Mass Effect 30 Day Challenge: Day 3

Prompt 3: Favourite Female Companion(s)

SPOILERS: Mass Effect 3

Surprise

Normandy SR-2, 2186 CE, Post-Priority: Rannoch Mission

The Normandy's decks were oddly silent after leaving Rannoch. Even though they hadn't been on board long, the absence of the Quarian Admirals – and Legion – had left the entire crew feeling subdued and uneasy, even somewhat awed. Peace between the Quarians and the Geth? The only reason Tali'Zorah vas Normandy believed it at all was because she had been there to help negotiate it.

They were still at least ten hours out from Citadel Space, and the young Quarian Admiral was reminded by a rumble in her stomach that she hadn't eaten since before they'd even landed on Rannoch, much less reclaimed it. She left Daniels and Donnelly affectionately bickering with each other at their stations – they never seemed to sleep – and rode the elevator up to the crew deck. Hopefully one of the Admirals had left a bit of dextro food behind; she was not keen on the idea of going back to eating nutrient paste.

The elevator doors slid open and Tali was surprised to hear voices coming from the Mess Hall. At this odd hour almost everyone should be asleep; third shift was in the dead of night by most of the crew's body clocks. As she rounded the corner Tali couldn't help but smile as she located the source of the conversation.

"Morning Tali," Commander Shepard, her eyes ringed with dark circles and her short blonde hair in desperate need of a wash and a comb, sat at a table with Liara and EDI. She and the Asari both had the crusts of sandwiches on plates in front of them, while EDI simply sat with her head tilted to the side, obviously having been listening intently to her companions' conversation. "Join us for breakfast?"

Tali smiled, then laughed to herself as she remembered that they couldn't see her face through the thick purple glass of her face-mask. After even just a few minutes of taking it off on Rannoch (which had resulted in a much smaller cold than she'd anticipated), she'd never wanted to put the damn thing back on. "In the middle of the night?" she asked.

"As good a time as any," Shepard said, standing up and walking over to the small kitchen unit on the other side of the room. "You want some stew? It's dextro-safe."

"Sure!" Tali said, surprised as she watched the Commander pour thick brown liquid out of a pot on the stove and into a metal bowl. "Where did it come from?"

"I made it," Shepard smiled sheepishly. "For Garrus. Nothing fancy, but it didn't kill him, so as far as my culinary exploits go, it's considerable progress."

"Indeed," EDI noted, her synthetic lips upturned in a small smile. "Considering your first three attempts resulted in Officer Vakarian suffering from anaphylactic shock."

Liara and Tali laughed as Shepard made a face of mock injury, setting the bowl down in front of Tali, who began the intensive process of filtration to allow the food into her system. "We all know I'd make a terrible housewife EDI," Shepard said. "No need to rub it in."

"As always, I was simply stating the facts," EDI said, her voice echoing slightly in the mostly empty room. "I assumed that if you actually intended to kill Officer Vakarian, your extensive combat training would permit you far more efficient avenues than feeding him toxic food."

The other three stared at EDI for a moment before Liara let out a small chuckle. EDI did not smile. "That was-"

"-a joke." The rest of them finished for her in unison. They all laughed then, and Tali tried the stew. Not a feat of culinary brilliance, but decidedly better than nutrient paste.

"Shepard and EDI were telling me some stories of what I missed out on when I was stuck on Ilium," Liara said, picking at her sandwich. "It sounds like you all had quite the adventure fighting the Collectors."

"If you can call a suicide mission an adventure, sure." Shepard said, taking a sip out of her can of beer. Tali wondered why the Commander was drinking so late – well, early – in the day, but said nothing. "Though we did have some good times between all the fighting Collector drones and rescuing Quarians from awful hell planets."

"That was one time," Tali said, feigning hurt feelings. "And I was worth rescuing."

"What did you do between missions, during down time?" Liara asked, sipping from a glass of water. "You traveled from one side of the galaxy to the other and back, that's a lot of time spent on the Normandy."

"I recall one particularly amusing time that passed between missions, Shepard." EDI said, placing her hands on the table. Tali was still getting used to the AI having hands at all, let alone using them.

"Yeah?" Shepard raised an eyebrow, finishing her beer and fiddling with the pull tab. "Which time?"

EDI smiled again. "The surprise."

Normandy SR-2, April 11th, 2185. 1 Month Before Assault on Collector Base

"Tali, where are we going?" Kara Shepard laughed as the Quarian slowly led her into the elevator, enviro-suited hands covering the Commander's eyes. "What is this?"

"A surprise!" Tali said, and Kara could hear the excitement in her voice as the doors of the elevator slid closed and she felt the familiar lurch of upward movement.

"I'm not great with surprises Tali," Kara said, feeling unsteady in the rapidly moving elevator. "I prefer to be armed for them."

"It'll be fine, we're almost there!" Tali said. "Don't peek!"

"Your hands are over my eyes," Kara said, her tone flat. "I couldn't even if I tried."

"Good." Tali affirmed, and she gently pushed Kara forward as the elevator doors opened. Kara heard the elevator close behind her, and then heard the hiss of a second pair of doors opening in front of her. With Tali leading her, she took a few halting steps forward, trying not to stumble over her own feet. What was going on?

"All right?" Tali seemed to be addressing someone else. "All right!" the Quarian dramatically pulled her hands away from Kara's face and she was suddenly blinded by bright light. "Surprise!"

Kara squinted to adjust to the sudden light, trying to distinguish her surroundings. The familiar sight of the glowing fish tank, skylight displaying the stars and collection of model ships swam into view, along with a collection of bright rainbow-colored streamers and balloons. It was her cabin, but it looked as if a unicorn had thrown up in it. On the table down the steps in the main part of the cabin, a large round cake with white frosting sat next to a pile of plates and forks. The words 'Happy Birthday Commander' were written on it in red frosting, a small N7 insignia frosted below it.

"What the…" Kara trailed off and looked around, for she and Tali were not alone in her cabin. Kasumi sat in the desk chair with her legs up on the shelf where Kara's space hamster, Boo, sat blinking his dark eyes around at the unexpected guests. EDI's AI link was open and glowing bright blue to the left of the entrance. Even Jack, sitting in the darkest corner of the room next to her bed, gave Shepard a wry half-smile as Tali dragged her down to the table.

"Happy birthday Shep," Kasumi said, standing up and casually wandering down to join the excited Quarian and the silent biotic in the lower section of the cabin. "Figured you deserved some celebrating."

"Plus with all the testosterone you take with you on missions, Tali figured you could use a little 'girl' time," Jack said, making air quotes with her tattooed hands.

Shepard stared down at the dessert in front of her. She tried to remember the last time she'd had a birthday cake. Maybe right before she'd gone to the enlistment office when she turned eighteen. An age ago. A lifetime ago. "How…" she said, and she swallowed a lump in her throat, realizing the threat of tears. She coughed. "How did you guys know?"

"I found it in Miranda's files," Kasumi said, grinning and sitting down on the comfortable leather couch, taking one of the forks and proceeding to balance it on one finger. "Hacking into those things really is child's play, she should really look into upgrading her systems."

"Time to blow off some steam, eat something that isn't shitty rations," Jack said, sitting on the edge of the couch and examining the cake. Clearly she hadn't seen one in a long time either. "Tali had Gardner make it special. I think it's chocolate."

"I hope so!" Kasumi smiled. "Normally I prefer my chocolate with liquor, but in this case I'll make an exception."

Kara continued to stare, willing herself not to cry at this spontaneous act of generosity. She laughed. "You, uh, excluded some people?" she asked, noting the absence of certain female squad members.

"Cerberus cheerleader can suck my dick," Jack said, resting her boots on the edge of the table. "She was NOT invited."

"Miranda had reports to file," Tali said. "And Jack refused to show up if she joined in."

"Samara did not wish to be disturbed," EDI's voice chimed in over the comm. "though she declined Tali'Zorah's invitation politely."

"We wouldn't have fun with them around anyway," Jack snorted, picking up one of the plates. "Too many rules and sticks up their asses."

"Jack," Tali gave the tattooed biotic a look, which seemed to work even through her face-mask. "Be nice." Jack calmed down, sitting and waiting patiently for the Quarian to cut slices of the cake.

Kara was still amazed that the two of them had managed to become friends; Jack's natural hostility and Tali's tendency towards mildness made them the opposite of a good pairing, but the two looked out for each other, and it warmed Kara's heart to see.

"Fine," Jack muttered. "But let's get to the cake, I'm starving."

"I believe it is customary to sing a song before the cake is eaten in human culture," EDI said.

Kasumi shrugged. "I only know it in Japanese Shep, sorry."

Jack snorted. "Don't look at me," she said. "The closest I got to a happy birthday song back in my cell was one less kid trying to beat my head in."

Tali shrugged also. "We have a birthday song on the Flotilla," she said. "But it's long and a little boring."

Kara smiled. "We could just sing something we all know."

The other three thought about this for a moment. They looked at each other.

"Do we even have a song we all know?" Kasumi asked.

Jack snorted again. "I doubt you're much for the music I listen to, Goto," she said. "It's mostly screaming and pounding bass."

"How about that one song?" Tali asked. "The one Joker likes to play over the comm. to wake everyone up in the middle of the night? The old Earth one?"

They all looked at each other, and Kara caught even Jack smiling. As one, they raised their voices in a slightly hoarse, untrained chorus.

"What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me?..."

They quickly devoured the cake shortly thereafter and stayed up for a few hours talking about anything that struck their fancy – stories of old heists, life on the flotilla, spending time in a monastery – and Kara Shepard ate her slice of chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and smiled. For the first time since she'd been brought back to life, at least in that moment, she felt that things were all right.

Present day

"Sounds like fun," Liara said, smiling across the table at the Commander, who had a sad smile on her own face.

"It was," Shepard said. "Surprisingly good cake too. It's amazing what Gardner could do with a little help from supplies off the citadel."

Tali had some more of her stew and then played idly with the spoon. A silence had fallen over them, and even EDI looked somber in the florescent light of the Mess Hall.

"I miss them," Tali said after a while. "Kasumi and Jack I mean. They both brought life to the Normandy."

Shepard nodded, pulling the tab off of her beer can and pressing it between her index finger and thumb. "They really did." She said. "But they're doing good work. We all are."

The other three nodded slowly, still remaining mostly silent. Tali found that she wasn't hungry any more.

Shepard stood up, taking Tali's bowl and Liara's plate. "Guess there's not much cause for celebration any more is there?" she said, walking over and putting the dishes in the sink. "Even the good times seem to come hand-in-hand with disaster."

Tali didn't speak, she only looked over at Liara, who stared at the Commander with a deep sadness in her eyes. Tali knew she and the Asari were both thinking the same thing; it wasn't going to get easier, no matter how much they wanted it to.

Shepard stretched her arms up and groaned, her shoulders and back popping. "I'd better get back to duty rosters," she said, heading for the elevator. "Thanks for the company guys. I appreciate it."

EDI left shortly thereafter, needing to tend to Joker's morale, as she said, and Liara sat with Tali in silence for several more minutes before speaking.

"You were there for her when I couldn't be," Liara still looked sad. "Went with her into hell and back while I played financial power games on Ilium."

Tali reached across and gave the Asari's hand a squeeze. "You're here now Liara," she said. "That's what really matters. Whatever happened before, Shepard's going to need us now more than ever. You're her friend; that's exactly what she needs."

Liara nodded slowly and squeeze back. "You're right," she said, smiling wanly. "Thanks Tali." She stood up. "I should get back to my feeds," she said, heading for her cabin. "The agents of the Shadow Broker wait for no-one."

Tali sat alone in the Mess hall until third shift ended, silent and pensive, as she remembered the surprise, and the cake, and Commander Kara Shepard's smile. Hopefully, when this is all over, Tali thought, We'll see her smile like that again.

Answer: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, Liara T'Soni, EDI, Kasumi Goto, Jack

- Song Lyrics: The Beatles, 'With a Little Help From My Friends' -