Author's Comment:

Ok guys, before you wonder why I am posting less, here is the answer: university work. It catches up with me, and I rather play it safe and not post so often. I will restrict myself to three posts a week, having no specific days to do so. Anyway, enjoy this chapter. It was a more mellow and in between one, with better stuff coming later.

Chapter Thirteen: Poker and a robot

Joker had his chair turned, as the Normandy was stopped in the middle of space, on standby. He looked at Shepard, curious. "So Commander, why are we waiting here, instead of just leaving and going somewhere?"

Anna looked out the window, seeing Harbinger approaching the Normandy from the side. "We are waiting for Harbinger to deliver whatever he wants to deliver."

Joker nodded. "So we are just blindly trusting him now? Who's to say he isn't planning an ambush on us or something?"

Anna stared at Moreau. "Look, if the Reapers wanted to destroy us or had something in mind, they would be well in their power to do so in the last few months when I was out cold. And if he wanted to destroy us, I am pretty sure his firepower alone could tear our ship to shreads."

Joker becomes silent for a second and the glances at Shepard. "So Shepard, are you in for the poker tournament tonight?"

She nods. "Yeah, I signed up already. This should be a fairly interesting event."

Joker chuckles. "Last time I checked, shouldn't the commanding officer restrain his own crew from doing these things?"

"Last time I checked, I used to be an army grunt like many of you, so I enjoyed these times with the crew. I only ranked up, I haven't forgotten what it used to be like in the middle of the soldiers that won the fights."

"Good to hear, Commander. So who do you think is going to win?"

"I can't really tell… I could say the humans got more knowledge of the game, but some of the aliens in the middle of us got more intelligence than anyone else…"

Suddenly Harbinger's voice is heard in the room. "Shepard. We are ready to send you the package. Please open your airlock."

EDI is quick to comply and override the security protocols, opening the outside door of the Normandy, after removing the air from the room. A low thud is heard in the other side of the door, and EDI confirms the existence of an object in it. Anna steps out of the bridge and stands in front of the door. EDI locks down the room, lets air enter it, and what happened next was an amazing view.

In front of her stood a reaper humanoid, with a head crest shaped like the body of harbinger, and appendages to the side that resembled his arms. He had an occulus, like that of a geth, but his 'eye' was surrounded by six smaller ones. He looked as human as possible, with five fingers, but his legs seemed turian, excepting the small talons that grew up from the lower legs. The reaper humanoid stares at Shepard and nods, his voice being smoother than that of a Reaper, but still sounding deep. "Shepard."

Anna stretches out her hand, and Harbinger stares momentarily, before reaching his forward and shaking hands with her. "I apologize. I need experience in socialization patterns."

EDI looks at Harbinger, from the bridge. "You can download my basic socialization protocols. I will upload them in an information package to the Normandy's network."

Anna nods at Harbinger. "Welcome to the Normandy, Harbinger."

He nods back. "Thank you."

Shepard offers to give Harbinger a tour, but he explains that he is aware of the ships' schematics, and asks to go to the laboratory, where he can help with research. She offers to accompany him, and as they reach the lab, under confused and curious gazes from the behalf of the crew, Anna is quick to introduce Kips to Harbinger's humanoid form.

"Kips, this is Harbinger."

The salarian stares at the Reaper with an open mouth and then walks forward, shaking hands with him. "Amazing. Simply amazing."

Anna looks at Harbinger with a smile and then at Kips. "He is here to help you in laboratory work, as well as establishing a more direct diplomatic relations with us." Anna then looks back at Harbinger. "How do you control this body, anyway?"

The Reaper looks at Shepard. "I control it through FTL buoys. My main form remains as my space faring body." He then looks at the laboratory. "Do you wish to perform more inquires?"

Anna shakes her head. "No more, no. I hope you and Kips work well together."

"Thank you, Shepard."

Anna walks out, as Harbinger proceeds to the closest console. His hands lose their human form, and the fingers become independent, tapping away at the keys, in order to input the necessary data. Kips is amazed at the reaper's speed and agility with this physical form, but he is also happy for gaining a co-worker.

"Scientist Kips, what is our first objective?"

"Quarian immune efficiency. I am researching quarian genetics to improve their immune response, while I investigate into new and better medication for them."

"Acknowledged. I will assist you in whatever tasks necessary. May I ask a question?"

"Of course, Harbinger." Kips said, his voice filled with happiness and fascination at this situation where he is working side by side with one of his former enemies.

"When my services are not required, may I investigate into the matter of Vrolik's syndrome?"

"Certainly. We should use our time available from the main project to advance other pending matters."

Anna was hearing the entire situation from around the corner and smiled, also happy with the turn of events. She walked towards the bridge, when a warning popped up in the terminal by the galaxy map.

She quickly went to check, and saw the title "Re: Got some bigger news". Anna then scrolled down to the message, which was short and simple. "I will be available in two hours and will call you then. I want to hear everything about what you did since coming out of the hospital."

Those two hours were quick to pass, the same time which Joker used to set the ship in a course for the Citadel and make it halfway. Anna brought Garrus up to her cabin, as they waited for Shepard's mom to call.

"So, nervous?"

"I am. It is weird. I am the turian that has killed and fought hundreds of enemies, but meeting the mom of my favourite human in the galaxy is something that terrifies me."

"And you are the one that jokes about me being weird for not being tough enough to learn to dance after staring down the gun of Harbinger's ship…"

Garrus was about to give a counter argument, but quickly silences himself, sitting down on the bed as they wait. Anna conforms herself to browsing the extranet, at which point she received a notification. Upon tapping the screen to accept, Hannah Shepard appears on the screen.

"Anna. It has been such a long time. How are you?"

"I am doing great, mom. Enjoying the peace after the war. You?"

"Enjoying the same peace, although I am helping with the building efforts on Earth. So tell me all about it: who is this man that grabbed the heart and hand of my daughter?"

Anna exhaled heavily, visibly nervous. "Well, mom… he, uh… his name is Garrus… and, uh…" She gestures Garrus to come to her. "He is a turian."

At first, Hannah has an expression of shock and surprise in her face, which quickly changes to a genuine smile. "You told me about him a while back. I never knew you two were in a relationship, but I heard great things. I am happy for you two. Besides, I always knew you were a little bit rebellious, Anna, so this should be funny to watch…"

Anna gains a confused expression. "What does that mean?"

"Considering your marriage will end up being public, or at least known about after it is done, it will punch a lot of people in the side of the head, considering there are still humans that hate turians out there, and vice versa." Hanna then looks at Garrus. "I am glad I got to meet you, Garrus."

"Likewise, ma'am." The turian said, feeling more relaxed at this point.

She waves with a goodbye, shutting down the call from her end. Garrus and Anna let out a heavy breath, the tension leaving them, and then they smile. Garrus can't help but chuckle. "That went better than expected. So what now?"

Anna shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know… I guess we got all the time in the world ahead of us…" She suddenly realized her own place in the universe, and felt sad.

Garrus hugged her from behind, nudging her with his cheek plates. "Hey. Everything alright?"

She nodded, unconvincingly. "All this time my expertise was war… but now? Now there is peace… what can I do?"

Garrus scoffed. "Seriously? You were always as much of a warrior as a diplomat or a leader. You always shined when you had to step up and lead people towards a goal. Last time I remember, we spent most of our time walking around and talking to people during the assignment to fight the Collectors. We left most of the fighting towards the end. Yet, you still didn't crack under the boredom…"

He spun her around and grabbed her shoulders, staring deep into her eyes. "You are a fighter, a leader, an organizer… that and much more… just because the war is over, that doesn't mean there aren't challenges out there for you to tackle…"

She nodded and hugged Garrus. "Thank you, my angel."

He made a snarky response. "Angel? Spirits, you can't be cornier, can you?"

She steps away and punches him in the shoulder, and he laughs out loud, glad to have her back in the usual mental state. She is quick to reply.

"Come on. I want to see if they are preparing the tournament or not…"

The two go down the elevator, reaching the crew deck quickly, and they find Dr. Chakwas staring at Engineer Adams, the last being the one setting up the cards, beverages and whatever else was necessary for the night. As Shepard approaches, Garrus heads for kitchen, hoping to trade some banter with Kier, whom was preparing a meal fit for krogan, unsurprisingly having ryncol as an ingredient.

"I wonder, if you haven't died since the krogan rebellions, what will it take to kill you?" The turian said, laying his hand on Kier's shoulder.

The Warlord laughed. "Definitely not alcohol. I swear that I must have grown a couple of livers since I started drinking this. Can't beat a redundant system."

Chakwas tapped Anna's shoulder. "We are still to drink our Serrice Ice Brandy, so I have a proposition for you. When we play our poker match, I will throw in the bottle and a few glasses. Should make things more fun…"

Anna stared at the doctor with wide eyes. "Karin! I never thought I would see this side of you."

"I know how to be fun to be around with, Shepard. You just don't spend enough time with me to realize this."

Anna laughed, as Joker walked into view and sat down, in order to face his three foes, making the first match of the night happen.