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The elevator doors slid open. James glanced in their direction out of habit—with no one scheduled to leave the ship, it was often Shepard coming down here at this hour on her nightly rounds of the ship, checking on him and Esteban to make sure they were okay. But tonight it was Engineer Daniels, in civvies, her dark hair bouncing around her face.

Cortez moved to talk to her, assuming she was here for him in his assignment as procurement officer, but she shook her head vigorously and came past him, straight for James.

"Something I can do for you, ma'am?" Vega asked her.

"You can call me Gabby, for a start, and you can tell me why you stood me up, for second."

"Stood you up?" He frowned.

"Yeah. We have a date!"

"We do?"

"Wait, don't we?"

They stood there staring at each other for a minute before Gabby called up her omni-tool. Her face fell. "Oh, my bad. I suggested tonight, but then T—no one ever got back to me."

T, huh? James wondered if Daniels was Tali or Traynor's pick. Either way, not bad. She was cute, and energetic, although not someone he would have asked out on his own. "Well, as it happens, I'm off tonight. You still want to—?"

"Yeah. Sounds good. Go up to the lounge, have some drinks, watch the stars?"

"I'm good with that. Let me just clean things up down here, I'll be right up."

Gabby nodded and headed for the elevator.

As James finished up making his area shipshape and turned to follow her, Cortez got in his way. "What are you doing?"

"Going on a date with a girl?"

Cortez rolled his eyes. "I mean, all these dates. Which you don't want to go on."

"Seemed like an okay idea."

"You and I both know that if anyone other than Shepard suggested this, you would have shut them down hard. So, come on, Mr. Vega. When are you going to admit to what you're really hoping for?"

"Which is?"

Cortez grinned. "That one of these blind dates is going to turn out to be Shepard."

"Come on, Esteban. No way Shepard comes slumming down here."

"Not denying it, I see."

James pushed past him. "That's … You're loco, amigo."

"You just keep telling yourself that," Cortez called after him.

In the elevator, James found himself breathing hard, like he'd just run a race. Was it true, what Steve had said? Was he just waiting for Shepard to be on the list? Because if so, he was a tonto—a complete and utter fool.

He met Daniels in the starboard lounge. She was already behind the bar, mixing something with something else to create a bright blue drink that looked positively poisonous. "Here."

Vega took the glass, risking a big swallow. "Wow. That's … fantastico. What's in it?"

"You don't want to know." Daniels took a swallow of her own drink, then held her glass out in a toast. As they clinked, she said, "Here's to … getting out of our comfort zones."

"To … taking risks."

"Exactly."

They drank, the fruity drink slipping down smoothly. When those were done, Daniels made a second round. And a third.

By the time they'd finished the third—which had been less bright blue and more a cloudy haze of whatever bottles of booze she'd managed to grab—they were feeling no pain, lying on the sofa and watching the blurry stars and giggling about nothing Vega could really grasp at the moment.

"Do you know what I would do if Kenneth walked in here right at this moment?" Daniels asked. She stopped to giggle some more.

"Who's Kenneth?"

"Donnelly."

"Oh." The fairly crude red-headed engineer. Vega had talked to him a couple of times. "Would you slap him?"

"Oh, yeah." She nodded emphatically and then grabbed James's arm. "Ooh. Dizzy. I'd slap him. I'd slap him with my lips."

"Where I come from, that's not called slapping. Anyway, why would you want to, the way he talks?"

She shrugged. "He doesn't mean anything by it. We've been friends for a long time. We're a package deal." Gabby giggled again. "Package."

James chuckled. "So you'd change him, huh?"

"Any woman would. It's all he wants. Just …"

"Hasn't seen you yet, eh?"

"Yeah," she whispered. Her eyes filled with tears as she looked out at the stars and she reached out a hand as if she could touch them. "I want to sparkle like them."

Vega nodded, watching the stars sparkle. "Yeah. I get that." It was tempting to sit here and watch the stars and wish for things that were impossible. Too tempting. He hauled himself to his feet and put a hand out for Gabby. "Come on. Let's get you to bed."

"I am not that kind of girl," she told him, blinking at him defiantly.

He grinned. "I'm not, either. I meant to sleep it off. By yourself."

"Oh. You don't want to drop me in Kenneth's bed on the way, do you?"

"Nope. That one you've got to manage yourself. Sober."

She frowned at him. "No fun."

James laughed. "None at all."

He walked Gabby back to her quarters, making sure she got in okay. As he made his way back to the elevator, walking carefully so it didn't show that he'd had one too many, he nearly ran into Shepard, of all people.

"Lieutenant."

"Commander."

Shepard quirked an eyebrow at him. "How was your date?"

He shrugged. "She only has eyes for Donnelly."

"I thought as much."

They were standing alone in the corridor for the moment, and in James' current state, they felt like they were standing very close together. He took another step, nearly touching her, and was surprised when she didn't step back. "There anyone you have eyes for, Lola?" His voice came out huskier than he intended, and he couldn't help looking at the curves of her generous mouth.

"Be too bad for him, wouldn't it, James?" Shepard asked, her own voice a little on the husky side. "Because there isn't time for that. Not in my life."

"You could make time."

She sighed with what sounded like genuine regret. "No, I couldn't." Stepping back, she smiled at him, wistfully. "Sleep it off, James."

"Good-night, Lola." He got on the elevator, her soft "good-night" echoing in his ears as the doors closed.