Happy New Year Roy!

It's the New Year here on Earth, but you probably won't celebrate until tomorrow, right? Or do you celebrate both in Arcturus? Shame you couldn't come, everyone here misses you and they told me to wish you a happy New Year from them too, but they understand. Orders are orders, right?

Fireworks show this year was terrific. I think it's because I could see it really, really well now. Like, the colors are so vivid. It was amazing! I think I'm going to pack some and show them to our royal friend next time I'm over. Or maybe I think it's amazing because I'm not used to it and for her it'll be like someone showing up with a flashlight and pretending it's the best thing ever. Who knows! I'm perfectly willing to make a fool of myself.

And yes, I'm totally sticking my nose in. Call Wahea and wish her a happy New Year.

Take care!

Lana.

New Year was coming up. The year, 2175. We were getting close to crossing into single digits before the reapers, and things were... going. Thirteenth fleet was starting to be commissioned, and we should have all sixteen by the end of 2176 sounded like. But we needed more. Benezia explained to me that the plan was to have the Systems Alliance create its own relay network, but the Asari Republics were pulling out of that one, and I wasn't sure whether she was going to give it to the geth or not. I thought that was the plan, then Liara showed up in the middle of the goddamn Citadel and announced she had information on how to build relays.

That was not exactly discrete, but it would have to do. I realized I had forgotten to ask her about it when I visited Ilos. Then again, what did it matter? I had put all this in Benezia's hands for a reason, that I wasn't really in a position to do anything about this.

As I read and mused, my omni-tool beeped with a ringtone I hadn't heard before. ID told me it was Admiral Drescher calling, of all people. Damn. I immediately answered the call, voice only.

"Sir," I said.

"Chief, did I catch you at a bad time?" Drescher said.

"Not at all sir, what can I do for you?"

"Don't be so formal, Morgan. I figured if I'm keeping you here during New Year, at least I can get you a drink. Come meet me in my office, unless you have other plans."

"I'll be right there," I replied

Well, I guess even Fleet Admirals like to take a break every so often. I closed the omni-tool, looked down at my very plain and not in uniform clothes, and decided that this sounded informal enough that I might just show up as I was. The Lieutenant didn't even check as I walked in, we exchanged nods and I went in through the open door of Drescher's office. Inside, the admiral was halfway as informal as I was, no insignia to be seen but wearing standard pants and shirt from the uniform. She was sitting at her chair, leaning back with her shoeless feet on the table, and a glass of something clear

"Sir,"

She smiled at me and gestured towards my back with her chin. "Come on in, Morgan. Close the door."

I did as instructed, and as I turned, she gestured with her glass towards the side. An Earth globe, open in half with some bottles and glasses inside. I was almost shcoked to find such a stereotypical piece of furniture right there in a military officer's office in a space station in the 22nd Century.

"Pick your poison," she said, "and come join me."

I picked a glass and looked at the assorted bottles. Didn't recognize any of the brands, either because they were post-2014, or because I actually didn't drink as much. So I just said what seemed to be the best option.

"I'll have whatever you're having, sir."

"Drop the formalities, just once a year," she said. I looked at her, and she leaned over to pick something from the floor. A bottle with no label and a clear liquid inside. "In that case, I hope yer ready for good ol' moonshine, son!"

It was a bit of a surprise, but the change in accent had made her sound almost like a good ol' boy from back in my day, so to speak. I smiled, decided I better submit to my fate after having said it out loud, and came to sit in front of her desk, putting the glass in front of me. She uncorked the bottle and poured a very generous helping in my glass.

"Didn't know you were a moonshine fan," I said. I thought she was German, I was expecting some kind of schnapps or something.

"Elliot was from North Carolina," she said. She picked her glass, raising it high as she looked inside like she wanted to see through it, and gave it a good gulp. She sighed, seemgly satisfied. "Got me on the stuff before I knew what hit me." She looked at me, and I must have looked confused. "My husband."

"Oh. Didn't know, sorry."

"Don't worry, I prefer that. You're one of the few people who still treat me like I'm normal."

I think she was a few drinks in, although she didn't sound drunk. I looked at the liquid in my glass, and decided to give it a decent pull. It burned on the way down, and I exhaled and held my breath for a moment to make sure I didn't breath the fumes in and start coughing like an idiot. Which a moment later did anyway because holy hell that was some potent stuff. Admiral Drescher just laughed. Then she refilled the glass, though I hadn't emptied it.

"I know," I said, and the coughing was the only thing that stopped me from calling her sir again. "Captain Edwards told me you hated when people went too starry-eyed on you."

"Captain..." she muttered, thinking I was about to clarify when she looked up and smiled. "You were with the Fifth, weren't you?"

"I was, before the Ninth. Shipside patrols along the borders to the Traverse and the Terminus."

"Our most boring job by far," Drescher said. "I remember him. Caught me in a bad day and gave him a bit of an earful. You know what he said?"

"I can't imagine."

"Well, in that case, and with all due respect, sir, fuck you very much." Drescher laughed at that and took another drink. "I brought him up for insubordination while laughing all the way there. Good man, Edwards."

"He's a great Captain, taught us all a lot."

Drescher nodded. "Hope he's having more fun than we are. What plans did I ruin for you?"

"Ah, well... We've made a bit of a tradition to go visit some friends on Earth. They took one of the kids from Mindoir a few years back, and the first year I asked them if they'd take Shepard during the school break since it was just the two of us."

"Mindoir. Wasn't pretty that one," she mused, and took another drink. "One of these days there's going to be a reckoning with the batarians."

"I'm thinking the same," I replied. I had a much better source than her musings, that's for sure. "What about you? Any big plans I ruined?"

She smiled and shook her head. "New Year hasn't been the same since I lost Elliot." She raised the glass, I did the same, and after a gulp, she continued. "I raise a glass to him, and think of all the time I wasted when he was still here." She looked at me, and her smile twisted slightly. "You find someone, you better hold on to them Morgan. Don't get married to the Alliance, ain't worth it as my Elliot used to say."

I nodded, mostly because there wasn't much I could say to that, and didn't look like she was waiting for an answer either. Hold onto someone if you find them. Well, given how fast shit was about to go down, she wasn't wrong. She sounded a lot like Benezia did when she reminded me not to put everything on my shoulders. she definitely seemed to make time for that, I wondered if that was the reason why she had gone back to Aethyta. If the galaxy goes to hell, spend the time with someone. Didn't Kasumi say a similar thing in the simulation? She'd rather spend time with Keiji than fight a war with the Reapers.

Hm, Kasumi. I wondered what she was up to. She was probably not the most famous thief in the galaxy just yet.

Drescher, once again, refilled my glass. I was about ready to stop, but then again, it was New Year. I could just go to my flat and crash. We sat there in silence for a while, listening to what I recognized as classical music. Rimsky-Korsakov? Interesting. And pretty awesome, actually. That was Scheherazade. After a while, there was a knock on the door, and the Lieutenant entered without waiting for an answer.

"Sir? It's nine o'clock," she said.

"Thank you Lieutenant," Drescher replied. "Well chief, I'm afraid it's time for me to put on the ribbons."

"Sir?"

"Officers getting together for the New Year. Trust me, it's not worth the promotions. You better flee before you're roped in this and go have some fun instead."

I put the empty glass down and stood, smiling. Yeah, that was some good booze all right. I wasn't unsteady on my feet, but there was a buzz there.

"Signal me if you need extraction, sir," I replied. "I'll find some marines and we'll get the job done."

She laughed and waved me off. "Don't tempt me, Chief. Happy New Year."

"Happy New Year, sir," I replied, and saluted. She returned the salute, and I took off.

It had been interesting to share a drink with Admiral Drescher, that's for sure. There was a kind of rueful melancholy there that I had never noticed. Didn't know she had been married, or that she was a widow. I wondered if her distaste for being talked about as the hero of the First Contact war came from that, or if she was sick of it while her husband was alive. Not that I would ask her, but maybe I could check the Extranet or something.

With nothing to do, I decided to hit the gym before it got much later. I didn't have much in terms of plans, but going out for the celebrations was a solid plan. Have a drink or two, talk to some happy drunk marines, all around should be entertaining. Maybe burn off some of the alcohol from that moonshine before I took off, because otherwise I wouldn't last the night. When I got to the gym, the place was completely deserted other than the bored guy working the front counter. So I got on a treadmill, set the incline to 8%, and went at it hard. One of the things I still hadn't gotten over was how freaking incredible the increased stamina mods were. I could go on the treadmill at a good clip for fucking hours, and sprint for ridiculous lengths too. After I was nicely warmed up, I increased the pace and started kicking up into high gear. Breathing hard, sweat pouring out. It was great.

It was about three quarters of an hour later that my omni-tool started ringing with a coming call. I hit the emergency stop of the treadmill and, holding onto the handrail, gave myself a moment to get my bearings back.

"Hello?" I said, answering the call and checking the ID. Huh.

"Roy!" Wahea replied from the other end of the line, and the video feed came to life. She was smiling, and a moment later she kind of did a double take and her smile dropped. "Uh.. Are you okay? Did I interrupt something?"

"No," I huffed, "just burning some stress at the gym."

Her eyes opened wide, and she mouthed like she was going to say something but didn't. Then she bit her lip. Huh.

"Are you all right?"

"Ah, yes yes, I'm- I'm here!" she said, shaking her head as if to get rid of something. "I finished my work early and borrowed a shuttle to come here, I just landed!"

"Oh nice," I said. "Did you scratch the paint on the shuttle?"

"Hey, I got you everywhere you needed to go, didn't I?" she said, fake hurt tone and a frown, but betrayed by her smile.

"So wanna meet somewhere? I'll grab a shower and join you," I said.

"Ah! That..." She seemed to hesitate, huh. "Can we just meet at your place? Just come straight here, it's getting late."

"Sure I guess," I said. "I'll be there in five."

"Great!"

I hung up and headed for the locker room, picking up my bag and walking straight out after wishing the lone worker at the gym a happy New Year. Looked like he was ready to close up shop, so only gave me a wave while pushing the sonic cleaner around. I guess I had more of a plan for New Year now. Wahea was surprisingly easy to hang out with, she acted very... human, when she wanted to. Given what she had told me, it was because she hung out a lot with humans during her wild years. That, and her turian side. Honestly, I hadn't hung out much with turians, but I could see how they'd be more like humans than asari.

When I got to my apartment, I found her already pacing in front of the door. There was a bag on the floor next to my door.

"Wahea," I called.

She looked up, smiled, and took a deep breath. "Roy! T-Thanks for coming," she said.

"Sure, let me just go in and get changed," I said. I opened the door, and waved her in. "You came in a hurry, weren't you like a million relays away?"

"Something like that," she replied. I heard the bag drop, and when I turned, she reached for me and grabbed my T-shirt. Wet and soaked in sweat as it was. "Can we stay in?"

"Stay in?" I said.

She nodded, and walked closer, grabbing the T-shirt with the other hand, and pulled herself against me. Once again, she was biting her lip, and I could swear she was... smelling me?

"Sorry I stink," I said, "let me grab a-"

"No, no, you smell amazing," she said. She stood on her tiptoes and leaned against my neck, breathing in deeply. Then, she put her lips against my skin and licked my neck. "I love it."

"Really? The sweat?"

"When it's fresh like this," she said, sniffing deeply again. She got down from her tiptoes and looked at me. "I... I guess we can go if you prefer..."

"To be honest, I don't know what I want," I replied.

"Why don't we find out together?" she said.

She put her arms around my neck, and her eyes turned black. She smiled, waited. Then stood on her tiptoes, getting closer to me. I didn't resist. I smiled. We kissed, and we melded. And in an instant it was an absolute flood as our senses melded. I could feel the excitement coming from her, the arousal. It was contagious. I put my arms around her, and as I tightened my embrace, I could feel her response, pressing against me, wanting more. I grabbed her clothes, and was surprised at how easily they just tore out of her body. She moaned a loud yes! , real urgency now in her voice. We stumbled across the room towards my cot, which wasn't exactly the biggest bed in the world, but it didn't matter. At that moment, we both had exactly one thing in our minds. I had never felt anything like that, she absolutely, positively wanted me right then and there, and the rougher I was with her, the more she wanted.

We didn't leave my room until the next afternoon.

I didn't even know what time it was when I woke up. I was drenched in sweat, with Wahea tightly holding onto me. I managed to disengage myself from her grasp and head for the cryo unit. Good grief but she had done her best to completely drain every bit of strength I had. She hadn't shared much of it, but it looked that she had quite a bit of experience with humans. And she loved every second of it. I didn't quite like hearing, so to speak, about every guy she had gotten her rocks off with, so she had stopped that and just concentrated on me, as she put it.

Wiping the sweat from my forehead, I pulled a bottle of Astro-Fizz out of the cryo unit and opened it, drinking about half of it in one go. I ran the bottle over my forehead, enjoying the cooling sensation. Why was it so damn hot?

"It's too early," Wahea muttered, sitting up on the bed.

"Sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Yeah," she said, She slapped her face with both hands lightly, took a deep breath, and stood up. Even with just the light of the open cryo unit, I liked everything I could see. "So how are you going to compensate me?" she added playfully.

"I can think of something," I said.

It was weird. Normally, by now I'd be wondering what the hell I was thinking or what I was going to do next. I didn't feel that way with Wahea at all. And not even that made me suspicious. Maybe I was just getting older. Or maybe it was the talk I had had with Drescher. I wasn't sure. I just knew that she was in front of me, and instead of wondering what the hell I was going to do, I was looking at her and already imagining exactly what I was going to do. I finished up my astro-fizz, put the empty bottle on the cryo-unit, and with a smirk, put my now cold hand on her head, fitting my fingers right between the ridges of her headcrest. She hissed and arched her back, then hummed very loudly in a way I now knew how to interpret exactly. Asari headcrests were very sensitive, I knew that already. And I also knew she absolutely loved it when I grabbed her by the headcrest with my fingers holding right in the depressions between the ridges. I let go, and she pressed herself against me. She ran a finger down my forehead and nose, catching the errant drop of sweat running down that way, and licked her finger.

"Don't start something if you're not going to finish it," she said, grinning.

"Who says I'm not going to finish it?" I replied. We kissed, then I pulled back and wiped my forehead again. "Why is it so damn hot in here."

"Oh, is it too much?" she said.

She let go and walked to the door of my tiny apartment, and waved her omni-tool in front of a small square relief next to it on the wall. A holographic interface came to life, and she turned one of the dials down. At once, cool air started to pour in through the vents. I looked at her in shock. She looked at me, smiled, and stuck her tongue out slightly as she did.

"Sorry, couldn't resist it," she said. When I didn't answer, her smile dropped. "What is it? I'm sorry, I didn't mean..."

"No, no, that's not it," I said. I mean, it was obvious why she had done it, though I still found it weird how she got so turned on by the sight and smell of me sweating. It explained why she had been so distracted when she came over last time and I had run straight from the gym. Apparently, I had been about a single word away from her begging me to rip her clothes off and do whatever I wanted with her body.

"Then?" she prompted me.

"I just had no freaking clue that was there. I didn't even know what it was," I said.

She nearly doubled over laughing at that.

Author's Notes: Short and sweet. As I said in the last chapter, something special in mind. This and Convergence, you can look at it as a happy New Year and fuck 2020 present for Roy in the fics, because it's New Year, I wish you all a happy New Year, and officially fuck 2020. Of course, in convergence it's clearly a one-time thing and we can move on. This one, however, will have longer repercussions. After all, Wahea is part of the fic and will continue to be so. Hope it doesn't feel too rushed, but the timing to introduce the same situation as a treat to end the year was too good.

That said, nothing else, other than the little vixen is a lot less innocent than she appears, and that Roy apparently hasn't figured out that you eventually grow up whether you like it or not. Pretty sure he'll find a way to screw things up somehow, but we'll see.

Right, so, as per usual, and not wanting to seem too pushy, but if you want to support me as a pat on the reon, you can do so here:

tinyurl (period) com (slash) y2q9cop6

(FFnet and hyperlinks don't mix).

Reviews! Surprising number of reviews in the short timeframe, thanks a lot!

RIOSHO: Not so much his fault as the fact that he knew about it and did nothing, leaving her stranded there. Not exactly rational, but going by the timeline, Jack is about 13 or 14, so eh, she's still just a kid. As for the N department, there'll be something there soon ;)

Uemei: I think it's no surprise here that I want Jack to end up as an angry Justicar in this fic. Should be fun, and hopefully read different from how she reads in Convergence (and in-canon in general). The N7 PoV, that's an interesting idea, it might be a fun change of pace. Will fit with the subsequent plans I have.

SpecterXCove, Tom712, thanks for the support!

Next time, on My Effect: Divergence: Not entirely sure because I've banged this out fast for the treat and it's the New Year. So enjoy the festivities and will see you in 2021!