Kaidan and Jane had been on the Citadel for nearly two months now. two weeks reserved for turning their apartment into a home and visiting with their mothers one last time before everyone had to go back to work, and six weeks to settle in to their new jobs.
Hannah and Ada had technically had 2 weeks of shore leave when they came for their visit. Originally they were only going to spend the first week with their children on the Citadel, because that's when everyone's schedules had coincided. After Kaidan and Jane had revealed their big news, they decided to take the entire shore leave to be with them, even though Kaidan and Jane would be busy at work. It allowed them extra time to gush about their new impending family member, and help prepare healthy dinners after their kids would be at work for long hours adjusting to their new schedules.
Hackett had come for a visit at the end of Jane's first week on the job to see how she was taking to it, as well as to see how well the Citadel HQ was being setup. Jane was certain part of his motivation for visiting was to see her mother again. They had invited Hackett to come over for dinner that night, partly as thanks for his patience with her while she was taking time to decide if she had wanted the job or not, but also partially to try to get to know him a bit better on a personal level for her mother's sake. Jane was happy to see her mother openly enjoying her time with him, instead of trying to hide it. That was quite the change in and of itself. Something about ending this war had relaxed her, and Jane found that she rather liked this new side to her.
Jane had been planning to announce her pregnancy to Admiral Hackett sometime that evening, but as they were sitting down to dinner, he practically made the announcement for them. After he had seen the amount of food that Jane had put on her plate, With a bark of laughter, he had asked "Jesus, Jane, where the hell do you put it all?", at which point that offered him nothing but a few awkward stares from everyone at the table, not knowing what to say.
That's when Jane finally said, "Well, the baby must be taking most of it, because I certainly never seem to have any energy these days," she said, deadpanned, to which Steven just stared at her blankly. It wasn't until after he had glanced around the table to notice that she was the only one without a glass of wine with her meal that he finally realised that she was serious.
Jane had originally planned on bringing it up in more of a professional manner, to discuss how it might affect her job in the later stages, but he had offered such a perfect opportunity, that it would have been a shame to waste on not shocking the hell out of him.
It had made him become more serious in the moment than she thought he would have been. He was happy, but surprised. That's when he offered a toast, "To bright futures, well earned," and a congratulations to the parents and grandparents-to-be, at which point he rather sweetly stated that Hannah was far too young to be a grandmother. He quickly amended his statement to include Ada as well. Of course it was more important to show Hannah that kind of sentiment, but he wasn't about to offend anyone else in the room on purpose, especially with Ada technically being family with the woman he was trying to woo.
Hackett was now officially the 8th person of significance to know about Jane's pregnancy. After their first doctor's appointment, they had agreed to finally start telling their friends, but the endeavor had proven to be more difficult than they had planned. They didn't want to tell their friends through email if they could help it, but short of using the QEC, that was the only form of live communication that reached long range. For now they had decided to wait and see if the communications would improve, or if any of their friends had planned a visit anytime in the near future before opting to use text messages to make their announcement.
Kaidan was settling in easily enough to his position. It was a position that he had some experience with after all, even though he technically hadn't been working for the Council for very long during the war. They had been happy with his service at the time, which is why they asked him back to lead their security force. He would sometimes be a part of their security detail, but most of the time he would be more responsible for logistics. Making hires, and shifts, and doing training. Something that he and Shepard both preferred at the moment.
Since the Citadel wasn't technically open to the public yet, his position didn't have as high of a demand at the moment. So in the meantime, he had other spectre duties to attend to. Mostly going through reports, and granting different permissions. It was usually for building rights these days.
Shepard had also had her own talk with the council. She had left out the news of her pregnancy so far, but rather to inform them of her being taken off of active duty indefinitely, and what that meant in terms of her Spectre status. They had granted her continued access should she want to keep it, but her job as such would only pertain to the more menial tasks like what was mostly keeping Kaidan busy at the moment. At any rate, that wouldn't be Jane's main job here anyway, but it could potentially make things easier for her in the future.
Shepard had a bit more of an awkward transition period into becoming an Admiral. She was used to having to berate her higher ups in order for her to be able to do her job. Now she was the higher up. She wasn't used to not having to ask for permission to do everything. It was almost a bit freeing, but she realised it would require a bit of an adjustment period. On more than one occasion she had caught herself trying to contact Hackett for permission for something, before realising that was her job now.
She had made a few things be her first priority as soon as she took over the position. Jane didn't want to leave anything to be a risk as they had before with the reapers. She made sure to start an investigation into the Leviathans as soon as it was possible, getting Ann Bryson to lead the charge. They may have agreed to help in their own way right before the end of the war, but the fact remained that no one really knew anything about them still, and they hadn't particularly seemed to care about any other life form at the time, already placing their own importance above all else. At the very least, they would be something that would require constant observation to ensure that they wouldn't be a threat. It would be easier said than done thanks to their own indoctrination abilities.
She also made sure to send out status updates to the Andromeda Initiative. She knew they would have received the S.O.S. signals being sent out about the reaper invasion as they were leaving the galaxy. Jane and the rest of the admiralty board didn't want them to be left in the dark about what was going on here. Even if they wouldn't be coming back to the Milky Way, she didn't want them to think that all civilization here had perished. The only problem, is that her message would still be showing up almost two years after their arrival, as the message would only be able to travel at the same speed as their own ships had. It would still be better late than never, though.
Of course there had been a lot needing to be addressed and those were only among the first. Of course the rebuilding efforts was at the forefront as well. Something for which Jane had become largely responsible for, trying to coordinate the Alliances resources as best she could.
Her position itself may take a bit of time to adjust to, but she certainly became accustomed to her office rather quickly. She was rather fond of this perk of having a space that was private and her own. Sure she had that in her quarters on the Normandy, but this was different and somehow she felt more accomplished. It was spacious, and had her own bathroom. Something for which she was extremely thankful on a few occasions already, preferring privacy while she was vacating her her stomach rather unceremoniously. Not to mention the more frequent trips just to keep her bladder happy made it much more convenient.
Her office also came with a couch, which she had already put to good use more often than she would like to admit with how tired she'd been lately. She always squared away some 'do not disturb' time in her daily schedule to make sure no one would walk in on her getting some extra rest. She was just glad that she was an Admiral now so she could get away with it. It did leave some extra work needing to be done, but those were usually reports that she could take home at the end of the day.
She may not have been showing much at 11 weeks pregnant, but in the 6 weeks since then, she had slowly been starting to notice that she wouldn't be able to hide it much longer. She was thankful that her admiral's uniform was somewhat boxy, which would help hide it for a while still, though she had already had to start relying on that trick using a hair tie between the button and zipper of her pants just to be able to keep them remotely closed. She was thankful that her Jacket was long, keeping her fly covered, otherwise that would likely have resulted in quite a few awkward conversations by now. She had already requisitioned a few maternity uniforms, but she wanted to put off using them for as long as she possibly could.
As she entered her second trimester, she rather embarrassingly was met with newfound ramifications of her hormones. She had realised that she would have to put a stop to letting Kaidan join her for lunch, because just staring at the man across from her food had made the ache between her legs become too intense to deny until that evening. She knew she wouldn't be able to focus on another minute of her work that day if they hadn't managed to christen her office on top of her new desk. It had been fun and exhilarating, and she didn't want to develop a taste for it.
In reality, she had already been guilty of calling him in for 'lunch' a few other times when the urge was too intense without him even being there to spur her on. Somehow the contemplation of her relieving herself at work was far less professional than calling her husband in to do it for her, not to mention less fun.
Jane had gotten a call on her omni-tool a few days prior to now. That was usually reserved for Kaidan or her work, thanks to that method of communication not having far range. She was surprised to see that it was Jacob calling to let Jane know that Brynn had gone into labour. She had been nearly a week overdue, and apparently very ready for it to happen. Jane was excited for her friends, and wished them luck.
Brynn and Jane had met up together once after they found each other in the maternity clinic waiting room. They were both so busy that it was hard to coordinate their schedules, but it had been nice to catch up with her and to have someone to talk to about her pregnancy.
Today was finally the day that Brynn and Jacob would be returning home from the hospital. Kaidan and Jane had offered to cook them a nice meal, and maybe a few others to freeze so they wouldn't have to worry about it for at least a week.
Luckily Jacob and Brynn were coming home on a weekend, which allowed Kaidan and Jane the whole day to cook meals for them. They had decided to drop in just before dinner time, allowing the new parents to settle in and have some time alone with the baby before having to worry about entertaining guests. At least they didn't feel too bad knowing that they would be helpful guests, coming with two boxes worth of prepared food.
Kaidan and Jane had made sure to eat before they left, so that way they could help watch the baby while Jacob and Brynn had a chance to eat. As the new parents answered the door, they looked a little more haggard than they had during their previous visit, but also exuding complete and utter bliss as they looked at their daughter.
Kaidan and Jane had quickly made themselves at home, setting the table for their hosts, and making room in their fridge and freezer for the rest of the food. Brynn and Jacob were extremely thankful, as they sat down to eat. Brynn was especially thankful. She was famished. Their doctors had found eezo nodules on the baby during one of her checkups, Jacob having passed down his biotics. Not only did it seem to be a genetic trait now, but it also seemed to be dominant too, which meant it would be easy to pass down. Soon enough it would be more common for humans to have biotics than not. But Brynn had mentioned that as hard as it was to eat enough during her pregnancy, it was just as hard to maintain now trying to have enough milk to feed her daughter. Jane was glad that they had decided to make as much food as they did after she heard that.
Kaidan was the first to hold the baby. Brynn had handed her off after a feeding to make sure she wouldn't be crying the whole time, demanding her mother. The baby was drowsy, and Kaidan took to her with ease, instinct knowing exactly what to do as he rocked back and forth with the her safely tucked in his arms. Jane couldn't help but notice how tiny she was. The size contrast between Kaidan and the bundle in his arms was the depiction of comfort and protection. It looked good on him, and she couldn't wait for that to be their child in his arms.
After Kaidan rocked the baby to sleep, he offered to pass her off to Shepard. She had quickly realised that she hadn't ever held a baby. Not really at least. She had a few times when friends of her parents had come over when she was younger, but then she had been forced to sit on the couch with a pillow on her lap to make sure the baby had been safe. Not to mention those had never been newborns. She had never had to hold something so small and fragile before. She wanted to hold the baby, but she was surprised to find that she was nervous.
She had always heard of people wanting to pass off their babies to famous people to hold. She figured that may be true when your fame didn't come with the added knowledge of her proficiency as a killer.
Jane gently took the baby the way that Kaidan had showed her, supporting her neck and head, and placed her against her shoulder as delicately as possible to make sure she didn't wake her. The tiny weight felt amazing. It was hard to believe that this little person contained everything she needed to become a fully functioning adult with nothing more than time and nutrients and love.
As Brynn and Jacob finished their dinner, they walked over from the adjoined kitchen.
"It looks good on you, Jane," Brynn said.
"It looks pretty good on you too, you know," Jane said, with an appreciative smile. "So… do I even want to know what her name is?"
"Oh, here we go," Jacob said.
"We haven't agreed on anything yet. I've still been pushing for Jane at least, but Jacob refuses."
Jane just stood there silently not wanting to give them her take on it. She wouldn't intrude on their choices of naming their baby, even if she didn't care for the idea of them naming it after her.
"What's your middle name?," Brynn finally asked, curiously.
"Elizabeth," Jane said, practically coming out in more of a question, as she tentatively offered the information.
Brynn hummed in thought for a moment. Jane admittedly was more okay with the idea of them using her middle name if that's what they wanted, but again, she wasn't about to offer her opinion.
That's when all of their omni-tools went off at the same time. Jane had been too nervous to check hers while she was still holding the baby, so she walked over to Kaidan's. It was extremely disconcerting that everyone in the room had received a message at the same time, and that was the most amount of worry that she had felt since she had woken up from the war only to find that Kaidan was MIA.
"What is it?," Jane said, managing to keep her voice calm, despite her inner panic.
Kaidan just turned to her with a huge grin on his face. That was at least reassuring.
"See for yourself," he said, as he offered her his omni-tool display.
It was an invitation to Garrus and Tali's wedding. Jane just smiled at that. She figured that it was bound to happen. She was ecstatic for them, that is, until she saw that it was in 4 weeks. That didn't offer them a lot of time to prepare and figure out a way to get there, and what to do about their jobs.
Then, not even two minutes after receiving the invitation, did all of their omni-tools go off again. This one being an invitation from Liara offering the Normandy as transport for anyone from the old Normandy crews within range of Earth to depart in a week.
Well that was easy. It's almost as if Liara had known about this earlier. It even offered a solution to Jane's problem of wanting to announce her pregnancy in a more personal way than a text message. Being able to do it in person would just be icing on the cake. Luckily if they were leaving in a week that would leave plenty time to get Jane's news out of the way without stealing Garrus and Tali's thunder on their special day, allowing for a lot of time to visit before the wedding.
They would figure something out about the jobs. For both of them, it was mostly desk work anyway. She was sure they'd be able to take the brunt of it with them. She wasn't about to pass up this opportunity. Not when it might be the last chance for her to travel easily for a while too, not to mention for something so special.
Jane couldn't wait to see all of her friends again. By the time they would be seeing each other it really would have only ended up being a few months apart, but any excuse to see them was a good one, and she couldn't help but be particularly thankful for their timing right now.
