As you've probably noticed, the rating on this fic is now M. There's nothing that explicit here, but if you don't like any sort of smut in your fics then you can avoid it by scrolling down to the divider halfway through this chapter.
A big thanks to everyone for the alerts, favorites and lovely reviews.
The very moment the elevator opened onto the short hallway leading to the captain's cabin, Garrus scooped Shepard off the floor and into his arms. She smiled up at him, amusement dancing along with desire across her face.
"Feeling impatient to get your new wife into bed, huh, Garrus?" she asked.
"Very. That elevator ride was close to agonising."
She pecked him on the mandible. "Best hurry up then."
Enthusiastically, he did so, carrying her straight across the hallway and down through her quarters. When he reached her bed, however, he placed her onto it with the utmost care, since she deserved nothing less, and then stood completely still, staring at her. In his life, he'd travelled the galaxy and seen enough amazing things to make him envy of most people, but he couldn't remember ever before coming across a sight as striking as her simply lying there in front of him at that moment. Her hair was splayed out like decorative curtain around her face, accentuating the soft features he'd grown so fond of. Her dark dress, though still clinging to the upper half of her body, had slid upwards to expose a tantalising glimpse of the smooth skin belonging to her left thigh.
And she was his now.
Only his.
"Now you've finally got me right where you want me, you're not planning to just stand there staring at me all night, are you, Garrus?" she asked, a smirk forming on her face as she gazed boldly right back up at him.
No, that definitely wasn't his intention so he joined her on the bed, pulling her into a kiss of such length and intensity that his plates had parted and her cheeks were flushed a deep, vibrant pink when they wrested themselves apart from each other.
"Glad to see you take some more decisive action, Mr Vakarian," she said breathlessly.
"You should know from previous first-hand experience just how good I am at keeping things moving. I'm hardly one for slacking when action is required, Shepard."
"Mmm. That is true, but, Garrus…don't call me Shepard tonight. Call me Mrs Vakarian. Please. I want to hear you say it."
Her request came as one of those rare, entirely welcome surprises. She was the great, the powerful, the fearsome, Commander Shepard and he hadn't thought accepting the far less esteemed title of 'Mrs Vakarian' even unofficially in the bedroom would hold much, if any appeal for her.
"Whatever you want..." He paused for a moment, leaving their combined breathing as the only sound in the room, before finally adding, "Mrs Vakarian."
The words felt great on his tongue. They were overtly possessive, claiming her as his, and yet for some reason she seemed to enjoy hearing them as much as he enjoyed saying them.
Eyes jumping with heat, she ordered, "Say it again for me, Garrus."
He obliged her of course, uttering the words lower and rougher than the last time, before eschewing talking altogether in favour of placing his hands on her body and beginning to strip her. As beautiful as she looked in her dress, he was fairly certain she'd look even better out of it. She immediately joined in on the action, attacking his clothes as well. Soon his very expensive shirt remained as the final barrier between their bodies. So determined was she to remove it, that he felt on of its seam rip as she tugged it off. But she didn't notice what she'd done and he couldn't care less, letting the shirt simply fall to the floor to be forgotten along with everything else in the universe that wasn't the bed and the two of them. Husband and wife.
Naked now, and practically trembling with anticipation, he pressed his body against hers. She welcomed him readily, wrapping her arms around his torso, her legs around his hips, so they were held even more closely together. A final kiss was shared between them before he slid into her wet heat, forming one whole from their different turian and human halves and consummating their marriage.
They set a slow, sweet pace together, but the pleasure he experienced was exquisite and almost shocking in its intensity. Every single move they made set nerves firing off in sequence across his body. And the noises she gasped out beneath him, all telling him loud and clear of her own enjoyment, were just so unbelievably hot to hear.
Like the caring, thoughtful husband he always intended to be, he made sure she came first. Her ecstatic calls of "Garrus" and the way she clenched so, so tightly around him ignited the final blissful explosion in his own body. He spilled into her with a hoarse cry of her given name and then collapsed with little grace onto her equally limp, satisfied form.
Unsurprisingly, full control of his body took some time to come back to him, but when it did he pulled them both into a more comfortable position on their sides and whispered "I love you," tenderly into her ear.
"I know," she murmured in what sounded almost like a content sigh. "I love you too. More than anything else in this whole goddam galaxy."
"A lot then, huh?"
"God, yes."
The soft expression on her face as she spoke, coupled with her words, made him press his mouth to hers and run his hand down to gently tease the soft curls between her legs. She returned the kiss with a considerable amount of interest, beginning to stroke both his waist and the sensitive spot underneath his fringe. Soon they were making love again and the third time followed not long after that. Even then, he doubted that they were finished. After all, what self-respecting pair of newlyweds wouldn't spend their wedding night ravaging each other into the early hours?
Obnoxious blaring from her alarm clock woke Shepard as it did most mornings. But this wasn't a morning just like all of its predecessors. For the first time, she was starting the day Garrus Vakarian's wife. His wife. She opened her eyes to find Garrus' blue ones already on her, lively with affection though, like her, he seemed to have only just come to.
"Hey there," he said, leaning over to flick off the alarm.
Her dopey facial muscles quickly pulled into a smile for him. "Hey, darling husband."
"Mmmm. Now there's a nice greeting to wake up to." He smiled lazily back at her. "I almost can't believe we're actually married. We've done plenty of crazy things together since we met on the Citadel, but getting hitched has to be the craziest. And the best."
"Well, believe it, Garrus. The proof's right here…" As visual evidence, she waved her finger at him, showcasing the newest and most precious piece of jewellery she possessed; her wedding ring. "And here…" She sought out his left hand from where it was hidden under the sheets, which, thanks to last night's activities, were a tangled mess. Upon finding it, she brought it to her face and pressed her lips firmly against his matching ring. "And I for one am very happy we're married. Ecstatic even."
"Guess I must just be a hell of a lot luckier than I thought."
"I know I am. I thought I was going to spend my life alone and I thought I was okay with it. Then you came along. I've never been less annoyed to be proven wrong."
With a chuckle, he took her hand in his, gripping it so their rings came to rest against each other. "Are we going to tell the crew exactly what we got up to last night?" he asked.
Looking at their intertwined hands, she knew she wanted to tell not only the people on board the Normandy, but every friend or even acquaintance she'd happened upon while traversing the galaxy. Sadly, she also knew to actually do so would not be sensible.
She released his hand, but only so she could caress the side of his face. "I wish I didn't have to say this, but I think we better keep the news mostly to ourselves for now. We always said we wouldn't let our relationship disrupt the crew, but it almost certainly will if they know we're married now. Plus, with the war and…everything, it's not the right time to flaunt something like this."
"Unfortunately, I think I agree with you," he said. "There's one slight hitch though; Traynor may know we're married already. And by 'may', I mean she definitely does. She figured out what we were planning to do after talking to you last night and, well, I didn't really have much choice but to confirm it. Uh…sorry. She did promise not to pass it on at least."
"You don't need to apologise, Garrus. Sounds like she knows because of me, not you. Besides, I trust her and I doubt there'll be any harm in a choice few on board finding out. We should still limit it to just that for now though. To be safe."
"So, no parading down the corridors with our wedding rings on display then?"
"I suppose that would be a rather massive giveaway."
"Damn. And calling you 'Mrs Vakarian' is probably out too."
"Well…for the most part. But when we're alone we could wear the rings and you could call me by that name as much as you like. I did very much enjoy hearing it last night."
"I remember…"
His eyes met hers and she could tell that whatever was going on behind that gaze in the back of his mind involved her getting even closer to him on the bed, though less than an inch currently separated them. After a moment of simply watching her, he said, "Do you think we have time to, ah, consummate our marriage again before our shifts are meant to start?"
In taunting orange, the display of her alarm clock informed her that they had only forty-five minutes to spare until shore leave would be officially over and he was meant to be pushing the controls in the main battery while she stood one floor up, hunched over the galaxy map.
"Well, I can't possibly say no to an enticing proposition like that from my husband," she said. "But we'll have to be fairly, um…quick if we want to make it on time."
"How romantic"
"I know." She sighed. "I wish we could just stay here together all day and then take off for a week-long honeymoon this evening."
"Make that a month-long honeymoon."
"Even better…" Her gaze flitted between his face and the irritating one belonging to the clock. "The problem is the Reapers aren't going to wait while we take an extended break. Once they're out of the way though, we can tell everyone we're married and celebrate properly with a very long, very happy and very deserved honeymoon."
"Where do you want to go?"
"I don't care much as long as your there with me. Maybe somewhere sunny. I'm getting tired of how dull the light is on this ship."
"Yeah, somewhere sunny with nice beaches and plenty of blue sea to swim in."
"I thought Turians don't swim?"
"We don't. But you've told me you like to before. You can swim and I can…watch you while I splash about in the shallows or sit on the beach. A lot of privacy would be good too. That way clothes can be optional most of the time."
"Don't forget a comfy bed to curl up in at night. And at…other times if we feel like it."
"I was just coming to that. The bed is very important."
"God, I really can't wait until we're actually there, Garrus."
Of course she knew really that they weren't assured of living out the fantasy they'd just so carefully drawn together in full colour. And he did too. But neither of them would dare say anything that might damage their delicate hopes. They reached for each other and for the next half hour concentrated solely on the feel of hard turian plates moving rhythmically against soft human skin.
To both their credit, they were only slightly late for their shifts, with Shepard arriving on the bridge in a hurry to a knowing look from Sam and a whispered, "Congratulations."
There's only one chapter to go now, which I shall post later this week.
Thanks so much for sticking with the story so far :)
