I throw my hands up in the air sometimes,

Saying AYO! Gotta let go!
I wanna celebrate and live my life,
Saying AYO! Baby, let's go!

Chapter 10

Happy Reunions

"Yo! Markie!" His sister gave him a light shake in his cot.

"Uuuurrrrrgh..." He was half hungover, half still asleep.

"Markie, wake up. Happy birthday!"

"Fuck off." He said. He didn't want to see anyone. Not today. Not on his birthday.

"Come on Mark. Don't you even want to see which sister is saying 'hi'?"

"I know it's you Isabella."

"Huh. I thought it was 'Izzie'. You've used it since we were five."

"Fuck off." He repeated. It was 9AM but as far as he and his body was concerned, it might as well have been five.

"Oh no. You don't get to talk to me like that." She pulled him up by the collar letting him rest his pounding head on her shoulder.

"I got something to help keep your mind busy. Come on."

"What are we doing?"

"You remember my old friend Captain Raleigh of the Ain Jalut? He's giving you his ship for the day. He'd also like you to take a look at some modifications he's made. As commander of two Normandys he said he'd be honored with your opinion."

"Fine. If it'll get you to leave me alone."

"Good. He's at the new Haephestus ship breaking facility."

"Why is he there?" He said slowly getting up.

"Here." She handed him a pair of earplugs and a set of heavily tinted sunglasses. "Figure it should help take the edge off."

They left the tent, where the light and sound nearly knocked Shepard back on his ass. Putting the glasses on and the buds in, the pain lessened considerably.

"Thanks."

"Sure thing. He's there because landing anything larger than a shuttle within ten miles of city limits is now illegal. It was getting harder and harder to tell what was being taken apart and what was being scrapped. With them landing in only a couple places it's easier to track vessels coming and going."

"Not exactly answering my question."

"It's quicker than a shuttle ride."

"Hm." He grunted.

The day matched his mood. Heavy gray overcast with a light drizzle.

At the brisk pace they had, it took them about forty minutes to reach Hephaestos though no words were exchanged. Even with a planet-sized hangover, Markus kept pace with Isabella with no issue.

Hephaestos was the largest facility on Earth of its kind; the only in fact. Hulks of several dozen ships from nearly every race: human, turian, asari, and salarian vessels made up the bulk. They were ones that were either too damaged to return to their own worlds, or had been declared too expensive to repair. Mostly the the corpses of frigates laid stripped to the bone to rebuild Earth.

"Come on, what are we really doing here?"

"Mom told me how down you've been. I thought, maybe this might help a bit."

"Sure." His answer was absent.

"Okay, we're here." Markus looked up to see a vessel larger than the Normandy-class should have been.

"I thought we were here to see the Ain Jalut. What's this?"

"SSV Ain Jalut.. Serial number F102-575368-SR3. It rolled off the line a month before the war broke out. Let me guess, you were expecting the smaller model like the SR-1? I got to take a look at it, those Cerberus engineers did a pretty good job with her design."

"Yeah." He was remembering what Tali said when she came on board. She didn't trust any of the new crew but had likewise complemented the designers. Coming from her, he considered it exceptionally high praise.

Isabella opened her omni-tool. "Hey Raleigh, it's Izzie. Shepard and I are here. Open the door please?"

There wasn't a verbal response, but the ramp began to lower. Even with the rain keeping the soil damp it made an audible thud.

"Oh, I should warn you, there's likely to be a surprise waiting for you. Just warning you."

He walked up the ramp to see his Sonja doing negative incline push-ups off of the requisition station.

"Hey there Markie!" She said looking up, still continuing her push-ups.

"Sonja. What are you doing here?"

"It's your birthday isn't it? I wanted to join and pay tribute to my little brother."

"Kay."

"You haven't told him have you?" She said to Isabella. "How could you not tell him?"

"Tell me what."

"Mom, dad, and Amanda flew in. They've been working their asses off to set up a party for you. Izzie here was supposed to tell you so you weren't this grumpy-grouch." She said as she stood up.

"It slipped my mind." She meekly admitted.

"Well, why don't we say hi to our gracious host before trashing Deck Three!"

She hit a combination on her omni-tool opening the cargo bay door.

What Markus saw made his jaw drop. He looked back and forth between his sisters in bewilderment. He had to be dreaming! He dropped the sunglasses on the floor, the lenses falling out as they struck the cold metallic polymer.

"Tali, you gotta keep quiet." Ashley whispered. "You'll ruin the surprise."

"I know. I know."

Ashley, Joker, Tali and Garrus stood in the closed elevator waiting for the big reveal.

Isabella had kept the communication line open between them, though their side had been turned down and muted the microphone to try and keep from revealing themselves.

"It slipped my mind." That was the cue for them to get ready.

"Why don't we say hi to our gracious host before trashing Deck Three?"

The cargo bay door opened showing themselves. Shepard's jaw dropped, looking to his sisters for an explanation.

"What Shepard," Garrus said first. "You think you're the only one who gets to come back from the dead?"

"Uh..." Shepard stammered out, not sure what to say to that.

It took Tali an eternally long moment before her body's movements followed her brain's instructions. She ran to him tearing her mask off.

She leapt up, expecting him to catch her but instead knocking him over. Not exactly as she had planned.

"T-Tali?" Her forehead rested on his for a moment, his warmth starkly contrasting the cold April air.

"It's me Mark. It's me."

"Oh my god!"

He thrust his head up to meet hers, their lips crossing over each other and re-adjusting to earn the best purchase. The salty taste of his skin was even better than she had remembered.

"I want you to know that I love you. And I always will." She said, repeating his message to her. She relocked her lips with his until oxygen became necessary.

"Hey, hey!" Garrus said coolly walking to the couple. "Save some for the rest of us."

"Here, think you'll be needing this." He handed her mask back to Tali.

She hurriedly put it back.

"Told ya so! Now pay up." Isabella said looking to Sonja.

"Fine. Fine." She handed a small handful of credits over to her younger sister.

The crew meanwhile were giving him extremely tight embraces.

"Wait, how did... How did you all get back?"

"Well when the Crucible went off we got thrown to the far side of the galaxy as the relays exploded. Don't ask us how, but half of EDI's systems were crippled." Ashley said.

Garrus picked up from there"We had a memorial service for those we lost. Tali refused to put your name on the wall."

"We had pretty much accepted our fate until that message came in. When it did, the purple princess here worked day and night to get us back in the air." Joker said beaming at the engineer who was tucking herself under Shepard's arm to cuddle with him once more.

His warm body filling her already bursting stomach with more butterflies.

"Happy birthday Markus!" Isabella proudly proclaimed.

"Come on. We've got a cake for you up on Deck Three."

"Just a moment. I'd like to speak with my brother alone." Isabella said.

Tali at her, eyes watering. She didn't want to be away from him for a second.

"I'll have him back to you before you know it; don't worry."

"It's okay Tali." He kissed the metallic plate over her cheek. "I'll only be a moment."

They held hands, fingers intertwined until the last possible moment as the door closed.

Isabella kept her hands over Mark's eyes as he rounded the elevator on the Crew Deck.

"Okay, open up." As she moved her hands away.

He slowly opened his eyes to see the entire crew gathered along with his parents and Amanda. "SURPRISE!" They all hollered at the top of their voices.

A large banner had been strung across the top of the walls. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY COMMANDER SHEPARD' inscribed on it.

"Here you go son." His dad and mother approached with a massive cake. 'Welcome home' inscribed in cursive with red icing.

Tali meanwhile had already scooted back next to him.

"Well, blow out the candles sweetie! You know how this works!"

"I don't need to wish for anything he said." His already ear to ear grin managed to stretch a few centimeters wider. "I've got everything I could want."

"Well then blow the candles out!" She said. "I want to know if we got it right."

"First incision is yours Loco." James said handing him a knife.

He cut a corner of it, looking at the color on the inside. He trusted her, but the fact that quarians and humans couldn't eat the same food made him a little nervous.

The neutral light yellow color didn't provide him any information as to the potential flavor. Tentatively eating the slice he easily identified the flavor.

"Uber-berry blaster?!" He hadn't had it since he was six years old.

"You told me once it was your favorite." Tali said with pride. "Your sister had the recipe so we baked it up."

"Before this all gets completely out of hand, there's just one thing."

He let Tali out from under his arm, getting down on one knee pulling out a little white felt covered box. "Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya..."

Two minutes earlier

"First off," Isabella slapped Markus across the face. "That's for asking Ashley to throw your wedding ring out the garbage disposal! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I didn't think-"

"Damn right you didn't!"

"Let me finish! When I sent that, I was loosing hope that they were alive. Anybody still alive had called in. More than four months Izzie. I... I didn't want her to find it if they couldn't get back."

Isabella kept her glare at him but understood his reasoning. "That's what she said you told her. Still an asshole thing to do."

"Me?! How about you! You knew they were alive and didn't tell me! You even asked them to keep quiet!? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"I needed to see your expression." She replied coldly.

"What, me in pain? You wanted to see me suffering so you can play hero?"

"No. I wanted to see you and Tali get back together to make sure you hadn't moved on. As I recall you did have that habit."

"Now whose full of bullshit?"

"Now who needs to wait before the other finishes?"

"Give me your hand."

"Why?"

The elevator chimed opening up, the rest of the party now on Deck Three preparing for the upcoming surprise party.

"Just do it." She said grabbing his right hand. She'd have gone for his left, much more natural for her but its metallic nature and small frame didn't make it her first choice. She slid a small box covered in some form of soft fabric into his hand closing his fingers around it as she retracted hers. He hit the door controls with his free hand in the mean time.

"What is this?"

"Open it you dunce."

He opened the small box and fell against the back wall. "This is..."

"I stopped off before picking up Amanda. Don't worry, I cleared it with her first. She's okay with it."

A sympathetic smile returned to her face. "I think this'll make the absolute best birthday in history, ever. Don't you?"

"You really are insane Izzie." She gave him the Shepard family ring, worn by at least thirty generations of Shepard women. Each time it was passed to another generation the previous wearer would add a small gemstone to it. At present, most of the gems added were color changing sapphires.

"Tali'Zorah vas Normandy nar Rayya, will you marry me?" He opened the white felt box revealing their family's wedding ring.

"I-I..." Her mind had gone completely blank, the partygoers silent in awe. She had wanted to betroth him but wasn't sure he felt the same way and worried about what happened if she brought it up.

"You're supposed to say 'yes' Tali." Isabella eventually spoke up from the crowd.

Tali's brain reconnected. "Yes." She kept repeating as jumped him knocking them to the floor yet again, tearing her mask off to kiss him once more.

"Hey come on you two." Hanna said. "There are children here."

Markus moved his head to the side to look at her mother while Tali continued on his neck and cheek. "What are you talking about?"

Hanna simply pointed to Joker with a 'who else did you think we were talking about' look.

"Yeah, hold on." His fingers felt around for the treasured box. He took the ring out, slipping it onto her far left finger.

"Well then," Shepard proclaimed standing back up. "Looks like we really have something to celebrate!" He hadn't ever seen the point in celebrating his birthday. Space travel made it rather inconvenient practice to continue. A couple of months on one planet could be two years on another.

"Oh just shut up and let us celebrate you birthday for once!"

"Oh my god." Joker groaned out as the party was wrapping up. "I don't think I can eat another bite of cake."

"Would you prefer some haggis?" EDI joked with him. "As I understand it we have plenty left."

"OI!" Donnelly yelled out from across the room at the apparent insult to his country's trademark dish.

The birthday celebrations lasted approximately four hours, only to be immediately followed with a celebration on the upcoming nuptials between Tali and Shepard. The second had lasted another six hours with everyone having a hard time staying on their feet near the end.

"Come on," Tali said dragging Shepard back up off the floor. It hadn't taken long for them to realize that using only the dining area wasn't enough. The party had quickly expanded to the port side lounge which had been restocked and eventually into Ashley and James' quarters on the starboard side.

"Oh come on! I was comfy there." He had been talking with Garrus and Amanda, the latter two apparently hitting it off quite well.

"I know somewhere else comfy. And not so crowded."

It took him less than a second to snap his head back. "HeyguysIthinkI'mgonnaturnin. It'skindalatesoI'llseeyouinthemorning. Night!" He said; mouth running a mile a second.

They rode the elevator back up. He longed so bad to get to that bed.

Tali leapt back up onto him, this time though he was ready for her. He caught her as her legs straddled him, while his hands supported the lower portions of her tight body as the elevator slowly rose up.

"I uh, while you- we were gone. I didn't..." Tali drifted off though her eagerness was enough to tell him. Neither took the opportunity to relieve themselves in the last seven months.

When the door opened Tali tried climbing off but Markus' grip on her rear tightened saying 'you're not going anywhere'.

Tali started discarding her belts, throwing them every which way as he walked them both through the room.

He leaned over the bed as she fell back, undoing her suit seals revealing her chest to him.

"Keelah, I missed you so much." She moaned as he gently stroked her breasts with his 'good' hand.

As she was undoing his belt, he suddenly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" She was worried. He had been cautious initiating but once he knew she wanted to, he didn't hold himself back.

"It's..." The nightmares he had during the year had resurfaced. They had affected his feelings, making him feel hopeless and responsible for what might have happened to her, but the images had always faded away when he woke. This just wasn't fair!

"While you... I..."

"Please, don't do this to me." The horror of what his subconscious mind had done rose back to the foreground of his mind. The dream where he beat and then murdered her horribly in their bed.

"Not now..." She continued.

"It-It's... not that." It was just a couple of dreams! Dammit why now!? What was making it worse is he couldn't tell her, causing her to start assuming the worst.

He collapsed on the couch. He eventually conceded.

"I'm sorry. I can't. At least not tonight."

"Why not?" She tried sitting with him, her suit still open. But he kept adjusting himself to put at least a little distance between them.

"Markus, what's wrong?"

"It's not you." Tears were welling up in his eyes. It shouldn't be this difficult!

"Then tell me. I can't help you if you don't."

"I... I killed you. Every night."

"What?"

"Every night, when I went to sleep. No matter what I did, you died. It was always my fault. I-" He stumbled on the next part. "I even did it a couple of times. I just don't want to hurt you."

"Hey, you see this?" She pointed to the faint scar running along her jawline. Her own voice breaking as she told him how badly she had been hurting.

"I was so convinced you were dead. I was sure you were dead and wanted to be with you so badly." The tears were falling down her pale face now.

"Oh my god, baby." He tried hugging her only for her to hold him back.

"Wait." She pleaded, voice still shaky.

"It's done. It's over with. All of it." Some of her confidence was starting to come back.

"We don't need to keep punishing ourselves for hurting." What she was saying was a little shocking. She had always leaned on him for support, now here he was looking to her for strength. 'I guess this makes us a real couple now.'

"Now you can either keep wallowing or you can mount me." He couldn't contain his laughter at how forward she was being.

"You're right." He couldn't argue with her.

"Of course I am. You told me the same thing. Well, not literally."

"I know. But, I'm still a little worried."

"I think I can wait one more night. But you'll owe me extra in the morning. Now come to bed with me."

The newly engaged couple crawled back into bed. Tali though continued disrobing.

"Uh, what are you doing?" She had pushed her ample rear up against his pelvis.

"I feel more comfortable this way." He could have debated it, but it felt good to be lying next to her like this again even if they weren't doing anything.

"Good night Tali."

"Good night Markus."