Ryder woke up to an empty bed, Reyes was nowhere to be seen. She turns over, finding a datapad on the nightstand. It had a note on it.
Ryder,
Landed in Kadara an hour ago. Tried waking you but you looked too peaceful to move.
I'll meet you outside Outcast HQ at eight.
Reyes x
P.S- Sorry about your thigh.
Ryder narrowed her brows, putting the datapad down and pulling the covers back. She was still naked, but her eyes went wide when she saw her inner thigh.
It was bright blue and blue, with deep teeth marks left on it. She tries to touch it but hisses at the pain. "SAM?"
"Yes, Pathfinder?" She gets up, going to her drawers to find some clothes.
"Can you do something about this?" She asks as she applies medi-gel to it.
"I have been healing it throughout the night. It shall be gone by tonight. Mr Vidal is less than impressed with his neck," SAM points out. Ryder snorts, remembering she got Reyes back with the hickey she left on him. "Pathfinder, I believe you should see Lexi."
"Why?" she asks, putting her hoodie on.
"Your blockers ran out last night. I detect Mr Vidal's semen inside you." Ryder shivered, almost feeling sick as those words. Then the realization sets in, she pulls her jeans up and runs to Lexi.
"Lexi!" she shouts barging through the doors. Lexi drops her datapad in surprise.
"What? You okay?" she asks with worry as she looks Ryder over.
"Yeah, my blockers. They ran out!" Lexi shook her head, she first pulled Ryder down on the bed.
"I need to make sure you're not pregnant before giving you more." Ryder shook her head, laying back as the scanner went over her abdomen.
"SAM said they only ran out last night." Lexi smiled, looking at her omni-tool.
"The blockers aren't always one hundred percent Ryder. No contraception is, you're not pregnant." Ryder sighs, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
"Thank god for that." Lexi gave her more blockers.
"Be more careful Ryder. You and Reyes are not ready for children," she sternly says. Ryders rubs the needle entry point, feeling the blockers going through her bloodstream.
"I know, we got caught up in the moment," she whispers, going red. Lexi chuckles, waving her off. Ryder decides to get some work done to pass the day, she was looking forward to spending the night with Reyes. Though seeing Sloan again wasn't something she was excited for.
Ryder walks up to the main doors of Outcast HQ. One of Sloan's men was standing outside with a datapad, his glares at her with his two different coloured eyes. "Name?" he sternly asks.
Ryder leans on her hip, crossing her arm over her chest. "Sara Ryder, you know. Human Pathfinder?"
He looks down at his datapad, shaking his head before speaking, "there isn't Ryder on here."
"I'm meeting a friend," she says. He waves her off.
"No invitation, no entry," he simply says. At the same time Reyes shows up, he cranes his head to the side, waving his hand towards Ryder.
"She's with me... Reyes Vidal," he says, not waiting for the lad to check the list. He then looks at Ryder, narrowing his brows at her.
"In you go," he mutters. Reyes pulls Ryder's arm in his, leading her inside. Sloans room was packed, Umi was in the far corner tending the bar. Sloan was speaking in hushed tones with Keatus, not noticing them enter.
An Angara turns around when she hears Reyes walk up behind her. "Reyes Vidal," she loudly greets. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show."
Reyes lets Ryder drop her arm, she stands between them both. "Remember what I said about fashionably late?" Reyes asks, dropping his hands to his hips.
The Angara chuckles, shushing him before looking at Ryder. "Introduce me to your companion."
"Pathfinder, this is Keema Dohrgun. The Angara representative to Sloan and a friend." Ryder holds her hand to shake the other woman's hand.
"I'm surprised Reyes has friends. Thought it was just contacts and colleagues." Keema smiles, waving her hand towards Reyes.
"Oh, I'm those as well. How do you think he got an invitation to this event?" Ryder smiles. She looked at Reyes, he was looking awfully stiff. He looks behind him and then at Ryder.
"I'd hate to cut this short, but I've got something I need to do." He was about to walk away but Ryder stops him.
"Abandoning me already?" she asks, annoyed. Reyes smirks at her, pushing her hand off his forearm.
"There are important players here, it'd be good to mingle with them." Keema watches them both, holding back her chuckle.
"You treat all your dates like this? Or am I special?" Reyes starts to slowly back away, winking at her.
"I'll make it up to you... promise," he huskily says before leaving. Ryder shakes her head, her brows dropping low.
"And there he goes," Keema comments. Ryder looks at her.
"You know what he's doing?" Keema shakes her head, walking past Ryder to some friends she sees waving her over.
"It's best not to worry about what Reyes does. Enjoy the party, Pathfinder," she says before leaving. Ryder then stands then, stuck on what to do. She looks at Umi, deciding the best thing to do is get a drink.
"Hey, Umi. Whiskey please," Ryder says leaning against the bar. Umi glares at her, not moving for a good few seconds.
"Answer this question first," she says. Ryder raises a brow, crossing her arms over the bar top.
"Why can't I just have a drink?" Umi crosses her arms over her chest, refusing to move. "Fine, what question?" she sighs.
"What's the name of my bar?" Ryder rolls her eyes.
"Least give me a hard one. Kralla's song," she answers. Umi nods, grabbing the aged whiskey and pouring her a cup. "Thanks, Umi," she says walking away.
Ryder looked around the room, it was mostly filled with Angara and Turians, there were few humans there. But she caught one young Turian who looked very lost with himself. He swayed side to side and mumbled to himself.
Ryder approaches him, "you good, buddy?" she asks, leaning against the wall.
"Huh?" he quickly looks up. "Oh yeah, sorry. I'm just talking to myself," he says.
"I see you're looking at that Angara over there?" she says pointing her finger towards the Angara that had their back to them, drinking alone.
"Oh, Nola? Yeah, she was my date," he depressingly says.
Ryder raises a brow at him. "Was?" He nods.
"I wanted to make her jealous, humans say it usually works. I compared her to her sister, who is her twin. She threw her drink at me and walked off. I blew it." Ryder had to fight hard to hold back her laughter, she felt bad for him. But comparing siblings is the worst thing a date could do.
"Whoever told you that is an idiot. Angara aren't humans either, just go over there. Explain yourself and apologise." Velus nods, downing his drink and stalking off towards Nola. Ryder watches the exchange, first heated then quickly calms down and Nola allows Velus to sit and drink with her.
"SAM, you seen Reyes?" she asks, looking around.
"No, Pathfinder," he replies. Ryder shrugs her shoulders, downing her drink and heads back to Umi to get another drink.
"Next question," Umi says before she even fully gets up to the bar. "How do I serve whiskey?"
Ryder rolls her eyes. "God sake, Umi. Neat, how else?" she sternly replies. Umi fills her cup.
"I'm almost impressed," she replies before serving the next customer. Ryder turned around, seeing Sloan sitting on her throne alone.
"Well, hello there," she laughs. Sloan sighs as she sees Ryder standing next to her.
"The hell you doing here? I see Keatus needs to vent the guest list better." Ryder downs her drink.
"Calm yourself, your majesty. I'm only here for the drinks," she blurts. Sloan waves for her to move off.
"That's all," she snarkily comments.
"Pathfinders, honour," she says, raising her empty glass and stalking off. She hears Sloan scoff as she leaves. Keema was standing alone, Ryder decided to speak to her. "Hi, Keema.
"Pathfinder, are you enjoying the party?" she asks, looking up from her oni-tool.
"Course, these drinks are going down like a treat," she burps. "You uh... seen Reyes?"
Keema smiles, shaking her head. "No, but don't worry. He'll be back soon," she says. "He likes you," she adds.
Ryder's brows furrow. She liked Reyes too, nearly saying she loved the cheap ass. "I got that impression," she mumbles.
"And he thinks he is so subtle," Keema laughs.
"How did you meet Reyes?" Keema leans heavily against the wall, tagging a drag of the cigar in her hand. Ryder didn't think the Angara would even smoke.
"The same way anyone meets Reyes Vidal, through business. His skills are very valuable to Kadara Port," she explains. Ryder nods, Reyes was very good at his job. Whatever it was that he actually did. "Go enjoy yourself, Pathfinder," she quickly adds.
"Please, just Ryder," she says, before moving back off towards Umi. "Please no more questions," she begs as she places her cup on the bar.
Umi gets two bottles out. "No questions, but do you want to try my new drink?" Ryder looks at the bottles. One was shaped like an oval vase, the other was a straight pink bottle.
"What?" she asks looking at Umi. She gets a fresh cup and pours them both in.
"Asari Vodka and Ryncol," she answers. SAM already scanned it.
"Pathfinder, I would not recommend drinking that. You may be able to handle alcohol from your biotics but this could cause permanent damage." Ryder smiled.
"That's why you're here to sort the damage, SAM," she says. "Alright, let's try it." Umi smiles, passing the drink to her. "Bottoms up," she says, downing it all in one. The drink tasted like shit. The Vodka wasn't near strong enough, the Ryncol took over ninety percent of the taste. She felt her tonsils burn as if she'd drank pure acid.
"Still standing... success..." was all Ryder heard Umi say before the next hour was a full daze to her.
All she can just about remember was dancing on top of the table. SAM told her to slow down multiple times, she threw up in a bin and sat on Sloan's chair, which pissed the Outcast leader off. Then she wakes up on the floor in the far corner with the worst headache. "Fuck... SAM what happened."
"You don't want to know, Pathfinder. I've been able to flush most of the alcohol through your system, you may want to eat some food and drink water," he suggests. Ryder stumbles towards the exit, she still hadn't seen Reyes and it'd been well over an hour.
"Where is Reyes?" she mumbles. She sees Keatus standing by the door, she waved at him, but he only quivered his mandible at her.
"I believe Mr Vidal is in the side room on the left," SAM says. Ryder sees the door is locked from the inside, but she's able to easily hack it.
She walks in, seeing Reyes's head bobbed down by a crate. "Dammit, why can't the serial numbers be in the same place?" he whines to himself. Ryder stands there, hands-on-hips.
"Take the night off, come out for a drink," she mocks. "Should've known you were up to something." Reyes stands up, surprised to see her.
"Ryder!" he shouts. "It's not what it looks like," he says. Ryder shook her head at him.
"Really? So you weren't using me as a distraction to go through Sloans stuff?" Reyes scratches the back of his head.
"Well... yes. But it's for both our benefits, I promise," he whispers moving closer. She pushes him back.
"You've been making a lot of promises." Then they heard footsteps. Reyes panics, looking past her shoulder.
"Shit, someone is coming. We need a distraction." Ryder's head went frozen for a second. She would kiss him, but what was the fun in that?
"Sorry," she whispers before making a fist and driving it right into his stomach. Reyes grunts in pain, doubling over and nearly throwing up. The Outcast operative walks in, eyeing both of them. "Sorry," Ryder waves her hands. "My friend had too much to drink." Reyes was too busy dry heaving to say anything.
The operative grabs some drinks and then walks back out, not giving a second glance to them both. Ryder steps back, laughing at Reyes as he rubs his stomach and stands up straight.
"Next time... I come up with the distraction," he says irritated as he turns around to climb some crates. Ryder shakes her head, laughing at him. He rummages through them before pulling a bottle out. "Finally," he cheers, jumping down. "Here it is," he says with victory.
"This was all about a bottle of whiskey?!" she shouts in annoyance. Reyes chuckles.
"The only bottle of Mount Milgrom whiskey in the whole of Andromeda. Triple distilled and six-hundred forty-five years old," he explains as he cradles it like a baby. "This isn't just whiskey, it's treasure."
"You better share," Ryder mumbles. Reyes laughs, lacing their fingers together.
"We'll see. Come on, let's get out of here," he says, pulling her along as they run out of the HQ and abandon the party.
A/N: I know you're meant to kiss Reyes if you're romancing him in-game, but the punch was just too funny to leave out.