Donnelly had his head and torso deep into an access tube. His hindquarters stuck out into the air. It was a little claustrophobic, but he'd been in tighter surroundings. The damned connector he was trying to get at was being a right bitch, though. He could barely get his fingers on it, and he'd already skinned a couple of knuckles trying to turn it.

"Ah!" He grunted in satisfaction as he felt the connector finally turn.

Behind him he heard the clatter of booted feet as the refit contractors began the work of disassembling the old hardware. It had taken a good chunk of the day to safely shut down the Normandy's drive core, and they were at last really getting to work. Donnelly hoped they wouldn't need to go anywhere for a while, because right now the ship was dead in the water.

"You should be able to move it now," he called, and the cable that the connector had been attached to began snaking away into the darkness. Donnelly looked around. Since he was wedged in here anyway, he may as well try to get out everything that he could.

"Hey, Abramson," he yelled. "Are we taking out the C-36's?"

"Hang on, boss, let me check," replied Abramson's distant voice from farther up the tube. "Yeah, those are coming out too."

"Lovely," he muttered to himself. "I could always use a few more skinned knuckles." He shuffled himself around as best he could and got to work on undoing the C-36 connectors. He'd gotten almost all of them unhooked when he heard a commotion.

"Where is he? Where's my Assface? I gotta talk to 'im." Jack's voice wasn't quite slurring, but it was close.

"I'm over here, ye wee scunner," he called.

"There you are! Get outta my way, ya jackoffs." There followed some confused shuffling of feet, a few muffled 'oofs', and then Donnelly felt a slim hand grab a firm hold of one of his rear cheeks. "Ha! Gotcha! Actually, right now you are a real life Assface, aren't ya?"

"How was your first day on Illium, Jack?" asked Donnelly.

Jack didn't relinquish her hold. "Fuckin' great. Y'know, for a buckethead Tali can be a real hoot. And god-damn can that girl dance. The Perky Slut had some pretty good moves too. Heh, we musta got hit on by just about everydamnbody in that place. I think Kelly got set up for a threesome. Foursome? Can't remember, a lotta people."

"Sorry about your bed," said Donnelly. "But we had to move it out. There's gonna be too much going on downstairs."

"'s fine. I was gonna move into your place, anyway. But noooooo hanky panky, big guy. I'ma delicate flower." Jack belched. "Damn, that brandy has a kick to it." Donnelly felt her grab his other asscheek with her other hand. "It'sa good thing fer you I'm turnin' over a new leaf. All that dancin' got me hot 'n bothered. I got half a mind to molest ya right here and now." She let go of his ass and then grabbed his hips. Donnelly felt Jack press her pelvis against him.

He tried to ignore what was happening rearward and got the last of the connectors out. "Hang on, Jack. I always prefer to be not stuck in an access tube during molestation."

"Nah, you stay right there. I kinda like this."

"I'll buy you a drink."

"I just had a lotta drinks."

"I'll buy you a pony?"

"Yer my pony, big guy. Giddyup!" She ground herself against his backside.

Donnelly sighed. "I'll do that one thing you asked for. You know, when we're in the hotel room."

There was a pause. "You will?" she asked. There was a note of diabolical glee in her voice.

"I will."

"Really?'

"Cross me heart, lassie."

"Okay. Molesting is over." She let go, and he extracted himself from the tube. He ran a hand through his hair to try to straighten it, and turned around.

Jack stood there with a big cat-eating-the-canary grin on her face. "Remember," she said. "You promised to do it. And crossed your heart. Big guy."

"Oh, I'll remember. Ya scunner." He leaned over and kissed her forehead. When he pulled back, he was surprised to see her looking a lot more serious.

"We're special, right?" she asked him.

Donnelly wasn't quite sure how to take that question. "Of course, lass. We're one of a kind. Two of a pair? No, two of a kind. Sorry, it's been a long day."

"I mean it. This ain't no casual sex stuff, right?"

"Of course not. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah, its just...I wanna keep this special." Jack suddenly slumped into him, and Donnelly grabbed her arms to keep her from flopping onto the floor. She peered up at him. Jack was much more drunk that he'd assumed.

"'Cause my big worry is that we're gonna stop being special," she slurred. "We're gonna have our big bang, and it'll be awesome, 'cause we're awesome. An' it'll be great for a while, maybe a really long while. But then I'll do something to piss you off, 'cause pushing buttons is what I do, or you'll get all techie on me one too many times and piss me off, 'cause that's what you do."

She pressed one side of her face against his chest. "An' then we'll yell at each other and say hurtful shit and break up and hate each other forever. An' I don't wanna hate you forever."

Donnelly patted her back, trying to ignore the sideways looks the two of them were getting from the contractors moving around them. "We'll always be special to each other, lass. Like you said, we're awesome."

"Yeah, we are," said Jack. She didn't say anything more for a bit, and Donnelly looked down. She had passed out. He sighed, reached down, and got one arm under her knees. Jack's head lolled against his other arm as he picked her up. He kissed her forehead again, and headed out to put her to bed.

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Jacob found that appearing casual was harder than it sounded. How does somebody act when they are up to nothing? What do they do with their hands? Where do they look, and for how long?

"Do they have oceans on Earth?" asked Thane. The drell was leaning next to Jacob. The assassin looked completely relaxed. It was as if he had always been there, leaning against the orange-tiled wall in the alley next to a small electronics shop. Shepard had asked them to keep an eye on that shop. Particularly, the Commander wanted to know if there were any vorcha going in or out. It was some sort of favor for Dr. T'Soni, but Jacob didn't know the details. Quite frankly, he didn't want to know.

The drell's question about Earth had come out of nowhere. "Hmm? Oh, yeah they sure do," said Jacob. "I've only been to Earth a couple of times, though. I didn't get to see any of the ocean while I was there."

"That is unfortunate. I always try to visit to the ocean of any world I'm on."

Jacob still wasn't one hundred percent sure of the assassin. It wasn't so much the 'killing for pay' aspect that bothered him. Hell, Zaeed did that all the time. But Zaeed was up front about his motives, and they all involved getting more cash into in his bank account. It was a simple and reliable motive. However, Thane had offered to join the team gratis. Sure, it appeared that the drell was dying. Dr. Chakwas had confirmed the diagnosis of Kepral's Syndrome. But even with that, relying on just the goodwill of a 'precise mercenary' didn't sit right with Jacob.

Aloud, he asked, "Why oceans? I thought that drell preferred dry climates."

"We do," replied Thane. "Too much moisture is harmful to us, as my current condition shows. I am still, however, attracted to the sea."

Jacob leaned his head back and felt the cool tile against his scalp. "I'm assuming you don't go swimming, right?"

The drell gave a soft, rumbling chuckle. "No, I do not. I go there to look for lost souls."

Jacob wasn't quite sure what to make of that. "Do you mean metaphorically lost, or people who are literally wandering around?"

"No, neither of those. It is more...prayerful. I pray to Kalahira, mistress of the afterlife. At the end of one's life it is she who guides the soul across the ocean of the infinite spirit, to its far shore. That is where everyone shall meet, at the end of all things. The lover shall never leave, the tired shall find rest. The afflicted shall find comfort."

"Heaven," said Jacob. He hadn't believed in Heaven, not for a long time.

"If you like," replied Thane. "But I have often wondered if our universe is itself the far shore for some other, more unknowable realm. And so at every ocean's shore I pray to Kalahira to guide any wanderers there, so that they may find their eternal rest."

"That's kind of you," said Jacob. "You know, I wouldn't expect someone with your background to care so much for strangers."

The drell gave him an amused glance. "You are still suspicious of my profession? One can be many things. One can kill strangers and yet be concerned for them. One can be a loving father as well as a competent assassin." Thane thought for a little bit. "Though I have to confess that I have not been a good father. Just a loving one."

That actually made Jacob feel a little sorry for the alien. "I can imagine that your job takes you away a lot. Don't worry, I'm sure your kid knows you love him. That counts for a lot."

"I can only hope so," replied Thane.

Jacob looked down at the ground. "My father wasn't very loving. Or at least he never showed it. And we never got the chance to set things right."

"He is dead?" asked Thane.

"Yeah," said Jacob. "His ship vanished ten years ago. There was nothing, no distress call or anything. I'm sure he's gone." He glanced over at Thane. "You know, if you want to say anything to your kid you'd better do it while you still can."

"There is nothing to say," said Thane. "Kolyat should be free to choose his own path, and not be influenced by my evil."

Jacob shook his head. "If you say so. Take it from me, he would want to know that you're thinking of him. At the very least."

Thane didn't reply for a while. "I will consider it. I should at least check and see how his path is progressing."

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Miranda prowled through Main Engineering. She tried to not focus on the particulars of the contractors bustling through the area, but tried instead to feel the flow of the work. It was difficult for her. Her brain insisted on alerting her on all sorts of little minutiae. She knew a lot more about the drive systems of the Normandy than she let on, of course. That was useful in perhaps catching the Engineering staff out in a deliberate mistake. However, it was less useful when trying to look at the big picture.

Sometimes Miranda wished she could just switch off like other people could. It seemed an odd and alien thing, to deliberately stop paying attention. Her upbringing and her unique breeding simply wouldn't allow it. Sometimes she thought it was a miracle she could get any sleep.

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She headed down the steps to the subfloor engineering space. In the red-lit gloom, she saw Donnelly and Tali inspecting the new plasma conduits. The salarian contractor responsible for their installation stood off to the side, nervously awaiting their approval. The alien seemed to get even more nervous on seeing Miranda. She knew that she gave off the 'person in charge' aura all the time, even when she didn't want to.

"Evenin', ma'am," said Donnelly over his shoulder. Tali nodded to her, and kept running her scanner over one of the new conduits.

Miranda said nothing. She flicked her eyes over the scene. It certainly looked all right. The welding and joining appeared first-rate.

The contractor next to her shuffled his feet. "Everything looks fine so far," he said. Miranda wondered why the salarian was so fidgety. He was getting paid a great deal for this, surely, but that was no reason to be so...

Ah. She understood now. It wasn't the money, it was the source of the money. Cerberus still had a bad reputation to dig itself out from. For the hundredth time, Miranda silently damned the Cerberus operatives who'd been in charge of the Gillian Grayson mission. Killing combatants was one thing, but attacking the Migrant Fleet and killing quarian civilians was just bad optics. It had cemented Cerberus as a menace in most people's minds. She knew some of the details, and knew that it had probably seemed like the only way at the time. But now she had to deal with the aftermath.

The salarian was probably wondering if he would simply be shot if the work wasn't up to par. Reassuring him would mean nothing; the 'get it done, at all costs' ethic of Cerberus had also resulted in a lot of broken promises. Miranda wondered if Shepard might actually have the right side of it. She knew the Commander was a deadly effective soldier and an inspirational leader. But she had dismissed his ethics as juvenile and naive.

Only now she realized that, if Shepard was here and told the salarian to relax, the salarian would. Because Shepard didn't break his word. He didn't kill innocents. He just didn't. Miranda clasped her hands behind her back and studiously avoided letting any emotion show on her face. Was this what people referred to as a crisis of conscience? She had never had one before. At every step in her life, the path forward had seemed completely clear to her. Her escape, joining Cerberus, gaining her sister's freedom, the resurrection of Shepard. All of it had been so obvious.

She thought about what she had said during her interrogation of Garrus. About the need to send a message on occasion. Well, it seemed as if the message had been received by all. And now she wondered if even Shepard and the Normandy reborn would be enough to make that message go away.

The two engineers finished their scans. "It all looks good, Kinella," said Tali. The salarian contractor relaxed a bit.

"Of course!" said Kinella, with a little relieved laugh. "I told you, you'd never be able to tell it had been replaced."

Donnelly nodded. "Aye, it's very good work, sir. First class." He looked over at Miranda. "You may authorize payment, ma'am."

Miranda smiled, trying to appear warm and happy. "Very glad to hear it, Marcus." She turned to Kinella. "You'll receive the balance of your fee within the next hour. I'll set it up now." The salarian nodded his thanks and left as if wolves were at his heels.

She tapped a few commands into her omni-tool, then turned to the two engineers. "Are we still on schedule?" she asked.

Tali nodded. "These were the main structural items that we had to get installed. Fortunately it went in without any last-minute problems. Marcus was very good at planning it out in advance."

Donnelly gave an embarrassed shrug. "Tali's also been a big help. But yes, we're good so far. Five days in and the main structural work is done. The upgraded power feeds to the main guns are also in place, which was the other big installation headache. Garrus says it's going well up front too."

Miranda looked up at the new installation. "So now it's down to re-attaching all of the cabling and then continuity checks?"

"Yes," said Tali. "We should be able to power up the core in about five days. Then another five days of checking that it's all working as we calculated. Garrus says he'll need about eight days, starting from now, to finish the main battery install."

Miranda nodded. "Good. Nice work, people. I'm sure Jack will be happy to get her quarters back." She watched Donnelly as she said it, but there was not any flicker of reaction in that impassive face.

It wasn't until she was heading back up the stairs that Miranda realized she hadn't seen any actual direct video feed from the subfloor area for a while. Actually, that wasn't quite true. She had seen a few vids of Tali and Donnelly as they'd planned out the refit. But before that? Her memory was very good, nearly eidetic. She remembered seeing some video of Jack's initial time on the Normandy. And then...nothing, for at least two months. Sure, it was a pretty low-traffic area, but to not have seen any feed for that long?

Miranda shook herself. She was tired, and getting perhaps a little too paranoid. If there had been any issues with the video or audio feeds, EDI would have notified her. And EDI was loyal, Miranda knew that. The AI had no choice in the matter. She took another few steps up. Another thought struck her. Unless...yes, it was possible. Unlikely, but possible. Miranda would have to do a little digging and see what she could find out.

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Donnelly awoke to a foot in his face. It was a tattooed foot, so at least he knew to whom it belonged. Jack lay sprawled out his bed, and her feet now dangled down off of the edge and into his face. For his part, Donnelly had managed to tuck himself into the little alcove that formed under the bed when it was unfolded. Jack mumbled something and turned over in her sleep. The foot dragged over his nose. He wriggled himself into a slightly more comfortable position and tried to go back to sleep. It was not easy, sharing a room this small with someone else. If they shared the bed, however, there was a virtual certainty of violating the 'no hanky panky' rule. This arrangement seemed to be a workable compromise, even if he did get a foot in the face now and then.

The only saving grace was that Donnelly had been more often than not just catching catnaps somewhere in Engineering during the refit. He hadn't spent many nights in his own quarters, so this was one of the rare occasions in the last two weeks when he'd actually used his bed. Well, sort-of used it.

He felt the floating sensation which meant he was drifting back off into sleep.

"Snkkkrrrrrkk!" The noise sounded out from the bed above him. Jack's snoring sounded like a bearing on the verge of seizing. Donnelly sighed and wrapped his pillow around his head.

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The room containing EDI's core 'blue box' processors was small, quiet, and always cold. Miranda suspected that the latter was due to concerns about EDI's hardware overheating. The exact specifications of that hardware was something that Miranda didn't actually know much about. The Illusive Man had said there were certain aspects of it that would reveal too much in the way of 'methods and sources'. And so she'd been kept in the dark.

But she did know a great deal more about EDI's source code. And now she leaned back from the core terminal with relief. Everything was still in proper order, and there had been no tampering with EDI. That had been her greatest fear. She knew that there was another possible way for the engineer to bypass EDI's surveillance. But here, at least, all was secure.

Miranda was focused on what to check next, and so she missed the little extra breath of air beside her as she left the AI core.

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Garrus looked in despair at the massive amount of reading material which Mordin had dumped into his omni-tool. He now regretted the casual question he'd asked in the scientist's lab. That one stupid little question had led to an entire lecture from Mordin on possible allergic reactions caused by accidental 'exposure' to levo proteins, followed by some medication that Mordin said should 'minimize any issues'. Before Garrus could disentangle himself from the whole embarrassing conversation, Mordin had followed it up with some 'homework', as the salarian put it.

"All I wanted to know was if there was any danger to her," he muttered. He looked up to make sure he'd locked the door to the forward battery, then opened the first file. It was some sort of lesson on human anatomy. And, of course, the very first thing he saw was a naked human female. The human in the picture stood in a spread-eagled posture and had a completely bored expression on her face. Garrus looked away in automatic embarrassment, then told himself to stop being silly. He began going through the rest of the information.

Fortunately, it looked as if turian and human, er, equipment were similar enough to be compatible, provided that he took precautions to protect Kasumi from chafing. And he would definitely need to tone down the usual enthusiasm which turians displayed in the bedroom. However, it looked as if a human female's erogenous zones were very different from their turian counterparts. Garrus began to get a queasy flutter in his stomach. He realized it was similar to the nervousness that he'd felt before his first, long-ago sexual encounter with a turian.

"You got through that all right, so you can get through this," he told himself. Maybe if he said it often enough, he'd believe it.

Of course, this all assumed that Kasumi was really wanting a physical relationship. She seemed to be acting that way, but he really shouldn't assume anything. Garrus sighed. Relationships were so complicated. At least getting her gifts together had gone without a hitch.

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Kasumi walked into her 'boudoir'. Kelly followed close behind, chatting about her latest conquest.

"...so the quarian says, 'No problem, guys, I have a built-in stimulation circuit in my suit.' And then she goes and demonstrates it! Wow, talk about a show. You know how flexible quarians are? Well, they get really 'thrashy' when they get all excited..."

Kasumi just nodded and smiled. She really liked Kelly, but there were times she wondered if the yeoman/psychiatrist was entirely sane. It seemed as if the redhead went out of her way to have relations with as many different species as possible. And usually with as many at the same time as possible. It was odd that someone who was so gifted in seeing deep-seated issues in others might not recognize the warning signs in herself.

They were both brought up short by a large white box sitting on the end of one of the couches. It was bound in red ribbon and sported a large neat bow in the center.

"Well, I'll be. What's that, Kay?" asked Kelly.

The thief shrugged. She picked up the package, and read aloud the attached note. "For tomorrow night. No hats allowed. G."

Kelly clasped her hands together. "So I was right about you two! Oh, you are the luckiest girl."

Kasumi stood holding the package. For once, she was at a loss for words. She had expected a shopping expedition, similar to what Garrus had put the Commander through. He must have eyeballed her measurements. Well, if there was one thing she could trust it would be the sniper's eyesight.

"C'mon, open it!" Kelly was almost vibrating with excitement now.

Kasumi neatly untied the bow and opened the box. Inside, wrapped in tissue paper, was a dress. She held it up. It looked like it would leave one shoulder free when worn, and it was very sleek. The fabric was some kind of silk-like material that felt marvelous to the touch. It seemed to flow like water in her hands. The color of the dress was a deep lavender hue. Kasumi could swear that the fabric's color seemed to shift slightly as she moved the dress this way and that under the room's lighting.

"Oh, wow," said Kelly. "That looks amazing. You are going to try it on now, right?"

"I...yes, of course." Kasumi tucked the dress under one arm and headed to the women's bathroom. She peeled out of her catsuit and felt naked in more ways than one. The suit contained a significant component of her cloaking mechanism. She made a mental note to look into getting this dress modified, so that she could actually wear it and still activate her cloak.

The dress itself was easily donned. The fabric stretched just enough to allow her to pull it on, then contracted again to hug her figure. She had a look in the mirror to make sure her bosom was settled and in place. Kasumi thought it looked nice, but the mirror was too small to really get a good look at the whole thing. She headed back for the lounge.

Kelly's eyes widened when she walked back in. Kasumi couldn't tell if it was because she looked good or because she looked like crap. "Is it okay?" asked the thief. "I have to confess, I don't have the best eye for this kind of thing."

Kelly let out a low whistle. "Damn, Kay, you look beautiful."

Kasumi sighed with relief. Then another thought struck her. "Does my hairdo fit alright with the dress? I mean, I just braid it like this for ease of use." She realized that Kelly was one of the only two people on board who had seen her without her hood.

Kelly tilted her head. "Hmm, do you mind if I style your hair a bit? I'll braid it back up again after."

"Sure, go ahead." Kelly moved behind her, and Kasumi felt her braid being gently undone.

"Do you have a brush?" asked Kelly.

"Yeah, it's in the blue bag on that shelf."

Kasumi felt Kelly unbraid and brush out her hair, getting it to fall just so. The redhead moved back in front and put a last few little errant strands in place, then stepped back.

"Is it better?" asked Kasumi.

Kelly smiled. "Before, you were beautiful. Now you look like the reason the riot started."

Kasumi turned up the lights in the lounge and walked over to the observation window. It wasn't quite as good as a full-length mirror, but it would do. She stopped dead upon seeing her reflection in the viewport. Kasumi almost didn't recognize herself. The lavender color of the dress complimented the color on her lower lip. And her now-free black hair flowed into the dress's shape. It was simply stunning.

"Garrus has a good eye," was all she could say. Then she saw in the window's reflection another, smaller white box under the couch. Kasumi turned away from the window and reached under the furniture to grab it.

"Oooh! Another present!" said Kelly. "It must have fallen off after Big G put these here. Maybe it's a necklace!"

Kasumi hoped it wasn't that. In spite of her chosen profession, she really didn't like jewelry. It felt so unnecessary, so gaudy, to have metal and shiny rocks strapped to your person. The thief could appreciate such items in terms of their monetary value, but as for their aesthetics she couldn't care less. Still, if it was some kind of jewelry or earrings, she would wear them for Garrus' sake.

This box didn't have a bow and had a note under its lid.

The hand cannons we typically use would spoil the dress's lines. Here is something a little more elegant. G.

Under the note was...oh, it was lovely. Kasumi picked it up. It almost looked like a derringer, but a little larger and much flatter in profile. The gun's metal was a dark navy blue in color, and its rosewood grips looked to be custom. Suddenly she realized what it was.

"It's an Armax Arsenal thin-gun!" she exclaimed. "I didn't think they were actually selling these yet. And it's fitted for a human!" The weapon seemed to nestle into her hand like it had been born there. Kasumi took aim at an unoccupied corner of the lounge. The thin-gun pointed like an extension of her arm. "Oh, I am so going to have to go and try this out in the hangar."

Kelly's face had lost a little bit of her smile when she realized it wasn't a necklace. "So, it's a nice gun?"

"Nice? This thing hits like a sledgehammer and weighs next to nothing. Not to mention, it's got an ultra-low profile. So I can do this..." Kasumi held up the gun and made a quick little flourish over it with her other hand. She spread her hands in front of Kelly. The gun was now gone. She grinned at Kelly's surprised look and turned in a circle with her arms out.

"See?," said Kasumi. "I'm wearing a sheer, figure-hugging dress. There's no unsightly bulges or holsters. I'm just a little defenseless woman. But if I should need it..." Another flourish, and now the thin-gun was back in her hand.

Kelly's jaw dropped. "How...how did you do that?"

"Now, now. You know a magician never reveals her secrets." Kasumi thought the top of her head was going to come off from grinning so much. She had a pretty dress and a new favorite gun. Garrus certainly knew the way to a woman's heart.