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As the music got slower and people's energy began to flag, Shepard decided it was about time to bring the party to a halt. And what better way than to immortalize it in a photo?
She turned off the music and clapped her hands. "Hey, everyone, come on over to the living room for a minute. Can someone please find Kasumi?"
"Right here, Shep." And Kasumi appeared on the couch, lounging comfortably.
Shepard grinned. "Glad you're still here. Now, will someone please haul Grunt out of the shower upstairs? I don't want him to miss this."
"On it, Shepard." Wrex's gleeful laugh made her worry a little—and she worried a little bit more when she heard a series of thumps and thuds as Grunt came tumbling down the stairs. Wrex stood at the top, outright chortling. "I win, baby pyjak! Everyone knows you keep your wits about you at parties!"
"He makes a good point," Javik remarked gravely.
"Is that how you did it in your cycle?"
He sighed wistfully. "My cycle …"
"Sorry, didn't mean to bring up past memories."
"Often, I do not remember. I prefer it that way. Sometimes …" There was a look in his eyes that spoke eloquently to every year of the fifty thousand that stretched between him and everyone he'd ever known.
Shepard wished she could offer him comfort, but she also knew he would never accept it. Instead she looked around at the assembled company. "Great party! I'm so glad you all came. I don't ever want to forget it—so let's get a group photo. Arrange yourselves on the sofa. Liara, do you think Glyph would do the honors?"
"Naturally. But only if I can have a copy." Liara called him up and got him ready to take the photo as everyone else was grouping themselves around the couch.
Shepard took her own seat. "Ready, Glyph?"
"Of course. If you could all please direct your attention this way."
"Say Normandy!" Shepard called, and they all did, yelling it out.
After the picture had been taken, Shepard got to her feet, prepared to say good night to all of them, but it soon became clear that no one had any intention of leaving. She frowned. "Hey, guys, we do have to be on the Normandy pretty early tomorrow if we're going to get a good exit slot …"
"Oh, we're staying here," Garrus told her.
"Yeah, Commander, we all decided to make an all-nighter of it, crash here, and go back to the ship together," Vega added. Both of them looked so pleased with themselves she didn't have the heart to suggest that they might have warned her.
"Fine, fine, if that's the way you want it. But—" She looked around at all of them. "Joker gets the first floor bedroom. Fight over the other couches and the upstairs bedroom all you want, but stay out of that one."
There was some good-natured grumbling and some ribbing of Joker about the night ahead and his relationship with EDI, but no one really disagreed with Shepard's stance there.
After a while, people started removing themselves to various sleeping locations. Grunt returned to his shower. Javik wandered upstairs and didn't come back down. Joker and EDI went into the downstairs bedroom and closed the door. Vega and Ann Bryson tried to be stealthy as they did the same thing in the upstairs bedroom.
Tali and Liara sacked out on the couches upstairs. Garrus and Zaeed ended up on the couches in the den. Emily Wong and Traynor took the couches in the living room.
Kaidan snuck up behind Shepard, wrapping an arm around her waist. "You about ready to get some shut-eye? I bet it'll be a long day tomorrow, especially for you."
"Yeah, in a minute. You go ahead, warm up the bed for me."
He yawned. "Don't mind if I do."
Once he had headed up, Shepard went in search of her remaining guests, and found Jack, Wrex, and Kasumi playing cards in the little office. "You guys really meant an all-nighter, I guess."
"Come on, Shepard, sleep's for wimps," Jack said. "Besides, I'm still on shore leave once you guys leave. My kids are going back to work in another few days."
"Take a seat, Shepard, let me deal you in," Wrex offered. He chuckled. "I always did like taking your money."
"Another time, Wrex. Commander of the ship has to get some rest. If Kasumi didn't steal my bed." She patted the thief's shoulder affectionately.
"Not the whole bed, Shep. Just the pillows."
"Great. That'll be comfortable. Well, you guys keep it down in here, okay? I think everyone else has conked out." She frowned. "Is this the way parties always go?"
"Only the good ones," Kasumi assured her.
"The best ones," Wrex corrected. "Good-night, Shepard."
"Good-night, guys. Oh, and watch out for Wrex. He doesn't play fair."
"Now, Shepard, why do you have to go giving away my secrets?"
"Hey, Wrex." She grinned at him. "I bet they don't play fair either."
Wrex flipped over the cards he had just discarded. "Hey, these aren't the cards I had!"
"What did I say?" Shepard laughed, leaving them to it, and headed up the stairs.
Kaidan was in bed, just snuggling down under the covers. As she came in, he held a finger to his lips and pointed to the bathroom. Shepard looked around the corner and saw Javik, fast asleep, laid out in the glass shower as though it was his stasis pod. Well, if it make him happy …
Quietly she removed just enough clothes to be comfortable sleeping and snuggled in next to Kaidan.
"Did you have a good time tonight?" he asked.
"The best."
"Glad to hear it. I love you, Shepard."
"I love you, too."
Kaidan was asleep fairly soon, judging from his deep breathing, but Shepard lay awake, listening to Zaeed's rolling snores from downstairs, Tali muttering in her sleep, Wrex losing at cards in the room below her, and thought Garrus and Vega had the right idea. Everyone she loved was in this one place tonight, and in that knowledge, Shepard surrendered to the soundest sleep she'd had in quite a while.