And thus, another chapter begins. I love this chapter, and some surprises are in store! Also, hot lovin not even one word past the start of the story, so enjoy it. ::Grin::
This will be a loooong one. Forgive any errors. I don't have time to re-read it. Point out some errors in PM if you want me to fix them, and it will be done. :)
"Jane..."
She loved the urgency in that growl, just as much as the loved the fact that he was very clearly trying to keep his hands off her. She wondered it if was instinct, some predatory fear that prevented him from taking things further. Or, if he was actually be a gentleman.. Or gentle Turian as the case may be. It didn't do much for her sheets, on the other hand. The sound of ultra durable cloth ripping under the pressure of his talons never failed to set her hips to squirming, mostly because of the fact that she knew exactly how much strain it could withstand before it did tear, no matter how sharp the claws might have been.
That, along with the purring growl of her name was enough to tell her that he was enjoying himself. The fact that his cock throbbed against her tongue when she traced it slowly along the thick tip, and his back arched when she squeezed her fingers tightly around the shaft was simple confirmation that she was driving him crazy. Sparkling green eyes focused on the turian as he squirmed in pleasurable torment on her bed, her body pressed against his legs a she knelt at the edge of the bed, keeping him pinned as she parted her lips fully to slide him into her mouth. She knew that if he had actually wanted to kick her off that he was more than able to do so, but she knew as well as he did that he didn't want to move more than was required for his hips to squirm and buck slightly when she applied gentle suction.
She was fully dressed, and he was not dressed at all. She was heading out to the Citadel in fifteen minutes, but the sight of him sleeping so soundly after they had spent the night nearly assaulting each other had filled her with an urge that she had never had with any of her past lovers. Some part of her had almost felt it was degrading for someone of her military history to submit so far to any man, afraid that they would think less of her and spread the word to their friends about how they had gotten a blow-job from Commander Jane Shepard. With Garrus, it was different. Nothing between them was wrong, even if other would not see it that way. Nothing that she did for him or with him would ever make her feel less than she was, and she knew that he would never think less of her. In all honesty, the very fact that he had done the same for her not ten seconds after stripping her armor off on their first night together? It was something that still made her almost giddy when she thought of it. A turian bad ass, the illusive and dangerous Archangel on his knees just because he had wanted to make her squirm.
And now, it was her turn. Not that this was the first time she had done this. A surprise for him, after a visit to Mordin where she had (red faced the whole time) requested an allergy test for levo/dextro compatibility, that had left him panting and wide eyed in the middle of a shower. Payback, he had called it. And just like when they had returned to her cabin after his little sparing match with Thane, she was all too happy to dish out just as much as she could take.
"Jane, do you even have.. Ahh!"
Shutting him up was easy enough, when she squeezed the bluish purple length again firmly while sliding her lips further over the head until her lips met her hand. Closing her eyes as she savored the rapid pace of his breathing, the clicking purrs that mingled with throaty growls of pleasure, and the fact that his taste was like nothing she had ever known before. After her first taste, she had decided it was very much to her liking. Salty, with just a touch of sweet mingled with an almost metallic undertone that made her tongue literally tingle when the first trickle of precum started to flow as his back arched up from the bed, his his hands pulling at the sheets once more. A little hum leaving her her as she suckled firmly, bobbing her head in steady up and down motions that he gradually started to match with the light thrust of his hips on every downward stroke.
He was beyond questions now, and she knew it. The pace of her hand increased its stroke along the length of him, and it was only the growls from this turian she adored that drowned out the soft sucking sounds that came from her lips and the throbbing length between them. Turian women didn't do this normally, not without horrifying their mates. Their teeth, and less flexible mouths allowed only for tongue play for the brave. But the fact that she was able to not only take him into her mouth like this, but most often seemed intent on swallowing him whole when she did so drove him crazy.
And he never lasted long, just like now. Something else she couldn't complain about, certainly not when his hips arched upward and her name was ripped from his throat in a growling moan that was her only warning before her mouth was filled with the hot flood of his release. This taste was different as well. Stronger, slightly sweeter, and abundant to say the least. Her eyes opened to focus on his face and the writhing arch of his body as each thick pulse of his cock against her tongue bathed the inside of her mouth in the flavor of him. Never selfish with him and certainly having no complaints, Shepard swallowed again and again until she felt the pulsing ease and her mate slowly begin to relax. Even then she was slow to withdraw, gently sucking her way back to the tip as if to gather every drop she could before she swiped her tongue over the ridged head while watching the quick rise and fall of his chest. More than once, this way of ending him had led them back into bed.
And if she did not have an appointment in the Citadel, she would have climbed up onto the bed with him and ridden him until one or the other dropped from exhaustion. But she did, and duty called so she smoothed her dress uniform easily with both hands as she watched him recover himself. Aside from the plating, he could have passed for a cat who had just been given a large bowl of cream; she could almost see him rolling around on the bed purring in delight. It drew a small smirk to her lips as she folded her arms across her chest. "Well, I do at least follow the saying 'To the victor go the spoils,'" she commented, flushing slightly as she ran her tongue over her lips and discovered that some of him had lingered. What was it about him that sometimes made her feel like a damned school girl with her first lover?
Oh right. She actually loved him.
His rasping chuckle rumbled through him as he raised his head to look at her. She could see the way his eyes moved over her body in the dress uniform she wore. It hugged her curves in all the right places without being anywhere near 'slutty', and the sharp black over white coloring made for a nice contrast to her darker skin tone. Not Cerberus any longer, that crest had been removed in favor of one for her Alliance rank. She had started Alliance, and would always be Alliance deep down even if they had (just like everyone else) kicked her when she was literally down.
"Hm... And what if I had lost?" he asked, propping himself up on one elbow as he watched her check her hair to make sure everything was in order.
Smirking, she leaned over to kiss him lightly on his scarred mandible (something she did more often than not to show him that it did not bother her) before she patted his plated chest lightly. "I wasn't talking about you. I would think you realized how much of a winner I felt like watching that little display." Grinning as his mandibles fluttered in amusement, she drew away from him and headed towards the door. "Meet me on the Presidium for lunch. I wouldn't mind some real food before we ship out again."
"How much?"
Jacob raised one eyebrow as the question was presented, his eyes focused on the retreating form of Commander Shepard as she headed towards the elevator. Zaeed sat beside him, watching the same thing with his normal stoic, hard ass merc expression even if there was a bit of a smirk on his lips. They had both watched as Commander Shepard had come down from her cabin. Had both watched her walk over to Rupert. And both watched as she asked for nothing more than a cup of coffee before heading off for her appointment on the Citadel. "I don't know if that's something I want to be betting on, Zaeed. If the Commander found out..."
"Bah. It's not like we're actually betting on whether or not she getting nailed by the Turian. I'm just betting that he'll be coming down any minute now that she's out of her cabin," the old mercenary groused unhappily. It made Jacob shake his head, mostly because he knew as well as Zaeed did that the Commander and Garrus had taken to following a pattern even if they didn't know it. While they did not come down together, likely to keep their relationship... Well, not hidden, but running silent at least, they always left the same way. One would come down, and no less than fifteen minutes later the other would come down. Shepard sometimes looked just a little flushed, and Garrus... Garrus just seemed a little less uptight than he had after first coming onto the Normandy. It was something that could have been attributed to the fact that they had beaten the Collectors, if everyone on board wasn't 90% certain that he was sleeping with Shepard.
"I'm not that much of a sucker," Jacob commented as they lost sight of the Commander, his attention returning to the plate of food in front of him. "You know as well as I do that he'll be coming down. It's not as if they're really trying all that hard to hide anything, and it's not our business. This isn't an Alliance ship."
"Yeah, yeah. No regs against it, I get it. I don't have a problem with it, you know," he commented as he took a bite of his own food. The old merc, who had just recently started to share his morning meal with Jacob. The trading of war stories between the two of them, while a bit lopsided in Zaeed's favor due to simple age and experience, seemed to be enough to draw him out of his hiding place in the cargo bays. "I remember this one turian woman that I partnered with for a while..."
Just the start of this little tail was enough to have the ex Cerberus operative pausing in mid bite to focus his eyes on the merc. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to hear this story, but something kept him from interrupting. Morbid curiosity more than anything else made him listen as Zaeed started to recount a time when he had been paired with a turian explosives specialist and a young Krogan to take out a weapons factory in his younger days.
"The mission pulled off without a hitch, but out extraction shuttled as spaced and we were stuck down on the planet for a week. The idiot Krogan got himself blown in half five minutes into the mission, so it was just me and her." He shrugged, as he continued his meal while reciting the memory. As he often did, he seemed to drift off into the past a bit when he told it, not without a little pride in his voice. "She made the first move. Up to then, I had never considered fucking anything that wasn't human or asari at least. But when she started purring in my ear, I didn't care that she was turian..."
The story was cut short when the blue armored figure of Garrus came strolling around the corner into the mess. Jacob's eyes were drawn to him, and Zaeed simply grinned to himself as he finished off his plate of food. Neither man missed the fact that the turian seemed in an especially good mood, but neither one commented on it as he made his way over to the Rupert. His breakfast was a bit more substantial than what Shepard had requested, though neither man could make heads of tails of what exactly it was on the plate he brought over to their table. "Mind if I join you?"
"Feel free," Zaeed replied gruffly, waving absently to the seat across from them. Garrus nodded as he set the plate down and started eating the redish green meat mixed with an oddly purple plant that may or may not have been a vegetable.
Jacob and Zaeed both eyed him in silence for a long moment, to which he almost seemed oblivious for a long moment before speaking up, startling Jacob a bit just with the fact that he had heard that part of the conversation. "There are few things in this galaxy as arousing as a purring turian woman, are there, Zaeed?"
Jacob groaned, Zaeed laughed, and Garrus grinned as he thought about the one woman who he considered to be far more arousing than even the most melodiously purring turian.
Typical. Just typical. The Council had been handed information on a platter, and they would say nothing more than 'It will be reviewed. We will send you more information as soon as we reach a decision.' Lazy, bureaucratic fucks. Jack would have been proud of the language running through her mind as she stormed out of the elevator. They could think she was crazy all she wanted, she expected it now. But to so simply brush aside simple information from a source that everyone trusted to be accurate, though not always legal? It was pure stupidity. She was seething, and was glad Garrus was not there to break her good pissed off mood, because she wanted something to vent on.
"Shepard? Is that you?"
You've got to be fucking kidding me.
Heading towards her, looking good in his molder uniform, was the man with a dark pair of eyes that she had allowed herself to get lost in at one time. He didn't seem to have changed much at all. The same build, the same clean shaven face, the same smile, the same... Hair. Ugh. When was he going to change that hair cut? Even after Horizon, she almost felt enough pity to tell him how ridiculous it actually looked on him. Maybe on someone else it would have been fine, but not on him. It simply clashed with his clean cut military lifestyle.
Stopping almost against her will, she turned to fully face Alinko with a small sigh parting her lips. He seemed more confident that he ever had back on the SR1. There was no hesitation in his step, and there was something in the way he carried himself that she understood. It was the walk of someone who was in command, and knew what to do with that responsibility. The fact that he was smiling at her, as if Horizon had never happened was grating on her nerves. She gave him only a curt nod of greeting. "Kaiden."
"I heard you had made it back from the Omega Relay," he said as he stopped only about two steps away from her. "I was.. Relieved, you know? I wanted the chance to make sure that..."
"Look, Kaiden..."
"Please, I wanted to make sure that what I said on Horizon was not the last thing I said to you," he cut her off, seeming unaware of the fact that doing so had caused her jaw to tighten. "I realize that a lot of what I said was out of line. I know you, Shepard. I know that you wouldn't do anything unless you felt it was the right thing to do. But you have to see things from my point of view..."
She placed her hand on her forehead for a moment as she listened to him talk. The words she expected to hear, and some she didn't care to hear. 'Forgive me' 'Cerberus' 'Still care' 'Another chance'.
It was the last one that caused her head to whip back up to him, her eyes blazing with such heat that even as confident as he was now, he was forced to take a step back. "Another chance? I was dead Kaiden. I wasn't on vacation, and I wasn't trying to avoid you. I died, spaced, a frozen corpse that burned up in the atmophere of a frozen planet along with twenty other crewmen from the Normandy. I know that two years passed, but it didn't feel like two years to me. It was like minutes had passed, and when I see you again, expecting some warmth at least, you blow me off and basically call me a traitor!" He looked like he had been punched in the gut, and she was glad for it. He deserved it.
"Everyone else, Kaiden, everyone else that I've met from the old crew trusted me. They knew who I was, and they knew why I was with Cerberus. Tali, Chakwas, Joker, Wrex... Garrus." Her voice softened on the last one, but her eyes grew hard again when she focused her anger on him. "But you, you were so high on the belief that I had somehow betrayed you that you closed your mind to everything I said. You acted like a child, the one who should have jumped at the chance to be at my side again..!"
Her last word was muffled when he stepped close to her and pulled her against him. Body to body, mouth to mouth. He was kissing her, and seemed desperate to prove that there was something between them worth saving. Not just her mind knew how wrong it was. He was strong, but he was soft. There was not plating, his lips were far too soft, his taste was... Wrong. Her heart, her mind, and her body knew that there was nothing left in her for this man. He wasn't Garrus.
For his efforts, all he received was a solid punch in the jaw. To his credit he didn't fall over, but she had not really put all that much effort into it. She was winded, and she was furious as he raised his eyes to her. He looked like a freshly scolded puppy, and she opened her mouth to speak...
The flash of blue that overtook the human was not expected, nor was the snarling hiss that followed it. Shepard blinked when she realized what was happening. Her heart was very much in her throat when she watched Garrus slam the human biotic against the nearest wall, and using one hand was lifting him off the ground. She had not seen a look of murder in his eyes like that even when he had tracked down Sidonis, and not seen such a raw display of strength from a turian since Sarren had lifted her off her feet in much the same way just before the nuke had gone off on Virmire. The flutter of appreciation that came from her lower belly was forced firmly into the background when she yelled out his name. "Garrus! Stand down!"
Not that it mattered, even if he had heard her. The fact was that, for every other flaw he had, Kaiden was an amazingly powerful biotic and knew very well how to handle himself in close combat. Even as he struggled for breath, his body flared with blue light a moment before it enveloped the enraged turian and sent him flying across the walkway until he almost fell over the bridge into the water below. The fact that he managed to catch himself was a momentary victory, because even as he regained his balance another wave of blue energy slammed into him and sent him sliding across the bridge. A furious Kaiden stalked towards him, only to be stopped when Shepard stepped between him and the recovering turian.
Having her standing between them caused both men to stop, neither one willing to risk hurting her. And while Shepard was well aware of the fact that there were various people watching in awe of the rare display of violence so close to the Council Chambers, the two of them seemed oblivious as they stared each other down. "What the hell, Garrus? The is between me and Shepard! It has nothing to do with..."
"It has everything to do with me, you soft bellied son of a varren bitch!"
Both humans were stunned to stillness by the words that came out of the turian's mouth, which allowed him time to close the distance between them. Leaving Shepard between them, because he knew she would give him no other choice, he jabbed his finger into the annoying male's face. "You walked away from her. You ignored the fact that she basically invited you back into her life. You turned your back on everything she's fighting for. And you have lost any right you might have had to her." He could hardly contain his rage, and had he not feared hurting Shepard in the process, he would have torn into the male again. "I am tired of you! I swear, Alinko, if you ever lay a hand on her again I'll give it back to you in a fucking jar, do you understand?"
How dare he? After everything he had done, how dare he even think he had the right to kiss her? The pain he had felt when he had turned the corner to see the two of them kissing had been horrendous. As if his entire world had been torn apart and left in some alley to rot. He had not felt such horrible loss since she had died, and it was by the grace of whatever Ancestor watched over him that he had remained still long enough to watch as his mate slugged the man for it. She had not wanted it, and his elation in that had quickly turned to rage at the fact that Kaiden had touched her at all. And to presume that Garrus had no right to interfere? His blood was boiling, and even with Shepard between them his hands flexed within armored gloves over and over again with the desire to wring his neck.
"Garrus!" Her voice drew his attention, and the press of her hand into the armor that covered his chest soothed him. But only a little. "It's all right. I think he gets the point..." She yanked her head to the side, directing his gaze to C-sec officers that had gathered to investigate the disturbance. With a simple warning growl towards Kaiden again, he calmed himself as much as he could. But he did not move an inch. If she thought he was going to simply back down and walk away, she was wrong. Well, as long as she didn't put on her Commander Shepard no questions asked voice and order him to walk away.
Thankfully, she did not. Instead, she turned to Kaiden who was watching the turian with dark eyes wary of another attack. When it was obvious that no attack was forthcoming, he focused his gaze on Shepard again. "I'm sorry, Shepard... I shouldn't have kissed you. But, you have to know that I still feel a lot for you. I want another chance to prove it, to be like it was before you.. Died."
Was he really that blind? How had Shepard ever considered this man a possible mate? Even across species it should have been obvious, but then again humans did have the bad habit of ignoring important things. Like the fact that another growl rose in Garrus' throat when the idea of Shepard taking him back was even mentioned. Shepard answered quickly enough, however. "No, Kaiden. I'm sorry, but there is no chance. I've... Move on. We can be comrades, even friends, but there is no way."
Tell him, Shepard.
Crestfallen as he was, Shepard gave him a pat on the shoulder. Sympathy, and the true desire to remain friends with him. But nothing more than that before she turned to walk away, taking a hold Garrus' arm to pull him with her. It wasn't until they almost reached the bridge that Alinko called out behind them again. "Please, Shepard. Tell me. Anything. Isn't there anything?"
Say it, Jane. He needs to know. I need to know what you think we are.
She paused, and the male at her side watched as she faced the human again. A smile played over her lips for a moment, before she shook her head slowly. "Be Garrus."
Warm and fuzzy was not exactly how she was feeling right now. Even her confession to Kaiden that her heart belonged to the turian beside her had not helped her mood at all. After the shock had passed, his defeated gaze lingered on her for a moment before he had simply nodded and walked away. Walked away from her, again.
Was this what would always happen? When things got tough, when life took an unexpected turn, could she expect everyone she cared about to simply walk away from her because they may or may not have agreed with her choices? What change would happen that could make Garrus leave her? She had never expected her life to be simple, and it never had been. Nothing was constant. Her crew changed, her mission changed, her allies changed, even her ship changed. But the very idea that Garrus might...
"I never have agreed with your letting Sedonis go," the resounding voice of her lover said beside her as they walked. The words were enough to make her pause her steps, and look up at him with her brows drawn together in concern. He stopped when she did, and turned to face her fully. "I understood your reasons, and I understand why you didn't want me to do it. I don't hold it against you, but there is still this little voice in my head that tells me I should have taken the shot. Ten of my men, Shepard. Ten of them died because of him, and you would not let me take the shot."
She felt her guts twisting into knots as he looked down at her. She could see that something haunted him, and he was still angry. Because of that? She didn't know, but her lack of words did not stop him from continuing.
"And when you found me on Omega, and I learned that you had joined Cerberus. I couldn't understand it, knowing the things they had done. And the number of times that we, as a team, had clashed with them because of the laws they had broken and lives they had destroyed. I couldn't understand it." Stepping closer to her, he reached out with one hand to slide his fingers through her hair slowly as predatory blues locked with confused and concerned green. "But like I said then, I trust you. I trust you to know that what you are doing it right, even if I don't agree with it right away. Even if, now, I still don't understand some of your choices."
She couldn't help it, and couldn't stop the swelling within her chest as she looked up at him, and understood what he was trying to tell her. But he wasn't finished, and before she could speak, he started to growl. "And I will never walk away from you like he has. I will never turn my back on what we share, Shepard. You're not just my Commanding officer. You're not just my lover, or my friend, or someone that I trust. You are all of those things, and you are more. You are my mate." The last word was spoken with such passion that she found herself in awe of the feeling he was expressing to her. "My body, my heart, and the essence that makes me who I am I have given to you. I am never walking away from you, Shepard. Someone will have to kill me first." His mandibles flared just a bit, a small, amused grin as he cupped the side of her face. "Even if that someone is you."
Repeating the words of their bond, she found it hard to see for a moment as mist covered her eyes. Resisting the desire to break down into tears in the middle of the Citadel had never been a problem before now. She was dully aware of the light buzzing of conversation around them. Obviously, some people had heard what was being said between them, and more than one turian was watching in open shock at the words Garrus had just said to her. And while she knew he must have been aware of them as well, his gaze did not for one moment waver from her. A small snort left her at his last words, and she reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. More surprised murmurs and even one cry of disgust reaching her as she slipped her fingers easily over his fringe. An action which caused him to release a throaty purring growl as his hands found her hips.
To hell with rumors. To hell if everyone knows, she thought as she pressed her lips to the side of his scarred mandible. I love this damned Turian.
"When I heard that you were on the Citadel, I decided I would track you down while I was here," a voice came from beside them. She instantly felt Garrus go stiff against her, and curious she turned her eyes to face the turian male beside them. He was older, as was obvious by the faded color of his plates and the slightly dull state of his fringe. But he carried himself with an air of someone who was all important, and his eyes were focused on the two standing in front of him, the distaste in his voice obvious as he continued. "I did not expect to find you in the arms of a human, however."
You've got to be...
"Father," she heard Garrus rumbled from beside her, seeming less than pleased with his being there.
...fucking kidding me...
Mwhahahahaha. I love the end of this chapter. Actually, I just like the whole chapter. I liked writing it. Garrus being all one arm lifting Eraser Head? I snickered while writing it.
Anyhoo... My lady is coming to visit me this long weekend, so not more writing until next week. One reason this chapter is so long, leaving you with something to read. :-p Have a great 4th for those who calibrate ( ::Snicker fit:: ) it out there! ::Sets off fireworks!::