Hello again! Let's hope this year goes a little better with my writing so that I don't make you all wait for so long. I have dealt with some writer's block but the good news is that I have three upcoming (consecutive) chapters already written. So, when we get to that I'll try to do a weekly post so you don't have to wait for so long. My other issue is that I do not have internet where I am living currently so I will have to go out somewhere to post and look up story details but I'll try to have original content so that I don't have to be delayed too much until I get my internet sorted out. Hope you all enjoy! Thank you for reading/following/favoriting and commenting!

Chapter 47

It was quiet the rest of the ride to the Normandy. Tali shifted awkwardly in her seat. She folded her hands into her lap, resisting the urge to look at the man next to her. Should she try to say something now? Later? Would he even speak to her? She regretted bringing up Kaidan. That is what had shifted the mood. She wanted to know what happened but it was obvious that Shepard would not be talking about it any time soon. Garrus must have been there, she mused, I doubt he would speak on it otherwise. Then again, I don't think he and Kaidan ever saw eye to eye to begin with.

She looked up to stare at Garrus and Shepard. She wondered what their relationship was now or if they were still only friends. A lot had happened over the two years that Shepard was gone. All of them had changed but the two of them seemed to have picked up their friendship like none of the time had passed. Tali looked closer at their features. Shepard looked the same with the exception of what looked like faint, still healing scars along her face. Thinking back to when she saw Shepard on Freedom's Progress, she remembered her having angry red lines along her face; maybe those had been part of her recuperation. Either way, they were healing exceptionally well. Turning her attention to Garrus, she made note of the charred, cracked collar of his armor and the still healing skin on his face. At first, she had thought the armor damage had been from something over his missing years but it was obvious the face and armor damage occurred at the same time, and recently. Before, she would have asked but after already stepping on a social land mine, she didn't want to trip on another.

The shuttle landed in the Normandy and the doors slowly opened revealing the cargo bay. Tali stepped out first and could faintly hear Shepard giving orders to Garrus and Thane. This cargo bay was bigger and looked cleaner, but it was probably just because there was better lighting. She knew that turian ships usually kept their lighting low, which was probably why the first Normandy looked like a better blend of the two species' designs; this one was clearly human, pretending to be familiar.

"Tali," Shepard said, snapping the quarian out of her inspection, "If you and John want to come with me to the conference room for a quick debriefing.

Tali nodded and moved to walk beside Shepard. When they moved, she was suddenly very aware that John was walking behind her, yet never made any effort to speak to them. The more she looked around the ship, the more she was reminded that this was not their Normandy. There were parts that seemed familiar but just looked or felt wrong. Every inch reminded her that Cerberus paid for all of this and that Jane and John were on their payroll, making her feel like the outsider. They entered the conference room and she was again reminded of how wrong it was. Again, it was very Cerberus in design with the table in the center with chairs all around it, not the open room where they could all sit in a circle not feeling like they were being ranked.

As they entered, she saw a human man standing to the side. John came into the room behind them and shook the man's hand. Once she was further into the room, the Cerberus operative spoke, "Cerberus saw footage of you in action, Tali'Zorah. We're looking forward to having you on the team. Your engineering expertise will really benefit the mission."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "I don't know who you are, but Cerberus threatened the security of the Migrant Fleet. Don't make nice."

"That's why you're here Tali," Jane said, "I need people who aren't Cerberus. People I can trust."

"I wasn't part of what happened to the Migrant Fleet," Jacob said, trying to recover the situation, "but I understand your distrust. I hope we'll get past that as we work together."

"I assumed that you were undercover, Shepard. Maybe even planning to blow Cerberus up. If that's the case, I'll loan you a grenade. Otherwise, I'm here for you. Not for them."

John crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

Jane glanced at her brother but he was making no effort to contribute to the conversation. Turning back to Tali, she said, "If it helps, check out the Normandy while you're here. We've gotten a few upgrades."

"I'll get Tali'Zorah the necessary security clearance to access our systems," Jacob nodded.

"Please do, I can't be part of your team if I don't know how the ship works. Just remember, Shepard, Cerberus wasn't our friend when we went up against Saren."

"Yeah," John added in a sarcastic tone, "and the Council wasn't our friend when we first warned them against Saren. And no one was our friend when we lost Jane and warned them about the Collectors."

Tali looked at John, hurt that this was the first he had really said to her besides pleasantries. She turned back to Shepard, "I'll be in Engineering." She was almost to the door when the man spoke up again.

"Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI, the ship's new artificial intelligence."

The door had opened but she stopped in her tracks. She looked over her shoulder at him and everyone in the room. She wanted to yell at them, scream at them about the dangers of an AI on board. Instead, she remained quiet and left.

When the doors shut behind her, Jane looked over at Jacob, "That was not the smartest thing you could have brought up."

"Yeah," he nodded, "it was already out of my mouth before I could stop it."

Tali stormed off ignoring the sidelong glances she was receiving as she went through the ship. At least it was set up in a similar way so she wouldn't have to ask for directions and everything was labeled well; it was one detail that she hadn't thought about when she stormed out of the room. The elevator ride reminded her of the old Normandy though, You would think with all their money they would have fixed this issue! She angrily thought. Once she was down in Engineering she saw the empty console and the two Cerberus engineers at the other terminal. They argued amongst themselves even when they introduced themselves, they argued about who should be introduced first; they were nice enough though.

They brought up details about the ship and showed her areas they were still experiencing problems. Tali gave them her first impressions about how to repair it which seemed to thoroughly impress them. Once they let her go, she went in to look at the reactor core and think to herself.

It was extraordinary. Despite being less than impressed with the appearance of the Normandy, its insides were certainly something that Cerberus had done right. Going back to her console, she began sifting through some of the information she had already been cleared to see but her thought process was interrupted by a loud banging noise that seemed to echo up from below them.

"What is that?" Tali asked the other engineers.

They looked at each other. "That would be Jack," the woman, Daniels, answered.

"I wouldn't bother her if I were you," Donnelly said.

Not one to give in to a Cerberus recommendation, Tali held her head high and made her way to the stairs. "Hello?" she called out. The banging stopped but was replaced with the sound of stomping boots.

"Daniels, I swear to god, if you come down here – " Jack stuck her head out to look up the stairs, "Oh… you're not Daniels. Huh… thought she sounded wrong."

"Um, no, I'm Tali'Zorah vas Neema, I just joined the crew. I worked with Shepard before."

"Oooohh… you're her quarian bestie." Jack looked Tali up and down, "Don't touch my shit, and you can come down here. Capisce?"

"I don't know what that means but okay," she tentatively descended the steps into the human's lair. She definitely didn't look like Cerberus material. Tali was pretty sure she had never seen someone expose so much skin before; it actually made her a little envious that this woman could bare so much and not worry about infection.

"I have to say, I'm surprised to see you on this ship," Jack said hopping up onto the table to sit, her back slouched over in horrible posture. "I figured the only one to hate Cerberus as much as I do would be a quarian."

"I'm not here for Cerberus."

Jack grinned, "That's good to hear. I think me and you will get along just fine."

"So, do I get my own spot on this ship too? Or is it just the 'real' recruits?" John asked as they walked through the ship.

Jane had answered Garrus's message, telling him where they were heading. He wanted to get the talk with John over with, she wasn't sure that now was the best time. "You get your own space."

They were in the elevator now and John saw where they were heading, "Wait… why am I going to the engineering deck?"

"John, it's the only space I have left if you want your own."

He grumbled an indecipherable response. They headed over to the starboard cargo hold and once they entered they already saw Garrus inside, moving items around. "The cargo hold, really? Are you ashamed of me or something?"

"I just told you, it is the only solo living quarters I have if you want your own."

"I wouldn't call this 'living quarters'. I'll just room with Garrus. Come on, it will be a regular old bro-bonding time."

"You know I stay in the main battery, not much room there," Garrus said, unable to resist the urge to look at Jane.

She looked away biting her lip and hoping that she wasn't blushing but, thankfully, it looked like John wasn't focusing on her.

John hugged his arms close to himself, "That's okay, we can cuddle," he said in a 'cutesy' kind of voice. He looked over his shoulder at his sister who was looking away. "What's wrong with you?"

"Huh?"

"You okay? You look… off."

Jane and Garrus shared a look.

Garrus spoke up, "John, you know we've been friends pretty much since we first met in C-Sec, and I – we – would like to talk to you about something."

John threw his hands up and backed away from them, giving both a clear path to the door. "Look, I don't really want to hear it."

Jane stepped in, "John, please, we just want to tell you that – "

"I don't care. I know what you are going to say."

The couple looked at each other again, "You do?"

"I know that you put me down here on the engineering deck so that I would be closer to Tali and I would have to run into her. I'm fine. I can work with her. Whatever was between us in the past is dead. I don't need either of you meddling in my life. I got along just fine by myself for these last two years."

"That's not what I was talking about," Garrus said.

"Well, whatever it is, I don't care."

"John, please…" Jane tried to reason with him.

"Get out. I'm fine."

Garrus nodded to Jane and they left John's new room. As the door shut behind them, they saw the access light turn red. They both looked at the light then each other.

"Let him cool off. I'll try again later," Garrus said.

"But, Garrus, he won't even give us a chance to speak. He's going to figure it out or someone's going to tell him because people are starting to figure it out or he will guess and – " Jane stopped when Garrus touched the side of her face. She relaxed into it before grabbing his wrist and pushing it back down, quickly looking around to see if anyone had seen them.

"I know you wanted to be there, but just let me talk to him. I'm sure it seemed like we were getting ready to attack him for something right then."

"Fine. But if he cuts you off too, it will be a free for all."

He rolled his eyes, "Just relax." Garrus smirked at her as she began to walk away, but it quickly faded when he thought of something else, "Jane, wait…" he caught her hand. "One other thing… I hate saying this but," he took a deep breath, "I don't feel right sneaking around while John doesn't know."

Her eyebrows furrowed, trying to figure out what he meant, "You mean, no more," she leaned in close to whisper, "fun times."

He growled as she whispered; he was already regretting this choice. "Yes," he grumbled.

Jane frowned but nodded, "I hate to agree but you're right…"

Jane stood in the cockpit with Joker. She pressed the intercom button and announced, "Tali and Kasumi, suit up and meet me at the airlock. We've got an assignment planet side."

When her hand released from the button Joker looked at her as she sat down in the co-pilot's chair. "So what dangerous mission are you heading out on now?"

"There's a quarian crash site. Figured Tali would be a good choice if we find survivors and Kasumi has been itching to go out again."

"Good, I can never tell when she is around. I can't get any work done."

"Watching porn isn't getting work done."

"Hey, I'm not that bad. I wait until night time."

Jane rolled her eyes.

He looked down at her tapping foot and back up to her removing her glove so she could pick at her lip. "Looks like you could use some, frankly."

"I don't know what you're talking about…"

Joker looked down the hall and shut the door to the cockpit. "Is he not good enough? I find that a little surprising. NOT that I think about you two... NO! That came out wrong. I don't think of him. FUCK! I don't think of you either. Ah fuck, I mean, you seemed a lot more relaxed before."

She glared at him but couldn't help but smile at his fumbling words, "It's not like that. And I was just thinking."

"Really? Because it certainly looks like it," he pointed at her up and down.

Jane stopped and shoved her hand back into her glove and forced herself to control her leg. She rolled her eyes before whispering, "We're not… sleeping together right now."

"What? Why the hell not?" he said a little too loud, earning him a death glare from Shepard. "I'm sorry. But why? What's going on? You can't be having problems. I know that you are both perfect for each other. Get your head out of your ass."

"We tried to tell John but he shut us down. Garrus is going to try to talk to him again today but in the meantime, he doesn't feel like we should be sneaking around while John doesn't know."

"Huh… very respectable."

"Yeah, I hate it and love it at the same time."

Joker smirked to himself, "Does he still say he isn't a good turian? Because this is very 'turian' of him. You know, self-sacrificing, following rules, trying to do the honorable thing, showing respect to those in charge, in this case, his bosses family." He saw her smile and shake her head but he couldn't stop himself from pushing further, "Although if he were really trying to be honorable, he would make an honest woman out of you." He winked.

Jane froze, "Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?"

He put his hands up as if she held a gun at him, which he could tell was coming, "Look, I'm just sayin'…"

"Well don't say it. It is way too soon for that," her voice drifted off. She quickly realized what she had said and continued in a not so quiet voice, "Not that I am thinking of him and I as that kind of thing. I don't know what we are and besides, I don't even know if I am that type."

"For the right one you are. And I'm pretty sure he is the right one for you."

"Joker, what brought this on? He and I have barely even been… whatever we have been. Neither of us have said what we are out loud. I don't know if it would even be considered dating or in a relationship. I mean, we've just been sleeping together and now we aren't even that."

He shrugged, "I get bored up here. But, he has loved you for over two years and you would have too if you had been around. If we make it out of this alive, I better be your best man."

"Brides have a maid of honor and you better be matching so you need to wear a dress."

"A dress? With my legs? Please, it will get caught in the braces and will rip then I will be standing bare-assed in front of everyone. Do you really want your ceremony ruined like that?"

"Might be amusing," she smiled.

Tali finished up the last of her program so she could head up to meet Shepard. She would have to stop by get her guns wherever but that wouldn't take long. Living around humans made her realize what she missed out on when wearing her suit but at least she didn't have to prep herself for missions. Stepping into the hallway, she saw the elevator doors were open but heard the ding as they began to close. "Wait! Hold the elevator!"

Out of habit, John, pressed the button to hold the doors opened, even though he knew whose voice had called out. He cursed himself as she entered. She jumped back a little when she saw it was him. He thought he would have missed her.

"Thank you," she said shocked, in a whisper.

"You're welcome," he pushed the button for the deck she needed and crossed his arms. He stared at the wall.

"John, I just want to say I'm sorry."

He didn't look at her.

"I know I hurt you and… Keelah… I hate myself for it. I could have waited to finish my pilgrimage, I don't know what I was thinking leaving you when I did. I'm sorry."

He closed his eyes and finally turned to face her. Tali thought about the human expression that described a heart arrhythmia. She never understood how that could describe how someone could feel. Until now. She held her breath, she couldn't feel her heart, time seemed to slow; finally she would have release from this guilt.

John opened his eyes to look down at her. He wished he could see her face. He wondered how much expression it showed and if she ever tried to hide what she was really feeling like he was right now. "So, what you're saying is that you would still leave? You just wish you had timed it better… like when? Before we were with Jane? After I was given the 'appropriate' amount of time for grieving?"

"John… no, I know that's how it came out but that's not what I…"

"Save it," he held up a hand and turned away from her. Thankfully, the door opened to his floor and he hurried out.

"John, please!" she ran out after him, not caring if she caused a scene. He was already so far away from her making his way to the office across from the med-bay. Tali remembered that on the old Normandy it was Shepard's room but now, she didn't know what it was or who resided there. The door shut behind him and she charged forward, ready to make him listen. When the door opened and she stepped in she shouted, "John!" She stopped dead in her tracks, instead of seeing John, she only saw the Cerberus woman, Miranda, sitting at her desk.

"Can I help you, Miss Tali?" Miranda asked.

Tali scanned the room but didn't see him. "No… I guess not."

Miranda watched the quarian leave, her head hung low. When the door had shut again, Miranda went back to her work and said, "I never took you as a coward, John."

He leaned out from behind the wall, "I am not a coward. I am just avoiding an awkward situation."

"I still call that cowardly." She stopped and turned to look at him. "Why don't you speak to her?"

He stared at her for a long moment, "You don't know what happened."

"Well, you don't talk about it, to anyone. And to my understanding, you won't even speak to your best friend or your sister."

"They keep trying… But is it so wrong for me to not want to talk about it?"

Miranda nodded, "Are you sure that is what they want to talk about?"

"Well, what else could it be? Sorry if I don't want to stand there as they criticize the way I take on my love life."

She nodded again and turned back to her work, "I still think you should just listen to them."

Garrus checked the time on his omni-tool; Jane and her team had been gone for about fifteen minutes. He figured enough time had passed that it wouldn't look suspicious. The door opened and he turned towards starboard cargo. When the door to the cargo hold had opened, he heard laughter. Looking in, he saw Jacob in the room with John. "Oh, sorry, I'll come back."

"No, no, no," John said, "Come in! The more the merrier. I would do introductions but I know you two have already met."

"Yeah," Jacob tipped his drink at Garrus, "I've seen what you're made of. Gotta say, not incredibly impressed," he smiled, hoping the joke would stick.

Garrus looked between them. He didn't realize they were good friends, "Only because you've never had anything in which to compare me," he looked back at John and saw that he was holding an oblong shaped ball. "Where did you get a drink, Jacob?"

He eyed it as if he had to think of where it came from, "Kasumi gave one to me as she was leaving and said I could have another if I wanted from her bar. Thought I would take her up on it."

"Doesn't Cerberus have rules against that?" Garrus asked but Jacob shrugged in response.

"I'm sure Miranda has rules against that," John chuckled.

Jacob raised an eyebrow and nodded in agreement, "Don't rat me out." He had just put the drink down when John threw the ball at Jacob who wasn't ready to catch it and fumbled with it.

"Hey, Garrus, has Jane had any group outings yet? Because we should definitely have one soon but maybe we could start with a guys' night," John said.

Garrus shook his head, "No, we've mostly just been spending our time recruiting everyone."

"Well," Jacob started, "we did have that random rest a while back. We were all a bit confused why it was so sudden."

"What do you mean?" John asked.

Jacob shook his head, tossing the ball in the air and spinning it while he did so, "In the middle of the night it was scheduled to start that morning. Miranda was kind of pissed. Then again, when is she not pissed off over something, right John?" he laughed.

When John had finished laughing with Jacob, he looked over at Garrus, "You have any idea? I assume she talks to you more than anyone else."

Garrus shrugged, "I don't know why it was set so last minute but she did help me with a personal issue during that time."

"A 'personal issue'?" John questioned, his voice going a little sharp.

"It was related to my time on Omega. That situation that you two found me in, it was all because of one turian. She helped me confront him."

John looked at him a little confused, "She really helped you kill him?"

"Heh," Garrus laughed, "No, she blocked my shot at him. Forced me confront him face to face and I wanted to kill him but… she made me hesitate and it caused me to let him go. I hated her at the time. Now, I understand what she meant and why she did it. I still hate him and there's a part of me that still wants to kill him, but maybe it will turn out that she did the right thing."

"Oh, so that's where you two were," Jacob said.

"What?" Garrus asked, trying to sound calm.

"Well no one could really find her, not that there was a crisis but some of us went to ask you since you had served together and of course couldn't find you either. But it makes sense if you two were out on a secret mission that no one could find either of you."

"Yeah," John said casually, "makes sense."

Jacob spoke again, "I asked her to help me with something too. Not sure when we'll get to it but I would like to get it wrapped up before we get too deep into shit."

"If you've already talked to her, I'm sure she'll get to it sooner rather than later. She won't leave you hanging," John said.

"Oh yeah, I know. I trust her," Jacob spun the ball in his hand before looking up at John, "Hey, John, know if she's seeing anyone?" he threw the ball to John.

"Why would you ask me that? I've barely seen her," John looked at Garrus, "Maybe Garrus knows."

Garrus looked up in time to see John throw the ball at him. He moved to catch it like they had but it felt awkward and he almost dropped it, "Do you think I sit around and have pillow talk with her?" He struggled not to let anything show on his face. He could tell them, but he thought he owed it to John to speak to him alone. He stretched one hand over the ball and with his talons, it stretched all the way around it.

"Well, yeah, actually," John grinned. He turned to Jacob, "Can't you just see them painting each other's fingernails and toes, or talons in Garrus's case. Maybe having pillow fights."

Jacob was laughing but felt that he didn't know Garrus well enough to add in his own jokes. Besides, if the rumors were true, pillow fights and talks didn't happen when those two were together; more like horizontal fighting and screaming.

"Make whatever digs you want," Garrus smirked, "I'm secure in myself." He tossed the ball back to John; it wasn't the same way the humans had thrown it but it made it to the desired destination.

"You know, I guess it is more of a Joker kind of thing," John said.

"Hey, I resent that. Those manicures do wonders for my nails," Joker said over the intercom.

Silence hung in the room before they all laughed. John was the first to speak again, "Wait, so you have been listening this entire time? Do you do that to everyone?"

"No. Everyone else took out the listening devices in their rooms. Come on, John, you're slacking."

"Creep."

"I heard that. I hear EVERYTHING!"

EDI's interface appeared, "I am cutting Mr. Moreau's access to the cameras now."

"Thank you, EDI," John said.

"Aww, come on I was hav – "

"Any takers for deactivating the creep cameras with me?" John asked, standing.

Jacob stood, "I probably shouldn't be witness to you taking apart Cerberus tech. Besides, I should probably sober up in case Shepard needs me for something."

"Might not be a bad idea," John threw the ball into a corner where there was a gap. "See ya around. How 'bout it, Garrus? Want to help a friend out?"

"Sure. I've got to make sure you don't pull out something vital to the ship."

"Hey! I know what I'm doing! … Kind of."

Garrus got to work on the one closest to him, giving a half wave to Jacob as he left. When he had finished with the one he had been working on, he looked over his shoulder to see John still messing with the wires of his. "I see that you have started to settle in."

"Yeah, still a bunch of boxes to get rid of but apparently there isn't much storage left so I may be stuck with them. Might make a fort. The password will be 'cooties'."

Garrus cocked his head at him but returned to work.

"I assume Jane sent you down here to talk to me again."

"Jane's out on mission. You think she sent me a message on her way down to the planet?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Feeling a bit paranoid, huh?"

John laughed, "Yeah, I guess." He thought about what Miranda had said, maybe he should give Garrus a chance to speak.

"I'm sorry, John."

"For what?"

"For leaving. Two years ago. And for never planning on telling you goodbye."

"That's two apologies I've gotten today about people leaving… must be my lucky day." John stopped and looked over at his friend. He set down his first device. "Thanks, Garrus. Was it Jane's death that caused it?"

Garrus sighed, "Yes, it was."

John nodded. "I know we were all close but I had no idea that turians could be that close to their officers."

"Well, I mean, we were friends at the time too. I thought of her as more than just an officer. After my Spectre training I wanted to join her."

John nodded. There was another question he wanted to ask but he honestly didn't know if he wanted to know. "So, you were fucking shit up on Omega? Must have been fun in a way."

"I don't know if I would call it fun… but I did feel like I was doing something beneficial. I never thought I could completely eradicate the gangs but I made people feel safer, I suppose. If my team were still alive I might even say it was worth it." He put down the second device he had uninstalled and scanned the room for more. "What were you doing during those years?"

The human shrugged, "Nothing I'm proud of, honestly. I didn't really know what to do with my life. C-sec seemed useless to go back to, everything seemed pointless. But, between money I had saved and Jane having me in her will, I got half of everything from our travelling."

"I didn't realize Jane ever had a will."

John nodded, "Yeah, I didn't know either. Apparently she got one written up just after she became a Spectre. Dangerous line of work and everything," his voice drifted off. "But, uh, yeah the other half went to charities. But, you know how much we made so it was very generous of her to leave me half." He saw Garrus set down the devices and nod to him that those were the last. "Anyway, I was out getting wasted – again – and Miranda found me and offered me a job. I only accepted when I found out they were bringing Jane back. I was grounded on a Cerberus base and hadn't seen Jane at all so I thought they had been pulling my leg; lying to get information or use me or something. Finally, I got a chance and… shit… it was bad, Garrus. Like, really bad. Honestly, Cerberus did nothing short of a miracle." He shook his head, trying to get the image out of his head. "Eventually I started finding new recruits for her. Scoping them out, talking to a few to get a better idea about them. I never got a good view of 'Archangel' so I never knew it was you. But, moving around kept my mind off of things."

Garrus nodded. How was he supposed to lead into what he needed to talk about? "Now that you aren't on your own, do you miss the solitude?"

He shook his head, "Not really, it's probably best to be around those I know and trust."

Oh, spirits. "John, I know that Jane is glad to have you back, and I am too."

John put his hands over his heart, "Aww, that's so sweet, boo." He started to fiddle with something in a box and his smile turned to a frown, "Or do you mean others are good to see me too?"

"That, wasn't what I was getting at."

John glared at him, "Uh huh… sure." To hell with what Miranda said… I don't want to hear him lecture me.

"John, I just wanted to catch up. Fill you in on what you might have missed."

"Well, I'm good. I don't need your version of a turian psychology session."

"I just wanted to talk. Especially because there is this thing that I think we should – "

"Yeah, and again, I'm good. Thanks for coming by."

"John, I want to talk about Jane and – " but Garrus was already pushed out of the room by John. "Spirits…" he muttered.

Jane stepped off the shuttle and sighed. Their mission hadn't lasted very long but it was still exhausting trying to keep the quarian alive. She looked over at Tali and Kasumi who were currently deep in conversation about cloaking technology; it was looking like they would get along well.

"You're ingenious, Tali. Tell me, do you drink? Because I think you should come by my room for a celebratory drink," Kasumi said.

"I don't drink that often because it is hard to find filtered drinks but I will still come by. Could Jack come too?"

Shepard quirked up an eyebrow, When did Jack and Tali become friends?... she wondered.

"Hey, Shepard," Kasumi called out, "how 'bout a drink with us?"

"Sure, I won't have a drink but I'll swing by in a few minutes. I just have some reports to take care of before I can come down." Jane headed towards her cabin, sending Joker a message about their next destination. She exited on her level and walked into room, staring at her omni as she typed another message to Jacob. They were heading to the distress call from his father and would be arriving in fifteen hours and given the personal nature of the mission, she would let him pick the team. She was at her locker by the time she finished the message. Jane removed her chest piece, gloves, and arm pieces before taking a break to stretch, cracking her back in the process.

"Ugh… I still don't think that sounds natural."

Jane spun around to see Garrus sitting on her couch. "What the hell, Garrus!" She pushed her hair back with one hand and leaned against the wall. "What are you doing up here?"

"I wanted to sneak away and see you," Garrus got up from the couch, closing the distance so he could stand in front of her.

"I thought this was against our rules…" she smiled.

His mandibles flicked into a grin, "I wouldn't call this fun times." His hands reached down and unclipped the armor at her waist.

She raised an eyebrow at him, "But I would call this sneaking around."

He shrugged and moved down finishing the armor on her legs while looking up at her. When he was done, he hung them up for her, never breaking eye contact.

Jane bit her lip, "You're walking a thin line, Vakarian."

"It's what I do," he pressed his forehead to hers, crooning slightly before pulling away. "I'm not used to forcing myself away from you."

"You're thinking about it too much. It has barely been over a day. Have some control," she smirked. "So what are you doing up here?" She studied him, twisting her fingers into the fabric of his shirt. "Wait a second… you didn't talk to John while I was gone, did you?"

He sighed, "I tried but he wasn't entirely interested in listening."

"So it's my turn?"

"Would you stop being so impatient?"

"Says the guy undressing me when we shouldn't be alone together."

"Next time I'll blurt it out if I must. If you want to speak to him at least let me be there too."

She slipped her arms around his neck, "I know I can be difficult," she smiled, "But, I'll stay back if you want me to." She kissed his scarred cheek, "Good luck."

I hope that the page breaks went through. There is at least one that keeps disappearing on me.