Writers block? -boom- What writers block?

We continue on the Citadel, we do have some rather important events coming up.

Oh and there will be smut at the end of the chapter. Hmmm, delicious sexyness. And remember, icy cold = sexy hot for a turian.


They took a transport car to quickly travel to the ANIS offices, and Garrus and Shepard both kept scanning the surroundings for pursuers. Kadian had taken the front seat with Tali, while Garrus and Shepard sat in the back. Wrex wanted to meet his contact for the assassination contract against Fist first and had taken another transport.

Tali had really warmed up to Kaidan and they were amiably chatting and comparing omni-tool programs. Garrus moved closer to Shepard, their armor scraping against each other.

"I was surprised that you let Wrex shoot Fist." He said quietly so that only she could hear. He had no doubt that she would have prevented the shot if she had not wanted him to do it but, she had only been angry about him shooting Fist too early.

Shepard leaned her head back. "Yeah, not my favorite turn of events I must say." She stretched her neck in a strangely turian way and Garrus wondered if she mirrored some of his movements. "The thing is, " she said, "he is a bounty hunter and a krogan. It would have been dishonourable for him to break the contract. I may not like it but it was not the place for me to question his way, I think." She looked over to the forward bench where Kaidan was sitting. "I'm pretty sure that Kaidan would not agree with me on this, that's why I had him wait outside."

Garrus understood her reasoning but he could not understand why she insisted in taking the krogan with her. "He is a bounty hunter, a thug, a merc for hire. Is that really the kind of person you want to take along?"

Shepard turned, her brows drawn tight together. "He is much more than that. He is wise, he has experience of over 300 years fighting in this galaxy, and he is smart." She put her head back against the seat. "I know what you've learned, what stereotypes you have. Believe me, I know how hard it is to overcome them."

She took his hand in hers, squeezing it lightly through their gloves. "You know, I collected children books of all kinds for a while, had my omni-tool translate them. It's really interesting what you see there. Asari books are all about wisdom and kindness towards the other races, but there is always some kind of undertone that they are young and uneducated and need a helping hand in their development. It's quite condescending." She looked at him. "Turian books are about being strong and watchful because the galaxy is full of dangerous savages like the krogan and thieves like the quarian."

Garrus shook his head. "I'm sure not all of them are like that."

"No of course, not all of them. But think about what you know of other species, what prejudices you have." Shepard looked at him. "Keep an open mind, question your presumptions."

He had to take a breath, there were things he just knew, knew to be true. It felt wrong to let go of that.

"What do krogan children books say?"

"There are no krogan books for children. The krogan don't have children anymore." Shepard's eyes were like glowing daggers, piercing him.

Something clenched his gizzard. He remembered his teachings well.

The krogan were out of control, the genophage was the only way of controlling them. It was either that, or the krogan would have crashed the moon Menae into Palaven in their attempt to crush the turian spirit during the war. It was the right thing to do, the krogan were out of control, they were irrepressible. Only the genophage kept them at bay.

But how much of that was actually true, how much did he just accept and never question? His work at C-Sec and dealing with drunk, angry krogan had certainly not helped to form a better opinion on them. But he had also never tried to get to know a krogan better, no one was friends with a krogan.

Except for Shepard.

She was still watching him, probably seeing the doubts and questions wander over his face.

She looked down at her hands. "You know how humans are portrayed in those books for turian children? Humans are wild and unpredictable, and they have no sense of honor." She turned her head to look at him, a smile playing on her lips. "But still, here you are."

"Yes." His voice was hoarse and he could not think of anything else to say. And he had to grin a bit at how cunningly she had planted that speck of doubt in him.

They arrived at the ANIS offices and rushed inside in a hurry. Keggs saw them and without a word rose up and stepped with them into the elevator down to Pauline's laboratory. Shepard introduced Kaidan Alenko to him and Tali'Zorah mumbled a quiet apology for running away from C-Sec. Keggs told her not to worry about it and Garrus had the feeling that he had made sure that those two C-Sec officers had reasons to regret their behaviour by now.

The laboratory was vibrating with loud music and Pauline Schumann stood with her back to the door in a lacy-leathery-something black outfit that did not fit any fashion trend Garrus had ever seen on the Citadel. She turned and after a tab on her omni-tool, the music shut off. Chains on her outfit jingled as she spread her arms wide. "Hello! What wonderful things do you have for me?"

Tali'Zorah stepped forward with her omni-tool brightly lit, and Pauline held hers against it with a wide smile. Even though it was impossible to see behind the tinted glass of the mask, Tali'Zorah seemed to smile too and looked a bit more relaxed. Pauline turned back to her terminal and started a whole suit of programs to clean up the files.

"I already tried to improve the quality," Tali'Zorah said quietly. Pauline whipped around to her and gave her another wide smile.

"I know, I can see that!" Pauline said, "I can tell that you have some excellent programs on your omni-tool. I would like to see them, actually!" She turned back to her terminal. "But this baby here is a monster compared to our little omni-tools, I can tap into the Citadel mainframe if I want to." She gave a little sideways look to her boss. "Not that I would ever do that, that would be illegal."

Keggs clicked his mandibles. "Just let us hear the soundfile, Pauly."

"Of course!" Pauline turned back to the terminal and let the soundfile play. It sounded a bit better but it was still not clear enough to understand.

Shepard stepped up to her side. "Can you lower the high frequencies? Maybe it will be better without the hissing."

Pauline rolled her eyes at her. "Yeah, I was just about to do that, Miss soldier-engineer!"

Shepard grinned. "Sorry."

Pauline smiled back at her and then looked over to Tali'Zorah. "Let the professionals do their jobs, right Tali?"

Tali flinched at being suddenly addressed like that but then nodded.

It took another few minutes of programs crunching over the file until finally, Pauline let it play over the speakers with a dramatic flair of her arms.

The first voice was male, definitely turian like Garrus had said before. The second voice was female and not turian. Pauline typed a few more commands into her terminal, while the voicefile played.

"Eden Prime was a major victory, the beacon has brought us one step closer to the conduit." Said the male voice. "And one step closer to the return of the Reapers." Said the female voice.

Pauline exclaimed a triumphant "Hah!" and pointed to the screen. "I have a 98% voice match for the male voice as Saren Arterius. And..." A beep from the terminal made her turn back to the screen, "a 97% voice match for the female voice as one Matriarch Benezia of the Asari Republics."

They all turned to their boss, whose face showed his mandibles clamped tight in anger. "That is the proof we needed, Saren went rogue. Let's take this to the Council, I'll get the higher ups onto that."

He marched out and turned in the door, "Vakarian, Shepard - good job. Tali'Zorah, thank you very much for your help and I would hope that you stay with us, for your own safety."

Tali'Zorah dipped her head. "Yes, I think that would probably be wise."

Keggs nodded towards Shepard and left. Shepard put her hand on Tali'Zorah's arm. "Do you need a sterile room to clean up? I'm sure we can find one for you."

Tali'Zorah's bright eyes blinked behind her mask. "Yes, I would like to check and clean my suit actually, the last few days have been a bit hectic." She was involuntarily scratching her sides and grabbed her own hands when she realized it.

Pauline turned from some rapid typing and pointed to the screen. "The best room would probably be the one at the Huerta Memorial hospital." Pauline said. "There is also one down in the Zakera Ward, but that is usually used for... other things and I'm not sure how thorough they are in their cleaning." She gave a crooked smile to the quarian, whose eyes were bright and wide behind her mask.

"I would prefer the room in the hospital, if possible." She said hurriedly.

Shepard nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't want you to go anywhere else, honestly. I'll contact them." She stepped aside and initiated a call on her omni-tool. The exchange was short and when she stepped back to them, she held her thumb up. Garrus had seen humans do that at C-Sec before but Tali'Zorah had obviously no idea what that gesture meant.

Shepard turned to the quarian girl. "They agreed to let you use the room, they have no need for it right now. They are doing another cleaning cycle and exchanging the air right now, so by the time we are done with the Council, the room will be ready for you."

"You want me to go with you to the Council?" Tali'Zorah whispered, her eyes blinding white orbs.

Shepard peered into the mask. "Yes, of course. Not only are you our resident expert on the geth, you extracted that file, you should present it." She turned and held out her arm to Pauline. "Please copy the cleaned file and the voice match prints to my and Tali'Zorah's omni-tool."

"Of course, Shep." Pauline waved her hand over her terminal and both omni-tools flared up upon receiving the data.

Shepard turned around to leave the lab and waved to Pauline. "Thanks!"

"No problem, Shep, come back anytime."

As they all filed back into the elevator, Kaidan spoke up. "The Council can't ignore this, they have to see now that Saren is a traitor. He works with the geth, he is responsible for attacking colonies and ships in council space."

Shepard held up a finger. "For that last part we actually don't have evidence, but it is an easy assumption." She turned around completely to look at all of them. "Can anybody tell me what those Reapers are, that the Matriarch spoke about?"

Tali started to speak but was interrupted by the door opening, revealing Wrex staring down Lorenzo Jorno while Dania Va'sida stood a bit to the side, her fists faintly glowing in biotic blue.

Lorenzo snarled at Wrex. "Do you want me to arrest you?"

Wrex leaned in even closer. "I would like to see you try, human"

Before things could escalate further, a door opened on the upper gallery and Keggs stomped down the stairs. "Stand down, everybody."

The krogan and the human slowly leaned back and Dania let her biotics die down. She still looked quite dangerous. Keggs strode around the corner and only threw a cursory glance at the krogan, before he looked to Shepard. "Is this your friend, Wrex?"

"Yes." She nodded and shrugged her shoulders towards Lorenzo. The human straightened his jacket and slowly walked back to his desk, only talking to the krogan over his shoulder.

"You could have said something."

"Where is the fun in that?" Wrex grumbled, a grin pulling his face even wider.

Keggs had gathered things from his desk and walked towards the exit. "Lorenzo, Dania, Terlin, I want you to find out what you can about this Matriarch Benezia. Everybody else, come with me, we are presenting the evidence to the human ambassador and he will get us a meeting with the Council."

"Why can't we go to the Council directly?" Shepard asked, a deep frown on her face and Garrus wondered how her subharmonics would hiss if she were a turian.

Keggs answered with just that kind of annoyed hiss. "Don't ask me about the whys and hows of politics." He walked with long strides and the humans and Tali'Zorah had trouble keeping up with him.

The human ambassador turned out to be a really unpleasant person and Garrus understood why Shepard had been so annoyed in having to meet him. Donnel Udina had been curt, impatient and did not let anybody finish when they spoke. He ignored Tali'Zorah's explanation of the Reapers being gods for the geth and anything that Shepard said about the vision from the beacon. The whole meeting almost turned into disaster until Anderson put a stop to the yelling.

"Regardless of what we think of Shepard's vision or Reapers and the geth," the Captain's voice boomed over the noise, "we have to present this proof to the council to get Saren's Spectre status revoked. We want Saren caught and brought to justice for the attack on Eden Prime and we need a Council order for that."

The human ambassador swallowed at that and turned to his desk. "I will arrange a meeting."

They waited around as the ambassador made his calls, when Wrex suddenly pointed to Tali'Zorah. "What about the quarian? Are we dragging her along now?"

The quarian girl whipped around and the bright orbs behind her faceplate turned to slits. "I have a name! My name is Tali'Zorah nar Rayya!" She turned to Shepard. "If this evidence was worth trying to kill me for, then I want to be part of this. You saw what I can do, I can help!"

Shepard shot a glare at Wrex that promised a serious conversation for later and then turned to Tali'Zorah. "I can't promise how involved I will be in further investigating Saren, so far, all we were supposed to do was find evidence against him." She threw a look toward Anderson, who dipped his head subtly. "But if they let me continue searching for him, then I promise that you will be part of my team."

Udina returned from his desk, announcing that the Council would see them right away and how rare it was to get an appointment this quickly. He was mumbling something under his breath when he realised that Shepard insisted on taking everyone with her to the meeting. She even sent a message to Nihlus to meet them at the Citadel tower.

The Ambassador and Captain Anderson and Keggs went ahead, while Shepard and Garrus waited with Wrex, Kaidan and Tali'Zorah for Nihlus to arrive. Shepard had taken Wrex to the side and even though he could not hear what she said to him, Garrus was pretty sure he knew what kind of dressing down he received. It probably had the same kind of basic message that he got from her all the time, about respecting and understanding other species, just not delivered quite as friendly.

The elevator doors opened and Nihlus slowly stepped out, limping and leaning heavily on a cane. Shepard stopped her angry gnarling of Wrex and broke into a full on run towards Nihlus. Before she could crush against him, she skidded to a stop and gently placed a hand on his shoulder. For a long moment they just stared at each other until Nihlus dipped his head to the side and pulled her into an embrace.

A deep purr rose up from Nihlus. "I'm sorry Shepard, I'm sorry I didn't talk to you."

Shepard sighed loudly. "I'm just glad you're okay. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like..."

Nihlus stopped her with a loud trill and pulled her back into the embrace, her face against his neck. Garrus felt a tiny speck of jealousy at how easily he showed his affection for her in public. The way he held her head against his neck was almost scandalous. He would not dare to do that.

Nihlus broke the embrace and his hand on her back gently led her back to him, as Garrus didn't fail to notice. Wrex made a chuckle that made Tali'Zorah flinch. Kaidan looked confused from one to the other. When Shepard leaned against Garrus for a second, a worried smile spread on his face.

Anderson called them over from inside the big hall full of blossoming trees. At the far end of the room, the platform rose up to the council pedestal. Udina waited at the bottom of the stairs, his face drawn in the familiar annoyance that he displayed all the time. Garrus whispered to Shepard at his side. "You know, for a diplomat, Udina is kind of lacking in the diplomacy department, don't you think?."

"Yeah, I think so too." Shepard whispered back, as they walked with Anderson towards the human ambassador. "Especially because the one before him, Anita Goyle, was very impressive. I don't know what strings he pulled to get this job. I don't trust him."

"That was kind of obvious." Garrus chuckled.

"Oh, C-Sec's expert on humans caught me again!" Shepard whispered and nudged him with her elbow, which only made a loud noise as their armor clanged together. The frown on the ambassador's forehead got even deeper as he watched them. Garrus noticed that their boss gave them an amused look.

Udina greeted Anderson with a nod and then let his gaze sweep over the group behind Shepard and Garrus. "Do all these... people have to come with us? This is a council meeting, not an interspecies dinner party."

Shepard stepped forward. "Officer Vakarian and me have been leading this investigation under ANIS authority. Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko was with me on Eden Prime and can give a first-hand account of the events surrounding the prothean beacon. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya has extracted the file that we want to present from a geth memory core and is pretty much the only expert on geth that we have. Spectre Kyrik has also been on Eden Prime, had contact with Saren and is also here in his position as advisor from the turian Hierarchy." She stood proud, her arms crossed in front, her eyes daring the other human to say something against her reasoning.

"What about the krogan?" Udina sneered.

For a second, the conviction fell from her face, she obviously had no idea how to justify his presence. She opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Wrex raised his hand to stop her and stepped to the side. "If you don't mind," he said to Shepard, "I'd rather hang back and keep an eye out. Get's a bit crowded here, you know? And you never know who could turn up around here."

The nasal voice of Udina called out. "This is the Citadel Tower, the Council hall. This is the safest place on the Citadel."

Wrex shrugged. "We've already met some of Saren's agents today, you better not underestimate him." He gave Shepard a nod and purposefully ignoring everybody else, slowly walked over to the side, his wide set eyes rapidly moving to take in his surroundings.

Udina looked positively relieved and ushered the rest of the group up the stairs to the platform opposite of the council's balcony. Garrus noticed that Keggs stayed behind, and was curious as to why. Shepard had noticed it too and whispered to him, "I think him and the turian councillor had some run in before, they hate each other."

Garrus wanted to ask her about that but they had arrived at the platform. He took in the scenery as he stood on the platform for the first time in his life, and the symbolism of the position of the Council raised above them did not escape him. They were petitioners, asking, almost begging, not demanding something from the Council.

The human ambassador addressed the Council with a polite greeting and then let Tali play the file, amplified to speakers right next to the Council. Garrus watched them closely for reactions. The turian councillor Sparatus snapped his mandibles tight in anger, annoyed and probably embarrassed by the betrayal of the Spectre. The salarian councillor looked slightly amused but seemed to wait for the other councillors before he formed an opinion.

The asari councillor Tevos was guarding her expressions carefully. Her face remained almost unmoving, only a tiny look to the side showed how uncomfortable she was. She asked Tali'Zorah to explain what she knew about the Reapers and what they had to do with the geth.

Tali'Zorah's voice was very quiet at first but she became louder and more confident as she spoke. "The Reapers were mentioned in prothean artifacts that have been found on many planets around the galaxy. They may have wiped out all civilization 50,000 years ago. It is possible that the geth are worshipping the Reapers as gods and want to bring them back. Since the geth on Eden Prime seemed to have worked for Saren, it looks like they work with him to bring back the Reapers."

Garrus had to keep his subharmonics under control to not sound out his surprise at her excellent summary. Shepard smiled at her encouragingly. The asari Councillor asked Nihlus and Kaidan for a short report and then turned to Shepard and asked her about her experience with the beacon. Shepard finally told the council of her visions, clenching her hands at her sides.

"The vision shows me death, destruction, devastation. The death of thousands, the fall of a whole civilization, maybe, it is not clear. It could be a warning. If we assume that Saren has seen it too..." She hesitated. "I don't know how he can see that as a desirable outcome." She straightened her back and raised her head high. She spoke loud and strong but her body language seemed to clash with her speech. Garrus could not quite point out why but it looked wrong somehow.

Nihlus noticed it too and leaned over and whispered something at her while the council members discussed the information. Shepard looked at him confused but she lowered her head and looked at the Council from under her eyelashes. Garrus flared his mandibles in admiration, now it looked right. She looked strong now, like a wild predator, controlled power in her stance.

The turian councilor Sparatus noticed it too, a subtle shift in his position acknowledging her strength. The asari councillor looked slightly nervous, having been around turians for a long time she probably was well versed in turian body language.

Shepard had their complete attention and laid her case for the arrest and prosecution of Saren Arterius. Only when the human embassador stepped in and shrieked about having to send the fleet after him, the spell got broken. Sparatus refused to acknowledge the threat of the Reapers, he was downright dismissive towards anything Shepard said. The muscles on the back of her neck were thick in tension but she remained calm. The salarian councilor also called the Reapers an obvious myth but they both agreed that Saren Arterius had to be stripped of his Spectre status and needed to be caught.

But the council would never send a fleet after the rogue Spectre, Garrus was sure of that. They did not like to meddle so directly, they avoided getting openly involved in such things. Usually they send a Spectre out to solve problems like that as discreetly as possible and he wondered who they would send. Nihlus was the obvious choice but he was still not fully recovered.

In a surprise motion that made Garrus wonder how much political power play had been going on in the background, the council made Shepard a Spectre. The first human Spectre!

Ambassador Udina was unable to control his self-congratulatory grin while Anderson had a proud smile on his face, his eyes on Shepard. She had lost almost all color in her face and looked at Kaidan apologetically. The Lieutenant was hiding his disappointment well and gave her a friendly nod. Her hands clenched behind her back and Garrus stepped up closer to her to brush his hand against hers for a second. She let out a harsh breath and gave him a tiny smile before looking back to the Council.

The ceremony was not different from the one Nihlus had had, the same speech about Spectres not being trained but chosen, elevated above rank and file. Shepard received the praise with a stoic face and expressed her gratitude in a short statement. She turned and Anderson received her glare with a grin, knowing that she blamed him for getting the Spectre status she never really wanted.

They left the pedestal and finally they could congratulate Shepard to her new rank. Her face changed from pale white to bright pink under all that attention. Wrex looked almost prouder than Anderson upon hearing the news and pulled Shepard into a tight hug. After she had managed to free herself from his arms, she walked over to Kaidan, who stood a bit to the side, his shoulders hunched forward.

She draped an arm around his shoulders and Garrus could hear her talking quietly to him. "You know this wasn't my choice, Kaidan and I'm sorry that you were not picked for this. I think you would have been the better candidate."

A small smile appeared on Kaidan's face. "Don't be ridiculous, Shepard. You are the hero of Elysium, you saved countless lives and you do get the job done, whatever it is." He straightened and pulled his shoulders back. "You have earned this, and one day I will earn it too. As long as you don't mess up humanity's reputation on this." He said with a grin.

"Yeah, thanks man, no pressure!" Shepard mumbled.

Anderson stepped up to her. "Shepard, I will contact you, we have things to organize before you can go on the hunt for Saren."

"Yes, Sir."

Anderson turned with a nod to the rest of the group and followed Udina to the elevator. The ambassador had not spoken to Shepard or anybody else of the group. Keggs stepped out of the shadows, his mandibles spread in a rare smile. He walked over to Shepard and quietly said a few words to her and gave her a salute before he walked away.

Shepard turned back to the group, her skin bright pink and a sheepish smile on her face. "Well, that was... unexpected," she said, "and I don't even know what my next step is supposed to be, I need a ship, I need a technical crew, I want you all to come along, we need to find out where Saren is now, and..."

Kaidan raised his hand. "How about if we take a short break. You find out what kind of ship you get and then we'll see what we have to do. Just send us a ping when you know something."

"Alright, Kaidan." Shepard said with a relieved smile. "Could you take Tali'Zorah to the hospital so that she can use the clean room there?"

Kaidan nodded. "Of course." He turned to the quarian. "Ma'am?" He asked, indicating to her to take a place at his side.

Tali'Zorah giggled, the light on her speaker blinking rapidly. She tilted her head and said, "Please don't call me Ma'am, just call me Tali."

They turned to leave but a loud trill by Nihlus stopped them. When he had everyone's attention, he turned to Shepard. "You know that I had been tasked with evaluating you for the Spectres and even though this has happened a lot faster than I had planned, have no doubts about my confidence in you not only as a soldier, but as a leader." He flared his mandibles in a smile and shook Shepard's hand.

After dip of his head, he let her hand go and looked over to Garrus. "Now, I had been assigned as the official liaison for the turian hierarchy on the Normandy." He looked down on his cane. "But with this," he angrily shook the cane, "I'm hardly the right person for that, so it looks like Garrus is going to get that role." He grinned at the shock that showed on Garrus's face.

"Me? I'm not even part of the turian military!" Garrus called out. He had actually liked his service in the military. He had only left because his father had gotten him the job at C-Sec, as a favor to his wife. Garrus's mother had wanted her children safely away from the military. That had been the end of a promising sniper career for Garrus and also the end of his dream to become a Spectre one day.

Nihlus trilled out in amusement. "Oh, I'm aware of that but the turian hierarchy is eager to reinstate you if you pass the aptitude tests. Appointments for those should reach you soon." He fixed him with a hard stare and his subharmonics wavered on the lowest, almost inaudible spectrum. "Unless you refuse."

This was a dream come true! An unbelievable chance! Garrus realized after a few seconds that Nihlus actually expected an answer and he reeled his tumbling thoughts back in and spat out something that sounded like, "No! Yes! Not refuse! Yes, liaison!"

Shepard snorted loudly and Nihlus began chuckling, his mandibles twitching until he broke down in laughter. Wrex's booming laughter almost drowned out the rest of the giggling and snorting. Tears were streaming down Shepard's face as she held on to Garrus's arm. Garrus stretched his throat in embarrassment but joined their laughter.

He looked at the faces of the people around him and as much as he could guess from Tali's body language. It felt like they were becoming a whole, a complete group, strangers from all corners of the galaxy, working together as friends. He caught a look from Shepard and could see it in her face too. As alarming as their coming mission was, it felt like anything was possible with this group working on it.


Shepard opened her eyes and woke up with a gasp. Garrus sat beside her on the couch, watching her until his eyes had fallen shut as well. They had taken off their armor, leaving it in piles on the floor and Shepard had sat down and been asleep in seconds. Garrus reminded himself that she had still been in the hospital this morning. She had every right to be tired. He had only dozed in a state of half sleep that let his brain run at high speed through the days events. Shepard's sudden movement pulled him out of it and he watched her eyes dart around.

From previous painful experiences he knew that it was not advisable to touch her in these first few seconds of waking up, so he just called her by her nickname. "Hey, Sunshine..."

Her head snapped around and recognition dawned on her face. "Hey, Angel!" She smiled her brilliant smile and moved over him to straddle his lap. Urgently she planted kisses on his face and Garrus was slightly overwhelmed by the sudden affections. She leaned back and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, that was probably a bit freaky, and I think I have a stinkmouth."

Garrus hurriedly interrupted her. "That's not the problem, I was just surprised, you are normally not so..."

"I know, but I had you close to me all day and could not touch you and kiss you like I wanted," she said, "I had to make up for it now." She arranged her legs over his hip-spurs, crossing them behind his back and settled her head against his cowl. "Is this comfortable for you?"

"Very." Garrus answered with a chuckle. He bent down and nuzzled the top of her head.

"I have a few things going around in my head," Shepard mumbled, "mind if I dump them on you and you tell me what you think?"

"No, go ahead." Garrus felt quite content with her in his arms. Having her back with him gave him a feeling of peace.

"Okay, here's the first thing that bothered me." She looked out ahead, her hands moving around as she spoke. "We tell the Council this, admittedly, crazy story of the Reapers. I'm not even sure what to make of it myself. So Councillor Valern calls it an obvious myth, Councillor Sparatus dismisses it too but the asari Councillor, Tevos, was noticeably quiet don't you think?"

Garrus recalled the reaction of the asari, she had kept her expressions under close guard. "She looked nervous, but not like she doubted you." He said.

"Isn't that strange?" She craned her head to look at him. "And I don't understand why she didn't mind-meld with me. I mean, I may not like it much but it would have made her see the visions as well." Her hands went to her head, massaging the temples. "Maybe she would have been able to make sense of it."

She got up and began walking in small steps in front of the window, her hands moving over her head and arms. "And she didn't even react when we showed her that this Matriarch Benezia was involved. If she was so highly important, wouldn't the Councillor know about her and that she is with Saren?" Shepard turned to Garrus. "To me it looks like she knew all along, but she is trying to cover up her involvement."

"We have no proof of that." Garrus said.

"I know but still, there is something going on, something we don't know yet. And the asari are somehow involved. I just..." She scratched her neck, "I have to be careful that I don't let my prejudices overshadow this investigation." She turned to him. "You have to watch me. You have to remind me when I... lose my way."

She walked back to him and pulled him into an awkward hug, halfway on the floor and halfway leaning over him. Garrus pulled her closer. "You don't need me for that," he whispered into her hair, "but I will remind you if necessary."

She pulled back and opened her mouth to say something but instead just crashed her mouth against his lip-plates, sucking, eagerly kissing him. Garrus kissed her back, his hunger for her burning inside of him. The softness of her lips, the taste of her so foreign and familiar.

With a gasp for air she pulled back, her bright smile making her face shine. Garrus wanted to pull her back but she stopped him with her hands on his chest.

"Wait, I have another question!"

Garrus let his head fall back in frustration, "Really, woman? You have another question and it needs answering right now?" His desire for her had already loosened up his plates and his head was swimming from her sweet scent.

She smiled wide. "Yes, just a minute." She settled her weight back on his knees, moving away from his groin. "Don't worry, we are getting to this." She grinned at him and then turned serious.

"When I spoke to the Council, Nihlus told me to lower my head, what was that about? Was that to show abjection?" The look on her face was slightly disgusted on that word.

Garrus tried to make the connection between the predatory look of her lowered head and abjection and failed. "What? How do you mean?"

She sighed. "I had my head raised high..."

"Yes, you presented your throat to them."

Shepard wrinkled her nose in confusion. "I presented my throat?"

Garrus realized that she had no idea how she had looked to a turian. "Jane, you had your head tilted back and showed your throat. To a turian and to many other species, that is a submissive gesture, you were complying to..."

"Submissive?" She yelled, jumping up from his legs. Her arms were flailing, pointing to him and elsewhere. "You mean I was submissive to this giant fucking turian asshole of an asswiping..." She continued with a cascade of slurs and swear words that his translator just gave up on, yelling and pacing in front of him. He couldn't help but laugh, desperately trying to hide the flapping of his mandibles.

Shepard turned sharply to him. "Oh, don't you laugh. Damnit!" She finally stopped pacing and settled on one spot, her hip cocked out. "So let me get this straight. We humans have this expression of 'raising your head up high', which means to not take anybody's shit. But to you that looks like I'm being all humble and groveling?"

Garrus finally couldn't stop the laugh bursting out of him, she looked so annoyed by the revelation, it was just adorable. "Yes, yes it does!" He gasped.

Her eyes narrowed and he knew that he would get in trouble for laughing at her but he couldn't help himself.

"And this lowering of my head..." She slowly bowed her head down.

"And keeping eye contact, like you are about to headbutt a krogan..." Garrus rumbled, getting aroused by the predatory look of her.

"That is a dominant gesture?" She asked, one eyebrow rising. She kept her eyes on him through her lashes, icy and piercing.

His voice was getting hoarse and his subharmonics shamelessly rumbled his desire at her. "Yes, dominating and also very sexy when you do it." He slowly tilted his head back, presenting his throat. It was almost instinctual, submitting to the dominant female with her enticing predator look at him. It was also a game, a game that he wanted to play.

She came closer to him, still looking at him like a predator. "And you are presenting your throat, so you are submitting to me right now?" Her eyes were hungry and she sucked on her lower lip.

"Yes, I am." He stretched out more, tilting his head even further back, his eyes turning away from her in the ultimate form of submission.

She stepped between his legs, towering over him. Tiny beads of sweat sat on her forehead and she looked at him like he was a tasty piece of cake. Her voice was deeper than ever when she spoke. "So you if I tell you to undress and lie down on the bed, you would do it?"

"Yes."

She leaned down to his ear, her breath whispering over his throat. "Well, then hurry." She stepped back with a grin and Garrus never ran so fast to his bedroom, dropping his undersuit on the way. He let himself fall back on his bed, pushing the pillowroll under his neck, eagerly waiting for her. She sauntered in, slipping out of her undersuit. She was swinging her hips as she walked slowly towards him. He felt desire prickle up his spine like ice.

She still had her socks on and he smiled at that. She noticed his look and giggled, bending down to take them off. Throwing them away in a dramatic gesture, she laughed out. "Hah! I'm so sexy!"

Garrus laughed with her. This was one of his favorite things, that they could always laugh, no matter what they were doing. Her laugh turned to a grin and her predatory look returned, icy eyes under dark lashes, which quickly became another favorite of his.

She stopped in front of the bed and regarded him sternly. He stretched his head back again, eagerly submitting. Excitement made his plates thrum and he stretched backwards but he kept his eyes on her. He could not look away, she looked so wild, beautiful, like barely contained energy.

Jane was still standing and Garrus grew impatient. "Touch yourself." She ordered, before he could complain.

"I want to touch you." He said, hunger for her burning through him.

"In a minute, don't worry." She grinned at him, her hands slowly traveling down her sides and over her stomach. He could imagine how soft her skin felt, how flexible it moved against her hands and it was enough to make him rumble in deep trills.

"Oh yes, keep making that purr." She breathed out.

"I'm not purring."

"Yes you are. And I love it." She lowered her head more and gave him a sexy cold stare. "Now touch yourself!"

He could not refuse. Slowly, he let his hands stroke down over his cowl, down to his waist. It felt rougher than her hands of course, and it brought back memories of sex with turians. It felt familiar. Warm roughness as opposed to the cool softness of human hands. Slow strokes over his waist loosened up his groin plates and he felt his penis emerging. She still looked at him, her eyes growing wide, her teeth biting into her lip.

Her hands were moving over her sides and he noticed that she seemed to mirror his movements. To test it, he stroked over his stomach towards his groin, placing his hand left and right of his glistening erection. She followed his movements, her hand traveling along the same path and her fingers to the sides of her labia. A breathy moan left her and the heady scent of her arousal hit his nose.

Garrus took a deep breath and moved his hands back to his waist, kneading it, and she did as well. He put his hands on his cowl, stroking along the inside and Jane softly brushed along the undersides of her breasts. His own touch and watching her, made him thrum with need. Her thumb made little circles around her nipple that turned hard under the attention. She was panting now and Garrus's subharmonics were rumbling shamelessly at her.

His hands traveled down, his aching penis demanding some care. She moved down along with him and when he touched his hard erection, giving it some relieving strokes, her fingers rubbed her clitoris equally urgent. Her face was flushed pink now and her eyes were fixed on his hands, stroking and rubbing himself.

Suddenly she dropped her hands, breathing hard. She gave him her intense stare again and slowly let herself fall on her knees on the bed and crawled up over him. His hands stilled. She held herself above him and he still did not dare to touch her. Her eyes were eating him up and he wanted nothing more than to bury himself in her and become one with her.

The moment fell apart when her omni-tool beeped with a call. Shepard sighed and sat back on her legs, answering the call with a tip under her ear. "Yes?" She listened for a second and then said with a blush, "Sir? I would rather not." She got even redder and ended the call with, "Understood, I'll be there."

She sighed and Garrus groaned in frustration. "So you have to go now?"

Jane brushed through her hair. "Well, I was at first but when I refused to turn on vid, Anderson gave me another 20 minutes."

"You mean he knows what we are doing?" Garrus asked, a subharmonic trill of embarrassment under his voice.

"Well... he is not stupid!" Jane said with a smile. Then her look turned wild again. "So we better not waste any time!" With a rush she was over him, between his legs, her teeth scratching his throat and the feeling zapped through him like static. She stretched out long and he spread his legs wider.

Leaning back, she put her hands under his knees, right in the curve of his spurs and pushed his legs upwards until his knees almost pressed against the mattress. Garrus was trapped, he could not move. Her thighs pressed against his ass and she rubbed her wet folds over his shaft. She briefly took one hand off his leg to guide his penis inside her and then she held him down with her hands on his thighs and sank down on him. She took him in completely, grinding against him, rising up again, letting him almost slip out and then driving herself down on him again.

It was amazing. To be taken by her, under her control, was liberating in a way.

The only thing he could move were his hands and he stretched his arms to reach her, stroking her breasts with one hand and holding her waist with the other. Her eyes were wide open, staring at him, an expression of disbelief and pure desire in her face. She moved faster, taking him deep into her and whenever she hit his groin with her pubis, she made a circling motion that made her eyelids flutter, and he'd quiver in joy.

He moaned loudly, his second voice rumbling out his lust. The way she held him and fucked him, it was beyond arousing.

She was making little whining gasps now, pushing harder, her eyes wide open, her nails digging into the skin of his legs and he felt her pulse rushing inside. Her walls contracted and she came with a scream, shuddering but still moving, riding him on her wave, pushing, pumping until the ripples of tension in her vagina made him reach his peak too, spilling into her with a yell.

With a sigh she lost all tension in her body, unceremoniously letting his penis slip out of her to fall on her side like a drunken hanar. She was still panting hard just like him, a happy, satisfied smile on her face. It touched his gizzard like an electrical charge.

I love you. Please, let me love you.

Garrus slowly stretched his legs out, muscles protesting about the unusual position they had been held in. Jane appeared at his side, moving herself up to him by pulling at the blanket, hand over hand. With a sigh, as if the movement had tired her out, she flopped down beside him, her face nuzzling his neck.

He felt her lips move against his skin when she spoke. "We have to get going."

"I know." Garrus managed to say through the tiredness that tried to pull him down.

"I don't think I can move." She mumbled against his throat.

"Just call Anderson," Garrus said, "and tell him you'll be late."

"Yeah, right," Shepard snorted, "I'd like to be able to look him in the eyes in future. He is not stupid, I told you. And don't think you get to lounge around here, you're coming with me." She slowly raised herself up and turned to sit.

Garrus groaned. "Not fair, I'm just a lowly C-Sec officer, my shift is long over." Her naked back was irresistible and he softly let his claws scratch down. She arched her back, a breath hissing through her teeth.

"But you have the privilege of fucking a Spectre now," Shepard said with a grin, "there has to be a drawback."

Garrus raised himself up to lick her neck, enjoying the shudder that went through her. "Actually, it felt more like I was getting fucked by a Spectre."

She was suddenly very still and her voice just a whisper. "And did you like that?"

He flicked her earlobe with his tongue before whispering, "Very much, Lady Spectre."

She turned around and flung her arms around his neck and kissed him, hard and soft. They would have to hurry but there was no way he would ever cut a kiss like that from her short.


Now, wasn't that nice? About time too.

A little lesson in interspecies body language problems.

The term "falling down like a drunken hanar" was termed by the glorious nerdymum!

And mighty editor once again: Credete.

Next chapter we hopefully, finally get to fly away in the Normandy. The Normandy, my baby!