Chapter 4: A New Shepard

Citadel, Shepard Apartment, 2175 A.D

"Happy Birthday, Mom!" Jane shouted, as she popped open the champagne bottle.

A great many people had shown up. Despite the fact that medicine and cybernetics had advanced enough to increase the average human lifespan to be over 100, Hannah still wished to throw a large party for her 50th.

Anderson, Hackett, Kohaku, and a few others from Alliance High Command had shown up for the occasion, as well. Hannah had always been well respected by the Alliance, so seeing them in her party was no surprise.

Whitley stood behind Jane, clad in a black shirt with a golden dragon pattern emblazoned on the left side of the shirt, as well as a pair of dark blue jeans. He'd even gone as far as replacing the silver chrome in his cybernetic arm with a golden colored metal.

"I still can't believe Mom convinced you to wear the stuff she brought you. I was starting to think you'd been born with black formal pants!"

"Oh please, I'm not that bad." Whitley muttered. Jane merely raised an eyebrow in response.

Whitley decided to change the subject, in a small effort to save his pride.

"What is it with people throwing a gigantic celebration for their fiftieth birthday? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the average lifespan of a human well over one hundred by now?"

Jane chuckled. "Cuz in Mom's own words, "It's all downhill from here, Jane!" she stated, doing a rather terrible impersonation of her mother's voice.

Whitley scratched his head. "That's a bit of a pessimistic outlook. Ah well, she's the birthday gi-err, woman, so to speak, so she's free to judge."

The two walked around the room, greeting guests.

"You must be Whitley. Hannah's told me quite a lot about you." David Anderson stated, shaking Whitley's hand.

"All good, I hope, Captain Anderson." Whitley replied, a smirk decorating his face.

Anderson shook his head. "Call me David, son. We're all here to celebrate Hannah's birthday, not her career in the Alliance."

Whitley nodded. The two of them sat down on the chairs that had been laid out. David let out a heavy breath.

"Piece of advice, son. Never get old, it's a nightmare."

Whitley laughed. "Well, I'll see what I can do about that, David."

The two looked at the spectacle of Hannah drinking from a rather colossal champagne glass.

"Where did that come from?!" Whitley exclaimed. He'd never seen that in the apartment!

David laughed. "Don't ask me, Whitley. Hannah's always got a surprise up her sleeve."

The party went on for hours. It was only when it had reached late at night and the guests had gone away that Jane and Whitley gave Hannah their presents.

"Happy Birthday, Mom." Jane said, far quieter than when she had opened the bottle of champagne hours earlier.

Hannah carefully opened the packaging, before gasping in delight at the model starship.

"The SSV Busan! Oh, it's beautiful! Jane, where'd you even get this?"

Jane chuckled. "That's my secret to know, mom."

Whitley was next. "Happy Birthday, Hannah." he muttered quietly. He nervously tapped his fingers together as Hannah opened the packaging.

Two things fell out of the wrapping. The first thing that caught Hannah's attention was the sleek omni tool. Hannah took it out of the minimal packaging Whitley had put it in, before attaching it to her wrist.

A small purple gauntlet encased her arm.

"Hannah, meet the Silverhand. A brand new omni tool that will be hitting the markets within the next year. It's far more advanced than anything that's been put out the past decade, and it comes in different colors."

Hannah laughed. "Oh my god, that's amazing!" She paused, before turning around. "Wait a minute, was that what you were yelling at your account manager about?"

Whitley chuckled. "He's a stubborn bastard, but I'm not the kind of man to give up easily."

Hanna smiled. "I don't doubt that for a minute, kid." Her attention was grabbed by the second gift, a small package that was only 10 x 15 inches big.

"A binder?" Hannah said, confused. She grabbed the package, balancing it in her hand for a few moments, before tearing the packaging off. The gift wrapping discarded, Hannah was greeted with the sight of a black binder.

"What's in this thing, Whitley?" she asked. Whitley kept tapping his fingers together. "I'd rather not spoil the surprise, Hannah."

Hannah shrugged, before opening the binder. A small piece of paper fluttered out. Hannah stood up from the couch, bending down to pick it up. As she straightened her posture, her eyes began to read the paper.

Report of Adoption

CHILD'S NAME AFTER ADOPTION (First, Middle, Last): Whitley, Zakera, Shepard

BIRTH DATE (MM/DD/YYYY): July 6th, (Found by Hannah Shepard), 2159 (?)

BIRTH PLACE: N/A (Zakera Wards?)

RACE: HUMAN

MOTHER'S/PARENT PRESENT NAME (First, Middle, Last): Hannah, Elizabeth, Shepard

Hannah's breath caught in her throat. She could barely make out the rest of the form, her eyes only being able to take the first quarter of the page, as well as the small note at the bottom.

NOTE(S):

Please keep in mind that Whitley No-Name has severe amnesia and is unable to remember anything before his appearance to the Citadel. As such, some parts of this form are unable to be filled out.

Aeer Lori, Citadel Civil Court Lawyer

Whitley looked downwards, hands behind his back.

"I...know this is a bit sudden, but…"

Whitley found himself getting interrupted by a hug from Hannah. Tears were streaming down her face as she tightened her grip around her new family member. Whitley froze for a few moments, before returning the embrace

"You know this changes things, right?" Hannah whispered.

"In what way?" Whitley asked.

"You're gonna have to call me 'Mom' from now on."

Whitley closed his eyes. "That sounds fine with me...mom."

Whitley found another pair of arms circling around him.

"And you're gonna have to call me sis." Jane said, smiling all the while.

The Shepard Family found themselves rather unwilling to end their group hug for the next few minutes.

Later That Night

Hannah flicked on the light, getting up from her bed. She sat on her bed for a few moments, before opening up a locked drawer, slowly taking out the picture frame that had been placed there.

She held the picture frame delicately.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? A… lot of things happened, in the time we haven't talked. Hannah actually got the rank of Commander! Even a month later, I'm still having trouble getting used to that."

She paused. "Something else's happened as well. I met a kid shortly after our last talk. He just...appeared in front of my office, bleeding everywhere. I took him in. I'm not sure why I did, but I think part of the reason why was because he reminded me of you, in a lot of ways. You always were the clever one, always getting into trouble."

A few tears leaked out of her face.

"He...asked me to adopt him. I couldn't say no. I started to think of him as my own family, I just couldn't refuse."

Hannah hugged the picture to her chest.

"I...I'm not replacing you. I love you. Always. Nothing will ever change that...my baby boy."

The picture showed a simple scene. A much younger Hannah, carrying a small bundle in her arms.

"I'll talk to you later, John. I love you."

AN: Weren't expecting that last part, were ya?

So, adoption! I hope you guys enjoyed that part as much as I did! I originally wasn't gonna give Whitley a middle name, but then I decided to pull the good ol' heartstrings by having him take the middle name of the place where Hannah found him a year ago.

I was gonna try and make this chapter a tiny bit longer with a huge party for Hannah, but I scrapped that idea cuz I'm really busy with Summer Classes for College and was already having enough trouble trying to find the time to write up a new chapter.

Next chapter will have a bit of a timeskip, leading to the Skyllian Blitz and the start of Whitley's journey to becoming a Renegade.