Note: This is the same universe as "Survival." This is an alternate version of the pre-Omega Relay scene between Jack and Shepard. The original scene is...kind of on the iffy side, and a lot of fans don't think it did Jack any justice. I think it could definitely have been better executed.
So here's what happened with these two before they hit the Omega Relay.
Shepard can't sleep. She knows she ought to try to get at least a little rest before this mission, but she can't sleep, can't stay in that ridiculously large cabin with that stupid unshielded window above her bed. So she took a walk. And ended up down in Jack's hide-away. Jack looks a little surprised. And a little something else that Shepard can't put her finger on that makes her think leaving might be better than staying. But she's got nowhere else to go.
"Shepard..."
"Hey. I'm not bothering you, am I? I just...how are you holding up? Ready for this?" Shepard tries to smile. Hopefully it didn't look too...what? Worried? Tired? Forced?
Jack raises an eyebrow. "Are you ready?"
Shepard shrugs and leans against a bulkhead, closing her eyes. "As ready as anyone can be when they're going somewhere no one's come back from."
"We'll come back. You're Commander Fucking Shepard. You have to come back." Jack's voice is teasing, but it wavers slightly. Shepard opens her eyes, frowning a little as Jack starts to pace. She should have just stayed in her room.
"Damnit, Shepard!"
Jack's embrace nearly knocks the wind out of her, it's so sudden. Shepard hugs back tightly, stroking one hand over the stubble of the younger woman's head. She feels Jack's tears against her skin, and her heart aches. Then she feel's Jack's lips on her neck. The room is suddenly warmer that it should be. She starts to ease away, only to have Jack's lips pressed hard against hers. There is desire in the kiss, but there's enough of...something else that makes it's wrong. The timing is all wrong.
Shepard pulls back, gently pulling Jack's hands away from where they'd started under her shirt. "Not like this, Jack," she says softly as their eyes meet.
Jack grits her teeth and balls her hands into fists, but she doesn't jerk them away. "What the fuck, Shepard! We could fucking die." She looks away, and Shepard can't remember ever seeing her this vulnerable.
Then she adds, softly, "You could die." The fear in her voice makes Shepard's heart ache.
"I know. But that's...I said I'd be ready if you ever decided you wanted more, but not like this." She wipes at the trail of eye-liner that was starting to run down Jack's cheek. "You don't have to feel like you have to do this." She sighs and wraps her arms around Jack. "I don't ever want you to regret anything that happens between us. And there's no guarantee you wouldn't regret it, if we did it now. Before everything." She's learned her lesson about intimacy when connected to suicide missions; she doesn't need any repeats of Horizon.
She feels Jack take a deep breath. "Don't fucking die, okay?" Jack sighs, her breath tickling Shepard's skin. "Just...stay with me? Until we have to get ready?"
Smiling, Shepard relaxes. "Yeah. I was gonna ask to stay, anyway. Don't think I could take being alone right now."