Kaiden is in his bed fast asleep. I waited for an hour for him to be in a deep state of rest, then I attempt my meditation. I can still easily thaw my matter into energy, but there is a new issue. Something about biotics is creating an… interference appears to be the best word. It's quite annoying. I'm much more sensitive to subtle influences in energy form and whatever they are unconsciously doing is a pain in the rear.

I compact my energy back into matter and reform my material body. There isn't much to do now that my special meditation should not be done near a biotic. I spend the rest of the night searching random stuff on the extranet. After hours of research, the lights in our room slowly become brighter, an automatic process to maintain the workers circadian rhythm in space. I get up and go make breakfast. Homemade pancakes from scratch. I made at least 100 for the crew. Thankfully we buy our ingredients in bulk, and I can cook four pancakes at once on the stove. It still took me over an hour to make them all. I set the oven to warm to prevent them getting cold. I separate half of them to have butter slowly melt and be absorbed. So good! It is heaven with the right amount of syrup. Now that breakfast is ready, it's time to wake people up. I bang on everyone's door and tell them either pancakes are ready, or it's breakfast time. I stop at Shepard's door last.

Knock knock "wakey wakey time for breakey" I yell.

"*********? You never made breakfast before" Shepard said.

"My sleep schedule changed. I make breakfast now" I explained.

"Some food sounds really good" a low unknown feminine voice comes from the commander cabin.

Oops.

"Keep it down he'll hear you" Shepard whispered.

I leave immediately and pretend I didn't hear that. I speedwalk back to the kitchen and see a line had formed. Everyone loves my cooking. Wrex is mad he can only get two. I'm going to make more for him. I remove the batter bowl from the sink and add the appropriate amounts of flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla, and water. As I pour the batter, Wrex comes to watch. I feel his warm breath coming into contact with the nape of my neck.

"Can I help you?" I ask.

"I wanted to watch. I'm still hungry. You might have to teach me how to cook. Krogan food is mostly roasted whatever we hunted, we don't have livestock and the animals eat whatever we attempt to grow" Wrex said.

"I'm glad you like my cooking so much" I said.

Wrex asks "Does human food have a relaxing affect?"

"No? Why do you think that?" I said.

"I usually eat jerky made from animals I hunted back home. But if you cook something with plants or cheese or whatever, as long as it isn't meat, I feel a little bit more… at ease? Chill? Not as aggressive" Wrex said.

"Well, you are what you eat. I don't know what it is with you. Another pancake?" I ask.

Wrex holds out his plate. "Yes please. I give him the extra-large pancakes. I cook as many pancakes as I can with the batter I have left. Liara and Ashley join.

Did he… both? I'm staying out of this. Shepard joins shortly later. Kaiden also comes out. He gives me a strange look. I look back at him with the vibe to not mention anything. He gets the message.

"It looks so so good. Doctor, what would one bite do to me?" Tali asked Chakwas.

"Don't even think about it. First off, the amino acid chirality won't let you absorb the calories and nutrients. And you would be risking a reaction" Chakwas said.

"Could I make her quarian pancakes? Salt, sugar, baking soda, and water are simple chemicals quarians must have evolved to be able to process. They wouldn't have much flavor as I don't know if there is quarian vanilla. The biggest hurdle would be the flour and eggs. Hey Garrus you share chirality with quarians. Could you get turian eggs and flour?" I ask.

"Eggs yeah but what is flour"? He asks.

"I need a carbohydrate source that Tali could safely digest. Something rich in carbs, I could dry and crush into a fine powder, preferably doesn't have much of a flavor" I ask.

"Oh I know what you are talking about. Yeah when we stop at the citadel I'll grab a few things. If it is ok with the Doctor" Garrus said. Tali turns to the doctor and amazingly gives her the puppy dog eyes with her digital eyeballs.

"You will have to thoroughly clean everything and wear gloves when you cook. Tali you will have to keep a good eye on your temperature for the next 10 days" she said.

"10 days?" Shepard asked.

"When humans come into contact with a new substance that can generate an immune response, it takes the immune system some time to launch an attack. That is when symptoms start to appear. Quarians immune systems are a bit different, but if she is careful, I think she will be fine. It is still a risk. You could have an allergic reaction. Or an upset stomach since your body hasn't digested food like that before" she said.

"It will be only the one time. I should live a little" Tali said.

"Let her. She should know what real food tastes at least once. We'll be at the citadel later today. Thanks for making breakfast *********" Shepard said. After everyone is done with their food I clean up the mess I made. I hate doing the dishes. I'll never get over that. I like cleanliness, but doing the dishes is the one thing I dislike. I cooked, someone else should be doing the dishes.

Kaiden came to my side and helps me wash them. I clean them in the sink, and he puts them in the dishwasher. He clearly wants to talk to me but is unable to find the words.

I break the uncomftable silence "are you going to tell anyone?"

Kaiden replies "and say what? By the way why are you here? If you could have taken everyone out so easily, why didn't you?"

I explain my reasons "ok one time I was in a deep state of meditation. I figured out there is this special substance the brain can secrete that positively affects the mind" I said. Kaiden leans closer. I whisper.

"There is an activity that causes this. Hold on what is it called again? It's been a while, let me think. Come on brain get the information moving. I know it starts with an f. F-f-f. Fu. Fuc… no it's not that but you can have a lot of fun doing that, oh yeah that's it. It's called fun. I like having fun. Speaking of fun things, when I went to tell Shepard breakfast was ready, I heard a lady in his room" I said.

"Really?! Good for him. Do you know who?" Kaiden asks.

"I don't know who exactly. Ashley and Liara came to breakfast around the same time, just before Shepard joined. Do you think he could have… you know?" I ask.

"He doesn't seem the type" Kaiden said.

'No he doesn't" I said. We laugh. I can feel the tension leave with every chuckle

"Thanks Kaiden" I said.

"For what?" He asked.

"When other people found out about my talents, they started treating me differently. Worse. Not badly, just something I didn't like. You're still treating me like a friend" I said.

"I know you a bit to know you must have your reasons. You did save my life. That is the least I can do. Your secret is safe with me. Although I do have questions if you're willing to answer them later" Kaiden said.

"I will. Hey buddy, remember how I saved your life?" I ask. Kaiden raises an eyebrow.

"You do the rest of the dishes. Bye" I quickly run for the elevator. Leaving Kaiden to clean up all by himself. I love it when fate gets me out of chores I detest.

I'm about to head down to the cargo bay when a feminine voice says to hold the door. I kick my foot out and stop the elevator from closing.