Flashes. That was all of what Jax comprehended. Some were of light. Others sound. Most pain. The ceiling flew by as Shepard and Liara towered over him. Jax felt like he was floating before realising he was; Liara was ferrying him with her biotics. A flash of a scream was next; his own. Jagged pieces of broken glass were pushing into his brain, carving swathes. Blood oozed from his stump where his left hand had been, leaving a trail through the Shadow Broker's ship and pooling in the shuttle. The trauma of losing the limb was horrific, his arm felt so unnaturally lighter, as if he had forgotten something at home and couldn't find it in his pockets. If he had lost a greater amount of flesh, the shock may have simply rendered him unconscious but Jax was forced to endure each aching moment, each trough of unconsciousness followed by a peak of harrowing feeling. He tried to push himself away and ended up pushing his arm into the ground, only eliciting a further scream as needles pushed themselves further up into his flesh. That was the last flash as the lights of the Normandy streamed in through the windows and Jax passed out.

Jax woke quickly, but opening his eyes was another matter. The room around him was a painfully bright white. The bed he was on was hard and uncomfortable, more like a slab. The med bay he realised with a start. He knew why it was familiar, he had seen Garrus lying exactly where he was not so long ago. Jax tried to rub his eyes but his arm was tied in a sling. Suddenly his hand was itchy but as Jax moved to scratch, there was nothing there, only smooth rounded flesh. Jax sat up with a start, remembering.

"Ah Mister Weaver" a voice said, "good to have you back."

Mum? Jax thought initially but then remembered that too, it was like his brain was not only reacclimatising to his environment but to everything. "Doctor Chakwas" he remembered. He thought back to the battle. "Did we win?"

Chakwas chuckled. "You did, and nobly too. Shepard said your sacrifice saved her life."

"And the doctor?" Jax asked. "T'Soni?"

"Alive and well too" Chakwas confirmed. "But sadly no longer on board, as lovely as it was to see her again."

Jax nodded to himself before realising; he was still yet to look down. He didn't particularly want to; he knew what the reality was. Chakwas sensed his apprehension. "Just take it slowly" she said. "Between the bodily damage and the concussion, you're lucky to be sitting up at all right now."

"Yeah, lucky is exactly what I feel like" Jax muttered. He finally looked down at his arm. He still had his elbow, but his arm ended only four inches below his elbow. His other hand, his only hand, was wrapped in gauze from the burn sustained from holding the barrel of the Broker's revenant assault rifle. He looked up at Chakwas. "I only remember losing my hand" he said quickly, "not this much."

"Your hand was entirely blown off" Chakwas confirmed, "however there was still significant blast injuries to the flesh at your wrist. Amputations require us to remove the limb at the point where the flesh is compromised in order for a better mount."

"A better what?" Jax asked, looking around before seeing it. On the table next to him, inside an incubator, was a disembodied hand and wrist, perfectly matched to his skin tone. Half a dozen robotic arms were hovering over it, working ceaselessly with surgical precision. "That will work for me?" Jax asked. For some reason, he had expected losing the limb to be the end of his journey. Living aboard a ship where science made regular light of fiction it seemed, they had different expectations.

"Of course," Doctor Chakwas told him. "This ship came fully equipped with a cybernetics suite to cater for any medical complications Shepard may have encountered while on her mission, for the cybernetics infused into her tissue growth during her regeneration. Your hand was barely an inconvenience."

"Will it feel just the same?" Jax asked. Somewhere in his brain, he registered his phantom fingers clenching into a fist.

"No" Doctor Chakwas told him. "You will be very aware of its artificial nature, and you will need psychological consulting and support to adapt to the changes. I'm placing you on medical withdrawal from any missions until I'm more than satisfied that your mind and body have adapted to the changes."

Once, Jax would have been angered by the notion, resisted, but now he simply accepted it. It was as if all his rage had been a cloud over his eyes, the shroud now pulled away by calming breezes. "When will it be ready?" He asked.

"It already is" Doctor Chakwas told him. "but I'd like you to stay resting for a short duration, fitting the limb will take a bit of time though. The limb model will aid in your healing and can be fitted nearly immediately, although traditionally you need to give your arm time to adapt before we will be ready to fit the prosthetic." Prosthetic. The word made him feel nauseous, less than whole, less than real. Something artificial, a part of who he was now. Logic told him everything he was feeling were merely anxieties but in his head, they didn't seem mere. Jax looked at the medical robe he was wearing. "Where are my clothes?" He asked.

"Your combat uniform was badly damaged; it has been disposed of" Chakwas informed him. "A new one will be made available to you when you are deemed fit for combat duties. A change of casual clothes you can find in the crew quarters."

Jax nodded and in complete flagrance of the doctor's advice, pushed himself off the table and onto the floor. Taking a moment to steady himself, he took the weight on his own two feet before taking a few experimental steps and satisfied, made his way out. "You didn't try to stop him?" Shepard asked, seeing him leave as she entered. Her hands were behind her back.

"He and Garrus share a soul like two peas in a pod" Chakwas told her blissfully, "have you ever managed to keep Garrus down and convinced of his vulnerability?" She chuckled. "What are you hiding Shepard?"

Shepard pulled out one hand to reveal two glasses. "I had a bit of time picking through the ruins of Aria's bar" she said, revealing a bottle in the other. "Found something I thought she wouldn't miss."

"Serrice Ice Brandy?" Doctor Chakwas asked, looking at the label. "You didn't?"

Shepard could only shrug.

"Thank you Commander" Chakwas smiled, "I always regretted not opening that original bottle, when I still could. I won't make the same mistake again. Why don't we open this bottle right here, right now, you and me?"

Shepard was only happy to oblige her doctor; "You crack open the bottle, I'll get the glasses." Before long, the two women's voices were raised, their inhibitions lowered and their cares forgotten. "I though Alenko's biotic display might've broken Jenkins' back" Chakwas continued, "but Jenkins pops up and yells 'that was awesome!'" She said, standing with her hands in the air in re-enactment. She collapsed back into her chair with a happy sigh. "Ah Jenkins," she reminisced, "soldiers like him make the Alliance great. Cerberus lacks the same… enthusiasm."

"That's not to say we can't see them in others though" Shepard said. "Young, desperate to prove themselves, a fondness for home, those are qualities that always shine through."

"I assume you're referring to our indomitable Mister Weaver?" Karin asked. "You think you see the same youthful spirit?"

"Jenkins grew up on an idyllic Eden Prime" Shepard said, "Jax had it a little rougher, and then a lot, going through what he has to lead us here. But I don't think the two are dissimilar, they've just… had different trials."

"Oh to be a young again" Karin said wistfully.

"Get up to a few adventures Doc?" Shepard asked with a grin.

"One of my first postings was in the Second Fleet under Admiral Drescher. I was stationed on a cruiser, the SSV Hyderabad" Karin told her. "We were one of the first ships to fly into the Liberation of Shanxi. I was part of a field team looking for and treating survivors. We were in combatted territory, behind enemy lines and I was forced to take shelter under the remains of a house with a young soldier. Eustace I think he was called."

"Did he make it?" Shepard asked.

"He did" Chakwas told her, "but not before we spent the night under that house, turian patrols constantly sweeping, only each other for company, the tension turning to passion. I'm still amazed we weren't discovered through all the noise; we must have spent hours ravishing each other."

Shepard nearly choked on her drink. "My god Doc, I hope you'll forgive me for saying I could never see that in you."

"Now now Shepard" Chakwas playfully reprimanded, "I wasn't always this old, I was young once upon a time too."

"Clearly" Shepard laughed. "Whatever happened to Eustace?"

"He was promoted" Chakwas remembered, "and became one of our first envoys to the Turian Hierarchy. He continued up the ranks, he married and had four wonderful children. Later, I heard he was killed by turian separatists, xenophobics stretching as far back as the Unification War."

"I'm sorry" Shepard said sombrely.

Karin could only shrug. "As a military doctor, I mostly treat people who are in bad shape. Often, they die. And if I can help them, they move on. Either way, they leave."

"Don't you have any friends or family?" Shepard asked.

Chakwas shook her head. "No; not lacking friendship. Just… stability."

"Are you spiritual Doctor?" Shepard asked.

Chakwas shook her head. "No, not personally. I didn't take you to be either."

"I'm not saying I am or I'm not" Shepard said wryly, avoiding the insinuation. "What I have noted of the thousands of cultures out there in this melting pot of a galaxy, nearly all of them have allusions to some sort of an afterlife."

"Your meaning?" Chakwas asked.

"The ones who we leave that pass on" Shepard said, looking down with a sad smile as she remembered a flash of faces. "They never really leave us, even in death." She raised her glass. "To Jenkins, to Pressly, to Williams, to Eustace and all others we love."

Chakwas raised her own glass in spirit. "May they never be forgotten."

There was a moment of silence as the pair finished their drinks, and Chakwas seemed to nod off. "Doctor?" Shepard asked but the older woman was already asleep. Shepard smiled as she set her glass down before helping the doctor onto her patient's bed for a well-deserved rest. Shepard looked around at the room turning around her, evidence of her own alcoholic consumption. The conversation with Chakwas regarding someone special had spawned thoughts of her own someone special to mind and now drove her steps towards the main battery.

Jax was busy in the crew quarters trying to redress himself. His sling was discarded on the floor as he tried awkwardly to force his arm through the sleeve. His head was caught in the collar as he tried to pull the shirt down on both sides with only his right hand. He turned to look around, checking again that no one else was there to see him. He banged the end of his shortened arm into the bar of the bunk bed closed to him and bit the shirt in order to stop him screaming in pain and frustration. It was only a fucking hand, something he had never stopped to imagine how much it meant to him until now that he had lost it. Now, he was trying his best not to feel useless, something that was hard in perspective of everything he had been expected to achieve barely twelve hours ago. Now, there was a long road to recovery while also hurtling towards a battle for the fate of the galaxy. What was he supposed to do?

He forced his right arm through the sleeve and dragged the shirt over his stump, hissing in pain as the shirt's material dragged over the sensitive skin covering the wound. Throwing a punch against air in frustration, he drew it back only to hit the same bar with his elbow. "Dammit!" Jax cursed in a strained voice, trying again not to scream, this time solely in frustration. "Dammit, dammit, damn it all!"

"Hey" a soft voice said from behind him. "Let me." Jax felt hands touching the soft skin at the small of his back as they pulled the shirt down properly around his waist and his collar properly around his neck.

Jax turned to see Kelly. The last time he had seen her he had been whole. Jax looked down at his arm again and then away quickly.

"Hey" she said softly again, pulling his face back towards her. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. This" she said, indicating his arm but not touching it, respecting his boundaries, "proves you are exactly the man I thought you were. Anytime you ever doubt yourself, you remember what you did in order to save Shepard. This does not make you any less of person, it proves that you are more of a person. And you'll be more again for having the strength to push through it."

Jax nodded, hugging her with his good arm. "I really wish I had just gone to bed with you" he mentioned. "It's not that I hate being a hero, it's just that given the circumstances, god I'd much rather prefer to just be yours."

Kelly smiled at the thought. "I'm just happy you're alive, and you brought everyone back home the same."

"I guess I'll just have to get used to this now" Jax said, sitting down on the bunk. He looked down at his arm and burst into an unexpected chuckle.

"What?" Kelly asked, confused.

Jax shook his head. "It's just that Sensat told me something one time I got angry at making a mistake. 'You can count the flawless people in the galaxy of the left hand of a right handed bomb maker.'" He lifted up his left arm with a distinct lack of fingers; "I just got that for the first time." He started to laugh again, somewhat madly but a laugh all the same. It was rather black humour but it was humour all the same and even Kelly was unable to stop a few bursts of laughter from coming across her features. Jax finally looked up at her. "Thank you for being here for me. I know that's a stupid thing to thank someone for but I really do appreciate you for it."

Kelly could only smile in return. "I'm happy to, but I must confess, I'm also here to tell you something."

Jax cocked his head. "Oh?"

Kelly nodded. "A message from Aria while you were gone. She found your sister."

"Then it's time for me to go home one last time" Jax said forlornly.

"You can't fly like that" Kelly said, indicating. "So I talked to Miranda, it was while you fighting the Broker. You were to take the shuttle back to Omega while Shepard was to retrieve the Reaper IFF. Now, you'll have me as your co-pilot."

"When do we leave?" Jax asked.

"Now," Kelly told him. "Pack whatever you need, shuttle takes off in twenty."

Shepard walked, with only the most occasional stumble, down toward the main battery looking for Garrus. A fair amount had happened since their kiss on Omega before the waves of mercenaries had crashed on them, and yet ever since it had seemed he was avoiding her. Now, she was the right mix of sober to know what she wanted and lowered inhibitions to broach the subject directly. The door hissed open to reveal Garrus busy running another calibration. "Shepard" he greeted formally. "Need me for something?"

"Don't need you for something" Shepard told him coyly, "I need you for everything." She tried to hug him but he shied away from the embrace, clearly sceptical.

"Are you drunk?" He asked, his nose twitching.

Shepard shrugged. "So what if I am?" She asked, "I want you all the same."

Garrus was unconvinced and quite obviously uncomfortable. Shepard's gesture had backfired; instead of her confidence inspiring him to be bold, she had only caused him to retreat further into his introverted nature. "I'm flattered Shepard but how about we wait until you're sober again?"

Shepard was unhappy. "You don't want me?" She asked.

Garrus struggled to find the words. "I do Shepard, you have no idea how much I do but…" He sighed. "Shepard, you're about the only friend I've got left in this screwed up galaxy. I'm not going to pretend I've got a fetish for humans but this isn't about that, this is about us. I want you the way you always are and this… isn't you." His hands balled into fists, worried that every further word he was saying would screw this all up, the one thing he wanted most. "I just…" He sighed again. "I've seen so many things go wrong Shepard. My work at C-Sec, what happened with Sidonis, everything that's happened with Jax, who I swore to his mother I'd protect with my life, and is now traumatised, maimed and still burdening expectations on those double his age and ten times his experience." He pulled off his visor and Shepard could see the hurt in his eyes as he stepped forward and softly took her hands. "I want something to go right. Just once, just…" He trailed off as Shepard rested her head against his. She felt so ashamed, this was nothing like what she had hoped for back in the medbay. "I do want you" Garrus told her, "but as you always are, not like this. I've fought geth, Sovereign, and every single mercenary Omega has to offer and this… this is the thing that makes me afraid."

"I'm sorry" Shepard apologised, "I want you too, I didn't want to put pressure on you." She wiped her eyes. "God I'm such an idiot."

"Hey" Garrus said, stopping her. He drew her into a hug. "We're all allowed to make mistakes, even the illustrious Commander Shepard. We both know I've made my fair share more than a few."

Shepard nodded. "I better go clean myself up. We've got a Reaper to board in a few hours." She left the main battery, leaning back up against the door, rubbing her face in her hands. She could kick herself right about now. She had to wait for the elevator returning back up from the shuttle bay before she could take it up to her quarters, the promise of a shower and the hope of waking up in her own bed having forgotten all this awaited.

Jax and Kelly finished loading up the shuttle, although Kelly had to do most of the lifting, Jax could only assist for most of the gear with one hand. "You're bringing that along?" Jax asked, seeing the prosthetic limb in Kelly's grip.

Kelly shrugged. "Might come in handy." She realised her poor choice of words too late and tried to apologise in horror. "Oh god I didn't mean…"

Jax interrupted her with a burst of laughter he couldn't hold in. He wasn't comfortable with what had happened to him but somehow the innocent mistake seemed darkly humorous. Kelly was looking at him in total shock at his response. Jax shrugged, "that was kind of funny."

She shook her head. "I'm taking a cat-scan of you while we're on Omega."

"How long are we there?" Jax asked.

"At the most, three days" Kelly replied. "Chances are Shepard will arrive earlier, flying for the Omega 4 Relay as soon as they get the Reaper IFF drive and picking us up on the way. In the event they take some extra time, I told Joker we'd be ready by the end of the week, it also fits in with scheduling you some combat-free R&R time."

Jax nodded. "Works for me." He initiated the start-up sequence with his hand as the shuttle engines came to life. The shuttle drifted out of the ship as it prepared to jump out of the system. Jax programmed in the destination and activated the auto-pilot. "I could use three days with you" he remarked, giving her hand a squeeze with his own as the stars around them warped slightly and the shuttle shot off into space.

The trip to Omega was long and Kelly soon retired to the main shuttle area for a rest but Jax couldn't. He was used to the sight of space by now but this was something totally spectacular. Blue lines like flaming snakes wove around the ship's viewport as it travelled at FTL, illuminating the cockpit like a blue spotlight shining through a pool of water. It was a spectacular sight. Even hours later, it ended far too soon as the blue receded in the presence of Omega's red. It nearly took longer to find somewhere to land as it did to actually reach Omega, such was the traffic. Jax had forgotten how much activity could bustle through the crime-ridden metropolis, especially with a resurgent population under Aria's watch again. They would have normally discarded their Cerberus uniforms in favour of civilian attire but now that Aria had begun a fledgling partnership with Cerberus, allowing them the use of their ports, the golden diamond badge was a symbol of Aria's protection. Looking like a tourist couple on vacation with their bags, they eventually made it to Jax's home and were greeted with a sobering sight. In addition to Diana's body, still untouched within her room under the sheet, there was now a similarly prepared body on Nef's bed. It was clear the remains had been treated with respect by the preservation, but that didn't make it any easier to look at. Jax sat the bags down in the main room and approached the body slowly, as almost if not to wake Nef from her peaceful slumber. He pulled back the sheet a fraction; it was her. Seventeen years old, barely a wrinkle on her face, her fringe hanging down in streaks. She was pretty, beautiful, even Kelly could see in her an artistic expression that was forever silenced. Jax lowered the sheet back down over her.

"The arrangements for cremation are fairly casual" he mentioned to Kelly, "usually you just drop the body off and leave but there are options for more formal arrangements. We may have to wait a few hours though."

"Is there anything you want to do first?" Kelly asked.

Jax nodded. "I want to say goodbye to them as they remembered me" he said, unclipping his sling as he reached down into Kelly's bag and pulled out the arm. "Come on, there's a clinic nearby to here."

As a rule, cybernetic grafting on Omega was sketchy at best, and downright horror-infested at worst. Sometimes a patient went in to gain a new limb and ended up having all their organs removed instead, harvested. However, the clinic on Omega Jax visited was not like those. Guarded by mechs rather than mercs, a soft voiced doctor named Daniel performed the operation, grafting the cybernetics together with Jax's organic nerves in a painstakingly detailed procedure. The limb, crafted by the best Cerberus medical equipment was like nothing Daniel had ever seen and with Jax's consent, he made several scans of in order to help other victims of similar injuries. How he would fabricate them Jax didn't know but it was a good gesture in itself and what he could do. Eventually, Jax looked down at his left hand, his fake hand and moved a finger. He looked to the next finger and stretching his mind, it wiggled at his command too. Jax prodded it with his organic hand. "I don't feel it" he said to Daniel.

"I gave you an anaesthetic to numb your arm" Daniel explained, "to prevent overstimulation of your nervous system during the fusing process. Feeling will return eventually, but to what degree I can't say for sure."

The hand turned under Jax's eye and made a fist. Looking as realistic as it did, blending against the skin of his upper arm, made it feel all the more alien than it did natural. Like somehow his regular arm had been totally jarred on a permanent basis. Jax gave it a few more experimental squeezes before nodding. Chakwas was right, it would take some getting used to, but Jax was determined to be ready by the time the Normandy came for them again. Jax checked his omnitool, his reservation the crematorium was approaching, it was time to attend to family matters.

The bodies of Jax's mother and sister, Diana and Nef Weaver, lay under their sheets on the metal rolling table. Inside, the blackened interior of the crematorium beckoned hungrily. Jax rested his hand on his mother's hand, savouring the last moment his fingers would be entwined with hers but missing her warmth. For Nef, he stroked away part of her ever-present fringe, giving him a better look at her face. He was dressed in a formal black shirt and similar pants. Kelly stood solemnly in a black dress, watching him say his last silent goodbyes. They were the only two present.

"Is there no one else who knew them?" Kelly asked.

"No" Jax replied quietly. "Most of my mother's friends were neighbours; killed the exact same way as her. Nef… wasn't much of a social person." He looked at her forlornly. "I know you're supposed to say words at these things, but I don't know what to say" he said lamely. "Can you speak?"

Kelly nodded, thinking carefully.

"I never had the pleasure of knowing Diana or Nef in life" she started, "but I do have the privilege of knowing their legacy, evidence of their love, care and affection that they most certainly held in life that will continue to echo and reverberate through the people they knew long after their passing."

Jax looked down, unable to keep her gaze, embarrassed at her praise.

"Family is an indescribable bond" Kelly continued, "it contains great conflict, endless compromises and for the lucky ones, limitless love, even after they have passed on. That bond will remain forever, and spread further from you through love and I hope those lucky others will never take for granted the blessing you pass onto them that they happily passed to you."

"Well spoken" Jax commented. He looked at his mother, "she would've liked you" he told Kelly. "She would've adored you."

"And Nef?" Kelly asked.

"Even more so" Jax assured her. He reached over to the control panel and pressed the green button. Diana and Nef's bodies gently rolled forward into the crematorium as the doors locked shut around them. Jax didn't look at Kelly as he reached forward and pressed the next button. The room lit up as the chamber erupted into flames, obscuring everything within. Omega's natural gases burned fiercely inside, Jax and Kelly stood and watched in sombre silence as the minutes ticked by before the flames suddenly cut off, darkness quickly flooding into the space the light left behind.

"Here" Jax said, bringing Kelly over to the window. "Watch this."

As Kelly watched, the other end of the crematorium opened and the ashes whipped out quickly, sucked out of the machine. "On Omega, every single one of us here came from the stars" Jax said, watching as the ashes rushed towards the freedom of vacuum. "And in the end, it is to the stars we return." The ashes grew too distant to be discerned anymore, lost amongst a glittering haze of stars. He rested his artificial hand against the glass where he had seen his mother and sister for the last time.

"Jax!" Kelly exclaimed, seeing his hand. She snatched it back quickly. "The glass!"

Jax looked at what Kelly had seen, the artificial epidermis on his hand had melted slightly, the glass becoming scaldingly hot.

"Didn't you feel your hand was burning?" Kelly asked him with hurt care in her voice.

Jax shook his head. "I could tell the glass was hot, but not that it was burning."

Kelly took his organic hand. "Come on" she said, "there's a repair kit that came with the hand."

Returning home was a quiet affair, Jax walked into the apartment and straight for his bedroom but didn't close the door. Kelly took the time to activate a few of the lights before she looked to see Jax removing his black shirt he had worn for the funeral. The collection of pink bullet scars ringed over his chest were there, present as always but there were new scars now to join them. The ring around his arm, just below the elbow. The burn line across his palm on his right hand. Each scar was a chapter in an increasingly long and bloody account of his history. She took his left hand, which had cooled by now. There was a line where the epidermis had been melted away, revealing the metallic grey underneath, under the pinky finger on the edge of his palm. "Does it hurt?" She asked him.

Jax shook his head. "No. I don't think I feel pain with that anymore."

"Do you feel this?" Kelly asked, pinching the skin slightly.

"I feel the pressure" Jax said, "I can tell I'm being pinched. But I don't feel the pain. Cerberus, their implant is for me to have functionality, not to be human."

Kelly ran her hand up his arm, the implant did lack a human warmth that she was used to when she touched him. Her hand continued up, over his elbow and back to where Jax was still himself. Her hand lingered over his chest, a bullet scar that was scarcely an inch off his heart. She could feel the heat radiating off him. Jax didn't say anything but reached up and took her hand in his. The feeling in his new hand was taking some getting used to but Kelly's hand in his grafted one was better than having two with none of hers to hold at all. She looked up from his scars into his eyes and he into hers. Before either of them knew it, they were kissing furiously, passionately. Her hands looped around his neck, keeping him close as his tongue slipped into her mouth and they exploded with the taste of each other. Kelly's hands came around to the front of his chest and pushed hard against his muscled form. She pushed him away and Jax hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was stopping again. Kelly looked at him briefly, then broke his stare as she reached to the straps of her dress and pushed it off her shoulders. It fell to the floor around her ankles. Jax was speechless as she stepped out of them and over to him. She was only in underwear. Her breasts were small, her nipples pink and stiff as they pressed up against his chest. Her beautiful red hair was all he saw as her fringe fell down in between them, the pair lost in each other's kisses. His hands ran all over her skin, down her back, his fingertips tracing their way down each dimple of her spine. They reached to her waist and snaked around, playful touches kissing the skin around her hips. She could barely stop wriggling her hips under his touch. Her own hands went to his belt, furiously unbuckling it. As she unfastened it, she didn't wait to pull down his pants, she reached straight into his pants and grasped him.

Jax broke the kiss and gasped in her ear. She lazily laughed as she worked her hand along his length, easing into blissful sighs as he kissed his way down her neck, alternating between massaging her with his tongue and torturing her with his teeth, small teasing nips. She pushed off him and back onto the table. Jax grinned as she sat up on it, spread her legs and beckoned him to come over to her, lust in her eyes. Jax took one lethargic step after another, drawing out the time before reaching her. He lay a kiss on her lips as she leaned back onto her elbows. The next kiss was on her neck, then her collarbone, pausing for the briefest of stops at each of her breasts, making her head fall back and her toes curl in anticipation and need. Jax lay the next kiss on her ribs, her stomach, her hips before getting to her waistline. Jax grinned as he reached her waist and took the flimsy material between his teeth. He gazed up at her like a predator as she lifted her hips and dragged it down her legs, gazing lovingly up at her in all of her naked ravishing glory. The next kiss was on her calf, then the inside of her knee, then delicately on her thigh. The next was much closer to where she wanted, and much softer. Kelly let a sigh escape her lips as Jax focussed on her pleasure, she lay down fully as her hand ran through her hair and the other massaged her breast, teasing and pulling at her nipple. Jax dived deeper with his tongue into her, quick swipes at her core, lingering above her folds as she quickly become slick with lust under his ministrations. The air grew hot with Kelly's moans as Jax pulled away briefly but she made fists in his hair and lifted her hips, keeping him deep against her. Jax's fingers dug into her hips, forcing her back onto the table. She pulled him up to kiss her as she pushed his pants down with her feet. She kissed him deeply as she sat up, feeling his length press hard against her core. Kelly smiled as she sat up and pulled Jax closer to her, never letting him get too far from her. Jax's hands snaked around from her hips to her buttocks, lifting her slightly as she positioned him at her entrance and then let her down, inch by each tantalising inch. Kelly's attempt to stifle her moans came out as a whimper as Jax slowly penetrated her with his full length until their hips connected together. Jax moved slowly at first, Kelly acclimatising to her rhythm. Each slow thrust into her she would tense, squeezing him before letting him go again. It was as maddening as it was satisfying, Kelly biting her lip to stop her crying out for more, her need had gone beyond emotional fulfilment. She needed more.

She pulled at Jax, turning him around as he fell beside her and she quickly mounted him, picking up immediately where they left off. Her lips parted in a soundless cry as she rode him, this time with a far greater intensity, this rhythm more to her liking. Jax quickly began meeting her thrust, their hips crashing into each other. Her breasts bounced as Jax reached up to massage them, her nails digging into his chest for both support and need. She brought herself down to kiss him, hands running through his hair as she broke out to moan after he entered with a particularly strong thrust, his arms so strong and controlling around her. His breath was hot on her neck, her gasps loud in his ear, her fingers were laced through his as she pinned them down, swapping heat and droplets of skin through their chests pressed hard against each other. "Don't stop" she managed to beg.

Jax could only moan in response as she ground her hips harder against his. It was maddening, half of his brain wanted to slow things down again, take his time exploring her reactions from every angle, every position but another, lustrous primal part of his brain couldn't stop, it needed pleasure. His, hers, it was alight with the influence of a million different pheromones, and all of them needed Kelly to push him over the edge. His hand gripped hers tighter, the other broke free and grabbed her hips, forcing her to maintain the tempo as he pushed back even stronger. Her need coated him, he couldn't tell where his lust ended and hers began, a beautiful mix pushing his mind into a haze. He could feel his climax rearing, it was close. Jax thought for a moment about prolonging the moment but Kelly's begging gaze was all he needed to push even further. "I'm going to…" he tried but his need for breath eclipsed the sentence. "I'm close" he managed.

"Oh god Jax" Kelly moaned, "please, for me." It was all he Jax needed to hear as the sensations eclipsed his control and unloaded. He arched his back, pushing as far as he could reach into Kelly's slick flesh, holding her down as he began, and then couldn't stop as she drew every drop from him, not stopping, feeling every quake and tremor in his flesh as she threw her head back, his ecstasy driving her into her own, her fist shaking in her own hair as Jax felt their contact become even more wet.

Kelly's mouth finally closed as she let herself take a breath as the sensations slowly ebbed and flowed from her, like waves of pleasure on a beach. She could feel Jax's heart hammering through her hand resting on her chest as she brought her lips down to him, and kissed him.

Jax rested his hand on her back, just listening to them both catching their slowing breath. "You said we had three days to ourselves?" He asked suddenly.

"However will we spend them?" Kelly asked coyly, catching on to his line of thought.

"I've got an idea" Jax said, picking Kelly up suddenly. She could only shriek with laughter as he carried her towards the bedroom, the door closing firmly shut behind them.

Three days later

Shepard still shuddered as she stepped into the airlock. Omega beckoned, it had been a day since they had obtained the Reaper IFF from above Mnemosyne and she had taken six showers, and still she couldn't get the feeling of husk guts off her. It had been a swarm, one they had been lucky to make it through thanks to their newest Geth crew member, and now all they needed was to pick up Jax, install the IFF and then this nightmare could finally end. They had radioed ahead for Kelly and Jax to meet them at the docking point. Garrus and Zaeed were at her side as the quarantine seals engaged behind them before the doors opened, revealing only Kelly.

"Kelly?" Shepard asked cautiously, "where is Jax?"

Kelly looked up and Shepard felt her stomach twist. Kelly's eyes were distraught, evidence of tears were clear as she almost fell into Shepard's hug before breaking down again.

"Kelly," Garrus said, helping Shepard hold her up, "Jax; is he okay?"

Kelly's reply came out as barely a whisper. "Jax is dead."