Left foot moved in front of the right one, then the right one in the front of the left, then again, and again. Her first steps in two days. She had waited for this for...two days. Those two days she had spent in that boring bed had been horrible... She had almost died of inaction; there was simply nothing to do, except to lay in that bed. To her joy, on the second day Kaidan had brought her a few parts to tinker with. If he hadn't, she wasn't sure what she'd done. Sure, she could use her omni-tool to surf the Extranet, but she had never liked surfing very much... She liked to do things with her hands, something concrete. Sometimes she thought herself being born too late, in the wrong time period, and found herself longing for the past ... She would have made an excellent blacksmith...

At least now she could leave this boring room, and find out something that had bothered her... That was another reason why the two days had been so intolerable. 'I don't know.' Those three words had haunted her from the moment he had uttered them… That was why she had wished to do something, to distract her from the words . It had worked, but poorly. Again they rang in her mind, teasing her, discomforting her.

She wasn't stupid. She knew what all those acts meant... He did like her... Maybe. Probably. But what did that mean? One could like someone in different ways. In what way did he like her? As a person? As an interesting member of another species and culture? As a friend?

As a woman?

The thought lingered in her mind, but she didn't really believe in it. There was no way he'd notice her like that... Or was there? His words 'I don't know' became hers.

Why would he notice her? What had she done for him to notice? Yelled at him? Snapped at him? Second-guessed him, undermined his authority? Fainted? Fought with Garrus, with Wrex, snapped at Chief Williams? Sure, he'd notice these things, but not in way she'd like.

Which made his behavior even stranger... He never told her to do something a different way, never scolded her, never yelled back at her... She didn't understand, for she was acting stupidly. Why wasn't he annoyed? Why didn't he yell?

Why did he wish to understand her?

…

Her feet kept moving, always one ahead of the other. First she went through the door of the med bay, arriving to the mess hall. It was empty. She kept moving forward, her gaze locked to a door... One door, and behind it she would find something... She didn't know if she'd like that something.

And now she stood behind that door. And hesitated. Was she just being stupid, hanging onto his words like that? What did she even expect? Why was she even there ? Her head sunk, as she thought the questions. They all made sense... She should concentrate on Saren, on the mission.

But she still rang his doorbell.

And nothing.

Then more nothing. Maybe he wasn't there?

Still nothing... Tali sighed in disappointment, and turned away from the door. He was probably at the CIC then...

Then the door slid open, causing Tali to turn back. She saw Shepard inside the room, sitting at his table. His head was hung slightly, making him look contemplative, thoughtful.

Tali took a single step towards the doorway. "Can I come in?"

"The door's open," Shepard responded, not lifting his gaze from the table.

Tali bit her lip hesitantly, and slowly stepped through the doorway, which slid shut behind her.

She stood in the middle of the dimly-lit small room, and began feeling nervous. Her fingers fidgeted against each other, reflecting her mood. Her head lowered slightly, her eyes locked to her fingers. Chewing on her lip again, she found herself mute. "Um..." Was the only voice that came from her.

Which was more than what came from Shepard. His silence made her even more nervous, being the center of attention, being forced to carry the conversation... She didn't like either of those things... But she'd try her best. "You're not busy, are you?" Maybe he was, making him reluctant to talk?

"No."

She stared at her fiddling fingers. Now that she was actually standing in front of him, her willingness to get an answer seemed to fade, to mellow. Somehow she found it difficult to speak...

So she just blurted it out. "You don't know..."

Shepard frowned at her. "Know what?"

"I don't know..."

Shepard stared at her for a while, the silence again having filled the room.

To her delight, it was he who spoke, his gaze now fallen back to the table, frown disappeared. "You deserve to be treated well." He shrugged. "I don't know." He turned back to stare at her, brow raised. "You want me to be mean?"

A blink, as she tried to catch up to his trail of thought. How did he know she meant that? Did he remember? Still, after the moment of confusion, a quiet laugh escaped from her. "No..." Then her head sunk back down, her hands again in front of her. "Well I guess...I...My people do deserve to be treated better, but I don't want you to feel sorry for me Shepard."

Shepard quietly snorted, his head as well hanging. "Yeah."

The silence fell to the room again.

And, following the pattern before, Shepard again spoke. "It's weird."

Tali's head rose back up, tilting to the side. "What is?"

"You."

She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You always go on about your people," he said, giving her a glance. His gaze wandered back to the table. "I don't understand why you care."

Frown rose to her face. "You don't care about your people?"

He lifted his gaze again, his eyes staring at her from under his brow, shimmering slightly in the dark office. "About humans? Not really."

"Why not?"

"Why should I?"

Her frown deepened. "Humans are your people, who do you have if you don't have your family?"

"Maybe I don't need them."

Need them? That was a very selfish way of thinking... Need them? Like tools, which could be cast aside when they are not needed. "It's not just about you," she said, perhaps more strictly than she had wanted

Shepard's brow seemed to rise a little, but otherwise her small outburst had no effect. "Why not?"

Why not? It was like talking to a child, who simply wished to question everything. The conversation was getting tedious; Tali tried to explain, and all Shepard would do is throw back more questions... Her mind started to tire. Actually, she didn't even know why she continued this argument, but she did. "Don't you think that that is a very selfish way of thinking?"

"No," Shepard replied, still staring at her from under his brow, but his mouth seemed to have curled slightly from the corners. "I know it's a very selfish way of thinking. Why should I care?"

Question after question, and no answers. "Why should you...?" She stopped mid-sentence to sigh loudly. "Is there actually some purpose for this conversation?"

Shepard stared straight at her. "It's a conversation. Do you often seek hidden meanings?"

"I..." her mind was blank. "What?"

"I said: do you often-"

"I did hear what you said," Tali snapped, her temper seemingly beginning to fail. Her arms folded over her chest. "You're very funny."

Shepard nodded slightly, the corners of his mouth curling, like he was holding back a grin. "Thank you. I like you too."

Although she didn't wish to show it, the words struck her hard. She had thought about it, she had known... But hearing him say it was something different, greater, better. "Well... That's good, right?"

The grin now clearly more visible on his face, Shepard replied. "Probably."

Probably yes.

Was that the answer she had wanted? She wasn't sure. Maybe she didn't even know what she wanted?

Yet he seemed to notice her... But in what way?