Thanks to those who bother me and make me continued to write. There are so many I can't even list you all anymore.

Again I do not own the Mass Effect series, characters, story/plot. That belongs to Bioware and EA; I'm simply a customer who keeps buying all your merch. If I was, there would have been a VI Fish Feeder sooner.

Family Moments:

Ch. 5: Now Shoot

" Breathe."

Lia really did try to listen to the ghost of a voice besides her, but she couldn't help but fidget as her eye was pressed up to the scope of the sniper rifle.

" Slower now, and try not to fidget." Her instructor continued calmly over the wind. The young Quarian shifted her weight from one foot to another before forcing herself to hold still.

" Breathe Lia. You're holding your breath again." came a small correction from her instructor again.

Shit. How did he seem to notice every little thing? Even at that, how did he manage to correct her yet keep it in a positive light like her father?! Sure enough, she could heat the Ba-Bump of her heartbeat in her ears from lack of air. So she took in a breath and tried to refocus on what she was doing. As much as she tried, she simply couldn't hone and lock onto the glass bottle perched on top of the Krogan statue's head; and for a multitude of reasons.

First being the sniper rifle she was holding. The Widow-98 was a hefty rifle, the weight just a microscopic smidge under being 'too-flippin-heavy-to-carry-into-battle' (which made it difficult for solider to multi-task between shooting and powers equaling out into slower power cool-downs) and 100% off-putting to a beginner. Yet, she was still a favorite amongst snipers for her reliability and ability to 'kill-darn-near-anything' in one shot. Never the less, it was heavy for Lia and only managed to grow into feeling more like a one-ton Krogan in her arms rather than a gun.

Secondly was the sky-cars. They would constantly whip by without warning and not only manage to scare her, but whip her hood right up onto her head and over her face making it impossible for her to line up any type of shot what-so-ever. Sniping and a clear vision tended to go hand in hand after all.

But more importantly than those two, was how the hell they were getting away with doing this in on the Citadel. Seriously, they were perched up on top of one of the 'C-Sec only' bridges, shooting bottles off the Krogan Statue's head.

" Lia. Focus. Shoot." Came the small scold.

Right. Shooting. That was what she was doing. The Quarian finally shook the thoughts out of her head and honed in. She looked for bottle in the scope of her rifle, her little tongue peeking from the side of her mouth when it was perfectly lined up. Her finger slowly tightened on the trigger.

Her other hand steadying the gun tightened, breathing stopped, and...

CRACK!

Lia quickly lowered the gun and stood on her tip-toes excitedly." Did get it?" She chirped curiously as she bounced from one foot to another. She quickly looked up to the blue clad armored Turian besides her who was looking through the scope of a battle worn Black Widow. He moved his mandibles slightly before firing a single shot- immediately glass could be heard breaking in the distance.

" Nope." Lia's happy mood deflated as the Turian continued," You forgot to factor in the wind speed and drop of the bullet." He chuckled then before he looked down at his niece. He clicked his tongue once, opening his mouth to speak before the little Quarian bursted into a fit.

" ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! How can I? I can't do everything! Here I am trying to focus on aiming and dealing with crazy sky-car drivers-" The child took a moment to gesture her hand up as a sky-car flew past them in an effort to make a point,"- and now you're telling me I gotta focus on bullets dropping and wind speed? I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT! Plus this rifle is so heavy-"

" You forgot steadying your breathing-"

" Oh excuse-" the girl dragged out the 'E' slightly like her mother did when she was having spats with her father,"- me Uncle Garrus. I forgot breathing too." The child rolled her eyes before she plopped onto her butt and crossed her bowed legs. After huffing and resting her chin on her hands she concluded her rant with a pout and," I'm never gonna be as good as you. I'm not Archangel material..."

Silence washed over them both for a moment and Garrus couldn't help but smile as he looked down at his niece. Finally a soft 'hmmmm' left him as he glanced off into the distance." I wasn't always Archangel or a Ex C-Sec officer or Uncle Garrus." He glanced down at the pouting Quarian from the corner of his eye before continuing." I was young once, despite it being so long ago, and just like you I struggled." Slowly Lia looked up, eyes searching her Uncle's face as he talked to her.

" And you know what my father told me? He said,' This is exactly when you try HARDER. This is when you pull yourself together and you do it. Because if you stop now- and you give up on something when it gets hard- you're never gonna make it anywhere in life'." Closing his eyes Garrus paused a moment letting the words that helped mold him sink in for her. Finally he looked at the girl and continued, reciting his father's words yet adding and modifying them into his own." I'm not doing this to punish you, or to make you doubt yourself Lia. One of my jobs as your Uncle is not only to protect you as I've vowed from the moment you were born, but its also to teach you how to become an adult. We- your mom, your dad, your other uncles and aunts- are here to guide you. We're here to build a stable foundation for you so that when you become an adult you'll be able to choose what kind of woman you would like to be."

Finally Garrus looked at her before he knelt down," We want you to be able to choose your own life, your own path. We want you to have dreams and not be afraid to chase them. We want only what is best for you, simply because we all love you."

There was another long pause as the two stared at each other before Lia sniffled and rested her forehead affectionately on her Uncles. Nothing had to be said as the two both stood back up. They were both on the same page as the child raised the Widow-98 back up and aimed it at another bottle that was placed on another bridge farther away from them.

Garrus took a moment to straighten and clear his throat." Now...Shoot."

CRACK!

Author's Note: 'A day with the Psychotic Biotics' and 'The Great Urtz Adventure' chapters were lost when my old laptop died. I will try to rewrite them for my special Twelve Days of Christmas challenge. In short I will be updating this story once every day starting Dec. 14th. If you have anything you might wanna see or be mentioned, send me a PM and I'll see what I can do.

It's good to be back.

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edit on 12/13/2014: Changed the two Zaeed approved terms in the story. Sorry about that everyone.