Neross: Hey would you look at that. A new chapter. Damn I'm good.

Warning: This fanfiction may contain violence, foul language, adult situations, and sexual situations. Enjoy!

…..

Maria woke up the next day thankfully without a headache or a sick feeling in her stomach. No doubt mostly thanks to Jaksus' attentive care. She'd have to thank him again, for taking such good care of her, she knew she'd been more than just a little bit of a handful. Still when she awoke Maria did not feel as she should. She felt warm, fuzzy, and rather…drained…as if she'd been through a rather Cathartic experience. Yet it was not an…unhappy feeling. She sat up in her bed, stretched, and then froze in all further action as she heard two rather loud male voices out in the hall.

She blinked curiously at her door and simply stared at it for a while as she tried to listen to what the voices were saying. She recognized one rather clearly as Jaksus and the other was familiar as well, though not as familiar as she would have liked. She listened intently for almost minute before finally the sound of something banging loudly forced her to leap from her bed and run for the door. She didn't bother to change out of the large t-shirt she was wearing or the loose fitting shorts she had on underneath that, as she could hear some kind of scuffle going on on the other side of the door.

The second the door slid open Maria found herself staring at the strangest scene of violence she had ever seen. Jaksus and a krogan with dark indigo colored scales and fierce scars were grappling each other at the floor just outside the door to her room. With a yelp of surprise Maria jumped back as they rolled and Jaksus was kicked back and flew nearly against the wall. Maria swore aloud and quickly did the only thing she could think of.

She dived into a box of emergency supplies just beside her bed and pulled out the compact fire extinguisher she'd bought. In an instant she was back in the hall and glaring at the two alien men still fighting, this time with Jaksus pinned to the wall bare talons at both his hands and his feet scratching at the Krogan that was attempting to throttle him. Maria glared at them and took aim with the extinguisher, "Stop it this instant both of you!"

When the fighting simply continued Maria rolled her eyes, snarled, then pulled the trigger on the implement in her hands. As she sprayed both men she heard them sputter, saw them both flail and then watched as they toppled head over heel over the side of the couch and then onto the floor. There they lay sputtering, covered in a thin white film and Maria let out a loud sigh and placed her hand on her hip as she glared down at both Jaksus and the Krogan, who she could now recognize as one of the three she had met the night before. "Good. Well now that you're both done with the beauty contest we can move on to the bathing suite round. How does that sound?"

The Krogan looked at her, turned and exchanged a look of confusion with Jaksus, and then looked back at her as if she were insane. "What are you talking about you crazy little pyjak?"

Jaksus rolled over and began to brush himself off as he stood and eyed Maria warily, "I'm afraid I have to agree with the Krogan Maria. You are not making any sort of sense."

Maria tilted her head and then smirked derisively, "Good. Now we all feel the same level of confusion. Do me a favor. The next time you want me to wake up…try knocking. Or, failing that, you can try shooting a gun off. I figure both are considerably more pleasant than waking up to a fight just outside my door."

Jaksus and the Krogan exchanged glances, both apparently seemed on the verge of a mixture of laughter, shame, and total humiliation. Maria simply smiled a bit further, "Although I suppose I can tell my brother that I finally got to see two aliens of the same sex going at it before he did." At this both of the men looked repulsed and shot each other with equal looks of horror. Maria fought back a harsh giggle, "Now, if you don't mind holding off on beating each other to death, I'm going to get dressed. Then perhaps we can discuss why you two started this early morning scuffle in the hallway."

And with that Maria turned on her heel and stalked back into her room. As the door shut behind her she could hear a sharp bark of laughter that was soon followed by another rumble of laughter she hadn't heard before…but that sent flame streaking across her face. She suddenly thought she might have left the room too soon, she would have liked to have seen Jaksus laugh.

…

Jaksus slept very little that night after his talk with Maria. He felt pangs of guilt he had never truly known before and which he could not stand. They drove his thoughts to distraction and what little dreams he had to nightmares. He woke up hours before his charge did and found he could not bring himself to wake her, or to go back to sleep himself. So he brewed himself some coffee and made himself a small breakfast which he ate quickly and without relish.

He was cleaning his plate when he heard someone pounding upon the apartment's door. Suddenly irrationally afraid that the knocking would wake Maria up Jaksus ignored his plates for the moment and crossed to the door in a few quick strides. He hadn't bothered to dress, and regretted it now as he opened the door to find a Krogan standing at the door.

Jaksus frowned, recognizing the Krogan but unsure from where. And then the Krogan grinned and let out a chuckle and Jaksus was suddenly reminded of one particular event from the night before. Maria, surrounded by three Krogan. One individual in particular had found her to be particularly entertaining. An individual with dark indigo scales and a richly scarred face. "I'm beginning to think Wrex was right about you two. I came here expecting to see that hilarious little human from last night and find you here. Either she's someone particularly important or you two are having fun between the sheets."

Jaksus snarled, the Krogan may have been as thickly muscled as any Krogan worth his salt would be, he was still shorter. And like hell would Jaksus be treated like a joke. " Is that a threat or do you Krogan have such bad tastes in humor that you need to mock anyone smaller than you?" Jaksus sneered.

The Krogan's smile vanished and he glared up at Jaksus with enough venom to sear through the floor beneath the turian's feet. "Awfully testy in the morning aren't you Turian? What's the matter? Didn't get enough sleep? Busy? Or do you suffer from a guilty conscious the rest of your kind seem to lack over dooming mine to die a slow death?"

The sound that came from Jaksus' throat was primal and furious. He launched forward and punched the Krogan straight in the face. He lurched backward and then with a snarl barreled into the C-SEC officer barring the doorway. Jaksus was thrown back and sent skidding across the floor, his shoulder painfully scraping the ground as he went. He scrambled quickly to his feet even as the Krogan charged him again and knocked him into the wall.

Jaksus could feel the air pushed painfully from his lungs but rage drove him onward. He slashed at his opponent with all that he had, thankful for perhaps the first time that he had not dressed. The Krogan's blood seeped out from each scratch Jaksus inflicted upon him. Until at last Jaksus gained enough leverage to kick the Krogan off of him and to the floor. As the Krogan attempted to recover Jaksus dived upon him and proceeded to punch him as furiously as he could in his face. He could feel the alien beneath him striking back as furiously as Jaksus gave.

For a second Jaksus thought he felt a rush of air but he decided it must have only been his imagination. And then he heard a yelp and knew Maria must have woken up at last. Which meant he had to end this soon. He dug his talons into the Krogan's collar and leaned forward enough to dig his knee into his opponent's gut. The Krogan groaned in pain and then growled in fury and threw him to the side before Jaksus found himself once again pinned to the wall.

He clawed and scratched as the Krogan attempted to choke the life from him and from some distance he heard another voice cry out in anger, but it was far gone from his mind. He kicked the Krogan, digging his feet and second talons in as deep as they would go into his attacker's clothing and flesh. And then, in an instant Jaksus' world went white and freezing cold. He sputtered and tried to block the spray of fire-retardant, as did his attacker. Unfortunately this threw them both off balance and, limbs flying end over end, until Jaksus wound up sprawled upon the ground on the other side of the couch next to his opponent who seemed about as confused and irritated as he.

He'd never felt so damn cold in his life and he blinked past the white film to see Maria, dwarfed in her large sleeping shirt and small plain shorts, glaring down at them both. He swore internally for not being able to solve a problem that she again seemed to so easily defuse. Although by that glare on her face he was unsure if the problem was solved at all. "Good." she snapped with an irritated smile, "Well now that you're both done with the beauty contest we can move on to the bathing suite round. How does that sound?"

Jaksus was suddenly confused. He had no idea what she meant and apparently neither did his opponent. He exchanged a look with the Krogan beside him just in case but apparently they were both lost for the Krogan sat up and spoke out first. "What are you talking about you crazy little pyjak?"

Jaksus took the moment to stand and brush the white film from his face and the side of his neck where it was so cold it nearly burned. "I'm afraid I have to agree with the Krogan Maria. You are not making any sort of sense."

And then the tiny little human woman tilted her head to the side, cocked one eyebrow, and looked for all the world like a villain in some terrible tv show. "Good. Now we all feel the same level of confusion. Do me a favor. The next time you want me to wake up…try knocking. Or, failing that, you can try shooting a gun off. I figure both are considerably more pleasant than waking up to a fight just outside my door."

Jaksus felt like he'd been hit in the gut. He probably had, but this blow was not physical and it burned all the same. She was lecturing them…and damn if she wasn't effective at it. She was as intimidating as his mother was when furious and what's worse she wielded guilt like the most effective of weapons. Even the Krogan seemed effectively shamed into silence, though there was the smallest hint of a smile blooming at the edges of his expression. It was almost enough to make the Turian laugh as well.

It was hard to be intimidated with Maria, and it was almost hilarious to feel it in this instance, covered in white film as he was. And then Maria's smile grew just a touch wider and something sparkled in her eyes. "Although I suppose I can tell my brother that I finally got to see two aliens of the same sex going at it before he did."

Jaksus felt a surge of disgust and nearly retched at the thought Maria has implanted within his head. He shot a look of horror in the Krogan's direction who did the same in return. They both quickly took to pushing themselves as far apart as possible. Maria looked as if she were fighting back a burst of laughter. "Now, if you don't mind holding off on beating each other to death, I'm going to get dressed. Then perhaps we can discuss why you two started this early morning scuffle in the hallway." she stated with a strict little twitch to her lips before she turned on her heel and went straight back to her room.

The second her door shut the Krogan burst out in laughter and soon Jaksus could not help but to follow his example. The laughed for sometime until at last Jaksus turned with a smile to the Krogan who had attacked him. "Alright. So. Since we've effectively made asses of ourselves I guess it's only fair that we know each other's names. Jaksus Vikil, with CSEC."

The Krogan chuckled and finally stood, wiping a good deal of white film from his arm. "Urdnot A'Garr. I used to be a scout for my clan until the heads of my clan went at each other's throats. Now I am a freelance mercenary for hire. And sufficiently bored out of my skull when I am not on assignment." He pointed a hand at Maria's closed door and grinned widely. "Your girl there has given me more cause to laugh than I've had in years. Damn thing seems like varren that talks, walks on two legs, and thinks it's a Salarian."

Jaksus chuckled and wiped the last bit of white film from his shirt and then spared a glance at the door not five feet away. "Well she's something I'll give her that."

….

Maria liked Urdnott A'Garr. The Krogan was surprisingly well read, though he seemed to be more interested in modern events than those of the past. He thought Maria's views were interesting and mostly hilarious, it seemed as if he laughed at every other word she said. She had no idea why the Krogan found her to be so funny, she was, after all, fairly serious. What's more Jaksus never laughed at anything she said at all.

But at the very least something had changed between them. Maria insisted on going out nearly every day to observe the Citadel and it's myriad of cultures. Jaksus always accompanied her, having established several rule for her to follow for her safety. The most important of which was that she should never go out on her own. So he was always there with her.

And every now and then A'Garr would join them when they went out. There were times when Jaksus would growl in disapproval. Especially when they went out to bars or clubs and A'Garr would attempt to get her drunk. He succeeded only once before Jaksus made sure she never had more than one drink a night. Though this only succeeded in making A'Garr then attempt to get Jaksus drunk instead.

Maria actually liked this idea, and secretly attempted to help him. Jaksus begrudged them both for their attempts. Thought with some help they succeeded once. Though, sadly, only once. After that night Jaksus began to discourage any attempt to visit places that served large varieties of alcohol.

Still, things had improved, and Maria's work went well. And then, big news hit the Citadel that changed everything.

The Flotilla had come to the Citadel in order to trade. There was a large amount of protest as well as argument as soon as the news hit. And Maria…was ecstatic. She wanted nothing more than to go the docks and to meet with the Quarians. But Jaksus would have none of it. He told her endlessly of the dangers. How it was unsecured and how she would most likely find herself robbed blind. Maria was furious about his refusal and argued with him at every moment, to no avail.

Until finally, one day, A'Garr came to take her out to lunch. And, while Jaksus went to go to the restroom, asked her why she seemed so irritated.

"You seem ready to bite the head off that Turian of yours. Did you two fight over some damn misplaced fork or something?" The Krogan chuckled and shook his head though his gold eyes seemed to always watch her.

Maria threw a hand through her hair and glared at the leftovers of her meal, she'd been furious for days. "Jaksus refuses to let me go down to the docks to see the Quarians. And I'm DYING to go. All I want is to meet one. Talk with one. It's the closest I'll ever get. I may NEVER get this chance again."

A'Garr chuckled and then shot her a smirk that was full of his usual mischief. "So…why don't you just go? I heard from the tight-ass himself that you're exceptionally good at sneaking off when you're not supposed to."

Maria paused for a second and then glanced up at the Krogan with a dawning realization. Slowly an excited smile bloomed upon her face and she began to twitch with anticipation despite herself. "That," she muttered, pushing back her chair, "Is an excellent idea. You coming?"

A'Garr laughed and stood as well. "Wouldn't miss it for the world kid."

They were gone before Jaksus had even finished washing his hands.

…..

Neross: Well there you are my dears. I hope you all enjoyed it. Who the hell would've guessed that watching The Tudors would provide such excellent inspiration. *chuckles* Ah well. Hopefully this creative streak will keep coming so that I can get on to erm…happier things?

Well anyway, until next time my faithful readers. Keep on rocking out!