A/N I was originally gonna place another chapter here, but this idea just popped into my head so here we go. Getting the flow in this chapter was quite tricky, not so sure I got it perfect so I may redo some of it – we'll see...

4th December 2188 – Crucible pulse + 2 years and 3 months

"You're really taking your time Miri."

Miranda shook her head at him as she bent down and grabbed a brown handbag that matched perfectly with her favourite chocolate coloured leather jacket and shin high boots. Shepard gave a sneaky peek to her behind that was clad in skin tight jeans, grinning smugly. Miranda noticed his glance and shook her head a second time.

"Well you don't seem to mind that," Miranda straightened up to look in the mirror, tousling her hair into a satisfying position. "And I always have to look good."

"You're going shopping with my mother and your sister, I don't think they mind," Shepard grinned. "Besides, you always look mind blowingly gorgeous."

"Flatterer." Miranda slung her arms into the jacket as she began to head out of the bedroom and down the stairs, Shepard following behind her.

"So, are you buying me a Christmas present today?"

"That would be telling." Miranda looked back at him with a wink as she swung around the bannister – covered in holly wreaths – on to the first floor landing.

"So that's a yes?" Shepard sped up, coming up behind and wrapping arms around her waist to slow her descent. He pressed a couple of kisses to her neck, getting a rare giggle out of Miranda. She soon stopped laughing as she noticed the knowing stares from Hannah and Oriana, who was carrying Elizabeth, in the hallway, her face flushing with embarrassment.

"John, stop it!"

That was when he looked up, though unlike Miranda he wasn't remotely embarrassed. "Sorry."

"Oh, don't mind us," Oriana jiggled Elizabeth in her arms with a mischievous grin. "We'll watch the show."

"No you won't," Miranda crossed her arms defiantly. "Ori, I'm getting concerned about just how cheeky you're becoming, especially with certain topics."

"You mean your sex life? Ha!" Oriana let out a short bark of laughter. "Good one Randa."

"Glad you think that's amusing," Miranda shook her head as she took Elizabeth out of Oriana's arms, smiling happily. "Now Lizzie, make sure daddy doesn't misbehave."

Elizabeth grinned and giggled loudly, prompting smiles from everyone.

"Nawr, she's just so cute," Oriana cooed. "But when is she gonna start talking?"

"Hopefully not for a while," Shepard joked. "Once she starts talking, she starts talking back."

"That's a downright lie, you said the other day that you wanted to hear her talk!" Miranda rolled her eyes before turning to Oriana. "And by the way, you didn't start talking until you were eleven months old Oriana."

Both of Oriana's eyebrows shot up. "You were monitoring me that closely?"

Miranda's face flushed bright red once more, betraying the answer.

"Well, I've heard that babies that learn to speak later learn much quicker," Hannah shrugged mid point. "Of course I don't know for certain."

"There is some truth in that," Miranda recovered from her embarrassment. "Oriana didn't begin until later on, but she knew at least twenty different words after only a month."

"Oh, John was the opposite," Now it was Shepard's turn to blush at his mother's words. "He started really early on, about six months old, but he didn't know any words except one until several months later."

"I'm curious," Miranda raised an eyebrow tenuously. "What was the word?"

"Gun."

After a second of silence the two Lawson sisters broke out into fits of laughter, Hannah joining in as well. Shepard shook his head as he took Elizabeth off Miranda, not finding it so funny. After the women had begun to calm down he decided to speak.

"It isn't that funny, I remember liking the feeling of it rolling off my tongue."

All three women looked at each other for a second before bursting out into laughter again.

"Right, if you're going shopping I suggest just going." Shepard headed over to the door, giving them a disapproving look. They walked over to him, all gathering jackets and coats with grins. His mother clapped him on the shoulder as she headed out into the snow, followed by Oriana who gave him a smile and a wave, and lastly Miranda who gave a quick kiss to him. He watched them get into the skycar and fly off through the front door, before heading around to the living room by the Christmas tree to watch the vehicle disappear off to the rough direction of Milan.

When they were out of sight he raised a hand to his ear, activating his comm with a grin.

"We are a go."

XXXXXXXX

Shepard opened the door to let the cluster of people outside in from the freezing cold. The first to pass through the door was Zaeed, the veteran mercenary walking in with a large, snow covered box in his arms. He nodded at Shepard as he passed.

"Shepard."

"Zaeed, good to see you," He was followed by engineers Donnelly and Daniels, both pulling off thick coats. "Ken, Gabby."

"Hey Shepard," Gabby smiled kindly whilst jerking a thumb at Ken. "He's got something for you."

"Aye, that I do," Ken passed Shepard a large dusty bottle, filled with an amber liquid. "Pure Scotch whiskey, matured for thirty four years. Should be a cracker."

"Looks good, we'll have it today," Shepard turned to the next person in line who was dusting snow off his jacket as well. "Joker, how's it going?"

"I'm cool, though not as cool as this place," Jeff shook his head, gesturing extravagantly. "I bet it's lovely in summer, but I'm freezing my you know whats off."

"Just what I wanted to hear," Ashley dead-panned as she followed him in. "Real charming."

"Hey, that's me," Jeff headed on into the house, recoiling slightly as Legion made his presence known by bounding into the hallway. "Jesus Christ, that bloody dog scares the crap out of me."

"Whys that?" Jack laughed bitterly as she and James Vega brought up the rear, Shepard closing the door behind them. "Scared it's drooling will drown you?"

"Hey, the volume of drool that thing produces could cover Tuchunka in an ocean!"

"Stop being mean to my dog!" Shepard cut them off, clapping both Jack and James on their shoulders. "It's not his fault, that's just how he is, how he was born and raised. As with people, you shouldn't judge him on how he was born, on what's natural to him."

"Oh here we go, you're starting the emotional crap all ready," Jack looked at him with a lopsided grin. "When does he get recruited onto the Normandy squad then?"

Shepard took on a bemused expression. "Says the person who has a veteran naturally biotic Varren."

They headed into the dining area of the kitchen where Zaeed had all ready begun to prepare the table. He had a green felt sheet that was inside the box, now covering the table neatly. In the middle was a metal briefcase, full of old glass Poker chips. The set was Zaeed's old favourite, a rather unique set from the 20th Century. They all drew up chairs around as Zaeed begun to separate the chips into even piles, passing them around the table. Shepard pulled out a set of eight tumblers, also a rather fancy group of antiques, setting them down in front of Ken who proceeded to fill them up with the Scotch.

Jeff took his whiskey from Ken whilst looking over at Zaeed. "Right, how high are the stakes today?"

"Well, as you know, normally I like to play rather high stakes but..." Zaeed turned to glare around at Shepard, jerking a thumb at him. "He's here, and Shepard'll just clean us out as always."

Shepard grinned, he did have a knack for poker after all. He had spent many an evening cleaning out both the Cerberus and Alliance crews of the SR-2, to the great annoyance of his crew. Most people refused to play a high stakes game against him, mainly because he would claim all of their money. Usually no one played with more than a couple of thousand credits against him, though there had been one exception.

A couple of weeks after he had first gotten together with Miranda on the SR-2 she had decided to actually participate in a game, much to the amazement of the crew. The, at the time, secret couple had duelled for twenty thousand credits, and Miranda had totally destroyed him with, not one, but two Royal Flushes. In a row. It shocked everyone, though she had never played since.

"We'll have to get the Princess back to clean him out later on then," Jack rolled her eyes. "Zaeed, just get about twenty thousand creds worth for everyone. It's about reasonable."

Shepard shook his head. "Uch, it'll be a quick evening then."

"Well, I'm not prepared to lose hundreds of thousands of credits Loco," Vega took a sip of his whisky. "Not all of us are fat cat rich like you."

"I've got a better idea then," Shepard leaned his elbows on the table, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "All of us have one hundred thousand creds worth of chips, but don't actually bet those amounts. We'll make a pot, ten thousand each, and the winner takes all at the end of the night."

"That sounds fair," Ashley nodded. "We get a long proper night of poker without giving you another million credits. Plus I can actually afford to drop ten grand."

"Yeah, yeah. That's sounds fine," Zaeed cut across them as he began to sort out more chips from the set. "Christ, it's like a fucking Council meeting all ready – all this debating and crap."

"Yeah, next thing Shepard's gonna claim that anyone who beats him has a hand that doesn't exist," Jeff chuckled, pausing to catch his breath. "I'll get a Royal Flush and he'll be like – Royal Flush? That thing that defeats anything else? There's no proof of it, he'll dismiss the claim!."

"Just shut up Joker," Shepard grinned. "Just because I'm in charge of you all."

"Yes, but originally you were on the right track. Each job you had was more and more respectable," Jeff rolled his eyes as he downed the rest of his whiskey. "First you were a soldier, then a SPECTRE, then a vigilante hero, and finally a commander of the galaxies armies. And then you threw it away, becoming a politician."

Shepard furrowed his brows as he excepted the new piles of chips from Zaeed. "What's wrong with that?"

"Politicians, what did you say about them?" The pilot put on an expression of mock thoughtfulness. "Ah, that's it. Selfish know it alls that care about nothing but their own race. They never listen to anyone with any sense and are the most self indulged beings in the Galaxy behind Asari business women and gang crime lords."

"I actually have some new found respect for them since joining, there is a hell of a workload," Shepard was serious as he explained to them. "And the responsibility is huge."

"Yeah you lot order us out to destroy a Cerberus facility here, or a merc base there," James rolled his eyes. "But surely you'd rather be out there doing it?"

"We've been through this before," Shepard gave him a stern look. "Not any more."

"That's understandable," Ashley took a swig of whiskey before changing the subject. "By the way, mentioning mercs, what's all this about the Blue Suns? Hackett keeps sending us off after them."

"They stole the equipment Cerberus used to make that clone of mine," There was a series of muttered curses around the table at this. "Oh come on guys, I hardly think the Blue Suns are gonna make a clone of me."

"No, but they might make a whole fucking army of you," Jack laughed. "That would be a..."

"Look, are we gonna play poker or not?" Zaeed's growl interrupted Jack. "It's turning into a god damn fucking Council meeting."

"Right." Shepard grinned as the veteran started handing out the cards. He had to fight to contain the grin as he received his hand – pocket aces weren't a bad way to start the evening.

XXXXXXXX

"Ow, come on!" A rather drunk Ashley swore loudly as Shepard collected yet another pile of chips. His winnings were growing with almost every other hand, as per usual, and every time he won only made his opponents more vocal of their disappointment. He was about to retort when a wailing came from his omni-tool, causing everyone to jump.

"Oops, better go and sort Lizzie out." Shepard rose from his chair, hurrying out of the room and upstairs quickly. He was pretty sure that he caught Jack muttering something about him being whipped as he headed upstairs, though he ignored the jab.

Entering her bedroom he headed straight over to her cot, scooping the crying and fidgeting, almost, one year old off the mattress. He placed her in his arms and bounced her several times, talking soothingly to her. As he did this he walked around her bedroom, looking around them. They had settled on creating what Miranda had called a neutral colour scheme when they had moved Elizabeth into her own room a few months back, consisting of a variety of cream and vanilla shades on the walls with matching furniture. Shepard had agreed with the decision, though mainly from his lack of desire to have a bright pink room in the house than from a knowledge of interior decorating.

Soon Elizabeth settled down, heading back off to sleep. It wasn't often that she cried, and usually it wasn't for feeding or changing as Miranda had devised an almost clockwork routine for her. Lizzie's cries were usually just for attention, for someone to make a fuss of her. He placed her carefully back down in her cot, quietly creeping away. He almost made it to the door, but the crying started up again.

"All right, all right," He walked back over to the cot, picking Elizabeth back up again. "You want to be the centre of attention don't you? Come on then."

He rolled his eyes as he carried her out of the room, heading back downstairs to the dining room. As he entered, Lizzie was greeted by a series of smiles and ahhs, before Shepard was greeted by a series of grins. He looked down at the table, nearly all of his hard won chips were gone.

"Oh, very funny guys," Shepard gave them a disapproving glare. "Chips back, now!"

"Lets see about that," Jeff put on an exaggerated look of consideration. "Maybe you can win them back?"

"Maybe I will then," Shepard pulled Elizabeth's high chair next to his own seat, looking down at the almost worthless pile in front of him. "Zaeed, deal. I've got work to do."

The merc dealt out the cards to everyone before placing five down in the centre of the table. Shepard checked his hand, a ten and a Queen of hearts. Ken and Gabby were on blinds this round, and they placed two and one white chips on the table respectively. Everyone else matched their bets, the chips going into the pile in the centre before Zaeed flipped over the first three cards – a Jack of hearts, two of spades, and seven of clubs. Shepard kept his face straight.

The next round of betting consisted of everyone checking, no one put any more chips down. Zaeed turned over the penultimate card, showing it to be a King of hearts. Again Shepard kept his poker face on, not betraying the buzz that had began in his mind. Vega placed a bet down that was bigger than what Shepard had left in his entire pile, meaning that he would have to go all in on the hand. It was a bit of a risk, if the last card wasn't at least heart then he didn't have a hand at all. If it was a nine of hearts it was a straight flush, and an ace of hearts would be a royal flush.

"Someone's gonna have a flush, maybe even a straight flush. Or even possibly a royal flush," Vega grinned as he moved his bet into the middle of the table. "Loco, are you all in?"

"Hmm," Shepard cocked his head to consider. He raised his cards to show them to Lizzie, grabbing her attention. "What do you think Lizzie? All in? I can't exactly raise can I?"

He was about to move his chips into the middle when a high pitch, squeaky voice stopped him.

"All in..."

Shepard slowly turned his head to face his daughter, an amazed expression on his face.

"Lizzie, did you just speak?"

"All...all in," Lizzie grinned at him before banging her hands down on the table of the high chair. "Wraise."

"You spoke?" Shepard picked Elizabeth up out of the high chair, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead before placing her on his knee. He fixed her with a concentrated gaze. "Can you say daddy?"

There was a pause as she opened and closed her mouth several times, making a clucking sound, before trying to speak again. "Wraise, all...all in?"

"Well, she's not much help to you is she?" Ashley managed to get out a sentence in-between snorts of laughter, like everyone else around the table.

"Shh Ash," Shepard watched Elizabeth intently still. "Lizzie, say daddy."

"Wraise!" She shouted back at him, still with a massive grin.

"Hmm, we'll have to work on it," Shepard opened up his omni-tool, establishing a comm link to Miranda. He looked around him at the others, giving them an apologetic look. "Sorry guys, I have to tell Miranda."

"No that's fine, go ahead." James replied as he slowly moved closer, Shepard wondering what he was doing. He realised just in time, the marine was lunging for Shepard's cards out on the table. Shepard managed to grab them without losing Lizzie off his lap, grabbing the cards and placing them in a pocket with a grin.

"Nice try James..." Shepard paused as Miranda's face appeared on the screen on his omni-tool. "Hey Miri."

"Hey, something up?"

"Yeah, just watch this. You won't believe it," Shepard picked Lizzie up, turning her towards the screen. "Lizzie, are you going to speak for mummy?"

The almost one year old looked up at him with her deep blue eyes, a questioning gaze meeting his own. He smiled encouragingly, inclining his head towards the screen. Elizabeth turned her head back to the image of Miranda, who had now been joined by Oriana and Hannah. She paused before speaking in a questioning tone.

"Wraise?"

"Wow, she spoke!" Miranda's face was filled with a huge smile, mirrored on the faces of the other women with her. "Though, we're gonna have to teach her her R's and...wait a second.."

"What?"

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "Are you playing poker?"

Shepard paused before replying, with a little trepidation. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, she said raise – that would be for poker. And also, looked behind you." Shepard did just that, turning around to see the table in front of him and all the surrounding players reflected in the mirror in the hallway.

"Ah, yes. About that.."

"John, I don't begrudge you having some fun – enjoy yourself," Miranda smiled at him. "Just don't drink too much whiskey, you snore really badly if you do."

"Yes Miranda," There was a chorus of sniggers around the table which Shepard replied to with a glare. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, I can't wait to get back now!" Miranda couldn't keep the grin off her face. "I'll see you both later."

"You gonna say bye Lizzie?"

Elizabeth looked back up to him before turning back to the screen. "All...wraise."

"That's a new one," Miranda gave him a wink. "Love you."

"Love you too," Shepard shut off the feed to a table of grins. "What?"

Jack sneered at him. "Fucking whipped, I tell you."

"Oi, watch your language," Shepard placed his hands over Elizabeth's ears. "Don't want anyone starting up bad habits."

"Yeah, but more importantly..." Zaeed slammed his glass back down on the table, jabbing a finger at Shepard. "Are you in?"

"Yes, all in."

"Right," Zaeed flipped over the final card, revealing an Ace of hearts. "Oh god, someone's definitely got the flush."

Ken chuckled. "Anyone got any last bets?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah, four thousand."

"I'll match," James grinned. "So it's me, Loco, and Tats in then? What about you Scotty?"

"Aye, I'm matching," Ken moved his chips into the centre too, alongside the pile. "Jack you raised last, show your cards."

"Three of a kind Jacks."

There was a series of chuckles around the table.

"Well that's appropriate Tats," James grinned, placing his cards down. "But I've got three of a kind King's, sorry about that."

"Well, I'm sorry to both of you," Ken gave them all a wink as he placed down a pair of aces. "Three of a kind aces, someone was dealing very, very well!"

There was a series of exhalations around the table.

"Now Councillor," Ken moved his hands over the pot in the middle of the table. "Will I be taking this pile?"

Shepard placed his cards down on the table, a series of gasps and curses ran around the audience.

"Royal flush," He paused before scooping the pile towards him. "Thank you people."

"Oh just..." Jack paused. "Fuc...fudge it."

XXXXXXX

Shepard glanced around the sitting room where almost everyone had migrated to, all eventually having lost their money to him. Zaeed was sharing one of his war stories with Vega and Jack whilst Ken, Gabby, and Joker were having an in depth discussion about recent upgrades to the Normandy. He had put Elizabeth to bed a few hours earlier.

Shepard noticed that Ashley was no where in sight so he headed out of the room, looking for the SPECTRE throughout the downstairs. He found her, though she was outside the house, leaning against a tree not far from the front door whilst staring over across the lake in the pitch black of the night. Shepard approached her slowly, his feet crunching the snow underneath.

"Hey Ash."

"Oh, Shepard," Ashley turned around, giving him a weak smile. "Didn't see you there."

"You OK? It's pretty cold out here." That was an understatement, it was absolutely freezing.

"I'm fine," She shrugged. "Maybe had a little too much to drink, needed some air."

"Ah, I see." Shepard followed her gaze out across the lake. They stood in silence for a few moments, until Ashley broke it.

"I always get jealous whenever I come here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it's so tranquil. Peaceful," She sighed. "I definitely want a place like this."

"You're not seriously thinking of retiring?"

"Oh god no, not just yet," She chuckled. "Unlike you I haven't saved the galaxy enough times to warrant as lucrative a retirement package."

"You know you've been instrumental in saving the galaxy twice right? I couldn't have done anything without any of you guys."

"Aye that's right, I helped. Twice," He noticed the expression on Ashley's face change to a rather more bitter one, her tone changing too. "But not three times eh?"

"Jesus Ash," Shepard pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing audibly. "How many times, get over Horizon! It's a closed issue, a ridiculous one on both sides."

"I know, I know," She shook her head. "When I drink I get a little more dour about things, in truth I am over it."

"Well then, why bring it up?"

"Because...well..." This time Ashley sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"It does," Shepard lightly touched her arm, turning her to look at him with the subtle gesture. "You're one of my closest friends, I care."

"It's stupid, really." She protested.

"It can't be as stupid as the crap James comes out with, I listen to that," Ashley chuckled lightly. "So out with it SPECTRE, Councillor's orders!"

"It's just that..." Ashley scratched the back of her neck awkwardly, mirroring Shepard's usual nervous stance. "Whenever I'm here, whenever I see you and Miranda in this house, with Elizabeth and everything, I can't help but wonder if we could ever have had something like this – me and you."

"Ah..." Shepard paused, not quite sure of what to say. He couldn't quite believe Ashley still had these unresolved issues, even after several years. "Look Ash..."

She interrupted him. "I know what you're going to say."

"Really? Do you?" Shepard rolled his eyes. "Listen. What we had was great, you were very special to me and you still are as a friend, but with me and Miranda...It's not the same. It's something more..."

"It's true love." Ashley finished his sentence with a nod. "I know, anyone can tell from how you two are together. And don't think I want to try anything again, you know I am over us."

He frowned. "It still doesn't appear that way."

"No, I am," Ashley nodded defiantly. "It's just that I sometimes wonder, in the same way that I wonder about what would have happened if you hadn't talked me down on the Citadel, or if we hadn't of stopped the Reapers. It's just speculation."

"Good," Shepard gave her a kind smile. "Cause I don't want you suffering over closed wounds, I want you to get on with your own life."

"Aye, find a man of my own right?"

"Exactly," Shepard gave her a wink as he noticed a skycar approaching in the corner of his eye. "Though I want to do a background check on any guys you pick up, not just anybody dates my crewmates!"

She laughed. "Oh God..."

"C'mere you," He puller her in for a friendly hug, patting her on the back. "Ash, if you ever do want to talk about things..."

"I know," Ashley smiled at him as she pulled back. "Thanks Shepard."

"Caught in the act John," Both turned their heads towards the Australian accent as Miranda approached with a grin, Oriana and Hannah following behind. Miranda reached Shepard and threw her arms around him, pressing a smouldering kiss to his lips. She pulled back with a cheeky grin, Shepard knew exactly what she was doing. "Naughty naughty."

"Hi Miranda," Ashley managed a genuinely friendly smile towards Miranda. "I better go inside and round my lot up, Normandy ships out early tomorrow."

"Right, we'll be in in a bit," Ashley nodded as she walked away from them, Shepard turning to Miranda who still had hands wrapped around his neck. He gave her a raised eyebrow. "Was that really necessary?"

She gave him a coy look. "Was what really necessary?"

"You know full well what," He rolled his eyes. "It was just a friendly hug."

"I know that, I merely missed you and so wanted to give you a nice hello," Miranda took his hand and begun to lead him towards the house. "I know the difference between a friendly hug and the hugs you reserve for me."

"Oh? Do tell."

"Whenever you hug someone who isn't me you place your arms around their shoulders, never above the neckline or below the shoulder blades. With me you always go for the waistline, and usually you rub up and down on my hips – right hand first, then left, then both together."

"Erm..." He scratched his head. "Wow."

"You know how observant I am," Miranda laughed, pulling him towards the door. "And by the way, there's a red bag that has some stuff in, you are banned from going in it."

"Ah-ha! My Christmas prezzies!"

Miranda opened the door. "Do not go looking."

"But..."

"Shepard!" Miranda gave him a wink. "No peeking!"