The next day's mission on Kadara she took Cora and Peebee with her, which she quickly regretted. Peebee wouldn't stop goading Cora and making fun of her love of all things huntress. "Tell me again about Sarissa's book of warfare. What else is in it? So much to learn…" she said sarcastically. Cora took her seriously, and spent their time in the Nomad spouting huntress words of wisdom as Peebee snickered and rolled her eyes at Ryder. The more Ryder tried to get her to quit, the more she did it. Cora kept going in the back seat, completely unaware. Ryder finished their business there, and made their way back to Kadara port, where Peebee quickly took off. Cora was smiling, "I feel like I made some headway with Peebee today. I'm glad she sees me as a mentor to her."

Ryder started to say something, but then couldn't burst her bubble. "Yeah," was all she could get out. She made her way to the bar, "I need a stiff drink." After throwing some back, she let the crew know they had an hour left before the Tempest would leave port. She made her way back on the ship and sought Jaal out. She knew he hated Kadara, too dirty he'd told her, and she expected he would still be on board. Maybe he was finishing up that knife he was making for Drack.

She breezed in his quarters, and was surprised to see him very upset, talking to one of his mothers on the comm.

"You more than anyone know how dangerous Akksul is."

He let out a big sigh, "I'll bring them home."

Ryder walked up a bit closer, "Are you okay?"

Jaal told her 3 of his siblings had joined the Roekaar. She gasped, "Oh Jaal, I'm so sorry."

"He is poisoning them with his hatred of aliens." He paced as he told her Akksul had made camp on Havarl at the Forge. He looked down and became emotional, "Ryder, he has my family, but I don't think I can do this alone."

He barely finished when she walked up to him, "You don't have to. Just tell me the time and place." Her brows furrowed with concern.

He looked like a huge weight had been lifted off and got closer to her, looking down. He chuckled, "No hesitation. That is what I love about you."

She raised her eyebrows.

He quickly became serious again, laying out their plan.

On Havarl, she was determined to do whatever it took to get his family back safely. She knew Akksul had enlisted Jaal's family on purpose to flush them out. She felt responsible for his targeting of Jaal's sister and brothers.

Jaal tried to reason with them, "Our mothers sent me for you."

His sister was not swayed, "Did our mothers send this human too?" she ran up in Ryder's face.

Teviint reminded her of the first time she met Jaal on Aya, "I'm Ryder, Pathfinder with the Initiative." Ryder put her gun away.

"I should kill you right now," she sneered.

Jaal attempted to intervene. Ryder hung behind as he talked to them. Suddenly he turned to Ryder and grabbed her arm, making her stumble towards him as he introduced her, "I want you to meet my friend, Kathryn. So you can see that Akksul is wrong."

She tried to think fast. "We need to work together against the Kett. We're here to stay, I want to get along."

They spat angry words at her, telling her they didn't want her help, to get out and leave them alone.

"Shit," Ryder said under her breath.

Jaal got through to Lathoul, who spilled Akksul's plan for a stolen Initiative bomb to take out the Forge. Suddenly his sister shot him to keep him from talking, and horrified at her actions, ran.

"Go, disarm those bombs," Lathoul pleaded with Jaal and Ryder. After they were sure he would be okay, they fought their way through and disarmed the bombs.

Jaal's sister ran out of the darkness, "Jaal, I killed Lathoul, I'm so sorry."

"He's not dead, you're lucky."

"I just want to go home." She was distraught.

Akksul's voice came out of the darkness, "Let her go, I only want soldiers committed to our cause."

He walked towards them, strutting around in a small circle. Ryder caught a glimpse above of a large group of his followers, watching them, armed. She turned to Akksul, "You're sick. You get kids to fight their own family."

She could sense the tension mounting exponentially. She could feel Akksul's charisma, his ruthlessness. He reached down towards his belt, "I speak for our people and I say you're done in Heleus!" he pulled a gun and pointed at her.

Instinctively she brought her gun up to defend herself and backed up. "Ryder, don't!" Jaal called out.

Akksul smirked. He held out an empty palm. He never took out his gun. He laughed menacingly and got in her face as she pointed her gun down towards the ground. "Martyr me, please. I dare you."

She narrowed her eyes. This was exactly what he wanted. This whole scene, she was a player in his game. She would not give it to him. "I don't kill unarmed crazy people."

Disappointed, Akksul took another approach. Grandstanding to his followers, he started preaching the danger of aliens, with Jaal interrupting him, telling them how much Ryder had done for the Angara.

"-and she rescued our beloved Moshae."

Akksul saw the effect Jaal was having on them. "Stop! Stop defending them!"

Jaal looked at his followers, "The Moshae trusts Ryder-"

Akksul pointed his gun at Jaal. "Stop! Maybe the enemy is this traitor!"

Jaal said slowly, "Easy." Holding his hands up in surrender.

Ryder brought her gun up again to Akksul, "Jaal?!" her voice was panicked. Akksul was so radical, illogical, she was terrified he would pull the trigger.

"Don't!" Jaal held his hand out to stop Ryder. He continued to try to reason with Akksul.

With all her might, Ryder wanted to shoot Akksul's brains out. Her love for Jaal was the only thing stopping her. His words came into her mind, "He will make you want to kill him. Follow my lead." She bit her lip and forced herself to trust him. Maybe somewhere deep down, their old friendship would cut through his fanaticism. Suddenly she saw a flash and realized Akksul had shot at Jaal. She felt as if she had been shot and paralyzed with fear, followed the bullet as it passed Jaal and somehow hit a rock behind him. She saw his head flinch and she almost lost consciousness. Amazingly, Jaal turned his head back to stare Akksul down. There was total silence, as the implications of his actions were felt by all with a complete change in the air around them. Ryder put her gun down finally as she watched his followers leave in disgust.

"The alien is not the monster here." Jaal turned to his siblings, "Come on, let's get you home."

They walked away, Ryder jogging up to Jaal to keep stride next to him, "You okay?" she tried to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"Yeah. Thanks." He grunted in pain.

She could see the deep gash on his cheek and looked down as they walked back to their shuttle. She tried not to think about what almost happened. She sat in the shuttle as Jaal talked with his siblings and Teviint apologized profusely to everyone on board, especially Lathoul.

Off the shuttle, their mothers walked up to the group. "They're here," Jaal walked away to the railing and said to Ryder, "Let's give them a minute."

"Thank you for trusting me. Killing Akksul would have made the Roekaar stronger."

For the first time since Akksul confronted them, Ryder felt like she was letting the breath out she had been holding.

"He shot you!"

Jaal looked at her, "I'm glad he did. It exposed how far he'd fallen."

She turned to him, the depth of the terror she felt in her voice, "I was really worried!" she started to choke up and couldn't speak any more.

Jaal walked towards her, "It will heal. All scars do." He reached out and embraced her, putting his hand up to her head. She leaned in towards him and put her hand up to his head as well. He leaned his forehead down towards hers and held her like that for a moment. Then suddenly he let go. "We should get back. I want to say goodbye to my family."

She took a deep breath and followed behind him. To him, battle and danger were a part of daily life. She was not so used to having people close to her in danger. She needed to get used to it. It was the cost of caring.

Back on the Tempest, she caught up with Jaal in medbay.

"Hey…" she didn't know exactly what to say about everything that had just happened.

"Hello, my special friend."

Hm. Well, that's an upgrade, she thought.

"How's the face wound?"

He laughed, "I think I will have an impressive scar."

Her voice became angry, "One centimeter to the right, I hate to think about what could have happened."

"Akksul was always a terrible shot."

"But at close range, I don't know what I would have done if anything had happened to you. I can't do this mission without you, Jaal."

He looked a bit taken aback by her outpouring of emotion. She was wiping away tears. She looked over her shoulder at Dr. T'Perro and lowered her voice. "I would have emptied every cartridge I had into him if he'd –"

"But he didn't." Jaal stopped her.

She took a deep breath, "No, I know." She calmed herself down. "How is your family doing?"

"Better now. In time, they will heal. They lost their way, got caught up in Akksul's frenzy. It is not their true nature to be like that. I hope you don't think my family would treat you poorly."

"Like you said, they made a mistake. I'm still earning everyone's trust. It takes time. You're helping with that, Jaal."

"I want to. You have done so much for me, so much for the Angara. Can you stay and talk some more? I'm waiting for Dr. T'Perro to prepare an antibiotic for me."

"Almost done," The doctor called out.

Ryder turned to him, "Sure, I always have time for you, Jaal." She smiled warmly. "Actually, could I ask you a few more questions?"

"Sure," he said.

She asked him more about his family. She was surprised to learn about the size. "Five additional mothers, and many, many siblings and cousins. All raised together. Our family is constantly evolving. People come and go."

"I suppose that's a way you could stay strong together against the war against the Kett. I know you said your father was killed by them."

"Yes, I never thought of it that way, but that's true. Before the Kett, we did not live in such large family groups, I am told," he looked at her quizzically. "You had a very small family in comparison. Would you- find being in such a big group difficult?"

She thought for a second, "No, I don't think so. I think it would be kind of nice. Of course, you'd always be able to leave for some alone time when you wanted, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, of course."

She cocked her head to the side, "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, just curious, that's all. Perhaps one day I'll take you to meet my one true mother, Sahuna."

"I would be honored."

She took a deep breath, "Um, do you have a mate? A partner?"

"I don't. Not for a long time."

"What do you mean?"

He told her the story of falling in love with an older woman, who then fell in love with and married his brother. "He was older, and already famous in the Resistance."

She felt frustrated, he was always selling himself short by putting his family up on a pedestal.

"I think you're interesting and, well – great." She started stumbling over her words, and before she knew it blurting her feelings for him out, "Anyway, I'd like to get to know you better. What do you think?" she held her breath.

"Yes, I'd like that."

She was unsure how to interpret him, he answered like it was a job interview.

"That's it?" her disappointment made her blunt.

"You are a lovely woman, fascinating, a brilliant risk-taker. Knowing you better would be a gift, sincerely."

She was relieved, "Okay then," and smiled broadly.

"I have your shot ready," Dr. T'Perro came over. She leaned over and put it in his neck fold quickly. "That should aide in the healing, and prevent any further medical issues."

"Thank you, doctor." He turned to Ryder, "If you would please excuse me, I have to compose my report to Efvra."

"Of course," she said and watched as he left. She turned back to Dr. T'Perro who was staring at her. "What?"

"Oh, just planning some research, that's all."

"Research on what?"

"Angaran – human relations."

Ryder turned pink, "I don't know what you-"

Dr. T'Perro waved her off, "I'm not deaf, you know, or blind. I can see how deeply you care for him. He was talking to me about you before you came in medbay as well."

"He was? What did he say?" she asked excitedly.

Dr. T'Perro smiled, "He was deeply touched by your trust in him with Akksul. He said he never imagined you would do so much for him and his people. I think he really cares about you, too."

"Hm, yes. However, there's brotherly love, and then there's romantic love. I have a hard enough time figuring that out with humans, let alone an entirely different species."

"Just keep trying. Be yourself, and don't be afraid to communicate how you feel."

Ryder snorted, "That's pretty funny advice from you, doctor."

She frowned, "Why? I don't come across as that cold and clinical, do I? I've had romances in my life."

"No, that's now what I meant. I just –" Ryder gave her a sideways look, "You know, you and Drack."

She was taken aback, "What do you mean?"

"Come on now Lexi, I talked to you about Jaal, don't try to play coy about Drack. I've seen how you fuss over him, always asking about him. It's more than just doctor – patient concern."

She put her hand to her forehead, "Am I really that obvious?"

"No, I haven't heard anyone talk about it, it's just something I've noticed."

Dr. T'Perro leaned against the counter. "It's true. I think he's entirely in the dark about it, though. He would never think of me that way."

"Why not?"

"He thinks he's way too old to be in any kind of relationship. He's got a granddaughter. He sees himself at the end of his life. I – I think he would laugh at me."

Ryder was touched at her vulnerability. "You don't know for sure. There's an age difference, sure, but maybe being older, he's a bit more mellowed, and ready for a different stage in his life. He came out here to Andromeda, didn't he? Don't sell him short, or yourself."

Dr. T'Perro looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe you're right. I'll think about it. Thanks, Ryder."

"No problem. And doctor – I'll keep your secret, please keep mine."

"Don't worry, Ryder, always."