Notes: Part of the conversation with Kaetus is taken directly from the game.

Reyes leant up to kiss her once more, but as his abdominal muscles tightened this sent a whip of burning pain of his body, so sudden that he moaned aloud, hand shooting to support his back. Sara jerked away from him, eyes as round as saucers, "Are you alright?"

"Ribs," he groaned.

She scrambled from on top of him even as he grumbled his disapproval and reached for her. Sara batted his hands away with a grin, "Lie still."

"As you command," he responded half smirk, half grimace.

Tucking her fingers underneath his t-shirt, she began to ease it up over his stomach carefully.

"You know, Sara, you don't have to look for excuses to undress me," Reyes mused.

"Well that goes without saying, it's harder to get you to keep your clothes," she teased, before pausing mid-sentence as her eyes took in the mottled, dark purple bruising that spanned over his stomach, up over his lower rib cage and curved round to his back, "on. How…?"

"Well, I may have got thrown into the cliffside more than once…"

"No kidding. You're part man, part eggplant."

She ran her fingers delicately over the bruised area and when he winced in response she withdrew her fingers immediately.

"How are you not in agony?" Sara frowned at him.

As the large windows were shuttered they allowed in no light from the port beyond, so her outline was framed by the low light of several lamps dotted around the room. Even so, he could still see worry cross her partially obscured features.

"Pain drugs, lots of them. I think they may be running out, however."

"You think? You haven't been to a doctor?"

"No?"

She shook her head disapprovingly, "You need to let Lexi look at you…"

"That's not necessary."

He sat up, the resulting sharp exhalation of breath this caused immediately rendering his argument void. Sara merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Err, at least give me a minute…"

When she looked confused, he glanced pointedly down at the area below his navel.

"Oh."

"So, the cat's out of the bag," Reyes purred into her ear, his breath tickling as it stirred the curls of her at the back of her neck.

"It would appear so," she responded, "although it never really mattered. It just felt more exciting when it felt like it was forbidden for you to be here."

They were back on her bed, laid on one side so neither of them was straining their injuries, her back against his chest, his arm about her waist.

"All this talk of forbidden things," he tutted mockingly, "you heard what the doctor said."

Despite his words his hand slipped beneath her shirt, fingers ascending her body deftly until she trapped them against her skin with her own.

"No strenuous activity tonight," Ryder responded, resembling Lexi's serious tone.

Her impression was fairly uncanny in its accuracy at echoing the asari's earlier words. During the hour previous, Ryder had dragged her reluctant companion to the medical bay, accompanied by the knowing glance of her chief engineer, and the distant giggle of her science offer echoing down the hallway. Fingers intertwining with his, Ryder he had muttered something to Reyes about the Tempest being worse than a school playground for rumours, and he acknowledged this with a sideways grin that made her chest flutter. Lexi, on the other hand, had looked remarkably unsurprised at the Charlatan's sudden appearance on the ship, leaving Ryder wondering if Reyes had been as inconspicuous in his entrance to the Tempest and her quarters as he believed, or if Ryder herself was just far more predictable than she believed. As Ryder had expected, Lexi scolded Reyes for not seeing a doctor sooner as she bade him remove his shirt. As the doctor inspected him, Ryder allowed her eyes to wander over his body in a way she had been unable to in the shadowy gloom of his apartment. Whilst his frame was slim, tight muscles traversed his torso, muscles that spoke of long hours working on machinery, of carrying equipment on his back for long stretches of distance, of sprinting between cover during battle, with arms strong enough to pin her in place against a wall and hold her there whilst he… Reyes eyes caught hers, full of mischief, and she realised he had caught her staring. Unwillingly she felt her eyes drop to his lips as he wet them, a warmth raising through her body and creeping up her neck. He gave her a cocky smile, and she realised with a jolt he was doing it on purpose. Because of course he was. Ryder quickly averted her eyes, trying her best not to allow the flush to rise to her cheeks. Lexi was, thankfully, completely oblivious to this unspoken exchange and proceeded to inject Reyes with a stronger painkiller (which Ryder noted with some satisfaction wiped the smirk from his face), whilst also prescribing rest, though she looked doubtful even as she said it. Reyes put his shirt back on to Ryder's relief and slight consternation. He was, after all, certainly satisfying to look at, and more built than Liam, an approving, yet unwanted, voice in her head noted. That was when Lexi had given them both a stern, straightforward look, behind which Ryder knew her well enough to know she was hiding a smile, and ordered them both to keep strenuous activity to a minimum. Reyes had the audacity to blink innocently at this and asked the doctor if she could clarify specifically what constituted 'strenuous' and what did not. Lexi rolled her eyes, muttering something about Reyes being just as insufferable as Ryder, while Ryder dragged him from the room before her face became any redder.

Now they were back in her quarters, Reyes was making following the doctor's recommendations very difficult.

"You see, it just so happens that I can be very gentle when needs be," he murmured in her ear, before kissing the ticklish part of her neck beneath her ear, making her squirm in his arms. This made her free his hand, which he slipped beneath her bra, fingers sliding over her skin, her body jolting in response as he softly squeezed her nipple.

"Reyes…"

The touches of his lips, his tongue, on her neck were so delicate they were barely even perceptible on her skin, but they had her limbs trembling in response.

"… You know we can't," she breathed, wishing her voice held more conviction.

"And here I was thinking you were coming around to the idea," he nipped at her earlobe before sucking away the sharpness, at the same time trailing his fingers over the soft skin of her nipple. The growing, aching heat between her thighs was making it difficult to tangle together a logical argument for why she wasn't immediately succumbing to his advances.

Abruptly, an orange glow emanated from beneath her shirt, and she realised with a start it was a notification to Reyes' omni tool.

Noticing it too, Reyes grumbled, "Damn thing."

Reyes extricated his arm from her shirt and raised his wrist to check the display. He sighed, pressing a kiss onto the back of her head before swiftly shifting his body away from hers.

She felt cold in the sudden, sharp absence of his warmth.

Ryder turned to look at him as he stood up, "What is it?"

Reyes sighed as he looked around for the jacket he'd left on the back of a chair, "There are a few things I need to attend to."

"Oh."

Ryder slid to the end of the bed, avoiding his eyes so he wouldn't see her disappointment. She needn't have bothered, he'd caught it in her voice.

"You know how it is, business," Reyes responded, voice lighter than usual.

Ryder realised it was hypocritical of her to feel disgruntled, after all, she'd had to abandon her plans with Reyes for her responsibilities before, but that didn't mean she could stop herself feeling so.

Ryder pushed the thoughts from her mind and the frown from her expression, "I understand. I was hoping you might want to stay the night, that's all. You could always come back, after?"

Reyes looked at her, with the irritatingly inscrutable expression he sometimes wore, "I shouldn't."

Her front slipped a little at this, "Well, I know Lexi said we can't anyway, so…"

Ryder twisted her fingers in her hands, realising there was every possibility that she sounded hopelessly, unattractively desperate.

"It's not that," Reyes shook his head firmly, guarded eyes met hers, "it's just… Well, I have something I need to see to, I need to focus on that."

The atmosphere of the room had turned cool where it had been the exact opposite before.

"Yeah, I get it. See you later."

It was with great effort that she kept her face smooth, warped her features into a smile. He leant forward and kissed her on the cheek, the motion feeling stiff, awkward in a way that was unfamiliar in their interactions. Hastily, he murmured his goodbyes, leaving with barely a backward glance. Ryder sank back onto her bed, numbly. Insecurity twisted through her, taking hold and embedding itself like the barbed roots of a weed. Her cheeks stung. Whilst she had thought the fact they were exclusive indicated their relationship was about more than just sex, it could be that she had misread things. Perhaps staying over when sex was likely out of the question was just not something he wanted. If that was the case, she could hardly be upset, neither of them had ever promised each other anything, he wasn't deceiving her in any way. In fact, Ryder hadn't truly considered what she wanted herself, although she couldn't escape the reality that at her core, she knew it meant far more to her than casual flirtation, more than hurried rendezvous whenever she was on the planet. Perhaps Reyes simply felt differently. That can't be true, a smaller, more stubborn part of her argued, not after everything that had happened. Not after the way he held her in his apartment, not after the way he'd cared for her when she'd been shot, not after the barely concealed flicker of horror she'd seen in his face when she'd told him she'd died. And what he'd said… "And yet you expect me to bear it when you are shot, or killed?" He didn't make sense. It didn't make sense. Then what? Why had he left so abruptly? Why had he suddenly brought his walls up again after being so open with her before? Perhaps he really was dealing with something urgent. Something he didn't want to tell her about. She let her shoulders fall back onto the bed, heaving a heavy sigh as she resigned herself to spending hours with little more to do than stare at the ceiling and wonder about his intentions.

"Sloane should've killed you the day we met!" Kaetus spat, eyes filled with hatred, fingers gripping the bars of his prison cell so tightly it looked as though the metal should warp beneath his sharp digits.

Despite preparing herself for this conversation, this sudden venom shook her, and Ryder unconsciously took a shaky step backwards. It was her first real excursion off the Tempest since she had sustained her injury, and she already felt somewhat disoriented from this sudden thrust back into the world beyond the narrow halls of the spacecraft. The rage that flared in Kaetus' silver eyes was so intense she could hardly withstand it, the snarling, grinding of his teeth so vicious that her every muscle screamed with the instinct to flee, as though thrust back into a primaeval world where if turians and humans met, the latter would be slaughtered in the wake of the far superior predator. But she needed to prove to Lexi she was ready, and she had been putting off this meeting for long enough.

"Don't blame me, Sloane agreed to the duel," Ryder responded, wishing she could bluff was easily as Vetra, as Reyes, make herself sound confident, uncaring.

Kaetus scoffed, "A duel? I know what happened! The sniper who pulled the trigger rubbed it in my face when they locked me up. You were there. You could've saved her… but you didn't…" The anger ran from his face like rainwater, only to be replaced by a deep anguish she wasn't sure if she preferred. Aghast, he asked the question he had clearly been waiting to for a long time, "Why?"

Why. As if that wasn't a question she'd spent hours trying to answer, that didn't require an answer that was without end. The short, imprecise version: Reyes Vidal. But that was not an answer she could give.

She was reminded now of Reyes' words.

"Best way to conceal something, to lie, is to keep it as close to the truth as possible."

Perhaps he was rubbing off on her after all.

"Sloane made it clear she would never forgive the Nexus," she responded, her tone clipped. "How soon so you think she would've declared war on the Initiative?"

"Not soon enough, apparently," Kaetus replied, coldly. His mandibles twitched agitatedly, as though he was going to say something else, but he remained silent.

Behind the anger was sorrow, Ryder knew that. She had long suspected, and it was evident now more than ever, that he had loved Sloane, perhaps more than the Outcast leader herself had ever known. There was some irony to it, or perhaps not irony but it was some mocking twist of fate that she had taken away the person that he cared so much about to protect Reyes, who she had undefined but undeniably similar, deep feelings for. She and Kaetus were the same in a way, both entangled with Reyes and Sloane, who were so different yet so similar in their tenacity, their conviction, the brilliant spark of deviance that set them apart from the other exiles. She wondered how this conversation might look the other way around had Reyes died instead. Before she had even really come to know him as she did. Would she have been heartbroken then? Surely not as sorely as Kaetus, but she had still been quite taken with Reyes, even then.

"Did she know? That you loved her?" Ryder asked softly, not sure why she wanted to know, not sure why she allowed the question to form on her lips.

Kaetus stared at her, the line of his mouth falling. His voice took on an iciness colder than anything she'd ever felt on Voeld, the bitter sting of agony apparent in every syllable, "No. Now she never will."

"Kaetus, I'm so-"

"Don't!" Kaetus cut her apology short with a hiss. He pressed his face forward against the bars, so his eyes shone between them, small, dark pupils retreating to cat-like slits, centring on her large round ones, "You better hope the Charlatan kills me Ryder, because if I ever get outta here…"

More apologies rose in her throat, but she swallowed them down, knew they were empty, knew they meant nothing to the turian.

"Goodbye Kaetus," she mumured, before turning away from the eyes that scorched holes into her back, on the broken, aching, grief-stricken man she had created. Only when she exited the Collective headquarters, when she was back in the bustling plaza of Kadara port, did she let her legs tremble. She sank to rest on her haunches, fists clenched, back against the wall. She took a few steadying breaths, grateful for the breeze that ruffled her long hair, blowing strands into her face, glad to be outside away from the dry, fabricated air of the jail cell.

"You alright, Ryder?" She opened her eyes to see Vetra stood over her. "It's not your arm is it?"

Ryder shook her head and took the turian's extended hand, rising back to her feet. From the direction of the weapons dealer, Cora appeared at Vetra's side, her eyebrows furrowed in a concerned, questioning fashion.

Ryder took a steadying breath, rubbing her clammy hands on her thighs, "I- I've just been to see Kaetus."

Both women nodded, neither needing any further explanation.

Vetra's wry gaze caught Ryder's, "You did what you had to."

"Sloane was not a good woman, remember that," Cora added, "it wasn't anything she didn't deserve."

Ryder's eyes slide from Vetra's to Cora's. Neither of them wavered in their certainty. Both women were shrewd enough to understand that her decision in the cave had been confused, influenced by a certain smuggler but still also steered by the desire to the right thing. Perhaps it hadn't, had been the wrong thing, yet they still stood by her, still believed in her. Not for the first time, Ryder was overwhelmed with gratitude for her crew.

"You all healed up now then Ryder?" Vetra changed the subject swiftly, perhaps hoping to raise Ryder's spirits, "Drack has bested the rest of us at arm wrestling, but I have money on you kicking him right in the quads."

Ryder sniggered and flexed her injured arm, "Depends, I don't think Lexi will let me compete even with my good arm."

"That's why we won't tell her!" Vetra winked, conspiratorially.

"I have it on good authority Liam's going to have another attempt," Cora added gleefully, "so, naturally, I have bet against him."

"This I HAVE to see!" Ryder grinned, and the three women fell into step as they made their way back towards the ship, their shadows cast across the plaza under the low evening sun.

As they passed Kralla's Song, a figure with a familiar confident posture and sly grin gave Ryder pause. Reyes was stood outside the bar conversing with two exiles. Although she could not hear him, Ryder could see both exiles nodding enthusiastically, clearly falling for whatever scheme he was peddling with his wily charms. She and Reyes hadn't spoken since he had abruptly left her quarters the night before. Ryder quickly shifted her head away, focusing her gaze on the doors to the docks. Even if things between them were normal (or as normal as her relationship with the Charlatan ever was), after her conversation with Kaetus he was the last person she wanted to see. Seeing the flesh and blood consequence of her actions only made the poisonous churn of her stomach increase, her breath, which had only just soothed, gasping out again. Either side of her, Ryder's companions quickened their pace, aware, to some degree, of her feelings. Although she couldn't be certain, Ryder thought she felt his eyes on her face, their magnetism pulling at her. She shrugged it off as she passed through the double doors, also trying to pretend she didn't hear the sweet call of her name from his honeyed lips.