"So, now what's going to happen?" Chase asked before sipping from his drink.

"I'll remain on the Citadel, testify in court against Zahra, the goundskeeper, Three and Thirteen, and rectify any final issues. This may take months, a year at most." Sariel looked around the bar. It was a far calmer and more relaxed setting compared to the Vex night club. He, Chase, and Amek were all sitting together in a booth, their drinks in front of them, waiting patiently for their food to be delivered.

"Meanwhile, a Spectre was assigned to track down Jesslyn," Amek said. "Did you hear who this Spectre is yet?"

"Of course not. They are keeping it confidential," Sariel said. He had little doubt that Valer was on his own personal mission to take care of Jesslyn, too. The Alliance had also been informed of events and was not happy. With those odds, Jesslyn couldn't hide for long.

"I bet the Alliance wishes Shepard was still alive to handle this," Chase said.

"I don't care who the Spectre is. I just wish I were involved," Sariel muttered. The turian waitress finally arrived at the table, carrying a platter of plates with their food. She placed the plates down and put the platter under her arm.

"Anything else needed, boys?" Her voice was very upbeat.

"No," Sariel grumbled.

"No, thank you," Amek smiled. Chase shook his head and the waitress nodded before walking away.

"What happened to Nine?" Chase asked. Then he began stuffing his mouth with his burger without waiting for an answer.

"She just disappeared," Sariel shrugged. He was sure that the day in the computer forensics office was going to be the last he would ever see of her. A small part of him wished she had listened to him and stayed longer. Her mental state couldn't have been stable."C-Sec is trying to figure out how she got off the Citadel. I know for sure she did something with the cameras; perhaps a cloaking device in her omni-tool to get out of the offices. After that, I have no idea what she did."

"Wow. The great detective Sariel Vier is stumped," Chase said.

"Not really. I just don't care to go find her," Sariel said.

"Really?" Chase frowned, "Would have been nice to have her tech skills with us."

"We don't need her." Amek had still been trying to figure out how she had taken and hidden those files. His pride was apparently hurt. Amek had managed to make a duplicate of the hard drive and was actively working on unlocking everything Nine had hidden. It was a break into her personal privacy, yes, but she had done the same for him. The current yield of data was enough for Amek to work with. Chase carried on with his questions.

"Doesn't she get the mansion now? I thought the files we found said the Matriarch left it to her."

"Yes. She did." Sariel stirred the sauce that was on the side of his plate of food. "Phrixus was able to obtain a warrant to investigate the location further for proof of Six's presence. It's a lovely place. Phrixus mentioned that C-Sec may auction it off if neither Nine nor Sashta's other two daughters claim it."

"Did you find anything interesting when you were there?" Chase asked.

"No, nothing. We'll worry about it later. I'd rather discuss other things besides the case." Sariel waved his hand.

"What? Really," Chase said, surprised.

"Yes," Sariel nodded. Both Amek and Chase stared at each other for a moment. "I think we should enjoy a little leisure time. I'm paying for all of it."

The two said 'thank you' at once. However, it was apparent that they were having trouble adjusting to Sariel's invitation to hang out. Chase broke the awkward silence.

"Nine was pretty cute, you know," Chase said.

"Nothing related to the case at all," Sariel warned.

"Oh, come on, it's not case related. It's a hot chick. Well...messy cute chick, who's really smart and outgoing." Chase smiled, lost in thought.

"No, she's not attractive in the least bit." Sariel's fears had been confirmed. Chase did find Nine to be attractive.

"Don't give me that," Chase laughed.

"She does not shave," Sariel said before he took the first bite of his own food.

"What?" Chase asked.

Sariel took the time to finish chewing before speaking again. "She does not shave like most human females," Sariel spoke much slower this time.

"Argh, really?" Chase made a face. "She did give me a hippy feeling... but she's easily one of those 'clean up nicely' types."

"Wait. How do you know that, Sariel?" Amek asked. Sariel quietly sipped from his cup, glaring at Amek for daring to ask that question.

"You sly dog!" Chase shouted and Sariel winced. It was loud enough that people from other tables glanced over.

"It is not like that." Sariel put his hand on his forehead and prayed the blond human would shut up.

"Yeah. Sure!" Chase grinned. There was a large piece of lettuce between his two front teeth. Sariel continued to explain himself, only in a much lower voice.

"She apparently doesn't carry an extra set of clothes with her, and when I went to the hotel where she was staying, she was not wearing any at all."

"This whole time I was thinking you were one of those asexual types," Chase said.

"Stop insinuating that I had relations with her. Believe me, she's the last person I would even consider. I prefer my own species." Sariel drank from his glass and dropped it on the table with a loud thud.

"Girls from your species aren't exactly all over the galaxy, Sariel," Chase spoke in a low tone of voice.

"Why would they have to be females?" Amek asked with a small smirk.

"I prefer my own species. Let's leave it at that." Sariel cleared his throat. " Now, let's talk about something else."

"You owe me 50 credits." Amek patted Chases shoulder.

"What are you talking about? I owe you nothing," Chase said.

"Yes you do."

"You were making bets on my sexuality?" Sariel interrupted.

"Well, it was a year ago," Chase began. "It was that case with that 300-year-old turian sword that belonged to the asari chick's father. She was hitting on you so bad, but it was going right over your head. So we argued about it."

"Chase thought you were asexual, I thought you were bisexual but preferred your own species."

"You did not!" Chase argued, "You thought he was completely gay. I owe you nothing."

"I was half right, you were completely wrong, you owe me 25 credits," Amek said.

"Why would you talk about that. Why would that be important at all?" Sariel asked.

"Well, Sariel, we don't know anything about you. This is the first time we've actually gotten to sit and chat about non-work related things with you," Amek said.

"Alright then, let's discuss something other than my sexuality. I do not see why that's important enough for bets."

"Did you see those asari sitting in the booth near the entrance?" Chase asked. Sariel nodded quietly. Chase continued in a low voice again, "Beautiful, weren't they? They were checking us out when we came in. We could pick them up easy."

"Nonsense. They only found me attractive," Sariel said.

"Only you?" Amek said.

"Yes," Sariel smiled.

"Then I dare you to leave with all three of them tonight," Chase said.

"No. Now really, can we discuss something else?" Sariel ate a little more.

"Fine, coward." Chase sat back in defeat.

"What made you want to invite us to get together anyways, Sariel?" Amek asked.

"I wanted to celebrate a job well done. I couldn't have done it without either of you, so I decided I should reward you two while I had the chance."

What Chase said next was news to Sariel.

"Reward? Huh, the reward from C-Sec you split with us seemed like plenty enough." Chase quickly added, "Not that I didn't want to meet up with you or anything when I came to pick up Amek. I was just surprised that you would want to meet with us. No offense really. I mean it."

C-Sec hadn't rewarded Sariel with any credits. They only dropped all the charges against him and Nine as he had hoped. He had been considering trying to get a temporary job with C-Sec to support himself while he stayed on the Citadel.

"I was actually surprised they rewarded you with so much," Amek added. "I thought they would have put that towards the property damage for sure."

"What are you talking about?" Sariel asked.

"The credits you sent this morning," Amek said.

"Yeah, 10k each," Chase said. Sariel pulled out his omni-tool, accessing his bank account. He discovered an extra thirty thousand credits that had not been there yesterday when he'd proposed the idea of the three of them meeting at the bar. Fifty thousand had been transferred to his account that morning, and twenty thousand had been transferred back out to Amek and Chase's accounts. There was an additional note attached to the first mysterious transfer.

Hard earned, honest credits. I swear. PS: Your red colored calendar buddy has a real sweet bottom. 3

"Sariel, what's wrong?" Chase asked.

"I got a message from my younger sister. She broke her arm and felt the need to send me a gruesome picture of it." It was convincing enough to explain the look on his face, and the two didn't ask further. "Yes, I was also surprised that they rewarded us," Sariel added.

They continued to eat and chat, spilling over into conversation about siblings. Sariel put his omni tool away and wondered if he might hear from Nine again. After all, Phrixus had shown little concern over her sudden disappearance. Either the turian had improved his act, or Nine had listened to Sariel and never left the Citadel at all.

[Thanks for to everyone for reading and reviewing!

Special thanks to neita, hana, icca( aka on here as ghost.713, go read her stuff!) for betaing for me.

Super special thanks to rshara(aka on here as Katerina Kintari, go read her stuff!) who was my main beta person and did a lot of work to help me deal with lots of grammar issues, switching viewpoint issues, and making me aware of my confusing rambling.]