A/N: because we all have off days :P
Sara had made the mistake of allowing Peebee to bring her juice box along on her current excursion. She was headed for the Nexus science labs having received an invitation via email to take part in an 'exciting educational science experiment' that definitely seemed legit but had raised enough unanswered questions for her to request Peebee and Cora shadow her. Peebee had run out of juice almost as soon as they left the Tempest but that hadn't stopped her insistently sucking on the straw to find every last friggin' drop left in the carton. It was annoying Sara, and she could see Cora's eye twitching every time the straw made that damn rasping, gurgling noise.
"Don't you think that's finished now?" Cora asked Peebee pointedly, voice strained.
"No, there's some in the corner," Peebee replied distractedly, completely oblivious to the ire of her companions. Sara and Cora exchanged an exasperated look behind the asari.
The noise started up again. Cora grit her teeth and clenched her fist at her side. Sara saw the tell-tale flicker of blue energy around her friend's fingers and suddenly Peebee was choking on air that had been unexpectedly forced from her now-crushed carton through her straw and into her mouth.
"Cora!" Sara cried, shocked.
Peebee recovered swiftly, tossing her carton into a bin as they passed and rounding on Cora. "That is not the huntress way!" she scolded, finger wagging, hazel eyes teasing while her tone was serious.
"oh, like you'd know about the huntress way?" Cora muttered, folding her arms over her chest and glowering off to one side.
"I know enough," Peebee replied haughtily.
Cora lifted one eyebrow and shot her a look of disbelief, "reading three lines of a training manual before your ADHD ass gets bored does not count."
"Pffft, please," Peebee rolled eyes. "I read four lines."
"You guys, just kiss and make up already," Sara groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose between thumb and forefinger. She could feel a stress headache building already. She should have known bringing these two along would result in an argument.
Peebee and Cora immediately fell silent, Peebee glancing sideways at Cora to gauge her reaction, wondering, for one insane moment, if a kiss actually would break the tension between them. Cora seemed to read her mind as she responded with a withering stare, unseen by Sara who had marched on ahead, eager to get this trip over and done with.
Sara sighed heavily through her nose, glad the arrivals hall was quiet for once so she didn't have to dodge and weave through crowds of people. The way to the labs was blessedly clear. All she had to do was get in, sign off the experiment, and escape. She could seal herself up in her quarters on Tempest and Peebee and Cora could become someone else's problem.
"Quit staring at Ryder's ass," Cora spoke suddenly.
Sara felt a spark of annoyance. Who knew taking on a crew of adults would be more like babysitting bickering kids?
Peebee huffed out a frustrated sigh. "Why do you have to suck the fun out of everything?" She snapped at Cora.
"Oh, for-" Sara started, whirling around to face them and bringing the group to a halt.
"I do not suck the fun out of everything!" Cora insisted, clenching her fists at her sides.
"Fun-sucker," Peebee replied.
"Guys!" Sara cried, spreading her arms wide as though to indicate something. How utterly ridiculous they were being, perhaps.
"For the record, Ryder, you have a cute ass," Peebee said, propping one hand on her hip and smirking at Sara. Sara dropped her hands to her sides and blinked at the asari, at a loss.
"Peebee!" Cora stared at her, apparently shocked Peebee would say such a thing in public.
Peebee gave a wicked grin. "So do you, Cora."
"What?!" Cora looked like her head was about to explode. Peebee winked at her. "Why did you let her join our crew?" Cora demanded seriously, looking accusingly at Sara.
Sara opened her mouth to speak and promptly closed it again. 'Because she seemed fun' probably wasn't the best thing to say under current circumstances. She shuffled her feet and thumb-hooked her belt. "I'd prefer not to answer that..."
"Because Ryder knows how to have fun," Peebee said, sauntering off ahead.
"That doesn't even make sense!" Cora called after her.
"You know she enjoys winding you up, right?" Sara asked, watching Cora worriedly.
"I know," Cora muttered darkly as they started after Peebee. "I just..." She reached up and rubbed the back of her neck, shaking her head and shrugging. "I slept bad. My stupid leg hurt no matter what position I lay in."
Sara glanced down at Cora's leg sympathetically. She knew it was healing well despite being used as a wraith's chew toy, but Cora was still walking with a faint limp.
"You could have asked for painkillers," she pointed out, but Cora waved off the suggestion. "You didn't need to come, you know? You could have stayed on Tempest and rested up."
Cora gave Sara a look that clearly stated she thought the Pathfinder had gone mad. "I don't even want to think about what kind of disaster the two of you would somehow wind up in without a sensible chaperone."
"I literally just watched you crush the baby asari's juicebox with your magic powers because she annoyed you," Sara spoke deadpan. "You're not the sensible chaperone here." Sara shot her a playful look, then gasped and grabbed Cora's upper arm.
"Ow, what?" Cora asked in confusion at Sara's sudden excitement.
"I'm the sensible chaperone!" Sara realized, pressing her palm against the centre of her chest.
"Well, there's a first time for everything," Cora remarked. "Don't let Peebee catch you calling her a baby."
"Aw, you secretly care about her feelings," Sara teased. Cora shot the Pathfinder a look that was clearly meant to state otherwise, but Sara didn't falter. She knew Cora found the young asari infuriating, but she had seen Cora risk her life for Peebee in battle. Sara had no worries about the bonds amongst her crew. Well, except for Gil and Kallo who seemed to constantly be at each other's throats but at least she could keep them at opposite ends of the ship. Mostly.
Peebee bounded up the ramp that adjoined the walkway above the arrivals hall of the Nexus, making her way towards the science labs without her human colleagues. Cora watched as the asari disappeared from sight, then looked sideways at Sara. The Pathfinder matched her pace, happily ambling along beside the blonde. "You should probably run after her," Cora warned. She was under strict no-hurrying rules from Lexi while her leg mended.
"She'll be fine," Sara shook her head and grinned at Cora. "What harm could she possibly do here?"
"Those are famous last words if ever I heard any..." Cora muttered.
"You worry too much," Sara replied, elbowing her playfully in the ribs.
Peebee looked up from the datapad in her hand as the lab door hissed open and grinned broadly as she saw Sara and Cora stepping inside. "Guys, we have a pet pyjak!" She announced proudly.
"Waitwut?" Sara asked blankly, freezing in the entrance to the lab and blinking at Peebee. Cora squeezed by the Pathfinder to enter the room and halted in front of Peebee looking horrified.
The asari stood beside a cage occupied by a... Yes, that was definitely a pyjak looking back at her. And suddenly it all began to fall into place… An exciting science experiment studying the effects of space travel on living organisms…
Cora stared wide-eyed at Sara. "You agreed to house a pyjak on the Tempest?!" she asked incredulously, voice loud in the quiet lab.
Sara looked alarmed. "I didn't mean to!" She hissed, mindful of the scientists bustling around workbenches at the back of the room. A salarian glanced up from the microscope he had been bending over and looked their way, sensing trouble. "They just said it was a science experiment that would be really beneficial and wouldn't interrupt our day-to-day operations and I was trying to be helpful!"
Peebee cackled with glee. "Kallo is gonna freak when he finds out."
"Send it back!" Cora cried.
"We can't. I already signed for it." Peebee grinned and waggled the datapad at her as proof, loving the potential mayhem she had inadvertently caused with a mere signature.
"It has to be void, you're not the Pathfinder!" Cora insisted.
Peebee simply smirked. "Nope, but I'm part of the team and Ryder already agreed to it, so..." She shrugged and left the datapad on the top of the cage. "The signature was just a formality."
"Goddammit, Ryder," Cora sighed, closing her eyes and pushing her fingers through her hair.
"Is there a problem?" the salarian had crossed the room and was standing anxiously nearby, looking from Sara, to Cora, to Peebee and back again.
"No!" Sara said at the same time Cora insisted, "yes!"
"No," Sara said again, narrowing her eyes at Cora to keep her quiet, then smiling kindly at the salarian scientist. "Thank you."
"Would you arrange for this little guy to be sent to Tempest for us?" Peebee asked the salarian sweetly, indicating the cage she stood beside.
"Of course," he nodded and hurried away, eager to get away from the bickering humans.
Sara watched him go, then looked down at the pyjak. He was chattering at them from his cage and whirling in circles, excited by the raised voices.
"He's kinda cute..." She said with a sheepish grin.
Cora looked down at him for a moment before giving a resigned "Ugh." She hid her face in her palm. "Sure, Ryder..."
Sara looked hopefully at Peebee, who shrugged and nodded. "He's kinda cute," the asari agreed.
Sara gave a wry smile. She just had to convince Kallo it was a good idea...