"I thought drell were supposed to have eidetic memories. Solipschism or whatever."

Tesla pressed her forehead to the leather-clad shoulder in front of her. The line leading into the C-Sec offices was utterly insane. She'd never seen it so busy, but of course it'd be busy on the one day she needed to get through all this mess as quickly as possible. Jacob stood at her hip, swaying impatiently, while Jack lingered at the very back, having come along because she had just as many questions as Shepard.

"Solipsism," Thane clarified. "And it's a very delicate situation." When she made a muffled 'hrmm?' sound against his arm, he continued, taking a short step forward as the line moved. "We absorb memories easily when our mind is clear, but – as if often the case with most other species' – excessive amounts of alcohol... tend to cloud things."

"That's just great."

"I am sorry I couldn't be of much help," he was quick to include, tilting his chin downward so he could look at her. Her forehead wrinkled as her eyes drifted upward to his without moving her mouth from where it was pressed to his shoulder. In an unconscious gesture, he ran a hand over her still mussed blonde hair. She went cross-eyed for a moment as she followed his hand, finally falling shut the moment she felt his fingers against her scalp. He was incredibly gentle; she was always surprised by that.

She shifted a little until her chin was resting on his shoulder instead, her shoulders slouched so far forward that she lost half a foot in height. "What do you remember?"

All four of them moved forward mechanically when another person slipped into the Wards.

"There's a lot of color," he began, hands lacing in front of him now that he was satisfied with the state of Shepard's hair. "I vaguely remember winning something."

"The elcor?"

Thane chuckled. "I meant a match, but, yes, I won the elcor, as well."

"Do you remember what you were playing?"

He contemplated this for a moment, pulled into a thoughtful trance as he drifted forward once again. They were nearing Sergeant Haron's station. Once they were able to get through and talk to Bailey, at least something would be solved. No doubt they'd be able to find Garrus within the hour. She was just hoping that no one had seen them the previous night.

"It was a fighting simulation," Thane said finally, his eyes following Shepard as she took a step forward to be scanned. The turian nodded to her, cordial, though his mandibles fluttered in a gesture Thane recognized as amusement. He knew something.

Tesla turned on her heel in the middle of the door, watching as Thane was scanned. Unsuccessfully. For the thousandth time. She bit back a grin when she heard Haron. "Still don't exist, I see." Her cheek twitched when she saw Thane's almost smug smile. He moved forward with enviable grace despite what she imagined was one hell of a hangover, if it was anything like hers. "Lots of flashing lights. Fake blood." He paused, smug smile turning into a smirk. "I'm fairly sure I broke your neck."

"Charming."

The smirk changed entirely, shifting into something almost boyish.

Rolling her eyes, Shepard turned again, this time towards Bailey. He looked a bit worse for wear, and she realized what a terrible sign it was that her first thought included wondering if it had anything to do with her. Giving the skin between her brows a rub, she stalked forward until she was standing directly in front of his desk. He glanced up from his work.

"Afternoon, Shepard." Crossing his hands on his desk, Bailey leaned forward. The moment he looked up and saw her, she swore she saw a smile twitch in the corner of his mouth. So he did know something. Excellent. "Something I can do for you?"

"I can't find Garrus," she murmured, an arm crossed just below her chest. "I figured you could help. Don't remember much."

Yep. There was definitely a smile. There was a smile, and she had to suppress the urge to smack it off of him. Why was this happening to her? Where had she gone wrong? She was the hero of the whole damn galaxy; she wasn't supposed to have horribly embarrassing stories about "that one time I got drunk on the Citadel and lost Vakarian." That shit was for Zaeed. She was important. She was supposed to be all stately.

Grimacing, she leaned forward, planting both hands onto the edge of his desk and staring at him, honey-hued eyes gone cold in a way he hadn't thought possible for such a color. Then again, the scars on her cheeks didn't do her whole image very many favors. "Look. I don't know what happened last night, but you probably do. Good. Fine. Enjoy that. I just need to find Garrus Vakarian. You think you can handle that?"

"I can do you one better," he said, completely unruffled by Shepard's sudden turn towards the intimidating. "I actually have some, ah, footage. Here, listen."

With a few strokes of the orange omni-board beneath his fingers, his terminal flashed blue. He'd thankfully turned down the volume far enough for only the four people gathered around the desk to hear. Shepard was too busy fuming, her thumbnail nearly giving way beneath her chewing, to hear the very beginning. She did perk up when she heard her voice.

"I'm Commander Shepard, and this is my favorite Citadel- on... the Citadel! Hah! Hahaha, shit." There was a pregnant pause. "Hey! Hey, Thane. Don't give me that face. I'm clever as hell."

"Damn, Shepard," she heard Jack murmur from her left. She sounded impressed.

This was beyond absurd. Sure, she was a partier. She'd always been into getting wasted and going out. It was part of being raised around a bunch of soldiers. But this- this had never happened to her before. She always knew where she'd been, what (or who) she'd done, and there was never incriminating evidence. Or, at least, there hadn't been until now.

Behind them, they heard a bit of a shuffle, followed by an incredulous, "Dad?"

Thane tensed for a moment before glancing over his shoulder to find Kolyat standing not two feet away. Definitely close enough to hear the recording. He was already gaping, but his jaw went completely slack when he heard his father purr, "Mm, you're a lot of things, Shepard," followed by a wet smack.

There was a tense silence that stretched out of nowhere. Well, relative silence, considering the continuous, quieter smacking noises leaving Bailey's terminal. Kolyat glanced back and forth between Shepard and Thane, black eyes wide. The two of them stared right back at Kolyat, completely unsure of what to say. Jack arched a brow at Jacob, who was too busy listening to the recording to even bother. This blanket of nothing continued until the smacking stopped.

Tesla was just about to cross herself when she heard her voice again.

"Lead the w-way, Krios. I wanna watch that fine ass from here all the way to the Normandy."

The palm of her hand met her forehead with an audible smack, sending a shiver of pain down her spine. Ow. Shit. This was not good. If Bailey had this on hand, who else knew what had happened? There had to be witnesses. Witnesses with omni-tools. Witnesses who knew how to use the extranet.

"We're going to... go... look... for Vakarian. I think Nu Vegas might be our best bet for information, considering my tab," she murmured, turning to look at Thane, "Do you want to stay here? You wanted to talk to Kolyat, didn't you?"

Thane tensed for no longer than a heartbeat.

"No, I think it'd be best if I came along."