Jarred straightened, running a hand under his chin where his sweat was dripping down. He looked up at the afternoon sun, looking at the skies, searching.
"Hey, Jarred! Bring up that sheet for me, will you?
He looked up at the roof, seeing his father reaching down at a thin piece of metal sheet leaning on the side of the house. He ran and lifted the sheet for his father, and he nodded in thanks. "They're probably on their way, Jarred." Garrus said as he laid the sheet down and melded it to the rest of the roof. "Just wait."
Jarred, his family and some of the Normandy crew were helping them with the rebuilding of their house in Surin Island. While Kaidan, Samara and Tali were busy with Council business, and Liara was busy scrubbing up the footage of their mission to save Meiou to hide Jane and Garrus again, the rest were busy building up walls and the roof of their ruined home. Kasumi, Nicholas and Amira were working on the house's previous programs that made it susceptible for both human and turian living, while Jane, Garrus, Tristan, Jarred, Thanikah, James, Jack, Grunt and Urdnot Wrex helped with its construction. It's been going on for about a month, and he was thankful that everything was going back to what it used to be.
"Everyone! Lunch time!" Jane said from the kitchen, which was one of the first things they built, but with so many people helping them, the table was set outside again, with a bunch of umbrellas to keep them in the shade. Several servings of food were on the table, with one side made especially for Garrus and Amira's dextro-amino foods. Everyone pretty much dropped what they were doing and headed down to the long table.
Jarred held the ladder as Garrus made his way down from the roof, and when his feet touched the ground, he stepped back and looked at their home. He stood beside his father, and Garrus put his arm around his son's shoulder as he looked up.
"I guess it was a good thing that Cerberus blew it up." Garrus said with a chuckle, "I've been meaning to get repairs done in that roof for ages."
"Most of our stuff got blown, Dad." Jarred said, "Pretty much the only thing we have left is that sky car. All our furniture… everything you guys ever invested in… it's gone."
"No, it's not." Garrus said, "Our furniture and appliances can be replaced. Your mother and I saved enough money during our military career to buy another house, even. But, that's not what we were focused on." He smiled proudly at his son, "We invested in you, and you're still here. I'm so proud of you, son. I am the luckiest turian alive to have the two of you in my life."
At this, Jarred smiled and he went with his father to eat with the crew. James tossed them a couple of drinks, and everyone on the crew was talking with each other. Garrus moved away to plant a kiss on Jane's lips as she served him a plate of turian food, and she smiled, touching her forehead to his.
Watching his parents exchange affection like that, made Jarred miss Meiou. The Alliance Military took her to Huerta Memorial after she was shot in that Cerberus Base by Radley, but he hadn't seen her since. He asked the Council… particularly Kaidan, Tali and Samara, if he could see her, but they said there was a lot of damage done to her by her ordeal and her wound, that it would take some time for her to recover. Kaidan ordered another month long shore time for the Normandy crew, and told Jarred to help his parents to rebuild their home. As it turns out, before Admiral Hackett's retirement ages ago, he had transferred his project of protecting the Vakarians to Kaidan.
He was getting restless, wanting to see Meiou, but Kaidan was right. Their house in Surin Island was in ruins, and it would take time to rebuild it. Luckily, Kaidan arranged for the whole crew to help, and pulled some strings so that Grunt, Jack, James, Wrex and Kasumi were able to assist as well. It was like their last shore leave before the mission, but this time it was longer. Samara was gracious enough to provide some of their own credits to pay for the food they were feeding the crew, since she had not much use for credits, since her daughter, Falare, was being well provided for at the Ardat-Yakshi monastery in Lesuss.
After they had their lunch, they rested before going to work. Jarred was staring out at the ocean when he heard the humming of familiar engines, and he looked up to see a shuttle coming down. He went to it as it landed.
Liara and EDI's mobile platform came out, along with Yeoman Jose Cruz, who smiled at Jarred. They smiled at them as the rest of the crew came forward and greeted everyone.
"Captain Alenko, the Council has requested the crew's presence in the Council Chambers." EDI said, "I've been ordered to get you back on to the ship."
"Liara, EDI… good to see you." Tristan said, "Have you done what my father wanted?"
The asari nodded, "Yes. It was a little hard, but I was able to delete the data that showed Jane and Garrus at the Cerberus base. The audio of their voices was also scrubbed." She smiled at her two friends, "It would be like you weren't there at all."
Jane and Garrus nodded, "Thanks, Liara. We owe you a lot."
The asari waved her hand, "You owe me nothing, Jane. But, we must hurry. I'm sorry to take them away when you're rebuilding, but the Council is looking for them."
Garrus nodded, "No problem, Liara." And he nodded at Jarred, who went aboard the shuttle, followed by Tristan, Nicholas, Thanikah, Amira and Grunt.
"Don't worry about a thing, guys!" Kasumi shouted as the shuttle started hovering, "We'll take care of everything!"
Jarred smiled down at Kasumi as the rest of the crew waved goodbye, and Jose closed the door of the shuttle as they headed out into orbit.