Aircraft 1512 was packed even for a Saturday night … every table was overflowing, the bar was fighting the weight of the elbows leaning against it, the dance floor straining against the pounding of the feet as Girls Aloud's Something Kinda Oooh beat in a new updated asari remix. This twenty-first century all-girl band from the UK had just been resurrected after their song Sexy! No No No had been used in the romance scene of Blasto. This was the one area in which the galaxy seemed to share with each other more easily … their arts. Turian sculpture, asari paintings, quarian music, human cinema especially the films from the 1930's and 40's … Some of the appreciation was somewhat unexpected like disco for the salarians.

It still amazed humanity that a group of salarians had fallen in love with the Bee Gees. No one could have seen that one coming. On Illium a yearly convention now in its fifth year called Disco Inferno was held where a few hundred salarians and a handful of humans screened old movies, had midnight roller skating dances, dressed up from Tony Manero to the Indian of the Village People, collected and traded everything Earth 1970's. The convention and its participants were the salarians own version of Star Trek fans who called themselves Villagers and were mocked at an even more unmerciful level from their own kind than trekkies had ever been on Earth.

"That shows how neutered disco really was," Joker cracked to Talitha Draven as they discussed the Villagers.

"I don't know," Draven loved old disco herself. "I think it's cute … salarians in leisure suits and roller skates! And you know that their theme song at the convention is A Fifth of Beethoven from Saturday Night Fever … they love that disco version."

"You are kidding, right?" Joker hated disco … well anything outside of southern rock, Creedence Clearwater Revival or Reticulating Splines was a waste of time to him.

"No … did you see vids of last year's convention?" she pulled up a site on her omni-tool, "It is just too funny and there was a salarian there that had the dance from Saturday Night Fever down perfect! Wait, I'll find it … it's a scream."

As if on cue, the DJ started spinning Boogie Shoes by K.C. and the Sunshine Band which made Joker roll his eyes and grab Lowe's shot of tequila and down it. "Hey!" she cried as the Patron was stolen.

"Funnier than the … oh, what do they call themselves?" Silas Crosby closed his eyes as he mentally grabbed the word, "Asari wannabes?"

"Adites," Helen Lowe chuckled, "That is what the asari call them. One of my cousins became one … he really loves them ... the asari that is."

"He?" Joker had to double take on that one.

"I know, I know," Lowe waved her hand. "There are quite a few males that have joined the following. Some have even gone so far as to …" Lowe snipped in the air.

Both Joker and Crosby covered their crotches as Crosby groaned, "Okay, let's change the subject."

Draven after taking a drink of her martini asked, "What about the Los Angeles Seafarers?"

"Humans playing skyball? Okay. Thinking about competing against the asari in the Cruor League?" Lowe shook her head. "Now that is crazy!"

"Did you see them play their first ever match last week? They played against the Serrice Delphinus!" Kaidan shook his head. "Murder! The Seafarers didn't even touch the ball once … not once! It was embarrassing."

"Diplomacy my ass," Joker picked up his beer. "Those asari were killers out there! Hot … blue … half naked … tall … why are the asari so tall anyway? That just seems unnatural that a race of women would be so tall."

"Weren't the amazons tall?" Ashley asked, as she waved over the waitress.

"I hear that they play naked on Thessia," Lowe teased the boys.

"What?" Joker spit his beer out. "Do they have that on vids?"

"LT!" Ashley shouted over the music, "Do you want another sidecar?"

"Yes but we still hold the first position in baseball, football and soccer!" Joker reminded the group.

"As long as biotics are not allowed," Crosby reminded the group … "and the asari don't start liking it ... sure! But if they ever start taking an interest in human sports we are S-C-R-E-W-E-D! God I hate those women!"

"But are they really women?" Lowe asked as she tried handing money to Ash for her beer but was pushed away. The drinks were all on the house for the Normandy crew their first night back.

"Well they aren't men!" Mancini spit out.

"No," Crosby shook his head. "They are asari … whatever that means."

"Maybe we should ask the asari on the Normandy," Mancini laughed. "Are you a man or woman? Drop your drawers … chop-chop!"

"Miss Prothean Expert?" Ashley looked at Mancini. "No! I don't think the Commander would like that so if you go within ten feet of her … I swear I'll cut your throat!"

"What?" Mancini looked at Ashley. "It's an honest question. What are they?"

Ashley glared at him, "I mean it! I'll ... cut ... your ... throat!"

Shepard had just said goodnight to the Senator and was ready to leave the Au Trou Gascon and all that was between her and the exit was the coat check. As she handed her ticket over to the lady behind the counter, Liam asked, "Asari … Are they as tall as they say?"

Shepard nodded as she saw her coat being pulled off the rack. She was that much closer to being free from there and as she handed her coat to her escort she said, "The asari, the krogan and turian are all tall ... the krogan are the tallest of the three. Then there is the hanar."

As he held the coat open he asked, "But how tall are the asari?"

"It varies ... some stand as tall as 7' but I think the average height would be around 6'5" or 6'6" ... not really sure," she answered as she put her arms through the sleeves.

"How tall is the asari on the Normandy?" Liam continued as he handed over his ticket.

"Doctor T'Soni?" Shepard smiled over at another guest who was waiting to get her coat, "Hmm ... she is 6'2" … shorter than most that I saw on the Citadel."

"So she's as tall as me," Liam had never seen any alien in person and like many humans was curious about the asari. "What does her skin look like? Is it really blue? Is it soft or ..."

Shepard looked at Liam and laughed, "Please do not tell me that you are one of those humans with a fetish for the asari's color."

"What?" Liam pulled Shepard close to him, "I have a fetish and her name is Shepard."

"I don't think you understand what the word fetish means," Shepard laughed.

"No?" Liam loved this woman and he really didn't want to go anywhere but back to her place … or his. He put his coat on and guided her outside of the restaurant carefully as guests stopped them to chat or say goodnight.

"No!" Shepard laughed as she waved goodnight to a crowd. "Shall we go back to my place? It's been a month since I touched you."

"What about your friend? Your boot camp buddy?" Liam was trying to seem less anxious then he really was to get her alone and in bed.

"I'll call her in the AM," Shepard smiled as she pulled him in the direction of her apartment, "Now no more talk about the asari or I might start getting jealous."

Kaidan was dancing with his date, Grace, but was hoping that Shepard would arrive. He had spent time with ATCS Rose Stuart and had laughed as she shared stories of what it was like going through boot camp with Shepard. It did not surprise him that even at the start Shepard was a leader, a sharp shooter and admired by everyone.

But there was a moment when the mood changed as Kaidan and Ashley shared what happened to them on Eden Prime … It was in those discussions that both Rose and Ashley started to slightly tear up. Rose was from Eden Prime and part of her family still lived there. She had been lucky that her parents survived but her daughter's father and his parents had not.

Kaidan had taken her by the hand, "I'm sorry for your loss."

Ashley had come around the table and gave her hug, "I'm so sorry that we didn't save them."

"No, Chief," Rose pulled back and looked at Ashley, "I heard what happened to the 212 … You suffered far greater than me. I should be consoling you. My ex-boyfriend never gave my daughter the time of day … but his parents. God rest their souls."

Mancini, carrying three beers, one margarita and two martinis stumbled over to the table and almost dropped the lot but was saved by Lowe. "Please tell me that these are being shared!"

"Everything but the beers!" he laughed as he fell on the floor missing the chair.

"Mancini!" Ashley just saw another two weeks of KP looming on the horizon.

"Sorry, Chief!" he yelled from the floor.

"How long have you guys known Shepard?" Rose asked Ashley and Kaidan.

Kaidan looked at Rose, "It's been just a little over a month but it seems longer."

"Longer," Rose nodded, "Shepard does have a way of making you feel like you've known her forever."

"What advice do you have for us?" Ashley asked, placing one of the beers brought over by Mancini in front of Crosby.

"Advice?" Rose had to think on that one. Be pervy like Michelle? That made her smile but instead she just shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "I really don't have any advice ... except be honest."

"C'mon," Ashley pushed, "After living with her three months in boot … you have to have the secrets."

Rose took a drink of her wine, "No ... seriously. Just be honest and respectful ... She was raised by a southern daddy and a minister mother."

"Minister?" Ashley had not realized that and now had something else that she wanted to talk with Shepard about.

"Yes," Rose smiled ... "Please keep in mind that my Alliance time with her was back when we both were nineteen, stuck in mud up to our thighs and homesick."

"Homesick?" Kaidan had never really thought about where Shepard had gone after Mindoir.

"San Antonio," Rose smiled. "She had friends and a guy back there … I still can't believe that it was ten years ago … time flies ... But on graduation day her family came up from Georgia … The Shepards. You could tell that they were proud of her."

Kaidan wondered who that guy had been, if it had been serious, what happened and looked over at his date feeling a little guilty. The DJ began spinning the Crayfish's Knowing Me, Knowing You and he reached over and squeezed her hand, "Do you want to dance?"

As Kaidan and Grace left the table, Ashley was telling Rose and Lowe about her sisters as Joker watched the door, Dravern and Mancini laughed at vids of the Villagers, and Crosby and Negelesco talked about how cute Kaidan was.

"How is dad?" Toni asked her sister Mel as she entered the hospital waiting room with her husband.

"The doctor says that he will be fine," Mel said as she stood and hugged her sister. "Mom is with him now. They said no visitors but mom told them she wasn't a visitor … she was his wife. No one can keep her from doing what she wants."

"And dad thinks we get our toughness from him!" Toni laughed. "Pierce and I always knew that it was mom's side … The Wheelers. Now that was a hard bunch."

"You didn't tell the boys or send word to Lil'Bit, did you?" Mel had told her when she called that their father had given strict orders to not tell the grandkids. Truth was he said at the house before he was put in the ambulance to not tell Lil'Bit, "she has enough pressure on her … promise me!" Mel knew that if she had told Toni what their father had really said she would flip out and say that her boys were just as good as Lil'Bit. So Mel had just added all three grandkids together.

While Shepard was a SpecTRe, Aaron had followed in the Wheeler tradition and was an attorney in New York while Timmy was working as an architect in London. Mel never understood the jealousy that Toni seemed to have with Lil'Bit, especially since she had helped fund her cousins' education as well as help Aaron purchase a loft in New York. But then … she never understood her sister.

"No … I didn't tell any of the kids," Toni answered as her husband took her jacket. "So the old man had a heart attack!" Toni shook her head as she looked over at her husband, "Honey, go get Melly and me some coffee please … and don't forget to bring back plenty of cream and sugar." As he walked away she grumbled, "Thirty-four years together … you would think that he would know how I like my coffee."

"I'm sure that he means well," Mel said softly as she sat down again and pulled out a handkerchief from her purse.

Toni sat next to her and after a few seconds of silence laughed, "Ninety-three and he is still screwing our mother. And you had to be there! Holy shit!"

"Toni!" Mel was always getting embarrassed by Toni and here at fifty-eight she was still being embarrassed by her older sister. It was true that she had been there since she had never moved from home. But what her sister did not know was that she had heard her mother calling out for help and had run into their bedroom where she saw her parents naked ... No, not just naked. Her father was passed out on top of her mother. She would have died of embarrassment if the circumstances weren't so serious.

Toni looked at Mel, "What?"

"People might hear!" Mel answered, turning red.

Toni looked around the empty waiting room, "And those people would be?"

Mel shook her head as she folded the handkerchief, "Can we speak of nicer things?"

"I'm just saying that at their age you would think that they would be done with fucking," Toni shook her head. "Ninety-three and eighty-eight? For Christ's sake they should just be painting each other's nails!"

"Please Toni!" Mel hated vulgar talk and did not approve of taking the Lord's name in vain. Sometimes she wondered if she was really related to her older sister. It's funny but she never wondered that about her brother even though he could talk just as raunchy. Pierce … how she had loved her brother. He was always respectful to her growing up and he only got better in her book when he married Hannah. Hannah Durante … she had adored her since the day they met. She became the sister that she had always wanted and the day she was told of her death … her heart shattered. She knew that her brother and Lil'Bit must be shattered as well … but before she could comfort him … see him … he was gone. She had mourned but she also knew that without Hannah, Pierce would have been lost … she knew that he had worshipped his wife. She was his church. And because she knew how much her brother loved his wife … his death was almost kind. But that did not mean that she didn't wish he had lived. She thought of him every day but her main focus was on his daughter. She was everything good that had been in both her brother and Hannah. When Lil'Bit had run away, Mel had understood and prayed for her everyday … she still did.

"Okay, okay." In moments like these Toni really missed her brother … he could talk in the gutter with her. But not their baby sister … no. With her, everything had to be clean, pristine and bleached. Shit! Her brother would have laughed with her about her parents still screwing and talk about how it meant that they had hope for when they turned ninety-three. Pierce … Pee-Pee. She had loved him from the day he was brought home. Not that at almost two years of age she remembered it. But she also never remembered a time that she didn't love him. What she did remember was the day that they had been told about his death … they had been preparing for Hannah Shepard's funeral when the message came. Mel was already inconsolable after hearing that Pierce's preacher woman was dead. Toni had hated to hear that she was gone but she had hoped that it would mean she would get her brother back. He had always been her best friend and without Hannah he might just come back to Tybee Island. Back to the family … back to her. But then those batarian beasts had killed him … killed her best friend and little brother. As she looked at her sister she remembered how when they heard that Lil'Bit was still alive … for one brief moment she had wondered why it was her and not her brother that had survived. She had felt ashamed for feeling that way but it was true. She would have given anything for her brother to have lived. Then the kid ran … it had angered her. The selfish little shit! She saw how it hurt her parents and how much they loved the kid. Even more than her kids. But Lil'Bit was all that was left of her brother so she loved her … she just wished that it had been him that had survived.

"Did you hear that dad is building a fallout shelter?" Melanie broke the silence.

"What?" Toni looked confused. "Why the hell?"

Mel shook her head, "I don't know. He just started planning it a week ago."

"Christ! … Sorry," Toni felt her sister's disapproving stare, "That old man is losing his mind."

Jack Shepard looked at his wife and patted her hand, "There, there … don't look so serious, doll."

"Well then don't do this to me again," Elizabeth frowned at him.

"But you are too tempting, woman." Jack smiled weakly as he touched her breast.

"Not that, you old fool," she grabbed his hand and couldn't help but laugh," the heart attack."

"Oh," Jack closed his eyes. "For a minute I thought I was better off dead."

Elizabeth looked at her husband's old weather-beaten face and kissed it ... She had loved him for over sixty-five years. He was a good man and so was their son. Or he had been. And he and the loveliest woman that she had ever met had given her Elizabeth Whisper … A good woman ... A strong woman. She was proud of what her granddaughter had accomplished … Hero of the Blitz … The first human SpecTRe. But she also worried about her. Wanted her son's only child with them on Tybee Island and not out in the stars. Toni had once said that Lil'Bit was more important to her and Jack then her sons … and while she had denied it, well it was true. Fair? No. But true. She was not only her namesake but the pride of her boy. She was what was left of her son and the woman that had made him an even better man. Son, I wish you were here.

Jack could tell that his wife was thinking of their son again … he didn't know how he knew, he just did. But as he laid there he thought of Lil'Bit. A SpecTRe … well, guddamit it! A Shepard … the first human SpecTRe! Take that Lawrence Wheeler! You told his Lizzie that she was a fool to marry him … that he would never amount to anything. That she would regret it. HA! How he hated his father-in-law. It had given him great pleasure for that old man to see the home that he had built her on Tybee Island, the three kids they had … but this! His granddaughter! Not only the recipient of the Star of Terra but the first human SpecTRe. Shove that up your tight ass Mr. Wheeler! But then his gloating stopped as he thought of the message from his granddaughter. She had told him in the strictest of confidence about the vision that she had. Now he wasn't a superstitious man but he also wasn't a stupid man. If his kid said that there was trouble on the horizon … he had to prepare. He looked over at the heart monitor and shook his head. This was no time to be bed-ridden. He had a shelter to build. He couldn't tell the others what the kid had told him … no … It didn't matter that he was treading into the Noah and the Ark territory … they are gonna think I'm crazy. He had originally thought … but then … So what! I've been called worse … screw you Mr. Wheeler! My granddaughter is the first human SpecTRe!