Beta: None
Bioware owns all.
Thanks for the review and new follow :)
A/N: Apologies for the wonky spacing earlier. Seems to be fixed now :)

Zaeed was gone again. Aria had stolen him away for some secret mission. He'd only agreed because, if successful, it would bring in much-needed allies for the war. And Kate had been perfectly fine with the situation, at first. But right now, she really needed him. A fact which made her incredibly angry at herself because she knew how selfish she was being when so many had lost so much already.

The latest missions had been completely successful, but too many had sacrificed themselves to make them so. The primarch's son had sacrificed himself to disable a bomb on Tuchanka, avoiding war between the turians and krogan. Wreav, Wrex' s half-brother, had stayed behind to hold off rachni Reapers to allow the rest of the team to get to the genophage deployment site. And Mordin had sacrificed himself to allow the cure to be made possible. Her last image of her favorite salarian, the one that would remain in her memory forever, was of him singing patter songs as he went up the elevator inside the exploding tower. An exploding tower from which Kate had barely escaped herself.

The moment the shuttle docked with the Normandy, Kate was in the elevator, brushing off Garrus and James' attempts to talk to her. She exited on the crew deck, bypassing the med-bay, though she knew Dr. Chakwas was going to have angry words with her later. At the moment, she didn't care. If she couldn't find comfort with Zaeed, she was going to get drunk. She made her way to the lounge and locked the door, heading straight for the bar.

"EDI, it's been hours. She's not answering our messages, she won't let us in. I'm worried," James said as he and Garrus stood impatiently outside the lounge's still-locked door three hours later.

"I'm sorry, Lt. Vega, but scans of the room do not indicate that the Commander is in any immediate danger. I will not open the door."

Garrus growled. "Remember Horizon, EDI? Remember how we talked about 'actual emergencies'?"

"Yes, Mr. Vakarian."

"This is one of those."

"Very well. However, if Shepard is not positive in her response to your invasion of her privacy, I will reserve the right to say 'I told you so.'" Garrus and James could almost hear the eye-roll in EDI's voice. She'd been spending too much time with Joker.

"We reserve the same right if the opposite is true," Garrus said with a smirk as the door was unlocked.

"Mierda," James muttered as they walked into the lounge. Innumerable glasses littered the floor and bar, all of them empty. Kate was nowhere to be seen. "Lola? Where are you?"

The only response was a groan from the other side of the bar. The two men ran over to find Kate lying on the floor, only semi-conscious. James hauled her up and slung her over his shoulder as he and Garrus made their way to the elevator.

"Niiiiice ass," she drawled.

"Gracias," James replied with a smirk she couldn't see. "You just now notice, Lola?"

"Nooooope. I've just never been close enough toooo-"

James felt her fingers brush against his ass, but not in a flirting way. "Lola? You still with us?" He pulled Kate back over his shoulder so she was nestled in his arms. "Nope, she's out."

"And so are you," Garrus said sternly. " Massani will have a bullet with your name on it if he ever finds out you were alone with Kate while she was passed out. And another with my name on it for allowing it to happen."

The elevator reached the top floor. Garrus took Kate from James and hit the button to open her door. With a nod, James stepped back into the elevator and hit the button for the crew deck again.

Garrus walked into the room and settled the Commander on her bed and settled him self on the couch to send a message to Zaeed.

From: G. Vakarian
To: Z. Massani
Subject: Good and Bad
Mordin cured the genophage just like he said he would. But he died in the process. Kate's not handling it well. At all. She drank every drop of ryncol Wrex left on the ship and then passed out on the way up to the Loft. I'm not sure even you could have prevented this reaction. You know how close they were.
We're headed to the Citadel. The salarian councilor wants to meet with Kate. I just hope she's sobered up by the time we get there.
GV