AN: Busy weekend ahead, so here's a short update!

Chapter Twenty-Five: Stones

"Kolyat called," Thane said later that night, his arms wrapped snugly around Shepard. "He'd like to visit us sometime."

Karina rolled onto her back and looked at her lover. "Do you think he likes lasagna?"

The assassin chuckled and kissed her shoulder. "I am sure he would love it, siha, especially if he knew you helped."

"Hm," Shepard murmured contentedly, allowing herself to believe that she'd contributed more to the cooking process than just eating ingredients. Her mind began to wander back to the matter at hand, and then some. After a while she spoke again. "What's it like, having a kid?"

Thane breathed deeply and Shepard smiled at how much clearer it already sounded due to their dry environment. Mordin's first batch of treatments had been waiting for them on the doorstep when they'd arrived and they were already having a positive effect on the drell's lungs.

"It is…simultaneously the most frightening, frustrating, and rewarding experience one could imagine," he replied. "Did… you ever want to have children, siha?" Thane asked after a considerable silence had passed.

Karina said nothing at first. It's not like my uterus is crying out for little babies or anything, she told herself, convinced that they should just be grateful their parts fit together well enough to enjoy sex, much less perform any actual reproductive processes. It was also something of a relief to not worry over contraceptives. "I don't know," Karina admitted. "I don't really think I'm the nurturing type. I never knew my parents, so I wouldn't have a clue what to do."

Thane shook his head. "You would have been a good mother, siha."

Shepard's heart wrenched slightly. As non-maternal as she claimed to be, to hear the phrase "would have" pass Thane's lips in this regard made her reconsider her position on having a family. If there was a man in existence who could make her overcome her fear of settling down and raising a few spitfire Sheps, it'd be the drell that lay next to her. "Y'know, you're probably the only man I'd let get away with suggesting that."

"And if the lieutenant had made such an offer? He is, after all, of your species."

Is that what this is about? "Kaidan?" she asked incredulously. "I thought I made it clear that ship has sailed. He's a nice guy and all but… he's not for me." She smiled and rolled over so she lay halfway on top of him. "You are. And don't you dare feel guilty about our lack of… reproduction. I chose this life." Karina lovingly placed several soft kisses all over his face. "I chose you."

In the darkness of their bedroom his eyes locked on hers. "And I you, siha," he murmured before gently kissing her.

It was late when he left Shepard's embrace that night. Grateful for his assassin skills, he silently made his way out of the house, being sure to slip his jacket on. Breathing in the cool desert air, he slipped his hand into his pocket to produce the small black box. He'd been immensely relieved when Shepard hadn't noticed the lump in his jacket pocket that day Wrex had visited them. He couldn't believe he'd neglected to remove the box to a less obvious location.

Thane carefully opened the case, smiling at the indented silver band twinkling in the starlight. He inspected the three small sockets of the ring, memorizing their size and shape. Then he allowed his eyes to lose focus as he recalled the walks he'd taken with Shepard that week.

We make love under the lone tree in our yard. Summer sweat floats through the air. Afterwards, we lie, exhausted, content. Something catches the sunlight filtering through the branches. I look to my left. A stone. Rubbed smooth by the sands. It's perfect—like her.

Thane's eyes blinked rapidly and soon he walked towards the tree, smiling to himself as he came upon the smooth reddish stone that lay undisturbed in the sand. The assassin stood straight and relinquished control yet again.

Twenty paces from the house, away from the eastern sun. She stops to point out a bird in the sky. We continue. Shoots of grass start to appear. A few speckled rocks litter the ground.

She glances at me, silver peeking at the corners of her eyes. "I love you."

I smile. "And I love you, siha."

The smile from the memory lingered on his face as he returned to reality. He moved to the spot where his siha had first uttered those words to him and carefully selected two cool grey stones that would be appropriate for the ring. As he stood he inspected his handiwork. The silver band was now inlaid with three stones—two grey pebbles and one russet colored beauty in the middle. Thane moved his thumb over them, enjoying the look of the ring and hoping his siha would as well.

AN: That sneaky Thane c: Thanks again for the reviews :D Next chapter: the knot is tied at last. This story is finally wrapping up!