Chapter 53: On the subject of dating…

Thessia, Matriarch Terriana's compound, accounting offices

"Hey, Rolus."

The turian accountant looked up from the datapad he was reading in time to watch a grinning Danger slump into the seat across from him. He put it down on the desk and folded his clawlike hands together, a slight grin gracing his birdlike features in return. Danger just had that effect on him.

"Hello Danger. What can I do for you? Do you need something?"

Darla fidgeted a little and shook her head. "No, not really." She looked around his offices, which weren't quite as glamorous or luxurious as the matriarch's, but they were quietly comfortable and reflected Rolus' personality perfectly. There were some photos on the walls of turians that Danger could only guess were relatives of his. Some wore military uniforms and some wore casualwear, but they all resembled him in facial structure and coloring. On his desk were images of his wife and children, and stacks of datapads with notes taped to them. There were no weapons on the walls like many turians would have, and instead there were tapestries depicting what Danger could only surmise were love stories. She stopped looking around, opened her mouth to speak, and then shut it again.

He waited a few moments, and then sat back in his chair. There was something on the human's mind; that much was obvious. She didn't usually come to his offices unless she was summoned. He had a feeling she didn't really go much of anywhere, instead choosing to spend what little down time there was in the security room so that the matriarch could find her if needed.

And the matriarch does seek you out often enough now, doesn't she?

He suppressed the urge to chuckle and just waited for Danger to say something. It was true that since the mercenary's not so triumphant return, Terriana's dark mood (and the dark electricity that had permeated the entire household during that horrible week) had lifted. The elder asari was very nearly happy again, and any moment that she had free was spent with Danger. From dawn until dusk, the mercenary was on duty, and Rolus suspected very much that Terriana wanted her off duty hours as well, though from what he could tell she had yet to articulate it.

She's too stubborn. Danger can be trusted, and after all these years, Terriana deserves to be loved.

He mentally berated himself for letting his thoughts drift. This felt like a pivotal moment, and he didn't want to discourage the young human by making her think he wasn't paying attention. In fact, he was hoping beyond hope that something would finally give and the tangible tension that was present throughout the household would dissipate. Never before had he seen two creatures so obviously made for one another get so in the way of simple happiness.

"Well," she finally started. "I've kind of been thinking, you know?"

He just cocked his head to the side and waited.

"Um. Yea." Danger cleared her throat. "You know how Terriana is always coming to get me to go over logs in the garden?"

Rolus folded his arms and nodded, unsure, but hopeful, about where this was going.

Danger scratched absently at the back of her neck and bit her lower lip. This was harder than she thought, and this was only Rolus! "Well, um. That's pretty much all we ever do. Meetings, and logs, and meals. That's it."

Rolus had to suppress that chuckle again. Now he had an idea where this was going, and it was all he could do to not sigh in relief that Danger was finally going to actually make… a move.

"The matriarch does work quite a bit, I agree," he replied easily.

"Right!" She nodded excitedly and sat forward in her chair, pleased he understood what she was saying. "So yea, I was thinking that, maybe it would be good to like, I don't know... Not work for once? Or something…" somehow during the exchange she had managed to knock her hair fastener loose and the mess of blonde normally kept under control flipped into her face. Danger growled, glaring at it and gathering it at the back of her neck again before crossing her arms and slumping back down, this time even lower in the seat.

It's almost as if she's trying to hide. She's such a nervous wreck when it comes to Terriana. Human and asari pairs are so curious. It wasn't like this with Michelle. We just saw one another, and that was the end of it. None of this runabout angsty nonsense. One day we were both alone and searching, and the next day we weren't. It's simple, right?

"What did you have in mind, Danger?"

She took her time in answering. Danger had thought a lot about this lately and was terrified of what it meant. In truth, she'd gone on one date in her entire life and it turned out to be disastrous. One of her merc friends had fixed her up with her brother, and Danger decided to be a good sport about it and give the guy a chance. He was nice enough, and she wasn't entirely opposed to the company but something didn't feel right and she had zero interest in pursuing it further. At the end of the night when they were walking back to the compound, he asked her if she wanted to go out again. She didn't, and told him so, blissfully unaware of the concept of tact. It turned into a biotic brawl that would have made Jane Shepard jealous. After that, Danger never really considered it again… until now.

But this was stupid, right? It just felt dumb to be thinking about this. What was she supposed to do, take Terriana to some fancy restaurant or something? Dinner and a movie? Walk under the moonlight? Dress up? She wouldn't even know how! She'd never owned a nice set of clothes in her life. If it didn't have a picture of a car on it, she didn't have it. She looked through her bags, her drawers, her rovers – nothing at all that could pass for being formal. Maybe her security uniforms, but gah, that was bad too. She didn't want to give Terriana the impression this was business as usual. She didn't want to pretend to be the dutiful mercenary anymore. From the time she arose in the morning to the time she regretfully said good night late into the evenings, she was guarding the matriarch, but not because she was a paid bodyguard. She did it… because she always wanted to be by Terriana's side.

Danger had thrown everything back into a pile and slumped in front of her console afterwards. She just wasn't good enough for the matriarch. The whole thing was stupid and she should just forget it. Completely stupid. She flipped the switch and sat there, watching another race and feeling miserable when it hit her. If it didn't have a picture of a car on it, she didn't have it. That was it! Something she had thought about in passing when she first got back to the compound. If there was anywhere that Danger was comfortable and in her element, it was in her cars. She had nearly bolted out the door to go and talk to Rolus, and now here she was, barely able to articulate her idea even to someone she trusted. This shit was hard.

Rolus saw the inner turmoil clearly on the mercenary's face. She wasn't doing anything to hide her emotions, and the accountant and long-time companion to the matriarch felt a twinge of pain in his heart for her. In all the years serving the L'Niari household, he'd never seen the elder asari so much as look twice at anyone, and it wasn't as though she was isolated her entire life. She was surrounded by training asari maidens and matrons, her compound being located next to the warrior school and the local government offices. She had been all over the galaxy, to the Citadel, and even to Omega on occasion. She'd had plenty of opportunities to experiment with love, and the L'Niari money could always buy silence or… use other means to obtain it. And through all the years, Terriana remained aloof and reserved, and if Rolus had thought before that it was because of the burden she carried, he held no such illusions now. It just wasn't until this bizarre human mercenary entered her life that she had let a bit of light peek through and start to melt the ice around her heart.

Rolus wanted to tell Danger all of this, of course… but he knew it wasn't his place. If this was going to happen, it would have to be on their terms or not at all. Any major interference by him might be disastrous. So, he remained silent and just studied Danger's face.

Yes, I see it, Terriana. She's not beautiful like Shepard or Michelle is, but she has a unique look. There's kindness there and sacrifice, and by Valluvian she must be in love with you.

"Does she know how to drive?"

That was unexpected. He thought about it for a moment. "You know Danger, I'm not really sure. I don't think I have ever seen her drive, but I've only known her a few hundred years you know." In truth, he didn't know and wished he had a more solid answer. Danger's face fell at his reply, and he was quick to fill the silence. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you know, I just. Well thought I might…" she paused, unsure how much she wanted to reveal now. "Well if I took some time off… she could... drive herself to meetings, right?" It was lame and she knew it. She leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. This was so fucking hard!

Rolus decided it was time to be more direct, especially if he was completely off the mark on where this was going. "Danger, what's on your mind? You know I'd hire someone to drive us to meetings if you needed time off. Do you have something going on and you need to go away for a bit?"

"NO!" her head snapped up and she closed her eyes, surprised at her own force. "No," more softly. "I don't need time off. I just… was thinking… that's all." She opened her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself.

Rolus moved forward and pushed some datapads aside to lean on his desk. "You know you can trust me, right? I work for her, but I'd never tell her something that you told me in confidence. She doesn't know about the arrangement with your salary. I've kept my word on that. You can trust me with whatever is on your mind."

Danger bit her lip again and raised her eyebrows, almost fearfully. "Rolus, I just thought maybe if she… you know, didn't know how, that… well… um, I could… teach her, right? It would be an excuse to like, not work. And well, it could be almost like…" She squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched her face, barely forcing the next words out. "like… you know, a… date?" She cautiously opened one eye, terrified of his reaction. A million things were going through her mind – mostly centered around the words 'stupid', 'foolish', 'idiotic' and 'ridiculous'.

To her surprise, he was nodding, almost… excitedly? "Yes, it would get her away from the compound and it might do her some good to step away from the diplomatic drama for a while."

Danger opened her other eye and stared openly at him. She'd expected to be immediately shot down, to be informed that the matriarch was far too busy for such ridiculous things. Though, as she sat there and thought more about it, she wasn't really sure WHAT she expected Rolus to say. Maybe she had wanted him to say something horrible like that, to reinforce her earlier ideas of not being good enough for Terriana. Maybe she'd expected him to laugh that booming laugh of his, at the silliness of the notion. Maybe she'd expected to be comforted – the poor hapless human that fell for the powerful asari matriarch… a child to be pitied.

She almost didn't hear when he continued. "When did you have in mind? There is quite a bit of free time coming up on the schedule for…" He scattered some datapads looking for the one he kept their schedule in. "Well look at that, there's one meeting tomorrow morning but the rest of the time is free. Why not schedule it for tomorrow afternoon? I can put it in the database and that should at least save you the trouble of having to do… this," he gestured to her, clearly indicating her discomfort and fear, "again."

Not only was he not making fun of her, but he was… helping her? She shook her head and sat up in her chair.

"No? Ok, well after tomorrow there isn't another full free afternoon until late next week. His clawlike hands danced over the schedule, searching. "I can move some things around, I suppose."

"NO! No, Rolus that's not why I was shaking my head. I mean, are you as crazy as I am or something? This sounds ridiculous, right? Stupid?"

Rolus just stared blankly at her. Is she trying to talk herself out of this?

"Not at all. What is ridiculous about you and the matriarch spending time together? It's not like you don't already spend every waking second in each other's company. In fact, her call with the turian councilor should be over in ten minutes and I would be very shocked indeed if she didn't come fetch you to go over logs. Or maybe I'm misinterpreting?" He congratulated himself on his own shrewdness.

"What? No! You didn't misinterpret things… wait! Um... I mean, well... yea. I don't know what I mean, Rolus. Why is this so freaking… hard?"

He put the datapad down and stood up. This was delicate, and he needed to find just the right thing to say to give Danger the self-assurance she needed without interfering too much or overstepping the confidence of either her or the matriarch. He came around to the other side of his desk and took the seat directly opposite.

"Danger, what's really going on here?"

"Gosh, Rolus, I don't know." She leaned back and stuck her hands in her pockets. "I just… really like spending time with Terriana but it's like, always silence, you know? It's always logs, logs, logs. She barely looks up from the datapad and I'm just… you know, afraid to interrupt her. Don't get me wrong, I love being out there with her but sometimes I just think that maybe… maybe she wants more too? I don't know. This whole thing is just… stupid. I mean… she probably wouldn't even want to go driving with me."

Well, old man, here it is. Time to give this thing a little nudge and see if all this trouble was actually worth it.

"Darla," he began, switching to her given name hoping that she would understand the underlying seriousness of his next statement. "Darla, I think, quite frankly, that the matriarch would go just about anywhere with you. I'll put it on the schedule, and trust that you can take it from there."

Danger stood slowly, silently. There was nothing more to say. In his own way, Rolus had as much as told her that she wasn't imagining any of it. Any doubt she might have had was erased with that one phrase, but in its wake a new fear was rising. Fear of… really fucking all of this up. Danger was beginning to wonder if it ever ended. She turned and walked stiffly to the door, completely forgetting to even thank him.

"And Danger?" he called as she was nearly outside his office. "I really wish you the very best of luck."

Thessia, Matriarch Terriana's compound, Diplomatic Offices

Matriarch Terriana L'Niari slammed the comm button to sever the link. She had been on that call for over two hours, and still wasn't any closer to an agreement with the turian government than they had been before Benezia had passed. She rubbed the bridge of her nose and once more mourned the loss of the spiritual leader. She hadn't realized how much Benezia had done for the nation until now, when most of her duties were being handed down among her followers and some of the selected elders. This problem was one that stretched back centuries and was linked to the genophage. The turians were seeking their allegiance in earnest after uncovering intelligence that there was a faction of salarians that were genuinely trying to cure it. It was a never ending cycle and she was doing her best to keep the asari out of it. They should have never gotten involved in the first place.

She leaned back in her chair and picked up a datapad. Her meetings for the day were over, and she was looking forward to spending time with Danger. In fact, thoughts of eventually being able to escape the stuffy room and the even stuffier diplomatic company were the only things that kept her sane during that meeting. She would check her messages and schedule then go to the security offices to pick Danger up. Then she would unwind out in the garden, just listening to the human doze off on their bench as she pretended to read her notes. She was also looking forward to pushing her luck a little further this time.

When Danger had first returned, she kept a large amount of space between them. Terriana let her, because she understood that it was going to take time to get back to where they had been before the big blowout. Over the course of the last few weeks though, that had been changing. Little by little, Danger was closing the distance and becoming more comfortable being back at the compound. They had finally reached the point they had been at before Danger had left, but that wasn't enough for Terriana anymore. She was bored of the rumors and wanted them put to rest, wanted the others to know that the human was officially off limits. Tonight, she wanted to feel that lazy arm around her, instead of folded neatly across Danger's stomach.

She flicked through the pages on the datapad, glancing at messages and sending polite, but short, replies where needed. Her time was valuable, and she didn't want to waste any more of it than was absolutely necessary on her duties. Finally, she flipped to the next day's schedule, to confirm her appointment time with the asari High Council, and more precisely, the concluding time of that last meeting of the day. The ends of meetings were far more important, because that signaled the start of her alone time with her mercenary bodyguard. These days her work never went past mid-afternoon. She made sure of that, and Rolus was well aware that he was to only schedule things for the morning and early afternoon if necessary. The only time she would take later meetings would be if she had to travel off-world, and she wouldn't be doing any traveling for at least the next month and that left plenty of lazy mid-day excursions to enjoy Danger's…

She narrowed her eyes and slammed a specific button on her comm terminal – a well-worn button that had seen centuries of use – and a non-committal grunt came from her advisor and assistant.

"Rolus, I have seen the schedule for tomorrow." She threw the datapad face down on her desk and glared at the receiver.

"Oh? Something wrong?"

"Of course there is something wrong. We have discussed this. There are to be no meetings past the mid-afternoon hour. Was I not clear?"

"You were clear, Matriarch. Did you even look at the schedule?"

"Yes, I looked at the schedule. I can see that you have blocked out a meeting for well past the dinner hour! This is completely unacceptable."

"Terriana, did you actually look at the entry?"

She narrowed her eyes at the comm, though he couldn't see her and the effect was wasted. "Rolus, may I remind you who signs your paychecks? You know full well why I am no longer…"

"Oh you are stubborn as all hell." He practically shouted at her, silencing her and activating the vid portion of the call. "Will you just look at the damn entry and stop arguing with me?"

She glowered at him, her rage just beneath the surface unconsciously activating her biotic strength. Never taking her eyes off him, she picked up the datapad and glanced down at it, immediately returning to hold his gaze and almost challenging him to… wait… what was that?

She looked down at the datapad, and then back up again.

"Driving lesson with Danger? Rolus, what is this 'driving lesson'?"

"You want the truth?"

She stared blankly at him, wondering what he meant by that. Would she want him to lie instead? What was he talking about? He spent far too much time around humans. He was starting to confuse her.

"Nevermind. You know, Terriana, I think that's Danger's way of asking you out on a date."

"A… What?"

Rolus hesitated, but only for a second. He decided on the sarcastic approach. "Well Terriana, a date happens when one person is romantically interested in the other and plans an activity, and the other person agrees to spend the time together. It's a very simple concept, really."

Terriana leaned on her desk for support. "Rolus, I am fully aware of what a date is. What I meant was…" She looked at the datapad again. "I don't understand. I know how to drive, Rolus."

He nodded. "Yes, I expected as much. But Danger doesn't know that, and I got the feeling she gave a lot of thought about what to do before coming to me."

"She came to you about this?"

He grinned. "Matriarch, you aren't exactly approachable. She came to me to see what I thought about the idea. Do you want to know what I think about it?"

Not particularly. I had everything planned out perfectly. Today we'd sit on the bench as usual, I'd go over my logs and maybe take to pacing a bit. Every time I would sit back down, it would be a little closer than before. If all goes well, Danger will get the hint and…

"Matriarch?"

"What?" She hadn't been paying attention to him.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Rolus," she snapped. "I just don't understand what on earth my bodyguard thinks I need a driving lesson for. That's why I hired her. "

Rolus was incredulous. The woman had to be completely dense to not understand what was going on here. "Matriarch, do you really think that this is about driving?"

Terriana stared once more, still not quite registering what Rolus was trying to tell her. The turian just sighed and thought of an old human saying that Michelle was always quoting to him: in for a penny, in for a pound.

"Look, Terriana. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but here's how I see it. You have two choices. Your first choice is to inform Danger that you have no need of a 'driving lesson' and completely crush her, because we both know this has nothing whatsoever to do with actually teaching you how to drive. Or, you can use some of that diplomatic skill for something that actually matters, play dumb, and enjoy spending time with Danger away from work and the confines of the compound. Now, I have to go. Michelle needs me to attend a conference at the school with her."

Terriana was dumbstruck, but gathered herself quickly. "Is everything all right, Rolus?" He was giving her a graceful way out of the conversation, and she was going to take it.

"Fine, fine. Just routine, nothing to worry about. I'll let Michelle know you were concerned, Matriarch. If that will be all?"

She waved absently and the vidcomm display cut off.

'We both know this has nothing whatsoever to do with actually teaching you how to drive.' That's what Rolus had said.

Could it be possible? Well, of course it's possible… After all, you were just contemplating how to force her hand and start down that path yourself. And why not? Maybe it's not the most romantic thing ever imagined, but this is Danger, anyway. Nothing with her has been expected or ordinary.

In that moment, Terriana made a decision and rushed out the doors to start the rest of her day. Later that evening, when Danger kicked absently at the ground and quietly asked if she knew how to drive, she didn't hesitate in the slightest with a resounding 'no'.

Danger's grin lit up the rest of her night.