"Not a pet," Tectis said, never glancing up from the omnitool he was so diligently typing into. He seemed to be completely absorbed in it, but I knew from experience that he could see both me and the majority of the docking bay with his peripheral vision. I wished I could do the same. It would've made our patrols a whole lot easier. He saw my mandibles flutter in confusion, and the young salarian clarified, "The human."

Ally? "So I am aware. What makes you say she is?"

"Not saying she is; I'm saying you're treating her like one. Effort you put into checking on her better spent on helping more refugees. More logical."

I glared in the direction of a young elcor who smelled like he was looking for a fight. He backed down reluctantly and I was grateful. "Maybe, but she's just a kid. I don't think she's more than fifteen years old; someone has to look out for her."

He finally looked up at me, "I'm fourteen."

"But you're a salarian."

"And you went into basic training at fifteen," he continued as if I hadn't spoken.

"By human standards she's still a kid," I insisted.

" Cultural differences irrelevant," he waved his hand in dismissal, "Still old enough to survive on her own."

My face tightened into a frown, "She shouldn't have to. Besides, I like being able to take care of her, even indirectly. It makes me feel better," I said, gesturing at the surrounding chaos, "about all of this."

He actually stopped walking. I didn't even notice it at first, but stopped when I did, and turned to see Tectis staring at me, wide, dark eyes narrowed in thought. Half a second later he started walking again. His silence didn't last much longer. "Romantic attentions towards human children ill-advised. Age and cultural differences alone present issues. Together they are insurmountable obstacles."

A laugh began to rumble up inside of me, but I kept a blank face and said, "I thought the cultural implications of her age were 'irrelevant.'" I copied the dismissive hand wave he made earlier. He glared at me for using his logic against him and I couldn't hold in my laughter anymore. After a while I calmed down enough to clap a talon on his shoulder and assure him, "I have no intentions to pursue the kid."

He nodded, "Hard to judge attraction in other species. Shouldn't jump to conclusions."

I understood that. Salarians didn't feel anything even close to romantic love or sexual attraction unless it was with an asari. "I'm mainly curious, though, how you got from me calling her a kid all the time to that I wanted to mate with her."

He snorted, "Like I said, shouldn't jump to conclusions. Some humans call their partners 'baby.'"

"...That's really creepy."

"Humans are weird," he agreed.

A note or two from the author: Last chapter I meant to link another fanfic about these two which I'm pretty sure is going in a romantic direction, but I forgot, so here it is now: It's You, by Irish Neko: .net/s/7925844/1/Its_You

Also, I really did mean for these chapters to be longer, but I find that I enjoy these short little bursts. I don't mind taking longer to write longer chapters either though, so I'm mainly wondering if you guys have any preferences.