BREAKING THE ICE

The next morning, Jane exited her quarters to check on Liara in the med bay. Kaidan was waiting for her right around the corner at his workstation.

"Morning," he greeted.

"Morning. Something I can help you with, Lieutenant?"

"Uh, not anything in particular. Just hoping to chat. Haven't really had the chance to since this whole thing started on Eden Prime."

"Maybe later? I need to check on Liara."

"Oh," he said under a shallow breath. "Right. I'll talk to you later then."

Jane found Liara in the back office behind the med bay where she had been working away, ardently looking through her research to find something to help the mission. She didn't notice Jane until the door closed behind her. Liara stood up to meet her. She looked nervous, mindlessly fidgeting her hands.

"Commander, are you coming to check up on me?" she asked, her fuchsia lips wrapping around every syllable.

"You look much better. How are you feeling?"

"Dr. Chakwas assures me I'm going to be just fine. I never properly thanked you for saving me from the geth, Commander. If you hadn't shown up-"

"I'm just glad we got there in time," Jane interrupted, not needing her gratitude.

Unbothered, she replied, "So am I." She began to pace as Jane watched her intensely. "I know you took a chance bringing me aboard this ship. I have seen the way your crew looks at me. They do not trust me." Liara stopped and faced her with assertion. "But I am not like Benezia. I will help you stop Saren. I promise."

"Don't worry Liara, I trust you."

"It means a lot to hear you say that," she flushed.

Jane wanted to take this time to get to know her more. She took a seat next to the computer Liara was working on and crossed her legs. Liara eyed the commander's legs as she did so. Out of her armor, she could see that Jane is an athletically fit woman, even in her head-to-toe black loose-fitting uniform. Lean and strong, but still able to hold onto her feminine curves. Dr. T'Soni returned to her chair, sensing that Jane would be keeping her company for just a little longer. She didn't mind.

They engage in a hypnotic gaze and Jane thought, God, she's adorable.

Kaidan's watchful eyes never left the door of the med bay, waiting for Jane to emerge, but she had been gone longer than he expected. If he hadn't witnessed the lust-filled look on Jane's face at Chora's Den when she watched the asari dancer, he wouldn't have an ounce of worry. But he did. And he was worried.

When the door finally opened, he dropped his head, pretending that he'd been working vigorously, wiping the inexistent sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Lieutenant, you wanted to talk?" The formality of her words stung.

"We've been friends a long time, Jane. You don't have to refer me by my title when we're alone," he said, trying not to sound bitter.

"Oh, sorry. With so many new people on board, I haven't gotten used to going on a first named basis yet," she fibbed. Truth be told, she's been trying to keep it professional with Kaidan, noticing his recent change of behavior around her lately. Jane planned to place distance between them, so she wouldn't lead him on. "Anyway, what was on your mind?"

Kaidan didn't necessarily have anything prepared so he rambled about how he didn't understand why the Council wasn't helping out more, how they could be so blind, etcetera.

Like I'm not aware?

"How's your headache?" she asked.

"Manageable. Who would've thought I still would've had side effects from those biotic implants huh?"

"Better than terminal brain cancer."

"Have you eaten yet, Jane?"

"No. Want to head to the mess hall for breakfast?"

He led the way. Ashley was already at a table halfway through her meal.

"Strangely familiar, isn't it?" she said as Kaidan and Jane set their trays down.

"Like going through a time machine," Kaidan responded, reminiscing when they would sit together in the galley during training.

"But with a lot less acne and teenage angst," Jane added.

"Maybe less angst, but the adolescent romance antics are still in play," Ashley smiled smugly.

"Don't start."

"What? You're stuck in a weird love triangle with two aliens and Alenko. I guess it's a square in that case." Kaidan's grip tightened on his fork, dropping a piece of scrambled eggs onto the tray.

"Ashley," Jane warned.

"Fine. Off the record," she leaned in to whisper. "I'm concerned about the aliens. Should they have full access to the ship? This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance. I don't think we should give them free range to poke around the vital systems."

"You don't trust them as allies?" Kaidan asked.

"I just think we shouldn't bet everything on them staying allies. If their back's against the wall, they'll abandon us."

"You've got a pessimistic view of the universe, Ash" Kaidan noted.

"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist," Ashley cracked back. Jane knows where Ashley comes from. Since the Alliance was founded, Ashley's family has defended it and swore the oath of service. Earth's interests are her own and Earth is xenophobic. Therefore, Ashley didn't serve time around aliens much, but she would have no option on the Normandy. If it weren't for Jane and Kaidan, she'd surely ask for a transfer.

"Standing up for ourselves doesn't mean we have to stand alone. This is a multilateral mission. Like it or not, we're working with them," Jane told her.

Reaffirmed by her friend and Commander, Ashley replied, "It won't be a problem. You say 'jump', I say 'how high'. You ask me to kiss a turian, I'll ask which cheek."

Jane chortled at her playful words of loyalty. "I don't think kissing turians will be necessary."

"You never know!" she said in a sing-song voice, peering in the direction over where the aliens were sitting, singling out Garrus.

After the meal and conversation, Jane headed down to the lower level to track down the rest of her crew. Not a bad idea to get know the people who would be covering her back out on the field.

Ashley went back to cleaning her weapons and armor on the workbench in the cargo hold area next to the footlockers.

Wrex was on the other side of the footlockers, posted up against the wall with his beefy arms crossed. It was difficult to break the ice with Wrex, but when she did it, oh did it break. Jane asked him for a personal story, but when he replied that he had no stories, she pushed appealing to his pride. Why wouldn't a krogan battle master want to gloat about his victories? She fished for a kick-ass battle story but caught a bitter, sarcastic reply about how his species was almost eradicated by a sterilizing biological weapon deployed by the turians during the Krogan Rebellion. She knew about this, but she didn't expect her questioning to be mistaken for ignorance. Using her cool demeanor, she managed to calm Wrex down, and he apologized for being so short with her. He isn't used to casual conversation as a mercenary. They would finish this talk another time. Jane defied the odds and relaxed a temperamental krogan. She'll cash her winnings right then and there.

Engineer Adams was over the moon with having Tali on board in the engineering room. He wished his crew was as half as smart as she is. Tali's in stupor herself over the advanced technology of the Normandy, used to the second-hand vessels her nomadic kind could forage and fix up. She thanked Jane for bringing her in. It was a dream come true. She imagined that if she could see Tali's face through the heavily tinted helmet, she'd be grinning from ear to ear. The cheerful chirp in her voice would do.

Lastly, Jane found Garrus by the mako, adjusting the firing algorithms to the guns and cannon. So much work to be done on human technology. She took a deep slow breath before approaching him. He looked over his shoulder, glad to see his commanding officer.

"Thanks for bringing me on board, Commander. I knew working with a Spectre would be better than life at C-Sec."

"Have you worked with a Spectre before?"

He scratched the back of his head, slightly moving his stiff fringe. "Well, no. But I know what they're like."

She raised an eyebrow as if to say, 'Oh? What are we like?' Garrus answered comprehending her expression.

"Spectres make their own rules. You're free to handle things your way. At C-Sec, you're buried by rules. The damn bureaucrats are always on your back," he spat.

"For the most part, the rules are there for a reason," she said.

"Maybe. But sometimes it feels like the rules are there to stop me from doing my work. If I'm trying to take a suspect down, it shouldn't matter how I do it, as long as I get it done." She nodded, listening intently. "It didn't start bad, but as I rose up in the ranks, I got saddled with more and more red tape. C-Sec's handling of Saren was typical. I just couldn't take it anymore. I hate leaving…"

His head hung. Jane could tell that he was disappointed he couldn't do more at C-Sec, but he wouldn't have left if he felt that he had no other option. To truly be able to fight injustice as he saw fit.

"I hope you made the right choice, Garrus. I would hate for you to regret it later," she said, placing her hand on his shoulder. Garrus glanced at it briefly before she let it fall. He didn't shudder this time.

"Well, that's why I teamed up with you. It's a chance for me to get off the Citadel, see how things are done outside of C-Sec." His turn to stare into her green eyes. "I plan to make the most of it," he stated, his gaze firmly fixed on Shepard. Her face got hot. Garrus' visor picked up on the commander's racing heartbeat. Jane needed to disengage from this feeling.

"Alright, I'll let you get back to it," she said, turning away and speeding off.

Garrus took view of her walking away. What was it about her that he felt the need to be closer? He hadn't paid much attention to the nudging urge, but he couldn't ignore it for much longer.