A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews/alert subscriptions. Means the world! This is the last ME1 ficlet I have, the next two take place after Horizon so spoilers ahoy!

Shepard heaved the weight up from her shoulders, until her arms stood straight upright. 98. She counted in her head. Come on, two more.

She was preparing for her 99th press when a head appeared over the back of the bench, smiling down at her.

"You know, you should really have someone spotting you." Kaidan told her, just about stepping out of the way before she smacked him in the face with the bar of the weights.

"Didn't want to embarrass anyone." She ground out, bringing it down once more and pushing back it up with a huff of laughter. He sensed she was finished and helped her guide the weight back to its resting place, noticing for the first time the amount of weight on each end of the bar. His eyes widened, just for a second, long enough for her to feel a flash of pride at his impressed surprise.

"You wouldn't embarrass me." He offered.

She laughed, fetching a towel. "No, you do a good enough job of that yourself."

She threw the towel at him but his reflexes were quicker than she allowed and he caught the end before it had left her hand, using the resulting imbalance of her action to tug her towards him.

For the second time that day she fell against him and it took most of his self restraint not to take advantage of the situation before Joker could interrupt again.

She looked up at him when he closed his eyes and she knew she'd lost him again. They were still two days out from Ilos... she supposed there was still time. What was stopping him, really? It wasn't as if they hadn't done enough to get court-martialled over already today.

"What are you waiting for Alenko?" She muttered, vocalising something she hadn't strictly meant to.

"In the gym? Really?" He asked, opening his eyes and huffing out a laugh.

"I don't know, the bench isn't that uncomfortable." She said, watching his gaze flick behind her and his pupils dilate at the thought her words had put in his head.

Reluctantly he stepped away from her and headed for the door. "At least find somewhere with a lock." He called over his shoulder before the doors could automatically open.

Shepard watched him walk away from her, threading her towel through her fingers in a rare show of nervous energy. Her window of opportunity was closing as soon as those damn doors did and she had to decide what to do about it.

"Kaidan!" She said, his name unfamiliar enough from her lips that it made him break his stride.

He turned in the doorway to look at her.

"My quarters have a lock." She said, brazenly careless about who might walk past.

"I would hope so." He said, saluting her with a cheeky smile. "I'll see you later, Commander."

As he disappeared out of her sight Shepard frowned, then chuckled to herself. And women were supposed to be the ones who were hard to read.