Dinner Date

The Shep/Alenko dialogue featured in this chapter is from one of my favorite in-game chats. Not written by me, nor do I claim it. And you'll know it when you read it. Thank you, YouTube.

Alenko had effectively disassembled a control panel near the sleeper pods when Shepard found him after rounding the mess bulkhead. His omni-tool was beeping ominously at him, and he was frowning at the readout as he knelt in front of the panel, the line of his mouth tightening with every beep of his tool. Components and wires littered the floor around him.

The bulging muscles of his arms made her wonder if he was about to start shredding the panel into even more pieces or if he had already done that and that's why the control panel was in chaos. But she wiped that thought away almost instantly. In the two weeks she had known him, the Lieutenant had yet to appear unstable or even lose his temper. She had never met anyone with as much control and dedication to remaining in control as the man crouching before her. She had once known an infiltrator in the Ns that exuded a calmness that Alenko exhibited, but it was to be expected from a sniper. Not an L2 biotic Sentinel. She was curious as to what had made Alenko the man he was, but knew now would not be the appropriate time for anything like that.

Casually, she called up her own omni-tool and checked the duty roster, her lips puckering as she read it. Dedicated alright. Duty was one thing, but she needed her detail commander at the top of his game. He was assigned to First Dog Watch for a reason. Surely, he had better things to do. Like sleep. Or eat. Or make sure his weapons and armor were upgraded. They had no idea what to expect on Feros. They could be going up against a colony full of mutant zombies for all she knew. She mentally rolled her eyes at that. One too many horror vids, Calleigh. She powered down her omni-tool and walked over to him.

"Lieutenant?" she questioned with a raised eyebrow. He looked up, surprised to see her, and immediately stood and saluted crisply. She quickly waved away the salute. He hadn't thought to salute her on the Citadel while she was the XO, no sense in starting it back up now that she was the CO. He had earned her respect enough to stretch the Regs a little. Who cared about protocol when he was protecting her ass from merc slugs? And besides, the man knew how to give orders just as well as he could receive them. He definitely had earned those commendations.

"Commander," he greeted, rubbing the sweat off his brow, a black streak following from the grease on his hands.

Careful not to laugh, she raised an eyebrow at the panel. "What are you doing to my ship, Alenko?" she queried, maintaining the blank façade she had perfected over the years. She was only joking, but couldn't help herself. Sure enough the Lieutenant looked panicked, instantly going on the defensive, raising his greasy hands as if to ward her off. He must have seen the humor in her eyes because he dropped his hands and gave an almost imperceptive smile. It sent her pulse skittering and almost brought a frown to her face. He shouldn't have that effect on her.

"The Comm. monitor in CIC is down, ma'am," he told her with a shrug as she tackled her hormones and mentally tied them like space cows as she'd done in her childhood on Mindoir. "I'm trying to get it back running again." He appeared frustrated, noticing his hands suddenly. "I'm about ready to ask Tali for help," he added softly, powering down his omni-tool and using a towel to wipe the grease off his hands.

"Adams has been bragging about her," Shepard said with a smile, thinking about the quarian who hung out in Engineering almost twenty-four-seven. The last time she'd spoken with her, Tali had been so excited to be on board that she had nearly talked Shepard's ear off. "You look like you could use a break. Wasn't your shift over thirty minutes ago?"

Kaidan hesitated, blinking in bafflement. Well, she was the CO. Of course she knew the shifts. "I'll take one after—"

"Wasn't a request," she stated simply, surprising him. Before he could say anything, she called out, "Adams?"

The Chief Engineer's voice sounded from the comm. over their heads drawing their eyes up. "Yes, ma'am?"

"Send Tali to the crew's quarters. I've got a job for her."

"Aye, aye, ma'am."

"It's, uh, it's just a panel, ma'am," Kaidan assured her, feeling awkward under the sudden intenseness of her gaze.

Again she surprised him. "Just wanted to get a sense of where the crew's at," she said, then tilted her brow. "Thoughts?"

Well, if she was going to seek him out, then maybe, maybe she would be open to listen to him for a moment. He knew she didn't play politics. In fact, she seemed to completely run in the opposite direction. But he had his doubts about this whole thing. Ever since Eden Prime. There was something big going on. And it scared the hell out him.

"I—Well, if you have a minute, Commander," he said. "I don't want to take up your personal time."

"I always make time for my officers," she told him. "I was about to grab something to eat. Come join me." He must have looked shocked because she continued with a shrug, "I like to know my crew. I wouldn't have asked otherwise. We've been too busy to really chat." She leaned closer and gave him a conspiratorial look. "And it's nice to be able to eat around another biotic. I spooked most the crew the first twenty-four hours I was on board."

He understood that all too well. "I… Aye, aye, ma'am." He powered up his omni-tool and saved the diagnostics into an OSD for Tali for when she came from down below and then shut it back down again.

The illogical part of his brain told him that she'd just ordered him on a date. The absurd idea made him giddy, but he jerked his brain back to the logical side as he forced himself to remember what she had told him on the Citadel: "I appreciate the thought, Lieutenant, but we're on duty here."

Duty.

And even if duty wasn't involved, Shepard was off limits and out of his league anyway.

"Relax, Lieutenant," she said grabbing his discarded towel and rubbing at his forehead with it. …the Hell? Caught off guard he stiffened. "You aren't relaxing, Alenko."

"Um."

"You rubbed grease all over your forehead." Shepard tossed the greasy towel in his face and then turned and led the way to the galley wondering what had possessed her to enter his personal space. The sound of his boots on the metal floor as he followed her only made her more uncomfortable.

She looked at the ration unit with a frown. "Nutritious, my ass," she commented, then looked back at him with a sly smile to hide her discomfort. "They could have at least given the damn thing some kind of flavor."

"You mean besides bad?" he asked, willing himself to relax in her presence. His commanding officer had just cleaned his face for him. So what? It was well known that Shepard was a neat freak. No big deal. He and Williams had watched as she had carefully cleaned each of her weapons each night when they were at the Alliance barracks on the Citadel. It meant nothing.

They were having a meal together. So what? They were going to discuss politics, not a wedding. Oh, damn. The wedding. 2nd Lieutenant Ryerson and Staff Lieutenant Alvarez's wedding was in two days. And he wouldn't be taking leave until the problem with Saren was resolved. Damn it.

So engrossed in thought was he that Kaidan missed Shepard's musical laugh at his joke. She frowned at him slightly, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Shepard to Alenko," she remarked snapping her fingers. He blinked bringing his thoughts back up to speed.

"I just remembered that I requested leave, ma'am," he told her guiltily as Shepard stepped away from the dispenser with her tray. "But I guess that doesn't matter now."

"Anderson turned it down. I thought he already told you."

"No. Guess there was too much going on." He shrugged as he picked a flavor he hadn't tried before, loading the nutrient rich meal onto his tray. "Well, that's all right."

"Family?" she inquired as they both grabbed energy drinks and made their way to the mess.

He shook his head. "A friend's wedding." They sat opposite each other. He was not going to tell her that Ryerson and Alvarez had broken Regs to get married. Nope. No way.

"Are we—"

"Amaterasu, ma'am. I'm not going to ask to be dropped off in the local cluster. Finding the Conduit and stopping Saren takes a lot more priority than personal time." He took a bite, chewed and swallowed, then added, "I'll send them my regards when we get near a comm. buoy."

"The Normandy was already supposed to be back at port and added to the 63rd Scout Flotilla roster," Shepard mused with a nod, opening her energy drink. "I bet Mikhailovich was pissed that we got pulled for special assignment." Her eyes twinkled mischievously, and Kaidan wondered if there was something behind the look. "But you were still supposed to go with. According to the transfer logs anyway."

"I figured I'd be reassigned elsewhere, but at the time I thought everything was just to prove to the Council—Well, never mind. Here we are." He sighed, met her unwavering gaze. "Off the record?"

She readily agreed. "Naturally."

"I think there's something wrong here," he admitted, thinking back to all the little details of what they had uncovered on the Citadel, what they knew about the geth from Tali, and what he knew of the information that had been downloaded into Shepard's brain. "This Saren is looking for records on some kind of galactic extinction. But we can't get backup from the Council?" He shook his head, met her eyes with a shrug. She didn't seem to be running away from his political views. He apologized anyway. "Sorry, Commander. There's writing on the wall here, but someone isn't reading it." God that felt good.

It felt better when she nodded. "The Council doesn't want to believe anything's wrong." And he agreed. He could see it from the Council's point of view, but, come on. They needed a little help here. "I'd call it human nature, but…" she trailed off gesturing with her spork.

"I hear ya." He collected his thoughts while Shepard took a bite of her food. Took a swig of his drink when he realized that watching her eat was erotic and had to bring his mind back to the conversation at hand. "I-It just seems like a group that's been around as long as the Council should see this coming." And they should. The damn Council had been around for thousands of years. What if Saren had already found the information he needed?

The Commander nodded, opened her mouth to say something but Tali rounded the corner from the elevator.

"Oh, hello, Shepard. Lieutenant."

Kaidan started at her tone. She sounded so… down. He shared a look with Shepard wondering exactly how young the quarian really was.

"Are you okay, Tali?" she asked.

"I don't know," the young quarian told her, hugging herself. She sighed through her breather mask, the sound raspy. "Your ship is amazing and your crew has been really great to me. Especially your Chief Engineer." She gestured as if trying to make herself clearer. "But I just sort of feel… out of place. The Normandy runs so smooth." She sounded as though she were lost. "It feels like we're not even moving. And the engines are so quiet. How do you sleep at night?"

Kaidan looked at her incredulously. "The silence wakes you up?" he asked.

Tali nodded. "Back on the Flotilla, the last thing you want to hear is silence. It means an engine's died or an air filter's shut down." She seemed to shudder at that, though there was no real way to tell what she was feeling or thinking since they couldn't see her face.

She sat down next to Kaidan, slumping in the seat. He could barely make out her slanted eyes through her mask and he wondered, since her species was a dextro-protein species, what exactly did she look like? "I guess you don't have to worry about that here," she mused, "But old habits die hard." She traced imaginary patterns on the table with two of her three fingers before looking up at Shepard and then at Kaidan. "But it's more than just the silence," she revealed sullenly. "This ship feels so empty. It's like half the crew is missing." He could almost see her smile through her breather mask as she admitted, "Back home, I couldn't wait to go on my Pilgrimage. I couldn't wait to get away from the crowds. Now that I'm out here—" she gave a shrug—"I kind of miss them."

Homesick? Poor kid. Kaidan was at a loss for words. He had no idea what to tell her to cheer her up.

"Sounds like the Pilgrimage isn't just about finding resources for the fleet," Shepard said. "Maybe it's about teaching you to appreciate your people and culture."

"You're probably right." Tali agreed with a sigh. "Was there something you needed? Adams said that you had a job for me."

Shepard gave a nod. "Alenko here decided to tear up the ship," she accused playfully, a smile ruffling her lips.

"I—but Commander," Kaidan fumbled for the words, unsure of how to react. Sure, she was teasing, but she was his superior officer.

Tali, not knowing that Shepard was joking, took offense. "Tear up the ship?" she exclaimed, her voice raising an octave as she jumped to her feet. "Are you crazy?"

Startled by her reaction, Shepard let out a laugh. "The comm. monitor in CIC isn't working properly. He was repairing it from the central station before I ordered him to eat." She gestured over her shoulder. "I was just giving him a hard time and having a laugh at his expense."

"A torn up ship is nothing to laugh at," Tali rebuked her, "but," she turned her head towards him and allowed, "he is amusing when he's flustered."

Kaidan gaped at her and Shepard laughed, and he could only grimace in good humor, a flush coloring his face. He shook his head with a smile as Tali went off to repair the "damage" he'd done.

Shepard gripped her cup with slender hands and took a sip. "Think she's in a little better spirits now?"

He shrugged. "No clue. You know, I've never had to deal with a homesick quarian before."

The Commander snorted. "You and me both, Alenko." She finished the last bite of her meal. "So the Council doesn't want to believe anything's wrong," she reiterated her statement from earlier picking up their conversation and he nodded.

"It's funny," he said thinking of Shepard's words to Tali as well as the Council who seemed to have their heads stuck up their asses, "We finally get out here, and the final frontier is already settled. And the residents don't even seem to be impressed by the view. Or the dangers," he added. Saren was dangerous. Saren was a rogue Spectre seeking to bring the return of the Reapers. Reaper just sounded ominous. And the Council had only sent Shepard and her crew of thirty people. What the hell?

Shepard's coppery eyes sparkled as she looked at him. "Well, well," she said, resting her chin on her hand, a bemused smile on her lips, "you're a romantic. Did you sign on for 'the dream', Alenko? Secure a man's future in space?"

A sheepish grin crossed his handsome face, and he leaned back in his chair to study her. "Yeah," he chuckled, remembering hours engrossed in dreaming of going to the stars, "I read a lot of those books when I was kid. Where the hero goes to space to prove himself worthy of a woman he loves." He blinked as he realized what he just said. And how it sounded. "Or, you know," he added quickly, "for justice."

She said nothing, seemed to wait for him to continue.

"May be I was a romantic in the beginning," he said, "but I thought about it after Brain Camp—" She arched a delicate eyebrow at him questioningly. "Ah, sorry, 'Biotic Acclimation and Temperance training,'" he explained. He shook his head. "I'm not looking for the dream. I just want to do some good. See what's out here. Sorry if I got too informal. Protocol wasn't a big focus back in BAaT."

Shepard nodded and then proceeded to surprise the hell out him. "Tell me about it," she ordered.

And he did, relaxing as they sat there and talked. It felt so natural to talk about eezo exposures and BAaT with her. To answer her questions about Jump Zero. He even told her about Rhana when she accused him of being a horny teenager while on the station.

"I'm not one who does that sort of thing, Commander," he denied, "Not lightly anyway." He didn't believe in just falling into bed with someone. Hell, maybe he still was a romantic, thought ruefully before continuing on about the girl he'd fallen for at Jump Zero. He told Shepard about Rhana's family and a little about how Rhana had trouble fitting in with everyone.

"But she was smart," he elaborated, remembering the girl, how she could run circles around his calculus, "and charming as hell." He recalled her dark eyes and the way she would look at him while beating him at card games. "Beautiful, but not stuck up about it. Like you, I guess." Shepard blinked at him, looked uncomfortable. He swallowed and added, "ma'am." Like it would help. The words had already flowed past his lips.

"Sounds like she was special to you," she remarked, regaining her composure quickly.

"She was." And it made his heart hurt to think about what had happened. "Maybe she felt the same way, but… Things never fell together. Training. You know."

"Jump Zero's a long way from home," she said, "What's it like?"

He snorted. "The grand gateway to humanity looks a lot better in the vids," he replied and then he stood, suddenly uncomfortable about talking any more on the subject. He knew Vyrnnus was probably laughing at him now. Besides, they had finished their meals before the subject had been broached. He shouldn't have even—but he did. It was done. "Anyway. I'm sure you intended this to be a casual debrief, not a bull session about stuff that happened years ago."

"I wanted to get to know you a little better," she assured him. "That's all. Thanks for the talk, Kaidan."

He smiled, not really knowing what to say. "Well, you're welcome, ma'am." And then he had to know. "You, ah, you make a habit of getting this personal with everyone?" He cursed himself for sounding so hopeful.

"No," she told him, sounding surprised. "No, I don't." She stood, collected her tray. "We'll talk again later, Kaidan."

What did that mean? He wondered. Stared at her before wrapping his mind around the implications. "I'll—uh, I'll need some time to process that, Commander," he admitted, and by the look of it, she would too. "But yeah, I'd like that."