"Nihlus?"
He blinked and shook his head, "Huh?"
The absurdity of the situation hit him at full force when he realized his talons still gripped her waist, pinning her onto him, but with zero movement. He could have died.
"You…stopped", she said, looking back at him as best as she could from where her head rested on the torn and rumpled sheets, her backside still held in the air and planted firmly onto his erection. He thanked the spirits at least that was still there, since his mind clearly wasn't. "Oh my goddess, were you thinking of something else? While we were having sex?!"
She tried to crawl away from him, but he held her back, "No! No I…was…"
A blue hand smack at his claws, so human, so much like hers, "Let go of me!"
His hips tried to start in again at rhythm, but unfortunately the rest of his body was beginning to lose focus as well, "Kyiera, wait..I –"
She managed to kick free of him and crawled to the end of the bed where she immediately began pulling her clothes on. Her bra hung off one shoulder and her shirt was twisted around backward as she made her way for her shoes.
Nihlus jumped up to grab her arm, "Will you just hang on a second!"
She yanked it free, "So what?! So you can give me some tired old shit about how much stress you've been under as a new Spectre, and that it'll all get better in a few months? You don't have months, Nihlus! I won't spend the rest of my youth watching you grow old." Her hand turned the doorknob, and before she was gone she spun back to add, "And have bad sex in the meantime!"
The door slammed, a picture fell lose of its hangings and crashed to the floor, glass shattered. He made a hasty attempt to retrieve it but the luminescent, liquid color of the digital photograph was already oozing from the cracks. He sighed in disappointment as the last of Jane's smiling face washed away, leaving behind an image of his childhood self standing with one arm around a large blob of mingled colors.
"Damnit", he groaned.
His naked body flopped back onto the bed and he stared at the ceiling for a long while, trying to decide if he was upset or relieved over yet another failed relationship. Maybe this was for the best. An asari like Kyiera would never have mated with a turian anyhow. He was the fun for this century, then moving on. Well, at least as long as his libido held up by the looks of things. Things would have been fine had he not leaned down to lick the sweat off her back, that's where he lost focus. The taste was nothing like hers, but the sensation of soft skin on his rugged tongue sent him spiraling back to that day where it all when wrong, where he had fucked up for good. And the next thing he knew, he was getting dumped for being disengaged. He guessed he couldn't really blame her. If roles were reversed, he'd have been pretty pissed too.
"Ah, to hell with it", he grumbled, and rolled off the mattress to head for the shower.
"Jane?"
She blinked and shook her head, "Huh?"
Her mother's calming hand rubbed along her back, "Daddy's waiting by the shuttle for you. We've loaded the last of your boxes…" an elbow nudged her softly, "Commander."
Jane managed to tear her brown eyes from the photograph she had been staring at. For all the excitement in the air she couldn't tell what she was really feeling. It played along the edges of resentment and anger, mostly at herself for being so damned hard-headed, and somewhat at life in general. Society, norms, convention, it all made her want to vomit. Her head turned to scan the scar along her mother's left neck and shoulder, the signature of her willingness to give up everything she had ever known.
For love.
On the other hand, the colony had been a wonderful and unexpected blessing in itself. The humans who resided there were much likened to the "hippies" back on Earth however many decades ago. She had forgotten her history already. Damn. When Tecca left to be with Sargo, she demanded everything. Everything but her own flesh and blood. In the end, and for the best interest of the child, Deykus surrendered his fortune, his pips, and his own respect from the turian military in exchange for full turian military tuition for his son, Nihlus. The couple agreed, and were never heard from again. Circe had saved her credits over the many years, and afforded her the option of enrolling Jane in the finest human military school the galaxy had to offer. From there, she was invited to join the Alliance Navy, and completed her training in N-School at Level 7 status. Rare for anyone, even rarer for a woman.
Until the "incident", the family had been living together in a small colony in the terminus. Circe schooled the children until they turned 13, military age, and Deykus served as a community leader and representative. No one seemed to even turn a narrow eye toward the interspecies family. Nihlus and Jane, best friends since before they could remember, had become true siblings. Brothers. Nothing could have broken the bond they shared.
Until that summer. That damned godforsaken summer!
"Janie, honey, Daddy's waiting."
Her mother's voice shook her from trance again, "Yeah! Sorry. I'm..I'm going."
The photo was placed gently into a small box, the last of her belonging from home, and she carried them close to her chest as she started for the door.
A soft hand gripped her shoulder as she reached the threshold to outside, "Jane", she turned to listen, "I know neither of you ever wanted to talk about what happened, but whatever it was, family always finds forgiveness."
Jane smirked solemnly, bowing her head to look at the old photograph in the box, "I already did that, Mom. His problem is, he can't seem to forgive himself."
