A/N: Mostly Jane and Garrus musing about the predicament. Enjoy. :)

Chapter 6

The Rule of the Journey

Jane stared off at nothing in particular. Sometimes she had a bad habit of doing that when she was thinking about something. Everything was moving a little too fast for her.

After Mordin and Dr. Chakwas calculated the current growth of her child, they gave her a time of around six months. She would not begin to show for another month and a half so there was no reason she could not continue to run around and fire a gun when she wanted. So there she was, throwing punches and kicks into the empty air before her.

The noise from the exercise room was not as loud as it normally was since most of the crew was at diner. Jane, on the other hand did not feel like eating much. Not like I can keep down much of anything these days. The "morning sickness", and what a crock that was she was sick all the time, seemed to be very severe. Mordin was hypothesizing it was due to the accelerated growth of the fetus and both he and Chakwas were worrying over if she was getting enough nutrients. Jane had already been hooked up to a nutrient rich I.V. several times and she didn't want to do it again. She hoped one of her doctors would find something that will agree with her body soon as the new hormones integrated and settled. Until then, she found working off her stress with exercising was helpful. Both doctors even said it was fine as long as she kept it limited to teaching and dummy practices, no live sparing though.

She had promised Garrus she would teach him some martial arts and was surprised how dedicated he actually was. Martial arts were not just a fighting style. It took mediation and structure. Maybe it was because of Garrus's religious beliefs that he found it even more intriguing. To most, the idle jabs and kicks would have bored them out of continuing, but Garrus had told her he found a certain "challenge" to the art. Jane was enjoying their time together, practicing and breathing as one as they moved from form to form.

Despite his enthusiasm, she could tell he was getting a little anxious to progress. She had yet to actually show him how to use the forms in actual combat. Normally, a Master would tell his or her students that before one could fully learn to use it one must understand it completely.

Jane was not sure if she was fortunate or not, but there was an actual Master on the ship she grew up on. He was utterly ruthless in enforcing that rules and making sure his students understood everything he taught them. It is not where you get to that counts, it is the journey that you take that molds you. She remembered those words so clearly. That was the day she had challenged him to teach her an exceptionally hard move she had seen one of the marines do in a spar earlier that day. He had said that if she could beat him, he would. She had gotten the beating of a lifetime that day and was furious for a long time thinking he was purposely trying to humiliate her. It was not until later that she finally understood what he was telling her. Our choices make us who we are, not the things we accomplish.

Jane sighed and smiled to herself. Her form must have been wavering a little because she heard Garrus fumble around and a small sound of disappointment

"Uh, Jane? What was that exactly?" She had not been paying much attention to her kata and had accidentally slipped into one of the more advanced forms she had yet to teach him.

"Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about my Master." Garrus's mandibles fluttered in thought.

"Your what?"

"A Master is the title they give to the person who teaches those these techniques."

Garrus looked a little confused. "So, does this make you my Master? I do hope I don't have to call you that." There was a hint of teasing at that last remark. Jane laughed at him. The first real laugh she had in days.

"Heavens no! A Master has to be one of the very best and earn the title after many years of practicing and perfection."

"Ah."

"If you'd like, after we figure all this out and things settle down, we can go to Earth and we can take lessons from a real Master." She would actually like to do that herself again. There was a sense of peace when she practiced that she had missed. It had been a long time since she had felt that kind of serenity.

Garrus gave her a thoughtful look for a moment. "Yeah, I'd like that." She smiled warmly at him and continued though their practice. She hoped they would hear from one of the many people she had sent mail to soon.

Garrus yawned widely. The light from the terminal was the only light on. For some reason, Jane had asked EDI to turn off the light from the fish tank tonight. She was sleeping more too. He was not sure if it was because of her pregnancy or something else entirely. She was not eating much anymore, if she ate at all. It seemed no matter what she ate it all came back up. Not the most disgusting sight he had seen before, but it was not pleasant either. Mordin was trying to create a supplement that would give her the nutrients she would need but easy enough on her stomach to digest quickly so she could keep it down.

Jane was keeping herself preoccupied with teaching him "martial arts" in place of those meals. He still ate, normally after their practices, but she would just sit there watching him, almost stone like. He had asked her once and she told him she was "just thinking". She was doing a lot of "thinking" lately, especially during their practices. He was enjoying those practices. Not just because he was spending time with her or learning something new about her, it was rather… soothing. It had as much spiritual value as it did physical. He was aching in places he did not know he even had.

She had spoken highly of someone she called her "Master". Jane had spoken so highly of him in fact that he wondered if he was just more than a teacher of sparring techniques. She had learned something from this man that made her who she was today. He wished he could thank this man, that is, if he was still alive.

___

Garrus yawned again. He was not really tried, well… maybe a little but he was spending some time researching human "martial arts". It was fascinating. It was not just a fighting style; it was a life style as well. Not to mention it was not limited to hand to hand. If he could incorporate this into… he was thinking too far into the future. First they had to find out who messed with Jane's body. Then he could think of training with a Master and creating his own style that could mix Turians physiology and modern weapons as well. He did not doubt that Jane would be able to use the same for humans, since it would be based on a human technique to begin with, if humans have not already done so.

Eventually the words on the screen began to blend into each other and no longer made any sense. He had read quite a bit on martial arts that he felt like he knew enough, at least for now. Maybe when they get to be taught by a Master he will get to learn more. He also felt like he knew and understood Jane a lot better now. At least her actions and the way she did things. Humans had a much more honorable cultural then what some believed. He had never hated humans like is father once did, but now he had a look into the depths of it, he found some of the most wonderful things he had ever experienced.

He reached over and clicked the terminal off, the darkness engulfed him. Slowly, he picked his way back to the bed. Garrus was very glad that he had predator like eyes that could see better than a human's, he would have tripped more than half a dozen times just to get to the bed. Jane was starting to become a bit untidy the past few days and it was a little difficult to keep up with her. He had never been "in charge", as Jane put it, of keeping their room clean but he helped out when he could. Recently though, with her mood swings, he was afraid if he accidentally put something where it was not suppose to go she might get upset.

Jane's steady breath told him she was deeply asleep. Taking a moment to take in her peaceful face Garrus sighed and slid under the covers, trying to move the bed as little as possible so as to not wake her. The small amount of heat that radiated off of her had warmed the bed enough for him to fall almost right to sleep. He managed to pull her close and nuzzle her neck before succumbing to the night's embrace.

___

Jane made a face at the bowl sitting in front of her. Mordin had been able to design a supplement that was easy for Chef to make for her. Unfortunately it didn't look like any food Jane had seen before. It looked pasty and a little wiggly. Garrus had his head down poking at his food, obviously trying not to laugh. His mandibles had not moved except for the quick light flare as she was handed her meal.

"You know," Garrus said between bites. "Now you can't make fun of my food."

She scrunched up her face and stuck her tongue out which rewarded her with laughs from everyone at the table. Stubbornly she picked up her spoon and scooped a generous amount onto it. She studied the contents before chomping quickly down on it with her eyes closed. She chewed once, twice and swallowed. It was not revolting at all. She took another spoonful.

"Taste a little like jell-o, looks sort of like it too."

Garrus gave her a confused look. "What's jell-o?"

Jane chuckled at him. "It's… kind of hard to explain. Jell-o is just well… jell-o. It is sort of a snack like thing that's light and jiggles made of gelatin." Jane lifted another spoonful to her mouth and took another bite looking rather thoughtful. "Needs some flavoring to it though…grape and strawberry were always my favorites I wonder if I can get Gardner to add it next time."

Garrus continued to look thoroughly confused as Jane alternately ate and played with her food. He finally shrugged casting her one last amused glance and returned to his own meal. There was an audible click over head and Joker's voice filled the room.

"Commander, EDI just received a message from Liara. She says it is urgent that we come visit her, there is some information that you may find very useful."

Jane swallowed the last bite of food in her mouth. "Thank you Joker, set a course to Illium please and inform us when we arrive."

"Got it Commander, ETA is three hours."

"Hmmm… should be enough time to have Chef whip me up another bowl of jell-o. Maybe he can get it flavored this time." She winked at Garrus who laid his mandibles flat against his face and turned his head a little to the side, a small "humph" rumbled in his throat.

A/N: I thought it would be funny to make Jane have to eat something that sort of looked like dextro food. Garrus seems to find it funny up to the part where she acts like its a snack instead of diner.