Note: So this is a pretty big one, almost 9000 words, hope you like it. I made this pretty quickly, possible spelling mistakes, hopefully their not to bad if they're there. Also, I know I said there'd be no real schedule for these, even though I've been releasing a chapter every four days it seemed, I decided to put this one out quicker, just because I can.


Shepard and Tali were flying in their car, low to the ground, heading to the Fleet and Flotilla movie set. Tali was driving their car, since Shepard didn't have his license to drive on Rannoch yet. She slowly bounced and rocked in her seat, patting her hand on the steering wheel as she listened to music. Shepard had his arm resting on the open window frame of his side of the car, letting Rannoch's air brush against his face as he scanned the ground under them. "I've never acted before." Tali began a chat, turning of the music coming from the center of the car and glancing at Shepard. She wanted to look nice for meeting the director of the movie trilogy she adored, so she put on some makeup, a dark blue dress trimmed with purple; The dress had small sleeves wrapping the top of her shoulder, a purple cloth tie that wrapped around her waist, and it's length only reached to her knees.

Shepard just pursed his lips and nodded. "Is it hard?" She asked, glancing over for a few seconds while driving. Shepard shrugged, because he wasn't sure himself if acting was hard. "Hmm... I assume it comes natural to some. I wonder what characters we'll be? They'll probably just have us be ourselves, since we're famous enough already." Shepard nodded slowly a few more times, feeling unsettled due to not knowing how he'd act, without having a voice. Tali caught on to his odd behavior and questioned it. "What's wrong?" He shook his head, and turned to stare out the window. "Is it because of your voice? You don't know how they'll make it work?"

He nodded to her, and turned to see her, his face a frown and upset. Tali didn't need makeup to make her look pretty, she was pretty enough on her own, doubtless she wanted the makeup on. She had a purple lip gloss on, a light brown shade of blush, and dark eyeliner around her large glowing orbs that made them pop more than usual. "You'll be fine, just remember, you're doing it for me. That should hold you off until we're finished. And, we're getting paid a lot for it." She ended, clicking her red tongue and turning her attention to the empty air in front of them.

She waited a few seconds in silence, thinking to herself, before speaking again. "You know... Now that I think about it, there's always several relationships in the movies, I wonder if we'll be together?" She said, her face fretting and nervous, with his the same. "I'm sure they'll keep us together, they know we're married, it'd be weird if we had to act with different partners." She said, her tone suggested she didn't believe the words she said herself, and Shepard didn't believe it either.


They flew in silence for the rest of the journey, until the came across a small complex of buildings, labeled with letters and the word studio. "Here we are." She said, still sounding nervous about if they'd have to act with different partners, and if they actually had it in them to fake being with someone else. "The message says we're to report to studio EA, the initials of the producing and directing company for the movie." She turned the ships direction to the described studio, and landed them in an empty space in front of a large garage door.

They exited their vehicle and looked around the large studio complex. They saw krogans lifting heavy prop pieces and carrying them from building to building, and arguing over who was carrying more weight. A few male salarians dressed in skimpy pink underwear, practicing their script for some odd movie, and then yelling at each other for who was the better actor. A shorter and stumpier volus handing out creds to a few turian construction workers, and complaining about how they're running him dry of money. Everyone there seemed to be stingy, uptight, and generally bad people. "This place is pretty looking." Tali noticed, looking at the large gray buildings, decorated with prop pieces from several movies, and future movie posters. She clearly hadn't noticed the quality of the people around the pretty buildings yet however.

"Oh! Thank God you're here!" A lanky, gaunt, and balding but white haired man yelled jogging up to the duo of Tali and Shepard. "We're just about to start filming a scene without you two, so I have to be quick. Here are your scripts." He said, shoving a data tablet to each of the newcomers, and gave a quick smile. "Your trailer is over there." He pointed behind him to a small building built into the side of a set building. "If you decide to have sex in it, please have the common decent courtesy to clean up when you're done. Most of the actors and actresses here just bump and hump their rumps without cleaning up the place." Tali giggled at the tall old man, covering her mouth with a hand, and quieting to let him finish. He just turned and left them to their trailer, yelling at another cast member and running toward him.

"Well that was a quick encounter. I guess we should get to our trailer." She looked down at the script, examining it quickly, looking for one line in particular, if she was in a relationship with Shepard or not, in the movie.

Agreed. Shepard mouthed out of her view, and looked down to his script as well. They gave it a quick glance and proceeded to their room, dodging by the roads filled with crew, and cast members. They entered their trailer, the inside of it fancy and neat, despite the outside that made it looked cramped and old. Shepard nodded to himself, tossing his tablet down on a couch positioned against a wall, and facing a TV. The room was themed with browns and blacks. The couch was a brown, the fuzzy carpet under their feat was a tan, and any wood-like furniture was a dark brown. A few glass vases filled with pretty white, red, and blue flowers were on several end tables. And the black window curtains closed to give hardly any light to the beautiful room.

"This looks nice, right?" She said, smiling and nodding to Shepard. He returned the nod, and noticed a separate room down the stretch of the small house, a door slightly open, revealing a double bed. She noticed as well, and gave a lustful smile to Shepard. "Wanna bump, and hump?" She asked, brushing off the small sleeves of her dress, letting them rest at her arms, her dress slipping and only barely covering her breasts now. Shepard smiled and gave a breath filled laugh.

Why do I even need a voice, when you can read my mind so well? He asked, receiving a smile and wave towards the bedroom as an answer. He walked with her into the room, and closed the door behind him.


It had been an hour since they arrived at the studio, and they had now settled in their beds and were in the middle of reading their scripts. The covers placed over their sparsely dressed bodies, as they laid on their backs next to each other, holding the data tablet up to their eyes. "It says here that you're my boyfriend... so that's good." She nodded to herself, and clicked the next page button on the tablet. "And... and it says here that a turian named, Oplio Epocus, is my friend who's overly attached and in love with me." She looked over to Shepard worried, wondering if she'd ever have to fake emotions with the turian Oplio.

You'll be fine, as long as there's no sex scenes, I won't hit the guy. Shepard said, smiling and looking to his script. He continued to read through his script, until he noticed his potential love interest, another quarian.

"What is it!" She cried, ripping the tablet from his hands and scanning the words on the page. He pointed to a string of words that gave the information. She read it aloud. "I want you, Shepard. Says Rose'Finis nar Renbay, unbuttoning her tight fitting white shirt, to reveal her white bra and exposed skin... I don't like where this is going." She grumbled the last part, her hands tensing on the tablet she read the words from, and continued hesitantly. "She places a light kiss on his lips..." She read every word with spite and loathing for the girl she didn't even know, but continued again. "before being pushed away rather harshly by him, for he really did still harbor love for his girlfriend- aww... Shepard, that's so sweet, thank you." She softened her grip on the tablet, and embraced Shepard in a hug, who lightly pushed her back to her place on the bed while smiling.

You're welcome, but you make it sound like that's already happened. Or, that it happened in real life... we're acting Tali, nothing more. She seemed to understand only half of what he said, because she embraced him in another tight hug.

"I still don't think I understand the whole plot of this story, but I suppose all I have to do is read the words like they're on this tablet." She set the tablet down on a desk next to their bed, and threw the covers off of her to Shepard's side of the bed. She was standing naked, nearly out of his view, and holding a white robe in her hands. She seemed to be awaiting Shepard's glance, or for him to admire her body before she put on the robe. "Shepard?" She asked him, his eyes glued to the script he continued to avidly read. "I'm standing here... naked... and you don't seem to notice." She held her hands out at her sides, waiting his eyes, and he glanced over.

He looked from her head to toe, noticing all of her womanly features and parts, her more than large enough breasts, soft looking gray skin, and of course the wide hips he loved about her. He then began to notice the alien parts, like the black lines that traced her body in straight and curved lines, and then seeing the natural to quarian bend in her legs. The way she positioned her legs, had left her slit hidden from his view. He looked up to her smiling, and lightly shook the tablet in his hands. We had sex a few minutes ago. And I already know every piece, every black line on your skin, every sound you've ever made. He worded, shaping her body with his fingers, and letting his eyes trace the black lines he mentioned. But, I don't know this script. I'd like to come out of this a pretty good actor, just for fun. Okay? He finished, shaking the script in his hands, and smiling at her.

"Fine." She pouted, slipping on the white robe, with the letters EA on the back of it. She walked out of the room, her head held high, and nose pointed up in a snobbish way. Shepard smiled at her as she left, secretly getting a look as she walked away, watch closely as her hips swayed seductively, most likely without knowing she was doing it. He went back to reading the script, wanting to make a great actor out of himself, to add it to the list of many other things he's done.


Another hour had passed it seemed, before a caller was at their door. He knocked intrusively and hard, battering on the door several times before speaking. Tali squealed at the surprising and intruding sound. "Eek!"

"You're both up in a few minutes, report to your dressing rooms and you'll be directed to the set afterward!" The director's voice called, a dominant and groggy voice. Tali was sitting at a table with Shepard, passing the time with something other than sex. They were sitting at a small table for two, playing a variation of the card game poker. Tali had all of the chips stacked on her side of the table, leaving Shepard's side empty, and his body mostly naked. With the news of their time come, they had to quit playing strip poker, and dropped their cards to the table.

"Damn. Another game and I would have had you completely naked." Tali sighed, standing up from the table and walking to the door on the far side of their trailer. "Get dressed." She threw his clothes to him, that she had previously held, littering them on the floor, and leaving the house laughing like a maniac.

Shepard grabbed a fallen pair of jeans and slipped them on, scoffing at the spot she used to stand. Yeah, you better run. He said to himself, smiling afterward, and finishing dressing in his clothes. He stumbled out of the trailer, buttoning up his dress shirt as he exited, and gave a quick look around. Noticing again the studio's lands, and under it all, the gray-orange rock of Rannoch. It almost felt like they were on an entirely different planet, considering the vast assortments of people here, from hanar to elcor. The buildings looked far different than any he had seen in any quarian towns or cities. He scratched at his head and searched for his wife, scanning the zoo-like studio for any sign of Tali, and he saw her. She was being led in down a path with the tall director who was yelling to a companion of his that walked along side them.

Shepard jogged his way down to them, eventually catching up, only due to the slow pace the director walked at. He tapped Tali's butt with a hand, gaining her attention with a warning look, and a furrowed brow, thinking it had been a stranger who groped her. She raised her hand as if she meant to smack Shepard, but noticed it was him and instead lightly tapped his shoulder with it. You hustled me? He asked, turning his head at her, and sticking his hands in his pockets as he walked.

She gave a quick laugh before answering. "I might have picked up a few lessons when watching you and Ken play, and if I recall, you hustled him as well." She said, tipping her head to him and smiling in remembrance of the time he cheated Kenneth.

Fair enough. Shepard said, nodding in agreement to himself and listening to the old director squabble with one of the crew members.

"No, I said to clear out studio 13, not studio 14 you fool. Hurry up and get it done, we're pressed for time today anyway! Go, go!" He yelled, and shoved the shy looking turian crew member away from him, who immediately began running to the studio number 13 it seemed. "Sorry about that, I've dealt with enough incompetence for the three of us today. Your dressing rooms are right there, Tali's on the left, Shepard's on the right. See you in about 30 minutes." He finished, quickly turning and leaving through an alleyway between two studios, yelling at a hanar who seemed to be trying to make off with a prop piece. "Give that back you pink bastard!" He yelled, running after the hanar with a team of security on his tail.

"Not what I had pictured for the behind the scenes of my favorite movie series." Tali said, shrugging and giving a joking smile to Shepard. He nodded in return, and gave a brighter smile back. "See you on the set boyfriend, hehe, haven't got to call you that in a while." She giggled, walking to her dressing room, which was a separate trailer from Shepard's dressing room.

Shepard walked to his dressing trailer, the blinding shine from the metal on top of the roof and the sun annoyed him, he shielded his eyes as he approached. Opening the door after stepping up the stairs, he was met with a short quarian woman, dressed in her envirosuit. "Hello." She said in a shy tone, keeping her eyes and face mask in general from seeing Shepard's. "Go ahead and sit down and we can get you started." She said, tapping a hand on a black cushioned chair in front of a mirror. Shepard did as he was bid, walking to the chair and slowly sitting in it, feeling another pain rise in his leg again.

His face grimaced with pain, eyes closing as he sat down, the shy girl spoke up as he looked hurt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." She said gingerly, holding her head and gaze to the ground, avoiding eye contact with him. He looked confused and tapped the arm of the chair to get her attention, she looked up to see his eyes through the mirror.

She seemed young, around Tali's age, but more naive. She wore a suit similar to Tali's, except the purple cloth Tali had, was instead a green for this girl, and her mask had an almost yellow tint to it. You're fine. He said, giving a strong and single nod to her, and smiling after.

"Okay." She said, sounding only a small percentage happier, and grabbing something from a table. "That reminds me." She held a small black wired device in her hands, shaking it gently. "This is so you can speak." Shepard gulped with her words, wondering what it would be like to have a voice again, and what Tali would think of it. "If I can just..." She said, moving the small black box and two plastic stringed thing forward, and over his chest. "Can you... unbutton?" She asked, waiting with the voice box in front of his chest. He nodded, and unbuttoned the first few buttons on his shirt, revealing his bare chest. She awkwardly placed the things on Shepard, sticking the wires on him, the ends acting like a suction cup, sticking firmly on him. "There." She said, stepping back several feet, holding her hands together and looking down shamefully.

He stood up and looked at her. "What's wro-" He began, hearing a choppy and ill sounding tone come from his throat. He held his neck for a second, thinking something was wrong, before she spoke up.

"It's supposed to sound like that. In the story you play a wounded war veteran, just like in real life, except you still have a voice, it's just harder than most peoples." She grabbed a pair of scissors, and a brush for his hair. "They want me to trim you up a bit, give you a military short cut." She said, lifting the tools to eye level. "Okay?" Her voice almost cracked, Shepard new there was something wrong with her, but wasn't sure if he should ask.

"What's wrong?" He asked again, the sound of his own voice starting to annoy him now.

"Well, I just always had a crush on-" He stopped her before she could finish, holding out his palm for her to silence.

"Okay, but I'm married, you're a nice girl and all, but-" He carried on, his voice vibrating in an annoying way, now being interrupted by her.

"Oh, no! I don't like you. Well, I mean, I'm sure you're a nice guy, but I'm not attracted to humans. Not that Tali'Zorah isn't a lucky girl or anything... oh Keelah. I... I like Garrus Vakarian, and I thought you could... Oh, I dunno, speak to him for me. It'd mean a lot to me."

Shepard gave a laugh to her, not liking the way his laugh sounded through the voice amplifier, choppy and robotic. "Do you know him, like in reality?" He asked her, sitting back in the chair for her to clip his hair down.

"I used to live on the Citadel, I saw him a few times when he was with C-Sec, we even talked once. I doubt he remembers me, but it'd be nice if you could at least, oh I dunno... you humans call it setting up." She said, clipping away parts of his long hair.

"Okay, I'll talk to him, try and set you two up." Shepard said smiling at her.

"Thanks! Now let's get you into your uniform." She said, backing away and running into the closet, pulling out a N7 officers uniform.


Shepard was dressed fully in his outfit, leaving the dressing room with the quarian girl behind him, humming to herself, happy she now had a shot with the turian of her dreams. Shepard's outfit was an accurate representation of his old one, though it seemed a bit outdated, it felt just like his old one. He waited outside for Tali, until the director came along and grabbed his arms. "Come on war-hero, you can wait for your sweetheart later, she'll be at the set eventually." He argued, pulling Shepard away, considering Tali could possibly take an hour longer to get dressed.

He made it to the set, dark around anywhere that wasn't meant for the movie. All it was, was a large room, several stories high, and all of the windows shuttered and closed. The director waved his hand to Shepard, leading him to the set. A few large lights illuminated the setting of the story, for Shepard, his first acting would start at a motel looking scene. A half built room, with a dark theme to it, purples, blacks, grays, and blues. A large clumsily made purple bed in the center, a few brown furniture pieces, black carpeting, and a small bathroom on the side. "Go ahead and take a set on the bed, Tali'l be here shortly I'm sure." The director said, patting Shepard on the back, and letting him venture on.

He had memorized his entire script, and the lines of the people he was talking to, spending most of the time he had, when not with Tali, reading. All of the years memorizing speeches for the military, and writing paperwork before he was an N7 gave him such a skill at remembering.

Shepard sat on the bed, straightening out his dress blues, and waiting for a job. He noticed Tali come in from the same large door he had, she wore a small but fancy dress. Her dress was purple and black, the bottom rippled with a thicker gold colored cloth, and only reaching mid thigh or her fingertip length. The neck of her dress revealed a large amount of cleavage, jiggling a little with each step she took, wearing shiny jeweled slip on dress shoes. She had purple ear rings in, a single purple bead in each ear, with a diamond shining in the center, that reflected the light of the room with a piercing glow. Her hair curly as before, and her bangs brushed over part of her eye. He noticed one thing in particular that stood out, the necklace he had got her, worn around her neck. She smiled at him, and pointed to his finger, at the gold wedding band he wore.

He smiled back, took off the ring and slipped it in a pocket, because as of now they weren't married anymore. The director said something to her, after taking a short stare, and pointed to the bed Shepard sat at. She came over and stood by him first, standing on her toes and gave a 360 view of herself to him, her hands running through her hair as she spun around for him to see. "How do I look?" She asked, receiving a smile and nod from him, drunk with her beauty to the point he didn't know what to say. She proceeded to sit on the opposite side of the bed. Shepard turned to see her, going to have a chat before the movie started. "Well... You look handsome." She said, her purple glossed hips curving in a larger smile.

"And you look beautiful." He said in the same mechanical and choppy voice. She blinked rapidly, gave a weird look at first but smiled eventually.

"Does it feel weird to talk now?" She asked, squinting at his throat, seeing a wire poke up from the shirt. He tucked it back in and answered with a shrug.

"Just the same as usual, except now there's sounds coming out." Annoying sounds. He thought. He gave another stare to her, wanting to make use of the bed they sat on, but realized that they had around 50 eyes on them here.

"It's sounds fine, just a little groggy." She said, dusting off a spot on her dress and looking up to him.

"You really do look beautiful Tali. And you brought the necklace with you, I didn't even know." He said, his eyes studying her face and body. The necklace with it's large purple jewels was somehow more distracting than her breasts. "Also, I think I might have found Garrus a date." He said laughing afterward, and looking to the quarian girl who was be a table, serving food to people. She looked up at him, and waved like a little girl.

Tali's voice growled a sentence. "She seems nice... she didn't touch you did she?"

"Well she had to touch me, she did my hair and clothes and stuff." He laughed again, and saw the director send the camera man off to his camera, thinking it was time to start their scene.

"I don't like her." She growled again, sneering at the girl, who noticed and began to do more busy work.

"Oh quit it, she's just a girl. You're the only girl in my life, Tali." He said, patting her on the hand, and turned back to face away from her.

"I damn well better be." She taunted, shaking her head at him and making a mocking tone.

"You're on in ten seconds." A salarian crew member called out, moving to mount his camera position.

"You ready, my little actress?" He asked her, still facing the opposite way.

"I hope so, still a little nervous though." He took a look behind him, to see her fiddling with her fingers as she did when she was nervous.

"I can tell." He said smiling at her. She whacked his shoulder with a hand and they were on.

"Action!" Why not just say go? Shepard questioned before turning into his character.

He completely changed his physical stance, and played a tired tone, as was mentioned to be done in the script. He stretched his arms and rubbed at his eyes with his knuckles, looking around the room that was now a darker shade, since they turned out the lights. He turned his head to see his wife, turned girlfriend for the play they were reenacting, laying down and pretending to be asleep in bed. He stood up from the bed, turning his neck to pop it, and walking toward the bathroom. On his way, he grabbed a beer, filled with tea in actuality, and finished his walk to the bathroom.

A camera was inside the bathroom, pointing at him through a small hole in the wall. He didn't glance at it or even acknowledge it, and continued his job. He cracked open the beer, took a few sips of the tea and leaned against the wall with a hand. He faked peeing for a few seconds, pretended to zip up his pants and turned around. They would edit in a peeing sound after the movie was done, and maybe a zipping sound for his pants. He lazily tossed the glass bottle into the sink, letting it break and crash into pieces.

Tali jumped in fright, as was her part, but the fright almost seemed real. Shepard thought to himself, thinking back to a conversation he had with the director on the way to the studio. No matter your feelings toward her, just understand it's all fake, acting. So, she'll understand if you don't seem yourself, because you aren't, you're a different version of Shepard. He played out the chat in his head before talking to his girlfriend. "I see you're awake." He gave a careless tone, and rubbed at his nose.

"Yes, you scared me." She said, her voice high pitched but quiet.

"Yeah... you'll get over it." He gave a massive shrug and laid back down in the bed.

"We have to talk." Tali demanded, standing up from the bed, and looking down on her acting husband.

"About what? Oplio. I'm sure you'd love to talk about him." He wrapped the covers up to his neck, and turned in the bed, facing away from Tali.

"You need to quit being so ignorant, and actually talk to me." He was unfazed by her words, as was instructed, and laid in bed covered in the purple cloth. "I'm you're girlfriend!" She yelled in a high tone, stomping her foot on the ground, and waiting for a response. This was the part Shepard had been indifferent about. It was a good thing to develop a character you might not like, to later have him redeem himself, but he wasn't sure if Tali was aware how well he was going to act at it.

He threw the covers off of himself, and quickly rose to his feet, in front of her in a matter of seconds. He stared down at her, and began to yell. "Yes! You are my girlfriend, but, that doesn't stop you from whoring yourself off to that damn alligator face! You whore!" Shepard bellowed, a look of hate and loathing on his face, one he faked very well. He faked it so well in fact, and acted too real, that Tali took the words to heart. Her lips started to quiver, and her eyes began to pool with tears. His angry eyes and hard look disappeared, as he turned into the more loving and caring Shepard that Tali knew from the start of their relationship. "Tali... I." He began, which was not in the script, and made crew members exchange worried glances.

She pushed away from Shepard, walking away hastily, rubbing at her eyes with her three fingered hands. Shepard reached a hand out for her, but she was gone, and made it out the door before he could think of a way to explain his acting. "And scene! That was perfect!" The director yelled, running up to Shepard, and locking him in a hug. "Never have I seen such talent in all my life before! You should consider making this an actual job, sir!" The cameras were off, and people started to smile at each other, and immediately begin discussing the scene of the movie.

Shepard struggled from the man's grasp, ripping him off, and walking away to find Tali. "Go ahead and take a break for now, that was great, you got real talent kid!" The old man yelled to Shepard, who ignored most of his words, searching for Tali.

Before he could leave the studio to find her, he was stopped by two other people, a turian and quarian, man and woman. "Good job there, you really broke her heart." The turian man said, sounding spiteful but giving a sly smile.

"Oh stop it Aplus, she's just a drama queen." The quarian girl said, laughing at Tali. Shepard started to grow upset, until he realized they might have seen where she went.

"Do you know which way she went?" Shepard begged them for the information, looking outside to the bright lighted surface of Rannoch.

"Dunno." The quarian girl said, shrugging her shoulders and laughing again. She wore a much skimpier dress than even most asari would wear. She had short pink shorts on, if they were any shorter they would reveal her opening. A pink bra on, visible through the white cloth she wore over it. Her hair was black like Tali's but shorter, though it had a pink shine to it, no doubt the reason she wore pink clothing. Her nose small and pointed upward slightly.

The turian squinted at Shepard, no doubt he didn't care for the human. He was tall, strong looking, had white face paint that ran across and under the span of his eyes, and a gray armored suit on, similar to the C-Sec armor. Both their voices cocky, and full of resentment, not for Shepard in particular, but for the world around them, and everyone that walked it. "Thanks for the help." Shepard said, rolling his eyes at them, and taking off for his trailer.


He arrived to find Tali, sitting in their bed, with the cover wrapped around her, crying into it. Shepard felt his heart snap in half, and gave a hateful and resentful sigh, not to Tali, but to himself, for making her cry. He walked through the main room, and into their bedroom, taking a seat next to her. "Tali?" He asked her, placing a hand on her back. "I'm sorry, it was just acting, I didn't mean any of it." He pleaded, rubbing her back, she didn't hesitate, but she continued to cry.

"I- I- I- know She- hepard. I ju- just ne- never her-heard you say that wo- word to me before." She said, only barely audible because she talking into the sheets she cried into. Shepard tried to talk, but chocked on his own words before speaking. "It wa- was su- su- so real, I've ne- never seen you like that be- before." She looked up to him, tears streaming down her face.

"Come on, Tali. If you keep it up, you're gonna make me start crying." He said, half joking and half serious.

"I know, I'm ju- just being silly, bu- but I didn't know how to take it." She wrapped her arms around his neck, crying softer into his shirt.

"Tali... I'm not the man I'm pretending to be." Was Shepard's simple response. She shook her head into his body, still crying.

"Mmm mmm." She denied, not speaking actual words.

"I love you, Tali. No matter what that Shepard says, I love you. Okay?" He said, rubbing her back with a hand, and her head and hair with another. She didn't speak, but nodded her head into him. "Remember what I said, about you being beautiful?" She nodded into his neck again, and whimpered more words.

"I'm crying, my face is all ugly, and I messed up my hair. I'm not-" She continued until being interrupted by her loving husband.

"You are beautiful, Tali. Even now, you are beautiful. You don't need makeup, jewels, or even that dress to make you pretty." She smiled through her tears, and they seemed to stop with his words, they calmed her and made her feel loved again. "In fact, you don't need any clothes at all to make you look good." She laughed at that, and bashed his chest with an open palm.

"I'm okay now. Thank you." She said, placing a light kiss on his lips, and standing up from the bed.


They had a few more scenes throughout the days they were there, until they were near completing the movie. Tali had a separate scene to do, so Shepard stayed in the trailer, reading into more of his script. Shepard's character had gone through a transformation, along the span of the movie, so he didn't seem like such an asshole anymore. Shepard and Tali had a few more scenes together since she cried, and she seemed better, smiling and laughing at things Shepard's character said that were funny, even when she wasn't supposed to laugh. Now that Shepard's redemption arc had started, he was finally glad to be playing a character who more resembled him, rather than the drunken fool he was playing before.

Shepard easily found it boring in his house, with no Tali to fill it with him, so he thought he might take a walk and see some of the odd people that populated this place. He thought he might go talk to the quarian girl, Zumo'Suram vas Zudir, the one he was going to set Garrus up with. She was a nice girl, once she wasn't fretting over if Garrus would like her or not, she could be good company to talk to. Shepard opened the door to their trailer, stepping down a few stairs and was met with a quarian girl. He thought for a second if it was Zumo unsuited, but she was far taller, and move positive looking than Zumo sounded.

"I want you Shepard." She said seductively, placing her hands on his chest, and smiling at him.

Shepard smiled back at her and laughed. "I don't think now is a good time to practice the script. I was just going to go on a walk, I suppose you could come if you wanted." Shepard said, removing her hands from his chest. This was the other actress on set with them, the one who tries to get with Shepard's character.

"I suppose you're right..." She looked down to the ground and kicked Rannoch's dirt lightly with her foot. "I think I'd rather lie down though, it's tiresome out here, in Rannoch's burning sun." She placed the back of her hand on her forehead, flickering her eyes as if she'd faint. She was wearing the same attire as last they met, her pink underwear, only covered by a thin white shirt.

"Go ahead, you have a trailer of your own, and I assume you have a bed." Shepard said in a monotone voice, now realizing she had different intentions for him.

"I'd much rather prefer your company." She bit her lower lip and winked at him.

He rested his hands on his waist, and laughed, looking at the ground then up to her. "You're an attractive woman, to some men, hell maybe even to other married men, other less loyal men, but not to me. You won't find it so easy to crawl into my bed, as you would a celibate." He stared blankly at her, making sure she knew there was no chance, and waiting for her to turn and leave, or at least he hoped she would.

"Come on, you don't really want her, she's just your first quarian girl. It's easy to get attached to your first, we are a pretty species, I-"

He cut her off. "There's a fine line between pretty, and whore." He gave a small smile after he said it, feeling a slight sense of pride at his insult, and seeing her face sour for a second and sweeten right after.

"Don't be like that, she's just a girl, and I'm a woman." She said, moving her hands to cup her breasts, and push them together. "She doesn't have things this size." She twisted her body in front of him, shaking her breasts in front of his gaze. They were larger than Tali's, but that wasn't going to change his mind, neither did it budge his sexual drive, he still felt nothing for her.

"Honestly, if I had to cheat on Tali with someone, I'd rather pick the director." Shepard smiled sarcastically as he spoke, earning another offended look from her.

She licked her lips, pink lipstick on them, and made a kissing sound at Shepard. This girl had a thing for pink, the same way Tali had a thing for purple. Tali really doesn't have a thing for purple I suppose, she looks great in it though, hell she looks great in anything or nothing. As Shepard thought about his wife, the girl made a move on him.

"I bet she doesn't do this for you." She leaned forward, kissing him on the lips, leaving a pink smudge on his lips, and her hands unbuttoning his trousers. She didn't have time to reach the zipper before he pushed her off, never going to know what exactly it was that Tali couldn't apparently do for him. He grabbed her by the wrists, and slammed her against the trailer wall. No one around them seemed to notice or care, to busy doing their work, running around the studio with too much work and stress to notice them. "I like it when guys play rough." She bit her lower lip again.

"You listen to me-" Shepard began in an angry whisper, before hearing a whimpering sound behind him. He turned around, letting go of the girl, to see Tali. She was staring in question at Shepard, her eyes and body language telling Shepard she was hurt by what she saw. "Tali." He held walked closer to her, but stopped when she back up twice the amount of steps he took. He quickly wiped off the pink makeup remnants the girls kiss had left on his mouth."Tali come on, it's not what it looks like." Tali ignored him, turned and left, walking speedily away, her face furious.

"Now that she's gone, and probably going to divorce you, why can't we have a little fun?" The girl behind him tempted, pulling on her white shirt, jutting her breasts out to Shepard.

Shepard pointed a finger at her, fuming with anger and resentment toward her. "You stay away from me and Tali." He eyed her for a second, she thought nothing of it at first, and continued to rub at her body sensually until she saw something else in him. His eyes unblinking and not moving, concentrated on her, his lips tight and teeth grinding beneath them, he brow sharp and twitching with anger. She gave a look of fear, almost of if she was about to die, and slowly edged her way away from him. It's bad enough when I upset Tali, but if she think I betrayed her, then she might not trust me again, she might not even want to see me again.

He wandered through the studio, looking for his wife, possibly soon to be ex-wife if he didn't explain in time. He saw her walk into the studio again, maybe she had another scene to do, or just wanted to escape him for a while. "Damn it, Tali." Shepard grumbled, chasing after her at a walking pace, feeling another pain in his leg, the one that came and gone at the worst possible times. He entered the large studio slowly, looking around the masses of people for his wife, and he saw her. She was on the set going to begin a scene, just as he though.

He made his way through the crew and cast members until he made it to her, being stopped by a security guard. "Sorry sir, their about to start filming." A large krogan said, holding Shepard back by his chest with a large krogan hand. Shepard heard the man, but none the less wished he could walk onto that set right now and set things straight. He figured she might actually want to do this scene, so he didn't dare interrupt it and anger her more. He sighed and looked around for a seat, not leaving until she was finished, so he could talk to her. He saw a seat next to the director, empty, so he took it.

"Alright we're about to begin!" The director yelled, his voice stinging Shepard's ears. Shepard closed his eyes, feeling a headache come on, and scooted a little further away from the old man.

"Action." Another crew member said, a light turning on the camera when he finished.

Shepard didn't remember this scene, considering he usually only read the scenes that had him in it. At this time in the story, Shepard's character is just returning from another mission the N7 sent him on, but isn't supposed to be in the scene. This was also the point, when the turian Oplio tries to persuade Tali to leave Shepard. "Tali, I've known you ever since we were kids on the citadel. I helped you, my father took you into our store and gave you work. I've cared for you since before I knew you, and you deserve better than that human." He moved a foot closer to Tali, placing his hands on her upper arms, squeezing light at her skin.

"I- I know Oplio, but he proposed to me, we're going to get married. You've cared for me as long as I've known you, but I just don't care for you like I do him. I'm sorry." She said, her voice barely louder than a squeak.

"Tali, please, I know you love me, you're just hiding your emotions. Don't hide them." He ran his talons along her hair, and another hand down her side, exploring her body with his turian hands. He moved a hand to her rear, squeezing it with his hand, making her yelp silently. His other hand gliding closer to her breasts. Shepard's face twitched in anger, understanding it was a movie, and the actor didn't really want to touch her, but the character did.

Shepard still didn't like it, and questioned the director in a whisper. "Is this a damn fornax porno, or an actual movie?" Shepard grumbled, clenching his fists so tight that his finger nails dug into his palm.

The director laughed and hushed himself. "No, it's a movie, he's just improvising." Shepard's eyes snapped to the turian, touching Tali and smiling while he did it.

"What?" Shepard hissed, biting his tongue and staring in hate at the turian.

"Oh yes, he's a great actor, to improvise like that, he's not actually supposed to touch her. All he's supposed to do is try for a kiss, and then she pushed him away, but this is better in my opinion." He said, leaning back in his chair and smiling as the actor and actress continued their jobs, although there was something wrong with the actress. Tali's fingers were dancing on each other again, and she shivered when the turian touched her. Not the shiver she gave when Shepard touched her, that was made of warmth, love, and passion, this was a shiver of fear, loneliness, and coldness. Shepard knew what the finger thing meant to, it meant she was uncomfortable one way or another, though when she did it with him it usually meant she was nervous about talking to him, this meant she was nervous about being around the turian.

"Yup, indeed, he is a great actor." The director continued on, not noticing Shepard no longer sat next to him. "Where'd he... oh shit..." Shepard was stomping onto the set, fast enough to make it on set before the guards could stop him. Shepard might have let it go, if Tali had looked comfortable with it, but her reaction was most of what drove him out here onto the set. He made his way behind the man, and tapped him on the shoulder, gaining Tali's attention as well. She was looking around uncomfortably, until Shepard appeared, a smile formed on her face. I'll improvise for ya. Shepard thought as he stood behind the man.

The man turned in surprise to see who the third partner was, and found Shepard with his arm cocked back and lunging forward at him. Shepard coldclocked the man to the floor, twisting in his position and crumbling to the ground. Tali's smile grew and facial expressions changed, at first surprised that Shepard had punched the man, but glad the turian was gone now. Shepard shrugged and smiled to her, hearing security try to enter the set. The director yelled them off. "Stay the fuck out! This is movie gold!" The director yelled, readjusting himself in his seat and smiling wider than Tali and Shepard.

"But sir, what about Aplus?" A crew member questioned him, holding the camera.

"Fuck him, Shepard's a better actor by ten times." He threw his arms at the body of Aplus the actor, and Oplio the character, not caring about his well being.

"But he might be dead."

"Then he died in action, we'll send flowers to his family, now shut up." He ended, whacking his hands at all those who talked. They would edit out the talking later, the talking that made it to Shepard's, Tali's and Aplus' microphones.

Acting, remember? Shepard asked her in a whisper, and gave a wink. She nodded, and played out the part of her character.

"You're back Shepard!" She wrapped him in a loose hug, her wrists resting around his neck, as she leaned back and looked up to him. He wrapped his hands around her waist, and laughed.

"Yes I am." He said, moving forward and placing a kiss on her lips. They might have gotten too caught up in the kiss, working tongue into the mix, and Tali gave a quiet moan. They both heard the director giggle like a girl behind them, watching his movie magic play out. "I'm leaving the Alliance." Shepard said, as was his line for another time, but he worked it into this time. "So I can spend more time with you.

"Good." She replied, moving closer to him, and resting her head against him, wrapped in a tight hug. Another pair of footsteps could be heard approaching them, they looked up to see who it was. The other quarian actress stood in front of them, ignoring Tali and smiling at Shepard.

"Pretty good hit, he's out cold." She looked down to the man, not moving besides taking a few breaths. "Now what would you say to coming back to my place?" This line wasn't even supposed to be in the movie, and she did know that cameras were on, right? She moved a step closer to Shepard, but Tali interceded on his behalf, giving a false smile and raising her three fingered fist. She gave her the same treatment Shepard gave the turian, knocking her to the ground with a bleeding nose. "Ah!" She screamed, falling to the ground and holding her bleeding nose. "You- you- you-"

"Bosh'tet... yes, you are." Tali said, ignoring her and turning back to Shepard. She ran off the set, holding her nose covered in sticky red blood, and crying for her mangled nose.

Shepard wrapped his arms loosely around her waist again, and smiled wider than when he had hit the turian. "I love you."

"I know..." She smiled, and nodded her head. "I love you too." They heard the director whisper something from his seat.

"Hug... hug and kiss you magnificent bastards." Tears in the man's eyes, as he held a towel that had previously been wrapped around his chair, clenching it tight in his hands and using it to wipe tears away. Shepard and Tali didn't look, but were more than glad to oblige him.

Shepard and Tali did as he said, hugging and giving one last kiss before he screamed loudly. "Finished! Oh my goodness! It was amazing! Thank you so much!" He ran to them, wrapping his arms around both of them tightly, shaking them in his arms. The cameras turned off, and everyone began to discuss again, most of them bursting out into laughter, either at the director, the turian, or the crying girl who left some time ago.

"You're welcome." Shepard said laughing, and wriggling in the mans arms.

"I'm sorry." He said laughing like Shepard, and released the couple. "Somebody clean up this!" He yelled, pointing to the unconscious turian. He looked back to his star actor and actress. "You're free to go now, I'll send your pay in the mail, and I might even throw in some extra bucks. I'll also send a copy of the movie when we're done with it." He said, patting them both on a shoulder with his hands. "I have never been more happy in my entire life as a director than now, thank you." He said again, more tears clouding his eyes before he turned and left to his office.

"I think he liked it." Tali said, holding onto Shepard's arm and walking out of the studio with him.

"I think he-" Shepard closed his eyes in annoyance at his own voice, and ripped the wires from his chest, and threw the box to the ground.

"What's wrong?" She said, looking confused between him and the voice maker.

He stopped in the middle of the road outside the studio, between many busy people running the road. He hesitated before speaking, thinking of the exact reason he didn't like the voice. Tali... I'm starting to forget what I used to sound like. Her lips pursed and eyes widened in a type of shock, not fully understanding what it would be like to not remember what you sounded like. My voice is dead, I'm not replacing it, before I lose completely my memory of what my voice used to be. She nodded to him, and gave a sympathetic smile. I don't need this to communicate with you. Because... He said smiling. Actions speak louder than words. He wrapped his arms around her in another hug, and kissed her for the third time today, she yelped at the surprise and leaned into it.

"You're right." She said, parting from him, keeping her grasp on his shirt. "That says it all. Now let's get out of here, it'll be good to go back home after the week we've been here." She said, locking hands with him, and walking back to their car parked by their studio trailer.


Note: So I felt kinda bad about making Shepard say that, even though it was all acting, it was sad to make Tali cry, poor girl. It all turned out fine in the end, ending with two bloody faces. Tell me what you thought.