Shore Leave

Title: Shore Leave
Author: QueenofFerelden
Game: Mass Effect 2 (post-game break tiems)
Characters/Pairing: Joker/FemShep, mentions of FemShep/Kaidan
Disclaimer: Mass Effect universe belongs to BioWare and Althea Sheperd belongs to Kameia





"Where should I put these, Commander?"

Althea Shepard looked back over her shoulder at the ensign helping with her bags. She wasn't sure if volunteering had been the young man's idea or if it had been rather forcefully suggested that letting the Commander deal with her own luggage after the hellish few days she'd had would be frowned upon.

"Over by the window is fine. Thank you." She offered a cursory nod of thanks to the departing soldier as she sat down the one bag she had insisted on carrying herself. There were some things she wouldn't trust to anyone else. She watched the young man head back toward the ship, passing the last of her team as they arrived at the hotel. Garrus gave him a searching look that had the ensign nodding vigorously, geturing back toward Shepard's room. The turian looked in her direction and Althea allowed a small smirk to tug at one side of her mouth as she tossed him a lazy salute of thanks. That answered the question of the ensign's reason for helping her. Garrus had a reputation among the crew.

"Hey, Commander, nice digs," Joker teased as he passed her room, obviously catching a glimpse of the interior.

"Shut your mouth and keep walking, Joker," she shot back. "You're lucky they let your scruffy ass in here."

"At least they're more hospitable than the Collecters," the pilot muttered as he reached the door two rooms further down the hall from Althea's. She made a face as she ducked back inside her room and closed the door. Joker's last comment stirred up images she was trying to forget.

Horizon. No, I'm not going there. I'm done with that.

The colonist essentially liquifying before her eyes.

The human Reaper, which would probably give her nightmares for  months. Not that she would admit that to anyone. You would have told Kaidan, a voice whispered in the back of her mind as she traded her armor for civvies. But Kaidan's not here, and that's his own damn choice, she shot back, and then shook her head at herself. There were other things to expend energy on than wondering if she should have--or even could have--done things differently with him. Like moving on. Get off this train of thought, Althea Shepard. Remember? You're done with that?

A final image flickered up. Mordin. The only train of thought that cut deeper than what happened on Horizon, because she knew she could have done things differently. She knew the scientist's death could have been prevented. She just didn't know how. Althea raked her fingers through her hair and tried to block out the haunting image of the solitary military-grade coffin in the Normandy's hold.

You're here to relax, remember? This was her first shore leave since waking up in a Cerebus medical station besieged by hacked mechs. With the contacts at her disposal, Illium had seemed an ideal spot. And the view wasn't half bad. Just relax and leave all the crap to be dealt with later. A few days...a week...you deserve a break. Your crew deserves a break, especially after going through hell like they did. She opened the bag she'd insisted on carrying herself, pushing the cracked holo-frame aside--she didn't even know why she'd kept it, especially now that it was broken--and reaching for the dossier on the bottom. The orange screen flickered to life at her touch, but she stared at it without really seeing the words, trying to shelve the guilt so she could just enjoy this break.

It wasn't really working.

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An hour and three drinks later, Althea knew she would drive herself crazy if she stayed in her room one minute longer. Check on your crew. I don't care if it's normally Kelly's job; you need to do something. She tossed the dossier back in her bag and left the room. Miranda was in the room directly across the hall from her, so Shepard started there. The now-former Cereberus operative had settled in fine; she was on a call to Oriana when she opened the door. Althea didn't want to interrupt and didn't talk long. Everyone else seemed to have settled in just as easily. The break had been long overdue for all of them, and they were taking full advantage of not having to do anything.

Garrus was stripping and cleaning his sniper rifle. "Can't be too careful, Shepard." She was pretty sure his time on Omega had just made him paranoid, but she didn't say anything.

Grunt was just pacing when she knocked on his door. Apparently 'doing nothing' didn't sit well with young krogan.

Jacob was watching holovids, Tali was repairing a jammed shotgun, Samara was simply staring out the window as if using the light from the plethora of buildings to meditate. Everyone seemed quite happy--with exception of Grunt's restlessness--which was good.

Joker raised an eyebrow and whistled when he opened his door. "Nice outfit, Commander,"  he ribbed, eyeing the neckline of her spaghetti strap shirt appreciatively.

"My eyes are up here, Joker," Althea retorted, tone full of warning.

"And that line was old before either of us was born," the pilot riposted, grinning as he obeyed. "You wanna come in?"

She shrugged, her head starting to buzz with the aftereffects of those drinks. "Why not? And why doesn't it surprise me that you're the only one to notice what I'm wearing?"

"Hey, Commander, my bones are the problem, not my eyes," he teased, returning to his seat on the room's couch.

"I know," Althea replied drily. "Glad to see you made yourself at home." The room already looked as if Joker had been living there for years.

Translation: it was a mess.

"What was it you said? About being lucky they let my scruffy ass in here?" Joker laughed. "Figure I'll enjoy it while it lasts."

"Mmm. What were you watching?" Shepard nodded at the picture frozen on the holo-screen, a blurred image of someone--or something--on the receiving end of a roundhouse kick to the jaw.

"Some old Earth show." The pilot shrugged. "It's a spin off of another Earth show; Something with 'Atlantis' in the title. So what're you doing, Shepard? I'd think you be sleeping. You sure as hell deserve it."

Althea lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. "Just...checking in on people. Making sure you're all settling in okay."

"Isn't that Kelly's job?" Joker pointed out, reaching for the drink that sat on the table.

"You want Kelly in here instead of me, I can go tell her to check up on people," she shot back.

"Nah, she's not my type," Joker waved off the offer with a grin. "My taste in women run a little more toward the ass-kicking type. Like her." He gestured at the tan-skinned woman delivering the roundhouse kick on the holo-screen. "She's hot."

"And dead by now," Althea pointed out.

"True," he conceded. "But I still want to know why you're doing the 'checking up' on people when by all rights you should be dead to the world."

"Just needed to get my mind off some things."

"Still? We're not working for that cyber-eyed freak, we have a sweet new Normandy, and the Collectors are sufficiently vanquished--you're obsessing over Mordin, aren't you?" Joker interrupted himself.

"Damn, Joker, you know me too well," Athea muttered, dropping onto the other end of the couch and rubbing the back of her neck.

"Known you longer than anyone else here," the pilot reminded her.

"You don't have Garrus or Tali beat by much, and I wouldn't be surprised if Miranda knows everything about me from back before then, either. But yeah, I was thinking about Mordin," she admitted.

"You can't save everyone, you know."

"I should have been able to save him, though." She shook her head. "I wasn't even...wasn't even there with him. Maybe I should have let him leave after he developed the...the antidote to counter the seeker swarms."

"He wouldn't have left, Shepard. Remember what Miranda said? That you have 'that fire that makes someone willing to follow you into hell itself'? We all chose to follow you, Commander. Mordin, too."

"Thanks, Joker. Never thought I hear something so deep out of you." She chuckled. "When will I learn that you're full of surprises?"

"Hopefully never. That would take all the fun out of just about everything."

Althea snorted a half-laugh and pushed to her feet, crossing the room to stare out the window. "Nice view." Joker followed her.

"Sure is," he agreed. She missed the fact his eyes were on her rather than the view out the window.

"Even more enjoyable when there's not a private army of mercs trying to blow me to hell."

He laughed, his gaze following hers. "I'll bet. I'll also bet it's nice to get to just enjoy it."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning there's no Illusive Man or Alliance Command telling you to get a move on, people are counting on you, jump to it. Any of that."

She looked over at him. "You got any more surprises in you tonight?"

Joker grinned. "Just one." And kissed her.

Althea's eyes widened--a surprise this most definitely was--before sliding closed. She didn't move, not even to slide her arms up to circle his neck. She did, however, lean into the kiss. Where'd this come from? There's always been this undercurrent of borderline-flirting with him, but I never thought anything would come of it...Especially not this...but I do like it... "Your beard tickles," she mumbled when he pulled back.

Joker smirked. "Live with it. This baby's not going anywhere."

"Did I say it bothered me?" She kissed him back, almost gingerly, one hand sliding up his arm to rest on his shoulder. Almost subconsciously, the two of them shifted back in the direction of the bed as the kiss deepened. The bedframe caught Althea across the back of her knees, and she tumbled onto it.

Joker landed on top of her. "Sofa not to your liking, Commander?"

"Althea," she corrected. "And I'm right where I want to be."

"Well, Althea, when you put it that way, how do refuse?" He grinned.

She matched his grin. "That's the spirit. And I promise not to break anything too important," she whispered.

"To hell with that," Joker muttered, running his fingers through her hair. "Anything that you can break can be fixed."

"True..." Althea murmured, pulling him in for another kiss.