Chapter 48:

Maggie Anders followed a few steps behind her two squadmates while the human hostess lead them to their booth. It was only the third day into their shore leave, and most of the Death Angels, herself included, were bored out of their minds. All of them wanted to be out in the field kicking ass and taking names, but sadly, being part of the most elite group of fighters in the galaxy had it's drawbacks.

Maggie was a little taken aback when Claire "Bruiser" and Farah "Fury" had asked her to go have lunch with them and not something like going to get their blood flowing. The three girls of the thirteen member squad were not even close to being alike, and it it wasn't for being squadmates, they likely never would have met.

While Maggie was rather reserved and shy in the civilian life, on the battlefield she became a bloodthirsty monster, and a reckless one at that. People had always said there was a switch that turned on or off during a fight, for Maggie, hers gave her a complete personality change. Fury on the other hand, was a bit of a jock and yet a complete gossip at the same time. Word around the squad, likely spread by Fury, was that she earned her callsign after beating up a teammate for insulting one of her favorite spots, Lacrosse. As for Bruiser, she was by far the butchest woman that Maggie had ever seen. Standing at 6'5'' with the muscles to make a bodybuilder jealous, Bruiser was more man that woman in most aspects, even in her taste for partners.

The three women, though rather different, had become close friends thanks to their overwhelmingly testosterone based squad. Maggie wouldn't have thought so, but the two others had become like family to her.

Maggie sat down across from her two friends and started looking over the menu that was handed to her. The place that Fury had dragged them to was a small diner on one the middle wards. It had a great view of the lake that ran down the length of the arm as well as a cozy air to it, almost like a home away from home. It was a bit early for lunch, so the place didn't have too many tables taken just yet.

The food varied between different foods of all races. Maggie spotted at least a dozen human dishes mixed into the Asari, Salarian, Batarian and even Krogan dishes. There was even a large section of foods for Turians and another, smaller, one for Quarians.

"Holy shit they have it." Maggie heard Bruiser grin on the other side of the table. "They actually have a real burger."

"Yes," Fury rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We go to a place that has something from every race that uses a cookbook and you get a burger."

"Hell fucking yes!" Bruiser exclaimed. "You know how fucking hard it is to find a burger that uses real beef that's not on Earth?"

"Oh. My. God." Fury gapped, looking over Maggie's shoulder.

"What?" Maggie asked, looking over her shoulder as well.

Sitting at one of the tables, as the most out of place looking human in the galaxy. With all black on, a leather jacket with ripped off sleeves, and some of the darkest shades she'd seen, adding in the ink that covered his bare arms and his neck, he stuck out like a sore thumb. Maggie was surprised to see someone dressed like that on the citadel at all, let alone in the restaurant. The man was leaning back in his chair with both hands resting on the top of his head and his feet up on one of the unused chairs next to him.

"You know him?" Maggie asked, turning back to Fury, who gave her an exasperated look.

"Look at his ink."

"God damn," Bruiser muttered, looking as well. "Never knew Carmine could like hot."

"That's…" Maggie stuttered, looking between their CO and the other two girls. Now that she looked at his ink, she could see part of the broken sword tattoo on his arm and even one that he'd had done after Palaven, a Jolly Roger with a Turian skull in place of a human one.

"You might not want to gawk over him so much." A chuckling voice spoke next to their table. All three women looked to see a kid, no more than twenty, shaking his head at them.

"Rob doesn't much care for gawkers." The kid told them with a polite smile.

"Their fine Jimmy." Carmine called to the kid, their server. "Even with seeing me with nothing on, seeing me like this is a shocker."

"Squadmates of his?" The kid, Jimmy, asked the three.

"Yeah." Maggie replied shaking her head to clear the daze that had settled over her.

"What can I get you ladies then?" he gave them a warm smile.

The three placed their orders, with Maggie being the only one to get something not human based. When Jimmy left, they immediately began talking in hushed tones.

"How the hell does he look like that?!" Bruiser asked, her voice straining to keep quiet. "If it wasn't for knowing that his girl could tear me in half I'd wouldn't be able to keep my hands off him."

"You're really weird Bruiser." Maggie shook her head. She didn't see the appeal of the "bad boy" look, but both Lieutenant Commander Naught and Bruiser seemed to like it.

"What? I know what I like, a not clean girl, or in this case guy, is too much for me." Bruiser snickered.

"I just want to know why he's dressed like that. Always said he didn't want to draw attention before he had to, but this will definitely get attention drawn to him." Fury chittered, more to herself than anyone.

"Maybe Naught told him to do it." Maggie shrugged and the other two gave her dirty looks. "What? Carmine'll do anything for those close to him, look what he does for us. Took a rocket to the chest to cover your ass Fury, and charged head on into a horde of Brutes to make sure we got to the evac site in time. He even lets us talk to him like an equal, not really caring about the chain of command in our squad. Just think of what he'd do for someone he actually loves."

The other two went quiet after that, letting Maggie's words sink in. They were silent for several long minutes before the doors to the kitchen opened. Out from the kitchen, an Asari with skyblue skin and white markings and a chef's jacket walked into the dining room of the restaurant, with a large brown bag in her hands. The Asari, one of the chefs to the place, walked over to Carmine with a scowl on her face.

"Feet off my gods damned chairs," the Asari snarled to him, though her voice was otherwise light and musical. "I taught you fuckign manners didn't I?"

"That you did Uma." Carmine chuckled, removing his booted feet from their chair. Carmine stood up and took the bag from the Asari, and put it on the table next to him. Though Rah towered over the Asari, Maggie realized that he seemed to shrink next to the woman.

"It's good to see you again Uma." Though his back was now to them, Maggie could hear the massive grin on Carmine's face.

All three women at the table gasped when the Asari pulled Carmine into a deep loving hug. Carmine returned it without hesitation.

"Too long my Ibun." The Asari replied, her words holding back mixed emotions of relief, joy, and sadness. "Nothing too bad happen to you yet?"

"Depends on who you ask." he shrugged, pulling back slightly from the Asari. "Could be argued either way. I'm still in mostly one piece."

"Mostly?" she asked curiously. "I don't like mostly."

"Just lost a couple lungs, some more flesh wounds, the usual." Carmine chuckled and shook his head. "I'll give you everything you want to know when I come over for dinner tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" the Asari asked, her voice full of puzzlement. "Why not tonight?"

"Because tomorrow, I can bring someone with me that I want you to meet."

"This better not be another one of your fuckign N7 buddies. Even if she is a Spectre I still didn't like that Shepard person."

"Nope! Even better, not saying anything else." Carmine grinned before placing a kiss to the top of the Asari's forehead. "I need to get going. I'll see you tomorrow around four. Same place right?"

"Yeah." the Asari sighed. "See you then."

Carmine picked the large bag up and left the restaurant, but not before giving another quick hug to the Asari before leaving.

"That kid'll be the death of me." The Asari shook her head at Carmine's back before goign back into the kitchen.

Maggie looked back to the other two and was met with the harsh glow of Bruiser's omni-tool.

"What are you doing?" Maggie asked, squinting at her friend.

"Finding out that uma is the Asari word for mother and ibun is for child." Bruiser replied and turned off the device.

"What the hell?" Fury asked in exasperation. "How could Carmine's mom be an Asari? Isn't that like, not possible?"

"Could be adopted." Maggie shrugged. "Or his dad had him with his blood mom, then something happened and Carmine and his dad met the Asari there."

"There's got to be a better explanation than that." Fury shook her head, not wanting to believe something could be so simple.

"Whatever, I really don't give a shit. If Carmine wanted us to know, he'd tell us." Bruiser shrugged, brushing it off though Maggie could see Fury hadn't moved on.


"Like it?" Rah asked with a chuckle when Jack took the first bite into the burger he'd brought her. With her eyes closed she only gave a soft moan while she savored the bite.

Rah grinned before turning to his odd dish. While it wasn't normally on the menu for his uma's diner, she always made the exception for him. She always made him his favorite dish, one that brought back memories that he would always cherish. The dish was simple yet it was the best thing he'd ever had; fish fingers with yellow custard. It was a silly meal, and not even close to as tasteful and flavorful as Jack's real beef burger, but to him it was a reminder of what kept him going in his early years after Cerberus.

"How the fuck did you get this?" Jack asked after finally swallowing. "Isn't it near impossible to get real beef anywhere outside Alliance space?"

"If you don't pull favors yeah." He chuckled back and shoved a fish finger into his custard. "I pulled one when the place I got these from started up."

"You didn't make this?!" Jack asked in bewilderment, he'd always said he hated having other people make his food, they never got the tastes right.

"Nope, and that's something I wanted to talk to you about." He replied with a heavy sigh. "Jack, you know you're special to me right?"

"What's this about?" She asked, her eyes holding worry but were also guarded.

"There's only one person in this galaxy that means almost as much to me as you do," he told her, refusing to look away though he felt the instinct to do so. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind meeting her."

Rah felt panic begin to climb up his spine. Was he overstepping himself? Did he misjudge what she felt towards him? Was he only a good fuck to her and not more like he'd thought?

"Who is she?" Jack asked, her eyes still guarded.

"My uma, my adopted mother." he replied, trying to fight off the rising was fully committed to this now, there was no backing out. If this blew up in his face like he thought it would, then he'd have only his death to look forward to during the war.

"Do you think she'd like me?" she asked, looking away from him, be voice full of worry and unease.

"If she can see what it is that I see in you, what makes me love you, then yes." he cursed himself for using the "L" word as neither of them had actually said it. He stood from where he was sitting, set aside his meal, and gently took her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Jack, you are my everything. I wouldn't ask you this unless I was sure I felt the way I do about you."

Jack stayed silent, but Rah could see the tears she was trying to hold back. He didn't know if they were of joy or sorrow and his panic rose even higher up his spine.

"Jack, I love you more than life itself. If you don't want to do this, let me know and I will be fine with it."

Jack's response was to pull him down to her and bring their lips together. He was startled by the passion and emotion that she pulled him into, and did his best to keep up with her. When she pulled away from him, Jack pressed her forehead into his, looking into his eyes with joy and relief.

"Sure why the fuck not?" she chuckled, and wiped away the wetness around her eyes. She pulled him into another kiss, but this one much more tame that the last. "I love you too Robert."


Jack felt overwhelmingly nervous. She didn't know why she felt like this, she'd met people before, not like this would be any different. Only this time it was different, this time she was meeting the person that practically raised the man she loved. For once, she actually found herself caring about what someone else would think of her.

Jack didn't understand it. Why should she care about what some old broad thought of her? And why the hell had she been feeling so….. weird? After Cerberus tried putting tech into her, Jack had felt all out of shorts. She would have wildly swinging changes of moods from one extreme to another. She even felt like a normal person at times, not normal for her but normal for everyone else. She didn't understand why she would go from crewing out one of her students over a vid call, to crying heap for seemingly no reason. It just wasn't right.

To make things worse, Jack was ever concerned about what she was wearing. Even with Rah assuring her that her normal clothes were fine, Jack couldn't stop feeling underdressed. Even with walking next to Rah in his shady looking outfit, Jack felt like she was out of place. She was even sickened when part of her told her to wear a dress or something else girly and less likely to get her judged harshly.

It was far too late now for Jack to do anything about it however, as the two of them stopped in front of a small apartment door. Rah knocked on the door before turning to Jack.

"You alright Princess? Look like you swallowed something nasty and you can't get the taste out." he asked, his voice laced with concern and his eyes full of worry.

"Just nervous." she replied to him, giving him a small smile. "I'll be fine."

Rah gave her a quick kiss and she felt some of her anxiety pass, but it was still lurking in the back of her mind. "It'll be fine, I promise."

Rah turned back to the door when a series of bolts and locks were audibly heard being unlatched from the old swing style door.

"paranoid much?" Rah asked in a light voice when the door opened to reveal of light skinned Asari standing in the doorway.

"it's the fucking Citadel, of course I'm paranoid you peice of shit," the Asari scowled to the marine. "Fucking place is no better than Ilium or Omega."

"Fair point." he chuckled back.

The Asari stepped away from the door, letting both of them into her small apartment. Jack looked around curiously at the small living room they were let into. The room was only large enough for a sofa, a low coffee table, a single armchair, and a holoscreen on the wall opposite the sofa. Only two doors lead off the living room, one of which was closed and the other was open to give Jack a brief glimpse into what looked like a small kitchen.

Jack felt a critical pair of eyes on her and looked to see the Asari looking Jack over.

"Jack, this is Sura Besan, my mother." Rah introduced Jack to the woman. "Uma, this is Jacqueline Naught, my girlfriend."

"You of all people." Sura shook her head, looking to Rah. "You just had to fall for someone that only two years ago you were hunting down like a rabbid varen. And it had to be the one with the largest criminal track record."

"What?!" Jack exclaimed, looking between Rah and his mother. "The fuck was that about hunting me like a rabbit veran."

"Should have expected this." Rah muttered to himself, but Sura caught Jack's gaze again.

"I approve." Sura smiled to Jack, making them both pause. "If my little Ibun saw something in you to keep you alive, and then fall for you, I think I can take the time to find it too."

"Would someone mind telling me what the hell just happened?" Jack asked, completely lost.

"My Uma just gave me a massively complicated story to tell you, well at the same time realizing that I don't break orders easily." Rah explained to her. "Short and sweet of it, I was given an assignment to hunt down the other escapees that decided to take their anger out on the galaxy and kill them. You were the last of all those, and I committed treason telling Admiral Hackett to go fuck himself."

"You what?!" Jack looked to him with wide eyes.

"I'll tell you the rest later." he shook his head, looking at his mother in exasperation. "I take it you picked up everything I asked you to get."

"Of course I did you little shit." Sura replied, pulling him into a tight hug, smiling sweetly. "Now, go make us dinner while I tell your girlfriend a million things you don't want her to know about you."

"Yes Uma." he groaned. Rah gave her a quick kiss to her forehead before heading into the small kitchen.

"Mind sitting with me?" Sura asked, walking over to the couch that dominated most of the room. Jack sat down at the other side of the couch, feeling her nervousness begin to creep back.

"So what are your plans for my son?" Sura asked bluntly, her face soft but her eyes held a protective look to them.

Jack paused when she realized that she didn't have the slightest clue. Before Carmine came into her life, she just lived each day as if it was her last, taking what she wanted, who she wanted, when she wanted it. It never really occurred to her that she could finally stop living that way and actually look to the future, dream of something to live for.

"A family." Jack blurted out without thinking. "I want to have a family with him. I want to spend the rest of my life with him. I can't imagine a single day without him near anymore."

"Then you two better fucking give me grandkids." Sura replied with a smirk. "Out of all my kids, Robert there is the only one that I'd bet would actually give me grandkids before I die."

"You have other kids?" Jack asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah, but none of them talk to me anymore. Fuckers don't think that their mother worries about them, or even cares." Sura replied her eyes holding a deep sadness to them.

"So how'd you adopt Robert?" Jack asked bluntly, earning a smile from the Asari, though a sad look to her eyes.

"Has he told you about what he did after he escaped from Cerberus?"

"Yeah, about his family. Told me about Ilium."

"I doubt he'd have told you about the first year on Ilium. He won't even talk to me about it anymore." The sadness in Sura's eyes made Jack's heart quiver.

"He was a mess the first year. He was just a shell, barely eating, rarely sleeping. He went about his duties with mindless uncaring. At the time, I was also in service to the person that bought him and it nearly broke me when I learned that she was raping him, forcing herself onto him as part of his contract. What made it even worse was that he and I shared a room for sleeping and I could hear himself crying himself to sleep. If it was over the abuse or his family, he never told me.

"After the first year, he hit rock bottom. Have you ever noticed the scar on his chest?" Sura asked, moving her own hand to just under her right breast. Jack knew the scar, it was the only one that Rah had asked her not to touch, but he never told her why.

"That scar is from when he tried to kill himself. At the end of the day, roughly a year after he'd been bought, I walked into our room to find him with a large knife from the kitchen halfway into his chest. He was crying and talking to himself, urging himself to keep pushing it in. I managed to talk him out of it, and took the knife out and patched him up. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have pushed that knife the last quarter of an inch into and pierced his heart. Ever since that day, I've treated him like my own, he became my son."

Jack sat speechless, not wanting to think that the man she knew had come that close to ending his own life. Heavy and still silence settled between the two as Jack tried to understand what had been told to her. the only sound came from the kitchen where Rah was humming to himself and loudly cutting something up.

"He told me something once." Jack spoke up, breaking the thick silence. "He told me 'I'll do my best to make sure I leave when everyone is ready for me to, no sooner.' I always wondered why he said that in that way, now I think I know."

"He's a good man Jacqueline, don't hurt him." Sura pleaded with her.

"I won't, I don't think I have it in me anymore. When we first met, I wouldn't have given him a second thought. Before, I'd have just fucked his brains out and then tossed him aside like so many others."

"So this is different for you then?" Sura asked with a chuckle. "Don't worry, when he told me he was bringing over someone more important than a friend, I got a little nervous. Robert doesn't do things half assed, if he commits to something, or in this case someone, he fully commits."

"Pretty sure he's the only one in the galaxy that would put up with my shit for as long as he as. Fuck, he was the only one that gave a shit about me when we met."

"Speaking of, how the fuck did he find you and not instantly blow your brains out? He told me that's what he did with the others." Sura's eyes and voice held a mischievous curiosity to them, completely ignoring that she'd reminded Jack of what Rah still needed to tell her.

"I was with Shepard." Jack shrugged, not caring about it either. "We met at the abandoned facility where Cerberus had us. Both of us wanted to blow the place up, and then there was another guy there that he'd already killed."

Sura leaned forward in her seat towards Jack, hungry for the story Jack was telling.


"Good news everyone!" Rah chuckled to himself when he heard both his Uma and Jack laughing in the other room. "Well, it's probably bad news for me, but I'll sure as hell take it."

Rah grinned to himself and continued making the Greek dinner that he was cooking for the three of them. His entire plan for this was working. His mother had accepted Jack and the two were now getting to know each other. He still didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that the two most important women in his life were laughing, and probably at or about him.


A/N: There we are folks! As I said, fluff and really slow story moving. I think I've got maybe one more chapter of this left, but it might only be part of one. Either way, hope you all enjoyed!

For any that are interested, I took the words uma and ibun from the Arabic words meaning mother and son, but changed them a little. I don't think I'll do so again, but if I do any words used in the Asari tounge will be changed words from Arabic.

Please let me know what you all thought!