Time for the after party. I know that if i saved the galaxy, I'd be partying it up as soon as I was able to walk again. Anyway, thank you to everyone that posted a review. Let me know what y'all think. Please read and review and as always, enjoy!

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Claire watched the crew welcome Luke to the table. Garrus shook his old partner's hand firmly before saying a few things that Claire could not hear over the pounding bass of the music. The flashing lights from the dance floor reflected off of Tali's visor as she gave Luke hug before backing away quickly as if she had just touched a sculpture at a museum. Claire smiled as she watched Luke gesture that he was okay, she had not hurt him. The moment Tali was out of the way Liara was embracing Luke. Wrex, on the other hand, reacted as anyone would expect a krogan to. He sat down across the table from Luke, poured him a glass of some kind of liquor and pointed to the chair across from him. Even over the pounding music Claire could hear Wrex order Luke to drink.

"Fine you big lizard!" Luke shouted back as he sat down. Claire approached her brother and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"You two take it easy okay. The winner is going up against me," Claire said taking the drink that was in front of Luck and downing it. The alcohol stung her throat as it washed down into her stomach. The flavor of the drink got lost in the sheer amount of alcohol but she held in the urge to cough.

"Wrex, you win. I got to see this," Luke said getting up out of his chair and encouraging Claire to sit.

"Wait, what?" Claire exclaimed as Luke guided her into the chair he had just vacated.

"You wanted to face the winner right? Well, I forfeited so Wrex won. I'd rather see you and Wrex compete than go up against either of you myself," Luke replied. Claire spotted his glance over at Liara and Tali as the snickered together like school girls.

"Right," Claire said leaning forward and placing her forearms on the table.

Luke leaned down. "Honestly, I can't drink too much because of the drugs the hospital had me on. I really have to watch it." Luke's explaination was only loud enough for Claire to hear. She nodded her understanding. Truthfully, she had debated on whether or not to ask him to join them because of that very reason. She knew that hospital drugs and alcohol didn't mix well.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Joker come in on his crutches and make a B-line for the table. Other than the ground team, Joker was the only one she had invited to their shipping out party. She thought that if Joker had not had brittle bone disease, he would have been one hell of a marine. Besides, he had dropped them into and pulled them out of more hot spots than she could count.

"Great guys, abandon the cripple," Joker said sitting down and propping his crutches up against the table.

"No one abandoned the cripple, I'm right here," Luke said making his way over to Joker. They both smiled and shook hands before wincing and letting go. Claire laughed before facing the two of them.

"Hey, no breaking my pilot or my brother. You both have work to do in the morning," Claire said sliding a glass over to Joker and handing another to Luke.

"So Luke, are you coming back? To the Normandy, I mean," Joker asked.

Claire watched her brother shift his weight. He looked like one of the old cartoon characters that got put on the hot seat under the spot light with a thousand eyes staring down at them.

Luke cleared his throat before smiling. "Yeah, I'm coming back."

Wrex slammed his fists done on the table and stood. Grabbing the bottle off the table, he raised it. "Having two Shepards on the Normandy!"

"It wouldn't be the same without you," Garrus added raising his own drink.

"Two Shepards are better than one," Tali added raising a glass with a straw. Claire looked forward to seeing her trying to get the straw into her suit's consumption slot once she had had a few.

"I agree." Liara smiled as she raised her own glass. Claire noticed very quickly that it was water. The observation caused her smile to grow so much she almost laughed.

"Welcome home," Claire said clinking her glass against Luke's. Luke nodded and knocked back his shot.

"Glad to be home," he replied setting the glass down on the table.

"Now, let's get this party started, come on," Claire shouted grabbing hold Garrus and starting to drag him to the dance floor. She could feel him resisting a little but obviously, he did not have any real objections; especially since he gave up any resistance as soon as they were out of sight of the table.

"I've heard you've got some moves Vakarian. Let's see 'em," Claire taunted as she swayed with the music. Garrus looked dumbstruck, but his eyes were locked on Claire.

He said nothing but moved in sync with her on the dance floor and truly started dancing with her within seconds. He spun her a few times before putting her into a dip.

"Okay, I'll admit it. You've got some moves," Claire stated.

"I'm glad they…uh…meet your approval," Garrus said.

Did he just stutter? Did Garrus Vakarian just have to search for words? The thoughts mixed with the tingling feelings that ran over her skin on every part of her body that the turian touched made her hope that Garrus really felt about her the way she felt about him.

He was brave, loyal, and, at times, very charming. She felt safe with him, Like he would never hurt her or lie to her. She could trust him with her life…though that was not what she was wanting to trust him with now. Not since the night he had stayed with her allowing her to fall asleep with him. She wanted to trust him with the most precious thing she had, her heart.

000

Luke watched Claire and Garrus disappear into the crowd. He smiled. Not too bad of a match maker. He knew Claire and Garrus had become close but had constantly put their jobs and obligations about their personal happiness. Maybe with Saren beaten those two would finally take some time to get to know each other and be together.

"How have you been feeling?" Liara asked placing her hand on Luke's shoulder.

"I'm alright. I hate hospitals but they did a pretty good job patching me up," Luke replied. He realized suddenly that his hand gently rubbed the spot where he had been pierced. He found himself doing it rather often, but he did not know why. The doctors anticipated the wound would leave a horrible scar, but adding artificial skin elevated Luke's chance for infection, not to mention that it cost an extra thirty thousand credits.

"I do not mean physically. Last we spoke, you were still mourning and-"

Luke raised a hand to stop her. "Liara, I appreciate you trying to look out for me, but…" Luke stopped trying to think of what to say next. He truly did value Liara's friendship and her concern for his emotional health. Her friendship was something he cherished deeply. "This is a party, right? Let's not bring up the sad things."

Liara nodded and lifted her glass. "To friends."

"To friends," Luke repeated taking another shot.

"Shepard! You and me, drinking, now!" Wrex shouted tossing Luke a bottle. Luke caught it and smirked. If he had learned on lesson about drinking while working undercover with C-Sec, it was never get into a drinking contest with a Krogan. Although, Luke knew how to fake like he was drinking, play drunk, but still be sober enough to do surveillance.

"Alright Wrex, but I don't drink from the bottle," Luke replied. He jogged over to the bar and asked for a bucket of ice and a glass. The easiest way to keep from drinking too much was to dilute the alcohol as much as possible. Melting ice served that purpose well enough.

Luke sat down across from Wrex and poured himself a drink. It was only a little bit of the whiskey, but with the ice it looked like a lot more than it was. Wrex raised his own glass filled with the liquor and knocked it back. Luke sipped his slowly taking a small piece of the ice into his mouth and letting it melt. He had already had enough that he would start feeling the effects, but if he paced himself he might be able to keep from drinking too much.

For the next hour, Luke mixed techniques of diluting the alcohol, spilling, and pouring the contents of his glass into the ice bucket while Wrex finished off his bottle. Liara and Tali watched with utter amusement as Wrex got drunker and drunker while Luke remained only slightly buzzed.

"Luke, are you employing C-Sec training in a drinking contest?" Garrus said as he walked up with an extremely buzzed Claire.

"I was until you came along," Luke said standing and patting his friend on the shoulder. "You try to drink against Wrex after being in the hospital for two weeks."

"I be more than happy to meet any of you at the bar and drink you under the table," Garrus exclaimed. Claire laughed and grabbed hold of his arm. Luke smiled as a rather sinister idea crept into his mind.

"Claire, you obviously haven't had enough enough. Here," Luke said as he handed her what was left of his bottle. He really had not had very much but thanks to the pain relievers he'd been taking, he was already starting to feel tipsy.

"I can take you on Wrex!" Joker shouted raising a bottle of rum.

"That's the spirit. We'll make a fighter out of you yet!" Wrex exclaimed moving over a few chairs and pouring another drink.

As the team wove themselves into their own conversations and games, Luke moved over to the bar where Doran, the owner of Flux, wandered over to him. The volus had been an informant for Luke for a while and had even volunteered one of his waitresses named Jenna to help in an arms trafficking case. The girl was instrumental in getting Luke in place to buy some mods from their suspect, which in turn ended with the smugglers arrest.

"Been a while, Detective," the volus said pouring Luke a glass of water and a glass of vodka. It was his way of checking to see if Luke was on duty. Luke accepted the vodka but motioned for Doran to leave the water.

"I'm not with C-Sec anymore. Been an operative for a few months now." Luke took a sip of the vodka before handing it back to the volus. "How's business since the attack?" Luke asked taking up the water and sipping on it.

"Everyone is happy to be alive. Spending plenty of credit. The way I like it. Though I have not seen the rest of your colleagues around very much," the volus said motioning to the Normandy team.

"I don't expect you would. They are the gound team of the Normandy. Commander Claire Shepard's team that took down Saren Arterius. My team."

"They're the heroes huh? Then drinks are on me for the rest of the night. The commander is the only reason I still have a place to serve drinks from," the volus stated refilling Luke's water. "And you are welcome back anytime. Just add this to the list of things you've already done for me."

"I appreciate it Doran." Luke turned back to the table to see Tali trying very hard to get her straw into the port of her helmet. She finally set the cup down on the table and leaned down so she could use both hands to guide it in.

"Tali, you're drunk," Claire shouted as she finished off a bottle of tequila. Luke smiled. Time to enact his plan.

"Garrus, I think Claire needs to head back to the ship. It won't be good if she has a horrible hang over tomorrow, and we definitely don't want her getting sick. Would you mind taking her back and putting her to bed?" Luke asked. Garrus turned to Luke slightly wobbling and smiled.

"Yeah, Shepard…I can…um…do that…" Garrus hiccupped as he put his arm around Claire. "Come on, let's get you ship to the back…I mean… to the back of the ship…wait…no…you know…"

Luke tried to hold a serious expression, but he was dying on the inside. As soon as the two were out of earshot, Luke lost it. He howled with laughter.

000

Claire's world spun and wobbled as she opened the door to her quarters. The strong hands that held her felt gentle against her body as Garrus helped her to her bed.

"Just give me a second," Claire said softly. Her words were so slurred even she was not sure what she was saying, but she made her way into her bathroom and changed into her N7 tank top and short shorts.

As she came back out, her head felt a little clearer, but she still felt the both nauseating and relaxing effects of alcohol.

"If you're settled, I think I'll just…" Garrus stopped as Claire took his hand.

"Stay." The word was all Claire could manage to say. So many things came to her mind that she wanted to say but most of all, she wanted him to stay. "Please Garrus, stay with me." Garrus smiled at her and sat down on the side of the bed as Claire climbed under the covers.

"Do you want me to talk to you again? I'm not sure what else I can talk about…" Claire wrapped her arms around the turian's middle.

"Just stay with me tonight, please." Claire could already feel herself drifting. She felt herself smile when the weight on the bed shifted and Garrus wrapped his arms around her gently stroking her hair.

"I'll always…be here," Garrus answered. Sleep slowly over took Claire as she nestled into the warmth of Garrus's chest.

This was safety. In the arms of someone that cared for her. Someone that she trusted completely. Someone she knew would never abandon her.