So I accidently spilt a giant cup of water on my computer yesterday, and was worried that it would never work again. But, thankful for quick thinking, I managed to free the battery and save the computer before it shorted out. So, to celebrate this occasion, I am going to update Forever Family with its finale! Be warned...Fluff! Read, Enjoy, Review.
The vibrant sounds of the club and large crowds greeted the Normandy team as they stepped into the most popular night club in the citadel. A simple drop of his name and the bouncer almost rushed him. Even now, he could see some people stopping their dancing to stop and look at him as he entered. The crew separated from there. Jack, Zaeed and Grunt immediately found their way to the bar and engaged in a fierce drinking competition while Thane and Samara found a quiet VIP room and were talked while watching the copious amount of people coming in. Legion found the nearest corner, his electronics whirring and clicking as he too observed the organics in the room, no one paying him much mind anymore. Kasumi disappeared and John would occasionally see her tactical cloak shimmer beside Jacob, who was at the bar with Miranda, engaging in a far less vicious drinking contest. This left Tali, John, Johanna and Garrus at a table by themselves, watching the crowds dance as they talked and joked the night away. They all wore their casual outfits for a change, Garrus in his turian suit, Johanna in her sweater and John in his N7 jacket.
"Okay….so my sister, determined not to let this guy talk to her like that, grabs him by his mandible and throws him into the wall. It takes my dad and me to pull her off, but not before this guy is all bloody and barely recognizable. He tried to get my sister turned in, but my dad's friend ran the C-Sec branch where he reported her and he knew what really happened." Garrus told them through laughs as he remembered one his funny stories. The three with him laughed in joy at this, as more stories were brought to mind. Tali laughed as much as she could without being interrupted from a rather nasty cough which caused a worried glance from those at the table before she could assure she was alright and she wanted to hear more stories.
"Okay, our brother Alan, had the appetite of a krogan. He could eat an entire buffet worth of food at any time. One day, he found some old food we had back in the freezer and ate it for lunch without giving it any thought. The next thing we know, he's puking everywhere and we have to rush him to hospital to get his stomach pumped. Turns out, he ate some three month old seafood we had in there. Doctors said it was a miracle that he wasn't comatose by the time they got it all." Johanna told them, remembering that day with fondness. Her and her brother were hardly picky eaters but even they had been grossed out by their older brother as the day went on.
"That's not even the best part. After his stomach is pumped and he's confined to the hospital for three days, the moment he's awake, he asks for something to eat." John finished, laughing harder than he probably should. The alcohol was starting to make things fuzzy and cloud his mind. The table laughed with him anyways and so the night continued on like this. They each traded stories when the other was done, learning more about their families and giving each a fairly good laugh until they were done. Then they sat in silence for a few moment, looking at the club around them.
It was almost three hours since they first walked into the club, and the amount of people had only picked up. No doubt the reason being because John was there, laughing jovially and hanging out with strange people despite being dead. Rumors that he was really alive had already circulated the Citadel twice and many were coming for proof. The others were receiving a far bit of attention as well, with Jack showing some of the younger customers how impressive her biotics were by lifting tables with ease. They looked as though they had just found the best ride in an amusement park. Grunt had found a group of Krogan warrior and was now telling tales of his adventures with John, impressing them with the enemies that he had fought. They seemed particularly eager to hear about Grunt's battles with the Collectors. Zaeed had even found an asari that he was hitting on, though the attempts were largely unsuccessful. It was as if they hadn't been near death only a few days, walking into odds that had guaranteed at least some of them would die.
"Well, I think I'm drunk enough to do this." Garrus finally mentioned, standing up from where he was. Johanna watched him with a smile, wondering what thing he had planned. He walked over to her and gently grabbed one of her hands, questions flying about in his tablemates head at what he was going to do. Suddenly he pulled Johanna out of her chair and without a warning to anyone, began to drag her to the dance floor. Johanna's smile immediately fell and she tried to dig into the ground to prevent being dragged towards the writhing mass of people.
"No, no, no, no, no." Johanna protested the whole way, her shoes hardly able to give her any traction against the Turian pulling her. It wasn't long before she disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind a laughing Tali and John. It was almost common knowledge that the Shepard family had never inherited the dancing gene, both John and Johanna idea of dancing was stepping back and forth while moving their shoulders up and down. John looked at where Garrus had disappeared with his sister, seeing the top of his turian fringe with his sister's bright red hair just above the crowd. He smiled and drained his drink, his mind on one thing. However, the moment he stood from his table, he was approached by an asari.
To say the Asari wasn't pretty would be a serious insult, as she clearly was used to men and women fawning over her. In fact, she looked familiar, like John had seen her face before. "Hello, my name is Nessaria, I'm the spokeswoman for Illium Blue Cosmetics. I was wondering….would you like to dance?" She asked in her most flirtatious and girly voice. He could see Tali's fist clenching up a little at this but she just looked down and away from them. That would explain why the asari looked so familiar. He'd been on Illium enough times to see one of her advertisements.
"Sorry, but I'm here with my girlfriend." John told the Asari with a forgiving voice. She giggled and looked at the table he was sitting at.
"I don't see her." Nessaria said, not meaning to sound cruel but it coming out as such. Tali set her glass on the table and began to wring her hands together as this continued. John smiled at the Asari, only keeping his twinge of anger in check with a slight hope that she didn't mean what she had said.
"She is sitting right there." John told the woman, motioning to the Quarian who was sitting across from him. Tali raised her head and stared at the Asari as she looked at her. The Asari's face immediately turned into a mix of emotions, processed so fast that John wasn't sure what they held. She finally settled on confused, looking back and forth between John and Tali as if just processing what he said.
"Oh….I didn't…..a Quarian?" Was the first string of words that was out of Nessaria's mouth as she stumbled over her words. John turned off his smile and raised a single eyebrow, causing the asari to backtrack on her words. "No….I didn't mean it like…..I just thought… You can't even get through her suit without an hour of decontamination." Tali flinched a little. These were the fears that she thought she had overcome already.
"And you think I care about someone only based on how fast I can get into their pants?" John questioned with implicating tone, leaning forward and folding his hands in front of him as he did so.
"But you can't even see her face." Nessaria argued. John felt his anger rising and let it show on his face, giving the woman before him a look that clearly stated she should stop talking. "I think I'll just go." With that, the Asari walked away from the table, rubbing her head with frustration while mumbling a variety of things. John smiled and looked over to Tali as she looked at him. It was now or never. He stood up and went around the table to in front of Tali.
"Can I have this dance, Miss vas Normandy?" He said, holding out his hand.
"Here? But people will see, and I don't want you to be embarrassed." She began to stutter out as she sat there, wringing her hands together as she spoke.
"Tali please. I've come to terms with my horrid dancing." He told her, despite knowing what she meant. Her body language relaxed a little but she still hesitated at the proposal, reaching out and taking his hand.
"I understand if you need to find something…someone….else. Not that I'm complaining that you're still interested." She stumbled out as he pulled her out of her seat and onto the dance floor. She saw out of the corner of her eye as a lot of people stopped what they were doing to watch the Commander Shepard pull a Quarian onto the dance floor. Some didn't care, and the ones who did were mostly men and women who had had their eyes on John all night. Slowly, she started walking with John's pull as his simple refusal to acknowledge her telling him that it was okay to dump her as a confidence boost.
"Look who made it out." Garrus mentioned as they pulled into the center of the crowd. Johanna still looked upset to be out there, but was doing the signature Shepard dance with Garrus. Garrus wasn't dancing any better, flailing his arms about and taking steps that threatened to trip him. He could hear some people snickering at it but Garrus didn't seem to care, continuing on as if he didn't even hear them.
"You get pulled out too?" Johanna laughed as John let go of Tali. She lifted her head and John could feel her smile underneath the helmet. "Alright, We'll teach them who's in charge later." She turned her attention back to the Turian before and resumed their dancing. Tali nodded and began to join them, tentivaly at first but more energetic as she went. She was aware of people's attention being drawn to her, but for once, she didn't care. John was hers and she was his, and damn anyone else who thought so. They continued for many minutes, dancing and ignoring the people around them who were whispering about the four. Tali couldn't help but notice how hot her suit was getting thanks to the fever she had, making her think of something.
"Just so you know, I'm running a fever, I've got a nasty cough, and my sinuses are filled with something I can't even describe. And it was totally worth it."
Ah, one of the best lines in the Mass Effect Universe. If you're a Talimancer that is. (By the way, who came up with Talimancer?) Anyways, basically a continuation of the shore leave, and letting me add what fluff I could. It also has Tali's lines fit better in here than on the Normandy. It gives her a reason to do that. But anyways, yeah. And thus this is the epic conclusion of Forever Family, ME2. Stay tuned for some one-shots, short series and eventually, Forever Family ME3. BTW, I have updated a few of the older chapters by fixing some of the mistakes that I had made but didn't catch, so hopefully they make more sense now.