[Book Four] Chapter 13: The family is gettin bigger

Chapter 13: The family is gettin bigger

He got a lot of heat from the public for the murder of councilor Sparatus but he didn’t care one bit and simply shrugged it off. He got a message for Tevos thanking him for making her look good in the end, despite her ambiguous portrayal.

The script for the second season was ready and filming would start the next week but he had to check things with a lot of people first as some sequences and events were very personal and intimate. Most notably Jennifer’s and Miranda’s past at the top of the list.
Jennifer didn’t care, she just asked to not portray her in a pathetic way and Miranda just wanted Orianna out of it.
Samara was fine with their shared past but didn’t want any mention of Morinth, something that Rick revealed he hadn’t put it in the first place. The ardat-yakshi would be replaced by an original character that was a childhood friend of Samara gone bad. The former Justicar has been alright with that.
Rick contacted Kolyat and asked permission for his rendition of his father, Thane, and his. The young man, now a priest, had agreed on the spot. When the drell was asked why he replied that ‘My father ended his life with his redemption, by doing good, saving another. My own redemption to priesthood could inspire lost young people and help them find back their way.’.

He also checked with Kasumi and the thief had declined even being mentioned but thanked him nonetheless. Rick understood why,  being the best thief of the galaxy while being known was not good for business.
Zaeed didn’t care and when he got offered a lot of money to play his role to just be himself he signed the contract on the spot.

The two last people he asked were Anderson who had a more important role behind the scene and Aria. The former had not been a problem and had given his own perspective, the latter had been more difficult.

“Come on! Mom! Please!”
“For the last time, no.”
“Do you really think that any asari out there could ever hope to portray you correctly?”
“…”
“Think about it! The Pirate Queen Aria T’Loak agrees to play herself... Your popularity would grow through the roof! That means more people would be coming to Omega and so, more business.”
“More annoyances.”
“... You left me no choice.”

Pulling a datapad from the inside of this coat he showed the contract he wanted her to sign. When she saw the amount of credits she would be paid for her shorts apparition her brows reached a point Rick had never seen reach before then quickly got back into their normal position.

“Come up with a believable…”

He flared his omni-tool and showed her the amount of money he had made after paying everyone and donating half for charities.

“... You’re serious? This is…”
“Yes. For a day of filming at best.”
“You got yourself a deal.” the asari said as she signed the contract.

With his mom in the project, he sent the script to the corresponding people to start the pre-production with the actual filming starting in early October. They had ten months to make more or less twenty episodes. That would be a lot of hard work.

On the actual business side of his life things were going well. Tali and Miranda had chosen to go with his idea of manufacturing and selling the products directly instead of contracting with a government. Hackett had not been pleased at first and calmed down when Rick told him that he was giving him a 20% reduction for being a loyal customer.
The admiral also got some blueprints of small ships for a small crew, designed by Tali; perfect for black ops and recons team. She had also designed the current Ghost model that some spectre were now using after Tevos' reform for the group got approved two years earlier.

Academy wise, it was the end of the year. The upper years were graduating with pride and were ready to spread their wings outside Celeste. Except some of them that Rick had snatched for his company before anyone else could. The graduation ceremony was a grandiose and very public affair. Relatives were allowed on the Celeste and could familiarize themselves with the environment their family members lived in most of the year. Students were supposed to present their progress or make some kind of attraction like a cafe or something else. The Military students had opted to make a small parade and organize a small tournament in an arena. For the occasion, the weather and season had been changed from winter to a nice Summer with not too hot temperatures with a slight breeze.

Since it was more or less a festival, Rick took his children with him and explored the diverse attractions the students presented. Arianna was leading Adam and Sandra while JJ was carried by his father. The oldest took care of doing what her siblings wanted to do too, contenting everyone and Rick was very proud of her for that.

As the small family wandered around, Rick was often thanked by some students from his biotics class or his software course that he had taken to teach because he was bored. Some parents were wary especially after watching Mass Effect but their children’s assurances that he was a good man and a good teacher reassured most of them. What did the trick was the way he was taking care of his own young children. When it was time for lunch he brought everyone back home to eat in peace. There he found a big surprise waiting for him. Tali was there, unmasked and she wasn’t alone. No, she was at least six months pregnant, something he hadn’t known until now. The whole crew of the Normandy that lived and worked on Celeste was there with the exception of Ashley who had been deployed for some months. Her family was here though.

“Daddy?” Arianna asked.
“Yes?”
“Who’s the lady?” Adam warrily.
“Which one?”
“The one we never saw before.” Sandra said in a ‘duh’ tone.
“You mean, the one with pretty black hair like your mom?”
“““Yes.”””
“That’s your aunt Tali.”
“Really?” asked Adam, his eyes not living the quarian.
“Yes, she’s just not wearing her enviro suit anymore.”
“She’s pretty.” Arianna said. “But not as much as mom.”

He snorted and pushed the children to go say hello. He gave JJ to Maria who accepted her grandson happily, and hugged Tali. He was about to ask some questions when he saw Jane shaking her head. Understanding what that meant he joined Anderson, and Garrus on the side of the room letting the ladies converse.

“Did you know?” he asked his turian friend.
“Nobody knew.”
“Something feels wrong.”
“I was there with Kahlee when she arrived and talked with your sister. Apparently she caught the baby’s father with someone else. They fought and the man refused to acknowledge his child.” explained Anderson.
“...”
“...”

“Garrus, have you tried the new sniper rifle prototype yet?”
“No, I didn't have the time.”
“Wanna go on a hunt to test it this week-end?”
“Gladly.”
“Wow, wow wow. Not so fast.” Anderson interjected. “You can’t kill a man for cheating and being a deadbeat dad.”
“Sure we can, especially the kind that hurt our friends.”
“Thankfully we’re only talking about hunting quarian. I mean QUARRY! Hunting quarry!” Rick faked making a slip of the tongue.
“You don’t know what she wants. Maybe she wants to reconci…”
“I’M GOING TO KILL THAT BOSH’TET! NO WAY HE’S GONNA BE My CHILD’S FATHER!” Tali yelled from the couch on the other side of the room.”
“...”
“You were saying?” Garrus asked with a bit of a smug tone.
“Just don’t get caught.” Anderson replied with a deadpan face.
“I guess it’s Keelah Se’lai time.”
“No, it’s Killa bitch time.” Rick corrected and made Garrus laugh.

Afterwards the whole family got back out and went to watch a small play the students in art had made which was accompanied by an orchestra composed of students from the music course. It was no masterpiece like Hamlet but the public loved it. Afterward the small symphonic concert happened then it was time for the graduation ceremony. With around two thousand children finishing school there were multiple ceremonies at the same time. Each taking place at one of the poles of the Academy, otherwise everyone would have been here for days.

Rick was spending the night with Dorothea and after a good love making session, she broached Tali’s subject.

“She wishes to stay here.”
“Who?”
“Tali.”
“Then she’ll stay here.”
“When are you leaving?” she asked knowing what he was planning to do.
“... We’re departing this Saturday.”
“I’m coming.”
“Are you sure? Thea, Garrus and I we’re going to…”
“I know and I want to be a part of it. He hurt my friend.”
“It’s a slippery slope… Once on it…”
“I’m aware and I don’t care. Besides, I know where he lives.”
“You do?”
“Not really, I just said that to make you agree, however I do know his name and where he’s hanging out.”
“Alright you’re in. I guess we’ll get you that puppy on the way.”
“Really?”
“Yes. I spoke about it with Jane and Ash and they’re okay with it. Especially Jane who loves animals. They gave me a list of races they vetoed like pitbull but otherwise you can choose practically anything.”
“I want a Newfoundland.” she blurted out.
“... Isn’t it a very big one? The kind that’s always drooling?”
“Yes, but they’re really nice and cuddly. Very good with children and protective.”
“Alright. I trust you to get one that would not hurt the children and it’s not on the vetoed list so let’s get a Newfoundland.”
“Thank you.” she said as she turned her body to rest on his side.

____________________________________________________________

Tali’s ex-fiance, Lorel, was quickly found on Rannoch enjoying the company of a lady. They had waited patiently for the dead of the night to act. Dorothea had convinced some geths patrolling for security to look the other way. They had refused at first but when she told them that he had hurt Tali and left her pregnant, they had not been happy and looked the other way. When Garrus and Rick looked at her in confusion, she explained that Tali was considered a hero for the geths, second only to Legion. Both male exchanged a look for a moment then shrugged. They didn’t understand why but would not complain about it. In the end Lorel’s new girlfriend woke up in the morning with a headless corpse by her side. A courtesy of Garrus and his new spire rifle, custom made for him alone. The bullet had completely exploded the quarian’s head in his sleep. By the time the quarian police arrived on the scene the trio was already on Earth.

“Why are we here?” Garrus asked Rick as he looked around at all the different animals in the store.
“EDI wants a dog. I think she’s a bit lonely with nothing to do with her synthetic body besides watching over the children.”
“Oooh.”
“Jane also wants one but never got around to asking me, god knows why. What about you and Chloe? Not interested in having a pet?”
“No. Or rather we never thought about it. We were more focused on spending time together when our work allowed it. Now that we’re working at the same place, adopting children is on the table so pets? Nu-huh.”
“Children? Not child singular?”
“She wants both a turian and human child at the same time.”
“That won’t be easy.”
“No, but we’ll manage, it’s not like their aunts and uncle aren’t around.” Garrus replied, referring to Rick and the ladies of the crew.
“Fair enough. Is the process going well?”
“From the turian side, yes. Very few people would refuse me anything, so adopting a child is relatively easy.”
“But the human side is proving difficult.”
“Yes. An interspecies relationship is… I wouldn’t say badly looked upon but there is some worry.”
“Meh, I’ll ask the Bitcher to pull some strings. You’ll have your human kid soon.”
“Thank you.”
“What about their gender?”
“The human would be a girl and the turian a boy.”
“... To make puberty easier?”
“Mainly, yes but more so for having a good role model for them they can identify with.” answered the turian to which Rick nodded in understanding.
“Still. You should buy a small aquarium and some fish. It’s easy to take care of them and feed them. It helps with relaxing.”
“Is that why Jane always bought plenty?”
“Beyond her love for animals? Yes. She spends a lot of time simply watching them swim and forgetting about anything else.”
“Perhaps I should…” said Garrus pensively.
“Well, it’s this way.” Rick replied as he walked down an aisle. “I have to buy some for Jane or I’ll never hear the end of it.” he joked.

After half an hour trying to find the best fish with the best aquarium and the best food dispenser they went back to the entrance of the store where they found Dorothea with a big black puppy in her arms licking her face.

“I thought she was going to buy a puppy?” Garrus said, confused.
“It is a puppy.”
“By the spirits! It’s huge! How big will it get?”
“Well, this breed of dog is around 28 inches high and around 6 feet long.”
“Wow. Isn’t it dangerous for the children?”
“From what Thea told me they are family dogs, very kind, cuddly and protective. A kind of nanny with a lot of fur and on four legs.”
“I wonder how Jane will react to that.”
“Probably cuddling it even in bed.” Rick replied flatly, making Garrus snort.

Dorothea saw them and moved in their direction.

“I see you find your happiness.”
“This is Raven! And only half of it.” she replied to Rick.
“Half?”
“Ebony will be here soon.”
“Ebo… You’re buying two?!”
“Yes. After thinking about it I didn’t want Raven to be all alone so I took a mate for her. Shouldn’t I have?”
“No, it’s alright. I’m just surprised. Can’t really blame you, I just came to accompany you and I’m going back with some fish for Jane. Even Garrus bought some.” 

The turian nodded and showed his transparent plastic box with five gold fish in it. He had chosen them from Rick's advice. They were small, didn’t eat much and didn’t last very long. Dorothea nodded and an employee of the pet store game back with what seemed to be Ebony. He was a bit bigger than Raven and Rick had to hand his fish to Garrus to take in his arms the male puppy. They bought everything and went back to the ship.

They arrived at Celeste just in time for lunch and when the children saw Ebony in their father’s arms they squealed and ran to him getting out of the table without permission. Considering the situation, their parents let it slide.

“Daddy! Is it for us?”
“He, Arianna. He’s a boy. And no, he’s not. He’s Auntie EDI’s puppy.”
“But!”
“I want him!”
“Please daddy!”
“Look. A puppy is not a toy. It’s a child that needs to be taken care of, just like I’m taking care of you. Raising him is a lot of responsibility and the three of you are too young for that. However, I’m sure Auntie EDI and Auntie Dorothea will not mind you helping them take care of him and Raven but you will have to ask. Okay?”
“““Yes!”””
“Daddy, who’s Raven?” asked Sandra.
“It’s Auntie Dorothea’s puppy right? Is he of the same kind?” Arianna asked as Adam was trying to pet Ebony’s tail.
“Raven is of the same breed as Ebony, yes but she’s a girl.” Dorothea said from the side.

The children had been so captivated by their father and Ebony that they didn’t see their Aunt standing there with Raven.

“Auntie! Can we help you?” Adam asked.
“With what?”
“Taking care of them?” explained Sandra.
“If you promise to do as I say, then yes.”
“““We promise!”””
“Alright.” Dorothea said as she crouched down and put Raven on the ground.

Rick did the same with Ebony and watched Arianna, slowly patting his head while her younger siblings did the same with Ebony. Looking at his children's happy face for a moment he joined the adults at the dining table and sat beside Jane.

“I want one.” she said with a pout.
“So you could cuddle him all night and make me sleep at the foot of the bed? Hell, no.”
“But they look so fluffy!”
“They are. I bought you a small aquarium and a small fish instead.” he said as he pointed to Garrus putting the aquarium on the coffee table in the living room area.
“You’re the best, thank you.” Jane said as she kissed him.

Rick stood up back again and led the children to the bathroom to wash their hands after petting the newfs and brought them back to the table to finish their meal.

Afterward they spend the afternoon playing with the newest addition to the family while Rick had a private conversation with Tali on the balcony.

“What are you going to do?” he asked.
“If possible, I’d like to stay.”
“If possible? Tali, you own 35% of the last twenty floors. If you want to stay, you stay. I know I’d like you to.”
“Even like that?” she said as she pointed to her very pregnant belly.
“Of course. I’m baffled that you’re even thinking that having a child would change our relationship.”
“...”
“...”
“Thank you.” she whispered.
“What for?”
“Taking care of him.”
“Him?”
“There is no need to play dumb there is only you and me here.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Fine! Killing Lorel!” she shouted in irritation.
“I did not kill him.”
“Sure… I received a message from Ran this morning. It said that he had been murdered in his own bed. His head exploded.”
“All I know is that we left so Garrus could use his sniper rifle in a live situation. He beat his record, reaching 1500m.”
“I’ll thank Garrus too then. But I’m sure it was your idea.”
“It was. I told it to Korris during the war. No-fucking-body messed with my best friend.”
“He was so nice, you know? Kind and helpful… he wasn’t perfect but nobody is… I should have known something was wrong when he didn’t want me to live anywhere but Rannoch, especially Earth. I thought… I thought that he was focused on rebuilding our homeworld, helping our people… Turned out he was just using me, my money and reputation to climb the social ladder...”

As she began to cry, Rick took her in his arms and gently caressed her back in comfort.

“And now… Now… I…” sobs cut her sentence forbidding her to complete it, but she didn’t have to.
“Now you live with us. With your family. You’re going to give birth to that child and we’re going to raise it together.”
“I… What…”
“What I’m saying is that I’ll be that kid’s father if you want me to, or their uncle. Doesn’t matter, I’ll raise him, just like Aria raised me.”

She pulled her head back from his embrace to look at his face only to find genuineness. She began crying even more and hid her crying face against his chest. They stayed that way until her tears stopped flowing.

“Thank you.”
“I’m just a very good high-minion supporting his empress.”
“And you did well, high-minion.” She replied with a smile. “Maybe I should promote you?”
“Maybe.” he simply said and led her by the hand back inside.

____________________________________________________________

Tali quickly acclimated herself to her new living arrangement. As a harmless prank, Rick had put speakers in every corner of her room diffusing the sound of the Normandy’s reactor during the night to help her to sleep, chidding her that she was such a spacer for being unable to sleep properly without it.
She also felt panicked as Arianna’s birthday was in three days and she didn’t have any present ready. That was understandable as she has never been much in the little redhead’s life and both Jane and Rick replied that it was okay but she had disagreed. Quickly she put something together, a small necklace with quarian symbols meaning ‘pretty’ and ‘strong’. Or so Tali said, no one knew quarian symbols and wanted to check.

Rick had talked to both Jane and Ashley about raising Tali’s child as his own and both agreed. Though his wife didn’t understand at first why he intended to do that and entered in a murderous rage when she was told what had happened. Tali was like a little sister to her and nobody messed with her little sisters. The really good news of the conversation was that Ashley would be home for a few days for Christmas and the new year.

Speaking of Christmas. Rick had spoken with his mother about Garrus and Chloe’s situation. After pulling some strings (or rather gently threatening) the people responsible for adoptions, any problem the interspecies couple had to adopt a little girl was gone. It was his present for the both of them. He discussed with Jane what would be better, if they had the children for christmas or not and she advised that yes it would be better. Presenting their early gift both human and turian hugged him and made immediate preparation to leave Celeste. They would come back with a three year old daughter and a one year old son a week before the 25th. Arianna immediately made the little girl, named Laura, feel welcomed to her parent’s pride.

Rick had literally dragged Mordin out of his lab to be present at the celebration. The salarian had grumbled but when Rick promised him good food, good music and the possibility to verify if arianna was a genius or not by testing her he simply stopped fighting and let himself be dragged away.

The children under EDI’s supervision had their own small table with the exception of JJ and Bladen (Garrus and Chloe’s son) who were still too young. All the adults (twenty in all) ate at the dining table and shared important or funny moments in their lives. Rick had to talk about work with Mordin to keep him grounded and after dessert approached Arianna.

“Sweetie, do you have a moment for me?”
“Yes, daddy!” she said as she left her siblings and Laura alone.
“This is uncle Mordin, a friend of mine. I told him how smart you were and he doesn’t believe me. Do you want to prove him wrong?”
“Yes! I’m the smartest uncle Mordin! You’ll see!”
“Will concede defeat if all puzzles resolved.” the salarian said playing the game Rick had set and took her aside to present Arianna some logical puzzles and held her up for an hour.

Jane had come to Rick and asked what was happening.

“I may or may not have bribed Mordin to come to dinner with the possibility to test Arianna’s intelligence.”
“Seriously?” she asked with a deadpan expression.
“To be fair I wanted to know how smart she is. She’s… early for a lack of better word and while that doesn’t mean her intellect is above the average, sometimes the way she understands things makes me think that’s the case. Now I’ll be sure.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes, Jane, it matters. I don’t want her to experience what I experienced at school.” he replied coldly.

“Oh… I’m sorry, I didn’t…”
“Think about it. That’s alright, you didn’t live it, nor knew about it, so I don’t blame you for the thought not crossing your mind.”
“What if she is? Like you I mean.”

“... I don’t know. Teaching her myself, maybe? Or by Mordin to give him a break, he’d be forced to use a more social and compassionate approach with her than with his students. What worries me is… making friends and keeping the relationship she has with her siblings intact.”
“...She won’t be alone. She will find her own friends and her relationship with her siblings won’t change.” Jane said, trying to reassure him.
“You don’t get it, Jane… my first real friend was Analysse when I was twenty. My second was Ash… I don’t want her to…”
“She won’t. Her childhood is different from yours.”
“It all changed when I was five, she’s four.”
“Now you’re letting your emotions speak, not your head. Otherwise you would know that she’s not alone, she doesn’t have a racist careerist mother and a big sister. She has loving parents that will support her no matter what and in case you didn’t notice loyal and devoted younger siblings who love her very much. Plenty of aunties and uncles too. Most of all she may turn out smart like you but she isn’t you, she’s an extravert and has easy contact with others. Rick, she’ll be fine.” she said as she turned him around to face her.
“... I hope you’re right. God I hope.” he whispered and searched for reassurance in his sister’s arms.