Author's Notes

This story is set several months after the end of the Reaper War. I've chosen to disregard the circumstances of Bioware's ending. You can insert your own ideas about how exactly the Reapers were defeated, but in this setting the Reapers are gone, the mass relays are still functional, and there was no synthetic genocide. This is a one-shot for now, but I'm toying with a few ideas to continue the story with the couple's relationship with the Normandy crew and galactic politics. I may alter timeline details and character aftermaths (read: who survived) to fit with any expansion of this story.

WARNING: STORY CONTAINS EXPLICIT SEXUAL DETAILS. DO NOT READ IF YOU'RE OFFENDED BY SUCH CONTENT.

Don't lie. You came here for the sex and you know it.

Please leave reviews. If you have any ideas about details you'd like to see incorporated into their relationship, I'd like to hear them.

Tali lay awake on the spacious bed of her recently constructed home. The room was dark save for the ambient light from the holo-clock. The radiant sun of her world had yet to break over the horizon and signal a new day. Fresh flowers native to Rannoch sat on the bedside table; a mixture of the golden-orange, bright red, and vibrant purple flowers that grew nearby. Deep breaths of the cool air still brought new scents she had never imagined while being trapped behind air filters. She rubbed her hand against the soft mattress, the texture of the smooth sheets on her bare palm sending pleasant tingles up her spine.

Such luxury and space was a new experience among her people. She had already spent many nights in a large bed during her time sleeping in the captain's cabin, but she had never been able to shake the foreign feeling of it. John had insisted that it was as much her bed as his since their first night together before plunging into the unknown of the galactic core. She was still unsure at the time about human customs; one could never truly trust the extranet for accurate information, especially on matters such as this. Intimacy with humans may not always mean the same thing it does for quarians. He had assured her that she was his only desire, but the knowledge of an impending suicide mission makes a person impulsive. After surviving the mission she was sure that he would change his mind, that she was just stress relief. Something he wanted to try before he died...again.

Keelah, what a stupid assumption. All the worry because I thought I knew what he wanted. But now I have a bed that I can call ours. In our home. On our world. A world where we can build our lives.

She rolled over to gaze on her lifemate, her luminescent eyes allowing her to make out his features in the low light. His arm was bent behind his head as a pillow and his jaw was hanging wide open as he drew in each breath. She brushed his cheek with one of her long slender fingers and shut her eyes to go back to sleep. Everything the galaxy threw at us. We survived and held on to each other. My hero came back to me. He gave me a home. And he gave me himself.

A loud snap shattered the silence of the room. Oh, so he is awake.

"John," she said in an exasperated sigh.

"Yes, love?" he replied innocently, eyes still closed and lips barely containing a grin. Another loud crack echoed around the room.

"You know I can't stand it when you do that."

"Do what?" He cracked another knuckle on his hand. "This?"

She reached over and thumped him on the temple with the same finger that was caressing his cheek just moments ago. He dramatically shielded his head with his arm and feigned a grievous injury. "Bosh'tet. Why do you get so much joy from torturing me so? And how can that even feel good? Surely that has to be uncomfortable."

"Those beautiful hands of yours," he says as he grasps her hand with his and kisses it "are so deceptively strong." She took his hand an examined it, playing with his five fingers. I wonder what it is like to have so many fingers to move at once. "Popping my knuckles keeps my hands limber." He leaned close to her and whispered by her ear. "You do like it when my hands are limber don't you?" He planted a gentle kiss on the side of her neck and breathed in the scent of sweat and sex. Her memories jumped to the previous night when they had 'christened the bed' as he called it.

"I don't seem to recall exactly what you did with your hands. Maybe if you could give me a reminder?" she said coyly while stroking his thigh. He returned the gesture and moved his hands from her hips down her round backside. She let out a soft moan of approval as he gave her a firm squeeze. He repositioned himself to cradle the base of her head with his other hand and guide her lips onto his. Their tongues met and danced together, each one exploring the other's mouth. Tali gripped both sides of his head, grazing her fingers over his short hair and pulling his face against hers.

Tali let out a sharp gasp as his fingers wiggled their way across her mound to massage her sex. Thank the ancestors that humans and quarians are so astoundingly similar. He rubbed his palm around her clitoris while his fingers spread her wetness over her folds. A single digit found its way inside her, pressing against her warm, tight walls. She ran her hands around his back, feeling the many scars he had collected and pulled herself against him, teasing her nipples against his skin. She began kissing his shoulder and moved her way up his neck, stopping to nibble on his earlobe.

Tali soon began to lose herself to pleasure and dug her forehead into Shepard's chest to try and maintain control. Another digit managed to squirm into her, pushing her apart. Her shallow breaths matched up with the steady motion of Shepard's hand pulling up against her. As Tali neared climax, her legs attempted to wrap around his wrist. He used his knee to keep her legs spread apart, the control he imparted over her intensifying her build up. She threw her head back into the pillow and bucked her strong legs against the smooth sheets. "Jo-oohn," she manage to let out with a slight squeal. She lost all sense of her body as she reached orgasm, the sensations overwhelming her mind and rolling her eyes back into her head.

Shepard watched as Tali shivered on the bed, rubbing her hands over her body; a body freed from imprisonment of an environment suit. When she opened her eyes again she met Shepard's directly in front of her, his forehead pressed against hers. They exchanged a slow, tender kiss as they sat upright again. She looked down at his engorged member and stroked it several times with her three-fingered hand.

"Now it's my turn to take care of you."

Tali guided him to sit on the end of the bed and moved her legs around to straddle him, her legs wrapped around his waist. He draped his arms around her, grabbing her rear and giving her another firm squeeze. She reached through the small gap between them to guide his cock up to her opening. Tali used the leverage her strong, bowed legs provided to pull herself onto him, burying his throbbing member deep into her. She gyrated her wide hips in a circle and flexed around him, driving him to moan with pleasure. They settled into a slow rhythm of lovemaking.

Tali cupped her hands around the side of his head, rolling her thumbs around his temples. She pressed lips against his, forcing his lips open and shoving her tongue into his mouth. He continued to guide her hips back and forth, their position allowing him to push deeply into her. Tali suddenly moved her legs from around his back to straddle him on her knees. She pushed him so he was laying flat on his back, his legs still hanging off the bed. She leaned forward to rest her hands on his shoulders and took control of their lovemaking, intensifying their rhythm to drive them both toward release. Shepard reached up to toy with her petite breasts, squeezing her nipples between his thumbs. Tali could feel herself climaxing again and continued her passionate thrusting on his manhood, letting out a faint squeal every time she took him in. She suddenly collapsed onto him, overcome with pleasure. Shepard had snaked his hand in between them to massage her hyper-sensitive nub. She slid up and down on him rub to her nipples against his chest while he drove himself deep inside her.

They pressed their foreheads together, locking eyes as Shepard emptied his seed into her. She succumbed into another orgasm, her muscles contracting around his throbbing organ. They lay still for a few moments, enjoying the warmth of each other within her. Tali gave his still-erect member a few flexes, causing him to squirm under her. She let out a giggle and kissed him tenderly. "I love you John Shepard vas Rannoch. More than I ever dreamed I could love someone."

"Well I did return your homeworld and build you a house."

She gave him another slow kiss and whispered, "Bosh'tet."

"I love you, too. Our life together is as much your doing as it is mine, Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch. You were always there to give me strength and keep me going."

"And I always will be." She embraced him tightly and nuzzled her cheek against his neck. He rubbed the small of her back with one hand and ran his other through her long, dark hair. One of his favorite things to do when they were close together was play with her hair. They rested for what seemed like an eternity, Tali laying on top of Shepard, before she broke the silence. "And the Geth built the house." She raised up to give him a smirk.

"Hey, I told them where you wanted the living room view to be. And I was the one that asked for the bigger shower."

"Probably the biggest shower currently on the planet. I don't think my people have quite gotten used to the concept of living in large spaces yet."

"Well, they've earned it. The quarians have spent far too long paying for the mistakes of their ancestors. And , for the most part, your people have been very accepting of the Geth."

"Probably because they're directly responsible for re-acclimating our immune systems. It also helped that nearly everyone has seen the archival footage you saw in the Geth consensus. The Conclave is pretty enthusiastic about making this work. They're aware of what a diplomatic incident with the Geth might cause. And fortunately, most of them aren't Daro'Xen."

Tali rolled off of Shepard to lay beside him. She propped her head up by her elbow and gave a contented sigh. "You know I'm still scared that I'm going to wake up and realize this is all just a dream." He sat up and turned to face her. "I'm scared I'll wake up alone in a sleeper pod."

"Well if this is just a dream, it's far better than the dreams I've had. A life with no more battles. No more Reapers. No more trying to save the galaxy only to have the galaxy spit in my face. A life where I never have to be away from you."

Tali smiled and leaned over to kiss him and caress his unshaven face. "You never will if I have anything to say about it. The galaxy has had its turn with the great Commander John Shepard. You belong to me now."

"Mmm, yes, Admiral." He gave her his irresistible grin and twirled some of her hair between his fingers. "Though now it's the great Ambassador John Shepard, the Systems Alliance official liason to Rannoch."

She smiled and traced one of the faint scars across his cheek with a finger. "Even better for me." The room began to light up as Rannoch's star, Tikkun, rose above the horizon. Shepard's face became more visible to her luminescent eyes, revealing his growing beard. Tali ran her palm under his chin, playing with the rough texture. "You know, you were right. You do look better without a beard."

Shepard chuckled and raised his chin to allow her easier access to his jawline. "I told you that you probably wouldn't like it." He scratched at his jaw. "And it's itchy."

"Well it is fun to play with, but it's rough," she glanced down toward her legs, "down there." She blushed slightly as he ran his eyes down her body, taking in her lithe, naked form.

"I'll shave when I get ready for today. I kept my razor just in case."

"Oh, let me do it," she exclaimed with a giddyness that surprised him. "That is, if you trust me to do it."

"Tali I've trusted you with my life countless times. I think I can trust you with dragging an extremely sharp razor across my neck, millimeters away from my vital blood vessels." He wore a devilish smirk on his face.

She balled her fist and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "Bosh'tet, now you're just trying to make me nervous."

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you'll do just fine. This will be a bonding experience for the both of us." He stood up and gave her a quick show of his body as he retrieved his boxers. "I'll get the water going." Right before his disappeared into the bathroom he leaned his head back to give her one last taunt. "You go get the medi-gel." She grabbed a pillow and threw it at the doorframe.