Gemma finished pulling the last banner up in the main mess hall. Hackett had been more than happy enough to let them all use it for the party. Though Shepard had to promise him that they'd not wreck the whole place. Meaning mostly by Wrex, who was terribly excited for it.

"There," she says, stepping back to look at the banner. The biotic kids had done it together. It was a huge painted congratulation poster for the whole Normandy crew and the great work they achieved winning the war.

"Looks good," Garrus comments, standing next to her. Jack had walked in, her smirk was enough for Gemma to realise just how much alcohol she had brought.

"Got enough there?" Gemma asks as she sees the crates of beers being carried through by her students. Jack laughs, shaking her head as Wrex comes in with a pitcher of Ryncol. "Jack! We are going to get alcohol poisoning!"

"Come on, Gem. Lighten up," Shepard shouts as she walks in. The party was due to start anytime. They all were waiting for the last of the crew to arrive.

"What about Tali and Garrus?" Kaidan asks as he grabs a beer and tosses one to Gemma. She opens it and sips it, wanting to not get harmed like the last party.

"I've got that covered," Wrex laughs. Eve arrives with crates of dextro drinks. Tali practically runs over to grab some and hook it to her induction port... which was still a straw.

"Eve!" Shepard calls from across the room. "I'm glad you could make it," she says. Eve walks over to her, waddling partly from her growing stomach.

"Someone has to keep Wrex in line," she says chuckling. She decides to sit down, Shepard stands next to her. "How have you been, Commander? I heard about your injuries." Shepard downs some of her beer. The party was now starting, Joker finally being the last to arrive, and everyone split off into their own groups.

"I'm doing much better now. Think I'm done playing death now," she jokes. Eve chuckles, stroking her hand over her stomach. "How's pregnancy life treating you?"

"Good, though being on my feet all day hurts. Wrex has some many duties, I need to make sure he's kept in check," she answers. Shepard leans on her hip, holding the tip of her bottle to her lips.

"Just make sure you look after yourself," she says. Eve nods, Wrex was going to be a good father and unlike most females being shared with multiple males. He'd already warned all the males that Eve was his alone. He did generally love her.

Miranda was sitting at the mess table, glass of wine and datapad in hand. Jack saw her sitting alone and stalked over. "Do you ever not work?" she asks, kicking the table.

Miranda pulls her glass up when it nearly knocks over, she sighs looking up at her. "Do you ever not bitch?" she shoots back. They both glare at each other before their expressions soften and they laugh.

"I'm glad you're alive," Jack mumbles. She sat across from Miranda, she'd put her datapad down and was sipping her wine.

"Me too, Jack. You're much better like this as well," she says motioning her hand towards her. Jack smiles and holds her beer up for them to cheer together. With the clink of bottle and glass, they take a sip of their drinks, keeping a steady gaze on each other. They both almost seemed transfixed by each other.

"You seen Jack and Miranda?" Gemma whispers to Thane, they both stood off to the side. Kolyat was in an arm wrestle with James. The brute wasn't confident in Cortez's truth that Drell is naturally really strong.

"They both seem emotionally attached to each other," Thane comments. They both look at Cortez as he cheers for Kolyat winning the arm wrestle.

"You're just a damn kid!" Vega shouts as he rubs his sore elbow.

"Drell are just stronger, human," Kolyat says back. Vega waves his arm at Gemma. She and Thane walk over.

"Got you ass kicked, Vega?" she asks with a laugh.

"You have an arm wrestle with him, use them biotics of yours," he says. Gemma looks at Thane then Kolyat.

"No, I don't want to hurt him," she says. Kolyat laughs, he sits down in his chair. Slapping his hand on the table.

"I can easily take you, Lieutenant," he confidently says. Even Thane shook his head, he knew Gemma would win if she used her biotics.

"Son, I wouldn't," Thane inputs. Kolyat waves him off. Gemma just shrugs her shoulders and passes Thane her drink as she sits down.

"Gemma, you can only use your biotics from your forearm up," Cortez explains. She nods, placing her elbow on the table and linking hands with Kolyat. She forgot how warm Drell are, her hands already began to sweat.

"Ready?" Vega asks. They both keep a steady gaze on each other and nod. "three, two." Gemma's biotics warp her wrist and hand. "One," Vega shouts. Kolyat instantly starts to push against Gemma.

At first, he was confident, but his expression quickly turns to desperation when he notices her arm isn't moving and she was looking very bored. Gemma starts to push him back, his arm moving slowly as her biotics forced him down.

Gemma slammed his hand into the table, her biotics deactivating at the same time as she smiled and stood up. Kolyat sat dumbfounded, holding his aching arm. "How?" he mutters.

"You forget how strong she is, son," Thane says, passing Gemma her drink back. Vega placed his hands heavily on Thane, steering him towards the seat.

"Father vs son?" he suggests. Thane shakes his head, he didn't want to embarrass Kolyat.

"You scared, father?" Kolyat taunts. Thane's eyes snap to him, he stretches his neck and slowly sits down. Gemma knew Thane would easily win this one, they wrap their hands together and Vega counts down to one.

"Go!" he slams the table. At first, they are even in not budging with each other. Kolyat thought he was getting the upper hand, but the pure cold glare of his father put him off. Thane easily overpowers him and slams his hand a little too hard into the edge of the table.

"Fuck," Kolyat hisses as he grabs his wrist. Chakwas had seen the entire thing, she rushes over to inspect his wrist.

"Son, are you hurt?" Thane asks with worry as he flies from his seat and goes around the table to his side. Kolyat holds his eyes shut tightly as Chakwas moves his wrist in her hands.

"You'll be fine, it's just sprained. No more intense movement for a few days," she says. Luckily she had a med-kit with her and bandaged it up to stop him from moving it too much. Gemma gives him some beer for the pain, he downs most of it in one gulp.

"I am terribly sorry, son. I should have been more careful," Thane says with a broken tone. Kolyat smiles at him, patting his shoulder as they both stand up.

"No harm, father. I got too confident," he replies. Vega playfully punches Kolyat's arm, getting his attention.

"Hope that's not your playing hand," he jokes. Kolyat cranes his head to the side, raising his brow ridges in confusion. "Oh," Vega realises. "Do Drell, you know?"

"Know what?" Thane asks. He and Kolyat look at him. Cortez was too busy chuckling, Gemma rolled her eyes.

"Masturbate," she shouts. Thane and Kolyat both understand and lightly chuckle.

"I am not answering that," Thane says, backing away. That was too personal for him.

"It's all good, this isn't the hand I use," Kolyat happily answers. Vega's mouth drops open and his eyes go wide.

"KOLYAT!" Thane shouts. Kolyat turns, shrugging his shoulders and downing his beer. Thane grabs the beer from him, throwing a bottle of water at him instead. "You cannot handle your drink," he scolds. Gemma couldn't do anything but snicker as Kolyat is dragged off by Kasumi to dance. "I apologise for his behaviour," Thane says, putting the beer down.

"He's just having fun, Thane," Gemma replies. Thane nodded, he understood that but he still didn't like his son acting accordingly.

It was three hours into the party and Jacks' students were all somehow completely hammered. They were dancing away with Miranda and Jack leading them. Gemma was leaning against the wall when she spotted Joker sitting alone, hugging his beer as if it was his only friend.

She walks over and sits across from him. "Hey," she shouts over the loud music. He looked up, his bagged eyes told her just how upset he was.

"Hey, you alright?" he asks while drinking his beer.

"I should be asking you that, you look like shit," she points out. Joker scoffs at her.

"Wow, thanks," he mutters. Gemma smiles, passing him another beer.

"You miss her..." she says. Joker's eyes instantly welled up just the topic of Edi being mentioned.

"Course I miss her, I loved her," he shouts in annoyance.

"Joker, you may still get her back. You heard Tali, they are close to bringing AI back. Don't give up just yet," she says. Joker drops his hat over his eyes, he'd cried so much he didn't think he could anymore. Gemma looks at him sadly, she gets up and walks around to the table to hold her hand out to him.

"What?" he asks, staring at her hand. She waves it for him to take. He does and she pulls him up, "careful. You'll break a bone," he yells.

"Oh hush," she says as she leads him to where the dancing was happening. Joker stood in front of her, looking very awkward. He didn't dance.

"Come on," she says, holding both her hands out to him. Joker just raises a brow at her. "Fuck sake, your so dumb," she laughs. Joker huffs at her, but smiles.

"What are we doing?" He places both his hands in Gemmas and she puts them just above her waist as she places hers around his neck. "Kaidan's going to fucking kill me," he mutters.

"Oh, it's not like that. You've gone so long without actually human attention. You need some, just dance with me, okay?" Joker couldn't lie, it felt nice to be close to someone again. Though he never felt anything past friendship with Gemma, he knew she cared for him. He just nods and they both slowly move side to side with the pop music playing in the background. "See, not that bad, right?"

"Yeah, I guess," he mumbles. Gemma laces her fingers together around his neck, pulling him slightly closer so they could hear each other.

"She will come back to you, Joker. Don't lose faith," she whispers. That was Joker's resolve; he melted into her. His head dropped to her shoulder as he cried. Gemma let him fully hug her as she rubbed his back, they both continued to move slowly in the same spot they stood.

"I just miss her," he cries. Gemma strokes his back, feeling his tears wet her shirt.

"I know, Joker. We all miss her," she replies. Gemma sees Kaidan and Garrus watching them both, he just smiles and nods to her. Understanding what she was doing for Joker.

"You think Joker is okay?" Garrus asks as he drinks his dextro whiskey.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Gemma just has a weird way of being able to comfort people," he replies. Kaidan had seen the entire thing but didn't think anything bad of it happening. He knew Joker would never and Gemma was just trying to help him.

"Anway," Kaidan says, turning his attention to Garrus. "When you and Shep getting married?" he half-joked.

Garrus' eyes opened wide and he nearly chokes on his drink. "What?!" he spits. Kaidan double overs laughing.

"Well, I was joking, but now I do wanna know?" Garrus scratches his neck, feeling suddenly very warm. "Do Turians not have marriage?"

"Not exactly," he says. Kaidan nudges him, wanting more information. Garrus sighs, "Turians have a way of showing each other they are intimately committed. They bite each other heavily on the neck, it marks them for life and gives a scent that will always be with them." Garrus knew about human marriage, he thought it was very long-winded.

"I'd ask her, Garrus. Shep loves you and she's never been serious with anyone else before," Kaidan points out. Garrus sees Shepard talking with Chakwas, she looks at him and smiles.

"Not even you?" Garrus asks. Kaidan raises his eyebrows at him, shaking his head.

"No, I loved Shepard, but that was a life or death situation. You two have had longer to sort feelings for each other. I don't see either of you with anyone else." Garrus nodded, he understood Kaidan's words. He then realised Shepard was his true mate, they may be a different species, but he doesn't see Turians as attractive anymore. Just Shepard.

"Alright then," he mutters, downing his drink and walking away. Kaidan's mouth drops.

"I didn't mean now!" he shouts, but Garrus was on a mission. He practically towers Shepard as he grabs her wrist and pulls her into the middle of the room.

"Rihannon Shepard," he shouts. Joker and Gemma stop dancing and Jack turns the music off, everyone looks at them. "I know we've had our ups and downs. Trying to love each other during a war. I never thought I could feel this way for another species, but you opened my eyes to a bigger universe than the one I'm currently in. I love you," he says as he gets on one knee. Shepard's mouth dropped open, her body was shaking. Gemma squealed in excitement.

"Garrus, what are you doing?" she mumbles. Garrus' mandibles go close to his cheeks, he couldn't lie he was pretty tipsy at this point. The alcohol was running most of his confidence.

"Will you marry me? Marry me how Turians and humans would?" He didn't have a ring, but he wasn't exactly expecting to propose tonight. Shepard's handshake against his talons.

She slowly nods her head, "yes," she whispers. The whole room erupts in cheer as Shepard jumps on him, they both fall to the ground.

"Congratulations," Kaidan shouts, holding his drink up. Everyone cheers the couple. Garrus and Shepard stand up, being swarmed by the crew as they hugged them.

"So," Gemma says, moving next to Kaidan. "We having a double wedding now?" Kaidan smiles at her, placing his hand around her waist.

"I think they'd want their own day, I know I do," he whispers, kissing her cheek. Gemma strokes his arm.

"I love you, Kaidan," she says, turning to hold herself tightly against his chest.

Kaidan kisses her hair, "I love you too, Gem," he replies.

A/N: I always wanted Shep and Garrus to get married! I'm definitely going to do both the human and Turian traditional ways. The next chapter will take off from the last moments of the party, until next time!