Hey everyone! This one is definitely shorter than most of mine, but the flow simply felt right for it. The holidays should not affect my posts this time around, but just in case they do, I hope you enjoy yours! Now, on to the chapter!

Chakwas was busy inspecting Garrus' face when Tali walked into the medbay. Jacob was lying in a nearby cot, a large bandage wrapped around his abdomen. He gave Tali a small wave as she entered.

"You came all the way up here from Engineering just to see me? I'm touched."

"Oh…yeah. How are you?"

Jacob laughed as Tali awkwardly sidled over to him. "I'm kidding. I know how you feel about Cerberus, and frankly, I'm not entirely sure you're wrong. Plus, we've known each other for less than a week. Go check on your friend."

Tali decided that maybe Jacob was alright. "Still, you took a pretty bad hit. Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, that gunship tore up my insides pretty good, but it was nothing the Doc couldn't fix. Just need some bedrest."

She nodded, patting his foot once in an attempt at sympathy before turning her attention to Garrus. Chakwas smiled at her as she approached the bed. "Hello, Tali."

"How's he doing?" The right side of Garrus' face was one giant bundle of bandages and wrappings. Chakwas pulled her table away, taking off the surgical gloves.

"He'll be fine, though there will be some scarring. He probably won't wake for another day or two." Her smile fell off as her eyes zeroed in on Tali's leg. "Sit."

"No, I'm fine. It's already been taken care of-"

"Sit," Chakwas repeated, pointing at a stool and cutting of Tali's protests in a tone that brooked no argument. She begrudgingly obeyed, extending her leg so Chakwas could examine it.

"Honestly, you're getting to be as bad as Shepard." She prodded the wound, eliciting a small gasp from Tali. "I do not care how small of an injury you sustain, you should let me take a look at it. Especially you."

"Yes ma'am," Tali said meekly.

Chakwas put a small container around Tali's calf, creating a seal and allowing her to work on Tali's wound safely. "You don't have to worry about making me too busy or toughing it out so I can deal with the more serious cases. This is my job, and I like to think I am rather good at it, but I cannot do it if you do not let me." Tali could hear the worry behind Chakwas' lecture and didn't take her fussing to heart.

"Aha." Chakwas dropped something into the sliding box and pulled it out, showing Tali the tiny scrap of metal. "If that had been left in there, you would have been sick for weeks."

That wasn't actually true, as Tali's own cleaning process had eliminated any possibility of an allergic reaction to any remaining foreign contaminant, but she didn't feel the need to share this information with the doctor. Chakwas raised an eyebrow as she started finishing up. "So, it takes a gunshot to get you to come visit me here?"

"No! I…we saw each other around and talked some. I didn't even think to." She hung her head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be silly. I know you have more important matters to attend to than an old woman's feelings." Chakwas leaned in close to Tali, almost brushing her nose against Tali's mask, and stared at her without speaking.

"Um." Tali cleared her throat. "Yes?"

"Your new visor looks a sight better than your old one the last time I saw it." She knocked on the glass once with her knuckle, making Tali jump with the surprisingly loud thunk it made. Chakwas nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. Now, I'll stop bothering you and let you get on with your business." She glanced at Garrus. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thanks, doctor." Tali got back to her feet. "I am glad you're here; I don't think I could trust someone from Cerberus to take the same care you do."

"I suspect that's why they brought me on." With a last smile, Chakwas glided over to Jacob and pulled out a rather wicked looking needle. Jacob pleaded silently for Tali to do something, but she simply smirked and left without looking back.

When she stepped onto the Engineering deck, she saw a box floating outside of the viewing platform to the cargo hold. She stared at it for a few seconds before it dropped out of sight. Within the cargo hold itself, Miranda was gesturing at the crate while Shepard drank from a bottle of water, drenched in sweat.

Curious, she hopped back into the elevator and came out on the fifth floor. The new crewmember was leaning against the wall next to the door when Tali arrived. He jerked his head in their direction. "You gotta watch this. It's fuckin' hilarious." His words emerged like gravel from a grinder, and Tali's translator had difficulty deciphering the mess. His accent was faintly reminiscent of Miranda's actually.

"I'm Tali. Zaeed, right?"

He grunted in reply. From this angle, she could barely distinguish the edge of his terrible scar. That looks like a story and a half. "I thought Shepard was supposed to be a goddamn legend. He's bloody awful."

Tali's back stiffened. "What do you mean? Shepard is the best soldier in the galaxy."

Zaeed gave her a sidelong glance. "Easy there. No need to get your panties in a twist. Sounds like someone's already doing that for you, though."

Tali blushed furiously and had no response, flustered into speechlessness by his lewd yet surprisingly insightful comment. He cackled through his leer, shaking his head. "Anyways, just watch and tell me I'm wrong."

She did so, deciding that silently viewing Shepard's training session was preferable to continuing a conversation with this man. Miranda sighed with impatience as Shepard wiggled his fingers fruitlessly at the box in front of him. "Stop doing that," she barked. "The motions you make are simply a by-product of harnessing your biotics. There is no secret movement to create a wave of force or to make something float. Your mind is where the connection occurs." She moved beside him and grabbed his arms, forcing them back down to his sides. "Now, close your eyes."

"How is that going to help?" Shepard snapped.

"Just do it." He did, though not without one more reproachful glare at Miranda. She stepped even closer to him, her body brushing against his as she spoke. "Breathe," she commanded, placing a hand on his chest and making him take deep breaths. "Reach out with your mind and feel the box. Imagine it perfectly in your head, what it looks like, what it's made out of. Once it appears solid enough to touch, just…push it." As she said that, she gently brought his arm back up, aligning it with the crate in a loose, relaxed line. Shepard exhaled slowly, then took a small step forward, the muscles in his arm suddenly tensing. A small cloud of energy burst out of his hand, flying over to the box and nudging it with enough force to scoot it back a few inches. Shepard's eyes flew open, and he smiled triumphantly.

"Hey! That worked!"

"Of course it did," Miranda said smugly.

Tali realized that she was grinding her teeth and clenching her fists when one of her fingers spasmed in protest. She didn't need to be that close to him. All of that touching was completely unnecessary. Shepard noticed her standing there and waved at her excitedly, which she returned halfheartedly. She crossed her arms as he turned and started chattering to Miranda about biotics and such, trying and failing to avoid sulking.

"I know that look," Zaeed said.

"What look? You can't see anything behind this mask," she retorted irritably.

"Don't need to. I'd be goddamn blind if I couldn't see it, helmet or not." Zaeed turned his eye to Miranda. "Don't worry, kid. I'm jealous too. Wish I had that woman rubbing on me that way."

"I'm not jealous," she muttered, bristling with jealousy.

"Whatever you say." Zaeed walked forward to the pair in the middle of the hold. "Hey, Miranda, right? I think I might have some biotic shit too. Want to teach me?"

"You're being paid for your mercenary skills, not your tongue. Be careful not to lose it." Miranda's eyes would have bored through steel, but Zaeed was undeterred.

"If that's the price, I might just be willing to pay it."

Shepard chuckled as he passed by Tali, heading to the elevator. "I think we might be about to lose our first recruit."

Tali followed in behind him, pointedly keeping a couple of feet between them inside the elevator. As the doors were shutting, they saw Miranda slap Zaeed hard enough to bring him to his knees. Shepard laughed as they slowly ascended. "I hope they'll be able to work together; with Jacob and Garrus in the medbay, we'll have to use them when we go retrieve Dr. Solus."

"Mhm."

Shepard sized up where she was standing, and he raised an amused eyebrow. "So…what did I do?"

"I don't know what you mean." Tali was absorbed in the elevator control panel, taking no heed of Shepard.

"Damn, it was that bad?" He came over to her and touched her shoulder, radiating sincerity. "I know me and Garrus are tight, but you know you're the only one for me."

She snorted despite herself, knocking him and his stupid grin away. I know I'm probably being silly, but… She looked at his feet. "And what about Miranda?"

"Miranda?" Shepard looked genuinely surprised. "The cold-as-ice terrorist officer who is undoubtedly tasked with making sure I don't escape Cerberus' control? That's the one you're talking about, right?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" Tali shrugged uncomfortably. "She's also a very pretty human, isn't she?"

"I wouldn't know." He smiled at her. "You've ruined me for anyone else. No one is as beautiful as you are."

"Keelah, you're so impossibly corny," she said, though she still flushed at his words.

"I definitely am. But you like it."

"Maybe so." She took his hand and leaned against his arm. "Maybe so."

"Oof!" Tali reflexively grabbed the person who ran into her and pulled back her fist, but stopped her punch when she saw it was just some young girl. The girl squeaked and covered her face, and Tali let go of her and awkwardly lowered her arm.

"Nef!" A haggard looking woman sternly put her hands on her hips. "Watch where you're going! Now apologize!"

Nef bowed her head, meekly avoiding everyone's gaze. "Please forgive me. I didn't see you there."

"Oh, it's no problem." Tali surreptitiously patted her pockets to make sure she hadn't been robbed, but everything seemed to be in place. She bent down and helped Nef pick up the various pieces of paper that were scattered on the floor.

"If she would ever look up from her feet, maybe she could see well enough to avoid crashing into people!" The woman sighed in exasperation, turning to Shepard's group for the first time. Her eyes flitted across their weapons, and she immediately became nervous. "I hope we have not offended you by any means. If there is anything we could do for you…?"

"No, no." Tali quickly gave Nef back her papers. "We're fine. Have a nice day."

Clearly relieved, the woman grabbed Nef by the ear and dragged her back inside the small apartment. "Thank you for your kindness." The door slammed shut, and Tali could hear the woman's muffled shouts from the alley.

"You were about to lay that girl out," Shepard said with a smirk. "Such a bully. She looked terrified, the poor thing."

"Shut up," Tali growled. He did so, leading them through the maze of streets to the quarantined section of Omega. The only thing of note that occurred on the way there was a particularly wild-eyed batarian pointing at Shepard and calling him a blight.

"That's me. Blight-bringer, spawn of darkness. A veritable archdemon, if you will." The batarian appeared as if he was going to keel over in excitement, jabbing his finger in their direction and babbling about the end of days.

"You didn't need to encourage him like that." Zaeed sneered at the prophet as they moved on. "Why is everyone so fuckin' crazy here?"

They finally came across a section of street that was cordoned off, a guard posted outside the barricade. He had a bored expression as they walked up to him, catching the end of his sentence as he addressed an angry-looking woman standing in front of him and tapping her foot. "…cannot let anyone past this point. There's a plague."

"I'm human, you idiot! I can't get the plague. I just need to get in there and retrieve my belongings before the looters take everything I have!"

"I'm under strict orders to not let anyone through this checkpoint. If you have a problem with that, take it up with Aria." He turned to them and became warier, straightening his shoulders. "This area is off limits."

"Dr. Mordin Solus is in this sector, correct?" Shepard asked. Miranda made a small movement, to which Shepard shook his head. Tali noticed the small slashing motion she had made as well. There's no reason to kill this man if we can avoid it. I knew I didn't like her for the right reasons. Well, mostly the right reasons.

"Yeah. Crazy bastard set up a clinic in there to try and stop the disease."

Shepard nodded. "Alright then. I need to get in there, and you need to let me in."

The turian was nonplussed. "How so?"

"The way I see it, you'd rather be doing something else besides guarding this little checkpoint. Nothing to do, turning away angry citizens all the time. You let us in, and we'll sort out this problem ourselves. Once the area is clear of the plague, you can let us back out again."

The guard glanced at the other members of Shepard's squad and shrugged. "Why the hell not? My main job is to keep people from leaving anyways. Just so you know, I won't let you back through unless I get the all clear."

"Fair enough."

The woman gaped as the four of them walked through the checkpoint. "You're just letting them through?! I've been waiting here for hours!"

"Yeah, but you don't have a grenade launcher, lady."

Shepard paused before they fully entered the quarantined zone. "You won't get the plague, right Tali? The suit will isolate you from it?"

Tali nodded. "Unless someone has specifically designed it to attack quarian environmental units, I'll be fine." Shepard hesitated some more, and Tali pulled him forward with her. "Come on. Don't worry so much; we're not as fragile as everyone makes us out to be."

The checkpoint closed behind them with a sense of finality, and Shepard gritted his teeth. "Alright. All the same, let's find this doctor as quickly as possible and get the hell out of here."