Wrex and Bakara insisted on having a big celebration at the Urdnot camp after the genophage was cured and Jo could see how the entire krogan population of the planet was in the mood to party. As always, she gave her crew the choice to join or to stay away. Krogan festivities were an acquired taste. Primarch Victus said his goodbyes before it started and headed towards Palaven with the rest of his forces. Several crew members joined her in Wrex' 'throne room' for the evening, though Joker was not one of them. It was because of his absence and her refusal to drink alcohol that the party soon lost its fun for Jo and she returned to the ship. He was still at his work station and Jo headed that way, hoping for a little quality time together after the craziness of the last ten days.

He heard her approach and turned his chair. The unexpected fury in his face hit her like a tank. Considering who she was and what she'd been through during that day alone, there were not many people in the galaxy who could make her cower with just one glance. As far as she knew, the man in front of her was the only one on that list.

"Having fun?" He pressed through clenched teeth.

"Why?" Jo asked cautiously, in all honesty fighting the instinct that told her to seek cover.

"Because I've overheard a few very interesting things in the krogan chatter. The whole planet is buzzing, they don't care who's listening."

"What are they saying?"

"That Wrex and his krogan wife are sure to start repopulating the planet with strong children this very night, but it's Wrex and his human wife who deserve all the glory for what happened today."

Jo felt a small icy hole open in her guts. This was not good. Before she could say anything, though, Joker shot out of his chair and crowded her against the wall in the empty CIC:

"I don't appreciate the whole krogan race seeing you as his human wife! I mean, what does that make me? Your little charity case on the side? I'm telling you right now and you better listen. I will not let you make a fool of me like this. Not in private, not in public. If you're with me, then you're with me always, and not when it suits you!"

"But you know perfectly well there is nothing between me and Wrex," Jo knew her hands were shaking from his intensity, but she refused to give in to the urge to run. She hadn't felt that urge in a very long time.

"Oh, really? Nothing at all?" He spat the words at her. "You've been flirting with him from the day you met him and dragged him onto the ship. Come on, say it isn't so. I dare you."

Jo couldn't, and they both knew it. There had always been animal attraction between her and the King of All Krogans.

"You two have always been all over each other. I mean, I get your best friends. God knows, I get Garrus. Fighting side by side, chest pounding, blood spilling, whatever. I get your relationship with him. But Wrex? There has always been more than that, on both sides, and you know it. For fuck's sake, he was the one who put in that mating request for you on the day you killed a thresher maw for Grunt!"

"What? No way," Jo blinked in confusion.

"Yes way. I traced that request back to his private quarters."

"Wrex? I don't believe it."

"Well, believe it."

Jo extricated herself from him and started pacing. No, of course she knew what Joker was talking about. Only this morning she had been jealous of Bakara and wanted to be the only woman in Wrex' life. But were Wrex' feelings towards her really based on sexual interest? She never would have imagined that the mating request she and her team had laughed so much about back in the day had come from him. She hadn't taken it seriously, and he hadn't meant her to, obviously, but the message was quite clear. And Joker had been the one to get it.

"Ready to admit to the truth or do you need some more time to lie to yourself?" He sounded snide behind her.

"I..." Jo stopped pacing and faced her beloved. "I can't sever all connections to him. We're krantt, he's one of my very best friends."

"Krantt is one thing. Wife is a whole different kettle of fish."

"Wrex knows you're the only one for me. It's just the rest of his people, they don't know any better. If you'd only come with me planetside to their celebration, they would have known all about you and me."

"And now it's my fault?!"

"No. All I'm saying is: if you're with me, you might want to be with me in public as well, or the people will make up stories."

For a while they stood in silence and looked at each other, both considering their options and opinions.

"I can be less touchy-feely with Wrex," Jo offered carefully.

"And I could join you on our next shore leave."

"I definitely missed you last time the crew went to Purgatory."

"If I go, will you do body shots with me?" A dirty grin chased all fury off his face and his eyes took in her body speculatively.

"On the main bar in the middle of the rush hour," Jo's mouth dried in a second. His glance felt like a scorching hot caress, promising her many, many evil things.

"Damn, this is where I wish I could go all caveman on you, toss you over my shoulder and carry you off to my lair," he stepped to her, put his hands on her hips and yanked her towards him to rub his growing erection against her.

"You can still manhandle me to your liking."

"I do like manhandling," he nodded, crowding her against the wall one more time and swooping down to lick and nibble that hot spot right below her right ear. The fight turned into a wild make-out session in an instant, and only some basic understanding of their surroundings drove them across the CIC to the elevator. Once inside, Joker jerked her shirt off her and pulled the straps and cups of her bra down to bury his face in her exposed breasts. Jo cried out loudly when his teeth scraped her oversensitive nipples. The elevator pinged a third time, reminding them again that they had arrived on their floor, and the two of them finally made it inside their room, wasting no chance to grope, bite, lick and rub. They did not, however, make it all the way to the bed.

Their clothes flew every which way and only seconds later Jo was leaning onto her desk between her computer and a pile of datapads. The cold surface was pleasantly refreshing on the overheated skin of her naked breasts, as Joker urged her to lift one knee onto the desk next to her, giving him best access to all her intimate places. His mouth and hands were on her immediately, sucking, licking, tugging, massaging and pushing her every button, just the way he knew she liked it.

Just when she was about to reach the climax, his mouth and hands disappeared, but only to be replaced by his hot and leaking erection. Her body swallowed him when he pushed inside her and picked a merciless rhythm.

"Say you're mine," his voice sounded right behind her ear. Jo felt her man's hands roaming her arms and shoulders, his chest pressing against her back, the patch of hair on his pecs tickling her slightly, she felt the warm metal of his leg braces and his skin touching the backs of her thighs as his hips moved her a little up and down the desk surface with each thrust.

"I'm yours," she managed to croak between gasps. "Only yours. Give it to me, all of it."

Her words seemed to turn him on, as he increased his speed and the force of the thrusts. His fingers tightened in her hair and on her shoulder, telling her that he was close.

"Give it to me so deep that I can give you a blow job backwards," she egged him on and he lost it completely. With the last few thrusts he pushed just the right spot inside her and sent her screaming over the edge only to join her there a second later.

"Love fighting with you," he whispered eventually, when they both calmed their breathing and heartbeat a little. Jo could barely feel her legs and remained on the desk in the same position he left her in when he pulled out of her. Somewhere behind her Joker sighed happily and fell into a chair. She had a lazy thought that from where he was sitting he had a perfect line of sight at what he'd done to her. He was the only man Jo ever felt comfortable with seeing her so exposed.

"Love the way you fuck the daylights out of me," she said. There was nothing like the feeling of every inch of her body having been well-used and abused in such a delicious way.

"Got a present for you," he said and almost reluctantly forced his way out of the chair. Jo finally made her body obey and slithered down from the desk to stand on her feet. She saw him go to the wardrobe and pull out a plastic bag.

"Sorry, no wrapping paper on the ship, and it only arrived yesterday," Joker shrugged, handing over the bag. Jo was amazed that he'd lost every bit of his clothing during their play, even his socks, but not his cap. "Wanted to find a good opportunity to give it to you, but I think you've earned it."

Curious about what it could be - considering that her birthday was in only six days and he could have saved the present for then - she opened the bag. First thing she saw was a genuine N7 badge. She pulled the piece of clothing out of the bag and unfolded it. It was a black hoodie, just the kind she always wore in her free time, only it also had the white-red stripes and the badge to mark her origin and allegiance. It was beautiful, just the thing she'd hold on to forever.

"I didn't know they made casual clothes," Jo wondered, pulling the item on against her naked skin. "Thank you, I'll treasure it forever. It's beautiful."

"EDI got a brochure from the IC Academy that explains their expanded catalogue. I told her not to show it to you, because I wanted to get you something from it. Like it?"

"It's the best thing I've ever felt on my skin, right after your hands," Jo zipped up the warm and incredibly comfortable hoodie and wrapped her arms around his neck to let him feel the softness of the fabric.

"You're right, it's quite nice," he smiled against her lips, holding her body against his.

"Commander, may I ask you something?" EDI spoke up and they both groaned.

"Your timing is... suspicious, EDI," Jo let go of Joker to at least go and find her panties.

"Since Mr Donnelly and Ms Daniels have repaired Dr Eva's synthetic body after you shot it, may I formally request permission to take it over for my use?"

"No sooner than tomorrow afternoon, after I informed everyone about it, and under one condition."

"Yes?"

"You find a way to dress it. Clothes, armour, I don't care, but you won't parade a naked shiny woman's body around my ship, is that clear?"

"Yes, Commander, thank you. I will find a solution shortly. Signing you off."

"She's getting better at dealing with humans," Joker poked Jo's side.

"Yeah, she let you tenderise the meat first before she went for the kill."

"Can you blame her?" His eyes sparkled mischievously.

"Not for how good you tenderising my meat feels, no. But I'm sure I can find something else to blame her for," Jo poked him in return.

Next morning Liara ambushed Jo before breakfast with news about some suspicious activity of Cerberus troops and scientists on Eden Prime. Jo didn't really see the urgency of recovering another Prothean artefact, but she had a few side missions to take care of anyway and while the galaxy was getting used to the newly formed turian-krogan alliance, she had a few days for smaller things.


James didn't mind 'picking up the slack', as Lola always put it when Liara talked her into taking her planetside. On the one hand he didn't understand the strange relationship between the two women, since everyone was telling him Liara had been a team member since the beginning. On the other hand picking up Liara's slack gave James a chance to prove to Shepard what he was capable of. So far she didn't seem to be disappointed.

Things on Eden Prime became very interesting when they discovered a life pod with a living Prothean instead of a simple artefact. Lola's eyes sparkled with interest as she searched the labs for information about how to open the pod. Usually James would simply tag along and do what he did best: use his bulk, his tactical and firearms knowledge to give those smarter than him a chance to solve their complicated problems. But lately he was thinking about something. Lola was smart, of course, wickedly so. But she was no scientist. She was a marine, just like him. What made her more qualified to solve complicated problems than him?

Her experience and her willingness to make those things her business, her willingness to make decisions no one else wanted to make, her willingness to get her hands dirty and to accept the fallout in case things went FUBAR. If she could do it, so could he. So, instead of just hanging back, James tried to wrap his mind around what they were really doing.

Turned out that despite getting a headache when he realised Shepard was able to understand the Prothean language due to some controversial story from her past, there was nothing mysterious to what she was doing. Just following the leads to completion.

The Prothean looked very little like the Collectors. For one, he was dressed and if that was his battle armour, James didn't want to fight by his side. The shoulder plates alone could cause some serious friendly damage. He seemed confused by his surroundings and disappointed to be woken by 'primitives', but Lola quickly wrapped up his self-pity trip and got him onto the Normandy.

She'd told James some time during those six months they'd spent together in Vancouver that one of her oldest dreams was a first-contact situation with a new species. Though a Prothean was technically anything but new, this was as close to her dream as it could get and James wanted to know what she would do with her new guest. When they got to the ship, however, she was called away for an urgent conversation on the QEC and the security guards took charge of the new alien while James shelved his armour. Rumour had it that Joker had access to all the security feed and made it his habit to watch all the interesting stuff on the ship, so he was the guy to go to if you wanted to see something you weren't strictly invited to. Rumour also had it, he only let people watch with him if he liked them. James hoped he would qualify. When he arrived in the cockpit, Vakarian and Traynor were already crowding the pilot. On Joker's screens they could see the cargo room and some sort of commotion going on inside. A few moments later Shepard stormed from the QEC to the elevator. When she reappeared on Joker's screen, Liara appealed to her, gesturing at the guards, who were pointing their rifles at the calm Prothean. The leader of that guard squad said:

"Apologies, Doctor. Contact protocol with new species: Assume hostility. We had to dust off the..."

He never finished that sentence because Lola's hand suddenly shot out and her fingers wrapped around his throat so firmly that he gargled and gasped for air, while she forced him into his knees.

"Assume hostility?" She hissed. Joker rubbed his hands:

"Oooh, he just signed his own death warrant, poor Lenovitz."

"Are you even remotely aware of what ship you're on and who I am?" Shepard said to the man, whose trachea she was still squeezing. "The Normandy is a neutral ground for diplomatic relations and I'm the one Commander specifically known in the whole galaxy for my work with all the different species. You insult me by pointing a gun on my guest and you insult him by assuming things you shouldn't. Lenovitz, you're officially fired and will be escorted off my ship at the first opportunity. Guards, take this man into custody," she tossed him onto the ground, waited patiently for those confused and intimidated guards to collect their former squad leader and get him out. James shook his head. Even he knew she would react that way, how could the rest of those guys let it happen?

Lola and Liara approached the Prothean to have a conversation. First thing Prothy did was grab her shoulders. James had seen him do that planetside and the rest of the people didn't seem to be worried, either. There was no reason to be. No matter who he was, she could definitely handle one little ancient legend. Lola questioned Prothy about his ability to sense things from touch, mentioned the beacons and other things. Meanwhile Joker and Vakarian seemed to have their own moment of amusement watching the scene.

"What are you so smug about?" He asked them.

"We have three words for you," Joker sniggered.

"New alien pet," Vagarian finished his sentence.

"What do you mean?" Traynor asked.

"We've all been there. Shepard loves to meet new species and learn about them. Me, Wrex, Liara, Tali, Legion, Thane, Mordin, even EDI - we've all been her alien pet projects at some point. She would spend lots of time asking us all sorts of things and she would always reciprocate by telling us about humans and herself, until she would learn to understand our essence. Mostly we've all become friends with time, though there seems to be some shady story with Liara."

Joker continued:

"Yeah, Shepard will invest a lot of time into this guy, ask him about anything and everything, have endless discussions, make him spar with her, answer his questions. If she likes him, this guy just may have struck gold by ending up in the hands of the most caring person of this entire cycle. But..." He frowned, listening closer to the conversation on his screen. "I have a feeling she won't like him."

"Why?" James stepped closer. To predict Commander Shepard's behaviour was like trying to guess in which way a volus would screw you over: too many possibilities, not enough brain capacity to comprehend even a small portion of them. And yet Joker seemed to be perfectly able to do just that.

"I was a soldier, not a scientist," Prothy was saying. "Skilled in one art: killing."

That was Joker's clue? Prothy spoke his next words with dark fire, telling Shepard that his only reason to exist was to spill Reaper blood for all the spilled blood of his people. He spoke from James' heart, apparently sharing his own sentiment. It was then that James realised both Vakarian and Joker were frowning and shaking their heads. Granted, they knew Lola better than he did, but what was he missing? Prothy could be the best ally, if his conviction was real, right?

"Those who share my purpose become allies. Those who do not become casualties."

"Whoah," Joker sighed and they all saw cold calmness smooth out Lola's features.

"Nothing in our fight against the Reapers has been that cut-and-dried," she said.

"Because you still have hope that this war will end with your honour intact," Prothy moved right into her private space, but she didn't bulge.

"I do," she said.

"Stand in the ashes of a trillion dead souls and ask the ghosts if honour matters!"

"Oh, sweetheart," Lola sighed and patted the Prothy's shoulder with a condescending pity he was obviously meant to pick up on. "I have. Been there, done that, and the answer is: honour is the only thing that matters. Killed three hundred thousand people and eradicated a whole system with one push of a button to stop the Reapers from arriving. The ghosts are just that, the ghosts. It was those who remained alive that demanded answers. I did what I had to do to save the whole galactic population there, but it's not enough to just survive. I know how it felt to make that decision and I wouldn't want anyone to be forced to live with that, even if we won. War crime is a very serious concept. We don't deserve to survive if we raped, pillaged, robbed, mutilated and sacrificed our own people to the enemy just to have a chance. That victory would only leave cowards, criminals, broken people and traitors alive. Which one are you?"

Prothy roared and charged at her, but she stopped him with a hand to his face. For a second James thought she would rip his throat out or something, but she simply put her hand on his forehead and he stopped in his tracks.

"She's already learned to do that?" Scars leaned closer to the screens.

"Isn't she simply incredible?" Joker grinned.

"Learned to do what?" Traynor bounced on the balls of her feet.

"Use that touching-reading ability he spoke about," Vakarian clarified. "The Prothean cypher must be helping her."

"Or, you know, she's just that good," Joker sounded like the proudest man in the world. They were right, though. Prothy seemed to experience some flashes in his mind and then stepped away from Shepard. All four of his eyes narrowed. James could see thoughts forming in Prothy's head from where he stood: how did a primitive ape learn so fast to use the ability that elevated his people from all those beneath them?

Liara ended the tense silence by mentioning the little device they also found planetside and steered the conversation to different topics, asking the Prothean about his people.

"Any could oppose us if they wished. And if they had won, they would have ruled. Many tried. None succeeded."

Both Joker and Vakarian sucked in shocked breaths:

"Wow, did he just sign his death warrant or what?" Joker lost all amusement as he bit his nails.

"Seems to happen a lot today." Vakarian seemed to be in agreement with him. James was starting to understand. Prothy spoke about his people dominating all the other peoples of his cycle, by war if necessary, without giving them any chance to self-determinate. Unification and pure dominance seemed to be the essence of Prothean rule. Even James could see how that would go against everything Commander Shepard believed in.

"More of your people were supposed to survive into this cycle in those life pods?" Liara asked.

"Yes. Under my leadership a new Prothean empire would have arisen. We would have commanded the races of your time to prepare for the next Reaper invasion."

"Yeah, well, thank the stars all those pods have been destroyed, then," Shepard said, folding her arms on her chest. Both Prothy and Liara gaped at her and she shrugged: "Well, excuse me for being the only one in this room who realises that the Prothean way of ruling and fighting against the Reapers was faulty and doomed to fail from the beginning. We will most definitely not use your tactics, thank you very much. I'm also grateful that I'm still human and not Prothean by force or through slavery. Since your cycle was so unified and now so dead, allow me to express my relief that your people did not emerge from their pods to enforce your idiocy upon my cycle and my people, robbing us of our last chance. In my time we're doing things my way, since your way failed so spectacularly. Welcome to the next cycle, Prothean."

"I am called Javik," he seemed taken aback, but James couldn't find it in himself to sympathise with him. Lola was right and if he had to bet on one of them to win this war, his money would always be on her.

"Let me sum it up, Javik," Lola said. "You can't help us with the device because you're not a scientist. You can't give us any advice on how to win against the Reapers because you lost to them miserably. You can not help us with any knowledge from your cycle at all because you're a simple-minded soldier. On a personal level, you're a conceited, pompous relic who suffers under the illusion of his importance. I'm willing to give you one last chance. How are you in hand-to-hand and with weapons?"

"I am one of the best soldiers of my time!" He shouted, enraged, but she only waved his anger off:

"I'll be the judge of that. Come with me to the sparring ring and show me what you can do. If you can't even be useful to me on my ground missions, I'll have no choice but to send you off with some of Liara's colleagues. I'm sure they'll have more questions for you and will want to study you extensively."

On his way down to the cargo bay, where all the sparring was taking place on this ship, James had a staggering realisation. It was in no way easy to make it onto Commander Shepard's team. If there was something she didn't like about you, you could end up like Major Clusterfuck or be taken apart like Prothy, and any mistake could get you fired immediately, like Lenovitz, shot at, like EDI's body the other day, or at least just yelled at, like Allers last week for a controversial report. But when he came aboard, Lola had named him one of her senior officers and granted him the power to command the Normandy in her, Vakarian's and Joker's absence. How fucking unbelievable was that? Could it be that she believed in him? Could it be that she trusted him so much?

Commander Shepard didn't lie to her own team members, at least not when it came to her assessment of their abilities. Must be true, then. The realisation floored him completely as he stood by his bench and watched her toss Prothy around like nothing but an annoying fly. The man was not bad as a soldier, he even landed a few punches, but he was clearly not prepared for an opponent like Commander Shepard.

"All right," she declared when she deemed the beating enough. "I'll keep you as my ground team member for now, I'm in dire need of another heavy hitter. Just... Try to be useful, Javik. I have zero tolerance for weakness and from where I stand, you're just on this side of being valuable."

James remembered how a few months back, in Vancouver, Joker told him not to get attached to the sweet, accommodating girl he was seeing day after day, because the real Shepard was a lot harder to handle. James believed him now.