Thank you to my beta, Amyress, who nags me and inspires me.

And thank you to BJHanssen, who without his feedback this fic would not be nearly as good!

As we walked through the merchant district Thane pointed to random things, feigning giving me a tour. Our conversation was far detached from our surroundings.

"The only contact you've had with the local citizenry is the disturbance in The Eternity Lounge?" he asked, keeping his face close to mine to ensure privacy. I nodded and smiled at him, turning my head enough to catch a glimpse of our stalker continuing to follow. "Hm. I don't see that being of interest to anyone important. And that particular kiosk is not highly profitable so they would not have the financial capability to hire this caliber of thug, I doubt it's related."

"That's why I think it has something to do with my companions," I whispered, barely moving my mouth. "If I can get back to my ship I think I'll be safe enough. Then I can fill them in and let them take the investigation from there." I gave him a toothy grin and batted my eyelashes. "This shit is outside of my pay grade." He smirked and nodded.

"This way, it will take a bit longer than a direct approach but I think it's best if we do not let on that we are aware of our tail." Silence followed as we pretended to take in our surroundings. Well, he may have been pretending but I was definitely not.

There were a few 'open-air' areas around the city but for the most part everything was enclosed with metallic, dome-like structuring and automatic doors sliding at your approach. Neon-esque signs popped up out of thin air, some with advertisements and others just showing the names of the places they appeared in front of. It was something out of a sci-fi movie.

Yeah, a movie with killer effects. Completely life-like. Wonderful.

We slowly made our way through the city, so much of it in fact it started to all look the same. Tiring of the silence I wondered if my companion would be interested in idle chit chat. I was definitely getting bored out of my mind.

"So Thane," I said as we continued, "I've read a bit about your species but have never come in contact with any before you. I have to say the reading material does you no justice." I gave his arm a gentle squeeze and he replied with a polite nod. "Can you tell me some things about your world? I love a good biased point of view." I felt him more than heard him sigh, a nostalgic look came over his face.

"Depending on how much you read you may know that the planet I called home was not in fact our native world." A gentle tug on my arm signaled me to stop as he raised his arm with the glowing bracelet that I'd recently learned was a portable computer called an Omni-Tool. He released my arm to punch something into the air and a picture came up. "This is the Drell home world."

"It's a dessert world," I gasped, taking in the golden landscape of sand and rock. The atmosphere was a pale blue, similar to Earth's which made me smile. Thane shifted his stance sideways, holding his left arm out in front of me to allow me better access to the images.

"Rakhana," he breathed into my ear.

Not realizing how close we were, the warmth sent an unexpected flutter down my body and a tiny gasp escaped my lips before I could stop it. His chest rumbled against my arm, drawing my eyes to his to see what I thought was amusement. His lips then curled slightly telling me I was correct so I returned the smile.

"Heh," I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair and reaching up with the other to scroll through the remaining pictures. "It's lovely, but your species lives on Kahje now? Did I pronounce that correctly?" Attempting to shake off the aftershocks of his closeness, I took the conversation as an opportunity to step away, if only half a step. Breathe woman.

"That is correct," he said as he closed down his Omni-Tool. I waited, expecting him to continue but he closed his mouth, his eyes hinting not to pry so instead I gave him a smile.

"Well, Rakhana is beautiful," I said and looked around casually, seeing our tail still in place and eyeing us. "She really doesn't seem to be concerned about being made. Isn't that odd?" I asked, turning back to meet his eyes. From that close, the green was obvious and a stark contrast to the black eyelids that protected it. They glittered like emeralds. My birthstone.

"It is not on this world," he explained, "only because it is not illegal to follow someone. There are many personal freedoms taken for granted on other planets that are not enjoyed here. If we move through there," he pointed to another doorway, "we will arrive at the docking bay and your ship." He turned and extended his arm to me again. "If I may?"

I smiled genuinely and took his arm. "You may." He nodded and led me through the passage. Seeing the Normandy not 50 feet away I sighed in relief. "Never thought I'd be so happy to see that hunk of metal." We continued on and stopped at the ramp leading to the ship.

Thane turned to face me, releasing my arm but holding my hand. "It was a pleasure," he whispered and nodded before turning to walk away. Not thinking of who would see, I reached out and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Wait," I cautiously pulled him closer and he obliged. "Will I see you again? You are probably the first friend I've made that didn't have to be nice to me." Expectantly my eyes flitted back and forth between his, hoping he would say yes. Silence was his response so I tried sincerity. "I truly enjoyed my evening, the end anyway, and I would like us to be friends. Here," I released his arm and pulled up my Omni-Tool, taking my contact info and swiping it to him like Garrus had shown me. "If you get bored, give me a call." He checked his and noted he received the info.

"I would like that, Kayla." That one sentence brought something out of me that I hadn't felt in ages, that feeling of genuine friendship. I'd surrounded myself in my work, mostly handling things on my own, but in that moment I'd finally found someone that wanted to be my friend, not who felt they had to be friendly to get what they wanted from me.

I grinned and gave him a quick hug. "Wonderful, I'll talk to you soon." Nodding to each other once more, I turned to board the ship...

Coming face to face with a seemingly unhappy John.

"Hello John," I deadpanned, unsure of how to approach him. He nodded, glancing at Thane's retreating form.

"Who's your friend?" His voice was gravelly, a tone I wasn't familiar with from him. Inside I huffed, I never liked the jealous look on a man but on the outside I turned to face him and lifted my chin ever so slightly.

"He helped me find my way back to the ship." I kept my tone even, not a hint of the turmoil that was going on inside. "I got turned around and then discovered I had a tail. He took pity on me."

He stared at me, most likely looking for a hint of deception. Back to this again, I seethed. Men are so predictable when they don't get their way, and territorial. I held my vacant expression and waited for him to either say what was on his mind or relent, either way a decision would be made.

His shoulders suddenly sagged and he let out a sigh, looking at the ground then back at me. His expression became apologetic, sad even. "I don't like how we left things." He held out a hand for me to take.

I stared at that hand. It had so many meanings. It could mean I'm sorry and let's be friends or I'm sorry and let's forget tonight ever happened, maybe even taking it would mean I would be the one apologizing. Only one of those would be acceptable and I needed clarification.

I looked back into his eyes, allowing the sadness to come through my facade. "There is only one way this can go." I waited, watching the emotions ghost over his face as his arm dropped to his side. Our eyes locked and for a few moments we were both looking for something in the other's eyes, something that might not have been there.

Finally John sighed, shaking his head and smirking. "Come on," he reached out his hand again.

"Let's have a drink and really talk."