"It's Rodriguez."
"Uhmph."
"I told you it's your turn to babysit the students."
More mumbles into the pillow.
"Shepard."
Jane glanced up at the time on the alarm clock. "It's a nightmare, I don't wanna."
"You asked for this."
"I asked to teach, not be in charge of small children."
"There's not a lot of difference, and letting them back up the soldiers was your idea."
"I should have stayed a soldier."
"You think they would have let you?"
Grumbles then Jack felt the bed shift with the weight of Shepard getting up. "Still not a babysitter, or a mother."
"What's what a teacher is, Shep."
The sliding noise of the door opening and shutting left Jack alone in the bed. Jack tossed and turned for a while, but quickly decided to slide on a robe and see how Shepard was handling Rodriguez. Jack knew she didn't have to go far, since they were all put in the dorms to... 'readjust' after the Reaper War. It was smart on the school's part, putting Jack and her students nearby in case of trouble.
In the middle of the hallway, Shepard was holding Rodriguez in a gentle hug. The sharp breathing coming from Rodriguez suggested that she was crying. Wasn't hard to believe, given how many times she nearly killed someone thanks to her barriers.
"I wish I could be as strong as Jack, she... she never had to deal with this..." Rodriguez sniffled out.
Shepard looked Jack in the eye and said, "I'm going to tell you a story about Jack. It was the middle of the night, not all that long before my crew fought the collectors. I got a call from Jack, asking if she could come up to my cabin. Since I wasn't really sleeping anyway, I let her come up. She was agitated and started to pace around my cabin. It was about ten minutes before I could get an answer out of her. Turns out, she couldn't sleep thanks to her past. She just kept talking and worrying and eventually she started crying. I just went up and hugged her, like this. She hit me, but eventually just gave up and started crying even more. I was about to let go when she held my tightly and we stood there. I later was told that if I told this story to anyone I would have a hard time fighting reapers given how far up my ass her foot would go."
Rodriguez sniffled.
"I guess the threat's outdated, since the Reapers are dead," Jack said from her position in the hallway. "But I'll still kick your ass, I didn't cry that much."
"You stained my nightshirt with your eye makeup," Shepard said. "I remember because it was my favorite nightshirt."
There was a giggle from Rodriguez, and she pulled away from Shepard, her eyes still puffy from crying. "Can I get a hug from you too, Jack?"
"Hell no, kid. Go to bed," was Jack's response.
Shepard leaned down to Rodriguez and whispered something, and the younger girl practically flung herself at Jack, catching the teacher off guard. Jack awkwardly tried to glare at Shepard around the student, but Shepard was silently laughing at the situation.
Even still, eventually Jack hugged Rodriguez back.