The second chapter! I hope I did a better job self-editing this time. I'm glad everyone really likes Clyde, hes really good fun to write.
This has some explanation on what kind of fighter he's going to be. Warning: Random science content! Some Tali/Shepard. No action yet. Hope you all enjoy the arrogance that is Clyde Shepard!
Edit: Also, I should say and warn; I am a god bad self editor. I read it over quite a lot, and I can never seem to find enough. It's frustrating as hell. Sorry in advance!
Chapter 2: State of Mind
No lights but the dancing glow of the aquarium. The fish Shepard had bought floating seamlessly in the water like nothing had ever happened in the ship. Like it hadn't just been through the fire and escaped. Nope, the fish seemed completely content to simply float. Dancing in the blue void, probably unaware they were even in a tank. Just there because Shepard decided to buy some fish one day at the Citadel. Was he getting sentimental about fish now?
Shepard let out a small laugh, sitting on his bed with his elbows resting on his thighs, arms drooped in between his legs with his head down slightly, glancing at the floor that the dancing blue light of the aquarium lit up.. His black hair that he had let grow way to long slung over his eyes impairing his vision slightly.
It was late. Really, really late. Shepard had finally been convinced to go to his cabin to rest and of course, it didn't work, it never worked. Shepard had been up and about the entire time he was in his cabin, too energy ridden to sleep. He could feel the pain and fatigue drag his body to the floor with every step and with every word he spoke, but his mind told him to stay awake just so he could still feel the euphoria.
He had been born on Earth with little no family.
He was the only one out of amazing men and women to survive Akuze.
He had died.
Yet he was so positive and not serious at all, many people wondered if he could be considered insane.
Shepard let out a groan and stood up, his hands reaching to the roof as he felt his bones shift and his muscles tense. Letting out a sigh of relief, he let them drop and slump to his side before clapping them together. He couldn't sleep, it wasn't going to happen. Yet there was probably nobody awake he'd like to talk to currently. Maybe he could go wake up Tali and convince her to spend the night up in his Cabin.
"She's probably sick." He muttered disappointingly.
Shepard couldn't help but let his cocky grin spread across his face when he remembered exactly why she would be sick. He really wish he could drift into memories and relive them like Thane could. It would be an amazing thing to do right now.
Shepard laughed a bit. More memories would come, hopefully many more like the ones he had experienced earlier.
Might as well go see if anyone was awake. He wasn't getting anything done here, and as much as he hated being serious, working always helped him. Maybe he could find something to do in that department. They wouldn't be docking at the Citadel for awhile and he already knew what he was going to do first for the upcoming fight against the Reapers. What he needed to do first. Hopefully his tirade against the Admirals back during Tali's treason trial wouldn't come back to bite him.
Quickly checking to see if he had any new messages, he headed towards the elevator. Where would he go first? Jacob was definitely asleep. Mordin never slept, odds are he was still awake. He could go see what he was up to.
He pressed the button to head down to the Combat center of the Normandy, his arms instinctively crossing over just underneath his chest, his legs crossing over each other with his head leaned down. He always went into that position when he was tired and could lean on something.
Slowly moving outside of the elevator swinging his legs in a wide arc and waving to a few members of the crew he saw that were also still awake he gingerly moved over to Mordins lab. Sure enough, the salarian singer was working away in the same position as he always was.
"You know.." Shepard said curiously. "I haven't worked with many Salarians Mordin, but I'm pretty sure you guys need to sleep."
"No time. Reapers coming. Will rest when I finish this. Can't always stay awake. Inefficient working over long periods of time. Should say the same to you." Mordin said, stopping the rapid typing just to point a finger at Shepard.
"Difference, Mordin. I cannot possibly become inefficient. Not in my nature. You on the other hand.. well, lets just say I really hope you never get any more ideas for my Cabin." Shepard said with a small shrug. He leaned next to the upgrade terminal.
"Wasn't inefficient. Automatic fish feeder worked perfectly. Just.. possible design flaws." Mordin huffed.
Shepard let out a small chuckle. Mordin never did like it when you questioned his experiments.
"Possible design flaws? I would have rather slept on the collector base. The aquarium screamed at me. Have you ever had a fish tank scream at you?" Shepard said with a cocked eyebrow.
"Didn't scream. Scream high pitched noise normally expressing emotion. Noise was simply too many parts scratching against each other. Design flaw." Mordin said pointedly.
"Sure, it sucked. That is a pretty large design flaw, I agree." Shepard laughed.
"Good. Anyways, wanted to talk to you about scan results. Amazing and frightening discovery. Possible breakthrough with last results." Mordin said with obvious eagerness.
"Wait, thats what you were working on?"
"Was going to show you tomorrow. Good as time as any." Mordin said with a smile.
Shepard hated it when Mordin smiled.
The terminal Mordin was typing on turned blue. A picture of a rather peculiar object floated around in an endless circle. Mordin waved one three fingered hand over for Shepard to come stand beside him. Nodding, Shepard moved off the wall, his hands slinking into his pockets before standing beside the scientist.
Not too long after Mordin had seen Shepard fight had he requested multiple scans of his amps, blood samples, urine samples and all sorts of things. Mordin was very intrigued by the nature of Shepards biotics. Mordin had explained it to him before. His biotics seemed more.. explosive than normal with the range on the abilities rather low. Mordin explained it to him that it was like the biotics were denser than normal.
"Explained before. Cerberus inserted prototype amp building you. Understand that your biotics were different before death correct?" Mordin asked.
"Yeah, nothing like how they are now." Shepard said nodding. "It's like all the range I had before was condensed."
"Precisely." Mordin said. "Normal upgraded amps did this but not to your extent. Ability to charge not too uncommon is most trained Vanguards. Commonly found in amps that condense biotic power. Your amp different. Condenses biotics incredibly. Condenses every aspect. Ability to throw outside of range impossible. Ability to destroy outside of range..." Mordins eyes closed and he took a deep breath. "Impossible."
Shepards eyebrows were raised slightly, his face cringing. One of his hands left his pockets to rub the back of his neck slightly. However, Shepard knew this already. In less detail, sure, but he knew he was different from most other Vanguards.
"Fascinating, Mordin, but we already knew this didn't we? I mean it's not like I suddenly lost the ability to hit things with biotics at a certain range." Shepard said curiously. "Whats the breakthrough here?"
"Was getting to that. First, must reveal. Impossible to revert change. Biotic density too great. Further tampering to spread biotics may cause severe brain damage and reduce combat effectiveness."
"Brain damage tends to do that." Shepard sighed. Looking over at Mordin, he could have swore he was enjoying this. His smile still had never left his face. Shepard was rather disappointed. Mordin had kind of gotten his hopes up before when these tests had started that he would be able to fight at a range again. While he didn't mind getting in faces and using his locust when he had to, it wasn't good for his health.
"However, combat effectiveness potential at close range extraordinary. Not yet tapped into all potential biotic power. Must condense biotics further. Barrier could be exactly 252.56% stronger. Biotic throws and field pushes from inside your range impossible to predict possible maximum velocity." Mordin explained excitedly.
Shepards inner excitement started to grow. His face was rattled with intense curiosity. He probably looked like he was sharing Mordins enthusiasm.
"Wait, wait. Slow down here.." Shepard said, his hands coming up. "How does that work? I thought condensing the biotics was a bad thing."
"No. Never meant it to be bad thing. Just explained possible drawbacks. Possibilities endless. Need more study of course. Several things must be done."
"So.." Shepard said slowly. "What you're saying is.. If we condense the biotics further more, I could turn into something..." Shepards speech trailed off. "
"Impossible to predict total outcome of further condensing. Could possibly hemorrhage brain, of course. Always a risk when tampering biotics further than designed."Mordin explained eagerly.
"How would you do this?" Shepard asked curiously.
"Would require surgery. Give me time to prepare. Find valuable information on different biotic tampering. Have Miranda send me information about amp." Mordin said.
"Wow. I.. uh, wow. Thanks Mordin.. this.. Hah. I hope for all of your sakes this doesn't work. I'm already way to cocky as it is. You guys won't ever be able to shut me up."
"Will find a way to tamper with that to."
"Great. So help me god Mordin, if I wake up and I have an extra toe or finger I'm probably going to have Legion dissect you."
"Possible design flaws, Shepard."
"I'm going to get you back Mordin, don't worry. I'm going to spill something on you and then call it a design flaw in your attire." Shepard moved towards Mordin, standing beside him with his arms crossed glancing down at the numerous charts and research Mordin had done.
"So how dangerous are we talking here?"
"Surgical death percentage negligible. Complications with over density and problems after surgery..." Mordin took a deep breath again. "Undetermined."
"I'm curious, Mordin. What is it about my amp that makes this possible?" Shepard moved a hand to the back of his head.
"Glad you asked." Mordin typed a few things on the terminal. The object that was spinning on the hologram stopped and then split apart, a small profile on each layer appearing underneath each individual part.
"Vanguard amp condenses biotic power similar to much technology. When air compressed and released , massive force unearthed. Vanguard amp does same thing with biotic power. Biotically charging very uncomplicated. Condense, release." Mordin explained.
"Okay, so what is it about my amp?"
"Your amp condenses biotic power to very high levels. Not just condensing biotic power when charging. Condenses constantly. Biotic power for you unnaturally high for human to start with. Prototype amp makes results frightening."
"So basically I always have this.. condensed." Shepard clasped his hands together. "Energy that most vanguards use to charge."
"Precisely. Rapid biotic charges normally impossible. Must re-pressurize biotics after every expulsion of energy. Knew your amp was different when I saw a 30% difference and growing in the time lapses between biotic charges."
Shepard understood. He nodded. Silently wishing all science could be this interesting, he moved his forearms onto the table and leaned.
"So.. the reason I can't throw people from the distance Samara or Jack could is because my biotics are.." Shepard didn't really know what to say. Luckily, Mordins eagerness to explain this discovery overcompensated him.
"Restricted, yes. Prototype amp condenses biotic power so much anything outside certain range impossible. Results from inside range explosive."
"What kind of power increase are we talking here?"
Mordin tapped a few things on the terminal. The object was replaced with a glowing blue orb that seemed to be constantly pulsing.
"Power not 100% determined. Biotic power beyond what you have scales exponentially. Range of biotics will be even smaller. Haven't had a chance to test power at this magnitude. Will need to study more."
"This sounds way to good. Got me all excited!" Shepard said matching Mordins eagerness. His hand reached out and claped him on the shoulder with quite a bit of force.
"I don't want my range to be to small, okay?" Shepard said with a laugh before turning out of the lab.
"Estimated 10 to 15 foot range at the lowest. Still unsure. Will study." Mordin said with a nod. Shepard could have swore that he sensed a mild annoyance under his voice. He was starting to turn into the one he knew and got back to work.
"I'll leave you to work. Get some sleep, Aye?"
"Unlikely!" Mordin yelled.
Shepard rolled his eyes as he left the lab. His confidence was soaring right now. Shepard never really lacked any confidence. Certainly not. Thankfully he figured his crew liked him enough to oversee his bull. Most of the time at least. Miranda was always way to serious and scolded him whenever she got the chance when he was being overly confident or rude to people.
He was rude to everyone, except his crew.
And sometimes even his crew.
He decided that he was going to go see if Miranda was awake. If she wasn't, he would probably wake her up. He really did want her to get those amp blueprints over to Mordin. He couldn't wait to try this out. The look on Garrus's face when they spared when suddenly he launched him across the ring would be priceless. Last time they spared Garrus had gotten the best of him. Shepard had promptly blamed it on a number of things.
Garrus cheating.
Fatigue.
Mostly Garrus cheating.
They had a good laugh about it after of course. Shepard had gotten fairly close with Garrus after the whole Sidonis incident. He really hoped Sidonis would come back to help him with the fight against the Reapers. He didn't really know how a guy haunted by ghosts to the point of barely being.. a being, could help him fight them, but Shepard didn't really care. Didn't need that much help.
Could at least pretend he was helping. Give him a shiny star at the end of it.
The elevator came to a sudden halt as he got to the crews quarters. He initially checked to see of Kasumi was awake, but she was happily out-cold on her couch that she had taken home too. He turned around and headed towards Mirandas office, deciding not to disturb anyone else. He was sure Samara was awake and so was Thane, but they were normally meditating. After the whole ordeal he probably should let them go.
He jogged over to the door of Mirandas office and stood standing on the tips of his toes waiting for the door to open, eagerly sprinting in only to see Miranda asleep at her terminal. Shepard rolled his eyes unable to contain the amusement. She didn't even get to a sleeper pod before she went out? Yeesh, how lazy.
"Miranda." He said quietly, moving beside her and grinning. He reached down and put a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently. No response.
"Miraaanda." He said slightly louder and shaking a little harder. Still nothing.
Was she dead or something? Jesus.
"Miranda!" He boomed. The woman started up and instantly starting typing at the terminal for a few seconds before comprehending her situation. Shepard was grinning, one eyebrow raised looking down at her in pure amusement.
"Sleeping on the job now?" Shepard asked.
"I... I'm sorry commander." Miranda said with a shake of her head. "It wont happen again."
"Go get some sleep. Seriously. Why are you even here? I could yell at you for all sorts of reasons right now but I only feel like making fun of you for being too lazy." Shepard joked.
"I'd prefer it if you yelled, Commander. Your jokes are awful." She said with a lazy sigh, her hands coming over to wipe her eyes clean. She looked up at him with her sour face like always like it was his fault she had fallen asleep.
"That hurts, Boobs- I mean, Miranda." He said quickly running over to the other side of the desk before she got any ideas to slap him.
"What do you need, commander?" Miranda asked tiredly. Still professional as always. Can't even go with a simple boob joke. How sour.
"Would you believe it if I said I came down for your loving personality?" Shepard asked.
"Commander." Miranda scolded.
"It's Shepard, By the way. Stop calling me that, makes me feel way to professional." Shepard said with a wave of his hand. "Anyways, you know that amp you guys stuck in my brain? I need you to send the blueprints of it to Mordin."
"Thats... whats wrong with it Shepard?" Miranda asked. Shepard couldn't help but smile. She actually managed to call him Shepard.
Progress!
"Nothing wrong with it. Not really, anyways. Mordins gonna need to do some surgery on me though. Possible upgrades and tweaks and the like, you know. Could hemorrhage my brain, apparently. Rather would not let that happen. You guys are fucked if I die.. again." Shepard said with a shrug.
"Wait, your letting Mordin do surgery on you? Does he know about all the cyber-"
"Miranda."
"I'm serious, Shepard. Thats dangerous, especially with all the synthetic implants and the changes to your body. That could cause so many problems, Shepard-
"Miranda."
"Brain hemorrhaging, tweaking could merge the biotics with the synthetics and cause it to melt. Possible cancerous tumors, bone degeneration-"
"Miranda." Shepard said sternly.
Miranda stopped her rant on Shepard to pause and then look at him. Shepard looked down at her with a fairly amused but confident face. His smile warm and welcoming as though trying to soften her up with faces rather than reason on why he won't die.
"I killed sovereign, a reaper larvae and the collectors. Do you really think I'm going to die by a damn syringe?" Shepard asked.
"I don't see how that prevents anything I mentioned. If you-
"Miranda."
"Can't I at least talk to Mordin about this? I mean I did kind of do all this you know." Miranda said irritably. Shepard knew he was getting on her nerves now. Waking up a woman like this was already asking for dangerous things to happen. Undermining her authority and worth was probably asking for a female revolution.
"Okay. You can talk to Mordin. After you give him the data."
"Shepard-"
"Please do not make me pull out the 'It's an order' card here. I hate it when I have to do that." Shepard looked at her with a pout in his face trying desperately to suppress a grin.
Miranda let out a heavy defeated sigh and looked up at him with a stern look that Shepard had seen all to often from her. Shepard starting backing up, pointing at her with both hands and letting out a laugh.
"Thanks! You're the best." He said happily, turning out of the office with a small jump.
"Don't think I didn't hear that boob crack you dog!" Miranda called out to him. Shepard, laughing, practically leaped into the elevator with emphasis, his hands drumming against the walls of the elevator synced with a song in his head.
This wasn't turning out to be a bad idea after all. With all this and the upcoming R&R at the Citadel Shepard was in a fairly good mood. Pessimism be damned, if he didn't die on the surgical table he was going to thoroughly enjoy punching something with enough force to put a crater in the ground. The idea in his head sent a excited shiver through his hands.
"Engineering Bay then sleep" he muttered before pressing the button down to the last floor of the Normandy. If Tali wasn't awake he was going to have to drag her to his bed.
She had slept in his lounge only a few times so far. The one at the forefront of his mind was after the trip to Tuchanka dealing with Mordin and Grunts issues on the planet. He had finally rid that annoying but cute doubt from Tali's mind that they shouldn't be together and they just hung out and did some fun stuff with a camera before retiring to sleep. He was glad that she finally took something for herself, Shepard didn't mind being selfish here. He felt like he was just unfair to the world sometimes. Killed the bad guys and got the girl in the same day.
Life was good.
Even if a little sore.
The elevator for the third time came to a stop and Shepard turned around not even beginning to think who he wanted to see here. Grunt was probably like how he was when they first came back, difference being that Grunts never wore off. Something told him that going to talk to a fired up krogan about how many bad guys they killed may end up resulting in a very large headache.
Could be one way for him to get knocked out if he needed some sleep.
He might need it, after the Citadel Liara wanted him to come see her. He could not wait to tell her how he was with Tali now. Liara had always expressed some form of interest in hin on the original Normandy, but he chose not to react on it. She was young.. or, young in Asari standards from what she told him at least. Counted. She had her own goals. Especially at the time when she was so interested in the Protheans and at the time Shepard was a giant flagship for anything regarding the ancient lifeforms.
"Hey Liara, How are yah doing? My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest whenever I see a quarian. You remember Tali, Right?" Shepard said to himself.
"Of course I do, Shepard. And you should be ashamed, taking advantage of that poor girl I hope when you guys finally do the deed she grows tentacles and rips your eyes out of your face you enviro suit loving freak." Shepard said in a mock-whisper tone.
"Why Liara? What ever did I do to deserve such massive face mutilation?" Shepard let out a noise of frustration. Maybe it would be better if she didn't know. Ever.
"Much better idea." Shepard thought to himself.
Shepard saw Kenneth and Gabby looking towards each other, talking quietly. Shepard forced himself to not eavesdrop on the two of them. Why? Well, Kenneth looked like he was going to explode he looked so serious. Kenneth never looked serious. Gabby? She looked like she was going to cry. He could hear her voice raise slightly but dip back down. That was indeed way to private of a conversation for him to get involved in. At least for now. He would definitely have to come back down to see what was going on.
Or...
"Tali!" He said excitedly. His Quarian girlfriend working furiously over the terminal as though she was absorbed in it. He sprinted over, grinning and wrapping an arm over her waist before she had a chance to protest, a small but audible squeak of shock when she was suddenly removed from her focus.
"Shepard you- I told you to sleep!" She asked admist a small bit of laughter and to her surprise a giggle that escaped her, still trying to sound stern. She still wasn't amused apparently. Shepard figured this would happen. He had told her that he was going to rest up the ass kicking he got and get some much needed rest.
"I thought you'd be asleep." He said gingerly, his other arm coming to meet his hand behind the small of her back. "I don't hear you giggle that much. I need to surprise you more often."
Tali wasn't as amused after she finally had a chance to grasp the fact that Shepard wasn't sleeping
"I could same the same to you, Shepard." She said crossly. Her arms came over her chest, hooking together, glaring at him fiercely. She didn't move into him like he thought she might have. Although she showed no real resistance to the embrace she leaned back away from him, looking up to peer into his eyes like he had just got caught stealing something.
Shepard couldn't help but smile, still. Hugging her always made him feel better even if he was really depressed. She did seem rather cross with him, but he could tell she was smiling on the inside of her visor. He leaned into the visor and looked at her seriously.
"Didn't I tell you to call me Clyde?"
"Didn't I tell you that you needed rest?" She countered.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Well, that much is obvious."
"I came to get you. Come." He said, moving backwards, his hands wrapping themselves around there 3 digits and pulling her slowly towards him. She resisted, pulling back slowly, shaking her head and moving back towards the opened terminal.
"There is a lot to do, Shep-
"Clyde." He said annoyed.
"She-... Clyde." She let the word roll over her tongue slowly as though it was a different language. "I.. I've got a lot to do, Clyde. The engine really needs cleaning and they've been talking like that forever." Her voice carried a tang of sadness to it in between the stern anger she forced at him.
Not how this was going to work.
"I am far more important than the engine right now, Tali." He said amusingly. She looked up at him, her head cocked to the side slightly.
"Don't be so full of yourself." She said a little more playfully, a smack coming down on his hand.
"Can't help it, it's part of the package you got when you decided you liked me. That and rugged good looks."
Tali rolled her eyes at this, shaking her head and laughing slightly but was cut off shortly after it began. Shepards eyed went from adoration to concerned before the cough ended.
"Sorry.. Just a little sick." Tali said, another cough escaping her lips.
"Sick? What happened?" He said. He knew full well why she was sick and he had suspected as much before he came down here. It was a good jog of the memory though.
She looked away from him, glancing over at Gabby and Kenneth still talking like they weren't even here. She looked at the ground for a few seconds before looking up back up at him, her bright eyes shining through her visor.
"You happened." She said embarrassed She sank into his chest a little, her arms coming around him and giving him a small squeeze. "I.. It's nothing. Just a cough and a fever. I don't want to think about it so I just.."
"Tali." He said sternly. His arms snaked over her again and pressed her into him in a tender hug, squeezing her softly and smiling down at her with a smile she would be the only one to see. She felt her hands tighten slightly at his back. "You can take a few hours off. Now come on." While he said this, his hands had reached up and held her upper arms.
"Shepa- I mean, Clyde, I can't. I really-" Her stern anger was starting to fade. Even when he was at his rudest she always found it hard to stay mad. Before Shepard gave it time to resurface, his finger came up and pressed against the flashing light on her helmet and pressed against it.
"Tali. Shut up." He said smirking.
"Wha- Don't say that to me you.. you bosh'tet! What guy tells his girlfriend to shut up?" She said with mock-anger. A playful slap echoed across his chest.
"The best kind."
"Oh? How do you figure that?" She asked teasingly.
"Well, I'm the best. Therefor the best says it. Logic in my favor."
Shepard pulled her back with him, dragging her by the upper arms. Her resistance didn't seem to be very strong this time. Shepard couldn't help but laugh but then loudly called out over her shoulder;
"Hey! Fix your bullshit. I'm stealing Tali for a few hours!" He yelled.
"Clyde!" She said fiercely. She turned around to make sure that Ken and Gabby hadn't stopped before being pulled again.
"What?" He said with a laugh. He was pulling her faster now. They weren't very far from the elevator. One arm let go just fast enough to press the button and open the door for them, pulling her inside and hitting the button to go back up to his room. "Come on, It'll be fun. We can just.. be together. And talk about how amazing you look under that suit."
A 3 digit hand smacked across his cheek, enticing him to emit a cry of pain and amusement mixture. He closed his left eye, slowly turning his face back to face the angry quarian woman.
"Clyde! You bosh'tet!" She said embarrassingly, a couple more smacks coming down on his left arm as he cried out in mock-pain.
"Ow, ow! What? Am I not allowed complimenting what I saw?" He said shocked. He reached his hands up and caught the constantly moving hands, pulling the woman behind them into him for a one armed hug with his left arm, his right holding his weight on the rail of the elevator.
"It's not that.." She sighed. Her hands struggled before a second before she sank into his form, a happy of content leaving her lips.
"It's just embarrassing.. and you always embarrass me. I had so many questions from Kasumi when you .. said that announcement across the ship today.. I don't know. I've never had so many people wonder about my opinion about something before." She said helplessly.
"Your opinion of me?"
"Everyone wanted to know.. you know.. how you were when it was just me and you, if you were the same guy. I didn't really know what to say." Tali admitted.
The elevator stopped, opening the door to a small hallway and then another door leading to his room. Suddenly, he reached down, scooping her back into one arm and her legs in another, a yelp leaving her lips as she suddenly found herself at the mercy of Shepard.
Shepard started to run with her, a small scream echoing throughout the loft as he suddenly laid her on his bed, grinning broadly down at her, his hands coming down and pinning her arms to the bed.
"And what did you say?" He asked finally.
"That you are the same, stupid bosh'tet that everyone knows!" Tali said amidst a sea of laughter echoing throughout his room, his own mixed in with it.
"What did you actually say?" He said curiously, cocking his head to the side to look at her.
"I.. said that you are the most amazing, loveable man I have ever met.. " She said sincerely. He let his hands fall off her arms, one of her hands coming up and dancing across his right cheek. Shepard moved one of his hands and pressed his against hers.
"You know what?" Shepard said, leaning down so that his face was only inches from her visor.
"Mmm?"
"I would say the same thing."
"What, that I'm an amazing loveable man? That's a bit extreme." Tali said playfully. Shepard looked at her dumbfounded for a moment before rolling onto his side, laughing into a pillow.
"I walked into that one." He said pouting. "You are so mean to me."
Tali responded by closing any distance they had on the bed, snuggling up to him as close as she could pushing her body into his chest, her head coming down on the same pillow he was laying on. Shepard responded by moving one of his hands down her arm and towards her hips, giving a tender squeeze. A noise which could only be called a moan escaped her lips, causing her to push against his body further.
"It was.. so amazing, Clyde." She whispered.
"It really was." He said softly, his face only a few inches from her. "You know.. I wasn't kidding when I said you have an amazing body underneath this suit."
Tali's face lowered slightly, looking down at the sheets of the bed before one of her hands sought Shepards. Shepard responded by lifting his left hand into hers, wringing them together and resting them above there heads. His other hand was still squeezing the lovely hips of his quarian princess.
"Y-you always embarrass me." She said nervously. He loved it when she stammered over her words, it was an amazingly endearing trait that he really liked.
"You can be confident about that, you know."
"I-it's just.. nobody has ever told me something like that before. Y-you're the only one to have ever even s-seen my face.." The hand in Shepards starting to wring itself against his. She looked down, embarrassed again at Shepards talk.
"Would you like me to tell you how great it is until you believe me?" He said with a hint of mischievous play. "Or would you rather me show you.." He added, his hands quickly reaching down below her hips, her behind being squeezed softly. A moan mixed with a noise of shock escaped her lips, the lights that were here eyes narrowing accusingly at the perpetrator in-front of her.
"That.. I could get used to that." she said hungrily but with an edge of playfulness in her voice. She let out a nervous giggle again.
"Me too." He said with a laugh.
"Clyde?" She asked. It didn't seem she could get enough of calling him by his first name. And here he thought he was going to have to force it on her.
"Mmm?"
"I do think I'm being selfish here.. I mean.. If I wasn't in a suit we could.. you know. D-do that again." She stammered out the last part quickly. Shepards eyebrows cocked slightly.
"Are you saying you want to do that again?" Shepard asked softly but with a hint of amusement and curiosity in his voice. His hand delved with Tali's behind once more. The shock had left Tali's voice completely, only a moan escaping this time. His hand followed an invisible line his eyes drew, a hand coming up her waste and across her thighs and abdomen and then finally chest. He let his hand, linger there before he moved his hand to her waist.
She cooed out at him, her breathing getting slightly deeper. The sound of long, needed breaths danced in his ears, her voice filled with a mixture of want and embarrassment
"Yes.." She hissed finally.
"I could wait years for you, Tali." He said.
Her voice was caught. She didn't really know what to say except to throw her mask off and pound her lips against his. Unfortunately that was not to be the case, at least not this time. She was already sick, she didn't want to worsen herself, but Clyde always had this way with her. It wasn't fair.
"You need to stop being so.. you. I just want to.. I don't know, Clyde." She said annoyed.
"You complain about me being cocky, yet here you go making it so hard to not be. I can't change myself if you keep enticing it." He said jokingly. She looked at him lovingly, her arms pressing tighter against his back and with a comfortable sigh, turned around from him into a more comfortable position, her hands coming to meet his, positioning one around and one near above her.
"I never want you to change." She answered.
He smiled his biggest smile of the night.
"EDI. Lights." He said snapping his fingers.
"Very well, Commander." EDI's voice rang out.
The lights dimmed and then there was only the faint blue light from the aquarium dancing across the room.
"Don't worry, Tali." He answered with a yawn. "I can't become better than I already am."
Tali let out a small laugh. She decided she wanted to see him this time. Turning back around she slid one of her arms across him, a yawn escaping her own lips after Shepard had done so.
"Clyde?" She asked nervously.
"Uh oh." He responded at the nervous tone of her voice.
"Am I.. I want to.. well you sort of.. I-I mean, well we were a-a bit preoccupied and I k-kind of-"
"You are an amazing kisser." Shepard said with a small grin. He was really warm. He always felt that his new cabin was colder than the rest of his ship. That might have something to do with him always being to lazy to get under the covers however.
Tali felt heat rise to her face before answering.
"T-that's not what I was going to ask." Tali stammered. Shepard let out a rather amused sound, kissing the top of her head.
"Well, you know now."
"I'm sorry, I'm just.. I get so nervous when I think about it and you know I talk to much when I'm nervous. I-it's just I had never done that before and it just.. it felt so amazing. Nobody had ever touched me with such.. want and I-" Tali's rambiling was cut off quickly by a laugh from Shepard. Tali huffed. "It's not funny! I really just..."
"Tali, I wasn't making fun of you. You are the best kisser I have ever had the pleasure of tasting." He whispered the last part of the sentence, a small shutter coming from the quarians body.
"I was.. t-thats good.. you are very good to.. but I was going to ask how.. well.. nobody had ever seen my face before.. so I was kind of.." Tali trailed off in embarrassment. She was asking him how he thought she looked underneath the mask. Shepard was actually fairly shocked.
"You want me to give you my opinion on your looks?" Shepard asked with mild surprised. He couldn't really help it, Tali had never been one to fish for compliments. Hell, Shepard could barely get her to take any that he gave her.
"W-well, I-I.."
"Tali?"
Tali looked up at him, nervousness writhing on her expression hidden beneath the smoke of her visor.
"When I saw you, the first thing I thought was that there was no way I got the best personality and the most good looking girl in the entire galaxy. I was.. just not that lucky." Shepard said soothingly. He felt Tali's hands squeezed the back of his shirt as though he was the only anchor she had to the bed. Like he was keeping her there.
"After everything I've seen, everything thats happened, I always kind of wondered that if there is a higher power that rules the galaxy were they ever going to throw me a bone?" He looked down at her as though the purple visor was nothing. As though it was air.
"When I ran my hands through your hair, when my lips touched yours, when I.. felt you. I finally realized that my gift, I guess a reward from whatever crazy shit runs this place came in the form of the perfect woman."
Tali's hands were squeezing his shirt as tight as her 3 fingered hands could. She looked at him with the most adoring look she could. Damn the visor, she had almost completely forgotten it was there.
"Clyde..."
"Does that answer your question?" He asked with a playful chuckle. She let out a coo of approval, reveling the moment before speaking again.
"I can't be that pretty.." She said coyly.
"Fishing for compliments now, are we?" he let out a moan of relief, letting himself sink into the confines of the comfortable mattress.
"Is this a problem, my captain?"
"Definitely not. Maybe after awhile of me telling you how gorgeous you are you'll start to believe me. Doubtful."
She let out a murmur of unintelligible words. He couldn't help but let his hands stroke her back in an up and down pattern. He had never been more comfortable and grateful to be finally tired in his entire life.
The Reapers will not interrupt this.