Commander John Shepard (goodshepard) wrote in blackpoint, @ 2014-01-24 20:38:00 |
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One of the benefits of having a five year gap between children was that the older one was capable of keeping the younger one occupied. And by occupied, Tali just had to watch like a hawk to make sure David wasn’t about to get buried under the sand by his older sister. At least to their benefit, Karin was pretty fantastic with him, and Tali was able to dig her bare toes into the sand while keeping her keen eyes trained on the side entrance of the hotel. The portal throwing them for a loop wasn’t anything new, but it’d never been this drastic before. Permanently, anyway. There were, of course, the times where either had turned into the opposite gender, or swapping ages around. Apparently being friendly the last few years had all been a show while it cooked up this. That thought had her grumbling and kicking around a little sand. Tali hadn’t told Karin about Shepard’s three year gap, figuring that it the omission would likely cause more confusion than anything. Just as she was about to swear and fall back on the sand in a dramatic pout, David’s hand rose to his mouth, full of sand. Launching herself forward, Tali landed on the sand stomach down, a few feet from her toddler, waving a hand wildly. “Hey- no eating sand. You’re only technically half-Quarian and perfectly capable of eating real food and not cardboard served to you by terrible cooks. No sand.” Shepard was used to his life taking a drastic turn, one that left him grabbing for handholds and keeping a straight face while the universe flipped upside down, but missing out on his son’s birth and three years of his daughter’s life had left his stomach feeling like it was full of lead. Still, he was the shrug and bear it type, not to mention the not add stress to his wife’s life if he could help it type, and he made his way to the beach with as much speed as he could manage. As he stepped out into the sand, the sight of Tali and the kids was enough to smooth away some of the tension in his shoulders. In fact, it was charming enough to stop him in place a few feet from them, his furrowed brows countering the small, wistful smile that turned up a corner of his mouth. “Better listen to her, kid. That tone of voice only gets worse,” he quietly joked as he made the last few steps and crouched down beside them. Reaching out to brush a hand over the toddler’s head, he let his focus shift to first his daughter and then Tali, both receiving the same careful once over with a sadder gaze then he meant to give them. “Three years. What a twisted joke.” David happily babbled, hands back to being focused on playing with the sand and not eating it. Tali sat back on her knees, brushing sand off of her clothing instead of staring at him like she wanted to. They’d just seen him that morning, which explained Karin’s quiet greeting that was clearly pleased but very Shepard in it’s toned down showing. She was smart enough to already know this wasn't a normal blip, but having grown up with the portal and magic, half-explanations were easy enough to give and receive with minimal freak-outs. And at least she wasn’t going to get suspicious as to why Tali leaned in to give Shepard a kiss that lingered longer than usual. Having parents that enjoyed PDA had dampened the gross-factor and just left her wrinkling her nose. “Technically, we just saw you this morning. You’ll just have to catch up a little, Captain.” Tali threaded a hand through his short crop hair, her eyes finally taking in his appearance. Three years hadn’t changed much, he had a few less laugh lines around his eyes and his hair was shorter - but varying lengths was nothing new to him. That didn’t stop Tali from teasing, however. “Hmm. Less gray, I can get used to that.” Shepard leaned into the kiss, even if his hand didn’t stray far from resting on the top of his son’s head. He did reach around to cradle the back of his wife’s as well, however, as if he were trying to keep a grip on as many members of his family as he could just to be safe. When he pulled away, he lowered himself to sit in the sand and pulled David into his lap. She was right, he did look like her. In all the very best ways. Smoothing a hand down the toddler’s back, Shepard waved a ‘come here’ gesture at Karin before responding to Tali’s teasing. “Oh I bet. I’m severely outnumbered and so easily stressed out, obviously,” he smirked. Karin scuttled over and plopped herself down on the freeside of his lap, hooking an arm around his neck. She’d grown so much already, and her eyes looked even more like his own. Shepard took a deep breath and hugged his kids before sliding an apologetic glance towards Tali. “I know I said I wanted a detailed debrief, but maybe we should just stick to the overview. You’re all happy? Healthy?” Tali had her teasing that was acceptable in a family-friendly environment, and her teasing that was more for private consumption only. Had they been in private, she would’ve joked more about gray hair, or offering to be the incubator for Jack and Joseph’s kid. Or any number of dirty things that cropped up and caused an embarrassing amount of blushing on her end but were always good for an ice breaker. “Umm,” Tali settled herself in next to him, folding her legs under her. Visiting Hawaii always made her a little glad she’d started out here, giving her time to get used to walking on different legs in strange terrains. Even after so many years, it was still a wonder that she didn’t end up falling flat on her face with every move. “Happy. Healthy. I learned about stock markets, we bought a new house... Karin’s in a 4H sharp shooter club and is better than everyone there, and,” Tali wiggled her eyebrows and tried to subtly point to David. “Surprise. Not really a surprise, but the doctors were convinced he was a she and wouldn’t listen to me when I did my own scan. We argued and I think the doctor is still annoyed at me. But I won fifty dollars in the bet.” Tali’s rambling was, unsurprisingly, exactly what Shepard needed. He leaned into her side as she spoke, a lazy smile curling his lips even after Karin wormed away to start building a sand castle. “A sniper, huh?” he mused, glancing over at the six year old in question with a proud gleam in his eye. “Garrus would have a field day.” Even now, years later, it wasn’t easy to mention his old friend without missing him, but Shepard had enough keeping his heart busy at the moment. On that line of thought, David latched onto Shepard’s arm and lifted his hand for a bit of toddler-speed pattycake just as Shepard was about to turn the conversation back towards his son’s missed birth. “I’m more than a little bummed I missed you showing up a licensed medical professional. Beyond missing the obvious,” he added, pressing a kiss to the top of the boy’s head. “Unless you cursed me out in Khelish. In which case...yeah, no, I can’t even make that joke with a straight face. I’m still bummed.” “At least no one can mistake who her father is.” Tali pointed out, face contorted in a humorous animation. David had her coloring and appetite, but both of the kids took after Shepard in the eyes. The synthesis hadn’t done much to her human body when the portal changed her, but Shepard’s eyes were unmistakable in either world. She reached out to run a hand along the toddler’s head, bumping fingers with Shepard. “Not that it would stop the jokes. Besides, it’s just until she’s old enough to have a shotgun.” Probably not a conversation that a normal family would be having, but considering the parents in question, no mention of a shotgun would’ve been suspect. Tali wrapped an arm around Shepard’s bicep and leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder. “I definitely cursed at you, but you handled it well. I have um- video. Not of the gross things, but some clips you took with your omni-tool.” Her head shifted up to look at him, a frown forming. “This is confusing, but at least you’re here. And not female, or a teenager. I was worried you’d be unhappy with this, I don’t know why.” A pleased smile smoothed some of the remaining tension out from between Shepard’s eyebrows. It was comforting, looking at their kids and seeing such obvious pieces of them both reflected back at him. And the ever present shotgun joke helped too, silly as that might be. Wrapping an arm around her back, he pressed his mouth to the side of her hair - as much of a reassuring gesture as it was a habitual touch. “I’m not unhappy, Vas Normandy. How could I be?” he murmured, smoothing a hand over her hair as David wiggled out of his lap and plopped down into the sand. “I jumped forward and missed a small part of your lives, but you’re all safe and here. With me, where you belong. The portal definitely could have given me a harder kick to the heart than an adorable son tagging along with my wife and daughter. Just don’t blame me if I stare at you all a lot over the next few weeks.” In a true sign of parenthood, Tali’s hand darted out to catch David on the back of his pants, but released him when she was convinced he wasn’t about to faceplant into a bunch of sand. The one year old carried on like nothing had even happened, crawling haphazardly over to his sister with the clear intention of destroying the sandcastle in progress like a baby godzilla. Tali took the opportunity to slip into his spot on Shepard’s lap, one arm wrapping around his neck and focusing at least half of her attention on him. “So like every other day? You stare a lot already, John.” It was uncharacteristic of her to use his first name in regular conversation. “At least it was only a small gap, and you didn’t arrive from home without the memories of us at all. That conversation isn’t one I wanted to have.” She leaned in to kiss the light stubble on his jawline. “And David hasn’t walked on his own yet, so you might get to see that still. He has mastered climbing and riding Wrex, though. It goes as well as you’d expect.” Smirking at her instincts - she’d always been better about that sort of thing than an orphan street rat turned soldier - Shepard shifted his arms to give her full access to his lap before his palm started making steady, unconscious circle strokes across her back. “Can’t really blame me, can you? Good-looking bunch.” David took that cue to roar in his squeaky little toddler voice and hold a hand over Karin’s sandcastle threateningly. The narrow eyed glare the six year old leveled at him was enough to make Shepard choke on a burst of laughter. He knew that look. But whether it was his or Tali’s was up for debate. “Easy, tiger. I’ll make you a sandcastle you can wreck in a second. First…” Turning back to Tali, he picked up where she’d left off. “...that wouldn’t have been a fun conversation, but I’d almost like to see what you would’ve come up with. And...well let’s face it, I’d have been happy in the long run. Getting told I got put back together after getting spaced and that I’d missed two years didn’t have nearly as good of a happy ending as this,” he nodded towards the kids. “Or this…” he added with a smirk, stealing a slow kiss from the woman in his lap. You could practically see the halo that popped above Tali’s head with Karin’s glare. It took all of her willpower to not give the young girl a thumbs up, though she did manage a very small nod in her daughter’s direction. To say she was proud of having a daughter with their ability to intimidate was an understatement written across Tali’s face, but she tried not to look too gloating over it. With a laugh, she turned back to Shepard in time for the kiss. By the time she pulled away, both of her hands were running over his short hair. “Mmm. You’d be happy eventually, but I’d make you date me all over again. Every single awkward date recreated so I can relive it. You could bring me smoothies every day again, we’d have the honeymoon phase to re-live…” Tali glanced back at the kids just to confirm David wasn’t about to get destroyed by his older sister, knowing full well that he lacked the self-preservation instinct to keep him free from her wrath. Slipping back off Shepard’s lap, she leaned in for one short kiss before ending up on the sand next to David. “Now that I said that, it really doesn’t sound like it’s all that bad.” Shepard made a childish face at the awkward date comment, before scooting across the sand to start building a destruction-worthy sandcastle for his son. “You say every like there were a ton of awkward dates, Vas Normandy. That said, I’d redo them all without any hesitation. But then, I am, historically, a glutton for punishment,” he smirked, tossing her a teasing look. It occurred to him that they probably made quite the picture, out there on the beach, and David chortling laughter for no apparent reason only added to it. It was enough to push the last of his tension into a dark corner of his mind, where it would likely stay. While Shepard was definitely the brooding type, he was also very skilled at seeing the positives in any situation, just as he could judge a person’s character in a matter of seconds with a high level of accuracy. He wasn’t going to dwell. Not when there were better things to do. “Alright, David,” he announced, finally testing his son’s name out and quietly revelling in the sound of it, not to mention the memories of the David he was no doubt named for that came along with it. Shepard flashed a grin at Tali and tugged the toddler closer to his sad excuse for a sand castle. “Destructo-City is almost ready. It’s about time for you to help me distract your mom from giving me grief…” It was more than a little strange, watching Shepard with David and knowing it was his first time setting his eyes on his son, but having lived through memories very close to this one already. He was unfamiliar to the situation, but still moved and acted like he would have normally, and that was enough to get a big grin out of Tali as she watched the two of them and their sand castle. With an amused shake of her head, she scooted closer to Karin and started adding on to the castle that the young girl was building, her own movements precise and structured. “I don’t know, Shepard. You’re a smooth talker right up until it’s time to seal the deal-” Realizing how that sounded, her cheeks flushed and she coughed to cover up embarrassment. “Dating. To go on dates.” Clarification that was only half a lie, for their daughter’s benefit. “I’m just saying that it took you a while to not think of everything like it was a mission. And you’ll never be able to distract me from giving you grief--” She was cut off with David’s sudden roar and forward stomp as he rampaged through Shepard’s sand castle in no time and landed on his butt in the middle tower. Thoroughly distracted and proving her own statement to be wrong in a matter of seconds, Tali flipped up her omni tool just in time to snap a few pictures, laughing at the boys. |