Chapter 97: Special Delivery

Two packages arrived for me on the same day
With great pains, I opened them
With blood, sweat, and tears
Inside, I found light, hope, and love
And all the pain was justified
For nothing ever brought me such great joy

June 2, 2188…

Chakwas recommended they dock on the Citadel for another shore leave when Terra's due date came around, if only so they would be close to the lab in case anything was wrong with the labor or the newborn twins. Terra, ever the poet, insisted she give birth in the Normandy's med-bay for two reasons: she believed Chakwas was all the help they would need and Liara could contact the lab anyway, and she wanted the first interspecies children to be born on the first interspecies ship.

She wanted to have her children on the ship she lived and called home.

Garrus had agreed at first. As the end of the pregnancy approached, though, he grew more and more hesitant to leave the ship. Right now, he was at Solana's navigation console, attempting to talk his way out of leading another mission.

"Garrus," Solana was arguing, "Vi, Joker, and most importantly, Chakwas will be here to watch Terra. And from what I've heard, labor tends to take the better part of 20 hours, which I doubt would be longer than any mission this team undertakes."

He recognized this as a compliment of their shills, but he took it as a challenge, scoffing "You weren't on Omega."

She just glared. "No, and you shouldn't have been either." She added a pointed nudge to his shoulder just below his scars.

He waved her off. "You're talking about blowing a weapons deal. It's close enough."

Solana growled, finally slamming on her COMM. "Terra, would you please talk some sense into your husband?"

Garrus gave his sister a sharp look as if to tell her she was going to pay for this later.

"What is it this time?" Terra's voice sounded over the line.

"Mercs, stolen weapons, Camala, two hours. The birdbrain is refusing to leave the ship."

"That's not—" Garrus stopped, giving her a confused glance. "'Birdbrain'?"

Solana smirked. "Vi taught me that one."

"I'm on my way down," Terra sighed.

"Terra, don't—" Garrus started. She hung up before he even got to plead his case. He groaned, hurrying over to head her off at the elevator.

Of course, he didn't need to hurry, considering the combined weight of two full-term babies was slowing her down quite a bit these days. It was nearly a full minute after he reached the elevator before the doors opened to let her into the CIC.

"Terra," he spoke up immediately, "I'm not leaving you."

"Yes, you are," she countered, "This is too important."

"Then Ash can lead the mission. I'm not gonna risk missing the birth."

"I'll try to restrain myself then."

Garrus blinked. "I don't think that's how it works."

"Sure, it is. When they start trying to crawl out, I'll just tell them to wait for Daddy."

He responded somewhere between a scoff and a snicker. "Stop making me laugh, I'm trying to put my foot down."

"Too late. I already dropped mine. Now grab your rifle before I shove you out the airlock with it."

He finally stepped back. "Alright, alright. I'm going."

"If it makes you feel better," she said as he and Solana climbed into the elevator with her, "I'll be with Vi the whole time. The med-bay will be right there."

Garrus simply laid a protective hand on her womb. "Just as long as all three of you are OK."

Violet and Chakwas were in the mess when Garrus helped Terra on her way to the AI core and then told EDI to gather the squad in the armory to ready for a mission. They both took a moment to appreciate the sight of the former Archangel as a doting father before heading on their way to meet Terra in the med-bay.

"How has she been doing?" Violet asked the doctor on the way.

"Very well, actually, Chakwas answered, "The commander has been one of the least vocal expectant mothers I've ever treated in terms of complaints. I know good and well she's had morning sickness and back pains, but she's only come to me when she thought there was a genuine concern for her children's health and every time has been a minor issue. No, despite all the concerns heaped on this pregnancy, I believe your sister will be a proud mother of two healthy newborns in no time at all."

Violet smiled. "I figured. She's pretty tough."

Chakwas smiled back. "So she is."

Terra had settled on Violet's cot, ready to listen to her sister's ever present, supportive performances, when the squad moved out. However, even though she had pushed Garrus to do the right thing and lead the mission, she couldn't deny that some part of her was worried about her crew-turned-family. So she did what Violet and Joker had so often done and, in spite of her previous qualms on the matter, kept her COMM on to listen in on the mission.

Violet did the same, so she noticed what Terra was doing. She didn't comment on it, though, sitting back and removing her flute from its case.

"Everyone in position?" Garrus asked.

"All ready," James confirmed, "Looks like they're moving in."

Terra could already feel herself tensing, so it was fortunate that Violet finished preparing and started playing right that second. If the squad could hear her over the COMM, they didn't say anything. It had become background noise for all of them, sometimes even a genuine morale boost. Whether Terra or Garrus was leading, they had that.

"Wait for my signal to engage," Garrus said.

"Waiting," EDI agreed.

So was Terra. And she didn't like it. Maybe she shouldn't have bothered listening in—

"Now!" Garrus gave the order.

The line was riddled with the reports of gunfire, but Terra didn't flinch and Violet, amazingly, played over it like she didn't even notice. Not only was the flute calming her nerves, Terra found that she could picture her squad in action from the sounds of battle she could catch. No two of them used the same gun model and all of the shots sounded different—there was yet another perfect headshot from Garrus, a ricochet from Ashley, a volley from Liara to finish off a target her biotics had worn down. Based on how this let her visualize the scene, she could tell that Garrus was giving a lot of the same directions she would've; that he wasn't having to vocalize a lot of them because, like when she was in charge, the squad just knew; that some of the orders Garrus was delivering were even better than what she would've said and some were just his style more than hers. When it came down to it, he was just as skilled a leader as she was, the perfect choice for leading any team she couldn't. But he would never want to stay that way for long, not after what happened on Omega. He was doing this for her. And though he'd never admit it or even want to hear it, she knew he was doing it wonderfully. So she quietly sat back and listened.

"Heads up!" Solana called, "They've got an Atlas. It's almost like they knew we were coming."

"Stay low," Garrus signaled, "Javik, wear it down."

Terra couldn't help but worry a little bit now. She could hear the telltale sound of Javik's biotic field latching onto the mech in question and eating away at it. She could even hear the squad's shots pinging off the shield around its cockpit in between the shuffling of diving for new cover. She knew they had experience with this, but she remembered those experiences as a stressful game of keep-away. If they combined their skills efficiently enough, they wouldn't have much difficulty, and yet—

"Uh…uh oh," Solana flinched, "Guys, I just hacked its targeting and it's aiming at the explosives cache."

—and yet there was always a complicating factor to throw a wrench in that plan.

"Get back—!" Garrus started to order.

That was when the line went dead with the burst of an explosion.

"Garrus!" Terra cried.

"Hold on," EDI came over the PA in the core as Violet set down her flute and reached to comfort her sister, "We lost connection. I am restoring it now."

After a moment, their COMMs crackled back to life. "—everyone alright?" Garrus was asking.

"We're good," Ashley confirmed, "Liara and Javik caught the worst with barriers."

Violet sighed with relief. "Don't do that, you guys. We're panicking over here—" She cut herself off when she turned to look at Terra again and found her breathing heavily, clutching her womb. It took Violet a moment before she realized what this meant. "Oh, no, please don't tell me…"

Terra nodded with a wince. "Yeah, but I won't tell you."

"What?" Garrus immediately cut in, "What's going on?"

"Don't panic," Violet answered, "but Terra's water just broke."

"WHAT?!"

"I've got her! Chakwas is right through the door. You finish what you started and hurry back."

On Camala's surface, Garrus clung to those words where he couldn't cling to Terra. Finish what you started. Oh, he would. Nothing was keeping him away. "Lay into them! Don't give them room to breathe!"

More aggressive than they were used to, but having just heard a fairly justifiable reason, the squad followed the command. When the Atlas finally went down and the mercs saw just how under fire they still were, the opposition scattered, but that was hardly protection from a sniper of Garrus' caliber and even less from Liara's singularities. Regardless of which commander was in the field with them, the Normandy crew had enough experience working together to know how to handle much bigger threats than these. Between the strategic combined fire and the biotic and tech synergy being thrown every which way, it was only a matter of time before there was only one merc left standing.

After Ashley set off a concussive round to keep the merc from retreating or retaliating, Solana stepped in to immobilize him. "Are we still worried about interrogations now that we're on a time crunch?"

"I have already called the shuttle back," EDI said as she stepped over, "I will handle securing the weapons and intel."

Ordinarily, at least one of them would object to EDI taking over by herself, but in this situation, it was legitimately the best idea since EDI was the only one who didn't need to be on the ship physically (well, only Garrus needed to head back, yet everyone felt the same obligation). So when the shuttle arrived, the whole squad clambered aboard and hurried it back to the ship, piling back out just as hurriedly.

The second they were back on board, Garrus, rather out of character, tossed his guns in the armory locker and started racing for the med-bay. While they were waiting for the elevator from the shuttle bay, he stopped momentarily and noticed Solana remotely connecting to the navigation computer to put in a new course. "What are you doing?"

"Making sure we're on Palaven when the twins arrive," she answered, "I think Dad's gonna want to meet his grandkids." She turned on her COMM. "Don't worry, EDI, Joker knows better than to actually plug that course in before you're back with the rest of us."

"I doubt he would leave me behind," EDI agreed, "However, I expect he might get flustered and panicked given the current situation, so I will be sure to keep one eye on the flight controls."

"Great," Garrus said, practically tapping his foot from impatience, "Could you speed up the elevator while you're at it?" No sooner had he said it than the door opened. "Thank you!" He dove in and slammed on the button for deck 3.

Solana blinked. "EDI, did you actually do that?"

"No, but he is in no condition for me to correct him."

"Fair."

The second the elevator arrived, Garrus raced across the deck to the med-bay and dove for Terra's bedside. "Are you alright?"

"So far," she choked out before wincing with a contraction.

"We have time," Chakwas reported as she sealed the shutters on the med-bay's windows, "The contractions are still a few minutes apart and she's barely dilated."

Terra groaned as she laid back. "You sure? It feels pretty close to time."

"No, no, you'll know when it's time. Still, I would recommend we perform a C-section—"

"No!" Terra insisted, "No, I wanna do this."

Garrus didn't let himself think about this decision and wind up disagreeing. "I'm with you."

She beamed as she clutched his hand. "Always."

Just like that, the mess had turned into a hospital waiting room. Given the process involved, Chakwas had initiated the privacy features on the med-bay, closing all the shutters and dampening the sounds within, which would have been slightly worrying to the anticipating crewmen if EDI wasn't occasionally giving updates. EDI was back on board the ship, having dealt with the merc and the stolen weapons as well as having allowed Joker to carry out Solana's course to Palaven, before there was any news that amounted to progress. With confirmation that the twins would likely be arriving within the next hour, Liara started preparing to contact Tali and the others to inform them of the birth and the ship's next port.

Even before seeing the twins for herself, Liara couldn't help but smile at the thought of all their former squad-mates gathering to meet them.

The sound dampeners around the med-bay were effective enough that EDI's intermittent updates were the only way the squad knew that Terra had actually started delivering. However, it was pretty obvious that they didn't work where Solana was concerned, turian senses causing her to distantly catch her sister-in-law's every scream of pain and tense up. She tried not to display it, but the others still noticed and tried to tell themselves that it was perfectly normal and probably not a sign they should worry. Whether or not they actually believed that remained to be seen.

It was genuinely remarkable that Garrus was able to stay at Terra's side through all this. He'd never been able to stand seeing his human in pain. But this wasn't like any of the times he'd had to pick her up during a fight. She could endure this for the eventual outcome, they both knew that. She just needed him close by. And if her cybernetics or his talons did some damage while their hands were locked together, it was honestly the last thing on either of their minds.

Chakwas was right, too. Terra knew when it was time. She barely needed the doctor to tell her what to do, yet it was strangely comforting to hear the instructions from both Chakwas and Garrus to breathe, to push, to breathe, push!

Until, at long last, she went silent and the med-bay was filled with much smaller cries.

Garrus and Terra had gone through a lot together, moments both terrible and wonderful. All of them paled vastly in comparison to the moment Chakwas handed Garrus their first child. As he held the newborn close, he had the presence of mind to sit back where Terra could see, but for the first time in years, his mate wasn't on his mind. No, the only thing on his mind was the child in his arms which, at first glance, seemed like a perfectly normal turian newborn but clearly had human eyes and four digits rather than three or five. Terra obviously agreed, even going so far as to reach through her exhaustion and take hold of her baby's tiny foot.

Of course, the moment was broken the second Terra started feeling her labor pangs again as the other baby decided it was their turn to come out.

Garrus was bit distracted this time, but he still managed to help Chakwas guide Terra through it. There was a seven minute difference between the two births, an interval worth struggling through for the arrival of the younger of the two. With the birthing process finally over and Garrus' hands full, Chakwas prompted Terra to sit up just enough that the newer of the two newborns could be delivered into their mother's arms. Terra felt herself crying for joy after one look at her child.

Her child. She was a mother. It was hard to believe even when carrying the proof. Judging by how quiet Garrus was, he shared the feeling. They barely noticed when Chakwas finished confirming the health of everyone in the room and left to give the news to everyone in the mess. They just stayed there, close to each other, all of their focus on the tiny half-turians curled up in their arms.

Terra smiled. "They have our eyes."

Garrus smirked. "Yours, I think. There is a difference."

Terra looked closer, seeing white at the edges of their eyes. "Not as much as mine. Sort of halfway between." She almost laughed, fingering the tiny, four-digit hand of the newborn she was holding. "Halfway might be the theme."

"That'd be appropriate." He sighed. "So this is what a turian-human baby looks like, huh?"

"Treatments were mostly for accepting alien DNA, might have skewed it in your favor. But yeah, this is it." She leaned enough to lay her head against him as she continued to gaze lovingly at their children. "Worth the wait to see."

He smiled, nuzzling against her gently. "It was."

A few moments later, Chakwas gave the go-ahead for the others to come see the Normandy's first children. Violet, predictably, was the first one to race in, only slowing when she actually caught sight of the twins. She beamed with delight, as much at the babies as at her new aunt status, and sat down close by as the others came in. "I've never seen a turian baby before."

"Technically, you still haven't," Garrus shrugged, "but this is pretty much what you'd expect, yeah."

She tentatively touched the hand of the baby Garrus was still holding. Not quite as soft as a human newborn, but still…squishier than an adult turian. "Do regular turian babies not have a carapace?"

"Grows in later," Terra confirmed, "like human teeth. If they were born spiky, they'd shred the birth canal."

Violet flinched. "You're OK, right?"

Terra smiled, turning her attention back to the baby in her own arms. "Never better."

Violet smiled back. She'd never seen her sister so happy.

Liara lit up as she watched the scene, finally taking a seat nearby. "I let Tali and the others know. I think they're all booking passage to Palaven right now to meet us at the docks."

Terra laughed. "Figures."

After a few seconds, Violet finally had to ask Garrus if she could hold one of them, graciously receiving the one he had been holding. For all she had been through in her life, this was the greatest moment in it. While the others were following Liara's lead, simply sitting back to take the scene in and planning to take turns holding the newborns later (except for Solana, who, as Violet's fellow aunt, promptly took hold of the one Terra had been holding), Violet gently held her…wait, niece or nephew? "What are their names?"

Terra gestured to the child now in Solana's grasp. "The younger one's a girl." She smiled. "Astra."

Solana smirked. "Vaguely turian, named after all your stars at once…yeah, that's perfect."

Garrus kept his eyes on Violet and the child she held. "The older one's a boy." He gave his sister-in-law a tender look. "…we named him Nathan."

Violet froze just hearing that name. Memories of her lost brother flooded her, slowly usurped by the knowledge of how honored he would be to have such a namesake. She nearly started crying at the thought, forcing herself to turn all her attention to her newborn nephew. That didn't so much stop the tears as change their reason, but it was enough.

There was the traditional congratulations and expecting teasing, especially when Joker let EDI drive long enough to stop by, but none of them could remember what was said when it came down to it. They just remembered seeing the ship's newest inhabitants for the first time. That was fair enough, considering how brief the moment was. Terra was beyond exhausted, so they had to vacate the med-bay to give her time to recover, leaving Garrus alone with her and the twins.

Of course, as always, Garrus took this responsibility seriously, practically standing guard over his resting wife and the son and daughter he now left sleeping in a bassinet (the med-bay had been equipped for everything). He was perfectly content with this, naturally. He would have stayed in this position, watching the three people he loved most, all through the night if not for what happened next.

Terra groaned, reaching for him. "Garrus…"

He took her hand, splitting his attention between her and the sleeping twins. "I'm here. Still hurting?"

"And can't sleep." She accented the statement with a slight tug on his hand, making it clear what she really meant.

He shook his head. "I shouldn't be touching you until you're fully recovered."

"'When you are hurting, I will protect you.'"

He gave her a look. "I'm already doing that."

"'In sickness and in health.'"

"Stop it."

"I'm ordering you."

"Uncalled for."

"Please."

He sighed, realizing there was no point in fighting her. "Alright." Gently brushing a talon against both Nathan and Astra, he came to lie down next to Terra, careful to cradle her in such a way that he couldn't accidentally hurt her.

She relaxed more when she felt his arms wrap around her, leaning into him. Before she could drift off again, she looked over at the twins, smiling at what little she could see through the slats in the bassinet. "Thank you."

Garrus gave her a curious look. "For what?"

She smiled with contentment and elation as she closed her eyes. "For giving me the greatest gift anyone's ever had."

He smiled back. "You gave it to me. I just gave you what you needed to make it." He sighed, closing his eyes, too. "Besides, it was Liara's gift to both of us."

"Hmm. Can't thank her enough anyway."

"No, I guess not."

Terra breathed easier, holding his talons in her hands as she slowly drifted back to sleep. "Are you happy, 'Angel?"

Garrus simply held her closer, following her down. "More than ever, my love."