This was my first ever fic :)

And I've rewritten it because the original sucked.

I was still pretty inexperienced when I first posted it, and I still had that arrogant mentality of "everyone praises me; thus I don't need to study/practice writing! I'm already the best of the best!" Since then, I've grown and become aware, sometimes painfully so, that yes, I'm a good author, but I still have much to learn. I read a more varied range of genres now and I'm trying to step in to other fandoms/genres to broaden my range of writing. Unless I do this, I cannot grow as a writer, and that's the biggest obstacle that a lot of young writers, like me, face; to step out of your comfort zone and grow.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy!

Disclaimer; I do not own Mass Effect, nor do I receive any money for publishing a fan-fiction about it. The copyright belongs solely to BioWare studios. I only take credit for Riza Shepard, as she is my OC.

-x-

"There you go, Commander."

Lieutenant Commander Riza Shepard smiled at her ship's doctor, Karin Chakwas, as she tightened the wrappings around a plasma burn.

"Thanks for the patch-up, Doc Chalk," she grinned as she hopped off the exam table. "I owe you yet another one."

"You do realize I hardly find that nickname funny, right Commander?" Riza would have been intimidated by the elderly doctor if it hadn't been for the small smile in her sea-green eyes.

"Bullshit, Chakwas," Riza snorted. "I gave it to you myself, thus it's an awesome nickname." The doctor just laughed and shook her head, waving her immature commander out of her office.

The two had formed a strong bond while on their search for Saren and intel on the Reapers. Shepard enjoyed Chakwas' company so much, she would often be found chatting with the seasoned medic in between drops, and in turn, Chakwas was amused by Shepard's juvenile behavior and acted almost motherly towards the young soldier.

As the med bay doors closed behind her, Riza thought back to the drop they had just been pulled out of.

They had received a distress beacon signal while drifting through space trying to decide on a course that would best suit their search for Saren.

"Turns out the so-called 'distress beacon' was a bloody trap set up by those damned Geth bastards," Riza muttered darkly, thoroughly pissed that a bunch of machines had outsmarted one of the Alliances' "best and brightest." But, Shepard and her team had been able to fend off the Geth long enough for Joker to swing in and extract them, despite the fact that the LZ was hotter than an overheated plasma rifle.

"Joker sure is amazing," Riza chuckled, shaking her head. Joker, as much of a pain he could be at times, had saved all of their asses on many occasions. Despite his disease, he was truly the best damn pilot the Alliance had. He had pulled off stunts that no one else could and treated it as menial as breathing. Between impossible drops and crazy stunts, he was an icon of aerial mastery.

As she walked down the long corridor to navigation deck, she wondered how she could thank him for everything he had done for the entire crew of the Normandy. A raise would be too menial, but a promotion would be too grand. Besides, even though he was a part of her crew, she could only file an appeal, and that couldn't guarantee a rise in rank.

Presley gave her a flustered salute as she walked by, and she saluted by reflex. Just before she reached the command deck, an idea struck her and a cat-like grin spread across her features.

Sauntering up to Joker's seat, Riza leaned on it.

"Hey Joker."

"Hey, Commander," he said in his usual half-bored, half-cocky tone. "Come to see how the Normandy's running?"

"I actually came up to tell you something," Riza replied. "Could you put the Normandy on auto-pilot for a sec?"

"Alright," Joker said warily, clicking one of the many holographic buttons to activate cruise control. "What do you want to-" Joker froze as Riza straddled his thighs and lowered herself onto his lap. She grinned devilishly at his baffled expression and pulled off his hat.

"I wanted to thank you for saving my ass yet again," Riza whispered as she dropped his hat and wrapped her arms around his neck. "So thank you, Jeff Moreau, on behalf of the entire crew of the SSV Normandy." With that, she leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek, feeling his scraggly beard brush against her skin.

-x-

I'll leave the rest up to you guys ;)

Like I said, it's been rewritten, and I'm MUCH happier with this version than the old one :P

I hope you all enjoyed! :D