A/N: Thought I'd include some humor in this chapter; the plot isn't any lighter, but to breakup the story's gloom the tone of this chapter is. Hope you enjoy. I simply find Grunt amusing, and I wrote some of this while more than a little inebriated. Also thank you for suggestions on the type of ending you want, there has been no clear preference yet so keep making your desire known; I'll let you know when the plot has forced me to decide. Please keep the reviews coming.
COMMEATUS
"Tali, it's good to see what you've done for Shepard's; he seems, if not happy, at least not clinically depressed." remarked Kelly as the two women sat on Hock's balcony enjoying the scenery. It had been almost two weeks on Bekenstein and this beautiful view had not yet worn out its welcome to the two women, though some crew members had gotten bored lately and gone into town to raise hell. Kelly laughed silently imagining the hapless local police trying to figure out the chaos caused by a bored krogan, biotic psychopath, and ex-SPECTRE.
"Yes, I suppose he is behaving more normally; I don't understand why, though. He hasn't talked to me about what's bothering him or let me help him with anything." Tali replied slowly, interrupting Kelly's amusing train of thought.
"Then what have you two been talking about, if you don't mind me asking?" Kelly pried.
"Not much, I mainly just talk to him about quarian culture and life like I used to on the first Normandy. Sometimes he'll ask questions but I usually just ramble on as he listens." Tali replied.
"Well, simply having a companion must be comforting for him. Miranda told me why she thinks Shepard shot himself and it seems plausible that simply your presence reminds him that there are those who care about him and haven't betrayed him."
"Oh, yes…I suppose you're right." Tali forced out her throat clenching as a dull ache formed in her chest. Quickly excusing herself Tali left Kelly alone on the balcony. What would you say if Miranda told you the whole story? What would Shepard say?
Kelly watched the quarian leave wondering at her abrupt departure. As they had been from the moment Shepard had rescued her on Haestrom Tali's feelings towards the Commander were transparent. There was something new, though, and Kelly couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Tali acted guilty about the possibilities she was afforded by this situation even though she wasn't the one that had abandoned Shepard. Perhaps that was it; maybe there was a quarian social norm Tali was violating that stigmatized benefitting from a rival's self-destruction? Kelly nodded to herself, having analyzed Tali's recent behavior she decided it likely stemmed from guilt. Resolving to speak to Tali about this Kelly stood and began looking for the quarian intent on reassuring her, Shepard needed Tali's attention and it would not help the mission if Tali cut herself off from him due to misplaced guilt.
It took some time but eventually, with Jacob's help, Kelly was able to use the mansion's security system to find Tali, she was in a coat closet. This demanded Kelly's attention. Retrieving a coat from her room before heading to Tali's location Kelly feigned surprise at seeing the quarian as she opened the door to Tali's closet.
"Oh my, Tali what are you doing in a closet?" Kelly remarked upon seeing Tali crouched in the corner hugging her knees to her chest, her head bolting upright from its resting place on her knees at Kelly's appearance.
Looking up at the Cerberus psychologist in alarm Tali quickly stood from her crouched position attempting to regain some composure and dignity, though the effort failed dismally as the coats already hung up in the closet caught on her head and shoulders draping Tali in a bizarre, riot of clashing colors and textures. Stifling a giggle Kelly helped Tali shrug off her new wardrobe as she repeated her question.
"I, I just like the small space. It's like on the Flotilla, it helps me relax." came the stuttering, embarrassed response.
"That makes sense." Kelly reassured her. "But what made you need to come here to calm down? I noticed you left the balcony rather abruptly, was it something I said?"
"Oh no, it's…something different. I'm sorry to worry you over nothing." the quarian said quickly not wanting Kelly to feel at fault for Tali's own misdeeds.
Picking up on Tali's implication that both what happened on the balcony, and something new had shaken her up enough to cause her to hide in a closet Kelly decided to continue her questioning, after all that's what the Illusive Man paid her to do. "So, what happened after you left that upset you? Please tell me, it is my job to help, you know."
"It won't matter, you can't help me with this, it is not an emotional issue." Tali said before continuing in an increasingly frantic voice, "I need to get back to the Flotilla!"
"Why? If something's wrong I'm sure we can help you, you're our shipmate now, let us help." soothed Kelly, hoping to keep Tali around so that Shepard's recent improvement would have a chance to take root preventing a relapse to the homicidal, suicidal psychopath he had been before Tali had, to a degree, helped calm him down.
"You're right, I need to talk to Shepard, he might help me. Do you know where he is?"
"No, last I saw he was heading into the city with Jack and Grunt. I'll let him know the minute he gets back to talk to you."
Absentmindedly Tali thanked Kelly as she wandered off.
Jack was having fun, and that meant everyone around her was not. At least it usually meant that, but today there were two others who were also having fun, Grunt and Shepard were enjoying themselves right alongside of Jack. In a rare introspective moment between sending biotic shockwaves at the passing vehicles Jack considered this new situation; it was somehow more fun to have them with her than it was to be alone. Shrugging off the uncomfortable sensation of self analysis Jack turned to Shepard,
"Okay, that orange Batarian State Transport X517 coming this way, see it?"
"Yeah." said Grunt while Shepard nodded.
"Fifty says I can hit refueling station five with it."
"You're on Jack." replied Shepard.
"Hah, explosion." exclaimed the immature krogan clapping his hands together.
Concentrating on the approaching vehicle Jack waited for it to almost draw level with their vantage point before sending a burst of energy at its front sending it spinning towards the refueling station. Amid shouts and screams the vehicle crashed into station three to the dismay of everyone, except Shepard, as fire erupted from the damaged station sending bystanders fleeing.
"Damn it."
"Pay up Jack."
This was another new situation for Jack; all of it was starting to give her a headache. Ordinarily upon losing a bet Jack would simply send the unfortunate winner flying into the nearest hard object, but Shepard might not be too easy to do that too, especially because then Grunt would attack her for hurting his 'battlemaster'. And I don't really want to kill Shepard, but I also don't want to pay the bastard. Time to use your brain, Jack.
"Double or nothing." Jack shouted at Shepard trying to be heard over the approaching sirens.
Growing a predatory grin Shepard nodded. Grunt appeared confused until Jack turned back to the street bringing her biotics up to power, then he started bouncing up and down in excitement. Trying to ignore the squirming 1,000 kilo krogan Jack focused on the approaching sirens.
"Okay, the squad car on the left, got it?" seeing Shepard nod Jack continued, "upside down against the closest auto-wash bay."
As the sirens screamed closer Jack leaned out of their hiding spot and sent a shock wave angling under the approaching security vehicle hitting its rear, right propulsion unit. Cart wheeling over itself the vehicle smashed onto its roof and skidded towards the wash eventually coming to a rest five yards short of the building.
"Fuck, Fuck, Fu…Cops, lets go!"
Reaching their idling vehicle the three piled in before taking off at top speed weaving through traffic and taking sharp corners until they lost the police chasing them. Finally having eluded their pursuit the team pulled into a parking ramp where the fugitives parked their vehicle. Making sure they hadn't been followed Shepard and Grunt kept watch while Jack broke into a new transport that apparently satisfied her criteria for a decent get-away vehicle.
The flight back to the mansion was in silence except for Grunt's occasional noises as some thought flitted through his oddly active yet simultaneously stupid brain. Despite being told to shut up by Jack and eventually Shepard as well Grunt continued to cackle and roar at seemingly random times. Finally Shepard had enough and told Jack to pull over several miles from the mansion.
"Grunt, I told you I'd pull this thing over if you didn't stop doing that. Get out; you're walking the rest of the way back."
Seeing that Shepard was serious Grunt obeyed his battlemaster disappointment filling him at this humiliation as he lumbered reluctantly from the back seat. Catching sight of a group of maintenance mechs ahead of them Grunt's disappointment was forgotten as he hefted his assault rifle and charged towards them bellowing his thanks to Shepard for giving him something more interesting to do than sit in silence in the vehicle. Shaking his head as Grunt ran off Shepard turned to Jack expecting to see her amused, or at least annoyed, by the krogan's immature behavior. Contrary to Shepard's expectations, however, Jack's expression briefly appeared troubled before it became angry. Not feeling comfortable in a confined space with a powerful, insane, and seemingly mad biotic Shepard tried to cheer her up,
"That was a fun game with the vehicles you showed me back in the city, you do that often?" ventured Shepard.
"No, not really; it usually isn't that fun." Jack tersely answered.
"Well, I had a good time, and I'm pretty sure Grunt did too."
Following this brief exchange a tense silence descended on the two of them until they had nearly reached the mansion, much to Shepard's relief. Before arriving, though, Jack spun the wheel to the side sending their stolen vehicle swerving off the road. Cursing as Jack narrowly avoided several trees Shepard had just managed to reposition himself to try and wrest the wheel from Jack's apparently suicidal driving when she brought the vehicle to a sudden halt.
"What the hell was that, Jack!" exploded Shepard as he watched the convict lean back against the headrest ignoring him. Frustrated at her silence Shepard tried again, "Jack, what do you think you were doing there?"
"I needed to wipe that place off the map. You took me there to do it, and I owe you." she said in uncharacteristically subdued tone.
Confused at the non sequitur Shepard stared at Jack before realizing she was speaking of Pragia. Trying, successfully, not to laugh at how it took Jack several weeks to work up the courage to thank someone Shepard simply remained quiet knowing that Jack would speak her piece. Turning her head away from him Jack attempted to nonchalantly look out the window as she continued, but the tension in her body revealed the gesture as one of insecurity rather than strength.
"You don't know what it's like, Shepard. To have garbage like that following you. It marks you in ways you…you don't expect."
"Really, because I'm pretty sure that I've gone through more than even you can complain about. You're haunted by your fucked up childhood, I'll see your time on Pragia with a destroyed childhood on Mindoir and raise you two lives worth of hard decisions and responsibility for the suffering caused by those decisions." Shepard snarled back, angered by Jack's refusal to acknowledge his pain.
"Shit, you sound like a pussy."
"You're a hard person to like, Jack. Are you going to get back on the road now?" he responded frustrated by Jack's mood swings.
"No, just hold on a second. Shit, I'm not good at this soft stuff. Just…thanks, okay? For Pragia, I'm just trying to pay you back for helping me." replied Jack refusing to make eye contact with Shepard. Not giving Shepard a chance to object Jack continued,
"Remember Aresh, that fucker on Pragia? He was trapped in the past, reliving it every day. You showed how that could be me. I'm not getting stuck like that. I'm better than him and I'm sure as hell not carrying that around with me. Now you're pulling an Aresh, don't carry your last life around with you, move on already."
Unwilling to accept this accusation Shepard tried to deflect Jack's sudden empathy by provoking her, "Or what, you'll kill me like you did Aresh?"
"That was you're idea, and you were right to do it. Aresh was better off dead than reliving his life in that hellhole. Is that why you tried to kill yourself, because you were like Aresh?"
"Yes."
"That's my point, asshole. I'm stronger than Aresh; I've started to move on from Pragia, with your help. Fuck it, what I'm saying is that unless you're as weak as Aresh you need to move on from whatever is torturing you. And I'll help." Jack shouted at Shepard jabbing a finger in his face to emphasize her points.
Having finished her brief tirade Jack stiffened, realizing that she had revealed far more than she had meant to. Embarrassed she spun the vehicle around and got back onto the road. The awkward silence once again reigned in the vehicle as the two occupants tried to avoid looking at each other; finally they pulled up to the mansion's gate and waited for the on duty guard to radio Garrus for permission to admit the vehicle. Moving past the now open gates Shepard finally broke the silence,
"So, Jack, how do you move beyond the past?"
"I don't know, still figuring that one out. But today was fun, maybe that's all there is to it. You know…make new, good memories that replace the old, bad ones."
"Worth a try. Oh, speaking of today, while your help might make up for Pragia you still owe me 100 credits. There, another good memory, this is easy." Shepard said grinning at the tattooed convict.
"Fuck you, commander."
As Shepard entered the mansion Kelly moved towards him noticing that both Jack and Shepard appeared to be relatively happy. About to ask the pair how their leave went Kelly remembered the news reports of a terrorist attack on a refueling station she had heard. The attack had killed seven, wounded forty-eight, and destroyed several million credits worth of vehicles and buildings; the suspects, two humans and a krogan, were still at large and considered armed and dangerous. Deciding not to inquire as to their activities Kelly approached the commander,
"Shepard, Tali would like to speak with you; she seems very upset about something."
"Okay, do you know where she is?"
"No, but I'd check closets first." responded Kelly, trying not to laugh at the confused look on Shepard's face.