Author's Note: I have been remiss! Thank you all for your favorites and follows and reviews. It has been a long time since I wrote fanfiction, let alone anything with such a complex mythology. With this chapter, I complete this piece, but hope to have more soon. However, the next will probably not be Shakarian (though, I do love it so). Then again, inspiration may strike and it all could change.

Sorry this took so long to post - Busy schedule and Christmas, etc ... didn't leave me a lot of time for writing. Thank you again for your patience and support. I hope you enjoy!

~Kernel C.D.
_

"Garrus?"

He paused and turned turned at the waist to find David and Yumi approaching carrying packs from the mess tent. They looked at him quizzically, eyeing the form slumped on his shoulder. It didn't take long for Yumi's eyes to land on the carrier and realize what she was seeing.

"Is that a baby?" she gasped, eyebrows jumping on her forehead.

Garrus ignored the question, however, as he was hoping to speak to Lentea before walking in with two more mouths to feed.

"Is your mother around?" he asked, gesturing toward the mess tent with a small movement of the carrier.

David shook his head, "No, she was meeting with someone from the settlement council. She sent us to get food. Might be on her way back, now, though. It's been awhile."

"Miss Lia got up today, Mr. Garries," said the girl, still watching the sleeping baby. "Walked around and all. I've never seen a baby Turian before, Mr. Garries. Is it coming to stay with us, too?"

"Uh, well, about that - I'd really like to talk to your moth-"

"David; Yumi," said a familiar voice, scolding. "You two haven't gotten back to the tent yet? That baby was hungry an hour ago!"

Lentea materialized out of the crowd of settlers, face set in a frown. Her children apologized and took off at a jog to return to their home. As soon as they were out of earshot, she gave the turian a conspiratorial wink.

"Don't worry; Chakwas had left plenty of food for the baby. I just like to see them act like they're in a hurry once in awhile."

The baby in the carrier suddenly sneezed twice in quick succession, causing Lentea to jump a little. The child looked up at her bleary-eyed for only a second before falling back to sleep.

"Is that a baby?"

Garrus adjusted his burdens a little before nodding, "Yes, it is. He and his brother-"

She then noticed the child on his shoulder and covered her mouth, "Oh, my."

"-were collected by the Reapers. I found them on one of the big ships this morning."

"Are they alright?"

"Tired and hungry, but otherwise fine. They, er … won't let me go."

Lentea's eyebrows knitted together, half from concern and half from sympathy. Then, she gave Garrus a knowing look.

"I haven't known you long, Garrus, but I'm fairly sure you weren't exactly pushing them away."

If he could have, he would have shrugged, but as it was his head dipped a little to one side and he said, "No, not exactly."

She smiled, for which he was grateful, and said, "Don't worry. We will make room. Lia was walking today." Garrus nodded, often forgetting that they hadn't given Shepard's real name to their host.

"Yumi mentioned that."

"She seems to be feeling quite well. Even the doctor was pleased with her recovery. If you want my opinion, I think it was the baby."

This surprised Garrus some, "You think so?"

"Definitely. She was positively beaming most of the day."

"The girl is still with her, though, you said?"

"Yes, I told Karin that if she was willing to let her stay, I was more than happy to help take care of her. That goes for these two, as well. If we are unwilling to help each other, the galaxy would have been better off if the Reapers had succeeded."

Garrus was quiet most of the way home, but stopped short of the tent and said, "Can I ask one more favor of you?"

"Sure, but I think the kids and I need to stop by the supply tent and look for some more blankets and pillows. We'll have dinner when we get back," she said, knowing the question before it was asked. She called for her children and they disappeared into a crowd of other humans enjoying the pleasant weather before dusk.

Stepping closer to the tent, he could hear Amelia singing softly inside. He had never heard her sing before and found he would like to listen to it more often. He shifted to pull the curtain back but stopped.

"Hey," he whispered to the little boy asleep on his shoulder. He shook his shoulder a bit and said again a little louder, "Hey. Can you wake up?"

The child's eyes didn't even flicker.

There was no use putting it off any longer. Soon, Lentea and the children would be returning and the moment would be lost. Pushing aside the curtain veiling the entrance with the carrier, he entered. She blinked at him and he saw the moment her eyes took in his burdens and understood what they were. Shepard turned her head to observe him sidelong, one eyebrow quirked.

"Well, if I had expected you to bring something home, it wouldn't have been children." She paused, eyes falling to the dozing baby in her arms before returning to Garrus, narrowed. "Though, if this is a new habit you're forming, perhaps we had better discuss it sooner rather than later."

His mandibles twitched; humor was a good sign, he determined. Even if she thought he was crazy, she was at least making an effort at diffusing an otherwise tense situation.

"I'd promise not to do it again, but … they're just so damned cute."

Amelia lowered her head a bit, glaring at him through her brow, but said, "Bring them here, let me see."

Carefully, Garrus set the carrier near her leg and set the rucksack aside, shifting the older boy off his shoulder and into his lap as he sat beside her.

"How is she?" he asked, nodding toward the little red-haired girl.

Shepard smiled, "She's settling in."

"So... we can keep her?" he asked and Amelia made a face.

"You've never spent much time around children, have you?"

He shrugged, adjusting the boy in his lap, "Not too much, but I think I do alright."

"Well, for starters, you don't just 'keep them'. And I'll add that you haven't had to change her diaper yet, so you may not been too keen on her after that."

"I've been killing smelly things with you for a long time," said Garrus, "Oh, er, not that we'll be killing the children for smelling."

Shepard shook her head, "Yeah, you do alright, Vakarian."

"You know what I meant."

The girl fussed a little in her arms, stretching a little and Amelia began to bounce her ever so lightly. The older boy stirred then, looking around dazed for only a second before inhaling sharply and beginning to fight against the arms holding him.

"Whoa, now," said Garrus, trying to calm him. Shepard leaned away, turning the baby away from the younger turian. "Calm down, son. You're alright."

The boy craned his neck to look around over Garrus' arm, making straining noises in his throat. As soon as his eyes found the baby in the carrier, he seemed to calm and Garrus loosened his hold on him. He gave the man a brief look, shifting to lean back against his chest where he could easily see the baby carrier.

The little girl yawned with a squeak and stretched her legs straight out. The boy gave a start, looking at Shepard and the baby with wide eyes, recoiling a little into Garrus' embrace.

"It's okay," said Garrus, "They're with me."

The baby blinked her green eyes tiredly, looking around. The boy braced his hands on the man's leg and leaned closer to the baby, giving a small inquisitive grunt. He seemed more wary of Amelia than he was of the child, but closed the distance a bit more, nonetheless.

"Hi there," said Shepard, smiling and holding out her hand. He looked at it suspiciously and didn't take it, but moved to kneel between the two adults. Garrus took the opportunity to remove his armor and the boy stood and watched him, as though to make sure he wasn't leaving him alone with the humans.

"I'm not going anywhere," Garrus promised as he laid his armor in its case. When he looked back, the boy had crouched flat-footed and was carefully touching the baby girl's hand. He began to be very curious, letting his guard down more and more as he was exposed to this new setting.

He returned to Garrus' arms when Lentea and her children returned, but the smells of dinner enticed him to investigate these new humans a little more closely. This too drew the baby turian out of slumber and Garrus was pleased to see Amelia's grin, eyes moist as she had her first interaction with him.

Soon, they were all seated on the floor enjoying their meal, Yumi showing things to the turian boy that she thought he might find interesting in an effort to see if he could speak. However, he was most interested in his food and would watch her for a few moments between servings. Garrus and Amelia fed the babies in between feeding themselves and he couldn't help but love the way Shepard seemed to transition into that role with ease. He felt sure she was probably as terrified as he was on the inside, considering he had brought this on them without even conferring with her first, but he hoped her upturned lips and bubbling laughter wasn't just a nervous act for his benefit.

Later, when Lentea, David and Yumi had retired to the rear room of the tent and both turian boys and the little girl were sleeping soundly, he and Amelia lay with the older turian boy on the blankets between them, the babies in their own carriers. Propped on her elbow, Shepard lightly stroked the boy's brow plates and he purred in his sleep. Garrus found, with no small measure of amusement, that the little girl cooed with every exhale. Reaching across the boy, Garrus touched Shepard's stomach with the back of his hand.

"So …" he said, voice trailing as he wasn't sure exactly what he wanted to say.

She smiled vaguely at the child between them and asked, "Do you remember where we were a week ago?"

Garrus thought for a moment, retracting his hand reluctantly.

"On the Normandy, chasing Kai Leng to Cerberus headquarters," she said, answering her own question.

"It's only been a week? Seems much longer," he said honestly.

"In the last seven days, I have fought some of the hardest battles; my strongest enemies." Shepard paused, "Faced the hardest decision of my life."

"Which decision was that?"

"Whether or not to destroy the Reapers."

Mandibles twitching, Garrus said, "You haven't really talked much about what happened on the Citadel before the end."

"It wasn't as easy as you might think."

"You made the right decision."

Shepard looked at him then, "I made a selfish decision."

"Eradicating the biggest threat to the galaxy was a selfish decision?"

"I could have saved every-"

Garrus couldn't keep the incredulous tone from his voice as he cut her off, "Amelia, stop it. I have seen you do the impossible and sacrifice more of yourself than any other person, but if millions of years of history has told us anything, it is that sometimes people go extinct and there is no way to stop it. If there was a way to save the Reapers themselves, I'm sure you would have found it."

She was quiet for a moment.

"What brought this on, anyway?" he asked, reaching for her hand. She let him twine their fingers.

"There was a way, Garrus," she told him.

"Amelia-"

"I had three choices, but only one of them would have put me here in this room right now."

Garrus watched her face for a moment.

"For what it is worth, I'm glad this was your choice."

"As guilty as I feel for saying it, I am, too." She returned her gaze to the child between them. "Especially now."

The boy stirred and rolled to his side.

"But for all the wars I have fought, and all the people that have set out to kill me, nothing has been more terrifying than this."

"Three small children?"

She shook her head and laid back against the pillows.

"Besides the fact that we are currently living on the floor of someone else's tent, I should probably tell you that I am a terrible cook."

Garrus chuckled and yawned, "Shepard, these kids are survivors. Your cooking won't change that, but just um … get them to really like you first."