Neross: I'm not even going to apologize for how long it took me to get this chapter out. You all know what I was doing.
Warning: This fanfiction contains foul language, violence, adult situations, and sexual situations. Enjoy!
…..
After that first faithful day when they met Jaksus hardly saw his charge. He'd catch her sometimes as she headed to or from her bathroom, her nose stuck to a data-pad or her omnitool as she typed down some idea she must have had. And with each day that passed the more pale the human became; the flatter and stringier her hair became; and the more she began to smell.
It wasn't the WORST smell in the world, but it soon became obvious to Jaksus that her trips to her bathroom WEREN'T to actually bathe. He began to wonder if she'd ever do more than just stick to her room when he very literally ran into her.
He was just returning from a lunch he'd had with an old friend and co-worker of his. He'd opened the door as usual and had just finished locking it when he turned and found himself crashing into something short and solid. He fell face first on top of her and she lay out sprawled beneath him. The leftovers of his sandwich something he was saving for his dinner, was cast hither and thither over the floor and all over her as well.
A data-pad had flown just out of her reach and had skittered all the way across the floor and hit the wall where it now sat blinking dangerously. It took him a moment to figure out what had happened but as he stared at the remains of his lunch he turned a glare downward and found it deepening when he saw the state of her.
She was so pale her skin looked almost grey, her hair was no longer the bright orange-red it had been but not a deep brown and it hung straight and limp around her shoulders as if it were wet although he knew for a fact it wasn't. What's more there was a dark color under her eyes that he'd seen only on humans who had been punched in the face. 'Black eyes' they called it. But clearly she was not injured. The worst part was seeing the way her pupils were dilated and refused to focus.
Jaksus swore, pulled himself up, and snarled at her, flicking a piece of dextro-lettuce out of her hair. "That is it! You have got to stop walking around her without looking where you're going! That was a twenty-credit sandwich you just cost me!" He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her as he lectured, waiting for her to get up, but she barely seemed to be paying attention. In fact she seemed barely able to stand. His words died in his throat as he watched her legs shudder like some kind of new-born animal before finally they gave out underneath her. She was on her second attempt when he finally gave up and let out a furious sigh.
He picked her up, light little thing that she was, and took two steps to drop her unceremoniously on the couch. She bounced once and seemed to regain some of her sense because her eyes were wide and focused now. Focused on him too. Which was improvement. He glanced over her one more time and then shook his head and forced her to look at him by grabbing her chin and turning her face toward him so he could get a better look at her eyes. He swore under his breath as a realization came upon him. "Let me guess. You haven't been eating. Or sleeping either apparently. Are you sick or something? What's wrong with your eyes?"
She flushed a bit, but from what he couldn't tell. "My eyes? I…oh! I probably….they're probably just bags under my eyes. It happens to humans when blood vessels get-"
He placed a hand over her mouth and growled a warning. She stopped talking. "I get it. It has something to do with the fact that you haven't been taking any sort of care of yourself what so ever." He snorted and removed his hand and she looked down and away from him with shame clear on her face. "I was thinking about getting some sleep but I was just so caught up in the history records of Primarch Xerin that I-"
He growled again and her mouth snapped shut and she stared at him in embarrassment, pink in the face. "Sit. Here." he ordered. "Don't move. Don't talk. Just sit here and try not to pass out on me."
She nodded and he turned and with enraged steps he went to the kitchen. It took him a minute but after a moment he returned with a glass of water and a re-heated, pre-made, human meal that had been in the freezer since she got there. He thrust both at her, along with a fork, and then sat down across from her and bared his teeth as he issued his next order. "Eat."
She blinked at him owlishly for a minute before it seemed to dawn on her how hungry she was. She scarfed down the meal and then drained the water glass in just a few scare bites and one huge gulp. He nodded, satisfied, and took both the plastic plater and the glass from her. He disposed of the plastic properly and put the glass in the dish washer and then came back and picked her up again, figuring she was still a bit too weak to walk. He thought for a moment about what to make her do first a bath, or sleep.
He decided on a bath. She wreaked to high heaven. He took her to her bathroom and sat her down at the base of her shower. "I take it you can wash yourself?" he snapped.
She nodded almost numbly, her face as red as could be. He let out a curt nod and then turned on his heel "Then do so." he ordered. He waited on the other side of the door until he heard the water in the shower running to at last go to her room. The place was a mess. Data-pads lay everywhere as did little tiny packages of nutrient paste. He figured that was how she kept going when her hunger nagged at her. It was enough to take away the bite and keep you alive. But not something to live off of for a long period of time.
He threw away the old nutrient paste packages and then blindly leafed through her drawers. Thanks to his inspection he knew most of her wardrobe so he found what he wanted rather quickly. Which was good because he had no desire to leaf through her underwear. She was peeking out of the door when he got back to her. He shoved the clothing he'd picked at her and twitched his mandibles in annoyance. "Get changed. Then go to bed. If you do this sort of thing again I'll ask to get you a feeding tube. Got it?"
She nodded and then gave the smallest of smiles. "Um…thank you." she muttered. He looked at her surprised but then threw up his hands in defeat and went to clean up the mess left by his own lunch.
A couple hours later he checked in on her and found her lying like the dead upon her bed. The only consolation he had that she was alive was her slow and steady breathing. It shocked him to learn that he actually felt glad about that.
….
Maria slept for close to twenty four hours. Jaksus had started to worry about her until she finally came shambling out of her room dressed, showered, and well-fed. He didn't want to admit it to her, or anyone for that matter, but he'd been worried enough to stay at the apartment all day, watching her. Now, now he just felt his earlier anger simmer to the surface. He growled when she told him hello and smiled insipidly.
"I'm guessing your earlier behavior is something you normally do?" He asked, irritable that the Council had settled him with a woman who didn't even have the common sense to look after herself.
She visibly deflated at his chastisement. Her hair fell into her eyes as she gaze up at him from under her brows. It was a look Jaksus understood. Turian children did something similar when they were in trouble. They did it in order to gain sympathy. Jaksus was unswayed, and severely unamused. "I'll take that look to mean you do, in fact, do this rather often." his mandibles twitched in his annoyance. "I thought you were supposed to be a genius. How do you go without food or sleep or bathing for nearly a week?"
The human's face turned red and she quickly folded her in hands in front of her and adverted her eyes in shame. "I um…I forget. When I start researching I go from one fact to another and I get so wrapped up that I forget how long it's been. And then I don't feel or notice or remember what's going on outside of…um…well. My head. My father used to say my problem was that I just can't stop thinking. My thought processes are …not all that normal. So…I've had some…social issues in the past. Including an acute case of Autism." She blinked and then shook her head and then squared herself and looked him square in the eye.
"I'm- I'm high-functioning though. And I …I've never been labeled as insane. I'm just….different." she said defiantly. He stared at her. Her lip was quivering and her hands were clenched into fists at her side, nearly white at the knuckle. Clearly, this was something of an issue with her. To be honest he had no idea what 'Autism' was but clearly it was something of a mental disease or dysfunction gauging by the way she spoke.
He let out a sigh and buried his head in his hands. A crazy genius. He was stuck watching, caring for, and protecting a mad scientist. Well, he figured, at least he wasn't stuck with the kind of mad scientist that played with practical science. Just…cultural and philosophical science. The most she could do is talk him to death. So, annoying as she was, he decided to make peace with the idea of living with the crazy human for now and at least attempting to be nice.
He looked up to her and saw that she was turning away from him and looked very much like a child about to turn into a blubbering mass right before his eyes. He rolled his eyes and stood abruptly, which shocked her out of her moping long enough to look at him in surprise. "Alright. Here's how we'll do this. When you start doing that…er…thinking again…you set a timer on your omnitool for three hours. Then you can stop, get something to eat and take a shower or maybe get some sleep. Then you go back to it and set the alarm again. Sound good?"
She seemed surprised but nodded regardless. The Turian gave a thin smile, "Good." He turned away from her for a moment and set about picking up the plates and glasses he'd simply left out during his stake-out of her room. As he did he began to mutter aloud. "To be honest I don't see what you can learn about the Cultures on the Citadel by sitting in your room. I mean wouldn't it be better to go out and actually, I don't know, observe them or something?"
The second the words were out of his mouth he regretted them, because he could actually FEEL her bristle in excitement behind him. It was like her anticipating shivers sent ripples through the air. It was that or that strange little sound she was making that sounded almost like a pained squeal. When he turned to look at her, fearful what he would see he felt a knot form in his stomach. Her face was split like a grin and her eyes were alight as if from within. "That, " she told him with the strangest little tilt in her voice, "Is an excellent idea." She turned quicker than he could blink and even as he moved to stop her she was already in her room, the door closing and locking behind her. "Just give me a second to change!" she called.
Jaksus swore and then ran to the kitchen and promptly tossed the dishes in the sink. He'd wash them later he decided as he sprinted to his room and quickly changed, making sure to remember his kinetic shield generator as well as his hidden holster for his C-SEC regulated pistol. Hope for the best, plan for the worst, that's what his senior officer Vakarian was always telling him. So that's what he did.
…
Maria changed quickly, eager to be out the door and gone. She'd set her omnitool to it's voice-recording mode as soon as she was out the door. It's what she always did to take notes when she was 'out-in-the-field' so to speak. She did it when she was just starting out in school as well. Talking to herself helped her think. It made her feel less alone. Her mother had always gotten so annoyed, so irritated with her, for doing it. For playing music at all times of the day. For toning her out and locking herself in her room for days. When she'd been really young she'd wanted to throw Maria into a mental hospital. It had been her father who had suggested they settle for counseling and first.
That was how they'd learned of her high-IQ and photo-graphic memory…amongst other things. Her mother, she had wanted to send Maria away to some Alliance Academy on Luna. It was her oldest sister, already married and out of the house, who had convinced her parents to keep her on Earth…at home. The memory of Kathy was painful and always inadvertently brought on memories of her death. And then the memories of the woeful crying of her niece.
Maria snapped the last button on her shirt and bolted from her room, already turning her mind back to the current mission at hand. To explore Citadel cultures out in the open. She already knew where she wanted to go having picked a snippet of conversation between two Krogan. A bar, in the lower wards. That's where she'd go. It'd be perfect. She could observe the way other species attempted to gain potential mates or relax from long days at work. She could even observe the way different species dealt with the differences in biology to buy their prospective dates drinks. But she was most excited about the dancing. She'd never seen anyone but humans dancing. And she was resolute to see that come to an end by the time the night was through.
Surprisingly Jaksus was out of his room only a few seconds after she had left hers. He was wearing a black and green suit and jacket. It looked good on him, and made him seem even more intimidating than usual, if that was possible. He still reminded Maria of a predator. But Maria had always found predators to be beautiful…in a scary way. A way that made her skin tingle and her nerves dance with warning. She'd always liked that feeling but Jaksus forced another level onto that familiar tingling. He set her muscles to quivering, and they always seemed to be on the edge of either running…or failing her completely. It was an interesting reaction. Maria wasn't sure if it was something she liked yet.
She smiled at him regardless of how she felt and was already reaching for the door as he straightened his jacket a bit. "Good. You're ready to go! I know just the place. I can look up the directions on the way down in the elevator and figure out the fastest route by cross-referencing the directions with the blue-prints of the wards that I got from-"
He let out a sound of irritation. "Just tell me where you want to go. Blue-prints aren't any good on the Citadel. The Keepers are constantly moving things." he told her, taking a couple long strides to catch up to her. He grabbed her by the arm as she attempted to go on by her own when he stopped to set the lock on their apartment. She could feel a tremor go through her spine at his close proximity. It was a bit uncomfortable. She knew her face would be a bit pink, she could rarely hide when she was excited or embarrassed.
She tapped her finger against her thigh impatiently as she was forced to keep pace with her Turian bodyguard. "Flux," she told him, "I want to go to Flux."
She could feel him bristle beside her and heard a low growl of minor disapproval but Jaksus simply shook his head and sighed, "Fine. Flux it is. Just don't you dare wander off."
…
Five Minutes. He had been gone FIVE MINUTES. And Maria was nowhere to be seen.
They'd made it to Flux just fine. There had been no incidents either on the way there or at the door. He'd sat her at a booth, gotten her a glass of water and a bowl full of nuts reserved for Asari and leaned back with her to simply enjoy the music. It had seemed like enough at first. The tiny human seemed content to sit there and watch the club's comings and goings with all the rapt and eager attention of a child watching a magic show. There were times when she seemed to quiver with excitement and he worried she might burst from her seat and suddenly go running. But she never did.
And since nothing had happened for close to an hour Jaksus had done the stupid thing and let down his guard. He'd thought she'd be fine if he left her alone just long enough to visit the bathroom. He'd even told her not to move from the booth. Clearly he'd underestimated her disregard for her own safety.
He punched the booth in frustration and drew a curious look from both the two asari in the booth next to him and the one who had been waiting on them. "Um…is there a problem?" the waitress asked him carefully, clearly keeping her distance. Jaksus growled and gestured to the empty spot Maria had been inhabiting. "Where'd the human I was with go?"
The Asari looked curious, "Her? I just assumed she went to the bathroom. She ordered a drink just after you got up and when I came back around her glass was empty and she was gone. I just assumed she had to go do her business."
Jaksus swore under his breath and fought off the anger he felt. "Right." he uttered through clenched teether, "Of course she ordered a drink."
The waitress suddenly looked rather worried, "She's not underage is she? I couldn't tell and her ID said she was old enough but I know those can be tampered with and I can never tell with humans but she did LOOK young."
Jaksus cooled enough to wave off the waitress, "No she's not underage. You're fine. She just-…damnit." he growled as he caught sight of a splash of red and blue amongst the sea of dancers. "Excuse me." he told her and then brushed past the Asari to chase after his fleeting charge.
He lost sight of her again somewhere amongst a group of wriggling Salarians and found himself pushed and shoved and grinded against as he tried desperately to find her again. When he did he was pissed.
"Krogan. Damnit. Why did it have to be Krogan?" Jaksus muttered, finally catching sight of red-hair amongst a mass of multi-colored muscle. He didn't know whether to take it as a bad or a good sign that the enormous brutes were smiling down at the petite human encircled between them. "Bad. It's gotta be bad considering it's her." he told himself. He pushed his way through the writhing throng of dancers and desperately made his way toward Maria and her dangerous entourage.
As he neared them he nearly tripped over himself in shock as he picked up the tail end of whatever Maria had been droning on about. None of what she said sounded anywhere close to good. "-just think that it might be easier if male humans worked that way. I could never understand all the mixed signals and subtext when I was in school. I didn't even know what it meant when you stuck a tie in the door-lock until I accidentally walked in on my college roommate consummating her relationship with her Applied Physics tutor."
"You think it'd be better for males to kill each over females?" the largest of the Krogan asked incredulously, his red-scarred face looked at Maria in disbelief and just the smallest hint of amusement.
"I dunno Wrex, I think that might just toughen up some of these softer aliens. Just think if you caught two Volus fighting it out over an Asari." The bulkier of the other two laughed his indigo-colored scales shining almost black under the club's lighting. He looked like he was the closest to laughing.
His buddy, a rather badly scarred greenish Krogan was grinning in a way that made Jaksus want to punch somebody. Probably him…and then probably Maria for being so stupid. "Ha! That I'd pay to see."
"You Two are truly juvenile." The red one, Wrex, shook his head in reply. Maria grinned and gestured with her drink.
"No! No! Really I think the only reason humanity's population has grown at the rate is has is because our system of courtship is so outdated, formal, and convoluted. If males simply fought over females, or even the other way around, well? Just think! The population might triple over night." She giggled and then stared wide-eyed and strangely at the ceiling as if coming to a sudden epiphany. "Oh god think of all the sex people would have if they didn't have to bother with all the societal pressures."
The two smaller Krogan chuckled, Wrex shook his head. "Or your population could halve itself. You ever see two Krogan beat each other to death over a fertile female? Entertaining sure, but not very effective at raising our numbers."
Maria blinked back into focus and seemed to consider this comment seriously for a moment, her brows cinching together in thought. "And that's the other thing! This Genophage, it lowers birth-rates correct?"
Jaksus panicked and picked up his pace. He could see the humor quickly draining out of the Krogan's faces. If there was one thing you didn't do when surrounded by a bunch of Krogan it was strike up a conversation about the Genophage. It never ended well.
Wrex growled and adjusted his stance, almost glaring at Maria. "Of course it does. Haven't you read any history other than your own?"
Maria simply grinned and nodded, gesturing with her drink, "Oh I have! But each race has it's own take on the matter and since there are no human books not he subject I've had to-"
Jaksus wrapped a hand around Maria's mouth and glared down at the human who continued to mutter past his hand for a few seconds before she finally stopped and looked up at him. He noticed, rather furiously, that her pupils were dilated and her face was flushed nearly as red as her hair. Clearly, she was drunk…or close enough to it. He wondered just how many drinks a human could down in five minutes while still managing to talk as much or as fast as Maria did. "Damnit Maria! I was only gone for five minutes. How did you manage all of…THIS, in five minutes?" The C-SEC officer snarled, flaring his mandibles in his frustration and anger.
The petite woman only smiled at him in a sloppy sort of way and made a vague gesture with the light-blue drink in her hand. "Jaksus! There you are! I ordered a drink while I was waiting for you and these lovely gentlemen…gentle…Krogan? Came in and I absolutely HAD to hear about this Salarian breeding contract they'd read about on the extranet that-"
"Stop." he growled, "Just…stop talking for five seconds." He glared at her and took another moment to examine how much of her drink was gone. She'd drained half of it. He wanted to shake her. "How much have you had to drink?" he asked her, this time speaking a tad more slow, hoping to get her to understand. Her lips took a downturn and she shot her blue eyes to the floor to gaze at her shoes in what Jaksus assumed was a guilty expression.
"Well this is just my second and I swear the first was something familiar…ish."
Jaksus' frown deepened and he eyed her drink. He then took it from her, sniffed it, and winced. "Damnit Maria, have you been drinking Asari cocktails?" he growled, furious. Everyone knew Asari drinks were strong. What's worse they were supposed to mess with your biotics in funny ways. He knew that there weren't any humans with biotic potential, but he doubted that meant much in the long run.
Maria let out a small titter of amusement and snatched her drink back, swallowing the rest of it before he could take it from her again. The two younger Krogan broke out laughing, the older one simply chuckled and shook his head. The ruddy Turian glared at his charge as she handed the empty glass back to him and grinned victoriously. "It kind of tastes like raspberries…a favorite of mine I'll admit. No alcoholic after-taste either which is nice. Although the way it makes my whole mind light up in warmth is truly just…amazing. You know, I'd try a Turian drink next if I weren't aware of the fact that it would kill me."
The oldest of the three Krogan, the badly scarred red individual with a wicked smile and a nasty looking piece on his hip; the one the others had called 'Wrex'; grinned and patted Maria encouragingly on the shoulder. She scooted forward a bit with each pat, her small frame unable to keep it's balance on both drink and light but forceful impact. "You got some guts for someone so small, human. You and the Turian dating or something?"
Jaksus looked appalled, Maria laughed and shook out her already wild hair, like a bird ruffling it's feathers. She tugged on a strand of that wild hair and smiled in a spectacularly dazed way. "Oh goodness no! He's just my bodyguard." She stopped for a moment and then made a strange, strained sound with her lips that dissolved into a giggle fit. Jaksus was fuming as she leaned in closer to the red Krogan and told him in a staged whisper, "He guards my body."
All three Krogan burst out laughing, although Wrex spared Jaksus a momentary look of sympathy in-between his deep breaths of humor. Jaksus had had enough. He grabbed Maria by the collar of her shirt and then threw all propriety out the window when she stumbled back and grinned up at him like a child. He knelt down, grabbed her around her knees, and swung her up and over his shoulder. "Alright, clearly somebody's had enough fun for one night. We're leaving."
Maria, wiggled for a second and then made a strangled sort of sound. For a moment Jaksus wondered if he'd somehow hurt her. Until she let out a deep and rather pleased moan…..that was also rather loud.
Jaksus had never beat a hastier retreat in his life. He could still hear the laughter of the three Krogan in his mind long after he'd made it out the Club's front door. Thankfully for him Maria kept her mouth shut the whole way back.
….
Neross: Well there you are my loyal readers. I hope you enjoyed the new chapter. Be glad I got it done at all. I've been extremely busy doing what I'm sure most of you have been doing. ( Playing Mass Effect 3 ). Frankly I'm just so tired of the debate over the whole thing that I'm not even going to bother stating how I felt about the game. As far as I'm concerned you either liked it or you didn't and that's about it. ( personally I liked everything about it but apparently that opinion is likely to get me lynched ).
Anyway, like always please remember to leave me a review letting me know what you thought and don't forget to check my profile for updates and news about me and all my stories.
Until next time my dear readers, keep on rocking out!