Drinking with James 🍻
Every once in a while, when I'm going back through my fic to find some piece of information I forgot or to reference a line or a scene, I end up rereading more of my work than I intend.
The entire chapter this scene comes from is a favorite of mine, but I'm especially fond of Shepard's drunken heart to heart with Vega 😁
Bellies bursting and heads roiling, the crew tottered along the riverfront and crossed back in the direction of Alliance base. They made two more stops. By the last stop, James’ crew had decided to head back, unable to keep up with their intrepid Lieutenant Commander and the liberator of the galaxy. The two commanders stumbled upon an empty sidewalk izakaya—nearly out of food so late in the night—but the company was warm and the drinks were still flowing at a trickle.
Shepard dragged a stool beneath her tired legs and sat next to James. A tall figure caught in her periphery: a man across the alleyway, eating alone at a four-seat ramen bar. He sat hunched over a bowl of noodles, steam rising above his head in faint whorls. She squinted, unsure if it was the booze or maybe her imagination, but from behind the man looked an awful lot like Admiral Anderson. The same broad shoulders, the same short-cropped hair, even the same large ears. Her breath stalled as her big, whirlpooled eyes fixated on his bowed back, waiting for him to turn his head.
James interrupted. “Oi! ShepURRRD! Are ya there, girl?!” He snapped his fingers in front of her face.
Shepard jerked her head back and felt a dull swash rush through her skull. “Yeaaah, s-sorry. Hic—thought I saw someone—hic—someone I know…”
“WHO?” James shouted. He craned his neck and spun around on his stool to see.
“And—hic—erson??” Shepard asked in confusion.
James slammed his glass down. “Anderson? But how? SHEPARD! Shepard, did—did you forget…?”
Shepard flopped her arm onto the table and leaned toward James. “James….VEGA. Listen James Vega! Captain—ADMIRAL Anderson was the best…one of the best men, I have ever, personally, ever personally known. And that’s coming from me, Commander Circe Shep-Shepurrd.” She executed a sloppy salute to no one in particular. “You know, he was like—like a father. To me,” she said, pointing to herself. “When my family died, when my friends died…..I, I didn’t have anyone. Not a one. A single one. I was just a lonely refugee. A teenage refugee? On Arcturus. You see?”
“I’m sorry, Shep. That’s so, so haaarrd…” James belched into his fist, then pounded his chest twice.
“Anyway, the Admiral, Anderson, he…he encouraged me. ME. After I joined, he said I was sssstrong. A biotic! A fighter! He said I was tough. Not, like, hard. My parents—you know…my mom? My dad? Those people? They raised a good girl. A farm girl—of the land and such.” Shepard twirled her hands in circles. “A good PERSON, James! But Anderson, he taught me everything, everything I know, you know?”
James nodded emphatically, his eyes half closed. “Listen, Lola. You…you and him. You guys are like, why I’m here, ya know? Why I’m an N7, and not like, an N1 or an N2 or N3 or N57 or whatever. You both believed, in ME, when I didn’t….believe in me. To Andersooon!” He downed a shot before Shepard could join him in his toast.
“But JAMES! I’m why he’s dead. I’m… he DIED. He died on the Citadel. Bleeding and sad because I shot him. I shot him, James….” Tears began to pool, her lower eyelids damming them back. Shepard was prone to getting weepy when she was three sheets to the wind, but these weren’t the tears of an inebriated woman; they were the tears of an aggrieved friend and protégé.
“But Shepard…you didn’t shoot him, honey! The ‘Illusive Man’ did that. HE did that! That pendejo motherfucker…” James mumbled as he swung a fist through the air, nearly clipping the side of her face.
“But I didn’t stop him. Sooner. Cerberus….Cerber..” Shepard wrinkled her face and began to sniffle as the tears threatened to breach the dam.
James grimaced and ruffled Shepard’s unkempt bangs, pushing her head back with a quick thrust of his giant hand. “¡AYYYYYY, no seas TONTA!”
Shocked, she stopped sniffling and stared back wide-eyed. She froze under James’ scowl.
“Shepard, don’t be a FUcking idiot! Anderson, he would be proud of us… I know that for a FACT. Ya did good, Commander."
Anderson's words rang in her ears. "You did good child, you did good." A bittersweet smile crept at the corners of her mouth.
"VEGAAAA, I've missed yoooouu," Shepard blubbered. She leaned her head against James' shoulder and rubbed her cheek along his upper arm, leaving a wet smear of tears streaked across his skin.
James recoiled, scrunching his face at the unwelcome sensation. "Whoa, whoa, whoooa! Slow down there, Lola. Don't wanna piss off your BOYfriend. That guy is scary as fuuuuuck…"
"OH, so you AGREE then?” Forgetting James couldn’t see her face, Shepard arched her eyebrows. “He’s a grade-A, triple A, b-a-d-a-s-s. Tight-ass….tight ass?" She leaned her full weight against him as her eyes began to close.
“Shepard….Shep! Shepard?” James drew his chin in and peered down at the crown of her tipped head. "Missed you too, Commander."
