"I thought you could use the night off."

Liam froze, halfway to calling up the research module. That was Reyes' voice. Up above him, from the comm room. He could just make out the top edge of Sara's head, over the railing.

Shit.

Cora had raised her eyes from the strike team reports and she was watching him. He fought to keep from openly scowling. He couldn't very well stalk off in a huff, now could he? Had to work with everyone. Keep working with everyone. So he pulled up the armor specs he'd come out here to work on. But he couldn't focus on them.

His whole body was tense, straining to hear what she said.

"Sorry, Reyes. I don't have the time," Sara said. "There's too much to do."

"A shame," Reyes was saying, but Liam didn't care.

Going to have to admit it sooner or later. Heart's run away with your head.

"Not in the mood for shore leave, Ryder?" Cora asked. Liam glanced up, looking from one woman to another. Cora had that sideways little smile on, but neither of them were paying the least bit of attention to him.

"Fun's fun," Sara said, and he wished he knew what that meant. "But I'm not flying us all to Kadara so I can spent the night drinking with Slone Kelley. If I'm taking a night off I want to watch bad vids and drink good beer."

"I've got vids," Liam offered. He smiled, gesturing at both women. "Only bad beer, though. I don't think any of the good stuff made the trip."

"I'll take it," Ryder said. She stretched, hands clasped over her head. "If I'm still awake after I go through Addison's expense reports. You in, Cora?"

"Think I'll sit this one out," the commando said. And she turned that sideways little smile at him. He could have sworn she winked. But it was so fast, it could have just been his imagination.

"More the merrier," Liam assured her, but she waved him off. Sara poked him in the stomach on her way past.

"Cue up some Blasto, will you? It's better in the cargo hold than watching on my omnitool," she said. Then she wandered off, yawning.

"Sure you don't want to join?" Liam asked Cora. She quirked an eyebrow at him.

"Positive," she drawled, in that way she had, of making you feel like maybe she meant six different things at once. Liam shrugged, and turned back to the research module. Now he was having trouble focusing for a whole different reason.

What Blasto movie perfectly captured the moment?

After a few minutes, he gave up trying and went down to the lower levels. Had to grab a snack from the kitchen, for his friendly neighborhood biotic. Between Sara, Cora, and Peebee the rations tended to move quick. But they were worth it. Best he could do, snack wise, was canned salted potatoes. But heated up they tasted almost like baked potatoes, and if they were heated up and he squinted hard enough his brain crinkled they tasted a little bit like potato chips. That and the drinks- fresh homebrew from Kadara, picked up last time they docked – and he was all set.

After some consideration he decided on the first Blasto movie. A classic. It came out when he was just a kid, and he'd actually seen it in a theater. Maybe Sara had too. But she was sure to have seen it before which was just the speed she'd asked for.

And really, it was normal he'd feel competitive with Reyes, he told himself. Didn't even necessarily have anything to do with Sara. Reyes was just the kind of guy he used to watch out for when he was a cop, and that went double for crisis response. Working with him was never going to sit right.

And so what if he wanted to make sure Sara had a great "night off" with him? She was the Pathfinder. Part of his job as her team mate was making sure she was all right. Stress wasn't all right.

Jaal said love but Liam hadn't. And yeah, he didn't want Sara dating Reyes. And no, his motives weren't purely altruistic. But if she decided she just wanted to be work colleagues who occasionally saw a movie together, that was just fine. Really fine. Not passive-aggressively-wishing-it-were-dating fine.

Didn't mean he couldn't enjoy seeing the movie with her, did it?

She came down earlier than he would have imagined. Her sleeves were rolled up, the first button of her conservative ship knit undone, she looked more than ready to kick back. And she came alone.

Would have been fine if she brought other folks – more the merrier, he meant it—but he wasn't going to complain about alone.

"Did you actually read the expense reports?" he asked her. She narrowed her eyes and held out a hand, wordlessly. He put a beer in it.

"Sam checked the numbers before I sent them off. It's good."

"I detected two mathematical errors," Sam said. Ryder took a long swallow of her beer.

"Better than I would have done. My eyes about cross," she admitted. "Math's fine, but accounting? Yech."

"With you there." He grinned, and settled back on the couch. They hadn't watched a vid together since—well. Since right after that day on Aya. Felt like a long time ago. "Thousands of lines of addition? Kill me now."

"Boring," Ryder agreed. She sat down, bare feet tucked up under her. "Speaking of- what Blasto did you get cued up? Not 3rd Time Lucky, right? Because I'd rather be doing accounting."

"Come on. I'm not an idiot," Liam grinned. "Got the classic. The original. Blasto One."

"Holy crap, yeah." He hadn't seen her smile like that in weeks. "I haven't seen that since I was a kid."

It was like a little slice of home to watch the opening credits. They were halfway through the speakeasy scene, and their second drink, before either of them spoke again.

"I saw this in a theater, you know. With my mom," Sara half whispered. He turned, but she wasn't upset. Or she didn't look upset.

"Good memory or. . ."

"Good memory. Still hurts," she said. He paused, unsure, but- what the hell. Treat others as you want to be treated, right? He opened his arms, inviting her to lay her head against his chest if she wanted. Willing to look a bit silly if she declined. But she didn't. She folded up against his chest. A solid warm weight. He curled his arm around her, firmly tucking his hand against her side.

"We can turn it off—"

"No. Keep it on." She kept drinking, tilting her head back into his ribs every few minutes. He found he didn't so much mind. "We saw it on the Citadel. Huge, beautiful theater in Tralet Ward."

"I saw it on the Citadel too," he said. "Not in Tralet Ward, though."

"Do you ever wonder. . ." She paused, and he held his breath, not wanting to miss what she said next. "What if we'd met? We could almost have grown up together. Similar ages, and both on the Citadel. Same kinds of interests."

"Citadel's a big place," he smiled. Her hair, just under his chin, smelled faintly like cinnamon. Like home at Christmas time. "But it could have happened. Better than that, though, is knowing you now."

Aw, shit, now he'd done it. He promised he wouldn't get clingy. But here he was, starting in on cutesy shit. But she didn't seem to mind. She just snuggled in to him, and turned her attention to the movie.

By the time Blasto was facing off with the corrupt mayor, she was asleep against his chest.

He didn't move her. He settled in, slowly, inching down to a comfortable position for him to sleep, too. And he put another vid on.

He hadn't felt this at-home in more than six hundred years.