A/N: In-game dialogue is used. Bioware owns that! :D

When Shepard stepped out of the bathroom, she was unsurprised to see Kaidan leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door. She lowered the towel from her head and smiled over at him. A part of her was glad that she had had the foresight to, at least, grab a pair of sweats and a shirt.

Then, another part, hated that she was glad for that. They were, technically, exclusive.

Meaning: together.

And it wasn't like he had never seen her naked.

"Hey, Kaidan," she greeted as she walked over to the bed and sat down tiredly.

Kaidan watched her silently, his face completely blank. Without thinking, she rubbed the tender spot on her side as she silently cursed fish tank floors. His eyes glanced to the spot and then back to her. "Are you okay?" Kaidan finally asked.

She gave him the same look she had had on her face when he had asked that question over the comm. She found it more effective in that moment for the simple fact that he could now see the expression. "Besides plummeting down at least a dozen floors and getting shot at while in civvies?" she asked, her tone considerably more gentle than a few hours prior.

It was wonderful what a shower could do for stress.

When Kaidan didn't speak- or even move-, she sighed, "Well, I didn't die- so that's always a plus. I've had worse days." She flinched (and she was pretty sure that she saw a small flinch from him as well) when she realized just how flippant she had said that.

It wasn't really funny considering what had happened.

Still with a blank expression, he walked over to her and knelt down right in front of her so that they were both at eyelevel. Shepard was unsure whether she should be nervous or not. Kaidan had never before been so expressionless- especially after enemy contact.

"Kaidan-"

He held up his hand and silenced her. He moved his hand over to her hairline behind her right ear and moved the hair away. It took Kaidan a moment to look away from her eyes and to that small section behind her ear.

His eyes were glued to the skin that was marked.

He laid on his back on the bed with her head resting in the crook of his shoulder and her fingers drawing shapes on his chest. There was no other place that he could imagine being better.

If there was actually a heaven, he was pretty sure that it'd be something like that.

A beautiful woman in his arms while they laid in comfortable silence.

Perfection.

As it was, they were basking in the post-sex glow.

In that one act, she had confirmed that she was interested in him as well (from the look in her eyes while in the act, he couldn't classify it as a meaning nothing to her). All the flirtation meant nothing- like he said, battle field flirtation was one thing.

He hoped that it meant the same to her as it did to him.

"What're you thinking about?" she whispered into his ear, causing a small shiver to go down his spine. "You're awfully quiet."

He thought about telling her exactly what he was thinking- that he was pretty sure that he loved her-, but that seemed like a little too soon and a little too clichéd- they hadjust slept together.

There would be plenty of time.

"Your tattoo," he murmured, pulling out a question that he had wondered about- not so much at the time since he had been…ahem…otherwise occupied-, "why a cat?"

She smiled and laid a kiss on his cheek. "It's not that simple. There was a movie that came out in the twentieth called the Lion King. Despite being a kid's movie, it had a lot of insight. I got this after Elysium- it's a lion."

"What's it mean?"

She maneuvered herself so that she was straddling his waist. "After Elysium, I started to get pretty well-known- undeservedly, but still known, none-the-less. One of the first things that my mom told me was to never forget who I am. Despite all the fame," she said the word as though it left a bitter taste in her mouth, "and media-coverage, I was still the same person.

"That stuck with me. I remembered there was that ideal in the movie with Simba, so I got the tattoo to remind myself that I did good by being myself and it doesn't matter if the whole universe knows or if it's only me. It's my little reminder."

Kaidan laced his fingers into her hair and pulled her down to him and turned her head so that he could kiss the tattoo. "You're perfect exactly as you are."

She wiggled a little and ran her hands up his chest before turning her head to take his mouth with her own. "Oh, yeah?" she murmured against his lips as she felt him hardening. "Ready for round two?"

"Is that the same one?" he asked, his thumb running over the skin.

She nodded. "Yeah. My helmet saved it."

Another flinch from Kaidan.

He leaned forward and kissed the tattoo before looking back to her. "I was never happier than when I saw you standing in one piece after all of that," he murmured, moving his hand to cup her chin. She wondered if he was talking about the recent attack or after two years of being dead. At that point in time, it didn't really matter. "Are you in one piece?"

"I am now," she murmured, looking up into his eyes.

Just as he was leaning in to kiss her, Liara shouted up the stairs, "Shepard, I've got a hit!"

Shepard felt her shoulders fall. "We need new friends," she informed him.

Kaidan just chuckled and pressed a brief, chaste kiss on her lips before helping her up. "You might want to put on shoes, Hope. This may be your apartment, but they need you to be Commander Shepard."

"What do you need me to be?" she asked him curiously.

He gave her a small smile. "I need you to be you and be mine."

"It's already done," she informed him.

After Shepard joined her crew downstairs, Liara wasted no time. "We have a lead. I called in some favors to run a trace on the gun. It led me to a casino owner names Elijah Khan. He's been suspected of using his profits to smuggle weapons onto the Citadel. Immediately after the attempt on Shepard's life, Khan made an interesting call." She pulled up an audio file from her omni-tool.

"I'm cutting you off- I'm returning your down-payment now."

"What's the problem?"

"Turn on a vid-screen. When I sell a gun, I don't want it showing up on the nightly news."

"You won't be linked to me."

"Save it. Our association is terminated. And, if you even think of coming after me, I've got info on you ready for prime-time. So, you ponder that. Khan, out."

"So, that's our identity thief. Sounds like he'd be the life of a party," Shepard mused aloud.

"Looks like he's got an ID disguiser." Ah, she could always trust Garrus to point out the obvious. "Those things are a pain in the ass to get around."

Shepard ignored that. The irritation the ID disguisers provided was something that wasn't unknown to her. From N4 training on, they were exposed to them. "You get anything on the mercs that attacked me." Joker cleared his throat. Sighing, she amended, "On us."

"They're a private military corporation called Cat-6. As we all pretty much know, Cat-6 is Alliance jargon for dishonorable discharge," Liara explained. "Most have criminal records, history of drug abuse, and other charming features. Hired by our thief, not Khan- Khan's are all legitimate guards."

"That phone call was pretty damning stuff," Shepard pointed out. "How'd you even get it?"

"It involved the weapons biometric data, Salarian intelligence, and a Hanar prostitute with camera implants," Liara informed her matter-of-factly, not even blinking.

"Seriously?"

"No, but the truth is boring."

Shepard chuckled, but didn't comment further on it. "Khan didn't sound friendly to whoever that was. Maybe he'd pass that info on to us."

"That would take some extremely smooth talking. If he sees you, he'll probably assume you're looking for revenge. The casino has a panic room. Chances are, he'll have gone to ground there. EDI can give us programs to hack the door, but the cameras and guards complicate things," Liara informed her.

"Yeah," Brooks spoke up, drawing the eye of everyone in the room. "Khan could disappear or worse. If his guard ever open fire, normal people could get hit. Like I did."

As much as Shepard didn't like her, she had to admit that Brooks was right. "We can't risk spooking him. We go in quiet. Small team. No gun play." She didn't exactly like that last part either.

Commander Hope Ann Shepard liked her guns.

"Dr. T'Soni, this evening the casino will be hosting a charity even to assist war refugees," Glyph spoke up, causing almost everyone (save for Liara and Shepard) to jump.

"Purchase some tickets, Glyph, and call up a layout of the building," Liara ordered.

"Score!" Joker called out once the layout had been pulled out for all to see. "So, how close can you get? You don't usually put a backdoor in a panic room."

"This airshaft bypasses the security gate and ends up in storage. From there, the panic room's door-camera can be disabled," Edi said, pointed out said airshaft.

"Still," Kaidan finally spoke up, "we're talking about a casino. There's got to be alarms in that shaft."

"I believe I have some countermeasures that may help. I'll know more once I'm inside," Liara said, scanning her omni-tool.

"Who would go in the shaft?" Javik asked. "They'll need to be small in size."

"Yeah, that's not me," Wrex said unnecessarily- as though Shepard was even considering putting the massive Krogan into a teeny, tiny airshaft. "Too many snacks of roast varren leg."

Shepard looked at Tali who shook her head. "I suspect my suit's built-in tech would be picked up by security sensors." That was more than a little depressing. Tali was Shepard's go-to hacker.

All around, everyone stated why they couldn't do it.

"What you need," Brooks suggested, "is someone trained in zero-emissions tech. No electronics, no metal. Just undetectable polymers." Then, she was off rambling again.

Shepard decided to cut her off. "Alright. You're in."

"What?" she asked. "No. What?"

"You said it yourself," Shepard explained softly, "we've all got too much tech."

"But…I managed to get shot just coming to talk to you! Now I'm supposed to hack my way into a safe room?"

As she started to panic, Shepard reassured her. "We'll be there backing you up, Brooks. If something happens that you can't handle, we'll be there."

"If that's settled, it looks like there's one last hurdle to get inside," Liara murmured, looking like she was messaging someone.

"What's that?" Shepard asked.

"Black tie required."

Shepard felt her head drop.

Damn.

Another dress.

A/N: I'm sorry, but didn't anyone else find Liara's line about "It involved the weapons biometric data, Salarian intelligence, and a Hanar prostitute with camera implants" hilarious? The first time I played through the DLC, I cracked up (not just that time, but, still). I still chuckle about it (hence the reason I put it in).