Greetings All. I hope the weather is being nice to you where ever you are. I know it's taking awhile but we'll get to the party eventually, I promise. What do you think our gang will/should get up to? Drop me a line if you have an idea. I'll at least listen. Meanwhile many thanks to all those who've shown their support in one way or another. You rock. Have a good one.

Winding Up

Shepard

Chakwas asking her to come to the sickbay was simply to tell her that Garrus was cleared to go back to work, and to release the Turian to her.

"Why me?" Shepard was puzzled. "Vakarian is a big boy and can walk himself down to the cargo bay."

"I thought you might want to make sure that he didn't find someplace to hide out before the party." Chakwas told her.

"Has he said something?" Shepard was watching the Turian gathering up the pieces of his armor, and putting them on. It was a slow process; given how stiffly he was moving.

"Not exactly; but I know he was doing some extranet searches on Halloween and after awhile he got rather introspective." Chakwas said quietly. "So I don't know what, if anything, he uncovered."

About then Garrus finished and walked towards the two women.

"Commander, Doctor." The Turian was unfailingly polite.

"Garrus." Chakwas smiled at him. "I want you to take it easy for the next couple of days. No falling off of MAKOs."

He gave a snort. "No intentions, Doctor. Someone else can deal with the Terrible Two."

"But Trukle likes you." Shepard teased him and got, she thought, a very sour look from the Turian.

A soft chuckle from Chakwas followed them out of sickbay. In the corridor as they walked along, Vakarian stayed quiet.

"You hurting, Vakarian?" Shepard was concerned. While he tended to not say much, mostly she thought because he was still getting used to people, this was more than his normal reticence.

"No Commander, no more than to be expected." He replied almost formally.

"All right." She came to a halt in the corridor, hand out to stop him. "What's wrong, Vakarian? And don't tell me nothing. You aren't usually this formal with me."

He studied her for a long moment. His face had closed down completely, making him almost impossible to read – even for her.

"Permission to speak freely, Commander?" He asked in a tone that said he expected her to say no.

"Always." That startled her.

"I…" He hesitated and looked away. "..I didn't realize I was supposed to be the…what is it you say – Booly man for this party."

"Booly man?" Shepard was puzzled then it hit. "Boogie man?" He nodded. "No Vakarian. Where in the hell did you get that idea?"

He tapped at his omni-tool and a 3D image sprang to life. Shepard gaped at it. It was grossly and cruelly exaggerated; but it was clearly the mask of a Turian. Snarling, with red blood dripping from what looked like a mouthful of shark teeth.

"Damn, Vakarian." She was horrified. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize shit like this existed, though given how some of the First Contact veterans go on – I should have expected it."

"You…you do not wish me to be this boogie man?" He asked hesitantly.

"Hell no Vakari…" She paused, right now she needed to not be formal. "Can I call you Garrus?"

"You are the Comm…." He began.

"Don't give me the Turian military line." She cut him off. "May I call you Garrus?" He looked surprised but nodded.

"Garrus." She decided to be honest with him. "I like Halloween, always have. It's a time to have fun and be silly with friends." She paused and sighed. "Given what we're trying to do – I figured we could all use some silly before the shit hits the fan." Again he nodded.

"You're just supposed to come and enjoy the party with the rest of the crew." She told him. Ashamed that it hadn't occurred to her that there might be something out there, connected to Halloween, that would insult/distress him. Right there she made an executive decision.

"If you really don't like the idea of this – you don't have to attend. Though I hope you will. I want to party with my friends."

"You..you think of me as a friend?" He was visibly surprised by that.

"Yes." She paused and scowled at him. "Except when you make comments about my driving."

For a moment he was still then she heard a faint chuff of amusement from him.

"Smart ass." She muttered and the chuffing got louder.

Their usual rapport reestablished, they walked slowly down to the cargo bay. Where, Shepard was amused to see, Garrus poked his head cautiously in the door first. No doubt, she thought to herself, hunting for Trukle.

Satisfied that no tiny Krogan ankle limpets were present, they walked in.

Masset had done an excellent job with very little to work with. Carved pumpkins flickered with multi-colored lights here and there in the bay. Sheets were draped over various things to simulate ghosts. Some of the lights had colored T-shirts over them to change their color; and the overhead lights had been lowered. He'd even managed to find some sort of scary sound track of creaking doors, howling wolves, and hissing and snarling cats to play softly in the background.

"Spirits." Garrus was visibly startled by the changes. In this lighting even the MAKO looked spooky. Of course the two glimmering pumpkins you could see through the windows might have had something to do with that.

"Pretty impressive." Shepard nodded as she checked everything out. "Now if Wrex will stop eating the pumpkins and Trukle and Nezzie don't decide to attack the ghosts – everything should be fine for tonight."

"I'll see you tonight, Garrus." She turned to go. "Hopefully in costume."

"Is that an order, Commander?"

Given that hideous, speciest mask he'd found and what he'd thought about it and her motives, the answer was easy. "No, just a request. If you don't want to then you don't have to." She smiled over her shoulder as she left.

She headed for the bridge, needing to tell Joker that both Wrex and Walea were cleared to make calls out. She passed the conference room where she could faintly hear Acia and Liara teaching the kids how to use their biotics.

The mess sergeant was just heading in with a tray of e-rat bars and some drinks as she went by. She nodded to the woman, smiling to herself as she was forcibly reminded of kindergarten kids and 'snack' breaks.

When she got to the bridge, Joker turned around and grinned at her – bringing her to a dead stop.

For several seconds she stared at the pilot and then…

"Zorro, Joker….really?"

Joker was wearing a very homemade black mask with a rather large black T-shirt, crudely altered to be dashing looking. The tee looked like he'd bummed it off of Kaidan. The mask was silly looking with his trademark ball cap perched jauntily above it – though he'd tried to cover the cap with some black fabric also. It was Zorro the bargain basement edition; but pretty good considering they were on a military stealth frigate in the middle of nowhere.

"Guy is coolness personified, Commander..like me." He shot back, trying to adopt a swaggering position in his chair. As he did so, one of the shirt's sleeves rode up reveal a very thin, very scarred, and bruised arm.

She knew in an instant why he'd picked Zorro. Character had always been portrayed as a consummate athlete. Something Joker silently aspired too but would never be. Even pretending to make the 'sign of Zorro' could possibly crack the bones in his wrist if he did it wrong.

After Garrus and now with Joker, she was beginning to wonder if this party had been a good idea after all; but then she remembered the kids and their excitement. Yes, there were problems; but to give the kids one night of something good to remember after the misery of the slavers was well worth it. She had a feeling both Joker and Garrus would agree.