"And as soon as he left the ship on the dock, I called in general maintenance and had them repaint the commons in a lovely, calming shade of sky blue." Nihlus threw Saren a quick look, and added, "in his name, of course."

Shepard chuckled. "How did you manage that?"

Another cautious look at Saren, then Nihlus broke out into a wide grin. "Swiped his authorisation code off his omnitool, used that."

At her sceptical look, he added, "And placed the order in his voice."

"His voice?" To her surprise, Saren gave an amused snort.

Nihlus regarded her squarely, flicked a mandible in a dismissive gesture, then said calmly. "Of course. Anything else would have been highly suspicious." His voice was, to her ears at least, a perfect imitation of Saren's.

"Not bad," Saren admitted, unoffended.

"What did you do?" Shepard asked him.

Saren shrugged. "He covered his tracks well enough, so there was no point in raising the issue."

Nihlus snickered. "Admit it: the colour was driving you crazy."

"It was annoying, just as you intended it to be." Saren cocked his head to the side. "But your story isn't finished."

"Oh." Nihlus fluttered his mandibles. "Right. So you caught that eventually and you haven't forgotten, either."

"Hardly."

"So what else did you do?" Shepard enquired, prodding his side with a toe. Reflexes quick as ever, his fingers closed around her ankle, clamped down for a moment, then his grip eased again as he pushed her foot back a bit. He didn't let her go completely, though.

"The blue for the commons was just the obvious one, to account for the smell of paint and all that. I added some paint to his cabin, too, only very little. Just some accents, a few shades different from the original light grey he had in there. A few dabs of paint to change the line of one of the ceiling panels, make it look slightly askew when viewed from a distance. A smudge of a darker shade and a slight unevenness to catch the light differently on the panel close to the door to make it look like it's caught some dirt, but from close up you can't see anything wrong." He smirked. "It had to be subtle to be effective."

Shepard laughed. "That was devious."

"He can be, if he has to." Saren's tone was strangely approving.

Nihlus didn't even try to cover his smug grin. "You deserved much worse for some of the things you put me through." He chuckled. "How long did it take you to figure it out?"

"Some time," Saren replied. "I knew you'd been in my room, but that was nothing unusual. No respect for privacy."

"Privacy?" Nihlus snorted. "You're one to talk, what with the cameras all over the ship."

"Cameras?" Shepard gave Saren a look. "What for?"

Saren looked like he was willing to explain, but Nihlus was faster. "He's a dirty old man. He had surveillance even in the showers." His mandibles twitched playfully as Saren's eyes narrowed on him. "It's fine, Saren. I didn't mind."

"I never-"

"It's fine," Nihlus interrupted again, his voice dropping to a tone Shepard had learned to appreciate over the past days. A pleasant shiver ran through her as he ran his hand from her ankle up to her calf, and what had been just a friendly, casual touch changed into something more deliberate, the gentle pressure on her skin a silent question.

She shifted closer in reply and he slid his hand further up her leg while his other arm snaked around her. His eyes had gotten darker, heated with intent, but still sparkling with humour. "I don't mind you watching now, either," he said, his tone full-out seductive as he leaned in to lick Shepard's neck.

When Saren spoke, Shepard had to bite back a smile at his tone. "You are incorrigible."

"You should know."

Shepard might have been curious enough to turn her head and check for Saren's reaction to that, but Nihlus slipped his hands under her shirt, and his skillful touches claimed her full attention.

But after a moment, Saren sighed, then moved, and another hand joined hers on Nihlus' fringe, another rough palm sliding over her back.