She avoids him for the rest of the week and he's both pissed and intrigued that whenever she disappears; the Turian is MIA as well.
Even in their cabin she's distant.
She's back in the top bunk now or hitting the hot sleepers if he's too persistent.
If she's talking to Alenko and he turns up, she ends the conversation and disappears.
The rest of the crew never picks up on the animosity because if they haven't learn anything since the last time they were stationed together-it's how to keep their personal shit personal.
When she finally returns to his bed, it's the night after Anderson tells them they'll be making a jump to Eden Prime.
"I've got a bad feeling about this one," she whispers into his neck.
He does as well.
It's a feeling he's had for the last three days and he's sure she's had it just as long, too.
He strokes her hair as he turns to meet her eyes, "Yeah, me too."
He kisses her softly trying to pull her into him.
She resists for a few brief seconds and then gives in when he puts his lips to her neck, nipping and mouthing the sensitive skin there.
Blood paints his tongue when he dips beneath her collar.
"You've never let me bite you like that?" He smiles against her.
"So, what? Does that make you his mate, now?" He questions cautiously.
"Nah, just means he was really happy with me. Turians scent their mates first, then mark, jackass," she replies nonchalantly.
He pulls her beneath him, settling between her thighs, "You know a lot about them. What's up with that?"
"Yeah," she sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"I know that Salarians don't really have fucking bits but a cloaca. That Quarian females have a double clit and if you don't stimulate both during sex she won't get pregnant. Also Asari are built more like a flower a la Georgia O'Keefe. Maybe if you picked up books with more words than pictures you'd know that as well. Besides I'm curious and want to understand them," she finishes with a hint of exasperation, closing her eyes.
"Sounds like you're still mad at me. Are you?" He asks, suddenly very serious.
"Hmmm, you dumped me bare assed on the cargo hold floor. I mean really, the nastiest place in the entire ship, then hell yeah I'm still just a bit upset about that."
Her voice is serious but her eyes are laughing.
"I thought it was about not letting you come, but I'm sorry for dropping you on the floor of the nastiest place in the entire ship," he says softly while running his lips over the scar that bisects her brow.
"I'd have thought the unisex bathroom would hold that honor," he laughs.
She shakes her head slowly, as an old nervous habit shows itself.
He watches as her fingers work at a length of her hair, winding it between her fingers.
"Have you seen anyone cleaning the cargo bay? Shit comes in, shit goes out and no one thinks to clean it. It's like there's an unsaid agreement that the cargo bay is just going to be dirty," she replies her eyes unfocused.
He watches her yawn, his mind is in the gutter as really wishes his cock was the thing stretching her lips.
When she covers her mouth with the back of her hand, he notices something he's missed all this time.
There; on the inside of her wrist, in delicate script is the date and time of his, their birth.
"When did you get that?" He asks quietly, holding her arm in place.
"The night they separated us. I was shipped back to the Citadel to wait for my new post. I found an artist down in the lower wards."
She rotates her wrist inward and lifts her head to plant a kiss across the ink.
"I realized, then, that I didn't just love you but that I was in love with you. The guy thought it was strange that I was getting my birthdate tatted on my arm but he did it anyway."
As he looks at her, he realizes that this is the first time since they'd found each other that she has displayed any softness or vulnerability.
He'd realized long before they were separated that he'd loved and was in love with her but back then he just hadn't known how to tell her.
She shifts beneath him and he lifts his weight allowing her to roll onto her side.
He curls into her, listening to the beat of her heart as she drapes her limbs over him.
Seconds later the cadence of her breathing changes and she's asleep.
When he tightens his arm around her, she smiles then sighs contentedly.
"I love you too," he whispers into the quiet room, watching as the bedside clock ticks away the hours.