Hey folks, I wanted to give you a heads up for this chapter, I use lyrics from an old irish song called "rocky road to dublin" and I strongly suggest you look up the song for best effect. enjoy!


Rocky Road To Dublin

Shepard cast a lazy look around the room in the customs area as he and the crew waited for the people in front of him to pass through the heavy security. He had a good twenty or so people with him ready for some shore leave, and everyone of them could feel a little of their tension leave as they had left the ship and stepped on solid ground. The large customs area was, perhaps in a bit irony, a dull white shade with a texture of stone that was slightly warm to the touch. The air was still mostly dry, and it had a distinct chill despite the management's best efforts to heat the port up.

He was startled from his thoughts by the customs agent calling "next!" in a loud yell. He walked up behind the departing group and made himself known.

"Commander Shepard of the Normandy, my crew and I would like to enter Hanshan." The man behind the counter rolled his eyes as he saw Tali walk up beside him.

"You'll have to go through the scanner and remove all weapons. Your slave will also need to stay here." In a flash Shepard had the man by the collar and put his face inches from the other man's.

"Perhaps you'd like to use a friendlier tone to my wife?"

To his credit, the man behind the counter never broke eye contact. "Get your hands off me or I'll have you-!" His head slamming into the counter top cut off his sentence before he toppled to the floor clutching his face. In moments the security detail had responded and pulled weapons on him.

"Hanshan security! Put your weapons down or we'll be forced to fire!" Shepard finally tore his eyes off the squirming customs agent and turned to face the security.

"I'm Commander Shepard, Council Spectre. I'm allowed to carry weapons here, and this man," he pointed behind him in disgust. "Just insulted my wife. Now I'd like to proceed without incident, wouldn't you? We're just here to stretch our legs and tickle the economy, understand?" The men exchanged uneasy glances then turned back to the heavily armed man.

"Y-yeah. Sure, go ahead." The two security guards stood aside and ignored the weapon scanners as they blared their alarm for the first couple people through. The rest of the crew hadn't brought weapons so they passed without incident, but Shepard stayed until the last one passed, then gave the custom's agent one last threatening glare that made him cower a little from across the room. As he started to follow the crew through the doors to enter the port proper, he heard the security guards talking quietly.

"No man, I don't care if we lose our jobs, I don't get paid enough to risk that kind of firepower anyway. If you want to try and stop him go right ahead." Shepard smiled behind his helmet as the doors revolved closed behind him and cut off any further eavesdropping. The crew had already spread out in search of entertainment, but the majority moved toward the elevator on the far end of the room that led to the bar. He saw Aria with Zaeed at the head of the line going to the bar and chuckled.

Maybe Zaeed managed to talk her into a date finally. With the way they've been going I wouldn't be surprised. He blinked and turned at the soft touch at his elbow to see Tali staring at him.

"Thank you Shepard, but you didn't need to do that."

He gave her a hug as he responded. "The hell I didn't. It's idiots like that that make life difficult for everyone. And no one insults my wife." She laughed a little at his tone then snuggled further into his hug.

"Well when you put it that way, it was kind of satisfying wasn't it?"

"Incredibly." He nodded in agreement then saw Kasumi across the room tapping her foot and looking at them. He slowly extracted himself from her hug.

"Looks like Kasumi's waiting for you. I'll meet you in the bar later, ok?" He tapped his head against her mask then pulled back to walk toward the bar.


Tali watched him take his usual strong stride away from her to join the rest of the crew at the bar and gave a small sigh. Watching for just a moment more, she turned and began to join Kasumi at the far end of the room near a hallway with a large flashing sign above it.

Shopping and Corporate center were flashing in bright yellow and green in an attention getting display that was apparently working. There were crowds of people shuffling to and fro through the hallway, yet somehow no one went near Kasumi as she waited for her.

"Heya girl, ready to do a little shoppin'?" Kasumi pushed off the wall and fell in with Tali toward the shopping center. As she made a path through the crowd, Tali had to yell her question over the background noise.

"And just what are we shopping for? Miranda already made sure our stores can hold out for the rest of the trip!" The little thief had an uncanny ability to weave through the crowd without causing a fuss, a talent Tali sorely lacked.

"This isn't for the Normandy, Tali. It's for us." They finally emerged at the mouth of the entrance where the traffic was a little less heavy, and rejoined each other side by side as they continued on toward the shopping center. Wow, this place really was lucky. There's barely any sign at all that there was fighting here. She noted the occasional bullet holes in the walls and the odd char mark, but nothing else was out of place.

"See anything interesting yet?" Kasumi saw her looking around and assumed she was looking at the shops lining the walls.

"Oh, um, well let's see." Tali deviated from their course and started toward a little store on the left and Kasumi followed. The sign over the shop was in an asari text and she wasn't familiar enough to read it, but once inside she could quickly guess.

The store was stuffed from wall to wall with fabrics and rotating clothing racks, which held clothes of every color and shade. Behind the desk was a friendly asari woman who gave a warm smile as the two aliens entered her shop.

"Good afternoon ladies, can I help you find anything?" She had a complexion that spoke of relative youth in asari, but she certainly wasn't a child. Kasumi decided to answer first.

"Yes actually, I was wondering if you had any stealth field friendly fabric in black?" the woman behind the counter started listing off things for Kasumi who asked the occasional comment, but Tali was already wandering. She rifled through the racks of clothes, seeing colors and textures she liked, but after a while gave up at looking for anything quarian.

Didn't Shepard say something about me getting a dress once? She frowned as she tried to recall what he said but was interrupted by Kasumi.

"Tali? Aren't you going to ask about anything?" The thief had an arm full of new materials of a few different colors, but mostly black.

"No I'm ok, really. I'll just-"

"Tali!" Her friends scolding tone made her wince a little as she walked up to her. "Tali you need to stop being so selfless once in a while! It's really not so horrible to buy something for yourself." She waved down the asari clerk with her free hand and waited for her to come over.

"My friend here would like to see anything you might have for quarians."

"Of course, right over here. Did you have something specific in mind?" Tali followed the clerk while deep in thought, but nodded with her response.

"Yes actually, I am looking for something to wear when I have my suit off." The two women next to her slowed and looked at each other, Kasumi with a knowing smile and the asari with a puzzled expression. Tali wanted to smack herself her embarrassment was so deep.

"I mean, well, it's because I have- no that's not right." She shied further and further into herself as her embarrassment threatened her very sanity.

"Tali, relax. Just calm down and browse."

Kasumi's reassuring smile helped immensely and she did as her friend suggested, looking through the various suits and clothes. Most of the things she saw were to wear underneath the suit for a variety of reasons, none of which was what she wanted. Her embarrassment was still boiling within her, but she wanted to surprise Shepard so badly it briefly overpowered her fear of ridicule.

"This isn't really what I meant, Miss. I'm looking for something I can use to surprise my bondmate." The light of understanding sparked behind the asari's eyes and she nodded briefly, then gave Tali a good long looking over. The clerk took out a measuring instrument and started to pull it across Tali's waist. She was a little puzzled at first but when she shook her head in confusion Kasumi leaned in and whispered to her.

"She's getting your measurements, so she can find you something that fits."

The clerk continued to pull her instrument across certain areas, like her hips and calves, her neck and certain other places, nodding to herself and scribbling her findings down on a small notebook drawn form a pocket. Tali was reminded briefly of another asari jotting things down with excitement. Liara T' Soni. She certainly changed since the first time I saw her, I wonder when the innocence left? Tali was jostled form her thoughts by the clerk standing up from her last measurements.

"Well ma'm, I don't have quarian specific casual wear, but fortunately many human and asari clothes can be made to easily fit. Would you care to take a look at some styles and choose your favorite?" making a sweeping gesture, as if herding the two customers before her, the clerk ushered them to a rack of fancy human dresses. Immediately Tali's eye was drawn to a dark red dress along the wall behind the rack the clerk tried to show them. It was an armless body gown that fell to the ankles, along with a slit up one side of the hem to show off the legs of the wearer.

"What about this one?" Tali walked past the woman and pointed to the dress, ignoring the rack next to the clerk completely.

"That? That one was imported from Earth before the invasion. Which I'm sad to say, makes it a very pricey commodity." Tali felt disappointment drag her down into an almost depressed state until Kasumi once more came to her rescue.

"Tali, you seem to be forgetting something. We're rich." She shook a credit chit in one fist for emphasis.

"I can't Kasumi, if Shepard saw how much I spent on-"

"Wait, did you say Shepard? As in thee Commander Shepard?" the asari quickly closed the distance between herself and Tali, making her quite uncomfortable.

"You're part of Shepard's crew aren't you! Oh this is amazing! I'd heard he made port but I didn't really believe it of course, no one has been here since the Reapers died and…" the clerk's eyes widened even more as their past conversations clicked into place.

"You're looking for a dress for your bondmate, yes? Do you mean…?" her mouth fell open when she saw Kasumi nodding with a smile at the unasked question. Suddenly the clerk snapped her mouth shut and took a deep breath.

"I'd be willing to offer a discount on that dress ma'm, and on your purchases as well." She nodded to Kasumi for that last.

"Really? Thank you! This means so much to me you can't even guess!" Tali bounced giddily as the clerk took the dress down from the wall and brought it to the counter.

"Wait, don't I need to make sure it fits first?" The clerk shook her head in response but saw that wasn't sufficient enough to explain.

"No ma'm, this material is loose enough to fit any size, but form fitting once tightened manually with a sash or some other type of tie down." She finished swiping the dress and ran the credit chit from Tali, waiting a few seconds for it to register before handing it back along with the dress.

"Will that be all, Ma'am?" The two women nodded, but before either spoke the clerk chipped in once more. "I'm glad I could help ma'm, I hadn't heard Shepard was bonded, congratulations. Is it true he was there when Thessia fell?" Tali exchanged looks with Kasumi, who stayed silent.

"Yes, he was. And thank you again, Miss." Tali turned to leave and heard Kasumi follow suit before she left the store entirely to join the many shoppers roaming the streets. Taking the lead, Kasumi started out ahead of her, making Tali have to jog and jostle people aside in an attempt to catch her. But eventually she lost sight of the little thief entirely. Standing on tip toes she scanned the crowd, but gave up after a few tries.

"Kasumi?" Tali yelled above the noise to no avail. Throwing her hands up in frustration she tapped her foot, trying to see her through the crowd again.

Why would she ditch me like that? Maybe I should call-

"Well hello there, you look a little lost, Missy." A gruff voice came from behind her and she whirled around to see two men, one turian and one human, before the turian lashed out and pulled her into a nearby hole in the wall shop that was closed down from extensive damage. The turian had a firm hold around her shoulders, keeping her arms locked behind her while the human looked her over.

"Very nice, and what is this? A dress? But I thought you quarians couldn't be outside your suits?" The two thugs chuckled at her, the human's eyes still roaming her body and making her skin crawl. "A shame we need the money so bad, seems a waste to kill such a pretty thing."

Tali kept very still, hoping the turians hold would go lax if not pressed. "You have no idea what a mistake you've just made. If you leave now, I wont have you arrested." Her words got the response she had expected, a laugh.

Well, let's just find out if that's true." The man pulled a blade from his pocket and flipped it open, his tongue played inside his teeth as he grinned and pulled his arm back to stab. Reacting, Tali threw all her might into rolling the turian around, giving him no choice but to either hold on and follow, or let go. He apparently decided to hang on, but became a shield between her and her other attacker, she took advantage of his momentary lack of grip and ripped herself free, wheeling to face the two thieves in the cramped space, she instinctively reached for her plasma shotgun and found it missing.

Her eyes searched for a second before latching onto her weapon, lying on the floor behind the two thugs who seemed to have forgotten it completely. Her attackers quickly split up to allow more room to maneuver, but realized too late it did the same for her. Taking a step toward the Turian first, she dodged around his punch and grabbed his arm with her left hand, snaking her right arm underneath and behind his to put leverage on her side, she then brought as much power as she could into bringing her right arm back towards herself, with his elbow in the way. It snapped his arm at the elbow with a sickening crack that left the turian screaming and clutching his ruined elbow. She stepped back from the turian as he fell and jumped back to avoid the other mans knife with a hop that allowed her time to plan before he moved again.

He may be an idiot, but even idiots can get a lucky stab in.

She looked for a way around him and a plan formed in her mind as she sprang into action. She leaped for the empty counter and hopped it easily, putting the barrier between herself and the assailant first, then sprinted for the back of the room and her shotgun. Leaping the counter again, she rolled and grabbed her weapon from the floor and came out pointing at him in one fluid motion, leaving the man gaping at her in astonishment. Yelling over the turians screams of pain was no easy feat.

"Put the knife down, nice and slow!" The man's face remained comically gaping as he complied, gently stooping down and letting the knife hit the floor. She gestured with her shotgun for him to move toward the door and he shuffled that way, apparently not wanting to test if the martial artist he'd tried to stab was ready to kill.

She followed him out, her shotgun still leveled at his back as people gasped and backed away, some calling for security. Soon enough, Hanshan security came trotting up seconds later.

"Put the gun down, quarian!" Tali reluctantly complied and reattached it to its magnetic holder on her back. The security detail moved in to take over once she did, and Tali sighed as she watched them handcuff the man.

This was supposed to be a vacation. She jumped as she remembered her dress and moved to go back inside the shop, only to be restrained by one of the officers.

"I'm sorry ma'am, I can't let you go until we get some answers." In a fit of frustration Tali threw up her hands and let all the tension from the fight release at the same time.

"You want answers? These two idiots dragged me off the street and tried to stab me! If I hadn't fought back I'd be dead right now! And you had better get them out of here soon, because if Shepard were to hear about this, he would snap their necks in a heartbeat! That is if I don't do it first! Now get out of my way." The officer gave a shocked look and didn't stop her as she walked inside and snatched her dress from the counter where the thugs had set it down, and stepped over the turian who was still nursing his broken arm in the fetal position. She walked back out and readdressed the officer.

"If you need me further, I'll be aboard the Normandy." She turned past him and made her way back to the Normandy to stow her new dress somewhere Shepard wouldn't see it.

Then I'll go find him at the bar, maybe that'll calm me down a bit.

"Tali! Wait up!" Kasumi came jogging up from behind her looking worried. "Is everything ok? I thought you followed me into that store but you were gone and… Tali?"

Tali was giving her as straight a face as she could through the mask, but her mood must've shown in her stance.

"Where did you go, Kasumi? I lost you in the crowd."

"Well I thought you were right behind me, and even if you weren't I didn't think anything bad could happen in the middle of a shopping mall."

"Well it did. I got pulled into that shop over there by two thugs and nearly got stabbed."

Kasumi dropped her bags of clothes and gasped.

"Oh my god, Tali I am so sorry. I-I should've been there! Are you ok? Did they get you at all?" She immediately started looking for the non-existent cut before Tali could interrupt.

"I'm fine Kasumi, luckily they were idiots."

"Fine? No, this is not fine. You could've died! And all because I screwed up and let my guard down, Tali I can't express how sorry I am right now, I'll make it up to you I swear it." Tali suddenly found their roles reversed as she hugged Kasumi in reassurance.

"Kasumi please, I'm fine, I promise. But if you really want to make it up to me, don't tell Shepard about this just yet, ok? I'd like to enjoy the rest of my day." Kasumi wiped a few tears from her face and nodded.

"Of course Tali, I'll take that back to the Normandy if you'd like."

"Thanks Kasumi, make sure Shepard can't see it please." Kasumi bowed deeply before running off toward the Normandy. Tali watched her friend run off until she couldn't see her anymore then took a deep breath and started walking toward the elevator to the bar.

Riding the elevator down, she heard the music long before the doors opened. It was a light and upbeat tune, seeming to lift her spirits instantly as she heard some familiar instruments. Then her spirits lifted even higher when she saw who was on the stage at the front of the bar. Kenneth Donnelly was clapping along with the tune, waiting for the right moment before launching into a song.

"In the merry month of May, From my home I started,
Left the girls of Tuam, Nearly broken hearted,
Saluted father dear, Kissed my darlin' mother,
Drank a pint of beer, My grief and tears to smother…"

Tali found herself clapping along, still standing at the entrance to the bar, as her fellow engineer sang. People were moving all around the dance floor, but she saw her destination at one of the tables.

"Then off to reap the corn, And leave where I was born,
I cut a stout blackthorn, To banish ghost and goblin,
In a brand new pair of brogues, I rattled o'er the bogs,
And frightened all the dogs,On the rocky road to Dublin.

One, two, three, four five,
Hunt the hare and turn her
Down the rocky road
And all the ways to Dublin,
Whack-fol-lol-de-ra!"

As Tali neared Shepard's table she couldn't help but laugh. He was slamming his beer mug on the table and stamping his feet In time with the beat, slinging alcohol around the room along with most of the rest of the bar's occupants, spurring Kenneth on. He saw her approaching and quickly made room for her to sit, shoving Garrus off the bench.

"Hey!" The combined sound of Kenneth's song and the roaring audience drowned Garrus' offended shout out, but Tali ignored the now vacant seat in favor of Shepard's lap. He gave her a grin and then roared his own encouragement as Kenneth stirred the crowd. To Tali's surprise, Miranda leaned in to yell in her ears.

"It's an old human folk song." Tali nodded that she understood and Miranda sat back and clapped. The song sounded like it was winding down, but Kenneth gave it his all.

"The boys of Liverpool, When we safely landed,
Called myself a fool; I could no longer stand it;
Blood began to boil, Temper I was losin',
Poor ould Erin's isle They began abusin',
"Hurrah my soul," sez I, My shillelagh I let fly;
Some Galway boys were by, Saw I was a hobble in,
Then with a loud hurray, They joined in the affray.
We quickly cleared the way, For the rocky road to Dublin

One, two, three, four five,
Hunt the hare and turn her
Down the rocky road
And all the ways to Dublin,
Whack-fol-lol-de-ra!"

The music faded and the crowd exploded to their feet, clapping vigoriously as Kenneth took a bow and stepped down, only to be assaulted by new fans. An incredibly loud and sharp whistle came from Gabby who sat at the table nearest them with a few other crew members. Shortly after he stepped down, the bar started playing the usual bass filled techno beat these places seemed to favor. Tali found herself feeling incredible, despite the earlier incident. I'll have to ask Ken about that song after we leave again. That was really good.

"Kenneth that was amazing! I didn't know you could sing!"Gabby bounded up and gave him a hug as he neared them.

"Aye lass, there's lots o' things you dun know bout' me." His thick accent carried it's usual hint of amusement.

"You've been holdin' out on us Ken, that really was amazing." Shepard's voice rumbled through her body as he spoke. The others clamored their agreement and the engineer blushed at all the attention. Zaeed raised his glass, one arm around Aria's shoulders, which she pretended not to notice with some degree of success.

"A toast, to our drunken heathen Scotsman!" The crew raised their glasses as one, as they called out. "For our drunken heathen Scotsman!" but Shepard put a hand under her chin and turned her head to face him.

"To us." He whispered.