27th March 2011

~ Finding The Heart ~

Perfect Fit

Disclaimer: The characters in this story are the intellectual property of Bioware, not mine.

WARNING: Rated for MA for future chapters (even though I haven't written them yet – they could very well be). 16yrs+ readers only please. Foul language, adult concepts.

Author note: I've purposefully tried not to describe Shepard too much, after all, fans of Mass Effect will each have their own versions of Shepard, so I leave those parts up to your imagination.


Shepard's stomach was fit to tie itself in knots. She'd not heard about or spoken to Zaeed since he was here in her cabin two nights ago, when he declared his intention to take her on a date. A date. Could be interesting... She had brokered shore leave for the crew with the Illusive Man. Perhaps 'brokered' isn't the right word... Shepard told the Illusive Man shore leave was going to be happening, when and where. He suggested other ports. She told him she was not interested in alternatives. He started going on a rant about how he didn't bring her back to cause chaos to Cerberus operations and draw attention to the organisation in the heart of Alliance space (he was still rather sore about the whole blowing-up-the-Collector's-base thing). She reminded him that she was exactly who she was supposed to be, and that if he wanted to limit the damage shore leave was going to have on Cerberus' reputation, he was going to cough up some safe zones for the crew to be let loose... Eventually, he supplied the information. Might at least come in handy later if I want to set the Alliance on them should he stab me in the back...

Other than that, things had been pretty quiet, which only meant that Shepard had nervously counted down the hours until, well... now. There had been a quick stop for Zaeed to collect something just as they dropped into the system half an hour ago – that had been a bit odd... It wasn't everyday that the moment EDI squeaked the ship's ID to Cerberus buoys in the system that some automated message came through about an expected delivery. If Zaeed hadn't confirmed it was indeed for him, she was well on the way to telling EDI to blow that so-called delivery ship to pieces with Garrus' second favourite toy (the Thannix cannon came second to his sniper rifle).

She'd worriedly watched each new report land in her inbox, fretting that maybe, just maybe Zaeed would retreat back into that bottle despite his promise. She fretted that maybe he was a weaker man than she had hoped, or too deeply scarred to struggle out of his darkness. Still... She remembered their evening mending and re-painting ship models... She remembered the jokes and the laughter, the odd war-story exchange that accompanied each model, the bickering and the flirting... And she hoped. Hoped that there was more like that to come.

Of course she'd also been worrying that somebody might have decided that Zaeed's donation of all his alcohol (now and forthcoming) wasn't good enough to forgive him from having been such an ass for the past month or so (Donnelly had a bit of a temper when crossed, but he was much worse when a friend of his was crossed). To her great surprise (and suspicion) none of the above had transpired. Instead she found herself anxiously waiting for some emergency to happen – and half wanting one – just so she could take her mind off waiting. I suppose I only have myself to blame for this, if I hadn't decided relationships of any kind were a bad idea so long ago I might be well practiced at this enough not to be so fucking anxious over it. I was less on-edge when that half-built human Reaper sprang to life. This... is ridiculous.

The shower hadn't helped much. Well... It had helped at the time. It was only after she'd finished and started thinking about what she was going to wear for this 'date' that Shepard truly realised just how lacking her wardrobe really was. Sure, she died, so whatever she had from back them was pretty much gone but truth be told her wardrobe really didn't look much different now from then. She scanned through her options: uniform no. 1, uniform number 2, oh and uniform no. 3! She had more variety in armour components that she had clothing. Oh wait – there was a singular casual outfit. Shepard didn't do panic, but for just a moment she did consider it. Instead she simply cursed the wardrobe for its drab selection of contents, and she picked out the casual one. Casual. She commented sarcastically to herself, I sure don't feel casual...

The sound of the door chimed. "Who is it EDI?"

"Zaeed Massani is here to see you Commander. Would you like me to let him in?"

No. That was her first instinct. Looking for an alternative exit was her next instinct. She took a deep breath, tried to calm her thoughts and steady her nerves. She couldn't do much about the butterflies in her stomach "Go ahead EDI let him in." Shepard finished doing up her boots while she sat on the bed with her back to the fish tank. It was not the familiar sound of heavy boots that greeted her ears with his arrival. In fact she nearly missed the fact that Zaeed had entered at all – his footfalls were so quiet. As she stood up and turned around she was greeted by a sight that immediately had her raising an eyebrow with a quizzical smirk.

Zaeed was in black trousers and smart glossy leather shoes. To his chest he held a rather large bouquet of flowers which obscured whatever he was wearing from the waist up almost completely.

"Wow." Shepard managed, she was certainly surprised but tried hard to hide the fact that she wasn't really swooned by gifts. Seeing in his expression how anxious and uncomfortable he was made her own anxiety melt away. "I umn... I wasn't expecting flowers!" She tried to say cheerfully, "I do appreciate the thought though. Thank you." She smiled.

"I uh... Hope they're OK." He jerked half a smile, clearly he could tell she wasn't overly impressed.

She broadened her smile attempting to reassure him, "They're beautiful." She said, walking over and taking them from him. "Hmm... Just got to find somewhere to put them..." She turned and looked for something – she found a vase she didn't even know she had in one of her un-used draws along with some hydrogel powder. Wow, the Illusive Man seems to think of every occasion... Or maybe I have Miranda to thank for that? "I'll just put them here for a moment." She said, placing the bouquet down on the coffee table as she dashed into the bathroom. She emptied the gel packet into the vase and poured in some water from the tap - the powder quickly transformed the water into a thick blue gel.

She heard over the sound of the water Zaeed say: "They're already cut properly, had them do it just before delivery so erm... you just have to pop them in water and they'll be fine." The true implications of this hadn't yet occurred to her. Nor had the label or the type of flowers which she as yet had not noticed...

"Thanks." She said. Truth be told she would have forgotten she needed to do that anyway – so long had it been since someone bought her flowers. Anderson was probably the last person to do so. When he handed over the original Normandy to her command she walked into her quarters to find a bouquet of flowers and a note. He was the closest thing she'd ever had to a dad. It was his last doting gift to her, celebrating her wings, as it were. Reflecting back upon the bunch lying on the coffee table Shepard shrugged. Actually... if they've been frozen they probably need to be cut again...

Shepard moved with haste, not wanting to make them late if he'd booked a table (that was never a good way to start a date). Quickly she paced out of the bathroom eying a good place to put the vase – the coffee table was the best bet. Pulling a tiny knife from her belt she undid the packaging, only glimpsing the tag as she worked. Looking upon the flowers again she realised they were a mixture of various Earth breeds – carnations of various patterns and colours, crimson roses, violet freesias, black and yellow tulips, some rather stunning orchids whose petals almost glowed with their gradual shading through ocean blues, and a few miniature white lotus flowers mixed in with a few she did not know the names of. Many of these were breeds that did not fare so well being frozen, yet their colours were stunningly vivid and they did not look dyed or painted... Shepard inwardly nodded. The man has taste at least.

She shuffled the bunch into order in the vase... That's when their scent hit her. "Wow!" She sniffed excitedly "These smell gorgeous!" meanwhile slowly the cogs turned... If these are constructs they're very good quality ones, but the colour and scent is so real... No these are real Earth flowers – natural ones... Wait a minute...These are fresh... She breathed in deep, smiling in awe to have a little piece of Earth in her cabin that was neither sentient nor synthetic (herself she often counted as both since her resurrection), nor one of the Citadel-approved pets you could buy. Reaching for the card she quickly asked "Zaeed... where did you get these from?"

"Oh just this little place I know on Earth." Shepard caught the shrug in the corner of her eye but now she was too busy switching her stare back and forth between the card and the flowers incredulously. She was slightly speechless – "Hand-picked by: Emma, at: 15:16h..." The date was today's. "...and shipped by LightSpeedDeliveries, for the pleasure of the woman who turns my life upside down on a regular basis, with love, Zaeed."

"It says... these were picked today - a few hours ago in fact..." Shepard murmured with disbelief. Zaeed said nothing, as if suddenly shy. Slowly it dawned on Shepard how much synthetic flowers cost when this level of quality, so, considering these were real... "Do I even want to know how much these cost?"

"Does it matter? Spend a little cash, buy a pretty girl some flowers. No big deal." He shrugged and gave a fragile smile.

"But this must have cost... I can't even imagine..." She shook her head and sighed, "Look, I just don't want you to think I expect this kind of expense on my account..." Shepard began to say defensively. It was instinct. Everybody seemed to be trying to buy her as of late. The Illusive Man tried to buy her loyalty with a ship and a crew and a mission she could sink her teeth into, plus a few personal touches like a few pieces of customised armour. The Council had tried to bribe her into staying out Citadel space by reinstating her SpecTRe status. Shepard even had a sneaking suspicion that if Harbinger could buy from her a guarantee of her body and soul that it would pay better than the Devil himself...

"You forget something? I'm a rich man, Shepard. All those years spent as a bounty hunter..? The massive pay packet Cerberus gave me for joining your little crusade..? Only so much money a man can piss away on booze, top notch weapons and armour, and pleasurable company."

She turned around to face him with a troubled expression. "But still..." She tried to argue, but as soon as she turned the dispute evaporated as her eyes scanned up his body from his shoes to his shoulders. She'd never glimpsed him out of armour before, save a few days ago and that was only the top half of him. Any other words were momentarily silenced by the sight of him in an extremely well-fitted Nehru suit... She visually appreciated the way the jacket followed the slope of his shoulders, falling off his chest and tucking in just below his ribs. Oh... Damn... he looks good in that... He wore a silk waistcoat, exquisitely patterned (Arabic maybe?), embroidered in grey silver and black. She didn't even recognise the style of shirt and tie at all, but the walking cane he now held to his chest reminded her of something very old... and the words 'traditional English gentleman' came to mind.

"Oh ... Um..." She began, looking him up and down a second time. He raised an eyebrow as he watched her do this, and slowly the nervousness diminished and a smile crept to his face. The thought then occurred to her to reflect this upon her own appearance. "Oh damn it..." and felt extremely self-conscious. "Suddenly I feel somewhat underdressed..." She grimaced, "Um... I'm afraid I don't really have anything else to wear." She shook her head apologetically, "I mean, nothing that doesn't carry a Cerberus emblem on it, and I figured that might be a little unwise to wear on Earth..." She admitted awkwardly.

"That's quite alright." Zaeed acknowledged cheerfully, pulling his other arm from behind his back. "Figured you might not have much that would suit where I want to take you anyway – it's an unusual place – so I brought you something." He held out the silver-grey box he'd been hiding, tied with a red satin ribbon. Shepard looked at him questioningly as she took it from his hands.

"What is it?" She asked suspiciously. How many credits have you spent on me exactly? She was about to ask but held her tongue.

"Take it into the bathroom and see for yourself." He shrugged.

Shepard did as he suggested. There was clearly no arguing about this unless she wanted to insult him. As the door whooshed shut behind her she undid the ribbon and lifted the lid. ... A dress. First her fingers touched it – satin. It was luxurious to touch. She tossed the box aside as she lifted the item clear. My god... It was an ankle length silver grey dress, all the same material. Shepard hesitated – she'd not been in a dress like this since... Actually she'd never been in a dress like this. She felt incredibly self-conscious at the thought of wearing it, and was within half a breath of taking it back to Zaeed but... The man had clearly gone to a lot of effort. He was really trying hard to make this a special occasion. And who knows when their next shore leave would be? Or if shit hit the fan who knew if they would ever get another shore leave before the next time she died? No... One night. I can do one night as an ordinary woman. I can have one night where I let myself forget who I am and all that lies on my shoulders. Besides this thing feels luxurious and it'd be rude to refuse a gift...

"Give me a minute I'm going to try it on." She shouted, quickly starting to strip, tossing her current outfit into a reasonably neat pile on the floor. She slipped the dress over her head and it fell perfectly into place... Oh my god he's good. This thing fits like it was tailored just for me. Looking in the mirror she could see how it accentuated her curves. The satin rumpled around a low neck which curved upwards up to where the dress was held at her shoulders. The back of the dress fell all the way down to her lower back. She felt blood rush to her cheeks as she turned and realised her underwear were showing. "Ah. Huhm..." She exclaimed.

"Is it alright?" She heard Zaeed yell in concern.

"Umn... Yeah!" She shouted back, Oh well... She hitched up the dress as she spoke, "It uh... fits very well!" Off came the plain dull-white panties, and the dress slid back down her body into place, now a completely perfect fit with that fractional reduction in the size of her hips. She'd expected the bra would be a no-no, but she felt more than a little naked wearing nothing but the dress itself... Especially as it had two long splits up the sides. She would otherwise be glad of them – never know when you're going to need to be able to kick someone in the face, she nodded appreciably – but damn I feel naked! Thankfully even though the splits came all the way up to her hips, a red Asari silk ribbon was laced many times from there down to the top of her thigh. The ribbons, although they had the texture of satin, stretched easily making it comfortable enough to move around and presumably sit whilst still keeping the dress snug to her figure. Lower down the threads of the ribbon were laced gradually further and further apart, gaping to reveal her legs as she moved until they reached midway down her thighs, tied off with a tiny bow with the two feet long ends dangling idly to her calves.

Shepard noticed there were also two red ribbons to tie around her back. One where her bra would have fastened, and another further down, perfectly placed to ensure a snug fit around her waist. Struggling a little she tied them. Damn it I can't see what I'm doing! She turned to the mirror trying to see if she'd got them lopsided... She had. She undid them again. Re-tied. Nope still not right! Eventually realising the task was taking far too much time she admitted defeat and decided reluctantly the best thing to do was to ask for help.

Stepping out of the bathroom still trying to turn her head over her shoulder she asked as she fussed with the ribbons. "It's fine but I just can't get these tied straight..." She stopped mid-sentence when her eyes met Zaeed's. His draw had dropped and he was looking her up and down over, and over, and over. He swallowed hard.

"God. Damn. Fuck. Me..." He almost stuttered... Shepard smiled and laughed nervously and he added with raised eyebrows as he leaned back against the fish tank, crossing his arms and legs. "No. Seriously. Fuck me. Forget dinner. Just fuck me." He cocked his head on one side as his eyes glided up and down the sight of her again, "Please." There was a tone in his voice as he said 'please' that sent goosepimples up her spine. Shepard bit her lower lip and dropped her eyes with embarrassment as she smiled, but that only made him want her more. Good God this woman cleans up good! He thought to himself. Trying to contain himself he clasped the bridge of his nose and shook his head with a grimace, hoping – hoping what exactly? That he'd look again and she'd not be looking so god damn fucking hot? Snowball in Hell's chance of that. This damn sexy image of her was going to be imprinted on the inside of his skull for eternity. He was sure of it. "Well... I'll be damned... I guess this means I should actually thank that bucket of bolts..." He muttered quietly, sneaking another peek, hell I might have to buy him a couple of cans of WD40... Zaeed took a deep breath, and let it go with a groan. C'mon man pull yourself together... you got her that dress for a reason. Yes that reason too but something else is suppose to happen first, remember? Get on with it. "Sorry... what was it you were saying?"

"I uh... I can't get these ribbons to tie up straight. I was um... wondering if you'd mind giving me a hand." She asked sheepishly.

Zaeed dragged his eyes up to meet hers and kept them there, managing to say nonchalantly "Sure. No problem." As he expected she turned around. Quickly uncrossing his legs he swiftly jerked his erection from 'tent pole poking left trouser leg' to 'vertical and pray that it's less obvious that way', pinning it down with is trousers and boxers - somehow he awkwardly managed to do this with his hands from the outside. He cleared his throat to cover the work and stepped forwards. "Hang on a sec," he said, taking the first two threads which came from either side of just below her armpits and tied them together in a bow. "That too tight?" He asked. Fuck me she smells good too...

"No, no. It's fine." Shepard said, flinching her head to her right shoulder as she answered, quickly turning back her gaze afterward. The next ribbon threads were at her waist. Bugger... He thought to himself, If I get any harder my balls are gonna start aching... He accidentally touched his knuckle to the left of her spine as he collected the ribbon from that side – Shepard jumped.

"Hey... Hold still." He cooed, and revelled in another whiff of her scent. There was a slight scent of whatever she'd washed with, but, no perfuum. He was sure of it. Just raw woman... Oh hell... He almost wept for wanting her.

"Sorry..." Shepard cleared her throat. "Not used to wearing things like this..." She mumbled. The ribbon tickled her as he tied the knot but she tried very hard not to flinch. She didn't even know she wasso sensitive around there. Maybe it was just her knowing he was so close. Zaeed, finished with the bow, lingered for another quick whiff of her scent, and his knuckle momentarily stroked down her spine as his fingers followed the dangling threads of ribbon which fell almost to the base of her spine. Shepard, who had barely breathed through this, took a sudden sharp breath.

"Mm..." Zaeed commented, hesitating for just a moment before stepping backwards – something that took a heck of a lot of effort. "There. Done."

"Thanks." Shepard turned around and smiled shyly, trying ever so hard to not stare at the floor or elsewhere. She pointlessly looked over her shoulder and twisted in an attempt to see his work before giving up. "Definitely not lopsided?"

Zaeed shook his head and scrunched his lips, "Definitely not lopsided." Then smirked.

"Ah shit..." Shepard stared at her feet and cringed at her oversight. "I've just realised. I don't have anything that would match this dress in terms of footwear." She grimaced with despair. "Damn it..." I'm really sorry... She was about to say when –

"And that would be why I also gotcha these." Zaeed said, reaching inside his suit jacket he pulled out from an inside pocket on each side, one dainty grey-silver open-toed slipper with a slight heel and red satin fastening after the fashion of the dress. Shepard didn't have to hide her surprise.

"You seem to have thought of everything." She grinned with bewilderment, taking them from his hand. Placing the right one on the coffee table she took the left one, lifted her knee and pulled it on. Unbeknownst to her Zaeed was damn near drooling over the as he got a really, really nice view of her legs. As could be expected, she was in very good shape, and her calf muscles were really quite something from all that sprinting... Next she lifted her leg to place her foot on the coffee table to do up the buckle. Zaeed had to stop himself from groaning lustfully as his eyes followed up from her ankle to her muscular well-toned thigh – toned from years of darting into cover and springing up out of it... Mary mother of mercy I've got to last a whole night with her looking like this... Fucking hell she's got to do the other shoe yet..!

The shoes were a perfect fit, of course. Shepard wanted to know where he'd got such good measurements from. She swore she'd heard him mutter something about bolts just before, heaven knows what that meant. EDI perhaps? EDI would certainly have the processing power, and the inside intel to be able to work it out. She'd have words with the AI later... She started putting the right shoe on, this time just skipping straight to resting her foot on the coffee table. She got an extra delicious whiff of the flowers that way as she bent down. Meanwhile Zaeed longingly stared at the inside of her leg on display like a sick puppy. He was certain this could be classed as a form of torture. Torture he'd happily endure but torture nonetheless. As she finished and turned around he quickly changed his expression to one of gentlemanly etiquette and asked:

"Happy? Ready?"

"Yes. I guess so." She still wore her omnitool bracelet, but she felt particularly naked without a single knife or gun, nor anywhere to hide them...

"Let's go then." Zaeed turned towards the door. In his right hand he held his black walking cane, topped with a silver dragon that wrapped itself around the upper few inches of the shaft. He offered his left arm to Shepard with a beckoning nod. Slowly she took the offer and allowed herself to be led. Upon reaching the exit she took an apprehensive deep breath before stepping through.

This... could be quite a night...


Author note: Apologies for the delay in posting. I have family with friends in Egypt. I have Libyan friends studying for PhD same as me at my university, and I have a friend from Bahrain and several from Japan. As such I've been busy doing crazy things like standing outside our university Library and singing for an hour to raise awareness of the impact international events are having on our international students. I raised £20 for Red Cross' Japan appeal, and £20 for Red Cross' Libya appeal. If you think my stories are worth something, I'd love it if you could donate something to Shelterbox or Red Cross (various appeals), and I'd love it even more if you tell me about it! For future reference... Zaeed has arabic lineage from his name... Strange coincidence I started writing this just before everything kicked off in that part of the world in here and now's reality...