Find A Stranger, Say Goodbye
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Somehow, over the years, their roles had become reversed. Shepard/Garrus, slight Shepard/Grant (OC), post-trilogy.
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Disclaimer: This author in no way profits from the writing of this story. All characters, dialogue, or other referenced material from the Mass Effect trilogy belongs to Bioware.
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The area was bustling, but Shepard didn't notice. Her focus was on the child in her arms. She smiled down at the giggling infant who seemed to be preoccupied with chewing on her own fingers.
When a shadow came over the two of them, Shepard looked up, military instinct masking the surprise she felt. Though he looked grayer than she remembered, she recognized him immediately. Those golden brown eyes were the same as they had always been.
"I'm glad to see you smiling, Kate," he said, and she motioned to the bench next to her.
"It's good to see you, Captain," she replied as he positioned himself carefully, leaving just enough space between the two of them. He still wasn't comfortable being close to her, even after all these years.
"It's admiral now, actually," Grant told her, and a faraway smile crossed Shepard's face.
"You'll always be Captain to me." She appraised him with thoughtful eyes. "I didn't expect to see you here," she said, absentmindedly stroking her daughter's hair, a pale red that turned to gold in the bright sunlight.
"I'm not here long," he said. "Just a few days of leave. What about yourself?"
Shepard smiled off towards the distance, watching families stroll through the square in the sunlight. "I'm in the city for the day. Garrus is taking our son to get tested for an advanced placement school. We decided to make a day trip out of it," she explained.
He looked at her in surprise, recognizing the name. "Vakarian? The turian?" Shepard nodded, her eyes steadily meeting his.
Shepard turned her eyes back to her daughter. "We've been together since the war," she explained simply, referring, of course, to the reapers. She continued stroking her daughter's hair, the girl's tiny mouth stretching into a yawn. "I'm surprised you didn't see us in the tabloids, actually," she added with a rueful laugh. "The press had a field day when they found out."
She continued. "After it was all over, we got a house here on Elysium to settle down." She glanced back up at him with a small smile. "We figured we deserved it after all we'd been through."
Grant nodded. "No one could deny that." As they lapsed into silence, he watched Shepard cradling her now sleeping daughter. This could have been mine, he thought wistfully, looking at the woman but remembering the girl from so long ago.
There was something different about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on, something he'd never seen in her before. And it wasn't just that she'd grown up in all the years that had passed.
Shepard looked off across the square again, her eyes lighting up almost immediately. Grant followed her gaze to a turian man and child making their way towards them. Shepard got up to go to them, the child wrapping his small arms around Shepard's legs as soon as she approached.
The turian man, who Grant assumed must be Garrus, put an arm around Shepard, their faces coming so close that they nearly touched. In spite of the public venue, Grant felt almost as if he should look away, as if he were intruding on a private moment.
The turian carefully lifted the infant from Shepard's arms into his own, holding her with surprising tenderness. Hands now free, Shepard picked up the turian child, swinging him around in a circle before placing the boy on her hip. Grant wondered if the child had any idea that his parents were some of the galaxy's biggest heroes.
As the family moved to leave, Shepard turned her head, meeting Grant's eyes. She nodded with a small smile, and he responded in kind, acknowledging her goodbye.
He watched her walk away until the family went around a corner, disappearing from sight. It was only then that he realized what was different about her.
There were many things that could be said about Shepard, but one adjective that he never thought he would use was peaceful. And yet, that was exactly what he saw in her now. In spite of everything she'd been through, in spite of the struggles and tragedies that had made up her life up until this point, she'd somehow found peace, and nothing could take that away from her.
Grant, still haunted by the ghosts of his own past, sighed as he stared at the place he'd last seen her. If she could do it, maybe there was hope for him too. Perhaps someday he could find some peace of his own.
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