Chapter 35
Shepard-Vakarian stands at her desk in her cabin, with the hologram of Admiral Hackett standing halfway through her desk. She had not yet taken off her armor, having stayed in it for the majority of the six months that she had been away. At this point, it is comforting to feel the metal scratching against her neck and squeezing her frequently broken ribs.
"Commander Shepard-Vakarian; how did the thresher maw hunting go?" Hackett asks politely. It was a favor for the Krogans after she arranged for a new representative to join the council. The ship may be back in Alliance control, but she still had approval to take the ship to handle council matters.
"Fine sir. No casualties and no injuries. We picked up a few members of C Sec and will be bringing them back to the Citadel." She reports.
"I take it you did not call me to tell me about a successful council mission." He stands casually, always willing to handle requests from his Specter.
"No. I am requesting a year of medical leave. After I get back to the Citadel, I will hand the ship to Edi to get the Normandy back to Earth for reassignment." She states simply, standing at the most formal attention possible.
"On what grounds?" He asks skeptically.
"Bloodwork should be posted on my file any second now if it is not already." She still cannot bring herself to say it. She knows she will have to, but for now, she cannot find the words.
She watches as he pulls it up on his tablet. It takes him only a glance to notice it: "I see. Would you like to be back on payroll until you get back?"
"No. Thank you for understanding. I request your discretion."
The elevator dings to signify that it will arrive to her cabin. Regardless of who it is, she does not want to handle them.
"As always. Hackett out." The hologram disappears as the elevator opens.
"Katherine Jane Shepard-Vakarian—get out of that armor right now." Doctor Chakwas yells as soon as she catches sight of her. "If you just casually tell me to run a blood test and expect me not to follow up, you are absolutely insane. Armor off."
Shepard obeys. She heads towards her armor locker before flicking the button that opened the panels to her suit. She takes off her gauntlets. She steps out of the boots and lets both halves of the legs drops to the ground. She opens the torso more to the largest setting to get it over her head. Almost immediately her stomach relaxes without it being pressed against her.
"You have been hiding this the whole time? I would have thought that you would have more common sense than that." Chakwas grumbles while changing the password on her armor locker. She directs Shepard to go sit on her sofa before she does a quick scan. "Your blood pressure is still on the low side, but you are running a fever."
"It was forty-two degrees on Tuchanka the whole time we were there. I'm sure everyone who disembarked is running a little high." Shepard-Vakarian tries to reason but has no emotion and no fight in her voice.
"I am having a specialist wait for you when we get back on the Citadel. Don't even think about putting armor on and for the love of god, talk to Garrus. You can't leave him in the dark."
The elevator dings again. She will not even have a change to evade him or think of a real plan.
"I am taking blood samples for more extensive testing." She reads the blankness on the Commander's face as she does not fight her in any capacity; she says nothing, just staring ahead. The doctor softens; "It will be fine, just relax for the sake of everyone involved."
The elevator opens. Doctor Chakwas slides by him with the vial of blood in her pocket. She says nothing as the Turian walks past, even though he politely greets her.
He heads down the stairs to her living area, neither of them saying a word to the other. He does not even take a good look at her. He just sits down beside her until one of them can find the words they are looking for. She does lean against him after a moment, resting her head against the cold rim of his armor.
He carefully controls his breathing before he speaks first. "I know what happened." His words are slow and deliberate, but barely sounds like him. She does not say anything, so he continues. "And I think I know why you did not tell me, even though I wish you would have let me help you through it."
"I'm sorry. I had fought my way through that the first few weeks, but there was a…complication." She picks the last word carefully.
He runs through his head trying to think of everything that it could be and immediately a string of rumors that he only found this morning. He thought there was not enough buzz about Shepard while she was away, but he never expected this much, nor that any of the rumors would possibly have merit. "What kind of complication?" he asks, fighting the picture forming in his head.
She does not say anything, but instead she just grabs his hand and puts it onto her swollen stomach. He has not noticed in her armor, but what was usually toned was a bump. She keeps it there just for a moment before he feels a strong force against it. His hand darts away from it immediately. He freezes but then puts his hand back, confirming his immediate assumption. She still says nothing, sitting with her eyes downcast.
"You're…"
"Yes." She still cannot say it.
He takes a moment to think, but then says the first words he can think of to calm her down. "Wow…our child."
"Garrus, Turians and humans can't…" she speaks delicately, nearly to tears.
He cuts her off. "Doesn't matter. You're my wife. It's our child." He says, trying to believe the words with every fiber of his being. He knows that there is no chance that the child could be his; humans and Turians are not biologically compatible. They knew this from the start. He wanted a family. He assumed it would have happened through adoption, but if is how it is going to be, he will adjust. Besides, even he knows that if she wanted to, she would have dealt with it months ago.
She softens up, using a smile to hide incoming tears. "Yea, our child."
He inhales and gets up to his feet. "Okay, here's what we are going to do."
She raises an eyebrow but lets him continue.
"I am going to put this armor away and find you something to eat while you go shower. Spirits, when was the last time you took off your armor?"
Despite herself she snorts out a laugh. "Can you at least find me a change of clothes that might fit?"
"Whatever you need."
With that, she gets onto her feet with some difficulty. As soon as he sees that she is on her feet he turns around to use the armor locker, getting in with his recently added credentials.
He has taken off his plated boots and gauntlets when he hears a thud near the door. He releases the torso as he looks up to find Shepard convulsing on the ground. "Edi, get Chakwas here now!"