Shepard
She'd been on shore leave with Garrus and Vega, seeing what they could do to help clean-up operations on Earth when they had walked past a collapsed building and heard a human baby crying. Shepard instantly took control of the situation and asked EDI to scan the area, while calling in English to try and find out if there was anyone else alive with the child. No answers. No other life signs, according to EDI. Once they'd located the approximate vicinity of the baby, Garrus, Shepard and Vega began delicately pulling the rubble away, careful not to move anything that would disrupt the pile and cause a cave-in in the area. Eventually they happened upon a sight that made Shepard have to turn around and vomit. Garrus rubbed her back, muttering soothingly in his native language. The building had collapsed, crushing what Shepard assumed was the child's mother into something that effectively resembled a thin red paste, while leaving the child, no more than a couple of weeks old by the looks of it, completely unharmed, if slightly malnourished at this point.
Shepard regained her composure and breathed deeply. She walked over and bundled the child up in her heavily armoured arms, talking soothingly to the small, smelly bundle as it screamed with hunger and, quite probably, serious pain from nappy rash. It was a miracle the child was alive at all, to be honest. She instructed Garrus to radio the Normandy and get Karin ready for the little one's arrival.
"How am I going to tell the council about you, little one? What interesting circumstances for your first spaceship ride." She sighed.
Anderson
"Councillor Anderson?" The tiny form of Amelia appeared in front of him. "Commander Shepard is on Vidcomm. She wished for me to convey the urgency of her call."
"Thank you, Amelia," he replied. "I'll take her call now."
He wandered over to the Vidcomm terminal and pressed to accept the call. Shepard's hologram popped up, pacing in front of the terminal, practically vibrating with anxiety. "Anderson. Small situation here. We went down to Earth to help out with some of the clean-up ops, and found ourselves a little prize. It appears the Normandy has a temporary crew member. We found a baby, Anderson. It's mother was dead," She shuddered. "Karin's checking it over now. I don't know what else to say or do, sir. No ID on the mother that we could find, so we don't really have any way of finding out who the child is or if they have any other family."
"Shepard. Calm down. Go have a coffee, and I'll get back to you once I've spoken to the other members of the council. Have you and Vakarian considered adoption?"
Shepard looked dumbstruck. "We've broached the subject, yes. I figured we'd wait til after the wedding, but I suppose..." She coughed. "I'd rather not get my hopes up until we know the child's condition, sir. And I'd have to speak to Garrus."
"I'll present it as a possible option to the council then, give you a bit of thinking space. If not, the child will have to go to an orphanage. Unfortunately we don't have resources to re-unite so many lost children with their families right now. It could be an option further down the line, but that child will need to live somewhere in the meantime."
"Absolutely sir. Thank you for taking my call."
"Anytime, Shepard."
The United Races Council
"Councillor Anderson, we can't just give away children." The eternally stern Salarian councillor frowned.
"I wasn't suggesting giving away anything, we have no idea who this child is, or if it has any other living family, and we don't have the resources to reunite every lost child with its genetic relatives. Shepard has admitted that they would likely be willing to take the infant on as their own, assuming it even lives. When I was last in contact with Shepard she didn't know much about the condition of the child, it was in medbay being tended to by the ship's doctor."
Councillor Tevos piped up, waving a blue hand dramatically. "I think this sounds like a reasonable suggestion, Anderson. A lot of children are going to need new homes, and I think Shepard and Vakarian will make fantastic parents."
The Turian councillor nodded in agreement. "Well, that's three to one, let us know if they agree and I'll personally have the paperwork drawn up, assuming they're happy for the child to have joint Turian-Human citizenship."
"Of course, Councillor Sparatus."
Shepard
Chakwas passed the child to Shepard and smiled. "Congratulations, Commander, it's a girl." Karin winked, "Lucky we had that spare hospital bag hidden in here from when Private O'Malley fell pregnant, really. And this little bundle, is very lucky you found her when you did."
The baby had stopped crying now that she had been washed and fed, and was now gurgling happily. She opened her eyes to look at Shepard and burped.
"Well that's surprisingly endearing... What are we going to call you, little one?" Shepard looked at the child, transfixed. "We should probably ask Garrus for some hints, shouldn't we? Karin, could I take her up to my cabin for a little while? I'd like to speak to Garrus and show him this little miracle in private."
"Well, she is pretty much fine, Commander, so I don't see why not. Take this lot up with you in case she needs anything." Chakwas loaded a med-bag with nappies and formula mix, as well as a few sterile bottles, blankets and sleepsuits. "You could probably make a makeshift cot up for her in a drawer if you pull one out and put it on the floor. It'd do for a couple of nights, at least until we figure out where she's staying long-term. I'll order a few more supplies for her from Earth."
"Thanks Karin." Shepard walked over and kissed her friend affectionately on the cheek, before picking up the bag and heading up to her quarters.
Garrus
Garrus walked into their cabin to find Shepard singing, lying on the bed with the infant on her chest, eyes closed. He stood and watched for a moment, remaining as quiet as he could as he drank in the moment.
"Now that she's back in the atmosphere,
With drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey,
She acts like summer and walks like rain,
Reminds me that there's time to change, hey, hey,
Since the return from her stay on the moon,
She listens like spring and she talks like June, hey, hey.
Tell me, did you sail across the sun,
Did you make it to the milky way to see the lights all faded,
And that heaven is overrated?
Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star,
One without a permanent scar,
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?
Now that she's back from that soul vacation,
Tracing her way through the constellation, hey, hey.
She checks out Mozart while she does tae-bo,
Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey, hey.
Now that she's back in the atmosphere,
I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol Jane,
Told a story about a man who is too afraid to fly so he never did land.
Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet,
Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day,
And head back to the milky way?
And tell me, did Venus blow your mind,
Was it everything you wanted to find,
And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?"
Garrus thought over the lyrics and saw an odd similarity to Shepard herself... She opened her eyes to see him standing at the door, amusement in his eyes as he smiled at her. "How long have you been there?" she asked.
"Long enough," He chuckled, "What was that you were singing, Mei-Mei?"
"It's an old pop song from the late 20th Century AD. My mother used to sing it to me as a child, because her mother used to sing it to her, etcetera, etcetera. Strange coincidence for it to run through my family – at the end of the 20th Century AD when that song was written, we still hadn't found the Prothean archive on Mars," She smiled and sighed contentedly. "We'd gotten as far as putting people on our moon, and putting probes and mechanical drones on Mars to do some minor exploration, and we'd built our first space stations, but that was about it... Hang on a minute, you called me Mei-Mei, where did you pick that up from?"
"I looked into endearments you humans use."
"Mei-Mei's Chinese. I like it." She smiled. "No-one's ever called me that before. Special."
He walked over and sat on the bed next to his mate and the small child sleeping on her chest. "Does she have a name?" He asked, looking at the little girl.
"How did you know she was a girl?" Shepard looked at him with suspicion in her eyes.
"She's wearing pink. I assumed, since I've been looking up human social conventions regarding children for a while now. Plus, she looks a worrying amount like you. That little nose is just adorable." He scratched Shepard's nose lightly with a talon.
Shepard laughed lightly, careful not to move her chest too much or make loud noises. "Pretty much all human children look alike at this age. I spoke to Anderson earlier, he suggested that there may be a possibility of her staying with us. Is that... something you'd like?"
"Oh, El, of course. I want a family with you. I'm never going to say no to the chance to have a child with you. In Turian society, the more children a woman has for a man, it is generally considered the more she respects him and his ability to care for those young. I know we probably won't have children that are ours genetically, but why the hell should that stop us?"
His mate grinned from ear to ear. "She doesn't have a name yet, did you have anything in mind?"
"How about Juno?"
"Juno... I like it. Wife of Jupiter, mother of Mars and Vulcan. But I would love to know what it is with you Turians and Roman mythology. It's a bit creepy."
Garrus put an arm around his love, rubbing his face against her hair. "Lots of war. Turians love war."
[A/N: As you can probably tell if you google the lyrics, the song mentioned in this particular chapter is Drops Of Jupiter by Train. Crappy 90s pop-rock. Thought the lyrics seemed very appropriate for the situation, and the whole Garrus/Shepard scenario.]