Thank you for reading!
Garrus was at the apartment hanging out and chatting with Kaidan when Shepard got back. Tali arrived a few minutes later. She seemed surprised to see Garrus there, and he cleared his throat and made noises like he was thinking about heading out.
"Come on, you have to stay," Kaidan told him. "I'm trying my hand at a dextro dish for you guys." When Garrus and Tali exchanged alarmed glances, he held up his hands. "I promise, I won't poison anyone."
"Well, if you're sure I'm not in the way …" Garrus glanced at Tali.
"We were just going to watch a movie," Shepard told him. "You should stay."
Eventually he was prevailed on to stay, and talk shifted, as it so often did, to the old days.
"All right," Garrus said, taking a sip of the dextro beer Kaidan had bought. "Creepiest thing we ever fought."
"The Thorian, hands down," Kaidan said, shuddering.
"No fair!" Tali cried. "I hadn't joined up with you yet."
Garrus shook his head. "Fine. The dead Reaper, then."
"Really? But the husks just ran up to us."
"Have you ever noticed that I carry a sniper rifle? You're the one who likes things at short range."
"And you prefer everything at a distance. I know," Tali responded. There was an odd tone to her voice, almost as though she was annoyed by him. Shepard frowned, but decided not to ask … at least, not now.
Garrus, appearing oblivious to Tali's tone, nodded. "Exactly." Then he cocked his head and looked at her more seriously. "Wait, what?'
"Nothing. Kaidan, do you need any help?" Tali asked.
Garrus followed her into the kitchen. "But, wait, what did you mean?"
"I didn't mean anything," she said, focusing in the strange vegetable she was chopping.
"Personally," Shepard said, "I think the Reapers are the creepiest thing ever."
"They have the size thing going for them," Garrus agreed.
Tali scraped the vegetables into the saucepan Kaidan was stirring. "I'd go with the rachni."
"The queen? But we didn't fight her. Either time," Shepard protested.
"No, not the queen. The little ones." Tali shivered. "They look like spiders, and they scuttle right toward you. Like … spiders."
"But … I thought you liked it when things got up close and personal." Garrus sounded confused.
"I guess it depends on who it is." Tali headed out of the kitchen and they heard her getting the screen set up for their vid.
Garrus downed the rest of his beer, and Kaidan focused on his cooking and Shepard, not quite sure why both her friends were being so strained with one another, set the table.
Fortunately, the dinner was good, both levo and dextro versions. Garrus and Tali were loud in their appreciation for both the quality of what Kaidan had made, and his initiative in cooking for them.
"So, Shepard, have you gotten used to shore leave yet?" Tali asked.
"No, can't say I have. Not that there's been much of it."
"Most people's shore leave doesn't start with chasing their clone through the Archives," Garrus told her. "Maybe that's where you went wrong."
"She came after me," Shepard reminded him. "How about you, Tali? Enjoying the time off?"
Tali sighed happily. "Oh, yes. For the first time in my life I really am 'as free as the dust in the solar wind'." She paused as if expecting them all to recognize what she had said, but Shepard was at a loss.
Garrus, however, nodded. "Shalei and Bellicus on the balcony."
"You know Fleet and Flotilla?"
He cleared his throat. "I … may have seen it once or twice."
"Really."
"This is a favorite … vid? of yours?" Shepard asked Tali.
"Every time my friends and I had a sleepover, we watched it. Keelah. So many feelings."
"So is that what we're watching?" Kaidan asked.
"Shepard's never seen it."
"Well, we can't have that." Kaidan grinned across the table at Shepard, who felt she was clearly missing something, but was happy to go along.
Once they were settled in the den with coffee and dessert and brandy, and the vid started rolling, many things became clear. Fleet and Flotilla turned out to be a vid about the forbidden love between a turian and a quarian. Curled up against Kaidan's shoulder, Shepard leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Does this seem a little awkward to you?"
He turned to look at her, startled, then whispered back, "Why do you think I invited him?"
"Wait, what?" Shepard cautiously snuck a glance at her two friends, who had started out on either side of the same couch, but were gradually shifting closer to one another, sharing a tub of a dextro version of popcorn. Gesturing to Kaidan to help her pick up some of the dishes, Shepard led the way into the kitchen. "How long has this been going on?"
"Garrus and Tali sneaking glances at each other? Since the original Normandy. Are you saying you didn't know?"
"Didn't have a clue. Anything else I'm missing?"
"Daniels and Donnelly?"
"Yeah, I got that one."
"Vega and Ann Bryson?"
"He's not subtle."
"Well, neither is Garrus."
Shepard chuckled. "I tried to set him up with a turian woman at the bar. Apparently I wasted my breath."
Kaidan laughed, kissing her again, and they went back in to watch the rest of the vid with their friends, who pretended they weren't holding hands in the popcorn bowl, while Kaidan and Shepard pretended they didn't notice.