Cursed

by Hookshot25

Clayton Carmine has only known hate and carnage for so many years. But once he survives the war he hoped to die in, things get strange. When people need help he isn’t one to shy away, and while helping Baird he gets sent to a place in dire need of a man like him. A man that can’t be claimed by death as easily as his kin.

13. The Citadel

Shepard let out a deep sigh as she approached the docking bay, catching sight of the rather large crowd of her companions. Amongst their ranks were Garrus, Jack, Grunt, Kasumi, Tali, and of course the Normandy's resident gear. They would no doubt cause some kind of ruckus on the Citadel, she was sure of it.

Clayton hears her approaching as he leans against the wall and smiles at her. He wore his helmet, a deep blue sleeveless shirt, and some jeans. Tali's sheath was strapped to his left bicep, he wore it just about every day since he got it. He nudged himself off the wall and met Shepard in the middle as the small group mingled.

"You ready big guy? There's going to be a lot of people and aliens around. That something you think you can handle?" She asks with a small smile. Shepard along with everyone else was in their normal outfits.

He nods and scratches his helmet, "Yeah. Just be safe alright? I don't like the idea of you getting into trouble without me." He ends with a serious tone.

Shepard looks at the gun belt wrapped around his waist, and raises an eyebrow, "I'm more worried about you Clay. Trouble does have a habit of following you around."

He chuckles, "Well then we'll both have to be on our best behavior."

Shepard chuckles with him, "Hah, exactly. Now come on ya big goofball. I've got somewhere to be."

The gear nods and lets Shepard by him. She leads the small group through the hangar and into the corresponding dock where they are met with a bit of resistance once they hit the entrance checkpoint.

"Bailey, I'm not asking for a whole lot here. Well I am but you do owe me a favor." The commander says to the C-Sec officer.

"Shepard. While I'm glad to see you and all. I can't have these kinds of people running around the Citadel by themselves. If you were around I'd understand but I know you're not always there to babysit them." Bailey takes a look behind her to the ragtag bunch that were already getting a bit revved up.

Carmine had Jack in a headlock and Grunt was laughing his ass off with Garrus while they watched. Shepard follows the C-Sec officer's eyes and turns around furiously. Carmine quickly frees Jack who glares at him. She's about to throw a biotic infused uppercut into his groin but Shepard clears her throat loudly and Jack huffs, crossing her arms.

"You're a dead man Carmine."

"Bite me wretch."

Shepard runs a hand over her face, those two had become more like bickering siblings as the days went on. Shepard wonders what changed for Jack, but ends up shaking her head, 'No point in thinking about that now. Just one less thing to worry about.'

She turns back to Bailey with a small smile, "Don't mind them. They won't cause too much trouble."

Bailey narrows his eyes, "So you're telling me one of the most notorious biotics in the galaxy, an unregistered purebred Krogan, a master thief, a quarian mechanic with a criminal history, and an unregistered eight foot tall giant who looks like he could tear a man in half with ease, won't cause too much trouble?"

Shepard opens her mouth but no words come out as she realizes that if her crew does enter, there will most likely be a death or two, or a lot. She drops her head and as she goes to try again Garrus strolls up to the desk and lays a hand on it.

"Bailey! Nice to see you, did you do something with your hair? Ah never mind that, how's about I get you a fresh bottle of that bourbon you love?" Carmine scoffs from behind them.

'No way he's trying to bribe this guy.' He thinks. But to his surprise Bailey sighs and dips his head before looking Garrus right in the eyes.

"I want that bottle behind my desk in twenty minutes." Garrus clicks his tongue and winks at his old colleague. Shepard sighs in relief and lays a hand on Garrus's shoulder as a silent thank you.

'Oh no shit, it actually worked.' Carmine thinks with a small hum of surprise.

"Now before I let any of you in I have to make a note of your equipment. Are any of you armed?" Bailey asks as he stands and snags a data pad.

Shepard looks directly at Carmine. The big man sighs and steps forward pulling his boltok out and motions with the barrel to his knife in his arm sheath. Shepard thrusts her thumb at the big man, "Just him. But he's a gentle giant I promise."

Bailey's eyes widen at the size of the revolver in Carmine's hand, "Oh fuck, I'm going to get fired for this. But..." he lets out a long, defeated sigh, "Welcome to the Citadel, you can proceed through those gates. Oh, and remember Garrus, twenty minutes."

The crew makes their way through and before they get to an elevator as Shepard blocks their path, "Hold it right there. Before I set you fiends loose I have some ground rules."

She points to Kasumi, "No stealing."

Kasumi pouts before speaking, "You're no fun. But I suppose I can hold off."

Shepard then points at Tali and Garrus, "Drink responsibly." The pair laugh before nodding to her.

She then points to Jack and Grunt, "No fighting of any kind. Not even between each other."

Jack rolls her eyes, "You really know how to take the fun out of everything don't you Shep?"

Grunt growls and huffs loudly through his nostrils before smashing his fists together, "I won't be able to hold myself back if someone attacks our group. But I'll try and hold off crushing a few skulls."

Shepard shakes her head, appeased with their responses. She takes a long look at the last Carmine brother before walking up to him, "Do. Not. Kill. Anyone." She emphasizes each word with a poke to his middle.

Carmine scratches the back of his helmet, "I'll try my hardest."

Shepard narrows her eyes, knowing it'll be the best she gets from him and sighs, "That's all I've got for you bunch. We'll meet back here in five hours. Be safe, but have some fun. I've gotta run, I'll see you all later."

The commander slips into the elevator and disappears. The group audibly groans before finding another elevator. They cram in and make their way to a market district. As they step out into the heavily populated area Carmine's blood runs a bit cold, 'Oh fuck...we may have overestimated our abilities on this one Clay.'

Garrus leads them over to a bench where they start to plan out their business, "Well I've got to buy a few new parts for my rifle and get that bottle up to Bailey. Anyone have anything you need to do before we head to get some drinks?" His eyes darted to Tali and Carmine. The rest of them had planned to separate and leave the two to themselves for a bit. Kasumi gave them all the idea of playing matchmaker and they instantly latched onto it. Specifically Jack, which surprised a lot of them. But they all agreed Carmine could use a bit of stress relief outside of killing or working out.

Jack speaks up, "Yeah, I need a new shotgun. And Grunt here was talking my ear off about snagging a better shield."

Grunt raises an armored eyebrow to the shorter biotic, "What the hell are you-" she smacks him in the back of the head.

"Go with the flow, you overgrown lizard." Jack whispers to him.

Carmine barely overheard Jack with the volume of the crowd and narrowed his eyes at them, 'What the hell are these assholes trying to do? Something doesn't feel right.' His internal voice spouts off.

Grunt remembers what they'd talked about on the ship and clears his throat, "Oh, that. Yeah I need one of those."

Garrus runs a hand over his face as he watches the poor acting of the krogan and looks to Carmine who is deathly silent. Staring them down. He shrugs though and waves to them, "Well I guess I'll go explore a bit then. Just shoot me the location of the place we're getting drinks at and I'll be there if I don't get too lost."

Kasumi bumps the gear's hip with her elbow and he looks down at her, "Mind if Tali and I tag along?" Tali's eyes widen but before she can protest he answers.

"Nah I don't mind. The more the merrier." He says with a smirk.

The group separates and as Carmine is about to ask his female companions a question Kasumi giggles, making him raise an eyebrow as he looks to his left.

'Don't have too much fun Tali.' She thinks before bumping their hips and knocking Tali into Carmine.

"Hey you ok Tali? Wait, where the hell is Kasumi?" He asks as he caught her as she was about to fall, nearly tripping over his foot. He looked for the master thief but she was gone. In such a loud and crowded place like the Citadel, Carmine wouldn't dare use his enhanced senses in fear of an overload. He was basically just a normal eight foot tall guy, so he gave up on finding Kasumi.

Tali blushes as the gear's hands wrap around her arms gently, yet firm for stability, "Y-yeah I'm ok. You can let go now."

His hands shoot off her and the pair stand awkwardly for a moment before continuing onward toward a less crowded section of the district. Carmine hated how much the people around them were staring at him, their eyes full of bewilderment. To a degree he understood that he wasn't exactly normal by their standards. He also understood when to keep your eyes to yourself, and wasn't very appreciative of the amount of eyes on him.

The gear keeps his eyes open for potential threats as he tilts his head toward Tali, "You got anything you need to do while we're out? I don't really know where I'm going." He says with a chuckle and an awkward scratch to the back of his helmet.

Tali snickers at the gesture, finding it oddly cute, "Well there are a few parts I could use to improve my suit a bit. B-but I can always just order them if you'd rather take in the sights or something." She says, growing rather nervous as it sets in that she's alone with the gear. Not a bad nervous, a butterflies in your stomach kind of nervous.

Carmine waves a dismissing hand, "No reason to wait on the parts. That suit is vital for your survival, might as well get that stuff done now. Go on, lead the way." He gestures in front of him and Tali's eyes widen a bit.

"O-okay." She says shyly as she leads him onward.

Tali spends the next hour or so snagging a few choice items from shops. With Carmine in tow the merchants didn't even give her any trouble. The big guy made sure to stay close to her, knowing that quarians didn't have a good reputation. He could see it in some of the passerby's faces when they looked at her. It made his blood boil whenever someone would actively steer away from her.

After the whole scrounging for parts ordeal the two went to grab some water and took a seat at a local outdoor caffe. Carmine was amazed with the view as he looked out and saw the spread of buildings and nature across the arms of the Citadel. Tali smiled as she slid a few bits into her bag for a rather personal project between her and doctor Chakwas.

She fidgets her hands as she spreads out her scores on the table, thinking of a way she could fit them onto her suit without the aid of a mirror. Carmine tilts his helmet up to sip on some water and he looks to her, a smirk rising to his face as he sees her deep in thought.

"Need help with anything Tali?" He asks.

"No, I couldn't ask you to do any more than you already have. It's a chore in itself to simply walk around with a quarian these days." She says as she pulls back her hood to expose most of the mechanical bits and lifts a part, feeling around the back of her head for the proper slot.

The gear rolls his eyes and stands to go behind her. Clay snags the part from her hand rather easily, "I don't give half a fuck what these people think. So no, it's not a chore to walk around with my friend."

Tali's cheeks warm up at his words, "O-oh, okay. Thank you for this Carmine, its very kind of you."

The gear shakes his head, "Just helping you out is all. One of the only things left in my head that my old man taught me. Never let someone struggle when you can help. Of course that mostly just applies to my friends these days."

Tali hums, a warm feeling in her chest. She instructs the gear where and how to instal each part. He does a rather good job, and in no time Tali's suit is properly upgraded. It's nothing major, just some improvements to her filtration systems and a few other minor bump ups.

He sits back down across from her and sips some water. She looks at him longingly, 'What did I do to deserve such kindness?'

The gear leans on the table a bit and scratches the back of his helmet, "If you don't mind me asking Tali, the codex doesn't really say a whole lot about your people. Would you mind telling me a bit about quarians?"

Tali's eyes widen before she explodes with enthusiasm, "Y-you want to know about my people...I'd love to tell you everything I can!" Clay can't help but smile at her.

The pair spend some time talking about the quarian's situation. How they were forced off their home world by their own creations, the geth. She explains the reason why they have to wear the suits, and more specifically that their immune systems are targeted. Tali goes into detail about how quarians in many cases are forced into lives of crime to support themselves and that, among other things, is where their negative reputation stems from.

Carmine sits there absolutely stunned, "Jesus, I'm truly sorry Tali. All that sounds awful. But I understand, as someone who was almost wiped off the face of my home planet. I really appreciate you telling me about your people, I like learning new things."

She smiles at him, "Anytime you have any questions you can come to me. I'll be your resident quarian codex entry."

His chest rumbles with a laugh, one that Tali shared with him. The two stare at one another for a moment before Tali decides to speak up, "If you don't mind my asking. What was it like having siblings?"

He visibly flinches at the question, his hand slightly clenching around the cup of water on the table, "I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

Carmine cuts her off, "Nah it's ok. I just...don't think anyone has asked me that question in a long time. Granted it's a lot more common for people back home to have at least one brother or sister. I'm surprised quarians are still around with the whole one kid per married couple thing, but I understand why your people have to limit themselves."

She hangs her head a bit but Carmine snickers, "Having three younger brothers was the best. I know their names are on my arm, but if you'd want I could tell ya a bit about them."

Her head raises back up as he addresses her and she quickly nods, a happy look to her pink orbs. The gear smiles weakly as he does his best to think of the good memories of his brothers, "Anthony was the second oldest. Real lady killer that kid was. Big history buff too, he would have loved to read these codexes." Tali simply lets him talk, humming along to let him know he had her attention.

"David was the middle child I guess you could say. He was a good kid, real modest, nervous too. But would go out of his way for people. Probably one of the reasons he got so much attention from women, heh. Dave was the only one of my brothers that didn't actively didn't try and go after girls that much, he was a wreck around them." The pair chuckle. It was obvious in his voice that he was starting to strain a bit. The memories brushing up all sorts of bad with the good.

"Ben...Benjamin was the youngest. We called him squirt since he was the runt. I'd never seen someone love fire as much as that kid did. Now Benjamin would've loved this place. We would look at the stars for hours during the warmer months and he'd go on and on about space. H-he looked almost exactly like me... I-I have never loved anyone as much as I loved my parents and those three. I miss them all, Tali. Every day I wake up, look at my arm, and I'm reminded of what was taken from me." His hand lets go of the cup of water and he slides his helmet off to run a hand over his face, pinching the bridge of his nose momentarily.

"I'm so sorry Carmine. I could never imagine the pain you must feel. I apologize for bringing it up. But thank you for saying as much as you did." He nods to her, finding her genuine tone to be exactly what he needed to settle himself down.

"Don't apologize for anything. It was nice thinking about them in a way that didn't make me feel like shit." He jokes, getting a small laugh from the woman across from him.

The crowd had dispersed by a surprising amount, so as the two sat in a comfortable silence Carmine tuned his ears to see what might have been going on around them. What he heard make his eyes snap open and his teeth clench.

"You would be wise to tell us where that whore mother of yours is! A girl like you would be worth a small fortune on the black market. You wouldn't want to be sold off to the highest bidder now would you?"

Carmine's eyes snap to an alleyway where the source of the threat came from. He looks to Tali, who was typing away on her omni-tool, "Stay here. I'll be back in a minute."

His voice is cold and Tali can't help but stand and protest him, "What's happening Carmine?"

He growls low, "Just do as I ask, please." He grinds out before stomping off. Tali grumbles and shakes her head, not intimidated by him one bit. She follows him from a distance as he stalks toward the alleyway.

He hears a smack followed by the pained yell of the girl and books it. He sprints in and finds a small gathering. A batarian and two humans surround a girl. Her tear stained face has a red handprint on it and they laugh at her as she curls up on the ground and sobs..

One of the men speaks up, "Come on, can't be hitting her so hard if we plan to sell her off. That bitch will think long and hard about fucking us over after we sell her daughter."

Carmine's heard enough, but he doesn't give away his position yet. Stealthily walking his way up behind them. The batarian shrugs, "The girl isn't going to talk. Let's get her off to her new home. Tie her up boys." He says and goes to walk away, only to smash into the brick wall that is the pissed off gear.

"What the fu-" Carmine snatches the multi-eyed criminal by the throat and quickly knocks him out with a headbutt. The two humans turn to see Carmine discard their companion like trash and pull out their guns. The gear's bare arms start to steam up and the men's eyes widen at the sight of the angered giant.

Carmine is far too pissed off to care about their guns. They fire a few rounds as he draws his knife from the sheath on his arm and throws it straight at one of their heads. The thick thud of the handle smashing into his skull is enough to send Carmine overboard. But he glances down to the girl who is still curled up on the floor in a puddle of her own tears.

'No, nothing bad in front of her. We did promise Shepard we wouldn't kill after all.' He nods to his inner voice and closes the distance on the last man standing. He grabs him by the neck and lifts him up easily, pinning him to the wall.

The man's eyes twitch from the prolonged pressure. He claws at the gear's arm but can't even break the skin. Carmine snickers low to himself, "What's the matter? Can't win a fight against a grown man?"

With that said and a simple tightening of his fist, the man loses consciousness. Carmine huffs angrily and tosses the body down, moving to wrangle his knife from beside the other man, 'God what was I thinking? Should've just killed these pricks. This place really is making me soft.' He checks himself over and is surprised to see those two asshats missed him entirely.

He sighs at his thoughts. It was true though, if he'd gone back to who he was when he arrived in this dimension he wouldn't have thought twice about Shepard's orders and just butchered the men. They deserved it for ganging up and beating on a girl. Even Clayton didn't hurt children, sure he's killed plenty of men and women, but never kids.

Well, not directly at least.

He slips his knife back in its sheath and walks over to the small girl. She opens her tear filled eyes and screams as she spots the bodies of the men who had almost kidnapped her. Her eyes land on Carmine and she scrambles to back away, accidentally knocking her head against a wall as she does.

Carmine quickly drops to a knee and slips his helmet off, holding it up along with his other hand as a gesture of surrender, "Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm sorry for what those three did to you but you're safe now. They aren't dead, just sleeping."

The girl looks to be about twelve. She pulls on her hoodie to hide her face as she sniffles and rubs where she bonked her head, "H-how can I trust you after what just happened?" Her voice was surprisingly deep, perhaps she was older than she seemed.

The gear smiles at her, "You can't sweetheart. You're a smart girl. But if you look into my eyes I promise that you'll see I'm telling the truth."

Tali watches from behind a trash can, not knowing how Carmine would handle the situation. However as the girl looks between him and the unconscious bodies of the people who just tried to kidnap her she found there wasn't many choices.

The girl sniffles again before lifting herself onto her wobbly legs and walking toward the gear who quickly clips his helmet onto his belt. She gets within a few feet of him and his warm smile. The girl can't help but swell up with tears again.

Carmine's eyes soften, "Come on now, you're safe little lady. No need for-oof!" The girl launches herself into the giant man's upper body. Her arms wrap around his neck as she sobs, burying her face into his clothed pectoral.

"T-thank you so much!" She cries out as the burly gear immediately cradles the girl. Rubbing a calming hand on her back like he used to do for his younger brothers when he'd comfort them.

Carmine stands, bringing the girl up with him. She clings to his right hip and he protectively wraps his arm around her, "Shhh it's ok little lady. I got ya." He speaks low and smooth. Her soft cries drown out the voice in his head as it tries to guilt trip him. To remind him of all the kids he couldn't save over the years. He wouldn't let those memories take over while he has someone to protect.

Tali's heart nearly bursts from the heartwarming display. Carmine acting so fatherly wasn't something she realized she wanted to see. In her attempt to get a better vantage point she knocks over the trash can and squeaks, "Eeep!"

Carmine tucks the girl into his chest rather tight, reaching over with his left hand and drawing his boltok at lightning speeds. He sniffs at the air and lavender invades his nose, "Tali?"

Carmine holsters his boltok as the girl clutches her hood to hide her face a bit more, her tears finally starting to cease. Tali sighs and steps out, her eyes going wide as she sees the bodies, "Well so much for no killing people. We should go, the shots will draw C-Sec to the area soon."

Carmine makes sure his helmet is secure before leaving, throwing a glance in Tali's direction. The girl eyes the helmet cautiously but can't help the amazed gasp as it slips from her. The gear looks down to her hood covered face with a smile and she shyly tucks her head back into his chest.

Carmine gets a bit closer to Tali, "I didn't kill them. But you're right, we should get moving."

Tali freezes and blinks before turning her head to look at the haphazardly strewn bodies. His words held merit as she watches their chests slowly rise and fall. She shakes away her shock as pride flows through her, admiring his restraint.

Tali follows Carmine as they maneuver out of the alleyway. She eyed the dangling helmet curiously as the lights had gone dark. She bumps into the wall of a man and he looks back with worry in his eyes, "You alright Tali?"

She nods, a light tint of pink on her cheeks. His attentive eyes narrow for a moment before he shrugs and looks back ahead. She adored his little attentive facial expressions. Carmine nods to himself before he continues onward back to the table Tali and him were sitting at prior.

As they take their seats again, Carmine pries the girl off of him, a dark patch was stained into his sleeveless shirt from her crying. The girl's face is red with embarrassment as she takes the seat he offered to her. There were only two so Carmine decided to take a knee. He runs a hand through his hair and sweeps it back.

The girl ran a sleeve over her puffy eyes and looked away from the gear, "Wanna tell me why those guys were muscling up on a twelve year old girl?"

She whips her head toward him angrily, strands of her strawberry blonde hair escaped the hood and hung in front of her, "I'm sixteen for your information!"

The gear smiles and raises his hands up in surrender, "Alright alright, sorry." She pouts before looking across the table to Tali.

"What's a quarian doing here?" She asks out of curiosity. Not having seen many in a higher profile area like the district they were in.

Carmine smirks, "You answer my question and I'll answer yours."

The girl huffs before looking into Clay's steel eyes, finding them oddly comforting. Her own deep red orbs widen slightly, she felt as if nothing bad could happen to her as long as he was there. He did deal with those thugs after all. He couldn't be that all that bad. He was extremely good looking too, so that was a plus.

The girl blushes lightly and twirls a long lock of her hair as she looks down, deciding to trust the pair in front of her, "My mom is a black market arms dealer here on the citadel. She screwed those guys out of a shipment of weapons since the gang they're a part of does some messed up stuff around here."

Carmine's eyes darken as his hair flops over his forehead, "Like kidnapping and selling young women?" His teeth clench tight as he finishes.

She nods and Carmine shakes his head as he decides to stand, casting his huge shadow over the girl. "Well good thing I got you out of there when I did. You want something small to eat before we take you to your ma?"

Tali looks to the gear with a smile on her face, 'Always the gentleman, Clayton.'

The teen girl's eyes light up at the mention of food and she hastily stands with the gear, "Yes! I-I mean yeah that would be nice."

Carmine and Tali share a small chuckle at the young lady's excitement, "Alright, you'll have to come with me though. I have no idea what this little joint has to offer. By the way, I'm Carmine and that's Tali." He point to the short quarian who waves to the girl.

She waves back and flips her hood off.

Carmine's eyes narrow, 'Wait, I swear we've seen someone like her before.'

"My name is Ruby." She says sweetly as her messy strawberry blonde locks spills across her shoulders elegantly. She seems to have fully recovered from the attempted kidnapping.

Carmine puts the thought to the back of his mind and motions Tali to follow, "Nice to meet you Ruby. We do have somewhere to be, but we can drop you off with you ma before we leave."

Ruby looks up to him, "Are you sure Carmine? I'd hate to be a bother. You're already offering to buy me food. And you did save me."

Tali steps up next to the gear and shakes her head, "Do not worry about any of that. It is the least we can do to assure your safety."

Carmine nods in agreement with her and Ruby smiles wide, "Well alright. Let's get going then!"

The two adults share another chuckle at the youthful excitement and start off toward the counter to grab some food. Carmine can't help but smile as Ruby grabs a hold of Tali's hand and drags her ahead to order. The quarian's laughter being more than enough to bring his own to rumble in his chest.

'Don't forget what you are. If any of them knew what we've done, what we've let happen...they'd turn against us in a sec-'

"And they'd have every right to." Carmine cuts off his thought as he mutters under his breath. He shakes his helmetless head before grabbing and turning over the modified head protection in his large hands.

The new coat of paint and filter on the front do very little to stop his eyes from playing tricks on him. As he blinks, the head armor is covered in blood and he can see the reflection of scared human faces in the cracked lenses. Carmine quickly closes his eyes and bares his clenched teeth. He slides the helmet over his head and does his best to fix his now uneven breathing as the lights flash back on.

The sound of giggling hits his ears, and his small episode starts to fade. He slowly opens his gray eyes and they immediately lock onto Tali. His eyes slowly drift down to see her hand as it clenches onto Ruby. She's practically being dragged by the girl.

At that moment, Carmine feels alright. He lets out a small sigh as his jaw and muscles relax. He notices he has severely fallen behind and jogs to try and catch up to them, "Hey! Don't let her boss you around so much Tali." The gear teased with a small smile as he came up behind the pair while they waited in line.

Tali shrugs, "She would be bossing you around just the same. You're a big softy behind all that attractive muscle and tattoos." She pokes his belly with a sharp finger before blushing at her choice of words. Her smile still evident even with color coming to her cheeks.

The gear smiles as her blush bleeds through her visor, 'M-maybe Shepard, Tali, and the rest wouldn't care...' Clay thinks with a smirk, his own blush following as Tali's compliment sank in.

'Yes, yes they would.' His inner voice counters.

---

Shepard taps her foot rather rapidly as she sits at the same table she always sat at with her mother. It had been two long years since her quote on quote death. Although it felt like mere moments for Shepard, it ate her alive knowing how her mother must have been faring.

Jane nervously checks her omni-tool for the hundredth time and an asari waitress comes by to check if she was ready to order, "Do you still need a few minutes ma'am?" She asks politely.

Shepard smiles at her and nods, "Yes, sorry I'm just waiting for someone. I'd hate to order without them."

The asari nods with a knowing look and takes her leave. Jane huffs and tucks her stray bundle of red hair behind her ear, the tuft coming free almost immediately. She groans to herself, "Uuuugh. How does Clayton get my hair to stay back so well? Maybe it's got something to do with those big hands of his?" She ponders with a scratch to her chin.

Shepard, along with a few others, had been testing the waters by using his first name and have had mixed results. Carmine trusted them but she could tell he was still uneasy about it. But they couldn't know why.

"Well now, if I had known my daughter would be so caught up in her thoughts over a man, I would have come more prepared."

Jane's short red mane whips around as she quickly stands and faces behind her. That teasing voice she missed so dearly. The only family she had left. Her mother stood in front of her dressed in her military uniform, thick red hair tied up tight in a long ponytail. They were practically a mirror image of one another. As their icy blue eyes filled with tears, neither one dared to act first in fear of the meeting being a dream.

Jane took a hesitant step toward the older woman before full on charging her, wrapping her mother in a tight embrace. As their arms encircled one another the tears began flowing freely. They must have stayed stuck together for five whole minutes before releasing each other and wiped their faces clean of any tear residue.

The pair share a small laugh, pure joy etched into their faces as they take their seats and stare at one another. Both were almost in pure shock to see the other. Hannah reaches a hand up and cups the side of her daughter's face, their eyes never leaving one another.

"That's my girl alright. I'm surprised with Cerberus's handiwork, you've been gone two years yet you look so much younger. You're as beautiful as ever, just like your mom." The women laugh as their eyes fill back with tears that threaten to spill over.

"I love you mom." Shepard says as their laughter dies out. Jane grasp the hand on her cheek and squeezes lovingly.

"I love you too honey. Now, it's been two years and I have so much I want to talk to you about. But for now, I want to know what my Jane has been up to." Hannah says as she lets go of her daughter's face and clasps her hands together to rest on the table.

Jane blushes slightly at her mother's straight to business attitude, missing it all too much, "Well, I'm out to stop the collectors. Cerberus rebuilt me to be the tip of the spear in their fight against them. I don't trust the Illusive Man at all, but he's a means to an end. The end of those kidnapping bastards. It's not confirmed yet but I think they're working with the Reapers."

Hannah nods and waves to a nearby waitress to signal they're ready to order, "I'll have to hand it to Cerberus for picking the sharpest spear head humanity has to offer. If the collectors are really allied with the Reapers then you have a real fight on your hands."

Jane nods, "Cerberus thought of all that and compiled dossiers for a team I have to build in order for this plan to fully work. I'm assembling some of the most dangerous yet talented individuals in the galaxy to take the collectors out."

Her mother hums, "My my, you've been rather busy since waking up then. By chance is one of those new recruits of yours the man you were musing over while you waited for me?"

Hannah smiles wide as her daughter avoids eye contact, a rosy red tint coming to Jane's cheeks, "W-well sort of. There are a few others like Tali and Garrus who I know you'll be excited to see again. But yes I have a few new people as well. A powerful biotic named Jack, a purebred krogan called Grunt, the veteran mercenary Zaeed, and I plan on going after a few others later this week."

The elder Shepard leans forward as her smile turns more predatory, "I think you're leaving someone out Jane."

The commander blushes heavily and clears her throat, not daring to make eye contact with her mother, and instead looking out to the bustling traffic as cars fly in the massive open space. Her mother snaps her fingers, and she's almost compelled to look Hannah in her eyes to avoid lying.

"His name is Clayton Carmine. He's nearly eight feet tall, weighs over three hundred pounds, and he's from another dimension." Jane covers her mouth as her eyes widen in shock. Her words spilled from her almost without even realizing she'd spoken.

Her mother's eyebrow quirks upwards as she wears an amused look, "Oh my, that's quite a big man. I can't wait to meet him. If he's captured your eye he has to truly be something special. Other than the fact of being from...wait did you say another dimension?" The waitress finally arrives to save the commander and she sighs in relief. The mother and daughter order their coffees before locking eyes once again. Jane grows increasingly nervous as her mother leans toward her and smiles as wide as she's ever smiled.

"I want all the details Janey. Every last one."

---

"You sure this is the right place Ruby?" Carmine asks with a small scratch to his helmet as the trio walks down a rather sketchy alley.

Ruby nods and makes some kind of bird noise next to a closed set of shutters. The small shop's shutters open up and a very familiar strawberry blonde woman pounces on Ruby. The woman lets out a strangled gasp and squeezes the girl tight, "Ruby! My baby, nobody hurt you did they?"

She separates from her daughter l and gently grabs at Ruby's face to see a small scuff mark from the slap she received earlier. Ruby brushes her mother's hand away, "It's fine mom I promise. This big dude helped me out big time." She points at Carmine.

The woman's eyes rake along the gear's exposed muscles before settling on his helmet. It's a bit different from when she last saw it, but she recognizes him immediately. She gives him a sultry smile and stands up straight, resting a hand on her cocked hip. Tali decides to stay shrouded behind him, not liking the look she was giving the big man one bit.

"Seems I owe you yet again big guy."

Her change in tone hit him like a sucker punch and he immediately remembers where he'd seen her before, "You were at that rich asshole's party. Scarlet, right?"

She rests a hand above her amble bust and fakes an offended look, "You're just starting to remember me? I recognized those muscles the second I saw them. I'd never forget the man who helped me get back to my daughter." Carmine blushes at the compliment and nervously scratches his helmet as their previous interaction flows back through his mind.

"Sorry, I didn't mean any offense. I'll be on my way. Stay safe you two." As Clay goes to turn around Ruby latches onto his hand.

"Wait! If you're the guy who helped mom out of jail then you can't leave yet. W-we didn't even get a chance to properly say thank you!" Ruby yells out, settling into her puppy dog eyes, making the gear internally groan. He really didn't want to stick around with her touchy mother, but he knew in his heart he couldn't resist the saddened look on the teenager's face.

"Fine, but we can't stay for long. We still have some place to be." The gear sighs, and Tali snickers from behind him. She loved this apparent soft spot he had for children, it made her realize just how different he was when compared to her first interpretation of him.

"You're truly hopeless Carmine." Tali jokes, nudging the gear's lower back with her elbow as she stepped into view of the others.

Scarlet raised an eyebrow at how close she seemed to stand to the gear but shrugged it off and ushered them all into her store, "Come on then, I'll let you have a free weapon, anything you like and it's yours. Maybe even me if you're feeling up to it." She says rather seductively before getting playfully nudged by her now disgusted daughter.

"Ew mom. He's the guy who saved us both, not some slab of meat." Scarlet rolls her eyes and smiles as Ruby shakes her head and heads into the back room to grab something.

The gear hummed, his head nearly scraped along the ceiling as he looked across the surprisingly well stocked wall mounts, "So is the shop just a front for your other dealings? Because all this is a pretty impressive display you've got, for some toys that is." The gear jokes as he snags a handgun from the wall, the firearm being far too small for him. Tali snickers from his right as she watches him handle a few more guns, all way too small for his calloused hands.

Scarlet clears her throat and leans forward on the counter, her chest nearly spilling out of the tank top she wore. The gear turns his head to look and quickly tilts his helmet up to avoid peeking at her cleavage. His face burns a cherry red as he scratches the back of his neck.

Tali glares at the overly flirtatious gun merchant before looking down to her own chest with an ounce of shame, 'If he prefers a large chest, I do not have much to offer him...' her self doubting thoughts are broken up by Ruby's mother, who notices Tali looking herself over.

"I see you're just far too big for any of my merchandise. Maybe we can get something for your little quarian friend here." Scarlet's eyes lock with Tali's pink orb. She quickly glances down to the quarian's chest before settling back on Carmine. Tali's self-doubting skyrockets and she starts to fidget her hands, tilting her head down a bit.

'I wouldn't even be able to satisfy him if I wanted to since I don't have much sexual experience. He can barely fit his hands around our weapons. What would he even do with a chest as small as mine? He deserves so much more than I could ever provide.' She continues to berate herself in her mind.

Carmine tests the weight of a shotgun off the wall, "That would be great. What kind of gun would you be interested in Tali? Tali?"

He looks down at her, and he frowns at the deflated quarian. She was slightly hunched, and fidgeted her hands rather quickly. The gear places a hand on her shoulder gently, and her head snaps up to look at him, "Hey, you alright Tali?" His genuinely concerned tone makes the quarian blush and nod her head. She loved when he said her name, especially when his voice sank deeper.

"Y-yes I'm sorry to worry you. Just caught up with my thoughts is all." His lips quirk upward, understanding that feeling all too well. He gives her shoulder a gently squeeze. The heat from his hand, and the slight amount of pressure from his grip nearly make Tali's legs give out. She stays strong though, simply blushing and looking up to him with upturned lips.

"Let's pick out a new gun." Carmine says as he gets a notification on his helmet's hud. Garrus had sent them the location of the bar.

"We'll have to make it fast, scar face just gave me the location of the bar we're going to." He jokes with the quarian who snickers at him and nods.

Scarlet observes the pair with mildly saddened eyes, knowing she couldn't coerce the gear with her charms alone since he was far too polite to act on something as simple as carnal instinct. She would have to take measures into her hands much like how she dragged him off to a spare room back when she first met the Carmine brother. But she knew that with Tali, and her daughter around she couldn't possibly do something like that again. Scarlet could see how smitten the quarian was with him, and smiled at the pair as they continued to joke with one another.

'At least someone will keep him company, god knows he could use it. Those shoulders are so tense.'

Scarlet takes the moment to step into the back room and snag a custom made carnifex from a case. She comes back out and motions for them to head over to the counter. She hands Tali the gun with a smile but holds onto it, pulling the now attached Tali a bit closer so she could hug her, "Thank you again for bringing my daughter back to me. Oh, and good luck. He doesn't seem like the kind of man to care about size." She pulls away and winks at the quarian, who blushes fiercely in return.

Carmine is confused as all hell. An embarrassed Tali nods to the woman. Ruby comes bouncing out from the back room and latches onto Carmine's waist. The adults chuckle at the teen who separates from him with a small blush, stuffing a bottle cap into his hand, "You better come back and visit from time to time. But if you don't, at least you'll have that to remember us. I collect old earth stuff for fun so please take care of that."

Carmine turns the cap over in his fingers before ruffling the top of her head, "Thank you Ruby, I've got just the spot for this back in my room. Any time I'm back at the Citadel I'll make sure to drop in kiddo. I promise. Oh and I didn't kill those scumbags, so keep an eye out." Scarlet looks up at him amused as he tucks the old bottle cap into his back pocket.

"I'll hold you to that Carmine." Ruby says as they say their goodbyes.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to update my men on what's happened so they keep an eye out for those assholes. But Ruby is right, you had better come back to visit."

Carmine chuckles and nods. Tali and him wave and start making their way to their companions. It was time for a well deserved drink.

Tali turns her new firearm over a few times in her hand as they walk, "This is a seriously powerful pistol. It even has a discontinued acid modification attached to it."

Carmine's ears perk up as he leans over the small woman's shoulder to eye up the gun, his middle brushing against her arm ever so slightly. He catches sight of the light green glow from a few lights on the gun and hums. Carmine has unknowingly sent a wave of vibrations right into Tali's upper body though, and she visibly shivers. She has to bite her lip to quell the groan that sat in her chest as a thick wave of heat washed over her and settled between her legs. Her suit always seemed to be far too hot in all the right ways with Clayton around.

This goes unnoticed by the gear as he's far too engrossed with the pistol's mod, and wonders how it works. He shrugs as he checks his map, they were nearly at the bar, 'I suppose I'll just have to ask her later.'

Tali pockets the gun as the pair both spot the small group of their friends. Garrus seems to be arguing with Jack about something, and the influx of people in the area has forced Carmine to put a damper on his senses again. Even without his enhanced hearing he manages to overhear the argument even with the bustle of the crowd.

"Oh stop being such a little bitch Garrus!" Jack yells out.

The gear and quarian chuckle together, but as Carmine goes to approach them Tali's hand shoots out to grab his.

She didn't mean to grab his hand by any means but she decides to commit, "I-I can never thank you enough for all of that. I had a very nice time talking with you and I hope we can continue to chat like that even back on the Normandy. But I understand if you don't want to."

Carmine smiled warmly at her, "Of course I want to Tali. You're my friend, no need to be thanking me for hanging out with you. I had fun, and hey, we managed to save a girl."

Tali lets out a small gasp at his words before smiling back at him. She tightens her grip on his hand. His thick digits twitch slightly from the contact, and she half expects him to pull away. Tali is pleasantly surprised though when the gear runs his thumb across the back of her gloved hand. The small moment is interrupted by Garrus and Jack, who have grown even louder.

"I told you to stop calling me that in public Jack!"

"What are you going to do about it Archangel?!"

Tali sighs and let's her hand slip from his after giving one last squeeze, "I suppose we should go over there before Garrus gets his butt kicked."

Carmine makes an amused noise and nods. As they make their way over Carmine catches the eye of their friends seeing as he towered over the crowd. He didn't like the look Jack was giving him, a sort of smug smile tugging on her lips as she spotted Tali walking rather comfortably next to him.

"Look at you two love birds. What the fuck took you so long!?" Jack yelled to them.

A now flushed Tali was quickly apprehended by a giggling Kasumi. She wrapped an arm around the quarian's shoulders and tucked them into the small group. Carmine groaned and rubbed the back of his helmet, "Jesus Christ you don't just look like one, but you screech like a damn wretch too. This place is massive, we were bound to be a bit late."

Jack scoffs at the insult and the group starts making their way toward the entrance. The music was loud enough that it could be heard even from outside the building. Carmine eyed the place warily, "Wait, this seems more like a club than a bar. Where the hell are you taking us Garrus?" Carmine felt a bead of sweat form on his forehead.

The turian peeks back at the cautious man and snickers, "Don't worry about it, Carm. A little music with some booze never hurt anyone."

Carmine narrows his eyes at him but decides to ignore it, favoring to keep up with the group as they get closer to the entrance. A part of him grew less nervous as he looks at his friends. Clayton held up the rear, so he got a fine view of his companions. He could see Kasumi and Tali sneakily talking about something but with his senses dulled he was none the wiser to the topic of their conversation.

The gang enters the club and Carmine's eyes widen immediately as asari strippers dance on small stages and on poles spread throughout the place. His eyes linger on the exposed flesh for a moment and he gulps. This wasn't a place he was particularly comfortable being in.

The group notices his statue-like behavior and Jack follows his helmet's gaze to a pair of perky blue D cups. She snickers and walks over to the gear. She slaps the man on the back to snap him out of his small trance and decides to mess with him, "Jesus Carmine, show a little decency. I know a big, strong man like you probably likes big tits but you don't have to stare! These girls are busy working!"

Clayton shakes his head and growls at Jack, "I wasn't staring." Garrus rolls his eyes and decides to head to the bar and order them some drinks, the ensuing argument was no doubt going to take a little time.

Tali fidgets her hands, the familiar self conscious feeling pricking at the back of her mind. Kasumi notices immediately and snickers. Kasumi inches toward her and ends up spooking the small woman rather easily.

'Oh Tali, you're just too much fun.' The master thief thinks as she nudges the shy quarian.

"What's got your hands going so fast there Tali?" Kasumi teases with another nudge to her ribs. The sound of Carmine arguing against being a pervert could be heard faintly over the loud club music.

Tali shakes her head, "N-nothing. Well not nothing but it's none of your concern." She tries to stay strong and defend herself.

Kasumi smiles likes Cheshire Cat, "Oh really? Come on, you can tell me. I'm your friend Tali."

Before Tali could answer, Carmine's angered shouting broke through the music and hit their ears.

"I told you wretch, I'm not some sex crazed lunatic! I've never been in a place like this, so give me a goddamn break!" The gear barks out at the biotic, spreading his arms out to emphasize his growing frustration with her. Garrus had returned from the bar and chuckled at the prolonged argument between the two. Grunt was dying laughing at the defensiveness of the giant man.

Garrus steps between the two, "Alright alright, that's enough you two. We didn't come to argue about Carmine being a pervert. We came to get shitfaced with good company."

Jack and Carmine begrudgingly nod to one another and let the argument die as the group finds a rounded table. They steal a few seats to fit everyone and Garrus has Carmine head to the bar and grab the drinks he ordered.

Kasumi and Tali sit next to one another, and the thief rests an elbow on the table, "So what was it that was bothering you?" She's rather loud, and it catches the attention of the rest of their crew mates.

Tali feels embarrassed but answers, "D-do you think Carmine prefers asari?"

"Aww Tali." Kasumi says with a small smile at the quarian's innocence. Tali's blush intensifies with the woman's caring tone.

Jack laughs loudly and Garrus shakes his head before answering, "I don't think Carmine has a type. Maybe we should ask him when he gets back? Among a bunch of other things we all want to know."

Tali feels slightly nervous from her old friend's response as Jack juts in, "I vote yes on that. I know he does have a thing for a nice set of hips though. Just like you and your fat quarian ass."

Tali blushes hard, "M-my rear is not fat."

Before anyone can tease the innocent quarian any more, Carmine has made his way back over to them with a number of bottles and glasses occupying his large hands. He clanks them down in the center of the table before taking his seat next to Tali and Jack, spreading the drinking glasses out to everyone.

"Well here we are, mind picking a drink Garrus?" Carmine says rather eagerly.

Garrus snickers and snags a bottle, he pours himself a drink. The bottle gets passed around and everyone gets their fill. Carmine pours the booze into his glass and raises an eyebrow, "Uhh, why the hell is this neon green?"

Grunt snorts, "What, are you afraid of a green drink Carmine?"

The gear glares at the krogan and flips off his helmet, smacking it down into the table in front of him with a loud bang. His steel eyes bore into the krogan, who meets his gaze proudly. Carmine doesn't break eye contact as he downs the drink in one go. He doesn't grimace, surprisingly the gear's eyes soften a bit as he looks down to the glass.

"You know, that wasn't half bad. How about you fuckers quit watching me and get to drinking!" Clay jokes as everyone takes their drinks and downs them. Clay pours himself another to drink with them and easily gulps down the rich, burning liquid.

The next few minutes go by without anyone saying much. Carmine's eyes narrow as he spots Garrus tapping his fingers on the table. The music is loud, and Carmine has to reduce his senses further as to not be overwhelmed by the booming sounds. The vibrations of the people on the dance floor combine with the music, and Clay is reminded of flying on a raven.

The gear's head droops a bit, his inky mane flopping over his eyes for a moment as he groans, not really wanting to reminisce on home too much, "Alright, go on. I know you all have questions, and I guess I do owe you some answers."

Grunt chimes in immediately, "I want to know about the beasts you had to fight in your world. And how you fared against them."

'Well there goes not wanting to think about Sera.' His inner voice taunts.

Carmine looks up and notices the wanting looks of everyone around the table, it seems it's not just Grunt who wants to know. This is reaffirmed as Jack drains her glass and smacks it down on the table, pointing a finger at the helmetless gear, "Come on you sexy bitch. Cough up the details."

Carmine closes his eyes for a moment and lets the vibrations of the club flow through him, he sighs and lets a small smirk play on his scarred lips, "So you really want to know what I had to face back home huh? Do all of you feel that way?"

He looks around the table and is met with nods, enthusiastic ones at that. He chuckled and his friends smiled in turn as the gear sipped on his drink. He sets his hands down on the table in front of him, deciding to lean forward a bit. The glass was clenched loosely in his right hand. Tali anxiously swishes her booze around to his right, not being able to drink it properly without a little help, but being far too interested in more information about Carmine's past to get up and leave to get what she needs.

'This is a bad idea and you know it.' His inner voice tries to warn.

Clayton takes a deep breath, "It all started on emergence day, or E-Day. The Locust hit us when we least expected, right after we were done fighting amongst ourselves in the Pendulum war. They were big, white, scaly type creatures with soulless eyes and ugly mouths full of razor sharp teeth. They rose up in the most populated areas of our cities and slaughtered everyone they could. Let's see if I can put it in a better perspective for you guys. The only alien I can think of that looks the most like a grub is a vorcha. So think of an average locust drone as a vorcha at nearly my height and just as strong. They were brutal, relentless. More importantly there was an endless sea of those fucking monsters. It didn't matter how many you shot down, three more would take its place."

Grunt's smile makes everyone feel a bit uneasy as the krogan pictures fighting against Carmine's description of a drone. Garrus leans a bit forward and notices the big man's eyes are blank as they stare at his glass. Against his better judgement, Garrus decides to probe a bit deeper, "That sounds...awful Carm, I'm truly sorry. Did your whole world unite to fight the locust? You mentioned having had fought a war just before the Locust showed their faces, so I'm curious."

Carmine's eyes don't move from the glass, his right eyelid twitches at the question as his lips move to answer, "We did. Or at least the Cog tried to unite as many people as possible to fight against them. They took anyone they could get...anyone. But we were weak, too busy having fought against each other for decades. And in hindsight, it was for such stupid fucking reasons." Carmine's hand clenches a bit tighter around his glass as his ancestors that fought for the Cog during the Pendulum War came to mind. The Carmines were a devoted military family after all.

'How many families got torn apart like ours? Even before the war with the grubs, Carmines and others just like us were being used like cannon fodder.'

Carmine's eye twitches again as Kasumi decides to ask a question, "You'd mentioned your people made a weapon to help fight against the locust. A weapon developed by the same man who discovered the device that sent you here, correct?"

'It took them away from us.'

Carmine's jaw worked as his teeth clenched a bit tighter, "Yeah, the hammer of dawn. A weapon developed by the father of my sergeant. It was basically a beam of raw destruction rather than just an explosion in some cases. It was so much fun to splatter grubs with. Things got real bad though, and in an effort to avoid the grubs taking massive strongholds, the Cog powered it up and used it in major cities. Turning whatever was in the blast radius to ash."

The music of the club drowned out the growl that partially spilled from the big man's lips as he finished. As much as he loved being a gear. He abhorred the Cog for what they did, the hammer strikes being the first of many tragedies that struck young Clayton Carmine. Clayton knocked back the rest of his drink. His hand still clenching around the glass as he sets it back down.

'They weren't even supposed to be there. But they couldn't resist going to help evacuate civilians. To the Cog they were just another nurse and a retired veteran...turned to ash in an instant just like the rest of those people. Casualties of war.'

Jack could read the man's face as his anger started to make itself apparent, "Th-they got all the people out before they nuked it right?" Jack asks.

Clayton's eyes didn't move, and his thick digits curled tighter around the glass in his right hand, "We didn't have enough time to evacuate everyone. The grubs were hitting us hard, too hard to stage effective evacs. So they pulled us out and struck the cities regardless of who was left in them."

'They took our parents!'

Garrus smacks his hands on the table, "That's bullshit! How could your government just allow that much sacrifice!?"

Carmine looks up at him, and the look in his eye shuts Garrus up immediately. The turian relaxes a bit and leans back as the gear answers him, "The higher ups just knew we couldn't get the cities back. They didn't know or care how fucking bad it was on the front lines, they just knew we couldn't keep fighting them like that. My...my parents got caught in one of the strikes."

Tali's gaps hits the big man's ears but he can't bring himself to look at her, "Oh Carmine." She whispers.

His teeth clench as he manages to hear her, mistakenly thinking she felt some kind of pity toward him. The gear doesn't hide the anger anymore as his eyes narrow, lips tilting into a snarl, nose wrinkling as his mind flows back to all the death and misery.

"The grubs didn't give two shits about how old we were, just that any human had to die. Haha you know, they'd even eat us." His laughter comes out manic, but before anyone could interrupt the angered man he continued.

"I've seen them pull grown men and women to pieces and laugh while they devoured them. Not even slice them up, just rip em' open like fucking animals and let the person scream! Don't even get me started with kids, those fucking animals took pride in butchering our children!"

'They took our family. So many families. How many kids did you watch die? There was a reason you became a monster. Not just because you enjoy the feeling of it all Clayton.'

The glass in Carmine's hand cracks and whines as the pressure builds up. His volume increasing as small trails of steam slip from the veteran gear's exposed skin. His sleeveless shirt has started to stretch as his breath flows more uneven and rapid, a wild look coming to his steel eyes as he slips into the memories. The voice in his head doing the gear no favors, simply taunting him at this point.

"The grubs took fucking everything from me! They stripped every last good thing from my life! And for what!? Just to get wiped out in one shot by some machine?!"

'They're not gone, they're never gone. They need to suffer. You know I'm right, they're still alive...somewhere.'

The gear's tone simmers a bit as he looks to the alarmed faces of his fellow crew mates, but his anger doesn't falter for a moment, "No, the grubs deserved to suffer for what they did! They took my whole goddamn family!" His voice was crazed and beyond angry. Thankfully all the other conversations and the music in the club drowned out any possibility of other tables overhearing the gear.

The glass in his hand finally shatters as Carmine's rage consumes him. His chest heaves as his breath spills from between his bared teeth. There were a number of glass shards stuck in his hand, blood trickling from the wounds as he squeezed tighter to cut himself even worse. Tali reaches out and clasps the gear's bloodied right hand, effectively snapping him from his rage.

The gear lets out a bull-like huff from his nose as his hand begrudgingly opens for the quarian, making sure to not get too much blood on her hand as he gently clasps it. It felt just like Sam to him. His mind plays tricks to replicate the feeling of the tanned Kasuran woman's small, calloused hand gripping his. Interlocking their fingers. Clayton soon realizes it's not Sam, but Tali. He isn't disappointed, but rather grateful for the small quarian's actions.

They were all speechless. And the gear's head tilted down in shame, not wanting their pity, let alone an in-depth explanation of the things that happened to him. His ears perk up though as Jack speaks first, "Well shit, that's worse than the shit that happened to me. I knew you were a badass Carm, but hell."

Garrus pipes up, "Yeah, to survive in an environment like that, you have to have some real skill. You don't have to keep talking about all that, we get the idea."

Of course Grunt has his own train of thought, "I just have one last question. How did you earn the name Grub Killer?"

Carmine can't help but snicker as the others stare the krogan down, clearly oblivious to the gear's outburst. Clay waves his free hand, "Don't be pissed at him, it's alright. My fellow gears called me that because that's what I am. I'm a locust killing machine that runs on nothing but ammo and hate. I've killed so many of those goddamn grubs. But I guess that doesn't really matter anymore, they're gone...and I'm alone."

'It matters more than you think. You are right though, you're alone. You're a monster, now and forever.'

Clayton looks to his hand as he feels small pricks. Tali has started pulling the bits of glass from his flesh, his wrist was held loosely in her other hand as she plucked the chunks and discarded them into a small napkin.

Jack stands, "Fuck that noise! You're not alone, none of us are anymore!" Carmine's head raises up and his eyes widen at the biotic. Jack feels a small red tint come to her cheeks but doesn't let it effect her, simply sitting back down.

"She's right, none of us are alone. We've all got your back, Carm. And we know you've got ours." Kasumi chimes in.

"Damn straight. You've risked your neck more than a few times for us. We'd all do the same for you." Garrus says as he goes and grabs an empty glass from a nearby table when nobody was looking and fills it with booze before sliding it expertly over to Carmine. He catches it with a quirked eyebrow, shrugging as he goes to put the glass to his lips, but is stopped by Garrus.

"We've only known each other for a short time but you're one of the best people I've ever met. I'm proud to call you my friend. To those you lost in the war, and to you. TO CARMINE!"

"TO CARMINE!" The group chants in unison, each knocking back their drinks with a smile on their faces. The gear smiles as the green liquid burns it's way down his throat.

"Thank you, all of you." The gear mutters as he feels Tali's long finger tracing the wounds on his hand with curiosity as they've already stopped bleeding.

He flexes his fingers and spooks the small woman, "I'm alright Tali, really. But I appreciate it. Hmm, why haven't drank anything yet?"

Tali's hands shoot back to her person as she starts to fidget them, "W-well it's rather embarrassing…I need an emergency induction port."

Carmine's confused head tilt says it all, and Kasumi leans over her shoulder and gives the gear a toothy grin, "She means a straw."

Carmine hums and stands, walking over to the bar. They all watch him curiously as he chats with with one of the bartenders. The black man seems to know the gear and they share some smiles before Clay makes his way back over and hands Tali a small plastic straw, "Wouldn't be as fun if you didn't join in Tali."

Her heart nearly beat out of her chest as she took the straw graciously and stuck it into the alcohol that had been sitting in her glass since they sat down. She takes a sip as a warm purple blush burns her cheeks. Kasumi leans in toward her and whispers, "Quite the gentleman isn't he?"

Tali's eyes go half-lidded and she nods slowly as the sweet tasting alcohol scorches its way down her throat, "He is."

Carmine looks to the blood on the table and sighs, pouring himself another drink and chugging it down, "I'm going to grab some napkins to clean up my blood. I'll be back."

Garrus stands with him, "I'll come with you." The gear tilts his head before shrugging and walking up to the bar with Garrus.

The pair lean on the counter as the bartenders seem to be rather occupied at the moment. Garrus turns his head to look at Carmine as he blows a few loose strands of his hair from his eyes. The turian chuckles, "Heh, I really appreciate that you told us what you did Carmine. And that you feel comfortable to go without that helmet of yours around us now."

The gear shifts to lean on his left elbow, now facing Garrus. He waves a dismissing hand and scoffs, "Don't mention it. And hell, I can't really drink with that thing on anyway."

Garrus leans to check past Carmine and notices a rather attractive turian woman eyeing the massive gear up. A smile comes to Garrus's face, 'Ha! He's not even trying and he's grabbed some attention. Wait a minute, she looks familiar.'

He notices the gear shake his head a bit as he stares at his bloodied hand. Garrus rests a hand on the solid muscle of the man's shoulder, "You alright Carmine? All that reminiscing didn't mess you up too bad did it?"

The two share a small chuckle and Carmine shakes his head no, "Nah it's just...this is going to sound crazy but it seems lately that I have someone else talking in my head. Not just my own thoughts or whatever."

Garrus hums, after all he's been through it doesn't surprise the turian that Carmine may have some array of mental issues. Nobody comes out of a war like that unscathed. Garrus slaps the man's shoulder before bringing his hand back to himself and smirks, "You're not crazy, I just think you're reading too much into this. You've been through a lot, so you're probably just picturing your thoughts as some kind of foreign entity."

Carmine furrows his brow for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, you're probably right." He trails off, tilting his head in the direction of the female turian. Her rather enchanting amber colored eyes lock with his steel ones and he feels the alcohol in his system respond. He shoots the alien woman a wink and she smiles at him.

Garrus waves a bartender down and asks for some napkins and a bottle of vodka. He nudges the gear and wiggles his eyebrows. Carmine rolls his eyes, transferring the credits to the bartender before heading back to the table.

Before he could even start to clean his hand off Tali snatches the bottle of vodka from him and pours some into his glass. She then takes a napkin and dabs a bit of the alcohol onto it.

Tali pauses and blushes, "M-may I see your injured hand please? I know you probably won't need first aid, but I'd a-at least like to clean your wounds." Her little stutter makes the gear smile. He complies, nodding to her and letting her take his cut up hand.

He doesn't even wince as the strong alcohol sears the open wounds on his hand. Tali is very careful while she works but is still enjoying herself as she runs her fingers along his hand.

His smile persists at her attentiveness. He snags the glass of vodka and takes a hefty sip. He could feel himself start to relax more, the plethora of alcohol starting to inch it's way into his blood. Hopefully it would help distract him from the warm feeling he got whenever Tali would let one of her fingers linger on a particular knuckle, or as she dragged a digit along the expanse of his palm. Sam, Shepard, and now Tali gave him that warm feeling in his chest. He didn't know what it was but he…liked it.

The group mingled with each other a bit as Tali finished up. She didn't let go of his hand though, unconsciously sliding her palm along his. Even with her long fingers, Carmine's hand dwarfed hers.

However Tali's train of thought gets derailed when Jack decides to speak up, "Hey, how about we all play a little drinking game?"

Carmine raises an eyebrow, "I'm not too sure that's a good idea. I can only carry so many of you back to the ship, and there's no way any of you can out drink me."

Jack let out an exaggerated sigh and grumbled, "Come on you big pussy, we'll only do a couple rounds."

Garrus shrugs, "I planned on getting shitfaced anyway."

Kasumi chuckled, "I'll have to abstain. Somebody has to be sober here."

Grunt nods, "If it means I get to drink more than let's get started already."

Tali squeezes the big man's hand, "It could be fun, I'm in."

Jack points to the big guy, "Ha! That's majority Carmine, you're playing wether you like it or not."

Carmine runs a free hand over his face and sighs, "I guess I can't argue with that." A smile creeps up onto his lips, unable to fight it.

Carmine takes note that the alcohol wasn't just loosening him up, but the others as well. Jack seemed far more relaxed than he'd ever seen before, Grunt even looked to be mellowing out as well. Not that Clay could tell, krogans are incredibly hard aliens to read. Jack smiled deviously, her plan to get the big guy to loosen up seemed to be coming along nicely.

"So I'm going to throw out something I've never done, and if you've done it you have to drink. We'll go in a circle, skipping the little buzzkill in a cloak over there." Jack says, an uncharacteristic enthusiasm in her tone as she points to Kasumi.

"Alright. Never have I ever traveled to a different dimension." Jack says with a cocky grin.

Carmine rolls his eyes and drinks down the rest of the vodka in his glass. Kasumi is quick to refill the man's drink and he eyes her suspiciously, 'Something seems off. But hey, I don't think we've had this much fun with friends in a while. Got close when we were drinking with Delta 2 back right before we were sent here. Just don't make of fool of us.'

Carmine lightly shakes away the voice in his head as Garrus went next, "I guess it's my turn. Never have I ever worn a helmet."

"Well at least I'm not alone." Carmine says as he playfully taps the top of Tali's suit covered head. She begrudgingly let's go of his right hand and snags her glass. The pair clank them together before taking their respective drinks.

Grunt is next, "I have never sawed a being in half." The krogan chuckles as Carmine's head slumps forward, his hair flopping as he groans.

He drinks down the rest of the alcohol in his glass before smacking it down on the table. The large amount of booze was starting to creep up on him, "This is some bullshit. If you just wanted me to get wasted why not do it with me?"

They laugh at the gear as he picks his head back up to playfully scowl at them, "Assholes." He says as his lips trade their sour look for a smile.

They play until they get back to Jack, and by now the last Carmine had taken note of how much he'd drank. He was all smiles and laughs, not too fucked up but he was getting semi close to how he was after the war ended. Before Jack can continue the game the turian woman from the bar approached the veteran gear. He looks up to her with narrowed eyes.

His eyes snap open when he recognizes her, "Oh yeah, you're that pretty turian from before. Do you need anything?"

The tall alien smiled at his unintentional compliment. The women of the table all seemed to know what she had on her mind, and were promptly against it.

"Whatever it is look for it somewhere else." Jack said with a glare. The turian woman didn't even bat an eye at her or the two other scowling women.

She rests a hand on Carmine's shoulder and leans down to him, giving the pair a better look into each others eyes, Clay couldn't deny that the amber coloration was gorgeous, "My name is-"

"Solana!?" Garrus yells out in shock.

The turian woman gasps and brings a hand up to her face, "G-Garrus is that you? W-what happened to your face?"

Carmine looks to his turian friend with a titled head, "You know her?"

Garrus looks bewildered as he stands and walks over to this Solana and hugs her. Clay gives them their moment before standing with them. They separate and Garrus can't help but chuckle as Solana's eyes widen a bit, obviously not realizing just how tall the gear was until now.

"Everyone, this is my younger sister Solana. I have absolutely no idea what you're doing here but it's great to see you. I'm back with commander Shepard and these are a few crew members from the Normandy. So what were you coming over for?" Garrus says as he grabs a hold of his sister's hand.

The turian woman looks around at them as her amber orbs settle on the large human in front of her. His handsome face wears a smile as he crosses his muscular arms across his chest.

"Well I uhh, was coming to see if your big friend here would want to dance with me. But I'd hate to break up your little get together Garrus." Solana says with a nervous smirk, heat flowing to her cheeks.

Tali's hand clenches tightly around her glass as she listens to Garrus's sister speak. Not liking the idea of anyone but her being able to go out and dance with him. The alcohol seems to really be taking hold of her as she doesn't even realize she's gotten up already. She walks to stand cozily next to the gear and folds her arms over her chest.

In her sweetest tone she says, "Actually we were just planning on heading over there ourselves."

Carmine quirks his eyebrow and looks down to her, noticing her pink orbs slightly narrowed as she glares at the turian woman. Solana gazes back with the same intensity and it leaves Carmine guessing where all this hostility suddenly came from.

But before the two ladies said anything more Kasumi nudges herself in between Carmine and Tali, wrapping her arms around the pair. The height difference has her snaking her hand around the big man's middle, grasping at his muscular middle with a small, discreet wink as she looks up to him.

"I think that's a great idea actually, let's all hit the dance floor. You all seem to be pretty buzzed so let's have fun!"

The group all nod, the only person catching onto her little scheme being Carmine. The alcohol that rampaged through his blood made him acutely aware of how close Tali was standing to him before. He smiled as Kasumi disappears, literally cloaking herself to sneak away to the DJ's booth.

'Ha, clever little sneak. Trying to get Tali to dance with us. Might as well enjoy this while it lasts.' Carmine nods along with his thoughts as Tali quickly fidgets her hands and looks up to the large man. His steel eyes stare back at her, a knowing smile playing on his lips. The voice in his head seemed to be far too cooperative, but Carmine simply shrugged it off.

She stammers, "W-why are you looking at me like that?" Her shy tone only makes the big man smile wider and lean down to her level.

Tali tries to step back as he gets closer but finds herself frozen in place, the alcohol in her system not allowing her fear to take over, and a part of her likes how close he's getting. His face stops a few inches from her visor.

"Maybe I just want to admire you. That alright with you Tali'Zorah Vas'Normandy?" Tali blushes extremely hard. On the inside though she couldn't feel any better, especially as she watches his steel eyes flash down to her body.

'Maybe I am enough for him. It certainly seems to be that way...but maybe it's just the alcohol talking and it's not how he truly feels.' Tali's brain manages to overthink the situation and Carmine can see the doubt in her pink orbs.

'We're losing her Romeo. Better do something that isn't completely stupid, and fast.' Carmine's thought rings in his head.

His eyes widen slightly before he smiles and snatches Tali by the hand. Her eyes snap to their connected hands before Carmine tugs her toward the dance floor, "Come on Tali. You wanted to dance right? Maybe you'll be able show me up." He challenges.

Tali feels the spark of competition flow through her, forgetting how embarrassed she felt. She interlocked their fingers and shot the gear a playful glare, her pink orbs narrowing, "You're going down Carmine." Tali says as she takes the lead, dragging the big guy behind her.

The veteran gear laughs, "Ha! That's the spirit!" They reach the middle of the dance floor and Tali lets go of him. Carmine feels slightly sad once their hands separate, but doesn't know why. Just that he missed the feeling of her fingers in between his own.

He isn't familiar with the music what so ever but does his best to match Tali. Who mind you, is absolutely killing it. With the added confidence of having a few drinks in her system, Tali is dancing like it's her last day alive and Carmine is left to admire as she works her body in such a rhythmic flow to match the music. He tries his best to find his flow and Tali has to admit, for such a large man he has some moves, she snickers, 'At least he's better than Jane.'

Clay looks above the sea of people and catches sight of their friends. Garrus, his sister, Grunt, Jack, and even Kasumi have joined the dance floor. He hums, a perk of being nearly eight feet tall in this dimension allows him to see over crowds like this. But his eyes soon snap back to the small quarian in front of him. Sure she's small compared to him, and shorter than most people, but those hips of hers couldn't lie even if they wanted to.

He can't take his eyes away from her and she soon realizes that. She brings her hands up, slowly trailing down the sides of her body and Carmine watches intently as her hands reach her hips. She smiles and steps her way close to the gear, he catches on and manages to flow to the beat with her.

She beckons him down to her level and he obliges still gently bobbing to the beat. Tali hesitates for a moment, the combination of his attentive gaze on her, and the seductive heat that radiated from him and through her suit makes her rethink herself for a moment. But only a moment.

"I would like to show you how people in my culture share a dance. Will you accept?" Her attractive accent rolls through his mind like a hurricane and he finds himself unable to think properly.

'Hey, asshole living in my head for free. I could really use some advice on what to do here...come on man you aren't even going to yell at me or anything? Not even a single insult? Please I'm begging you here!' Carmine screams out in his head for something to call back to him and keep him in check.

But his head is remarkably silent. So the buzzing gear does the only thing he can think of, "I'd love to."

As his words reach Tali's ears she can't help the heat that pools in her stomach. His tone was flirty and deep. She bites at her lower lip and snags his hands, taking a deep breath as she places them on her waist.

She sucks air through her teeth as he gently grips the tops of her hips instinctively. She brings her hands along his muscular arms to his chest, grabbing a handful of his shirt and tugging him down to her level. He lets her of course.

"Just go with the flow." She says, trying as hard as she can to hide the arousal in her tone. A bit of light shines off his pearly white teeth as he grins at her and nods.

He follows her lead to the dot, only messing up a few times leading to Tali's laughter as he trips over his own feet. Even with those times he doesn't let go of his hold on her, his touch becoming scorching to the quarian. She pushes herself into his body more as they dance and the gear can't complain. Her small hands raking over his muscles again and again.

For the first time in a while, the voice in his head is voluntarily silent. Clay thinks it's due to the immense overload of emotions like usual, but he was wrong. His hands gently squeeze into Tali's hips as they flow to the beat, it seems like this casual club song has gone on forever.

He doesn't mind though as her suit feels almost paper thin to him. Clayton's hands have a mind of their own as they gently dig into her covered hips. His thumbs rolling to her covered stomach.

'Heh, as long as I can be close to this little spark then I don't give have a fuck if this crappy song lasts ten more minutes. God I wish she didn't have this suit on.' He thinks, no rebuttal coming to his brain as he bounces and flows with Tali. She is surprised with how well he seems to be adjusting to such intimate dance. Her mind going slightly haywire as his hands reasonably explore what she's given him access to. He never oversteps his boundaries though, and keeps his grip solely on her hips.

As the song starts to slow itself, getting ready to play the next one, the pair follow the rhythm until the song stops. Tali ends it off by pressing her head into the wall of muscle in front of her, "Thank you Carmine...you did great. This was the first time I've been able to share this dance with another." Tali feels the heat pooled in between in her legs and internally groans as her core aches.

She feels his laugh vibrate through his strong middle as his tough hands give her hips a gentle squeeze and scorch a trail up her sides. She looks up to him as he pulls her into him further and bites her lip to stifle a moan. Clay was doing her aroused state no favors.

"I'm glad I could preform." His smooth tone makes her cheeks burn, the fire in her belly becoming worse by the second. Her want for him building.

She stalls her lustful thinking as a determined look hits her pink orbs, the small woman steps up on her tippy toes. She tries her hardest to ignore how great it felt to be touched so gently, yet firm. As if the gear didn't think she was brittle, but was savoring it almost as much as she was. She didn't realize how bad she missed his touch until his hands let up on her hips.

"Is this just the alcohol working it's magic or is this you?" She asks. She sees a small pain shoot into his eyes, almost as if he's offended by the question. However before she can retract her statement, the gear leans down. As he gets closer to her visor she sinks back down to the floor until her feet are flat against it.

The next song starts up, the smooth flow making Carmine let out a comfortable sigh. His gaze is fully focused on Tali though, her question being enough to warrant his full attention.

'She thinks I'm just some drunken fool huh? I guess I should make sure she knows how important this is to me. Hell, I don't just let anyone touch me and vice versa. Well at least I used to be that way. Guess this place really has been changing me.'

The song kicks up a notch, making the dance floor bounce again. His large frame protects them from the drunken rabble of the crowd. Their faces are mere inches away now, the only thing between them is Tali's visor. He takes note as Tali's breathing quickens.

"You know I looked for another love

I was looking for another clue

But I was trying to find another you"

He smiles a warm smile as the rhythm flows through the floor into him, and he leans his forehead onto hers. Tali sighs contently, her hands instinctively raking down to his abs. Tali was growing incredibly touch starved, the small quarian wanting nothing more than to tear her suit off and feel Carmine's calloused palms against her skin. The pair snicker together as their eyes seem to fall half lidded in this rather close position. Managing to flow to the beat together.

But still, Carmine finds his head is dead quiet other than his own thoughts. No negative voice to make him feel terrible, to remind him that he doesn't deserve his friends, or enjoyment like this from someone as sweet as Tali.

Nobody to remind him he's a monster. Just the warm feeling in his chest as he stares into Tali's pink orbs. He doesn't understand the sensation at all, and he couldn't care less. All he knew was that she was waiting for an answer. He shuts his eyes and smirks, continuing to dance with Tali for another moment.

"You let a boy go be a man

And now I truly understand

So baby come take my hand"

"I'm all here Tali'Zorah. This is me, I promise you that the booze is only making me a bit more confident is all. Also I hope you'll forgive me for this." Tali's eyes widen at his honest words, but more specifically at the fact that as his eyes open they are a bright, shimmering silver instead.

Her breath is nearly caught in her throat, this was the second time she witnessed his eyes change color. If she wasn't convinced by his answer before, this certainly did it for her. Tali couldn't deny how hard he made her heart thump. Nobody had ever made her feel the way Carmine did. Nobody other than the Normandy's crew treated her with such respect, or protected her without a second thought.

She quirks an eyebrow, "Sorry for wha-" her question is cut off as the gear reaches a hand up to caress the side of her visor. He leans in slowly, his eyes never shutting as his lips makes contact with the side of her covered face. Clayton made sure not to kiss her visor as to not leave a smudge. But the quarian still feels his scarred lips make contact, not able to help herself from smiling extremely wide.

"And let me love you (all night)

Just let me hold you (tonight)"

As the chorus of the song plays Carmine sways with her from side to side and mumbles the lyrics, apparently he's heard it before. Fireworks are going off non-stop in the quarian's whole body. Not able to get over the fact that he kissed her. She was slightly sad, knowing that in this environment she couldn't risk pulling off her visor to kiss him back. But as she looked into his surprisingly happy, shimmering, silver eyes, all that fell away.

She'd get him back, especially since this confirmed that they shared a connection. Now what exactly that connection entailed, Tali would worry about another time. Hopefully those parts she collected today would work for her little pet project.

The song ends far too soon in Tali's opinion and she grabs the gears's hand, pulling him back toward their table. He follows with his smile still plastered on his face. They take a seat and notice all the booze is gone. Carmine rolls his eyes, "Bastards must have taken it with them when they went off to dance."

Tali giggles as Clay grumbles at the loss of alcohol, "I will go grab us something to drink, but that should be it for today. Shepard did say to drink responsibly." Carmine nods to her.

'Shit what if that was too much. Maybe she's just too scared to say otherwise and she's using this as an excuse to get away from me...' Carmine finds he doesn't need the other voice in his head to still think negatively. Something as juvenile as a kiss to Tali's suit covered cheek makes his anxiousness flare.

As she gets up to go head to the bar he reaches out and gently grasps her wrist. She looks to his silver orbs, surprised to see they were still shining up at her, "I hope that wasn't too much. If it was, I really am sorry. I don't want you to feel like you're forced into anything."

She couldn't think Carmine could get any more attractive in her mind. A rush of confidence hits her as she realizes that he was just as nervous as she was about these kinds of things, "Shush you. If I had a problem with it I would've said something. So quit your worrying, everything is just fine. Better than fine."

The gear's face falls into an expression of relief, "O-oh, alright. Cool." His goofy smile is adored by the quarian as he gives her wrist a reaffirming squeeze before letting go.

He leans back, focusing his gaze on Tali's happy form as she makes her way up to the bar. His eyes of course linger on her butt, and his silver eyes narrow. He bites the inside of his cheek to stifle his train of thought. It's a losing battle though, and his mind wanders to how good she felt even with the suit on. An flurry of warmth hits his heart harder than a geth prime's punch. The only other times in his life where he felt such a strong feeling was with Shepard and Sam.

Carmine shuts his eyes for a moment, the memories of waking up in the same tent with Sam wrapped all around him coming back in droves. All the times she'd play with his hair and tease him about how messy it was. Sure he missed her, and all of that other stuff, but maybe it was time to look to the future instead of the past.

He smiles, "I guess if she can move on. Maybe I can too."

'Move on? We've never had anyone to move on from. It's just us, Delta squad, the grubs, and our guns. I have to admit all this touchy feely crap doesn't exactly feel terrible, so I'll allow it. But don't get our head twisted up here. They don't like you, and nobody could ever love us. You're just their bullet sponge. Don't forget what we're here for. Keep them alive at any cost, and kill all the fucking GRUBS!'

The gear narrows his eyes and lets them roam until he spots his friends. Grunt and Jack were bumming drinks from some people, while Garrus was still on the dance floor with his sister. Kasumi was nowhere to be found as per usual. Clayton's silver eyes gleam with determination as his jaw clenched.

"I never forgot. Just trying to live a little I guess."

"That's a very different tone than I'm used to hearing from you, Carm. Although you're still talking to yourself so that's a few points off.' Kasumi says from the seat next to him. She presses a hand to her mouth to stave off her giggles as the big man jumps in his seat.

"Jesus Kasumi! You almost gave me a damn heart attack." He says with a smile, clearly not disturbed by the sneaky woman's presence.

"You'll live. So, you and Tali were getting awfully close on the dance floor. Want to explain that?" She says with a cocky smirk as she bumps his ribs with her elbow.

Carmine smirks and shakes his head, "It was nothing. Just having some fun with a friend. Like that date-mission thing with Shepard.

Kasumi shakes her head, "Tsk tsk, you're hopeless Carmine. But maybe those two will make you understand some day."

He tilts his head in confusion before overhearing a commotion by the bar. Tali was being grabbed by a man, and all Clayton could see was blood red. Kasumi watched as his jaw tightened, posture going rigid, and his eyes immediately fading back to their steel color. She followed his eyes to Tali and her own blood boiled.

"I said I'm not interested in your money. Please leave me be. I'm not some asari hooker!" Tali yells out as she wrenches her hand free from the fancily dressed man.

The brown haired man sneers at her, "What, are my credits not good enough for you quarian? Just take the money and let's go already. Someone like you can't afford to pass this up."

He reaches out again and grabs her forearm harshly, tugging her to the point where she thought there may have been a rip in her suit. Tali grunted in pain but before she could sick her attack drone on the creep, a familiar shadow was cast over her.

Carmine snatched the man's wrist easily and pulled his hand off of Tali. The man yelped in pain and tore his wrist from Carmine's grasp, "Ow! What the hell buddy, I payed good money for her so fuck off!"

Clayton wasn't even paying attention to him, his hand moving to gently grasp Tali's shoulder, "You alright Tali?" His presence alone made Tali feel safer already, but the tone of his voice sealed the deal. Nothing bad would happen with the gear around.

She examines her arm and is pleased to see there was no damage done to her suit. She sighs in relief, "I'm good. Thank you Carmine."

The big guy nods, smirks, and turns back to the brunette, "Apologize. Only time I'm going to ask."

The smaller man didn't even look a smidge intimidated, "Hah! Do you even know who I am? If you value your little whore's life you'll-" the gear doesn't let him finish.

Clayton snatches the man by the throat and lifts him up to his eye level, accidentally knocking over a chair that crashes loudly to the ground, effectively pulling a lot of attention to them. Carmine's face shows no signs of anger as the man in fancy clothes struggles to get air to his lungs.

Kasumi appears next to Tali and begins checking her over. As Tali is about to interject the master thief holds up a hand, "Just being cautious, don't fight me on this." Tali sighs and allows her to check the suit over. The quarian's eyes are set back on Carmine as he holds up the man who assaulted her.

She gets butterflies just watching him, 'Keelah! How much more attractive can he get. Protecting me, a quarian of all people.' Kasumi finishes up and hugs the quarian tight.

"You're lucky Carmine was here or you could have seriously been hurt Tali. That bumbling moron would have torn your suit. Be a little more careful in the future please?" The quarian mechanic nods, smiles, and returns the hug.

"I will be." Tali enjoyed the familial scolding. The pair separate and look to Carmine who still holds up the man rather effortlessly. Everyone in the immediate vicinity of them looks nervous. Not knowing what was going to happen next. Kasumi and Tali had a pretty solid idea though.

"Y-you and that qu-quarian bitch are dead fu-fucking dead meat." The man gurgles out, making Clayton's eye twitch.

"You're lucky I promised not to kill anyone." Carmine says, his voice as sharp as his knife.

The man's eyes widen in fear as Clayton throws him across the room, smashing through a table with two C-Sec officers. Kasumi winces and pats the big man on the bicep, "We should probably get going."

Clayton shrugs, "Why? We didn't do anything wrong. It was self defense, sort of." Kasumi doesn't look amused at his attempt at a joke. The human and turian officers approach them.

"Excuse me sir, you have come with us right now. The quarian too." Carmine didn't like the sound of the turian's tone as he referred to Tali. As if she was somehow lesser.

But Clayton put on a nice face, the alcohol working it's magic as it allows him to put his growing anger aside for a moment, "Hold on officers this is one big misunderstanding."

'Yeah, nice one pal. That idiot is probably cut open, bloody, and concussed. We're the ones that threw him. Pretty cut and dry if you ask me. Wish Jace were here to talk us out of this. That kid can act his ass off when he needs to.'

The turian raises an eyebrow, "How exactly is you throwing a politician into our table misunderstood?"

Carmine tries to think of something before shrugging, "I guess it isn't. But why are you taking her? That creepy little bastard grabbed a hold of her twice."

The turian shook his head, "It's just policy sir I'm not here to argue with you."

The burly man beside him snickered, "Heh, yeah and besides, that quarian could've put her hands on Mr. Sumner first. We won't know all the details until you're detained."

The man goes to grab Tali and Clayton beats him to the punch, wrapping his forearm in a crushing grip before foreign fingers could even touch Tali. Clay let's go as the man pulls back and steps out of Carmine's reach.

"You lay a finger on her and I'll shatter more than your pride." His eyes bore into the officer. Who grabs at his arm, wincing in pain. Clay almost certainly fractured his forearm.

The turian reaches and places a hand on his service weapon, as he does Garrus pushes himself in between them and starts putting his acting chops to good work, "Hey now I wouldn't go that far pal. Look we've had a bit to drink, you've had a bit to drink. How about we all call it even alright?"

The burly officer shakes his head, "Fat chance of that! Now you're all coming with us."

Clay and Garrus share a look, their gaze flashing back to see Grunt and Jack were eagerly awaiting a fight behind them as Kasumi and Tali make themselves scarce.

Garrus sighs deep, "I tried to help you guys."

"Clayton my friend, if you'll let me use your first name. Have you ever been in a bar fight?" The turian turns and asks as he places his left hand up on Carmine's shoulder.

The gear shakes his head, "Nope." Garrus smiles at him before catching Clay's helmet as Jack tosses it to him. He hands the big man his prized head protection and turns back to the officers. Carmine slides his helmet over his smiling face.

"Well I guess we've reached an impasse." Garrus says as he spreads his arms, taking a step toward the turian officer. Garrus then launches a haymaker that nearly takes the turian officer off his feet. Carmine lunges at the human officer and grabs him by the front of his shirt.

Carmine laughs as he smashes a cinderblock fist into the man's face, shattering a cheekbone and knocking him unconscious. He drops the officer and goes to help Garrus, grabbing a hold of the turian officer's collar and tossing him into a nearby table as he had managed to back Garrus up against the counter.

The turian groans and opens his omni-tool, "Officer down at these coordinates. Send backup fa-" Carmine walks over and boots him in the face, silencing the turian.

"Well shit, I guess we've got ourselves a little brawl here. Fucking finally! I was starting to get bored!" Jack yells out next to Grunt as the krogan huffs and bangs his knuckles together.

"They don't stand a chance!" Grunt roars out.

Garrus and Carmine group up with them as C-Sec officers start pouring into the club. The gear smirks, "Just don't kill any of them. Shepard's orders. Where's your sister Garrus?" The gear asks his turian friend.

Garrus smiles, "She headed out once we saw you and Tali dancing. Don't worry she still likes you."

Clayton shakes his head and rolls his eyes, "Shut it Kantus face. Oh and no killing, but I do want to hear bones cracking, got it?"

They all share a laugh and nod to the big man as they get surrounded. Clayton laughs a genuine, hearty laugh before shaking his head, "You're all fucked." His helmet's filter lights up to match his words as he goes and cracks his knuckles.

---

Shepard didn't think her face could get any hotter. Her cheeks were the same color as her hair, and her mother didn't ease up on the teasing one bit. She knew she couldn't lie to her mom about Carmine, so she told her every detail she knew about the man. Which of course led to the elder Shepard mercilessly teasing her daughter.

Hannah Shepard snickered away as her daughter tucked her head into her folded arms on the table, "Who would've thought the great commander Jane Shepard could get so embarrassed talking about a man with her mother?"

"Moooooom." Shepard's muffled groans only widen the smile on her mother's face.

Jane's omni-tool starts sounding off though and the commander quickly goes to answer it, grateful for the change in subject.

She is surprised to see Bailey, her stomach plummeting when she realizes what might have happened, "Hey Bailey, is there something you need?"

The blonde man sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose, "I have four of yours locked up. Please come and get them before the big one decides he wants to leave."

Shepard's eyes widen as she knows exactly who he's talking about, "Of course. I'll be right there."

Jane looks over to her mother who has clearly overheard the entire conversation. She stands before Jane can and smirks, "Well come on. We have to bail out your crew after all."

Jane sighs, knowing arguing won't do anything and gets up. The pair make their way to C-Sec's lockup and meet with Kasumi and Tali, who are currently pleading for the release of the rest of the group. Well Tali is pleading while Kasumi watches.

Tali turns and sighs in relief, "Keelah, thank goodness you're here Shepard. It was my fault, Carmine was just defend-"

Jane holds up a hand to stop her and grasps the bridge of her nose with her other hand, "I don't want to hear it." Tali looks down in shame. Hannah shoots her daughter a look before going and wrapping the small quarian in a hug.

"Wonderful to see you again Tali." Hannah says with a smile as the two separate.

"Of course Hannah, it's always a pleasure. This is Kasumi, a new member of Jane's crew."

As her mother interacts with them Jane doesn't think she can roll her eyes any harder. Her mother was always a social butterfly when it came to her crew. She turns to Bailey and blows her stray bundle of hair from her face, "How many people died?"

Bailey shakes his head, "None. But there are forty officers nursing broken arms, legs, faces, etcetera. They're at the hospital."

Shepard's eyes widen, "Wait, nobody died?" Bailey nods to her and she feels a small spark of pride that the gear in fact listened to her orders.

"Alright, so what the hell happened for my crew to end up seriously injuring forty of your officers?" Shepard drops the question at the front of her mind.

Bailey sighs, "A real scumbag politician apparently tried to pay Tali for sexual favors. She denied and he got handsy so the big one stepped in and threw him through a table. One thing led to another and two of my guys tried to get involved."

Shepard nods, "And negotiations didn't exactly go smooth."

Bailey nods back and forwards the bill for her crew's release, hospital charges, and the club damages to her tool. Shepard opens it and sucks air through her teeth, "Damn." She mutters.

Shepard uses her Cerberus funds to pay off the balance and Bailey nods thankfully at her. Heading over to his terminal to get Shepard's people released.

Shepard turns to her mother who is currently getting the story of what happened from the pair of Kasumi and Tali. Shepard sighs and wanders over to them. Kasumi spots her and smiles, "You never told us you had such a lovely mother Shep."

Jane folds her arms over her chest defensively and shrugs, "It never came up."

Hannah wraps an arm around her daughter and tugs her into her chest, "Come now Janey, aren't you proud of your dear old mother? I told people about my shining daughter every chance I got before your accident. And now that I have you back I'm going to brag all I can about you again."

"Moooooom." Shepard groans out as she tries to free herself from her mother's iron grip, not remembering how deceptively strong her mom was. The doors to the cells open up and their eyes snap over to watch as Garrus strolls out with the others in tow.

"See, what did I tell ya? Good ol' Shepard has us covered." Garrus says as the small group stops in front of Shepard and the others.

"Good to see you again Mrs. Shepard." Garrus says, Carmine's eyes widen as he spots Jane's mother. Hannah glares at Garrus and he sighs.

"Captain Shepard." The turian says rather defeatedly.

'Holy shit, now we know where Shepard got her looks from at least.' He shakes the thought from his head as Jane looks up at him with a scowl. A bead of sweat forms on his forehead as her icy blue eyes bore into him. He had sobered up significantly since the fighting ended.

"There you go, always great to see you Garrus. Even if you've become a bit more insubordinate. So you lot are my little girl's crew? It's wonderful to see so many new faces." Jane groans at her mom and Carmine breathes a sigh of relief as her gaze is off of him.

Hannah spots the gear and her eyes widen slightly, "My my, and you must be private Clayton Carmine." Jane's cheek light up red as her mother moves to stand in front of the big man. He stood up straight and saluted her, "Yes ma'am. Although if you can, I prefer if you'd just call me Carmine."

Hannah snickers and looks to her red faced daughter, winking at her, "Of course. No need to be so formal Carmine. But it is rather rude to have your helmet on while a superior officer is present."

Clay looks to Jane for guidance and she nods to him. He slides his bulky helmet off for Hannah and the older woman smiles warmly, taking a minute to observe the man's face. Nibbling slightly at her lower lip. Carmine felt heat rise to his face, she was just an older looking Jane after all, with a few differences. A bit of noticeable gray in her longer red hair, just to name one thing.

Hannah looks to her daughter and finds Jane staring at his handsome face with a small red tint on her cheeks, nibbling at her lower lip very much like she was doing just a second ago. She also gazes toward Tali, and finds the pink blush on her cheeks as well.

"Thank you Carmine, you may put your helmet back on if you'd like. We haven't properly been introduced though. I'm Captain Hannah Shepard, Alliance Navy."

Carmine nods and slips his helmet back on, reaching out and shaking the older woman's hand, "Pleasure to meet you Captain Shepard. I've heard great things from the commander."

As they separate Jane let's out a breath she wasn't realizing she'd been holding in. Hannah smiles warmly at her daughter, "Likewise Carmine. Well, I've taken up enough of your time. Good luck to you all, and Carmine?"

The Gear's helmet visibly perks up as she addresses him, "Y-yes ma'am."

Hannah shoots him a sly smile, whispering, "You have my approval. Just be careful, my girl is a wild one."

He blushes, 'Uhh, did we just get that kind of approval from Jane's mother? Christ what did those two talk about?!' He nods not entirely sure how else to react to that, and Jane goes to hug her mom.

The two squeeze one another tight and Carm smiles sadly at the display of familial affection. Hannah tucks her daughter close and whispers to her, well aware that Carmine was listening, "He's quite the stud. I can see why you want to jump his bones so badly."

Jane groans, "M-mom he can hear us!" She whisper shouts as her mom gets in one last laugh and squeezes her tight.

Carmine's face lights up bright red, extremely thankful for the helmet that was covering his head. Although he plays it off as a mother teasing her daughter. He waved to the captain as she left. Unfortunately he was left with an angry little red head, who upon seeing her mother leave turned and glared at the big man.

"What?" He asked, genuinely confused.

"Don't what me. You four put forty people in the hospital. What happened to being on your best behavior?" She rolls her eyes as he scoffs and waves a hand.

"Aww come on Cherry, I didn't kill anyone. And I really wanted to, so that should count for something." Shepard sighs at his pleading tone.

"What am I going to do with you Clay?" She mutters, a small smile coming to her lips. She couldn't be mad at him for that, as much as she wanted to. Shepard knew how much restraint it must have taken for the gear to not butcher the creep that put his hands on Tali. It warmed her heart to see the extent he'd go to keep their resident quarian safe.

Carmine smiled as he spotted the unturned lips of the commander. The gear comes up and brushes her bundle of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. Shepard instinctively nudges her cheek into his hand as he does and smiles up at him. Tali feels a twang of jealousy but doesn't direct her those feelings at her best friend.

Tali wished Carmine would do that to her hair, having relatively similar hair herself. But she knows better than to think like that, she can't remove her suit without compromising her health...yet.

"Let's get back to the ship. We've got a lot of work to do this week." Shepard says with an enthusiastic bounce to her voice. Seeing her mother again really picked her up.

He nods and the group starts to make their way back to the Normandy. As they pack into an elevator Garrus decides to ask a question, "So Carm, first time getting arrested?"

The big man snickers, "Nope. Got court martialed once but the Cog needed everyone to fight and well, I had an impressive track record. Why do you think after ten years of fighting I'm still a private?"

Garrus hums curiously, as does Shepard. There was still so much she didn't know about him. Of course the lot of them wanted to know more about his life and he could tell. Especially with the wanting looks of both Tali and Shepard.

But it's not always so cut and dry for the oldest Carmine brother.

---

Author's Note:

I apologize for the gap in uploads but I usually get into a little depressive slump around my birthday. It's partly why I dropped two chapters in April. I'm basically all good now though so I hope you enjoy this one. I personally had a lot of fun writing it up.

Credit for the song lyrics: Another You, by Breakbot

As always I appreciate y'all and I hope you enjoy my silly little story.

Adios