She is enjoying this way too much. He thinks but then decides to roll with it. It's good to see her smile; I haven't seen her smile this much since we left Earth.
A comfortable silence fills the table. Odd considering Kaidan during his time on the Citadel had barely spoken three sentences to the other man. He chalked it up to what Hackett had said about Shepard. She had a way of bringing people together. Even the Illusive Man had praised her for that very skill. Shepard rolls the coffee mug between her palms, obviously thinking.
"So how is that militia doing? I don't image you have many officers to play beat cop." She finally asks.
The other man leans back and gestures up to the Commons level. "Better than we thought. Truth be told Shepard we make it out of this I am gonna put your name in for Councilor. Between whatever you did for Kannik and that retired General helping train civilians we are doing well. They won't catch us off guard again."
Shepard nods but looks sad for a moment. "We have a Councilor and he was a damn good one. Or so I was told, was dead for most of it if you remember."
Bailey shakes his head. "Yea I still say you wanted to avoid taxes. Or better yet not show up at all those fancy ceremonies they had for you after…" He trails off and glances at Kaidan. "You got roped into more than a few though."
Kaidan rubs the back of his neck uncomfortably. The days after the SR-1 were not ones he liked to think about. Sure there had been a promotion but the interrogations and cover-up that followed had overshadowed anything that might have seemed like a good thing at the time. No time to grieve Shepard but that had been the point at the time right? Keep busy to avoid thinking about losing her.
"Three of a kind I guess we are then." Bailey continues taking the Major's cue . He raises his beer in the direction of Kaidan and drinks a swig. "All caught up in Politics and paperwork when we'd rather be out there actually doing something."
Shepard had been quietly scanning the crowd as the two men chatted. Her elbows still propped on the pile of menus and hands locked under her chin. As if it had not been obvious that Shepard was waiting for someone by the fourth place setting, her lack of commentary would have given it away.
She did tell you she doesn't know how to turn off.
With a fluid motion she steps over the back of her seat and puts two fingers in her mouth causing an ear splitting whistle. The tables around them give Shepard angry looks but once they see who was behind the rude interruption the glares are quickly averted. To which Shepard only snorts.
A tall woman makes her way over to the table. She looks vaguely familiar to Kaidan but he can't quite place her. Shepard has her hands on her hips, the tell-tale lean to one side saying she is in full smart-ass mode as the other woman approaches.
"You're late Parasini." She scolds.
"And you suck at answering email." The woman shoots backs. Without being invited to she takes the empty seat next to Bailey and grabs one of the beers.
"Besides customs sucks now. If your little package didn't have your name on it I never would have gotten it thought. You'd think there was a war going on or something." The dark haired woman takes another swig of beer. It was a good thing the Asari had brought over two.
That mischievous twinkle was back in Shep's eyes as she picks back up her coffee and makes a seemingly off-handed jab.
"As a Detective I thought you would have known how to get around the cops." She gives a glance to Bailey who had been eyeing the two women silently.
"You're a Detective?" He finally musters enough to ask. Eying her long hair and pink sweater.
"And you're a C-Sec?" She tips her beer in the direction of his cane. "No wonder Shepard called me in." She takes another long swig before Bailey looks at the Commander expectantly. Kaidan had to admit he was more than a little curious what she was up to as well. The woman had been on Illium last Shepard had run into her but had gone off the grid soon after.
"Well while I was running some errands for the Commander here." She gestures at Bailey." I kept finding schematics that were too advanced to be your run of the mill counterfeit. Too well developed to be reworked oldtech. And too many venders know exactly where to find said tech when the vise was turned."
"So you think it was coming from Noveria." The dark woman nods understanding.
"Or Illium if it is made to be spread around quickly." Shepard adds in. She pulls up some of the files on her omni's display and Parasini shakes her head.
"Shepard you know I can't give you those NIA would have my head. But if they were fakes like Hermia was hocking I would tell you. "
"Gianna I couldn't send these over the extranet. That's why I had you come here. Look at this place. We need every advantage we can get." She gestures over to the broken windows and then at Bailey. "Hell this place would be way worse off if it wasn't for Bailey and a ton of good timing."
"That was YOU?" Parasini looks to Bailey and the cane, understanding crossing her expression. The Internal Affairs officer sighs looking between the three others and leans back sipping her beer. "Let me see what you got. Most of the research has stopped since Palaven anyway. Most companies are producing since they don't expect most new patients will have long enough to wait around in R&D anyway."
Shepard gestures at Bailey who pulls up some of the schematics that the Defense Force has been implementing. The two lean in looking at the readouts and Kaidan catches an accomplished smirk cross Shepard's face that neither across from them would have been able to catch.
"Yea your right Shepard most of it is good. Not even available for production yet. You must have been hell of busy to find some of this."
"Always am. Speaking of which, how is your dark matter project going?"
"Nowhere fast." The taller woman admits. "With half the systems being occupied by Reapers and the other half chasing Cerberus of sites most of it is at a standstill."
"Well then I may have something you could use then." Shepard pushes her coffee aside and brings up a data pad for the other woman to read over. Parasini's brows furrow before looking up at Sheaprd.
"What? How did you get these readings? No one could get near Dholen in weeks."
"Having friends on the Quarian Admiralty Board has its advantages. These are reading they got from Haestrom. I trust you can use them?" The woman nods still scrolling through the research, if anyone knew dark matter and how to do analysis on the run it was the Quarians.
"Consider it payment then for any of the help you can offer Bailey here then. You said it yourself with the war going on you are not getting much done out on research vessels. Besides you said it yourself you wanted some real police work."
"God you really are a hard ass Shepard. But you strike a hard bargain." She looks over to Bailey before looking back at the records. "Yea I can do that. Don't expect me to wear the uniform though." She wags a finger at the man.
"Wouldn't dream of it Ma'dam." With a lurid expression that makes Kaidan laugh. Parasini realizing she had been set up (but not seeming to mind too much) narrows her eyes at Shepard feigning annoyance.
"So all this was a setup. I should have known, so what was in the package? C4? Grenades?"
Shepard makes a mock innocent face before gesturing over the Asari .
"Ye of little faith. You are almost as bad as him!" She points an accusatory finger at Bailey. "Can't I just do something nice for people? Geeze it's a get well present of sorts."
The waitress returns with a tray, which was odd because none of the menus had even left Shepard's carefully guarded position yet.
She set this up too.
The blue alien leans over, clearly not recognizing the food she was serving. While she is doing this, Shepard motions for the other woman to pull out the small wrapped package she had brought with her. The Asari lays out circular breads and two different types of a cream mixture.
Parasini opens the paper wrapping and begins to laugh, shaking her head. When Bailey sees what the Interal Affairs Officer is holding he does the same. Kaidan looks at the other humans clearly not in on the joke.
"Shepard you really are something else, you know that?" Bailey gets in before burying his face in his palm again laughing.
"I never told you where I was from." Parasini breaks in, putting the salmon strips down next to the pile of bagels that had been left behind. Shepard just shrugs snagging one for herself.
"Call it a hunch. Besides I think taking two to the gut deserves a good breakfast don't you?" She says around a mouthful of cream cheese, indicating Bailey.
They enjoy their meal making playful jabs at each other before it is time to go. The two Specters leave first after Shepard promises to check her emails more often. Heading back to the Commons Kaidan is still chuckling to himself about the whole thing.
"So how do you find the time to play match maker for acquaintances when you have to jump across the galaxy at a moment's notice?" He asks with a smile.
"Me? I did no such thing." Shepard has an accomplished smile on her face nevertheless.
"Yea sure. If you were singing the Commander's praises any more I might have gotten jealous." Shepard gives a snort and shakes her head.
"Actually the tech and Haelstrom data had to be done anyway. This way was just more fun."
"And there was no other motivation behind it?" Kaidan pushes. Shepard shrugs the smile fading from her eyes.
"Bailey did me a few big favors. He kept Kolyat out of jail so he and Thane could reconnect. He stalled the Council so I could be with Thane at the end." Her eyes drift out over the water. "If not for him guiding me every step of the way during the attack I wouldn't have gotten to you in time. I think he earns a little happiness don't you?"
"And the cop thing? Parasini and Bailey "
"There is just this way about them I guess. This smart-aleck, street smarts that I respect. I mean they are not career officers but that didn't stop Bailey from trying to save his force from Cerberus. And Gianna is just tough as nails. I respect that in people. Not everyone who fights the good fight becomes a soldier Kaidan." She was looking out over the Commons now, lost in thought.
What was she remembering? Her brother had been about to join the Alliance. Her father maybe, he had told her about his own childhood as a son of a solider but she had never talked about her own.
"They remind you of someone." He decides to push just a bit.
"Yea" She says finally. "My father was a cop on Earth before I was born. Had the same manner as those two. Smart mouth but got the job done."
"Mmmm sounds like someone else I know."
A/N I can't be the only one who really wanted to see more of these two characters? I think they would hit it off really well. And to any non-American readers who don't know what bagels and lox are Google it, I never realized how uncommon that is until I moved away from NYC.