Shepard woke up blinking, confused. She sat up slightly on the cot and looked around at the red glow in the darkness. She looked down and saw Garrus on the floor, sleeping on blankets. She realized she was in the main battery, sleeping on Garrus' bed. She started to get up, then realized she was naked under the sheet. What the fuck? Leaning her hand on her head, she groaned, the thickness of her headache taking over her. Garrus sat up quickly, putting his hand on the side of the bed.

"Shepard – uh, you're awake, are you okay?" He stood up, dressed in only his sleep shorts.

She pulled the sheet up around her, "Yea, what happened?"

He picked up the pillow and blanket he'd been sleeping on off the floor, "You came down here when I was working last night, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, I do remember that. Not much after that, this hangover is a killer."

He chuckled, "I was still calibrating the main gun and I was talking to you, then looked over to see you fast asleep. I couldn't disturb you, so I let you sleep there and I pulled out extra blankets and slept on the floor later. Oh, and you snore by the way."

She laughed, "But what I don't get is why I'm naked. Did we-"

Garrus was shocked, "No, what? No, I have no idea, you had all your clothes on, I only took your shoes off." he looked around as she sat on the edge of the cot, sheet pulled around her front. He spied her pants on the floor by a crate.

"Here it is, oh, and your other clothing too. Looks like you must have taken it off in your sleep or something." He handed it to her, trying not to look at her naked back and round ass.

She reached out and took the clothes, "Oh, now I remember, I was hot. I must have still been kinda drunk, I just took the clothes off. I thought I was in my quarters." She looked up at Garrus who was standing awkwardly next to her, his eyes on the ground.

"Yea, the equipment does get hot back here."

She turned her tank top right side out, saying, "What's the matter, never seen a female human half-naked before?"

"Actually, no, well, not in person. Extranet only, you know." He cleared his throat.

"Sorry to gross you out, Garrus." She took her pants and underwear and put them behind her on the bed.

He snapped his head up, "No, it's not like that, not at all, I just wanted to give you privacy."

She laughed, and looked at him, still in his just sleep shorts. She knew he'd never had a relationship with a human before, and she enjoyed making her best friend squirm a little. Putting the top back down on the bed, she held the sheet up around her and walked up to him, dragging it around her.

"It's not so bad, Garrus, female humans are different, but not that much. I'm a little more scarred up than most."

He shifted back and forth on his feet, "Well-"

She grinned, it wasn't often she had him at a disadvantage. She'd had relationships with Turians before, even had a Turian roommate. She felt entirely comfortable.

She walked closer and pressed herself up against him, "Only a sheet separating us now." she said softly. She could feel the hard ridges of his chest on her breasts pressing through the fabric. He looked like he was going to pass out. She chuckled and started to turn to give him the shock of seeing her naked from behind before she got dressed.

To her surprise, he stopped her and held onto the sheet, "Then let's get rid of it." And he pulled the sheet out from between them, dropping it on the floor. She looked up at him, stunned, then felt his hands behind her back, warm on her skin, pulling her against him.

"I think you are beautiful, Jane."

She couldn't believe it. She had been teasing him, and he completely turned the tables on her. Now he was pulling her naked body against his, and she was overwhelmed by how much she actually liked it.

"Garrus-" she protested.

He rubbed his hands down her sides, cupping the bottom of her ass, "You are right, nicely different."

"Garrus, what are we doing?"

He let go and took a step back, "Sorry, I didn't mean to, I thought you were- Never mind."

She looked at him, his handsome features turned into a contrite expression, her body missing the feel of him against her. Fuck it, she thought, and stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pressing her body back against his, kissing his neck.

Garrus groaned and raked his blunt talons down her back. He had no idea what sex with a human would be like, but he knew he definitely wanted to find out. "Spirits Jane," he put his hands in her tangled hair and gave it a slight pull.

"Ow, not on humans." She said.

"Sorry." He started to panic a little, he really didn't know what he was doing.

"It's fine, just don't pull. That's only for Turians." and she reached her hand up to the back of his fringe, but couldn't reach it. She held onto his shoulders and with a little jump wrapped her legs around his hips as he held her on. Now face to face with him, she smiled, "Now that's better," and she worked her hand into his fringe and pulled hard. He let out a low growl that turned her on. She leant over and started licking his mandibles as he softly moaned.

She moved her face so she was directly in front of his, "This is what humans call a kiss." And she pressed her lips against his mouth, teasing his open with pressure from her tongue. This was something he'd seen before, but never experienced. She smiled through her kiss, as he tentatively met her tongue with his.

The little noises she made in her throat, the way she was grinding against his shorts was intoxicating. He pulled her back and pushed her off of him. As she started to protest, she saw he was taking his shorts off, then grabbed her close again. He leant down and started licking her neck, then nibbling lightly. She gasped, knowing this was beyond kissing, it was how Turians initiated relationship bonding.

"Oh, god, Garrus." She felt her legs go weak as he reached his hand down and rubbed on her clit. She brushed her hand down the front of his body, feeling his emerged penis. She tried to wrap her fingers around it, but it was huge. Damn, I hope I can accommodate that.

She pushed him away and turned around, getting on the floor on all fours, looking back at him, knees spread apart. Garrus let out a loud growl, then knelt down on the floor behind her, grabbing her hips and digging his talons into her legs.

She braced herself as she felt the head of his penis at her wet core. He was gently penetrating her with his tip. "Christ, don't make me wait," she yelled.

"I, I forgot protection," Garrus croaked.

"No, it's okay, I'm not allergic," she panted.

"Are you sure?" he said, hesitating.

She pushed back against him in frustration, impaling herself on him. He gasped, feeling her warm, wet walls around him, Turian females did not feel like this. He held on tight and pushed harder into her as they rocked back and forth. Watching her move back and forth on him, hearing her panting his name, was incredible. He could feel his release coming, and pulled on her so she couldn't move. As he came, she cried out with her own orgasm and the pain. They continued to rock slowly back and forth together, and Shepard pushed off the floor and sat back on Garrus, still inside her. Breathing heavily, she was only vaguely aware of his mouth on her arm as she leaned her head back on his shoulder. She felt his sharp teeth on the skin on her upper arm, then harder as they pierced her flesh. She bit her lip as the pain seared through her.

"Garrus-" she said softly.

He pulled back and started licking at the wound. He leaned back and hugged her. "That was amazing. I hope it was good for you too."

She could hardly speak, "Yea, yea. You completely surprised me, I didn't know you would be willing to do that." She turned to see him and smiled.

"You came on to me, remember?"

"Yeah, but just to give you a hard time, to make you blush."

"Oh, well, are you glad I responded?" he started to feel like he'd made a mistake.

She grunted and tilted her ass back against his abdomen, pushing him in deeper, "Most definitely."

Damn, he could hardly think when she did that. Suddenly her omni-tool pinged. She brought it up, "Yes, Joker?"

"Commander, we're orbiting the system now. What's the ETA for the crew?"

"Um, what time is it now?" she held her omni-tool up, squinting around the room, there were no clocks anywhere in Garrus' quarters. She frowned, she was a clock fanatic and had four in her cabin, even one in the bathroom.

Joker snorted, "Why don't you look around, Shepard." Joker stopped, "Oh! I see you aren't in your quarters. It's 0615."

Garrus started lightly licking on her back, "Garrus," she giggled. She turned back to her omni-tool, Shit, she'd left it on. She cleared her throat, "ETA two hours."

"Sure thing, Commander. Who do you want me to notify?"

She rolled her eyes, it was standard for him to ask her that, and he would let the accompanying crew members know to prepare for the mission.

"Zaheed and Garrus."

"I'll let Zaheed know, and sounds like Garrus already does."

Garrus leaned over her shoulder, "Thanks, Joker."

She looked at Garrus, annoyed. "Let Zaheed know, and Joker?"

"Yes ma'am?"

"Not a word." She warned.

She flicked her omni-tool off and pushed up off of Garrus. "I've got to go get ready." She picked her clothes off his bed and quickly put them on. Garrus stood watching her, getting back in his shorts. She walked over and put her hand on his chest, reaching up and giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. "See you in a bit." And she left.

Garrus stood in his room, perplexed. What happened? He went over the whole course of events. She'd said she was only trying to tease him, and he had taken it to the next level. She had looked surprised when he took the sheet away. But when he backed off she'd lunged at him, kissing him and grinding her crotch on him. He smiled. Wow, he never thought he'd have a relationship with a human, let alone Shepard. He gathered his toiletries to head to the crew shower. On the way he frowned, what if she was looking for a friends with benefits set-up? She'd been upset that Joker knew she was there, and she'd threated him not to say a word. When she left, she didn't say much either, she couldn't wait to get out of there. Of course, she had a lot of preparations to do for the mission.

He shook his head, he'd just have to find out later. No use over thinking it. He'd had a crush on her for years, but when she formed a relationship with Kaidan, he never considered she might think of him that way, even though she'd been in Turian relationships before. He leaned against the wall of the shower as the soapy water rinsed her scent off him. Maybe this was just a one-night stand. Shit, he hoped not. That would be worse than never knowing what he was missing.

Before he knew it, he was on the shuttle with Shepard and Zaheed. He'd already gotten a debriefing message from her about the mission, and was familiar with the particulars.

She stood up as they neared, "We're picking up a convict, Jack. I don't know anything else about him, but the Illusive man seems to think he'd be a good addition to the team." She looked across at them, "I suppose we already have Archangel and the founder of the Blue Suns, so we can't really judge." She snapped her face plate closed. "Get ready."

An hour later they were back on the shuttle with Jack in tow, having destroyed the prison and escaped with their lives. Shepard was debriefing Jack on the mission, the Normandy. As they landed on the ship, she left the shuttle, still talking to Jack. She turned at the elevator, "Good work today guys." And continued with Jack down across the back of the cargo bay.

Garrus and Zaheed went up the elevator, discussing how different Jack was than they expected.

"Tits and tats and an attitude to match," Zaheed said, and laughed uproariously at his own joke. "I think I may have to get to know her better. Seems like my sort of girl."

Garrus snorted, "If she doesn't shred you with a biotic charge first."

"It would be so worth it," Zaheed smiled.

They both got off and left for their respective quarters. Garrus took off his armor and turned around, letting out a long breath. The sheet he'd pulled out from between them that morning was still on the floor of his quarters. He picked it up and held it, smelling her scent on it. He started to put it in the pile for the laundry chute, then put it back on his bed instead. He didn't want to let go of her yet.

He dressed and went to the crew showers again, Zaheed already in there. He cleaned up again, then got dressed and left for the mess hall. He was eating at a table with Kasumi when Shepard came in with Jack. She pointed out the kitchen to her and sat at the table across from Garrus.

She ran her fingers through her hair, "That mission went well. Not to plan, but well."

Garrus picked up his drink, "That's the story of our lives, Shepard."

She laughed, then talked to Kasumi. Garrus finished his meal, watching Shepard. She was acting like nothing ever happened. He felt his heart sink. He regretted marking her shoulder now. It wasn't a bondmark, but it was significant. She knew enough about Turians to know that. Maybe she would get Dr. Chakwas to remove it. She probably could. She'd done a pretty good job healing the damage on his face. He instinctively reached up to the bandage on the right side of his face.

Jack had joined the group at the table by now, introduced herself to everyone. They talked about the Normandy, gave a brief bio of themselves.

Shepard looked up and caught Garrus looking at her. She got up, "I'll get that access you need, Jack." and went to Miranda's quarters.

Garrus turned and looked down at his empty plate. He got up from the table and put it in the dish chute. He put both hands on the kitchen bar, trying to process that what he feared was happening.

She emerged from Miranda's office and spoke briefly to Jack, then saw Garrus had gotten up and was standing in the kitchen. She walked up to him, "Garrus, I talked to Miranda about those gun upgrades, I think we'll be able to manage it."

He studied her face. She was all business. "Thanks, Commander." He said flatly.

She put her hand on her hip, "Is there something else?"

He turned to face her, "I don't know, you tell me."

She looked confused, "There isn't anything that I know of…"

Garrus' mandibles fluttered. He was right, it was a one-time thing, and now she was trying to pretend it never happened. His jaw clenched, "Okay, I get you Shepard." And he turned and stormed off to his quarters.

She frowned. What was he so upset about? She turned around, deep in thought and saw Joker sitting at a table looking at her. He gave her a knowing look. She raised her eyebrow, then walked out of the mess hall towards the elevator. She was almost in when she was contacted by EDI to meet the Illlusive man by vid in the conference room.

"On my way."

15 minutes later she had gathered the team in the conference room. "We are heading to Horizon. It's an outlier Alliance colony. They've gone silent, and we believe there's been a Collector attack."

She glanced around the group, her eyes landing on Garrus. He was staring at her, she felt him boring into her. "And, uh, we - I mean," she looked down and cleared her throat, "This is our one chance to be the first ones on the scene and investigate. We have an edge and we have to take advantage of it."

"I'll be taking Garrus and Jack with me."

"Fuckin' A." Jack said, grinning.

Zaheed looked at her appreciatively from across the table. Jack noticed and sneered at him. He chuckled.

Shepard smiled involuntarily, "Our next mission after this is to, um, Haestrom, so Jacob and Miranda, please do some preliminary research on that planet. It's a Quarian homeworld. We'll arrive at Horizon in 3 hours, dismissed until then."

Jacob leaned over and said quietly to Garrus, "Does the Commander seem a bit flustered to you?"

Garrus lied, "Not really."

"You sure? You know her better than anyone else."

He looked at him, "It's a stressful mission. That's all." He pushed away from the table and strode purposefully towards the door. Shepard was talking to Miranda about the particulars of the mission. She reached her arm out in his direction, "Garrus, I need to talk to you about the mission."

Garrus stopped and Shepard walked over to him, lowering her voice, "What's going on?"

"Just answer me one thing Jane, is it Kaidan?"

The color drained out of her face, "How did you know?"

He gritted his teeth, "I fucking knew it." And he walked away.

Shepard wanted to run after him, but felt the eyes of the rest of her crew on her back. How did he know Kaidan might be on Horizon? She turned to Miranda, continuing their conversation about the mission. They had to make sure Mordin had a way to protect them from the seeker swarms.

Garrus stopped at the cockpit. Joker turned in his seat, "Hey big guy, what's up? Gearing up for Horizon?"

Garrus leaned against the side of the chair, "What makes you think I'm going?"

Joker laughed, "You're her favorite. She asked you to go, am I right?" he looked up at him.

Garrus looked down at his feet.

"See, I knew it." Joker turned back to his console. "So, what's on your mind?"

"I don't know. I don't know why I came up here actually."

Joker pushed a button on the console and turned to face Garrus. "I turned the Cerberus bugs off. What do you want to talk about?"

Garrus remained quiet, but didn't leave.

Joker broke the silence, "It's about Shepard, isn't it? You guys got together last night?"

"It wasn't planned."

"The best things never are. So what's wrong? You're hopelessly in love with her, right?"

Garrus looked at him, "Why would you say that?"

Joker snorted, "Who wouldn't be? She's an amazing woman. You guys are the best of friends, you add in her attraction to Turians, well, it's a no brainer. She's not freaked out by another species. I know you were torn up by her death, we all were, but you took it very hard. It wasn't difficult to figure out, even before I heard you guys on her omni-tool. Don't worry – I didn't tell anyone."

"That's just it, I wouldn't care if you told everybody. She's the one who has a problem-" he stopped when he saw Joker looking behind him down the hall.

"Here she comes." Joker said.

Garrus looked up to see Shepard walking towards them, "There you are, Garrus, think we could talk now?"

"Of course, Commander." He got up and walked with her down the hall a few paces.

She stopped him, "What's with all the formalities?"

"You tell me," he said.

She grunted in frustration, "I wish you would stop saying that." She reached out and took his hand, pressing his fingers.

He looked down at her tiny pink hand, a flood of memories from that morning coming back to him. His eyes flashed at her, "I'm not going to be your stress reliever, Shepard." He pulled his hand back.

"Christ, what are you talking about?" her forehead furrowed.

He threw up his hands in frustration and stared at her. "I'm not going to spell it out for you."

She got closer and lowered her voice, "Look, dammit, this morning meant the world to me-"

"I get it. And now it never happened. No problem, Commander," he started to walk away, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"Garrus, listen to me, please." She could see they were drawing the attention of the rest of the crew, but she didn't care. "You've got it wrong. I'm trying to be business-like during work hours, but I'll French kiss you right here, no problem."

He blinked at her, "You'll what? What does the French have to do with it?"

She shook her head, "Look, I'm not using you for just a fuck. I want a relationship with you. I'm sorry, I've been so caught up in work today I assumed you knew that. It's my fault for not talking with you and making sure you understood that."

He said, "But you wanted to make sure no one knew about it. You threatened Joker."

"Yes, because he's got a big mouth, and I wanted to talk to Miranda first."

"Miranda?"

She looked sheepish, "Yes, whenever anyone makes a room change, the second in command has to be informed. I probably acted too fast, but after you marked me as your girlfriend, well. Ugh, I'm totally screwing this up." She put her face in her hands.

"What do you mean?" he asked, his voice softening.

"I was going to ask you to move in with me. That's what I went to tell Miranda. I didn't want any shit from the Illusive man or her, and I told her so."

Garrus was stunned, "You what? What did she say?"

She shrugged, "Not much she could say. I'm not going to allow xenophobia to affect my life. I honestly don't think she had much of an issue about it, it's more the Illusive man, and he can go fuck himself."

She looked down, "But I was going to ask you about it of course, then you seemed so pissed off, and this whole Horizon mission-" her expression closed up.

"I am a total idiot, Jane. Please forgive me. I was afraid, and I thought the worst. It was inexcusable of me."

She smiled weakly, "Look, this is a weird situation for both of us, but we'll figure it out. Let's go to my quarters to talk some more, okay?" she extended her hand.

"You mean 'our' quarters." He took her hand.

She brightened and they walked out of the hallway past the command center to the elevators.

Joker, who was watching the exchange from his front-row seat, smiled and turned back to his console.

She leaned against Garrus' arm in the elevator as he continued to apologize, telling her about his fears that she had regretted the whole morning.

"On the contrary," she said, leading him out of the elevator to her quarters, "To be honest, I hadn't really thought about us getting together, but when you pulled that sheet away, and I felt you against me, I just melted." She looked up at him, "It just felt so right, and you were totally amazing. It's hard to believe you've never been with a human before."

"Wow, really Jane?"

"Yea, I kept thinking about it. I had to really try hard to focus. Couldn't you tell during the meeting?"

"Yes, I did, that's what was distracting you? Thoughts of me?"

She smiled coyly, "I kept remembering how you felt, your skin, your tongue." She punched the code to her door and she led him inside.

"Well, we've got some time before the mission today." He stroked her cheek and down her neck with the back of his finger.

"Mmm, makeup sex? Sounds awesome." She started taking off her boots.

As he took his uniform off, Garrus said, "I don't deserve you."

She laughed, "It's just as much fault mine as it is yours. But tell me, how did you know Kaidan would be on Horizon?"

He stopped, "I didn't."

She looked up at him, "But you asked me about Kaidan."

"I wanted to know if you were still hung up on him and we were just a one-night stand."

The realization dawned on her, "Ohhh, that's what you meant. Geez, and I made it completely worse with what I said. No, the Illusive man said Kaidan's been stationed on Horizon, and it's probably no coincidence the Collectors are hitting that colony. Like they're luring me there with one of my former crew. I'm not looking forward to seeing him. That's stressing me out about the mission as well."

"How so? Do you still have feelings for him?"

She got up and put her hands on his shoulders, "No, not like that. Not anymore. I just don't know what to expect from him, it's going to be awkward. I'm going to have to tell him we're broken up, I hope he's moved on, I mean, it's been two years. I don't even know if he's heard I'm alive."

"How close were you guys, exactly?"

She turned around and paced in her living room, "We were intimate. We were exclusive, but we were drifting apart in the weeks before the Normandy was destroyed. He's not right for me." She looked up at him, "Are you sure you want to talk about this?"

He sat down in her chair, "Yes, I think not communicating hasn't really worked out for us."

She sat on her couch, "True. Okay, we weren't compatible. His personality, he's too pompous, too self-centered. I always felt like he was trying to change me into what he wanted."

"Really?" Garrus couldn't believe it. In his mind, she was the perfect woman.

She leaned back on the couch, "Yea, I wasn't feminine enough, I wasn't listening to him enough," she grunted in frustration, "I mean, I had a job to do, I couldn't spend all my free hours listening to his emotional bullshit."

Garrus laughed. With how business-like she was with him that morning, he could only imagine how Kaidan would have an issue with that.

"He was too emotionally needy, but he told me it was all my fault. I know I'm not perfect, and I'm certainly willing to compromise in a relationship, but it can't be all one-sided." She looked over at Garrus and waved her hand, "Trust me, it's over."

"Okay Jane. Thanks for explaining it to me. How much time do we have before we leave for the mission?"

She glanced at her clock, "About two hours."

He nodded, "Well then, I suggest we take all our clothes off and spend some quality – what did you call it? Make-up time before the mission."

She smiled, "Agreed, Archangel."

They finished taking their clothes off, Shepard embracing Garrus tightly. He'd scared her with his change in attitude that morning. She was glad they'd worked it out. Things with Garrus were much easier to talk over. If that had been Kaidan, it would have evolved into a two-day argument.

She pulled back and looked up at him shyly, "So you want to move in with me?"

He smiled, she was so sweet sometimes, he was overjoyed she wanted this, "Definitely. After today's mission I'll bring my things up here. I'll let Miranda know it's official."

"Good. So that means we're official now too, right?"

He started licking at her neck, "Hmm, yes."

"Uh, so, stop – I can't think when you do that." She giggled.

He pulled back, "Okay, what else?"

"Um, so you don't mind that I'm pretty business-like during missions and work discussions. Don't take it personally."

He stroked her hair, "I won't, I promise."

"But I'm not going to keep it a secret, that's not my style. We're not with the Alliance now anyway."

"That's acceptable. So I can hold your hand in the mess hall?"

She grinned, "You'd better."

He pulled her closer, "Anything else?"

"Not for now."

"Good, because I have some more exploring I need to do." He ran his hand over her breast.

"Oh really?" she dug her fingers into the grooves of his carapace.

"Yes, and you should know that later tonight I'll be doing some serious extranet research. You have the advantage over me, Jane."

"Sounds like a good idea." She leaned back as he rubbed her breast with his hand.

"So, what do I do with these, I know they are, fascinating."

"Um, you can do like that, or you can use your mouth on them, or- ungh, yea," she moaned as he flicked his tongue on her nipple.

He continued as he reached his hand down to feel the hair between her legs. It was shorter, but soft, and he stroked it as he slowly dipped his finger inside past the hair to the soft flesh underneath. He felt her wetness flowing out.

"What is that?" he asked, looking up at her.

"Um, we get wet like that as a lubricant for the penis."

"Oh. Can I taste it?"

She shuddered with anticipation, "Sure, yeah, you can do that."

He stood up, "Let's go to the bed."

She nodded, and he led her over to the bed, where she pulled the sheets back turning to look at him.

"Lay down," he said, and she complied as he crawled up on the bed and slowly spread her legs apart. "This is okay?" he asked, looking up at her as his face was inches away from her, so she could feel his hot breath on her clit.

"God yes," she grabbed fistfuls of sheet in her hands and he wrapped his arms around her thighs and started licking between her folds.

She arched her back, "Fucking hell, yes!" His tongue was slightly rough and warm on her, sending waves of pleasure through her body. She panted heavily.

Her reactions emboldened him as he started rhythmically pushing his tongue inside her. He looked up, "You taste salty sweet, I love it,"

She made a loud gasp as he went back down and pushed his tongue deeper inside her. She'd forgotten how Turians had longer tongues. Suddenly he started sucking on her, and she felt a white hot heat wash over her, "I'm cumming, fucking shit, I'm cumming!" she screamed out as he felt her tighten and pulsate on him. He continued to move inside her until he heard her breathing slow and felt her legs stop spasming. He slowly pulled away and rubbed the inside of her thighs, caressing her with his hands. She was so beautiful, so different, and she so willingly gave herself to him. He was gone, forever, she was it.

She took her hand off her face to look up at him. This was the best sex she'd ever had, and it was with her best friend, her lover. She sat up and turned him around, "Now it's your turn." She lay him on his back and straddled him. He groaned and pushed up against her, his hard cock pushing at her opening. She shook her head no, then pushed herself down, pulling his hands off her legs. She sat between his legs and grabbed his cock. He leaned up to look at her – "What? You can do that?"

She rubbed her finger over the tip, "Oh, yeah." And keeping her eyes locked with his, she starting licking the length of his shaft. He rolled his eyes back and leaned his head back on the pillow as the exquisite sensation of her warm mouth around his penis washed over him. She started pumping his penis, squeezing around the base as she sucked on the tip. She worked her tongue around the ridges, taking him in and out of her mouth, more quickly, then taking long, slow sucks on it.

"Spirits!" he yelled out, and she could feel him tighten and get close to his release. He tried pushing her off, but she pushed his hand away and started sucking harder. He allowed the moment to overtake him and he climaxed, tensing all his muscules, lifting up and reaching down to hold her head in his hands.

She sucked and swallowed, still stroking him and around his plates as he relaxed. She sat up and wiped her mouth, "Mmm, nice and hot. I love it."

He got instantly hard again and sat up, picking her up and lifting her on his cock.

"Ow, damn!" she yelled.

"Sorry," he said roughly in her ear, but knew he couldn't stop. He had to be inside her.

She wrapped her arm around his shoulder and the back of his head, her legs entwined behind his back, "It's okay," she said breathlessly, "I'm just a little sore from this morning."

He looked up at her with concern, "Oh, should we stop?"

She looked at him lovingly and stroked his fringe, "No, it's just been a long time since I had sex with anyone. The first since my Cerberus rebuild."

"I didn't realize –"

She started rocking back and forth on him, "It's fine, no problem." She said softly, eyes hazy with lust.

He started losing coherent thought and matched her movements. Their breathing got louder, movements more frantic as Shepard clung to him.

"Garrus, Garrus, I so love you," she called out.

He couldn't speak, and as he came and heard her scream and climax on him, he growled and pulled her hair back, biting down violently on her skin just below her neck.

She squeaked out a sharp scream as he held her tightly, talons digging into her skin, not releasing his bite. His teeth went in farther, and she gasped, trying to control her reaction to the pain. Her instincts were telling her to fight him off, but she stayed still, letting him finish. As he calmed down, he pulled his teeth out and instinctively starting licking at the wound. He relaxed his hold on her, and she turned her head to face him.

"Garrus, you just put a bondmark on me."

Her words punched through his primitive brain and as he took some deep breaths, he leaned back and wiped her blood off his mouth, much more this time from the depth of his bite.

"I, yes, I did." He looked up at her for her reaction.

She smiled and repeated softly, "You just put your bondmark on me."

"I love you, Jane."

She closed her eyes, smiling with bliss, "I love you too, Archangel."

He kissed her, her own blood staining her mouth red. She opened her eyes, "Does that mean I should do the same for you?" she pointed at his neck.

"You know that means we're bonded. I should have asked you first, I know, I just –" he let out a low sigh, "We've known each other for so long, it seems like this is just a last step." He looked sheepish.

She stroked his arm, "I want to be bonded to you, Garrus. We can have a ceremony later, but I want to complete it."

He didn't know how he deserved such happiness. He kept screwing things up, and she kept making things better than ever.

"You put your bite mark on me," he leaned his head to the left.

She gently palpated his skin with her fingers, "Like here?"

"Yea, just a little higher, where it's softer. There."

She took a deep breath and held onto him as she bit down with her blunt teeth on his skin. At first it was not giving away, but as she bit harder, frustrated, she was able to penetrate it. He grunted with satisfaction as he felt the pain.

"More," he said roughly, and she complied, knowing the importance of making a scar.

"Yes, that's it," he said. And she pulled back, his blue blood dripping off her mouth.

He wiped it off and kissed her, mixing their blood together. She held his face in her hands, and touched her forehead to his, "Oh, Garrus, I just can't believe it, I'm so, so happy." She felt a tear slip down her cheek.

"My love, you don't know how much I dreamed of this, but never imagined it would happen." He murmured.

She looked down at his neck, brushing the wound with her hand, "Do you think it's enough?"

He nodded. "If not, I'll have you do it again a second time."

She reached over to her mark, "I think mine's definitely good."

Garrus looked at it, a deep bruise forming around the red teeth marks. "Yea, I did too good of a job, I forget sometimes you're human."

"I'll take that as a compliment." She smiled and hugged him tightly. She caught glimpse of the clock on her nightstand. "Shit, Garrus, we've only got 40 minutes before we're supposed to be leaving for Horizon."

"Go ahead and get off, we'll shower off quickly and get dressed."

She pulled up and off of him, "No time. We'll just wash off and have to get dressed. Besides, I don't mind having your scent on me today, do you?" she gave him a sly smile.

"No, not at all," he said, and followed her to the bathroom. Inside she grabbed a washcloth and rinsed it under the water, rubbing blood off her face. She patted the bondmark, but let the scabs form. She looked at Garrus' reflection, "Yea, I can see it from here. I don't think I'll have to do it a second time, do you?" she said pointing at his mark.

"No, I think it's fine. But, I'm afraid I was too rough with you," he was only now seeing the bruises on her hips, legs and shoulders, the scratch marks on her back and the bite mark on her arm from the morning.

She looked back to see what he was looking at, "Oh, that. Don't worry about that. I'm tougher than I look."

He made a promise to himself to be more gentle with her from then on. She wet another washcloth and handed it to him. He wiped his face and got a closer look at her teeth mark. It did look like it would be sufficient. He smiled at his reflection as she hugged him from behind and looked around his shoulder.

"Amazing what difference a day makes, huh?" he said, holding his hand over hers.

"My only regret is not seducing you sooner," she gave his arm a kiss and walked away, "I've got to hustle to get ready to go. You've still got to go downstairs to get your armor."

"You're right." He left the bathroom and put on his clothes quickly as she used the bathroom and walked out, getting her underarmor on.

He gave her a quick kiss, "I'll see you downstairs." And he walked out to the elevator.

He waited for the elevator to stop, images of her flashing in his mind. Spirits, he had no idea sex with a human could be like that. She had been his fantasy for so long, he'd never in a million lifetimes thought she would be his bondmate.

It started sinking in, "We can have a ceremony later," she'd said. They were effectively married. "Wonder how the Illlusive man will take that," he smirked. The doors opened and he got off and walked through the mess hall. So much had changed, but everyone was going about their usual routine, unknowing that for Garrus, the whole universe had shifted.

He quickly got his armor on, and walked out to the mess, getting something to eat. He sat at the table and ate, lost in his thoughts, until he smelled her scent. Looking around, he couldn't see Shepard. Suddenly she appeared around the corner from Miranda's office and walked over by Garrus.

"Looks like Mordin has a way for us to be protected from the seeker swarms, just in time. It's a vaccine that works as a countermeasure. He'll meet us down in Cargo bay to administer it." she said.

"Good. Any more info on the colony?"

Shepard shook her head, "No, we'll just have to see for ourselves when we get there." She looked down and pointed at his plate, "Can I have some?"

"Dextro food? Sure. It probably won't taste that good to you." He pushed his plate towards her.

She chewed a piece, "It's a little bland, but okay. I've got to keep my protein levels up."

Jack walked up to the table, "I'm ready when you are Shepard."

She nodded, "We'll go down to the shuttle in 5 minutes. Should be arriving there in 10."

Jack nodded and walked away.

"Is she wearing that down there?" Garrus asked.

Shepard shrugged, "I guess so. I'm certainly not going to be able to impose a uniform code on her."

Shepard took one more bite of food and stood up, putting her hand on Garrus' shoulder. "I think we should head on down."

"Okay Jane, let's go." They went to the elevator and were walking across cargo bay towards the shuttle, getting their weapons out of storage. Shepard showed Jack where she could get some stock weaponry. Mordin soon came down and gave them each a shot of the countermeasure. They got on the shuttle.

Shepard brought up her omni-tool, "Miranda, please keep us informed about the status of Collectors, any ships, anything," she sighed, "I think we'll have to put Haestrom off for tomorrow. Three missions in one day is a bit much."

"Agreed, Commander."

Jack stood up, "You sure this vaccine will have enough time to work, Jane?"

Shepard raised an eyebrow, "Yes, and it's Shepard."

Jack pointed to Garrus, "He calls you Jane."

Shepard said firmly, "He's allowed."

Jack gritted her teeth and spat out, "Fine." She went back to the bench and sat down. She hated being on a Cerberus ship, a Cerberus mission. She was used to being treated like an outsider. Why would she have expected anything more from Shepard?

They soon arrived on the planet with the collector threat in their face. With all her anger, Jack still was a professional, fighting with the team seamlessly.

"Impressive," Garrus said, watching her biotics.

She grinned, "That's nothing,"

The mission progressed, with the discovery of the frozen colonists, fighting collectors, discovering that Kaidan Alenko had been assigned to the planet, according to one of the mechanics there.

"But why the big guns, I don't get it Shepard." Garrus said.

"They must know more then they're letting on. We need to get them working, though. We can use it to fight off the Collector ship. Maybe get a chance to get the colonists back." She shook her head. Tens of thousands of lives taken, stolen, for what? It made no sense.

The last part of the mission was intense, with a huge horrifying creature made out of a dozen human heads fighting them.

"Our own people, forced to turn against us." Shepard said, disgusted.

"Got to kill them off, no choice," Jack threw a biotic charge at it.

Getting the guns back on line, they were finally able to defeat them until they retreated, watching helplessly as the ship left. The mechanic ran out, yelling at them.

Suddenly Shepard heard a familiar voice, "You're talking to a legend, Deland, and a ghost." Kaidan walked around the corner and stopped in front of her, pausing. Then he leaned forward and pulled Shepard into a hug.

Garrus growled lowly in his throat.

Shepard pulled back, "Good to see you Kaidan. How have you been?"

"How have I been?" he snorted, "You show up here after being dead for two years and act like nothing happened? How come you didn't contact me?"

"I tried, Anderson stonewalled me. He said you were on a top secret assignment. I had no way to get a message to you."

Kaidan pointed to the Cerberus symbol on her armor, "So the rumors were true? You're working for Cerberus now?"

"I'm working with them, not working for them. No one else is fighting the Collector threat. Do you see the Alliance here, Kaidan?" she gestured around.

Kaidan looked behind her, "And you too, Garrus?" he turned back to Shepard, "Don't you remember what they did? Everything we saw when we were fighting them? They're terrorists!"

Garrus interrupted, "You're letting your emotions cloud your judgement, Alenko. You've got to see the big picture."

Kaidan stepped closer to Shepard and took her hands in his, "Dammit Jane, I loved you. How could you turn on the Alliance like this?"

"Ooo, this is getting good," Jack said, crossing her arms.

Shepard pulled her hands away, "I'm not turning on the Alliance, I'm trying to help them, don't you see that?"

Kaidan pointed in her face, "They're controlling you, and you don't even know it. You're a traitor, a disgrace-"

Garrus ran up between them, "Shut your mouth, Alenko, and back it up, don't you dare ever disrespect her like that!" he grabbed his arm and pushed him away.

Kaidan's biotics flared, "So you're a Cerberus lapdog now too, Garrus?" he grabbed for his arm.

"No, he's my bondmate." Shepard hissed.

Kaidan looked at her in shock, then started to laugh, "There's no way-"

Shepard unsnapped the collar on her armor and pulled it down, exposing her bondmark.

Kaidan froze and looked between her and Garrus, letting go of him slowly.

"Fucking A," Jack grinned and shook her head.

Garrus put a protective arm around Shepard's waist and pulled her close to him. "I think it's time for you to go, Alenko."

Kaidan stood, open-mouthed, then gathering his senses he started to back away, "I know where my loyalties lie. Goodbye, Shepard. And – just be careful." And he left.

Shepard looked up at Garrus who looked down at her proudly. She brought up her omni-tool, "We're leaving, Joker. I've had enough of this colony."

Back on the shuttle, Jack sat back and watched Shepard and Garrus talk quietly to each other. "That's why he calls her Jane," she smiled. "Looks like Shepard isn't a Cerberus toadie after all."

"You were right about Kaidan, Jane. He was really out of line down there." Garrus said.

"I had a feeling it would go badly if we ran into him. I know how he is. That's why I was getting ready to break up with him before I was spaced. I never told you, but when I was flying down towards the planet losing consciousness I thought about you." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"Oh, Jane. I love you so much, I'll be with you forever." He leant his head down to touch her forehead.

She closed her eyes and relished in the feel of his leathery skin on hers, "I know."

Jack cleared her throat loudly, "Hey you guys, get a room."

They laughed and Garrus brushed the tear off her face. She placed a kiss on his cheek.

"So, when are you going to show me the French way?" Garrus asked.

Jack roared with laughter as Shepard turned bright red.