"Shepard," Miranda said, her fingers never faltering as she typed at her terminal, a couple of afternoons later. "I've heard that you have a… paramour aboard."

Only Miranda. She sighed and tucked her hands behind her back, straightening to attention. "What do you want to know, Miranda?"

The other woman smiled and pushed her chair back, rising to her feet. "Nothing. It's none of my business. It was… intriguing, though. During Project Lazarus, we were uncertain if we could give you back full emotional capacity, but it seems we succeeded."

Of course. I'm nothing but a really expensive science project to her. Shepard bit back those thoughts; Miranda had proven her loyalty, proved herself useful and that just wasn't fair. "It seems you did," she agreed. "I'm not full cyborg yet."

"Indeed." The operative's boots clicked on the floor as she walked to the window and back. "Thane, hmm? Interesting choice, Shepard."

She bristled, fighting down her soldier's instincts to reach for a weapon. "I'm glad you think so, Miranda."

"And I do imagine you're tired of being questioned about the matter."

"You have no idea."

Miranda's smile bordered on a smirk, and she leaned one hip against her desk. "Jacob's disappointed, I must say. He carried a bit of a torch for you, Shepard. But he'll get over it—or I'll make him get over it."

Shepard snorted. "You're kidding me, right?"

"I am not. I'm entirely serious."

"Jacob can do a hell of a lot better than me. He needs someone who knows how to wear something besides combat boots and fatigues."

"Mmm-hmm. I could agree with you there, but men never listen to reason. Although, some might find that attractive."

Girl-talk with Miranda? No, I'm not doing this. "I don't know. My test usually involves seeing how they react to me in a hardsuit or covered in muck, blood, or slime."

"For someone in your line of work, that sounds appropriate." The operative returned to her seat and her terminal, and Shepard nodded.

"I'll go. Let you get back to work."

"Siha?" Thane looked up when she settled in the chair across from him.

"Yeah, hi." She smiled at him as he reached for her hands. "Did you know we've become scuttlebutt, you and me?"

The drell blinked and paused. "I am afraid I am not familiar with that term," he admitted.

Of course. "Sorry—sometimes I still forget I'm not dealing with navy personnel. Short version? It's an old Earth term for gossip aboard ship. Anyway, every time I've run into someone the last couple of days, all they want to talk about is me and you."

"Gossip. Hmm. That would explain why Joker has been giving me such strange looks. I had thought I'd grown another head or something else unusual."

She rolled her eyes. "He would, too. I guess most of the ship knows. At least, that's what they tell me." She shrugged and added, "I shouldn't care, but in the Alliance there's a rule against fraternization. If you're going to romance a crewmate, you'd better do it quietly and keep it out of sight. But because of how small military starships are that's damned near impossible. It's… habit, I guess. Even though this ship isn't really military."

Thane let go of her hands and nodded seriously. "If you live your life by those rules, it is not easy to break away from them, siha. I understand your want for privacy."

"I don't know whether to be touched that they care enough to be interested or sad that I'm the most interesting gossip they can come up with. Because, really? I'm not all that interesting."

Thane smiled slightly. "I am inclined to disagree."

"You're biased, Krios," she replied, tucking a bit of her hair that had slipped free out of her face. "Extremely so."

"Indeed. However," he continued, his eyes bright, "I know more than one person on this ship who would disagree with you."

"Sure, I'm a hero," Shepard agreed, playing along, "and I get the job done, but besides that, I'm boring as hell. I know that."

"Consider, siha, that everyone on this ship followed you into a suicide mission. You have rescued most of them. I imagine that their interest is more than idle gossip."

"Mmm, maybe. Maybe I should forget about work for five minutes and really shock 'em, you think? Give them something else to talk about?"

Thane laughed, coughed, and then reached for her hands once more. "You could," he agreed. "It would be surprising to them, I imagine."

She grinned and twined her fingers with his, her skin rubbing against his scales. "Nah. Might distract them. So I'd better get back to it before they come looking for me."

Thane released her, looking up at her fondly. "Shall we visit this evening, siha?"

Shepard bent down and kissed him impulsively. "Actually, I've been invited down to play poker with Ken and Gabby and Tali. Donnelly still thinks he'll win back what he lost to me the first time we played. You could join us, if you're up for that."

"A game of strategy," Thane remarked, nodding. "You would be well-suited to that."

"And a bit of luck," she added. "I don't seem to be lacking that either. So, you in? Don't think I'll go easy on you. And Tali's a tough opponent—you can't read her face because of the helmet."

"I think I could use something like that, siha, with you and your 'greasemonkeys'."

"They aren't—oh, never mind." She gave up. The name had apparently stuck, thank-you-very-much Donnelly. "If you're in, come on down to engineering. And now I'm definitely going back to work—I'll see you later, Thane."

He coughed again, harder, and Shepard resisted the urge to fuss over him. "Farewell, siha."

He can't ever just say 'goodbye' or 'see you later', can he? She wondered, turning back towards the elevator only to very nearly run smack into Kasumi.

"Hey, Shep." The thief winked, her face concealed beneath her hood. "Back to work, hm?"

Kasumi was perhaps the only person in the universe who had even thought she could get away with calling Shepard 'Shep.' "Yep. That's where I'm going."

"Visiting with your drell, I see. He gets all… moony over you, Shep. It's the strangest thing, but it's adorable. Kind of sad, too."

"Yeah." Damn elevator, where the hell is it?

Kasumi laughed, the sound echoing just a little. "And now you're cursing the elevator because you want it to get here so you can get away from me. I'll stop teasing you. Just—congratulations."

"Yeah. Thanks, Kasumi. I guess."

As quickly as she'd come, the little woman disappeared, and Shepard shook her head. Maybe now that she'd gotten these conversations out of the way, they'd stop. Maybe.