As I stir awake I'm hit by the smell of blood. It's so faint that I almost think I'm imagining it or still dreaming. I blink to clear the blur of sleep from my eyes and focus. The tang of copper is still there. The smell of blood. Her blood.

Were we attacked? No we're on the Normandy. If there were intruders we would have been alerted. Even if someone did manage to sneak on the ship fighting is so ingrained in both of us, we would have woken if someone tried something. Did I cut her? I worry my rough flesh or talons will pierce her tender flesh.

I look for her and panic when I don't immediately see her. Then a lump in the covers moves and I sigh with relief. At least she's here and alive.

I cautiously pull back the covers. I quickly learned abrupt awakenings are dangerous for anyone near her. Living on the streets as a child taught her to sleep light and come up fighting. She's calmer than she used to be, but I still have to be wary of flying fists.

I pull the covers back enough to see the steady rise and fall of her chest. The smell of blood is stronger until she reaches for the covers. Yanking them back to her and tucking her arm on top of them to keep them around her.

Like this she seems so delicate, so unlike Commander Shepard. Like this she's Alyssa, the woman I love. I wish she could look this peaceful when she is awake. The burdens of the galaxy always end up on her shoulders. I'll be at her side though, in battle and when she needs a shoulder.

I study what I can, but I can't see any injuries. I gently ease the covers away from her again. Tugging a bit to get them from under her arms. She growls and my mandibles twitch with a silent laugh.

As I expose more of her flesh, I still can't din any injuries. No signs of blood. Perhaps I was dreaming. Too often I've dreamed of her dying…again. Being taken from me again. Sometimes the dreams are so real that I wake up still hearing her anguished scream, and I have to see her. Gently touch her to see that she's still here. That she's warm and alive.

I bet that's what it was. Just a particularly vivid dream. I relax. It had to be a dream, she's obviously fine. I ignore the smell of blood that's now so faint I hardly notice it.

I look at her body, so different from mine. I've been enjoying rediscovering all the differences and finding new ones. All the while seeing how similar we are in our responses and way of thinking. I enjoy the similarities too.

My gaze flickers between my favorite parts of her anatomy. Parts that mark her as distinctly human.

Her wavy red hair that brushes her shoulders, now mussed from sleep…and last night. I love it when she leaves it down and not pulled back in a…ponytail, I think she calls it. Her hair makes her freckles stand out. I still think they look like constellations spread across her pale skin, even if she laughed when I told her. She blushed though so I know she liked it, and her greens eyes parked like they do when she's excited.

Her breasts still amaze me. Some of the videos I watched before our first night together seemed to focus on breasts. I never got it. I do now though. The feel of them, the noises she makes when I touch them. How she squirms when I lick them. Though before Alyssa I was never into humans. She's the only human for me. The only one in the galaxy for me.

Her small hands. Hands with five fingers and no talons. Holding hands was awkward at first, mine are bigger and shaped so differently from hers. She always liked though and I did too. Now we have our pattern and her hand can slip effortlessly into mine. It feels right.

The small patch of curls between her legs. I wonder if it's worth the risk of a punch to the face to wake her. To slip a talon inside and feel her excitement. To feel her go from warm to hot. To feel her clench around me as she gets wet. I shift on the bed to accommodate the shifts in my plates.

Oh yeah it's worth it.

I stroke a talon on her thigh and she smiles. She murmurs before rolling onto her back. I continue my way up and she shifts again. This time when she does I see blood. A small smear of blood on her thighs.

I hear an anguished sound. At first I think it's her, but she's still asleep. Then I realize it was me.

I hurt her. I must have last night. I was rougher than normal, but she would have told me. I don't understand.

Without thinking I grab her shoulders.

"Alyssa wake up."

I dodge her fist when it flies at me. When I straighten back up her eyes are wide and her body stiff. She's on her knees her fists up to block. I see her calm as she takes in her surroundings and she sees me.

"Garrus," she breathes and sits back on her heels. "Sorry. I didn't get you did I?"

I shake my head.

"What's wrong babe?"

I clear my throat. "Why didn't you tell me I hurt you?"

She looks at me as if I've lost my mind. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You're bleeding." I look away from her and gesture towards her thighs. "I'm sorry," I whisper as shame fills me. How could I hurt her?

I feel her shift. "Oh." She lays a hand on my arm. "You didn't hurt me. That's normal."

I snap my head around to stare at her incredulously. "Bleeding…bleeding from there is normal?" I choke out in a strained voice. My mandibles flare in agitation. "When you bleed you're hurt and being hurt is not normal."

"Well with our lifestyle being hurt is pretty normal. If too many days went by and someone wasn't hurt we'd think the galaxy wasn't out to kill us anymore. Wouldn't that hurt your feelings?" She laughs and stops when she sees my expression. "Babe I promise you didn't hurt me and this is normal. Look let me go get cleaned up and I'll explain ok."

I nod and she kisses my cheek.

"Oh and put some clothes on…you're too distracting for me to have a serious conversation." She goes into the bathroom and turns on the shower. I find my clothes strew about the room from where we threw them last night. After I'm dressed I sit on the bed and anxiously wait for her to finish.

She walks back in the room in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Her hair is wet and dripping a bit. Making it cling to her and I can see she's not wearing a bra.

"Talk about distracting," I mutter.

She grins and grabs her robe. "Better?"

I nod and she sits on the table near the bed and faces me. She takes my hand and looks at me.

"If I would have thought about it I would have told you. So you wouldn't have panicked. It just didn't occur to me that you wouldn't realize what a period was. After all this is the first cross-species liaison I've been in."

I give a small laugh and relax a bit.

"So a period is…"

"Huh," I say when she's finished. "So it's part of a female human's reproductive cycle?"

"Exactly."

"So it really is normal."

She laughs and nods.

"So this happens every month. Have I just never noticed before?"

"Well while we were working with Cerberus we were only together a few weeks before…" I tighten my hand around hers. "So you missed it. Now I've just been a bit irregular now. Which means I might not have one every month."

"What causes that?"

"There are a few different causes for irregularity. In this case it's probably stress."

"Well you certainly have plenty of that." I pull her to me and she sits in my lap. I run my talons through her hair and she shivers.

She gives me an odd look before blurting out, "You don't have a period for nine months if you're pregnant." She bites her lip and looks as if she regrets saying it.

My hand stills and the word hangs between us. We're back together now and I took her to the top of the Citadel. I asked if she was ready to be a one Turian woman and she said yes. We said I love you. I know this is serious and I want it to be, but this. Talking about kids is huge.

My hand drops to her arm and I pull her closer to me. I try to tone down my excitement, at least until we discuss it. "Is that so? And what would you think about it?"

She shrugs. "I think it might be nice. After all this is over…if we survive, to try to have a baby. Maybe take a calmer job on the Citadel, one where we're not constantly being shot at. We could buy a house. Try for a little normalcy, but not too much. That might be boring."

I laugh and let some of my excitement seep into my voice. "We have you, we'll survive. Though I have to agree, we're not exactly normal are we? Couldn't hurt to try for a little normal though. Of course you realize…" I trail off.

"That it might not be possible. I know, but that never stopped me before. It never stopped us before. People aren't supposed to come back from the dead either."

I kiss the top of her head. "No, but I'm glad you did. Damn you make it hard for me to hate Cerberus, they brought back the most amazing woman in the galaxy. Brought back the woman I love."

"I love you too."

I lie back on the bed and pull her with me. She curls up next to me and my arm pulls her closer to me. I think of the future, this future she has planned. I look at her and she smiles. I know any future will be ok as long as we're together. We can get married and settle down. Take safe jobs…well relatively safe jobs. We'll never get away from the violence altogether. Start a family. I don't think anything's impossible when it come to her.

I think a little normalcy sounds amazing.