedure."
Shepard's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean she could carry a child?"
The doctor shrugged, still smiling at the couple. "I think that's something you should discuss with Miranda. Only the two of you," she declared, her eyes already darting to a lonely bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy she'd spotted on the bar a while ago. She clapped her hands. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I still feel much too sober for a party like this..."
Needing a few seconds to let the new information sink in, Shepard followed Karin's way to the bar absent-mindedly before she turned back to Miranda, resting her head on the dark-haired woman's shoulder. "So?"
Miranda shrugged carefully. "What do you think?"
"What do I think?" Shepard's head rose from Miranda's shoulder and she turned the other woman in her arms to face her. "What do you think? It's your body after all..." A mischievous smirk tugged at her lips. "To be honest, I don't reccomend it," that earned her a slap on the arm, "but the end result is worth all the pain..."
"And mood swings," Miranda growled and Shepard's eyebrows rose in feigned surprise.
"Excuse me? I didn't have any mood swings..." She shook her head in mock offense. "Pfff, absurd..."
"Of course..." Miranda rolled her eyes. "I guess I just imagined you happily skipping towards the kitchen only to release a stream of curses about not being able to 'drink any damn coffe because of that brat' a second later, then..."
Shepard's brows furrowed in feigned thought before she shrugged. "I... guess so..."
She was about to turn around when Miranda reached for her arm and pulled her back into an embrace. "There's... one more thing..."
Shepard's eyebrows rose but she remained silent.
Miranda cleared her throat, averting her eyes. "I'm obviously not as talented at finding the right moment for something like this as you are..." she murmured while one of her hands reached for a pocket in her jeans, "but there's something I wanted you to have..."
At the sight of Shepard's widened eyes upon seeing the ring Miranda sheepishly held out to her, she quickly added, "There's no need to make a big thing out of it, Shepard..."
A mischievous smirk playing around her lips, Shepard opened her mouth and inhaled loudly only to be stopped by Miranda's glare. "Don't. You. Dare," she hissed.
The former Cerberus operative shot a quick glance over Shepard's shoulder to make sure nobody had noticed their exchange but everyone still seemed too occupied with the generous amount of still untouched liquor at the bar to care about the two of them standing in a corner of the living room.
Her head turned back to Shepard when she felt the other softly take the ring from her hand but before she could open her mouth to add another warning, Shepard had already leaned in to kiss her, smiling against her lips.
"I do."
