[Book Four] Chapter 2: Meeting baby

Chapter 2: Meeting baby

“Where is she?”

The Shepard family was currently riding down the elevator of the alliance building, Rick being led by his sister who was holding his hand.

“In my temporary flat. Dorothea is babysitting her.”
“Dorothea? Not that I don’t trust her but she didn’t seem ready to take care of a new born baby. I know that she would follow all the baby guides out there and find the best actions to do but… Is she really emotionally ready for it? Did she grow up that much in the past year?”
“She did. She’s not even using her dampeners anymore most of the time.”
“... Must be nice to cut off your sense of smell in case of a poop incident.” he joked.
“You have no idea how jealous I am about that.”
“I do!” commented Hannah. “I’ll have you know Arianna is the easiest I have to deal with so far. You were a true pooping machine.” she added, looking at her son who shrugged.
“Now that I think about it… Yeah, you kinda were.”
“My gene for annoying people was acting so early. Amazing. By the way… who knows?”
“That I’m a mother or that you’re her father?”
“Both.”
“For the first, the whole team, plus Anderson and Kahlee obviously, Jennifer also and Hackett for sure.”
“For sure? Some people are wondering?”
“I visited Anderson the day you woke up with her so Alliance personnel saw her in my arms. It’s not like it would remain a secret forever. As for you being her father… Us then Ashley, Liara, Dorothea and Anderson.”
“Anderson?”
“She has your eyes which are also Kahlee’s eyes. He wasn’t going to miss it. Anyway, so far I’m sure of that but I think some people have suspicions.”
“Anderson has no problem with…”
“No. He doesn’t care. In fact after everything we both did he’s glad that we’re flawed and not some kind of gods or something. That and one look at Arianna and he was wrapped around her tiny little finger. He’s looking forward to being her uncle.”
“Her unc… He proposed?”
“A few days ago.”

The elevator stopped at the underground parking lot and the family exited it to get into their mother’s Skycar. One of the perks of being the human councilor, a free ride. As they reached the surface Jane asked what she had in her mind. The conversation earlier in the office had answered most of her questions but she still had some things that were unsure.

“When you spoke about the asari being engineered by the protheans, and that the Asari had a beacon, did you already know from the Mars archives?”
“No. It was really pure speculation. I didn’t have the time to skim through everything we recovered on Mars. Is Liara still… bitter about the truth?”
“She has been for a while but the talk you had with her about the protheans over the years seemed to have paid off, so she got over it pretty quickly. She’s now writing a book about the protheans with Javik’s help.”
“Javik? Broken, jaded and bitter prothean soldier, Javik?” he asked for confirmation in a surprising tone.
“I know! I didn’t believe it either! I guess that now that he avenged his people he’s searching for new things to do. He was born during the war and had only known fighting after all. Plus, I’m pretty sure he’s crushing hard on Liara so it’s also why he’s helping her.”
“Well, good luck to him.”

The conversation stopped there and no one said a word, enjoying a peaceful silence between them and the music on the radio until a peculiar song was heard.

“That’s mine, that’s my song! EDI finished it? They’re broadcasting it on the civilian radio?”
“Yeah. She played it the first time on our way to Earth. It’s very popular and with the anniversary of our victory they’re playing it more and more.”
“You’re the one that composed it?” their mother asked in surprise.
“For the propaganda. Didn’t have time to record all of it though but I had notes. EDI really did a good job.”
“I’m still pissed about the other one.” huffed his sister.
“You made ‘Commander Shepard’ too?”
“Of course. The objective was to make Jane an icon that the galaxy would follow. Music was the best way to do so.”
“Even if that was necessary, I’m going to make you pay for it! The team is laughing about it. I’m never going to live it down!”
“Well, fortunately for you…”
“You fight like a krogan. That may dissuade them.” Hannah completed her son’s sentence badly quoting her daughter’s anthem with an amused grin making Jane glare at her.

They arrived at a very tall building where Hannah went up to the roof. She landed the skycar on a landing pad at the edge of what looked like a garden.

“I’m surprised such a building exists after only a year of reconstruction.” confessed Rick.
“With the totality of each species’ armies here we had to work fast to accommodate everyone and to give them something to do since they were stuck here.” Hannah explained. “Money helped speed up the process for this particular building. Otherwise, it’s the same most everywhere in the world. Ruins upon ruins. It will take years before everything is cleaned up.”
“This building?”
“It’s yours since it was your money that was used for it.”

“My money? How did you get it?”
“Well… We had to declare you dead so the money would be given to your next of kin.”
“Which I don’t have. Officially.”
“You do.” Hannah replied as she put her hand on a pad next to a spacious elevator door and went inside. “When Jane told me about how serious the two of you were… I used my credentials as a councilor and an Admiral to more or less update your identity discreetly. Now on the records you were born John Grissom, son of Jon Grissom and an unknown mother. You changed your name to Rick Wald as early as you legally could. That made Kahlee Sanders your official half-sister and next of kin. She agreed to use the money for the construction of the building. It’s a full proof identity.”
“Why build one in the first place?”
“A suggestion from Miranda. Your company needed headquarters to be seen. The truth is only the first dozen floors are offices, the rest are just apartments.” Jane explained. “It’s just a smokescreen to show that your company exists as neither she nor Tali knew what you wanted to do. It hasn’t been that expensive.”
“Clever Girl.”

The elevator ride wasn’t that long and when its doors opened, Rick saw a gigantic penthouse. Jane took his hand and led him toward the main area with their mother in tow. They found Dorothea sitting on a big couch rocking a baby gently and Ashley, Kaidan and Steve, conversing. When Jane greeted everyone, they all turned to her. When the brunette saw who her friend was accompanied with, she froze in shock then jumped from her seat and tackled her lover to the ground, tears already falling along her cheeks. The sight made everyone smile with the exception of Rick who was grunting in pain on the ground. Looking at Jane, he pleaded with his eyes for help but was rebuffed. ‘Sorry, you’re on your own.’ was the clear message his sister was giving her.

“Ash… Some… Air… Please.” he succeeded in letting out as his lover was choking him with how hard her arms were warped around him. Realizing what she was doing, Ashley released her deadly grip and leaned back to have a good look at him as if she wanted to make sure that it was really him. When she was certain, her expression turned dark and she punched his jaw hard.

“OW!”
“That’s for dying, you ass!”
“Not my fault!”

She got up from him and extended her hand to pick him up. Once on his feet, she didn’t waste any time to give him a toe curling kiss that lasted quite a bit. When they separated, she turned to Jane.

“Why didn’t you tell us he was awake? And since when?”
“I haven't been allowed and since a couple days ago.”

The brunette dragged Rick towards the couch where Dorothra was sitting; the man greeted Kaidan and Steeve, and made him sit down next to her. The ebony woman carefully handed the little bundle of joy in her arms to him and after a moment of hesitation took his newborn daughter in his own. He could see the curious face she had and found it adorable. Her bright blue eyes looked attentively at him, trying to make sense of who this new face in front of her was. When they settled into his own eyes she went still for a moment then, with a small giggle gave him a toothless smile of happiness, raising her tiny little hand towards him.

“She’s perfect.” he whispered, giving the little angel a pinky finger to hold on. “How could you of all people make that?” He joked at his sister’s expense but never looked away from his daughter.
“I had help obviously. Did no one give you the talk? Should I?” Jane snarked back.
“Ugh…Aria doing it once was enough, thanks.” he replied, making everyone laugh. Pulling his baby girl closer to his chest and beginning to rock her slowly he looked at the other men on the side. “Did the wedding already happen?”
“How did you know?” Steve asked in shock. Rick had just arrived and already knew about his engagement with Kaidan.
“Sugar, it’s time for you to learn that Rick knows things, not ask questions about it and just roll with it. You’ll spare yourself plenty of headaches.” replied Kaidan.
“You may be right about that. As for the wedding, we didn’t set a date yet.”

They talked about everything and nothing and Rick was filled in with what happened during the past year. James was enrolled into N school and was still there making his way up to N7. Tali, still an Admiral of her people, was coordinating with Koris to make sure every quarians had what they needed, most notably dextro food. For his part, Garrus was helping Primarch Victus at the latter’s request, both shaping up the Turians and creating a new Hierarchy. The war had made things difficult for it as determining who was alive, who was dead screwed everything up. Rick had been surprised when Jane told him that Jennifer and her kids were on Earth and had actually participated in the last battle.

Time flew away and Kaidan and Steve left back home just before dinner, leaving Rick as the only male around.

“Now that you’re up, what are you going to do?” Dorothea asked from behind Rick who was looking at a sleeping Arianna in her crib.
“Get information on what is going on in the Galaxy while raising this little one. After that… Well… My long term plan is the conquest of the Galaxy…”
“““What?!””
“What do you mean conquest?” his mother asked.
“Not through violence, if that’s what you thought. No, through technology, economy and more importantly education.”
“How are you going to do that?” inquired Jane.
“My company would not be enough to succeed in all three, so I’m going to open a school. For all species. Teach them the right things and hire the best elements afterwards.”
“That’s ambitious.”
“I know, Thea but it’s the best way to preserve what we currently have. We can’t let old idiots take the reins of the new order of things and teach their successors. Basically governments couldn’t do as much as sneeze without asking permission first from my company. But it’s far in the future… At least a few decades.”
“What’s your short term plans, then? Did you give up on living remotely?” asked Jane.
“Someday I will. Probably for my retirement. For now… I’m thinking of visiting Eden Prime.”
“Why?” Ashley questioned with worry.
“Pay my respects… Find closure and show Jennifer around too. There is also getting the stuff I left in my house’s basement.”
“You had a basement? First time I’m hearing of this. Did it even survive the fire?”
“It did, no doubt about that.”
“What’s the stuff in there?”
“Data. All ideas I ever had stored on servers. Some are stupid, some are not. It could really help.”

Jane looked at him pensively and just nodded.

“What about all of you?”
“I’m officially retired from active duty, so I have no plans but to live peacefully everyday. I’m still an active spectre though.”
“The usual alliance’s work for me. Today was my day off. The same for Kaidan and Steve.”
“Besides babysitting Arianna from time to time, I’m enjoying my organic life too. Synthetic me is still Jeff’s copilot and they are currently off-world for a recon mission.”
“They took the Normandy from you?” he asked his sister.
“No. In fact they gave it to me but asked to lend it to them for scouting. See if all reapers had really been destroyed or not. That gives Joker the occasion to fly. He is grouchy when he doesn’t.” she replied.
“That is true.” nodded Dorothea in agreement.
“Actually, you will have to postpone any plans you have… Now that you are awake, the council has a mission for you.” said Hannah to Rick. “They want you to retrieve the people of Project Safeguard.”
“Oh. I’m not really needed for that beyond sharing the location of the bunkers. Besides I don’t work for the council, remember?”
“Let’s say it’s more of a request than an order and I said retrieve but it’s more about giving us all the information needed. Though it would be great if the Normandy and its crew, as the spearhead of the coalition during the war, could do it. For the public image. You would be accompanied by Tevos, since she’s the most… friendly face of the councilors.”
“I have no problem with that.” Jane said.
“Who’s going to take care of Arianna? We can’t take her with us and the mission would last months because of travel time.”
“The travel through hyperspace from a Relay to another is now almost instantaneous.” Dorothea said.
“Really?”
“You were right, the Reapers were in control of the Relays, making sure we wouldn’t travel too fast. When we rebuilt them, there were no more restrictions.”
“That’s great news. Still… who will watch over…”
“Between me, Kahlee and David, she’ll be well taken care of.”
“Thanks, mom.” said Jane.
“There is more…” the eldest Shepard said ominously with a grin on her face.

____________________________________________________________

Since the Normandy wasn’t due to be back for at least a week, Rick had the time to visit friends or rather to invite friends over. The first one has been Tali to avoid any trouble of the physical kind. While he was spared getting hit by the quarian, she still hugged him to death and much like Ashley, cried. She was obviously happy and relieved to see him alive.
There wasn’t much to talk about from her side beyond her boring duties of Admiral. Temporary settling her people on Earth and finding them dextro food was her main activity. Thankfully quarians were in the same boat with the Turians and the two species got closer as they exchanged agriculture tips to cultivate efficiently the land that the Alliance had lent them. The other part of her duties was to represent her people to the multiple meetings gathering all species representatives. That was a bizarre situation for her and Koris (who was there with her), after all the quarians had been the pariah of the galaxy for the last three hundred years. That all species were agreeing to welcome them back into the fold was a great success but will require some time to adapt for them as their society based on community was a stark contrast to the individualism of the others.

She also talked about the difficulties the Geths met to be accepted as a sentient race and to invite them to be part of the council government. Thankfully, with the quarians sticking with the synthetics and a small speech from Jane, the geths were given a trial period to see if they could integrate themselves with the organics and an ambassador. Things hadn’t gone that well with the rachnis but the revelation that they had been indoctrinated by the reapers at the time of their conquest of the galaxy didn’t completely shut down the negotiations. It was fine for them as they just wanted to live in peace but agreed to have a representative and further negotiations at a later date. The Leviathans never showed up and simply left to who knows where, which was probably Desponia, the planet where Jane found them.

Other than that, Tali manifested her desire to be an active part of Rick’s and hers company and not just be a CEO in name only. When he shared his intention to rule the galaxy she thought she was making a joke but when he explained how he would do it, she had been gobsmacked. Seeing the potential, she asked for more details which he was happy to provide. In the end she didn’t even hesitate for a second to say she wanted in.

Before leaving, she confessed that she had met someone a few months ago and started to date. Rick was very happy for her and told her so to her disbelief but reminded her jokingly that she could date or even marry whoever she wanted but that she would always be his. She joked back saying that he was her high minion and that he belonged to her, not the other way around.

The second person to visit was Miranda, who to his surprise was accompanied by Jennifer and Kahlee. The latter had clearly learned a lot about him and didn’t hug him to death and instead gave him a short but very heartfelt one. She did however check him under every angle to see if everything was alright.

“Miranda fixed me, of course I’m alright.”
“I want to see for myself.” the blonde woman protested.
“I’m feeling a bit offended here.” the sexy ravenette said in mock outrage.
“You’d do the same for your sister.” quipped Jennifer, bumping her girlfriend’s hip with her own.
“Ugh… you’re right.”
“I see the two of you are going strong.” Rick said with a knowing grin.
“What are you talking about?” / “Oh, shut up!”

The denial from Miranda and the implicit acknowledgement from Jennifer of their romantic relationship made Rick snort and Kahlee smile.

“Jennifer!”
“What? You know it’s useless to hide things from him. His big brain probably already figured it out from some shit or another.”
“Pretty much. I knew it would go that way since our return from Sanctuary. I’m glad I wasn’t hoping in vain.” he said as he walked over to them, hugged Miranda and kissed her on the cheek before turning to his sister in law.
“Fuck off, I still don’t hug.”
“Me too.” he replied, taking her in his arms for a moment, something she did in kind before slapping her ass and untangling himself.
“Are you going to slap my ass every time?!”
“Yes.”
“Please don’t touch my girlfriend’s ass.”
“You’re my pet, remember? Everything you own is mine and that includes your girlfriend.” Rick joked.
““In your dreams.””
“Trust me, you don’t want to know what’s going on in my dreams. Anyway, Jane will be there in a minute, so let’s sit and chat.”

Walking toward the living room he put Kahlee’s arm in his own and led everyone to the couches. Right on time, Jane came from the bedroom area while holding little Arianna against her chest. Kahlee immediately extended her arms and received her niece without words being exchanged. The little redhead smiled at her aunt and gurgled something prompting the older woman to coo back. Her mother sat on the other side of Rick and leaned slightly against his shoulder.

“Can’t believe something so cute came from you.” Jennifer said.
“If you thought it came from Jane you need to have your eyes checked.” he retorted and got a slap on the chest from the woman mentioned.
“So you really are her father.” voiced Miranda.
“So, I’ve been told. But since she has the Grissom’s eyes I never doubted it.”
“Grissom?” she asked, confused.
“You didn’t tell her?” Jane said to Jennifer.
“Told me what?”
“No. I was told to not talk about it and it wasn’t my business in the first place.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I found out during the war that Jon Grissom was my father.”

“Jon Grissom as in…”
“Yes.”
“Wow… Wait, that means…”
“That I’m his older sister and this little beauty’s aunt.” Kahlee clarified as she began rocking Arianna gently. “I’m not surprised that you knew I knew.”
“So you’re the son of two of the greatest heroes of humanity. Good thing I destroyed your blood sample, the Illusive Man would have used that.” said Miranda garnering everyone’s look. “Don’t look at me like that, your mother sold you out when she came as often as she could while I was reconstructing you. I caught her calling you ‘son’ or ‘baby boy’ many times. And no I don’t care about the incest thing. I was ‘born’ from my father splicing and reconstructing his own DNA without any mother involved, when you think about it, it’s incest in a way too.”
“““...”””
“I’m surprised at the number of people fine with that in my entourage.” Rick commented.
“I wasn’t or rather I’m still a bit uncomfortable with it to tell the truth but I understand how and why it happened.” confessed Kahlee.
““Really?””
“Yes but I tell myself… You don’t choose who you fall in love with and that the genome therapy makes incest irrelevant and most of all, that I have the cutest niece in the whole Galaxy.” the blonde woman answered with a smile.
“Speaking of love. I’m glad Anderson finally proposed. I was expecting that he would do that as soon as the war was over after I threatened him but…”
“You what?!”
“He didn’t tell you? Oh, I’m going to have some words with my future brother-in-law..”
“What are you talking about? Commander, what is he talking about?”
“It’s Jane. And we found your personal effects in Anderson’s apartment on the Citadel. When we opened the Citadel arms, Rick…”
“I implied strongly that he should make an honest woman out of you.” he finished the explanation leaving his blonde sister gaping. “Anyway, I’m glad that the two of you are here.” he said to the couple sitting in front of him.
“The council wants the Normandy and its crew to go fetch the people of Project Safeguard.”
“Orianna.” whispered Miranda.
“Yes. Hers is the first bunker I intend to visit. I didn’t need to give you an invite, right?”
“That wasn’t necessary, no.”
“That’s what I thought. Secondly…” he began to say as he looked at Jennifer. “I want to make a stop on Eden Prime. Do you want to come?”

The question had shocked the biotic instructor and her mind froze. She never thought about visiting her family, or at least their graves since they were dead. Neither did she think about going to her homeworld. She wasn’t sure of what to think, actually.

“I…I don’t know.”
“I asked but it was out of politeness. You’re coming. Period.”
“The fuck?!”
“I have a lot to tell you but only there.” the man proclaimed before changing the topic again back to Miranda. “Be ready, because once we come back I’m going to work you to the bone. We have a lot to do.”
“I figured. I already recruited Mordin, David Archer and made a list of lots of people working from every scientific field.”
“... Yeah, recruiting you is definitely the fourth best decision I’ve ever made.”
“Fourth?”
“What are the first three?” Jane asked.
“3rd is freeing EDI, 2nd is leaving when I was ten, first is marrying Analysse.”
“I’m not in the top three?!”
“Top three? You’re not even in the top te... I’m kidding!!” he shouted as he raised his hand in surrender as Jane was about to strike him good.
“You better.” she mumbled and gave everyone a good laugh.
“So, Jen… I heard your kids were on Earth for the battle?”
“Those little shits… Yeah, they were.  Since they are the best trained biotics in the alliance they all send a request to be part of the assault as support. Behind my back. I’m still pissed at them for that.”
“And still very proud.” Miranda said with a knowing smile.
“Of course I am! Tch… They kicked reapers’ ass and protected Carrot Top over there.”
“Wait, wait, wait. First off, Carrot Top? Are you stealing by shtick, girlie?”
“Yes, so what? Fuck off!”
“I’m so… I’m so… moved.” he said, faking wiping a tear from his eye and dodging a  couch pillow thrown by Jennifer. “What do you mean they saved that idiot ass?”
“I was separated from the team soon after we landed in London. I had to make my way alone through the rendez-vous point. Lots of reapers troops I had to deal with. Thankfully your camo armor worked wonders but without the helmet having the same ability I got caught. I fought my way through, went out of ammo then fought with my biotics. That wasn’t enough as I was quickly overwhelmed but thankfully…”
“We were there. Our job was to support a small garrison hidden in an abandoned subway station; we were moving out when we saw her. The rest is history.” Jen finished the explanation.
“Did they progress?”
“Yeah. Rodriguez of all people can do your barrier trick with a lot of concentration and the rest is not that far off. They mastered the curved shots and have enough experience to actually fight on the frontline as biotics now.” she replied, making Rick whistle at the development.
“I’m not surprised Rodriguez was the first to get it. What she lacked in power was counterbalanced with control. Maybe I should teach them one or two more things before we leave. Where are they?”
“Currently on Omega.” Kahleed answered.
“They went to visit and see Aria.” Jennifer explained at the quizzical look Rick sported.
“Mom? Are they mad?”
“Nah. Apparently your mommy took a liking to them. They invited her each time they were on leave for a drink, asked questions, shit like that.”
“She must really have been bored.”

The conversation was interrupted by the cries and screams of Arianna who was trying to get out of Kahlee’s hands. Immediately, Rick picked her up and went to her room. The little miss needed a new diaper and he was quick to do so after whipping her baby butt. The used diaper was dumped into the garbage bin in the room and he was back to the living room with a very happy daughter if her giggling and babbling was any indication. Sitting back down at his spot he noticed Miranda’s look of envy and sadness.

“Orianna.” he said to the ravenette.
“Yes? Orianna what?” she asked.
“She’s the solution to your problem.” he replied simply, making her realize what he was implying.
“I can’t… I can’t ask her that.”
“Sure you can.”

“Ask what? And what problem?” Jennifer wondered aloud.
“It’s nothing…”
“Yeah, I call bullshit on that.”
“It’s not on the table anymore, so there is no need to concern yours…”
“Babe. Spill. It.” the ex-convict said, grabbing her girlfriend's hand.

Miranda looked at Jennifer with uncertainty. She had dreamed of being a mother, to make her own family for the longest time. Sadly her bastard of a father had made sure that would not be an option when he created her, the control freak wanting to be in control of his legacy. So she had given up and focused on watching over Orianna. However Rick had given her hope when he told her he had a solution. At the time she had been single though and now she wasn’t anymore. She wasn’t sure Jennifer would want to raise a baby with her and in fact was pretty sure she wouldn’t want to, so she had given up on it. Being in a relationship with Jennifer was bringing her more happiness that she had ever known and she didn’t want to let it go. Besides they have been together for a little more than a year, it was too soon in her opinion to have a baby talk.
Looking at her girlfriend’s determined look, she knew she couldn’t get out of this and cursed Rick for broaching the subject.

“I… wanted to be a mother but couldn’t because of what my father did to me.”
“... Oh.” was the simple reply Jennifer gave.
“But that was before we were together! I don’t…”
“Okay.”

“I know you don’t want to so...”
“Babe, I said ‘okay.’ ”

Rick, Jane, and Kahlee and even little Arianna looked in silence at what was happening. Jennifer pulled Miranda closer to her and repeated her answer.

“I said okay. Let’s have a baby.”
“That’s… Are you… Really?” was asked in a disbelieving tone.
“Sure, why not? I mean… Three years back? I would have said no. I wasn’t clearly fit to take care of children or be a mother. Yet, it turned out I’m good with kids. I swear a lot, sure, but I’m getting better at that and so far my kids are great. I ain’t going to lie, had I been single, I wouldn’t go with it but I’m not. Every screw up I could make, you’d be there to fix or stop me from doing. They won’t get all screwed up like me. So, I know I won’t be the best mother out there but you’d be so… okay.”
“You’re selling yourself short, Jen. Look at the Bitcher of Torfan. She’s a monster and has two kids. One turned out perfect, the other turned out to be Jane.” he said and felt the nails of his sister dig deep into the flesh of his thigh in protest and made Kahlee snort. “I knew the moment you showed concern and worry for unknown kids undergoing what you went through when we were on Teltin, that you’d be a good mother. At the end of the day that’s all being a good mother is. Showing concern, care and love towards their kids. Sure, you’re not perfect, but you’re ready to do anything in your power to help a child. That’s more than enough.”

As he said that he stood up and walked towards Jennifer to give her Arianna. She was in panic at first but Rick corrected the position of her arms and hands to hold his baby girl correctly. Unsure of what to do and a bit scared she followed his instruction to rock her up and down, gently. As the smile and happy squeal of the baby made her way to her ears, Jennifer smiled broadly.

“See? Not that difficult. It’s just annoying to deal with the screams, cries and full diapers but not difficult.”
“We’re doing this.” Jennifer said, looking at Arianna then up to Miranda, “Whenever you’re ready.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to pressure you into…”
“We’re doing this. Period.” She replied and leaned to her side to give her girlfriend a kiss as Rick went back to sit and took Jane’s hand in his.
“So as I was saying, I’m sure Orianna wouldn’t mind being an egg donor, and since she’s genetically your twin, the baby would be yours.”
“I still can’t ask her that.”
“Babe, you’ve been watching over her since she was as small as this one, you bet your ass you can.”
“She may even volunteer to carry the child to term if you don’t want to.” added Rick.
“No… It’s too much to ask her when she’s so young. Besides, I want to experience pregnancy myself.” the ravenette said as she stroked Arianna’s cheek with her finger.
“Am I the best match maker or what?” Rick whispered a bit too loud to Jane who smiled and nodded.
“As if!” Jennifer protested.
“So far, Garrus and Dr Michel are still going strong from what I heard, despite the months spent separated, there are the two of you, Kahlee and Anderson…”
“It’s been going on for nearly two decades.” the blonde woman protested.
“Yeah, and one threat from me and suddenly he’s on his knees, a ring in hand.”
“That’s hardly because of your threat.”
“I’m taking credit anyway. Then there is Jane and me, Ashley and me, Liara and…”
“You’re just citing your conquests, Casanova.” interjected Miranda who tried her best to be stern but failed.
“So? I made a match with myself, nothing wrong with that so far..”

The ravenette simply shook her head at the logic and picked Arianna from Jennifer’s arms, to play a bit with her.

“You can’t date all those women at once.” Kahlee said with a frown.
“Who’s saying I can’t?”
“I do. It’s not healthy. Did you think of the effect it could have on Arianna? Jane, you’re not agreeing with this, aren’t you?”
“I’m…” she began and hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. The subject was not something she had thought about recently. “If I could, I would keep you all to myself.” Jane confessed looking at her brother. “ But the reality is… I can’t. I can’t do that to Ashley because she won’t ever move on from you and I’m fine with that, I mean… I’m fine with her being a part of us. Partly because she’s somewhat my bestie, partly because… well… I’m not ready to switch my lady parts for synthetic ones.” she half joked, making both Miranda and Jennifer snort and Kahlee embarrassed.
“That’s too much information!” the blonde protested as Rick gave her a one arm hug and rested his head on her shoulder.
“What did you expect with this kind of conversation and entourage?”
“I was expecting Jane to agree that it wouldn’t be good for Arianna to have more than two parents. Not…”
“Hear about your brother, his sex drive and his pussy destroyer that leaves you sore for days?”
“Jennifer! This is… Wait, how do you know about… NO! How many are they?!” Kahlee shouted standing up and looking down at her brother realizing that he had slept with her friend / instructor.

“Well…”
“You’re the only adult woman in the room he hasn’t slept with.” Jennifer said.
“Then there is Ashley, Liara and her parents…” Jane began to count on her hands.
“Wait, wait, wait! Both her parents?!” Jennifer said and whistled when Rick nodded.
“Foursome are awesome.” he simply commented.
“There is also EDI and Dorothea…”
“EDI?!” exclaimed Miranda.
“You fucked the sex bot! I can’t believe it! Wait, who’s the other one?”
“EDI too but in her organic body.” replied Rick.
“What?! She’s in an organic body? That’s… How?” asked Jen.
“I don’t know, you should ask her. She’s the ebony goddess with white hair and purple eyes.”
“Damn! She has a body hotter than her synthetic body!”
“There is or rather was Tali…”
“Not ready to forget about her, she screams like a banshee.” Jennifer said with a smirk.
“So a total of ten.” Jane finished counting.
“Honestly, that’s not many in five years.” Rick defended.
“It is when it’s at the same time!”
“There are only Jane and Ashley though. Tali got herself a boyfriend, Liara is… well… it’s to be determined. Her parents are out, and I am saying it here just in case but her father is a woman. EDI, I’m pretty sure is having at the very least a platonic relationship with Joker, so she’s out too. Dorothea… probably will explore, that was the crux of our relationship to begin with. Jennifer was a very good one time with Miranda?”
“You know it!”
“And Miranda… Yeah, what about you? I’m guessing since you’re pretty serious and talking about babies, you’re out too, right?”
“Yes. Though if I’m ordered or allowed… entirely another story.”
“Really? I’m not enough?” Jennifer said in surprise.
“You are, love. But you have to admit…”
“Yeah, yeah I know… Big fat dick and the skill to use it is sometimes missing. You know what? Let’s do this. You or me or both when we have that itch.”
“You would let me?” Miranda asked in half disbelief, half hope.
“Yeah. I’m not that much into dominating you and good enough at it so knock yourself…” 

Jennifer was interrupted but Miranda who simply grabbed her with one arm (the other holding Arianna) and was pulled forward for a very passionate kiss.

“I love you. Best girlfriend ever.”
“I can’t… I can’t believe this.” Kahlee said, sitting down in defeat, prompting Rick to gently rub her back in comfort.
“Everything’s going to be fine. Arianna is going to be the greatest kid. What’s with all her aunts, hmm? No way could she turn out bad.”
““Aunts?”” Jane and Kahlee asked.
“Well, you of course, then Jen over there and Ashley.”
“Me?!”
“Well, yeah. Sister in law and all that…”
“That’s not how it works.” said Miranda.
“Shh or you’re not getting the godmother job.” he replied jokingly.
“Godmother?” She asked a brow raised.
“I was thinking of asking Ashley. No offense Miranda.” said Jane.
“None taken.”
“You said it yourself, she’s going to stay so I was already considering her like a second mom for Arianna. Though if that bothers you, that’s alright. Usually children have a godmother and a godfather, she’d just have two godmothers.”
“I… let me think about it, alright?” the redhead asked and Rick nodded his agreement.
“Kahlee. The Normandy crew is more than just a crew, it’s a family so Arianna has plenty of uncles and Aunts. Plenty of people who will watch out for her and to make sure she turns out right, despite the more than unusual relationships. Besides, she got you too, right? If you’re not enough, then no one is.”

Kahlee took a deep breath and let out a long sigh to evacuate what she was feeling. Her brother’s antics was throwing everything she had been taught out the window and she was out of her comfort zone. She knew, however, that she needed to adapt to be with the only blood family she had left. Losing it and being alone was not something she wanted, especially when her fiance was Jane’s, her brother's other half sister and mother of her niece, mentor and father figure.

“That’s a lot to digest. You may look like dad and have the same broody nature but anything else is different. It’s so… weird for me to see his face say and do things that he was so much against and taught me as I grew up.”
“And how did his teachings work out for him in the end? The Bitcher could have been in his life, me too with you and yet he chose to stay away, alone. I say, let’s all be together? And I mean by that a tight knit family, not… My advice? Go with the flow.”
“You’re so different than when we were corresponding through emails. Are you always that...”
“Chaotic?”
“Childish?”
“Bat-shit insane?”
“Yes?”
“““Yes!””” replied the three women he had slept with.
“I dare any of you to look me in the eye and say that my presence in their lives not only made it more interesting but also better.” Rick challenged.

None of the ladies could.