Neross: See what happens when I finally get a beta reader and mega awesome reviews? I actually update much faster. But seriously you should all be thanking Spyke1985. She is now officially my muse. Okay. Anyway. New chapter ahoy.

Warning: This fanfiction may contain foul language, violence, adult situations, and sexual situations. Enjoy!

Beta'd By: Spyke1985

Beta's Note: Neross, you're freaking awesome. I love you so hard. XD

…

After his trip to C-SEC headquarters, Jaksus decided to take a more meandering route back to the apartment, puzzling over what he'd learned. He supposed he should have been focusing on whether or not to call off Maria's spa day, but he already had an idea of how he wanted to handle that little dilemma. And to be honest, the more he put off actually thinking about his plan, the longer he could tell himself it hadn't been a selfish decision based entirely upon the sight of Maria in that white bathing suit Corina had put her in earlier.

Instead, the ruddy turian turned his mind to his friend's assignment with the Council's poster boy for the Spectres. He hated to admit it, but even if he hadn't decided on what to do about Maria, the presence of the bare-faced, turian, icon would still have weighed heavy in his mind. He knew Tchaolin's work with the Spectre was none of his business, but that didn't stop the cold chill of dread that had settled at the base of Jaksus' spine.

Every turian without his head shoved into the ground knew who Saren Arterius was. Or at least what he had done. He was a decorated hero of the Relay 314 incident, and savior of Palaven itself. The public still didn't have most of the details, but everyone knew that Saren had gone against his brother when the man had gone insane and threatened Palaven's safety. What's more, he'd blown up one of the most sacred places for the whole of the turian race in order to save their home world… And killed his brother in the process. It wasn't long after that when he was named a Spectre, the youngest one to ever be admitted into the ranks.

Since then, Saren had gone on to become the pride of Palaven and now the pride of the Council. He was quickly becoming one of the most decorated Spectres of all time. And his presence on the Citadel was concerning. Jaksus could only hope that whatever his business was, it had nothing to do with him. Or Maria.

It took him awhile to return to his apartment building and right away he could tell something was… Off. There was a volus and a pair of asari coming out the front entry when he arrived, all of them slung over each other and giggling in a drunken haze. Normally that sort of sight wouldn't really have fazed the C-SEC regular… But since he not only didn't recognize the asari as anyone who lived in the building… And there were no volus tenants either, Jaksus felt his stomach clench in anticipation of an unpleasant discovery.

He rushed up to his floor, tapping his foot impatiently when the elevator seemed to take too long to get there. The second the elevator doors opened Jaksus heard the throbbing bass associated with loud music… And felt the spark of anger growing in him coalesce into a raging flame. He took two steps out and quickly spotted the two laughing salarians, hanging out by the door to his apartment. His mandibles flickered in anger and he growled as he pushed his way past them into the dark, noisy, crowded din that had become of his apartment.

What he noticed instantly was the amount of aliens that had managed to squeeze into what was HIS space. What's more he could easily see A'Garr laughing in the middle of the living room, surrounded by a group of humans and asari who seemed to be chanting something along the lines of 'Go!'. Jaksus could literally feel the anger cement into a ball of tense muscle at his back and vowed to strangle a certain little red-headed human when he finally found her in this crowd of insane people.

He pushed his way past the crowd by the door, which seemed to be mostly made up of salarians and turians. He didn't bother to apologize as he literally shoved his way through the next group in his way that was entirely elcor, and finally squeezed his way into the chanting group of humans and asari surrounding A'Garr. The krogan was apparently being cheered on in a drinking contest between himself and an older asari of all things. If Jaksus hadn't have known better he might've said the blue-skinned woman was a matriarch… But the Turian shook off the idea and elbowed his way in to the competitor's little circle to "gently" nudge A'Garr on the shoulder.

The crowd booed as the contest was interrupted and the big purple Krogan glared at the ruddy Turian whose glare was equally as impressive. "Where the fuck is Maria?!" Jaksus practically yelled, trying desperately to be heard over the blaring music. The Krogan grinned, thumbed the furious C-SEC agent in the direction of Jaksus' and now Maria's bedroom, then swiftly returned to his drinking game. A'Garr downed another shot of what Jaksus suspected was ryncol and the crowd cheered as the Asari across from him grinned at the continued challenge.

Jaksus rolled his eyes, and pushed his way back out of the crowd as they resumed their chanting and haphazardly made his way to his bedroom. He found Maria there alright, but when he caught sight of her the turian could actually feel his anger and annoyance turn to pure rage. Maria was sitting on their bed… But she was practically in the lap of not only Nava, but the damn saleswoman from earlier. Corina, if he remembered correctly. The three of them were leaning against the headboard of the bed as Maria emphatically waved her hands around as she talked on excitedly about SOMETHING to a captive audience of a hanar, two batarians, a turian, a couple of humans, and a drell of all things.

Jaksus stormed into the group, pushing both a human and a batarian out of the way to get to his frustrating ward. He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt and dragged her from the bed and promptly settled her in his arms. Maria turned a bright red color and stared up at him in surprise as he shot her a dark look, turned on his heel and stalked promptly from the room.

He found it much easier to get out of the apartment than it had been to get in, although he had a feeling that was partly due to the irregular sight he made carrying the tiny human. The groups seemed to part before him and stared openly as he made for the exit. He left the apartment, and carried Maria to the elevator. As he turned and elbowed the button for the lobby he could see both the green quarian and the asari saleswoman frantically following. The Turian glared at them both, and used his omni-tool to hack the elevator controls and shut the door in their face. Only then did Jaksus set Maria down and dare to turn his furious gaze upon her.

"I am only going to ask you this once Maria… What gave you the insane idea that I would be okay with you throwing a party at our apartment? Let alone one of that size. For the sake of the spirits there were batarians there, Maria! What if they were there as part of another plot to kill you?!" It frightened him to know that it was fear and jealousy laced into his anger. He wanted to strangle the pale, little human beside him… And he also wanted to lock her away in a room with him so no one else could ever touch her.

He felt as if he was going insane. The idea was almost confirmed when she looked at him with her big blue eyes, with slightly red cheeks, and bit her lip in a nervous display. "I'm sorry Jaksus. Really. I am! But I only had one or two drinks and A'Garr, Nava, and Corina were there so-"

"Corina is a store clerk we met TODAY. Nava is a quarian you've known for less than a week and A'Garr was in the other room drinking down ryncol like it was water. If I hadn't shown up who knows what could have happened! Did you even think about how this could impact your position with the Council?" Jaksus went on, lecturing her and using her as a channel for his inner turmoil. It wasn't fair… He knew that. But he also didn't think it was fair of her to look that happy with Nava's arm slung around her shoulders.

Maria began to wring her hands and her eyes became slightly glassy as she tried, desperately, to defend herself from Jaksus' verbal assault. "I'm…I'm sorry. It's just…Corina called me and asked if we could hang out and… And I haven't really had a chance to talk to an asari, so I asked A'Garr if it'd be alright if she came by for a bit. Only she brought this friend with her and we ended up playing this new track Corina had bought. And then Nava showed up excited because he'd found a good job and Corina said we should celebrate.

Then the next thing I know, there's a bunch of people and they're all drinking and I tried to tell them that it wasn't a good idea to have a party, but Corina said that I should just relax and have some fun, so I just ended up talking and talking and no one even told me the time and I got distracted by this conversation about the ethics of the compact between the drell and hanar and I just I got so caught up I didn't notice the other people and I'm sorry I'm just… I'm really sorry."

As Maria went on Jaksus could see the way her resolve broke down, her dark blue eyes turned watery and vivid… Like a true sea… And she began to pull on her hair as big droplets began to fall from her eyes. All Jaksus could think about was how he knew how she felt… That chaotic and out-of-control feeling…Because those were the same feelings raging inside of him. Just as the elevator hit the ground floor Jaksus shoved his omni-tool against the elevator controls once more and the whole thing simply stopped as he cut the elevator's power. The lights dimmed, but didn't extinguish completely and Maria looked around at the dying power then at him in confusion and just the tiniest amount of fear.

He hated the fear. He wanted it to go away. He wanted everything to go away. So he let out a sigh, took Maria by the wrist and dragged her down with him as he collapsed against the elevator wall and sunk to the floor. He held her in the inescapable but gentle grip he'd grown used to using with her and stared her in the eyes, needing her to see the turmoil inside him.

He tried his best to make his voice even. He tried very… Very hard, not to sound like he was drowning. "Maria… Damn it all… I wish I could just stay mad at you. I wish I could hate you the way I used to hate your entire species. You… You don't make this easy… You don't make anything easy. When I'm around you, I feel like I'm constantly trying to catch my breath."

The human tried to stifle her tears and took in a deep shuddering breath as she used the heel of the hand he'd left free to brush away the salty streaks left on her cheeks. "I'm sorry-" she began and he snapped his eyes back to her, his expression almost dark.

"Damnit stop apologizing!" He yelled, immediately regretful that he had, worried she'd only cry more.

Instead the petite human stopped crying, went silent, and glared daggers at him. "Well what the hell do you want me to say then?!" She cried back, her voice actually lowering a register as she grew angry with him. "I'm not good at this sort of thing! I don't know how to politely tell an entire room full of various aliens to get the hell out! Most of the time I don't even know how to say 'no' to humans when it's socially correct! In case you hadn't noticed, I'm a bit socially inept! And apparently that's something that translates across species cultural lines!"

Jaksus rose his brows in surprise and actually had to fight hard not to smile, his mandibles twitching as a result. "Well… You could just tell them to 'get the hell out'. I'm pretty sure that that means the same thing to all species." Jaksus told her.

Maria glared firmly at him and slapped him in the shoulder, "Don't laugh at me, it's not funny damnit!"

Jaksus let out a heavy breath and caught her other wrist and dragged her forward a bit more so she'd stop trying to push him away. "I'm not laughing at you Maria. I just think you're a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. I've seen you stand up to people in situations that most would find far more threatening than this and put them in their place… While drunk once might I add. You are far more capable than you realize."

Maria stopped struggling and looked at him as if unsure how to respond. He let go of her wrists and simply let them lay where he left them. She stared at him for a long time, looking very much as if she was warring with something within… Before she suddenly got up on her knees. She leaned forward and before Jaksus could stop her… Or more accurately before he could remind himself that he should, he found her very soft lips pressed against his mouth, at the very edge of his mandible.

He lost the feeling in the rest of his body and soon took another action that he figured he'd regret.

…

It was an impulse. That was what Maria told herself. If she hadn't have had those two glasses of wine earlier, she probably would have never had the nerve to do it. Although Jaksus made her feel as if she would have regardless. She knew she was stepping over a line, she knew she was doing something that could probably ruin everything for her. But she felt bold… And decided she no longer cared.

She made a mental note to herself to write down later that because turians had no lips, kissing one was very much like kissing a large bird on the beak. Well… Mouth closed at least. She was going to draw away, contemplate what it would feel like to feel a turian's tongue with hers… Well one particular turian's tongue anyway, when Jaksus took her by the shoulders and promptly answered her question.

His tongue was longer than hers, thinner, pointed at the end… And warm. His mandibles tickled her jaw as he pried apart her lips gently with his mouth. She could feel sharp teeth… A reminder that their origins had been different… That turians were descended from predators. Which explained the aggression she felt in his kiss. She'd never been kissed that way before… Which honestly went without saying, after all she'd never kissed a species without fleshy lips before.

But it went beyond that, down to the very way Jaksus took claim of her. His normal grip had changed, becoming almost painful in the way he held onto her. By the time he finally let her go and pulled away, she was at a loss for breath and was feeling incredibly wobbly. She was only on her knees but suddenly even that wasn't really enough to support her. So she fell back on her heels and gazed up at her bodyguard and roommate wide-eyed and flabbergasted.

After a moment she licked her lips and then touched them when she found them slightly sore. It took her a minute but her cheeks were soon aflame as the reality of what had just happened hit her. Incredibly she let out brief giggle, which she caught, by clapping her hand over her mouth. She looked up at Jaksus and found him gazing at her with one brow raised, and found herself giggling again.

The turian sighed… But there was something of a smile there. Or so Maria thought, she hoped she was getting better at reading Turian expressions, but the truth was she still had a hard time discerning acute facial reactions. Jaksus reached out and wiped away the last remnants of tears from her cheeks and Maria's blush deepened at the soft intimacy she felt at his touch.

Jaksus' mandible flickered but he said nothing and simply moved his hands away to straighten the collar of her shirt and then to smooth out her hair. She held perfectly still as he did so, though she felt as if her whole body was shaking. "I…I um…" Maria stuttered, suddenly at a loss for words.

Jaksus grinned openly and Maria thought she detected just a hint of wickedness in his smile. "Well now… I finally figured out how to get you to stop talking."

…

When they finally left the elevator, Jaksus suggested they take the stairs back up in order to tell the party guests that the fun was over and they had to leave. Maria reluctantly agreed, still rather red in the face from their time in the elevator, and they began their trek up the stairs. Only as they went, they ran into party guests on the departure… Bemoaning the sudden break-down of the elevator. Maria fought back giggles and Jaksus fought just as hard to keep from smiling.

When they finally got back to the apartment, the two discovered a very repentant Corina, and a rather irritated quarian, who informed them both that they'd canceled the party after Jaksus had locked them out of the elevator. Apparently the turian's anger and sudden snatching of Maria had been interpreted as purely an irritation that his normal sleeping quarters were taken up by a crowd of people. For his part, Jaksus let them go on believing that this was so.

Mostly everyone had left, save for A'Garr and the asari who'd been drinking against him. The two were apparently thoroughly drunk (no surprise there) and were singing together to a much quieter version of some old song Jaksus' parents had liked when he was young. Needless to say Jaksus recorded a fair bit of the two singing, though oddly enough they both sounded rather in harmony since the asari's voice was uncharacteristically deep.

When the song finally ended, the two left stumbling together, though Corina ensured Jaksus she'd help them both back to their destinations safely. The younger asari ran to catch up with the two drunkards and soon even they were gone, leaving just the three current housemates with the apartment… And the mess. Jaksus groaned at the sight but was relieved when he noted that it had somehow been contained to the living room, kitchen, and Nava's bathroom.

Although the quarian certainly didn't find it quite as appealing, as he bemoaned the fact that he'd have to decontaminate his bathroom and bedroom again before he even attempted to get some sleep. Jaksus merely shot the engineer a wry smirk and told him that it was the least he deserved for encouraging the party in the first place. He did assure Nava however that he and Maria would handle the kitchen and living room, so he needn't bother paying much attention to those areas as he cleaned.

The quarian seemed thankful and Jaksus was more than happy for the distraction. It took the three of them most of the night to clean up the place and by the time they were finally ready to get some rest, the turian was too tired to think about the heated kiss he'd shared with Maria in the elevator. Maria seemed to feel the same, because she was asleep the second her head hit the pillow and Jaksus gratefully accepted the silence.

He fell asleep quickly… And regretfully found his dreams plagued by the feel of the tiny soft body only a few inches away from his own.

…

Neross: So tired. Nope….just …yeah Jaksus and I are on the same page here. I'm tired. Gonna take nap now. Destroy universe later. Reviews help me write faster. Like I did this time. Leave me them. They make me forget about real life woes so that I can make awesome things for you. Don't you want awesome things? THEN GIVE ME YOUR WORDS AND OPINIONS DANGIT! …ok…bed now.

'Till next time keep on ro-zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.