Title: Rain

Pairing: F!Shepard x Thane

Warnings: Recounting in game events. Implied intercourse, nothing explicit.

Summary: Shepard is detailed in Earth after surrendering to the Alliance, following the destruction of the Collectors and the Alpha Relay. One rainy, lonely Sunday she gets an unexpected visitor

Word Count: 1.5k

The rain. In the chaos of the prior three years, she forgot how beautiful Earth was when it rained. Winter in Vancouver was nothing but gray and rain. It was a far cry from the snow laden, bone chilling winters she faced as a street rat in New York as a kid. Those days felt so long ago, a life time ago. With a sigh, she supposed it was a different lifetime. It wasn't her present body that struggled to stay alive in those conditions. It wasn't her present body that learned the tricks of staying warm as the temperature dropped or how to find shelter during a blizzard. That was a different body, a different life.

Shepard pulled her legs up and folded them under herself as she settled deeper in the soft armchair. A plush blanket draped across her lap as a cup of coffee steamed to her right, fogging up the cold window behind it. Her fingers unconsciously pulled at the dog-eared corners of the well worn romance novel from Kasumi while she watched the rain. It was one of several the thief had snuck into her bags before they parted ways. After her initial disinterest in the gift, she found herself turning to them more and more to pass the hours of the many rainy Sundays she spent alone in the apartment-prison she had called home for the prior two months.

There were no appointments on Sundays, no interrogations, and her bodyguard, Lieutenant James Vega, was given the day off. Indeed, she came to appreciate the trashy, bodice ripping stories of love conquering all with flowing hair, rippling muscles, and colorful euphemisms of the human anatomy. They were an escape from the reality of her surroundings and the unknown fate her future held. Mostly, as she read the impossible romances, she'd stare out the window and think about Thane.

God, how she missed him. Ached for him and his steady presence.

Their affair had painfully short. More of an emotional connection than a physical one, thanks to the Reapers, Cerberus, and Doctor Kenson. Help out Admiral Hackett and get arrested for war crimes. No good deed goes unpunished. Damn indoctrinated lunatic. Although she felt empathy for Hackett at the loss of a friend and colleague, she resented being the one left holding the bag. A bag holding the lives of 300,000 Batarian civilians.

Outside the rain intensified and fell in sheets against the window and patio. Shepard sighed and pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes. For so long she had been going, running, fighting. All the stopping and waiting she was forced to do was torture. And Sundays, her Sundays alone, were the hardest to deal with. All she had was time to crawl into her head and think.

Huffing, she opened the book and refocused. Reginald and Anastasia had just gotten caught in a rainstorm and sought shelter in the stable. She was shivering in her soaking wet gown. He pulled her close to warm her. The heat between them was building as his calloused hand grazed her bare shoulder. A trail of warmth lingered as the blades of his fingers traced down her spine to the strings of her dress. Holding her doe-eyed gaze, he gripped the strand and began to pull-

Jingle-jingle.

Shepard heard the sound but didn't react to it at first. Her book was finally getting juicy and she wasn't in the mood to be interrupted. The bell jingled again. This time, grabbing her attention. Her heart raced. She wasn't alone.

Closing the book slowly and setting it aside, she reached for her coffee. It was at least something to use. Or break and use as a shiv after throwing hot coffee in their face. The blanket could be a good diversion too. Tucking it under her arm, she stood, as through she was just done reading.

As she readied herself and turned, no one was there. For the third time, she heard the jingling. It was coming from her bedroom. Suddenly she put the sound into context, but it was impossible. He couldn't have snuck in.

As a joke, she purchased bells for both Thane and Kasumi, tired of them sneaking up on her in an ongoing game. The thief never wore hers, but Thane would when milling about this ship between missions. She knew it was only to humor her, and on more than one occasion he proved he could wear a bell and still move in silence. But hearing the sound approaching always lifted her spirits, a fact she told him, so he indulged her.

Hearing that sound once again nearly brought her to tears as she stood outside her bedroom door. She had desperately missed him in their time apart but was terrified to give into the hope that he was truly on the other side. A breath caught in her throat as she the door slid open and she entered.

The lights were low, save for a lamp on the bedside table in the otherwise darkened room. A glimmer of silver caught her eye on the surface. The bell. Dropping her her blanket and book at the foot of the bed, she set down her mug and picked it up. As she studied it, she felt a presence drawing near.

"Is it really you?" She whispered as she felt him press against her back.

Her senses were filled with the subtle bit undeniable tells of Thane's presence. The faint creak and smell of his armor, the firm but gentle touch of his hand on her waist and shoulder. His breath puffed across her neck as his lips grazed the thin skin. She released a broken sign, tears forming under closed lids and she relaxed into his strong form.

"I've missed you, Shepard." He breathed in her ear.

James shook the rain off his coat as he walked down the corridor to the lift. His boots squeaked in the white tile floor, which echoed through the quiet foyer. The delegate residences were fancier than he was accustomed to, but the upper floor apartment afforded Shepard both the security and accommodation Anderson insisted she needed during her trial.

It became a tradition of his Sunday off to bring a meal from the outside for dinner. The take away bag rustled as he ride the lift. After checking in at the security station, he used his access card and the door slid open.

Shepard was much as he'd left her earlier that morning: tucked in a chair by the floor to ceiling windows. A cup of tea steamed in the small table. Her eyes passed over the pages of one of the several novels she had been reading and re-reading to pass the time. But, as he shrugged put if his cost and hung it in the rack, something seemed different about her, though he couldn't place it.

"Evening, Commander." He greeted. "Hope you're hungry."

"Hmm, yeah." She answered in a very relaxed tone.

He stopped and cocked his head at her. "Are you okay? You seem...out of it."

She seemed snapped back to reality. "Yes. I'm fine, Vega. Tool a nap this afternoon and still feel a little groggy."

Unconvinced, he walked around the chair and looked at her. Although she didn't look sick, something about her eyes was off. They were glassy, but not as though she had been crying. A smile was almost curling at the corner of her lips. She almost looked high.

"Shepard, did you smuggle something in here?" He didn't smell anything unusual. "What kind of tea is that?"

"Chamomile. I'm hitting the hard stuff today." She sarcastically replied and offered him the cup. "Wanna hit? It's the good shit."

"Yeah, okay." He dismissed the thought, but noticed a silver bell on the table by her mug, which he picked up. "What's this?"

"Hmmm, that's so I know when the assassin is sneaking up on me." She replied and cackled. "Though it doesn't work if he isn't wearing it."

James was so completely lost, all he could do was put it back and plate out their meals. As they ate, Shepard seemed to return to normal and by the time they were heading to bed, she was her old self again, if a bit happier. Whatever it had been, he decided it wasn't his business.

After changing into his sleep clothes, he checked his terminal and reviewed the security footage while he was gone. Strangely, just after midday, Shepard abruptly got up from her chair by the window, and walked nervously toward her bedroom. The tension in her shoulders was clear. Perhaps more strange, was that once in the room, where for her privacy there were no cameras, and stayed there until just before he returned.

Checking the exterior cameras for the same period of time, he noticed a disruption to the feed just before she got up from her chair and just after she left her bedroom. It wasn't much, just a blip of static that lasted a few frames. He reversed and watched them several times over, but couldn't make anything of it. A deep yawn pulled at his chest. Whatever it was, he'd dealt with it in the morning.

It was probably just the rain, anyway.