Charlie woke up four hours later at precisely 0600. She lamented the fact that her internal clock would not take a morning off for a hangover. Charlie checked the other side of the bed and confirmed that she was indeed alone. She wasn't sure how she felt about that, but admitted to herself that it was probably for the best. Making her way over to the bathroom for some medicine, she considered the past night.

The night had started with Charlie taking a cab to a part of the wards where no one knew her. She had thought that she would just get drunk alone, meet a stranger, and get a hotel room. The bar Charlie ended up in was not one that she really knew or remembered, but what had happened there? She knew it was something bad. Shit. Charlie froze while staring at her reflection.

You remember now. You saw that vid of Pallin sending Matriarch Ryza to Thessia.

Did I punch a vid screen?

Charlie looked down at her knuckles. They were tender and feint white lines ran across them, but they were healed.

Someone patched me up? Who?

Nexxia.

Charlie groaned at the fuzzy memory coming to the forefront of her mind. She had indeed started by breaking the vid screen, which a couple of patrons were not happy about. There were two turian males and a human man, Charlie couldn't remember who started the fight, but she knew that she had gladly welcomed it. She had held her own, but she was already too drunk at the time. They were slowly closing in on her.

Charlie moved into the bedroom and quickly found her guns. She sighed in relief when she saw they had not been fired. I wasn't insane, at least.

She tried to remember more of the night, but could only get brief glimpses of a blue light pulling her from the bar fight and then Nexxia was there. Charlie was fairly certain they ended up at Valhalla, but she definitely did not know how she ended up home.

The pain killers were starting to kick in and Charlie decided that the best thing for her was to get some food and water. Maybe she would hit the gym later; it was her day with her trainer, Waterby. Charlie changed out of her dirty clothes and put on a loose shirt and a pair of shorts.

There was a light coming from the kitchen and there were sounds of someone moving things around in the cupboard. Charlie lamented leaving her weapons in the room, but it was too late to go back now. Cautiously peering around the corner, she saw a very tall turian standing with his back to her. Charlie was not a very stealthy person, but she tried to sneak up on the stranger. The turian stopped and turned around and faced her before she had taken two steps.

"Garrus! What the hell are you doing here?"

Garrus folded his arms and leaned casually against the counter. "Please tell me that you weren't trying to sneak up on me. That was terrible."

Charlie huffed at him. "You didn't answer my question."

"I found you at Val Halla and I took you home."

Charlie blanched. She had not wanted anyone to see her weak like that. "Oh … well I didn't need the help. I'm sure I was fine."

Garrus had not been expecting Charlie's undying gratitude for his aid, but he had at least expected something. Definitely not denial of the incident. "You were not fine. You were drunk and angry. I had to carry you home."

Charlie gave him a dangerous warning look. "Thank you for your help, I preferred to be left alone. I didn't want to be brought home in that condition. If someone had seen me …"

Garrus quickly looked away from Charlie and stared at the blank portion of the wall.

"Who saw me?" Charlie was speaking in the low voice that was reserved for real anger. If Charlie was screaming then it wasn't cause to worry, but the quieter she got … the more danger you were in.

"A turian that you called Tevan."

"Son of a bitch." Charlie heavily sat down on the counter behind her.

"I don't think you have to worry about him. He only seemed … concerned about you."

"Oh concerned about me, was he? He's the father of Grace's best friend and now he thinks that I'm an alcoholic cop who brings home strange turians! Do you know how long it took for him to trust me? I had to kick his ass on the mat before he even let Darius come over." Charlie was flustered and her migraine was threatening to blind her once more.

Garrus gave her an odd look out of the corner of his eye and looked like he was about to ask her something, but changed his mind and asked something else. "You told me about what happened, last night. If you need someone to talk to, Charlie, I'm here."

Charlie scowled at him. "If I told you all about it, then there is nothing left to say. Leave me alone. I don't need someone to rescue me." She noted the look of hurt on Garrus' face and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for. I know you are just trying to help." Charlie raised a hand to cover her eyes and took a breath. "Let's start over again. What are you doing in my kitchen?"

Garrus gave a small shrug. "I thought I'd see if there was something to eat. I've got orientation in two hours and I thought I smelled some dextro food in here."

Charlie forced a small smile to come to her face. "Is that today, damn; I'm supposed to be there. Scoot out of here and I'll make you something to eat."

"I thought you said you had a few days off. Why would they want you to come in for orientation?" Garrus asked as he traded places with Charlie.

Charlie turned and gave him an evil smirk. "Let's just say I have to be there. I'm a … scare tactic for the new recruits."

"What in the spirits does that mean?"

She tapped one finger on her chin, "Are you still one of the top hand-to-hand specialists?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll find out."

Garrus wasn't sure what to make of this comment and so he opted for watching Charlie move around the kitchen cooking some kind of fish, which smelled amazing.

"Why did you learn to cook dextro?"

Charlie missed the tone in Garrus' voice. "It helps to make friends with my turian neighbors."

"Oh … like Tevan?" Garrus' voice was too innocent this time and Charlie caught it.

"Garrus, he's married!"

He threw his hands in the air and surrendered the point. Garrus waited till Charlie had turned back to cooking before adding, "I didn't hear you say no."

Charlie threw some kind of human fruit at him and Garrus fell off the counter laughing.

Garrus had a nice morning with Charlie, though he noted that she never brought up the past night or the events leading up to it again. She seemed content to pretend that they had never happened. He didn't bring them up either, but he made a mental note to keep an eye on her. The food had been as delicious as it had smelled and Garrus was surprised Charlie had mastered cooking dextro. 'Though', he thought as he reveled in the flavor, 'she doesn't strike me as a person who does something half-way.'

The rest of the day was spent sitting in boring lectures and he didn't see Charlie again until that afternoon. His orientation group, which consisted of fifteen turians, three asari, one salarian, and one human male, had just entered a large gymnasium and were told that they would be sparring with each other.

There were quite a few officers milling about the room and it appeared that some betting was being made on the outcomes. Garrus glanced around for Charlie, but didn't see her. It was odd, because she had definitely said she would be here. It wasn't long before they were split into partners.

Garrus was first matched with a turian female. She was good, quite good actually, but he was used to a much better partner in Cecilia and the female tapped out before she had landed more than a couple of blows. The next couple of matches went about the same. The opponents were solid fighters, but they used very predictable patterns. They were also much older than Garrus. It wasn't like they were his father's age, but the youngest of them were in their thirties and Garrus was only twenty and Garrus was very good.

After the last fight, which was surprisingly against the human male called Bailey, Garrus was feeling the glow of victory. He liked being the best and he was definitely the best at this. He wasn't even feeling tired yet; he felt like he could go a few more rounds with a really good partner. Again, he lamented Lia being so far away.

"Well done. We have a winner, Garrus Vakarian. Now we have a treat for you boys. Since you are the best among this lousy group of recruits, you get to fight our reigning champion. This is what it is like to face a human and let it be lesson for all of you." The older turian gave a glare to all of the recruits.

"Well that's not fair, Dysus. Are you calling me average?" Garrus knew that voice and he smirked with confidence. He could take Charlie. It's true that she managed to get the upper hand on him the one time that he had faced her, but she was in his world now. On the sparring mat, he felt powerful and invincible.

"Charlie." Garrus greeted her with a smile when she appeared. She was wearing a large shirt and some tight black shorts.

"Officer Nacht, recruit." She gave him an arrogant smirk. Charlie took off the loose shirt and threw it casually to the ground. She was wearing just a small piece of tight fabric around her chest now. Spirits, she looked so frail with so much skin showing. Garrus almost averted his eyes to keep from seeing her exposed waist, but then he remembered that humans didn't have the same modesty regarding it and all of the bits that they found indecent on a body were covered.

"As I didn't get a warm up round, is it ok if I stretch, Dysus?"

"I believe that's fair, officer."

The whole conversation had the feel of a practiced routine. From Charlie's innocent tone to Dysus' begrudging reluctance to concede; Garrus had never heard Charlie use any tone even close to innocent. He was beginning to feel like he was being played. That feeling was confirmed when Charlie began her 'stretches'.

There were mumbles from the entire group of recruits at her bending. Spirits, the woman could bend over backwards, touch the floor, and then lift her body with only her arms. Turians did not bend that way at all. When Charlie did a full side split and started to stretch down to her feet; all of the recruits, except the three asari, took a step backwards and gasped. The telling part was that none of the officers on the other side of the room looked impressed and instead they were chuckling and smiling at the recruit's reactions. Yes, Garrus decided, he was most definitely getting played. Charlie's stretching was quickly over with and it appeared to have been carefully crafted to show off the most alien parts of her physiology.

Charlie finished and started to wrap her hands and feet with some white cloth. Then she popped up off the ground and winked at him before taking a stance in front of Garrus.

"Don't worry; I won't embarrass you too much."

"Officer Nacht, you're here to do exactly that." Dysus countered.

"Oh yeah, sorry about that Garrus." Then she had the teeth to wink at him again.

Garrus was properly riled up at the prospect of beating Charlie. They had brought her out and paraded her about as if she was some kind of champion. Well that was about to change and it will just eat at her that I was the one to bring her down a peg.

Garrus sized her up as they did their slow circles around each other. Charlie was definitely flexible, even more so than Lia, so he had to be wary of her getting too close. She was probably also very fast, though there was no way she was as fast as he was. Garrus didn't know much about human physiques, but he knew that she was very tall for her species and had a high leg to torso ratio. That meant that Charlie would focus on kicks more. He knew from experience that she was strong, but turians were much stronger than humans and he doubted that Charlie would have the arm strength to really damage him. Bailey hits had hurt, but his arm width was easily double that of Charlie's.

Confident with his assessment of Charlie he started by sending a few warning jabs at her to test her speed. She easily danced out of the way, but didn't retaliate. Garrus tried to hit her again, this time more earnestly, but again she just wasn't there and he hit air. She was toying with him, he could feel it. Fine, toy with this. He quickly spun out with his right leg. The move was supposed to hit her in the chest, but she must have anticipated it. Because she ducked under his leg, hugged his ankle and slammed a forearm behind his knee.

On turians there is a special bundle of nerves that are located at the base of the leg spur. They are what make spur injuries so painful. If a blow is landed there it will lock up the leg and cause an inexperienced fighter to fall to the ground. It's a hard hit to make, because it requires a strike be made at a precise angle and turians, themselves, will usually not attack the bundle of nerves since it carries the same stigma as kneeing a human male in the groin.

Garrus, however, was a skilled fighter and Lia loved to attack him there. He was very used to dirty tactics. He couldn't prevent his leg from seizing up, but was able to use momentum and slam the leg backwards to knock Charlie off her feet. Charlie bounced back up and gave him a congratulatory smile. Garrus might have returned it, but his leg was in too much pain and he still had about thirty seconds left until he could bend the knee again.

Charlie attempted to move in close and take him off balance before his leg was functioning again. Garrus knew that he couldn't let her get in too close, so he swiped at her left side. She danced away, like he knew she would, but he had his right arm was already moving and connected with her sternum.

The playful look in Charlie's eyes vanished and was replaced by a cold calm. She let out a single gasp, but didn't let the lack of air in her lungs stop her. Charlie grabbed the offending wrist and twisted. Garrus heard the snap and while he was working on a counter with his left hand he felt her leg connect with his right hip.

The game they had been playing was done and Garrus' face matched Charlie's own. He drew first blood with his talons, it was actually an accident, but she reciprocated with a grab of cowl and fist in his face. His teeth were now cracked and bleeding. His blue blood a match for Charlie's own red. This was a real fight now and neither opponent was used to losing. Garrus couldn't even remember the last time he had lost, basic training probably. They circled each other, landing blows when they could. Garrus could see the bruises starting to show on Charlie's olive skin and he knew that he had a few ribs broken, as well as the fractured wrist.

Garrus eventually made the mistake of letting Charlie in too close. She ducked under his damaged right arm and landed the heaviest blow Garrus had felt, to the sensitive area on the side of his waist. Charlie then ducked and swept his legs out from under him. She was on top of him before he could hit the ground, spirits she was faster than she had any right to be. Charlie was straddling his chest and he had no idea what her plan was. He couldn't get up with his legs like this, but he could still throw her. He moved his arms up to do just that, but that seemed to be the wrong move because she was waiting for him.

What happened next was a little too fast for Garrus to keep up with, mostly because it confused him thoroughly. Charlie grabbed his undamaged left arm and somehow slipped her legs around his neck and moved herself to the ground so he couldn't push her off. Her powerful legs were threatening to choke him and he couldn't get any leverage to move her off.

"I could break your neck right now. Say it." Charlie was definitely out of breath and the words came out as a growl.

"No." Garrus was pissed and was considering how unsportsmanlike it would be to just shred her leg with his right talons.

Charlie must have heard his thoughts, because she said. "Do it and I'll break your other wrist."

She gave his hand a warning twist. Garrus growled and eventually conceded the victory to Charlie. After she let him go and they both got up, he looked over the injuries he had given her. Large purple splotches were showing on her skin, her shins and forearms were scuffed and bleeding from where they had connected with his plates, her nose was broken and pouring blood, and there were a few places where his three talons had gashed her. Garrus should really not have been proud by how bad she looked, but she was smiling and he found that he was too.

"How can you move like that?"

"I'm naturally awesome, it's a gift and a terrible burden." She grinned at his glare and put a bleeding hand to the side of her mouth as if she was telling him a secret. "Alliance regulated gene mods. My trainer suggested them and Admiral Hackett agreed to it. I got strength and dexterity mods. However, I am just naturally better than you. I didn't have them back on Mindoir."

Garrus' world finally made sense again. He had seen enough humans in combat to know that they did not possess that level of strength. However, he was also aware that genetic modification could only do so much and Charlie was definitely extremely gifted and dedicated to become such a combatant. He could obviously never tell her this.

"Well that was impressive." Dysus came over and slapped Garrus on the back. He couldn't suppress the wince in time.

"Sorry for damaging your recruit and hopefully no one was fool enough to bet against me this time." She said the second part loudly with a meaningful look at the crowd of officers. "I'll be by to collect my winnings after a quick trip to the med bay. I have to get all this blue blood off of me."

Charlie winked at Garrus and offered him a shoulder to help him to the med bay, but he pushed her away and followed her limping. Once they were away from the laughing crowd, he did accept her help and they half-carried each other to the doctor's office.

"So, that was a lot of fun. Do it again sometime?" Garrus couldn't see her face, but the grin in her voice was evident.

"Definitely, next time it's my turn to win though."

Her response was her usual laughter and after a moment Garrus joined in.