Nihlus carried Shepard to his room that night, her sleeping head rolling to the side and arm hanging limp, swinging with the rhythm of his strides. He set her down on his mattress, but when he went to pull away she caught his wrist.

"Nih…" she muttered, tugging on his wrist to bring him closer.

"Hey," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm just going to get washed up and I'll be right back. I didn't get a chance after our sparing match." he comforted her, his fingers brushing the hair out of her sleepy face.

"Your fault," she muttered, but let him go and rolled over so her back was to him.

He chuckled as he got up and left the room, grabbing a towel on his way out. He slipped into the bathroom and pulled off his pants, having never gotten dressed after his and Shepard's sparing match. They had been searching for her planet, coming up with nothing. Apparently there were a lot of planets with about the same length of a year. You also had to factor in that months on earth were different lengths, yet another confusing thing about humans. It seemed they prided themselves in making things complicated.

He sighed as he stepped into the hot water. 'It's frustrating but… do I really want to get her back to earth?' he thought, a sad coo rippling up from his chest at the thought of her not being with him anymore. 'Once we find earth our little adventure ends.' He shook his head, trying to rid himself of those thoughts; he didn't need a conflict of interests. Yes he wanted Shepard to stay by his side, but it shouldn't be because she didn't have another option. But finding her home planet would mean bringing her to her "small army" of admirers as Joker put it. Men who shared a very important characteristic with her: they were the same species. He let out a low growl at the thought of other men trying to take what was his, but she wasn't his and the growl grew louder, an effect of him scolding himself for claiming her when she didn't want to be claimed, not by anyone in the past eight years.

But he wanted to claim her and the urge to do so only grew as he thought about their interactions. Their playful jab, how she'd fall asleep against him, their sparring matches, the times she got him to dance with her, fighting with her at his side. He shut the water off and went back into his room. She was still sleeping on his bed, oblivious to his presence, to his feelings, to his want. He sat on the edge of the bed, the water that clung to him dripping down onto the sheet. He rolled her onto her back and cupped her cheek. 'I need to go find a substitute, I can't stay here beside her like this.' he thought as he leaned down and pressed his face against the hair on the side of her head, breathing in her scent.

He gave himself five seconds like that, just letting her scent fill his lungs. And then he pulled away, got dressed, and left the ship.

The bar of his choosing was off the beaten path and known for its one night stands, it even had a motel attached to it that charged by the hour. It is where people who were desperate went, or people who were like Nihlus, who just wanted it quick and filled with heavy liquor.

He sat down at the bar and looked around at his options. The bar was pretty empty, but there were some batarians crammed into a booth, three men surrounding a woman. If it was an asari he would have swooped in and taken her, just to watch the pompous asses scoff at him, but he didn't really have a taste for batarian women. On the other side of the bar from him was a young turian talking with an asari. Again he would normally go and show up the fumbling boy, but a look at his still growing fringe gave Nihlus all he needed to know. The boy was no more than seventeen, eighteen maybe if he was a late bloomer, probably on his first shore leave on the Citadel. Nihlus remembered being that age, and he wasn't about to ruin the boy's first shore leave.

The bartender came up to him and asked him what he wanted to drink. "Hardest thing you've got and leave the bottle." he said to his fellow turian.

The bartender pulled a bottle from under the counter and poured a glass for Nihlus. "You must be drinking to forget something." he said, curious.

Nihlus chuckled, "Someone actually." he admitted as he tipped the glass back.

The bartender chuckled and gave a shake of his head as he refilled Nihlus' glass. "She dumped you?"

Nihlus sighed and leaned his arms on the counter. "I wish, that would mean I was with her at all." he said and tilled the glass back again. "But no…" he said as he looked at the empty glass. "Just a woman I can't have."

"Huh…" the bartender said as he took the glass to fill it again. "You're Nihlus Kryik; don't you have women falling at your feet? Hell even my wife like to… um… never mind." he said, his sub harmonics giving away his embarrassment. "Anyway, who possible can't you have?"

"An oblivious, stubborn, infuriating woman who can't fathom that anyone would ever desire her." he muttered darkly and took the whole bottle.

"So… just tell her?" the turian said as if it was that simple. He let Nihlus have the bottle; clearly he needed something to take his mind off of his problems. "You know… species are all different, she may just not recognize your advances." he suggested.

Nihlus sighed, "No, her friend says she has been like this for as long as he's known her. She is just hopelessly dense." he said and tilted the bottle back. He didn't even know why he was telling the man this.

"Then be blunt." the bartender shrugged. "I once heard of this elcor who was just about as fed up as you seem to be because the asari he liked couldn't pick up on his cues, not that I blame the girl, elcor are had to read with their monotone voice. Anyway, he finally just came out and told the girl. Think they ended up having kids or something." The bartender looked up from him and nodded at an asari as she came in and sat down next to Nihlus.

Nihlus and her shared a glance before he turned back to the bartender and ordered her a drink.

The next thing Nihlus remembered was waking up in an empty motel room. At least his partner for the night didn't stick around. He rolled off the bed and started pulling his clothes back on. It was good sex, the asari was at that stage of life that she was experienced, yet still wild. The whole thing had half turned into a brawl to see who would be able to dominate the other. Nihlus won of course. His mandibles flared slightly into a smug smirk at his victory.

Once he was all dressed he checked himself in the mirror, making sure everything looked decent and not like he had just spent the night in a sleazy motel screwing an asari whose name he didn't even know. Shepard knew where he went, knew what he did, but that didn't mean he wanted her to see evidence of it. 'If you just told her then you could just have her.' Nihlus thought bitterly, thinking back to the bartender's words. 'Or she would run away and hate me for the rest of eternity.' he thought and ran a hand down his face. 'That one is much more likely.'

Shepard

"Hey, have you guys seen Nih?" Shepard asked, going up to Joker and Kolyat who were playing poker in the mess.

"Not since yesterday, don't you two share a bed?" Joker asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

Shepard's face reddened a hint and she smacked the back of his head. "It's not like that, it's so you can sleep in my bed." she said with a groan and sat beside him. "Trust me, I would rather be in my soft bed than on Nihlus' hard one."

"We've shared a bed before, you know." Joker said, making Kolyat look at her, surprised, over his cards.

"Oh so now your head is in the gutter too?" Shepard said and moved to reach across the table, but Kolyat leaned back and fell out of his chair. She was satisfied with the result and sat back down. "Me and Joker served together, and a lot of the time there weren't enough beds, so friends would pile into the same one if need be." she explained with a shrug. "But, back to my original point, Nihlus didn't come home last night."

Joker shrugged as he laid down his hand, a grin on his face. "Three jacks." he said, proud. "And he is a big alien dinosaur, plus didn't you say he was in some high ranked group or something? I'm sure he can handle himself." he said, about to pull the pool towards him, until Kolyat laid down his hand, a full house. Joker glared at him, but let him take the pile.

"He is a Spectre, they are a lawless group that functions as the council's underhand." Kolyat explained.

Shepard shrugged, "In a nutshell, but that is also the very reason he was able to save me. Some of his colleagues don't seem as… just." She rested her elbow on the table and rested her cheek against her fist. "It's just out of character for him, not the leaving, but he is normally back before I wake up."

"Jealous, Commander?" Joker asked as he dealt her in.

She shrugged, "Nothing to be jealous about, me and Nihlus are just friends." she said as she took the hand and the chips he offered her. "Besides, he likes asari, all he sees when he goes out."

Nihlus

He listened to them just out of sight, sighing at Shepard's words. Actually he didn't have a preference in species, he slept with his kind, asari, had tried batarian, but their personalities were discouraging. Did he have a favorite species? No. Were asari the easiest to find and most willing? Yes.

He swallowed down his sub-harmonics and revealed himself. "Gambling?" he asked, sliding in beside Shepard.

"Speak of the devil." Shepard said as she examined her cards and the cards on the table.

"What?" he asked, confused and figuring she used another human saying.

"You know? Speak of him and he will appear?" she tried to explain, but when he still looked confused she sighed. "Never mind. Anyway, where have you been all night?"

"Same place I always go," he said with a shrug and watched as they all placed their bets.

She raised Joker before she turned and looked at Nihlus, a strange look in her eye. It vanished so quickly that Nihlus didn't have a chance to pinpoint what emotion it was, replaced with a large smirk. "Must have been good then, to keep you out all night." she teased.

Nihlus thought of his next words before answering. "It will do for now." he said, not lying, but not revealing what he was really thinking. If she was hiding things so could he. "You guys feel up to a trip? If we stay docked here much longer the Council will find me something to do." he asked, passing up the hand he was given.

"If it means being able to do more than walk around with an armed guard hell yeah." Shepard said, pulling out her pack of cigarettes, but Nihlus snatched them.

"No more smoking on the ship, especially if we are traveling and have to recycle air." he said, ignoring her pout. He ruffled her hair as he got up and headed to the cockpit to set them a path out of the system.

Leaving the system didn't help, or maybe they didn't leave early enough, point being is the council contacted them a few days after they left about a mission. There was a fugitive out in the terminus who they wanted Nihlus to track down and capture.

Simple enough, that's how Nihlus had put it anyway. He managed to find the wanted salarian's trail in only thirty-seven hours, Shepard knew because she timed the cocky bastard. So off they trotted to his last known location. Simple enough, right?

Shepard paused in her thoughts to shove her pistol in the mouth of the reptilian dog, Nihlus had called them varren, that had attached itself to her leg. "Simple, isn't that what you called this?" she snapped at Nihlus who was busy trying to keep the two varren that had knocked him down from eating his face. She sighed and pulled the trigger, blowing half of the varren's head off.

"How was I supposed to know we'd land in a whole fucking pack of varren, Shepard." he snapped back. He pulled out a knife and slammed it home into the varren's neck. The feral beast had been inches from his face, only held back by his arm. He threw the body to the side, wiped the blood off his face, and shot the one being held back by his foot in the head with his pistol. "Thanks for the help, by the way." he said as he got up. "Hey, where do you think you're going!" he growled and chased down the bound salarian.

"You're a big boy, you can handle it." she said, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it before taking in a deep breath through the heavenly nicotine. "Simple," she breathed out smoke and went to go find Nihlus through all the underbrush of the lush forest the planet they were on was full of.

"I've tried being the nice guy, Gavil, but you just won't let me, will you." Nihlus growled, the salarian pinned against a tree, his pistol digging into the soft tissue under his chin.

"Please don't kill me," the man sobbed, his hands desperately gripping at Nihlus' gun hand. "I'll tell you anything."

"I'm not here for information, I've been sent here to collect you, dead or alive. And suddenly dead is looking like a lot less hassle." he growled, making Gavil shudder.

Shepard came up to them and put a hand on Nihlus' shoulder. "Calm down, there isn't a need to kill anyone." she said, dropping her cigarette and putting it out with her foot.

Gavil looked down at her the best he could, then back at Nihlus, seeing he wasn't convinced. "I-I can help, I know where more like her are." he pleaded, giving a shudder of relief when Nihlus' mandibles twitched, showing his interest. When he didn't speak Gavil took the cue to continue. "There is a fighting pit, run by mercs from the Blue Suns, there is another one that looks like her, only his fringe isn't red, it's black. He has become a crowd favorite.

Nihlus looked at Shepard, "Is he telling the truth?"

Shepard pressed her lips into a line. "There were a few of my crew that could be, maybe Kaidan, he has the skills to be able to fight in something like that." she said and sighed in relief when Nihlus pulled the pistol back and sheathed it.

"It's your lucky day, and you better be thanking Shepard for your life." he growled before he hit him hard in the head and knocked him out.

"Grumpy?" Shepard asked, looking at the salarian's limp body on the floor.

He sighed and picked up Galiv, throwing him on his shoulder. "Sorry, it's just been a long few days with little sleep." he said, putting a hand on Shepard's head. "And your attitude isn't helping."

She shrugged, "I'm in a hot, humid forest with who knows what ready to be the next adventure on our safari tour, and our coms aren't working." she said and pulled out another cigarette, making Nihlus frown at how many she was smoking since this all started. She ignored it and blow out smoke. "Yeah… it's been a shitty time."

15 hours earlier

"You sure you don't want to stay on the ship?" Nihlus asked as they headed towards the cargo hold's back hatch.

She rechecked her pistol before slipping it back into its sheath. "What? And let you have all the fun? Don't forget, Nih, I'm going just as crazy as you are on this ship." she said and took her place beside him as the hatch lowered.

"Alright, the mission is simple enough, the target is holding up in a small facility three clicks into the jungle, we need to grab him and take him back to the ship to be put in the holding cells." he briefed her, again.

"Holding cells? If you have holding cells why did you lock me in the bedroom?" she asked as they moved to the edge and got ready to jump.

Nihlus chuckled, "You never gave me a reason to." he said simply before walking off the edge and braced himself for the impact. He waited a few second for Shepard to join him, she didn't disappoint.

"Fuck, why is it so hot?" she asked from under her helmet.

"Tropical forest, Shepard." Nihlus said and lead the way through the forest, but about half a mile in his communication systems turned to static, and along with it went his locator. "Damn it." he growled, pulling up his omni-tool and tried to bring the systems back online.

"Is that supposed to happen?" Shepard asked beside him, meaning the static playing over her com too.

He sighed and gave up trying to get the communication to work. "No, the vegetation is blocking our signal." he said and pulled out a compass.

Shepard pulled off her helmet and looked at it. "Damn, didn't even know aliens had those. We doing the old fashion way then?" she asked, but Nihlus only glared at her.

"Put your helmet back on, you're supposed to be an asari."

"We are in the middle of the woods were no one is going to see us, and it's really hot under the helmet." she pouted as she tired her hair back and off the back of her neck.

Nihlus glared for a second longer, but gave into her pleas. "Fine, just put it back on when we get close, ok?" he compromised.

"Sure, I'm not stupid, Nih." she said and clipped the helmet onto her belt.

He chuckled and continued to lead the way with the help of the compass.

"Damn it, it's still hot." she complained after nearly an hour of wading through thick underbrush.

"It's not that hot, Shepard." he sighed.

"That is easy for you to say, you're a big dino who enjoys this kind of weather. I bet if it was cold you would be complaining and I'd be the one marching about." she protested.

He gave a slight nod of agreement, turians hated the cold. "Ok, I understand." he sympathized. "But let's just get through this mission and then we can go back to the ship and I'll turn down the heat for you." he said, earning a grin from her.

He turned back around and continued guiding them northeast towards their destination. They went another hundred yards before Shepard cursed behind him, getting his attention.

"I think I just stepped on an egg." she said, pulling her foot out of a pile of dirt. Her foot was covered in the remains of a sticky yellow green yolk.

"Let's just be thankful the parents aren't around." Nihlus said and motioned for them to continue.

"Nihlus…" Shepard said and pointed behind him. He turned and cursed at the large prehistoric looking bird watched them from between the trees. "What is that?" Shepard asked, very slowly moving away from the destroyed nest.

"I have no idea, but given its small wings, large talons, and sharp beak… I'd say that is mama and she is a predator." he said and slowly started to back away and head towards Shepard.

"It looks like something out of Spore…" she muttered, earning a glance from Nihlus. "Old video game." she explained.

He rolled his eyes and turned back to the bird. It went to the nest as they backed off and examined the crushed remains. Once it determined that the egg was definitely dead it turned to look at them and let out a cry before charging.

"Not good," Nihlus said and they took off running through the underbrush.

Shepard was a few steps behind him. "She's catching up," she warned him and they pushed to go faster. The bird was right at her heels and snapped out. She dove to the ground, avoiding the sharp beak, but it did catch her helmet on her belt and ripped it off.

Nihlus fell at the same time Shepard dove, the ground under them suddenly slanting downward under the think foliage. Together they tumbled down as the slope got steeper and steeper, finally leveling out by a river.

"Next time… watch where you step…" he said as he pulled his limps free of Shepard.

"It wasn't like I stepped in it on purpose." she said from her spot on the ground. "At least we got away." she said as she sat up and rolled her shoulders, checking to see if anything was broken. "Hope the damn thing chokes on my helmet." she added bitterly.

Nihlus tried to pull up their locator, but he still only got static. "Just fucking great." he growled and threw a rock as far into the river as he could.

"Well we still have the compass, right?" Shepard said, putting a hand on Nihlus' shoulder to calm him.

"No, I dropped it when we fell, we have no locator, we have no compass, and the forest is too dense to read the sun." he said and went to pick up another rock, but Shepard snatched it before he could.

"We are in a bad spot, but throwing rocks isn't going to help us, Nih." she said as she dropped the rock and put a hand behind his head under his cowl. She pulled him down to her level and pressed their foreheads together. "We can get out of this, Nih. We are both capable." she said and let him go, but Nihlus didn't move, his mandibles hanging slack from what she just did. After a second she pulled back, "Sorry, was that wrong?" she asked, a blush creeping across her cheeks and she refused to meet his eyes.

'Woman… the things you do to me…' he thought as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "No, it's just… couples do that…" he explained, making her blush more.

"Then why do you do it to me?" she asked, punching him in the arm.

"To tease you," he said with a shrug. "Come on, let's follow this river downstream and see if we can't find something to tell us which direction we need to go."

She followed beside him, the blush still present on her face, but she was meeting his gaze again. "I could climb a tree, if we find a big enough one." she offered.

He nodded, "That could work." he agreed before silence fell over them.

"So before… when you…" Nihlus started several minutes later.

"I was just trying to calm you down." she said quickly, the blush returning. "I didn't mean to… imply… Damn it, Nihlus, I'm bad at this kind of shit, let's just forget it, okay?" she pleaded, wrapping her arms around her stomach and looking anywhere but him.

"Alright, we'll just forget it." he said, not wanting to see her so uncomfortable around him. 'I can't forget it.' he thought to himself and his hand went to the back of his head where she had grabbed him. Not only did she give him a turian's form of a kiss, she just happened to also grab one of his erogenous zones. 'Yeah… not going to be able to forget that…' he thought and tried to banish thoughts on… well them.

"Do you hear that?" Shepard asked, dragging from his inappropriate thoughts.

He listened and heard what she was referring to, something was moving in the trees above them.

"It's been following us…" she said quietly.

Nihlus nodded, "Run." he said and they took off in a sprint. Above them their new friend followed through the tree branches, letting out a cry of the hunt that didn't sound friendly.

"I fucking hate this forest." she spat as they ran.

Nihlus scanned the area around them, trying to find a way to safety. "There, there is a break in the trees!" he called and they ran for it. Nihlus smiled as they cleared the last off the trees, but quickly skidded to a stop at the edge of a cliff. Shepard slammed into him from behind. He jolted forward, barely managing to catch his footing and avoid falling off the edge and into the lake below.

"Nih…" Shepard said as she pulled out her assault rifle and aimed it at the jungle where their stalker lurked in the last of the trees. It was the size of a large dog and built like an ape, if apes had long snout and a mouthful of razor sharp teeth. "Know what this one is?"

"No, I'm not up to date on the wildlife of every uncolonized planet." he said and pulled out his own gun. He fired up at it, hoping to scare it off. It worked, be beast cried as a few bullets pierced its skin, and slunk back into the forest. "Well that was easy enough." Nihlus said in relief and went to put up his rifle when the beast came charging out of the woods at them. "Ah fuck," Nihlus said before the creature slammed into him, knocking him clear off the cliff.

Shepard rolled out of the way and trained her rifle on its head, opening fire until her heatsink popped. The beast cried and tried to block the bullets, but she was relentless. With practiced easy she slammed another heatsink into place and unloaded another round into the beast. With one final cry it ran back into the woods, limping on its bullet riddled arm. She panted hard and went to the edge of the cliff. "You ok?" she called down, glad there was a lake before to break his fall. When she didn't get a response she scanned the surface of the lake carefully, but she didn't see him anywhere. "Fuck." she muttered and quickly stripped off the top half of her armor, took a running start, and dove off the cliff. She brought her arms up into a dive to pierce the surface of the water, allowing her to enter it unharmed. She swam down, looking for any signs of Nihlus or his black and red armor. 'I'm going to have to get on to him to wear a brighter color.' she thought as she kept diving.

Her lungs were burning when she reached the bottom and found him lying motionless among the mud. 'Idiot could have told me he couldn't swim.' she thought as she gripped him and pulled as she tried to swim upward, but he was too heavy in all his armor. Trying not to panic and think past the burning in her chest she undid the clasps in his armor. She got his chest piece off before she was forced to return to the surface. She gasped for breath, refilling her lungs, before she dove back down. 'Please be okay,' she pleaded as she undid the clasps holding his greaves on. Once he was free she grabbed him and swam them both up to the surface. "Come on Nih," she said breathlessly as she fought to keep his head above water and she swam them to the closest shore.

She dragged him onto the bank and leaned her ear down to his mouth. "Shit," she muttered, he wasn't breathing. "Shit… I hope CPR works on you guys." she said and pulled his shirt off so she could locate the correct place. "Shit…" she muttered again, not sure if this would even work past all of his plates. She clasped her hands over each other and pumped down on his chest, counting each to five. She leaned down, clasping her mouth over his, pinching his nose shut with one hand, and breathed into his lungs. When he didn't responded she repeated the process, becoming frantic on the third try, but he finally coughed up the water. "Thank God you're alive." she said, her head hovering inches from his.

He panted for several seconds, his breath washing over her face. And when he finally moved he put a hand behind her head and pulled her to him, his tongue sliding into her mouth. She tensed at first, but forced herself to relax. The poor man nearly died. If he wanted a kiss after facing that she would give him that comfort. So she kissed him back, and when she did it triggered something in him and he pulled her closer, clinging to her as if she was his lifeline.

"Nihlus," she said, finally pulling back. "You're okay." she assured him, removing his hands from the back of her head and back.

He nodded and laid back down on his back, panting hard from nearly drowning. He looked over at her, forcing himself not to move, not to grab her. Spirits, he wanted to kiss her again. But he couldn't. He could blame the first one on a dazed yay-I'm-alive victory kiss, but if he continued things could get awkward quickly, and he knew she would react badly. But, he really, really wanted to kiss her again. The taste of her was still on his tongue, the feel of their tongues rubbing against each other fresh in his mind.

"Well… you rest, I'm going to go retrieve your armor from the bottom of the lake and see if I can't get back to the top off the cliff and retrieve the top half of mine." she said as she got up and waded back into the water.

He watched her go, tried to get up and tell her that he would set up a camp, it was already getting dark, but he didn't have the energy. All he could think of as he drifted off to sleep was that he really wanted to kiss her again.

A/N: This is a chapter that I have wanted to write for a while so it was pretty enjoyable for me and I hope it was for you. Again I apologize for any grammar mistakes, Cyan is still on vacation. If you find any horrible ones please send me a PM and I'll get it corrected.

Personal update: So I missed the cut off to apply to the university this fall (turns out you have to apply like at the beginning of your last semester of community college) so instead I am going out of town in October to enjoy my birthday month with boyfriend. Sadly boyfriend can't get all the time off, well not sad for you because that means I'm going to be stuck at his house alone with little more to do than put his godly computer through her paces and write. In summary: expect updates a lot more.

And as always please review and give me your feedback.