A/N: Thanks for the reviews and all! I'm sure most of you know where this is going . . . at least in the short term.

Reveal

Doctor Chakwas looked up as her door slid open. "Ah. I was wondering if I'd see you today. Kaidan said you looked rough." She eyed her visitor. "I see he was right."

Shepard collapsed into Chakwas' other chair. "I feel awful," she moaned, arms flopping bonelessly over the chair's arms.

"I can tell." Chakwas raised an eyebrow. "How long?"

"A few days, at least. Everything hurts, and I just stopped puking my guts out again."

"Hm." Chakwas stood. "Come over here. We'll do a scan. Might be a flu." She doubted that, however.

"I hope not." Shepard pulled herself up on the indicated bed.

"So do I. Because then I'll have a ship full of sick crewmembers and it'll be their CO's fault." She closed her eyes as Chakwas started the scan. Her head ached, echoing the throbbing in her back and feet. She hurt everywhere. "Well, nothing looks ou-ohhh." Shepard tried to look over at the screen, but Chakwas moved it away, a small self-satisfied smile playing over her lips.

"What?!" She tried to turn the screen back.

"I want to do some bloodwork," Chakwas answered, picking up a needle and batting Shepard's hand away from the screen. "Hold still."

Shepard did, though it was more because she didn't want Chakwas to mess up the blood draw currently occurring. "Doc, tell me what the hell is going on."

"In a moment." Chakwas dropped a blob of medi-gel on where the needle had been and moved off to put the blood into her . . . thing. Shepard had never bothered to learn what all Chakwas' gadgets were. She bounced a few times on her cot. "Stop it."

"I'm not dying, am I? Because that would be awful."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're not dying." Chakwas brought up the results of the test on her screen. "Although . . ."

"Although what? What?!"

"You've been taking your fertility suppressants, as you've insisted? You and Kaidan?"

"Of course we have. You've asked that twenty times in the past two weeks. What does –" She suddenly stopped talking, and Chakwas looked up. Shepard looked strangely terrified. "Oh, god. That's not possible. We haven't – I haven't . . . oh, god. You aren't just fucking with me, are you?"

"I wouldn't do that to you."

Shepard's voice was almost silent. "Please tell me you are."

Chakwas shook her head. "I'm not." She sat down on the bed next to her, and Shepard dropped her face into her hands. "It's not that bad."

"Says the woman who's not benched."

"Stop. You won't be out forever. And you know that plenty of children who grow up on Alliance ships turn out perfectly normal."

"If you're referring to me, I'm far from normal, Doc." She rubbed her forehead with her palms. "Kaidan's going to have a heart attack."

"He'll be fine," she said reassuringly.

"But it doesn't make sense. We were both taking the suppressants, there shouldn't . . . this shouldn't . . ."

"You do have other options."

She shook her head. "Kai and I'll have to talk. I just – I don't know." She sighed, accompanying the noise with a sad chuckle. "This is scarier than an entire fleet of Reapers."

"You'll be fine, Marrakech. Women have been doing this for millions of years."

"That's not the scary part. Me and Alenko as parents? I'm not sure the galaxy can handle that."

Chakwas laughed. "It might be good for it." She rubbed Shepard's shoulders. "Want me to call him down here?"

"No! I – no. I need to think. I'll be in the cargo hold. I . . ." She glanced down towards her lap. "The firing range isn't . . ."

"Only if you shoot yourself, which I'm not concerned about."

Shepard pulled herself off the bed and headed through the door, dodging crewmen as she made her way to the elevator. Chakwas smiled to herself as she put Shepard's results into her file. It might be good for everyone. The galaxy was shattered enough as it was.

#

"Everyone out. Take a break."

The war room crew were fairly used to being shooed during more confidential meetings, so when Shepard stormed in looking pale and irritated they decided that something must have happened and quickly went for coffee.

Shepard, meanwhile, went straight for the vidcomm and plugged in her mother's contact information. Looking around to make sure that the war room was empty, she swallowed.

This couldn't be . . . but it was. She had to admit it was, because that was what people did. They admitted that things happened and then dealt with it.

::This is Admiral Shepard,:: Hannah said, almost sounding bored as she swam into view.

"Mom," Shepard said quietly.

::Hey, sweetheart. What's wrong?::

Shepard opened her mouth, but couldn't speak. How did she do this? What was . . .

"Mom . . ." she managed to choke out. Hannah studied her for a few moments.

::Marra. What's wrong?::

"I-I . . ." she stuttered. She was never going to be able to tell Kaidan, if she couldn't tell her own mother. "I'm pregnant," she finally whispered.

Hannah blinked at her for a few minutes. ::You are?::

She blinked back. "What sort of reaction is that?"

Hannah stared at her for a few seconds, then made a flailing motion with her arm. ::Better?::

"Mom," Shepard repeated, irritated. "This isn't . . . this isn't funny! I really am, I'm . . . I don't know what to do."

::Does Kaidan know?::

She shook her head. "I haven't told him."

::Well, first you talk to him. Then you decide if you want to have children. Then you go from there. It's really quite simple.:: Shepard sighed. Hannah was already beaming, probably having visions of bouncing grandchildren and sunshine and rainbows. ::It's the same thing nearly every woman does, Marra.:: She noticed the look on her daughter's face, and sighed. ::What do you want me to tell you, sweetie? It's great, for both of you. When did you find out?::

"Like . . . five minutes ago."

::. . . Oh.:: Something in Hannah's attitude changed. ::Marra, it'll be fine. I promise. Trust me, the first twenty-four hours are the worst. You'll realize thirty times that you'll be a terrible mother, and then turn around and wonder if you won't be as bad as you think. The next moment you'll be excited, then terrified again. It's perfectly natural, dear. I promise. Just, go find a quiet spot and think about it, for a few moments. I promise it'll be better later.::

"You're sure, mom?"

::Of course I am, Marra. You don't think I didn't go through this with you? Us Shepard women are very predictable. I love you, sweetie, all right?::

"Love you too, mom." Shepard swallowed heavily. "I . . . I think I should go and think."

::Okay. Call me if you need me, all right?::

"Yeah mom. Promise." Hannah shimmered as the line closed, and she lowered her head.

Definitely time to head to the firing range.

#

Kaidan gently pushed open the door to the makeshift firing range that seemed to always crop up on Shepard's ships and, just as Chakwas had said, Shepard was in one of the stalls with her pistol. When she paused to eject a clip, he cleared his throat. "I knew you were there," she replied, setting her pistol down. For a moment he wondered why she wasn't using her Widow or her Graal.

"Chakwas said you needed to talk to me."

Shepard tensed. "Yeah. Come on."

Kaidan followed her into the elevator, where he could feel her nervousness grow even more pronounced. He started to tense, mind suddenly jumping to the worst. Had something happened? Was she really sick? Was she – she seemed to notice and gently interlaced her fingers with his, giving him a small smile.

Once inside the Loft, he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Marra, are you all right? Of course you aren't. What's wrong?"

She gently pushed him back. "Sit. I mean it." He settled on the sofa, and Shepard leaned back against the wall. "So, ah . . ." Her voice trailed off as she stared at the floor, then sighed.

::Major, I would be more than happy to inform-::

"Shut up, EDI!" Shepard glared up at the ceiling. "She gossips more than Kasumi."

Kaidan stood again, this time gripping her arms. "Just tell me what's going on."

"I, ah . . ." She swallowed, and finally looked up at him. "I'm pregnant, Kaidan."

A/N: Woohoo! And it only took us 20 chapters to get there ...