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Thane lay amidst the tangled sheets, enjoying the pleasant lassitude in his limbs. From the bathroom he could hear the hiss of water as Shepard showered, using the special concoctions Mordin had given her for the rash that came from the friction of his body against hers and from the human reaction to the toxins in his skin. She had been hesitant to shower the first few times they had been together, worried about the effect of the steam on his Kepral's Syndrome, but he had insisted, reminding her that the Normandy's filters kept the steam largely contained to the bathroom. Even so, he suspected the showers she took were chillier than they needed to be, to keep the steam to a minimum. He marveled, as always, at her constant generosity.
She had been quite generous tonight, all of her formidable determination focused on his pleasure. Without realizing it, he fell into the memory, feeling her mouth warm and soft on his body as if she were still touching him.
He rode the memory to its conclusion, unaware of his hand mimicking the motions of her mouth until he found himself climaxing again. Returning to the present, he saw that Shepard was out of the shower, watching him, her hair loose and still faintly damp around her shoulders.
"That was inspiring," she said. "Credit for your thoughts?"
"Credit for my—? Oh. I was remembering you, and your touch."
"That was a flattering reaction, certainly." She climbed onto the bed as he finished cleaning himself up and tossed the soiled top sheet aside. "Can you feel things in your memory, too? I mean, in ten minutes or ten days will you still be able to feel this on your skin?" She trailed a finger along his abdomen.
Even as spent and satisfied as he was, Thane could feel the muscles tightening and jumping beneath her touch. "Yes."
"Will you have to try to remember the feeling, or will it just … be there?"
"It will just be there, as you say." He rolled to his side as she continued exploring his skin with her fingers. "It isn't the same for you?"
"No." A shadow darkened her eyes. "In ten days I won't remember tonight; it will be lost in a sea of memories, some good, some not so much. Thane?" Her hand pressed flat against his chest.
"Siha?"
"Can you teach me? How to remember the way you do? I—I don't want to lose this, these moments with you, not like I've lost … so many memories before. My parents …" She shook her head. "I can't remember how my mother's voice sounded."
Taking her hand in his, Thane rolled to his back again, lacing his fingers with hers as he looked up at the stars going by and thought about her request. "I am not certain I can, Siha. When I fall into memory, it's instinctual. I don't have to try."
"But you meditate, don't you? That must help."
"I do, and I'm certain it does. That I can teach you." He turned his head to look at her. "Meditation would be good for you in a number of ways, I believe. If only to give you a reason to pause and breathe amidst the pressures of your work."
"No pressures now." She smiled, but he could see she agreed.
"There will be. I know you, Shepard. You will not be content with this freedom for long. Sooner or later the galaxy will call and you will respond."
Shepard frowned. "Maybe I won't."
He didn't bother to argue; she wasn't being serious anyway. "I can teach you some meditation practices. Otherwise, I would say, simply be in the moment. Take a beat, consider the taste on your tongue and the sounds you hear and the aromas. Look closely at what you wish to remember. Describe it to yourself, maybe even aloud, so you can hear the words while you think them. The memory builds through multiple pathways—the more senses you combine, the more you focus on, the sharper your memory is likely to be."
Thane could see her filing away the advice, thinking on it seriously, before her mood changed and she gave him a mischievous smile. "All right, then—full, sensual lips, soft and warm, his mouth tasting of peaches, a sharp tang to offset the sweetness." She kissed him, her tongue exploring as if she was seeking the words for his taste. Thane had thought himself spent, but his body quickened and heated beneath her.
"His voice, like his skin, rough but smooth as it caresses me, the contrast delicious." She rubbed her body against his and Thane groaned. Shepard's breathing was coming faster now, her words broken by moans as his hands moved across her skin. "Slender, clever fingers, knowing just where—oh, yes—where to touch."
Thane rolled her over, kissing her again, deep and long, even as he could feel the exploration of her own hands, almost hear the thoughts as she tried to describe the sensations in her body to herself.
"So hot, so hard," she whispered. "Thane, please, yes!" He slid inside her at her urging, pressing in deep. "So full, yes. And soft. Like silk—silk, smooth, delicious … de-delicious, oh, please, more! Faster! Ah, there, yes, pressing, harder, more, I—Thane, yes … yes …"
Her words caressed him as surely as her hands and her body. Hearing her describe what she was feeling, the breaks in her breathing, the way she lost the thread of the thought as he shifted angles—
"So close, Thane, so close, please!" She clutched at him as her body tightened around him, and he could feel her shudder as her pleasure struck. His followed, and he held her tightly while it washed through and around him. This was a memory he would treasure for the rest of his life; he hoped it would be the same for her.