Shepard was on her way back from meeting up with Wrex. He wanted to get away from his apartment longer because the females were still there. She got to the lift for her apartment until her omni-tool rang. Garrus had sent her a message asking to meet her at the casino, he wanted to have some drinks. Shepard was tired but the party was tomorrow night, so they wouldn't get another chance.

She replied that she would meet him in an hour, she wanted to get a shower and change first. The pain from her pull-ups was still hurting her. She arrived at her apartment and jumped straight in the shower, the water burning her skin, but helping with her pain. She leaned against the shower tiles, letting the coldness ease her sore head. She was glad everyone was having a break, but the pressure was not far behind the thoughts in her mind.

She let the shower finish, her skin burning after the shower finished. She walked to her wardrobe, with a towel wrapped around her body. She could see the steam coming off her body looking through the mirror. She turned around to look at her wardrobe, she wanted to wear something slim and fitting. She found the same dress that she wore when everything went wrong with the clone and she had to fight through hoards of mercs wearing the tight leather dress.

That brought back to many memories, that she didn't want to think of. She found an older dress, that she wore the night she and Garrus spent together. He was finally out of his armour for once and wearing a blue and green Turian suit. The dress she wore was a cotton, sweetheart-cut dress. She decided to wear that, she hoped Garrus would remember what the dress was. She put it on and found some small heels she liked to wear. Tall heels always made her uncomfortable and she didn't want to look like an idiot trying to walk up to the Garrus and nearly fall over.

Gemma and Kaidan were eating dinner together. The had been to a casino and ended up blowing about 2000 credit and not winning a thing. Gemma didn't realise how much she sucked at playing casino games. They found a small restaurant away from the busy area of the Citadel. Gemma was getting a headache, she wasn't used to the over-crowded areas. The colony she grew up on was small and comfortable. Not dancing shirtless Asari and Turians trying to hit on her when they realised she was part of Shepard's team, Kaidan kept getting annoyed with them and wouldn't let Gemma leave his sights.

The restaurant was a little Italian place, there weren't many places that solely only sold human food. "This place is really nice. But, it's weird not seeing other species here for once"

Kaidan looked up from his food and looked around them. There were only a few other humans there and the servers that were walking around the restaurant. "Oh, yeah. I didn't even notice. It feels like being back on Earth. Did you ever visit Earth?"

Gemma looked down at her food. "No, I had never really left Horizon. But then again, when the colony was attacked before. We had to get picked up in an Alliance cruiser and was taken to the frigit that was on the outskirts of the planet. We had to have medicals and stuff to make sure we had no long-lasting from those flying things"

Kaidan could remember when the flies stung him. He was one of the first people to get frozen, he doesn't remember much. He could see what was happening in front of him. "How did you not get taken then?" Gemma pushed her food away. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about, we don't have to"

"No, it's okay. I'm just not hungry and I need to talk about it. I've hardly told anyone anything about it. But, we were working on the other side of the colony. I'm guessing they started on the side of the communications since we had reports of the communications being down a couple of hours before they arrived. I never got frozen. My Biotics kept activating and killed the bugs. I helped get a few people out. But we guessed the ship had left when everyone else was unfrozen. We went to find out what happened but before we made it, we saw the Normandy ship leaving and Dolan shouting random crap about you"

Kaidan nearly choked on his food. "Haha, he hated me so much. When I saw him with Shepard, he wasn't happy and wouldn't stop bitching until I left the planet" Gemma giggled into her glass of wine. "I did get out with my Biotics too. I said some things to Shepard, I regretted instantly"

"What did you say? I thought you might be mad since it was 2 years before you saw her again. Was she different?" Kaidan looked down at his hands. He remembered when he first saw Shepard again, as he walked away after the argument, he remembered punching a brick wall. It didn't hurt until the doctor said he had actually broken it.

"In short, I told her she turned her back on the Alliance and me. I said so much I regret and I could tell I broke her heart. I walked away, she tried to go after me. But, Garrus stopped her. I got around the corner, punched a wall and later found out I broke my hand" Gemma giggled at him. "Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up. But it racked with my head and made my life feel so bad. Anderson kept me updated, as Shepard emailed him and kept them updated on the status of the mission"

"Yeah, Thane told me about the mission. Apparently it went good, even with the Collectors kidnapping all the crew beforehand, that didn't stop Shepard from wiping them out though" Kaidan pushed his food around on his plate. "Are you okay?" He didn't look up, just placing his hand on his chin and sighed.

"I should have gone with her" Gemma tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Anderson found out what happened, he wasn't happy about what I said to Shepard. I was meant to get on her crew to watch her and Cerebrus, but when I saw her. I freaked out and just shouted at her, she asked me to come with her. But I said not a chance in hell and walked off" Gemma could see a twinkle in his eyes, the sadness and regret of what he had done, still made him depressed nearly a year later.

Gemma moved their glasses to the side and grabbed his hand. "Kaidan, you had no idea this would happen. Shepard has probably forgotten about it by now. She has enough going on and some little argument that happened between you both is in the past. Did you ever apologise to her?"

Kaidan looked up at Gemma, he could see the twinkle in her eyes from the lights in the restaurant. He loved looking into her eyes the colour reminded her of the oceans on a cool summer night. Gemma shook his hand when he realised he was just staring at her. "Oh, sorry. Yeah, Anderson told me she was about to go on the final mission, so I sent her an email. Apologising for what I said and just seeing her after 2 years was hard because I only was nearly over moaning her"

Gemma looked down at the table. "You really did love her, didn't you?" She looked back up and saw the colour in him change, he tried to talk, but only mumbling noises could come out. "You can tell me the truth, I'm not going to get mad"

"I don't love her. I still care for her and I always will. She was the first person to accept me when she found out what happened to me at brain camp" Kaidan looked away. "Even my parents would give me a disappointed look when the subject of it got brought up. You are the only other person who accepted me for who I am and for my past. For that, I love you so much"

"I love you too. I'm glad she accepted you though, I could imagine the shy Kaidan Alenko 3 years ago" He smirked at her. "Don't put yourself down, okay?"

"I just wish I could go back and fix all of what happened" Gemma gave him a small smile. They paid their bill and went back to their room. Kaidan omni-tool rang, it was his mum. "Hi mum, how are you?"

The screen went dark for a moment until his mum's face came through. Gemma looked over Kaidan's shoulder, his mum looked just like Kaidan, but her dark hair had more grey hairs in them. "Hello, Hunny. How are you, are you enjoying your shore leave?"

"yeah, it has been great, we had some troubles at the beginning. But we have sorted it all out. We have a party tomorrow, then we need to get back to it. How are you, are you safe?"

His mum turned the camera to show the whole room, it was a small cabin. They could hear lots of noises in the background. " Yes, I am fine. We are at a camp somewhere in south Canada" She was about to carry on talking, but she looked up and saw Gemma. "Hello, you must be Gemma?"

Gemma looked at Kaidan, he motioned his head to the camera. "Uh, hi, I'm Gemma. it's nice to meet you" She started to go a little red. Gemma had never met any of her past partner's parents, they never got that far.

"Nice to meet you too. Kaidan has told me much about you. I kept nagging him because I really wanted to meet you" Gemma gave Kaidan a small glare, she could already imagine what he had been saying to his mother about her. She hoped nothing too embarrassing.

"Well, I could only guess what he has said about me. I would have liked to meet you in person, but we haven't really had the chance to get around that. How are you doing at the base?" His mum looked around the room, she made a small smile.

"It is nice, but lonely at times. I would have loved to see you too, but I don't get much of a chance to leave. The soldiers are too protective of anyone wandering too far, so getting to the Citadel would be near impossible to get too" She started to well up in tears.

"Hey mum, don't get upset. We will visit you, as soon as we have the chance. Just hang in there a little longer, okay?" Kaidan really wanted to go through the screen and hug his mum. He missed her so much and didn't want to see her upset. But, this way was killing him and the rest of the crew, they worked so hard to try and keep people alive, but at the same time they were finding more time with peoples lives, it was a hard life to accept but war is war.

"Thank you, sweetheart. I will be okay. Please do not worry about me, I will let you go and get on with your evening. It was nice to meet you Gemma and all the best" Kaidan and Gemma waved goodbye as his mum ended the call, she still had the tears in eyes, making Kaidan have a tight not in his stomach.

Kaidan and Gemma decided to call it a night and get some sleep, they knew tomorrows party would be big. Kaidan waited till Gemma fell asleep and emailed Garrus. He needed help buying something for the party tomorrow.

The next morning. Shepard woke up next to Garrus. His warm body against hers, his talons moved against her skin, making her a little ticklish. She wormed her way out of the bed and got into the shower. Vega and Cortez were coming around in a couple of hours to watch the game. Shepard let the water go down her body, remembering the night before. She danced the night away with Garrus and made a female Turain jealous who was eyeing Garrus up.

Shepard finished with her shower and got ready into some casual clothes. Garrus was still asleep when she walked back through the room to get downstairs, she decided to leave him. She got downstairs and looked through the cupboards, she didn't have any alcohol in, which she needed with the party happening tonight. "Glyph, can you put in an order some food and drinks, please. I will pick them up later"

Glyphs little blue hologram appeared next to him. "Of course, Commander. Also, Dr T'soni has requested to see you at your earliest convenience" Shepard looked up at the clock, she still had over an hour until Vega and Cortez would come.

"Yeah, okay. Tell her to come up now" Shepard got to making breakfast, she had been drinking all day yesterday and her protesting stomach reminded her, she didn't eat anything whilst she was drinking.

Liara arrived 15 minutes later. She had a stack of datapads with her. Shepard walked through to meet her. Liara looked over at the piano in the corner of the living room. She started to play it slowly with one of her hands. Shepard stopped by the couch, the song was slow and low pitched. It was relaxing.

"I didn't know you played the piano" Liara jumped on the spot, not knowing Shepard was stood behind her. She turned back around to play it again.

"I don't, this is the only song I know. One day whilst I was on a dig, a sand storm came through the area we was staying and had to stay in all day. I was going mad around all 4 walls, one human girl had a little piano with her. she played this song all day, everyone was huddled around her and she taught me this song for the rest of the day. She was a very sweet girl and when we left she let me keep her piano as a gift goodbye" She stopped playing the song and turned around to face Shepard.

"It's a lovely song and you seemed so relaxed playing it. Can you teach it to me? It will give you some time to relax from being the Shadow Broker and actually be Liara" Liara gave her a small smile and turned around to show Shepard the song again. Glyph appeared next to them.

"Would you like me to transfer all the work to the Commander's apartment?" Liara looked up with a big smile.

"Yes, please. This place is too relaxing to leave right now" Shepard noticed Garrus coming downstairs, he was headed straight towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Garrus stopped in his tracks. He changed direction to go towards them.

"Morning, Kaidan needs my help buying something. He didn't say what, but he wants me to go now. I'll see you tonight at the party" He kissed Shepard, said hello to Liara and left.

Shepard and Liara just watched him leave then stared at each other, "What was that about?" Liara said in a quiet voice.

Shepard shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. Come on. I wanna hear that song again"

Vega and Cortez arrived with crates of bears, Shepard had asked them to pick up the food and drinks on their way to her. Shepard got the beers out and opened up some bottles for them. Liara decided to stay and do her work in the other room so she could concentrate. "So Shepard, who are you on for winning today?"

Shepard took a swig of her beer. "Well, who is playing?" Cortez brought up his omni-tool, getting the information on the game.

"The Seattle sorcerous versus the Usaru Maestros. It's going to be a great game of Biotiball" Shepard remembered when she saw the first game as a young kid. She didn't like it much. But the players using Biotics was exciting to watch.

"The Asari team will crush them. Have you seen the Biotic power of the crew" James said as he fist-bumped both his knuckles together. James could remember never missing a Biotiball game when he was little. It got harder when he joined the Alliance, he would record every game he could. But most of his crew would ruin the scores before he had the chance to watch it.

"No way, with what's happening on Earth the Seattle sorcerous will kick the Asari team to the curb. Their morale will be high as ever" They all started to walk towards the couch, Shepard turned the tv on and got the sports channel, there were some adverts on getting ready for the game to start. Shepard watched the human adverts. She could see the fear in their eyes. She wondered how much longer everyone could keep going until someone snapped. "Well, Shepard who do you think?"

Shepard turned her head around quickly, Vega and Cortez looked at her confused, she shook her head and put a smile on her face. "With how it's going, I think the human team will win" They got ready when the final add came on before the game. Vega and Cortez looked at each other, nodding and brought their omni-tools up. Shepard didn't pay much attention, she just wanted to watch the game. It wasn't her favourite thing to watch, but it had biotics involved.

Garrus and Kaidan walked around the shop on the more quieter side of the Citadel, they didn't want to get much attention surrounding them with what Kaidan was about to buy. Garrus didn't get why Kaidan needed his help, he was the least helpful person on this subject. "Why do you want me here?"

Kaidan carried on walking and stopped to look in a few shop windows, he wanted to buy the perfect one for Gemma. She deserves the best. "I need your opinion. Surely you have seen a thing or two being with Shepard, she does mention you have the reach..." Garrus stopped and looked at Kaidan, horrified. Kaidan gave him a little side glance and carried on walking and giggling.

"How... When did she say that?" Garrus tried to sound more threatening, but all that came out was a low squeaky pitch. He looked around, feeling himself burning up in embarrassment. He hated the fact that Shepard would tell someone about their private life and Kaidan of all people Garrus likes him, but his and Shepard's past wasn't something Garrus even liked to think about.

"Calm down, before you faint. Shepard told Liara and Joker was being noisy and heard them through the ship comms, he pretty much told everyone" Kaidan stopped at another window, he saw Garrus through its reflection and his mandibles were so tight against his cheeks, Kaidan was waiting for them to start cutting through his skin.

Garrus huffed to himself, looking at the floor. "Of course Joker would do that. The whole thing stinks of him!" Kaidan started to walk into a shop, he saw the perfect one he wanted in the shop window. Garrus didn't realise Kaidan had gone in and jogged to catch up for him.

Kaidan pointed at the one in the window to the store clerk. "Right away, sir" Kaidan leant against the counter to face Garrus. He was still walking up to him with his mandibles tight. The clerk came back with what Kaidan wanted, he placed it on the counter. Kaidan looked it over before carefully placing it in his hands.

"Well, what do you think?" Garrus let his face relax, the tension from nearly holding his breath in anger was making his cheeks hurt. He looked down at Kaidan's hand. He never understood why humans did this tradition. But it was beautiful. Kaidan held it up into the light, it made it sparkle even more.

"I think she will love it. How much does it cost though, it looks expensive?" Kaidan shook his head at Garrus's question. The price wasn't a problem for him, he wanted the best for Gemma. He would give her the universe if she could, but right now. All the mattered was himself and Gemmas love for each other, but that love will go if they lose the war.

"I don't care about the price, she is worth more to me than any amount of money. I'll take it, please" The clerk gave Kaidan and Garrus a smile, bowing and went to get a box to pack it up neatly. Kaidan couldn't wait now until the party this evening. He hoped Gemma would love it, just as much as he loves her.

The game finished, the human team won. Shepard was surprised of how much she really enjoyed the game, shouting at the TV when one of the players made an illegal move. "Well Vega, if you would do so kindly and pay me your bet" Shepard turned around and a saw a smug smile of Cortez's face.

"Wait, if you both were betting. Why didn't you give me the option to do it as well?" Vega and Cortez looked at each and started to laugh. Shepard stood up confused as she started to clean up. "Well, when you ladies have finished your little laughing fit, help me start to decorate for tonight's party. Glyph?" The little hologram of Glyph appeared. "Can you let the crew know the party will start in 2 hours" Shepard walked to the kitchen to get the food out, she needed to make sure she doesn't get Tali and Garrus's food mixed up with everyone else.

"Sorry, Commander. We would of let you in on it, but we were actually betting on which team you would pick to win the game. And I won" Shepard stood up from nealing down looking in the cupboards.

"Wow, thanks, guys. Come on help me get this place read. James don't keep drinking all the beers or I'm gonna run out!" James hid the 7th bottle of beer behind his back. They put their beers down and started to help Shepard.

The crew started to arrive one by one. Shepard was glad she was able to get everyone there, even Thane brought Koylat with him, which she was glad to see. Koylat was a good kid, but he was a little naive at the time. Shepard felt bad the time she had to punch him in the face when he tried to kill a target he was paid to assassinate. It was the first time he and Thane had seen each other in 10 years. Samara, Jacob and all the old crew were able to come, Shepard was upset that Ashley couldn't be here with them. But, she knew Ashely was looking down on them.

Wrex and Grunt were the last people to arrive. Grunt looked half drunk already. "SHEPARDDDDD!" Grunt said after throwing himself on her, she nearly fell with his weight on her.

"Hey guys, glad you could make it" Wrex opened a bottle of Ryncol. The smile was like a punch to Shepard's face. She can drink a lot more than before after she got brought back. The number of implants in her was making alcohol consumption work a lot faster. She rarely drank Ryncol because it was so potent and made her throat burn like eating a really hot curry.

"Let's get this party started!" Wrex shouted as he pulled her bottle in the air, making some of it fall out.