And we are back! I'm sorry that you all had to wait so long, NaNoWriMo kind of burned me out. I have only a short chapter for you today but there is sex and that will bring us nicely into the new year, I think!
The satisfaction of the kiss lasted Garrus for about thirty minutes. He checked the Mako for damages and ordered a few replacement parts for the shock absorbers. But he couldn't concentrate on anything else. Her scent was all around him and it had been so long since he had touched her.
He felt like a horny teenager. Whenever he closed his eyes, he saw her, her eyes sparkling, her mouth open in a moan. His armor had gotten extremely uncomfortable in the last few minutes. He shook his head at his own ridiculousness. It wasn't like this was the first time that he had to wait for sex. It shouldn't affect him like it did.
His mind kept supplying him with memories of previous sex but also with pictures of a future he imagined. The rational part of his mind was telling him that it was silly and much too early in their relationship to make plans for the future. But another part of him was painting pictures of a life together with children running around them and adventures under the stars.
Get a hold of yourself!
He decided to get himself a snack to take his mind off those silly ideas and stepped into the elevator. Just as the doors closed, the pilot's voice came over the speakers.
"Optione Vakarian, the Commander orders you to report to the comm room immediately."
"Thank you Lieutenant." He tapped his comm to make a connection to the Flight Lieutenant. "Lieutenant Moreau? You don't need to use the rank when you're addressing me."
"Listen, you cut it with the Lieutenant and call me Joker and I call you Fluffy The Princess if that's what you like," said the pilot.
Garrus chuckled. "Garrus would be fine."
"Got it, Garrus. Now better hurry to the comm room before the lady gets angry."
"Yes, thanks, Lieu- Joker," Garrus said and hurried up the stairs to the command deck. He turned around the corner rather quickly and almost knocked over the XO, Pressley, who gave him a look as if he had swallowed something nasty.
The comm room's doors closed behind him with an audible noise of seals sucking shut. Garrus wondered exactly what this heavy door was supposed to withstand. Shepard stood on the far end of the room, a translucent projection of two very familiar turians in front of her. One was Keggs, leaning on a desk, looking at a display off to the side, the other was Nihlus, his feet on the desk and laughing about something. He noticed Garrus approaching.
"Ah, there he is! Garrus, the brave, I heard you became friends with a Thresher Maw today!" Nihlus called out.
"I also experienced some new deathly fears from Shepard's driving." Garrus hummed his subharmonics in humor at Shepard and grinned.
"Oh, come on!" Shepard yelled and punched him on his armored arm. "It's not my fault that the thing handles like a cat on ice with the steering wheel. It got much better with the turian control sticks." She gave him an angry look from under her frowned eyebrows and it was so damn sexy that Garrus felt his groin plates open. This was getting more ridiculous by the minute.
Keggs turned back to the camera and pushed Nihlus' feet off the desk, making the other turian stumble to not hit his chin on the table. They exchanged some grunts and angry tones but with a friendly undertone in their subharmonics. It looked like they had developed a friendship in the last few days that Nihlus had been working with ANIS.
"We have some information on Matriarch Benezia," Keggs said and transferred a collection of files over to the Normandy. It took a while to load them and he explained what they knew while they waited. "Matriarch Benezia is a well respected, high ranking teacher and spiritual leader on Thessia. She is known for her progressive teachings and her somewhat extreme views on the legacy of the goddess Athame."
"How extreme?" Shepard asked with a frown.
Nihlus leaned forward. "The asari today mostly follow the teachings of the siari religion, believing in the unity of everything in the universe. But in the old days, they had many different religions and the biggest group worshipped the goddess Athame. Few asari actually follow Athame's teachings today, but she is still prevalent in their everyday praying or when they say 'By the goddess!'. It is said that she taught the asari science and math and prepared them to be leaders of the galaxy."
"Now Matriarch Benezia takes that a little further," Keggs chimed in, "stating in her teachings and her manifestos that the galaxy needs the asari to lead or better force the other species on the right path."
Garrus was taken aback. "That doesn't sound like the asari teachings you hear on the Citadel," he said, recalling what he had learned from the acquaintances he had made over the years. "In the schools and chapels on the Citadel they speak about the unity of all beings, of the connections between the spiritual energy of all species."
"So Matriarch Benezia is a radical?" Shepard asked.
Nihlus trilled a negative tone. "They rather call her conservative or old-fashioned."
Shepard pinched her nose with two fingers, a strange gesture that she did when she was thinking hard. "Does she have political influence?"
Nihlus made a vague hand movement. "Asari politics are kind of undefined if you look at them from the outside. Matriarch Benezia doesn't hold an official office but she has a lot of influence. Asari don't really have elected rulers, they hold open debates over the communication system but tend to defer decisions to wise Matriarchs."
"And that's where the influence comes in," Shepard said.
Keggs trilled a short tone in agreement. "But she simply left. She was asked for advice on a current debate on Thessia and made an initial statement but never gave her answer. She also didn't notify the temple school, just one day didn't show up to the class she is teaching. We contacted people that know her and worked with her, they say she never worked with a turian before, as a matter of fact," he gave Shepard a meaningful glance, "she tends to avoid other species. And she never before left her position in the temple without informing her congregation."
"Do you think she got kidnapped?" Garrus asked.
"The disappearing act sounds a bit like a kidnapping," Keggs said with a worried undertone in his second voice. "But on the message from the geth core she sounded more like an accomplice."
Nihlus laughed out. "I can't imagine someone trying to kidnap a powerful Matriarch like Benezia. She would rip you apart if you tried."
"So," Shepard mumbled, staring at the information on her omni-tool, "let's assume she follows Saren out of her own will. Why? She might be interested in prothean technology, but what does she need Saren for?"
"Or the other way around," Garrus said, "what does he need her for?"
"How do they even know each other?" Shepard wondered.
Keggs projected a picture of a file to their omni-tools. "They're both investors at Binary Helix, they met at a shareholder meeting at least once."
Nihlus leaned into the picture again, the cuts and patches on his fringe painfully visible. He still occasionally touched his shortened fringetips carefully, but other than that his disfigurement didn't seem to bother him. "Nobody really saw them together though, she isn't known to have worked with him before."
Keggs hummed in agreement at that. "Everybody Lorenzo and Terlin spoke to emphasized, her behaviour was highly unusual."
"So where can we find her?" Shepard asked, tapping her foot.
"She hasn't contacted anyone," Keggs said, "but she may be on Noveria. Matriarch Benezia is an executive of some kind for Binary Helix. Binary Helix rented a laboratory on Noveria and recently there have been... problems."
"What kind of problems?"
"The kind that leads to disconnecting the labs from the main systems," Nihlus said with a grin, "and waiting for the stercus-freezing cold to kill whatever has gotten loose in there."
Keggs marked a few files on their omni-tools to look at. "Noveria port authority is not very forthcoming with information but they have mentioned an asari business woman arriving a few days ago, causing quite a stir apparently."
Nihlus pointed at Shepard. "You will investigate the situation on Noveria, that is your official mission by the Council. It's not quite Spectre level work, but no one will question that."
Shepard smirked. "But in reality, we're trying to catch Benezia."
Both turians nodded.
"I still want to pick up her daughter first, we should find her soon," Shepard said.
Nihlus nodded. "Yes, she might have an influence on her mother."
"I doubt that," Keggs said, "as far as we know, they have not been in contact for well over a decade." He gave a meaningful trill to Nihlus. "Some people don't stay in contact with their parents."
"True," Nihlus said with a bit of forced cheerfulness in his subharmonics. "If my mother was trying to interfere with one of my missions, I would just shoot her to shut her up for good."
Shepard raised an eyebrow at that remark but didn't say anything. They ended the connection soon afterwards and Garrus and Shepard were finally alone.
For a second they just stared at each other. Then, with a gasp that sounded like a whimper, Shepard flew into his arms. Their armor crashed together with a loud clang and continued scraping as she more or less climbed up on him and hungrily kissed him. With one hand she held onto his neck, with her other hand she was stroking his mandible. He wrapped his arms around her form, her body unusually hard and unyielding in her armor, but it was at least something.
Her lips, her strange soft lips pressed against his unyielding mouthplates, nibbling and suckling. It shouldn't work, it should not be so arousing but it was. He forgot to breathe as he lost himself in her taste and the softness of her lips and tongue. Her hand on his neck did something magical on the sensitive part under his fringe and it made him rumble out a deep moan.
She giggled. "Hey, my spacecat is back." She kissed him again. "I missed you."
"I wasn't gone."
"I know," she pulled him even tighter, "but that was business," she mumbled as her lips nibbled along his mandible, "I couldn't feel you."
She began searching for the clips and fasteners for his groin armor. Surprisingly fast it clattered to the ground. His aroused penis strained against the fabric of his underarmor.
"What are you doing, Jane?" he asked, his subharmonics rumbling in desire.
Her lips moved over his mandible to his ear and she whispered, "I want you, isn't that obvious? I want you right now."
"Here?"
"Why not?" Shepard looked around. "This room is soundproof, protected against surveillance and -" she turned to the control panel and typed a command, "the door is locked. Who knows when we'll have time again for each other." She rubbed her still armored groin against his hardened member, sending sparks up his spine.
"Spirits Shepard, it's not that I don't want you, far from it but..." He turned his head away, trying to come up with the words.
"But what?" she asked, uncertainty making her voice hoarse.
"It's been so long..."
"It hasn't been that long..." she moved like she wanted to slide down but he held her up.
"I know," he said and quickly dragged his tongue along her jawline, "and honestly, I don't understand it myself, how crazy you make me but I'm afraid I might lose control."
Her shoulders visibly relaxed. "You know I don't mind that," she said, taking the tip of his mandible between her lips and sucking on it. Another rush of sparks ran up and down his spine.
"That is really unfair, Sunshine." His subharmonics had dropped to another register.
"But you love it."
"I love everything you do."
She let her fingers run through the grooves of his fringe, lightly scratching him with her nails. It made him shudder. "So what are you worried about ? You know I kind of like it if you get wild."
"But I don't!" Garrus blurted out. Shepard looked at him in surprise but she seemed to wait for him to continue. "I mean, yes I liked it and it's wonderful that you enjoyed it too but it's not really something turians do. We don't lose control like that, not even turians with turians. We are not savages."
"Oh no! I would never think that!" Shepard called out.
"I know you don't," Garrus said, laying a calming tone into his subharmonics. "But I don't want to hurt you and..."
With unexpected speed she jumped off him, unlatched her groin cup and the lower back part of her armor and let it drop to the ground. Catching his eye, she slowly opened a slit in her underarmor, grinning at the lusty groan he made at that.
"You know I trust you, I know you will not hurt me." She let her fingers trail down along the slit in her underarmor. "So do you want me?"
"Spirits, yes!"
She stepped closer to him just so that she could touch his underarmor and let her fingertips lightly play on his bulging erection. He hissed through his mouthplates and grabbed the rail on the side of the control panel. "Shepard!"
Her oh so flexible fingers kept playing on the fabric that felt like it was about to burst from the pressure building up. "We don't have much time, Angel, and I'm still wearing most of my armor so I don't think you can hurt me much and..."
He didn't let her finish. By the time his brain processed what she had said, his body had already moved to her and slammed her against the rail. He ripped off the frontal part of his armor and threw it to the side. The rest had to stay on, he needed her now. He pressed his nose into the part of her neck that wasn't covered by her armor, breathing in her scent. She giggled and he felt relief untensing his shoulders. As long as she was laughing and giggling, she didn't feel threatened by his urgent behaviour.
"Come here, big guy," she whispered, "come to me." She stepped on his spurs to raise herself up and unceremoniously pulled his penis out from his underarmor to line it up with her opening.
"Commander?" The pilot's voice from the comm system made them freeze. "We are ready to leave the Sparta system and head to the Knossos system, unless you have anything left to do for us here."
Shepard switched her voice to her 'Commander-voice', giving no indication that she was hovering on the spurs of her turian advisor-boyfriend with his throbbing penis in her hand. "I think we are done here, Joker, go ahead to Knossos."
"Aye, Commander, going to FTL, enroute to Knossos, ETA one hour. Joker out."
Shepard grinned at Garrus but didn't move until she heard the tiny click of the comm turning off. She smirked at him. "Now where was I? Oh right..." Without further warning she lined herself up with him and sank down on his penis in one quick move. They both gasped out and she laughed again.
Her thigh covers rubbed along his waist as she adjusted her position. "How does that feel for you?" she whispered.
Garrus tried to form words but his mind was filled with just her and his desire for her. "I... I..." he pulled her tighter, making their armor creak, "I need you, I need..."
"I know," she rolled her hips, "come on." She held on to his shoulder guards and pushed against him, taking all of his length with a loud moan.
His hands sought purchase on her armor, scratching over the surface. He bent to lick under her ear, letting his tongue travel over to her mouth where she caught it with her lips, sucking on it. He let his hips snap forward, careful at first but when she sucked harder on his tongue he pushed harder. The sounds she made told him that she loved what he did and it felt right.
Oh, he had missed this so much, this connection they had. Her eyes were wide open and never left his. He pressed her against the rail and pushed into her, harder and faster, feeling her clench around him.
"Yes, keep going, yes, yes!" she mumbled, throwing her head back.
He kept on pumping, ignoring the noise of armor pieces clanging against each other. She felt hard in his arms, strangely changed but still familiar. He could feel her strength, how tight she held herself to him, pressing her thighs into his waist, only her hips moving. Her outer shell was a stark difference to the softness of her vagina squeezing him. She felt tighter now, and he hoped that she was close because he was not going to last much longer.
"Spirits, Jane, I'm almost..."
"Wait!" she hissed out, "wait!"
"I can't, you feel so good, so..."
She locked her legs around him and stilled, forcing him to stop moving. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to calm his breathing, slowly pushing the rising wave back. When he opened his eyes again, she looked at him and moved one hand between them. She rubbed herself, her eyes piercing him, eating him up. He could feel her vagina contracting, forming a tight sheath and he had to bite his tongue to stop himself from moving.
The tightness became almost unbearable. "Jane, please, you are so tight, so..."
She pulled the hand out and began pumping her hips in hard thrusts. "Yes, now, come with me," she panted and he almost lost his mind in bliss. It was their own dance, their own perfect rhythm, pushing and holding. He felt her come before she even made the first strained sound, felt her pulse and milk him. He pushed harder, growling in his subharmonics as she growled back, louder and faster until they both held their lips tightly shut to muffle their screams.
She kept on moving, still pulsing, giving him tingly aftershocks until she whimpered one last time and went limp. He nuzzled her throat under her ear, licking the skin until she giggled.
She kissed along his throat and sighed. "Now what are we going to do with this mess?" She pointed to their groins where his penis was so far keeping all of his liquid inside her.
"We didn't think this through," he murmured, slightly embarrassed.
Shepard laughed out. "No, we really didn't." She spread her legs and moved her butt onto the rail, letting him slip out. He set his feet apart and watched the result of their frantic love making drip to the floor.
She shook her head. "I'm going to sneak back in here with a rag and some cleaner stuff, I don't want the cleaning crew to sniff on that."
"Oh futuo!" Garrus called out, "Wrex is going to smell that, no matter how much cleaner you pour on that."
"Aw shit, you're right," Shepard said, her face turning slightly pink. "He's going to joke about that every time we sit in this room." She pinched her nose but then looked up to him with the big smile that he loved so much. "Totally worth it though," she mumbled and kissed him.
A soft kiss this time, almost hesitant, slowly moving her tongue over his, her lips caressing his mouthplates.
Yes, it was totally worth it.
Yes, it's short but I'm hopeful that I got my writing mojo back now and the new year will bring us longer and exciting chapters.
Thanks to Credete for high-speed editing.
I started this story in August 2012 and it was the first thing I have ever written. To be here, over a year later at 32 chapters and still writing is the most incredible thing that has happened to me recently. Thank you all for being here, for reading, for commenting, for making me feel like I'm a writer.
I want to wish all of you a wonderful end of the year in whichever way you like to celebrate it and we will all see each other again in the brand new year.
Love, peace and happiness!