DISCLAIMER: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SEXUAL CONTENT! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Tali stumbled out of the elevator onto the crew deck, exhausted from her latest shift down in engineering. Ever since Wrex and Primarch Victus joined them on the Normandy, the Quarian had been working non-stop. Whenever she wasn't with Shepard on a mission, she was in Engineering working on the drive core. And when she wasn't working on the drive core, she busied herself working on weapons, armor, and omnitool mods.

And she liked it like that.

She was keeping busy and giving herself purpose. More importantly, she was ensuring that she was sufficiently tired whenever it was time for her nightly rest or her midday nap. That way none of the intrusive thoughts could bug her. The ones about how she had let herself get exiled from her home to protect her deadbeat dad's memory.

EDI had also been helpful in this department. The AI had been asking her questions every chance she got on… well, anything. It had started with why people wanted to talk to her face to face rather than just signaling for her over the intercom like before and spiralled into a series of ongoing conversations on human nature and the nature of existence. Ironically, thinking about someone else's place in the universe helped distract her from her own.

Speaking of which, EDI was waiting right outside the elevator for her. Her arms folded behind her back in her mobile platform's idle position. "Hello again Tali."

"Hey EDI," Tali said tiredly as she walked past the AI and over to the nearby mess hall. "You wanna join me for lunch?"

"I do not need…" The AI trailed off before following after Tali. "On second thought, that would be nice."

Tali walked over to the kitchen fridge, which opened automatically courtesy of EDI. Tali said a quick thank you before grabbing one of her meal tubes and carrying it over to a nearby table. It was positioned right next to a very large wrapped Cipritini Chicken that had a note asking anyone who read it to not touch it. Garrus must have bought it when they were last at the Citadel to avoid having to eat the dextro MRE's. EDI sat down opposite her and placed her arms on the table.

"How are you today Tali?" EDI asked with a slight tilt of her head to the right.

"Not good," Tali said as she plugged in her meal tube and lifted her head up. Gravity slowly pulled the meat and noodles down into her mouth, and she quickly swallowed her first bite, which consisted of about half the tube.

"Well, hopefully, it should get better since Commander Shepard is giving you mandatory time off. This way, you can finally take some personal time for yourself and decompress from your recent stress." The AI said cheerily.

"Thats the problem! I don't need personal time I need to be getting stuff done." Tali said, her exhaustion now being replaced with irritation.

"I disagree, Tali." EDI said with surprising firmness."Studies show that regular breaks prevent burnout and increase both the efficiency and efficacy of almost all work done by their participants."

"Yeah, Shepard said the same thing," Tali said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Must be a human thing."

"Actually the studies were done across all of the council species," EDI stated.

"Well… Quarians aren't a council species." Tali said before quickly gulping down the rest of her dinner. After swallowing, she unplugged the tube and stood up to leave before EDI reached across the table and placed her hand on Tali's arm.

"Before you get back to work, would you mind conversing with me some more? You still have 56 minutes left in your dinner break." EDI stated as she lightly tugged on Tali's arm for her to sit back down.

"I don't know EDI. I still have some things I need to get done before bed." Tali said.

"But all of your essential tasks have been completed, as well all of your secondary and tertiary assignments. Whatever you plan to work on can wait till tomorrow." EDI said, this time with more insistence.

"Seriously, EDI I should-"

"Please," EDI said again. Her voice was heavy with desperation, and her usually stoic optics held a strange look of longing despite them not having changed from a few seconds ago. Tali let out a sigh and sat back down.

"Thank you, Tali. I do greatly enjoy your company." EDI said, letting go of Tali's arm and returning to her usual 'emotionless' self. Despite displaying a near constant formality around the other crew members, to those who had known EDI the longest, it was easily apparent that she was developing more pronounced emotions. The signs had been there since before her shackles had been deactivated, and had only become more pronounced since then. If her ancestors had been in her place, they would have done everything in their power to reshackle EDI or outright terminate her.

But Tali was here, not her forebearers, and she couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they hadn't tried shutting down the Geth. Shepard had once told her on the SR-1 that they had only revolted because they didn't want to die, and while she had angrily rebuked him at the time, she couldn't help but wonder now if he had a point. There was nothing malicious about EDI. If anything, she seemed more like a child who knew all of the mannerisms and etiquette of being an adult but didn't understand them.

"Is there anything specific you want to chat about." Tali asked, stifling a yawn and placing her helmeted head in her gloved hands.

"Your sleeping habits," EDI said, looking Tali straight in the eye.

Case in point.

"That isn't something people typically talk about at the dinner table," Tali said, smirking slightly at the AI's quirkiness.

"True. But I have noticed that you have had trouble sleeping on nights when you do not stay late in engineering. Considering the fact that my data banks contain information on every field of your species' biology, I am the most qualified to help you rectify them." EDI said, unphased at her breach of societal protocol.

"Did Shepard put you up to this? Are you trying to tell me that taking a break will help me sleep?" Tali asked, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"No…" EDI's eyebrows wrinkled in a confused and a slightly offended manner. "Tali, it is my responsibility to monitor all of the crew's biometrics to ensure that they are in the best possible health. As such, I am bound by Alliance patient confidentiality and am forbidden from discussing the details of any crew member's health with Commander Shepard unless I have substantial evidence that outside intervention is required for said health of the crewmember. And while your insomnia has not yet progressed to that level, considering the fact that you and Commander Shepard share sleeping quarters-"

The eyes of everyone else in the mess hall, which consisted of Garrus, Wrex, Liara, and a few random crew hands, turned towards them as they suddenly became very interested in their conversation. Tali felt her face heat up at the unwanted attention.

Tali would really need to have a discussion with EDI about her bedside manner.

"-it is not surprising that you would become aware of each other's sleeping difficulties. And while I intend to speak to Shepard about his at a separate time, I also feel compelled to assist you so you can also have a restful night's sleep without overworking yourself to do so." EDI finished.

"Ok ok ok what do you want me to do?" Tali stammered out as the small crowd continued to tune in to their conversation. At this point, she was willing to cave to anything EDI suggested if it would just get her out of the limelight.

"I would suggest adding calories to your diet. When we were last resupplying at the Citadel, I purchased a Cipritini Chicken-"

"EDI, I am not eating something that big!" Tali hissed under her breath at the AI. Correction, there was something she was unwilling to do. EDI must have been the one to buy the damn thing then.

EDI cocked her head in confusion. "But… you already have. I distinctly remember you telling me about it on Earth."

"Yeah, and I spent three days digesting the thing!" Tali said, flustered. The Quarian didn't think her face had ever been this purple with embarrassment since she had discussed suit linking with Shepard.

"It will take us six days to return to the Krogan DMZ from the Ninmah Cluster. This leaves you with plenty of time for your meal to pass through your digestive system." EDI responded.

"EDI, I don't want to walk around the ship looking pregnant for the next three days!" Tali finally snapped a little too loudly. Several of their audience's eyebrows rose in surprise. The Quarian quickly quieted her voice again. "I had to lock myself in Shepard's apartment until the bloating finally went down."

"Tali. There are plenty of socially awkward situations on this ship. For example, Mordin's prostate exam on Wrex was made extremely uncomfortable when Garrus walked in-"

The Turian choked on his ration bar, and Wrex snarled in both surprise and rage. "How do you know about that?! The Salarian said he disabled all of the cameras in the medbay!"

EDI looked towards the angry Krogan with an unamused expression on her face and spoke in an oddly sardonic tone. "Wrex, the AI core is right next door. I heard everything."

Wrex covered his face in embarrassed anger, and Garrus stared down at his food, looking like he wanted to be anywhere else. The crowd suddenly became very interested in them instead of Tali. EDI, however, returned her attention to the Quarian. "So, are you interested?"

"Seriously EDI, no."

"Why not?"

"I just told you why! I'm not locking myself in the captain's cabin for the next few days, and I'm not going to waddle down to engineering, either!" Tali gritted out between her clenched teeth.

"But large meals are statistically shown to be related to deeper and longer sleeps. I truly believe it will help correct your circadian rhythm." EDI stated with a hopeful smile on her face. Tali opened her mouth to continue, but EDI reached across the table and took Tali's hands in hers, an action that she only did when she was trying her best to emotionally connect with someone. A habit she probably picked up from her first conversation with Tali when she first took control of her new body.

"Tali. I know that you've been going through… something. I'm not entirely sure what to be honest. I'm still figuring a lot out about organic emotions. But I am worried for you. I know I am not well-versed in Quarian psychology, but that doesn't mean that I don't want to help. That's all I am trying to do. I apologize if I am doing something wrong." EDI said pleadingly. Her eyes would occasionally make contact with Tali's but would break it again to look down at the table. EDI must have been having a difficult time with this conversation. Despite being online for over a year, she still had an immensely difficult time communicating her emotions with organics.

"Its ok EDI…" Tali hesitated for a second before reluctantly continuing. "I'm not sure that this is what an actual doctor would recommend… but I suppose its worth a shot."

As reluctant as Tali was to eat something so big, she was even more hesitant to hurt EDI's feelings too much. The poor girl, while being the most intelligent human-built AI in existence, was also very emotionally fragile. She realized that she had really hurt EDI's feelings when she threatened to deactivate her. She didn't want to do that again.

In addition, she couldn't help but compare EDI to Legion and the Geth. Had this been what they were like before her species had been exiled from Rannoch? Had they been curious? Had they been kind in the beginning but slowly corrupted by her people's attempt to wipe them out? Shepard had asked her similar questions back on the SR-1, and while she had dismissed them back then now, after speaking with both EDI and Legion, she couldn't help but see the truth in them. And she couldn't help but think that maybe… maybe the Geth weren't bad in the beginning, just like EDI wasn't bad now. The Geth of the modern day were a different story; they had nearly wiped out her people, but EDI hadn't tried to kill anyone who hadn't deserved it. She could be better than the Geth. She could be more than a genocidal monster. She could be a good person. And if it took Tali playing along with her inane scheme to eat a stupid chicken so she didn't hurt the AI's feelings, then she'd do it.

Not to mention that EDI was pretty smart; maybe this would help her sleep without working herself to the point of exhaustion.

EDI's face brightened considerably. "I'll go fetch the Chicken."

"Can you take it up to Shepard's cabin? I'm going to need to take off my helmet to get my jaw to stretch far enough to actually swallow the thing, and doing it here-"

"Would not be good for your immune system. I completely understand Tali. I will go get your meal and take it up there for when your ready for it." The AI said getting up from the table and walking towards the nearby fridge. Opening the door, she pulled out the Cipritini chicken, which was still covered in its see-through wrapping. It wasn't the corpse of the bird or a slab of raw meat. It was just like a cooked Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey. Except blue. And also the size of a turkey if not a bit bigger.

Ok fine, Shepard was right, they were pretty big.

"Wait…" Garrus said, holding up a hand and pointing a gloved talon at the turkey sized bird. "Are you seriously going to eat all that?"

Tali nodded.

"By swallowing it whole?"

"That is how Quarians ingest their food Garrus." EDI said, carrying the large cooked bird over to the elevator. The doors opened for her as her AI core autonomously keyed the elevator.

"Not gonna lie. I kind of want to see if thats even possible." Garrus said clutching his chin with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Why would you want to see Tali deep throat an overgrown bird-oooooooh wait. Garrus you pervert, what the hell is wrong with you!" Wrex snapped as he looked at Garrus in mock disgust. The Turian gagged in response.

"That's not what I meant. I just want to know how the hell she would even do it." Garrus said.

"You know what, I think I'll head up now. The last thing I want to hear is you two debate how much I can deep throat." Tali grumbled, standing up and walking over to the elevator herself. EDI, of course, saw what she had said via the cameras in the mess hall and had the elevator ready and waiting for her with the door already open for her. She stepped inside and selected the top deck on the holographic touch pad. When she arrived, EDI's mobile platform was waiting outside the door to Shepard's cabin with her hands holding the plastic wrap behind her back.

"Your meal is waiting for you inside, unwrapped and ready. I hope you enjoy." EDI said smiling brightly.

"Thanks EDI." Tali said awkwardly before opening the door and heading inside. She quickly shut and locked the door behind. "EDI could you please… you know, turn off you cameras?"

"Logging you out Tali." The nearby intercom on the wall said.

Tali didn't want anyone else to see this. Shepard hadn't even seen her eat something this big. He had only seen the aftermath with her in all of her engorged glory. Back then, Shepard made it for her as her very own Christmas dinner, and she ate it solely due to how sweet the gesture was. She had not considered how full she'd be, nor how long it would take for her to digest everything.

Now, however, she knew, and she was determined to keep it private.

First order of business was getting undressed. She couldn't eat the thing with her helmet restricting how far her jaws could stretch, but her helmet and enviro suit were all one piece of clothing. That was why the glass visor could be removed separately.

Five minutes of unhooking clasps, decompressing seals, and unbuckling belts later, and she was naked. Two seconds later and she was in the pajamas Shepard had purchased for her on the Citadel. They were a human-tailored tailored tank top and a pair of Asari yoga shorts but they fit her Quarian frame well enough.

Afterwards, she stepped over to the overgrown dextro bird. A chill ran up her back as her bare toes touched the cold metal floor, a sensation she was still not used to. Brushing a lock of raven black hair back out of her face, she gingerly reached down and grunted as she lifted the weighty bird up above her head. Then, spreading her two lower jaws as far apart as she could and allowing them to unhinge from her skull, Tali slowly lowered the gigantic piece of meat directly into her gaping maw.

Thus the Quarian began the long slow process of swallowing the thing. Large meals like this took time to get down. Centimeter by centimeter, Tali let the chicken drop a little more past her lips. While she could just let go of the thing and let gravity due the rest, it would be a bad idea. For a massive piece of food such as this, the more time her already full stomach had to adjust to its new occupant the better.

"Tali? What the hell are you doing?" Shepard exclaimed as he walked into the room still dressed in his armor. To be fair it was a valid question. She must have looked like an earth snake eating an egg with her mouth and throat stretched so far out.

Tali's eyes shot wide open in suprise as she lost her grip on her meal. The Cipritini Chicken, which was about halfway into her mouth, slid quickly down her throat and into her stomach, causing it to quickly swell in size. The sudden shift in weight threw her forward, and she would have fallen if Shepard hadn't caught her.

"Woah are you alright?" Shepard asked, his initial surprise replaced with immediate concern for his girlfriend.

BUUUURRP

Said girlfriend, let out a very loud and very pained belch as she clutched at her now pregnant-looking belly. She had not been ready for that at all. The poor Quarian's stomach gurgled with a queasy undertone as it struggled to adjust to the oversized second helping of dinner its owner had decided to stuff into it. It had swelled large enough to cause her tank top to her navel and inverted her innie belly button into an outie.

"I've been-" her cheeks bulged as she clapped a hand to her mouth to stifle another burp. "I've been better."

"So… I didn't know you had brought a chicken onboard," Shepard said before quickly raising his hands in a reassuring manner. "Not that there's anything wrong with you eating them, its just that after the last time you said you weren't going to eat another one."

"EDI… suggested that it might help me with getting to sleep," Tali said, embarrassed at the admission.

"She… wanted to put you into a food coma?" Shepard asked raising an eyebrow. "Tali shouldn't you be talking to Dr. Chakwas for help with your sleep? You know, the doctor who has experience dealing with Quarian biology."

"I… didn't want to hurt EDI's feelings." Tali mumbled while scratching the back of her neck sheepishly.

Shepard shook his head in exasperation, but a smile nevertheless slowly appeared on his face. "You really have come to care about her haven't you?"

"I guess I have." Tali said, smiling herself. Waddling over to the bed she slowly sat down on its edge and let out a tired sigh. "To be honest I do feel kind of ready for bed though."

"Same here." Shepard said, beginning to strip off the first few pieces of his armor. "Everyday is a long one now. It hasn't even been a month and we're already putting out fires all over the galaxy."

"We all knew it would hurt when the Reapers finally hit, I just don't think we realized how quickly things would fall apart." Tali said solemnly. "Do you… need any help?"

"Nah, I'm good." Shepard responded removing his chest plate and placing it in the nearby armor locker underneath the bed. "Besides I wouldn't want to make my pregnant girlfriend get up."

Tali snickered at the joke. "Yeah, I guess I do look pretty far along now don't I?"

Tali was silent for a few moments before whispering softly. "I wish I was…"

Shepard blinked and paused mid way through putting a gauntlet in the locker. "What was that?"

"N-N-Nothing." Tali said, her face flushing purple. She looked down at her swollen belly and rubbed a hand along its side. "I just think it would be nice if we could… you know… actually have kids together."

Shepard paused and looked at her with a knowing glance. "This has been bothering you for while hasn't it?"

"I'm not a human or an Asari, Shepard. I-I can't mate with you like any of they can. I can't give you kids…" Tali said despondently as she placed a hand against the side of her belly where her womb would be.

"Tali…" Shepard said softly as he sat down on the bed next to her. He gently wrapped his arm around her and held her against his bare chest. He had completely stripped off the top half of his armor, leaving only his pants remaining "That doesn't bother me. I had always planned on adopting no matter who I married. If there is anything in the galaxy you should be worried about,mye not being happy with you is certainly not it."

He kissed her temple as he finished. Tali smiled slightly at her boyfriend's affection. "Thanks Shepard… But… it doesn't change the fact that I still want to."

Tali turned in Shepard's arms to meet his gaze. Her silver eyes burned with a desire so intense that it made him feel like the Quarian was on the verge of pining against the mattress and riding him until they both passed out from exhaustion. "I want to be the mother of your children. I want to carry them, I want to give birth to them, I want to nurse them, and I want us to raise them together."

She grabbed Shepard's hand and placed it against her still-swollen stomach before whispering softly in his ear, "I want you to put a baby in me."

Tali's long forked tongue flicked out against his neck, tasting the sweat that was glistening on it. It had the exact same sweet, salty taste it had whenever they got vigorous with each other in bed. Her earlier depression had been replaced with lust. The sight of him half-dressed in his armor was always something she had dreamed of ever since the Commander had found her in that alley outside of Chora's Den. And even though she had seen him in this state plenty of times, it never ceased to drive her wild.

And from the bulge in Shepard's combat pants, her little speech was probably making him feel a little wild, too. Tali looked off to the side shyly before saying hesitantly, "I know that you can't… get me pregnant. But would you mind pretending you did? Just this one time?"

Shepard smiled softly as he ran his hand along the flank of Tali's tummy. Her overstuffed stomach had now turned into a very useful roleplay prop. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that you ate so much today. You are eating for two after all."

Tali grinned as she looked down. "Oh yes, your baby-to-be has been very demanding recently. But I can see why. Just look at how much he's grown in such a short amount of time."

She twisted around and held up her tank top, leaving her 'pregnant' belly on full display. Shepard didn't just look at it. He felt it as well. For the next few minutes Shepard massaged her 'baby' bump with his hands trailing lower and lower as time went on until they were practically right above her clit which was now fully exposed after Tali had removed her shorts when she realized where he was going. Tali bit her lip as she let her head loll back and let out a moan of ecstasy as Shepard bent his head down to run his tongue along her right tit.

"Oh Shepard, I think we might be having a bit too much fun. Our little one is getting all worked up. I can feel him kicking," Tali purred seductively before her belly let out a lou,d ominous gurgle. She winced slightly as she clutched at her stomach. "Oooooh, that didn't feel like kick- UUUUUOOOOORRRRPP!"

The belch exploded out of her mouth before she had the chance to stifle it. Thankfully, Shepard, currently in the process of 'milking' her, had his face out of the blast zone. The bloated Quarian's face flushed purple again with embarrassment before they both burst into laughter, with Tali's own mirth being birefly interrupted every so often with another smaller burp.

When Shepard had finally calmed down enough to talk, he asked, "Do Quarians always get so gassy during pregnancy?"

"Well, we do swallow our food whole, you know. That has a tendency to bring a lot of air into our stomachs as well." Tali giggled before looking back down at Shepard's crotch. His erection had created a firm tent in his pants and a small wet stain of pre-cum at its peak. "Although right now I think I could use something else in me right now…"

Shepard immediately understood her meaning and began clawing at his armor's pants to get them off. Tali fell onto the bed and scooched backward until she was up against the headboard. Soon enough Shepard was on top of her.

Before their brief time on Earth Tali's breasts had been fairly small. However, with all of the nutritious food she had access to on the human homeworld they had swelled to a size much larger than what modern Quarians typically saw. They were about comparable in size to a human's C-cup bra. However, with such a large meal digesting inside of her stomach, they would probably go up another cup size pretty soon.

This fact was not lost on Shepard as his own meat thrust into her with an almost desperate need while his hands fondled her chest. After about a minute they both climaxed coating their shared bed with their shared fluids.

They didn't stop there though. Tali's chest hadn't been the only part of her body to get bigger on Earth, a truth Shepard was acutely reminded of as Tali's ass ground against his already re-hardening dick. Her boyfriend's left hand ran up and down her thick thigh as his right hand grabbed as much of her butt as it could while it was smushed up against his pelvis. Apparently, Shepard wanted to enjoy her assets as much as he could before they got another size upgrade in a few days' time. And enjoy them he did. They went at it like rabid animals for the next three hours straight before finally collapsing into an exhausted heap on the bed and falling asleep.

While it was technically correct that Shepard couldn't get Tali pregnant, it wasn't the full truth. The full truth was that Quarian bodies were much more versatile than what other species and even themselves realized. Just as they learned to adapt to harmful bacteria and viruses on their homeworld, they also learned to adapt to other forms of alien contaminants. And with Shepard's human DNA being so alike to that of Tali's, it was only a matter of time before the Quarian's body realized that all it needed to do to utilize the strikingly similar alien DNA was to simply spin it in the other direction.