A/N: - 50+ follows! This is a huge deal for me. Thank you!

Despite promising to "slow down", Jane did not show any signs of doing so. The next week was filled to the brim with missions, sometimes as much as three in a single day. The Normandy kept moving from system to system, stopping occasionally only to re-fuel. Jane ensured that none of her squadmates joined her in two consecutive missions, which is probably why I heard no grumbling from Tali or anyone else.

Or maybe her squadmates were tough enough to handle it, unlike Mr 'pisses-his-pants-after-one-mission' right here.

I chuckled at my own thoughts as I stood outside the Commander's private quarters, waiting for the door to open. A few minutes ago, she had texted me to meet her for "game night".

'Game Night.' Was that a euphemism? Probably not …

Since that amazing moment we shared in the med-bay, things hadn't moved forward between the both of us. Apart from the occasional run-ins in the elevator (which, thankfully, was still slow as hell), I barely got to see her. I really didn't want to ask her to delay stopping Saren just to make out with me, so I preferred staying quiet and focusing on my work instead.

As the door finally opened, I was surprised to notice Jeff, Kaidan and Ashley in the room, animatedly talking with each other. For some reason, I had assumed we'd be alone.

Jane's table had been brought to the centre of the room, and everyone was seated around it, beer bottles in hand. The Commander was carefully setting up a holographic board game.

So.. 'Game Night'. Definitely not a euphemism.

"Hey, Harry!" Jeff exclaimed. "Have a drink, and a seat. We're celebrating tonight."

Ah, celebrating liberating a colony from being mind-controlled by a giant plant, I guess. The Feros mission had apparently taken a huge toll on the squad.

I nodded at Jeff and quickly reached for the empty chair beside Jane, who gave me a quick smile and returned her attention to the board. Kaidan handed me a bottle from the opposite end of the table, grinning.

"Harry, ever played 'Ship Attack'?"

"Nah, but I've seen other people play it. It's basically a 6-way space chess match, right?"

"Not exactly, but that's mostly true." Kaidan replied.

Jeff sighed. "Of course you'd compare it to space chess." After noticing Ashley and Kaidan's confused looks he clarified, "His mom was a Grandmaster."

Jane looked up from the board, smiling. "Is a Grandmaster, Joker. The title's held for life."

Ashley spoke up, remembering something. "Wait, I've heard of her! Rachel Douglas, right? Sarah, had once told me about her, back when she was obsessed with space chess for some reason. The first human Grandmaster! You're really from a family of over achievers, huh?"

I grinned and scratched the back of my head. "Yeah. Haven't been able to do much in life myself, compared to them." I tried to change the topic. "So, Sarah's your sister, right?"

"Yeah. Youngest." Ashley replied, with a smile.

Kaidan turned to look at Ashley with a mischievous grin. "Wait, Sarah…. Isn't she the one who has a crush on me?"

Ashley's face turned red. "For the last time, Kaidan, she just thinks you're cute! It's not the same thing as having a crush. Everyone thinks you're cute. I mean…"

It was too late. Ashley put a hand over her mouth, and Jeff burst out laughing. Before Kaidan could react, Jane interrupted the awkwardness.

"Okay, we're set up."

The next hour was spent on a very intense game, full of team-ups and betrayals, logic and emotion, anger and celebration. It was the most fun I had had since ages. It was quite obvious that everyone on the table felt the same way.

Jeff was the first to lose, playing too aggressively without any strategy. Ashley and Kaidan doomed themselves by focusing their fleets completely on each other, leaving themselves wide open for me and Jane to team up and destroy them. Jane was on fire, causing slow but consistent damage to everyone due to some ridiculously good tactical moves. I was terrified of having to go one-on-one with her, but that's what it all came down to.

Jane looked at me with a wide grin and winked. "Get ready, Douglas. You're going down. Those little space chess tricks you learned from your mother won't help."

She looked… happier than I'd ever seen her. Seeing her having the time of her life, giggling and trash-talking, made me feel warm inside. She deserved to have more moments like this. Right there, I decided to make it my mission, to ensure that she does.

"Commander," I replied, narrowing my eyes and smiling playfully. "It's one-on-one now. It's exactly like space chess. And that means you are the one who's going down."

Jeff nodded his head, holding his empty beer bottle, "Then it's decided. One of you is 'going down' on the other, once this is over…"

"JEFF!" I turned around, in shock. "That's….. REALLY inappropriate…"

Behind the sound of Ashley and Kaidan laughing their heads off, I heard a crash, and immediately looked back at the board. The majority of my remaining fleet had been cleverly destroyed by Jane, in a move that I could not have seen coming in a thousand years. With just a few ships left, winning was basically impossible.

"Alright, alright!" I put my hands up. "You win."

Jane smiled back, finished her beer, and with a swipe of her hand, turned off the hologram. She looked back up at me. "Well played, Harry. A little more practice, and you can be incredibly good at this. Your strategies are really unique."

"Yeah," Jeff spoke up, "you guys should definitely… 'practice'… together."

The violent shove that Jeff received from me wasn't as playful as he might have hoped.

Kaidan raised an eyebrow, grinning. "Joker, you do realise that the Commander is sitting right here, right? Do you want her to knock you out?"

"I'm not going to injure the ship's only pilot, Kaidan." Jane replied, sounding amused. "As much as I'd like to."

"He's just… really drunk." I replied, still glancing at Jeff.

"All of us are." Jane replied. "Let's try and get some shut-eye. We have Virmire to look forward to, tomorrow morning."

Everyone started getting up from their seats. Jane noticed the worried look on my face but didn't say anything.

One by one, everyone said their goodbyes and headed for the door. I shuffled my feet, pretending that I had dropped something, trying to stay back till the end. Finally, we had the room to ourselves.

"Hey," Jane whispered as she came near me. "I know what's bothering you."

"You do?"

"Yeah. You think I'm working too hard."

"Well… yeah."

Jane leaned in and gave me a kiss. "I'm aware of that. It's just that, I don't have a choice. Every one of those missions was important, and I couldn't even imagine… slowing down and risking lives." She looked down at her feet. "I know the crew's tired. I was planning for an extended shore leave once Feros was done, but I wasn't expecting Virmire to happen. I promise you, the first thing we're doing once we're done tomorrow, is heading to the Citadel. I haven't forgotten your offer."

"Neither have I." I gently caressed her face, and we shared another passionate kiss. We continued holding on to each other. "What about the nightmares? Still having trouble sleeping?"

"Haven't had a bad dream since that night in the med bay," she replied, with a playful smile. "Maybe you're really good for me, Douglas."

"I know I am, Commander." I winked at her, and she giggled, making my heart flutter. "You need to sleep now. Busy day tomorrow."

"Hmm..." Jane sighed, and walked away from me, still smiling. "Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Jane."

"DOUGLAS!"

"Sir, it's stable now. We're fine."

"It's a bloody nuke! We're not 'fine' till this thing is out of the Normandy. Handle it carefully."

Lt. Adams and I stood nervously, guarding a makeshift bomb made from the drive core of a Salarian ship. In a few moments, we would be landing in middle of Saren's facility to arm the bomb, and fly out of there before it explodes. Our mission at Virmire had gone in a direction I was not expecting it to go.

After a few minutes of silence, we heard Jane's steady voice over the comms. "Okay, we're clear."

After a loud thud, the back of the ship opened up, and we were treated to the sight of a pristine looking facility. The water-filled area we landed on apparently housed the geothermal taps, which powered the entire base. A 'weak point', according to the Salarians.

Ashley ran into the ship and joined us. She immediately grabbed one of the sides of the device, and looked at me.

"Go ahead, Douglas," Lt. Adams ordered. "You'll be safe."

I lifted up the other side of the bomb, and we slowly headed down the ramp, passing by Tali, who was limping back up into the ship, looking seriously injured. Jane and Garrus were standing outside, gesturing at us to place the bomb at a particular spot.

Apparently, things weren't going as planned. Kaidan and one of the Salarian teams were getting ambushed, and Jane was considering taking Garrus and Wrex with her to the AA towers to save them.

"It's okay, Commander," Ashley spoke, with urgency. "Douglas can arm the nuke, and we can cover for him if any trouble comes up."

Jane nodded. "Harry, arm the nuke ASAP. Garrus, Wrex, let's go!"

As the large door closed behind them, the Normandy lifted off to pick up the other teams. I returned my attention on the bomb, typing away at the console. My hands were shaking, and my heart was beating as fast as it did back on Luna.

"How much longer, Douglas?" Ashley enquired.

The tiny display turned red, and a prompt for starting the timer came up on the screen. "It's ready for activation!"

The roaring sound of a Geth ship landing interrupted our momentary relief.

"SHIT! HARRY, GET TO COVER!"

Before I could even understand what was happening, we were being swarmed by Geth. Ashley and Liara were trying their best to fight them off, but we were clearly outnumbered.

I hid behind the pillar next to the bomb, covering my ears to stop them from hurting. The sound of rockets and gunfire kept getting louder and louder every second, as the synthetic troops closed down on us.

"They're here already! We're getting swarmed." Ashley screamed, presumably over the radio. I didn't have an earpiece. Neither did I have armor. Or a gun. I started to wonder if I'd ever get to see Jane's face again.

Ashley gestured at me to go towards the bomb. I blindly ran towards the device, just barely dodging a rocket.

"ACTIVATE IT!"

"Wha-"

"SHUT UP, AND ACTIVATE THE BOMB RIGHT NOW, DOUGLAS!"