Sorry for the delay internet is acting up again. Anyway no real action this chapter, this is more of an explanation type. This also may be the last chapter for a while because I'm coming home in Nov. and I have to leave this computer behind since it is not mine. The good news is though I should be getting mine fix while I'm back in America so hopefully the wait won't be to long.

I have a poll up for those who are interested in Rosario + Vampire. If you are I need you guys to quickly go and vote ASAP so I can go ahead and start writing it up.

Disclaimer: Disclaimed. Except OCs there mine.


Ch 5

Commander Shepard sat at her desk waiting for Tali to show up. She had called the Quarian up to see if the girl could answer some questions that she had about Jay. The Specter needed to know where they had found Jay so she can figure out how the young man has her DNA. There's only one person where they could have gotten it from and that would have to be…..

There was a beeping noise at her door letting the Commander that she had a visitor. "Come in," Shepard said looking at the door as it swooshed open.

Tali stood in the door way a little tense, "You called for me Shepard?" the mechanic asked. Shepard nodded and waved her in, "Yes there is something I need to talk to you about. Don't worry you're not in trouble," Shepard said noticing the Quarian tense even more so before relaxing a bit. "And remember its Jenifer when we're not on a mission," she added as Tali stepped inside her office.

"So what do you need to talk to me about Sh- I mean Jenifer?" Tali asked as Shepard motion her to sit down next to her, remembering that the commander liked to called by her first name when not on missions. This was hard for some of the non-human crew. For example Tali and Jay had been told all of their lives to always address people by their rank especially the captain of the ship.

"How well do you know Jay?" Shepard started off watching the Quarian's body language in hopes that it would give her any clues that might help unravel the mystery that surrounded the Human Quarian.

"I've known him since we were children," Tali said a little slowly as she found the question odd, "In fact we grew up on the same ship. We told you this when we first met remember?"

Shepard let out a sigh as she fell back into her chair, "What can you tell me about his origins? I gathered that he wasn't born on the Flotilla, I know for a fact that he was genetically modified," Shepard said clasping her hands together and resting them under her chin. "I want to know who did it and why." The Specter's tone wasn't harsh but it still had the air of 'I don't want any BS'.

Tali began squirming as she hanged her head like she was ashamed of something, "Well Jenifer to tell you truth I really don't know, I don't even think Jay knows the whole thing. We were only told that he was found in a human science lab and that he was rescued by one of our RAST teams."

Shepard cocked her head to the side, "RAST?"

Tali straighten herself up, "RAST, or Recovery and Advance Science Teams, is a our recon and spec ops group. It is usually made up of Migrant Marines who go to places where there are possible mineral deposits or salvage that the Migrate Fleet can use," she explained, "they also are sent to pick up Quarians who are on their Pilgrimage that have sent a distress beacon. These teams consist of the best and available Migrant Marines on the Fleet."

"I see," Shepard said still not picking up that Tali could be lying, but then again Quarian and Humans are so different. Although in Jay's case not all that different, "So what happened when Jay was brought to the Fleet?"

"Well the leader of the squad brought up the idea to adopt Jay into the fleet considering that his biology was similar to ours in almost every way," Tali continued, "Also she didn't want to bring Jay to a human colony just to wind up in another lab. Why do you want to know?" Tali asked with narrow eyes as she became suspicious before they widen as she started panicking, "Is Jay alright he isn't sick is he?"

The Commander held up a hand, "No Jay is fine, we think. It's hard to tell since his biology is so different than anything we have encountered before," Shepard said before she looked at Tali with a neutral glance. "Which brings up the reason why I brought you up here," she said.

"The reason I'm telling you this is because out of everyone here you are the closet to him, and you deserve to know. What you do with this knowledge is up to you." Shepard paused before continuing on, "When Jay was brought on board after fighting the Armature, I had Doctor Chakwas run a few test on him to see if he was alright."

"What did she find?" Tali asked with a little worried her stance tensing up again, she then began to bite on her lower lip.

"Well, we obviously found out that he had major genetic alterations," Shepard said as she began counting off everything that the ship's doctor found. "We also found that he has two proto-type chips installed into his brain, one for increasing his biotic ability way beyond anything a human can do."

To Tali that didn't sound to bad, but she felt fear clenched her heart in a vice grip. She feared what she would hear next, "And the second..."

"Was a control chip of some kind," Shepard said causing Tali to gasp, "From what Chakwas explained the chip was design for sleeper agents, but it wasn't completed so we believe that whoever did this to Jay wasn't able to complete the process."

Tears began to appear on the Quarian's eyes, "Oh by the ancestors," Tali said breathlessly, "Jay what did they do to you?"

"There's more…." Shepard trailed off as Tali cut her off.

"MORE!" she nearly yelled ready kill the person responsible for Jay's torment, "Keelah Shepard what else did they do to him?"

Shepard waited a minute before speaking, still trying to come to terms with the fact herself, "Apparently Jay is related to me," she said freezing Tali as her blood ran cold at the revelation.

Tali turned to her commander, "Oh Shepard."

"I had hoped that you could answer that question, but if what you say is true then….." Tali interrupted Shepard.

"I might not to be able to answer your questions Shepard," she said pulling out her omni-tool and sent something to Shepard's who lit up as well, "But Jay's mother will once you explained to her what you found."

"Thank you Tali, I'll contact her once I have some free time," Shepard said closing her omni-tool, "Is his mother the one that helped him join the fleet?" she asked to which Tali nodded. "Well that's good." she said before smirking as she was able to pick up one thing with her conversation with the tech expert. "So have you told him yet?"

Tali cocked her head to the side, "Told him what?" she asked curiously.

"Oh nothing," Shepard said shrugging her shoulder, "Just the fact that your totally in love with him," she finished with a giggle causing Tali to stiffen.

Tali's hands began crushing themselves together, "I-I-I-I don't know what you mean Shepard. We're a just friends that's all. There's nothing like that going on between us. Why would you say something like that or even think that? Is it hot in here?" Tali spoke very fast her accent coming in heavy.

Shepard chuckled trying her best not to squeal at the Quarian's embarrassment, "Tali, it is very obvious they way you two act around each other."

Tali slumped back into her chair in defeat, "Is really that obvious," she said trying to cover her visor with her hands. "I knew we started bonding."

"Bonding," Shepard asked tilting her head, "What that?"

"Well I don't know how other species um… court," Tali said nervously, "but we Quarian's uh...bond with our mates," Tali continued to get more nervous as she began thinking about bonding with Jay. "But it's not like the Asari who only meld to um…mate. We develop a deep mental connection with our very souls."

"So you guys are entwined on a subconscious level," Shepard guessed.

"Sort of you see, well how do I explain this," Tali scratch the side of her head. She had picked up the human habit from one of the engineers that worked in the drive core with her. Finally thinking of the perfect why for her to explain bonding she snapped her fingers, "Oh you remember when Jay attacked that Armature on Therum?"

"Kind of hard not to," Shepard said replaying Jay ripping apart the Armature with his biotics.

"Okay," Tali began leaning forward a bit, "what he went through was what we called Ragne or um I guess the closest translation would be 'to rip one's soul'. In other words a part of us dies."

Shepard cocked her head to the side in confusion when her translator didn't catch Ragne, but that quickly went away when Tali translated. The human Specter then asked, "But you didn't die though, so why did Jay go through that?"

"Well I not exactly sure," Tali said adopting a confused posture, "but I'm guessing since Jay isn't a full Quarian the bonding process might be a little different with him, or it could be out of order."

"So when he saw you get knocked out…."

"In his mind he thought I had died and well you know what happened then," the Quarian engineer trailed of nervously.

"Tell me more about this bonding," Shepard said sitting back into her chair resting her head on a fist.

"Well it can only happen if the two want to. There are three stages or types: Quin'fu ket,Jen'qu, Fel'tuk. The first one translates to 'Bond of Blood' which is the bond that all family members and close friends share. The ket at the end stands for...I guess a good word would mean 'permanent'. I thought that's the one that Kal, Jay, and I had, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore."

"So what do the others mean?" the Specter inquired further, her curiosity not yet quenched.

"Well Jen'qu translates to 'Pathway to the Soul' this is the process that usually leads to the final stage. Basically the two begin to meld our minds and souls to the point where we can 'communicate without words' or something like that, I'm not really sure about that though. The process can be very short or long depending on the couple, and again I'm not too positive that I'm completely right though. We usually don't learn about courting until after our Pilgrimage, when we are considered adults and are able to find our partners."

"And the last one?"

"When we reached Fel'tuk or 'Binding of the Souls' we've are already full bonded and well usually that stage is reached through umm," Tali squirmed nervously in her seat her accent coming in thick, "… physical contact."

"Oh, okay," the Specter paused to build a dramatic affect.

"So~ how far long are you two?" Shepard asked in a mischievous sing song voice raising an eyebrow to accent her tone. The commander got the reaction that she wanted as Tali twitched some more in her seat, her hands smashing together in an intricate dance of nerves and embarrassment.

"I-I don't know," Tali stammered, "I'm not even sure he feels the same way."

Shepard leaned forward, "Tali you just told me that Quarians only bond to each other if they want to be with each other," she said stretched forward and placed a comforting hand on top of Tali's.

"You don't understand Shepard," Tali said with a frustrated sigh, "if Jay was a normal Quarian that would be true, but he's not," the Quarian finished her head hung in defeat.

"Tali," Shepard said sharply causing the girl's head to shot up, "Jay ripped apart an Armature with his bare hands because he thought you had died. If that doesn't show how deeply he cares about you than I don't know what will."

Tali thought about this for a second, and deep down she knew Shepard was right. But there something that she had to address first, "There is one more thing to take into consideration Jenifer," Tali said placing her hands on her lap and sitting a little straighter now, as she began to be filled with more confidence. "I know Jay hides it from everybody, but I know that he thinks of himself as a freak of nature." And the Quarian was going to do everything in her power to prove otherwise.

"So he doesn't think he's worthy of someone like you," Shepard said nodding her head in understanding. Her face lighted up, "Well then I guess we'll have to fix that once we get back to the Citadel."

"How?" Tali inquired cocking her head to the side.

Shepard smirked mischievously, "Have you ever heard of a double date?"


Jay P.O.V

I was sitting in the docking bay near the Mako working on the Widow Sniper rifle that I got on Therum. I was using a crate nearby as a work table, since I get the feeling that Chief Williams doesn't like aliens all that much. The problem that I'm having is that the rifle was made for a Geth, and the Geth have stronger bodies than the average organic. So what I have to modify it so that the recoil doesn't rip my arm off when I fired it, while still keeping the penetration that it is known for.

The thing is that the weapon is so complicatedly put together that it is nearly impossible to upgrade or change it in any way. Unless you're a Quarian of course, then it's just going to take a long time to do. Which according to Kaiden we have plenty of right now, with the Normandy just floating in space. We had just got done clearing out a mercenary base looking for Nassana Dantius's sister. Only to find out that the sister, who was supposedly being held hostage by pirates, was in fact the leader of the outlaw who was blackmailing Nassana.

Shepard was not happy at all when she found out that she had been used. I never seen Shepard that mad before. When we arrived back at the Normandy she went straight to her quarters and no one has heard a peep out of her since. Well, Tali was called up there a few minutes ago.

I hope she's alright. I don't think she did anything wrong. Did she? This is Tali we're talking about there's no way she could get in trouble. I shook my head and went back to work.

More liked I was staring at it. There was one part that I was missing and without it I can't continue. With a frustrated sigh I placed the cover back on the rifle and stored it away. That is when I noticed that our newest crew member, Liara T'Soni, standing behind me.

"Um…hello," she said nervously, "I was told by Shepard that you're a biotic, and that you might need some help since you lack the proper training."

I shifted a little, "I never really needed them, especially for combat uses, so I could use a few pointers." The Asari nodded her head and led me to the center of the docking bay were Kaiden was setting up a couple of boxes. "Alright first I want you too…"

From there Liara made me show her what biotic abilities that I know, which was Push, Pull, and Lift. She was impressed on my endurance and I told her that I had used my biotics to hold things still when we were doing repairs on the ships.

Liara and Kaiden then began teaching me the more advance biotic techniques like Barrier, Shockwave, Warp, Charge, and Singularity.

Charge was simple and I got it down in a heart beat, it was a simple ability all you have to do is point and shoot, which I could easily. Singularity and Warp I needed to be work on, and my Barriers are pretty decent I just needed practice, but my Shockwave though. Well let's just say that you don't want to be on the receiving end like the crates that we were practicing on.

Poor crates.

And Ash, I kind of gave her a scare when one of the crates crashed near her. I think she was angrier at Liara and me than Kaiden, or it could be the other way around I'm not sure.

During my practice time most of the ground and off duty crew gathered around the cargo hold to see. I could see Tali drilling holes at the back of Liara's head, but I don't know why though. Then again Liara was holding my arms to show me the correct way to throw a Warp so I couldn't really see all that well.

"Impressive," Liara stated in awe as I lifted two crates with my biotics, "I've never seen such endurance from some one of your species." I gently set the crates down, "Now let me show you something," the Asari of our crew said, "Pull one of the crates towards you."

I complied and made the necessary movements causing one of the crates to glow blue and flying towards me. I looked over to Liara who flicked her hand aiming a biotic attack at the air borne box. Everyone in the hanger/cargo hold watched with awe as the crate exploded in a massive blue light when Liara's attack made contact.

"That is what is called a Biotic Explosion," Liara said turning around to see all the wide eyed expression. "What?" she said as her cheeks began to turn a deeper shade of blue almost purple.

"You have got to teach me that," Shepard said with a dangerous gleam in her eyes. Why do I have such a bad feeling in my stomach now?

"Well its simple to do really," Liara said pulling up her omni-tool and sent all of the biotics a small file, "I'll forward the instructions."

"Thanks Liara," Shepard said before looking at me. "Jay I need you to make a list of things you'll need to upgrade our guns disruptor rounds to handle Geth."

"Already have one ma'am," I said sending the list to her omni-tool. "Installation is simple so I could have all of our guns done in a day or two."

"That's great we should be at the Citadel in a few hours," Shepard said closing her omni-tool, "and we can pick them up there."

"Oh and don't call me ma'am," Shepard said with narrowed eyes. "It makes me feel old."

I nodded my head, "You got ma-com-Jenifer," I stuttered making Shepard laugh.

"You're getting there," Shepard chuckled good heartily. "Well I should go," she said turning around and headed towards Garrus. Is it me or does Shepard have an extra bounce in her step every time she heads towards Garrus. In fact I notice that practically lights up at the mere mention of Garrus's name.

I shrugged my shoulders. Eh it's probably nothing to worry about. I'm probably just reading too much into it.


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Quarian Dictionary:

Fren'shal- Term of endearment. Usually used for fully bonded couples. Closest translation would be: My Captain or Captain of my soul.

Ragne- Translation: 'to rip one's soul'. A state of shock after losing a bond mate during battle-due to extreme stress of having a part of their soul ripped. Most Bondmates who go through this die because of lack of intelligence during battle, in other words they disregard their safety and go into a rage mode. This is similar to a Krogan Blood Rage.

Quin'fu ket- Translation: 'Bond of Blood' [Quin'fu]-the first level of bonding. Usually friends and family members form this bond. [Ket]- Means that the bond is permanent the parties involve usually cannot go further in the bonding process. Although there have been cases where the bond has evolved. No blood is required to form this bond, it merely metaphorical.

Jen'qu- Translation: 'Pathway to the soul'. This is the second level of bonding and the first part in the courting bond. This process can be very short or long depending on the couple either way it leads to the final stage. When it is completed the two minds and souls meld to such a degree that they can 'communicate without words'. Also it is possible for one or the other partner to feel irrational emotion about their chosen mate. For example they might feel very jealous if their partner spends long amount of time with the opposite sex, sans family. They may also be very protective of each other as well.

Fel'tuk. Translation: 'Binding of the Souls' . This is the final stage in bonding and is only achieved when the two Quarians that are involved with the bond have had some form of physical contact. Once the pair have reached this point nothing can break them apart, except death. Also the Bondmates will take no other if one of them dies. Weather it is impossible or the surviving member chooses not to is unknown.