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James stood outside Kaidan's hospital room, waiting for Garrus, when he heard a gruff voice call his name. "Vega, what are you doing here?" The lieutenant spun around to see Zaeed stalking towards him, an angry look on his face. Does he ever smile?

As the mercenary drew level with him, James pointed towards the door behind him. "I'm here because they're here."

Zaeed looked through the window and the color drained from his face. Kaidan was lying on the bed, covered in dark bruises and monitoring equipment; Kate was asleep, curled up in a chair in the corner. Her left arm was in a sling, the shoulder covered in a bandage and her right wrist covered in a cast.

"What the fuck happened to them?" Zaeed asked in alarm.

"He got beat up by some Cerberus bot on Mars. She... got shot by a batarian-"

"You mean that thing you were supposed to protect her from?" Zaeed ground out between clenched teeth.

"-Reaper on Earth," James finished, rolling his eyes. "The wrist was because of a Reaper too. And I wasn't even there. She was with Anderson. Alenko and I were already on the ship. As for the rest of it, she got knocked off a barricade on Manae, broke her arm and a couple of ribs. She's also gonna scar from the same attack that took down Alenko."

"That doesn't sound entirely serious," Zaeed said carefully. "Not 'confined to a hospital' serious, anyway. So why is she still here?"

"The short answer? Because she's stubborn." The mercenary raised an eyebrow and he continued. "The long answer is the docs just want to make sure she doesn't have any infection from the gunshot wound. The bullet stayed in a lot longer than it should, three days longer, because she wouldn't let anybody look at it 'til we got back from Palaven." James looked at Zaeed. "Why are you here?"

"Just got in from Omega. Cerberus bastards over-ran the place. Aria took her frustrations out on Griz. I figured I was next in line for pain so I brought him up here to get checked out and to get away from her."

"Shit. Aria's here on the Citadel?"

Zaeed nodded. "Yeah. Down in Purgatory. Already set up her own throne and everything." He sighed heavily. "You think Kate will freak out if I went in there?" he asked, nodding towards the Commander's sleeping form.

James shrugged. "Probably, but it'd be more than worth it. She's keeping up appearances for the masses, but in private, she's been an absolute wreck since the Reapers hit, not knowing. Not even Garrus has been able to cheer her up. She needs you, to know you're alive."

Kate could tell she wasn't alone before she even opened her eyes. She was sure her mind was playing tricks on her again though. She could smell the pleasant and comforting aroma of Zaeed's cigars, but she dismissed it as remnants of the dream she'd been having.

She finally opened her eyes and let out a startled squeak as she found herself staring into his mismatched eyes as he crouched beside her chair.

"Are... are you real?" she blurted out stupidly. She reached out and brushed the fingertips of her right hand over his face as he leaned forward and captured her lips with his in a searing kiss.

"Yes, kitten, I'm real," he said when he pulled back and brushed a tear from her cheek with his thumb.

"Where have you been?" she asked quietly. "My dad said he hadn't heard from you in three months. I was... I thought..." She buried her face in his shoulder as she completely broke down.

He gently picked her up and sat in the chair as she settled on his lap. "I'm sorry, Kate. After you went to Earth, I went back to Omega, figured I could find some work there. I ended up working for Aria. Still am, actually."

"So why did you stop responding to my dad's messages?" She ran her fingers over the tags that still hung around his neck.

Zaeed sighed. "I didn't mean to. I went 'undercover,' sort of, and couldn't access my main account. But you know how paranoid your father is. He wouldn't respond to the messages from my dummy account."

"Oh." She pulled him into another kiss. "You're forgiven."

Zaeed chuckled. "Glad to hear it. So how long are you stuck in here? Lt. Steroids mentioned you having to stay for a bit. And why are you in here specifically?"

"Basically, Liara went a little psycho on me and Kaidan, so we've decided, even though I still think he's an arrogant ass and he still doesn't trust me, to put our fight on hold. And then he had to go and get hurt, took a hit that was meant for me. But I'm only still here at the hospital in general because I fell asleep. Garrus was supposed to be bribing Dr. Michel to let me leave."

"So you're free for a drink? I absolutely refuse to go back to Purgatory without back-up," Zaeed said with a grimace.

Kate quirked an eyebrow. "Alright, who'd you piss off now?"
He rolled his eyes. "Who said I pissed off anyone, kitten?"

"Fine. Then who are you avoiding? You needing back-up, especially an injured me as your back-up, is highly suspicious," she said with a wink.

He gently set her on her feet and stood behind her, wrapping his arms carefully around her waist. "I guess you're just going to have to come with me and find out," he growled in her ear.

"You look like shit, Commander," Aria said as she lounged on a couch in Purgatory. "No offense."

Kate smirked. "None taken. I know I do. Well, at least now I know why Massani was hiding out at Huerta Memorial."

The asari rolled her eyes. "I'd wondered what the hell had taken him so long. He took Griz up there two hours ago and never came back. Guess he had a good excuse," she added with a knowing smile.

Kate ignored the look. "So what brings the Queen of Omega to the Citadel?"

"Your old pal, the Illusive Man," Aria said. "Bastard stole Omega from me. So I had no choice but to come here. But I'm going to get it back."

"Anything that involves revenge against Cerberus, count me in, even if it involves Omega," Kate said.

"Noted, Commander."