FicWad

As Optimus and Arcee entered the Citadel Tower, Acree was amazed by the beauty of the gardens and fountains that made up the area that lead to the Council chamber. As she looked around she saw many people of different races walking around the area or sitting on the benches talking to one another. She unintentionally overheard a conversation between a Turian and Salarian discussing the chances of a Volus getting a seat on the council.

"No chance there." the Salarian replied.

"The Volus would need a ladder to reach the seat." gaining a laugh of approval from the Turian. Acree frowned at the remark. She didn't like people who made fun of others for their differences, no matter what they were.

For her back on Cybertron it was due to her lack of height back when she had her old body. The bots would make fun of her and she always snapped back at them. She was temperamental that way. But when the war started she used what many considered to be weakness to great effect as a sharpshooter and scout, being able to sneak in and out of places undetected was an advantage that the Autobots could not afford to waste. And also with her combat training curtsey of Prowl. Who was a master of circuit-su, the Cybertronian equivalent of martial arts. Arcee became a weapon of war on the battlefield. He taught her to use her small size and quick speed to devastate those who were larger and slower than her, and as time went on she did just that. But she wasn't the only one to prove true her belief, there was also Jack who time and again during the twilight years of the war proved how much of a danger they could be to those who underestimated them.

When they were further away from the pair of idiots as Arcee thought of them, she caught sight of a monument in the center of the main garden display. If she was not mistaken, it looked just like a space bridge.

"I see you recognize it Arcee." Optimus observed as she studied the monument.

"Why would they have monument to space bridges here?" the femme asked.

"No one really knows, since it has always been here since the Citadel was discovered by the Asari several hundred years ago."

He was about to continue talking when they saw that the Council meeting was about to start and so headed on in.

When they entered the council chamber, Optimus and Arcee found a spot on one of the upper floors and stood at the balcony which gave them a great view of the whole chamber. As the femme looked around, seeing that quite an audience had gathered for this meeting, looking down from adjacent balcony's on the other side of the chamber. She looked down to see the Councillors themselves standing at their podium. There was an Asari, a Turian and a Salarian and of course she would recognise Perceptor, who was the Cybertronian Councillor. He looked like he didn't want to be there and when she looked up at Optimus, she noticed the same worry on his face as he looked down at the other Councillors.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I can already see that this will not go well Arcee, I can tell that just by looking at Perceptor."

The femme was about to speak when from the corner of her eye she spotted someone. A young man she would never forget, he was dressed in the standard alliance uniform and he looked rather good in it if she did say so herself. It was her partner, her Jack.

Jack walked into the Council chambers with both Anderson in front and Kaidan to his left and Udina following behind them. They crossed the bridge to the box in the centre of the chamber as the Council members stood before them. The massive pane glass window behind them bathed the councillors in light, almost making the four of them look like gods up there on their podium. Jack remembered back to Arcee's stories of the High Council back on Cybertron before the war, they too were described as just as illustrious. But he wasn't going to be intimidated here, he had a job to do and he was going to see it through.

"The council would like to welcome you to this meeting Captain Anderson." Tevos the Asari Councillor said trying to sound as pleasant as possible.

"Thank you for seeing us today madam Councillor." the Captain replied. But before he could say anymore, the Turian councillor jumped in.

"Can we stop with the pleasantries and get down to the reason why this meeting was called for today." Sparatus said.

"Yes we would really like to know why you believe that a Spectre as honourable as Saren Arterius would commit an atrocity like what happened at Eden Prime." Valern the Salarian Councillor asked.

"Councillors, please show some restraint and give them some room to breath before you start attacking them with questions." Perceptor said trying to use reason, earning a glare from Sparatus.

"Why, how would you feel if someone came in and tried to blame a heinous crime on your own Optimus Prime, I have every right to be angry. Saren is a good friend of my mine and I will not see his name being tarnished by humans."

The Asari councillor turned to the Turian.

"Then maybe you should exclude yourself from this meeting? We should at least hear them out first, no matter how ridiculous their claims may lead to be."

Jack looked up at the councillors bickering between each other and couldn't help but smile slightly. Doesn't matter if you are on Earth or at the far end of the galaxy, politics was politics wherever you went.

"Very well, please come forward and deliver you evidence." Sparatus said after he calmed down.

With that Jack stepped forward.

"And who are you?" Sparatus asked not even trying to hide the disinterest in his voice.

"Commander Jack Darby, Alliance Military." the young man answered stoically.

"Welcome Commander, please give us your account of what happened." Tevos encouraged in a friendly manner.

So Jack and then Kaidan began giving their accounts of what happened on Eden Prime, from the landing on the planet and battling the Geth to the mysterious black ship that appeared over the colony, the latter being dismissed as a Geth ship.

Arcee looked down from the balcony with Optimus as the meeting continued, watching as Jack gave his account of the events. He was so confident and mature, not that he wasn't always like that. It was just that he seemed so much more sure of himself. She found herself entranced by Jack as he talked, a feeling coming over her that she had not felt in a long time. Not since the night he left, and she still was not entirely sure what the feeling was. Optimus had noticed the femme's attention had been solely on Jack this entire time and smiled. He finally started putting the pieces together to the puzzle that was Jack and Arcee. He knew that they had been extremely close, but seeing this behaviour from his SIC had confirmed it. The only mystery now left to solve was what had happened between them years ago. He opened his mouth to speak to the femme, when he noticed her relaxed face suddenly become serious as she looked out to the other side of the chamber.

"What is it Arcee?" the Prime asked.

"You see that Turian over there, the one in the blue and black armour. Isn't he acting like he has a lot riding on this meeting?" she asked.

Optimus looked over to see a Turian with blue face paint and a visor over his left eye. He was watching the meeting below and did not look happy with how it was proceeding. And after a few more minutes he had had enough and walked out. Optimus turned back to the femme.

"Yes Arcee, he did look somewhat disturbed by the proceedings." They both looked back down to the council meeting below them, Arcee's attention returning to Jack.

"That is the most ridiculous story I have ever heard and you don't even have any real proof." Sparatus spat back at Anderson and Jack as the two of them stood there looking back at him.

"Please calm down, this isn't getting us anywhere." Perceptor pleaded. But the Turian was having none of it.

"I would have to agree with Sparatus, Captain Anderson and Commander Darby unless you can bring us real evidence to back up your claims, then there is nothing we can do. I am sorry, and this concludes this Council meeting."

And with that, the councillors started to leave, the Turian storming out first. Perceptor was about to leave but not before looking back at the humans and giving them a sympathetic look and then like the others he was gone. The audience that had watched the whole thing had upped and left too, leaving just Optimus and Arcee who watched as the human trio turned and left in defeat.

"Come Arcee, we shall go and offer our support to Jack and the others." the Prime said. Arcee nodded and the two left the now empty Chamber.

Once outside and back in the calming environment of the gardens, Anderson turned to his two officers.

"Well that went well" he said trying not to sound too sarcastic.

"Your telling me, they were never going to believe us in the first place. Which made this whole meeting a waste of time." Kaidan replied, not even hiding his anger.

"Well until we have solid evidence, I guess there is nothing we can do." Anderson said.

Jack stayed quiet the entire time the two were talking, trying to think of something that could help them. He was about to speak up when another voice was suddenly heard from behind him.

"Maybe I can be of some help?"

The three of them looked over to see a Turian approach them. He was wearing C-Sec armour and had a visor covering his left eye.

"And you would be?" Kaidan asked.

"Garrus Vakarian, I am with Citadel Security."

The three men looked at the new arrival, trying to work out whether this was real or not. But Jack stepped forward and offered the Turian his hand.

"I'm Commander Jack Darby." he said in a friendly tone and with a slight smile.

"it's good to meet you Commander." he replied as he noticed Kaidan staring at him with distrust.

"I guess you would like to hear how I can help."

"Oh, we are all ears." Kaidan remarked sarcastically. Jack glared at him, making the Lt Cmdr suddenly feel very small. This had not gone unnoticed by Anderson who watched as his XO and the Turian began to talk.

"Well how can you help us then?" Jack asked. Garrus activated his holo-tool and showed them a number of reports.

"Well I was recently running an investigation into the Spectre Saren Arterius, due to some very disturbing reports of his activities in the Terminus systems, but I found that I was being blocked at nearly every turn. You know sometimes giving Spectres free reign across the galaxy can be a real pain in the ass. Especially when that Spectre is playing everyone for fools"

"What makes you say that?" Jack replied. Garrus showed them some more intel on his holo-tool's screen.

"Well like I said, I keep getting blocked at every turn, but there just is something not right about that Spectre. But I do have one lead."

"What's that then?" Jack asked, his attention fully on what Garrus was telling them.

"I know a Krogan Bounty hunter, who goes by the name of Wrex down on the lower levels, he has come across some information about Saren."

"Well what kind of information?" Kaidan asked.

"He wouldn't say over the com, he would rather meet face to face and down on the lower levels. And with how C-Sec doesn't have that much control down there. I feel it would be better to go down in greater numbers than just one." Garrus told them honestly, which then made Jack turn to Anderson.

"Captain, I think this worth investigating."

"I agree Commander, ok you and Alenko will assist Mr Vakarian here in getting that proof and bring it back to the council while I head back to the Normandy and report the days events to our superiors" Anderson replied as he gave them a supportive smile, before turning around and heading to the transport back to the Presidium.

Garrus then stopped the two men as they were about to head to the transit hub.

"What is it Garrus?" Jack asked confused.

Garrus looked them both up and down.

"Don't you two think you two should be wearing something a little less conspicuous, Alliance military types are not well known for walking around with the lowlifes."

Well what about you, don't tell me that you can go in dressed like that?" Kaidan asked surprised. Garrus gave him a knowing smile.

"Well its like I said, a C-Sec officer isn't even a blip on the radar of the guys down there, maybe because my superiors are busy being paid off by them..." he answered, the last part had a tinge of anger to it.

"...but if we come across any trouble, I can easily handle it myself."

"That's good to know..." Jack replied with smile.

"..okay if you know where we can get clothes to better blend in with the lowlifes down there, then lets get going."

"I know just the place." Garrus finished as the two humans followed him to the transit station.

Optimus and Arcee had just re-entered the gardens when they noticed Jack, Alenko and that Turian from earlier get into a cab and watch it fly off to another part of the Citadel.

"Well that is unfortunate." The Prime said sadly. He then looked at Arcee and noticed the intent in her eyes as she looked at the transit station.

"You want to go and help Jack don't you?" Optimus said bluntly, causing the femme to look up surprised.

"Am I that easy to read?"

"Not at all Arcee, but I do know you well enough to see when you have made your mind up about something." he replied as he smiled at her. She sighed as his words hit home within her spark.

"Yes I want to help Jack, I want to help my partner." she answered truthfully.

"Then I will take my leave and go and see Captain Anderson." the Prime replied as he turned and walked away before turning to his SIC one last time.

"Arcee, be careful and good luck."

She smiled and nodded at the Prime, her smile saying a silent thank you to her friend and Commander before heading off to the transit station to follow her partner where ever he was going.

PRIME EFFECT

The trip in the transit cab was not a very relaxing one for Arcee. Mainly due to the fact that she spent the whole time thinking about Jack. As she looked out of the side window at the sky scrapers that flew by as the cab followed the same path as Jack's one, she thought about how much he had changed since the last time she had seen him. Well she was thinking of the very last time she had seen him years ago, but she did recently attend his promotion ceremony, where he was given a medal for his part in the defence of New Terra and was also promoted to Commander.

It had surprised Arcee how fast it had taken Jack to rise up the ranks. For herself it had taken several vorn to reach the rank of commander. So for the young man to reach it in a fraction of the time was something to be proud of. If only she had gone up to meet him then and tell him how proud of him she was. But at that moment she felt that if she was to surprise him like the way she had the night he had left, that it would have ended in a similar fashion. Remembering that night made her spark ache, so she did her best to expel those thoughts from her mind as she looked out at the city expanding down one of the arms of the Citadel. It growing larger as the cab descended into it.

Down in the under city of the Citadel, two men and a Turian walked down one of the many dark and trodden streets that littered the foundations of the massive station. As they walked through the crowded streets, the two men did not look any different from anyone else that was there. Kaidan was wearing a baggy pair of jeans and a grey hoodie, while Jack was wearing a similar set of jeans, but instead of a hoodie, he wore a dark green T-shirt with a black biker jacket. Kaidan gave Jack jealous look.

"Why did you get first choice?" he asked. Jack looked over to him and gave him a lopsided grin.

"Maybe because I am the Commander."

Kaidan muttered something that Jack did not hear clearly, and just assumed that it was an insult. But he just ignored it and looked ahead to Garrus, who was still wearing his C-Sec armour. But true to his word, no one around here had even batted an eye lid at him.

'I guess the lowlifes really do run things down here.' he thought to himself as he looked around him to all the shady people that were crowding the streets.

"So where are we going exactly?" Jack asked to the Turian in front of him.

"Well, Wrex told me to meet him at the End of Days club just down this street."

"We are meeting him at a bar?" Jack asked curious about the location. Kaidan having heard Garrus perked up.

"You read my mind, I was just thinking that I would rather be drinking after what we just went through upstairs." Garrus chose to ignore the man and carried on talking to Jack.

"Well he is a Krogan and he likes watching the dancers, plus it is about the only bar left on the Citadel that hasn't banned him."

"Charming." Jack replied as they came up to the entrance to the bar. It was covered in violet and blue neon lights and had two Batarian bouncers guarding the doors. Garrus turned to Kaidan and Jack to do some final checking.

"Now you both have the pistols I gave you right?" he said while looking like he was handing out credits to both of them as the bouncers looked over curiously.

"Yeah we have them hidden, think we will need them?" Jack asked as he pretended to accept the creds from his Turian friend.

"Hard to say, Right then shall we?"

With that Garrus and the humans walked past the bouncers and into the club. Not a second had past that another group of men, well armed by the looks of them walked out from the shadows and entered the club after them. Had they checked their surroundings first, they may have noticed a pair of electric blue eyes that had been watching them from further in the shadows, a stern look growing on her face. Only one thought entering her mind.

'Jack!'

If it looked like the place was crowded on the outside, then it was heaving inside. There was barely room to breath let alone move as Jack, Kaidan and Garrus tried to squeeze past all the bodies in the club. The neon lighting inside was almost as bad as it was outside. It was starting to give Jack a headache. He would rather spend a quiet night watching the sunset than have his eyes and ears physically abused by the lights and sounds of these types of places.

The music was a one note, tone deaf assault on the senses. He was suddenly pulled from his thoughts when Garrus tapped him on the shoulder and pointed to the large Krogan in red armour sitting at a table with an Asari Dancer on top of it, holding onto the pole going through the middle of the table. He was drooling over the girl as she thrusted herself into the pole before bending over backwards and smiling at the hulking brute while giving him a good view of her large breasts that were nearly bursting out of her skin tight outfit.

"Very nice." he slobbered as Garrus and Jack approached his table with Kaidan behind them.

Wrex then spotted the group as they neared, his reptilian eyes narrowing until he recognised the Turian and smiled.

"Garrus, you old pyjak." he said as the dancer noticed the group and decided to leave, taking a tip from the Krogan before disappearing into the crowd.

Both men shook hands before Garrus took a seat next to him.

"I figured you would have been kicked out of this place by now, going by your current track record."

The Krogan gave a hearty laugh.

"Yeah well that doesn't usually happen until I am on the eighth bottle of Ryncol, then I start trying to touch the dancers."

Garrus looked over Jack and grinned.

"It's true, he is like a newborn baby, hands everywhere." Garrus joked, gaining a slight smile from Jack. Wrex looked over at the strangers.

"Garrus, who are these pink skins?"

Jack offered the Krogan his hand.

"I'm Commander Jack Darby." he said with a smile. The Krogan just looked at it and scoffed, making Jack feel a little nervous.

"Hey these guys are okay, in fact they are with me because of the Intel you have on Saren"

The Krogan suddenly looked serious as he looked around them before speaking.

"Well it's not so much Intel as it is a person."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, edging closer.

"Well I ran into this Quarian a few days back, poor thing looked like she had been running for a long time. She saw me and probably thought that I could protect her and so asked for my help. She said that she had stumbled onto some information while on her pilgrimage. Then next thing she knew, she was being chased by mercenaries."

Jack and Kaidan listened to every word that Wrex told them before speaking.

"So where is she? We could really use the information she has."

Wrex pointed up.

"She's upstairs, I have been hiding her here since I found her. Gave her some first aid too, since she had been shot when I found her."

Jack stood up and tidied himself up.

"Can you take us to her now. We can pay you whatever fee you want and place her into protective custody once we get her back to the presidium."

The Krogan looked both men up and down and scoffed again.

"You, what makes you think you can protect her?"

Garrus nudged Wrex's shoulder and whispered something into his ear.

"That's him, the hero of New Terra and the man that helped kill the Decepticon leader Megatron."

"Well now, why didn't you just tell me that to start with." he chuckled as he got up and lead the three of them up the stairs. He lead them to another room that was only half the size of the club below and they saw the Quarian sitting at a table, her body language looking rather nervous. This was the first time that Jack had seen a Quarian. She was wearing a black and purple enviro-suit with purple hood covering her breather helmet that had a purple glass visor covering her face. Only her white eyes were visible and they looked directly at the new comers.

"What's going on Wrex, who are these people?" she asked, fear in her voice.

"Don't worry, they are here to help get you some place safe." Wrex said gently as Jack walked up to her, extending his hand.

"I'm Commander Jack Darby and this is Lt. Cmdr Kaidan Alenko of the Alliance, we are here to take you into protective custody miss.."

She looked at both men for a moment.

"Tali….. Tali'Zorah nar Raya." she replied as she took his hand and stood up. Jack then turned to Wrex and Garrus.

"Is there a faster way out of here than the way we came in. I don't think that would good idea to go back, especially if the men that are after Miss Raya here are still out there?" he reasoned as the Quarian looked at Jack.

"Please call me Tali." she insisted, Jack smiled back in return.

"Okay Tali..." he said gently before returning to the others.

"...so is there another way out of here?"

Garrus shrugged and Wrex rolled his eyes at the Turian in amazement before walking over to the back wall and pushing against it. Causing it to open up revealing a hidden exit.

"I noticed that this was here the last time I stayed, obviously the new owners never figured it out."

Jack smirked as he offered Tali his hand, which she gratefully took and lead her through the hidden exit onto a balcony outside. Kaidan saw a mechanised ladder and activated it, making it extend all the way to the ground. Kaidan then climbed down first followed by Garrus, then Tali and finally Jack and Wrex. They then started to head away from the club when armed Batarians and Humans appeared out of the shadows and surrounded them. They were wearing the white and blue armour of the Blue suns mercenary group. Jack and the others equipped their own weapons and stood in a circle with Tali in the middle, out of view of the newcomers.

"Give us the Quarian and you can walk away." the lead Batarian offered dryly as he signaled his men to walk closer to the group, weapons armed.

"Why, who hired you to take her out?" Jack asked not taking his aim off the leader.

"That's none of your concern alliance scum. We have been tracking you since you entered the under city, we knew that you would lead us directly to the girl. Now hand her over to us, or this will end bloody for you."

Jack glanced over to Garrus who was holding what looked like a grenade in his right hand and nodded slightly.

"That sounds like a good deal, but I have a better one. How about you let us pass and you don't leave the Citadel in body bags." Jack answered cooly.

The leader gritted his teeth as he lost his cool and yelled at his men to fire at them.

"Garrus now!" Jack ordered as the Turian threw the grenade into the air where it exploded bathing the entire area in a white light.

Before the light had a chance to fade, Jack and the others killed the mercs before they had a chance to recover, leaving only the leader left standing. Once he had recovered his sight he looked around to see his men scattered around on the floor before his eyes landed on Jack standing in front of him, gun pointed at his face.

"Now how about we make a new deal, where you get to keep your life?" he asked calmly, his face remaining stoic. But to his surprise the leader chuckled which completely threw Jack off.

"What's so funny?" Kaidan asked stepping forward.

The leader looked up to the balcony and smiled, making the group look up too to see three more mercs standing over them, guns trained on the group. The leader then loosened up and held out his hand.

"Give me the gun?" he said to Jack as several more mercs appeared around them.

"And the rest of you, drop your weapons because I won't ask again."

Jack looked back at the others and nodded. Each one dropped their pistols as Tali looked around panicking.

"Oh keelah." she said under her breath.

"You didn't think that I wouldn't have back up did you?" the leader gloated at Jack as he walked forward towards Tali. Jack glanced over to the new men on the ground with them. They were not carrying firearms like the others earlier or the ones now on the Balcony. They were only armed with combat knives. He looked over to Garrus and Wrex who looked back at him like they were all on the same page.

'If there was only a way to take out the gunmen on the balcony then these guys would be no trouble.' he thought to himself as the leader grabbed Tali by the arm and dragged her away from Jack and his friends.

"It was nice doing business with you." the leader gloated as walked past Jack with Tali.

"Kill them!" he ordered to his men as Tali tried to break free of his grip.

"NO!" she screamed as she anticipated the mercs gunshots. But after a moment nothing came.

The leader suddenly looking irritated looked up towards the balcony as did Jack and the others. What they saw was not three gun men looking down at them, but a blue haired young woman standing amongst the now unconscious mercs that littered the balcony.

Jack smiled as his eyes met the woman's electric blue ones.

"Hi Jack, I'm not interrupting anything am I?" she asked with a smirk on her face.

"Not at all, how about you wait right there, while we throw out this trash?" he replied as the leader just looked at both of them, utterly confused. The blue haired woman then folded her arms and lent forward on the balcony's rail.

"Don't know, I might get bored before then? She said acting coy. Jack chuckled at her response.

"We wouldn't want that now would we?" he answered. It was funny, he hadn't seen her for years and he had thought that their first meeting would have been awkward. Yet here they were, talking like nothing had happened. He had missed that.

"What the fuck is going on here?" the confused Leader screamed regaining Jack's attention.

"Well, this is what is happening." Jack responded before punching the Batarian squarely in the face, knocking him to the ground. Now free, Tali ran to the side to get out of the fight as Jack and his friends and the mercs suddenly turned the area in to a street fight. Garrus kicked one merc in the stomach before pushing him into the nearest wall. Wrex grabbed two mercs with both hands and slammed them into each other.

Kaidan threw punches at one merc while Jack had turned his attention to two mercs who charged at him. One swung a knife at Jack, who caught the man's attack in his hands and twisted his arm, the sudden pain causing the merc to drop the knife. Jack then kicked at the guy's kneecap, forcing him to the ground as the other man came in from behind. But the Commander spotted him and hit in the face with a back kick, sending the merc flying backwards onto the floor.

Arcee just relaxed and leant against the rail watching Jack take out one merc after the other. Sure the other guys with Jack were good fighters, the Krogan was devastating, but she liked watching Jack. He had become an excellent fighter since the last time she saw him years ago. Back then what fighting skills he knew was from watching martial art films with her back at the silo, or in the garage of his mom's home in Jasper. When June had gone to work at the hospital on a night shift, he would bring out the TV and sit and with her and watch Bruce Lee movies.

She then chuckled when Jack threw one of the mercs into the nearby wall like a rag doll. But her happy mood suddenly changed when unbeknownst to Jack, the Leader had gotten up and was charging at him with a knife.

Jack had just taken out the last merc when he saw Garrus point and shout at him.

"Jack behind you!"

Hearing this, the Commander spun around to see the Leader with the knife mere centimetres from his face. But he did not move any further and Jack looked behind the Blue Sun commander to see Arcee with her pistol, holding it at the back of the Batarian's head.

"You so much as move against my partner and I will send you to the pit you piece of scrap." she said, gritting her teeth. The leader dropped the knife and got down on his knees.

"I surrender, don't kill me, I was only doing my job." he pleaded as Jack picked up the knife and threw it away before looking at his partner with a warm smile. Her cold look softening as she looked back at him, returning the smile.

"Saved your ass again partner." she said jokingly, not moving the gun from the back of the Batarian's head.

"Hey, I had everything under control." he joked back, earning a chuckle from the femme.

Garrus and Wrex stepped in and escorted the leader away as Kaidan went over to help Tali, leaving the two partners alone. With nothing between them Jack walked over to his partner and wrapped his arms around her, embracing her. Her smile went even bigger as she returned the embrace. For the first time in years the two of them were back together and she finally felt like herself again. She rested her head against his.

"I've missed you!" she said as she gently squeezed him a little more, as if making sure that he was real. Jack felt his heart skip a beat at the sensation of what she just did.

"I missed you too Arcee." Jack replied, unable to register what was going on around them. As far as long overdue reunions go this was much better than he had envisioned. But the moment didn't last as the two of them were brought out of it by Garrus.

"Hey, I don't mean to intrude on this happy moment, but could we like get out of here before anyone else tries to take us all out."

Both Jack and Arcee suddenly looked embarrassed as they jumped away from each other, their faces a shade redder than normal.

"Yeah good idea." Jack replied as the femme tried to look anywhere but at the Turian who was glaring at both of them.

"I have a cab waiting for me at the other side of the street." She answered finally finding her voice.

"Good." Jack replied, composing himself. "Kaidan help Tali to the Cab, Garrus and Wrex watch our prisoner."

The others nodded and walked in the direction that Arcee had pointed them in. When they were again alone, they both started walking to the same destination side by side. Jack looked over at Arcee, the warm smile of his returning.

"It's really good to see you again Arcee." he said gently. She smiled warmly back, her electric blue eyes meeting his.

"Yeah Jack, its really good to see you too."