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Author's Note: Okay, so this is the same prompt as the last chapter but I just couldn't resist. These two have stolen my heart and they won't give it back. Please enjoy.

Anything Goes

Chapter Ten: To the Sea and Back

Prompt: Shepard + Second Character of Your Choice

"I've always loved you"

"She blinks, gaze flicking back up to his because she needs to be looking at him when she says it. 'I've only ever loved you.'" - A series of one-shots and drabbles in the ME universe inspired by prompts in the Mass Effect Fanfiction Writers facebook group.

"I just had the most awkward conversation with Jacob Taylor," Shepard says as she enters her cabin, doors swooshing closed behind her. She plants her hands on her hips and looks to Thane sitting in the middle of her couch. It is the usual time for their daily meditation, and for the last two months, Shepard has asked Thane to simply meet her in her cabin. EDI readily allows him access per the commander's orders.

Now, he braces his elbows along his knees, fingers steepled together, and raises a brow to her. "Oh? And what was the cause of this conversation?"

Shepard huffs slightly, dropping her hands from her hips and walking around the coffee table toward him. "Well, I was finishing up my rounds with the crew, checking in with everyone, you know? And as I'm asking Jacob about anyone back home – just friendly get-to-know-you stuff, right? Well, see he…I mean…" Shepard plops down beside Thane and swings her legs up to lay across his lap, her back coming to rest along the arm of the couch. "He says 'Are you sure this is appropriate, ma'am?'" She pulls a face somewhere between incredulity and disgust.

Thane chuckles in response, hands resting along her legs.

"So I ask him what he means and he's all 'Aren't you with Thane?' and I just stop, because, you know, the whole fucking ship already knows I'm with you so I have no idea what he's trying to say here and then he goes 'Sorry, ma'am, but I'm not interested in being anyone's second choice'." Shepard pulls a heated breath through her nose as her nostrils flare in frustration.

Thane's amused smile widens at her story but he says nothing, only smoothing a hand along the length of her calf.

"And then I'm all 'Whoa'," she recaps, throwing her hands up and then pushing air. "'Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's just take it back a step there, soldier boy.' And then I had to awkwardly explain that that was not me coming on to him. And then it just…yeah. Downhill from there, as you can imagine." Shepard sighs and relaxes back against the arm of the couch, hands falling to her lap. She quirks a brow at his amused grin. "And…none of this bothers you?"

He pats her knee, once, fingers settling over the joint. "Should it?"

She only shrugs.

"Siha," he begins, "Anyone who truly knows you understands that you are incapable of a wayward heart. His misinterpretation only serves to illuminate his own faulty perception. It says nothing about the virtue of your actions."

Shepard smiles blindingly. "Good to know you have confidence in me."

"I always have."

Shepard looks to her hands fingering the edge of her sweatshirt. "And you know I've always loved you, right?" she mumbles, suddenly realizing she has never said the words before. She blinks, gaze flicking back up to his because she needs to be looking at him when she says it. "I've only ever loved you."

His smile softens, and he raises one hand to gently stroke her cheek. "The genuineness of your ardor was never in question," he assures her.

She pulls her lip between her teeth, chest rising with uncertain breaths. "And you? Do you love me?"

Thane's hand trails back along her jaw, his dark eyes shifting between her own. His smile is suddenly gone, his whole face marred in unquestionable certainty. "'Love' is too inadequate a word to describe what you stir in me, siha."

Her lips part at his confession and his gaze flicks to them. She pulls in a sharp, anticipatory breath when he leans in, sure and purposeful. His hand braces along the back of her neck to hold her to him as he presses his mouth to hers. Her lids flutter closed. Their lips part at the same time and he delves his tongue in slowly, sliding it languidly against hers until she is breathless. She drinks in his warmth and moans at the deft strokes of his tongue, feeling the hand along her knee start to ease up her thigh. She doesn't expect it when he pulls from her suddenly, panting.

She blinks her eyes open at his retreat.

"Forgive me," he breathes against her mouth.

Her brows furrow in question. His hand grips her thigh tighter and she arches her back minutely, already anticipating more.

"I pride myself on precision," he explains. "On a meticulous choice of words and action. On unrivaled accuracy. And yet, I have failed to aptly articulate the depth of my desire for you."

Shepard's eyes crinkle with her slow, devilish smile. "Well, you could always show me," she offers, pulling one knee up to move her leg around him. He adjusts without instruction, pulling his hand from her hair and shifting along the couch so that her legs are braced on either side of him.

His own roguish smile curls along his lips as he crawls atop her with all the ease and smoothness of his profession. He leans down over her, his hand along her thigh sliding up over the curve of her hip and then under her sweatshirt. Her breath hitches as his touch spreads across the smooth skin of her stomach, edging higher, and she pulls her knees up along his hips. He braces his other hand along the couch and smirks down at her. "It may take some time for me to…thoroughly…express my feelings on the matter." He rolls his hips into hers with the words.

"Mmm," she responds, fingers dancing up his chest and curling over his shoulders. "We better get started then," she chuckles, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.

Thane presses closer to her, his breath hot between them when he stops his lips just before hers. "To the sea and back?" he pants against her mouth, the words suddenly both hopeful and fearful to Shepard's ears.

She slides her hands to the back of his neck and holds him to her. "To the sea and back," she promises.

She catches the gleam of satisfaction in his eyes just before he closes the distance between them and kisses her thoroughly.