To Survive: Terminus Coalition

Chapter 9 : In Omega's Wake, we Slept

It was only first shift, but since the ground team had been up all night, they had been given leave to rest while the regular crew continued working on schedule. Tali and Shepard had retreated to their quarters together. Shepard decided that all they could do was get some sleep, especially since the room wouldn't be scrubbed until third shift, according to EDI's last update. They were both exhausted, and sleeping might take their minds off of their lust-filled desires. They laid back on their bed, and stared up and out of the viewport, at the less than stellar view of their docking bay.

After several minutes, Shepard realized, there was no way he could sleep. His mind roamed over his encounter with the Ardat-Yakshi, and it gave his heart a pang. God! If I can hardly resist a woman when she attempts to outright separate me from Tali, more important to me than anyone or anything, how am I going to resist the Reapers? I doubt I could even break free like Benezia did. Damn it! Who's to say I'm any better than Saren? Shepard stopped his thoughts for a moment to look at Tali lying beside him. With her mask still on, and her face not turned, she could be asleep already. Except, I have to be better, for you.

Tali stared straight up, Keelah, I can't sleep! The combat, the way John had held me after his encounter with that damned asari, what Samara told me had happened and what he had experienced. I can hardly keep my mask on, let alone sleep! Her eyes grew heavy from exhaustion despite her protest. She forced herself to stay awake by turning over to see John lying on his side, looking through her mask and into his eyes. "Shepard, I can't sleep… and I don't want to."

Shepard put his arm around her and pulled her closer to him, but her eyes never left his. "I know. There's… uh… something else I need to do… first."

Tali's eyes seemed brighter behind her mask. John could tell she was smiling magnificently. "Maybe… I can help you?" She teased.

John let out a laugh and responded, "I don't think I could do it alone."

"Well that's good, because I think I need you to help me with my own problems."

John put his hand to the side of Tali's breast. He soothingly, but firmly felt his way down her side, over her waist, and down to her hip. He soaked up her beautifully sculpted form with sight and touch. His eyes followed his hands along their path and he said, "Problems eh? I think I could get those fixed for you given enough time."

Tali shivered, stimulated by the pressure of his hand. She moved her hand up behind his neck and caressed it smiling.

His lust began to eat away at his defenses, and he knew that it couldn't be any easier for Tali. The fact of the matter was that they needed to wait until tonight. They wouldn't be at peace with their desires until then, and reminding themselves incessantly was not going to help relieve that.

John pulled himself away, swung off the bed, and made his way around to its foot.

"And where are you going? This shift is supposed to be used for resting, Captain's orders." Tali said through her grin as she propped herself up to sit with her head and back against the wall; her legs outstretched.

John plopped down on the bed at the other end and reached for Tali's foot. She pulled it away quickly.

"Hey! What are you doing? You better not be trying to tickle me again, because you know I'm ticklish, and I don't want to play that game while I'm stuck in this suit."

"No, no. I was actually hoping to just give your feet a little rubbing. You don't mind a massage, do you?"

"Well… okay, but it's not like there isn't a lot of padding on those," She said referring to her suited foot. "I don't know how much good it'll do."

John grabbed her foot after she returned it to him. He placed it in his lap as he sat cross-legged, and he began to knead it thoroughly. John liked her feet. The two toes were cute, especially the way they seemed to curl at his more loving touches.

Despite the padding, Tali could feel the strong grasp of John's hands, and it relaxed her foot's muscles. She found it quite pleasurable, giggling every now and then when one of his movements would ignite ticklish sensations. An idea occurred to him and he just stopped for a moment looking at her with a loving smile.

"So Tali, tell me something that you're scared of. Nothing to do with me, and nothing to do with the Reapers, but something more common or trivial."

Not yet recovered from the sensations of the massage, the sudden question slightly startled her. "What? Why? I mean, you're not going to try and scare me, are you?" Tali asked cautiously, knowing well of her lifemate's little penchant for mischief.

John noticed the slight look of apprehension in her eyes. "Oh no, of course not, saera! I wouldn't do that to you. To Garrus, maybe, but not to you." he quickly reassured her. "I just want to know some more about you. We don't talk about the little things as often as I like. The last time we really had time to talk like this was back in that hotel room on Illium, and we certainly didn't spend as much time talking as engaging in other… activities." John finished with his lips reaching to his ears.

"Okay, but you have to tell me yours too." Tali said as her eyes softened at his genuine curiosity. She knew he was right. They had not talked like this as much as she would have liked, either. This would be a good chance to fix that, even if just slightly. At the same time,she noticed John's eyebrows furrowed as he thought of his own little phobias. She took an audible breath and continued in a slightly softer, if somewhat shaky, voice, "I... I'm scared of bugs. Little crawly bugs... and spiders. Especially spiders."She felt her cheeks flush in embarrassment at her confession. John's eyebrows changed again to a content, yet surprised expression.

"Heh. Really? I never would have thought," he replied with a smile on his face. "Are there any bugs on the flotilla? I thought one of the reasons that your immune systems were weaker than the rest of the galaxy's, even while still on Rannoch, was because there weren't many bugs to transfer diseases and stuff. And there's got to be even less on the ships after all this time, right?"

"Yes, you're right. So you have been listening to me," she giggled. "The first time I saw a bug was when I first began my pilgrimage, and I thought they were disgusting, but I didn't give them much thought, at first. It wasn't until when you invited me onto the SR1 and one of the engineers, named Jenny, was telling me about how she thought that she saw a spider in one of the cooling vents. She was terrified and kept talking about all of the bad things they could do, and she even mentioned that they might be able to get into my suit!"

"Wow, she must've been terribly paranoid."

"Right, and it didn't help me. I had nightmares about them for weeks after that. Spider venom would surely kill me if one got into my suit. It turned out, there was an entire nest in one of the vents. They were nasty and they scuttled everywhere!" Tali suddenly shuddered at the memory. "Adams wanted me to clean it out, but I wouldn't do it. He was nice enough not to force me, or tell you that I'd disobeyed an order, but it didn't stop him from teasing me."

"Just never tell Garrus, and I'm sure you'll be just fine. Have there been any spider problems on the SR2?"

"No, and I think EDI would know now that she has full control of all the ship sensors. Although, if I find one, I expect you to come to my rescue."

"Of course. What else am I good for?" he said with his famous lopsided grin.

"I'm still figuring that out. I'll let you know," She teased. "So, what are you afraid of?"

John stopped his kneading and grasped one of Tali's toes in each hand; he found the way they squirmed one at a time too cute to be ignored. "Well, I can't think of anything trivial. I definitely would be scared if I had to fight a thresher maw on foot, but that's something anyone but Grunt would be afraid of." He paused for a moment to think a little harder. "I guess I'm afraid of going crazy, or being experimented on like Corporal Toombs when we found him killing those Cerberus scientists. The only silly thing I can think of would be Grunts creepy laugh. Remember?"

Shepard readjusted himself to sit up straighter, still holding Tali's toes. He leaned forward with a disturbing smile "Heh…heh…heh…" he impersonated.

Tali laughed harder than he had ever induced from her before, and her toes wiggled out of his control. "It just gives me the heebie-jeebies. I've known the guy since he was… er… born, but I swear he's got something diabolical in mind whenever he laughs like that." John said.

Tali just kept laughing, and she began to find it difficult to breathe, "And what… oh,Keelah… is a heebie-jeebie?" She managed between gasps for air.

"I don't know, but it isn't good." John answered then threw himself up beside Tali, the bed bouncing under his weight. He shifted Tali, lifting her up so he could get his leg around her. He positioned her so that she sat between his own outstretched legs, so she could lean back into his chest, while he leaned against the wall.

Tali regained her composure and let out a sigh. She snuggled her way under John's chin, and she could feel his heartbeat calling her. As much as she wanted to be closer with John, this would have to do until tonight. John's arms wrapped around her, and she could feel his warmth through her suit.

John loved holding Tali like this. It was something he had dreamed about on occasion way back on the SR1, before he was romantically 'interested' in her, and it was also something that had prodded at him for the larger portion of the Collector mission. Tali comforted him in ways that no one else could. He could feel her begin to nod off, and decided he better let her sleep, even if he could not.

First shift was over, and despite the nice time she had spent with John, and the little amount of sleep she managed to get, Tali was crabby. She made her way down to the engineering deck, and John departed upon reaching the crew deck.

The elevator door opened, and Ashley met her, strangely enough.

"Hey Tali, I was wondering if now was a good time to go meet with Shepard. He should probably hear about our suspicions of Anderson sooner rather than later."

Tali tilted her head to the side, "No Ashley, trust me, this is a bad time. Shepard likely wants to hit something rather than talk to anyone. With Garrus gone, I'm a little concerned with who he plans on hitting." She responded with angst. Shepard was on edge. Being tired, and deprived of the remedy to his madness, had escalated his edginess over the last shift.

"Oh… okay. Maybe tomorrow then."

"Speaking of hitting something, have you seen Kasumi around?" Tali asked.

"You plan on hitting me Tali?" Kasumi said, holding back a giggle as she materialized before them.

"No! …uh, that came out wrong. I was hoping you'd join me in the simulator for some of that girl-time we talked about spending together. I really want to hit something, and one of the simulations will likely do me some good."

"Sure thing. Let me get my gear and I'll meet you up there." Kasumi responded.

Ashley spoke up; she really didn't have anything to do for the shift. Jacob and Kal insisted that they'd clean the guns this time around, and she could help the next. Having three people in the armoury could get crowded, so they often worked in pairs.

"Can I join you Tali?" Ashley asked.

"Umm… yeah. Sure thing, Ashley. Suit up and I'll meet you there. It's the communications room where Shepard held the mission briefing." Tali answered, still getting used to her newly rekindled relationship with the soldier.

"Thanks."

"Hey Grunt." Shepard greeted as he sat down at the mess table.

Grunt didn't look up but kept shoving the mush that Gardner had slapped together for him, into hi maw. Shepard watched, a little repulsed, as Grunt finished his meal in no time.

"Yeah Shepard?" Grunt croaked, looking up from his plate.

"I was wondering if you'd like to head down to the cargo hold, with me, for a sparring match."

"Ha! Are you sure you want a whelp like me to make you cry Battlemaster?" Grunt challenged.

"You don't forget why I'm your Battlemaster, do you Grunt?"

"Heh… heh… heh…" Grunt chuckled deeply.

Shepard mentally cringed with the laugh, but he didn't let it show. "So how about I go kick your ass. I need someone to hit, and you might be able to stay standing when the punches land."

They stood up together and made there way down the elevator, after waiting for the elevator to pass with occupants being taken from a lower deck, up to deck two. Slowly they walked over into the middle of the cargo hold. Grunt began to unstrap his armour, and Shepard took off his shirt.

"Battlemaster, if you cry I won't tell your squishy mate."

"You can call her Tali, Grunt."

"Heh… heh… heh…"

"What the hell's so funny?" Shepard asked confused.

"Nothing!" Grunt shouted as he looked from side to side. "I'm going to have a story to tell Wrex when we see him."

"Don't count on it being a good one."

"Alright, I'm ready. Enough talking!"

"I've been waiting on you, whelp." Shepard said. Grunt took a step forward, and Shepard raised his arms. Time to take out a little frustration. Both of them let out a battle cry, of sorts, as they charged at each other. Grunt went for the tackle, but Shepard knew that was his tactic and easily outmaneuvered the tackle to deliver a strong fist into the side of Grunts head as he passed.

Grunt stumbled slightly, but found his balance before he received a swift kick to the back of his legs. However, he was hardly fazed this time, and spun in time to adjust his head so that his head-plate took the blow of another punch that Shepard threw.

Shepard felt his hand throb in pain from the misplaced strike, and before he could regain his footing, a moving mass of krogan crashed into him, taking him to ground.

Having a krogan's weight on top of him was a difficult encumbrance to overcome. But, without the extra weight of Grunt's armour, Shepard was able to move his hand under his opponents chin and push his face up. His other hand released a jab, powered by his cybernetics, into the krogan's neck. Shepard rolled out with the opportunity.

They both got to their feet and lifted their arms again in a ready stance.

"I…AM…KROGAN!" Grunt bellowed as he charged forth with renewed vigour.

Both Kasumi and Ashley were surprised by Tali's ferocity in the simulation. She had chosen to set up a simulation for fighting asari commandos, for some reason or another. Tali always had a disadvantage when fighting with biotics, since she could not match their power, and her ability to drain shields did not extend to biotic barriers. Nonetheless, she led the group through a slaughter of the virtual opponents, hardly showing that it was a challenge.

Her shotgun roared, as she popped over cover and rolled to the next. Ashley provided enough cover fire that the whole event seemed too easy for Tali, but it was certainly just her own skill that made it look easy.

The simulation ended, and Kasumi was wide-eyed. "Wow Tali! You kicked some commando ass!" Kasumi gushed, clearly impressed. She then turned to Ashley, "Ash, can I call you Ash?"

"Sure." Ashley responded curtly.

"Well Ash, is that how Tali fought on the SR1? I mean, I've seen her fight, and she's good. But… but… that was incredible! Do you guys just have some sort of chemistry or something?"

Tali was confused about the mention of chemistry.

"Uh… no. She has definitely improved since back on her pilgrimage." Ashley replied

Kasumi looked at Tali and crossed her arms. "Is there something bothering you Tali? You're not usually so willing to take risks in battle."

"No, I just was…"

"Do you want to talk about it?" Kasumi responded since Tali had paused for an uncomfortable amount of time.

Tali hesitated for a moment more, "Not until I know John's okay with me talking about it. It has more to do with him than me."

"Say no more Tali," Ashley interjected.

"Yeah, we don't need to be butting in to Shep's personal crap without his say-so. But if you ever want to chat, you know I just love the romance stuff." Kasumi added.

"I'm here for you too Tali, even if I'm not used to 'girl talk', or whatever," Ashley said lifting air-quotes over the strange term. "I may have had sisters, but we'd usually do our talking in the sparring ring."

"Thanks," Tali said with a lump growing in her throat, her mind moving from Shepard to her friends. She never realized that her family on the Normandy loved her in that way. They'd stand by her, not because of their common cause, or because of the link the bond they developed through all the battles, but as sisters and friends. Whether the issue was trivial or grave, no one had stood by her like that, besides Shepard, ever since her mother died. Even Auntie Shala would sometimes push her away when a problem seemed trivial. It was a good feeling. "It means a lot to me."

Shepard sat at his desk, terribly bruised from earlier. He hadn't cried, but neither did Grunt. However, the experience was not pleasant for either. Well, maybe Grunt enjoyed having Shepard break his jaw, but, to his credit, Grunt was more violent than sane. Both had been beaten pretty brutally, and there was no real 'winner'.

"Captain," EDI's voice came from her wall installation, "The room is now completely scrubbed and safe for Tali to remove her suit without incident."

Shepard jumped from his seat with excitement as his heart rate spiked. "Tell Tali to meet me here as soon as she's free." Shepard said. He knew EDI would pick up on his intentions by his tone of voice, if she had actually stopped monitoring the temperature of the crew's erogenous zones like he had asked her to.

"Tali was notified at the same time as you, over her personal omni-tool. She is currently on the elevator at deck 3, pounding the button for deck 1 more times than is necessary."

Shepard smiled widely. It was not quite third shift, but he was definitely tired enough to get some extra sleep. Now that Tali could be free from the barriers that separated them, he'd be able to get it. Assuming we both get what we want without interruptions. God help whoever tries to wake me up before I'm damn-well ready.

Tali stepped out of the airlock and tossed her mask across the room as she jumped into John's arms.

Her legs wrapped around him as tight as his arms held her. Their mouths molded together, and they kissed with vigour. Tali pushed her way deeper into the kiss, and her tongue pushed its way to meet his. She felt John groan deep in his throat, and it drove her mad with desire.

They had already stumbled back to the bed, when Tali pushed John the rest of the way, and she got to work on ripping her suit off piece by piece. Shepard got off the bed and removed his shirt. He made his way behind Tali, and breathed in her scent deeply by nuzzling his face into the side of her neck.

She moaned at his contact, "Help me get this off." She said with an insistent, husky voice.

He moved to help her, and they worked with practiced efficiency. Soon enough, there was nothing left to hold them back.

Tali pounced on John, falling into the bed. Their bodies fell into rhythmic motion as they filled the voids that the last couple day's events had caused.

Tali's taste, her scent, her soft and familiar warmth and excited heart beat. Oh, and the way her toes curled and uncurled whenever she moaned. The way she had learned to growl in their more intense bouts of love. It all came together as they joined. All of his desire was satiated.

John's strength and passion, the way he desperately, yet tenderly, held her, and the way his heart beat strongly within her. All was right, and no one could take what she felt with him now.

The sounds of love echoed through the cabin, as they basked in each other's warmth and close company. The mission on Omega was done, and in that wake, they could finally sleep contented.

Glossary

Saera: Term used when speaking to one's lifemate. Literal translation: My soul's soul. Other meanings include, but are not limited to: Keeper of my soul and My soul's protector. Most commonly used word throughout the fleet by a quarian when speaking privately to their lifemate. Though unconfirmed by any quarian, there are implications that this word holds extreme intimacy as well as absolute trust. No single human word or phrase encompassed all that this one short word implies as it appears to contain both dominance and submissive traits.