By the way, I want to give a huge shout out to my new Beta, icyfreezerpop. She's awesome! It's so nice having a second set of eyes to look over my word vomit and correct my love of commas and typos.

Thank you so much for all the reviews! I read each and every one and generally chuckle at the commentary (you never know, maybe you're idea will end up in the story? Only the general outline is set!).

3

She had left with Garrus… Darius couldn't say that it wasn't an unexpected ending to the night, but it still hurt.

He had picked up some liquor on his way home and was fully prepared to completely forget this night.

Of course she went off with Vakarian. They were promised to each other! Just because he had slept with someone else didn't mean shit in the grand scheme of things. She was purportedly dead after all.

Shit, it still sucked. He had turned down so many advances trying to make himself more appealing to her.

Entering his apartment, he realized he hated everything about his place. Sure, it was probably his depression talking but the apartment was so stark… So empty.

He set his eight pack of dextro-beer on the counter, taking one as he did so and popped the top off of it, getting to work on his road to oblivion. Walking towards the living room, he stopped and turned around to grab the rest of the pack. He'd probably be drinking the entire thing in the next ten minutes or so.

Before he could throw himself over the back of the couch he realized that there were weird noises coming from the other side.

Had he walked in on someone trying to rob him?! Motherfuckers chose the wrong night!

Adrenaline rushed through his liquored veins. He grabbed a knife out of a drawer before stalking his intruder.

They sure had picked a shitty hiding spot… Other side of the couch, really? Uncreative fucks.

Positioning the knife for a good downward stab Darius moved himself for the best leverage.

Raising the knife he leaned over the back of the sofa and prepared to bring the knife down….

… Right on to Aeryn!?

He panicked for a moment to hide the knife before she realized what he was trying to do. It wouldn't really be polite to stab the woman you were trying to seduce.

After his moment of panic he realized that she hadn't moved at all, not even a chuckle over his unattractive mini-freak out.

He looked more closely at her and realized she was asleep.

She had left with Vakarian and somehow ended up in his apartment and asleep on his couch.

Her night probably hadn't gone as planned, just as his hadn't. Suddenly his night didn't seem so shitty… She had been reunited with her fiancée and ended up alone on the couch of her friend.

Just what had happened?

He softly ran a talon over her cheek then fetched a blanket and draped it over her before silently turning the lights off and moving to his own room to fall asleep as well.

He really didn't feel the need to drink anymore, his beer was forgotten on the counter.


Earlier that evening…

The Normandy had been docked for two days before John and the rest of the squad were permitted to see Aria.

She was stalling them for some reason or another. Of that they were certain. She had specifically said that 'they were ahead of schedule' when they requested an audience.

When did John Shepard ever have to request an audience with the Queen of Omega? Either she beefed up security or she was up to something.

They could see the increased security, but it wasn't anything overly dramatic. The team had unanimously agreed that they were being pushed aside until some other pawns were in place.

However, Aria had sent them a summons for tonight at Afterlife for some shindig… Well, they would take what they could get.

John and Garrus had been on edge during with the entire waiting game and with the final summons, they had set off early with Liara in tow to Afterlife.

When they entered, the music was loud but somber and not at all like Afterlife's normal ear splitting bass mixture of musical vomit.

They were directed through a back passage that lead directly up to Aria's private perch.

Yeah, they were being herded and they knew it.

Aria was leaning over her couch, her attention focused on the center stage performer. The stage had been set up above the main bar and the normal poles for dancing and video screen had been cleared away so that the singer in the middle was the star of the night.

A slim woman wearing probably the most seductive outfit either man had ever seen. Two to three inch long straps were strategically placed over the woman's torso, making an X pattern on her front and back. There was also a strip of fabric that covered straight across her chest and neck. The crisscrossed pieces wrapped around her hips and upper thigh while her groin area had a skirt swathed over it, leaving one thigh completely exposed.

Black above-the-knee boots completed the ensemble. Her dark hair cascaded down her back in little ringlet curls.

Neither could see her face until they glanced up to the video screen on the opposite wall. Her face was covered in a black half-mask, complete with sequins. To offset her completely black attire she had vibrant red lipstick on.

Both realized who it was about a second later.

Aeryn, and she was singing for a crowd. A crowd that was decidedly memorized by the show. She was moving seductively as she sang and was obviously pouring a lot of emotion in to the piece.

John would have been impressed with Aria's ability to get her to finally perform in public had the situation been different. As it was he was more focused on learning why Aria had not informed him that she was acquainted with his sister and why she hadn't told him that she was alive.

Aria owed him, big time.

Before he could question her about anything, in a rare show of compassion from the asari, she spoke first.

"Isn't she spectacular? She came here first, you know. To me. Bloodied, beaten and wanting to completely seclude herself from everyone else."

It was all she said, but it spoke volumes to Shepard on the apparent friendship between his sister and the ruthless leader of Omega.

He never pretended to know much of Aeryn's social life before the Reaper invasion. She was so in and out of contact that it was hard to really sit down and hash out each other's lives.

It seemed that all of their planning for finding out the whereabouts of his sister was a wasted effort. She was handed back to them on a silver platter of friendship. Friendship he wasn't about to question at this point.

Garrus seemed to lose interest in the whys and hows of the whole ordeal as well. He was mesmerized by the woman before him to the point where John was fairly certain he hadn't heard a word Aria had said. His entire world had become refocused to the woman in all black at center stage.

John did, however, notice that a guard of Aria's was glaring daggers at Garrus. No, make that head of the guard judging by how close he was to Aria's side.

Huh. Interesting.

Shepard didn't really have a whole lot of time to analyze the blossoming situation however. As he was wrapping his arm around Liara's waist to enjoy the concert and daydream about getting to give his live sister a hug, all hell broke loose.


Aeryn had been watching the men enter the club and start to circle the stage. She hadn't become a successful assassin by inattention to her surroundings, nerve wracking concert or not.

She already had an escape route planned, one that would lead her quickly to the remnants of her armor that she had managed to convince Aria she may need, should Aria be the one in need of protection. She never thought that the scientists would find her here.

It was naïve of her. She should have known better.

She saw one of the private army raise his closed fist as if to throw something. A stun grenade.

Just as he released the projectile, Aeryn dove to the opposite side of the stage and rushed through the crowd towards one of the private rooms.

She would only have a few moments before the panic of the crowd couldn't keep her hidden so she quickly shucked off the skirt and boots and replaced them with her pants. The mask ended up torn and on the floor while she adorned herself with a hood and a tactical mask. Even if it was obvious who she had just been, if people weren't looking for the similarities then they wouldn't see them.

These soldiers obviously knew who she was anyways.

Grabbing the few weapons she had stashed away; a pair of gurkhas and a pistol, she rushed back into the fray. She didn't need much assistance from weapons as it was – Aria had made sure of that.

Still, slitting a few throats never hurt for the shock value in a fight.

Before Aeryn had exited the room she heard returning fire and two familiar voices shouting dual commands. Darius and John.

Well, she was going to have to see her brother again sometime, why not right after someone attempts to abduct her?

Perfect timing in the eyes of the Gods of Bad Timing.

Without further hesitation she entered the fight, her biotics flaring. She knew where John was, Garrus was as well and his back was completely covered.

Time to get a little dirty.


John and Garrus hadn't seen where she had gone, all they knew was that she wasn't on the stage anymore and the would-be abductors were still searching frantically for her.

She was an accomplished fighter before she had decided to go private gun for hire, so they weren't too worried about her getting caught – they just wanted to avoid shooting her in their crossfire.

They didn't have to wonder for long. A flash of blue and eye of black was their first hint at where she was. Shouts and groans of pain were already beginning to erupt from the front of the club.

Garrus had to stop himself from gaping at how magnificently she fought. She was the embodiment of wrath and grace. Her style wasn't all that different from before the alterations, from what he could tell, though she had more confidence in her movements and was much bolder in her attacks.

Probably because of the barriers she could throw up at the drop of a hat. That was probably thanks to Aria; he didn't remember her having any sort of quality biotic training from the vid.

The fight was long, and bloody, and by the end of it everyone on their side was exhausted and everyone opposing them was dead.

Aria started to clap and made some snide comment about how the Shepard siblings were always good for entertainment.

He didn't hear a word after that and he would wager that Aeryn hadn't either. They were simply staring at each other and waiting for the other to make the first move.

John made it for them by simply walking up to his sister and ripping her against him. Garrus was certain there were tears and promises of catching up later, but John had reluctantly stepped aside and allowed Aeryn and Garrus some privacy.

Aeryn reached her hand out to Garrus, beckoning him to go with her. He obliged immediately.

He didn't remember taking the steps to her, nor leaving Afterlife. The moment his hand touched hers, it was all he could focus on in order to not verify for himself that she was there, that she was alive.

They stopped outside of a private apartment complex. She pulled her hood back and her mask down and just stared at him for a moment. The emotions he saw in her eyes mirrored his own.

He started to touch her face, ran his talons through her hair, touched his forehead to hers and breathe in her exhaled breath.

Within seconds they were kissing and feeling one another. Every touch of mouth and hand were only inciting them further and further in to their desperate reunion.

It didn't last long.

A gasp and clatter of something dropping tore their attention from one another and towards the source of the sound.

Tali.

Tali had followed him.

One hand was over the vocal speaker of her helmet and the other was over her chest. She was shaking her head and backing away. With a wail of horror and despair she turned on heel and ran.

Garrus was torn. He felt the acute need to follow and comfort Tali, but Aeryn was alive in his arms. Aeryn. The confusion started to overwhelm him and he started after Tali. He couldn't pinpoint if it was out of guilt, habit, or an actual desire to comfort her over Aeryn.

Aeryn had grabbed his arm and pleaded with him not to go.

But he did go.

It was probably the single most idiotic thing he had done in his entire life.


Aeryn was in a state of shock. Garrus had just left her to chase Tali. She abruptly decided that this feeling was worse than watching him leave with her on the news vid. That had hurt her and made her question, yes, but this was a heart wrenching, sharp pain that filled the emptiness she now felt.

She didn't know what to do as the tears trailed down her cheeks. She looked around and realized she had brought them to Aria's penthouse. She had no desire to go in to that apartment now.

She ended up wandering for a good portion of the night. She pulled her hood back over her head so no one could see the makeup and tears running down her face, not that she would have cared if anyone had noticed at this point. She was acting out of habit and not conscious thought.

When she finally came back to reality she realized she was outside of Darius' apartment.

Darius. He wouldn't have left her like that. He would've understood her. He wouldn't have left.

She punched in the code to his apartment. He wasn't home, but just being there made her feel more comfortable. She settled herself on the couch, staring at the ceiling listlessly, eventually falling into a dreamless sleep.

She awoke some time later and realized that he was home. He had put a blanket over her. A blanket was not what she wanted or needed now. She looked towards his bedroom and made the decision that she should have made a long time ago.

She had just waited for nothing and it was high time she stopped doing nothing with herself.


Darius shot awake to someone standing in his bedroom doorway. It was Aeryn. He rubbed his eyes a bit to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

"What is it pet? Can I get you anything?"

He was in protective mode of her due to the circumstances of the evening. Hell, he was always protective of her, tonight's events weren't an excuse.

She had the blanket wrapped around her and she had removed her hood. Even in a house it was usual for her to do so, wearing the thing had become second nature.

She clutched the blanket to her a bit tighter and dropped her head. All he could see was her outline against the soft light pouring in from the living room window, but he could tell she was nervous.

Why was she nervous?

"Darius… I don't want to be alone tonight… Can I stay in here, with you?"

He tried not to examine what she was asking too deeply. It was too in line with what he had been dreaming about for weeks.

Keeping his tone neutral even though his plates were shifting and his subvocals were keening in anticipation he cleared his throat before answering her.

"Of course you can, you don't ever have to ask."

It wasn't until she was near the bed that she dropped the blanket.

Spirits she was naked.

They locked eyes for a minute and all good sense left the room. Darius found himself reaching for her as she leaned in to him.

He held her tightly to his chest as their lips met and he was lost.