Katniss Shepard had had enough. The man had been teasing and flirting from the moment they met, but that was it. He had never even tried to go beyond teasing. She had flat out asked him if he was going to and he just stuttered looking like, what was that old phrase, a deer in the headlights. Admittedly, it was damned adorable to see the mountain of a man rendered speechless, but Katniss didn't want speechless. Katniss wanted the aggressive side she knew was buried under that shyness. She wanted James Vega, and God help her, she knew just how to get what she wanted. bur first, she'd have to enlist the help of her good friend Garrus Vakarian.

"Oh, Gar-rus!" a melodic voice rang through the ducts as a girl popped open the vent hatch. Everyone teased her about refusing to use the elevator, instead preferring to slink and scramble through the Normandy's duct-works. Her usual reply was was a smirk and a retort that her mother had often teased her that she must be part cat somehow.

"Spirits, I know that tone. What are you up to now, Kat?" the Turian asked, looking up from the Thanix cannon's console, mandibles spreading in the Turian approximation of a grin.

"I need a favor." Katniss said as she perched atop the cannon's housing when it was not in use. She gave a very smug cat-like grin as she curled up, well aware that she was the only one Garrus would let get away with such a thing.

"Let me guess. You're tired of Vega's teasing and want me to distract him so you can find a perch to pounce him from." Garrus deadpanned, folding his arms and raising his brow ridge teasingly. She cackled and clapped her hands gleefully.

"You know me so well." she purred, stretching. "Pleeease? I'll buy you a bottle of your favorite brandy from Palaven next time we hit the Citadel."

"You've got a deal, Kat." he said with a laugh. She squealed with glee and hopped down to hug the Turian. "Give me ten minutes and he'll be busy for a good hour."

"Thanks, Gar!" came the chirped reply as she skittered back into the ducts, leaving the Turian shaking his head and laughing as he heard the tell-tale brief static that signaled her linking her visor to his. She had, like him, long ago taken to wearing it even while off duty. "Just do me a favor and unlink before you pounce. I have zero desire to see Jimmy Vega naked." A shriek of delighted laughter echoed through the ship.

"No problema. That eye-candy is all mine." sang her voice through his visor's earpiece. Garrus shook his head before punching a message to Vega into his omni-tool.

/Hey, Vega. Drinks in the mess in five? I think it's time the human learned what it's like to be a real soldier./ Garrus laughed to himself as he waited for the reply, and he didn't have to wait long.

/Oh, hell no. You're on, Scars. You're going down!/ Vega responded almost immediately.

"I thought that would work. You humans love your, what was it you called it...urinating competitions?" he commented to Katniss. A thud echoed through the ship as she fell over laughing, leaving Garrus wincing at her volume. "What?"

"Pissing contests, Gar. Close." she explained after a moment, coughing as she tried to stop laughing.

"Anyway, he'll be here soon. I'll let you know when he heads back if you don't say you're ready before that." he said, putting his visor on standby, effectively muting it until she pinged it again.

~~~~~~~~~~

Down in the shuttle bay Katniss popped out of the ducts near Cortez.

"Hey, Steve!" Katniss chirped, surprising the shuttle pilot.

"Geez, Shepard! Don't scare me like that." Steve chided, but laughed. "Mr. Vega just left a couple minutes ago. He said something about "Vakarian's going down." I don't know." Katniss giggled and scrunched her nose up in a grin.

"I know. Hey, just to warn you, you might not want to work on the shuttle or look towards Jimmy's little cave for the next few hours." Cortez looked puzzled for a moment before laughing.

"I get it. You've finally had enough of his teasing, huh?" he asked, laughing again when she replied by holding her thumb and forefinger up just a hair's breadth apart. "Poor Mr. Vega. He has no idea what he's gotten himself into." he joked, shaking his head as he turned to one of his consoles that faced away from the tented area. "Have fun, Shepard."

"Oh, I will. No doubts about that." she snickered as she danced across the bay to hunt for a hiding spot. After roughly half an hour she settled into a spot just behind the shaded area of the "tent," hidden by crates, and pinged Garrus' visor twice to signal her readiness. A few moments later he pinged back to say that Vega was on his way. She pinged once more before unlinking their visors and getting into a springing position. She had, at Steve's suggestion, left something to get his attention on the back table to ensure he would come within her reach. That something being the oldest bottle of Tequila she had been able to find on the ship. Sure enough, the first thing James noticed upon returning was the bottle.

"Esteban! You leave this bottle here?" James called across the bay, twisting around from where he stood in front of it.

"Wasn't me, Mr. Vega." Steve called back. While his back was turned, Katniss slipped her hand into the tent and it slightly to one side, yanking her hand out of sight just before he looked back.

"Huh...I wonder who." he mused. He was so intent on the bottle that he didn't notice the figure creeping over the edge of his "tent" until just before she pounced.

"Me!" Katniss declared, latching her legs around James' waist and pinning his back to the table by grabbing the light's supports in her hands.

"Shit, Lola! You tryin' to give me a heart attack? Not that I mind beautiful women throwing themselves at me, but...uhm, why are you looking at me like that? It's kinda scary." he yelped, instinctively moving his hands to grasp her sides so she didn't fall even though she was rather securely latched to his waist.

"You know one thing I love about cats, Conejo?" she mused, letting go of the supports with one hand to tap a finger against his muscled chest.

"Uhh...they're furry? Wait...Conejo? Wh-" he started to question her about the nickname but she silenced him with a finger to his lips and locked eyes with him briefly before looking back at his chest.

"They're patient, almost to a fault. They wait and wait for just the right moment to pounce. But...sometimes they wait too long and miss the moment entirely." She paused for a moment and licked her lips before raising lust-filled eyes to meet his, pointedly poking him in the chest with her index finger. "As adorable as it was to see you rendered completely speechless, Conejo, you never gave me an answer. Do you ever intend to make good on all of your teasing? Because I sure as hell do." she said, moving her face closer until her lips were mere inches from his. She could feel the effect she was having on him; his heart was hammering in his chest, his breathing was shallow, and she could fell him straining against the fabric of his pants; but she left the final move to him. "El gato is waiting, Conejo. What will it be?"

~~~~~~~~~

A million thoughts raced through Vega's mind as his commander hung latched to his waist, her lips only inches from his own. He tried desperately to think through the racing of his pulse and the flood of hormones. Part of him was indignant at being called "rabbit" of all things. Part of him declared he deserved it. Part of him screamed about regs and ranks. Yet another part of him, the part that won...said the woman wasn't going to wait forever.

A feral growl rumbled through Vega's chest as he moved one hand to the back of Shepard's neck and pulled her forward, crushing his lips to hers, his other hand moving to the small of her back.

~~~~~~~~~~

A surprised squeak erupted from her at first, which then became almost a rumbling purr of satisfaction as she met him measure for measure in the kiss. Her hands moved from the light support and his chest to wrap around his neck, one hand burying it's fingers in the base of his Mohawk. She shifted her hips against his as she bit his lower lip and drug her nails through his hair. He broke off with a gasp, the hand at her back moving down to squeeze her rump, his eyes molten as he stared at her, panting heavily.

"One question first, Shepard..." he started, his voice low and his accent thick. "What do you want from this...from me? You know how I am about things, but..." Katniss smirked, locking their eyes and licking swollen lips.

"If I wanted a plaything and only a plaything, Conejo, I'd have gone to Illium." she replied. "I play for keeps, Vega. You should know that by now." she added with a smirk and a roll of her hips, moving a hand towards the fly of his pants but blinking in surprise when he stopped her.

"Not here. You have a perfectly good cabin, don't you?" he teased with a smirk of his own.

"But that's a good three minute climb." she pouted, sticking out her lower lip. "Besides...I don't think I want to let go." The pout turned into a grin as she wriggled and James hissed, grabbing her hips in response.

"There's this handy invention called an elevator, Lola." came his deadpanned reply. "They're all the rage these days." At the mention of the elevator she froze, eyes going wide as she sucked in a sharp breath and shook her head emphatically.

"No." was all she said, moving her hands back toward the light's stands. Before she could reach them James started walking towards said elevator. With each step he took closer to it she flailed more, trying to get away from it, repeating her refusal and drawing puzzled looks from Cortez and the few other crewmen in the bay. Flail as she might she couldn't get away from the mountain of a man, especially once she unlatched herself from his waist and he hefted her over his shoulder. When they finally set foot inside the elevator and the doors closer she went limp and started panting and whimpering. With a raised eyebrow he pulled her from his shoulder and say her down against the railing in one corner. What he saw in her eyes made his own widen with worry.