The desert vacation had been in progress for a while. Before the destruction of Bahak, Rylie was able to get in contact with Admiral Ahern. He had his retirement home on Intai'sei returned to his ownership after her "supposed death." Ahern had no hesitation to hand ownership back to her. She originally planned to surprise Thane with a whole week or two of things to do on the desert world. There was no way all of that would happen now. She had to cut out almost everything save for a last minute ATV and shuttle rental, and a special, romantic dinner. As casually as possible she had asked what Thane's favorite meal was. At first the idea seemed a mistake as his favorite was of course something drell. It turned out it was very easy to find because the modern drell diet was largely seafood from the hanar home world. The drell recipes had become popular exotic meals amongst the seafood loving asari. Intai'sei, although human dominated had an asari run restaurant chain that served food from all over the galaxy. Because many of the people on Intai'sei tended to live miles and miles apart, the food was sold frozen for take home so that people cook the meals on their own.

The Normandy would remain in orbit around Intai'sei and Joker would pilot the shuttle to drop Rylie, Thane, and Garrus off at the small port town, Walden. There Rylie and Thane would take off for the apartment and leave Garrus behind. As planned Garrus was under the impression she was about to be arrested. It seemed cruel to trick Garrus like this, however Rylie felt like she was left with no other option. After Joker dropped them off, she sent Thane to pick up the rental vehicles while she took a very confused Garrus aside for a chat.

"Here are some credits and here is a ticket to Palaven," Rylie waved her omni tool while he held his awkwardly up to receive the items, "Good bye Garrus. "

"What?" as stiff as a turians face could be, Garrus expressed something close a kicked puppy. His mandibles flared out, but sadly down and his eyes were wide, "I thought you were being arrested?"

"I am. I'm just getting you the hell out of here first," Rylie said.

"I won't go anywhere. I'm sticking by your side so I can help you through this," Garrus said.

"No, Garrus, you can't. No one can help me right now," Rylie said.

"But Thane can?"

"Not even Thane. I'm going to give him credits and a ticket off planet just like you. Before that we're just going to go spend a day at my vacation house. The Alliance is arresting me there tomorrow," Rylie said.

"More sitting around and doing nothing. Really?" Garrus asked.

"You'd really think we'd do that?" Rylie smiled, "We're about to be separated for who knows how long and you think we'd just sit around and do nothing?"

"So I've inadvertently become a third wheel in your remaining romantic hours with Thane," Garrus said.

"You kind of did," Rylie nodded, "Whenever I get out of this, whenever the Reapers attack, then I'll need you around again. Thane however...I'd like to keep thinking I will get to see him again."

Garrus quietly looked beyond her in the direction Thane disappeared to. Then he turned back to her and put his hand on her shoulder, "You'll get to see him again."

"I know."

"What should I do till you get back out?" Garrus asked.

"Go spend time with your family. What do you think the ticket to Palaven is for?"

"How will that help you?" Garrus asked.

"Who the hell cares about me right now, Garrus, this is about you. Go be selfish for a few months. That's all any of us can do for now. Once the Reapers start attacking, everyone is going to regret not spending time with the people they love while they had the chance," Rylie said.

"True, but we need to do something to prepare though," Garrus said.

"Use your own head for that. I've got to answer for what I've done, we've already discussed this. Just don't forget about your family," Rylie said.

"Okay. I guess it is about time I paid my family a visit," Garrus sighed then looked past her, "I think," Rylie turned to see Thane arrive in the rental shuttle, pulling a trailer behind it, "What are you two planning to do?"

"We're going quading," Rylie grinned.

"I'm sorry could you repeat that?" Garrus asked.

"We're going...oh..." Rylie laughed, "Four wheeling, we're going to ride ATV's on the sand dunes."

"You sure I can't come along," Garrus asked.

"Romantic final hours," Rylie said.

"I'll stay out of the way. I can sleep on the couch," Garrus said.

"Sure, if the couch wasn't just a few feet away from the bed," Rylie said.

"What kind of cheap apartment is this if everything is in one room?" Garrus asked.

"Everything is ready to go," Thane said as he approached, "The false identities went through without any issue."

"Good, no surprise arrest," Rylie said.

"Vakarian," Thane held his hand out and shook hands with Garrus, "You have been a good friend and it's been a pleasure working with you."

"What, you're not going to give me any calls?" Garrus shook his head, "Just because she's out of the circle, doesn't mean we can't go hang out at a shooting range sometime."

"I'll try to stay in contact with you then," Thane smiled.

With their final goodbye, Thane and Rylie left Garrus behind and climbed into shuttle. They drove out into a vast red desert and opened the windows to let the hot, dry air fill the vehicle. The air blowing into the vehicle felt like a dryer on full blast but Rylie resisted the urge to close the windows. The trade off was seeing Thane perk up a great deal. He took a deep breath and smiled wide. Even his skin become a darker, healthier green. He looked around in a way that reminded her of a tourist that took a lot of pictures. Only he took those pictures with his mind instead of camera.

"Have you never been to a desert before?" Rylie shouted over the noise in the shuttle.

Thane shouted back, "I have visited deserts before, but while on a job, often in a city. I've never had much of a chance to go sightseeing. Look at those trees over there! Can we stop by those for a moment?"

"Sure," Rylie typed a command into the shuttles computer and it turned towards the patches of trees across a very flat area of cracked land. The partch the shuttled stopped by were thin and dry, with frail, naked branches. Around their base was a thick, spiny brush that prevented the couple from getting too close. Thane circled the trees and reached up to pull a branch down to inspect it. On one of the branches Rylie spotted a six legged, winged creature with large eyes that blended in with its tan, scaly skin.

"Look at this weird looking guy," Rylie pointed. Thane walked back around to her side.

"Fascinating," Thane smiled.

"Here," Rylie turned her omni tool on and turned around, "Lean in,"

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Taking a picture," Rylie said and Thane immediately leaned away, "Come on, I'll encrypt it. It's so I can have something to take with me."

"I see," he wrapped his arm around her to lean back in. A holo appeared above the omni tool that displayed a preview of the image. She moved it around a little to get the creature in the shot above their heads. She smiled and nudged him, "Smile." When he did she pressed a button, the omni tool made a buzz and clip noise like an old camera, "That wasn't so bad was it?" she asked. He hummed in an uncomfortable manner and turned back to the tree.

This is going to be a problem...I need to figure out how to convince him this is harmless.

The concept of pictures seemed to be a culturally strange stigma to drell. Or at least the older generations. She learned that after a situation where a random fan tried to get a picture of her. Thane took evasive maneuvers to avoid being caught by the camera. She tried to tease him afterwards about being camera shy only to get an angry earful explanation of his reasons behind it. In Thane's case, one obvious reason was he didn't need someone who wanted him dead to track him. To the drell species, with their perfect memory pictures weren't very necessary. There was no religious scare of souls being sucked out, it was more of mixed shyness and the feeling their privacy was invaded by the strange, pointless technology. However younger generations who had more galactic influences had no problem with it.

Rylie hardly ever took pictures to keep for herself. With constantly being on the move all her life, no family, friends and boyfriends who weren't around long enough, she never had felt a strong reason to. The few pictures that still survived on her omni tool, were tucked away, mostly forgotten till she would came across them again when looking up something else. On the Normandy SR2, Cerberus left a frame on one of the desks to decorate the room. It was the first frame she had ever owned and it sat empty on her desk for the entire mission. She had never really appreciated the value of a picture till now, with someone she knew well in advance would be temporary like everyone else had been. Of course, the first time in her life she actually wanted to take pictures had to be with someone who didn't particularly like to have his picture taken.

When the shuttle ride continued, they shut the windows so they could speak to each other in a normal tone of voice. She pulled the center cushion down to close the cup holders, then scooted to the center next to him. She twisted and put her feet up on the seat to lean into him. Then she tried to playfully take another picture and he grunted in disapproval. She reached her arm around the back of his neck to sneak another shot in and said, "Come on, you know my memory isn't as good as yours. I want to remember this trip for a long time." As she had hoped, connecting the pictures to memories seemed to turn his opinion about it a little.

"Hrmm, I would hope so," he leaned in to kiss her. It was what she called the memory issue. Thane often came across very shocked at things she couldn't remember, tiny details like the eye color of a merc they pursued to more important, personal things like the eye color of her own mother. He had privately expressed some fear that she would forget him after he was gone. No matter how much she assured him that couldn't happen, the idea seemed to fester in him whenever she would forget the simplest things. Like her own birthday.

"I noticed that you made a special food purchase by the way," Thane said.

"You did, did you?" Rylie smiled a little.

"I had wondered why you asked me about my favorite dish," he said.

"Was hoping to surprise you. It's my turn to try food from your people."

"I do not mean any offense, but do you know how to cook weit fish and hanar seaweed?" he asked.

"Actually I was hoping you knew how to cook it," she pressed her lips together.

"Fortunately I do," he said.

A little over an hour they made another stop by a colorful canyon, where she took several more shots. This time he smiled on his own for the pictures. On the final hour drive to the apartment they both slept, the seat reclined and cuddled up next to each other. The shuttle's windows were dimmed to block out the bright Phoenix star that still hung high in the sky. It may have been late in the afternoon on Intai'sei, by standard galactic time it was very late to them. When they finally arrived, they drowsily dragged their bags inside, put the food away in the fridge and collapsed into the bed. With a press of a button at the bed side, the large windows of the apartment also blocked out the bright sunlight.

When their technical morning came along, Rylie used the same bed side button to undim the windows, only to see it was pitch black out.

"Won't be much fun going outside with as dark as it is," Rylie said.

"We could always have fun in the dark right here," he pulled her close and began to kiss her neck gently.

She chuckled, "I better get the lotion then."

"Did you bring the good one?" Thane asked.

"Of course I brought the good one," she said in a raspy voice as she got up. The good one was a lotion Mordin had highly suggested to prevent rashes. It was asari, made from a flower on their home world Thessia with a very calming, pleasant scent and the faint traces of eezo. Thus it had the added benefit of creating a pleasuring experience for biotics. Since the stuff was highly expensive, usually the couple had to stick with some not nearly pleasant store brand stuff.

Using lotion had become standard foreplay for them. Especially after the disaster that was their first time. Although they had both read up on Mordin's advice, afterwards Thane had to make a quiet visit to the doctor to retrieve some rash cream. Then the following mission on the Collector base became a whole other level of hellish for Rylie because the cream wore away. The lotions and creams weren't a total fix, she still would get a small, minor rash somewhere, depending on where the lotion may have been too thin or missed entirely. She took to calling it the love rash to make a joke of it and to ease Thane who had been far more bothered by it than she was.

Then of course there was the little high and mild hallucinations that she got from kissing him. They usually revolved around the taste and smell of good food. Often she was left hungry after they had sex. This morning she was left starved. While they ate, they watched the star start to rise and planned to do their usual morning routine outside. Rylie enlisted Thane's help to get sunscreen on her back. A sunscreen she had thought about well in advanced, making sure to find something with the right chemical base to also protect her from the love rash.

"Your skin is so sensitive Siha, I'm not sure how your species survived with your planets star if it could burn you," Thane smiled.

"I'll have you know, the asari consort herself told me my skin is tougher than a turians," as she spoke, his smile grew in amusement.

"Did she really?" he chuckled.

"I'd like to see how funny you think it is when I have a sunburn and we don't have sex again for the rest of this trip," she grinned when his went away and he displayed his poker face. Rylie turned to him, "Go on out and get some sun. I can get the rest of this stuff on myself," she gave him a light kiss to send him off. There had really been no time to go shopping for vacation wear, so she was going out in her sports bra, uniform cargo pants, and boots. She couldn't even remember the last time she got to wear a pair of jeans, let alone shorts or a bathing suit.

When she stepped out of the bathroom and walked across the room, she stopped at the steps that lead to the little entertainment room area. She could see Thane outside the window, stretching in the morning sunlight with only his pants on. She quietly stepped down the stairs and over to the couch to sit down on her knees and lean against the back to watch him for a moment. The sunlight glistened off his smooth scales and drew attention to his flexing muscles with every slow stretch he did. He even did a few yoga poses. It always made her smile, not just because she was impressed by how sexy he looked while doing it. Mostly she was flattered that he had gone out of his way to study some of her Hindu culture, even if she wasn't much of a practitioner herself. She raised her omni tool and snuck a few more pictures. He then looked straight at her with a puzzled look on his face and she knew she was busted. Rylie grinned and waved before she got up to grab a self cooling water bottle before she headed outside.

"Were you enjoying the view?" he asked as she approached.

"Yup, and so were the two retired marine women sitting in the house over there," she pointed her water bottle to the neighboring home. Thane looked over at the home with a disturbed look on his face. She set the bottle down in the dirt, then began stretching, "Let's do some hand to hand today."

"That is a good idea. I would actually like to show you something I've learned," Thane said as he continued to stretch.

"Oh? Alright, " Rylie said. When she finished her stretches, she got into a defensive stance. Fists raised in the air like a boxer. Instead of going into an offense, Thane took her hands and placed one on his shoulder and held the other one firmly out. His freehand rested on her lower back, "You learned to dance," Rylie smiled.

"Specifically the waltz," Thane said.

"Waltz?"

"I thought it was a common human dance," he said.

"I...well, maybe not the part of the world I'm from?" Rylie shrugged.

"Then perhaps you can teach me a dance from your people," Thane said.

Rylie let out a loud laugh, "You really think after that stunt I pulled on Omega, I've had a single dance lesson in my life? Besides, takes a lot of discipline to do the dances from my culture. One finger out of place and you offend universe. Might be a little extra hard with your fingers."

"The waltz then? It's simple," Thane said.

"Sounds good to me," Rylie said.

"First you step back with your right foot..." he began to lead her along in the steps, creating a square in the sand, "Then we repeat, to keep rhythm we count. One two three, one two three,"

"Maybe I do know this," Rylie said as they continued.

"You do?"

"I think I saw it in a movie once. Isn't there suppose to be spinning?"

"Yes, but that makes things slightly more complicated," Thane said.

"Complicated, pff. I've got the square down, spin me," Rylie said.

"Then follow my lead, keep counting. Ease into it..." Thane lead her into a turn.

"Woo," Rylie was surprised by it.

"Something the matter?" Thane asked as he paused.

"Not the spinning I was thinking of, but fun though," Rylie grinned.

"What sort of spinning were you thinking about," Thane asked.

"Forget it, let's just keep going. One two three..." they continued to dance slowly across the sand and Rylie spoke up after a bit, "We need music."

"Got it," Thane flicked his omni tool on as they paused a moment. He turned on a very familiar tune.

"Now, I really recognize this, don't know the name though," Rylie said.

"The Blue Danube. Now, let's continue. One two three..." off they went again, their pace increasing as they went along and in a way she began to lead. He said, "Not too fast, it has to be with the beat of the song."

"Okay," Rylie said trying to slow the pace down again, "I need a video of this." She took her omni tool out of her pocket, setting it to record a few feet away on the ground. She returned to him and they continued to dance. Eventually, he showed her a dance from his own culture. Another simple dance that they stood side by side, with arms locked, sweeping their legs in front of them as they moved back and forth, side to side.

"Put your back against mine, and lock your other arm with mine," he said and she followed his directions.

"Ready," she said and then she erupted into laughter as he lifted her up onto his back. He began to run around in a circle, "This isn't a dance is it?" she asked.

"No," Thane said, with a little strain in his voice.

"Glad to see this weather is making you feel good enough to show off," Rylie said.

They spent the rest of the morning riding the ATV's a few miles out from the apartment. They took a packed lunch with them with plenty of water and picnicked on some sand dunes. More pictures were taken, this time Thane instigated them himself by stealing her omni tool. They wrestled around the picnic blanket, trying to gain control of the little device, when she noticed a red streak in the sand. She reached out and pushed the sand to the side and up popped a desert flower. It had a long red steam and leaves, and red edged, white petals that created a funnel like shape. She snatched the omni tool back from Thane and scanned the flower.

"Not poisonous and not endangered, " she said before she picked it. She held it over to him, "I read somewhere, that it is drell custom to keep certain objects to trigger favorite memories. This flower is for you to have a good memory triggering... thing."

"Mnema'syne... a memory key," Thane smiled as he took the flower.

"I wasn't sure how to pronounce it," Rylie said.

"I will cherish it, thank you," he kissed her lightly, "I'm not sure how I will be able to keep it alive though."

"Dry it out, hang it upside down for a few weeks. It'll be delicate but it will hold it's color and shape better," she said. Thane gave her a curious look and she was forced to explain herself, "One of my tutors when I got into biotic boot camp made a hobby out of drying flowers. He always had the stuff hanging around the room."

"I see. What sort of tutors was this?" he asked.

"Um...a private tutor teaching me elementary math," she pressed her lips together for a moment, "I had to get all the elementary school stuff shoved in a short period of time before I could officially join the Alliance. So I had all these private tutors for two or three months at a time..."

Later, when they returned to the apartment, she made her way to the bathroom for a cold shower to clean the dirt away. Even though she brought herself several bottles of water, she still felt weakened and tired from the heat. She also had to pee again. Thane was exactly opposite, he was so energized that there was a bounce in his step. He followed her to the bathroom, ignoring the word cold as she repeatedly warned him. Cold to her meant really, really cold to him. He remained undeterred though. Then she stripped and used the toilet, she noticed he had a strange expression on his face.

We peed in front of each other ten times today, he can't be weirded out now...

"What's wrong, you okay?" she asked as she flushed the toilet. He turned and cleared his throat, hand hovering over his mouth.

"Yes, I'm fine," Thane said, his voice sounded stressed.

"You don't sound fine," she said.

"Um... I..." Thane roughly coughed and Rylie felt her chest tighten.

"Now you're scaring me," Rylie moved to his side. He moved his hand from his mouth a little to show the smile he had. His eyes glanced down to her chest and back up to her, "What?" she looked down at her chest.

"The sunscreen appears to have not been strong enough," he chuckled.

"It's a tan line. No biggie," Rylie traced her hand on where her bra strap left a mark. Thane looked away and coughed again, clearly trying to hold back laughter, "What's so funny?"

"I apologize but it looks so very strange," he cleared his throat. Admittedly, she couldn't remember the last time she had seen her skin this dark and the contrast with her paled, starship skin was a bit drastic.

"You know to a human male this would be pretty damn sexy," Rylie then cupped her breasts, "It highlights the boobs." Thane burst into laughter and leaned against counter, arm rested on his stomach. Rylie had never seen him like this before. Laughter escaped her own mouth as she turned, "What do you think of that Thane?" she slapped her butt cheek as she headed towards the shower stall.

"Ah! Rylie," he roared.

"It's a good thing I don't have any insecure issues with my skin or anything," Rylie smiled.

"I am sorry," Thane sputtered out and gasped.

"Don't be, I like seeing you like this," Rylie turned the shower on to the cold temperature, "Mister polite and stiff, can't stand up straight he's laughing so hard." In a blink of an eye, she felt him wrap his arms around her and then unwrap them to jump back away.

"Why is the water like ice!" Thane demanded.

"I warned you," Rylie shouted.

"That is too cold, you are going to make yourself ill," Thane said.

"If I don't cool off I'll get ill," Rylie said, "Just give me five minutes, please," she felt a little guilty as he retreated back out of the shower stall. They didn't really have a lot of time left, fifteen hours at the most, but she felt like her head would explode if she didn't take a cold shower. After a moment it did the trick, she felt tired but relieved, then she heard that old camera sound that came from her omni tool, "What are you doing?" Rylie looked back at the opening of the stall.

"Nothing," Thane responded. She looked around the corner into the bathroom. Thane stood quietly in the buff, hands folded behind his back, "Have you changed the temperature yet?" he asked.

She noticed her omni tool now sat on the counter, "How did my omni tool go from my pants pocket to the counter?"

"You took it out of your pocket and put it there," Thane tilted his head a little.

"No I didn't, I left it in my pocket," Rylie said.

"The heat must be affecting your memory, Siha. I saw you take it out and leave it on the counter before you undressed," Thane said.

"Did you take a naked picture of yourself?" Rylie flat out asked.

"What!" Thane looked somewhat offended at the suggestion, "I would never be so conceited!" Rylie immediately stepped out of the stall and walked over to the counter. Thane moved quickly and reached out to stop her. She tried to avoid him only to slip on the tile floor. She lit up in a blue burst of biotics to cushion her fall, then realized Thane had grabbed her by the arm. She hung in the air, awkwardly and then used her biotics to pull her omni tool over. He used his biotics to push the omni tool back. The omni tool floated in the air, swaying back and forth just out of reach of her hand.

"You know I'm going to see it eventually," Rylie said.

"If you wish to see my naked, I'm right here," Thane said.

"You really took a picture of yourself naked! " she shouted as he dropped the omni tool back onto the counter. He flipped her around in an attempt to pick her up, only she slipped away and tugged on her arm that he still grasped tightly. Then she said, "I'm going to send a copy to everyone." His brow hardened and he began to pull her back toward the shower stall. Her wet feet slid across the floor with ease. She continued to tease, "I'm going to send a copy to Jack and you know she's going to find the biggest billboard in the galaxy to put it on."

He braved the cold water to change the temperature to a more comfortable lukewarm. The water negated too much physical contact between them, any protection on her skin had been washed away. So they stood in the shower with a few inches between them, holding hands and kissing awkwardly. They had discovered long ago that his hands never seemed to cause any rash, they could hold hands and he could touch her without consequence. And of course, there was no rash caused by lip contact. Just the euphoria and right now, the taste and smell of barbecue chicken. This all meant they could become a bit more sexually creative at times like this. The mood killer was that she was still too fatigued to respond well to his traveling hands and lips. She ended up leaning against the wall of the stall, happy but half asleep.

"Perhaps you should take a nap. I'll prepare dinner while you rest," he spoke in a soft voice.

"That sounds nice," she gave him a weak smile. After the shower, she dried off and immediately got into the bed. With the barbecue chicken taste still in her mouth, she dreamt about hosting a barbecue outside of the apartment. It was as if all the problems she had went away. No more Cerberus, no more Batarian massacre, no more Kepral's killing her boyfriend, most importantly, no more Reapers. She was at the grill, somehow she knew how to use it and meat would appear out of nowhere on the grill. She'd scoop it up and put it on paper plates. Everyone was there from both Normandy crews, with the addition of Feron and Kolyat. Anderson, Ashley, and Kaidan showed up as though nothing had happened. Kaidan brought along several bottles of Canadian whiskey and became quick friends with Miranda. They were all casually dressed in summer cloths, Rylie had a pair of long desired, comfortable jeans on, and there was no clear reason to why Garrus and Tali could stomach the food. In fact, part of the dream Rylie spent trying to catch Tali with her mask off. Whenever she took the mask off, her back was turned and Rylie would run around only to see Tali had another mask underneath.

Then reality returned. Rylie woke up to a small rash on her hip and a very sweet smell. She sat up to see Thane had dressed and was in the middle of setting the table. He had even lit a couple of fat candles that she did not recall purchasing. She got her own cloths back on and sat at the table with omni tool in hand to take pictures as he finished the final touches to the meal.

"You are looking much better now," Thane said.

"I feel a lot better," Rylie said as she zoomed in on the meal. Once cooked the weit fish fell apart in stringy, chunks and it had very sweet, mango like taste to it. He showed her how the drell ate the meal and wrapped the fish in the bland Hanar seaweed, then dipped it in a cool sauce.

"Ever thought of adding rice to this?" Rylie asked.

"I've seen a human serve rice with the meal before. I suppose this isn't that far off from the meals of your people. Only, your people tend to make your food more spicy. My people prefer things more sweet," Thane said. When dinner was done they washed the dishes and tidied up the apartment. Rylie didn't want to leave it a mess for the admiral who would no doubt have it returned to his ownership again. Then they danced for a bit to soft music, not the waltz this time, they alternatively just held each other close as they rocked back and forth. It wasn't too long before they were in bed again with a bottle of lotion. The rest of the night was restless. Even though she longed to sleep, she couldn't with the thought that any moment the warning call from Joker would come in. Thane could not sleep either and they drowsily talked for hours, losing track of time over the most simple conversation topics they had never had the time to talk about before.

What's your favorite color? Did you see this movie? Have you been to this place?

The sound of the consul finally going off brought on such a cold dead silence to the room. It was Joker, the Alliance had entered the system and were on their way to board the Normandy. In s few hours they expected a separate squad to be sent to her location to pick her up. The couple got redressed to have a very quick, premade burrito breakfast in bed and again, they watched the sky change colors as the Phoenix star began to rise. She took a picture this time, as well as one of him lit up in the orange morning glow.

"Was the star rising or setting when we first met," Rylie asked. Thane looked at her with a disturbed look on his face, "I seriously don't remember. I lost all track of time chasing you up that building. All I know was that the light was in my eyes when I first saw you. I didn't even know you were green for a while there."

"It was morning, the star was rising," Thane said.

"Damn it... ah well it doesn't matter, it's still all backwards. This star should be setting right now, not rising," Rylie said.

"That's a curious concern," Thane said.

"Trying to think of something romantic you know, wait..." She shook her head, "No, the sun rising again is better."

"The sun rising now would mean it's not the end for us yet. It's a new beginning," Thane said.

"Exactly," Rylie smiled and leaned into him. A cloud of dust from a vehicle began to show over the horizon. An early morning rider was somewhere out in the distance.

"How can you not remember whether it was evening or morning when we met," Thane asked.

"I was expecting to recruit a skilled fighter that day, not a potential boyfriend. I don't think any of that was even remotely romantic anyways. Did you?" Rylie said.

"You didn't like the corpse I dropped from the vent for you," Thane asked.

Rylie laughed, "I think Garrus was more impressed with you that day than I was," the look on Thane's face told her that despite his little joke, he was a tad displeased with hers. It was all the memory thing again. She didn't exactly start the conversation off well, not remembering details of their first meeting which should have been vital to her.

"You know what I found really memorable about how we first met," she asked.

"Tell me," he said.

"The fact with everything that was going on, you took the time to make sure as many of those salarians were as safe. I was really impressed later when you told me you were trying to race me to the top and you still took that time to protect those guys," Rylie smiled as he leaned in towards her, "Yeah, you were incredibly skilled at kicking all those guys asses. That dance you did to take out Nassana was pretty slick and unforgettable. But the compassion you showed for those salarians. I knew I was dealing with someone I was going to like. Love is an entirely different story though,"she said. He kissed her long and intensely. The thought crossed her mind to risk going lotionless for a quickie, only sound of a shuttle landing outside pushed that thought away. She pulled away to stare into his eyes, one of those rare occasions where she could see the green hue of his irises.

"I enjoyed very much Siha. Thank you for bringing me here," Thane had a soft smile on his face.

"I'm just happy it happened at all," Rylie said with a sigh, "Not as I wanted it to happen, but it happened. At least we got to go quading."

"That is a very unfortunate phrase," Thane said.

"I know," Rylie laughed and kissed him again before she sat up.

"I will send you messages whenever I can," Thane ran his hand down her back. She could even feel a slight tug on her shirt as though he was tempted to hold her back.

"I hope that I get to see them and respond," Rylie said, " Make sure you talk to your son. Spend time with him, don't waste time waiting on me please."

"Yes, of course," Thane said. Rylie climbed out of the bed then turned back to him.

"And use those credits I gave you. Use it on anything you want, anything at all," she said.

"I will," Thane said getting up onto his knees.

"You can spend a few more days here if you want. I won't mind. It's been really good for your health..." she stopped when he put his hand on her cheek.

"It will not be the same without you," Thane said. He kissed her again. She didn't want to bother to stop him to go and attempted to drag this kiss out.

Another minute please. Keep delaying.

To her disappointment he had the sense to pull away. He leaned his head against hers in hesitation though.

"When this is over... when we win... how about we come back here," Rylie said, "You can spend your last days basking out in the sunlight. I'll take care of you, we can hire a nurse or maybe Kolyat can come help out too."

"I'd like that," Thane said. They both winced at the booming voice that said the very words Rylie never imagined she would ever hear.

"Commander Rylie Shanti Shepard, by order of Admiral Hackett of the Systems Alliance, you are to be taken into custody. Come out of the building with your hands in the air."

She could feel her heart sink like a ton of brinks, her body froze up in pain.

I joined them to avoid prison. Here I am being arrested by them.

"Time for me to go. I'll see you later love," Rylie sighed as she pulled herself away. Her hand held onto his for a moment though. He kissed it gently.

"Until then, Siha," he smiled and she smiled back.

The soldiers voice boomed again, "This is your first warning. We will infiltrate the premises if you do not come out with your hands up in there air, immediately."

"I'm coming," Rylie shouted.

"Everything will be fine," Thane said.

"I know it will," Rylie began to walk away. She walked outside with her hands up in the air. Eight Alliance soldiers swarmed around her, weapons pulled and ready. A couple slipped past her into the building. Another scanned her with his omni tool.

"She's not carrying any weapons, only an omni tool," he said. The team's lead approached her.

"Hand over your omni tool," he held his hand out. Rylie stared quietly at the soldier, then she reached down into her pocket to pull it out.

Of course they would confiscate that... She dropped the tool into the palm of his hand.

"No one else is here, it's clear" one of the soldiers came back out of the apartment.

"Is there any chance I can get some files back later?" Rylie asked as the previous soldier that scanned her now cuffed her hands.

"That isn't up to me," the soldier put the omni tool away into an armored pocket. As they led her away to the shuttle, she made a quick glance back to the apartment. Thane sat on the roof of the apartment, close to an indent he could easily slip into hide. There was a sharp pain in her chest as she looked forward again to climb into the shuttle.

You didn't really need those pictures. It was a fun thought. You'll get to take more later. You will see him again and he will be alive and everything will be fine. Shit... there's a naked picture of him in there. Well at least they can't accuse me of being a human supremacist anymore. It smells like spaghetti in here...