Disclaimer: The Mass Effect franchise and its characters belong to Bioware. Celia Shepard is all mine. Enjoy!

"Hey, Commander." Joker greeted as she stepped into the cockpit. He was eating some leftover asari noodles Kaidan had brought back from the Citadel for him a few days ago.

"You better not get my dashboard dirty, Joker," she said sternly as he stirred the noodles with his chopsticks.

"Nah, I'm good. So where to now?" Joker asked, and took a bite of his noodles. He raised an eyebrow when he saw her nostrils flare, and the slightly green cast her skin took on. "Want some, Commander?" he held out the take out box and waved it under her nose.

"Uh, no. Thanks," she replied, and turned her head and took a deep breath. "Just came to check on things. Just keep scanning this system. I should go," she turned on her heel and hurried away.

"EDI, I think that one counted," he said in hushed tones.

"I believe you are correct, Jeff. I will add it to the list."

"So what are we up to now?"

"According to James, her 'boobs' have increased in size and she is prone to sudden mood swings, in addition to nausea, fatigue, and occasional dizziness, so five. We also believe Major Alenko's suspicions have been aroused, but he has not requested Shepard report to Dr. Chakwas yet."

Shepard headed down to engineering. Surely there weren't any nauseating smells down there. She'd never liked those asari noodles; the smell of them had always made her gag, it just seemed worse this time. She walked in to find Diana Allers, the media liason she had allowed on the ship against her better judgment, draped across Ken's console, her décolletage on prominent display. She raised an eyebrow, "Out," she barked at Allers, and jerked her head towards the door. She clenched her teeth when Allers batted her eyelashes at Ken and sauntered out. "One of these days, I'm going to put her in her place," she muttered.

"Thanks, Commander. She was a bit of a distraction," Gabby said, scowling at Ken as he stared after the other woman.

"You know, Ken, rabid species like that carry disease," Shepard drawled, and grinned at the horrified expression on his face. "So, what is going on down here in the bowels of the ship?" she asked, and listened with half an ear as the two engineers prattled on to her about internal compensators, or some other tech jargon that was over her head. Her head jerked up when she heard Tali hiss into her communicator, "How am I supposed to know that, I'm not human, you bosh'tet."

"Everything okay, Tali?" Shepard called to the quarian from across the room.

"Um, yes, just a disagreement with Joker, she nearly stammered.

Shepard studied the quarian, confused as to why she was so twitchy. "Maybe James is right about his nickname for you," she murmured.

"Sparks? Stupid name," Tali said, relieved to change the subject. "Vega is very awkward around me, he always seems to get tongue tied."

"That's Vega for you. I don't think he's had as much contact with non-humans as the rest of the crew. Go easy on him, Tali. We'll break him in yet," Shepard chuckled as she headed towards the door. She considered stopping by to talk to Javik, but decided against it. She also briefly considered having a talk with Allers, but decided to head down to the armory instead.

That was where Kaidan found her a few hours later, mulling over a list of upgrades, keeping up a running commentary with James about the benefits of one upgrade over another. Fascinated, he didn't make his presence known.

"So, Vega, you want the upgrade for the Valkyrie or the Argus? Kaidan and I both think the Argus weighs too much."

"Nothing against you or the Major, but the Major isn't built for a frontline assault. Not that he can't handle himself if it comes down to it. You," he chuckled, "You are a different story, Lola. Slight, but packing a lot of power to get up close and personal. I've seen those Cerberus goons piss themselves when you come flying at them, shotgun drawn. But packing something like the Argus or the Valkyrie would just slow you down. No, you need to just stick to that shotty you use to blow peoples' faces off with." James rounded the corner, and studied her. "You up for a dance, Lola?"

Shepard laughed and strode confidently over to the Lieutenant, drilling a pointed finger into his chest. "Oh yeah, Vega. Let's dance."

Kaidan chuckled and leaned against the console she had just been working at, watching as Shepard goaded Vega, ducking nimbly beneath his powerful swings, landing snapping punches to his arms and torso. "Don't look now, Lola, but your boy toy is watching," Vega growled, jerking his head towards Kaidan.

She didn't rise to the bait, however, "He's been watching about ten minutes, Vega. He loves to watch me get hot and sweaty and physical." He stumbled, and she landed a solid jab to his face, splitting his lip. "What's a matter, Vega, can't focus when your Commander talks dirty?" She grinned when he left another opening, to his ribs this time, and she executed a flawless roundhouse, leaving him doubled over. "Vega, you want to be N7, you learn to block all that out," she told him quietly, but sternly. "I could be talking about your mother and your grandmother, but you block it out, got it?"

He nodded sharply, and wiped the blood from his lip. "Okay, Lola, let's go," he grinned.

Kaidan watched as they circled each other, looking for an opening, chinks in the armor. He winced as Shepard took a few hard blows, one that would leave a bruise on her left cheek, and laughed outright as she landed a few of her own, to his gut and another to his face. He was about to step in to call the fight when Vega finished it with a series of fast jabs that threw her off balance as she fell on her back.

She lay there stunned for a minute before James held out a hand to pull her to her feet. James cocked his head to the side when a glint from her dog tags, which had slid partially free of her shirt, caught his eye. He caught the chain and tugged them the rest of the way out of her shirt, "Pretty, Lola," he murmured as he examined the ring he found there.

She grasped his wrist, "James, you can't say anything to anyone," she mumbled "I haven't said yes," she let the 'yet' hang in the air between them.

He dropped the chain as she released his wrist, "Don't worry, Lola, your secret is safe with me." He nodded to Kaidan as he went back to his station.

"You all right?" Kaidan called as she quickly tucked her tags back in her shirt.

"I'm fine." She moved back to stand beside him at the console. "What brings you down here?" she asked, and jumped up to sit on the countertop.

"Looking for you," he murmured with a glance around the shuttle bay, before he stepped between her knees and pressed a kiss to her lips, and nearly groaned when her tongue licked his lips, demanding entrance he gladly yielded. He broke the kiss with a frustrated sigh. "I found some of my students."

"Oh yeah, where?" she asked, looking up at his with a suggestive glint in her eyes.

"Nice try, Commander." He grinned at her and fished out the chain for her tags, playing with it. "A small squad is on Benning. I'd like to go extract them. Anderson needs them on Earth."

"We were on Benning shortly before the attempted coup on the Citadel." Shepard frowned. "Okay, have Joker set a course."

Kaidan rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. "I, uh, already did. He also said you looked like you were going to be sick when he offered you some of his noodles," he said, concern evident in his gaze as he studied her.

"I hate those noodles. It's not natural."

"Neither is half the shit we eat these days," Kaidan shrugged.

"Commandeering my ship to rescue your squad? Tsk, tsk, Major," she said as they made their way to the elevator.

He put his hands on her waist and pulled her close as the elevator doors slid shut." We have a couple hours before we get to Benning," he murmured suggestively, his lips hovering over her ear.

"Well, Major, I suggest we go test our reach and flexibility," she whispered, pulling him close.

"Damn it, Cortez, just find me something that fits," Shepard snapped, as she was still having problems with her armor. With Kaidan's help, she squeezed into the undersized one, and gave a wiggle of her torso in an attempt to get more comfortable. She saw Cortez mutter something to James under his breath, and saw James' face light up with a grin, and narrowed her eyes at the two of them. They wiped the smiles from their faces and bent over their omni-tools. Garrus and Kaidan stepped over to join her as they waited for Cortez and James to ready the shuttle.

"Makes you miss the Mako, huh?" she mused, "Just get in and drop."

Garrus scowled at her, "Only when you didn't go around breaking it."

Kaidan bit his lip to hold back a grin. Shepard winked at him as the boarded the shuttle. "I thought you might like to take point on this one, Kaidan. Since they're your people."

"Ah, thanks, Shepard. I don't have an exact location, something is jamming the signal. He pulled up a map of the area, and pointed to a section, "This is the most likely place for them to be, easily defendable, and extraction shouldn't prove too difficult."

"Ok, let's do this."

"Ah, Commander, just to let you know, you'll want to hustle. There's a storm heading this way, so unless you want to fight in the rain…"Cortez told her.

She shuddered; she hated being in the rain in her armor. "All right, let's move."

They touched down, and met remarkably little resistance. It seemed the extremists that attacked in the first place had lost interest in the location. There was no Alliance presence though, so that was worrisome.

"Shepard, over here!" Garrus called as he crouched next to a young woman slumped behind a low wall, her blue barrier barely flickering.

"Kaidan! Here!" she called as she ran over. She quickly administered a pack of medigel, and the girl's breathing immediately evened out.

"Thanks," she croaked from cracked and bloodstained lips. "Alliance?"

"I'm Commander Shepard, and Major Alenko is with me," she reassured the woman, and glance up as Kaidan dropped to his knees beside her, scanning her with his omni-tool.

"Kate, what happened? Where is the rest of the squad?"

Kaidan spoke to her in reassuring tones while Shepard pulled Garrus aside, "Can you sit with her for Cortez to pick her up? She needs to see the doc ASAP.

Garrus' mandibles twitched uncomfortably, "Sure. For the record, though, I think it's a bad idea for you to go on alone."

"I'll have Kaidan with me," she said distractedly.

Kaidan stood and came over to stand beside Shepard. "They were ambushed. The rest of the squad is holed up where I thought they would be. They had to retreat in a hurry, or they never would have left Kate. Operations Chief Katelyn Fields," he explained.

Shepard nodded, "Garrus is going to hang here while Cortez arranges a pick up. Then he'll come to meet us. It isn't much further."

He grabbed her wrist as she moved to unclip her shotgun. "I don't think we should go without Garrus, Commander. We may need a sniper."

"We'll be fine," she shook off his hand, touched his shoulder, "Can we move out?"

He sighed, and pulled his assault rifle off his shoulder. "Good luck, Garrus."

They located the rest of the small squad in the middle of a firefight. To Kaidan's chagrin, and with a look of 'I told you so,' from Shepard, they eliminated the threat without any problems. "Walker! You all okay?" Kaidan called, as they searched the area before calling all clear.

"Few bumps and bruises. Pepper took a shot to the knee, she'll be down for a while." A tall, slender man came over to greet them. "Commander Shepard, it's an honor," he said as he shook her hand.

"You know who I am?" she asked, bemused.

"Everyone knows who you are, Shepard," Kaidan muttered, his hand resting on her shoulder. "Our shuttle had to take Fields back to our ship, so we're stuck here for a bit. She was in bad shape, but she'll make it," he fended off the questions from the small squad, and passed out the energy bars he always had on him, and tried not to grin as they fell on them ravenously. He looked up as Shepard wandered away, searching corners and doorways as she went. He nodded as Garrus jogged up to join them, "Be right back," he muttered to the turian.

"It's going to rain," she said, without turning to face him.

"Yeah, probably," he said as he caught up with her.

"No, it is. My implants itch right before the weather changes. I hate being caught in a storm in my armor."

"Shepard, what's wrong?" he reached out and caught her wrist, gently tugged her to face him.

"What are we going to do with them? We can't take them with us, and we can't send them back to Earth. Not yet, anyway."

"We'll do what we always do, patch them up and contact the nearest Alliance ship to come get them. What's really on your mind? You've been distracted all day."

"Do you want to go with them?" she asked softly.

"Ah," he smiled and stepped closer to her, and put his hands on her shoulders, "I do. But I'd never leave you while I have a choice."

She stared up at him, searching his face, "I need to hear you say it," she said softly.

"Say what?" he asked, puzzled.

She pulled her tags out from around her neck, showed him the ring he'd put there a few days ago, "You know, to ask…"

"Marry me, Shepard," he said huskily, as the rain started pouring from the sky, drenching them instantly.

"Yes," she whispered, her answer drowned out by the sound of thunder cracking overhead.

"What?" he shouted over the noise.

"Yes!" she screamed, and flung herself into his arms, their bodies pressing as close as their armor would allow while the storm raged overhead. She fused her mouth to his, and kissed him deeply, drowning out the jeers and catcalls of his students as they watched, safely out of the rain. "Nothing would make me happier, Major," she whispered against his lips. "We have an audience."

"Yeah," he helped her tuck her tags back in, and stroked her face, and pushed the wet tendrils of hair back, "Shall we go back, future Mrs. Alenko?"

She snorted, "I think you should be Mr. Shepard. I am the more famous one, after all," she grinned as they walked back to get out of the rain. She grinned as he ruffled her hair, knowing it would annoy her.

Garrus stared at them, and shook his head. "I don't know why you even bring me along, Shepard."