Chapter VII

Vallok snapped his head up to look at the door of the medical bay to find Zoey walking in to check on him again. She looked a little distracted as she walked over to his bed, watching the ground pass beneath her feet as she thought.

"What's on your mind?" Vallok asked, trying to find her eyes as she lifted her head to look at him.

"I got a question I have been meaning to ask you Vallok." She let her hand play with her hair as she stood looking at him.

"Yeah?"

"Why… Did you save me?" She said hesitantly, looking into his eyes.

"You mean from the Mech?"

"Yeah."

"Well it's a little early in my career to be filling out paperwork explaining how my partner was dismantled by a YMIR Mech." Vallok flared his mandibles, amused with his joke.

Zoey smiled and chuckled nervously, pushing the question to the back of her mind. She nodded, letting her eyes shift from Vallok before turning away from his bed and walking to the door. She stopped, turning back to him.

"Oh, I almost forgot. I talked to Captain Sereques and we are staying on the Normandy a little longer than we first thought. I am about to go talk to Shepard about it." She turned to the door again, making it open with a hiss and close quickly behind her.

Vallok sat in silence for a moment, thinking about them staying on the Normandy. He never did well with ships, it was one of the reasons he didn't go into the Turian Navy. They would have put him on a ship. Figuring he would go stir crazy, he never took the chance, in fear of being stuck on a ship for months at a time. He sighed, shaking himself from his thoughts, looking around the bay for the Doctor then ducking his head to look out the window for her. After close inspection, he let his feet hang from the bed before jumping off of it, stumbling a little as he tried to balance himself upright.

After finally getting his footing, he picked up his armor. Strapping it on, he gasped at the pain the clasps caused as he tightened them down. Satisfied that his armor was secure, he limped his way to the door. Opening it, he let his head poke out, looking for Dr. Chakwas. Satisfied that she was nowhere to be found, he limped quickly to the elevator to find out more about the ship and its crew. Hobbling into the elevator, he touched the holographic pad, making the doors close before it took him to the CIC of the ship.

The elevator beeped, letting Vallok out into the CIC that hummed as the specialist and crewman talked to each other. Looking around, he stepped out of the lift focusing on the hard man that stood looking on to the galaxy map. Vallok turned his head, scowling at the man, trying to place where he had seen him before. Unsure, he tried to get closer to see his face. Shepard turned around, knitting his eyebrows at him and trying to figure out why he was there.

"I see you made it alright. What can I do for you?" Shepard spoke politely

"I thought it was you. Not to be to forward Commander, but what are you doing alive?"

Shepard answered quickly back as if he had been asked the question a lot. "I got spaced and I had some help getting a ship and a crew. In return I am investigating the disappearances of human colonies."

Vallok squinted, trying to figure out what he meant by help. Looking around he noticed the Cerberus symbols everywhere on the ship and crew. "Cerberus?"

Shepard nodded, looking at him then looking down at the floor. "They are a means to an end of the disappearances and they seem to be the only ones doing anything about it."

Vallok jumped in as soon as Shepard spoke. "That's not true, C-Sec is the one who sent us out here to investigate."

"Investigate! That's the key word, they didn't send any security teams or a ship! They sent you and your partner to investigate!" Shepard's expression quickly changed to anger as he stormed by Vallok, heading to the armory.

Vallok looked around at the crewman that were watching the conversation as they solely watched him now. He had heard bad things about Cerberus and how extreme their methods were. Honestly it made him nervous to be aboard a Cerberus ship, even if it was under the command of Commander Shepard. Looking around one last time, he walked off the CIC and back into the lift, touching the Cargo hold to find some peace to think in. The lift took off down the ship, making a slow hum as he got closer to the massive engine core, making him drift into thought.


Darkness and silence hung in the apartment as Valerie and Vallok laid in bed. Her eyes were wide open looking at Vallok, his back to her, watching his shoulder rise and fall as he breathed. Tonight more than most, she couldn't shut her mind off and fall asleep; her thoughts dwelled on the turian that laid across from her. Who was she sleeping next to and what had he done with the Vallok she once knew were the questions that rushed through her mind. Maybe he was just stressed or maybe he needed some time to think. She tried to push it to the back of her mind as she laid silent next to Vallok, listening to the passing sky cars that hummed through the night.

The harder she tried to push down the thoughts of Vallok, the more they went through her mind. Finally she gave up and moved to the end of the bed, letting her feet hang before stepping onto the cold floor. The apartment wasn't totally furnished, but it wasn't bare. Vallok had managed to get a couch, bed, kitchen furnishings, and even a monitor. Her talons clicked on the floor with each step she took, making it harder to be quite, to keep from waking Vallok. Grabbing a seat on the L shaped couched, she stretched out, laying in the darkness before turning on the monitor. The screen flickered. showing images of Palaven on a news feed. The news feed reported about some killing of some important person on Palaven, nothing important enough to catch Valerie's full attention. Taking a deep breath she sighed, laying her head against the back of the couch, trying to empty her mind. She listened to the sound of the skycars as they continued to hum by the apartment, leaving gaps of silence in between.

"Surprised to find you up." She whipped her head around to look at Vallok standing in the doorway of the bedroom, giving her an inquisitive look.

Valerie looked away from him as he looked for answers in her face. Putting her attention back on to the monitor, she tried to hide her thoughts from him. Vallok could pick up on her troubles as they began to seep from her thoughts and into her eyes and body language. He walked to the couch sitting on it and inching his way closer to Valerie.

Vallok brought his talon up to her mandibles, bringing her face to his and letting his cold expression change to a concerned look. "What's wrong Val?"

Valerie's eyes began to gleam as sadness seized her, looking into Vallok's icy blue eyes. "You are…"

"I am?" He lifting his brow plate in surprise.

Valerie hesitated. "You've… changed and I'm afraid it's changed the way you feel about us."

Silence hung in the room as Vallok tried choosing his words carefully. "Valerie… I have had a hard time getting to this point and I'm sorry if I've kept you at a distance…"

Valerie put her talon on his flat lips to interrupt him. "You don't have to explain yourself Vallok. I just want to know if you still feel anything for me?"

An awkward silence hung in the room for a minute before he spoke. "Yes. I know I don't say it often, but I love you Val, you are the most important thing in my life."

She was relived to hear him say it, but she couldn't help but wonder if he was sincere. Quickly shaking it off, she pushed his talon from underneath her mandibles, bringing her head to his as they sat silently on the couch. His tender touch was a welcome feeling, as he pulled her close into his arms. His hand drifted farther and farther down her back, grabbing her thighs and picking her up, making her legs straddle him. She loved his touch and being close to him once again, beginning to feel him come back to her. It was only two months, but she felt like she was away from him for years. She wanted him badly. He kissed her passionately, letting his tongue flicker over hers, making her long for his tongue to be in her mouth forever. She stopped him from pulling away from the kiss, putting her hand behind his head and bringing him back in to her mouth. Vallok had always liked it when she made it clear what she wanted and she used it against him every once and a while. Letting her tongue play around in his mouth, she let him pull back his head as he struggled to pull off her shirt, causing it to rip. Finally getting impatient, he ripped her shirt off and let his talons trace her figure slowly. She let herself grind against his member as it stood up through his pants, making his chest rumble in pleasure.

She fumbled, trying to undo his pants, making Vallok flare his mandible as he watched her struggle with them before ripping them like he had with her shirt. He lifted himself, letting what was left of the pants come off, giving Valerie view of him as she straddled him again. She tightened her legs around him as she felt his member slide into her, making her gasp. He pushed himself into her slowly, making her feel every pump with great pleasure, making her back arch. Losing himself in the moment he grabbed her hips, digging into her as he began to quicken his pace into her, letting his primal side take over. Valerie gasped again, feeling his talons dig into her and feeling him begin to go deeper and faster. She let her tongue flicker over his shoulder, getting ready to bite into him as she let him do the work. Vallok began to feel himself slip out of control as he pumped at a steady speed, each moment bringing him closer to his climax. Valerie could feel him under her as she got closer to her edge with him. She moaned as she felt the warm liquid fill her as she let her juices flow onto Vallok. Lost in the moment, Valerie bit into his shoulder, letting her sharp teeth penetrate his thick skin. He pushed her back from his shoulder before she got too deep, watching her come up with blood hanging off of her lips.

They both knew what had almost happened, but Valerie wanted it and Vallok didn't. They sat in the dark a few minutes, trying to find each others eyes in the flickering light of the monitor. She lifted herself off of Vallok's member standing up in front of him, still looking at his eyes. They both were silent for a moment before he stood up, putting his arms around Valerie in an attempt to make it better. He knew that she wanted it so bad with him, but it always came down to family. She had tried to accept it, but still, she had a hope that Vallok would give in. Bonding would give her his clan markings, and there for, his family's name. He didn't want her to have to deal with his family and have to suffer with the humiliation.

"I love you Vallok." She laid her head on his chest, listening to his heart beat.

"I love you too Val." His thoughts dwelled on them bonding as he held her in his arms.

Vallok pulled away from her and grabbed her hand, leading her to the bedroom to get some sleep.


The constant hum on the engineering deck was a welcome change to Vallok. He had grown tired of always hearing the hum of sky cars and the sound of guns going off in the wards. There was only one thing that he missed on the Citadel and she didn't know anything about what was happening. Vallok lifted up his omni-tool staring at it, battling with himself and trying to figure if he should send a message. What would he say? Sighing, he began typing on the omni-tool, writing to Valerie about when he would be back and assuring her he was ok.

"Vallok!"

Vallok was ripped from his message as he turned to look at Zoey standing in the doorway. "How did you know…?"

"Ship's AI told me where you are."

"Ah."

"Why you hiding out in a Cargo hold?"

"Doc never cleared me to leave." Vallok's attention went back to the omni-tool and the message that was on it.

Zoey watched him. She could tell he was bothered and needed a relaxing period. "Listen, why don't you come with me to Port Observation?"

"What's there?" Vallok looked away from the message again.

"Nothing much, just a bar and a little entertainment."

Vallok looked back down at his omni-tool before nodding and closing it out. "Let's go."

She nodded and gestured him towards the elevator that sat down the hall. Getting up from the crate he was sitting on, he walked past Zoey down to the elevator. Both of them getting in, they stood silently until the elevator came to a stop on the Crew Deck and opened its door's. The Crew Deck was lively as usual as the crew idly talked to one another about the food and families that were being effected by the disappearances. The Port Observation room consisted of a couch, a few other pieces of furniture, and a bar. Vallok walked to the bar, grabbing two glasses and pouring a glass of the blue alcohol before he sat down on one of the stools. He moved the shot glass to the chair next to him as Zoey walked to the bar, sitting down next to him.

"I haven't been your partner for very long, but I think something is bothering you."

Vallok smiled as he tipped his head back, finishing the drink before he looked at her. "Yeah? What makes you think that?"

"I may not be a turian expert, but I do know men and something is bothering you." She took a sip of the blue liquid, scowling at it.

"What's wrong, can't handle it?" He smiled again, pouring another glass.

"I can… but you call that a drink?" She stood up, reaching over the bar to grab a bottle of a purple liquid, pouring a glass and shoving it over to Vallok.

"What's this?"

"Just try it." Zoey smirked as the turian knocked back his head, drinking it down.

He slammed the glass down, shaking his head, trying to deal with the kick. "That's not bad, but I got one better."

Reaching over the bar again, he grabbed one of the smaller bottles, pouring it into a glass and handing it to Zoey. As they drank they both started to lose control of their thoughts and motor control, occasionally spilling one of their drinks.

"Why did… you join C-Sec?" Zoey slurred her speech, looking curiously at Vallok.

"Believe or not… I don't really know."

"Come on! You now." She shoved him playfully, trying to get an answer.

"I honestly don't… think I know."

"Well, I know why I joined. I joined because of my mother… She was a good C-Sec officer." Zoey lifted up her drink, trying to toast her.

"I think… that you have had enough." Vallok grabbed her glass, putting it on the table.

"Noooo!" She reached for the glass only to be stopped by his hand as he lifted her off the stool. Finally getting her to work with him, he took her arm over his shoulders and began to walk her to her quarters, slightly stumbling occasionally. Zoey playfully ran her fingers over his face and traced over his fringes as they walked down the hallway to the Starboard Observation. "You know you're not bad."

"What?" Vallok looked over at her as they continued towards the Starboard Observation room.

"Nothing." She let her arm fall to her side as they got to the door, making it hiss as it opened.

Stumbling to get her to the couch, they both laughed in drunken amusement. He laid her on the couch as she pulled Vallok in, kissing him and letting her tongue explore the inside of his mouth. As surprised as he was, he didn't try to pull away, letting his tongue touch hers as they kissed. He knew it was wrong, but it felt so good and she tasted so sweet. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol or maybe he had been interested in her, but he enjoyed every minute. She took her hand off his head, letting him pull back as she drifted down to his pants, beginning to pull at them. Valloks chest began to rumble in pleasure as she unclasped his pants, trying to push them off his waist.

Stopping Zoey's hand from going any further, Vallok knew what he was doing was wrong. She was drunk and he was pretty sure he was too. He knew they'd regret it later. He pushed her hand away, standing and pulling his pants up. She grabbed at him again, making him pull away from her, causing her to groan at him in disappointment.

He looked at her with a guilty expression. "Listen Zoey, we can't do this."

"Why not?" Zoey stumbled over her words as she laid on the couch.

"Because you'll regret it in the morning." Vallok rubbed the back of his neck, nervously looking at her. "Zoey?"

He couldn't see her fast asleep as her hair covered her eyes.


Vallok squinted his eyes, trying to push out the artificial light of the room. His head pounded as the blood rushed from his head as he got up from the cold floor. Finally opening his eyes enough to see his surroundings, he realized he didn't recognize the room. Looking around the room, his eyes narrowed on the slender human woman sleeping on the couch he was laying next to. Slowly he started to remember what had happened the previous night as he rubbed his temples, trying to soothe his headache that only worsened. He walked to the couch and sat down, trying to regain his bearings before he tried leaving the room.

Vallok hadn't noticed Zoey stirring on the couch next to him. "What… time is it?"

He closed his eyes and laid his head back, trying to ease his pain. "I don't know."

She slowly rose up from the couch, letting her tongue explore her mouth. "What happened last night? Tastes like I was eating pennies."

Lifting his head to look at her, he chuckled a little, before grabbing his head again. "Yeah, you were drinking some of the good stuff."

Zoey began to panic as memory of last night started to rush back to her. She looked at Vallok for a moment, looking a little panicked before she looked angry. She grabbed a pillow and hit Vallok with it, looking pissed. "You bastard, you knew I was drunk and… Oh, I'm going to kill you!"

Vallok struggled to get away from her as she curled her fist to hit him. "Nothing happened!"

"Bullshit, I remember!"

"There is nothing to remember, we kissed and we began to, but I stopped… remember?"

She got up off the couch pinning Vallok against the viewing window raising her fist to him, then pausing to think. "I remember us going at it!" Her conviction wavered as she lowered her fist, thinking over the night.

"Maybe in your dreams, but we stopped." He pushed her off of him as he stood in front of the window looking into her green eyes, deep in thought.

Turning away from Vallok, she walked over to the couch sitting down. "Can you leave?"

"Yeah." Vallok welcomed the opportunity to leave before she decided to try and kill him again.

The door closed behind him, leaving him in the hallway next to the elevator to think. Grabbing his stomach, he had forgotten about his injuries through his alcoholic episode. He had ached earlier, but he dismissed it as something that happened through the night. The pain in his head and his body sent pain tearing through him as he fell to his knees.

"Vallok. I thought I heard shouting." Dr. Chakwas walked over to Vallok, giving him something to make his muscles relax. She lifted his arm up, bringing him to his feet then began walking to the med-bay.

"Doc, I'm fine. It's apart of the healing process."

"No, it's not a part of the healing process. You can't just break a bunch of bones and start walking after only a few days Vallok." Vallok knew she had a point, but wasn't about to admit he was wrong.

Doctor Chakwas sat him on the table and walked over to a set of tools, grabbing what looked to be a scanner. Walking over to him again she scanned his chest, shaking her head at the images she saw. "See look there! You ripped the muscles that were healing. You just added another week to that recovery."

Vallok sighed, then grunted in pain. "So can I at least walk around?"

She sighed too, looking at him with an disapproving look. "As long as you don't do any kind of fighting or other strenuous activities, you should be alright."

He nodded as she ran another type of tool that supposedly aided the bodies ability to fix muscle. "Thanks doc."

She nodded back at him as she continued to run her treatments. "Alright your clear, go ahead. Remember though, don't do anything too physical."

"Got it." Gently getting off the table, he walked to the door causing it to open and give way to Zoey standing behind it.

She stood holding her arm nervously, looking back at Vallok. "Can we talk?"

"Uhhh, yeah sure." He nodded his head over to the tables sitting outside the med-bay.

They both sat down across from each other silently as she collected her thoughts, Vallok waiting intently for her to speak. "Listen I may have overreacted… I just didn't know quite what to say."

Scoffing at her he took a deep breath, trying to help his still pounding head. "A little bit? My head feels like there is a varren running around inside it and my muscles are torn again."

"Well, you shouldn't have tried to get into my pants!" The gentle, nervous look she had before now ran from her face, replaced with an increasingly more hostile face.

"You came on to me!"

Her face got red as the supposed talk was now a shouting contest, causing almost the entire crew around them to drop what they were doing to watch.

"I was drunk and you just let it happen! You wanted me to get drunk didn't you? Unbelievable!"

"What? You were the one who kept grabbing drinks and knocking them down! I can't help you come off as easy!"

Vallok knew what he had just said would bite him in the ass, but he stood by it. Zoey narrowed her eyes at him and started walking over to him, getting uncomfortably close to Vallok's face.

"What?" she said deeply

Ignoring the logical voice in his head, he spoke again.

"I said you come off. As. EASY."

Balling her fist, Zoey gave him a deadly look before she struck him in his mandible. Vallok recoiled back, shocked. He knew he deserved it and didn't say anything else, letting her speed walk out of the room back into the hallway, then into her quarters. Telling she was pissed, all the crew members backed away from her letting her walk down the hallway to her room, curling her fists, her face red. Shaking his head, he knew he should have seen it coming. It's nothing new, a woman hitting him and he was willing to bet it wasn't the last time either.

The crew kept staring at him, waiting to see what he would do or say. Honestly, he had no idea what to do, other than to walk back down to his hole and hide. Vallok walked across the deck to the elevator and waited for it to open to let him in. The elevator beeped, opening it's doors and letting him in as he sat silently, trying to think of something.

"Hold it!" A tall black haired woman ran to catch the elevator.

Vallok held the doors, letting her in, making her smile at him briefly.

"She got you pretty good." Straining his memory, he searched to try and find where he had seen her before.

"Yeah." He grabbed his mandible, shifting them.

"My name is Miranda."

"Vallok."

"Not much of one for conversation huh?" She leaned against the wall of the elevator, looking smugly at him.

"Hm."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"What the hell were you thinking calling her easy?"

Vallok scoffed at her rolling his eyes. "I don't know."

"Well it's obvious you guys want each other, why would you try to piss her off?"

Surprised by her honesty, his face kept solid as he looked at her through the side of his eye. "What makes you think that?"

"I've seen the way she looked at you, before you called her easy. It's that look of curiosity."

Vallok turned his head to her in confusion. "Curiosity?"

"Yeah, you know… Curiosity of whether you felt the same way she does?" She still leaned against the wall of the elevator looking back at him, waiting for a response.

He shook his head at her in disbelief. "I think she's just psychotic."

"She may be, but she is still interested in you. Oh don't trust me, I'm only a human female." The elevator stopped and beeped, opening it's doors. They both stepped out and went into different directions, walking towards their separate destinations.

Stopping and turning around, before they got too far apart she spoke, making Vallok stop and turn around too. "Next time try talking to her and hold your tongue. See where it goes." She turned and began walking down the walk way again.

Standing in the middle of the walk way, he let his mind think about whether or not Miranda was right. The thought didn't make him cringe like it usually would, when he thought about being with Zoey, but it would still be weird. He found himself thinking about it more and more as he began to walk towards the bridge to find Shepard. Would it actually work between a turian and a human? He had never really heard of any cases of that. What about Valerie? He tried to push it to the back of his mind as he approached Shepard on the bridge. Vallok had never been any good at reading humans, but he could tell Shepard was looking vexed.

"What's wrong Commander?"

"Just found out that our next crew member is on a prison ship." Shepard didn't break his attention from the view port on the nose of the ship.

Vallok hadn't noticed that the ship was no longer in FTL or the fact that the Normandy was heading for a cargo ship. "Is that it?"

"Yep." The pilot answered back as he tapped on the holographic screens, getting the ship ready to dock.