A/N - Thank you so much to the amazing people who reviewed my last chapter. You guys made my day! :) This chapter is for all of you as a thank you for your constant support and the amazing feedback you give me - it means so much to me. This is a very very NSFW chapter. There is lots of smut. I hope you like Pandora and SZ Kaidan's reunion! :D

Kaidan was gone from the captain's cabin by the time Pandora finished her call with the Illusive Man, and she smiled as she read the note he had left her. She had never seen Kaidan's hand writing before, and it wasn't what she expected; bold strokes and neatly printed. There was something oddly intimate about the gesture of leaving a handwritten note for her as opposed to sending her a message through the omni-tool, and she folded the note and kept it.

Come find me. I'll be waiting.

K.

The memory of his kiss and of his hands on her body spurred her on as she left the cabin and headed into the mess, taking the time to grab a ration bar and a cup of coffee. For the first time since waking up in the Cerberus labs, she was taking a day off. Technically, she was off duty on Chakwas orders, but the effect was the same, and she'd put Miranda in charge of the Normandy while they travelled to the Thorne System to follow up on the Illusive Man's tipoff about a derelict Reaper.

The journey would take a little over twenty hours, and Pandora doubted much would happen in the space of those hours that the very capable Ms Lawson couldn't handle. In the meantime, she intended to actually take the doctor's advice and take it easy today. Spending some time alone with Kaidan was top of her list, even if they spent that time engaged in activities slightly more rigorous than the doctor had in mind when she told her to rest up.

Pandora grinned to herself as she finished munching on the grape flavoured ration bar and washed it down with a gulp of black coffee.

"Shepard? May I have a word with you in private?" Samara's voice stroked gently along her skin, somehow infused with a quiet hum of biotics and soothing meditative tones.

She froze, her hand gripping the coffee mug so tightly her knuckles turned white. Morinth's ghost slithered through her mind like a pale blue spectre, scaled and terrible, her lingering shadow drawing back fearfully at her mother's presence. It took effort to brush the spectre aside; to focus on the mess around her and on the coffee mug in her hand, but somehow she did, and with a sense of dread she turned and faced the Justicar.

The asari stood tall and proud with her hands clasped behind her back, but her eyes were shadowed, her face was stiff and guarded, and something in the way she held herself seemed fragile, almost frail.

"We can talk," Pandora allowed, though the shadow in her mind shrieked and razor sharp claws raked painfully through her mind.

She shivered and buried the shadow deeper; what had Morinth done to her?

"Thank you." Samara inclined her head and led the way back to her room. "I was not sure you would see me after what happened."

I wasn't sure I would either, Pandora thought; though she kept the thought to herself.

Part of her hated Samara for using her at bait and allowing her daughter to get so close to her, especially when she had promised to keep her safe. But at the same time, she had allowed herself to be put in that position. She had opted to take that risk, and in the end Morinth had been stopped, though only because Thane and Kaidan had come to her rescue.

If she hadn't insisted on having them along, Morinth could have done anything to her.

The thought chilled her.

"I owe you an apology." Samara shifted uncomfortably as she closed the door to her room and glanced at Pandora, her pale eyes sliding away to glance at the stars. "I allowed my pride and my belief that Morinth was my responsibility get in the way of your safety, and for that I must apologise." She sighed and began to pace. "I spent decades hunting her down, decades blaming myself for her victims, and decades telling myself that it is my responsibility to make things right, to end the life of the monstrosity that I brought into the world. And to finally find myself within arms reach of her ... ." Samara looked down at the floor and shook her head. "I forgot myself and allowed her to get far too close to you. I am truly sorry, Shepard. If there is anything I can do to redeem myself, you have only to name it. I am in your debt."

Silence fell as the two women considered each other, Samara waiting with a patient grace that her countless years as a Justicar had taught her, and Pandora with a quiet burning rage that was born of fear. Her natural inclination was to accept Samara's apology, to tell her that what had happened was already forgotten, and that she was fine, but the simple truth was that she wasn't fine; only better. Deep down she was still frightened and angry, still upset and violated, still fighting off the feeling that she would never be clean again as long as she could taste Morinth in the back of her head like an absent half-thought.

"You are upset with me," the asari said finally. "I cannot blame you for that."

"I am," Pandora acknowledged, and she crossed her arms over her chest. "I appreciate the apology, and I'll think about what you've said. What you did last night was stupid. Putting me in that position, insisting I go alone, not giving me all the information; it was stupid. I could have been killed, and if it hadn't been for Kaidan I would have been."

"I know." Her pale eyes glimmered intensely. "He cares for you deeply, for more deeply than I thought someone like him capable of caring."

Did he? Kaidan had come to her rescue and he'd stayed the night, that much was true, but their relationship was so complicated.

"Maybe your instincts aren't as sharp as you thought they were," she told Samara as she stepped back, uncomfortable with the way her silvery eyes were probing her own, as though searching for something in her gaze. "Sometimes people are more than what they seem."

"Indeed," Samara agreed and she turned back to the stars. "Thank you for allowing me to apologise, Commander."

Pandora barely stopped herself from snorting as she recognised her dismissal. "Thank you for apologising, I don't imagine it's something a Justicar does often."

"They do not."

She left Samara contemplating the stars and caught the elevator down to the engineering level. Somehow she had a feeling that Kaidan that had retreated back to his dark little hovel beneath the drive core rather than wait in her cabin. She couldn't blame him either; her cabin didn't seem to be the right fit for him somehow. All the bright shiny surfaces, clean lines and fluorescent lights didn't suit him. Kaidan suited shadowy corners and dim lighting.

Her boots scuffed across the floor in soft whispers as she descended the stairs to his hideaway, barely swallowing a gasp as a prickling wave of biotic energy swept over her. He was here. She could feel his power trickling over her in low pulsing waves, a steady thrumming beat that purred along her spine and teased her nerve endings with exquisite sparks of invisible power. She could feel her own biotics swirling inside of her in response; so much smaller and weaker than his, but enough to make her eyes glow in the darkness with blue fire.

"Hello, Kitten."

Pandora's breath caught in her throat as Kaidan's voice drifted out of the shadows, the rough timbre sending her pulse racing. She could just see him silhouetted against one of the bulkheads, his eyes swirling with flecks of blue. He pushed away from the wall and came towards her, shadows and light rippling across his body; making his tattoos move and dance.

"Kaidan," she whispered his name shakily, holding herself perfectly still as he circled around her, not touching, though his biotics stroked her intimately.

He came to stop behind her and stepped close, his body heat scorching hot as he slid an arm around her waist and pulled her snugly against him. Pandora bit back the gasp that tried to break from her lips, and she trembled as Kaidan brushed his lips against her ear.

"I'm so glad you came," he murmured, his muscles bunching as he tightened the arm around her waist, holding her more firmly against him. "You took so long I was worried you were stubbornly waiting for me up in your ... penthouse."

"Penthouse?"

"Mmmm. Your cabin," Kaidan clarified as he nibbled her earlobe. "I know you like your creature comforts, but this place down here is who I am. This is what I'm used to." He ground his hips against her backside, and Pandora groaned as she felt the thickness of his arousal straining against his pants. "This is where I lay awake thinking about you, fantasising about you, touching myself and wondering what it would be like to have you ride me on that fucking uncomfortable cot."

His voice dropped to a low growl and Pandora arched back against him as he continued. "Or I'd imagine bending you over one of those packing crates and fucking you from behind, or doing you up against the wall. Fuck. I think I thought about fucking you every which way there is as I lay down here at night. You drove me mad, woman." Kaidan moved his mouth to her neck, biting and kissing the sensitive skin as his hands roamed her body, rubbing and caressing. "I've never wanted someone the way I wanted you."

Pandora turned in his arms and kissed him, nipping at his lower lip and swirling her tongue around his as she went up on her tiptoes. He growled his approval and his arms snaked around her waist to pull her closer, then he backed her up against a wall and pinned her there; sliding a leg between hers.

"You're so sweet," he murmured against her lips. "It's such a turn on."

"I'm not sweet-" she started to interrupted but he shushed her.

"Yes, you are; you're like fucking sugar and you don't even know it. You're always so nice and polite. Hell, you were even nice to me when I first came on board and I was being a bastard." He laughed harshly and his hands found the front of her shirt, slowly undoing the fastenings. "Oh Kitten, every time you came down here with that sweet little smile and that bounce in your step I wanted to do the filthiest things to you."

Pandora grinned as she remembered her own less than innocent thoughts about Kaidan.

"I thought about you too, you know," she told him, gasping as he got her shirt open and pulled it from her shoulders. He traced the outline of her bra as she spoke, her voice catching at the tickling sensations he aroused. "Every time I spoke to you, I wanted to see if your skin was as hot as it looked, and to feel that biotic tingle of yours against my skin. You made me feel alive again for the first time in months." Pandora gasped as Kaidan took one lace-covered nipple in his mouth and began to suck on the rosy tip through her bra. "I wanted you to make some kind of a move on me. God, I wanted to come down here and have you grab me, push me against the wall, and fuck me senseless."

"Sweet and dirty," Kaidan murmured against her skin as he released her nipple from his mouth and moved to give the other its share of attention. "That's my girl."

His teeth grated over her sensitive flesh and he bit down slightly, enough to make her arch her back and cry out. Then his tongue flicked out soothingly and Pandora whimpered as he began to suck, the sensation flooding her body with heat. She clung to him tightly as his mouth moved across her skin, using his leather harness to keep herself upright as he licked, bit and sucked.

He drew back after a time and cupped her breasts in his hands, massaging gently and dragging his thumbs over the pebbled tips. His eyes danced with flecks of whirling blue and he watched her with a devilish grin on his face. Pandora returned his smirk and reached for him, curling her fingers into the waist band of his pants and pulling him towards her.

She undid the fastenings very slowly; popping buttons one by one and sliding his zipper down in time to his own movements. Kaidan rolled his hips towards her as she dipped a hand into his pants and stroked her fingers along his shaft, laughing softly as he hissed and his hands tightened on her body in response. The roughened pads of his fingers scratched lightly over her skin, tingling as his hands slid from her breasts to her upper arms and his thumbs stroked in slow circles.

He looked hungry, starved, and Pandora knew just how he felt. The flickering flames of desire spreading inside of her own body were heady, demanding things, and they coursed through her veins with a life of their own. She leaned forward and caught Kaidan's lips with hers, sliding her tongue along his lower lip and grinning as she sank to her knees in front of him and tugged his pants down, freeing his erection.

"I've wanted to do this for months now," she confessed as she took him in her hands, stroking his hot velvety length and squeezing him gently.

"You've wanted to do this?" Kaidan let out his breath in a hiss and tangled one hand in her hair as she leaned forward and slowly took him into her mouth. "Fuck, that feels so good."

Pandora swirled her tongue around his tip and sucked gently as she swallowed him down inch by inch, taking as much of him into her mouth as she could before she let him slide back out and repeated the process. She hummed in pleasure as she bobbed her head, taking him deeper into her mouth each time, enjoying the feel of him sliding over her tongue, and the way his hips thrust forward to meet each of her movements; as though he was unable to help himself.

She flicked her tongue over his tip again, teasing him, and he let out a growl; his hand tightening in her hair as he pulled himself from her mouth and all but hauled her to her feet. Kaidan pushed her back against the wall and kissed her with an intensity that would have terrified Pandora if she hadn't felt exactly the same way; as though a fire was burning deep down inside that was slowly devouring her. She felt hot and hungry, desperate to take everything and anything that Kaidan would give her.

The drumbeat of her desire beat in time to her thundering heart, and she clawed at him desperately as he fumbled at her pants, his frustration escaping him in another low growl as he encountered one obstacle after another: her belt, her buttons, her zipper. Finally, he got the fastenings undone and Pandora laughed joyously as Kaidan swept her up in his arms and carried her bodily over to one of the packing crates.

"Living the dream?" she asked as he set her down, somewhat surprised that her voice came out as steady as it did.

Kaidan smirked, his hands cupping her breasts. "You have no idea how many time I lay there picturing this."

"Oh, I have some idea."

Pandora kicked off her boots and wiggled out of her pants, her underwear vanishing along with them as Kaidan helped pull them down her legs. Then he moved between her spread thighs, his erection straining forward as he lowered his face to her neck and began to kiss a slow sensual path along her collar bone. One hand slipped between her legs, fingers finding her honeyed core, and he murmured against her in a pleased sound as he found for himself how wet and eager she already was.

Pandora whimpered, clinging onto him for dear life as he slipped two fingers inside of her and circled her clit with his thumb. Pleasure so intense it cut like a razor sliced through her body, and she twisted in his hold, her hips rising towards him as she cried out. He grinned against her neck, his lips curving into a smile, then he withdrew his hand from between her legs and positioned the head of his hard length at her entrance.

"I thought your fantasy was to take me from behind?" she said breathlessly as endorphins coursed through her, her hands fluttering over Kaidan's chest, following the leather of his harness and tracing her favourite tattoos.

He raised an eyebrow and smirked, a very male kind of darkness in his eyes. "We have all day, kitten. Right now, I want to watch the expression on your face while I do this … ."

Pandora gasped as he slipped inside of her, very slowly pushing forward and driving himself deeper. He moved with delicious slowness, grinning as he tortured her with pleasure and pushed inside of her inch by inch, stretching and filling her slowly. Oh, so slowly. She squirmed and tried to roll her hips towards him, to urge him to move faster, but with a delighted chuckle he used his biotics to keep her still as he buried himself in her up to the hilt and gently lay her back on the packing boxes.

"Kaidan," she whispered his name, her body vibrating and tingling as his power flowed over her skin.

He gazed down at her and leaned forward to tug her bra down, spilling her pale breasts from the cups. When he was finished, Kaidan nodded and dragged a hand down her taut stomach, his biotics crackling and curling under his palm, the intensity making her muscles contract.

"Perfect," he purred. "Does that feel good?"

Pandora nodded. "Yes, God, yes. Please keep going. Please fuck me."

Kaidan flashed her a lazy smile. "Oh, I will, baby."

He took hold of her waist then, his fingers strong and firm, and began to move inside of her in long, slow thrusts. Pandora gasped and bit her lower lip, curling her legs around his waist as the sensation of his slick powerful movements sent spasms of ecstasy coursing through her body. She raised her hips to meet his movements, desperate to be closer, to have him deeper, and when she reached for Kaidan his hands met hers and their fingers meshed, locking together.

Kaidan pulled her up into a sitting position and kissed her, hungrily feeding at her mouth as he scooped an arm under her ass and pulled her tightly against him, pounding harder into her at this new angle. Pandora caught his lower lip in her teeth and bit down, linking her arms around his neck as she tightened her legs around his waist and squeezed his length with her pelvic muscles as he thrust deeper and harder.

"Fuck," he growled.

Pandora laughed and let him pull away, staring intently into Kaidan's eyes as he made love to her, enjoying the intensity of the moment as his body pounded into hers. The feel of him sliding in and out of her, of his biotics crackling and purring over and through her body, and of the strength in his arms as he held her was almost overwhelming, and she whimpered as the pleasure pooling in her belly began to build in intensity.

"Harder," she begged him. "I'm almost there. Go hard and fast."

Kaidan nodded and kissed her again as he gave her what she wanted, slamming into her with a force and ferocity that was just this side of pleasurable. It was perfect. Pandora panted and arched her back as the glorious pulsing warmth in her body rose up in a tight full wave, swallowing her whole and bursting around her with the force of a supernova.

Their release hit them both at the same time, and Pandora cried out as her climax overcame her; sobbing Kaidan's name as she clung to him tightly, her body trembling and twisting as he held her close. His muscles tensed and his biotics flared a brilliant bright white as he grunted and thrust into her a final time, his hips rocking gently as he came.

They slumped together onto the crate when they were spent, Pandora's chest heaving as she struggled to draw breath over her racing heart and Kaidan's heavy weight. After a time he nuzzled her neck and pushed himself off, then scooped her up into his arms. Pandora giggled as he carried her over to his ridiculously small one-man cot.

"We're not going to fit!" she laughed, as he dropped down onto it backwards, using his biotics to float down and holding her to his chest.

Kaidan just chuckled. "We're stackable."

Pandora snorted and curled up on his chest, letting Kaidan link his arms around her waist as he held her against him. They were both stick with sweat and other bodily fluids, and though she felt sated and contented, she could already feel the stirrings of desire between her thighs again, and she stretched against Kaidan and nuzzled his neck.

"That was lovely, but if I fall asleep down here I'm not going to wake up and find you gone will I?"

He groaned. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?"

"Well," she ran her foot along his leg suggestively, "You did save my life, so I guess I can cut you a little slack. But that won't happen again, right?" She tilted her face up and met his eyes.

Kaidan pressed his forehead against hers. "No. Never." He kissed her deeply, his arms tightening their hold as she settled back against him. "Now that I've got you, I'm never letting go."

Pandora smiled; she liked the sound of that.

A/N - *fans self* is it hot in here? ;) I hope you liked that! Reviews are most welcome!