Chapter Thirty-Five: Cautious Dating

Here is the next chapter for you all.

First off I want to apologize for getting this out far later than I would have liked. I got writers block and for the life of me no matter how many times I came back to try and continue where I left off nothing would come to me. -.- Vastly irritating.

Review Replies:

ArchAngel319: I am glad that you are enjoying the story still. That makes me happy to hear. I hope you enjoy this chapter.

pt1oef: That writing can be.

specter237: I am happy you are enjoying.

A13x (guest reviewer): I'm not going to lie I have gone back to your review several times just to read how you describe Tali and Chief. XD It is so accurate lol.

Diamond of soul (chapter 2 and 35): (I hope I picked the right language to translate it from. Sorry if I got it wrong.) I am glad you are enjoying the story. : )

End Replies:

I hope you all enjoy and have a Jesus filled day.

HMHMHMHMHMHMHMHM

Previously:

Tali thought for a moment, "There are differing sides some of us want to kill off all geth and take back the planet by force and there are others that simply want to have peace with the geth. I'm not sure which side will win out. As far as I know there are still two clear sides on their view of geth."

"What is your stand?"

"I'm…not entirely sure to be honest. Before meeting Cortana I didn't think there was a way to have peace with A.I. but after… I don't know where I stand on the issue anymore." The two reached the entry to the citadel where Tali said, "It's probably best we drop this part of the conversation for now. The last thing we should talk about on here is the geth. There will be many who will have a view on them." Chief nodded in understanding and followed her inside.

Now:

Getting to the Citadel Master Chief discreetly looked around at all the people that were around him and Tali. While he was getting curious looks, he really didn't care as he was now more concerned with keeping the locations of every exit that they were near or walking around. They had gotten past the check point without trouble, thanks to Cortana he had a valid ID to be able to go around the station, or where ever else he needed to go. Tali was relaxed a bit but she seemed cautious at the same time. From what he understood most people here didn't take too well to quarians. While he himself was cautious around all aliens he did find it slightly ridiculous that they would pick that one race of alien out to dislike in that manner.

Seeing a particular alien looking at him he gave part of his attention to them as he took in that it was a turian just like Garrus except that he had different color armor on. He was pretty sure that the other was part of C Sec. Garrus had told him a little bit about it so he was somewhat familiar with they did. He'd make sure not to cause any trouble if he could avoid it. Despite getting past the checkpoint he was still warned that if they thought he was doing anything suspicious then they could be held up for an unnecessary amount of time. Not that he didn't know that before getting the briefing from Garrus. However, with his luck he'd likely be able to talk it out if there was anything wrong. If there was anything he learned besides what was expected of him in the military, it was how to talk himself out of a terrible situation for the most part.

Next to him Tali glanced up at him when she caught on to the fact that he and the C Sec officer were analyzing each other. Gently touching his arm she got part of his attention as he was still taking in everyone else around him at the same time, "Are you okay, Master Chief?"

"Yes." Was the short reply that she had gotten from him.

She smiled under her helmet, it was kind of endearing for her that he continued to speak with such short responses the way he did. It backed up the amount of military background that she was sure that he had. It was also funny to her that both Shepard and Chief had such big military backgrounds and both replied differently. It would be rather strange to her if the chief started talking like Liam. "The restaurant is just up ahead. Did you get a chance to look over the menu when I gave you the name earlier?"

"Yes." Chief replied with a polite nod of his head.

"Were you able to tell what was dexto and what wasn't?" Tali asked curiously as she had forgotten to tell him the difference.

Ice blue eyes locked onto her eyes again causing a pleasant chill to go up her spine. "I didn't when I first read it but I did afterwards."

"Sorry about that, I forgot to send it when I sent you the menu."

"It's fine." The human replied as he looked at the entrance to the restaurant that they were going to eat at. It had the same color that their menu had, red and a golden yellow. The lettering was made in such away that he would think they were trying to make themselves fancy he'd guess. He wasn't too sure about that one since he didn't really have many chances to try restaurants like this.

Reaching the restaurant hostess he gave her his attention while Tali answered the questions that was being asked of her, "What is your reservation under?"

"Tali-Zorah." The quarian replied as she glanced at her date, who seemed to immediately note the woman's reaction to her. She hoped that he didn't do anything brash as her people still needed time for others to get over their prejudice of quarians.

The woman turned her attention to Master Chief who continued to look at her with a blank stare, however even the hostess picked up on the danger that he possessed even with out his armor. Giving a forced smile the hostess picked up a couple of menus, "Please, follow me. Your table is right this way."

Reaching her hand out, Tali place it against the man's arm getting his attention. Though she still didn't know if he could actually see past the screen of her suit, she smiled hoping that it would help to keep him calm. Ice blue eyes met her own still holding the epitome of calm. However, there was something in his body language that suggested to her that instead of hostile behavior he seemed more confused by the woman's distaste of Tali.

Thankful for being able to read the subtlest of body languages Tali followed the hostess with Chief not far behind her. Inside however she felt a bit thankful for one that seemed to have issues with aliens from his own universe and that he was taking well to the ones on the Normandy. There were a few that had caught his attention obviously but for the most part he seemed to be reacting to what he was feeling from them more than they fact that they were a specific alien.

Just on the way here he seemed to react to several batarians that had walked past them as well as the vorcha he had caught sight of from the corner of his eye. Overall if Tali had to guess he wasn't a fan of the vorcha as an alien race. Perhaps they reminded Master Chief of an alien he would see in halo universe. She wasn't sure overall but at least it was an alien that most seemed to an issue with more than another like batarians. Batarians had gotten a bad name like quarians from a few of their people's actions. Reaching their table she sat down. Looking across the table she watched as Chief sat down looking at all the décor and of course possible escape routs in the room.

She was happy that she had experience being around military personnel, otherwise she would take offense to the fact that he was doing this in a public space. To others that were there it probably looked like he was looking for a way to get away from her, if they knew how to read Master Chief. Before she could observe the man across from her more a waiter walked up with a false smile on his face, "Welcome to Roswell Diner, my name is Greg. Do you know what you want to drink?"

"Water will be fine for me." Tali replied turning to look at the chief as he gave the same response not even bothering to look at the menu as he gave the waiter part of his attention and the other part towards a different customer near the back of the restaurant. What had caught his attention about the customer, she had no idea but whatever it was it had set him on edge just a bit where he was not about to let him out of his sight so long as he was in the room with them.

"Very good, you drinks will be out shortly." Greg typed the drink order into the data pad that he had in his hands, "Do you know what you want to eat?"

"I need to look a little longer." The quarian admitted folding her hands on the table. Greg nodded and walked off, allowing Chief to now give his attention, he had given him to her. "Did you ever go to places like this when you were home?"

"No, there was never time." Master Chief replied his ice blue eyes once again looking right into her own eyes. She was now fairly positive that he could indeed see past the screen of her mask and actually see the detail that was hidden behind it. Strangely that made her feel warm at the very thought. That would mean that he was not repulsed by what he saw. Part of her had worried that with his experience with aliens from his universe that it would make him against being around those that did not fully resemble a human. Though that was a silly thought do to how well him and Garrus got along.

Not sure if bringing up his family was a good idea, so she decided to avoid the topic. With what she could gather from his body language on his time in the Normandy she had a good idea that he didn't even know who they were. It also helped that Garrus as well seemed to only bring up comrades in arms if referring to anyone close to Master Chief. She could assume that the two of them had some kind of conversation about it at some point and haven't gotten back to it since. "Back home, have you ever trained with any one that wasn't at your level of strength?"

"Yes, more times when my team and I were in the beginning portion of my and my fellow Spartan's training. When I did fight others that were not at my level things did not end well." The Chief replied resting his arms on the table continuing from where he left off, "Then there were intentional fights that were set up from the major who was over seeing my and fellow Spartan's training."

"So you ended up mainly training with those at your strength or at least have skills to at least combat you?"

Chief nodded looking at her. "What about your training?"

"My father made sure that I had the best military training growing up. Due to the position my father has among my people a lot is expected of me." Master Chief gave her a nod in understanding though he chose to stay silent. She was actually thankful for it. She really didn't want to talk too much about her up bringing. It was also why she had decided to avoid the topic of family. Not only was she not willing to talk much about it she knew he would be reluctant to do so himself do to his short time that he had been with them. She didn't really blame him; she would be the same way if she had ended up in his universe. "I'm not sure if you ever found this out but what is your favorite color? I am a fan of the color lime green."

At first the question baffled Chief. He had heard the marines talking about favorite colors and why they had liked them to begin with but he had never put in thought himself. "If I had to choose, then either dark blue or green."

Tali smiled under the helmet looking down at the menu that she had in front of her. She quickly looked over the options for dexto food before looking up and asking, "What is your preferred books to read?"

"Combat."

It was a simple reply but it made sense to Tali. He was a man of action. As much as he thought everything through, he got a lot of what he needed to through action. It seemed almost preferential that he learned through hands on techniques. From the few spars she had seen between him and Garrus, it had become clear that it was now the turian that was now learning how to combat Chief. Whatever the human needed to pick up on he found and was now helping Garrus. The one who seemed the most up to par with the Spartan was Arbiter. "I read a little bit of everything though I lean more towards comics like Lorane Crow and fictional books."

Their waiter returned to their table with the waters they had asked for. His false smile slightly dropping to confusion when Master Chief switched the cups he and Tali had and then put the cup he had taken to a spot he was likely not to reach for. Ice blue eyes met the man's own brown causing him to now smile nervously as he asked, "Have you figured out what you want to eat?"

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Garrus and Arbiter walked past Roswell Diner and unable to prevent himself from checking in on the two, the turian looked through the doorway to see Master Chief giving a blank expression. Though he had only been around the human for a short time he could already tell the danger that was behind the look. Chuckling he turned to focus on where he was going, "That man is going to have a problem if he gets on Chief's bad side."

"You don't mess with the Demon. There is very little that can stand in his way." The sangheili replied keeping his brown eyes on the scene till they were no longer visible. He kept the man in his memory just in case he ever came across from him again. Just from the short bit he had seen he could already tell that he was a danger to Tali. How Chief kept himself from outright assaulting the man for what he had chosen to do was a miracle.

"And now we have you acting in the same manner. Is this something that we should go in an do something about?" Garrus asked stopping in the middle of the walk way to meet the Arbiter's eyes.

"No, the Demon has got it under control."

"Well the place you and I are going to eat at isn't far from Roswell Diner. We will be close by should they need any back up."

"It won't come to that. Those in there don't stand a chance against him. Even without his armor."

Garrus nodded in agreement walking along side of the sangheili to the restaurant of his choice. He had chosen it just in case the Chief and Tali needed him or Arbiter. The way some of the people acted on the Citadel bothered him and he didn't want them bothering Tali just for being the alien that she was. The way others reacted to quarians got under his skin though he didn't show it. He had been glad to see that the Chief was standing up for her on the date the two of them were on.

Chuckling to himself he felt amusement enter him at the very thought of Chief having no clue he was even on a date. At least his first experience while on a date was with Tali. He may not know what he was doing now but he would for sure later whether or not he and Tali worked out in the end. Tali knew what she was getting into asking him to go eat with her in this way, so there was no delusions to break if the chief was not interested in that way. He hoped it worked out though. It would be good for the both of them.

Feeling the brown eyes of Arbiter on him, he turned and smiled at him, "Sorry about that." The other alien didn't give him a vocal reaction but that didn't bother Garrus, he hadn't been expecting any to begin with. "So have you tried dexto food yet?"

"I haven't gotten around to trying. Even if I did I'd try it near Dr. Chakwas."

"Or you could have Dr. Solas take a look if your genetic make up will allow you to. It would be a safer way to do that and you would have to get your blood checked out anyway when you try it." Garrus supplied as they reached the bar and grill place he had picked. The two of them took a seat.

Arbiter thought about what the other had suggested while the batarian bartender walked up to get their order. "What can I help you two with?"

"We will each take a water to begin with; my friend needs to look through the menu. He hasn't been here before."

The bartender nodded and walked off, though he did look at the physical structure of the sangheili for a quick second. Garrus could only guess what the other was thinking. Turning his attention to Arbiter he smiled as the other looked over the menu. Arbiter was looking through some of the ingredients to one of the dishes, "I never thought to ask about that."

"I didn't expect you to." The sangheili replied now turning his attention to a different menu item.

Garrus shook his head taking the water from the bararian that had been placed in front of him. It had thrown him off that an alien from the halo universe was able to eat human food he had never even thought to ask about foods he was unable to eat. Not that there weren't aliens that could eat human foods here of course, he just wasn't expecting another universe to be able to have aliens do the same thing. Perhaps he could ask if there were aliens limited in what they ate like turians and quarians.

Seeming to finally find one that he could stomach Arbiter looked up and watched the people walking by. He was unbothered by all the looks he was getting from them. He had been expecting it. It was a lot like how he was looking at all of them. He didn't trust any of them around him. He being the only one of his race here made him stand out like a sore thumb. Thinking back he wondered what his people were thinking. Did they even know he was gone or were they looking for him just like he had gone to search for the demon?

Troubled by this he drummed his fingers on the counter he was sitting at. What if more people found the spot he and the demon had disappeared through. With the exception of their larger ships the other ships would be crushed and likely kill the occupants inside. The fact that he and the demon lived was nothing short of a miracle. Without the shielding the ships had in this universe had any and all ships would have some kind of damage.

Then there was the danger that the demon had brought to his attention, the collectors. Just knowing two came from an entirely different universe they would go and try to find it. However, the technology that surrounded the blue energy wasn't there for the one that transported him and the demon. Was this one they forgot about or did it get destroyed and somehow connected to their dimension? He would need to bring this up with the demon. The two of them would decide what to do with this information.

Getting a small nudge from the turian, Arbiter turned and looked at Garrus indicating to the menu, "What do you want to eat?" Arbiter turned to the batarian ordering, making sure to ask for some of the food items off. The last thing he needed was to get sick.