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“Vetra? Are you here?” Grace Ryder looked around the empty cargo bay of the Tempest. They were between missions right now, taking a well earned break before flying out again, and it was strange seeing it this way. Empty. Quiet. Cold. It was hard to believe this was the same ship that had been their first home here in Andromeda. It was still her home, technically. Even after everything with Meridian, she still hadn’t settled in a place in Andromeda that she could call her own. She was still learning to breathe again, learning to let herself be more than just Pathfinder Ryder.
“Helloooo?” She called out again to no immediate response. Maybe she had misunderstood the message. Drack did seem a little - and by little, she meant entirely - uninterested in being the messenger. He had been grumbling something about his retirement and being too old for this. This, of course, was a sentiment that never stopped him from fighting and was always just an excuse to get him out of doing things that he didn’t want to do. Either way, perhaps he had given her the wrong time by mistake.
“Ryder!” Vetra Nyx’s voice drifted down from the floor above. “Hold on, I’ll be right there.” A moment later, the ship’s power cut on, light and noise bringing the Tempest closer to her usual self. As the ship grumbled back to life, the turian woman the voice belonged to finally appeared, looking over the railing down at her. “Hey there, Grace.” Just the simple greeting was enough to make Ryder’s heart flutter in her chest.
It was a simple, unintentional, reminder that maybe to most people she was Pathfinder Ryder, but to Vetra, her love, she didn’t have to be anything other than Grace.
“Hi, Vetra.” Grace was already pressing up on her toes as Vetra descended the ladder, eager to give her girlfriend a kiss. When Vetra reached her, she happily obliged and held Grace close to prolong the kiss. When Grace finally pulled away, she rocked back onto her heels to smile up at the other woman, taking a moment to appreciate her. Vetra was in her casual clothes with a bag slung over her shoulder and, in Ryder’s opinion, looking as beautiful as ever. “How are you?”
“I’m good! Very good. Great, actually.” There was a nervous energy about Vetra that instantly piqued Ryder’s curiosity. She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t prod just yet. Instead, she let Vetra link their fingers together and start leading the way.
“For a second there, I thought maybe I was getting stood up.” Grace gave her hand a squeeze.
“Please, you know I would never do that." Vetra returned the squeeze, her mandibles twitching in amusement. “It’s just… I was finishing something up.” She was leading Grace towards the front of the ship and while Grace was searching for any clues that might tell her why Vetra was acting so strangely, there was nothing that immediately betrayed the cause. The bag would probably be her best bet, but Vetra had a tight hold on it. A direct approach would have to do.
“Are you alright? You seem a little… anxious.”
“No, I’m fine!” Grace’s disbelief at the obvious lie must have been clear because Vetra immediately began to backtrack. “Well, okay yes, I guess. Technically, I am a little anxious. I have a surprise for you and I want you to like it. That’s all.”
“What? Vetra!” Grace stopped her with a light tug on her arm. “You’ve already done so much for me!”
“And you’ve done so much for me.” Vetra’s let go of her hand to caress Grace’s face gently. “Grace, you almost never do anything for yourself and I like to do things for you. Let me spoil my girlfriend, okay? You deserve it.”
“Well, in that case, I guess I can allow it. Mostly because it means spending more time with you.” Grace laughed softly, tilting her head to lean into Vetra’s touch.
“Good. I’m glad you like spending time with me. I like spending time with you too.” There was a low grumble behind her words and not for the first time, Grace found herself a little weak at the knees. Vetra leaned down for one more kiss before resuming their walk. “Besides, I would really hate it if I had to force you to accept my gifts.”
“I’ll let you keep doing things for me, as long as you don't cook steak again. Honestly, I don’t think anyone deserves that.” Grace fought back a smirk as she looked up at Vetra. “You didn't cook a steak again, right?”
“No, definitely not.” Vetra laughed and Grace couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit relieved. “I have learned my lesson on attempting human food, don’t worry.” They didn’t have too much further to walk as Vetra stopped them outside of the Pathfinder’s quarters. “Okay, I want you to close your eyes.”
“See, now I don’t know if I believe you about the steak. This is exactly what happened when you tried to cook me dinner. I’m getting flashbacks.” Grace teased and Vetra’s head tilted back in exasperation.
“It’s not that bad! I promise!” There was a pause. “Well, I hope not at least. Now, close your eyes. Please.” Ryder did as she was asked. She heard the doors open and Vetra carefully led her into the room. “I know we left the Milky Way and we’ve talked about how Andromeda is our home now, buuuuut I think sometimes it is good to remember where we came from.”
“Vetra…” Vetra shushed her as she positioned her somewhere in the room.
“Okay, open your eyes.”
The first thing Grace noticed was the lights. Hanging from the ceiling, from the walls, from nearly every surface, were lights of what felt like a thousand different colors. It was both the most garish and most beautiful thing Ryder had ever seen.
Looking past the lights, Ryder was able to see all of the other decorations. There were ribbons tied into messy bows, the fabric clearly scavenged from whatever could be found. There were photos printed out and dangling from the ceiling. She could see photos of her and Vetra, of Scott, of the entirety of the Tempest crew. Her family. On the bed there were two sweaters, one in her size and one that looked like it could fit Vetra. The knitting was messy and clearly not the work of an expert, but there was a valid attempt at making a snowflake in the pattern on each of them. Lastly, by the window there was a tree that was alien to her, but was covered in more lights and bows and baubles.
“Surprise, it’s Christmas!” Vetra watched Grace as she took in the room. The glow of the lights against her skin and the shine in her eyes alone made all of the work worth it for Vetra. “From my research, this is an old Earth or human tradition. There was a lot of information in the archives about it and most of it made no sense, so I kind of just skimmed through it all. I really liked all of the pictures though. I did my best to recreate it with what was available.” She watched as Ryder reached over to lightly touch the tree. “Careful!” Grace stopped short. “I was careful not to touch it while decorating. I don’t know a lot about that species, it’s native to Andromeda. I tried to get the right kind of tree needed for Christmas, but they only have seeds in storage and they need time to grow.”
“I think SAM would let us know if it was dangerous in some way...”
“It is just a tree.” SAM’s voice filled the room.
“There you have it.” Grace had focused more on geology in her studies, rather than biology, but scientific curiosity had no bounds. She touched one of the leaves, the texture rough like sandpaper and the color seemed to shift at the touch. She examined the tree closer, but was soon snapped back to the present by Vetra’s voice.
“So, what do you think?” Vetra asked and Grace looked around the room again.
“This is… it’s really gorgeous, but you know I've never been to Earth, right? That and my family didn't really… I don’t know. We didn’t celebrate Christmas.” Grace tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “We didn’t exactly have a lot of traditions if I’m honest.”
“Shit. I knew this was a terrible idea.” Vetra groaned as she sat on the bed. “I really need to stop surprising you. It never works out how I hope it will.”
“Hey, no. Vetra.” Grace quickly kneeled in front of her. “I love it. Really. The decorations are gorgeous and the photos? It’s such a sweet touch. It’s amazing, you did a great job.” She took Vetra’s hands in hers and pressed a soft kiss against her knuckles. “Anyway, we can make it our own tradition. Keep the things we like, toss the things we don’t. A new holiday for a new home.”
“Can we keep the lights though?”
“Absolutely we can keep the lights, I love the lights.” Grace chuckled. “Thank you for this, really.”
“It’s just a small thing, I called in a few favors, that's all.”
“I believe we once said, 'it’s the small things that keep us going'.” Grace reached over to grab one of the sweaters as she went to sit on the bed as well. “Besides. I really want to see you wearing this. Who made this?”
“One of the captives Sid helped save is apparently an amateur knitter. In exchange for getting them access to yarn, they made these.” Vetra helped Grace put hers on before getting assistance with her own. Looking down she grumbled softly aside. “They weren’t kidding when they said amateur.”
“It looks great.” Grace laughed happily and Vetra leaned in to nuzzle her lightly.
“So you’re happy then? I did okay?” There was that soft rumble again. Grace closed her eyes content in that moment of closeness.
“You did more than okay, I promise.” She pulled away so she could look at Vetra for the next part. “I love it and I love you.”
“I love you too.” Vetra sat back a little more. “There is a second part.” She grabbed the bag from where she had placed it next to her and pulled out a poorly wrapped box. “I know that there are presents involved with this whole Christmas thing, so I got you something.”
“The point is to exchange gifts. I’ll have to get you something in return, you know.” Still, Grace smiled as she pulled the box toward her. She carefully unwrapped the paper and set it aside before looking in the box. Resting inside was a datapad. She read a few sentences before looking up. “Vetra… What is this?”
“It’s our home. Well… a promise for our home. I worked with Tann and Addison to make sure we would have a permit to get a plot of land anywhere we wanted, within reason of course. I didn’t choose anywhere yet because I didn’t want to make the decision without you.” Grace could see Vetra’s nerves clearly now as she wrung her hands together. This had been the part she was most worried about, as though Grace would ever dream of saying no to moving in with the woman she loved. “I thought, your duties as a Pathfinder are getting easier and that maybe… well, maybe it would be nice for us to be able to have a home to go to.”
“Oh, Vetra.” Grace pressed her forehead against Vetra’s. It took her a moment to get a hold of the emotions threatening to overtake her. Grace Ryder, the one who always knew how to mask her emotions, was all of a sudden unable to. “There’s nothing I want more.” There was a small break in her voice that made her laugh. “I can’t wait to start a new home with you.”
Grace Ryder hadn’t joined the Initiative with any expectations of home or love; honestly she had no expectations for a life of her own. She had joined out of duty to her father, out of a need to make him happy. Coming to Andromeda had led to loss and trauma and struggle, but it also led to so much more. Grace had been able to find this home, to find Vetra and to be able to make new traditions with the one she loved… it was a gift, one that she would cherish for a long time.