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[Niko has had a little bit of a confusing week. He didn't expect to be asked along on a diplomatic mission; usually not anything he's good at (in his mind). But he came along, figuring he was there as bodyguard more than anything else.]

[But now he's returned, and he wants to check in.]

Hey, ah.... So I just got back. I had to go with Thán for a mission and now he has a new boyfriend for peace purposes I guess. I am not really sure what happened there. Sort of like an arranged marriage? [He's actually kind of suspicious of this whole-matchmaking thing now. He's always disliked match-making on some level, but there is something deeply unsettling about it here. Just how mandatory and committing it seems.]

[He doesn't hate the match he was given, not at all. But he knows there might be people they're even better suited to.]

Look, I am a little nervous about this big business here. Capitalism is shit, government is shit, and is bad enough when taking advantage of lonely people. But I think we are going to have to be sure to be good to the new guy because we saw what happened the last time we fucked up diplomacy.

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[He stops and thinks about it, wondering why the hell he should stick around. He's not needed for diplomacy anymore, and it's Than's job to figure out what to do with him.]

No. You have a good idea. Getting away from this ship for a few days.

[He offers her a hand to help get up.]

[She takes his hand and pulls, and when they're both on their feet she doesn't let go.]

Maybe we should go down to Avelle. The apartment's there, and it's not Harashan so nobody's going to make you take classes. I sort of liked them, but...

[But Niko is not her.]

We can go wherever it is you want to go... I just want you to be happy. You think something will be fun? I will take you to it.

Me? I can make fun wherever.

[He wouldn't be able to get by if he couldn't. He puts on his leather motorcycle jacket. Might as well dress a little presentably.]

[She's thoughtful for a moment as Niko pulls on a jacket, and then--] Actually. Forget I said that. There's something in Harashan I wanted to show you.

[She moves back towards the door, a grin spreading on her face.] I was going to take you another time, but let's go now instead.

[For all she knows, they might get kicked off the planet tomorrow. Now's as good a time as any.]

Oh yeah? What's that?

[He's not sure whether she's planning to surprise him with anything or not.]

I could tell you now, or wait and just show you. Your choice.

[She's grinning as they get out into corridor, idly fixing the comb in her hair.] You'll like it, I promise.

Okay, Okay. I trust you, I'm coming. [He moves to follow her, but then pauses to lean in and kiss her on the cheek.]

Also you look very pretty no matter what you wear.

[He's legally obligated to say this.]

Good. [She pauses as he kisses her cheek, and he can probably feel her smiling again before in an instant she twists and briefly catches the corner of his mouth.]

You'd have to say that no matter what I was wearing. [The teasing tone fades from her voice a little.] But thanks.

[The trip down to Harashan is short and simple - a shuttle ride to the city centre, the familiar shift and pull as artificial gravity gives way to the natural pull of the planet below. Only the landing sequence has ever made her feel nauseous on ships - she guesses because it's the one part of space travel she never had to experience much.

The sales representatives ignore them, probably because they're clearly a couple and what's to sell? Tali takes the two of them on a slightly convoluted path away from the very centre of the city, all twists and turns and dodging crowds.] There's probably an easier way to get there, but this is how I found it in the first place and I'm not great at finding my way on planets yet...

[Huge, cavernous ships? No problem. Cities? Bit more iffy.]

I'm normally pretty good at cities. But I have no idea where you're taking me- [he oofs as someone bumps into him, swears in Serbian, turns, and makes a rude hand gesture (and not the American one)]

[They don't seem to know what it means.]

Is the sky very distracting? [He asks genuinely as he pulls back from that outburst.]

[Tali's only reaction to the bump - and Niko's subsequent grumping - is a click of the tongue and the slightest of eye rolls. She's never seen the hand gesture before either...but she's seen a one finger version and gets the general idea.]

Hm? [She looks up at the sky, bright and cloudless.] A little, sometimes. I'd been on space walks before I landed on a planet - training, doing hull repairs, that kind of thing. I didn't think it would be much different - except for the gravity, it's still outside, right? - but I was totally wrong. I feel bigger. Like everything I do matters a bit more. It's intimidating, but - I like it.

[She's not sure that made sense, entirely. It's not a tangible thing most of the time - just a vague sense that her world has shrunk, and she has grown within it.

They've left the centre of the city, where the buildings are farther apart, people are fewer and... The familiar sound of engines revving has been getting louder as she speaks - she's not gotten them lost at all.]

How do you mean? [He didn't understand. He wants to know what she means, though. Just because he's never had the enjoyment of a spacewalk.]

[But then he perks at the sound of engines, and it's almost as if she took a child to the zoo. He's already standing on his toes trying to see over people to find where the sound is coming from.]

I mean... [But then he's clearly hearing the engines too, and she beams watching him crane up over the people around them to see where it's coming from.] It's this way.

[She grabs the cuff of his jacket and tugs him around the next corner, down an alley between two warehouses and...] Here it is.

[It's part showroom, part test track, with the glass-walled building around the front glittering in the light almost as much as the alloys of the various cars and bikes displayed on the street. Behind the showroom, behind the garage next to it - the race track they've been hearing engines from.

She turns to face him, and she didn't exactly plan a speech or anything, but there's an explanation here, and she's bouncing on the balls of her feet and fidgeting lightly the whole time.]

So, I don't know exactly when our anniversary's going to be because I can't keep track of when anything happened, but I know we met over a year ago now. I didn't know what I wanted to do for it, and then...I found this place. [Somewhere very similar to the actual place they first met, albeit a whole universe away by now.]

I already sorted it all out. [Read: bribes. She's pretty sure a few hours with one of these cars wasn't worth all four of the gems the captains gave them a while back, but what else was she going to do with them?] We can take anything, go on the track or out on the roads... It just needs to come back in the same condition we took it in because, ah... "we break it we buy it". [She breaks out the finger quotes for that. It's just what she got told.]

[When he smiles, it's not even a shark smile. It's all stupid large teeth and even more goofusy because his brow seems to lift.]

[For one thing, he just then realizes that he is having some sort of anniversary with a woman, and he's never had one of those before. She's tolerated him for this long. He's not ruined her life. She still likes him enough to stay.]

[And for the other thing RACECAR DRIVING!]

[He shifts on his feet.] You sure know how to show a boy a good time!

[Then he takes her hand and runs that way.]

[She's only rarely ever seen him smile like that, and even if doing this had really been much effort, it would have been worth it for that, for that smile and the affection tightening her chest.

--and then they're running over there, Tali keeping up with him only thanks to ~~funny-shaped~~ digitigrade legs and a lot of treadmill miles, and as they come up on the garage she's already waving at the attendant she recognises, who waves back and seems happy to mostly leave them to it.]

OK! [She tugs Niko to a halt, bouncing on one foot as she spins to face him properly and still beaming all over her face. The breathlessness is more out of excitement than anything else.] Take your pick.

Okay okay, I'll pick!

[And he stops in front of the vehicles... and stares...]

[Okay she's going to have to stay there a moment and stare.]

I promise, I'll pick. [He's choosing like it'll be his last chance to really drive in a while, so it's taking some scrutiny.]

[She does watch him for several long moments, gaze occasionally flickering to the various sleek cars on display - it's occurred to her several times already that she'd love to buy one of these and just rip the engine apart. Then, of course, put it back together with new parts, several times faster and more fuel efficient than before.

But then her gaze drags inevitably back to Niko, still looking around like a kid, and there's a laugh in her voice as she rocks restlessly on the balls of her feet.] It's OK! I'm not going to rush you.

Although I might insist on driving at some point. [She's kidding - not even she wants her granny driving right now.]

Okay... This one.

[He goes over to a bright yellow one with black stripes, compact and sleek, and climbs into the passenger side and waits for her.]

Hey, if you want to drive, I will be happy to laugh at you.

[He means that with love, he really does.]

[She barks with laughter and gestures at him to move over.] No - you know what, I'm fine. I prefer riding shotgun.

[Especially driving with Niko, who she feels more safe driving with than most. Besides, she didn't bring them here for her to start driving.]

[Once they're in, she can probably see how exhilarated he is immediately. Especially since he slams on the gas just to spin tires, plunges forward so she mashes back into the seat as he does.]

[The intense look on his face is very real, and very pleased. He's needed this freedom.]

[She's watching him more than she's watching what she's doing, so the seatbelt takes a bit of blind fumbling to get into place. It's been a long time now since she's seen him look like that, and she can't take her eyes off him.

She forgot how strange the intertia is in cars like this - definitely there, nowhere near as strong as a starship, but not dampened in any way.

It takes a moment for her to get used to it, and until she does she's silent, taking it in - but still watching Niko out of the corner of her eye.]

This is what I meant before. Starships travel at millions of kilometres an hour, but they still doesn't feel as fast as this does when you're in them.

Don't worry. I'll keep showing you a good time even when we have a starship.

[It's still sort of a pitiful dream, even more of one it feels like now, since they have less resources here it feels like. But he hopes for the best.]

What would you like to do. When we finally end up somewhere, when we are finally free?

I didn't doubt it for a second.

[She's smiling fondly, but it fades for a moment then. Sometimes she wonders if they're ever going to be free. It's been a niggling worry for a while now, as time on the Moira keeps stretching on and they never seem to be any closer to their destination. It's harder, bit by bit, to see their own ship as something she can really look forward to. It's just hope now, fraying in her hands like old wire.

But they have each other, and that's what she can trust in.]

Anything we can. I want to...visit every planet we can find and explore everything. Have a job - choose my own job and do it. I want to go to a beach without my suit on. [Enjoy being free for the first time in what might have been years by the time it happens.

And, as she remembers St. Murtel, lets the idea drift around her mind slowly again,] Have a family, one day.

Good. I want to see you at the beach without your suit on. [Classy response there, Mr. Bellic. But her next words give him some pause.]

Have a family one day?

[He focuses extra hard on the road because the "you break it you bought it" clause might end up putting Tali in debt if he's not super careful.]

You mean, me and you?

[No, she means a muppet, Niko.]

Does that mean I get to see you at the beach without clothes as well? [Maybe she'll chip away at some of that modesty...someday.

The question nearly brings her to incredulous laughter, but she stifles it - and the instinct to be sarcastic, even gently. She can't help smiling, though.] Definitely me and you. If you'd want that.

[He has to focus on the road, which means he can't make words come out of his face for a moment while hes't thinking. Though she can see the assortment of expressions that pass, no doubt. The jab about the clothing is forgotten as he thinks about it.]

[Here they've proven children, even children between two men, are possible and even easily accepted. He can't just write off children with her as being impossible.]

[But he thinks of those Neraki soldiers, those children. The ones he was forced to shoot down. He thinks back to the mutilated bodies during the war, the children killed during his youth.]

I don't know if I will be a good father. I want to be. I want to be able to hold a child and say, "Look, I did something good." But I don't know that I can. I worry I might have too much of mine in me.

We have some time to think about it, at least.