It was nice, being able to kick back and relax in one of the less-loud establishments on the Nexus. Over two years, and only now were there places for Operations personnel to finally have a meal without loud music pumping through their ears.
These gatherings used to take place on the Tempest. Now, however, Fraticelli's was a wine and dine . . . and gather. Dextro food also available for their turian crew member, of course. The crew of twelve had taken up a corner of the place, spread across couches with dishes of finger food and various other 'treats'.
Cuddled up close with Cora, Scott was finding himself surprisingly well at peace as he watched his crew interact. Gil and Kallo were no longer bickering as much, currently trading tidbits about an upgrade to the aft thrusters of the Tempest using some kind of rem-tech, Lexi bravely attempting to moderate – Scott was so far behind in understanding what in Andromeda they were actually saying, but he assumed it was in that area and was honestly close to applauding Lexi for even trying to keep up given that he had absolutely no chance. Peebee, Sara and Suvi were deep in discussion about the kijor's rather unnatural enthrallment abilities. Meanwhile, taking up the ends of two corner couches, Liam, Drack, Vetra and Jaal were trading combat stories – at last, a conversation involving Vetra and Liam that didn't also include an argument.
Cora and Scott were simply tired. It was wrong to say they were being anti-social, but they'd opted to not actively participate in any of the exciting conversations. They had their feet up on a coffee table, Cora leaning her head on his shoulder as he traced the palms of her hands with his fingers. He was quietly asking nonsense questions, mainly to keep himself awake if anything else. Just anything from experience with singularities to her opinion of the Initiative's latest uniform design change.
"I think now would be a good time to tell them," Cora mumbled, reaching a hand up to run through his hair.
He raised his eyebrows. "Really?"
Shr shrugged. "It's as good as time as any. Look at them all – all happy and drinking. Perfect time to tell them you're temporarily reassigning them in a few weeks time."
Scott scoffed a laugh, a knowing smile spreading as he pressed his lips to her hair.
"Ryder!" Drack exclaimed, startling Scott somewhat as he shifted his attention from Cora to the not-so-sober krogan. The human was kind of hoping he'd been addressing his sister, but alas, those eyes were focused squarely on him. "Neither of you have touched your drinks!"
The 'neither' also had nothing to do with his sister, but Sara's attention had also been torn away from her discussion, glancing between Scott and Drack, her tone playful. "You don't drink, you pay me back."
He frowned at her, stretching the arm not currently trapped between Cora and the couch. "Sorry, sis. I'll pay you back tomorrow."
"C'mon Ryder," Liam complained from his place next to Jaal in the corner. "This is time for you to let loose! You're coming with us to Vortex after this, right?"
Scott laughed again. "I promise you, I am quite loose. So much so," He glanced at Cora. "I'm so relaxed I'm not even going to worry about whatever backlash you all have for me."
It was he'd somehow summoned all their eyes, most of them quietly trying to judge what exactly he was about to say. Gil, by the looks of things, had already worked most of it out, being the only one who'd relaxed further into his chair, a smug smile on his face. Cora shifted, allowing him to sit up properly and rest his elbows on his knees.
"As of next month," The Pathfinder announced. "The human pathfinding team, including non-human members, will be shutting down-"
He hadn't been able to finish before the crew launched into their various reactions and stages of shock, the most amusing being Liam accidentally spilling his drink into Jaal's lap and their krogan team member dutifully demanding exactly what "that salarian" had done and promising to go marching into his office and slamming his face into a window. The doctor and engineer had sat back quietly laughing with each other, whilst their pilot was stammering about how the Tempest was performing above expected parameters of it's currently age.
The Pathfinder was tempted to let the fun continue, but Cora wasn't having any more of it. "Enough."
They all shut up, leaving only one giggling Gil Brodie and an upset, wet angaran as Scott continued. "Thank you. As I was saying, the team will be on long service leave for a year or so."
"But you're the Pathfinder!" Liam stammered. "You practically wrote the manual! Why is Tann doing this?"
"It's not Tann – if anything, Tann's actually pretty annoyed that I'm pulling out for a while," Scott sighed. "It's all me."
The turian narrowed her eyes, speaking slowly. "Ryder, you seem way too relaxed about this. Are you high on something?"
"What?" He frowned. "No. I'm no high, I haven't been impaired, I'm not drunk. I am perfectly sober, and I have all my faculties."
"Then what the hell, Ryder!?" Peebee demanded with an onlooking and concerned Suvi. "You're just gonna call it quits? Toss it aside and let Harper take the reins!?"
"Oh, I'm not taking command," Cora clarified, pouring herself a new glass of water. "I'm going with him."
That only seemed to anger their crowd more, seven of them throwing out insults and challenges of some kind, mainly blaming the absent Nexus leadership. But it was Sara who pulled Scott's attention, his sister leaning forward and addressing him. "Scott, what is going on? It's been over two years – you can't just up and turn your back on dad now."
He sighed. They were misunderstanding – and honestly, who knows what Alec Ryder would have said to this, what their mother would have said to all this. It was unlikely she'd be woken from stasis before his child's birth – the idea that she'd wake up to find her kids with kids was weird in itself. He was, quite frankly, terrified of going at this alone with neither of his own parents to give advice. Cora seemed steadfast as ever, confident and head-strong. She'd had time to accept her parents' disappearance.
But Ellen Ryder was right there in the Hyperion's cryo-bay down on Meridian, and the way they were going with a cure, they might be able to wake her sooner then expected. Part of him wanted her there for support. As much as he loved Sara, appreciated her being there as his shoulder when he needed it, she'd had even less experience then Scott did with child-rearing, regardless of the "age gap" they so fondly like to remind themselves of.
"Cora and I are expecting." He finally said.
His sister blinked, head bowing a little as she went over exactly what he'd said to her. She huffed, a smiled spreading at the edges of her mouth as her eyes met his once again. "Why didn't you just lead with that?"