Chapter 8:

When he pulled away, I was still dazed, reaching up to touch my lips. My brain had definitely short-circuited- there were zero thoughts in my head.

"Alessia?" He sounded amused.

"Huh?" I asked, ever so eloquently.

He told EDI to tell Miranda I wasn't in any state to see her right now, making sure she said it from me and not him.

Finally, the haze cleared, and I realized I was grinning like an idiot, my fingers slowly stroking my lips. Hastily lowering my hand, I felt my face start to burn again.

He chuckled. "There you are."

I swatted at him. "Hush, you."

"I've gotta say, I liked your reaction." He inched closer, sounding oh so amused.

Making a face at him, I went to push him away but instead, my traitorous hands fisted in his shirt, urging him closer. We met again, this time longer.

When we parted, he rested his forehead against mine. "I suppose we'll have to talk to Chakwas about allergy pills."

I tilted my head, before I remembered reading that turians, along with other races, were allergic to humans and vice versa.

"Yeah, that might be a good idea." I murmured.

Definitely a good idea. I wanted more kisses.

...

She sent us to Mordin, surprisingly, who gave us a few packets of them. They had a hundred each. It made me wonder why there were so many in each. I guess just in case there were a lot of allergies to food or- I realized that I was an idiot. Of course, at least some of them were for cross-race relationships.

He also said he was sending us information on turian-human relations. The implications of which had me blushing furiously again. I split from Garrus, heading down to see Miranda. She'd just wanted to know when I was planning on getting the Warlord krogan. I assured her he was on my list of to-dos, and that it would be soon.

Actually, I decided that once everyone was back on the ship, we'd head straight there.

Once that had been decided, and I'd informed her and EDI, I returned to my room, exhausted already.

Only to find that Garrus had made himself at home on my couch again. EDI had let him in without my permission. Again. Not that I minded...

"Well, isn't this a sight." I joked, trying to hide how hard my heart was pounding.

I hadn't expected to see him again so soon.

"What can I say? This couch is more comfortable than anything in the Forward Battery." He drawled.

"Oh, yeah?" I raised an eyebrow. "Is that something I should fix?"

Moving to the couch, I went to sit, but he reached out and pulled me to him. Making me sit on his lap. Honestly, I didn't think my face could get any hotter than at this moment in time.

"That depends." He chuckled at me.

"On what?" I sounded breathless, like I'd just ran a marathon.

"On if you want me to go back." It was soft, quiet. As if he was afraid to say the words.

I tilted my head, confused for a moment, before I realized how stupid I am. "I... No. I don't. But I don't know how this will affect things. Will you be able to get your work done? I don't want to distract."

"You'll have no problems with that, I assure you." He squeezed me lightly. "You don't have to worry."

Looking at him, I pursed my lips. After some time, I leaned in and kissed him.

"I would like you to stay, yes." I admitted quietly. "Even though it might be too fast."

"We are on a suicide mission, after all." He reminded me. "It's not too fast, when you think of it like that."

He wasn't wrong.

"You have a point." I conceded, before casting a glance at his datapad. "If you're busy, I can-"

"It's fine. I already told you you're not a distraction."

"I was going to say that I can get us some food." I laughed at his expression of surprise. "That'll teach you to interrupt me."

...

I came back with two trays of food without any trouble, thanks to EDI handling the elevator for me.

Stepping into the room, I paused. I could hear Garrus and someone else talking, so I proceeded as quietly as I could- if he was in a call with someone, I didn't want to interrupt. He glanced at me as I set the tray in front of him on the table, before I took my seat and put aside my hunger, picking up my datapad to look at more clinical trials from the past.

"Garrus, pay attention to me!" The woman's voice whined from his omni-tool.

I peeked over at him in time to watch him roll his eyes.

"Relax, Solana. You wouldn't be acting like this, if you knew who I was with."

"Who? Who, who, who?"

He laughed, shaking his head, before motioning to get my attention. Waving me over to him. I scooted until I was sitting next to him, able to see the turian woman he was talking to, now.

"COMMANDER SHEPARD?!" She screeched and, for a moment, I was afraid she was going to faint.

"You'd never believe she was in the military." He muttered.

I grinned at her enthusiasm. "I like her."

"Don't let her hear-"

"You do?" Her eyes were wide, practically sparkling in her excitement, before she cleared her throat and visibly forced herself to calm down. "I mean. That's great. Thank you. I appreciate that."

He cut me a look, and I saw the mischievous glint in his eyes. "There's more I could tell you, but I don't know if you care enough."

"I care about you! I wouldn't have called to check in, otherwise." She pouted, though it was clear she was curious.

"Well... Your big brother may or may not be dating this commander."

I blushed at his words. We hadn't exactly discussed that, but I was definitely not opposed.

She stared at us for a bit, gaze roaming our faces to check if we were lying, before she let out a loud squeal, congratulating him. Going on about how finally he wouldn't just be pining after me, and I pressed my lips together, trying so hard not to laugh at his expression. He was mortified at her words.

"I mean, it only happened recently, but still." She rolled her eyes. "It was enough to make me pity you."

"Gee, thanks." He groaned. "I'm ending the call now, since you're just making fun of me."

"Bye!" A look at me, chuckling. "Keep him in check!"

"I will." I nodded, still struggling not to laugh.

He ended it, before sighing and letting his head drop against the back of the couch.

"So, your sister likes me." I said after a few minutes of silence.

"She loves you." I pictured him rolling his eyes. "More so, once you recruited me a few days ago, and I started telling her about how different you were acting. She just thinks that you're turning over a new leaf, as humans say."

"At least someone likes this new version of me." I joked.

An arm wrapped around my waist, tugging me against him. "I like the new you. So does everyone else, from what I can tell. Miranda and Jacob are confused by it, but everyone else seems to just accept it without explanation."

Quietly, EDI chimed in. "I like you, Alessia."

I smiled softly. "Thanks, you guys. I'm glad."

We sat together in silence for a bit, both of us doing our own thing on our datapads. I didn't know what he was doing, but I was still looking through the clinical trials, trying to learn as much as I could about the brain and how trauma affected it.

...

We walked back into the experiment room, finding the Warlord's body in front of the computer. He'd saved the tank krogan, at the cost of his own life. I radioed Joker that we'd need help getting it to the ship, and he sent some heavy lifters for us.

I trailed after the guys as they went to put the tank in the cargo hold. After dismissing them, I asked EDI how I could go about releasing the krogan, if I wanted to. She essentially said that she would not help, but would also not stop me, either. She set it up so that all I had to do was press a button, and the tank would start the procedure.

She also warned me that Miranda might not be happy with my decision to wake the krogan. I waved her off- Miranda's concerns were not enough to dissuade me.

Going up to the computer, I pressed the button, turning to watch as the tank vented the liquid nutrients and opened. The krogan stumbled out, blinking a few times, before their eyes landed on me, and they rushed me. Pinned me with an arm across my chest against the wall.

"You're so much taller than I thought you were." I blurted out, my feet a full foot off the ground, and I was eye-level with them.

My words caught him off-guard. "You are about to die, and you want to talk about my height?"

"Who says I'm about to die?" I raised an eyebrow.

He gave me a look, like I was an idiot. "I do."

"Well, then, I guess you're wrong." I patted his arm. "That's tough, buddy, but we can't all be right, all the time."

His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth.

I gathered my biotics to one hand and thrust him away from me, grabbing my pistol with my other. "See? Things can change in the blink of an eye. Right now, from my perspective, you are about to die."

After giving me a look of respect, he demanded a name. The way he said it made me think he wasn't asking for mine. Shrugging, I told him to pick one for himself.

Grunt.

He liked that one, at least enough to pick it. Once that was done, he said he would fight with me, as long as my enemies proved worthy.

Miranda and Jacob ran in, looking out of breath.

"What-"

"Everything's fine." I waved off their concern. "Grunt and I were just talking."

"Our talk is over. Come back later." He ordered.

"Another time, then." I turned my back to him, walking to the door. "Good to meet you, Grunt."

We stepped out into the hallway.

"Shep-"

I cleared my throat noisily, raising an eyebrow.

Her nostrils flared. "Alessia. You don't know anything about him. Krogan are-"

"I've done my research on krogan." I told her. "I know what's what with them. They admire strength and the ability to destroy others. I provided a demonstration for him, and he accepted my leadership, so long as I can prove that I'm strong against them. Which shouldn't be a problem."

"As long as he's on our side, I don't care." Jacob shrugged, before walking off.

He was definitely more easy-going than she was, that's for sure.

"I understand why you did it." She conceded. "I just wish you had taken more precaution. We know nothing about him, specifically."

I draped an arm across her shoulders, grinning. "That's why we get to know each other." I paused. "Hey, that's an idea. How about we hang out next time we're at Omega or the Citadel or Illium, whichever happens first?"

I waited while she thought about it.

Finally. "I am not opposed to the idea."

"Great! Then, it's a plan. EDI, what's closest?"

"Illium is the closest out of the three options." She supplied.

"Awesome. Let's head to Illium, then." Letting Miranda go, I moved toward the elevator. "I'll see you soon!"