23rd December 2186 – Crucible pulse + 3 months

"I can't believe it, have we really cracked it?" Miranda looked up at the vid-screen in front of her, smiling enthusiastically at Doctor Walters. The man smiled back, nodding quickly.

"We have, all that needs to happen is this operation," Miranda nodded now, this operation was the final step in curing her infertility. It was to remove the final obstacle, the tumour itself, and repair the physical damage it had caused. "And you are free in February next year?"

"Oh we're free whenever, and the hormone program will have been concluded by then."

"Exactly," The doctor nodded as he closed the file on the desk in front of the screen. "I will contact you with an exact date nearer the time."

"Brilliant, thank you Doctor," She paused, a heartfelt smile on her face. "You have no idea how much this means to us."

"I'm glad to be of assistance, goodbye Miss Lawson."

"Bye," The vid-feed blacked out as the doctor disconnected, Miranda leaning forwards and turning off the screen in front of her. As the screen went blank she noticed a reflection in it, Shepard was standing behind her in the doorway to the lab. She turned around to look at him but had to force herself to prevent any laughter from escaping, he was still in his thick outdoor clothes and drenched from head to foot. Miranda did raise an eyebrow though, he had gone out at about ten that morning saying he had stuff to do and clearly had only just returned. It was now five in the afternoon. "You look...wet."

"Uch, don't mention it," He glanced around the lab before settling his gaze back on her with a smile. "But it's all in good cause."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I've got something to show you upstairs," She didn't move at first, just watching as a dripping wet Shepard smiled enthusiastically. He rushed forwards, taking her hands, pulling her from the chair and lifting her up into his arms. "Come on!"

"John, put me down," She wasn't able to stop herself from laughing now though, her plea being completely half hearted. Her main concern to be honest was that she was now a bit wet. "Actually don't bother, but you have snow in your hair."

He hadn't actually had his hair cut since the end of the war and it was now it was an inch of rather thick and bushy growth. Miranda liked the look on him, it actually gave him a bit of a more youthful image. Not that he looked old at all, of course. She lightly brushed the snow out of his hair as he carried her out of the lab and up the stairs.

"So, what do you reckon?"

At his voice Miranda turned her head in his arms, looking over the hallway. It was so full with boxes and bags that she could hardly see the floor, though one item grabbed her attention immediately.

"Why is there a tree in my hallway John?"

"Your hallway?" He laughed. "The house and money is in my name, and so it's my hallway."

"Yeah, but you're mine so by extension I own the house," Her reply was playful, but she returned to a mock threatening tone. "But you dodged the question about the tree."

He placed her down – finally – and carefully picked his way past the items to the tree. Shepard bent down to pick it up, resting the stump on the ground and smiling happily.

"Well, it's a Christmas tree Miri."

That was when it became obvious, all of the bags and boxes in the hallway were filled with various decorations of sorts and the tree was clearly a conifer. It surprised her though, she had been so wrapped up in her project over the last month that she had practically forgotten about Christmas. After all, it wasn't as if Miranda had ever actually celebrated it before. Well, that wasn't strictly true – John had tried to hold an impromptu Christmas on the Normandy a year ago, but the incident at Bahak had cut that brutally short.

"Erm...Earth to Miri?"

"Oh, sorry." She zoned back into the room, but only partly. One part of her mind was racing around, if he had gone to the hassle of getting all of this stuff then he would most definitely have gotten her a present – and she had gotten him nothing yet.

"It's a little bit late in the month, but we should put it up tonight," He placed the tree back down on the ground and walked back to her. "There are a few more boxes in the skycar, do you want to get the tree in the stand while I get them?"

"Erm...?" Miranda gave him an apologetic look, she didn't really know what to do. There had been Christmas trees and decorations at her fathers house, but they were just put up by the servants for show. Miranda had nothing to do with them, and she had never done anything in her adult life for Christmas either. A knowing and sympathetic look crossed John's face as he put an arm around her waist.

"Sorry, I forgot," He pointed at the tree. "If you get the tree out of the mesh then I'll give you a hand when I've got the other stuff."

"OK, sounds good."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek before pulling the furry hood on his coat over his head. Then he walked out of the door, a freezing cold blast of air rushing into the house before the door was closed. Miranda stayed where she was for a second, looking at the mass of items around her. Though the whole concept of Christmas was a bit foreign to her, it was rather exciting to get to do yet another new thing with John. She knew he wasn't actually a Christian, but very few people were these days. Christmas had been heading towards just being a marketing exercise for businesses since the twenty first century and since the discovery of the Mars Archives that transition had been completed. Though Miranda had a different feeling about how John would celebrate it, indeed he had tried to create a family feeling the previous December on the SR-2. He was all about family, of course.

She carefully picked her way through the hall to the kitchen, going into a draw next to the sink for a pair of scissors. As she did Miranda glanced out of the window, watching Shepard out of the window. It was pitch black outside but he was illuminated by the exterior lights. He was currently struggling through the couple of feet of thick and fluffy snow with a rather large box, but he was heading towards the garage and not the house. In fact, when she caught sight of his face, Miranda thought he looked rather shifty. Then she got a rather big shock as the box in his arms jumped, almost falling out of his grasp. She continued to follow his comical journey until he reached the garage, disappearing inside as she went off to open the tree. As Miranda set about slicing the ropey material she deduced that the box probably contained her present and, though her curiosity was peaked, forced herself to forget about it.

He returned after several minutes, arms full with more bags. Miranda perused through the closest boxes to her, examining the decorations Shepard had gotten hold of. They were actually of high quality, a variety of golden candles, bright red Santa Clause's, and even some rather sweet reindeer.

"Where did you get all these from John?"

"Luigi took me to another village about twenty minutes flight away this morning, it has a really nice little seasonal shop," She rolled her eyes at the mention of Luigi, that guy had a habit of getting into their family life rather often. The man was a stereotypical Italian restaurant owner, large in stature, voice, and heart. He was very welcoming to them, and his restaurant was beautiful with an intimate and romantic atmosphere. But, although he was really nice, Miranda did find him a little bit over enthusiastic about literally everything, John thought the guy was fantastic of course. At her look he protested. "What?"

"Nothing," She gave him a smile. "But thank you for this, it's a lovely surprise."

"Oh you just wait till you see who's at the door."

"What? Now?" He nodded at her so Miranda put down the decorations in her hand, walking carefully over to the door. Out of the window next to the door she caught sight of a taxi pulling away, someone had just arrived. She opened the door, revealing a rather excited young woman.

"Randa!"

XXXXXXXX

They had enjoyed a wonderful evening together, the three of them spending hours covering the house in festive decorations and then cooking and eating a meal together. Yet again Miranda was full of appreciation and love for Shepard, he did indeed know how to make her happy. And what made it even better was how well he seemed to get on with Oriana, treating her in the exact same manner as he would Tail and Liara. Now though it was just the two sisters in the living room, lounging on the sofas with a crackling fire in the grate under the vid-screen. John had gone off to do something or other, again disappearing with a pretty shifty look.

"So what are your plans Randa?"

"Plans?"

"Yeah," Her younger twin rolled her eyes in a rather familiar way. "Marriage?"

"Well, that's probably not going to happen."

"What?" Oriana wore a look of shock. "I though you two were forever?"

"We definitely are Ori," Miranda leaned forwards to grab her glass of red wine next to a bottle on the coffee table, tucking her legs back underneath her body afterwards. "But we don't need to be married to show that at all."

"But it's so romantic," Oriana protested, counting off on her fingers as she listed the benefits. "You get a beautiful dress, loads of friends and family are there, you can hire an old castle or something for the day – you could have the whole works."

"That's not for me or John, honestly," Miranda sighed, she supposed the difference in opinion was linked to their different upbringing. "When I was younger I never had a dream of a big, lavish, white wedding. For a start I had more dresses than I could count and pretty much castles and palaces anyway."

"But you must have wanted something like that, right?"

"I went through various stages. When I was really young all I wanted was to please father, to get some sort of...love...out of him," She took another sip of wine. "As I grew up I began hating him though, wanting nothing more than to get away from him. To find somewhere where I could be appreciated, to be cared for."

"And then?"

"And then I found out about you, about father's other plans," Miranda scowled. "I wasn't prepared to let you go through all I had been through, and so I wanted nothing more than to get you out of there. No matter the cost to me."

"I can't believe how much you did for me," Oriana shook her head in mild disbelief. "It was so selfless, absolutely incredible. And I love you for that sis."

"It had to be done," She gave her younger sister a smile. "But back to the topic, there was the third stage when I was at Cerberus – and that was a long one. I suppose after all those years of loneliness, coldness, bitterness, all I wanted was a bit of appreciation. Perhaps, after my career at Cerberus, I've come full circle – back to wanting love and appreciation from somewhere. Though I didn't realise it until we began the mission on the SR-2."

"And Shepard..."

"He gives that to me, unconditionally," Oriana nodded in understanding. "We don't need some signatures on a piece of paper for that."

"You don't fancy being 'Mrs Shepard'?"

"Uch, like all of those mad women out there?" They both laughed, there was still a gigantic group of women who wanted him for themselves. "It's not a definite no, if he asked then of course I would say yes. And maybe in the future we'll do it anyway."

"OK then," Oriana narrowed her eyes comically. "What about...kids?"

"Oh you will definitely be an aunt." One way or another, she added silently. Although she was pretty sure she had been successful, there was still a chance something could go wrong. It may be that they would have to adopt, but it would still be a child that they would love as their own.

"Yes!" Oriana yelped happily, grinning from ear to ear. "You two are perfect to be parents, but how soon will it be?"

"Well, when we're ready, it's not that simple," Miranda continued but only really half muttering to herself. "And I'm not sure about how great a mother I'll be."

"Oh stop it Randa, you'll be great," Oriana took a big swig from her glass of wine, emptying the contents. "And what's so difficult, all Shepard has to do is stick his..."

"Oriana Lawson, cut that out!" Miranda interrupted her sister, in more or a scandalised than threatening tone. She glanced to her twin's empty glass. "Are you drunk?"

"The term is tipsy," To emphasise her point Oriana rolled her eyes once more. "But why ain't it simple?"

Miranda paused before answering, she hadn't told Oriana about her infertility yet. The issue had never cropped up in conversation before now. Though she was still insecure at revealing such personal details this was her sister, and her trust in Shepard was equal to her trust in Oriana.

"Sis?" Oriana inquired gently, obviously realised she had stumbled across something serious. "I'm sorry if I've..."

"No, don't worry," Miranda sighed. "I have a condition – benign neoplasm. It renders me infertile."

"My god, Randa I'm sorry," Oriana paused, a shocked expression on her face. "Can it be sorted? Do...do I..."

"No, you don't have the problem. It was either an error father made with me, or a deliberate move. I can't be sure which, but I made sure you were healthy," Miranda smiled. "And I've been working with an expert on the Citadel to cure it, and we made a breakthrough over the last couple of weeks."

"That's fantastic!" Her twin immediately broke out in a grin of relief. "Is there much to do?"

"Well I've been on a hormone treatment plan for a couple of weeks, and we've just worked out exactly how to fix the physical problem," Miranda leaned forwards to grab the half empty bottle of wine on the table, pouring a small refill for herself. "Just one operation and a few weeks later I'm fixed. There is a possibility it won't work, but I think we have it sussed."

"Shepard knows all this right?"

"Of course, and he's been fantastic. If he was a scientist he would have gone and done all this himself, though you don't want to know the stories I've heard of him in a lab," She furrowed her brows. "But I haven't told him about the op yet, I'll tell him after Christmas. He worries a lot, too much perhaps. He'll just work himself up about it and won't enjoy the next few days."

"It's sweet that he worries though," Oriana cocked her head slightly, regarding her older sister. "Just goes to show how much he cares for you."

"I know," Miranda swigged down the last mouthful of wine in her glass, setting it down on the table to stand up and stretch. "Now you said something about trying out the pool, I wouldn't mind a swim myself."

XXXXXXXX

Miranda was in bed when she heard footsteps from the stairs, looking up from yet another parenting book in her lap. This particular one was not about any medical needs but in fact about the needs from parents, how she and John should act towards the child. Though she wasn't so concerned about the man coming up the stairs, he would be fantastic as a father.

Miranda smiled as he emerged at the top of the spiral staircase. "Hey you."

"Hey Miri," Shepard smiled as he entered the bedroom, plopping himself down onto the bed and beginning to remove his clothes. "Is Oriana in bed?"

"Yeah, we had a swim for a bit," She grinned. "Though I suspect she had too much wine."

"Well, everyone should be allowed to let their hair down for a while." She watched him yank off his shoes, his socks soon following.

"I couldn't agree more," She placed the book on the bedside table, taking on a playful tone. "But I wanted to know something."

"What?" His reply was muffled as he pulled his t-shirt over his head.

"Why are you being so shifty today?" She lowered her voice and began to mock threaten him. "What are you up to?"

"Erm..."

She slid from underneath the duvet, crawling up to him and giving him a mischievous look. He tried to avoid eye contact with her, though failed to look completely innocent.

"Well mister?"

"Fine," He sighed whilst loosening the belt on his jeans. "It's a surprise for you, something nice for you."

"Thank you John, but you have already done a lot for me," He still looked a bit dejected as he stood up to remove his jeans, Miranda immediately feeling a little guilty. As he sat back down she swung her legs over the bed, again becoming playful – there was something else she had been meaning to speak to him about. "Though that box in the garage could be more weapons rather than a present for me."

"Weapons?" He repeated the word slowly, trying to feign ignorance. "I don't know..."

"Like the ones you got off Garrus and Zaeed – yes I saw you – after that ceremony on the Citadel," She savoured his aghast look, finding his squirming as cute as ever. "Would I not find a Mattock in the panel to the right of the fish tank?"

"Erm..."

"Or a Carnifex behind the knife block in the kitchen, an Avenger behind the curtains on the entrance to the balcony in Oriana's room? Or the knives in the desks of the study?" She noticed the flicker of relief across his face however. "But I've missed something haven't I?"

Miranda thought about the placement of the weapons, also taking into account the type of weapons they were and Shepard's habits with weaponry. Then she realised what she had obviously missed, getting off the bed and heading over to their own balcony.

"Miri, it's freezing outside."

"I know." She gave him a smirk before heading out of the door, only clad in underwear. She wasn't particularly concerned about a few minutes in the cold, even if it was minus ten in the middle of the night. There wasn't any snow on the wooden planks of the balcony, the roof stopped that, though the railings had a thick caking of it. She looked not away from the house but towards it, studying the wooden panelling of the building. Miranda noticed one that appeared slightly loose, at a perfect height for John to easily remove. She used her biotics to remove the panel, though she was quite shocked at what she found behind.

"John Shepard, why is there a Geth Spitfire hidden here?"

"In case it's needed Miri," He came to stand by her in his boxers, taking the panel of wood from Miranda and replacing it. Whilst she had been quite comical he was not, an expression of utmost seriousness on his face. "Now come inside, it's cold."

She followed him in with a frown, studying his body language as he closed and locked the balcony behind them. He then moved past her, settling on his side of the bed. Miranda slowly settled next to him, still analysing his behaviour.

"Are you worried about someone trying something?"

"I still have enemies out there, despite what I've done," He realigned the pillows behind his back as he spoke, actually being quite viscous with them. "For a start there's the Batarians, they won't give a damn that I saved their four eyed arses. The mercs in the Terminus Systems aren't best pleased either, though Aria and I do get along and she may keep them in check."

"And Cerberus?" She voiced the question tentatively, the fate of the organisation had been in her mind as well.

"You know them better than me, but I can't see them being finished. There must be some resources left," He frowned. "Ashley said they've discovered many abandoned bases but they have been properly been cleaned out, thorough scrubbing of any evidence. And it had been done recently she reckoned."

"I agree that something must still remain of them, but what exactly I don't know," She paused, laying a hand on his arm. "But I doubt we'll need a rapid heavy weapon like a Spitfire."

"Just in case," He turned to her. "But you have a pair of Kassas in your underwear draw."

"I do, but I do want to know why you were going through my lingerie."

"Well I was going to get you some more for Christmas so I was looking for what size," He gave her a little grin. "I couldn't go into a shop and ask for bras for massive tits could I?"

"I suppose not, but it sounds like you're not getting me any now right?" She fluttered her eyebrows at him, smirking slightly.

"Na, I wouldn't dare buy any," He paused before adding. "You know what's both good looking and comfortable for you."

"Thanks John," She move to kneel next to him with a smile. "Now roll over."

He gave her a smile before doing so, exposing his back to her. They had worked out that these biotic massages worked wonders for him, now he had far fewer nightmares. In fact his last had been almost a week ago, the relaxation provided by the massage was perfect for sending him straight to a dreamless sleep. It was also rather intimate for them as a couple, in an emotional and reassuring way. To be honest Miranda was just happy to be able to help him, he more than deserved it. And in addition the fewer nightmares he had the happier he was to talk about them, again a benefit to sorting out his struggles.

"I don't know what I'd do without you Miri." His voice was muffled slightly by the pillow underneath him.

"Probably just as well as you do now," She leaned down to whisper in his ear. "Though with a little less sex appeal."

"I'm sexy enough for the galaxy by myself," He paused. "Though you add plenty of beauty to top it off."

"What are you after John?"

"Well..."

A/N Felt a little depressed writing this as it's not actually Christmas but there we go...

Thanks for reading and as ever please review guys, always looking to improve.