2100 Hours, Captain's Stateroom, Normandy, Dock D24

"John, you can't be serious."

Tali scoffed, shocked by what was in front of her, what she had just heard. The thought, even the concept of it had never actually crossed her mind, and so to see it in physical form was all the more shocking.

"Tali, I'm entirely serious. I did it."

The Quarian was left speechless, mouth hanging open inside of her helmet, filter light half-glowing at the gesture, uncertain whether speech was to follow or not. Her whole world shifted, tilting on a paradigm axis which had never existed in the realm of the possible, not to mention the actual. It was too… shocking. Keelah… He actually… He actually did it.

John laughed.

"That's right, Miss Vas Normandy, Commander John Shepard, Captain of the SSV Normandy, Spectre, has gone one full week without coffee."

Tali broke out laughing as the two shared dinner over the table at John's couch. It had become a tradition shortly after her arrival on The Normandy for the two to have dinner together at the end of John's shift, taking at least that small amount of time every cycle to catch up and enjoy each-other's company. The rule had been stated early on: No work allowed, no mention of The War or The Reapers, except to make bad puns. They had done well by themselves to stick to it, finding sanity in a pocket of time that was left for only them, ignoring the problems outside for but a few moments and letting themselves be happy.

Ironically enough, it was a rule that John had initially objected to. Tali was a woman who threw herself into her work, and quite earnestly loved everything about what happened in engineering. She may not have been comfortable being named Admiral, and it may have taken her more than a while to get used to being referred to as "Admiral" or "Ambassador", but in the Engineering Spaces, she was in her element. Her entire life had been spent growing up on ships, talking of aft-thruster servo control parameters or the linings in the new power conduit models was as natural to her as discussing the weather or interpersonal issues were to Shepard. They both knew it took a conscious effort on Tali's part to find topics of conversation that weren't work, and to avoid getting drawn into them (in fact, she had a list on her omni-tool titled "Topics that don't drive a starship" that she and Shepard had developed on one of their dates to help her), and Shepard had initially insisted that she be allowed to talk about whatever she wanted. But of course Tali wouldn't hear of it. He almost resented her the decision as well, feeling slighted and mildly dis-respected for her active dismissal of his protests, but he still couldn't deny how incredibly loved and cared for it made him feel.

"How in ancestors' wisdom did you manage to bring yourself to do that?" She managed to choke out over her laughter, mostly at the grave severity with which John delivered the news.

"Well it wasn't easy. I had to reeeallly work at it."

Tali only laughed harder at the beginning of his comment, causing John to pause, his cocked head and raised eyebrow demonstrating his confusion at her renewed giggling. "John, don't say that!"

"Why not?"

"You sound like Garrus."

"You know Garrus and I, we're a package deal. I guess we have to run off on each other somehow."

Tali giggled slightly, knowing it to be ablsolutely true. She had been with the two since their search for Saren, even as they fought The Collectors. The two were inseperable in every way, not only fighting and thinking almost exactly the same way, but operating on a daily level with a cohesion that only brothers outside of blood could maintain. If I didn't know better, I'd think the two were a couple. Ancestors' know they act like it. But I know he's mine. John went to take a drink of water but managed to miss his mouth with the glass, spilling it all over the front of his shirt as he yelped insurprise, trying to catch the drips off his chin. Keelah, all mine. For better or worse. Mostly better. All better.

After John had managed to dry off, he resumed his story. "Anyways, after you issued me the challenge, I thought about it and decided it was one I would take on. I took all my mugs and left them in the mess, and locked by coffee grounds in one of my drawers. Since then I've gone a week, without consuming a single cup of coffee." He held himself with such a faux-proud air, chin angled upwards, hands on his hips and chest pumped out, his voice taking on a story-narrator aspect towards the end that Tali had to fight back a third wave of laughter.

"I am very proud of you, Commander. Tell me, how does it feel to be coffee free for the past week?"

"Well, Admiral, frankly it feels miserable. My brain feels like it got run over by a charging Krogan, and I fall asleep like a Volus high on Red Sand." His face fell shortly after the word "Admiral", the fatigue that his caffeinated hot beverage of choice had been fighting off showing slightly through the mirth of the moment.

Tali nodded and took another draw from her nutrient paste tube. She normally felt mildly self-conscious eating around other species, feeling like an imposition, eating out of a tube that led to a special channel in her suit while everybody else cut and scooped and stabbed and chewed. But, true to form, John had found a Levo-Chirality version of Nutrient Paste and promptly refused to eat anything else around her. She protested, saying it wasn't right for him to give up something he enjoyed like a solid-form dinner or normal meals just to make her feel comfortable just on her behalf, but of course John would hear nothing of it. She almost resented him the decision as well, feeling slighted and mildly dis-respected for his active dismissal of her protests, but she still couldn't deny how incredibly loved and cared for it made her feel.

"Keelah, do you remember how high he was?"

"How could I forget? He kept spouting on about being some 'Galactic Wind' or 'Biotic God' or such, even as he fell down."

"I seem to remember you pushed him."

"Tali?!" His hand went to his chest, wrist-crooked and fingers tented in feigned indignance. "You know I would never do such a thing."

"Oh, clearly. Never." Her voice dripped with sarcasm, earning a grin from the man sitting across from her causing her to mutter "Bosh'tet" under her breath.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing."

John stood up, tilting his head from left to right as Tali heard audible "pops" from his neck. It was a habit he said he had picked up from Bootcamp, a mild challenge among the younger recruits to see who could pop their necks in more places to inevitably decide who was truly the manliest. But she had soon come to associate it with the stress he was feeling. Her brow furrowed inside her helmet at the alarming number she heard tonight.

"John, is everything alright?"

"What? Yeah, fine. Why do you ask?"

"You seem stressed. More so than usual, at the very least."

John chuckled, an inexplicable bitter taste starting to fill his tongue. "I don't know, couldn't be the galaxy going to hell, could it?"

Tali stood up and stepped forwards, bringing her hand up to John's cheek. He leaned into the gesture and she guided his forehead to her visor as he sat down, closing his eyes. She touched the bottom of her helmet gently against the top of his head, their agreed equivalent of a kiss.

"John, what's wrong."

His head came to rest on her right shoulder as she ran one hand through his hair, her other cupping the back of his neck, nestling him into her shoulder. She watched as he took one deep breath in through his nose and exhaled it slowly through his mouth, calming himself, trying to purge his mind of his occasionally more morbid sense of humor. This was the John Shepard nobody but her knew, that was meant for her eyes and her eyes only. The one that was human and fallable, that doubted occasionally whether the war would be won and felt the stress of trillions of lives weighing heavily on his Shoulders. The John who needed support and nurturing, who would refuse care with excuses of "I should be's" and "I have to be's" but needed it just the same.

He looked up at her, frustration clearly present in his eyes, his shoulders unusually hunched and arms held tight to his chest.

"The Council has asked me to track down a criminal as part of my Spectre duties while here on The Citadel, but I've reached a dead end."

Tali sat down next to him, continuing to play with his hair as she asked "How so?"

John leaned forward, resting his forehead on his palms as his elbows were supported by his knees, staring at the edge of the table with a frustrated, vacant intensity. "I've tracked him for weeks now, finally found out where he is, but I still don't know who he is. I've pieced together every bit of terminal information, every transaction, everything, even called in some favors with another spectre to do so, but I still can't find anything about who he is. The most I've got is the fact that he's a Volus. Named Pundae Mal"

"What's his crime?"

"He owns a weapons manufacturing plant, one of the ones producing for the Turian Army, and has been skimming money off of their deals to give it to Cerberus. Essentially, he pays them to fight the Turians harder, so the Turians have to buy more weapons from him."

"That's disgusting."

"My thoughts exactly. I've narrowed his headquarters down to a specific warehouse here on The Citadel, but I still can't find anything about who he actually is."

Tali brought him in for another hug, bending his Torso into what looked like a monumentally uncomfortable position, but his ready acceptance of the motion seemed to suggest that he couldn't actually care less. She again pressed her filter-light to the top of his head, feeling him smile against her shoulder, as a thought occurred to her. John probably wouldn't know how to do this, he's an infiltrator not a full engineer, but if I can… maybe… the suit manufacturer's do put out data like that, and my signals analysis program is advanced enough to handle it…

"John, sweetheart, it's time for bed. Let's turn in for the night and then, in the morning, we'll head to the warehouse and catch him, okay?"

"Tali, how do you intend to find him? That place is full of people at all times, it's not like I can just go in there and ask 'Hey, are any of you funding an evil terrorist organization that threatens to destroy the entirety of galactic civilization and is listed as an enemy state by every citadel race?'. It just doesn't work like that."

"Tali stood up, dragging John with her towards the bed. "I have an idea, don't worry. Go to sleep, I'll bet I'll have something for you in the morning."

"Tali, I don't need you to put aside what you're doing, I'm sure if I wait longer I can…"

Tali put a finger against his lips, silencing him almost instantly. Hmmm, that's something I'll have to remember. She gestured to his clothes, cocking her hip and taking the "mildly annoyed" stance, laughing internally as John's eyes seemed to widen in fear at the movement, his hands struggling to get undressed fast enough. Have to remember that too…The Savior of the Galaxy, scared of me being annoyed…

"John, consider it a gift."

"For what?"

"For me loving you."

John slipped into bed, snuggling inside the heavy comforter like a child. The cabin was known to both of them to be slightly chilled, and as a result John spent as little time undressed in it as possible. The way he scampers to the shower in the morning, you'd think he'd have been doused with ice water. Tali took off her Shawl and straps, those being the only things she could remove to mirror his gesture of getting undressed, before taking a cleaning rag to the dirtier parts of her suit. The suit itself was coated in a hydrophobic substance, leaving it incredibly clean most of the time, but it was still polite, for what few Quarians slept in beds with sheets, to wipe it down before bedding down for the night.

As soon as she was in bed, she felt John shift himself down in the sheets, such that his arms reached around her abdomen and his cheek rested against her back. Her mind conjured the image of the picture she had once seen of a small child holding a teddy bear, and she couldn't help but giggle as she turned off the lights.

About three minutes after the lights had turned off, John spoke again.

"That's not really a reason, Tali."

"It's reason enough for me, you bosh'tet. Now go to bed."

0700 Hours, Captain's Stateroom, Normandy, Dock D24

Tali had gotten up earlier than he had, disentangling herself from the tornado of arms and sheets that was John Shepard in the morning to sit down at the terminal at her desk and work out a way to find Pundae. It had been a simple procedure, really. Using her signal analysis program and a sample signal of a transaction data package, she had been able to identify the distortion signal caused by his enviro-suit's metal and electrical components. With the sensitive nature and large amount of financial information transmitted by Volus on the citadel, such signals were stated on many manufacturer's websites. With a little bit of help from Liara's search engines – I swear, that woman does not sleep. – she had been able to identify not only the suit he was wearing, but through a refinement of the analysis parameters – I really do need to work on the number of calculations my omnitool can handle, even while overclocked it took 2 and a half minutes. I could have a chunk of scrap metal, a circuit board, and some eezo making precision jumps in less time than that. – the mods attached to it too. After mining a little bit of the info Shepard had collected on his transactions – Does it count as stealing from a Spectre if I'm using the information to help him? - she had narrowed down when he had purchased the suit, and subsequently secured security footage as well as an omnitool code (again, thanks to Liara), telling her not only what he looks like, but also control over his omni-tool.

John stirred slowly, sitting up through the mess of sheets hat had become their bed rubbing his left eye with his palm. He squinted at her a few times, blinking, clearly trying to force the world into focus.

"Yurr uph uurl."

Tali giggled a bit to herself. Commander Shepard, ladies and gentlemen. "What was that, dear?"

"High ur yoo uph?"

"John, I still can't understand you."

"I'm unna take a shuwa."

Tali laughed again. Must still be half asleep. "That's a good idea sweetheart, why don't you do that."

John tried to climb out of bed, a movement that was typically executed with practiced ease and almost grace, were grace possible when waking up with as little sleep as he got. Except this morning, when his foot found itself wrapped firmly in the comforter, leaving his torso to flop out of bed, making an uncomfortable "smack" sound on the deck. Tali laughed as The Savior of the Galaxy quickly stood up, swaying from side to side from sleepiness, eyes still mostly closed and eyebrows contorted into some semblance of confusion. He shuffled across the room, left foot still caught in the comforter, until he stepped up with it to take the stairs, freeing his sheets as they were draped across the floor.

As he walked past, Tali turned to watch, amused at how a man who was typically so alert, and was well known for being one of the deadliest soldiers in the galaxy could look so utterly childlike when waking up. She slapped John's rear with the back of her hand, earning a startled yelp and a trotting scamper into the bathroom, much to her amusement.

1000 Hours, Zakera Ward, 26th Floor, Entrance to the Shipping Warehouse

Shepard stood to the side of the entrance of the shipping warehouse, all sense of sleepiness or grogginess gone. He was a sniper by training, a predator of the battlefield, capable of stalking his pray for days before eliminating it with ruthless, deadly precision. The room may not be a thousand yard shot, but the same mindset applied. His eyes glinted with a steel shaped in N-school and forged in combat, his movements smooth and precise, evidence of the strength and danger which hid behind them.

He was dressed in his typical Service Armor, the black metal armor over his typical working uniform having become his standard uniform since the war began, wearing a Kuwashii visor to help him identify his target and his Paladin strapped to his hip. The visor was typically intended to assist a sniper with precision shots, displaying range, windspeed, gravitational acceleration, and ideal firing point, along with other personalized bits of information for a sniper's use. With some help from Tali, however, Shepard had configured his to display omnitool signature codes of the various people that had walked by, and was programmed to identify Pundae Mal as soon as he fell within Shepard's line of sight.

Tali was standing farther off to the side on the other end of the room, appearing completely immersed in her omni-tool and moderately harmless, when truthfully, she was feeding Shepard information on Pundae's range through his micro-earpiece.

"Twenty yards. Fifteen. Ten. Alright, John, he should be coming into view now."

Shepard casually rotated his head around to watch as the doors to the shipping warehouse opened to let a Volus merchant through. His suit was an interesting brushed silver color, two blue stripes going down the left-side. His visor immediately identified the Volus with a red target square, displaying other statistics as well.

"Got him." He said, as he moved himself towards the center of the room, intending to intercept Mal there. "I won't be able to speak directly to him, but stand-by, I may need you for some scare tactics. I don't want to have to fire a shot."

"Understood, Shepard."

Shepard stepped in front of Pundae, much to the Volus' annoyance as he gestured with a hand to wave Shepard out of the way.

"Out of my way, Earth Clan, I have no quarrel with you." Shepard stepped in front of Mal again, the Volus' voice gaining more anger and edge to it. "I do, however, have an important meeting to get to, and if you continue to block me I will give C-Sec a quarrel with you."

"Pundael Mal, by order of The Citadel Council, you are under arrest."

The Volus stopped, looking up at Shepard, whose jaw had become set and eyes an odd but unsettling steel green.

"You can't do that!"

"I can, and I am. Come peacefully and you will not be harmed."

"You won't do this! I'm not guilty of anything! I have rights!"

Pundae went to move out of Shepard's way, again, finding himself yet again blocked by The Spectre.

"Mal, I'm getting very tired of this game. I am Spectre Shepard, and have been given permission to use all means necessary to bring you into custody, peaceful or otherwise."

Unlike most individuals Shepard met, Pundae did not seem to flinch at the mention of the word "Spectre".

"Spectre? Ha! I've seen a few Spectres in my time, Earth Clan. They're nothing but a glorified police force. Out of my way, you're making me late."

Tali cringed as she heard the insult come out of Pundae's helmet. Shepard didn't show it to many people, but he was incredibly proud of his position as a spectre. It was a symbol of humanity's further integration into the galactic community, as far as he was concerned, and it was an honor for him to be that symbol, almost more so than his N7 ranking. Insulting the spectres was not a good move.

Shepard stood his ground, letting Pundae pass as he called out after him.

"Do you know what powers a spectre has, Mal?"

The volus stopped, turning around to answer. People had stopped to watch the scene by now, and Tali had to move herself slightly closer to see around them. Why did it have to be a public place? Why couldn't he have just hid in an alley? Shepard and I seem to do a lot of things in alleys, why did this one, where I NEED to see what's happening, have to be in a crowded place.

"Tell me, what powers do they have, Spectre?" Tali was certain that, were he capable, Mal would have spit his last word.

John crossed his arms and raised his right one, a signal Tali did not miss.

"Well, first of all they can disable your omnitool with a snap of their fingers." As he said it, Shepard snapped his fingers, and Tali pressed three buttons on her tool. Instantly, Mal's omnitool turned a brilliant red, startling the Volus and causing him to stubmble slightly.

"Second of all, they can lock you out of every single account you have." Shepard snapped his fingers again, and at Tali's command the Volus' omnitool started to display every accound attached to it, all quickly being marked "Locked" in large red letters.

Pundae started sputtering, his pauses for breath becoming more frequent as Shepard approached.

"But do you know the favorite power I have, Mal? The one I love the absolute most?"

The Volus shook his head, stumbling over himself as Shepard continued to bear down on him.

"The power to play your evidence across this entire room." By now the entire room was observing as the hunter pursued his prey, some watching with amusement, others with mild horror. But as Shepard raised his hand, high enough for everybody to see, the room went quiet, with the exception of the sound of Pundae tripping over himself in his retreat.

Shepard paused with his hand in the air, giving Tali the time she needed to find both the room's audio controls as well as a recording she had worked out earlier. I didn't even tell him I had found a sound byte… how did that bosh'tet know?

"Snap"

The conversation played over the speakers was one of a scrambled Cerberus voice and Pundae, beyond anybody's doubt, and by the time it finished, not only was the crowd galvanized against the criminal, but he had given up completely, sitting while hanging his head.

"Pundae Mal, by order of the Citadel Council, for collaboration with a known enemy of Galactic Peace and putting Turian lives at risk, you are hereby placed under arrest. Under Citade Spectre Law, you will have a hearing with The Council at their discretion, anything you say until then can and will be used against you."

"John, I alerted C-Sec. Bailey and his officers are about to come through that door, they're about to come through that door in two seconds."

Shepard, after having wrenched Mal to his feet, turned to face the Volus, the helmeted eyes turning to face him.

"I like this spectre power too." Shepard snapped his fingers as a four man squad of C-Sec officers came marching through the entrance, leaving most of the crowd gawking mildly at the spectacle.

"Officers, I am leaving this individual in your custody, pursuant to Spectre Order 19, Section 5."

One of the Turians in the squad stood ram-rod straight, head bowed slightly and arms clasped behind his back. "Sir."

The squad walked out as Shepard turned to the crowd "Please carry on with your business, there is nothing to see here." He yelled as the bustle of the room began to resume again.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" He heard over his earpiece as both Shepard and Tali made their way to the exit.

"Maybe a little".

1300 Hours, Captain's Stateroom, Normandy, Dock D24

John and Tali reclined together on the couch, both resting their feet on the table as they turned their attention to John's omnitool open in front of them. Tali was resting her head on his shoulder while he put his arm around her, the two taking a short break in their day to relax before they both had more meetings and hearings and demands and orders and requests to attend to.

The orange screen was displaying a newscaster in front of edited in footage of a scene not three hours old, as both Shepard and Tali laughed at the retreating Volus.

"It really was amusing, you know, watching you bear down on him like that."

"I really didn't intend to cause that much of a spectacle."

"John, I've known you for three years know, and I can tell you that you adored the attention."

John's face turned a distinct shade of red.

"That's right, bosh'tet."

"At least we got him."

"Absolutely. Why was a Spectre sent after him anyways, seemed like C-Sec could have done most of the tracking."

"All of his contracts were written so that it was legal for him to take the money off the top, and they didn't have any hard evidence to support a seizure warrant on his omnitool. A few eye-witness testimonies, but you know how The Executor feels about those."

"So, they wanted you to go in and get the information when they couldn't legally do so?"

"Exactly".

John switched off his omnitool and turned to face Tali.

"So, you're telling me that I just illegally broke into an omnitool?"

"Pretty much, yeah. I happen to know a Spectre who might be able to claim it as an 'auxilliary to his investigation', though."

"Oh, would you now."

"I would. That same Spectre would probably be willing to go on record at any time for any person and say that he would be hopeless without your help, and that you were the reason we were even able to apprehend Mal today."

Tali brought her visor to John's forehead, a Turian kiss by all rights, but one she and John had discovered worked well given her suit. Minus the smudges.

"I wouldn't even be here without you, John."

"And I'd probably be dead countless times over without you, Tali. We're a team, and nothing is ever going to change that."

"Never."

"A sexy, brilliant Quarian Admiral Ambassador Engineer working with an Alliance Comamnder N7 Spectre? What could stand up to that?"

"Up until now? Nothing."

John reached down and kissed Tali's filter light, looking directly into her beautiful iridescent eyes.

"And nothing ever will."