Chapter 21

Explosions were all around Holt. Darkness surrounded him but a small sliver of very bright light was doing its best to occupy enough of his vision to blind him. As always when taking a bad hit during combat, he moved all his limps to make sure nothing was broken, or worse. While sluggish, his arms and legs were moving just fine. The only pain he felt was the infernal headache and a slight numb feeling on his chin.

"Shut the fuck up..." He grumbled as the explosions started fading into something else. High pitched beeps which allied themselves with the pounding already going on in his head. His headache suddenly felt familiar and he realised what situation he was in. 'A fucking hangover...' Holt thought as he blocked his eyes with his hand. That beeping was recognised as an alarm clock but it sounded nothing like the his alarm back in his safe house on the Citadel nor the one in the sleeping pod on The Normandy.

"Ugh..." A voice moaned behind him. A very feminine voice. He must have gotten lucky last night then. Whoever the woman was she had a terrible bed though, felt like he was on the floor. As Holt opened his eyes he realised that he was on a floor. He glanced around as much as his headache and the blinding light allowed him. The room looked familiar... "Never drinking again..." The woman moaned again as he heard her fumbling to shut the alarm off. Holt finally realised who it was.

"Mornin' Shepard." He hoarsely said, hoping to get an entertaining reaction from her. Looking over his shoulder while on the floor he could see boots on the end of the bed being perfectly still. He could just about hear Shepard's brain trying to figure out what was going on.

"Holt?" She asked uncertainly. "Don't tell me we..."

"We're both dressed and I'm the floor. I highly doubt it." He groaned as he used his arms to get up. His chin was very sore now that he'd started moving around a bit.

"... I need water..." Shepard said as she got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. Her fiery hair was a mess which almost made it look like it was on fire. Judging by the sound of her voice it seemed her throat was as well. Holt rolled his head around his shoulders. Sleeping on floor was something he tended to avoid if possible, he'd slept this way more than enough during his early years. Shepard returned from the bathroom and sat down at the edge of the bed, looking slightly freshened up. "We need a plan." She sighed.

"For?..." There were a lot of things they needed plans for. How to find Saren, how to catch Saren, how to defeat Saren etc etc.

"It's still early so there shouldn't be that many crew members up yet. Most of them are on shore leave anyway."

"Make some sense, Shepard."

"What do you think would happen if we both walked out from here together in the morning?"

"We would be able to have some breakfast?"

"They would think we spent the night together?"

"Just tell them to watch the security vids."

"The security cameras in the captain's cabin are offline during the night."

"But not in the morning, Commander." Jokers voice was suddenly heard over the comm system. Shepard put her hands over her face and looked beaten.

"Joker..." She said with a muffled voice.

"Relax Commander, You probably don't remember but I was there when you both fell asleep. I got the security vids of the two of you stumbling onto the ship at around 4am."

"Three hour sleep would explain why I feel like shit..." Shepard grumbled.

"You wanna see the vids? They're quite entertaining." Shepard was about to decline but Holt was already moving towards the door. He couldn't remember much about last night other than them starting some form of drinking game.

"Holt!" Shepard yelled as she jumped off the bed and hurried after him. "You can't just walk out like nothi-..." She was cut off as they were met with several stares from the crew member currently having breakfast in the mess hall. Alenko's face was twisted into some sort of mix between surprise and anger. Holt gave them all a small nod and walked straight for the stairs. He could feel Shepard's blush from where she was following him.

"See? Wasn't that bad." He said as they kept climbing the stairs.

"Not bad? Now I'll have to endure all the questionings that'll happen in the next few days..." She sounded pissed off.

"Or just forward them the security vids."

"I'll wait and see them myself before I make that decision..." Holt let out a laugh which earned him a spike of pain in his head. What had they been drinking and in what amounts?

"What's the last thing you remember of last night?" He asked as they passed the CIC. The ones up here didn't stare at them as much as the ones in the mess hall.

"Some sort of drinking game." She answered as she walked up next to him. Holt guessed that she didn't like being led. "Oh! And you avoiding telling the story you owe me!"

"I probably told you the story sometime later last night."

"Which I can't remember. You still owe me that story." They reached the cockpit where Joker turned around with his chair with a big grin on his face as they arrived. "Wipe that off your face, Joker." Shepard said.

"Sorry Commander. I find it difficult to take anything you say seriously now after last night." Holt heard Shepard groan, muttering something about having to kiss a lot of ass to keep her position as a Commander. "You dropped this last night, by the way." Joker said as he handed Shepard a napkin. Holt glanced down on it and saw that it was full of poorly written contact details.

"What's this?" Shepard asked with narrowed eyes.

"From what I could understand of your drunken ramblings, I think it's contact details of people you met at the club." Shepard's shoulders went stiff. Holt had to suppress a laughter. "You had one too, Holt." Holt quickly checked his pockets and found the napkin in question. Lots of contact details on this one as well. "You two asked me to count who got the most since the numbers and letters were, and I quote, 'moving too fast'."

"So who won?" Holt asked.

"Well, you had the most." Holt quickly threw his arms up in the air and faced Shepard. "But the difference was only one number and if you look through your list you'll see why you're gonna think it's a hollow victory." Holt quickly brought his arms down as he had a very bad feeling about this all of a sudden. The smirk on Joker's face told him that he wasn't gonna enjoy this. Shepard leaned over to read through the list as well.

"Martin?..." Shepard asked once she saw that name on the list. She clearly thought the name was familiar. Holt did as well but couldn't place it anywhere.

"Martin!" Joker said while still keeping that smirk on his face. It suddenly hit him.

"Martin..."

"The one you tried to hook up with me!" Joker yelled as he started laughing. The politician The Shadow Broker wanted dirt on had been the difference maker in the competition between Holt and Shepard.

"The politician?" Shepard asked as she started laughing uncontrollably. Holt suddenly felt that a shower was in place and considered leaving before he remembered that the vids could hold something that would shut Shepard up.

"The vids, Joker." He said with a menacing glare and a threatening voice. The pilot thankfully cooperated and brought it up on a monitor next to them.

"This is where you two drunks come stumbling through the airlock, supporting each other and still manage to topple over twice." The vid showed the two of them giggling like crazy as they sat down in the airlock with their backs against the wall.

"We almost look like Joker does when he walks." Holt said as Joker fast-forwarded through, what looked like, Shepard and him singing.

"'Mock the cripple'day is over." Joker said while turning around. "Today is 'Mock your superior officer'-day." The vid now showed the two of them waking Joker up from where he was sitting right now. Him sleeping up here wasn't surprising at all. "Here you forced me to lead you to your quarters."

"Both of us?" Shepard asked.

"Holt said something about your couch being more comfortable than the sleeping pods and Shepard was squealing about a slumber party." Joker answered as they were watching themselves walking down the stairs which looked like it took a lot of effort and concentration. Shepard was visually red with shame right now. Lots of material to use against her here to make sure that Martin would be forgotten.

"What happened in Shepard's room?" Holt asked, wanting answers to why his chin hurt.

"Shepard jumped straight into the bed and you tripped over your own foot." Not the answer Holt was hoping for. "I tried to get you up from the floor but you said that the floor was more comfortable than the sleeping pods as well." Shepard looked ready to burst out laughing again.

"So that's why your chin is all bruised?" She asked with a smirk.

"I suppose there's no way that we can say I got it during a fight with two krogans?"

""Nope."" They both said.

"One krogan?"

"So that's all that happened?" Shepard turned towards Joker for confirmation.

"All I saw at least. Once the security camera went online again you were both in the same places as you had been when I left." Shepard let out a sigh of relief.

"Alright, Good to know." She said as she turned to walk away.

"The idea of being with me is that revolting to you, Shepard?" Holt asked with a grin. Expecting her to confirm it and storm off or turn around and glare him down.

"The idea of not having any footage of it afterwards annoys me." She said while winking over her shoulder. Holt could do nothing but stare after her. He turned towards Joker once she was out of eyesight.

"She didn't hit her head or anything last night?" He asked to which the pilot simply shook his head. "Still drunk? Drugged?"

"Maybe she simply likes competing with you."

"Competing in what exactly?" Holt asked while rubbing his chin. The thing was still hurting as hell. He would have to go to the doctor to see if nothing was fractured.