Chapter 29

Amelia
June 20th, 2191

"Mada! Mada! Guess what?" Gaius screamed excitedly as he ran up and leaped at me. I narrowly caught him before he collided with my stomach, redirecting my son's energy into a spin. "Weeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

When I stopped the spin, I lifted him onto my shoulders, "What?"

"It's my birthday!"

I gasped in mock surprise, "No way! It hasn't been a year already! Let's go tell Pada."

I made my way out onto our bedroom balcony, where Garrus sat, "Did you know it was Gaius's birthday today?!"

Garrus paused, looking confused for a second before spotting Gaius riding my shoulders, falling into the ruse with me, "What? No… If it's his birthday, that means we're getting old." He stood, closing the short distance between us, reaching and ruffling the top of Gaius's head. "Are you calling us old, Gai?"

"Yeah." His delivery was so deadpan, so flawless, my jaw dropped in awe.

"Well… If there was any doubt he was your son…," Garrus replied.

I giggled, reaching up and patting Gaius on the back, "C'mon, bud, let's go find your sister. We got a cake to make."

-0-

"Gai! Avi! Come decorate the cake!" I yelled from the kitchen, flipping a towel over my shoulder. The sound of eight tiny feet pounding on the tile floor greeted me as the kids ran through the door, trailed closely by Bailey, overly excited and curious about the commotion.

I lifted Gaius and Octavia up onto the counter on either side of the marbled chocolate and vanilla cake. "Okay, you each get to decorate half of the cake however you want. Sound fun?"

"Yeah!" They both exclaimed, excitedly grabbing at the myriad of supplies I had set on the counter. Octavia went for the frosting, and Gaius went for the chocolate syrup. Unbeknownst to the kids, I had prepared another cake, just in case. Without a worry in the world, I leaned back against the island, content to watch their creativity flourish.

-0-

"Hey," Garrus stifled a yawn as he climbed into bed, pulling me from the book I was engrossed in. "What are you reading?" He laid down next to me, positioning himself to look over my shoulder at the datapad, despite not being able to read the English test without his visor, which sat on the nightstand.

"Leviathan Wakes," I answered, "James told me about this series at the wedding, and I finally started it."

"What's it about?"

"Humans have colonized Sol, but without FTL. Mars and Earth are in a cold war, which might be a hot war soon. Probably pretty accurate to what would've happened without the Prothean ruins on Mars."

"Hmm… Sounds interesting."

When he didn't say anything else, I went back to reading. About ten minutes later, I noticed that he was still staring at me. "Whatcha doin?"

"Admiring my mate," He said matter of factly, placing his hand on my stomach. He wouldn't be able to feel anything, as I was only six weeks pregnant, but I still smiled, grabbing his hand with mine and squeezing. "How she is so beautiful, how she is so strong, and how she is so good with our children."

I let out a contented sigh, sliding further under the covers and snuggling into him. "God, I love you." It was awkwardly romantic, two words that summed up our entire relationship, but it worked, so I wouldn't complain.

"I heard back from the Council of Duarchs. Sentia will be the next Primarch."

"Are you sure you want to do this? I can take care of the kids on my own. You don't need to retire." I looked up into his eyes, seeing a determined light in them.

"I'm sure. We talked about retiring somewhere warm and living off the royalties from the vids—time to actually do that. My last day is March 2nd."

"Well, I've heard Palaven is warm," I smiled up at him, "But maybe we take a long vacation. Just you, me, and the kids, whaddya say?"

"Sounds perfect."