Hopefully that so called sex scene didn't make you all choose to be celibate. If so then I am deeply sorry for squashing any sexual desire any of you might have had. This will probably be the second to last chapter of Fit to Try. Then I will be continuing on to Fit to Love which will be the last main story of Saren and Cira's relationship. I was thinking of writing short little stories about things that happen in between Fit to Try and Fit to Love. Like Cira resolving the issue with her parents, or meetings she has with Saren. I'm not sure yet but the whole thing about her parents won't be covered in Fit to Love so I'll probably do a story about that when I have the time. Anyway, those of you who have stuck with me so far, try to make it through these last two chapters. I'll try to make it as painless as possible.

It was almost time. Almost time to return to the Citadel; to her empty apartment. It was almost time and Cira couldn't calm down. She sat very still on the floor in the corner of her room, curled up with her knees tucked under her chin. Never before had she felt such an utter rush of failure. It had been almost a week since she and Saren had slept together for the first time and since then she had become hyper aware of him. She felt it in every molecule of her being when he looked at her and when he touched her it was so shockingly cold that it burned a trail over her skin.

In her last week here, she hadn't gotten better; only worse. Worse at controlling her emotions and worse at keeping those emotions from interfering with her training. Now all she could think about was his hand on her arm, those talons scraping lightly over her skin, his tongue snaking out to trace her lips, and what he had said to her after her last training session.

"A week is too long to let your emotions run wild. If you can't control them you're no good as a Spectre."

He had walked out after that and they hadn't talked much since. Something she wouldn't mind because it gave her time to think except…she couldn't. There was no logical reason for her to be so infatuated like she was in high school and Saren was her first crush. Whatever the problem was she needed to fix it before her final evaluation in two days. The moment when Saren would decide to either pass her and keep her as a student for the second half of training, or fail her and send her home. She lowered her head, burying her face in her arms.

"This is ridiculous."

"What is?"

Her head snapped right back up to find Nihlus standing in her doorway. He smiled sweetly and entered the room completely, crossing over to Cira and offering his hand.

"Hey Nihlus."

She accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet. Nihlus watched her closely as she adjusted her hair and clothes.

"Why were you in the corner?"

"What do you want Nihlus?"

"I asked first."

"You're in my room."

He rolled his eyes, "Fine, I just wanted to ask you to lunch. As friends."

"Not now."

She sat down at her desk, sweeping the bits and pieces of gadgetry out of the way before laying her head down on the smooth, cold surface; silently hoping that he would just leave her alone.

"You didn't answer my question."

Apparently not.

"I never said I would."

He grabbed her chair and pulled, taking her away from the desk and forcing her to raise her head. He knelt down in front of her and looked straight into her eyes, holding her gaze.

"Come on Cira. I think whatever this is you need to talk about it."

He wasn't going away. Cira sighed and began massaging her temples as her current trials and worries paraded around in her head with hammers attempting to split her skull in two. Nihlus was there, he wasn't leaving so she decided that she might as well lean on him.

"I don't really know what's wrong Nihlus. I'm sleeping with Saren. You know that. But ever since we started I haven't been able to focus. I keep screwing up during training. I think Saren is starting to believe that I'm not Spectre material."

"So what if you're not. You said yourself that you're not doing this because you want to be a Spectre. You're doing this so that you can find your parents right?"

She nods.

"Whether you pass or fail, you get the information you need so there's really no reason to stress yourself out over it right?"

Cira looked away from him before standing and crossing to the middle of the room. Nihlus rose to follow her coming up behind her and placing a hand firmly on her shoulder.

"Unless this isn't about your parents. Unless it's about Saren."

Cira squeezed her eyes shut as Nihlus picked apart the issue burning deep in her soul.

"You want to say with him; don't you? But why?"

Slowly she turned to face him, fighting to hold back her emotions.

"Because my life was lonely. I had no real friends, no family, a bank account full of credits with nothing to buy. And as cheesy as it sounds Saren found me and things got better. I went on adventures. I was able to help him; to be useful at last. Then I got what I wanted. He took me to the Citadel and I got an apartment and a life, I made friends but I wasn't happy. And now…now I'm training with Saren and it's amazing and I dream of the new adventures we'll have. I do want to stay with him, because he's the only thing that feels real to me. It all makes no sense and perfect sense at the same time. I'm afraid of what will happen to me if I fail, I'm also afraid of what will happen if I pass, but I know that I don't want to lose him."

"Him? Or the thrill of being with him?"

"I don't know…oh, Nihlus!"

She leapt forward suddenly, wrapping her arms around Nihlus and holding tight to him. He hesitated, a little shocked at the sudden embrace but he recovered soon enough and brought his arms up to hold her.

"Cira, you won't…"

The door slid open then. Blue eyes narrowed into furious slits. Nihlus released Cira and pushed her to the side just as Saren slammed into him, shoving him backwards into the wall.

"Why are you here Nihlus?"

He pressed his arm into the younger Turian's neck, keeping him pinned. Cira came up behind him and touched Saren's shoulder, momentarily stealing his attention.

"Saren let him go we were just talking. Nihlus was trying to comfort me."

He didn't back down though, in fact he pressed Nihlus even harder but he made no move to escape, preferring to let Saren work through this on his own.

"You've gone too far with this little game Nihlus. That fantasy of yours will remain just that. A fantasy. Don't drag her into your schemes."

He released him then and Nihlus rubbed his throat, massaging out the pain. Saren glared at him and put his arm around Cira, pulling her close to him.

"Get out."

Nihlus hesitated for only a moment before shuffling out of the room with his eyes firmly fixed on a spot out in front of him. Saren didn't release Cira until the door had closed behind him.

"Stay away from him."

Cira scowled at him and moved away, leaning up against her dresser and plastering on her best 'pissed off' look.

"No. Why would you say that?"

"Because you don't know his intentions."

"He's my friend. I don't care what's going on between the two of you and I don't care if he has some ulterior motive. He wouldn't hurt me and you know that."

"That's not the point."

"Then what is, Saren?" She threw her hands up, exasperated. "You've been avoiding me again. You run off during training sessions. You speak even less then you did before; if that's even possible. But when you are around, you still touch me; all the time. Like you need to keep confirming that I'm really there… what happened?"

Silence fell between them and they both just stood there waiting for something to happen that would cut this conversation short. For a meteor to crash into the facility or for everything to spontaneously combust just so they wouldn't have to face the issues plaguing their so called relationship. But nothing was coming. They knew that. All that was left was to iron out the kinks.

"You disappeared."

A whisper, but she heard it loud and clear. What it meant though, she had no idea.

"Disappeared? What are you talking about? I'm right…here."

He embraced her suddenly. So quickly that she barely had time to register that he was approaching her let alone to return or reject the gesture. His arms tightened around her, pinning her own to her sides but she didn't mind. After all, she had thought him incapable of this kind of tender gesture and the fact that he now had her tucked away so close to him was, among many other things, fascinating.

"You're hugging me Saren."

He ignored her and she smiled gently, feeling everything he wanted to tell her but didn't know how. She had disappeared. She had walked away from him that day when he dropped her off on the Citadel two years ago. She had left, thinking it was what she wanted, thinking that even if she wanted to stay he wouldn't let her. If Saren had wanted her to stay he wouldn't have been able to tell her, just like he couldn't really tell her now. It wasn't natural to him; to either of them.

"I want this to work Saren; whatever this is. No matter what happens. But I think we need to be honest with each other; about our feelings and everything else. I'm sorry I disappeared, but I'm here now and I'll always be here; whatever you need."

Saren nodded briskly, then his expression became almost pained as he tried to put what he wanted to say to her into words.

"The idea of having any kind of relationship with a human is still abhorrent to me. But I don't see you as human first anymore; you are Cira. I'm willing to try and make this work."

That was it. That was all either of them needed to hear. Cira let out a soft sigh and settled into his arms, content to stay like this for as long as they possibly could.

Later, after her evening training session, Cira found herself in the usual café and the usual table, alone. Even though she had said that she didn't care about Nihlus's ulterior motives, she had to admit she was curious. From what she could figure out, Nihlus had been manipulating Saren into a relationship with her but what did that get him? She had to know, but Nihlus hadn't been in his room so she hoped that he would show up here. She was right. She had waited barely ten minutes before he strode in, immediately catching sight of her and coming over to take his seat.

"Hey Cira, I was just thinking that I needed to talk to you. Thought you might be here."

"Yeah, I needed to talk to you too."

"How's Saren?"

"He's calmed down but if I were you I'd avoid him for the next few days."

"Noted."

They both sat watching each other; not an awkward moment but a quiet one.

"Nihlus, what did Saren mean when he said that it won't happen again?"

"He fucked me a long time ago. I had really pissed him off, he needed it, I loved it and I've been trying to get him to do it again; trying to make him angry enough to do it again."

Cira blinked once, slowly. "Well that was pretty… blunt, I guess. So why were you trying to get us together?"

Nihlus looked away from her, suddenly very interested in the cooling units on the ceiling. "I thought that maybe if he thought I was trying to steal you back he would want to 'put me in my place' so to speak. But first he had to see you as his. A long shot, I know; but I've tried everything else. I even tried asking, but he beat the shit out of me."

Cira felt her brow raise slightly "Have you slept with anyone else since Saren?"

"No Turians."

"Do you love him?"

"No."

She just rolled her eyes then, "Go get laid Nihlus. Pining after Saren for this long just because you want him to screw you is pathetic. Any Turian would love to have a go at you."

"No one as good as he is."

"I find that hard to argue with, but your actions over the past few months were as good as you giving him to me."

"I know. This was my last shot. He's your problem now."

"I'll take care of him. If he passes me that is."

"He won't"

"How do you know?"

"The same way you know. He actually cares about you."

"That's not exactly fair."

"No it's not. But you can still take care of him."

"How?"

"Be there. Wait for him."

"Just wait?"

"Do what you do best. Make things for him. Things to help him and all of the others who work to protect the galaxy. Is that okay with you?"

"Yeah I guess so."

"Good. That means you really do love Saren, and not just the excitement from being on missions with him."

He stood up then and held a hand out to her. "I guess we're done here. Good luck with your exam. I'll see you whenever."

Cira grinned widely at him and accepted the distinctly human gesture.

"Thanks Nihlus; for everything."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

He winked at her then left the café; the Asari waitress staring longingly after him.

The bars couldn't be broken, and she'd opened the vent but it was blocked by another grate about 8 feet in. Cira sat in the corner of the cell, staring through the bars into the hallway. She needed a way to escape. Saren was waiting for her. Well maybe not. Knowing him, he had escaped already, gotten the data and left. Leaving her on her own. Either way the simulation wouldn't end until she got back to the extraction point or died.

The only difference between this simulation and all of the others is that Saren was actually in here with her. They were working together like they would if she passed and continued on as his student. Things had been going well until Cira walked right into a trap, getting both Saren and herself captured and thrown into cramped little cells. They were in different cell blocks so Cira had no idea where he was; if he was still even in the building, but she couldn't worry about that now.

She glanced around the room for the hundredth time, looking for anything that could help her. The door was old fashioned, locked manually with a key instead of electronically; to avoid hackers most likely. A good idea since not many people know how to pick a lock these days. Unfortunately Cira didn't either. But it was now added to her list of things she would like to learn. She would need some kind of power tool to get through the second grate in the vent and all of her tools and weapons were taken away except for her omni-tool. She looked at the little device attached to her wrist. Had they forgotten to take it? Maybe it couldn't be used to break out so they hadn't bothered. But maybe it could be useful.

She yanked the device off and hit it against the ground a few times to crack the outer casing. After pulling it apart, she examined the various components. Yes, she could use this. In theory, it shouldn't be hard for her to create a concentrated blast with the tool. She only needed a piece of strong thread and a small shard of metal. Hair? Not strong enough, but the threads from her combat skin might work. She quickly pulled off one of her boots to get at the edge of her suit. Running the jagged edge of the omni-tool casing over the material a few times was enough to break a few of the intricately woven strands. She pulled a few out and braided them together to make them even stronger. Now she needed metal. Immediately she thought of the pins she used to hold her hair in place. She reached under her helmet to pull one free then scratched the white coating off to reveal the bare metal. Now she could get to work.

Exactly 6.253 minutes later, she was just about done. She wasn't sure if this makeshift bomb would work but it was worth a shot. She just needed to add the last piece then get away before it heated to its explosive point. She crouched by the lock on the door. The main body of the bomb was done and she just needed to place her hair clip and tie the bomb in place. She did just that, then backed away from it, laying down and crawling head first into the vent. The blast should be small, just enough to blow out the lock, but just in case it didn't work properly, she wanted to get as far away from it as possible. It took a while for the clip to heat up and Cira was about to give up when there was a loud pop and she heard the cell door swing open.

She pushed herself back out of the vent and peaked out into the hallway. No one. There had been a guard that came to check on her every once in a while, but Cira assumed that she wasn't considered enough of a threat to issue a constant guard. Whatever; it made things easier for her.

She began making her way toward the objective again, resorting to her usual method of traveling through the vents when possible. They seemed to only be blocked at the cells. She didn't have the map on her omni tool anymore so she worked from what she could remember. About ¾ of the way to her destination the faint sound of gunfire reached her ears. Saren? She dropped down out of the vents and followed the sound. She reached a room resembling a dining hall and there he was, crouched behind a counter reloading a weapon. Cira was about to call out to him but as he leaned out of cover to fire, two rounds, fired from some unknown enemy, tore through his shields and helmet, knocking him back.

"Saren!" A whisper that barely passed out of her throat.

"Did you get the bastard?"

"I'm pretty sure I hit him."

Cira crawled over to him, avoiding being seen and activated his omni tool, running a diagnostic on his health. The bars that monitored his heart rate, blood flow and brain activity were all still. He was dead.

"Someone go check him."

She had to move. She yanked his omni tool off and slipped it onto her own wrist. Then she grabbed his pistol and extra heat clips, leaving his assult rifle, so as not to let their enemy know that she had escaped.

"Someone check on the human too."

Quickly she snuck out of the room and leapt back into the ventilation system. She was timed now. It wouldn't take long for them to learn that she'd broken out and they'd all be looking for her. Saren was dead. She was on her own and there was still an objective for her to accomplish. She pushed the image of Saren's still form out of her mind and continued with the mission. Even if it wasn't real, even if it might be her last; She would see it through.

Just one more chapter to go in this story then I'll be moving on. No one is really commenting anymore which makes sense so I won't bother asking I pretty much have most of the last chapter written out there is just a little section that I need to think up so hopefully that won't take long Then I'll start Fit to Love which will cover Mass Effect 1.