As they stepped out into the Upper Wards, they were awed by the view of the Citadel through the giant windows. The walked up the center of viewing area and leaned on the railing. They stood there in silence for a while just trying to take it all in.

"Big Place." Kaidan whispered behind her.

Ashley chuckled. "Is that your professional opinion, sir?"

"Yup, pretty much, Chief."

"How can they keep tabs on all of this? The Presidium may as well be on another planet." Lex was taken aback by the size of it. And by the fact that once again, she had never stopped to notice the view before. She was beginning to realize she'd been walking around in some sort of daze for the past few years. Not really caring about anything around her that didn't have to do with her work.

Kaidan nodded. "There is definitely a gap between their presentation and what's here. Tracking arrivals must be a nightmare."

"This makes Jump Zero look like a porta-john." Ashley added. "And it's the largest deep space station the Alliance has."

"Jump Zero was big" Kaidan agreed. (What was that?) Lex wondered why he sounded so sad at the mention of Jump Zero. "But this is a whole 'nother scale. Look at the ward arms. How do they keep all that mass from flying apart?"

Lex shook her head. "No wonder the Council treats us like outsiders. We'd be just another drop in a bucket they already can't carry."

Williams made a face. "They must figure us for one more gang of FNGs looking for a handout." Damn, that girl had no filter, at all. Lex couldn't help but smile.

She noticed Kaidan cringe. "I doubt it's personal. It's got to be a balancing act, like every other government." (Yeah, I'm putting him in charge of any diplomatic issues that come up while we're on the ground, the man has a knack for it, where as I would just piss someone off.)

Suddenly Lex couldn't help but challenge him a bit. "Why not? We've got oceans, beautiful women, and this emotion called love." She caught his eye at the last one and suddenly turned her face to look back out at the view, hoping he wouldn't notice the sudden blush. When she felt she had herself back under control she looked back at him. "According to the old vids, we have everything they want."

Kaidan smiled. "When you put it that way, there's no reason they wouldn't like you." (Oh shit, what? Fix it, fix it!) Kaidan blushed. "I mean, us. Humans. Ma'am" He wanted to jump the railing and throw himself through the window out into space. Anything to avoid ever having to look her in the face again. What the hell was wrong with him?

Ashley gave him a side glance. "You don't take much shore leave, do you LT?"

Lex's stomach was doing those flips again, and she had to use all her will power to keep from letting a stupid smile spread across her face. Apparently, Joker learned his foot-in-mouth skills from his friend over here. (Does he really think I'm beautiful?) She looked at him again, and saw the look of panic in his face. He was worried she'd be pissed? Embarrassed? "All right, laugh it up, Chief. Come on, we have a doctor to visit."

"Yes ma'am." Ashley replied, trying but failing to keep from laughing. "Maybe she has something that will help the LT extract his foot from his mouth."

"Williams."

Ashley stopped laughing and nodded at Lex. "I'll walk drag ma'am."

Lex walked up next to Alenko. "I appreciate the thought, Alenko, but we're on duty here." She struggled not to laugh as she walked away after seeing him cringe. (I'm a mean, mean girl.)

"Um, aye, aye ma'am." Damn it, what was wrong with him. He had to get his shit together. He had spent a major part of his life working on his control. He had mastered it, or so he thought. But Shepard…in just a few days she had managed to completely undo him. If he didn't get himself back under control soon, he'd say or do something there'd be no coming back from. He pushed off the railing and followed Shepard to the clinic. Who knew, maybe they would have something to stop him from being an idiot.

Lex straightened up and walked towards Garrus. Was there anywhere in this damn ward she could go that didn't have bullets flying all around? Not two steps into the clinic and she'd walked into a hostage situation. And then the damn turian decided to play hero and headshot the man holding the gun to the doctor's head. It was reckless, but he had done it well.

"Perfect timing, Shepard. Gave me a clear shot at that bastard." Garrus said as her and her squad came to stand by him.

"You took him down clean." She replied.

"Sometimes you get lucky."

"Hell of a time to play games of chance, Vakarian." Kaidan injected, his voice stern and disapproving. "What were you thinking? You could have hit the hostage?"

"There wasn't time to think, I just reacted. I didn't mean to…" The realization of the risk he took seem to hit him. "Dr. Michel, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm okay. Thanks to you." She smiled at Garrus, and Lex suddenly felt like they were witnessing something private. The doctor seemed to realize this, and added. "All of you."

"Why were they threatening you?" Lex asked. "Who do they work for?"

Dr. Michel started to twirl her fingers nervously. "They work for Fist."

"The owner of Chora's Den?" Kaidan asked.

The doctor nodded. "Yes. They wanted to shut me up, keep me from telling Garrus about the quarian."

The doctor had her attention. "What quarian?" Lex asked.

The three of them stepped out of the clinic into the Upper Wards. Garrus closely behind them. So there was someone out there that had something on Saren, something good enough for him to want her dead. They need to find that quarian.

Garrus came up to her. "This is your show, Shepard. But I want to bring Saren down as much as you do. I'm coming with you!"

Lex raised an eyebrow. "You're a turian. Why do you want to bring him down?"

"I couldn't find the proof I needed in my investigation. But I knew what was really going on." Garrus replied. "Saren's a traitor to the Council, and a disgrace to my people!" He was almost shouting.

She looked at him. She believed him, she could see how frustrated he was. "Heck, why not. Welcome aboard, Garrus."

"Shep..." He started to say, and then stopped. He'd been prepared for a battle to get her to agree. He hadn't expected her to just say yes. "Fist is going to be waiting for us. When we hit him, we better hit him hard."

"I agree."

"You know, we aren't the only ones going after Fist. The Shadow Broker hired a Krogan bounty hunter named Wrex to take him out."

Lex thought of that for a moment. The idea of helping out the Broker in any way made her feel sick, but unfortunately it also worked in her favor. "A Krogan might come in handy."

"Last I heard, he was at the C-Sec Academy." Garrus added.

"What's he doing there?" Kaidan asked.

"Heh, Fist accused him of making threats. We brought Wrex in for a little talk. If you hurry we can catch him at the Academy before he leaves."

"Sounds like a plan." She replied, then turned to her marines. "Alenko, Williams, I want you two to head to the financial district and talk to that Barla Von guy, see what information you can get out of him." If she could avoid having to deal with one of the Shadow Broker's agents personally it would be great. The thought of having to go back into Chora's Den again was bad enough.

"Commander, I don't know if that's such a good idea." Kaidan said. He didn't like the idea of leaving her alone with someone they'd just met, especially when there were people trying to kill her on the Citadel. "We've already had one attempt on your life while here, I'd feel better if I...if we, were watching your back."

Lex smiled at him. (Damn it, I'm doing that a lot lately. My face is going to start to hurt.) "I'll be alright, Alenko. Garrus will back me up. We need all the information we can get, and I don't want to send one of you alone. I might be their main focus, but you two were on that planet with me. We'll meet back up outside of Chora's Den in an hour. Move out."

Kaidan sighed. "Aye, aye, ma'am. Let's go chief." He hated to leave her, but she was his Commander and he couldn't disobey her orders. And who was he kidding, she was Commander Shepard, he'd be an idiot to think she'd let him try to protect her. Of course, it certainly seemed like he was going for some sort of medal in the idiot games today, so it didn't surprise him he'd tried to go for the gold.