Shepard laid awake in bed, on her back and staring up at the ceiling. Her blanket was on the floor, having been discarded in the terror of her waking. Every time she tried to sleep she'd dream that she was back on the operating table. A sob bubbled up and slipped through her lips. Slowly, because that is the only way she could move anymore, she sat up. Her hand went to the back of her neck, fingertips tracing over the metal implant sticking out of her damaged flesh. She jerked them away and hid her hand in her lap to lessen her shaking. Tears gathered in her eyes, threatening to spill over. What did she do to deserve this? A sob was building in her throat again, but she swallowed it, muffled anything that might escape in her hand.

She didn't bother laying back down and trying to sleep more, she knew she wouldn't, she couldn't even close her eyes without seeing his deranged smile. She slip out of the bed and limped to the door. Her right foot dragged on the ground behind her, barely of any use. She tried not to think about how long it took her to make the short trip down the hall. She went to Nihlus' door and opened it, not bothering with knocking.

"Nih…" her voice whimpered, weak and pathetic. She limped her way to his bed, clutching her useless right arm to her chest.

His arm snaked around her waist and tugged her into the bed. "Bad dreams?" Nihlus asked, no sleep in his voice. She must have woken him with her screams. She trembled in answer and clung to him. He didn't ask any more questions, he just held her, his strong hard body an anchor to what was real and what were bad memories.

Finally her shaking stopped and the sobs she could no longer contain slowed enough for her to talk. "Can I sleep in here?" she asked, her voice still small.

"Of course," he said, brushing hair away from her wet face. "Should I go put on pants?"

She tried to laugh, but it got tangled up and gave no noise. "No… No you're fine." she said, wrapping her arms around his midsection and buried her head in the crook of his neck above his ridge. "Thank you for saving me…"

"No problem, Shepard…" he said, rubbing her arm. "I'll always protect you."

Nihlus woke up again early in the day cycle, feeling more relaxed than he had in weeks now that Shepard was safely wrapped in his arms. He looked down at her, curled tightly to his side, her left hand clutching the arm that was around her like it was her life line. He let out a sub-harmonic murmur as he leaned down and buried his face into her neck. Her hair tickled his noise, filling it with her scent, as he nuzzled his way past it to reach her soft flesh. He ran his tongue from her collarbone to the bottom of her ear. He let out a shaky breath, relishing in all the little things he had feared he would never have again, like the salty taste of her skin.

"Hm…" Shepard muttered against his chest. "Don't do that."

"Nerve pain?" he asked, shifting his face to her hair instead.

"No," she admitted. "Pain isn't the only thing that is heightened." She shifted her legs a bit, a motion that Nihlus could feel given their close proximity.

"I'm confused, Shepard," he chuckled, moving back to her neck now that he knew he wasn't hurting her. "Isn't arousal a good thing?" he said huskily against her ear right before he nipped at her earlobe. He followed her jawline with his teeth, just grazing her flesh enough to drive her wild.

She gripped the arm she still was clinging to. "Nih, seriously if you don't stop…" she said, her voice breathless.

"Is that supposed to convince me to stop?" he said, gripping her leg and hitching it over his hip. "You know what you do to me and, spirits Shepard, I thought I lost you."

"You didn't lose me." she assured him, getting him to pull his head back so she could look him in the eye. "And minus the nightmares, nerve pain, bits of metal protruding from my back, and nerve damage I'm no worse for wear," she tried to make light of it. When he didn't laugh or smile she sighed. "Yeah… not that funny, I know…"

"No," he said, his hands over to her ass, gripping it.

She let out a little noise. "Damn it, Nih," she breathed, her hand going around his neck, dragging him into a kiss.

He gladly gave her what she wanted, what they both wanted. Their tongues slide against each other, teeth clashing as they tried to remove any space between them. Nihlus' hands pulled her against him, his hips rocking against her. She was safe, here, and he was going to have her. When they broke apart for air he shifted them so he was kneeled in front of her, her legs draped on either side of him. She was only in the hospital dress the scientists had had he in, the only thing separating them was the sheet twisted up around them. He moved his teeth and tongue along her collar bone, down the side of her throat, and finally to the mark he had left on her shoulder. He gave it a lick before he bit down, trying to be gentle but his instincts won out more than he liked to admit. He let out a groan, bucking against her as he tasted the beads of metallic blood that collected around a few of his teeth.

She let out a cry of pain despite her best efforts. She moved her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle the whimpers that refused to stop. She had tried to ignore the pain, the burning of every touch, but Nihlus' bite was too much. She felt him move away from her and off the bed, but her eyes were shut, and with the tears streaming down her face she doubted she would be able to see anyways.

"You were in pain the whole time, weren't you." Nihlus said after a moment. Though it was worded like a question it wasn't. There was no upward inflection at the end, only anger. "Why?" he demanded.

She curled up on her side, her back to him. "Because you're in pain." she croaked, removing her hand from her mouth.

"I'm fine," he growled. "You're the one who—"

"The one who can't walk, who can't feed myself, who can't do anything." she snapped, a sob shaking her shoulders. "Who can't do a thing about you being over stressed, don't deny it."

"I'm not," Nihlus said with a shrug, though she couldn't see it. "I've been in a constant state of wanting to beat something to death and wanting to fuck you senseless since all this started."

"Then let me help you," she said, rolling over to look at him. She tried to sit up, but her body was ravaged by a wave of pain that caused her to curl up again, this time facing him. "I can't spar with you… but sex… all I really have to do is lie there, that I can do at least… Please Nihlus…" she said, looking up at him past the tears collecting in her eyes and there weren't just ones of pain now. "I'm useless… Let me be of some use."

He sighed and leaned down to her, pressing his forehead to hers. "I would do anything for you, Shepard, but use you." he said, his breath brushing across her face. "We will get you well and then if you still want to you won't hear a complaint out of me." He pulled back, going to his desk where he had the painkillers for her.

"No," she said, forcing herself into a sitting position despite the pain it filled her with. "I can help you now. Hell we don't even know if I will get better."

"I am not going to relieve my pain by causing you more." he said as he drew up the medicine.

"Better one of us not in pain." she countered.

"No," he snapped, gripping the bottle hard in one hand with the filled syringe in the other hand. "I would rather never have you than have you like this, because of this." He glared at her, hard and stern, but also sad. "And if that is what you think that this is between us, that I would ever think of using you like that then maybe I was wrong about you." He didn't mean the words as harshly as he had said them and he could see in her eyes that they hurt her. But it also stirred something in her, he could see it. "Give me your arm." he said, going back over to her.

"Fuck me and I'll take the painkillers." she tried again.

"No, now give me your arm." he growled, going to snatch her arm, but she slid further away.

"Fuck me or you will never get close to me with that needle." she said darkly.

He gave a short laugh. "That might be threatening if you could even walk." he said, climbing on the bed to go after her.

Shepard set her jaw as he was flung backwards, hitting the wall hard. "I warned you." she said, wiping away the blood that trickled out of her nose.

"Shepard…" he said, taking deep breaths to try and refill his lungs. "You can kill yourself using your biotics right now."

"Then at least I wouldn't be a burden." she snapped at him, forcing him into a sitting position and holding him there with her biotics. More blood trickled out of her nose and she could feel it starting to drip from one of her ears. She stood easily, whatever was loose was working with her biotics active.

It ached his heart to hear he talk like that. He wanted to turn back time to before all this happened so she would never think something like that. He wanted to know what to say to get her to believe him, to get her to stop, but there was only one thing he could think of. He watched as the blood from her ear ran down the side of her neck and stained her hospital dress. "Please stop…" he pleaded. The only response she gave was to tighten the biotic restraints on him.

"I will not be useless. I will not be a burden. I will not be helpless." With each statement the binds grew tighter. Blood started to drip from her other ear, landing on the floor by her feet.

Helpless. That was it. She blamed herself for what happened, because to her she wasn't strong enough to stop it. She had failed the standards she held herself to, a ghost of the standards she was held to as a child. The realization made him want to go down to his holding cells and rip that fucking salarian apart. "You're not helpless, you are one of the strongest people I know." he tried to reason.

"You look at me with pity." she sobbed, letting the blood from her nose run down her lips.

"No I don't, I look at you with worry, and with good reason with what you are currently doing." he growled.

She went to yell at him, but her mouth simply hung open as her hands when to her head. Blood was a steady trickle from her nose now and Nihlus feared if he didn't get her to calm down soon she would fry her brain.

"Alright," he said, feeling the biotics incasing him lessen slightly. "I'll do it. If it will help then of course I will. You don't know how much I want you, Shepard." he said, the only truth in it being the last statement.

The biotics released him and after a couple of blinks Shepard seemed to be ok from their use. "Really?" she asked, cautious.

"Yes," he said, holding out a hand and motioned for her to come to him. She reached behind her, hands fumbling with the tie to the dress. Once it was undone she let it fall to the ground and Nihlus had to admit, he loved the view. "You are beautiful." he said honestly. She walked to him and moved so she was straddling his hips. His hands went to her waist, following the curves of her body. Having her on him was amazing. She was so warm and he ground his hips up against her as his body reacted to her presence. She moved her hands to his shoulders and in a typical Shepard fashion shut her eyes as he slipped past his plates to press against her. He let out a sigh of relief. "That's my Shepard." he said, running a hand from her shoulder down to her ass, relishing in the feeling of her against him. He gripped her ass in one hand, pulling her forward and up along him and then stuck the needle with the painkillers into her butt cheek, plunging the drugs into her system before she could offer any resistance.

She looked at him with eyes of betrayal before she slid forward against his chest and drifted off.

Nihlus discarded the needle and wrapped his arms around her, his face burring into her neck. He start there with her against him and cried. Crying for turians wasn't the same as other species. There weren't tears, but there were sobs. His shoulders shook and he fought to keep quiet enough that others wouldn't hear him, not even Kolyat with his ability to hear the sub-harmonics. She was different, changed from what they did to her. They had taken some of her innocents, her idealism, and he feared that she might never be the same. He wanted his Shepard back, the socially awkward, timid girl that had fully entranced him. If this was love, this pain and heartache, then he didn't want it.

Once he regained his composure he carried Shepard back to the bed like a child and laid her down. He brushed her hair out of her face tenderly. "You will get better." he said, trying to be optimistic. "You're strong, you can get through this." He leaned down and pressed his forehead to hers. "And then I will have you, if you don't freak out at the thought and run away again." he chuckled. "You'll… we'll get through this."

He backed away from her and went to his wardrobe, pulling out one of his undershirts to cloth her in. Once she was covered he dressed himself and then left his room. He went down to the mess where the rest of the crew was just waking up and getting breakfast.

"Well look who it is. You sleep in for once?" Joker asked from the table, looking up from his plate of powdered eggs and sausage.

Instead of replying he grabbed Kaidan by the back of the shirt and dragged him off to the cargo bay. "Hey, what are you doing?" Kaidan asked as he was dragged away from his breakfast. "Nihlus, what is going on?" he asked again once Nihlus let him go in the middle of his and Shepard's sparing ring.

"I normally spar with Shepard, but she is incapable, so you will be my opponent. Try not to disappoint." Nihlus said taking off the top half of his armor, but left the bottom half on because things hadn't calmed down after his encounter with Shepard yet.

"Oh…" Kaidan said, a little wary. He had watched Nihlus and Shepard spare before and most of the time Shepard lost. She had been a much better hand to hand fighter than he was back in the military, but he'd still try and hope his time in the pit had improved his ability. "Ok." he said with a nod, going over to the crate Shepard kept the wraps for her hands and started putting them on.

Once he was ready he turned back around and held up his fists to guard his face. "Ready." he said and Nihlus hit him hard in the stomach. He stumbled back, winded, but managed to recover quickly and send a jab at Nihlus. Nihlus blocked and hit him in the side of the head.

'This is going to be too easy.' Nihlus thought with an inward sigh.

SaS

There was a moment of peace as she woke, a pleasant place between awareness and slumber that allowed her to dismiss the pain. But it was fleeting as the pain consumed her, filled every part of her mind until she was biting her hand to stop her whimpers. It wasn't like being stabbed, or shot, or a broken bone, those pains she had had before and could dismiss them enough that she could still function. The nerve pain was different. It felt like a thousand tiny needles pricking her skin repetitively, but even that she could brush off. The real problem was that everything was so intense. She could feel the air shifting around her from the ventilation system in the room, her hair brushing against her face and neck if she attempted any movement, the fabric of the baggy shirt she was wearing pressing heavily against her skin.

Too heavy, she thought as she sat up and stripped it off. It didn't help, now she could feel the air shifting around her with every bit of her naked flesh. She stood up, spinning around in the center of the room, looking for an escape from all the stimulation. But what could she do? Where could she go? No matter where she went there would still be something. There was no vacuum for her to take refuge in—well there was the empty space outside the ship, but that would kill her and despite the pain she didn't want to die, not yet. She stopped moving, but the room didn't stop spinning. "Nih…" she muttered with heavy lips. The floor rose up to greet her, or maybe she fell, everything was still spinning. Was she even on the floor or the ceiling? Maybe a wall? "N…" she tried to call for him, but her lips refused to work and only drool dribbled out of her mouth instead of sound.

She laid there trapped in her own body without any way to track the passing of time. At first she was terrified, scared about what was wrong with her, but after a while the fear ebbed away and was replaced with relief. She couldn't feel or move her limbs, but that meant she couldn't feel the pain in them anymore. There was a peace to it, but she didn't have her mind to herself. There was something there, normally just an itch behind the pain. It felt like bliss and anger pressing into her mind, altering her thoughts, if only slightly. She may have been an attempted rebel as a child, but she had never been a druggy, though she had heard many accounts of being under the influence. 'Red sand…' she thought, digging past the feelings that were not her own. It felt like when she had inhaled the red sand. It felt like the anger she felt when the batarian had tried to hurt Nihlus. Did that mean she was still being dosed? By who? Nihlus wouldn't do it nor would he let anyone do it. Could it have been from before?

Before she could dwell on it anymore the door to the room opened. "Shepard," Nihlus' voice said from somewhere outside of her vision. He rolled her over, onto her back, his arm around the back of her shoulders. His finger went to her neck, checking her pulse. "Thank the spirits," he muttered when he felt her blood pumping under his finger.

"N…" she slurred past her comatose muscles.

"I'm here, Shepard," he said brushing his finger over a trail of drool that bubbled past her lips. "You're going to be ok." he said, more for his own benefit. He lifted her up and carried her to the bed. Rather than clothe her again when she had just thrown the shirt off, he covered her with his light sheet. "You stay here, I'm going to go get help." He got up and exited the room, pausing outside of it to calm his pounding heart. For a minute there he thought she was dead. He had left her alone for a majority of the day because he had wanted her to sleep, but to come back and find her naked and twisted on the floor…

He pushed off the wall he was leaning on and headed down to the cargo bay, only giving Kaidan and Kolyat a glance at where they were watching a movie on the wrap around couch in the lounge. Kaidan had an icepack on his shoulder, a result of his and Nihlus' sparring match. They didn't see him and Nihlus preferred it that way. He was already worried enough about Shepard, he didn't need everyone hovering over her and he really didn't need to explain why she was naked in his bed to Kaidan.

As he descended the stairs into the cargo bay he tried to regulate his breathing. His stress was still high, the sparring match helped a bit, but all of that was undone when he found Shepard. In short, he wanted to kill someone and he needed the bastard alive. Didn't mean he couldn't hurt him. He stopped in front of the scientists cell, his hands behind his back.

"Let me guess, she went into a coma?" the scientist said, a knowing smirk on his face.

"You knew this would happen?" Nihlus growled.

"It wouldn't have, if you had let me continue." he said, standing up from the bench and moving in front of the mass effect field keeping him locked in. "Without the proper care her health will deaerate." He could see his words were having a negative effect on Nihlus. With a twisted smile he continued. "She will be in horrible pain. She'll lose function in her limbs as her body starts rejecting her implants. After all she is an unknown species, it takes trial and error to get an implant compatible. Tell me, has she started bleeding from her nose, ears, and eyes?"

Nihlus adverted his eyes, his mandibles twitching with mixed emotions. "Nose and ears, not her eyes." he said quietly.

"She will, and the pressure in her head will keep growing until her brain turns to mush and finds any hole to seep out of. And fascinating part of it" he smiled wide "is that she'll still be alive when it starts. She won't die until it works its way through her cerebral cortex."

Nihlus' hands turned into fists as he resisted shouting insults about this guy. "Can you help her?" he growled lowly.

"Yes," the salarian said. "But what's in it for me?"

Nihlus chuckled and lowered the mass effect field. "You get to see your work again, you're the kind of psychopath that gets off on that." he said as grabbed the salarian by the front of his shirt and dragged towards the stares. "And I'm less likely to kill you."

They were spotted on the way back up by the movie watchers. "Nihlus? Is something wrong?" Kaidan asked, getting up from the couch and following him towards the stairs that lead to the officer quarters.

"Shepard has gotten worse, but I'm handling it." Nihlus said without looking back at him.

Kaidan went to follow, but Kolyat grabbed his arm. "You can't hear his sub-harmonics, but trust me, you don't want to be near him right now." he said, pulling Kaidan back down onto the couch.

Nihlus dragged the scientist up into his room. He stood him in front of Shepard and kicked him in the back of the leg, forcing him to his knees. "Save her, or I will kill you." he growled.

"You are such a good negotiator," the salarian grumbled. He just stood there on his knees in front of the bed. "Well?" the man said, looking up at Nihlus.

"Well what?" Nihlus responded, his dark growling tone still thick with every word.

"Aren't you going to put her on her stomach? I'm a scientist, not a lab hand," he said, poking Shepard's pink fleshy shoulder with a boney finger.

Nihlus glared at him, but rolled Shepard onto her stomach and moved the blanket down so it hugged her hips.

Satisfied that Nihlus was following his commands, however small they were—for now—he stood up and started running his fingers over the implants.

"She blew out two of them." the salarian said before moving up to the top one, pulling out a small vial from the implant. "And the red sand is out."

"Red sand?" Nihlus growled, grabbing the front of the salarian's shirt. "You have been drugging her?"

"Yes," the salarian said, completely calm despite the large turian's claws so close to his throat. "It does her small amounts to keep her biotic abilities at their maximum. Sadly it does have negative long term affects we are still looking to counteract."

"Like becoming addicted, weight loss, loss of mental function, and death." Nihlus growled.

"With this vial removed your precious cretin has maybe… ten minutes before she starts losing parts of her brain. If you want my help, I suggest you start being a lot nicer," the salarian said with a wide smile. Seeing the shock and fear on Nihlus face was priceless, but it also prompted the scientist in him to further explain. "This vial connects with the circuit for the rest of the implants, which are damaged enough already. One of said damages fused this vial with some of those circuits. I may have torn some of those wires getting it out, not really by accident if I am being honest, but the leverage on you is nice to have. Without the wire I ripped out the mass effect energy she is producing, magnified by the implants, red sand, and refined element zero, cannot flow properly through her. The buildup will collect in a couple different clusters, one of which will be in her brain." The salarian looked down at Shepard. "See, it is already happening, the mass effect energy is becoming trapped in pockets and ripping her apart," he said, delight dripping in his voice.

Nihlus looked down and saw on Shepard's mid-back, one of the implants was starting to drip blood and clear fluid. He let the salarian go and let him move back to Shepard. "If I save her, I want shuttle and I want to not be followed," the scientist bargained.

"You did this," Nihlus growled, pointing to Shepard's comatose form. "Do you think I am just going to let you go?"

"If you don't she dies."

"If she dies, I kill you." Nihlus said, reaching behind him to grab his pistol from his belt, but it wasn't there.

"Looking for this?" the salarian said, revealing the pistol from one of his pockets. "You really shouldn't be playing with guns," he said, pointing the gun at Nihlus' head. "They kill people."

Nihlus growled and went to lunge at him, but the salarian moved the gun, pointing it at Shepard instead, halting Nihlus.

"No, you don't care what happens to you, do you?" he said, a grin appearing on his face again. "But this thing, this Shepard, you care a lot about. Enough to let down your guard if it meant saving her." He gave a slight laugh. "And you know the best part? I don't even have to shoot her, I just have to hold you there for… four more minutes, maybe five, and she will die on her own. So," he said, putting his finger on the trigger "about that shuttle."

Kaidan

He stood, tense, at the bottom of the stairs to the officer quarters. It was too quiet upstairs, it made him nervous. Finally Nihlus came back down with the salarian scientist behind him. "Nihlus, what is going on?" he asked, sending a sneer in the hunched alien's direction.

Nihlus sighed, but didn't answer. He went down into the cargo bay with the scientist and Kaidan close behind. He went over to a small shuttle and pulled the tarp off of it. "There you go, now give me the serum and you are free to go, we won't follow you," he said to the salarian.

"What?" Kaidan exclaimed, outraged. "Why? After what he did to Shepard…"

"Kaidan, enough." Nihlus snapped at him. "He is leaving, I'll explain later."

"A pleasure doing business with you," the salarian said before climbing into the shuttle. He powered it up and returned to the door. "Lower the hanger door and the serum is yours," he said, holding up a vial of crystal blue liquid.

Nihlus' mandibles twitched. "Joker, lower the hanger door," he ordered.

"Are you sure about that, Cap?" Joker replied.

Nihlus stilled his mandibles against his face before answering. "Yes."

The hanger door lowered, much to the scientist's pleasure, and he tossed Nihlus the vial. "A pleasure doing business indeed." He went back into the ship, sealed the doors, and took off through the open hanger door.

As soon as he had the vial Nihlus was off, rushing back upstairs. He went straight into his room and slid the small vial into the implant at Shepard's tailbone.

"Nihlus, are you going to explain why you just let that bastard go?" Kaidan said, coming into the room after him. "And why Shepard in naked in your bed?" he added, seeing the woman he desired asleep on the bed with her hospital gown in the middle of the floor.

Nihlus rubbed his hands against his face plates. "She had a nightmare last night and asked if she could sleep in my room. I said yes and then this morning I left her in bed to rest. When I came back she was naked and passed out on the floor with blood coming out of her nose and ears. Since that is clearly not a good sign I went to discuss this with the salarian 'bastard' who confirmed that she was dying.

"In an attempt to save her I forced the scientist to save her, but he managed to get the upper hand and made her condition worse, saying that the only way he would save her is to be given a shuttle and not to be followed. I agreed because if I hadn't Shepard would have died in minutes. He fixed him implants so she wouldn't expire before we reach medical help, but to ensure I did as I promised he held on to the last vial of refined element zero until he was on the ship." Nihlus said in just a few breaths.

"So now that you are done accusing me of desecrating Shepard please get out of my room so I can get her dressed and if you really want to be helpful then go help Joker in the cock-pit and relay this information to him as I'm sure he is worried too."

Shepard

The throbbing in her head had lessened, but the oversensitivity crawling across her skin was relentless. She tried opening her eyes, but the dull light in the room was enough to make her groan, shutting them tightly against the assault. She sat up and swung her legs off the side of the bed, hissing in pain from the movement. She cracked her eyes open, keeping them down and away from the light in the ceiling. It still hurt, but it was bearable. Now able to see she pushed herself to her feet and started slowly, stumbling her way to the door to her room. A few feet in front of it her footing faltered and she started towards the ground, but she never reached it. The door opened and strong arms caught her. "Thanks," she muttered, looking up and expecting to see Nihlus, but instead it was another turian in blue armor. She stared at him for a long second before she pulled back a fist and punched him hard in the nose.

"Ow, you're welcome?" he said, rearing back to avoid more punches she threw in his directions, which was difficult because he still had to keep ahold of her to help her keep her balance. "Is this a normal human thank you?"

"You fucking shot me, you ass," she growled as she fought to land more hits.

"Vakarian," Nihlus' voice called out from behind them. He looked at the situation before sighing. "Shepard, please stop trying to hurt him, you won't be as effective in your condition."

Shepard looked at him and pointed to Vakarian. "He shot me. In the leg. Crappy shot, I would have gone for the head," she said, clogging him in the head again to make her point.

"I did," Garrus said, rubbing the abused spot.

"Like I said, shit shot." Shepard said, pulling away from him to stumbling into Nihlus instead.

"I would have hit you in the head, if Kryik hadn't grabbed my gun." Vakarian defended.

"Still a shit shot," she muttered sourly. "What are you even doing here?"

"I'm part of your guard." Vakarian said as a matter of fact, crossing his arms and standing up straight, making her feel as small as possible.

"Oh? The shit shot get demoted to guard duty," she egged him on. Nihlus would stop her, but he could hear the change in her tone, going from pissed to playful. She had gotten her revenge and knew that Garrus had been under orders when he shot her. She would still give him shit, it was her favorite past time.

"No," Garrus said, giving out a low sub-harmonic growl. "I asked to be posted here."

"Nice job admitting you're a shit shot," she said before turning away and started towards the bathroom.

Garrus gave a short laugh, "She always this feisty?" he asked Nihlus.

"Always," Nihlus said, his mandibles flaring into a smile.

Garrus' eyes went to Shepard's hips for the briefest moment. "Nice," he said, turning his eyes away respectfully when Nihlus let out a protective sub-harmonic growl.

"You have no idea," Nihlus admitted, crossing his arms.

Shepard returned shortly. "So where is my armor?" she asked, clear from her tone she wasn't a fan of wearing it in her condition.

"You're not wearing it, you can bearing be in contact with anything for long right now, I'm not going to strap you in armor and make you walk across the citadel." Nihlus said.

"But I—"

"It is time for your species to officially join our society, there are already news articles cropping up everywhere." Garrus said.

Shepard blinked in surprise. "Looks like I'll need to get all dolled up then," she said, slipping past the turians and back into her room.

"All what?" Garrus asked.

"Human expression, ignore it." Nihlus said, waving it off. "She uses them a lot."

Garrus turned away politely as Shepard's hands to the hem of her shirt, but not before he caught a glimpse of the implants lining her spine. He knew from his debriefing that the scientist that had done it had gotten away and seared the name into his memory, promising that he would find someone who would do something so cruel. Dr. Saleon.

Shepard pulled on her sports bra, accepting Nihlus' help to lay it in between the implants. Next she pulled a clean shirt on with a hiss.

"I'm sorry for putting you through this." Nihlus said quietly. "But we will take you to Mordin and he can help." He ran his fingers through her hair.

"It's ok," she said, her hands going to her pants and unbuttoned them, she went to let them drop, but stopped when she realized that she wasn't wearing any panties. "Turn around," she told Nihlus.

"No," he said, glancing back to make sure Garrus still wasn't looking. He slid behind her, his arms encircling her waist. "I've seen you bare before," he purred, his left hand sliding past her pants.

"Nih…" she gasped as he traced her seam with a talon. "We aren't exactly alone."

"Turians are more accepting of this than humans," he said, but removed his hand. He leaned down to her ear so only she would hear. "Once you are better, I am going to take you up on that offer," he said huskily. When he pulled back her face was red and she was biting her bottom lip. Yes she remembered that, had hoped it was some sort of drugged dream. She had hoped that she didn't let her judgement be so clouded with desire and emotions, but she was never a lucky person, it is why she never played the lottery.

Despite his words when Nihlus backed away from her he went over to where Garrus was standing and turned his back to her, the gentleman deep inside of him showing itself.

Once she was dressed and had combed her fingers through her hair until it looked presentable, they left the ship. Outside the airlock where three other aliens in blue uniforms and Kaidan. Two were other turians, and the third was an asari. Shepard shuddered and flinched as she passed her, the memories of her kidnapping still fresh.

The sunlight was glaringly bright, making her squint. Kaidan noticed and moved to hold her hand to help guide her. Shepard clung to his hand past the pain, thankful for the help and comfort. A tear slid from the corner of her eye and she hoped that they would think it was from the sunlight and not from the self-pity she felt from needing the help.

Nihlus looked at their joined hands, but decided it was best not to do anything about it. Instead he turned his attention to the crowds around them. It didn't take long for Shepard and Kaidan's presence to be noticed. The guards kept their positions around the two humans to keep the crowds back. Nihlus was at the front, pushing his way roughly through the crowds.

It took a while, but they made it to the hospital without incident. An asari nurse was waiting for them with a stretcher. Shepard saw it and started retreating, letting go of Kaidan's hand and went for the gap in between the two rear guards. Garrus was one of them and moved to block her escape and catch her.

"Shepard," Nihlus said, moving to her side quickly.

"No," she screamed, thrashing in Garrus' grasp. "No, no, no." She created a mass effect field around her and Garrus and increased the gravity in it. Both of them fell to their knees.

"Shepard," Nihlus repeated, entering the mass effect field, but he managed to stay on his feet, barely. The tile around his foot cracked under the pressure. Once he was beside her he let himself drop to his knees. "It's ok," he said, cupping her cheek in his hands and forced her to look at him. "I'm not going to let anything hurt you," he said, trying to reach his Shepard behind the fear.

She trembled. "Promise?" she said, her bottom lip quivering with every syllable.

"I promise," he said and felt the mass effect field around them dissipate. "Mordin is going to help make you better. You remember Mordin?"

She nodded and let Garrus and Nihlus help her to her feet. They brought her beside the stretcher. "You need to lay down," Nihlus told her, but she still clung to him.

She looked at it and laid a timid hand on it before jerking it away. She folded herself back into Nihlus' arms. "Is breá liom tú," she said, a sob leaking through her voice, before she climbed on the stretcher and laid down.

"She is in good hands," the asari nurse said before wheeling her into the operating room.

A/N: I am so sorry it has been so long and I feel like I have been saying this in every A/N lately, but life right now sucks. Long story short: my FASFA didn't process so I've been paying my tuition out of pocket this semester while I've been trying to hide my money situation from my loving boyfriend who if he knew would force me to let him help. That is a trait this Shepard gets from me by the way, the inability to accept help easily. Any who I hope you liked the chapter and the hints I have placed in of what will be coming up later in the story. We even got a glimpse of what is going to be happening in the sequel. Yes I have already laid out most of the sequel's plot before I have even finished the first one. Also none of you freak out about the money thing either, I've got it handled at this point.