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A Day in the Epilogue

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2196 CE, Rannoch

  Shepard dreamed of long elevator rides.

  He lay sprawled on his side, using his outstretched arm for a pillow. Tali slept with her back against his chest, her hand resting on the muscular limb he had curled around her waist. Their tangled feet—his five toed and long, hers small with three toes, peeked out from the end of the blanket.

  The early morning silence was broken by the whoosh of the bedroom door sliding open. Three children rushed in. The youngest, a petite girl about three years old with long black hair, hit a button on the wall and the shades on the windows rose to let beams from the orange sun assault the darkness.

  Shepard groaned, turning his face into the mattress, trying to block out the light. A grunt escaped him as his sons leapt onto the bed and their knees found his abdomen.

  "Dad! Mom! Guess what today is!" One of the boys used the spring in the mattress to bounce in the air and land on his father, drawing an, "Oof," from Shepard. "Come on: guess!"

  Shepard forced himself to a sitting position. "Tuesday?" he suggested, running a hand down his face to wipe away the remnants of sleep.

  "Close," the boy who had jumped on him said. He was an inch or two taller than his brother, the skin stretched across his cheeks adorned with the textured ridges unique to quarians. "It's our birthday!"

  As the twins prodded at Shepard, the little girl approached Tali and poked her. "Morning, Mother." She stood on the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on Tali's nose.

  Edges of her lips curving, Tali stretched out an arm to tuck a strand of her daughter's hair behind her ear. "Morning, Eva."
  
  There was a bark and a Labrador Retriever thundered into the room, joining the pile of bodies on the bed. She stepped on the boys and their rambunctious yells echoed in the room.

  "Alright, out," Shepard ordered, shoving at the son crouched on his legs. The boy's weight atop the awkward angle of his ankle was sending sharp bursts of pain up through his knee. "Out, out, out. Thane, Raz, out. And take the dog with you."

  The twins obeyed, hopping off the bed and sprinting for the door. "Kal! Kalros, come on, girl!" The Labrador's ears perked up upon hearing her name and spotting the escaping children, she charged after them. Eva moseyed after her brothers and the dog and the door slid shut, muffling the sounds of running footsteps.

  "We need to start locking our door," Shepard said, snuggling his head into the comfortable nook of his pillow.

  "It wouldn't do any good: Raz can bypass it."

  A humming sound came from Shepard, something like an agreement, and he wrapped his arms around his wife, tucking her body against his as his eyelids fluttered shut again.

  "Hey, no you don't. Wake up," Tali commanded, balling her fist and punching him lightly in the shoulder. "If they're up, it won't be long before their friends show. I'm going to shower and you've got breakfast today."

  Shepard opened one eye, the brow above it curving upward suggestively. "If you're sure you don't want me to help you with that shower…" he offered and she chuckled, her smile making small crinkles form around the corners of her eyes—amber eyes with a gentle glowing blue rimming the irises.

  "Breakfast," Tali insisted. Hands on his chest, she shoved at him and a disgruntled noise sounded from his throat, followed by, "Fine."
  
  He leaned in to kiss her, running his fingers through her silky, light brown hair. It was longer now than it had been back before the war with the Reapers, back when she'd been forced to wear her environmental suit all the time.

  Shepard reluctantly released her and rolled out of bed, dog tags clinking with the movement.

  Dressed in jeans and his N7 hoodie, he made his way into the living room, stopping short at the sight of Thane hovering several feet in the air. There was a model of an Alliance ship gripped in his fist. It had been a Christmas gift to the youngest Shepard from Joker and EDI and she was always tinkering with it, attempting to add a propulsion system so it would actually fly.

  "Eva, no biotics in the house," Shepard reminded her.

  Eva stood with her arms crossed and her stare venomous at her helplessly floating older brother. "He stole my Normandy."

  "Thane, give your sister back her Normandy."

  Thane's short brown locks fell off his forehead and triangular ears as he drifted upside down. "Fine. Here." He tossed the model of the Normandy SR-1 to Eva and his father caught him by one of his bowed leg and set him on the carpet.

  "Make yourself useful: go feed Kalros. Raz, you wanna help me with breakfast?"

  "Sure, Father." Raz'Shepard was more reserved than his twin, usually addressing his parents as "Mother" and "Father." His accent was similar to Tali's while Thane's speech mimicked more his father; and unlike his brother, Raz had inherited their mother's skill with technology.

  Shepard and Raz went about preparing the morning meal. Shepard wasn't that great of a cook when it came to fixing up simple human cuisine, so cooking for his wife and their children had always proven interesting. After seven years, though, he thought he was starting to get the hang of it.

  The whole family could eat quarian food, including Shepard, though it had little to no effect on him. Human food was poisonous to Tali and the kids were tolerant of most provisions meant for levo-protein races. They had learned to avoid hot dogs and bananas—both caused severe allergic reactions from the twins; and Eva, not as tolerant of human cuisine as her brothers, was unable to eat fish, sweet potatoes or mustard. All three children greatly enjoyed pizza.

  By the time Thane, Eva, and Tali, her hair wet from her shower, made their way to the kitchen, Shepard and Raz had put together a meal with foodstuffs suited to everyone's dietary restrictions.

  They conversed over breakfast: Eva asking Tali for technical advice about her propulsion system, Raz wanting to know what the usual delay for shield recharge was, and Thane insisting on being told what he was receiving for his birthday.

  They had just finished eating when there was a knock at the front door and a woman's voice called out in greeting. Kalros barked, scampering out from under the table and running for the living room, Thane, Raz, and Eva in her wake.

  Tali cleared the table and Shepard filled the sink with water, rolling up the sleeves of his hoodie to begin rinsing the dirty dishes. They heard their kids speaking fast and excitedly with the newcomer and after several minutes, Rear Admiral Hannah Shepard entered the kitchen, still dressed in her Alliance uniform.

  She pulled Tali into an embrace before turning to Shepard. "Hey you, come here and give your mother a hug."

  "Um, Mom…" Her son held up his hands, soapsuds dripping from his forearms.

  "Oh, right." Hannah crossed the distance to him and took his face in her hands so she could pull him down to her height and place a kiss on his cheek. "Now…" She moved back to her daughter-in-law, taking her hand and leading her in the direction of the living room. "Tali, have you thought of any names for the baby?"

  Left alone, the elevator music from his dream came to him and Shepard started humming. He finished washing the dishes, dried his hands, and joined the others in the next room.

  It was another hour before Thane and Raz's friends arrived. Tali locked Kalros in one of the bedrooms as short, jabbering quarians poured through the front door. Shepard had talked her into getting the dog a few years back: it had taken a while for her immune system and the children's to adapt to the Retriever's presence but they did eventually and since then, they'd had no trouble with her (save for the time she'd eaten half a pound of turian chocolate).

  The boys' friends however weren't over often enough to adapt so the Shepards relocated Kal lest they wanted to be tending to a crowd of vomiting quarians for the rest of the day.

  "Which one are you?" Shepard asked a small boy with neat blond hair standing on the sofa.

  "Kyd'Nara."

  "Don't stand on my couch, Kyd," the retired Alliance officer told him. The quarian instantly plopped down on his bottom. "Yes, Sir."

  "Can we do gifts now?" Thane asked, poking his father in the abs.

  "Sure, I'll get them." Shepard returned to his bedroom, using his biotics to lift a section of the ceiling and float Thane and Raz's birthday presents down. He and Tali had started using this hiding spot after Thane had unwrapped all of his Christmas gifts one year then tried to rewrap them, hoping his parents wouldn't notice.

  The twins received a hundred credits each from David and Kahlee Anderson, clothing from their grandmother, and from their friends, a number of games that could be downloaded onto their omni-tools.

  Model ships of Sovereign and Harbinger had come in the mail for Thane. He asked for new models every year because they had a short life expectancy—mostly due to the quarian's fascination with explosions—and Joker and EDI always delivered. Against their better judgment, his parents had bought him the chemistry set he'd requested, making him promise not to blow anything up without supervision.

  Liara, aware of Raz's love for old technology, had shipped him a Prothean orb and Tali and Shepard had gotten him a new Savant omni-tool.

  Raz opened the last box to reveal a black, square device with a silver, circular button along one side. "We tracked down someone on Earth who collects things from the 21st century," Shepard said, "It was the oldest piece of human technology we could find."

  "Whoa…" Raz ran his thumb over the disk drive and the lettering on it: XBOX 360. "So, it's shaped like a box. Why 'X' and why '360'?" he asked and with a shake of his head, his father admitted, "I have no idea."

  "Wow. Thanks, Mother, Father." Raz stood to wrap his arms around them then sat back down, cross-legged, to examine his gift. They knew as soon as his friends left, he would hole up in his room and start taking the device apart.

  "And James sent you guys tickets to the new Blasto movie. We'll take you to the Citadel to see it when it comes out."

  "Yes! I love those movies!" Thane exclaimed. "'Enkindle this!'" he quoted before proceeding to make assault rifle and explosion sounds, stopping short to ask his friends, "Hey, you guys wanna go outside?" There were overlapping murmurs of "Sure" and "Yeah," and he led the way out the back door, letting Eva come along when she asked.

  Hannah Shepard excused herself and headed for the facilities and Shepard began cleaning up the wrapping paper scattered around the living room. He winced as pain engulfed his knee—his old war wounds acted up now and again, particularly the ones he'd received from being hit head-on by a Reaper laser beam.

  He massaged his knee a moment, his gaze finding Tali, standing at the window she'd designated the very first time they'd landed on Rannoch (or third time actually—they had made pit stops to rescue Zaal'Koris and visit a geth server). Sunlight glowed around her frame.

  Shepard crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "What are you thinking about?" She felt his voice's vibrations in his chest as she leaned back against him.

  "How different things are," Tali answered. "When I was younger, growing up on the Flotilla, I could never have imagined…" She paused, listening the sounds of laughter from her children and their friends and of running water from the stream by their house. "…This.

  "A house on the home world, friends with the geth, and healthy children growing up almost entirely without suits. Children we spoil on their birthdays…" She turned her head to look at him, adding, "That's your fault, you know. Quarians acknowledged birthdays but you certainly would never have received so many gifts: there wasn't room for many personal items. Your human traditions are rubbing off on us."

  "You're only seven once," Shepard reasoned.

  "And I do rather like cake," Tali confessed, making him chuckle. Gripping her waist, he turned her so she faced him and she linked her thin arms around his neck.

  "You know, with the kids outside, it's gotten kind of quiet in here." Shepard dipped his face lower, his warm breath mixing with hers. "Wanna find some place louder?" he inquired. Smiling, Tali took his face in her hands to bring his mouth to hers when there was the sound of a shuttle passing over the house.

  Shepard glared at the ceiling. "Damn it." He heard the craft land on their front yard.

  With a laugh, Tali stepped out of his hold. "I'll see who it is." She approached the front door. The scarred faces of Garrus Vakarian and Urdnot Wrex, waiting in the airlock, stared up at her from the video feed.

  "Open up," Garrus said, "We come bearing gifts."

  "And germs," Wrex added.

  "Decontamination first," Tali told them.

  "Oh, come on."

  "It's the boys' birthday; I'm not going to make them put on their suits because of whatever off-world germs the two of you brought with you."

  "Fine. Ugh, I hate this thing," Wrex commented as a blue holographic line passed over him and Garrus and puffs of air shot out from the walls, surrounding them. "It makes me feel all sticky."

  When a female voice announced that decontamination had been completed, Tali slid open the door and allowed them entrance into the house, Wrex's hump catching on the frame on his way in.

  "Garrus, do you ever take that thing off?" Shepard asked, indicating the blue targeting visor over his left eye. "Seriously, what could you possibly be calibrating right now?"

  "I'm calibrating how to rearrange your face if you don't let that joke finally die, Shepard," Garrus replied. He closed the distance between them, grasped his friend's hand, and pulled him into a one armed hug. "It's good to see you." He turned to Tali, hugging her as well. "Hey, when you get sick of this guy…" The turian moved his thumb in the direction of her husband, "I'm available."

  "I'll keep that in mind," she promised. "Hi, Wrex."

  "Hi, Tali." The krogan's deep voice reverberated in the space and made light tremors quake through the flooring. "Hey, Shepard, got somethin' for ya." He tossed a bottle filled with green liquid to Shepard, who caught it and read the label.

  "Ryncol?"

  "It's for me and you. This," Wrex held up a brown sack that looked like it contained something heavy, "is for the kid."

  Shepard, Tali, and Garrus took spots on the sofa and chairs, Shepard's mother rejoining them, and Wrex folded his arms across his chest, leaning against the wall. He didn't dare attempt to sit on any furniture not specifically built for 800-pound krogan.

  "Bakara wanted to come but, newborn, you know," he said.

  "Wrex, how many kids do you have now?" Shepard asked. He could always remember Mordin, Kahn, Crush, and Gallan but after the fourth kid, the names and faces of the clan leader's offspring started to blur together.

  Wrex shrugged. "Eh, I lost track."

  "How's your eldest doing?"

  "Mordin? She's good: she killed a thresher maw the other day." Wrex's red eyes shone with pride. "Wasn't a full-grown one but still. She's only a few years from the Rite and she's got her sights set on taking down Kalros. You know Grunt and I were the last to kill a maw during the Rite—Mordin wants to beat us both bad."

  "What's Grunt been up to?"

  "He and Aralakh Company are meeting up with some rachni scouts on the edges of krogan space: it looks like there are some rachni husks that have just been sitting there since the end of the Reaper War. Don't know why they haven't starved or somethin' by now but Aralakh Company will wipe 'em out."

  "And how is the rebuilding going?" Tali asked. She shifted so she could lean her back against the arm of the couch and set her legs in Shepard's lap.

  "Those geth primes you asked to help us have made a huge difference. We finally finished restoring the City of the Ancients, save for the section Kalros likes to visit. And colonization on other worlds is on track—haven't had too much trouble from either the krogan or the Council."

  "How's Spectre life, Garrus?"

  "I'm hunting down a rouge turian Spectre," Garrus announced, mandibles flexing as he spoke. He added with a chuckle, "Sound familiar? He's holed up in a bunker in the Hades Gamma Cluster. Figured I had time to come visit before bringing him in—or shooting him, as I may end up doing."

  The door leading to the back yard opened and a mob of quarians bustled into the house.

  "Wrex!" Eva disappeared in a flash of blue light as she biotically charged at the krogan. Wrex didn't even stumble as she hit and bounced off of him. He caught her in his bulky, rough-skinned arms.

  "Hey, you little pyjak! How are you doing?"

  "Good."

  "Wrex, what'd'ya bring me?" Thane demanded to know, hurrying over and the chief handed him the sack he'd brought with him, instructing, "Share it with your brother."

  Thane dug into the bag, needing both hands to pull out the item inside it. "Whoa! An M-300 Claymore!" The massive shotgun hung heavy in his arms as he tore off to show it to his friends. "Thanks, Wrex!"

  Tali had stood up from her spot on the sofa. Brow furrowed, lips pinched, she began, "Wrex—"

  "Don't worry, there are no thermal clips in it," he assured her.

  Hands on her hips, she inhaled and started again, "Wrex, you cannot give my seven-year-old son a shotgun."

  The krogan's low chortle sounded from his throat. "Too late."

  "Well, Tali, we're getting him something even bigger than a shotgun," Shepard reminded and his wife fixed her narrowed, amber eyes on him.

  "Not helping," she said.

  "He won't be shooting things for a few years—probly break his arms if he fired that thing now. But he's seven! It's high time he had a shotgun," Wrex argued.

  As the others debated on Wrex's gift, Raz moved to greet his godfather. "Hi, Garrus."

  "Hey, Raz, check this out." Garrus dug into his pocket to retrieve something that looked similar to a Sentry interface visor. "New game they just came out with: puts you inside the geth consensus and you need to take out the infected code, like what your dad did back during the War."

  "Cool. Thanks, Garrus."

  "Sure thing. Happy birthday, kid."

  "Wrex, tell us a story from the Reaper War," Eva, still in the krogan's arms, requested.

  "Ah, yes, Reapers," Garrus said, using his first fingers on either hand to put the last word in air quotes. "The immortal race of sentient starships that allegedly waited in dark space. The Council dismissed that claim, you know," he told Eva, drawing a snorting laugh from Shepard.

  "Shut up, Garrus, the kid wants a story." Wrex sat on the floor, his hump resting against the wall, and the youngest Shepard settled into his lap.

  "Okay, your dad had gathered together the biggest galactic army ever—krogan, turian, geth, quarian, rachni. And we were making our last stand on Earth. We needed to get to a transporter beam that took you up to the Citadel so we could fire this huge weapon and blow the Reapers all to Hell."

  "Wrex," Shepard interjected, brows raised in a reminder to watch his language.

  "Sorry. So, your mom and dad and Garrus here were making a run for the beam and Harbinger lands."

  A gasp escaped Eva, though she'd heard the story before. She played absentmindedly with one of Wrex's hands as she listened.

  "Your dad even gets hit head-on by Harbinger's laser beam."

  "What happened?" the little girl asked.

  "What happened? I walked up to Harbinger, shot him once in the ass with my shotgun, and he fell over, dead," Wrex said. Tali repeated his name and he apologized again, "Sorry." Eva laughed, delighted with the story's new ending—it had a different one every time.

  Speaking to Thane, Raz, and their friends, Tali inquired, "You guys ready for lunch?"

  "Can we skip right to cake?" Thane wanted to know and his mother replied shortly, "No." "Aw, darn it."

  Lunch was provided for all guests, after which Tali disappeared into the kitchen to get the cake. After a minute or two without her returning, Shepard followed.

  Tali was leaned over the boys' birthday cake, trying to activate a lighter. "Come on. You—" Her quarian hand was not built to operate the human-made device and she received only sparks for her efforts. "You bosh'tet!"

  Smiling, Shepard approached. "You require any assistance, Admiral?"

  "No," she answered stubbornly, dropping the lighter and instead raising her omni-tool to incinerate the candlewicks. She picked up the platter and turned to face him, the light from the candles flickering in the blue around her irises and illuminating the texture on her cheeks. "Why is it again that humans put candles on cakes?" Tali inquired.

  "I don't really know," Shepard said. "Maybe just because we like setting things on fire."

  The twins' friends still found the human tradition of birthday candles and blowing them out strange but it's how things had always operated at the Shepards' house. And they always received cake afterward and that was what really mattered.

  Shepard passed out glasses filled with the quarian equivalent to milk as Tali cut the cake and divided the pieces among their guests.

  Once Thane had gotten his slice, he plopped down beside Garrus. "Hey, Garrus, what's the hardest part about treating a turian that took a rocket to one side of his face?"

  "Figuring out which side took the rocket. Have you been talking to Joker?"

  Tali settled onto the couch with her own piece of cake and her husband joined her, offering her a glass. "You want me to get you an emergency induction port for that?" he asked.

  "You are never going to let that one go!"

  Shepard grinned. "Nope."

  "I was drunk!" Tali defended herself. He chuckled and her eyes narrowed as she threatened, "I still have a shotgun, you know."

  "I love you," Shepard said. He cupped her slender neck in one hand to bring her close and wrap his lips around hers, distracting her. She tasted sweet, a result of her dextro-protein DNA. Her fingers traced the glowing orange scar along his jaw line.

  "Ew. Mom, Dad, we're trying to eat," Thane told them and with a chuckle, Shepard pulled away.

  There was a pinging noise and yellow flashing from the corner of the room. "I'll get it." Shepard stood and crossed to the vid-com, hitting a button on the console. The image of Captain James Vega appeared before him.

  He hadn't changed much over the years. His hair was still in a mohawk and his pectorals were still too much for his shirts to handle.

  "Hey, Shepard, how you doin'?"

  "I'm good, James. You?"

  "Good."

  "Hey, James!" Thane yelled from across the room. Shepard shifted so the Alliance officer could see the boy waving at him.

  "Hey, Bebe Loco! What's up?"

  The quarian held up his plate. "Cake," he said.

  James laughed, the scars on his face stretching with the shift in expression. "Nice." He spotted Raz and asked, "How you doin', Poco Hombre?"

  "Pretty good," Raz muttered about the bite of cake in his mouth.

  "Cool." James returned his attention to Shepard. "You get the tickets I sent?"

  "Yep, we'll take them to the Citadel when the movie comes out."

  "I might take some shore leave and meet you there so we can catch up—play some poker, maybe have a dance. Oh, and Chakwas said it's your year to buy the Serrice Ice Brandy." The end of his sentence deteriorated into static and James' image became fuzzy.

  "Yeah, it is my year. Hey, Tali," Shepard called over his shoulder. "The vid-com is acting up again."

  Tali set her plate on the arm of the sofa, standing and making her way over to him. As she squatted down to fiddle with the device's wiring, she said, "Shepard, you really need to learn some basic technology skills." The holographic James stabilized and she straightened.

  "Why bother? I have you." Shepard took her hand and tugged her to him to plant a kiss on her cheek, his stubble rough against her skin. He released her and she returned to her spot beside Eva on the couch.

  "Hey, Shepard, is it true—I heard Sparks is pregnant again," James said.

  "And where did you hear that?" his former commander asked, crossing his arms, giving nothing away.

  "Well, you messaged your mom over the extranet and EDI found it and told the rest of us."

  "Apologies, Shepard," EDI chimed in. Her voice was a bit distant as she spoke from an intercom near the Normandy vid-com. "It would appear I still lack discretion when it comes to others' personal matters."

  "It's alright, EDI," Shepard assured her, shaking his head, his lips curving.

  "So, you and Sparks trying to put the quarians' numbers back in the billions or what?" James teased. "Because the two of you are keeping pretty busy."

  "Butt out, Vega," Shepard ordered and James chortled.

  "Yes, Sir, Commander Shepard, Sir."

  "We are approaching Omega, Captain," EDI informed him.

  "Oh, I gotta go. We're tracking down some batarian terrorists that have been running around the Terminus Systems." His face sobered, adding, "You probably want to know: it's Balak."

  "Balak." The commander's face darkened, two indents forming between his brows. "I should have shot that bastard back when I ran into him again on the Citadel." His trigger finger itched at the thought.

  "Hey, you needed his ships to fight the Reapers. You made the right call," James assured him. "Now that he's fallen back into his old habits of killing Alliance people, we can take him out. The Hegemony is gone and the new batarian government doesn't back him so he's on his own. We'll get him," he vowed.

  "When you do, put an extra bullet in him for me," Shepard said.

  "Roger that."

  "And take good care of my ship, Vega."

  James saluted him. "Aye, aye, Commander. I'll catch ya later, Loco." His image became pixilated before disintegrating.

  "Shepard!" Wrex's voice boomed across the room. "Where's the ryncol?"

  "I'll get it, I'll get it, give me a sec."

  After everyone had had their fill of cake, the younger quarians took turns fawning over Thane's shotgun and destroying Reaper-based code in the geth consensus and Shepard turned to the lone turian in the room.

  "You're still king of the bottle shooters, right? I think there's a revolt breaking out on the roof."

  "Right behind you," Garrus said, standing. They looted a few bottles from the refrigerator, Shepard dug his old M-92 Mantis sniper rifle out of his closet, and the two relocated to the roof, Tali remaining in the living room to talk with Wrex and her mother-in-law and to supervise the kids.

  Garrus tossed a bottle in the air and Shepard sniped it, the glass breaking apart into a dozen pieces. "Just like old times, huh? Except there's no Reaper threat, you're retired, and living a family–man life on the quarian homeworld. You ever miss the old days?" the Spectre asked, accepting the Mantis rifle his friend offered.

  "Sometimes," Shepard admitted, bending at the waist to grab another bottle. "There's something about fighting side-by-side with your best friends against impossible odds to save the galaxy; you get to drive Makos through mass relays and blow up big-ass, genocidal synthetics." He threw the bottle and Garrus fired, the sound of the bullet echoing across the rooftop.

  "But I wouldn't trade my family for anything. Not for another couple years on the Normandy or for curing the genophage again just to piss off the salarian dalatrass. I'm happy here, with Tali and the kids."

  "Alright. You just let me know if you ever get restless and need to shoot something and I'll bring you along on a mission," Garrus offered. "You're still technically a Council Spectre."

  "Thanks. You ever think about settling down, Garrus?" Shepard inquired, reclaiming the sniper rifle.

  "Who would I settle down with, Shepard?" The turian scratched his cheek with a talon.

  "I don't know. Dr. Michel maybe?"

  Garrus gave him a puzzled look, lines on his forehead deepening. "Chloe?"

  "You two keep in touch and she likes you."

  "She does?"

  "You're so clueless, Garrus. Why do you think she's always sending you chocolate?"

  "Huh…"

  They heard the rumblings of an engine and glanced up. A small, one-manned Alliance fighter plane was making its way down out of Rannoch's sky, moving to land beside the house.

  "That'll be Kaidan…" Shepard and Garrus jumped off the roof as the fighter touched down and curious quarians poked their heads out of the house. They shuffled outside, followed by the adults.

  The glass over the cockpit slid back and Major Kaidan Alenko exited the plane, the cover moving back into place behind him.

  "Kaidan!" He was attacked by Thane, Raz, and Eva, their combined weight thrown into him nearly making him topple over.

  "Hey, guys!" he laughed. "Sorry: I can't stay. But I had to drop off your birthday present."

  Stepping back, Thane gasped, his jaw dropping. His blue eyes locked on the Alliance fighter. "Do you mean…?"

  "It's from your mom and dad," Kaidan told him. He had set one knee down on the grass so he was closer to the kids' heights and now let Eva run her hands over his head, messing up his dark, usually neat hair. "I'm just the delivery man."

  Thane abandoned Kaidan to hurl himself at Tali, the parent who was closest to him, and hugged her fiercely. "You guys are awesome!"

  "You're absolutely not allowed to do anything with it unless your father or I is present," she said. She set her hands on her son's cheeks to tilt his face up to hers so he could see her serious, no-nonsense, mom stare. "Same thing with the shotgun."

  "The plane is for all of you," Shepard put in, "Though Eva won't be piloting it for a couple years. And it'll be a while before you can fly it on your own but you'll grow into it. Sometime soon, we'll take her off-world and blow up some space junk."

  "Keelah." Thane looked to his brother. "Our parents are the bomb," he declared. He ran to examine their gift, Raz right behind him, their friends gathering around to join in the excitement.

  Kaidan approached the adults. "Shepard, Tali." He gave a nod to Garrus and Wrex, saluting Hannah. "Ma'am. Sorry I gotta head out right away. We're tracking some slavers that have been attacking colonies in the Skyllian Verge; the yeoman said she'd have their location by the time I got back."

  "We should be heading out too. You need a ride?" Garrus offered.

  "Um…" Kaidan glanced at the fighter plane he had arrived in, brow furrowing. He apparently hadn't thought about how he was going to get off-world again. "Yeah, guess I do. Thanks."

  They said their good-byes and headed for the shuttle, Wrex having to biotically remove Eva from his leg, as she didn't want to let him leave. He handed the commander his daughter, who said, "Wrex," in farewell and the krogan returned, "Shepard."

  Over the next few hours, the guests cleared out and the sky darkened as rain began to fall upon Rannoch. Hannah stayed for supper before leaving for the spaceport to catch her transport.

  Thane and Raz disappeared into their rooms. Eva asked to watch a vid with her mother and dad. She had started sneezing at an increasing rate and her forehead was warm to the touch, probably a reaction to something Garrus, Wrex or Kaidan had brought with them. Like being more sensitive to certain human foods, she fell ill more often than her brothers.

  Shepard found Eva some antibiotics, helped her get into her pajamas, and settled down on the sofa with her to watch the vid. Tali made a quick call to Admiral Shala'Raan to check in on things on the southern continent and then joined them.

  Eva didn't last through the whole vid. She fell asleep curled up on her father's lap, mouth wide open as she was having difficulty breathing through her stuffed up nose.

  Shepard gathered Eva up in his arms and walked for the hallway. Tali shut off the living room lights behind them and, stopping by their bedroom door, said, "You'll make sure the boys have gone to bed?" She kept her voice soft so as not to disturb Eva.

  "Yeah," her husband answered. He entered the next room, the family's Labrador Retriever following him in.

  Shepard pulled back the blankets on Eva's bed and gently set his daughter down on the mattress. He tucked her in, setting the stuffed kakliosaur they'd purchased last time they were on the Citadel in her arms. He brushed a strand of her hair off her cheek and bent to place a light kiss on her forehead.

  Kalros jumped up on the bed and lay down next to Eva, resting her chin on the child's ankle. Shepard scratched her ears before exiting the room.

  He checked in on Thane, who had put on the sweatshirt with the Alliance logo he'd gotten from his grandmother and was tinkering with his chemistry set. He kept looking out his window to the fighter plane parked in the backyard, illuminated by brief flashes of lightning, as though he needed to make sure it was still there.

  Shepard herded his son into bed, kissing him good-night. He switched off the lights and made his way next door to Raz's room.
Raz sat at his desk, examining the inner workings of a dismantled Xbox 360. "What were these Micro-soft people thinking?" he muttered. Like his mother, he often talked to himself while he puzzled things out. Noticing Shepard, he set down the piece he was looking at and crawled into bed, tugging the blankets over himself.

  "'Night, Raz." Shepard turned off the lights and closed the door but didn't move for his and Tali's room yet. He waited several seconds then opened the door again and poked his head in.

  Raz had gotten out of bed and returned to his desk, using the flashlight on his new omni-tool to see so he could continue his dissection of the Xbox. He shoulders rose as a guilty expression crossed his face. Biting his bottom lip, he turned off the flashlight and again, crawled beneath his blankets.

  Smiling, his father repeated, "Good-night, Raz," and shut the door.

  Shepard entered his bedroom. Tali had changed into sleep wear and was lying in bed, a datapad clutched between her six fingers.

  "How's the book?"

  "It's pretty good. You can tell which sections Liara wrote and which Javik wrote though. Javik's chapters are more… well, his writing doesn't do anything to disguise that he's a bosh'tet."

  "Yeah, that doesn't surprise me." Shepard started for their bathroom to take his evening shower but paused and glanced back at his wife when she said his name.

  "Shepard… Shower quickly." Tali's voice took on a seductive edge: "Admiral's orders."

  He laughed. "Yes, Ma'am."

  Shepard showered and, dressed in flannel pants and a T-shirt with the Spectre logo on it, reentered the bedroom to find Tali asleep, her lips parted and jaw lax. He took the datapad that had dropped to her stomach when she'd dozed off and set it on the side table.

  He shut off the lights, lying down beside her and pulling the quilt over the two of them. Tali rolled onto her side, snuggling against him. She rested her cheek on his chest. Shepard wrapped his arms around her and pressed his lips to the top of her head.

  The gentle rumbles of thunder lulled him to sleep and he dreamed of planet scanning. Lots of planet scanning…
This is my epilogue for Mass Effect 3. It's my first attempt at fanfiction so comments are welcome.

Like a huge percentage of fans, I found the ending of the game to be an epic fail so I've decided that it simply didn't go down that way. Instead, Shepard and Anderson get to the Citadel, the Illusive Man shows up and is all, "I'm gonna control the Reapers!" Shepard is like, "Hell, no," and shoots him. Then they press the button on the pannel and blow up the Reapers. The end. No ghostly Catalyst kid and his lame solution to the galaxy's chaos. (I was so disappointed when shooting him had no effect.) So yeah, that's how it went down and then this bit of writing is not quite ten years later.

This particular Shepard--background: spacer, war hero. Class: vanguard. Reputation: pretty much all Paragon save for a few Renegade actions that are too fun to pass up, like pushing that Eclipse merc out the window or shooting Conrad Verner.

Oh, and I think it's written somewhere that Tali and Shepard couldn't have kids because of their different biologies and they'd have to adopt or something but this is fiction so just roll with it. And I wanted to name the youngest kid after Tali's mother but they never give her a name in the games or books and Google failed me. Sorry if the stuff about the dextro/levo DNA is off: I'm a science moron but I tried to do my research. 'Kay, done with my rambling. Hope you enjoy!
© 2012 - 2024 VanguardShep
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roxygthor's avatar

Coming back to reread this again because it's an old favorite. The elevator music and the planet scanning still make me smile. 😃