Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

The Normandy drifted through the darkness beneath the quiet guidance of her drive core, the steady heartbeat of the ship carrying her onward while, somewhere deep below the crew deck, EDI continued careful integration of the newly recovered Reaper IFF. For once, there were no mission briefings waiting to be delivered, no emergency summons over the comms, no relay looming ahead demanding immediate action.

There was only waiting, an unfamiliar sort of peace. Not the peace of safety, no one aboard the Normandy was naïve enough to mistake it for that, but the temporary calm that existed between storms. The kind every soldier learned to appreciate because experience had taught them it never lasted as long as they wanted.

The mess was busier than usual. Gardner had taken advantage of the unexpected downtime, turning the tiny galley into something that smelled almost like home. The warm scent of roasted vegetables mingled with fresh bread and seasoned meat, filling the room in a way that made the sterile alloy walls seem just a little less sterile. On a separate section of the counter, carefully isolated from everything else, sat a second single meal prepared with almost obsessive attention to avoiding contamination. Gardner wasn't an expert in turian cuisine, but after months aboard the Normandy he'd become surprisingly adept at preparing dextro-amino meals, and Garrus had quietly stopped pretending he didn't appreciate the effort.

The former C-Sec officer collected the tray with an approving nod that Gardner answered with one of his own. "Looks good."

"It'd better." Gardner grumbled with practiced pride. "Spent half the morning making sure Donnelly didn't wander over here with a spoon."

Across the room, Donnelly looked up from his lunch. "I heard that."

"You were meant to."

Daniels laughed into her drink while Donnelly muttered something under his breath about culinary discrimination, earning himself another laugh from the engineer beside him.

It was ordinary.

Wonderfully, almost suspiciously ordinary.

Jacob sat at the end of a table eating quietly while reading one of the few real physical books from the normandy's port observation balanced beside his tray. Miranda occupied another table with the kind of impeccable posture that somehow made eating lunch resemble a board meeting. Krelly had settled nearby, reading through crew evaluations between bites, occasionally looking up long enough to offer someone a friendly smile as they passed. Jack had claimed an entire table for herself despite possessing little more than a half finished cup and an obvious lack of interest in the food. Boots propped on an empty chair, she watched the room with a wary ease.

Elsewhere in the room, no one noticed the slight shimmer that rippled beside one of the support columns.

Kasumi preferred it that way. Cloaked, she leaned casually against the bulkhead with a small plate balanced in one hand, quietly observing the room as if she were visiting an art gallery instead of eating lunch aboard humanity's most advanced warship. People were fascinating when they believed no one was watching. Miranda unconsciously straightened every piece of paper before reading it. Jacob always turned the same page corner down before taking another bite. Donnelly talked almost twice as much whenever Daniels laughed at one of his jokes. Gardner watched every tray that left the serving line with the protective concern of a parent sending children off to school.

Little habits, tiny routines. The sorts of details most people overlooked. Kasumi collected them the way other people collected paintings. She smiled to herself as Garrus crossed the room carrying his carefully segregated meal, giving Gardner another appreciative nod before taking an empty seat.

A moment later the doors slid open again, and Tali stepped inside, the familiar hiss of her environmental suit barely audible beneath the ambient noise of the mess. While Gardner greeted her with the same easy familiarity he’d developed over the months. "Pulled one out for you." He handed her a sealed dextro nutrient pouch already fitted with a fresh drinking tube.

Tali accepted it with an appreciative tilt of her helmet. "Thank you, Gardner."

"Figure if everyone else gets a decent lunch, you should too."

Even through the mirrored faceplate, the warmth in her voice was unmistakable. "You're spoiling us."

"Nah." Gardner said with a dismissive wave. "Just feeding my crew."

Tali laughed softly before turning toward the dining area, her gaze drifting across the room in search of somewhere to sit. Before she could decide, a voice spoke from directly beside her. "Mind if I steal you?" Tali jumped.

Kasumi stood there smiling innocently, somehow already uncloaked and holding her tray as though she had been visible the entire time. "I didn't even hear you walk over."

"I know." Kasumi's grin widened. "It's one of my better habits."

Tali laughed again. "I suppose that's safer than one of your worse ones."

"Oh, definitely."

Together they crossed the mess toward an empty table, settling into two seats across from one another. Kasumi rested her elbows lightly on the table, turning her tray a few degrees as she looked out across the mess. She smiled, "I've noticed something."

Tali twisted the drinking tube of her nutrient pouch into place before glancing up. "Oh?"

Kasumi nodded toward the room with an almost imperceptible motion of her head. "Everyone seems..." She searched for the right word. "...comfortable."

Tali followed her gaze. "I suppose they are."

Kasumi rested her chin in one hand. "Cerberus dossiers made everyone aboard this ship sound dangerous." She glanced toward Jack's corner of the room before smiling faintly. "Most of them are, but..." Kasumi continued into a laugh. "I don't think I expected this." There was no judgment in her voice.

"The Normandy helps." Tali said after a moment.

Kasumi looked back at her. "The ship?"

"The people."

She glanced around the mess again, watching Gardner wipe down the serving counter while pretending not to listen to Donnelly and Daniels bickering across the room.

"It doesn't stay this quiet very often."

"No."

"But when it does..." Tali's voice softened beneath the constant hum of the engines. "...it's nice."

Kasumi nodded slowly. "It feels lived in."

"The old Normandy had a similar feel."

For a few moments neither of them spoke, the Normandy filling the silence instead with its gentle vibration beneath the deck plates, the distant hiss of doors opening somewhere on the deck, and the low murmur of conversations blending together until individual voices dissolved into something warm and familiar.

Kasumi smiled to herself. "I wish I could've seen the original Normandy."

Tali was quiet for a heartbeat. "I wish I could see it too."

Kasumi caught the note of genuine affection in her voice. "You miss it."

"I do." She looked down at the silver foil pouch in her hands, absentmindedly turning it between her fingers. "The SR-2 is..." she searched for the right description. "...bigger, faster, more comfortable." She laughed softly. "And the elevators actually work." Kasumi laughed with her.

"But..." Tali's eyes wandered across the mess. "...the old ship had its own personality."

"What was it like?"

Tali smiled behind her visor.

"Smaller. Not physically...Well yes physically, just...everyone ended up sharing the same spaces."

Kasumi could picture it. "There wasn't anywhere to disappear?"

"Oh, there was." Tali replied with another quiet laugh. "Just not for very long."

Kasumi leaned forward a little. "It sounds cozy."

"It was."

Another comfortable silence settled between them before Kasumi tilted her head thoughtfully. "So what did everyone do during the quiet days?"

Tali didn't answer immediately. Instead, she found herself smiling at a memory she hadn't thought about in years."We found ways to keep ourselves entertained."

"That smile says there's a story."

"There might be."

"Oh?"

Tali gave a small, almost embarrassed laugh. "One afternoon..." she began, "...I suggested we play hide-and-seek."

Kasumi blinked. "You did what?"

Tali nodded, the mirrored faceplate catching the overhead lights. "I'd read about it on the extranet. Human children played it, and on the Flotilla we had something similar."

"And Shepard agreed?"

"Oh..." Tali laughed again, warmer this time. "Shepard didn't just agree." Her smile widened. "She took it very seriously."

From somewhere behind them came a familiar, dry voice. "It stopped being hide-and-seek after about thirty seconds."

Both women turned and Garrus stood from his table his tray in hand, his mandibles twitching with unmistakable amusement.

Tali folded her arms."It absolutely was hide-and-seek."

Garrus looked at her for a long moment before taking the empty seat beside her. "No," he said with complete confidence. "It became a tactical pursuit exercise almost immediately."

Tali gave an exaggerated sigh. "You always make everything sound less fun."

"I make it sound accurate."

Kasumi looked from one to the other, already smiling. "And Shepard just...went with it?"

Tali nodded. "I expected her to smile politely and tell me we had more important things to do." She laughed quietly at the memory. "Instead she looked at me for a few seconds, nodded once, and walked out of Engineering without saying another word."

Kasumi blinked. "...That's all?"

"That was all."

"What did you think she was doing?"

"I wasn't entirely sure." Tali admitted. "I thought perhaps she was considering it."

Garrus let out a dry, amused rumble. "No."

Tali looked at him. "No?"

"She'd already made up her mind."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

Kasumi looked between them.

"How?"

Garrus leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. "Because she told Wrex, Ashley and me to stand by. She was already planning something."

Kasumi smiled. "No explanation?"

"None."

Tali laughed. "She did that to everyone."

Garrus nodded once. "I asked if something was wrong."

"And?"

"'No.'"

Kasumi laughed.

"'Are we under attack?'"

"'No.'"

"'Should I get my rifle?'"

"'No.'"

He spread one of his three fingered hands out.

"Then she walked away."

"And you followed?"

"What else was I supposed to do?" Garrus asked. "She was the Commander."

Before Kasumi could answer, another familiar voice drifted toward the table.

"She's still the Commander."

All three looked up to see Joker stood beside the table with a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, his cane resting comfortably under his other hand. A smile tugging at one corner of his mouth.

"I don't know why any of you expected explanations."

Garrus gave him an amused look. "You followed too."

"I did not, I was flying the ship." Joker said as he lowered himself onto an empty seat at their table.

"You still wanted an explanation."

Jeff took a slow sip of his coffee. "I wanted lots of explanations. I almost never got them."

That earned another round of laughter and Kasumi looked between the three. "So she just started...collecting people?"

Tali nodded. "She got me last."

Jeff chuckled into his mug. "I remember hearing over the comms, Shepard had apparently been walking around the ship saying nothing except..." He lowered his voice into a surprisingly accurate impression. "'With me.'"

Garrus' mandibles flared with amusement. "That sounds right."

Tali leaned back in her chair. "Eventually she'd gathered everyone from the ground team together in the cargo bay."

Jeff nodded. "I remember that part too."

"You do?"

"We all heard the announcement."

He smiled into his coffee. "'Attention all hands. The ground team will be conducting a close-quarters tactical exercise throughout the ship...'" His smile widened just a fraction. "I remember thinking..." He paused for dramatic effect. "...Well...Someone finally convinced Shepard to take a day off."

The table laughed together.

"So..." Kasumi said leaned forward, unable to contain her curiosity. "What happened next?"

Tali's helmet tilted ever so slightly. "The Commander looked at all of us..."

Garrus' mandibles twitched. "...and asked if everyone was present."

Jeff laughed quietly to himself.

"Then she said 'We're going to play a game.'"He looked at Kasumi. "I've never heard a room full of highly trained soldiers and an architect sound so collectively confused."

The laughter around the table came easily now. It lingered long enough to draw another pair of curious eyes. Jack glanced over from her corner of the mess, one boot still propped carelessly on the empty chair opposite her. She watched the growing table for another few seconds before finally letting out an exaggerated sigh. "The hell are you all laughing about?"

Kasumi looked over her shoulder. "They're telling stories about Shepard."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "....Shepard?"

"The old Normandy ones too." Garrus clarified.

Jack considered that for approximately half a second before grabbing her cup and standing. "If you're telling exaggerated Shepard stories, I'm calling bullshit."

"You weren't there." Tali pointed out.

"Doesn't matter."

Jack crossed the room without waiting, pulled out an empty chair with a metallic scrape across the deck, and dropped into it backwards, resting her folded arms across the chair's back. She leaned forward. "If this story sucks, I'm leaving."

Kasumi laughed. "We'd barely started."

"Good."

Jack gestured with one hand. "Keep talking then."

Tali looked around the table before continuing. "We were all standing there trying to figure out what she meant."

"No one had any idea." Garrus added. "We kept assuming there was a briefing coming."

"There wasn't."

Jack smirked.

"The Commander looked at us..." Tali began."...and said we were going to play hide-and-seek."

Jack stared. "No?'

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

Jack looked at Garrus. "You actually believed her?"

"I believed she believed herself."

Kasumi laughed hard enough that she had to wipe at one eye. "I already like this story."

The doors to the mess hissed open again. Dr. Chakwas stepped inside pausing just inside the doorway as another ripple of laughter rolled across the room. She looked toward the increasingly crowded table. "My." She smiled. "You all sound as though youre having a good time."

Garrus looked up first. "Actually, Doctor..." His mandibles twitched. "We're remembering that training exercise Commander Shepard organized on the old Normandy."

Karin stopped for a brief moment she simply looked at them, then she laughed. A warm, knowing laugh that carried years of fond memories. "Oh dear." She shook her head. "That afternoon."

Kasumi immediately pulled out another chair. "You were there?"

"I most certainly was." Chakwas settled gracefully into the offered seat, "I wasn't participating, of course."

"No," Garrus agreed.

"You became collateral damage."

Jack frowned. "...Collateral damage?"

"The Commander walked into my laboratory carrying a medical scanner."

"I remember that." Tali said.

"She asked me to hold it for just a moment. Naturally, I obliged."

Kasumi leaned in. "And then?"

"And then she thanked me..." Chakwas's smile widened. "...walked out..." She paused just long enough for everyone at the table to anticipate it. "...and locked me inside my own laboratory."

Jack barked a laugh. "No!"

"Oh yes."

"I spent the next several secconds listening to them all pounding through the Med Bay while wondering precisely what had possessed the Commander."

Garrus chuckled. "She used you as a distraction."

"I realized that eventually."

"Were you angry?" Kasumi asked.

Chakwas looked down a moment the corners of her eyes softening. "No...Though I did make her fix my doors afterwards."

That earned another round of laughter, and before anyone could continue, the familiar cadence of measured footsteps echoed across the mess. Mordin approached the serving counter with his usual brisk efficiency. "Afternoon, Professor," Gardner greeted and Mordin gave a short nod back. "Afternoon."

Gardner began filling a tray while Mordin's attention drifted toward the conversation behind him. "...Training exercise?" He repeated.

"The Commander organized a game on the SR1," Gardner explained.

"Hm." Mordin accepted the tray and considered the information for a moment. "Logical."

Several heads turned.

Jack blinked. "...Logical?"

Mordin began arranging utensils, "Voluntary competition." He picked up a fork. "Encouraged creative problem solving." A knife. "Required teamwork." A napkin. "Improvised tactics." Finally his drink. "Lowering stress hormones." He looked toward the table. "Morale improvement likely persisted several days afterwards."

Tali smiled. "It did."

Mordin gave one satisfied nod. "Effective leadership." He looked briefly toward Gardner. "Excellent lunch."

Gardner grinned. "Appreciate it."

Without another word, Mordin departed with his tray back out of the mess.

Jack watched him go. "...He just scientifically proved hide-and-seek."

"He did." Garrus agreed.

Across the room, Jacob had stopped reading several minutes ago. The book remained open beside his tray, forgotten, he wasn't trying to eavesdrop. The conversation simply carried through the mess, each burst of laughter making it harder to return to the page. When Miranda approached the serving line a few moments later, collecting her own lunch, she noticed his attention wasn't on his meal. Instead, he was quietly watching the growing crowd around Tali's table and Miranda followed his gaze. "...What's happening over there?"

Jacob glanced toward the laughter before looking back at her. "They're telling stories."

"About?"

"The Commander."

Miranda looked across the room again. The table seemed to have acquired another filled chair since the last time she'd looked. She watched Garrus say something that made Jack throw her head back laughing while even Dr. Chakwas struggled to hide a smile. After a moment, Miranda chose the empty seat across from Jacob instead of returning to her office. Neither of them interrupted.

Back at the table, Kasumi rested her chin in her hand, eyes bright with continued curiosity. "So wait." She looked between Tali and Garrus. "You all chased her through the entire ship?"

"Oh yes." Tali replied with a laugh.

"For almost ten minutes."

"And you never caught her?"

Garrus let out a low chuckle. "Not even close."

Jack frowned. "So where the hell did she go?"

The table grew unexpectedly quiet. Tali looked at Garrus and Garrus looked back at her. "...That's actually a good question."

"We lost her after the Med Bay." Tali admitted.

"We all thought she'd doubled back toward Engineering."

Chakwas smiled into her folded hands.

"I distinctly remember all of you running through my Med Bay twice."

Jack looked between them. "So...Nobody knows?"

Joker lifted his coffee just enough to hide the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"There has to be someone who figured it out."

Tali's helmet tilted thoughtfully. "...Wrex?"

Garrus' mandibles twitched. "He always noticed things the rest of us missed."

Jack snapped her fingers. "Call him."

Tali lifted up her Omnitool and angled it to face the entire table and a few minutes later the connection crackled briefly. Then the broad, scarred face of Wrex filled the display. Behind him, the sounds of Tuchanka drifted through the speakertoo, distant voices, the metallic ring of someone hitting steel and the ever present wind. Wrex looked down at the gathered faces. "Shepard's crew." A broad grin spread across his features. "What did you idiots break?"

Jack barked a laugh. "Nothing."

"Yet." Garrus added.

Wrex snorted.

Tali smiled. "We were talking about that game Shepard organized on the old Normandy."

Recognition flashed across the old krogan's eyes almost instantly. A deep, rumbling laugh escaped him. "Hah. That was a good day."

Kasumi folded her arms. "You all lost her."

Wrex looked mildly confused. "All?"

"They still don't know where she disappeared after the Med Bay."

For just a heartbeat, Wrex said nothing. His eyes drifted across the gathered faces before settling, almost absentmindedly, on Joker.

The pilot had been smiling through most of the conversation, but now he was conspicuously focused on his coffee, studying the inside of the mug as though it contained the answer to one of Mordin's lectures.

A slow grin spread across the old krogan's face. "Hmph."

He scratched thoughtfully at one side of his jaw. "Some prey earn the right to keep a few secrets."

Joker looked up just enough to meet Wrex's eyes. The grin lingered another second, then Wrex shrugged his massive shoulders. "What I remember most..." he continued, as though nothing had happened, "...was afterwards."

Garrus tilted his head. "Afterwards?"

"When she showed us how she'd climbed that wall in Engineering."

Jack blinked. "...What wall?"

"A completely flat wall she somehow scaled and hide up."

Kasumi looked from Wrex to Garrus. "...That actually happened?"

Garrus gave a slow nod. "It did."

"I still don't entirely understand how."

Wrex laughed again. "Little human said, 'I'll show you.'" He held one thick hand upright, mimicking the bulkhead. "Then she backs up...takes three steps...jumped higher then her me, and grabbed onto a sequences of small divots between panels until she reached a tiny maintenance ledge near the top."

Jack stared. "No."

Tali laughed behind her visor. "She made it look easy."

"She always did." Garrus said.

Wrex nodded in agreement. "Then she jumped back down...looked at all of us...and said—" His voice dropped into a surprisingly passable imitation of Shepard's calm delivery. "'It's all about momentum.'"

For a heartbeat the table was completely silent before Jack burst into laughter. "She's completely insane."

"No argument here." Garrus replied, mandibles flaring with amusement.

Kasumi shook her head, smiling to herself.

"I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like her."

"No you-" Wrex paused somthing off screen getting his attention and the call disconnected. Tali let her arm fall comfortable onto the table. "You know I tried to get her to teach me put I couldn't jump that high."

For a few moments, the table settled into comfortable laughter. Even Jacob, listening from across the room, found himself smiling despite having never met Wrex.

Kasumi leaned back in her chair, still shaking her head. "I cannot picture Commander Shepard climbing a wall."

"You could have said the same thing to all of us." Garrus replied.

"And yet..."

"It happened."

Tali chuckled softly. "I still think she enjoyed proving us wrong more than she enjoyed winning."

"That's because she did." Joker said over the rim of his coffee. Several heads turned toward him but he just shrugged. "You should've seen the look on her face afterwards." There was an unmistakable fondness in his voice that slipped out before he could catch it. Fortunately, nobody seemed to notice.

Kasumi glanced around the table. "So that's everyone?"

Tali thought for a moment. "...Almost."

"Liara."

Garrus nodded. "We should try."

Tali lifted her omnitool once more, sending a quick comm request and the table waited. The holographic icon pulsed once, twice, three times, before the call quietly timed out.

"No answer." Tali murmured.

Joker smiled faintly. "She's probably buried in Shadow Broker work."

Tali dismissed the call with an understanding nod. "We'll ask her another time."

The table settled back into conversation, the missed call already fading into the background beneath another ripple of laughter. Garrus had just begun explaining, for what was probably the third time, that Shepard's route through the ship had been anything but random when Tali's omni tool chimed softly against the tabletop.

She glanced down. "Oh."

The holographic display sprang to life, expanding into the familiar blue silhouette of Liara T'Soni. She looked exactly as one might expect the Shadow Broker to look after being interrupted in the middle of three different tasks at once. Several data windows floated just beyond the edge of the projection, disappearing as she dismissed them as the call connected.

"My apologies." Liara said, a warm smile already finding its way onto her face. "I was occupied."

Tali brightened immediately. "Liara!"

Liara inclined her head politely. "Tali It is good to see you."

Her eyes drifted across the gathered faces. "I take it that this is not an emergency."

Tali laughed. "No."

"We were talking about the old Normandy."

Liara's expression softened almost immediately. "Oh?"

"The game Shepard organized." Garrus explained.

Recognition flickered across her face. "...That afternoon."

There was something in the way she said it that quieted the table.

Kasumi leaned forward. "You remember it?"

Liara smiled. "Very clearly."

Jack folded her arms on the table. "So what do you remember?"

Liara was quiet for a heartbeat and when she finally answered, her voice had grown softer. "I remember laughing." She looked past the tiny holographic camera for just a moment, as though she could still see the old SR-1. "I remember Commander Shepard laughing." A small smile touched her lips. "I remember Ashley trying to climb up after her once the game was over. I remember Garrus insisting he had nearly anticipated every move."

Garrus opened his mouth.

"I did-"

"You did." Tali interrupted.

A few quiet laughs circled the table, but Liara continued before they could build. "I remember Wrex declaring it the finest hunt he had ever lost. And..." she said after another thoughtful pause, "...I remember realizing that, for a few hours..."

Her smile became almost wistful. "...everyone forgot there was a galaxy to save."

Liara looked back toward the camera."I cannot remember laughing that much before." She paused, choosing her words with care. "...or since."

For a long moment, nobody spoke.

Finally, Liara's smile returned, lighter this time. "I hope Commander Shepard agrees with my sentiment."

Tali tilted her head, "You think she would?"

"I think..." Liara's eyes sparkled with quiet certainty. "...she misses afternoons like that as much as the rest of you."

She inclined her head toward everyone around the table. "I should return to work, it was good seeing all of you.

Liara's projection smiled one last time before dissolving back into a spray of blue light.

For another few seconds, no one said anything.

Then Kasumi looked around the table and smiled. "So..." She looked around the table. "I'm guessing Shepard won."

Then, almost in unison Tali, Garrus, Chakwas, and Joker all responded,  "She did."

Jack snorted. "There wasn't any other answer."

"I wasn't finished." Garrus replied.

Kasumi blinked. "...There's more?"

"There usually is." Chakwas said.

Jack folded her arms across the back of her chair again. "Alright. Shepard won. What's the catch?"

Garrus rested one arm on the table. "The agreement was simple. If we caught Shepard before time ran out..." He smiled faintly. "...she bought everyone drinks when we reached the Citadel."

Kasumi nodded once. "Makes sense."

Garrus continued. "If we didn't..." He shrugged. "...nothing."

Kasumi frowned. "...Wait."

She looked around the table. "She really bought everyone drinks anyway?"

"Every single one." Garrus answered.

Tali laughed softly. "She said she'd already promised."

Jack stared at them. "...She won."

Joker smiled into his coffee. "Didn't matter."

A quiet smile spread across Kasumi's face. "Why?"

Garrus was the one who answered. "Because she'd already decided she was going to."

Tali slowly turned the empty nutrient pouch between her fingers. "I don't think winning was ever the point."

Joker chuckled. "She actually argued she owed everyone drinks for participating."

Jack shook her head in disbelief. "...That's the dumbest damn thing I've ever heard."

Garrus let out a low laugh. "We tried telling her she'd won."

"And?"

"She ignored us."

Another round of laughter drifted around the table. The conversation settled into an easy silence. For a long moment, nobody spoke. Them Jack smiled, "Screw it. Let's do it."

Five words.

That was all it took.

Garrus looked up immediately, "...Really?"

Jack shrugged. "Why not?"

She gestured vaguely around the room. "We're all stuck waiting anyway."

Kasumi considered it for perhaps half a second. "...I'd play too."

Tali looked between them. "You would?"

Jack smirked. ""We get ten minutes to hunt the most dangerous woman in the galaxy." She leaned back in her chair. "Sounds fun."

Garrus let out a low chuckle. "You won't catch her."

Jack grinned.

"Good, wouldnt been fun if the queen of the girl scouts just rolled over and took it."

Kasumi laughed. "I'd like to see someone try."

Then Jacob quietly closed the book resting beside his tray. "I'd play too."

Every head turned toward him. He shrugged, looking slightly embarrassed by the sudden attention. "What? You all keep talking about how much fun it was." He looked around the table. "I've never really seen the Commander outside a mission." A small smile crossed his face. "I'd like to."

Tali smiled warmly behind her visor. "I think she'd like that."

Across the room Miranda had heard enough of the conversation to understand where it was heading. She looked down at the reports beside her untouched lunch. Hide-and-seek, a tactical pursuit exercise disguised as a children's game. Completely ridiculous and utterly unprofessional....She found herself looking toward the gathering around Tali's table once more.

Part of her wanted to dismiss the whole idea. Another part...a much quieter part...wondered what Commander Shepard was like when she let loose.

She lowered her eyes back to her reports. There was still work to do. Perhaps...if Shepard actually agreed... Miranda allowed herself the smallest smile, she would reconsider.

Dr. Chakwas rose first, "I think." She said warmly, "I'll leave the recruiting to all of you."

Tali looked up. "You're not coming?"

"Oh, I'll happily observe again." Karin smiled. "But someone should probably remain available in the Med Bay before Shepard encourages half the crew to sprint into bulkheads."

That earned another laugh.

"Good luck." With a small wave, she left the mess.

Joker drained the last of his coffee before standing, resting one hand atop his cane as he found his balance. He carried the mug over to the sink, rinsed it out, and set it carefully beside the others before turning back toward the group. "I'm heading back to the cockpit."

Jack looked at him. "Not joining us?"

Joker snorted. "Somebody has to fly the ship."

Kasumi tilted her head. "Convenient excuse."

"It's also true." He smiled, and gave the group an easy salute with two fingers. "Good luck." Then he disappeared through the mess doors elevator to get to the CIC.

Tali looked back at the others. "...Well."

Kasumi smiled. "No backing out now."

"I wasn't planning to." Jack added.

Jacob slid his forgotten book under one arm. "I guess there's only one person left to convince."

Garrus nodded once. "Come on."

The five of them crossed the mess together, laughter and conversation gradually fading behind them as they stepped into the corridor. The elevator doors slid open and one after another they stepped inside.

The elevator began its slow ascent toward Commander Shepard's cabin.