Commander Alana Shepard sighed as she collapsed onto her oh so luxurious feeling bed. Her head was still spinning from the events of yesterday, what with all of the stress and anxiety and anguish. She didn't quite know how to feel. Their mission at the Collector base had been going fairly well, that is, until at the last possible moment. The ground caved beneath them, Thane made it to safety, but Miranda wasn't so lucky.

"Damn it!" Shepard whispered, clenching her fists. Despite not being overly fond of the Cerberus officer, she had still lost a life, and under her command. Even though death was inevitable in war, she still hated losing people, no matter who it was, under her watch. It was hard enough choosing Kaidan over Ashley on Virmire, but then to top it off, her decision didn't even matter! Kaidan betrayed her after she had come back from the dead-from the dead! He acted as if their friendship never existed, as if she meant nothing. She huffed as she added anger to her list of swirling emotions. Breathe. Just breathe Alana.

Her failed attempt at calming her nerves was interrupted by the quiet beeping of her personal computer, notifying her of a new message. Opening her inbox, she saw that the new message was from none other than her chief gunnery officer: Garrus Vakarian.

If you're up for a little sparring,
I'll be in the port observation room.

-Garrus

A tingling warmth suddenly spread throughout Alana's body. Garrus. He was the only crew member that she could consistently rely upon, he had never given up on her, not when she died, and not when she came back to life working with Cerberus. He's never questioned her and has always been there for her, even now, when she needed him the most. The warmth traveled to her cheeks as she remembered the conversation she had had with the turian a few weeks prior.

"Me and my recon officer were always at each other's throats. So we settled it in the ring. I had the reach, she had the flexibility. After 9 rounds the judges said it was a tie. A lot of pissed off betters in the other room. We ended up having a tiebreaker in her quarters. I had reach, but she had flexibility. More than one way to blow off steam, I guess." Garrus said, after explaining how turian ships operated in between battles.

"I wonder why human vessels don't allow that... sparring definitely helps in a stressful situation." She mused, slightly trailing off.

"I didn't think you'd be interested in sparring, Shepard. At least, not outside of the battlefield... everyone knows how you favor clocking an enemy in the face over using your gun." After a few short moments the turian resumed, "If you ever want to spar in the future, you know where to find me." Garrus let out a short, gravelly laugh. "Not like you'd be able to beat me, but it's worth a try on your part, I suppose."

Alana placed a hand on her hip. "Is that a challenge, Vakarian?"

He continued to laugh. "Oh no, definitely not. After all, who would dare to challenge the great Commander Shepard?"

Sticking a finger in his direction, she said, "Just you wait, you'll be sorry." A small smirk escaped her lips before she turned to leave.

He returned her wry gesture by flexing his mandibles. "I can't wait."

That was the first time her heart ever skipped a beat due to mere conversation with a crew member. At first she dismissed it as a fluke, but as weeks went by she noticed that more and more the turian would do that to her. He wouldn't even need to look at her, he could simply walk by and her heart would flutter, giving her the sudden urge to speak to him. She didn't even think it was possible for a human to be physically attracted to a turian, but she was wrong. Oh, was she wrong. She had always been attracted to his personality, sure, but the physical attraction snuck up on her. It was odd, but oddly... exciting.

Alana sucked in a long breath, exhaling slowly, and made her way down to the port observation room.

The door to the port observation room seemed to take its time as its edges slowly withdrew, revealing her gunnery officer, who was patiently awaiting her arrival. He observed her for a moment, quietly, and successfully drove Alana mad with curiosity.

He finally gave in to the silence a few moments later, "Decided to test your skills on your favorite turian, did you?" Mischief danced in his crystalline blue eyes.

"To ignore an opportunity such as this would be a waste." She tried her hardest to sound serious, but then, "What else can I say? I simply couldn't resist your unduly charm."

Garrus scoffed. "You must have me confused with some other 'tall, dark, and handsome' aboard the Normandy."

"Sure, Garrus." She raised an eyebrow and refrained from letting out a smile. "Now, let's do this. I'll go easy on you, don't worry."

As the commander finished her taunt, Garrus took the opportunity to inch closer while he distracted her with his reply. "Oh really? Do you think that just because you're Commander Shepard you can beat a turian in a little hand to hand?"

"Not just because I'm Commander Shepard, but because-"

Her retaliation was cut short as Garrus took her off guard, grasped her wrist, and spun her around, holding her arm behind her back and pushing her up against the wall. "Is this what you call 'going easy on me,' Commander? If that's the case then you might want to kick it up a notch."

Alana sighed, her heart pounding from the proximity between the two of them. "Be careful what you wish for, Vakarian..." She quickly maneuvered her leg around one of his and pulled on the back of his knee, forcing him to momentarily lose his balance and to take a step backward. That was all the room she needed; she was easily able to twist her arm out of his grip and land a blow to his abdomen.

He coughed in surprise, but recovered fast enough to block her leg in mid air before it collided with his shoulder. Shepard growled at the blocked kick and hastily followed it by grabbing the arm he used to parry her previous attack, widening her stance, and pulling him hard over her hip and onto the ground.

He grunted as he landed and was momentarily too dazed to stop her from straddling him and holding down his arms. "I'm surprised Shepard, I didn't think you had this much fight in you. You're stronger than you look."

Alana breathed hard and smiled at her small success in taking the turian by surprise. "I like to use that to my advantage."

"I'll bet you do, because it works. It's just too bad that it won't work on me anymore." Garrus rolled them over so that he was situated on top. "And it's too bad that not even your surprises will be able to help you once someone much heavier is lying on top of you."

Shepard frowned. "Just because humans aren't as strong as turians doesn't mean we don't know how to get ourselves out of sticky situations." She suddenly raised her hips and gripped his forearms, flipping him over her head. After righting herself she pulled Garrus to his feet and slammed him against the wall, earning a grunt as his back hit the metal surface behind him. "And besides, you'll find I'm always full of surprises..."

Alana's heartbeat began to fly as she thought about how close she was to the turian's face. She found herself suppressing the urge to place her lips upon his mouth, but the desire to do just that was truly beginning to diminish every last ounce of her resolve.

"I don't doubt th-" Garrus froze, unable to finish his sentence, he had no idea what was happening. Shepard's lips were touching his mouth, ever so gently, ever so tentatively. He wasn't sure exactly what she meant by doing this, but he suddenly yearned to pull Shepard, his Commander, even closer to him than she already was. However, he was too stunned to react, and she pulled away with a look on her face that he's never seen before.

Alana's face reddened slightly; she ducked her head in order to hide her embarrassment and muttered, "I'm sorry Garrus, I don't know what came over me. I have to go... thank you for the sparring session."

And before he knew it, she was gone, and he was still too shocked to even understand what had just happened.

Not long after Shepard made her sudden escape, Garrus was waiting, rather nervously, for the elevator to reach the level that held her quarters. The gunnery officer was never one to know about all of the odds and ends of human behavior and culture. Needless to say, he was surprised when the ship's AI informed him that it was usually an act of both passion and attraction. The turians simply don't use a gesture like that, not unless they are biting each other during... certain activities. Even though he thought it strange at first, he remembered feeling a thrilling, tingling sensation as soon as her lips grazed his skin, and he yearned for more of it.

Garrus would be the first to admit that Shepard was an attractive woman, even with her being human. He already felt close to her on an emotional level after everything they had been through together, but he wanted a little more than friendship. The gunnery officer never thought that she would ever feel the same way about him, however. He didn't know exactly how it would work out, but he was more than willing to try and make it work.

The elevator slowed to a halt; he stepped out and stopped in front of Shepard's door. He lifted his arm, sucked in a deep breath, and knocked.

"Come in."

He opened the door to see Shepard turning her body so that she was facing him, and trying to appear as professional as possible. "Garrus." She started. "I am truly sorry for what happened earlier, it was uncalled for and will not happen again." She convincingly conveyed through her voice, however, her eyes told a different story.

During her apology, Garrus had managed to make his way across the room and stop about a foot away from her. She was forced to tilt her head upwards to look at him, and it almost left the turian speechless. Never before had he truly had the chance to peer into her eyes from such proximity, they were utterly captivating. "I... 'Lana, you don't have to apologize." And with that he mustered up the courage to bend down and press his mouth to her soft and seductive lips. Alana stiffened, but quickly recovered and wrapped her arms around his neck.

Garrus wasn't quite sure how to respond. Following her lead, however, he eventually opened his mouth and was pleasantly surprised when his commander's tongue slid against his. He struggled to suppress a groan, but the second she tugged him closer was the second he lost control. She smiled against his mouth before her lips traveled across his mandibles and then to his jaw line. He gasped at the new sensation and pushed her and himself down onto the bed.

They paused their affections to simply revel in each other's embrace.

"I think that you cheated, Commander." Garrus whispered, his voice husky.

She allowed the corner of her lips to raise slightly. "Oh? What makes you say that?"

"You distracted me earlier, with that kiss. I believe I would've won otherwise." The turian was most definitely trying to get a reaction from her.

"Hmm. Well we're gonna have to fix that then, aren't we?"

Garrus' eyes burned with a passion that was new to Shepard; she found she rather liked it. She loved it, even. "Rematch?" He asked.

"I can't wait." With that, she pulled her turian close and kissed him passionately.

FIN