Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Two: Deception

The pretty doctor wasn't too hard to find- she was in the lobby talking to the secretary. Before walking up to her, Shepard tapped her comm and waited for a second for a response.

"Yes, Commander?" EDI asked.

Shepard kept her eyes on the doctor. "I need you to send out a message to all crew that are on the Citadel. Tell them that, if they see me, they're to ignore me. They are not to salute, not to say my name, and they are not to mention the Normandy."

EDI paused for a second, obviously trying to fully process the order. "I will do so, Commander, but can I ask why?"

She tucked as much of her short, red hair underneath the hat as she could- never taking her eyes off of the doctor that had called Kaidan by his name. "I'm going undercover. My target doesn't need to know who I am- it is VITAL that they don't know who I am."

"Of course, Commander."

"Anything short of a galactic catastrophe, I am to be unapproachable. Reapers are the only excuse that will stop someone from getting shot by me."

"Understood, Commander."

Relaxing her "commander stance," Shepard walked over to the doctor and waited (seemingly) patiently as the doctor finished her conversation.

"Hello again," the doctor greeted her with a smile. "Did everything go alright?"

Shepard felt her easy smile twitch a little. "He looks horrible. I mean, I've seen him on an infirmary cot quite a bit, but this is just so much worse."

The doctor nodded and looked down at her datapad. "He'll pull through, though." She paused and looked up at Shepard curiously. "You served with Kaidan?"

There it was again. Kaidan. As though she knew him! "Oh, we did a tour together a few years back- back when he was still a lieutenant."

"Doctor Adria Moore," she said, producing her hand for Shepard to shake.

Shepard's eyes widened a fraction as she took the doctor's hand- and struggled not to crush any of the 27 bones which made up the hand. Now she knew where she recognized her from. She had looked her up on one of Liara's terminals eight or nine months prior (and had not gotten any further than the picture). This was Kaidan's "doctor friend" that he had gone out with. This explained why she insisted upon calling Kaidan- Shepard'sKaidan- by his name.

"Commander Lia," Shepard said, lying about her name. "Sorry, call me Lia," she gave a careless chuckle. "Sometimes it's hard to remember that Commander isn't my real name." She contemplated what Liara might think of Shepard butchering her name and reminded herself not to tell Liara (which didn't mean that she wouldn't find out- she was the Shadow Broker, after all).

The doctor- Adria- chuckled and nodded her head. "I have the same problem with Doctor. It's hard to step away from a role and become a normal

human."

Looking Adria in the eyes, her "Commander Lia" facade faltered an inch. "It gets harder with every passing year."

Adria glanced down at her datapad, mildly uncomfortable with Shepard's change of tone. "I guess it's a little more difficult for you- being a marine, and all."

Shepard covertly glanced at Adria's datapad and noticed that it was Kaidan's file. Gritting her teeth, she smiled at Adria. "Listen, I know that I'm taking a lot of your time. If you want, when you get a break, I'll take you out to lunch- my treat." Giving an easy smile, she continued, "The Major is a friend of mine and I'd like to make sure that he's being well taken care of."

The other woman nodded. "I can understand that. In order to be well taken care of, you need to make sure that I'm good."

"For the Major, I'm pretty sure that goodisn't good enough. I need to make sure that you're one of the best."

Glancing down at her omni-tool, she nodded. "I'm done with my shift in an hour. Why don't I meet you up on the Presidium at the Corner Bar?"

Shepard forced another carefree laugh. "Perfect. That gives me plenty of time to cook up my interrogation question," she half-lied.

Adria smiled and joined her in her laughter.