"Joker, will you sit bloody still!" I shouted, trying to see the screen in the lounge. I threw some popcorn at him, grinning as it bounced off and littered him with white mess. I was aiming for his head, but the cap he never removed deflected most of it. I hit him with another barrage as explosions sounded through the speakers. Blasto was about to do something badass, I just knew it, and I didn't want to miss it. Knowing this, Joker was being a butt; moving his fat head in and out of the way.

The pilot turned, throwing me a baleful glare that barely hid his smirk. "James, tell your girlfriend to stop throwing popcorn at me before I break my hand smacking her," he said, his voice petulant and grumbling as EDI helped brush off the kernels. The little boy voice, he's the master of it, and of course EDI falls for it. Gonna have to give her lessons on puppy dog eyes and how to ignore them.

James chuckled, stroking his hand along my thigh as it lay draped across his lap. He shot a glance at Joker that clearly said 'If I could control her, do you think I wouldn't?' He swatted away the empty can that smacked him in the chest. "Amiee, stop being mean to him," he said, defending his friend.

"See, bro code, Amiee, you should know better than to try and come between a man and his bro." Joker's smirk grew even wider as I hid my answering smile.

I've missed this the most, I think, I thought, enjoying the easy banter between us. "Action Man . . .." I said, raising my brow. My smile promised rewards best given in private, and my cheeks blushed at the heated look James passed over me. Hey, it's not like we're not gonna do it anyway . . ..

After I'd pouted prettily, my boyfriend dutifully reached his long arm forward and flipped Jokers hat off his head. Another laugh left him as I threw my deadly sugar-and-salt projectiles, landing direct hits on the now exposed target; AKA his bald spot. "Sorry, bro," he muttered when Joker looked betrayed.

Big faker.

"But the . . . bro code," he said, shooting me a glare. "Man, you're pussy whipped."

James ducked his head into my neck, nuzzling softly. "He thinks I care," he whispered, earning a shiver from me as his smooth, accented voice purred along my skin. I let my fingers drift through his short hair, before grazing them over the scar on his face. God, why does he have to be so sexy? I thought, snuggling into him as I looked back at the screen.

"Get a room, you two," Shepard said from the other side of the sofa. She was draped across Garrus in a far more compromising position than I was; actually on his lap, rather than just cuddling.

I snorted and let my fingers graze James's neck as he rumbled something about doing as the commander said. Shaking my head, I bent my lips to his ear. "I wanna see Blasto," I whispered, feeling his arms wrapping around me. "Later though . . .."

Joker snorted, throwing popcorn over his shoulder. "I'll be sure to have the cameras rolling," he said, earning a reproving nudge from Liara, who sat, curled up with her back leaning against the sofa he sat on. "What? A man can dream, right? And some of those noises Amiee makes . . . people would pay a lotta money for that."

"Jeff!" I wailed, disturbed. Mortification made my cheeks color, and I hid my face, issuing threats from the security of James's chest."You're sick, you know that? I swear, if you do anything like that, I will break every bone in your body. Won't be too hard, I'll poke you with a feather and call it a day."

James laughed out loud as a hail of snacks and empty cans hit the chuckling pilot, pleas of brittle bones notwithstanding; we weren't throwing them too hard. After several moments of utter chaos, Shepard called us all to order and we settled down to watch the movie again. I still had my cheek against James's chest, and to be honest, I preferred it. He smelt like gun oil, metal and . . . my perfume. The last part made me smile, the insanely jealous woman in me purring like a cat that got the cream. It felt good to know that he was mine, and even though we didn't say it all too often, we loved each other. Sometimes that's the only thing keeping me going.

I kissed the skin of his neck. "I love you, Action Man." I didn't know why, but something tightened inside my chest, demanding I say the words. After months of watching people lose loved ones, I wanted to make sure James knew how I felt, just in case something happened to me.

His dark eyes met mine, and he raised a hand to brush his thumb over my lower lip. "I know," he whispered, bending to kiss me gently, a chaste caress of his lips against mine. "I love you too, Muñeca."

Smiling, the soft, yet steely love I felt for him burning through my veins, I turned my head, looking around at the others. My family. Shepard and Garrus were canoodling in the corner of one sofa, while EDI and Joker bantered, discussing plot holes and the realism of a hanar being a spectre. Liara sat on the floor, typing on her data-pad close by, occasionally throwing in her opinion, much to Joker's disgust. I wouldn't bet against the Shadow Broker, Jeff.

On the other side of the room, Cortez and Kaidan were playing a hand of cards, having claimed that they'd seen the movie before. Javik had refused to come at first, but I'd hijacked Glyph, Liara's drone, recruiting the little bot to harass him until he joined us.

Stupid, stuffy prothean. Acting all superior, but here he is, watching the film like a five year old watching Transformers for the first time. I smiled at the thought, watching the way the fifty thousand year old male studied the screen, grunting in amusement or disgust, even getting to his feet in outrage at one point.

"In my cycle,This 'Blasto' would have been served as a delicacy. Not been given the title of spectre."

For the sake of equality, I threw a handful of popcorn at him. "Amiee, you've thrown more than you've eaten," Garrus told me, his pale eyes meeting mine. "Do I have to make you eat?"

I shook my head, obediently eating as he said. He'd been making sure that I put weight on, spending time away from his Calibrating-either his guns or Shepard-to sit with me in the mess, eating his dextro foods and telling me about his home. "I'm not really that hungry," I said after swallowing. "This is just a snack, I don't really need it after dinner."

Giving me a rumble of disapproval that turned into a throaty moan when Shepard whispered something in his ear. The turian wrapped his arms around the small woman and picked her up. He nodded to me, ignoring the wolf-whistles from the others, before striding from the room.

Now I'm really not hungry, I thought, shaking my head. I leaned back as EDI left as well, saying something about research. Joker got up and hobbled over, nudging me so I'd give him some space and sat beside me, my back tucked into his side as I reclined, legs over James. We watched the film in silence for a while, the sounds of cards being shuffled and fingers clicking on datapads giving the room a soft sound track. The film changed, going from action to quarian-turian romance, making me yawn and snuggle close to Joker and James.

After a while, I felt Jokers fingers sifting through my short hair. "What's up?" I asked him softly, not wanting to disturb James, who'd fallen asleep, his mouth slack and his breathing even. I turned my head on Joker's shoulder so I could see him, my brows slightly furrowed.

"Nothin' much . . .." He stopped, a small frown on his face. "Amiee, are you alright?" he asked after a second's pause. "After everything that's happened . . . I guess I just wanted to see how you're doing." Joker's cheeks turned bright pink and he looked away, discomforted.

Gently extracting my legs from James, I turned to face him fully, my head on his shoulder and my arm around his waist. "I'm okay, Jeff. I promise," I whispered, hugging him gently. "Things have been tough, but you guys pulled me through it, and I've been on a few ground missions, so I'm fighting fit."

"That's not what I meant," he said, resting his chin on my head. "I mean with the memories and the other stuff . . .. Hell, I'm not good this this kinda crap . . .." He sighed, shifting my hair with the soft breath. "I guess I worry about you. You're not like Shepard or the others. You're kinda like my kid sister. She used to act so tough . . . but deep down, she was soft and gentle."

"What happened to her?" I asked, keeping my voice gentle when his scratchy gotee rubbed against my forehead.

"She was on Tiptree . . .. God, you would have loved her. She . . . she died." He broke off, huffing in a breath. "Her name was Hilary . . .. Just a kid. Some asari killed her. I didn't get to see the body . . . or even go to her funeral. She wanted to be a pilot like me. Again, just like you, s'all hero worship, no one can blame you."

I squeezed him a little tighter, ignoring his huffs about being breakable. "You can stand a cracked rib after a cuddle," I murmured, feeling the soft, sad chuckle he let out rumble through my cheek. "I'm sorry, Joker."

He kept up the rhythmic stroking of my hair, letting silence fall for another moment. "The point is, she was like you, tough on the outside, but soft on the inside. I don't want to see you lose that. I won't get to see Hilary again, but you . . . I can watch over you. If you need to talk, I'm here, alright?" After clearing his throat, he tipped my chin up with one hand and kissed my forehead. "And if you tell anyone I said any of this, I'll get Javik to throw you out the airlock."

I laughed, almost waking James. "And what makes you think Iceman will do what you ask him to?" I asked, my voice light once more.

"Because, hu-Amiee, I have just had to sit here and listen to the pointless emotional exchange between you," Javik said, his golden eyes meeting mine across the room. "Though, I will be throwing the pilot out with you." He smiled, a terrifying, fangy smile that sent shivers down my back. "Now, be still and silent. I am watching this." Javik turned his head back to the screen, becoming immersed once more.

I looked at Joker as he looked at me, and we both burst out laughing. "Javik, whatever street cred or bad assery you had is now gone," I said, gasping in a breath and pointing to the screen that was currently showing a turian and quarian making out; or as much as they could, considering the mask and mandibles. "You're watching 'Fleet and Flotilla'." I snorted a laugh out, holding my ribs. "It's a romance, and you look about to cry."

"That is not correct. This is Blasto. I do not watch romance," Javik responded, glancing over in confusion. His head whipped back around as a desperate wail of sorrow spilled from the screen, belying his denial completely.

Joker threw his head back and roared with laughter, waking James and bringing the attention of everyone else in the room to us. He brought his arms around himself. "I'm breaking all my damn ribs," he groaned between laughing.

Javik got to his feet, glaring at us all, before storming from the room, Liara hot on his heels. I watched for a moment, before grumbling and handing Joker several chits. "Okay, you win, something's going on with those two," I muttered, shaking my head as the pilot laughed, hugging me tightly.

"Well, I've gotta go get us to the Citadel," Joker said, getting to his feet. He smiled down at me. "Remember what I said, crazy lady." After raising his hand in farewell, he hobbled out, leaving me with James. I hadn't noticed Cortez and Kaidan leaving, but as the room fell silent, I felt a wave of quiet peace.

"So, about later . . .."

James's lips cut off my words, silencing me as his arms came around my waist, lifting me back into his lap. He rumbled something soft, but I couldn't make it out. Returning his kiss, I decided it didn't matter, and lost myself in the arms of the man I loved. Moments like these were precious, and with another mission coming, I would grab onto it with both hands.


A/N: Hey guys, welcome to another chapter! Huge thanks to my readers, as well as cookies and hugs to the reviewers, favorite and followers, it means a lot that you give me such great feedback on my work, and I love to read and reply to them. Massive thanks go out to my beta's, BlueKrisna, and MizDirected for helping me out with this. Love y'all! Keep reading on for some fun times on the Citadel. It's DLC time!