Author's Note: This chapter is going to skip around a little bit. I've also determined that while Shepard has biotic capabilities, she tends to favor her guns in a fight. So that should make the second half of this chapter interesting. Let me know what you liked, what you didn't like, and what you might want to see in the future. Enjoy!

Kaidan felt like he was being watched on his walk over to Shepard's quarters. There wasn't anyone in the area, seeing as it was nearly midnight, but he had a feeling he knew who was watching. Either way he was just doing what he'd been told. He looked down at the panel and sighed as he pushed it down, glad that the lock on the door flashed red. He leaned against the wall and waited patiently for a few minutes before it opened. He saw Shepard still in uniform and looking dead tired. But she was smiling.

"Hey." she said quietly.

"Hey..." he didn't know what to say.

"You can come in for a few minutes if you want."

"Um... Sure." he said, pushing off the wall and brushing past her. It was... Really dark in her quarters. Almost like there was supposed to be another light somewhere. He took a minute to let his eyes adjust and he heard more than saw Shepard move to sit at her desk.

"So, are you feeling any better?"

"I've still got a small headache, but I'm sure I can sleep it off." Kaidan paused and looked at her as she sat in her chair, twisting from side to side. He let the smallest of a smile slip through and then he remembered what else he wanted to say. "Thanks for bringing me dinner. I think that helped the most."

"It's no problem. Just make sure you keep eating, alright?"

"That shouldn't be a problem." he said, laughing a little. He glanced down at his feet, not sure if he should leave or not. He looked back up at her. "Is there... Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of right now." she said softly, looking over to her bed. "I should probably get some sleep too. I'll talk to you tomorrow." she smiled, nodding to let him know he could leave. He nodded in return in turned to walk out without giving her a chance to stop him. He really didn't belong in there in the first place, but he did admit that her bed looked much more comfortable than most of the chairs on the Normandy. Idiotically, he hoped he got a chance to find out if it really was as soft as it looked.

"Should just replace the damn thing." he muttered to himself. He'd been repairing the monitor for weeks, and it still wasn't working just right. He would try one more time to get it to work.

"You've been working really hard on that for a while..."

He turned around a little too quick for his own liking. But he did let himself smile.

"It's not like there's anything else for me to do around here." he shrugged, then rubbing at the back of his neck.

"Have you got a minute?"

"Now's probably not a good time." he shifted his feet. "I've wasted enough of your time already."

In truth, he wanted to do nothing but talk with her. Though, there were still regs and Kaidan intended on following them. He hadn't gotten to where he was now by breaking rules. Well maybe a few, but that was a long time ago, and he'd changed since then.

"Alright. We'll be docking on the Citadel in about 48 hours. I'm treating the crew to a round of drinks." she winked and then suddenly turned to walk away. He couldn't bring himself to stop her and ask why she'd just winked. Maybe it was better it was left to his imagination, especially with the rowdy group just around the corner eating lunch. That was enough to make his stomach growl quietly, forgetting that he hadn't eaten yet. He waited a couple minutes before calmly walking over.

"Hey, we were just talking about you!" Ashley called out when he turned around with food. She was sitting near, not next to, Wrex and Garrus. Interesting, given her previous statements about how she felt about them being on board. He sat across from her.

"I hope it was nothing bad." he muttered, nodding at Garrus and Wrex before he began eating, keeping his head down a little bit.

"Depends on how you look at it." Garrus said, sounding like he was in a good mood.

"Ash-"

"We were just commenting on how much better you seem after the Commander went to go visit you, that's all." she cut him off, grinning. He had to strain to resist rolling his eyes at that.

"I'm glad you think so."

He was regretting sitting here to eat. But he couldn't just get up and walk away now unless he wanted to reveal all his cards at once to people that could put his post in danger. Kaidan wanted to stay on the Normandy for as long as he could, but he'd willingly be reassigned if it meant he were able to be in an open relationship with Shepard. That is, if they even had one.

"How is she, by the way? I haven't gotten a word out of her today, and I just saw her leave after talking with you." Ashley then went on, not trying to get anything out of him, but genuinely curious.

"She seems busy, but fine."

"Hm. Maybe I'll try again at dinner." she shrugged and then stood up with her empty tray. "Talk to you later."

Good, he could eat in peace, now.

"Why are we here again?" Kaidan had to yell over the music, and the crowd. It was too hot, too loud, and he was a little too close to everyone to be comfortable.

"Shepard wanted to relax." Joker shrugged from his seat. "She's offering rounds so I'm taking them."

They were the only two sitting at the moment. Wrex was drinking the bar dry, with a wide berth between him and the other patrons. Garrus was upstairs in the casino with Tali, trying to figure out how to get the most credits without cheating. Ashley was with Shepard and Liara... Somewhere. He hadn't actually seen them when he arrived. Maybe he'd come earlier than he'd thought.

"Looking for someone?" Joker smirked, snapping Kaidan's attention back to the table. He wasn't in a mood to be putting up with the man if he was going to be relentless in his teasing. He wasn't wrong, but it wasn't exactly like he was hiding to begin with. So he picked up his drink instead of responding. Apparently that was the wrong thing to do. "Look, I'm not going to tell anyone what's going on. God knows where this mission is going to take us, and you're wound up tight enough as it is."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm telling you that you'd better take the opportunity to get drunk with Shepard while you have the chance."

Kaidan stared at Joker for a moment before sighing and turning his attention back to everything else. Maybe he was right, he could afford to loosen up a little. But he wasn't sure he'd go so far as to get drunk. That would take nearly as much alcohol as Wrex was drinking, and his pocket had a bottom to it. With a sigh he sat back and decided to at least look like he was being social, or having a good time at least. For a good ten minutes he just looked around, watching the start of a bar fight be quickly ended by a rather pretty girl walking up to the bar.

Wait, that was-

"Shepard, over here!" Joker called out.

He couldn't just leave now, it would be too obvious he was uncomfortable. With a heavy sigh, Kaidan forced a smile. Though when he saw her up close it became more genuine. He bit his tongue a little to keep from letting his jaw drop.

"You got a table for us, already." she grinned, sitting down across from Kaidan. She either hadn't noticed him yet, or she was just giving him time to adjust to this... different appearance.

"Yeah, well I wanted a good view of the place since I'll be sitting here all night." Joker said as he took a sip of his drink.

"You chose well. Thanks." she said, then glancing over at Kaidan. "Been enjoying yourself so far?"

He cleared his throat a little and then nodded. "I've only been here about fifteen minutes, but it seems... decent here."

"Decent?"

"I mean, I've been to better places. But for what's readily available, this isn't bad." he shrugged, hoping that wouldn't set her off. The corner of her lip quirked up and she crossed her legs, exposing that much more skin with her dress. But he couldn't take his eyes away from hers. There was something different and he couldn't place his finger on what it was. Maybe he'd ask if he ever got the chance to be alone with her without it being terribly obvious that they had... something. He wasn't sure what to call that, either. In fact, there was a lot he couldn't put a name to between them. But there was something there, at least.

"I think the idea is that the more you drink, the more you enjoy it." Shepard shrugged, "But, that might be a little harder for you."

"Just a little?" he grinned, knowingly raising his voice a little too much.

"Well, would you like to test my theory?" she leaned forward, looking ready to hop out of her seat and over to the bar.

"I would." Joker interrupted, getting a laugh out of her.

"Alright. I go get us a couple rounds set up." She stood up, only to have her seat be replaced by Ashley moments later.

"Hey, Alenko." she snapped her fingers and he found himself staring into brown eyes, not green eyes. "Don't screw this up."

"What?"

"You think she came up with this idea herself?" Ash sat back, crossing her arms. "No, Joker and I had to convince her. For your sake."

"For my sake? What are you trying to do?" he leaned forward, keeping his voice down the best he could while still being heard.

"Listen, with all the crap we're finding out, and the deeper we go with this mission, I'm starting to think we might not have much time left." Ashley leaned forward as well, "I'm just nudging you two along a bit."

"Well thanks for asking but we don't need it."

"Really? You seem a hell of a lot more interested in her than before."

"There aren't regs in the way, here."

"Is that all that's stopping you? Regs?" Ashley laughed. "I'll bet that if at the end of all this that everything goes to hell, that's going to be the last thing on your mind when you think about her."

"What's that?" Shepard came back with multiple drinks in each hand, a smile on her face.

"Oh nothing. Just small talk." Ashley stood up. "Just keeping the seat warm."

"You can sit with us. I was just about to have a little friendly competition with Kaidan." she took her seat back and divided the drinks evenly between the two of them, and then an extra for Joker. She then looked Kaidan dead in the eye, smirking. "I take a shot. Then you take a shot. Hesitate or puke and you lose."

"And how about passing out?" he dared ask with a smile.

"We can add that, if you're such a lightweight." she shrugged, picking up her glass, "Ladies first."

"Oh this is going to be great." Joker chuckled as she easily tossed down the first shot.

"What's your record, skipper?" Ashley grinned, all of them looking at Kaidan. He hardly hesitated as he poured the liquid fire down his throat. This was a game he was good at, unfortunately.

"45." she said with a straight face.

"Damn!"

"What the hell is this?" Kaidan grimaced once he found himself able to talk.

"Tequila." she smirked, taking her second shot and looking him in the eye as she did so.

"Wait, you've taken 45 shots of tequila before?" Joker held his hand out. She nodded. "How the hell is that possible-"

"Biotics." she and Kaidan both replied. He only knew she had them because he could feel them whenever she was within 20 feet. Just like he could feel Liara's biotics. Of course the natural biotics always felt weird to him. Almost invasive. But maybe that was just bias because of what he'd grown up around. He was sure he'd get used to it some day.

"Well I retract my previous statement." Joker grumbled, looking disappointed.

"Yeah, that's not really a competition, then." Ashley crossed her arms again. "I mean, I'd go up against one of you if I thought I had a chance."

"Fine. We'll just drink the bar dry." Shepard looked back to Kaidan, "By the way, I just won. You hesitated."

"I'm sure there are other things I could beat you at."

"Well now you've got my attention."