Dealing with my heat was one thing.

Dealing with the Thorian, was completely different and not something I wanted to do again. I have always hated the Thorian Creepers and my hatred didn't get any less after facing them in real life. Their constant habit of spewing acids on our shields to break them and poison us was seriously irritating. And then there was that damn Asari clone. Why did Saren have to give the Thorian an Asari commando?!

But between the acid rains, biotic clashes and bullets flying around our ears, I was more than happy to be fighting alongside two men I could trust, and of course to see that damn Thorian thing fall to its death. Now that was a relief…

Before it all, Shepard had dealt with Exogeni, the Geth in the tunnels, gotten the colony operational again, used the gas to save the people and managed to talk Jeong down. I would have shot him on sight…

As we came up from the Thorian's hiding place, a lot of people stood ready to thank us, not just Shepard, but all three of us. It was a little overwhelming since I had never been there to help so many people before. On Therum it had just been Liara, and every other mission I had been on had only had one survivor or none, as they had all been mercs. Never had men and women come to me and thanked me for saving their lives.

After the mission we had debriefing (as usual) and Liara offered to help by melding with Shepard to see what he had learned. I was this close on telling them it was no use, but kept my mouth shut. How was I supposed to know what was happening in Shepard's mind? I wasn't an Asari, and as far as I knew, I didn't have that kind of abilities either.

Liara couldn't see anything (I could have told them that…) and as she became dizzy, Shepard dismissed the crew. I was one of last to go, so I heard a few things from Shepard's talk with the council and what news they had. I should have expected it to happen sooner or later…

Virmire…

Shepard was going to face a difficult choice. Back when I had played the game, I had always chosen Kaidan as the surviving member. He's less xenophobic and aggressive than Ash, but I always found him weak and blind. In real life, he was still a little… whining… whenever we talked. Sometimes I suspected he only did it to prove there was a soft guy underneath the soldier. After all, if you played as bro-Shepard, Kaidan would always be less talkative and appear more macho…

I liked Kaidan, and he was a good friend, but nothing more. But no matter who Shepard chose, I would be there to help him through it.

… I just sounded like I was in love with him, didn't I?

Anyway, Shepard decided to get back to the Citadel to restock and fix a few errands, which left us with some shore leave and I knew exactly how I wanted to spend my time.

I had sent a message to Ethenan, asking if he wanted to see an old friend and true to everything I knew about him, his reply had been casual, but there was excitement hidden between the lines. We agreed to meet at the embassy lounge and I had barely walked through the door before the Drell stood from his seat and came towards me.

"Gods be blessed…" he said and embraced me, a kiss on my cheek as he released me again. "I have missed you, Siha."

I smiled and purred low, and from the way he closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly, I knew he had both heard and felt it. He quickly got back to normal, and offered me a seat at the table. We had something to drink and started talking about my new job and friends. Ethenan was happy I had found someone I could trust, and pleased to hear I was using every trick I had learned from him to advance in the fights.

"How have you been?" I asked. He smiled, and nodded. "Well. I have found others to train and more than a few has already asked for… hmm, shall we call it, private sessions." He said and I chuckled lightly. No surprise really, Ethenan was a good looking man. I would have been more surprised if he had told no one had found interest in him.

"Sounds like you have your hands full, huh?" I teased him.

"Yes, though… I have never let anyone have a session as ours." He said and looked at me with that look I knew could hold promises, if I allowed him. I rumbled low.

"Well, if you got time for a… private session, I could show you all the new tricks I've learned." I said and he wasn't slow to catch it.

"I'd like that."

Heading out of the lounge, I intended to go to the public gym we had used as training room, but he pulled me in another direction, smirking as I followed in confusion. I had really intended to spare with him… at first anyway… but it seemed like he had other ideas, or maybe just a different place for us.

He took me to a different place, alright, telling me he had gained a gym of his own after I had left; a gym he could close and lock down as he saw fit…

I saw potential in that.

Once every door was locked and sealed, we had complete privacy and from the way his frills darkened and throat puffed, he had more in mind than sparring…

"So, how do you wonna do this?" I asked while he removed his coat and shirt, leaving his torso bare. If he thought he could cheat like that, he was going to be wrong. Very wrong!

"I doubt you have any need for meditation first, so… why don't we skip right to the sparring?" he asked and took position as he used to, standing tall, rank and with his hands behind his back, waiting for me to make the first move.

I shook my head with a smirk and then lifted my shirt over my head, leaving me in pants and bra. I knew he enjoyed the view of my skin, so I walked to him and slipped around him, sensually touching his shoulder.

He lifted a brow as he followed my moves.

"I don't think you have sparring in mind at all, my good Drell…" I said low, leaning against his back and ghosted my lips on the rippled skin. He shuddered a little.

"In the presence of a beauty such as yours, it's hard to think of anything." He said as casual as always, but I could feel the rumble in his chest, see the puffing of his throat and slightly smell the change in his scent. I pressed against him, forcing his joined hands to flatten out between us, and linger at a very private area on my being…

"What do you intend to do about it?" I whispered, beginning to wrap my arms around him, but before I could get a solid grip, he looked forward, and within the blink of an eye I was on my way down to the floor. It was a rough landing, but the small bruise I would gain from this was nothing compared to the heat I was feeling as Ethenan hovered over me, both eyelids blinking and chest showing the heavy breathing.

"Something I have been aching to do again…" he said, deep and low. I purred as he lowered himself and captured my lips.

I had missed my Drell instructor…

A happy sigh was heard.

I looked up at the Drell as he combed his fingers through my hair and held my hand to his chest. A fast beating heart was slowing down underneath my fingers, and warm skin filled with tiny scales felt like velvet on my own.

Okay, I had hoped to be with Ethenan like this again, but I would have sufficed if we had only talked. However, being here with him also reminded me of Thane, and by that of the Collectors and Shepard's death. And once my thoughts had entered that train there was no stopping them until I had been through everything critical in the games. Right now I wished I had never seen Nihlus, that I had never run off from C-Sec back then and that I had never felt obliged to do something with the knowledge I had.

Right there… I wished I was back with my family again, in my own time and space…

"Something troubles you."

I had lain my head back on his chest, wasn't even looking at him, and when silence took over I felt him lift his head.

"Shayla?" he asked and squeezed my hand a little, making me sigh. There was no way around it and I knew it…

I rose up from him, giving him space to sit up as well. He looked at me, and I was considering how to start. I couldn't just blurt out how I knew everything that was going to happen; he wouldn't believe me anyway.

"I'm worried." I finally said. "I went along Shepard to stop Saren and make him pay for what he did to Nihlus, but… the more we progress and learn about Sarens plan…." I stopped, thinking, choosing my words carefully. "This isn't just about some rouge Spectre who wiped out a human colony because of his hatred for that species. There's more to it, and I'm worried about where this might lead…" I said.

Ethenan moved closer and placed both hands on my shoulders, still silent, and it felt like he was twisting my arm. I knew he wasn't, but that man had a way of getting things out of me, and if I wasn't careful I would tell him everything.

"We have two major leads left; a research facility on Noveria that recently dropped out of contact, and a Salarian infiltration unit on Virmire requesting help. I have a bad feeling about both…"

I couldn't say more.

He placed a kiss on my cheek and then leaned his head against me.

"You have good instincts, Siha. You'll survive. I have no doubt in that." He said, rose from me and turned my head so he could look me in the eye.

"But you must stop trying to carry the galaxy on your shoulders. Sooner or later you will be crushed under its weight. You're part of a team now, and from what I hear, you've made some good friends there. Do not hesitate to approach them if you feel the need to talk. Lay your worries on them. I'm sure they will understand…"

He cupped my cheek and stroke it carefully with his thumb.

We sat there for a few more minutes, purring and rumbling low, caressing each other.

"How long before you must return to the ship?" he asked in a whisper, almost like he was afraid to break the peace we had gained again. I rose a little and opened my Omni-tool.

"Well, Shepard didn't know how long it was going to take with his errands, but he promised he would throw a message an hour before take-off, so everyone had time to get back." I said and checked my mail. The Drell moved a little closer, fingers skimming over my shoulder and abs.

"Anything?" he asked, head dipping to my skin.

"Nothing yet. Why do you ask…?"

I was interrupted when I was pulled back to lie on the mattress, and I barely had time to get my bearings before he crashed his lips on mine.

"Plenty of time…" he said low and husky.

Oh… That's why…

After those pleasurable hours in Ethenan's company I felt ready to take on anything the galaxy could throw at me, except maybe for the news that I was going to Noveria… with Wrex…

Shepard had announced it a few hours after we had left the Citadel. We were going to face some unknowns there and he wanted the best in both protection and brute strength, which were pretty much me and Wrex. I told Shepard that Liara had more biotic power than me, and Kaidan had more experience, and if he was looking for someone to take on targets from afar, Garrus was a sniper veteran compared to me.

But Shepard wouldn't listen to me.

He had made his decision and the only thing I could do was follow orders. Technically, I didn't really have to, but it would look rather suspicious if I started to say no after all this time of following Shepards lead.

I was thinking a great deal about Shepard's choice of team mates for this mission and wondered if he had some sort of insider knowledge, but as we reached the weapon detectors and Parasini, I understood partially why I had been taken along and not Liara.

Lady Benezia, Liara's mother, was here.

How could I have forgotten that? I thought to myself while we waited in the elevator. Liara would have been devastated if she had to kill her own mother and that was probably what Shepard had known before we got here. Now I felt bad for being one of them who had to kill Benezia and then tell Liara about it…

As we reached the floor and we stepped out, Wrex shivered.

"How can they stand this cold? I gotta find something to kill, so I can get my blood pumping again." he said while walking, and I just couldn't keep my mouth shut.

"There's more than one way to get your blood pumping, without having to kill." I said and he shot a look at me and then laughed deep and short.

"Ha! I knew you were attracted to me. Having difficulties keeping your hands away, huh?" he said and nudged an elbow into my shoulder, making me stumble. I groaned a little.

"I wasn't thinking me. But sure, who wouldn't have trouble keeping their hands from a hunk like you?" I said and in that moment we passed the two Turian guards outside Anoleis's office. Both shot a look back at me and I suddenly realized how that could have sounded out of context.

Wrex nudged me again, more gentle this time.

"I don't blame you, Shay. But maybe we should wait till we got back to the Normandy again, hm?" he said and winked me. I jabbed his arm, but took a professional expression when the door to Parasini's office opened. Wrex was still grinning, but I ignored him.

We got in to talk with Anoleis, but it was a waste of time. We got the lead about Lorik Quinn and went to talk with him. Lorik had always been difficult for me to figure out. He seemed like an honorable type, and yet he had such pleasant feeling about him that something had to be wrong. I always got mixed feelings when talking to him in the game, though I loved his many expressions and quotes from various humans. We agreed to help get the evidence from his computer, killed sergeant Sterling and went back to Lorik, but as we came closer I had a feeling he had done some research on me. He kept looking at me with a strange look in his eyes…

Once Shepard had convinced Lorik to testify, it was all just a matter of getting to the garage, kill the Geth Benezia had left behind and drive through a raging blizzard to Peak 15. No sweat, right?

I have a tendency to forget small details…

We had barely made it a kilometer away from Port Hanshan before a missile hit our barriers. Wrex was cheering in joy, as he finally had a chance to kill something even if it was from the safety of the Mako. His aim, however, wasn't anything to cheer about. Shepard got him off the gun and placed me there instead. He figured as a sniper I had the patience to take them down slowly and with each hit. Good thing Garrus had told me so much about the Mako and its range…

We killed a lot of Geth and thanks to my memory we were able to get them fast without too much damage to the Mako. Wrex was, however, beginning to itch for a fight, so he nearly roared with joy as we reached Peak 15 and went inside, almost instantly coming into fight with both Geth and other Krogans. With my biotics I could handle some of the Geth, but the Prime turned out to be too much for me to handle on my own. Good thing I had an eight-hundred pound Krogan and an Alliance N7 commanding officer to watch my back…

We reached the dining area where we quickly killed the Geth and then the sound hit. We crowded together, back to back and looked around.

"What was that?" I asked, searching around for any kind of movement.

"Probably debris. Don't get a heart attack, I'll protect you." Wrex said calmly, possibly thinking I was overreacting, but I honestly didn't like this. Knowing we were about to be attacked by the Rachni, didn't ease my already fast-beating heart…

A little green bug suddenly showed its face around a turned over table, and I reacted.

"Contact!" I yelled and shot the damn thing, only to have three more coming from the same place, and damn they were fast! Wrex and Shepard also began shooting, seeing them too. Shepard suddenly yelled and as I turned to see, a Rachni soldier was in mid-way jump towards us. I flared my biotics, caught the damn thing and tossed it over us, to Wrex who began shooting at it till it laid still and its light green blood colored the snow around it.

"What the hell is that?" Wrex asked once things had quiet down and we got time to catch our breaths. I went closer and opened my Omni-tool, checking files and data.

"I'm no xeno-biologist, and I've never seen anything like this before. Could be a new species, or a run-away experiment." I said and Shepard kneeled down beside me, looking the creature over as well.

"Whatever it is, it's dead now." He said and stood. "Come on, we gotta move."

We move to the other side of the dining room and found the elevator, but a few more of the Rachni soldiers attacked us before we reached it. They were quickly killed, but it was still scary as hell. Once we stood in the elevator, I looked over at Wrex and jabbed his arm. He looked at me while rubbing the point.

"Just debris, huh?" I said, referring to his comment earlier.

"How was I supposed to know?" he asked, still rubbing his upper arm. I snorted and crossed my arms.

"I thought you were used to expect the worst when on mission with Shepard. It's almost like he has a magnet for dragging in the unexpected…" I teased and Shepard glared over his shoulder slightly, but his smile told me more than his eyes.

The elevator stopped and just as the doors opened we got our eyes on the little horde of bugs on top of the stairs opposite the elevator. Once one of them had seen us, they all came running. It was a massacre…

We restored power to the VI main frame, Mira, and fixed everything to reach Rift Station, fighting off at least dozens of Rachni and Geth in the process. I seriously needed a shower once this was done…

I kind of liked Rift Station; the mission there, at least.

Instead of going in hard and shoot everything in sight, we formulated the cure and sneaked in the backdoor, soon facing Benezia. She was a bitch to take down…

Fighting the Commandos was tough and I took more than a few hits, and despite Benezia was getting drained quickly, she was still an immense opponent. It was hard to kill her, both because of her skills, but also because I knew who she was family to… Liara was going to hate us for this.

After fighting Benezia and killing the remains of her forces, Shepard went to have a closer look on the large insect queen Saren had been breeding. As expected, an Asari Commando suddenly stood up and walked to the cage, talking for the queen. A spooky, yet exciting experience…

"There are acids in those tanks. Set them off and get this over with." Wrex said quickly once we had spoken with the Rachni queen and she had asked Shepard what he would do with her. I gasped.

"No. Release her. You can't kill her based on what she is. Give her the chance to redeem herself." I said, hoping, mentally begging for Shepard to listen to me. I knew the Rachni would be powerful allies when the Reapers hit, though right there, I wasn't thinking about that.

Wrex turned towards me and growled a little.

"If he lets her go, the Rachni will attack again, and then the Krogans will be left with cleaning up the mess! Mark my words!" he said hard and pointed a finger at me, which made me growl.

"And if we kill her based on what might happen, we'll be thinking like the Salarian did during the Krogan rebellion!" I snapped back and went straight to his face, not even afraid of what could happen. I wanted to save the Rachni and honestly I wasn't thinking about my words. They just popped up…

Wrex stepped back, grumbling under his breath and we went back to Shepard who was still thinking. We all waited with baited breath.

"I won't condemn your entire species to death. You go free." He said and I sighed low in relief.

Thank you, Shep… I thought, but Wrex wasn't pleased. He was mad, no way around that, and I felt I was to blame for it.

With the Rachni queen free, all that was left was to set the purge in the hot labs and destroy the remaining of the crazy Rachni, before leaving Rift Station and getting back to Port Hanshan. Wrex was silent the entire way back, not even complaining about the cold. Damnit! Why did I have to be the one on this mission, and why did I have to open my damn mouth?!

But… it had been the right thing to do…

Hadn't it?

Back on the Normandy the tension was easily detected by Garrus. I decided to stay clear of the hangar for a while, hoping the next few missions Shepard had arranged would cool off the red armored Krogan.

If he was mad at me, that is…

I decided not to take the chance and spent as little time as possible down there, but there was only so much I could do for the others, so I did something I hadn't thought I would do in that situation…

I went to Kaidan.

He was working as usual when I came over. He saw me quickly, approaching me as I looked like I had either lost a dear friend or was close to tears.

"Shay? You okay?" he asked, hands beginning to reach for me, but he stopped. I rubbed my neck, not looking at him.

"Honestly? I don't know…" I said. He laid a hand on my shoulder.

"Why don't we take a seat?" He motioned to the chairs and I nodded.

It wasn't going to make this easier, but it was worth a shot.

"I…" I started, but decided that was not the best way to go. Actually, I didn't how to go… "What's your impression of Wrex?" I finally asked and could see the confusion in his face. He thought a little.

"He's an okay guy, once you get under his armor. Full of stories… but, I wouldn't want to be on his bad side. He means serious business." Kaidan said and it made me swallow a little. I hadn't considered that…

"You know what happened on Noveria?"

"Besides the fact that you and he were fighting alongside Shepard and released the Rachni upon the galaxy? No, not really." He said and I set to explain a little more detailed about what had happened and what had been said.

I needed some advice to approach Wrex again, but I was beginning to doubt Kaidan could even help. Still, it felt good to have someone just listening to me for once. He just sat there and let me talk, let me empty my worries upon him and when I was done, he sat there thinking.

"I don't know if I can help, Shay. I've never dealt with a Krogan like this before." He said and it made me huffed with a smile.

"Yeah… me neither…"

A hand was gently placed on my back.

"Hey, if you two are as good friends as I think you are, he'll come around. Just give him some time." Kaidan said, moving a little closer to me. I wasn't thinking about it as I really was more worried about Wrex and my friendship with him. I liked the big old Krogan, and the few times we had sparred or just talked had been priceless to me. I had learned so much! To lose all of that over one stupid decision… I couldn't bear the thought.

However, I smiled to Kaidan.

"Yeah. I guess that is the best I can do right now. Thanks…" I looked at him and he nodded with a small smile. I'm pretty sure he would have wanted to either do or say something, when a voice suddenly cleared and we looked up at Williams.

"I'm… not interrupting, am I?" she asked with a lifted brow. I rose up from my seat.

"Not at all. I just needed to talk and Kaidan was kind enough to lend me an ear." I said calmly, not even embarrassed or uncomfortable. There had been nothing going on anyway, so why should I?

"Right…" she said with that I-don't-really-believe-you tone.

I shook my head lightly, and then turned to Kaidan.

"I'll let you get back to work, but thank you."

"Anytime, Shay." He said and then I left, but before I was completely out of hearing range I overheard Ashley.

"So? She just needed to talk, huh?" she said and you could actually hear the smirk in her voice. Again I shook my head. If she thought there was anything going on between me and Kaidan, she was dead wrong! And so was anyone else…