Bioware owns all.

Chapter 5

He Said

It took a great deal of my will power to not watch Avery change into her boots. The minute she tried to sit on the ground, her skirt hiked dangerously up her hips and I held my breath, a tiny war in my head between the angel and devil on my shoulders over whether I should watch. Part of me really wanted that skirt to go just a little higher. I caught Vakarian looking at me, his expression unfriendly, and I turned my head away from both of them, making sure out of the corner of my eye that he wasn't watching her either. Wait, could a turian even think that way about a human? I shook the thought off; it wasn't any of my business any more. I'd made sure of that on Horizon, I thought bitterly. And she'd made sure of it by working for Cerberus.

I turned my head back to Shepard in time to see the curve of her ass as she bent slightly to buckle the gun belt in place. Cinching it around her waist had shortened her skirt somewhat too, giving me even more of a glimpse of her long legs. I swallowed and tugged at my collar, my uniform suddenly felt constricting. I pulled my eyes up to her face and discovered she was looking doubtfully between me and the turian. "Well, I guess you're both with me, then."

Vakarian shrugged and gave her his equivalent of a grin, "Wouldn't have it any other way, Shepard." What the hell was going on between them?

She answered his grin and walked over to the transport. Without looking at me, she said, "I suppose you'll want to drive, Commander?"

The ghost of our old camaraderie hung over me, "Am I that transparent?"

Apparently, I wasn't the only one feeling that ghost. Vakarian laughed, "Glad to have someone else take over. She always makes me drive."

She made a face, her nose wrinkling adorably. I could almost hear her admonish me, "Spectres are not adorable!" She got in the back seat, carefully making sure, to my disappointment, that her hem remained at an appropriate length. "I hate driving these things. I'm happy to delegate," she said from the interior of the car.

Vakarian climbed in and I finally realized the turian was still in full armor and wore all his weapons. Getting in after him into the driver's seat, I asked, "Were you expecting an invasion while on leave?"

He glanced back at Shepard, "Have you ever known anything involving Shepard to go smoothly? Tali and I elected to remain, 'on duty,' so to speak, tonight. She had her shotgun and pistol with her, too."

"Ah, yes, The Great Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong near me, definitely will, in spades," Shepard's tone was a tad bitter. I quickly suppressed the urge to comfort her. It wasn't my right any more.

"You know it's all part of your charm, Shepard," Vakarian told her, laughter under the flanging in his voice, "It's why we follow you. You take us to classy places and let us shoot the hell out of them."

Bitterness consumed me as her laughter welled up from the backseat. I tried to change the subject, "Did you get to run into Wrex, at all, or Liara?"

"Don't bring up Liara," Vakarian growled, warningly, glaring out the window.

Shepard apparently ignored my reference to Liara, and said, "Wrex has set himself up as King of Tuchanka! Or whatever the krogan equivalent is."

I tried not to rear end another car in astonishment. "King?"

"He's managed to cow the clans under Urdnot," Vakarian supplied. "He convinced the female clans to seek his protection and the rest of the clans won't attack Urdnot for fear of harming them."

I heard Shepard's laughter from behind me again, "Yeah, and that wily son of a bitch got us to clean up his front yard and take out two opposing clan leaders."

"We were there anyway, Shepard," the ex-C-Sec officer replied, "Might as well help the man clean up his neighborhood."

Their banter made something in my chest hurt and my stomach sour. I'd missed that. More than I'd thought. The high from taking down Saren had been short lived, though. I refused to follow that thought to it's conclusion with her sitting in the back seat.

The two of them continued cracking jokes and I wondered when the hell Shepard had gotten so close to Vakarian. Apparently, a lot had happened since Horizon. I wondered when I'd be filled in, if I would be. And if I could believe anything they told me. No matter what I still felt for Shepard, she'd chosen to work for terrorists, I reminded myself. The official spin they were going to put on the events of the last two years wasn't going to change that. It wasn't going to change what I knew. By the time we arrived at the embassies and Councilor Anderson's office, I felt back in control and capable of regarding Shepard as dispassionately as I should have done from the beginning. I refused to look at her legs again, or to remember them in the minute detail my mind was currently trying to think of them in. And let's not forget the geth she mentioned, I reminded myself.

I climbed out of the car and stood stiffly out of the way while Vakarian and Shepard got out, too. They'd stopped talking to each other at least. My silence had apparently squashed their repartee. Or maybe it was our arrival at Anderson's office. Shepard looked like she'd rather chew glass than enter that office. I watched her bury Avery Shepard and become the Commander. It was subtle, and most people wouldn't see the change if they didn't know what they were looking for. Her back and shoulders straightened, her expression sobered, even her walk changed. I glanced at the turian and it seemed he'd taken a page from Shepard's book. He was no longer relaxed and joking, but he walked behind her seemingly far more alert than he'd been previously. He took up a post just inside the door. Startled, I finally noticed the scars running over his facial carapace and the bandage still over the right side of his head. What the hell had happened to him?

Anderson greeted us warmly, "Shepard! I'm glad to see you, no matter the hour, but what's wrong that it couldn't wait until morning?" The older man was dressed as professionally as if he'd had his full eight hours, but his eyes looked even more tired and puffy than usual.

Shepard smiled at Anderson, Avery peaking through the Commander façade. Udina, however, was also there. I saw Shepard's smile she'd given to Anderson falter and become wooden and fake. "This is ridiculous, Shepard! You have no right to request the Councilor meet you in the middle of the night!" Udina was also dressed as carefully as Anderson, but didn't look as exhausted.

The Spectre's pretty face twisted in anger, "Udina, shut up! The grown ups are talking." I caught myself before I laughed and turned it into a cough.