This whole situation was fucked up, and Joker knew it. Worst of all, who was going to tell Shepard about it? That was the million-dollar question. However, someone needed to. Finding out on her own would end badly for everyone on the ship.

Heading into the mess hall, Joker grabbed a tray of food for Shepard before heading up to her cabin. It was as if he was on a death march, or rather it was the longest walk of his life. The woosh of the elevator opening was the only sound he could hear above the beating of his own heart. Still walking with a significant limp, Joker wasn't so afraid of breaking bones as much as he was before signing on with Cerberus.

Standing in front of Shepard's cabin door, Joker debated on if this was such a good idea. Balancing the tray on one hand, he opened the door and carefully entered the room. "Commander?" He spoke softly as he looked toward the bed. The only light in the room was given off by the faint blue glow of the fish tank.

"Hey." Evie said as she stirred. She hadn't been asleep, of course. Wiping her eyes with her arm, she struggled to sit up in bed. Reaching, she clicked on the bedside lamp and tried to tuck the picture frame under the pillow. Joker saw it, but he didn't say anything.

"I brought you some dinner."

"Thanks." She smiled. Joker was the only one on the ship who ever saw her relax since she died. The only person that really knew that she was a woman as well as a Spectre and their Commander. Evie appreciated that. Kaidan had left a hole in her heart, and she was afraid that it would have changed her. "I'm not really hungry right now."

Joker nodded and set the tray on the coffee table. "How are you doing?" he stopped at the foot of her bed and folded his arms across his chest.

Ungracefully, Evie shrugged her shoulders and reached up to brush her bangs out of her eyes. "Honestly, I don't know. You would think that it would get easier, right?" Her head shook and she sighed. "I guess it would have been easier if we actually broke up, huh?" The tears welled up in her eyes again and she turned her head away from Joker. Even she was uncomfortable having him see her cry, especially over Kaidan.

"Evie, it'll be okay." Joker felt horrible, and it made him feel even worse because of the news he had to tell her. Moving to the opposite side of the bed, he sat on the edge and scooted closer to her. Most of the time, Joker didn't like touching anyone. But, he comforted Evie; he gathered her in his arms and almost immediately, she began to sob again. The uncontrollable, heart wrenching sobs. He'd never heard that kind of sound from anyone before, let alone his commanding officer.

It was a little odd for him, he'd admit, but she'd been there for him. It seemed like an even trade.

"Shh, Evie." Joker closed his eyes and sighed softly, cradling the woman against his chest. Joker closed his eyes and just let her cry. His news could wait, even if it might get him killed.

Kaidan paced around the mess hall, which is located ironically where his post used to be on the original Normandy. Thoughts were running through his head as fast as light. There were things he needed to do and things he wanted to do. Maybe Joker was right; maybe he did need to talk things out with Evie.

The only thing stopping him was the fact that he felt that he had nothing to explain to anyone. He wasn't the one in the wrong, was he? There was a lot of anger and sorrow that boiled inside of him. His friends had tried to get him to move on, and he had – or so he thought.

He had mourned Eventide for a year before finally allowing himself to move on. He had come in contact with Rahna again, he figured it was Fate giving him another chance.

However, he hadn't mentioned that to her. Not that it was any of anybody's business who or what he did. Right? Right.

Mess Sergeant Gardner was all but staring at Kaidan as he paced before he shook his head and went about getting dinner finished. Shaking his head, Kaidan strode toward the elevator that would take him to Shepard's quarters. Tali had been nice enough to give him a tour of the ship. She seemed to be the only one that didn't hate him; then again it could have been because she was heavily medicated and sick. She seemed happy enough to see him, and it was actually a relief.

Stepping out of the elevator, he approached the cabin doors, and suddenly EDI's spherical form appeared outside the door. "I do not advise you to go in there, Commander Alenko."

"I appreciate your concern, EDI. But, I need to speak with Commander Shepard."

"I highly adv—"

Reaching over, Kaidan typed on the small computer and disabled EDI temporarily. He'd get shit for it later. Right now, he didn't care.

Nearly slapping his palm against the button, the door slid open and he stepped inside the room. The original Normandy didn't have anything like this, but he supposed that it had been Cerberus' additions.

Dark eyes scanned the room. There were trinkets littering a small desk in the corner, and atop a shelf behind it was a glass cage with a hamster in it. A wall-sized fish tank gave the room its only source of light.

Kaidan could see a silhouette outlined in the bed; it was sitting up but slightly slumped to the side. He should have left, even Kaidan realized it, but for some reason he couldn't. His curiosity had been piqued and reaching over, he switched the lamp on the desk on. It would have been rude of him to turn the halogens on. Though, he had thought about it.

Soft light flooded the room, and it took a moment for Kaidan's eyes to adjust. But, when they did, the sight he saw made his vision swim red with anger. Joker was leaning against the headboard and Evie was tucked under his arm, her head against his chest as she slept. Jealousy fueled his next course of action. The sudden brightening of the room caused Joker and Evie to stir, but when Kaidan began to emit that cerulean glow, it was too late to react.

Evie didn't even have time to register what was happening when Joker flew across her cabin and hit the opposite wall with force enough to knock him out. Pictures and models clattered to the floor noisily. Being that Evie was so close to Joker when he was tossed, she was knocked out of bed with the blast. Luckily, Chakwas disconnected her from the monitors earlier when Joker came up so she didn't get tangled with the wires, but she did land on the floor in a heap.

"What? I don'—I don't understand." Evie shook her head and tried to figure out what was going on. Once she freed herself from the blankets, Kaidan could see that she was fully clothed in a tank top and short shorts, and he could see the cast that covered much of her left leg, from mid-thigh to her ankle. The blue glow in the room pulsed like a heartbeat, but began to subside as Evie used the bed to try and raise herself up.

Something caught her eye, and she turned her head toward the far end of her room. Her hand groped the bedside table for her glasses and she put them on. "Kaidan! What the fuck are you doing in here?" Confusion laced her words as she tried to process what in the hell he was doing on the Normandy, let alone her personal cabin.

Long platinum hair was in disarray around her face as she finally could see Joker on the floor on the opposite side of the bed. "What? What did you do to him?"

Anger still pulsed off of Kaidan in waves, "I should have known!" He pointed a finger at Evie in an accusing manor. He had no reason to be upset, but he was. Closing the distance across the room, his face twisted and he couldn't seem to calm himself down.

"The fuck? What should you have known? What have you done? Joker!" Evie did her best to pull herself to her feet. She did it, but the pain was almost blinding. Her crutches were nowhere near her, so she used the edge of the bed to navigate around. But, before she was half way to Joker, Evie felt a hand painfully close around her wrist and she was hauled away from the bed and she lost any sort of balance she had and fell to the ground, but Kaidan still had an iron grip on her wrist.

"I should have known you would be more concerned about him than you would be me."

"What are you talking about?" Short gasps of breath were all Evie could muster, and the sharp pain made mewls seep from her throat. "I don't understand." Trying to pull her arm free of Kaidan, she looked up at him finally. Tears stained her bruised and battered face.

"I should have known you were fucking him."

"I was what?" Her voice rose, and the incredulous tone took over. "I don't know what you've been smoking, Kaidan. But I was definitely not fucking Joker."

"You're lying!" Kaidan all but flung Evie against the end of the bed by her arm, and she cried out yet again in pain.

Shaking her head at Kaidan, she half crawled over to Joker. "You're fucking insane, Kaidan." She murmured and rolled Joker over, pressing her fingers to his neck to make sure he was still alive. "You could have fucking killed him, you know."

"Then why was he in your bed, Evie?"

"Because he was being a friend and comforting me while I was crying over you." She shot a look over her shoulder at Kaidan and shook her head.

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to believe he was in your bed because you were crying over me."

"I would get up and show you something, but I can't really move at the moment. Go over to the left hand side of the bed, look under the pillow. While you're at it, look on the bedside table as well."

Kaidan didn't know what to think or do, but he did what she asked of him and went over to her side of the bed and lifted the pillow. Under it, he saw a picture of him. Picking up the picture, he noticed that there were stains on the glass; it looked as if she cried on the picture. And she had.

On the bedside table was the necklace he had given her, it had been Kaidan's mothers'. It was hanging on the frame of a picture of them taken after they stopped Saren and Sovereign; they were on shore leave and decided to take a couple days to themselves.

"Now, ask yourself this, Kaidan. Why would I be fucking him while I had your tear stained picture under my pillow as well as something I value more than anything on my desk? Answer: I wouldn't."

What had he done?

After checking Joker over, Evie sighed softly. His arm was likely broken if not his legs as well from the impact of the blow. Scratching her brow, where her scar had been before, Evie thought for a moment. She still wasn't sure what to think about what had just happened, but she wanted to know. There was a lot that had been left out, it seemed. "Listen, Kaidan. I'm going to give you one shot to redeem yourself of your little fuck up. Joker needs medical attention. I can't carry him, let alone let anyone else know what went on in here without getting you killed for it. And as much as I should let Grunt tear you limb from limb, I'm going to give you a chance. Why? I'm not sure, and it may very well return one day and bite me in the ass, but…" She shook her head. "Anyway, take Joker to Chakwas. Explain that you scared him or whatever. Make something up, I'll explain to Joker later, and if he chooses to hunt you down, so be it."

Kaidan nodded, his anger was fading and there was a lump in his stomach the size of a meteor. Moving over to where Evie was, he lifted her up first and set her on the edge of the bed before carefully lifting Joker up and without another word; he took him out of the room and down to Chakwas.

How in the hell was he going to explain this?