Author Note: I loved this character too much to let her go.

I collapsed back onto the bed, my chest heaving. I was winded. Goddamn. I clearly needed to work out more. Running some cushy UNSC program as an instructor was making me soft.

Thel 'Vadam collapsed onto the bed next to me, his chest also heaving. It made me feel a little less weak and out of shape to hear him breathing so heavily too, since he was a Sangheili warrior at the peak of physical perfection.

And I do mean physical perfection. Like, goddamn.

That physical perfection was especially attractive right now, since I hadn't seen him in close to six months. We'd sent video messages back and forth, but I hadn't actually been physically near him in six months. And it had been really crappy.

Of course, I'd known it would be this way, with me in the UNSC, running their ODMD program, and him on Sanghelios, doing Sangheili Arbiter bullshit.

But still, six months? That had been way too long. When I'd received the orders to drop onto Sanghelios to assist with the civil war that had been raging, the one I'd technically started by killing my father (long story), I'd had to control myself so I didn't start yelling about how I was totally going to get laid while I was there. UNSC brass wouldn't have taken too kindly to that, even though it was common knowledge that I was in a serious and committed relationship with the Arbiter.

"Khase." Thel said my name, his voice heavy with emotion, his breathing still ragged. "I have missed you."

"Missed me, or missed my vagina?" I asked, rolling onto my right side to face him, raising my eyebrows.

He was still laying on his back, and I caught an eyeroll from him. "I would be eternally grateful if you found yourself capable of being an adult for five minutes."

Oh, damn. He was starting to sound like me. I guess that's what happens when you find your soulmate and she turns out to be a total fucking shithead.

"I'll ignore the insult in favor of focusing on the fact that you've missed me." I retorted, running my finger across the mark on his chest.

He caught my hand with his, and pushed it flat against his chest. "I have indeed missed you. It has been too long since I've had you in my arms."

I fought the urge to make a really epic dick joke, because I was genuinely trying to be an adult for five minutes. "I've missed you, too."

"You have been here for some days and this is the first time I have had you alone." He heaved in a breath. "I must confess that has not sat well with me, though I know you have been doing important work here."

"Very important work." I sighed. "Half of your doctors didn't even know what a running whip stitch was before I got here. The medical care here on Sanghelios is abysmal."

"You know as I do that any profession of the medical kind is considered shameful here."

"Well, an alliance with humanity used to be considered shameful, too. You'd think attitudes about medical care would change along with that."

"Our people see far more good from an alliance with humanity than they see in adequate medical care. You know that."

"Your people, Thel. As much as I'd love to call them our people, they're not my people."

He started to protest, but I brought my free hand up to put a finger over his mandibles.

"Shhh. Let me finish. Humans aren't my people either. I'm stuck between two worlds, not belonging anywhere."

"You belong with me." He said, as he wrested my finger away.

"I know. You've never shown me otherwise."

He let go of my hand, the one that had been previously held against his chest, and stroked my hair. "You have been gone from me for far too long. My hearts have ached for you, yearned for you, and it seems to be a dream that you are here."

I definitely wanted to gracefully roll over to him and get close enough to whisper something touching and sensual, but my agility was seriously fucking lacking, so all I ended up doing was thrashing around for a few seconds until I ended up with my torso halfway draped across his chest, my face close to his. Whatever. I'd take it.

"I'm here, my Arbiter. And if it were my choice to stay here forever, with you, I would."

It had been a while since that whole bullshit mission thing with Vale and those fuckups I called my ODST Team. Almost two years. The civil war on Sanghelios had been going a long time. Unfortunately, the Separationists (the name of those who were in favor of severing the alliance with humanity, the name that they had given themselves, a name pretty clearly almost ripped off of a popular science fiction franchise) had teamed up with the Covenant Remnant that had reared their ugly heads on Sanghelios again, so they had a significant amount of firepower that the Swords and the UNSC hadn't anticipated. The UNSC had contacted me, asking me to go to Sanghelios to help out with the medical personnel they had stationed at a large, makeshift hospital of sorts on the planet's surface, asking me to help teach the medical personnell working there, human and Sangheili alike. It had been encouraging to me to see quite a few Sangheili medical personnel, the growing interest in my field of choice meaning that the attitude towards doctors on my homeworld had been slowly changing.

I'd immediately agreed to drop down to help out. Not out of the goodness of my heart. Not because I wanted to show people that I was not only a superb doctor, but an awesome teacher, no. I agreed because on the off chance I had some down time to get down and dirty with my dude, I'd take it. Medicine is cool and all, but it doesn't come close to finally being able to get it on with your significant other after not seeing them for months.

In the two years this thing had been going on between us, I'd learned to sort of communicate my feelings in a way that wasn't aggressive and simultaneously awkard. God, I'd even learned how to say things that could be mistaken for romantic. I had made some serious progress.

Thel sighed, jolting me out of my head. "Unfortunately, you and I cannot stay here forever. I must return to the battlefield, and you must return to your position at the medical facility. Our time together has been brief..." He paused, and wrapped his arms around me, tightly.

"But it's been good." I said, softly, pressing my lips to his mandibles.

Even though we'd been doing this for almost two years, it was still a little weird every time he tried to kiss me. If you're not fully prepared for a set of two mandibles wrapping completely around the lower half of your face, you shouldn't do the kissing thing with a Sangheili. Because, let me tell you, it's super fucking weird. And there's saliva. Who's saliva? That's anyone's guess. But it's wet, and it's sloppy, and unless you really fucking love the Sangheili that set of mandibles is attached to, it's gonna be weird and slightly gross. Luckily, I did really fucking love the Sangheili who's mandibles were sucking at my face. So it wasn't gross or totally weird.

Seriously, though. Making out with a Sangheili really adds a new understanding to the phrase "sucking face".

Especially when the mandibles completely cover your mouth and nose. You have a limited amount of time before you run out of air.

And I'd just run out of air. I couldn't pull back, because he was gripping the back of my head, keeping it where it was.

I deeply appreciated the passion with which he sucked my face, but oxygen was also something I deeply appreciated.

"Mmmph." I managed to mumble, as I slapped his chest a few times, gently. I was basically tapping out. Kasey can't breathe, Thel. You want to keep her around, you should definitely let go.

And he did. Thank fuck. My shitty life had just flashed before my eyes for the second time.

I sucked in a breath. "That was great. It would be more great if my nose was in a better location, like on my forehead, though."

He chuckled. "It would make your face seem strange, I think."

"Strange, but convenient." I retorted, rolling out of the bed.

I started picking my clothes up off of the floor from the various places I'd discarded them upon entering the room. My bra was nowhere to be found. Whatever. I'm sure I'd be back for it, eventually.

I turned and saw the white coat draped gracefully across a chair. Even in my desperately horny state, I'd managed to show the white coat the respect it deserved. Score one for Adams.

I shrugged it on, and as I did so, I saw Thel holding something out to me, him only halfway into his armor.

He was holding out my bra.

Fuck that. I was already dressed. I wasn't taking all this shit off just to put that bitch on. "Keep it. In case we have to go another six months without seeing each other." I said, waving my hand at him.

If he had eyebrows, he'd probably have raised one of them. "You want me to keep it?"

"Yeah. Call it a souvenir. Like, I visited Adams's vagina and all I got was this shitty undergarment type thing."

He just shook his head at me. "I love you, truly, I do, but I do wonder about your sanity quite often."

"You and me both, buddy." I muttered.

"What was that?"

"Nothing important." I said, waving my hand again and approaching him. I wrapped my arms around him and laid my head on his chest. "God, I'm going to miss you."

He wrapped his arms around me too, his grip like iron. "I will miss you far more than you will miss me."

"Lies and slander."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"No you won't miss me more than I'll miss you? You're right. You won't."

I felt his laugh as it rippled through his chest. "You have such a way with words, Khase."

"I'm also dead right, 100% of the time. The sooner you accept this, the smoother the rest of our lives will go."

He was quiet a moment. "You intend for this continue for the rest of your life?"

"Of course." I said, softly. "The moment I'll stop loving you is the moment death takes me. And even after that, I'm sure I'll become a poltergeist that will constantly annoy the shit out of you by throwing your armor across the room the second you try to go grab it."

He chuckled again. "I would expect nothing less from you." He put his face into my hair. "I as well will continue to love you from beyond the grave."

"How romantic, albeit morbid."

"I do try."

I reached up and pulled him in for a swift kiss, lest I get caught in an other bout of oxygen deprived face sucking, then moved towards the door.

Before I left, I turned back, seeing him putting on the rest of his armor.

"I love you." I said, softly, willing my brain to commit this sight of him to memory.

He looked up from his task, a light of something I couldn't quite name shining in his eyes. "And I, you."

And then I left.