Chapter 6

After Sparatus had told Jane about her mother, he had assumed things might have gone a bit smoother. But if anything, things got worse. Jane's behavior was becoming erratic, and she was more likely to be quiet and distant than she ever was as a child. There were time when she would get the same excitement and fire in her eyes that she did when she was younger, usually when it came to learning something interesting about humans on the news, or when it came to playing with Urz. But it was rare, and more often than not Jane would just stay inside her room.

Sparatus had begun to get the distinct impression that Jane was hiding something from him. Even after talking to his trusted acquaintances about it, he didn't really get much of an answer. Dr. Michel insisted that she wasn't a psychologist, but that this sort of behavior was typical of human females around puberty. Mostly, she had said it manifested as an increased desire to hide their body and the changes it was going through, such as the additional height and development of breasts.

Vakarian said that perhaps what Jane needed was a change of pace. He suggested that she had been living in the apartment for most of her life and had probably gotten bored of it. There were two options for fixing it that he could see. One; they could rearrange the apartment entirely and change its style, coloring, bedding, organization of important objects etc. Two; they could let Jane out of the apartment for a day at increasing intervals for a while.

Oddly, Shiala had offered little advice other than an encouragement to get Jane out of the house. Discussion with Jane herself about the idea was met with an explosion of happiness and energy that he hadn't seen in a while. Sparatus hoped that he wouldn't regret it.

Today was the day that Garrus would celebrate his second lia, and Shiala had successfully determined a way for Jane to participate in it publicly. Shiala would go with Jane and Garrus to the Armax Arsenal Junior Arena, while Sparatus would stay behind. It was the best way to get Jane out of the house for the day, and it ensured that Sparatus wouldn't get any suspicion drawn his way as well.

Nobody would question a turian going to a public shooting range for his twelfth birthday, and nobody would question an asari taking care of a human child—asari were commonly chosen to be babysitters by human parents. Shiala had made certain they all had their stories straight—Shiala was there taking care of Garrus' first lesson in combat, and Jane had to come along because of a prior engagement with a human colleague.

Of course, Sparatus decided it was a great opportunity to focus on his work as a Councilor. Irilisas was more than happy to give him call number after call number in a neatly prioritized order. Officially, it was so that Sparatus could do his job without distraction for once. Privately, it was to keep his mind off of worrying himself silly over Jane. She could take care of herself, he had nothing to worry about. Besides, she knew how to spar, she could…

"This is an outrage!" Human ambassador Donnel Udina cried, shaking his fist and bringing Sparatus back to the present. "You cannot simply deny all involvement with the protection of our colonies' supplies! I know for a fact that the Council is obligated to extend defenses out to all trade routes between Council Member and Client species colonies!"

"Yes, Ambassador, I know. But the Council cannot extend any influence over the trade routes outside of its jurisdiction in Citadel Space. In addition, the monetary cost of turian defenses for the routes to Eden Prime would be greater not only because of the colonial placement but also the levo-amino based proteins of its fauna. How do you expect turian defenses to be maintained when we can't even eat anything there?"

"That is irrelevant; send in rations from your other colonies!"

"That is what I was talking about, ambassador. We would have to divide our supplies even further than they are divided now, and I'm not sure you've noticed but dextro-amino acids are a distinct minority among garden worlds. Unless you expect us to start chewing on moss from the aging warships of the Quarian Flotilla, then the cost-to-demand ratio will be too steep to maintain without serious ramifications."

"So, what, you want us to defend our own ships from batarian pirates? You know as well as I do that the Terminus Systems are lawless—we might not have the necessary firepower to defend ourselves from them! Who knows what sorts of illegal tech they might be hiding?"

"Then you should not have founded a colony on the border to the Terminus Systems. If you want to protect your colony and its trade routes so badly then you should defend them yourself. This conversation is over. Good day, Ambassador." Sparatus said, cutting the feed.

Idiot. If Sparatus were still in the habit of cursing like a sailor, he had quite a few names he could say about him (and the majority he would have liked to say to his face). As it stood, a job as a councilmember tended to be severely jeopardized when inappropriate language was used. And besides, he shouldn't waste his breath or his time on that dirt-bag anyway. He had more pressing concerns than him.

Like how Jane had been out of the house all day doing who knows what with Garrus. He shook his head, trying to expel the imagined worst-case scenarios out of his head. He could deal with Jane getting picked on by humans, she just had to reconnect with the spirit between them to fix something like that. He could probably deal with Jane not liking the area outside and wanting to remain inside forever; that would just need time to adjust. He could probably deal with Jane absolutely loving the outside world and never wanting to go home ever again and maybe even running away but that would never happen, would it?

Oddly enough, the out-and-out worst case scenario he had come up with came right out of that stupid old soap opera about homosexual drell that Jane had been playing reruns of since she had begun to bleed profusely every month. She had some strange fascination with it and one time she had asked him what it was like to kiss but he couldn't answer that because he didn't have lips and thus had never kissed before but…

What if Jane tried to kiss Garrus okay this train of thought needs to stop. Sparatus tapped in for his meal break and grabbed a few datapads to read (and possibly sign). A quickly made sandwich fit his needs for the day, and with that he turned on the television to watch some news channels. The datapads and spicy sandwich were almost enough to put him to sleep, if it weren't for the C-Sec warning alarms just outside.

Sparatus continued by through the rest of his day in a blur. He felt a surge of pride at how much he was getting done. The last time he had made so much progress was probably never. He was still in the middle of typing up his response to a group of human religious missionaries who wanted to open up a house of worship somewhere in the Wards to do something called 'baptisms' in a more private context when his omni-tool began to beep, signifying a call from Vakarian.

It took him a few seconds before he realized that Vakarian only ever called him from his omni-tool if it was a private, sensitive matter he wished to discuss. That is to say, Vakarian needed to talk to Sparatus about Jane. That did not bode well.

"Sparatus." Vakarian said when he opened the comm link.

"Ah, Siurus. Is something wrong?"

"Well… Something happened today. It's about Jane." Sparatus froze for a moment, waiting patiently. He wanted to throw up again. Curse his penchant for nausea.

"It… also involves Garrus." Vakarian said slowly. "Jane was at the Armax Arena with him earlier when… well, the situation got out of control."

Oh holy spirits of Palaven did Jane kiss Garrus he was going to murder her.

"Ahhh, I'm getting too old to drag this out more than I need to. Datharn, did you know that Jane was a biotic?"

No. No, Sparatus did not know that Jane was a biotic. Nothing of the sort ever came up in conversation, or…

"How did you find out?"

"That's where the news becomes less than pleasant." Vakarian stopped there for a moment, staring downward. Sparatus' mandibles twitched in discomfort.

"Garrus and Jane got into a fight and Jane picked him up biotically. Shot him straight to the ceiling. If that wasn't enough, he fell from ceiling height afterward. Shattered the bones in his arm and one of his spurs is dangerously close to falling off."

Sparatus stopped for a moment. That… that didn't make any sense. Jane couldn't have been a biotic in the first place, and even if she were, he doubted she had the metabolism to lift anyone to the ceiling like that. But then it made sense. The hiding, the mood swings, the reluctance to speak to anyone about anything, let alone him… The silence Shiala had exerted when he asked what she thought about Jane's condition…

But why would she have gotten in a fight with Garrus? That didn't make much sense. From what he could tell when observing the two, they got along quite well. He didn't know what to feel about that. Worry that Jane had lashed out against the only friend that was around the same age as her? Or happiness that Jane was no longer in danger of kissing a turian?

"What about Jane? How is she… reacting, to all this?" Vakarian shook his mandibles in dissent.

"She barely reacted before she fainted from the exertion. Shiala's with her and Garrus right now. Shiala thinks it would be a good idea for you to come over and be there when she wakes up. We're in Michel's clinic."

"I'm on my way." Sparatus said tersely as he closed the comm. He lifted himself up so swiftly he almost tipped his chair over. He barely took note of the chair anyway, scrambling to get outdoor boots on and chipping his shoulder through the doorways at every corner. His heart was pounding and his usual nausea was starting to flare up again. Why did Jane always find ways to make his gizzard churn? It's like she had some innate talent for it.

It was all he could do to keep himself from puking on the spot inside the cab while it drove on auto-pilot toward Michel's clinic. If this kept up, he'd need to start taking nausea medication. Or something. Spirits grant his mind clarity in this time of trial…


"I never meant to hurt him…"

Sparatus turned to face Jane in the backseat. Jane didn't move. Sparatus sighed and stared straight ahead as the cab flew itself back to his private quarters. Jane had woken up soon after he had arrived, and Shiala thought it better to wait until they were back in the apartment before offering any explanations.

"I understand that you didn't mean to do such a thing Jane, but that doesn't excuse the fact that you did it. You made a mistake, now own up to it."

"But I didn't…" Jane started, lifting her head to face him. Then she stopped and scrunched her face in discomfort, just like she had done when she was younger. She steeled it shortly thereafter. "I understand."

"Good" Sparatus said. Silence hung between them again and Sparatus couldn't help but shake his head. This was all his fault. He should have known Jane wasn't ready to go out yet. He should have seen the signs that Jane was a latent biotic. He could have prevented this entire accident if only he had—

"He probably hates me now." Jane whispered. Sparatus twisted back immediately, and stared at her. Shiala did likewise, though in a much more graceful way. Jane didn't look up.

Sparatus turned back to look towards the window. No matter what explanations Jane had, Garrus had been in terrible shape when he saw him. He was unconscious in the hospital bed, his arm was bleeding profusely even with the bandages, and the mesh keeping his spur together was running out rapidly. Garrus was at risk of losing his balance completely if that spur was lost, and if he did try to get a clone-graft replacement of it then it would probably cost a fortune.

"Well, perhaps this would not have happened if you had only told me about your biotic abilities beforehand."

"But—"

"No. Buts. Young lady." Sparatus spat. Jane stopped immediately, and his glare was almost palpable. Shiala gently rested a hand on his shoulder and blinked to encourage calm. Sparatus shifted in his chair. Now was not the time to talk about this.

The walk back to his apartment was deathly quiet, almost silent save for their footsteps. Once they were back in, Sparatus stood in the sitting area closest to the door and on the other side of the fireplace.

"Well, Jane? What do you have to say for yourself?" She didn't move past the fireplace. Shiala spoke up instead, walking closely and adopting a ramrod-straight posture.

"Sparatus, I understand why you are upset. But perhaps you should consider this from her position."

"I would do that better if I knew what her position was, Shiala. Now, Jane. Are you going to tell me why you kept your biotic abilities a secret from me, or am I going to have to discipline you for what you've done?" Jane looked up, an angry fire in her eyes. Figures that one of the few times her personality shone through, it was when he was asking for justification.

"I kept them a secret because I knew you wouldn't like me anymore if you knew." She said.

"Jane that makes absolutely no sense. Why would you think I wouldn't like you anymore if you had biotic abilities? I'm your fath… I'm your guardian for crying out loud."

"You only like me because I remind you of my mom!" Jane shrieked. Then she clamped her hands over her mouth, as though trying to pull back the words she had just spoken. Sparatus stiffened slightly, but his mandibles twitched. His eyes narrowed.

"What was that? Perhaps you would like to say that again?" Shiala kept switching her gaze between the two, concern in her eyes. Whether for him or for her, Sparatus was not certain.

"I… I know what my mom looks like, Sparatus. It's not like I can't use the extranet." Jane began, slowly. "She looks almost totally similar to me. More like she's my sister than my mom." She closed her eyes. "I know that our eyes are practically the same, too." Sparatus closed his eyes and folded his arms. Jane took in a shuddering breath.

"I know what you tried to do, Sparatus. My mom was married to my dad and you fell in love with her anyway." Jane's voice quickened pace, and she sounded more and more accusatory as she went on.

"I know what the law is when a human becomes orphaned. You had no right, Sparatus. You could have let me go to a human family instead. But you decided to steal me away from whatever normal life I could have had, because you still want to bang my mom even when she's dead!"

"I've heard enough!" Sparatus spat, spreading his mandibles and opening his mouth wide in an unconscious gesture of dominance. Jane clenched her teeth. Sparatus began to walk toward her, and Shiala started to back away.

"I'm not done yet you monster. I don't care how you try to justify it, but I know what you are! You're a pervert and you only took me in because you wanted to use me as some sort of shrine to remember my mom by! Hell for all I know when I'm old enough you're going to try to screw me! Are you going to shove that under the rug as 'turian culture' too, you abusive—"

"There isn't a single thing you have just said that is in any way the truth, Jane! Now stop talking—"

"Or what? You'll beat me within an inch of my life and claim that it's just 'turian culture'? You'll let me cry my eyes out without throwing even an inch of sympathy my way? You'll keep me locked up in your stupid prison and keep me as some sort of trophy to remind you of her!? I don't think so! You're not my father, you have no—"

Sparatus slapped her. Hard. Hard enough that she would have stumbled to the floor if she wasn't half-expecting it. Jane retaliated by jumping at him, and her newly-discovered biotics flared up again. Sparatus was pushed across the room, and the pain made the world go blurry for a moment, but Jane was young and she didn't have the kind of implants for any sustained biotics. Sparatus shoved her back and was about to keep going when suddenly he couldn't move at all.

"Enough, both of you!" Shiala exclaimed from back at the door. Jane and Sparatus were frozen in place, Jane locked in an almost-punch, Sparatus straightening up from a crouch. "Jane, I know you feel scared, and you're worried about a lot of things right now, but you must keep your calm for as long as you can. And Sparatus, I understand that this is all unexpected, but lashing out is not the way to handle this situation. Now I expect you both to stay calm when I release you, and if you won't, I will not hesitate to place you both in stasis again."

With that, Shiala released them both. Sparatus' head spun with more nausea, and he clutched his gizzard to try and still its churning. Jane looked dizzy herself. Sparatus straightened up and looked down at her, but Jane just glared at the floor.

"Well?" Shiala said, looking at Jane.

"What do you want from me, Shiala?" Jane asked. "I said everything that was on my mind! You know how I feel about this."

"Perhaps I know better than you do, Jane, because I distinctly remember you were worried that you would lose Sparatus' favor if you weren't like your mother. You obviously have some affection toward him."

"You ever heard of a thing called Stockholm Syndrome?" Jane quipped. Shiala glared at her, and Jane sighed.

"Jane." Sparatus said. She didn't move. "Jane, look to the speaker when you're spoken to." Jane still didn't move. Sparatus exhaled through his nose and rubbed his forehead, sending an improvised prayer for clarity and calm.

"Jane, you don't know why I adopted you. Why would you just jump to that sort of conclusion without any sort of confirmation?" Jane didn't respond. So, that's how she was going to play it, huh?

Sparatus immediately left, and rushed up the stairs. Shiala called to him, warning evident in her voice, but he ignored her. He all but ran to his room, and quickly sifted through the datapads he had kept from that fateful month, thirteen years ago. When he found it, he walked straight back down. Jane had only moved to sit down on the couch near the bar, facing the holo-screen with folded arms. Shiala stood to the side, her arms also crossed. Sparatus marched to Jane, and slapped that datapad onto her lap, perhaps with more force than was necessary.

"What's this supposed to be?" Jane spat.

"Your mother's Last Will and Testament. If you know as much as you think about human customs, then you know the significance of this document." Sparatus said. Jane gingerly picked it up after a short pause, and read through it. It took a moment, but when she had read who Hannah had bequeathed her daughter to she stopped, and read it over again.

"Your mother left you in my care because she trusted me, Jane. In return I have respected her wishes and raised you the best I could." Sparatus folded his arms behind him, and closed his eyes tightly.

"And now I see that I might not have been approaching this correctly. If you would just tell me what you think I am lacking as your guardian, I'd be happy to provide it for you." Jane looked straight at him, their green eyes locked. Shiala began to smirk in the corner of Sparatus' eye.

"I… I don't…" Jane said, tears in her eyes as she looked away. Shiala stepped forward, and coughed to draw their attention.

"I'd be more than willing to teach Jane how to command her biotics. The sparring room should be more than adequate for biotic combat training." She said.

"Well yeah, that would be great but…" Jane started. "I guess what I really want are more… ugh, it sounds stupid even in my head. Never mind."

"Jane…" Sparatus walked toward her, and knelt down to stay at eye level with her. Jane looked him, and the line her tears traced were all too noticeable. "I can't help you if I don't know what you need." Jane looked down, sniffling.

"I just… I want to get out of this house. I know you can't go out with me because of political nonsense and dumb turian racists shrieking and hollering at you for it but I hate this place and I don't want to be cramped up in here forever and I want to learn how to shoot a gun and I want to go to the military when I'm fifteen but I probably can't because I was born wrong and…"

Sparatus placed a timid hand on Jane's shoulder. She kept going.

"I never meant to hurt Garrus honest I didn't I just there were these dumb turian kids teasing him and I tried to stop them but they started hitting me and it hurt so much so I tried to hit them back but then my biotics showed up and I missed and now Garrus probably hates me and and sometimes I just want a hug but I can't ask for one because—because turians just don't do that and…"

Sparatus wrapped his arms around her immediately, scooping her up as he stood. Jane squeezed his neck so tightly he was half-certain she would have choked him. Jane didn't, though. She just gripped him hard with her long and thin limbs and sobbed into his shoulder.

"You're right Jane. Turians don't hug very often at all." Jane's arms loosened, and she pulled back. Shame colored her features, and she looked at him, confused. Sparatus spread his mandibles and tilted his head down. Smiling.

"But you're not turian, are you Jane?"

They stayed there, holding each other for a moment. Sparatus motioned for Shiala to join in. Almost hesitantly, Shiala wrapped her own arms around Jane and Sparatus, Jane sandwiched in between the two. Jane kept sobbing, but Sparatus felt her features twist into happiness against his shoulder. Even if she dreaded speaking to her only friend once he woke up, for now all was right with the galaxy.

Sparatus soon found himself cooing a little, something that would normally flood him with embarrassment. The last time he had heard a turian coo was when his mother had seen him off for boot camp back when he was 12 and 3 years old. But here, with his daughter crying in his arms, he couldn't care less.