Ryder walked through Kadara Port with a small smile on her lips. Whilst it had only been four days since Reyes took over, the changes were very noticeable. The Collective were scattered in guarding posts but were actually friendly and approachable.

The residents were all physically happier as well, it was a small bustling city. She heads to the HQ building now named 'Collective Base'. Reyes had done well, with Keema's help of course.

"Ah, Pathfinder. Welcome," an operative says as she waves her to follow inside. Ryder was surprised she had no pat-down or search done before being allowed in.

Sloans room hadn't changed much, it had a more welcoming sense to it, however. She sees Jaal standing in the far corner, now happier to be around more Angara. Keema sat on the throne, smoking an extended cigar.

"Ryder, how lovely it is to see you," Keema says with a smile. "If you're here to see our friend, he is not here," she adds.

"Yeah, I know. I'm going to see him in a minute. Just wanted to know everything was going?" Keema chuckles, waving her arm out to let Ryder see just how good they were doing.

"It's well. The Angara are pleased to see the Port is now back in our hands, if not fully under our thumb. Our mutual friend makes sure he plays well with Evfra. The Resistance and Collective are very well suited together." Ryder nods, Evfra obviously knew who Reyes truly was. But he didn't care, the Port was now back with its original owners. Of course, it was always secretly human run, but Reyes knew how to keep everyone happy.

"Good. How are you doing Jaal?" she asks loud enough for the brooding Angara to look up. He snarls his lip up.

"This place is growing on me," he happily starts. "Like an infected flesh wound," he grimly adds. Ryder laughs at him, Jaal really did hate Kadara.

"Oh, cheer up, Jaal," Keema says with a chuckle. He only shakes his head and turns back to look outside. "I shall leave you to it, Ryder. Please go see him, he needs you," she whispers. Ryder smiles and nods, leaving the room

"SAM, warn Reyes I'm coming down. I don't want him flustered and panicking," she quietly says as she heads for the lifts.

"Of course, Ryder."

Reyes tried to not drink after he was done with Kaetus, but he ended up having one bottle of whiskey, and then it turned to two bottles. He was drunk, but not the happy kind of drunk. Moreover, he wanted to cry and pout to himself.

"Mr Vidal," SAM's voice calls on his omni-tool.

"SAM, finally!" he shouts standing up, the bottle falling from his grasp. "Is Ryder alright?"

"Yes, she is on her way to see you," the AI says before ending the call. Reyes looks at himself in the mirror, swearing about how bad he looked.

He rushes out of the room, grabbing some coffee to get rid of the whiskey taste and smell. He throws the bottles into Kian's hand to usher the confused Irishman out the door. He then finds some body spray and sorts his hair out, he still looks like shit.

"Pull yourself together," he whispers to himself as he pats his hair down and tucks his shirt back in. He really should be getting on with work, but in short; he couldn't be arsed. He was mentally exhausted and left most of it for Keema to sort.

"Reyes?" the sweet voice calls from the opened doors. Reyes turns, almost falling over his own feet. Ryder stands by the door, staring back at him.

"Pequeña paloma," he whispers. They both almost seemed glued to the ground and neither could move. Ryder's lip trembled, she could see he'd tried to clean himself up for her, but he looked a hot mess.

"You alright?" she asks. Reyes just stands there, he really was at a loss for words. She finally moved forward, but he was faster. Four long strides later, he planted his lips on hers. The hottest and most apologetic kiss he could muster.

He pulls Ryder back with him, their hands roaming each other's bodies. Reyes sits down, pulling her down on his lap. Ryder then pulls her head away, leaning their foreheads together. "You're going to be the death of me," she whispers.

"Ryder," he whispers. His resolve broke, the tears won the battle to hide them as his face flushed. Ryder pulls back further, her face scrunched up as she sees him cry for the first time. "I'm sorry, for everything. I'm sorry I hurt you. Sorry, I lied to you. I loved you too much to tell you," he cries.

"Come here," she whimpers, pulling his head into her chest. His arm wraps tightly around her as she rocked the upper half of their bodies so that she could move with the position she currently sat in. "Reyes, why couldn't you just tell me?"

He pulls his head back, sighing as he closes his eyes. "I was scared you'd hate me. I know the Collective had run-ins with you. I tried my best to make sure everyone knew not to touch your or your crew. But, well. Words slip through the cracks and Keema told me about the agents you ran into at my posting in Spirits Ledge."

Ryder shook at that memory. She was scouting with Jaal and Vetra when a sniper tried shooting her from the mountains. They went to see what it was and it was four Collective agents who thought Ryder and the crew were there to steal the materials they'd stolen from the Outcast. It ended up in a bloody firefight with Ryder taking a bullet in the leg. She killed them all because of it.

"Yeah... sorry about that," she whispers. Reyes chuckles, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"I'm the sorry one. Those fuckers knew who you were and got greedy with the shit they stole. If you hadn't killed them, I'd done it myself," he explains with a thick tone. Ryder rubs his stubbled chin.

"It's in the past now. I just need to know." She pushes a small kiss to his lips. "What else are you hiding from me? I can't keep doing this with the lies, Reyes."

"I... Lying is all I've known, Ryder. That's why it was easier for me to not tell you who I truly was. We both have secrets, I want there to be none between either of us." Ryder shakes her head, moving off so she could sit next to him.

"You'll always have secrets, Reyes. It's who you are, just the big stuff. Tell me, that's all I ask." Reyes pulls her in for a deep kiss, his warm hands cupping her cheeks.

"Thank you," he whispers against her lips.

Ryder smiles, "what for?"

He pulls back, looking into her eyes. "For accepting me," he answers. "I do have some secrets, none near as big as my true identity."

"Anything you want me to know?" Reyes nods, he pulls his arm away and opens his omni-tool. He sends an access code to Sara, she opens it and sees a large numbered figure. "What's this meant to be?"

"You know I am the Charlatan, but you don't know how well off it's made me," he explains. Ryder sees multiple accounts in the files. Personal, business and trades.

She doesn't read it very far for her eyes to go wide and her mouth drops open. "Reyes, you're like the richest person in Helues?" He chuckles and closes her open mouth for her.

"Surprise," he laughs. Ryder continues to read. Reyes wasn't just working on Kadara and Aya, he supplied the Nexus food and water supplies. Though they worked through agents of Reyes. He helps Harval with their research of the dying planet, though Ryder has fixed that problem. He also supported the ice-workers on Voeld. Nothing stacked to just how much he was supporting all of Ryder's outposts. He was doing more work than the Nexus themselves, it seemed Tann nor Addison knew or cared to look into it. To them, the outposts were succeeding and doing what Jian Garson always wanted... they were prospering.

"You have some sort of business venture in every planet I've made habitable?" He nods.

"Yes, though it started before you became Pathfinder. You being here has made my work much easier, having the planets sustainable has made my work more valuable. No one knows who is truly behind it except you, Keema, Evfra and a few selected agents I trust." Ryder nervously laughs, scratching the back of her head.

"About that," she whispers. Reyes looks at her, his brows falling low as his eyes glared at her. "The crew knows... all of them," she quietly adds.

"What?" Reyes shouts in annoyance. "Why?"

"SAM told them he had to. Everyone wondered what happened between us and Sloan's death. They have sworn it stays on the ship, I promise you, Reyes. No one will breathe a word of it." Reyes just sighs, but nods and drops the topic.

"Fine, I believe you." Ryder smiles, kissing his cheek, she closes her omni-tool.

"Did you mean to become this big?" Reyes laughs, nodding at her question.

"I did say I wanted to be someone," he jokes. Though he did want to be someone, he didn't mean for it all to go this far. "I wanted to know... how's it going with Meridian?"

Ryder narrows her brows, finding the heart of the remnant network was harder said than done. She got the key to its location from the Archon's ship, but it's still lost. "SAM is working on that," she replies. "We have to act soon, the Archon knows we are catching up."

"I will stand behind you," he says, kissing her forehead. "What are plans after all this?" he asks, waving his hand at her uniform.

"I don't know. I'm sure I'll still be Pathfinder, maybe going around cutting ribbons and giving speeches?" Ryder hated that idea, she couldn't be away from fighting for too long without missing it.

"Why not come here? Help me rule Kadara?" Reyes was serious, though Ryder thought he was joking. She stands up, pacing the room.

"I'll never get away from the Nexus, as long as I have SAM. I'm too powerful of a person to be left behind with him attached to me." She then stands still, her face filled with determination. "No one will take him from me either," she sternly adds.

Reyes holds his hand out to stop the fidgeting. "You don't need to, just think about it. Tann won't need you forever," he points out. "Salarians only live to forty if they're lucky. That asshole is lucky if he's got ten years left," he jokes. Ryder laughs, sitting back down.

"Let's take it one step at a time for now. Just you and me," she whispers. Reyes kisses her, his hand cupping the back of her head as Ryder clings to his jacket.

"I love you, Sara," he whispers.

"I love you too, Reyes."

A/N: So, it's going to start speeding up now. I want to get the main part of the game out of the way and get more into Reyes and Ryder's relationship after Meridian is found and settled. Thank you to everyone who's read it so far, I do appreciate it. Until next time!