NOTE: I appreciate the overall story arc has been a slow build, so thanks to all who've stuck with it! The next chapter will be mostly pure smut, then after that should be mostly plot, plot and more plot so I hope that's a welcome change! :)

It was quiet, quieter than anything Ryder had experienced in a long time. I felt strange to be without the sound of a ship's engine, humming in the background like the breathing of a great beast. Out here there was no stubborn rev as the Nomad kicked into gear, no idle buzz as her companions chattered beside her, no blasts of gunfire to crouch and run and hide from. What there was instead, were trees and hills and valleys stretched out below her, held in artificial moonlight, caught so they looked ethereal, too perfect in their illumination. Although there were no stars for her to gaze at, if she cast her eyes upwards the land seemed to run on into the sky unending as they blurred into one another due to Meridian's unnatural spherical shape. Though it all should feel fake, manufactured, the breeze that caught the edge of the cliff top and sent the ends of her hair dancing in the gust felt as real as anything she'd felt in the Milky Way, as did the grass that dampened the seat of her combats, the evening dew leaving the back of her thighs cold. It felt more real, at least, than the warmth of Reyes' chest at her back, than the rise and fall of his breath, than the weight of chin against her shoulder. Of all the outlandish things that had happened that day, this seemed the most absurd of all. That she should have the Charlatan at her back, tired limbs wound about hers like she was some precious thing. That she had survived to be allowed to have this at all. She would laugh aloud at the absurdity of it, her lips already curling, but Ryder did not want to break the silence's spell. On another day Reyes' muteness would have worried her, but she had known just from a look that he felt the same exhaustion she did, the same weight in his bones. And yet he was here, even after she had kissed him with half the world watching (well, what had felt like it afterwards at least). After meeting outside the remnant tower, they had both returned to their own duties only to concede after a few hours and agree to meet at the peak of the cliff that looked like it was touching the clouds. She had arrived before he did, watching as more and more ships joined the Tempest and clustered around the Hyperion, as the sunlight finally dwindled and cast shadows in shapes that reminded her of Earth. Then he had appeared behind her, announcing his presence with a playful nip at her neck as he extended his legs either side of her, arms slipping around her waist, hands folding beneath her chest. Then she had told him. About the Archon, about what he had done to Scott, about how they had wrestled back control with the help of SAM. She had told him what she hadn't told anyone else; that underneath her calm demeanour she had been shaking and shit scared. And he had muttered assurances and although she couldn't be totally sure, she thought he gripped her a little harder during the difficult parts. For once it was like they were regular lovers, not the Pathfinder and the Charlatan, not a pairing so unlikely they'd only be rivalled if Nakmor Kesh and Jarun Tann were to spend the night together.

Now they sat in silence, but it was unlike other silences. Usually she associated silence with an awkwardness, want as she was to always fill them with words, but this was different. On the ground, on the ship, it was noise and fuss and repeated reiterations of the days' events, understandable pride, excitement, victory still on everyone's tongues. Here, for a moment, there was calm. Her throbbing skull was thankful for it, still sore with SAM's loss even as his voice reverberated occasionally through it, still sore from expending all her energy into using remnant interfaces without him. Even now, hours later, as she sniffed she wiped a trail of blood from beneath her nose. Before she could hide the motion, Reyes swiftly caught hold of her wrist and studied the blood on the back of her hand.

He sighed, "SAM, is this something that I should be worried about?"

"Why? Don't you have tissues on Kadara?"

Reyes ignored her, but she had the feeling he was rolling his eyes at the back of her head.

"Dr T'Perro assured us this may happen. It is due to some residual inflammation in Sara's brain and may occur sporadically for the next day or two, but there should be no long-term effects as long as she does not attempt to utilise any remnant technology without my assistance," SAM replied, also talking as though Ryder had not spoken.

"Ah, so no more holidays SAM."

Ryder harrumphed grumpily, "You know, you could have just asked me…"

"Only for you to avoid answering it because you like to pretend you're invincible?"

"Fair," she shrugged before tipping her head back onto his shoulder so as to hinder any further blood flow. She allowed her eyelids to close, "Although even I can admit today was… a long day."

Behind her he readjusted himself, sliding one hand down to her hip as he pressed his lips against the shell of her ear then gently along her hairline. She smiled as a swell of warmth coursed through her. Ryder found herself glad of the evening chill that nipped at her exposed neck and forearms, as otherwise she would've been in real danger of drowsing off.

"How are your people doing?"

"Fine. We sustained minimal injuries, no losses. Bit boring really. I did play a rather stimulating game of tug of war with a wraith for a bit to liven things up, used my arm for a bit of rope. I won though," Reyes murmured, with a yawn that was meant to sound affected but was too deep to be fake.

"Oh, such a shame, a bit of dismemberment can really liven up your day too," Ryder sniffed.

Despite the casual nature of her words she glanced down at the hand on her thigh and saw it was gloveless, his sleeve rolled up to make way for a bandage that covered his entire forearm. She took his hand in hers carefully, guiding it to her lips, pressing them to his knuckles, over the back of his hand and up to his fingertips. He didn't respond immediately.

"Well, my day might not have been as interesting as yours, but I have to say it has improved with age," Reyes punctuated this with an open-mouthed kiss to her collar bone. Freeing his hand, Ryder slid back into his lap so the back of her head was flat against his chest and she could see his face as he glanced down. The gold of his eyes was caught in the orange light of her omni-tool, more incomprehensible, more mercurial than ever in the gloom. The way he looked at her through those dark eyelashes made her feel terribly bare beneath his gaze, but at the same time caught her so she didn't want to look away.

It dragged the next question from her lips, "What now, Reyes?"

Whilst she posed it as though she was talking about what he was going to do in the immediate future, how long he and his Collective agents were going to stay on Meridian, that wasn't quite what she meant.

The peculiar smile that curved over his lips said he knew this, "Shouldn't I be asking you that question?"

"Well," she shifted her focus forwards away from his eyes, momentarily fearful of what she might catch there, and towards the greying sky instead, "between all the bureaucracy, and bullshit, I'm sure I'll be tied up in tidy circles of red tape for a few weeks…"

"Hmm, but after that? What of your outposts?" He paused as though reluctant, but when he continued his words were firmer than those before, "What of Kadara?"

Ryder shifted forwards, arching her back to soothe the ache at the bottom, one of the numerous lesser pains that nagged at her body. She turned so her knee crossed his thigh and she could look into his face properly, "Well, Kadara is setting out to be just the most troublesome of my outposts," she fidgeted with the sleeve of his flightsuit, trailing her finger up the seam, "and the last time I was there someone did try to kill me…"

Reyes arched an eyebrow, eyes sliding away from hers and back again, "Really though, that's nothing new. People are always trying to kill you."

"Charming." Ryder's eyes fixed on his, her fingers still caught around his sleeve, "I suppose it all depends if Kadara will have me back,"

"Oh, Kadara will certainly have you," he grinned with a flash of white teeth, and as he did so a knot in her chest unravelled, relief and affection filling the space it had taken. She smiled, fingers trailing over his neck and up to his chin, her own skin tingling from the contact, before brushing her thumb over his bottom lip. Ryder felt him inhale sharply as she did so.

"I never thought you were coming yourself, you know."

He looked surprised, whether from her words alone or her sudden change of subject she wasn't sure. She was leant so forward now that she was poised between his thighs.

"Like I said earlier, I thought there'd be a party. Anything for free booze."

Ryder's other hand ran up his chest and she had slid so she was straddling his hips. Reyes' hands shifted to catch her waist.

Ryder rolled her eyes, not fooled by his bluster, "You are an impossible-" she kissed him gently, "-impossible man."

"And yet here you are," Reyes' grin was widening, mischief implicit in it, and yet he had that curious look in his eyes that made him look younger somehow. The look that was still as maddening as that night atop Kadara's rooftops, that still held her far more enraptured that sense should allow.

"Because I am a fool" she sighed dramatically, "and to think I was considering wasting some well-deserved shore leave in that shit hole of a port…"

She had no chance to finish, nor to register the flicker of intensity in his gaze as Reyes kissed her.

"As much as I am tempted, I don't think it would be a good idea if I was seen slinking away from the Tempest in the early hours of the morning, do you?"

Reyes had been right, but she couldn't help mourning his absence as she boarded her slip alone.

As she crept through the cockpit the only greeting she received was the blinking of lights from Suvi and Kallo's empty stations, and Ryder breathed a sigh of relief. She had no desire to explain her absence. Descending the ladders to her quarters, Ryder was about to stumble through the sliding doors, still grinning to herself like an idiot, when a familiar voice piped up from the direction of the kitchen.

"And where have you been?"

Ryder paused mid step, curse under her breath and turned on her heels, "Nooooowhere."

Scott let out a barking laugh as he leant against the doorway, "You're lying, quad-sack."

As she looked at him Ryder realised leant was probably too kind a word. Scott sagged against the doorway, grip so tight on the frame she could see the whites of his knuckles. Even so he looked overwhelmingly pleased with himself.

"Am not, varren-turd," Ryder replied, not missing a beat, and she felt an overwhelming desire to push him over before she remembered quite how badly he had been hurt by the Archon. She moved closer, eyes straying from his wan face to the shake of his shoulders. She folded her arms, "And I could ask you the same question."

"I was hungry," he inhaled deeply, making a performance of it, "but now I'm here my legs really hurt and I've been propped against this wall for about 10 minutes waiting for someone to rescue me."

"Come here," Ryder sniggered as she looped his arm over shoulders. She continued more gently, "You really should be resting, not hobbling about."

"I've had 600 years to rest," her brother grumbled back petulantly, but he didn't resist her as she led him back towards the empty med bay.

"You'll be resting for an eternity if you keep pushing your body like this," Ryder admonished him as she helped Scott inside and sat him on the cot he had recently vacated, "you're lucky Lexi is asleep. She might put you in the grave herself if she catches you."

"If I don't starve first."

"You know, you really scared me," Ryder sighed, teasing her fingers through his hair, attempting to flatten it. It resembled a pile of twigs stacked ready for a bonfire. "Please listen to your doctor and don't do that to me again."

"Okay," the tired blue of his eyes softened as they looked into hers, "but you haven't exactly had an easy day of it yourself to be wandering around at this time."

Ryder sat on the bed nest to him with a soft huff as even this small motion worsened the ache in her head. For a moment she picked over what to say, unsure how to explain all that had transpired, unsure how much, if anything, to explain to her brother. As much as Scott had been her best friend, her confidant her entire life, Heleus, Andromeda… it was still all new to him.

"I've, well, I've met someone."

Her words seemed a feeble explanation but they were true nonetheless.

Scott snorted his usual too loud almost-guffaw, "Oh I know about that already. He the one you were snogging earlier like Meridian has no other oxygen supply? Or are there others?"

He tutted and she frowned at him, trying to pretend she didn't find him even the least bit funny even as her mouth twitched, "How do you know about that?"

"Oh me? Your poor, poor wounded brother? The one you were too preoccupied to notice what with all the enthusiastic lip smacking you were doing-"

"You're enjoying this far too much."

"-which was very unkind of you to do while I was in the vicinity, by the way, thank you for the mental scarring –

"You are so ridiculous," she groaned.

"- you know I was just minding my own business, having a momentary rest against a boulder whilst I recovered from the all the brain fucking I have endured over the last few hours, only for my eyes to be assaulted by that scene."

"Are you quite finished?" Ryder quirked an eyebrow at him.

"With that sentence? Yes. Talking about it so you're uncomfortable? No…" Scott grinned and it lit up his whole face despite the paleness of his skin, the redness of his eyes. "I mean I can see why, he's definitely handsome in a dark, mysterious, I-definitely-might-sweet-talk-your-ship-from-under-you sort of way..."

Ryder stood up abruptly, the conversation too much for her battle-addled senses, "Well, I'm off to bed."

Scott grabbed her arm, though his grip was not nearly strong enough to stop her from going anywhere if she wanted to.

His voice dropped the teasing tone it had adopted, "Sara you looked happier than I've seen you in ages. Since before mum died, or, well, we thought she did."

She looked at him for a second before squeezing his arm back, "We'll see. Also because you are the luckiest little brother ever, I am going to make you something to eat before I sleep."

Scott was so focused on the topic at hand, he didn't even react to her 'little brother' remark, "We will talk about this! When I have the energy to follow you!"

Ryder smiled as she walked back towards the kitchens still not sure what she was going to tell him when he inevitably asked again, though a smaller, softer part of her was glad for the asking.

Though it was very difficult to tell over the comm channel, Keema thought her employer sounded incredibly pleased with himself.

"Of course, for all intents and purposes I have simply been admiring the beginnings of the construction of what will likely be Heleus' new centre of commerce and diplomacy…"

"Naturally," Keema responded as she moved to the window of her newly claimed office, the pale blue of her irises bright in the orange glow of Kadara's setting sun. She paused to allow him to continue, as he always did, want as he was to revel in the sound of his own voice.

"But it has been a very productive few weeks. I took your advice about being more social. I called in on some old friends, even made some new ones."

Friends clearly meant contacts and there was more to it than that besides, but Keema was unsurprised. Reyes hadn't dragged himself from the bottom of the scrap heap of detritus that was Kadara port to assume the mantle of 'Charlatan' without utilising every and all opportunity available to him. Keema remembered the hungry look he'd had the first time she met him as clearly as if it were reflected in the pane in front of her. A half-starved dog not content with gristle, eying up the fatty meat on the bone.

"And are they treating you well? Your allies from the Nexus?" Keema laboured over the word allies, rolled it over the tongue like the word didn't belong in the sentence. The same way Reyes didn't belong amidst Initiative personnel and knew it.

"Well, the room they've set me up in is cosy, adjoining bathroom, there's even a window with a gorgeous lookout… Although it's far inferior to the view I get of Daven's skinny backside when he climbs down from the top bunk every morning," Reyes' voice was all sarcasm, but she detected a steely note beneath it.

Keema's rich laughter burst from her before she could contain it, "I see. Most… generous."

There was the snub. The leader of Kadara expected to hole up with his own agents like a common smuggler, just one of a rabble of traitorous pirates. Keema supposed the official line would be that it was to further protect the identity of the Charlatan, given his links to the highest echelons of the Initiative. But the unofficial truth was that the Charlatan was less welcome than a visit from the Roekaar.

She pressed her digits against the warm window pane, keen eyes flitting over the usual hubbub gathered below in the port's main plaza. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary she need concern herself with.

"I suppose it's been useful, saved setting up something in a false name. Anyway, I'm more or less done here. I should be back in Kadara by tomorrow."

Yes, there was definite annoyance beneath the easy charm. Since Reyes had established his and the wider Collective's dominance over the Outcasts, the hound within that bayed for power had been somewhat satiated. At times like this, when Reyes felt his position was questioned or threatened, it was like she could still hear it still, ripping, clawing, beneath his cool exterior.

Keema frowned and turned away from the window.

She changed the subject, "And here I thought you'd be lingering back to spend time with your darling Pathfinder. I'm sure the poor girl could do with some… company. You spend your lives planets away from each other after all."

"Ha! I'm sorry to disappoint. It's been nearly three weeks and I've barely seen her and even then it's been brief glances in the hallway."

Although Reyes was good at disguising his emotions even to Keema, who knew him better than most, she always thought he slipped when he talked about Sara. The warmth that often ghosted his words but didn't settle felt real when he talked about her. It filled the corners of each syllable. She liked it when he talked about the Pathfinder.

"Brief glances in the hallway? That's what they'll call your romance novel."

"I'm pretty sure I could come up with a more... stimulating title than that, Keema."

"I'm sure you could, dear." Keema smiled, "But she's well? Exciting as it is I'm sure saving the world takes its toll."

"As well can be expected," Reyes paused. Keema thought she knew why - the Charlatan was not a man that confided in people. But she and Kian were trying. "Sara always takes it in her stride."

He worded the last part like it was a question, like he wanted some affirmation. That was new.

"Hmm, just keep an eye on her if you can. The stars that burn brightest burn out all the sooner."

"Would if I could get within 10 metres of her. Anyway, this conversation has digressed…"

"Reyes." That got his attention. Not Charlatan, not Mr Vidal, Reyes. He stopped talking. Keema gripped her biceps, rubbing her digits up and down over the cloth of her jacket. "Can I offer you some advice? As a friend?"

He sucked in a breath and she couldn't tell if he was just taken aback or if he was irritated until he spoke. He sounded jovial enough, "Well, Keema, it seems like you're going to."

"You know what I think of Sara. I do so like her," Keema kept her voice light, emphasising it's musical quality the way she always did when she was placating someone, trying to get something she wanted.

"Not that you were ever asked…"

"Well, given everything that's happened. I think you should tell her about the sniper. You were worried once about how she'd react to finding out you were the Charlatan. I advised you to tell her and in the end she took it well. I think she'd understand."

That's when she had seen that other side to him. Admittedly, Reyes Vidal was already an interesting figure in Kadara Port due to his secret identity, but it was this that had really caught Keema's attention. His concern that the Pathfinder would turn against him, that something else mattered to him other than his own gain, than his control of Kadara. Keema was used to the sort the port attracted, used to the type of man Reyes was, charm and guile and looks but hollow inside. Angaran, turian, human, it made no difference. But to find there was something underneath, something different. That had truly surprised her. It had made her like him, rather inconveniently. She was not accustomed to liking people on Kadara.

"That's not going to happen." His tone changed again, and quickly. A chill ran through her though she was perfectly warm. "With everything that's happened she's all but forgotten about it. It's probably better that she thinks he got away."

"If you think that's best..."

"I do. Drop it."

His words were each like sharp individual points.

"Reyes Vidal. You do not have many in the way of friends, I say this because I care. Remember that," Keema retorted firmly, exposing the steel of a woman that betrayed Sloane Kelly, the only person that had ever betrayed her and got away with it.

"Keema, let's not do this…" Reyes sighed agitatedly.

"I quite agree. I've said my piece."

"Yes well… I'll see you tomorrow."

"Until then."

As they cut the call Keema strolled to her desk and leant on it, a grim feeling in her gut. She wasn't worried about Reyes' return, they'd disagreed on matters before and neither of them bore a grudge afterwards. It wasn't that that concerned her.