Hamburgers.
AN: Well this is it, another story and part 2 of my Fem Shep series. Though I am sure you are wondering what happened to part one. :P Anyways Bioware and EA own all here which apparently some people don't like but hey I hold no grudges.
And about my stories though tried posting it on fanfic, my last one, and I forgot something. So I updated it, but apparently its not showing up. So, uh, help?
My Fem Shep face code to put a name with the face:
"Commander Shepard, I believe what you are doing constitutes as a dangerous activity inside a contained starship with a limited amount of oxygen onboard." EDI chastised.
"Relax EDI I'm sure that you can multitask enough to recycle the oxygen fast enough to keep us from asphyxiating." Abigail Shepard replied with a smirk.
"But, in the event of an emergency or fire the oxygen in this room is designed to vent, since that is what you are clearly doing I am afraid the auto safeguards will activate any second." EDI continued.
"Then override it." Abby furrowed her brows trying to prevent the meat before her from burning.
"Ah I see, I will just open the shuttle bay doors and vent this whole compartment to space in the event of an emergency."
Abby looked up from her task and glared at the AI Android slack jawed.
"That was a joke."
"Good one EDI." She replied wearily.
"Hey Lola! You sure you don't want to let a man take care of it for you! I know how to cook meat just right." Vega cut in from his corner of the Shuttle Bay.
"You can say that again Mr. Vega, after watching you shoot those Cerberus forces with that incendiary ammo I assume that everything you touch comes out extra crispy." Cortez shot.
"We're talking about grilling not barbecue!" James replied good naturedly.
"I fail to see the distinction Vega." Ash replied continuing to pass out her plates.
Shepard grinned sheepishly at the comaderie hoping it was a sign of team development and not a sign that the egg shells were beginning to crack. Part of the reason she was embarking on this crusade in the first place. Perhaps her most dangerous mission left.
To cook Hamburgers. At least that is how EDI referred to the special project.
They were on the way to Earth and Abigail thought that they deserved one more chance to get together and have a team wide get together. They had come through a lot of missions together and didn't really have a lot of time to enjoy a team wide event. Either meeting just one or the other, or just going talking over the intercoms. They didn't spend too much time together outside of the missions, as a group.
But Shepard hadn't found a good excuse to get them all in one room; she wanted to do something official, and fun. Just ordering them in the same room when they had nothing to do didn't seem like it would serve her purposes.
She considered having a poker tournament in the Port Observation Room but they were only hours from Earth, and the team had to be on their best, not up to the late hours of the night smoking and drinking.
She was stumped until Traynor came up with the solution, completely out of the blue as if she knew exactly what Shep wanted.
Traynor had, completely with her own discretionary funding, found a premium Hamburger shop on the Citadel. A fine Earth cuisine grocery locale to be frank but they had hamburgers, and she bought them on their last supply run before hitting the Cronus base that was led by the Citadel.
Abby quickly explained the idea to her squad, and got pretty mixed reactions, from downright ecstatic, to polite on the part of Garrus and Tali. Then Traynor saved the day again by suggesting they bring the food that is unique to their species…requirements. It gave them an excuse to participate anyways.
So they converted the shuttle bay into a dining room, finding supplies to make 'picnic tables' and then serving tables. Vega's muscles and Garrus's determination really paid off, but here they were.
In front of a Grill, provided from a Captain who owed her a personal debt, an apron affixed to her waste with the words 'best commander in the universe', overlooking a spatula and black grill, sprawled across it, trying to cook these things.
Granted it had been a while since she did this, she had to a lot in her early days but being bound to a ship, then a commander of said ship, then a Spectre, then dead, then a commander of another ship, she didn't have a lot of time to practice.
Smoke billowed around her as she lost her concentration for a second causing her to gag and again focus on her work.
"Hey Shepard you sure you can handle it?" Garrus chuckled. "I can always get you out of the fire…again."
"What do Turians know about cooking hamburgers?" Vega asked suspiciously.
Garrus turned to the young lieutenant and smiled, in that very Garrus way.
Vega's eyes darted to his scorch marks from the missile, "uh…never mind jeffe."
Shepard couldn't help but giggle slightly at the exchange.
"Lola!" James chastised grinning, "did I just hear what I thought I just heard?"
"Nothing to worry about James," Abby leaned back on the grill and smirked, "something must've caught in my throat." She was determined only one person would ever hear her giggle, and get away with the fact, only one person with a sniper rifle allowing her to play queen of the bottle shooters.
Ah if only the circumstances were different.
"Besides I don't think you would be very good at this. I really don't think the phrase 'James Make it explode!' would work very well on hamburgers."
"Touche Lola, but hey, at least that gives us an awesome catch phrase against Cerberus and watching them just spontaneously combust."
"I could do that with my mind." Javik cut in, for the first time all night.
"Uh…right," James uncertainly replied, Javik chuckled. "Then why don't you?" Javik silenced himself.
Shepard smirked, good to see the two of them…bonding, in such a way. Javik wasn't the easiest person to get to know.
The hamburgers sizzled again and she looked at them, sticking a fork in them and gently peeled the skin back checking the insides.
"They're done!" She proclaimed proudly, flipping them over onto the plate…the plate that looked as though it wanted to flip the grill over, being so encumbered by the mass of meat.
Given that each of the squad, with few exceptions, wanted two burgers…at least…that was a lot of meat.
Joker, and Javik wanted one, the latter to 'be polite'. Shepard hoped that she was rubbing off on the fifty thousand year old being, which aside from the obvious innuendo was a rather nice thought, the former because he really wasn't hungry, so he claimed.
Garrus, EDI, and Tali weren't having one…for obvious reasons.
That left Ash, Cortez, Traynor, herself, Liara surprisingly enough, Chakwas, Adams, Ken, and Gabby each having two.
Westmoreland, Campbell, EDI, and Allers were left minding the store. The latter because Sheaprd couldn't quite stand her voice, and also this was a time for military brothers in arms and not meddling reporters…though technically Shepard hadn't found a reason to get rid of her. And EDI of course could do almost anything multitasking running the ship, and being here to enjoy the festivities…even though she couldn't eat, afact that Abby both envied and admired.
And James? Why James was having three of course. He looked like he could've used it; poor man was stuck on protein rations and whatever food he could scrounge at Poker tournaments on the Citadel of course. Shepard smirked to herself.
But that still left her with quite a problem; she frowned at the plate again considering the problem.
"Erm EDI…could you help me move it?" She asked the AI.
"Certainly Abigail." She turned to the AI eyes wide for a second as she couldn't quite comprehend what she just heard.
"Too soon?" The AI asked contritely.
"No, no, we're good, just surprising is all." She shrugged.
The AI complied with her orders and moved the burger plate over to the serving bay.
"Alright gang! Dig in!" She sounded just before the rush could get her over.
Somehow she just managed to get her plate before the burgers were overrun completely by the gathering hoard.
The serving tables were completely and totally stripped within seconds. Cheese, condiments, radish, ketchup, mustard, cheese, drinks, were all gone, as well as the stock of dextro-amino food that they had on hand.
"Aw man I'm starving!" James announced happily before the gang started to mosey on over and dug into the amount of food.
Shepard managed to get the scraps of the ketchup and spread it over her two patties.
EDI stared at the plate for a second. "Old habits die hard EDI." She cut in on the AIs thoughts.
"Certainly Commander." She agreed.
Shepard looked around and enjoyed herself for a few minutes before digging into her own meal.
This seemed like a raging success. The crew was relaxed and having fun, enjoying their last few minutes of freedom before they had to get ready for war, again. Perhaps the last stage in the greatest war ever fought. The last moments where civilization of this cycle stood or fell.
Shepard knew that it had taken a lot to get all the races onboard with this desperate scheme, and it was only despartivity that was doing it to. The races had only united in one last desperate gambit to save the Earth because they were failing alone. Even with the help of the Geth, Quarians and Krogan the Turians were falling. Thessia had been taken.
This was the last stand, the figurative middle finger to the Reapers that they were going to stand as a group, or hang. Nothing else had worked to this point.
This probably hastened their death in this cycle but Shepard knew that most people didn't consider it that much of a loss.
It all had to end sometime.
But she was all separate from this. No one was really paying her much attention just doing their own thing.
Garrus and James were having an arm wrestling match.
Tali and Chakwas were commiserating with one another and comparing notes on immune systems and stuff.
But they were happy, for the first time in months and weeks the crew looked genuinely content. Even Liara to an extent who just witnessed the destruction of her civilization, her home.
She had no idea what was going to happen, how they were going to get through this war, or who was going to live or die. This was end game as far as everything was concerned. But for now they were happy and content.
And she watched. Wanting so bad to just freeze this moment in time and live in it forever. No war. No violence. Just to go on from this moment. A perfect end to her saga. She had no idea what waited for her or the crew but she had a bad feeling about it.
"Shepard?" Ashley asked uncertainly caught mid laugh.
"Hmmm?" She replied barely acknowledging her.
"Are you OK?" She pressed. "You've barely touched your food."
She gave herself a mental shake of the head. "I'm fine Ashley. Just thinking."
She picked up her burger with a wan smile and bit into it rolling around and making an 'hmmmm' sound. Ashley laughed again and she officially joined the rest of the festivities.
They continued with the party for about another hour or so, but finally it was time to bring it to an end. And Shepard knew what she had to do.
"Alright everyone. Listen up, I am glad you've enjoyed yourself to this point but…" she croaked, lifting her glass… "Thane."
Tali nodded picking up on it instantly. "Legion."
Ashley sniffed, "Pressly."
Chakwas joined in with a lilt to her voice, "Kelly Chambers."
Tali piped in again, "Kal Reagar."
Ashley, nearly whimpering. "Kaidan."
Garrus: "Mi-
Shepard cut him off, figuring that this one was for her, "Miranda. Without her none of this would be possible. She brought me back in one piece and then in turn we taught her what it meant to be alive."
The crew nodded, holding their heads low for a second.
Miranda who Abigail viewed as a sister, as a confidant, A woman who reminded her of herself. Because of the simple reason that they were both ruthless and professional women. But women who deeply cared, about those around them, and themselves.
It took Torfan to wake Shepard up, to show her that there was more to life. And it took Shepard to teach Miranda the same lesson. But she died fulfilling her duty to her sister.
Well Torfan and a certain former CO She smiled to herself nearly losing herself in another stream of memories.
These deaths wore heavily on her conscious. But she had a job to do.
"OK," She cleared her throat. "I know you all probably want to do something else, play Poker, stay up, and commiserate. But we are only a few hours from Earth and if we hope to make it through I need you at your best, because if we aren't at our best then we die. So go get your rest, check your weapons, and I will see you on the other side."
She paused again folding her hands over each other. "We're more than a squad; we are more than a crew. We're a family. We have shed blood together. We have lost loved ones. But we are here now. I never really have had a family, a good family. I was born on Earth, participated in gangs, did some terrible things, but was rescued from that life. But then I led people into battle…on Torfan…sacrificed people…'got the job done'; I never got close to them. But then that changed. I was given the chance of being the first Spectre in human history because of Torfan but when I met Garrus, and Kaidan, and Ashley. Tali and Liara. You became my family. You showed me there was so much more to life, and we were bought together further by a common threat."
She sighed feeling her eyes sting for a second. "But we are nearly at the end of the journey. One way or another ends soon, and I am so proud to know each and every one of you."
They nodded stiffly. "Good luck people, and soon I will see you again, and we can really celebrate."
With that they all began filing out of the room, one after the other, each to their respective posts. Tali followed Garrus out a little closely. Shepard smirked after having caught them in gunnery.
But the door closed and she was alone. She sighed and contemplated her own thoughts.
And prayed for a better tomorrow.