25th December 2191 – Crucible pulse + 5 years 3 months

The Shepard household was silent, and almost everyone was asleep. Everyone except for two people, currently sneaking down the stairs at one in the morning. The pair crept around the bannister of the main stairs and through the kitchen, the leading figure quietly pulling the doors to the patio open and allowing the freezing cold air to rush into the house. They quickly headed outside and closed the door before trudging through the two foot deep snow to the back door of the garage. Again the first figure got the door, unlocking the DNA keyed button to allow them inside.

"Spirits Shepard," Garrus shook his head as he closed the garage door. "It's colder than Noveria out there!"

"Hmm, it is a bit brisk," Shepard nodded with agreement as he peered out of one of the windows at the house. "There's no lights on so I reckon we got out unheard."

"Right," Garrus nodded. "So what's the next step in this ridiculous human tradition?"

"Garrus it is not ridiculous."

"Yes it is," Garrus folded his arms, giving his Turian grin. "I mean, you get your kids to believe in this fantasy character who they absolutely love and adore, even to the point of getting people to dress up to pretend to be him and leave presents in secret, all the while knowing that one day the kid will find out Santa is not real and will be really sad."

"It's not intended to make kids sad Garrus, it's meant to be fun for them," Shepard shrugged. "Sure Lizzie will fine out one day, but most kids understand – as long as they don't find out too early on in life I suppose."

"Hmm," Garrus stroked his chin with a taloned hand. "That remains to be seen, so what now?"

"Well I need to grab the presents," Shepard squeezed past the shuttle and skycar, Garrus following him, until he reached the other side of the garage. He pulled a ladder off one wall and placed it so that he could reach the mezzanine above the skycar. "They're up here."

Garrus nodded. "OK, chuck em down then."

"Right," Shepard climbed up the ladder to the mezzanine, hauling himself up onto the wooden floorboards. There were several, conveniently red, sacks of presents – and Shepard grabbed the first before lowering it down to Garrus. "There's another two as well."

After lowering the last one Shepard climbed back down, moving the ladder back to where it was. Then he nodded to Garrus, picking up two of the bags and leaving the other one to the Turian.

"Lets go."

"Back into that cold?" Garrus shivered. "Great."

"Come on Garrus."

They trudged back out of the garage and back into the house, almost silently opening the back door. They crept inside and into the living room, setting the bags down on the floor. The majority of the presents were for the stockings hung up above the fireplace, the biggest of which was Lizzie's in the centre. There were also stockings for Miranda, Oriana, Thomas, – though Miranda hadn't agreed to him being here – Hannah, Garrus,Tali, Liara, and Javik. Shepard had kind of forced Christmas onto the four aliens, though they had been more than happy to join in. Well, Javik had been a little sceptical of the whole idea at first. In fact, he still was.

"So we just divide these up between the different socks?"

"Yes," Shepard chuckled. "Though they are called stockings."

"Right," Garrus nodded. "Where's yours?"

"I don't need one," Shepard smiled as he reached into one of the first bags. "I'm more of a giver to be honest."

Garrus shook his head in resignation as Shepard pulled out the first present to place in the bottom of Lizzie's stocking. Garrus looked inside one of the bags as well, and pulled out a box and package addressed to Miranda.

"Do I want to know what these are?"

"Ha!" Shepard grinned as he dropped an item into his mother's stocking. "I give her that kind of thing in private, she would never forgive me if I put some racy underwear in there and she had to unwrap it in front of everyone."

"I suppose we would be burying you if you did that."

"Most definitely." Shepard grinned.

They both reached inside the bags to get more of the presents, and Garrus picked out another package – wrapped up rather badly.

He cocked his head at the human. "Shepard, did you wrap these?"

"I wrapped all the stuff for Miranda and some of the stuff for Lizzie. Oh, and the stuff for Legion – that's for Legion," Shepard raised an eyebrow. "What are you hinting at Garrus?"

"Well..." Garrus was about to comment when he got a hell of a shock – the package he was loosely holding in one hand squeaked and began to vibrate with such vigour that it jumped straight out of his talons and onto the floor. It bounced across the floor before smacking into a cabinet on the other side of the room with a loud thud. The noise clearly woke up Legion who began to bark very loudly. Garrus gave Shepard apologetic look. "Sorry Shepard."

"Great Garrus!" Shepard cursed. "Come on, get the rest of the stuff in the stockings and then hide – if Lizzie sees us instead of Santa it'll be a nightmare to explain."

The pair worked at rapid pace, grabbing as many presents as possible and shoving them in the stockings, and even though they finished that he noticed with horror that the plate of goodies that they had placed on the mantle piece for Santa. Quickly he grabbed the mince pie and crammed it into his mouth, quickly following it by snapping off the end of the carrot for the reindeer. He grabbed the glass of milk and quickly ran over to a pot plant across the room, tipping the contents out as he swallowed the rather strange mix of carrot and mince pie.

Just as he placed the glass back on the mantle piece the door opened and, as Shepard had feared, it was indeed Elizabeth.

Shepard leaned back on the wall, subtly kicking one of the red sacks underneath the sofa. "Hey, what are you doing up?"

"I heard a loud banging, and Legion was barking."

"Yeah," Garrus nodded, stammering as he blatantly lied. "It was...Santa. He just came now, the bang was the...erm...moose taking off."

"Garrus," Shepard nudged the Turian. "They're called Reindeer."

"Oh yeah, of course," He nervously chuckled. "Reindeer."

She raised an eyebrow, in a Miranda like manner. It was also rather unsettling as Miranda came up behind her daughter, mirroring the exact same facial expression. "Really?"

"Yeah," Shepard chuckled. "He was a really nice guy, had a lovely chat with him. He said you've been a really good girl this year, and he wanted you to have some really special stuff."

"Yeah," Garrus nodded. "And he gave me some presents too, apparently I'm the first Turian he's ever met."

"Daddy, Uncle Garrus, I know you woke Legion up."

"No..." Shepard exchanged a look with Garrus. "It was Santa."

"I don't believe in Santa any more." She shrugged as Shepard's face fell.

"But you believed in him last year?"

"Yeah but..." Elizabeth shrugged again. "Last year I was three, this year I'm four."

"You were only four a couple of weeks back Lizzie," Shepard knelt down. "How come you don't believe any more?"

"I found out on the extranet, whilst looking for stuff," Elizabeth shook her head. "I didn't mean to find out."

"That's...that's a real shame," He frowned. "You sure you think that, because I definitely saw him a minute ago."

"He isn't," She frowned. "Though Lauren and Anna think he is real."

"Well you mustn't tell them," Miranda said as she walked into the room, placing a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder. "A lot of people really believe in him."

"I know," She smiled. "I still want think he's real."

Shepard sighed, and Garrus coughed awkwardly.

"I'll..." He paused. "Shall I take her back to bed?"

"Yes please Uncle Garrus." Elizabeth smiled and grabbed one of Garrus' talons, pulling him away. The Turian mouthed an apology to Miranda and Shepard as he left.

"Well done John." Miranda sighed.

"What? It was Garrus who dropped the dog toy," Shepard shrugged. "And she all ready knew about Santa not being real."

"That's..." Miranda sighed again, looking at the floor with a sad smile. Shepard walked up to her, spinning her in his arms and resting his head on her shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her waist, moving his fingers in circles across her small bump. The twins were beginning to show already, it had added a couple of inches to her waistline – a significant amount for the toned woman. And Miranda hated it.

"What's up?"

"When I was little, I didn't believe in anything like Santa Claus, or fairy tales, or the Easter Bunny for that matter," Shepard remained silent as Miranda explained – he knew it was better to let her work out her thoughts without any interruptions. "I knew all about them, my father told me all of the fairy tales that everyone else is told. And then, after he had told them, he would explain to me why they were obscene, why they were ridiculous, and all of the faults with them."

Shepard raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"Yeah," She nodded. "Of course, I probably would have worked out for myself that they were just stories when I was Lizzie's age. But at least I would've believed in them for some time, or even just the idea of them. Just something."

"So let me get this straight," Shepard frowned. "He told a young girl about Santa Claus, just to tell her that he wasn't real?"

"Yep, he went to great lengths to explain that it was something that lesser people wanted to believe in to enrich their own lives. Bastard." Miranda cursed.

"You know, the more you tell me about him the more I hate him," Shepard kissed the back of her neck tenderly. "But what has this got to do with Lizzie exactly?"

"I want her to have everything I never had, right down to the silly stuff like believing in fairy tales," Miranda huffed. "I know it sounds stupid."

"It doesn't," Shepard placed both of his hands along her back, giving her a light massage. "But you need to stop worrying, she's a clever kid she would always find stuff like that out easily. And we're doing a great job, you are doing a great job."

"Well you would say that."

"I know I am biased," Shepard chuckled. "But honestly, I wish you'd stop having these moments of doubts. You're a fantastic mother, everyone says so."

"Isn't that funny," She laughed rather dryly. "Me, a good mother? It's not something I could ever of imagined."

"Oh god," Shepard rolled his eyes. "Don't start this again."

"What?"

"Just..." Shepard took hold of her hands, pulling her out of the living room and towards the stairs. "Come on, girlie's have to be in bed for when Santa comes – he knows when you're awake you know."

This time Miranda rolled her eyes as she let him pull her up the stairs, but she suddenly stopped halfway up the flight.

"Oh crap."

Shepard cocked his head. "What?"

"Crap, crap, crap." Miranda turned and hurried into the kitchen, disappearing into the fridge.

Shepard followed her with a bemused expression. "What, are your food cravings that bad?"

"No John!" She emerged from her searching with the huge turkey in her hands. "We got a larger turkey this year cause of all the extra people coming, it had to go in two hours ago!"

"OK, OK," Shepard calmly walked over to the cooker, turning it on with reassuring smile. "Don't panic, we'll just put it in now. Then we can eat two hours later, it doesn't matter at all."

"Well it does, I said to everyone that we'd eat at one on the dot, how embarrassing is it that..."

"Miranda!" Shepard interrupted her as he opened the oven door with a grin. "Just calm down, and shove the meat in the oven, if you know what I mean..."

Miranda gave him a rather disapproving look as she did just that, Slowly shaking her head at him as she closed the door.

"Lets just..." She rolled her eyes again. "Yes bed, that is a good idea."

"Sure there's nothing else that needs to be done?"

"No," She shook her head. "And if there is then stuff it, I cannot be bothered."

With that she turned on her heels, strutting from the room with an audible sigh. Shepard shrugged to himself before hurrying after her, following her up the stairs. On the first floor they both paused for a second, able to hear Garrus quietly telling some Turian story of sorts to Elizabeth. They gave each other a smile before heading on up to their bedroom, quite happy to leave Elizabeth with her 'Uncle Garrus'.

XXXXXXXX

Shepard smiled as Elizabeth practically bounced with excitement as the crowd of people headed into the living room. She opened the door and hurried inside, followed by everyone else, and immediately ran up to the stockings. She was too short to reach inside her stocking, so Shepard lifted the hook off the mantelpiece and handed it to her.

As Elizabeth dove inside Shepard sat down happily on the sofa, watching everyone dive into presents. It was weird to see Asari, Turian, Quarian, and Prothean people digging into Christmas stockings, but it was a nice sight nevertheless. Shepard motioned for Legion to come over and handed the dog the vibrating cat-shaped toy that Garrus had dropped and caused all the commotion with earlier. Legion took it happily and shook it wildly in his mouth, the toy beginning to vibrate surprisingly violently once more. The dog barked happily with his new toy and took it off to the corner, lying down and beginning to chew on it.

As Shepard turned his attention back to everyone else Miranda came across and sat down on his lap, smiling rather happily.

"I see you don't have a stocking John."

"Yeah," He nodded with a grin. "I'm too old for Santa to be honest."

Miranda raised an eyebrow. "I'm older than you, and Liara is over one hundred – Javik is over fifty thousand years old technically."

"Yeah, but in Christmas years you aren't."

"What?"

"Well, you said yourself last night – this is only your fifth Christmas technically," Miranda nodded, though she cocked her head for him to continue. "And none of the others here have ever experienced a Christmas before, well the non-humans haven't either. So technically, they're kids when it comes to Christmas."

"Wow," Miranda rolled her eyes and leaned back into him. "That's crazy logic."

"Well clearly it works, Santa has visited you all," He grinned. "What have you got?"

Miranda took the first package out of her stockings to look at, a box of some sorts. She opened the wrapping paper to a blue box, and inside that was a large clump of tissue paper. She removed the layer to reveal a white mug, pulling it out of the box. On the one side was written 'I love Shepard' – and she gave him a shake of the head.

"That's really cheesy."

"Yeah, but it's the truth!" Shepard chuckled. "And you're the only one in the galaxy who can genuinely have that cup."

"Right," She rolled her eyes once more. "Wow."

Miranda fished inside for another present but they were interrupted by Elizabeth jumping in front of them.

"I got a new plushy!" She happily squeezed the brand new Prothean plushy. "Thank you!"

"Hey, that wasn't us." Shepard jerked his head over to Javik who was watching them all from a bit of a distance. It had been a bit of a surprise when the Prothean had presented the toy to them for her, they had only expected Liara to have thought of buying presents for Elizabeth out of the pair. Elizabeth ran over to him, pretty much jumping into him to hug the startled Prothean. At first Javik didn't seem to know what to do, though he eventually decided to pat her on the back. Miranda chuckled in John's ear at the sight.

"Now that's funny," She delved into her own stocking once more, getting out another package – this one rather squishy. She opened it up, pulling out a white T-shirt. On the front was written – 'My heart belongs to Shepard!' "Oh god John, another tacky tourist item?"

"Hey, it's also true!"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "The top is a couple of sizes too small for me as well..."

"Well, tight shirts really suit you," Shepard grinned back at her. "And hey, it's the thought that counts!"

"Right," Miranda nodded slowly, before pulling out the last package from the stockings – a large rectangular one. She carefully removed the wrapping, and her face lit up at the item. "Oh John, this is beautiful!"

It was a rather ornate frame, guilt in twenty four carat gold. The frame was inlaid with beautiful blue stones of a sort, set around golden swirls of the wood. Inside the frame was a rather lovely picture of Shepard, Miranda, and Elizabeth when their daughter was a baby. It had the three of them on the sofa just after she was born, in Miranda's arms with Shepard with his arms around them. Miranda turned to Shepard and planted a kiss on his cheek.

"It is really beautiful," Miranda kissed him again. "Really, it's better than anything else you could've bought."

"I knew you'd like it," He smiled, tenderly running his hands across her stomach. "Where do you want to put it?"

"Oh it's gonna take pride of place," She stood up and placed the picture on the centre of the mantelpiece across the fire. "Right there."

"Wow," Liara turned to look at the picture, smiling rather widely. "That's a beautiful photo, I'm jealous of your family."

"Thank you Liara," Miranda smiled and nodded at the Asari before heading over to the Christmas tree, pulling out two rather large boxes. "Lizzie, one's for you. The other's for your father."

"Oh," Elizabeth hurried over to the box, ripping off the paper. Everyone else had stopped to observe, watching as she opened it up to reveal a box with pictures of various chemistry equipment on it. "Is this a chemistry kit?"

"Yep, it's got loads of cool stuff in it that you can do just like me!" Miranda smiled as she showed Elizabeth the instructions. "And this is a really good one actually, but you must promise not to do any of this without one of us present OK? It can be really quite dangerous."

"OK," Elizabeth hugged Miranda, and then Shepard. "Thank you mummy and daddy."

"That's all right," Shepard winked. "We know you want to be a little scientist, just be careful with these."

"OK," Elizabeth nodded happily as she perused through the various bottles in the box. She looked back up at Shepard. "Daddy, you haven't opened your box."

Shepard turned to the large box, that was rather heavy. He tore off the wrapping to reveal a solid oak casket of sorts, inlaid with his initials, JS, in brass studs. He slid open the lid and opened it to reveal something rather awesome.

"Wow!"

The box was a poker set, though not just any poker set. Miranda had had it customized specifically for him, with rather unique designs on it. The back of each chip had an image of the Normandy on it, in different colours for each denomination. He reckoned there were a thousand chips on the top two tiers in various credit denominations, and underneath were a series of high value plaques. These also had images of the Normandy on the back, again in different colours. The quality of the designs was incredible, and was clearly an expensive set. Behind him Garrus whistled.

"Wow Shepard, those are neat," The Turian chuckled. "Didn't you say Zaeed was coming later?"

"Yep, we have to test them out!" Shepard turned to Miranda to give him a massive kiss. "Thank you so much Miri."

"It's all right," She smiled. "I thought you'd like them."

Shepard grinned as they shared a quick kiss before they turned to examine Elizabeth's chemistry set.

"So Lizzie," Shepard winked. "Is there anything we can blow up?"

"Oh Spirits!"

XXXXXXXX

Shepard smiled as he greeted the two guests at the door. "Hey guys, how's it going?"

"Not so bad Shepard," Zaeed nodded. "Had quite a nice evening didn't we Grunt?"

"Heh heh heh," The Krogan nodded. "It was pretty fun, even if I did spend it with a human."

"Do I want to know what happened?"

"Uncle Grunt, Uncle Zaeed!" Elizabeth shouted as she ran forwards to greet them, hugging Zaeed tightly before giving Grunt a hug as well before either could answer Shepard. The merc actually returned the hug, though Grunt was still a little at odds with what to do. The Krogan decided that he would lightly pat Elizabeth on the back in the end.

"Hi kid," Zaeed smiled. "How's Christmas so far?"

"Really fun, come and see the chemistry set I've got!" With that she grabbed them both by the arms and pulled them into the living room, Shepard following with a laugh. The new arrivals shared greetings with those that were all ready in the room as Elizabeth settled back down onto the floor in front of the Christmas tree next to Oriana who had been watching over her with the set. The four year old went into the box for the chemistry set and pulled out two colourless liquids in different bottles. She pulled out a plastic conical flask and poured some of each liquid into them, the mixture turning a purple colour.

Grunt leaned forwards to stare at the liquid with his head cocked in a rather curious expression, stroking his chin. "How did that happen?"

"Well, it's a chemical reaction," Oriana answered as she pulled out the book that came with the set. "If we look in this book then we can find out what happened."

"Yeah." Elizabeth nodded as she took the book, flicking through all of the reactions. Grunt moved through the living room, settling his massive bulk on the floor as well. He sat cross legged by Elizabeth, watching closely to what she was doing. Shepard chuckled inwardly at the sight, the way Grunt was with his daughter was very curious indeed – and rather comical. He was surprisingly protective of her, and very intrigued in her. Wrex had explained that this was to be expected, a Krantt was always protective of their Battlemaster's young, but Grunt seemed to take that to the extreme. And Shepard found it rather adorable to be honest, though Miranda wasn't so sure. Thinking of Miranda, Shepard decided to leave everyone in the living room to it and check on proceedings in the kitchen.

Shepard headed into the kitchen to almost complete and utter chaos, a rather strange scene to see Miranda in the middle of. She was rapidly stirring a pot on the stove full of gravy whilst simultaneously stirring a second pot with a far smaller amount of gravy. Shepard noted the rather frantic look on her face and approached cautiously.

"Miri?"

"Shepard, don't distract – cooking a levo and dextro meal at the same time is rather tricky."

"Well, let me help."

"No, I'm doing this myself," She huffed. "Other people can do it, I should be able to as well."

"Miri, come on – that's ridiculous," He took one spoon off her and took over stirring duties on one of the pots. "We've always cooked it together, and it's always worked well."

"Yeah, but you need to go and talk to everyone," Miranda ducked down to double check on the turkey through the glass. "I think the turkey is almost ready."

"Why don't I cook and you go to talk to everyone?"

"Because everyone who isn't family is your friends."

"What?" Shepard frowned. "That's a bit ridiculous isn't it?"

She shrugged. "Well I'm in the middle of cooking. Leaving would be ridiculous."

"You've been in here almost all morning now."

"Look Shepard," She smiled at him. "I'm fine, I spent time with everyone earlier this morning and will do later this evening. And..."

"And I want you to sit down because you are three and a half months pregnant," He turned to the door and called out to the other room. "Mom, Oriana?"

After a short pause the pair came into the kitchen.

"You called Shepard?"

"Yeah, can you guys give us a hand," He jerked a thumb at Miranda. "Miri's overdoing it."

"Hmm," Hannah shook her head at Miranda. "You shouldn't be overdoing it Miranda."

She held her hands up. "I'm fine, honestly."

"Oh no, I'm not having that," His mother took on her old captain's etiquette as she looked sternly at Miranda. "You are going to go and relax in the other room, John is going to go with you, and Oriana and I are taking over here. No arguments."

"Yeah," Oriana nodded. "Go on, we'll take it from here."

"But..."

"Miri!" Shepard tugged on her arm. "Come on!"

"Fine!" She threw her hands up in the air, rolling her eyes with exasperation. "Fine, fine, I'm going. Just remember, everything on the extreme left of the cooker is dextro for Tali and Garrus."

"Got it, left is weird food," Oriana nodded before reaching over the table and grabbing a Santa hat. "And put this on, everyone else is wearing one. Well, everyone except Javik."

"Really?" She sighed, taking the hat begrudgingly and placing it on her head. Shepard grinned as he looked her over, she looked pretty cute in the hat in his opinion.

"Miri, that really suites you," Shepard winked. "What about the rest of your Mrs Claus outfit?"

She narrowed her eyes. "I don't have a Mrs Claus outfit."

"Oh we can sort that out."

XXXXXXXX

"Uncle Grunt, will you pull my cracker?"

The Krogan turned to the small child next to him, cocking his head. "Your what little one?"

"My cracker," She held up her Christmas cracker to Grunt, waggling it in his face. The crackers were actually rather strong ones, reinforced so that they actually took a real tug of war before cracking. "We both pull it and whoever is strongest wins the bits inside."

"Hmm, a strength contest?" Grunt rubbed the bottom of his chin in thought before suddenly grabbing the other end of the cracker with such force that it was ripped out of Elizabeth's hands and shot straight behind him and smacked into the wall. Silence fell at the table as everyone turned to regard the Krogan with surprised and, in Miranda's case, disapproval. "Oops."

"Grunt, it's not that much of a strength contest,"Shepard rolled his eyes as he handed Elizabeth another cracker. "Shall we try again?"

"Sure," Grunt nodded and very slowly took hold of the other end of the new cracker with two thick fingers. He held it out in front of him and Elizabeth began to pull the other end. Everyone watched as Elizabeth pulled as hard as she could, using both arms and being bright red in the face. Grunt was just holding the other end, though he started to chuckled at the effort the youngster was putting in. "Do I pull now?"

"Gently please Grunt." Miranda warned him with an accusatory finger.

"Right," Grunt nodded and turned back to Elizabeth, jerking his arm ever so slightly. The cracker tore immediately, though slightly less violently than before. "Yes, I won!"

"Grunt, you've proven you're stronger than a four year old human child," Liara rolled her eyes. "Is that really that special?"

"Yeah," Grunt nodded, placing one massive hand on Elizabeth's shoulder and patting as lightly as a Krogan could. "But this is Shepard's four year old, so who knows what could happen!"

There was a chorus of chuckles around the table, though it was soon replaced by a series of oohs and aahs as the turkey was brought in by Oriana and Hannah. After several trips to the kitchen and back the table was piled high with food, Shepard was pretty sure the middle section of the furniture was buckling under the weight.

"So," Hannah smiled as she sat down, putting her own paper hat on. "Dig in kids!"

The almost frenzied nature of everyone going for food was crazy, people grabbing as much food as possible as quickly as possible. Shepard managed to get enough food for Elizabeth onto her plate before handing it to her, making up a plate of food for himself and tucking into that as well. As everyone settled down to eat, with various praises to the group of cooks, everything calmed down a little. Zaeed swallowed a mouthful of turkey before speaking.

"So Shepard, where's everyone else?"

"Well all of the Normandy crew are on assignment, chasing down some pirates I believe," Shepard took a sip of his glass of wine on the table. "Jack said she would only come if her students could come to, we couldn't have that many people here."

"Yeah," Miranda nodded. "Thank god for that."

"Hey, I thought you got on with Jack now?"

"I put up with her Shepard, there's a difference between that and actually getting on with her," Miranda lowered her voice. "Next topic."

"All right, all right – sorry," He apologised quietly before turning back to everyone else. "Kasumi is on a job – don't ask, and Jacob is spending Christmas with Brynn's family. Samara was going to come, but she was waylaid in transit – something about the ship she was travelling on contained cargo vaults with illegal immigrants and she went to follow up the leads."

"Samara never stops, does she?" Liara chuckled. "She's an incredible woman."

"Quite," Miranda nodded. "Though it must be great that she sees her daughter now."

"Yes," Liara nodded with a smile, before turning to Javik and whispering to him. The others exchanged curious glances with one another at the quiet exchange, and waited for an explanation. Liara turned back to them with a massive grin on her face. "Actually, Javik and I have some news for you all."

"Yes." Javik nodded solemnly, not adding anything more to the conversation than that. Liara looked at him with an exasperated expression, before rolling her eyes and shaking her head.

"Well thanks for that Javik," Liara chuckled. "But what I want to tell you guys is that...We're having a daughter!"

There was a series chorus of ahhs at the table, though Shepard started choking on his wine and it took a few slaps on his back from Miranda on his back before he settled down.

"Wow, congratulations!" He coughed again. "But it's Javik's child?"

"Of course it is," Javik narrowed all four eyes. "What are you implying, Councillor Shepard?"

"I'm not implying anything," Shepard held his hands up in innocence. "I'm just surprised."

"At what?"

"Hey, I think it's fantastic Javik," Shepard smiled. "Honestly, I just didn't expect this."

"Well thank you," Javik nodded as he took another bite of turkey. "I am looking forward to the challenge of parenthood, and of moulding a child into my own image."

"What?" Liara looked across at him with a confused expression. "What does that mean?"

"Well, this child will be half Prothean," Javik shrugged. "As such, she will need to be fully versed in my culture and behave as a Prothean child would be expected to..."

"Javik," Garrus interrupted. "I'm not sure going down that route is a good idea."

Javik cocked his head. "Why is that?"

"Because Javik," Liara turned her head, eyebrows raised. "I am not having an imperialist Prothean daughter!"

XXXXXXXX

"Wow, I am stuffed," Garrus lay back in his chair, stretching his arms above his head. "That was a really good meal, even though you were cooking with dextro Mrs Shepard."

"Well, Miranda did most of it," Hannah smiled. "We just finished it off, to save her feet mainly."

"It was reeeeaaaalllllyyyy good!" Tali agreed with a slow, drunken nod of the head. "I've decided I looovvee Chrisssst...Christmasss!"

"Tali, perhaps you should slow down a bit," Garrus carefully removed the bottle of Turian brandy and it's straw from her grasp. "Just so you aren't ill at another of Shepard's events."

"I'm fiiiiineee!"

"Right, if you say so."

"Oh, oh of course! Everybody, SHHHHH!" Tali stood up, rather unsteadily, as she shouted for quiet – raising her hands in the air. "We also have news for all you people."

"Wait," Grunt scratched his head. "You're not having a weird Quarian Turian mutated baby are you?"

"Not yet," Tali giggled uncontrollably for a few moments. "Buuut, we're being joined!"

There was a series of blank expressions around the table, Garrus coughing awkwardly.

"Well, we're being legally joined – like Asari bondmates or human marriages. But we're calling it a joining, it's a crossover of Turian and Quarian rituals and legal rights."

"Congratulations guys," Shepard smiled at them. "That's fantastic news."

"Thaaaanks Sheparddddd!" With that Tali fell back down into her chair, knocking the chair over and ending up sprawled on the floor. Elizabeth, Grunt, and Zaeed burst out laughing, whilst Garrus hurried to pick her up off the floor. It was as he bent down that he realised that Tali was in fact asleep on the floor.

"Oh, she's fallen asleep," Garrus shook his head. "Shepard, maybe we can take her up to bed – she's past it."

"Sure," Shepard nodded as he got up, carefully picking Tali up by the shoulders. Garrus took her legs, and slowly they took her upstairs to their guest room. As they placed her down on the bed carefully Shepard looked at Garrus. "So you guys are getting hitched then?"

"Hitched?"

"Well, that's a slang word for married in human dialect," Shepard shrugged. "It's applicable."

"Yeah, I guess so," Garrus nodded as they quietly left the room, closing the door behind them and switching off the light. "It should be great, I can't wait for it actually. We agreed that this is the right time for us."

"I think it's fantastic Garrus, I'm really happy for you guys," He grinned as they walked around the tinsel wrapped bannister and down the stairs. "And for Liara and Javik too."

"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that one!" Garrus chuckled. "But there is an issue with our ceremonies."

"Really?" Shepard cocked his head as they entered the dining room once more, everyone else deep in conversation. "What is it?"

"Well in Quarian traditions the father of the female presents his daughter to the male, but in Turian traditions the male always has a second – basically his best mate or brother," Garrus coughed awkwardly. "The problem is that both of us want to ask you to be that representative."

"Ah," Shepard nodded. "That's an issue."

"Yeah, we're going to talk about it and see how to get around it," Garrus explained. "But I just thought you should know we will want you to be doing something on the day."

"No problem," Shepard smiled. "Like I said, I'm really happy for you guys."

"Thanks Shepard, it means a lot." Garrus nodded as they sat back down.

"Is Tali OK?" Liara questioned.

"She'll sleep it off," Garrus nodded, before cocking his head at Liara who was helping herself to a third portion of Christmas pudding. "Another serving?"

"Hey, we're growing girls Garrus!" Miranda chuckled from the other end of the table, she was on her fourth portion of desert after a huge helping of main course. "It's not our fault."

"You guys are eating more than a Krogan," Shepard joked, jerking a thumb at Grunt. "I mean, look!"

"That is not true," Grunt shook his head, picking up the serving plate with the Christmas pudding on and cutting a huge slice for himself. "I will eat more than you both, I challenge you!"

"Oh god," Oriana shook her head. "An eating contest? This will not end well."

"Yes it will!" Grunt shouted as he begun to devour his bowls contents.

"I'm not in a contest with anyone," Miranda shook her head, patting her stomach lightly. "I'm just feeding the babies."

"No, this is a contest," Grunt insisted. "You don't understand, it is the third most important contest of all."

"Fourth?" Hannah cocked her head. "What's the two more important ones?"

"Well, obviously strength contests are the most important ones," Grunt shrugged. "Then it's drinking contests, followed by food. Varren fighting is a close third though."

"Krogan," Javik shook his head. "They have had that exact list for fifty thousand years."

XXXXXXXX

Shepard crawled underneath the duvet to join Miranda, wrapping his arms around her and wriggling as closely as he could to her. She huffed.

"So you decided to finally come to bed?"

"It's only..." Shepard turned to look at the clock on his bedside table. "Three thirty in the morning."

"Only three thirty huh?" She quipped. "And you smell of whisky."

"Zaeed brought a nice bottle."

"Figures," Miranda rolled over to face him, though she did have a smile on her face. "You know, I might just have another present for you."

"Really? I have one for you too."

"Oh?" Miranda wriggled closer whilst grinning at him, but to her surprise Shepard backed away and got out of bed to walk over to his wardrobe. She watched him fish inside for something, and then emerge with a pair of small boxes. "What are these?"

"Well, I wasn't sure whether I should give them to you or not," He climbed back into bed as Miranda sat upright, turning on one of the lamps so that they could see. "If you'd like them, or if they were right or not."

"Right..." Miranda raised an eyebrow.

"But I may as well," Shepard handed her the slightly larger box. "Try this one first."

Miranda slid her thumbnail through the, surprisingly neat, wrapping paper, revealing a white box underneath. She opened the lid of the box and pulled out a rectangular glass bottle, filled with a clear amber liquid. She knew it was perfume instantly, and carefully Miranda twisted off the lid and took a sniff. The smell was rather lovely, a mix of citrus and some berries that she didn't recognise. And it wasn't an overpowering perfume, just something light that she could dab on in just the right place for just the right person.

"It smells really nice, I like it," She placed the top back on before scrutinising the bottle and the box, though Miranda couldn't identify any brand. "What perfume is it?"

"Well..." Shepard paused. "Actually, I made it."

"You made it?" Miranda blinked in surprise a couple of times. "You made this perfume?"

"Yeah, I wanted to try something extra special this year," He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "There are loads of, I suppose you'd call them, recipes on the extranet – specifically for men who don't have a clue of what they're doing."

"Wow John, I'm impressed," She looked back down at the bottle before looking back up once more and placing a tender kiss on his cheek. "That's really sweet, I love it."

"Phew, I wasn't sure if it was a good idea," He frowned. "You aren't just saying that right?"

"No!" Miranda smiled as she rubbed his hand slowly. "I really love it, I just hope you saved the instructions!"

"Yeah, I did," He nodded before presenting her with the second box. "And there's these too."

"It's home-made as well?"

Shepard nodded as Miranda broke into the second wrapped present, again another white box underneath the paper. She opened the box to find two matching bracelets, made of small and hollowed wooden balls connected together with brass coloured rings. In the middle of one of the bracelets was a small golden ball with a shimmering red stone on top, whilst the other bracelet had a blue stone. Other than that the bracelets were identical.

"John, they're beautiful," She examined them closely, peering at the rather beautiful wooden beads. "You really have a knack for this."

"No, I was just following instructions," He smiled as he took the blue beaded bracelet in hand. "You see this ones for me, and the other is for you – I know it's sentimental crap really."

"No, it's not – it's really sweet," She kissed him on the lips tenderly, smiling as she pulled back. "Thank you."

"No problem," He smiled back in return. "It was fun to try something new."

"Suppose so," Miranda nodded, before turning to him with a grin. "And now for your extra prezzie."

"What is it Miri?"

She said nothing as she deftly rolled out of bed, hurrying over to the bathroom. Shepard sat patiently on the bed as he waited, examining the bracelets for himself yet another time. He was rather pleased with his handiwork, and with the fact that Miranda seemed to genuinely like them. And he was pleased to have done something different for a change. He picked up the perfume bottle to take a sniff, again rather pleased with how that had turned out. It was as he was pressing the lid back in to the bottle that his attention was grabbed by the en-suite bathroom door opening. And it turned out that Miranda did not need a Mrs Claus outfit bought for her.

To say that she looked incredible was an understatement. The fluffy red outfit, framed by white furry strips, cut off barely an inch down her thigh. Underneath were bright red, fishnet tights, finished off with bright red high heels. The top of the dress was cut off at a rather low point, betraying the also bright red bra beneath and showing off lots of cleavage. The Santa hat, positioned in such a way to allow her hair to fall down in perfect curls around her face, finished off the outfit – leaving Shepard open mouthed. The fact that her small baby bump was noticeable only added to the image in an unexplainable way, she pretty much looked perfect – as ever, John added mentally.

"So John," She gave him that wink. "Merry Christmas."

"Oh yes, merry..." He paused, a massive grin slipping across his face. "I've just thought of something!"

Miranda rolled her eyes. "What?"

"Haha!" He chuckled. "I've just thought of something."

"What?"

"Well, your name," At Miranda's blank look he chuckled. "Miri Christmas!"

"Oh god," She shook her head. "That is appalling, I mean it's really terrible!"

"Ha!" He chuckled. "C'mere Mrs Claus."

She sauntered towards him, swaying her hips seductively for him. She leaned down to kiss him, settling herself onto the bed next to him. Shepard placed one hand around her back, laying his other on her thigh. With one move he swung her legs up onto the bed, rolling her over so that he was now on top of her on the bed. He bent down to kiss her again, pulling back with a smile.

"John, I love you," Miranda whispered to him as she took one of his hands, placing it on top of her stomach. She reached beside them to grab the bracelets, placing one on her arm and the other around his. "Today's been amazing."

"You deserve it."

"Yeah," She nodded. "Because I put up with all your crap jokes!"

"Really?" Shepard playfully flicked her nose, grinning as she gave him a mock glare. He bent down and kissed her once more, whispering to her. "What do you call a deer with no eyes?"

"I have no idea..." Miranda pouted as she realised what she had just said. She shook her head at him. "That was awful John."

Shepard said nothing, instead he just waggled his eyebrows at her. Miranda tried to keep a straight face but after a few minutes she couldn't stop herself from bursting out into fits of giggles, Shepard joining in with her laughter.

A/N So, that was the Christmas special, it was rather difficult to write actually! But hope everyone enjoyed it, and a very 'Miri' Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. See you in 2014!