AN: I am so sorry about missing the last several update windows. I went from being very busy at work to sick, all with a bit of writer's block mixed in. Should be back on schedule now, and there won't be too many more chapters for this book. Thank you all so much for reading.

Chapter 36

Amelia
April 14th, 2192

With our final items packed up and carried off by the LOKI mechs, I shooed Gaius and Amelia up the ramp into our ship with one hand and held Serenity to my chest with the other. Garrus followed behind me, carrying Alia and our last suitcase.

Once we cleared the airlock, the kids ran off towards their cabin while Garrus took Serenity from me; heading for the cabin we turned into a nursery. I continued down the hall, finding Gaius and Octavia had already made themselves at home, pulling out a myriad of toys and scattering them across the floor.

"You guys ready?" I asked, squatting down between them and ruffling the top of their heads.

"Yeah!"

"I got something for you," They stopped what they were doing and turned to look at me, "So, these are your birthday present, but Pada and I are giving them to you early." I produce two disks from my pocket, "These are omnitools. You can use them to contact Pada or me anytime, anywhere. We're giving them to you now, just in case anything happens while we're on vacation."

I gave them one each and showed them how to use them. "Thanks, Mada," They said simultaneously, hugging me.

"You're welcome," I said, wrapping my arms around them, "Alright, we'll be in the cockpit if you need us."

-o-

I had just settled into the pilot's chair and started studying the controls. Despite more than five years on Palaven and being able to speak fluent turian, reading the alien text was still difficult.

"Ahem," I turned around to see Garrus standing behind me, his face was stern, but there was a humorous twinkle in his impossibly blue eyes. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Uh… Flying?"

"Hah!" He laughed, bending over and effortlessly scooping me up, plopping me down in the navigator's seat.

"Hey!" I protested.

"Amatra, I am still amazed that we're both still alive, since I was subject to your driving for several years. Our children shouldn't have to suffer that fate."

"What was bad about my driving?!"

Garrus looked at me like I grew a second head, "Honey, you hit everything. Geth, rocks, mountains, valleys, rocket engines on asteroids, lava flows, pedestrians…."

"Hey! I never hit a pedestrian. Anyway, we'll be in space. There's nothing for me to hit!"

"I have faith you'd find a way," He chuckled, patting my leg lightly and pecking me on the cheek. "Love you." He sat down, starting up the pre-flight sequence, leaving me to nurse my bruised ego.

Garrus
April 15th, 2192

I pull myself out from to bowels of the ship, freshly done calibrating the engine, milking every percentage point I could out of the ship's little mass effect core that I could. It was a smaller engine than I was used to, spending countless hours shooting the shit with Tali in the Normandy's engineering bay.

Wait… Shooting the shit… I sigh, pinching the bridge plate on my nose; Amelia's ridiculous idioms keep rubbing off on me.

I startle when I check the time; well past evening already. I'm surprised Amelia hadn't come to look for me to help put the kids to bed. Climbing up the stairs to the main deck, I pass through the dining room, where signs of dinner are still visible, and into our cabin.

When I walk in, I'm greeted with my favorite sight. Amelia is lying on the sofa, humming along to a song playing through her headphones. She doesn't seem to notice me, as her eyes are closed, so I approach.

Her fiery red hair cascaded off her head and down her shoulders, flowing like a river of lava and brimstone. Her face, pale and porcelain, despite the harsh rays of Trebia, crinkled under her smile. The freckles on her cheeks, serving as a star map for everything I wanted in life, looked more vibrant tonight. She was positively glowing.

She had retrieved one of my workout shirts, far too large for her small frame, proven by the collar being wide enough for her to fall from her shoulder and expose the expanse of flawless skin, save for our bond mark, as present as ever. Spirits, I could die a happy man just being able to look at her, and she was all mine.

I must've stood in front of the light or something because her eyes flutter open, and a contented smile spreads across her beautiful face immediately, drawing her feet in, allowing me a place to sit.

"Hey…," She said sleepily, taking out her headphones.

"Hey," I grab her feet, stretching them back out onto my lap and starting massaging them, extracting several happy sighs.

"Mmmmmm…. That feels good," She says, snuggling herself deeper into the faux leather of the couch. "What's the occasion?"

"Do I have to have a reason to make my mate feel good?" I ask back with a smirk.

"No, but…-"

I interrupt her, "How about you flip over, and I'll do your back? And after that, maybe we can watch a movie or something."

"Hmmm… I feel like you're buttering me up. Did you break something?" She asks, trying and failing to keep a stern look on her face, devolving into a smirk.

"Now that you mention it…," I tease, getting assaulted by a flying pillow not two seconds later. "No, I just want to spend the night with my extraordinary mate," I pull myself off the couch, kneel next to her, and start to massage her back.

I lean my head to the Amelia-shaped puddle on the couch, enjoying the quiet, breathy moans coming from her, nipping her earlobe lightly, "And make her feel good."

"Fuck, big guy, if you keep this up, I don't think we'll make it to the movie." Her voice is husky, dropping an octave as she speaks.

I give her a halfhearted shrug, "I can live with that. Whatever you want to do."