Author note: Thank you to everyone who is reading this and commenting on it. You are all lovely and sexy beasts. This chapter is a little bit silly, but it was important to set up some of the people and relationships. I hope you will forgive me as I make a few giant time jumps shortly, but there is so much time to make up. By the way, I am fully aware that Flogging Molly is an American-Irish band, but it was still the closest thing to "Irish" music that Charlie could come up with. I know it might be considered the equivalent of calling the Beastie Boys Jewish music.

"Are you kidding me? I get off in like ten minutes, Sharisse." Charlie groaned. She had spent the night like she always did twice a week. Walking a stupid beat in the "entertainment" section of lower Shalta Ward.

She could hear the woman cursing in some native asari tongue that her translator didn't pick up, before Sharisse spoke intelligibly. "You were the one who told me to put you in my contacts for times like these."

"And I regret that decision every night that you call me. Fine, fine I'll be there in five minutes, but I'm out for the day after this one."

"I'm leaving too. We both have families to get home to."

"Don't pull that farkakte on me, Sharisse. You don't have a family, you have a John." Charlie quickly closed the line before the woman could deliver her retort. Prostitution may have been legal on the Citadel, but most of C-Sec hated them. They responded slowly to calls from the girls or ignored them as best they could. This had really bothered Charlie, so she started giving out her comm code to the prostitutes. She just wanted to make sure that they were as safe as possible. Unfortunately this policy had not endeared her to her commanding officers and they would stick her with the unsavory patrols. Charlie should have been more offended, but she rather enjoyed the beat and never had any major problems with the citizens she met there.

However she still wanted to get home. Grace was spending the night at Darius' and she had the whole apartment to herself, especially the bed. Just the thought of her big, soft bed made her steps quicken to finish this last drunk patron call.

Maybe I can just throw them out without getting the drunk tank involved.

We should be so lucky.

Sharisse was waiting for her at the door when Charlie arrived. The asari really did look angry. Charlie barely suppressed the urge to laugh at the scantily clad woman with her arms crossed and testily tapping foot.

"You know when you put a jacket on; you are supposed to close the front." Charlie gestured to the open front that bared the woman's, aside from the pasties, nude form.

Sharisse huffed at her and dragged Charlie through the empty club to the bar where three very drunk and very loud turians were laughing.

"Alright people let's break it up. You can stay drunk, but you can't do it here."

The female was clearly the most sober of the trio, as she tried hopelessly to shush the two males. "Guys, guys they called the … secur… security." She turned to Charlie and stood up clumsily. That's when Charlie noticed that the female was not wearing a shirt. The female stared at Charlie for a moment and tried several times to say something, but it was like she forgot how to speak in sentences. Eventually she said, "I'm terribly sorry for these buggers behavior. Please don't take us to jail."

Charlie's mouth dropped open. She'd know that beautiful British accent anywhere.

"Cecilia Modius what are you doing here?" Charlie walked over to the turian clad in black and pulled his head off of the bar. "Garrus Vakarian! Are you kidding me? I don't know who the other one is though."

"Rudall Tredan." The grey clad turian announced with an awkward wave of his arms.

Charlie looked all three of the turians over. Tredan and Lia seemed to be about the same level of drunk. Which was very drunk, but able to move around on their own; Garrus, however was well past that point and had passed out already.

Lia had moved to hugging Charlie and was babbling something in a disorienting mix of Turian and English, whatever it was her translator had given up on deciphering it.

"Oh you know each other wonderful. Now if you could kindly leave so I can finish closing up." Sharisse was clearly still pissed and Charlie could understand why now. The turian called Tredan was luridly hanging around her.

"I'm going to assume you don't want to go back to the ship like this and I'm equally as sure you don't want to spend the night in the drunk tank. Right?"

Lia and Tredan quickly shook their heads and Lia spoke up. "We could take Garrus' credit chit and get a room, but I don't think we can find a … hotel right now."

Charlie looked at the snoring form of Garrus and forcibly reminded herself that he once dragged her away from danger. She owed it to him, right? "Fine. You can come home with me. I have a spare room for tonight. Are you two good to walk?"

As a response Tredan stood up slowly and Lia had to help steady him. That's when Charlie realized that she was on her own with the unconscious Garrus. Grunting under the effort, she managed to get him over a shoulder and lift him completely free from the bar. This was not the first time she had had to carry a drunken turian since joining C-Sec, but Garrus was definitely the largest one so far.

With Garrus slung over one shoulder and she made her way to the closest aircar station. The little sign told her the wait would be ten minutes. Charlie looked around for a bench to set Garrus down on, but found none. She was stuck there holding his heavy ass.

"I remember you!" Tredan suddenly shouted from behind Charlie. "You looked different though …"

"Well, yeah. She wasn't in a uniform then." Lia brilliantly deducted.

"Oh yeah that was it! You tried to stab my friend here. Didn't she old buddy?" He reached over and slapped Garrus heavily on the back.

Perhaps it was the odd position he was laying in or it was the shouting and the slap, but some combination of the three jolted Garrus into consciousness and he found himself upside down. With a mighty yell, he flailed on Charlie's shoulder and the two of them hit the ground.

"Big guy, we have got to stop ending up in a painful pile." Charlie grunted the words as her face was pressed against the ground and a very heavy turian was lying on top of her.

"What's going on?" Garrus moved as quickly as he could off of her.

"Well," Charlie groaned as she pulled herself up off the ground and rubbed her face. "You got drunk and I'm here to pour you in bed."

"I have a girlfriend! I'm not sleeping with a human!" Charlie laughed at the sincerity with which he said this. Also how he was crawling backwards, in an attempt to get away from her. Lia's laughter brought some sense to his hazy mind.

"You thought that a human female was dragging you back to her home to take advantage of you?" Tredan managed to say between fits of laughter.

"You haven't met her. She probably could." Lia giggled.

"I think she could do better than him though. No offense, Cecilia."

"Wait a minute." Garrus murmured after silently staring at Charlie. "You're that crazy woman from Mindoir."

"I've been called worse." Charlie shrugged. "Oh look the cab's here. Let's get your drunk ass home, shall we?"

Garrus protested that he could walk, but his legs betrayed him. Charlie ended up half-carrying him all the back to her apartment. By the time they got there, whatever part of his rational mind that had woken up had left again. Her words ended being prophetic as she indeed ended up pouring him into her bed.

"Are you sure you want to give us your bed?" Lia protested.

"Yes, it's fine. Grace is at a friend's house and I'll take her tiny bed. Rudall can sleep on the couch."

"Are you sure? You look so soft and comfortable. I could imagine you were blue, if we turned off the lights …" Tredan was using the wall as a support, but managed to settle a hand on Charlie's lower back.

"You are aware that you are speaking to a C-Sec officer, one that could and probably would kick your ass if you don't remove that hand?"

Rudall almost lost his balance with the laughter that shook him. Charlie rubbed her very tired eyes and counted all the reasons she shouldn't make good on the promise. She came up with three and his ass was safe for the night.

"Good night, all of you!" She announced before shutting herself in Grace's room that was decorated garishly in pinks and purples.

Garrus' head felt as though it might explode. He pulled himself off of the soft thing he was laying on. Where am I? The last thing he coherently recalled was drinking with Tredan and Lia. He looked around the darkened room and tried to put the pieces together. The thing he was laying on was definitely a bed, albeit an extremely uncomfortable one. Garrus might have thought he was in a hotel room, but the room was too cluttered for that. With a groan he pulled himself out of the bed.

A door opened, but the light did not reveal the intruder. Garrus went very still and readied himself for an attack. The breathing patterns of the intruder, told him that this was not a turian and was either an asari or human. The footfalls were light and controlled, so he knew the individual was combat trained.

The person was now very close to where he was hidden in the shadows. Garrus heard a dresser drawer open. There was a light rustling of cloth and then he heard the unmistakable snick of a weapon.

Garrus launched himself at the intruder and managed to lift and pin her to the wall. She felt very odd under his grasp. She was quite strong and flexible, which was causing him great difficulties in keeping a hold on her.

"Let go of me!"

That was definitely a human's voice, which made sense since an asari would have thrown him back with biotics by now. The woman suddenly twisted in a way that was impossible for a turian and kicked his chest solidly with her feet. They both fell to the floor with a crash. Garrus heard running footsteps outside the door and then he was bathed in impossibly bright light which made his head feel even worse.

"What in spirit's name is going on in here?"

Garrus knew that voice. "Cecilia?"

Cecilia reached down and offered him a hand. "You two are impossible. Why does it always have to end with a fight between you?"

Garrus stood up and looked at the human female who was already on her feet. She was only wearing a small white covering around her groin and an equally small white covering around her chest. That left her waist completely bare. She was tall for a human and about average height for a turian female. The woman was not nearly as delicate and beautiful as a turian female though. She was broad shouldered and though she had a narrow waist, it was the only thing about her that was feminine. Somehow even though she was nearly naked, she cut an imposing figure and Garrus had trouble meeting her large grey eyes. Wait, her grey eyes that were framed by curly black hair. Charlie?

"I would like to point out that once again he started it." He immediately recognized that voice. It was Charlie.

"You were suspiciously sneaking through the room and I know I heard a weapon." Garrus huffed indignantly.

"I'm practically naked!" Charlie gestured to her form. "I know that doesn't mean much to you armored turians, but to us soft humans." For some reason she shot a sharp look at Tredan at the word 'soft'. "Besides I am a C-Sec officer and this is my apartment, I think I'm allowed a weapon. Now get out of here so I can put clothes on."

Garrus really wanted to question Charlie about the C-Sec comment, but all three of them were forcibly ejected from the room.

The apartment was small, but comfortable. A quick look down the hall revealed an additional bedroom and a lavatory. Lia led him out to the living room which had a small eat-in kitchen attached to it. Actually every room appeared to be small, except for the large living room. There were quite a few pictures on the walls, but none of them included Charlie. They were all some configuration of a human male and female and quite a few included Grace. It didn't take much deducing to realize that was the girl's parents. The apartment did strike Garrus as odd though. He didn't know Charlie that well, but if he hadn't just heard her confirm that she lived here, Garrus would have never guessed it. She had no personal effects on the walls, no clue that she existed.

Charlie couldn't help the happy smile on her face as she pulled clothes on. She had guests, real guests. Not the parents of Grace's classmates or the many partners that she had collected or call girls that decided to pay her back by forcing a makeover on her. That last thought sent a shiver down her back. That had been an awkward night. Two obvious hookers showed up at her door unannounced and decided to surprise Charlie with clothes and makeup. It had been hard to explain the situation to Grace, but the girl took it in stride. She was a trooper. Eventually Charlie convinced them to focus their machinations on Grace, who absolutely loved getting attention. When they finally left, Charlie had grimly decided to burn the clothes and most of the makeup, but she kept eyeliner. She had no idea where two asari had learned to style hair, but they were brilliant. Her curls were always impossible to manage, especially in a future where most natural curls had been bred out, but they had used some magical product to make them gorgeous. So the evening had been a success after all.

These guests though were different. They weren't work related acquaintances, they were real. Charlie had not realized how lonely she was until she saw them last night. She had gotten along with them pretty well on the Argo and she dearly hoped she would, at some point, be able to count them as friends.

When she emerged from her room she was wearing her usual loose shorts and shirt, she was also carrying the gun and her cleaning supplies. She rounded the corner to see Garrus comically raise his arms to the air.

"Don't shoot officer!"

"I've been getting some noise complaints, care to explain yourselves?" Charlie put on her sternest 'cop voice' she had in her arsenal, which was actually a little terrifying.

Garrus lowered his arms and smiled at her. "That was pretty good. I heard that voice from my dad often enough. So what did you do that you got forced into C-Sec?"

Lia smacked his arm. "Garrus Vakarian, becoming a C-Sec officer is an honor. I know you aren't thrilled about being forced into it, but most reasonable people still consider it an honor."

Charlie laughed at her. She almost lost her balance and fell down, but managed to redirect her descent to land on the sofa. Lia was giving her an indignant stare as Charlie wiped the tears from her eyes. "He's right, Lia. It's a punishment. I am truly sorry for your loss, Garrus."

She gave Garrus a sorrowful look that was usually reserved for funerals. Garrus stared at the ceiling shaking his head. "Thanks."

Lia bounced down into Garrus' lap. "No, I don't understand this. Why are the two of you acting as though it's a death sentence? I, at least, understand Garrus' trepidation, but Charlotte Nacht why are you acting this way. The first human officer has to be an honor."

Charlie sighed heavily and started to take apart her pistol to clean it. "Do you know what C-Sec is mostly comprised of?"

"Turians."

"Not just any turians, Lia. Turians I can handle. Oy vey, most turians love me. However, these turians are old turians." Charlie noted the confused looks on two out of the three turians sitting in her living room. "Let me point something out. The only way to get nominated for a position at C-Sec is for a councilor or ambassador of your species to approve you. This, of course means that most 'rookies' have years and years of experience under their belts. C-Sec tends to be the place for turians, who are too old for military, to start a second career. Hell, Garrus' own father 'the legend' was a war hero before he ever made detective. Naturally, this isn't always the case for the other species, but even they are much older than either of us. You know you are in the wrong field when even the salarians are older than you are, right Garrus?"

Garrus nodded his head slowly. "I should never have told my father I was thinking about joining the Spectres. I just didn't think he had that much pull."

Everyone was silent for a moment and Charlie finished cleaning the pistol and tucked it under her shirt. Tredan broke the silence.

"So, uh, do you play that thing or is it for show?" He gestured to her guitar that had been salvaged from Mindoir.

"Oh yeah I play. It's a muscle; I try to put in several hours of practice a week." Charlie picked up the instrument and lovingly stroked it. It was her favorite item. Playing music always made her feel normal.

"So," Charlie sat back down on the sofa, pointlessly tuning the guitar. Even though it was largely an electronic instrument, she couldn't help herself and always manually tuned it. "Requests?"

The three started talking about some music that Charlie had never heard of, but she dutifully nodded her head along with them. Eventually they settled on a song, that was some odd combination of letters and numbers. "Yeah I really don't do requests, so you guys are stuck listening to whatever I want to play."

The three groaned at her and started to protest, and Charlie was forced to admit that she didn't really know any of their music. "So has anyone here actually listened to Earth music?"

Lia was the only one who responded in the affirmative. "Alright, well since I know both of you men don't speak English, you should turn off your translators. Just trust me. Translators don't work very well with deciphering sung words. You can read the lyrics, if you really want to."

"Wait you're singing?" Garrus had doubt written on his face. "I've never heard human music with words."

"That's because music today has to be homogenized to be interesting to a wide alien audience. It's disgusting drivel." The cries of protest started again. "Okay fine, it's not disgusting drivel. But every generation considers their music to be the best. So humor me please. I would apologize for my voice, but I doubt you will know what the original artist sounded like."

Charlie positioned herself on the couch so she was facing Lia and dove into the song Kiss With A Fist. She sang the lyrics at Lia, mostly because she thought it was funny to do so and also because if she sang to either of the males they might take her seriously. Lia found the whole performance very amusing, but the men seemed to take it differently.

"Spirits, I know why you have so many fingers now." Tredan remarked when she had finished.

"Even your music is violent." Garrus said at the same time.

"Oooh, do another one!" Lia also said simultaneously.

"Ugh, you liked that? I totally butchered it."

All three of them looked to be a different kind of amused. Tredan had spent the whole song watching her fingers play through the chords. Lia was immensely enjoying the entire experience of live music. Garrus, however appeared amused that Charlie possessed this hidden talent. He was watching her very closely and it was a little unnerving.

"Can you do one that is less of this," Tredan mimed strumming, "And more of this?" He mimed picking strings.

Charlie chuckled a little to herself, "Yeah I can do that. Garrus, didn't I hear you say that my music was too 'violent'?"

Garrus smiled smugly at her. "You know something that is less violent? By all means."

"Alright, but I'm not sure you turian types will like too much." Charlie met Garrus smug stare and started playing The General by The Dispatch. Garrus' face was so hilarious at the words of the song that Charlie almost stopped playing. As it was, she missed her cue and had to follow the chorus through a second time.

"The men left a battlefield?" Garrus' face was the very picture of military stoicism. Charlie just grinned at him. "That is outrageous. That General should have had his command pulled. It is not a soldier's job to question orders."

"Even bad orders?" Charlie quietly questioned him.

"Yes, even bad orders. Woman, you have no idea what you are talking about."

Charlie let a smile play at the corners of her mouth while she quietly picked out the chords of the song. "So who would be your superior?"

Garrus gave her a wary look. "Anyone who is further up the meritocracy than me or has a higher rank. Why?"

"So I think I can safely assume your father is higher than you and yet you are still fighting him tooth and claw over your assignment to C-Sec."

"Yes, but I'm still going."

"Fair enough, you are. How about a certain lieutenant who helped an alien civilian break into evidence? I don't seem to recall having to twist your arm, too much."

Garrus sat back in the couch and looked at her and by look we mean he glared. "Fine. It's still not the same thing though."

"I actually agree with you, but it's so much fun to rile you up."

Garrus continued to glare and Charlie continued to beam at him. Finally Lia broke the tension. "Alright how about another one? Do you know any from my parent's country?"

"Uh, I actually don't know where you're from. I'm sorry."

"Oh, well I was raised as a freighter kid, but my dad was from Ireland."

Charlie blinked at Lia. Firstly, she felt bad that she had mistaken her accent so badly, but then she found herself mostly curious at what had to be a fantastic back story. She did say dad. I really want to know, but I should probably let her tell me. "I don't actually know any Irish songs off the top of my head."

Lia looked a little distraught, so she added. "I mean I know, at least one band. I mean I don't want to be offensive. It's pretty much the favorite band of every American rugby kid. Hold on let me get the chords." Charlie felt it was very odd to play Flogging Molly for an Irish girl, but Lia was also a turian and the music was over 150 years old. Maybe it was alright to do so.

Charlie got up to grab her omni-glasses from her room. When she came back she had them on and had already pulled up the music for "Float".

"What are those?" Tredan asked, gesturing at her glasses.

Charlie took them off and handed them to the male. "Essentially they are a repurposed omni-tool. I felt that it would be beneficial to have information immediately in front of me, but an omni-tool is very … obvious."

Garrus was passed the device, which looked like two legs of a pair of glasses. "I understand the need, I've been thinking of getting a visor myself. Why didn't you just get one of those?"

"Two reasons. One, they are prohibitively expensive and it was a whole lot cheaper to just buy an older omni-tool and adjust it. Two, I have been known to get punched in the face. I really do not want a piece of glass right by my eye."

"It's actually a poly-resin and …"

"That still sounds painful. Besides this is so much better, check it out." Charlie fixed the two legs firmly behind her ears and made a small hand motion to turn it on. A clear orange bubble formed across her eyes. "Now I have a fantastic VI program that I have written to anticipate my requests. That way it's as unobtrusive as possible. I can question a suspect and have their full record scrolling through my screen. If they try and lie to me, I can double check reports and pull up evidence against them. The best part is that they can't see the screen so they don't know what I'm doing. It's also paired with my actual omni-tool for efficiency. I love it."

"Well I like it."

"Thank you, Lia."

"Actually I may have to rig up something similar. I need my hands free when I'm working in the engine room, but I still need to use an omni-tool. Could you send me the schematics?"

"I can do that, but I warn you I'm not an engineer. Actually if you could send me back any improvements you make, that would be fantastic. I know my design is shoddy at best, but I'm quite proud of the VI."

The rest of the day was relaxing and full of friendly conversation. Charlie was saddened to realize that the three had to leave. Their presence had made her acutely aware of how lonely she was. Even Grace was excited to have the company, when she got home from school. Charlie had never been a social butterfly and she used to go days without contact of any kind, but she always had a core group of friends to fall back on whenever she needed them. In high school it had been her Rugby team and as an adult it had been Justin, Tim, and Justin's band mates.

When they left, Lia gave her a very welcome hug and she got arm clasps from the men. At least Garrus would be coming back in a year to join C-Sec and Lia had talked about moving to the Citadel when her tour was up. Tredan was a career military type, but he promised to stay in touch.

Charlie waved goodbye to them and promised herself that the next year would be better. The first year on the Citadel was mostly training and passing exams. She had finally gotten out on her own. She had a partner, but who that was changed monthly because no one wanted to get stuck with her. Oh, they never said those words exactly, but Charlie knew it was true. She had had been through four such men before. Charlie knew it was because she liked to be involved with the people from the lower wards. She was of the opinion that trust was the best way to maintain order, but the older, and more experienced, officers assured her that too much involvement was also a bad thing. Charlie mostly ignored them, she wasn't breaking any codes and she felt like she was actually helping.