The Normandy rocked hard. Her engines couldn't take much more abuse. Taevus was almost eight and he screamed at his mother to let him help them fight instead of being locked up in the med-bay again. So little of the armada was left. So many had died. Tali'Zorah, Kal'Reeger and their daughter, Malta had all died in a battle two years prior. The Council was finally found. Only Sparatus and Anderson escaped. They now lived on the Normandy. The turian Councillor did his best to ignore the abomination that roamed the halls and plagued him with questions he tried not to hear. Anderson loved the boy as he loved Sonya, as if he were his own flesh and blood. However, the boy had many questions he couldn't answer. Nihlus remained faithful to his odd family. Occasionally he and Garrus would hold a spar to release the anxiety they both felt. Each grew tired of the life style, longing for something that was just their own, but it was unfair to the boy and they both still fiercely loved Sonya. So they took out their frustrations on each other, or the Reapers, and remained friends.

Nihlus, Garrus, Sonya and Taevus sat around the table in the mess. It had been two years since anyone had seen a Reaper. What was left of the armada was returning to the Citadel. The rebuild process would take decades. Many would travel between the Citadel and their home world. For Shepard's family that meant two different places. Earth and Palavan. Neither society would be willing to accept them as they were or their son. It left them in a hard place. They could not continue to seclude their son on a ship. He needed to set foot on earth and sand, feel the sun on his face and breath wind. He needed to see where his roots lay.

Taevus was still too young, but his parents allowed him to mark his face. He designed it himself in honor of the Normandy. She was his home, and his was always taught the marks represented one's home. He chose white to show up best on his darker plates and because it was the original color of the Normandy. He took elements from both his father's designs. The long line along the fringe and oval shape on the forehead from Nihlus and the lines across the nose and along his mandibles from Garrus. For his mother he painted the triangle from the N7 insignia on his upper right cheek. He bore the tattooing ritual well and wore his paint proudly on the shattered streets of Earth and along the debris littered white sands of Palavan. No one knew what to make of the new marks until they saw his family behind him, armored and welding powerful weapons. Finally they returned to the Normandy. Taevus enjoyed being planet side, but the Normandy was home.

A few nights after their return he came and sat on the edge of his parents bed and looked at the three of them as they waited patiently for him to speak his mind as he often did.

"What is it, son?" Nihlus prodded after a few moments.

"I just wanted so say 'thanks' for taking me home... to Earth and Palavan I mean. Now that I've seen others that are part of me; I'm glad I'm different, that we are different. I took for granted the love that we share... hated it sometimes because no one else was like us. But I'm proud that my grandfather is the first human Councillor and that my mother is the first human Spectre. I'm proud that I have two fathers that have made history in their own right as a Spectre and renegade ex C-Sec, ex Spectre, vigilante all-round bad ass!"

Garrus smiled wide.

"You lead the resistance that destroyed the last of the Reapers so everyone can go home and rebuild. I wanted you to know that I love each of you very much."

Taevus got up and nudged foreheads with each of his parents, pausing to kiss his mother's cheek. It wouldn't be the last time, but as he grew into a teenager and found his own path in life, he would distance himself from his parents as all children must. But he never denied them and stood up proudly in the face of ridicule for his differences that proved time and time again to make him superior others. But that night he went to bed with dreams of the galaxy that had just opened up to him because of his momma and poppa and pater. When he shut the door to his own loft Nihlus and Garrus smiled at each other and Sonya.

"Well, I guess we didn't do so bad after all." Sonya smirked.

"Indeed." Garrus quipped.

"I'm proud to call you my bond mates." Nihlus told them. It was the first time he referred to both of them as his bond mates and not only Sonya.

It meant more to Sonya than to Garrus because she knew what it had taken for that to happen. She knew of the long talks and the doubt. She didn't know about the sparing, and never would if either of them could help it. It wasn't fun being frozen and de-thawed like dinner meat.

The galaxy was forever free of the Reapers and rebuilding. Their family was whole and happy. They made love in their bed that night as they always had, but with a new level of intimacy that wasn't physical. They would continue to do so for many years to come. They lived to see other turian/human relationships blossom and ideals to change. They saw the Citadel take shape and they saw their son bond with a loving, red-headed human and give them grandchildren. All of them with four fingers, three toes, iridescent eyes, and feathery fringes. Sonya buried her 'father' on earth in his birth place of England. A few years later Nihlus, Garrus, and Taevus and his family buried her beside him. It was hard on all of them. Nihlus never loved another. The newly formed parliament of Palavan denied Garrus' request to bury her there because she was not turian. Some ideals would take more time to change.

Without Sonya there to keep them together Nihlus and Garrus grew apart. However, they remained good friends and never relaxed in their role as fathers to their son or grandfather to his children. By that time the Normandy retired and was placed in a small museum on Palavan in honor of Shepard. Nihlus had pushed them for that for years before they relented. He died six months later. Garrus was convinced it was from a broken heart and had him buried on Earth in a joint coffin with Sonya. It was what Nihlus wanted. Garrus added the thermal blanket. England got bitter cold and turians hate the cold.

Garrus lived a quieter life with his turian bond mate, Novea, who he met again on a return trip to Palavan and bonded with several years after Sonya's death. He thought of Shepard often and missed her like an ache in his chest that never went away. He would rub at absently sometimes when something reminded him of her. He hoped she was happy that he would not be lonely in his old age. Something told him she was. It was a gut feeling.

Sometimes he would dream that she was happy with Nihlus, young again, together on a beach with tall, fragrant grasses in the dunes and house that was just theirs by a lone tree in a field of green. In those dreams he would sometimes join them on walks in the surf. They always welcomed him with open arms and nuzzles and Shepard's kisses. However, rarely, he would dream the dream and it would be just her. She would smile and he would make her laugh. They would shoot at drift wood and seashells and brag about who was better. It would be like old times.

Memory

"Momma?"

"Yes, dear heart?"

"I love you."

"Aw, sweetie, momma loves you too!"

"Can we throw spit balls at Joker today?"

Sonya laughs. "Sure, you get the straws and we'll both provide the spit!"

Taevus giggles and runs off to fetch the toy, his little feet pitter patter softly on the grey carpet. Nihlus pauses to nuzzle her. She kisses his mouth and they grin at each other. His hand is warm on her shoulder.