Hello Reader, I hope this day finds you well! So here is my final instalment of Commander Scott Gardner's (My replacement for Shepard) story arc. I'll admit openly and freely that I'm not the most creatively minded person, so writing a story without the narrative of the games to guide me was hard, but I hope I've created something intriguing and entertaining for you to enjoy.
Also, a quick note on the title. I know there is an official book called "Retribution". This has nothing to do with that. The title just feels right to me so I decided not to change it in the end. Just wanted to put that out there.
If you have not yet read my other Mass Effect stories, then I humbly request that you go back to the beginning for the whole experience, and for the purposes of continuity as well. My other stories are, in order, named:
Mass Effect 1 - Monsters in the Dark
Mass Effect 2 - The Shadow War
Mass Effect 2 - Loose Ends
Mass Effect 3 - Galaxy on Fire
Regardless of what you decide to do, I hope you enjoy yourself and have a pleasant day! Oh, and a little warning for NSFW content. I know, first chapter and there's already sexy stuff happening? But it's rated M for a reason.
2190 – A Slice of Heaven
I had been pacing back and forwards for a while, unusually nervous and I did not feel very comfortable with this irritating emotion. My stomach was doing somersaults as a million things blazed their way through my brain all at once. The vid-screen had been on the whole time, but I had not been paying attention as my mind was consumed in thoughts that were far more important and personal to me.
However, when one word, "URGENT", suddenly popped up in huge letters on the screen, bordered by yellow and black stripes, with a piercing chime ringing out to grab the attention of all, everyone in the room turned to see what was going on.
What was displayed for us was a scene that had become unfortunately familiar to the galaxy in recent days. Flames belched out of the windows of the building and the giant hole where the explosive had gone off. The emergency services of the city of Serrice, on Thessia, scrambled in every direction to try to combat the flames, help the wounded and recover the dead that could be reached.
Sirens blared and people screamed and cried out in their confusion and shock. A scene of pure bedlam unfolded before the eyes of the entire galaxy. This was the worst one yet. The previous attacks on Asari had been one person trying to attack a single target. Nothing on the scale of what I was seeing on the vid-screen that day.
From the beginning of the galactic week, there had been a string of attempted murders of Asari Matriarchs who were very high up in the Asari government. None of them had been successful, but that did not diminish the shock value of the assaults. It was clear that all these attacks occurring at once was no mere coincidence. They were all linked, but so far that link had yet to be discovered.
However, whoever was behind the attempts had decided to step up their game, and the government building in Serrice was now spouting fire and smoke like a volcano. So far, the casualties did not include any of the Matriarchs, who everyone supposed were the main targets.
The number of ordinary citizens that had been hurt in the blast, however, was growing every minute and soon reached forty casualties. The other people in the room that I was in, all of them Quarians, were obviously aghast at what was being reported and I did not need to see past their visors to know what kind of expressions they would be wearing. Shock, confusion, disgust, horror.
Then, inevitably, a few pairs of eyes wandered over to me. I already stood out as the only Human in the room, but as everyone knew the name of Scott Gardner there came an unspoken expectation that I should be doing something about it. Not that I was angered by this, it was only natural. Ever since the battle for Elysium, I had been a household name amongst Humanity. But in my years fighting the Collectors and Reapers, my name became known in the homes of every member of every species.
That was not who I considered myself to be any more. The Reaper war had ended four years ago and, although the scars of that conflict were still everywhere to be seen on every settled planet in the galaxy, we had all tried to move on from that experience. Easier said than done, of course. I had left the Systems Alliance three years ago in 2187. After having spent some time on Earth with my amazing and beautiful Quarian wife Tali'Zorah, I returned with her to Rannoch to start building our new future together. The Quarian people were more than happy to welcome me to their homeworld since the SSV Normandy, which I had commanded, was instrumental in the effort to allow the Quarians to re-colonise their ancestral home world.
It had not gone the way that the Quarians had planned for. The Quarians had thought that the only way to reclaim Rannoch was through the total destruction of the Geth, but I had proved them wrong in a very unexpected manner. The Quarians and the Geth now lived side by side, and though there were always going to be unhappy elements on both sides, both races had learned to accept each other and cooperate for the betterment of both races. Organic and Synthetic living together as a symbol of the unity that the galaxy had attained during the gruelling Reaper War.
Since the Reaper War, all the different species had been busy in the rebuilding of their shattered worlds. Yet it was being done with a great spirit of team work as each species did what it could to help the others. Whether it was in the sharing of supplies and materials, or even their workforce. There was less animosity between Council Space and the Terminus Systems. I secretly suspected that this was due to how my team and I helped a certain Aria T'Loak reclaim her coveted realm of Omega.
During the War, the Batarians had almost become extinct and their feared Hegemony that had ruled before the Reaper's arrival had been wiped off the face of the Milky Way. The outpouring of sympathy and aid to the Batarians, who had always held themselves at odds with the other races, caused what few members of their species remained to become far more grateful and friendly. Their numbers would recover, but it would be many years of careful planning and rotating their male and female populations to ensure continued genetic diversity. Of course, there were criminal elements still at work in the galaxy, but the scale was nowhere near what it had once been. My close friend, Garrus Vakarian, had once said that if we had pulled through the war, that the galaxy would be a pretty amazing place. That prediction had almost entirely come true.
With that in mind, there was no feasible explanation for these recent attacks. Why were the Asari the main targets? Why did the terrorists seem to come from every race, including other Asari? What did they actually think they would achieve by resorting to this barbarity? All these questions filled my head near to bursting when I finally heard a soft, sweet voice call my name from behind me.
"Scott? Are you ok?"
I spun around to see my wife approaching, her hands coming up to take mine. I must have had a look of trained readiness on my face, an old habit from my military life that I had not shaken off. Tali knew me well enough to know that there was a maelstrom going on in my head. In her presence, however, I immediately calmed down and drew her in for a warm hug.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I told her, "sorry. How did it go?"
"I think… I think the procedure will take without any problems," Tali said happily, her body starting to shake with excitement, "the Doctor says I should take a scan of myself in about five days to check if it's been successful. But… I see no reason why it wouldn't be!"
"That's amazing, Tali!" I lifted her from the floor in a cuddle, spinning around while she giggled away. Both of us were so happy that I momentarily forgot what I had seen on the vid as we both left the hospital.
It had always been that way with Tali, even before we had originally got together back on the Normandy SR1. Whatever I was feeling, she had this natural ability to take the woes and worries of those around her and make them shrink down to nothing for a while. Ever since I had first met her on the Citadel, my gut told me that Tali was someone who could be depended upon no matter what. I knew from the get-go that she was someone truly special. I suspected that played a major role in drawing me towards her.
When we became a couple back in 2183, everything about the situation had just felt right. The love that Tali and I shared, the powerful relationship that bound us together, was one built upon shared values, honesty and a determination shared by both of us to always do our very best for each other. I felt that it had been much easier with Tali than I had always imagined a long-term relationship to be. Spend a few minutes in her company and I could not imagine how anybody could not start to fall for this enthusiastic, personable, hopeful bundle of positive energy. Whatever came our way, Tali and I were made for each other and would never allow ourselves to fail the other.
We got into our skycar and I started us on the drive home. The hospital had been set up near to the centre of the flourishing capital city of Rannoch, Baska. The city had served as the capital of the Quarian race since long before the Geth uprising, over three hundred years ago. During the Quarians' exile, the Geth had cleaned up and maintained the city until such a time that it could possibly be home to their creators once again.
With Baska already waiting for people to inhabit it, and the stripping down of many of the Migrant Fleet's ships, the city was booming with life and looking very prosperous in record time. The Quarians and the Geth had worked together, and life on Rannoch was moving forward very comfortably for both races. The Quarians were busy cultivating the fertile farmlands of Rannoch's Southern-most continent while other cities, towns and villages were being brought back to life after having been preserved by the Geth.
Baska was a twenty-minute skycar journey from the East coast of the Southern continent, and it was on the shores of that ocean that Tali and I had built our home. Far to the North, the coast was gentler and had a large number of beautiful beaches with golden sand and beautiful, open country stretching out beyond that. As the coast moved South, there were more cliffs and it was near the top of the highest section that Tali and I had decided to live where the coast curved inwards to form a sheltered bay. Massive bay windows covered the whole side of the house that looked out over the ocean, truly an awe-inspiring view for Tali and I to wake up to every day.
Our home was very open plan, with all of the rooms on the ground floor having no walls between them except for the bathroom. The style we had gone for was minimalistic wooden furnishings and warm colours. One section of the bay window was dual purpose and served as our vid-screen with a couple of plush couches that we could sink into when we wanted to settle down for the evening. The movie library that we had stored away was extensive to say the least. Back from the living room was the kitchen which was split in two. With our different protein chirality, Tali being dextro and myself levo, we had decided to simply have two of each kitchen appliance to keep our foodstuffs apart so that the risk of cross-contamination was kept to a minimum.
In the beginning, Tali and I had tried to take turn about cooking the meals, but since we were never having the same food and one's knowledge on how to cook the other's food was sometimes lacking, we had changed that rather quickly. Tali and I now cooked our own meals at the same time which was actually a lot of fun. I would put some upbeat music on and both of us would whip up our own great meals and enjoy them together. Next to our ground floor bathroom was the spiral staircase taking us up to the first floor and a door going out onto the balcony that hung over the edge of the cliff face. On the second floor there was another bathroom, our bedroom and an office where both of us had a computer each for any work we had to do.
Since the Quarians had returned to Rannoch, the Admiralty had slowly handed their ruling responsibilities over to the civilian Conclave, made up of elected officials. In light of this, Tali had decided that she would retire from her position as an Admiral with which she had never been entirely comfortable anyway. Instead, she now worked for the lead colonisation effort, coordinating the acquisition of materials and deciding where they were sent on Rannoch. As a part of this she also, from time to time, would take survey teams to other planets which were former Quarian colonies before the exile.
A side effect of the Crucible firing was that Mass Relays that our cycle had not yet discovered were instantly activated. This opened up thousands of new opportunities for exploration, and every species was sending teams to these new, untouched systems. The possibilities for finding new planets to colonise was there for every race and I went through a few with Tali and her team of Quarian explorers. The idea of finding new worlds to live on without having to repair them first after being ravaged by the Reapers was highly appealing. Not to mention that it satisfied our need for adventure.
I would accompany her on these jobs and help as much as I could. The Quarians had welcomed me onto their home planet and into their society without question and our home had only been built so quickly with Geth and Quarian aid. I felt I needed to repay them. On one of these survey missions, Tali and I had travelled back to Haestrom where I had recruited her for the mission against the Collectors. Tali had lost a lot of friends on that planet and revisiting the site was emotional for her. I made sure that I was there to support her as she left behind a small memento for those that died on that ill-fated mission.
This included Kal'Reegar, who had survived Haestrom, but had died later during the Reaper War. As for myself, I worked on a voluntary basis as a bit of a liaison officer between the Systems Alliance and Rannoch. Although I had left the Human military, they had set me up with an extremely generous retirement package that meant I never had to work again. However, I still maintained strong ties with Admiral Hackett and oversaw the joint efforts of Humanity, the Quarians and the Geth to see that we all worked together in rebuilding the destruction left behind by the Reapers. Humans were helping to build on Rannoch while Quarians and Geth helped with construction and logistics efforts on Earth, as well as a number of Human colony worlds.
Another activity I had taken up in the office was writing. The Alliance had allowed me to maintain access to all of my old mission reports and the Council, though I had volunteered to quit my position as a Spectre, had let me keep my access codes and ID. I guessed that they thought me trustworthy. Garrus liked to joke about "part-time Spectres" at my expense. I had thought about writing an autobiography and had tried my hand at putting all my reports into a more legible format while at the same time trying to keep out all that which was still highly classified, such as the existence of the Leviathans. I had also entertained the idea of writing my own fictional novels but had not come up with a solid idea as of yet. Our bedroom was on the same side of the house as the living room, and so the bay windows gave us an uninterrupted view out into the bay every single morning. Such natural beauty made us want to get up and seize every day with the same kind of energy that we had fought the Reapers with.
However, there was a fourth room on the upper floor that had so far lain unused since the home was completed. This was where Tali and I went as soon as we got home from the hospital. She bounced through the door,
"Can you believe that we'll finally be able to use this room?" Tali said happily as she went around the room fantasising what it would look like. All the decoration had been completed with the rest of the house but had been left unfurnished until such a time that we knew what we would need it. I put my arm around my wife and looked around the spacious room with my own ideas of what it would look like one day.
"Eight months from now," I said to her with a broad, proud smile, "there will be a little Quarian baby here to complete our lives!"
"Are you still happy with the names?" Tali asked me. I had expected my wife to ask that. We had spent much time talking about what names we would choose for our child, whichever sex it was. Tali had In-vitro treatment at the hospital and we both hoped that she would fall pregnant with the child that we would raise together: The final ingredient in the recipe for our perfect lives together.
While Tali would be the biological mother, the male DNA used was from a Quarian marine, Gaz Vas Haroon, who had died during the Reaper war. We had chosen him because of his flawless service record and several mentions of his excellent skills as a soldier, charm and sense of right and wrong. He had been a brave and charismatic man who would risk his life a thousand times over for the good of the Migrant Fleet. Unfortunately, he had lost his life in the fight on the Volus homeworld of Irune, where Quarian marines had been sent to help the Turian ground forces fight back against the powerful Reaper invasion forces. During that fierce battle against overwhelming odds, Gaz had proven himself time and time again to be a model soldier, in the end giving his life to ensure a Volus family could reach an evacuation transport alive.
We had selected Gaz and gained permission from a cousin, who was the only surviving family member, to use his DNA. Obviously, a Human and a Quarian could not have a child together through normal means, and we had considered adoption as there were a good many Quarian orphans who had lost their parents during the war. However, we wanted at least one of us to be the biological parent and choosing Tali made the most sense.
"I think the names are good," I said to Tali, "wonder if we'll still say that after eight months though. Did I ever tell you that I was going to be named Shaun right up until the day I was born? By then, my mum was just bored of it and "Scott" came out instead."
"Huh," Tali said, "Shaun Gardner… nope. Doesn't have the same ring to it. Still, I think that Sari or Robert are perfect!"
Robert was my father's name, and Tali liked the old-fashioned Human custom of naming sons after their fathers. So that was the name we had chosen together if our child was a boy. Alternatively, if our baby was a girl, then she would be named Sari'Xel Nar Rayya, after a childhood friend of Tali's who had unfortunately died when a virus had swept through the Migrant Fleet when they were younger.
That same outbreak that had taken Tali's mother from her. I thought it carried too negative a connotation, but Tali said it was the opposite for her, as it would honour her mother and her friend who both passed at the same time in Tali's life. It would form an enhanced connection to them. It also reminded Tali of one of the few times her strict and demanding father had made a little extra effort to comfort his distraught daughter.
Tali and I went back downstairs to begin preparing dinner, but I started the teasing straight away,
"No Turian brandy for you anymore, my lass."
Tali laughed,
"Ah, I didn't think this through, did I? Oh well. Who will we tell first?"
"Shala'Raan?" I thought aloud. Admiral Raan was the closest thing that Tali had to family and was her normal choice to confide in. She had been the first one to find out that Tali and I had gotten engaged during the Reaper War. Both of us still wore our treasured Promising Bands on our arms, the symbol of our union.
"What about your parents?" Tali suggested, "since they'll be our baby's… what do Humans call them? grand-sires?"
I chuckled to myself at the puzzled expression Tali was wearing. Tali still wore her enviro-suit the majority of the time. Some Quarians had opted to undergo a procedure where Geth would upload themselves into the computer of their enviro suits and mimic different infections to build up the Quarian's immune system in a substantially faster time than it would take naturally. Tali, however, had chosen not to go down this route and was adapting to the environment of her home world slowly over time. However, despite the fact that Tali's helmet made her face hard to see underneath other than her glowing eyes, we were so close that I had learned to read her facial expressions just from the way her eyes moved and how her voice sounded.
"You're not wrong, but grand-sires is very, very old fashioned," I said humourously, "you'd get away with it if you lived in Humanity's medieval period. grand-parents is fine."
"Ah," Tali giggled, "I must have heard that one in a vid. Should we tell them first?"
"Sure!" I agreed.
We headed to the office and placed a vid-call to my parents' home in Edinburgh on Earth. I hoped that they would still be up and quickly did the calculations in my head. A day on Rannoch was 32.3 Earth hours, and counting back I figured that it was late evening in Scotland. It was July there, so I hoped that they would not have retired too early. Fortunately, the call was answered and my mum's face appeared on the screen before us. Her face instantly lit up when she saw that it was us,
"Hello there! How are you? It's nice to see you. Robert. Rob! Wake up, Scott and Tali are calling."
I saw my dad stir on the couch of their living room. He was infamous for falling asleep in front of a vid screen and I was glad to see that some things never changed.
"Hey son," he said in a groggy fashion as he shook off his pre-bedtime nap, "good to see you. What's new?"
"Funny you should ask," I could not help but smile and clutch Tali closer. I did not give them the news straight away and let the atmosphere of anticipation linger around them for a short while longer.
"Well, come on then," my dad finally broke and laughed merrily.
"You're going to be Grand-parents!" Tali blurted out, no longer able to restrain herself. The look of pure joy filled both of their faces and mum had to stop herself from screaming in happiness.
"That's wonderful news! I'm so happy," she said, "so when are you expecting? I mean… how long does Quarian pregnancy last?"
"Eight of your Earth months," Tali told them, "and we've decided that we'll find out the sex as soon as we can."
"So we get everything the right colour," I joked. "And dad, there's something you should know. If it's a boy, we're going to name him Robert."
Dad was absolutely speechless as he struggled to show just how appreciative he was that we would honour him in such a way. After a few false starts at trying to get a sentence out, he eventually managed to say,
"Well I hope you don't mind, but I really hope it's a boy. Thank you, both of you, for that."
"It's my way of thanking you for putting up with me all those years," I said. Tali and I chatted with mum and dad for a short while longer, and during the conversation I got a message from my sister Sophie congratulating us on our news. Mum had obviously messaged her on the sly while we were talking.
"Looks like someone can't wait to be an auntie," Tali smiled as we finished the call. I took her hand and led her back towards the hallway, glancing at the far wall of the office as I always did.
This was what Tali and I dubbed the "Normandy Wall". Right in the centre was the massive picture that had been taken during the big party that we had in David Anderson's apartment on the Citadel. Everyone was there, all big smiles and in a cheery, relaxed mood as we enjoyed the company of our closest friends. It was one of my most prized possessions, without a doubt. As well as the central picture, there were other pictures on the wall of other members of the Normandy legacy: Kaidan Alenko, Legion, Thane Krios, Mordin Solus, Kenneth Donnelly, Gabriella Daniels, Adams, Presley, Karin Chakwas, David Anderson and Kelly Chambers were all up there in their own places of distinction. At either side of the wall there were also large pictures of both of the Normandy ships, the legendary vessels that had drawn us all together.
I took Tali to the bedroom where we stood together looking out over the picturesque bay that was our own, the evening sun starting to make its way down towards the horizon. Tali had her arm around my waist as I draped my arm around her shoulders and touched my forehead to her mask.
"Our life is perfect, isn't it," Tali said softly. "We have each other, we have our perfect home on Rannoch, we have friends who we can always count on and the galaxy is well on its way to healing. And soon, we'll be parents."
"This is what I always imagined it would be like with you," I said. "All the crazy parts of my life are over now and we can just enjoy ourselves."
Tali gave me a sideways look and winked, "I think being parents will be pretty crazy too."
"Yep, soon we'll be begging to be back on the Normandy racing around stopping the bad guys again."
Tali went to the window and sat down on the carpeted floor looking outwards while I sat behind her. She rested herself back against me as I placed my chin on her shoulder.
"I've got an idea," she suddenly said as she began to slowly wiggle her hips in between my thighs, "why don't we go to the bed and have some fun! Then we can pretend I didn't need the IVF. We can pretend it all happened naturally."
I quickly moved out from behind her, pinned her to the floor and perched myself over her,
"Why do we need to go to bed?"
Keeping Tali's arms pinned down by her wrists, I took her helmet off and kissed her. Her soft lips connected with mine and we must have lain there for an age, neither of us wanting to move from where we were. I took Tali's hood down to free her luscious ebony hair and kissed her neck. While I did this, Tali managed to take her gloves off and started undoing my shirt, her nimble fingers making fast work of the buttons. No sooner had my shirt disappeared than I had unbuckled and stripped off the top half of her suit, exposing her soft, smooth skin.
I cupped her petite breasts, kissing her all the while. Tali was rubbing every part of her body against me as much as she could as lust took complete control of her. She rubbed my stiff manhood through my jeans as my tongue teased her nipple, my hand weaving its way down to between her legs. Tali was not content to wait and moved fast to take the rest of her suit off in record time, leaving the most beautiful Quarian lying on the floor, completely naked before me.
Tali's smooth, pearlescent skin was flawless in the evening light, her violet eyes looked up at me with a deep desire that I returned, my nose brushing against hers as I moved in for a kiss. My fingers traced the marks on her body where her cybernetic implants had been installed, and I began to feel her fingers do the same to me. All Quarians received implants before they went on their Pilgrimage to help fight against disease and infections from the foreign antibodies they would encounter. My cybernetics, on the other hand, were ever-lasting reminders of Project Lazarus when Cerberus had rebuilt me.
The scars were never going to fully heal and whenever I was angry, stressed or under duress, the devilish red glow could still be seen emanating from within me. On top of the web of scars that I inherited from Cerberus, there were ample examples of the wear-and-tear that I had put my body through during my career. Despite their origins, Tali and I had come to see the battle scars as a testament to our time together. We had both been through so much together and had come out the other side stronger and better for it. For this reason, I wore the scars with pride and Tali, by her own admission, found them hot.
Tali had by now removed the last of my clothing and threw herself onto me as my back was pressed up against the glass of the bedroom window. My hands ran down from her neck, grazing her side and grabbing onto her hips, pulling her closer to me as our bodies connected from head to toe. I turned the tables on my adorable wife and spun her around, pinning her against the glass, the cold feeling making her gasp as I parted her legs and knelt down. I kissed her sex, lightly grazing her until she gripped my hair. She wanted more. She stretched herself open wide and put a foot on my shoulder as my tongue began to circle gently, and I slowly eased on the pressure as Tali began to rock her hips backwards and forwards.
I continued pleasing Tali for a few, ecstasy-filled minutes until I felt her muscles starting to tense up again and again, each time getting tighter and tighter until Tali was screaming as her brain was overpowered by euphoria. While Tali calmed down, I began to kiss my way up her body. But before I drew level with her, she pushed me backwards so that I keeled over on my ankles and ended up flat on the floor. She was on top of me before I even knew what was going on and as she lowered herself down onto me, I felt myself slip inside her. I could read on her face how much she enjoyed the feeling of being so close and connected to me. Tali moved her wide, feminine hips up and down, my hands gently caressing her breasts as she rocked back and forward on me. Her three-fingered hands ran up my body, combing through my chest hair. One hand came to rest on my cheek as she gazed into my eyes. I loved her with all my heart and I knew that she was the key element in keeping me whole. What I would do without her in my life, I did not know.
Just as I was nearly finished, Tali stopped and got off of me, kneeling down with her lovely, round ass in the air. She was splayed out and ready for me to go in from behind and I was quick to do her bidding, not that I needed much convincing. I hovered around the entrance to her sex, making her wait until Tali was almost dying from the anticipation.
"Hurry up and fuck me, Scott, I want to feel you in me!"
I went in hard and fast, with Tali loving every second of it. I had a firm grip of her hips and moved my pelvis back and forward while she pushed back against me for maximum pleasure. My body jerked and I gasped out as I climaxed, Tali moaned with satisfaction as she felt me finish. For a second, we both paused and allowed ourselves to fully embrace the moment.
Still completely naked, we lay snuggling on the heated floor with the glorious view of the bay in front of us.
"That was wonderful," Tali said happily.
"It always is with you, Tali," I replied, "my beautiful wife is one hot little Quarian, really gets me going!"
Tali giggled and touched the tip of her nose to mine,
"Want some more?"
"You know Human men need some time to…uh… reload," I told her with a wink, "but it just means I'm saving something special for later."
"Looking forward to it," Tali said suggestively before resting her head on my chest, playing with my chest hair with her fingers. "How do you think we'll be as parents? I know we're a perfect team but… this will be different to going into battle together or having the house built."
"If we can fight in a galactic war and win it together and settle on a reclaimed world while all of civilisation rebuilds itself, we can do anything," I told her. I was confident that Tali and I were up to the task of raising a child in a loving and happy atmosphere.
"Did the Doctor say anything about exposure to me while you're pregnant?" I asked after a few peaceful moments. She gave me an amused look,
"You ask that after we have sex, of course."
"Hey, if it posed any danger, you would have stopped me, right?" I laughed.
"How can I resist such a handsome and exotic alien man? You are a three-time hero of the galaxy… how can a girl stop herself?" She replied as she playfully tugged at my cheek. "The Doctor said that it would actually be beneficial to have some limited exposure to you. Since my system has fully adapted to you, the baby will inherit some of that for certain. However, having some exposure to you in slowly increasing increments would make the baby's adaptation to you that much faster once I've given birth."
I was pleasantly surprised to hear that news. I had secretly feared that any Quarian child of mine would have had to be protected from me at all times, the potential risk from me to their weak Quarian immune system posed a real danger to our son or daughter. Now I could relax and stop worrying about such things and be content to know that our child would be brought up in a safe and secure environment.
Thinking of safety and security, it was like someone had suddenly turned my memory back to the news vids about the terrorist attack in Serrice and my mind started racing. Something about the whole situation was not sitting right with me and I wanted to know more, but for now I let it rest as Tali just wanted to enjoy our passionate evening together. We went downstairs to the balcony where I sat with a cold beer and Tali had some juice from a plant indigenous to Rannoch. She took a few sips and looked longingly at her glass before glancing over at my beer with a sigh,
"You men have it so easy."
I tried to think of something smart to say in response to this, but the best I managed was to grin and send a wry look in Tali's direction,
"Yeah…"
We both laughed and clinked glasses and looked out at the incredible view, watching as the sun began to go beyond the horizon.
"I never want this to change," I said thinking that I was just using my inside voice. When Tali replied I was caught by surprise, but her comment finished my thought process for me,
"You, me, our home. And soon there'll be a child to complete it all," Tali agreed. Her hand grazed my chest and slowly worked its way down to my manhood where she gave me a playful squeeze,
"So… Want some more?"