"Honestly, what is it about public transport that makes it perpetually late?" Bex grumbled as she and Joker sat near the docking bay waiting for Zaeed's shuttle to arrive.

Joker rolled his eyes. "Would you relax? He'll get here when he gets here. Nothing we can do about it."

"Yeah well if it takes much longer, I'm gonna leave you here so I can go meet the asari commandos."

"Please no, anything but that," he gasped, his tone mocking but he looked a touch green. He gestured to the overhead speakers as the next arrival was announced. "Thankfully, that won't be an issue now."

"Don't be such a dramatic twit."

" I'm dramatic?" He scoffed. "I've never been accused of being dramatic in my life."

"You stole a bloody warship as an impromptu job interview."

He shrugged. "Semantics."

"Do I even want to know?" Zaeed asked as he walked up to them a few minutes later, gesturing to a fiberglass cast on Bex's wrist. "What the hell could you possibly have done to injure yourself this time?"

She grimaced. "As the man who raised me and walked in on not-quite my first time at the age of sixteen, no, no you do not want to know how or why I'm currently injured."

"Christ."

"Do I want to know?" Joker asked, waggling his eyebrows. " Can I know?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely not," Bex hissed, stalking past him.

"Surprised you hadn't already asked before now," Zaeed said to Joker. "How long were you sitting here?"

"Too goddamn long," Bex said. "Now if you two can perhaps feign a bit of professionalism, we've got an asari commando unit to meet."

Both men grumbled but followed her into a waiting cab going to a dock clear on the other side of the station.

Unlike the public transport Zaeed had come in on, the asari vessel was bang on time.

The few people milling about stopped and a collective gasp echoed across the dock when half a dozen commandos stepped through the docking tube.

"Captain Shepard?" said the one who looked to be the eldest and leader of the group. She held up a hand as Bex opened her mouth to correct her. "We are aware you were not a captain in your Alliance, nor are you a commander any longer. However, from this moment, we are under your command, and you are the captain of your ship, whether you have acknowledged that fact or not."

Standing beside Bex, Joker snickered and muttered, "I like her."

Bex blinked. "Welcome to Arcturus. Admiral Hackett sends his apologies for not being here, but he's nursing an injury and is unable to stand for long periods at the moment." She shrugged. "As for the title, you can call me captain if you insist, but don't be surprised if I don't answer. As you said, I was never a captain before, and I've just been Shepard for a year now."

The asari nodded. "Very well. I am Imalea T'reyma. My sisters and I serve at the behest of Dr. T'Soni just as we did for Lady Benezia before her. We are at your disposal until such time as Dr. T'Soni recalls us or your crew manifest has been filled."

"Sure, sounds good." Bex didn't know why she was so goddamn flustered, but she couldn't seem to think straight. She gestured to her left, where Zaeed stood silent. "This is Zaeed Massani, my second in command."

Imalea nodded to him. "Your name and reputation are well known to us."

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult," Zaeed grumbled.

Bex rolled her eyes. "Knowing you as well as I do, it's probably both." She gestured to her right. "This is Joker, my pilot."

Imalea nodded to him as well before turning her attention back to Bex. "Are these your only crew?"

"No, Dr. Chakwas will be the ship's doctor. She is currently scold-, er, looking after Admiral Hackett."

It had just been a bit of shower fun, part of the routine she and Hackett had developed over the years. Everything had happened so quickly: one minute, she'd been pressed up against the shower door, on the edge of ecstasy; the next, a foot had slipped and they'd ended up a jumbled and very injured mess on the bathroom floor.

After four days of care and scolding from Dr. Chakwas, Bex had stopped taking prescription pain meds, and Hackett had finally stopped cursing every being in the galaxy any time he tried to move more than a pinkie.

"Oi!" Zaeed nudged Bex's shoulder. "You've driven past the bloody place about six times."

"Shit." She quickly set down their cab at the nearest stand and waved to Imalea as the commandos exited their cabs and walked to the entrance of the non-Alliance visitor housing block. "Sorry! I'll keep you posted on exactly when we're leaving."


"What the hell's gotten into you today?" Zaeed asked as they settled into a booth at the bar that had become Bex and Joker's home away from home. "I've never seen you this out of sorts."

She scoffed. "We all know that's a lie, Z. But I'm just… torn, I guess."

"Now you're having second thoughts?" Joker asked.

"Not exactly. Not about the mission itself anyway."

They'd gotten a round of drinks.

"What's going on?" Joker asked as he passed the beers around.

"I don't really want to leave Steven while he's injured, and I don't think the doc does either, but I don't want to put Liara off." Bex shuddered involuntarily. "The Shadow Broker is no joke and I don't even want to think what they'd do to a double agent."

"Agreed," Zaeed said. "So, just how injured is your admiral?"

"Threw his back out."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "How?"

Bex gave them both a look that would send most men running for the hills.

They were undeterred.

"Look, I don't care that much," Zaeed said, "'specially since I can bloody well guess, but you know flyboy's not gonna stop bugging you 'til you 'fess up."

Bex muttered a fair few obscenities into her beer before she finally said, "Slipped in the shower."

Joker narrowed his eyes. "And you?"

She shrugged with a slight wince. "Tripped."

It wasn't a lie, in any case, though whether they'd believe it remained to be seen.

Mercifully, Joker seemed satisfied, for the moment at least, and moved on to figuring out a solution. "We can't leave without the doc, and we can't leave without Shepard, so now what?"

"We could always bring him with us," Bex said, only half joking. "It would kill two birds with one stone."

"Might do," Zaeed said, "but have we considered the implications of an incapacitated head of the Alliance flying off to the Terminus?"

"Didn't know you cared, Z. But incapacitated is going a bit overboard. His head works fine, he just can't move."

"He on prescription pain meds?"

"Yes?"

"Incapacitated."

Bex rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Could always ask his opinion," Joker said. "And the doc. Maybe Liara too."

Bex laughed. "Look at you over here, talkin' all rational and shit."

He had a point, of course.

"Has anyone considered that Dr. Chakwas is not the admiral's personal physician," Zaeed said as he brought another round of drinks to the table, "not to mention she's far from the only doctor on the bloody station."

"Of course she's not," Bex said with a huff of annoyance, "but, well, she was the one we called when the accident happened. She's got a vested interest now."

"So she got an eyeful of both of you," Joker said, only just dodging the coaster Bex lobbed at his head.

"So help me, if you make one more snarky remark about this, I will find a new pilot."

He snorted. "No you won't."

"Will."

"Won't." He shook his head. "Not saying you won't try, I'm saying you won't actually find one willing to fly your crazy ass around, at least not on short notice and without a lot of payment negotiation."

"Are we seriously actually thinking about taking your admiral along?" Zaeed asked after Bex and Joker had sat glaring at each other for several minutes.

She rolled her eyes again. "Don't be stupid. Would I love to have him along for the ride? Of course. It's one of my dreams. But is it realistic? Fuck no. 'Specially not with you two on board."

"Yeah, we're the reason it's not realistic," Joker said. "Not the fact that all three of us are ex-Alliance essentially gone rogue and he's the head of the Alliance."

"Hush."

Zaeed growled. "If you two are gonna keep sniping at each other, I'm out."

"Will you fucking relax?"

He shook his head. "Haven't relaxed a single second since the night I got overpowered in my own goddamn home by a six year old biotic while three teenage shitheads robbed me."

"First of all, I was six and a half," Bex said with a sniff of mock offense. "Second, that was almost 25 years ago."

"Yes, yes it was."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "What the fuck. Oh this explains so much about you, Shep, minus the part where you're married to Admiral War Hero Hackett."

Bex lobbed another coaster at his head, this one hitting the brim of his hat, knocking it askance. "We've known each other for how long now and you're just now pondering why I am the way I am?"

"Just because your goddaughter and my baby sister are best friends doesn't mean we have known each other that long."

Zaeed moved to the end of the bench. "Should I leave you two alone to get acquainted?"

Bex rolled her eyes. "No, Z, we're fine." She glanced at Joker. "Right?"

He shrugged. "Don't see why not. Nothin' wrong, just surprised. Knew you and Alenko were old friends, and old fuck bud- Ow!" A third coaster clipped Joker's left ear. "Stop throwing shit at me!"

"Stop making comments about my sex life or the next one's not gonna be a goddamn coaster."

"In my defense—" He flinched but Bex only sat waiting to see what said defense would be. "Fine, you and Alenko… used to date. Better?"

"Marginally."

"Anyway, I knew your service record, ish, Torfan of course, but not much else aside from you apparently being Anderson's favorite XO in the history of ever."

"You knew I was with the Reds and the Suns," Bex said quietly. "Unless you were lying about listening in on the Mako ride on Therum."

Joker shifted in his seat. "I… well, I was listening. At the beginning. But I tuned out after a bit, figured maybe it wasn't something I was meant to hear. So I heard about the housfire and orphanage and that was about it."

"Oh."

"I watched the Mako's progress on the scanner, knew when you stopped for a firefight, and that was about when I tuned back in, just in case something went to shit."

"It was… a lot." Bex drained her beer in one long gulp. "Really only meant to tell Garrus the bits you heard, to explain the pyrophobia, but once I got started, I just kept going." Her gaze shifted toward Zaeed. "Whole lotta shit even he doesn't know."

"Think I'd like to keep it that way," Zaeed rumbled into his beer. "I've heard and seen enough to give me nightmares for three lifetimes."

"Right back at ya, Z."

"So what do we do?" Joker asked, breaking an uncomfortable silence that had stretched on for far too long. "We've been sitting here for what feels like hours and we still don't know if we're coming or going."

Bex snorted a laugh. "Thank god you said that and not me, or you'd have gotten smacked for your undoubtedly disgusting retort."

Joker had the audacity to look offended, hand clutching his chest. "I am nothing if not a gentleman when I want to be, Shepard."

"If you fuckin' say so." She drained another beer. "For now, all we can do is talk to the docs."

"Suppose you're right," Zaeed said. "Guess we can talk to Liara while you're gettin' chewed out by Chakwas."

"Thanks for that." Bex sighed dramatically as she scooted to the end of the bench and stood up. "Guess I'll see you later, assuming I survive the tongue lashing."


Any thought of talking to Chakwas temporarily left her brain the moment she walked into the apartment and found Hackett sitting in his favorite chair, reading a stack of data pads.

"Does Karin know you're up and out of bed?" she asked as she sat on the end of the coffee table. "How did you even get out here?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm not an invalid, Rebekah. But yes, Karin knows I'm here. She helped me get here." He winced as he gestured toward the kitchen. "There's pizza and beer if you want it."

"Betwen the three of us, we probably drank enough beer to drown an army," Bex said, heading to the kitchen. "But the pizza is very welcome."

"Did you lose your commando unit already?"

"Nah, dropped 'em off at their lodgings. Didn't exactly seem the 'get drunk and shoot the shit' types. Think they were gonna check in with Liara anyway." Bex poked her head around the kitchen doorway. "Need anything while I'm in here?"

"Just you, my love."

It was strange, being in the same room but unable to sit together properly, especially in their own home. They made the best of it, Bex sitting on the floor between the chair and the coffee table, while they rewatched Charade for what she estimated to be the thousandth time since their first date.

"I'm gonna miss this," she said between yawns when the movie was over. "Not this ," she gestured to Hackett's heating pad and collection of pain meds, "but I'll definitely miss you."

"And I you, my love," he said, shifting carefully in the chair as he seemed to contemplate whether he should get up or stay put. "Have you determined when you'll leave, now that Massani and your asari have arrived?"

Bex sighed and shook her head. "Our original plan was to leave pretty much as soon as everyone got here, assuming the Charade had arrived by then."

"And now?"

"Well…"

"If you're thinking of delaying on my account, don't." Hackett carefully stretched as he got to his feet. "I'll be all right."

"We, ok I , briefly considered trying to bring you with us."

"Oh?"

Bex nodded. "Zaeed and Joker poked holes in that plan right quick."

"I can't say I'm at all surprised."

"Wasn't because of how they may or may not feel about you as a person, but because we're us and you're… you."

Hackett raised an eyebrow as they stopped at the door to the bedroom. "I have absolutely no idea what that means."

"It's 'cause we're um…" she frowned, trying to remember the actual conversation, the night already fuzzy and fading quickly, "we're all ex-Alliance and you're Admiral Alliance."

He laughed. "That's a new one, but yes I see what they mean."

"I mean, I wasn't ever serious… much." She undressed quickly, donning one of Hackett's old shirts before she went around to help him get settled in bed. "Was just trying to find some way for us to go help Liara ASAP without leaving you all alone."

"I see." He held an arm out for her to snuggle against him once she'd climbed in on her side. "You know I won't be alone, yes? Hilary and Mandy will be by at least once a day to take care of Chip and the kittens."

"You know what I mean, Steven. They're thirteen and not doctors." She rolled her eyes. "Though as Zaeed felt the need to point out, Karin is not your personal physician, so you won't actually be without a doctor."

"I will say she certainly has a better bedside manner than Dr. Jarret."

Bex grimaced. "A rabid vorcha has a better bedside manner than Dr. Jarret." She craned her neck to look at him. "So you're really gonna be okay?"

"I'll really be okay." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Just promise you'll come back to me in one piece."

"When have I not?"

"Your memory really is terrible, Rebekah."

She huffed a quiet laugh and brushed a kiss against his lips. "I promise."