"Craig?" He scoffed.

"What? What's wrong with Craig?" She glanced over at him with her face still in her hands.

"Craig, Sonya? Really? He's turian. It's a human name." Nihlus argued.

She sat up then, slow and with knitted brow.

"Why can't he have a human name? He's a half me ya know!" She glared at him.

"He's male and his father is turian." Nihlus argued. It was their first real fight.

Nihlus sighed then offered an alternative. "Faustus? Faustus Kryik?"

"Faustus David Kryik?" Sonya scoffed.

"David?" Nihlus asked.

"Yes, David." She said mockingly. "I'm tired. Let's just go to bed."

The turian smiled at the little human who rubbed her big, dark eyes with many little fingers and yawned. Nihlus scooped her off the sofa and they all climbed into the bed, sandwiching her in the middle, and went to sleep.

It really was quite something when she thought about it. An outcast of his own people who became a Spectre would sire a son that would be the beginning of a whole new world. A turian of a human mother. His life would be difficult no matter who his father or mother may be if for no other reason than that he was the first and only of his kind. That made her think of the Collectors and subsequently the Reapers. He would be a prime target if the Reapers ever found out he existed. All the more reason to destroy them before she came to term, which could be any day. Over all she was happy about the pregnancy despite certain discomforts. As her mate frequently told her, they could only take it a day at a time. They both preferred a plan, but there was no plan for this.

Sonya nuzzled into Nihlus for comfort as the thoughts taunted her. Somehow being surrounded by teeth, spurs, claws and plates made her feel a little safer, but she knew it was an illusion. Even in his sleep the raptor like alien would appear ferocious to those who did not knew him, but she knew him and how vulnerable he could be. He was just as mortal, though he acted as if he were not. It was part of what she loved about him, but it to was an illusion. She traced a finger over Nihlus' face paint as she watched him sleep. Of corse she was bias, but she thought his was the most beautiful of the designs, at least on him. He pulled it off well. Other turians baring the same marks just didn't look as attractive in them. But again, she was bias. She tried to sleep, but the baby was keeping her awake rolling and poking her. She would likely go for a c-section just because of the possibility of fringe and spur. There would be no scars thanks to that lovely bit of machinery she'd purchased for her face, but recovery would take longer. Plus, she didn't know the first thing about infant turians. Much less hybrid miracle ones. What would he eat? drink? Could she nurse him? Would she? Sonya began to feel worse about putting her child through so much hardship and he wasn't even born yet. She tried to bury her face in Nihlus' chest to hide from her thoughts, but it didn't work. When the silent alarms started flashing she felt more tired than ever as the dread of what was about to happen fell on her like a net of rocks.

Nihlus was up in seconds, dressed and running to the command deck. Sonya was a little slower. Halfway to the door he stopped and came back to help her. She was hardly in any condition to Command, but there was little choice. Reapers had been spotted. They needed to prepare for battle.

She felt so useless clinging to Joker's head rest and giving orders. She was trained to be a soldier; fire guns, blaze blue with biotic furry, annihilate her enemy in hand to hand if need be. She could utilize none of that against the Reapers as they floated off the starboard bow firing at her and the armada. Vakarian was guns, Joker was nav., set up, defensive and offensive maneuvering, Kryik was strategy. What was she? A dumpster for old Prothean knowledge that didn't help them win battles. Sure she had tactical skills, but it seemed redundant with the turians around. With all the motion and noise and gunfire, the little one inside her was calm as ever in the heat of battle. He must have gotten that from his father. She would have smiled if the Normandy wasn't dodging molten metal projectiles.

Joker pulled hard to port, avoiding debris from a destroyed vessel; Alliance. Many more losses and there wouldn't be any Alliance ships left, save the Normandy. Joker handled her well and so far they had only suffered minor damage.

Garrus fired the guns scoring a direct hit to a critical area. It looked like the Reaper had lit a gastrointestinal release. Garrus laughed as well as Joker. She wasn't surprised. Men could be so immature. When the fire suddenly seemed to disappear, the two stopped laughing and resumed battle face. A few moments later EDI offered a warning.

"Mr. Moreau, the Reaper is sustaining massive internal damage due to wide spread fire from in intake manifolds and will likely explode when the heat build up reaches critical levels. I suggest a clearance distance for the armada of at least one light year."

"Understood," Shepard answered for him. "Joker, relay the intel and get us the hell outta here!"

"Aye, aye, ma'm. Just point me in a direction." Joker replied.

"Illium. They won't go looking twice where they've already harvested and destroyed."

"Yes, ma'm."

Earth had been hard to see, but even harder was Palavan. It was the only time she'd ever seen Garrus shed a tear. It had quickly turned to anger. That night he told her about his family in detail for the first time. How his mother had been sick and about his sister; Solana. Sonya wished she could have met them. She woke at some point in the night to find him quietly mourning them into his pillow. She never told him she knew about that. It was a stolen moment that she felt guilty for stumbling upon. She'd wanted to comfort him, but wasn't sure how. Knowing that he knew she was there for him only made it worse when he'd seemed determine to handle it on his own. He still struggled, but he was past the tears. Those had dried up long before Nihlus had woken from his slumber. Now she looked down on another desecrated world. She had no attachment to the world itself, but the sheer number of lives that had been lost there shook her. It was where she'd met Thane. It was where Nihlus had died. For that part she was sorry he had to set foot on the planet again. She worried about him. It was also home to Liara and Liara's mate; Feron. She hoped the two of them had survived somehow, but in the years since Illium had been hit she'd never heard from or saw her friends. As it was with Garrus' family, no proof to show death or escape, she assumed they were dead.

Most of the armada made it. Several scout teams were sent out to look for anything they could use for repairs, supplies etc. They also searched for any survivors that may have come to Illium or simply avoided death during the first attack and had not been found in previous sweeps. It wasn't likely, but any chance of finding people was a welcome one. The galaxy would need re-populated and rebuilt when the Reapers were defeated.

Shepard wanted to go down and look for Liara and Feron, but in her condition the doctor forbade it. She would have gone anyway, but Garrus and Nihlus were adamant about her staying behind and threatened to mutiny and lock her in her cabin just to keep her safely aboard. They went in her stead and she occupied the gunner's chair while they were gone and made Joker very uncomfortable with her moderately larger belly so near the firing controls.

They could have been anyone with the helmets on, hiding their faces, as they waded through melted metal and ash that was probably more remains of people than anything else. It wasn't something they wanted to think about.

"I think we're near where Liara's apartment used to be." Garrus said.

He poked a a large rock that looked familiar, like it was in a display case in her home or something. Or it could have been wishful thinking. He wanted to find them for Sonya, find them alive. Help give her some hope, not that he had much himself. It was hard to be happy about bringing his son into a galaxy that might not be around much longer.

"Do you really think they survived?" Nihlus scoffed.

"No, probably not... But I'm still going to look." Garrus replied.

"Of corse. I'm not suggesting... never mind." Nihlus shook his head.

He was too worried about Sonya to concentrate. He kept wondering if she would go into labor without him being there, or if the Reapers would find the armada while he and Garrus were on the surface, or if she or the child would survive delivery and what they would do after if he did? He wasn't prepared to care for a turian child, much less a hybrid one. None of his father's wise words gave him any comfort. Walking over the remains of the dead with the empty stench of old destruction didn't help either. Knowing the Reapers would be back to clean up the mess helped even less. In fact, that made it worse.

"There's nothing here." He told Garrus. "There will be less than nothing when the Reapers are done with it. Let's go back to the ship."

"Are you okay?" Garrus asked.

Nihlus glanced over at the black and blue armor that spoke to him through a com link in the helmet. He wondered why Garrus wasn't more distraught. Maybe it was because Garrus hadn't died here. Underneath it all, the ash and the worries was the moment of fear he'd felt when he realized he was going to die. In a way he was selfishly glad the planet was blackened. It helped keep the memories a little fuzzy. He would never forget the pain. It didn't plague him or give him night mares. Maybe it should have, but it didn't. He did, however, recall the pain from time to time and wince as if the memory would bring the experience to life. He had read some of Sonya's reports. He did not envy the perfect memory of drell. Not if it meant reliving moments like those with perfect clarity.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Let's just get back. I've got this feeling like... Let's just get back."

"Okay."

For once Nihlus' intuition had simply been in his head and not a reality. Though Joker might have disagreed. Having Shepard sitting in the gunner's chair telling him about the pregnancy and trying to describe how truly alien it felt to have something moving and growing inside her was enough to make him queazy himself. When Kryik and Vakarian walked in through the forward docking hatch Joker spun around in his chair so fast the two thought he was going to fly right out of it an run for his life.

"Oh! You're back. Well... we were fine without ya, just one thing though. Next time, please, please, please , pleeeeease take her with you!"

"I thought we were having a nice conversation, Joker. What's the matter?" Shepard teased.

She knew exactly what she was doing. Just a bit of fun at Joker's expense. She imagined her boys were smiling with their own amusement inside their helmets. However, they weren't smiling when they removed them. If a turian could look pale, Nihlus did. She left the chair and made her way over to him. He nuzzled her forehead. Sonya wrapped an arm around his narrow waist and walked away.

"I'll be right back." Garrus said and he moved to follow them.

"Sea ya!" Joker smiled, then cupped one hand around his mouth and huskily whispered; "Thank you!"

Garrus just shook his head. He liked Joker's sense of humor, most of the time, and he hadn't been there to be tortured by a pregnant Shepard, which he was sorry he missed. That would have been funny.

Nihlus sat on the sofa with his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the back of the couch. He pushed his feet against the edge of the immobile low table. His eyes were closed, his head rolled back. Sonya sat next to him. She'd brought him some tea from the dextro side of the cabinets in the kitchen and set it on the table. It remained untouched in the silence of the room. She waited patiently, just being there in case he needed her or wanted to talk. Garrus sat at the console on the desk on the upper level so as to also be available, but give them some privacy. Eventually Nihlus uncrossed his arms and snuck one around her waist, drawing her closer to him. She cradled her head between his chest and his shoulder at the gentle persuasion of his free hand. He wanted to feel her near, to hold her. It comforted him to comfort her, though she didn't need it as much. He stroked her cheek with is thumb for a few moments, then let his hand fall from her face to rest over the swell of her belly. He felt the child inside rollover and it make his mandible flutter. He'd felt it a few times before, shared the moment with her, just as this moment belonged only to themselves. A bonding moment. He turned his head to nuzzle her. Briefly he opened his eyes to look at her and watch the flesh move when the child moved. Yes, he had died, but he lived again because of her. Now he lived for the future that grew in her.