Chapter 37 (Warning - Basically Pure Smut)

Anya hurried to get the water going, intending to give it time to warm up while she joined Garrus in stripping. He was finished first, and he slipped into the shower while she was still shimmying out of her pants. He warned, "The water might be a little hot for you. Give me a head's up when you're coming in so I can turn it down."

"Will do, honey." She kicked her clothes into a small pile, then took a step towards the shower before she stopped short. She hesitated, arguing with herself for a beat, then turned to snag the medi-gel out of the medicine cabinet as quickly and quietly as she could. "I'm coming in."

"On it." She stepped into the shower after a moment, placing the medi-gel on the shelf behind her shampoo while his back was still turned. "I think we're good now. Want to check?"

She reached for the spray, pleasantly surprised. "Oooh, that's nice."

She slipped into the small gap between him and the wall, shivering at the way the heat felt on her muscles.

"Did I get close?" he asked, turning to face her.

"Mmm. This is perfect. I think I live here now." He snorted, reaching for her, and she let him pull her in even closer.

"I don't think you can sleep like this."

"I can try," she joked.

"I am not sleeping in the bathroom. Do you really want to leave me in that big bed, all alone?"

"You're just going to sprawl more, don't pretend you wouldn't like it."

"For like...ten minutes, maybe. I like holding you, Anya," he pretended to reproach, and she smiled.

"I do love how it feels to have your arms around me," she allowed, tilting her mouth up to kiss him once.

"Mmm, see? You'd miss me, too."

"I don't think it would even take ten minutes," she agreed, feigning nonchalance, and he chuckled.

"Now that's what I like to hear," he murmured, pressing his forehead to hers.

"Never change," she all but whispered, echoing his sentiment from only a few minutes before, and she kissed him, her mouth lingering against his. In moments, she was pressed to tile, his hand coming up to frame one side of her face. She arched up into him when he carefully nipped her bottom lip, a little noise escaping her.

"Spirits, I love the sounds you make," he rumbled, both hands trailing down until he picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his waist. Her arms encircled his neck, her fingers reaching to graze his fringe. He let his tongue tangle with hers for a few moments before pulling back, and she started pressing little kisses along his mandible until she reached his throat. He groaned when she started nibbling her way down the side of his neck, one particularly sharp nip spurring him into action.

He lifted her up a little more, until he could position her over the tip of his cock, and she was quick to arch her hips a little to help. Once he was pressed against her entrance, she murmured,"Right there."

"Yeah?" He shifted, carefully pushing into her, his hips moving at an almost agonizingly slow pace. She caught herself trying to roll her hips against his, and she let out a noise like a whine when he made her stop, one big hand stilling her.

"Fuck, honey," she panted, her hands shifting to massage and tug gently at his fringe. He let out a noise that was almost a groan.

"Spirits, if you keep rushing me, I'm going to invest in some cuffs so you have to behave," he murmured, leaning in enough that she could feel the words, hot in her ear.

"I'm...not opposed," she confessed, her voice a little uneven, and he chuckled. He started nuzzling his way down her throat, puncturing his progress with little nips and flicks of his tongue.

"Is that what you need, Anya? Do you want me to make you be good?" She felt another rush of heat between her legs, and she knew he could tell when she clenched. He let out a pleased noise as he kept pumping his hips, finally speeding up once he'd worked himself all the way to the hilt.

"Don't stop," she whimpered, more focused on clinging to him now that he'd begun grinding at the peak of each thrust, leaving them both almost panting. She could feel the pressure building inside of her as they moved together, and she remembered the medi-gel that she'd brought into the shower. It took her a moment to get her voice to cooperate, but she managed to ask, "Do you want me to mark you?"

He seemed thrown, his hips slowing as he leaned back enough to look at her. "What?"

"I was...asking if you wanted me to mark you. You seemed...like you kind of liked it last time, even though it happened when we weren't having sex. I thought it could be hot if we…" she hesitated, now uncertain.

"Do you want to mark me?"

"Kind of, yeah," she admitted.

"I will never stop you from refreshing my mark, Anya," he reassured her gently, and she swallowed.

"Okay, then."

"Just...keep in mind that it's...kind of expected for us to have the same number of marks. Otherwise it...looks bad. If you bite me, I'm going to have a hard time not biting you, too, especially if we're...in the middle of something," he seemed to have trouble staying focused on his words, his attention clearly split.

"But I've told you, I like it when you mark me," she reminded him, and he shook his head.

"I hurt you, Anya," he said softly, and she wished she knew how to assuage his guilt about her mark. "Encouraging me to...sink my teeth into you isn't something that you should be doing lightly."

"Sometimes I...want it to hurt. God, honey, you have...no idea how hard I came when you did it last time. I don't remember the last time I finished like I did the night you bit me," she knew her voice sounded like she was pleading, but she didn't care. "I could even do you first, if you want."

After a long moment, he nodded. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, if you...mark me, I will mark you back. Just...spirits, you're sure you want this?" He still seemed uncertain, and his hips had slowed even further.

"I am."

"Okay...okay, so...you should bite me when you're close. I'll do you right after. We need to try to at least keep it close to the first mark, but not so close that you can't tell that they're two separate marks. Alright with that?"

"Yeah, just...fuck, hurry. You're teasing the hell out of me right now," she muttered, and he snorted.

"You keep trying to be bossy and it's going to tempt me to teach you some patience, too," he warned, his voice half-joking, and she felt torn for a moment.

Finally, she murmured a single word, her breathing unsteady, "Please."

"Anything for you," he replied, pressing his mouth to hers and shifting so that he was able to thrust faster. He let his tongue tangle with hers again, and she let out a few soft pants and moans as they moved together. His hold tightened on her almost painfully when she tore her mouth away and started pressing her lips to the scar on his shoulder. It was all she could do to cling to him as he kept sliding his length home, the friction driving her towards the edge.

"Oh, God, just like that," she whimpered, not caring if her nails were digging in a little, and she felt more than heard him let out a noise. She could feel herself drawing close to her climax, and she waited until she was on the edge to bite him, her teeth struggling to make it through his skin for a moment before it split. He groaned, then his face was buried in her shoulder.

"Last chance to stop this, Anya," he whispered hoarsely, and she responded by biting him harder. He let out a sound akin to a rumbling growl before he sank his teeth into her, and she felt her orgasm hit just before the pain in her shoulder started. Her whine was muffled as the pulses of ecstasy washed over her, heightened by the sharp sting of his teeth embedded in her flesh. She barely registered the way he stiffened against her, his cock buried deep between her thighs, as the pleasure began to ebb.

She opened her mouth to release him, her head falling back against the tile. He was a little slower to pull back, and one hand came up to cradle her jaw.

"That was fun," she mumbled, and she wondered at the concern etched on his features.

"Are you okay?"

She snorted. "Okay is putting it mildly. I feel...phenomenal. I could do without the tingling in my lips and fingertips, but it was definitely worth it."

"Tingling? Is that normal, or have you lost too much blood? Do I need to get the medi-gel?" He sounded anxious.

"Tingling is normal when I finish hard, I'm fine, honey. Medi-gel is on the shelf with the soap, right by my shampoo, though. We probably should patch each other up before we get out."

"Alright, give me a second…" He slowly lifted her until his shaft slipped out of her, and she huffed at the feeling. She was quick to stand on her own, feeling tired and pleased.

He hurried to find the medi-gel, and she tried to take it, murmuring, "Here, let me take care of you first, you've been bleeding longer."

"Not gonna happen, Anya. Tilt your head for me."

"You're being ridiculous, I am not going to bleed out in the next minute and a half."

"And neither am I, but I'm bigger than you, and I can afford to lose a little more blood. Now, we can stand here, arguing about this all night, fighting over relative blood loss, or you could just indulge me, and we can be done patching each other up in no time."

"You are so goddamn difficult sometimes," she muttered, turning her head to expose her injured shoulder more fully.

"In all fairness, I did warn you that if you admit I'm right too much, you wouldn't be able to do anything with me," he retorted, and she felt the corner of her mouth twitch upward as he began to apply the medi-gel to her wound, his hands gentle.

"Insufferable does sum it up pretty well right about now."

"It makes me feel better when you're taken care of. Can you blame me for being a little pushy?"

"Yes," she answered firmly, and he snorted.

"Look, Anya, the truth is...a lot of what we do is dangerous. That's just a fact. Sometimes we get hurt, and when I see you in pain, or bleeding, even if the cause is relatively harmless, it...gets me keyed up in a not so good way. Taking care of you when you're hurt is...soothing for me in a lot of ways. It helps me feel less helpless, and it helps me feel less guilty when I'm the reason you're bleeding. I'm sorry for being stubborn about this. I just...don't know how else to deal with it, yet. Can you forgive me for being hard-headed?" He was carefully massaging the gel into her aching shoulder as he spoke, even his voice tender, and she knew he could probably feel her leaning into the touch.

"There's nothing to forgive, honey, but keep in mind that it makes me feel better to make sure you're taken care of, too," she pointed out, and he smiled.

"Fine, next time, I promise to let you do me first. Deal?" he asked, handing her the medi-gel, and she hurried to start patching him up.

"Deal. So, how does the new mark look?"

"It matches the other one," he dead-panned, and she snorted.

"Smart ass. You know what I mean."

"I like it. Edges are nice and even, no signs of tearing. It looks good. Really good." He reached out to touch her new mark, one talon grazing the sensitive new scar, and she nearly shivered. She reminded herself to stay focused and hurried to keep working more of the medi-gel into his wounded shoulder.

"I'm glad."

"How about mine?"

"Ah, I think I did a little better this time. I'm sorry, honey, I really don't know what I should be looking for," she apologized, feeling guilty as she studied it.

"Alright, are the edges clean?"

"Pretty clean, yeah," she answered nervously.

"Clean enough that you can more or less make out the individual tooth imprints?" he clarified.

"Yes."

"And is it deep enough that it would have scarred even without the medi-gel?"

"Yes," she answered firmly, now looking to make sure she hadn't missed any spots.

"Then it's a good mark," he assured her, tugging her in and pressing his forehead to hers, and she nearly dropped the little white tube.

"I just want you to like having my mark as much as I like having yours," she murmured, sliding her arms around his neck.

"I love it. Really." She felt her breath catch at the way he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, her hips barely touching his.

"Good," she managed.

"So, how long were you planning this out?"

"Oh, well, I knew I wanted it to happen again back when you marked me the first time, but I didn't have...any actionable ideas until about forty seconds before I hopped in the shower."

"Huh. If this is what happens when you plan for forty seconds, we really should try it more often," he teased.

"Hey, I plan!"

"The plan for tomorrow is just Cortez dropping us off at the Shroud, and picking us up from the Shroud once the cure is dispersed. No additional details, just those two things. Are you sure that qualifies as a plan?"

"Look, it's simple, I know, but the simpler a plan is, the lower the chances of it going wrong on our side, and the less annoyed I am when things do go sideways," she pointed out.

"Fair enough," he said quietly.

"So, do you think we're ready?"

"To cure the genophage? Not really, but I know if there's anybody who will still somehow make it happen, it's you, Anya."

"It's us. Me, you, Wrex, Mordin, all of us."

"We have a good team," he agreed, and she smiled.

"The best."