Disclaimer: All characters and settings contained herein are the property of Bioware Corp, a subsidiary of Electronic Arts Inc.
Prologue
It had been 3 days since the mission that had almost cost the crew of the Normandy their lives. Three days since they had destroyed to Collector base, and told the Illusive Man to piss off. Three days since Tali had taken the ultimate chance to be with Shepard, to be with the man she had loved for so long. She was still in the med lab with Dr Chakwas, getting a few more antibiotic injections to make sure her infection was cleared up.
"Well, Ms vas Normandy, it looks like you're going to be completely fine" said Dr Chakwas in her usual it'll-all-be-fine tone, "You may want to consider taking a few extra precautions next time you and the Commander decide to get together."
"Doctor!" exclaimed Tali, still immensely embarrassed by any mention of her relationship with the Commander, "Do you always go out of your way to embarrass your patients?"
"Nonsense dear" admonished Chakwas "I always respect patient confidentiality. Nothing we discuss leaves this room."
Tali's head whipped over towards the doors as she heard them slide open.
"And how's our favorite patient doing?" asked Shepard.
"Miss vas Normandy should be fit for active duty in a few hours, Commander" said Chakwas.
"That's good the hear Doctor", replied Shepard, looking relieved and, to Tali, a little uncomfortable. That wasn't a good sign. She'd seen him stare down a thresher maw on Tuchanka during Grunt's Rite of Passage without so much as a twitch, so if he was feeling nervous about something, it had to be bad. "Could you give us the room for a sec, Doctor?" asked Shepard.
"Of course Commander, and just so you know, Legion is over in the CIC, so you don't have to worry about it listening in." replied Chakwas, a bit of a smirk in her tone.
"Thanks, Doc, now if you don't mind" said Shepard, a bit of urgency in his voice. Chakwas left and Shepard hit the control that would turn the med bay windows to their one-way setting.
No sooner had the windows started polarizing than Shepard had walked over to Tali and lightly crushed her against him in a hug.
"Shepard, I'm going to need my ribs the way they are, if that's alright with you" squeaked Tali jokingly. Shepard eased off immediately, almost as if he'd been shocked.
"Oh, right, sorry, forgot you're still not one hundred percent yet, how are you feeling?" he asked.
"I'm getting better every day" replied Tali "the reaction was fairly mild to begin with, and it'll only get better the more we get together as my immune system adapts to you."
Shepard let out a low growl in the back of his throat, and his eyes were practically smoldering "Can't say I can complain about that, Ms vas Normandy" he said, but then some of the desire left his eyes, replaced with a hint of concern, "but are you sure this is what you want, Tali? I want to be with you, but not if you're not entirely sure about-"
Tali cut him off by putting a finger over his mouth with one hand, while with the other hand she reached up and took the mask off her environment suit. "Shepard," she said, her voice no longer distorted by the helmet, "I told you before when the sickness was at its worst, it was totally worth it".
Shepard was amazed that she'd become so blasé about taking off her helmet, but looking at her, he couldn't complain about the results. He never tired of looking at her. Of all the features of her face, it was her eyes that held his attention the most. He had always figured, looking through the mask, that they were brilliant eyes, but without the mask they were a knockout.
"Well, if you're sure Ms vas Normandy, I can hardly deny you" he said, then pressed his lips to hers. She let out a little giggle, and pressed herself up against him. He responded in kind, holding her close. The kiss went on for several minutes, not that either of them cared. When they finally broke contact, they were both breathing quite a bit faster, which on Tali was fairly interesting to look at.
"Well Tali, before I was so cleverly distracted, I came down to let you know that I'll be up in my cabin working on a few reports, in case you'd like to come up and help me with a few of them."
"Of course, Commander," said Tali, as she reattached her mask, "I'd be happy to help".
"Good to hear Tali, just give me a few hours to make a tour of the ship, and I'll be in my office."
He gave her a last quick hug, then turned and left the med lab, leaving the windows polarized to give Tali a little privacy. Keelah, Tali thought to herself, how did I get so lucky?