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The party had gone well. After some initial hesitance—none of them were used to spending time with one another unless there was an assignment and something to shoot—and enough drinks, people had started to relax. Nervous about the neighbors, Shepard had held it down to a more laid-back affair than some would have preferred, but they all loved Shepard, so they had behaved for her. Even Grunt and Wrex, who had been sorely tempted to answer Javik's question about which one was stronger with a demonstration. They'd settled for a drinking contest and insulting each other all night instead, which was more entertaining for everyone else. And walking around calling out "Shepard! Shepard. Shep-arrrrd!" Tali had done some impromptu performance art, demonstrating the difference in sounds between the SR-1 and the SR-2 … which Kasumi had recorded and broadcast to the extranet. Traynor had tried to challenge Joker to a duel over the affections of EDI. When Shepard suggested they talk things through with EDI like mature adults, both of them had frozen entirely and decided it was best to just keep needling each other about it. Kaidan and EDI had nearly come to blows in the kitchen over whether to stick to the recipe or "go with your feelings", as Kaidan described it.

Garrus himself had overimbibed fairly significantly and gone around trying to make improvements to the apartment's security. He hoped he hadn't damaged anything in the process—and that nothing blew up in anyone's face, or other sensitive portions of the anatomy, this morning.

Nearly everyone had attended. And to Garrus's relief, he seemed to have ordered enough of the right kinds of food and drink. He'd been nervous about that, since he'd never hosted a party before. Come to think of it, he wasn't sure when was the last time he'd even been to one.

Chakwas had pled an "emergency medical consult" as her reason for not showing up. Shepard had taken that one at face value, because she hadn't wanted to consider her ship's doctor and her mother might be off somewhere … renewing their acquaintance. In her shoes, Garrus probably wouldn't have, either.

Shepard had spent the whole party bouncing from group to group, asking questions, making sure everyone was having a good time. If the point of the party had been for her to relax and have fun, it had missed the mark almost entirely. But she'd been happy watching them all be happy, which was all she would have asked for anyway. She had gotten them all together for a group photo to commemorate the occasion, which Glyph had helpfully already hung on the wall.

Garrus came awake with a pounding headache, relieved to look at Shepard's face and see that he had somehow made it to the right bed with the right person. Not that he would have wanted to go to bed with anyone else, drunk or sober, but it had been hard to tell just where he was when he fell into bed last night.

Shepard smiled at him. "Hey. Look who it is. How do you feel this morning?"

"Like someone hit me in the head with a hammer."

"I think you're the culprit there—you may have dropped it on your head while you were trying to install a security camera in the shower."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. No cameras in my shower, please."

"No. Definitely not." He quite liked using that shower for purposes that made a security camera seem like a bad idea in the light of day.

Downstairs, they could hear Vega calling out invitations to come eat eggs. He liked to make a dish his grandmother used to make for him—apparently he was taking it on himself to feed the assembled party this morning. They found Javik in their shower, tangled up in the electric wires from Garrus's aborted security camera project. He claimed it felt like his stasis pod. Tali was curled up on the guest bed moaning and wondering if she had any toxin filters left. Joker was at the bar with his head on the counter, begging everyone to stop thinking so loudly. Garrus sympathized.

Cortez, Traynor, and Liara seemed fresh as daisies, and were insufferably smug about it, too. Jack was doing pull-ups … but she was Jack, and it was hard to imagine her with a hangover. Kaidan had made coffee, which seemed to make all the levo folks very happy. Shepard accepted a mug half the size of her head, although she didn't seem to be feeling any ill effects from the party.

Somehow there was a different feel this morning than there had been last night—everyone seemed more comfortable with each other. Tired, hungover, but …

"We're a family now," Garrus said to Shepard as everyone said their goodbyes and headed off for their last day of shore leave.

"We were before."

"We were all your family before. Now we're each other's, too."

"Then the party was a success. I think you could say so. Nothing blew up, at least." She glared up at him. "Yet."

"I apologize in advance if it does."

"You mean you're going to go around the apartment today and make sure it doesn't."

"Exactly what I meant, yes."

She sighed. "I have to meet with the asari ambassador in an hour."

"Duty calls, huh?"

"There's still a war on. We should be glad we got this much chance to take our minds off it."

"Oh, I am," Garrus assured her.

She looked around the apartment. "At least we threw one hell of a party. Probably the last one."

"Hey." He took her by the shoulders, gently. "That doesn't sound like my girl. You'll find a way to win. And when this is over, this apartment will be waiting for us—and we'll throw lots more parties. Still … I'm happy to be going home to the Normandy. The best times of my life have been spent on that ship. Been a damn good ride."

Shepard smiled, leaning her head against his carapace. "The best," she whispered.