Author's Note: Wow! It seems that every new chapter gets a few more followers! Thank you so much to everyone for your support, and giving me hope that I'm actually doing something great.

Also there's a lot of *ahem* sexual tension that's building up. This was your warning.

As Emma woke up, remembering falling asleep next to Saren the previous night, she didn't bother to look around for him. She did have a tiny smile on her face, and she hadn't woken up happy since she'd been here. Even the lieutenant James had noticed when he brought her breakfast.

"Have a good night?" He asked, sitting to keep her company for a few minutes after setting the tray down for her.

"I did have a good night." She was grinning as she stood up to take the tray, sitting back down in bed and beginning to eat.

"You'll have to excuse my not asking. I don't want to know what happened between you and that turian." He muttered.

"I hope you don't have anything against him."

"I don't have anything against 'im. I just don't trust 'im." He shrugged, looking out the window now.

"Maybe you will trust him in time, hm?" Emma smiled, leaving him be as she ate silently. He left as soon as she'd finished, leaving her with a feeling that something just wasn't right. But almost as soon as James left, Emma had her first visitor. It wasn't Saren.

"Hey, Emma." Joker walked in on crutches, quickly sitting in the chair. "Eugh, it's still warm." He complained.

"I think that's probably the least of your concerns right now." Emma grinned. She saw the man look at her funny, and then finally finished her remark. "Saren's probably going to stop by while you're here."

"He's here? Why?"

"He wanted to see me." She shrugged, speaking softly as she blushed and shied away from Jeff. Though when he began barking with laughter, she tried her best not to hit him.

"I'm sorry Emma, but that's the last thing I ever expected to hear about Saren. Even with the fact that I know it's true!" The man took a moment to calm himself down, smiling softer. "I don't care what you two are doing, because I haven't seen you this happy in months, so it has to be doing you some good to see him again. Maybe I'll have to stick around so I can catch up with him, now." Emma didn't know how to reply to what she'd just heard, but she was grinning.

She let Jeff ramble on about what he'd been up to, being careful of course not to say anything he wasn't supposed to share. She hated being treated this way; unable to hear about any projects the Aliiance was working on, unless it was announced to the public. The most she'd heard had come from Jeff.

"Yeah, they've been letting me oversee some of the reconstruction on the Normandy. I have to say that I like it much better than how Cerberus built it. Much homier."

"Did they keep the leather seats?" Emma smirked.

"Yeah they did. At least on my chair. I can't say the same for every other seat on the ship. But I wish you could see her, she's beautiful."

"Still planning on marrying the ship?" A third voice asked. Emma was quick to leap out of bed and hug the figure stepping into the room.

"If they'll let me, I will." Jeff stood up the best he could, greeting Saren with a quick nod of the head. Of course it wasn't much longer until he sat down quietly, nearly forgotten by both.

Saren was holding a small bag in one hand, though both were wrapped tightly around Emma's body. She could feel the bump of the bag, and wasn't concerned at all for what was in it, because all she could think about was spending more time with Saren. Being a Spectre, he could share more with her than anyone else could. When Saren managed to pry her off of him, he sat her down and pushed the bag into her lap, sitting next to her.

"Saren, I told you not to get anything for me." Emma warned as she looked at the bag.

"Why don't you just see what's inside it and tell me if your mind changes." He smiled. She shook her head with a chuckle, doing as he said.

The first thing Emma pulled out was the music that Saren had decided he could part with - the tracks from Afterlife where he'd spent so much of his time before they met again. She knew that just by looking at it, and she smirked as she remembered the last time a turian had brought her music. Shaking her head, she only thanked him, and then looked into the bag to see what else was in there. And she was in awe pulling out the glass-encased model of the SR-1 Normandy. Even Jeff leaned forward in his chair to look at it. When her hand started shaking, she handed it over to the pilot and then leaned into Saren. She was both happy and saddened. She could so vividly remember those last few moments she had on the ship, and was trying hard to s. She didn't have to look over to know that Jeff was experiencing the same thing. He'd watched her, and she'd been all alone as she got spaced. The feeling of needing air rushed back at her, as so she took silent but deep breaths, holding tightly to Saren. He lifted her up some to hold her more securely. She felt a separate hand on her shoulder soon.

"I have to go, Emma. I'll talk with you later." Jeff said quietly, leaving about how loud he spoke to her. She nodded and then sighed heavily several minutes later when she calmed down.

"I probably should have thought about that one a little more." Saren rumbled when she parted to look at him.

"It's always going to be a little hard for me to deal with, but it serves more good memories than bad ones." Emma gave him a half smile, and then kissed him gently.

"Alright, let's see if there's actually any good music on this thing." She shifted to put in the disk into the audio system just past Saren, gently pulling him down to lay next to her. She faced him happily, burying her face in his neck as she listened to the familiar music. It didn't just bring back memories of being there in Afterlife. It brought back some memories of friends, more than several conversations, and of course the last time she had walked out, completely wasted and being dragged by Grunt and Zaeed. She chuckled quietly and caught Saren's attention.

"What's so funny?"

"This music just brings back some memories. Specifically me getting dragged out of Afterlife by a krogan and a mercenary who were on my side." She looked up at him and could tell there was something that was bothering him. His eyes seemed dark. She lifted her hand from his side, and placed it over his mandible, to which he nuzzled into, closing his eyes.

"I wish I could say the same." He murmured, bringing her a little closer.

"Do you want to talk, or should I drop it?"

"Maybe some other time." He sighed, leaving both of them to lay there in silence for the longest time. Emma drifted in and out of sleep, the music having changed each time she woke up, until it had finally looped back to the beginning. She shifted to shut it off, tired of listening to sound. It was in the afternoon by this time, and she noticed that she wasn't even hungry for the cold lunch that was sitting nearby.v There wasn't any emotion that she could distinctly pick out that she felt at the moment. There were no thoughts that she could pick out. Emma wasn't living right now, and so she sat up, wanting to feel something. The hand on her waist tightened its grip as she did sit up, and it stirred something in her.

She slowly shifted her gaze down to Saren, and saw him looking up at her with his still dark eyes. Something about the way he was looking at her made her feel terribly vulnerable, but it sent a burning sensation through her core. A poor habit, Emma bit her lip to keep from doing anything she wasn't supposed to. But for fuck's sake, they'd been together for nearly a year! She should be past this innocent facade by now. Honestly, with Garrus she'd gotten past this point well before they'd been together for seven weeks. Then again, look at how long they'd been together. Emma was too conflicted to move, her thoughts now crowding her mind. And somewhere in the mess of her thoughts, she watched him sit up and face her, getting dangerously close and beginning to tip her over the edge. And just as she finally felt she could give in, leaning closer to him as well-

"Hey Emma-" Jeff had come back, and was obviously not expecting to see the two of them the way they were. He cleared his throat and Emma quickly sprung up, having tackled Saren, again, onto the floor. She looked over to the door and blushed.

"Um..."

"Do you need a minute?" He asked, not making eye contact with her at the moment.

"Yeah just a minute." She said quickly, waiting until the door shut before quickly glaring at Saren who was smirking, slapping his hand off her back. "Not funny!"

"You're right, this is downright hilarious." Saren chuckled, staying put on the floor as Emma went to splash water on her face, deciding she could at least change her clothes. Saren stayed put for a few moments before he got up and leaned against the desk, looking outside to calm himself down. She watched him some as she changed out of her dirty shirt, unaware until now that there was a large scar that ran down the back of his neck, underneath his clothes. Now she really wanted to find out where that lead.

"I'm really sorry." She muttered as Jeff walked back in. He shrugged.

"At least you had your clothes on. Hey!" He was promptly smacked in the arm for the comment before Emma crawled back onto the bed, sitting against the wall. Saren slowly walked over to sit near her. She figured he didn't want to appear embarrassed himself.

"So what's new?" She asked him, curious to know what he'd left to do.

"I just had to go fix a small issue with some of the... Programming in the Normandy's systems." He smirked. She'd known that they didn't take out EDI's processing cores, finding it vital to all systems of the ship.

"What sort of issues?"

"A few systems had to be readjusted properly, and the tech guys were having a little trouble running diagnostics."

"Ah." Emma grinned. So, EDI didn't like people playing with her core. Big surprise. She tried asking more about what was going on, but continually got denied. After a while, she let it go and was silent, looking out the window with her arms around her legs. Saren didn't say anything, either. So the three sat in silence again, both of the males watching her for a sign that she'd be okay. Apparently the silence was eating away at Jeff because he finally spoke.

"Do you know how much longer you have to stay here?"

"Hm... Just another month I think." She mumbled, turning her head and resting her cheek on her left kneecap to look at him. "It might as well be another year from the way time passes."

"At least you'll have company most of those days." He offered, looking out the window at the sunset. "Should probably get going, soon. I have a few friends that wanted to meet for drinks after dinner."

"Who?" Emma perked up a little. Jeff rubbed the back of his neck.

"A few friends from pilot school, and... Kaidan wanted to stop by and talk, too, so I invited him."

"Better not mention me." She smirked a little bit.

"I'll be careful to, he'll chew my ear off."

"Go ahead and leave when you feel like it." She smiled, trying to usher him off. She might have pushed it to the back of her mind, but she was regretting not spending her day with Saren how it had looked to be turning just before Jeff came back.

"Alright, I can take a hint." He smiled, walking over to give her a small hug before he left.

Before he was even out of the room, Saren had grabbed Emma, and pulled her against himself. She grinned and hummed happily when his chin rested on her shoulder, and she could feel his arms squeezing her stomach lightly. Tilting her head to the side, she rested it on his for a few minutes until he moved to sit beside her again. She reached over to take his hand, unsure of why he wasn't speaking to her. And as she looked over she had an even harder time figuring out the look on his face.

"Saren? Are you okay?" Emma gently squeezed his hand, happy that he looked over to her at least.

"I'm just thinking."

"About what?" He was silent again, turning his gaze back out the window. She was almost ready to ask again when he spoke.

"If Jeff hadn't walked back in here..." He spoke rather soft, and she thought she could hear a purr in his voice. The question trailed off and she knew what he was asking. Blushing just a little bit she nodded quietly, taking a second to speak herself.

"I would have. Of course it's been... A while." She laughed at herself some, listening to his throaty chuckle. She found herself in that same conflict again. If she wasn't careful, he'd be the one leaving with bruises, given how hard she could tackle. But she looked into his eyes and saw that they were light again, and it caught her by surprise. He was feeling different, now. He leaned into her, but the angle told her not to move herself. She closed her eyes as he nuzzled her affectionately, cautiously returning the action, unsure if it was appropriate. Rewarded with his purr, she moved to sit in his lap again, hugging him tightly.

"Emma, would you mind if I stayed here tonight?" He kept his tone soft with her, and he apparently couldn't help but play with the ends of her hair. She needed to get a haircut.

"I won't stop you."