Sorry it took me so long to update this! School has been kicking me in the butt, but I promise I'll try not to leave you guys hanging for too long! 3
After the haunting incident on Dr. Kenson's project base, Shepard thought it would be nice for another shore leave until it was time for her to face the music back on Earth. She would personally drop off everyone that wanted to go groundside, but did not force it upon everyone.
Except for Alyssa and Joker.
"I'm ordering you two to take groundside shore leave," Shepard said, crossing her arms.
"Then who's going to fly my ship?" Joker said, trying to find an excuse to stay on the Normandy.
"I will, and you know I'll take good care of her. You guys deserve this, anyways! Especially with the baby on the way. You're not going to get this opportunity again once the baby's here." Alyssa rested her hands on her stomach. It was as if she was holding onto a beach ball.
"She's right. May be we should take this time for us, babe." Joker sighed in defeat. Shepard smiled. She knew if she could convince Alyssa, there's no way he could refuse her.
"I'll drop you off at Illium with Miranda. She's going to see her sister anyways." Shepard walked away to go talk to the rest of the crew.
They walked into the trading floor. Alyssa drew a breath and looked over the balcony.
"The last time I was here, I was buying a drink and then I ended up on the Normandy." She looked at the towering sky scrapers and the traffic that whizzed around each building. They walked through the trading floor to hail a cab, and then proceeded to Alyssa's apartment.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened to a huge room, which pretty much took up the whole floor. In front of them was a small patio, which stepped down into the living room area, complete with two connecting sofas that made a "U" shape, a coffee table with a few books, and a big screen television. To the right was the kitchen and a small dining place. Hung above the dining table was a picture of Alyssa and her family. To the left was the bedroom, the door slightly ajar.
"Holy shit! How did you get a place like this?" Joker's jaw dropped at every turn. He felt like he was in a mansion. Alyssa sat on the sofa.
"Remember on our first date, when I told you that I knew that my parents died that day on the Citadel?" Joker nodded, not liking where this was going.
"Apparently, my parents had a will. I inherited everything. I actually have a house back on Earth. This was my dad's place when he would go on business trips." Alyssa walked over to the picture in the dining area, and grazed her hand over her father's face.
"They even put in the will that even if I refused to take ownership, it'll still be under my name. I guess at the time they wrote it, I was off doing my own thing, and they were scared I'd become homeless, so they wanted to make sure that whatever I decided to do, I always had a home to come back to." Alyssa's voice cracked at the last part. She sighed as she pulled one of the dining room chairs and sat down.
"I swear this baby is getting heavier and heavier by the minute." Joker came and sat down next to her, rubbing her back.
"C'mon, let's go rest," he said, taking her by the hand and walking into the bedroom.
"I know you feel this," Joker could hear in his head.
Joker was running, but he didn't know where he was running to. He had a rifle in his hand, shooting in every direction. Suddenly, he ran into something hard. He winced as he rubbed his arm. A light flickered on, and he was in a hospital room. There was a window on the other side. He walked up to the window, and he could see Alyssa lying down and their baby. Alyssa looked over to Joker. She had tears coming out of her eyes, and she looked scared. Joker bunched his eyebrows, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Alyssa? Baby what's going on?" Joker yelled, but she couldn't hear. She cried, reaching her arm towards Joker.
"Help!" she yelled over and over. The baby was next to her in a little cart, crying and wailing for attention.
"What's going on?" Joker looked around, there was no door. Just four walls and the window he was looking through. He banged on the window, hoping it would shatter.
"Alyssa!" he yelled,banging harder on the window.
"Jeff! Jeff!"she mouthed. She looked to an area that was in front of her, and immediately Joker could see her eyes growing huge. She was screaming. Something wasn't right.
Suddenly, the bed came out from under her, and she was enclosed in a collector pod.
"No! You son of a bitches! Don't fucking take her!"
A collector came in, a smaller pod hovering next to it.
"You bitches! Don't take them! No!"
The collector took the baby from the cart and laid it in the smaller pod. Simultaneously, a gas erupted into both the baby's and Alyssa's pod, and the two went unconscious.
"NO! LET THEM GO!"
The collector left the room with both pods hovering side by side. Joker kept banging on the window to no avail. Tears streamed down his eyes, yelling and screaming, until he couldn't anymore.
There was rumbling beneath his feet. Then suddenly, Joker woke up, tears down his face, breathing heavily.
The next day, they decided to go out to a shopping plaza to walk around. They figured now is a good time to start buying things for the baby.
"Okay, so, we need a crib, clothes, diapers, toys, bottles, milk," Alyssa said, counting them off on her fingers.
"Holy crap, that's a lot. Uh.." Joker looked around, trying to find a store that had something that they needed. They found a furniture store, and decided to look for a crib first.
"What about this one?" Joker asked, pointing at a metal crib.
"Heavens, no! That looks like a baby prison. I want it to look cute." Alyssa walked further down the aisle, and stopped at one that had an antique feel to it. It also came with a matching dresser and changing station. Joker figured she was better at picking these things out, so they settled with this set.
"You also get a choice of what toy set you can take home. You can pick from this selection here," the salarian store owner said, pointing to a shelf with toys.
"You can pick," Alyssa said, paying for the set. Joker looked up, rubbing his chin. His eyes landed on one toy.
"That one."
He pointed to a space ship. That set came with the plush ship and plush planets. The bed sheets had planets and stars patterned all over it in different colors. They had everything set to be delivered back to Earth. They then walked down another row of stores, and came upon a baby clothing store. They decided on choosing neutral colors, since they won't know the gender of the baby until delivery time.
Three stores later, the plaza was getting ready to close, and it was time for them to go home. They hailed a cab and went back to the apartment.
Alyssa and Joker shopped on Illium for another week before departing for Earth. They arrived at Alyssa's house, which looked like a bigger version of her apartment. The only difference is that the kitchen is much larger, and there were three bedrooms. Sitting in the living room were the boxes of things they bought from Illium. Alyssa decided to use her old room as the baby's room, and Joker immediately started putting the room together.
"This is so surreal. I was raised in this house and in this room, and now my own child will be having that same experience," Alyssa said, hanging up pictures of her and Joker.
"Wish I could say the same, but I don't think growing up in a hospital bed was a good experience. Never want to do that again." He thought about the nightmare that he had, and immediately took the thoughts out of his head.
"I had my share of a hospital bed, too!" Alyssa laughed, pointing at her lower back.
After a few hours and a few bruises from putting the dresser together, Joker was finally done assembling the new furniture. He walked out of the room, and found Alyssa fast asleep on the couch with the television on. He smiled as he walked over to turn off the television, and started to try and lift her up to take her to bed.
Joker decided to just leave her there, and sleep on the couch next to her.
'May be when my bones stop breaking,' he thought, going to the kitchen to grab a drink. He walked over the room next to the nursery, which Alyssa turned into an office while he was working on the other room. He turned on the computer, and decided to message Dr. Chakwas and Shepard.
"Jeff, it's good to see you," Chakwas said, her face filling the screen.
"Where is Alyssa? Has she delivered yet?"
"No, she's sleeping right now. Is she supposed to be delivering right now?"
"Oh, Jeff. If you knew how a woman's body worked, you wouldn't be asking such a thing."
"Well I don't know how to tell! I can't exactly get pregnant! And that would be… very painful if I was."
"And I'm glad that you can't get pregnant, or I'd be worried about you. Where are you right now?"
"We're in Washington, at her house. We just bought some stuff for the baby."
"You're kidding. Where in Washington?"
"Um, I'm not sure. I'll send you the coordinates." Joker punched the coordinates over to Dr. Chakwas, and suddenly the connection got severed.
The doorbell rung, which woke up Alyssa. She went over to answer it, and it was Dr. Chakwas.
"Doctor! I didn't know you lived around here!"
"I'm actually your neighbor. I thought you looked familiar. I've spent so many years on ships, I don't even know my own neighbor!" Chakwas laughed as she took in the sight of Alyssa.
She has gotten huge.
"Looks like you're ready to pop, dear! I could only imagine it'll be just a few more days before you go into labor."
"How do you know this stuff just by looking at her?" Joker asked, leaning against the doorway of the office.
"It's a woman's instincts. You wouldn't understand."
They exchanged a few more words before the doctor went home. It was getting pretty late, and Alyssa was tired of walking around with her huge belly in the way. They finally retreated to their bedroom, and fell asleep.