"Are you finally going to tell us why we left the resident angaran at Aya and ran back to the nexus like a spooked rat?" Peebee asked as she leaned against the meeting table, the agitated tone in the asari's voice in stark contrast to her relaxed stance.
Scott had called for an emergency meeting the moment he came back from the nexus, and she was done with his nervous twitching. He had been a complete wreck since jaal had insisted on remaining on Aya to make 'suitable preparations', a phrase that had made sense to exactly no one but Scott.
"That'd be nice. You've been acting weird for two weeks." Drack rumbled sardonically. "Well, weirder than normal." The ancient krogan leaned his rifle against the grand table, and Scott repressed a wince. Reminding himself to check it for cracks after the meeting, Scott drew a deep breath. He looked at his crew, all of whom were assembled before him, and wanted nothing more than to turn tail and run back to his quarters and get thoroughly drunk. But literally all of them were there, including his pilot, so… well, he wasn't called "brave to the point of stupidity" for nothing. Besides, he was expected at ark hyperion's cryo deck in less than an hour.
"When I was at the Nexus" he began, and ignored Vetra's muttered 'which time, I can't keep track'. "I was in one of those god awful meetings with Tann and he told me a few things I'd rather not know about or do, but…" he made a helpless gesture and felt a bit better at the sympathetic looks. "We are supposed to collect a human female, escort her to Aya, and watch her marry an angaran." he pinched the bridge of his nose and waited. The reactions did not take long.
"Wait, what?" Cora squeaked, shell-shocked.
"Is this true?" Lexi demanded, her skin darkening in indignation.
"Damn, poor girl!" Liam muttered, shaking his head.
"Yes" Scott sighed. "It gets worse. Sort of. The human female is my sister Sarah."
"Who is she marrying?" Lexi asked, even more agitated.
"Who the hell cares?" gentle Suvi exploded to everyone's surprise, "does she have any say in it?"
"No" Scott said grimly. "And neither do I. I tried. You know what Tann's like. And she's marrying Jaal." He ignored the twin looks of sympathy he was getting from Liam and Lexi, knowing they'd corner him later for sympathetic shoulders and beers.
"So that's why he insisted on staying behind" Koll murmured, "to be present on his future wife's bridal voyage might be considered highly inappropriate amongst his people."
"Yeah, pretty much" Scott said, sighing. "But that's not all of it. Sarah… Sarah is different."
"So she's a special snowflake" Gil said, rolling his eyes. "You're her brother, you're supposed to think so." Scott glared back at his… what was he? Friend with benefits? Fuck buddy?
"Yes, Sarah is a special snowflake as you so eloquently put it." He snarled, "In fact, she has autism."
"Auta-what now?" Peebee's face was like a giant question mark, and most of the other non-humans looked just as confused. Well, not Lexi, but then Scott didn't think she was capable of confusion.
"How severe is it?" The doctor asked instead, "is she communicative at all?"
"She's high-functioning, so yeah." Scott sighed deeply, wanting nothing more than to get really drunk. Maybe have sex with Gil. Preferably all over his quarters. He gestured to Lexi.
"I figure that Lexi knows the medical jargon better than me, so she gives you guys that first and then I explain what it means for living with Sarah. It's gonna sound like an instruction holo, but please just listen and then I'll do my best to answer questions."
Lexi gave him a quick, encouraging smile before she began:
"From what I have learned when studying human physiology, humans who have been diagnosed with autism struggle with social interaction and communication. Therefore, I expect that Sarah cannot naturally read social cues, and finds it difficult to make friends and interact with strangers. She can get so stressed in a social situation that she shuts down mentally. She rarely makes eye contact or small talk. She is very devoted to routines and order, and may have repetitive habits that come across as odd." Lexi looked at Scott again, worried. He smiled at her.
"That… is actually pretty much on point how Sarah is. Basically" he turned back to the team, "she is very introvert and struggles with talking to new people. She handles this by appearing to be very social but if you talk to her at length you'll soon realise that you don't know anything important about her. She needs strict routines, likes to plan ahead and does not like surprises, however she deals with them fine. Most anxiety attacks happen after the event, sometimes hours after. She is also very insecure, and instinctively seeks approval from… well, everybody. Daddy dearest made sure to teach her she's not normal and…" Scott pinched the bridge of his nose, something he always did when dealing with something that was hard on him.
"Uhm... Never promise her that you're going to do something and then not keep it. Be as direct as possible when you talk to her, since she often does not understand if you mean something else than what you are saying. Oh, and don't touch her unless she touches you first. Ever. And don't touch her stuff without asking permission."
A heavy silence reigned for several moments as the crew of the Tempest took in the information that had been rather unceremoniously dumped on them. Finally, it was Cora who asked the first question.
"Was it hard to grow up with a sister like that?" She immediately looked abashed, hanging her head.
"Not really" Scott replied, "I never thought about it. She's just my Sarah. It was like… Sarah has a meltdown and cries on the kitchen floor if mum doesn't make pasta on Thursdays? Okay, so Thursday is pasta night. I know it sounds weird, but to us it was natural. It was just Sarah. The middle spot on the shoe rack was for her sneakers, so if all other spots were full then you put your shoes on the floor or she'd panic over where to put her shoes when she got home." Scott smiled and shook his head.
"Sounds weird" Peebee remarked, "but I was an only child." Liam nodded in concord.
"I didn't have any brothers like that, though there were six of us" he said, then cocked his head to the side as if realising something. "You're gonna have to explain more, Ryder. I mean, it's a week's journey to Aya at high speed. If she's no good with changes then that is going to be hell for her, knowing that when we arrive everything is going to change. We need to make it as easy for her as possible." Scott smiled in gratitude at his friend; this was exactly why he considered Liam Costa one of the best men he had ever known. He didn't question or ridicule Sarah even in her absence, he accepted her as she was and just wanted to know how to help her. Scott looked over at the others, taking in their expressions. He immediately felt about ten pounds lighter; he saw curiosity, acceptance, a bit of anticipation. But no ridicule or suspicion. Vetra clicked her mandibles in thought.
"You said she has issues with meeting new people." she said slowly, "What will be easiest on her, meeting all of us at once so she knows who we are or you bringing her around?"
"I think she'd feel better if I brought her to meet one or two at a time, so if you could all just… go about your days as normal as possible, that'd be a great help. If she can see you in your environments, she can get a feel for you before saying anything. It'll definitely make her less anxious."
After that, the questions ranged from the really weird, like Koll's "what are her anxiety tells, apart from elevated heart rate, blood pressure and a spike in body temperature?" and Suvi's "is it okay if I sing and talk like normal when she's around, or would that stress her out?" to Drack's insightful and compassionate "if she has one of these anxiety attacks and you're not around, how do we calm her down?" and Vetra's "Are there any specific situations or items that will unavoidably trigger an anxiety attack? If we know, we can attempt to avoid them". Scott could have kissed Gil when he, full of remorse, offered to draw up rudimentary schedules for everyone on board so that Sarah would not have to search for anyone she wanted to talk to - or avoid. When Scott at last ended the meeting and sent everyone on their way with the promise to come to him or Lexi with any questions or concerns, he was exhausted. But even though the circumstances were less than ideal, he was actually looking forward to bringing Sarah to see his crew. He just knew she'd like them.