The First Hello

Tiberius was nearly three years old and it was his first trip off Palaven (at least the first trip he could remember). All he knew was they had been on something smaller then their house for a long time – his daddy had called it a ship. His dad had pointed out the stars that were outside the window in their room until Tiberius got scared by all the darkness and refused to look out the window again. He didn't like the dark.

Afther that, they were somewhere really big again although his daddy said it wasn't as big as Palaven. He had called it the Citadel and Tiberius had spent some time saying the word over and over until he could say it almost exactly like his daddy had. The apartment they were staying in was big, almost as big as their house. Tiberius didn't remember ever staying here but his dad had said he had. His father had told him that he had a room specially made up for him with things from his favourite cartoons.

Today they were meeting a friend. His father had sat him on his knee and shown him pictures of when Tiberius was smaller. It was a human lady, like Kate who always came to visit with her son, Lantar, and played games with them both. But this lady in the picture had red hair and Kate had brown. What interested Tiberius more was that the lady had another baby with her. His daddy had told him that it was a little boy and that Tiberius was going to meet him again today too.

Tiberius had scratched his little head, mimicking what he had seen his father do so many times, and then said he didn't remember meeting them before. His father had hugged him and told him that that was okay because Tiberius had been very very small then to which he had unerringly replied that he thought he was still small.

They walked along a long pathway full of people. The route itself was next to a big lake. His dad had told him it was actually a reservoir but Tiberius didn't really understand the difference. He got a bit excited when he recognized that this led to a big statue of a krogan. His father had taken him to see it the day before and had told him a little bit about it. The krogan had done something really good then something bad but now they were okay again. At least that is all that he could remember. As they passed by the statue, Tiberius pulled to go down to see it but his hand was clamped firmly in his dad's larger one. He let out a little whine but was swiftly pulled up by his father who knelt down in front of him.

"What is wrong, Scout?"

"I wanna see the 'rogan!"

"You saw it yesterday."

"But I wanna see it again cause it's cool!"

Victus sighed. "Tell you what... let us go and meet Shepard and Gaius. Then if you have been good, I will bring you back here so you can stare at the krogan some more. Deal?"

The little boy tilted his head at his father then glanced over his shoulder at the statue.

"It will still be here when we come back around, Scout," his father hummed.

Tiberius launched himself into his father's arms and wrapped his own around Victus's neck.

His father chuckled. "I take it you want to be carried then."

Tiberius buried his face into his father's cowl. Victus gently stroked the little fringe that poked out.

"Okay. I can carry you for a little while. We are not that far now."

Victus stood and Tiberius peered over his father's shoulder, staring sadly at the krogan statue that was fast fading into the distance.

"Victus!"

Tiberius turned to look at who was shouting. It was the lady from the picture. Her red hair was a lot longer then what the image had shown but it was definitively her. She seemed nice and had a big smile. Beside her was a little grey plated turian boy who had big wide blue eyes. He was hiding behind his mom's leg.

"Shepard. As always it is good to see you and young Gaius."

Victus set Tiberius on his feet. He peered at the other boy who was steadfastly hiding behind his mother's legs.

"Tiberius! Look at you! You have grown up so much."

The lady knelt down in front of him to the other little boy's distress. He began tugging on his mother's arm to get her away from Tiberius who was just confused by it all.

"Gaius, come here." Shepard grabbed her little boy and sat him down in front of her. Tiberius pottered over and sat in front of him, his little head tilted.

"Hello Gaius. You are getting bigger. One day you will be taller than your own father. Of that I have no doubt," said Victus with a friendly smile.

Gaius looked up at the imposing height of the turian who stood beaming at him.

"You have my hands!" shrieked Tiberius. Gaius looked up wide eyed as Tiberius grabbed his hand and placed it against his own..

"Wooow! Daddy! He is like me!"

Victus smiled. "He is like you. And you are like him. I think it means you two should be best friends."

Shepard gave Gaius a kiss on top of his head, stood up and walked over to Victus, the two adults engaging in a friendly conversation with each keeping one eye on their offspring.

Gaius stared at his hand pressed against one just like it. Tiberius was doing the same.

"Can you do this?!" Tiberius wriggled his fingers and watched awestruck as Gaius did the same. He then scratched his itchy nose. "I don't met many people like me! Do you have my feet too?"

The two little boys took off their shoes, revealing their four toes and the fifth one hiding on the heel. Tiberius lifted up Gaius's foot and began poking at it. "This is cool! I can't look at my own foot properly."

Gaius grinned. "You and me are the same."

"Yep yep!"

A shadow was cast over them as Victus towered above the pair on the ground.

"Scout, Gaius's mother and I are going to sit just over there." He pointed at a park bench not too far away that had a clear view of where the two boys sat.

"This is the furthest you two are allowed go, okay?" His father pointed to the small statue of an asari that they were beside. Victus knelt down and scratched behind Tiberius's ear canal.

"Behave, Scout. I'll be just over there if you need me. Not too far away at all."

Victus affectionately patted Gaius's fringe then went back to where Shepard had taken a seat.

Tib turned to Gaius. "We should go over there!" He pointed at the krogan statue that was only just visible.

"But your dad said..."

"I wanna see the statue! It is huge! We can go and come back! You know the way right?"

Gaius became thoughtful.

"I think I do."

Tiberius brightened up.

"Let's go then!"

The two glanced over at their parents who were deep in discussion but keeping their gaze at their sons.

Tiberius whispered to Gaius, "We can't go until they look the other way."

Luck would have it that a fight broke out not that far from their parents shortly after. Two batarians began having a brawl. Shepard sighed and got up to break it up. Victus stood by and watched carefully, ready to intervene if necessary. The boys took their chance. They bolted down the little path keeping the statue in sight.

It seemed like forever to their tiny legs but eventually they reached the small area around the krogan memorial. Tiberius gazed up at it. "It is so big! Are krogan really that big?"

Gaius sat down.

"Yep! Wrex is huge! He sometimes lets me sit on his shoulders. He says that when I'm grown up I'll be even bigger then him!"

Tiberius turned to Gaius, his eyes huge.

"You know a krogan?!"

Gaius nodded.

"Sometimes Wrex takes care of me for Mommy while she goes and does stuff on...Tuk...Tuss... krogan planet. He lets me sit in his big seat and everything!"

"That is so cool!"

The two boys were interrupted by a pair of asari that were looking at them curiously. Tiberius and Gaius instinctively pulled their hands into their sleeves.

"Hello there! What are your names?" said the first asari. "My name is Mina."

Tiberius and Gaius looked at each other before Gaius said, "I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."

"Oh but you know my name now. That means I'm not a stranger. You both have very pretty hands. You don't mind if I take a look?"

Gaius began to slowly creep backwards. Tiberius followed suit.

"Just grab them and let's get out of here. The batarian slavers will pay a fortune for them." muttered the second asari.

The first one grabbed Tiberius by the collar of his tunic and lifted him up. The second asari grabbed Gaius who had rushed to try and save his friend.

Tiberius's neck hurt where the collar was stretched tight. He mewled in distress with his eyes wide in fear. He clawed at the collar as it started to cut off the air. "Please! I just wanna go to my daddy!" he choked out. The asari who was holding him laughed and then spun him around. His neck hurt a lot. He began to struggle to breathe. His vision started going black.

"Oh sweetie. I don't think so cause I can make a lot of money from you and your friend. I don't think anyone would miss you really..."

"That is where you are wrong!" came a deep voice from behind him.

Tiberius was dumped unceremoniously on the ground. As he coughed and sputtered with tears spilling out he could only just hear noises of a struggle. After a few minutes he felt someone slowly pick him up. He struggled and mewled but he had lost his energy. "Hush now. Its ok. It's Dad." Victus held him gently in his arms. Tiberius gripped on to his father, tears blurring his vision.

"It's okay. It's all okay. Spirits, you are cold." Victus took off his jacket and wrapped his son up in it.

Shepard had a sobbing Gaius up in her arms and was shouting at a couple of C-Sec officers to clear up the two asari mercs.

The fear Victus felt when he realized both boys were missing had become the most unbridled rage when he saw his son being almost garrotted by the asari merc. They were now mostly unconscious as he watched Sec officers clean up the mess. They were lucky he and Shepard stopped at just knocking them out although he had taken immense pleasure in breaking the arm that had held his son captive in several places. He turned back to Tiberius and nuzzled his tiny little head.

"You are safe now, Scout. I'm gonna get you back to our place and we are gonna have a talk once we get you fixed up." He gently rocked him back and forth as the little boy shivered uncontrollably. He gently stroked Tiberius's mandible as he and Shepard first took the boys to be checked out at the local clinic then back to Victus's apartment

Tiberius was still deeply upset when they finally reached the apartment. Gaius had settled down and was content to just stay near to his mother. He hadn't had the same scare that Tiberius had. Tiberius was wrapped around Victus, his face buried into his father's cowl.

"Is he alright?" asked Shepard.

"Oh, he will be. I fear my son has had his first taste of mortality."

Victus sat down on the couch with Tiberius clinging on.

"The spare rooms are finished if you and Gaius wish to stay the night?"

"Thank you but we should probably stay at our own place for tonight at least. I think you might need to spend some alone time with him."

She looked down at the tiny head of her own son who was fiddling with her pants leg.

"As I will with mine. Perhaps we could visit here tomorrow? I am sure Gaius would love to see Tiberius's fancy room... when he is feeling a bit more like himself."

Victus nodded.

After he saw them out, he settled on to the couch and tried to coax Tiberius back in to life by putting on his favorite shows. The little boy refused and clung to his father.

"Are you okay, Scout?"

All he got in response was a sniffle.

"I know you had a big scare today. You know, everyone gets scared. I was very scared today too."

A beautiful yellow eye peeked up at him from where his son had buried his face into his tunic. "Really?"

"I was. I was very scared when I turned around and you had disappeared."

"Oh."

Tib crushed himself closer to his dad.

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Can I stay with you tonight?"

"You don't want to stay in your nice bedroom?"

"I don't want to be by myself."

Victus hummed. "On one condition..."

Tiberius removed his head from his father's tunic and tilted it as he looked up into his father's face.

"The condition is that tomorrow you and Gaius have to spend the entire day playing."

The little boy broke out in a broad smile.

"I like Gaius. I think we can be best friends."

Victus laughed. "I am glad to hear that. Why don't we put on your favorite movie and eat some grittzls?"

Much later, Tiberius lay snoozing, curled up on the couch and using his father's leg as a pillow as Victus absentmindedly stroked the tiny fringe in the flickering light.

Today had been a very long day.