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As the evening wore on, Shepard came out of the restroom and looked around. Everyone was still having a good time, which was a relief. She'd never thrown a party before—never really been to a party before—and she would have hated to let the others down by throwing one that they didn't enjoy, especially not on the last night of shore leave.
Grunt was at the door, answering vid calls from people who had heard there was a party going on and wanted in. He appeared to be taking a great deal of pleasure in telling them "no". Shepard left him to it.
The den was filled with guys giving Joker crap about not keeping a weapon handy in the cockpit. Shepard was just in time to convince them that he didn't need emergency combat training. The last thing she needed from tonight was a broken pilot.
Joker frowned at all of them. "It's not cool to mess with people 'cause they've got limitations, you know."
"Ah, next you'll be going on about how the strong aren't supposed to eat the weak." Wrex's grunt made it clear how he felt about that concept.
"Well, speaking as the weak … yes," Joker said.
"But everybody's weaker than me! What am I supposed to do for lunch?"
Cortez grinned. "Three words: Thresher. Maw. Jerky."
Wrex thought the idea over. "Huh. Yeah, maybe you humans aren't all a waste. I mean, other than Shepard."
"Thanks, Wrex." Shepard shook her head, leaving them to it. On her way out of the room she went by Zaeed, who appeared to almost be considering a smile. "Having fun?"
"As much fun as you can have without plastique."
Shepard smiled. "I'm not sure I want to get to that level of fun."
"Don't knock it till you've tried it."
"I'll leave that to you. Just … not here, please."
"If you insist."
On the balcony, she found James facing off against Jack, Kaidan, and Liara. James gestured with his beer, narrowly avoiding spilling it all over his arm. "Biotics are impressive. I'm not saying they aren't."
Liara narrowed her eyes. "You're just saying they're not that impressive."
"I'm not saying anything! I'm just saying …" Vega's voice trailed off as the looks the three biotics were giving him sank into his buzzed brain. "Aw, shit."
"No, it's fine. I'm sure no one here is insulted," Liara said sweetly. James had really stepped in it, based on her the chill in her tone.
"Not yet," Jack added ominously.
James was apparently too drunk to read the signals. "I'm just saying," he protested. "What I'm trying to say is …" He flexed his admittedly impressive arms. "Look at these guns. Biotics can't give you the kind of fine instrument, the peak of physical form that you see before you."
"Oh, yeah?" Jack flexed her own arms, displaying her own finely muscled form.
"Yeah, but, you didn't get that from biotics. I mean, that must have taken work."
It had; Shepard had watched Jack in the weight room enough to know she took her conditioning seriously. But Vega was in way over his head. She slipped her arm through Kaidan's, giving it a little squeeze, and pointed out, "Many people have both, James."
"Thank you, Shepard." Kaidan kissed her softly, pleased at the compliment.
"I mean it, though," Vega protested. "Check me out!"
Liara looked up him up and down. "Is there … more to your argument?"
"Come on in closer, Liara. Don't be shy." He posed again for her.
"Play nice," Shepard said, using her command voice.
"Come on, Lola, you have to go with me on this one!" Vega said desperately. "Biotics are strong but unpredictable—all that cooling down …"
"I don't cool down, big guy." Jack told him.
"A person can improve their physique," James went on. "But biotics? They are what they are."
Jack snorted, Liara rolled her eyes, and Kaidan winced.
"Okay, okay." James fell back on his best thing: his body. He flexed again. "Maybe it's not conditioning, exactly. Maybe it's just the condition of one James Vega. This guy here never has to cool down. In fact, the hotter, the better."
"Wait, we're still talking about combat, right?" Kaidan asked.
"Don't worry, I've got no complaints about your heat in either area," Shepard told him, and to the mingled whoops of Vega and Jack and the embarrassed groan of Liara, she sauntered away, leaving Kaidan feeling ten feet tall. Over her shoulder, she added, "James, do try not to pick fights with people who can throw you across the room with their minds, will you? I need you in one piece."
Jack chuckled. "Dumbass."
Shepard went down the stairs to check on the booze—not sure at this point if she hoped the stock was holding or hoped it was running out, and stood in the kitchen for a few moments listening to Emily, Ann, Traynor, Tali, and EDI laughing together over an extranet video. All of these people were so important to her—it made her feel good that they had clearly also become important to each other. Maybe this was what parties were for, to bring people together and let them know how much they liked each other. It was a good thought.