It had been a long time since Joker had been on the Citadel. A very long time. He'd practically grown up on the Arcturus Station, which was where the Flight School was, and it was the area his mother worked at the time, too. But in recent years his mother had moved to the Citadel, and was now living out her days as a receptionist by daylight and a civilian by night.

Before she'd moved there, the Citadel had practically been his home. He'd loved the streets, the people, the variety of aliens you were destined to meet just by going grocery shopping, and of course, the secrets the Citadel had thrilled him more than anything else. He'd spent all his off hours there, living contently with a good home and a good job. But now that his mother was there it just seemed like a reminder, and not a good one at that.

You see, Joker had been the best pilot at his Flight School. Better even than half of the instructors, and they all knew it. But that hadn't stopped anyone from treating him differently, or from teasing him outright. To them, instructors and students, he'd always been the sickly little kid with the creaky legs. He didn't blame his mother for it - no way. He loved her. If it wasn't for her, he probably never would have attended the school or found out where his calling in life lay. He just wasn't too good at showing her he loved her, though. Despite how much he cared about his mother, she still reminded him of the life he'd led at that school, and he was determained to forget all that.

And all that was why he hadn't visited her in so long. But now he felt like it was his responsibility. After all, his father had passed away a little over two years ago and as far as Joker knew, she'd been alone since. And he was kind of on the Citadel anyway, with nothing much to do, so he figured... why not?

Crutches and all, he made his way through the Citadel, walking - well, hobbling - as though he knew the path well. He passed people he thought he'd once known, but didn't pause to converse. He walked past his old home, and didn't even bother glancing at the front door. None of it mattered anymore. He just wanted to get off his legs, and get to the safe zone, as he figured.

Soon enough he was standing before a door, resting on his crutches, taking deep breaths and trying to decide what he was going to say. 'Uh... hi mom. Sorry I haven't visited in a while, but life is hell at the moment, you know?' Smooth. With a shake of his head he resigned himself to his fate, decided to make it up as he went along, and lifted a hand to knock on the door.

"Jeff?" The voice sounded surprised, but warm and affectionate.

What the? Joker frowned, looking at his hand, suspended before the door. He hadn't even knocked. Senses returning, he turned his head to see where the voice had come from, and couldn't help but smile.

His mother stood there, slightly graying brown hair tied neatly in a bun, blue eyes dark and warm, slight creases on her otherwise kind face. She looked stunned, much as he had a few seconds before, but the happiness glowing behind the surprise was almost overwhelming. She rushed up to him as quickly as an elder woman could, and embraced him into a tight hug. "Oh, your home!"

Joker would have replied, but found it quite difficult to do while being practically strangled by his over eager mother. "Mom-- air... Can't breath!" He tapped her shoulder and tried to break free.

She must have realized she was being a bit too over happy, because she suddenly released him and held him by his shoulders, smiling at him with pride. "Oh, I'm sorry! I'm just so glad to see you!" She laughed, weathered lips breaking into an even wider smile. "Come on in!" She brought a key out of her pocket, unlocked the door and marched into her home happily.

Joker followed slowly on his crutches and closed the door behind him. He was pretty much silent, trying to catch up on the air he'd missed. When he finally regained his lungful, he spoke. "Nice place, mom. Comfy looking." He chuckled and watched her carefully.

His mother was rushing about, trying to clean up in a rush, and he could guess she'd only just finished work and arrived home. She kept saying 'What a mess! Oh, just let me tidy up so you can sit down!' and shoved papers in draws, picked up a stray coat that had been hanging on the back of a chair, and opened a window or two to let some fresh air in. Only once she was convinced she had improved her homes veiw, did she return to him. She gave him another, albeit softer, hug. "Oh, Jeff! Its been so long! How are you? You look so well! Well, you'd look better without the beard of course, but it is your life." She chuckled happily, and he could tell their was more than one thing on her mind as she spoke. She went on in that vein for some time, talking about her home, the happenings of the neighbors, the weather, how pleased she was with his appearance, and how she'd heard all about the great things he'd been doing off some friends in the Alliance.

By the time she'd finished, and finally paused to breath, Joker was shifting uneasily on his legs, feeling the need to sit down.

"Oh, dear!" She'd cried then. "Oh, how stupid of me, Jeff dear, come sit down and rest your legs!" She half led, half pulled him to the dining table nearby, and Joker took a seat, laying his crutches safely on the ground where he knew she wouldn't trip over them or anything. After all, he'd always been in trouble as a child for leaving them where people could trip on them, but that hadn't been his fault, had it?

Joker looked around the home, admiring the veiw out the windows, and the choice of furniture about. Now that he was there he was having trouble coming up with anything to say, so he'd pretty much decided in his head to let her do the talking. Only, she was silent now. So he looked at her. And she was looking back at him, perched at the edge of her chair, twisting her hands and smiling almost nervously. She gave a bit of a laugh as their eyes met. "So! Tell me, how are things? How's your job? Got yourself a nice boss? Haven't been hurt have you?" All the usual questions.

Joker wanted to groan, since he'd suddenly realized he was going to have to answer the questions now, but he held it back and just shrugged instead. "I'm fine mom. Honestly, so you can stop looking at me like that." He chuckled and shook his head slightly, tracing a pattern on the table with a finger tip. "Yeah. Everythings fine. I haven't been hurt, ah, my jobs good - still the pilot of the Normandy, although, if you ask me, I'm pretty much in charge of it." He chuckled jokingly and looked away from her for a while. "My boss was Captain Anderson, but he's left just recently and left the Commander in charge. She's a great boss, though, so I'm not complaining." He chuckled to himself, shrugged and looked back at his mother.

"Oh? A woman for a boss?" His mother chuckled in amusement. "Didn't think you'd ever take orders from a woman, Jeff." She smirked a little, the same kind of smirk Joker had, so there was no doubt she was his mother.

Joker chuckled, bright teeth flashing. "Okay, yeah, I admit it. I didn't like her so much at first, but now..." Now what? I love her? We're great friends? I worry about her constantly? Yeah, that's great. That's why I'm here now, mom, because it beats sitting around on the Normandy wondering who she's off having fun with. It beats thinking how jealous I am that she's off partying somewhere while I'm - yes me, the cripple, the guy who's fallen for her, who worries for her constantly - watching my life fly by... He shook his head a little and took his hat off to run his fingers through his hair. Dropping his hat on the table, he merely shrugged, and didn't bother to finish saying what it was he'd started.

"Now... what?" His mother asked quietly, watching her son carefully. If it made him take his hat off, the hat he'd refused to be parted from pretty much all through puberty, then she realized it had to be something pretty bad.

Joker took a deep breath, trying to figure it all out. "Now... I think I could be getting into something that's too big for me. I mean, Kaidan's dead all of a sudden, the Commander tells me she didn't really love him, I'm confused and... and the Turian is telling me all this stuff about the Commander I didn't even know. It just makes me like her more." He shook his head, barely realizing what he was saying or who he was saying it too. He sighed slightly. "But then I just keep hearing this rule over and over in my head, about the whole Crew Fraternization thing..." He suddenly realized what he'd said and he risked a glance at his mother. She was frowning. Joker just sighed. "I'm sorry, mom... I dunno what I'm thinking, anymore." He shrugged uneasily.

His mother smiled slightly and reached a hand across to touch his shoulder. "Jeff, I don't mind. Tell me what's going on, and I'll see if I can help. Let's start at the beginning. First of all, what's this Commanders real name - it would be much nicer to know the name of the girl whom my boys fallen for, rather than her rank." She chuckled softly.

Joker felt the warmth of her hand on his shoulder and smiled to himself. He'd missed that. He'd been away so long that he'd forgotten what it was like to have someone you could count on no matter what. He sighed a bit and listened to what she had to say. When she'd finished he just went quiet for a moment, but finally, smiling to himself, he said it; "Zalora. Her name is Zalora..."