John and Tali stared at Glen for what felt like hours. Glen tried to find something to say to fill the silence, but found she couldn't. She was just about as surprised as they were.
"If this is some kind of joke …" John said, brow furrowing.
"No!" Glen took a deep breath and said, "It's not … and yes, of course it's yours, John."
"What? That's not … I mean, I'd never think …" John said, cheeks flushed as Tali stared at Glen for a few more moments before activating her omni-tool.
She held the glowing orange hologram over her stomach for a moment, her expression quickly changing from disbelief to astonishment. Glen could see the tiny fetus on the display from where she stood. "John …"
John looked at her omni-tool's display. His jaw dropped a moment later.
"But … how …" he managed to say.
"Your strawberries." Glen said, unable to keep the smile off her face. "The stuff we used to make them omni-compatible was in the sprinklers. We both got a good dose of it, and in Tali's case, it … well, between that and the gene therapy, she's now biologically compatible with you. Congrats, John; you're gonna be a dad."
Tali was the first to recover. She let out a laugh of pure joy and threw her arms around her husband. John lifted her from the ground, joining her in laughter before planting a kiss on her stomach.
Glen smiled and turned to leave, only for John and Tali to grab her from behind and pull her into a hug.
"Big sister!" Tali said, "This is the best present ever!"
"Yeah, tell me that when the first kid's here, screaming and drawing on the walls." Glen said with a grin.
"First kid?" John asked. "You mean-"
"Pretty sure the process is permanent. I don't know the odds, but the way you two go at it, I'm sure we'll see quite a few little Shepards running around this place."
"Oh!" Tali said, gray cheeks darkening. "W-well, maybe two or three-"
"Oh, at least a dozen!" John said, getting surprised shriek from Tali as he picked her up again. "A whole flock of Shepards!"
Glen opened her mouth to respond when she heard the door to John and Tali's quarters open. Liara's voice called out, "John? Tali? Is everything all right?"
"Better than all right!" He said, carrying Tali back into the main room. She gave him a swift slap on the backside when he put her down that made him grin all the wider. "Tali's pregnant."
"What?" Liara said, eyes wide. "But she's … and you're …"
"Why don't we talk about it over dinner?" John said. "Everyone. It's a house-hold event, after all."
"Are you sure?" Glen asked. "I mean, it's your anniversary."
"Yes, and we're going to share it with our friends." John said, looking to Tali for agreement she readily gave.
Quievus was one of the few restaurants in the cities near the Shepard House that catered to both levo and dextro customers. They needn't have bothered; Chloe spent much of the meal fussing over Tali, while John seemed too excited to eat his food.
Glen took the opportunity to try some quarian cuisine for a change. She picked something off the menu that had an interesting-looking name (a shame that a Dreamer's ability to translate other languages doesn't work in regards to written word), and received a pleasing stew that tasted strongly of pepper and potatoes.
"The implications are enormous." Liara said as Glen took a sip of her drink. "Current gene therapies have a success rate of twenty percent or less; if we could reproduce these effects, the quarians could be out of their suits in a matter of weeks."
"We still aren't completely sure if what happened to Tali is a result of Miss Glen's transversion cells or the gene therapy," Chloe said, finally sitting down. "Or some combination of both. I'm thrilled this worked out well for you, Tali, but we really should run more tests to make sure it is safe."
"Of course." Tali said. "Is everything all right?"
Chloe nodded. "No signs of rejection, and growth is well in-line for quarian gestation."
"Then the child will be quarian." Javik said. The prothean had been more than just a bit skeptical when he'd heard the news.
"Quarian, but with definite human characteristics." Chloe told them. "I'm already detecting some of the genetic markers from your gene therapy as well."
"Hey!" Glen said, grinning at the excitement in Tali's eyes. "No need for suits."
"Or bubbles." Tali said, her hands resting on her stomach. "I … I'll be able to hold her, to feel her skin on mine."
Kasumi hugged Tali's side. She hadn't stopped smiling since she heard the news. "Hoping for a girl?"
"I'll be happy with a healthy child." Her expression softened. "Keelah … part of me still can't believe it."
"Just wait a few months." Liara said, shifting in her seat. "It's much easier to believe when they start kicking."
Most of the table had a good chuckle at that.
"Might have a word with Matron Perriweather." Kasumi said before draining her glass. "She just had a litter; perhaps she could give you some advice."
"Ah, yes, the yulias." Javik said, setting down his own glass. "I must confess, I thought them pests when you first brought them."
"And now?" Glen asked.
Javik snorted. "Still pests … but friendly ones. I could, however, do without their young calling me 'the ancient one'."
"The ancient one doesn't sound so bad," said Garrus, otherwise known to the yulias as 'half-face bird-man'."
The group finished their dinner and moved on to dessert, a large pudding of some sort and two pieces of apple pie. Conversation went, as it often did when they got together as a group, to their old friends and allies. Glen listened for a while before letting her thoughts drift. Just a few years ago, she'd been a determined loner, outright avoiding having connections. Now here she was, part of a family that included a turian, a quarian, an asari, and a prothean. It almost made her close friends at Ebott look normal.
"Glen?"
Glen shook her head and looked at Tali. "Sorry?"
"Well, with Garrus and Chloe adopting, and Liara and I carrying, I was wondering … have you ever had a child?"
"Personally? No. Teria and I were talking about it, before …" Glen's smile faded as she thought of Teria, her beautiful tigreth bride. For the first time in a while, she felt the awful pang of absence in her chest, and a powerful yearning to be with the woman she loved.
Shaking her head, Glen said, "The thing is, having children is just one way to plant a seed. Having friends is another, and am glad to say the seeds of friendship we've planted have grown since that fateful day John caught me snoozing behind that cargo crate on Eden Prime."
"Here, here!" John said lifting his glass. "To the seeds we've planted!" He put his arm around Tali, who took the opportunity to rest her head on his shoulder as he continued, "May they forever bear us and our families fruit."
"To the seeds," chanted the rest of the group, raising their glasses in tandem.
"Hang on!" Glen hurriedly put down her glass and stood up from the table. Hurrying a short distance away, she made a rectangle with her fingers and said, "Okay, on my mark, say 'Seeds!"
She lowered her hands, even as the rectangle she made with her fingers remained. She hurried back to her seat and turned to face the glowing rectangle, smiling wide as she said, "Now!"
"Seeds!" everyone said moments before the rectangle let off a flash.
