Kat woke up feeling like death warmed over. She blinked in confusion as she found herself in the Normandy's med-bay. Joker was sitting next to her bed, but the room was otherwise empty.
"What happened?" she mumbled as he helped her slowly sit up. She wasn't all that confident that she wouldn't throw up if she opened her mouth too wide. "And-"
"Massani is down in the lower levels of Afterlife, dealing with a problem," he replied, apparently knowing what her second question had been.
"A problem?"
"You insisted on getting a drink before going to deal with Morinth," he said, a hint of something like bitterness in his voice. "According to Massani and Garrus, the bartender handed you a drink, you drank it and immediately collapsed."
Kat raised an eyebrow. "What the hell?"
"Poison was Chakwas' diagnosis, though she couldn't tell what kind." He shook his head. "You are fucking lucky, Kat. Without your Cerberus upgrades, you'd be dead right now."
"Shit. I honestly don't remember anything at all after Samara and I talked to that girl's mother."
"You can't keep-"
"If this is another lecture about drinking, Jeff, just... don't. Okay?"
There was a pained look in his eyes. "Kat, please."
"What?"
"I..." He sighed and got up to sit next to her on the bed. "I'm not saying any of this to annoy you, or control you-"
"Could have fooled me," she muttered.
"Like I've said before, I don't want to change who you are. I know you're under a lot of stress. I just... I don't want to lose you again."
Kat frowned. "Lose me? How the hell are you gonna-"
"I don't want to see you drink yourself to death."
"I'm not going to." She was quiet for awhile, thinking. "Look, I can't... I'm sorry I'm not one of those people who can just work through things on their own and go to sleep every night without fearing they're gonna wake up from a nightmare. I know this sounds stupid or insane or whatever, but... drinking is something I can control, usually. I'm not saying I've always got it under control, but I'd rather drink to keep the nightmares at bay than have to take sleeping pills or something. You say you don't want to lose me again, but if it wasn't for the drinking, I'd have been lost a long time ago."
Joker seemed temporarily at a loss for words. He just put an arm around her as they sat in silence. Finally he said, "Remember that no matter what happens, you're never alone. You've never been alone."
She nodded. "I know. And I can't promise that I'll stop drinking, because that's just... never gonna happen. But I think it's safe to say I'm never drinking in Afterlife again."
He smirked. "It's a start."
Zaeed came storming into the room then, stopping short when he saw Kat and Joker.
Kat raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
He frowned. "Shouldn't I be asking you that?"
"I'm f- I'll be okay. Jeff said I was poisoned?"
Zaeed nodded. "Bloody batarian. He targeted humans, so you apparently weren't his first victim. But I made goddamn sure you were his last."
"Batarian? What the hell did I ever do to piss them off?" she muttered as she started up off the bed.
"And just where the hell do you think you're going, Commander?" Dr. Chakwas asked as she too came into the room.
"I was just going to-"
"Sleep, that's what you're going to do," Chakwas insisted as she did a quick scan. Kat started to protest and the doctor held up her hand. "No. Your date with the Asari of Death can wait another 24 hours. You will go to your quarters and sleep. You do understand that you were poisoned, yes? That's not something to take lightly, Shepard."
"Fine." But Kat had absolutely no intention of staying put and sleeping this off. As far as she was concerned, she could sleep when she was dead. Again.
Zaeed was on Kat's heels as she walked just a little too obediently to the elevator and up to their quarters. She was up to something, he was sure of it.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her from behind as she looked through her closet.
She shrugged. "Nothing."
"Sure." He swept her hair off of her shoulder and kissed her neck. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were thinking about going back to Afterlife to meet that bloody asari."
She grinned as she turned her head so she could look at him. "Good thing you know better then," she said with a wink, capturing his bottom lip with her teeth for a second before she turned her attention back to her closet.
"Flyboy's not the only one worried about you, sweetheart," he said carefully.
She avoided his gaze as she pulled on a purple halter top, a leather skirt and stiletto boots. She didn't say anything until she seemed almost ready to walk out the door. At the last moment, she turned back to her desk and picked up her shamrock necklace. "If you're so worried, then maybe you should come along," she said quietly. She sighed and walked back down the stairs to sit on his lap. "I just want to get through this, all of it, as quickly as possible. I don't want any of us to stay with Cerberus any longer than we have to. So either you help me do that or stay out of my way."
He took the necklace from her and put it on her. "I'm not going anywhere, sweetheart. But can I still be worried about you even if I'm helping you?"
She sighed over-dramatically but grinned. "If you must." She glanced up towards the ceiling. "That all goes for you too, Jeff."
Zaeed bit back a laugh when Joker replied with a meek, "Aye, aye Commander."
It wasn't hard to sneak off of the ship. When EDI indicated that she would be forced to tell Dr. Chakwas of Kat's blatant disregard of doctor's orders, Kat simply informed her that she, Kasumi and Tali would in turn be forced to take extreme measures in sabotaging the AI. There was no further argument needed and Kat and Zaeed left.
Samara was wary of having Zaeed in the club with Kat, thinking it would possibly raise Morinth's suspicions before the Justicar was prepared to take her out. But he had no intention of interfering with the mission. He was only sticking around to keep an eye on Kat.
About the time that she and Morinth left the V.I.P. section of Afterlife, heading to the asari's apartment, Zaeed received a vid-com hail from Hackett.
"Where is Katie?" the Admiral asked without introduction.
"You... really don't want to know at the moment, Steven."
"Why is she not answering my hails?"
"She's... busy."
Hackett growled. "Massani, what the hell is going on on that ship?"
"Everything's fine. Mostly."
"What do you mean mostly?"
"It depends on the last time you talked to her."
"It's been awhile," Hackett admitted. "I was worried, after I read the report Karin Chakwas just sent me."
"Oh. Shit. I blame myself entirely for that, Steven."
Hackett frowned in confusion. "Why's that? The report, based on details you gave her, said Katie had been poisoned by a batarian."
"No that's all true, but it shouldn't have goddamn happened in the first place. I... should have warned her about that bastard."
"Is she all right?"
"Mostly," Zaeed said again. "She hasn't really been herself since she faced down a thresher maw on foot on Tuchanka. She shut everyone out after that for a few days."
"Christ. Was she alone?"
"Not... no, in reality, she was with Garrus and the tank-bred krogan. But in her mind, I think she was alone. Garrus said it looked like she was trying to protect him and Grunt. He thought maybe she was trying to make up for Akuze or... something."
"And now she's, what, out on another mission?"
"Yes. She was preparing for this mission when she got poisoned, and she's determined to see it through, despite Chakwas' insistence that she sleep instead."
Hackett shook his head. "Well, she's never been great at listening to doctors. Why didn't you try to dissuade her, Massani? I thought she listened to you."
"Steven, when was the last time you successfully told her 'no'?"
"Point taken."
"It was either go along with what she wanted or... get pushed aside and be unable to keep an eye on her."
"Trust me, I know the feeling all too well." Hackett sighed. "Just... keep her safe, Massani."
"I'm gonna bloody well try." Zaeed shook his head. "I love her, Steven, but she is goddamn infuriating at times."
"I kn- you what? Does she...?"
"Yes."
Hackett shook his head. "God help us all."
