Indira looked too peaceful, too still, lying on the infirmary bed, sedated so she wouldn't hurt anyone or herself. With red, watery eyes, Lauren kept vigil at her side. "You have to be ok, Indi," she whispered desperately. "I don't have anyone else."

A nurse walked in with a sad look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, but you are going to have to go back to your bunk now. Her family has been contacted."

Lauren nodded quietly and left the room. As she headed back to her bunk, all she could see in her mind was Indira, one minute quietly bearing the pain, and the next lashing out wildly, her biotics flinging Lauren to the floor. Adults came running at the sound of the crash. Even with four of them, they couldn't contain the flailing Indira. Only after Lauren used her newly developed stasis skill could they move her to a room in the infirmary.

The room was dark as Lauren entered. She tiptoed to not wake the others, but Rahna and Kat were huddled together on Lauren's bunk, their faces illuminated by a datapad. "Is she going to be ok?" Kat asked tentatively.

"I don't know. No one would tell me anything. They put her on a heavy dose of some drugs. I guess her family was told," Lauren replied as she sat down beside them.

"What happened?" asked Rahna.

"We were in here, just talking. Well, I was talking. She was mostly being quiet. Then she said she needed to get to the infirmary because she had a terrible headache. After that, she just went crazy. Her eyes weren't the same. It was like she wasn't there. I don't know…" Tears filled Lauren's eyes again and her throat felt like it was swelling shut. "I just need to lie down, guys," she choked out.

Kat got up and moved to Indira's empty bunk. Rahna sat back down beside Lauren and stroked her hair. "I know you two were close. She's a good friend to all of us. I'm sure she'll be ok…" Rahna's voice wavered with emotion. Suddenly, Lauren didn't care who Rahna was seeing or kissing as she sat up in her bed and wrapped her arms around the older girl and wept. Right now, she just needed a friend.

x-X-x

When Lauren's datapad beeped at 5 a.m., she had only been asleep for about 3 hours. Her body was stiff from the awkward way she had been lying and her eyes felt sticky and dry. She got up anyway and washed her face in an attempt to look normal. The walk from her bunk to the large room she was summoned to was too short and before she knew it she could see Kaidan already having breakfast and Vyrnnus with his usual condescending look.

Vyrnnus gave Lauren a nod as she approached the table to eat. He looked almost…pleased? He must like seeing us miserable. As she sat, Kaidan didn't even look up, but continued to finish his breakfast. Both remained silent through the meal. When Lauren choked down what little she could muster up to eat, Vyrnnus placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I feel like I've been allowing you to make it too easy. I'm a turian. Naturally, you would…dislike me. It's easy to fight against me, to summon the strength to hurt me. Today, I'm going to pit you against each other. More than likely you will be taking on rogue human factions anyway as soldiers, and biotics will no doubt be part of them. You must learn how to face them…how to face each other." Vyrnnus' mandibles spread in a creepy look of pleasure. "Alenko, you take that side of the room. Shepard, over there. For now, it will be just a capture the flag exercise."

"This just had to get worse and worse," Lauren muttered to herself as she walked over to where her flag stood. She made some mental preparations as she looked across the room at Kaidan and waited for Vyrnnus' signal.

x-X-x

Kaidan didn't want to take on Lauren. Rahna had messaged him about Indira in the middle of the night, so he knew she was emotionally broken. The last thing he wanted to do was hurt her physically, but he was afraid he might not have a choice. The way Lauren was glaring at him from across the room was disconcerting. She looked wild and her biotics were already beginning to manifest on her skin.

At Vyrnnus' wave, they both threw up barriers. Lauren came charging right for the flag. Kaidan lightly threw her back, and moved toward a defensive position. Lauren stumbled backwards, but quickly picked herself back up. She was close enough that Kaidan could see her nostrils flare and her teeth grit in anger. Then Kaidan found himself slamming against the wall behind him in a way that made him see stars. She wasn't using her full strength, he could tell, but she was using a good portion of it.

The collision with the wall caused Kaidan to drop his barrier and Lauren quickly took advantage of it, putting him in stasis and running to snatch his flag. The one thing Kaidan hated most was being helpless and watching her escape while he was in stasis was infuriating. As the stasis released, Lauren reached her base and Vyrnnus called the point for her. Kaidan knew he wouldn't let her off so easy the next time.

They returned to their starting positions, Kaidan taking his flag back to its stand. He was pissed. Not because she was a girl, or younger and smaller than he, but because he had allowed himself to be pushed around because of some misplaced pity he had for her. He turned to face her and this time his eyes snapped to life with electric blue.

"This time…no stasis," said Vyrnnus as he dropped his arm. Lauren came charging just like before, but this time Kaidan threw her to the ground much more forcefully and came toward her. Shaking her head, Lauren scrambled to stand up again, but Kaidan was right there and threw her again out of his way. She flew to the side, grunting as she landed. As Kaidan grabbed her flag, she ran and tackled him, putting her shoulder right into his stomach.

"Like hell I'm going to let you take this from me!" she hissed as she struggled to take the flag back. Her grip was surprisingly strong and Kaidan couldn't wrench himself free from beneath her. He twisted and turned his body to no avail.

He could feel Lauren's biotics pulsing through his own nervous system. When they had worked together, they felt cool and refreshing to him, but with her so angry and fighting against him, her dark energy felt like fire. His biotics had blended nicely with Rahna's when they touched, but now they boiled inside with an undeniable attraction. His brain felt like it was melting and lust suddenly surged in him as he struggled beneath Lauren. Kaidan knew he couldn't stay like this with her or he would have an extremely embarrassing situation occur.

Before he could muster enough power to overcome her, Lauren punched him in the face. In shock, Kaidan let go of the flag, but as she stood, he swung his leg out and tripped her. She crashed face first. Kaidan scooped the flag from the floor and took off for his base. "Son of a bitch!" Lauren screamed. Kaidan knew he could outrun her, but he didn't expect to be thrown from behind. He flipped in the air and landed hard on his back.

"Shit," he groaned and stood up slowly. He picked the flag back up and turned to see where Lauren was. She wasn't close enough to stop him from reaching his base and hoisting her flag triumphantly. Kaidan was about to tell her off when the tone sounded for first class. Vyrnnus approached them, clapping slowly. "I wondered if you two would be able to take on each other…competitively, and thankfully I was right. It took a bit, but you both channeled your anger into some fine biotic showing. Shepard, the punch, a nice touch. Hand-to-hand combat will come in handy one day. Alenko, you let her take advantage of you the first time, but I suppose you were just being a gentleman," he said sarcastically. "Gentlemen don't exist in battle. You may go."

They walked out, both with bloodied noses and emerging bruises. Kaidan was a few steps in front of Lauren and he could hear her breathing heavily behind him. He stopped and turned to block her way. "Hey," he said. "I'm sorry about Indira."

Lauren glared. "You don't need to be."

He took a step closer. "But I want to be." He leaned in to kiss her. He wanted to feel her fiery touch again. His lips met hers and she gasped. He caught just a brief flash of her biotics before he felt a sharp sting on his cheek as she slapped him and pulled away.

A feverish look was on her face. Kaidan couldn't tell what she was feeling. "I am not here for your fun. Don't toy with me," she said in a low, harsh tone as she pushed her way past him and walked away.

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews and follows! You are awesome!