1. The Best Part of Waking Up

Never again. Never again would she go out and drink like that. Never ever ever. Cotton mouth notwithstanding, she felt absolutely miserable. Cassie opened an eye cautiously and immediately squeezed it shut. Just that slight movement set off the pulsing at the front of her skull.

Dimly, her mind began running through the biological reasons for why she felt like death. It didn't make her feel any better, but…

Every part of her body came to a standstill, mind stuttering to a halt when she heard a definitely masculine sigh beside her and what could only be described as snuggling down into the sheets. She braced herself for the nausea that was sure to come, turned her head (now aware of the super comfy pillow beneath her head) toward the sound, and opened her eye again to see her almost definitely naked bed partner. She shut her eye again, feeling her pulse accelerate in the throbbing in her head.

What had she done.

What.

No.

Memories from the night before flooded in and her body, as pained and miserable as it was feeling right now, began to tingle with awareness and now she recognized an ache, a good ache, a really good ache, between her thighs.

Cassie held back a groan, not wanting to wake him up even though her body had decided it was up for another round of frankly glorious sex that she was now starting to remember. She'd just wanted to go out, celebrate her last night in the Milky Way, flirt with strangers, maybe drink too much. Okay, she'd definitely been intending to drink too much.

She had not been intending for a one night stand though if she had to stop and think about it, that was in total Cassiopeia Ryder style. Nothing happened the way she expected her life to go. She could blame it on the fact that her parents were geniuses and definitely not normal and their not normal infected all aspects of her life even though that was all she wanted. Castor would blame it on the fact that she had rotten luck but considering her twin brother was also making his way to Andromeda with the rest of their remaining family (family that only consisted of them and their dad but she wasn't in the mood to split hairs), he clearly shared in her rotten luck.

And now here she was in bed with someone that she was never going to see again after sex she wasn't looking for and that almost made her reconsider the move out of the Milky Way. Almost. Rotten luck indeed. Her brother would be proud.

A faint hum from her wrist had her opening her eyes to slits to look at her omni tool. What she saw had her eyes shooting open, adrenaline shoving aside any feeling of queasiness or pain. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit," she hissed, barely audible, still not wanting to wake...whoever he was. "I'm gonna be late."

She sat up, engaging her biotics a little to help what the adrenaline wasn't touching, and carefully pulled the sheet away from her body. Cassie glanced every once in a while over at the man whose bed she was in, but he continued to sleep, still swollen lips parted.

While shoving her left foot into her boot, she had the sudden impulse to kiss him awake, let him know she was leaving. She shook her head, irritated and amused by her response to the man.

That was when she saw it. Every muscle in her body froze and she had to consciously restart her breathing. A thin band of some sort of metal sat on the ring finger of her left hand. Her head whipped around to stare at her bedfellow and the bed shook with the movement. He shifted in his sleep, licking his lips, and she got the distinct impression that he was starting to wake up. Also, his movements exposed a mark in the dark skin at the base of his throat, one she distinctly remembered giving him with lips and teeth. She blinked, fascinated by the sight of it for a second before she remembered that she had married the man and she had no idea who he was and her dad was going to kill her and she was married and he was never going to see her again and this was quite possibly one of the worst things that had ever happened to her and she was married and what was her last name supposed to be now and he was beautiful and she was leaving and they were married.

She had gotten married to a man that she did not know. And it was in true Cassiopeia Ryder style to not remember getting married but to remember the amazing sex with the man who was apparently her husband. Husband. She was married. What the hell?

Great. Okay. She could deal with this. She shoved her right foot into her boot and didn't bother with the laces. She could do them in the shuttle. She was married to someone that wouldn't be alive when she woke up. Great, that was a super depressing thought. Not that it mattered to her in the long scheme of things and really, the whole mess would probably affect his life more than hers.

She stood, thanking whatever lucky stars she had left that her clothes had all been tossed nearby. So were his, actually, but hopefully she'd be long gone by the time he went to find them.

Cassie looked down on him, trying to memorize his beautiful, beautiful face and that dark mark on his throat. She shook her head then spied some crumpled up papers and a pen near them. Actual pen and paper. If she wasn't leaving…

She scrawled out a quick note and unwrinkled it as best she could. Replacing the pen on the nightstand, she placed the note within reach of where he'd find it when he woke.

And then she left, feeling a little like a dog with her tail tucked between her legs and wanting nothing more than to curl back up into his side.

She barely noticed the outside of the Hyperion when it came in view, fingers twiddling the band that she'd placed on the thin gold chain where she wore her mother's ring. Castor threw an arm around her shoulders, beaming brightly. She slipped the chain and its accessories under her shirt.

"Hey, Cassie," he chirped, noticing her wince and smiling even wider. "Fun night?"

"Funnest. Can we just get on board?"

"Uh-huh. Right after you explain that little hickie right there." He flicked the ticklish skin at the base of her ear.

Cassie went bright red and elbowed him hard in the side. "Shut up, Cas."

"Nope. Never. Did you go out looking to get laid or was it a happy coincidence? Although I just think it's funny that you're the late one for once."

"Did you go out looking to get laid last night?" she shot back.

"I'm not the one sporting a notch in my bed post on my body." He smirked, free hand going up to rub his knuckles against her head. "At least nowhere you can see right now."

Laughing, finally broken out of the panicked broken record in her head, Cassie bumped her hip companionably against her twin brother. "Gross."

"You love me."

"I have to. You're my kid brother."

He actually whined, pushing her away. "It's not my fault you're impatient. It was a minute, Cas. A minute."

"I'm still older. Thus, you're my kid brother." She grinned at him.

"Fine, O Ancient One Who Knows All, you might want to get yourself hydrated again before Dad sees you. He gets grumpy when we're stupid."

"I'm an adult," she grumbled.

He poked her in the neck again. "Clearly."

"Shut up."

"Besides, you're the one into all that sciency stuff. Do you know how cryogenics will react with a hangover?"

She grunted something, steadfastly ignoring the blush creeping its way up her neck.

"I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I don't want to wake up in 600 years with a hangover still."

"I love how I'm the only one who took your advice last night. Come on, we've still got some time before we absolutely have to be on board. Let's go fix you."

When she woke up in Andromeda, she bolted upright, panting heavily. No hangover to speak of, thank God. But just as quickly, she could feel her adrenaline spiking as people helped her out of her pod, keeping her steady.

This was it. She was really here. For a moment, her thoughts turned to the man she'd left behind in the Milky Way, her husband, but she pushed those thoughts aside. He was long dead by now, hopefully having lived out a long, full life, gotten married (properly, not just in a drunken impulse), had some kids, and died at a ripe old age. And that meant that she was a widow. A widow at the age of 22. Or was that 622? Either way, she could move on here, make a home for her brother and father and not have to worry about the stigma of being Alec Ryder's daughter. She could just be Cassie here, like she'd tried to be before her dad had gotten into trouble for AI research and she and her brother suddenly were blacklisted.

Ah, she needed coffee, help get her thoughts calmed down. She walked slowly, feeling her body creak a little from so many centuries of inactivity. And wow, that was never a thought she ever thought she'd have.

As she looked up, her brain stuttered to a halt, followed by her body. There sitting on a bed was the man from the morning before she left. They left, apparently. He was here. He wasn't...holy shit. She was married and it still counted and she wasn't a widow and- she yanked herself out of her thoughts. Now, she really needed coffee.

He looked up and her mind short-circuited again. He waved but there was no moment of recognition, no stutter in his movements. There was no way he could have expected her to come with him which meant that he didn't remember. He didn't remember her, what had happened between them, and didn't that make her genuinely sad for some unknown bizarro reason, but most importantly, he clearly didn't know they were married. That was fine. She could handle this. No one would ever know, no one needed to know and she wasn't even sure if it was legally binding now or then.

Shit, she really needed coffee. She was not awake enough to handle this crap and she didn't even know her own last name.

AN: First and foremost, this is a song fic, sort of, if I'm understanding exactly what that is. Name of the fic is from Carrie Underwood's song Last Name. Go take a listen to it. Chapter is from the Folgers' jingle.

Secondly, I own nothing. Song goes to Carrie, jingle to Folgers, and Mass Effect goes to Bioware. I'm just playing in their sandbox.

I was going to originally post this as a finished thing (no chapter) but I was persuaded to keep writing it so I will. Expect the next chapter...next week, maybe?

Let me know what you think, pretty please! I like knowing what I'm doing is effective or finding out what isn't effective. Otherwise I feel like I'm just shouting to the void. Thanks for reading.