Author's note: It never made much sense to me how Shepard didn't know Kasumi's plan until they were already on their way without armour, so I made a few little changes. Also tried something new (for me at least) with how I've included both Nikki and Trish's vastly different stories in the same chapter. Really interested to know what you think about it: Love it? Loathe it? Kind of like it but think I went over the top? Answers on a postcard, or failing that a handy little review at the end! :)
Anyway enough from me. Enjoy.
"Lawson, what... why-..." The commander trailed off, struggling to adequately voice her question and instead gesturing hopelessly at the giant gold statue of Saren Arterius, former spectre and deceased nemesis, that was now standing in the middle of her cargo bay. "Two days Lawson, I was only gone for two days... Do I even want to know?"
"Miss Goto brought it aboard." The XO informed her primly and Shepard failed to stifle a groan.
"Please tell me she didn't steal it?"
"Hey!" There was an indignant protest from thin air a split second before Kasumi de-cloaked, shimmering into visibility beside them. "It's part of the plan, for Hock's party."
"Technically that's not a no." Nikki muttered grimly. "I think it's about time I heard this plan, don't you? I'm particularly interested in the bit where we need a Saren statue."
"It's our tribute." The thief explained. "At parties like this it's customary to present the host with a gift when entering."
"In my social circles that's normally either a bottle of booze or some nibbles." Shepard dismissed, earning herself an eye roll from the two women on either side of her.
"You might struggle to hide your weapons and armour in a wine bottle." The spectre cocked an eyebrow at the implication, intently studying the statue for any signs of a secret compartment.
"Ok, I'm listening."
...
Trish half listened to Little Nicky's intermittent and incoherent babble, her son happily chatting away to himself without words as he kept himself entertained in his playpen. The rest of the room was supposedly childproofed, a locked child gate preventing access to other parts of the house and the baby monitoring VI constantly vigilant but she still didn't like the idea of him being loose outside the pen if she wasn't able to provide him with her full attention. Not when his current record for causing mayhem while her back was turned was twelve seconds.
And there was no denying that recently her attention had been easily distracted. Her mind wandering off without warning, getting lost in memories of Nicola and ensnared in an unanswerable conundrum of what to do next.
Two years ago it would have been easy. Even just one year ago she'd have jumped unhesitatingly into her commander's arms. Now though? Now things were complicated. Melissa had wormed her way into her life, her heart and her home. She couldn't bare the thought of hurting the other woman. After all she loved Mels, didn't she? A few days ago she'd been certain that she did.
But what about her wife? Their wedding vows had been 'until death do us part' so you could argue that the terms of the contract had been fulfilled. Except they hadn't married as a business arrangement. They had done so because they loved each other, and Trish's love for Nikki hadn't died when the woman had. It had remained. First as a well of sorrow, then over time morphing into a spring of joyful memories. Recent events had caused the waters to overflow, flooding her with emotion and while theoretically she could deny her love for Nikki, it would be no more true than declaring 'all elephants are pink'.
Growing up, her mother had always taught her that love was a blessing. Surely then, from a mathematical perspective, shouldn't loving and being loved by two people aught to mean you were doubly blessed? Right now she felt cursed instead. How could she ever hope to choose between them?
Did she love one more than the other? She couldn't seem to rank them on an emotional basis so, as illogical as it seemed, her brain turned towards other methods. She wasn't shallow enough to base her decision on looks, but if she were it wouldn't have helped. Melissa was beautiful and Nikki was gorgeous, sure there were differences but they were equally capable of taking her breath away. Instead she found herself listing the pros and cons of each woman. Nicola was loyal, brave and funny. Melissa caring, patient and dependable.
Of course those traits weren't mutually exclusive, Mels was more than capable of making her laugh while Nikki was caring and patient enough to come up with Op Bubbles all those years ago. Dependable though? That was somewhat harder to answer. Through no fault of her own Nikki wasn't always there.
Except, Trish realised with a start, she was. The soldier was always in her heart and on her mind, even when she'd been dead. The fact remained however that being with Nikki meant long months alone, scheduled vid calls skipped without warning, plans agreed months in advance yet changed in the blink of an eye. Was the short, intense times together worth the long separations and constant worry about her wellbeing? Yes.
Could she put herself through all that again? In a heartbeat.
But what about-
"Missa!" Trish was startled from her thoughts by Little Nicky's shout, looking up in time to see her girlfriend navigating the child-gate and entering the room.
"Hello monster, did you miss me?" Melissa asked, picking the toddler up and 'flying' him through the air while making spaceship noises. The sight, combined with Nicky's giggling, brought an instant smile to Trish's face. The SSV Nicholas finally came to land on Planet Sofa and Melissa's teasing grin entered Trish's personal space. "How about you? Did you miss me?"
" 'Ucky!" Nicky interrupted the adults' kiss as soon as it started, pushing his way between them and demanding to be the centre of attention once more. It provided Trish with a reason to pull away, playfully smothering her son with kisses while her partner tickled him, great shrieks of laughter being pulled from the little body as he tried to wriggle away.
The assault was short-lived, Melissa picking the toddler up for another impromptu flying lesson as Trish lay back against the sofa watching the familiar family scene play out before her with a strange sense of dissonance.
Completely unbidden she felt a tiny spark of resentment flicker deep inside her, Nikki had torn her world apart when she died and now, just when Trish thought she was happy and content with life again, the soldier had reappeared, throwing her life into disarray once more. She tried to squash the feeling. Appalled that such callousness lay inside her. It was hardly Nikki's fault, she hadn't asked for any of this. Her heart broke as she remembered the haunted look on the commander's face after her nightmare. Nobody should have to experience such a thing, let alone have to relive it in their dreams.
Of course, Trish couldn't think of that night without thinking about the kiss that came next. It had felt so right, so natural. Only afterwards had the guilt kicked in. Now her over analytical mind couldn't help compare it to the one Little Nicky just interrupted.
"Hey, you ok?" Melissa's concerned query pulled her back out of her thoughts.
"Hmm? Yeah. Sorry, just... got a lot on my mind." Trish plastered on a smile but it couldn't have been too effective judging by the way Mel's eyes creased into a slight frown in response.
"Anything I can help with?" Trish shook her head. "Well, at least I can sort us some food. You always forget to eat when you're thinking too hard."
"Hey! I'm not that bad!" Trish instinctively protested, conveniently forgetting how Nikki used to accuse her of the exact same thing.
...
"No, it really is that bad." Shepard declared resolutely, her arms folded as she stared down her friend. "Garrus you took a rocket to the face."
"I got better."
"Not better enough for Chakwas."
"Since when do you listen to Chakwas?"
"Since whenever it concerns a member of my crew- Hey... I'm not that bad!" It was the turian's turn to scoff, a faint rumble of amusement in his sub vocals. "Anyway we're getting off topic, I appreciate your concern Garrus, but I don't need sniper support on this mission."
For a moment it looked like he was going to protest but just then the doors slid open to reveal Kasumi and his mandibles clicked shut. He'd question his friend in private, but he wouldn't show discord in front of the crew.
"Looking good Ms Gunn." The thief practically purred as she slunk inside the forward battery. "Hock won't be able to keep his eyes off you."
"Well that could make getting into his vault unseen a little complicated." Shepard deadpanned, Garrus proving he'd spent too much time around humans by rolling his eyes. "I take it the statue's packed and ready to go?"
A silent nod was all the confirmation she needed and she gestured for Kassumi to lead the way back out. She paused in the doorway, calling back over her shoulder:
"Hey, the moment Chakwas clears you for combat you're on my team, but not a second before understand?"
"I-... Yes Commander."
The journey from Milgrom space port to Hock's private estate took about an hour in the sporty little skycar they'd hired for this mission. The time was spent on a final run through of the plan from memory, including various contingency options and Shepard getting into character as Alison Gunn; up-and-coming merc leader and subject of an article in Badass Weekly. Kasumi wasn't entirely sure if pushing the vehicle to max speed was supposed to be part of the cover personality or Shepard's own.
Five minutes out from the mansion Kasumi activated her cloak, there was no way she'd be let in as a guest with what she was wearing and wasn't about to remove her hood. Fortunately as long as she didn't need to divert energy to her shields then the cloak would hold for a good hour. Seemingly alone, Alison Gunn landed and walked up to the entrance, timing it perfectly to coincide with the anti-grav lift that was unloading her tribute.
"Hold a moment ma'am. There seems to be an issue with the statue." The guard's greeting to her was decidedly not part of the plan and Shepard forced herself to breath naturally, hoping her cover wasn't about to be blown before she even made it inside.
"Is there something wrong?"
...
"Alright Trish, what've I done wrong?" Melissa asked as her partner came back from putting Nicky to bed.
"What? Nothing!"
"You've been off with me ever since I got back from my sister's." Trish grimaced, she hadn't intended to drive a wedge between them over the last few days, but it wasn't like she could talk about what was bothering her with her girlfriend. She sighed as she realised that was exactly what she was going to have to do.
"It's Nikki." She admitted awkwardly.
"I'm sorry petal," Melissa offered as her brain spun desperately through the calendar, she knew certain dates set her girlfriend off: Shepard's birthday, the anniversary of the Battle of the Citadel, of Akuze, of the Mindoir raid, of their wedding. She couldn't think of any nearby but the woman had been special forces, there could be something classified she didn't know about that had happened x number of years ago and Trish had just remembered. "I know it's hard for you and there's no time limit for grief, but you know you can still talk to me right? You don't have to suffer in silence."
"No." Trish's voice was quiet, almost raspy. "No I mean, it's Nikki... She's alive."
Melissa just gaped, her eyes staring uncomprehendingly for a moment, Trish was beginning to think she'd broken her when she finally managed to speak: "What do you mean she's alive?"
"What does anyone mean by alive? Walking, talking, breathing, eating... she's alive."
"You told me she was dead."
"I thought she was."
"But... there was a funeral and everything."
"I know, I was there."
"That fucking bitch!"
"Mels!"
"How could she put you through that?"
"It's not like Nikki had a choice! She was de- in a coma! She only gained consciousness like a month or two ago."
"Great, just fucking great." Melissa shook her head as disbelief turned to despair. "I guess I best start packing then."
"What! Why?"
"It's obvious how this is going to go Trish."
"Is it?" Trish asked softly, tears stinging her eyes as a corkscrew twisted inside her chest. "It's not obvious to me."
"You'll choose her. Doesn't matter how long we pretend otherwise, sooner or later you'll go back to her, you love her."
"I don't want to hurt you Mels."
"Kinda proves my point." The whiskey eyed woman scoffed bitterly. "No denial. No 'I love you too', just 'you don't want to hurt me'. Well... too late."
"But I do love you." Came the belated protest.
No you don't, Melissa managed to stop herself before the hurtful accusation rang out. Despite her own private agony she couldn't bear to see her girlfriend in distress and couldn't bring herself to twist the dagger in deeper.
"Perhaps," She found herself saying instead. "But it's not the same. You gave Nikki your heart. All of it. And when you thought she died that heart shattered. Bit by bit, one shard at a time, you've trusted me with the pieces, and I've tried so hard to glue them back together, but I knew I'd never get the whole thing. Not like she did. And you know what? I always thought I'd be alright with that. Content with however much you were able to give me. Now though... If she's back... How can I ever compete with that?"
"Mels..."
"No. Just answer me one thing Trish... If I wasn't here, if we weren't together... would there be anything stopping you from going back to her? Any hesitation, even a moment of doubt?" Trish was silent as Melissa seemed to stare straight into her soul, thoughts and emotions tumbling haphazardly through her. "Then there you go."
"I'm sorry Mels."
"You don't have to apologise Trish. It's not like you wanted any of this to happen. I think I hate your wife though." Trish gave a shaky laugh.
"That's alright, sometimes I hate her too."
...
"I hate you so much right now Shepard!" Kassumi's voice called out from under a barrage of enemy fire. She'd had to take shelter behind some crates, invisibility cloak unavailable while she directed all available power into her shields.
"Hey this was your plan!"
"You're the tactical genius, you could have made changes!"
"I did, I vetoed the dress!" Their banter was cut off by an explosion, Shepard cursing as she sent an overload arcing towards an advancing YMIR mech, swiftly followed by a grenade.
The early part of the mission had gone off seemingly without a hitch. In fact the hardest part of breaking into the vault had been getting Donovan Hock to stop talking after getting a voice sample to help reconstruct the password.
Nikki wasn't quite sure what she was expecting to find inside but what she got was a private art gallery. Statues and sculptures from a wide variety of cultures, each given a plinth and plenty of space around them. While undeniably a large and impressive collection, Shepard was too ignorant of the subject to be suitably awed by what was in front of her, even with Kasumi providing a running commentary on each of the near priceless artefacts they passed and lamenting having to leave them all behind.
She did however recognise the M-12 Kassa Fabrication Locust submachine guns that sat unassumingly next to their objective. Kasumi started hacking her way through the last line of defence on the display cabinet but she must have missed something because the room was suddenly filled with a giant holographic Hock head.
"Don't bother Commander, it's code locked. I had a feeling that was you at the door, so much for your highly publicised death. The Alliance must want that intel back badly if they sent you." The two women shared a disbelieving glance at how far off the mark he was, Nikki almost wanted to laugh, but at that point he reached the part of the monologue where he sent his goons after them and she ducked behind cover.
"I can't believe they're firing in here!" Kasumi squeaked enraged as one of the krogan statues lost an elbow. "This stuff's priceless." Shepard was too busy returning fire to answer, although at least her aim was better. Between Shepard's N7 training and Kasumi's invisibility cloak it didn't take long for them to clear the room despite having been heavily outnumbered at the start.
"Joker, we're heading for extraction point Theta." Shepard comm'd calmly, as she headed East to the nearest landing pad. Kasumi wordlessly claiming both of the Kassa Locusts for herself.
"Copy that Commander, shuttle standing by."
From there on it was a simple matter of moving up between cover, fighting, bantering, rinse and repeat. Simple, but not easy.
Their shields took a constant hammering, several times Shepard's failed completely and she wasn't looking forward to the bruises later. She was however glad she'd spent so long memorising the blueprints as she made her way through various garages, warehouses and loading bays.
Finally she found the alphanumerical wall art she was looking for, AO-181, and was about to inform Joker they were there when he called through instead.
"Theta is hot! Say again, Theta is hot. You've got a Mantis down there Shepard."
"Pull out Joker, I'll take care of it." Shepard stated casually, calmly making sure all her weapons had fresh heat sinks in them. For some reason her cohort seemed much less relaxed.
"Uh, Shep, did I hear right? You want to take on a gunship, just the two of us? No offence but I don't want to end up looking like Garrus."
"Relax Kasumi, I have a cunning plan." Nikki smirked as she about faced, marching over to a darkened corner of the warehouse and running a gauntlet encrusted hand over the sleek black chassis of an M-080 tank.
"Yeah but how are you going to get it through the door?" The thief asked sceptically, garnering a look of sheer disbelief from the commander.
"Miss Goto, you are forgetting two very important things. One, they got it in here didn't they? And two... you don't need a door when you have a mass accelerator cannon!"
"But Mantis gunships have anti surface-to-air counter measures, machine guns, Inferno Precision Kill Rockets!"
"Exactly! You're not seriously telling me you'd rather face all that on foot?" Kasumi stared into her commanding officer's face for a long moment wondering if she was mad. Then she remembered the woman was a spectre, insane plans were pretty much part of the job description. She sighed.
"What do you want me to do?"