Kaidan took in this small space on Arcturus station and grimaced in frustration. He was leaning up against the bars and staring longingly down the corridor to the door at the far end. Any minute now someone was going to come through it and come let him out, apologizing and saying that it had all been a big mistake.

Unfortunately that dream was becoming thinner and thinner as time went by. Kaidan had been in there for what seemed like forever, but was in reality only five hours. It was 0300 now and he highly doubted anyone cared to release him in the middle of the night.

Sighing, Kaidan went to sit on the bench running along the side of the cell and then suddenly thought better of it. There was a faint stench of urine coming off it, and Kaidan had no intention of sitting on anything that could possibly have been used as a toilet. Probably some drunk had pissed all over it while sleeping it off. So he slid down the wall and sat on the floor with his arms draped loosely over his knees, ignoring the smell and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in his clothes. He was unfortunately wearing his expensive jeans and shirt. They were spattered sporadically with blood and when he did get released it was going to take forever to get the smell of this place out of them.

This was really inconvenient. He was supposed to be shipping out in another 24 hours on a new assignment. Kaidan really hoped that this mess wouldn't jeopardise that. And that his new CO wouldn't find out. Being locked up just before leaving on a new mission was not paramount for making a good first impression. And his CO wasn't any old soldier, it was Captain Anderson. He was an N7 and a war hero. Kaidan rubbed his face in his hands and let out a moan. He had been so excited about getting assigned to the Normandy. It was a dream come true to work on the brand new prototype stealth ship. Kaidan had read up on it and was very eager to get on board and check out the drive core which he had heard was like no other ever seen before. And the stealth system was apparently second to none, it being the very first of its kind. It was a tech nerds dream.

Now he had put all that on the line because of one stupid little mistake. Thinking back on it now, Kaidan realised that he could have - should have - dealt with the situation far differently. It had started off innocently enough. He and his friend Craig had gone out to a bar for a few drinks to celebrate Kaidan's new assignment. They'd gotten there quite early in the night so there weren't many other patrons. But as the night wore on the bar got a lot busier and rowdier. It eventually got to the point where they could barely move without bumping into other people.

And that is how the trouble started. Craig was quite drunk at this point. Kaidan not so much, maybe a little tipsy but not much more. It was the high metabolism of being biotic. A blessing or a curse, whichever way you wanted to look at it. Anyway, Craig was going on about something at great length. Kaidan couldn't actually remember now what he was talking about, but his friend was telling it very enthusiastically complete with hands gesturing wildly in the air.

And you can imagine, a bar full of people and Craig was flailing his arms about unchecked. An accident was bound to happen. And it did. With great drama.

An off duty soldier was elbowing his way past them, balancing four pints of beer on a tray and Craig in the throws of his story telling whips his hand out behind him and promptly swipes all four drinks down the front of the aforementioned marine.

For a few seconds the world just seemed to stop. The soldier stood there in shock, dripping in alcohol while Craig stood there with his mouth open, staring at the mess he had created. Kaidan was in shock too. And those few seconds seemed to pass by in slow motion as the soldier held his arms out as the beer pooled about around his feet. He looked up at Craig with a dangerous glint in those dark eyes and then suddenly as if someone has pressed fast forward, a fist landed in Craig's face and his friend was lying sprawled on the floor with blood gushing everywhere. And it seems as if the finger stayed pressed on fast forward right up until Kaidan's incarceration. Everything happened so quickly. The burly soldier didn't stop at one punch. He proceeded to kick the shit out Craig. And seeing his friend now laying unconscious on the floor while receiving a brutal beating, Kaidan leapt into action.

Now he was a pretty skilled soldier himself, but this other guy was a lot bigger than him. Kaidan managed to hold his own, but only just. A few punches managed to dodge in between his defences. Most notably his bruised jaw and black eye.

By now everyone in the bar had noticed what was going on and had turned to watch the fight. Kaidan was feeling very nervous about this. He never got into bar brawls, especially not with someone who looked like he could eat him for breakfast. He needed to end this fast before it got even more out of control. He stopped where he was and held his hands up in an attempt to diffuse the situation. Unfortunately all he got in response was a left hook to his ribs. Kaidan staggered and out of pure instinct flung out his hand and a blue corona instantly flared to life. The biotic energy flew out and pushed the other man into a table and he fell over it right onto his ass.

That's when the fight ended. Nobody moved, everyone was rooted to the spot staring at him. It was like he was some sort of exhibit in a zoo. It was very uncomfortable. Next thing Kaidan knew, he was being arrested. At least the burly soldier was arrested too. But now he was looking at Kaidan with a look of fear in his face. Real fear.

Kaidan sighed again. He really shouldn't have let loose his biotics quite so publicly. God knows what people would think of him now. Being a biotic wasn't easy and a display like that wasn't going to do him any favours. He had been living with this for almost twenty years now and people still didn't understand much about his powers. Most feared it. And in a way, so did Kaidan. He berated himself again for being so stupid to lose control like that. Not only did it mark him as different and dare he say it dangerous, but he really could have hurt the other man. Not just a bruised bum and damaged ego, but he could have...

Never mind that. The other soldier was ok and was currently residing in a cell in another part of the building.

So that was Kaidan's night. Didn't exactly go according to plan. He hoped that Craig was going to be ok. He'd been carted off to hospital as he was still unconscious and Kaidan suspected he also suffered a broken nose. Oh dear, Craig just wasn't used to this. His friend worked in Alliance Intelligence. A desk job with no chance at all of field work. The last time Craig had been in any sort of fight was way back during basic. And that was a long time ago now.

Kaidan closed his eyes and winced slightly as his left eye twinged a bit. So far he hadn't been allowed any medi gel to put on his various cuts and bruises, or even an ice pack. There was no mirror in there but he surmised he probably looked a right mess.

As he was contemplating how much longer he was going to be kept in this cell, there was a noise at the far end of the corridor. There were only six cells in here, three on each side and he was the only one in there. Then suddenly the lock disengaged on the door leading into the prison and swished open. For a moment Kaidan's heart leapt thinking that someone was finally coming to let him go. Hopefully with only a slap on the wrist and a firm admonition to not get into any more trouble. After all, it wasn't like he did this regularly. Up till now, his record had been clean.

But one look at the people entering dashed Kaidan's hopes in one. The first was the same mean looking officer who tossed Kaidan in his cell five hours earlier. He didn't even look in Kaidan's direction as he shoved his newest prisoner into the cell opposite, locked the door and promptly marched away without a word.

As soon as the door clicked closed behind said officer, Kaidan peered over into the next cell. The light was very dull with only a solitary lamp on at the end of the hall by the door, but he could clearly make out that his fellow prisoner was a woman. Perhaps a little younger than him with chin length dark hair and surprisingly a black eye just like his.

This mystery woman sighed and turned to lean on the bars, arms hanging out casually. She was wearing civilian clothes, a pair of jeans and a red halter neck. It was too dark to see her eyes but a slight glimmer.

"Like what you see, marine?"

Kaidan was startled out of his reverie as he realised he had been staring. "Oh, uh... sorry," he said and resolutely made to stare at the cell wall opposite him.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that she was blatantly staring at him with a slight smile on her face. Kaidan tried to ignore her, but after another minute he could stand it no longer and he turned his head and spoke. "Like what you're seeing?"

She was quiet for a couple of seconds before she answered, completely ignoring his question. "So who won?"

For a moment Kaidan didn't have a clue what she was talking about when she touched her own bruised face.

He snorted. "You can talk." When she didn't say anything and just looked at him, he looked down at his hands, which were still a bit bloody from the fight and said in a quiet voice, "I did."

"Did he deserve it?"

Kaidan frowned and looked back up at her. She was still smiling. "Yeah he did. My friend accidentally spilled his drink and he completely flipped out."

"Ah," she nodded knowingly, "self defence."

Kaidan stood up and faced her properly. "So what about you?" he asked, hoping to distract her from delving too much into his personal problems. "Who won?"

Now she had a full out grin spread over her face and her eyes twinkled in a smug but very pretty way. "I did of course. There's no way I was going to let that little weasel best me."

"So what happened? Did he spill your drink?" Kaidan smirked, the woman's infectious smile was evidently spreading.

"No," she said airily, but I did tip my drink over his head before punching his lights out."

Kaidan snorted and went to speak again, but she interrupted him before he could.

"And yes he deserved it. Grabbing my bum was one thing. I even gave him a warning. But when he decided to full on fondle my boobs?" She shook her head, "Nuh uh, that fucker was going down."

And at that, Kaidan's eyes were irresistibly drawn to said body part. With that top on there wasn't really much left to the imagination. This woman didn't exactly have massive breasts, but nor were they small. And the halter neck certainly knew how to accentuate her assets.

"Ahem," the woman clicked her fingers in order to get his attention.

Kaidan jerked his gaze up when he realised that he had blatantly been staring at her breasts for too long to be excused. He blushed profusely and looked down at his feet. Suddenly very glad that they weren't sharing the same cell, considering it was a man perving on her boobs that landed her in this mess in the first place.

But all she did was laugh. Kaidan was startled out of his very intense inspection of his shoes and looked back up at her. Her face this time. Definitely not... no don't do it Alenko.

"You're cute when you blush," she said. Grinning even more widely.

Kaidan could feel his face going even redder but he refused to look away this time. Instead he said, "You always this forward with men you've only just met?"

Waving a hand dismissively, she answered, "Nah, only the ones I meet in lock up."

Her eyes twinkled as she watched for his reaction. Kaidan couldn't find the words. She was obviously teasing him, but just the casual way she was talking, especially in the situation they were both in was just surreal. And the fact that she was kinda hot didn't help matters. So even though she made him blush, Kaidan was inexplicably drawn to this mysterious woman.

He ignored her previous comment and asked something that should have been the first one out of his mouth when they first started talking. "What's your name?"

The woman stopped grinning now. "What's yours?"

"Kaidan."

She looked thoughtful for a moment and something passed behind her eyes that he couldn't quite place. "Kaidan, a good strong name. You don't get many Kaidans nowadays."

"No, you don't. But you also don't get many people with no name," he said, pointedly looking at her.

"Lucia," the woman sighed. "My name is Lucia."

Kaidan frowned. "I've never known someone to be so reluctant to give out their name."

"Yeah?" she shot back. "What about the Shadow Broker? He doesn't give out his name so freely."

Kaidan choked out a laugh, "Yeah, but you're not the Shadow Broker."

Lucia looked at him challengingly. "How do you know? Have you ever met him? Or her?"

"No, but I highly doubt the Shadow Broker goes around getting himself into bar brawls. It would be an exceptionally stupid thing to do." Kaidan said with a straight face.

She snorted, "Well, I suppose that rules you out too."

"Indeed it does."

Lucia let out a bark of laughter. "Well, now that we both know each other's names and that neither of us is the Shadow Broker, maybe we can -"

She broke off and held her nose in the air and gave her surroundings a quick sniff, turned round and gave the back of her cell a quick inspection. Spinning back round to him she had a look of abject disgust on her face. Frowning she said, in a very matter of fact voice, "This cell has a distinct whiff of vomit about it."

Kaidan couldn't help but laugh at that announcement. And the way she wrinkled her nose was positively cute.

However Lucia did not seem in the least bit amused by his outburst. "This is no laughing matter!"

But that just made Kaidan laugh more. And it wasn't just what she said, it was the sheer absurdity of the entire situation. Here he was talking to a beautiful woman, having the strangest conversation of his life in a prison cell.

Eventually he calmed down to see her staring at him again. Those eyes just pierced right through him. And for a moment he wondered if he really had offended her. So he told her "I'm sorry for laughing. But if it makes you feel any better, I'm pretty sure someone's pissed all over my cell. Every time I go to sit on the bench I end up gagging."

"Serves you right," she said with a serious look on her face. But Kaidan could see the smile trying to break through. Eventually she lost the fight and chuckled, "I swear, this is going to be the last time I get arrested. There's just too much hassle. And the accommodation isn't very desirable."

Kaidan raised an eyebrow. "You've been arrested before?"

"Mmm," she answered, "but the company is infinitely better than last time. The scenery has definitely improved."

She was doing this on purpose, like it was some sort of game to see how many times she could make him blush. Kaidan didn't know what to say to that, but he refused to look away. But in a way he agreed with her. The scenery was definitely a plus. Especially in that outfit. So much so it was actually difficult to tear his eyes away from her.

Kaidan almost said that out loud, but managed to reign it in at the last moment. There was no need for him to make a fool of himself. However, he couldn't deny that even though he had only known her for a few minutes, he was inexplicably attracted to her. Black eye and all.

"So, how many times have you been arrested?" Kaidan deflected.

"One too many times, but not as many as you would think," Lucia said cryptically, then leaned forward against the bars. "Let me guess, this is your first time?"

Kaidan nodded.

"Thought so," she said with a smirk. "You don't look the type."

"And you're so good at reading people," Kaidan retorted.

"I am as a matter of fact," Lucia replied. "And I'll prove it." She took in a breath and started, "You're the sort of person who takes orders and never questions them. A good little soldier who toes the line. Trouble only follows you very rarely but when it does smack you in the face, you take it as it is and deal with it as you see fit. You would rather talk someone down than use your fists. You're a master of self control and in the circumstances where you do have to use brute force, you are the one who inevitability kicks ass because you are so calm and collected all the time that it leaks into your fighting style which gains you focus to take down even the most difficult of opponents. But that control does occasionally slip, especially when talking to members of the opposite sex. You're rubbish when talking to woman and frequently get foot in mouth syndrome. Also you're a geek, probably into all sorts of fantasy and sci fi video games, movies and tv shows."

A stunned silence followed. Kaidan had no idea what to say to all that. Lucia was just standing there with a smug look on her face knowing that she had just nailed it on the head.

Who was this woman?

Kaidan was about to speak - or more likely sputter - a response, when she spoke for him. "So, is he going to press charges?"

Kaidan was flummoxed for a moment wondering what in the hell she was talking about. The subject change was so sudden that it took a minute for his brain to catch up. She didn't say anything. Just waited patiently for him to understand what direction their conversation was taking them in now. And seeing as it didn't centre on his shock at her uncanny ability to read him so well, he took the proffered opportunity to speak of something else.

However before he did, he firmly acknowledged to himself that nobody had managed to unbalance him as much as she could. And it wasn't just because Lucia was female. Well that definitely factored in it because she wasn't wrong when she said that Kaidan could get awkward around girls. But there was just something about the woman opposite that got under his skin. She seemed to enjoy teasing him. And it wasn't a bad thing either he found, weirdly enough.

"I don't know," Kaidan said pretending that those thoughts hadn't just entered his head and that he was carrying on the conversation as if they were talking casually about the weather. "But he did hit my friend first so technically charges could be pressed against him too."

"Ah, so he goes, you go."

Yep, but I really hope it doesn't come to that," Kaidan drew his hand over his face and sighed. "I'm supposed to be shipping out in twenty four hours. Might make things a tad difficult."

Lucia frowned. "What ship are you -"

But before she could finish they heard the door at the end of the hall being unlocked again. Were they to gain another cell mate tonight? He hoped not. All Kaidan's energy was currently being expended on keeping up with the woman opposite. If so, he didn't like their chances against Lucia, especially if they were male.

But as the door swished open, it was not to admit the grumpy officer and a new prisoner, but someone who Kaidan never expected.

Captain Anderson stepped through as the door whooshed close behind him. Alenko felt like his knees were going to give way. Of all the people to enter, Anderson was the very last person he wanted to see. Kaidan had never met him before and had been very surprised when he had learned of his assignment to the Normandy and that the Captain had personally hand picked his crew. So to meet his commanding officer for the first time while in a prison cell was firmly deposited in the 'not good' category.

But Kaidan was a marine and he did his best to stand to attention as Anderson walked down the corridor towards them, his heart thudding painfully in his chest. Lucia on the other hand was leaning against the wall and merely looked bored with the whole situation. Didn't she know who this was?

When the Captain drew level with them, he merely frowned in Kaidan's direction then as if deciding to ignore him he then focused his attention on Lucia. For a moment Kaidan was confused, but not a little relieved. Anderson was an intimidating figure when he wanted to be. He was tall with dark skin and had a dangerous look about him. Kaidan had heard that he was a veteran of the First Contact war and was the first person to graduate from the special forces N program. And he hated to admit that he was kind of shitting himself at that moment. What if Anderson changed his mind about wanting Kaidan aboard the Normandy, deciding that he didn't want to work with a troublemaker?

But what happened next knocked all of those thoughts right out of his head.

As Anderson looked at her, Lucia stood to a lazy attention and smiled.

"About time you showed up. You have no idea how bad it smells in here."

For a moment Kaidan was shocked at how she was speaking to him, and then it clicked. Finally. He couldn't believe that he hadn't recognised her right from the start. What an idiot he was.

"These things take time Shepard, as you well know," Anderson replied gruffly. "The officer on duty took a lot of persuading to convince him that you were acting in self defence due to sexual harassment."

Shepard crossed her arms in front of her. "Well that is the truth. You saw the whole thing. You know what happened."

Anderson sighed and copied her stance. "And you should stop getting yourself into situations like these."

Shepard opened her mouth, but Anderson rode over her before she could protest. "I don't care who whose fault it was, this is going to be the last time I haul your ass out of jail. You're supposed to be a responsible adult. Do I make myself clear?"

At this Shepard finally adopted a serious look and straightened up. "Yes sir."

"Good."

Anderson looked as if he were going to walk away, but at the last second spun round to look Kaidan in the eye. "Lieutenant, I believe the charges against you have been dropped. I expect to see you reporting to the Normandy tomorrow 0600 sharp."

Kaidan saluted. "Yes sir."

And with that, Captain Anderson marched out of the cell block and disappeared into the night.

An oppressive silence followed his departure. Kaidan ignored it and sank back against the wall with unbridled relief. His CO may have been pissed off but at least he hadn't completely blown the once in a lifetime chance that he had been given. Kaidan was still a part of the Normandy.

And speaking of the Normandy...

He glanced to his left and found Lucia staring at him again, a frown creasing her forehead. Kaidan couldn't believe he hadn't recognised her. Everyone knew about the Survivor. She escaped the batarian raid on Mindoir as a kid, Anderson being one of her rescuers. And again on Akuze, she was the only one out of fifty marines to survive the mass Thresher Maw attack. And because of the poor light he never noticed, until he knew her name the thin, white scar travelling down her left jaw line. 'A reminder of who she was and who she was fighting for,' it being the only thing she took away from Mindoir. He had seen her on the vids several times and in the various promotional material for the Alliance. But seeing her in person was a completely different experience. Shepard didn't appear to be the big, scary N7 that she was portrayed to be. Everything about the woman opposite screamed normal, if maybe slightly crazy, but still a normal human being. Complete with a quirky sense of humour. And the way she was dressed was just like any other female going out for a few drinks and having a good time with friends.

But Kaidan was still quite peeved that she hadn't introduced herself properly. He felt like a right idiot now, especially now finding out that she was the Normandy's XO and he'd be reporting directly to her.

"You're Commander Shepard," Kaidan stated, his brain stalling.

Shepard made a show of looking herself over. "Last I looked, yes."

The next thing that came out of his mouth unfortunately decided to completely bypass his brain and just came spurting out.

"I would have expected someone with your reputation to be a little... older."

Kaidan inwardly winced and cursed himself for the words that had come tumbling out. But far from offending her, Shepard smirked, her eyes twinkling. "And you're shorter than I expected. Apparantly appearances can be deceiving."

Kaidan took in her response and shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips. He just couldn't help it. He had known this woman for less than an hour, but she had managed to completely throw him for a loop, worming her way through his carefully constructed walls. She had turned him into a bumbling, blushing idiot who had managed to embarrass himself by staring at his XO's breasts and speaking before thinking. And to make this even more confusing, she wasn't offended by any of his indiscretions. In fact she seemed to take great delight in them. Which in turn caused Kaidan, whose brain had completely given up on trying to make sense of this situation, to look at her and realise that despite the fact she perplexed the hell out of him, he was drawn to her in a way that he had never felt with another person before.

Lucia Shepard on first meeting was disheveled, brash and snarky. But there was a quality about her that Kaidan couldn't help but be entranced with. It was like she exuded a kind of energy that swept up anyone in her path. A Siren's call that, for better or for worse, would be the turning point in Kaidan Alenko's life.