Author's Note: Two-chapter update! We hope you enjoy ^-^
Tap tap . . .
Tap tap tap . . .
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The savage banging on her cabin door roused Selene from a deep sleep.
The woman groaned as she turned in her bed, her arm thrown haphazardly across her face, while her other hand clutched the knife under her pillow. The Commander had woken earlier in the morning cycle to find herself in the medical bay. Most of the crew was still asleep, with the exception of a few navigators up in the CIC. Chakwas had long since retired to her bunk down the hall, so there was no one around to stop Shepard from sneaking up to her own room after disconnecting herself from the monitors she was hooked up to.
The groggy woman had stumbled her way across the mess hall to drink her weight in water. She noticed that her throat was not nearly as sore as it should be after being chocked as long as she had. The doctors must have given her some medi-gel to sooth the damaged muscles. Still, Selene could see the bruising that hadn't fully healed in the reflection of the mirror above the sink. Swallowing caused a throb of pain down her throat.
After shoving a couple protein bars in her mouth, Shepard escaped to her cabin on the top floor of the Normandy. Before falling into bed, she had instructed EDI to lock her doors and to refuse entrance to any nosy doctors or squamates trying to get in.
Judging by the banging at her door, said nosy crew was trying to break it down.
"Go away dammit!" Selene yelled, as loud as her still healing vocal cords would allow.
"Open the door, Selene." A muffled but clearly irritated voice on the other side of her door called back. She'd know that familiar, smooth trill and deep subvocal anywhere.
"No, Garrus! Go away and let me rest." She knew she was practically whining but she didn't particularly care that morning.
"Shepard?" Thane's soothing, soft tones replaced Garrus' attempt to coax the Commander out.
"You must rise. You have been asleep for sixteen hours. Dr. Chakwas and Mordin wish to check if you are suffering anymore side effects from last night."
"I'm not! Both of you get away from my door before I have EDI shock you with her holo." Selene was not certain EDI could do that from her holo stand outside her door, but she really did not want to move. Whatever duties she had or additional scans the doctors wanted to put her through could just wait.
Last night was still a blur for Selene. She remembered going down to the cargo bay to retrieve Kolyat. Then the impromptu fight that she had almost lost. After that, the events became muddled. Her mind only recalled snippets of being pressed against a cargo box, then being laid out in the medical bay.
Everything was fuzzy and incoherent after that.
In addition to her poor memory, Selene felt like she had awakened to one of the worst hangovers of her life. Thankfully, she did not feel like she would spew the measly contents of her stomach. However, her head was pounding and her mouth was unbearably dry. Despite her discomfort, the effort it would take to leave her room for water and pain killers did not outweigh her wish to just sleep her aches and pains away.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Garrus' insistent pounding on her door started all over.
Selene's muscles screamed in protests as she flopped on her stomach, trying to bury her head further in her pillow, hoping to block out the noise from the annoying turian outside.
"¡Vete a la mierda!" Shepard groaned loudly.
"Shepard get your ass up and open the damn door, we brought you food." Garrus' shout drummed in her head like the pounding of a hammer.
The idea of food was tempting. Before Selene could make a decision on whether being fed was worth the trouble of letting them in, a third voice called out timidly.
"Commander? Please open the door, Gardner made your favorite. Rice with chicken in that spicy sauce you like."
Kolyat's voice was quiet, as if he was nervous about being there.
Selene's eyes came open just enough to form icy slits at the remembrance of how he had managed to catch her slipping in their fight. The evidence of which was still very much evident around her neck.
The woman finally pushed the covers away from her exposed legs. She had not changed out of her clothes from last night, too tired to make the effort to do so when she managed to reach her rooms. The only pieces of clothing she had successfully removed were her running shoes and socks.
As she made her scheming way to the door, her bare feet made little noise. She pressed her back to the wall next to the entrance of her rooms and leaned over to press the red button that would allow the men on the other side entry.
The first to storm in was Garrus, his brisk pace carrying him down the short stairs into her sitting area as Thane walked gracefully through the doorway. The green drell was carrying a tray of food in his hands.
Suddenly, the assassin stopped at the top of her office landing, sensing something was amiss. Before he could turn to warn his son, the younger man was dropped to his knees with a painful groan. The waiting Commander had swung out her leg mercilessly to meet his midsection as the unsuspecting drell crossed the threshold.
Kolyat gasped helplessly on the ground, the act of being caught unaware had not allowed him to brace for the blow. An amused looking Shepard stood above him.
Selene bent down and whispered in his ear. "That's for choking me out."
She lightly patted the side of his face.
Kolyat met her smile with a sharp glare. He managed to cough out a gruff response, "You cheated . . . used your biotics." Kolyat lifted his still bandaged arm in front of her face to make his point.
"Get used to it. Our enemies don't fight fair just because you want them to." Selene walked past the still recovering drell and made her way over to the other two in the middle of her room.
"Since you insist on not letting me sleep, please tell me you brought something to drink?" The woman walked over to her L-shaped couch that sat against a glass display case of floating model ships. The wall separated her office from the lower level that made up her seating room and bedroom loft.
Selene threw herself down onto the leather seats and laid her head tiredly against the back.
Thane and Garrus joined her around the couch, the food that the green drell had been carrying was gently placed on the table in front of the woman.
"Well, my son- who you have just drop kicked-has brought you a pot of tea." There was a small smile on Thane's lips. "Judging from the look he is giving you, I do not believe he is inclined to give it to you."
Kolyat had finally removed himself from the floor and made his own way over to the group. How he had managed not to drop or spill the kettle filled with steaming ginger tea, and the cup he had been holding, was a mystery.
Selene refused to move or open her eyes as she spoke. "Kolyat, you deserved that and you know it. Please give me the tea, my throat is killing me."
"I fail to see how I deserved that after you decided to cheat by ripping my arm open with your biotics?" Kolyat stubbornly did not move. Part of him was enjoying teasing the Commander a little longer.
Selene's hands started to glow unceremoniously, her tired eyes finally opening to glare at Kolyat across the table. "Would you rather I use them to tear your pretty face open and make you as ugly as Garrus?"
"Hey!" Garrus protested indignantly at her side.
Kolyat just continued to smirk, taunting her a few seconds longer before placing the tea in front of her, making a show of bowing towards her.
"Your tea, Commander."
It had not gone unnoticed that she had called his face pretty.
"Smart man." Selene gave a small smile in return, her hands retracting her biotic glow as she reached to pour herself some of the much-needed hot liquid.
As the Commander silently sipping her tea, Garrus took the opportunity to begin informing her about what had gone on while she was asleep.
"Joker says we'll be finished scanning this system at the end of the day shift. Since you decided to sleep your lazy ass through most of it, we should be done in about five hours. That means we will be spending one more day in this system. If you choose to grace us with your presence." He pointedly ignored Selene's glare. "You can plot our next course before tomorrow."
Selene finished the cup she had been working on as the turian spoke, before pouring herself another. She nodded when her friend finished his report, silently thanking him for taking care of the ship in her absence.
"Alright, tell Miranda to add that we were here for two days. Give her a full account of all the minerals that we acquired, and the new upgrades I am sure Mordin has already started planning for. Also, tell Joker the next place we are heading is Aequitas, in the Fortis system. I received a message about the place going silent and a friend of mine would like to know what happened."
"Are you going to tell us who this mysterious inquisitor is?" Thane asked from beside her.
Selene just took a drink of her tea and gave him a small smile over the rim, mouthing the word no.
Thane did not expect her to answer, so he wasn't completely disappointed. Occasionally, the Commander took on random requests from unknown sources. Whether it was to eliminate or investigate a group of interest, it was no concern of his why she chose to take the time to complete these side missions. Selene had his loyalty and his gun, he trusted that her reasons were sound.
As she finally set her drink down, she moved the stasis-contained plate of food closer to her. Selene's stomach gave a light growl as she pressed the button that would release the containment pod around her still hot meal. The spicy aroma of jalapeño in a cream sauce brought a found smile to her face. This was her mother's recipe and one she rarely was able to enjoy. As the woman took a bite, she sent a mental thank you to Gardner for preparing it for her.
As she ate, she continued to listen to the other reports that Thane and Garrus had to offer about small things like supply count and missed messages that Kelly had at her terminal down in the CIC. As the Commander finished her meal, Garrus and Thane swiped the empty dishes as they stood. Shepard smiled at them appreciatively.
"I will head down to Joker and inform him of our next destination." Thane gave Shepard a small head nod in respect as he turned for the elevators.
"Great. That leaves me with the Cerberus cheerleader," Garrus grumbled.
Everyone gave the turian curious stares at his use of Jack's not so complementary nickname for the XO.
Garrus looked between the three people before answering defensively. "What? It's true, right?"
His comment just earned light laughter from his friends.
The man shrugged as he followed Thane out, calling to Shepard over his shoulder. "We'll let the crew know that the kid over here didn't kill you with his blood."
"What?" Shepard sputtered, nearly spitting out the last of her tea.
Kolyat, who had been the last of the three men to get up from his seat, turned slowly back towards the Commander. "You do not remember?"
"No. Last night is honestly a little fuzzy after I managed to escape your submission."
"Maybe the two of you should catch up before you return to the crew Shepard. Zaeed and Grunt were not happy last time they saw Kolyat and you." Garrus suggested from the doorway.
"Yeah, you guys go ahead. Kolyat and I will catch up with you both in a bit. And thank you, both of you for holding down the ship while I recovered."
Selene smiled at her two friends, her silver-green eyes conveying how much she appreciated that she could rely on them.
"Any time, Shepard. Don't forget to thank Tali. She has been handling everything down in engineering. Thane and I won't go down there ourselves." Garrus ended with a turian smile and a nod before leaving with Thane.
As the doors to the elevator closed on the two men, Thane cleared his throat before speaking. "Do you notice that every time she says that they will not be long, it always seems to take double the amount of time it should?"
"And last time they both came back looking like they lost a fight with a YMIR mech," Garrus added.
Thane nodded as they continued to descend. "Indeed."
Back in Shepard's cabin, Kolyat continued to stand nervously at the top of the stairs. His black eyes wandered, landing on the long, glowing fish tank that that ran the length of one of Selene's walls. No fish were present, but the aquarium was filled with underwater plant life that ranged from common kelp, to more exotic foliage native to many different worlds.
Selene caught on to Kolyat's anxiety and abandoned her spot on the couch, choosing to move in front of the tank he seemed so interested in.
"I didn't want to fill it with defenseless animals. Warship and all. I also am terrible at keeping fish alive. My aunt found that out the hard way when I over fed her gold fish once." Selene winced at the memory. "Though, I couldn't resist getting this little guy."
Shepard moved excitedly past him to a shelf next to a door that Kolyat assumed lead to a private washroom.
Selene lifted the lid of a glass terrain. It first appeared to be empty, but as she turned to face him, her hands were cupped delicately over something small and furry.
"This is Luke. Your father encouraged me to get him the first time we visited the Citadel after Horizon. Space hamsters tend to be more durable then fish."
Shepard clearly was enamored with the tiny rodent like creature. Kolyat was not familiar with many animals that did not have scales and swam in the ocean. However, Kahje did possess a small amount of feathered birds and small hairy vermin that were usually not welcome into people's living spaces. Apparently, humans treated the tiny pests differently.
The now curious drell stepped closer to the pair, the mini hamster with its overly large ears and whiskery face turned its attention to him as he stopped before it.
"Want to hold him?" Selene offered.
The small creature gave him an innocent stare with its beady eyes. A tiny paw coming up to swipe at the back of his ear.
"Sure."
Kolyat's acceptance of her question brought one of her brilliant smiles to her face, filling him with a warm happy glow.
Selene carefully deposited Luke into the drell's much larger hands. Kolyat looked nervous again at having to handle something so small. He did not move as Luke curiously scurred around his joined hands, sniffing his scales as he crawled from one end to the other.
Selene watched with enjoyment the two interacted with each other. Kolyat looked like a statue, holding his large arms out in front of him, but keeping the hamster at eye level. It was only then that Shepard noticed how much Kolyat had filled out in the last couple months.
The blue drell had been lightly toned before, and reasonably fit for civilian standards. However, with the intense training he had undergone as apart of the Normandy crew, his lanky, thin frame had packed on quite a bit of muscle.
His exposed arms were thicker and more sharply defined, his gray cotton shirt stretched across his broad chest. The low V of his collar exposed more solid muscle than before. Shepard knew his abs were like stone, her attacks to his midsection had not been as effective the second time they fought. He was still trim and not as wide as say Jacob, who spent a lot of his time purposefully building muscle mass. Over all, Kolyat had filled out nicely during his stay on the Normandy.
As Shepard watched the towering drell, with all his muscles and power, hold her tiny space hamster with delicate care and nervous enthusiasm, she could not help finding him charmingly cute.
Selene had attempted to ignore the nagging crush pulling at the strings of her heart over the past three months Kolyat had been aboard the ship. Her brain still insisted that becoming involved with another crew member was not a good idea. Regardless, she could feel her stomach give a flip of excitement when he turned a crooked smile her way.
"I think it likes me." Kolyat's rambling voice brought her back from her thoughts.
"He appears to like you very much," Selene agreed. She took the happy hamster from the drell and carefully depositing him back into his home.
As she turned back to her guest, she noticed the man seemed more relaxed now.
"So, do you want to fill me in on what happened after I escaped your hold?" Selene rested her shoulder against the metal bulkhead that made up the end of her model ship case.
She leveled Kolyat with an expectant, but patient, look. She did not appear angry about the events of last night, at least the ones she could remember.
"Uh, what exactly do you remember?" Kolyat asked carefully, anxiety filling his body once more.
Did she remember moaning against me?
"Nothing past telling you I was going to enjoy kicking your ass," Shepard supplied with an arrogant smile.
That earned her a nervous bark of laughter as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well, we continued to fight for a while after that. You forced me into the tight space between the boxes next to the ring. You seemed fine through most of it. But suddenly, you started to become more sluggish and less focused. I took advantage of the moment and slammed you against some crates."
Kolyat was doing everything he mentally could to stop himself from falling into another embarrassing solipsism episode. It had been bad enough the last two times, he did not want to reveal more then he needed.
Selene's brows were creased in concentration as he spoke, flashes of the fight coming back. She remembered maneuvering through the maze of boxes, ending with her back painfully pushed against one. The rest was unclear, but she could recall the feeling of a hard body and cool scales against her. Her eyes had been closed, but when Kolyat had pressed against her and shifted his weight, she had wrapped her legs around him, locking him in place.
Shepard flinched internally, feeling heat rise to her cheeks at the remembrance of how good it had felt to have him against her. She really hoped her memory was playing tricks on her, but she was sure she had tried to call his name wantonly. She prayed to God that Kolyat had not heard her, or that it was all untrue. Kolyat had yet to explain why she had begun to act so strangely; Garrus had mentioned something about blood.
Kolyat continued. "I realized then that something was terribly wrong. I rushed you to the medbay and Dr. Chakwas and Mordin discovered that you were having a powerful hallucinogenic reaction to my blood and oils that had dripped into your mouth."
Selene recalled the taste of metallic blood when she had forced him to release her. It all made sense now.
Mordin had taken it upon himself once to discuss the possible side effects of drell and human coupling a few weeks before recruiting Kolyat. Selene had been mildly horrified, and somewhat amused, that the salarian thought it important enough to warn her about the outcomes of oral contact with drell skin and bodily fluids.
The implication being that if she and Thane ever had sex, she would be aware of the risks involved. When Selene assured him his warnings were not needed, he had supplied additional information about human and turian relations. At that point, Shepard had promptly tuned out the scientists, practically running from the room to get away from him.
It appeared that information would have actually come in handy if she had cared to remember it and connect it to the events in the cargo bay. Selene inwardly groaned in anticipation at what rumors Kelly was most likely spreading regarding Kolyat and herself. Now that the crew knew she was okay and never in any life-threatening danger, they would most likely begin stories of how Kolyat and her had been going at it behind everyone's back.
Great, just another thing to add to my growing list of reasons why I should fire my yeoman, Selene thought bitterly.
In reality, Selene liked Kelly. She noticed that her counseling skills were a benefit to the team and the red head managed to supply the Commander with useful insight into the team's mental health.
Kolyat was staring at the Commander with concern and regret. It was clear he was expecting her to be angry with him.
"Kolyat, this isn't your fault. I was the one that caused you to bleed. I should be apologizing for all of this." Selene assured him with a comforting smile.
Kolyat gave her a small smile back, his courage to tease her returning. "So you admit that your sorry for cheating, then?"
Selene gave him smirk. "I said I should apologize, not that I was going to apologize."
Kolyat chuckled lightly at her refusal to admit she cheated. The banter easing any tension he had been holding on to.
"Of course, Commander. I would not expect any different." The man responded in a playfully arrogant tone.
"Hey, I can apologize!" Selene countered, mock offense tinging her voice.
"Like when you shot me? Or perhaps when you decided to try and see if you could toss me out a car window?"
Selene snorted in amusement at the remembrance of their first day together. She had put him through the ringer, and she had certainly feared she had pushed him too far. Regardless, she refused to apologize or reveal she had been worried he would hate her afterwards.
"I stopped you from shooting your father and you deserved the lesson in the car. Rule number one, always put your seatbelt on."
"What are you, a poster child for C-Sec traffic control?" Kolyat teased.
Shepard just glared in response. However, the smile on her face giving away that she was enjoying their playful argument. Kolyat was enjoying it himself, if the flirtatious smile on his own lips was any indication.
Sobering, Selene motioned toward the bandages that covered his left forearm and hand. "How is your arm?"
Kolyat lifted the appendage, turning and flexing the muscles experimentally. "Healing. Dr. Chakwas says I just need to keep it bandaged for the rest of the day. Apparently, scales take longer to fuse after a hyper-controlled biotic attack. Feels fine though."
"That's good," Selene nodded. "Turian's are the same. Their skin is like tough leather under their metallic-bone plating. krogan's, not so much. Their redundant nervous system causes them to regenerate quick. The medi-gel just speeds it along."
Kolyat filed the combat information away in the recesses of his mind. It might be useful in the field, if he ever got to use it.
"I'm glad you are recovering. I trust you have been following my orders and haven't been training today?" She arched a perfect black brow at him, her eyes flashing dangerously in warning.
"Yes, Commander," Kolyat chuckled. "My father has made sure of that."
A fond look replaced the steel in her eyes. "I can always count on Thane."
Kolyat's relationship with his father was mending slowly while they got to know each other again. Selene had noticed how Thane still tended to want to protect Kolyat too much, but the older drell was improving. It made her happy to see the two growing closer as the man in front of her learned to let go of his resentment and anger. She was unaware that Kolyat had overheard several of the crew discussing her relationship with his father and their suspicions about them being a couple.
Kolyat had long since buried his own suspicions of that possibility early on, after his father had revealed to him the events that had led to his mother's death. The way in which Thane spoke of Irikah, it was clear the man was still very much in love with his wife's memory and mourned her passing.
However, the admiration in which Selene spoke of the older drell, and Garrus on occasion, still caused a reluctant burning of jealousy in the younger man's chest.
He was sure Garrus was only a friend, more like a brother really. The fact that the man had not attacked him last night in Zaeed's place almost confirmed that. This left Kolyat to believe the young Commander was indeed single, but he had yet to decide what to do with that information.
Kolyat decided to muster up any ounce of courage he posed while in front of Selene, and took a few quiet steps closer to where she leaned against the wall supporting her ship collection.
"Was there anything further you wished to discuss, Commander Shepard?" His deep voice dropped an octave or two as he tried to appear confident and not completely nervous. It felt like an angry nest of sea serpents was writhing in his stomach.
He was almost inappropriately invading her space. However, a dumber part of his self-preservation skills wanted to see if she would push him away or if she welcomed sharing her space with him. He was unsure how humans engaged in communicating mutual attraction. A drell would have possibly picked up on the subtle changes to his subvocal as he spoke. The playful banter that they had just shared could also be considered flirting, but he was uncertain.
It might be helpful to ask Kelly's advice about human dating customs, he thought. Maybe the externet would be safer.
Shepard could feel the blush creeping up her neck again; she hoped her rooms were dim enough for Kolyat to not notice. He was standing particularly close to her; it wouldn't take much effort to reach out and touch his handsome face.
His voice had sent those pleasant vibrations through her chest. Something Thane and Garrus only did when they were trying to comfort her. The feeling was familiar, but not quite the same. Kolyat's rumble shot straight through her and settled somewhere in her lower pelvis. She tried not to think about how good the sensation felt and how much she wanted it to continue.
Her sensitive ears could hear the change in his dual-toned voice, which was a mark of his race. However, she did not possess the linguistic understanding that she knew other races had when communicating at different frequencies. She wondered if Kolyat was aware she could hear that he was saying something unspoken. She felt frustrated that she lacked the understanding to make sense of it.
Regardless, the Commander tried to concentrate on answering his question rather than how much she enjoyed his voice or how close he was at the moment.
"Yes. There was something more I wanted to talk to you about."
Kolyat took notice of the slight strain in Selene's usually smooth voice, and it had nothing to do with her healing vocal cords. His lips quirked at the edge, but he remained silent as she continued.
"Your combat knowledge and skill has improved greatly in the last three months. The rest of the crew has nothing but high praise for your work and attitude."
Well, that was not entirely true. Miranda still complained that Kolyat was disobedient and disrespectful, despite his quick mastery over the biotics she taught him. Zaeed and Grunt were begrudging in their evaluation of the man, but confessed to the blue drell's skill with firearms. The rest was positive feedback. After their fight last night, Selene felt confident that Kolyat could join the ground team in missions.
"You did well handling yourself against me last night, and you did not back down when I surprised you with my biotics."
Again, Kolyat noticed that she was still refusing to acknowledge that she had cheated or apologize for the fact that she had. Her next words startled any retort he might have had on the subject.
"I think you're ready to come on a mission with us, Kolyat," Selene's voice was firm. "This next one should be easy enough, but nothing is ever simple on this ship. It will allow me to assess how you work in a group, as well as under my command. We will go in with a small strike force, probably Garrus and your father since you have trained with them significantly. Based on how you do, we can discuss making you a permanent part of the squad rotation."
Kolyat's lips parted slightly, his mind reeled at the knowledge that he was finally going to be joining her on a mission.
"You really think I'm ready?" He murmured.
"I think you have more than earned this chance," Selene laughed, a breathy noise. "I know part of the reason you were trying to break your hands against the combat mechs last night was because you are frustrated with having to wait this long. Well, here's your chance. Show me what you got, Mr. Krios."
"Thank you, Commander, I will do as you all have trained me to. You will not regret this." Kolyat had to contain his excitement and the sudden urge to pick the Commander up in a crushing hug.
He was sure that would be taking their private encounter too far.
"Glad to hear it." The Commander smiled, straightening her posture as she pushed off the side of the bulkhead.
Kolyat continued to beam at her, a rare open smile enveloping his usually quiet features. It wasn't that the blue drell had trouble expressing himself. He was usually quick to ask questions about his curiosities, but there was a subtle sort of quietness that always seemed to follow him shortly after smiling or showing excitement.
It was as if he had not received proper encouragement or acceptance in being carefree with others. Selene empathized with the feelings. The insecurity was not born of the same stoicism that living for a singular purpose had instilled in his father. It was something else, something deeper that spoke of a desperate need to be cared for maybe.
Selene found herself wanting to reach out to the happy drell and envelope him into a hug that would let him know she could be there for him, if he wanted her to be.
The two of them continued to stare at each other, smiling and not realizing the distance between them was even closer than before.
Kolyat could make out the light splatter of freckles on her face and his own reflection in her shinning silver-green eyes. His eyes flickered down to her lips as her small pink tongue ran over them unconsciously. He felt himself respond to the action, his hands flexing at his side as he stopped himself from reaching out and burying them in her soft hair.
His eyes blinked rapidly, his breathing becoming shallow as he tried to think clearly through the pleasant haze that was settling in his brain. He had experienced this feeling before of course. It was electric, their pull toward each other. The nervous excitement of trying to decide the outcome of the first move.
The unknown was both torturous and enjoyable. Kolyat continued to pause, unsure how to proceed. He had never had feelings for an alien before. Let alone one who held authority over him.
Unknown to the drell, Selene was having similar thoughts. It had already been revealed to her that Kolyat at least found her attractive, but she was not sure if that translated to him being okay with her touching him. She was human after all and she had just had an alarming reaction to his naturally produced toxins. After going through what he had last night, she was not sure if he would appreciate her kissing him.
Finding her beautiful did not mean he wished to start a relationship with his commanding officer; Selene was also beyond casual relationships.
It occurred to her, just then, that she did not know if he had a significant other waiting for him back home. The suddenness of the thought was like a bucket of cold water to the face.
Before Selene could stammer out an excuse for him to leave, Joker's voice echoed loudly on the overhead speakers.
"Hey, Commander!" his abrupt voice caused both of them to jump.
"Yeah Joker, what is it?" Shepard called, thankful for an excuse to look at the ceiling and not at the drell next to her.
"Miranda and Jack are having a . . . disagreement. Again. Can you please pry them apart because Zaeed and Grunt are having a hard time with it? I'm pretty sure Jack is about to tear out a bulkhead and we can't really have that happening. Open space and all. So, can you please go down there and do your bad ass Commander thing and stop them. They're in the cargo bay."
Selene sighed tiredly. She was not sure if she was grateful or disappointed with the interruption, but breaking up the two biotic headaches again was not at the top of her list of things she enjoyed doing.
"Fucking idiotas. Ellas siempre causan las problemas." Selene hissed.
It had not been the first time that Kolyat's translator failed to pick up what the Commander was saying. He had yet to ask about it. The foreign language was usually so interwoven with her human galactic standard that he managed to piece together what she was saying.
"What is that? The language you are speaking. My translator cannot pick it up." Kolyat asked as the Commander quickly went to the dresser built into the wall next to her bed. The irritated woman threw an oversized muscle shirt over her head, a picture of the Alliance logo displayed on the front.
As she stomped back towards him, motioning for him to follow her to the elevators she explained: "Most translators don't, unless specifically programed for it," she punched the button that would take them to engineering, "It's Spanish. Not many outside of Earth speak it. No reason when everyone is required to learn galactic standard English in order get off planet. My mom secretly taught me since she was from Mexico."
That was the most Kolyat have ever heard Selene speak about her family. Sometimes she mentioned correspondence from her aunt who was still serving in the Alliance, but it was rare to hear anything about her parents or her childhood. From what he understood, by the little his father revealed to him, she had not had a pleasant upbringing.
Her mother and father had passed away when she was fourteen and the Commander had been raised partially by her aunt and friends of the family. Her aunt had called in favors to allow Selene to enlist when she was sixteen and the young Commander had dedicated her life to the Alliance ever since.
Well, at least until her death and subsequent resurrection.
"Where was your father from?" Kolyat questioned as the elevator made its slow decent two floors down.
Kolyat knew nothing about the geography of Earth, but wished to learn everything he could about Shepard's past. He almost regretted the question as a dark scowl came over her face, but she answered regardless.
"The United States. Just a boarder apart from each other. My mother grew up in Southern Mexico in Veracruz. They met in El Paso, at a party, when my mom was staying in the States on a school visa. My dad was just some kid from the barrio in Los Angeles, visiting some family I guess."
The bitterness in which she spoke of her father was unmistakable. Kolyat was uncertain if he should press the matter.
The choice was taken from him as the doors to the elevator slid open with a helpful ding. The two paused in the threshold of the doors. They were unsure how to leave one another after such a tense private moment in her quarters and the personal conversation about Shepard's family.
Kolyat took it upon himself to try and sooth the distraught woman after bringing up a clearly painful topic.
"Shepard." His hand reached to brush her hair behind her ear, which earned him a wide eye stare as her attention turned to him and not the elevator floor.
"I apologize for bringing up what is obviously a sore subject. I just wished to know more about you."
Shepard's anxiety ebbed as she returned his smile, answering in a quiet voice, "You know you spend a lot of time apologizing to me."
Kolyat breathed out a laugh, "Well that is just because I am the only one out of the two of us willing to do so."
He was glad that his comment had not caused offense and was taken as the light teasing it was meant to be. The Commander shook her head in amusement, her smile widening.
The sound of metal crashing against metal broke the two from their moment.
"I have to go break them up before they put a hole in my ship." Shepard commented reluctantly.
Kolyat nodded and watched as the small woman turned from him and disappeared through the doors that would take her down into the cargo bay. He watched from the windows as she grabbed a startled Jack by her vest and placed a biotically charged hand in front of Miranda's face as she stepped between the two furious women. Then came the yelling and most likely the threats of what she was going to do to them if they insisted on tearing up her ship.
Kolyat shook his head at the Commander, a fond smile still playing at his lips. Her beautiful face was once again drawn in an expression of fury and vengeance. The scars across her body blazed against her skin. Her predatory eyes promised consequence for the two biotics who were now looking significantly more subdued with their CO tearing them a new one.
Kolyat marveled at the difference between the Selene down in the cargo hold and the woman he had just been flirting with a few moments ago. Her eyes had been so open and expressive, not with rage, but what he hoped was mutual attraction and intrigue. He had almost thrown caution to the wind and kissed her, but his nerves and Joker's interruption had disrupted his chance.
The infatuated drell could not help but wonder what would have happened if they had not been interrupted. Were they really about to kiss? Had she wanted him to make the first move? Was it proper for him to kiss her without permission? Would she think him foolish for asking permission?
So many questions swam through his head and he could not ask any of them. She was his commanding officer and their leader; it was almost impossible to believe that she would feel the same for him he felt for her.
Kolyat physically shook his head, staring one last time at the fierce woman below, before turning and stepping into the elevator. He returned to his rooms so he could be alone with his tumultuous thoughts.
Author's Notes: This was a really enjoyable chapter to write. It reminded me of when my now husband and I first started to realize that we had had feelings for each other. It had taken us a little while to actually admitting that we liked each other, since we too worked with one another and had a supervisor/employee relationship. I was also in an unhealthy relationship with someone else at the time and my husband was respectful of that. But we still developed feelings over time and were nervous about them when we finally did not work together anymore and I was single. It was all worth it though. =^.^=
Also, the Spanish has finally been addressed. Those of you that have read this story before my rewriting of it know that Selene has always come from Mexican heritage. I myself am Mexican-Italian- American. I really like representing a bit of my culture into my character and I do that through the story in different ways.
However, I feel like it is important to note that I do NOT speak fluent Spanish. I have grown up around Spanish and Spanglish speakers in-and-outside my home. Selene falls more into the category of speaking more Spanglish than fluent Spanish. I will explain this a bit more as I develop the story, but it really has to do with this idea of certain cultures and people feeling like they have to abandon their native languages in order fit into a dominate culture. My family experienced that as they raised their children in the U.S, so I used that narrative within my story.
Sorry, just a side bit of information for you all. For those that are fluent Spanish speakers and writers, please fill free to correct my poor grammar if you notice it. I have had really inconstant instruction throughout my life. I am also American (U.S), so keep that in mind, we tend to butcher everyone else's language. I apologize on our behalf!
Thank you for reading, hope it has been enjoyable.
P.S:
-Ellas siempre causan las problemas means: They always cause problems.
-¡Vete a la mierda! means: Go to hell (roughly)