Disclaimer: Chapter one. We good about maturity? I'm just going to go ahead and assume "yes".
Did I mention how awesome my readers are? Because I hope you guys aren't getting tired of it. I'm happy that so many of you enjoy my story! And thank you so much for the reviews and the compliments! I'm even starting to get a little nervous; I hope the story continues to be as good as you guys say it already is. And if some certain content of this chapter is a little off for you, it should be easy to skip over just where it stops being awkward and over to where it starts getting frustrating.
Shepard kept the newly-discovered bubbles running without Garrus's permission as she moved towards his discarded clothes. This set-up seemed just fine for him, as he must have been eager to submerge himself as soon as he disrobed. She only gained a short glance at his naked form as it stalked across the floor and into the bath, but what she saw put the alien anatomy diagrams memorized during Alliance training to shame. His skin glimmered like steel, and his muscles either tapered in sleek patterns to his form or ended in sharp, deadly angles. He might as well be living armor, and that didn't even take into account the smooth, crisp grace of his walk.
She deposited the clothes in the wash and rejoined him, sitting on the side and sliding her legs into the water just beside the controls. Garrus kept himself seated on the other side as he washed, using a bar of soap and rag she wasn't entirely sure where they had come from. It's possible he carried something for cleaning turian skin with him, though she entertained the notion a moment that maybe he used the same stuff he cleaned his armor with.
Shepard kicked a leg up, swishing up some churning water in a splash, not wanting to gawk at him and make him feel self-conscious. "How hot do you want it?"
His eyes took a quick glance up at her. "This, ehm... this is fine."
"I thought you'd like to raise the temperature and change the scent. Maybe you like it, but it seems a little silly to have a turian going onto the battlefield literally smelling like roses." She brought a hand up to hold where her towel was tucked and shrugged. "Why don't you look at the controls and pick for yourself?"
Garrus hesitated a long moment before he rose from the area he was sitting… and not the whole way, Shepard noted. He was quite mindful to keep crouched, the bubbling water at about waist level. This struck Shepard as odd: turians kept their boys downstairs behind some plates in the pelvic region, right? Even if he was being modest, it shouldn't matter.
He kept his attention on the controls with an observable amount of concentration, more than was necessary even for the most complicated household item. She leaned towards him. "The heat controls start with the dial display. If you press and hold, a box will appear for you to enter a specific temperature."
"Ah, thanks," he mumbled, and did just that. Shepard immediately felt the temperature of the water rise from pleasant and muscle-relaxing to damn near scalding. She yelped and pulled out her legs before she could stop herself.
He looked over at her in surprise for the sound, then let his mandibles flare in the most cocky turian grin she'd ever seen. "It isn't too hot for you, is it, Commander?"
She frowned at the challenge and returned her legs to the water. "I can take whatever you can, turian."
"I wouldn't bet on that," he rumbled, "You're not a turian."
"And you're not a cyborg zombie," Shepard shot back, and before he could argue any further, she whisked off her towel and hopped in beside him, which would have made a bit of a splash had the water not already been swirling. Steam burst into her face and her skin screamed, but she clenched her fists and took in a breath of hot vapor.
Like a shot had been fired, Garrus stiffened and backed away, looking at her with wide, bewildered eyes. That motion was enough to distract her from the military drilling of her own flesh to shoot her eyes on him.
God, what was up with Garrus lately, anyway? His behavior was getting borderline bipolar. At one moment, he'll be every inch of the growly predator turians were told to be, stalking her movements with his eyes like she was some sort of prey item. A little odd for Garrus, but probably not too unusual for a turian. Then he'd turn as meek and seeking of escape as a caged rabbit, and she was the predator grinning down the bars.
Maybe this was his way of coping with the return of his commander while he, at the same time, was in command. This wasn't a very good theory; the moods came unexpectedly, instead of at any point when she might be challenging his position. Those periods, he seemed to actually enjoy the little clashes between them.
Then again, even though she felt she knew Garrus well, it wasn't like she knew turians. Most of them seemed to prefer being standoffish, at least as far as humans were concerned, so there wasn't much of a range of turian behaviors outside of Garrus for Shepard to examine a pool of experience from. From Garrus, she was able to gather that they had very similar temperament to humans, especially a human in the Alliance during that volatile period between promotions. This made perfect sense, considering how their class system worked.
At a loss of how to figure his mood, she sized him up as well as she could with half of him hidden under steam and bubbles. "You okay, Vakarian? I'm not offending you, am I?"
"No..." he drawled out with a strangled-sounding subharmonic, "You... I just didn't expect..." His voice slipped away into a growl/whine that further pointed out that predator/prey part he'd been unconsciously playing at.
Determined to get an answer, she marched forward, easily meeting him eye-to-eye with his stooped posture. He tried backing away further but quickly met the side of the tub. "Garrus, don't bullshit me, okay? If I'm doing something you don't like or I'm trampling all over your toes, you can tell me. You had a team and an operation at work here before I came to town. Fuck, you're all I have right now and I feel like I'm taking advantage of you."
"Of-of course not, Shepard, I..." He looked down-right tortured. Shepard pressed forward to question him further.
Right into something hard poking out in front of him.
She looked down automatically as Garrus made a slight grunt and tried to escape, retreating down into the water and off to the side. His mandibles were waving in and out in alarm.
"Oh," she muttered, suddenly feeling like a total asshole. This wasn't even near the realm of what she was thinking. "I, uh, sorry, I didn't..."
"You don't have to apologize," he said, even though he was near neck-deep in water and staring at her like he was expecting a second and third head to pop out of her shoulders.
She chewed on a lip. She was walking around in the nude around him and it didn't even occur to her she was being a total cock-tease. Garrus, of all people, didn't deserve that. She gave a cough to clear her throat, steam whizzing past her face even as she adjusted to the heat. "I didn't know you were into humans." She meant that as a bit of a joke, but it came out flat.
"I'm not. I mean, I haven't been." He looked away, then back at her, then away again. "It isn't that you're human..."
His privacy was already way past violated and he was far from comfortable, now all worked up because Shepard wasn't aware she was flaunting her goods at him. She wasn't exactly versed on turian sexual behavior, either; some asari seemed they would be as happy to line up to play with her as much as (or even more than) most human men, but turians tended to only give her grudging respect, at the best. All she knew was a bit about their physiology, and even that knowledge seemed lacking with every glance she got of his body.
The heat continued to beat her face in what she could feel was an angry, red blush spreading across her body as it desperately tried to cool itself down. It certainly wasn't helping her keep a cool, clear head about this, because all she wanted to do was try to fix his current problem, and there was really only one way she could think of to do that.
Well, it wasn't like she had any other bright ideas. "Let me see."
There was that "just heard a shot" look, again. "W-what?"
She reached out underneath and slid a hand down his submerged chest, taking a moment to process just how she was going to do this. He jerked into the motion with a gasp, like her touch was bringing air into his lungs. "I said, let me see."
Garrus's breathing picked up more the farther her fingers crept down. She made sure to examine every plate, ridge, and bit of scarring her fingertips flowed across. In few moments, he did as he was ordered, pulling himself up against the lip of the bath to watch her hands as they approached...
Shepard blinked at the sight of his manhood.
The blue tinge wasn't unexpected, and neither was the size since turians weren't exactly a small race. But the shape... where most of his body looked like living armor, his cock looked like it was sculpted out of pulsing stone. Sweeping ridges rode along the shaft and peaked to meet in the middle towards the tip. Immensely curious, she ghosted her fingers down to explore its surface. This made him groan aloud, and when she slowly wrapped those same fingers around him and stroked, he hissed. "Ssshepard..."
It could have just been the steam, but something about the way he said her name really got to her. She started pumping him, looking up at his face to watch various facial expressions flittering anywhere between disbelief and desire. Any lustful, helpless utterance with his flanged voice was a direct tug onto her loins. When she bent over him, slickness not related to the soapy bathwater had her swelling folds rubbing against each other.
She was really enjoying this. "Do you want me to stop?"
He was staring down at her with this unbelievably tender look, that gravelly purr in his chest playing at a constant, moderate volume. His mandibles worked, trying to will his mouth into making an answer, but there seemed to be a breakdown in communication with his facial muscles. It was hard to say what he was thinking at the moment, but she'd be damned if she stopped when his eyes were gazing on her like that.
Her head dipped and her tongue snaked out to slide up, tasting where the rose-scented water had dried along its length when she was rubbing him. He made another startled sound and growled out in warning. "Shepard... what are... you shouldn't..."
"Let's see if I'm allergic," she murmured against his flesh, then pressed her lips over one of his ridges. He moaned when she gave a soft suck. If he had any more protests, they were promptly forgotten when she took him into her mouth. Instead, he cried out, and his hands shot forward. He could have intended to push her away, but his fingers found better use in burying into her hair, talons scraping her scalp.
She didn't show any mercy, sucking hard, stroking fast, sliding her tongue along every crevice. It took a bit of watching him throwing his head back before she could catch Garrus's eyes with her own, but when she did, he made this wonderful whimper followed by a ripple throughout his hard body. He repeated her name in little breathless gasps, over and over. One hand ran down from her hair to cup her cheek and run a thumb along the corner of her filled lips.
Shepard was fidgeting under the water as she worked, sliding her thighs back and forth in a desperate attempt to give some relief to her bud. Between a voice like Garrus's calling out for her with desire and the hot, scented steam, she was more turned on than she'd ever been in her life. She considered solving this problem manually as she continued sucking her turian friend, but she enjoyed too much how his plates and cock twitched underneath her fingertips.
And now his groans were changing pitch and flanging in wide ranges. Was he close? She doubled the effort, wanting to taste him, to feel him cum down her throat. Her turian friend was about to blow a load in her mouth and she intended to drink down every last drop.
"Garrus, do you copy?"
Shepard stopped while the turian beneath her cringed. "No no no no," he growled to himself, "Not now. Any time but now."
"Hey, Boss, you need to chime in. There's an emergency. Do you copy?" Monteague's voice crackled through the comm in their ear-buds. Garrus sighed and coaxed Shepard to pull away.
He pulled himself up and out of the bathtub, not bothering to dry before he ripped his omni-tool from the pile of blue armor. Shepard watched with interest; trampling through with that glistening, blue cock and frustration so thick she could taste it, he made for quite an image. It wasn't hard imagining pushing him down and impaling herself on that.
He fitted the omni-tool over his arm and activated the display. "There'd better be an orphanage on fire, because I swear to the highest rank of the Hierarchy if you interrupted me for something stupid..."
"Well, if I caught you having sex, you ain't havin' it with our favorite turian gal, because she's running to invade Jaroth's base."
"Wha—Why the hell is she moving now? The strike isn't for hours!"
"She didn't have much of a choice; when Vortash wasn't looking, Mierin went to pay him a personal visit to payback for what happened to Sensat. First one of us Vortash could get to was Mel before he ran after."
"Fuck..." Garrus ran a hand over his fringe and scowled. "I guess we're starting early, then. The rest of you move to take Garm's hold. Shepard and I will go to Tarak."
"You were banging Shepard? That's a—" Garrus forcibly cut the line before Monty could give any of his opinion. By this time, Shepard had followed him out of the water and had started drying herself off.
"The galaxy never stops spinning, huh?" she said.
He gave her a smoldering look, then, with two broad steps, he took her in his arms. "We might be stopping here, but we're not done. Not by a long shot. While we're moving alone, if there's even one slim chance..."
She gave a half-smile at him. "Actually, we won't be alone."
"What do you mean?"
"I convinced Mordin to leave Omega with us, and while you were gone running errands, I had time to message him up and tell him to come with us in this little operation. You know, since we're likely going to need to run quick right after we're done. As soon as we get dressed, I'm going to give him a call to tell him the time's been moved up a little."
He gave her a long stare, then started chuckling. "I guess it's for the best. You're too used to this crap."
"Reapers and bases aren't going to blow up themselves. Let's get ready."
Garrus laughed a little more, but his smile faded. "Just... wait a minute," he mumbled. The arms that circled her tightened their hold and he seemed to want to say something further, but instead bowed his head towards her. The gesture was candid, and she felt Garrus was waiting for her to react, though she had no idea what he wanted of her or even what it was supposed to mean. Slowly, she mimicked his motions and bent her neck, lightly pressing her forehead against his.
That must have been what he was looking for, because he let out another purr and pressed back, letting his claws grip possessively into her soft flesh. "Okay. I think I can face a criminal or two, now."
"I assure you that this is not necessary," Miranda said with curt tones, looking at the batarian and his scanning software with a glare. The batarian didn't seem that much more pleased with her presence than she was with his.
"You want to talk," Aria easily countered, "You get scanned."
The lights blinked away. "They're clean."
Aria regained her seat and looked on to the two Cerberus-clad humans before her, unable to keep an interested look from blooming over her blue-violet face. "Sure has been a strange few days. Some unlikely people have been coming across my steps one after the other. Now Cerberus finally comes to pay me a visit."
Miranda chose to stay standing by Jacob and crossed her arms. Her weight shifted through her hips, as if demanding her own stature of dominance with her stance. "We're searching for Commander Shepard, and we have reason to believe she is somewhere on Omega."
Her smile didn't budge in the slightest. "You know, I think it's kind of funny. You rebuilt a Spectre for yourself with all the original materials, something that had to cost a lot of money and labor, materials that weren't too easy to procure, and yet you still manage to lose your new toy before you even got it out of the box. I know there are a lot of people in the galaxy that would kill for their very own Commander Shepard, so I thought your little group would keep a little better hold of her."
"Trust me, this wasn't an outcome we were really that prepared for. Do you know where she is or not?"
"Shepard's made herself pretty active as soon as she got the chance. Curing plagues with one hand, slaughtering mercs with the other. It's actually pretty fun to watch. Nice to see someone around here that can actually shake shit up again. And she doesn't do it for justice or profit or even progress. Just action embodied, and lots of it. Like a force of nature. I can see how she gets that respect."
"Where is she?" She took a step forward with a threat in her muscles. Little points of blue flame licked off her arms as much by instinct as anything else. Guns came up and trained on her immediately, but Aria merely continued to sit with the same expression on her face.
"Fireworks and lots of blood… now with Cerberus agents!" Aria laughed and shook her head. "Commander Shepard is working with Archangel. Don't know why, don't care why. But Archangel is planning a big strike on all three of the big merc players here on Omega. The mercs are no skin off my nose; I just heard they've been getting a little cocky. And Archangel already promised me he'll fly off my rock as soon as he has the chance."
"Shepard's attacking a merc base?" Jacob scowled. "Blue Suns, Eclipse, Blood Pack… I've seen their activity and it's rare when they share the same room, let alone a base. How are they attacking all three?"
"You're right; they hate each other and they all have different bases, but, trust me, they're in alliance. To kill Archangel, specifically. Almost did the other day, but it looks like your Spectre burst herself out of the packaging just in time to turn the tables." She leaned her head back onto her cushioned couch. "Archangel's team is hitting all the bases, but if he's going to go anywhere personally, Tarak's the one that'll put up the biggest fight since he's the head of the alliance. Blue Suns. If he and Shepard are still enjoying each other's company, you'll find her there."
"Where's the base?" Miranda asked.
"Do I look like an information desk to you? Oh, but I'll give you a little piece of advice: watch for the explosions."
With that, Miranda turned quick on her heel and marched off, her thick, black hair flying behind her as she tensed up. Jacob took an easy job to regain his position beside her. "EDI, tell the crew we're going to have Shepard soon, but we might need to have the doctor and a quick shuttle-ride out ready."
"Understood, Mr. Taylor."
"Wait, what?" Joker's voice cracked over the comm. "You found Shepard? Hey! When are you guys going to go get her?"
Jacob ignored the helmsman and looked over Miranda. Her features were tightly controlled in an attempt to stay in cold indifference, but instead still quivered with barely contained fury. He couldn't help but grin. "She seemed nice."
"Shut up."
He chuckled silently, chest shaking, and returned his attention to exiting the club in the brisk pace she set.
Three members of the team already on job, acting ahead of schedule and without orders from Archangel. Unexpected. Still, easy to understand. Mierin young for asari; still in maiden years. Difficulty with accepting death around her; perceives herself as root cause. Not uncommon among asari with batarian families. Batarians outside of official space usually in high-risk lifestyles. Violent deaths high in such environments.
May now become cause of some death. Unfortunate.
"You caught up on the situation, Mordin?" Shepard asked.
"Of course. Strikes on the lower side of Tarak's base, supplementary to explosive discharges. Then Shepard takes point in formation, runs in with sweep. Archangel and I lay suppressive, Shepard takes first chance at rear. Admirable plan. Economical use of numbers."
"If it works like it's supposed to, Tarak and everybody else will be dead in time for us to ride out before the day's fifth ring rotation," Garrus said, sliding the barrel of his rifle back into place from field check as they walked. "Problem is, where before that was guaranteed, now we have no damn clue just how much we can get away with. Nevermind we didn't have time to find a getaway vehicle."
Shepard continued to look unaffected. Facial structure might as well be hard clay. "We'll just have to take something from the Suns when we wipe them out."
Garrus wasn't so detached from the situation, emotionally, even though his helmet covered his expressions. "We can only play so much by ear, Shepard."
"Someone should have told that to Mierin before she flew off the handle. Or maybe her nephew. If he wasn't coddling her, we could have seen she wasn't fit and stopped this before it could happen."
The turian bristled with the need to defend his team. "And then what? How do we stop it? Do we lock her in her apartment until she's sane?"
"I'm sorry. I forgot that your team is untrained and without a real chain of command."
"You know what? You're right. I'm not leading a military operation, here. Official structures never even touch the Terminus Systems unless they're sending a Spectre out to die."
"Is there something you're trying to say to me, Vakarian?"
Garrus's helmet turned towards her, and a frustrated sound filtered through his speakers. "I… Forget it. I can't argue with you right now, Shepard."
"Why not?"
"It's just... Could you please put on your helmet?"
"They've already seen me with you without it, and I don't like how it hinders my peripheral vision."
"I know, but... it'd just be easier, you know?"
"Easier?" Finally, Shepard's face twisted up in a wry smirk.
"All right. It's kind of hard to concentrate on anything with my new appreciation for those lips. There."
She licked said lips at him. Curious gesture. The turian shivered. "All's fair in love and war, goes the saying."
"Is that fair? That isn't fair." His groan was laced with mating harmonics. "You play dirty."
No other clues were necessary for Mordin. With this answer, he rounded on the human commander. "Dangerous behavior, Shepard! Turians based on dextro-amino acids. Human ingestion of tissue could provoke allergic reactions—"
"Anaphylactic shock, right!" she shot back, "Turians are made of auto-immune poison! I get it!"
Garrus rumbled. "If you would just wear the damn helmet, there'd be a lot of uncomfortable conversations we'd have avoided."
"What? You don't like safety lectures from salarians about the dangers of alien blowjobs."
"Please stop talking. Especially about that. Snipers tend to be pretty useless without their eyes and you're making sure mine are glued to your mouth."
"And you were talking about having a quickie, earlier."
"That doesn't count. Anything said while you were dripping wet and dressed in a towel should be considered coerced evidence and thus entrapment."
