Garrus did his best not to draw any attention as he entered the office. Shepard was already going over the case files for the day. Of course she was on time. She was always on time. "Morning, Shepard," he said.

She didn't look up. "Traffic?" she asked.

"Late start. I was working on something and lost track of time."

Shepard set aside the datapad and pulled a plastic tube from her desk drawer. "I have something for you," she said, holding it out to him. "Don't open it until you get home, though," she said with a wink.

"Uh, thanks. Should I worry?"

"Think of who you're talking to, of course you should worry," she said, raising her fingers to show him she was joking. "Look out, boss is coming," she whispered. "Put that away," she demanded, glancing pointedly to the cylinder in his hand. Garrus was worried by that, and he set the package aside, hoping it wouldn't be noticed.

"Shepard," Executor Pallin said sharply as he approached their desks. "I want an explanation for this," he said, lifting his omni-tool and playing a short clip of the infamous vid that was featured on the gossip page of one of the Citadel's many daily news feeds. Garrus tried not to look pleased, but Pallin bringing up the topic was perfect. He'd get the answers he wanted without having to ask for them himself.

Shepard watched the clip stoically until Pallin's mandibles began to twitch. "Looks like tabloid fodder, Sir," she finally offered. "They must be getting desperate if they're willing to run a story about some obscure artist's love life. Aren't there any celebrities on the Citadel for them to bother? I don't see how they can call it a sex scandal, either. Penephaedra doesn't have a bondmate. Do people really expect her to be celibate?"

"Funny. They say it's Officer Valor Shepard with her. Officer, not lieutenant. That's a reflection on C-Sec, when the Alliance should be suffering from this scandal."

"Honestly? If anything, they should call me detective, or warrant officer. I think it's sloppy reporting and reflects most poorly on, what paper is that? Nebula Chronicle. And still I think 'scandal' is over-selling it. Why would anyone care? Maybe if I were a politician or a diplomat or something, but I'm just a political ploy to keep the Alliance from complaining too loudly about humans only having an associate membership with the Council."

"You should consider how this represents your species, Shepard," Pallin continued drily, ignoring Shepard's assessment. "It's unfortunate. I don't know why the Council let your people force us to take you, but I suspect they'll reverse the decision in light of this."

"I hope not, Sir. I'd miss working with Vakarian, and I think we're close to a breakthrough on the black market leather. Vakarian thinks there may even be a connection to..."

"Yes, you two definitely get results," Pallin interrupted. "If you'd gotten the position through correct channels, I'd be inclined to fight to keep you, Shepard. You're good. Of course, if you were here because you'd earned it like everyone else in C-Sec, I wouldn't have to. Get those cases in order so Vakarian doesn't have to clean up your mess if you get reassigned."

Before she could reply, Shepard's omni-tool chimed and a red holo-alert flashed above her wrist. "This is marked priority, please excuse me," she said, stepping away from them.

"That was quicker than I anticipated," Pallin said under his breath, and Garrus's heart sank, fearing the Executor might be right. They both listened intently to the call. If Shepard minded or even noticed, she made no move to prevent their eavesdropping.

"Councilor Sparatus," Shepard said, making Pallin's mandibles hang uneven in disbelief. "What a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"

"Lieutenant Shepard," Sparatus greeted. "I received your gift. Your generosity was unexpected, and undeserved."

Gift? Garrus wondered. Why would Shepard be sending gifts to the turian Councilor? His curiosity was clearly shared by Executor Pallin, whose face was no longer lop-sided, but he was far from composed. Made sense. Who would have expected Shepard to be on friendly terms with Sparatus?

"Nonsense," Shepard dismissed. "It was the least I could do to repay you. I hope you approved of the subject?"

"It's quite the conversation starter. In fact, that's why I called. I was hoping you'd agree to meet with me. It's short notice, but perhaps you'd have lunch with me this afternoon?"

"I'd be honored. I'll clear my schedule," Shepard promised, glancing momentarily to Pallin, who clicked his talons, signaling his approval. "Councilor, I hesitate to bring this up, but are you certain you want to associate with me?"

"Why not? Because of that vid the news claims is you? That's nothing," he dismissed, almost sounding offended.

"Well, I did my best to soothe Penephaedra's wounded pride, as you suggested. I wouldn't want anyone thinking humans have no tact, after all, but it seems to have had some... unexpected results. I'm surprised she went so far, but I'm glad it isn't going to be a problem."

"It might have been, but my best people couldn't make a positive ID except on the artist and I'm confident no one else will be able to either. It was clearly a publicity stunt on her part. A good one, quite frankly. Now, forgive me, I have an appointment. I'll send a car to pick you up in four hours," Sparatus said, lifting his head slightly in farewell.

"See you then, Councilor," Shepard said, mirroring his gesture.

Garrus stepped forward as soon as the connection closed. "I think this whole conversation has been wildly inappropriate, Sir," he said to Pallin, trying not to let his amusement show. "In my opinion, Shepard would be well within her rights to file a complaint."

"Garrus, you don't need to defend me," Shepard stated, flashing him a smile that told him she appreciated his efforts.

"It doesn't need to come to that," Pallin sighed. "I apologize for prying into your private affairs, Shepard. It's not every day one of my officers is involved in something so high-profile, but if Councilor Sparatus can put it behind him, so can I."

"I'm not worried about it. It's not like I did anything wrong," she calmly reasoned. "If that's everything, we've just wasted nearly half an hour on this."

Pallin clicked his talons in agreement before heading back toward his office. "C-Sec could use more of Councilor Sparatus's goodwill, but I trust this won't interfere with your solve rate, Shepard," he said as he walked away, effectively excusing her from the office as long as the work got done.

Garrus had to admire how Shepard managed to neither confirm nor deny that it was her in the vid, but he wanted a straight answer. Call it stubbornness, but he felt the need to hear it from her directly. At least he didn't have to bring it up without any kind of lead-in. It was a start.

"Unnecessary though it was, thanks for stepping in. I came in today expecting you to interrogate me about that vid," Shepard said, smiling at him.

"Actually, so did I," he admitted. "How about I interrogate you on how you know Councilor Sparatus, instead?"

Shepard rolled her eyes and Garrus suppressed a shudder. That was the creepiest human expression he'd seen. Made his plates itch. "I was introduced to the Council when I got this assignment, Garrus," she said.

"That's it? And now he's taking you to lunch?"

"I bumped into him at an art show. Seems I made an impression."

"An art show? Penephaedra's gallery?"

"As it happens."

"Uh-huh. And what did you send him?"

"I promise it wasn't as good as what I got for you," the smirking human said, her eyes flicking to the package she had forbidden him to open until he got home.

"I can't wait to open it. So, you went to Penephaedra's art show, then a week and a half later this crazy recording gets released to the press. What's a guy to think?"

"You just couldn't resist, could you? You had to ask. I don't actually owe you an answer, you realize?"

"I'm curious, it's my nature. We both know it, so let's just get it out of the way, alright? I'm not going to tell anyone, but I have to know, is it really you in the vid?"

"It's not what it looks like, Garrus," she said, lowering her voice. "I went to her show and ended up offending her– just by wearing a white dress. Sparatus told me what it meant and that the asari Councilor was pissed since she sponsored the show and was probably screwing the artist– or at least wanted to. When I tried to apologize, Penephaedra got me to commit to... making it up to her. I had no idea what she planned, but I think she was using me to get Tevos to leave her alone."

"And some little artist cornered you into having sex with her?" he asked, suddenly distressed by the idea, but his mental picture of Shepard being coerced the way she described didn't resemble the vid in the least. "No, I'm not buying it," he denied. "I've seen the whole vid. Maybe if your roles were reversed, I'd believe it, but..."

"Believe what you want," Shepard interrupted. "She set me up and I couldn't have turned her down without major repercussions, so I went with it. If you saw the whole vid, you know it was completely one-sided, and you can't tell me it didn't seem staged," she challenged.

"That's true," he had to concede. "So, this happened right after you got out of the hospital? That show was only two days later." Garrus quickly tallied the days. The vid might have been recorded a week ago at most. And why did it get under his plates so much that she hadn't said anything about any of it to him? They weren't that close, and he probably would have been surprised if she had told him about her encounter with the artist, but it still rankled.

"It was just a few days ago," she said, seeming resigned. "I wanted to tell you, Garrus, but I didn't know how. And then the vid surfaced. I still can't fucking believe it. I'm just grateful that she never got a clear shot of my face. I don't want you to think I was just leading you on or something. I know humans make a bigger deal of sex than turians or asari, but I can't help but feel like I shouldn't have let it happen."

Garrus studied Shepard's expression. She had broken eye contact as soon as he expressed his disbelief in her explanation. Now, her eyebrows were bunched together and her lips were pressed thin. It looked a bit like anger, but not quite. He really needed more practice reading humans. Using pupil motion, he took a short video clip with his visor to analyze later. "I'm sorry I asked," he said. That got Shepard's attention. Her eyes locked on his and this time he had no doubts that she was angry now.

"Bullshit, you're not sorry. You may not like my answer but you know it's the truth."

"Maybe," he conceded. And now he was back to feeling guilty and angry about what had happened. As if being pressured into sex with a stranger wasn't enough, now the vid had been made public. She was handling the humiliation remarkably well, but now that he thought of it, she did seem a bit off. His mandibles flared as every protective instinct he had screamed at him to do something, but of course there was no way for him to help at this point. It was too late.

"Why do you care?" Shepard demanded, once again correctly reading every nuance of his expression and tone. "You never bothered to call me after you brought me home from the hospital and every time I've brought up another date you shut me down."

"You're my partner, Shepard."

"Don't give me that. I just answered every single question you had for me. I trusted you, Garrus. At least try and reciprocate."

She was right. She deserved more from him, and pushing her away wasn't going to serve anyone. "I've had a lot to think about lately, Valor," he began. "And we work well together, which is notable because I don't exactly keep partners very long. Potentially ruining that for a bit of off-duty recreation... well it didn't seem worth it."

"It didn't... past tense?" she tentatively, hopefully asked.

Maybe it was the guilt he was feeling, but he found himself actually wanting to give her a real chance. Of course, there would have to be some ground rules. "If you'll stop screwing asari artists or turian diplomats or whatever else comes your way, yeah, past tense. You're growing on me," he added, surprised to realize that it was entirely true. Sure, he was still convinced something was up with her, and he intended to keep looking until he figured out exactly what it was about her that made his plates itch and his mandibles flicker, but he did like her. Watching her with someone else had proven that to him almost as much as the thought of her on a date with the turian Councilor.

"Wow. That was a little out of line. I turn down plenty, Garrus," she said, turning away.

"So 'rough sex with a stranger' isn't on your list of things to do today? Save that for your days off, do you?"

Shepard shot him a dark glare over her shoulder, "I save that for special occasions when I need a serious pick-me-up after the asshole I was hoping to impress makes me feel like I'm something revolting. I thought turians had a more liberal attitude about sex than humans, but why don't you just come out and call me a slut, since that's clearly what you think of me."

Garrus was caught off guard by the hurt tones in her otherwise hostile retort. Guilt blunted his anger and softened his subharmonics, "I didn't mean it that way, and I'm not bargaining, Valor. I just meant... do what you have to do, but be honest with me. If you can do that, I think I'm ready to give us a real chance."

"I think I'd really like that, but you have got to work on your people skills. You're an expert at finding the most off-color remark and running with it."

"But you want to give us a chance too?" he prompted.

"Would I put up with all your shit if I didn't?" she countered. He thought she was joking, or at least half-joking.

"Okay. In light of that, how likely is it you'll cancel lunch with Councilor Sparatus?"

"It's social suicide if I do, so not a chance, Garrus. Don't worry, I'm confident he's just trying to make a human connection so he can say he has one. He wasn't impressed with my sexy little dress at the art show."

"Funny you should mention that. Personally, I like your uniform better. Or riot gear," he added, surprised by the raw tones in his subharmonics. Well, what of it? She looked good in armor. Noticing that was nothing to be embarrassed about.

"Like you've seen me in riot gear," she scoffed.

"You were on the Special Response team that took out that sand pit in the warehouse district. That was my case, Shepard. Of course I saw you. That whole bust would have gone to hell without you." He didn't add that he'd been on the team that had reviewed Special Response's performance when complaints about police brutality were made by the perpetrators. Those charges had been dropped and cleared from the official records, but Shepard had cut it dangerously close. At the time, it was assumed her conduct was a reflection of her ICT training, and when judged as a soldier, she was by the books. If she'd been reprimanded, he hadn't heard about it, and she hadn't been moved out of Special Response until a few months later. Nothing to do with the incident.

"I stand corrected," Shepard said, tilting her head as she looked at him. "Anyway, not all turians are as repressed as you are."

"Sparatus used your Alliance rank and then asked you to lunch. Trust me, he's one of the repressed ones, and he wouldn't be wasting his time on you if he wasn't intrigued."

"Guess I shouldn't bother changing out of uniform before he picks me up then, huh?" she teased. "You know, he did send me something..." she trailed off as she turned her attention to her omni-tool. "It's a piece from Penephaedra's gallery. I have a holo," she mumbled, searching for the file. "Ah. Here. He sent me this sculpture after the show. What does this look like to you?" she asked, holding the display so he could see.

Garrus craned his neck, and his mandibles immediately began to flicker. "What the hell? Is that a...? Never mind. You should cancel, Shepard."

"I'm guessing it's not a ship, then?" she asked innocently, tilting her head and making a show of scrutinizing the image of the sculpture.

Unbelievable. He had to get her to put the holo away before someone walked by. "No, I don't think so. Turn that off."

"Some kind of knife or something?" she suggested, still studying the holo.

"Sure, maybe," he agreed. He picked up a datapad and held it out for her, "Let's get to work."

Shepard rotated the image and ignored him. "I don't really like how it looks in my apartment, so I was thinking I'd bring it to work and use it as a paperweight. Of course, we don't use paper, so it'd just be sitting here on the desk, more useless than a paperweight. It doesn't sit flat, though. It kind of rocks when it's on a flat surface."

"Don't do that," he said, distress obvious in his tone and his subharmonics, assuming Shepard knew how to listen. "We don't need a bunch of junk cluttering up our workspace," Garrus hastily explained with forced calm.

Shepard's eyes narrowed and she scrutinized him. Of course she'd pick up his alarm. Of course she would. "What aren't you telling me, Vakarian?" she asked.

Garrus backed away a step, submitting to answering her question. "It looks a bit... obscene."

Shepard glanced at the holo, then back to him. The corners of her lips tugged upward, but it was so subtle, he might have imagined it. "What do you mean?"

"Well, look at it, Shepard," he said, flicking a mandible toward the holo. "Now think turian anatomy."

Shepard's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hand. "You've got to be kidding me!" she laughed.

"So you're cancelling, right? Have lunch with me instead."

"How about I have dinner with you and tell you all about lunch then. Don't worry, I don't like him enough to put out on the first date."

"Oh, stop, you're making me feel so special," he said, flicking his wrist and tapping his toes, emphasizing his sarcasm.

"No, don't do that," Shepard pleaded wearily, "this isn't a problem. It's not even really a date. If he wanted to get laid or something, he'd have asked me to dinner or out for drinks, and he wouldn't be sending a car because I guarantee he wouldn't want anyone to know about it. He'd pick me up himself or ask me to meet him and let me find my own way there. It's not a problem," she reiterated.

"I think I'll reserve my judgment until I hear what you have to say at dinner tonight."

Shepard sighed and picked up a datapad, "Dating you is already hard, Garrus."

"Yeah, but you know it'll be worth it, Valor," he replied, pleased that he sounded so much more confident than he felt.

A/N: Triple-chapter update, yeah! Thanks for reading. I'd love to hear what you think.