A/N: thanks for the lovely review :)
"What the hell did I ever do to deserve this kind of punishment?" Zaeed grumbled as he painted Lucy's toenails while they watched a biotiball game in the den.
She smirked. "Might as well get used to it, honey. Won't be long before I won't be able to reach my toes and you'll have to do it."
"It's not the act I object to," he insisted. "It's the gag-inducing smell of the goddamn polish. All the advances in technology in the last two centuries and nobody's figured a way to change that shit?"
"Are you two seriously talking about nail polish?" Chris asked in amusement as he came down the stairs, ready to head out for work. "Somebody should be recording this, put it on the extra-net. Zaeed Massani, badass extraordinaire, talking about lack of advances in beauty products."
Lucy laughed so hard she rolled right off the couch when Zaeed shot up, still holding the bottle of nail polish, and ran after Chris as he made for the front door.
She was still sitting on the floor when he came back a couple of minutes later. "Let's go out," she said as he hauled her to her feet. "We haven't had a date outside of the apartment in weeks, since long before the clone fiasco."
"You sure you want to risk it?" he teased. "Last time you went out on a date, you fell through a fish tank."
She rolled her eyes. "So we won't go to the sushi place. I have a feeling I'm banned for life anyway. Also, if you recall, that was a 'date' with Joker, not you, and it was a trap. Worst we're likely to come across is Tony."
"Goddamn menace. All right, sweetheart. Where d'you want to go?"
"Someplace nice," she said with a mischievous grin. "Someplace you have to get dressed up for."
He groaned. "I knew it. I'm being punished for something. Why the bloody hell would you want to get dressed up? You hate that shit."
"I hate it when I have no say in the matter, like graduations, other people's weddings, charity fundraisers Uncle Steven insists we go to," she said as she walked up the stairs. "But this time it's my choice –"
"Definitely not mine," Zaeed muttered as he followed her up the stairs to the master bedroom.
She ignored his grumbling as she rifled through her clothes and pulled out a dress. "In a couple of months, assuming the galaxy still exists by then, I'm gonna be too fucking big to wear cute stuff like this. And once the babies come, we're not gonna be going out for a long time."
He knew she was right, though he'd never hear the end of it if he admitted that. And she did look goddamn gorgeous in her short red satin dress, the skirt flaring out around her as she spun in different directions while she put on her jewelry and looked for shoes.
She raised an eyebrow when she spun back around to face him. "You planning to get dressed or am I going out by myself?"
"I'll get there." He shook his head as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "I was just thinking, constantly wondering how an old wreck like me got goddamn lucky enough to end up with someone like you."
"You're not an old wreck, honey. And if you remember, you started it. A girl's bound to pay attention to a guy who saves her life."
"True, though in the past, that was usually met by the girl running away from the stranger with a gun."
Lucy smiled. "Then it was definitely their loss. I couldn't imagine my life any other way."
"Me either." He reluctantly let her go so he could walk over to the closet. "Are you sure I have to get dressed up?"
"Yes, honey."
He pulled a suit off the hanger and held it out the door for her inspection. "This good enough?"
"Just the pants and a shirt. You can leave off the jacket and tie."
Thank the gods for that.
Zaeed stepped out of the closet dressed all in black a couple of minutes later and smirked when Lucy's eyes glazed over as he walked toward her. "Happy, sweetheart?"
She hummed in approval. "Very." She bit her lip for a moment before she grabbed his hand and started for the door. "We should go now, before I decide I don't want to go out at all."
"Where are we going?" he asked when they got to the elevator in the lobby. "I know you don't just intend to prance up and down the Strip."
"I was thinking the casino. My... the Normandy crew is gonna be there, trying to get a last bit of relaxation in before they hit Cerberus head-on."
They saw various members of the crew already living it up like it was their last night to be alive, and Zaeed reminded himself that unfortunately, it might just be the last night, for all of them.
He was surprised, though maybe he shouldn't have been, when they found Joker sitting alone at a table on the upper floor. He seemed to be people-watching, though Zaeed noticed he was paying particular attention to a female turian at the bar, and the male turian who looked like he was trying to get up the courage to chat her up.
Zaeed laughed when he realized that the male was Garrus. Lucy was less than amused.
"This was your idea, wasn't it?" she asked as she swatted Joker on the back of the head.
"Ow! And no, it wasn't," he said indignantly, rubbing the spot she'd hit. "It was his."
Lucy looked skeptical. "Garrus is putting himself through this torture of his own free will?"
"He figured why the hell not, if we're all gonna go down in flames tomorrow."
"Y'all sure are an optimistic bunch," Lucy muttered.
Joker shrugged. "His words, not mine."
"For fuck's sake, somebody go over there and save him!" Zaeed said as they watched the usually fairly self-confident Garrus stumbling over his words and looking for all the world like he'd rather be facing a Reaper alone than chatting up a woman.
Lucy rolled her eyes. "Have to do everything myself," she muttered as she stalked off toward the bar.
Zaeed and Joker nearly died laughing at the utter relief that washed over Garrus' face when Lucy walked up and started talking to him. They couldn't hear a word she'd said but from the look on the female turian's face as she walked away from the two friends still talking at the bar, Lucy had made quite an impression.
"I am never doing that again," Garrus muttered when he and Lucy rejoined Zaeed and Joker at the table. "Thanks for the save, Shepard. I owe you... a few."
She grinned. "Then you better make sure you keep yourself alive so I can call in the favors."
