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Shepard -

I forwarded the content of your last report onto the Council. They have agreed to have another meeting with you. I don't think I need to stress the importance of bringing every shred of evidence you might have to back up your argument. The rest of the Council is beginning to lose their patience with me and if this meeting falls through I doubt we'llg et a chance at another any time soon.

Ambassador Anderson

"So pretty much this is our last chance to get Council support against the Reapers and whatever else they have in store for us."

Commander Shepard couldn't help the distinctly nostalgic feeling she got as she surveyed her ground team. This was the last time they would be all together like this. When they reached the Citadel in a few hours the first two were disembarking for good. She allowed her eyes to settle on Samara, knowing full well that the Asari understood everything that Shepard felt without the Commander having to say a word. Despite Kelly's reservations concerning the Justicar's cold demeanor Shepard had become fast friends with the woman. It was the friend, not just the muscle, that she was going to miss the most.

Further down the room Zaeed sat in stony silence, hjs focus already turned inwards on his own personal agenda. He would also be leaving them at the Citadel and despite their rather rocky start she knew she would miss the man as well. Unlike Samara he had been unwilling to openly accept her friendship, reverting to his stock impassivity at any expressions of gratitude that he considered too overt. She knew though that he understood that her offer of friendship would last indefinitely. She would never forget his help on the Collector Base or his tacit approval of it's destruction.

The majority of her crew would be staying despite the uncertainty of their situation. No longer Cerberus yet not really allied with either the Alliance or the Council they were drifting in political limbo. Technically, Shepard was still a Spectre but she knew well enough that such a technicality would be little help against the Reaper threat. She needed the backing of the Council whether she liked it or not. Lately, she had felt more and more as if the Citadel wasn't worth all the trouble. If she hadn't received Anderson's latest response to her reports concerning the Collectors she had a feeling that the discussion she was currently having with her crew would have been less about persusion and more about who else might have a vested interest in galactic safety.

Still, she mused regretfully, it would have been nice if 'in the nick of time' had been a few hours later. As if on cue, Garrus lifted his head so that his gaze locked with hers and for a second she felt her world tilt slightly to the side as her body remembered exactly what Anderson's message had interrupted. Resolutely, she forced herself to breathe both in and out as she struggled to push her memories to the side. The mission had to come first. But that, she conceded eagerly, was a very close second.

Shepard cleared her throat loudly, snapping both her crew and herself out of the individual reveries they'd fallen into after she'd told them about what awaited them on the Citadel.

"Moridin," the Salarian scientist started at the sound of his name and Shepard had the distinct feeling that she'd interrupted some form of complex calculation whirring through the scientist's mind, "I want you to be part of the team that goes into the meeting. Not only can you present your data the best but I plan to shamelessly use your former STG status to sway the Salarian Councilor."

Moridin nodded, his clipped voice agreeing with her tactic, "Of course. Reaper threat too important to not employ every advantage. Will be ready."

"I would like to attend the meeting as well."

Samara's low voice interrupted what she had been about to say. She was more than a little surprised; part of her had assumed that the Asari would have disappeared almost as soon as they docked. She began to give voice to her questions when Samara's voice rang out again, "The support of an Asari Justicar may also help sway the Council to your side. We are rare, but no Asari can completely ignore our reputation. My support, even if it is silent, will not be something that Councilor Tevoh will be able to ignore."

Shepard mumbled her thanks, "Is there anything else anyone wants to add?"

"Yeah," Jack's sardonic drawl caught the attention of the room, "You might as well take Garrus, too. That way you'll have full set of your own and you can see whose is bigger."

Grunt let out a laugh from next to her, one large hand slamming down on the table as he announced, "I like it! Let those bastards see who has the bigger quad."

"All right, that settles it then. Shore party be prepared to disembark in 0200 hours. Everyone who's not coming to the Embassy with me can start enjoying 24 hours of shore leave a little early. Dismissed."

Quickly, the crew filed out and Shepard noted the sudden spring in the step of those lucky enough to start their R&R before the others. She knew that the last week had been hell on them between the Collectors, the massive repairs on the Normandy and the uncertainty that had slowly seemed to settle over them all. She had taken note of dark rings under eyes and their listlessness days ago and she was pleased that her meeting with the Council gave her an opportunity to finally do something about it. A little break from reality for them to game and drink away the remainder of their Cerberus paychecks had seemed exactly like what the doctor would order.

The feeling of a hand moving carefully through her hair reminded Shepard that not everyone had left the Comm room, "You really like my hair, don't you?"

Garrus' mandible twitched in satisfaction as Shepard turned to face him, the impassive look she had worn throughout the meeting fading entirely. She might have fooled the others but he could sense the exhaustion that had lurked underneath. She'd barely had a chance to breath after the attack, instantly caught up in the millions of details regarding the ship's repair and Anderson's politics without ever stopping. Quickly, before she could stop him, he raised his hands and untwisted the knot she wore at the back of her bead so that the coppery-brown mass fell heavily about her shoulders, "It's unique."

And it was, he thought absently, but he had never before been consumed by such fascination for the strange human feature. This, he knew, was less about the newness of it all and more about the fact that it was hers. At some point he'd closed the distance between them and Shepard's hands rested lightly on his waist, burning a hole even through his bulky armor. With a soft growl, he nipped at her shoulder and felt her shiver with pleasure as she arched into him, the pulse in her neck fluttering wildly beneath his mouth. Her hair, brushed against him, enveloping him in the spicy scents of cloves and cinnamon and beneath that the alien scent of her.

He felt his lower plates shift as his armor suddenly became uncomfortably tight and hard around him. Shepard seemed to sense his discomfort, her hands moving rapidly over the garment she searched for the locks that would help ease the pieces apart. He responded in kind, his fingers carefully removing her tunic and bra, so that the upper part of her body was exposed to him.

"Please," she moaned as the last of his armor clunked to the floor, "tell me that you locked the damn door."