Chapter 12

Date Night

To say that Johanna's day had been eventful was something of an understatement. She'd taken the time to speak with Aria at Purgatory and spent the rest of the morning running around trying to unite three of the galaxy's most notorious mercenary groups under Aria's banner. A charade involving a dead Batarian and his Vorcha successor, a Turian General and Jona Sideris, the psychotic leader of the Eclipse group. A colourful bunch! To unite them all under Aria's control, she'd had to do a little song and dance for each of them and with the job done, she was sure that she'd be keeping an eye on Sideris, the Eclipse leader, she'd warned that heads would roll after her release from prison. As soon as she stepped as little as a toe out of line, she'd find her own head rolling by Johanna's own hand. She hated mercenaries, they had no loyalty to anything except for their next pay check and even then, it was questionable. Helping Aria was a must, though, they could help each other. Aria could hold up her end of the bargain later, after she'd smacked Omega far beyond the Illusive Man's dirty, dirty grasp.

Her afternoon had been better, marginally. Johanna wasn't a girly sort of girl, she never had been and she was pretty sure that she never would be. Sure, she wore make up but she wasn't caked in it like some of the women she saw strutting around the station and as for dresses - forget it. She was a soldier, a marine, not a Barbie doll on display for everyone to look at. Even so, she'd spent the afternoon shopping with Liara. She wanted to at least make an effort to look nice when she met James, he seemed to have put some effort into planning the whole thing so she wanted to keep her end of the deal. Dates, though. Wow. As many things as she had done in her life; surviving Mindoir, surviving the blitz on Elysium, taking down Sovereign and the Collectors - a successful date wasn't even close to being on that list.

"Nothing too out there, Liara," Johanna offered as Liara wandered toward the dress section of the shop they were currently browsing, "No dresses, how many times do I need to remind you? I'm not a dress person."

"It can't hurt to look," Liara smiled, "You never know, you might find one you like."

"Trust me, I won't," Johanna pulled one of the dresses from the rail. "I mean, this one is pretty, it really is, but I just can't see myself wearing it." She held it up against her front and looked down at it. "It's not really first date material, is it?" Surprisingly, she quite liked it but no, she still wouldn't buy it. Why buy something you might only wear once? And even then it was a major maybe. "No," she hung it back on the rail, "No dresses. What's wrong with finding a nice pair of pants and shirt? It's more me than showing half my leg and beside, dresses are over-rated."

"There's nothing wrong with showing off your assets, Shepard," Liara answered patiently, turning her attention from the dress rail, "But you're right, it's not first date material. When the time comes for that dress, though, I'm bringing you back here, you can count on that." Truth be told, Liara was a tad jealous of James' relationship with Shepard - she had always been fascinated by the Commander and that fascination had led to more than a few embarrassing moments during their time back on the original Normandy. "I don't think this is really the pants and a shirt kind of place. How about we go get lunch and then sort you out with an outfit?"

"My assets would look just fine in pants, thank you very much," Johanna grinned back at her friend, "If Aria can pull it off, so can I." The offer of food was welcomed, she had no idea what James had in store but in case dinner wasn't part of the plan, a light lunch couldn't hurt. "Apollo's?" She was on her way to the door before Liara even had a chance to answer.

"Well well, Mr. Vega, what's this?" After he stepped out of the elevator, Cortez spent a moment watching James, he had been so wrapped up in everything other than his duties for hours. "Spending your day fussing over a woman? Never thought I'd see the day."

"Not just any woman, Esteban," James grinned, "My woman." He couldn't stop grinning, really. Maybe she'd just said it to appeal to his ego but it didn't matter. She liked being his and she liked it enough to depend on him when she'd needed someone. "I said I'd take her out while we were still on the Citadel and since we're leaving tomorrow, well, tonight's the night."

Cortez wandered over to James' workbench. "Never thought I'd see you so worked up over a date," he laughed, "But it's good to see. You're all grown up!" Normally James was the one doing all the teasing and so Cortez would enjoy getting a little revenge. "So what's it gonna be? Dinner and a movie, a walk around the presidium, making out in the airlock? Gonna be a gentleman and walk the Commander home, soldier?"

"Shut up," James threw back jokingly, "I have no fucking idea where I'm gonna take her, man. There ain't much shit to do on this damn station. If we were back home? No problem at all but here? Damn, no idea." Hell, he didn't even know what to wear. One of his more girly concerns but still a concern nonetheless. "I thought about taking her to the Armax combat sim but hell, she does that shit every day so where's the fun in that? Then I thought about a movie but the only one with decent showing time was that Blasto hunk o' junk and since Lola's a real Spectre, that's not really her kind of movie."

"Wow, not only fussing but fretting, too. Just like the rest of us mere mortals." Cortez smiled, "I'd ask what you've done with The James Vega I know but I think I like this version of you better."

"Fuck off, Esteban," James turned his attention to his omnitool, "Are you gonna help me or what?"

"There he is!" Cortez clapped James on the back and looked over at his omnitool. "Okay, so how about you take her to do something she doesn't get to do a lot of here. Something she likes." He thought about it for a second or two. "She's always clearing you out at the poker table, you could always take her to one of the casinos? I hear the one on the Silversun Strip is quite good."

"You're a genius, man!" James walked off toward the elevator, punching a message into the omnitool. Maybe he'd pull this whole thing off after all. Now all he had to do was decide what to wear. Nothing dressy but nothing too casual. "Man, I really am a girl," he muttered to himself, "Man the fuck up."

As Shepard wandered toward James, the station had just begun its night cycle. She let her eyes wander a path downward, "I can see why you wanted to meet here. The view is pretty damn hot."

He spun around at the sound of her voice, momentarily stunned by the sight of her in clothes which weren't Alliance standard issue. "I think I have the better view here, Lola." One step and was next to her, pulling her into a lingering kiss. "You look amazing," his hands dropped to her hips and he momentarily forgot all about his plans. "We could just forget about all of this y'know..." He trailed off as he pulled her in for another kiss, "Back to the Normandy?"

"Nuh uh," Johanna pushed him back gently, "I shopped for this, I bought a new outfit and I had to listen to Liara trying to talk me into a dress all damn day so no, no getting out of this." Eventually, she had talked Liara into thinking that a pair of figure hugging jeans would be a good idea but she'd had to agree to wear heeled boots with them to get her off her back. "No matter how much I wanna find out what you're thinking about right now." It was tempting but she wanted to spend some time away from the Normandy on something other than a mission and she couldn't think of a better way to spend some time than with him. "So where are we going?"

"Well," James reached for her hand and linked their fingers together, "I thought we could get away from the war for a bit, spend the night like everybody else on this damn station, be completely unaware." They walked together through the presidium, off toward the cabs. "So I thought we could try our luck at the arcade or the casino," he glanced over at her, trying to gauge her reaction, "Then after you've cleared everyone out, grab something to eat, go for a walk through one of those presidium parks. What do you think?" They stopped just outside of the transit hub, "I mean, if you wanna do something else, we can. Just a few ideas."

"Sounds perfect," Johanna grinned, "I thought you were gonna suggest that we went to see that god fucking awful Blasto movie for a second there, relieving some poor, unsuspecting soul of his money sounds like fun. It'll be good to just let go of the war for a while."

And it was. Living life on the other side of the war was interesting. People really were oblivious to the dangers lurking right on their collective doorstep. They'd only accept it when it bludgeoned them right over the head with a Reaper laser. But to spend some time with the people on the other side of it all, was fun. Johanna actually found herself forgetting about what she'd have to do the next day while she and James won themselves a small fortune playing roulette and blackjack. She drank champagne and didn't even complain when, a few hours after they'd arrived, James told some random sleaze to back the hell away from her. Instead of tearing the guy a new one on her own, she just smiled sweetly and waved as he walked off.

They left shortly afterward, hand in hand and with Johanna in fits of laughter. As they walked off back toward the transit hub, she noticed that the station was deep into its night cycle. "I still can't believe the look on that guy's face," she really couldn't stop laughing, "He looked terrified, he must've thought you were gonna punch his head right off his shoulders."

"And if he hadn't stopped trying to grab your ass, I would've," James shook his head, "But getting thrown out of a place on the first date? That's a little hardcore, even for me."

"I guess I finally found the perfect pants," Johanna joked, barely aware that James' hand was drifting south until it found her ass. "I'm guessing it's a little late for that walk, it has to be midnight, surely,"

"You have," James whispered into her ear, "They definitely do your ass a huge amount of justice. You're hot anyway, even in armour, but damn, Lola. Tonight, you're a whole other level of hot." It took every ounce of his self control not to act on his thoughts, thoughts involving secluded, dark corners. No. It wasn't the time. Back on the Normandy, maybe, but definitely not in dark corners.

They waited for a sky cab and before long, they found themselves stepping through the Normandy's airlock and onto the ship. They still walked hand in hand, oblivious to the heads turning their way. Joker noted their return with a smirk, it looked like Vega had heeded his advice to own the fact that he and Shepard were together. Finally, someone had listened to him. "About damn time," he whispered, "Best pilot in the galaxy and relationship guru, apparently. Awesome!"

The elevator pinged when it reached Johanna's cabin and the pair spilled out, tangled in each other's arms and locked in a hungry kiss. Her back connected with the wall beside her door and she tried, half-heatedly, to push James back. "Wait," she gasped, really not wanting to stop but willing herself to reign it all in, "Wait." The look on James' face was a picture, like a lost puppy. "Not tonight," she shook her head, determined to see it through.

James took a step back, wondering what he'd done to change her mind. "Ok, you're gonna have to explain this one to me, Lola. What the hell?"

"You should know by now, soldier," Johanna smirked, "That a lady doesn't put out on the first date.". The urge to laugh was almost too much but she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from it. "Thank you for an awesome night," she kissed him one more time and kicked herself again, "It was nice spending some time away from everything with you." She opened the door to her cabin but stopped at the threshold, "Come wake me in the morning?"

James nodded as she stepped into the cabin and the door whooshed closed behind her. "Don't put out on the first date," he muttered as he made the short trip back to the crew quarters. He knew she only did it to tease him (and probably because she was slightly crazy), and he could see the funny side of it, for sure, but it still made no sense. "But no problem before the first date." A plan suddenly hatched in his mind. Revenge. Revenge of a kind, at least. Morning couldn't roll around fast enough...

A/N :: So sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out, medical matters took over but things are beginning to settle now so normal service has resumed! I have another interlude in the works and the next chapter after that all planned out so here's to more James and Johanna!

As always, thank you to "eboncat" (you can bet that James will try to dodge EDI's monitoring soon!), "Skylark16," "Katschaba" (Joker definitely would've updated his video collection if he had vids from Johanna's cabin!", and "Zee," for the reviews - you are all awesome and the feedback is so appreciated.