Garrus never did take Charlie on that tour of the ship, but she couldn't really blame him. The next day they hit the Citadel and Charlie was a mixture of emotions. She was excited to see the Citadel for herself and to actually get to leave the medbay, however Charlie had very much enjoyed being on the Argo and was remiss to leave it, Cecilia, and Garrus. She wasn't sure if she would ever see him again and he had turned out to be a fascinating person and an excellent verbal sparring partner.
When she actually stepped out of the ship and saw the Citadel, all thoughts of remorse over leaving the Argo vanished. She and Grace pressed themselves against the glass and marveled the vastness of the station. From where she was standing she could clearly see three of the five arms. Charlie had never truly grasped how large it was. Each arm could have held two or maybe even three large cities, back on Earth. It had a sort of industrial and cosmopolitan beauty to it. A clearing of a turian throat, pulled her attention from the spectacle. She followed the soldier, Charlie wasn't sure if he had given her a name, through the maze of hallways, elevators, and people to the human embassy. They were unceremoniously left there in front of the door. Charlie looked at Grace and put her back down on the floor. The child had quickly decided that being held was the best way not to get lost in the swarm of aliens. Charlie was incredibly impressed with how well Grace was handling the exposure, as she knew for a fact that Grace was born and raised on Mindoir and thus had never seen an alien. The girl's eyes betrayed her fear and she was slightly trembling, but other than that she was standing tall and very cautiously staring at the strangeness.
Inside the room, Charlie found the receptionist at her desk.
"What is the purpose of your visit to the Embassy and can I have your identification numbers?" The red-haired woman asked in a bored voice, without looking up.
"Uh, I don't think I have one and I don't know Grace's. As to our purpose, I guess we are refugees."
This time the woman did look up, though Charlie wished she hadn't, because the woman gave her a slightly disgusted look. "Planet and colony of origin."
"Mindoir."
"Name and date of birth."
"I'm Charlotte Elizabeth Nacht, March 10, 2152, and this is Grace Talitha Wallis, December 4, 2162."
The woman typed in the information and made a disgusted snort. "There are no records of either of you. The colony of Mindoir apparently didn't deem it necessary to keep Earth informed of its occupants. You will need to fill out a form to be submitted to the so-called leaders of this colony."
This time it was Charlie's turn to be disgusted. "I don't know who the hell died and made you queen, but whoever did also deemed it necessary to make you deaf, as well as thick. We are the only survivors, which is why I called us 'refugees', of the colony on Mindoir. So if you would show even a hint of respect for the dead, I might not teach it to you. I want to see the ambassador, as is my right."
The woman looked taken aback and then leaned forward a bit with an evil smirk. "If you are going to be hostile I can have C-Sec up here in five minutes, maybe you'll see the ambassador after you meet your bail."
Three minutes later, a very different red haired woman was showing them down the hall to the ambassador's office. This woman looked very similar to the previous receptionist, except that this one was being very courteous and was wearing a perfect representation of fear. Also her hair was a mess and her lip was bruised and bleeding.
The new receptionist knocked once on the door before opening it and announcing, "A Ms. Nacht here to see you, Ms. Goyle."
Goyle? I was expecting that bastard Udina, anything is better than him.
"Thank you, Ms. Shahari. Send them in."
As Charlie passed the nervous woman she said, "Thank you for your hospitality, Ms. Shahari."
The woman blanched and Charlie suppressed the urge to chuckle.
Charlie walked into the large, yet unassuming office and sat in one of the offered chairs across from Ambassador Goyle. Goyle looked to be in her fifties with salt and pepper hair swept up in a bun. She was wearing a plain black jacket and a purple blouse. She had the look of a sensible and honest woman with far too much on her plate.
The ambassador gave Charlie an appraising look. "If you can give me a reason to fire her, I will overlook what was surely an exuberant response to my receptionist."
"She spat on the names of the dead, refused to let us see our ambassador, and threatened to call security."
The aging woman frowned and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Very well, I suppose I should thank you for making my life easier. Though now I have to go through the process of hiring another one." Charlie decided in that moment that she rather liked Ambassador Goyle.
"So what can I do for you?"
"We are the only survivors of the attack on Mindoir. I honestly do not know what comes next."
Goyle expression turned sorrowful, "I was sorry to receive that news a few days ago. I have read the report on the attack, so I won't ask you to relive that event again." She gave a small smile to Grace. "However, usually refugees are directed to the next of kin."
"Neither of us have any and I'm almost 18, at any rate."
She nodded, "We don't actually have any records of you existing. Would you care to tell me why that is?"
Charlie took a deep breath and told the story she had been practicing, "I am an orphan and I do not know my parentage. I grew up on Omega and when I was twelve I was taken hostage by a human male, for questionable uses. After an in-flight emergency caused us to crash land on Mindoir, I was found and taken in by Ethan Wallis and his wife. I have been there ever since."
Charlie had said all of that in one breath without breaking eye contact with the ambassador. Goyle raised a single eyebrow at the fabrication and then twisted her lips in a smirk.
"That is quite the tale. Vague enough that I can't follow up and poke holes in it; and it has a dash of personal trauma that I'm sure was carefully crafted to illicit sympathy. Very well done."
Charle closed her eyes and asked. "Where did I lose you?"
"You have terrible delivery. I'm a politician and I have seen through much better liars than you." The woman was still smiling though, so it gave Charlie a small sense of hope. "Now the question becomes, what could be so bad that you would like be known as a scarred Omega orphan?"
Charlie looked at Grace, "The truth is I don't know how I came to be on Mindoir. I'm missing key pieces of my memory, however I can't tell you that because if I do you probably will not let me stay with Grace. I promised both her and her father that I would continue to protect her. What I said about Ethan Wallis was true. He did find me and both him and Dr. Deborah Wallis allowed me into their home. I am not leaving Grace and so I can't have you thinking that I am a mentally damaged amnesiac."
"You are not even 18 and you have no claim to her. I'm very sorry. I wish there was something I could do."
Charlie's impassioned plea for Grace was cut off before it began by a knock on the door.
"Admiral Hackett to see you ma'am." The voice of the bruised receptionist called from the door.
This announcement was followed by the door suddenly opening to reveal a much younger, than Charlie knew from before, and brown haired Admiral Steven Hackett.
"I'm not alone, Admiral." Goyle motioned to the two girls.
"I'm well aware of that, Goyle. I'm actually here to talk with all three of you. I apologize for my lateness; I was only recently made aware of this situation."
All three women, well two women and a girl, looked thoroughly confused by this statement.
"Charlotte Nacht I assume?" Charlie stood to shake his hand before finding her seat again.
"It is my understanding that I have you to thank for some very interesting intel." At the confused nod of Charlie's head, he continued. "I had the pleasure of receiving a very intriguing letter regarding your actions both on Mindoir and on the Argo. For someone so young, you do not make a habit of sitting down when there is work to be done. I will need a full report on what you know about Ian Rodriguez, but first I would like to make you an offer to join the Alliance military."
Charlie's eyes widened and for a fraction of a second she considered accepting the offer. She would surely have a career there and it was being offered by an Admiral so certainly that was quite the honor. However, there was Grace. Grace needed her and Charlie could not let her be put in foster care. Even if her new plan to avoid this consisted of stealing the girl and finding somewhere for the both of them to live; perhaps she would end up on Omega after all.
"I'm sorry, sir. I have to decline the offer."
The ambassador's face was the exact embodiment of the phrase, "Are you mad?" The Admiral just chuckled. "Yes, I was informed that you would say that. However I had to try. Captain Victus seemed to really take a shine to you though. It is good to know that even Mindoir, can produce individuals with tenacity and fire; individuals who can work very closely with our alien neighbors, even turians. I believe there was an agency that was recently looking for human individuals with those qualities, wasn't there ambassador?"
Charlie started to feel like she was being played and it appeared that Goyle was in on it as well. The ambassador looked like someone had dropped a large chocolate cake on her desk, as she gave Charlie a hungry appraising look.
"I do believe that memo crossed my desk as well, Steven."
"Yes, Captain Victus also thought this would be a good fit and sent his recommendation there last night."
"Can I ask what agency this is now?" Charlie looked between the two of them expectantly.
"Citadel Security, if you choose to accept."
"C-Sec? I'm not a trained police, nor am I qualified."
"I was under the impression that you had spent the past year being trained by ex-N6 marine Commander Wallis."
"I didn't know his rank."
"Regardless, you have enough recommendations that they will accept you."
"I'm not 18."
"Citadel Security is almost completely comprised of turians, with a handful of asari and salarians. Turians would consider you old enough to join. There is a training camp starting in two months, more than enough time to learn the rules and regulations."
"What about Grace?"
"Well even turians would consider her far too young." Charlie gave him an exasperated look and Hackett had a twinkle in eyes and a small smile for her. "If you are referring to her care, then I assure you that you will have enough time to see to her. I am also willing to transfer her to you as a ward after your eighteenth birthday. As for right now, I have assumed that position. The unfortunately confirmed death of her father will leave her his pension until her eighteenth birthday. We can have you both in an apartment by this afternoon, should you choose to accept."
"I don't know … why?" Charlie was completely overwhelmed by this turn of events.
Hackett gave her a firm look. "Ms. Nacht who are you trying to convince of your failings? Me or yourself? If you are trying to convince me, then you can go ahead and stop right now. You will not succeed in that regard. If you are trying to convince yourself, then I would recommend you stop right now; though I do know from personal experience that that can be easier said than done. As to why we want you to be in C-Sec, I cannot speak for the others, but I want you there because I want to keep an eye on you. You are obviously capable and driven and if you won't join the Alliance, then I want you in a position where you can do the most good. So, what is your answer?"
Charlie paused to consider all of this information. This was definitely not something she had even considered. Charlie was the kind of person who liked to have a plan. Lately she had not had a plan for the insanity that had become her life. She had not had a plan for jumping into the future, she had not had a plan for the attack on Mindoir, and now she did not have a plan for joining C-Sec. However, this did seem like a good idea. It certainly beat her current plan of running away to Omega. So she said the only thing she could.
"I accept, sir, and thank you."
"Do not thank me yet. I may have failed to mention you will be the first human to join the ranks of C-Sec."
"Are you sure about her?" Goyle asked the admiral after the two girls had left.
"No, I can't say that I am."
"She might not be stable. I don't think she is dangerous, but …"
"I would be concerned if she was stable." He turned to look at the ambassador. "You're wrong though, she is dangerous. Nacht needs to be in a place I can watch her. If we didn't give her direction, I have no doubt she'd find it elsewhere. Also, she is somehow caught up in this Cerberus mess."
"So we watch her?"
"Indeed. We'll hope that I'm wrong and Nacht turns out to be an average woman with an above average knack for finding herself near trouble."
"I believe that would still qualify her as dangerous though. I've seen how she gets out of trouble. That reminds me, I need a new secretary."
Grace Wallis was not sure if she should be allowed to feel happy. Well she was happy, sort of. She was currently eating the most delicious thing she had ever tasted. Apparently this blue lady with tentacle hair had invented something called ice cream cake. Now Grace had obviously had both ice cream and cake before, but she had never even considered putting them together into one glorious concoction. The weird blue lady was clearly a genius. For some reason though the cake was also making her sad and she thought she knew why. It was because Grace really wanted to share this with her friends, Vicky and Ryan. Though mom probably wouldn't let her eat this before dinner anyways.
Mom. Oh, that's right she's … dead now. Everyone's dead now.
Grace looked over at Char. Charlie had looked sad ever since that day too. Though Grace didn't think any of the adults could see it. She knew better though. Char was always making jokes, but Grace hadn't seen her laugh at all. Well she had laughed when Mr. Garrus was there, but he only came to see them once. So, Grace did her best to make Charlie smile on her own. She put her best smile on, the one that usually worked miracles on Charlie, and did her best to hide her own grief. Grace knew that Charlie had saved her and she wasn't going to repay that with tears. If she cried, then that would mean she was being ungrateful.
Right now though Char was staring down at the remains of her own slice of cake and was looking miserable.
"Grace …" Charlie's face was still turned towards her plate, but her eyes had found Grace's own. "Grace, do you want to talk about it?"
"Talk about what?"
Grace thought she probably knew already. That stupid doctor with her silly face had tried to make her talk about that terrible day earlier. The doctor had told Grace to call her "Doctor Maryann" and Grace had told her that that was a stupid name for a doctor. She went on to say that her mom had been a real doctor and she had only four names: mom, Debbie, Deborah, or Dr. Wallis. Her mom was never Dr. Debbie, because that sounded stupid.
"Dr. Maryann" had asked Grace to talk about her mom, but Grace really didn't want to. She tried to make it seem that she couldn't do her mom's memory justice and it didn't matter if Grace did talk about her mom, because "Dr. Maryann" was never going to meet her anyways.
"The day of the attack." Charlie was still holding her plate, though her position had shifted to a defensive posture. Grace almost giggled at the thought of Charlie being scared of her.
"I mean you were there and I was there. There wasn't a lot of time that we both weren't there. I mean what is there to talk about?"
Charlie sighed and set the plate down on their little coffee table. "Grace, we haven't talked about your parents."
"There isn't much to talk about they're dead. I heard what that man said. He said my daddy is dead too." Grace was starting to get very angry at Charlie. Didn't she know that there was nothing to talk about? This conversation would only end with Charlie getting sad and Grace did not want that to happen again.
"They might gone, but we aren't. We have to remember them, because we knew them best."
"I don't want to. Why can't we just move on? We have a new house," Grace gestured at the living room in their new apartment. "I'm going to go to school here and nobody is going to know about my parents or Mindoir. Why can't I just pretend that it didn't happen?"
Charlie looked very surprised. As if what Grace had said, had never occurred to her. "You can't just forget them, Grace. They loved you and they made you who you are. I really like who you are … and when other people meet you they are going to like you too. That means that it's important to remember them. To remember all of the good things, even if it's hard."
Grace looked down at her hands, she really didn't want to look at Charlie anymore. She didn't want to let the woman see that she had started to cry.
"You know you reminded me of my own family, just now."
Grace still didn't look at the woman, but she was surprised by the statement. Charlie had never talked about her family before. Grace half believed that she sprang up from the ground fully-formed.
"I didn't have a dad, but I had a mom, grandpa, and my bubbe. That means grandma." The woman paused and Grace could see her out of the corner of her eye. She appeared to be considering something. "I'll make you a deal. You tell me something you miss about your parents or friends, and I'll tell you something I miss about mine. I won't make you do it all at once, but once a day we'll sit down and talk about the past. Deal?"
Grace considered this. She really, really didn't want to talk about Mindoir, but she was extremely curious about Charlie's past. She turned to look at the woman. Grace had to be sure that Charlie wasn't sad, she wouldn't be able to say "yes" if Char was going to cry. Charlie was just sitting there looking at her with a concerned look. Grace didn't think it was sadness though.
"Deal."
The next two months passed slowly for Charlie. She had gotten Grace into a school and the girl seemed to be doing quite well for someone who had never seen an alien before. In fact, Grace seemed to find the aliens fascinating and was constantly bringing a new one home. After about a month though Grace settled into only bringing over a core group of friends, there was Darius, the turian, and Mya, the asari. This, of course meant that Charlie had to keep dextro food in the kitchen, but she actually rather enjoyed seeing what the species were like as children. However, she did not enjoy meeting the children's parents. Both the turian and asari parents seemed to think that Charlie was ill-suited to be a parent. Naturally, Charlie had assured them that Grace was simply her ward and that she was not substituting either of her parents.
The asari were easy to win over, by promising that she would not let the children out of her sight and that they were never to leave the apartment complex. This was simple, considering the apartment building was so large that the small primary school was contained within its levels.
The turians were considerably harder to convince of her ill intentions. The mother had been willing to trust her, but the father refused to let Darius come over alone. That was until he caught Charlie working out in the gym one day.
She had been using a practice dummy as a sparring partner when he walked in. Tevan asked her if she wanted to spar with him and she gladly accepted. Charlie thought that her technique was getting old, since she hadn't had a real partner in a few weeks. Tevan was good, but not great and left quite a few large openings in his guard. Charlie took full advantage of his weaknesses and though he did get a few solid hits in, after a few minutes he was tapping out. Tevan eventually asked her why she could fight like that and she simply responded with "I'm joining C-Sec." It had the benefit of being the truth, though not the whole truth. It had the added benefit of Tevan trusting her enough to let Darius come over unsupervised.
It was odd being the primary caregiver of Grace. Having a child was not something Charlie had ever, even with Justin, seriously considered. She had thought she might get around to it in the future, of course, but it was always an undefined and vague notion. Actually having one was … different. It definitely helped that Grace liked her quite a bit, although she didn't feel comfortable with the girl's blatant idolization of her. However, it was difficult not having anyone to fall back on. Her own mother had always been single, but she had Charlie's grandparents to help her. Charlie didn't have anyone and she was not about to ask for help. If the authorities thought that Charlie couldn't handle the care of Grace, she didn't think they would hesitate to take the girl away from her. So Charlie struggled alone and she thought she was doing a decent job. Though she was aware that that might change once she actually started working at C-Sec.
Speaking of her soon-to-be new job, Charlie was extremely nervous about starting there. Executor Pallin was not impressed with her and had made sure that she was very much aware of it. Actually it was probably a good thing that Charlie would have to prove herself, because that was forcing her into preparing. She would spend long hours in the gym and spend every night going over codes and regulations for the Citadel. Charlie was also slowly memorizing the layout of the station. Tevan may not have been a challenging sparring partner, but the event had reminded Charlie that she didn't know much about turian physiology and fighting tactics. They had a significant height and reach advantage over Charlie and they tended to use their legs in close combat. It had taken a vid call to Hackett to ask about personal trainers. He suggested one that worked for the Alliance and Charlie decided it was wiser to not question the Admiral about who was going to pay him.
The trainer was strict and was of the opinion that yelling got the best results, however he was also very good. So Charlie ignored his screaming. Waterby taught her about turian weaknesses and apparently there were not many of them. The waist was sensitive, as was under their crest and around the cowl. Under the arms was a good place as well, as Charlie had already discovered, and also their leg spurs. The best option was to get in close, to minimize the reach advantage and focus on their legs. When attacked properly they would fall quickly and they were not as fast at getting up as a human was. So basically, you can't be stronger or longer than they are, but you can play dirty, be more flexible, and, if you really work at it, you can be faster.
Eventually her two months were over and Charlie found herself in the C-Sec Academy standing nervously.
What are you doing here? You're not ready for this. Just back out now before someone sees you. Charlie just leave, no one will blame you.
I'll lose Grace.
Damn. Carry on then.
She ran her hands through her short black curls and took a deep breath before approaching the front desk.
"I'm here for the orientation."
The small asari looked up at Charlie. Her large lavender eyes bore into Charlie's grey. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I think I am."
The asari nodded and looked back her screen. "Well, Charlotte Nacht, we received your medical clearance this morning. So this will be your last chance to walk away …"
"No, I'm going. Why do you keep repeating that?"
The receptionist gave a quick look around the almost empty room and leaned in closer to Charlie. "Well we kind of have a pool going."
"A pool?" Charlie repeated the words while blinking her eyes.
"Yeah just a friendly office wager."
"About me?"
The woman gave her a smirk. "You aren't the first human sent here. There have been four others, though you are the first female and the first non-military. They all start out with bravado and eventually they run home crying."
Charlie's only response was a raised eyebrow and some more rapid blinking.
The asari's smirk widened and she placed a small blue hand delicately on her chest. "I don't want you to think that I have done anything to cause their premature departure. I assure you that they left all on their own." The woman let her eyes slowly drift over Charlie's form. "I've given you two weeks. However that might be generous. You are extremely young and rather unimpressive looking."
Charlie stood there for a second. Who did this tiny blue bitch think she was? Unimpressive am I?
You realize that she's playing you, right?
Charlie let a small smirk play around her mouth. "You should have let me know that there was money riding on this. Put down 100 credits for me lasting a month; I'll trust you can find the bookie. You said the orientation was this way?"
Charlie gave the woman a cheeky wink and walked off in what she hoped was the right direction.
The receptionist watched the tall woman leave and muttered under her breath too low for Charlie to catch. "Maybe I should change that bet to three weeks."