Serious. He wanted to get serious.

Sara's heart had leapt to her throat as soon as he said it, a million reasons why it was a bad idea to get involved and really, it didn't seem possible that he cared that much about her- not when everybody in Heleus wanted a piece of the Pathfinder. But he said it. That he wanted to be with her, just as herself- it seemed almost too good to be true.

She'd done her best with the soccer match, but she'd never really played before. Liam said he was rubbish, but it turned out his definition of rubbish was much different than hers. It did a lot for morale, though, it was obvious- every time she fell or whiffed at the ball and was still grinning made everybody else grin, too.

She switched out pretty early, though. Cora came with her, ruffling her short blonde hair. Even Cora seemed more relaxed.

"Exercise through a game. Feels like being a kid again," Cora said. She had to laugh at that.

"You're so hard core."

"Well, that's what serving with asari huntresses does to you," Cora shrugged. "You want to see something really hardcore, I hear Bradley is gathering up a bunch of local homebrew. Are you going to come drink with the troops? And, ah, the civilians?"

Twenty feet away, one of the angara said something to Liam and he laughed, white teeth flashing in the sunshine. Her heart seemed to be taking permanent residence in her throat.

"I . . . have a lot of stuff to catch up on. E-mails. You know how it is. Maybe later." She swallowed, hard, but it didn't help. "Actually. . . . this seems like a good time to slip away. I'll try to make an appearance later."

She hoped that made sense. That she sounded professional and on top of everything. She gave Cora a little wave, and a smile, and started backing up, walking toward the Tempest.

Cora just nodded back. No one else seemed to care. She jogged up the gangplank, feeling a little like a kid playing hookey and a little like she had a fever that bubbled up out of her belly. The ship was empty, and it was the work of just a moment to skitter down the stairs and into her room.

She had to lean against the door for a moment.

"Are you all right, Pathfinder?" Sam asked, out loud for once. No reason to use their private channel here in her room. She took a deep breath and let it out slow.

"I'm fine, Sam. Just. . . nervous. I'm not sure that this is a good idea." Of course, she'd already said it. That she wanted to get serious. Whatever that meant.

"I understand. I believe that in most romantic relationships, it is normal to have questions about the parameters and rules that guide your experience. If you would like, I can quanitfy-"

"Sam," she interrupted, "please. . . don't quantify anything. This isn't that kind of athing. It's actually. . . remember that privacy mode we talked about?"

"I do, Pathfinder." Great. Sam didn't call her Pathfinder when it was happy.

"It's nothing personal, Sam. I know you're still listening in, I just. . . I need to . . ."

"I understand, Sara." Was Sam trying to . . . reassure her? That was something to think about later.

She took another deep breath. And pulled up her omni tool.

**Liam, could you come to my quarters to help me**

"What do I say?" she mused, hitting her head gently on the door behind her.

**Liam, could you come to my quarters real quick?**

Message sent.

Now what?

She didn't have time for a shower. Should she have showered then told him to come up? But then she'd have wet hair and- he'd be all sweaty from the game too, maybe it didn't matter it was just that back home she'd have showered before a date but maybe they were just going to talk and maybe it wasn't a date at all and she was definitely overthinking this.

She skinned out of her armor, at least, but didn't have time for anything else before there was a knock at her door. She opened it with her omnitool from halfway across the room.

"Very smooth," Liam congratulated her. He seemed relaxed, too. Why was everybody relaxed but her? "If you wanted to keep all that under wraps, I'd say that worked."

"Thanks." She wasn't sure that was the right response- but it was hard to find the right words. Liam's smile was turning quizzical. Oh, right, she called him here. "Um. Hi."

"Sara are you. . . nervous?" Something sparked in his eyes, and his grin spread wider.

"Yeah?"

"Sara Ryder, nervous over me. That's one that might go to my head." He took a step toward her, but stopped. "Question is, are you nervous I won't kiss you or nervous I will?"

"I. . ." She shrugged, her palms turned out toward him, open and uncertain. "I don't know what being serious means."

"Well, what do you want it to mean?" He was still smiling. Big brown eyes watching her, like there wasn't any kind of wrong answer. Like everything would be okay no matter what.

"I want to wake up with you," she blurted out. His eyebrows climbed, his smile reappearing wide and happy. "And spend more time together. And I want you to tell me when you're planning something risky, even if you think it's not Pathfinder stuff. And I want you to tell me what it is you think it means, because I'm not very good at guessing."

"All of that sounds good to me." He started walking toward her again. Three steps. His gaze fell from her eyes to her lips. "I can't stop thinking about that night. About you. But it's not just fun if we keep going, sleep together more, you know? Can't be."

"Why not?" She took a step, too. Close enough she had to tilt her head back to look at him. Close enough to kiss. He grabbed her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. His other hand curled near her face, fingertips just brushing her cheek.

"Doesn't feel like just fun," he murmured. Her hand resting on his chest, she could feel his heart beating as fast as hers.

Just a breath, a little movement, to go up on her tiptoes and kiss him. The hand that was near her cheek slid into her hair, and he kissed her back, pulling her into him. For just a moment, it seemed like he was the only solid thing in the world.