(Warning: NSFW. Consensual, committed couple enjoying one another.)
40 Days ASR
Despite Shepard's promise not to take long, by the time Dr. Chakwas treated and sealed her wounds and they made plans to get the brain trust together the next day to discuss the possibility of two indoctrination signals, a half hour had rolled by.
She palmed the control to Garrus's door, stepping through into the dimly lit space when it opened. He was standing behind the far couch, but turned, a wide grin greeting her as she entered. Gripped by a fierce joy, Shepard let the flood surge over the levees. Three running steps carried her across the floor, then two leaps cleared the couch, launching herself at him. He staggered back a step, grabbing her out of reflex as she latched her arms around his neck, her legs curling around his waist.
She kissed him, lips fervent and hungry against his mouth, tongue teasing, trying to coax him out from behind his teeth. Instead, he pulled away, a low rumble resonating in his throat. "What?" she asked, before kissing her way up his mandible to nibble at its wing.
He cleared his throat. "Kahri, my pari is here."
A low susurrus of amusement rumbled from the direction of the other couch.
"Hello, sir," she said, pausing just as she began kissing her way down the groove of Garrus's throat. Instead, she met her boyfriend's eyes, her gaze crackling with gentle teasing. "Sorry, I was too eager to leap on your pahir to see you when I came in."
Herros chuckled, and she heard the leather groan as he stood. "That's quite all right. I'll leave you to your reunion and see you both in the morning."
Garrus let out an embarrassed mutter when the door closed behind his father. "That's two parents we've made out in front of today. Would you like to fly to Palaven so my mari can catch the show?"
She grinned and leaned back, one hand gripping the back of his neck, the other stroking the underside of his fringe. "Sure, we wouldn't want her to miss out." Chuckling, she hugged him tight. "All right, I promise to check that no parents are in attendance before I fling myself on you. Fair enough?" She pressed her lips against his mouth and whispered, "Will you kiss me back now?"
Strong arms pulled her in so tight that her body let out a few muted yelps as his mouth opened to claim hers. Despite the pain, she lifted into him, desperate to get closer. Damn, hadn't he been so very right? As soon as her heart made the leap, her body couldn't help but follow.
She leaned back a little to get at the fasteners down the front of Garrus's tunic, the action throwing off his balance enough that he stumbled.
Chuckling, he said, "Okay, this needs to continue somewhere a lot more stable." He skirted the couch and collapsed into the soft cushions, settling her on his lap. His stare warmed her face as she finished with his tunic, her hands laying it wide to search along the damaged plates.
"Oh, damn … Garrus, I forgot about … ." Worried hands flitted over his keel, checking all the little metal bars for blood or plate damage. "Did I hurt you?"
"I'm fine. Stop worrying." He stilled her fussing with a kiss. "No damage."
"Mmm," she murmured, kissing him back. Soft and slow, her lips moved over his mouth with no less passion but with growing patience. All her frantic eagerness from the moment before quieted and softened. There really was no need to hurry; bright, sunlit warm replaced the racing wind as her heartbeat calmed a little. Time to stop and cherish the gift she'd been given.
"You're so warm. I think I'm just going to move in right here." She let out a long, contented moan and slipped inside the flaps of his tunic to wrap her arms around him. "I missed you this week. Can we avoid doing anything crazy for the next few days and just spend some time together?"
Garrus nodded and nuzzled the top of her head. "We can." He let out a half breath, half sigh. "I missed you, too. The bed is far too empty and the days far too long when you're not with me."
Smiling, sentimental tears burning along her lashes, she looked up into his eyes. "I love you. Remind me to keep telling you that."
They kissed, long and slow and sweet, soft lips and rigid mouth plates moving against one another with ardor, tongues making silent promises of hours, days, and years to come.
"You should eat something." Garrus chuckled when her stomach let out a hearty bellow. "We're not in any hurry, and it'll destroy the mood if you pass out from hunger partway through." Shuddering, heavy and exaggerated, he pushed her away. "Or you try to eat my brain."
"Hey, I'm not a completely barbaric zombie," Shepard protested, crossing her arms and turning away, nose in the air. "There is a time and place for brain eating." The wolf pack in her belly howled again. "Buuuuut, then again, maybe we shouldn't push our luck."
Garrus's grin faded as he reached up to cradle her face between his hands. His thumb talons traced her cheekbones then brushed the permanent frown lines from her brow. "I don't know what I did to deserve this," he said, his voice tight with all the emotion that sang through his subvocals.
She didn't understand them the way another turian would, but she felt the intention behind them deep in her gut. "Most people would say that it must have been pretty terrible. I'm not much of a prize." Her eyes locked onto his. "You, on the other hand, you have been the solid, amazing, brilliant—"
"Sexy? Stunningly virile? Rakishly good-looking?" he asked, mandibles fluttering as his eyes sparkled, teasing.
Shepard sighed, but then gave a resigned shrug and nodded. "Sure, why not? I can be charitable." Laughter bubbled up then erupted, bright and effervescent as he pulled her in and nipped her neck. "Okay, okay! You're one incredibly sexy, virile, rakishly good-looking cookie."
"I'd be insulted if I didn't know how much you love cookies." He nipped her again, then loosened his grip. "Come on, eat something, and then we can climb into bed." He lifted Shepard with all the usual, careless ease, and turned her so she was sitting across his thighs, cradled between his arm and side.
Wriggling forward until she could reach the plate, Shepard grabbed it off the table and removed the lid. "Ooo, meatloaf. Nice."
Shepard relaxed back in Garrus's arms, his body deliciously warm against hers, and let out a long sigh. She picked at her food, her mind rolling back through everything Garrus and her mother had told her. From the sound of it, Archangel had received a generous influx of funds thanks to Remit, the slaving bastard.
She glanced up between mouthfuls. "So, Remit had billions invested in art and books like Hock? Billions that you just looted like a big ol' turian pirate." A crooked grin tugged at her lips as she raised her brows, looking at him from the corner of her eye. "Remember that first day in Fist's office? You were so scandalized by my suggesting that we strip his office for saleable goods."
He nuzzled the top of her head. "Yes, well, you were right. We're on the run and we need every credit we can get our hands on." Chuckling, he shrugged. "I think your mother was scandalized by my mercenary agenda for her collection."
Shepard turned back to her dinner, eating a couple of mouthfuls that might as well have been paste for all she tasted them, her mind racing along ten different paths before latching onto what he'd said. "I think that collection kept her sane," she said. "As much as she loved our family and life on Mindoir, her whole life up until she met my father had been training to curate for a museum or gallery."
He sighed, the sound laden with disgusted, furious tremors. "So, having that little piece of what she had always wanted helped keep her sane?" A slight nod answered that. "Yeah, I can see that. Any rope to cling to, right?"
The room hung dark and silent around the two torins. "How do you do it, Vakarian?" Nihlus asked, his voice a slurred whisper from the couch.
She crept closer as Garrus sat on the edge of the coffee table. "How do I do what, Nihlus?"
"Keep breathing."
Garrus let out a huff of breath, deflating a little. "I do what she wanted me to do, Nihlus." He shook his head and shrugged a little. "Sometimes when I'm planning or working, I'll swear that she's right beside me, pointing something out that I've missed or whispering suggestions to me. And when that happens, I feel peace. It's not much, but it's better than nothing."
Shepard shook her head. Too little sleep and too many of Nihlus's memories crammed into her head. Yeah. She shook off the breathless melancholy of the dark room and glanced up at Garrus. "Yeah, any rope to cling to." She shovelled in another mouthful, but then set the plate aside, suddenly not the slightest bit hungry. Leaning up further, she kissed him. "Come on, let's get into bed, General Boyfriend." She clambered up off the couch and held out a hand.
"Your supper?" he asked, resisting. "You hardly ate anything."
A loving touch whispered along his mandible as she grasped his hand and pulled him up. "I'm far more hungry for turian boyfriend than meatloaf right now." She tipped her head toward the bed. "Come on."
Garrus trailed after her, far enough back that she had to extend her arm. Giving her room to change her mind, no doubt. But no, that night wasn't about playing it cautious or giving into fear. They'd waited long enough.
When they reached the bed, she kept hold of him with one hand while tugging off her boot with the other, trading hands to get them both. She stepped up onto the mattress, grinning when she actually came out a little taller than him. Beckoning to him with a slight pressure on his hand and a teasing nod, she drew him into her arms, wrapping them around his neck.
"I am the single, luckiest woman breathing," she said, voice low and throaty. Pressing her brow to his, she closed her eyes, inhaling long, deep breaths of him, his earthy myrrh and cloves scent settling something deep inside her. "Promise me something," she said, surprising herself as desire and adoration overwhelmed her usual caution.
"Anything," he said, tilting his chin to nuzzle her lips. His hands untucked her t-shirt and slipped beneath to circle her hips, the touch warm, rough, and perfect.
Feather-soft kisses brushed his mouth and mandibles, punctuating her words as she said, "We got a second chance, Garrus. Out of all the people in this crazy universe who deserve one … who pray for one … the powers that be chose us." She pressed her lips to his mouth, sucking gently as she pulled away. "I don't want to waste a second of it to fear or doubt." Drawing him in a little tighter, she tucked her head under his jaw, loving the way his cowl cradled it. "Let's just decide right here, right now, that no matter what, we don't walk away. We figure it out, fight it out, wrestle if we have to, but we never walk away."
Letting out a low rumble, the love and devotion woven through it so thick and heavy that it raised the hair on the back of her neck, Garrus held her tight, his large hands covering most of her back. Sweet Jesus, but those hands made her feel so safe … so cherished. That she could wrap herself up in that touch, that she make him feel just as safe and loved, that was all that mattered. Everything else would either sort itself out or fall away.
"All right," he said after a second. "No matter what. We never walk away." His mandible fluttered against her hair as he smiled, his grip pressing her against him. "You know what this means, don't you?"
Shepard pulled away to meet his gaze, but then shook her head. "Not now," she said, the words carrying no sting, just the desire for the moment to come in its proper time.
"Yeah." He nuzzled her brow, those beautiful eyes closing as the rumble from his second larynx gained strength. "But so you know it's coming, Kahri."
"It had better." Shepard slipped her hands inside the panels of his tunic, helping him ease his arms free of the heavy material, then carefully guided it over his head, giving his mandibles and damaged face plenty of clearance. She threw it over the back of the couch, then sat, deft, nimble fingers making short work of the many fasteners down his leggings. Finally freeing his spur, she guided the waist over the sharp points of his hips and slid them down. Grinning as he steadied himself with a hand on her shoulder, she helped him step out of them then tossed them after his tunic.
"That's a big improvement." She slid her hands up the tight bands of muscle along the inside of his calves. "So," she said, fingertips brushing along the base of his spur, "I've heard a rumour that your spur is just loaded with nerve endings."
Garrus chuckled, talons playing through her hair. "When we slept together on the Normandy, you sent me into retreat at least once a night when you accidentally brushed it. I didn't think you wanted to get poked awake."
The flush of desire and heat that image sent tearing along her nerves startled her and set the muscles in her groin rolling like waves on a heavy sea. "That would have been a surprise." She skirted the base, teasing just until he started to rumble, then moved on, her palms flat and firm up the backs of his thighs.
"Mmm," she murmured, looking up into his eyes again as she rested her hands on his hips. "You're so beautiful." Leaning in, she pressed her cheek against the soft hide along his stomach. His warmth poured into her, travelling along her nerves to settle low in her belly. It gathered there, a light pulse that tugged at the muscles through her center, adding to the gentle waves of pleasure and need rolling up through her hips and down her thighs.
She kissed his stomach, her eyes closing as she savoured the texture of his hide, the intoxicating scent of him, the way his muscles trembled under her lips. "You know, I've come really close to doing this a few times over the years." More kisses painted a moist trail down the center of his stomach, stopping just above his plates. She brushed her bottom lip along their edge, smiling as they moved. "I didn't care about any of the men; it seemed easier that way. I told myself that I was letting the past cripple me, that I needed to push through it and get it over with."
An angry rumble answered that, and she nodded. The fact that he loved her, that he wanted her and waited so long for her to be ready … damn, but wasn't it the most remarkable thing? Wasn't he? She looked up, the depth of everything she felt burning through her stare; the flush that crept up her chest; her shallow, rapid breaths.
"I never thought I'd be so grateful that I waited." Her palms glided along the sweep of his chest plates to wrap around his waist.
His talons combed through her hair, then cupped her face. The pad of one thumb brushed her lips, his touch almost reverent. "I've never wanted anyone like this, Kahri … never dared to hope that I'd find someone so … that I … ." Stepping back, he slipped his hands over her shoulders and down her arms on the way to taking her hands in his, drawing her up onto her feet. He placed her hands on the rim of his cowl and then lifted her, holding her tight against him. Turning his face into her neck, he nipped the sensitive skin, his tongue hot and teasing along the line of her jaw.
Shepard tilted her head, opening her neck to him while her fingertips wandered along the small plates that dotted his neck. She chuckled at the lusty growl that accompanied her exploration of the border between hide and cowl. "Hmm, I'll have to remember that for later." Leaning back, trusting his arms to hold her, she reached down, grabbed the hem of her t-shirt, and swept it over her head. After tossing it on the pile, she unclasped her bra and shrugged out of it.
Garrus leaned down to draw a long, slow trail along her collarbone with the tip of his tongue, grinning wide as her skin lifted into gooseflesh and a long, sultry moan drifted from her throat.
"Damn ... that tongue." She intercepted his mouth and arched into him, her breasts brushing against his plates as their tongues tangled and teased.
"Dear spirits," he said, breaking the kiss. A heavy moan chased the oath from his mouth, and he stumbled a little as if his legs suddenly wouldn't hold them. Turning, he sank on the side of the bed, his chest heaving.
Shepard jumped up, frantic hands darting to touch him everywhere. He looked as though he'd seen a ghost. "What? Are you okay? Is it—"
Garrus pressed a talon pad to her lips, the gesture quieting her panic as well as her words. "I'm fine, Kahri. It's just … that night before you … after Sovereign, you curled in next to me, and your breast pressed against my chest like that. Every time you moved, it brushed against me, this soft, beautiful embodiment of trust." He pulled her in close, his hands circling her ribs. "After everything we'd been through … . I didn't sleep for hours, content to lie there, holding you, your breath warm on my neck."
He looked down, his thumbs sweeping along the lower swell of both breasts. "Just now … it hit me, I guess."
She stepped between his legs, caressing his mandibles with the backs of her fingers. "What hit you?"
His stare locked onto hers, the old laser-sight intensity comforting. Not everything changed. "That absolutely nothing in the last two years has felt as real as those moments." He leaned in to nuzzle the hollow between her collarbones. "Well, except for my dreams. Maybe that's just crazy."
Shepard backed out from between his thighs, her hands moving to the buckles on her belt. Quickly, but not rushed, she stripped off her trousers and tossed them. "It's not crazy, Garrus." When she moved to slide her panties down, he reached out and snagged her hands in his. Turning them over, he ran gentle thumb talons over her palms before lifting them to brush his mouth from the tip of each middle finger down to her wrists, nuzzling the soft, delicate skin there.
"Spirits," he said, the word barely more than a sigh. "You're so soft. How can you be so soft and so damned tough at the same time?"
She grinned and stepped in a little closer. "I'm one hundred percent pure magic."
A soft chuckle greeted that. "Yeah, I suppose you are." He tugged her in closer before he let her go, but just long enough to tuck his thumbs in the waist of her panties.
Shepard's elcor gymnastics troupe kicked the wolves out of her belly and began to warm up, but their antics amounted to one hell of a clumsy cheerleading squad, all encouraging Garrus on rather than insisting she back him off. Her hands slipped over his fringe as he leaned in, his thumbs slowly dragging the panties over her skin.
"Oh, dear lord." A soft, musical moan spirited from her lips as the tips of his talons pressed into her flesh, leaving searing hot, blissfully intense trails down the outside of her thighs. Clinging to his cowl with trembling hands, Shepard closed her eyes, every nerve in her body focused on those two luscious points of contact. Then his mouth plates nuzzled into the hollow at the base of her sternum, and her knees nearly gave out, her moan building into a soft ululation of need.
He chuckled as he nuzzled his way under the sweep of her ribcage, lingering in all the places that drew whimpered curses and loving whispers in equal number. "This was always the time you'd ask for a story," he whispered, then froze and looked up, his expression a strange combination of fear and guilt.
Shepard smiled and ran a loving hand over his fringe. "In your dreams of sunlight and soft grass?" When he nodded, she leaned in to kiss him. "All sweet breezes and lying safe in your arms." She gently raked the underside of his fringe with her fingernails. "Beautiful dreams." His soft purr of agreement sent vibrations tearing through her belly, all of them migrating straight to the fiery need at her center.
The sun shone down, warm and bright, gleaming off Garrus's bare shoulders, bringing out the steel in his colouring. "Do you trust me, Shepard?" he asked.
She frowned a little as she looked into his eyes, seeing so much in that gaze. Respect, longing, contentment, and love. A smile blossomed, eclipsing the frown. Of course she trusted him.
"With everything," she whispered.
"Kahri?" Garrus cocked a brow plate. "You okay?"
Opening her eyes, she nodded, reassuring him with a smile. She stepped out of her panties as they hit the floor then kicked them toward the couch. Moving into Garrus's arms, she pressed along his torso. "I'm perfect, and it looks as though we're both completely naked, General." She met his heated gaze with one that smoldered just as hot. "Whatever will we do?"
Garrus stood, sweeping her up in his arms. "I've got a few ideas." His brow plates rose, teasing her. "And now, we've got all the time in the galaxy."
Garrus knelt on the bed, leaning down to lay Shepard out on the mattress, but then he straightened, one knee still lifted onto the thick memcell. For long moments, he studied her naked form under a gaze as intense and torrid as Trebia's rays, his mandibles sweeping in and out. Something in that stare kept her from turtling up, from trying to hide herself … something that defied her usual need to throw up barriers and defenses. Tears misted along her lashes and pooled in the outer corners of her eyes, answering the beautiful, ferocious ache in her chest.
His stare was all heat and life and devotion … and love. Dear, sweet baby Jesus, a love so deep that she could drown in it. A love that laid him open and vulnerable, as vulnerable as she felt. Her beautiful, strong general. In that stare she saw the reason she'd never bullied herself into sex with anyone else … she'd been waiting for someone to look at her with everything layered in his gaze.
Of course, someone else looked at her in almost the exact same way.
She pushed that aside. It might well be true, and it might well have its time, but that was definitely not it. No, that night belonged to the torin who'd stolen her heart the moment he fastened her seatbelt in the Mako because he'd noticed how badly she'd hurt her hands.
As they gazed into one another, something new appeared in his ice-blue stare: a question. Was she sure? Was she truly ready, because if she turned him away … she saw how deep the blade would strike. By way of answering, she lifted her arms, beckoning for him to join her, but more than that, to join with her, to finally break down that last wall.
He lowered himself onto the mattress, his body all rough angles and sharp edges and perfection against hers. Holding himself up on an elbow, he kissed her, his incredibly talented tongue both stealing the air from her lungs and stopping time so she didn't need to breathe. He lifted into her, the edges of his plates and the blade of his keel dragging across her breast.
She moaned deep in her throat, lust and a little pain, but definitely not enough to want him to stop. Still, Garrus pulled away, concern flashing across his face, cloudy and dark.
Taking his hand in both of hers, Shepard pressed it against her belly, smiling to wipe away his worry. "That was a good sort of moan," she said, one hand lifting to caress his face. "It was an "I want to feel your hands and mouth all over me' moan."
Leaning down, he claimed her mouth again, his hand sliding up over her ribs until the web between his thumb and first talon cradled her breast. "I think I can help you with that," he said against her lips, subvocals almost drowning out his words. The power of the hunger behind that resonance arced along her skin, an electric sting so strong that she expected to see the fern-like fractals of a lightning strike painted between her wounds.
"Damn, I love that your voice can turn me into a twitching ball of raw, hungry nerve endings." The lusty rasp of her own voice surprised her. It lifted into another soft moan when his thumb dragged across her breast, the talon teasing the taut center.
His mouth abandoned hers, prompting a disappointed groan, but then he ran his teeth along her collarbone. She melted into him, her entire body weak and trembling, as she let the fire burning in her belly flare, roaring through her. If she wasn't careful, that fire would consume her.
She grinned. "Then let it consume me." Tears burned in her eyes, misting over her vision. It … no, he … was almost enough to give a girl back her faith.
Making love to him with her fingertips, Shepard's touch glided over his neck, caressing the sensitive border between scale and hide, trickling around the little patches of scale. Each touch a tiny, reverent prayer of devotion and passion, she tried to tell him everything her voice would probably never find the words to say.
Responding to his subtle encouragements, her fingers teased, kneaded, and stroked their way up to his crest. She dragged her knuckles along the underside of his fringe, pausing to roll them in slow circles or rake her nails over the skin when his breathing hitched or the underlying growl-purr coming from his subvocals changed in pitch.
He nuzzled her breasts, teasing them with tooth and tongue until she clung to him, dizzy and gasping, her body surrendering to his touch with an urgency both startled and reassured her. Gentle talons raked her skin, pressing just hard enough to furrow without scratching, his path careful to avoid the rents and fissures in her flesh. She gasped, her whole body undulating as the keen-edged sensation reminded her of the deadly potential behind those loving talons.
"Dear lord, ease up a bit," she said between breaths, her hands clinging to the rim of his cowl. "I'm going to have a heart attack."
"Not sure I can." He chuckled and lifted his head to capture her mouth, kissing her softly. "I don't think I'll ever get enough of touching you."
Eyes closed, Shepard returned his kisses, moving beneath him, savouring the delicious friction of plate and hide against her skin. "You'd better not."
Seemingly determined to prove the ardor of his oath, Garrus's hand pressed against her belly just below her navel, talons sweeping around it. As if testing the waters, his talons circled a couple of times before caressing over it, the pad dipping gently into the divot. Stiffening a little, Garrus pulled back.
Shepard opened her eyes and lifted her head. "Garrus?" A slightly confused smile greeted his searching stare, and the bewildered flutter of his mandibles as he looked down at her belly button.
"That can't be right," he said, letting out a bleak, embarrassed chuckle. "It's umm … ." He pressed the pad of a talon against it. "... far too … " His mandibles twitched, his entire face as awkward and miserable-looking as she'd ever seen. " … umm." Letting out a long, grumbling breath, he let his head drop, hanging from his shoulders.
"What, Garrus?" She pressed her hand against his face, turning him to look into her eyes. "Talk to me. What's wrong?"
"I never thought that I'd have to … ." Another wretched sigh tumbled out as his whole body slumped. "I didn't do any research, Kahri. Didn't think I'd ever need it. I don't know how we'll … " He cleared his throat. "... fit."
Empathy and love begged her to put him out of his misery, the embarrassment in his eyes squeezing her heart in a tight fist. Shepard leaned up to kiss him even as she reached down to lace her fingers with his. "Let me guess. Female turians have their bits right about there?" She smiled against his lips. "Ours are just a touch lower." She slid his hand down her stomach to rest on the inside of her thigh, his knuckles brushing her faint smattering of hair.
Leaning back, she stared into his eyes, her breath coming quick and shallow as she slid her hand up his arm to his face, tracing the lines of his brow, cheekbone, and mandible. She released him and twisted to pile the pillows behind her back, then laid her hand over his again.
Giving in to the gorgeous, heady brew of desire and nerves bubbling in her stomach, Shepard kissed him, drawing his hand close enough to feel her heat, the dampness inside her thigh. "Do you want a guided tour, or would you like to just take your expedition afield and chart the unknown?" A loving smile bloomed in the face of his hesitancy to take her up on either option. "Hey. There be no dragons here." She caressed his cheek with her other hand. "It's okay, I'm nervous, but not afraid. I'm not going through the motions to indulge you, or any of that sort of nonsense. I love you, and I want you all over me in the worst way."
Her smile slanted into something a whole lot amorous as she met his stare, then leaned in to kiss him. "I intend to put in field time worthy of a doctoral thesis to learn every single millimetre of you." When he still hesitated, she cocked her head a little. "What is it, love?"
He leaned in, his breath panting low and quick against her skin. "I don't know … something … familiar, maybe? Here there be dragons … ." Brushing her brow with his, he shook his head. "Nothing to worry about."
"So that means you want the guided tour?" She laughed, feeling the sun pouring through her, it's brilliance saturating her with the most glorious feeling of contentment.
"Spirits," his oath came out breathy, an almost prayer. "I love you." His mouth pressed to hers, urgent, breathless, and hungry.
Increasingly thrilled with her wanton fearlessness, Shepard drew up her far knee, shivers of desire pulsing through her as her leg relaxed, opening her to him. She pressed his hand against her belly just above her pelvis. "Feel that?" she asked as the muscles pulsed hard and insistent.
He nodded, then kissed her. "Yes."
"That's my body basically shouting, get that torin inside me already." She grinned and rubbed the end of her nose against his when his mandibles did the bashful flutter. "But, it's just going to have to wait, we've got some exploring to do." She slid his hand down to brush over her, her hips lifting into his touch when his talons played with the light dusting of hair. "You turians and your fixation with hair. I swear it's jealousy." Her chuckle transformed into a delighted squeal when he tucked his face into her neck, sharp teeth pinching the skin under her ear. "Oh! That's how it's going to be?"
She laughed and gave him her best innocent smile. "Would now be a bad time to ask for a story?"
By way of answer, he nipped his way down her neck and across her shoulder, his teeth pinching with enough force to make her jump each time.
"So," she said, slipping her hand up his, laying her index finger along his first talon, "was that supposed to shut me up, or encourage me?"
He chuckled and nuzzled the center of the fractal wound over her shoulder. "When we get all of these healed up, you'll find out." Pulling back a little he lifted a talon, caressing around her shoulder. "They're looking better."
"According to Dr. Eis, I'm happy, and it's speeding my healing." She massaged his hand, kneading his talons into the dampness of her inner thigh. "So, I guess this is going to be very good for me." Leaning in close to his aural canal, she grinned and whispered, "So, how about that tour?"
Garrus's chuckle reverberated straight through her. "Leave me your number, and I'll give you a call if I get lost."
"I don't know, I might be busy." And then he touched her, the teasing falling away. Eyes closing and legs drifting further apart, her body softened under his talons, and suddenly she understood. All those years that she'd used her sexuality as a weapon and a tool, she'd been murdering a part of her soul, a twisted sort of self-loathing continuing what the batarians had started. That moment, the torin she loved wrapped around her, that had always been its purpose.
"Never again," she whispered, drawing a sideways look from her general. She shook her head and leaned in to pepper kisses along his mandible, drawing in long breaths of him. The spicey, metallic, and increasingly male scent of him burrowed in deep, playing both her body and her heart like a virtuoso.
Garrus lifted from his explorations and nibbled her lips before sliding down the bed. Mandibles held high and away, his brow plates low, he took over, opening her, touching and stroking. Every time she let out a sigh, a whine, or a moan, he looked up as if cataloguing her reactions, his mandibles twitching with a decidedly delighted expression.
"You're so slippery." Clearing his throat, he moved to do a closer inspection, but then stopped, looking up for her okay.
"Of course, love." She shifted a little so she could caress his face. "And yes, the slippery is a good thing." Chuckling, she brushed her thumb along his mandible. "So that's what sexually aroused fascination looks like on that face."
Leaning over her, Garrus nuzzled the inside of her thigh, circling as if checking the lay of the land before committing to moving deeper into foreign territory. She squashed the image of him wearing a pith helmet and khaki knee shorts before it could turn into laughter.
Then, letting out a sharp yelp of surprise, Shepard lunged right up off the bed as his tongue flicked, just an experimental little flutter that hit right on the bullseye. He jumped back, but she just took a gulping breath and shook her head. "Oh, no you don't, Callor, there's no doing that once and then running off."
(A-N: So the long, tragic tale of Chapter 123, which turned into 123, 124, and 125. Yes, that's right, 125. I will be posting it tonight as well. It was just when 124 reached 12K words … yeah, I had to break it up. So … look for the continuation … just go potty, make a tea, get a plate of cookies first. :D
These two … these chapters … I both love them and am terrified, because of course, we're breaking new ground for this story, and I am still really sick with messes with my perception. (Just ask poor LilVy who dealt with my tears and despair last night while I threatened to just throw the whole story away. Sorry Vy.)
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy the ride. Onward to 125. *hugs and love*)