"...After that, I radioed and met up with Cora."

"Uh huh." Scott's eyebrow went sky high. "Just like that?"

"Just like that," Sara said.

He sucked a breath of air through his teeth. "I just get the feeling that there's a little bit more there..."

"And I don't really want to talk about it."

"Okay." Scott brought his forearm up and began tapping at his omni tool. "You do know there's an unofficial version floating around, right? Some 'journalist' named Keri T'Vessa compiled a bunch of unsanctioned interviews and has a rather interesting take."

"Christ, you know that trash is a glorified smut film-"

"Yup." Scott looked over at her and grinned. "That is our human heritage, is it not? To journey out among the stars and make first contact with new, exotic life in order to fornicate with it?"

"Stop!" Sara groaned. "Okay. Just shut up and listen."

This is the particular part of the story that the vids really botched. At this point, according to the unofficial account circulating the Nexus, a certain Reyes Vidal and Sara Ryder were overcome by their mounting passions and chose to consummate their relationship then and there in the cold, damp cave with Sloane Kelly's corpse festering beside them, beneath them, perhaps in between them.

For all the talk of business and pleasure, business always seemed to take priority. Reyes was Reyes, or at least- as Sara was beginning to realize- he was one of the many versions he had constructed of himself. The smile was gone and he walked, turning his back on Sloane like a man possessed by purpose. "Get her out of here." He didn't bother gesturing at the body behind him, the cold authority in his voice was enough. He breezed past Sara still on the ground, too busy for even a glance as he addressed the shadows, "Prepare the crew. Kadara Port is ours tonight."

Two more people appeared and scrambled over to Sloane. Together, they each took a shoulder and worked quickly to drag her body out of sight. Would they put her head on spike like she was so fond of doing? Maybe drop her in a sulfur lake? Sara lacked the stomach to ask.

Instead, she slowly pushed herself up to her feet and clung to the wall as she made her way out of the cave. It was suddenly becoming difficult to breathe despite taking numerous, large gulps of air.

The midday sun bore down on her neck the instant Sara stepped out of Draulir. She winced at the light and tried to will away any involuntary shivers. Sloane's vehicle was locked and Sara didn't particularly feel like asking if anyone was up for retrieving the keys from the other woman's corpse, so she sat down on the ground by a rock and ruefully indulged in the excess of time she so desperately sought only minutes earlier.

She felt his presence, a small swath of shadow cast across the back of her neck before he could say anything. Sara decided to beat him to it before he made her laugh or cry or anything else. "I'm not waiting for anyone," she snapped.

"I deserved that," Reyes said softly. He joined her on the ground, choosing to sit more than an arm's length away at the mouth of the cave.

"You could have done this at any time," Sara told him. "But you chose today, you chose now, because I wouldn't activate the vault."

"Deposing Sloane was an inevitability-"

"But you did it because I wouldn't activate the vault."

"Yes."

"Shit!" Her head dropped into her hands and she could feel her lazy bun droop lower on her skull, barely contained by its elastic. "I fucking knew it."

"Sloane would have brought war to Heleus. We don't have the population to survive that. You know I would have had to deal with her eventually." He exhaled a long breath. "But you! You backed me into a corner without even trying. It was brilliant!"

"That doesn't- you don't get to- Fuck!"

She'd expected denials or excuses, maybe even shifting the blame back to her. Instead, Reyes surprised her then by saying absolutely nothing. He just sat there silently, absorbing her panicked obscenities while Sara curled tighter in on herself.

Why wasn't he trying to talk his way out of this? If he said something, she could find a way to hate him for it. Now, the quiet ate at her and only added more questions to all the other ones that would never have satisfactory answers.

She broke first.

"I've realized something," Sara said, yanking the elastic from her hair. "About the entire Andromeda Initiative. They said they recruited only the best and brightest. That was a lie."

It got a commiserating snort out of Reyes, but he kept his mouth shut.

"The best and the brightest aren't going to gamble on a six hundred year snooze to a potentially inhospitable world when they're already valued where they are." Sara glanced down at her boots. "Every single person in Heleus is here because they're running away from something. The krogan trying to outrun the genophage and their reputation, Vetra with her criminal record, all tarnished names, pasts, relationships... even my father was looking at time in some white collar prison due to his AI research. Everyone running but me. I didn't run away to Heleus.

"I was fine in the Milky Way. I would have been fine! But then Dad said we were doing this. And then Scott was doing it. My mom had just died and now my father and brother were running away. So like an idiot, I ran after them. That decision's worked out real well for me, hasn't it?"

Reyes didn't answer. Not a chuckle, not a joke- to the point that Sara wanted to lash out for any reaction, to prove he was still there and she hadn't just unloaded to the open air. She risked a look over her shoulder and was startled by her eyes meeting his.

"I never really knew my parents," he said. "They were always nice when they were around, but I don't know if they were too young or just too busy to raise me. I'd maybe see them for a holiday, get a birthday card, stuff like that. Had an amazing grandmother, though." That made him laugh to himself for some reason. "You can imagine the nonsense I put her through.

"When I got old enough, I knew I'd have to join a gang or join the Alliance- it's just what you did on Earth. Figured with the Alliance if I worked hard and did my best, I'd be able to climb the ranks and make Avó proud."

Reyes paused, but it was Sara's turn to be quiet, if for no other reason than to insure he continued. She shifted back toward the cave where he sat and waited.

"But I got frustrated." Reyes's gaze trailed down to the sandy dirt and he shrugged. "I was a good pilot, but I wasn't some prodigy like Moreau and my last name wasn't Hackett. I was floundering, flying dead soldiers. One day, doing another pickup, I got a distress call. Some men being pinned down by batarian slavers. I was the closest one there, but I was just a weaponless transport shuttle filled to the brim with corpses."

"So you left those soldiers down there with the batarians, because there was nothing you could do," Sara murmured.

Reyes shook his head. "That's probably what I should have done," he snorted. "No. I flew over the batarians and when they moved to shoot me out of the sky, I dropped my cargo on them."

"...What?"

"It cleared up space on the shuttle so I could get those men out of there," Reyes replied. "And it created enough of a distraction to give me the time to do it. The batarians initially thought I'd dropped bombs overhead and then when they realized it was human remains raining down on them, well... did you know that's viewed as sacrilege in batarian culture?"

Sara did not. She also wasn't sure if the question was rhetorical. She shrugged a shoulder. "Never really saw many batarians since they closed their embassy on the Citadel prior to Elysium. Did you save the Alliance soldiers?"

"Every last one." A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "I didn't lose anyone in that evac, and it wasn't like the dead soldiers were any more or less dead after what I did. But you can't really say that to their families. Or your superiors." Reyes sighed. "Even if the men I saved were grateful, it's kind of hard to voice your support considering the nature of that rescue. I suppose it was a good thing my grandmother was long dead at that point and didn't have to live to see the humiliation."

"Were you disciplined?" Sara asked.

He shook his head. "Didn't give them the chance," he said. "Heard about some 'Initiative' looking for skilled people. Shuttle pilots were valuable for all the civilians they'd be transporting to new homeworlds. Make a fresh start, they said. Be the person you always dreamed you'd be! It's a whole new galaxy, we can make our own rules!"

"When you say it like that, it doesn't sound like a crock at all," Sara found herself giggling.

"You've been on the Nexus." Reyes smirked. "It's amazing that with all these new people making their own new rules how much of it just feels like more of the same."

"Does it? I was never an accessory to murder back in the Milky Way."

The smile died on his lips. "You know, I really did mean it the other night when I said I didn't want any more secrets between us. I wanted to tell you... just not like this."

"How then?" Sara wanted to know as she inched that much closer. "How did you want to let me know? If not like this, then how?"

Reyes made a frustrated chuff in the back of his throat. "I tried! Last night, the dance, everything- you know it was me trying. I just..."

"Just what, Reyes?"

"I liked the way you looked at me," he said, offering a wan smile as his eyes took in her face. "I was afraid that would change."

"I'm looking at you right now." She continued to make her way over, careful not to break eye contact. "Has it?"

"You tell me, Ryder." He made no move toward her, so she knew her nose brushing his cheek was entirely her decision.

"I don't know," Sara admitted. "Is it okay that I don't know?"

He leaned his face into hers. "Yeah. That's... fair."

Her voice dropped down to a whisper, "Thank you."

"For accepting you?" One corner of his mouth curled up.

"Something like that." She found his hand and gripped it in her own.

Reyes sighed and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "You can still stay with me, if you'd like. I'll be gone most of the night, anyhow." He nodded back to Draulir. "Someone might as well get some use out of my bed."

"Yeah, I can do that." Sara gave his hand a squeeze. "Be careful out there; Kadara's dangerous."

"Not all of us are thieves and murderers." He wrapped his arms around her and she tucked her head against his chest. "I am, but some of the others are perfectly nice."

"Perfectly," Sara deadpanned, though she didn't feel much like laughing as the quip fell flat in the air. She sat there and listened to his heartbeat, steady and strong, her palm starting to sweat as she refused to release his hand.

Reyes didn't move. He didn't try to pull her more securely onto his lap, he didn't press her tighter against him, but he also didn't drop his arms from where they were draped around her shoulders. He seemed content to just sit there, listening to her breathe, until Sara was ready to talk again.

"Did you still want to see the inside of a vault?" she asked finally.

"If you want me there," Reyes said slowly. "Then I'm your man."