"Please." I raised my hand to stop Lia from greeting me with a hug. In the couple months I'd known her, the girl had really grown on me. She was basically the little sister I'd never had, but right now I was so sore from the match with Sass that I wanted to do nothing but lie down for a very long time…batarian body blows have a way of leaving you in a lot of pain. A nice hot shower to relax the muscles sounds just about right. "It's good to see you too but I am hurting pretty much everywhere."

"What happened?" She followed me into the living quarters of the shop and I gingerly pulled my shirt over my head before tossing it into the dirty laundry. The girl winced at seeing the interlaced scars that crossed my chest. It wasn't the first time she'd seen them and I simply played them off as old war wounds when finally asked about them but she still recoiled at the sight every time. Couldn't really blame her either, the raised scars and brand didn't exactly paint a pretty picture although I did give a wistful little grin at seeing my old platoon's logo along with the slogan, "whatever it takes," tattooed on my other pectoral. "Did you get hurt on a hunt?"

Practically collapsing onto the couch, I stretched out and sighed loudly. "Not exactly. I sort of teased one of my friends a bit too much about a crush of hers and she didn't take it too well to say the least."

"That does sound like something you would do." The young lady still was a fairly quiet person in general, but every once in a while she'd sneak in a pointed little barb that would surprise me.

"I would argue with that but…I'm too tired." Scooting my legs back off the piece of furniture, I groaned as I got to my feet. Need to start moving now before I completely fall asleep. "Gonna hop in the bath. Any idea where Daxy's at?"

"He said he's meeting with some new potential clients and should be back in a couple hours."

"Gotcha." Lumbering my way over to the bathroom, I was in the process of undressing when my omni-tool blared, announcing to the entire Citadel that I was getting a call. Glancing up to the ceiling, I pleaded with the lights. "C'mon, just ten minutes of relaxation, that's all I ask. Is that too much?" Unsurprisingly, no voice answered me and I simply hit accept on the screen, not even glancing to see who it was. "I swear, if this is some recording announcing that I've won an all-expenses paid trip to Eden Prime I will break something in two."

"Well," a silky voice that sounded vaguely familiar answered, "that's quite an unusual greeting Nathan."

"Who the fuck is this and why are you calling me?" Not my politest response, but then again, I wasn't in the best of moods.

"My apologies, I'm just so forgetful sometimes. This is Usito Uruketuis." I leaned away from my wrist and exhaled sharply. Of all the people to interrupt me, it had to be the info broker who liked to screw with you. "We met a couple months ago, you were with my old friend Kael'Dazza if I remember right."

"Yeah, I remember you." Along with the fact that he knew about my little nightmare coping mechanism and the reason for those haunting dreams. "What's up? I don't remember asking you for anything recently so this can't be about payment or anything of that sort."

"No no, I'm actually working on behalf of another client of mine who wished to meet with you."

Instantly, I bristled. Meeting with mystery men wasn't something I made a habit out of. "Well why didn't you just pass along my contact info…which I don't remember ever giving you in the first place by the way."

"I assumed you meant to and just forgot during all the excitement so I did it myself. After all, who wouldn't want to be able to reach someone as helpful as me at a moment's notice?" He laughed loudly at his own rhetorical question which only made me even more irritated. I'm really starting to hate this guy. "You see Nathan, my customer, he was afraid that if he spoke to you directly you would become rather upset. From my understanding you two didn't part on the best of terms…"

In the pause in conversation, I racked my brain. There were quite a few people that would fit that description, except for the fact that almost all of them were either dead, not legally allowed in Citadel space or back on Earth. So far I hadn't pissed off too many people in my new home. "I'm listening."

"Excellent." I could hear his hands clap together. "If your schedule is clear, they would like to meet you at Chora's Den in…let's say thirty minutes."

"That's fine." I was so exhausted that even though the words coming out of my mouth were a completely unveiled threat, my tone was more of an exhausted, "please don't make me deal with this right now." "Just tell them that if they try anything, it really won't end well."

"I believe he's well aware of that fact from our previous conversation but since you asked, I will most certainly remind him. He didn't state it directly but I think that's the reason he chose such a public place for this little reunion." Reunion…that narrows it down quite a bit now and none of the people that pointed towards made me very excited. "This way neither side has to fear an ambush."

That only makes me feel marginally better. "I'm still going to be alert and if I see one thing that looks off…you of all people should know what I'm capable of."

"Oh I'm well aware, your actions back in Detroit were particularly riveting." He chuckled lowly to himself before sighing. "As much fun as this is, I should probably let you get ready. I am getting paid after all and if I don't deliver as promised, I'll lose my stellar reputation."

"And wouldn't that be horrible." My eyes rolled of their own accord.

"I'm glad we agree." He definitely picked up on the sarcasm but I think he just had more of a laugh ignoring it.

"Whatever, I really hope that krogan finds you and head-butts you into a fine paste sooner rather than later."

"You mean Baky?" He gasped in mock horror and I could practically feel his head shaking disapprovingly through the phone. "What an awful thing to say to someone Nathan. I really wanted to end this friendly chat on a nice note too, but now that's completely ruined thanks to you."

"Just shut up already. Tell whoever your customer is that I'll be there waiting."

"I'm looking forward to it." His voice was actually crackling with glee as he started to talk more to himself than me. "You just don't get to see things like this every day, this is absolutely extraordinary."

With a snort of derision, I ended the call, not wanting to hear any more of the drell's goading. "Is everything okay Nathan? You were getting a little loud in there."

"I'm fine." Throwing my clothes back on and tucking my weapons into the protective jacket that Lennie had constructed for me, I exited the building in an extremely foul mood. "I've gotta take care of something. Lock down the shop and don't open it for anyone until me or Daxyrus gets back."

"Nate?" She just looked up at me nervously from the doorway. "I've never seen you this upset except for, you know."

The first time we met. When I almost killed a helpless opponent. "Hey." I turned around and forced a big grin onto my face, putting a friendly hand on her much smaller shoulder. "Everything's fine. Like I said, I've just got a bit of business to sort out, I'll be gone for an hour at the most alright?" No protest came from behind her light-blue visor so I turned around and stomped determinedly to go get a shuttle. "Tell you what, I'll pick up some of that dextro stuff you were raving about the other day on my way back. Make sure this isn't a completely wasted trip."

She wasn't dumb. My obvious buy-off attempt to end this conversation was just that, obvious. Still, she just let me go without a single protest, which was honestly much worse than anything she could have said to try and deride me. "Okay Nathan. Stay safe."

LINE BREAK

"Wolf, you're early." Usito stood up from his chair to greet me. "My client should be here any minute though." When I just grunted in response, the drell in the fur-lined coat tilted his head to study me. "You look tense, how about a drink to settle you down a little bit?" He took a quick sip of his own brightly colored concoction. "The first one's on me, what do you say?"

"I don't drink on the job."

"Nonsense, this isn't a job. Just three acquaintances catching up at the bar. Speaking of the third member, I think he just walked in."

He waved his leafy green hand towards the door and as I saw who it was, my hand almost unconsciously went to grip the pistol concealed in my jacket. He had a few new scars on his face that weren't there the last time I'd seen him and a barely noticeable limp thanks to my M11 but it was him. The same black hair that was shaved tight on the sides and left a bit longer up top. The same clear eyes. The same cocksure swagger like nothing could touch him.

"Finch."

"Wolf."

He took a seat across from me at the table and the two of us just stared at each other for a few seconds, my hand never moving from a position where I could shoot him in half a second if the situation called for it. "So…I heard you retired from the Alliance and are running with a bounty hunting guild now."

"Yeah." The fucker's gonna just make small talk after everything that's happened? "The Wyrwulves accepted me into their ranks a few months ago."

"How uh," he scratched his head awkwardly, "how are you liking it?"

"It's nice." Just what the hell is he playing at? I glanced around the room, looking for any signs of an ambush but no one that I noticed was paying any attention to what was happening at some random table where a couple humans and a drell were having a chat. "Even though I'm one of only two humans in the guild and new to the whole thing, just about everybody treats me as an equal."

I could see him tense a little bit at my blatant jab but he didn't say anything. "It sounds like you've found a nice little new life."

"Yeah, yeah, it's great." My fist tightened around the pistol but my tone stayed friendly, probably overly so. "Of course, I wouldn't have had to get a new one in the first place if some things hadn't happened the way they did but hey, it's all in the past right?"

Even though my words were dismissive, Finch had known me long enough to see past that. "Usito, leave." The drell groaned, probably saddened at having to miss whatever was about to happen between us. "This is between me and Wolf."

"Can't you give an honest, hard-working broker a break Finch?" He leaned back into the chair as he protested. "After everything I've done to set this little get-together up, the least you can do is let me watch how it unfolds. When am I going to get the chance to watch two former partners with lives torn apart by circumstance have a chat like this?"

"Leave."

He stated it again and the info specialist got up with a dramatic sigh. "Just when things were about to get interesting too."

Finch waited for the drell to exit the establishment before turning back to me, all business. "That's why I came to meet with you."

"What, so I don't tear apart yours and Weisman's little operation here on the Citadel like I did back home?" I questioned him in an almost joking voice. "Did Curt really think that sending you here would do anything to make me back off? Blade told me everything before I crushed his skull with my biotics. I know Weisman ordered the hit on Emma."

"Blade was a psychopath." Finch practically spat out the insult, his disdain for the man abundantly clear. "He would have done anything to fuck with you one final time and you know it. Weisman gave all logistical operations in Detroit over to him and never meddled afterwards. He's the one you need to blame."

"And that changes what exactly?" I laughed in my old mentor's face. "I will be coming after him sooner or later, it's just a matter of time. As soon as there's a bounty on his head, I'll hunt him down then finish what I started back in Detroit and you know what the best thing about it is?" Reclining back into the chair, I crossed my arms behind my head. "The whole thing's gonna be perfectly legal and there's not a thing in hell you can do to stop it."

"This is exactly what I didn't want to happen." He rubbed his forehead then cut off my rant with two simple words. "Weisman's dead."

"Yeah fuckin' right." This was all just a ploy to get my guard down and then take me out or hell, maybe they'd just raid the store itself. "Next thing you'll be telling me that the Reds are taking in turians as full members."

With a few button presses, he brought up a picture of Curt Weisman dead on the floor, the cause of death being fairly obvious as his chest was absolutely riddled with bullet holes. "I knew you wouldn't believe me unless I showed photographic evidence." A slight grin escaped the corners of his mouth. "You're still the same vulgar, testy and paranoid kid from all those years ago, you know that?"

"Flattery will get you nowhere." My curiosity started to get the better of me though, even as he shrugged off my dismissal of his attempt at a peace offering. To my own surprise, I actually was feeling a sense of relief at the news. Would I have preferred to be the one doing the shooting, absolutely, but I think I'll take this as an end result. Dead is dead after all. "How'd he go?"

"Assassin." He closed the device and signaled for an asari waitress to get him a drink. "Don't know what organization they came from or how they infiltrated that far into our main base of operations without anyone knowing, but they did. I was actually in the middle of a meeting with him when it went down and never even got a look at the attacker. Someone knocked me out from behind, then when I woke up he was a bloody mess on the ground and the killer had already escaped out an open window from the looks of it."

I just stared at him for a few seconds before grinning. "You're a shit liar, you know that?"

"What do you mean Wolf?" As the lady came back, he offered a credit chit as a tip while giving a friendly grin. "It was bound to happen sooner or later really. Weisman just found out the hard way that trying to run a xenophobic organization is much tougher when you're vastly outnumbered by alien species. If C-Sec didn't really feel like really trying to catch the killer of a known anti-alien gang boss, who could blame them?"

"There was never a hitman in the first place was there?" I dropped my voice to a whisper. "You killed Weisman and pinned it on some mysterious attacker." He just leaned back and gave a satisfied look as he continued to down his alcoholic beverage. "Why the fuck'd you do it? I mean, I'm not complaining or anything. I would've killed or imprisoned the son of a bitch the first chance I got but I thought he had you in his back pocket…what the hell happened to you?"

"Had a change of heart. Simple as that." My ex-comrade looked down at the floor. For the first time, he wasn't the overconfident thug I remembered from Detroit. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Try me old buddy." I kicked my feet up on the table. "I'm still here listening to your little idea for a truce or whatever this is aren't I?"

"Fine." He set the glass back down and started to weave his tale. "It was just about seven or eight months ago. Think you were still in Detroit, a little while before things went fucking insane. And thanks for that by the way, our Detroit chapter is completely wiped out now. Shockingly, we couldn't recover from having over eighty percent of our local leadership being destroyed by the Black Reaper." I just smiled at his finger-pointing, happy that even amongst all the terrible shit that happened there was one good thing that came from it. "Anyway, we got in a turf war and I ended up getting shot multiple times, separated from my guys and practically left for dead. I would've just called them to pick me up, but my omni-tool got trashed in the brawl too which left me with nothing to do but crawl on the ground and bleed. Eventually I couldn't even move anymore and I blacked out from the blood loss."

"And you got saved by your guardian angel."

"Not exactly." He shook his head and paused for a few seconds before I yelled at him to keep talking. "Chill the fuck out Wolf, I'm getting to it. Anyway, so I don't know how much longer it was but I woke up in a dingy apartment belonging to a krogan who apparently found me slumped against the wall on the verge of death. The guy threw me over his shoulder, walked me back to his apartment and plugged up my wounds." The gangbanger shook his head at the recollection. "I was wearing my colors so the son of a bitch knew who I was affiliated with and still took me in for some reason I'll never understand. For an entire week, I was stuck there while he nursed me back to health and hid me from the rival gangs who were hunting me down."

"Lemme get this shit straight." I raised an eyebrow in comical disbelief. "You, Finch, second-in-charge of the racist Reds, got saved from a nasty death by a motherfucking krogan? Of all the bullshit I've heard, this is one of those things that's so ridiculous it has to be true." Staving off a fit of laughter at the idea of a helpless and probably bristling Finch being cared for gingerly by a walking tank, I continued. "So of course, after that you realized the error of your racist ways and came to accept all species as equal?"

He barked out an abrupt laugh. "Oh hell no, I hated all their fucking guts more than ever for a long time. The fact that I was in debt to any alien, especially a damn krogan, pissed me off more than you could ever believe. But what it did do was make me curious, I couldn't help but interact with non-humans on a daily basis and over time, I softened a little bit." He raised his hands, palms-outward. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not getting married to an asari anytime soon and the Reds aren't accepting turian applicants because the gang would fucking lynch me in a second but I'm trying to soften our stance bit by bit."

"So, is it a true change of heart…or self-interest?"

"Not gonna lie to you, it's a bit of both. Weisman would have gotten us all killed if we kept going down the road we were on so a change in management was needed you could say."

I massaged my now clean-shaved chin in thought. "I'm still not sure if I believe you and if this was the me of a few months ago, we wouldn't be talking at all since you'd probably be bleeding out on the floor…but I've had a little bit of time. I'll think about what you're saying."

"That's all I'm asking." He got up from the table. "I came here to try and negotiate a cease-fire and hoped that maybe, for old times' sake, you'd hear me out. It's as simple as this, we won't come anywhere near the shop or mess with your friends and in turn, you don't take bounties on known Reds."

Well, there's plenty of fish in the sea, removing a few Reds from my list of potential marks won't really hurt. And besides with Weisman and Blade both dead now, my quarrel with them was practically gone. All I really care about is keeping the people close to me safe and if this was the best way to do it, that works for me. I'll try peace for a change. "Fine." I clasped his hand firmly and for a brief second we were two punk gangbangers back on the streets of Detroit. "I'll agree to your terms." And just as quickly, the moment was gone as I gave a friendly reminder. "But if you break them and hurt anyone I care about, this time it won't be the leg you get shot in."

"That's only fair." He paid his tab and exited the bar, waving a hand as he left. "Later Wolf."

"Bye Finch." Signaling the asari waiting on our table, I motioned for a drink…God knows I need one after that conversation. As I slowly drained the glass dry, I remarked to no one in particular. "Well, that went surprisingly well."

LINE BREAK

I just walked for a while as I thought about my meeting with Finch, not really going much of anywhere. Eventually, I found myself at Doctor Michel's and seeing that the door was open, I shuffled in absentmindedly. "Nathan?" She saw me enter almost immediately, even from behind the stack of medical equipment she was carrying. "Are you hurt? What's wrong, you look like something's on your mind?"

"The last one, for sure."

"What happened?" She set down the heavy looking crates with a thud and looked up at me, waiting for an answer.

"Look, this might sound weird but can I help with something around here? Anything?" I scanned the room for any patients she might have. "If you've got anything that needs to be done, I do have years of military medical background so I could help with stitching somebody up or digging out a round."

"I don't have anything of that sort for you but," the kindhearted medical expert just stared at me for a few seconds, seeing my blatantly bewildered expression, "I've got more of these if you'd like to do that."

"Please."

She led me towards the equipment and activating my biotics, I lifted a whole pallets worth of equipment before moving it into the other room where the doctor began to unpack it. After repeating this process in silence for the next ten minutes or so, the woman finally spoke up. "So are you short on your credits and this is your way of relieving guilt instead today?"

Damn, she really didn't pull any punches with that one. Can't say it's entirely untrue though. "I don't know what you're talking about." Refusing to look at the woman, I strained as I activated my special abilities once again and piled the boxes with the others. As I switched off my biotics, I heaved a sigh. "Fine, do you know why I help here? My fiancé got killed back on Earth along with my dad and this is just…my way of trying to do what she would have done if she were still alive. Unlike her, I'm not exactly the best at healing people so that's why instead of doing that, I donated all those credits to you in the past but I guess today, I just needed a more physical reminder.

The two of us were interrupted by an asari holding her bloody abdomen as she moaned in pain and immediately, the doctor became dead serious while at the same time being as composed as I'd ever seen her. "Nathan, you said you have some experience in this kind of thing?"

Instead of answering, I walked over to the alien who had taken a seat on the medical bed and started talking to her, my ingrained battlefield experiences immediately coming back. "Ma'am, my name's Nathaniel Wolfert." Gently, I placed my hands on the wound to stem the flow of blue blood that was spewing from her stomach. "The doc's gonna grab some medi-gel and we'll get this taken care of right away alright? You're going to be just fine."

"Thank you." The asari woman who looked to be in her matron stage gave an audacious grin as her teeth clenched. "Goddess that hurts."

"Sorry. Once Chloe gets back we'll put some meds to work right away." Despite her words, she still only winced slightly. Keeping the patient involved was always important, even if what you were saying didn't matter at all, just having words for them to focus on was the important part. As I peeked at the jagged wound, I kept talking, trying to do just that. "I was in the military for years so trust me when I say that this is nothing. Just slap some gel on there, let the clotting agents and painkillers go to work then before you know it, you'll be perfectly fine. The only thing you'll have from this is a badass scar to show off and a story to impress people with. It's worked for me so far."

She returned my grin with a weak attempt of her own and a second or two later, Chloe came rushing in. "I'm going to have my associate here open your shirt to reveal the wound so we can apply this directly to the wound, alright?" As the asari just nodded resolutely, I ripped the fabric apart and the doc in turn started spreading the gooey substance directly on her wound. "There we go. The anesthetic should kick in at any moment and after that, I'll be able to go to work."

"Right, I think that I can feel it starting to kick in already." She sighed in relief, the painkillers obviously doing their job. "The only thing there is a slight tingle now."

"Good." She waited for a few more seconds before feeling the wound on the asari's upper body. "Now, the scans I just ran revealed no internal damage so all I'm going to do is stitch it back up and apply some more medi-gel after that just to make sure the bleeding stops completely."

"Whatever you think doctor."

I stood there, arms smeared with blue blood and with absolutely nothing to do. "Doc, can I do something to help?"

"Just talk to her."

"My bedside manner is not the greatest…how about something more along the lines of dressing the-" A glare was leveled in my direction and waving the white flag of surrender, I stepped to the side of the cot. "So…do you have any family? Maybe a bondmate?"

The expression on her face brightened up at the last one. "We've been together for six years now." She showed off a picture of herself, arm-in-arm with a turian who looked less serious than the average male for his species, which really wasn't saying that much honestly. "His tour of duty is ending soon and we've been talking about moving back to his home colony, settling down and buying a nice little place together."

"That sounds perfect." She tried not to look as the woman with the French accent continued working on her stomach but every once in a while, I'd catch her glancing down and try to restart the conversation. "You guys planning for kids or not quite yet?"

The matron blushed a little bit. "We've brought it up a few times. Both of us wanted to wait until we had a more stable situation and then we figured we'd, what's the human idiom, 'play it by year?'"

"Close enough." I smiled back at her.

Just a short while later, Doctor Chloe finished up with her task. "Alright. Everything is taken care of, you need to take it easy for the next few days, come back here in about a week or so and I'll check back in to see how your stitches are looking."

"Okay." The doctor handed her a couple pills as the asari gingerly got up. "Thank you both so much."

"She did all the work. All I did was stand here and let you bleed on me." Instantly I reddened, realizing that my joke probably was in poor taste. Scratch that, it definitely was. "Sorry. Sometimes I forget that I'm not around people like myself all the time."

Thankfully, she had the grace to just laugh it off. "It's perfectly fine." She gave a little chuckle as she made her way towards the exit. "I'm living with a military man myself so I'm used to the rough jokes."

The doc gave a few more words of advice as she left. "Remember, take it easy and if any of the stitches come loose or there's bleeding, come right back so I can take care of it."

"I understand. Thank you again doctor."

The two of us waved goodbye to the lady and as she disappeared, Doctor Michel turned to me. "So…how'd that feel Nathan?"

"Pretty good actually." I couldn't stop a goofy grin from spreading cheek to cheek. "It's kind of nice to be on this end of things instead of being the one putting people here for a change. I can see why Em was so passionate about it."

"I'm assuming this, 'Em,' is the deceased fiancé you keep cryptically mentioning then immediately regretting?"

"Yeah, that'd be the one." Now that the short operation was over, the two of us sat down to take a short break before getting back to work. "We met back when I was getting signed up for the Alliance, she was a nurse at the Detroit station and I made some stupid comment that apparently she thought was funny because I managed to get her to go out with me. Few years later I finally managed to work up the nerves to propose to her and then things went…bad."

"You don't need to tell me Nathan. From what you've said before I believe I can piece it together."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Since the Detroit happenings, I hadn't really talked to anyone about what had gone down besides Daxy so I was glad that wasn't about to change now, just the little bit I had shared was tough enough to get out. Even if I was doing better in my day-to-day life after Jack and Emma's deaths, that didn't mean I could talk freely about it just yet. "Well. I guess helping out your clinic is just kind of, my way of balancing things out since she's not around to help people out anymore and it's pretty much my fault."

"That's not how the universe works Nathan. There's no such thing as, 'balancing out.'"

"I know." Deciding to restart things, I went to go move some more equipment, talking as I worked. "It just makes me feel better. Like if I keep doing these things that she would have done, she's still with me."

"As long as you remember someone, they're never truly gone Nathan."

She smiled warmly at me as I chuckled before realizing that was a bad idea as I almost accidentally deactivated my biotics and dropped the packages. "Doc, that was corny as hell."

A small uptick of her shoulders was the only indication that she had heard me. "Doesn't make it not true."

"Fair enough." After a few more minutes of silent work, the room was finally empty. "Is that all of 'em?"

"For this shipment at least, yes."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and took a seat on one of the benches. "Wake me up when something else-" A guy who was clearly drunk stumbled through the door, bleeding from his head. "Never mind, just…forget I said anything."

For the next couple hours, the two of us traded off doing physical work and then treating people as they came in. Like I said earlier, it was nice to be on the healing instead of hurting side for once. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was retiring from the business of beating up bad guys but I could see myself taking a break every once in a while to help out the good doc on my days off.

We had just finished treating another patient, this one a guy who had somehow gotten a piece of glass stuck in his foot, when a flanging voice interrupted the break the two of us were taking. "Nate? Nate are you in here? What happened?"

Looking down from the ceiling, I stared into the face of Daxyrus Lenril. "Chill Daxy, everything's fine. I was just taking a little break from things to lend my miniscule medical knowledge to Chloe here."

"…You're covered in blood."

I looked down at my shirt. Thankfully I had taken off Lennie's plated jacket before starting with the messy work. "Yeah, that second to last guy was bleeding like a motherfucker. Even the medi-gel was only slowing it down." At this time, the female doctor stepped out of the room with a wave, probably wondering who had just barged into her place and started yelling for me. "This is who I've been donating money from my fights and bounty hunting too. Doctor Chloe Michel runs this clinic and tries to help out people as much as she can so I wanted to make sure she's got the monetary funds to keep doing it."

"Nathan?" Her tone wasn't unfriendly, more curious sounding than anything else. "Who's your friend?"

Not bothering to get up from my position of comfort, I heaved a contented sigh. I'd done a good day's work after all. Met with an old…associate, friend might be a bit strong all things considered, made peace with my mortal enemies and helped a few suffering people out. "This is Daxyrus Lenril."

He gave a little bow, first time I've ever seen him pull something like that. "My apologies for charging into your clinic ma'am, I was concerned for Nate's health. He has a habit of getting himself into rough situations."

"I've noticed." The lady gave a little chuckle. "And please, just call me Chloe." She tucked a couple stray red hairs behind her ear and I arched an eyebrow in response. "Nathan here has been a huge help to me ever since we met. He's a very sweet young man."

"Nate?" He pointed a talon towards me in confusion. "We are talking about the same person right?"

"Mmhmm."

"You heard the lady correctly Bird-o." A shit-eating grin spread wide across my face. "I'm a sweet young man."

He just coughed loudly for an exaggeratedly long period of time. "Sorry about that, I had something caught back there." The Cabal whirled on me all of the sudden. "If you really were such a…Spirits I can't even say it in jest, you would have called back to the Armory to let a certain someone know that you weren't dead in an alley somewhere."

"Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck." I slapped my head with the palm of my hand. "I'm an idiot. I'm a damn idiot."

"Something the matter?"

"No, just something I forgot Doc." With the way I had left in a hurry, I had probably given off the impression that things weren't exactly okay. Shit…I had practically told her to barricade the fucking Armory, if that doesn't scream, "I'm in trouble," I don't know what does. "That quarian who came in with me a few months ago, Lia?" She nodded her head, indicating she knew who I was talking about. "Well I left her at the shop and with the things I said before leaving, she was probably really worried."

"Probably?"

"Alright Daxy, she definitely was." I cursed loudly again. "Sorry Chloe, I gotta run. I've got a quarian to apologize to."

"Of course Nathan, thank you for the help today." She waved the two of us farewell. "Come back anytime." The redhead smiled at the turian next to me. "You too Daxy."

"Oh, um, thank you Doct-, I mean Chloe." His hand shot up to his fringe. "I would like that."

As I held back a raucous laugh, the two of us made our way to the shuttle that Daxy had parked in the designated area, the large wolf on the side making it stand out fairly obviously. "So…how come you don't mind when she calls you Daxy, huh?"

Turian military rigidness coming back like a blanket of protection, he stared straight ahead. "I have no idea what you mean by that."

"Oh, I think you do." Both of us piled into the vehicle and I took the co-pilot's seat so I could continue to rib my business partner and good friend without having to worry about piloting the craft. "She was giving off some of the major signs right off the bat." I started to list them off, popping out a finger with each one. "Call me Chloe, her already using your nickname and of course, the hair tuck behind the ear so you could get a better look at her face."

"Is that why human females do that? I had started to wonder." Despite himself, the turian turned to me.

"Wait, wait, just wait a second. You mean you've had ladies do that to you before?" He nodded. "Human ladies?" The motion was repeated. "Huh. I guess something about you just makes you a natural hit. It seems like interspecies relations are becoming much less taboo than even a year or so ago when we first got here." He just gave a noncommittal grunt, returning to his stoic ways. "So are you gonna take her on a date or what? I could totally set you two up, just give me a time and place. You could use a lady in your life."

"Nate…please shut up."

"Fine." My face drooped in fake depression. "I'm just saying I think you two would make a lovely couple, that's all."

"Spirits. Sometimes I wish you would have just shot me back in Detroit, then I wouldn't have to deal with your nonstop attempts at humor." A few seconds passed and he landed the shuttle before turning to me with a toothy smirk. "How was that?"

"Pretty good actually. Little dark but I can appreciate some black comedy every now and then." I suddenly remembered the reason why I had been delayed in the first place. "Funny you should mention the Reds though, you'll never guess who I ran into today. It's actually why I needed to go to the clinic to get my head straight in the first place."

"Either Weisman or Finch I'm assuming since you apparently decapitated Blade."

"It was more of me blowing his head up with a Palm Crush from less than a foot away so I don't know if that would technically qualify as a decapitation. There wasn't exactly much left above the neck."

"Dammit Nate, do you have to be so graphic?" He shook his head in disgust. "So who'd you meet with then?"

"Finch." Despite the shuttle being immobile on the ground, the two of us just stayed in the vehicle so we could finish our chat. No sense in worrying Lia about stuff that didn't involve her anymore since I had finally resolved things once and for all. Well, at least as long as Finch kept his end of the bargain of course, which I think he will. I knew him pretty well once upon a time and he was a lot of things but like me, if he made a deal, he honored it. That was one of the things I used to really look up to him for back in the day. "He didn't state it plainly but he staged a little coup in the Reds, made it look like a hitman did it and is now trying to reform them slowly from the very top."

The mandibles of the turian next to me flapped a few times, clicking up and down in surprise even if the Cabal himself remained silent. "Yeah, I know. Crazy shit right? Anyway, he got saved from death by a krogan and since then he's slowly come around on the idea that maybe all aliens aren't complete scum that should be kept beneath humanity's heel."

"Well that…sounds like progress?" Can't say I blamed him for not being too accepting of Finch's supposed transformation into a non-xenophobic bastard, he didn't have the years on the streets that I had with him that left me only slightly more trusting. Plus, the guy was involved in an operation that would have ended in Dax being dead by my hand if things would have went according to Weisman's plan.

"Yeah, I know. It sounds like complete bullshit and I'm not saying I'm going to host a party for the Reds here at the Armory, we just agreed on a little truce I guess you could say, an attempt at a halt to all the bloodshed." At a loud knock on the door of the shuttle, I did a hasty wrap-up of the story. "Basically, he promised that the Reds will stay away and leave us the hell alone, in return, all we have to do is make sure I don't accept bounties on known Reds. Pretty simple stuff right?"

Despite his extreme hesitation, Daxy must have trusted me enough to go along with it. "That doesn't sound too unreasonable. I still don't trust him and if I ever see him, I will kill him for what he tried to do but, I guess I'm willing to end this permanently if that means no one else getting hurt." He pushed a button and with a loud hiss, the side of the ship opened to reveal a worried looking quarian in a black and orange suit. "If she got injured because of our feud, I don't think I could ever live it down. Losing Jack and Emma was tough enough."

Simply nodding, I got up with an apologetic expression on my face. "Hey Lia…sorry I didn't contact you. I was a jerk and I didn't think about how worri-"

"Oof," was the next thing that came from my mouth as a much shorter form wrapped itself around my chest. "I was so worried when you didn't answer my messages." Fuck. I had completely forgotten that I had deactivated my omni-tool going into the meeting with Finch. "I'm glad you're okay though."

The fact she wasn't screaming or yelling, only concerned for my wellbeing made me feel like even more of the piece of shit that I was. "I screwed up, I'm sorry." Reaching above her masked head and into the concealed holster on my plated jacket, I pulled out the gift I had promised to pick up for her while making sure that the pistol stayed in its place. "Did get you this though. I feel absolutely terrible when I see you having to drink those purified things all the time."

"They're not that bad. I'm just glad to not have to worry about where my next meal is coming from."

Again, I now feel terrible about all the things I take for granted on a daily basis. "Still, you deserve a change I figured. Daxy said this comes highly recommended."

I placed the tube of powder in her three-fingered hand with a grin. Apparently it was dumped into the sort of shake-like nutrients they consumed to add a bit of flavor to the otherwise bland drink. "You're both so nice to me." She hesitated to take the offered pouch. "I don't deserve this."

Daxy interjected. "Nonsense Lia, you're the nicest one out of all three of us." He walked over and closed her hand around the tube, forcing her to take the offered gift. "Not that it's saying much, I'm a grumpy turian and Nate is well…Nate."

I just nodded, there was really nothing else that needed to be said. "Very true. Both of us have loved having someone around that not's a sarcastic ass so just take this little thing I've picked up for you and enjoy yourself. It's literally the least I could do to thank you for everything you've done to help."

"Okay." She practically bounced as she held the item of food in her hand. "Thanks you two."

"Thank you Lia. And again, sorry for making you worry. On the plus side though, I don't think you'll have to worry about me again for a long while."

"Nate…you do realize you hunt dangerous criminals for a living now right?" Lennie covered his face and sighed.

"Like I said, no worries. As if some amateur thug could do any damage to this biotic masterpiece." I pointed both thumbs inward and Dax exhaled again while Lia gave a little giggle. "I'll be perfectly fine."

The three of us piled out of the shuttle and entered the Armory. "I made dinner while you guys were gone. Hope you like it."

"Lia…if you don't stop thinking of other people all the time, I am absolutely going to have to fire you for making me look bad."

"Well." She teased sassily as she led the two of us into the dining room. "I guess I had better find a new place to live then."

LINE BREAK

"So." I scratched my head awkwardly. "I'm kind of glad you didn't answer to be honest. This is going to be a kind of long message so please excuse my incoherent rambling but I figured it was time for me to man up a little bit and give you a ring…I'm just not sure where I even begin though?"

More seconds passed as I racked my brain for what to say. "Well, I guess I'll start by saying I'm on the Citadel now, don't know if I mentioned that before I left or not. I re-opened Jack's Armory with the turian who stayed with us, Daxyrus Lenril and a few months ago we hired on our first employee, a really sweet quarian girl on her pilgrimage named Lia. Besides that, I've been staying busy chasing down criminals in my new career path as a bounty hunter and helping out a local clinic in what spare time I have left."

"You might be interested to know that along with killing Blade on my way out of town, Curt Weisman, the former head of the gang is dead now too. Surprisingly, I didn't even have to do it myself since one of his subordinates staged a revolt and is now trying to soften their stance on certain things a bit." I gave a contented exhalation. A few months had passed since my meeting with my former comrade and like I thought, he'd kept his word so far. I hadn't seen anyone from Tenth Street anywhere near our store and in turn, I stayed away from hunting down his troops. "I heard that the Reds back in Detroit are practically non-existent but all the same, if you ever need my help with them or even just some bodyguard work in general, just give me a ring and I'll be there before you know it."

Taking a seat, I winced at the thought of returning back home where all sorts of memories, good and bad, were around every corner. "Coming back wouldn't be easy and I don't know if I would willingly choose to do it anytime in the near future but after everything that happened, I owe you one. So like I said, you ever need a washed-up Vanguard with a terrible reputation, I'm right there for ya."

"I'm honestly not really sure what life's got up next for me. Things are going pretty well for the three of us right now and I'm feeling a little more at ease every day that goes by but still, I feel like something really big's coming up on the horizon." Laughing at how crazy what I was about to say sounded to anyone who hadn't experienced it, I continued. "There's uh, a lot we don't really know about biotics and I saw some things back in my fight with Blade that the more I thought about, the more confused I got. Half of it was stuff I wish I could forget and the other half I wish I knew more about." I massaged my cheekbone with my free right hand. "Still, part of me thinks that it means something…"

"Sorry. Got a little off-track there." I shook my head to try and clear the muddled visions that were clogging it. "What I guess I'm trying to say is doing alright and I hope you are too. Give Mrs. Perri a big hug from me and thank her again for not kicking me out of the house immediately that day I met both of you. I promise, I'll come home and visit soon…just not yet. I don't really believe in fate or any of that bullshit but I do think there's a reason I came to the Citadel and something tells me I'm about to find out why pretty soon and I don't plan on missing a second of it. Love you both and if you ever need a vacation idea, I've got a room for you and the missus at the Armory that's always open. Talk to you soon…bye."

With the push of a button, I ended the call that had taken me almost a year to finally get over my own cowardice and make. Absentmindedly, I picked up my kukri, Sierra, with a biotic gesture and started to examine it, figuring she could use a little TLC. As I honed the edge of my weapon, I looked at the names of my deceased squadmates that were etched into the weapon and remarked to no one in particular. "Whatever's coming, this time I'll be ready for it."

A/N: Holy crap ladies and gents, it's been just over a year and 340 thousand-some words later along with a shit-ton of learning from mistakes on my end but the first WiSC is (mostly) done. Don't unfollow/fav the story just yet, I will be taking about a month's break to both finish up this semester's classes and also to rebuild my backlog so I can get back to a weekly update schedule but then I will be simultaneously posting a sort of preview chapter on WiSC 1 that will let you all know that the first chapter of WiSC 2 is up and after that it'll be super happy fun time all over again.

On a side note, me saying, "you all," reminded me of something that will piss me off 'till the day I'm buried in the ground. Backstory time…so about five years ago I moved from the Chicago area (for those not in the US, it's one of our biggest, most urbanized cities with about 3 million people in the city itself and another 7 in the suburbs that I lived in) to a place about two hours south. In just that short change, people have switched to saying, "y'all," which I do not get at all. We're still living in the Midwest people, not the damn South (not that I have any issues with my Southern brethren, I love you guys but I just don't live there.) Some of my family have even started to adopt it and it just ticks me off every. Single. Time. Sorry, kind of off-topic but that's just a glimpse into my life and the trivial things that piss me off. Ordinarily, big things that have actual significance never get a rise out of me, I'm pretty unflappable, but stupid little things like that get me annoyed more than anything else.

Huge thank you to my Beta, Ranger Station Charlie. I'm really not overstating it when I say that this story is just as much his baby as mine (which is really unfortunate for him, I'm dragging his stellar reputation through the mud slowly but surely.) The guy's put up with all kinds of shit from me and has never once complained about it so once again, thank you RSC.

To everybody who's followed/faved this and especially those of you who've taken the time to drop a review letting me know what you think of my little project, thanks so much. Love all you guys and you're freaking awesome! See you all (not y'all…it's never going to be y'all) around Christmas time!

Review Answering Portion:

DDW: Well, we kind of get a little reflection and conflict resolution here to close out the story so I hope that works for you, lol.

RSC: Yup, everything I've read makes it seem like the quarians are cramped when it comes to living space which practically forces a tight knit bond like you said. Add in the fact that she was assaulted and I figured it'd be a pretty natural progression that she wouldn't feel comfortable sleeping by herself.

Also, wooo! One down and only…three to go…this is gonna take a long time.

Biorr: Yeah, he definitely took his fair share of blows from the lady, lol.

Also, your comment really made me wanna go play ME3 multiplayer again. I had so many good memories running around with my favorite class the Drell Infiltrator, the guy was squishy as hell but the devastating combo of Tac Cloak, Recon Mine, Homing Missile and then detonate was a ridiculous combo. Plus I had my trusty N7 Piranha for when things really went to hell.

Dekuton: I was totally in the same boat myself…picked up a Crunchyroll subscription in addition to my pre-existing Funimation one and I went a little crazy to say the least. There was like four or five shows I was juggling (Akame Ga Kill, Black Lagoon (which I finished,) Kuroko No Basuke, Gintama and of course DRRR!) but I finally got some self-control, buckled down and forced myself to just watch one at a time. Now I've only got about a half-dozen episodes left of Durarara though :'(

That was really the purpose of this elongated Citadel arc. Initially I had Wolf getting tied up in the Normandy happenings much earlier, when he was still not in the greatest mind set and I just did not like how it flowed at all so I pulled an audible that ended up working really well. At least in my opinion, lol.

And as far as the meeting, Wolf will definitely make a splash. Not everybody's gonna like him for various reasons which always makes things much more interesting.

11: The quarian girl might be interested in someone that is definitely not Wolf so rest assured that it's not turning into a harem fic. I've got a planned character who I think Wolf will end up with for good along with another one that's been rattling around in my head but Nate is a one woman at a time kind of guy. In most cases (*cough* Miranda *cough*) he won't really sleep around casually.

I'm just about done with the major hunters that will play a role but I might just take you up on that, thanks for the bit of advice!

Well. Not sure what else to say so I'll just wish you good luck with that.

Darkerego: Thanks! I just got to Mission 30 and after the hell that is 29 (I usually don't rage at games but that mission was BS) I had to take a little break so I've been anime-ing and playing the Uncharted Trilogy to ease my mind.

GJD: Thanks man!

Unity9: Right on both accounts, one might be more serious than the other but I'll never tell which is which XD

Moneymann: Your wish is (almost granted) first book's done and once WiSC 2 goes up, that'll have one or two intro chapters and then it's Normandy time. And thanks for the compliment, 100 percent's fine by me, I'm not a big hyperbole guy ;)

Fallout Fan: Quarians always struck me kind of the same way, as sort of that peaceful race who you don't ever want to piss off because they'll have that fricking righteous fury coming after you.

She might have exaggerated a bit when she said, "never shot a gun." Lia has a natural aversion to violence (like most ordinary people, lol) so she pretty much skipped out on the weapons training any chance she got, which is also why Wolf's having a hard time training her. Basically, she doesn't want to learn. She's fine with the tech side and working around weapons but actually using them is something she might never get accustomed to. It'll definitely be explored more in the future though.