~Author's Note~ I'm sure a few of us can relate to Garrus' position in this chapter. Not completely, of course- the cross-species thing being a "small" difference. :)

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Despite the fact that she had had next to no contact within the last few years, Shepard had been close to her mother, far closer than most twenty and thirty somethings were to their own parents. It was probably a combination of both of them being in the military, and simply spending so much time with her during her childhood. Her father had been killed when she was six, during a Batarian raid, and her mom had never remarried. It was just her and Katelyn for much of their lives.

She swallowed the lump in her throat at the idea of getting to see her mother for the first time since the celebrations after Sovereign's destruction. Hannah Shepard was a military officer through and through- not that she didn't know how to have fun, when the time allowed it, but despite what she had said to Garrus, she wasn't entirely sure how her mother would react to her being with a Turian.

Hannah was more open-minded than many humans, and certainly didn't hate Turians or hold a grudge against them for the First Contact war. But it was a pretty large leap from being accepting of them, and being accepting of one when he was sleeping with your daughter. And it certainly wasn't just a fling. They had been talking about marriage and raising kids right before they charged the beam with Hammer squad. Garrus was her rock, keeping her from drowning in the currents. She couldn't imagine life without him and she honestly meant what she had told him- she could not have done this without him by her side. No matter what Hannah said, it would not change her relationship with her Garrus, but she did want her mother's approval. Why she wanted it was a bit harder to diagnose. Not a place she wanted to go right now.

She glanced over at Garrus, who was seated, apparently completely calm, despite the fact that they were in a shuttle fast approaching the Atreus, and bringing him closer to a possible confrontation with his girlfriend's mother. Perhaps he had believed her entirely when she told him Hannah wouldn't mind him because he was a Turian. Or perhaps he was just hiding his emotions from her, he was very good at doing that when he wanted to. Admittedly, he was far less competent in that particular art since they had starting sharing her cabin. But still, sometimes she couldn't get a read on him at all.

She returned to staring out at the fleet around them, and only then did it hit her that Garrus had hardly offered a word since they had boarded. Perhaps he was nervous after all. Garrus would normally be talking to her about something, if only to take their minds off of whatever was about to happen.

The pilot's unfamiliar voice cut through her thoughts.

"We've been cleared to dock, Commander."

Cortez was still in the med-bay, recovering from his crash. She was relieved that the Normandy had gotten Cortez out. He didn't have any serious injuries, Chakwas had assured her, or at least, nothing that couldn't be fixed with rest. She stressed the last word, glaring at the Commander as she said it.

Shepard had mumbled something about responsibilities and excused herself as quickly as she could. Tali was glad for the company, though. They had made some progress on attaching a prosthetic arm to the quarian's elbow, but there was only so much Chakwas could do in the day or so since the Normandy had picked them up off of Earth. The poor woman needed some rest herself. Having a doctor who was desperately in need of sleep was not a good thing.

The Atreus had sent their current pilot over, as Shepard's other choice was to have Vega fly the thing. And Vega was prone to colliding with other vehicles when driving shuttles, something that certainly wouldn't go as well in the vacuum of space as it had done on Mars. That was assuming he was even capable of flying- his injuries had been pretty bad as well. He hadn't passed out like Tali, but that may have just been his pride. She accepted the Atreus' offer in about five seconds, if only to keep him resting. Which she should also be doing, if she was honest with herself. Every time she moved the wrong way, her stomach and chest screamed at her. She was going to have to be very careful.

The shuttle came to a halt, and the pilot yelled back that docking would be complete in thirty seconds.

She looked over at Garrus again to find him looking up at her.

He held her gaze. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Take it easy, all right?" His blue eyes were piercing in their sincerity. "We don't need you busting something up in there." He waved at her chest.

Shepard smirked. "Busting something up. You men are all the same."

Garrus looked confused for a minute. "Ah. I must have made another one of those... what did you call them? Poons?"

Shepard had to restrain herself from laughing. She had learned the hard way that in her present condition this hurt. A lot. "Come on. Let's go."

Shepard saw her mother almost instantly after setting foot aboard the Atreus. She was standing in the company of two women, who were both looking around, presumably for threats given their posture and the fact that they were about four feet behind Hannah.

Shepard squared her shoulders and and started towards her mother, Garrus following close behind. Hannah saw her when she was within about 10 yards, and to Shepard's utter surprise and mild embarrassment, actually ran towards her. It was so unlike her mother that she stopped in shock and bewilderment and only came to when her mother's arms were firmly wrapped around her. She did retain enough presence of mind to grab her mom's arms so that Hannah couldn't squeeze in. She didn't even want to think about her chest being compressed by one of her mother's bear hugs in her current state.

"Katelyn! Oh my goodness! It's been so long!"

"M-Mom?"

"Here, let me look at you." She pushed Shepard out to arm's length and just stared at her. Shepard winced under her scrutiny, expecting a lecture on letting herself get beat up this badly. Instead, Hannah reached forward and gently brushed a strand of unruly hair out of Shepard's eyes. Her own eyes were pained, heavy with the weight of war, and the sight of her daughter's injuries, which were still prominent.

She had opened her mouth to say something when she caught sight of Garrus, who was doing his best impression of a person on his first tour of a military vessel. Looking everywhere except at her.

"So. I take it from the fact that he refuses to meet my gaze that the Turian behind you is Garrus Vakarian?"

Shepard's eyes opened a little wider, and Garrus snapped his own eyes down to meet Hannah Shepard's sharp green ones.

She hesitated, unsure whether to answer, or to let Garrus do so.

Hannah filled the sudden silence. "I'm going to assume since neither of you care to deny that statement, that it's true. I'm going to also assume that since you won't even say something, that the... rumors are also true."

"Mom, I meant to tell you, but I wanted to do it face-to-face."

"Hmm, yes, I can understand that. So, Garrus. I'll get straight to the point here, we don't have much time. The way I understand Turian culture, while the males do have much of the power- which is a pity- you have to ask the matriarch of the clan when you wish to begin, shall we say, courtship procedures. And if she denies your offer, you are prohibited from continuing with the relationship. Correct?"

Shepard turned to stare at Garrus. He had said no such thing to her. This was why he had been so nervous. Garrus's mandibles flared back in an anxious expression. "That is correct, ma'am."

"I thought so." Shepard felt a sudden knot in her stomach. Her mother was going to deny permission and Garrus would be culturally bound to leave her. But Garrus would never leave her. He wouldn't.

Hannah's gaze never left Garrus'. "So, if I told you that I'm never going to give you permission to court my daughter, what would your response be to that, hmm?"

Garrus never even hesitated, nor did his gaze waver in the slightest. "I'd say it's not your damn call to make. Shepard and I can do what we wish. With all due respect, of course."

The knot in her stomach vanished completely. She smiled as she hadn't done since before the invasion and subsequent defeat in Sol. She did feel slightly ashamed that she had even entertained the idea that Garrus would actually let her mother tell him he couldn't be with her. She looked over at her mom.

Hannah looked completely taken aback. It was one of the few times Katelyn had seen her mother at a loss for words.

Garrus cocked his head, glancing at Shepard for a second, before looking back at Hannah. He shrugged apologetically. "I never was a good Turian."

The grin that spread across her mother's face was wider than Shepard had seen in a long, long time. "Oh, I like him. I like him a lot. Yes, I think you and I will get along just fine."

She turned to Shepard. "Don't think you're off the hook, though, young lady."

"Mom, I'm past 30. I'm hardly a young lady anymore."

"It's all relative, dear. Besides, learning that your daughter has a turian for her boyfriend by looking at extranet rumors? That's hardly the way for your mother to find out."

She held up a hand, forestalling Shepard's argument. "I know, I know, this damn war has kept everyone busy. I'm going to have to get all the details from you, you know. But not now. Hackett wants us both in this meeting, and he wants me to take you there. Hopes the scene of a "touching reunion" and the mere fact that you're alive might raise some morale, and so on and so forth. The man sure does talk a lot. The fleet's morale is rather low after we got our asses kicked back in Sol, though, he is right about that."

She looked over at Garrus again, thoughtfully. "He didn't give you those scars to try to match his own, did he?"

Shepard's face went scarlet. "MOM! Of course not!"

Hannah shrugged her shoulders. "It was simply an innocent question dear. No harm meant. Come on, then, let's go decide what to do about these cuttlefish."

The change of pace in this conversation was giving Katelyn whiplash. She shook her head. "About these what?"

"You haven't heard that one before? Some of the officers came up with different names to call the Reapers to make them less ominous. Another attempt to boost morale, you know. And one of them apparently has a crazy uncle that likes working with ocean creatures back on earth. Turns out that there's a small, relatively harmless fish, at least to us, that greatly resembles the Reapers. Name caught on, and now it seems like most of us are referring to them as that. Or just 'fish, since it's easier to say."

Shepard chuckled at the idea. Then grimaced when a spike of pain shot through her side. A harmless fish, Harbinger was not. Still, the idea was worth trying.

Garrus and her followed Hannah down the path she lead. Many of the soldiers smiled or cheered when they saw Shepard, and she made it a point to return a simple gesture to them, whether a wave of her hand, or a smile in return. It was the least she could do.

Hannah turned right at the end of the third large hallway they had traversed, and a large door opened in front of them.

Shepard could just hear her mother muttering under her breath. "Should have left all the damn bureaucrats on a deserted planet somewhere."

She smiled and turned to Garrus. "Ready to go decide the fate of the galaxy?"

He smiled back. "I just survived meeting your mother. I'm not worried about something as trivial as that."

Perhaps it wasn't the best impression they could have given to a council of admirals intent on stopping the greatest threat the galaxy had ever known, but as Shepard and Garrus entered the room, they were both grinning like children.