This is the last chapter of this story and this chapter contains sexual content, just so you know. :)

Chapter 19

And I know that I'm damned if I never get out,
And maybe I'm damned if I do,
But with every other beat I've got left in my heart,
You know I'd rather be damned with you.
If I gotta be damned you know I wanna be damned,
dancing through the night with you.

Meat Loaf - "Bat Out Of Hell"

Athena and Joker spent the night in David Anderson's house. It was not fancy like the Alenko house and Athena was happy about that. It was smaller and felt homely with a lot of personal things scattered around and pictures of people up on the walls. Most pictures were of men and women in Alliance uniforms and Athena wanted to study them all closer but the moment she sat down on he couch she realized how tired she was after everything that had happened.

There was one guestroom with one bed, and even though both Athena and Joker could easily squeeze themselves in there together, they had a feeling David wouldn't be comfortable with them sleeping in the same bed. They dragged in a spare mattress and laid it out on the floor. Athena decided that Joker would get the bed since she had spent two days lying on one and he was probably even more exhausted then she was. The fact that he didn't argue told her that she was right.

They fell asleep as soon as their heads landed on the pillows and didn't wake up until David knocked on the door 9 hours later. They had breakfast and took their time with it. Even though Athena wanted to go back and see what had happened after the raid, she wasn't in a hurry. She was a bit afraid of what she'd find. And she'd have to speak to Johnny and Jade and find out the truth.

Kaidan and his father arrived and they all went back to the Reds base together in the fancy Alenko car. Athena wanted to make a comment about the car being the thing that started this whole mess, but she knew to keep her mouth shut when she was nervous or she might never stop talking. Joker seemed to have the same idea and kept his lips pressed firmly together.

People stared at the car when they rolled in and stopped the engine right outside Joker and Athena's apartment, but they ignored the looks they got. Athena scanned the people she could see but couldn't find Johnny, Jade or Eric anywhere, and that cheered her up a bit. They went into the apartment and looked around. Everything looked like it had before the raid. They had been lucky.

Athena stopped in the middle of the living room, unsure about what to do now. It hit her that it would've been a good plan to talk to David about joining the Alliance before they got here. She had no idea what to do now. She looked over at Joker and saw that he looked as lost as she felt.

A knock on the open door made them all turn around to face Johnny, who was standing in the doorway, looking nervous. Joker's expression clouded at once and he looked positively furious at the sight of their former friend.

"Johnny." Athena sighed his name and went over to him, anger building as she saw him again. The way he looked nervous and guilty made her quite sure that what Danny had said was correct. "We need to talk."

Without waiting to see if he followed she walked out the door and across the grounds to the building on the opposite end. She tried not to look too close at the dark brown stains on the ground that could only be dried blood from the many who'd died or gotten hurt.

She crossed her arms and glared at Johnny.

"Is it true? What Danny told me and Joker?" Johnny didn't meet her eyes and just kept wringing his hands, and his cowardice made her loose it. She stepped up and slapped him hard across the face and he stumbled backwards with a surprised expression on his handsome face. "Did you fucking tell Danny that it was me in that alley all those weeks ago?! And did you tell him about Joker and his disease?! Did you tell him where we live?!"

"Yes."

Johnny whispered it and took a few steps back as if to ward off coming blows, but Athena kept her fists firmly by her side.

"Why?"

"He caught me and asked me if I knew. Said he would let me go if I told him. And you know I'm a terrible liar! So I told him."

Athena couldn't believe what she was hearing. I trusted you.

"Why didn't you tell me after? We could have prepared! Don't you realize that that was probably the reason they went here with the Lost Sons to attack us?!"

Athena couldn't believe how stupid he'd been.

"I... I didn't want him to come after me and Jade."

He looked miserable where he stood, he knew he was guilty for much more then just risking Athena's and Joker's life.

"Yeah that worked out great for you didn't it? You're lucky Dave is dead or he would fucking kill you for this!"

She knew it was an exaggeration but she just wanted to throw everything she could at him right now, hurt him as much as she could.

"I didn't want him to die. I didn't want any of you to die. We're friends."

He sounded hesitant when he stated the last part and Athena scoffed.

"We're not friends. I would have been happy if you and Jade had died. I would happily have traded both of you for Dave."

She knew she went too far the moment the words came out of her mouth and instead of blanching, Johnny took on an ugly darker color as he became furious as well. And then it was like the air suddenly went out of Athena and she found that she was all out of anger again. She was tired of being angry and whatever she yelled at Johnny would change nothing. Dave would still be dead and Johnny had still done what he did.

"Look, where is Eric? I just want to get this over with."

Johnny looked like he wanted to hit her for a second, but then he visibly calmed down and answered.

"Eric's dead. No one knows where Yennie is or if she's still alive."

Athena nodded as she took in the information. That meant that there was nothing left for them here. The Reds would most likely disband or be led by someone else entirely. And Athena didn't want to suck up to someone new anyway. She started to walk away but halted.

"Joker and I are leaving."

She didn't wait to see if Johnny would have some final words of goodbye. She didn't want to hear them even if he had.

She walked back into the apartment and found that everyone stood where she'd left them, all of them a bit uncomfortable. Joker took one look at her sad face and nodded.

"So he did it."

"Yeah." Athena sighed and went to the fridge, started taking beers out for everyone. They somehow always had beer. She handed them out and then turned back to Joker. "Eric's dead and no one knows where Yennie is."

Joker nodded.

"Then I say we pack up our shit and leave this place."

Athena smiled and nodded. That sounded damn good. Except that they had no place to go. She turned to David.

"You said that Joker could join flight school. Can he join now? He'll be eighteen in three weeks."

"He can join on his birthday. You can both stay with me until that time. I'll be away on a mission for a few weeks so you'll have the place to yourself."

Athena wondered if she was imagining the glitter in his eyes when he said that they'd have the house to themselves and tried not to blush again at the memory of being caught kissing Kaidan in the hallway in the hospital. She pushed the thought away and focused on the topic at hand.

"What about me? I'll be another year before I'm allowed to join up. Is there any job I can do in the meantime?"

"I'll find you something to do and you can stay at my place until you're eighteen too."

Both Athena and Joker beamed at David and he laughed at their happy expressions. This was just what they'd hoped for.

"I guess we should start packing."

Athena and Joker smiled at each other and then grabbed a few bags to pack their things.

Athena finished her makeup and smiled at herself in the mirror. Three months had passed since the raid. Joker had been accepted into flight school and was doing really well, if what he told her could be believed. But she was sure he was exaggerating a lot. Athena still lived with David and had gotten a job at a nearby garage where she spent her time repairing and fixing up cars and bikes. She'd always had basic understanding of it, anyone who spent a lot of time with Joker picked up that skill, but she'd still needed to be taught some things by the owner of the place. He was an old friends of David's and Athena knew she never would have gotten the job otherwise. But it payed well and was reasonably fun.

Athena snapped out of it when Joker impatiently called her from downstairs. He'd been back at David's place for less then an hour and he was already eager to get out. Athena threw one last look in the mirror and ran down the stairs to where Joker, Kaidan and Oliver sat.

"Geez Shep, what could possibly take so long? We were starting to think you'd fallen asleep in there."

Athena stuck her tongue out to Joker in a childish way and he responded by giving her the finger, but grinning at the same time. Athena pretended to be offended and put her jacket on before giving Kaidan a quick kiss, earning them a set of disgusted sounds from Joker and Oliver.

"Get a room you two." Joker stood up and put his own jacket on and they all went outside.

Joker still kept his bike at David's place and had agreed to give Oliver a ride, although he'd been complaining about it. He'd never met Oliver before but Athena could tell that they'd gotten along well the time she'd spent getting herself ready. With a little luck they would become fast friends.

She smiled at the familiar warmth at her back that was Kaidan and giggled when he bent down and kissed her neck. She started the engine without waiting for Joker to start complaining about their kissing again. She knew he didn't really mind, it was just a part of the act.

They parked outside the club and went inside, and immediately got assaulted by the smell of sweat, alcohol and perfume. But Athena didn't mind, this was a smell she was used to and she still connected it to the many fun nights they'd had here. She hadn't been back since she had taken Kaidan here. It had only been about four months but it felt like forever ago.

The band hadn't started to play yet and they forced their way to an empty table and sat down. Athena and Kaidan went to get drinks for all of them and the band started playing the moment they got back. Athena couldn't tell if Oliver seemed awed by the place or if he was just disgusted, but he had asked for it after all. Several times, and he'd been very insistent. Athena hadn't known if coming back here was a good idea but all misgivings had disappeared the moment they got inside.

The music was loud and the drinks kept flowing. They sat at the table almost the whole concert through but nearing the end Oliver wanted to go up and dance so they all did, with Joker a little bit on the side but he still danced.

The night sped by too quickly and soon the place was closing up. Athena couldn't stop smiling and Oliver was almost skipping. Kaidan didn't seem to be able to keep his hands off her and when he didn't have his arm around her, he was holding her hand. They hadn't had much time together between Athena's job and Kaidan's basic military training, even though he came home as often as he could. And even though Athena was very happy to see Joker at long last, she couldn't help but feel almost giddy when he eyed their entwined hands with suspicion and asked Oliver if he could sleep at his place. The house usually felt empty when David was out on a mission, but right now she thanked the universe for keeping him away from Earth right now.

Joker didn't normally get close to anyone that fast and Athena knew that even though he acted like he was disgusted by her and Kaidan, he really was happy for them.

They took a cab back to David's place where Athena and Kaidan were dropped off and Joker and Oliver took it onward to Oliver's place. Athena hadn't even managed to get the door open before Kaidan was at her back, pressing against her and nuzzling her neck, and she almost dropped the keys in her hurry to get inside.

She had enough sense to make sure the door was closed and locked before she dropped the keys on the floor and allowed Kaidan to pull her flush against him and kiss her for all he was worth. Their tongues were doing their usual dance, and even though they'd kissed like that many times, Athena didn't think she'd ever get tired of exploring his mouth with her tongue or hearing the low sounds he made in his throat. The kiss felt like it lasted forever but could only have been a few seconds. When they broke off for air they were both panting slightly and Athena could see a gleam in Kaidan's eyes that made her knees go weak.

She took his hand and without a word being said, led him upstairs to the room that was now hers. The moment they got inside she spun around and wrapped her arms around him and he kissed her again. She let her hands slip under his shirt and smiled when she heard his breath catch in his throat. She tugged at the shirt and he stepped back to quickly pull it over his head and throw it on the floor. Athena let her eyes rake over his naked upper body. He had become more muscular since beginning his basic military training and her hands were itching to run all over his chest.

"Like what you see?" One eyebrow cocked and a small smirk on his lips told her that he didn't mind her staring.

Instead of answering, she pulled off her own shirt and bra and smirked at him when his gaze went to her breasts and stayed there. She was going to say something cocky back, but she didn't get the chance as Kaidan took two long steps forward and wrapped his arms around her again, kissing her senseless.

Her hands went all over his body, touching every inch of skin she could reach, and she felt his hands do the same. Her skin burned and tingled every time he touched her and they both became more aggressive. Her hands went to his jeans and she deftly undid both zipper and button while pushing him back against the bed. The back of Kaidan's knees hit the edge of the bed and he fell backwards onto it, dragging her with him as he fell.

Kaidan let out a small huff as he landed on his back and Athena giggled and sat up a little so he could breathe. Her hands went back to his pants and she pushed them down as far as she could while Kaidan's hands started working on her own jeans. He fumbled and swore and Athena bit back a laugh and rolled off him to take off her pants herself.

The moment they'd gotten their pants and boots off, Athena was in his arms again, lying on top of him without an inch of space between them. They kissed each other hungrily, like they were battling for dominance and Athena moaned when his callused thumb rubbed over her nipple. She sat up a little more and took him in hand and guided him inside her. The low groan that Kaidan made was mirrored by the moan that slipped out her throat when he was sheathed deeply inside her. She pushed herself up and then slid down again, and Kaidan's hands found their way to her hips to help guide her movements. Going slow wasn't an option and soon both of them were panting and covered in a fine sheen of sweat.

As Athena neared her peak, she grew more vocal and Kaidan moved one hand between her legs and started to stroke her, causing her to buck her hips more forcefully. She came hard and cried out something that she hoped was his name, but it could have been anything, really. Her whole body spasmed, pulling Kaidan with her over the edge and Athena heard her name on his lips as he sat up and hugged her close.

They sat like that for several minutes, just breathing in each other's scent and reveling in the closeness that didn't happen often enough.

Athena had no idea what would happen in the future, with both of them in the Alliance anything was possible. But at least she was moving forward, leaving her old life behind for something else. And regs or no regs, she wouldn't give this up. We'll have to be sneaky.

She smiled at the thought and looked up to give Kaidan a quick kiss before she got up to get ready for bed. She was sure this new life would be a lot better then the one she left behind, and she couldn't wait for it to start.

I can feel a change coming
And I know we're gonna make it last
From now on we'll be going somewhere slowly
Instead of going nowhere fast

Bryan Adams - "Nowhere Fast"

The End.

So, finally done! I want to thank everyone that has read this far and stayed with the story until the end! I still think it's amazing that people wants to read what I've written :) This is the first multi-chapter story I've written and it's been an exercise for sure. I will go back and look over all the chapters sometime in the future and correct the writing, and I might write a sequel at some point if someone's interested. But thanks again, and please leave a review if you enjoyed it, they always make me so happy :)