A/N: I'm having a sucky day so here's an update! XD (That's how this works, right?)

The Tempest wasn't an especially large ship and yet somehow Sara had managed to successfully avoid Suvi for several days. That stung. Sara had kissed her, right after saying some of the sweetest things to her. If anyone had cause to hide surely it was Suvi? She hadn't initiated anything, after all. Not that the thought of hiding had occurred to her anyway. The feelings Sara had…clumsily sort of revealed (more like put words into actions) were exactly the ones Suvi had been desperately hoping for but never expected. Yes, as Sara's lips first brushed hers she had been...stunned to say the least, but then her heart had soared and she had eagerly reciprocated only to have the contact broken almost immediately. And so, ever since, she had been actively searching Sara out. But each time she tried to reach out, to find out what had happened and what was now going on, Sara was either already with someone and refused to leave them for a private conversation or else she had some 'super secret Pathfinder business' and would promptly vanish. Suvi had decided enough was enough and at the end of her shift attempted to corner Sara in the cargo bay. But, of course, Fate had chosen that precise moment to intervene and handed Sara a perfectly legitimate excuse. Voeld needed their help.

"Gotta run. Pathfinder business." Sara attempted an apologetic smile but Suvi could see the relief in her eyes. She felt a stab of annoyance tinged with hurt. Peebee snorted behind Sara and tried to cover it up with a cough as she saw Suvi's eyes flick to her. She turned away under the pretence of checking over her weapons.

Fine. Suvi could wait.

"Okay. Well. Stay safe," she told Sara sincerely. Sara nodded once and Suvi turned on her heel and walked away, oblivious to the Pathfinder's gaze following her route towards the lift.

Sara let out a low sigh through her mouth, turning her helmet over in her hands absent-mindedly as she watched the retreating science officer with a now-familiar dull ache in the centre of her chest. The feeling had confused her for a while until she had realised, with a kiss from Suvi, that it wasn't a sign of impending heart failure. Suvi was the cause. A yearning for the redhead with her ocean eyes and stupid bloody gorgeous smile and goddammit why was Sara such a moron? That moment she had shared with Suvi in her quarters, over special tea, however brief, had been… Lovely to say the least. The soft brush of Suvi's lips against her own, warmed by the tea they had been drinking, had been on her mind ever since and left her craving more. And that desire, the yearning, the enormity of her feelings terrified her. Left her feeling open and vulnerable.

"Come on," she said, tearing her gaze away from Suvi as she reached her destination and headed back to the bridge above them. Sara jammed her helmet onto her head, checked the fastenings and turned to the Nomad. "Let's get this over with."

Peebee and Jaal clambered up into the passenger seats, leaving the driver's seat for Sara. The doors closed electronically after them as Sara booted up the engine. The dashboard flared to life in a blaze of coloured lights.

"Opening the bay doors," Gil said via the intercom inside the vehicle. "Hope you're wearing extra socks, it's a balmy minus thirty out there."

"I hate this place," Peebee muttered as the doors opened and Sara nosed the Nomad carefully down the ramp onto a plain of ice that stretched for miles around them. Snow glittered in the weak sunlight, blue ice shimmering in patches underneath. Icy cliffs rose up around them, marching away into the distance, blending near seamlessly with a pale blue sky.

"Well, at least we're not stuck in a blizzard this time," Sara told her, picking up speed as they moved away from the long shadow cast across the pristine snow by the Tempest.

"Lucky us," Peebee commented drily.

"Yeah, lucky us," Sara said. "Can you input those coordinates Anjik sent us?" They had been contacted by the angaran resistance on Voeld and tasked with finding a group of scouts that had gone missing in the area surrounding the Initiative outpost there.

"Sure thing." Peebee activated her omni-tool and used it to add the information to the Nomad's navigation systems. An icon appeared instantly on the map display on the dash.

"Thanks."

"Mmhmm." Peebee was watching her and not trying to disguise it as she tried to bait her into talking. Sara glanced sideways at her, then returned her gaze to the unchanging view outside of ice, snow, ice, more snow. She knew exactly what was on Peebee's mind and it wasn't something she wanted to discuss.

The engine growled as they climbed a steep slope, suspension absorbing the impact of rocks hidden beneath the surface of the snow as the wheels churned and caused them to rock slightly from side to side. Then they were over the top and the Nomad continued to bounce across an uneven sheet of ice hidden by smooth snow.

Jaal shifted awkwardly in his seat.

"I find talking helps…" He offered lamely, sensing some kind of conflict between his companions.

"Nope." Sara replied stiffly. Peebee gave an agitated sigh and began watching the ice planet instead.

"Ryder, you have got to talk to her." Peebee had dutifully complied with Sara's wishes of non-discussion for a lengthy half an hour (an impressive period of silence for the chatty asari). She kept her voice low as they inched through the ice caverns, scanning for enemies. Snow had drifted in through the wide entrance and crunched underfoot, shimmering like silver dust as the torches mounted on their weapons illuminated the way.

Thick columns of ice stretched from floor to ceiling, supporting the roof high above them and throwing shadows that jumped as they moved forwards. Hostiles could be lurking anywhere now that they had left the light of day far behind. The ground was slippery and uneven and the snow seemed to swallow sound, muffling it strangely.

Sara had noted kett activity nearby and suggested they venture into the caves. They had parked the Nomad outside and climbed out to investigate the cave entrance. Footprints in the snow, kett and angaran, seemed to lend credit to her idea.

"Talk to who?" Jaal asked, looking around them for a surprise fourth party member as though Vetra or Cora had snuck along with them.

"Suvi," Peebee replied simply, as though that explained everything.

Jaal studied her a moment, trying to make sense of this. "Why would Sara need to talk to Suvi?"

"Don't," Sara said tersely as Peebee opened her mouth to explain the situation to Jaal, glaring through the tinted faceplate of her helmet. The asari rolled her eyes.

"Oh, come on. How would you feel if you were her?" She demanded, gaze returning to the Pathfinder.

Hurt. Betrayed. Confused. Sara shook her head tightly as though to clear it of those thoughts. "You obviously like her and now she knows it. And she likes you. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Can we not do this right now?" Sara asked sharply. She felt trapped. It wasn't the first time Peebee had brought this up and, unlike every other time, she couldn't exactly storm off. Peebee's accidental interruption of her…talk with Suvi had left Sara feeling totally humiliated. At least Peebee had had the sense to not go blabbing to the rest of the crew. Sara thought she might have thrown herself out of the airlock in shame if the asari had done that. But being caught with Suvi in that moment, when her guard was down and her heart laid bare, had panicked Sara and forced her to close herself off while she figured herself out. And that meant Suvi must be avoided at all costs.

"Then when, Ryder? All you do is avoid your problems. You need to face this or you're seriously going to-"

"Or what?" Sara interrupted her angrily. She halted and turned to face Peebee. Jaal paused ahead of them, eyes moving between the two women. He was well and truly lost, but had felt the tension simmering away almost as soon as they had climbed into the Nomad and left the Tempest and the outpost behind.

"You'll regret it," Peebee finished with a careless shrug. "You'll lose her. Maybe even to that asari on the Nexus." The low jab was meant as an awakening. She knew Sara could see that, but instead of rising to the bait the Pathfinder shrugged back at her.

"Maybe that's for the best," she said simply.

"You don't really think that." She could read that in the way Sara hadn't fully committed to the statement.

"Don't I?" Sara challenged.

Jaal sat down on a rock frosted with ice crystals with his rifle across his lap, sensing he had been forgotten and that they might be a while. Hopefully they wouldn't attract unwanted attention. It would be hard to hear anyone approaching with the snow swallowing sound.

"Look, I don't like strings with my relationships either but no, you don't think that," Peebee said. "Shall I tell you what I think?"

"No. But you'll tell me anyway."

"I think you're scared," Peebee continued as though Sara hadn't spoken, putting her hands on her hips. That made the Pathfinder bristle. "You're used to being in charge, calling the shots with casual flings and now you've finally found 'the one'-"

"Like you believe in 'the one'?"

"-you're scared of messing up. Of giving in to your emotions because they're not so easily defined. They're messy and complicated," using her own words against her, the smartarse, "and you don't like that. Well, boohoo! How simple do you think it'll be when you break her heart because you're being a selfish coward?"

Sara stayed quiet, shifting her gaze from Peebee to Jaal on his rock. He gave her an encouraging smile, seemingly unconcerned by the argument, as though it were the most normal thing in the world to halt a search and rescue mission to have an argument about crushes. "Why do you care so much, anyway?" She mumbled, rubbing her thumb against the rough grip of her sniper and looking down at the icy ground.

"Because," Peebee said cagily. "I kinda like you and it's weird. I don't want to see you mess this up." She crossed her arms over her chest, watching Sara stew.

Peebee was…right, she supposed. She had been selfish and cowardly. She had run away from her issues, avoided Suvi because it was easier to hide than to accept that she was falling for the annoyingly attractive redhead. And that was definitely something she wasn't used to. Give her hulking great fiends to fight any day. Wonderful but alarming feelings? Oh, hell no!

There was no deep distressing reason for the way she was. No one in the past had hurt her so badly that she could no longer trust or love. It was just her and her weird ideals that built walls and pushed people away. She needed to just suck it up and get over herself.

She took a deep breath in through her nose, let it out slowly. "Okay."

"Okay?" Peebee asked in surprise. She had expected a minor enraged explosion from the Pathfinder, not a soft agreement.

Sara nodded. "You're right," she said.

Peebee gaped at her for a second, then flashed a smug grin. "Of course I'm right," she said. "I should be a therapist or something."

"I think Lexi might have something to say about that," Sara replied, bumping shoulders with her as they made their way over to Jaal.

"Well, that was fascinating," he told them as he stood up, rifle in hand. "But we really should be locating those missing scouts."

The angaran scouts had been rescued, the kett holding them defeated. They had been captured by a roving band of kett who had stuffed them into containment cells hidden in the back of the ice caverns awaiting a trip to the kett flagship and an undoubtedly grisly end. They had returned to the base on Voeld with a set of kett data pads to translate. All in all, a very successful outing. Sara was glad to leave the frigid air of Voeld for the comfortable warmth of the Tempest. She stripped off her heavy armour and went through the usual checks, looking for damage on the plates, stress to the fixtures, before finally permitting herself a shower. The heat soothed the aches and pains of charging around the ice caves and fighting, sluiced away the grime, and relaxed her. She allowed herself an extra minute under the delightfully hot water as a reward for a mission completed without hiccups, using the codes Kallo had kindly sent her shortly after she took control of the Tempest to bypass the water rations, before getting dried and dressed into the usual black cargoes and long-sleeved shirt. She pulled her omni-tool cuff back onto her wrist, stuffed her feet into her boots, not bothering to tie the laces, and left the showers towelling her long hair dry. She heard the door to her room slide near silently open as she approached and entered.

"Hey."

"Oh, holy crap!" The soft voice startled her. Sara whipped the towel away from her face and dropped into a fighting stance, free hand reaching for the pistol at her hip that wasn't actually there because this wasn't a combat scenario and why the hell was Suvi sat on her bed?!

Suvi was equally as shocked by the reaction her quiet greeting had caused and found herself staring at the Pathfinder in alarm. But that soon changed. She glanced over Sara appreciatively. She had never seen Sara with her hair down before. It looked darker when damp, longer, reaching well passed her shoulders. While ruffled from the towel it still looked-

"What are you doing here?" Sara's loud voice cut through her thoughts. She was still stood in front of the now closed door and obviously rattled, though she had stepped out of the fighting stance. "SAM, why didn't you warn me?"

"Doctor Anwar asked me not to," SAM said, opting to use the open channel so Suvi could hear him reply.

"Traitor," Sara muttered darkly, not moving from her position by the door.

Suvi stood up from where she had been perched on the edge of the bed, anxiously twisting her hands around each other in front of herself as she watched the agitated Pathfinder. "Sara, we need to talk," she said, expecting to either be thrown out of the room or Sara to run away, and preparing to argue her case or give chase.

But Sara sighed and chucked the towel aside. Because yes. They most definitely did need to talk.