"Reyes."

His name broke the soft silence of daybreak, but not in an unpleasant way. It was a welcome sound, unfamiliar in this context but altogether an agreeable way to be roused from his half doze. As she spoke her breath tickled under his chin, causing pinpricks on his skin where it touched.

"Hmm?" he mumbled, far too relaxed and contented to issue much more of a response.

She sighed into his neck, and even in his sleep-addled state he realised why. He allowed the fingers that were resting on her waist between each rising curve of her naked body to wander idly, stroking, soothing, easing her back to sleep. The hand resting on his chest gripped at his skin as her body moved infinitesimally closer to his, the leg that rested over his shifting slightly. They laid there for minutes on end until he was sure from the rise and fall of her breaths that she had fallen back to sleep. Satisfied he moved a piece of her hair that was tickling his cheek before drifting off himself.

"Reyes." More insistent this time.

"Sara, it's probably still early…"

"You know I have-"

"An important mission, you may have mentioned it once or twice."

Her body shifted until she was on top of him and he grumbled in response, not sure whether he liked this development or not.

"Reyes Vidal."

He eased his eyes open, and he could not be displeased at the sight that beheld him. Full lips pursed, the ghost of his name lingered attractively on them. Her glistening blue eyes crinkled at the corners a fraction of a second before her lips upturned as he returned her gaze. He reached up for her face before he could stop himself, pushing back locks of scarlet that tumbled over her shoulders and onto his chest until he could see her face properly. The barely visible freckles that dotted her tanned skin, her teeth becoming visible as she grinned at the motion, the front two slightly larger than the rest.

"Sara…"

There were a number of ways he wanted to end that sentence, assurances of his interest, remarks on her undeniable beauty, but… He reminded himself that Reyes Vidal did not do mornings after the night before, did not do warm embraces in the afterglow, did not do bashful, half stuttered compliments. He'd already broken the first two rules, he held himself back from breaking the third. He shuddered to think how many of his unspoken rules he'd erred from on their date, too. His expression hadn't been able to completely hide these thoughts, so he kissed her to mask his indecision.

"Sara," he repeated, "if you must go, then do not tease me further by positioning your body in that… manner."

Back to teasing flirtation, it came to him as easy as lying although he wasn't sure of that anymore either. Lying to her was different.

She frowned for a second, "Have you brushed your teeth?"

"Well yes because, I hate to break it to you, you taste like shit."

She punched him in the arm and he grinned. He knew that would annoy her.

"I'm kidding! I didn't think you'd want to kiss me properly after I-"

"Yes, yes, I get the picture!"

He liked that even though she met most of his jibes with confidence and almost always had an answer, there were rare moments where he caught her off guard. When he did her face would flush, as it was now, in a way he suspected she didn't for anyone else. Hesitantly she drew away from him, and he listened as her feet retreated down the corridor and into the bathroom. He heard the shower turn on.

"Make yourself at home!" he called sarcastically.

Sara returned a couple of minutes later, the ends of her hair were wet, but she was fully clothed in her outfit from the night before.

Reyes sat up and frowned, "That's not fair, if I'd have known you were getting dressed I'd have kept you in bed a little longer."

She rested a hand on her hip, "You'll just have to get me naked again another time then won't you?"

"That can be arranged."

The smile didn't remain on her face very long as she stepped towards him. Reyes slid to the edge of the bed, still completely naked other than for the sheet. Sara looked down at him, reaching for his hands and slotting her fingers through his, "I have to go."

"Give me 10 minutes?" he asked.

'What for?"

"I'm going to walk you home."

The smile he received in response assured him he'd made the right choice.

After Reyes had showered, dressed in his usual attire, and quickly styled his hair (which Sara found great amusement in), they left the building hand-in-hand. It was considerably later than Sara had likely wanted as she kept taking glances at the time on her omni-tool.

"So… Doesn't this go against your whole man of mystery thing? Walking through the port with the Pathfinder, won't people ask questions?" she asked him.

Reyes shrugged, "Something like this would be impossible to keep secret with you being who you are, if we tried to do so people would likely ask more questions. Best way to conceal something, to lie, is to keep it as close to the truth as possible."

"You don't think they might put two and two together? Work out who you really are?"

"Sara, just because you fell for my irresistible charms, that doesn't make me the Charlatan. You have a business relationship with him, you have a personal relationship with me," he replied. "At least, that's how it should look to anyone who does not know my true identity."

Sara seemed satisfied with that and they walked without talking for a couple of minutes, through a pair of automatic doors and past Kralla's Song.

"Your tattoo, does it mean anything?" Sara inquired, breaking the silence.

"When I was a pilot, my callsign was Anubis," he informed her, matter-of-factly. There was more to it than simply that, but it wasn't something he needed to share with her yet.

"Oh, we're here," Sara stated, sounding almost glum, as they entered the docks.

Thus far they had, for once, avoided walking past anyone they knew. There had been eyes on them of course, there always would be, however there were considerably less than usual as most exiles weren't strictly morning people. As they advanced towards the Tempest down a row of exile ships, Reyes couldn't help but admire Sara's ship. He had never really seen it this close up before.

As they continued walking Reyes gazed up at the ship, "It's… gorgeous. Must be a hell of a kick to fly…"

"You should see the engine, it's a thing of beauty," a red-haired man commented as they approached. He was kneeling behind a crate he was in the process of unpacking.

"Hi, Gil," Sara acknowledged him.

"Morning, or should I say afternoon?" Gil winked, "Had a good night Ryder?"

"Mooooorning Ryder!"

At the foot of the ship, there was an asari gleefully waving in their direction, Pelessaria B'Sayle. She was some sort of remnant expert, although she really didn't look like one. Beside her there were two humans and a turian. All four of them were overseeing, or rather it looked like arguing, as several crates were being loaded onto the Tempest. Reyes placed the turian immediately, Vetra, he'd heard she was almost as good at acquiring things as he was. As for the humans, one was the female biotic, Cora Harper. Strong-willed, but she moved with a lack of confidence that suggested she was still not sure about her place in the world. She glanced at them with a knowing half-smile as the asari crooked an arm over her shoulder and whispered something in her ear. To the right was Liam Kosta. Good looking if a bit clumsy with it, he was young, closer to Sara's age than Reyes was. Reyes knew that Kosta cared about the world around him to the point of recklessness in the same way that Sara did, although in Reyes' eyes he was far less capable at seeing where to draw the line, considering some of the information his agents had passed him. His collective informants reported things of interest to him on a daily basis, and knowledge about the movements of the Initiative, Nexus and Pathfinders afforded a type of power that couldn't be bought. Reyes didn't need this though, didn't need to be the Charlatan to suspect that Kosta was harbouring a thing for the Pathfinder. On the couple of occasions he had seen them together, Reyes had noticed how familiar he was with his body language, with glances Kosta clearly thought were subtle that were as clear as day to Reyes. Another indicator was the barely-contained sullen expression he had worn whenever Reyes had flirted with Sara, the one he was wearing at present.

Sara made a sound that suggested she would rather drink an entire barrel of ryncol then be in her current position, "I was hoping the walk of shame would contain less shame and less of an audience."

"Chin up, it's character building," Gil responded to her, before standing up and looking at Reyes perceptively, "Gil Brodie, chief engineer. You're the Reyes Vidal I've heard so much about?"

Reyes turned and raised an eyebrow at Sara.

"Not from me it's that lot, they gossip like a bridge night full of elderly elcor," she grumbled.

Reyes grinned, using his most winning smile but not his most devastating, and shook his hand, "Apparently. Nice to meet you."

Gil laughed, eyes light, "Oh, and here comes trouble."

Kosta was stalking towards them, the cut of his shoulders already suggesting a bad mood, "Ryder, we've been trying to contact you all morning."

He stopped in front of her, hands tight and clenched. He looked like he was struggling with something.

"Oh? I'm sorry I must've missed your calls," she replied, breezily in a way that nearly made Reyes laugh out loud, as he admired Sara's outline as she slung her arm so casually on her hip.

"You have SAM in your head?"

"Ha, well that doesn't mean I always listen to him, does it?" There was still a smile on her face but it looked as though it were barely concealing a frown, "Look, I'm here now. You needn't have worried."

Kosta continued, words clipped in his frustration, "Just answer your comms when you're on Kadara, you know what this place is like. You can't trust anyone."

Reyes would have known this comment was levelled at him even without Kosta's weighty gaze switching to him as he laboured over the last word.

"If I was going to kill her, I wouldn't have taken her to a bar where everyone knows exactly who we are beforehand," Reyes interjected. He was careful to keep his tone level, smooth as always. He didn't want the other man to think he saw him as any kind of threat, wanted him to think that the very idea that she would even consider Kosta when he was around was inconceivable.

Kosta regarded Reyes like he was something disgusting they'd found killed on the road, "Well, you can't exactly blame me for being concerned, you've proven you're not above murder."

"Come on you," Gil walked over and grabbed Liam by the arm and pulled him towards the Tempest, "let's not start an argument with the Pathfinder's new boyfriend, bad for morale."

Waiting until they were out of earshot before he spoke, Reyes said, "Well, he certainly fusses over you."

"What, Liam?" Sara replied. She didn't meet his eyes.

"You two have a history, don't you?"

The question came out much blunter than intended. He already knew the answer, knew in the way her voice had fluctuated as she responded.

Sara looked at him this time, absent-mindedly scraping her bottom lip with her front teeth before she spoke, "We did. Something happened, once. But it was a couple of months ago… It wasn't anything serious."

Reyes tried to keep his tone offhand, "When were you going to mention that?"

"Well, at an appropriate time? Not when I'm about to leave for what could be weeks." Sara looked at him in disbelief, eyebrows furrowed, "Are you jealous?"

Reyes bit the inside of his lip. Although he knew it shouldn't bother him, the more he thought about it the more it did irritate him. He had suspected it had all been one-sided, hadn't imagined Kosta had seen her in the same way that he had, done with her the same things he had.

"Look," she reached out and touched his chest, "when it happened I was terrified. We awoke to this… absolute shitstorm, I didn't know then that it would turn out like this, that there was a way out. We'd managed one outpost on a planet that had already had two obliterated by the kett. I hadn't even heard of Kadara then. And I was on my own. My dad died, my brother was near death, I was on this ship full of near strangers and I just needed something… familiar."

He folded his arms, fingers flexing over the rough material of his flightsuit. Reyes wasn't used to his, wasn't used to feeling insecure about anything, wasn't used to feeling such sourness, more intense than a bite of lime after a shot of tequila. Sara stared back at him unblinkingly, her eyes unwavering. Sincere. Rather than encouraging trust this in turn only made him feel more disquieted. Kadara was not a place for sincerity. Sincerity would get you killed.

There was a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes, her mouth falling a little, "Please talk to me, it really is like an alien has invaded your body when you don't talk. Usually, I have the opposite problem, trying to get you to shut up."

"He still cares about you, Sara."

It wasn't an accusation, just fact.

Sara shook her head, "Even if he does, it doesn't matter. What matters is what I want." She wound her arms around his waist tentatively, fingers running up his back, leaning into his chest, "Reyes. If after last night you think I'm interested in anyone but you, you're out of your mind."

He relented, the acidity in his throat dissipating, "That good, huh?"

"You really don't need your ego boosting anymore," she laughed, the flash in the blue of her eyes and the soft ring of it wiping the frown from his face.

He folded his arms over hers, pulling her closer. Sara ran her fingers over the shaved part of his hair at the back of his head, lips curving, breath stilted like she was about to kiss him.

Instead, she spoke, eyes glittering intently, "Is this your way of saying you don't want me to sleep with anyone else?"

He pulled her face towards his slightly rougher than usual, thumb against the point of her chin. His own breathing felt shallower she was so close as his eyes darted over her features. He wasn't quite sure exactly what he was thinking. When had his thoughts had become quite so disordered? But he knew the answer to her question.

Reyes grazed her lips with his, words coming out in a growl, "Yes."

"Good," she sighed into his mouth as her lips claimed his, her fingers inching into his hair, clearly having forgotten they still had an audience.

It had been 5 days since he had last spoken to Sara and Reyes was feeling agitated. Since she had left Kadara, when she had promised to let him know how her mission went, he hadn't received anything. He leant back in his seat. He'd just finished a meeting with his Collective ambassador to the Nexus outpost, who had informed him that mining was due to begin the following week as more colonists arrived each day, Collective patrols were managing any Outcast threat, and although clearly distrustful of the shadowy organisation, Mayor Tate had been an accommodating host. Although all this was positive, it hadn't done much to lift his foul mood, if anything it made him feel like a dogsbody maintaining the Pathfinder's outpost while she was off galivanting amongst the stars ignoring his messages. Reyes checked the time. The group working in the confines of Draulir should be reporting to him via voice call within the next hour, other than that it was growing late and he had nothing else scheduled for the evening. He considered meeting Kian for a whisky downstairs, but he didn't quite have the energy. Kian would inevitably ask him probing questions about how he, as a renowned degenerate, had ended up seeing the Pathfinder. When Reyes had told Sara he didn't mind the rumours, he'd forgotten that he would be the one having to deal with them. He rubbed his forehead tiredly. It wasn't as though he'd been waiting around for her to message, he had more than enough of his own business to attend to and he wasn't the sort of person to hang around moping in his lover's absence either. He also knew, despite her secrecy, something of what her mission entailed. Infiltration of a kett ship. His connections had also informed him that she had returned successfully a couple of days ago, so it wasn't a question of her safety. Reyes just couldn't fathom why he had no response, not even an email. To save himself the displeasure of sitting and brooding over it all evening he dragged himself up, locking the room behind him as he went. He waved goodbye to Kian and swiftly left the club before he could ask him any further questions, trudging out into the dry evening air with the intention of getting to his destination as quickly as possible. As he sidled through the port he glanced at his omni-tool. He had sent an email (granted, this was more about the outpost than anything else) and tried to call her once already. He felt very uncomfortable about calling her again, he was uncomfortable with affording anyone that much power over him. This would be his last attempt, after that he was so stubborn she'd be lucky if he answered her calls.

Reyes tapped his omni-tool, "Sara it's me, again. I'm assuming you took my advice and took the krogan with you as, as the Nexus hasn't collapsed in on itself yet, you must have survived."

He waited for a few moments but was met with silence. Reyes groaned, his feet carving out the familiar path home. Hadn't he let her distract him enough? The Collective was in an advantageous but critical point in its ascension over the Outcasts, that was more than enough to be filling his mind with. At the moment it was filled with someone else.

His omni-tool flashed and Sara's voice replied, sounding weary, "I did take the krogan but he's not very happy with me at the moment, so it was bad advice."

"Can't have been that bad if you're still alive," Reyes replied, shortly.

"True."

"Care to tell me why you've been ignoring me?" he asked, careful to keep the edge from his voice.

"I… I haven't been ignoring you," she sounded shaken, the seriousness of her voice disquieting.

"You have, Ryder."

"Oh is it Ryder now? You must be angry."

"You're deflecting."

"It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to you," she sighed, "the mission was a success but at one point things got bad, really bad. I just needed a few days to process it."

Her voice sounded heavy with worry.

Reyes paused, surprised at this new information, "Is everyone alive?"

She took a moment to respond and when she did her voice was breathy, "Yes."

"Even Kosta?"

"Yes, he's fine."

"Damn."

"It's not funny."

"It's a little funny." Reyes thought for a moment, unsure how to proceed. Previously he had never had to press her to talk to him. And somehow he wanted, like he couldn't remember wanting with anyone before, for her to feel as though she could confide in him. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"With you? The king of empathy?" Sara sounded dubious.

Reyes had reached the building where he rented his apartment, not under his own name of course, and he entered.

"I'm being serious."

"I know... You also sound tired," she responded, clearly evading his questions.

"I am. It's all those sleepless nights imagining you dead at the bottom of a crevasse," he quipped back doggedly, as he reached his apartment door.

"So, you were worried about me then."

"I was worried about the fate of the galaxy if you died and left us all in Tann's slimy, incapable hands."

"Well, that thought is enough to keep anyone awake..."

"See?" Reyes yawned, as he kicked off his shoes and sat at his desk, having locked up for the night.

'I hate that it really is nice to hear your voice, even when you're being smug."

He grinned as the usual tone crept back into her voice, the one he was so fond of, the wicked tongue that always kept him guessing.

He would stop pursuing what had happened on the kett ship. For now.

"I know. I have a charming accent."

"I am immediately regretting answering the call."

"You'll still call me tomorrow though."

"Will I?"

"Yes, because you can't resist me."

"I hate you."

"Why?"

"Because you're right."

They said their farewells and Reyes felt lighter than he had prior to their conversation. He checked the time again, and his emails, before making another call.

"Keema, you busy?"

"Not for you, of course. What is it?" the angaran asked him immediately.

"How is our prisoner doing?"

"Not well… He's still refusing to eat, I think he cared about Sloane more than anyone realised. Poor thing."

Despite her words, Keema did not sound the least bit sympathetic.

"Just make sure he's taking on fluids, we can't risk losing him yet," Reyes thought for a moment. "If this continues I may pay him a visit personally."

"I'm sure that isn't necessary, not if you send one of your interrogators."

"We'll see. Thanks, Keema."

"Pleasure."