Chapter 48: Lia's First Date
Shepherd came out to the CIC to make an announcement; three weeks after helping Thane with his son the Normandy crew had been busy from dealing with a rogue VI to rescuing the colony of Watson from a terrorist at. The crew was just so worn out and tempers were high, if this kept up they were end killing each other before the Collectors had a chance to. It was time for a vacation, screw the galaxy for once. He went up to the intercom and opened the com to everyone on the ship. "Alright listen up, we're having a four-day break on Illium, anyone who wants it can have it " Shepherd said. The crew erupted in cheers.
"Huh, déjà vu…" Shepherd muttered. He continued. "But while we're there I expect you to be on your best behavior, this is Illium we're talking about, and bail outs are expensive, and if you're listening Jack, yes that's means you"
"But other than that, have fun" The Normandy landed in Illium to start their shore leave. As Shepherd was waiting for Tali, he saw some of his crewmates leave. Grunt and Zaeed was the first to leave, the old vet said something about making Grunt a man, which kinda made Shepherd worried. Samara and Thane decided to stay on the ship, saying meditation and quiet was all the vacation they needed. Joker came out, much to the surprise of Shepherd, he usually stayed on the ship but EDI was getting on his nerves. Next was Miranda and Jacob, arm in arm leaving the ship, to go watch and a vid.
"Don't wait up" Miranda said with a smirk. Jacob just blushed as he walked with her. Garrus was the next one to come out; Shepherd already knew where he was going, to see Liara. Next was surprisingly was Kelly and Jack, Kelly was hooked on her arm looking really content, while Jack looked like a mix between happy and uncomfortable, it was hard to tell with her. Kelly was wearing a dark red dress with black heels while Jack had on a black biker vest with a tank top underneath, black jeans, and steel toe boots.
"Where are you two going?" Shepherd asked.
"On a date" Jack said. Shepherd blinked while Jack glared at him. "What the fuck is with that look?"
"You, a date…?"
"F…Fuck you! What you trying to say?!" Shepherd held up his hand in defense, until Kelly did something surprising, she kissed Jack's lips, shutting her up. Jack blushed. "W-what's that for?"
Kelly smiled. "You're kinda sexy when you yell"
"Uh….I….fuck, let's just go…" she said sheepishly. As the two left, Shepherd mouth out the words 'thank you', Kelly gave a small wink. Next Kaiden and Kasumi came out; they were going to hit the clubs, looking for some guys to have fun with.
"I'm surprised Lia's not coming with you, cuz" Shepherd said.
Kasumi rubbed her head. "Lia's a bit too green for where we're going" Shepherd looked at her strangely. "Look just don't expect us back for at least two days, ok"
Shepherd looked at Kaiden. "Where are you going?"
"This club in Nos Astra, it kinda have this reputation for being wild, I'm just here to make sure nothing happens" Kaiden said. "See ya"
"Just don't get into trouble; I'm not bailing you out"
"Yeah right…"
"I mean it!" Shepherd then saw Tali and Lia, he smiled as Tali waved to him.
"I'm sorry we took so long, Wayne, we needed to put finishing touch on the engines." She said. Shepherd kissed her.
"No problem, rookie" Shepherd said. The three walked out of the ship. "So what are you going to do, Lia?"
"I wanted to go shopping for some parts for the ship; I think we can do more with the Normandy's upgrades"
"Thinking of working instead of relaxing, my god, you turned Lia into a clone of you, Tali" Shepherd said with a laugh. That earned him an elbow.
"She just a hard worker, I've got nothing to do with that" Tali said.
"Oh really?" he asked with a smirk.
"Okay, maybe a little" The three had a good laugh, moments later the three went their separate ways. Illium was really beautiful, Kasumi was right when she it was glamorous, however the beauty was shattered when Lia sensed all the stares from the people, it never changed even in a new place, the stares of distrust. Even on her home planet of Terra Nova, she had to deal with the stares there, even though the little settlement near the commune she lived at had seen Quraians all the time. She sighed and went into the store, the store was small and lots of old parts on the shelves. To her left a device caught her eye, a somewhat old model, but thanks to Tali's tutelage she could make it work.
"Uh, excuse me, I would like to buy that device" She said. The store clerk turned around, and old human with glasses. When he saw her, his face twisted in disgust.
"Eight hundred credits" the man said.
Lia blinked. "Eight hundred? But the tag said three hundred"
"Nine hundred"
"What? That's not fair!"
"Keep mouthing back and I'll make it even higher." The man said.
"You bosh'tet racist!"
"Hey if you don't like my prices, then leave suit rat" Just then someone spoke up.
"Hey, is there a problem here?" A man said. Lia looked back and saw a gigantic human. His skin was dark and his face had scars, he had on a dark green shirt that showed off his muscles and tattoos quite nicely. The older man pointed at Lia accusingly.
"This quarian is causing a disturbance in my store"
"You're a liar, all I want to do was buy this device and this bosh'tet ups the price"
"How did it cost?" the large human asked.
"The device was for three hundred and he wants it for nine hundred" Lia said.
The large man frowned and looks at the old man. "Is that true?"
"The suit-rat is lucky I'm even selling to her." The clerk scoffed. Lia fought back the urge wring his neck.
"Let me tell you how this is going to go, pendejo" He said cracking his knuckles. "You sell this girl the device at a fair price and I won't break your legs"
The clerk gulped. "Now, now there's no need for violence, I'm sure we can work this out"
The huge human gave a smirk. "Try me"
"F-fine, that will be one seventy" he said nervously.
After getting her device, she and the big man left much to the relief of the clerk. "You didn't have to do that" The large human just shrugged his shoulders.
"That puta had it coming, I hate assholes, especially if they're assholes to women" He snorted.
Lia blushed. "Well thank you, I should go…you know meet up with some friends" she stammered.
The big man stopped her "Are you doing anything?"
"W-what do you mean?"
"Would like to go for drinks?" He asked with a smile.
Lia raised a brow; this was strange human asking her out when they just met. "Do you always pick up random strangers?" she asked.
The man smirked. "Only if they're cute" Lia blushed. The big human held out his hand. "The name's James"
Lia shook his hand. "Lia" James and Lia went to a club on Nos Astra for couple of drinks and talked. While talking she took a look at James, he was cute that was for certain, and at time he seem to be cocky, but he was ultimately a nice person. Just as they continued talking, a song came on. James gave a smile and held out his hand.
"Care to dance?" He asked.
Lia blushed and looked away. "I'm not a very good dancer"
"Neither am I, but fuck what anyone else thinks" he said as he took her hand. They came on to the dance floor. James was right about one thing, he couldn't dance to save his life, not that Lia could complain, as she was just as flat-footed as him.
"I'll have to remember to ask Onee-san to teach me to dance" she muttered. The two kept on dancing until they left the club and went for lunch. James was also something of a gentleman, Lia offered to pay for her own food, but James he declined and insisted to pay for both.
James laughed. "You were right, you can't dance for shit"
Lia blushed. "Like you should talk, you weren't exactly graceful yourself" she said annoyed.
"Ouch, you wound me chica" he said with laugh. They talked, James was an Alliance Soldier, and apparently he was also on vacation. He worked security for a colony in the Terminus, called Fehl Prime. They talked for the rest of the day until it got late, James had offered to walk her back to the terminal. The walk back was strange to say the least, the way Lia and James looked; you would think it was a casual date between lovers even though they had just met.
"This is where I'm supposed to meet my friends" Lia said. She played with fingers. "I guess this it…"
"Yeah, this was fun, I don't think I ever went out on a date with a Quarian before" James said with smile. "You're a fun girl to talk to, here" He got out a piece of paper and scribbled on it, he then handed to Lia
"What's this?"
"My omni-tool's ID number, I want to talk to you again, if you don't mind"
Lia blushed. "N-no not at all, I would like that too" James then went and kissed her hand.
"Until next time, chica" he said with a smile. He walked away with Lia waving.
"Bye…" she said waving.
"Lia? Why are you waving?" Shepherd asked. Lia turned around and saw Shepherd, Tali, Kaiden, and Kasumi all staring at her like she was crazy. Lia blushed and quickly composed herself.
"Oh nothing" she said.
"So did have fun…?" Kasumi asked.
Lia smiled and blushed. "Like you wouldn't believe" Lia walked into the Normandy as Shepherd and the others just looked at each other in confusion.
Later that night, James went back to his hotel. He couldn't stop thinking about Lia, this was probably the most fun date he's ever had. He quickly shook his head, it was just a nice little outing, he offered it to the girl to cheer her up. Though you don't give away your ID number to some girl you were just trying to cheer up. His thoughts were quickly interrupted when his omni-tool beeped.
"She's calling a stooge like me already? I must have left quite the impression" he said with chuckle. He pressed the button, but instead of Lia, it was a tan-skinned man. "Oh, it's you Estaban" he said disappointingly.
"What's with that tone, Vega? Expecting someone?" Cortez asked annoyed.
"Certainly not you"
He gave a shit eating grin. "You were expecting a girl weren't you?"
James blushed. "So what if I was?"
"Little Jimmy all grown up" Cortez teased. James rolled his eyes as he went to the couch. "So who is she?"
"Shouldn't you be annoying Robert?"
"Come on Vega, you can't hide anything from me, childhood friends remember"
"Alright, alright I met this hot Quarian chica today, that's all"
"A Quarian, huh?" He asked with a smirk.
James groaned; he was never going to hear the end of it.
Just a preview of what's to come, so how do you like this pairing? Review and Comment.
