Chapter 22
They landed on Illium three days later, the repairs were going to take a week so John let the crew have some free time. Miranda set up the shore leave to where there was always a skeleton crew on the ship. TIM set the entire ground team up in a nice hotel, as thanks for a job well done.
John had asked for his parents to join them on Illium so they could all spend some time together and to meet Jessica. They agreed already waiting for them in a restaurant near the police station. John and Joe entered the restaurant with Joseph holding Jessica. Finding Hannah and Joseph Shepard Sr. at the table holding hands and smiling at each other.
"What do you two old people think your doing" John said walking over startling them as they broke apart.
"Oh hi boys" Hannah said looking up at her very handsome sons. "And who is this gorgeous angel" she said looking at Jessica.
"This is Jessica Flores my daughter, Jess this is my mom and dad and your grandparents Joseph and Hannah" Joe introduced.
"Daddy I thought you were Joseph" she said looking at her father puzzled.
"I am, I was named after him, so we're both Joseph" he explained.
"That is so weird" she said as they all laughed sitting down catching up there was definitely tension between the two Joseph's but it was held in because of Jessica's presence.
Miranda made her way to the hospital on Illium. The Illusive Man had it all set up for a team of Cerberus doctors to remove the fetus and destroy the evidence of It's existence and Miranda's presence.
"Operative Lawson, we're ready when you are" one of the doctors said as Miranda laid on the bed.
"Just get it over with" she said closing her eyes.
Miranda laid there in deep thought as she killed the child she thought she would never have. Joseph could never find out about this he would never forgive her for it.
Back at the restaurant Jessica got along with her grandparents as if they were always in her life. They asked Joe if they could keep her for a while to spend more time with her. Jessica agreed so it was allowed as he and John left to go visit Liara. As a thanks for giving him the collector base, TIM gave John new intel on the shadow broker. They entered Liara's office as she jumped up to greet them.
"Shepard, it's good to see you" she said giving John a hug." And you are" she said extending a hand to Joe that he gently took and kissed making her blush.
"Joseph Shepard, at your service" he said giving her a smile.
"You two are brothers"she asked not sure.
"Yeah I may have forgotten to mention on the first Normandy that I had an older brother, who should really stop flirting with strange women knowing his girlfriend is technically a spy" John said smiling at Liara.
"Shit I forgot about that little skill asset she had" Joe said looking around for any signs of Miranda.
John and Liara laughed at him for a moment, "Shepard what can I do for you" she asked John.
"The question is, what I can do for you" John said handing over the data to Liara.
"This is incredible, thank you Shepard I spent two years looking for a way to avenge Feron, now I have the chance to make it a rescue" she said tears welling.
"You need any help" John offered.
"Yes come by my apartment later, and bring him" Liara said pointing to Joseph.
"So Johnny, your friend kinda likes me huh" Joe said jokingly.
"Nah, she probably just wants to dissect you and see what your made of" John said mock serious boarding the ship.
"What?" Joe said dumbfounded before following John on board.
"She's a doctor, specializes in Protheans, knows little about human's, she might think you have a Prothean cipher in your head as well" John said stepping onto the elevator.
"Not funny John , but how are we gonna help her with the ship in this condition" Joe asked.
"Liara is very thorough, she won't move on that data until she's ready, the ship should be good to go by then" John said stepping off into his cabin.
"Alright I'm gonna go check on Miranda" Joe said taking the elevator back down.
Joe walked into the room but there was no sign of Miranda. "EDI, where's Miranda" he asked.
"Operative Lawson disembarked exactly 15 minutes after you and the commander" she informed him.
"Thanks EDI" Joe said taking his clothes off getting in the bed.
"Very well Dr. Shepard logging you out" she said turning off.
"Damnt now you too", Joe said annoyed at the new status of his title.
Miranda stepped into the room ten minutes later finding Joseph in the bed sleeping. She smiled as she walked over to him sitting down rubbing his head.
"Hey babe" he said looking up at her.
"Hey, where's Jessica" she said looking around.
"She's with her grandparents bonding" he said smiling up at her.
"How are you" he said putting a hand on her stomach.
"Yeah about that, I didn't trust Chakwas' examination so I went to the hospital to have a more thorough test done, I'm not pregnant Joseph" Miranda said moving his hand away from her stomach looking down.
"Hey, it's fine ok, if you are or you aren't, I'm not going anywhere ok, I love you" he said sitting up looking in her eye's.
"I love you too Joseph" she said straddling his waist placing kisses on his face, neck, and chest.
"Mmmmm that's nice" he said as she went lower closing his eye's enjoying the attention his body was receiving. Miranda was extremely skilled in the bedroom most likely because she was designed to be perfect. She pulled back the blanket exposing his naked body as she gripped her favorite piece of him placing soft wet kisses on it making him moan out in satisfaction. She made love to him with a passion and vigor that she never showed before. Enjoying every second of it down to the last orgasm they shared.
John got ready to go see Liara stepping down to the crew deck headed for Miranda's office finding her and Joseph sleep wrapped up in each other and a blanket. He decided to go without him not wanting to wake the sleeping couple.
Joseph woke up with Miranda in his arms kissing her as he got out of the bed to get dressed. He stepped into the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal when doctor Chakwas beckoned him over to the med lab.
"Joseph, how are you feeling" she asked.
"I'm fine but I haven't really used my biotics so I couldn't really tell you too much" he answered.
"Alright let's run some scans" she said getting her scanner as he climbed onto the bed.
"How is Miranda feeling, have her come over when we're done so I can run some scans on her and the baby" she told him.
"About that doc, she said she went to the hospital on Illium for a more thorough test and they didn't find anything" he told her as she stopped the scan.
"That's impossible I checked three times, there was no way for her to not be pregnant, there was a heart beat" Chakwas said puzzled.
"Well maybe the scanner was acting up giving you false readings or something" he said hoping this conversation wasn't going where he thought it was.
"Joseph I swear to you Miranda is pregnant, I read it three times, I need to run scans on her" Chakwas said knowing exactly what Miranda did, but not wanting to tell Joe.
"Alright I'll send her over when she wakes up, am I good to go" he asked picking up his shirt off the table.
"Yes your fine Joseph, for now" Chakwas said sounding a little off in his opinion.
"Ok I'll see you later beautiful" he said leaving as she laughed at him.
John got up after spending all night helping Liara sift through data. He made his way around the ship checking in on everyone making sure they didn't need anything. TIM paid for a hotel but none of them were fully comfortable taking anything from him. After he was done doing the rounds he went down to the cargo bay for his daily sparring session with his brother who was already waiting for him.
"Hello Johnathan" he said sitting in the shadows.
"Joseph, what the hell are you doing" John said.
"This is the mental part of the fight, are you scared yet Johnny" Joe said still sitting in the shadows nothing but his piercing greys showing.
"You wish" John said as Joe tossed him a metal pipe.
"Prepare yourself John" Joe said standing up brandishing his pipe.
"Bring it on pretty boy" John said going into stance as Joe charged him.
Miranda walked into the medbay after being informed by EDI that Chakwas wanted to see her.
"You wanted to see me Doctor" she said folding her arms looking at Chakwas.
"Yes Ms. Lawson, take a seat" Chakwas said readying her scanner.
"I hardly think that's necessary Doctor, I'm not pregnant" she said coldly.
"Maybe not anymore, but you were Miranda, I have no doubt about it, you heard that heart beating the same way I did" Chakwas said not backing down.
"Maybe your not understanding me Karin, I am not now nor have I ever been pregnant do you understand me, you were mistaken" Miranda said calmly but threatening.
"I know what you did Miranda, I don't understand why you would do it but I know what you did" Chakwas said standing strong in her spot disappointed that Miranda would do that knowing she spent most of her adult life believing she was infertile.
"I haven't done anything Doctor, the sooner you get it through your head the better off you'll be" Miranda said walking out of the room.
Twenty minutes later the entire group of specialists were in the hold watching Joe and John battle it out again. Miranda even showed up this time and Kasumi was recording once again while everyone else was taking bets. The two were having a conversation as well that only they could here through the sound of the poles smacking together.
"WHAT?" Joe yelled out sending John to the ground with a two piece hit to his chest. Joe got on top of him lifting his head to his ear making him repeat himself. After releasing John, Joe got up grabbing Miranda by the wrist dragging her to the elevator.
"Joseph what the hell are you doing" she said shocked in the way he was handling her.
"Don't speak" he said pulling her out of the elevator dragging her to the med lab throwing her on the bed jamming the door with his omni tool."Scan her doc" he said to Chakwas.
"Joseph calm down" Chakwas said in a motherly tone.
"I SAID FUCKING SCAN HER" he screamed sending a chill up both their spines as John and the rest of the team tried to get into the room.
"Joseph I already told you, I went to the doctor they didn't find anything" Miranda said trying to calm her lover until she felt pressure on her neck.
"Bullshit don't fucking lie to me, stop lying or I'll crack your fucking skull right now," he said squeezing her by the neck "John told me Garrus smelled the other life inside of you, a Turian's sense of smell is only challenged by a Krogans. Don't fuck with me Miranda, Karin Chakwas you fucking scan this liar right now"
Joe said throwing her back on the bed staring at her menacingly as the others began banging on the door.
"Joseph I'm not going to scan her until you calm down" Chakwas said visibly scared for Miranda.
"Fine then don't scan her, I know what I need to know" he said to the doctor "I'll be out of your room as soon as I get my things" he said looking at Miranda with such hurt and pain in his eye's releasing the jamming signal he had over the door walking past everyone.
"Keelah, I've never seen anything like what he did to the door, I couldn't hack it" Tali said astonished at the skill as Miranda jumped up chasing Joseph into her room.
"Joseph what are you doing" she said looking at him pull all of his things out of her dresser.
"I gotta get away from you, I might kill you right now" he said not looking at her stammering the words out.
"Joseph let me explain" she said grabbing his arm to stop him.
"Don't touch me Miranda, how could you, and then you come in here look me in my eyes and tell me you love me, then you make love to me like I was the only man in the world, knowing you just killed my fucking baby, how could you do that to me" he said tears falling.
"Joseph let me explain it" she said choking up.
"So it's really true, oh god Miranda, why" he asked looking in her eye's as she grabbed onto his shirt not letting go getting real close to him.
"Joseph baby, this is a bad time for a baby, Joey with everything going on we wouldn't be able to care for it, I'm always busy with something and your a convicted felon, how are we suppose to support a child if I'm not working" she pleaded with him calling him baby which she rarely ever did.
"Ok so I'm good enough to fuck but I'm not good enough to have kids with, I'm not worth settling down with thanks for telling me the truth for once" he said pulling away from her.
"Joseph that's not what I meant your putting words into my mouth" she said pulling him back again.
"Miranda just stop ok, the games over I'm sure you and the boss got a good laugh out of this, and you did the one thing that you knew would break me, just let me go please I get it , you don't have to pretend any more" he said prying her hands off of him again.
"Is that what you think, Joseph everything I ever said to you was real, I was never playing you this was never a joke to me, I love you" she said on the verge of tears grabbing his face kissing his cheeks and lips.
"Yet you went out and killed the only thing that could make me love you more, I need to get out of here, we need some time apart. I'm gonna sleep in John's room until I can get my head together, because I really can't look at you right now, you fucking disgust me, I never thought I would ever feel that way about you" he said yanking her hands off of him grabbing his things looking at her one last time so she could see the pain she caused him before walking out of the door to the elevator.
"Ok, what the fuck just happened" Jack said as they watched Joseph storm out of Miranda's room.
"We're Catholic and she had an abortion" John said looking down.
"Wait, the cheerleader was pregnant, well shit" she said walking away as everybody went their separate way.
John walked over to Miranda's office to find her sitting at her desk with her head in her hands crying. He wanted to go and give her a piece of his mind for breaking his brother's heart, but she was already broken.
"Hey" he said walking in taking a seat across from her.
"I've never encountered a problem I couldn't solve...I can't fix this" she said looking up at him.
"Give him some time, that's all you can do, maybe he'll get over it maybe he won't, but you can't force it Miranda," John said trying to give her a small amount of comfort.
"I never meant to hurt him Shepard, and I really do love him, this was never a joke" she said truthfully.
"I know Miranda, we all make mistakes and we have to live with them, Joe loves you just give him a minute to clear his head" John said getting up to leave.
"I'm so sorry" he heard her whisper as he left the room to head up to the cabin.
He walked in finding Joe sitting on his couch with a bottle of Jack Daniels.
"Joey put the bottle down It's not gonna help " he said walking down sitting across from his brother.
"Leave me alone Johnny, I'm not hurting anybody" Joe said taking long swallows from the bottle.
"Joseph drinking isn't gonna make the pain go away it only suppresses it" he said looking his brother in the eye's.
"Suppression is good, that way I can stop thinking about her" Joe said sitting back "she never loved me Johnny, it was all a game, she's a trained liar, very good too, made me believe" he said staring into nothingness.
"I don't believe that, I think she really cares for you Joseph, you need to talk to her, and if you really don't wanna be with her don't part ways like this" John said.
"Why would she do this to me John, I never did nothing wrong to her, why fuck with me like this" he asked his brother looking down in defeat.
"I don't know Joe, you have to talk to her to figure out why" John answered putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Sure John I'll talk to her, but not tonight" Joe said still drinking from his bottle.
"Ok, Joey I gotta go see Liara, I'll be back later ok" John said getting up.
"Bye bye Johnny" Joe said as he continued to drink his sorrows away.
John got back to the ship going up to his cabin finding his brother missing. He went down to the crew deck stepping into the lounge. "Kasumi, have you seen Joseph" he asked.
"Nope Shep, why what's up" she asked.
"Nothing just checking on him" he said as he left the room making his way over to Miranda's office hoping his brother made his way down to reconcile with her.
"Miranda, have you seen Joseph" he asked.
"No commander, why is something wrong" she asked worried.
"No just looking for him" he told her. EDI, where's Joseph" he asked the AI.
" disembarked an hour ago, my readings show he was extremely intoxicated when he left" she informed.
"And you didn't think to notify someone of this EDI" Miranda spat at the AI, getting up grabbing the SMG out of her desk. "Let's go" she said to Shepard walking out of the office.
They walked all over Illium until they reached Eternity Bar, after hearing about the human getting into drink and head butt contests with krogan they knew it was him. They walked over to see him sitting at the bar, surrounded by krogan cheering him on as he took shot after shot of ryncol.
"Hahaha, I love this human" a krogan said giving Joe a strong head butt that was quickly returned, as they all started laughing again.
"Oh god, this reminds me of that time he broke up with Candice Miller, he went all crazy and started a bar fight with the damn reds" John said shaking his head.
"The who?" Miranda asked staring at Joseph who tried to look like he was having a good time but she saw it in his eye's.
"The reds, they were a gang back home" John said as he began telling her the story.
Flashback
2173
Twenty two year old Joseph Shepard was sitting in a bar taking shots of the strongest liquor they had. He was approached by a pretty red haired girl who sat next to him.
"Hey handsome, haven't seen you in here before" she said to him.
"Yeah I don't usually hang in dives" he said not looking at her.
"It's not that bad, you just have to get use to the surroundings" she told him trying hard to make conversation.
"Hey listen I understand your trying to be nice and all, but I really don't want to be bothered right now. I just found out my girlfriend's been cheating on me so me and women aren't exactly mixing right now I hope you can respect that" he said turning back to his drink.
"Asshole" she said as she got up and walked out of the bar.
She returned fifteen minutes later with ten guys dressed in red who began clearing the bar of patrons.
"Listen guys, I don't want any trouble, I'm just sitting here minding my business having a drink" Joe said not even turning to them.
"Well I hear you been disrespecting one of our girls, treating her like she ain't good enough for you" the leader said.
Joe stood up looking all of them over "who her, what you all share her or something because if that's the case then yeah she definitely isn't good enough for me" Joe said laughing at them lighting a cigarette.
"Real tough guy huh, see how tough you are when we bleed you dry for showing such disrespect for The Tenth Street Reds" the leader said.
"Less talk more action" Joe said removing his jacket. As they closed in on him his biotics began flaring.
"Holy shit Jake, this guys one of those blue glowing freaks" one of the younger members said eyeing Joe with fear.
"Yeah that's right, NOW WHO WANTS TO FUCKING EMBRACE ETERNITY" Joe yelled before attacking the gang members.
Present Day
"By the time we got to the bar he was sitting at the counter again with another bottle of tequila, all the gang members were on the floor in terrible condition, never thought i'd feel bad for gang members" John told Miranda.
"Ok we have to get him out of here" Miranda said walking over to the bar where Joseph was sitting.
"Joseph come on It's time to go" Miranda said grabbing his arm as the rest of the patrons were clearly upset at him leaving.
"Hey hey hey, take hands off me ok, I have a girlfriend" Joe said clearly inebriated.
"John" Miranda called out as he walked over.
"Joseph, hey it's Johnny" John said as his brother started to recognize him.
"JOHNNY, you little bastard, hey tell this woman that Miranda's gonna kick her ass if she doesn't stop touching me" Joe said wrapping his arm around John. "My girlfriend's very possessive of the things she owns" he told Miranda matter of factly. "Come on John let's get a drink" he said pulling his brother back to the bar.
"No Joey I think you had enough, come on let's get back to the ship" John said holding his brother up as they walked out of the bar.
As they were walking back to the ship Joe noticed that the 'strange woman' was still following them.
"Hey John, why's she following us" he said looking back at Miranda shifty eyed.
"Jesus Joey you should never ever drink ryncol again, that's Miranda Joseph, your girlfriend.
"Are you sure" Joe said eyeing his brother.
"I'm positive Joseph" John said passing his brother to Miranda as he stared at her real good.
"Hey baby, I missed you" Joe said kissing her head wrapping his arms around her waist to hold himself up.
"I missed you too Joey" Miranda said holding him up as they started walking back to the ship again.
"Marry me" he said into her ear.
"What?" She stopped to look at him.
"I said marry me" he said a little louder as John turned around shocked hearing his brother's words.
"Joseph you're drunk, you need sleep come on" she said as they began walking again "does he always propose marriage when he's hammered" Miranda asked John.
"Uhhhh, no you would be the first" John said laughing as Joe sat down on a nearby bench pulling Miranda on his lap in a straddling position.
"You don't wanna marry me Miranda, I love you why you don't wanna marry me" he said looking up into her eyes holding her waist tight so she couldn't get up.
"Joseph, baby, I love you too, but you're drunk right now I can't take this seriously, you don't mean it" she said stopping to look at him as he began digging around in his pockets.
"Miranda Lawson will you marry me" he said loudly pulling a ring out of his pocket.
"Oh dear god, Joseph come on you're embarrassing us get up now" John said walking over helping Miranda off Joe's lap and pulling his brother to his feet as Miranda was stuck in place. "Miranda" John said snapping her out of it " let's go".
"Johnny she was gonna say yes, you interrupted her" Joe said as John drug him onto the ship.
"Yeah I know buddy, you can try again tomorrow" John said as they entered the decontamination chamber. He stopped Miranda from accepting not sure if Joseph would remember any of this the next day to prevent further problems in that relationship.