Reunite

Pt.2

Though Thane had only been back on the Normandy for less than an hour, he already felt that his mood had improved. Of course, there could be several reasons for this. He was close to his siha again, the pain in his side was gone and breathing was easy. The feeling of restlessness that he had felt after he had received the transplant was gone. After Irikah passed, he had been on the move constantly. Staying in one place just wasn't for him. He felt restless, like a caged animal. He was used to working with his body, going to bed exhausted yet satisfied. That hadn't been the case while he recovered from the surgery. Being back on the Normandy and back with Shepard would change that. He was sure of it.

As Shepard was down in the comm room, Thane was unpacking. He had neatly folded his clothes and placed them in the vacant drawer. After that, he organised the toiletries in the bathroom. Shepard's items on the left side, his own on the right side. The fact that they had about the same amount of items made him smile a bit. He knew that she wasn't a stereotypical thirty year old human woman, he had never even seen her wear makeup.

He recalled when they had started packing their things to leave the Normandy after the Collector mission. One of Ms. Lawson's night gowns had gotten left in the laundry room and somehow, Thane ended up being the one sent to give it back to her. He had caught a glimpse of the amount of items in her bag for toiletries and found himself quite surprised.

Thane smiled to himself as his mind drifted back to the last time he had been on the Normandy. It had been such a wonderful time, filled with memories he could lose himself in. Memories of friends, excitement, love, stress, worry. It had been a roller coaster, but it had undoubtedly been fun, in lack of a better word.

The sound of the door to the quarters opening brought Thane out of his trip down memory lane and he poked his head out of the bathroom to see his siha walk into the room. She look positively exhausted. There were bags under her eyes and there was the way she moved. How long had it been since she got a proper night's rest? He made a mental note to turn off her alarm and let her sleep in the next morning. She wouldn't be pleased when she found out, but she needed the sleep.

"How did it go?" He asked as he walked up to her and stroke his scaled hand over her cheek.

"Fine. Hackett is going to send me the files on Kai Leng and hopefully we can poke some holes in that stupid armour of his." She leaned her forehead against his shoulder.

"Kai Leng?" Thane asked as he ran his fingers through her hair.

"The wannabe space ninja, who's arse you kicked." She smiled at him. "Anyway, enough about work."

Before Thane could respond to this, Shepard's lips were pressed against his. Her hands ran up to his cheek, caressing the soft and sensitive red frills there. A low moan escaped Thane. Even though he could remember every intimate moment with Shepard in perfect clarity, nothing could compare to being there with her.

This time, it was Shepard who led them towards the bed. One part of Thane, the part he normally listened to, was screaming that he should stop, that Shepard needed rest. But as soon as Shepard's nimble and cool fingers found the zipper on his chest, those thoughts were drowned out by a surge of need. He needed Shepard in a way he had never experienced before, not even with Irikah.

They tumbled onto the bed, Thane's back hitting the mattress and Shepard falling over him. She smashed her lips against his and continued with undressing him. However, there was a pressing feeling in Thane's lower stomach that got his attention.

"Siha..." He placed his hands over hers. "I'm afraid I haven't visited the restroom since I left the hospital and before we continue with this, I need to relieve myself."

"Make it quick." She said as she rolled off him.

Thane got out of the bed and was about halfway to the bathroom before something soft hit him in the back of the head. He turned around to see Shepard on the bed, now without her shirt and working on removing her trousers. It was quite difficult for him to tear his eyes away as he made his way to the small bathroom.

He couldn't have been in there for more than two or three minutes. With a small smile on his lips and definitely looking forward to what was about to come, he stepped out after rinsing his hands and made his way back to the bed.

Shepard was now undressed, apart from her underwear. Her hands were resting on her flat stomach, her eyes were closed and her mouth was slightly open. The soft snoring that came from her confirmed what Thane had suspected. She had fallen asleep.

While it felt rude to wake her, but she couldn't spend the whole night on top of the covers. She'd get cold quite quickly. As he tried to move the duvet from under her without waking her, she stirred a bit and her green, glassy eyes fell on him.

"Sorry." She muttered. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"It's quite alright." Thane said as he got the covers out from under her and draped it over her body, tucking her in. "You need to sleep."

"No, I need you."

"Tomorrow." He kissed her forehead. "Now, sleep."

Thane had barely said the words and turned off her bedside lamp before his siha was once again asleep. Quietly, he moved to turn off her alarm and then he undressed. He should probably get some sleep as well.

When Shepard woke up, she felt strangely rested. The nagging pounding just behind her eyes that had been there since this war started wasn't there, her mind didn't scream in agony as she opened her eyes, which didn't feel like they were filled with either glue or sand. She felt fine. And she hadn't even woken up when her alarmed was set. Stretching out with, her hand went to the spot next to her in the bed. Empty. Shepard frowned and looked up at the ceiling. Had Thane gone up before her? What time was it, anyway?

She rolled onto her side to look at the clock that stood next to her bed and she immediately sat up, eyes wide. She had overslept. And not by a few mimutes. No, she had overslept with four hours.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck..." She said and jumped out of bed.

Reaching for her wardrobe, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her waist, halting her movement. She hadn't even noticed that Thane was in the room until now. Annoyed, she attempted to shake him off.

"Look, Thane, this is nice and all, but I'm really, really late." She became increasingly annoyed as he didn't let go.

"I'm aware. And I'm afraid it is my fault." He let her go and took a step back. "You needed sleep, siha. The others agreed with me. They did, in fact, welcome the off-duty morning from what I've heard."

Letting out a groan, Shepard leaned against the wardrobe door. She gave her beloved a hard glance. He hadn't even been a whole day on the ship, and he was already committing mutiny.

"I appreciate the thought." She said and started pulling out clothes again. "But you could have told me before I nearly got a heart attack."

"I'll remember that for the future."

Shepard heard the leather of the sofa squeak against the leather of his outfit as he sat down to watch her dress.

"Have you introduced yourself to the rest of the crew?" Shepard asked as she got out of the underwear she'd slept in.

"No, I have yet to do that."

The beauty of living on an Alliance war ship was that you never had to think about what to wear. Outside her own cabin, it was Alliance civvies, end of story. Especially since this was her ship and she had to set an example for the rest of the crew.

"Well, you already know Joker and Garrus." She pulled a clean sports bra over her head and turned around. "And you've met Samantha Traynor, our comm specialist. Then we have Liara, who helped me take down Saren, Steve Cortez, our shuttle pilot, James Vega, our resident 'bro', EDI, who now as a body, and Kaidan."

"Once again, it seems you have recruited an impressive team."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Shepard slapped her forehead. "Javik. We a prothean in port cargo."

Thane's eyes widened a bit and he looked at her in disbelief. She couldn't blame him. If someone had told her that they had a prothean on board, Shepard would tell them to get off the Hallex.

"It's true. You should go down and talk to him. He's, erm, interesting."

She was now fully clothed and a rumbling sound came from her stomach. No wonder she was starving. She usually ate breakfast four hours earlier than this.

Introducing Thane to the crew had gone better than Shepard had expected. She wasn't sure what she had expected exactly, but it went better than she thought. Everyone was extremely polite towards him, at least those they had met so far. Diana 'battletits' Allers hadn't even once suggested that they should report that Commander Shepard's boyfriend was now on board the Normandyl. If she had, Shepard would have kicked her off the ship immediately.

It was no surprise to Shepard that Thane and Liara hit it off immediately. However, she was surprised at how effortless the conversation between the assassin and Kaidan was. And the meeting with Javik went, well, like all meetings with Javik went. The only stop left was the shuttle bay.

"So, what do you think so far?" Shepard leaned against Thane as the elevator moved downwards.

"I must admit, meeting Javik overshadowed the other meetings." The corners of his mouth twitched. "He's quite an interesting character."

"Yeah, you can say that again." She muttered. "He's a good soldier, though. But he isn't exactly good for morale."

The elevator came to a halt and they stepped out. This was probably Shepard's favourite place on the ship, apart from her own cabin. The smell of gun oil, the hum of the ship working, the banter between James and Steve... It was more relaxed that the rest of the ship.

"Hey, Lola!" James shouted out. The greeting made Thane's eyes narrow a bit. "Mako or Hammerhead?"

"Are you two still arguing about this?" Shepard laughed. "Hammerhead, hands down. That thing is epic. The Mako is just a puke machine on wheels with a gun."

"Hah, told you!" Steve called out from under the shuttle.

Next to her, Thane had moved into his signature position and just stood there, quietly. It was a posture Shepard wasn't too fond of. It meant that he was closing off. He went from being her Thane to the Thane that was seen on the battlefield. Discreetly, she reached out and brushed her hand against his.

"Guys, come and say hi to our newest team member."

James moved away from his work station and made his way towards the couple. His eyes went from Shepard, to Thane and then to their linked hands.

"Green looks good on you, Lola." The soldier winked before reaching out to take Thane's hand. "I'm James Vega."

"Thane Krios." Thane greeted as he shook the lieutenant's hand. "I was on the Normandy while she was flying Cerberus colours."

"Yeah, I heard." He rubbed the back of his head. "Just, so you know... There's nothing between me and Lo-er, Shepard. I just give people nicknames, ya know?"

"It's quite alright, Lieutenant." Thane bowed his head. "I assume your apprehension comes from a knowledge of my previous line of work. I've since retired and pose no danger."

"Don't worry, Vega." Shepard said with a glint in her eyes. "As long as you don't do anything stupid, he won't snap your neck."

Steve had finally managed to get out from beneath the shuttle and was drying off oil from his hands on a rag that had definitely seen better day. Once he had decided that his hands were clean enough, he walked up to the trio.

"Steve Cortez." He extended his hand. "Shepard's shuttle pilot."

Shepard loved Steve. He was a fantastic friend and a fantastic pilot. And the fact that he introduced himself as her shuttle pilot, instead of as the Normandy's shuttle pilot was quite flattering.

"It's good that you're here." Steve continued. "Perhaps you can make her care about her own baseline needs. Like, food and sleep."

"Okay, back to work everybody!" Shepard called out in an attempt to stop the two men from making plans on how to make her care for herself. "Who knows when we're needed again."