Chapter 2: Family
James had left after Anderson ruined the mood. Other work kept him from seeing her for a few days after that. Despite the charges, Alliance bureaucracy had Shepard in a holding pattern. He liked to think they were stalling, but he knew it was just because nothing ever happened quickly in the Alliance.
They had James in a holding pattern too. His week at Camp Pendleton was the first in a series of tests he'd have to pass to become field rated again. At least it wasn't like bootcamp this time, although there were still a bunch of sorry asses who were more interested in failing and getting discharged.
As he walked through the Detention Centre, he passed empty rooms on his way to Shepard. Vancouver's small Detention Centre sat half-way up the massive main building and was only for high-profile prisoners. Shepard was by far the most famous of anyone he'd caught a glimpse of.
He arrived at her door twenty minutes early, intending to let Shepard meander through the atrium on their way to Anderson's office. It wouldn't be the fresh air and freedom she craved, but it'd at least be a change of scenery. He knocked, even though he usually didn't, and waited a few seconds before entering. She was still where he'd left her a few days ago, at the table staring out the window. The only indication that she'd moved was that she'd changed into her dress blues.
She turned her head and looked at him, a frown between her brows and a faraway look in her eyes. His lips curved in greeting and she returned his smile, although there wasn't any heart in it.
"Anderson wants to meet with you before you go to the JAG this afternoon," he said and she nodded. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
As soon as he offered, he knew what she'd ask for.
"Access to the extranet," she replied as she stood and walked toward him.
"You know I want to, Shepard." He couldn't help feeling guilty for refusing her access yet again.
"It's okay. It'd be too obvious anyway." She placed a hand on his arm and this time her smile reached her eyes. "You want to reschedule dinner for tonight? I promise to be less broody."
"I ate the rest of the food when I got to my bunk."
Shepard chuckled. "Just bring me a burger."
He nodded and they left, James trudging next to her with his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched. Shepard walked in silence. He wanted to ask if she'd heard anything more, but he already knew she knew about as much as he did. They stepped into the elevator and James punched the button that would take them up a handful of floors to the building's second atrium
James glanced at Shepard, who was leaning against the glass wall of the elevator, frowning at the floor and chewing her bottom lip. Before he could attempt conversation again, the elevator door opened and James motioned for her to follow him. They got a few steps from the elevator before a familiar voice halted him.
"Hola, Diego." A wide grin spread across James's face at the familiar voice calling out his nickname. He turned to see his tío Emilio and his little cousin.
"Tío Diego!" One day, his cousin might stop calling him uncle, but not while she was still so young.
A bundle of chocolate curls and pink launched herself at him. He caught his cousin under her arms, twirling her in the air before putting her back on the ground.
"You're getting heavy, Miranita," he said, pretending to huff and puff. "I think you're gonna get too big for that soon."
His cousin gave a squeal of laughter. "No way. You're as big and strong as a krogan."
Shepard snorted from next to him and he mock-glared at her.
"Commander Shepard," said Emilio with a smart salute.
"Just Shepard." James saw Shepard's eyes flicker to the insignia on his uncle's uniform. "I'm decommissioned, Operations Chief… Vega?"
"Emilio Vega, James's uncle." Emilio stuck his hand out and Shepard shook it, a smile on her face. "This introduction is supposed to be my nephew's job, but he was always a rude kid."
"I know," said Shepard over James's protest.
"My name's Miranda. I'm ten-and-three-quarters." Miranda looked at Shepard and puffed out her chest, grinning. "How old are you, Miss Shepard?"
"I'm thirty-two-and-one-twelfth, but I feel two years younger." Shepard's smile stayed firmly in place while James's smile drooped. Shepard held out her hand. "I think your dad and cousin want to talk alone. We can sit and talk about books, maybe. Do you like books?"
Miranda's eyes lit up and she latched onto Shepard's hand. "I love books."
James watched Miranda drag Shepard to a row of benches near the floor-to-ceiling windows before turning to look at his uncle. Emilio hadn't changed in the two years since James had spent quality time with him; he was still as broad and straight-backed as men half his age. Light reflected off Emilio's shaved head. He'd always had more hair on his face than on top of his head.
"You didn't visit your padré when you came to Camp Pendleton," said Emilio once Shepard and Miranda were out of earshot.
James should have known his uncle wouldn't be content with small talk now that their audience was gone. "He was in prison."
"He got out a month ago, and you know it." James crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged at his uncle's exasperated sigh. "La familia es importanté. He wasn't always a bad man. Losing your madré was hard on everyone."
"Why are you defending him?" asked James, frowning.
"When you were sent off-world, he cleaned himself up—got sober, stopped using. He wanted to make sure that when you got back to Earth, you'd find him a better man."
James snorted. "He mustn't have tried that hard. He got six months for possession."
"And was paroled for good behaviour after just two." Emilio's deep voice was like rolling thunder, and James had to stomp on the urge to apologise for everything he ever did wrong. "He did a stupid thing after he heard about the attack on Fehl Prime. He thought the only child your madré gave him before she died was dead too. We all thought you might have been dead."
James had thought his abuela's tears were from joy at seeing him after so long. Guilt gnawed on his stomach and he looked away. His eyes rested on Miranda. Her voice pierced the background noise and her arms waved through the air as she told Shepard all about the book she was reading.
James shifted his weight from one foot to the other and looked back at Emilio. He'd have to apologise to his madré's family, but he wasn't ready to back down about Josh Sanders.
"He could've asked the Alliance for information."
"He did. They couldn't tell him anything because you never listed him as next of kin." James opened his mouth, but his uncle kept talking and he snapped it shut again. "When I asked two months ago, I was told that I didn't have clearance. I called in a few favours and two weeks ago got told you were AWOL."
"Well, there you go. I was AWOL, not dead." He knew he sounded like a brat but, when it came to his old man, he didn't care.
Emilio sighed and muttered a prayer for God to give him patience.
"No seas imbécil. Visit your padré." James's chin lifted in defiance and his uncle glared at him. His uncle was an inch or so taller, but when James was caught in that glare, he felt about two feet tall. Emilio's voice was like steel as he added, "That wasn't a request."
And with that, the matter was settled. James would visit his old man next time he was in San Diego, or he'd be in more trouble than defiance was worth. He wasn't scared of Josh Sanders—not anymore—but he was scared of losing his uncle's respect.
"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "I go back to Camp Pendleton in a few weeks. I'll visit him, but don't expect me to stay long."
"I don't mind, as long as you go," said Emilio, but he gave James a look that said he'd be disappointed if James only visited for five minutes. "Now that your abuela's not around to eavesdrop, I want to full story on why and where you were AWOL."
James wanted to whine. He didn't need this kind of interrogation right now.
"Can I ask a question?" said James, delaying answering. "Like, why are you in Vancouver with Miranita?"
Emilio's eyebrow rose. "She had a school excursion to the Museum of Anthropology yesterday. Her class is learning about the indigenous peoples of the UNAS. Since you didn't get to see her back home, I came up so she could stay an extra day to come find you."
That was a quicker explanation than James was expecting, and not one that allowed for follow-up questions.
Silence fell between them.
James didn't want to talk about why he'd gone AWOL. He hadn't spoken about it to anyone but Anderson, and that was a five-minute conversation that Anderson ended by saying he would make the AWOL notice disappear once they returned to Vancouver. In return, all James had to do was pass the tests in Camp Pendleton. Why Anderson would do all that for a marine he'd never met before, James still didn't know.
"After Fehl, I used up my two months of leave, and when those two months were over, I never bothered to come back," he said, staring at a point just behind Emilio's left ear. He couldn't quite bring himself to look his uncle in the eye.
"¿Por qué?" Emilio's voice held neither judgement nor sympathy.
"¿Por qué no?" James said with a shrug. He uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I got my unit killed. I let a whole colony die. The information I got wasn't worth shit. And, let's not forget, my judgement was clouded because I had feelings for the person who had the data I sacrificed the colonists for."
"What happened to her?" Emilio didn't sound surprised that feelings had clouded James's judgement.
James hadn't realised he'd been holding his breath until it escaped him in a rush. He didn't want to go into the details of Fehl. The burning feeling of failure never went away, but, to his unease, the resentment toward Shepard resurfaced. For two months, his growing feelings for her had smothered the bitterness he'd first felt when he saw her on the Normandy, hand cuffed and indifferent to her "krogan-human hybrid" guard. One day, they'd have to talk about Fehl. One very-far-in-the-future day, when thinking about Fehl was no longer like acid burning away at the affection he had for her.
"Omega." He kept his gaze still firmly over his uncle's shoulder. "Treeya had different ways of handling her guilt. She wanted to work and study and forget. I wanted to drink and gamble and remember. We lasted about a month, and then she left."
He hated himself while on Omega. Not only for Fehl and for dragging Treeya to that shithole, but because he felt no different from his old man.
"You got a second chance now, though," said Emilio, tugging him from his thoughts.
Gratitude that his uncle didn't offer advice or pitying words washed through his system like a cool balm. "Yeah, I still don't know how that happened."
James looked away again. Shepard's hair blazed in the sunlight as she bent her head to listen to Miranda, who was speaking too quietly now for him to hear. Despite the worrying acidity in his heart, he couldn't help a little smile as she tucked her hair behind her ear and laughed at something his cousin said. He wondered what they were talking about as his cousin stabbed a finger at the screen on her omnitool before Shepard coaxed Miranda's arm back down into her lap.
"Is there something going on with you and Commander Shepard?"
James's head snapped around to gape at his uncle. Emilio's mouth twitched upward and James felt like his burning ears might shrivel and fall off his head. Emilio would keep their secret, but James dreaded other people knowing about Shepard and him. Fraternisation. It was such a dirty word for something that shouldn't be dirty.
"Glad to see your taste has changed. Your abuela might like her," said Emilio when James didn't answer. He looked at Shepard and Miranda with their heads bent over Miranda's omnitool. "Not sure what she sees in you, though, chico."
James frowned, but not at the jab.
"I'm done talking about this," he said, ending the uncomfortable conversation by striding over to Shepard and his cousin.
"Our little secret, okay?" he heard Shepard say and James's stomach felt like two Makos had parked themselves inside his stomach.
"What's a secret?" he asked, hovering behind them.
Miranda spun in her seat, a stricken look on her face. Shepard turned and stood as if she didn't have a care in the world. "Girl's business. You wouldn't understand."
Shepard smiled up at him, and if he were just looking at her lips, he'd see that warm smile that made his insides feel gooey. Her eyes had a sharpness to them though that said he wouldn't like the truth.
Her attention turned to his uncle. "Why do you call him 'Diego'?"
James wasn't drawn in by her sudden change of topic, but Emilio spoke as if James weren't radiating mistrust and anger.
"We couldn't think of a nickname using 'James' when he was a kid. Diego is the Spanish equivalent," said Emilio as Miranda climbed over the seat to stand between her father and James.
James ignored Shepard and Emilio's Spanish lesson, looking down at Miranda and hoping he didn't look as furious as he felt. "Did you let Shepard use your omnitool?"
Miranda shook her head, but her face went bright red. James might not have seen the kid in over two years, but he still knew when she was lying.
James's teeth clenched so hard he felt a muscle in his cheek twitch. He glared at Shepard, who stared back at him. She didn't have the decency to look ashamed.
"We have to go. Shepard is due for a meeting," he said through gritted teeth.
Emilio looked from Shepard to James, perhaps feeling the almost palpable wrath from James and selfishness from Shepard.
"Am I in trouble?" asked Miranda, latching onto her father's hand and looking at the three adults with wide, shining eyes.
"No," they all said at once.
She shrunk against her father's side and James nodded for them to go. Shepard gave an almost imperceptible nod in return and he looked away from her, disgusted.
"Do you have plans tonight, Diego? Miranita didn't get to spend time with you," said Emilio, and James was glad to have someone else to address, even if it was for a few seconds.
"No plans." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shepard's mouth thin. Why she thought he was still going to come for dinner after this, he didn't know. "I'll message you."
After a few brief goodbyes, James marched the rest of the way across the atrium, Shepard a step in front. The elevator had another two people in it already. Their eyes widened at the sight of Shepard. He stepped in and turned his back on the two. Shepard did the same, but not before giving them a smile.
James could practically feel the two behind them wanting to ask for an autograph or a picture and was glad when the elevator doors opened before they could. He jerked his head and Shepard sauntered out while he stormed along beside her.
He slammed his fist against the button on Anderson's door before turning to her.
"You used my cousin."
Shepard crossed her arms over her chest and put her weight on her back foot, her voice like ice as she said, "I was careful. There won't be any trouble for her or your uncle."
How could she be so nonchalant? This wasn't just about people getting in trouble for her actions. This was about family. Family was sacred. He thought she of all people would understand that, considering Mindoir and Aaron.
The door to Anderson's office slid open.
"Whatever, Commander," he said, spinning on his heel and stalking off.
James rounded a corner and got halfway down the hall toward the elevator before Anderson's voice stopped him. "Cool off for an hour, Lieutenant. You still have to escort Shepard to the JAG later."
His fists clenched tight as he turned to the admiral, fury making his movement jerky. "She used my cousin's omnitool to send a message. My cousin is ten."
Thankfully, Shepard hadn't followed him like Anderson had. He didn't think he could handle looking at her without wanting to yell at her.
The corners of Anderson's lips tightened. "Shepard rarely thinks the rules apply to her. I'll try to minimise whatever damage may come from this."
James unclenched his hands and ran them over his face and head. Even James could read Anderson's annoyance at Shepard, but he wasn't sure if any of that annoyance was because she's unwittingly dragged a child into helping her break the law. He grunted in anger before looking at Anderson, begging to be given some sort of assurance that Shepard wasn't as mercenary as she seemed.
"Is there anything you can trust her with?" he asked, hating that his voice betrayed just how hurt he was.
"Doing what it takes to get a job done. Her single-mindedness is something you're going to have to come to terms with if you're going to get involved with her." Anderson held up a finger. "One hour, Lieutenant. Dismissed."
James walked off, red-faced at the veiled admonishment for not waiting to be dismissed earlier, and for the reminder that Anderson was aware of his "involvement" with Shepard.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who's followed, reviewed and faved so far! And thanks to dismalniece/agrivex for cleaning this chapter up so it's actually readable ^.^ Hopefully, the next chapter doesn't take me so long to write.