Kaidan woke up on a cot in the room he shared with Joker and the alien he was told was called Kolyat. He sat up and stretched, taking in his surroundings to see Kolyat already gone and Joker just getting up.

"Morning." Joker said with a yawn as he strapped on his leg braces.

"Shepard and the alien guy already up?" he asked, not seeing them.

Joker shrugged. "Kolyat normally wakes up first with Nihlus and they get breakfast started and check on the ship." he said and eased his weight onto his legs. "Shepard normally is up last, files in right about the time Nihlus puts her food on the table."

Kaidan frowned and looked around the room again. "Then where is she?" he asked as he got up to help Joker.

Joker pushed him off, refusing the help. "She sleeps in Nihlus' room, evens the numbers out a bit." he said and limped towards the door.

"They sleep together?" Kaidan asked, following.

"Well not like that." Joker said and headed down to the mess. "Same bed, nothing sexual, you know how Shep is." He sat down in his chair right as Kolyat placed a plate in front of him and another on the table for Kaidan. "Thanks Kol." Joker said before he started eating the instant eggs and rehydrated meat. Kolyat nodded in response. Although he wouldn't admit it, he felt bad that he was getting free passage on the ship so he tried to help out where he could. He wouldn't admit it, but they were all aware of it.

Kaidan sat beside Joker and poked at the meal with his fork. "I'm not sure if the gruel they served us in the pits was better than this or not." he muttered.

Joker shrugged. "We didn't have a chance to properly supply before we rushed out to get you. Nihlus had a shipment ready to board but his contact got the shipment wrong and only packed dextro food. We have plenty to make it to port, but we are eating into some of the less pleasant instant foods." he explained.

"Dextro?" Kaidan asked as he started eating. It wasn't too bad if you looked past the soggy noodles mixed in with the instant eggs.

Joker nodded and swallowed his bite of meat before he answered. "Yeah there are two types of DNA, we are levo and so is most of the galaxy, but turians and I think one other are dextro, they can't process levo food and from what Shep as told me about it, it can make some really sick."

Kaidan nodded and looked down at his plate.

Nihlus came in from the cargo bay, fully dressed in his armor and rubbing the back of his neck. "Well I managed to get him to accept the food, but he refuses to come up." he said to Kolyat who rolled his eyes.

"And I thought the rumors of krogan stubbornness was exaggerated." he muttered and put three more plates of food on the table; one more mushy eggs and meat, one plate of blue and green meat that looked and smelled like it was spoiled, and one plate of cut up fruit.

"I thought we were eating rations, where did the fruit come from?" Kaidan asked, reaching for a slice, but Nihlus swatted his hand away.

"It's Shepard's favorite." he said as he settled himself in front of the rancid smelling meat.

"Speaking of, where is she?" Joker asked, looking back down the hall.

"She… didn't sleep too well." Nihlus said, not going into detail about their fight on who would get the bed. It had ended up with both of them sleeping on opposite sides of the floor. "I'll go wake her." he said and got back up, walking down the hall and stopping at his door. He took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh before he hit the green pad in the center. She was still were he left her in the far corner, curled up around a plush pillow and snoring quietly. He choked down his sub-harmonics at the sight of her and instead swiftly walked over to her and woke her up by nudging her with his foot. "Breakfast is ready." he said when she let out a groan.

She rolled over and glared up at him past the red locks of hair that fell in front of her eyes. "There better be pancakes." she grumbled and sat up, raising her hands above her head until her back let out a crack.

"I have no idea what that is." he said, offering her his hand. She glared at it and rolled away from him, wrapping herself deeper in the blanket. "Have it your way then." he shrugged before he scooped her up blanket and all and threw her onto the bed.

She landed on the bed and rolled off the other side, landing in a pile on the floor on the other side. "Jackass." she muttered as she stood up and stretched until her back popped again.

"I gave you ever chance to get up on your own." he said and grabbed her clothes from her drawer in his closet and tossed them at her.

She pulled the shirt on over her beater and slid the pants on over her sleeping shorts. "Alright, how do I look? Beautiful enough to be seen in public?" she asked, running her fingers through her shoulder length hair.

Nihlus looked at her up and down. "You look like you were just thrown across the room, so no different than any other day." he said as they left the room and walked back down to the mess.

Shepard sat down in front of the fruit and started nibbling on it, not saying anything or looking at anyone as she tried to fully wake up.

"Shep…" Kaidan said after a long silence.

She paused in her eating, the fork hanging from her mouth. Slowly she removed the fork and looked up at him, a large smile across her face. "Hey Kaidan, how was your first night on the ship?" she asked.

"I… It was fine, better than sleeping in a cage." he said, looking down at his food and pushed it around with his fork. When he looked back up at her again she had already gone back to her breakfast. "Are you ok?" he asked, giving Nihlus a quick glance.

She looked at him confused. "Yeah, I'm fine. There was a bit of trouble with a broken leg when Nihlus first found me, but that's about it." she leaned against Nihlus' arm and he moved his hand to pat her head, not looking away from his data pad. "I've been well taken care of thanks to this big guy."

"Yeah…" Kaidan nodded and looked back down at his food. "But…" he looked back up. "You don't have to… we could figure something out."

"What?" Shepard and Nihlus both said, looking at him confused.

"I just… you shouldn't have to pay that kind of price for his help." Kaidan said.

Shepard still looked at him confused and before she could piece it together Nihlus reached across the table, grabbed Kaidan by the front of his shirt, and dragged him across the table. He stood up with Kaidan still in his grip and slammed him into the wall. He was growling loud enough for even the humans to hear, but he didn't say anything, too angry to form words. Kaidan tried to raise a fist and slugged Nihlus in the jaw, but the turian only pressed his arm harder into Kaidan's neck. His other hand gripped Kaidan's chin, nails digging into his flesh hard enough to make blood start to bead.

"Nihlus," Shepard said beside him, her hands on his arms. "Calm down, please, Kaidan is an idiot." She put her hand on his cheek, turning his head so he was forced to look at her. "Let him go and we can go spar." she tried, her thumb running along his mandible, almost making him purr.

He looked back at Kaidan. How dare this human for insinuating that he... Sure he craved it, thought about it a majority of the time, but he would never do anything unless she told him she wanted it.

"Nih, come on." Shepard said, tugging on his arm. He released Kaidan and followed Shepard down to the cargo bay.

Kaidan laid on the ground, gasping for breath. Neither Joker nor Kolyat went to help him up. "He can understand us?" Kaidan asked, looking over at Joker still sitting at the table and trying to decide if his knocked over plate of food was still edible. "How?"

"Omni-tool, it's like a computer in your arm and syncs up with your brain, comes with a translator." Joker said as he started eating, he was hungry. "So in the future don't piss him off." Joker said with a full mouth. "Nihlus is a pretty mellow guy, but he is protective of Shepard. Insult her and he will start sharpening knifes to gut you with."

Kaidan nodded, "Good to know." He slowly got to his feet and eyed the stairs the pair had disappeared down. "So why do they share a room then?" he asked, turning to Joker.

Joker shrugged. "While rescuing me and Kolyat, Shepard hit her head pretty hard, got a concussion. Nihlus put her in his bed so he could keep an eye on her and she just stayed in there, to let me and Kol have the second room on the soft bed." Joker leaned over and stole a bit of fruit off Shepard's plate. "You've probably noticed that the towels and soaps are different, right?" Kaidan nodded. "Nihlus' species are made for a different climate, his stuff is all hard and stiff and if you use his soap you will shred your skin." He turned back to Kaidan, but he was gone. "How long was I talking to myself?" he asked Kolyat, who snorted into his food. "Great."

Kaidan snuck down into the cargo bay and followed the sound of old human music, recognizing Shepard's unique playlist. Nihlus and she were standing in the middle of a padded sparing ring. Each were stripped down to their sparring clothes. Shepard was in a beater and tight shorts while Nihlus was just in a pair of under armor pants.

"You ready yet?" Nihlus asked, rolling his shoulders.

"Almost." she grunted as she tightened the wrappings around her hands with her teeth. A new song played on her IPod, jerry-rigged to a speaker on a nearby crate and she smiled, grabbing Nihlus' arm and forcing him to dance to it with her.

"Really Shep?" he asked as he fell into beat with her.

"What's the matter, Kryik? Afraid to step on a few toes?" she teased.

He put a hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer, still moving together to the beat of the music. "Hardly." he purred and twirled her before pulling her back against him. She laughed and smiled in a way Kaidan had never seen before. Wide enough to make the corners of her eyes wrinkle, white teeth contrasting against her rosy lips. It was nothing like when she smiled at him, this smile she gave this alien as they spun around the sparring ring, staring into the other's eyes. The next change seemed so abrupt, but they never lost their beat. Quickly they moved apart and started throwing punches and kicks, never breaking beat or the other's defenses. Nihlus threw a punch at Shepard's chest, forcing her back into a backflip, but that is what Nihlus was waiting for. He went in, wrapping his arms around her middle while she was upside-down, facing away from him.

She squealed in surprise and struggled in his grasp, her arms unable to touch the ground. "Cheater." she laughed.

"How? You have flexibility, if I can't use my size then what advantage do I have?" he said, lifting her higher as her fingertips brushed the ground. "Surrender?" he purred, moving one arms to pin her legs down to his shoulder, foiling her plan to wrap them around his neck and use the leverage to get free.

"Never!" she shouted, defiance and laughter in her voice. She grabbed his leg and her fingers ran along the plates on the back of his leg.

"Shepard, don't you dare." he said, trying to get her off, but she found it, the pressure point behind his knee, hitting it hard enough that his leg buckled and sent them tumbling to the ground.

"Ow," she said from under him.

"I told you." he growled and picked himself up, more concerned with her well-being than their match. And that is where he made his mistake. She used the chance, tackling him to the ground, one leg pinning his legs together and the other on his chest. "Now who is cheating?" he laughed. She shrugged and went to pin his arms down, but he grabbed her wrists in his hand and used his other arm to dislodge the leg on his chest. She fell back and he pounced, but she was too quick, already moving back to her feet and raising her fists to signal for him to get up and keep going. He got up and they continued to spar, each throwing and blocking, never able to gain the upper hand.

Eventually both were too out of breath to continue, lying on the mat, legs intertwined and bodies side by side. She looked at him to find him staring at her and they both shared a laugh. "I think I won that one." she said and he rolled his eyes, moving and arm under her head.

"Whatever you say, Shepard." he said brushing his nose against her damp hair.

Kaidan watched the exchange from his place out of view behind a stack of crates, mainly watched Shepard. She was graceful, beautiful. Not your typical beauty, she wasn't dainty, walking around in makeup and high heels. She was lean, muscular, red hair and slight freckles across her cheeks contrasting against her green eyes. He had fallen for her at first sight.

He had been in Afghanistan for a few weeks when he was reassigned to a convoy squad. A lot of men were verbally jealous, the squad had one of the highest success rates, a well-organized squad like that, and a few missions going that well on your record could go a long way for your future. His first day in the squad wasn't easy. A normal relax day for the squad started by being woken up at dawn and taking a two mile jog followed by checking all the gear, and finally they stopped for breakfast. But it wasn't sitting down and taking a break, it was grabbing protein bars while they jogged across the base to meet up with their squad leader who had gotten up several hours before them, finished her rounds, and was unwinding with some yoga. His first view of Shepard was of her doing a one handed handstand, one leg straight up, the other one bent with her foot against her other leg's knee.

"Shepard." their second in command said, stepping forward. "Morning rounds are finished, we brought the new guy."

Shepard flipped herself back on her feet and stretched her arms high above her head. "He fall over like the last one?" she asked and looked at him, frowning at the protein bar hanging out of his mouth, forgotten as he stared at her. At first he thought she was going to yell at him, instead she laughed and broke off the rest of the protein bar and ate it as she lead them to a training course. "Alright new guy, let's see what you've got." she said, gesturing for him to run the course.

Even if she wasn't attractive looking he would have fallen for her anyways. After seeing how kind and determined she was. When he thought that she was dead he regretted never telling her how he felt. Not this time, he decided and slid away from the crates and back towards the stairs. This time he was going to tell her.

"He finally left." Nihlus commented when he heard Kaidan's steps on the stairs.

Shepard nodded, "Thank you for not doing anything to him for watching us." She said and curled herself to his side.

"Anything for you, Shep." he said and snaked an arm under her and around her waist, holding her to his side.

She curled her hand into a loose fist against his plated side to lessen her trembling. They hadn't been close like this in a while. Which was her doing; she couldn't help a weird feeling every time they were close lately. He had become her source of comfort and safety, even his scent did wonders to help her relax and for just a moment she felt like she didn't have to shoulder everything on her own. At least that is how it started, but since her realization in the jungle it was more. Her heart would speed up, her skin would get a bit hotter, and more than anything she didn't want to move. She wasn't an idiot; she knew that the first two were sexual arousal. Last night was a big neon sign of proof that she desired him. It was one sided, though. Nihlus was an experienced nympho; she was an awkward girl who barely knew the mechanics of kissing. He was kind enough last night not to point it out, hell he didn't even react when he felt that she was wet when he put his hand into her pants. She thanked him for that, for not making fun of her. She smiled against his side. He was so kind.

Nihlus laid there staring up at the ceiling, enjoying having her against him and not pushing him away. "Hey," he said and turned to her when he felt a bit of water on his side. He looked down at him and froze. "Are you crying?" he said, his voice a little higher than normal. He sat up and pulled her with him.

"I'm fine," she said, wiping the tear off her cheek and another that threatened to fall from the corner of her eye.

He put his hands on her shoulders. "You're crying. What's wrong? Did I hurt you while we sparred?" He said as he started checking her for injuries.

She smiled at his actions and started laughing; making Nihlus snap his head back up to hers. "I'm fine." She said and leaned forward to wrap her arms around his neck, pulling him into a hug.

He sighed and hugged her back. "You're crazy." He said, laying his head on her shoulder.

"Yeah, but so are you." She said, giving the side of his head a kiss.

xXx

"This is Pilot Moreau of V. Verecaw asking permission to dock." Joker said as he pulled the ship into orbit around the Citadel.

There was a moment of silence before the docking bay replied, checking their credentials. "Permission granted, welcome Spectre Nihlus. The council requests an update on your current mission." A female voice said and Joker started lowering them to the docking bay.

"Spectre?" Kaidan asked once the channel closed.

Joker didn't look up from his controls. "Yeah, it's Nihlus' rank or job or whatever. Pretty much means he is like a known secret agent." He said and waved Kaidan to leave him alone.

Kaidan turned and was going to leave Joker alone in the cockpit, but he nearly ran over Shepard. "Pretty cool, isn't it?" she asked, looking past Kaidan and out the window where the planet was quickly approaching.

"Yeah…" Kaidan said, but his eyes were looking over Shepard's attire. "What are you wearing?"

Shepard blinked at him before she looked down at herself. "My armor?" she said confused.

"Why do you need armor?"

"Because it isn't a completely known fact that there is a new species—us—so it is a lot less complicated if I wear this and just pass for an asari." She explained.

"What is an asari?"

"Blue aliens."

"Oh… the women." Kaidan shuddered. He shook it off before Shepard could comfort him. "So where are the armors for the rest of us?" he asked and looked around.

"Like hell I'm going to let you walk around the Citadel." Nihlus said, walking into the cockpit with Shepard's helmet in one hand.

Kaidan was still looking to Shepard for an answer, unable to understand Nihlus. She looked between them and sighed. "You just escaped a fighting ring where you were forced to fight and kill aliens. It is best if you stay on the ship until Mordin can look over you." She explained, her hand resting on his shoulder.

"And Mordin is…" he asked, his hand going over hers.

"A doctor who is willing to treat us, he is the one who treated my leg and made the omni-tools human compatible." She explained, wondering if it was this tedious for Nihlus when he was explaining all this stuff to her.

Kaidan was about to ask more questions, but Joker interrupted him. "All docked." He said, powering down their engines.

"Thank you, Joker. Take care of everyone while we are out." Nihlus said and pulled Shepard out of the door and into the airlock.

While the airlock was adjusting pressure they got Shepard's helmet into place. "That was rude." She commented once it was secure.

"I don't care." Nihlus shrugged and lead the way through the docking bay, using his authority to get passed customs.

They went to the hospital and retrieved Mordin first, needing to get Kaidan fitted with an omni-tool.

"Interesting, for once Shepard is not the one in need of my assistance." He commented and nodded to the armored human.

"Nice to see you too, Mordin." Shepard smiled, unable to be seen but it could be heard.

Kaidan

Kaidan sat in the mess unable to stop worrying about Shepard being surrounded by aliens with only another alien to supposedly protect her. The whole situation with Nihlus seemed too good to be true and what was worse is he was the only one who seemed to notice. Shepard and Joker were totally buying into the spiky dino's act. There had to be something Nihlus was after, but what? They were defenseless and offered little of value. Sure they could be sold, but why go through all the effort of saving them just to sell them? What profit was there in that? No it had to be something else. He combed over his memories of the past week on this ship, reviewing the facts that he knew. Whatever Nihlus was after it was centered on Shepard. They were always together, barely left the other's side.

Kaidan thought briefly back to the idea that Nihlus was after a sex pet; it would make sense with how Shepard was dressed when they rescued him. But Shepard denied anything going on and he had it explained to him from both Joker and Shepard that it was solely so they could get into the fighting ring. Helmets were strictly forbidden so they had to have a way to get Shepard in without it and they couldn't just have an armored human walking in when the only known ones were fighting in the pit or pets.

What else would Nihlus want from Shepard? She was a commander and a child of a rich lawyer, but the military didn't negotiate for hostages and the Shepards didn't care much for their daughter beyond what it could do for their social status, at least from what Shepard had told him. Being kidnapped and traveling around space with an alien wasn't a boost to it.

Maybe he was over thinking it. He reviewed the memories of Nihlus' behavior, his interactions with Shepard. He frowned, eyebrows drawing down and together. There was a pattern, something that could explain the lengths Nihlus was willing to go for them, a reason why Joker believed the alien so easily.

"Nihlus is a pretty mellow guy, but he is protective of Shepard." That is what Joker had said. The two were never far apart. She would smile at Nihlus different than she would at anyone else, relax around him; and the look in Nihlus' eyes when he looked at Shepard. Kaidan knew that look, one of longing and tenderness, it was the same way he looked at Shepard.

He stood up from the table, teeth clenched. He stormed to the cockpit and ripped the headset off Joker's head.

"Hey, what the hell, Kaidan?" Joker asked, trying to take them back.

"He loves her." Kaidan said, throwing the headset to the floor.

Joker went to argue, but instead he just sighed. "Yes, she doesn't know." He chuckled. "You know how Shepard is. Smart, passionate, kind, and completely oblivious when it involves herself."

Kaidan gripped the front of Joker's shirt. "And you are ok with this? He is an alien."

The airlock behind them opened. He could hear Shepard talking and cut off mid-sentence. "Kaidan, what the hell are you doing?" she asked and pulled Kaidan off Joker. "You ok?" she asked him.

"Fine, Kaidan just is finally coming to terms with everything." Joker said as he settled down in the pilot chair.

Shepard nodded before she turned back to Kaidan. "What the hell do you think you are doing Lieutenant?" she barked, standing tall and straight and fire in her eyes.

"I was…" Kaidan stammered. He swallowed. "I was just trying to protect you from—"

"From what?" she cut him off. "I am your commanding officer, First Lieutenant; I don't need you protecting me."

"Y-yes ma'am." He nodded and gave her a salute. Shepard rarely pulled rank on people, but when she did it meant that you didn't mess with her.

"Mordin," she barked and a hunched alien came into view. "Alenko, this is Professor Mordin Solus. He will get you fitted with an omni-tool and bone weaves, you are to do whatever he says without question. Am I clear?"

Kaidan flinched slightly, the military training in him strong. "Ma'am yes ma'am." He confirmed.

"Dismissed." She said and turned away from him. He turned on his heel and both he and Mordin went down to the mess.

"Wow…" Nihlus said from his spot in the doorway to the airlock. "I've never seen you be…"

"Don't." Shepard said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I hate doing that."

"It's kind of hot." Joker said from his chair, speaking the words Nihlus wanted to say. Shepard glared at him before leaving the cockpit.

"Very," Nihlus coughed once Shepard was out of earshot. "Well I'm going to go try not to limp all the way to the mess and get some lunch."

"Too much info, Nih." Joker said and pulled his headset back on.

After Kaidan was done being inserted and injected with whom the hell knows what Mordin left, leaving Kaidan shirtless in the mess. "My skin itches." He said, speaking to Shepard who was munching on a bag of chips in the kitchen.

"It's the bone weave, it'll stop in a few hours." She said and offered him the bag.

He went to her and pulled out a few chips to try. "Aliens have potato chips?" he asked, looking at them warily.

"Aliens have junk food." She corrected. "They are like potato chips." She added and shoved a handful in her mouth.

He nodded and tried one, giving it a bit to decide if he liked it. With a shrug he decided they were okay and he ate the rest. "You remember that convoy that the little kid stowed away on?" Kaidan asked her.

She looked at him and after swallowing she nodded. "How can I forget, probably one of the only children I didn't have to shoot in the spine." She sighed and filled her mouth with more chips.

"Yeah…" he said and took her hand in his. "Everyone else was panicking… back then if you saw a child it was most likely with a bomb strapped to his chest. I thought Adams was going to kill the kid, but then you stepped in between them… You saved that kid's life."

She looked away from him. "There wasn't a reason to kill him. Sometimes after everything we see… sometimes we forget that…" she said quietly.

"That kindness in you is reason I stayed on your squad through the rest of the war. It is the reason that I…" he swallowed. He had to tell her before the spiky dino told her, before the alien stole her.

"Kaidan, are you okay?" she asked, setting down the bag of chips to use her hand to feel his forehead.

He chuckled nervously. "I'm fine… just nervous." He admitted. "It is the reason that I fell in love with you." He said, finishing his early thought.

"What?" Shepard asked, taking her hand from his.

"I…" he tried to look up at her, but he was too nervous and continued to look at the space their hands had just been. "I love you, Shepard."

"No," she said, backing up. "No you don't. You don't love me because people don't love me, I'm just… I'm Shepard."

"I do though, I have for a long time, you are just oblivious." He said, matching her steps.

"Yeah, but…" she said, backing away faster. "Even if you do, I… you're not… my type."

"As long as I've known you, as long as Joker has known you too, you have never shown interest in anyone, ever." Kaidan said, still matching her steps. "Then tell me what is your type?"

She thought about it and knew the answer, but she wasn't going to say it. "Just… not…" she trailed off as her back hit the wall.

"Give me a chance, Shepard, I can be whatever you want me to be." He pleaded, face leaning in, lips puckered.

"Ah…" she quickly ducked down, dodging him and getting past him and towards the hallway to the bedrooms. "No… no you can't." she said, turning to make a break for it.

Kaidan followed, catching her a little ways before the door to Nihlus' bedroom. "Yes I can." He said, moving his hand from her wrist to the small of her back and pulled her close, their lips meeting.

The kiss was tender, innocent. It was all lips and no teeth or tongue like with Nihlus and Shepard shocked herself in how much that disappointed her. Kaidan was nice, but he was nice. He was all kind words and complacency. Sure he was a good soldier, but he didn't take charge, he took orders. She needed someone with a bit of metal to clash against her own, someone she could relax around. She needed… "Nihlus." She said when their lips parted, her eyes focusing on the turian standing in his doorway.

Nihlus

He took his time getting back to his ship, even decided to walk than to take the transit. The last three days were a bit of a blur. Constant drinking and sex was the general theme. He vaguely remembered the council calling him once, angry that he had been using his Spectre authority to get bartenders to keep serving him past the normal limit. He lost count of how many people he had been with.

None of it helped. The image of Shepard kissing Kaidan was still in his head, painfully seared to the forefront of his mind. He acted like a child, running away, not pausing as Shepard chased after him, pulled on his arm to get him to stop. She has every right to kiss and be with whoever she wanted, they weren't together. He knew this was a possibility, that Kaidan liked her. He just had hoped that maybe she would chose him over her own species. What a foolish child he had been.

After he made it back to the ship he stood outside of it for a long time, making people stare at him as they passed. Finally with a deep breath he went inside the ship.

"Where have you been?" Joker asked from the pilot seat.

"Out." Nihlus said shrugging.

"Three days." Joker said, getting up and limping over to him. "Three days since you stormed out of here."

Nihlus shrugged again. "I needed some air."

"You needed some air?" Joker said and frowned. "Yeah well so does Shep, but she refuses to even leave your room."

"What?" Nihlus asked, confused.

"Yeah, after you left she hid in your room from Kaidan, she tried to come out yesterday and act normal, but he kept prompting her to give him a chance and she went back into hiding." Joker filled him in.

"Wait, give him a chance?" Nihlus asked, still lost. Hadn't she picked Kaidan?

"Yeah, if you had waited for any information before you charged out of here you would have known what was actually going on." Joker said and looked to see in anyone was coming to the cockpit. "Kaidan told Shepard that he loved her, she told him he wasn't her type and, typical Shepard, tried to run away. Kaidan caught her and kissed her, which is where you came in and stormed out."

"So… she didn't choose him?" Nihlus clarified.

"No, she shot him down and why do you look so happy? That is happiness right?" Joker asked and instead of answering Nihlus started down the hall. "Hey, before you go see here take a shower, you smell like sex and beer."

Nihlus paused and thought about it. He was about to go to the woman he cared for to comfort her that a guy just confessed that he loved her… Yeah he didn't need to broadcast that he had just came from a multi race orgy.

After he was washed and dressed in a pair of under armor pants, all his armor was in his room with Shepard, he entered his room. "Alright what is this I hear of you refusing to get out of bed, I'd really like to know the trick of getting you to stay in one for the next time you're hurt." He teased as he entered.

Shepard was sitting against the headboard of his bed, legs against her chest and head on her knees.

She didn't answer him or move so he moved to the bed and settled himself down beside her. "Seriously this would have been so much easier than you running around the Citadel like last time." He tried again, but she still didn't respond. "Come on Shep, don't shut me out." He said, his voice soft. Gently, he put a hand on her head.

She shifted and looked up at him from the corner of her eye past her mess red hair. "Three days." She muttered.

"Yeah…" he said with a sigh and moved his hand to her far shoulder. "Sorry… I needed… I don't know." He lied.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"No," he answered truthfully.

She looked away from him and they were quiet for a long moment. "Kaidan says he loves me." She said quietly.

He nodded. "And you don't love him." He said, it wasn't a question anymore, still when she shook her head it was a relief. "Why does that mean you have to confine yourself?" he asked as she took his hand off her shoulder and straightened his three fingers with her five.

She sighed and looked up at him, finally raising her head. "Because I don't know what to do." She admitted. "What do you do in this situation?"

He shrugged, "Never been in your position… have been in Kaidan's." he admitted.

She scoffed and looked back down at their hands. "Aren't you some sort of player?" she asked, refusing to look up at him.

He laughed, a deep chuckle that she could feel vibrate through his chest at their closeness. "Some sort, but I have a good feeling that it is different for my species than it is for yours." She glanced up at him for a second, a cue for him to explain. "For turians sex is casual." He said before he shook his head. "Well the first time is. If it continues past that it suggests an interest for something more."

"So basically you can be with whomever you want once, but a second time is scandals?" she asked as she traced his skin down the palm of his hand and past his wrist.

"Yes, but with other species it is different to compensate for their costumes." He purred, scooting slightly closer to her. "Like for species that sex is something you go eight years without." He teased and received a sharp elbow to the side. "In that situation I'd take it slow." He continued. "I'd get to know her, be whatever she needed me to be, maybe steal a few moments of affection, and finally get the encourage to tell her just how much she means to me." His heart was beating fast in his chest, hoping she would catch on, that she would accept him.

She smiled, still looking down at their hands. "Sounds like you have someone special in mind." She said.

"I do," he admitted, curling his fingers around her hand.

She let out a nervous chuckle and smiled, but when she looked up at him it wasn't the kind that lit up her eyes. "Well… thanks for cheering me up, big guy." She said and slid off the bed, heading to the door.

"You still don't get it do you?" he said with a long sigh. "Shepard, you are the most oblivious person I have ever met."

"What?" she asked and turned back to him just in time to have him pin her to the door with his armored body.

"Come on, Shepard, you're smart so stop shoving it aside as an impossibility." He said and tilted her head up to his. She went to speak, but he stopped her, he didn't need her to talk, he needed her to think. So he kissed her, sliding his tongue inside her mouth. She let out a muffled cry of protest, her hands on his upper arms. He felt her realization. Her body tensed, hands gripping his arms, and he kept kissing her until it sunk in, signaled by her hands loosening. There, now he would let her speak and removed his mouth from hers and just pressed their foreheads together. "It's you."

"Shit," she muttered.

A/N: So I'm really sorry for not upholding what I said of having updated a few times this month. The fan in my laptop went out and my external fan's cords didn't get packed so I was without a method to write at all for the first week and a half until me and my boyfriend could get my desktop working and get word installed on it. And then he managed to get more time off than we thought so that also lessened the time I've been writing.

Plus side! It's what you have all been waiting for and it is a pretty lengthy chapter so I hope that makes up for it a bit. This was originally going to be two chapters but I lumped them and have been writing for the past two days pretty dedicatedly so you guys wouldn't kill me. Please review and tell me what you guys think!