While this is not my usual crossovers or style, hopefully this will provide some entertainment for my regular readers and some heartwarming interest from other Mass Effect fans. This was written a while back for Serendipity001, a very talented and Turian-knowledgable writer who has an excellent Garrus/Jane story. It was an idea of Garrus and female Shepard's post-war life, so I do hope you enjoy it.
For my regular readers, and all possible newcomers, my latest and greatest crossover idea is currently in the works and should be out in a few weeks, so stay tuned!
oOo
Jane Vakarian awoke with a Turian softly snuggled against her side. Smiling quietly, she reached down and stroked the back of his head idly with her fingers. Said Turian made a contented purring noise within his subvocals and nudged closer to her side. She smiled once more, and shifted within the bed's soft covers.
It was only after she tried to move her right arm that she noticed the feeling of another warm body pressed against her other side. The soft, steady movement of breath whispered against her neck. By the feel and softness of the body next to her, it was undoubtedly human, and by the faint tickle of long hair against the skin of her face, said human was a she.
Jane smiled. Slowly, carefully, she disentangled her right arm from the sleeping body that lay by her side.
Blinking, she gazed upward and to her right, registering for the first time the warm glare of sunlight streaming down upon her despite the blinds that endeavored, failingly, to block it out.
Beneath the morning sun's mellow gaze, Jane looked down to where her feet were, covered by an ocean of pillowy gray sheets and comforters. Behind her, her bright red hair lay splayed upon a series of fluffy white pillows. The ceiling was a subdued yet homey cream color; the walls a likewise mellow green.
The sun also illuminated the two individuals using her as a pillow. It danced near-blindingly across her daughter's locks of gold: nothing like her own brilliant orange, and certainly nothing like a husband who did not possess human intricacies like hair. Yet still Jane gently tucked a few stray strands of Elisabeth's hair out of her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead with a glowing smile. She was her daughter not of blood, for a Turian and human could not have children together, but by choice.
She looked incredibly peaceful when she slept, mused her mother. Like an angel.
To her right, the Turian did not share his sister's style of sleep. Instead of peaceful, angelic, he looked cute. Playful. She scratched behind his growing fringe, and was rewarded with another contented purr. She grinned.
Heretius did not share his father's silver-gray coloring- instead, he was a beautiful black with hints of proud blue in his mandibles and fringe. His mandibles flickered into a smile as he ground his forehead deeper into the warmth of his mother's side. Jane smiled again.
Slowly, she extradited herself from Elisabeth and Heretius's grasp, contorting her body and reaching out with her right arm to try and find her husband by feel as her eyes drank in the sight of her children sleeping peacefully against her side. It wouldn't last, she knew, and the thought made her sad for an instant, but further thoughts of them growing into strong and wise adults filled her mind and she smiled at the images they presented. It was a day for smiles and joy, apparently.
Her arm traced a pillow, then the hard carapace of a Turian. Her fingers ghosted along the top and sides of the Turian's head, and, by feel alone, she could tell it was not Garrus. Garrus's fringe was longer, more matured, more defined, his mandibles sharper and scarred from a gunship on Omega seemingly so long ago. No, this was Octasius (brilliant scarlet with hints of gray, face thinner and incredibly handsome, eyes calm, limbs powerful and lithe and ready to grow up to be the man he was meant to be), and, through further searching, farther to Octasius's right was Andrea (hair dark as night, skin a beautiful smooth mahogany, soft spoken with brown eyes flashing warmth and compassion, graceful as a dancer and ready to give the gifts of warmth and light to everyone around her).
Jane couldn't help but smile once more, turning her head over to confirm what her fingers felt. Octasius and Andrea were curled up together, sleeping on each other's shoulders. They had always been inseparable. The Vakarian family was probably the first time a Turian and human had grown up as brother and sister, and, despite the immediate differences and problems that came to the minds of many, Octasius and Andrea connected on a level rarely shared outside of identical twins.
Jane's musings were cut short by a sharp pang in her groin, suddenly reminding her of the reason she had woken up in the first place. She couldn't help a small sigh and smile. How many of her best sleeps were cut short by such insignificant things like Collectors or Reapers or oh God oh shit Jane we're all going to die or having to go to the bathroom?
With another sigh, she carefully, ever so carefully, as if she were handling a live bomb, disentangled herself from Elisabeth and Heretius and slipped from beneath the covers.
Fortunately, the warmth of a worn yet still soft and beautiful carpet greeted her instead of the hardwood floor most of the second story of their house was made of. Thank God for Turians and their intense distaste of cold floors. That, coupled with their unwillingness (or, rather, Garrus's unwillingness and foresight of Turian childrens' mayhem) to have their talons scratch the wood made for a much warmer reception than Jane would otherwise get after getting out of bed.
Looking back and scanning the bed, she saw Garrus for the first time today, and couldn't help the ridiculous grin that came to her face as she gazed down upon him. Much like herself, there was a Turian and a human sleeping against his side, plus the singularly green figure of a Drell fast asleep on his chest.
Mark, mop of black hair hiding his face, was curled beneath his father's arm. Jane remembered when they first met him, when he had first come here, when he had been nervous and timid and even a little disgusted and frightened to have Turian siblings and a Turian father. But, now Mark looked at his dad like he was the greatest thing in the world. Indeed, judging by his current position, he had figured out one of the benefits of Turians Jane had found long ago: they were incredibly warm.
On Garrus's right, resting calmly on his shoulder, was Valeacia. Her plates were silver, the skin of her neck and hands light brown. She was always the fun one, with amusement dancing in her eyes and a sense of humor like her Aunt Solana despite the two being genetically unrelated.
Then, of course, there was Keaforn upon Garrus's chest. The youngest by a year and a half, and the only Drell among Jane and Garrus's massive adopted family, he was fast asleep with his small hands curled around Garrus's collarbone. Jane grinned again.
As she looked over each and every one of the members of her family, all asleep, all peaceful, her eyes softened in the way they seemed to do so often nowadays. (Garrus loved that look, and endeavored to make it happen as much as possible. To make up for lost time from the war, he said, where he rarely saw the look upon her face.)
A wry smile accompanied it as she looked over the utterly behemoth bed and everyone sleeping on it. She and Garrus had certainly never planned on getting seven children: they had discussed one or two, perhaps a human and a Turian to adopt from the millions who had been orphaned by the Reapers.
Much like potato chips, you couldn't have just one. Or, perhaps, it was like tattoos: once you had one, you wanted more. (Jane wouldn't know personally, for there were already enough marks on her body without her adding to them, but there were a few of her friends who were tattoo enthusiasts.)
Thus, when Jane and Garrus had decided to adopt two children, a Turian and a human, they had swiftly decided that said Turian and human needed siblings of their own species. Not that it really mattered, because the Vakarian children considered themselves all brothers and sisters. Sibling rivalries (which were actually far less terrible and far more teasingly playful than Jane and Garrus had expected) were based upon individuality, not species.
But, nevertheless, Jane and Garrus had gotten another Turian and human, followed swiftly by another Turian, then another human, then a Drell, of all things. Yes, seven children encompassing three different species was a lot, but it had been love at first sight with all of them, and Jane (to Garrus's great amusement) had been ready to kill anyone who dared harm them within minutes of meeting them.
It had been fortunate, then, that they had bought such a massive bed. The bed had actually been here before the children, funnily enough. After the war, when Garrus and Jane married, they had gone through their now collective bank account and discovered, to their great surprise, that they were wealthy.
They weren't merely comfortable or well-off, they were disgustingly, filthily, dump-your-credits-in-a-hot-tub-and-roll-around-in-them, you'd-better-believe-Garrus's-sister-is-getting-the-best-of-the-best-of-presents-on-her-birthday, we-could-buy-solid-gold-toilet-seats-but-we-don't-really-want-to-because-that-would-be-pretty-weird rich. After two huge pensions, a lot of donations and gifts, the interest on all the credits they had been unable to spend in their military careers, a few mammoth royalty checks, and some donations and stock market tips that most definitely did not come from the Shadow Broker, they had more money than they knew what to do with.
The first thing they decided they wanted to buy was a house. They settled on some colony in the far reaches of space, unbothered by politicians, well-wishers, or, the most dreaded, reporters. Their house was not a mansion, per say, but it was certainly large. It had a huge kitchen with all the latest appliances, and both Jane and Garrus delighted in trying to one-up years of dreadful military rations and Gardner's abysmal cooking. Judging by their kids' reactions, they were both pretty good with both dextro and levo food.
There was a huge basement with workout gear and some game tables (Garrus had been positively enthralled by the game of air hockey), the latest in vid and audio systems in the living room, a massive laundry room (laundry for seven rambunctious kids of three distinct species was a nightmare) and an outdoor firing range. Already, their kids could beat most of their classmates at table tennis and shooting alike.
However, the most important room was the bedroom, which, of course, was where the bed came in. With enough money to buy whatever she wanted and tired of years of cramped and hard military cots, Jane had found a massive ten by ten foot, three by three meter bed and promptly decided that was the one. While her old bed aboard the Normandy was nice and almost luxurious, especially for a warship captain, this was far better.
When she showed it to Garrus, he immediately agreed. Tired of sleeping on beds meant for humans (even Jane's comparatively large bed on the Normandy left his feet dangling over the edge), he enthusiastically welcomed something so huge he could stretch out as far as he wanted and still not reach the end.
The bed had certainly been fun. Besides having enough room to make…certain activities…far more enjoyable, it was extraordinarily comfortable. Its size made it cozy, and there had been times where she and Garrus had made nests out of the covers and slept propped side-by-side. Quite fortunately, it also turned out to be the perfect bed for a family with seven children.
Snapped out of her musings by her full bladder, Jane quietly crept to the bathroom, careful not to disturb anyone with her steps. Quickly, she finished, washed her hands, and carefully walked back to the glorious sight of her entire family sleeping peacefully together. She drank in the sight for a moment before deciding to walk to Garrus's side of the bed.
Savoring the way Mark, Valeacia, and Keaforn clung to their father, she reached in and softly planted a kiss on Garrus's forehead. His eyes opened steadily: they did not snap open, nor flutter open, nor open blearily, but rather they opened as if he had simply been blinking. It came with the sheer amount of comfort and trust he had here- it was only ever Jane or his kids who woke him, and neither were threats.
"Hello, Jane," he said softly, a smile playing about his mandibles as he looked up at her. With a glance down at the children snuggled against his side, he looked back with a full grin. "Wonderful morning, isn't it?" She smiled in reply and nodded.
"Yes, it certainly is." Even after all this time, she basked in the sheer luxury that was his voice. Turian voices were gloriously dual-toned, with pleasant thrums and noises teasing just beyond human hearing. Garrus's, though…his was something special. He could, and did, make her fall asleep just by listening to it. Smooth as silk, powerful and suave as a radio announcer, it was one of the reasons she'd fallen for him in the first place. Even now, thoughts flickered through her head, things that she wanted to say but kept inside for the emotion they represented.
By the Spirits and God above in His holy heaven, I love you. I love you so much. You have no idea, no idea how much I love you. You're kind, sweet, powerful, caring, handsome… You are everything anyone could ever want.
Also, please pound me into the mattress so hard I won't be able to walk straight for a week.
Instead, she simply reached down and pressed another kiss onto his forehead before touching them together in a Turian kiss.
"Love ya, big guy," she whispered. Garrus's mandibles fluttered.
"Love you too, Jane," he replied. He looked around and back to the left side of the bed, where Elisabeth and Heretius were sleeping. "How'd we get here, again?" he asked. Jane shook her head with a grin.
"Holiday, remember? We stayed up late watching a vid, and they all fell asleep here," she replied, pausing to ruffle her fingers over Valeacia's head. She made a satisfied chirping noise in her sleep.
"Ah, yes. How could I forget?" replied Garrus. He glanced once more to the left side of the bed. "Are you going back to bed, or going to get ready?" Jane considered it for a moment.
"Going back to bed," she replied. Garrus grinned.
"Wise choice. Love you," he said softly as she walked back to her place. As she reached it, she carefully lifted the covers and slipped beside her son and daughter. Careful as ever, she replaced the covers and moved Elisabeth and Heretius back to their positions by her side.
Looking up to the ceiling with a smile, she reflected on how incredibly lucky she was to be here. By God they had to earn it, but she and Garrus had gotten their happy ending at last.
oOo
There we have it! I have the feeling that Garrus and Jane would definitely be the type to end up with seven kids and no idea how they got to that number. Hopefully the story was good, and the imagery and characters worked. If you're interested in another Garrus/Jane story, check out Serendipty001, and if you're interested in some excellent crossovers, check out my other stories and stay tuned for the ultimate sci-fi crossover to come!