StealthSaver2- Reviews like yours definitely inspire and motivate me to keep up my work. Thank you. It comes with great appreciation.

FusRoDerp- I thought it would be nice to just end Morinth. It doesn't always have to be dramatic to get things done sometimes. I always try to aim with some relative amount of hyper-realism.

Deovan- Ask me indeed! I loved that scene in ME3.

"I bet you say that to every guy who gets you a homeworld."

"Only the cute ones."

To me, it really set the mood for how John and Tali go about interacting with each other. From my perspective, to be in love with someone is to also be their best friend. I try to show that to the readers that John and Tali are best friends that love each other. I hope I've conveyed that well.

lambo105- I absolutely love banter. Had to be one of my most favorite things about Mass Effect. Really happy to hear that you enjoy it.

Kellise- Let's hope it's not as critical mission failure too much, eh?

Enjoy!

"You ever tried cereal?"

"We have that?"

Olasie nodded at Juel excitedly. "Yeah. John lets us pick whatever supplies we want."

"Including food?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Juel? Where have you been? We all get a daily allowance."

Juel gave Olasie a puzzled look. "Not around here apparently. Where do we get access to this?"

"On the ship's computer. EDI'll probably be able to help. Or better yet, just go on your omni-tool and login to the Cerberus net. Get anything you want."

"What is it? Credits?"

"Three thousand every two weeks."

Juel guffawed. "God. I probably have nine thousand credits just sitting in my account then."

Olasie ate a mouthful of her dextro milk and cereal. "Probably do."

Juel took a seat and brought up his omni-tool. "What have you been up to today?"

"Worked out this morning with my squad. Helped Garrus with some stuff on the main gun." Olasie said with a shrug, "We walk around just looking for things to do."

Juel just nodded.

"What about you?"

"Woke up. Ate breakfast. Helped Tali with some coiling inspection. Took three hours."

"Sounds like a blast." Olasie said.

"Believe me. It wasn't."

Tali and John walked passed Juel and Olasie and exchanged pleasantries before leaving to go up to CIC.

"Aren't they just so cute together?" Olasie said with a lovely sigh, "Haven't seen Tali so damn happy in all the time we've known her."

Juel nodded. "She wasn't the healthiest before all this, no."

Olasie nodded too, though solemnly. "Yeah."

"Remember way back? I think it was about a month in. After she returned to the flotilla?"

"I remember."

"One day she came, had her ceremony and then she just disappeared. Then she popped up in my lab telling me we were going to have to share the space. Wasn't excited about that." Juel said with a small grin.

Olasie just laughed.

"I had a change of shift soon after. Staggered my schedule after hers so we wouldn't get in each other's way."

"But Tali always stays after her shift."

"I know." Juel said, "That was like the whole point of me changing my shift. To avoid her."

"That's so sad, Juel."

"Bless her heart, Olasie, but she was a wreck. I didn't even really get to know her up until after our trip to deploy those ground flares on Tigris. Then a day later she puts me in your unit. Go figure."

Olasie smiled. "I had such a good laugh at that. I always did nag about you joining us. Glad Tali did it for you."

"I think she needed that though." Juel said, a little quieter, thinking a little more about it, "She was hurting bad. But interacting with her was, I hate to call it this, a chore. Disinterested in talking. Exhausted all the time. Distant."

"Screamed depression didn't it?" Olasie said, remembering Tali's bad times as well, "But at least we were there for her."

"Yeah; and I'm glad she's alive again." Juel murmured rather seriously, "Good to know who Tali really was before John died."

Olasie just nodded.

"So!" Juel said in a happier note, "I wanted to ask. How's that tattoo on your thigh holding up?"

"Oh. Is that what we're doing today?" Olasie said with the raise of her brows, "Make fun of me more?"

"Ever think of removing it?"

"Too close to my crotch to really consider." Olasie said shrugging with a dismissive smirk on her face.

Juel blushed slightly. "Don't blame you. But hey. It adds character."

"Pretty sure you said that in that alley we woke up in." She sighed before looking up at the ceiling, "Still don't remember a thing about that night."

"Me neither." Juel agreed before laughing at her expense, "I mean, what the hell did we drink that lead up to you getting a tat there?"

"My lovely looks, I guess. Glad I didn't decide to get it on my face or something. That would've ruined me."

Juel looked down momentarily before leaning back in his chair. "I know this is a bit off topic, but do you remember my poopy accident? When I lost my arm in the shit tank?"

Olasie blinked at him. "...Yeah."

"Everyone got to see my face." Juel said, thinking about the incident a little more, "The real me. You. Tali. Enyah. And all I got to see were a bunch of faceless masks."

"So you want to know what I look like?" Olasie murmured with a small and gentle smile.

"Can you blame me?"

"Nah. I don't blame you Juel." Olasie said, feeling the urge to put a hand on his, "We've known each other for years."

"I should probably take you on a date first huh?" He joked. He quieted when she put a hand over his and squeezed.

"Maybe."

Juel was half joking. But the hand on his meant that Olasie wasn't. Interesting turn of events Juel thought rather happily.

Bekenstein was a beautiful place, John thought merrily to himself as he sipped his local brew. The human version of Illium he remembered someone saying, albeit with a little more human flair.

The calm ambient music in the background was very soothing to John's ears, and he couldn't help but smile as he stared at Tali consuming her complete attention to the condiments on the table.

"Find the ketchup interesting?"

"Ha. No." She answered before setting the bottle down and taking another look around. It was really nice to see such a change in atmosphere. The lazy and cozy look to everything really brought everything together. And the music was definitely something she hadn't heard before.

"So is this what earth is like?"

"You asked me that a long time ago remember?"

She nodded when she recalled that conversation they had years ago. "Oh yeah."

"In a lot of places yeah." He answered anyways before taking another swig of his hoppy IPA. People loved the bite of this stuff too much.

"It's beautiful." She murmured happily, studying the wood furniture, "Definitely different from Illium."

"A lot less flashy, that's for sure." John nodded as his order of Sunday roast of Yorkshire puddings arrived. As the waitress set the plates down, she gave her customer a good once over before squinting her eyes at the connection she'd just made.

"Aren't you Commander Shepard or something of the like?" The waitress said with a grin on her face, "Gosh, your face looks so familiar."

"The one and only." He said with a small smile.

"The man who saved the galaxy wandering around these old parts of New Yorkshire! Very interesting, that is."

"Just tasting the great adoption of culture here." He shrugged.

"We're a fancy bunch, but a lad like you probably has better things than hanging around here." She said with a laugh, "Enjoy your meal, hun; I'll bring you some more beer. And don't worry about the tab. It's on the house."

"I appreciate that ma'am. Thank you." He rose his glass towards her and took another tasteful sip.

"How long do you think it'll take Kasumi and Garrus to finish?"

Tali was referring to Garrus and Kasumi scoping out Donovan Hock's home.

"Long enough for us to come out here on a date, hun." John answered. To be completely honest, John had felt relieved when Garrus offered to help Kasumi with the reconnaissance. After that, John would have to play his alter-ego and steal back that neural implant Kasumi wanted so badly.

Fortunately enough, he wasn't particularly worried about the logistics. Kasumi was, as far as he was concerned, the best thief in the galaxy. Breaking into the Normandy without EDI even knowing was something to respect, if not keep your guard up about.

But, as life would have it, they still had a lot of stuff to go over later. Kasumi may have laid the groundwork of her plan down already, but there were nuances and intricacies that still needed settling. If they wanted her master plan to go right, they were going to have to execute everything perfectly. Not an iota could be out of place.

After all the planning was done, the heist, as the thief loved to call it, would begin. With him right in the middle of it.

John got a call and accepted it.

"This is John. Go ahead."

"We're done." Kasumi answered from the other line, "Meet us back at the Normandy in an hour. We have a lot to go over. And bring Tali with you. We're going to need her for this."

"Alright." John nodded before ending the call. He took a breath, and resumed eating.

"Oh." Tali said with a nice smile, "I'm included. That's nice."

"Maybe you can pretend to be my date." John said, "You can wear a nice dress."

Tali guffawed and looked out the window to the pigeons waltzing around outside. Peering closer, she smiled softly at the peaceful looking sight of the passing cars and people.

John took notice and suddenly looked really unimpressed.

"Jesus Christ. Pigeons? We're on a different planet."

"What's wrong with them?" Tali asked, watching intently on the little birds pecking what seemed to be nothing on the ground, "They're kind of cute."

"On earth, we sometimes call them flying rats."

"How nice."

One hour and twenty minutes later...

Shoulder to shoulder, John and Tali passed their time with a little small talk until Garrus and Kasumi finally entered the conference room from behind them.

John uncrossed his arms and faced them. "You're late."

Walking past the two, Kasumi set down her large briefcase and wiped away the beading sweat on her brow.

Garrus just shrugged. "Sorry. Traffic."

John gave Garrus a good onceover. "And... Garrus wearing civvies. Wow."

Tali bristled at the sight of Garrus and his clothes. "Nothing but a shirt and a pair of pants?"

"Incognito." Garrus simply said, "Just take a look at Kasumi. Jeans and flip-flops."

John took a look at Kasumi's shoes and gave her an amusing laugh. "What were you guys posing as?"

"A couple going out for a walk in the park." Kasumi answered with a grin before stepping up to the desk and asking EDI for a layout of Donovan's compound.

When the hologram materialized, Kasumi began explaining.

"Mr. Hock is having a lavish party and has spent the better part of a week preparing for it. For starters, a security detail keeps constant guard over the facility."

Tali took a look at the area and frowned. "This is his house?"

"Yes. And he runs the whole operation underground, right below his home."

John scratched at the whiskers on his face in thought. "Alright. Give us the rundown of what you want to do."

"You and I are going in together." Kasumi said, handing John his suit attire from out of her case. Under John's suit, was Kasumi's dress. She rose it high into the air and watched the delicate red fabric unfold. She gave it an impressed smile and set it back down.

"Okay. So what does Tali need to do?"

"She's also coming with us." Kasumi's said gleefully when she reached into her case and handed Tali her garments.

Tali stared dumbly at the parcel of clothes in her hands. When the confused quarian opened up the bag and pulled out what could only be a bra, she began to feel flustered and blushed.

"Uhm... this is lingerie."

"Oopsie. Wrong bag," Kasumi laughed, "That's supposed to go with my dress."

All John did was clear his throat when Kasumi handed Tali the right parcel. When Tali reached in to hold up whatever Kasumi got her, she smiled. The realk sprawled between her hands was beautiful. The colors were vibrant and deep, and the fabric was freshly new, unlike the old and partially marred realk she was wearing now.

"Special just for the occasion." Kasumi said.

"What am I going as?"

"Your future hubby's alter ego, Solomon Gunn, is a womanizer. It follows that he'll be bringing two of his girls along."

Tali grinned at the joke. "How charming. But seriously though. Wouldn't it be better if Miranda did this instead of me?"

Kasumi gave Tali a gentle pat on the shoulder. "As much of a dirtbag Donovan is, he isn't racist. Even to quarians. He respects them, truth be told; a lot of the gear he sells is from quarian design."

"Wow." Tali murmured, caught between the gentle smile of the woman and the new realk, "Thanks Kasumi. It's beautiful."

"I know, honey. Maybe you can try it on for Johnnypoo later tonight."

Garrus sniffed at the terrible joke.