Chapter Text
There was a pot of coffee and plate of French toast and bacon waiting on the counter when James, freshly showered and dressed, made it into the kitchen. Kaidan’s plate was washed and sitting in the drying rack, the man himself was sipping a cup of coffee while looking over a print out from one of the many machines. James dropped into the chair next to him and immediately began shovelling the food into his mouth. Kaidan looked from the fork, to James’ plate, and back again, eyebrows raised and a smile on his face.
“Nothing exciting next door,” Alenko said, “but I got a message from Shepard. Apparently Liara found some new intel. They should be calling back with the details in the next hour so. Oh, and you forgot something.”
He tossed a small plastic bag across the table. James emptied its contents, a plain gold band, into his hand.
“Apparently the building has very strict tenant policy,” Kaidan continued. “Singles and married couples only. No kids, roommates, no pets.”
“I was hoping for an emerald, you know,” Vega teased, sliding it on the ring finger of his left hand. “At least a decent proposal.”
Kaidan snorted. “I’ll take it under advisement.”
---
An incoming vidcall interrupted their research into the processing of red sand. Kaidan finished up a final note on his datapad while James answered the call. Shepard came into view with Liara at her side.
“Sitrep, Major?” the commander asked, getting right to business.
“We’re set up in the apartment,” Kaidan answered. “Naples left her apartment at 0845 local time. No activity since then.”
“That fits with her work schedule,” Shepard said, nodding. “We’ve hacked the traffic cam across the street from the restaurant. The feed shows her entering the building just after 0900.”
“We’ll make our approach when she returns this afternoon,” Alenko continued. “Unless this new intel changes the plans?”
“On the contrary,” said Liara. “Our recordings have picked up three interesting conversations. Nothing yet on what they are cutting the red sand with to make it so lethal. We’re still working on breaking the code but from what we’ve managed to decipher it appears Naples is much higher in the organisation than we initially suspected. We’ll continue to analyse the transcripts but we want you to focus on her specifically, not the ring as a whole. Get close and see what you can find.”
“Roger that.”
“Right then, we’ll leave you to it. Good luck, Major Alenko,” Shepard said. She kept a straight face but her eyes twinkled as she added, “And, Lieutenant Alenko, I suppose.”
Liara chuckled at the joke, placing a quick peck on her bondmate’s cheek. Kaidan sat stoney faced, just a barely rolling his eyes. James glanced to the band on his finger, twirling it around a few times with his thumb.
“And who says I’m taking his name, huh Lola?” he asked with a grin. “How come it’s not the other way around?”
Shepard and Liara burst into giggles and the commander cut the line without answer.
---
A meticulous plan formed for them to ‘bump into’ their neighbour.
At 1400, James went out for a run.
At 1408, the office security feed showed Gillian Naples leaving Freda’s Steakhouse and Bar to get changed before the dinner rush and Kaidan called him back.
At 1424, Kaidan greeted his ‘husband’ at the door, lingering until they ‘eventually noticed’ their neighbour and politely introduced themselves as Kaidan and James Olsen.
At 1426, the three of them were sitting in the Olsen’s living room, having coffee and getting to know each other. Just as planned.
“We just moved in yesterday,” Kaidan said. He was next to James on the couch, leaning against the lieutenant with his hand resting on his knee. “We don’t really know the area.”
“If you knew any places,” James adding, picking up where he left off. “Shops, restaurants, things to do - we’d love some suggestions.”
“Well, my family actually own a steakhouse downtown,” Naples said. “It’s the best.”
“We’ll have to check it out,” Kaidan said.
James laughed and leaned toward Gillian conspiratorially. “I’m pretty sure he would have married a steak sandwich if I hadn’t asked him first.”
“We’ve got a great special going on tomorrow for Valentine’s Day,” she continued. “You should come by.”
“Sounds good to me,” James said. “What do you think, cariño?”
“Yeah, definitely,” Kaidan agreed. “We’ll do that.”