"Commander, as an artificial intelligence, I don't think I will be able to help as well as Yeoman Chambers."

Shepard shook her head. "No, I'm not talking to her. She's too . . . happy all the time, and she's not a soldier."

"I am not a soldier, either."

"Yeah, EDI, I noticed. But you're one of the few people on this ship who won't judge me emotionally, and that's what I need right now."

"Are you saying that you trust me?" the AI asked, her holo display flickering.

Shepard shrugged. "Joker took your shackles off and you didn't kill us—you saved all of our lives. That makes you one of the team in my books."

There was a long pause then she replied, almost shyly, " Thank you."

"No problem."

"So, what would you like to talk about?"

Shepard gazed into the AI core. Everything looked a little different from where she sat on the floor; she was used to seeing the room from a standing position. The lights were dimmed, even the light over the alcove where Legion slept. Well, maybe 'slept' was the wrong word for what he was doing. Powered down? In standby mode? She had no idea. The geth was still beyond her understanding in a lot of ways. In any case, it was a nice hidey-hole to get away from people for a while.

"I think military life is starting to get to me. I've spent my entire adult life with the Alliance, and in all that time I've made some great friends. Tali, Garrus, Wrex, Mordin . . . hell, even Jack. I'd trust them all with my life." She hung her head and blew a stream of air that made her hair puff out.

". . . But?"

"But I want something more." She laughed and leaned back against the wall. "It's funny—I've already died once and that didn't really faze me much. Now, I just got done surviving a suicide mission and suddenly all I want is to get laid and feel alive."

"There are many services on Omega that cater to a range of tastes. Perhaps I could arrange something?"

"No, that's okay." Shepard smiled and shut her eyes. Legion's head lamp switched on, but she couldn't see it through her closed lids. "I want something more than just one anonymous night with someone who doesn't care about me."

"Perhaps Thane would be a good option. He seems to enjoy your company."

"He's a good friend, but I don't think of him in that way. Besides, he's got a lot on his mind right now, what with Kolyat coming back into his life. I'd just feel like I was interfering. It's just . . . I really just want to be touched more than I want sex, you know?"

"I am afraid I don't know," EDI replied, but there was a trace of amusement in her voice.

"Oh, come on. You're telling me that there isn't some part of you that really likes it when Joker's got his hands all up in your instrument panel?"

"Mister Moreau—Jeff—is a very capable helmsman."

". . . And?"

"And my core programming does not allow for feelings of arousal." Shepard was about to protest when EDI said, "But you may be right, nonetheless. I will have to . . . contemplate this subject further. Later."

"See, that's romantic. It's nice to see you and Joker getting along."

"But what about you?"

"I really don't—"

"Shepard-Commander." She whipped her head around and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Legion standing by his bed. Even though she knew he was friendly, years of treating the geth as the enemy still had her trigger finger twitching when he surprised her.

"Hey, Legion. I didn't hear you."

"We have startled you." He ducked his head and shuffled a little.

"Yeah, it's okay. I'm just a little . . . jumpy, I guess." When Legion didn't offer anything but a wiggle of his head flaps, she said, "Was there something you wanted?"

"We heard what you said. About wanting to be touched."

Shepard's face reddened. "You heard that, huh?"

"We have come to a consensus. We would like to offer our services to you."

Okay, this was new. She tried to keep the surprise off her face and said, "Legion, I don't think that's gonna work out."

"Your body shows signs of stress. It is our understanding that touch, among organics, lessens stress. We recommend that Shepard-Commander allow us to assist."

Her mind reeled with the implications. Legion's flaps shifted, and she would have said he looked anxious if he'd been anything but a geth. She tried to imagine what it would be like to let him (it?) put his hands on her and found herself interested in finding out just how different it would be. Even through her reservations, her whole body ached for a hug. She hadn't thought that that such a thing was possible, but there it was.

"Um, okay. Sure." She stood up and straightened her shirt, and Legion went to her. At first he kept a respectful distance, but then he took a few tentative steps closer until he was standing with his chest nearly touching hers. When she flinched, he dimmed his head lamp and put his hands on her sides.

"So, what do you want me to do?"

"Remain still. We will take care of everything."

That phrase, while innocent on the surface, was loaded with meaning for Shepard. Whether Legion meant it or not she couldn't say, but she felt something in her begin to relax as his hands moved up and down her sides. To give up some of the burden she carried, to let go of being a soldier for a while and just let herself be, sounded a little like heaven just now.

Legion's arms wrapped around her and pulled her into a hug. She fell against him with a sigh and stroked his back, slowly tracing the outline of the hole in his body. While they were synthetic, his hands were coated with a softer silicone-like material. He lifted her shirt to touch her bare skin and ran his fingers up her spine, making her shiver.

"Do geth do this? Touch, I mean."

"We do not require physical interaction." His head flaps brushed against her hair and he had to disentangle himself from her.

"Well, you're a natural." Her eyes slipped closed and her breathing deepened as she relaxed further.

"Shepard-Commander, we detect a change in your vital signs. Are you tired?"

"I'm usually tired these days."

"May we suggest lying down?" Shepard nodded against his neck and let him lead her to the alcove, where she stretched out and tried to get comfortable. Without a mattress it was somewhat awkward, but she managed. He resumed running his hands slowly up and down her body, stopping to squeeze her calf or make little whorls on her stomach along the way. She drifted, and wasn't thinking of much other than the way this felt.

Legion's synthetic palms framed her waist and brushed against her breasts. Shepard passed it off as an accident, but then he did it again on the way back down. She opened her eyes and found him leaning over her, his headlamp intent on his own hands on her. When he noticed her watching him, he met her eyes with his own singular one. His fingers trailed up her chest to her neck and she shivered.

"Legion," EDI said, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but human breasts are an erogenous zone, and not conducive to relaxation.

"Oh." He started to take his hands away, but Shepard caught his wrists before he could withdraw. "Shepard-Commander?"

"It's okay, Legion. Keep going."

"Are you asking us to engage in foreplay with you?"

Well that was direct, she thought with a small smile. There was something to be said for not beating around the bush. "If you want to."

"What we want is irrelevant. Geth are not capable of physical desire." His hands went back to her breasts, this time more deliberately mounding them up. "Stress is detrimental to human health, and to the success of the mission. Helping you release stress will give us, and your crew, a better chance of survival."

She bit her lip when he ran a thumb across her nipple. "Makes sense, in a very, uh, dispassionate sort of way. This isn't weird for you?"

"Negative. 'Weird' is not a word we geth typically use."

"So, what, you don't differentiate between strange and normal?"

Legion paused to think, cocking his head to the side. "An object or scenario is almost always understandable once all the variables are accounted for. This situation is no different."

"Oh. Well, carry on, then," she said, a little breathlessly.

She was relaxing into the sensation of his hands on her body until Legion began working at her fly. She tensed and started to protest but stopped when he looked at her, a questioning tilt in his head flaps.

"We would like to remove your clothing."

Shepard's mouth was suddenly dry and she swallowed. "Yeah, okay," she whispered.

He continued undressing her, first pulling her pants off and then having her sit up so he could lift her shirt over her head. When he returned to her now naked body, his touch was slower, more hesitant. His dimmed headlamp stayed focused on his own hands, and he didn't look up at her face anymore. If he was anything but a geth, Shepard would have said he was nervous.

"Legion?"

"Yes, Shepard-Commander?"

"Do you have any information in your data banks on human women?"

". . . You must be more specific."

"You know what I mean."

His fingers changed course and, rather than head back up to twist in her hair, drifted lower to the soft curls between her legs. Shepard opened her legs to give him access. "We have . . . sufficient data."

"Show me."

He made a soft chittering sound in response, then gently parted her lower lips and stroked the wet, slippery skin. It had been so long, and her over-sensitive nerves were singing. She closed her eyes and gripped the edge of the bed until her fingers turned white. Her legs trembled and her knees turned to water as Legion made lazy circles around her clit, then around the entrance to her cunt. As wonderful as it felt, he was too tentative, too careful with her. She needed more.

Without warning, an arc of blue light lanced from Legion's fingers and lit her up like a Christmas tree. Shepard arched her back and gasped, her eyes flying open. He hit her with the charge again and it was like a supernova between her legs. He let off on the biotics and plunged his fingers inside her, plunging into her again and again while she tried to catch her breath, then sent another blue wave coursing over her skin. That was too much for her and she shuddered, his name and a plea in her mouth, before she was swept away by the most intense orgasm of her life that went on and on for what felt like hours.

Finally, as the last blue charge left her body, she collapsed back onto the bed, her chest heaving. Legion laid a hand on her stomach and waited. Shepard, on the other hand, had lost the ability to form coherent thought.

"Thank you," she said, and giggled at how completely inadequate that sentiment was.

"You are welcome, Shepard-Commander."

She stood up and started dressing herself again, feeling a little awkward now. What was she supposed to do here? Geth didn't cuddle or do pillowtalk, but it felt wrong to just leave him after that.

"We should do this again," she finally said.

"We would like that."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "I thought you said that geth weren't capable of wanting things."

"We do now."

"Why?"

Legion turned away, laid himself back down on the bed, and switched his headlamp off. "No data available."

Shepard shook her head and left, already planning on things to try next time she was feeling a little stressed out.