After Jane stormed out of the war room, Joker and EDI started to the cockpit to take the ship en route to Cronos station after letting them know the ETA was 22 hours. The rest followed, each of them dispersing throughout the ship, getting back to their posts and try to forget everything that happened here. The reapers, innocent deaths, even the party. Kaidan just stood there, dumbfounded, suddenly realizing that only him and Saren remained in the room.

The turian slowly walked towards the door with a violent look on his face, targeting only Kaidan. When he was about to pass him, Saren stopped and looked at the little human from the corner of his eye. A shiver ran down Kaidan's spine, as he realized how big he was. He only reached up to his shoulder, that now turned to Kaidan. Saren was swimming in Jane's cherry scent.

He grimaced at the thought of what might have happened between the two of them. He looked up at the turian, and met his cold blue eyes.

He spoke on a deep, whispering voice: "I see you still can't keep your mouth shut. If you ever talk to her like that again, she won't have any body of yours to throw out the airlock, because I will cut you into pieces.."

And as he finished, he passed him and left the room, leaving Kaidan all alone.

"It was over the line."

As Tali was sitting down with her tea in the mess hall, Garrus put his left arm over her shoulder. She smiled at him and started drinking her tea.

"I agree." Garrus replied "Kaidan should know better at this point."

Tali scoffed. "Garrus, you're too kind… He won't know better, ever. What did you expect from him? He left Jane when she needed friends the most, how could he understand?"

"You should listen to your quarian, she's on point." came from behind their backs suddenly. They saw Saren enter the mess, stepping to the coffee machine.

There was something different about him that Garrus only now noticed. His voice had an undertone that he only heard from turians a couple times in his whole life. And his mandibles immediately clicked when he noticed the mark on the left side of his neck.

He didn't know what was more surprising: the fact that Saren had bonded with someone or the fact that Jane was strong enough to make a visible mark on him. Turian skin was hella tough. But after thinking for a second, neither of these things were surprising. Saren sent a whole reaper into a sun and lost an arm just to bring her back to safety, and Jane was strong enough to scare away human males. They suddenly seemed perfect for each other in his mind.

Under the table Tali squeezed one of his talons. It seemed she noticed too. Garrus was doing his best to mask away his thoughts and continue the conversation so Saren doesn't notice their awareness.

"Kaidan's not evil.. He's just a bit..."

"Sheep-minded." Saren finished the sentence, casually grabbing a mug. "He thinks institutes solve everything. He relentlessly believes in the Council and the Alliance, and ignores reality. As far as I know evacuation is the call of the Council and is carried out by C-Sec and Citadel officials. Jane belongs to none of those groups." he started to prepare his coffee at this point, not even looking at the others "Jane is a spectre, with the sole purpose of defeating the reapers. The fact that Alenko believes Jane is responsible for the evacuation of those people shows that he misunderstands the basic difference between institution and spectres. And that's a shame, since he too was offered a spectre position."

His coffee was ready. He turned around.

"I can't argue with that.." replied Garrus, nodding in his direction.

"I just hope Jane is ok.." Tali added. Saren looked at her, stirring his coffee.

"She'll be fine. A little sparring and all her worries will go away." and with that he was off to the elevator.

Tali and Garrus looked at each other in a hurry once they were sure the elevator left the floor.

"Did you see the mark?"

He did not lie.

He was absolutely sure that it was just a matter of time, and Jane would come flying to the gym to tear it up. And when that happened, he was going to help her release the tension, he was sure. But first he had to retire a bit into his quarters.

When he entered his bunk he climbed out of his robe and jumped into the shower. He washed all the blood off and continued to just stand there with the hot water streaming down his face.

He couldn't control his mind.

Just an hour ago Jane was sitting in his lap, biting into some cherries. He just couldn't let it go, he felt he was still in that moment. He felt her nails digging into his neck, marking him forever, just like how he marked her.

He wanted to feel her again, to devour her again and again, and then destroy the reapers once and for all. He was never this pumped in his entire life, and he felt stronger than ever. A whole reaper army could come for him now, and he would not care. What this woman did to him was stranger than anything in this world.

He was never looking for love.

He never thought he was going to mark someone, much less let someone mark him. But she was different. She was perfect. Everything about her amazed him, from her scent to her hair, her body, the fire inside her, her intelligence. It was her idea to close the Citadel arms on Harbinger… fucking crazy. He smirked.

He finished showering as fast as he could, he needed to go.

Jane opened the gym door and slipped in. All she saw was the punching bags, she focused in on them immediately, and started punching.

She was so angry.

That fucker Kaidan accused her of leaving half the Citadel rotting there. She had enough. She had to deal with Mordin's, Thane's, Legion's, and so many other deaths, he couldn't keep it together anymore. The whole galaxy was expecting her to save everyone, everywhere, without casualties and it started to seriously bother her. She honestly didn't care anymore. She beat herself for so many deaths, she beat herself to the ground countless times, everyday. She was tired of all of this. Was it so hard to understand that she was a living being as well?

Was it so hard to understand that falling to the ground every time wasn't helping anyone?

She was destroying the bags as her thoughts raced, firing her fists into them with incredible speed every second. She wished Saren was here now. He was the only one who saw her for what she was: he didn't look down on her and never thought she was weak, but didn't look at her as only a tool to save the world with either.

Saren…. For a split second her hands stopped at the thought of him, but she quickly resumed. What a man. Just thinking about him fired her up and now she was attacking the bag like it was her mortal enemy. She felt his touch on her skin still, his voice in her ear. The pain when he bit her still lingered in her mind. He knew her so well, he was probably on his way here. And when he would arrive, they would spar until she would lose all her strength.

The door opened suddenly.

It wasn't him.

It was Kaidan again, steeping in, looking at Jane with his puppy face, remorse in his eyes. She was already tired of this. She wasn't sure at all if it was a good idea to bring Kaidan along at this point: no one dared to openly doubt her apart from him and it started to get on her nerves. Every time he'd doubt her he'd come around to say sorry eventually, making her feel like she was too hard on him. And he was standing here again, with that face.

She sighed. "Yes?"

He started fidgeting. "Look, Jane, I know what I said was..."

"It's Commander" she corrected him instantly as she stopped the bag with her hands, looking at him with eyes throwing sparks.

He cleared his throat, starting over again in defeat: "Commander, I know what I said was disrespectful. I didn't mean to say it was your fault… I was angry, I guess."

"Fine" she replied, the anger still present in her voice "But you should really learn to channel that anger in the right direction. I don't do well with my crew disrespecting me like that..."

She was vicious, her eyes said it all.

There was something in her that he felt like wasn't there before. It was the same confidence, but it seemed like it had a dark impulse behind it. It scared him almost.

"Of course. I'm sorry."

"You know Kaidan" she started, stepping closer to him "All I hear from you is you saying something stupid, then apologizing for it. Sometimes I think bringing you on the ship was a mistake."

That hurt him. He looked into her eyes and all he saw was an unfamiliar fire that he never saw before. He wasn't sure who this woman was anymore.

"You changed, Shepard." he replied, his expression riddled with disappointment. "I'm not sure who you are anymore." he said, but her reply was not the one he expected. He saw the same disappointment mirroring in her eyes.

"I never changed Kaidan. If you would have been here when it counted, you would know that." and she turned around, leaving him at the door. He just stood there, flabbergasted. But he didn't have even a second to reply, as he heard a very familiar step behind his back, and he realized there was someone behind him.

It was Saren. He knew.

He turned around to see his face, to see the usual disgust on his plates, but when he looked at him, that was not what he saw. The turian didn't even notice him, not even from the corner of his eyes. He only saw Jane, the cold blue in his eyes locked on her. It had only sheer amazement in it, nothing else.

He understood that day that he had nothing to do here, and passed Saren without a word, leaving the gym.

He stepped in, only wearing some training gear, and nothing else. His eyes were glaring at her, a growl already starting in his chest. She stepped away from the bag and immediately made her way to him. She stopped only a step away, and he wasn't sure if she was going attack him straight away, or kiss him. She was in a small short and a fitting black top that let her hips show.

He inhaled deeply.

"You're so predictable..." he teased as a sly smile spread across his face. She loved that smile.

"Just like you are.." she replied, sinking into a hip.

"Want to dance?" was all he asked, settling into a battle stance.

She laughed a bit, her husky voice promising him entertainment: "Only if you can keep up!"

He cracked his neck, and they started what they call dancing.

Jane simply went in for a slap, not unusual of her, and Saren blocked. Move followed move and they were quickly in the middle of the room, trying to land in a punch. They were in their own little world again, circling around each other in a dance of sparring, a large smile on both of their faces. Jane laughed loudly as they went faster and faster, and he noticed she was moving even more fluidly than usually. She was playing with him, eventually forcing him into a position where he left his chest unprotected; which she used to kick him clean in the stomach.

He was forced to take a step back, and realized immediately that he will have to duck down, as a round kick was incoming. She raised her leg high, aiming for his head, and as she turned her hair flew after her, showing her amazing back, and Saren changed his mind. He caught her calve in the air instead, and before she could react, he ran his talons along her leg, up towards her thighs.

That caught her off guard.

She removed her legs instinctively and started looking for other ways to crack his defenses. But it was too late, and he was already the one attacking again, threatening her with heavy punches that flew just inches next to her face. The air became hot as they moved, buried deep into the passion of landing a point. And when she went in for a high punch, leaving her waist open to attack, she screamed a bit in surprise.

He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up onto his shoulder, turning as he went, laughing out. He carried her like a potato sack and Jane was screaming, her feet dangling in the air, making Saren laugh even more.

"Put me down, this is unfair!" she threatened him, slapping his back that did nothing. But in his laughter it was him this time that forgot about defense. Jane dug her nails into his side suddenly, firing pain into his sides that made him fall to his knees, letting her go. She fell on her back in front of him and turned to stand up from her knees, but Saren caught her right ankle.

And pulled her right under him. He pressed his talons on her back, and clawed lightly into her skin, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I'm unfair? What was that with your nails?" he growled at her, half laughing. She turned around and tried to hit him but he pinned her hands down next to her head. "Who's laughing now?"

"Not you..." she said with a sly smile, kicking him in the stomach. He rolled off of her, and both of them stood up, panting from the exercise. They were face to face again, fists up, enjoying the game. And they were at it again, hitting and blocking, evading constantly, circling around the room in their battle. Saren became more and more aggressive, taking over the control of the match, but never letting down his smile. His movements changed, and it seemed that his goal now was not to hit Jane, but to touch her when she least expected it. And she decided to play along.

That resulted in her eventually slamming him to the wall, following up with her fist, but she hit the wall instead, since he moved his head away. He caught her hand that slammed into the wall. He pulled on it, so now she was leaning against the wall, with him looking down at her. He was so close she could feel the rumble in his chest as he murmured into her ears, pinning her to the wall.

"You can't win against me.." he whispered, planting a kiss on her neck, and without a second of thinking he reached down to raise her leg up to his hip. His large talons slid up her things to touch her, resulting in her moaning into his ear.

She felt his talons on her skin, his mouth on her neck and she knew there was no going back now. As she wrapped her arms around his neck to caress his fringe, he hugged her waist, pulling her closer to him. She kissed him wherever she could, giving in to the sensation that he caused her. Their lips met a second later, and they exchanged a long, heated kiss, that left them breathless. He pressed her to the wall again, and pushed his talons under her top, tracing them up on her waist, just below his breasts.

"You don't need this..." he whispered on his godly voice, barely keeping it together. She was irresistible to him, and he wanted her right now. But she stopped his hand, grabbing it at the wrist.

"Close the door.." she sighed, caressing his leg with her own. She was right. She was only for him to see, and no one else. He quickly reached behind to look at his omni tool and with a touch of a button the console on the door turned red.

And with that he continued discovering her once again. She invited him, pressing herself to him, dragging the clothes off of him, as his hands slid under her top. She enjoyed every moment of him touching her, and urged him on, pulling him closer and closer. They were not nearly done with each other.

He turned her, so he was now behind her, and propped one of her hands behind her back to keep her still. He pressed her to the wall and reached with his other hand to cup her breasts as she pressed her hips to his. He returned her movement to tease her, while he bit into her neck, strengthening his mark.

"You're beautiful" he hummed into her ear and finally eliminated the distance between them, taking her in a feverish move. He pressed into her hard, making her moan with pleasure. His insides were on fire from the burning desire he felt for her, that only grew with every second.

They quickly got lost in each other, enjoying the moment while they still could.

Because they felt it too, the darkness was coming fast again.