For once Nihlus' intuition had simply been in his head and not a reality. Though Joker might have disagreed. Having Shepard sitting in the gunner's chair telling him about the pregnancy and trying to describe how truly alien it felt to have something moving and growing inside her was enough to make him queazy himself. When Kryik and Vakarian walked in through the forward docking hatch Joker spun around in his chair so fast the two thought he was going to fly right out of it an run for his life.

"Oh! You're back. Well... we were fine without ya, just one thing though. Next time, please, please, please , pleeeeease take her with you!"

"I thought we were having a nice conversation, Joker. What's the matter?" Shepard teased.

She knew exactly what she was doing. Just a bit of fun at Joker's expense. She imagined her boys were smiling with their own amusement inside their helmets. However, they weren't smiling when they removed them. If a turian could look pale, Nihlus did. She left the chair and made her way over to him. He nuzzled her forehead. Sonya wrapped an arm around his waist and walked away.

"See ya latter Joker." Garrus said and he moved to follow them.

"Sea ya!" Joker smiled, then cupped one hand around his mouth and huskily whispered; "Thank you!"

Garrus just shook his head. He liked Joker's sense of humor, most of the time, and he hand't been there to be tortured by a pregnant Shepard, but it didn't make it funny.

Nihlus sat on the sofa with his arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the back of the couch. He pushed his feet against the edge of the immobile low table. His eyes were closed, his head rolled back. Sonya sat next to him. She'd brought him some tea from the dextro side of the cabinets in the kitchen and set it on the table. It remained untouched in the silence of the room. She waited patiently, just being there in case he needed her or wanted to talk. Garrus sat at the console on the desk on the upper level so as to also be available, but give them some privacy. Eventually Nihlus uncrossed his arms and snuck one around her waist, drawing her closer to him. She lay her head on him, cradled between his chest and his shoulder, as the gentle persuasion of his free hand. He wanted to feel her near, to hold her. It comforted him to comfort her, though she didn't need it as much. He stroked her cheek with is thumb for a few moments, then let his hand fall from her face to rest over the swell of her belly. He felt the child inside rollover and it make his mandible flutter. He'd felt it a few times before, shared the moment with the other father, but this moment was just his and hers. A bonding moment. He turned his head to nuzzle her. Briefly he opened his eyes to look at her and watch the flesh move when the child moved. Yes, he had died, but he lived again because of her. Now he lived for the future that grew in her. He wondered just how much of the child really was him or it the DNA was truly evenly divided among the parents. He made a mental note to go down and have a look at the actual results of the test later that day, before the armada left orbit around Illium.

"Nihlus, I wasn't expecting to see you today. Are you feeling well?" Dr. Chakwas asked as he entered the room.

"Yes, doctor. I am well. I was wondering if I could have a look at Sonya's pregnancy data."

"You know I can't let you do that without her permission." Chakwas shook her head. "I'm sorry."

"I only want to see the percentages of the paternity tests." He told her.

"I understand your desire to know how much of yourself is in the offspring, but I still can't allow you access. I hope you understand." Chakwas refused him again. "It's nothing personal. You're not the only father with questions."

"Yes. Thank you." Nihlus nodded and turned to leave.

So, Garrus was seeking the information as well. He wondered if the other turian had tried hacking into the system. He didn't doubt it, and went strait to the elevator. He would need a console in engineering.

When the doors to main engineering hissed open the few crewmen inside only glanced up at him, then continued in their duties. He may not have been a Spectre anymore, but he still acted like one and they still treated him as such. No one wanted to get in his way when he was determined to do something. And he looked determined.

It didn't matter which terminal he used, so he went for the one directly ahead of him. Only a few minutes of decoding the encryption and he had surpassed Chakwas' protection walls. She had known he would try, but had failed to put up adequate defenses. The code had not been previously broken. Garrus either hadn't tried yet, or had failed, which he didn't think was likely. As the files appeared on the orange display screen his eyes moved over every detail carefully. He was most interested in the percentages, but any other information could be important.

Attending Physician(s): Chakwas; Earth, Normandy

Jeron; Mannovai, Exporta

Patient: Shepard, Sonya A. Captain.

Condition: pregnancy

Child and mother are in excellent health. Fetus appears fully formed after 25 weeks. Unusually fast development for human grown embryo. Turian physiology difference...

He quickly lost patience and scrolled down to the DNA testing results.

S. Shepard 35%

G. Vakarian 30%

N. Kryik 35%

The results were not what he'd expected. It made him wonder why Garrus' percentage was slightly less, but it also made him exceedingly happy. Rules of the majority proved him to be the dominate father. When the ship rocked with weapons impact, he couldn't have been more worried. He ran to the elevator and headed for the command deck.