"To Harry. For making it into the Normandy!" a drunk Jeff exclaimed, raising his glass.

"… on his buurthday!" Tali slurred her words.

"…and for sleeping with the Commander!"

"…also on his buuurthday!"

I shot Jeff a death glare. "For the last time Jeff, we did not-"

"Yeah, no one believes you." Jeff interrupted, with a cheeky grin and wink.

I looked across at Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, who looked like someone had punched him in the face. The four of us had made it to Flux, the newly-opened nightclub on the Citadel, to 'celebrate' my birthday.

Kaidan looked at me and awkwardly smiled, obviously looking for a way to change the topic. "So, Douglas, I'm guessing this is your first drink ever?"

"Yeah" I replied. "Actually, no. I had a few sips of this purple stuff last nigh-"

I stopped myself abruptly, before I could finish the sentence. But Tali completed it for me.

"…with Shepuuurd! I remember!"

"Oh, right before you guys slept together?" Jeff chimed in.

"….on his buuuurthday!"

"Jeff, I swear I'll kill you after this-"

"Joker," Kaidan jumped into the conversation, with a straight face. "I understand that you're just messing with Harry here, but Shepard won't like the fact that you're loudly talking about her sex life…. in a nightclub."

"Alright, alright." Joker chuckled. "I'll shut up. Not for Shepard's sake, but for your sake, Kaidan."

I decided to keep my mouth shut, and hoped that this particular discussion was over, for real this time.

We spent a long time randomly chatting about everything. Jeff went on and on about the new Blasto vid, and how horrible the entire franchise had gotten. Tali drunkenly confessed about her newfound obsession with the human race ("especially the males", which caused a bunch of young Alliance soldiers sitting near us to try and listen in). Kaidan told me about his troubled past. He definitely had to face a lot of problems to get to where he was.

While I was certainly enjoying the company of my new (and extremely drunk) friends, I suddenly realised I had somewhere else to be. I got up a little too urgently, making Tali flinch.

"Jeff, thank you for this. And you too, Tali." I smiled at them. "And Kaidan, it was great talking to you, thank you for coming along. The Commander wanted to see me 10 minutes ago, so I really need… "

"Probably has some kind of surprise planned for you, Harry. Remember to use protection!"

"Jeff! Seriously, shut up!"

I left the group to their drunken, giggling selves as I exited the nightclub and made my way up the stairs to the upper wards.

I spotted Jane standing near the med clinic, looking out into the 'skyline'.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, as I stood beside her.

"Yeah." I wasn't looking at the view.

"I love this spot," she continued, "I don't know why. I could just stand here for hours."

We stood in silence for a few seconds.

"Sorry for being late, by the way." I said, sheepishly. "Jeff practically dragged me to Flux, along with Tali and Kaidan. To 'celebrate'. They're still there, drinking away."

She laughed. "I just arrived a few seconds before you, so both of us were late I guess."

"Busy with work?"

"Not really. Liara wanted to talk, over dinner." she muttered, still slightly distracted by the view.

"Oh."

"She, er, really didn't want me to leave." Jane chuckled lightly as she looked back at me, with a slight blush.

Great. Just, great. Apparently her whole squad fancies her. Who's next, the turian?

"What's with the face?" she asked, and I realised I was making the same pained look that I had seen Kaidan make an hour back. Funny how jealousy works.

"It's nothing. So… how did you get out of it?"

Jane realised that I dodged her question, but she continued. "Well, she was pretty direct in expressing her interest. I was… flattered, obviously. But she's not really my type, if you know what I mean." She looked away for a second. "I know the Asari don't really have a 'gender'… but… I see them as women."

I felt relief spread throughout my body. "Yeah, I guess most of the galaxy does."

"Hmm. So I just told her that. And she took it really well."

I got lost in thought, momentarily. An old memory...

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing. It's just.." I chuckled. "Something that happened 3 years ago."

"Well, you've got me interested. What happened?" Jane asked, seeming genuinely curious.

I hesitated. "It's a little awkward. Promise me not to laugh."

She gave a playful smile. "I can't promise anything, Harry."

"Okay, okay." I sighed. "There was this girl, back on Earth. She… let's not go into details. Basically, after meeting her and talking with her a few times in parties and such, I was in lo… I liked her, quite a lot. We clicked. On every level. We could talk for hours and hours and not get bored. I felt this connection to her that I never felt before. I was too shy to ask her out though."

"What was her name?" Jane asked, smiling, and not breaking eye contact as usual.

"Sarah." I replied, walking up to the ledge to look at the view. "So, for summer break, this rich mutual friend sponsored a trip to the Citadel for a bunch of us. I was excited to finally meet all the alien species I had read about and watched vids of. But more importantly, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to ask her out. Somewhere in the Citadel."

"So, what happened?"

"Well…. turns out she 'wasn't my type'."

"Oh! you mean.."

"She liked women, yeah." I sighed, trying to smile half-heartedly. "This is the part where everyone starts laughing."

"Why would I laugh at that Harry?" I could feel her eyes staring at the back of my head. "That must have felt horrible."

"It did. She felt horrible too, 'cause I had opened up my heart to her and she knew how I felt about her. To make matters worse, she met an Asari on the trip, and they fell in love. And I was forced to watch their romance… blossom."

"Wow. I'm sorry, Harry."

"It's fine. We ended up being good friends instead. And we still keep in touch. But yeah, for a few months, it felt like hell. I could-"

"So that's why you made that face."

"Huh?"

I turned back from the ledge to see her standing quite close to me, her green eyes shining from the city lights behind me.

"That's why you made that face, when I told you about Liara. You didn't want another Asari to 'take away' someone you liked, once again." she stated, with a smile forming on her lips.

"Uhh.."

"I'm not your teenage crush, Harry. I can tell when a guy is interested in me. You haven't exactly been subtle."

I smiled, scratching the back of my head. "That obvious, huh?"

"Yeah."

"So, if you know… Are you… interested?"

She paused before responding, and I felt like I aged a full year before she spoke again.

"I can't say I'm not." Before I could react, she started again. "But I barely know you, Harry. We literally met last night. And I'm not looking for just a hook up, if that's what you want."

"Neither am I," I quickly clarified, "and I understand. I barely know you as well. But I'd absolutely love to get to know you, Jane."

"That's… good to know." She smiled.

We stood in silence, staring at each other for a while. But unlike our first meeting back in the Normandy, this silence was not 'awkward'. This was a beautiful silence, a moment of tranquillity, where two people just looked at each other, content with what they saw and what they felt in that moment.

"Look," she broke the silence, "I know I said we'll be talking about me today, but I'm too tired, mentally and physically, to do anything else right now. Today was a busy day. Can we postpone? Maybe, tomorrow… in my quarters?"

"That sounds great, Jane." I smiled.

She stepped forward, even closer to me. We looked at each other, breathing heavily. She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek.

"Good night, Harry." she whispered in my ear, with a breathy voice that could melt a krogan's heart.

"Good night, Jane."