There was something about how a bed felt to someone whose entire body felt like it was falling apart. She didn't know what it was, all she knew was that her body was now molded against the mattress and that she wouldn't be moving anytime soon. Her head was comfortably resting in a warm lap and fingers gently massaged at her scalp and hair.

It was her definition of the word paradise.

The fingers stopped for a moment, making Lauren open her eyes. A pair of blue ones stared down at her with a level of concern she'd only seen once before.

"I'm fine." Lauren insisted again, for what seemed like the millionth time since they'd gotten home. "My body has just been moving for a long time and I just need a good nap. And a shower. And food."

"That's not what I was going to say." Aria said, tossing the datapad she'd been reading on the far side of the bed.

"This is about the whole...running off and almost dying thing isn't it?"

Aria looked down at her wife, grateful that she'd found someone who could at least follow her train of thought. "Yes."

Lauren looked strained. "It was entirely my fault and it will never happen again."

"You promise?" Aria put a hand on the side of her face.

"Prometo." The human nodded. "I promise."

Aria reached up and swept a few strands of hair off Lauren's face. "Good."

Lauren closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, relaxing again into the mattress. She felt Aria relax and opened one eye to get a good look at her.

Lauren had never seen her look so tired before. The asari had to have been fighting off insomnia while she was away, Lauren was one of the reasons she actually fell asleep anymore.

"You look tired."

"Exhausted and somewhat dead inside is a better description."

"Have you slept at all since I've been gone?"

"No."

"Nightmares?"

..."Only a few..."

"Aria-"

"Don't start with me about it. I'll sleep eventually."

They went back to sitting in silence, Lauren abandoning the subject, noticing the strain in Aria's voice. An idea popped into her head and she smirked to herself. Aria went back to writing on her datapad, only to be interupted when Lauren sat up.

"I'm going to take a shower," Lauren said matter-of-factly. "And you are going to join me." She patted the asari's knee.

Aria lowered her datapad by an inch. "Excuse me?"

"We both know that your hearing is not that bad." Lauren walked into the bathroom and instantly shed off her borrowed shirt. "I've been stuck on Shepard's ship since I was injured and I really need to take a shower."

Aria lowered her datapad into her lap. "Where is the next station to board your train of thought?"

Lauren ignored her. "You haven't slept and I can tell you haven't scrubbed your scalp in a few days - the skin is all flaked."

Aria brought a hand up to touch her scalp crests. The skin was rough and flaked as she ran her hand over it. She scolwed, trying to remember the last time she'd actually taken a scrub brush to the top of her head.

"So you either join me in the shower or deal with the horrifying fact that you're not clean."

Aria sighed and set her datapad down, saving its contents, and walked towards the bathroom. She opened the door and looked inside, unsurprised to see Lauren's clothes littered on the floor, and the room filling with steam. The human liked her showers hot, which took Aria some time to get used to.

The bathroom in their temporary home was nothing like the one that they'd abandoned on Omega - the one that Aria had basically built. This one was smaller and much more compact than the other, but Aria had only actually ever noticed it in their bathroom. There was a sink and toliet against one wall, and a shower against the other. To make up for the small space, the shower was seperated from the rest of the bathroom by a small wall, which had shelves on it facing the rest of the bathroom.

A hand appeared from behind the wall holding a scrub brush that was covered in soap suds. "While the water is still warm, T'Loak."

Aria sighed and stripped out of her clothes and walked around the partition, to find Lauren standing under the hot spray of water. The asari cringed at the sight of Lauren's leg, which was sporting some nasty looking bruises in various stages of healing.

"They don't hurt as much as they ache." Lauren said, waving the scrub brush slightly at Aria in the small space. "Come here."

She obeyed, putting her head under the hot stream of water so Lauren could scrub at it. They shared showers often back on Omega and rather then take turns under the shower head, they'd both learned how to help each other bathe. Aria had learned how to painstakingly wash human hair, which she secretly enjoyed somewhat, and Lauren had learned how to scrub at the sensitive skin on Aria's head.

The brush felt rough, but nice to Aria's skin. Lauren was much more gentle than Aria would be at the task, but she still managed to come out clean in the same amount of time, so she didn't complain.

"Tell me what I've missed." Lauren said from behind her as she scrubbed at the asari's purple-blue skin.

"Hmm. Nothing important, really." Aria hummed. "Pass me the soap."

Lauren's pale hand held out the blue bar of soap that Aria used. "Any improvement in our project?"

"No." Aria took the soap. "There are some things that I'm waiting for, like a response from the fleet, but it's better than nothing I suppose."

Lauren lowered the brush from Aria's head and to her back. "Great. Turn."

Aria turned around, attempting to manuever in the small space without elbowing Lauren as she did so. Lauren pressed her back against the wall of the shower and snatched the soap from Aria's hands, replacing it with the scrub brush.

"So tell me," Aria asked as she watched Lauren furiously scrub at herself with the soap. "About this job offer."

"Basically it's a reinstatement." Lauren put the soap back on the wall of the shower. "The Alliance is attempting to gather what allies and assets they have left, with Shepard as their fearless leader."

"You don't sound worried."

"It's Shepard," Lauren ducked her head under the shower head again. "The woman's an unstoppable force of nature."

"Point," Aria started scrubbing at her shoulders with the scrub brush. "I was thinking about asking Shepard to help with the assault."

Lauren stared at her wife with a shocked expression on her face. "Please tell me you're joking."

"No." Aria lowered the scrub brush. "Shepard can help even the numbers against Cerberus and she has her own crew-"

"Her crew is a motly bunch of Alliance idealists that all have the same underlying problem - they believe that she brings out the best of people and can make anyone do the right thing." Lauren raised an eyebrow. "Do you honestly think that they'll let Shepard be talked into killing Petrovsky?"

To be honest, Aria hadn't really thought of that. She'd only thought of the numbers, of the facade that she had to put on when she retook Omega. Petrovsky would make mistakes if he knew Shepard was on Aria's side - mistakes that could potentially end his occupation of Omega.

Aria knew that Lauren could talk Shepard into killing Petrovsky and that Shepard would probably let them do it without caring - but if her crew found out or talked to her about it - she could be easily swayed from letting them kill him in order to keep up morale.

"Fuck - I hate it when you're right." Aria sighed.

"Yeah, that one time out of ten when I'm right." Lauren smirked and pressed a kiss to Aria's cheek.

Aria snorted. "More like one out of twenty."

"Ow, my pride." Lauren put a hand up to her heart and made a pained face.

Aria chuckled. "Anyone ever tell you that you're a complete dork?"

"Eh, once or twice." The blonde shrugged. "But they said it in English."

Aria snaked an arm around Lauren's waist and pulled her close. "Only in English? Tsk. We have to fix that."

Lauren snorted. "What are you going to do? Call me 'dork' in asari the whole time we're having sex?"

"Are you complaining?"

"No, goddess, no. Please do continue."