Change of Priorities
"Ya know, it's not so bad just cuddling together. Just saying you know, hugs, and kissing, and cuddling is plenty romantic and loving." I say with a grunt, shifting to let Morinth get more comfortable against my side.
"Delta..."
"I know you've been doing a lot more than that for 400 years, but I've only gone 3 days dammit." I say with a dramatically upset expression. This brings a laugh out of her and I break character and chuckle as well. We lie there together, just silently enjoying the aftereffects (Morinth) and recovering from our mind-melding (me). I mean seriously that shit hurts despite the fact it seems I get gradually inured to it. I don't know if Morinth perhaps traded some of her pleasure to lower the pain I'd feel or if my nervous system is just adapting to an Asari overloading it. Oh well. We have a couple days to get to the Reaper IFF, and interestingly enough it is slightly off route of the Migrant Fleet, so they'll be closer after our detour rather than farther. This is good, helped make Tali less upset with me but she's still upset with me.
"Hey Delta." Morinth speaks up, her voice slow and considerate. She's thinking deeply about something I bet.
"Hm?" I respond, eyes drifting closed and my hand rubbing her back. She lets out a soft moan which makes me smirk.
"Where are you from?" I blink, my eyes shooting open. Shit, what was the condition of LA in this time? Is it significantly changed or more the same? I think one of the options for Shepard's origins was to be an LA racist gang kid right? So more the same right? Fuck, whyd didn't I think of this sooner? Why didn't I set up a proper backstory to give people? Why haven't I had to deal with this before? Wow, are all my 'friends' on this ship really not interested in where I'm from? What am I then, just the comic/meat shield/scout? Dicks, can't believe my asari girlfriend is the only one who cares to ask where I'm from. Wait, mind melding shares feelings and memories doesn't it?
"I thought you'd be able to see my memories when we meld?" I ask her after a moment.
"Somewhat, memories and information can be transferred this way, but that has to be consensual and focused on. With my...condition we can't exactly focus that long as you're in pain and I... well." She looks away again, her face falling. I hug her a little closer, very glad that she at least feels guilty about basically enjoying the very thing that puts me in so much pain. "Plus, what few memories you do transmit are a little weird. I see flashes of places, and a few things are clear and right but some are just wrong."
What? "What? What do you mean by that?" I raise my brow again, tilting my head to look her full on once more.
"Well, it's hard to say honestly it's like... It's like when something looks right but doesn't feel right. Like, if I were to wear your shirt to bed," She says while picking at my Cerberus tee. "then that's fine, but what if I were to slide into bed with you wearing Jacob's shirt?"
"Well then I'd hope you at least threw Kasumi off your trail, because I'm pretty sure she'd steal it back and probably steal something else to start some juicy slander." But I think I can see her point actually. The idea is amusing and worrying but there's that small spark of jealousy in my chest. I tighten my hold on her a bit, using her body to smother that spark.
Morinth smirks, looking into my eyes. Yeah, she's had to deal with jealous men for far too long for me to even try to hide it. "You get the idea though."
I nod, focusing on thinking rather than those lips that are much closer now. "Yeah, I see what you mean. You're seeing memories but they feel out of place, like they're not the right memories."
"Exactly. What few memories I can see of your childhood are odd, they feel like a similar but different person is walking around in that mind of yours. It's interesting honestly, but also confusing. Sometimes when I look at a memory and think about how odd it is it just starts to go into static and weird images."
"Oh, like what?"
"Like an early 21st century Los Angeles, small house with a view that just screams home." She's watching me. I shoot my eyes down to her and she's staring up at me.
"Tim has eyes and ears everywhere. We'll discuss this later." I say quietly and as calmly as I can. Morinth looks at me for a second then shrugs and nuzzles into me again. I let out a breath and shiver slightly. I should've expected this, not the asari-succubus-girlfriend part, but that my secret wouldn't stay a secret forever. Shepard's getting suspicious because I slipped up, and I don't think Tim or Miranda are entirely convinced its dumb luck and an unfair amount of useful, advanced tech that's keeping me alive this long. I'm really glad I got everything set up that I did now that I think of it, and I can have Silver run a few programs in the meantime to finish preparations and requirements. Now I just have to make sure no one besides Silver and Morinth find out I guess.
I sigh and snuggle in with her, closing my eyes. We take a nap like that, woken up almost an hour later by Silver who rushes in, types a pass-lock into the door and then dives through the maintenance shaft I so often use. I blink my eyes blearily as I wake up, just catching the last part clearly before the door almost immediately shoots open, Shepard standing there with a frown along with Samara. I blink in question, tilting my head at Shepard, but then her eyes widen while Samara's narrow when Morinth raises too. To her credit Morinth doesn't even let her say anything before grabbing my shirt and yanking me back down. I let out a little yelp as she pulls and find the blanket covering us again.
"I'm busy mother, another time." She says with a tired groan, snuggling into me again.
Shepard lets out an awkward cough as I quickly see Samara walking to the side of my bed and staring down at us. I look up at her, then to Shepard, then back to Samara, then to Morinth who is shutting her eyes tightly and blushing slightly, then to my tacpad which lights up with an image of Silver as text spins around his head reading "I tried, you're on your own now." What?
"Uh, is there something wrong Samara? Shepard?"
Shepard groans and looks to the side before seeming to steel herself and stare down at me. "Delta listen... we need to have a Talk."
... OH SHIT WAIT WHAT NOOOO!
My head rests on the counter of the bar in Kasumi's room. I have a plate with tonight's dinner by my side and a large glass of...I'll call it pina colada. Morinth sits beside me with her own plate of dinner and a similar drink and Kasumi is rolling on the ground behind the counter laughing. Jacob is chuckling, leaning against the side.
"You know, it's not that funny." I grunt out, lifting my head up to throw a sidelong glare at Jacob before taking a sip of my drink and resuming eating my food.
"Well I'll just say that was worth a few drinks under Shepard's radar. Oh wow, I knew she was starting to mother you but I sure didn't expect she'd give you the Talk." Kasumi sputters out between laughs. I lean forward a bit to look over the counter, shaking my head at her grinning face. She simply winks and goes back to laughing. After I properly sit back down I look over as I hear Kasumi's door open again and see Shepard walking through. She raises a brow at all of us in question but then Jacob's grin stretches and as soon as Kasumi leans up to see who it is she breaks out in a new bout of laughter. Seeing my and Morinth's annoyance, Shepard seems to get the gist of the cause of the two's amusement and simply walks behind the counter, stepping over Kasumi and plucks a bottle of alcohol from the shelf then pops it open and starts drinking. She leans against the counter, taking a second sip as I just frown and eat my food.
"That was awkward." She starts off.
"Yep" I agree.
"I don't want to do that again."
"I certainly don't either."
"But Samara does have a point."
"Oh my god Shepard, I am not going to deliberately impregnate Morinth right before a suicide mission!" I slam my fist on the counter, glaring at her now. "I get it, I've been silly and treating things as a joke for the past I don't even know how long-,"
"10 months."
"Really? Feels like years." I pause then shake my head, building my glare up again. "Regardless, the point is I know I've been silly and joking and not looking at all like someone who takes this seriously, but I am serious. I am aware of the time we have, I am aware of where this leads us, and more than anything I am aware of the consequences." I let out a hot heavy breath after I finish, pinching the bridge of my nose and then taking a quick gulp of my drink. I breathe out as I feel the alcohol through the sweet ice and flavoring.
Shepard stares at me for a little while and I match her gaze once I realize she's been doing so. Briefly I'm reminded of how Morinth and Samara glared at each other during the Talk, when they were discussing their own private portion of it. "Alright. I know it's really Morinth's final decision whether you make on eor not, but so long as you're not trying to convince her..." Shepard steps over Kasumi again, starting to head out.
I blink, looking after her. "I can't make an asari decide to get pregnant Shepard."
Shepard pauses at the door, tapping the bottle in her hand. My eyes narrow as I watch her before she half turns towards us, a frown on her face as she's not really looking at us. "When a non-Asari and an Asari meld, if the desire is strong enough the non-Asari could briefly override their partner... just, don't let that happen." She turns and walks out.
I turn and look at Morinth, brow raised. She seems shocked, so I'm assuming that she had no idea of that. Or maybe it's like the Ardat-Yakshi and is another well-kept Asari secret?
I groan as I wake up, stretching and listening to all the pops and cracks my bones and joints make as I do. Morinth is lying next to me, her eye opening slowly as I stretch and then her legs curling up and shooting out, launching me out of the bed with a surprised yelp and into the wall. I see Silver wake with a start, his eye shining bright as it turns on and then head swiveling to look at me and Morinth. I glare at my girlfriend, frowning even deeper at the mirth on her face as she simply wraps herself up tighter in those warm cozy blankets, leaving me on the cold metal floor. I roll my eyes, climbing upright and walking over to my storage to grab some underwear and my usual casual outfit. Putting on the nightwear shipmates use I head down to take a shower and change. Down on the crew deck I pause as both bathrooms are marked closed, a frown on my face. I open the men's, seeing Garrus inside as he uses some tools to poke at the paneling and... oh right, Tim's spy cams. I shrug and step inside, heading for the shower.
"Delta no." Garrus speaks up immediately as I walk into the bathroom.
"Delta yes." I respond to Turian Batman, a smirk on my face as I turn one of the showers on.
"I marked it closed for a reason Delta." Garrus grumbles as he starts pulling out one of the spycams.
"Trying to keep it under wraps that Tim's been spying on the crew right? It's cool, I'm the one who told Miranda he was and gave her access to the feeds so she could find where the cameras were set up." I start lathering up, a holo screen blocking the front of the stall so only my feet from the ankles down and my head from the neck up was visible.
"Wait, really? When did you do that?"
"Uhh...fuck, you know," I lean on the stall, resting my face on a fist. "It's really kinda weird actually, feels like I've been dating Morinth for months cuz of the mind melding but it's only been like 5 days. 10 if you count when she first invited me over for a date just before the Blue Suns abducted me. But like, the 1st day we started officially being a couple I told Miranda about the feeds and gave her access to them."
Garrus seems to consider this for a moment before folding his arms with a frown. "So Miranda has had access to these feeds for 4 days? She showed me the feeds when we first closed off the bathrooms, and I figured out the location of each camera in five minutes."
I shrug, then grin wryly. "Maybe Miranda wanted some of her own video to work with, yanno? I mean you saw how many Tim put in the woman's bathrooms."
"You do realize that means 'Tim' was able to watch Morinth when she showered for those 4 days too, right?"
Eh, what the hell, it's Garrus, the Turian half of the best bromance on the Citadel. He won't judge Shepard, and everyone seems to be pushing the idea I'm her unofficial kid. "I already have a plan in place to guarantee that we get to Tim's base, get in his face and put a bullet through his skull. A few minutes to stab, cut or castrate him won't go amiss, or be difficult to secure." I am so going to need that time-gap.
Garrus looks at me and I chuckle at the surprise in his face because he honestly seems to believe the confidence in my voice. I smirk, and gesture to the camera in his hand. "That the only one you've gotten so far?"
"Yeah." He says slowly.
I grin, a little sadistically this time and nod, turning back to face the wall of my shower. As I turn I look directly at a spot where I know a camera is, make a finger gun and shoot it.
After my shower and changing, during which Garrus removed nearly all of the cameras with his tools and then just stepped out, grabbed a pistol and shot the last one to destroy it since it was really high up. He popped a couple extra rounds in it to fully break it, the camera's mic was a durable bugger. I settled back into my room, pulling out my tac-pad and opening some files on it. Morinth was apparently in the cargo hold practicing her katas after a quick sweep through the standard security cameras, and Silver sat down beside me after a moment.
"We have a successful update. He is well contained; the independent units are moving defensively. We can initiate contact."
"Okay..." I look around and raise my tac-pad again. I send a quick message to Shepard saying I'll be in a private call and to message me if she needs me. After that I set a lockdown protocol on the doors into the Armory. Tim was none the wiser about most of the stuff happening in the Armory. With the help of Silver I've found all of his spy shit installed in the armory, but instead of dismantling them I just have a link to each camera and synced video loops run by a program that bases the chosen loop on what activities are currently going on. Smiling to myself at that accomplishment as I run the program and give it a minute to get going, I begin running the encryption protocols I use with Legion as Silver goes still, his programs focused on transmission.
"Who is this? What are you doing with these Geth?!"
"My name is Delta, I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances but this was the only way to get a secure, private connection with you, and I was powerless to stop the entirety of the Geth's defensive revolt. Trust me when I say this, Admiral Rael'Zorah, we have a lot to talk about."
Zero: Finally, the big plans get to proceed.
Delta: We are doing wonderfully for a year of hiatus.
Zero: The sins cannot be washed off.
Delta: Oh shut up and eat a donut (Shoves a donut into Zero's mouth)
Zer: (Chews) ... The sins can be overlooked maybe eventually perhaps.