Disclaimer: Not mine, Bioware's!

Drink in hand, Kaidan sat silently by the bar. The place wasn't full, which was fine by him. He never was a fan of crowds. Especially not alien crowds when he was in his formal Alliance uniform… they stared at him as if he was from… well, from another planet. He had only been there around twenty minutes, and he didn't know if Shepard would show at all. It would have been surprising if she did… he stared at his cuba libre before downing it. Putting the glass back on the bar, he ordered a refill with a hand gesture, then turned his head to look around. He looked once, and saw no sign of her, so he went back to the bar… but something had caught his attention. Turning his head once again, the figure he had seen walking through the door was walking toward him now, and he swore he was hallucinating. She was next to him at the bar now, waiting to be served.

He stared at her in awe with a smirk on his face. "Either I'm really drunk, or you're wearing a dress… and since I'm not feeling drunk, I'd say…"

"Yes, I'm here and yes I'm wearing a dress. Is it that surprising that I figured social calls don't require body armor? Unless, you're here to kill me, in which case, you're the one who better start running because you know I always carry a gun…" Shepard retorted.

He chuckled in his usual raspy voice. "Relax. You look great, you should wear those more often."

The asari bartender arrived and gave Shepard a surprised look. "By the Goddess, you're still alive?"

Vera smiled. "Barely. I'll have some gin and tonic please."

She nodded and got to work. "How's flyboy?" She asked while pouring liquid into a glass.

A sudden pang of guilt hit her stomach at the mention of him, but she kept a straight face. "He's good. Moody, cranky, arrogant… his usual charming self." By the end of that sentence, she was smiling.

No matter how angry at him she was or how much crap they went through, she would never slander Joker… to anyone.

The matriarch chuckled hoarsely and served her drink. "Tell him I said hi, will you?"

"Yeah…" Shepard took her drink in hand then faced Kaidan. "Can we get a table?"

"Sure." He got up and walked beside her toward a table, offering her a seat before sitting down himself.

"Who's flyboy?" Kaidan asked casually as he sat.

She smiled. "I was here with the crew last night and… apparently, Joker made a new friend."

"Really? No kidding, Joker making friends. That's new." He had an estranged look.

"Yeah…" her smile faded as she remembered her purpose. "So, I'm curious… why did you change your mind? You seemed pretty adamant on Horizon." She asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing her legs, putting the drink to her lips.

He put his elbows on the table and rested his arms, his back straight. The Alliance had had its effect on his mannerisms. "Well, to be fair, I thought you were dead for two years, so Horizon wasn't entirely my fault…"

"Of course, it's my fault for actually being dead, right?" Her hands flailed as they hung loosely from the back of the chair.

He hesitated and inhaled deeply. "You're right… I didn't know, and I spoke out of turn, for that I'm really sorry…" his brown orbs searched her greens for a reaction but all they let him know was that she was listening. "And I guess that letter was a poor excuse for an apology."

She smirked and rolled her eyes. "Yeah, tell me about it."

He lowered his head and chuckled. "Fair enough…"

Shepard then lowered her arms from the chair and leaned on her elbows, reducing their distance and piercing into his eyes. "You still haven't answered the question."

"Liara." He blurted out. "She contacted me after you came to see her for the first time. She said she had information that I should know about. With all the rumors flying about her work with the Shadow Broker, I wasn't sure if I could trust her, so I decided I wouldn't take the bait."

She retreated to her original position and crossed her arms in front of her. "Sounds like something theCouncil would say… city life getting to you, career man?"

"Hah, you don't know half of it…" he shook his head. "Anyway… I saw what happened on the vids. You and your team had taken down the Collector base, and I heard from Alliance intel that you were on the run from Cerberus. News from Cerberus travels fast in the Alliance, especially now that we began hunting them down. You could imagine my surprise when I heard that bit… that's when I decided to seek her out."

Shepard's face switched from attentive to thoughtful as she almost choked. "Wait, you said you saw Liara? When?"

"About a week ago, I was here before you came… why?"

"So this isn't just a tragic coincidence. Did she say anything about leaving?"

"She mentioned I had bad timing. Apparently she was going to hunt someone down… gotten a tip from a reliable source. She kept trying to contact you but you never responded, probably a damaged comm buoy…"

Her brow furrowed. "Or a deliberate communications jam… did you tell her Cerberus was after us?" Her tone grew alarmed and she stood up.

"No, that's classified Alliance intel…"

Shepard seethed as she began rapidly walking toward the entrance without one more word. He stood up and ran over to the bar, paying their credits before he left behind her.

"What's going on Shepard?" He asked, keeping up with her with ease.

"Liara worked directly with the Illusive Man to get my body back, that much you know now… but once she handed me over, she started working as an information broker to hunt down the Shadow Broker. She was never working for him, she wants to kill him."

"So she went after him…"

"And the Illusive Man was her 'reliable source'. That's why the comms were jammed and there was no trace in her office."

He paused as he brought all the pieces together. "Damn… but why would she trust him? And how could she not know her comms were jammed?"

They had reached the docks and the Normandy was about ten yards away. The heels were slowing her down.

"The Illusive Man is resourceful, she probably didn't know she was walking into a trap. And if it is a trap, he's using her as bait." She paused. "He faked the signal from the Normandy… she thinks it's us! That's why it took her so long to leave! Why else would she not go right away otherwise?" She kicked off her pumps and started a barefoot quick jog toward the Normandy.

"I'm coming with you." He said after her, making her stop and give him a defiant look. "Look, if I had told her…"

"I'm not going to indulge your guilt trip, Kaidan. You're staying. You're not ruining your career over this."

"This isn't about my career, Shepard…" he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him, hugging her. "I'm not losing you again."

His biotics caused electric shocks to rise up her spine and she trembled under his embrace. This felt too familiar to her… but for some reason, she didn't seem to miss it. Images drowned her mind, but these… they weren't of the man she had in front of her. No, it wasn't Kaidan at all.

"I'm sorry Kaidan. This isn't happening." At the words, his body went stiff.

She pushed him away and lifted her head to face him. He was perplexed at her reaction, stumbling over his words. His brow furrowed in confusion.

"W-what? Why…? What happened?"

"I came… because I wanted to say good-bye… because this is quite possibly the last time you'll ever see me."

"What, you wanted closure? Is that it?" He started blinking at the burning in his eyes.

"I already had my closure, Kaidan. I'm… I moved on. But obviously, you didn't." Her expression looked pained.

She hated doing this to him, but it had to be done. The first step to regaining control was always to tie up loose ends. She needed to do this, for him, and for her peace of mind.

"I see." His voice began to break as he put a hand over his mouth and looked at her.

"I'm sorry-" he put a finger over her lips.

"Spare me. Please." He slid his hand down her arm to hers and lifted it as his eyes started to water. "Vera Shepard, it was an honor to have met you." He cradled her hand in both of his and kissed it gently as he smiled at her weakly.

"The honor was mine, Kaidan… farewell." She turned to take her leave and began walking, her shoes in hand.

"He's lucky to have you." She heard his voice after her.

She paused and turned around, taking her turn to stumble over words. "What! How…? Wait! I don't-!"

"Your smile, when you were talking about him… it gave you away before you even said anything. I hoped it was just my imagination, but I know you Vera. I know that look." A tear rolled down his cheek, taking refuge in his left dimple as he tightened his lips. "Good-bye." he saluted and about-faced, then walked away.

She was stunned, confused, bewildered… unbelieving… what was she doing? She didn't have time for this. She sprinted the rest of the way to the ship. The airlock opened and she almost bumped into Miranda, who was staring at her knowingly.

"Miranda! I was just about to go looking for you, we need to get out of here! Leave is cancelled! Gather the crew and let's go! We're going after Cerberus." She looked toward the empty bridge. "Where's Joker?"

"He's in med bay Commander, he hit something with too much force and injured his hand…" Miranda studied Shepard's reaction as confusion took over her features. "He was upset."

She rolled her eyes in disbelief. "Let's just page the crew and get out of here. I need to change."

Miranda stared at her commander as she walked away with pursed lips and a small gape in her mouth. Could the woman really be so dense?

"And tell Joker to stop faking and get his whiny ass up here!" Shepard yelled from the bottom of the CIC.

Miranda lifted her arms in defeat. Yes, she really was…

"EDI, set a course for Omega." She commanded the AI.

"Affirmative."

The officer then neared the bridge and activated the universal intercom, which paged everyone on or off board through high priority transmitters implanted into their ear canal. It was an annoying little evil device… but necessary for the Normandy crew, according to Cerberus standards.

"Normandy crew, this is XO Lawson. Leave is cancelled. I need all hands back in their stations to get ready for departure. I repeat, all hands to your stations immediately, you will be briefed en route."

Meanwhile, Joker sat on one of the med bay beds, his hand being examined by the knowledgeable Dr. Chakwas. Every touch she made was agonizing and he felt a sweat bead roll down his temple.

"How in the devil did manage to do this to yourself, Jeff?" Her face was a mixture of astonishment and sleep deprivation.

Out of the whole crew, Dr. Chakwas had taken her abduction by the Collectors the worst. She knew it wasn't a sensible thing to let the past hang over her head, but the things she had seen while the rest of the crew was passed out… no sentient being should ever have to go through that. Her short, silver hair was tied back in a ponytail, but some strands still moved over her face.

"What can I say?" He winced. "EDI finally pissed me off. I think the Reaper IFF is having some weird side effect we didn't know about. Wait, no… she's always been irritating. Never mind, let's just call it… late night habits and leave it at that."

Chakwas pursed her lips and gave him a look, then shook her head and continued to examine him. "Well, you're lucky it's not broken."

"Really?"

"No, the only thing that's broken here is your sense of humor… that joint was already irritated and you managed to dislocate it. It's rare in normal cases, but given your condition…" She walked away and opened a drawer, taking out a rubber mouthpiece. "Bite down." She ordered.

"Great." He inhaled deeply and braced himself, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth into the foul-tasting rubber.

She placed herself to pull on his hand. "One… two…"

With a crack, an immense amount of pain shot up through his entire arm as a muffled scream erupted from his throat. His hand balled up in a tight fist. After a few seconds, his breathing slowed and the pain subsided as he sighed.

"…I can't believe this." He panted. "Two hundred years since we became space-faring species… and this never gets any easier."

Chakwas chuckled as she began preparing the materials for casting. "You'll need a cast for the next few days… try to lay off this 'habit' for a while, yes?"

"Yeah that's like telling a dog not to piss on the fire hydrant…" he mumbled. "I thought it wasn't broken, doc."

"It's not, but you'll need to restrict movement while it heals." Her tone was raised over the sound of rushing water. She turned off the faucet and carried a bucket to another table, then went looking for other materials. "So, will you tell me what really happened?"

He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't know, I dozed off at the bridge and then Shepard…" he hesitated, but he knew he could trust her. "She was going to see Alenko tonight and I… I just lost control." He looked down to his hand. "I know I shouldn't feel this way… she's the boss, and not only that, she's THE Commander Shepard, savior of the Citadel, but she's not just that either… she's a beautiful, free-spirited, strong woman who deserves better than that moron Alenko! …or a cripple who treats her like shit." He kicked himself mentally. "What have I done…?"

There was a long pause before Chakwas brought a tray with all of the prepared materials before him.

"And here I was, half-expecting another snide remark." She lifted his head by a finger under his chin.

He scoffed. "Well everyone knows it's not smart to piss off your doctor when she's casting your hand."

"That's true..." she carefully took his hand and put it on an empty space on the large tray, it didn't hurt him as much anymore so she was pleased. While deep in thought, she began wrapping his hand in the various layers the cast required. "Why don't you let her be a judge of what she deserves?"

"What do you mean?" His eyebrow lifted.

"Well, if you feel that strongly about her… I think you should tell her." She replied suggestively.

He laughed heartily before speaking. "No way man! She just went to see Kaidan! Kaidan the Alliance hero, Kaidan the eternal hunk, Kaidan the non-cripple!"

"Oh stop it! Self- pity doesn't suit you…" she looked at his bewildered face and rolled her eyes. "Just tell her."

If only it had been that easy… the word 'mistake' echoed in his mind. "It's not that easy doc..." He said, making her expression grow attentive. "I tried telling her this morning… but she blew me off. I guess that's part of the reason why I was so angry. I don't just feel like she doesn't see me, but it's like she doesn't want to."

"Trying is not the same as doing, Joker." She lowered her head and continued her work. "Ever since Kaidan, Shepard hasn't been the same… it's always 'duty first' with her lately. In that state, I guess down time can be a little… disconcerting. It's something new to her, frightening, maybe even intimidating…" she finished casting his hand from the wrist up. "There. Now give it a few minutes to dry." She stood up and took off her gloves as Joker's eyes followed her around the room. "But I have no doubt in my mind that she feels something for you." She finished with a knowing grin.

Being the skeptic he was, he had to ask… "do you know something I don't?"

"Oh, you know what they say about drunk people…"

…they always tell the truth. He looked away and said no more. Did she know? Had she seen them? Or was this something else entirely?

"Normandy crew, this is XO Lawson. Leave is cancelled." Miranda. Back to work.

"Thanks doc, gotta go!" He sprinted past her as fast as he could with a limp.

Chakwas watched him leave with a crooked smile on her face, remembering Shepard's toast and the glimmer in her eye when they were discussing Joker.

"To the ornery bastard who flies this ship!" The drunk Shepard yelled happily, then giggled.