Perfect

Reyes Vidal couldn't help the nervous twitching in his fingers as he looked over the controls on the console in front of him. While sitting in the pilot's chair with one leg shaking from side to side, he saw that all was well for his shuttle, though he started to get low on fuel. Luckily, the Nexus was within view through the front window.

Reyes was pretty certain that he made it to the station in record time from Kadara. However, that didn't matter to him. The lack of sleep he got throughout his travel didn't matter either. What only mattered was that he needed to get to Kira Ryder as soon as possible.

It was supposed to be a routine visit. Since she resigned from being the human Pathfinder, Kira still assisted Nexus leadership with negotiating between them and and angaran leaders as an Arbitrator. In other words, her job was to keep the peace between the Milky Way species and the angarans living on Kadara. Occasionally, she made trips to either Aya or the Nexus when certain negotiations were better resolved in person rather than through video conferences.

Her brother Luke - who was the second-in-command to the next human Pathfinder, Cora Harper - took the opportunity along with her former crew to meet Kira at the Nexus and spend some time with her. This was especially with knowing that this would be her last visit to the station for a while. With the team exploring beyond the Heleus cluster, who knew when the twins would see each other again.

Then two days ago, Reyes received a call from Luke. He had yet to shake the words her brother said from his mind, the twin's voice laced with worry. "Kira's in the hospital. You need to come here as soon as possible."

More than once since he received the call, Reyes kicked himself for not taking Kira's offer for him to go with her. There was too much work to look over on Kadara despite the last of the Outcast being long since gone. Besides, he hadn't been a fan of revisiting the Nexus since the uprising. Kira understood – she always did – but that still didn't make him feel any better.

The Nexus became larger and larger as time ticked away, but the station still felt so far away. Sure, it was better than the more than forty-eight hours of flying he endured to get here, but at the moment, the Nexus was like someone dangling a toy in front of a cat who couldn't quite snatch it no matter how close they got.

Upon realizing that he needed a distraction, Reyes thought about how he and Kira met at Kralla's Song more than six years ago. He also thought about all the adventures the two of them had, the fun and mischievous smile on her face whenever she was about to jump into a fight, her laughter... the way she always looked at him as though he meant everything to her. He thought of all the times they've spent together, the many nights they made love... the few times he nearly lost her...

Reyes quickly shook the last thought from his head. No... that was the last thing he was going to think about.

Finally, after what felt like forever, a light ping was heard, which indicated to Reyes that he was within Nexus Control's comm range. Without hesitation, he pressed the comm button on the panel. "Nexus Control, this is Shuttle N-503 Anubis requesting permission to dock... preferably as close as possible to Garson Memorial Hospital."

It was a few seconds before someone responded. "N-503 Anubis, please stand by."

Reyes let out a breath with annoyance. He was always a patient man, but considering the urgent circumstances, he just wanted to get this all over with. The sooner he was there by her side, the better. At least it was much easier for him to get onto the station these days, not like the beginning after he became an exile. That was one less thing to worry about.

The flight controller finally got back to him. "N-503 Anubis, you are cleared for landing. Proceed to docking bay S-323."

"Roger," Reyes replied. "N-503 Anubis proceeding to docking bay S-323."

Just before he began landing procedures, Reyes quickly unlocked his omni-tool - which was turned off to prevent being tracked despite the jamming technology in his shuttle – to send a quick message to Kira's brother, even while he noted a few other messages that waited for him...

To: Luke Ryder

From: Reyes Vidal

Docking now. Will be there soon.


The hospital - newly built and named after the Andromeda Initiative's late founder, Jien Garson - was relatively quiet upon Reyes's arrival. Then again, as Luke directed to him in his responding messaging, going through the back way was better than the main entrance. It didn't surprise Reyes at all that a few members of the media were camped out front. Even after she resigned as Pathfinder, there was still an interest in Kira Ryder's life. With very few exceptions, she despised the attention her former job gave her.

Near the door entrance, one member of Kira's former crew, Vetra Nyx, waited for him in the quiet lobby. Most likely, Luke sent her to meet with him once the younger twin received his message. Reyes immediately went over to her and the turian didn't hesitate to wave an arm as she began to walk forward as soon as she saw him, which indicated to Reyes to follow her. He remained just a couple of feet behind Vetra and kept up with her despite her taller height.

"Luke's in there with her and, with the exception of Drack, the others are in a private waiting area," Vetra informed him before he said anything. "She's in a room not too far from here. We've been keeping the media out since word spread about her hospitalization. Luckily, no one's got in yet."

"Good," Reyes said in agreement. The last thing Kira needed right now was for the media to barge into the hospital when she was vulnerable (especially since it was the one feeling she hated experiencing the most).

As Reyes followed Vetra through the hospital hallways, he found that he couldn't even begin to start asking her the other questions that haunted his mind; was she okay? Were the doctors taking care of her? How long would she be here for? Those were just a few out of what felt like a million questions.

It was easy to find Kira's room even before they reached it. That was because Drack stood right next to the door, his back against the wall and his arms folded as though he dared anyone to try to get past him. It reminded Reyes, not for the first time, how much he appreciated the Tempest crew's loyalty to Kira even long after she walked away from being the Pathfinder.

The krogan spotted them both coming his way. As soon as he made eye contact with Reyes, Drack gave him a single nod, which he returned. Vetra stopped to stand with Drack as Reyes reached the door. He only stopped for a moment to get rid of his nerves as he realized that he was finally within a few feet from where Kira was. Only then did he realize that he hadn't asked whether she was awake or not. If it was the former, hopefully she forgave him for taking so long to get here...

Reyes took a deep breath - put on his mask to hide what he was feeling - before he stepped into the room...

As Vetra mentioned, Luke was there in the room with his sister and occupied one of the two chairs next to the bed. He looked up to see who came in the room and got up to meet Reyes halfway. "Hey, you made it," Luke said quietly once he was within arm's reach.

Reyes sighed a bit. "I would've been here sooner, but..."

"I know," Luke replied quietly as he patted Reyes's shoulder gently. "I'm going to step outside for a bit. If you need anything, let me know."

Reyes simply nodded to him before Luke circled around him, headed out of the room, and closed the door behind him. Reyes walked over to the bed and sat in the same chair Luke occupied moments ago. Kira laid on her side in her bed and faced the chair. She looked very tired - probably even more so than he was - but that didn't stop the small smile from forming on her face as soon as she saw him. "Hey there," she greeted, her voice a little groggy.

"Hey yourself," Reyes answered as he leaned forward in his chair and reached out to brush his fingers through her dark brown hair and tucked the strands behind her ear. He then leaned down and pressed his lips to her temple. "You okay?"

"I'm sore as hell and hurting all over, but I'll be fine," Kira assured him. "It all happened so fast that I didn't really have time to process it."

Reyes frowned. "I should've taken your offer to go with you. Then you wouldn't have been alone-"

"Hey," Kira started as she reached a hand up to cup his cheek. "Don't blame yourself for not being here. And I wasn't alone. Luke and the rest of the Tempest crew were with me the whole time."

Kira removed her hand from Reyes's face and adjusted the small, bundled blanket she held in her other arm to reveal the tiny face of a newborn baby. In that moment, a flood of so many emotions crashed upon Reyes that it was nearly overwhelming. He never thought it was possible to feel both exhilarated and frightened while his heart was already swelling with immense love for the little human in Kira's arms. He didn't know how to comprehend it, so he simply let it be as he attempted to take it all in.

This wasn't something Reyes and Kira ever planned. Even in this moment, the future always felt uncertain given both the wild environment they lived in as well as their occupations. Both were scared out of their wits when they found out, her more than him, but they eventually decided to go with it despite the uncertainty. A part of Reyes wondered during these past months if they would regret their decision. But seeing this little baby asleep in Kira's arms, all the doubts and uncertainty seemed to have melted away in an instant.

"It turns out she's just as impatient as her uncle since she decided to show up a month earlier than expected," Kira continued. Her smile widened and her eyes glistened with tears upon noting Reyes's reaction to seeing their daughter for the first time. "Already, she's anxious for an adventure."

As she spoke, Reyes slowly reached a hand out and - lightly and gently so that he didn't wake her up - stroked the tip of his finger over the infant's cheek. It was softer than he imagined. "And... she's all right? She's healthy?" he murmured.

Kira slowly nodded. "Despite being born a little early, she's fine. And she's beautiful... though she looked like a red, slimy bullfrog when I first saw her. But to be fair, Luke and I looked the same way when we were born."

Reyes chuckled at that as his eyes never left his daughter. "That's one way for her to take after her mother."

"Har har," Kira grumbled.

Reyes leaned his head close to her, a sly smirk on his face as his eyes shifted to Kira. "I meant the part about being beautiful."

"Liar," she uttered but smiled nevertheless.

"You wound me," Reyes gasped in feigned hurt.

Kira shook his head, but was still smiling. "Give birth to a seven pound baby and then we'll talk about who's more 'wounded.'"

Reyes smiled at that. "Fair enough." He then sighed as a bit of melancholy suddenly gripped at him. He frowned as he murmured once more, "I should've been here..."

"I told you not to blame yourself," Kira assured him. "Like I said, she was too impatient to wait and it happened very quickly." She smiled. "Besides, your hand was spared from the ordeal. I'm almost certain I was one more squeeze away from breaking all of Luke's fingers."

Reyes knew Kira was joking as a way to make him feel better, but it didn't really help that much. Kira figured that out from his lack of reaction. Her free hand reached out to caress along his jawline. "Hey," she started. "I'm sorry you weren't here when she was born. If it'll make you feel better, I'm planning to give one certain half of Nexus leadership hell for making me travel for a useless meeting at a time like this despite my protests."

Reyes couldn't help but smirk. "Let me know if you need me to send in the 'Calvary' to set an example. I promise they won't get hurt... unless you count their pride."

Kira chuckled. She knew the 'Calvary' meant the few members of the Collective who were planted on this station as an extra set of eyes and ears for him. "That might not be necessary, but I'll keep it in mind."

Reyes continued to caress the little infant's cheek before Kira asked, "Do you want to hold her?"

Reyes suddenly froze in his ministrations. He felt some reluctance over that offer, but he knew that it was out of nerves more than anything. For one thing, she looked so peaceful as she slept and the last thing he wanted to do was to disturb that. And what if he dropped her? Carefully planning raids and discreetly smuggling goods across the galaxy was one thing. Holding a baby? That was out of his element.

But this wasn't just any baby... it was their child. His child. He was trying to comprehend that this was not just a dream. She was real and he was her father. The reality of the latter had yet to settle in just yet.

Lost for words, Reyes simple nodded to Kira's offer before she carefully handed the sleeping infant to him. "Just remember to support the back of her head," she reminded him. "Her neck isn't strong enough for her to hold up on her own yet."

Once more, Reyes nodded as he managed to get a good hold of her before he felt confident enough to lean back into his chair. The baby fussed a bit during the transfer, but she soon relaxed once all the movement around her stopped. Reyes then pulled the blanket back a bit to reveal the short strands of black hair on top of her head. While brushing a finger gently over her hair, he noticed how her skin was lighter than his, but also darker than her mother's. Although her eyes were closed, Reyes was pretty sure that they were blue like all infants were born with. Whether they would stay that way, like Kira's, or turn amber like his later on remained to be seen. She was also small and light like a bag of feathers, which he hadn't expected.

Holding the little girl in his arms, Reyes wanted nothing more than to protect her from all the things that could harm her in this new galaxy. Not for the first time in the last few months, he thought about walking away from being the Charlatan and letting Keema take over in full... but after everything he put into the Collective, it wasn't that easy to do. Kira understood this, more than he had expected when they discussed the possibility. Someday he may, when it was the right time.

The only thing Reyes hoped for at that point was that the decision didn't bite him in the rear later down the road...

"So," Kira started again after some silence as she observed them, her voice cutting through his thoughts. "How do you still feel about naming her Charlotte Ellen Ryder?"

Giving the little girl her mother's surname was something they decided on months ago. Giving her the Ryder name would keep her safe, and he would do anything to make sure it remained that way. For her sake.

Reyes leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his daughter's forehead. "It's perfect," he murmured. "She's perfect..."


Written for a weekly prompt in November 2017 - Prompt - Family Guy: meeting the family of his LI, creating a family, or something about Reyes's own family growing up.