Chapter 3

After Joker finally managed to extract Wrex, Tali, and himself, they, along with the rest of the Normandy crew, assembled at Anderson's Apartment to plan their next move. Thanks to Liara's shadow broker network, they were able to track the pistol Shepard had stolen back to the CAT-6 Mercenary Company, with their weapons supplier being Elijah Kahn, an arms dealer who was conveniently hosting a charity event that evening at the Silver Coast Casino. After formulating a plan to infiltrate the Casino and interrogate Khan, Shepard had trudged up the stairs toward the master bedroom to get changed. He had already deposited his clothes and personal effects there and put Tali's in the guest room so she could have her own portion of the apartment to perform suit maintenance and to give her a feeling of what it was like to have her own personal space. He had expected to be done getting dressed in five or so minutes. He had guessed wrong.

"Damn it!" Shepard cursed as fought to take off his jeans. Normally, he would have been able to simply unbutton and unzip his pants, let them fall to the ground, and bend down to pull his feet free from the cuffs. Now, with practically no mobility in his left leg, bending down was out of the question. With both hands on his cane to keep his balance, he scrapped his right foot against the cuff of his left pant leg in hopes of getting it underneath the heel of that respective foot. Afterward, hopefully, he could simply step on it and pull his left foot free without too much difficulty. Getting the cuff under his heel was proving to be a difficult task however, he hadn't expected this level of resistance from his wardrobe. Much like how he hadn't expected his cane to slip out from underneath his grip due to the increasingly awkward angle he had put it at. He toppled backward.

"GAAAHH"

He didn't hit the ground, however, as two arms hooked themselves underneath his own and hauled him back to his feet. Said arms were wrapped in black leather covered by a cloth decorated with black swirls on a white field.

"Shepard, what the hell are you doing?!" Tali's irritated voice sounded in Shepard's ear as he regained his balance. The Quarian stepped out from behind him with her hands on her impressive hips, waiting expectantly for a response. Tali had already finished changing from her traditional purple Realk into a ceremonial white one, while he hadn't even been able to get out of the pants he had worn to the now-trashed Sushi restaurant.

"I was getting undressed," Shepard replied sheepishly as he moved to sit down on the bed. His cheeks flushed red as he tried and failed to maintain eye contact with his girlfriend. Under normal circumstances, he would have faced the impending scolding head-on, but being caught with his literal pants down was too much even for him.

Tali rubbed her purple-colored mask in frustration before asking in an exasperated tone, "Why didn't you just ask me for help? You haven't had a problem with me undressing you for the last two weeks, so why the hell would you try to do it on your own RIGHT AFTER A GUNFIGHT!?"

"Because I can do it on my own," Shepard answered firmly, forcing himself to meet Tali's gaze. He had been up and moving on his own for almost a week now, not to mention the fact that he was fit enough to survive the firefight down in the wards with the CAT-6 mercenaries that attacked him. Granted, the latter had been due more to his pinpoint accuracy with the silenced pistol than his mobility.

"Well, you obviously do! You can't even get out of your own pants without almost falling on your ass!" Tali snapped back.

Shepard had nothing to say to that. His cheeks turned a deeper shade of red as he broke eye contact again. An awkward silence hung in the air between the two of them for a few seconds before Tali sat down on the bed next to him.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean for it to come out like that." Tali said, putting a hand on his.

"Well… you're not wrong," Shepard muttered despondently. He couldn't even get out of his own clothes. He had known that recovery would be rough, but to still be unable to even change on his own a month after the battle for Earth? No one could have prepared him for that.

"Shepard… I know you've been having a hard time recently. But I don't get why you want to go through all this on your own." Tali spoke in a quivering voice, lifting her free hand up to his chin to turn his head to face her.

"Because I have to Tali. I've been doing this on my own since I was eleven years old when my parents died. I did it when I was thirteen when I was kicked out of my foster family's home. I did it when I was sixteen and got my leg broken in a back alley fight. I can't just let the fact that I got hurt keep me from pushing forward." Shepard said.

"But you didn't just get hurt YOU ALMOST DIED!" Tali shouted, poking him in the chest. "And you're going to get yourself killed again if you keep "pushing" yourself to take stupid risks like this!"

"Tali, trying to get changed on my own is not a "stupid risk." A mistake, maybe, but-" Shepard was cut off before he could finish his defense.

"I'm not talking about the pants, Shepard! I'm talking about you not waiting for me to come help you! You could have tried at least hiding first, but NOOOO according to Liara, once you finished falling through that fish tank, you decided to have a firefight in a strip mall!" Tali sobbed. She was crying now, arms wrapped around her waist. "I already lost you once! I can't bear losing you again just because you want to prove that you don't need any help…"

Shepard opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out. Any defense he could have said fled his mind. What could he say? That he hadn't cared to think about how Tali would feel about him risking his life? That the reason why he was pushing himself was part of his childhood trauma about not wanting to rely on anyone else? That he could have hidden with that Salarian smoking during his break until Tali came to get him?

Ok, maybe staying away from the innocent civilian was the right call but not the point.

Shepard wrapped his arms around the weeping Quarian and pulled her into a hug as tears began leaking from his own eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you worry. I'll stop pushing myself past my limits like I have been. I promise."

Tali hugged him back. "You don't need to worry about doing this on your own anymore. We Quarians know that our Captains are alone in their responsibilities no matter how much the crew helps them. I know the war took its toll on you. I know you've still been having nightmares. But it's over. You don't need to do this on your own anymore. You have a crew who's willing to fight for you just like you fought for us. All you need to do is just let us help."

"Ok. I will." Shepard whispered before a small smile crossed his lips. "Can you help me get changed?"

She chuckled before leaving the embrace of his arms. "Of course. I'm always happy to see my hairy monkey of a boyfriend naked."

Shepard scoffed as Tali yanked the pants off of his legs. " I am not hairy."

"Yes, Shepard, you are," Tali said, pulling Shepard's shirt up over his head. Afterward, she gripped his cheeks and ran her fingers along his stubble until they reached the tip of his chin. "See hairy."

"Tali, I just shaved yesterday," Shepard grumbled as his girlfriend slipped on a cleaner, non-blood-stained shirt.

"And you didn't shave today." She retorted as she slipped a blazer on over his arms.

"That's because I ended up getting shot at by a bunch of mercs today, what was I supposed to do?" Shepard would have raised his arms in a helpless gesture, but he was busy buttoning his newly donned blazer while Tali slipped a pair of dress pants up his legs.

"Just admit that you're my big, dirty, hairy monkey that I love more than anyone else." Tali helped Shepard to his feet and hiked the pants up into position.

"Well, that's a little mean. Compared to most humans, I'm pretty clean-shaven." Shepard said, buttoning his pants and zipping up the fly.

"Unfortunately," Tali said, passing him a pair of dress shoes and helping him sit back down again.

"Wait, 'unfortunately'? Are you saying that you want me to grow out my hair?" Shepard asked, perplexed, leaning down to slip his feet into the provided footwear.

"Yeah! I think you'd look great with long hair!" Tali paused for a second before continuing. "I also heard from some extranet forums for Human-Asari couples that when you put these things called "schempu" and "condishinur" in a human's hair and rinse it with water, it smells like fruit!"

"Tali, that's just basic hygiene… could you help me with my left shoe? I'm having a hard time reaching it." Shepard asked, trying to bend his left leg futilely within reach of his hands.

"Great! That means you do it all the time, right?" Tali said, taking the shoe and slipping it onto her boyfriend's foot.

"Well yeah… but that's cause if we don't, it gets all greasy and starts to stink," Shepard responded, grabbing his cane and slowly getting to his feet. "How do I look?"

Tali struck a contemplative pose as she raked her glowing eyes up over him in a mock evaluation of his figure. "Dapper! Like one of those fancy British spy characters from one of the human movies I've seen."

"Well, we are going undercover, so I would say it fits," Shepard said as he offered Tali his arm. The white-clad Quarian took it, and they walked out of the bedroom. Well, Tali walked. Shepard, a little exhausted from the whole ordeal with the mercenaries, hobbled a bit more on his cane than usual.

"Yep, it'll be a new experience for the four of us," Tali said as they eventually reached the stairs. Shepard frowned, looking at her.

"Wait. I thought we agreed that only you, me, and Analyst Brookes were coming." Shepard was about to ask what she was talking about when he saw Garrus standing by the door dressed in the Turian equivalent of formal attire.

"C'mon Shepard. CAT-6 already shot up one restaurant do you really think they'll hesitate to do it again." Tali said as she pulled him along and guided him down the stairs. "Now, however, you'll have some backup."

—-

"Pretty cool, right?" Garrus asked as he rebuttoned his blazer and re-concealed the Mattock assault Rifle. It was one of three weapons he had managed to smuggle into the Casino. The others being an eviscerator shotgun and his own personal Mantis Sniper Rifle. Truly only the former vigilante would have had the expertise and the desire to smuggle military-grade weapons for self-defense into a charity event.

"Keelah, I knew I should have brought Wrex," Tali muttered to herself as she took another sip of her drink. She probably had thought that bringing the failed Turian C-Sec officer would be preferable to the Krogan warlord. Now she was probably thinking that anyone else would have been better. Well, maybe not… Javik would have been much worse.

"Hey, you said you wanted backup to help protect me, Tali. I'd say this is plenty of protection… Although you should've tried to bring the Spitfire." Shepard said before taking another sip of his drink.

"Wrex took it after you went upstairs. Besides, I don't think it would have fit. It's why I didn't bring the Typhoon." Garrus settled back into his seat, taking another scan of the Casino's crowd, albeit this one was more dejected than the previous ones. Shepard briefly wondered if he was hoping that CAT-6 would show up so he could have some fun or if he was hoping they wouldn't because he didn't have the precious heavy machine gun on him.

"Well, let's see if I can't get it back. He did give it to me originally." Shepard said.

"He'll probably just say that he was lending it to you. The only way we are ever gonna see that gun again is if we ask the Geth to make one for us, cause a Krogan would never part-" Garrus was cut off by another incoming com transmission from Analyst Brookes.

"Damn it." The British woman whispered to them. "I accidentally tripped an infrared laser. I think it set off some kind of silent alarm."

"Of course… So who's helping our tag along this time?" Garrus drawled as he took another swig of his own drink.

"I'll do it. You two have gone already… and I need to get another drink anyway." Tali said as she got to her feet. Shepard opened to his mouth to say something, but Tali beat him to the punch. "I know. I know. We're on a mission. No alcohol."

And with that, the Tali left to help Brookes and help herself to the bar, or at least what wasn't going to make her drunk. She drew the stares of the nearby attendees as she passed. Most of them had probably never seen a Quarian at a high-end establishment such as this if they had even seen one at all. Most likely, they had only heard the racist stereotypes perpetuated throughout Council Space. The idea that the legendary Commander Shepard had decided to choose one as his date over his other human crewmembers and even over an Asari was gossip that the rich just loved to obsess over.

"I should have asked her to get me something," Garrus said after he had drained the last of his drink.

"She would have… it just wouldn't have been what you wanted," Shepard joked. He surveyed the crowd and, after a minute, saw Tali making her way back to their table.

"Keelah, I thought this mission would be more fun… You know, intrigue, deception, jumping through laser grids, and no what Brookes did does not count since there was only one laser." Tali said as she sat back down.

"I'm sure Shepard would offer to dance with you, but I don't think he'd want to traumatize the guests like that. We're supposed to avoid causing a scene," Garrus said, looking Shepard straight in the eye. Ok, two could play this game.

"Garrus, the reason why no one will mingle with us is 'cause of that ugly mug of yours." Shepard shot back, leisurely taking a sip of his water.

"The reason why no one is mingling with us is because we sat down straight away after we got Brookes into the vent," Tali interjected before Garrus could retort. Underneath her mask, Shepard could make out a faint smile. "Maybe if Garrus didn't feel the need to show the gun in his pants off, we might actually be having some fun."

All three of them laughed at the comment before they were interrupted by Agent Brookes again.

"Ok, I'm right outside Khan's panic room. It might be a little hard to get to me, though."

"Alright, fun's over," Shepard said, getting up. "Back to work."

Shepard was happy that he had brought his two dextro crewmates along with him. Otherwise, distracting the two guards stationed so he could disable the cameras outside the panic room would have been much more difficult. When Shepard had finished hacking the door, the three of them quickly rushed through and met up with Agent Brookes to confront Elijah Khan, who was currently…

"Aw crap," Garrus muttered as he spun Khan's armchair around to face them.

"Whoever was here wiped the terminal there's nothing on it!" Brookes exclaimed. "Now, what do we do."

"I have an idea," Tali said as she quickly moved around the desk and began typing on Khan's computer. "I'm betting whoever wiped the terminal didn't have enough time to-"

The vid-screen above the still crackling fireplace blazed to life behind the two dextro aliens.

"Wipe the comms as well." Tali finished triumphantly.

A shadowy figure turned to face the camera. "Elijah, come crawling-YOU! I see you've finished flopping around on the floor like a fish."

Both Garrus and Tali snickered at the comment while Shepard gave an exaggerated groan. "Is that joke ever going to die?"

"I imagine it will with you because I am going to take everything you have and everything you are." With that final comment, the figure cut the call.

"Damn it, there wasn't enough time to trace the call!" Brookes exclaimed. "What do we do now."

"EDI might be able to find something even with the terminal wiped. Grab the data drives, and let's head back to the Norma- the apartment." Shepard said. Tali and Garrus were ahead of him, however, as they were already tearing apart the desktop computer.

—-

"I have just monitored the use of Commander Shepard's specter access code at the Citadel Archives," Glyph chimed into the conversation. Brookes, in response, pulled up the status of the complex.

"It looks like the Archives are going into emergency lockdown. Whoever's hacking your records is there right now!" Brookes said.

"What do we know about the Citadel Archives?" Shepard asked. Now that he thought about it, he had never been briefed on all of the information Spectres were privy to. When he was named the first human Spectre, it was in the middle of the Hunt for Saren, and then he was working with Cerberus to take down the Collectors after he was brought back to life, and then there was the Bahak system incident, and the house arrest, and then the Reaper war…

Needless to say, despite being the most popular Spectre in the galaxy, he never actually got briefed on the profession.

"The Council keeps sensitive historical information there. Real hush hush. Not even my old C-SEC clearance could ever get me in." Garrus responded.

"Then we'll need to find out what they're doing the old-fashioned way. C'mon, grab your gear, and let's-" Shepard had turned to walk away from the table only to see Tali standing in his way of leaving the kitchen.

"And where do you think you're going?" Tali asked. Her voice was laced with barely concealed irritation. "Shepard, we've discussed this. You promised me that you weren't going to take any more unnecessary risks!"

"Who said I'm taking a risk?" Shepard turned back to face the assembled crowd. "Grab your gear, everyone! This is an all-hands-on-deck mission."

A chorus of acknowledgments and excited chatter erupted from Shepard's ground team. Tali meanwhile sputtered in disbelief. "Shepard, that doesn't change the fact that-"

"Relax, Tali." Wrex butted in. "I'll be there to keep your boyfriend safe."

Tali was silent for a moment before grumbling in defeat. "OK, fine. I guess if we're all there, then Shepard is less likely to get hurt."

"That's the spirit!" Wrex chuckled. He moved to walk away, but Tali grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her.

"But I swear, Wrex, if Shepard gets hurt because you get lost in your blood rage, we'll be testing your Quad's "redundant nervous system" against my foot!" Tali threatened, shoving a finger directly into Wrex's face. The Krogan warlord took a step back from the diminutive Quarian.

"Damn Shepard. You never told me Tali got so intimidating after I left the Normandy."