Author Note: This is a one-shot that occurs between chapters 1 and 2 of Some Kind of Normal. I thought it was too short to put in the main story so I decided to post it separately. Enjoy!

Jacob was slightly distracted at his workbench that day. He didn't know why until he glanced at the time. It was way past time for Shepard, Commander Shepard, to make her rounds. She had a habit of going around the ship and talking to just about every member of the crew, getting updates on the ship's status and just checking in with people on an individual level. It was something unique to her and something he had come to expect and even like. It threw him off at first, he wasn't used to talking to his commanding officer about anything remotely personal because he was a private person and no others had even tried. He found that it was very easy to open up to her though, and soon talking to Shepard became a pleasant part of his daily routine.

He knew her route like the back of his hand. She would always come to the armory first. They would talk for a while about mods they'd picked up, armor or weapons that needed repairing, and eventually day-to-day life things. She'd then move on to the tech lab to speak with Mordin, check in with Kelly at the galaxy map, and then go to the cockpit to speak to Joker. After she was done on deck two, she'd move down to to crew deck to check in with Garrus, Dr. Chakwas, Gardner, and Miranda. It was almost noon so according to her usual schedule, she was very late. He was cleaning his workbench, haven given up focusing on repairs for the time being, when he finally heard the door swish open and the familiar tap of boots against the floor. He turned and saw the Commander coming into the armory through the door that led to the tech lab.

"Well look who's late," Jacob said smiling at Shepard as she took her usual spot on the table behind his workbench.

"I'm not late at all," Shepard said, returning his smile. "I came exactly when I meant to. What do you mean by 'late' anyway?"

"You usually stop by here first since it's right next to the elevator." Jacob leaned back against his workbench, folded his arms across his chest, and took a moment to examine the woman before him. Commander Esperanza Shepard sat on top of the table in front of him, swinging her legs back and forth. Her skin was about a shade lighter than his was, smooth and perfect, marred only by two parallel surgical scars on her left cheek. He could just see the blood orange of her cybernetics glowing beneath the scars. Her hair was pulled back into it's usual ornate bun, but a few of the curly jet black strands always seemed to escape to frame her face. His favorite part of her though had to be her eyes. She had a beautiful pair of hazel eyes that always seemed to shift from brown to green and back again. She could easily mask her body language but her eyes always told the full story. Right now those expressive eyes were swimming with laughter at his tacit admission that he'd been paying close attention to her daily routine.

"So you noticed? Does that mean you missed me?" Shepard teased lightly.

"Just an observation Commander," said Jacob blushing lightly.

"Can we drop the Commander thing? I think we're on a first name basis at this point."

"I don't know," Jacob started but he was quickly interrupted by Shepard.

"This isn't an Alliance vessel Jacob. You don't have to call me 'Commander' all the time."

"This may not be an Alliance vessel but you are still my commanding officer."

"True," Shepard said. She lapsed into silence for a bit, seemingly deep in thought. "Maybe we can come to a compromise."

"Compromise?"

"Yeah. When we're alone, talking about non mission related things, maybe then you could use my first name?"

Jacob was quiet for a bit, staring at the small tentative smile on her face. They were spending more and more time lately talking about normal things and it didn't seem right calling her Commander when they're doing something like arguing over the best Coltrane album. He smiled and knew his decision had been made long before she even suggested the "compromise."

"Ok, Esperanza. I think I can do that."