"We can't pretend to be anything other than troubleshooting space divas..."
.
A few months later...
"Dare I ask what you're trying to feed our daughter?" Shepard crossed her arms in front of her chest and leaned against the kitchen's door frame.
Miranda sighed and lowered the spoon in her hand, turning around. "This, my dear, is healthy baby food," she announced before she turned back to Emily, who was still skeptically inspecting the spoon being presented to her.
Shepard pushed herself off the door frame and sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing her daughter's back. Emily immediately took her eyes off the spoon and smiled at her mother in thanks for the help that was sure to follow.
Miranda just shook her head at the picture. "It's proven that babies develop their biotic abilities earlier when their immune system is strong and they're healthy, which is why I suggest she eats this very..." She lifted the can standing next to her and inspected the label. "...healthy purée consisting of organic carrots from a controlled farm on Earth."
"Tasty..." Shepard looked down at her daughter and grimaced, Emily giggling happily while she imitated her mother's expression.
"Don't encourage her!" Miranda put the can down and glared at Shepard while she lifted the spoon still in her hand and shoved it towards Emily's mouth.
A soft, crackling sound made them both freeze and only seconds later, they both followed the plastic plate on its way before it crashed into the wall behind them. Their heads shot back around and stared at the still giggling toddler in surprise.
Miranda was the fist to find her voice again. She swallowed once. "Was that her first biotic push?"
A proud smile spread across Shepard's face and she ran a hand through Emily's dark (with, sadly, not even a hint of red) hair. She shrugged. "Guess we don't need that healthy food anymore..."
Trying to be as quiet as possible, Shepard leaned against the wall at the feet of the stairs she'd just walked down and silently watched the peaceful scene in front of her.
Emily was lying on her blanket on the floor and Shepard smiled when she noticed Cal lying right next to her, snoring softly; for some reason, their varren had never claimed Emily's blanket, as if he'd automatically known who it belonged to... While her guardian was sleeping next to her, Emily's eyes were fixed on a new mobile – another gift from Tali – hanging from a construction with four adjustable legs allowing to place it anywhere in a room. Hanging down were various little plush aliens, including a krogan, an asari, a turian and a quarian, surrounding a small holographic screen that let the user choose from a variety of tales gathered from all around the galaxy – while unbeknown to the baby still monitoring the toddler's heartrate, temperature, etc...
Right now, the mobile told the engrossed Emily a tale about a young quarian on her Pilgrimage, causing Shepard's smile to widen as she took a few more seconds to listen to the familiar voice telling the story...
After listening for a while (and silently deciding to spend a lot more time on that blanket next to Emily, listening to all the tales Tali had managed to collect, in the future) Shepard pushed herself off the wall and approached the couch.
"Did she already manage a Singularity or are you just following the story as well?" she playfully asked and Miranda tore her eyes away from her daughter and smiled at Shepard.
"It's far too early for that, but she'll still need biotic training as soon as she's old enough," the dark-haired woman stated seriously while her fingers traced random patterns on her pregnant belly. "I talked to Liara about it this afternoon..."
With a content sigh, Shepard sat down on the couch. "Well, in that case I'm sure she's in good hands with you and Liara as her biotic mentors..." She grinned mischievously. "That leaves me for the weapons training..."
Miranda eyed her carefully while she stated, "And she's far too young for that!" Her eyes narrowed at Shepard's unimpressed shrug. "I warned you before, if I ever see her running around our house with a weapon twice her size-"
"You'll use me as a real-life dummy for her next biotic training, I know."
Nodding smilingly, Shepard leaned closer and stretched her arm to drape it around Miranda's shoulder, but pulled it back immediately when she heard an angry growl coming from the other side. Settling on the pyjak, her eyes narrowed. Ever since Miranda's pregnancy, Niftu had become even more protective of her. Miranda even had to ban him from their bedroom after he'd hissingly refused to let Shepard get into their bed – an action that quickly could have caused him to end up as a smear on the wall judging by Shepard's glowing hands if Miranda hadn't interfered, placing the protesting pyjak in front of their door and giving Shepard something else to occupy her mind with...
Miranda sighed and patted the pyjak lying on the couch's backrest, partly draped around her shoulders, on the head. "I know. She can be a pain..." She turned her head slightly and winked at Shepard. "But who else is going to massage my feet?" With a grin, she placed her feet in Shepard's lap in a silent command.
Shepard skeptically eyed the pet but noticing that massaging Miranda's feet evoked a hiss from Niftu every time she moved, the former commander happily set to work, shooting the pyjak a victorious smile.
"Niftu, dear, why don't you go and find me a blanket?"
The pyjak raised his head and looked at his master attentively. Miranda smiled and repeated, "Blanket."
With a chirping sound, Niftu jumped off the couch and hurried up the stairs, Shepard's surprised eyes following him.
"He can do that?" Shepard turned back to Miranda. "He ignored me every time I asked him to get me the news-datapad in the morning," she declared, shooting a glare over her shoulder, but Niftu had already vanished.
Miranda shrugged as she placed her feet back on the ground and leaned into Shepard's arm. "I thought you taught Cal how to do that already..."
"I did, but I don't see why Cal should do all the hard work while that little pest is allowed to just sit around sleeping and eating all day..."
As if on cue, the pyjak returned, dragging a soft blanket from their bedroom with him which he then carefully placed around Miranda – deliberately leaving the woman his master was currently leaning on out... Noticing this, Miranda shot the pyjak a disapproving look before she spread the blanket over both of them.
"You know," she started, staring at Niftu intently, "One of you will have to make the first step, because if I am to choose between the two of you, I'll stick with the one who's able to carry me around when my feet hurt... Among other things..." she purred, snuggling closer to Shepard and placing a languid kiss on her neck.
Niftu eyed the couple for a while longer before he gave a grumbling sound and grabbed the news-datapad from the coffee table, offering it to Shepard. Biting her lower lip, Shepard's eyes started gleaming with emotion as she reached for the datapad, still in awe whispering, "Thank you."
Starting to fidget in sudden embarrassment, Niftu quickly turned away and hurried to his hammock in the kitchen, obviously surprised (and confused) by his own actions...
Shepard tossed the already read datapad back onto the coffee table (it was the thought that counted) and turned back to Miranda who was watching Emily again, which gave Shepard enough time to study the woman in her arms...
Even pregnant, Miranda had somehow managed to still be graceful in everything she did, making a slightly jealous Shepard wonder how she was able to do so in a state she knew all too well herself... But then again, when hadn't Miranda been graceful?
Even her clothes showed how much the former operative needed to still be in control... Instead of settling for normal, oversized clothes (like Shepard had), Miranda had her own collection of tailor-made maternity clothes that looked very elegant while at the same time very comfortable and soft, which Shepard had to reaffirm with her expert hands every couple of hours – reminding herself to unwrap her arms and leave the other woman some room to breathe every now and then (not that Miranda minded the attention)...
All in all, Miranda had managed to get through the first few months of her pregnancy without being as whiny as Shepard had been. She kept her mood swings under control, ate the healthy food, she'd almost had to force-feed Shepard with, without complaint and even injected herself with the occasional necessary medicine that enabled her body to carry the child without complications. The latter also meant fewer visits at Dr. Chakwas' and a lot of horrified looks from Shepard whenever she watched her lover expertly handling needles the length of her hand...
But the therapy seemed to work so far and Miranda's belly had steadily grown, holding a certain fascination for Shepard she couldn't quite explain. Being pregnant and watching someone else being pregnant definitely were two different things, but fascinating nevertheless...
Shepard carefully touched Miranda's belly and caressed it lovingly, eliciting a satisfied sigh from the woman underneath her.
"I assume she'll be the image of the great Miranda Lawson..." Shepard mused quietly.
Miranda slightly turned to be able and look at Shepard, an eyebrow raised questioningly. "What do you mean?"
Shepard shrugged. "If I'd get to control my daughter's DNA, I'd make sure she gets as many of your traits as possible too..."
Miranda freed herself from the embrace and straightened up on the couch, facing Shepard fully. "You mean I've altered our daughters' DNA to have two small versions of myself running around our house? As far as I remember, you weren't interested in taking part in the first stages of our preparations..." she challenged playfully, only a hint of pique in her voice which Shepard noticed nevertheless.
"Oh, I'm not complaining," she quickly assured her, reaching out and gently squeezing Miranda's hand on the couch's backrest. A mischievous smirk played around her hips as she shrugged. "I can still make sure they pick up enough of my personality to compensate..."
Miranda shrugged, pursing her lips to hide her smile as she snuggled back into Shepard's arms. "Well, you just might be surprised..." she murmured, remembering the genetic alterations she and Dr. Chakwas had made this time...
I think she'll like the red hair...
A/N: All right, that concludes this story (phew!)... Thanks a lot for everyone reading, following, reviewing, etc.
Unfortunately, I feel the whole Miri/Femshep pairing universe is coming to an end for me and there's not much else I can think of writing about them... As some of you probably already know, there'll be another follow-up called "Shepard Charm" which will take a look at the future, though there definitely won't be as many chapters as in this one... To make it easier, I'll upload a one-shot called "Tali's Mobile" sometime later which will cover the gap between the end of this chapter and the first chapter of "Shepard Charm" (hope that makes sense).
With that being said: thanks again for following these stories and I hope you'll enjoy the remaining chapters before I'll put a definite end to a pairing I've enjoyed for quite some time now... :)
