All of the crew except for Joker and the caretakers of the Normandy were in the Com room. Stitch was sitting at the end of the table with all of them staring at him. The two I kept at least one of my eyes on was both Grunt and Jack. Garrus would keep his temper under control and I knew Zaeed wouldn't kill anything unless I paid him. Although, watching him trying to kill the blue, fluffy, seemingly indestructible, alien dog would be an incredibly entertaining time.

Leaning against the table, I said, "Why don't you introduce yourself."

The little, blue-furred alien cocked his head curiously. Standing in the chair with his antenna popping out of his head and all four of his arms resting on the table with his back spines extending outward, "My name Stitch."

Before Mordin could probably exclaim how astounded he was at the creature's ability to talk, Grunt pounded the table saying, "I get first dibs on the talking meal! I'll gobble you down this time!"

Tali was a flutter. She seemed to be fighting herself to touch Stitch, "Ohhhh, he's soooo cute! Can I pet him?"

I looked at Grunt enraged, "Grunt! Damn it, control yourself! I have told you the last time. He is not food!"

Grunt made an almost whimpering sound and said, "Awe Shepard, it's a menace. It's not worth a slug."

"Stupid head!" Stitch exclaimed with his black eyes staring menacingly at Grunt.

Tali began bouncing like a giddy school girl. She began clapping ecstatically.

I just dragged my hand over my face, "Tali, calm down, would you! Just ask him, I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

Grunt just threw up his hand, "See, can't even understand what the little thing is saying!"

Samara made a slight smile looking over at Stitch, "He may be but he has a warrior's soul and sometimes a krogan comes in handy."

Grunt made a sadistic cackle followed up with, "You damn right!"

Thane finally wanted his say as he folded his hands politely on the table and asked, "So, Stitch is it, do you have any family?"

Stitch's glass-black eyes tilted downward and he mumbled to himself one word but everyone heard it as a small tear dropped down his cheek. "Ohana."

I leaned forward and asked, "What?"

EDI chimed in, "Ohana: Hawaiian word - derived…"

"Ohana means family. Family means no one gets left behind. Or forgotten."

My eyes drifted to the side of the room. Kaiden entering my mind.

Zaeed brought me right out of that, "Looks like they not only left you behind but didn't want anything else to do with you. Tough break, blue boy."

"No!" - "No!" Both me and Stitch screamed out.

The whole table was looking right at me. I could see Samara saw the hurt in my eyes. Kaiden's face was still fresh in my mind. Looking at them, I said, "I set a course for Patton's Progress. It's a human colony where I think his family was evacuated to." I turned my attention right to Stitch. "We will find them."

Stitch got this wide, toothy grin on his face and cocked his head with almost pleasant quandary, "You find Stitch's ohana for him?"

A cheerful smile came over my face, "You bet!"

Miranda tapped me on the shoulder, not being too far away from me saying, "Look - if we're going to have him on aboard, then we need to follow Cerberus protocols. That means that nobody touches him! Do I make myself perfectly clear?"

Tali put her hand on her hips, arching her his to the right, "I'm not part of Cerberus. I can pet him all I want." Tali looked at Stitch, "Um, if that's okay with you?"

Cocking his head, Stitch said, "Stitch would like that."

She got giddy and began to pet him liking the feel of his fur. What she could feel of it through her suit.

Rolling my eyes, I knew who was going to be the first one to say something in response to Miranda. Jack's voice entered my ears and I wish I had bet on the insulting term she would use and the gist of her sentence because I would have bet the entire Normandy!

"So, in other words cheerleader, it means I'll just have to use biotics to strangle him!" Taking her menacing jeer from Miranda to Stitch.

Before I could say anything to Jack, Stitch piped up with, "No! Crazy lady!"

Trying to hold back a laugh I said, "Jack - nobody is strangling anybody, okay?"

"Jeez, whatever!" Jack said, throwing up one of her hands.

Mordin was tapping his fingers with anxiety until he blurted out, "I would just like you to know Shepard that no strangling would be involved. I would just like to test his skin with my Omni-torch and see if any scaring would…"

"No!" I said motioning to Mordin, "No cutting, no scientific experimentation," moving over to Jack, "No strangling or slamming," Then I pointed right at Grunt, "Hell no!"

Grunt made a grunt.

Garrus then said the only thing logical, "I suggest we just ignore the little beast and hope he does the same to us."

Now - I knew Garrus. He was probably just saying that so I wouldn't suspect him to do anything if I did find Stitch with a slug in his head.

That was when we all heard Joker's voice come over the intercom. "Patton's Progress is just 20 minutes out, commander."

"Alright, thank you Joker. You heard him people. This meeting is adjourned."

Everybody got up and left, Tali having a hard time walking away from him. Stitch still in his chair waiting for everyone to leave. A couple of them gave him some dirty looks and he just stared back at them. I waited until everyone but me and Stitch were left. I passed by him on the way out when he touched me on the arm. I stopped and looked down at him. He then said in that soft but yet alien voice of his, "Sorry."

Kneeling down, I asked with sad eyes, "For what Stitch?"

"Didn't know if Stitch could trust crew. Had to be sure."

"By making my crew mad and endangering Joker's life?"

"No. Would have never hurt him. By causing trouble. See if you would really hurt Stitch."

Still a bit confused I took a guess, "By you, you mean my crew. You mean, you had to be obnoxious to see if they were bad people and would just kill you on sight? Like pirates or something?"

"Could trust you. Didn't know about others."

"Still not sure are you."

"Stitch trust some but not others." He hopped off the chair and looked back at me. "Just want to find family." He walked out of the com room with a sad look on his face.

I nodded my head slightly understanding him. Even though he was this tough built monster, all he really was, was a lost animal looking for his family. I tried to think if I could've handled the same situation differently in his shoes. Coming to the conclusion that I would have probably handled it a bit more violently.

I was suiting up for Patton's Progress. Didn't know what I would find down there. Garrus and Samara were doing the same. Those two would be the most calm along with Stitch aboard the shuttle.

Checking my armor, Stitch was up on my chair looking at my personal effects. A picture of Ashley was there and he tapped on it making the picture switch to Kaiden's. I was ready to leave when Stitch asked, "Who is this?"

I looked at the picture frame and tapped it heading past three other pictures of Liara, Tali, and Wrex before Ashley came back into the frame. I simply said, "Don't touch that." Not really caring if I was cold to him or not. "Come on, we're going to find you're family."

He excitedly jumped down off the chair and I looked back at the frame. Ashely's picture was still displayed but I was thinking about Kaiden. I left the room and got in the elevator with the blue fur ball at my side.