A/N: Oh my god, you don't know how fun this chapter was to write. Seriously.
**Chapter 19: Obstacles **
"You put that down right now. You've already had one."
Her son looked up from the tray of goodies he was surveying to see her glaring at him, specifically at the decorated cracker he held in his palm.
A grin spread across his face and he popped it into his mouth before she could stop him.
Her eyes flared and she took a step towards him. "Johnathan Shepard, so help me God if you eat another—" he inhaled another one and immediately jumped away with amazing speed, dodging her threatening hand.
"Get out!"
"What's going on?" Tali walked in, seeing Shepard grinning and backing away from Hannah, hands held up in surrender.
"My mother's going crazy." he replied.
"Get him out of here. He's eating all the damn food." she said, glaring at him.
Tali giggled, pulling on his arm. "Come on. It wouldn't be very good for you to get a black eye right before the wedding, hm?" Shepard allowed Tali to pull him away, grinning over his shoulder at his mother, who shot daggers back at him.
"Keelah, do you always try to antagonize your mother?" she asked when they were out of the house.
"Whenever possible." he said, chuckling. He offered her his arm, which she took.
"How are the preparations going?" he asked.
"Pretty well. It's a little more difficult to move around now that the whole crew has shown up, but the extra hands are useful."
Almost everyone had arrived yesterday, mostly in tiny packs with the occasional straggler on their own. Many were bunking in the Normandy, but their new house had a few spare bedrooms for those that couldn't fit in the ship.
Although Shepard was glad that the crew was here, he couldn't help but wish that they'd find somewhere else to sleep. He had planned to spend a couple private days alone with Tali before everything got crazy with the wedding, but now there were too many people in their home.
As they headed down the path from the house he looked over at the beach, seeing Kasumi, Jack, Traynor and a couple others enjoying the warm sun and cool water.
He backed away from Tali, jerking his head towards the beach. "I'll, ah, catch up with you later, alright? I need to talk to Kasumi."
She cocked her head in confusion, but simply nodded, watching him jog off. He had an almost embarrassed look on his face, and she wondered what he wanted to talk to the thief about.
She continued on back towards the Normandy, pulling up a mental checklist of all the things they still needed to get ready for the wedding. Hannah was using the kitchen in their home for half of the cooking, with Raan and Chakwas assisting, and the Normandy's kitchen was being dominated by Gardner, who insisted that he supervise the baking of the cakes and other sweet foodstuffs.
They still needed decorations though, and enough seating for everyone—
"Tali. May I speak with you a moment?"
She jerked from her thoughts to see Gerrel staring at her, attempting to look friendly. She narrowed her eyes warily.
"Yes?"
He cleared his throat, gesturing for her to continue walking. He fell into step beside her, quiet for a moment.
"I see that you've built a lovely home." he commented after an awkward silence.
"Shepard helped quite a bit. I'd even be able to give him credit for half of the work." she said, smiling faintly.
Gerrel looked completely unamused, making her force herself not to sigh. So much time spent around friends and family had allowed her to put her guard down. She needed to be careful what she said around this man. It was something she had gotten quite good at over the years; she simply pretended she was speaking to her father. They were practically carbon copies of one another, anyway.
"About Shepard. I see that you and the Commander have grown quite close."
"We have." she said neutrally.
"Do you think that is a wise decision?"
She stopped, staring at him. "What?"
He looked back at her. "I simply meant that I don't think your father would approve."
Her anger flared. "And?"
Gerrel looked at her as of she were a particularly slow child who needed everything explained to them. "As your uncle—"
"You're not my uncle."
He looked surprised at this. "That hurts me that you think that Tali, truly."
She gave an exasperated laugh. "Why? You've never made an effort to spend time with me, as a child or an adult, and you didn't even come talk to me after my father died." she clenched her teeth, forcing back tears, pushing forwards with her anger. "And you almost had Shepard, Garrus and I killed on that dreadnought! I don't know what you think 'uncle' means, but it certainly isn't that!"
He sighed. "I may not have been the warmest towards you, but I care a great deal about you, Tali. And I have much respect for your father, who I'm sure would think that you could do better. Shepard isn't a quarian, or even a technician, for that matter—"
"Do better? Do better? Do you know who you're talking about? That man is the reason we're on Rannoch, the reason we were able to make peace with the geth, and the reason that I'm alive! I couldn't have asked for better!" she clenched her fists, glaring at Gerrel.
The Admiral sighed again. "And I can't thank the Commander enough for his achievements. But that doesn't mean I think him a worthy man for you."
"So he's good enough to save our people from wars and provide us with homes, but not good enough to deserve happiness with someone?" she gave another humorless laugh, talking more quietly. "If this is how the quarians treat their heroes, I'm ashamed to call myself one."
"Don't ever say that!" his anger was getting the better of him, as it always did. "You've spent too much time around aliens, Tali! You've forgotten what it means to be one of our people!"
She suddenly found herself feeling exhausted at his words. Her voice was quiet when she spoke. "When I stood on trial for treason, it wasn't my people who helped me. It was Shepard and the Normandy crew." she said, tears stinging her eyes. Her people, who were supposed to be her family, her friends, were the very ones that had tried to condemn her to a life of exile. Only Shepard, an alien captain, had stepped up to defend her, without frown or complaint.
She walked away from Gerrel, fists balled up tightly. He did not call out any more remarks of denial; she had slapped him in the face with the truth, something that he could not fight.
Rage boiled inside her. Anger over the realization of how little her own species had ever aided her. Anger at being reminded of how imperfect a man her father truly was, with his prejudices and single-mindedness, a trait that bordered on neglect with how little time he'd ever spent with his family.
She had forced herself to put aside those memories of his failures as a parent when he died, of being ignored or yelled at to move out of the way, trying to focus on the good in him. But now, his faults came flooding back to her, along with a tide of bitterness.
Never again would she immortalize the dead. Forgetting their faults simply because they no longer drew breath did not make those faults any less real.
Even dead, he still causes unhappiness in my life. Sometimes I'm almost glad he's gone.
Kasumi sat on a folding chair in the sand, soaking up every bit of sun she could. Tikkun was warm enough to heat the skin, but dim enough to not make a person have to squint all the time. It was an almost addictive combination.
Miranda lay on a towel close to her, trying to get some color for the wedding. Kasumi wasn't an insecure person by any means, but bikini models would likely weep at the sight of that woman's curves.
Most of the female crew of the Normandy was present on the beach, all wanting to tan up before having to get all dressy for The Big Day. The thief scanned the sandy shores, watching the various women tanning, talking, or swimming. She noticed a particularly observant Traynor, making Kasumi snicker. The woman must be having a hay-day with all the half-naked chicks on the beach.
She heard feet on the sand and looked over to see Shepard walking towards her.
"Hey, go away! No guys allowed!"
He raised a brow, eyes flicking around at the half-nude beach party going on around them. "What are you doing?"
"Getting tan before the wedding." she said, waggling a finger at him. "No looking. You've already got a hot wife."
He rolled his eyes. "I'll try not to fall into temptation." he fidgeted, suddenly looking nervous. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"
She grinned, hopping off of her chair and grabbing a small shrug to cover herself up. "Sure." she lead him farther down the beach, away from everyone else, wondering what he wanted to talk about that made him so nervous.
When they were alone, she turned to him. "What's up?"
He fidgeted again, staring at the ground. "Can... can you teach me how to dance?"
She bit down on her tongue hard, trying not to laugh, but a tiny snort escaped her.
He glared at her. "I'm serious."
She laughed. "You are so cute, Shep. Big tough guy trying to learn how to dance for his wife."
He sighed. "Can you help me or not? I know I'm not great at it, but maybe something simple..."
She nodded, grin never leaving her face. "Lemme just change, and we'll get started."
The sun really was nice after so much time spent aboard fluorescent space ships, Miranda thought, sighing at the softness of the sand under the towel she lay on.
Something suddenly blocked out the sun, casting her form in shadow. She opened her eyes and looked up to see Garrus standing in front of her, amused expression on his face.
"Enjoying the sun?"
"Indeed." she replied, pulling the towel up to try and cover herself. "Is there something you needed?"
"You know where Shepard is? Zaeed and Wrex and a bunch of others are down in the basement, but Shepard put one of those stupid old-fashioned locks on the liquor cabinet—"
"And you want to know where the key is." she finished, smiling despite herself.
Garrus chuckled. "I don't think he'd like me shooting the lock off."
She nodded her head towards the direction the thief and the Commander went. "Shepard said he needed to talk to Goto, and they both went that way. Why don't you just call his omni-tool?"
"I think he has it shut off. I already tried that. And thanks." the turian nodded, walking off in the direction she'd specified.
Miranda lay back down on her towel, continuing her sunbathing and smiling to herself.
Men.
The sight that greeted Garrus was one he didn't think he'd ever forget.
He found Kasumi and Shepard in a secluded area of the beach after wandering around for a few minutes, rocks spiking up from the ground and creating a closed off place where one could do as they pleased.
And they were dancing.
It must have been a human dance. It was slow and looked like it would be one shared between intimates if it weren't for the awkward way Shepard held himself away from the thief.
The man in question must have felt eyes on him, because he looked up from staring at the movement of his feet to see Garrus standing there.
His eyes widened and he stopped, stepping away from Kasumi. The look on his face made it difficult for the turian not to burst into laughter.
"Oh, I am so telling Vega about this."
"Vakarian, I swear to God—"
Garrus turned heel and bolted, making for the house. Shepard was one fast son of a bitch, and he needed a good head start if he was ever going to make it.
"Garrus! You cuttle-boned fuck, get back here!" he heard boots churning up sand behind him, and he dug his toes in, gaining speed as they ran across the beach. They ran past the women tanning, and the turian could picture them staring wide-eyed at the scene playing out before them, not having the time to see if his visualization was an accurate one.
Garrus made it to the path up to the house, but he could hear Shepard gaining on him. He drove himself forward, running as if his life depended on it.
Maybe it did.
He banged through the front door, barreling down the hallway. He made it as far as the kitchen before he felt Shepard launch into him, sending them flying into the kitchen table, chairs and table crashing down with them.
"Jesus!" he heard a shout, probably from Hannah. He couldn't see too well, as Shepard currently had an arm in his face. They wrestled to untangle themselves from one another, kicking and flailing their limbs.
Shepard managed to free himself from his friend and the knocked over table legs, getting to his feet and grabbing a knife from the counter, brandishing it at Garrus as soon as he stood up.
"Don't you dare, Garrus. You won't live past this afternoon if you do."
"I don't think you will, either, if I tell them." the turian replied, grinning.
Shepard raised a challenging brow. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah."
"I suppose you wouldn't mind then if I told them about the Citadel, then."
"What?"
Shepard smiled. "You know, at the bar. We met that turian woman? What was it you said to her—"
Garrus pointed a finger at him. "Shut the hell up about that."
"Goes both ways."
The turian's shoulders sagged in defeat. "Fine." he relented, turning to go back to the basement. Remembering the original reason he'd gone to find Shepard, he stopped and looked back. "Can I have the key to the liquor cabinet, by the way?"
"Go fuck yourself." Shepard said casually, putting the knife down on the table. "Pardon my language." he added to his mother, Chakwas and Raan, who all stood there in shock.
"What the hell is going on?" Hannah said finally, eyes shifting between her son and Garrus.
Shepard shook his head. "Nothing." he began walking towards the front door, giving Garrus a significant look.
"You're not going anywhere until you clean this mess up, Johnathan. And you aren't allowed in this kitchen again until we're finished, you understand me?"
Shepard sighed, turning on his heel and heading back into the kitchen, bending down to pick up the furniture they'd knocked over.
"What the hell's all that noise?" he heard Zaeed's gravelly tone behind him, and he saw the scarred mercenary eyeing him as he set the chairs and table back in order.
"Nothing. Just teaching Vakarian what happens if he opens his mouth about shit he isn't supposed to."
Tali sat at the edge of the cliff, arms wrapped around her knees as she stared at the ocean, feeling drained.
She had grieved for her father, both for the man that he was and the man that he could have been. She wished that he was here, to see all that had been accomplished for her people, but anger kept creeping in. He wouldn't be happy or proud; he would only focus on the fact that she'd be marrying an alien.
She ached for Shepard, wanting to talk to him, to feel the strength of his arms and the calming sound of his voice.
Maybe she'd go find him. She hoped he wasn't with anyone—
"Tali?"
As if her thoughts had conjured him, she heard him speak softly behind her.
She turned, and without a word, she walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging tightly.
She felt his chest rumble with faint laughter at her sudden contact, but he reciprocated the action. "You alright?"
"No."
He pulled back a little, blue eyes holding concern. "What's wrong?"
"I talked with Gerrel this morning." she said by way of explanation.
His eyes narrowed. "What did he say to you?"
She fidgeted. "Just that, well, I shouldn't be with you. He and my father would almost become the same person sometimes. It's no wonder he doesn't approve."
She watched John's jaw clench, gaze holding blue fire. "I'll give that bastard a piece of my mind."
She grabbed his arm. "Please, don't."
"Why not?" he asked, looking more menacing by the moment. He always seemed to grow larger when enraged, as if anger stretched out his bones.
"Because he'll think I sent you after him. Shepard, it isn't a big deal. I won't not be with you just because some idiot says otherwise." she hugged herself close to him again. "Just stay here for a while with me."
He held her again, and she felt the rigidness slowly fade from him. "Are you okay?" he asked again.
She sighed. "I don't know." she looked up at him quickly. "I'm very happy about getting married and being here with you, but it seems that my father keeps popping up, even dead. It's just a little unsettling."
He smiled down at her. "Anything I can do to distract you from that?"
She returned the smile, drawing closer to him. "I can think of a couple things, but there are too many people in the house for most of them."
He laughed. "There's always the Normandy's cabin. Bed isn't as soft, but I'm sure we can make do."
"We always do." she said, pulling him close.
Omg, wedding is next. This may take a while, so I greatly apologize in advance if the next update may be far away. It will also either be the last or second last chapter, depending on how much I write out.