"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" sang Ashley and Kaiden while Tali was providing the sound effects of sleigh bells on her onmi tool. "Oh what fun it is to ride on a one horse open sleigh!"
"It's not even half way through October!" shouted John Michael Shepherd from his 'command' seat in the back.
The three members of Team Specter paused and looked about.
"Is this true? It's not even half way through October?" asked Ashley. The Mako was silent for the most part for a few seconds, only the hiss of the tires on the snow and the whistle of the wind blowing outside accompanied by the steady thrumming of the engine.
"What do you think Tali?" asked Kaiden.
Tali was busy on her Omni Tool.
"Lets see, it's 1734 hours, October 9th, 2183. So Commander Shepherd is correct. It is not yet half way through October," Tali concluded.
"He usually is correct," agreed Kaiden. "That's why he's Commander Shepherd."
"No doubt," added Ashley.
"Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way!" the three of them returned to singing and sound effects. "Oh what fun it is to ride in a one horse open sleigh! Hey!"
Citadel Specter Commander John Michael Shepherd groaned.
"Dashing through the snow (sfx: Whoosh),
In a one horse open sleigh (sfx. Winney),
Over the hills we go,
Laughing all the way (sfx: mechanical ha ha ha),
Bells on bob tails ring (sfx. Ding Dong),
Making spirits bright (sfx: Zing!),
What fun it is to ride and sing a sleighing song tonight (sfx: crickets chirping)!"
"Do you have to do this?" asked John, almost pleading.
The two conspirator singers and Quarian FX specialist looked at each other, Ashley risking peaks from behind her steering wheel, Kaiden looking towards Tali seated with her back to Ashley and in front of the Mako's engineering mainframe command board. And Tali looking back at Ashley before shifting her head to look at Kaiden.
"This spontaneous application of sound effects is enabling me to operate my Omni-tool at greatly increased efficiency," argued Tali. "Which means my response time during future missions will be greatly reduced encouraying success."
"And my smooth whiskey tenor voice is calming nerves stressed from our recent mission on Peak 15." suggested Kaiden.
"And of course singing brings happiness which improves team moral," replied Ashley. "And it's snowing outside!"
"Oh I give up!" shouted Shepherd throwing his hands up.
"Never surrender Skipper, never surrender," suggested Ashley with a bit of playful vim in her voice.
"Oh the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful, And since there's a Mako to go, Let it snow, Let it snow let it snow!" sang Kaiden.
Shepherd leaned back on his seat and groaned with a grin.
"Oh it doesn't show signs of stopping, but we've got some corn for popping, the lights are turned down way low, Let it snow let it snow let it snow!" joined Ashley.
Tali was bouncing along with the tune. While she didn't like the cold, and had found Noveria's weather to be anything but delightful, the cheerful qualities of Kaiden and his ability to put a song to any circumstance had made the trip back from the catastrophe that was Peak 15 less unsettling. There was a lot of tension which needed letting loose.
The prior days had been emotional for Tali. Commander Shepherd had been everything she had come to fear (and loath) and then some. Liara, utterly unprepared for the affair, was visibly shaking so badly that at one point she literally turned and ran for the nearest exit. Wrex caught her, hauled her back screaming, called her a little yellow blue skinned weenie and planted her in front of Shepherd, who, much to Tali's surprise, told Wrex to stand down, and then called Liara every cowardly name in the book.
But the worst moment was when Shepherd, true to his word, put Tali through such a rapid set of commands that she flipped her shotgun. She watched in horror, stuck in slow motion time, as the shot gun flipped out of her reach, end over end, only to come down on it's stock . . . and discharge.
She had forgotten to unload it. The slug of pellets slammed into the ceiling and then Shepherd was all over her. While he didn't tell her to stop crying, he mocked her for it, dressed her down, and made her jog in place for the next thirty minutes, after smacking her across the head with his fist. All the while she wept, in part because she was so humiliated, but also because she knew that she had come that close to killing someone. It wouldn't have mattered who, because it would have been someone who knew her name, and treated her with respect and acceptance.
But it had it's effect. Like Ashley's 'accidentally on purpose' trigger pull with Tali, it had a noticeable psychological impact on Liara. As Tali sat at the dining table, quite aware that folks were being rather subdued around her, Liara came over and sat next to her.
"Kaiden tells me you volunteered to drill with me," she said in a low voice.
"Kaiden needs to keep his big mouth shut, the bosh'tet," she answered. "But yes, I did. I went through what you're going through now a couple of weeks ago."
"Why?" She asked. "If I had known what I was in for, I would have simply asked the . . . Commander . . . To take me to the nearest port and let me off. I never would have volunteered for this."
"Because I knew what you were about to go through, and I didn't want you to go through it alone."
"Why?"
"Because I like you and I want you to succeed and be part of the team."
Liara seemed to think on that for a moment.
"If you are trying to get me to sleep with you," she observed with a smile which was a combination of sweet and wry. "You're well on the road to success."
"Oh nononononononono!" protested Tali shaking her head and holding her hands up in a combination of shock, surprise, and frank amazement. She knew in theory that Asari were mono-gendered and capable of reproducing with both male and female aligned species, but to have the possibility put to her was more than she had anticipated. She also had not anticipated Joker, standing six feet behind her, hearing the statement and suddenly becoming very interested in the conversation. "I mean I really like you and all Liara, and I think you're really sweet, and you have a very pretty face and you don't have to hide it behind a helmet which makes me a little yealous, but not that much. And I'm talking too much because now I'm nervous so . . ."
Liara started to laugh.
"You are such a sweet girl," she said leaning over and clasping Tali's hands. "We're going to be good friends, I know it . . . If I survive this."
She then sighed.
Tali found it rather interesting that Liara was able to find a way to hold her hands with all those fingers, but she didn't let go. She knew Liara needed this contact. It was like Kaiden had done with her back before.
"You will survive this," she said leaning forward looking at Liara in the face. "Shepherd won't give up until you are ready."
"That's not exactly good news," suggested Liara.
"Yes it is," said Tali, her voice rising just a bit on volume. "If Shepherd didn't care Liara, he'd have let you come with your pistol and not done a thing to try to mesh you with the rest of the team. All these drills are to make sure that no matter what happens, no matter how dangerous, how much your body tells you to run away and hide, you'll do what he tells you to when he tells you to do it and then, we survive and accomplish what we have to do."
"And it had probably saved Liara's life too," were Tali's thoughts as she once again became aware of the Mako's tires rolling over the snow covered shelf which led back to the main corporate headquarters on Noveria. It had been one for the books. They had arrived, and nearly had a gun fight right outside the air lock. And that was only the beginning. Before they ever had left the spaceport, there had been smuggling to do, computers to hack, security agents to shoot at (a lot of those), and corruption at the highest levels to uncover.
And that was before they had driven the brand new freshly made with a clean coat of paint mako out of the garage.
And then, starting in the garage itself, but continuing over the entire mission, there had been Geth to shoot at and get shot at by. They had had to kill a very large hoard of rather unnerving multi-legged creatures called Rachni which was supposed to be extinct. And then they got to Matriarch Benenzia who informed Liara that she had been spoiled as a child and now needed to be killed. And that was when the Asari Commando team attacked.
Tali paused in her recollections to express amazement to herself that after that, she was still alive with only some bullet chips in her armored suit. She paused and looked about.
Outside of the thrumming of the engine, there was no other noise in the vehicle. Everyone had gotten silent in the last few moments of Tali's recollections. Ashley was busy steering while Liara, in her newly assigned recon seat beside her remained quiet and looking very depressed.
After all, when you see your mother die, and know you had a part in it, even when it's something that needed to happen, it's still hard.
"She's going to need some serious comfort time," mused Tali. She looked over at Kaiden seated on the other side of the Mako.
"He would be a good one to do it," she thought. "He's a man, she would draw strength from him for sure." Even though Asari were mono-gendered, Tali still thought of her as female in most aspects. Then her gaze turned to Wrex.
"Probably break her, he hugs too tight most times," she mused.
Then she looked at Shepherd, who was leaning back with his eyes closed.
"No," she thought. Then she thought, "Why not?"
For some reason or other, the thought of Shepherd with Liara, even in something as simple fraternal and informal as a comfort hug was something she did not want to envision happening. When, after six days, Liara had passed drill, in part because Shepherd was able to spend almost exclusive time with her drilling the moves into her, Tali had been looking forward to the hug once he had said, "Congratulations."
"Me first," she had thought, and she, being prepared had hugged him back and was enjoyed to discover that he let her squeeze him a little and even trembled with a wee bit in excitement when he whispered into her ear, "I'm so damn proud of you doing this for her. Well done Tali, the team really depends on you."
Then he had gone over and hugged Liara, who's eyes were wide with utter surprise. But then it was alright because . . . Because Tali had been hugged longer.
"But his hair is wire, his skin is filled with all those pores, a lot of which need cleaning. He has flakes of that skin on his nose . . . And he has all those nose hairs!" She argued with herself. "He's not clean!"
"But he's dashing, and he cares for all of us, and he's the first to lead, the last to retreat, and he's making a difference, and he'll go the whole way for any of us, and besides, looks aren't everything," another part of her argued back.
"I'll get sick and die when I make love to him, even if I just hold his hands I'll get a rash probably," she pointed out.
"Just install nerve stim pro into you suit," suggested the other her, and with a flirty leering tone which both repelled and excited her at the same time. "All the fun and none of the risk."
"I don't want that!" she shouted back.
"Tali?" asked Shepherd. Every one was looking at her now.
"Umm," she replied. It suddenly dawned on her that her mental argument had become vocal at that last sentence. Might as well tell the truth, not all of it of course, but enough to make things go away. "I was having an argument with myself and I got angry."
"Did you win?" asked Wrex. "No good arguing with yourself if you lose."
"What don't you want, Tali," queried Shepherd. "If I might ask. If it's personal I'm sure we'll all understand."
"It is, very," answered Tali. "But I can say this much. What I don't want, is a cheap imitation."
"Then what ever you want," suggested Shepherd, leaning back and closing his eyes. "Is worth wanting. And I hope you get it."
"Oh ancestors," she mentally whimpered. "Oh home-world Rannoch, why did you go and make it just so much harder?"
Suddenly, it was like a hammer had slammed through and crushed a big black brick wall out of her way. She realized that what had persistently come to the fore again and again was that Commander Shepherd both respected and admired her, and what's more, had done everything in his power to keep her alive and healthy. But there was more to him. It wasn't just the behaviors of a commanding officer who treated her as an equal and vital part of a team, it was the behavior of another who actually liked her for who she was, and would remain a friend who would be glad to see her, long after the missions were done with. And no man had ever treated her like that before. In the single flash of a thought, her feelings and emotions and behaviors over the past few days had become patently obvious to her.
"You Bosh'tet," she continued to think. "You stupid immature Bosh'tet. You've gone and gotten a big adolescent crush on your commanding officer. Even with all those nose hairs sticking out at you."
She was tired. Very tired. Everyone was being quiet still. Liara, struggling with grief and relief over the fact that her mother was finally free of Saren's mesmerizing influence but at the same time dead. Ashley was concentrating on the road in front of her, chocked with snow as the daylight faded Garrus was still focused on keeping an eye out in case there were any remnants of the Geth seeking to ambush them on their way back to the headquarters and Normandy. Kaiden, Shepherd, and Wrex were already starting to lean back and nod off.
She leaned back and tried to catch forty winks, hoping to be awake just enough to be able to quickly respond should the Mako come under fire. But when she closed her eyes, now that she was being honest with herself, Commander John Michael Shepherd kept walking up to her and taking her into his arms and whispering how much she meant to him. And in the back ground like some pestering imp of legend, was the leering side of her dangling those nerve stim pro modifications behind him.
John leaned back and started to close his eyes. The Mako was not the most comfortable ride in the galaxy. Even if it was a brand new vehicle. Tali had already been poking her head into it and was beginning to think of ways to improve the suspension and had already found three spots on the armor where metal fatigue from construction had threatened the integrity of the vehicle. In Adam's weekly report, he had complained that because Tali was so busy with drill that she was too tired to pay much attention to the engines and she was being missed there. John opened his eyes and looked over to where Tali was curled up trying to catch a brief bit of sleep. She was definitely an asset to the team, and he had to admit he was quite fond of her. As Garrus had pointed out a few weeks prior, she had a cute gene and was not afraid to use it. But now he found her movements . . . curious. On one hand, as she tried to curl up and relax in her seat to get a brief nap, there was something sensual about the way she was moving her body around. But then he noticed her feet. Her shoes were not exactly flexible, but it seemed to him that her feet were trying to wrap themselves around something. He envisioned her trying to climb a tree for a second, those long toes on her feet gripping around the trunk as she scurried up.
"Monkey duck," he mused to himself, closing his eyes and leaning back to try to catch another bit of sleep. Kaiden opened his eyes for a second and looked at Shepherd.
"He's grinning like he's dreaming of cute girls," thought Kaiden who then closed his eyes and quietly napped.
Ashley looked back and noticed all the people trying to fall asleep in back as the head lights illuminated the falling snow in front of her. Part of her was annoyed that everyone was going to sleep while she had to drive, but the other part of her was rather proud of the fact that she was the one who was responsible for getting them all back in one piece.
"Garrus?" she asked. "What's up top?"
"Not much," came Garrus' voice back from his dome. "Wish there was infrared for this scope. Now that it's night, it's harder to tell if that big block up ahead is a snow pile or Geth armature waiting to blow up a tire."
"Until they figure out to shut themselves down in the freezing cold," replied Ashley.
"Even then they don't just cool down," Garrus answered. "It takes a while."
"Well you can ask the Duck when we get back," suggested Ashley.
She still didn't completely trust Tali, or Garrus, or Wrex, but especially Liara. And it didn't help that her little sister had told her Commander Shepherd looked cute. It had reminded her that not only was he a dashing good looking officer, but there were two other women now who were competition. While she found the idea of Tali and Shepherd together comical and highly unlikely, in spite of Tali's obvious infantile crush, the blue alien came from a race that had a reputation for being quick to go down on anything that was not Asari but sexy enough for an Asari, which was, from what she had heard, just about anything alive and capable of speech. Tali was clearly after Shepherd, she could tell. Volunteering to drill with Liara. Why hadn't she thought of that? She would have shown up Tali big time and she knew it. And Liara was so pretty and dumb thinking that Tali was her first friend on the team. Tali was there to show off and if she hadn't dropped her shot gun, she probably would have had Liara running to the nearest port and would have been the end of it and it would have been back to her and Tali.
It was all so clear to her. Tali had gotten drunk that one night after the first team drill's completion and had suggested that Ashley and Kaiden made a really cute couple and they ought to link suits (what ever that meant) and make it official.
"You two sing so sweetly," she had said in that chirping drunken slur she had.
Now granted Tali had a point. And Kaiden was a really sweet guy, and she strongly suspected that they would make a good couple. She in particular loved his guitar playing and he liked to barbecue and wasn't afraid to have a couple of beers and just talk. Ashley really liked guys who liked to talk. If he had been able to speak something romantic like French, Spanish, or Italian, she wouldn't have cared that Tali was trying to manipulate things, it would have been the convenient excuse for her to wrestle Kaiden into her sleeping pod. And she had no doubt she could wrestle him into her pod. She was fully confidant of her wild cat lover qualities. But the fact that Tali had tried to match make them proved beyond the shadow of doubt, in her mind anyway, that Tali was trying to clear the way between herself and Shepherd.
"You should go over there and tell him he's kyute!" Tali had giggled between hiccups. "You liiike him," which clearly meant "Shepherd is mine and you stay away from him."
Ashley liked Shepherd, but she had this persistent suspicion that if Tali had not, in the past few days, been so obviously 'interested' in him, she wouldn't have been interested at all. After all, Kaiden clearly shared her love of music and poetry more than Shepherd. She still resented the fact that he had punched her during drill. And while she was honest enough to admit she had pulled her trigger on purpose, she didn't like the fact that he had given her the chance to fess up first and then have to hit the floor and do fifty as opposed lying about it three times and then being hit so hard she could still clearly remember how woozy she felt afterwards. She had been caught right good on all counts and everyone, but also especially Kaiden, had been decidedly cool to her for a week afterwards.
She continued to drive and muse. The road was getting straighter now which meant they were coming up to the port. They were maybe only ten kilometers out. She looked at Liara in the next seat. Liara was still just staring blankly ahead.
"Damn poor navigator," Ash grumbled to herself soft enough that no one heard her.
"Straighten up Ash," she thought to herself. There was no need for any of this. The way back was well marked, Garrus was watching her six, and Liara had just saw her mother die. Funny how she was actually trusting Garrus at the moment.
"None of this is making any sense," she admitted to herself.
But she wasn't ready to throw the towel in just yet.
Twelve minutes later, the Mako pulled into the long garage.
"We're hoooome!" shouted Ashley. "All you sleepyheads wake up and don't forget to take your trash with you or Skipper will make you vacuum the Mako all by yourself."
"Put a woman behind the steering wheel," rumbled Wrex. "And she turns into your mother."
Shepherd got out of the Mako, shivered in the cold air for a second before his insular armor warmed up the quilted lining underneath and put his hand to his ear to activate the micro comm link with the Normandy.
"Pressley? Shepherd here. How long before the Mako is loaded up into the Normandy?"
"About as long as it took to unload it," answered Pressley. "Two hours at the max. But we're still refueling. Local pumps seem to like to go slow about it, especially since the head exec was arrested by his secretary," Pressley paused "Whom you assisted."
"ET for departure?" asked Shepherd.
"Twelve hours min," replied Pressley.
"Give everyone you can shore leave until then," replied Shepherd. "And those you can't six."
"Will do," replied Pressley.
"Okay gang, we got twelve hours to kill in not the most hospitable luxury spot on the galaxy map. Who wants a nice dinner on your commander as a reward for coming back with only chipped armor?"
"Is this a trick question?" asked Kaiden grinning.
"Steak dinners by Commander Shepherd," whispered Tali to Liara. "They are the best, and we can get good and drunk together and have a good cry over it all."
Liara looked at Tali. "Now that you mention it, I really could use a very large number of drinks. But what about you? Does Shepherd find restaurants that serve Quarian food?"
"Only when he takes us out," answered Tali. "At least the last . . . Well only time . . . He took us out."
Shepherd was back on his micro-com link.
"Parasini? Shepherd here. . . . Yeah, we just got back from Peak 15 . . . Mission was a success, thanks in part to your help . . . No I don't want that beer now . . . What I want is a good recommend for a nice restaurant which serves food for both human and turian people . . . I got a hungry crew that will break up the hotel if they don't get fed some real food soon."
Wrex took the opportunity to howl and growl very loudly. Then he grinned.
"Yeah I figured you heard that . . . Glad to know you're terrified. . . The Multi-spec Pub? . . . Is that all? . . . Well it will have to do . . . No, it's okay, you're not responsible for the dining facilities . . ."
"Doesn't sound good," mused Kaiden.
"Beggars can't be choosers," offered Ashley.
Shepherd 'hung up' his comm-link.
"Well there's good news and bad news," he said. "Good news is there is a restaurant that will serve all of us food and drinks. Bad news is this, they were rather selective in their menu."
"Which means what?" asked Garrus.
"For Humans and Asarai and Krogan, beer and burgers."
"Liara? You like beer?" queried Kaiden.
"I don't know, I've never had it," she answered. Even so it was the first time she had brightened up since they had left Peak 15.
"For us Turians and Quarians?" asked Garrus.
"A very nice selection of drinks, including Muskwin," said Shepherd.
"Muskwin is nice, but the food?" pressed Garrus.
"Salad," answered Shepherd with an apologetic shrug.
"Salad," repeated Garrus slowly.
"And Cheese Plates," continued Shepherd with an embarrassed grin.
"Cheese . . ." was all that Garrus was able to say.
"I like cheese plates! Do you know how seldom we can get cheese on the fleet? Why when Kar'lee Cariah vas Sodelt brought back a freighter filled with it from his pilgrimagh two admirals were competing by offering him bigger and bigger living spaces if he would offer the gift to them!"
She dashed over to Shepherd and gave his arm a big squeeze. Then she realized that people were beginning to snicker. "Um," she offered, letting go of his arm and scooching back away from him. "Thanks Commander."
"You're, ah, welcome Tali. I'm glad it's made you so happy," replied John who found the whole incident not only amusing, but kind of nice.
"Well that settles it," observed Garrus. "We have to let Tali at the cheese plates for the sake of team moral."
"Very much so," agreed Tali. "We have to keep the Enyineer happy or the Mako won't run very well."
"The integrity of our mission's success is being threatened by the absence of a cheese plate," drolled Ashley.
"But we get burgers and beer, girl, is that so bad?" asked Kaiden.
"I suppose not, but I don't know any songs about cheese plates once the beer gets into my system so don't ask."
As the entire hotel complex was a single building, the Multi-spec Pub was about a hundred yard walk through the foyers and lounges. They walked into the place and were led to a table where Garrus and John both agreed that the music, not being country - western, was a superior selection.
As John had sat down he was almost entirely oblivious to the sudden game of musical chairs to his right. It started with Liara sitting down one empty chair to his right leaving an opening between him and Liara. For this gap Tali made a beeline (justifying it on the grounds she was sitting next to Liara) but Ashley seemed to jump in front of her and snag it, leaving the chair on the other side of Liara empty but one which Garrus was approaching. Tali, in a huff over Ashley's blatant (in her mind) theft, determined to maintain some sense of integrity and leapt into that leaving Garrus baffled as to this sudden move. He sat on the other side of Tali, which he had thought of doing anyway since it made sense for the two dextro's to be adjacent to each other.
Beer was purchased by the pitcher, save Garrus and Tali who got a bottle of Muskwin, a drink similar to wine. The recipe was somewhat different however in that it wasn't the fruit of the vine that made up the concoction, rather it was the entire perennial, crushed, smashed, ground up, mixed with water and left to soak for a year before being filtered out. The Turians took it's making very seriously and even the mass produced vintages were of superior quality to most human mass produced beers or wines. To the human palate, it was incredibly sweet, almost sickening intensity, but utterly lacking any nutritional value, being dextro in composition. Having a bottle with Tali before salad and cheese put Garrus in a decent mood and after the second bottle with the salad and cheese he voted the restaurant a capital establishment.
Tali happily nibbled on her cheese, talking about all the different types she was getting (often forgoing the crackers entirely) and sipping her glasses of muskwin, once again resolving to not get drunk, well maybe a little: tipsy, just not too much: well okay tipsy will be fine: oh never mind it's really good stuff so go ahead and get buzzed: hey Garrus ordered a third bottle and someone will carry me back to the ship, they always do, so keep drinking.
But she also was chatting with Liara.
"Well Liara," she began, only at the beginning stages of tipsy, just before the arrival of the cheese plate, "You got through your first mission okay didn't you?"
"I don't know if it was . . . Okay," sighed Liara. "I was so scared, if Shepherd hadn't been yelling orders in my ear I'd have frozen in place."
"And that's why he drilled us all," answered Tali. "You would think after two big missions like Therum and now Noveria, I'd be getting less stressed about this stuff. But every time Ashley or Garrus says, 'hostile' I swear my heart bounces off my brain and then rattles around in my stomach."
"I guess then I'm not alone being so scared," observed Liara. "What do you think about this beer?" She added, holding up the mug she had half drained.
"It's levo," answered Tali. "It would kill me if I drank it possibly."
"I'm not sure about it," continued Liara, looking at the mug. "It's got a nice color and it makes me think of nuts. But it's also bitter, a nice bitter maybe. I'm not sure. But it's got alcohol and so I'm inclined to overlook it's deficiencies."
She took another drink.
"We could get drunk together, I mean if anyone deserves it, it's you, after umm. . ."
The two girls leaned their heads together and spoke in low voices. The rest of the table briefly looked and then got involved in other conversations and bits of song once Kaiden began on his third mug of beer. It was as if Liara and Tali were in their own little world.
Liara sighed. "I thought it would be okay," she continued. "I had convinced myself that the good woman and mother I once remembered was dead and all that was left was the puppet of Saren. And then to realize that she was 'mesmerized' by him, a spiritual thrall, who finally was able to break free before she died, it was like losing my mother a second time."
Tali nodded.
"I lost my mother too," she added. "I was still a child at the time but I remember my dad getting very distant after that. He had really loved her and there was always some . . . I guess anger that he had lost her so soon."
"I've heard Quarians bind very deeply," said Liara.
"So it is said," replied Tali. "I have not experienced it myself, I mean, I've had crushes, guys I thought were cute, but a bonding is supposed to be so deep and lasting you can really feel their absence and when they die, it's like a piece of your heart dies as well. There have been so many cases of when a deep bonding is broken by death, the surviving partner will kill themselves."
"That sounds both so romantic and horrible at the same time," said Liara with brief gasp of air at the beginning. "What if there are children?"
"We have a whole branch of psychologists who specialize in what is called bond-grief management. When the bond-mate dies, the family surrounds the survivor and keeps an eye on them."
"But after the grief, there's always another bonding with a new partner isn't there?"
Tali shook her head.
"Once it happens, it's for life," she answered. "Oh there have been great scandals on and off, about once every fifty or so years it is discovered that so and so cheated on their bond mate after some horrible incident or other. Sometimes those even end in murder, there's so much anger at the betrayal. The last time was when my father was a kid. One of the Admirals got so drunk he bragged that his bond-mate was so pretty that he was willing to put her in front of the admiralty board naked to prove it. And then he called her in and told her to strip. And as a result she went and . . ."
"So what's wrong with that?" Asked Liara.
"You don't find that a problem?" exclaimed Tali who swallowed twice in shock.
"Oh I'm sorry," apologized Liara. "I forgot you are not mono-gendered. Modesty is not an issue with us Asari. Clothing for us is merely practical given the behavior of other species, even when it was just ourselves, we wore clothing primarily because it was protection and kept us warm. On warm summer days, on the beaches, on our home worlds, you won't see a single bathing suit on an Asari."
"Well that explains why there are so many Asari dancers," mused Tali.
"Actually, the reason why there are so many Asari dancers is because we love to dance. But since so many opportunities for professional dancing demand that the dancer wears little or no clothing, and since we don't have issues with being naked in comfortable climate environments, we end up dancing in all those clubs."
"So it's got nothing to do with umm . . ."
"Not at all," answered Liara. "I mean, you know that professional ballet companies which come from Earth are now routinely hiring Asari dancers don't you? Not to mention professional dance companies which perform for all those music and musical vids. Why one of my girlfriends didn't think twice about dancing entirely naked (I mean not even shoes or jewelry were allowed) at this one club on the citadel so she could earn enough money to take step-dancing lessons and what she learned she incorporated into her repertoire at the club and the audience loved it. Some of them actually told her they would watch her even if she were dressed. Sure enough, one professional producer came by the club one evening and hired her on the spot. She's now one of those show dancers in the Royal House Casino on Earth. I think the city is called Monaco. The so called Gentlemen clubs are just the stepping board for young Asari to better careers, but after 100 years, if they don't go any farther, they do something else. When you can look good to multiple species for a couple of centuries, you can really rake in a lot of money especially when you put it into long term investing. But I supposed that has a lot to do with why we are known as tramps."
"Oh well, we Quarians are supposed to be thieves," signed Tali.
"And Turians are arrogant tyrants," added Liara nodding.
"And Krogan are violent bullies," kidded Tali who was getting into listing each species vices.
And Volus are greedy little prigs," insisted Liara. "Don't forget to read the small print."
"And Vorcha? Don't get me started on the table manners of the Vorcha," groaned Tali.
"And Elcor, slow and oh so dull," giggled Liara pouring herself another mug of beer.
"Stifling Yawn," she joked in a low monotone. "I can't speak with inflection."
"And Hanar?" quipped Tali
"Big Stupid Jellies/Yellies!" both girls giggled together.
"And who can forget human treachery?" said Liara with a 'you know what I mean' tone in her quiet voice.
"Not Shepherd." It was out of Tali's mouth so fast she barely had time to comprehend she had just defended him.
"By the Goddess I hope not," sighed Liara. "Our lives are depending upon him."
Then she looked curiously at Tali.
"You like him don't you," she leaned over and spoke in a low voice.
"Keelah, is it that obvious?" sighed Tali.
"Well, only a little," assured Liara. "I'd never have known except you were so quick to defend him."
"He rescued me from death. Made me a team member. Told me he's proud of me. Told me Adams likes me in enyineering, and he's trying to make the galaxy a better place," she said slow and sad. "How can I not be interested?"
"I know what you mean," answered Liara. "He is very dashing and handsome and . . ."
Tali gave her such a look with that visor that Liara could almost swear that Tali's chin was trembling underneath it.
"Oh no no no," she continued. "Tali, I won't ever come between you and Shepherd, after all you have gone through for me? By the Goddess I'm not a human, I'm Asari and you're my first friend here."
She gripped Tali's hand and held it.
"Does he know?" asked Liara leaning in even closer.
"I don't think so," whispered Tali.
"Girl! You need to tell him, what's the worse that can happen?"
"A dream dies," sighed Tali. "I love the dream so much. And it will die Liara. I can't have him as bond-mate. We eat different food. I'm alleryic to him. It would take months for me to be able to get out of this damn suit with him in the same room and you can yust walk into his cabin naked tonight and make love and how can I compete with that?"
"I don't see myself being that forward, at least while I'm still sober," she quipped with a smile. "But Tali? I think that's his decision. Not yours. How will you know if you don't tell him?"
"It's yust not going to work, Liara. I know that. I have to finish my Pilgrimagh first. My father's honor is dependent upon me doing well. Then once I get into the fleet and among my people again, I hope the feelings will fade. I mean he's not touched my skin or seen my face. I can't have possibly bonded with him. So I'll get over it some day."
She sighed.
"But you don't want to get over him," observed Liara. "Can't you see that?"
"Of course I can see that," responded Tali.
The two girls were now so close and talking in such whispers that everyone was beginning to notice them out of the corners of their eyes.
"What are those two doing?" whispered Kaiden to Wrex.
"Plotting to take over the galaxy in some girly girl fashion," rumbled Wrex.
"Ah," answered Kaiden. "Not that I'd mind. Nice to know the galactic leaders before they take over, makes getting a good farmstead on prime colonial property when I retire much more easy."
"But do you want a girly girl galaxy?" pondered Wrex. "I mean we're talking about pretty pink space ships with flowers all over them, and smiling pyjakes on our banners."
"Beats what Saren is planning," suggested Kaiden.
"That's not the point Kaiden," grumbled Wrex. "If it's a choice between those Earth Margarineflies . . ."
"Butterflies," corrected Kaiden.
". . . on a pastel chartreuse armor and the Reapers destroying the galaxy? I choose the Reapers."
"I'm such a messed up girl, Liara," continued Tali. "I know I can't have him. But I don't want to lose him. So I won't tell him so I can live in this stupid dream that can never be."
"You almost make me want to tell him myself," said Liara in a stern voice. "It would do you good girl."
"Please!" whimpered Tali grabbing her hand and squeezing tight. "For our friendship, don't. If you like him, and he will have you, go ahead. It will hurt me like hell but it's only right. I'll get over it. Yust don't tell me you are going to do it."
"Well if I really were a tramp, I'd say 'thank you Tali'. Then I'd get up on this table and dance for him. And if he asked, I'd strip while doing it. Because he is very attractive. Like you, he saved my life and he's going to try to save this galaxy of ours in spite of our galaxies ingratitude. Those are really nice qualities and besides, having a bed partner like that is good for a career. But you're my friend, and some things just are not worth it, especially since he's got such a short lifespan."
"So now what?" queried Tali.
"We get really drunk. Now!" said Liara who drained her mug and refilled it.
Tali followed suit and Garrus ordered that third bottle.
The two girls giggled and swayed down the hallways of the spaceport, holding hands back to the Normandy with the rest of the team chatting and joking around them.
"Tali seems to have found a friend in Liara," suggested Kaiden to Shepherd.
"Did you know she volunteered to drill with Liara?" asked John.
"She told me herself on the second day when I asked her." answered Kaiden. "That's one mighty fine girl you've got there, Commander."
"Me?" asked John looking at Kaiden.
"You mean you are not interested?" asked Kaiden. He put his hand on John's shoulder and they let the rest of the group pass so they might talk unhindered.
"Do you think for one moment that she would be interested in me?" asked John. "I know she's very friendly, but she likes all of us. After all, we've accepted her as a team member and you know how close we're all getting as this thing gets nastier and nastier. Comradeship among fellow soldiers is always strong. But as for romance? Seriously Kaiden, this is a Quarian we are talking about. She's allergic to humans. I could kill her just by breathing on her. The only thing harder to date would be a Volus. In which case death is guaranteed for both of us."
"Well Volus are rather short and stubby," agreed Kaiden chuckling. "And the girls really do explode once you take their suits off. But at least you would die rich in a clean environment, what with all that ammonia and financial wiz-bang."
John laughed. "Anyway, yeah, she'd be a nice one to date and even marry. But we both know it won't happen."
"It won't?" queried Kaiden. He had one eyebrow lifted.
"Why would you think it would?" asked John.
"Um," replied Kaiden. "Well . . . Never mind. I just thought there might be something."
"Well if she ever tells me, I might consider it," answered John. "Hell, I wouldn't just consider it. But as it won't happen, I just hope I find a girl like her down the road."
"I'm not going to be the one to tell him," concluded Kaiden's thoughts on the subject as he and Shepherd walked back to the Normandy talking about the next planned operations. "I might have read things wrong and that would be horribly awkward to say the least. You don't get places by embarrassing your commander in front of other crew."
"And besides," Kaiden continued thinking as they walked silently for a moment. "Quarians are not humans. She really could be simply expressing friendship. After all, how would I know what signals a Quarian girl would give if she liked a human guy? And do Quarian girls even find human guys handsome? How many Quarian-Human relationships do I know about? None!"
The next morning, before the breakfast bell, Liara got up, cursed her throbbing head, took some pain killers, and then walked into the next room which happened to be the Medical Bay and sat down next to Dr. Chakwas waiting for her to finish her medical evaluations.
"I have a question, Doctor," began Liara.
"And that would be, Doctor?" replied Dr. Chakwas with a grin.
"Well now that we got that out of the way, call me Liara."
"And you can call me Karin."
"Well then Karin, are you aware that Tali is hopelessly infatuated with Commander Shepherd?"
"Since Tali tends to wear her emotions on her sleeve, I don't think there's a single member of the crew, absent the Commander, who is not aware she has a big crush on him."
"It's tearing her apart, she's disqualified herself from any chance of it actually happening and I worry about Quarian bonding issues. If half of what she said was true, if they were to get separated or he were to be killed . . ."
"She would get over it with minimal psychological trauma," said Karin. "I did extensive research on the subject when I started to notice how Shepherd treated her and how she reacted, especially in the last two weeks. There really can be no genuine bonding in the Quarian fashion unless Shepherd expresses his willingness to unite with her. And then, once they consummate the relationship, only then is the bonding fully set.
"So she's only at a beginning stage?"
"As far as I can tell," continued Karin. "Discrete inquiries to the Migrant Fleet helped clear up some issues. And believe me the inquiries had to be discrete. Tali's father is an Admiral in the fleet and if word got out that she was in danger of bonding with a human, she would be recalled. And trust me, Shepherd would not like that at all.
"Does he . . . Um . . . Would he if he knew?"
"He's a typical male in that yes, he is, and yes, he would, but he is completely oblivious to it."
"How can your males be so dense?"
"Liara? More than a few women psychologists have spent years researching that subject. And the answer to your question, based on hundreds of studies is this; we haven't got a clue."
"Well that makes me feel better, sort of, but given the anguish I heard in her emotions last night . . ."
"Quarians are a fascinating race," mused Karin. "They have such strong emotions but at the same time are capable of turning them off in a second if they so choose. Tali feels strongly about Commander Shepherd because she wants to feel that way. It's sort of a drug for her. A drug which makes her happy in spite of the fact that it's also making her miserable."
"What should I do for her?" asked Liara. "She's my friend and I want her to be happy. She's done so much for me already."
"Tell her to tell Commander Shepherd," said Karin. "As often as it takes for her to straighten up and take the lumps or sugar. She's still very much a child in many ways, being protected by her father's prestige. She needs courage to take the risk. If she won't . . . Well, she might end up doing something stupid."
"Such as?"
"She has to go back to the fleet once she gets her gift," answered Karin. "And Commander Shepherd is going to make sure she get's a treasure. If she won't resolve this, she won't go back to the fleet. I don't know what the consequences of that would be, but I don't imagine it would be good for her. She has to resolve it one way or the other before those emotions she's playing with burn her good."
"Well," mused Liara. "That helps me somewhat. At least there is something I can do. I suspect it will need to be well timed for best effect."
Karin chuckled. "Liara, I know you Asari live to be a thousand years old and I know you are already older than nearly all of the oldest of humans alive today, so don't take too much time to drop the gentle hint or we'll all be too senile to remember we had this conversation."
Liara laughed.
"This is an interesting interplay of species isn't it?"
"Welcome to today's modern galaxy," replied Karin with a smile.