Mass Effect: Inspiration

Final Chapter: Inspiration

Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect.

It was cold.

Why was it so damn cold? It was sticky too, there was something dripping down her face. Blood. The burning was back, the left side of her face was on fire, burning and sticky with blood. Where was the damn pistol? The batarians were coming, where's the damn pistol?! Gunfire everywhere, until one finally collided with the side of her head.

Tanil gasped, waking up abruptly from her nightmare; beads of sweat rolling down her face, her eyes adjusting to the dark. Her apartment, she stared at the ceiling, her eyes darting around the ceiling, trying to calm down. The scar, was it still bleeding? Tanil slowly lifted her left hand out from under the covers, reaching for the scar, her fingers were shaking uncontrollably, and she hadn't even touched it yet.

Something suddenly grabbed her forearm, stopping Tanil from touching her scar. Three fingers, Tanil's eyes widened, quickly turning her head to see Kandros lying down in bed with her. Wait a second, she remembered her drunkedness… right?

"How are you feeling?" Kandros asked, letting go of Tanil's arm.

Tanil ran a hand over her face, feeling the slight presence of alcohol still. Plus side of turian brandy, she never got hangovers from it. "I'm seriously starting to doubt my memory of last night." She said, groaning.

"You mean you might actually remember some of it?" Kandros asked, well, he sounded concerned.

Tanil sat up on her elbows, glancing at Kandros. "Do you enjoy interrogating drunk people?" she asked, Kandros's reaction told her that he was now slightly embarrassed.

"So you remember that."

Tanil nodded, pulling herself up the bed to rest her back against the head board. "I don't remember coming back here though." She noted, lifting up her shirt to look at her belly. "Did we?"

Kandros chuckled. "No, I brought you back here and you asked me to stay." He said as he sat up too. Kandros spotted his shirt where he had left it and reached for it.

Tanil buried her face in her hand. "I more or less asked you to sleep with me." She groaned hell she was still in her damned officer's jacket. Tanil finally unbuckled the jacket and tossed it across the room. "What time is it?"

"You're off today either way. Don't worry about the time." Kandros stated, putting on his shirt. Tanil's eyes widened and she grabbed Kandros's shirt, yanking it back over his head. "Spirits, what are you doing?"

"Did I mention that I love alien physiology? Pictures aren't that great." Tanil said, succeeding at pulling Kandros's shirt back off. "The natural armor that turians have is fascinating, pictures just don't give it justice." She placed her hands on his plated chest. "You won't believe how much it kills me to not know what a quarian looks like."

"Oh Spirits, you're going to ask to see my penis aren't you?" Kandros asked, was he still drunk? There was still some alcohol in Tanil's system, but she could easily tell he was more intrigued than shocked, he actually wanted to.

Tanil smiled, inspecting Kandros's exposed torso. "Maybe later. It's hard to imagine this can't protect you from gunfire." She said, noting the protective plates.

"Don't shoot me either."

Tanil laughed, "I won't. I know the difference between friend and foe." She said, grabbing Kandros's arm. "As long as you don't cut me with these sharp ass talons." Tanil said, inspecting Kandros's talons.

"Deal." Kandros said, watching Tanil's expression as she observed every little bit of Kandros's plates. She had this serious expression, she was actually intrigued by turian physiology, then again, she was intrigued by any alien species. "Let me take you out somewhere."

Tanil looked up from her studying, looking at Kandros curiously, "You took me to a bar, I got wasted and woke up with a turian in my bed; granted It wasn't with a salarian, I'll give you that, but not something I really want to do again anytime soon." She said, with a laugh through her nose. Was he hurt by that?

"I'm not that bad. At least let me take you to lunch or dinner. We've already shared a bed." Kandros stated, it almost sounded like he was begging for it.

Tanil's eyes widened. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

Knadros instantly became flustered; he was shifting uncomfortably, becoming more conscious of Tanil's hands on him. "Only if you say yes."

Tanil quickly pulled her hands off him, holy shit, he was. Tanil blinked, should she say yes? "Ummm…."

Kandros gently grabbed Tanil's arm, grabbing her attention back tohim; his hands sliding down her arm to hold her hands. "Don't try and hide it. You trust me and I know you're comfortable with me, that much is known because of last night. We're not allergic to one another, why don't we give it a try?"

"Are you still drunk?" Tanil asked, but Kandros didn't laugh. "I don't know, Kandros! I've… I've never been in a relationship before."

"It doesn't hurt to try. Just give me a chance." Kancros said, taking hold of Tanil's hands. "I want to help you, in any I can, I want to help you, let me help you with this." Tanil stared at Kandros for a while, help her?

"Turians have a way of dealing with this?" Tanil asked.

"So to speak, we have dealt with it. It might not help, but I would like to assist you if I can." Kandros said, "Just this once, let me take you out somewhere nice and we'll see how it goes."

Taniil looked at her hands, seeing them being held by Kandros made it seem like the blood was never there. "Fine."

1 year later…

She never knew she could find comfort with a turian. Tanil looked out across the Presidium, thinking about waking up with Kandros beside her, of course that had already happened. Tanil smiled, on several occasions she woke up with Kandros. Life was settling down, the crew of the Normandy was dealt with; who knew what else the Alliance needed her to do. No doubt more paperwork, but different things like troop deployments and stuff. At least the work was a lot easier to deal with, especially now.

A body pressed itself against Tanil's back, making her smile as she felt two arms grab hold of her. "Not thinking of anything terrible are you?" chimed in Kandros.

"No, not anymore." Tanil said, truthfully as she rested her hand on Kandros's arm. "You off duty?"

"Finally." Kandros said, spinning Tanil around to look at her. "You as well?"

"Yes, I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Tanil said, getting on her tippy toes to kiss Kandros. "So what do you have planned for me today?"

"I'm not sure, maybe some drinks and then my apartment or your for some after work relaxation." Kandros said, making Tanil smile. "Or we can skip the drinks."

"You're such a smooth talker."

"You like it."

Garrus Vakarian walked his way through the market, picking up supplies for the trip to Omega. The team was set up, he just needed some guns and ammun – wait. Garrus did a double take, looking back just in time to see Tanil and Kandros share a kiss. Was that even possible, between a turian and a human? Garrus continued to stare; he had never considered such a relationship before. Garrus looked away, his mind suddenly filled with images of Shepard, if he had known, would they have been together? It didn't matter now anyways. Garrus shook his head, clearing his mind, Shepard was dead, it wasn't possible for them to have a relationship anymore.

Sorry for the long wait. Also, I should apologize for such a short ending. I never intended for this to be a long story either way. In case you were wondering why this was called Inspiration, now you know. Garrus happens to see a turian and human couple kissing, bringing into mind a possible relationship with Shepard. Lets just say it 'inspires' him to have a relationship with Shepard, and she just so happens to come back from the dead a year later, so it was some added Shakarian for people. I ship anything.

Thank you guys for reading, I hope you all enjoy it while it lasted. I'll never go back to this story but I may think up some more. Love you guys, stay awesome and keep lovin'!