Hey Boy Scout,

The kids got some liberty on the Citadel. I'll be at Purgatory babysitting if you want to get a drink.

Jack

Alenko arrived at the club, still somewhat surprised that Jack had reached out to him like that. But, with Shepard out for the day with Liara, and not otherwise knowing what to do with himself, the unexpected opportunity was appreciated.

Jack was conspicuous, even in the color-draining ambient lights of the club. She sat at one of the tables, several datapads scattered negligently before her. He couldn't help noticing that people at the tables flanking hers seemed to huddle as far from her as they could.

'The kids' all seemed to be on the upper floor dancing. A couple of them lingered near the bar, beers in hand.

"Hey, Jack."

Jack looked up, then grinned. "Hey, Boy Scout. Would you look at this?" she waved irritably at the club.

He looked around, unsure to what she was referring. He hadn't had much to do with Purgatory, though he did know that the asari who owned it was known to Shepard. He glanced at where the so-called 'royal court' should be, but found the ring of couches empty. "What's up?"

"This," she growled, picking up a datapad and looking as if she might bash it against his head if he continued to play stupid.

Well, excuse him for not picking up on nebulous, non-existent clues as to the topic…

"Know what these are? Duty rosters. They've got me doing paperwork," she said disgustedly. "Do I look like some kind of…pencil pusher?" She huffed through her nose, then downed her drink with a grimace. Somehow, he suspected it wasn't nearly as strong as she would like. This suspicion was confirmed when she gave the drink a disgusted look and slammed it down, muttering under her breath as she scrolled down on the datapad.

"It's the price of respectability. I'm afraid you have arrived."

"And I blame you," Jack growled back—but not as if she was really angry. More of a habitual anger. "You and your gung-ho girlfriend."

Alenko sat down with a grin, then jumped back with yelp as something under the table growled and struck his boot warningly.

Peering under the table—as Jack snickered—Alenko found two luminous eyes in a strangely fish-like face gazing back at him. The varren began to growl, drooling almost theatrically from where it lay near Jack's feet.

"Easy, badass," Jack crooned, rubbing the varren under the chin with the toe of her boot. The varren flopped back onto the ground, drooling more than ever and…

"Holy shit!" Alenko resisted the urge to step back again, or to flare nervously. As it drooled and growled, the varren suddenly flared with dark energy.

"Yeah, naturally biotic. We found him on Thessia," Jack continued, reaching under the table to scratch the varren's neck lazily. "Biotics make them short-tempered. They get abused or abandoned. No one wanted him, so he ended up part of the team."

"He hasn't bitten anyone lately, has he?" Alenko asked, sitting on the seat beside Jack, careful to keep her between the varren and himself. Sure enough, when he looked under the table again, he found the varren wore a modified K9 unit harness to designate it as a service animal.

"No one who didn't deserve it," Jack answered indulgently. She stopped scratching and the varren began to whine. "He's charged a couple of the kids when they wouldn't give him attention, or got gnarly when he wasn't in the mood for them, but nothing worse than bruised butts. And a couple chewed boots. Keeps them on their toes, though, and they all love him. Ask them." She pointed vaguely at the dance floor. "Gotta keep him on a short leash around other people, though. He's always looking to prove who's tough. Aren't you?" Her tone softened as she addressed the varren.

Alenko wondered indulgently if her liking for this varren had something to do with seeing a bit of herself in it. He had no intention of saying so out loud, however. Jack would just deny it, and get gnarly—to use her word—to prove it wasn't so.

The varren crawled up onto the seat. Apparently, it wasn't content to lie on the floor if it had to share Jack's attention. It sat on its haunches, goggling at him and Jack with big, luminous eyes. "I've never heard of a biotic varren."

"Neither had I—you drool on me, fish-face, and you're gonna get it," Jack said sharply when the varren laid its head on Jack's thigh.

The varren whined, tail tucking, hunkering down as if to show what a cute, submissive, lovable varren it was.

"Just so we're clear, badass," Jack answered, scratching the varren's neck lazily. Suddenly, suspiciously, but as if she suspected she knew the answer, "Why are you grinning like that?"

"Who, me?" Alenko asked, startled, realizing he had begun to grin at how affectionate Jack was with the varren. And how strangely attached to her the varren seemed to be.

"No, dumbass, the mook beside you," she responded tartly.

Alenko shrugged. "It's a nice day."

Jack glanced at Eezo, then shook her head as if deciding this wasn't a battle she wanted to fight. "I found him at a rescue shelter. You should have seen him then. Wouldn't have let him near the kids. But we came to an understanding, and I've been giving him a lot of…love…" her mouth twisted. "Trying to teach him it's okay, sometimes, to trust people—if you don't wipe that smug look off your face, Boy Scout—" Her tone didn't sound as accusatory as it might have; perhaps she didn't want to upset the varren, who might take her friendly brand of belligerence as being upset, and respond accordingly.

"It's not smug," Alenko retorted. "I'm glad you two found each other."

"Yeah, well," Jack grumped.

"So, what are you drinking?"

"Nothing I wanna be."