The Council's sympathies took on a vast improvement from previous experience, after everything was said and done, Shepard thought. Whether it was her attitude regarding the Saren investigation, her impeccable handling of the mission from start to finish, the fact that, thanks to Kaidan's vid, the entire galaxy had few doubts in her words, or just because they were there when it counted, at the climax, listening to every word and witnessing first-hand what they were up against, she could now count them firmly on her side.

They accepted her word that there were important schematics that needed recovering on Mars, and put her personally in charge of the project. It was a more Council-aligned place that she carved for herself, this time – where before she'd been a representative for humanity, she was now the Council's trump card.

It wasn't an exaggeration either. Technically, her current job was the Mars prothean excavation – which Liara was only too happy to assume all responsibilities for – but in reality, they were sending her anywhere they wanted precision, accuracy or diplomacy, and occasionally, very brute force. Ilos, for instance, was one expedition she was the main escort for – and which Liara also headlined - and her input was requested for both the quarian and human representatives, who, in the councilors' view, had more than earned their place in the Council. She'd deferred to Tali on the first one, and Anderson was only too unhappy to take up the position when it was offered.

So, when it really came down to it, nothing much had changed. Shepard was just happy not to be assigned to geth cleanup.

There was one thing she made sure to keep a critical eye on, however, now that the storm on the horizon had been made visible to everyone. Her best bet was to sic Samara and company on it – war profiteering. Nightmares like Sanctuary couldn't be allowed to happen. It was bad enough how deep the reapers would be able to infiltrate when they arrived, down to asari monasteries – unless Shepard could help it – and she didn't want to add supposedly friendly fire to the cause. Though she supposed Miranda had that one well in hand – with luck, by the time the reapers showed themselves, Cerberus would no longer be an issue.

The Alliance recovered quickly from the limited casualties and modest number of vessels damaged, bouncing back in months with renewed galactic trust that allowed them into the Citadel's inner workings as easily as last time. Certainly, the turians, at the very least the ones in the Citadel fleet, had not a bad word to say about the humans, who'd blatantly saved their asses while they served as battering shields for the quarians.

And the quarians themselves now held such respect for Shepard and Tali that they accepted her 'gift of information' in regards to the geth attack as an outstandingly successful pilgrimage. The ships who'd served as bait had come out of it with surprisingly little damage, and were back in commission even faster than the Alliance's. They hadn't suffered casualties, either.

Tali had critically said, with only a hint of superiority, that relying on endless resources might do wonders for aesthetics, but it crippled the human's adaptability. Kaidan had retorted she was never going to convince him she didn't like how pretty the Normandy was, or that aesthetics were beneath her, because he'd witnessed her shopping for new suit patterns more often than he bought shirts. Ashley had then pointed out that that was because Shepard generally liked him shirtless, and since they'd both immediately shut up, the chief was the only one left standing in that discussion.

First, though – before the new assignments, before sleep, and really, before the night when Sovereign died was even over, what happened was that Shepard got extremely drunk with her entire crew. There was only so much universe-shaking stuff she could do before she required a sanity check.


James Vega considered Shepard carefully, and she was too out of it to bother staring back. "Here's a sorry bunch. You getting too old to handle your liquor, Lola?"

She stuffed her pillow a little further against her face. Kaidan was kind enough to answer in her place. "What're you doing here, Vega? I need coffee," he groaned.

Ashley peeked out from the other end of Shepard's pillow. "Who's tall, dark and loud?" she asked groggily. "And who let him up to your quarters, Shepard?"

James took very attentive notice of her, slow grin growing. "Joker did. Who's the hot little sister?"

"Ash." Shepard couldn't tell if Kaidan's one-word intervention was an answer or a warning. "I need coffee."

"What, like Williams? Ashley Williams?"

Shepard turned to Ashley, eyes unfocused. "S'okay. That's Vega. James. James Vega. I knew him from-" She paused, throwing an arm and unsure what she was gesticulating about. "Reaper stuff."

"What-"

"I need coffee. This is worse than my biotics headaches."

Shepard rolled over with some effort. "So use those to go get some. Bring me one too," she requested, watching James through an unhelpful squint. His eyebrows were steadily rising.

"You want me to use biotics to get coffee?" Kaidan said, stupefied. "There are so many things wrong with that idea, I can't even begin to explain it."

"Gonna kill someone," Ashley stated, in what could have been a general announcement or an agreement with Kaidan's words.

"Bet you will."

"I might start with you, James Vega, watch it."

"I'm not using biotics to get coffee."

"It's good practice," Shepard argued.

"Practice for what?"

She gestured vaguely and seemed satisfied with that answer.

"I'll go get the coffee, santisima trinidad. You three just keep being useless. Are you still drunk?"

"Watch it," Ashley huffed at him.

"What's Vega doing here?" Shepard belatedly asked as he walked out the door with a smirk.

"He's bringing surplus coffee, right?"

"Oh my god."

Ashley's groaned interjection seemed to be the cue they needed to make themselves face the day. Shepard stood up and only wobbled once before things looked right side up again. Ashley rolled right onto the floor and Kaidan managed to stand on two legs before heavily dropping back to the bed.

"… Did we all just decide to sleep in Shepard's bed last night?"

"That's cute that you phrased it plural, Alenko, but since I know it was directed at me, I'll just say that I don't actually remember doing that," Ashley grumbled at him. Shepard gave up and sat on her desk chair.

"No, you – I-"

"Please shut up until Shepard's hot friend comes back with the coffee, I'm gonna die." Ashley sat up against the wall, eyes closed and face sickly pale.

"Well, no gentleman is immune to such distress," James said, walking in and looking pleased with himself in ways Shepard was going to hate having to deal with. He handed Ashley a cup first, and Shepard kicked his ankle when she saw him pay far too much attention to the skin the gunnery chief's rumpled clothing was not properly covering.

"Out."

"You're welcome for the coffee," he said pointedly as he left.

"Joker thought it would be funny," EDI echoed around Shepard's room before she'd had a chance to ask.

"That's the problem with him, thinking and trying to be funny."

She could faintly hear the pilot too busy laughing to be offended.

"I'm sure Vega's just offended he wasn't invited," Kaidan offered. How easily Kaidan got along with James despite how outrageously he flirted with Shepard had never made much sense to her, but she wasn't about to request an explanation. She had enough regrets.

"Well, I didn't know he was here." She took a long sip out of her mug and then paused in confusion. "Why is he here?"

Ashley shrugged, shoes dangling from her hand. "Hey, Skipper, you mind if I use your shower?"

Before Shepard was done nodding, Kaidan had taken his cue to make himself scarce, so Ashley closed the door with a wink and a smirk. Ashley was someone else with whom James would get along just fine.

It turned out, later, once Shepard had taken a shower of her own and tracked Vega down to Garrus' usual haunt, that he had coincidentally been at the Citadel, again, just as the Normandy pulled to port and the geth showed up.

"Really didn't mean to, scout's honor," he continued. "God knows I never want to be in your life's area of effect unless I'm actively following you around. Cool display of pyrotechnics aside, it's bad for your health." She would have slapped him across the head if he hadn't dodged and she wasn't still under her hangover's influence.

"An honor you're shamelessly defacing, considering you've absolutely never been a part of the boy scouts," Garrus cheerfully pointed out.

"How would you know? It's a vital part of the human military, I was very proud to serve," James argued seriously.

"Shepard said so."

Vega's face crumbled into a grin. "The Alliance used to say Shepard's a liar."

"You know this is my ship, I'm a Spectre, and I can technically space you anytime I want, with no consequences?"

He placed a hand on his heart dramatically. "And then who else will bring you and the rest of your threesome your morning coffee during your dark, hangover morning hours?"

Garrus broke down laughing. "Clarify that one for me. Please."

Shepard glared. "No." She then arched an eyebrow at Vega, who was still shaking slightly with mirth. "And you. Invade my ship, invade my cabin, hit on my gunnery chief and offer no explanation?"

"I also brought you coffee," he added with a smirk. "And I just can't not hit on good-looking women, that'd be rude."

"You've got a backwards definition of that word," Garrus commented. "And I say he's here to beg you for a job, Shepard."

James shrugged self-consciously in a way that told her he'd hit the nail on the head. "Well, beg's a strong word. What will you even do without me? Apart from blowing up a reaper, that is."

Shepard's lips were twitching. "Find yourself a locker, Vega."

He gave her a rare genuine grin. "Aye, Lola."

"Worked out everything you were wanting to?"

That brought a self-satisfied expression to his face. "Sure did. Having divine powers of clairvoyance really brings a whole lotta excitement to your life."

She shook her head. "I won't ask. I really hope the Alliance doesn't ask me to clarify you don't really think you're a medium."

Both men cracked up. "You suck at this, Lola, that's why you'll never understand me," James said between fits.

"Yeah, mediums can't tell the future, they're just psychic."

Well, at least the new addition to the ship put Garrus in good spirits.


Vega fit into life aboard the first Normandy like he'd served in it at least as long as he'd served on the SR-2. Tali, Garrus and Liara welcomed him back to the fray easily, like Kaidan, and he even got along fine with Wrex once some initial issues were resolved. Some bits of their conversations seemed to get lost in translation, and not really due to tech glitches.

"So you were there when Shepard took down that reaper on the Citadel."

"Yeah, twice now. Wish I coulda strong-armed it, but you know how she is about safety."

"I dunno that I want to understand what you mean. I'm sure it made lots of funny short-circuiting noises when it croaked though."

"Ha! It did. It was glorious. But what about you - you were there, when she went rushing into that creepy prothean weapon."

"You mean when she died?"

"Duh. The second time, anyhow."

"… Yeah. That wasn't very- Not the most pleasant exper-"

"I bet she looked awesome."

Ashley either loved him or hated him depending on the current minute, but the overall average Shepard got out of their interactions was positive. On the other hand, he and Nihlus just avoided each other, and quite frankly, she was more than okay with that.

This behavior was now an exception to the rule, however. Everyone else seemed now to be on friendly terms with the turian specter, and he no longer hid himself away in the cargo hold. Shepard counted this as a positive development. Unfortunately, Nihlus didn't seem up to discussing it. He steadfastly refused to open up about Saren, apparently deciding to bury that chapter the hard way. The most she'd gotten out of him was a 'putting a bullet in his dead body was my way of working it out, Shepard', and she couldn't really be blamed for not pressing further.

So, between all that, the Crucible project being on track, and the light-weight assignments she was keeping well in hand during the timely lull in Reaper-related incidents, a weird peace of mind seeped into her life. Easy days slipped into easy weeks, she kept waking up next to someone she loved, and it turned out those were all excuses that kept her from noticing just what was off for so long, precisely.

One morning, when she stepped back out of her bathroom wrapped in a towel, she took in the perfectly made bed, the complete outfit waiting for her on top of it, the obsessively – possibly color-coded – organized groups of datapads on the desk, right next to a steaming cup of coffee, and she supposed the excuses fell a little short.

She approached the bed slowly, thinking. Kaidan walked in just as she was tying the hairband. He smiled at her obliviously and dropped down to sit on her bed, scrolling through something on his own datapad. She grabbed the coffee and burrowed under his arm.

He kissed her forehead right before arching an eyebrow at her. "Something up?"

"You know, I think my fiancé's been mothering me and I haven't even noticed."

He offered her a perfect bluffing expression she saw right through. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She drank from her coffee. "Thank you. But you don't have to bend over backwards for-"

He stopped her before she could keep going, making a face at her. "Someone should," was all he said, tone indicating he found her comment ludicrous.

"I've been taking advantage of that."

Now he openly stared at her in disbelief. "By leaning on someone who cares about you after all you've been through?"

"By letting it be one-sided. Aren't you always the one steadfastly refusing to ask me to even pass you the sugar or something?"

He snorted and dropped the datapad somewhere behind them, patently so he could put the cup in her hand away and roll them over so she was trapped under him. "First of all, I don't even drink coffee. There's no reason you'd have to pass me the sugar. Secondly – you know, now that I think about it, what have you done for me lately, Jane? Aside from the whole dying to save the galaxy thing, I mean."

She wasn't going to let him derail her point. "You know what I'm talking about. I don't expect-"

He hummed and began distracting her, which she let happen far too willingly. "It's almost like you're too busy running around doing everything for everyone before the disasters we all remember happening have a chance to develop."

Shepard made a face at him and pushed him away. He obliged, rolling over with her momentum. She stood up abruptly and grabbed some report off her desk.

"So how's your mom?"

He snorted, but his smile went all the way up to his eyes, so it was okay. "She's fine." He was quiet for a second, pushing himself up on his elbows to contemplate her. "When – it was all such a rush, wasn't it? From the moment the reapers showed up and – well, London. I kept telling myself I'd think about my parents – my dad – once we stopped running, but then-"

Shepard had put bits and pieces of this together, over the last few weeks, in short conversations that hadn't had the depth they deserved. "Then it was me you were thinking about."

"Mourning," he corrected. "It's just too much. I didn't really mourn my dad, and – well, I guess I didn't really mourn you. Didn't let it hit, more like. Told myself I didn't know everything yet. That I couldn't assume. Turns out that worked out on both counts, apparently." He shook his head. "The point being, it's been good catching up with them. I still wanna take my mom off-planet."

"You will."

Kaidan smiled at her a little absent-mindedly. "It's good to hear her not as – beaten down. I guess that was how everyone was, back then, though. But enough with that, sad stuff belongs in the past." There was a pause that Shepard found foreboding. "There was – actually something I wanted to tell you. Kinda related. My mom – she wants to meet you," he added casually.

That actually startled her into dropping her datapad. He grinned too, even if she could see a little unease in his eyes, which didn't particularly help. "You told her about me?"

He stood and walked over to lean against her desk. "I told her there was someone."

That made more sense. Kaidan had always been apprehensive about his father's opinion on him blatantly breaking Alliance regs.

"Was that the best idea?"

"I think so. Especially considering that you told me you'd marry me."

"Yeah – no, yeah, I know. I just-"

"I promise I've never had any reason to believe my parents are scarier than the reapers."

"That was not as assertive as I'd have liked it to be."

He burst out laughing. "You're not actually worried?"

Shepard hit his stomach with the back of her hand. "Shut up. I'm doing recon."

He laughed harder. "My dad's gonna love you. You should listen to him go off about the Council. He almost asks about you more than he does about me. Super proud I'm serving under Commander Shepard. And mom doesn't dislike anyone."

The affection in his voice was so enticing – Kaidan was always so fond, loved so openly, heart on his sleeve and emotion all over his face. Nothing important could ever be left unsaid with him. She'd stuttered her admissions to him, he'd spilled them without a second thought, whether he was tearful or angry or content or enraptured.

And Shepard, well, she'd never had parents.

It had been long since that last bothered her, but there were memories. Hidden in some transcendent pocket of reality on the invisible side of the streets on Earth. Dirty disheveled hair on her face, but through it she could see a young woman with a messy bun, nuzzling a baby boy to shrieking giggles. Separated from everyone but a select few – like her, just like her but not as ready - by circumstance and willful misfortune. Watching still, from inside shadows no one tried to peek into, two men balancing a little girl on their shoulders as they walked. There was more security in her laugh than in Shepard's tight fist, even though only one of them had her feet firmly on the ground.

She understood the feeling of inexplicable loss as steadfastly as she understood having grown out of it. She wasn't so bullheaded to think she was above simple human needs, but she figured she was mature enough to have worked through it.

On the other hand, it was experience that made maturity, and this wasn't something she had any experience with. Meeting Kaidan's parents was the kind of low-level stress that distracted her in the shower, made her chew on her lip as she went over a boring report.

"You know you don't have to, right?" Kaidan said a couple of days later, out of nowhere. He'd just handed her a morning coffee because she'd neglected to get it, judging the pile of unread documents on her desk to be of higher priority.

"What?"

"I sort of – put you on the spot. About my parents," he clarified when she didn't look any less confused.

She straightened warily. "I-"

"I can tell it's been eating at you a little."

"No, you can't," she said immediately.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I can. It can wait, we don't have to rush to Vancouver when this is all over. I just thought-"

"Kaidan, I want to meet them."

"Oh." Her sincerity relaxed something in his muscles, and he crossed his arms to hide how relieved he was. "So why have you been nervous about it?"

"I haven't been-"

"Shepard."

"It's not nerves. It's just - new."

For a moment, he was silent. Shepard knew him well enough to realize he was reaching a bunch of conclusions very quickly, all of which she wished weren't accurate.

"My dad called me today," he revealed eventually, sitting on the desk in front of her. She leaned back in her chair, not really as interested in the paperwork as in him. "I hadn't talked to him since before Saren and the Citadel. He's been dark for weeks, on some Alliance mission he can't tell me about."

"Must have been terrifying when he heard."

"He was pretty worried. At least the first person he talked to was mom, she assured him I was fine. He told me to thank you for saving my life."

"You should have told him you keep saving mine. Kinda how partnerships work."

"I did, he said to tell you off for that first." She laughed. "He also wants a play-by-play straight from you, because according to him, I'm too 'dry'."

"Sure, I get that."

He slapped her knee lightly, faux-outraged. "How dare you. The point is, he wants an excuse to meet you. And he has no idea how close we actually are, otherwise he'd have been more insistent about it. Mom told him I wasn't allowed to drag Commander Shepard out home just to talk shop, though."

"What else was she implying you might drag me to Vancouver for?" Shepard asked slowly.

Kaidan gave her a sheepish grin. "A lot more than he has any clue. I didn't tell her, she just – she's my mother. She hasn't said anything, but you know."

She didn't, but she pretended. "She's alright with it?" she asked carefully, surprisingly out of touch with the anxiety in her voice.

Kaidan chuckled. "She's – she keeps smirking at me when dad's not looking. I think she's anticipating his reaction when he finds out, she probably thinks it'll be hilarious. Which it will," he admitted. "But she's also just – happy for me. In general. She says I'm less- reserved."

Shepard was smiling a little despite herself. Something instinctive had told her that's what his parents would be like. "Not that I don't appreciate it, Kaidan, but why are you telling me all this?"

He crossed his arms and looked down at her thoughtfully. "Because they're just people. And you're good with people."

She hadn't expected that. "You think you need to humanize your parents to me?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I think I need to de-mystify them."

"You've talked about them-"

"Not enough, I think. The point is that it's no big deal and I need you to stop making it one."

"That's – not quite right," was all she said to that.

"Why?"

"Because," she began, searching for his hand and for words, "they're my fiancé's parents. They're also the parents of a marine under my command. On top of that, they raised the best person I know, which impresses me by default. They seem like remarkable people. Isn't that enough for a few jitters?"

"Well, compliment them like that to their faces and you really won't have any issues whatsoever." He had a soft smile on his lips. "I'm the best person you know?"

"No, Kaidan, Ash is. That's why I'm gonna marry her."

Smirking, he jumped down from the desk and placed both hands on either arm of the chair she was sitting on. "Really? But have you met the family yet? Because that's how I've got her beat."

Shepard sneaked her hands to the back of his neck, appreciative of the unimpeded view she had of his eyes. "She has too many sisters," she declared as an excuse.

He laughed only very briefly before she'd pulled him down so that his mouth got busy.


"I will cut you, Vega."

The shout – and following crash – rang even through Shepard's very effective and firmly shut door, both facts she liked to be freshly aware of, considering how she would occasionally spend her time in her cabin. Shepard groaned and tried to press her ears further into the pillow.

"Hmm," Kaidan said, eyes still closed even if he was blatantly not asleep. "Ashley's morning threats make for the absolute worst alarm."

"We're still not at point where she'll actually hurt him, right?" Shepard mumbled back.

That's when he opened his eyes to squint at her. "We reached that point back at the krogan bottle incident."

Shepard scrunched up her entire face. "I thought we agreed never to mention that again."

"Just making a point."

"Why are they even awake?" she complained further. "I'm not even awake."

"That's right, you're not. And that doesn't need to change, so shh."

Despite Kaidan's perfectly sound logic, twenty minutes later, Shepard found herself blinking at two red-faced subordinates, having never felt more disconcertingly like a parent. All the while Kaidan snored away back in her cabin. Life wasn't about fairness, she reminded herself.

"You were playing cards?" was all her brain could come up with.

"Poker," James corrected quickly. She stared at him.

"There is an actual bullet hole on the actual chair. The broken chair. Did you throw it?"

Ashley crossed her arms. "He can't throw worth shit. I threw it."

"The bullet hole was there when we got here."

Shepard stared at him again. "You were playing cards?" she repeated.

"Well, yeah. I must have yelled a bit loud, skipper, sorry. I'm not actually going to cut him," Ash said apologetically. "Not over cards."

"There's a leg missing from that chair, and I think that pile of splinters over there against the wall is it."

Ashley waved her off. "I'll take care of it."

James coughed into his hand and made his strategic retreat, mumbling about breakfast.

Shepard felt she hadn't really met this situation with the reaction it deserved, so she stared at her friend some more. Ashley shrugged. "He was deliberately letting me win. So I was deliberately taking all his money." She made a what-can-I-do kind of face. "Then he figured out I could actually play him out of his wallet without cheating."

"Was that what the argument was about?"

Ashley started. "What? No! I threw the chair mostly to prove I could."

For a moment, Shepard actually thought she wanted to know more. Then she came to her senses. "Yes, of course. That checks out." Then she left and never tried to find out what it was that Ash meant by 'I'll take care of it'.

Thankfully, nothing else during the course of the day was as alarming or disturbing as her wake-up call – was something literally anyone other than Shepard could say.

Joker informed her she had officially passed the anniversary of her first death and offered her kudos for being alive, right up until she reminded him the actual date was exactly one full year away.

"Ah, well, congratulations on being alive in general, then. Y'know, 'cause, your life." He gestured vaguely. "Just your entire life."

Then, Liara offered a moment of respite and sanity, by requesting her presence for updates on the Mars project.

"It's going really, really well," she said with a smile. Liara was most like herself when she wasn't so completely enveloped in the Shadow Broker business. Shepard smiled back encouragingly. "We've made enormously promising strides. Yesterday, I received a report that the secondary team had unearthed vestiges of what must have been a prothean researcher who managed to burrow himself in such a way that he was missed when the reapers came. It is an almost intact wealth of data, the way he was preserved. He must have died slowly, if he did not end it himself," she continued, matter-of-fact. "Certainly, no amount of supplies in that facility would have lasted him very long."

Shepard grimaced and uneasily thanked her for the update. The estimated time to conclusion, according to Liara, should comfortably be within a few weeks. Hardly any resources were being spared for the initiative, and after all, Liara herself had privileged information about their findings.

"I'll let you know as soon as we find our info among the rubble." In the silence, and due to her current state of mind, Shepard imagined she added 'of a great civilization eventually brought to its knees via a metaphorical – and also very tangible – temporal cycle of birth and destruction'.

By the time Garrus and Wrex found her with Joker, discussing what to do about the Normandy's upgrades – a desperate attempt at a normal conversation on her part – to ask her opinion on firing weapons inside the ship for target-practice, her patience had been traumatized. She looked up at the ceiling and counted to three before turning to them.

"Hypothetically, of course," Garrus explained quickly. "We have obviously no-" Shepard held up a finger to silence him.

"You know what we all need? Shore leave." Kaidan – who'd been following her around ever since she politely requested that Tali didn't test out new theoretical corollaries on mass effect technology inside the ship – perked up at her words. "And by we, I mean all of you. You need it yesterday," Shepard added, warming up to the idea.

There were a few seconds of silence while everyone processed this.

"What about the collectors?" Garrus ventured.

"Are we allowed to celebrate one win before we start dreading the next one? For once. Just like, a week. I'll take one week," Joker quipped.

Shepard stood up, gesturing pointedly at Joker. "He'll take one week. I'll give him more. Way, way more. In fact, this ties in nicely with what we were discussing, Joker," she said, turning to him with a warning glare in her eyes, mostly for the purpose of keeping everyone quiet. "Shore leave while the Normandy goes through renovations. Sound good to everybody?"

They all knew it was a rhetorical question, so Garrus and Wrex nodded quickly and disappeared to spread word.

"Good," she said cheerfully. Kaidan was the only one brave enough to stick with her as she strode away from the bridge, but EDI went one step further, being the only one brave enough to speak to her.

"Shall I make the arrangements? I've provided you with a list of options on your private terminal, and included time and cost calculations."

"You have no flaws, EDI, don't let them put one finger on you."

EDI tilted her head. "Of course," she said, as though it was a foregone conclusion.

"And feel free to choose whichever option you think best."

Pleased in an AI kind of way, she accepted the instruction and walked off. Shepard walked faster, decided that the rest of the day, no one was going to disturb her unless she specifically wanted them to.

Kaidan waited until they were back in her cabin to figure out what to say. "So – you've had a stressful day?" He should have taken a few more hours, though.

She threw a pillow at him for no discernible reason, and he fell on top of it, and on the bed next to her. "Feeling better, at least?"

"Kinda."

He offered her a slight smile. "They've been infected by a particularly biting case of cabin fever."

"I know. I've been in a good mood lately, ended up missing that one."

He kissed her temple, then her cheek, and began drawing a trail down her neck. "Hmm – In a related matter – if we're going on leave – what do you say we take advantage of it? I can make plans with my parents for us to head to Vancouver. Unless you had a different idea." He pulled back then, probably as part of some nefarious plan to distract her well enough that she wouldn't pursue his words beyond agreeing.

"Okay." Whether his plan had worked or that was her actual untarnished answer, they'd never know.

He grinned and kissed her properly on the lips this time.

It was several hours before she stepped outside her cabin again, humming something unrecognizable under her breath while paying little attention at the datapad she held, until Vega called out for her.

"What's this I hear about leave? I just got here and already we're going on vacation? I dunno why they call you the best marine in the Alliance, Shepard, what do you even do all day?" he groused.

She was in too good a mood to glare at him. "Put up with you, evidently. Takes a lot out of my time. Besides, you've been here for weeks, Vega, what are you talking about?"

"And you already need a break from me?"

Shepard looked him in the eye very seriously. "Do you really want an answer to that question, James? Be honest to both of us."

He retained his straight face. "So, shore leave then."

"Shore leave. As soon as humanly possible."