Author's Note: Wow, another five chapters. I'm still amazed at how many followers and review comments. Now I just want to say, if anyone has questions they want to ask me, apart from anything that would lead to spoilers, feel free.
Chapter Ten:
It was a few hours before Merida and Joker left the Normandy. "Joker, do you have a place to stay? During shore leave?"
Joker shook his head. "No, I was actually just wondering where I could find a decent hotel."
"Oh no you don't. You're not staying at a hotel. Anderson has an apartment I stay in whenever I'm on shore leave." Merida smirked. "I'll be staying there. And you will too."
Joker opened his mouth, turning red. "Shepard, is this appropriate?"
"There are at least two guest rooms. We each take one. It's only fair, isn't it?" Merida smiled at him. "Come on, the place is huge."
Joker shrugged. "Ok, if you say so," he laughed.
They went out and got a cab to the area of the Citadel where the apartment lay. It was loud, and full of bright lights – almost reminiscent of Las Vegas on Earth.
Watching Joker, Merida had to wonder, "Have you been to this part of the Citadel before?"
The pilot shook his head. "Nope, never had to, and never had enough money."
"Well, then I'll make sure you get a good look while we're here," Merida smiled, chuckling when she saw Joker's eyes widen as they arrived in the district.
Getting out of the cab, she headed straight up to the apartment, glancing behind her to make sure Joker wouldn't get lost. But being the pilot he is, he was able to maneuver around the crowds as easily as he could maneuver the ship.
The apartment when they arrived was as Merida remembered. Large, with a fireplace and piano in the main area. A full kitchen, conference room, office, billiard room.
"There are two rooms apart from the main bedroom. One upstairs and one down here. Take your pick." She laughed as Joker blinked at her – she had a feeling he was expecting to be placed down stairs so he wouldn't have to deal with the steps.
"Upstairs," he told her easily, smirking after only a moment.
"Good choice. The upstairs hosts a bathroom with a nice hot tub. Sure it's in the main bedroom, but it's free to use." She went and dropped her belongings off in the down stairs bedroom while Joker made his way upstairs. With that done, it then became a question of what to do first?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Over the next week, each of the crew had their fair share of adventures.
Tali had started with joining Adams to look at new parts for the ship's engines. For him it was part of his job, but for Tali, it was a field day. If asked later, Adams would admit having Tali with him made the whole thing feel a lot less like a chore. Tali herself was like a child in a candy store with each store they went in. Once done, she went off to look at the other ships, making notes and comparing them to the Normandy. Being quarian, she did get hassled, but dropping the name Shepard seemed to stave off those who would give her a hard time.
Liara went to see the asari councillor. She wanted to thank the woman for the kind treatment of her mother's body, and to apologize on her mother's behalf. The rest of her time was spent in the archives researching more on the protheans, the reapers, and the geth. She even contacted Tali to ask questions about the geth. This caused the young quarian to feel obligated to pull Liara out of her research and have some fun.
Garrus went to see his father after a week of wondering if he should or not, who, as he predicted, didn't want to have anything to do with him. Even though the turian tried to reason with his elder – explaining what role he was playing in the goal to track down Saren, the traitor – his father, who had many awards and medals for his duty to c-sec, refused to listen. So with a heavy heart Garrus left him and went on to Club Flux. There he met up with Wrex, who had come from Chora's Den.
The krogan had gone to the club, which had come under new management since he had killed Fist. Things were ok at first; he had a few drinks, grunted at the dancers as they tried to gain his attention. It was when an old friend from his early mercenary days turned up, another krogan named Turac, that things went downhill. They started to reminisce, but then the topic came up about a job they had done together. Turac had gone to the Shadow Broker for information on the job, information that helped them succeed. After, the broker wanted a favor in return. Wrex had disagreed with the whole thing, so he refused to help.
That's what led to the argument between the two in Chora's; Turac was still working for the broker to pay off his debt, and the debt he kept building. The argument became physical, and they started throwing punches. It was Turac who pulled out his gun first, and for the second time the bar became a war zone. But as soon as C-sec showed up, Wrex was out of there and headed to Flux.
Seeing Garrus he laughed, sat next to the turian at the bar, and ordered a drink. The two started to talk about why they were each there. When Wrex heard about Garrus' father, he shook his head and commented on how the ex-C-sec officer was being stupid. It was around this time that Tali and Liara showed up – well more like Tali was dragging the blue alien. Seeing them, Garrus suggested they grab a table and waved the women over.
Kaidan had spent the week, first contacting his parents to see how they were doing, before doing little things here and there. He even got together with Joker and Garrus a couple of times to hang out. So when Garrus told him that he and Wrex were drinking with Liara and Tali, he came up with the idea of getting everyone there.
That's when Joker got his call. The pilot had decided to go to the arcade that was right by the apartment. When he wasn't spending time with Merida, or any of the others, he had found this place addictive. Especially the crane game, he had managed to get almost every high end prize. Volus dolls for the most part. Dolls he ended up giving to any kid who wanted one, although he kept one. He had just finished getting his fiftieth doll when Kaidan called. Loving the idea, Joker called Merida and Ashley, knowing the two would be shopping.
Ashley had been far from the clubs for the better part of the week; she had gone and contacted her sisters. It had been a while since she had talked to them, so it felt good to sit down and do just that. They had a lot to tell her: her one sister was getting married, and her youngest had a major crush. It was there, after three days, that Merida found her. Ashley hung up and was surprised to see her. Merida on her part, was not presenting herself as the commander.
Merida had, while she wasn't showing Joker around, looked into the treatment towards Ashley's family, and while she couldn't do anything, she realised, like Kaidan, she had to give the woman a chance as well. So here she was, offering to take Ashley to lunch. Ashley agreed and the women went to a small restaurant. There they started talking about this and that, until the conversation turned to aliens and the crew. That's when Ashley admitted that perhaps she was wrong, that not all aliens were bad. Merida sighed. It wasn't common knowledge what happened when she was sixteen. She told Ashley about how it was the batarians, and she didn't let it make her hate other races. She still didn't mention her father, no one knew he lived.
They had lunch a few more times, getting to know each other more. Merida could now say she was almost as close to Ashley as she was to the rest of her crew. Although, if she had to be honest with herself, she was closest with Joker. The times she spent with her pilot were more fun and entertaining. They watched TV, finding they had a lot of similar programs they enjoyed. They even played pool once, Joker using one of his crutches as a pool cue just to get Merida laughing.
When she got Joker's call while she was out with Ashley again, she had to admit, getting together with everyone was a great idea.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Merida smiled at the group as she entered Flux. She and Ashley had gotten there late, after dropping off their few purchases at the apartment first. "Hey guys," she greeted as Ashley sat on the other side of the table while she sat with Joker. She noted he wasn't self-conscious about his crutches, well not as much as he had been the first time he was invited to get together with Kaidan and Garrus. The two hadn't realised before then, and as of yet, they acted like his crutches didn't exist.
"Shepard," Garrus greeted, nodding to her as she sat beside Joker. "How has your week been? Joker's been telling me and Kaidan about the apartment you're staying in. You should invite us over sometime."
"Oh? What kind of apartment?" Tali asked, her voice almost giggling. Why, Merida didn't know. "How big is it? What does it have?"
"Oh, it's huge!" Ashley jumped in. "You won't believe how nice it is."
Wrex chuckled. "You've been holding out on us Shepard."
Kaidan sipped his beer. "I think you're lucky Anderson lets you stay there when you're on leave."
That got a gasp from a now drunk Liara. "Anderson's apartment?!" she said a little too loud. "Oh Shepard, naughty you." She wagged her finger.
Merida sighed. "Fine, fine. Next shore leave, we'll have one big party at the apartment. I promise."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Joker chuckled as everyone cheered, a few more loudly then the others. He watched her as she laughed and talked with the others at the table. Shepard sat to his left and Garrus to his right.
"You really, really like her," Garrus observed as Shepard was dragged from the table to the dance floor by Liara and Tali, Ashley following.
"What are you talking about?" Joker asked him, his eyes not leaving the commander as she started to dance.
"Well, for one thing, you talk about her nonstop whenever we're together."
Wrex laughed. "And you're not laughing at her dancing."
Joker chuckled; ok sure, Shepard's dancing wasn't the best. She looked awkward, but he knew it didn't matter. "You don't see it do you?" he told the group, letting his eyes leave the dance floor. "She's feeling the music, moving to it. She doesn't care about how she looks."
Kaidan laughed this time. "Yep, you really like her."
"I'm just observant," Joker defended.
The males at the table just rolled their eyes and went silent. After a while the four women returned to the table. It was Ashley who spoke up. "So, what are you men talking about?"
Joker looked to the others before answering. "Talking about how lucky we are to have four beautiful women as our dates," he smirked, causing Ashley, Liara, maybe Tali, and Shepard to all blush. Shepard, he was sure, was the reddest.
Merida cleared her throat. "Maybe we should call it an early night." She looked to Liara, who was clearly the drunkest in the group, followed by Tali. "After all, who knows what tomorrow will bring."
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
What the next day brought was a message from Anderson in the early hours of the morning. They had a lead on Saren: a salarian STG squad had been sent to investigate a lab. They'd sent a message, but it was unclear, so Merida and her crew had to go and find out what the salarians had found.
Sighing, she woke Joker, Liara and Tali. She'd had the two women stay over considering how drunk they were. After all three were up, she contacted the rest of her crew. It was time to go; the shore leave was truly over.
Once they were finally all back on the ship, she joined Joker in the cockpit. "Hey, how are you doing? After last night? I didn't get a chance to ask earlier."
He shrugged. "Alright, didn't drink as much so I'm good. But I'm guessing that's not why you're really here. It has to do with why you got us going so early."
Merida sighed. "Yeah. We have a possible lead on Saren." She gave the location to Joker who, like her, had never heard of it before. Virmire.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
An Official Note: I just wanted to warn people, there may be a chance I won't be posting a chapter up next week. I will be on holiday from Sunday to Wednesday. So if you if you don't see a new chapter next week don't worry. I'll be continuing the week after.