The idea was ridiculous – to Kaidan, at least.

"I'm fine Shepard!" His commanding officer gave him 'that look', the slight raise of her eyebrow accompanied with a slight twitch in the corner of her mouth. Kaidan ripped his eyes away from her with a frown.

"How many times do I need to say it before you accept that I'm not looking for that to be in my life right now." The very idea of starting something with someone in the middle of a war was a prospect that he didn't even want to think about. He had been tempted, countless times but that just brought back memories from BAaT, and his time with Rahna.

What if he did find someone in the midst of this chaos that played with death, misery and grief like it was a game and then he lost control? He might do something rash or have his personal feelings get in the way of his orders. No. He was a Spectre now and he couldn't afford distractions.

Shepard disagreed.

"I thought exactly the same as you when I was going after the Collectors, but look at what happened between Garrus and me."

"That was different. Neither of you knew if you were going to come back—"

"It feels the same to me." She crossed her arms and gave him 'the look' again. "Maybe you just need someone who will give you a reason to fight."

"I have a reason to fight," he protested to no avail, "I fight for humanity and for survival."

"Those are noble goals Kaidan but you need something else. Something more personal. Something that will burn inside of you like a fire at the thought of losing it." Her eyes looked far away and Kaidan realized that she was lost in her thoughts again.

"Garrus and I have each other," she said absentmindedly, "We fight so that we can have a future together. So what do you have to fight for?"

He began to see her point, although he didn't admit it. Admitting something like that to Shepard would bring back 'the look' only this time she would give a smug little grin that yelled out 'I told you so'. He kept quiet.

"What do you want from me Commander?" he asked tersely, which made her laugh – a rarity in itself. "I want you to come with me and some of the team to Purgatory for a few drinks. We can have a bit of a laugh – probably over my dancing – and then you can see if anyone catches your fancy. Deal?"

He figured it was a fair enough deal. He could just have a few drinks, relax a little and then come back to the Normandy.

"Deal."


The violent pulses and dark rhythms made Kaidan's blood dance as his group made their way towards the lower bar. EDI and Joker were already sitting at a table together close by, and Kaidan shook his head in disbelief at the abnormality of the situation. Of course it would be just like Joker to actually find a way to date his ship – the Alliance major supposed that as long as they were happy, that was all that mattered.

"So do you see anyone?" Shepard grinned at him over a shot glass in her hand. He nodded towards it, attempting to change the subject,

"What are you drinking?" Commander Shepard shrugged, "Damned if I know. I just told him to give me something strong. Anyway, you changed the subject." Damn.

"We've been here all of a minute and you think that I've got my eye on someone?" He instinctively scanned the area around him as an afterthought. Asides from Shepard's group there were not many people around the lower bar – most had gone upstairs onto the dance floor and the noise from above was tremendous as people cheered and raved to the music.

There was one other person at the bar drinking – but she also seemed to be doing dancing as well. The woman, Kaidan saw, was downing shots every few minutes before returning to an energetic and well-rehearsed dance, clearly practiced from visiting the club regularly.

Shepard noticed his lingering gaze on the woman and glanced behind her to see what was distracting him. Once she noticed that it was the dancing woman behind her, she gave him the dreaded 'look'. "Not interested in anybody, huh?" she smirked, watching with satisfaction as Kaidan hurriedly returned his attention to her.

"I wasn't—I mean I'm not!" He stumbled over his words in an attempt to keep Shepard's smirk at bay but as usual it didn't work.

"Go and talk to her," He looked at his commanding officer in horror. "I couldn't! I'm not even interes—"But Shepard just kept smirking. Only then it got worse, because now Garrus and James had decided to stop staying silent out of amusement. Now it was three on one.

"Come on Alenko," James insisted, "Just buy her a drink and do something to impress her," Kaidan briefly glanced in her direction again, where the red-haired woman had just downed yet another shot. "Don't you think that would come across as being slightly creepy? I mean how do I start a conversation with a complete stranger?" Garrus and James laughed.

"We're in the middle of a night club Kaidan," Garrus pointed out, "You either come here with friends to have a good time or you come alone to find a good time." The major could feel the blood rising to his cheeks. It had been a long time since he had tried to pick up women, not since Rahna. Of course then there was the time on the SR1 when he had picked up on the wrong signals from Shepard and come out of the situation with a growing feeling of humiliation. Maybe this would be a chance to put that past him. A harmless bit of flirting.

"Fine," he got up from his seat while Shepard watched him in disbelief. She knew she teased him about being single all the time but she never thought he would actually react from it all. Not like that anyway.

Kaidan took a deep breath and searched for the woman. In the time it had taken to persuade him to give this a shot, some people – mainly a small group of batarians – had streamed back into the lower bar from the dance floor. Among them all, Kaidan spotted a bright flame of hair bouncing to the beat of the club sound.

That was when things started to go downhill. The batarians had formed a barricade between Shepard's group and the lone woman but Kaidan could still make out what was happening. The leader of the batarian group had an ugly scar down the side of his face and he had grabbed the woman from behind. Now she stood facing the barricade while Kaidan watched, trying to formulate enough of a plan that he might be able to help her.

"Aren't you sweet," Scar-face leered at her, tightening his hold around her torso. To any other onlookers it appeared that a batarian and a human were just in a very tight embrace but Kaidan knew different. The bartender had gone, probably to save himself, Kaidan thought in disgust.

Scar-face was in for a bit of a surprise. "I'm going to give you three seconds to let go of me and fuck off," she said sweetly, but her eyes were blazing with anger. The ugly batarian laughed – it sounded like a turian drowning – but didn't let her go.

"And if I don't?" He growled.

"Then I'm going to show you what Purgatory really looks like." Kaidan admired her gall. Not many could remain calm in a situation like this, which reminded him that he should be looking for a way to help. But he couldn't. Some part of him was compelled to just watch as this anger-empowered woman took on a battle-scarred batarian. It was wrong of him and his conscience screamed at him to do something but he couldn't. His curiosity had gotten the better of him.

Her hands glowed as she summoned the dark energy that stormed her body. Scar-face howled in pain as it made contact with him – and in that moment of his hesitation, she broke free from his grasp and turned to face him.

"Biotic bitch!" he spat.

"I did warn you," she retorted. Perhaps this would be it, and she would let him run from the club with his lesson learned. Somehow Kaidan doubted it. Scar-face had really pissed her off.

He was right.

She lifted the batarian with dark, crushing arms and pulled him towards her until he was right in front of her, trapped in a biotic stasis and completely at her mercy. "What to do with you…" she smirked and then she turned and looked over at Kaidan, to his surprise.

"What do you think?" She called to him, "You've been watching for long enough to have an opinion." Embarrassment crept up his spine – she had known he had been watching the entire time. She must think he was a coward or some other horrific person no better than the batarian.

He shrugged awkwardly but focused on the dark energy inside of him. The barricade of batarians was still there and he was determined to get rid of them as some sort of way to apologize for his idleness. He pulled two of them away with his biotic arm and the others scattered in alarm at the thought of being attacked by another biotic. Now only Scar-face remained, only now his cruel face didn't show menace, it showed fear.

The woman nodded her thanks to him before bringing her attention back to her prisoner. "I think I'll let you off the hook," she told the batarian, "But not without some sort of reprimand." There was a crack! that sent a piercing scream over the club beat. Kaidan winced as he noticed that three of Scar-face's finger had been bent back at a dangerously unnatural angle. He fell to the floor as she ceased to hold him with a stasis field and he stuck his hands out on instinct to delay his fall. The force of his broken fingers making contact with the dance floor sent another scream out over the rhythm.

"Get out of here." He stood and fled while she watched, vengeance shining through her eyes. With her attacker gone, she now brought her attention back to Kaidan.

"Your biotics are amazing!" Kaidan blurted out. He couldn't help it. The amount of energy she had just used was extraordinary. In her place, Kaidan couldn't help wondering if he would have been able to stay standing.

Her face lit up and she gave a little bow, "Thanks! I've been working on that stasis hold for ages. That was the first time I've been able to hold it for so long – I think maybe my inner rage is the secret." She winked at him, "You're not so shabby yourself, Major Alenko." Kaidan's heart was blurred with mixed feelings. If she knew who he was then maybe he shouldn't go on with his plan. It wouldn't be wise.

"You know who I am?" She laughed at his surprised face. "Of course! You are the second human Spectre. Congrats by the way. That's a big deal, but you serve on the Normandy so I'm sure you can handle it." She was charming, that was for sure.

"I'm Doctor Avalon," she said with a smile, "Doctor Avalon Shepard. I believe you know my sister."