"Niiice!"

I couldn't contain my excitement from the second I stepped into the awe-inspiring human-turian marvel of a ship, with a small bag in hand and an open mouth. Not only was I joining the crew of the SSV Normandy, I was doing it the day before my 21st birthday. Apparently, the engineering crew was understaffed, and they had no option but to bring in my rookie, freshly graduated ass at the last minute. I had to skip celebrating a wonderful, alcohol-related age milestone, but I never had many friends to celebrate with anyways. Maybe I'll make some new ones here...

Pilot Jeff "Joker" Moreau noticed me entering and grinned. "Okay, Harry, close that mouth of yours already. Unless you're planning on eating up the machinery."

"Hey Jeff!" I replied, grinning. He was a distant cousin, one of the few sane people I knew in my family. "Nah, I'll stick to edible food."

"Then you're in the wrong ship." He replied, with a half-joking, half-serious expression. "Won't find any of that here."

I smiled. "Good to see a familiar face."

"Same here, Harry. Welcome to the Normandy. Now get a grip and go to work already. We're departing soon. You missed the new captain's speech."

"Shit. Commander Shepard, right? I hope I get to meet her soon."

"Oh you'll definitely meet her. She has this obsessive urge to go around and talk to everyone around the ship. Every. Single. Day." Jeff remarked, with a laugh. "That woman cares a little too much sometimes..."

"Well, that's why she's the captain I guess."

"Yeah, yeah. Now go! Report to Adams down in engineering. You'll find the way."

"Yup. See you later Jeff."

I give him a high five and went on, down to the lowest level of the ship, the Engineering section. Within a few hours, I managed to irritate Lieutenant Adams quite a few times due to faulty calculations, involving simple arithmetic (hey, I said was a bit too excited!). Tali, an incredibly smart quarian undergoing her pilgrimage, helped me calm down and settle in (despite being quite nervous herself). Looks like I made a new friend already.

"Okay Douglas, you're done giving me headaches for today." Adams remarked, with a half-smile. "Go find the crew quarters and unpack your stuff. You have the morning shift tomorrow."

"Yes, Sir!" I picked up my small travel bag, said goodbye to Tali and the others, and made my way up the ship.

The moment I saw my bed, I let myself fall down on it, dumping my bag unceremoniously in the corner.

I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock. 3AM.

Huh?!

Looks like I dozed off without a change of clothes, and without a single bite of food. Immediately confirming the theory was an angry grumble from my stomach.

Lazily, I stood up and looked at the small mirror opposite my bed. I saw my tired face, along with light stubble and some serious 'bed head', staring back at me. I sighed and decided to head up to the mess and grab something to eat.

No need to look presentable, it's 3 in the night. Oh, and a happy birthday to me I guess.

As the elevator doors opened, I zombie-walked to the kitchen, humming the birthday song to myself like an idiot. I saw a huge energy bar on the counter. It looked quite expensive, and the wall of text in the packaging kept using the word "biotic"

Eh, that'll do. I unwrapped it as quickly as possible.

"Hey, that's mine!" a female voice announced from behind. Startled, I fumbled with the packet and (thankfully) stopped myself from dropping it.

I look back, really slow. I've heard that voice in the vids before… Please don't be her. PLEASE don't be her….

It was her.

Whelp, talk about an awkward first meeting.

Staring back at me, with a mildly amused, yet mostly unreadable expression is Commander Jane Shepard. I had seen her before, in the vids. Red hair, green eyes. The kind of woman that would stand out in a crowd, even among aliens. She looked… cute.

I snapped out of that inappropriate train of thought about my commanding officer, and instantly realised that I've been staring at her, in silence, for far too long.

"I said that's mine, soldier." She said, expression still unreadable.

"So..s-sorry…ma'am…not…a…soldier.." is all I managed to get out before I saw a smile form on her lips. And a laugh.

The cutest little laugh...

Wait, what? No… Stop messing around, brain!

I regained my composure, and tried to smile. "I'm sorry ma'am, I didn't see you. Harry Douglas. I work in Engineering. It's… it's my first day."

I followed that up with the most embarrassing attempt at a 'salute' I've ever done in my lifetime.

That made her laugh, once again. Looks like she's in a good mood. "At ease, Douglas. Just wanted to stop you there before you took a bite out of my food." She said, with a warm smile.

I hesitantly approached her and handed over the bar. She playfully snatched it from me, still smiling. Jeff had assured me that she was really nice to everyone, but that didn't stop me from internally freaking out. She looked a bit too relaxed.

"Why are you up right now? It's quite late, isn't it?" She asked with a straight face, biting into her apparently treasured energy bar, her green eyes not breaking eye contact from mine. Damn, she's so…

I spoke up before I could complete my thought. "I-I dozed off without sleeping, ma'am. I missed dinner. So, I was looking for something to eat."

"In that case, Dallas-"

"Douglas, ma'am. Harry Douglas." Wait, is she… drunk?

"Douglas." She kept smiling. "As I was saying – in that case, have this.." She broke off half of the enormous bar and handed it to me.

"Thank you ma'am. That's nice of you." I said, taking the broken piece from her hands.

"Just… stop."

I froze. What did she mean by that?

"I-I'm sorry?"

"Stop calling me 'ma'am' so many times, Dylan. I have a name!"

"I'm Douglas, ma- I mean…"

"Jane."

"Okay, J-jane.." Okay. Definitely drunk.

We stood in silence, eating those enormous pieces of god-knows-what. She hadn't broken eye contact.

Is this… some weird fantasy? A dream? Am I sleeping in my bed right now? I'm too drowsy to know for sure.

My thoughts were broken by her confident, breathy voice. "So, Douglas. I heard you humming when you came in. Happy Birthday!"

"Thank you… Jane. It's my 21st." I didn't know what else to say. That was surprisingly observant, for a drunk person.

She smiled, then started walking towards what I assumed are her private quarters. Thank God. That was getting increasingly awkward, every single second.

"It was nice to meet you, Jane." I said, slowly. "I… I should go."

"Wait!" She shouted at me as she went in. It was loud enough to possibly wake someone up.

I stood there, frozen, as she came out with two glasses filled with purple liquid. "We should celebrate. I was already… celebrating, anyways…"

I took a sigh of relief. For a moment, I was worried she'd invite me in. As if she ever would.

A few sips later, I told her that I really needed to go to bed. She took the glass from my hand, smiled, and headed back into her room. That was my sign, to run towards the elevator….

As I stood in the elevator, which was surprisingly slow for a ship of this caliber, I wondered about the extremely odd encounter I just had. My head was filled with questions I didn't dare to ask her. Why was she up so late, drinking alone? What was she "celebrating"? Will she even remember any of this tomorrow?

Jane.. *sigh*

I found myself smiling. Then I found my own hand slapping me in the cheek. Commander Jane Shepard. NOT "Jane". Shut up, brain!

Soon, I had fallen into the bed, into deep sleep.