Neross: Sorry for the long absence folks. I got caught up in work and school and real life issues. But I'm back now and ready to get back to it. So let's dive right back in shall we?
Warning: This fanfiction may contain foul language, violence, adult situations, and sexual situations. Enjoy!
…..
Maria's hair was perfect by the time Jaksus was done with it. What's more they actually managed to arrive on time to their dinner meeting with the Quarian Captain and his small family. Which Maria was more than grateful for. If she were to be honest she simply did not want to spend any more time alone with Jaksus than was utterly necessary.
The talk they'd had as he'd washed her hair had made something suddenly very clear to her. Jaksus was not just a Turian, not just a cop, and also not just her bodyguard. He was also male. One who was more than likely very sexually active. What's more his voice had an amazingly pleasing base to it that always seemed to make Maria's skin quiver when he got too close.
She'd known all these things already, but somehow having him wash her hair and tease her as he had had brought it all startlingly into sharp focus. She'd have liked to simply forget the whole embarrassing situation. However she couldn't seem to get the event out of her mind. She paid as much attention to the Captain and his family as she could. But time and time again she kept finding herself drawn to running that moment over in her mind. Or else stealing glances at her bodyguard from the corner of her eye.
She'd been doing just that when the Quarian mechanic who'd offered them the dinner meeting finally arrived. He came up on her from behind though and startled her nearly out of her seat. Not only had she been too busy staring at Jaksus to notice Nava's approach but the Quarian's hand on her shoulder was sudden and nightmarishly cold. Thankfully she managed to recover quickly and apologized though she could not tell what, if any, effect her apology had had.
The green-clad Quarian simply chuckled, shook his head, and took the seat beside her. "It is alright my good little friend. It is my own fault for arriving late. Still it has provided me with a most interesting opportunity."
Maria rose her brows curiously as she studied the curious body language Nave gave off in the seat he took beside her. She'd begun to realize that Quarians talked with their hands, most likely a result of being forced to live inside environment suits that limited the amount of facial expression they were capable of showing. What's more the movements Quarians made to express themselves were more open and expressive, more honest, than Batarian body language and much more intricate than Asari, Turian, or any other race she'd previously encountered. She was so intent on studying what Nava's body was saying that she ended up missing what his mouth was saying completely. She did not even realize this was the case until she found the table had gone silent around her, obviously waiting for her response to a question the Quarian mechanic had asked.
Maria blinked, turned red up to her ears, ad sputtered. Oh! I'm sorry! I became distracted. Could you…um that is…do you mind repeating what you just said? Please?"
It was almost imperceptible but Maria was almost sure that Nava was smirking underneath his helmet. "Of course my friend. I was just saying how I have come to learn a new wide range of human expressions in the short time since I have met you. They are quite…fascinating…to watch upon your face."
Maria turned a much deeper shade of red and felt her skin prickle at the intonation in the Quarian's voice. She wondered if something was wrong with her brain or the pheromones that she was giving off that made everything seem so furiously intimate.
…..
Something was off with Maria, Jaksus was sure. She had been strangely quiet on the way to the restaurant and she kept sneaking glance at him out of the corner of her eye. It was, disconcerting.
Perhaps what made it worse was that if Jaksus hadn't known better he'd have thought that she suddenly considered him attractive. Which was absurd. After all, she was a human, a rather odd one but still quite human, and he was a mostly biased Turian. She couldn't possibly be attracted to him.
But the doubt persisted. It lasted through their meeting with the Captain Os'Van vas Haedra and his bondmate and child. And it only grew in him as they sat down to order and Maria seemed almost too distracted to decide on anything.
Things settled however once the waitress left and Maria was free to focus on her discussion with the Captain. She asked him questions concerning social freedoms, living space, the individual cultures of the ships and actually pleased the Captain when she remarked with fascination on the wide variance of Quarian accents she had so far observed. The Captain and his bondmate seemed thrilled with the human, and satisfied every question with long explanations and lengthy discourses. Which was good news in Jaksus' book. It meant Maria had her mind focused on work…and not on their odd encounter in the bathroom.
Which, unfortunately, is where his own mind kept slipping away to. Maria's sudden change to red and urge to change the subject had sparked a strange curiosity in him. He wondered if she'd reacted so strikingly due to being so young and socially awkward or if it was because she'd never had any sexual interaction before. It would make sense…considering what he knew of her. But it gave him an odd, unsettled feeling, in the pit of his stomach. If possible, the human appeared more innocent to him now then before.
He was drawn from his thoughts however as he looked up to see the Quarian mechanic from earlier approaching from the door. Clearly late and with a smudge of ash on his shoulder showing he'd probably just come from one sort of job or another. The Captain clearly didn't seem to mind his ship member's tardiness and waved the green-clad man over. Jaksus could tell he was about to apologize when he placed a hand on Maria's shoulder and the woman jumped and turned wildly in surprise, clearly taken aback by Nava' approach.
Maria quickly apologized, embarrassment flooding her face with a light pink shade that made her hair seem even more red in contrast. Nava, for his part, seemed to think her reaction was humorous for he brushed it off and took the seat beside her. "Coming late has allowed me to see yet another amazing example of human expression. Many of which I have seen today thanks to you and your amazing array of amusing reactions." he said as he took his seat.
Maria, however, seemed to be too distracted by the Quarian's chest and hands to have noticed what he said at all. In fact it was almost as if she were undressing him with her eyes and Jaksus became suddenly and irrationally concerned…and irritated. Maria blinked when she finally seemed to notice the table had gone quiet around her and stuttered another apology.
Jaksus bristled as Nava seemed to find her reaction not only amusing, but also to mean she found him….physically appealing…and sat up a bit straighter in his seat, his hand inching closer to hers on the table. "Of course my friend. I was just saying how I have come to learn a new wide range of human expressions in the short time since I have met you. They are quite…fascinating…to watch upon your face."
This time Maria did not miss the signals the Quarian was putting out. Her face flushed a deep red all the way to her ears and her eyes went wide in a mixture of embarrassment and astonishment. Jaksus clenched the fork in his hand to keep from stabbing it into the mechanic's hand. To the other side of him Jaksus could hear the Captain whisper something to his bondmate, sending the woman into a brief fit of giggles that made Maria look around as if in need of help. Her gaze landed on him.
Jaksus' insides crumbled away at that pitiful gaze and he cleared his throat and steered the conversation back to a subject that was more comfortable for everyone. He kept an eye on the green-clad mechanic throughout the rest of the meal and swore to stab him through the forearm if his hand inched any closer to his ward's.
….
Maria was more than thankful when Jaksus managed to spare her more embarrassment by changing the subject back to the Captain's duties upon the Haedras. It offered her a chance to shove the rest of the embarrassment and strange tension to the back of her mind where she could analyze it later.
The rest of the dinner went smoothly and Maria soon forgot all about her embarrassment in favor of the engaging conversation. She was rather disappointed to see the meal come to an end and say goodbye to the Captain and his family at the door. Nava, however, insisted on walking both herself and Jaksus back to their apartment.
Maria noticed that for whatever reason Jaksus considered this to be a terrible idea. The Turian grew stiff, his brows drew together, and he declined the offer through clenched teeth. Maria understood the concern, but found it odd just the same. The Quarian mechanic eventually gave up the idea and trudged back to the docks on his own, leaving Maria and Jaksus to walk back alone.
Maria had been dreading this part of the night. The silence between them both was filled with tension thick enough that it could almost be seen. And although Maria tried to start a conversation once or twice she found all she could come up with was idle prattle about the Captain's suit pattern matching his bondmate's. When this failed Maria finally simply accepted the silence and discontentedly settled with the idea that she might never talk with Jaksus alone again.
She had only just made this decision and resided to move on to more productive thinking pursuits, when a gang of Batarians suddenly rounded a corner in order to bar their way. The small squad drew weapons on them and barked at them to stop in their tracks. Jaksus let out a low growl and stepped in front of Maria, his hand reaching beneath his shirt. Maria felt her heart begin to flutter wildly in her chest out of fear and found herself unable to move.
One of the Batarians stepped forward, a grim scar running across his face that made him look as if his face was about to split open when he sneered and bared his teeth. "Don't even think about it! Drop the weapon or we shoot the human dead where she stands!" he barked, thrusting his gun in Maria's direction, making her heart make a painful stutter.
Jaksus glared at the scarred Batarian and looked back at Maria in order to whisper an order. "Maria. Listen to me. I need you to run. I need you to duck into that alley we just passed and call A'Garr and C-SEC. Do you think you can do that?"
Maria was so frightened she was sure her legs would shatter beneath her if she tried to move, but she nodded anyway. Jaksus gave her a brief, grim smile and turned back toward the Batarians who had all taken a step closer. "Now Maria! Go!" Jaksus shouted, pulling his gun from a concealed holster faster than Maria could see.
She turned, nearly slipping and falling as her feet nearly failed to gain any friction on the ground, and ran. She could hear the sound of gunfire behind her, sounds of pain and agony. Everything became a blur around her but somehow she found the alleyway Jaksus had told her to find. She dove into it, sending a small group of vermin running as she did so. Though her fingers were numb and she could barely hear over the sound of her own heartbeat she brought up her omnitool and got A-Garr on the first try.
The Krogan's face went from amused to serious in seconds as he could see Maria's haunted expression. As quickly as she could, stuttering over her own words Maria gave him her location and a brief description of what had happened. She couldn't tell what he said but he'd barely finished speaking before he'd severed the connection. Maria was pulling up the number for C-Sec, her fingers fumbling, when an angry voice sounded from her right and the opening of the alleyway.
She froze as rough hands lifted her and shoved her against the wall. The Batarian with the scar snarled in her face and shoved a gun to her head and Maria let out a sob and fevered scream. She wanted to kick, to bite, to scratch at the alien accosting her but her muscles all seemed frozen in fear. But she did cry. She cried because she knew Jaksus was dead. She cried because her first and only Turian friend had died protecting her. And she cried because she'd been unable to do anything to prevent it.
….
Jaksus swore as a bullet grazed his shields and shot into the ground beside him as he charged at the Batarian group before him. He knocked their leader to the ground and rounded on the two to his left, flinging them into the air with a swift biotic push before he rounded on the other two. He shot the first one through the forehead, but only managed to get the other one in the arm before he had to dodge a bullet aimed at his own head.
He rolled to the side, raised his gun and managed to squeeze off two rounds into his attacker's chest. The merc fell with a thud and Jaksus thanked the spirits that he'd listened to his friend Chellic back in basic training. He'd been right about the chaos and distraction thing when cornered.
He had little time to focus too much on his gratitude however, as the other three were recovering and he was now suffering the after-effects of having used his biotics. He noted with some relief that Maria had at least done as he said and gotten away to a safer distance.
Jaksus ducked behind the low wall of a nearby planter just in time to dodge a few heavy shots. He flinched, however, as a shotgun blast from one of the Batarians managed to bypass his shields and nick his shoulder. He swore, waited a moment as he drew in energy for another biotic attack and then dove to the other side of the planter and smacked one Batarian full in the chest with a powerful warp field.
The gunman fell and his buddy beside him soon joined him as Jaksus shot him once through the neck, and three times in the chest. He fell, gurgling, and Jaksus took the time to stand and swear as he counted the bodies. The leader with a scar was missing. Panic reaching him Jaksus bolted down the street back the way he and Maria had come.
He came upon the alley in less than a minute, found the scarred Batarian pinning Maria to a wall, shouting at her to be silent as she screamed and cried from fear in his grasp. Jaksus felt white hot fury flood his body, numbing him to the pain in his shoulder. He leveled his pistol and glared down the sight. "Hey!," he shouted, drawing the Batarian's attention, the four-eyed alien barely had time to turn and register the Turian with a gun before a major part of his brain was blown out through the exit wound at the back of his skull.
His body went limp and his grasp on Maria faltered as he dropped dead to the ground.
Maria sputtered, let out a choking sound and collapsed to her knees, shaking. She stared at the dead Batarian in horror, her lips moving though no sound came out. Jaksus was at her side instantly. He drew her away, out of the alley, and then sat her down on the street and forced her to look at him, he could feel her body shaking and the cold sweat and tears that poured off her in spades. He prayed to every God and religion he knew of in hopes that she hadn't gone into shock.
"Maria, " he told her, forcing himself to remain calm, forcing his voice to remain steady. "Maria it's okay. It's over now. They can't hurt you anymore. Maria? Maria focus on me, this is important. Did he hurt you? Are you injured anywhere?"
The small human woman stilled and shook her head, gazing up at him as he'd come from the dead. After a moment she finally she shook her head 'no' and then let out a long, painful, sob and clung to his chest. Jaksus let out a deep shuddering breath and let her cry against him for the second time that night.
He was still holding her when A'Garr and three C-SEC officials finally arrived.
…
Neross: Well guys there's another chapter down. I hope you all enjoyed it and I hope you're eager for the next one. Especially now that we've come to our second major conflict in this intricate story!
Remember if you're itching for more to check out my profile to find other stories or projects that I'm working on. And never forget that leaving me a review is the number one way to get me to update faster.
Until next time, keep on rocking out!