Chapter Text
Anna Ryder stepped out into the cool night and breathed in the sharp, crisp air. Her shift at the strip club had just ended and she was more than ready to get back to her apartment and sleep. Zipping up her jacket, she leaned against the brick building to stuff the credit chits into her bag. She’d managed to earn extra tonight and planned on putting that little bit into her moving fund. “Every little bit helps.” she thought while straightening and glancing at her omni-tool to see what time it was. She’d made good time getting out, the public shuttles were still running so theoretically she could catch the last one that stopped in her neighborhood.
Heels clicking against the concrete she heard a familiar voice break through, “Ryder, that you?”
Anna paused at hearing the voice she hadn’t heard in over a year. Swallowing the lump in her throat that had suddenly appeared she turned around to see James Vega standing in front of the club entrance. Everything about him was the same, minus his hair being a tad longer, as the last time she saw him before leaving the Normandy. Her chest filled with...something and she nodded, not trusting her voice.
James broke into a smile, he’d thought the face he’d gotten a glimpse of had seemed familiar. “I’m surprised to see you here. Thought you’d be soaking up that surf and sunshine by now.”
Glad for the moment to gather herself together, Anna tried to project calm when inside she was yelling, ‘You’re alive.‘
Smiling, Anna gave a small shrug, “Whatever the Commander did with the Crucible knocked out the VI's, so everything got trashed. I'm stuck in the city until I can get access to the credits Alec and Scott left me. If they ever get the old banking records back that is.”
James raised an eyebrow at the statement, “So you’re working at a strip club?”
“Gotta earn a living somehow.” Anna’s smile faltered for a second as he took a few steps towards her. Then her vision blurred with tears as she closed the distance between them, enveloping him in a hug. Strong arms held her as she pressed her face against his shoulder.
God how she’d missed those arms.
“I’m here.” James whispered into her hair, feeling relief at finally finding her. He’d thought the worst, that the fighting on Earth had taken one of the few people outside of his family that he cared about. Seeing her on the sidewalk had released the worry that had been bottled up since arriving back in the system.
Feeling his muscles and smelling his usual body spray grounded Anna and she let go, his arms releasing at the same time and she took a step back; suddenly remembering where they were and everything that had happened since she last saw James. Anna quickly wiped her eyes, hoping that her make-up wasn’t completely ruined, while asking, “How-when-I mean we all thought that the Normandy…”
“It’s all over the extranet, we arrived just over a week ago. Apparently the Normandy crew is still as popular as we were during the war.” James glanced around, half expecting a drone to be overhead trying to get photos of him outside a strip club for the tabloids. “Why...don’t we go somewhere and I can fill you in. I’m sure you know where all the fun places are.”
“You could say I know of a few good places to party. And extranet coverage is still spotty in certain areas of the city. Pretty much the places where the Alliance doesn’t have an office.” A glance at her omni-tool told Anna she needed to hustle or she’d be stuck walking back to her apartment. “But I have to get out of these heels. I’ll see you around, LT.”
“Thought you weren’t Alliance anymore.” James teased as Anna turned to walk away.
Anna let a half-smile appear while shrugging, “You know what they say about old habits.”
“See you around Freckles.” James watched Anna walk away and only when she rounded the corner did he turn in the direction he’d come in and headed back towards Alliance headquarters. It had been random chance that he’d decided to stretch his legs and see what was left of the city. Familiar landmarks were either completely gone or mostly destroyed and it seemed like the city would always bear the marks of the war.
“Over a year later and they’re just starting reconstruction on some areas of the city.” he thought with a slight frown. Letting out a slow breath, James pushed the thought out of his mind; now that they were back on Earth, there’d be plenty of time to see if he could help. “And seeing Ryder...that took a lot of worry off my chest.”
--
The club was a dive but to be fair, almost all of the places that had sprung up in the aftermath of the war were; put together out of whatever materials they could find and how well they could hold up. Minimal lighting and loud music, plus plenty of alcohol, helped everyone forget what was on the other side of the walls at least for a little while.
But Anna wasn’t here to critique the decor, she was just looking for a place to get drinks and spend some time dancing with Evan. They’d both been working opposite hours so they'd only caught each other in passing. Making her way to the bar, though, she was looking forward to the evening.
“Six shots.” she called out over the noise, smiling at how the bartender’s gaze lingered on her outfit. It was one of the few that she’d managed to accidentally save when leaving the Normandy. She hadn’t been on the Citadel since it got trashed in the war but assumed that the Silversun Strip had all but been destroyed, taking whatever hadn’t been with her on Earth with it.
“But I’ve made things work.” she thought while giving the bartender a wink before gathering up the drinks and weaving her way through the space.
“You always knew how to party.” a voice shouted as she emerged on the other side of the crowd. “Nice to see it hasn’t changed.”
Anna opened her mouth to tell the guy to fuck off, but then she saw it was James with his trademark shit-eating grin. “If I recall correctly, you were the one who had to be dragged away from Purgatory more than once.” Motioning towards one of the booths with her head, Anna set the glasses down once she was near enough. “Surprised to see you here.”
“Of all the clubs right?” James glanced around to see if he could find Cortez, Traynor, or Kaidan.
Cortez had convinced him that taking a break from studying would be worth his while and Traynor had roped Alenko into it because the man needed a change of scenery that wasn’t the Normandy or the hospital room the Commander was in. But as soon as they’d walked in people had been trying to get photos or autographs. He’d been able to slip through the crowd, everyone was focused on Kaidan, and had been heading for the bar when he’d spotted Ryder.
“Yeah. You here with anyone else from the ship?”
“Sam and-”
“Anna!” James’s reply was cut off by the appearance of someone else, setting two beers down before giving her a quick kiss. Raising an eyebrow at the action, James looked to Anna for an introduction.
Tossing back a shot for strength, Anna set the glass down on the table before saying, “James, this is Evan...the guy I’m seeing. Evan, this James-”
“Vega.” Evan finished with a smile and stuck out his hand. “The man BattleSpace featured every time they needed a ratings bump.”
“What can I say, I’ve got a likeable face.” James replied as he shook the man's hand.
Anna snorted before downing another shot while James focused his attention on Evan. “How long have you guys been dating? If you don’t mind me asking.”
“Seven months, well a year if you count the time before we got serious. Ann mentioned that she’d served on the Normandy during the back half of the war, but didn’t say that she was friends with you. Or any friends on the ship really.”
“Oh you know, not a lot of time for friendship when you’re constantly dodging Reaper forces.” Anna shifted slightly, feeling slightly weirded out that James and Ev were talking. But glancing at James, and the amused expression he was wearing, told her that he was enjoying this.
“We were both in the armory, actually. Freckles knows her way around a pair of pistols that would put anyone else to shame.”
“Freckles.” Evan repeated while glancing between Anna and James.
“James likes to give people nicknames.” Anna picked up the last shot, surprised that she was done already. “Ev, mind getting us some more?”
Evan gave Anna another quick kiss before heading back towards the bar. He’d just disappeared into the crowd when James asked, “‘Ann’?”
Anna just shot James a look, “He’s...nice. Ev flew evac shuttles for some of the colonies at the start of the war and then supply routes, now he runs his own shipping company. Considering how bad it was during the war, he got lucky.”
James opened his mouth to ask another question when a small horde of fans appeared and shoved datapads (and themselves) in his face. It was all he could do to keep them a comfortable distance away and by the time the last one left, he realized that at some point Anna had slipped away. Knowing that it would be pointless to find her in the crowd, he slowly made his way towards the bar and spotted Sam in a booth on the other side of the club. Diverting towards her, he spent the better part of the next few hours just sitting and drinking with her, Cortez, and Kaidan.
Anna idly drummed her fingers against the bar as she waited for her drink. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed but it was enough for things to start getting blurry. “But that’s when the fun begins.” she thought to herself as the bartender from earlier in the evening appeared with her beer.
“Where’s your boyfriend?” James asked over the music as he slid next to Anna. “Thought he wouldn’t let you out of his sight.”
Anna just rolled her eyes and grabbed her drink, giving the bartender a smile. “Somewhere. And I never said he was my boyfriend.”
“Relax. You know you like the teasing.”
“Only from you.” Anna took a long drink of her beer and grabbed James’s arm. “C’mon, I haven’t seen you dance at all tonight.”
James allowed himself to be dragged out onto the dance floor, winding through the crush of people until he almost ran into Anna. Raising an eyebrow he watched her move, remembering when they’d have shore leave on the Citadel and spend almost the entire night cycle dancing and drinking at Purgatory.
Anna caught James’s eye and moved a bit closer to him, but still keeping enough space between them. She wasn’t going to blow up her thing with Evan but at the same time it was hard to resist the pull James still had with her. She then took a sip of her drink before pulling her long hair out of the ponytail it had been in. Running a hand through her hair, she gave James a mischievous smile.
James raised an eyebrow at the movement but didn’t say anything, simply taking the drink from Anna’s hands and finishing it off himself. Placing the empty cup on a passing tray, he then placed a hand on her waist and just let himself relax. The past few weeks melting from his shoulders; the pressure of being in the spotlight again, coming back to a planet still picking up the pieces from the war, the uncertainty of his future in the N program, even the Alliance…
Her hand on his shoulder reminded him when she would do that at Purgatory and he’d put his hands in her back pockets, then later on they’d-
A flash pulled James away from that train of thought and blinking away the spots, frowned. “Can’t I get five minutes to myself?” he thought while making a mental note to ask Liara if she could make the photo disappear. Glancing at Anna, she must have missed the photo because she wasn’t looking pissed. So he decided not to bring it up and keep the good vibes going.
As they danced Anna’s world melted until it was just her and James. Trying to make rent, with enough left for food and anything else she might need, getting catcalled walking to the shuttle stop while still in her outfit from the club, it all faded into the background. “If I close my eyes, this could just be another shore leave.” she thought while moving with James.
Then she spotted movement out of the corner of her eye and glanced over to see Ev standing off to the side. Guilt instantly flooded her, even though she hadn’t done anything that he wouldn’t have done with anyone else. “I have to go. It was nice seeing you again.” she shouted, giving James’s arm a quick squeeze before leaving the dance floor.
James watched her go and head towards Evan, eyes narrowing at the way the other man was staring at Anna. For a second he thought about following to make sure that everything was okay, but dismissed it just as quickly. Because it wasn’t his business and he knew that Anna could handle herself.
“Don’t.” Anna said as she bypassed Evan, heading towards the booth and grabbing her synthleather jacket.
“Don’t what?” Evan replied, following Ryder as she stepped outside. It was creeping towards curfew, but everyone was too busy partying to really care, and for once it looked like Alliance patrols weren’t going to shut the place down right at midnight.
The cool air hit them like a wall after the stuffy club and Anna almost instantly sobered up. Letting out a sigh, she turned towards the man she was currently sleeping with. “Be jealous, it’s not a good look on you.”
“I’m not jealous. You never said that James ‘I can bench press anyone without breaking a sweat’ Vega was your ex.” Evan shot back before starting to walk down the street. His place was nearby so he didn’t have to bother with shuttles, which was nice when it was late like this.
“Hey,” Anna said while trailing after Evan. “I said that my ex was on the Normandy and that it didn’t work out. Who told you it was James? Cortez?”
“Nobody told me. Just the way that you two were dancing. Like you’d done that countless times before and the fact that he has a nickname for you. And how he just...took your drink from you like that. No one else gets away with that. Not even me.”
Anna let out a huff of laughter, “True. And yeah, we were a thing when I was on the Normandy. But we ended it before I left the ship. Everything I had with him is in the past.”
Evan knew that she was telling the truth and he didn’t have any reason to doubt her, but at the same time needed some time to think things through. Letting out a sigh he ran a hand through his short hair, “It’s getting late. I’ll see you later.”
Anna straightened at the words, “I thought-you don’t want me to come back to your place?”
“No. Maybe next time.”
Anna nodded and watched as Evan turned to walk. Waiting until he rounded the corner, she leaned against the brick exterior of the club for a minute before taking a deep breath. “It’s just one night we’re not going to spend together, no need to panic.” she told herself, pushing off the brick and opened her omni-tool to call a ride-share. It was going to be pricey but the public shuttles had stopped running and she needed to get home.