Chapter Text
“Hey, Commander?” Joker glanced up at her from his meal tray. “Listen, y’know, after taking out the Collectors and telling the Illusive Man to go suck—”
“All right, I get the point. After saving the universe—”
“--again. Don’t want to let them forget that, boss. You’ve done it twice now—aren’t you entitled to danger pay or a pension or somethin’? A medal or three, maybe?”
She felt her lips twitch and let the smile form. “Nah. It doesn't count until the third time you do it.”
“That’s bullshit, if you ask me. But if anybody would do it, it’d be you.” Joker shoved reconstituted potatoes around on his plate with his fork as he spoke.
“Nice to know you’ve still got that hero-worship going on for me, Joker,” she teased.
“Anyway,” the helmsman continued. “After all that don’t you think you at least deserve a vacation?”
Shepard thought for a moment and then she laughed, shaking her head.
“Uh… Commander? You wanna share the joke?”
Great. Now she probably had her subordinates thinking she was insane. Again. But, god. “Do you know the last time I had a vacation?”
“Uh, no.”
“Unless we’re counting the two years I spent on an operating table…”
“No. No, that doesn’t count as a vacation,” Joker said firmly, aiming his fork squarely at her.
“Okay. So… without that, the last time I had a vacation was before I was assigned to Anderson’s crew on the original Normandy. I’d just finished a tour on the Madrid and I was in-between postings.”
“That’s… way too damned long.”
“The geth didn’t seem particularly concerned with making sure I got my leave, you know? And the Council? Yeah, forget it.”