Chapter 35: A Happy Visit
Shepard and Auron were eyeing each other dangerously, breaking contact only to look down to the cards in their hand. After a silent stare down Shepard throws two cards into the pile.
"Give me two," he said calmly not breaking eye contact. Auron dealt out two new cards to Shepard while also giving himself three new cards as well. "What about you slick? Want to trade in any cards?" Shepard asked. A wet, soggy card was thrown into the middle of the table as Auron sent another one their way.
"Alright Johnny, what do you bet?" Auron asked. Shepard thought it over for a few seconds before pushing in two stacks of cheerios.
"I bet 20," he said calmly.
"I call," Auron replied. Their third threw in a cheerio and Shepard and Auron assumed that meant they were in. "Alright Johnny, what do you have?" Auron asked. With a smile Shepard threw his cards onto the tale.
"Straight, king high," Shepard said proudly. Auron laughed as he shook his head pityingly and threw down his hand.
"Full House," he said happily. Shepard slammed the table angrily as he looked at the other end of the table.
"What do you have Benezia?" Benezia was sitting in her high chair chewing on her cards with the largest pile of cheerios in front of her while wearing her Uncle Tarek's sunglasses and a visor professional poker players wear along with her Hanar plushy hanging from the seat.
"I didn't think it would be this hard to teach a seven month old baby to play poker," Shepard complained.
"I told you we should play Texas hold em, five card is too complicated," Auron complained as he went to reach Benezia's cards. Before he could grab them Benezia threw them to the middle of the table with a laugh as Shepard and Auron got a look at her cards.
"You dealt her four aces out of the shoot!" Shepard complained.
"Well how was I supposed to know she'd hoard em? She's been using them to teeth for the past six minutes!" Shepard pushed the pile of cheerios towards Benezia who clapped happily with a smile on her face.
"Who does she get her skill from?" Auron asked in defeat.
"It must be Aethyta: I'm not that good and Liara doesn't know how to play," Shepard complained. Liara walked into the kitchen just in time to see Shepard reach for a stack of Benezia's cheerios just in time to have his hand slapped at.
"What are you doing to my baby?" Liara said jokingly as she observed the situation.
"Getting cleaned out by a toddler," Auron complained.
"She's won almost every hand," Shepard added. Liara laughed as she picked Benezia up from her high chair.
"That will teach you to play against the T'soni women," Liara said proudly.
"You don't know how to play poker," Shepard said accusingly. Liara chuckled as she bent down to look Shepard in the eyes.
"And its thoughts like that that assure I always win," Liara said seductively before walking off towards their bedroom. Shepard watched in a mix of emotions, he was now fairly turned on but was unsure if he should follow Liara into the bedroom, the main reason being that she brought Benezia into the bedroom with her.
"Quit being a pansy and go after her," Auron said as he cleaned up the cards. Shepard chuckled as he got up and went into the bedroom. When he entered he noticed that the bedroom was empty.
"Liara?" he called out.
"I'm in the bathroom," Liara called from the bathroom connected to their bedroom. Shepard took a wary look into the bathroom but then walked in calmly after seeing Liara giving Benezia a bath. Liara saw Shepard walk in and moved over for him to join her.
"Did you want to help give your daughter a bath?" she asked.
"Well the way you talked back in the kitchen turned me on and I thought you were trying to… seduce me," Shepard admitted sheepishly. Liara looked at him amused and asked in a playful tone,
"With our seven month old daughter in the room?"
"You're the one with the weird fetish," Shepard teased causing Liara to splash him with the bath water.
"Hey!" he complained as he wiped himself dry.
"That's for having a dirty mind," Liara said playfully.
"Oh really?" Shepard said equally as playful. He responded by splashing Liara right back, causing the Asari to recoil from the sudden splash.
"Oh you're going to regret that John Shepard," Liara said in a playful tone.
"What are you going to do, put me over your knee?" Shepard challenged. Before Liara could respond Benezia brought both of her hands down on the water splashing the both of them as she laughed happily. Shepard and Liara couldn't help but laugh as they both went on to washing Benezia.
"Why are we giving her a bath anyways? It's not bath day," Shepard asked.
"I know, but I got a call from Tali and she and Garrus will be on Thessia in a few hours," Liara informed.
"Oh yeah? What's the occasion?" Shepard asked happily.
"The Asari Matriarchs want to try and have better relations with the Quarians so they invited the Admirals over to talk. The Quarian Admirals sent Tali and Garrus is coming along for the ride, they said that they'd come by and visit since they don't have to meet with the Matriarchs until tomorrow."
"Well it will be good to see them again. We haven't seen them since the wedding have we?" Shepard asked.
"That's right, it's already been over a year," Liara reminisced.
"A wonderful over a year," Shepard added cornily. Liara laughed as she bumped Shepard with her shoulder playfully.
"Flatterer,"
"I try," Shepard responded with a smile. "So… what are we going to do until Garrus and Tali get here?" Shepard asked in mock innocence. Liara looked over to Shepard suspiciously as she took Benezia out of the tub and wrapped her in a towel.
"Well I need to dress Benezia and put her down for a nap, why? What did you have in mind?" Liara asked.
"Well… we have a few hours, and you're already soaking wet," Shepard laughed at Liara's blushed expression as she quickly slapped John on the chest as she passed him by.
"Not in front of Benezia John," Liara said in a flushed tone. She quickly put a diaper and a yellow dress on Benezia as she made to walk out of the bedroom with her; however Shepard stood in her way as he grabbed the baby from her arms and put her on the ground.
"Go find Uncle Auron Benezia, he's got a toy for you," Shepard coaxed. Benezia crawled out of the bedroom giggling as Shepard shut the door behind her and then turned to Liara with a wanting look in his eyes. Liara just stared at him with her hands on her hips as he slowly approached his wife.
"What are you doing?" Liara asked in a slightly angry slightly playful tone.
"Making sure you don't get out of my sight until Garrus and Tali get here," Shepard said as he wrapped his arms around Liara's waist and kissed her passionately. When they separated Liara was still blushing but this time with a smile on her face. It wasn't long until the two were lying in bed panting, hand in hand with each other as they waited to catch their breath. Shepard looked toward the clock besides the bed and sighed sadly.
"Well that burned all of five minutes," he said disappointed. Liara laughed as she laid herself atop of his chest.
"A wonderful five minutes," she said truthfully, hoping to help his ego. It worked as he smiled proudly as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"I was pretty great wasn't I?" Shepard asked. Liara slapped him on the chest playfully as he feigned in mock pain.
"Don't get cocky," she warned. As Shepard laughed there was a knock at their door.
"Johnny? Liara? You two in their?" Auron called out.
"Yeah Auron what's up?" Shepard called back unabashed.
"Your friends are here, they said they managed to get on an earlier ship." Shepard and Liara gave each other a terrified glance at one another as Liara called out to Auron.
"We'll be out in a minute!" she yelled worriedly.
"Well don't stop what you're doing on our account; we can wait two minutes for Shepard to finish!" The voice of Garrus Vakarian said from behind the door. Liara blushed heavily as Shepard laughed at her expense.
"Hey, I went five minutes Vakarian!" He called out causing Liara's blush to increase even further. As Garrus laughed Liara slapped Shepard again this time meaning for it to hurt.
"John! What are you doing?" She demanded in an angry whisper.
"Fighting for my honor," Shepard said unabashed as he got out of the bed. "Now put some clothes on we have guests," When the two finally managed to put clothes on and exit their bedroom they walked into the living room to see Garrus and Tali sitting together on the couch, the latter holding Benezia in her arms, as Auron sat in the easy chair with a cup of tea in his hand. At seeing Liara Tali squealed in delight as she rose from the couch and rushed to her side; Garrus arose as well but not in as big hurry as Tali was.
"Keelah it's so good to see you two!" Tali exclaimed embracing them both one at a time, refusing to let the baby in her arms go.
"I know, we seriously need to get together more often," Liara said in agreement.
"You and Shepard should visit us on Rannoch sometime!" Tali suggested excitedly.
"That's a great idea," Liara agreed as the two women began talking frantically to one another.
"Together for not even 10 minutes and already you can't tear them apart," Garrus teased as he shook Shepard's hand.
"How've you been Garrus? It's been a while,"
"Well I haven't been beating the Yahg off of Mindoir lately but I've been keeping busy," Garrus said only half joking.
"You heard about that huh?" Shepard asked.
"Oh yeah, the Primarch was astounded that the Yahg managed to pass the Alliance defenses, whether Mindoir was overly protected or not. I heard they stole Salarian ship designs but I don't recall them ever having invisible ships."
"You seem extremely well informed," Shepard said curiously. Garrus's mandibles twitched nervously as he gestured over to the squealing women.
"After Tali found out about what happened she insisted I investigate on all the leads the Alliance managed to find on Mindoir.
"Anything noteworthy?" Shepard asked seriously.
"Not much, rumors mostly. According to them Oleg Petrovsky is dead,"
"Dead?!" Shepard questioned in shock.
"Remember it's mostly rumors. The data the Geth Prime that dropped on Mindoir says that Petrovsky was against the actual attack and sent his men as a precaution to prevent too many casualties."
"Has the council said anything about it?" Shepard asked.
"I was hoping they'd have said something to you," Garrus admitted. "The original three are being extremely shut up about it and they seem to be keeping information from Bakara and Hackett knowing they'd tell us."
"You should tell Wrex that," Shepard said. "If he were to find out the council isn't being fair and equal he'd hold them all at gun point until he made an impression on them." Garrus laughed in agreement.
"I have a feeling Wrex would enjoy that a little too much, if you get my saying," Garrus joked.
"The Turian councilor would be shitting bricks," Shepard added. As the men laughed Liara and Tali finally noticed them and approached them, Tali still holding Benezia and seeming unwilling to let her go.
"So what shall we do? Are you guys hungry? We could go out to eat," Liara suggested.
"I could eat if Shepard's paying," Garrus started. Tali rolled her eyes and punched Garrus in the arm.
"That sounds lovely Liara; we can take our car,"
"Auron you want to go out to eat with us?" Shepard called out to the Salarian as he made his way to his piano on the roof.
"No thanks Johnny, I'll stay home and man the fort. You want me to watch Benezia while you're gone?" he called out.
"Noo!" Tali screamed out as she clutched to Benezia, "This little cutie isn't leaving my sight," she cooed as she cradled the baby. Benezia simply looked up at the stranger curiously as the adults all loaded into the car. It wasn't long until they were in the main city as they pulled into what would pass as a barbecue restaurant back on Earth. As they got out of the car and entered the restaurant they noticed a large group of Asari with several other species out on what seemed to be a dance floor.
"I didn't know you could dance here," Shepard said in surprise. After looking around quickly Liara pointed to a banner that was hanging over the dance floor.
"Apparently there's a dance contest going on, last one standing gets a free meal for themselves or their party,"
"Ohh Garrus! We should enter the dance contest!" Tali suggested as she bounced Benezia in her arms.
"No way," Garrus replied immediately. "If I've told you once Tali I've told you a hundred times Turians don't dance."
"But there's a Turian over there," Shepard pointed out. True to his word there dancing with several Asari was a male Turian busting a move.
"Thanks for the backup Shepard," Garrus scowled.
"And besides, you told me you and Shepard had taken dance lessons," Tali argued.
"That was over a year ago and it was only so I wouldn't look bad at their wedding," he said while pointing at Shepard and Liara.
"Please Garrus?" Tali said in a pleading tone. "It would mean a lot to me if you went dancing with me," she continued to plead. Garrus sighed as he put his hands on Tali's shoulders and looked down at the Quarian with a smile.
"I'd sooner let a Vorcha feed on my entrails," he said flatly as Tali rolled her eyes and shoved Benezia into the Turian's arms.
"You bosh'tet," she said dissapointedly as she walked off towards the dance floor. Shepard laughed as he turned to look at a laughing Liara.
"Are you going to go dancing?" Shepard asked. Liara nodded as she looked towards stomping Tali.
"Someone needs to make sure she behaves herself," she joked. "Are you going to come?" Shepard gave her a sad smile as he tapped his injured leg.
"After our private dance earlier I won't have long before I have to sit down, rain check?" he asked.
"I'll hold you to it," Liara insisted as she kissed Shepard's cheek. "Watch Benezia," she called over her shoulder as she went to catch up with Tali. As Shepard watched Liara run after Tali Garrus stood beside him frowning angrily.
"Why is it you don't get in trouble for not dancing but Tali rips me a new one?" Garrus asked. Shepard rolled his eyes as he grabbed Benezia from Garrus's arms.
"Quit whining and give me my baby," Shepard said exacerbated.
"I'm serious Shepard, what's the deal?" Garrus asked as he followed Shepard to a booth. Shepard looked towards Garrus and shot him a disappointed look.
"Because Garrus, I still suffer from being shot by a Reaper. That being said if my wife wants to go dancing 90% of the time we go dancing."
"But your awful at it," Garrus argued.
"Fine Garrus, make jokes," Shepard gave up as he looked down at a menu. "Just remember that Tali is a beautiful woman and if you keep refusing her, she may find someone who won't."
"Don't talk crazy Shepard, Tali would never leave me just because I won't dance with her," Shepard looked up from his menu and pointed to the dance floor wordlessly. Garrus followed Shepard's finger and when he saw what was on the other side his mandibles shook angrily. On the dance floor he saw Tali dancing extremely close to the Turian from before, next to Liara who was dancing with a Salarian.
"Yeah, no worries Garrus, she definitely won't leave you," Shepard said not even looking up from his menu.
"You know Liara's down there dancing with another gut to," Garrus said jealously. Shepard laughed confidently.
"Yeah but we're married. Liara isn't going to leave me for not dancing with here,"
"But you think Tali will leave me?" Garrus questioned, his mandibles still twitching.
"Well, they are made of the same amino chemical structure, and he is getting kind of handsy. Placing his hands on her hips and all," Garrus had had enough and stormed down to the dance floor leaving a chuckling Shepard and Benezia alone at the table. Suddenly Shepard heard the distinct sound of a fist crunching bone; Shepard stood up and saw that Garrus was now in between Tali and the Turian on the ground, apparently unconscious.
"Uh-oh," Benezia said as she played with the menu Shepard had dropped. Shepard looked down at Benezia in surprise as he sat the toddler on the table in front of him.
"That's right Benezia," Shepard said happily. "When Uncle Garrus knocks somebody out that's what you say!" Benezia clapped her hands as she gurgled happily. Several seconds later an angry Garrus followed by an amused Tali and Liara approached the table.
"That other Turian wasn't touching Tali, he was dancing with his bond mate!" Garrus snapped at Shepard. Shepard laughed as he handed Benezia to Liara.
"Really? Huh, I guess I might need to get my eyes checked," Shepard said innocently. Garrus growled until Tali grabbed him affectionately by the arm.
"Oh Garrus, I didn't know you cared," she teased lovingly.
"Of course I care," Garrus said, trying to regain control of the situation. "I just hate dancing," Tali sighed as Benezia said, "Uh-oh," again causing Liara to gasp in surprise.
"John, she said her first words!" Liara said excitedly.
"Technically that was her second time saying it," Shepard pointed out.
"What? When?" Liara asked angrily.
"Back when Garrus knocked out that Turian," Shepard said casually.
"So because of your practical joke I missed Benezia's first words?" Liara asked angrily.
"Well I wouldn't go that far," Shepard said warily. Liara handed the baby to Tali as she looked at Shepard angrily.
"Hold her," she said angrily as she approached Shepard. As Liara biotically slammed Shepard into the wall Benezia said, much to Tali and Garrus's amusement, "Uh oh," Garrus laughed as he tickled under the babies chin.
"That's right Benezia, when daddy does something stupid that's what you say." Benezia clapped happily as Shepard's groans could be heard from the floor.