"I've been thinking about you."
Thane hoped Shepard wouldn't say that, but there it was, he laced his fingers together on the table top and looked at her. The commander looked radiant, creamy, fair skin and haunting blue eyes, eyes that rivalled those of his lost Irikah. He would never forget those eyes.
"And I you. Though I feel I may not be foremost in your mind, Shepard." Straight to the point, just as he had planned, difficult as it had been. He wanted to confess himself to her, tell her that he wanted to pull her close and run his fingers through her hair, feel the foreign softness of it and just lay with her for hours.
Her eyes shifted from his, he knew it all along. The way she looked at the other man, the way she always brought both Garrus and himself on every mission. It was as if she was trying all the time to decide which one she enjoyed being around more.
"Thane, I'm so sorry. I never meant for us to get this close. I just...I didn't expect it. Everything you are caught me off guard, hell, I never had feelings for Garrus before I died. I just..." She trailed off and drummed thin fingers on the cold metal desk.
He couldn't blame her.
"I understand, my body has it's time limit. To expect you to commit to me then lose me would not be fair." She stood up. A brief encounter, but it was clear both of them needed to think, the air felt heavy, and was eerily silent. Even the ever-present blips and sounds of metal seemed to have stopped. Shepard cleared her throat uncomfortably and began to leave. Thane spoke, not turning to face her.
"If you change your mind Si...Shepard...I will be here waiting for you." His words were laced with a heavy sorrow. Shepard wasn't sure if it was because she had just turned him down or because doing so made him face his morality. It was best not to think about it.
As the weeks past, her visits to life support became more scarce. She would visit to talk about whatever mission they had been on, ask about Drell culture an other miscellaneous subjects, but the real substance from their conversation was gone. Thane couldn't help but wonder why she thought not wanting to be with him meant not speaking to him as much. He was happy just to have some sort of interaction that didn't involve killing someone. He knew she would leave then go straight to Garrus, she had done so almost systematically. He had many times considered finding a way to listen in on what she would say to him, but didn't want to risk her finding out.
/ / / / / / / / / / /
"Shepard, need me for something?" Garrus' multipitch voice was like music to her. She loved hanging on to every word the Turian spoke, always wanting to hear more. She trailed a finger across the mangled collar of his armour.
"Just wanted to come see you, I've been thinking about you a lot." She smiled coyly, watching his mandibles twitch in anticipation. She loved how he had no idea how to react.
""I've been looking more into...it." He shyly turned his head to the side.
"And...?" She asked, placing a hand lightly on his jaw and turning his head back to her, eyes studying every line.
"Can't say I'm not starting to want it more and more, Shepard." He said, voice just above a whisper. "A hero like yourself, someone who can accomplish just about anything going for someone like me. Feels...surreal." Shepard pulled back and stepped away from him, lifting and eyebrow and crossing her arms. "You don't give yourself enough credit, Garrus." She said. "I really wish you could appreciate who you are, and how much you mean to me." She gave him a pat on the shoulder and left, he watched her hips sway idly as she exited.
By the Spirits, how could this even happen? His Commanding officer of all people? Would she even had ever brought it up had he not told her about him and the recon scout? He had been watching vid after vid of human pornography, and what he saw left him awestruck. The women looked and acted nothing like Shepard, they screamed and talked almost constantly, something he definitely didn't understand. He wondered if all human females did the same thing. Looking up compatibility between Turians and humans warranted useless results. He wanted to make her feel good, show her that he was capable of doing so.
Though he was still scared. What if he couldn't perform properly? What if he hurt her? Lately his mind had been so focused on what could go wrong, he was having trouble deciding what could go right. Something his mind had been doing for a long while.