Friction - Chapter Three

"I've always liked that jacket," Kilandra mused from the doorway of Naveed's bathroom.

He turned to her as he adjusted his collar and smiled. "I don't suppose that has anything to do with the fact that you're the one who bought it for me, does it?"

The asari simply grinned behind her coffee cup and watched the drell lean into the sink to wash his hands. "Oh, there was a voicemail on your comm..."

"Already?" Naveed shut off the water and reached for a towel.

"According to the timestamp it came in last night."

The drell stiffened and kneaded the cloth between his hands. He inclined his head and said calmly, "Kilandra, we've talked about this. You can't keep picking up my messages. My patients use that number and they have a right to privacy that I'm responsible for protecting, understand?"

"Don't talk to me like I'm a child! Why are you handing out your private line to patients anyway? If they're having an emergency shouldn't they be calling the clinic?"

"So it was a patient," Naveed surmised with a frown. "Did you save it at least?"

"Yes, but it won't help you. It's completely garbled, like she was on speaker phone or something."

"I'll take it in my office." He folded the towel hurriedly and hung it back on the rack before turning to exit. Kilandra almost spilled her coffee stepping out of his way, but she didn't let it keep her from dogging him all the way back to the living room.

"I didn't hear anything," she defended plaintively. "And even if I had, you know I wouldn't tell anyone!"

Naveed's jacket flaps snapped behind him irritably as he made his way to office. "Not intentionally perhaps, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that when a patient calls, their words are meant for me alone. This is the promise that I have made to them, and by interfering you are not only breaking a sacred trust but making me into a liar as well." He reached his office door and punched a code into the security panel. "Would you like it if I told my patients about your behavior last night?"

"That's not fair - I didn't mean it. I was upset..."

"And you wanted to talk about what was upsetting you," Naveed finished, "as do all of the people who walk through my clinic doors. I'm very sorry about your sister. Kilandra, and I'd like to continue the discussion we started last night, but right now, there is someone else who needs my attention and they may not be able to wait."

"Do you promise to come straight home after work?"

"I promise."

Kilandra gave her usual pout but nodded. "I'll go make you something to take for lunch."

The drell's stiff posture fell away as he watched the woman retreat. She'd been acting so odd lately. Even when the previous night's incident was brushed aside, there was still a strange anxiety there that he'd never seen in her before, and it was beginning to be more than a passing concern for him. The young asari had always been the sort to smother with affection - it was a trait he'd found charming and sympathetic in their early days - but the manipulative behavior she'd been exhibiting recently wasn't at all like her. Normally their disagreements were minor and easily remedied, but lately he'd been reluctant to make any sort of stand for fear that it might set off whatever had gotten into her.

His heart hurt at the thought that their relationship might be nearing its end, especially after Kilandra's revelation about her sister, but something just wasn't working anymore, and all of his attempts to solve the problem were being met with push-pull, erratic resistance.

He stepped through the portal into the privacy of his office and dismissed thoughts of his lover for a more professional air. Whatever was happening with her, he had a more pressing concern to deal with. He pulled the comm device to the edge of his desk and loaded up the saved message. When it began to play he sharpened his acute drell hearing to make out what Kilandra could not.

At first there was only silence, followed by a crackle of static and low, uneven breathing, but the empty air eventually gave way to a hesitant voice he recognized immediately.

"Dr. Eldrani? Are you there? It's Blair…" Her voice cracked and Naveed's sensitive eardrums could hear a faint echo in the background. She was in a small room, with a bare floor.

"I've had an accident…I'm-I'm okay, but, I've changed my mind. About the hypnosis. I…can I come in sooner than next week? Please. Please call me when you can." A long pause. "Bye."

Naveed's throat constricted, and his hand shot out to dial Blair's number. His dark eyes darted in his head and a half-dozen scenarios played through his mind as he waited for the call to connect. When the comm device failed to pick up a soft curse in an old drell dialect escaped his lips. He flew out of the chair to the door and that's when it hit him - an old memory he wished he'd been able to bury with the body it left behind.

"I'm tired, Naveed." Waves crash on the rocks below. Two gulls squabble over their leftover lunch. The smell of the sea is intoxicating. "I will take you home, Vashtee." A heavy sigh. Sobbing. "Where is home?" His hand moves to hers. It is cold. "Home is with me."

A rush of bubbles. A white dress in water.

Naveed's hand missed the door handle, and he collapsed in a heap against it, gasping for air. His huge eyes opened wider than ever and stared into the ceiling lights looking for a silhouette that wasn't there. A pounding against the door throbbed in his skull like the angry surf had so many years ago. The drell rolled onto his side, and Kilandra pushed the door open.

"By the Goddess!" she exclaimed as she crouched next to him and pulled his hands away from his face, "Naveed! Are you alright? What happened?"

"I'm f-fine," he managed between breaths. He grabbed one of the blue hands that pawed at him and held it tightly. "Just give me a minute. Please."

The asari stopped fidgeting over him and rested her free hand on his forehead. She stroked its scaled surface comfortingly, letting her nails drag lightly down his neck. Frayed fabric brushed her hand before she could bring it to his face again.

"You ripped your jacket," she mumbled, fingering the split seam in his left shoulder.

Naveed's sense returned, and he attempted to right himself. "The woman…on the voicemail. I need to find her, Kilandra."

"Now? You just passed out! I'm not going to let you drive…"

"Then take me to the transit garage. I need to make sure Blair is alright."

"Blair?" Her face crinkled.

"A new patient," Naveed explained as he finally regained his feet. He rested his hands on his desk and let his head hang between his shoulders until the room stopped spinning. "She works at the NDC garage. I need to go there. Now."

.oO-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Oo.

Naveed had never visited Port Hanshan's transit garage before, but luckily for him, it was as well labeled as the rest of the station. If it hadn't been, he doubted he would have ever found the tiny office of the head mechanic amidst the sprawling complex of docking bays and shuttle hangars. A pale-plated turian manned the desk there, dressed in the bright blue and orange uniform of an NDC employee. The drell walked up to him hastily and announced himself.

"Excuse me..."

The turian finished clacking out something on his keyboard before glancing up with a leisurely air. "Are you in charge here?" Naveed asked him.

"That's right. Head Mechanic Liliheirax at your service. Call me Li. There something I can help you with?"

"Please, I'm trying to find a young woman-"

"A human?"

"Yes, her name is-"

"Hodges," the mechanic interrupted. He stood and walked around the edge of his desk slowly, sizing up the drell in front of him as he did so. "There's only one woman in my garage."

"Did she make it in to work today? It's important that I speak with her."

Li's blue eyes hammered Naveed's green ones harshly. "You a friend of hers?"

"No, I'm her therapist." The drell withdrew his NDC id and presented it.

The turian glanced at it and relaxed his posture. He rubbed his neck and muttered thoughtfully. "She asked to take some time to see a doctor...I didn't realize she meant a shrink."

Naveed managed to contain his frown. "I take it you don't approve of what I do."

"It's not that. It's just that Hodges has been nothing but solid here. What does she need a shrink for?"

"I'm afraid that's between the two us. May I see her now?"

Li nodded. "Oh sure. She's in docking bay nine working on some ATVs. I'm sorry to give you the hassle, but there've been some odd people around lately and I don't want them getting to my crew."

The turian gestured for Naveed to follow and as the two of them made their way to the garage the drell took the opportunity to learn more about his patient.

"You said Blair is the only woman stationed here?"

"That's right. Came off the boat two months ago and she's still kicking. Most of them don't last a week, but Administrator Qui'in did good with this one. She's tough."

"Do the other mechanics give her much grief?"

The turian gave a rich laugh that echoed down the bare hallway. "They used to…until they found out the hard way that she's a living lighting rod. I guess you must know all about that though, huh?"

Naveed nodded. "I am aware of her condition."

"It's unfortunate," Li mused. "Hodges can fix pretty much any problem I throw at her, but her cybernetics remain a mystery… Just goes to show there are some things we weren't meant to fiddle with."

The drell raised an eyeridge curiously at the comment, but before he could inquire further, his escort stopped at an airlock with "Bay 9" stenciled across it in scuffed blue lettering. Li paused at the door control and turned to Naveed. "I hope you can find a way to help her. She's a hard worker and a good person and her morale's through the roof."

Naveed bowed his head at the weight of faith in the comment. "I am prepared to do everything I can for her. I would not have come out here this morning otherwise."

The mechanic nodded and opened the portal. Cold air made Naveed's skin tighten as he walked forward onto a platform overlooking four ATVs in various states of repair. Fast-paced music heavy with synths blared out of the garage's PA system, and small, wet footprints made tracks between the vehicles. The drell heard Blair before he could see her; the sound of her soft singing was just loud enough to make out on the fringe of his hearing, and following the sound allowed him a glimpse of her NDC uniform behind the third ATV from his left. He saw her jump when the turian reached out and abruptly shut off her radio.

"Hodges!" Li warned from the platform. "What'd I tell you about keeping that trash turned up while you're working on the heavies?"

"That it's dangerous and I'm likely to lose my other arm," her voice remarked sarcastically. The turian turned to Naveed with an exasperated expression that made the latter chuckle.

"We'll finish this discussion later. For now you need to get your butt up here. You have a visitor." He turned to the drell. "I hope she listens to your advice; she sure as hell doesn't listen to mine…"

Blair's brown-haired head peeked out from behind her ATV, and Naveed began making his way down the stairs to meet her. He watched her replace her tools on a workbench and unhook a grounding cable from her bionic arm before turning towards him and making her way through the jacks supporting the vehicles. When she drew close, he saw a handful of tiny cuts that blemished her face. Despite his concern, he stopped respectfully at the edge of her work space and waited for her to close the distance.

"You've got fifteen minutes, then I want you back to work," the mechanic called down to Blair. "Those shuttles have to be ready to head out to Peak 12 in two hours."

The turian then disappeared out the airlock, leaving Blair and Naveed to their privacy.

"I'm afraid I didn't get your message until this morning," the drell told her. "I tried calling, but there was no answer. Are you alright? What happened to your face?"

Blair shrugged and brushed one of her long bangs behind her ear. "I had a slip in the shower last night. When I fell, my knee jutted out and broke the door. I'm okay, though. Una got out all the glass and patched me with some medi-gel." The woman ground a booted toe in the floor and sighed. "I feel stupid for calling you now."

"Please don't. I prefer that you keep me informed of incidents like this. I'm very sorry I wasn't available for your initial call, but I'm glad to see you're alright. You had me very concerned."

She shrugged. "It's okay. I was just a little freaked out after it happened. Next time I'll call back and let you know I'm okay so you don't have to go through the trouble of tracking me down just to check up on me."

"It's no trouble, Blair. Your garage is on my way to work." Naveed checked his omni-tool and sighed. "I do need to be there soon though, so I'll be brief: You mentioned in your message that you wanted me to push forward your next visit so we could discuss the option of hypnotherapy. Is that still the case?"

"If it's not a bother for you. I don't mind waiting my turn if it is."

"Very well. I will check my schedule and see if I can fit you in sooner."

Blair smiled, causing a cut in her lip to crack. Pity settled like a stone in the pit of Naveed's stomach. The human must have seen it flash behind his eyes because she tensed self-consciously. She followed his gaze and her good hand went to her mouth. When she drew it back, she looked at the red stain on her fingertips and her face fell. She whipped a dirty rag out of her tool belt to wipe the blood away but the drell caught her hand, offering a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket instead.

"Blair," he whispered softly, holding her hand and wishing her roaming brown eyes would meet his, "do you have any family on Noveria? Any friends?"

He watched her blink rapidly, trying to force away the water collecting on the rim of her lower lids. "No. Just Una. I came here because I needed the job."

"You mentioned that name earlier. Who is Una?"

Blair made a derisive laugh that cut him like a knife. "She's a bot. She was assigned to me after my operation to help me get by."

Naveed remained silent for several seconds, watching the woman daub at her lip with his handkerchief. Her loneliness was palpable, and it pained him. An idea suddenly crossed his mind, but his soul struggled to determine whether or not it would constitute a breach of the promise he'd made to Kilandra earlier.

"Blair, do you have any plans for this evening?" he asked finally.

She shook her head, still hiding half her face with her bloodied cloth.

"Then I'd like to invite you to my home for dinner. My mate Kilandra is an excellent cook."

"Isn't that against the rules?" she mumbled.

"Technically, no. Noveria is outside of Citadel space and so does not recognize the same regulations as you are used to. Ethically? Some would argue so, but I believe exceptions exist. As you said Blair, there are no rules to navigating a spiritual connection. If someone wants to deem me unethical for my kindness then so be it."

Blair folded the handkerchief and mulled silently. "Where do you live?"