Notes:

Alban Hefin - Druid festival of the Summer Solstice, means 'Light of the Shore' (Gaelic)

Anam Cara - Soul Friend/Mate (Gaelic)

Cábúnach - a worthless fuck(Gaelic)

Chandra - insect resembling a honeybee, same name as sweetening nectar it produces (Thessian)

Ionúin Álainn - beautiful beloved (Gaelic)

Kaffe - equatorial Thessian vine, seeds of which are used to produce a non-alcoholic beverage of same name, taste described as a mix of coffee and chocolate (Thessian; Source: CDN)

Siame - "one who is all", a loved one cherished above all others (Thessian/Source: CDN)

Uloth - Asari equivalent to cheese (Source: CDN)

Unexpected Surprises

Oasia, Ilos, Refuge – 1 Jun 2191

As the communications screen faded to black, Liara simply leaned back in her chair, still shocked by the university's offer… and her advisor's parting words. To have the dean of the college of archaeology acting as her advisor – Goddess! Anyone's advisor – was already highly unusual, but to receive an offer of a full professorship at the tender age of only 114 years was completely unheard of. As focused on replaying the conversation in her mind as she was, she failed to hear the comm's center door swish open, then close behind her, nor did she perceive the soft footsteps of someone approaching from that direction.

{Don't jump out of your skin, Li… I'm right behind you.} Immediately following the statement, before she could turn or stand, Shepard's warm hands landed comfortingly on her shoulders. "Hell of an offer, isn't it."

Liara registered her siame's words as a statement, not a question, but responded anyway. "Yes, it most definitely is." She drew a deep calming breath, relishing the support that came through both Sam's touch and the tone of her statement. She tipped her head back and gazed up to meet comforting emerald orbs, steady and unflinching in their caring devotion. The breath she was holding came out as a quiet sigh. "It's unheard of, really. I mean, senior matrons, perhaps a few… but a maiden with a full professorship? I think I can honestly say it has never been done, anywhere or at any time, of which I am aware."

"They're only recognizing what I knew as soon as I read your first two dissertations on the Protheans, Doctor T'Soni." Shepard grinned and stepped to the side of Liara's chair, turning it so the Asari could stand and step into her arms, which Liara did quite willingly. Samantha chuckled quietly, memories of Liara's initial awkwardness upon their first meeting drifting through the link. "You were so shy when you first boarded the Normandy… at least until you started speaking of the Protheans. Once you shifted topics, you instantly became a scholar… no hesitation, no pause. You became a completely different person… the knowledgeable doctor of archeology we needed for our mission… the one who spoke with such authority on the matter."

"I don't remember it quite that way, Sam," came the quiet assertion. "I do remember being terribly frightened and unsure of myself." Liara scoffed at the whole concept. "I cannot even begin to count all the times I could only reply with 'I don't know' to your questions. How can you say I spoke with authority?"

Samantha smiled and gave her a gentle squeeze, accompanied by a quiet chuckle. "Because you spoke of what you did know and were honest about what you didn't. It took a lot of guts and personal integrity to admit what you didn't know… especially considering the situation with your mother, along with not fully understanding your status aboard my ship." Shepard cocked her left brow, adding, "And it took even more courage to stand up and say you'd do what you could to find those things out." Shepard shook her head, adding, "Especially with people like Ashley Williams getting in your face."

At that, Liara blushed. "Ashley wasn't so bad… especially once you had that discussion with her, and we had some time to get to know one another as she helped train me in combat firearms." Liara paused, an expression of gratitude coming to her face. "And the way she came to my defense when certain male crew members began to make lascivious comments?" A smile came to her lips as she added, "Now, that was something to behold. It was amazing how differently the crew treated me after that."

With a hint of a grin appearing on her face, Shepard responded, "It didn't take me long to realize the maiden I was coming to know was beautiful, not just on the outside, but inside as well… and yet, the doctor?" Shepard pursed her lips and whistled. "The doctor was downright sexy… and I couldn't keep myself from falling in love with the combination." She chuckled quietly as she added, "I never had a chance of evading your clutches, Ionúin Álainn… neither the unquestioned friendship you offered me then, nor the love and devotion you give me now… aspects of our relationship which I quite eagerly reciprocate."

Liara, seemingly embarrassed, ducked her head while continuing to gaze up at her lover from beneath her brows and whispered just one word. "Flatterer…" Even with her teasing response, joyful tears filled the Asari's eyes as the tide of loving emotion swept over her through the link. She momentarily hugged her bondmate close before, with a contented sigh, she pushed back just far enough to gaze again at Samantha's face. With their lips nearly touching, she huskily asked, "Should we talk about Dean Tevany's offer?"

As the woman did not pull back at all, the movement of Shepard's lips tickled her own as she answered with a throaty chuckle, "Maybe later," just before dropping her hands to Liara's lower back folds in concert with her lips enveloping those of her Ionúin Álainn in a passionate kiss.

Their brief interlude was much shorter than either liked, but both had work to attend to; pulling themselves back together, and with roguish grins on each of their faces, the pair headed toward the embassy offices. With Aria's comments tumbling about in her mind, Liara contacted Akrelo Ferank to ask for an update, only to discover there were approximately 200 Batarians currently headed in their direction, with their estimated arrival date being mere days away. After a relatively short, urgent discussion, they terminated the call.

While Akrelo now knew that he needed to keep them better informed on departures and the number of his people headed in their direction, Liara needed to inform the ambassador and the Prothean leadership of the incoming asylum seekers. While she made those calls, Shepard sent a message to Huulik, the SILC lead, to inform him of the upcoming meeting and ask that he attend, so he could answer questions regarding the number of housing units ready for occupancy. Within the hour, the entire group had gathered in the community center to discuss the available options.

As the group came together, Huulik was the first to speak. "Of the habitation-ready housing, we currently have forty units, with space for 150 organics, for families of three or four persons. If there are large numbers of singles or couples, we may not have enough individual single-family housing units."

Jorè added, "And, that does not consider the eight remaining Prothean couples who are still in line for permanent housing." As an afterthought, he continued with a smile. "Currently, each couple has one child, with the females beginning their implantation process… each to bring another child into our promising future."

Glancing at Aelia, Liara began, "Honestly, I think we need to remove eight of the four-person units from the 'available' list and get those families into their homes, sooner rather than later." She pursed her lips for only a moment before looking to the SILC unit with a question. "Is it possible to build the required additional temporary housing on such a tight timeline?"

Huulik's lights dimmed and blinked several times in quick succession before he responded, "It is possible, but would be a waste of resources. The Consensus finds it more beneficial to activate an additional 100 SILC units, to immediately accelerate the current construction projects. We have the necessary supplies on hand to complete twenty additional two-bedroom units within a three-day timeline. This would allow us to house an additional eighty persons, assuming we match appropriate housing to the individual family structures."

Shepard nodded in agreement and was getting ready to speak, but Aelia beat her to it. "Agreed. We could house people immediately, based only on their current requirements, and they can always relocate later. It is not uncommon in any society, I would think, to… outgrow… a house, and move to a larger one as your family size increases. Assuming there are not too many singles or couples in the mix, this could solve our immediate needs. Longer term, we will need to provide smaller homes, perhaps even apartments, both for our children as they mature and move into their own residences, and for our older citizens who may wish to downsize." She smiled and glanced around the group, her eyes landing on Shepard. "I believe Humans must have a term for older couples whose children have moved out to start their own lives?"

Shepard smiled softly and replied, "Yes… likely more than one, but I think the most common is 'empty nesters,' referring to their children as having grown up and flown from the nest."

At that, Jorè chuckled. "An apt comparison, I think… though I did not pick up on that when we linked our minds, Captain."

Shepard smiled and shook her head. "You can't possibly learn everything in a matter of minutes, Jorè… especially when it involves an archaic maxim that is rarely used anymore." She looked at the ambassador. "Well, Furant… may we have your thoughts on this matter?"

The Salarian flashed a quick smile. "I think the SILC proposal an excellent solution. I am quite confident we have more-than-sufficient funds for a short-term surge in the SILC employment contract; hence, let us get it done."

Oasia, Ilos, Refuge – 4 Jun 2191

The additional SILC had descended upon the colony within a matter of hours of the ambassador's authorization, immediately beginning work as they arrived in waves. Even Shepard was astonished at how quickly the required housing units rose from the dirt to become completed, fully habitable domiciles. The workers were focusing on the final touches on the last group of 20 houses when the flotilla of immigrants arrived in the system and began to make their way from the Refuge Relay toward Ilos.

Along with a few Prothean scouting vessels, both the Liberation and Freedom were providing escort and direction to the newly arriving ships, guiding them to the appropriate holding patterns above Ilos. Ground control regulated the flow of atmospheric traffic to the actual landing zones, to assign landing times and appropriate spacing to avoid both collisions in the air and overcrowding in each of the designated arrival areas. They had successfully grounded and disembarked the passengers from eight of the fifteen arriving ships – each carrying between ten and twenty persons – when the unthinkable happened.

Jamika T'Ville's frantic call blasted over the emergency communications system. "We need immediate fire support and escape pod recovery vessels! Three rogue Batarian ships are destroying the civilian transports and firing on their escape pods! Opening comm relay now so you can listen to the looped signal as we prep weapons to engage!"

As those on the ground immediately scrambled to get the requested support craft into the air, the repeating transmission came through the system. "… freakish Prothean science experiment! As you are deserters from the Hegemony, we deliver justice!" After a brief pause of mere seconds, it began again. "I am Captain Okan Drek'Norak! We would rather die as loyal Batarians than become part of some freakish Prothean science experiment! As you are deserters from the Hegemony, we deliver justice!"

Shepard, feeling completely useless sitting on terra firma while the fight went on above the planet, immediately responded, "Jamika! Identify the ship responsible for the signal and get that damned Cábúnach off comms!"

Without waiting for a response, she terminated the call and turned to Liara, who immediately met her eyes and responded to the request she knew was coming. "Already on it, Shepard… I have forwarded the name to the Broker, asking him to discover everything there is to know about Captain Drek'Norak." Her pronunciation of the Batarian's name left no doubt in anyone's mind this Asari felt she was spitting out an oily poison. "Give us some time and we'll know who he is, where he's based, and how many additional ships – if any – he has working for him, as well as the name of whatever group he is associated with." Liara's eyes took on a glint Shepard hadn't seen in a while as her bondmate spoke in a voice that was cold and hard as steel. "Then, if necessary, we can ask for assistance, in order to ensure none of his associates are ever in a position to repeat this atrocity."

Later, as they picked up the pieces and sorted through their unexpected losses, Ruso Lukens approached Shepard. "Captain… I have your update. Once your vessels destroyed the lead ship, our Prothean pursuit ended in victory. The rogue Batarian vessel that attempted to run did not survive to make the relay jump away from Refuge." He paused, giving Liara a quick glance before he quietly continued, "I saw a side of your bondmate today which I am very glad to have not met from an opposing position." He shook his head, a grim smile tipping the corners of his mouth upwards. "I see now why Lady Liara is such a good match for you. I saw her in your memories… felt her concern and support for you as you went to battle… but never witnessed the genuine strength of the warrior's soul within her."

Under different circumstances, Shepard would have chuckled but – with the loss of twenty potential colonists, including five innocent children among the number – she wasn't exactly in a laughing mood. Her emerald eyes burned with an intensity Lukens had never seen in either the captain or the Spectre named Shepard. "Trust your instincts on that one, Ruso. You most certainly wouldn't like Liara if you somehow ended up on the wrong end of a fight with her."

"After what I witnessed today, that is very easy to believe. I will admit, I was initially concerned when the Batarian crew from the crashed ship first emerged from their vessel… knowing they were in a fight for their lives and holding nothing back." He shook his head and continued, "But now? I realize Liara makes a worthy adversary in her own right… but it was even more impressive to watch the way the two of you coordinated your assaults." He allowed himself the tiniest of smiles as he ended, "It almost made me feel sorry for the idiots who thought they could stop our project so easily."

"Don't ever feel sorry for anyone who is capable of such outrageous atrocities, Ruso." Shepard drew a deep, calming breath as Liara gently caressed her soul through the link.

Her change in attitude was visible, with the fire in her eyes fading away. It allowed Lukens to release a conservative chuckle as he replied, "I did say almost, Shepard." He glanced around the area, assessing what debris still remained to be cleaned up, when a confused expression suddenly appeared on his face. He turned back to Samantha to ask, "As you listened to Drek'Norak, you said something even my translator failed to catch. What does that word… Cábúnach… mean?"

Shepard's lingering anger toward the perpetrators almost made her growl a response but, with a bit of comfort and empathy from Liara, she managed to remain calm and answer in a surprisingly civil tone. "It's a word from my native tongue; an Earth language rarely, if ever, spoken much anymore, which is why your translator didn't catch it… and the main reason I use it, I suppose." She allowed herself a bit of a smirk as she continued, "Is it enough to admit it is a particularly vulgar insult, which I don't honestly want to translate, now that you know its intent?"

His confusion turned immediately to a smirk and, surprisingly, he nodded in agreement. "Enough said, then, Shepard. I guess every race has a bit of that… words generally best left unspoken, especially in polite company." He chuckled, giving Liara a quick nod, before returning his attention to the captain and whispering conspiratorially, "Though, if you ever care to learn a few good Prothean curses, I would be happy to share some of my favorites with you."

With that unexpected comeback, Shepard allowed herself to laugh along with him for a few moments before drawing a deep breath and giving her Prothean friend a smile. "Thanks, Ruso. I guess I needed that." Glancing at Liara with something of a sad smile, she asked, "So, with that horrible disruption taken care of, shall we go see to our newest community members and do what we can to help the survivors get settled in?"

"We should," Liara answered and nodded. "We are likely rather late to the party."

"Absolutely," Ruso replied, in sync with Liara's response. With a brief nod to the couple, he turned and began heading toward the community center without another word. They had missed the first few groups, but there were plenty of the newest residents of Oasia still remaining at the center, where they were receiving their orientation briefings and housing assignments. As the threesome walked in the entrance, he turned to his friends and smiled softly. "I have a few things I must attend to. I will see you at dinner."

Oasia, Ilos, Refuge – 14 Jun 2191

The week following the Batarians' arrival had been extremely busy, which had necessitated working through the weekend. Liara and Shepard helped quite a few of the families get settled into their homes, even as the newcomers dealt with the grief of losing so many of the friends who had left Omega with them. While nothing like life aboard the Knight Shade during their various conflicts, it was still long days of tiring work. Even so, Shepard was surprised when she woke and stretched, reaching across the bed with eyes still closed, only to find the space next to her empty… and cold.

She was immediately wide awake, bolting upright in bed. {Liara?}

{I'll be right there, Sam. I'm in the kitchen, just finishing up the preparation of my tea and your Kaffe, to accompany the biscuits and jam I swiped from the kitchens.}

{Why don't I get dressed and join you out there? We're late…}

{We are not late.} Liara's tone, even via the link, sounded extremely smug.

{What are you cooking up, T'Soni?}

The Asari's soft laugh was music to Samantha's ears, as she strolled into the bedroom bearing a tray loaded with the aforementioned items, along with a collection of several other foods. Setting the tray across Samantha's lap, ensuring the woman couldn't leave the bed, Liara circled around to her own side and let her robe drop to the floor before she slid her nude form into the bed next to her lover. "I am not cooking up anything, Siame. It's just that we worked through the weekend, so I asked Furant if we could take the day to handle some personal matters… to which he agreed, without hesitation, concluding that the two of us most certainly deserved a small break in the routine."

"Well… this is most certainly more than biscuits and jam, T'Soni…" Shepard's eyes wandered the plates of food as she continued, "Eggs, bacon, uloth, sweetbreads and chandra… This is a full up breakfast in bed." Looking up to meet the gaze of her Anam Cara, she grinned and asked, "So, really. What's going on, Liara? What personal business, exactly, do we have to deal with?"

"Just… us… Sam." Liara shrugged, a smile teasing the corners of her lips. "We have been so busy, we have hardly had time to breathe, much less spend any quality time together. You don't even realize what day it is, do you?"

"Sure, I do! It's Tuesday!" Sam smirked but continued to think. Seeing the cocked brow marking and expectant look on Liara's face, she knew she was missing something. What is the actual date? "Oh, shit." She laughed at the look on Liara's face and asked, "Seriously? The date I separated from the Alliance is worthy of a day off?"

Liara grinned in satisfaction as she answered, "It most certainly is. In my mind, it not so much marks your resignation from the Alliance, but a combination of the end of the Victory Tour, the change of command for the Normandy, and the beginnings of preparations for our bonding. It is a celebration of the start of our real life together… our future, beginning with more than two months of blissful vacation time."

Shepard couldn't help but to release a happy sigh, remembering those days… until the Quarian war. She stopped her mind from going down that path, as that was not the point of today's date, and she had become well-versed at cutting off the intrusion of bad memories, mostly thanks to Liara's efforts. With a smile of appreciation, she reached over to give her bondmate's hand a quick squeeze. "So… this is a pre-anniversary, while we were home, simply celebrating finding our way to…" She stopped and looked around, pulling her hand back only to hold both hands out in front of herself, palms up. "… this?"

"Yes!" Liara grinned. "Exactly!"

Shepard had to chuckle at Liara's enthusiasm. With a smirk on her face, she asked, "Are we going to do this… pre-celebration… every year? It's not like we honestly need another holiday. I mean… Alban Hefin is next week."

Liara picked up a jam-laden biscuit and held it out so Sam could take a bite. Smiling coyly, she answered, "That all depends on just how much fun we have today."

Shepard didn't even consider trying to stop the huge smile that spread across her face. "In that case, my dearest Ionúin Álainn, we'd better send Lyessa a note to add it to our annual calendar of celebrations… because I cannot imagine us not having fun today, so long as nothing exciting happens in the outside world and we are left alone to our own devices." She then leaned over and took the offered bite, starting to chew as she picked up a piece of sweetbread, dipped it in a small dish filled with chocolate sauce, and offered it to Liara.

Liara's eyes lit with joy as she leaned forward, taking a small bite and raising her free hand to cover her mouth as she mumbled, "Goddess, you know me too well, Siame."

Swallowing her own treat, Samantha grinned and replied, "Not possible, Blue. I do believe our level of knowledge regarding one another is just perfect." She reached up and gently stroked Liara's cheek, the Asari's eyes closing as she leaned into her siame's loving touch.

T'Sere Shipwrights, Dassus, Thessia – 21 June 2191

An abnormally subdued Kasumi was nearly speechless as she – accompanied by Miranda Lawson, Judea Voni and T'Sere paint facility manager Jalira T'Nadri – slowly walked past the bow of Spectre's Rose. That T'Sere had taken an additional two weeks to complete the paint work on her ship – her ship! – was of no real concern. Perched once more on a mobile, universal docking cradle, the Rose gleamed in the early morning sunshine. The deep, midnight red paint, infused with a specially formulated ceramic powder, had been 'baked' – a simplified description for a T'Sere designed and developed application process – into the surface of the ship's pressure hull. The company actually guaranteed that all the ship's leading edges, especially the nose, would hold up to repeated atmospheric reentries, with no discernable degradation in appearance.

Tears came to Kasumi's eyes as she approached the open airlock; a single, long-stemmed rose was depicted lying below her ship's name, which was applied using a fancy script in highlighted gloss black paint, on a pearlescent-white background. It appeared as if a patch of the red paint had been raggedly peeled from the underlying primer to reveal the name and thorny-stemmed blossom. Placed at the trailing edge of the hatch, it was nearly too much for Kasumi to bear. Tearing her gaze from the skillfully rendered rose, she looked at Judea and Jalira and said, "It's breathtakingly beautiful, Jalira! I had an idea of how it would actually look, but this?"

Judea brought a hand up, fingers spread wide in a fan, to grasp the master thief's upper arm. "I'm glad you like it, Kas."

This prompted her to first look at the violet-tinted blue hand on her arm, then to the master engineer's beautiful face and golden eyes. "Like it? Judea, I absolutely love it! It's way beyond anything I had imagined." Returning her attention to her ship, she used her free arm to reach across her chest, where she placed her own hand atop Judea's as she asked, "Were you able to poke around inside before they moved it into the clean room?"

Judea stopped walking, prompting Kasumi to turn and face her. "I'm sorry it took longer than originally planned to complete. The space-frame division sent a pair of technicians inside before Jalira relocated it from prep to paint. Your comment about stress fractures in the ship's frame concerned me… I would never forgive myself if anything were to happen after you left here."

The happy grin she received prompted Judea to continue. "I actually learned quite a lot during the few days our techs spent inspecting and executing the repairs on the Rose's sub-structural supports; for having been designed and constructed nearly five decades ago, this ship is actually an engineering marvel for its age." As she was speaking, Judea had started walking towards the stern. Looking up at the rather large pair of plasma discharge nozzles, with their integrated reverse thrust deflectors, she waved a hand to emphasize her point. "The location for the placement of these engines wasn't chosen on a whim, Kas. Any deviation in their installation location would have considerably lessened the overall performance. Studying this vessel has led me to a greater appreciation of my father's design genius, and will influence my own design choices well into the future."

Kasumi gazed into Jude's golden eyes, alight with a combination of sisterly love and deep concern. Finding her voice anew, she replied, "You had the frame inspected… " prompting Judea to interject with a huge grin, "and repaired, Kas." Kasumi nodded as she continued, "… and repaired, just because I mentioned it only in passing during our joyride?

"To keep you safe, Kasumi. Whether you realize it or not, you are Sim're to all of us within House T'Soni. We look out for our sisters." With a slight smirk lighting her features, she added, "I can never repay you for the assistance you provided my amantia at the end of Shepard's Collector Mission… your actions enabled Miri to completely disappear from the galaxy, just as if she were wearing your cloaking device."

The Asari enveloped the young woman in a warm hug as she continued in a soft voice. "The Illusive Man was not one to tolerate perceived disloyalty, especially from someone as high in the organization as Miranda. He had his hounds hunting for her relentlessly, throughout the galaxy."

Kasumi's actually grinned as Judea loosened her embrace and pushed back slightly, replying, "I never realized my little masquerade back then had such life or death implications, Jude. And… " she captured a violet-blue hand as she continued, "… I would do so again, in a heartbeat."

She returned her gaze to the gleaming red ship docked before them. Over the moon happy with the quality of the work performed, she asked, "So, do I need to move it, or is it okay sitting here until I make my departure for Earth?"

Jalira, having remained silent to this point in order to listen to Judea, responded with, "It'll be fine sitting here, Kasumi," Standing with her fists planted on her hips, she added, "I actually think it's a really fine showpiece for the quality of completed paintwork that can be expected from T'Sere's paint shop, whether it's for new construction or repaints."

Kasumi turned and, stepping up to the paint facility manager with her arms out, asked, "May I?"

Although a bit taken aback at this Human's request, Jalira smiled warmly as she nodded and replied, "Of course." As Kasumi wrapped strong arms around her, Jalira reciprocated while concluding softly, "You're on Thessia, my dear. I know of very few Asari that would decline such a request."

The master thief was again on the verge of tears as she released the Asari and pushed back slightly. "This has been a wonderful experience, Jalira, one I will never forget." Looking back to Judea, she added, "And I'm really going to miss you and Miri while I'm gone.

The Asari's expression of hopeful anticipation was accompanied by a bit of timidity as she asked, "Does that mean you'll be returning here when your visit to Earth is concluded?"

"It does… I have to discover what type of job Liara has in mind for me." She glanced around at the paint facility entrance and asked, "Now, show me where I need to go in order to settle my bill with T'Sere. Afterwards, we can have a nice dinner… just me, you and Miranda. I'll leave for Sol in the morning."

Spectre's Rose, At Large, Milky Way – 22 June 2191

Kasumi, after shedding many tears upon saying farewell to her new Asari family – the existence of which she had no actual knowledge of prior to the middle of the previous month – had lifted Spectre's Rose into Thessia's crystal clear sky, set her course for the relay and pushed the throttles nearly to their stops; within a couple of hours, she was forced to slow to a relative stand-still by traffic waiting in a queue for the relay to realign with the Widow Relay in the Serpent Nebula.

Setting the VI to monitor local traffic and the status of the relay, she rose from her pilot's chair, stretched her arms towards the overhead and tipped her head from side-to-side to relieve the kinks, then strolled aft to the small galley. Sitting at the table to eat her sandwich brought up memories of the many times she had shared meals here with Spectre Bau. I should contact his nephew, came the thought. Surely he or someone in the family would contact me if he had died.

The ship had always been relatively quiet when they were together, but the silence she was experiencing now seemed overwhelming. Not really any different than before, she told herself. She and Jon were generally quiet when they were together, unless they were discussing a mission, whether it was upcoming or had just been completed. She finished her sandwich, then drank the last bit of water from her glass.

The VI sounded a low-volume alarm; she returned to the flight deck after rinsing and drying her glass. The relay had completed its re-alignment with the Widow relay, and the ships queued up for passage were departing the Athena system. As the VI was still active, she instructed it to transmit her ships ID and mass, then sat back in her seat to enjoy the transit-created light show.

Cipritine, Palaven, Trebia System – 24 June 2191

Fifteen minutes before her 0900 alarm rang, Desis Vyessan-Vakarian sat up, carefully swung her legs past the edge of her sleeping platform – almost universally referred to by present day Turians as a bed – and cautiously stood up, for what seemed like the hundredth time since crawling in to sleep nearly ten hours ago. She quietly moved the short distance to the bathroom, there to carefully sit on the specially molded toilet seat in order to relieve the pressure in her bladder.

She tentatively cupped her swollen belly, thinking, I certainly hope you're preparing to make your appearance, child. You've been using my bladder as a pillow for at least three days. During her bi-monthly check-up on the 20th, her doctor had informed her that the baby had moved into the upper portion of the birth canal, adding that her level of discomfort would increase as the week progressed. She predicted Desis would go into labor Friday – today – or possibly Saturday.

Retaking her feet, she studied her reflection in the mirror over the basin for a few moments as the toilet's auto-recycle function began; thinking, Damn, you look tired all the time now! she moved back into the bedroom she shared with the love of her life… her lifemate. Garrus was blissfully asleep, having never stirred as she left and returned several times throughout the night; he continued to sleep soundly as she crawled back under the covers and draped an arm over his torso in order to pull her body in close to his back.

Hoping to rejoin the big male in slumber, she tried to settle her mind, but found herself unable to ignore the slowly growing discomfort in her lower abdomen and groin. Is it beginning? she wondered. She slid the hand she had been using to cup her belly down to her crotch. Somewhat to her surprise, she was wet – not just damp, but actually wet! Spirits!

Using the hand resting on the chest of her mate, she scratched her talons a couple of times across his carapace as she announced, "Garrus. Wake up. It's happening!"

Garrus, having spent years as a soldier, was fully awake in a matter of moments. Carefully rolling over to face his mate, he asked, "Happening? The baby? Spirits, Dee! Do we have time to get to the hospital?" He rolled back over, placed his feet on the floor, stood and began to get dressed as she mirrored his actions on the other side of their bed.

"I don't know, Garrus. I think so?" She grunted in response to the first tiny tremor in her core. She slipped into using just sub-harmonics. "I'm guessing we shouldn't stop to have breakfast."

The throaty chuckle she received calmed her as nothing else could. Now completely dressed, Garrus grabbed Dee's 'Go Bag' and left the room, saying over his shoulder, "I'll call the taxi."