A/N: No matter how fun it is writing fluff, it doesn't advance the plot all that much, so more serious stuff ahead.
More lemons as well, because people seem to want that. You and your dirty minds.
Also, this story has been seriously lacking some Garrus bromance, so this chapter is starting to make up for that.
**Chapter 11: Wake Up**
Tali felt a chill, and burrowed deeper into the blankets, still half asleep. Her mind wandered foggily, brain pleasantly slow with the grey of dreams.
She felt a shift behind her. Lips pressed against the skin of her shoulder and a hand slowly inched its way up her waist, coming to rest on one of her breasts.
She awoke more fully to find Shepard administering these attentions, and she snorted into the pillow. "John, what are you doing?"
"Waking you up," he replied calmly, hand squeezing her breast. Her breath stuttered and she realised just how well this tactic was working.
"Too impatient to let me sleep in?" she replied, trying to form coherent thoughts.
"When you fall asleep naked on top of me it's hard not to be impatient." he put a hand to her shoulder, turning her to lie fully
on her back, and he shifted so that he lay atop her, mouth molding with hers. She felt a dull throb begin to form between her legs, and she fitted her body to his, skin tight against one another.
His hands brushed down her skin, fingers slowly moving towards their destination. She gasped when they brushed against her inner thigh, massaging the sensitive skin there and making her arch into him, tongue tracing the outline of his lips.
His fingers brushed over her core and she moaned, hips moving to allow him better access, legs parting. He spread the wetness of her over her folds, a finger slipping into her as he massaged her sex. She let out a gasp, nails digging into his back.
"Awake yet?" He murmured into her ear, teeth set on the lobe. His fingers stilled their movements as he waited for a response and she made an insistent sound.
"Keep moving, dammit!" she demanded, feeling the fiery ache low in her belly.
He laughed softly, complying. She moaned, hips moving in time with the motions of his hand, breath coming out in shallow gasps.
The pressure inside of her grew, demanding to be released. She could feel it building, and she bit his shoulder, hands clutching his skin as she tried to find something to hold onto against the storm that was forming inside of her.
Another finger slipped its way inside and she moaned loudly, pressing herself tight to him and rubbing her aching breasts against his chest. Close now, breathing ragged, her legs rose to try and wrap around his arm, but he moved a knee and kept her legs down, and that shift coupled with the quick movements of his fingers sent her over the edge, gasping and shuddering as she arched against his hand, breath escaping her in moans.
He held her until her spasms began to subside, and with a lingering caress withdrew his hand. His breathing was ragged and uneven, and his gaze held enough heat to make her skin warm once more. She smiled, eyes traveling the length of his muscled frame to see him in a very disadvantaged state.
She made a sound in her throat that made his skin shiver and she moved suddenly, pushing him away and onto his back, where she straddled him, eyes filled with promise.
"My turn."
Traynor munched on a bagel, skimming through her omni-tool for readouts of the Normandy. Because she was a techie, as Shepard had so officially dubbed her, she was assisting the engineers repairing the ship in getting some of the more intricate parts of communications back online.
Her omni-tool beeped and she looked down at the new message. It was Shepard's, as most of his emails had been forwarded first to her, telling him to come to the meeting that the Galactic Council was having this morning.
She opened a comm to his room. "Sir?"
"Yes, Traynor?" he sounded slightly out of breath and a little giddy, and she grinned.
"Is this a bad time, Commander?"
"Not at all, Specialist." his voice was more normal now, but it held an amused tone.
"Alright. Well, you've been called to a meeting with the Council that's starting soon."
She heard a muttered curse on the other end, and when his voice replied it was far less amused. "I'll be right down."
A couple of minutes later a grumpy Shepard walked into the Crew Deck, heading towards the coffee machine and pulling on the collar of his uniform, which was uncomfortably tight.
He activated the machine, fingers jerking at the high collar and swearing under his breath. Chakwas got up from her chair, giving him a sympathetic look. "Need help?"
He was about to decline, but thought better of it and gestured for her to fix the stupid thing. She undid a couple buttons, rearranging the collar to sit more comfortably. Her fingers brushed over a mark on his neck and she raised a steel-colored brow. "Enjoying yourself, Commander?"
He grinned, imagining the faint track of teeth marks on his throat. "Not as much as Tali."
He heard Garrus make gagging noises from his place at the breakfast table, making James snort coffee.
She smacked his chest lightly. "No need to be vulgar."
"How was that—"
She gave him a stern look. "Because I said so. There. You're collar's fixed."
"You sound like my mother," he muttered, picking up his now-ready cup of coffee.
"You're welcome." she replied dryly, walking over to the table and eating the last of her breakfast.
"The meeting will be starting soon. I suggest you hurry." she said passingly as she entered the med-bay, doors closing softly behind her.
His mouth twisted and he took a swig of scalding coffee, tongue cringing at the bitter taste and hot temperature.
He opened his omni-tool and looked over his messages, then grinned when he read over his "invitation" to the meeting.
"We advise that you are also accompanied to this meeting by Officer Garrus Vakarian and Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, as their political opinions are respected by many species representatives and would be greatly appreciated in this hearing," he read allowed.
"Ugh," Garrus snorted. "Figures. I get dragged into hell with you again."
"What else were you planning on doing today, anyway? Calibrations?"
Garrus have him a look. "They're more important than you'd think. Besides, you don't know anything about tech. I can't expect you to understand the value of my work."
"I—"
A knock on the med-bay window, and he looked over to see Chakwas pointing to her wrist. It's starting soon.
He sighed, nodding to her. "Come on Vakarian. We can argue about your contributions to the ship later. As soon as Tali comes down we'll go."
Tali watched her fiancé, doing her best to stifle her laughter.
They'd been called to the Galactic Council Meeting right after breakfast, something that seemed irritate the hell out of Shepard.
He sat a couple seats down from her at the long table that housed many of the representatives from other species, a bored look on his face. She knew better, though, and could tell that he was listening intently, no matter how far away his expression may be.
Garrus had come as well, his friends in the Hierarchy demanding his attendance, though he seemed about as happy at the fact as Shepard did.
They were discussing the new Council, and by the way everyone spoke it was clear that this subject had been talked about before. Beside her sat Raan, sitting quietly and simply observing, as she usually did.
Shepard blew out a breath, and a couple of people turned to look at him. "We don't need a government at the moment, we need to rebuild. This," he gestured around him, "will be able to govern civilians just fine for now."
"What do you suggest we focus on instead, Shepard?" Hackett asked, cutting off one of the Admiral's likely negative interjection.
"A trading program of some sort—"
"Trading? We're already trading whatever supplies we can, Commander." A dark skinned Admiral interrupted.
"If you'd let me finish, I wasn't talking about supplies."
That got the man's attention, as well as everyone else's in the room.
"Trade workers, specialists. Earth needs heavy lifters to clear rubble. One krogan can lift what it would take three humans to—"
Wrex snorted. "Five, at the least. You humans give yourself too much credit."
Shepard grinned at him, but continued on. "What it would take five humans to accomplish. So, we get the assistance of krogan, and in return we give Wrex human workers, ones that have to deal with delicate tasks or cramped areas that krogan can't access. Or quarians," he gestured to Tali, a slight smile on his face. "They're damn good engineers. We have a couple of them fix our comms, computer systems, whatever, and in return we assist them with architecture and farming."
"What about the asari? The turians?" Sparatus—who had arrived on Earth with the rest of the Council not too long ago—asked.
"That was only a couple of examples. Everyone needs the help of everyone. We do this, and it strengthens ties between races and will cement some of the... newer alliances made in the war." he said, eyes flicking between Wrex and Primarch Victus, who was also present.
"That is a bold proposal, Commander. Do you think that other races will simply drop what they're doing to help others? We need to build our own cities back up, too." Victus said, looking doubtful.
Tali could see his blood pressure rising, and she muted her helmet and let out a tiny laugh, unable to contain her amusement. The laugh quickly turned into a cough and she sighed. Her passionate encounter with Shepard in the rubble, however brief, had left her with the quarian equivalent of a bad cold. Having sex with Shepard this morning hadn't helped either, although she certainly had enjoyed it.
"That's my point. If we all drop what we're doing to go help each other, our cities will all be rebuilt, but more efficiently. We just have to figure out where each species would be most effective in the rebuilding process."
"What about conflict? The krogan and turians have only now managed to put their differences aside to help one another. And humans and batarians have had a strained relationship at best, especially since you decided to blow up one of their colonies." one of the human Admirals—a dark skinned man named Dwahan—said, his tone dripping with disapproval at the state of interspecies political relations.
Shepard's hands balked into fists on the surface of the smooth wooden desk, knuckles white.
"I did what I had to. And I never said that this would go along without a hitch. This is a huge change for everyone; conflict is to be expected. But it is also to be expected that the leaders of each race be as accommodating and helpful as possible."
Everyone began talking at once.
"I don't want krogan on—"
"This can't possibly—"
"It's ridiculous to think—"
The doubts and racism of each species boiled up, coming out in one huge storm. Shepard slammed his hands down on the wood, silencing everyone. His eyes flared
an icy blue, his voice enraged.
"Arrogant! Every damn one of you! You think that now that the war is over we can all go back to hating each other? You're going to be so damn narrow-minded that you think that we don't need everyone's help? We're all going to live in ruins until we start looking around and helping our neighbors! You want to walk outside and say to a family that's living in a tent, starving and freezing because their home went up in flames, that you've got it under control and don't need any help? There are people *dying* in the streets because we don't have our shit together." his eyes flicked around, making sure to meet each person's gaze.
"You either accept the fact that we can't do this on our own, or you watch your civilians—the very people who elected you—die because you were too proud to ask the help of others."
No one said anything for a long moment, all too shocked at the dose of reality being force fed to them to speak.
Hackett spoke up finally, respect clear in his eyes. "I'm willing to send specialists to any that need them."
"The krogan will need help for smaller tasks, as Shepard said." Wrex replied.
"The quarians need architects. We need homes now, after all." Tali added, smiling at Shepard.
"Wishfully: The elcor need biotics to help move building materials on Dekuna." The elcor representative supplied monotonously.
One by one, the races began to ask for help. Some were grudging, some muttered into their cup of coffee, but everyone asked. And no one complained.
"Stubborn son of a bitch. I don't know how you do that." Hackett muttered, watching the reps of each species begin to file out.
"A moment, Shepard?" he called, and the Commander turned from the door, nodding. He noticed that Tali'Zorah stayed as well, and his lips tugged faintly. They hid their relationship well, but Hackett wasn't blind, either.
When everyone was gone besides Shepard, Tali'Zorah, and Hannah, the Commander spoke up.
"Yes, sir?"
"I'd like to thank you—"
Shepard waved a hand. "You don't have to thank me. I just made them realize what they already knew."
"That's just it. I wasn't sure how to do that. Then you come in and yell at everyone and suddenly there's a lineup of people scrambling to help one another."
Shepard rubbed the back of his neck. "It was nothing, sir. Anything else?"
The man couldn't take a compliment, it seemed. Hackett studied the man for a moment, wondering. If Shepard were in a high political position, the galaxy would be a much easier place to live in. Although the Commander had a blatant disregard for rules if he believed that they didn't suit him, the man was intelligent. So were many of the political reps, but the difference was that Shepard did not hide what needed to be seen, and did not beat around the bush.
Yes, if Shepard was ever in a place of high political power, his ability to lead would be a game changer.
But could Hackett do that to the man? Ask him to take a position that he would hate? He'd intended on asking Shepard to join the ranks of the Admirals, but if he did, he would not be happy. The man would probably want to settle down, have a home and family, not waste his hours away in political debates.
Would Hackett ask the man to give up his happiness for the greater good of the galaxy once again?
"Sir?" Shepard asked, looking slightly confused, and the Admiral snapped out of his thoughts.
"No, Commander. Nothing at all."
"I should attend these things more often," Garrus commented when Tali and Shepard exited the conference room, leaning casually on the wall. "They're even more entertaining than vids. And I have to pay for those."
"I wouldn't call them entertaining. More like infuriating." Shepard muttered, walking down the long hallway that led outside, glancing out the windows they passed.
Garrus chuckled. "For you, maybe. I, on the other ha—" The turian had stopped dead in his tracks, sentence dying on plated lips.
Shepard and Tali looked at him, confused. "Garrus?" She asked hesitantly.
He was staring at something with an unreadable expression, and Shepard followed his line of sight, blinking in shock at what he saw.
It was Sidonis.
The turians stared at one another, both still as stone. Sidonis was in civilian garb, his plated features likewise unreadable. The turian's mandibles twitched nervously. "Garrus," he said by way of greeting.
Garrus said nothing, simply staring at the other turian, who shifted uncomfortably under the intensity of his gaze.
"What are you doing here?" Garrus said finally, voice swollen with suppressed emotion.
"Helping, as I said I would. I came here with Councilor Sparatus, and I'm helping him coordinate the rehabilitation of turian colonies."
Garrus stared at him for a long moment, barely daring to even breathe. His expression reminded Shepard of a velociraptor, his hawk-like features and predatory stance chillingly similar. Then something flashed in his eyes, something that made Shepard lunge towards him.
"Garrus, d—"
Garrus launched himself at Sidonis, or at least tried to. Shepard barrelled into him, the pair of them slamming into the opposite wall.
The turian pushed against him, struggling furiously to reach his target. Shepard shoved back, shoulder to his chest and pinning him to the wall. His talons raked down his arm, long gashes remaining.
"Stop! Jesus, stop!" he grunted, arms straining to keep the snarling turian restrained. What was in his friend's gaze was not even remotely sapient, small eyes twitching with feral anger, the need to hunt and kill.
Garrus shoved him away, sending him stumbling back. Tali caught him, worry in her silvery gaze.
"Where is he?" His friend growled, stalking the length of the hallway, head snapping at every small sound. Sidonis was nowhere to be seen. The man had likely fled as soon as Garrus had moved.
"He's gone." Shepard replied stonily, touching the bloody gashes down his arm.
"Come with me." he said flatly, taking a hold of Garrus' arm and dragging him outside.
"What—"
"Shut up."
Tali hurried over, giving him a worried look. "Where are you going?"
"The warehouse. Go back to the ship."
"But—"
"Go."
She gave him one more anxious look, but finally nodded and left, walking towards the docking bays.
He shoved his friend into the warehouse they'd be using for training, flicking the lights on. Shepard motioned for Garrus to sit on one of the benches, which he did so silently.
"Stay there," he ordered, walking a little ways away and activating his comm.
"Tali."
"How is he?" she responded instantly.
"He's... breathing." he finished lamely. "Look, what's the strongest alcohol we have on the ship that he can drink?"
"I'll have to check, but I'm assuming you want me to bring a bottle?"
"That would be great." closing the comm, he walked over towards one of the small storage closets, reaching into a drawer from a cabinet and coming up with boxing tape. He wrapped it methodically around his knuckles, first his good hand, then his crippled one. Sparring would probably hurt like a bitch, but it was something that needed to be done.
He walked back towards his friend, coming to stop on a small mat on the ground. Grabbing a fistful of his t-shirt, he stripped it off and threw it on the bench, wincing as the movement burned at the gashes on his arm.
"What are you doing?" Garrus said warily.
"We're going to beat the shit out of each other. Now stand up."
His friend complied, taking the tape from him. "Shepard, I'm sor—"
"Don't."
"I have to. I shouldn't... I spared Sidonis before to teach him a lesson, to make sure he suffered, but... I never figured that I'd run into him again."
His friend unhooked the top half of the armor that seemed to be a second skin to him, slowly placing the pieces on the bench.
"It would've been so much easier," Garrus began. "So much easier if he never admitted that he'd done something wrong. Then he could just be some asshole that I could put a bullet in. But how do you hate someone who regrets what they did?" armor off, he peeled away the underweave of the suit's fabric.
"How do you hate someone who tries to make up for their mistakes? How do you kill them?"
"You don't."
Garrus looked up at his friend, expression unreadable. "Or you do. That's your choice, Garrus. You just have to figure out if the person you're killing is truly bad, or a good person who made a horrible mistake."
"He's... I don't know. He's a coward, and his loyalty can be bought with fear." he stepped in front of Shepard, top half now uncovered by his usual blue armor plating.
"But he was good enough to risk his life to help innocent people on Omega. I don't know. Dammit, why can't everything be black and white?"
Shepard stepped into an easy fighting stance, fists held at the ready. "Come on. Punch me."
The turian mirrored his stance, snapping a jab at his friend. Shepard blocked with a forearm, returning with a cross to the turian's midsection. Garrus easily dodged it, throwing a hook at Shepard and catching him in the ribs, making him grunt. "Careful. I broke those."
"Baby," Garrus muttered, swinging another punch, this one at Shepard's head. He ducked, slamming a fist into the turian's collarbone, gritting his teeth as his crippled hand crunched against plated skin.
"You sure this is a good idea?" his friend asked, eyeing him as he hissed through his teeth in pain, pulling his left hand closer to his body.
"What, scared I'll beat you?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"No, I'm scared that if I punch you hard enough you'll break into a million pieces and then I'll have to answer to Tali."
He chuckled. "Now that would be something to see. And I'm fine. I've worked with worse injuries."
"Fine. Just make sure Tali knows it wasn't my fault." he replied, fist snapping towards Shepard.
He watched Garrus as they sparred. Although he'd
been cracking jokes, he could see the angry glint in the man's eyes, and the way he seemed to hold back the power in his punches, the effort to restrain his rage drawing his crusted features together.
That restraint wouldn't help Garrus. It was time to get his friend angry.
Shepard dodged a punch, slamming his fist into the turian's face. Not waiting for him to recover, he swung a hook into his midsection, then a quick jab in the chest.
Garrus staggered, eyes flaring. He swung back, fist connecting with Shepard's abdomen, his punch far more powerful than it had been moments before.
His breath whooshed out of him, but Garrus wasn't finished. A cross to the shoulder, then the chest. A fist slammed against his cheek, hard enough to make his vision blur. He staggered, another taloned fist connecting with his jaw, the other his stomach again.
He stumbled back, stars winking in front of his eyes and his lungs straining for the oxygen that had been forced out of them. A knee slammed into his stomach, his body now completely lacking air. A fist crunched into his nose, and he felt the cartilage snap.
Shepard threw his shoulder forward, smashing into the turian's chest, shoving him back. He sent a return knee into Garrus, mandible crunching under his fist.
Garrus lashed out, firing punches so quickly all Shepard could do was block. Adrenaline surged into his veins and anger flared, only barely keeping up with the barrage. He tasted blood as it trickled from his nose, and then a fist slammed into his face once more, ensuring a black eye and knocking him on his ass.
He flexed the neural implant in the back of his head, throwing a hand at Garrus and shoving the turian down with a biotic push.
Garrus no longer a threat, he collapsed onto the mat, sweat pouring off of him and chest heaving. He wiped at his nose but that had little effect, the blood running freely down his face and onto the mat.
"Keelah, what were the two of you doing?" he heard the warehouse door open and the sound of Tali's incredulous voice, and she put the bottle in her hand down and ran over to Shepard, brushing her fingers over his bruised visage. "Your face—"
"I'm alright." he grunted, sitting up and wiping at his nose again. He saw Garrus sitting a little ways away from him, hand gingerly touching his broken mandible.
"Garrus?" He asked.
"I'm fine." he replied, taloned fingers coming away stained with blue blood.
"Idiots." Tali muttered, taking a cloth from one of her many pockets and handing it to Shepard. "Keep that on your nose." she gestured, and he wiped again, careful not to touch the splintered cartilage.
She walked over to Garrus, inspecting his injuries. "The pair of you are coming with me to see Chakwas."
"Tali—"
"Now." she said, tone steely.
He grinned, ignoring the tearing of his split lip. She'd certainly come a long way from the shy, nervous quarian he'd met years ago. Now she was making demands of the man who'd defeated the Reapers and giving him a "why do you do stupid shit like this?" look.
He rose heavily to his feet, pain radiating throughout a dozen cuts and bruises. He walked over, offering a hand to Garrus, who took it.
"Feeling better?"
"Much." Garrus grinned, blood marking up the right side of his face. "I always enjoy knocking you on your ass."
"Men." Tali breathed, and he could practically hear her rolling her eyes. "Come on. Before you get blood all over the mats."
"Fuck!"
He jerked away from Chakwas' hand, clutching his face. The bloody woman had taken one look at his crooked nose, and with a quick flick of her fingers had snapped it back in place.
Garrus snickered from the bed next to him and he glared at the turian through watering eyes.
"There. Now that should set fairly quickly if you don't touch it. Unless you want me to put a splint—"
"No."
She shook her head. "I thought as much. Now let me look at your hand."
He offered his crippled appendage to her, and she inspected the broken, bloody knuckles of his left hand, frowning.
"I *will* have to put something on your hand. You've broken two of the knuckles. Good Lord, what were you two doing?"
"Sparring," Garrus supplied, then winced as his broken mandible twitched with movement.
"Well that's good. I thought you were just trying to kill each other."
Moving over to gather some equipment, he spotted Tali leaning against one of the counters, arms crossed and giving him an amused look, chuckling to herself.
"What's so funny?"
"You two. One minute you're beating each other senseless, then the next you're helping each other up and making stupid jokes."
He grinned at Garrus. "I haven't had the chance to beat the shit out of you in a while, so I thought I'd liven things up."
"I appreciate the sentiment," The turian replied dryly, hand hovering around his broken mandible.
The overhead comm beeped and Joker's voice echoed in the small room. "Uh, Commander? There's a couple of little people standing outside the airlock."
He stopped himself from smacking his forehead. "Shit. I forgot about Maddy and Ian. Send them aboard Joker, and make sure they get to Deck Three."
"What's wrong wi' your face?"
"Maddy!"
Shepard laughed, staring at the two MacLaine kids, who were standing in the mess hall staring at his bruised visage with open interest, though Ian had the tact to at least not blurt out his thoughts.
"Sparring got a little out of hand." he said, looking over his shoulder at the closed med-bay doors. Chakwas had bandaged his hand and slathered medi-gel on his scathed arm, and had promptly shoved him outside. Garrus was still in there, grumbling as she put his face back together.
Maddy was already bored of the news, eyes brightening as she moved to the reason they were here. "Can I see th' ship now?"
He chuckled. "Of course. Let's start on Deck One, shall we?"
I guess you've noticed that I haven't been updating almost daily like I usually do, and I apologize for that. However, Life being the Giant Bitch that it tends to be, I've been ridiculously bust as of late, so the update pattern probably won't increase for a while yet.
And more crew interactions. I keep intending to write it but then I get sidetracked and well... this chapter is a product of my inability to focus. But it WILL be written.
Next chapter will be the tour. I was going to put it in here but the word count got ridonkulous, so I chopped it.