She hadn't returned his call. Again.
Sighing, Armando Bailey squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed a hand across his face. He knew that she was mad at him, again, and was intentionally ignoring his calls. It wasn't uncommon for her to give him the silent treatment, especially when he didn't stumble home until well after the night cycle had started on the Citadel. He had entered their small apartment, cramped and over-priced, to find a place-setting on the kitchen table but no food. He knew it was her way of sticking it to him that he hadn't been home for dinner, again, without having to indulge in another circular argument which always ended with him saying he had to make a living and her threatening divorce. You would think she would be used to it by now.
It wasn't that Bailey wanted to work late. If he actually felt that all the long hours interrogating petty criminals and untouchable politicians could actually translate into active results, he wouldn't mind it so much. He may even approach the job in the way that the rookies right out of C-Sec Academy did, bright eyed and cocky with an attitude that only the new uniform can give. As it was though, he had worn the uniform long enough to know that all the authority it represented really didn't mean shit were it counted. For that kind of impact, you had to be above the law. He didn't envy Spectres though. People assumed that they had no red-tape to limit them, and while that may be true due to their endless jurisdiction in Council space and beyond, Bailey knew that politics was the worse kind of restriction. He would much rather be mired down in the trenches with the limitations placed on him by C-Sec than faced with having to placate the Fucked-up Four by conducting missions that looked better as a vid headline than actually helped people.
That was part of the reason that he had assisted Commander Shepard when she had shown up on the Citadel, giving all the C-Sec sensors and security personnel the confusion of a lifetime. He had never met the woman before then, but for some reason he wasn't that surprised that she wasn't really dead. Maybe it was because of her reputation - she was famous on a level where you became familiar with her through osmosis, where you feel that you know someone because you've seen their face on television a million times. It reminded him of when humanity first encountered turians - centuries of B-movies and Sci-Fi novels means that people weren't surprised by the existence of aliens, but were instead taken aback by the lashing they had received for activating the Relay. As it was, Commander Shepard was alive and while she hadn't been reinstated as a Spectre, he had a feeling she would be. Even the Council wouldn't be so stupid to deny the most famous human re-entry. If the only way a measly C-Sec Captain could help her out was by bending the rules to get her papers in order he would do it. He would have done it even if she hadn't agreed.
Turned out he was right. She did get reinstated, and it looked like she had come back just in the nick of time too if the amount of recruiting she was doing was any indication. The first time she came to the Citadel was with that turian, Garrus, to find the Fade. He should have known how that one would end, if not because of her reputation but because of his. Bailey had done his time in C-Sec when it was primarily turian and as such was no stranger to the Vakarian name. He had never worked with Junior before, but Vakarian Senior had a reputation. If the tough-plated no-shit-taking turian officers didn't want to deal with him, then Bailey sure as hell didn't want any part of him.
She had brought Junior with her again this time, but now he looked like he was only backup. Shepard was standing outside the interrogation room with the Drell, heads bowed together deep in a private discussion. Bailey hadn't seen many Drell before and knew very little of their culture and customs. To him, a human vaguely familiar with military protocol, the Drell's mannerisms with the Commander indicated that he was at least aware of human professional boundaries - arms behind his back, not initiating any movement to bring them closer, and not a smile to be seen that would indicate the conversation was anything other than business. In truth, Bailey didn't know or want to know what they were discussing. He was really only paying attention to their interaction because of how Junior was acting.
Bailey had picked up a few things before his promotion - you had too when there were only a few humans per dozen turians in an organization like C-Sec. He had been paying attention when the young turians took notice of a woman, the way their mandible-things would flutter as they focused those sharp predator eyes on her. That was often the first reaction to seeing a pretty girl, similar to an inexperienced teenager gawking at a huge pair of tits. It was different when they were personally attached, especially when they were trying not to show it. In this regard turians and humans were similar it seemed - furtive glances when they were sure she wasn't looking, a tense body posture when they spied her with another man, and a carefully-affected air of indifference when she spoke to them. Bailey was pretty sure that Junior had it bad for the Commander.
Bailey hoped that whatever the conversation she was supposed to be having with the Drell wasn't too important, because the Commander didn't appear to be paying much attention. She kept shooting glances towards the end of the hallway where Junior stood, fiddling his gloves. Whenever he would look at her, she would glance downward and furrow her brow as if deep in thought at whatever the Drell was saying. She would do this for a few seconds before taking another peek. Bailey lost count of how many times they had repeated the dance. It was amusing to see such ridiculous and regressed flirtation from two of the galaxy's most hardened soldiers. It reminded him of when he had first seen his wife all those years ago back on Earth, when she was a waitress at a simple restaurant in New York and he would always make sure he sat in her section. They had done the dance too, many times, until he had finally mustered up the balls to ask her out. Even now with all the tension between them, he couldn't help but smile when he remembered their disaster of a first date at some club that was both too obnoxious and too expensive.
Looking at the Commander and Junior, he wondered if maybe there wasn't something to be said for regression. Depending on how this case with the attempted assassination went, maybe he could take a night off and bring home some some nice Asari wine.
Bailey watched as the Commander and the Drell broke away from one another when the Drell's son was led in by two junior officers. When he caught her eye, Bailey motioned for the Commander to come see him. He was hoping that he wouldn't have to arrest the boy, especially when he seemed to have a much better chance of turning around than a lot of the other kids that had been led through those doors. The kid's father really seemed to care for him. He was glad when she suggested that they allow the kid to work as his punishment.
Before she turned to leave, Bailey gestured for her to lean in closer to him, out of earshot of anyone listening.
"There's a club down in Rakela Ward that was just renovated. It's right outside the turian district but they just added dextro- foods to their menu to bring in more customers."
She looked wary. "Okay...why are you telling me this?"
Bailey glanced around her to where Junior was standing, still fiddling with his gloves. She glanced over her shoulder to where he was looking. Her eyes widened before she turned back, this time with that infamous look of danger on her face. She cocked an eyebrow at him, not denying the insinuation yet daring him to say anything against it.
"Well, I should get back to it. If you need anything else Commander let me know".
When she turned around this time, he called out to her departing back, "They open at 10."
Thank you all for reading and for setting alerts/favorites! I really appreciate it.
One thing I'm interested in doing as I continue to develop is to try and write from the perspective of other characters not part of the main story. I've always liked Bailey and I hope I did him justice.
Also, as a side note, I've taken on another fill from the K-meme (why...I don't know..these things just happen sometimes). Depending on how it's received over there, I may bring it here as well. I'll keep you posted :)