Thane groaned and sat up in the middle of the night, the only light coming from the fish tank. He looked down at the woman clinging to his arm and smiled softly. Shepard, his siha, was so beautiful, laying on her side facing away from him, completely exposed to his eyes besides the sheet tangled around her legs. He rolled her over gentle so she was on her back and stroked her soft skin. The ridge over his eyes furrowed when he spotted several red lines on her arm and hand his index finger over them. Cuts, and judging by the angle she had created them herself. Why? Why would she harm herself?

"Siha," he said softly and shook her lightly.

She let out a groan and rolled to face him, snuggling up to his chest. So adorable. His questions could wait till morning, right now he just wanted to hold her. He also had to talk to her about bringing him back from the sea. It went against his religion and she knew that. Kolyat had told him that she had said she couldn't live without him. That was sweet, but he still had to make sure she knew that it was wrong. She couldn't just stitch him back together whenever he passed on. "I love you, siha." he said and laid down beside her, wrapping his arms around her and fell back asleep.

Chakwas came into the room early that morning, pausing when she saw that Shepard was naked. "Oh… sorry…" she said to Thane, who was groggy, but awake.

He pulled the sheet up over her naked form. "It is alright." he said and sat up. "You are here to check on my wounds and implants, I presume?" he asked, and she nodded and moved to sit on the edge of the bed.

"You two didn't have sex did you? You are not well enough for that kind of strain." she asked and lifted the bandages on his chest to check the stitches.

"No… I think she fell asleep after getting out of the shower." he said and ran a hand through the red strands of hair.

Chakwas nodded and scanned his chest. "It looks like the implants have killed off most of the keplar." she said and pulled out a syringe with a large wide needle on it. "Just need a blood sample, the closer to the lungs the better."

He nodded and held still when she moved it to his chest, wincing only slightly as she forced it past his hard scaly skin. She pushed down as close to his lungs as she could without fear of puncturing anything. She drew up twelve ccs of blood and pulled it back out. "There, I'll process this and make sure the keplar is gone." she said and stood up. "You are lucky, Krios, Shepard loves you, she did everything to save you." She commented as she left. "Don't let her go."

Thane looked down at his siha. She loved him. He guessed as much, but she had never told him. Always playing the act of Commander Shepard, she had trouble being herself. Showing emotions was a weakness, something the galaxy couldn't afford. "It's almost over, siha…" he assured her and laid back down, falling asleep quickly. Why was he always so sleepy?

When he woke up again it must have been near noon. He looked over at his side, but Shepard was gone. "EDI," he asked as he sat up. "Where is the Commander?"

"She is down in the bridge with Jeff and me." she replied. "We are about to dock on the Citadel to drop off the scientists. Would you like me to send her up?"

"No, I'll come down." he said as he stood up and pulled his jacket on, but left it unbuckled.

Shepard stood by the air lock and departed out of it as soon as she was able. "Shore leave till tonight, nobody get completely wasted." she called back to them.

Thane made it down and over to the bridge right after she left. "Sorry, Thane, you know how she is, never stopping for anything." Jeff said without turning to see him.

"It is fine," he said and leaned against the wall of the airlock. "EDI, could you tell her to meet me at the diner in the commons?"

"No, sorry, she turned off her omni-tool. I think she is going down to the bar to drink." EDI said. "Would you like assistance getting there?"

"No… I've got it." He pushed off the wall and started out of the ship slowly. His chest still felt restricted from the operation. Biotics were hell to get used to. Once the elevator came back up from taking her down to the bar he slid inside and held onto the handle bar as he hit the button for the bar. Something was wrong, Shepard only drank when something was bothering her. Most didn't know that about her, because she often drank, but it was socially or to impress people when they needed impressing. If she was drinking now though he felt that something was very wrong. He remembered the cuts on her arm and prayed that his love was alright.

The door opened and he could already hear the music. His heart quickened in pace when he saw Shepard about to enter the bar. "Siha," he called and she froze, turning slowly to face him. He smiled, picturing her coming and hugging him. He would hold her tightly and she would finally say the three words he wanted to hear.

She walked up to him and slapped him. "What are you doing out of bed." she snapped at him. "Get your ass back in that elevator and go back to bed, or I swear I will fucking murder you." she growled.

"Siha," he tried to say, but she cut him off.

"Now, that's an order."

"Not unless you come with me." he said firmly and grabbed her arm. "We need to talk."

"No, you need to rest and I need to get drunk." she spat at him and jerked her arm.

He gripped it harder and started back for the elevator. Once it was shut he left her go. "We both know you only drink when something is wrong." he said and rolled up the sleeve to her shirt to show her cuts. "Which clearly something is if you are hurting yourself."

"Something wrong?" she said with a short laugh. "No, nothing is wrong, just the fact that the galaxy is falling apart and I'm the only one who can save it, but I have no idea what the hell I'm doing." She pushed the button to go back to the Normandy. "I'll just drink on the ship then."

He reached over and turned on the elevator's power. "We are going to talk about why you are harming yourself." he demanded.

She looked at him for a long moment, then reached for the power switch, but he blocked her. "I can't do this, okay?" she snapped at him, tears forming in her eyes. "The great Commander Shepard is just human and she can't do this. Everything is riding on me, and for no reason. I'm not some special super human. I'm normal. I bleed. I feel pain. I break under stress." She was crying now, and Thane moved to hold her, but she turned and refused him. "And just when I had something I wanted to fight for, he goes and gets himself killed." she snapped at him.

"Siha, I didn't mean to—" he started, but she cut him off again.

"You were sick to the point we couldn't make love. You knew damn well that you would be too sick to take on Kia Leng. You fucking went into that fight with foolish pride and knew very damn well that you would die, that you would leave me." she sobbed and he held her from behind. She turned and cried into his jacket. "Don't leave me… Please… I can't do this… I need you…" she said between sobs.

"Shh, it is okay, Siha. I'm cured and I'm not going anywhere." he assured her. He turned the power back on and they went back to the Normandy.

She put back on her strong face in front of others, but when they reached her cabin she clung to him and refused to let go. "Thane…" she muttered into his chest from their spot on her bed.

"Yes, siha?" he answered, pausing in petting her hair.

"I love you."

His heart fluttered from finally hearing those words from her lips. "I love you too." he replied and held her tight and fell back asleep with her wrapped in his arms.

A/N: So didn't mean for him to come to so quickly, but all of you have been begging for it and it fits better than my original plan. Oh I finally beat the third game and I'm pissed, the endings suck and I think I killed EDI and Tali and maybe Kaiden when I destroyed synthetics.