"Lieutenant Vega. Major Alenko requests your presence at the CIC."

James looked up at the speaker from which EDI's voice came from, and he finished cleaning up his rifle. "On my way, EDI."

He left the Cargo Hold, which was a good thing, since the place was pretty quiet without his banters with Cortez. He kind of misses the smart ass answers of the shuttle pilot, and he was quite glad that his friend was on the road to recovery.

He boarded the elevator and waited for it to go up, but it opened on the Crew Deck floor, and showed Regine standing in front of the doors. She looked up at Vega as the doors opened and she stepped inside, but her face was once again impassive, as if she had forgotten the time she had laughed in the MedBay. She stood beside him, and waited for the doors to close.

"Lieutenant." She said, as a form of some sort of greeting, her face stoic and icy as before.

"Reina." James teased, and he felt his heart flutter again when a small smile lifted from Regine's mouth.

"Seriously going to use that." She muttered, "Do I have to find a nickname for you too, Mr. Vega?"

He chuckled, "Only if you want to, reina." And then he shrugged, "But it's usually just my thing. Sometimes the name doesn't match the face, you know. You look like a beauty queen, so I call you reina."

She scoffed, "Regine means queen already."

"Yeah, it does." He smiled down at her, "But still, I prefer to call you reina. Call it my special name for a special lady."

He chuckled when he saw a small blush creep up her cheeks, and before she could retaliate, the doors opened. James looked down at her and bent a little, extending an arm, "After you, mi reina."

Her blush got deeper as she stepped before him, her back straight and rigid from embarrassment. He chuckled as he followed her out the door.

They made their way to the CIC, where Kaidan was standing in front of the galaxy map. He looked down at them as the two came forward, and they saluted. "You called us, Major?" Regine said as she lowered her hand.

"Yes. I did." Kaidan said, "Admiral Hackett has sent us on a mission. And I was hoping that the two of you would be willing to help me."

"Of course, Major." James said.

Kaidan sighed, "We're heading for Fehl Prime."

James and Regine blinked, and James looked over to her to see the doctor swallow a bit, her eyes saddening. Kaidan saw her face, "I'm sorry. I know I should look for someone else to do this assignment with me, but the two of you know the area the most…"

But Regine shook her head, "I understand, Major. We'll be more than happy to assist you."

Kaidan nodded. "A small team of mercenaries had infiltrated Fehl Prime again. We're going to clear them out. The Council has allowed to colony to be reinstated, and we have several humans interested in living there. It's only a small team, roughly thirty mercenaries. I think they were sent to conduct a recon."

"Who else is coming with us?" James said, and Regine looked up at Kaidan again.

"We'll be splitting into two teams." Kaidan said, "Javik, Tali and I will be on one team, the two of you and Garrus on the other. You'll provide protection as Tali and I fix Fehl Prime's communication towers. After that, we'll clean up, and help the colonists settle in for about a month. Javik, Garrus and Tali… will be heading back to their home planets afterwards."

Regine nodded and James sighed, "In short… in short, the Normandy crew is disbanding after the mission."

"It's unavoidable." Kaidan said, but he looked a little sad, "Everyone needs to go home. Garrus needs to help rebuild Palaven, and Tali needs to help the Flotilla in settling into Rannoch. Javik will be staying on Thessia with Liara. Of course, we can still visit them from time to time, but with all the destruction the Reapers have done, rebuilding the home worlds would be a priority."

James nodded, "Understood, Major."

"We'll be in Fehl Prime in thirty minutes, I've already had Joker and EDI set a course." He nodded back to James, "Lieutenant Vega, I had procured some armor for Dr. Akira to use on the mission. If the files are right, she used to be a Sentinel like me. She'll be handy for the mission. Keep her safe."

James looked down at Regine, who blinked at Kaidan. He smirked, "With all my life, Major."

Regine looked up at him, her face turning pink again, as she saluted Kaidan. "We'll go and prepare, Major."

Kaidan dismissed them, and they turned back to head to the elevator, as he called out, "Actually, could you please stay for a moment, James?"

James stopped and looked up at Kaidan, who had a serious look on his face, before looking down at Regine. "Go ahead and head down the Cargo Hold, reina. I'll be there in a minute."

Regine nodded and headed for the elevator as James turned around and headed back to Kaidan. "Something on your mind, Major?"

Kaidan nodded, "There is, actually." He crossed his arms and looked at James, "I was informed that you received an invitation to undergo N7 training, Lieutenant Vega."

James blinked. He had forgotten about his N7 recommendation after all the craziness that had happened ever since he talked about it with Shepard in his cabin. And since they had won the War, it was obvious that the N7 program prevailed.

"I talked about it with Shepard." James told Kaidan, "He told me it was a no brainer if I survived the war. I haven't really thought about it because of all the craziness we got into."

"Well, Admiral Hackett hasn't forgotten about it. The offer still stands." Kaidan said, "And I agree with Shepard. The N7 program would get one of the best damn soldiers the Alliance has if you entered."

James chuckled, "I don't know about that, Major."

"You have some time after this mission to make up your mind." Kaidan said, "Come talk to me when you do. I'll forward the necessary forms and recommendations to the Alliance."

James nodded and saluted again, "Thanks, Major."

He left the CIC and headed to the elevator, and headed back down. The doors opened at the Crew Deck again, and this time, it was Garrus who entered the lift. The turian nodded at him, his mandibles flaring a bit in a turian's way of smiling, "Jimmy."

"Hey, Scars." James grinned at the turian as the doors closed, "I guess we've got one more skirmish to do… before you go."

"Yeah." The turian said, "Have to get back on Palaven soon. My family returned already, and they said there are a lot of things to do." The turian sighed, "Hard to believe it's finally over. After all these years, the Reapers are finally gone. Shepard would be proud of what we did."

"Yeah. He would be." James said and the turian patted him on the shoulder.

"He'd be proud of you, too, Jimmy." Garrus said as the lift opened on the Cargo Bay and they both stepped out. The turian headed for a section of the floor that contained his turian armor, and James headed over to his section, only to find Tali working on the Kodiak.

"Hey, Sparks!" He greeted enthusiastically, "What're you doing down here?"

The quarian's helmet turned to him as she stood up, and from the lights that came from her eyes, she was smiling. "With Cortez injured, Kaidan thought it would be okay if I was the one who did the check-ups on the Kodiak. It was banged up pretty hard, but I was able to fix most of the cosmetic and internal damage." The quarian sighed, "Besides, I have to keep busy. I can't stand knowing that… that…"

James understood, and hugged the quarian, "Hey now… it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. He did what he had to."

The quarian nodded in his neck, "I know." She said, her voice a little muffled from having her filter too close his chest. "He would've wanted me to move on. And I am… slowly, I think. But I'll never forget him."

He nodded, "Good on you, Sparks. Now let's get this mission done, so you can get back home and help your people."

She nodded, and pushed off him. "Keelah, James… those arms could crack my helmet. You're way too big."

James laughed, but his laughter stopped when Regine stepped out from behind the Kodiak, wearing a form fitting black suit on her body. The suit had embraced her curves in a… seductively tormenting way, and when she leaned her weight on one leg to fix her hair up, his gaze focused on her… rearview assets.

His jaw must've dropped, because the next thing he knew, Tali was pushing up his chin. "It's rude to stare, James."

He heard a flanging chuckle as Garrus stood behind him, "If I had a human fetish, I would've understood why." He nudged James as he holstered his sniper rifle on his back. "Put your eyeballs back in your sockets, Jimmy, and focus on the mission."

James shook his head as he headed to where his armor was, all the while sneaking peeks at Regine as she started buckling up her suit.

"I heard you'll be fighting with us, Doctor." Garrus said as he sat down on a bench as Regine started dressing. "I'm actually surprised that you know how to get messy."

"I was a Sentinel before I decided to become a Medic, General Vakarian." He heard Regine answer as he removed his fatigues and shirt and put on his body suit. "I fought in several missions before. I know how to handle a gun."

He started buckling up the lower part of his armor as Garrus spoke again, "So I've heard. I'm actually looking forward to seeing you fight, Doctor."

"As I am." Regine said, "Though I must admit, I am a little rusty at it. It's been a while since I held a gun. Syringes were most often the tools that I used to knock people out."

James chuckled as he lifted his armor and his gun, making his way to them before setting it on a table. "I'm sure you'll be fine, reina. I've seen you in action. You kicked my ass right here, too."

Regine looked at him and she blinked, before a flush crept up her cheeks. He stood before them shirtless, his very toned abdominals, chest and arms in full view of the doctor. He remembered that although she had removed his armor before, he still had his body suit then and she had never seen him fully shirtless. She turned away from him in an effort to put on her leg armor.

James smirked, "Like what you see, Doctor?"

At this, Regine sighed, before turning to look at him with her usual stoic expression. "Not really, Lieutenant. I was just musing at how well of a job I must've done. You don't have any scarring."

He looked down at his stomach, and realized that she was right. He didn't have any scars from where the Hammerhead piece pierced him. "Yeah, I had one of the best doctors to patch me up."

Regine merely snorted in reply, and Garrus' mandible flared in a smile before he stood up. He looked up at Tali, who saw his expression, and suddenly, the turian winked. Tali understood his meaning and opened up her OmniTool. "I think I'd better check on the Drive Core before I leave. Adams might make a mess of something."

Garrus stood up as well, "Oh damn, I think I forgot my scope in the Battery. You guys wait for us here while I go get it."

James watched as the turian and the quarian headed back on the elevator, giggling for crying out loud, on their hands as they left the two humans in the Cargo Hold. He watched them get on the elevator, and James saw that one of Tali's glowing eyes closed, and he realized that the damn quarian had winked at him.

Regine was still busy with her lower armor, and James looked at her to realize that after NOT wearing armor for her years as a Medic, she had actually forgotten how. He grinned as Regine huffed in impatience as she dropped her thigh armor.

"Need help with that, reina?" He said as he sat on the bench and watched her.

Her head was still bowed as she tried to fasten it again, "No. I do not need your help, Lieutenant."

James sighed as he looked at her, "Oh-kay. If you say so, just a fair warning. That thing pinches in the most uncomfortable way when you don't wear it right."

Regine's hands, which were trying to buckle the leg armor, stopped, and she finally lifted her head to look at James. He smirked when he saw her blushing face, and her eyebrows were furrowed, like she hated the fact that she was going to accept his help.

"Fine." She muttered. "Please help me with my armor, Mr. Vega." But she glared at him, "But no funny business, or else I'll break your nose again."

James raised up his hands in mock surrender, "Yes, Ma'am." But as he bent over to retrieve the thigh armor, he looked up and realized he was directly position in front of her crotch. Her face turned pink again, and she crossed her arms defiantly. James felt his own face get warm and he brought his attention back to her armor. He adjusted it on her thighs carefully.

"So…" He coughed as he fitted the rest of her armor to her legs, "When was the last time you actually went into battle?"

"Five years ago." Regine answered stiffly as James moved to put on the armor for her left thigh, "Fought batarian slavers."

"Huh. Slavers. This should be just as easy." James stood up and looked down at the next piece of armor, only to see that her 'codpiece' was the next one she was supposed to put on.

"Uhm…" He muttered, and he handed her the piece. Regine's face turned positively red, and she snatched it from him and looked at him pointedly. He turned away with a smirk as she put it on. When he heard the snaps of a lock, he turned around and looked down at her handiwork.

"Looks good." He said, and he blinked. "Sorry, I meant you locked it right. It doesn't… pinch, does it?"

She shook her head and picked up her chest armor, which she put on. He helped her again as he fastened it at the sides as she put on her arm greaves. She shifted the pieces so that it fit her, and James did a full inspection of how she fit in the armor. He gulped when he realized the armor made her look… incredibly hot.

"I'm ready." Regine said, her blush fading and holstering an assault rifle and a pistol to her back.

James blinked as he zipped up his body suit. And then he realized something.

The elevators opened, and suddenly Javik entered the Cargo Hold. "Human, I have been told I am needed for a mission."

He groaned, "Uhh… Yeah, Buggy. Get your gear. Garrus and Tali are on their way down. I'll be right back."

Javik nodded and headed for his weapons as Regine tested her OmniBlade, while James turned his back to them…

And began shifting his codpiece to fit his raging hard-on.

He grimaced as walked, heading to the bathroom and he looked up at the Engineering Deck only to see Tali and Garrus chuckling by the window.