"This is actually pretty accurate," Nikki stated as they began trekking through an artificial rainforest in the so called 'safari museum', originally built as an upgrade to, and then finally becoming a replacement for, the old San Francisco Zoo. "Nowhere near as hot and humid as the real thing of course, but enough to get the idea across and it looks pretty much spot on."

Trish had been a little surprised that her partner had chosen this habitat first, figuring she would be bored of jungles by now after her stint at the Villa. Although the surprise was apparently too late to earn her bonus points.

They had compromised slightly over the whole 'who is taking who out' aspect and instead of fully planning everything for her own date, Trish had given Nick a datapad full of options that were acceptable and told her to pick one.

The idea had been for her to still not know exactly what would happen, while giving Nikki the confidence of knowing that yes Trish would enjoy her decision. Plus leave plenty of ideas in reserve for the future.

In typical Shepard fashion her girlfriend had been determined to try and squeeze them all into the two weeks to give her the best possible time and Trish had been forced to remind her that she still needed to go to work on some of those days and there was plenty of time to spread them out over future shore leaves.

Her introspection was broken by sudden, fast movement in the corner of her eye. There was a flash of orange and a bestial roar, but before she had a chance to react or even any time to process what she'd seen she was grabbed and spun round, coming to rest behind her marine.

She peeked over Nikki's shoulder just in time to see a life size animatronic tiger come to a stop in front of them. A haptic display popping up beside it to allow access to photos, information and videos on the creature. Brain catching up to what happened and noting the way Nikki had instinctively reacted to put herself between the imagined danger, she couldn't help teasing her.

"Well done, very impressive. Now what's your plan to beat the dangerous beastie without any weapons or armour?"

"I hadn't thought that far ahead."

Trish could feel a faint wave of self-conscious awkwardness rolling off the soldier for the over the top reaction and decided not to embarrass her further, or at least, not just yet. Instead she leant her head round and kissed her on the cheek, whispering:

"Thank you for protecting me from the non-existent threat."

"You're welcome."

"In future you should probably think about your own survival first though."

There was a noncommittal grunt as Nicola fired up a video clip and pretended to be throughly enthralled by it's contents. Trish taking the opportunity to hug her from behind, the last of the N1's tension fading away as she relaxed in the civilian's arms.

"They look magnificent, imagine what they must have been like in real life. Do they have any pics of the babies?"

"The babies were called cubs apparently." Nick informed her as she found the relevant file, smiling at the instant exclamation of cuteness.

...

Twenty minutes after leaving the tiger behind, Shepard proved her ability to follow orders when they triggered another big cat display. As the patchy tan coloured predator moved towards them, she pushed the civilian towards it and set off in the other direction, cackling hysterically and pushing herself up into the branches of a nearby tree.

"Idiot! You know they can climb right?" Trish yelled behind her, the twinkle in her eyes assuring her she wasn't in too much trouble. She had just turned back to the display, filled with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge when-

"What the fuck!"

She faced the noise just in time to see her girlfriend scramble hurriedly out the tree, a telltale orange glow revealing another display.

"Who the hell puts a snake in a tree?"

Trish burst out laughing as Nikki strolled over with as much dignity as she could muster.

"Mother Nature Nick. Mother Nature puts snakes in trees."

The marine huffed and decided to change the subject: "Find anything interesting on spotty here?"

...

Three species later Nikki realised that they weren't going to be seeing everything today. There were multiple ways to experience the safari depending on personal preference, with most people choosing which animals they wanted to see in advance and the attraction's optional app to their omni-tool plotting a route showing how to get between them efficiently.

The app could also be used to customize the experience with options on whether to trigger animal encounters that weren't on your 'to see' list when setting off the proximity settings. Somewhat naively they had decided to forego the route planner and simply wander the grounds, leaving it completely to chance what they'd find. Every time they triggered a new exhibit Trish would become engrossed in the display, devouring every piece of information she could find.

As Trish stared enrapt at the explanation of how the nocturnal Aye-aye used it's long thin middle finger like a woodpecker's beak to search for grubs inside trees, Nikki started browsing the extranet on her omni-tool, by the time they were informed how superstitious Madagascan tribes used to believe the Aye-aye was a death dealing demon that should be killed on sight she had just finished upgrading them both to an annual membership pass.

...

"That bad huh?" Nikki didn't even have to ask how the meeting went. Today was the day Trish presented her proposals to the board. Proposals that would see the bluewire's shield bonus double. She had been so excited this morning as she left for work, it was a sharp contrast to the angry, irritated woman who returned.

"Too expensive. It could make the difference between life and death in combat for our troops and it's too fucking expensive!" She raged, flopping down onto the sofa in defeat. "Ever wondered how much a soldier's life is worth? Not that much apparently."

"Relax babe, we're used to it."

"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO BE USED TO IT!" Nikki smiled at the outburst, safe in the knowledge that the anger wasn't aimed at her.

"Oh but we are, it's in Murphy's regs and everything: 'Never forget your weapon is made by the lowest bidder'. It's right in between 'when you have secured an area don't forget to tell the enemy' and 'friendly fire isn't'."

"What other pearls of wisdom did Murphy set for you?"

"Teamwork is essential, it gives them someone else to shoot at." Trish shook her head despairingly but Nick caught the faint twitch at the corner of her mouth. "Oh and a very important one, 'the enemy only ever attacks on two occasions: when you're ready for them and when you're not!'" Trish's response was more of a scoff than a laugh but she'd take it.

...

"You know there's these people called dentists you could go to." Trish stated, swirling the wine around in her glass above her empty plate as she waited for Nikki to finish eating. She wasn't sure if it was coincidence or if they somehow subconsciously paced themselves against each other, but normally they'd finish their meals within a couple of minutes of one another. She'd been dimly aware yesterday that it took Nikki longer than normal to finish, but they'd been talking so she hadn't paid much attention to it until she noticed her falling behind again tonight. Then she'd paid closer attention and started noticing the microscopic clues.

"Why bother? It only hurts when I'm eating, it's not a problem the rest of the time."

"Yeah... Next thing I know you'll be saying your lungs only hurt when you breathe! Believe it or not teeth aren't supposed to hurt at any time Nick." The soldier shrugged nonchalantly as she swallowed another mouthful, piling more food onto her fork as she answered:

"Normally it stops hurting on it's own, just needs a bit of time is all. I'll give it another couple of weeks, if it's still hurting after that I'll think about it." Trish shook her head despairingly but said nothing as she took a sip of wine. Shepard took another bite, nearly managing to hide the slight grimace at the sharp jolt of pain as a piece of food hit the problem tooth.

"Come on this is stupid, just because you can deal with worse pain doesn't mean you have to. It's not even like you have to pay, the Alliance has dental plans you know?"

"Yeah right, I'll go in with one sore tooth and come out with half my mouth missing and needing dentures. I'm pretty sure they still use pliers and no anesthetic." This time there was a quirk to the corner of Trish's lips even as she shook her head again.

"You are far too stubborn."

...

"I knew I should have got everything ready last night... Seriously, where's my uniform?"

"I don't know, have you tried the study?"

"Why would it-" Nikki trailed off as she remembered exactly why her uniform would be sprawled across the other room in pieces and decided to change questions instead. "How do I not have a spare one here?"

"Probably because you went straight on leave after getting promoted. Can't you just wear an old one?"

"I think people might notice. There's a difference between Sergeant no.2s and Lieutenant no.1s you know." There was a snort and Nikki turned quizzically towards the sound, she shook her head with a sigh as she realised what it was that her girlfriend found funny. "I swear your mind's as dirty as a marine's sometimes."

As great as the sight of her partner in her underwear was, Trish decided she best get up and help. Although admittedly that decision may have been swayed by the fact that Nikki had left the room and she could no longer just lay there watching appreciatively from the bed.

By the time she made it to the study Nikki had acquired and put on some trousers, spotting the hat under the desk she went to collect it just as the civilian's alarm went off. "Great, and now I've got to get ready as well."

"At least you can wear what ever you want at work." Nikki dismissed good naturedly as she searched for the rest of her uniform.

"We do still have to look smart you know."

"Pfft, just rock up in a t-shirt with an MRI scan of your brain on it, you'll be fine." Trish laughed, putting the hat on her still topless girlfriend along with a kiss which was instantly and happily returned. After probably too long and nowhere near long enough the soldier pulled away. "You know this is exactly what got us into this mess in the first place!"