"Alright, Tali. Open up." Dr. Chakwas said as she adjusted her rebreather and turned on her flashlight. Tali opened her three-jawed mouth and let the doctor peer inside. After a few seconds, Dr. Chakwas turned the light off and pulled a small hook out of her instrument kit . "You're throat looks fine. Let's look at your teeth now."
The two were currently sitting on the couch in the Captain's Cabin. Tali was out of her enviro suit and in a set of new pajamas that fit her more muscular form better. Dr. Chakwas had significantly more complicated clothing. While Tali's immune system had gotten significantly stronger over the past few months, she was still liable to get sick if she was not careful. It was why Dr. Chakwas sterilized her suit before coming in and had the rebreather covering her mouth and nose as a sort of face mask. Her tools had all been sterilized as well, which was why Tali felt comfortable with the good doctor digging around in her mouth.
Tali winced in irritation as Dr. Chakwas pulled just a bit too hard on one of her hooked teeth. The doctor said a quick apology before continuing her inspection of every single one of the 126 teeth in the Quarian's mouth. After a few minutes, Dr. Chakwas vacated her hands from in-between Tali's jaws and returned her tools to to her bag. As she made to pull out her stethoscope, Tali's hand discreetly reached behind her back to pull out a piece of chocolate from a box she had snatched from Garrus. It was not the same one she had taken after her verbal explosion at Aunti Raan. No, this was a different one that she had stolen recently. A small part of her felt a little bad for stealing so much of Garrus' food, but a larger part of her just felt hungry.
It was strange. Despite vomiting up almost everything she ate these past few days, Tali just couldn't stop herself from eating. It was this strange cycle of binging and puking that caused Shepard to order her off-ground missions and to have Dr. Chakwas take a look at her.
As Tali was bringing the handful of chocolates to her mouth, the doctor's hand locked around her wrist. Dr. Chakwas gave her a disappointed look. "And just what do you think you're doing?"
"Uhh… eating," Tali said sheepishly, like a child who had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Or, in this case, box of chocolates.
"And do you really think that putting food on your stomach in your current condition is a good idea?" Dr. Chakwas asked, letting go of Tali's wrist and crossing her arms.
"...I guess not," Tali grumbled. She deposited the chocolates back into the nearby box with a huff of irritation. Her stomach growled in protest.
"If it weren't for your trouble keeping your meals down, I would say you're completely fine. You aren't running a fever, you haven't broken out in any rashes, and you don't have any nasal drainage. Though I admit, your appetite is extremely unusual. Usually, for most species, digestive tract issues reduce appetite, not increase it." Dr. Chakwas looked over towards the intercom in the room. "EDI, can you run an extranet search for any diseases or medical conditions for Quarians like what Tali is exhibiting?"
"The only medical condition that correlates with the described symptoms would be a pregnancy." EDI's voice sounded from the intercom's speakers.
Dr. Chakwas snorted in exasperation before lightly grabbing her chin, or rather her rebreather in thought. "Well, then we must be missing something somewhere. Tali, are you sure that you haven't been experiencing anything else out of the ordinary?"
"No," Tali said as her hand lightly fingered the top of the chocolate box. "Well, actually… I guess now that you mention it, I have been feeling a little…"
Dr. Chakwas leaned forward slightly in interest. "Yes?"
"Bloated."
"Lay down, and let me look at your abdomen again." Dr. Chakwas said, gesturing towards the bed. "And please tell me why you haven't told me already."
Tali hopped off of the couch and walked over to the bed and flopped down onto it. After adjusting her position a little she lifted up her shirt, exposing her stomach to the open air. "I wasn't sure what I was feeling. I just woke up with a bit of… well a bit of pressure above my vagina and thought it would go away. But that feeling has been there all day."
Dr. Chakwas prodded gently against Tali's toned belly a bit before looking down further towards her pants. "May I?"
Tali's face flushed purple. "D-Dr. I'm not used to other people seeing my… well you know. I mean I trust you, and you know I trust you it's just that-"
"You're a little uncomfortable with someone seeing your privates," Dr. Chakwas finished for her. A motherly smile was visible through the transparasteel shell of her rebreather. "Tali, you're not the first person who's gotten jumpy at having a doctor inspect their genitalia." She huffed out a small laugh. "It took me ten minutes for me to get Shepard to drop his pants during his first check up."
"Wait a minute, aren't you bound by doctor-patient confidentiality? Shepard could fire you for telling me that." Tali said, raising an eyebrow in question, a habit that she had picked up from Shepard.
"I could get fired if it was true." Dr. Chakwas smirked. "I'm trying to lighten the mood."
"Keelah, I'll stop complaining if you spare me from any more of your lewd humor," Tali said as she tugged her yoga pants off. She was about to spread her legs when Dr. Chakwas clapped a hand against her muscular thigh.
"First off, all doctors have a lewd sense of humor. Second, I don't need to look into your vagina; I just need to be able to feel around your pelvis." Dr. Chakwas said, positioning her hands above Tali's waist. "May I?"
Tali nodded, and Dr. Chakwas began lightly prodding the area. After a few seconds, Dr. Chakwas cocked her head slightly and pushed two fingers slightly harder against Tali's skin. Tali could feel something inside her shift and push back slightly against Dr. Chakwas' probing. "Hmmmm. There's definitely something there."
"Dr. Chakwas I have a theory." EDI chimed in. This time, her old holographic avatar had appeared over the intercom's terminal, signaling that she wanted to be an active participant in the conversation even with her mobile platform not present.
"I'm all ears." Dr. Chakwas said as she continued to inspect the Quarian beneath her.
"My hypothesis is that Tali is pregnant."
"EDI I,'m not pregnant!" Tali snapped. The insinuation that Tali was pregnant was also an insinuation that she had cheated on Shepard. "The last time I was even in a room with a male Quarian was a month ago with the Admirals! And last time I checked I, was talking with them n,ot fucking them!"
"I agree with her, EDI. There are not many, if any male Quarians on the Citadel, and that is the only place we dock long enough for Tali to have the opportunity to get pregnant. And even then I doubt that she would cheat on Shepard. Its not in her character." Dr. Chakwas said looking over towards the small blue ball of light.
"I agree. This is why I believe that Shepard has impregnated Tali."
Tali burst out laughing while Dr. Chakwas shook her head in exasperation. "EDI, Tali and Shepard aren't even the same species, let alone the chirality type. There's no way for him to have gotten her pregnant."
"Nevertheless, her symptoms align perfectly with those of a Quarian pregnancy. She has an increased appetite due to her body beginning to supply nutrients to the embryo inside of her. She is experiencing the equivalent of morning sickness due to hormonal changes, causing her digestive system to be hypersensitive to calorie-rich food. And the pressure that Tali has described is her womb beginning to fill with amniotic fluid. Quarian bodies due so to provide a liquid buffer between their womb and stomach so as to prevent the fetus from being crushed by large meals." EDI rattled off the list without missing a beat. Tali paused for a moment, actually believing that it could be true before Dr. Chakwas brought her back to reality.
"EDI, they are not the same species. Its impossi-"
"There are reports from before the Quarian exile from Rannoch suggesting that some Quarian-Turian couples experienced cross-species insemination." EDI interrupted.
"Are these reports or studies EDI?" Dr. Chakwas asked, crossing her arms.
"Reports."
"Then it's anecdotal evidence and thus unreliable. Not to mention that it still does not explain the chirality difference." Dr. Chakwas stated with a finality in her voice.
"Then how do you explain her symptoms?" EDI asked in return.
"I don't know I would need to do more research-"
"I have already done all of the research that is possible to do, Dr. Chakwas. I have been monitoring Tali's condition from the first time I had to help her to the bathroom to prevent her from vomiting in her suit." EDI said, sounding slightly irritated at being dismissed by the doctor.
"Maybe a hormone test could help?" Tali suggested sitting up.
"Well that usually is the next step if a physical examination is inconclusive anyway." Dr. Chakwas let out a sigh before pulling a little plastic cup out of her bag, and holding it out towards Tali. "I would usually collect a urine sample from your suit, but since you have been out of it all day, there probably isn't anything in there. So would you please mind going into the bathroom and peeing in here?"
—-
About an hour later, Tali was fully suited and down in the medbay, standing next to Dr. Chakwas as they both waited for the results from the test to come back. The Quarian was bouncing on the balls of her feet and wringing her hands nervously while the Doctor stood motionless beside her as the loading screen on the machine reached 99.87 percent. EDI's mobile platform was standing next to Tali in silent support of her friend.
As embarrassing as it was for her to admit, Tali had gotten her hopes up. Could she be pregnant? She wanted nothing more than to start a family with Shepard. She also knew in the back of her mind that it was a 'pipe dream,' as the humans would say. Still, what else could it be? Either she had a miracle pregnancy thanks to Shepard's magic cybernetically enhanced sperm, or she probably had a cancerous growth in her pelvis. Dr. Chakwas had assured her that a tumor would have felt more solid rather than the liquid-like sensation she had felt, but Tali could think of no other alternative.
She desperately hoped that it was a pregnancy, though.
"Tali, could you please give me some room?" Dr. Chakwas asked.
"SORRY!" Tali yelped as she literally sprang backward a couple of feet. Dr. Chakwas let out a small laugh as EDI smiled at her friend's reaction.
"Not that far Tali. You can-" The doctor was cut off by the beeping of the machine as it finally finished analyzing Tali's urine. A small pie chart displaying her hormonal composition was brought up on the device's small screen. "EDI, do these results correlate with anything?"
EDI's body walked over and took a look at the results. A smug smile came over her face plate as her databanks processed the information in less than a second. "Pregnancy. This hormonal composition confirms that Tali is pregnant."
"REALLY!?" Both Tali and Dr. Chakwas exclaimed. Dr. Chakwas looked at the machine in disbelief while Tali ran over and hugged both of them. After a few seconds of constricting the human and AI in a python-like grip, EDI managed to pry Tali off Dr. Chakwas so she could double-check the results.
"I have already run a diagnostics check on the machine, Dr. Chakwas. I can assure you that unless you somehow contaminated the urine sample the results are accurate." EDI said, looking over Tali's shoulder. The Quarian had immediately latched back onto her friend in a bone-crushing hug that harmed the android not at all.
"I'll admit when I'm wrong EDI. I apologize for dismissing your opinion when it obviously should have given it more credence." Dr. Chakwas said, walking over and holding her hand out in a peace offering. "I am just curious how you came to the right conclusion so quickly."
"I simply followed the data, and the data indicated that Tali was pregnant," EDI said, taking her hand off the small of Tali's back and accepting Dr. Chakwas' own in apology. "Much like how I ignored the possibility of the Quarian LADAR jamming signal being junk data, I saw you ignoring the idea of Tali being pregnant based on your own preconceived notions of what is possible."
"Fair point. That still doesn't explain how all of this happened, though." Dr. Chakwas gestured to Tali. "She and Shepard have been going at it for a while, I imagine; why has she only become pregnant now?"
At that question, they all fell into deep contemplation. "Did Cerberus do something to Shepard's testicles when they rebuilt them?" Tali asked.
Dr. Chakwas shook her head. "Other than restoring their functionality, nothing."
Silence again.
"Is it possible that Tali's body simply learned how to utilize Shepard's genetic material?" Dr. Chakwas posited. "Quarian immune systems focus more on the incorporation of foreign diseases into their existing biology rather than the eradication of them. Maybe this trait extends to other aspects of their physiology."
"Who cares how it happened! I can't wait to tell Shepard-" Tali pauses as a thought crossed her mind. "How do we prove that this his baby? I mean, you all know I haven't cheated on him, but… I mean, even Dr. Chakwas had a hard time believing I was pregnant at first. How do we-"
"I think a simple DNA test will do just fine," Dr. Chakwas said, walking over to a nearby cabinet and opening it. She began pulling out a couple of tools and her rebreather. "If you're far enough along, we can head back up to the Captain's cabin and extract an embryotic sample. When was your last period?"
"Well, it was…" Tali trailed off as she counted up the weeks. "Keelah, I think it was a little over two months ago. Maybe three."
Dr. Chakwas gave her a flat stare. "Really? Did you not notice being three months late?"
Tali rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, I'm not that late. Quarians don't have our menstrual cycles on a monthly basis like you humans do. If I were on schedule, I would have had it last week. But we were kind of busy with the whole Leviathan hunt at the time, and it slipped my mind."
"Well, that's still not an accurate enough measurement. Let me pull up your suit's biometric logs and check for when your hormonal changes started." Dr. Chakwas said, bringing up her omnitool.
—-
By the time Shepard was able to drag himself to the medbay, he was physically and emotionally drained. How could he not be? A few hours ago, he had fought his way through several city blocks full of Reaper forces to reach the Temple of Athame, only to have the artifact hidden inside ripped away from him by that bastard Kai Leng. These past couple hours had been filled with him making plans to track Kai Leng back to the planet of Horizon of all places, preventing Liara from splattering Javik against the Normandy's bulkhead, and comforting Liara during her breakdown over the loss of her homeworld. And now he needed to check with Dr. Chakwas on Tali's condition since his girlfriend insisted that he talk with her rather than tell him herself.
That didn't exactly give him the warm and fuzzies.
As he was opening the door to the medbay, he was saying a silent prayer to whatever god existed in the universe to just please, pleeeeeeeeaaaase give him a break.
Dr. Chakwas was sitting at her desk as per usual for her. As Shepard walked in, she looked up from her terminal and gave him a warm smile. "Commander. Please take a seat, I imagine that you've had a long day."
"Something tells me from the look on your face that it isn't over yet," Shepard said sardonically as he walked over to one of the nearby examination beds and took a seat.
"I will admit that this will be a bit of a long discussion, and whether or not it is good or bad will be up to your interpretation." Dr. Chakwas said, picking up a datapad and passing it to Shepard. "Do you know what this is?"
Shepard glanced down at the datapad and saw a series of DNA spirals, a few dates, and a pie chart with some terms he didn't recognize listed on it. Normally, he would have at least made an attempt to interpret the information, but right now, he was just too drained to even try. "It's all Greek to me doc. I'm afraid you're going to have to translate."
Dr. Chakwas took a deep breath and let it out. "Well, to make a long story short, you've got to take responsibility."
"For what?" Shepard asked, rising to his feet and looking at Dr. Chakwas with newfound concern in his voice. "Tali and I always try to follow your safety precautions when possible-"
"You didn't get her sick, Shepard. You got her pregnant." Dr. Chakwas pointed to the datapad, which was still in Shepard's hands. "This report outlines the positive pregnancy test and the positive paternity test confirming that the embryo's DNA matches your own. I even found some Levo-based proteins present in the stem cell sample I took."
Shepard had not been expecting that.
For a full minute, he just stood there with his face frozen in what he imagined was a rather funny looking expression of shock. Only he couldn't imagine what he looked like because his brain had ground to a halt at what Dr. Chakwas had just told him.
He had gotten Tali pregnant.
In his hands was the proof that somehow his sperm had crossed not only species lines, but protein chirality lines as well. It should have been impossible. But Dr. Chakwas believed it, and he knew deep down that Tali would never cheat on him.
"Commander?" Dr. Chakwas' voice brought him back to reality. She was looking at him with an eyebrow raised in concern. "Are you alright?"
Shepard sat back down on the examination bed. "I got Tali pregnant…"
"That is correct, Commander." Dr. Chakwas said gently.
"...In the middle of a war." Shepard clapped a hand against his forehead as the realization of what he had just done finally sunk in.
"Not necessarily in the middle of one Shepard." Dr. Chakwas crossed her arms and suddenly could no longer meet his eyes. "The war itself will be over soon. Either the Crucible will win it for us, or we will see the start of a very long, slow genocide. But that won't be a war. That will just be the beginning of the end."
"It might be the end already," Shepard said darkly. "Cerberus has the Prothean VI. If we can't get it back… this may be where our luck finally runs out."
"We both know that we didn't get here based on luck alone." Dr. Chakwas said, looking Shepard in the eye again. "We got here because of you. The Lazarus Project was the only good thing that Cerberus has ever done. If you had stayed dead, then the Reapers would have strolled through the Alpha Relay and burned the homeworld of every species to ashes. We would never have even discovered the plans for the Crucible. Earth would have fallen before we could find them in the archives."
Shepard snorted. "The Asari Councillor doesn't seem to share your faith in me. She's already acting like there's no hope left for the galaxy."
Dr. Chakwas huffed in amusement. "Shepard, there was never much hope to begin with. Just a fool's hope, really. But that fool's hope saw us through Ilos, the Omega 4 Relay, and now I have faith it will see us through Sanctuary and whatever comes afterward."
Dr. Chakwas sat down on the examination bed next to Shepard and put a hand on his shoulder. "And I believe that hope will see you through to fatherhood. We may not win this war. But considering how bad things could have gone, I think there is still hope that we'll all come out of this alive. And when you do, I'll be there to patch you up." She smiled at him. "Just like always."
"I've never thanked you for sticking with me this long," Shepard said, looking over toward his pseudo-godmother. "You really have been there for me even when things were at their most dangerous."
"I promised Hannah that I would look after you if something ever happened to her." Karin smiled at him. "And I always will. Now I think you have someone waiting for you up in your cabin."
—-
When Shepard opened the doors to his Captain's Cabin, he noticed that Tali was using the terminal on his desk. Looking over her shoulder, he could see that she was browsing an article with tips for Quarian pregnancies and being a new mother. She was dressed in her pajamas with one hand absentmindedly rubbing her belly. Upon hearing the door open, Tali looked up from the computer and over towards Shepard. Getting up from her chair, she walked over to her boyfriend with a nervous smile on her face. "So… did you talk to Dr. Chakwas yet?"
"I did," Shepard said, smiling and taking Tali's hands in his own. "Looks like you've got a little stowaway in your belly."
The nervousness in Tali's smile vanished. "We're going to be parents."
"How long do Quarian pregnancies typically take?" Shepard asked, looking down at Tali's stomach. Dr. Chakwas had mentioned that her womb was starting to swell with amniotic fluid, but nothing was visible as of yet.
"In human terms, about a year. I'm a little over a month along already." Tali responded.
"Then I guess we better end this war quickly," Shepard said, pulling her into a hug. "We've tracked Kai Leng to Horizon. We're going to find him and recover the Prothean VI. Once we know what the Catalyst is, we'll get it and deploy the Crucible. I've spoken with Admiral Hackett. He's sent out the call to all coalition forces to make preparations to withdraw from their respective battle fronts and rendezvous in the Serpent Nebula."
"Good. Then we can finally retire." Tali whispered into his ear playfully. "After all, we're fighting for something more than just the galaxy now. We're fighting for our baby's future."