James lifted the last of the crates onto Cortez's shuttle with a sigh. What with the help of his powered armor and with the lower gravity on this planet, the pick-up run wouldn't have been so exhausting if they hadn't been doing the same damned thing all day. The Normandy's team had cleared the base of Cerberus agents that morning and had spent the remainder of their time gaining what intel they could and gathering new supplies. What with their final assault on Cerberus only a few weeks away, they were doing all that they could. But it had been dark for hours, now, and James felt like there was nothing else they could scavenge from this particular base.

The majority of the crew had dissipated. They all had about an hour left of a little downtime before Joker called them back to the ship for take-off. Garrus and Ashely were back on the ship, Javick appeared to be dozing against one of the crates, and Liara was off in one of the buildings getting the last of the inventory. Shepard, however, was nowhere to be found.

On a hunch, James headed towards the beach. It appeared that Cerberus had had enough aesthetic taste to create one of their bases in a rather scenic location. This particular area was miles outside of the nearest city, nestled almost invisibly in the cliffs that hung over clear blue ocean waters. Eventually James found a semi-worn path that wound its way through some of the larger rocky outcroppings, leading him ever closer to the sound of lapping water.

He found Shepard's empty armor, like some crab's discarded shell, as he drew nearer to the hush hush of the waves. It had been placed carefully on a rock to prevent sand from getting into its finer mechanisms, he assumed. Its original wearer was only a dozen or so yards away from it.

Shepard was laying on her back, eyes closed and arms at her sides. Without the armor, she only wore tight black pants and an equally fitting gray Alliance shirt. Her boots had been left somewhere as well, and he smiled as she dug her toes into the sand.

"James."

"How'd you know?"

"No one else's suit is quite as loud and bulky as yours."

He only grinned. He initiated the process that would allow him to escape his armor and after a few moments stepped out. The suit was sturdy enough to stand on its own even as the front half of it yawned outward, ready for him to step back inside.

"Mind some company?"

"Of course not."

James settled in next to her and stretched himself out over the sand. It felt good to lie down after so many hours and he remained silent as he let each of his muscles relax. They were close enough that their hands brushed up against each other, though they didn't intertwine their fingers. And for the moment, it was enough. Both of them lay in respectful silence, squinting up at the sky.

Shepard was the first to speak. "You know, you forget they're different when you're looking from the other side of the galaxy."

"What are?"

"The stars. I mean, after seeing them from the Normandy so much, you forgot there's patterns, y'know? Because there's so many. I mean the constellations you looked at as a kid, from Earth. They're different, this far out."

James grunted as he squinted his eyes. "Huh. Yeah, I guess you're right." He smiled a bit, lips stretching out over white teeth. "Hell, from the surface, it's easy to forget that there's even anything out there." He extended his arm upward and pointed. "Are those planets? Ships?" His finger moved as he pointed out different clusters. "Stars? Reapers? Can't tell."

Although a shadow fell over her features for a moment, it passed after a few seconds. She finally turned to him. "It's nice to forget, at least for a minute."

"We're not gonna win if we can't picture a future without them. You gotta see it, y'know?" He formed his fingers into a rectangle and lifted his arms, framing the stars between his hands.

Shepard turned on her side, a smile curving her lips upwards. "Then tell me, Lieutenant. What do you see, after the Reapers are gone? What does your future, after all this, look like?"

James opened his mouth to respond and then clamped it shut moments after, not wanting to answer rashly. He watched her as he collected his thoughts. God, but he loved seeing her like this. Relaxed, wistful. Not constantly thinking about the war. Her expression was dreamy, the ghost of a smile etched on her lips as she waited for his reply. "Well shit, Lola. Doubt it'll be much different from what's happening now. There's still bad guys out there, just not bad guys with total annihilation on their minds. We'll just go on kickin' ass, like we always have."

"We?"

"I don't plan on leaving the Normandy anytime soon."

She flicked sand in his direction, almost playfully. "The galaxy needs you, James," she said in her most professional voice, "They'll want you to get started on your N7 training."

"And who better to teach me than Commander Shepard?"

"That's a valid point." She was sitting up now, her expression amused. Her hip pressed against his shoulder and her hand reached for his own. She held it in her lap and idly played with his fingers. After a few moments of silence, she spoke up again, though her tone wasn't so teasing this time.

"I like the idea of being in your future."

"Is that so?"

"I think we're a good team."

"Riiight."

"Are you mocking me, Lieutenant?" Her large blue eyes peered down into his, her hair falling around her face with the stars as her background. Her lips twitched, wanting to smile even as she struggled to maintain an expression of faux seriousness.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Commander." He smiled up at her for a moment, his eyes soft, voice quiet. "I like the idea of being in your future, too." He lifted his arms and cupped her face in his big hands, pulling her towards him. For a few moments they stayed there, suspended, only their foreheads touching. And then they were kissing with an urgency that neither of them knew the other possessed. James' hand went to tangle in her hair as his other arm moved to circle around her lower back. He tugged her down until she was on top of him, her legs straddling his hips. And for once it seemed like the whole world was orbiting around them, and they were the center of it all. Everything was forgotten but for each other.

Shepard pulled back for a moment, panting. James looked up at her, his expression a mix of bewilderment and a dumb happiness. She began to laugh, a breathless sort of sound, as she placed one of her hands on his neck. "The future's all well and good you know, but." Her head tilted to the side and he could have sworn that her smile was shy. Hesitant. "We can also make good use of the time we have now, yes?" He could see a shade of the fatalist in her return, the part of her that doubted that there would be any future after this war. But this was also her reaching out for once, as well. She stroked at the scar on his cheek. "Will you stay with me?"

James ran a hand through her hair, tracing down along her spine. "I'm not going anywhere, Lola." He met her lips with his again, though this time the kiss was softer, longer. He drew this one out.

The moment James' hand began to wander under the hem of her shirt, his radio beeped from his suit of armor, still standing a few feet away. "Uh, James? Have you seen the Commander? We're leaving in ten and she's not picking up." Joker. Shepard sighed loudly and rolled over into the sand, slipping off of James. He struggled not to laugh as he called back, hoping the mic would pick up his carried voice. "Yeah, I found her. We'll be there shortly."

"I swear he does it on purpose. I wasn't finished," she muttered, standing up. She began to run her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, loosening what sand was caught within its strands. James came up behind her and brushed what he could off of her back. "Whoops, missed a spot." His palm grazed her ass as he brush sand from there, too. Shepard shot him a look, but her eyes were laughing.

When they were finally back on the ship, the shuttle unloaded them in the hangar. The crew got to work unpacking the last of the supplies and finding places to fit all the things that they had found. Shepard directed some of the work, barking orders her and there. Finally, when it was all finished, James and Shepard headed towards the lift.

James lifted one hand to cover a yawn. Shepard's gaze snapped to his face. "Don't get too tired yet, James." She said, swatting his hand away when he went to push the request button for crew's quarters. She requested her cabin instead. "I don't intend on letting you sleep just yet."