A/N: So, I have to admit that the "stasis" idea was totally stolen from Farscape. Let's do three degrees of separation! I got the idea from Farscape, who used it when Aeryn Sun was pregnant, who was played by Claudia Black, and every faithful Bioware fan knows that she voices Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins AND Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh on Mass Effect 2. It was totally unintended (well, thieving the idea was, but not the three degrees of separation). Anyway, I am not an artist. BUT, I really would like a good drawing of a human/turian hybrid. Preferably with hair. Any skillful volunteers? Message me. And I haven't decided to make the baby male or female. Votes? Also, I tried to make Thane into an asshole and I couldn't do it. Instead, he's sort of a perv, and I like that a lot. I admit I was thinking a bit of Zevran from Origins when I wrote some of his lines, but I think Thane is a lot classier and he certainly knows what he wants (I don't think Zevran did). There is a bit of m/m here, but not too much (if that offends, please go no further). Enjoy the chapter, please review! The title is also a song (a very good one in my opinion).

Familiar Taste of Poison

Shepard waited patiently for Dr. Chakwas, Miranda, and Mordin to meet in her the Med Lab. Lawson had pinged her to let her know that they were almost ready to do the procedure. She paced anxiously, ready to get it over with.

"Shepard." Sonja turned to see Grunt march into the Med Bay.

"Grunt? I'm kind of busy right now."

"I heard that you were having surgery…so you can keep your offspring." Grunt said shifting from side to side.

"Yes?"

"I understand," Grunt rushed, "I mean, the tank taught me how precious viable offspring are, especially after the genophage. I wanted to let you know you can use my tank. If you don't want to do this surgery."

Shepard smiled at the krogan's offer. "Thank you, Grunt. I think I'll stick with the surgery. Miranda really thinks this is the best option."

"She already thought about my tank, then?"

"Yes. She thought it best to take care of this before the Illusive Man finds out and it would take too long to configure the tank to human or turian genes."

"Hrmph," Grunt mumbled, "Lawson didn't ask me to use my tank. Shepard, as my battlemaster you are entitled to anything that is mine, but she…well she annoys me."

Grunt usually kills that which annoys him, so Sonja had to make sure to watch those two. She heard the juvenile krogan snicker to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"I imagine if you did use my tank Garrus would want to do the calibrations himself. And that would take forever."

"Now, now," Shepard say, now smiling herself, "Garrus is simply…meticulous."

Being faithful to his name, the krogan grunted. He turned to leave, passing Miranda on his way out of the Med Bay. He made sure to brush shoulders with her. Hard.

Miranda frowned at the quickly departing krogan and asked, "What was that for?"

"Apparently you are annoying. To tank-bred krogan's anyway."

Miranda lifted an eyebrow. "Well, it's a good thing for me that I can use my biotics against him if he ever gets sick of my 'annoying' personality. And it's a good thing for him that I think he is useful. Are you ready, Shepard?"

"As ready as I'll ever be."

"Chakwas and Mordin will be along shortly, but they sent me ahead to prep you." Lawson said matter-of-factly, handing Shepard a hospital gown and went to retrieve the necessary sedatives.

"How are the plans for the procedure? Figure everything out?" Shepard asked the questions as she stripped down to put on the gown that had been handed to her.

Miranda turned her back to give Shepard some privacy and replied, "Yes. Really, it is quite close to the turian procedure and we only had to take into account a few things because of your human physiology. Hop on the bed."

Shepard moved to the nearby bed—or really, table. Sonja's heart began to beat faster, and she tried to tell herself it wasn't from fear. Which was a boldfaced lie. The last time she was on a hospital bed like this Miranda had just woke her up from the dead. Literally. Yeah, not bringing back pleasant memories. Where the hell was Garrus? She really would like to hear his voice, it always comforted her.

As if summoned by her thoughts, the turian hurried into the Med Bay. "Shepard. Thank the Spirits I got here before you went under. I was busy doing some…calibrations."

Shepard couldn't help herself. She giggled hard, especially after the conversation she had with Grunt. Garrus ignored her laughter, and grasped her hand between two talons.

"You're going to be fine." Garrus finally said and Sonja immediately sobered.

"It's not me I'm worried about," Sonja said softly. For some reason she had felt an immediate connection with this child. It wasn't an embryo or sack to her, it was her child already.

"Well, you…you both will be fine." Garrus said, moving his talons from her hand to her abdomen.

Shepard smiled. Garrus was still in a bit of shock and this pregnancy wasn't real to him yet. But, he was trying his damnedest to be there for her, and her feelings for him blossomed into something deeper.

"Ok," Lawson said, as Chakwas and Mordin walked in, "I think we're ready. Officer Vakarian, please say good-bye to the commander."

Garrus leaned in, touching his forehead to hers in an old turian gesture of intimacy. He squeezed her hand and nodded toward Lawson to give Shepard the sedative. Apparently he wasn't leaving until she was out, which she was extremely grateful for. Garrus was the last thing she saw, and then she slipped into darkness.

Garrus watched Shepard's eyes grow heavy and close. She was out, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He was trying his hardest to be strong for her, but it was hard. He had told Sonja that he had been doing calibrations, but he had actually been grilling her three 'doctors' about the surgery, trying to make sure it was safe. He knew Lawson didn't say anything to Shepard, but this procedure was more dangerous than she let on. Although Chakwas, Mordin, and Miranda all felt optimistic about the results, only Mordin gave him a straight answer when asked about their chances. He estimated that Shepard had a 93% chance of surviving this procedure, and their child had about a 65% chance. Spirits, that was pretty low for the child, and not the greatest for Shepard. Although Mordin said that her chance on dying on daily missions was pretty close to that statistic, so he was more worried about their offspring. If everything went to shit, Garrus didn't really want to have to tell Sonja that their baby had died. Hell, he didn't want to face it himself. He was able to distance himself from the fact that he was going to be a father, but Shepard had fully accepted the idea and he knew she would be crushed if anything happened. She would soldier on, but she would bear another emotional scar. And they both had enough scars, emotional and otherwise.

Garrus didn't know how he found himself in front of Life Support. But, he didn't know of any other crew member—that he would actually consider talking to—who was also a father. It seemed appropriate to talk to Thane, even though he had wanted to kill him earlier today. Spirits, that seemed like a lifetime ago. He was surprised to see that the door was locked and buzzed the door. A shirtless, sweaty Thane answered.

"Garrus," Thane greeted him and gestured for him to enter the room.

Garrus nodded and entered, noting the mat on the floor. The drell must have been doing sit-ups. It was a human exercise that Jacob Taylor had seemed ready to teach every alien he encountered. Thane sauntered over to the table in the back of the room, grabbing a purple-colored drink, and gulping the liquid. The detective in Garrus wondered vaguely if that was some sort of sports drink, or simply the color of water on the hanar homeworld. Thane's strong throat muscles strained as he drank, and Garrus felt oddly fascinated by the drell's quiet strength. Thane put the drink down, black eyes blinking at Garrus.

"Please," Thane finally said, waving his hand toward the chair he usually sat in, "Sit. Shepard is in surgery now?"

Garrus felt a bit of relief and sat, "Yes. Thane, you're the only one I know who has experienced fatherhood. I feel like…I feel like I'm going insane and we only found out today that Sonja—Commander Shepard—was pregnant. How do you survive eleven months of this?"

"Is that the turian gestational period?" Thane's low voice rumbled, "Drell are only pregnant for six months. And I assume Shepard's 'pregnancy' will be much longer."

"Yes. If the procedure is…successful, she could be like this for up to three years."

"Three years?"

"That's how long a turian woman can sustain a pregnancy, even with the procedure. I assume Shepard's situation is similar, but I should ask Mordin about it."

"Well, to answer the spirit of your questions, Irikah had a painless pregnancy with no complications."

"So you were never really worried?"

"On the contrary, I was a nervous wreck for each of those six months…the father is both responsible and helpless at the same time. It is a hard position to be in." Thane leaned back in his chair, shadowy eyes boring into Garrus.

Garrus put his head into his right hand, sighing in exasperation. This wasn't helping, and he wished he could simply do something. His avian eyes snapped up when he felt the assassin enclose his left hand into his own. His heart sped up, and then he had an idea.

"Would you like to spar?" Garrus asked Thane, not removing his hand from the drell's grasp.

"Of course." Thane acquiesced.

They both pushed the table back and Thane rolled up the mat he had been using, so they both had more space. Noting Thane's shirtless state, Garrus chose to join him, shedding armor and clothing until he was also naked from the waist up. They both easily fell into a fighting stance and began to circle one another. Garrus had brute strength, but Thane had speed. It would be a challenge.

Surprising Garrus, Thane was the first to connect his fist to Garrus' jaw. He quickly pivoted away, but not before the turian sent a powerful kick to Thane's lower leg. Garrus had never seen the somber drell smile before that, but he did then, letting out a low chuckle as they began to fight in earnest. Kicks began faster, punches brought forth blue and red blood. Garrus was surprised to see that color. He thought only humans possessed red blood. The smell of blood and sweat invigorated Garrus until he lost himself in the fight. Finally catching Thane off-guard, he pushed him into the nearby wall, pinning both arms and restraining his legs with his hips. They both stared at each other, sharing in their frustration as two males who had the ability to love another more than their next breath, but inevitably unable to protect that person.

Garrus didn't know what he was thinking as he leaned down and swiped the blood pooling at the corner of Thane's lip with his tongue, but the drell quickly responded, kissing Garrus' jaw and face. He tasted quite good, and Thane took advantage of Garrus' distracted state and pushed the turian on the floor, and the proceeded to climb on top of him. Soft fingers ran down his naked chest, and they felt so right. So much like Shepard. He pulled the drell's face toward his, scraping his cheek with his talons. They attempted to kiss, tongues warring with one another. Garrus tasted his rich blood again, and absently wondered if Thane had nicked his tongue on Garrus' incisors. Just then, the world began to swirl and colors became brighter.

"Thane…" Garrus said, trying to form coherent thoughts.

"Ah." Thane said, noticing the turian's state. "This is perhaps for the best. My…fluids sometimes cause hallucinations in those that are not drell. And we should probably talk to Shepard about this before it goes any further."

A wave of guilt settled in the pit of Garrus' stomach, but he quickly gave into the swirling colors, and then eventual blackness.