A/N: thanks for the follow :)

Six months Bex had been in rehab on Arcturus and she was fucking sick of it. Sick of not being able to fight, sick of having to be reminded day after day of the damage Vido and Ian had inflicted, and sick of the bloody empty gestures and broken promises she'd heard since day one.

The hearing had gone ahead, without Admiral Wells, the moment Bex had been released from the hospital. They'd asked questions about Torfan and nothing else, and even given her a promotion for it, and yet she still hadn't been given new orders.

Just a few more weeks and you'll get a new assignment. She was going to punch the next person who said anything remotely like that to her, even if it was Admiral Hackett.

But at the moment, she had other things to worry about. Someone had coaxed her into babysitting Mandy for a week while Tamara and Morgan had some alone time. She'd hoped Kaidan would stick around to help out, but he'd received new orders the day Tamara left for London, so she was on her own.

She'd been having a fitful nightmare, the same one she always had, when she woke up very suddenly. She groaned slightly as she realized something or someone was sitting on her legs.

"Mandy, what have I told you about sitting on my knees like that?" she said without opening her eyes. "'Specially when I'm trying to sleep?"

The weight shifted and then Mandy was poking at her left arm. "Auntie Bee, why do you have a bandage on your arm? Did you get hurt again?"

Bex smiled at the absolute devastation in the six-year-old's voice before she sat up and pulled the girl into her lap. "No, sweetie, I'm not hurt again." For the moment, she added in her head. "I got inked."

"What's inked?"

"I got a tattoo," she clarified, trying not to laugh at the scrunched look of confusion on the girl's face. "Like your daddy has, and your grandpa."

Tamara had a couple as well, but they weren't visible in polite company; she and Bex had gotten 'matching' ones, the result of a lost bet during a girls' weekend in Vegas for Bex's 21st birthday.

"Can I see it?" Mandy asked, poking Bex's arm again. "Does it hurt?"

"You keep poking it, it will," Bex teased. "Yeah, I guess you can see it, but after breakfast. Yeah?"

Mandy hopped off the bed. "Okay!"

Bex collapsed back on the bed in exhaustion. Not for the first time, she found herself wondering just how Tamara managed to do this every single day.

"Auntie Bee? There's somebody at the door!"

"Who is it?" She heard the sounds of Mandy dragging a kitchen chair over to the security monitor and then silence. "Mandy? Who is it?"

"Somebody from the Alliance."

Bex sighed and rolled out of bed, running her fingers through her hair as she ran to the front door. She glanced at the monitor and then raised an eyebrow as she looked at Mandy. "Really? You didn't recognize Admiral Pretty… um… Hackett?"

The girl grinned but said nothing.

Bex suppressed the urge to roll her eyes and unlocked the door. "Good morning, sir," she said, snapping a salute which Hackett waved away. "Wasn't expecting company at… oh bugger. It's really almost 1100 hours?" She mockingly glared at Mandy. "You weren't supposed to let me sleep that long."

Mandy grinned again and hopped off the chair before she ran to the kitchen.

"So, what brings you..." Bex's eyes widened as she spotted the large cups Hackett was holding. "Is that coffee?"

He chuckled and handed her one of the cups, from the coffee shop not far from Tamara's quarters. "I just wanted to see how you were holding up. The reports from your therapists are… interesting, to say the least."

Bex drained half of her coffee in one scalding gulp before responding. "I'm bored."

"Bored?"

"I'm not used to having to sit around and basically do nothing." She shrugged. "So, I tend to entertain myself by annoying the therapists."

"I see." He seemed to be studying her as he took a sip of his own coffee. "So what do you do for fun outside of therapy?"

"Mostly sit around letting men poke me with needles." She smirked as she held up her bandaged arm when he gave her a questioning look. "Tattoos. This is my latest, just finished yesterday."

"When did you have time to do that if you were watching Mandy?"

"An hour at a time every day between my therapy session and picking her up from school." Bex glanced toward the kitchen. "That reminds me; I promised to let her see it after breakfast. Come on."

While Mandy settled in her room with a stack of chocolate chip waffles and what was left of Saturday morning cartoons, Bex and Hackett sat at the kitchen table, chatting over the rest of their coffee and a box of pastries he'd brought.

"So, what are you really doing here, sir?" she asked after she caught him studying her intently. "Is it really because of the reports?"

He shook his head. "Are you always this suspicious of everyone's intentions, Shepard?"

"Generally, sir." She shrugged. "It's kinda how I've stayed alive all these years, if occasionally a little worse for wear. Well?"

"Fine. Officially, if anyone were to ask, then yes, I suppose I'm here because your therapists are threatening to quit."

"Is there an unofficial reason, then?"

"You need a break, a distraction from everything that's not happening."

"And… you're going to provide that distraction?" she asked, hiding a smirk as she studied the half-eaten pastry on her plate instead of looking at him. "What'd you have in mind?"

From: Hackett

To: Shepard

Subj: Dinner?

I apologize for having to rush away before we could finalize a plan, but if you are still interested, I'm attaching the location of a small restaurant not far from Commander Faulkner's quarters that isn't often busy. I know you tend toward loud and rowdy pubs, but I have a feeling you might need a break from loud after your week with Mandy, and she could probably do with a change of pace as well.

-Hackett

The restaurant Hackett had picked couldn't have been more different from the pubs that Bex frequented back in London. He hadn't been kidding about it not being busy. In fact, there were only two other tables occupied when she arrived.

Hackett was sitting at a table near the back and waved her over before the hostess had even approached her.

"Traveling alone, I see," he said as she sank into the booth across from him. "Where's Mandy?"

"Sleepover at the Moreaus'. Their daughter Hilary is in Mandy's class at the academy."

"I see. Was this prearranged or a spur of the moment thing?"

Bex laughed. "Very much prearranged, Hilary's birthday party sleepover. And the thought of it was just about the only thing that's kept me going this week."

"Babysitting not really your thing?" Hackett asked after their orders had been taken and drinks served.

"I've never done it for so long, and by myself. Kaidan was usually there too." She took a sip of wine as a twinge of guilt shot through her at mentioning Kaidan's name. She knew she had fuck-all to be guilty about, essentially being on a date with Hackett, as she and Kaidan had broken up months ago. They'd tried to stay together, but they'd drifted apart in the weeks after Torfan and Vido's attack. Bex knew it was her own fault, that she'd pushed him away just like she'd pushed everyone else away, needing space from… everything. But they'd finally gotten back to a place of friendship, though she wasn't sure if it would have lasted a week living together and taking care of Mandy, so maybe him getting orders was a blessing in disguise.

Bex was brought out of her reverie by the light touch of calloused fingers against the back of her hand. She glanced up to find Hackett's blue eyes filled with concern.

"Are you all right?" he asked, his hand lingering on hers a moment longer before he pulled it back. "You seemed to be a thousand light years away there for a while."

She shook her head slightly. "Sorry, just… You were right, y'know, about me needing a distraction from everything. But…"

"But?"

"Why me, sir?" Her hand automatically went up to twirl a piece of hair around her finger. "There must be a hundred other things you could be doing, other people you could be… whatever… so why me?"

It seemed an eternity before Hackett spoke again, like he was carefully considering how to answer. "I find you intriguing, Shepard. Always have, ever since the first time we met outside Kildare's Pub in London."

Bex snorted. "As first impressions go, sir, I couldn't have made a very good one."

"I've run into many drunken Marines in my day, but you were by far one of the most civil."

"You must have caught me on a… good day, then. Not often I can be described as civil after an argument with Zaeed." She frowned. "So, you're doing all this, keeping track of me and all, because I intrigue you, sir?"

"That was the beginning of it, I suppose, what made me take an interest in your career," he said after another prolonged silence. "But it's more than that now. I like you, and I find myself wanting to get to know you better, who you are outside of being a soldier."

She could feel a blush rising up her neck and cheeks, positive her face must be as red as her hair, when she smiled at him. "I'd like that."