Note: Okay, this one is a shorty...I just couldn't make this content work with how I'm doing the next chapter so...viola! I made it a chapter all it's own. The title of this one is from the song I have chosen for Cerrus with Tali, The Reason by Hoobastank. I hope ya'll enjoy this, I'm chipping away at the next one so it should be up shortly.

As always feedback is very much welcome and thank you to the reviews, favorites, and follows. Happy Reading!

Mass Effect
"Foreign Relations"

Chapter Twelve: The Reason

Garrus was seated on the couch in Sidda's quarters as they laughed about the mission they'd just completed. The team had consisted of Garrus, Kaidan, and Wrex and when Sidda had sent them down to the steamy hot planet she hadn't expected a comm call only 30 minutes later. Apparently it was also the last time Garrus would ever let Kaidan drive the Mako, the Lieutenant got the tank so stuck in a crevasse that it took the Normandy and the combine ingenuity of Cerrus, Tali, Adams, and Joker to get it unstuck and back onboard. It was a story that begged to be told.

"That is the last time I ever let him drive that thing." He chuckled as she chuckled as well.

"How in the hell did he miss a 300 foot drop?" she asked through her chuckling.

Garrus shook his head. "I don't know but when we found it I think even Wrex screamed."

Sidda couldn't stop the laughing; just the mental image of the three of them carelessly careening off a cliff into a steep crevasse was enough to make her start laughing again. "Oh my God, he will never live that down."

"Not if I can help it." He chuckled.

Sidda judged his personality of late; it had been about three days since the police raid they'd worked on. Three days since Garrus nearly killed the merc named Crowe. She still didn't know what his relationship with Leena was but it was enough to make him want to commit murder. Sidda rummaged around her quarters and came back with a familiar type of bottle and two glasses.

"Turian Brandy?" Garrus asked recognizing the smell as she poured a stingy amount in each glass, not enough to get drunk but enough to make this a little more laid back, trying to get Garrus to open up was proving to be difficult."

She smiled as she handed him a glass. "I acquired a taste for it." Garrus took it and nodded at her respectfully. "So…have you heard from Leena?" she asked and he groaned in mid sip.

"Sidda, will you let it go?" he groaned. "Why are you still on this?"

"Because you're a god awful fucking liar and I know there's something going on," she explained and he shook his head.

"Let it go, Commander," he said firmly but he wasn't being aggressive yet.

"Bullshit, Garrus," she replied her tone mirroring his, "you were gonna kill Crowe if Cerrus and I hadn't gotten there."

He said nothing for a moment because she was completely right, he would have kill him, he still wanted to and to be honest, he would if no one stopped him. The other three as well. "Commander," he replied after a few moments. "Leena was my partner, nothing more, nothing less." His response was a little more difficult to read but she knew he was lying, there had to be something there. It was the way they, not just he, acted in each other's presence.

"You know one of these days you'll trust me enough to tell me," she commented and took a sip of the brandy.

"I do trust you," he replied and downed the rest of the contents quickly before standing. "Good night, Shepard."

Sidda watched him leave and found herself missing Victus even more; they'd spent far too much time apart. She missed being on the Lante and being able to see him every day. She didn't miss the daily ass kickings courtesy of Cerrus but she missed Victus the most, and Maridus and Nov as well. When this was over she planned on taking a long leave with her favorite Turian.

Tali hummed to herself as she concentrated on repairing the Mako after Kaidan's spectacular accident. She and Garrus had been working on it all day and she had effectively lost track of time.

"Hey." A flanged voice greeted and she smiled under the mask; that was Cerrus. She glanced from the repair console to look at him then back to what she was doing. "What are you still doing up?" he asked pulling himself in and sat down in the gunners seat.

"Oh, still repairing the damaged systems that blew," she replied sounding tired.

Cerrus casually examined the interior. "Thought Garrus was helping."

"He was. I think he went to bed hours ago," she replied and spared another glance over to him. "Why are you up?"

Cerrus shrugged his usual answer. "Couldn't sleep."

"I know the feeling," she smiled; she still couldn't get a full night's sleep on this ship. Cerrus simply looked her up and down as she worked. Tali didn't mind the company especially if it was him. They both liked each other and flirted heavily. Cerrus had never been with or even attracted to another species. Tali was different, she made him laugh and feel comfortable, he had never worked so hard at flirting with a woman since Anara and that said a lot. It was a strange feeling for him since it had been so damn long since he felt this way about anyone.

She stood and leaned over to the driver's seat flipping a few switches bringing the self-repair system back online letting Cerrus take in her slender, curvy body. He never realized what Nov found so attractive about Asari until now. Tali brought out his hidden playful side, the side he had before he lost Anara, and snatched up the tiny Quarian pulling her onto his lap. She heard him purr and giggled as she settled on his lap.

They had danced around a more physical relationship since his sniper rifle training. He still wanted to see her face but he refused to place her life in danger so he didn't press. Tali didn't mind him touching her and swiveled her hips so she was now straddling his lap and Cerrus approved placing his hands on the top of her thighs.

"I think you need to take a break," Cerrus stated and she felt him run his hands up her side then back down her thighs careful to not over step any bounds.

"What do you propose I do on this 'break', Captain?" she teased and Cerrus chuckled.

"Well, what do you want to do?" he played and she leaned to the left hitting the button on the main console to close the hatch. With the hatch to the Mako closed Cerrus allowed another chuckle, it was obvious they needed some privacy. Tali reached for her mask and Cerrus understood what she was doing. He grabbed her lands lightly and shook his head. "No," he said, "you don't have to do that for me."

Tali smiled under the mask at how much he did care for her. He never asked her to show her face to him and that was usually the first thing people asked her. Cerrus was different, he truly cared for her. She didn't stop the movement and continued to remove it.

Cerrus wasn't sure what he'd see, he'd never seen an unmasked Quarian. She removed her mask and helmet and Cerrus got a look at a woman that looked similar to a human female. Tali's skin was pale with a slight purple tinge to it, her eyes were an iridescent slivery white, and she had long black hair with dark blue streaks pulled back into a tight braid. She was beautiful, with markings on her forehead that formed a disjointed V over each eyebrow. Her eyes were his favorite; he'd never seen eyes that almost literally glowed.

"You're beautiful," he said quietly nearly mesmerized by her and wanted to put his hand on her cheek but hesitated not wanting to make her sick.

She could say that she'd dreamed of a man like Cerrus since the first time she saw Fleet and Flotilla. Tali leaned forward and kissed him, the first time he'd been kissed was by Sidda, it was an odd experience then and it was still odd now. Cerrus moved his hands to her back and traced them down lightly before she rocked back from him.

"Have you ever been kissed before?" she asked knowing that it wasn't normal for Turians to kiss it just wasn't something they did.

Cerrus stifled the grumble. "Yes, but let's not bring that up," he hedged and Tali narrowed her eyes.

"Hmmm..." Tali replied and Cerrus looked down at her hand fiddling with the fasteners on his tunic.

Cerrus wasn't sure how exactly to broach that topic and was pleasantly surprised when she did it for him. He looked back up at her and found those striking eyes staring back at him as she worked on opening the shirt. She knew he was a soldier and a damn good one but didn't expect there to be so many scars on his torso. When she exposed his chest she found it littered with deep scars and atrocious looking ones at that.

He saw her look down at them but she just traced her fingers over the long stab wound from a Salarian merc that punctured his lung four months out of the academy. Her hands went to her own suit; Cerrus left the decisions to her and allowed her to move at her own pace. Obviously she wanted to take things to the next level and he didn't mind that idea at all. She removed her top of her suit revealing a bra and the same V pattern markings going down her neck and stopping at her collar bone. Goosebumps raised on her skin as Cerrus lightly traced a right talon over her collar bone. He got the distinct impression that she'd never done this before.

Cerrus scooped her up and moved off the seat laying her flat on the floor settling over her as things quickly escalated from there. Cerrus rocked back on his knees and shed his tunic reveal just how extensive his scarring was. The six inch scar on his left rib cage was just one of many; he had three bullet scars, two in the right and one in the left shoulder, and one jagged scar low on his left waist. He'd definitely been through the mill a few times.

Despite his talons that were sharp enough to nick arteries he was gentle with them. He knew he could hurt her in an instant so he was careful as he helped her out of her suit he didn't want to tear clothing or flesh. Turian females were used to the males using their claws and teeth during sex, he suspected that Sidda had dealt with the rough play and came out okay. Quarians were tougher then they looked but her real danger was him giving her an infection.

Tali sat up and kissed his chest, the plates were tough but she kissed the scar on his ribs. The sensation of her touching him served to arouse him but as she kissed his skin he felt the warmth and wetness of her lips and that threw him to a whole new level. He encircled her waist with his hands and lightly ran his talons up her body coming to the bra that contained her breasts curling it up and off over her head.

Tali moaned to the scraping of his teeth and he abandoned them nuzzling her neck, biting her lightly. His drive to mate was starting to overpower him, he wanted Tali and he wanted her now. She wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him closer to her, Cerrus responded by practically laying on her and deepening his attention to the now both sides of her neck.

"I don't want to hurt you, Tali," he said quietly in her ear. The sound of his purring flanged voice was enough to get Tali completely hot and bothered.

"You won't," she replied with a sweet smile as his face remained buried in the crook of her neck. "Please don't stop." Cerrus complied but rocked back onto his knees removing the rest of his clothing then helped Tali out of hers. He hoped no one came knocking at the Mako; if they did he'd dismember whoever it was. For now he had who he wanted, he had Tali all to himself.

Cerrus woke up with the worst crick in his neck he'd ever had, Turian beds were very soft cushy memory foam that cradled their bodies. That is if they even slept lying down, most of the time they slept at an angle sitting up. The discomfort was evident as soon as she snuggled up to him but he refused to move and wake her.

He hadn't been wakened by Tali's voice; instead it was the voice of a female he could barely stand. "Cerrus…" he heard in his groggy state. "Cerrus, where the hell are you?" It was Sidda's voice coming through his comm and he groaned loudly at the pain that lingered from how he had slept.

"Yeah, yeah, what?" he answered as Tali stirred at the noise but he indicated for her to be quiet as his comm was open.

"We have a problem, where are you?" she asked and he grimaced as sat up letting everything stretch out.

"I fell asleep in the Mako, what's going on?" he asked as Tali started to put her own clothes back on, something was apparently wrong given the time. Nearly 4am by Earth's clock which is what the Normandy ran on.

"We have a problem. Comm room, now."

Cerrus nodded as Tali tossed him some of his clothes. "On my way," he replied and shut the comm down.

"I wonder what's going on," Tali commented and she quickly got back into her suit.

Cerrus grunted as he sat on the bench pulling his boots on. Any Turian with military training, which was nearly 99% of them, could have full armor on in about 60 to 90 seconds, this was just clothing so he could literally be dressed and out the door in 30 seconds if he had to. "Something catastrophic probably," he muttered and stood after both his boots were secured. He was far too tall for the Mako and had to hunch over considerably. He watched Tali tuck her thick black hair back under the hood and heard a small cough. Immediately his mind raced, he shouldn't have made love to her, nothing was properly decontaminated, she didn't take any preventative medication, he could have put her life in danger. Tali must have read the expression on his face because she scoffed at him.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm not going to break," she said and he tried to say something but all that came out were protesting grunts. He fell silent as she touch his right mandible with her hand and smiled at him. "Totally worth it, Tyr," she grinned and gave him one last kiss before putting her mask back in place.

His worry didn't leave, he had to be careful with her, take precautions of his own now that they had a more intimate relationship but those were thoughts for another time, right now he had to figure out what the next crisis was.

Cerrus and Tali made it to the Comm Room at the same time Kaidan did and for the first time that day he didn't look embarrassed over his little driving mishap. Instead he looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. He hadn't shaved, he looked tired, and his hair wasn't prim and proper like normal.

"Where's the fire?" he asked tiredly taking the words right out of Cerrus' mouth as he joined the rest for what looked like an important briefing.

"Virmire, apparently," Sidda replied.

"What's going on?"

"The Council had an infiltration team out gathering intelligence; one of them was gathering intel on our favorite Spectre," she began.

"What did they find?" Ashley asked and Sidda shrugged.

"They don't know actually, a transmission was received on a frequency reserved for mission critical information, no information came through…all they got was static," Sidda explained.

"That's not really much to go on, Commander," Garrus commented and she nodded a little agreeing with him.

"Believe me I know that," she replied and sighed. "But if they did dig something up then we really need to have a look."

The crew could understand that, they knew the mission and they knew what was at stake but that didn't mean they needed to charge in blindly. "We have no idea what we'd be walking into then," Cerrus said but of course Sidda knew that already.

Sidda's pause felt like forever as she nodded at Cerrus. "We still have to go."

"Will the Council send backup?" Liara asked and Sidda shook her head with a chuckle.

"We are the backup, Doctor," she said and sighed.

"Commander, going into this blind is a bad idea," Cerrus advised, "we have no idea what we'll find so the smart move is to take some backup and go in force."

Sidda shook her head. "The Council is not going to send any more help, we are it, Captain."

"If the Council won't send more help maybe you should call on a little back up of your own," he replied and Sidda straightened now quickly finding what he was talking about.

"He could be court martialed for helping me, Cerrus," she said and Cerrus knew that but he knew when it came to her he'd break the rules.

"For you he'll risk it," he said and she thought about it a moment. Cerrus was right, Victus had already proven that he was willing to do whatever it took to help her and protect her. Asking him to play back up for something they didn't know seemed like a simple task but the Hierarchy wouldn't be kind when they busted him for it. Cerrus had a point and she figured that it couldn't hurt to ask, however, the moment she asked she knew he'd say yes.

"Alright, all hands on deck; Joker, set a course for Virmire but don't execute yet, everyone else gear up and be ready to go, dismissed," she ordered and as the room cleared she turned to the communications console, thinking. She was torn about calling on Victus or not, she didn't know what they would find or if he would even be needed. If it was nothing, just a glitch on the channel then she didn't want to get him into trouble for nothing.

The cargo bay was busy, as it usually was before a mission, but with final repairs going on for the Mako it seemed a bit worse. Garrus and Tali were testing the Mako's repaired systems; Kaidan had endured the ribbing about his driving skills and shouldered it well, he screwed up and he knew it. Garrus and Wrex were the instigators behind the ribbing but it was mostly Garrus. Cerrus got his shots in but after the first few he stopped and only chuckled at the rest poking fun at the unfortunate Medic.

Kaidan checked his medical kit as Cerrus and Ashley found a 'routine' mostly it centered around 'you stay out of my way and I'll stay out of yours' when it came to attending to the weapons. Before a drop Cerrus had the same process drilled into him since boot camp when he was 15, he was pushing 36 now, and that process was to check every weapon that was going to be used on that mission, even those of your squad mates. Ashley and Wrex were really the only ones who snarled at him for it but he didn't care, if things went sideways he could end up using one of those weapons so he just ignored them and continued. At this point during his stay on the Normandy, much like that of his regular duty on the Lante, he'd modified and calibrated every weapon to within an inch of its life modifying them so they complemented the user. The only one he didn't touch was Garrus' sniper rifle; the complex high-end modifications were enough to tell him that the C-Sec officer didn't need a weapon nanny.

He went down the line checking everyone's typical loadout, no mistakes, no guns were going to misfire, overheat, or jam on his watch. He'd moved on from Tali's equipment to Kaidan and took the pistol right off the medic's hip making him pause and look up at him.

"By all means, Captain, help yourself," Kaidan said his tone flecked with humor.

Cerrus check the weapon's heat sink and then glanced down at him. "Just checking," he commented flatly, "making sure your weapons fair better than the Mako."

There was humor in his flat tone and Kaidan couldn't help but snort. Cerrus had largely let it alone but every so often he showed that he had a sense of humor. "Ouch," he replied, the amusement in his tone also clear. Cerrus slapped his left arm and moved on chuckling.

Sidda had selected her team to drop in the Mako down to Virmire, apparently the paradise planet was overrun with Geth, big surprise, and where they needed to go had a lot of defenses. The solution was to drop the Mako further up the river and take out the resistance as they went. Given that Sidda didn't know what she'd be facing she elected to take a slightly bigger team with her and a pretty even spread for talents. Cerrus, the soldier and brilliant tactician; Tali, an obvious choice to help wreck Geth; Garrus, sharpshooter and combat engineer who also basically became Sidda's second in command during all this; and of course Kaidan, bring the Sentinel Medic who could rival Sidda in her biotics.

Cerrus quickly looked Sidda up and down as she approached the Mako; it was close to drop time so everyone who was going in the Mako had begun to file in. He never liked Sidda's black and yellow armor, made her too much of a target but given her personality he could see why she didn't much care. She wanted to be seen; she wanted the enemy to know that she was on the battlefield. As far as he knew N7 colors were not black and yellow, that was a decision she had made, she didn't blend in, it gave her away and that was what he didn't like. Her demeanor was relaxed as she almost casually approached making a final adjustment to the Sentry Interface that ran across her eyes like a visor. She carried her usual load out of rifle and pistol. He commended her in battle as she primarily used a pistol and was a damn good shot with it.

"Any back up from the Lante?" he asked and she shook her head casually.

"Nope," she replied coming to a stop but not looking up at him as she checked a few things on her omni-tool.

Cerrus blinked at the one word response, a little annoyed. "Why not?"

"Because he said he couldn't, didn't tell me why, which means he probably can't," she answered and Cerrus' jaw tightened.

"Here's to hoping we don't need backup," he muttered his tone snippy and Sidda cocked her head at him.

"Someone's surly this morning," she said and didn't let him respond to that, instead she raised her voice so it carried. "Mako Team, load up."

Kaidan and Tali were the first in. "Sit in the back and don't touch anything." He heard Garrus say and shook his head; he was never going to live that down, ever. "You too." He heard again but that must have been aimed at Sidda.

The conversation continues as Tali climbed in. "Who's the boss here?" Sidda asked and there was a collective snort from everyone in the area. Tali took up position in the engineer seat and Garrus was next.

"In this thing…not yo-…" be bantered back to Sidda but stopped cold before he finished his sentence. "What happened in here?" he demanded taking in a deep sniff through the nose, the smell was familiar.

Cerrus froze like a statue between Garrus and Sidda. "What?" Sidda asked furrowing her brow at whatever he was talking about.

"I smell Turian," Garrus went on, "only one thing makes that smell and I didn't do it." Cerrus flushed blue everywhere. Garrus looked over his shoulder to Cerrus who was obviously embarrassed and then to Tali who was trying her best to make it seem like she wasn't even there. "In the Mako?" Garrus asked him.

Sidda figured it out just by the way Cerrus was blushing and Tali trying to sink further into the seat. "So that's why you were hiding in the Mako last night," she grinned and Cerrus scowled jabbing Garrus in the side with a snarly 'Move.' He made a bee line for the driver's seat snarling at Garrus when he protested and his fellow Turian backed off.

There was laughing now and it only pissed Cerrus off more, they didn't mean anything by it and he knew that. He never did well with embarrassment.

"You did what in the Mako?" Kaidan asked and Cerrus just growled lowly flipping switches hard enough that they might actually break.

Sidda was having more fun at his expense than she really should have been. Tali had said nothing but was clearly embarrassed and Cerrus had reacted exactly as she'd expected. "Apparently they got it on…probably about right where we're sitting."

Kaidan was both surprised and annoyed as he looked from them to Cerrus who had his back turned. "Oh, come on, really? Couldn't have found somewhere better?" he asked and added a chuckle. He was only poking fun. "Hope you cleaned up after yourselves."

They'd all taken their shots and now it was time to apologize for it, none of them meant anything by that and Tali knew that, on some level Cerrus knew that too. "I apologize, Tali, we don't mean anything by it," Sidda assured and Tali simply shrugged with a soft noise.

"No matter," she said and looked up toward Cerrus who was probably ignoring them by now, "he is totally worth it." She giggled garnering a few laughs from Sidda in the Gunner seat and the other two further back. Cerrus' embarrassment lifted a little to her words and he smiled to himself.

"We've actually been wondering how long it would take you two," Garrus added and just like that Cerrus' mood soured again.

There was a pause as Cerrus cleared the drop with Joker. "Did anyone bet on the Mako?" Garrus asked and Kaidan answered.

"Yeah…Joker," he answered at the scoffs from Garrus and Sidda.

"Let's not tell him…maybe then we can all keep our money," she replied and Cerrus shook his head. Those bastards had a pool going for when and where he and Tali would finally mate, he thought about wringing their necks but remembered one all-important detail: this could have been worse Nov, Ruvvak, and Kalvaris could be here. This could be ten times worse and plastered all over the board the next morning. He counted his blessings where he could as Joker counted down the drop then the Mako lazily rolled off the ramp and into a freefall.