"Where are we going?" Beni leaned forward in Joker's lap to check the coordinates, her nose wrinkled in annoyance when she couldn't make sense of it.
"Your Aunt Tali is coming aboard for a bit, she has business with your mama."
"What sort of business?"
"The kind your mother would have told you about if she wanted you to know, Blue."
Beni grinned up at him impishly, "You don't know either."
"I do so."
"If you did, you would tell me."
Joker shook an admonishing finger, "Those tricks won't work for you." How did the kid pick up on these things? Too long in Shepard's company, that was the problem. Truth was, Beni wasn't the only one dying to know what was so important they had to drop by the citadel for it.
"Is she gonna stay?"
"Doubt it. Your Aunt Tali is a little busy with the restoration effort; she's needed down there."
"Everyone is busy." Beni muttered, crossing her arms over her chest and tucking her chin in defensively.
"That's not true. I've got time for you. Didn't I see you playing chase with your papa earlier? Looks to me like there's time to spare."
"Was only for a few minutes. And you don't count."
"Ouch. Message received. You can just hop on down and find someone who does then."
Beni shot him a panicked look, tears already gathering in her eyes. "'S not what I meant. You don't count cause you've always got time."
Joker settled back, patting her back carefully, "Then I guess you could stay a little longer, as long as you don't distract me."
Beni nodded agreeably, tears vanishing as though they had never been. That had to be one of the greatest unanswered questions of the millennium- how did children perfect the art of being adorable bipolar psychos? He was sure Liara would find a way to permanently disable his comm if he dared ask her.
"How much longer?"
Oh please no, not this. Joker recalled playing this game with his own parents years ago. Please let Beni not know this game.
"A few hours maybe."
Bless her, Beni fell silent immediately, playing with his fingers aimlessly. Ten minutes, fifteen. Joker began to relax…
"How much longer?"
Alright, he could handle twenty minute intervals. Truly, he could. "A few hours."
"You said that last time."
"A few hours minus twenty minutes."
"It's been at least an hour."
"In point of fact it has been seventeen minutes and sixteen seconds."
"This is going to take forever." Beni slammed her head back against his chest, curling her feet up onto the chair beneath her.
This was the part where she was supposed to doze off and the crew would drop by to coo over her while Joker kept a careful watch. Any time now she'd slip into a deep sleep punctuated only by a few tiny snores. He wondered which side of the family that came from, this ability to sleep anywhere-
"Now has it been an hour?"
"Twenty minutes."
Beni gave a muffled scream of frustration against his shirt, and Joker wished he could join her. There was an idea; he could kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. Teach her a little ditty to keep her occupied indefinitely and set her loose on dear old uncle Garrus.
Scotland's burning? Joker winced; it was a little too soon for that one. Ninety-nine bottles of- Never mind, Liara would gut him. Monkeys jumping on beds might give her ideas…
Joker smiled evilly, "Do you know, Beni, there's an old human song rumored to go on forever."
Beni's eyes snapped open, gazing up at him guilelessly; "Sing it for me?"
"Sure, why not? I don't think your uncle Garrus has heard it yet either. You could sing it for him later."
"Has papa heard it?"
Joker didn't even want to think of what Shepard might do if she learned he had created a monster and set it loose aboard her orderly ship. "Your papa's heard everything. Your mama has too," he added quickly before she could bring it up.
"Sing it." Beni chirped, turning around eagerly, head cocked to listen.
Voice cracking with suppressed mirth, Joker did his very best. With luck, this wouldn't come back to bite him later.
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The ship shuddered beneath her feet as they finally docked, Shepard untangled herself from her drowsy bondmate and straightened her clothing. "How do I look?"
"Beautiful." Liara smiled.
Shepard rolled her eyes, "You always say that, I could do with some honest criticism over here."
"It's not my fault you're always so impeccably turned out." Liara stretched and yawned, finally coming awake.
"Will you be taking Beni ground-side with you?"
"No, keep her aboard until I get back."
"She cannot stay aboard the ship forever. The quarians could tell you about that."
"This wouldn't be her first time off ship anyway, and I just don't want it to be now. Her birthday's coming up. We'll turn her loose on the Citadel then, may all the gods preserve the poor innocents. My word on it."
"Shepard, you're rambling."
"Sorry." Shepard smiled sheepishly, "Bring Tali aboard, deliver her to you, take Beni ground-side. I can manage that."
"Of course you can. The sooner you are about it the better."
Shepard was out the door before she had even finished the thought. Liara rolled her eyes, if their daughter turned out stubborn and abrupt Shepard would have no one to blame but herself.
Daughters Liara corrected herself. But Shepard didn't need to know that just yet. She lay back down, gazing quietly at the ceiling. If Shepard thought they were busy now she had but a few more months to wait before that workload doubled. Liara personally couldn't wait.
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Shepard had no clue how it had happened, but somehow between her cabin and the airlock, Beni had cajoled her way into a foray off-ship. Shepard held her hand tightly, remembering all the things that had gone horribly wrong on this station.
"You sure you don't want me to carry you, sweetheart? It's a long walk."
"I'm not a baby." Beni snapped peevishly.
When had her daughter become such a little tyrant? It had to be her mother showing, Shepard was sure she had never been so defensive as a child. Maybe she took more after her namesake than anyone had guessed.
"We'll just take the rapid transit."
"I want to see!" The cry was so piteous Shepard really had no choice but to accede, walking her along the pathways and past the lakes, waiting while she plucked a flower from the open garden. Liara wouldn't have approved, but if a dead flower made this feel a little more special to Beni then she wasn't about to object. Shepard pointedly stared down the asari that was eyeing them dubiously.
She smirked when the asari turned away. Five years of peace and she could still singe delicate skin with her glare twenty paces away. She would have to teach that trick to Beni one day when the child wouldn't think to use it against her. Liara might believe their daughter was destined to be a politician, but Shepard knew Spectre material when she saw it. If Beni wasn't enrolled in Spectre training within the next hundred years or so she would eat her boots laces and all-
"Shepard! You came!"
Shepard turned at the familiar voice, already beaming. Beni's reaction was a little more dramatic, flying across the path to catapult into her aunt's waiting arms. Tali scooped her up easily, smiling at Shepard teasingly.
"You're not wearing your suit."
"I am slowly growing accustomed to the atmosphere. Of course, I still take my supplements, but infections are increasingly rare." Tali grimaced out of sight of Beni, "Small hands tend to be dirty though, I hope you have antibiotics aboard your ship?"
"Of course, Dr. Chakwas can hook you up with something I'm sure. Do you want me to take her?"
Beni clutched desperately at Tali's neck and Tali laughed softly, "I have her Shepard. There is no need for concern."
Beni was bubbling over with happiness, jumping continuously in Tali's arms so that her grip had to be constantly adjusted. "Have you learned anything new since I have been away, Beni?"
As it turned out, that was the wrong question to ask. Beni immediately burst into a rendition of the song that never ends, drawing every eye in the otherwise peaceful courtyard. Shepard sighed gratefully when Beni finished off the first line, grinning widely.
"But it has already ended." Tali sounded vaguely puzzled by the whole affair, Shepard opened her mouth to explain but Beni cut her off.
"You have to keep repeating it over and over. Joker says it's one of humanity's oldest songs and needs to be remembered."
Joker just moved five places up on her blacklist.
"Will you sing it again? I don't know all the words yet." Tali chirped.
Make that ten places.
Even Shepard's famed death glare was not enough to quiet the whispers as the singing quarian and asari child glided by, followed by the galaxy's most renowned hero.
She had heard that once the quarians had treasured their native art and music, welcoming all foreign influences and incorporating it into their own special style of singing. She hated to think of this being humanity's contribution.
Liara was going to kill her. Then she would be back to haunt Joker.
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I have plans for one more chapter after this with Aria/Aethyta, but if anyone would like to see other characters, do let me know. :)