The Normandy continued to remain with the armada. Taevus was secured in the med-bay with the doctors during battles to keep him safe, but both doctors agreed it was otherwise safe for Shepard to take him and move back into her cabin. Special mixtures had to be made everyday to feed him because there was no safe way to know how the little hybrid would react to the milk made by Sonya's body. They did not wish to risk a severe allergic reaction. Both fathers took turns in the night with the waking babe and they took the command deck in shifts. The day Taevus opened his eyes the tree of them lay next to each other with Sonya and Taevus in the middle. Sonya had just finished feeding him a bottle when his dark grey lids blinked open revealing eyes that were bright cobalt and shimmered with emerald when the light caught in them. For the first time Taevus saw the faces that went with the scents and sounds of his parents and he smiled with tiny wide mandibles and upturned mouth.

"He's going to be a handful, that's for sure," Nihlus said with a chuckle.

Garrus grinned. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You guys..." Sonya chided, "he's adorable." She smiled down at him and ticked his soft plates and feathery fringe.

The doctors assured her the plates would harden over time, just as a normal turian child's would. Just like his eyes took longer to open than a human's, it was normal for turians. The fringe, however, had been a surprise. Normal turian babies fringes grew in softer and hardened like the plates, but not til they were older and not as soft as Taevus'. His were more like actual feathers, or hair, and they were the same monochromatic color of his exoskeleton. They were mostly white with strands or barbs of grey and copper. Sonya thought it was beautiful, but Garrus and Nihlus worried how the other turians would treat him with such a difference. The extra digits might be overlooked, but the fringe was something whoever was talking to him would see.

Eventually a safe harbor was found for the Council and the survivors. Anderson recovered with minimal permanent damage. He would walk with a limp the rest of his life. Kolyat and his family were safe and their son looked more and more like Thane as he grew. The war took longer than they hopped. It raged on and the Taevus grew into a child that wandered about the ship under many watchful eyes. Sonya saved images of the boy to one day show to David. The only messages she received as the years went by were words she so often read with growing doubt. 'We are safe.' Cerberus eventually contacted the armada through Miranda, suddenly willing to cooperate with more transparency. The reason for the transition was unclear. TIM sent new information, schematics for new technologies to help in the fight against the Reapers, provided ships and soldiers to fly them and occasionally inquired after Shepard's health and the Normandy. She assumed he wanted to make sure his investments were still safe and sound if he should ever need them in the future. It made her sick to her stomach when she looked into the iridescent eyes of her son. Taevus was nearly three years old when the questions came, but not the questions she feared.

"Mamma, why do the big ships hit us?" he asked as she sat playing with the model ships with him.

"I don't know, baby." she said and lowered her eyes to the grey carpet.

"Can I paint my face like poppa's and pater's?"

His brow lifted in excitement and he drew over his carapace with his finger mimicking the designs of his fathers.

"Yes, when you're older. And your's will be unlike anyone else's. You are unique."

It always made him smile when she told him how special he was and that was why he was different than his momma or his poppa and pater, and yet also like them. That he was the only boy that was lucky enough to have two fathers. Those were the days that he ran to meet his fathers at the door with hugs and strange kisses that had become as familiar as their own skin.

Nihlus and Sonya stood alone in the darkened corridor between the Loft and the elevator. Her back was to the wall and her legs were wrapped around him, hooked over his hips. They made love against the cold, hard steel in the quiet of the night. They kept their moans and purrs low so they would not wake the boy or Garrus. They so rarely got time to themselves anymore. He loved her slow and hard, drawing forth her orgasm from her like water from a well. He bit her neck to quell her cries when he penetrated her more deeply. He wrapped an arm around her waist and held her close to breath her in, pressing his forehead to hers. He tangled his free talons in her hair as he left his seed deep within her. There was no moss here, but he sometimes fantasized about having a child that was only theirs.

"Poppa?" Taevus looked curiously up at his father as he scrolled through ship reports.

"Yes, little one?"

"Why is your paint different from my pater's?"

"Because we came from different places."

"Why do you look different from everyone else on the ship?"

"Because we are from a different world."

"Why is momma not like us?"

"Well, because she came from a different home world than I or your pater did..." he put down the data pad and turned to his son.

"You couldn't find one like you to love?"

Nihlus' mandibles fluttered. "I chose to love your momma."

"Why?" His voice lifted at the end of the question like a human child's would.

"Your momma chose to love me." He explained softly.

"People like us didn't love you?" Taevus asked, tilting his head. His fringe swayed lightly. It shimmered in the light like silver foil.

"A few did, but it wasn't the same." He shook his head, "Why are you asking these questions?"

"Because... I don't know." Taevus shrugged.

"I think you do." Nihlus looked at him knowingly. He scooped Taevus up and settled him in his lap. "It's okay to ask questions. You should ask questions, then seek the answer. That's how we learn."

"Momma says I'm you-neek and I should be proud, but I don't feel proud poppa. I just feel different. There is no one like me. There are no other kids here. I don't even look like you or momma or pater."

"You look like you, Taevus. You are momma and poppa and pater together and we love you very much."

Taevus sat thoughtfully contemplating everything his father told him.

"Will I be a poppa some day?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly, "I hope so."

"Will my mate love me like momma loves you?"

"If she loves you for who you are, she will; just like your momma loves me."

Taevus fidgeted then tonged his mandible.

"Why is my blood purple?"

Nihlus sat up in alarm, but kept his cool. "... Did you get hurt?"

"I lost a tooth, see..." Taevus opened his mouth wide to show the missing tooth.

"Ah..." Nihlus nodded and sighed in relief.

"But my blood didn't look like yours or momma's"

"You are made of both of us, little one. Red and blue make purple."

"Is that why I get special vite-a-min supplee-mints?"

"Yes... you have little tine robots in your blood too. Did you know that?"

Taevus shook his head with a mixture of awe and disgust. "Why?"

"Well... your momma and I have them too, so we we think you got them from us when..."

"Can I see them?" Taevus interrupted excitedly.

"Maybe tomorrow." Nihlus chuckled.

Taevus did something with is mouth that looked like when Shepard was deep in thought or pissed off.

"Does momma love my pater more than she loves you?"

Nihlus sighed heavily and shook his head. "... No. She loves us equally." His heart beat a little faster, 'Why do you ask this question?"

"Because you don't make her laugh like pater does."

Nihlus' mandibles fluttered slowly when his jaw clinched. They closed slowly over his teeth. "... Enough questions for tonight. It's time for bed."

"Okay..."

He gently sat Taevus on the floor and got up to walk with him to the wash room.

"Poppa?"

"Yes..."

Taevus wrapped his little fingers around one of Nihlus' talons. "I love you."

"I love you too, son."

Nihlus and Sonya sat on the bed together. It was Garrus' turn to put Taevus to bed They converted the tanks into a small room for Taevus. Mostly it was a bed and a place to keep the toys. They still kept him in the med-bay during battles. Nihlus leaned in to Sonya and whispered softly against her ear.

"I love you."

Sonya grinned. His breath tickled her neck.

"I know." She whispered back with a mischievous smile. "I love you too."

"I don't know how much longer I can do this." He whispered as he nuzzled her neck and slipped his hand over her hips and across her belly. He rolled his hips against her butt. "Taevus should have something closer to a proper family."

She turned enough to look at him with wide eyes.

"We've been a 'proper' family for years! Why is there a problem now?" she lay back against him to see him better. "Damnit, Nihlus! Garrus is his father too! You can't take that from him... from either of them." She struggled to keep her voice down.

"And he can still be his father, but I think his mother should share her bed with only one turian. He's asking questions and I won't have answers for them much longer."

"For fuck sake, Nihlus! What do you expect me to do? You don't think it will make more questions when suddenly one of his fathers isn't home anymore?"

Nihlus was silent for a moment. "You're right. Forget I mentioned it."

"Okay, fine."

That night she didn't meed him in the hall. Instead she stayed and woke Garrus to love him. She loved him for being a good friend, a good father, and bond mate. She loved him for always being there for her. She loved him to spite Nihlus' ego. And she loved him because he could make her laugh.