"Why d'you keep looking at me like that?" Bex asked, noticing the odd look Zaeed was giving her.

"'S red." He frowned and reached over to lift a piece of hair that had fallen across her face. "Has it always been red?"

She batted his hand away and drank a shot of whiskey before answering. "You know damn well it hasn't. And I can't believe you're just now noticing."

They'd been sitting together at a table near the back of a pub not far from his newest safe house for no less than three hours, drinking but not talking. He hadn't offered up an explanation about what he'd apparently said to Addison, nor about why he'd gotten into the fight at Brady's and she hadn't asked.

He shrugged indifferently and then smiled sadly. "Y'know who else had red hair?"

She briefly put a hand over his mouth to stop the answer she knew was coming. "Mhm. My mother."

He blinked in confusion. "Suppose so, but that's not what I was gonna say."

"I know."

He poured more shots until the bottle of whiskey was empty. "So why did you insist on coming here? Didn't you want to see Alenko at all?"

Bex looked at him skeptically for a moment. She was honestly surprised he cared, considering how little he seemed to care for the man himself. "I've seen him. May not have spent more than a few hours together, but we're having breakfast together tomorrow before I leave for Rio." It was her turn to shrug. "'Sides, like he said, you need me."

Zaeed scoffed. "Do not."

"You do. You're just too stubborn to admit it."

He seemed to have no comeback and resumed downing shots, so Bex went up to the bar to get another bottle of whiskey.

"Why are you going to Rio?" he asked when she'd returned and resumed her seat across from him. "Thought you lot were headed for Tokyo or somethin'. And what the hell d'you mean tomorrow?"

"Wait. Did I not tell you?" She frowned when he shook his head. "Thought I had. Anyway, Kaidan's still going to Tokyo, at least I guess he is. But I'm going to Rio for N-School."

"Spec Ops?"

She nodded. "Yeah. Crazy, right?"

"Not at all. You're selling yourself short if you think you're not good enough for that shit."

She leaned her head against the cushioned divider behind her and sighed. "If you say so."

"Now who's the stubborn one?"

They went back to drinking in silence for awhile, which was honestly the way they both liked it. Conversations like the one they'd just had were rare, to say the least, at least while drinking. They'd always enjoyed each other's company and the conversations that came out of that company, but Bex had learned early on that when Zaeed was drinking, particularly when he was upset about something, he didn't usually like chit-chat. When he'd finally let her start drinking not long after her fifteenth birthday, she'd adopted the same policy.

After awhile, she started feeling light-headed and decided maybe she'd had enough. Normally, she'd likely have just gotten some food and then kept drinking, probably obscenely drunk dialing Kaidan in the middle of the night, but she knew she couldn't overdo this time. She had to be fresh and alert when she got to Rio. Zaeed didn't look like he was anywhere near done though, so she nested her head in her arms on the table and waited. She was damn near asleep when he finally spoke again.

"I wonder what 'Livia would be doing right now if she was here," he said so quietly she wasn't entirely sure he'd meant for anyone to hear it.

She lifted her head from her arms and looked at him with concern. "You all right, Z?"

He tossed back another shot and slammed the glass on the table so hard she was amazed it hadn't shattered or dented the wood. "I'm just fiiiiine," he slurred angrily. "But 'Livia's not... she's not here."

Bex slid to the end of her seat and stood on slightly shaky legs before she sat down beside him. "No, she's not here," she said gently, prying both the shot glass and whiskey bottle from his hand. "I think it might be time for us to head home, okay?"

"No."

She frowned. "Definitely time to go home. You'll thank me later, when you're not in the bloody drunk tank for the second time in less than 24 hours."

"No," he said again, making a grab for the whiskey bottle. "I haven't drunk enough to forget yet."

"I don't think there's not enough booze in the world to make you forget something like the death of a child, Z."

"How the fuck would you know?"

She flinched at the harshness in his voice. "I don't, and I never said I did." She shook her head slightly as she stood up again. "Just forget I said anything. Guess Kaidan was wrong after all," she growled, suddenly angry, though she wasn't really sure why. She shoved the bottle into his hands before turning on her heel to leave. "Apparently, you don't need anybody."

She stumbled away from the table and up to the bar. She gave the barman a credit chit and Morgan's address. "When he's finally had enough," she said, gesturing back toward the booth where Zaeed appeared to be muttering to himself, "put him in a skycab and make sure he gets to this address."

The barman frowned. "What about you, love? You don't look like you'll make it much past the front door 'fore you fall over."

She shook her head. "I'll be fine," she said, though the man didn't look like he believed her, and as a wave of dizziness overtook her, she didn't much believe it either. She waved in the general direction of the address she'd written down. "I'll... he'll pick me up."

He still looked skeptical but didn't try to stop her or follow her as she pushed away from the bar and made for the front door, silently cursing her decision to be trendy and wear heels instead of her combat boots or Chucks. She slumped against the wall outside, glad of the cool fresh air, even though it had been raining since she and Zaeed had gone in, and slid down until her ass hit the wet pavement.

"You look like you could use a hand."

Bex groaned inwardly at the unwelcome intrusion but didn't look up from the message she was typing into her omni-tool. "Nope, doin' jus' fine all by myself, thanks."

"Perhaps you're right, Shepard. You do look the absolute definition of 'doin' jus' fine,' sitting out here in the rain."

Her head snapped up at the mention of her name and she found herself looking into a pair of blue eyes only a shade or two darker than her own. Her gaze flickered down to the long scar cutting through his right cheek and quickly glanced over to his right shoulder, cursing silently as she noticed the four bars set into his shirt.

It was Admiral Hackett. Bex had seen pictures of the man before, seen him on the news vids occasionally, but it was just her goddamn luck that the first time they met face-to-face, she was drunk off her ass. She tried to sit up straighter, knowing her legs weren't going to cooperate if she tried to stand, and snapped an awkward salute. "Sorry, sir. I didn' know it was you."

He waved off the salute and crouched down in front of her. "Can I ask why you're sitting out here instead of inside where it's warm and, more importantly, dry?"

"Long story, really."

"You don't strike me as the type to drink alone. You didn't get left behind, did you?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. I'm the one who left, actually." She sighed heavily. "I may have overreacted to something said in drunken anger and then stormed out. I... may owe someone an apology."

"I see. Do you need a ride anywhere?"

She shook her head again and held up the arm with her omni-tool. "Already called for a ride." She looked past the Admiral to the skycar that was landing just behind him. "And it's here."

Morgan and Kaidan piled out of the car and walked over to her. They both raised eyebrows at the Admiral for a moment before they too recognized and saluted him.

"Admiral, this is a surprise, sir," Morgan said. "We don't often see you on Earth."

"I'm meeting your father-in-law for a drink," Hackett replied as he stood up again. "There's a graduation at the base tomorrow, Commander, as you might remember?"

"Of course, sir."

Hackett turned his attention back to Bex. "I believe you're in capable hands now, Lieutenant. Assuming you'll allow them to help you, of course," he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

She blushed faintly. "Yes, sir."

He smiled warmly. "Good luck in Rio."

Kaidan and Morgan stared after the Admiral as he was swallowed up by the dim lighting inside Kildare's.

"So that's Admiral Hackett," Bex muttered. "Interesting. Pretty eyes."

Morgan groaned as he and Kaidan hauled her to her feet. "Not you too? Tamara's always going on about the man's beautiful blue eyes every time he's on the news."

"Well, they are."

"So why were you sitting out here?" Kaidan asked. "Where's Zaeed?"

Bex sighed. "Inside, still drinking. I came to the realization while I was talking to Hackett that I may owe him an apology."

"Hackett?"

She rolled her eyes. "No, Zaeed. I overreacted, should have just brushed off his outburst instead of storming off like I did."

"D'you want us to go in and get him, then?" Morgan asked.

"No, I told the barman to send him to your place when he'd had enough."

Morgan shook his head. "Busy as this place is on the weekends, barman's not likely to be paying that much attention to just another drunk, y'know? We're better off taking him now, than waiting to get another call that he's in the drunk tank, or worse."

Bex shrugged. "Your funeral."

As Morgan ventured into the bar, Kaidan wrapped an arm firmly around Bex's waist and led her to the skycar.

"You know you're going to be very hung-over tomorrow, yes?" he said, settling her in the back seat, where she promptly fell to the side, laying across all the seats.

"I know. Not as bad as Zaeed though."

"True. Being a biotic does have its advantages." He gently pushed her to a seated position while he got in beside her. "So what was your fight about?"

She hesitated a moment before she heaved a sigh and leaned against his shoulder. "It was the absolute dumbest thing, honestly."

"No one ever fights over smart shit when they're hammered, Bex."

"True." She told him about the entire conversation, leading up to the point where she'd snapped at Zaeed. "And then I just shoved the bottle back into his hands and walked away."

"Nothin' to 'pologize for." She looked up as Morgan shoved Zaeed none-too-gracefully into the front passenger seat of the skycar and closed the door. The drunk mercenary turned to face the back. "I'm the one who should be apologizing, half-pint. Didn' mean what I said."

"'S true though. I don't know what it's like to lose a child."

"And I hope you never do. None of you," he said, glancing at Kaidan and Morgan. "But I still shouldn't have said it, and 'm sorry."

"Now that's settled," Morgan said as he pulled the skycar away from the curb, "let's get you two home and to bed. As the Admiral reminded me, there is a graduation tomorrow, and I've got to be there. And Bex, you'd better sleep as much as you can tonight. From what I've heard, it's about the last bit of sleep you'll get for the next six months."

She yawned and adjusted against Kaidan's shoulder. "So shut up an' let me sleep already."