Pre-word: I don't exactly know how to feel about this chapter. I do know that I wanted a lot to be said about Tali and Rannoch and the geth, but seeing it all typed out in words like that... I think maybe it'll seem a bit OOC for Tali. At the same time, I want to think that Tali is more than just a prodigy engineer with no social skills or that she only got by on pure luck and dash of cuteness. You don't make someone an Admiral, even as a figurehead, if they don't have the chops to speak publicly. In the end, I'm happy about Tali being more wordy than you'd normally expect in-game. But, of course, this is just the author talking. Anyway, happy reading and comments are most welcome.

"Hmm…I'm starting to suspect Tali wasn't exaggerating about that ego," Allers sighed, collecting her notes, "So you gave up a life of unbridled celebrity to move clear across the galaxy for love? If I didn't know better Commander Shepard, I'd say you're a bit of a romantic. Why don't you tell us what it was like making that decision?"

"Oh, it actually wasn't quite as hard as you may have thought. I'd do it again in a heartbeat," John replied, nudging his wife to little avail, "But probably most people knew I was going to settle down in Rannoch anyway. It's really very beautiful there, Diana, and for me that alone would've been enough to fight for. I think at that time, it was just one of a handful of planets not ravaged by war. In the end though, I didn't move there for the ambience. We both settled there because that was where each of our hearts was respectively stuck: me with Tali, Tali with the Fleet, the Fleet with Rannoch."

He smiled as he turned a palm up, seemingly at random. Despite having her head turned, Tali's hand shot out automatically for its counterpart.

"For Tali? For Tali, it was different. You know, I don't pretend to know what it was that the quarian people went through out there in space. You really can't relate to the type of isolation and feeling of emptiness that belongs solely to them. So, I can't imagine what it must've meant to finally return to the birthplace of your ancestors after so many generations afloat… "

John took a moment to rub at his unshaven cheek, chuckling a little to himself.

"Thinking back on it all, I was probably the worst qualified person to be standing there next to her when we landed. But she was important to me and that meant that Rannoch was important to me – and that means that they both always will be."

Tali still wasn't looking at him, but her helmet was a little downcast and her free hand began stroking the part of her realk flowing parallel to her visor. It was a relatively new nervous habit that she had, but no less adorable than her finger twirling. He nudged her slightly and tightened the grip engulfing her hand.

"Sha'heela."

Tali's voice was so soft, Diana doubted the mic on either cameras caught it. Shepard smiled sadly, repeating the word in agreement and, much to Allers surprise, pronounced it perfectly.

" 'Sha'heela'?" she asked, "What does that mean, Commander?"

"It's khelish for 'homesick', Diana. It's the type of homesick that neither you, nor I, nor anybody else in the galaxy could understand. It's…I guess it's a feeling that needed its own word to be created."

Allers paused, nodding in understanding as a moment of silence passed them. "I'm glad the quarian people won't need its use anymore, Commander. So then, the two of you have been hard at work building a utopia on Rannoch?"

"Oh, I'm awful at building things, Diana," John said, each hand now occupied by the two most important females in his life, "All my life, I've had the reputation of being able to tear things down pretty well, but the building part? Nah, these days if I'm not training marines, I just follow orders: go there, make that, hold this, kiss here, don't forget about…huh, something. Anyway, I can hammer a nail, or use a saw or follow instructions-"

"None of these things are true," Tali interjected, finally turning to face him, "Especially the last one – but especially the last one. I think some days John goes out of his way to not follow directions just out of spite. Even when all we're doing is following the GPS to a new 'picnic' spot."

"GPS is for suckers. All I need to know is where magnetic north is."

"I keep tellingyou, Rannoch does not have a magnetic field."

"That's because you're all blasphemers and the magnetic god has abandoned you."

"You are so frustrating, John'Shepard."

"You are so frustrating, John Shepard," Diana butted in, knowing exactly how long the two could bicker for, "So, for once, we're going to let the brains of the operation talk. Tali, my dear, since we're unlikely to get any semblance of a point from the Commander, why don't you tell me and the viewers how things are going on Rannoch?"

Tali let out a small sigh and let her shoulders slump for only the briefest of seconds.

"It's still a work in progress, Diana. Colonizing a planet, even one that by all rights you should be familiar with, is a logistical nightmare at best. For instance, we initially couldn't start agriculture without irrigation, we couldn't start that without potable water, we couldn't start that without a nightmarish period of surveying and we couldn't start any of it without repairing half the Fleet's evaporators and desalination units – not to mention the Fleet itself. And that was just farming."

"Sounds rough."

She gave the reporter a self-deprecating shrug.

"What could we do? Basically, we had three-hundred years of ecology and planetary engineering backlogged before we could even consider building our first structure. That first year was very slow and very frustrating – if I didn't have experience managing John, I'd have been a nervous wreck. But the quarian people will always prevail, Diana, and we've always done our best when we had to scrape by."

"You definitely have your work cut out for you," Diana said in agreement, "But what about the remains of your ancestors? I was under the impression that the geth were caretakers of a sort for Rannoch. Surely there were some parts of those cities that were still salvageable, yes?"

"You'd think so, wouldn't you? But the Morning War was…complete. The history books will say that our fathers left Rannoch because we were losing a war and faced with extinction. The truth is, we couldn't have come back due to the radiation. The few that stayed behind after the Migrant Fleet left, they initiated a nuclear protocol: we may not have had a home anymore, but neither would the geth."

"Tali, I'm so sorry, I had no idea…"

She brushed it aside. "It's in the past, Diana. I don't agree with what was done, but I guess when your race is about to be wiped out of existence you'll let just about any emotion take over. Maybe if our people had a Commander Shepard lying around three-hundred years ago, things would've been different. As it stands now, we have to restart fresh, but so did many others after the Reapers. We deserve no more consideration than anybody else."

"'Anybody else' aren't an endangered species, Tali," the reporter said matter-of-factly, "The quarians still stand at less than half-a-percent of their original population. I know getting back there is a long process, but at least now you have a home again, right…? So, how is everything otherwise?"

Tali let go another small sigh as she looked at her husband and daughter.

"I can't really say our horizons look clear just yet, but a large portion of our industrial and farming sectors are coming along and they've contributed the most to redeveloping Rannoch. Most of all…most of all, I think the galactic community is really giving our people a chance to prove themselves. We've received aid from so many Citadel systems and even the Alliance, despite how far away they are. I wish I could express the feeling and gratitude on behalf of Rannoch for being accepted again after all this time… It really gives me and our people hope for the future, Diana."

Allers smiled widely at the news. "That's beautiful to hear, Tali. No one could deserve it more than the quarians or yourself. But, as we're on the topic of the geth, the entire galaxy has been paying very close attention to the current dynamics between your two races. Now, granted the threat of the Reapers' put everything into perspective and John's efforts united so many who were once at war. But, as you revealed, none of them had so deep and troubling a history as the geth and the quarians. Is this peace real, Admiral Shepard? Can we finally put that issue to rest, once and for all?"

For a moment it seemed as though Tali had frozen and, not for the first time in her career as a journalist, Diana feared she had stuck her nose too far into a sensitive issue. John glanced briefly at his wife, assessing her mood in the fractions of a second only personal experience could afford him. Seeing no threat, he turned back to Maggie and preoccupied himself rubbing her tummy.

"I wish I could say 'yes', Diana. I wish I could reassure the rest of the galaxy that some mistakes won't be repeated. But really, the truce we have with the geth right now is fragile at best. There are so many who still don't trust A.I. as a whole and everybody else won't move beyond the blood that was shed between us. If you think about it, that in itself didn't really end until just recently. And for their part, I can't believe that the geth would place complete trust in a race that essentially spent three-hundred years plotting their revenge. Honestly?...Honestly, if it weren't for John brokering the peace between us, I don't think the quarian people would have extended the first courtesy. As much as I believe in the spirit of our people and the notion that this galaxy wants peace, I can't guarantee that things will stay the same…"

"There'll always be conflict in this galaxy, Tali'Shepard. But we're not talking two different peoples fighting over a tract of land here; these are two peoples who once shared the same creation point. Don't you think there should be peace just by the nature of that common bond?"

Tali paused, looking at her daughter once more and, unbeknownst to Allers, a soft smile graced her lips.

"They're not 'bad' people, Diana. The geth don't have 'evil' programmed into their coding. Everything else being equal, a geth platform is more likely to help an organic being if only to learn from that interaction. They're uniquely neutral otherwise. Organics, on the other hand, we're…irrational and unquantifiable. It leads us to behave unpredictably and for us that's beautiful, but to the geth that's unexplainable, even dangerous. To them, we're just as likely to be noble one moment and willing to evaporate our own home the next. You tell me why they won't trust us."

Allers chuckled a little. "I suppose when you put it that way, it seems a bit absurd. Yet, here we are, your family with a house on Rannoch built personally by the geth. To my understanding, they've spent as many resources helping you rebuild as they have rebooting their own collective. And if I'm not mistaken, it's the first time since they existed that the geth are actually outnumbered by quarians. Do you think all these efforts are genuine?"

"I..I don't know, Diana. Would it be out of the question to consider that they're just keeping their enemy closer? Probably not. But that's not how the geth think. They don't use deception, even if they understand its concept. So, I ask myself why they would sacrifice so much if not as a sign of trust? Or, why they did all this and asked for nothing more than independence? It's probably not fair for me to expect other quarians to understand the geth the way I do. Keelah, if not for John, I probably wouldn't have expected it myself."

Tali shrugged her shoulders again, as if helpless from coming up with a better explanation.

"I guess the 'bottom line', as you humans put it, is this: both our races need time and exposure to each other to understand that…that we're no longer the same peoples we were three hundred years ago. And so long as I have a say in the future of Rannoch, I'll always consider the geth our friends and equals."

"You are the authority on them as far as I'm concerned," Allers said, "I would think if the galaxy couldn't trust the word of Tali'Shepard, especially when it comes to peace with the geth, then we're in a sorry state indeed. But it's all comforting news nonetheless, Admiral, and I'm sure it'll give our viewers more than a little peace of mind. So, all that being said, with your leadership in maintaining this peace and helping oversee the rebuilding of Rannoch, I should think you're something of a big deal over there – am I right?"

The mirth on the reporter's voice was evident, though one would be more inclined to believe the quarian was suddenly being interrogated based on her demeanor. It was abundantly clear in that second that, unlike her bond-mate, Tali was quite uncomfortable being the focus of the limelight.

"Oh, um, I..well, I am an admiral still, but I wouldn't say it's a position of celebrity or anything," she said, looking for all the world like a deer caught in the headlights, "It helps that I finally have a voice to help my people though."

"Oh, here we go," John said, rolling his eyes and keeping his attention on Maggie, "Mommy is Chief of the Rannoch Interior Ministry. She's only the second most powerful quarian on the planet, but I guess it's no big deal or anything. How I ever got involved with such a…peasant is beyond me. C'mon, even her job is lame: I mean, all she has going for her is final veto for any operations involving military, intelligence, state security or aerospace R&D. She's also the only person technically allowed to declare war on behalf of Rannoch. And, oh, yea, she kinda defeated a couple building-sized bugs a few years back, so they all think she's some sorta superhero. Anyway, what a loser."

He turned to Tali to gauge the repercussions. She had one fist on her hip and probably the most gorgeous angry face on under that visor; he could only assume of course, for she had many beautiful faces after all. John let go of his wife's hand briefly so he could cover both of Maggie's ears. When he turned back, the look in his eyes almost made Tali forget Allers was in the same room.

"Sweetheart? You're a big, fucking deal."

Even Diana had to laugh at that. "Why, Admiral Shepard, I had no idea you'd been recently promoted. But I guess it should come as no surprise that the quarian people think so very highly of you – and as well they should, too."

Tali chuckled softly, reaching over to brush a stray hair out of the eyes of her daughter. "Well, I definitely wouldn't put it in the words John just used. It..It takes some getting used to, Diana. I lived so long in the shadow of my father, I guess I forgot what it's like having the power to say 'no' and not have it thrown back at me. But…I have John to thank for that. He was wrong about what he said earlier: he does know how to build, he just can't do it with hammers and nails."

She took his hand again, meeting his eyes for a moment that was just long enough to be sweet. "He rebuilt the faith I have in myself from the ground up. I was once just a girl whose only confidence was being able to meet and exceed the expectations of others. I never questioned why until he asked me why. And when he found out, he built me something new, something entirely my own and sent me off to fend for myself because he knew I could. I came to have a voice and that voice is helping my people move in the right direction. That voice that's mine and that now belongs to the entirety of Rannoch – that voice was built by him."

He smiled widely at his wife, the first time Diana had ever seen that smile before. The commander leaned in again to nudge her shoulder with his and she simply responded by resting her head there.

"You have been practicing haven't you?"

"I may have veto power, but I'm not quite up to yelling at the Ministry of the Interior just yet, hesh'la," she said as she shrugged, a smile on her voice, "And I may be a Shepard, but I think I'll leave the shouting to you…Anyway we're not here to make your head any bigger, so I'm invoking my privilege to have the last five minutes stricken from the record."

"We'll edit it in post-production," Diana said with a smile, "Try to make the admiral shine even brighter, right? Speaking of which, Mrs. Shepard, may I offer my congratulations?"

Tali's free hand reflexively went to her stomach, her visor dipping subtly, but enough for John to know her shy mannerism when he saw it.

"Oh, um, thank you, Diana," she said quietly, gently rubbing her side, "You know, it's a little funny, if not a little bittersweet…: when it finally happened, I felt the timing was so right, but in the same vein, I felt I had asked John to wait too much for this. We both wanted a home and a family after the war; I guess we just didn't account for the part where Rannoch was only barren land afterwards."

"Well, after all, Tali, it's only been three years since the Reapers," Allers said, "You both have so much time left to have a big family."

Tali nodded slightly but let go a tired breath. "I know, Diana, and it seems that way on the face of it. For us quarians though, the culture is a little different and, I suppose, not entirely the fault of living in a fleet of broken down ships. It just made us accept the fact that it was difficult to have something you called your own, because there was no place to hide and no ground to claim."

She paused, seemingly to collect her thoughts, but instead just leaned slightly against John's shoulder while he continued to entertain their daughter.

"And now you feel different," Allers completed, smiling warmly, "I hardly think anybody could blame you for wanting more now that the quarian people have their home back. But how did that affect you wanting a family with John?"

"I suppose it's a mindset that the quarian people have to escape, Diana, but it's one that's so deeply ingrained in our culture. I mean, how do you teach yourself to want when for so very long you never had the means? Keelah, the Fleet had a limit on the number of children a bonded couple could have! So you should hardly be surprised when I say I felt like having two heads about everything: to want to be me, or to dedicate everything about me to the Fleet. But then I'd just look at John and remind myself that, for some reason, he had such unfathomable faith in who I was and that he gave up so much so we could be together. I just couldn't see myself ever telling him: 'I'm sorry, but this is all I can offer you.' "

Tali tugged at her husband's arm once more, letting a gentle laugh escape her lips.

"The first time I met this one, I honestly didn't know how to act around him. John wasn't the exact opposite of quarian culture, but he was far removed from a typical quarian conversation. I didn't know how to feel about the awkward silence that sometimes lingered between us. So, I did the most logical thing and I fell in love with him. And, yes, people always look at me weird when I tell them that. I obviously didn't fall in love because there were awkward silences; I fell in love because he always came back for more of them."

Diana laughed, probably more loudly than she should have. "It's difficult to believe that the Commander could ever let a conversation go silent enough to be awkward."

"Right?!" Tali agreed enthusiastically, "Keelah, he doesn't even need to be conscious to run his mouth. Sometimes I leave my helmet on just to be able to sleep."

"Now, wait a minute," John interjected, "my sleep talking is a legitimate medical condition and some people have told me it's quite charming-"

"Who is 'some people', John'Shepard?"

"Oh, uh, doctors, of course, my love," he said, suddenly interested in Maggie's tiny boots, "All of them very, very ugly. And largely asexual males."

"You're about to get a thermal clip full of 'medical conditions' if you don't start talking right-"

Diana cleared her throat, seeing where the conversation was headed. Any other time it would have been quite amusing to see Shepard working his way out of a pickle, but she had only so much data space to record with.

"Tali, my dear, I find it very difficult indeed for anyone but a saint like yourself to be able to put up with the Commander. I think you're quite safe. But just for posterity, tell us how you managed to build up the… perseverance to fall in love with him?"

She could tell Tali was still unappeased, but her husband's cowering probably went a long way in calming her. Still, it took more than deep breath before the Admiral continued her story.

"Hmmmph…after I admitted it to myself, I knew that I wanted something in my life for once, I wanted something all to myself and I wanted that something to be a legacy with him. Though days like today make me rethink them… But that notwithstanding, after the war, the quarian side of me said I wasn't supposed to feel this way. I had to help my people rebuild, I had to lead us into a new world and, as a fleet-sister, I had to sacrifice until I saw the task done. So, I asked him to wait."

Her head perked up for brief second, as if to emphasize the ridiculous nature of her previous statement.

"Can you imagine, Diana? I asked the man I loved more than anything to wait. To wait while the world he personally saved for me built up around him, to wait when all his life he only knew action, to wait while his bond-mate gave away the responsibility and time that was due to him – and to do all of it indefinitely. Had I been a better person, I might've offered him a way out. But that was the girl I was before. I just…I just couldn't let him go. I couldn't be who I was without him. So, I did the most selfish thing I'd ever done in my whole life and made him stay... He knew what I did and I knew what I did, but do you know what this big, clumsy oaf of mine said anyway? …He just asked me how he could help Rannoch."

Tali rested her head on his shoulders once more, pulling his arm closer and looking dramatically subdued.

"Rannoch won't be rebuilt before I join the ancestors, Diana. The quarian people know I love them and, if not, then they surely heard it here first. Maybe for some, that won't be enough. But…I'm done chasing a finish line that's always moving faster than I am. And I won't stand to become that young girl again – the one that never knew when it was enough. But with John, I know I have more than enough. We're…I don't know, Diana, we're…just what we need for each other. I know now that it's ok for me to want what's mine."

And he is mine, she didn't bother adding.

Diana Allers, post-production commentary: (Camera rolling, Diana sits contemplating for several seconds) "Well, now, that was very interesting. A lot of people forget that quarians are by nature very communicative, very talkative, and they have to be, given the restrictions of their suits. There are so many emotions and subtext that are non-verbal. Being hidden in broad daylight the way they are, they have to be pretty conversational. Does that necessarily mean that they can't have secrets or be introverted? Obviously not. But I get the impression that to 'hold it in' is not a phrase in the quarian vernacular.

So, what's that got to do with Tali'Shepard? (Diana crosses her arms and leans back) Y'know, a lot of this interview was more research than it was actually talking on camera. I wouldn't be nearly as good at my job if I didn't know the answers my interviewees were going to give – before I asked them. But that said, Tali still surprised me today. Talking with Shepard's crew, the ones who were with him since the beginning like Garrus Vakarian or Ashley Williams, gave me all I needed to know about Tali. At least, that's what I thought. Here she was, this bright-eyed, naïve, barely graduated young woman who only knew the galaxy from a wiki search, and all of a sudden she's thrown into an intragalactic soap-opera. That's a system shock to a degree I can't even imagine. And, from what I can gather anyway, Williams and Vakarian had reservations she could handle any of it. I get the impression she was afraid to step on too many toes and probably a little more defensive than she should've been.

(Diana shakes her head, taking a sip of water) But seeing her today, I couldn't imagine she was anything less than a strong, self-assured woman who earned every bit of her commission as Admiral. Even hearing what she had to say about Shepard helping her with her confidence? I don't know…Sometimes, I have to take the words of lovers with a grain of salt, y'know – rose-colored glasses and all. Who knows, though? Maybe she did learn a thing or two from him. Or, hell, maybe she was indoctrinated by him.

(Diana laughs, bringing up her omni-tool and flipping through messages) Look at all this. I have a ton of correspondences from Vakarian, Williams, Lieutenent Jeff Moreau, Chief Engineer Greg Adams, a Doctor Karin Chawkwas, Admiral Shala'Raan and so many other character witnesses who knew Tali from the beginning. She's right, she's absolutely right: she can't be the same young girl they knew. There was no trace of her today. She is Admiral Tali'Shepard. I don't know how or when it happened, but I wish I had been there at the beginning to see it for myself."

Notes:

1. Geth: In my universe, the geth did initially lose 'consciousness' when Shepard triggered the Crucible, but their collective was rebooted due to the efforts of the quarians. Whom and how, I will not say, as that remains a plot point for my other fic – if I ever get around to writing it. It just seemed weird to me that a magical wave of energy could somehow erase a finite amount of code from a set of harddrives. Bioware, make better plots!

2. Rannoch Ministry of the Interior: this is the executive body of government which takes care of federal and military affairs, national security, public administration, etc. This is the successor to the Admiralty Board, since the Migrant Fleet is now only used for defense. The Conclave still exists and governs day-to-day affairs for the local precincts/cities of Rannoch. The prime speaker of the Conclave is the other, second most powerful person on Rannoch. The hierarchy of the Ministry is as follows:

Tali'Shepard, Admiral - Chief of the Interior

Han'Gerrel, Admiral - Chief Commanding Officer

Shala'Raan, Admiral - Minister of Intelligence

Daro'Xen, Admiral - Minister of Technology

Zaal'Koris, Admiral - Minister of Governmental Affairs