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The next day, Shepard was interrupted in the middle of half-watching a vid and resisting the urge to check her email by a call from C-Sec.
"Commander Shepard, we have a krogan down here who says you are his … uh, cramp?"
"Krantt," she corrected, frowning. "Are you at the hospital?" Grunt had been there recovering from the injuries he'd sustained on Utukku.
"Uh, no. We're in the Presidium. Uh … could you come down here?"
"Is he hurt?"
"No, the krogan is fine," the C-Sec officer confirmed, in a tone that indicated Grunt was the only thing that was fine.
"I'll be right down."
Shepard hated to admit that she was relieved to have an excuse to get off the couch and leave the apartment. She hurried to dress and head to Zakera Ward.
A trail of debris and broken glass led her to where Grunt sat in front of a noodle house with a disapproving pair of C-Sec officers.
He looked up as Shepard approached, and she gave him her most severe look as she approached one of the C-Sec officers. "Someone requested my presence concerning an incident with a krogan?"
The officer gestured at Grunt, and Shepard turned to look at the krogan. "Anything you want to tell me?"
"This clown wants to take me to lock-up. Figured I'd give you a call, straighten this out."
Shepard sighed, turning back to the C-Sec officer. "I'll vouch for him, and sign any paperwork you have."
"Great." He started tapping rapidly on his datapad.
"All right, Grunt, what happened?"
He shrugged. "Don't know. Drank a bit, left the hospital, broke a few windows?"
"A few?" the C-Sec officer muttered, without looking up.
"I take it you're all healed."
Another shrug.
Shepard rolled her eyes. "So C-Sec is here for a few windows?"
"Guess they're precious about some broken glass."
The C-Sec officer inhaled as if he was about to say something, thought better of it, and typed faster.
"Everybody walked away in one piece, right?"
"Oh, yeah, everybody's fine," Grunt assured her. "Hospital's seen better days, though."
"Words, Grunt. Use 'em. What the hell happened to the hospital?"
"A couple of squadmates broke me out for my birthday. Tried lowering me down the side of the building on a rope." He shrugged again. "Rope wasn't thick enough."
"Wait, it's your birthday?"
"No, Shepard, I'm tank-bred, remember? So then we went and took some pictures on the krogan memorial."
"I'm sure that went well."
Grunt frowned. "When C-Sec got there, they were mad. Or maybe they were mad about their car being on fire."
"Why was C-Sec's car on fire?"
"I threw my bottle of ryncol at it. Strong stuff—went up like a bonfire." Shepard frowned at him, and Grunt said, "What? The C-Sec guys jumped out in plenty of time."
The C-Sec officer looked up, narrowing his eyes at Grunt, and typed some more onto the datapad.
"Then I figured they didn't want the car, so I took it," Grunt continued. "But we didn't get very far before they shut us down. Sprayed us down with riot foam. Didn't work so well on me, though."
"Why not?"
"'Cause I was on fire. You know, from the car? Keep up, Shepard."
"So sorry." She rolled her eyes, accepting the datapad the C-Sec officer handed her. "And how did you end up here?"
Grunt gestured to the shop sign. "Got hungry. Stopped for noodles."
Shepard quickly signed her name at the bottom of the datapad where the C-Sec officer was pointing. "Now, Grunt, you apologize to the nice officer for setting his car on fire."
"Fine," Grunt muttered reluctantly. "I'm sorry for setting your car on fire." When Shepard glared at him pointedly, he added, "And I won't do it again."
"Good. Now, Officer, I can pay for any damages that may have occurred."
He gave her a tight smile, gesturing with the datapad. "You already have, Commander." Turning to Grunt, he added, "You're lucky, krogan. Don't let me catch you up here again."
To Grunt's credit, he didn't respond to that, and the C-Sec officers departed, leaving Grunt and Shepard standing together.
"So," Shepard said to him, "how were the noodles?"
"A little spicy."
She smiled. "I love you, Grunt." He chuckled, and Shepard nudged him. "Come on."
"Where?"
"After I bought C-Sec a new car, least you can do is buy me some noodles."
"Heh. You got it, Shepard. You can, uh, spot me some credits, though, right?"
"Right."
The noodles were, in fact, quite spicy, and Shepard felt the need for a drink after she had sent Grunt off with strict orders to rejoin his squad and go home to Tuchanka if he was well enough to be out of the hospital.
At the casino bar, she found her other favorite krogan. "Wrex!"
"Shepard." He groaned as she settled onto the stool next to him.
"What's up? You've looked better."
"I had to get away. Ever since we cured the genophage, it's been nothing but work."
"Council been riding you?" she asked. "It's tough running a planet."
"Bah! Not those pyjak shit-slingers. No, it's the females, Shepard. Now that they're fertile again …" He banged his head on the bar. "I haven't slept in I don't know how long."
The asari bartender came up just at that moment. "Welcome back, Commander. Can I get something for you and your friend?"
Shepard ordered a beer, and Wrex called for two shots of ryncol and a bag of ice.
"Ice?" the bartender asked doubtfully.
"Ice."
"Here I would have thought you'd be enjoying the perks of krogan fertility," Shepard remarked as the bartender disappeared to get Wrex his bag of ice.
"Enjoying?!" Wrex looked at her as though she'd grown a second head. "There's a line of females outside my dwelling right now. Stretches on for as far as you can see. I had to sneak out my own bathroom window, and I still had them chasing me to the shuttle!"
"Just you? They're not spreading the love around?"
"Sure, but everyone wants their firstborn to be strong and fit. I'm the leader of Clan Urdnot. I brought an end to the genophage."
"Single-handed, apparently," Shepard observed, accepting her beer and taking a long swallow.
"Heh. Close enough so everyone on Tuchanka wants a piece of me. Literally."
"What does Bakara say about this?"
"Oh, she's no help at all. She encourages it!" He tossed back a shot of ryncol. "I'm telling you, Shepard, I'm in no shape to fight Reapers."
She chuckled. "Considering everything we've been through, I can think of worse positions to be in."
"Positions, Shepard? Trust me, I've been in every one imaginable recently."
The bartender mercifully reappeared before he could start describing them. "Here's your bag of ice."
Wrex accepted the bag and dropped it directly into his lap, hissing in pain. "And I thought Mordin's procedure was painful." He sighed as the ice began to chill the inflamed area. "Shit, Shepard, we sure have been through it, haven't we?"
"Still going through it, you mean."
"True." He lifted the second shot of ryncol. "Well, here's to us. And to going through it."
"I'll drink to that." She tapped her beer bottle against his glass.
Wrex downed the shot of ryncol, slamming the glass on the bar. "Korbal!" At Shepard's questioning look, he explained, "Means 'victory or death'. Roughly."
"That's pretty much where we are," Shepard agreed. "All but you?"
"Me?"
"Sure. You can't possibly die, Wrex." She grinned at him. "You've got a family now. A really … big family."
He groaned. "More ice!"