"It will have to be high up, you know," Tali said thoughtfully.

"What will?" Shepard asked without looking up from his private terminal. His inbox had been overflowing with messages of willing aid and thanks. He was glad to have Tali sitting on the desk, keeping him company.

"Our house on Rannoch."

Shepard looked up from his datapad.

"High enough to get a good view of… well, absolutely everything, I suppose," she continued. "Somewhere close to the ocean, with lots of foliage. A sort of hideaway, I think."

Shepard smiled crookedly. "And what makes you think I'd every step off the Normandy now?" he asked. "Have you seen this place?" He gestured around them. "Very comfortable."

Tali turned her head to the large and vacant fish tank. "Right. How about we park the Normandy outside our house? So you can come and kill fish whenever you feel like it, with all the luxury of having a home that's attached to the ground?"

"Hmm, you may be on to something there. Of course I can't promise I'd be very good at living in a house. I feel like I've been in bunkers my whole life."

Tali slid off the desk to stand in front of him, and took his hands in hers. "That's because you never have lived in a house," she said. "And neither have I. So we'll make this one perfect. Lots of windows and open spaces."

Shepard pulled her down to straddle lap. "Sure," he said. "And how about this one room that's completely sterile?" He put his hands on the sides of her mask. Tali leaned into his right hand, and he knew she was smiling. "And it could have this nice, very soft, very sterile, very big bed in it…"

Tali bumped the top of her mask against Shepard's forehead. "That sounds good to me," she said quietly.

"Of course, the actual building will take a while," Shepard said, hands sliding down to her waist. "We could just build the sterile room first. Or make the entire house as sterile as possible."

Tali pulled away from him a little. "Shepard," she said in a slightly scolding tone. "I don't want us to build a house just to - to have sex in all the time. I want to live with you."

"I know," he whispered. "That's what I want, too. But I wouldn't mind seeing your face a little more often." He brought his hands to her mask again, and she covered them with her own.

"Wait, I don't have any antibiotics right now-"

Shepard leaned in and kissed her mask. "I know. And I'll wait. We'll have a beautiful house by the ocean. I promise."