Chapter 38

Garrus
May 22nd, 2192

"I love you two more than three hundred pounds of chocolate chips," Amelia said, dipping her head and touching her nose to Gaius and Octavia. The elder children were swaddled up and lying in bed, getting ready to sleep.

"We love you more than a whole toybox of toys," Gaius replied, a massive smile on his small face. Amelia leaned down and touched her forehead to his again, doing the same for Octavia.

"Well, I love you two more than… three thousand pounds of sugar."

"We love you more than bacon and pancakes," Octavia said.

"Oh wow, I think you win… for tonight. Goodnight, I love you."

"Love you too, Mada," Octavia said while Gaius yawned widely.

"Love you, Mada,"

Amelia flipped the light off, left the room, and walked back to the living room. I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into my chest. Her arms wrapped around my neck. "Hey."

"You are amazing, my love. I love watching you with the kids. It makes my heart melt every time." I whispered into her neck as we turned in a slow circle, holding each other.

"There's nothing I'd rather do and no place I'd rather be." She says, holding tighter to my neck. She breaks away after another moment in my arms, "I have to talk to Kahlee. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Amelia

I don't want to leave Garrus's arms, they make me feel safe, warm, and like nothing go ever go wrong in the moment, but I feel guilty and need to tell Aunt Kahlee something. Garrus doesn't resist when I tell him, understanding me completely.

I walk out to the balcony of our rented condo, letting the sound of the Pacific's crashing waves take away the tension from my shoulders. Kahlee was reclined back on one of the chairs, looking very relaxed in the San Diego night.

"Aunt Kahlee, can we talk?"

"Of course, kiddo," She said, sitting up in the lounger, patting the spot next to her, "What's up, honey?"

I hesitated, never being one to easily talk about my feelings. "I… I'm sorry."

I saw her face shift through a gamut of emotions in the faint moonlight, settling on confusion, "Sorry for what?"

"When I was putting the kids to bed, I realized how… happy it makes me to hear them call me 'Mada.' It made me realize that I've deprived you and Uncle David of that."

"Oh, honey -" She started, but I cut her off.

"It's too late for me to fix it with him, but not for you. So… I'm sorry, Mom."

"Amelia," Her voice was firm, but the love she was channeling came through clearly, "We never expected you to call us 'Mom and Dad,' we didn't want you to. That would've been a betrayal of your parents' memory. We only cared about giving you a home and ensuring you were loved."

Despite my efforts to keep my walls up, tears flowed freely down my face, "You did. Every day."

"That's all that matters, honey. It doesn't matter what you called us. I only want to be 'Mom' if you want to call me that. You haven't deprived me of anything by calling me 'Aunt Kahlee,' no matter what, you're my family, and you let me into yours."

I nodded and sobbed for a minute while my surrogate mother's arm wrapped around my neck, comforting me. After a moment, she started talking again, "I didn't know your birth parents, but I know they would've been proud of the woman and the mother you've become. They raised such an incredible woman, and I'm just happy to have been a part of it. David was proud too."

The dam broke with a choked sob, and it quickly devolved into a flood of tears. "Thank you. That means a lot."

I was still a bit sniffly when I came back inside with Kahlee right behind me. Garrus was on his feet immediately, wrapping his arms around me and asking what was wrong.

"Nothing's wrong, I promise," I smile sadly up at him, "We were just… talking."

Kahlee rested her hand on my back, "I'm going to bed. Goodnight, sweetie."

"Night, Mom," I say, letting Garrus guide me to our bedroom.

AN: Getting close now, only 4 more chapters in Book 2