Thank you for reading!

By the early hours of the morning, the music had been turned up and people were starting to get into it. EDI was clearly feeling the beat, which was odd for a robot, Shepard thought, but she decided not to over-analyze it. Joker, on the other hand, was terrified to get up out of his seat, and for reasons Shepard understood and sympathized with. EDI, unsurprisingly, was a bit less willing to accept his reluctance. "At social events like this, it is customary to dance with friends or loved ones. Would you dance with me?"

He frowned. "I think it's gonna take a lot more than a polite request to make that happen."

"I have recordings of you talking in your sleep that would make for a highly amusing extranet video."

"That's cheating!"

Shepard decided to butt in at that point. "He won't dance with you, huh?"

EDI shook her head. "He will not."

"Well, I will," Shepard offered.

Joker nearly fell off the couch laughing at that one. He paused a moment, realized they weren't laughing with him, and covered his embarrassment by laughing a lot more. When he finally stopped, both Shepard and EDI were staring at him. "Seriously, EDI, you don't want to go there."

Shepard raised her eyebrows. "Insubordination, Lieutenant?"

"Uh, no. I mean …"

"If you don't want me to dance with her, then get up and get to it."

He glared at her for a minute, and she crossed her arms and held his look until he got up off the couch. "Fine!"

"Dancing is often considered pleasurable, Jeff."

"Well, not for me," he grumbled.

"Perhaps you never found the right partner," EDI suggested as they danced. "Are you having fun now?"

"Kind of?"

"Excellent. You know, your dancing closely resembles Shepard's."

Joker frowned. "I'm having a lot less fun now."

Shepard shook her head and left them to it. In the den, she found Zaeed and Javik on the couch and Wrex pacing the room, looking as if he was hunting for something to ram. "So this is where the party is?"

"Goddamn right," Zaeed said. "Come to join the cool kids, Shepard?"

"For a minute. Not dancing?"

"Dancing during wartime wastes precious energy." Javik sounded very certain, as he always did.

Zaeed grinned. "Can't dance, myself. I move like a greased one-legged varren. Not a pretty sight."

Shepard tried not to picture that. She looked at Wrex, who shook his head. "Bad idea for a krogan to dance unless there's a willing female around, if you follow me."

"As far as I want to, thanks. How's the music, though, guys?" She looked at Javik. "Not as good as in your cycle, am I right?"

"Not even remotely."

"Called it!" She laughed, but Javik didn't, either not getting the joke or ignoring it. As always, it was hard to tell which.

But, after a moment, he nodded. "You know, if we are not completely annihilated by the Reapers, and the galaxy is not decimated for thousands of years, then we should do this again."

"Count on it," Shepard told him. The room went silent, and she decided to go hunt Kasumi. It had been entirely too long since she had seen the thief.

And she found her … in Shepard's closet. Kasumi had her hands in Shepard's underwear drawer. "Oh, hello, panties!" In the doorway, Shepard cleared her throat and Kasumi turned to look at her. "Hey, Shep."

"Are you … going through my drawers?"

Kasumi shrugged. "I go through everyone's drawers. By the way, you have excellent taste in underwear. Girlier than I was expecting. I thought they would have a camo pattern."

Shepard sighed and shook her head, reminding herself that less eccentric friends never would have accomplished everything these people had. "Glad you could make it, Kasumi."

With a surprisingly shy smile, Kasumi responded, "Thanks. I'm having a really good time."

Reaching out, Shepard squeezed her shoulder, returning the smile. From down the hall, she could hear a strange noise, and she stopped to listen for a moment. "Do you hear water running?"

"Yes, and not just the waterfall."

"Well, I'll leave you to it, then, while I go see what's going on. Just … refold everything, will you?"

"It's a promise."

In the bathroom, Shepard found Grunt huddled on the floor of the shower while water rained down on him. He mumbled something unintelligible, but she thought she got the idea that it felt like his tank. Still, there were water restrictions for a reason, so Shepard reached in and turned the spray down to a trickle. Grunt shifted so that the water was running down his face, and leaned back against the wall with a blissful smile.

Shepard left him there and headed down to the kitchen, where everyone else was dancing like they were in Purgatory.

"Whoo!" Cortez called out, looking admiringly at Traynor, who had just executed a complicated move with Emily Wong. "You should bring those moves more often, Traynor."

Traynor, who had loosened up considerably since the beginning of the party, winked at him over Emily's shoulder. "You and I dancing at the same time? Too dangerous. We'd light the room on fire."

Kaidan reached out and pulled Shepard into the dance, bringing whoops from everyone else.

Cortez clapped his hands. "Hah! Captain on deck!"

Traynor stopped dancing to frown at Shepard's moves. "Has she always been like this?"

"Now, now," Tali said. "Shepard is saving the galaxy. You have to forgive a few … eccentricities."

"It's very … enthusiastic," Traynor offered.

Garrus chuckled. "You know, we should record this and broadcast it for the Reapers. They'll either run away, melt down, or fall in love."

From the table she was dancing on, Jack laughed out loud, a light, happy sound Shepard had never heard from her before. "Good to see some things don't change."

"Well, I like it, Commander," Cortez said. "It's good to see you cut loose now and then!"

Shepard frowned at all of them. "Thank you all for your loyalty and support."

Pulling her close, Kaidan murmured into her ear, "Some of us like the way you dance."

"Hm." She laid her head on his shoulder and let him guide her through some moves. James and Ann were dancing similarly closely, she noticed. She breathed in Kaidan's scent and soaked in the warmth of his body against hers. All things considered, this was a pretty damn good way to end the night.