Fire - Kasabian

"Udina is such an ass!" Ashley grumbled, taking a hearty swig of her beer. "We go through all that work to get the data, and he doesn't say 'wow, thank you', or 'good work!'. No, he says that we screwed up and 'the data is incomplete and will have to be subject to analysis' as if we're wasting his time. And what does he give us for all our hard work? 10,000 credits. That's 2% of the cost of one of those nice Spectre Master Gear weapons you said you'd get for me, Commander."

"He's an ass but we're stuck with him," Shepard said, ordering another Elcor lemon soda.

"I wish Anderson could take the job."

"I agree with you, Ashley, but I don't think he's partial to paperwork. He'd rather shoot than negotiate." Shepard took a long drink of her soda. She missed having Anderson on the ship with her; he had provided great guidance to her, and without him and Nihlus she sure as hell wouldn't be where she is now. She made a mental note to visit him during the 72-hour shore leave that she had called for the ship. She knew that the crew needed time to rest, and to restock their supplies and weapons. Although Udina had been cheap in his payout, they had still recovered over 50,000 credits on the research facility, and she had another 600,000 credits in her account that she was planning to use to buy Ashley a new assault rifle and Garrus a new sniper rifle, courtesy of the Spectre requisitions officer. It was the least she could do to thank her team for all their hard work.

"Commander, why do you never drink alcohol?"

Ashley's question pulled her away from her thoughts. "It's unprofessional to drink when I'm on duty."

"You're not on duty."

"It's just unprofessional. You're awfully quiet, Garrus."

The turian had been staring off into the distance, stirring his drink without actually drinking it. "It's… strange being on the Citadel without having my C-Sec instincts set in. See that table in the corner there?" Shepard followed his gaze to a table with a human and a batarian, sitting and staring in opposite directions, no drinks on the table but a briefcase at their feet. "The turian that left about two minutes ago dropped that case there. They're trying to avoid suspicion by not leaving at the same time as him, but they're definitely up to something, and it's definitely illegal. I'm so used to being a cop I want to bust them now, but… I'm not a cop anymore."

Shepard watched Garrus gazed dolefully into his drink. "Do you miss being a cop?"

"Sometimes. Especially right now. I just want to do what's right. But…" He looked up into Shepard's eyes, a determined expression on his face. "Taking down Saren is what's right."

Shepard smiled warmly at him, feeling a rush of affection towards the turian. "Watch this."

She walked over to the table with the human and the batarian, her boots ringing menacingly against the tile floor at Flux. "Excuse me," she said, the human and batarian looking up at her with mildly interested expressions.

"What," the batarian grumbled.

"My name is Commander Shepard, I'm with the Alliance Navy. May I inspect your briefcase? I've received a lead that their may be dangerous material inside."

"I'm more dangerous than any material in that briefcase," the batarian growled laughing harshly, "So I suggest you step away."

"Unfortunately for you, messing with Commander Shepard means messing with not just the Alliance Navy, but with the Citadel Council as well. I can get you kicked off the Citadel so fast that your head will spin. So I suggest that if you want no trouble, you'll hand over the briefcase, and give me the name of your little turian friend."

The batarian cursed realizing that he had been busted. "His name's Nareth. Don't know the last name. Now take the damn thing and get the hell out of here."

Shepard smiled in satisfaction, grabbing the case and walking back over to Garrus and Ashley, who were quietly cheering for her. She passed the case over to Garrus. "Take it to one of your old friends at C-Sec if you want, and tell them it came from a turian named Nareth." She smiled at him and touched his arm gently. "You can still be a good citizen and do the right thing, even if you're not with C-Sec anymore. Now finish your drinks and let's get out of here, no need to linger."

Shepard put a credit chit on the bar for the tab as Ashley and Garrus downed the rest of their drinks and the trio left the bar, noticing the wide berth that the rest of the patrons gave them.

"Shepard! Do you have a second?"

Garrus was leaning on the console in front of the Mako, his talons waving at her as she exited the elevator. She instinctively smiled and made her way over - her chat with Engineer Adams could wait.

"What can I do for you, Vakarian?"

"I realized I never had a chance to properly thank you for your help with Doctor Saleon. You're a very strong person to see someone be tortured that way and still give the torturer the option to survive."

"For a lot of people, incarceration is worse than death."

"But really, Commander. You… you have this way with people. They respect you. Crew and citizens alike. I've never seen anything like it. You inspire me."

"Inspire you?" She walked over to lean against the Mako, crossing her arms across her chest. "In what way?"

"To do good. To help people. As a Spectre, you don't have to play by the book, but you still do what's right."

"Doing what's right helps me sleep at night."

"A lot of people would choose the easier way. Shoot first, ask questions later. What those scientists were doing for Cerberus wasn't ethical, but you still gave them the option to save themselves."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, Garrus. No one is perfect. People make decisions rashly because it seems to be what's right at the time, but as they get further in, they realize it's not right, but there's nowhere they can go now. I want to be the person who gives them the option for redemption. I know if I was in their shoes, I'd want the option."

Garrus's mandibles fluttered in admiration. Shepard had known few turians before him, but she was learning that turians express their emotions through subtle motions and their subvocals. The more time she spent with him, the more she learned about turians and how to read them. In some ways, humans were more difficult; turians rarely lied, as an example. But she knew in turian culture to lie was a great offense against their people.

"When we finish with Saren… whatever happens… I'm going to dedicate my life to doing good. What I think is good, not what my father thinks. I want to help others in any way that I can."

Shepard rested her hand on his shoulder, a warm smile on her face. "I'm so happy for you, Garrus. What do you think you'll do? Go back to Palaven? Rejoin C-Sec?"

"I'm done with C-Sec, and-"

Engineer Adams' voice rang across the cargo bay. "Commander! Are you going to tell me what you want to do with these forward thrusters or are you going to flirt with the turian?"

Shepard laughed gently. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" She took her hand off of Garrus's shoulder and smoothed the hem of her pants. "Duty calls, but I'm always here to chat, Garrus."

She turned and briskly walked towards engineering; Garrus was a firm believer that she was always walked with purpose, like wherever she was needed was the most important place to be. Tell her. The voice inside Garrus's head persisted. Just tell her. "Shepard!"

She swung to turn around at him, and the eager look on her face at the sound of his voice stunned him. By human standards, Zoey Shepard wasn't what you would call the most attractive - her hair was a mousy brown colour, her eyebrows were thin, she had a large scar running from her forehead down to her cheek, her waist was a bit too small and her hips were a bit too wide - but to Garrus, she was like a ray of sunshine. It could have been the way that she was always there for you and always wanted to listen to what you had to say. It could be the respect that she commanded among her ground and ship crew. Or it could be because he was a turian, and his concept of beauty was different from a human's. But when she turned to look at him at that moment, she stunned him to absolute silence.

"Yes, Garrus?"

He felt as if his whole body was tingling with adrenaline, and he realized that he was shaking. Suddenly, all of his military and C-Sec duties seemed less terrifying than talking to his human CO.

"Don't… let Adams get to you. You know you he loves to go on about his engineering."

He cursed to himself at his lame send off as she waved at him and laughed faintly before walking into engineering. Another part of him knew it was most likely for the best; he had barely come to terms with his own feelings, and had no idea what Shepard's were. She was such a professional she may be completely against fraternization.

But everything against Saren was so dangerous, if anything happened to either of them, he didn't want to spend his time regretting his inaction. However, if he said something, she could be repelled by the suggestion and it could risk their teamwork - or even worse, she could ask him to leave the ship. He shuddered at the thought before turning back to his terminal and his work.

Get a hold of yourself, Vakarian. She's your CO. Be professional. Finish the mission. Get your life in order after the mission. That's your priority.