I regret to say this may be my last chapter for this story. This story pull's a lot of heart string's with me and at this time I can't really write for it anymore. I may come back to it later, but for now I'm labeling it complete. I will keep writing for other stories of mine, I just have a few personal thing's to square away.

Chapter X

Vallok looked over at Zoey as the door hissed as it pressurized to the outside. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, he was on the Citadel and he currently had his heart in two place's and had no plan. Neither decision felt good, at the thought of having to break one of their hearts and his. What would he tell Zoey, or Valerie? Zoey looked over at him as he looked forward at the door as it opened to the docking area of the Citadel. Usually he would be happy to be home, but it wasn't regular circumstances. Shepard lead the way off the Normandy to the main platform turning to Vallok ready to shake his hand.

"It was nice having you aboard I hope thing's go well for you two." Shepard smiled still shaking his hand.

"Well actually if it's alright with you, I hear your going to Omega in a day, would you mind if we tagged along? We would be getting off there so..."

"Of course not, you are welcome aboard." Shepard smiled again releasing Vallok's hand and walking off the platform to the skycar area.

"Something wrong Vallok?" Zoey could tell something was bothering him, but wasn't sure what. She had noticed the look before the last couple day's.

"No, just got something's to finish up here that I would rather avoid." His brow plate's shifted as he turned and began walking to the sky area.

"Uhh, where are you going?" She rushed to catch up with him trying to keep to his pace.

"I'm finishing up something that you might want to know about." Vallok continued walking towards the skycars thinking over his next move. He felt something for Zoey and he enjoyed being with her, but he knew he loved Valerie. He couldn't bond with her like she wanted though. To much at stake, and he wouldn't allow it. It's not right to string her along all these years.

"Is that your way of telling me to come with you?" A little confused she stayed close to his side as they approached one of the cars.

"Something like that." Opening the door, he gestured for her to get in.

"Where are we going?" She stepped in sitting in the back as he got in and closed the door sitting.

"You'll see." He knew what his decision was, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to make it known.

The skycar took off into the stream of vehicles flying around the citadel. Vallok said very little during the trip, only staring out the window thinking. His face cold and emotionless, a trait he had picked up over the year's of dealing with people. He had been through a lot, but nothing like this, he never thought he would have issues caused by a woman. Oddly enough he thought himself immune from it all. To much going on at once. His focus should be on the missing colonies and his job. It's what he has always made his first priority. Vallok appreciated the fact Zoey didn't want to talk, that or she knew he didn't.

The car descended outside of one of the presidium apartments. Vallok sighed looking out the window at it, figuring Valerie was somewhere inside. Questions ran rampant through his mind, making him pause and look over to Zoey for some kind of answer's. What was he doing? He opened the door getting out lending his hand to Zoey as she stood from her seat and ignored his hand getting out herself. He had always been used to Valerie taking his hand, but this was different. It was a good different, or at least he thought.

"What's this place? Your home?" She looked around taking in the sight of the well up kept apartments.

Vallok shook his head closing the door behind him, dragging his feet as he began walking for the front door. Zoey followed looking concerned about him, she knew something bothered him, but he was just down even for a Turian.

Vallok's fist pounded on the door as Zoey stood at his side. The door opened revealing a slender turian woman standing with her hand on her hip. She flared her mandibles at Vallok, hugging him and inviting him in. Putting out her hand to Zoey she looked puzzled at them both as they walked in.

"Val there is something I need to talk to you about and you too Zoey."

They both looked at Vallok then each other making silent introduction as they did. He sighed as he tried to delay the words that came next as it tore him up inside.

"Val I love you and Zoey I love you but I can't do this."

They both looked at Vallok with scowls, trying to predict his words.

"I can't keep doing this to you both so I am here to put it into the open. Val I'm sorry but I should have done this a long time ago with you. I should have never strung you along for the past 2 years, it wasn't fair to you."

Valeries eyes began to glisten as she tried to harden herself for the blow of the next couple of his words.

"We need to split. You and I both knew that I would never be able to bond and you couldn't bond with me anyway. I wouldn't let you bond to a C-Sec officer that has only 2,000 credit to his name and me and you know that your father would never approve either."

Valerie's eyes began to tear letting her tears fall down her cheek as she tried to hold herself up. Vallok took a step closer to her and tried to grab her, only to be pushed away by her. He grabbed her arm and forced her into his chest making her accept his shoulder to cry on. She put her arms around him and nuzzled her face into his chest as she sobbed uncontrollably.

It hurt Vallok to see her like this he never liked seeing her cry and never thought he would be the cause of it. He continued to keep his arms around her as she tried to pull herself together, making them both forget about Zoey that still sat by the door staring at the both of them. Zoey still sat in shock at what had just happened and tried to pull her thoughts into an organized sentence. Vallok turned his head finally realizing she was in the room noticing a tear begin to form in her eye.

Valerie pushed herself from his reach gently as she still sobbed a little and stared at Vallok. Her gaze still looked at him as she did with such fondness as she did when he slept.

"I need you to get out. I need to be alone."

Vallok shook his head and turned for the door realizing Zoey had left down the hallway to the elevators. Vallok stepped outside and turned to Val one last time to have the door shut in his face. He put his back against the wall and fell to the white clean floor of the presidium apartment. He needed a minute to pull himself together after what had just happened.

The elevator doors dinged snapping Vallok out of his trance as he realized Zoey was on her way down to the lobby. He stood up and ran to the stair well as he rushed down each step towards the lobby. The door busted open on the stairwell in the lobby letting Vallok see Zoey just exiting the elevator. He rushed to her and gently grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away.

"Stop"

She pulled her arm away from him and turned to face him.

"What the hell was that Vallok?"

"I needed to do this."

"I understand that but why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"How would have that went. Hey Zoey I have another woman I'm seeing does that bother you?"

She stared down Vallok and scoffed at his sarcasm. She stopped a minute and let her eyes shift in thought then came back to Vallok as she found the answer.

"You didn't tell me because I wouldn't have slept with you. You fucking bastard!"

"What? No!"

"That is what it is. Isn't it?"

"No!"

"Then what?"

"I didn't want to have to pick between you two." Vallok blurted then sighed taking his hand to his head.

"Your right this was so much better."

Vallok couldn't bare to stare her in the eyes anymore than a few seconds at a time.

Zoeys voice softened as she realized the lack of eye contact.

"You really loved her didn't you."

"Yeah"

Vallok stared at his feet as he mentally went through the times with Val.

"Then go back to her."

"I can't."

"Why not? I'm not going to stop you."

Vallok finally got the courage to look her in the eyes as she spoke expecting to find the judgmental eyes she had on before she had lowered her voice. He was surprised to find them soft and a little teary.

"I can't." He hesitated with the next words "I choose you."

"Still why didn't you tell her sooner or even tell me? Did you see what it did to her?"

Vallok nodded shamefully.

"You don't think I didn't see what it did her? Do you not think I know what she is feeling? Its tearing me apart at the seams to have had to do this!"

She stared at Vallok puzzled by his honesty.

"What?"

"There it is."

"There what is."

"You finally let me in through your armor."

"I have no more armor left. I'm just a broken Turian that hopes to god he made the right decision."

She let the right decision comment go in sight of the new emotions that she access to all the sudden. Vallok was falling apart in front of her, he wasn't sure what to say to him or do. Grabbing his hand she lead him to the skycars and got in with him. She figured she'd take him to her apartment for the time being, she was pissed at him, but she didn't want to leave him alone. Vallok's thought's were scrambled as he tortured himself with memories of Val and wondered if he made the right decision. Zoey led him to her apartment in the presidium. They made their way to her door as she fumbled for her key, putting it into the slot opening the door. Stepping in Vallok looked around at the apartment's luxury furnishings.

"You got this on our salary?" Vallok stood by the door as Zoey walked into the apartment opening the large blinds letting in the evening light.

"No, this came from somewhere else, not important right now. Here take a seat and take some time. I'm going to change and do a few thing's. We can talk when I get back." She pointed at the large couch by the window as she walked up the stairs into her room closing the door behind her.

Walking into the apartment he walked to the couch sitting down taking a deep breathe, leaning back. His thought's still dwelled on Valerie and what had happened. Somewhere he knew it was the right decision for her, but he felt like it was a betrayal and very wrong. He would always love Val, but she wanted something out of him that he couldn't give and she deserved. He could blame his father, but he knew who was to blame out of all of this. The fact that his father humiliated her just to keep her away could have been his reason for blaming him, but he didn't stand up against his father. He never did, he always just found new way's to undermine his authority and defy him. Most of his life was about avoiding his father's rules and up until his promotion it's what it was all about. Now though his decisions were based off of what he wanted to do and what he felt was right. He needed time away from it all and needed to clear his head. Talk of relationships and love, he never really thought could fit into life for him, but yet he went so far for it.

He got up from the couch, walking over to the door looking back around the apartment before leaving it. Walking down the hallway he thought about where he could go. His apartment would only make him think more and his eviction notice all but already came from Valerie. The last place he could think of was still docked in the docking bay.

The Normandy barely hummed when it sat in the docking clamps, the Mass Effect drive was in a kind of dormant mode. Vallok liked the quite of the Normandy and the solitude, only a few crewman were aboard taking care of updates and retrofitting. He was thankful for the silence, giving him time to think about everything. Continuing to tell himself Val would be fine he tried to push it to the back of his mind. Zoey was mad at him, and rightfully she should be, he said nothing to her about it and he allowed a "thing" to come from it. Neither of them could define what they had, but it was enough to convince Vallok to split from Val. It wasn't just that though, he knew he should have stopped with Valerie years ago when she wanted to get serious.

He shook his head sitting up from his bed, getting to his feet stretching letting his plates shift. Looking at the clock it read 700 hours. The Normandy was supposed to take off at 800 hours for Omega. Vallok welcomed the trip, but he figured the trip would be a little awkward with Zoey on board and her being his partner. What did he truly feel for her? Nothing made since anymore about women to him, he honestly thought he'd be better off without them, but he loved Valerie and he felt something for Zoey. A decision that does nothing, but cause drama between them all and he hated it. Opening the door to the hallway of the Engineering Deck he looked around for anyone before walking to the elevator and stepping into it.

The door ringed as it hit the CIC and let him off. As hard as he tried to get things out of his mind, they came back and tortured every minute. What did he do? Did he really just give up the woman that he loved for sure for a human? Looking everywhere he saw something that reminded him of the shit he was putting himself through. The CIC was light dimly with a few lights and a few holo boards still up showing ship statistics. It was amazing how silent it was compared to usual. It usually bustled with crewman talking and the sound of computer's making noises. Walking down to the bridge he reached the cockpit finding the human pilot Joker sitting on his post. Vallok walked silently behind him touching his shoulder making him jump in his seat.

"You on edge for some reason?" Vallok shifted his brow plate, looking a little puzzled.

"No, I'm just not a fan of having someone sneak up on me. That's all." He looked back to his keyboard continuing to type what ever he was doing before.

"Where's Shepard?"

"I don't know! Does it look like I am responsible for him?" Joker's lack of witty comment's and irritable attitude showed something was wrong.

"Let me know if you hear from him then." Vallok turned from the chair and began walking back down the bridge stopping and looking at the air lock. The thought of going back to see Valerie went through his mind, but he stopped himself and kept walking. He didn't need to add fuel to an already blazing fire.

As soon as Vallok hit the end of the bridge way, the airlock opened revealing Shepard and a few of his team. He had taken his time to get back to his ship, it was almost time to leave. Shepard walked down the bridge way nodding at Vallok and walking past him to the Galaxy map. Continuing to walk to the end of the CIC he was stopped by familiar voice.

"What happened?" The tall dark haired woman named Miranda walked up to him looking curiously at him.

"What?"

"What happened with you and Zoey?"

Vallok shifted his weight to one side, tilting his head at her. "We had a disagreement. Why?"

"She looks pissed. I passed her as I was re boarding the ship just a moment ago." Miranda walked past him walking into the elevator and going down.

Vallok sighed trying to figure out what he was going to do. His thought's were stopped as Zoey walked onto the bridge looking around, stopping at Vallok and glaring him in the eye for a moment. Right then Vallok knew it was going to be a long trip.

The Normandy docked at Omega opening it's airlock letting Vallok, Zoey, and Shepard with a few of his team to walk out. The smell of filth filled Vallok's nose making him sigh, realizing where he was. Omega was a whole and he didn't much care to be stuck in it. Shepard had business to attend to and Vallok and Zoey had theirs to attend to. First thing on his list though, was a bar. Omega has one major club and he was heading straight for it. Zoey separated and walked towards the lower living area's leaving him alone to enter After Life. Outside the club was filled with a line of people looking to get in and the constant deep thud of the bass inside made the entire docking area rumble.

Getting to the front of the line Vallok showed his C-Sec I.D. To the bouncer. The bouncer laughed at him and got close to his face getting ready to say something. "Why don't you go f..." Vallok grabbed the batarians throat pinning him to the ground, causing the other bouncers to surround him focusing their aim on him. The bataian laughed as Vallok backed off of him. "You know what I like you. Just the kind of blood we need around here. Go inside, but don't cause any trouble or else."

Vallok scoffed at the batarian walking into the club looking around at all the dancing Asari and patrons. Walking over to the bar he sat down waving over the bartender for a drink.

"What will you have?"

"The strongest thing you got. Keep them coming too." The bartender nodded and poured him a drink.

He grabbed his drink and knocked it back with one shot. The bartender filled the glass again and Vallok knocked the drink back again, all with one shot.

"You certainly have something you don't want to remember." A small turian female walked over to Vallok sitting down next to him.

"Maybe I do." He drank again from the shot glass and slammed on the counter looking up at the bartender. He filled it again and just waited a second and just left the bottle.

"Maybe, I don't care to know why, but I do care to get to know you." The turian shifted in her seat taking a drink and flared her mandibles.

"Is this where I'm supposed to say something like, "What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"" He asked sarcastically, not thinking much of the woman.

"You could, or you could ask me if I want to have a good time and skip the intro bullshit." Vallok couldn't help, but flare his mandible in amusement at her and she did the same.

Extending his hand to her she took it and shook it. "The name is Vallok Arus and you are?"

"I'm Calpurnia." She released his hand and went back to her drink, taking one more sip, before standing up. "You want to dance?"

Vallok looked at the dance floor and then back to Calpurnia. "Sure." He stood up and walked with her to the dance floor.

The music was very sporadic, but Vallok managed to keep up with her movement's. She was grinding against him throwing herself into his movements. He was unsure what to do about it, other to keep up with it. Maybe the alcohol was taking it's hold over him and he didn't know it, but he felt his urges get stronger towards the woman. She was beautiful and was very tempting to him and he had a hard time keeping his hand's to himself, running his hands down her body as they danced.

Calpurnia turned to him and grabbed his hand pulling him away from the crowd of dancing people, flaring her mandibles. "My place isn't to far away, if you want to go?" Vallok asked with a bit subtly.

"Sure." Vallok grabbed her arm gently leading her out of the club, walking down Omega's streets towards the hotel he was supposed to be staying at.