Chapter 4 (Warning-Some Smut May Appear)

"I'm glad to hear that, Shepard. Just let me know how I can help. For now, I should get back to work. Thanks for coming by." Anya watched her quarian friend walk away. Tali seemed subdued, and tired.

She followed her back to her console. "Hey, Tali?"

"Yes, Shepard? Was there something else you needed?"

"Do you want to hang out in a bit? Just us and some drinks? I don't know about you but I am direly in need of some quality girl time." Anya smiled at the other woman.

"I don't see why not. I have missed spending time with you," Tali admitted. "Besides, I'm sure I've barely heard about everything that's gone on with you."

"We can talk about whatever you like. I'll snag some turian booze, we'll have a good time."

"Alright, alright, you talked me into it." Tali laughed a little as she spoke. "I'll be there. Just give me an hour or so."

"Awesome." Shepard walked away with a smile.

She went up the elevator and beelined to the battery. Garrus was intently staring at the main console as he typed. He didn't turn until she said his name.

"Shepard," he acknowledged, still obviously distracted.

"I need a favor."

"Whatever you need." There was no hesitation in his voice. That observation made her chest feel tight, but she tried to ignore it.

"May I have some of your alcohol?"

That got his attention. He turned to face her with a concerned look on his face.

"Spirits, no! Don't you know how sick that will make you? Shepard, I really don't think-"

"It's for Tali!" she interrupted, trying not to laugh. His expression almost immediately relaxed. "We were hoping to have a little female bonding time. I'm happy to buy you more when we resupply in a few days."

"That's fine. Just remember not to skimp and get the cheapest stuff. You should be aware that I'm a connoisseur of the second cheapest alcoholic beverages." He raised his chin and puffed his chest out in a display of mock pride. He smiled and relaxed his posture again when she laughed.

"I will remember to bring an offering of appropriate quality for your refined tastes." She daintily curtsied, failing to keep a straight face.

"That's more like it. I'm glad you finally recognize how incredibly sophisticated I am." His expression became more serious. "Really, though, you're not going to drink it, right?"

"Hell no!"

"That's a relief. I was legitimately worried for a minute there."

"I promise not to touch a drop."

"Thank you for humoring me, Shep. You guys have a good time. I'm probably going to be up working late, so I'm really not going to need it."

"What are you working on?"

The turian's face fell. "It's probably nothing. There's a small chance I may have tracked down a lead on something. It's not a great one, though."

"Do you need anything?"

"Just time. I'll let you know if it turns out to be worth anything." His expression had shifted a little. He suddenly seemed distant, guarded.

"Alright. I'll come check up on you in the morning, before breakfast, okay?" She wondered if it had to do with Sidonis. Outside of their first conversation since their reunion, he hadn't brought it up, and she was starting to worry that he wasn't dealing with his grief well.

"That's fine. I'll see you then." He abruptly turned back to the console. Anya was taken aback, but she left. Anguish was a complicated thing, and now didn't seem like a good time to push back.

She could wait.

Tali settled onto the couch in an easy motion. She turned to Anya and said, "Those Cerberus flunkies definitely know comfortable."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they thought if they had enough nice stuff to throw at me, I wouldn't notice the underlying racism." Anya poured her drink with a dry smile.

"I wonder where those bosh'tets got that idea from?" The quarian began to pour herself a drink as she talked.

"Had to have worked at some point. That's where most bad ideas come from."

Tali made a derisive noise. "You're probably right." Tali pulled out a straw and casually slid it into her drink. Anya cocked an eyebrow but said nothing for the time being.

"So, Kal'Reegar." Anya watched the other woman. "He seemed nice."

"He is. I'm glad he's okay." Tali seemed to hesitate.

"Yeah, me, too." Anya took a sip of her drink. "Anything you wanted to...discuss regarding him?"

"Sorry, Shepard. No juicy details from Haestrom, unfortunately," Tali sighed wistfully. "Although in different conditions…"

Anya made a sympathetic noise. "In my experience, the Galaxy never makes it easy."

"So I hear. What happened with Kaiden?"

"Well, on Horizon he accused me of being a traitor and things kinda spiralled from there, so…" The commander shrugged. "It's better this way. His half-apology, half 'I am not the bad guy' letter drove the point home."

"How bad is it?"

"Here, look at this shit." Anya quickly tapped her omni-tool and pulled up Kaiden's email. "Don't get me wrong, I know that, 'Hey, honey, I'm back from the dead!' is a big pill to swallow, but the first time he admitted that he loved me was also the same conversation where he told me I had betrayed the Alliance and him, so it's a little hard to be kind about the whole thing."

Tali read silently for a moment. "Keelah, that's a punch to the gut."

"Delightful, isn't it? I know that he had to go through some shit, but trying to turn around what he said on Horizon is a tall order, even for him. I don't have the emotional fortitude to begin with his…" Anya gestured vaguely.

"I don't blame you. I'm sure it was painful." Tali awkwardly slid the straw into the mouth part of her helmet.

"I mean, kinda. Garrus thinks I might have been emotionally checking out because of the time," the woman admitted, looking down at her drink. "He might be onto something."

"Garrus can be pretty observant." Now Tali was watching the other woman. "He also says you guys have been spending a lot of time together since he came on."

"Well, yeah, it's Garrus. We've been close since that mess with Dr. Hart."

"Yeah, but at this point, you're doing most meals together, you're taking him on almost every mission, and you're destressing together after every mission, plus your normal rounds…"

Anya felt her cheeks heat up. "No juicy details from the SR-2, unfortunately."

"So are you saying you wish there were juicy details with Garrus?" Tali queried, interested.

"Are you saying you wish there were juicy details with Kal?" Anya's retort was quick, but she could feel her face getting redder.

"Shepard, come on. It's not a big deal either way. Garrus is oblivious, if it makes you feel any better."

Anya sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "It's probably for the best. I'm a train wreck, and it probably wouldn't work anyway, even if I did want more."

"Do you want more?"

"I don't know." Anya took a long drink.

"I think you might, and I think you would be good for him."

"I would be great for his emotional well-being, but I would be the death of him long term. I don't know why any of you want to follow me." Anya just looked at her glass, weariness clear in her expression. "Hell, I don't think I would even know where to start, even if he somehow became less oblivious and was into me."

"Well, why don't we find out?" Tali started tapping on her omni-tool.

"Please tell me that you are not emailing Garrus."

"I am not emailing Garrus." Tali's finger hovered for a moment. "I'm looking up naked turians."

"I was talking about Garrus and his people's customs, not cocks." Anya's ears had joined in heating up.

"But would it really be so bad to know what you're trying to get into?" Tali waited.

"If I look, I will never stop trying to picture him naked."

"After this conversation, I think that was an inevitability." Still, Tali's finger hovered.

"Goddamnit." Anya took a large drink. "Fine."

Tali pressed one more button and up popped an image of a turian, hard cock in hand. "There we are!"

"Jesus, I thought you were going to pull up an anatomical diagram, not porn." Anya looked away.

"It's just a still, not the whole vid. I don't know why you're acting more sheltered than I am," Tali teased her friend as she took another drink, more smoothly than the first.

Anya glanced back again. The plates along the turian's body were basically where she expected them, although she hadn't realized there was an area unprotected by plates on either side of the waist. It looked like his cock had slid from between a seam in the lower plates.

"I have officially taken the time to look thoroughly at a turian penis, are you happy?"

"Well, happier. I would be ecstatic if you just told Garrus you were interested."

"I might. I don't know. What if he is completely not interested and I end up losing one of the only friends I have left?"

"Shepard…" Tali's voice softened. "You dying didn't drive him away. You honestly think a little crush is going to manage that?"

"I don't know." Anya took another sip of her wine.

"Well, I do, and I would bet my last credit that the only reason he hasn't made a move is because it hasn't even occurred to him that you might be interested. He's always been like that."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, back on the SR-1, he had a little hero worship crush on you. There was talk about it, up until you started spending time with Kaiden."

"What? How the hell did I not notice?" Anya was incredulous.

"You are about as observant as a turian doing calibrations when it comes to love." Tali took another drink.

"I'm not that dense."

"Says the woman who doesn't notice a spiky six foot alien that's borderline pining for her attention."

"There is no way that you aren't exaggerating."

"Barely. I am barely exaggerating. He took over maintenance for the Mako because you came to see him more often." Tali took a sip. "He was always half-glad when you did stupid stuff like jumping a mountain. After he finished having a heart attack, anyway."

"There is no way that our friendship is based on my bad driving."

"It was the basis for everything on the SR-1," Tali said darkly. Anya snorted.

"I still think you guys could have buckled up and it would have been better than just complaining."

"Not when we dismount on foot five to four hundred times a planet."

"You didn't always have to get shot at with me."

"Please, Wrex never would have let any of us live it down. Besides, friends don't let friends get shot."

"Yeah. I guess that's true." Anya smiled and looked down. Both women finished their drinks around the same time.

"I'm glad we got to do this," Tali said after a pause. "I may call it for tonight. Being away has lowered my tolerance."

Anya scoffed. "Lightweight."

"Some things never change." Tali stood, but hesitated. "I really do think that you should talk to Garrus, though. Some things do change."

"I might. I just...have to figure out how to begin the conversation."

"I guess, 'Garrus, wanna do it?' isn't a great opener."

Anya laughed. "No, not really."

"Well, I hope you come up with a plan."

"A plan going in would be a nice change of pace."

Tali laughed and started to walk away. "Like that's ever going to happen."

Anya smirked. Talking to the younger woman had always been good. "Good night, Tali."

"Good night, Shepard."

Anya kicked off her shoes, turned off the main light, and stripped within a few minutes of her friend leaving. Getting some shut-eye honestly wasn't a bad idea.

(Like I'm going to get any sleep.)

She ignored the pessimistic voice and crawled into bed. If she could manage a few hours of sleep it would make tossing and turning worth it.

Thirty minutes later, she was starting to get irritated. Sleep had never been so difficult to obtain before Elysium.

(Fuck.)

She spent some minutes arguing with herself before she roused herself and hesitantly grabbed the small rabbit vibrator stashed away in one of her drawers. Trying to get off solo was often a pain in the ass, but it could help her sleep.

She teased her clit for a few moments before adjusting so that she could slowly slide a fingertip into her entrance. She withdrew her digit before pushing back in again, slowly working her way deeper. She added another finger once the first was delving as deeply as it could. She stroked her inner walls carefully.

After a few minutes she withdrew both fingers and rubbed her clit some more, her own wetness doing wonders to keep the friction at a pleasurable level. She quickly slid in the vibrator, placing the small arm over the sensitive nub and turning on the toy. She bit back a moan and began adjusting until she was panting.

(Don't think about Garrus, don't think about Garrus…)

The image of him, cock in hand and wearing a lustful look like the turian from the picture, kept forcing its way to the forefront of her mind. It was maddening. She finally gave up and let herself wonder how his big hands would feel, roaming her body with abandon. She let the fantasy build to include his rumbling voice, breathlessly murmuring words of need in her ear, and she let herself imagine his cock as the thing stretching her aching sex.

She came with a whimper. Her orgasm had left her shaken and sensitive, and she quickly removed the toy.

(I came to Garrus.) The realization make her anxious. "Oh, fuck…"

The next morning, she awoke and dressed in a hurry. She kept fussing with her hair, nervous at the prospect of actively trying to flirt with her dear friend. The prospect made her heart beat nearly as hard as when she was getting shot at.

She made her way quickly down to the forward battery, and seeing Garrus there made her anxious. He turned when he heard her enter.

"Shepard. I'm glad you came by. I've got something. I may need your help." The turian seemed restless. With his next words, her heart sank. "You remember Sidonis?"

(Fuck.)