It's decided! This is going to be a series. There are too few fluffy Shrios fics.

(Both on this site and among my own stories)

Baby years

Shepard stood by the large living room window, gently rocking the baby she had in her arms. Large, black eyes stared up at her and small hands were clutching at the t-shirt Shepard was wearing. Miyo let out a soft cooing sound and gave Shepard a wide, toothless smile. Even though the new mother knew that so far, the smiles didn't actually mean anything and were simply a reflex, they were beautiful nonetheless. And despite the pain in her bad shoulder and the faint headache from not getting enough sleep, she was happy beyond words to finally hold her child.

"Do you want me to hold her for a while?" Thane said softly as he walked up behind the pair. "You look weary."

"I'm fine." Shepard assured with a smile. "And you took the night shift."

"Drell require less sleep than humans. I feel fine."

"You're just trying to hog all the baby cuddles for yourself." Shepard teased and kissed her beloved's cheek. "Not gonna happen."

"She's quite beautiful." He mused as he ran a finger over her round cheek. "And she's much quieter than Kolyat was at this age."

Shepard shifted Miyo a bit in her arms. Even though the baby didn't weigh much, Shepard was still recovering form her extensive injuries and even a small weight could make her uncomfortable. It was beyond annoying. And of course Thane noticed.

"Are you certain you don't want me to take her?" There was worry in his voice.

"I'm fine." She repeated. "I'll let you know if it gets too much."

Gently, Thane kissed the still healing scar on her cheek. She was covered in quite a lot of them now. The most noticeable ran from the bridge of her nose, across her cheek, down her neck and to her collar bone.

"I love you, siha." He placed a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"I love you too."

The peaceful moment was interrupted by the sudden wail of the baby. Her mood seemed to have gone from content to pissed off in a few milliseconds. Her small fists were waving as she screamed at the top of her little lungs.

"Oh, what's wrong, pumpkin?" Shepard cooed. "Time for some food?"

Holding the squirming and angry infant close to her chest, Shepard made her way towards the kitchen with Thane hot on her heels. While Shepard did her best to sooth Miyo, the former assassin took out a jar of baby food, opened it and grabbed a spoon. Drell children ate solid foods right from birth, which explained the lack of nipples on the scaled species.

Thane scooped a up a bit of the jar's contents on the spoon and offered it to Miyo. As soon as the spoon appeared in front of her, she stopped screaming and focused on the spoon instead. Shepard couldn't help but smile.

"That's better, hm?" Thane said and offered her another spoonful.

There was a pang of pain in Shepard's shoulder and she winced. This didn't go unnoticed by Thane and he took Miyo from her without questioning. Shepard sank down onto a chair and looked at Thane. It wasn't rare that she wished that she had drell memory. Whenever she had a nightmare or felt bad, she wanted to be able to bring up this image of her beloved and their daughter. It was just perfect.

Thane stood leaned over the crib, his hands on the wooden railing. His daughter's chest was rising and falling slowly as she slept under the blanket with small bees on it. It had been a gift from Tali and Garrus. And the stuffed toy that lay next to the sleeping infant had been given to her by Joker.

A wide smile spread on the drell's face as he looked at Miyo. After Irikah passed, he never thought life would be this perfect. In the room adjacent to this, his son was sleeping and across the hall was his siha. A son, a daughter and a siha.

For the first time in his life, Thane felt Whole.

I know this was a bit short, but I hope you like it anyway!