/Author's note: Sorry for the long pause. I'm not dead and I won't stop writing my fanfic. I finally have the whole story lined up. Until I deal with my exams, here is this short chapter. I originally wanted to upload this together with the following scenes, but right now, I do not have the time to finish them. You can expect the next chapter by the end of January. Also, I have changed a few things in Chapter 4 - "No turning back", in order to make it more enjoyable, so be sure to check it out. I hope you'll like it even more than before./
"What seems to be the problem?"
„No new messages."
John sighed.
Tomorrow. Yeah, sure.
Nearly two weeks passed since he had met Nihlus. No news came from the turian since then.
Maybe he did it on his own.
He closed his message inbox and opened an unfinished report instead. It was about a salarian whose hobby involved funneling other people's wins from gambling machines at a nightclub.
Not anymore.
He had made the arrest two hours ago. It was quick, easy and boring. He had no problems with being bored. It was better than being angry or depressed. He just had to bury himself in work and instantly everything became easier; sleeping, eating, walking…
Except for relaxing, but he did not wish to be relaxed. Constantly working on something was just fine, so he took on extra jobs like that stupid salarian. Nothing really challenging, but it gave him a sense of contentment.
John finished the report and sent it to the center for overviewing and archiving. Another extra job, another sum of extra credits.
For what…?
He stared at the screen for a few seconds, then he quickly checked his tasks. He felt as if he was missing something really important. But he had looked over everything twice, he just couldn't forget anything. He scrolled through all of it again, but he didn't find any problems. He clenched his fist as he leaned back in his chair. He felt frustrated, because he knew that there was something he should have done, but he did not. His eyes slowly wandered from the task screen to the clock and the date.
"Oh, FUCK."
It was that day.
He just simply forgot Jane's birthday. The most frickin' important day of the year.
HOW…?
It wasn't that suprising, because he usually forgot every important date. But it was Jane's birthday.
He always remembered Jane's birthday.
He stood up in panic and looked around as if there was something in his office that could have helped in any way.
He realized that he only had a couple of hours left before the family celebration.
He didn't even buy anything. He didn't even think about it at all…
"Ooooh fuck."
He buried his face into his palm, trying to remember what he had wanted to buy two weeks ago… then he realized that he had no idea.
Figure out something… anything…
He turned off his private terminal and rushed out of his office.
"Shepard! "
The sudden, loud voice scared the shit out of Jane. She was the only one left sitting in the changing room, lost in her thoughts, only half dressed. Nearly falling off the bench, she jerked her head up and saw her training officer standing at the door.
"Captain Aola?! " she asked and jumped up, pulling her pants on her butt at the same time.
"Relax," said Aola as she approached Jane, "and get your damn shirt on."
Only then did Jane realize that aside from her bra she had nothing on her upper body.
How long were you sitting on that bench, doing nothing?...
She quickly took her black shirt out of her bag and, with a little difficulty, put it on herself. Then, she drew herself up and looked at her training officer, forcing a neutral expression on her face.
Aola stopped before her and stared at her silently for a few seconds.
"What is the problem, Shepard?"
Jane clenched her fists behind her back.
She knew exactly what the asari was asking about, but she didn't know what to answer. She tried to figure out some kind of believable explanation, but her brain only presented her with memories of the mistakes she had made in the past two weeks.
"What seems to be the problem?" the question slipped out of her mouth. She immediately regretted it as she saw the look on Aola's face.
"Are you trying to piss me off, Shepard?" the asari asked and slammed her left palm on the locker next to Jane.
"No ma'am," Jane answered immediately and bowed her head in shame. Because of her all-military family, she always talked to every officer with respect and wondered how some other trainees can be so careless.
Aola took a deep breath, then she grabbed the small bench which was in front of the lockers and dragged it away a bit so that she could sit right in front of Jane. She rested her elbows on her knees, then she glanced up at Jane with a tired expression.
"Put your ass down."
Jane obeyed at once. She continued to avoid making any kind of eye contact with the asari.
This is going to be painful.
Aola slowly shook her head.
"What seems to be the problem," she said, pressing each word, "is that lately, your performance has been a pile of steaming shit."
Jane bote her lips. She was well aware of the quality of her work in the past two weeks, but to hear it from someone else felt like a kick in her stomach. No one else around her had asked or criticized anything, because she had managed to avoid her friends since…
Since some really unimportant things happened…
"What also caught my attention," Aola continued, "that you have asked for a group change five days before the next rotation."
There was a scheduled team change every month, so that they would have to adjust to new people all the time and practice working out new strategies that would fit the new team's setup. Then, after working with the new team for a month, everyone got transferred back to their original, well-known teams.
Jane slowly nodded. She had asked for the change to get away from her friends and to be able to work at a different time.
Aola straightened up on the bench and knitted her arms before her chest.
"And on top of all that, you always leave ten minutes later than everyone else."
Jane nodded again. She knew that as well.
What's the point of hearing it from her?
"I'm not going to waste my breath for too long, Shepard," the asari said, raising her voice. "I am only here because you had the best scores in every group. You are going to finish your training soon. Why fuck everything up now?"
Jane finally looked up. Aola raised her painted eyebrows up, apparently waiting for some kind of answer.
"I… I had a… fall out with someone."
Aola stared at her in disbelief.
"Then deal with that someone, because your career is at stake here, Shepard," the asari said in a suprisingly calm tone. "I don't want to see you fall behind. Understood?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Wonderful," Aola said and she stood up. "Now finish getting dressed and go eat something. You look like you've lost weight."
Jane stood up as well and watched her training officer leave the room. As a proof that she had indeed skipped a few meals lately, her stomach emitted a loud noise. She took a deep breath and picked her boots up.
She still had a birthday celebration ahead of her and she didn't want to be late for that.
Just before she could have picked her bag up and leave, she had an incoming call.
"Jaaane! Happy birthday!"
"Oh, Caroline!" she exclaimed in suprise, because the last time she had spoken with her friend, she was sick. "Thanks! Are you feeling better?" she asked.
"Yeah, thanks, I'm okay now. How 'bout you? Adarenys said you disappeared."
"Uuuh, no, I'm alright, I just had a lot of stuff to do," Jane answered and buried her face into her palm. "Actually, I'm kind of in a hurry right now as well."
"Whoops, sorry! I just wanted to make sure that you haven't forgotten about our little meeting tomorrow at the Dark Star."
"Of course I haven't!" she lied. "I'll be there of course."
"Awesome! See you tomorrow then."
"Sure, bye."
Jane dragged her palm along her face and uttered a stifled groan.
John stared at the asari-shaped pillow in his hand. He was uncertain whether to laugh or cry.
In the end, he just put the pillow back, next to the hanar-shaped one, and looked around the shop again. He already had a giant bar of chocolate in his hand, but he wanted something else as well.
"Can I help you, sir?"
A young, blonde woman smiled at him. She was wearing long, light-blue dress which had the shop's name on it. John stepped away from the pillows and cleared his throat.
"Actually, yes, I… I'm looking for a birthday present for my sister."
"How old is she?"
"Twenty-three."
"I see," the woman nodded. "We just received a shipment of exquisite perfumes from Japan."
"Um, I think she already has enough perfumes," John said, remembering the countless bottles and glasses he saw in Jane's bathroom.
"Well then… we have a number of small-sized pets available."
"Like what? She's usually busy."
"We have various beautiful and exotic fish for example."
John scratched his head.
"Uh, she had an exotic fish years ago… but it died because she forgot to feed it for a day."
"Oh, that's sad. We have automated aquariums that take care of everything."
"Thanks, but I don't want to remind her of that fish," John shook his head. "Can you show me some… other pets?"
"Follow me, sir."
Ten minutes later, John stepped out of the shop with a big, white box in his hand.
