I apologize for the delay and also that chapters will probably be delayed a bit in the near future as well. Dragon Age: Inquisition came out this week and it has consumed my life. I am still writing-just not quite as fast. I promise I'm not abandoning it, though!
Thanks so much for the favs, follows & reviews! You are all amazing!
A HUGE thank you to Jules Hawk for beta-reading this for me. She is a rock star, and I can't say enough how much I appreciate her advice and encouragement.
BioWare owns all. Well, except my OCs. I am 100% responsible for them all, for better or worse.
2172
"It has been eighteen months, Doctor, and my brother is still confined to that bed. I think you are playing with me. Do I need to have your son brought here so that you have proper motivation?"
Emily sighed as Gor'nolak charged into her lab and began his accusations with no preamble. He'd been away for several weeks, and it had been relatively peaceful. Over the last year and a half, he had grown more and more impatient with what he saw as a lack of progress on her part. The truth was that she had made quite a bit of progress.
She'd managed to teach herself basic batarian anatomy in the first year. Now she was trying to combine that knowledge with her existing knowledge of cloning and the human nervous system. It was not going to be a short process. It had taken her years of research to come up with the treatment method she was known for in human medical circles. Fortunately, human and batarian anatomy was quite similar. She'd be able to apply her knowledge of the former to the latter.
Not that she was sharing that information with Gor'nolak. She pretended it was more complicated than it was while Patok pretended to be a much more difficult patient than he was. Of course, she knew that her and Patok's stalling tactics could only last them so long. Luckily, they had another trick up their sleeves.
She looked up at Gor'nolak and said, "That won't be necessary. I've been waiting for you to return so that I could run an idea past you, actually."
The batarian eyed her suspiciously but said, "Go on."
"I am still several years away from providing you with the specific cure you brought me here for, but I believe that I may have come up with a temporary solution that will at least give him some functionality back."
"This sounds like more stalling, Doctor."
Emily narrowed her eyes. "I will say it one more time, Gor'nolak. I am not stupid. I know what is at stake here, and I would never put my son's life at risk needlessly. Even if I did not take all of the precautions that I think are necessary before attempting to clone your brother's nervous system, I would still be a year away from attempting it. I've learned a lot about your anatomy in the last year and a half. Enough that I would feel fairly confident performing general surgery. But this is not general surgery. And I could kill your brother if I do it wrong."
"If that happens you will watch your son die a slow death, Doctor."
"Your threats are completely unnecessary. I have no intention of letting that happen, and that is exactly why I am taking my time. Anyway, as I said, I believe I have something we could try in the meantime. It's a relatively minor surgery, and I'd feel comfortable performing it now. It includes the use of cybernetics, which I don't think is the long-term solution for your brother. But if we can at least get him out of that bed for now, it would be much better for his mental health and therefore, his entire prognosis."
"Have you talked with Patok about this?"
Emily nodded. "I have. And after much discussion, I have convinced him to give it a try."
"How soon can you do it?"
She picked up a datapad that was sitting on her desk and handed it to him. "I need these supplies. I can start as soon as I have them."
Gor'nolak considered the list briefly before giving a curt nod.
"Very well. I'll make sure we have the supplies by next week."
"Then I will be sure to have everything else ready by then."
"So when do you have to report?"
"Three weeks."
Ellis blinked at Lee's image on his terminal. "That soon?"
"Yeah."
"Where?"
Lee grinned. "London actually."
"Really?"
"Pretty lucky, huh?"
"Yeah. What are the chances? I thought they kept you in your home country for Basic."
Lee's grin faltered. "They do."
Ellis was confused. "So how did you end up assigned to London?"
"I, uh…" Lee trailed off and looked at something off camera before finishing in a rush of words. "Iputyouraddressontherecruitmentforms."
Ellis stared in shock for a moment before he finally gave a short laugh.
"Are you asking to move in with me, Lee?"
"No! I mean, I'll be living on base. I just thought I could be stationed closer if I…"
"I was just teasing. But, you know...you could."
"What?"
Lee's shocked reaction had Ellis suddenly doubting himself. Their relationship had not really evolved since the day they'd parted at the transport a year and a half ago. Lee had finished out his last year of high school while living with his grandmother in New York, and Ellis had started working towards medical school in London.
He had visited Lee a couple times in New York and they talked almost every day, but other than a few stolen kisses and a couple of tender embraces, both men were hesitant to take things any further. Part of it was the distance, part of it was that they were still relatively young, but mostly it was that neither of them wanted to ruin a friendship that had lasted as far back as they could remember by rushing into things.
So what in the world had possessed Ellis to just tell Lee that they should move in together? He hurried to explain.
"Well, yeah. I mean, like you said, you'll mostly be living on base. And then sent off to wherever they send you. So it's really just a formality and a place to crash when you have leave, right?"
Still not looking at him, Lee said, "I...yeah, I guess."
"It was just an offer...to make things easier for you. No pressure or anything. I mean, no big deal."
Ellis was mentally kicking himself. Stupid mouth just talking before his brain had a chance to catch up. After a short, awkward silence Lee finally looked back at him.
"I'll be there in a couple of days. We'll talk about it then, okay?"
Lee had been planning his post-graduation trip for several months. All of his parents' accounts had passed over to him once he'd turned eighteen. Since he wouldn't be needing much when he joined the Alliance, he was treating Ellis and himself to a trip to the Citadel. Neither of them had ever been, and Carmine had even agreed to try and meet them there. It would be the first time they would see her since the day she'd left Mindoir. They were scheduled to leave from London in three days.
Ellis nodded. "Yeah, okay. Sounds good."
"Night, El. Love you."
"Love you, too."
Carmine made her way through the dimly lit bar, weaving around groups of gyrating bodies and avoiding groping hands as she searched for the person she was looking for. She finally saw him sitting in a booth in the back corner of the room. Fairly certain that he hadn't yet spotted her, she started working on a plan to sneak up on him.
Her target had made a lot of enemies over the years and he wasn't stupid. He was sitting so that he had a view of the entire bar. The only way she would be able to approach him without being seen was if he was distracted. She was looking around and trying to think of a distraction when another idea occurred to her.
The one direction he couldn't see was up. Carmine had learned quite a few tricks over the last year and a half, and she was able to easily pull herself up into the catwalks above the bar. She suspected he would know he was vulnerable from above, so she wasn't surprised to see a man stationed up there. It was almost disappointing how easy it was to sneak up on him and knock him out.
With that taken care of, she carefully lowered herself off the side of the catwalk and dropped down in the seat next to her target. The krogan didn't even flinch.
"Runt. Did you take out another one of my bodyguards?"
She smiled at him. "You should see about getting a refund on that one, Wrex. He didn't even put up a fight."
Wrex growled. "There wasn't a lot to choose from on this planet."
Carmine looked around. "Yeah, it's kind of hell-hole, isn't it? So why'd ya pick it?"
"Because someone here has information that you might find interesting."
That caught her attention. "Here? Really?"
"Yeah. Thought we could work out a trade. I've got a job coming up that I could use your help on. You promise to do that, and I'll help you shake this guy down."
Since she'd finally gone out on her own just over a year ago, she and Wrex still met regularly. He'd send her a message with just the name of some seedy bar on a random planet, and they'd meet on the first of the following month. And he always did this. Always had some bit of information that he would 'trade' with her for her help on a job.
She saw through him. He'd taken her under his wing since the day he'd found her on that transport, and this was his way of continuing to make sure that she was okay. She didn't mind. His information was always good, and she'd actually taken out a couple more members of Gor'nalk's crew. Plus, she always learned something new when she worked with him.
"So what's the job?"
"It should be fairly easy. Some volus took something that didn't belong to him. I get to take him out. But there's a bonus if I can get the stolen goods back. And I need someone who can get into tight places for that."
"Good thing you got me then. Where? When?"
"Citadel. As soon as possible."
"Well, that's fortunate. I was headed there next anyway."
Wrex's eyes narrowed. "What are you headed to the Citadel for? I thought you were sticking to out in the Terminus Systems."
"Relax, big guy. I wasn't planning on getting into trouble. I'm just meeting up with some old friends."
"If you say so."
Carmine rolled her eyes. "I do. Now, tell me what information you have for me."
