A/N: Greetings all and welcome to chapter 13. I've decided to publish the work I did on this chapter as three separate pieces as it grew rather lengthy, and I didn't want to break my promise (made long back in chapter 6) to keep the chapters at a manageable length by putting up another massive one for you all to grapple with. The remaining two will be up within the next few days. Do tell me what you think about the shorter format. All the detail is there, naturally, just in shorter chunks.

Also! Wonderful news for Thanemancers! An exceptionally talented group of fans are putting together a mod that changes the way his romance plays out in ME3! The fantastic coldwetn0se told me all about it, and I promised to plug the thing til the end of time. If you want to know more, you're welcome to PM me and I'll tell you everything I know thus far.

As always, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

Conjecture, reviews, comments and so forth are always welcome.

Yours faithfully,

L.G.

Wake

A loving aside to poetry is made at the beginning of a new day

It was around [09:15] when the first of the engineers tasked with giving the SSV Normandy SR2 a thorough and complete once-over arrived to begin their work; when the crewmen and women who had rolled in after a righteous drinking session the night before began stirring in their bunks and those who hadn't had such a hard time of it departed for the start of their second day of shore leave. In the ship's halls and underbelly, activity reigned. Specialist Traynor handed out orders to the newly arriving technicians. Doctor Chakwas hurried out of the Medical Bay, intent on spending the morning at a market in one of the nearby Wards. On the Bridge, EDI and Joker were having their first genial spat of the day, much to the amusement of the AI, and Garrus, having just had a briefing from Primarch Victus in the War Room, was prowling his way through the CIC towards the main airlock for another day with the refugees in the makeshift camp down in the holding area by the docks.

Everyone, no matter their vocation, origin or destination, was busy to a greater or lesser extent.

..

..

Everyone, that is, bar two.

Up in the Captain's cabin, the morning was beginning at a much, much slower pace; so much so in fact that for its inhabitants, curled together within and beneath the swathe of rippling blue-purple velvet that spread inkblot-like upon their otherwise white bed, it had yet to start at all.

There was no alarm to disturb them.

No noise filtered up from the lower levels.

The room was quiet and still, the bubbling of the fish tank's filters the only real ambience barring the occasional breath or rustle of cloth from the sleepers on the bed. The faint blue glow that the tank's backlights gave off was the only light in the room – the ambient light that would have intruded through the skylight banished thanks to the ever-helpful EDI who, at the Commander's fatigue-muted order just before she'd dropped off to sleep, had drawn its armoured covering to. The air was cool but not uncomfortably so, and all in all the entire situation, but for the absent though ever-desirable scent of a fried breakfast cooking, couldn't have been more perfect as a morning scene.

The clock on the bedside table read [09:37] before anything even resembling wakefulness encroached upon this peace, and when it did it reached Thane as it always had; with long-trained completeness. He went from sleeping to wakeful in the space of a half-breath, though had someone been watching him in that moment they wouldn't have noticed the change. His breathing remained even and slow. He did not tense, shift or jolt. He was silent. Still. Absolutely alert.

And what he perceived through that alertness?

After a sweep of the room to assure himself of its security, it was his mate's rapturous warmth and her skin that first called to him; pressed so completely to him as she was that it was only the fact that she lacked scales and the difference in their respective temperatures – hers being about three degrees higher than his – that convinced him that they were two beings at all. From the back of her right knee where the front of his nestled, to their hips, hers cradled by his, and up all the way to where his arms lay about her, the upper following the curve of hers as closely as his torso did her spine, there was at most and in scant places a centimetre between them.

Nothing more.

The back of her neck was where his nose and lips had come to rest in sleep. Her hair, braided now as it ever was when she slept, was soft upon his cheek and temple, and he decided, taking stock of all this, that he would remain precisely where he was until she woke. It would not be long before she did, he could tell, and he was too relaxed, settled between his love's depthful warmth and the room's relative cool, to do anything but bask and consider as he waited to greet her on this, the beginning of their first full day together since his return, ways in which he might do that to best effect.

A kiss?

Yes, certainly.

A loving embrace?

Necessary, without a doubt.

More though? Words perhaps, to express his affection or mark the occasion?

It was a fine idea, but as to what they might be, presently he could only wonder. An I love you would be honest, of course, and cherished, naturally..but those words and their most common synonyms were rightly for everyday use, not unique to their first proper morning.

What could he say to convey his feelings for her at such a time?

Mulling over the situation, Thane pressed himself a hint closer to his Siha's back, focusing in on everything there was of her..her heat..the softness of her skin and hair..her scent..searching for inspiration. He even closed his eyes, denying himself his sight so that he might focus, and then..listening closely between the faint rustles of cloth and the breaths that marked her as restful still..he found his muse precisely where last he left it.

In the heartbeat he could detect beneath her ribs.

That beat drew a memory to the fore..a memory of a particular verse from a particular poetic work..that he knew, rightly presented, would be the perfect vehicle for expressing his affection for her on this morning of mornings.

All he had to do now was wait for the right moment to deploy it.

..

..

It was [09:45] when Shepard awoke, and as she often had since she'd left the Normandy for Earth, she did so in a rush. Her waking breath was drawn sharply and her eyes snapped open just as it was and they did most mornings. This time though, it was not a stress-born nightmare that roused her.

No.

It was the breath, soft and calm and easy against her neck, the presence at her back, and the warmth surrounding her that had woken her, and the reason those things were there at all..the factual truth that her mate was with her still and hadn't evaporated, left or otherwise proven his return to the Normandy and the week preceding it to have been nothing but a fever-dream..that kept her that way.

Rapt by this truth all over again she remained perfectly still..her breath made short by affection-laced excitement..and focussed on how close they were. She could feel every inch of him, give or take, and she gloried in that fact until a memory wisped up from the back of her conscious but muzzy mind - one of Joker, long ago, remarking with heavy sarcasm that Thane seemed to him to be 'a real cuddler' – that, had she been a whisker more alert to anything but how rapturous it felt to wake in her mate's arms again, would have made her snort with amusement. As it was, she managed a gentle puff of breath and a wry mental comment.

Jeff, you have no idea

In truth, it wasn't quite that simple.

He'd been right to a point, without a doubt. Her beau, while being the least from publicly demonstrative, did indeed have a romantic streak that lent to his enjoying a loving embrace, but that enjoyment was not the only reason she'd awoken to find herself so thoroughly entwined with him.

The other, more instinctual reason, was that he coveted her body heat.

Drell are exothermic, and therefore rely on external sources of heat and cold to help them thermoregulate. The more easily available such sources are, the less work the body has to do in terms of keeping its core temperature stable, and since the air had cooled during the night it was only natural for Thane to have snuggled himself between a heat source – her body – and that coolness. Because he wouldn't have had to expend energy trying to keep himself on an even keel, he would have been able to sleep much more easily for doing so, and as that thought surfaced, settling squarely beside the little coil of nirvana that sat where her soul was and uncurled a hint more as the truth of their situation..that he was healthy..that they were together..that this moment actually was..reasserted itself yet again, she realised that for all she was awake, she couldn't tell if her mate had joined her in the world of the wakeful yet.

He certainly hadn't shown any of the more obvious signs of waking.

There was no shifting..no waking breaths, slightly quicker and more shallow than those of a deeply asleep man..no tightening of his embrace about her or purred words spoken with sleep-born roughness against her ear.

But she couldn't be sure.

He was, after all, a master of stealth, and had on sleepy mornings past proven himself to be more than capable of fooling her into thinking he was still abed when he had in fact been wakeful and watching over her for minutes.

The want to know either way was powerful, but in the end..after a little bout of gleeful shifting and some greatly stifled sniggers of abject bliss..she tamped down on her curiosity in favour of caution. She didn't want to risk jarring him out of a very VERY well earned rest, and to that end did her damnedest to re-settle, allowing herself only the gentlest movements..the careful flex of her fingers within and against his and the occasional deep breath that helped her keep her elation from bubbling up and making her unforgivably noisy..as she waited for him to either make his wakefulness unequivocally clear to her, or to wake of his own accord.

..

The lull didn't last more than a minute.

As she gazed through the dim at how her fingers and her beau's had twined in the night, she felt what to her was a waking breath upon her neck and movement..a squeeze from those fingers before they slipped away and settled, along with the arm that'd so closely aligned to hers as they'd slept, about her waist. Holding back the urge to grin like a loon, she relaxed completely when a gentle but insistent tug was given upon her midriff, closing her eyes as her mate eased unwelcome inches between them before guiding her onto her back, murmuring..

"..Siha.."

..as he did. Once there, for a playful moment and as she had on countless occasions in the past, she feigned sleep..letting her head loll towards him on the pillow they'd ended up sharing..just to play at being able to fool him into thinking she slept still after so long a time apart.

It was a lost cause really, she knew.

Ever had he seemed to be able to tell when she had woken of a morning, and true to form on this one he had had her measure since long before she'd known he was awake.

Safe in this knowledge, Thane took his time to really look at her features..her brow, smooth now, not lined with stress..the closed eyes, strong nose and soft cheeks..tracing them with reverent fingertips before giving her the kiss he had been planning to since he himself first woke. It was a tender thing, gentle and lingering, and just devastating to the keeping up of ruses like that Shepard was trying to; so much so in fact that she quickly gave in, tilting her head up and back a hint so that she might return the affection properly. They remained thus, their kiss maintained and lengthened, not ceded to the need for a second or third, until it ended naturally and she hushed..

"I can never get you, can I"

..in a just-this-side-of-sleepy grumble, her eyes flickering open and lips curving into a smile at the sight of her beau taking her in in that singularly complete way of his - every facet of her expression read and logged away after a reflexive comparison of it to the last memory he had of watching her 'wake' like this. "How do you do it?" she asked, freeing an arm from the blanket swathing them both and touching loosely curled fingers to his brow. "How'd you know every time?"

A Drellish smile, deep and resonant, rose in Thane's chest in response, and he bowed his head into the contact as he composed his reply. Her question couldn't have been better phrased all told..not if one was thinking, as he most certainly was, in terms of being able to ease an affectionate reference to poetry into their conversation. His smile beginning to reach his lips, he explained as he touched a hand gently upon her upper-chest, "It is your heart. It speeds when you wake, and the change often reaches me."

Shepard blinked, a shocked huff escaping her as she looked between them. "You're serious? From all the way over there?"

"From all the way over here, yes" Thane confirmed, a soft chuff of mirth escaping around the words. "My people have nothing like Turian acuity, but while I could not detect it from across a room in the way Mr Vakarian can, from here.." His fingers splayed slowly, the contrast between his scales and her skin compelling to him. "Yes. From here I hear it well."

"What does it sound like?" she asked, the last vestiges of sleepiness leaving her completely at this, the newest thing she'd come to learn about her beau and his people. "Is it muffled? Echoy? How clearly can you hear it?"

Thane's smile grew at her curiosity, his planned aside still very much on track for its presence. Given the chance he would seek to stir it about himself as well, a comparison being necessary for his purposes, but for now he focused on her question. "Let me listen a moment and I will show you.." he said, easing himself down against her body when she opened her arms in invitation and nestling his ear, with great care, to her chest.

Shepard swallowed a thoroughly contented coo at the gesture, not wanting to disturb his concentration as he sought again the beat he knew so well. Practically speaking he didn't need to do it, his hearing and perfect memory providing more than enough material for him to go off of in terms of mimicry, but that just made the fact he did all the more endearing to her. He remained thus for about a minute before again raising his head, tilting it in acknowledgement of the gentle caress her fingers had been giving his frill while he listened and musing..

"Would that I could offer a perfect imitation. I fear I am not that skilled. But.."

..before sitting up a little, giving her temple an affectionate touch with his cheek and leaning up enough that her ear was close to his throat. Words of explanation for the move were then spoken, "Listen closely now", and were followed, after a breath was taken, by a distinct double-beat that was made in his throat and sounded to her for all the world like the beat of a human heart.

Not precisely of course.

The sound, as he'd said it wouldn't be, was not a perfect replication. But it was her heart beat, copied by Thane as he listened to it in real time. He followed it exactly, speeding his mimicry as her enjoyment quickened it, and broke off with a grin when she noticed and spoke an affectionately teasing, "Show off."

His repost, "Never", earned him a chortle from her, and a curious look when he added in a purposefully offhand manner, "Though I can mimic my own as well" that he hoped would pique her interest enough to have her press him for an example. Gladly, after shifting up closer to him so she might hear him more clearly, her ear again near to his throat and her fingers resting light upon his chest to seek his heartbeat tactually, she enthused..

"I'm listening"

..and he obliged..but as he did she was confused. The slow, strong beat beneath her fingers she recognised by touch as his..but the thrumming double-beat he made in his throat?

It was exactly the same as it had been earlier.

And that..simply wasn't right going on what she could feel.

Glancing up and meeting his eyes as his rendition eased off into normal breathing, she put her observation to him. "That's impressive as all heck you know..but it doesn't match what's in here." She tapped his chest softly. "I can feel the difference." A knowing smile at first was his only response, and she pressed, "I'm missing something aren't I. Something reeeeal obvious.." hoping to be thrown a line..a hint..anything that'd reveal to her the meaning behind his repetition.

Luckily, Thane had just the thing.

"When I was in the hospital, love.." he said, "when I was ailing and missed you..I devoted myself to reading. Seeking words that might help me feel closer to you. A certain few worked very, very well..and I would like to share them with you."

"Tell me" she prompted, her tone breathy and touched despite how she was a hint confused about what words had to do with mimicked heartbeats.

Thane smiled, and enlightened her.

"I will need to doctor them slightly to suit my purpose..but..", he paused a moment..and then quoted with the utmost sincerity, "..'You carry my heart. You carry it in your heart.'.."

..

And suddenly..with those ten words..everything made perfect sense.

His implication coming clear to her, the little coil of nirvana in her chest uncurled yet further - the rush of affection the words brought making her throat tight. Long seconds passed..seconds which saw her gather him close and, with closed eyes and gentle pressure, touch her brow to his..before she found the voice to respond.

"My God..the things you say to me.." she hushed. "I can't even.." Pulling back a hint, she shook her head in enraptured disbelief. "How'd you do that? Where do you get words like that from? And the thoughts you express with them? Really now, where'd you find them?" A puff of mirth escaped her then; utterly touched-to-the-soul mirth. "I've got all of it right here.." She touched her fingers to her upper-chest, tapping firmly. "I get it every time I even half think of you. But getting it out like that?" Again, she shook her head, eyes brimming with affection and lips tugged apart in a half-blissful half-fuddled smile. "Christ Thane.."

Her mate had it in him to look a hint bashful as he replied, taking each query in turn. "As to your 'How' question..everything I have ever read, Siha, I recall as easily as I do anything else I have committed to memory. A luxury you do not have." He stroked her temple gently with the backs of his fingers, a smile curving the edges of his lips when she leant into the contact. "Where? On this occasion the words I used were penned over two hundred years ago by a man named Cummings. One E.E. Cummings. Do you know of him?"

Shepard shook her head, renewed curiosity settling beside the affection in her eyes.

"He was a..controversial figure in his day" Thane opined, "but I find the way he expressed himself in that particular verse deeply compelling."

"I can see why" she said, aching still in her heart from the message he'd conveyed through it.

A soft hum of agreement came up from his chest, his eyes flickering briefly as he recalled her remaining question. "And as to where I find the thoughts to express with borrowed words from a lifetime's worth of avid reading? Where do I find their inspiration? Siha.." He seemed almost to scoff quietly, as if the answer to her question was obvious. Then, as she had just a moment back, he tapped his fingers upon her upper-chest.

She needed no further explanation.

It's all in there, he was saying.

It's all in you.

Taking his fingers in hers as a muffled almost-groan of emotion worked itself free from her throat, she squeezed gently before bowing her head to them, kissing each as she searched for a reply that conveyed her feelings for him in even half as eloquent and loving a fashion as he'd managed with his use of poetry.

Such a thing she couldn't manage.

She just wasn't the verse type, in all honesty.

But that didn't mean she was up the creek without a paddle.

Just as her mate could draw inspiration from her and the library he carried around in his memory, she could do the same from him and their immediate circumstances. She focused on them a moment..on how they were curled together comfortably, each waking to the day in their own way, at their own pace and with, in Thane's case, a use of implication that was frankly staggering given the fact that he hadn't even gotten out of bed yet..and in them she found her words; words that she realised, upon brief but thorough reflection, she'd never really shared with him before.

Not like this.

Not like now.

"I..ah..like I said earlier" she began, prefacing her message carefully. "I'm not too good at making words work around emotional things..and I'm even worse with poetry..so..I hope you don't mind if mine're a bit simpler. A bit more..common. Regular. Everyday.. ..And this..this is something I want said everyday from now on because..and I know you know this without me saying it..but because we've got from now on"

..before speaking it with as straight a face as she could muster through the flutterings of glee in her belly.

"G'morning. Sleep well?"

..

Thane's breath caught, the simplicity of her greeting doing nothing to mask the weight behind it.

The words it was made up of were common, yes. Regular. Everyday, but also not for implicit within them was the fact that this morning, here, now, was not only the first they had awoken to together since they'd been forced to part..the event he had marked with his little poetic aside..but the first of many they would awaken to thus. The first of a future's-worth of mornings that, until now, they hadn't ever allowed themselves to dream of having before them.

And he'd known..just like she said.

Gods how he'd known..

But to hear it..

A soft splutter of laughter escaped him before he could catch it, his lips tugging around it in a deeply touched smile as he concluded that, for all its loving implications and veiled meanings, poetry held not a candle to something so apt.

So simple.

So crushingly personal.

He couldn't but answer in kind.

"Good morning Amial" he said. "Yes, thank you. And you?"

By the time his question was fully posed, his mirth had proved contagious; both he and his mate succumbing to the joy brought by their situation and pressing into each other, their brows again touched together in affection and glee as the moment's weight settled upon them fully. Shepard's reply..

"Never better. Never ever better"

..was firm with conviction as they nestled into each other's arms, savouring the feeling of Wholeness they shared before their second proper kiss of the day was given and returned.

It took them another 45 minutes to even contemplate beginning their day.

And now!

Coming in the next chapter

Breakfast is shared

Concerns are discussed

And Shepard learns a new word