Prompt: Say it's true


"Please say it's true."

Shepard looked up from the datapad he was reading at the mess. It was late and the Normandy - empty of all crew - was eerily silent. Tali stood opposite him behind the other chair across the table. She was twisting her hands together.

"Say what's true?" Shepard asked.

"About... about you and Chief Williams," she blurted out. "Because I could understand then, why... why you and I... why you didn't want..." She fumbled her words, purple-tinted helmet facing turning away as if to hide her expression though her face shield was as opaque as it ever was. "If you still loved her it would explain... things."

Shepard set the datapad down. He didn't ask how she'd found out about Ashley.

"Tali, have I ever told you that I had a twin sister?"

Tali shook her head slowly. "You... you don't talk about your family much."

"At all," he corrected. "She died, along with the rest of my family, during a batarian slave raid on Mindoir when I was a teenager. Her name was Teresa." He paused. "I'm telling you this because when I met you, Tali, for the first time since she died, I felt like I had a sister again. I know that's not the kind of relationship you want from me, but it's all I can offer and to be honest, as we head to the Collector base, I'd like to be with family."

He picked up his datapad, and pretended to read, letting her leave if she wanted to without any recriminations. After a moment, however, the chair opposite him slid out and she settled into it.

A three-fingered hand pressed a well-worn deck of cards between them.

He raised an eyebrow.

"If we're going to be family, John'Shepard vas Normandy, you're going to learn what quarians do while waiting."

Shepard grinned and shut down his datapad. "Lose all my money?"

"Not all," Tali protested, dealing out the cards. "Just most."