Joker was beginning to see a pattern with Jo's nightmares. When their lovemaking tired her out entirely, she mostly slept without them, unless there had been some emotional distress during the day, something that would throw her out of her comfort zone. And knowing Jo, her comfort zone was extremely huge and not many things could do that. He didn't know what to expect today. There had been many new, unexpected things for her during the day, some of them definitely out of her comfort zone.
He was right to be cautious. Even though she fell asleep in his arms like a baby after a long and intimate (and very quiet) love play, a few hours later she began throwing her arms around and muttering unintelligible things. He woke her up, but she needed a few seconds before she knew where she was. That was much too long for a Marine of her standard who was always ready for action, even in her sleep.
In a way this relationship was a test to his abilities as a lover. Would he be able to tire her out enough to give her a night of peaceful sleep? He knew she would tell him not to bother worrying about such things, but he did have some male pride, no matter what.
At least she was sleeping in general. He remembered all those times on the Normandy when everyone would head to their bunks, but she would stay in the mess hall, reading. In the morning she would be showered and clothed, but the grey tone of her skin and bags under her eyes would testify to another sleepless night. Months of sleepless nights.
She slept when he was with her, and that polished his male ego quite nicely.
In the morning, when Joker was already helping Silvia make breakfast, Jo wandered into the kitchen with a strange look on her face.
"There is a window in the bathroom. First of all, the bathtub is in a different room form the toilet, and then there is a window in the bathroom," she declared. Silvia raised both eyebrows:
"Is everything all right with it?"
"The decadence of having a window in the bathroom!" Jo shook her head, unbelieving and laughing at her own reaction. "You have actual sunlight when you bathe!"
"Yes, I do," Silvia chuckled. "Not many windows on the ship, are there?"
"Well, sunlight is a rare commodity in space and windows are structural weaknesses," Jo winked at Joker, who sniggered. "And a window in the bathroom! Damn, I want that."
"If I knew how little it takes to make you happy, I would have set you up in sleeping bags in the tool shed," Sylvia couldn't help a little smile. "Do you miss it? The sunlight?"
"More than anything else. I love my ship and I love my life. But sunshine is the one thing I really miss from the planet life."
"Well, enjoy it, while you're here," Silvia said, pouring her coffee. "There are a few kids lurking around in my frond yard. Do you know anything about that?"
"Oh, I promised to make a snowman with them."
"There is a lot of fresh snow, the cleaner mechs are hardly coping with it. Most of the time we have to carve our way out of our houses in this part of town. I already checked, the door is pretty stuck right now. You'll have to find a way to open it."
"Would you like me to apply force to the door?" Jo asked. "Or should I climb out of the window and clean it from the outside?"
"Pick the second, mum. When Jo applies force to something, it rarely survives."
"All right, then climb out of the window, please," Silvia looked at Jo with narrowed eyes.
After breakfast Jo did just that. Silvia's expression became strange when she watched Jo vault over the window sill with the grace of a panther and land under the window as effortlessly as if she was taking a stroll. It was a two meter fall, even if cushioned by snow.
"I know, mum," Joker said quietly. "She does these things like they don't matter. And I never could."
"I'm not saying I wished for an acrobat in the family," Silvia said to him just as quietly. "But I always wished you could move the way you wanted to. Run, kick, whatever you fancied. I see that these days you do move better than ever before. Have you undergone more treatments?"
"Yes, an extensive one. As you see, I can do a lot more now. Like shoot a rifle."
"That's good. Maybe she can give you something I never could."
"Don't talk like that, mum. You're my mother, she's my girlfriend, this can never be a competition."
They heard the snow shovel scrape the door from the outside and a few minutes later the door was free. Harriett and a few others were already waiting impatiently outside.
"Well, off to make a snowman," Jo grinned at Joker and his mother.
"Wait, I'll be right there with you," he said.
This time they both wore gloves, scarves and their jackets zipped. As they worked, Jo's hair came undone, and she hid the scrunchie in her pocket.
"You're so pretty," Harriett said. "Like my doll."
"Isn't she?" Joker crouched next to the little girl, both of them looking up at Jo, as she shook her hair out of a tight knot. "You know what, Harriett? Jo and I have a spaceship, and we fly in it all around the world, and I've never seen another girl as pretty as Jo."
"You're a space ship captain?" Another girl gasped in awe, but Joker shook his head:
"No, Jo is the captain. I'm the pilot."
Both girls looked at Jo with dreamy eyes:
"I want to be a captain!" They both declared.
"You'll both make good captains," Jo smiled.
"Really?"
"Yes, really. I can tell."
They ended up making a two meters tall snowman out of three orbs, and then sculptured a snow princess next to him, with a huge dress and a crown and everything. It was already late in the afternoon, when parents began stopping by to pick up their kids to feed and warm them.
"You Jeff Moreau?" One of the young fathers asked. "Silvia's son? We heard you're stationed on that ship, Normandy, Shepard's ship?"
"You know I can't talk about my deployment details, it's classified," Joker said in a non-committal voice. The other man nodded slightly:
"Sure, sure, military secrets and all that. We heard she's with Cerberus now, though. If that's true, then she isn't Alliance military, now, is she?"
"Whatever the case, I am not at liberty to discuss anything with civilians I've never met in my life." Joker said just as nonchalantly.
"Cerberus are fucking terrorists," he man said coldly.
"Do you always use that kind of language in front of your daughter?"
"She'll grow up knowing that Cerberus are not to be trusted, and everyone working with them is a traitor to humanity."
"Are you a pacifist?" Joker asked the man, who looked confused.
"Pacifist?"
"If you feel so strongly about Cerberus because they are terrorists who commit hate crimes against other races, it stands to reason that you're a pacifist who feels that humanity should work with all the aliens in peace and friendship. Is that what you're trying to tell me?"
The man looked even more confused.
"No," he exclaimed. "I hate'em fucking turians, the ugly beasts killed our people in war, and they should all be dead!"
"Cerberus was born in the First Contact war exactly because of these reasons. So you're telling me now that you do approve of Cerberus actions, condone terrorist acts against alien races, and speak out loudly to their endorsement? Maybe you are a Cerberus agent, if you associate so strongly with their ideas?"
The man's face became purple red and his meaty fist flew at Joker. He ducked just in time and Jo caught the angry man's wrist:
"That is enough," she whispered. "You're embarrassing yourself in front of your daughter and half of the neighbourhood. If you're too stupid to set your beliefs and feelings straight, do not talk about them in public. Jeff Moreau is a Flight Lieutenant. You do not want to start a brawl with an Alliance officer."
"He's got brittle bones!" The man hissed, trying to wrestle his hand out of Jo's grip.
"In his legs, not in his arms." This man didn't need to know that even if Joker tried to punch him, he'd break every bone in his own hand and arm. But this man also didn't need to know that it was Commander fucking Shepard holding his wrist and she could break his every single bone in under two minutes because she would never allow Joker to be involved in any fist fights. This guy was a civilian and kids were watching. She needed to deal with him differently than she would have dealt with someone she'd met on a mission. Violence of any kind was not an option. However, she had a little feeling inside her that Joker provoked the man on purpose because he knew she'd never allow anyone to cause him harm. Well, if he liked having the aforementioned Commander fucking Shepard at his beck and call, she was happy to oblige. She would do anything for him. Any place, any time. She forced the man to lower his fist and whispered in his face: "I strongly suggest that you go home, make lunch for Kimali and think a little more about what you actually believe in."
The man eyed her angrily, but found enough common sense to get his kid and leave.
"Can't find an idiot-free spot anywhere," Joker sighed after them.
"And you just had to provoke him. You already knew he was too dumb to have a chance against you, yet you pushed him further."
"So what? My wit is my only weapon."
"It is a powerful weapon," Jo hooked her arm in his and they walked towards the house. "More powerful than a nuke. Sharper than any razor blade. It's easy to make enemies, but we need allies. Antagonizing people won't help us any."
"So is that what we do? You befriend people and I antagonize them? I'm the minus to your plus?"
"You really have no idea, do you?" She looked at him sideways and smiled warmly. "These are civilians, most of them never left their town, other planets are stories from the vids to them. You've been out there, you've seen other races, worlds, unspeakable things. Your experience is the power that radiates from you. Of course, on the Normandy everyone shines with the same power, so you keep forgetting the impact you're having on civilians, my love. To these people you're larger than life, you can move them, if you want to. He'll be telling stories about meeting you for years to come. How you deal with that is your own decision. Make it a good decision."
"What about you? You're the famous one, you could make him eat dirt from your shoes if you decided to. Why didn't he react to you?"
"Because I learned to tuck in that power and to appear like a civilian, like one of them."
"I'm really not much of a people person to use the brainwashing tactics you love so much. I'm just a guy."
"You've never been just a guy. You've always been magnificent. But I have to warn you," she leaned against him as they stood on the porch. "If you decide to pursue that magnificence and power and start a political career, I'm going to have to stop you. I need you at the Normandy's helm."
"I'm never getting off the Normandy." He kissed her. "You make me all hot when you give inspirational speeches."
"Or is it the apricot scent in my hair?"
"That, too!"
They ate dinner with Silvia and ended up on a couch in front of a TV screen.
"Okay, I'm already slightly restless," Jo said. "When was the last time I didn't have anything to do for two days?"
"When we were out in the Attican Traverse mining for minerals."
"True. But then it was between missions, I had loads to read. Now…"
"Come here," he beckoned her to lie between him and the backrest of the couch. She complied and laid her head on his chest, while his arm fell securely around her shoulders. He flipped the channels until he found some romantic comedy, and stopped there. "Relax. You're safe, you're home, you're with me, and nothing bad is going to happen while you sleep. You're never going to be alone as long as I live, and you'll always be loved."
"You have a superpower, I swear," she muttered sleepily against his chest, and was asleep a few minutes later.
Silvia came in with tea and cake, but when she saw Jo asleep, she quietly put the food on the coffee table.
"She looks nothing like in the vids when she's asleep," she observed in a whisper. Joker nodded slightly in agreement.
"If you wondered how we happened, mum, this is how we happened. There is a person behind the legend, and that woman for some reason likes me. Even if she dies tomorrow and breaks my heart again, I will always have this."
"I only want what's best for you, Jeff, you know that."
"Thanks, mum."
Jo would have slept through the night like that, but around midnight Joker woke her to relocate them both to the bed. And the next two and a half days Jo spent catching up on all the sleep she'd missed. She got up to eat now and then, but then fell back into the bed and was off to dream land. Joker let her be and only checked in to see if she was having nightmares. Miraculously, she slept all that time without a single one.
"What's with her?" Silvia asked him on the second day.
"After she died and came back, she spent months without sleep. Ghosted around the ship night after night. It was creepy as hell, and the whole crew didn't know what to do. I remember she tried to drink herself to sleep once but had such terrible nightmares after it that everybody heard her scream, even down in the cargo hold. After that she tried sleeping pills, but never alcohol. Nothing really helped. Since we've been together, though, she falls asleep every night without trouble, even though every other night she starts screaming. I brought her here to give her a chance to sleep it out."
"I see. Sometimes I try to imagine what your life on that ship is like. I spent years building them, but I never had a chance to live on them. Do you really spend months travelling through space without rest?"
"No, we dock at some port every few days. Our missions take us to many populated places. We get shore leave every couple of weeks, and right now, after that big mission, Jo gave everyone a whole month of vacation."
"But what is it like? Living on a ship?"
"Well, the Commander has her own quarters on the upper level, right under the hull. A few of the non-military members have their own rooms all over the ship, like in the starboard observation room or in the cargo bay. The rest of the crew is bunked on two-storey beds in the dorm. We all know each other's underwear colour. There are two shifts. Day shift is made of all the people the Commander works with. Me, the navigators, the engineers, the ground team, the doctor. The night shift is a skeleton crew that guards and steers the ship to its destination while the rest is asleep. We have a mess hall and eat all together, or have some drinks. Our cook is at the same time our janitor, so we tease him about washing his hands between one job and the other. He used to cook mean food until Jo resupplied the ship with decent rations."
Silvia chuckled, also making a circling gesture with her hand, indicating he should continue. She was eating up his every word.
"The crew is human, but Jo picked up a lot of alien friends. They're not military and don't really answer to anyone, but they're there out of friendship and loyalty, so they get to tease the Commander, they're like buffer between the military style and the freelance kind of mission we're on. Lately, I've moved up to Jo's cabin. There was surprisingly little reaction to that, but that's Jo for you. Trust me when I say: nobody, not even the meanest Krogan on Tuchanka dares to speak against Commander Shepard on her own ship. She is the heart and soul of the Normandy. In truth, Normandy isn't a particular ship. The first one blew up, we got the second one, but the spirit of the Normandy remained. I think Jo carries that spirit in her own heart. She loves the ship, like it's her mother, her child and her lover at the same time. When she sees a scratch somewhere or wires hanging in the open, she goes berserk. But people adore her. It's hard not to. It's magical, compared to what my other assignments had been like. It's hard to find any other words. I get dizzy just thinking about it."
"You're friends with aliens?"
"Sure I am."
"She has different species on the ship?"
"Now, mum, we're too close to classified information here. Sorry."
"It's okay."
For a while they sat in silence, both musing over Joker's words.
"By the way," Silvia said. "The neighbourhood kids have been asking about you. They say you promised to take them on a ride in your shuttle. Why don't you?"
"If I start the engine, Jo will hear it and be up battle-ready in one and a half seconds. You don't mess with those fighting reflexes, mum. You should never try to sneak up on her, either. It's useless, she'd have heard you from a houseblock away, and when you fail to scare her, she might just kill you on principle for trying. If she hears that engine, her sleep will become battle readiness on a switch. So I'm letting her sleep it out. We'll take the kids together when she's back up."
"The way she's going, you might be sitting here waiting for the rest of the two weeks," Silvia shook her head.
"No worries, mum. If I need anything from her, I'll just roll her over and she'll never notice."
Silvia raised one eyebrow, then got up from the table, lips pursed and eyebrows in a frown:
"Your humour went a notch sideways since you've been on that ship."
"Oh, come on, mum. Jo would appreciate that joke."
"Would she?"
"Let's have us a bet."
"I'm not going to bet with you on something like that."
"We'll try her anyway. And I'm telling you, she'll laugh herself silly."
The next morning Jo joined the Moreaus at the lunch table. She came in, stretched her arms, popped her spine and sat down next to Joker, giving him a light kiss below his ear.
"Did you sleep well?" Silvia asked.
"Yes, amazingly well, thank you. I feel like a whole new person. Finally."
"Yeah, mum was worried that you'd sleep through the whole vacation and I'd be sitting here alone, waiting. But I said to her: Don't worry, if I need anything from Jo, I'll just roll her over and she'd never notice."
"Did you?" She asked him, imagining what he was talking about, and grinning like mad.
"No," he grinned back.
"Why not? Just because I'm asleep doesn't mean you have to deprive yourself of anything."
"All right, I'm out of here," Silvia got up impulsively and headed out of the room. "That kind of humour hasn't arrived in our corner of the universe yet."
"Silvia, I'm sorry!" Jo called after her, but burst out laughing, when they were suddenly alone. "Now I really want you to roll me over."
"Go back to sleep then, and I'll do my best not to wake you up!" He whispered headily against her neck.
"Too late for that, I'm done with sleep. Now I want you. Hard and long and deep."
He gulped.
They heard Silvia force open the snow-covered door and leave.
"Well, mum's gone shopping," Joker said. "Still moping about our jokes. How do you want it?"
"You know already: any way I can get it."
When Silvia was back with groceries, Jo and Joker were showered, dressed, all rosy and blissful, lying on their bellies on the thick rug in the living room, browsing for upgrades for their Normandy.
"Jeff, Jo, I've just talked to Kat from next door. She'd like to have us all over for dinner tonight. If you don't have any plans and are up for it, would you come?" Silvia said from the door so casually that Jo's skin crawled. Mrs Moreau was up to something.
She looked at Joker with a little pain in her eyes. If people had her in their house for a few hours, they would recognise her, no matter how differently she did her hair. And then there would be a sensation across town. So far she'd been lucky.
Joker wasn't looking at her.
"Who is Kat?" He asked his mother.
"She's Kevin's big sister. Kevin, the tall black haired boy who asked you all about your shuttle, remember? He started working at the docks right after school. He and Kat are the kids of one of my old friends, Octavia. She died a few months ago. Now I'm sort of looking after them a little."
"And Kat's just throwing a dinner for no reason?"
"Apparently. She didn't say anything about the occasion. So, would you two come?"
"Sure, I mean, we don't have other plans," Joker turned to Jo. "Do we?"
"Nothing specific," she shrugged. If playing nice with Joker's mother meant having to sit through a dinner party with strangers, she'd do it. She was the goddess of Game Face.
A few hours later they were getting ready. It was already dark outside, but Christmas lights illuminated the streets. It was odd to see them since it was only October on Earth, but people out here didn't seem to take dates of Earth holidays very seriously. It was winter here and it felt like Christmas.
"Should I dress to kill? Or dress to hide? Or dress to intimidate?" Jo asked Joker. He was already dressed.
"I don't think you have enough clothes in that one bag for all these options," he said.
"You'd be surprised how little space some of those clothes take."
"If I said: dress to kill, what would you wear?"
"It's a dress. I can't show it to you like that. You need to see it on."
"Well, put it on."
"Not if we plan to leave this room any time today at all. It is 'to kill', after all."
"Now I'm interested!"
"It will have to wait."
He pouted, while she put on black slacks and a white blazer over a red tank top.
"Oh, red?" Joker nodded at the top. "You finally got some colours in your wardrobe? You've worn white, black and grey as long as I've known you."
"What can I say, it's your damn influence."
"I like blue and green."
"And I like gold, but I doubt you will wear a golden shirt anytime soon, right?" Jo threw a little pillow at him. He caught it and threw it back. She ducked and it hit the mirror. "Watch your aim, slacker!"
Silvia knocked on the door:
"Are you two ready?"
Jo quickly pulled on her combat boots and all three of them headed towards the neighbours.
Judging by the noises from the house there seemed to be at least a dozen people inside. Jo braced herself and put on her game face. This time, however, it was not the Commander face or Brutal Bitch face. It was an I-Say-Nothing face.
Silvia rang the door. The house seemed to have the same nostalgic design as hers, with doors that didn't slide apart but had to be opened by knobs. At least Jo knew now how to operate them. A gorgeous black-haired woman of about twenty five opened the door. She looked more than hot in her tight black pants and even tighter sparkling blue blouse.
Jo pressed her teeth together. This was what Silvia was up to. She would parade the most beautiful women she knew in front of her son, hoping that one of them would catch his fancy and steer his attention away from the unholy Commander Shepard. Jo didn't think she had anything to worry about, judging by the way Joker's eyes came to rest on the neighbour's chest and not her eyes. This woman would be nothing more than a nice picture he would appreciate in passing. What hurt was Silvia's subtle manipulation attempt. It seemed that this mother wouldn't go the obvious and stupid way by speaking openly against Jo to Joker. No, she would find ways to show him how inadequate Jo was and present him with 'better' choices. Silvia was a formidable opponent who knew exactly what she was doing. Her disapproval and subtle tactics might go unnoticed by her son, who'd never suspect her of anything devious, but Jo found that she was more comfortable with this antagonism than she would have been with acceptance. A battle she could fight and win. A perfect daughter-in-law she'd never ever be.
"Silvia, thank you for coming," Kat waved them all inside. "You must be Jeff, very nice to finally meet you," she offered Joker her hand and shook his gently. Then she turned to Jo and also extended her hand: "Hi, I'm Kat Janet."
"Hi, Kat, I'm Jo," Jo said, shaking her hand and ignoring the last name offer. She wouldn't give out hers as long as she could. Instead she eyed the other woman. Kat probably didn't even know why Silvia brought them here. She seemed very nice, gentle-spoken, had a sophisticated air about her, and as previously stated, was beyond beautiful. Jo felt for the girl. She was being set up by Silvia as much as Jo and Joker were. Too bad Silvia didn't really know anything about her son, it seemed. A gentle-spoken, sophisticated civilian would be the last person to catch his fancy. Not when he was turned on by watching Jo murder people on regular basis.
"You're Shepard, aren't you?" Kat said quieter. "My brother spent two days browsing the extranet for info about you after he met you the other day at your shuttle. Don't worry, we're all friends here."
"Honey," Jo fixed her with her eyes. "If I were scared of walking into a room full of strangers, I wouldn't be who I am."
"Of course, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect you. Please, come inside. Kevin!" Kat called into the other room.
A boy of about seventeen emerged. Jo recognised him from the snowball fight. He seemed particularly interested in space ships and shuttles and kept asking Joker all about the Kodiak.
"Sir," he shook Joker's hand. "Commander," he looked at her with barely hidden awe, as he shook her hand, but pulled himself together quickly. "It's an honour to meet you."
Jo bit down a sarcastic remark. Sometimes all this worship was seriously annoying her. Game face, keep the game face on, she reprimanded herself.
"It's an honour to be invited," she said earnestly, and nobody ever knew if she was honest or faking it when she spoke like that. Even Jo wasn't sure.
"Please, come inside, we're about to set the table. Let me introduce you to a few friends," Kevin said, his cheeks pink with pride. He led Jo and Joker into the large living room, and introduced them to ten guests, all men and women form the neighbourhood. Not all of them were even young, like the Janet siblings. Some were pushing a hundred, some were clearly family people. Still, everyone without exception shook their hands affectionately and expressed their good will towards Jo.
And still. Silvia remained in the background, and Joker became a lot less talkative, once they entered the house. Where she was the Commander, he was the pilot and submitted to the chain of command. Which meant that he was pushed out of the spotlight. Jo had a feeling that this was exactly what Silvia wanted her son to notice and to realise that he didn't like that.
Kevin showed them to their places at the table. Of course, she was seated at the end of it. The other guests settled down after them, and Kat requested Kevin's help to bring in the food. Jo saw the glowing faces of the guests all directed at her.
"All right, let's have it," she sighed. "What do you all want to ask?"
"Did you really come back from the dead?"
"Did you really save the Council?"
"Do you really fight geth?"
"Did you really go to Omega?"
"Have you really killed several Thresher Maws?"
Everyone asked at the same time. Jo leaned back in her chair.
"I have an answer for all of you, and it is 'classified'." She looked around at the frozen faces and stopped at the man who asked about the Maws. "Except for you. Answer to your question is yes, I personally killed several Thresher Maws, and that is the only information about my missions that I can give, sorry. Ask me something I actually can answer." Well, most of those things weren't really classified, some were even public knowledge, but Jo really didn't want to talk about any of that at the moment, nor did she want to encourage more questions of the same kind. This was a domestic environment and she would try her damnest to try and keep Commander Shepard and her missions away from normal people.
"Do you like chicken?" Kevin suddenly asked her from the side, placing a huge bowl with chicken wings on the table. The question distracted everyone and discharged the tension. People laughed, and Jo smiled gratefully:
"As a matter of fact, I do. Thank you."
Kevin had secured himself a spot right next to Jo by putting his jacket on the chair before they even arrived. Fair enough, Jo thought. His house, his right. But Joker was sitting at her other side, thus cutting off all the other guests from trying to start a private conversation with her. Kevin had that privilege. Kat sat on Joker's right, probably hoping to talk to him for a while. Jo blessed the girl in her thoughts. Whoever she was and whatever she did, Jo knew Joker. He wasn't interested.
"I'm working at the docks in town," Kevin said once everyone was settled and had food on their plates. "I spotted right away that your Kodiak has been in space and has even seen battle."
"Really?" Jo looked up. "The Citadel mechanics would take offense. They put a great deal of work into that paint job two weeks ago. It was supposed to look good as new."
"Commander, I'm sure you see the dents and scratches beneath the paint as well as I do."
Jo cocked her head thoughtfully. She was starting to like this boy.
"I can, of course."
"Yeah, you put them there," Joker snorted quietly.
"Is it my fault that people always shoot at us?" She tried to chase away a grin from her face but failed. He suffered the same ordeal:
"Isn't it always? Even a butterfly dying on the other end of the galaxy is your fault, Jo, get used to that."
Jo noticed that he used her own words from a while ago, only replaced "farting" with "dying". Who knew that Joker actually had table manners?
People around them seemed fascinated with their playful exchange. Their image of the unshakable, stoic and heroic Commander Shepard was going out of the window.
"I've read a lot about your ship the other day on the extranet," Kevin spoke up again. "Is it true that it has cloaking? Please don't say 'classified'."
"Yes, she has," Jo grinned. "You like space ships, don't you?"
"More than anything," Kevin nodded enthusiastically. "I always wanted to be a mechanic and work on those spaceships. They are magnificent and so complicated, it fascinates me. Did you bring the Normandy to Benning?"
"If I tell you where she is, you spread the info and hundreds of tourists start flocking around her, I'll be mad," Jo said, but her voice didn't bite.
"I'd never!" Kevin choked on a piece of a vegetable. "I've seen pictures. She's a beautiful ship, Commander."
"She certainly is," Joker nodded, blatantly ignoring Kat.
"So, you work at the docks?" Jo asked Kevin.
"Yes, I wanted an internship with the technicians at the main dock, but they already have all spots filled for the year, so I'm killing time working at the loading bay before I can start as an intern."
"Show me your hands," Jo said. People around the table looked at them with interest. A little unsure of her intentions, Kevin put down his fork and showed her his both palms. "You've got small hands. That's good. Make sure not to break any bones any time soon. Small, flexible hands of a ship's technician can sometimes be a matter of life and death for the whole ship. Especially when you work with drive cores. You'd have to reach many difficult places holding tools. Which parts of the ship are you interested in most?"
"I haven't decided yet."
"On a frigate like the Normandy there are always about a dozen of techies working around the clock," Joker stepped in, taking over the conversation. This was more of his area than Jo's anyway. "Each with their own specialisation profile. Are you more interested in war ships, traders, or civilian design? Engines, electronics, navigation, hardware, weaponry, life support?"
"I'm actually very interested in manoeuvring systems."
"The link between the pilot's command and the ship's reply?" He nodded. That was definitely his area. "I approve."
"Have you studied the tech textbooks published by the turian expert, Zores Daltus?" Jo asked.
"No…"
"Start with them, he covered all the basics for all the systems. It will help you immensely with your internship. Come, give me your datapad," Jo said, flipping open her omnitool. The astounded boy got up and walked to the couch to find his datapad. Jo copied a few files for him. "Here, happy reading."
"Thank you, Commander, I don't know how to thank you…"
"Glad to do it. Talented techies with great love for their patients are always sought after. Study well and you might find yourself commissioned to a ship for a permanent detail. That would take you out to space on top of everything else."
"You have tech books on your omnitool?" One of the guests asked.
"Yes, I've got a whole library here. I learned Daltus' books years ago, but it helps me understand new technology by cross-referencing new manuals with those basic books."
"You read tech books?"
"You learned those books?"
"You know a lot about mechanics?" People started talking at once.
"Of course I know a lot about mechanics. Jeff, do you remember how many times I had to go onto some ghost ship, either change its course, disable a bomb on it or turn off self-destruct?"
"Eighteen-ish," Joker said helpfully.
"See, I personally need to know about tech stuff. Mostly I'm being shot at while I'm trying to disable that self-destruct, so I learned to work under stress, too."
There was a little silence around the table. Silvia looked down into her food, biting her lip.
Kevin started asking her about what the Citadel looked like, and others joined in quickly. Topics of death, self-destructs, bombs and being shot at didn't last long at the table. Jo happily told them about the Presidium, the embassies, the C-Sec, even about the krogan who wanted fish from the Presidium pools and everyone laughed their asses off when Joker told them she'd sold that krogan a souvenir batch of fish from a gift shop for a thousand credits.
By the end of dinner Kevin was flying high with excitement about his newly fuelled passion. He'd been the instigator of the whole dinner, Jo found out. His sister was a little disappointed after being completely ignored by Joker. Jo had no doubt that Silvia had promised the young woman some interest on his part. The other guests were completely and utterly enamoured with Jo, shook her hand extensively and left with satisfied grins on their faces. The goddess of Game Face struck again.
From the moment Jo had stepped onto Benning's surface she'd been scared that she wouldn't fit in here. This was the world Joker came from and she truly knew nothing about it. Family, friends, neighbours, children, excited teenagers with career choices, beautiful girls, home made food, stable and permanent houses, snowmen, routine and happy contentment. This was his home and it couldn't be more different from the life on the Normandy, the only life she knew and could offer him right now. Jo had known that she wouldn't fit in, that Silvia wouldn't like her, but that wasn't what worried her. She was worried if Joker would actually see her inadequateness. Her alienness. Her inability to be a part of his world.
However, when the dinner ended, Silvia's cold face and Joker's glowing smile told her that she'd handled the situation well. She hadn't been too alien, too forceful, too brutal, or in any way inadequate. Silvia was losing this battle and Joker was even more in love with her than before. Still, Jo knew that the tight knot of nerves in her guts would only ease up once they were off the planet. There were still items all around her she knew nothing about, like a sewing machine in Kat's living room corner. Jo had only seen those in vids. This was the world where she had to learn how to open doors, how to use a snow shovel or a dishwasher and how to write a grocery list. She simply didn't fit in here, even though not exactly by choice. But at least Joker thought she was doing well.