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.

12. Carmine’s New Duds

Tali had quickly made her way back to her room, hastily shutting the door behind her as she took a deep breath. Finally back in her own space, away from the enchanting eyes of the man from another dimension. She rests her head on her door, and her eyes go half lidded behind her visor.

She smiled wide, "He said my name was pretty." Tali whispers as she clutches the edge of her hood, rolling the purple fabric around in her hand. Feeling an assault of warm emotions rush through her. Not many people were fond of quarians, especially not people who looked as fearsome as Carmine.

Tali's cheeks warm up as she can't get their interaction out of her head, 'Putting aside just how physically attractive he is, he was extremely sweet. He even seemed truly interested in learning about quarians. But maybe I'm overthinking, maybe he's just being nice because he has to be...' Tali's thoughts trail off as she berates her naïve thinking. Not knowing if he was being truly genuine with her. Although he did offer to have her help clean his weapons with him. So maybe he really did want to know more about her, same as she did with him.

"Oh, did he now? That Carmine, he doesn't even know the effect he has on us women most of the time." Tali squeaks loudly in fear as Kasumi appears next to her. The master thief throws up a peace sign. Tali calmed immediately, shaking her head. The front of the visor's filter lights up as she sighs.

"Keelah, you're sneaky Kasumi. Do you need something from me?" Tali asks, trying to change the subject.

"I do need something from you. Did you happen to see Carmine's face?" Tali's evident dark pink blush makes her smile, giving her all the answers she needed.

"Oh that face is something to steal for alright, don't get me started on his body though." Tali stares at the hacker. She fidgets her hands a bit as her mind goes back to the image of his smiling lips, and just how well his shirt clung to his muscular frame.

Tali nods, "He is rather...handsome. But why would a man like him be so nice to me?"

Kasumi's features soften at Tali, and she takes a step closer, wrapping the unconfident smaller woman in a one armed hug, "If Carmine considers you a friend, he'd take a bullet for you. It doesn't matter if you're turian, human, or quarian. He's unique, in more ways than just that. He sleeps for days if he's hurt and it always fixes him right up, just to name one thing."

Tali's eyes widen as her curiosity grows regarding the oldest Carmine brother, "In what other ways is he unique?"

Kasumi smiles warmly and winks at her, "You'll just have to find that out when he wakes up. Get to know him a bit, I promise you won't be disappointed." Kasumi lets go of the quarian and cloaks.

Tali looks around for her and hums, "Why are you trying to get us to interact?"

Kasumi giggles, "Oh I have no idea what you're talking about Tali. Sleep tight."

Tali groans and wanders over to her bed, plopping down onto it as her thoughts are full of the large man. It wasn't just Kasumi who was trying to get her to talk to the gear, it was Shepard as well.

'Perhaps I should just listen to them and not question it. It's not like I dislike his company, and if so many people speak so highly of him, I should have no reason to doubt it. He did save my life after all.' Tali sits up, not liking the feeling of being indebted to Carmine. Well, generally owing a debt to anyone for that matter.

"But what could I even offer him to repay what he's done for me?" As she finished her spoken thought an idea hit her. She quickly opens up her omni-tool to check the time. As she does, her omni-tool gets a notification and she opens it.

How's my favorite crew mate settling in? (Don't tell Garrus)

Around noon tomorrow can you meet me in Garrus's room. Carmine has new armor coming in and we could use your help with it. I know you, and I know you're probably trying to figure out how to pay Carmine back for saving you. Well this is an opportunity, and I'm sure he'd be touched if you helped.

-Jane

Tali smiles extremely wide, the universe has dropped the solution to her problem right in her lap. It was an opportunity to impress Carmine with possible upgrades for his new armor, and would let her pay the big man back in one fell swoop, 'A man like him would surely enjoy finely tuned equipment. At least I hope he does.'

Tali quickly works to message the commander back with excitement flowing throughout her entire body. For some reason the small quarian mechanic couldn't wait to show off what she'd have to offer for him.

Oh I'm sooo telling Garrus. I'm settled in just fine thanks to you Shepard. I appreciate the offer. I'd been thinking of exactly that, and here you are offering me a chance to pay Carmine back as well as I can. I'll make sure to be there.

-Tali

The quarian smiles and settles into her bed after taking the proper steps to assure her suit wouldn't be compromised while sleeping. The next day seemed to be promising for her. She'd make sure she was well rested.

---

Blood, it's on his gloved hands. Dripping from each leather-covered digit as he grabs a hold of the torque bow blade stuck in his stomach. The Theron it was attached to punches him in the helmet, the blade ripping out of him as he falls backward onto the street.

A pained moan spills from his helmet-covered lips as he tries to crawl away backwards from the Theron. Clay takes a look around and clenches his teeth as the pain burns through him.

The whole operation was a mess from the start. The grubs used people as bait to lure in a couple squads of gears. There were maybe fifty people held up in an old thrift store. And as soon as Carmine and his fellow gears started getting them out into the streets the locust struck.

But they didn't just kill the gears, no that would be far too simple to just let the people go. There were many families among those fifty people. Mothers, fathers, and their children were ruthlessly shot, stabbed, torn apart, eaten, blown up, and burnt.

The Theron put a heavy boot down into Clayton's chest, his recruit armor having been tainted with the blood of countless civilians as the booming gunfire continued.

'This is it, I'm going to die here.' He thinks as the Theron uses his chest as a mount of sorts, raising his torque bow and hissing triumphantly as more drones start to crawl from a fresh emergence hole a few meters behind them.

Carmine's helmet gets smashed, a savage kick forcing the gear onto his side. Blood poured from the gash on the left side of his stomach, and bits of crimson started to leak out from under his helmet courtesy of a fresh cheek slice. He lets out a pained moan as his helmet turns upward.

His eyes feasted on the devastation that the locust had brought. The steel orbs of the gear landed on a woman clutching her child close to her as they cowered behind a destroyed car. The gear plants one hand on the ground to try and lift himself up.

'No, I have to get up. I have to fight back, for them. This is why I joined up, to protect the people who can't do it themselves. So get the fuck up Clayton!' He thinks with clenched teeth.

Using all his strength he raises up into a kneeling position. The Theron laughs at him, slowly walking up behind Carmine and yanking him into a headlock, pulling off his helmet with ease. His short black hair was covered in sweat as he struggled against the strong locust. The cut on his cheek was deep, and blood seeped out onto the locust's arm.

"Waaaaatch." It hissed into his ear, raising its torque bow to point to the woman and her child as a small group of drones came upon them.

"N-no! Run, lady! Get out of-" Carmine tries to yell at her, but it met with a punch to the back of his head. The Theron now kneels on his back to keep him down. The sharp nails of the Theron grab a hold of Carmine's hair and pull his head up, forcing him to watch as the drones pull the child away from her mother.

"No...p-please don't do this." Clayton murmurs between bouts of struggling, trying to free himself of the locust's grasp. It's nails dig into his scalp and he grinds his teeth at the added pain. His neck being forcefully pulled back.

The Theron simply laughs at Clayton, "Weeeeeeak." It hisses, making the young gear's eyes widen.

The woman is targeted first, and Carmine's breath is caught in his throat at the sight. The woman is pulled apart, her arms are torn off first, then her legs. The grubs leave her screaming, limbless body alone for only a movement as they dig in, tearing hunks of her flesh off and eating their full.

The young Clayton Carmine's eyes water at the sight, the limbless woman's gut wrenching scream burying its way into his psyche. He can't even bring himself to look away, his eyes are stuck on the carnage in front of him.

The woman's little boy was held up roughly by his arm by a grenadier. He cries out for his mother, but she's finally lost enough blood to go into shock. The locust laughed at the sight. The sound of their deep, distorted chuckles make Carmine's heart burn with rage.

His eyes go to the little boy, 'N-not the boy too.'

The wounded man's thoughts come to pass as the grenadier holds up the small child and sinks his teeth into boy's shoulder, "Noooooo!" The gear yells out.

The Theron laughs so hard that he lets off Carmine for a second, and the young gear capitalizes. Clay finds a burst of rage and adrenaline, pushing himself off the ground and knocking the Theron off balance. He turns and jumps on top of the Theron, wrestling him to the ground.

Carmine knocks the torque bow from its hands as he start mercilessly smashing punch after punch into the Theron's half-covered face. A punch knocks the Theron's helmet loose and the gear pries it off, "You want to act like fucking savages, that's how you'll die!"

Carmine doesn't hesitate to bury his thumbs in the Theron's eyes, it snarls and claws at him, but the gear pulls his head up to avoid being clawed in the face. His recruit armor had his arms completely covered as well, so the Theron had little to aim for. The locusts writhes, trying to get the large thumbs out of its eye sockets.

Carmine digs them deeper though, going so deep that the entirety of his thumbs are stuck in the locust's head. The Theron yelps and claws at the man's stomach, lucky to scrape a set of claws across Clay's stomach wound.

The gear lets out a pained breath before curling his thumbs and lifting the grub's head, smashing it over and over into the pavement below. Carmine saw red, and didn't stop even after the Theron's limbs went slack, and a pool of blood and brain matter was splattered underneath them.

With a final yell the gear completely destroys its head, wrenching his thumbs free from the bloody mess he'd created. He snags the locust's bow and boltok and takes a few seconds to stand, his wounds biting into him worse than before.

He sets his sights back onto the woman and her son. The boy was crying as the grenadier treated him like a chew toy, digging its teeth further into his shoulder. The pain in his body dissipates as pure rage flows through his blood stream.

The drones had opened up the woman and began devouring her entrails. Carmine's blood ran hotter than he'd ever experienced before and he took aim with his torque bow, firing a bolt right into the woman's head, ending her suffering.

"I'm sorry."

*BOOM*

All the drones that surrounded the woman were reduced to flying meat and limbs. The grenadier and the boy get thrown back from the explosion and Carmine drops the bow to rush over to them. The pain in his stomach is almost enough to cripple him, and he uses all his remaining strength to tackle the burly locust. He presses the boltok to its right arm and fires, nearly tearing the limb clean off. Carmine finishes the job, grabbing a handful of the gray arm and tugging, the stringy flesh not able to keep the arm attached.

The grenadier roars in pain and tries punching the blood soaked gear in his helmetless head. The gear dips his head into the punch and shatters the grub's hand. As it goes to yell out again he stuffs the boltok in its mouth, "Shut the fuck up."

He spits a bit of blood into the locust's face before firing, splashing himself in even more viscera. At this point, both his own blood and locust blood have fully coated the young gear's front. With a groan he rolls off the grenadier and onto his back, his breath coming uneven and raspy. The whimpers of the small boy widens his eyes as they're about to shut.

The gear rolls onto his stomach in the direction of the noises and finds the boy curled up, laying in a pool of his own blood. Carmine grunts loudly as he does his best to stand, his knees wobbling as he raises himself into a hunched position. He stumbles, falling to his knee twice before making it to the boy.

"Hey kid, I'm here. You're safe now, you'll be alright. My name is Clayton." Carmine tries to make his voice soft to not scare the child as he reaches out and scoops the boy into his arms. Carmine gasps at the state of the young boy. He's completely pale, and the area around his drooping eyes are dark.

"Hey don't fall asleep on me here kid. What's your name?" Carmine tries to joke with the boy who smiled weakly at him.

"Jason." His voice is ghostly, and can barely be heard over Carmine's ringing ears.

But the gear does hear him, and smiles as best he can at the boy, "That's a nice name. Now you gotta do me a favor and stay awake so I can get you help. Sound good?" Carmine says while doing his best to wrap some bandages around the boys shoulder.

Jason shies away from the pain, his eyes finding the tattered remains of his mother, only recognizing her from the blood stained, torn remnants of the dress she had worn, "M-mommy." He whimpers, his head starting to dip as his body fails him. Carmine isn't able to stop the blood flow.

'I couldn't save his mom, but I can save him. Get up and move Clayton!' He screams at himself in his head. But as he goes to raise up he yells out in pain, dropping back down to the ground as fresh blood squirts from his stomach wound, having partially torn open more during his fight with the Theron.

Gunfire echoes throughout the street as gear reinforcements have finally arrived, and have begun pushing back the locust in the area. Clayton finished applying the bandages and shifts the boy's head away, "I'm sorry Jason, just don't look. The other gears are coming. Guys and girls like me. We'll get you out of here, I promise."

The little boy shakes his head weakly, becoming paler by the second, his eyes are full of fear and tears. Carmine doesn't know what to do, he needed help for the boy. His poor bandaging skills haven't stopped the blood flow. So he does the only thing he can think of, "Help! I need help over here!" He yells out, his weak and raspy voice not being able to break through the gunfire at all.

"Don't worry Jason they're coming. Just stick with me." Carmine says as he pulls out his boltok, sitting himself down against a destroyed car. He tucks the small boy into his left side, his arm protectively around Jason.

As Carmine is about to ask Jason another question to keep the boy awake he hears something that freezes his blood. A bloodmount roars in the distance. Carmine looks to the boy's bandage, now stained red, then down to his own wounds, and a frightening realization hits him.

It'll only be a matter of time until the bloodmount tracks them down, especially with the scent of both their bloods on the air. The grubs would tear the boy apart and make him watch like what the Theron tried to do. Carmine simply didn't have any gas left in the tank, having used it all on the Theron and grenadier.

Carmine can hear the heavy thumps of the bloodmount, it's rider giving out commands in the locust language. They were still a good distance away, but it was clear they were searching for survivors. Carmine took a look at the boy and noticed his eyes were closed, he had fallen asleep and his chest weakly rose and fell.

Carmine's eyes stung as tears pricked the edges. He slowly raises the boltok up and checks the chamber. Then closes it quietly and clenches his teeth, "I won't let them hurt you Jason."

With every thump of the bloodmount's heavy claws on the pavement Carmine's motive becomes clearer. He shakily points the boltok to the boy's head, "Mommy." The boy whispers in his sleep.

Fresh tears finally fall onto Clayton's cheeks as he bares his teeth and chokes on his breath, "I won't let them hurt you."

*BANG*

"JASON!" Carmine roars out as he springs out of bed. Knife held offensively as his brother's tags bite into his hand. His breathing is rapid and his eyes dart around the room. Looking for a threat that doesn't exist anymore. The memory hits him like a ton of bricks and as he takes a few steps backward.

As his scarred back hits the wall he starts to calm himself. He growls and turns, smashing his head into the steel wall, "Why now? Why is this shit happening again? Just get out of my fucking head. Please." He begs as he falls to his knees, the nightmare reminding him of all the hardships in his years as a gear.

A torrent of horrible memories flowed through his head, so many friends and innocent people lost to the locust horde. So much trauma that should've made him give up, like so many others around him. But he knows why he didn't break, as the deaths of his brothers burn hot in his brain. Carmine growls like a feral beast. He drops his knife and turns to his punching bag. A monstrous gleam hits his steel eyes as steam steadily flows from his half naked body.

There's only ever been a handful of things that could help him. Pain was always a good way to get his mind off the past. Unfortunately for him he's got an awfully high pain tolerance.

By the time he's done punching the bag a sick smile is painted on his face as the bag is coated in blood and chunks of skin from his hands. He laughs as a hunk of his flesh drops from the bag onto the floor with a wet slap. His hands shake as he takes a step back and looks down at them.

They're about as bad as you could imagine, nearly no skin left on either set of knuckles. The only skin left is a layer so thin that Carmine can see his knuckle bones. The pain is immeasurable, and it does exactly what he wanted it to do. It takes his mind off the memories, and allows him to calm down.

The steam stops its flow from his scarred skin and Carmine comes down from his bloodthirsty fury. He looks at his hands again and sighs. They shake as he tries to clench them to quell the uncontrolled movements.

"I'm a fucking mess." He berates himself as he goes over to his workbench and snags his gun belt.

As he wraps it around his waist his hands groan and protest the movements. Carmine embraces the pain, and slips out a small canister of medi-gel Shepard made him keep on hand. He slathers his knuckles in it, enjoying as a fiery pain burnt through his hands, "This is how a monster deserves to feel." He says with venom dripping from his voice.

The pain dulls to a light throb in no time though and the gear frowns at the loss of the sensation. He goes to grab his helmet, preferring to conceal his face. As he does he notices a small slip of paper left in front of where he always kept his prized head protection. He blinks hard before sneering at the empty space.

An anger burned in him as he looked around for his gear. Only finding the remnants of his old beat up chest armor, his weapons, and the other busted parts of his armor including his gauntlets and leg armors.

He angrily snags the note and begins reading it.

Carmine,

Whenever you wake please come to Garrus's room. I didn't like the idea of taking your helmet, but Shepard insisted on it. I was specifically hesitant when she mentioned how attached to it you were. Please do not be mad. Don't worry about contacting us, EDI was informed to let us know when you woke.

Hope to see you soon,

-Tali

Carmine feels his anger die out as he reads the note. A small smile plays on his lips as he runs a thumb along the scrap of paper. His lips turn down, 'You don't deserve to be happy. You don't deserve them. Any of them. Everyone you care about dies.' The gear's hands start to shake again as he works to muzzle the voice in his head.

He puts down the note and takes a few deep breaths to steady himself. He then pauses, "Wait, if EDI knows when I'm awake would she have known when I..."

A red hot blush burns on the gear's face as he open up his omni-tool, "Huh, it's only been about a day since I passed out. Weird." He says with a small rub to his chin.

He uses the tool to get in touch with EDI, "Is there something you need Carmine?" Her sultry female voice asks him.

Hey runs a hand through his lengthy hair nervously while making sure to keep mind of his injured hands, "Hey, do you watch me all the time or just until I woke up because Shepard asked you to?"

The artificial intelligence takes a moment before answering, "Since you prefer your privacy I only acted to watch over you once commander Shepard asked."

Carmine breathed a sigh of relief, "Oh thank fuck. That'll be all EDI, thank you."

EDI's monotone feminine voice replies as she usually does, "You are welcome Carmine."

The gear chuckles and slips on a sleeveless shirt and his combat boots. He takes a look at his knuckles and nods, the gel doing wonders along with his natural recovery. The skin on both set of knuckles was slightly repaired and deep red, but he couldn't see his bones anymore which was good. His hands hurt something awful but they were already on the mend. Not like he cared about the pain anyway.

He shrugged, "I wonder if they'll be scabbed up by the time I get up there?" He openly ponders as he slides his boltok into its holster at his hip. His knife followed suit along with his brother's tags, each taking their respective spots on his belt.

He checks himself over one last time, raking a heavy hand through his ever thickening mane of black hair. His eyelids droop a bit as he enjoys the feeling but has something, or more precisely some people on his mind, "Feels better when Shepard does it. I wonder how it would feel if Tali ran a hand through my hair. She does only have three fingers."

Carmine pauses as he stands at his closed door, realizing he'd been thinking out loud. He blinks a few times before proceeding, 'Gotta keep those thoughts in here dumbass. Also, don't ask them to fucking pet you. That's creepy.' He sighs but agrees with the voice in his head and opens his door. Nearly running right into Grunt who stands there with an angered look.

"You alright there Grunt?" Carmine asks as he goes to pat the krogan on the shoulder.

Grunt snatches his wrist and eyes the torn up set of knuckles on his hand. Clay easily slips his wrist from the krogan's grip, "What the hell Grunt?"

"I smelled blood, your blood. I thought you might have been in danger. Either way I guess you have it handled haha." The krogan laughs and bangs his knuckles together.

"I appreciate the sentiment there pal. But next time just knock instead of sniffing around my door." He pats the krogan on the shoulder and Grunt nods as they walk through the shuttle bay.

"Seems you're eager to get back to killing. You usually sleep longer after getting torn up out there." Grunt says mockingly.

Carmine rolls his eyes and shoves the krogan playfully. Grunt chuckles as Clay starts to talk, "I guess my body just wanted to be awake. You'll have your moment when you get all shot up out there, and I'll be laughing at you when you're whining."

The pair laughs as they climb a set of stairs, "Ha, krogan do not whine. I wear my wounds with pride, same as you. You're more krogan than you realize, ha! When is Shepard going to take us both out on a mission? I'm itching to see what you can teach me out there."

Carmine smirks, "I don't know, Cherry said I'm benched for a few days so I'll be missing out on the next op or two."

Grunt tilts his head in confusion and looks at the taller man, "Why do you call Shepard cherry?"

Grunt is even more confused as a red tint comes to Carmine's tanned face, "Well uhh, it's kind of a nickname. Since she has red hair." Clay rubs the back of his neck in embarrassment.

Grunt hums, "I think I get it, but you humans are so confusing. It's like how you're called the Grub Killer. Right?"

Carmine sighs, his hair flopping in front of his face as they approach the elevator, "Yes and no. I earned that nickname from my time at war. Cherry is just something fun I like to call Shepard."

Grunt shakes his head and pulls his head back. Carmine reads his body language, having experienced an out of nowhere Grunt headbutt a couple times before, 'Oh fuck he's doing that krogan thing.'

Carmine meets him in the middle and their skulls smash together. The pair bounce off one another and shake their heads, smiling like idiots, "Ha, this is why I don't hate you Carmine. You're strong, like me."

Grunt starts to walk off to his room and Carmine laughs, "Haha, I'll see you around Grunt."

The krogan snorts in acknowledgement as he keeps walking. Carmine snickers to himself, liking the krogan's company. The elevator dings and he steps inside, heading up to the floor where Garrus's room is.

The gear is met with a few looks of longing and blushes from some of the female members of the crew as he walks through the ship. He usually didn't walk around the ship without his helmet. Come to think of it, he hasn't willingly gone without his helmet on the ship since the first time Shepard brought him on a tour around the Normandy.

He smiles at the fond memory as he approaches Garrus's room. He hears a bit of chatting through the door as he approaches, the seals are too thick to identify anything other than it was obviously Tali and Garrus talking. He could tell from the slight vibration, both from Garrus's normal voice and Tali's suit.

His pulse quickened, sixth sense tingling ever so slightly. He knew a good person when he saw one. And Tali was just another person to add to that list. A smile plays on his lips thinking about his previous conversation with the suit-covered alien woman. A part of him was excited to get to talk with her again.

He knocks and waits as the hologram spins for a couple seconds. The door opens and Carmine is met by Garrus, "Ah the man of the hour. Up a bit early no? You took quite the beating out there as usual." He extends a hand and Clayton shakes it.

Carmine smirks, "I guess my instincts told me somebody swiped my helmet."

Garrus rolls his eyes and welcomes the big man inside, "Now how am I going to hook you up with a foxy turian lady if you've always got that thing on?"

It's Carmine's turn to roll his eyes, laughing a bit before he spots Shepard and Tali standing in front of what he assumes is his new equipment, "H-hello Carmine, I hope you had sufficient time to rest."

Tali averts her eyes from his face, although her next pick wasn't any better. She chose to look at his thick arms as he strolls over to them. Her pink blush burns hotter as his natural heat flows through the room. His signature line and gunpowder smell hits her like a ton of bricks and she accidentally bumps shoulders with the commander as she mildly loses balance.

Carmine stops a few feet away so as to not spoil the surprise. Shepard smiles at the nervous reaction of her quarian friend, 'Cute to see her all worked up over a guy for once. To be fair, how could she not be, it's Carmine.' Shepard thinks as she locks eyes with a smirking Carmine, her own blush ghosting on her cheeks. Obviously being much more used to the veteran gear's bare features.

Garrus comes up to break the ice, "Well you're in luck Carmine. With Tali's help we were able to finish adjusting your gear in record time, even adding some new bits to your kit. Ladies, would you mind stepping aside."

Shepard looks to Tali and notices her eyes are locked onto Carmine's crossed arms. A knowing smile comes to her lips and she bumps the mechanic's hip with her own, knocking her out of her stupor, "Huh? Oh! W-we hope you like it Carmine. All of us chimed in on it."

Clay smiles a genuine smile at the smaller woman. His eyes widen as the pair step aside. Carmine's scar littered jaw hits the floor as he spots his new gear. He takes a few steps toward it and can't believe how similar it is to his old equipment.

It's borderline picture perfect in terms of the size and general designs. The major difference being the jet black coloration instead of the duller steel of his old armor. He runs a hand over the surprisingly warm metal. His eyes light up as he looks between both women.

Shepard smiles brightly at him and gives Tali an encouraging look. Tali clears her throat before taking a step closer to the gear as he stands there dumbfounded.

"Shepard told us of your world's onyx guards and how you had always thought the armor was cool. S-since you've done so much to help us so far, the least we could do is give you armor that is not only cool but extremely effective as well." Tali says, her voice cracking nervously as the gear's excited steel eyes watch her closely.

Shepard takes over for the surprisingly shy quarian, "We all pitched in and improved your gear in places we thought you might have been lacking. I personally made sure you had the strongest shields possible so that juuuust maybe you'll have a few less trips to the med bay."

Carmine laughs a deep and hearty laugh that makes both women shudder slightly, "Ha, oh man I can't wait to try it out. This all looks so fucking cool. I knew it was a great idea to trust you. What did you add to my armor Tali?"

Tali finds herself becoming more comfortable with his helmetless appearance the longer she is around him and answers the excited gear's question with another question and a smile, "Why don't you check out your new gauntlets to start?"

The big man's eyes light up like a puppy who heard the word treat. And Tali has to admit that the intimidating man she first saw was nowhere to be seen. Her smile falls however as she sees the state of his hands, 'Keelah'! What happened to him?'

As she watches the gear he quickly finds and lifts up his new black gauntlets. He is nearly speechless, "T-Tali you did this?" He holds the new armor in each hand and his shiny white smile distracts the quarian from his torn up hands for a moment.

"Yes, since you seem to like fighting with your fists I thought you could use a bit of a boost in punching power." She reached out to him and ran two of her fingers over the dulled spikes on the knuckles of the black, fingerless gauntlets.

She quickly takes a hold of the hand armors and places them down, Carmine lets her take them and tilts his head a bit. She bites her lip, shutting down the thoughts of how cute he seemed to be for an eight foot tall killing machine.

"Your hands are wounded. I will take you to see Karen to get them wrapped so you can try your armor on." Tali confidently states.

Carmine's shoulders slump as he groans out, "Oh come on, I'm fine. Just had a bit of a nightmare is all, and I had to get my frustration out somehow. I can still wear the armor, I-"

Tali does something that surprises everyone in the room as she interrupts him, "No! You are hurt, and you need proper treatment." She stands up straight and tucks her arms to her sides, choosing to stand her ground.

Carmine's eyes widen a bit, 'Oh, she's got a spine on her for such a small woman. I knew I had a good feeling about her. What's with me and short, stubborn women?'

He shakes away his thoughts and sighs, hanging his head, his hair flopping about as he does so, "Fiiiiiine. Stubborn little woman." He mutters, making Tali's eyes light up in satisfaction, a brave feeling coursing through her as Carmine's lips curl upward.

"Quit being such a baby Clay. You're hurt so go deal with it man." Garrus says while he slaps the gear on the shoulder as he passes him.

Shepard comes up next to Tali to stand in front of Carmine with her, "Carmine, you've been doing this type of thing for a while now. I think we should talk about what happened to you back in your world sometime." Shepard says, concerned for her large friend's mental and physical health.

Carmine visibly tenses, straightening himself out. Tali's brave feeling endures as the man towers over the pair. An uncertain look in his gray eyes, "I don't think that's such a good idea. I've seen and done a lot of bad things. Things I'd rather not talk about if it's all the same to you."

Shepard takes a step closer to him, obviously not intimidated by the size of the man, she was more worried about the look on his face, "Carmine we're here to help you. Same as you've been helping us. You can't keep us out forever."

Tali notices how his whole body seemed to tense, "C-can we not do this now?" His words are strained, pain laces his features. Tali can't help but want to relieve the man of that pain. He seemed like such a nice person to her. No doubt the war left its mark on him, and Tali could tell from this small interaction that he was definitely hiding some skeletons.

'Shepard mentioned his time in war left him with a serious case of post traumatic stress disorder. Perhaps he awoke from a dream right into one of his episodes?' Tali thinks, her eyes stare at his torn up fists as they twitch slightly. Her own hand starts to itch, wanting nothing more than to try and reach out to comfort the big man, but being far too shy to just take his hand in her own.

Shepard smiles sweetly at the gear and reaches up on her tippy toes to him to pat his head, her hand lingering slightly. She notices as his features soften, eyelids dropping slightly, and his lips gently curling into a weak smile, 'God I don't deserve it, but I fucking love this.' He thinks.

Shepard smiles at the positive reaction and pulls her hand back, "Sure thing big guy. Whenever you need to talk I'm here. Hell all of us are here for you, so don't feel like you can't talk to us. Ok?"

Tali stares at the commander, 'H-how can she be so bold? H-he did seem to like that though, maybe I could do the same? Well if he'd want me to.' Her thoughts ramble on.

Carmine nods, "Y-yeah, we'll see Cherry." Shepard smiles that sweet smile of hers and is pleasantly surprised to see the big man's cheeks turn red.

Tali looks between them and frowns, seeing the obvious chemistry between the two. She feels slightly shameful, not even considering the fact that the gear and her might be an item. And here she was thinking all these thoughts about a man who was taken. She sighs, "Come along Carmine. I'll escort you to the med bay so I know for sure that you went."

The gear snickers at her and nods, "Whatever you gotta do little lady. We'll be back soon you two."

Garrus nods, "Well don't keep him out forever Tali, he still has to try all this stuff on. We have a bigger issue here if none of this fits."

Tali nods to them. The gear catches her pink orbs drooping slightly, her body just barely more slumped than before. A detail so small nobody but Carmine could've noticed it. Something was off, and he planned on asking about it.

The pair exit Garrus's room and the door closes behind them, but as Tali goes to start walking off Carmine gently lays a hand on her shoulder and she turns to face him, "Hey is everything alright?"

Now that they're isolated his nose finds her scent and is pleasantly surprised by the lavender smell that ravishes his nostrils. It's rather fitting with her purple hood and pink eyes, at least he thinks so.

Tali's face burns hot as the gear's gently, yet firm grip can be felt right through her suit, 'Well, I guess this is as good a time as any.'

"A-are you and Shepard...well...together?" Tali asks timidly as she fidgets her hands. Looking up to the big man's eyes for any early signs of an answer. She's met with the gear's red face as he shakes his head no.

"N-no me and her and good friends, b-but that's pretty much it. I'm assuming the head petting made you think that?" Carmine answers with a shy smile, one that makes the quarian nod in return.

"Yeah, Shepard just does that sometimes. Not that I mind it all that much." He scratches the back of his head as he mutters.

She smiles, 'Oh so he does like being pet. Good to know.'

Tali decides to be brave and ask another question as her hands fidget a bit faster, "So do you have any kind of romantic relationship? Whether it be here or back in your home world?"

Carmine chuckles a bit, "Nah, I'm not really good with all that. Heh, I'm not exactly popular with women." He scratches the back of his head yet again.

Tali gently tilts her head, "Really?" Genuinely confused as to how this handsome, tall, muscular, and kind man didn't have a mate.

"Yyyyep. Must be that I'm not that good looking I guess." She rolls her eyes and snickers at the preposterous statement.

"I think you're handsome." Tali blurts out, gasping and placing her hands over the mouth of her suit as she realizes what she said. The two make eye contact and blush heavily, sharing a few nervous chuckles.

"W-we shouldn't keep our friends waiting. Let us p-proceed." Tali says as she turns to start walking. Camrine nods and follows a fair distance behind.

The pair don't exchange any more banter on their way to the med bay. And as Carmine trails behind her he can't get her words out of his head, 'Did she really mean that? What else could she have possibly meant. Maybe that means something different in quarian culture, but that doesn't explain that sweet little gasp and the pink blush. Gah! I'm getting too soft in this new world. I never thought of this kind of shit back in Sera.'

Carmine nearly runs over the smaller woman as she stops in front of the med bay doors. He does bump into her, "Sorry, was kind of stuck in my own head I guess." He chuckles nervously as Tali nods. Her hands fidgeted non-stop since her little chat with him outside Garrus's room.

'That hand thing she does is kinda cute though...' Carmine shakes his head, his hair flopping around as he does. This catches Tali's eye and she feels the itch in her palms grow, wanting nothing more in that moment than to bury her hands in his thick black mane.

"It's alright, you didn't bump me too hard." Tali mutters with a small smirk as she turns back and presses the hologram on the door.

The med bay opens up and Carmine gets the usual motherly treatment from Chakwas. Which was more than entertaining for Tali to watch as the big man seemed to be afraid of the older doctor. Karen wrapped his hands up and gave him the normal talk, "You need to quit destroying your hands every time you have these kinds of dreams, Carmine. If need be I will prescribe you sleeping pills, although I doubt even they'll work."

Carmine simply sighed, flexing the medicated wrappings on his hands, "I'm sorry Doc, I never try to hurt myself too bad."

'Liar. You love the pain.' His inner voice counters, making the gear shake his head a bit.

Chakwas sighs, "It's alright Carmine. But with you taking some time off I expect you to be clear of here for the next week. Understood?"

Her stern tone makes the gear smile as he straightens out and salutes her, "Yes ma'am."

Chakwas and Tali chuckle at the big man. Tali turns to the doctor and smiles warmly at her, "Thank you again for helping him out Karen. I hope we weren't a burden."

Chakwas hugs the short quarian, a move that stuns the smaller woman before she returns it. Chakwas pulls back and grips her by the shoulders, "You should know by now you will never be a burden to me Tali. I don't care what the rest of the galaxy has ever thought about quarians."

Tali nods and smiles warmly at the doctor. Carmine scratches the back of his neck, "Why do quarians have such a bad reputation? The quarians I've had contact with have been good to me."

Tali blushes at the honest words, "You and the rest of the Normandy may think so, but I'd rather not get into the finer details right now if that's ok. We should return to Garrus and Shepard, you still have plenty of armor to try on. Including your helmet."

Carmine's gray orbs narrow at her, and Tali feels her heart beat a bit faster as his lips slowly tilt into a smirk, "Yeah you're right. Can't wait to see how that black armor feels."

The pair say their goodbyes to Chakwas and head back over to their awaiting companions. They get back into the room and Shepard pouts, folding her arms, "You two have been gone quite some time. Thought you'd up and forgot about us for a minute there."

Carmine blows a raspberry and waves a dismissing, wrapped up hand, "I'd never forget about my armor...or you guys."

Shepard rolls her eyes as Garrus turns from tweaking his rifle on his workbench, "Well great, then get to checking out your gear. All of your stuff is basically the same. That was most of my part in all this, making sure all your little armor bits looked exactly how your old set looked. Shepard had your shields, and Tali took over your helmet and gauntlets."

Carmine rubs his hands together, quickly fitting his smaller bits of armor on, as he did his head scanned the room for his helmet. He couldn't find it, he only caught Shepard and Tali watching him intensely. They couldn't help themselves, nibbling their lower lips as his hands and muscles worked to tighten his armor to his body.

After he finished tightening his chest piece onto himself he slapped the front, and was pleasantly surprised with the vibration that coursed through his hand. He feels a bit of cloth all bunched up just below his armor plating and tucks it into his pants, 'Huh, I guess Garrus added a little extra layer to protect my open bits.'

"What kind of material did you guys end up going with?" He asks rather curiously.

Garrus cleared his throat and took a step toward the gear, a big smile on the turian's face. Shepard and Tali roll their eyes as he starts talking, "Well I had the great task of doing plenty of research on metals to appease both the look that Shepard had in mind, and of course the strength you were looking for."

Carmine can barely feel the weight of the armor as it hugs him comfortably, "This stuff is kind of light. You sure it's going to be able to protect me out there?"

Garrus snickers, "Maybe you should've asked us to put sleeves on it if you were really worried about being protected." Shepard and Tali share a small laugh at the small jab as Carmine rolls his eyes.

"But to answer your question, yes. The material is a super light but extremely durable. I used some of Cerberus's fuck you caliber funds to purchase a little something special from earth."

Tali and Shepard gasp realizing just what the armor was made of, "Garrus you didn't get-"

"Vibranium! Yes of course I did. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, along with it being functionally indestructible by normal means, it also has the ability to store a multitude of kinetic energy. But you can't let it get too hot, that's when it starts to break." Garrus interrupts Shepard.

Carmine scratches the back of his neck and draws a blank look, "Well it sounds super cool and all, but you're losing me with the whole kinetic energy shit."

Tali interjects, taking a step forward to press a hand into the front of Carmine's chest piece, "This is one of the most expensive and rare materials in the entire galaxy, let alone earth." Her eyes widen curiously as she feels a much stronger heat that wasn't present in the armor while off of Carmine's body.

"I hope you don't mind if I check your armor out Carmine." Tali says nervously. The small rumble of the gear's chuckle makes feel a bit at ease as he waves a dismissive hand.

"Knock yourself out Tali." Her hand clenches on the jet black metal as her name leaves his upward curved lips. She continues her admiration of the armor with a bright smile on her face.

Shepard folds her arms, "Dammit Garrus, what did I say about dealing with the black market? Cerberus is going to be pissed."

Garrus feels a bead of sweat form on his brow as he nervously plays with a screwdriver, "Well I have a few connections that helped me through the process. I didn't compromise myself or Cerberus if that's really what you're concerned about."

Shepard sighs, knowing her old friend wouldn't take unnecessary risks, he did take on three separate mercenary groups by himself after all. She decided to trust that he knew how to properly cover his digital footprints as well as his actual footprints.

Tali was busy nearly drooling over the jet black armor, the warm metal was intoxicating to her, and it being on Carmine had nothing to do with it I'm sure. He chuckled as he watched her curious eyes and hands trail over each unique design that was retained from his Cog issued armor. He was impressed that Garrus was able to order something so extremely similar to his old chest piece. The only thing that wasn't on it was his custom paint job, including the moniker he earned during his time at war.

'This stuff is way lighter than my old gear. And from what these eggheads are talking about it seems like it's way stronger too. I can't wait to see my helmet.' Carmine thinks excitedly as Tali's hands find the newest addition to Carmine's chest piece. Clay's face heats up as Tali starts to knead the area under his chest armor. Which so happened to just be a thin layer of fabric over his abs.

"Garrus, what is this bit under his chest piece? It's hard yet malleable." Tali asks with genuine curiosity as her hands take in as much as they can.

Garrus smiles and bounces her eyebrows while looking at Shepard, "That's a layer of ballistic polymer weave that I added. You seem to get caught with rounds under your armor a lot Clay. So the weave covers all those little sections under his main armor. It won't protect against bladed weapons and it'll hurt like hell if you do get shot, but it won't open up any unwanted wounds."

Shepard smiles as she watches Tali practically grope the big man's abs. Her smile grows as Tali's hands slow, her mind processing what the turian had explained. She loved the look on Carmine's face, he was too nice to ask her to stop but extremely embarrassed. Something deep inside him wanted her to feel his bare skin, but he quickly shakes the thought away.

Tali stops her unintentional groping and looks to her friends, who share rather amused looks. Tali hesitantly squeezes the gear's defined muscles through the rather thin weave one more time before the realization hits her, "P-polymer weave isn't…which means what I've been feeling...Keelah!"

Tali shoots away from the gear, the bright pink blush practically illuminated through her mask for all to see. Carmine shared her embarrassment and looked around for his helmet, really desiring to conceal his face. Shepard and Garrus broke out laughing.

Tali wanted to shrink away, she'd been copping a feel of the man the whole time she'd been grasping at the weave, 'Oh just kill me now. He looks so uncomfortable too. Keelah what did I do to deserve this?'

Carmine sighs deeply as Shepard and Garrus finish up their laughing riot, 'Those assholes could've told her sooner. Fuck, now I've gotta deal with more thoughts of being touched by hot women. Her hands did feel nice for only having three fingers. They were long, slender, and felt surprisingly strong...oh shut the hell up brain.'

Shepard wiped away a joyful tear as she finished laughing and reached into a box to pull out the gear's helmet. She loved seeing him and Tali all embarrassed, although a small pang of jealousy hit her when she was feeling up his muscular middle.

The gear's eyes light up at his favorite armor piece, "Ha, dents and all." He said with a bright smile as Shepard hands him the darkened metal helmet.

Just like the rest of his gear his helmet was now jet black, "Since your helmet seemed to be fine all we did was replace the lenses and darkened the metal to match the rest. Tali made some personal adjustments." Shepard said with pride as she could practically feel the gear's admiration for the new look.

Tali spoke up from her embarrassed shock, "I replaced your scratched faceplate with a quarian designed filtration system for if you ever need to go into a space with no oxygen. It will also react like my own, and light up whenever you emit sound."

Carmine's eyes find the faceplate, although it kept the general shape of his old plating, the filter gave it a similar look to Tali's suit, "That's so cool. Heh, I guess I got my taste of onyx after all, Sam." He mutters the last bit to himself and slips the helmet on. It feels exactly the same, and he looks at the three smiling faces, well two smiling faces and one pair of obviously happy pink eyes.

"I don't even know what to say. Besides my squad, nobody has ever gone out of their way for me before. I...I can never thank you all enough. Especially you Tali, you barely know me yet you worked to make my armor better, thank you. This is more than a gear like me could ever ask for." As he speaks his helmet's filter glows his signature blue, mirroring how most quarian suits operate. Just like Tali explained.

Tali blushes, "It really wasn't anything special, I had fun with it."

Shepard and Garrus speak at the same time, "Your welcome." They share a look before shaking their heads and smiling.

Carmine looks at his hands and clenches them, looking at the dull spikes on his new gauntlets. But as he opens his hands and blinks, his hands are covered in blood. It's only for a single moment but it still unnerves the gear enough that he takes a step back.

"Hey, you alright Clay?" Shepard asks, concerned for his well being.

He nods hastily, a nervous chuckle lights up the filter on his faceplate. Shepard smiles at it, 'Tali did say he seemed interested in quarian culture. Sweet of her to incorporate that into his helmet. Adds more character to the lifeless metal he loves so much.'

The gear settles down a bit, realizing his eyes were just playing a trick on him. He takes off his chest piece and holds it in his right hand, "Well, if there's nothing else I should probably get-"

"Wait!" Tali exclaims. Catching the attention of the other three people in the room.

She pulls out something small from the pouch at her waist and walks over to the gear, "Can I see your arm?" She uses her free hand to point to his left arm.

Carmine tilts his head but shrugs and extends his thick left arm to her. Tali feels her fingers twitch at the sigh of his muscle but wills those feelings away. She quickly works to fit her creation just above his bullet belt tattoo. She pulls away and the gear takes a look at it.

A sheath to fit his knife was held by a similar material to the weave below his armor. It's strapped around his arm rather snug, there was a bit of cloth tied around the base of the sheath that resembled that of the hood over Tali's head. The gear flexes a bit and swings his arm around, it felt nice to him.

"One last gift. A bit of my hood to carry with you to remind yourself that you saved my life. Should you ever grow too humble and forget such a feat." Tali says with confidence now that his face was covered. She smiles while looking into his helmet's eyes.

Carmine pulls his knife from his belt and slides it into the new sheath on his bicep, "Tali this is...I...thank you. I'll wear it whenever I'm out and about." The gear says, nearly at a loss of words.

"But I didn't save you to get something in return. How about I pay you back for this and show you how to pull apart my guns?" Carmine says as he rubs his gauntleted hands together.

Tali's eyes light up and she quickly nods and responds to him, "I would like that very much."

Shepard and Garrus say their goodbyes to Carmine and Tali. Carmine thanked them profusely for his new armor before taking his leave. Even after the two left, the air was filled with good energy.

Shepard sighed contently, "That went extremely well. Better than I could've hoped. And hey, Carmine will probably find a way to get beat up still. But at least we can say we tried."

Garrus chuckles, "Agreed. Although, it seems you might have some more competition for the big guy's attention now with Tali here. She seems to have taken a liking to our large friend."

Shepard pauses, 'What? Nah, not Tali. But she was looking at him a lot. And not just regular looks. Kind of how I like to look at him...oh shit Tali has a thing for him.'

She shakes her head, "Garrus cut it out. It's important that Carmine socializes with us all. I know him and I have spent a lot of time together-"

Garrus coughs to add, "And went on a date."

Shepard glares at him as he fakes an innocent look. She continues, "I know we went on a fake date for a mission. But I'm not trying to win his love or anything, I just care that he improves mentally and physically. He's one of us now."

Garrus snickers, "I know Jane, just teasing. He does look a bit more muscly don't you think? Probably from being able to eat properly for once over the course of ten years."

Shepard feels butterflies in her stomach as she pictures the gear, "He does seem more defined as of late. But he's always a big, hard, wall of muscle."

Garrus smiles slyly, bouncing his eyebrows. Shepard realizes how that sounded and looks at him sternly as she crosses her arms over her sizable bust, "Garrus don't you dare."

Garrus stands and dares to oppose the commander, "I bet that's not the only big, hard thing of his you've got on your mind." After he finishes he goes to sprint out of his room. An angry Shepard hot on his heels.

"I'm going to kick your ass!" She yells out as a giggling Kasumi watches from the shadows.

"Hmm, things are far more interesting on this ship than I could've ever thought possible." She mutters with a sultry smile, cloaking again to follow after Shepard.

---

The Carmine removed the bandages from his hands when they made their way into his room, and as Tali went to protest the big guy flashes his already scabbed up wounds to her. To say she was shocked was an understatement.

However when he showed her his weapons, Tali's shock flipped to curiosity as she couldn't help but ask a million questions about them. Questions that the big man answered with a smile on his face. It lit a fire in her belly with how much of a gentleman he was to her, letting her take the main seat by his workbench as he pulled up a spare chair.

Carmine had pulled apart his lancer in record time and took the chain to replace its missing teeth with spares he conveniently kept in a pouch on his belt. Tali watched with bated breath, amazed not only at the healing rate of his hands but the skillful ability he had to disassemble his main weapon with.

"Tali, are you ready to put it back together?" Carmine asks with a big smile on his face, hidden by his helmet.

Tali looks down to the assortment of parts that were once his lancer and chuckles giddily, "Oh yes." She says with a the cracking of her knuckles.

Tali did exactly that, her vast mechanical knowledge being put to great use when it came to understanding the workings of Carmine's lancer. She carefully cleaned and lubricated each necessary piece before assembling the gun. It helped that she watched him take it apart in the first place.

Carmine was enamored with how effortlessly her nimble fingers worked to fit his gun back together. When it came to getting the chain back on the saw bayonet he carefully handed it over to her, their fingers brushed for a mere moment but electricity shot through the both of them.

'Whoa, my hand is getting all tingly. Probably just the meds Chakwas slathered onto the bandages. God she smells really nice though, just as good as Shepard.' Carmine thinks with a small smile as her lavender smell wafts into his nose.

'Keelah! Why does it have to be every time I touch him that I feel so good?' Tali lets out a sigh that goes unnoticed by the big man. Her thoughts of the lumbering giant sitting next to her run rather lewd as she thinks about how his middle felt back in Garrus's room. A pink blush coming to her cheeks as she tries to focus back onto the loose chain in her hands.

"Careful with the blades. When I was a recruit I used to always cut myself on them when I was rushing to fit the chain back onto my lancer." Carmine warns.

Tali nods and expertly reconnects the bayonet. She lifts up the lancer with a small huff, "Sheesh, why is this so heavy?" She jokes, being able to hold it just fine. Although Carmine can see her arms are straining, even with the suit on. To be honest Carmine can make out plenty of her body through her suit.

The big man lets his eyes linger on her, smiling as the gun looks massive in her hands. Very similar to how everyone else who holds his equipment looks. He shakes his head as his eyes catch the slight jiggle of her chest as she readjusts, averting his gaze to reach out with a large hand and easily snag the lancer by the top.

"Well to me it's not that heavy at all. Maybe you could use a workout or two." Carmine fires back at her.

Tali rolls her eyes, "Oh yeah? Are you going to train me or something?"

Carmine stands to place his restored rifle down next to his new chest piece and bends a bit to get on her level. An unusual confidence brewed in Tali as the gear's shining blue lights came to bore into her visor, "I can if you'd like. I work out a lot."

Tali smiles at the offer, "You're too nice for your own good Carmine. I'll have to decline, but thank you. I plan on spending the majority of my time with the engineers to make sure this ship doesn't fall to pieces."

Carmine rolls his eyes playfully and takes his seat, "I'm a lot of things but nice isn't something I'd consider one of my defining characteristics." He says with a small chuckle as he pulls his gnasher up onto the table and starts dismantling it.

Tali settles into her seat next to him and hums, a shy look coming to her eyes as they follow along with Carmine's hands, "Well I think you're nice."

Carmine's hands freeze and Tali fears she has said too much. But his hands start back up again and his smooth, deep voice lights up the filter on his faceplate as he speaks, "Fine, I'll let you have this one. But when I compliment you next you just gotta take it. No talking back."

Tali smiles triumphantly and stands up to be taller than him, "Ha! It's a deal, but only if you admit you are a nice man."

He looks up to her and can almost see the smug look on her face as she plants both her hands on her wide hips. Her eyes paint more than a proper picture for the gear, "Ugh, fine. I'm nice." He mutters as he plucks the gnasher's lever from the receiver.

Tali makes a happy noise as she raises a hand to her covered ear and leans closer to the big man, "What was that? I don't think I heard you properly."

Carmine groans and turns to face her only to be mere inches from her visor. With his enhanced eyes he can slightly see through the thick glass of her visor. The details of her upper face are still clouded but he can tell what she looks like, and he's stunned.

She taps her foot as she stands over him, "I'm waaaaiting."

Her accent is rather adorable to him as it breaks through his slight shock, a deep red blush comes to his cheeks. He scratches the back of his helmet with an oil covered hand and chuckles nervously, "Oh yeah, uhh. I'm nice I guess."

Tali huffs, "A little more believable, come on." She teases him.

"Alright alright. I, Clayton Carmine, am nice. Happy?" He knows she is just by the shape of her eyes but asks anyway. Tali hums cutely and sits back down next to him. Refocusing her gaze onto his weapon.

"Very." She whispers with a smile. Carmine can't stop his own smile from coming to his face, finding the company of the small quarian woman to be extremely comfortable.

As Clayton finishes with his gnasher Tali immediately takes over. While she works she decides to ask a few questions she's had on her mind since meeting up with Shepard earlier that day.

"So Shepard and Garrus say you have a pretty good set of senses. How good are they exactly?" Tali asks, making the big man beside her hum and rub the back of his neck.

"I guess they're pretty good. I can hear and see pretty far. I don't know about taste but I can recognize someone by smell before I see them in most cases. It's gotten to the point where I've memorized most of the crew by their scent." His answer only brings another question to Tali's mind.

She feels her lips moving before she realizes she's asked, "So what do Shepard and the rest of us recruits smell like?"

Carmine drums a few fingers on the workbench as Tali fits together a set of pieces of the pulled apart gnasher, "Well Shepard is easy, she always smells like strawberries. Garrus has hints of some kind of lotion, which must be the stuff he uses on his scarred up face. Jack oddly enough gives off a pineapple smell for some reason." He scratches his faceplate with his pointer finger inquisitively and Tali chuckles.

"Go on." She muses, nudging his rib cage with a small elbow.

The two laugh as he gently shoves her elbow away, "I'm thinking. Hmm, Zaeed smells like spent clips from the guns you guys use. Grunt always smells like leather. Jacob has this crappy cologne that he wears. I can't think of anyone but Chakwas when I smell rubbing alcohol. Mordin is kind of the same, although he is a bit more leathery like Grunt. Although I don't like her very much and I know she feels the same, Miranda smells like roses usually. I think that's pretty much everyone."

Tali feels her smile dip as he doesn't include her. Her hands slow as she works and Carmine can't help but think he's said something wrong, "Is everything ok?"

Tali nods, trying to pretend her self doubt isn't affecting her, "Y-yes I'm fine." She answers, an obvious shift in her tone is picked up by the gear who sighs, assuming what she might have been upset about.

"It's kind of rude if I tell you what you smell like. It's why I don't go around parading this to everyone. It's just what I pick up on as I'm around you all. Also I don't want to offend you if it's something quarians find gross." He says with a nervous scratch to the back of his helmet.

Tali sighs in relief, he hasn't forgotten her. He's simply just being Carmine, 'He's always so respectful. I wish more humans felt this way toward quarians.'

"Well I can't speak for all my people, but I share many similarities to humanity. I just wish I could eat your foods, they all look so tasty." Tali responds, her hands back to full speed as she slides a few bits back into place.

Carmine's eyebrows raise a bit, "Oh alright. Sorry for not checking with you, heh. Well in that I guess I can tell you if you'd like to know. And remember you can't fight me on this."

Tali feels her heartbeat speed up a bit, 'Keelah I hope I haven't sweat much since I decontaminated myself.' She finishes the gnasher and fidgets with her hands in front of her. She nervously nods her head, dreading his response. Carmine is confused as to why she seems so nervous. He makes the connection of her rapidly interlocking fingers and her nervousness.

A small smile plays on his lips, 'She's just full of all sorts of things I find cute. Man, my soft ass has gotta stop using the word cute,'

"Well, you smell like lavender. And if I can be honest, I like it." Tali's heart practically explodes at the gear's honesty.

"Y-you what?" She blurts out as she looks at him, her hands reaching mach speeds as they fidget in her lap.

The gear blushes hard as he runs a hand over the freshly rebuilt gnasher. He picks it up and racks the gun a few times as his embarrassment makes his ears feel like they've caught fire, "I uhh, I like that you smell like lavender. I-it's a nice scent. Sorry if that's weird or something." He places his gun down and takes his seat, actively leaning a bit further away from her.

Tali frowns at his apology and immediately notices the lack of his body heat as he distances himself. However as she processes his words her hands stop fidgeting and she can't help but bow her head. She blushes so hard that her normal pink cheeks look purple. She gently scoots closer to the gear until their elbows knock together.

"O-oh sorry I didn't mean-I just meant to get a little closer. Since you like my scent and all and you seem rather nervous so I thought I'd be close to you. N-not in that way b-but so you can enjoy my presence. I only meant to get close enough to feel your heat. Not that I'm cold or anything but you are very warm. I-in a good way. Not to sound creepy or anything!" She says quickly, tripping over her words a bit.

Carmine relaxes a bit as she seems almost as nervous as he is. He looks down at her and smiles shyly, Tali returning the look, somehow understanding that was the expression under his helmet. The two start to laugh at themselves and how many times they've misunderstood one another.

'Alright I'll just fucking say it since you're in denial. She's adorable, and you like her.' The gear's eyes widen at his inner voice and denies it, but soon realize he's speaking the truth. Tali's laughter is simply entrancing to him and he continues laughing with her, finding himself more enthralled with the quarian than before.

As their laughter dies down they settle into their seats. Tali's purple blush persists as the gear doesn't move an inch from his spot so close to her. He takes in her sweet lavender scent in droves.

As they continue to work on his guns the pair find themselves bonding over a few things as they talk shop. Tali asks Carmine a bit more about his world and his younger years. They bond over their simple childhoods, finding it ironic that both of them were tossed into world threatening conflicts at such young ages. She asks a bit about his tattoos, lamenting over the knowledge that he may be the only Carmine left. Clay doesn't let too much information out, but it's enough that Tali feels grateful.

They finish cleaning Carmine weapons in no time, and Tali's shoulders slump a bit, not wanting to overstay her welcome but also wanting to stay and learn more about the gear.

'I'd love to stay and talk more with him. But I doubt he'd want me to stay.' Tali thinks with a sad look in her eyes. She checks her omni-tool and nods, the time being rather late.

As Carmine places his final gun down his ears prick up, hearing the two toed steps of his new friend as she starts heading toward his door, "You heading out?"

Tali nods, "As much as I've enjoyed your company, yes I think it's time for me to go."

Carmine huffs in disappointment and nods, "Well if you're looking to hang out again sometime just let me know. I had fun."

Tali's eyes give away her bright smile as a pink blush tints her visor, "I will make sure to let you know. I had fun too." She says shyly.

He makes his way over to her and she is frozen in her spot as he extends a hand to her. She looks at the large mitt and feels her heartbeat speed up. She unclasps her hands and slowly reaches out to him.

As their hands meet Tali lets her fingers slowly graze over the scarred and calloused skin, shooting a lightning bolt into her arm. The gear didn't go unfazed, having goosebumps rise on his forearm from the contact. They weren't even shaking each other's hands anymore. Tali simply brought up her other hand to hold his wrist as she ran her delicate yet skilled fingers across his massive palm.

Carmine then moves his fingers and gently claps her hand in his. Tali lets out a small gasp as she sees the reassurance she needs. He was doing this of his own accord, he was holding her hand because he wanted to, not because he had to. Clayton had spent all that time with her because he wanted to. And nothing could've made the small quarian woman any happier.

Clay opens his hand and Tali lets hers slip out of his, going right back to fidget in front of her. The gear smiles warmly, "Goodnight Tali."

She smiled up at him, "Goodnight Carmine."

---

The next few days went as one would assume for the gear. He spent his days working out and hanging with some of the crew, making up for lost time with Patrick. Tali didn't ask to hang out but she didn't need to as the large man was usually helping around the engine core. The engineers immediately caught onto the crush that Tali had started developing for the big man and asked the gear for assistance with many of the heavier lifting issues just to tease the quarian.

He saw her when he'd go to eat as well. Along with Shepard and the rest of the crew. Of course Carmine was never happy to see Shepard and some of the other people he considered friends depart. It was weird for him to consider them his friends, but what else were they? He trusted them with his life, not that he held that with much value. And he wanted to keep them all alive if he could. Hell he would rather die than see them injured.

For almost the entirety of the past week Cerberus had asked Shepard to investigate an "escaped experiment". This of course didn't sit well with the gear at all as Carmine had been excessively working out in his anxiousness. Not trusting Cerberus for a second since Shepard would tell him about the missions when they'd listen to music together. The Illusive Man had been sending her all over the galaxy to different Cerberus facilities.

What made the gear even more worried was that Cerberus had sent out a new operative to the ship to aid in the investigation. Apparently this whole ordeal was top secret. The woman they'd sent got on Carmine's nerves almost as much as Miranda did since she had a particular disliking toward aliens and was more vocal about it.

It had been three days since this Rasa woman came on board and Carmine had just about enough of the posh attitude of the woman. He almost snatched her up by the throat during breakfast for talking down to Garrus and Jack. Thankfully Shepard and Tali had been there to thwart him from giving her the Miranda treatment.

He huffed in frustration as he lifted a crate of supplies into one of the shuttle that the commander would be using. The pilot smiled warmly at the gear as he climbed on board with a small grunt of effort. As a sort of punishment Shepard made him responsible for stocking the shuttle.

"Thanks for the help Carm. Can always count on you and those giant muscles." The gear blushes at the pilot and scratches the back of his helmet.

"Ah it's no big deal Six. Why have all this muscle if I'm not going to use it, right?" The pilot was commonly nicknamed Six for taking such good care of shuttle six, and the raven haired woman chuckled at the big man before waving goodbye to him.

He waves back and adjusts his tank top as he takes a few backwards steps off the shuttle before turning and almost completely crashing into Rasa. Her deeply tanned skin was emphasized by the bay's lighting as she flipped her hair over an armored shoulder. She smiled up at the gear who rubbed the back of his neck.

"Sorry." He mutters.

As he goes to step around her she steps in front of him, "Well at least you know basic manners. Miranda was wrong about that I suppose, not wrong about you being so easy on the eyes though."

Carmine ignores her compliment as his eyes narrow at the smaller woman. He hides his hate for her though as the woman speaks up again, "I know you have your quarrels with Cerberus but we don't have to be enemies."

Carmine scoffs, "I won't shoot you in the back if that's what you're worried about, but don't get me mistaken."

He lets himself slip a bit as he takes a menacing step closer to her and leans down to her level, "If you ever talk down to, or try and hurt one of my friends again, I'll bury you."

Rasa narrows her eyes at the big man and smiles, far too confident in herself to be intimidated, "Oh I like a man who plays rough." She goes to put a hand on his chest and it gets snatched up by Shepard who glares at her.

"You're here for the investigation. Stop antagonizing my crew." She orders as she lets go of the operative's wrist.

The two women glare at one another before Rasa starts walking away, saying, "Contact me when you're ready to leave."

The gear and the commander stare at her as she retreats. Shepard lets out a breath, "God that woman is a pain in my ass. I don't even think Rasa is her real name, she apparently goes by a few other names according to what Kasumi could drum up about her and from what I've overheard."

She then turns and looks to Carmine disapprovingly. He rubs the back of his neck and shrugs. It was obvious she didn't appreciate his rather violent attitude toward Rasa.

"Helmet off." She orders, and he complies, sliding his helmet off. She bites her lip at how obedient he seemed to be growing to her commands. She shakes away the feeling as she looks into his hypnotic steel eyes.

"Sit."

Another command met with a small sigh as the big guy took a seat on a spare storage crate. She takes a few steps closer and stands just barely at eye level with him. The look on his face is a nervous one, and she chuckles, "I'm not here to scold you. I just can't have you killing her alright?

He lets out an exaggerated sigh and nods, "Yeah yeah, I know. I promised you I wouldn't hurt her after what happened earlier."

Ever since she benched him, Carmine has been following orders to a T so he doesn't piss off the beautiful redhead. She did use this to her advantage on occasion, finding it rather arousing to be able to boss him around. Especially since he could easily just pick her up and hold her in the air, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Shepard shuddered slightly as a chill ran down her spine, her mind going to dark, lewd places.

'Being held doesn't sound too bad actually.' She smiled slyly at the gear and he looked confused for a moment. She took the opportunity to get a bit closer to him. She caught his eyes flash down to her rather large chest and reached her hand out to fix into his surprisingly neat hair. She deliberately shifted herself so her bust bounced a bit from its confinement in her white N7 t-shirt, smiling wide as a blush came to his cheeks, his eyes looking anywhere but where she obviously wanted him to look.

She hums, not liking the look of Carmine with well kept hair. Shepard worked to changed that as she ruffled the man's inky mane, taking her time as she felt the soft hair. She watches as his eyes droop a bit and his lips part ever so slightly, "I know you'll keep your promise big guy. We have one more mission to go on before heading back to the dossiers. We have a handful of people to recruit and with your help we might be able to do it in one shot."

He's half listening, her enthusiastic head petting doing wonders to distract him. Most of his brain power was being used to will the blood flow away from his crotch, "That uhh, that's fine with me. Whatever you need from me Cherry."

She smiled at the big man, noticing his hands were gripping his pant legs rather tight. A devious look comes to her eye as she leans in a bit. His eyes widen but as he tries to lean away she uses her other hand to cup the back of his head. She squeezes her legs together as a familiar warmth pools in her stomach.

Her arousal hits his nose almost immediately after she presses her lips to his forehead, kissing the scar he got from crash landing back in his world, "Uhh S-Shepard?"

She pulls back just enough so their eyes can meet and she smiles lovingly down at him, "Don't be so nervous big guy. Just giving you a little reward for having to sit out for so long. You've earned it."

"Shepard?" Tali asks in shock as she's come upon the rather intimate moment.

Shepard shoots away from the gear, leaving his hair all messed up as her hands clasp behind her, "Oh Tali, nice to see you. What are you doing here?" The commander asks, a dark blush on her cheeks.

'Oh god I hope she didn't hear all that.' Shepard thinks, internally hitting herself for being so weird with Carmine out in the open.

Tali folds her arms and smiles knowingly, 'Oh I see how it is. They aren't together, but Shepard has the hots for him.'

Carmine stays frozen in his seat as the women stare at one another. His eyes flash between the both of them, Shepard's arousal is still smashing him in the face but he gathers himself long enough to try and form a coherent sentence, "Hi Tali." Is all he can muster.

'Really man?! Jesus just stand up and get out of here before you say something else.' His thoughts scream at him. Tali shoots the big gear a small wave, one that he returns.

"Hi Carmine. You're just the man I'm looking for. Sorry to interrupt your little chat Shepard." Tali teases with a knowing look as the two women make eye contact.

"No it's fine, I was just leaving. I have to go check my private terminal before I get ready to go anyway." Before Shepard goes to leave she turns to the frozen Carmine and offers him a fist bump.

"I'll see you when I get back Clay." She says with a sweet smile. The change in tone snaps him from his emotional overload as he bumps his fully healed knuckles with hers.

"You'd better. Or I'll be hunting you down wherever you are." He says jokingly. The three share a laugh before Shepard moves to leave. She stops next to Tali for a moment as the quarian hums as if she's discovered something.

"So does his hair feel as nice and fluffy as it looks?" She asks the commander, hoping to embarrass her friend further.

Shepard's eyes widened slightly before looking back to see the gear's blank face. He obviously overheard Tali and his mind was sufficiently rattled. A light blush rising to his cheeks, 'N-no way they're talking about me right? My hair isn't that nice...well then why did Sam always love playing with it. Fuck that's a good point.'

She looks back to Tali whose eyes are locked onto him and understands immediately. She decides to turn the tables on her with a wicked smile, "It feels exactly how you think. Why don't you give it a try? I'm sure he'll let you dog legs." She pokes fun at her now blushing friend and nudges her elbow into the quarian's ribs before making her escape.

"H-hey! That's rude!" Tali yells after her. She turns with a pout on her lips to see the face of the man she'd been looking for. The blush still tints her cheeks as she takes a walk over to him and nervously chuckles.

"S-sorry about that, I just wanted to tease her. I had no intention of making you uncomfortable with-"

The gear looks up at her as he cuts her off, "D-do you actually want to touch my hair?" Although his head is all jumbled he manages to piece together a sentence.

She looks down at him wide eyed and shakes her head as she raises her hands in surrender, "N-No! Well yes, but not because Shepard told me to...you know what? How about we just start over hehe." She lets out a nervous chuckle and the gear smiles.

He gently reaches out and takes one of her held up hands in his own, 'Hey hey! What are you doing? We don't deserve to feel so-'

His inner voice is cut off as Tali's hand makes contact with the top of his head. The voice always seemed to be quiet whenever he felt good like this. He lets go of her hand and she awkwardly pats his head a few times. Her heartbeat is pounding so fast that even Carmine can hear it with them being so close together.

Clayton laughs a hearty, warm laugh, "Haha, it's alright. You have free range. Please I insist, it wouldn't be fair if I didn't let you, what with Shepard offering on my behalf and all." He teases.

Tali calms a bit at his words, finding her confidence she takes a deep breath and exhales. She slowly slips her hand deeper into his hair until she can't see her own hand anymore. Thankfully she can fully feel through sensors on the outside of her suit and her knees weaken at the surprising comfort that came with burying a three fingered hand in the man's hair.

"O-oh wow." She mutters as her hand starts to move, pulling his hair back before letting the thick locks fall into place again.

His eyes droop a bit as she brings up her other hand, starting to really get into it. She runs her hands from the front all the way to the back, repeating this motion over and over again. The big man was practically on cloud nine.

Tali dug deep for one last, slow drag through his thick mane. She let out a small breath as Carmine's eyes fully shut, "T-that feels really nice." He mutters followed by a small pleased hum. Tali couldn't help the silly smile that creeped onto her lips.

Her hands reach the front of his head and she runs them along the sides, finding the long streaking bullet scar along the side of his head. She lifts up the hair and lets out a small gasp, "Oh Carmine...what happened to you?"

His eyes slowly open, now silver in color and he shrugs, "What happens during war." He answers plainly.

Tali's eyes widen as her pink orbs soak in the change in color with extreme curiosity. His eyes entranced her as her hands slightly gripped his hair, weaving the black locks between her fingers. She finds her words with a light shake of the head, "Could you be a bit more specific?"

"Well I uhh. Ooh that's nice. I got injured a lot back in my world, had a bullet ricochet right off my thick skull. Sorry if the scars are kind of rough to look at." He answers, his eyelids drooping due to Tali's hand movements. He half-lies about the bullet scar. Technically the round did bounce of his skull, but he didn't get it during a gunfight while at war.

Her strong lavender scent overloads his senses even further, he couldn't smell anything but her, or focus on anything but the sound of her voice through her suit as she continued to make small pleased noises in between talking.

She carefully removed her hands from his hair with a small chuckle, making sure to trace the extent of the long bullet scar with her finger. She felt the shudder run through him before leaning down slightly to be face to face with him, "I don't mind one bit. It all just adds to your charm."

He smiles nervously before standing. Tali immediately felt rather small, being only at his abdomen in terms of height, "Thank you Tali."

She smiles up at him, craning her neck to look into his silvery orbs, "You are welcome. Also is it normal for your eyes to change color like that? Or am I just finally going crazy?"

The gear and her chuckle a bit as he snags his helmet and tosses it back and forth in his large hands, "Nah you're not crazy. Just happens around specific people sometimes."

Tali smirks as she pokes his hard middle making the gear flinch and snicker, "And who are those specific people might I ask?"

The gear blushes and scratches the back of his head. Tali's eyes find the sheath around his bicep and she smiles, 'He's worn it ever since I gave it to him. Keelah I hope I'm not misreading all these signs and he feels the same attraction I do.'

With a nervous smile he explains the change in his eye color to her, "Well sometimes when I'm around a person I feel...strongly toward. This happens. Although it's only ever happened around my friend back home Sam, Shepard, and now you."

Tali's smile grows wide, knowing his body may have inadvertently given up how he feels inside. She nods, 'That's rather cute since I doubt someone who's been through what he has could properly express his feelings. So his eyes do the talking for him.'

He feels nervous under the quarian's smiling gaze, wondering if what he said may have been a bit too much information. As he goes to speak she places a hand just below her visor, as if she was rubbing her chin, "Well I feel I've taken up enough of your time. Thanks for letting me uhh, touch your hair. It was pleasant. I'll see you later Carmine."

Carmine's silvery orbs follow the quarian's hips as she turns and makes her way back toward the engine core. A visible bounce in her step as she was filled with joy, 'Keelah he really is just a big softy under all that mouth watering muscle...ugh I have to stop talking to Jack. Her vernacular is rubbing off on me.'

Carmine can't help but feel guilty as he watches the small quarians rather large behind bounce with each step she takes. Snapping out of his stupor only when she was completely out of sight, "Holy shit...what just happened?" Carmine asks himself.

'We just let Shepard and Tali go to town on our hair. And I have to admit, it wasn't that bad. Maybe I'll allow that kind of sensation every once and a while.' Carmine nods along with his thoughts. The guilt of staring at Tali's ass stuck with him though. He felt like a pervert but couldn't help but admire her posterior from a distance.

"Not like I'd ever get a chance with them anyway. Way out of my league, right Kasumi?" Carmine jokes to himself as he turns to his left and folds his arms over his broad chest.

She claps and de-cloaks, "I wouldn't say never big guy. All I can say for sure is you really have a thing for hips." The gear blushes but keeps his gaze on her, his eyes reverting back to their steel color.

Kasumi hums curiously, "Interesting." She says barely above a whisper.

Carmine raises an eyebrow, "What is?"

Kasumi takes a step toward him and cloaks, "You don't believe yourself worthy, yet your eyes tell a different story of how you really feel."

Carmine drops his arms to his sides and clenches his fists, "What the hell does that mean?"

All he hears is her chuckle, so he tries to pinpoint her through her smell, remnants of Tali's scent in the air distract him as Kasumi teases him further, "Seems those eyes of your only change around Shepard, that Sam girl from your world, and now little Tali. Tsk, now I truly know why you cover up with that helmet. To hide your true emotions."

Carmine grinds his teeth, "What are you saying? That I like them? Sure I like just about everyone on the ship. I don't…I can't feel any other way. I don't deserve to. Hell I don't even deserve the kindness you've all shown me." He berates himself and hears Kasumi sigh.

"Keep telling yourself that big guy. It won't change how we all feel about you Clay. Take care. Oh and don't be thinking about Tali's big butt all night alright? I hear you can go blind from what that can lead to." Her giggle fades as Carmine's blush deepens from her implication.

He slides his helmet on and stomps away angrily, muttering to himself, "She doesn't know. None of them know what I've done. I'm nothing but a killing machine, it's all I'm good for."

He stops at his door and takes a look behind him, he can almost still feel Shepard and Tali's hands running through his hair, their distinctive scents trapped in his nose. He shakes his head, "Gah, fuck off! A good workout will set me straight." His voice echoes through the storage area and he sighs, opening his door to go change into some workout clothes.

---

Shepard hums as she finishes reading through another message on her private terminal. The last two have been about shutting down project overlord. She'd read through the Illusive Man's response first, personally not giving two shits as to how he cared about it and gave a regular response. She had a rather volatile reaction when figuring out that Cerberus was trying to take control of the geth.

Shepard sneered as she remembered how carelessly Rasa spoke about the captive man, as if him being subjected to such torture was for the greater good. What confused Shepard though is that the Illusive Man referred to Rasa as Maya.

"She must have different aliases. That woman is a Cerberus operative after all. Why would the Illusive Man send her now of all times though? And what experiment do they have me chasing if it wasn't that one? That dick has been sending me all over the place looking for some escaped experiment." Shepard pondered, scratching her chin. She sighed, another bunch of questions she doubted she'd get any answers for. Shepard shrugs and continues sifting through digital mail.

The bit of mail she just finished with was about the status of David, the man who she freed from project overlord. It was nice to be updated on how he'd been faring since she rescued him. She was glad Carmine wasn't there, he would've killed Dr. Archer for what he did to his own brother.

David had personally requested his caretakers deliver a thank you to the commander. Shepard smiled as she always did when doing good deeds. She never did the right thing for recognition, but merely because it felt right to do so, and in turn she felt good for doing it.

The title of the last message in her inbox was questionable, "If this is truly Commander Jane Shepard, please check immediately?" Shepard reads out loud, her voice full of confusion. She shrugs and opens the mail.

"Probably another crappy notification, like when I got that one from the bank about all my credits being claimed." She says with mild annoyance. Her eyes widen though as she reads the header.

To my baby girl,

I didn't believe them when they said you, or someone like you had been spotted around the galaxy. I grew hopeful as I heard of the good deeds being done, knowing only a woman as capable and determined as my Jane would have the stones to do so.

It took everything in me to move on once you were announced KIA nearly two years ago. I shed my fair share of tears, similar to when your father passed. My only saving grace having been my ship and crew. They were the only ones to keep me together, a family away from my family. That's something you taught me long ago.

The only reason I'm sending this out is because I met with Ashley after the attack on Horizon. I couldn't believe what I was hearing when she told me she was face to face with you. I'm sure you have your reasons for working with Cerberus. It's obvious to me that my little girl is still out there kicking ass for the greater good and not for those phony bastards.

I need to know if it's truly you Jane. So please, don't respond to this, don't give me false hope. Come to our favorite coffee shop on the Citadel, you know the one. The finer details are enclosed in the attached file.

If this is truly you, I love you sweetie, and I hope I'll see you soon.

-Captain Hannah Shepard

Jane's eyes are full of tears as she quickly opens up the attachment and finds the date and time of the meetup, "I-I'm coming mom. I promise." She chokes out a sob, having completely given up the idea of ever seeing her mother again.

She wipes her tears and opens a com link to Joker, "What's up commander?"

Shepard clears her throat before speaking, "After today's mission we're heading to the Citadel for a little break. Just wanted to give you a heads up."

Joker nods, "Affirmative."

Shepard smiles as she closes her omni-tool. Happy tears welling up in her eyes now, "I'm coming mom." She repeats as she gets up to sort out her gear. She still has a mission to go on after all.

---

Author's Note:

Oh me oh my two whole chapters in one month. I'm spoiling y'all. Nah but in all seriousness it's my birthday tomorrow and I thought I'd give you guys another chapter to work with since it's simply just more character interaction and good shit like that.

Also I'm probably not dropping my discord anytime soon but if you have any questions, comments, concerns etc. you can dm me through this app I believe. Or the website if you're using that instead. I don't check my inbox a whole lot since I never had to before but I'll make sure to respond when I can, given I get messages in the first place.

Anyhow I've rambled on long enough. As always feel free to like, follow, comment, or none of the above. I hope you all enjoyed my silly little story. Oh yeah, and please if you have a criticism tell me, I'm always looking to improve. I think I have pretty substantially improved since the first few chapters so if you feel I could be better in any way, do not hold back.

Love y'all

-Adios