The past few days have been painstakingly slow. Doctor Philanksis has came in with different scientists to check on Shepard's condition and to run tests. Since the inclusion of dextro nutrient paste to his diet, he has been slowly gaining back nutrients that he needed to grow healthy. Tali was relieved, of course, but it has been tedious work modifying the surprise enviro-suit to fit Shepard, adding digits to the gloves, making the legs straight. She wondered if she should add indents for the toes as well, like quarians, who's toes were more spread apart, but then she remembered humans wore little sacks underneath their boots called socks. She's seen plenty lying around in Shepard's cabin.
She tried her best to make it resemble the N7 armor that he always wore. The outer armor casing of the suit was black with an N7 symbol glued onto the corner of the chest. She didn't have much time to paint the stripes down on the right arm, so she settled for making the decorative cloth red, where she sowed white whorl patterns that mimicked her own into the cloth to remind him of her as a special touch.
The last piece was the visor, golden like the visor on his old helmet, which was probably smoldering in the ash somewhere. She was reminded again how humans and quarians were different when she made the part of the visor closest to his eyes more translucent so he could see well. Quarians eyes were much more powerful than humans, being able to penetrate the normal blurriness of most quarian visors.
Right now she was just making sure the systems in the suit were working. She glanced at the clock and worked faster. Oh no! Auntie Raan will be here soon! I need to get this done! Tali's plan was to use the suit to ease any possible worries that her Aunt might have with her interspecies relationship, she didn't exactly know where she stood on a topic like this. She thought the suit might help her think of Shepard as a quarian himself. He will be just like us!
She was also excited to get him out of this cramped hospital. It would be fun watching him get used to the suit that she worked very hard on for him. She could already see him running out of the hospital, desperate to gain back the muscle he's lost in the past month from being on strict bed rest.
She looked over her omni-tool to see if any errors or malfunctions would pop up. Satisfied that she saw none, she folded up the suit and placed the helmet and boots on it. She took one last glance at the clock, Kasumi will be back with her Aunt in less than fifteen minutes. She took a deep breath. Reveal time.
"John? Your surprise is ready!"
She heard him prop himself up on the sheets, "Finally! I've been dying to know what it is!"
She gave a soft smile at his enthusiasm, "Close your eyes," she sang.
"Alright."
"No peeking!" She picked up the suit, it was slightly heavier than she anticipated, but it was easy to carry nonetheless. She emerged from the other side of the curtain in one fluid motion and stepped in front of John to find him sitting up with hands over his eyes.
"Hold out your hands," she sang again.
He slowly held his arms out with eyes still tucked closed. He flexed his fingers in excitement. Tali gently set the suit down in his arms and paused a little to give the desired dramatic effect.
"Now...open them!"
His eyes opened softly as his sight took in the suit he had in his arms. He let out a large sigh of relief.
"What? You thought it would be worse?" She accused.
"No! I thought it was going to be something completely different. But Tali, this is amazing! Thank you! I don't know what to say! This is so thoughtful!"
She felt satisfied that his gratitude was genuine, "I love you too much to let you be cooped up in here. You need to stretch your legs."
John took another moment to take in his gift, "Tali...this is...I love you so much."
Tali took another look at her clock, "Put it on! Quickly! Auntie Raan will be here very soon!"
He gave her a questioning look but started to strip off his baggy white suit. Tali couldn't help but notice that his flesh was gaining back its color and his muscles, although weak due to the lack of use, were starting to look more structured. She was blushing and fought the urge to wring her hands. She awkwardly picked up the suit and began to unfold it, "H-here, let m-me help."
He didn't argue as he stripped the rest of his suit down to his underwear. Tali shoved the pants section into his arms rather forcefully, tearing her eyes away from exploring anything. Shepard stuck his feet into the pants and hoisted it up to his waist before stopping at the bottom of his boxers, which were in the way. This was a skin tight suit, after all.
"Uh, Tal? I need to u-use the curtain real quick."
Tali blushed harder as she realized what he meant, "Oh, oops, s-sorry. Forgot to tell you that. Go ahead."
It was very odd for her to be in this situation. John and her have done much more than just expose themselves to each other, but it has been about a year since that time. There have been six months when she hasn't seen him because he was taken by the Alliance, and it was a little while later when he helped retake the quarian homeworld. It was only a couple weeks ago that they rekindled themselves enough to sleep together again.
Shepard pulled off the pants and walked behind the curtain. Tali continued to unfold the rest of the suit and organized the ornaments on the bed. Tali couldn't exactly describe how she felt at that moment. She felt like she was freeing John of his hospital bed, yet at the same time she felt like she was imprisoning him in a suit that he shouldn't have to wear. He makes so many sacrifices...too many sacrifices.
In no time Shepard reemerged with his pants on and underwear in hand, which he promptly threw into a bin in the corner of the room. Tali picked up the chest section of the suit and raised it above his head, where he raised his arms up to receive it. Tali brought it down and watched as his head pulled through the turtle-neck like collar that reached up below his jaw. The chest overlapped a flatter section of the pants and began to interlock with each other, becoming one.
Tali didn't know if John knew that the act of helping another person into their suit was incredibly romantic. It was another large act of trust, and she gave a small smile knowing that they worked so well together. Her heart began to beat faster from the moment.
She picked up the left sleeve of the suit and dragged it over his arm until it overlapped a flatter section of the suit at the shoulder, interlocking to also become a part of the suit. She picked up the right sleeve and did the same thing. Afterwards, she went behind him and starting tightening the buckles to make sure everything was skin tight.
Shepard himself began to understand how the suit worked and picked up the socks and started to put them on, doing the same interlocking. Tali waited as he also put on the gloves. Now, he was in the enviro-suit itself.
She grabbed the armor pieces and looked to Shepard.
"John? Do you n-need the a-armor? Or are you f-fine with just the cloth and h-helmet?"
Shepard pondered while Tali fidgeted with the pieces, "Give me it, I need to gain a little muscle weight, the armor will help with that."
Male suits were always more armored, so helping a bondmate or lifemate into their armor was especially romantic for the females. The men felt a strong amount of pride when wearing their armor, it reminded them of their roles of protectors to the women and children and their ships. She was reminded once again how John was different. He didn't wear armor to feel pride or powerful, but as a duty, a responsibility to protect not just women and children of his own species, but all life. Savior of the Galaxy. Tali chuckled a little to herself. She felt lucky.
Ignoring Shepard's protesting, she pushed him back onto the bed and helped him into the thigh pieces and boots. After that, she picked up the first pair of decorative cloth and strapped it around the thighs.
Next was the torso, she picked up the torso piece and signaled Shepard to stand up. Shepard's legs were unbowed, so she simply pulled it up around his groin until the top of the piece reached to his neck as he uncomfortably squeezed his arms into the holes.
Before continuing, she embraced him into a hug. She squeezed him tight, and just stood there. All she needed was him in her arms, the feel of his existence beyond her gloved fingers. She would normally curse the suits between them, but then it didn't matter. His warmth was felt, even if it wasn't physically. She felt happier as he returned the hug, bringing her closer to him.
"Tali, I can never say this enough, but I love you."
"Se'tum croom. I am yours, forever," she responded.
Reluctantly, she let go of their embrace and helped him with his arm pieces and gauntlets. The shoulder armor reached above the torso insuring maximum protection, and the gauntlets fit Shepard's fingers perfectly. He was already looking very quarian like. She picked up the waist and arm belts that had pouches attached to them, and started strapping them to their respective places, adding a few tubes of nutrient paste to each of them, just in case he got hungry for a snack. Up next were the final pieces, the helmet and the cloth.
She started out first with the decorative cloth. She wrapped it around his broad shoulders and over his chest, folding it and leaving slack for when he put on his helmet. She then got the last belt that went over his chest and strapped it over his armor, tightening the buckle to secure the cloth. She gleamed a finger over the buckle, where a small N7 logo was embossed over the normal circular pattern. The cloth covered the other logo on the chest armor, so she added one to the buckle to make sure it was visible somewhere.
The suit was nearly finished. She hoisted the helmet over his head and he greeted it with enthusiasm as she lowered it slowly. The male helmets were more elongated than the females, so she curled her fingers under the speaker light and fastened the helmet to the suit with no problem. She took the first pair of slack from the cloth and fastened it under the helmet, covering his neck. Then she spun Shepard around and took the long cords that were a part of the back of the helmet and hooked them up to his armor that covered his back. She heard a beep as the suit systems responded to the connection. She then took the last bit of slack from the cloth and pressed it over his helmet, the red and white whorls stretching over the black.
Then the last piece was needed. She slowly raised the golden visor but paused to look at Shepard's face.
"I'm going to miss being able to look at that all the time," she whispered.
"I know, but we must be patient, we both don't have to worry about it much longer."
"First, my immune system had to adapt to you. Now, we have to wait longer for you to adapt to me," a tear nearly broke through her eye.
"Remember, not much longer. Here, I'll help."
He raised his own hands to grasp onto the visor and together they both slowly brought it down over his face, hissing as it locked onto the helmet. The suit was completed.
She embraced him in another hug. He returned it and rubbed small circles on her back. This was another special moment for her, helping her bondmate into his own suit. It was a moment that was beautiful, and sad. It was two sides of the same coin, both freeing Shepard from immobility in exchange for imprisoning him with restrictions of the outside world. But the hug was comforting, it eased any sadness from the repercussions of the payment. They danced a little as the spun in a small half circle, exchanging positions on the floor. She half opened her eyes and her heart skipped a beat once she saw her Auntie leaning on the doorway with arms folded.
"I see that gaining support of the quarian fleet wasn't the only reason why the Commander saved our homeworld."
"Auntie! I-I-I-" she stammered as she pushed herself away from Shepard.
"Tali, I get the point. I mean I had my suspicions since the trial, but I didn't expect...this."
"Raan, I can explain-" she tried to interrupt.
"I knew what and...who we needed to talk about. But now my questions are when, where, why?"
"Auntie, please, I'm sorry I didn't tell you! I thought you would d-disapprove and-and-and-" she wrung her hands furiously.
Raan seem fairly calm from the news. She simply got off the wall and beckoned her into the decontamination chamber on the other side of the door. Before Tali moved, Raan lifted her head to grab Shepard's line of sight, "Do you mind if I borrow her for a moment?"
"Not at all. But please, be easy," Shepard's speaker light flashed.
That doesn't sound good. Tali nervously followed her to the other side of the door and looked back to find any assurances from him, but because of his visor, she couldn't see so much as a smile. But his non-luminescent eyes were warm, so she accepted that. The door closed and she was left alone in the small, cramped room with her Auntie. A long moment of silence lingered as Tali wrung her hands and lowered her head to help think up of answers to all the questions that Raan might have.
"Tali, I'm not angry with you. Shepard messaged me about this, and your friend, Miss Goto, gave me more details as well."
Tali looked up at her in surprise, "You're n-not angry? And...you knew?"
"Yes! I just barely said that in the other room!" Raan motioned.
"Oh..."
"Tali, I'm not your mother, nor am I your real aunt. So I can't exactly say whether I disapprove or not."
"But you're the closest to a mother I have! Your opinions matter!"
"Tali, I'm very flattered, and yes, I care for you as much as your real mother did. But it's your choice. I just want to know when, where, and why?"
Tali paused to take in the news, thinking over Raan's words. "Really?" Her Aunt nodded. This was such a turn of events from what she expected. What she imagined was a very angry woman who looked like she was about to throttle her niece's human lover. Relieved of only a few of her worries, Tali gathered her thoughts and launched into the love story of her and Shepard.
"Well, I developed feelings for him since we first met. As you know, he saved me from thugs on the Citadel when I was on my pilgrimage. Although at the time, I tried to convince myself it was ridiculous, as most would think," she made a small gesture with her hand as if signaling that the, "most," she mentioned were the entire quarian race.
"We developed a close friendship with each other and our other friend, Garrus, when we were taking down Saren. We became something of a trio over time." She paused to reflect on the good times they had before continuing. "Even after our victory against Sovereign, I never really said anything to him before he...died. Mainly because of the fact that I haven't finished my pilgrimage and wasn't even considered an adult...but...he helped me out with that by giving me the geth data. His generosity just made me admire him more and more. I figured that after I completed my pilgrimage, I would finally say something."
Raan thought over her words as she propped her chin with her thumb and first finger, "But you never got to. I remember, that's why you were devastated when you returned, I thought it was because of the shock of being attacked and escaping an exploding ship."
"Yes...and then Cerberus," she spat the name of the terrorist organization," rebuilt him two years later. He comes back from the dead and helps me complete two missions, and saved me, again!"
Raan nodded, "Veetor on Freedom's Progress and the Geth Colossus on Haestrom, I remember."
"Yes! Then...the trial," she took a moment to clear her head of the painful memory, "He saved me from being exiled, he comforted me when I saw father dead. You see? How could I not love him?"
Raan took a deep breath, "I'm starting to ask that question myself."
Tali was delighted that her aunt was understanding, she pressed on with her story before any possible interruptions could occur. "I kind of dropped a fairly large hint after that, so he came down to Engineering where I worked and that's when I stumbled out a uh, confession."
"Oh? How?"
"We were talking about quarian suits, I um, accidentally let something slip...but I gave up and just said something along the lines about how could I possibly have interest in a commander that rescued me and took me on an adventure to save the galaxy...It was...I don't know."
"Seems more sarcastic than a confession."
"Well, you had to be there. But the point is that it got the message across. To be honest, I was ready to be shut down after that...but he didn't...He felt the same way!" Tali bounced a little on her toes, remembering that day. "That's when we really started...dating."
Raan's eyes narrowed to an accusing glare, "Tali..."
She recognized what she meant and waved her arms, "Oh no! We didn't do anything like that! Although we did...sleep together."
"Tali!"
"Only a few times! But we never did anything!" Tali cringed slightly. She didn't like lying to her aunt. Although it wasn't really an explicit lie.
Raan covered her visor with her hands in discomfort and just held her head, "Please just...continue before I-I-...I don't know. Just please, continue your story."
Tali wrung her hands slightly and did what was asked, "That was after the crew was captured by the Collectors. But we went on and rescued them. John saved me once again on that mission. Even as going as far to risk his own life for me. Keelah, we could've both died that day..." She paused and remembered the horrors of humans being processed to make a human reaper, something that still gave her nightmares.
"Then, he was taken away from me by the Alliance, and the war with the geth started..." Tali paused, reflecting on the lack of contact between the two of them. She didn't know how they managed to keep the spark alive during that time, but she was glad that they did.
She continued her story. "But he didn't give up on me. He was already going through so much with the reapers here. The next time we saw each other, well...We lost our friend Mordin, when he cured the krogan Genophage...But he continued on, and went as far as to save our homeworld." She shook her head, partially upset about the loss of the salarian doctor that she respected so much, and partially still in disbelief that her bondmate was the one who took on a reaper back on Rannoch.
"He did that! For me! For us! For our entire species! After that...well...you know the rest."
Raan nodded her head slowly, visibly reflecting on Tali's words as she held her speaker light in between her thumb and index finger. After a second she looked back up at her. "And I remember after he saved the galaxy to insure not just our homeworld's safety, but every homeworlds safety...a certain woman who dealt with fear, loss, and despair, spent time drifting among the open stars, along tides of light, and shoals of dust, did not give up to return to where she once began, next to his side."
Tali stood in shock of what she meant, and a small tear of joy dripped from her Auntie's wholehearted approval.
"But..."
Tali looked up again at her with confusion.
"I do have one concern." She let the words hang in the air to make sure she had Tali's full attention. "Your happiness is important to me. I do not expect this to work out fully. Even if you two manage to want a deeper relationship, he cannot give you children. Not saying that it's important, but it's still a decision worth considering."
This was one question Tali expected, and so she prepared an answer that she herself did not entirely like. "I know, I was hoping to approach Mordin on the matter, but...you know...But I have decided that if we couldn't have a child of our own, we could adopt."
"Is that what you want?"
"Nothing in the galaxy would please me more," Tali answered confidently.
Raan took another deep breath, "That's more or less all I wanted to know. You have made your choice. I just pray to the Ancestors that it will grant you happiness."
Tali embraced Raan in a warm hug, "And all I wanted was your approval. Don't worry Auntie, I will be happy." Raan returned the hug and let the moment pass.
"You remind me so much of your mother. So determined to love, and showing it in extraordinary ways. Making that suit for him is no exception."
"Thank you, Auntie Raan."
Shepard waited awhile for the two women to return into the room. He decided on getting used to his new suit by doing stretches, which was an awful idea. His nerves shocked him as he bent over to touch his toes and he fell onto the floor, cursing under his breath. It was then that the sound of the door opened and the two women returned. Perfect timing.
"John! Are you alright? What happened?"
"Oh nothing, just my body doing electro-shock therapy on itself is all."
Tali helped him onto his feet and started checking over his suit, "Your nerves acting up?"
Shepard nodded his head as he hugged Tali, "Yeah, don't worry, it'll heal in a month or two."
"Perhaps we shouldn't go outside just yet, I didn't think about that."
"No, no, no. We'll go outside. I just need to speak with your Auntie first."
Both Tali and Raan looked at him questioningly.
"About what?" They asked.
He poked Tali's mask teasingly and spoke directly to her, "That is a secret. Don't worry, it'll be quick." He made for the door and beckoned Raan to return into the small room. The older quarian admiral followed him and he closed the door behind her, making sure Tali couldn't hear them. He then turned to face her.
"So, what do you think?"
"I think that I approve of your relationship with her, you obviously make her very happy."
Shepard gave a small sigh of relief as he mentally checked Raan's approval off as a step forward in his plan. "Okay, now I have to ask you something very important. I don't entirely trust the extranet about this so I thought it would be best if I heard this from you."
The pause roped Raan in, "Okay...go on."
He took the deepest breath in his existence and gathered his words in his head, "H-how...how does one...ask...a quarian...to be their...lifemate?"
Raan's eyes became massive spheres of light. "...WHAT?!"
He urged closer to Raan to try to calm her down, "Shh! Shh! Tali will hear us!"
Raan lowered her voice significantly but still held her fire, "A lifemate?! With Tali?! So soon?! Commander, I only just found out about your relationship with her and you're already asking me about how to ask her to become your lifemate?!"
Shepard continued to do his best to calm down the raging Aunt, "No, you only just confirmed our relationship! She means the universe to me and, since you approved, I thought I'd ask you!"
"I know but...it's all so fast!" Raan's hands raised to her helmet as if trying to steady herself from Shepard's intentions.
"If you're worried about how much time we dated, I'm sure our experiences working together can make up for all that. We've seen enough to fill a lot of lifetimes."
"No, it's just all too fast for me. I didn't expect this too happen for awhile after finding out. But...now?"
"Easy, I don't plan on asking her until before we leave for Rannoch in three months."
"Well thanks for making it slower," she said sarcastically.
"Raan, please. We've been through hell and back multiple times, I think this is a good time as any. Besides, you might be able to help me gain the approval of...someone else."
"Who? I have to remind you that I'm the closest to a relative that Tali has, unless you're talking about your crew, which makes no sense."
"Who it is is still a secret. Just know that your help will make things a lot easier."
Raan took a deep breath but didn't pursue this, "secret person," any further.
"Okay, fine, I guess I can tell you how quarians propose."
Shepard let out a small sigh of relief before she continued, albeit a little less than enthusiastically.
"Keep in mind that it's very simple, since we didn't have much resources. Really, all you do is offer a small gift that means a great deal to you, normally it's a piece of your suit or a family trinket. This is basically asking her to join your clan, or family in your case. You hand it to her and, to the best of my translation ability, ask...using Tali as an example here, 'Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, my bondmate, I feel that our love is accepted by the Ancestors, so I ask if you would join my clan, Shepard, as my lifemate...Do you accept?' and that's when she would...reply."
That's much different than how the extranet puts it. I'm sure one article just slapped how rats mated and called it good. That pisses me off. Shepard thought that the proposal was fairly similar to humans, except without the special destination and the dropping on one knee. But one thing he wanted to do was propose in her native tongue.
"Raan, do you think you can give me the proposal in Khelish? I think it would make things less confusing."
"Great idea, it'll also be more special...I'll...send it to you now," she opened up her omni-tool reluctantly sent the translation. Before Shepard could look at his own omni-tool and open the door, Raan shoved him against the wall and edged closer to his face, making him gasp in shock.
"This is a lot for me to take in, so if I end up making a mistake, and you break her heart, I will rip off your helmet and throw you into the most disgusting place I find! Got it?!" She snarled.
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good. Don't make me regret helping you."
She quickly calmed from raging aunt to Admiral Shala'Raan vas Tonbay, regaining her normal...normalness. It was almost inorganic.
Keelah, she can be scary when she wants to be. I don't know how to feel if she becomes my Auntie-In-Law. Wait, did I just say, "Keelah?"
She backed off from Shepard and made for the door. "Come on, let's take Tali on a walk." She opened the door and beckoned her niece, "Come, Tali, let's go stretch our legs."
Tali's purple form moved into the room and hugged him. He looked down in surprise but hugged her back anyway, "It's only been a few minutes!"
"Feels like ages for me."
Shepard couldn't help but smile and have his heart melt from her adorableness. "Come on, Miss vas Normandy, let's go see how many people we can surprise with my new outfit."
"Yes, let's."
They were in the elevator before a question popped to his mind, "Don't I need to go on a pilgrimage now? Is this my child suit or adult suit?"
Tali laughed hard and struggled to give her answer, "I'm sure you proved your worth a long time ago. When you gave us the best pilgrimage gift of all time!"
Shepard smiled as he remembered their time on Rannoch. He already could envision themselves in a beautiful house looking over a small ocean on the desert planet. He looked down to the beautiful quarian next to him that returned his sight of love. He tapped the top part of his visor to hers.
The quarian equivalent of a kiss.