_11:49, A.M. _

-

The next morning had been a different kind of quiet. Unwelcomed, and hated. At least it was, to Jack. When she had gotten back from the lounge, James had gone to bed without as much as a glance to her. Without so much as a whisper. When she joined him, he kept to one side of the mattress, and drifted off into sleep. He didn't say 'goodnight'. He didn't run his mouth about how beautiful she was, or how her eyes were mesmerizing. He never even touched her.

She could remember thinking about that. About all of the things he didn't do. It amazed even her, how she could just whisk up the memories of everything James had usually done to show his affection for her, without straining herself. And the more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that she missed it. She would never say it to his face, or to any other being, so long as she drew breath. But she missed it. A subconscious thought of hers asked why, and she fed into it.

"Why, exactly?" She thought. "You don't care. You told him to go fuck himself, when he said he was proud of you - you criticize him every time he compliments you. So why? When he stops, why do you miss it?"

She was prepared to answer that question as quickly as she asked it. But her train of thought was broken, the minute she received a message on her omni-tool. The answer she thought she had escaped from her grasp, and she fumbled for it, when she came to realize it was gone. But Jack had lost the battle. And after which, she slightly shrugged, her eyes coming to close, and her dark red lips parting to release a small breath of air. "Fuck it." She said, before tending to the message she'd gotten.

_12:20, P.M. _

"Alright. Keep your eyes open, though. And remember to report back."

Dorian had been outside of the lounge, discussing plans to intercept any Cerberus operatives that tried to pull what the last batch did. He had been wearing a brown suit, as opposed to the outfit he'd worn while bartending, and his hair had been combed and brushed to complete the formal look he had no doubt been aiming for.

"This shit.." He mumbled, before catching Jack walking towards him. "You're up early."

"Whatever." Jack had said, dismissing his observation, before nearly being struck by a skycar that was just taking off. Jack had stepped to the side, looking towards the driver in disbelief, before striking the hood of the car, with her fist. "Watch where you're fucking going!" Her knuckles had been imprinted into the metal, the result of adding some 'juice' to her scare tactic, and bluish flames began playing across her figure. After seeing this, the driver's eyes flew wide open, and he kept still, never daring to shout anything back. He waited until the biotic had continued on, away from the path he planned to take, before drawing a long awaited breath, and resuming with his own affairs.

As Dorian was within speaking range of the person he saw approaching him, he had seen the event as it occurred, and had shaken his head, while it unfolded. "Let's try not to turn the colonists against us." One arm flailed into the air, as he began to express his words through gesture. "I mean, it's bad enough that we've got Cerberus here."

"They ain't gonna be here long." Jack retorted, before coming to a stop, right in front of him. The boots she wore for today had sounded especially heavy; for with every step, there came the sound equivalent to a blacksmith striking hot metal against an anvil. "What'd you want?" She continued, slightly cocking her head back, while placing a hand on her waist.

"Lori, uh.." Dorian looked to the floor, sighing, before continuing on. "Wants you and Shepard to tell people what they're dealing with; they're holding a conference, in about a half hour."

"But they already know." Jack had responded, confused, and agitated. "Those fuckers were all over James' house, last night; they KNOW its Cerberus. And they know they want us dead."

Dorian's right hand had come up to scratch the back of his head. "Yeah…They do. It's Lori, though; she still wants to go through with it. I'm in no position to stop her." Jack had groaned, her left hand beginning to press into her forehead, to fight any headache that was going to come from this. As she did, Dorian had gotten a good look at her head, which had more hair there, then the last time he saw her. However, he didn't ask her about it; something told him it wasn't his place to do so.

"So what?" Jack had begun, her hand still pressed against her forehead. "You want me to go get Shepard?"

"Truth be told," Dorian responded, with a shrug. "He should have already been here. He got the message before you did. Did you see him, at all, today?"

Jack had seen him. And she knew where he was. But when she tried to extract the location from her mind, all she could retrieve had been last night.

The question had popped up, again.

"Why do you miss it?"

This time, however, she did not try to find an answer that was long lost. Nor did she contemplate why Shepard's endless 'smothering' mattered to her. Instead, she focused on what made Shepard act distant. As if he'd been sharing a bed with a stranger.

In her mind, she had two culprits; Cerberus and Lori.

Cerberus was easy; they think they own him, because they brought him back. 'saved' his life. They believed that he'd understand the consequences of their actions, and understand that, in the end, it was justified. Because only Shepard could save the humans. Only Shepard could save the galaxy.

But they were quick to turn on him when they got greedy. And now, they've sent grunts to try and take him out.

Lori was, in Jack's opinion, just another bitch who wanted to get in his pants. But if that was the only thing she could pin on her, she wouldn't be a culprit.

Lori was the one who sent James that invitation. Lori was the one who dragged him into ballrooms, and expensive everythings. Lori was the one who was stripping away James's entire purpose of being here.

Maybe James just didn't care, anymore. Maybe he just wants go back.

If he did…Then why did she fucking bother?

"I ain't his fucking keeper." Jack had finally said, as her own revelation pissed her off.

"So you don't know where he is?" Dorian asked.

"The fuck did I just say?" Jack had yelled back, causing Dorian to take a step back. Before Dorian could apologize, his eyes caught the sight of Matt, with Madison in tow, who had both been walking towards them. Matt wasn't as talkative as he once was, seemingly becoming as distant as Shepard had been. Madison had whispered words into his ear, possibly to get him talking. However, the plan failed, and Madison resorted to speaking with the pair, herself. Her hand had raised into the air, nearly hopping a bit, once it did.

"Hey, guys!" She'd say, with a smile. "Say, have you guys seen Shepard around?"

As soon as the question was asked, Jack's hand had fallen to her side, and she shot a look towards Dorian. Dorian had simply looked away, and shook his head. "No." Dorian said. "We haven't." Madison's smile turned upside down, as she shot a quick look towards Matt, patting his chest, before looking back to Dorian and Jack. "Awh…Well, Matthew here wa-"

"I don't give a shit." Jack had cut in, and looked to Dorian. "I'm gonna go have a drink." She said, backtracking into the lounge. "You three can play your 'let's find Shepard' game without me."

When the lounge itself was mentioned, Dorian had attempted to stop her. "Wait Jack, the lounge is—"

Before he could finish, she had already entered.

"…Y'know, she probably did you a favor." Madison had said, as cheery as can be.

"…Let's just go find the damned guy." Matt had finally said.

_12:29, P.M. _

"That's final, Shepard." Lori had said, back to James, who had been visiting her, in her office. "Besides, it's out of my hands, now. Once they get here, I won't have any authority until we're not under any threats."

" We?" James had said, who, up until this point, had been pacing back and forth in the office. "I was the one getting shot at." James had jabbed into his own chest, with his index finger, continuing on. "No one else is in danger, except for me."

"You say that now, but what happens when someone else gets shot by a bullet intended for you?" Lori's hands palmed the surface of her desk, stiffened through anger. "What happens when one of the colonists gets kidnapped? What happens if they decide to just ki—"

"It won't get that far." Shepard said, attempting to reassure her. "I can take care of this."

Lori got the sense that Shepard wasn't willing to let this go. And most likely never will be. She didn't doubt his abilities; she was almost certain that he probably could deal with these problems, on his own. But she had a responsibility. A responsibility to the colonists, and to the colony itself. She was assigned as the leader, and she was determined to be deserving of the title. Although she was sure that nothing bad would come of letting Shepard handle this, Lori felt that, since this was taking place somewhere within her jurisdiction, she had to handle it. And she did it in the best way she felt she could.

Now, the weight of the situation was no longer on her, or Shepard, for that matter. Her responsibility was now the Alliance's responsibility. All she could do was state that, once more.

"There's nothing I can do." Lori said, eyes fixed onto Shepard's. And with that, Lori had sat down, exhausted from the argument that had been taking place for an hour and thirty minutes. Shepard was at a loss for things to say, and was sure that nothing he could say to either Anderson or Hackett would stop the Alliance's ship from docking here, soon. It was a time in Shepard's life where he'd realized he lost the battle. But he knew he was going to. This was a one sided fight that could have been stalled, but not avoided.

He always knew he'd lose. He just wished it didn't have to be here.

Shepard turned on his soles, and left the office, without a word. He had taken a long, lonely journey back to the hotel room he had to rent out, as his actual home was still a crime scene, and thus, restricted to the authorities, and the Alliance, who would be here, soon. During his trek, he started thinking about how this all began. With operatives kicking down his door, trying to kill him, and Jack. It was clear they'd been a part of Cerberus, but Shepard was uncertain if the men who attempted this were actually acting under the orders of the Illusive Man.

As far as he was concerned, the Illusive Man didn't want him dead. At least, not until the Reaper threat passed. Until then, he probably would refrain from having to undergo another Lazarus project, judging how expensive the last one was. The men here didn't seem to care, all that much. About anything pertaining to Shepard's "usefulness".

He wagered that if the Illusive Man did know what was going on, he'd rather had him drugged and knocked unconscious, to be taken away to a lab he would probably know of, by now, and experimented on. Not killed. But he knew very little of the Illusive Man's intentions. Hell, the man said it, himself.

Shepard decided to let the matter be, for now. There was someone he needed to apologize to.

"Jack?" Shepard called, as he entered the hotel room. But there was no answer. So he called again. "Jack, you home?" His voice had rang out into the small room, with no response to join it. This prompted James to look around. The room wasn't a large place, and as such, the only place he could check had been the bathroom. Shepard had walked towards it, knuckles beginning to tap across the base of the metal door, as he called out, one more time. "Jack, you in there?" His hands had moved across the holographic lock upon the door, opening it within a few seconds. James had moved his head inside of the bathroom, checking for any sign of the biotic he'd been looking for. But she was not there, which meant that she wasn't in, right now.

James had sighed, and reached for his omni-tool, intending to send a message off to her, so that they could deal with what had been happening, between them. An orange line had been formed across an equally orange screen, flatlining in the center. James had wasted no time.

"Jack, this is Shepard. Come to the hotel room as soon as you can, I want to expl—"

And in that very instant, Shepard fell to the floor, unconscious.

_12:40, P.M. _

The anger of feeling ignored was washed away by the vast amounts of alcohol flowing through her. Jack's head had been nearly buried in her own arms, and a glass bottle she had clutched into her right hand. It was funny, that being alone could help you forget about feeling alone. She didn't mind it. She rather liked obscurity, most of the time. But she assumed that Shepard wanted her to share that obscurity. She didn't know. And drunkenness – however slight it was – forbade her to care.

Right now, she just wanted to enjoy the quiet.

She could hear the entrance to the lounge creak open, and footsteps enter. They had begun to approach her, getting slower, with each step taken.

"Don't you fucking pester me." Jack had spat at the man, believing it to be Dorian."

"…Babe." The man had said. "It's me."

Jack's head had turned to meet whoever it was that was about to catch an ass whipping.

But whatever violence she had left in her body had been drained out, when she realized who had been standing before her.

"You didn't think I was THAT easy to kill, did you?"

The bottle within her hands fell from her grasp, and shattered against the cold floor.