Chapter 16: Young Love, Old Wounds

Toronto, Canada (Earth)
Shepherd was in the gym having a sparring match with James, with Tali, Lia, and... lots of Alliance women watching, much to the chagrin of the two quarian women. Both men had their shirts off and sweating heavily, something that was not lost on the women, especially Tali and Lia.

With Shepherd in limbo, regarding his charge with the Bahak System up in the air, he had a lot of time on his hands as he had gain a lot more freedom. The two men circled each other looking for an opening, James made the first move with an incredibly face straight punch. Shepherd dodged right and got him in the side, James broke off before Shepherd followed it up. The larger human rubbed his side, Shepherd may have been smaller but he knew how to throw a punch.

"Come on Vega keep your arms up" Shepherd said going for a left hook. James ducked barely and retaliated with a right that caught Shepherd chin. The spectre flailed back but recovered and rubbed his jaw. Tali then spoke up.

"Come on, Wayne, you going to take that?!" Tali asked. "Kick his ass!"

"Go Jimmy!" They then looked at each other and glared at each other, usually the two Quarian women were best of friend, but when it came to the humans they liked, things could get…intense.

"Just watch, Wayne will get him next time" Tali said proudly.

"We'll see…" Lia said with a smirk. They continued to watch the sparring match, now knowing how hard the other can hit they were even more cautious.

"That's some hit Vega, not bad" Shepherd said with a smirk.

"Five time boxing champ back in high school" James said. "….Undefeated"

Shepherd whistled. "Not bad Vega, not bad, of course that won't help you here" he said with a smirk.

"Why?"

"Come at me and find out" Shepherd said. James cracked his neck and came at Shepherd with a vicious left hook, only for the spectre to duck and grab his arm and threw him. Because of the strength of his artificial arm, Shepherd had to make sure not toss him too far. James was tossed and landed on the mat on his back. Shepherd came over and looked down at him. "Well?" he asked.

James groaned and rubbed his bottom. "You win…" Shepherd smirked and helps the bigger man up. All of the sudden they were swarmed by their 'fans', Tali was not amused. Quarians when they bond with someone, they easily get jealous and territorial, Tali was no different. She got in front of Shepherd and glared at the women.

"Back off, bosh'tets, he's taken!" Tali growled. The women glared at Tali, they didn't believe that the most eligible man in the galaxy would be seen with a quarian, not when he could have any woman in the galaxy human or alien. Just then Shepherd came forward and wrapped an arm around the quarian woman with a smirk.

"Sorry ladies, but she's right" Shepherd said. He then lifted her up bridal style and carried her out the room. Tali looked back at the gob smacked women with a smug smirk, as they left the room. Lia walked over to James while he was wiping himself off, before she got to him some human women came to him, telling him how awesome he was or was giving out phone numbers. Lia huffed with jealousy, but soon perked up when James refused their advances and let them down easily. When women left, Lia approached him.

"Hey, Lola" James said with a smile.

Noticing James still didn't have a shirt on, Lia blushed and tried her best to not focus on his abs or his tattoos, or his scars…needless to say it was a battle she was losing badly. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry you lost, you'll get him next time" Lia said.

James chuckled. "Somehow I doubt that…" he said. He then grew silent. "Hey Lia"

"Yeah?"

He then came closer, causing Lia to blush again. "How about that second date, I promised you?" Lia's eyes went wide.

"I…um…well…I mean" She stuttered. James smirked, he didn't know if it was a Quarian thing or if it was just her thing, but he found it cute.

"Well?" Before Lia could give her answer, James' omni-tool beeped. He looked at his omni-tool and his eyes widen.

"Jimmy?" Lia asked.

"Can we put this on hold for a little?" James asked. Lia nodded, she welcomed this she didn't want to embarrass herself even more than she has.

James smiled and kissed her hand, causing Lia to blush again. "Thanks Lola" he said walking away. "But I do expect an answer"

Shepherd's room

Lia ran to Shepherd's room, to get Tali, she really needed the older Quarian's advice on dating humans. She's had crushes on male humans before on Terra Nova when she was young, but they never really went anywhere due to it being frowned on by some people on the colony. And with quarian males, she tended to be seen as a sisterly type or one of the boys due to her tomboyish nature, so she really didn't have experience with something serious. When she came in, she instantly covered her eyes, Shepherd and Tali was in the middle of being intimate.

Shepherd looked at Lia and paled. "Oh shit, Lia!" The spectre quickly got off of Tali and Tali covered herself, looking rather annoyed at the younger Quarian.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" Lia said franticly. Shepherd and Tali got dressed with Lia turning her back.

"You can look now" Shepherd said. Lia slowly turned around, and much to her relief they were dressed, annoyed but dressed.

"I'm sorry" she said.

Tali sighed. "You have the worse timing" Shepherd nodded in agreement. "What is it?"

Lia blushed and played with her fingers. "James just…."

"Just what?"

"Asked me out on a second date" Lia said. "I need advice"

Spaceport

James was at the terminal, he was waiting for someone, and he looked around and saw a skinny dark man in an Orange shirt, brown cargo pants, and black boots walking towards him. It was best friend, Steven Cortez; they had known each other since they were little kids ever since his uncle took him in after his parent's death. Cortez was the calm type, always thinking before acting which was the opposite of James who like to act first and then think about the consequences later. There were so many times where he got in trouble and Cortez bailed him out.

"Estaban" He said giving the smaller man a hug.

"Hey, James" he said with a small smile. The two men took a seat.

"It's good to see you, man, what are you doing here?"

"I was picked by the committee, about being the new pilot of the Normandy" he said. "But then they changed their minds, so I 'm on ship maintenance, it was so weird"

James chucked. "It's the committee, what do you expect?" He then grew serious. "How are you, hermano?"

Cortez lowered his head. "What do you want me to say, James? I lost the man I loved, my heart, and it's all my fault"

"No, it's not man…"

"If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself "he said with tears in his eyes. Robert was Cortez's husband, they had met when they were in high school, James and Robert played for the same football team. Robert was the shy type of guy, he had a crush on Cortez but never had the guts to ask him out until James pushed him to ask him out. They gotten married after college, where James was the best man, some three years later they enlisted into the Alliance. Robert and Cortez truly belonged together, they were was almost sickly sweet when together, James absolutely thought they were going to grow old together, but life had other plans…"It should have been me…"

James frowned and grabbed his collar. "And what good would that have been, huh?!" He asked. "If it wasn't Robert, it would have been you, and I still would have lost a friend, he wouldn't want to see you like this, remember your promise"

Months ago-Ferris Fields

Ferris Fields was a colony in the Terminus Systems, the planet had a very beautiful tropical environment which made it a huge tourist attraction, and however it was also a huge target for pirates and slavers. Luckily, the colony was one of the few in the Terminus Systems that gotten along with the Alliance and because of that had a huge presence on the colony which was how Cortez and Robert came here. When they were stationed to the colony, Cortez and Robert had thought they had found a place where they could build a life.

That was until the Collectors came…Robert and Cortez was ordered to evaluate the colonists while the soldiers tried to fight them off. However the Alliance underestimated how strong the Collectors were and was soon overrun. Meanwhile the Collectors had Robert and Cortez surrounded, the civilians ran for the shuttle the civilians Cortez was driving while Robert was protecting it. However some of them were either paralyzed by the seeker swarms or gunned down by the Collectors. Several of the Collectors surrounded a family until Robert mowed them down with is assault rifle. More were coming as Robert gave the colonists time to get on the shuttle.

"Robert, they're all on board! Get in"

"On my way!" He said. Robert shot more of the Collectors and then ran for the Shuttle. More of the Collectors flew in, with one of them starting to glow yellow.

"YOU PROLONG THE INEVITABLE! ASCENSION AWAITS!" The Collector started to glow.

"Robert behind you!" Cortez yelled. Robert looked back to counterattack, but the yellow energy hit Robert in the chest hard, he fell to the ground. "NO!" The collectors were closing in on Robert; Cortez ran to gun rack and grabbed a rifle.

"Steve, stay away! Get those civilians out of here!" He said in pain.

"But..." Robert got off the ground and went to cover. He shot several of the collectors, trying to keep them from the shuttle. More kept coming; if this kept up there would be no escape for all of them. Robert then became eerily calm, he knew what he had to do.

"Get them out of here Steve, I'll…I'll give you time to escape"

"No don't…" Cortez said.

"I Love you, but I know you, don't make me an anchor" Robert said. "Please, I want you move on, be happy, don't waste your life mourning me…"

"My life is nothing without you, you're my life, please don't do this to me!" Cortez said in tears. It pained Robert to hear him say that, but he knew that he had to get them out of there; Cortez would stay there for him, he couldn't let that happen. Robert opened his omni-tool and activated the autopilot for the shuttle. "Nonononono! Robert!"

"I love you, Steve…always" The shuttle flew away, leaving Cortez's husband to his fate. One of the collectors fired and got Robert in the shoulder, and the soldier fell back in the mud as the Collectors kept on advancing. He saw the seeker swarms flying towards his husband's location.

"ROBERT, ROBERT!" Cortez said banging on the doors. He then saw light and smoke…over near Robert's location, Cortez just watched as walked back to wall as he slumped on the wall with tears in his eyes. One of the civilians came close to him and put his hand on Cortez's shoulder, and then another until he finally broke down, crying in anguish over the loss of his husband.

Now-Spaceport

"I remember" He said softly. James put his hand on Cortez's shoulder; they had both been through a lot. Back on Omega, he was a wreck…he was just letting himself waste away and drunk because he get past his guilt, if it wasn't for Anderson who knows what would have happened to him. He refused to let Cortez, go through that, especially when it wasn't his fault.

"I know it's hard, but I'll help too, he was my friend just like you" he said. "So if you need anything, just ask"

Cortez wiped his tears and chuckled softly. "That's strangely adult of you, now I'm scared"

James smiled. "Now that's the old smartass Estaban, I missed" He then looked at his omni-tool. "We better get back, I'm kinda supposed to watch Shepherd, and he's still technically on house arrest" The two friends went back to the base.

Alliance Committee Building

Back at in Shepherd's room, Lia was taking notes on dating humans. There was lots of interesting subjects, but the most interesting on was the kissing, she's never been kissed before other than her parents. Although Shepherd like James, he reminded her to call him if James got out of hand and he would set him straight, which was welcomed but not needed. Tali came up to Lia and put her hand on the young quarian's shoulder. "Just remember, be yourself Lia" Tali said.

Lia hugged Tali and Shepherd. "Thanks, you two" she said walking away.

Tali chuckled. Shepherd looked at her. "What is it?"

"James got his hand full, once Lia starts to bond with him" she said. "Quarians are quite territorial when it comes to their mates…"

"Yep, and that's not getting into Kasumi, she's very protective of her 'little sister'" Shepherd said. "Oh well he should be fine, I survived you didn't I?"

Tali elbowed Shepherd. "Bosh'tet…" Shepherd chuckled and rubbed his stomach and they went back to bed to finish what they started. As Lia was walking down the hallways, thinking about what Tali said, she bumped into something big and fell down.

"Keelah, I'm sorry" She said looking up. It was James, she blushed. "Jimmy! I'm sorry!"

James helped her up. "No problem Lola, barely a scratch" Lia then noticed another man with him and she tilted her head. He was smaller than James, and darker.

"Jimmy who is this?" she asked. Cortez held out his hand and smiled.

"Steve Cortez, I'm an old friend of James, nice to meet you" He said.

"Lia" She said taking his hand.

Cortez chuckled. "So you're Lia…" He smirked back at James. "You were right, she is cute" Lia blushed at that, James cleared his throat and looked away as he blushed. Cortez was getting a kick at their bashfulness at each other; it was very much like how he and Robert were in the past. "I take it you want to talk to him, so I'll leave you to it"

"Sure you don't need help, Estaban?" James asked.

"No thanks, I'll see you later" Cortez said. "Be on your best behavior, 'Jimmy'" He walked away leaving James and Lia.

James rolled his eyes. "Whatever…." He looked at Lia." So you wanted to talk?"

Lia played with her fingers, trying to get her thoughts together. She took a deep breath. "Um…well….about the date"

"Can't make it…?" James asked sadly.

Lia stood at attention thinking that came out wrong. "No, No, I would love to go with you" She said. "Just where can we go?"

"I know this great place downtown, we can go there"

"But what about Shepherd? Won't you get in trouble?"

"Nah, I can get someone to cover for me" James said. "So, tomorrow night?"

Lia smiled. "Okay"

James took her and hand kissed it. "Looking forward to it" he said with a smile.

Looks like things are heating up for Lia and James. Will their date be a success or a bust?

Just a reminder: Got a request, let me know and I will put it in the story as long as it is after Mass effect 2 but before Mass effect 3.

Find out next time! As always Review and Comment.