Mom made some pizza today, hence this little piece. Weird, right? I know.
"Lieutenant! Come in, Lieutenant!" A deep male voice yells into James' ear.
"I hear you, Captain Toni!"
"Lieutenant! Lieutenant Vega! Damn!" the voice sounds desperate. Frightened.
"I hear you, Captain! What's your position?" James yells frantically. "Captain?"
"James? James, are you there?" the desperate male voice is now a calm, deep female one.
Huh?
"Commander?"
"You asleep, Vega?"
No, I-
"Shit, you're asleep."
No, wait!
James' green eyes suddenly fly open to find himself in complete darkness.
What the…?
He sits up straight and rubs his eyes as he tries to make sense of what just happened. He notices a red light emanating from his bedside table.
The intercom.
As though he'd been shocked by an electric pulse, James jumps and immediately presses the button on the intercom, his heart pounding against his ribs.
"Commander?" James asks in a frantic voice. "Commander, are you there?"
Fuck! What if something happened to her?
He very nearly springs out of bed when he hears the Commander's calm voice speak via the intercom.
"Did I wake you?" she asks with a hint of guilt in her voice.
James instantly relaxes when he hears her.
"No-I mean yeah- I mean, is something wrong?"
"Shit, I'm sorry," she mutters. "I was just checking in to see if you're awake. Didn't realise it was three in the morning."
James smiles at the intercom. Hearing her soothing voice while he's in bed in almost pitch black darkness is proving to be kind of… arousing.
"It's fine, compadre," he says. "What's the point of a personal guard if you can't bother him in the middle of the night, eh?"
"Guess so," she chuckles quietly.
"Anyway, was there a reason for interrupting my beauty sleep?"
"Yeah, there was. Although, now that I think about it, it seems really… stupid."
James' grin widens.
"I'm good with stupid," he says. His response earns him another light chuckle, intensifying his arousal.
Great, now the Commander's bodiless voice is turning me on. Smooth, Vega. Fucking smooth.
"I'll take your word for it." He can hear the smile in her voice. "I umm… I'm not exactly allowed to contact anyone outside the Alliance-conditions of my imprisonment—but I'm really craving a pizza right now, so I was wondering whether my personal guard could be nice enough to place an order for one and bring it over?"
James can't help it; he bursts into a fit of laughter, shaking his head at the red light representing the Commander on the intercom.
"'Course, Lo- Commander, anything you want," he grins.
"Thanks," she says appreciatively. "I want a large Margherita with extra cheese and a cheese-stuffed crust."
"What kinda cheese?"
"Mozzarella."
"Mmm, my favourite," James smiles.
"Mine too."
At least we got one thing in common.
"Okay, compadre. I'll make an order straight away."
"Thanks, Lieutenant," she repeats gratefully. "I'll be waiting."
As innocent as she intended that final sentence to be, it made James react in a way that was anything but innocent. He activates his omni-tool and places an order with Domino's Pizza. He then stretches, gets up, stretches again, yawns, and shuffles off towards the bathroom to wash his face.
He splashes cold water onto his face and stares at his reflection in the mirror.
He couldn't even count the number of times he's dreamed of being woken up by her in the middle of the night. And now, it's actually happening, although his fantasies didn't exactly involve ordering pizza at three in the morning.
He heads back to his bedroom and turns on the vidscreen to take his mind off her. After two entire months of practice, he's been getting pretty good at it. When she's not within eyesight or earshot, that is. The memory of her tantalising voice in pitch black darkness is still too clear in his mind, however, which is making the task of focusing on the galactic news a lot more difficult than it ought to be.
His omni-tool buzzes and makes him jump nearly a foot into the air. It's Domino's. He puts on a t-shirt and track pants and heads down to the reception. After paying the delivery guy and heading back to the elevator, his heart starts pounding as he realises that he's about to knock on the Commander's door and possibly see her in her nightgown. Or maybe just a robe. With only her underwear underneath.
Dios, you are such a fucking pervert, Vega.
He arrives at her apartment and takes a deep breath before balancing the pizza box in one hand and lightly knocking on her door.
Relax, pendejo. You're only the pizza delivery guy, nothing to get nervous abou-
"Finally!"
It takes nearly every single ounce of self-control within him to stop his mouth from falling open.
She's wearing a regular, slightly baggy navy blue Alliance t-shirt and very comfortable-looking grey shorts.
Shorts.
That end halfway down her flawless thighs.
"Uhh… Earth to Vega?" the Commander waves her hand before James' face. "You there, Lieutenant?"
"Uhh, yeah," he immediately says, handing her the hot pizza box. "I think I'm still half-asleep. Not used to making pizza deliveries at four in the morning," he grins.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," she winces, taking the box from his hands. "I just didn't know who else to call."
"No stress, Commander," James shrugs. "Just let me know if you need anything else." He nods at her and turns to leave.
"Wait."
He pauses, the sound of his heartbeat loud in his ears.
"Since I very rudely woke you up for my own selfish cravings, do you wanna come in for a while and help me devour this thing?"
James can't believe his ears.
Or his eyes.
There she was, his Lola, innocently standing by her doorway with a pizza box in her hands, dressed in the most casual and tomboyish outfit imaginable and still managing to look sexier than anything the Lieutenant had ever seen before, and she's inviting him into her place for pizza? At four in the morning?
"You sure?" he asks, voicing his disbelief.
"Yeah," she smiles and stands aside. "Come on in."
James hesitates for a second before slowly stepping into her dimly lit hallway. The news is playing on the vidscreen in the living room, but it's muted. A couple of PDAs are strewn across one of the couches, and an empty coffee mug is sitting on the coffee table.
"Do you ever sleep, Lola?" he asks, waiting for her to pass by him into the living room.
"Lola?" she raises a dark eyebrow.
"Commander. Sorry. Half asleep, remember?"
She smiles as she places the pizza on the coffee table.
"It's a rarity, but it happens," she responds to his original question. "Mmmmm… this smells so good!"
The way her voice sounded when she said that… and those legs…
Get your shit together, Vega. You can't hide shit behind these track pants.
"Actually, wanna sit outside in the balcony?" Shepard asks, standing up straight and gazing out at the view. "Weather's pretty nice and warm out there."
"Sure, compadre, whatever you want," James shrugs. He follows her out to the balcony, shamelessly checking her out as she leads the way.
"Oh shoot, I forgot the beer," she says after setting down the pizza on the round glass table. "Be right back."
He watches her jog back into the kitchen, admiring the movement of her defined thigh and calf muscles way, way too much.
Damn, Lola. Damn.
He can't see the other Lieutenant's photo through the reflective balcony glass, but he knows it's in there, readily available for her to look at and admire. After a bit of snooping around, James learned that Lieutenant Alenko—now Major Alenko—is off-planet on duty, which explains why he's never seen him visit the Commander.
Lucky pendejo.
"Back," Shepard announces, clutching two bottles of beer in one hand as she slides the balcony door shut with the other.
"'Bout time!" James exclaims, rubbing his hands together. "Pizza's getting cold."
She smiles as she places the bottles on the table and takes the seat opposite him.
"All right," she says, rubbing her hands together too. "Dig in!"
James waits until she takes the first slice before he takes his own.
"Oh my god," she moans after the first bite. "This. Is. Heaven."
James was never more thankful than he is at this moment for being able to hide the incriminating evidence of his arousal under the table.
Shit. It's like she's doing it on purpose.
This is torture. She's torturing him without even knowing it and he just can't get enough. It's like he's a masochist; he knows he'll never be with her, he knows that she belongs to someone else, but he just can't stop coming back for more of whatever it is she does to him.
"What do you think, Lieutenant?" she asks after a swig of beer.
I think you're beautiful.
"Delicious," he responds through a mouthful of pizza. "Now I'm actually kinda glad you woke me up."
Kinda glad? That's the understatement of the century, right there.
She smiles and silently eats her second slice as she gazes out at the navy blue sky.
"How's your family?" she finally asks.
"Good. Ma's starting this new diet she recently came across. She's really excited about that."
Shepard's dark eyes slide over to meet James', and she smiles.
"No girlfriend waiting for you, Lieutenant?" she asks casually.
He ignores the fact that his heart practically stopped in his chest.
"Nope," he replies calmly. "Well… there was this asari chick that I met back on Fehl Prime, but… it didn't work out between us."
"Sorry to hear that."
"Nah, it's all right. We were too different anyway," James shrugs. He pauses for a moment before asking, "What about you? Any family of your own?"
"Yeah. My mom's Captain of the SSV Orizaba. She's trying to come back here to see me, but her duties keep getting in the way, unfortunately."
"Hmmm."
Go on, James.
You can do it.
She asked you the question, right? That means she's okay with it. So just go ahead and do it.
"No husband, boyfriend… girlfriend?" he finally manages to ask.
She pauses midway through chewing a bite of pizza and looks down at the table.
Shit. Okay. Wrong call.
Damn it.
"No," she finally answers in a low voice. "There was someone… but he and I… it's over."
"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that, Commander."
As much as he expected that he'd fly from joy at hearing this, he actually feels bad for the Commander. The way she sounded when she answered his question… the way her eyes were immediately flooded with sadness that couldn't be concealed even when she looked down… And then there's the fact that the Major's picture is pretty much the only one in her apartment… she must really love this guy.
"Do you miss him?" he asks after a brief pause.
She looks up at the sky and watches it silently for a while.
"Yeah," she nods. "I do. He was… very special to me."
"He's a very lucky guy," James says with the utmost sincerity.
Shepard finally meets his eyes and smiles.
"I was a lucky girl," she says, her voice tinged with sadness and regret.
"Hey Commander, for what it's worth, I think you're an incredible woman, and any guy who voluntarily chooses to leave you is just loco."
She smiles again as she reaches over for a third slice.
"Thanks, James," she says. "That means a lot. It really does."
"Hey, just calling it as it is, compadre," James smiles.
"You've been a good friend to me these past couple of months, James," she smiles. "Really."
"So have you, Commander."
She raises her beer bottle and extends it towards him.
"To our friendship, Lieutenant."
James smiles and follows suit.
"To our friendship, Commander," he says, touching his bottle to hers.
And even though he sees her as much more than just a friend, this is a lot more than he could've asked for. This is a woman who is a hero, a role model to every man, woman and child in the galaxy. She was dead for two years and, just a few months ago, there were no prospects of ever getting to see her in person.
That very woman now considers him—James Vega- her friend.
So, he'll take it.
For now, at least.