The Citadel coming into view after three long days aboard the Normandy was a welcome relief. Shepard had been poring over Prothean documents Liara had shared with her for most of the duration of their trip from Therum. She wasn't sleeping well, and hadn't really had a decent night's sleep since before Eden Prime.

During the night-shift, while most of the crew was asleep in the bunk room, she would often pace around the quarters, unable to sleep. Garrus had caught her on the last night before they reached the Citadel. He'd come up to get a glass of water and found her pacing and they had sat for a while at the table talking. His concern for her well-being had surprised her when she first realized it during their conversation on the observation deck, but at the same time it had also comforted her. He didn't give her big eyes like Kaidan, filled with a pitying concern and tip-toeing around her failure to keep track of her own health and stamina. Instead, he was quite firm with her, spoken like a true turian, and fussing over her stubbornness like a mother hen. She appreciated the concern, though she would never voice it out loud.

When the Normandy docked, nearly the entire crew disembarked. Shepard had given a speech over the intercom before their arrival that it might be a long time before they returned, so she wanted everyone to enjoy themselves for a few days. She didn't add perhaps the most relevant part, that they should enjoy it while they still could.

Some of the crew had homes and family on the Citadel that they would be staying with, while most, Shepard included, would probably return to the Normandy at night with nowhere else to go. Before she left to meet with an Alliance requisition officer about shield upgrades for the ship, she arranged a plan to meet her squad at Purgatory that evening. She even convinced Liara to go, with some prodding. She was looking forward to getting to know them better. They would be spending a lot of time in close quarters in the coming weeks.

As the crew exited the ship, the squad headed in different directions. Tali left with Engineer Adams to discuss drive core upgrades; Ash, to Shepard's surprise and delight, left with Garrus to go shopping for sniper rifles on the Presidium; Wrex and Kaidan left to get a bite to eat, Wrex probing Kaidan for more information on his biotics as they walked; only Liara remained behind, unsure of what to do or where she wanted to go.

"I haven't been to the Citadel in a long time," she told Shepard as they walked together toward the elevator. "I don't know how much might have changed and I haven't been in contact with my former classmates who live here."

"You can come with me if you want," Shepard offered. "I'm afraid it won't be that interesting, I have to meet with a requisitions officer about dextro food and shield upgrades. Tomorrow we'll hit up the museum, which should be more stimulating."

"Thank you for the offer," Liara smiled politely. "But I think I might just explore a bit and see what I've been missing for the last few decades. I'll catch up with you at the bar," she still sounded skeptical about the prospect.

They parted ways on the Presidium and Shepard went to run her errands. The Alliance requisitions officer would be at the human embassy, a short walk from where she was. While she was there, she could catch up with captain Anderson and Udina and see if they had any new information about Saren, though she was sure they would have contacted her on vid com if they had.

The embassies were packed when she arrived. The main reception area of the embassy offices was usually hectic on any given day, but it seemed worse than usual as she made her way through the crowd. Lines of disgruntled citizens were queuing at the reception desk, tapping their feet impatiently and complaining loudly to their neighbors. The poor turian receptionist looked overwhelmed as a human civilian screamed at her about an issue with the clearance forms for a cat he was trying to have shipped in. Cats, as with many other earth-native species, were contraband on the Citadel. It wasn't the turian receptionist's fault that this was the case, but the human didn't care.

Shepard sighed as she passed the desk. Didn't he realize there were more important things happening in the galaxy? A pet cat meant nothing if Saren succeeded in his task. She decided ignorance truly was bliss.

Down the hall and to the right she found the human embassy, which mostly served as Udina's over-dressed and over-sized office. She entered and was pleased to find Udina was not in at the moment. A few clerks were working at the desks to the left and Anderson was outside on the balcony overlooking the Presidium.

The discussion with the requisition officer seated amongst the clerks didn't take too long. He was dubious about her requests for large amounts of high-quality dextro food on an Alliance vessel, but after she flashed her Spectre status at him, he dropped any concern and filled her requests right away.

Relieved that the task hadn't taken too long, she stepped outside to join captain Anderson on the balcony. He smiled when he saw her approaching.

"Shepard, I wasn't expecting to see you back here so soon."

Shepard gave him a quick hug and leaned against the balcony's railing. "Well, I figured we should stop in and prepare ourselves for the long journey out to Noveria and Feros. We found Liara T'Soni on Therum. I updated the council, so I'm sure Udina weaseled the information out of them."

"He had mentioned you'd picked up Dr. T'Soni…and destroyed a set of Prothean ruins," Anderson said. "The Council seemed unhappy about that."

"The Council can shove it," Shepard burst. "We did what we had to. We got Liara out of there and we took out the geth that had infiltrated the Alliance base. They reprimanded me about it when I talked to them, but I don't know what they expected. I'm not going around willfully destroying precious ruins, but I also can't hesitate if a decision needs to be made."

"I understand, Shepard. You did the right thing. Dr. T'Soni will be an invaluable asset to the task at hand. How are you enjoying your new Spectre status?"

She shrugged. "Honestly, it doesn't feel much different. I'm just allowed to break more rules, I guess. And I've got a bunch of aliens on board the Normandy. But they've been a huge help. Above and beyond what I expected, really. Wrex is a machine on the battle field, Tali and the engineers are getting along great, Garrus has been calibrating everything he can get his talons on…and you should see him shoot, captain. It's like art. Having them join the team was probably the best decision I've made so far."

"I'm glad you followed your gut," Anderson said, watching her hand gestures as she spoke. "It seems like you've taken a real liking to the aliens as well. It's good to see cooperation amongst so many different species. Turians and humans working side by side in particular is…a long time in the making. Appropriate that is should be on the Normandy."

"There's so many prejudices we seem to have." Shepard stared out at the cars hovering by above them and the water down below, sparkling under the false sunlight. Everything on the Presidium seemed so peaceful, so untouched by danger. It was a welcome reprieve after nearly dying on Therum.

She turned to face the captain, "Can I speak frankly?" she asked.

"You can always speak frankly with me, Shepard," he smiled warmly.

"Garrus told me he thinks Lieutenant Alenko is interested in me…romantically."

"Garrus is the turian?"

"Yeah. Yes," she proceeded unsurely. "We had a talk about the differences between Alliance military and turian military…in terms of…fraternization and things like that."

"The rules are fairly strict, Shepard…" Anderson began. "But you are a Spectre now too. Not to say you should eschew all the values of the Alliance. You have to balance being both things. Are you asking for my advice on what to do? Do you want to, er, pursue this matter?"

Shepard shook her head. "No, I don't think so. But I'm a little worried about it I guess. Maybe I'm too casual with my crew. I don't want him to think I've led him on by being friendly, but we've known each other since well before I was his commanding officer. I don't know, I don't even know if Garrus was serious or…"

"I doubt you've done anything to warrant upsetting lieutenant Alenko," Anderson interrupted. "I wouldn't dwell on it too much, Shepard. Liaisons happen sometimes, despite the rules. And if you don't want it to happen, then it won't. Just focus on the task at hand and try not to let it distract you."

Shepard didn't respond right away. She turned her gaze back to the sprawling scenery before her. Her entire discussion with Garrus on the observation deck had made her acutely aware of how long it had been since she'd been with anybody. Maybe her concern and confusion simply came from a need to 'blow off steam' as the turian had put it. It might not be a terrible idea to try and meet someone at the bar that night. In Kaidan's presence, it might also help quell any ideas he had about the two of them or her interest in him. She disliked the thought though. She would rather be up front with him about it than passive aggressive. Knowing herself, she would get drunk and force him to discuss it and make everything all the more uncomfortable the next morning.

"What are you thinking, Shepard?" Anderson ended the silence.

"Just…a lot of things. Thanks for the talk, captain. I'll stop by and see you before we leave."

"Take care of yourself, Shepard."

"This better not be sharing and caring hour, Shepard," Wrex grumbled as he, Garrus, Tali, Liara, and the three humans sat around a table in the lower portion of the bar called Purgatory.

The music pumping through the speakers was loud and emotionless, as club music often was. The enormous glass walls across the bar allowed a view of the Presidium, artificially darkened to nighttime now. Garrus was on his second drink and becoming very aware of how long it had been since he'd had a drink; his tolerance for alcohol had lowered considerably.

"No," Shepard said, throwing back a shot without wincing. "This is going to be get drunk and get to know each other hour."

Wrex had just come back from the bar with what could only be described as a bucket of alcohol, which he was now guzzling contentedly. He belched loudly as he set the bucket down, wiped his mouth, and said, "We'll see."

Tali had to put her drinks through a filter attached to her mask, which didn't seem very fun in Garrus' opinion, but she was probably fairly used to it.

"I don't drink much," she admitted. "It probably won't take much to get me drunk. I'll have to be careful. Vomiting in your suit is one of the most disgusting things that can happen…but usually our toxicity filters kick in before that..."

"How much does it take to get a krogan drunk?" Kaidan asked, nearly yelling over the din of music and club-goers.

"Enough to kill ten humans," Wrex replied.

"Well get drinking then," Shepard grinned.

She had been the last to arrive, and was trying to catch up with the rest of them by downing the two shots Kaidan had purchased for her at the bar. Garrus was interested to see how the night proceeded. Shepard didn't seem interested in the lieutenant in the same way he was interested in her, but alcohol could make people do stupid things. Garrus knew from experience.

"All right, if we're going to 'get to know each other' then let's break the ice with the most uncomfortable topic," Wrex said, slapping the table with his hand. "Let's talk about sex."

"Is that all you think about?" Ash demanded. The gunnery chief seemed to have the alcohol tolerance of a krogan for the amount of drinks she had already put away since their arrival. For such a small creature, she was certainly loud and hardy.

"I'm a male, aren't I? Doesn't matter what species, all males are hardwired to think about it," Wrex shrugged.

"That seems highly unscientific," Liara said, somewhat timidly. Her face was flushed purple. Garrus watched her broach the subject with interest. She seemed embarrassed.

"Yeah, women think about it too," Shepard shrugged.

"You act like a male," Wrex told her. Garrus supposed it was intended to be a compliment, but Shepard looked as though she might punch him.

Before she could respond, one of the waitresses approached the table. She was an asari, her breasts barely contained within the skin-tight bodice-like suit that she wore. Wrex, and even Kaidan, couldn't help themselves from staring at her. Garrus was most surprised to see Liara's gaze also drawn to them, though it made sense that an asari would be attracted to other asari. Like Shepard, he couldn't place Liara in that context without feeling uncomfortable.

He didn't understand the appeal of breasts as sexual objects, however. Turian women didn't have breasts, and while he knew turians who found them attractive, particularly on asari, he had never developed that particular fetish. They were meant to feed offspring with, so the entire concept seemed odd to him. Hips and waists were far more intriguing.

Shepard ordered several drinks from the waitress, then nearly broke Wrex's wrist to keep him from slapping the poor girl on the bottom. Wrex pulled his hand back and smacked the table again.

"What was that about you sleeping with an asari?" he asked Shepard. "We never finished that conversation."

"There's no conversation to have," Shepard shrugged. "I was on the Citadel for shore leave once, we met at a bar, I went back to her place, then I got back on my ship and left."

"Love 'em and leave 'em. Who knew Shepard was so heartless?" Tali giggled. She was already tipsy.

"Shepard will need to drink more before she'll go into any vivid detail about the matter," Kaidan laughed.

The entire club positively reeked of pheromones, but even still, Garrus could smell them coming off of the lieutenant as he watched Shepard from across the table. He was too busy observing the clearly lovesick lieutenant to see Shepard's hand come up and smack him on the back from her spot next to him.

"Drink more!" she urged.

He downed a drink in time for the waitress to bring the next round.

It had been a long time since Garrus had gone out with, for all intents and purposes, coworkers, for a drink. He found it was nice to relax a bit and get to know the others. At first, he thought he might watch how much he drank, but as the night proceeded, he lost track quickly. Shepard ordered round after round, while Wrex continued guzzling entire buckets of alcohol.

"So I said…I said, look buddy, that is the ugliest penis I've ever seen." More than seven drinks into the night, Shepard, true to Kaidan's promise, was regaling them with stories of past conquests and suitors. "Turns out he'd had some sort of implant…trying to make it the size of a krogan's…" she shuddered. "Didn't go near that."

"You got a problem with krogan equipment?" Wrex bellowed. A group of turians one table over turned to stare at them.

"Well, it's so…wide." Shepard said.

Wrex snickered and slurped down more of his drink.

"Did I tell you, or did I tell you?" Kaidan asked, leaning heavily on his arm. "Shepard gets drunk, she cannot shut up about this stuff. I haven't…hic…I haven't been drunk with Shep in ages…"

Garrus found the entire thing highly amusing, partly because he himself was fairly drunk at that point. The table they were seated at had a booth wrapped around half of it, with chairs on the other side. Tali had, several drinks earlier, draped herself against the corner of the booth and was now sleeping soundly, little flanging snores issuing from her mask. Ash and Liara had left a few minutes earlier to dance, and now all that remained was Wrex, Kaidan, Shepard, and Garrus. Shepard was seated next to Garrus, and she leaned on him occasionally, her balance perturbed by the amount of alcohol she'd consumed.

Wrex watched them with an interested look on his face. Garrus couldn't tell if the krogan was drunk or not. He seemed a little louder than usual, but otherwise wasn't swaying or slurring his words. He had no clue how many buckets of alcohol Wrex had consumed.

"All right, Shepard," Wrex smirked. "You've told us about an asari, three humans, and a highly questionable encounter with a drell. What about turians?" He looked Garrus right in the eyes as he said it.

"What about turians?" Shepard belched unattractively. Kaidan snorted and shook his head, devolving into a fit of laughter.

"I've heard they've got the longest…" Wrex started.

"You ever been with a turian?" Shepard asked, sipping at a drink Liara had left behind. She had been stealing drinks from everyone as the night progressed. Realizing the drink was empty, she reached for the drink in Garrus' hand. He held it away from her.

"Dextro alcohol, Shepard."

She stretched her arm out pathetically, gave up, and slumped her head against Garrus' shoulder. He was too inebriated to process that the weight of her head on his shoulder sent a little tingle down his spine.

"I've never been with a turian," Wrex spat, disgusted by the notion. "Or a salarian. They destroyed my people. I'd rather put my dick in a thresher maw."

"Lovely image," Garrus said.

"I've never been with a turian," Shepard muttered from her spot against Garrus' shoulder. "I heard you can swell up like a balloon if you…swap fluids."

"That's a myth," Kaidan said. Shepard sat up and they all turned to look at the lieutenant. A red hue was creeping up his neck to his face. "I uh…don't know from experience. It's just…I heard that if you can kiss a dextro without an allergic reaction, then other…fluids would also be fine."

"You 'heard' that huh?" Wrex folded his arms across his chest.

"We should go dance with Ash and Liara," Kaidan changed the subject.

"Someone needs't' stay with Tali," Shepard said.

"I can stay with her," Garrus offered.

"No, you should go dance, Vakarian," Wrex said, a grin plastered on his big stupid krogan face. "I'll keep an eye on the quarian."

Shepard stood up and grabbed Garrus' hand, tugging gently to urge him up. Garrus wasn't so sure he could stand without toppling over, but he tried anyway. Shepard pointed a stern finger at Wrex.

"No funny business," She hiccupped. "Tha's an order from your commanding officer."

"What did I tell you about ordering me around?" Wrex replied, though he was still smiling. "Go on, I'm not interested in quarians and their funny little suits anyway."

Kaidan was hovering, waiting for them to join him, though Garrus got the feeling the human was a little irked that he was coming along.

"Go on, Kaidan," Shepard waved him along. "We'll catch up with you."

Any suspicions Garrus had were confirmed by the look Kaidan gave him. Before that evening, he couldn't have imagined a look of such loathing coming from the good-natured lieutenant. If he hadn't been so drunk, he might have felt guilty. Instead he just gave the turian equivalent of a smile and waved goodbye to him. The lieutenant marched off toward the dancefloor unhappily.

Shepard turned to Garrus, wobbling on the spot. He reached out a hand to steady her.

"Garrus," she said, putting on her best attempt at a serious face despite the way her mouth was not entirely cooperating with her voice to get out all the words. "I see what you mean now…Kaidan's been…like all night. Right?"

"You're missing a word," Garrus said.

"He's been…flirting," She whispered the word like it was a vile curse.

"Well, yes," the turian nodded. Flirting and romance were mostly the same across species, funnily enough. It was easy to spot, pheromones or not. The poor lieutenant had been buying drinks and laughing at Shepard's jokes all night. Like a lovesick schoolboy. Garrus almost felt bad for him, but any pity wasn't registering in his muddled mind.

"I was afraid of that. Look, don't let him dance with me," Shepard demanded.

"What?"

She frowned, "I'm too drunk to talk about it with him, but I don't want to dance with him and give the wrong idea. You gotta help me out, Garrus."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Jus' keep him from getting to me."

"Shepard, you're the strongest, most intimidating human I've ever met. If you don't want him to dance with you just push him off."

Shepard groaned. "You don't get it Garrus, it's a whole social thing…"

"If I was dancing with a turian woman who wasn't interested in me, she would scratch my face and tell me to fuck off." Garrus crossed his arms. Humans were so unreasonably passive aggressive about some things.

"Well I'm not a turian!"

"Obviously," He snorted. She swung to punch his shoulder, but missed by a mile and stumbled forward. He caught her before she could fall. "You're too drunk to dance anyway," he told her.

She leaned heavily against his arms. "What'd'you know?"

He wondered what the rest of her crew, those who weren't quite as chummy with her as the lieutenant, would think if they could see her like this. She was putting all of her weight on him then, and it caused him to stumble backward into the booth, which they had not strayed far from. He sprawled out on his back, bumping his head on Tali's boots, though the quarian didn't stir. Shepard was splayed across his chest, her eyes closed, drool trickling from her mouth.

"Get a room," Wrex laughed.

Garrus sighed. He wanted to shove Shepard off of him, but now that he was lying down, the room was noticeably spinning. He closed his eyes to make it stop. The noise of the club gradually faded as he blacked out, leaning against a quarian with a human soldier on top of him.

At least he could say he was experiencing new things as a crew member on the Normandy.

A/N: A little bit of a shorter chapter but it was fun to write. Hope it was also fun to read. More soon! Thanks as always for favorites/reviews/etc