Neross: Hey everybody, sorry for the wait. Shall we get right to it then?

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

…

"I guess this won't be so bad…it's kind of like being on my pilgrimage again." Nava said, absently toying with his injured arm.

Jaksus fought the urge to groan aloud and a gave a briefly irritated flicker of his mandibles as he watched Maria slap away Nava's good hand from the Quarian's sling. The human was frowning in a worried way and standing beside the injured suit-rat in the way a mother bird might however around a newly hatched chick. She played with her fingers, chewing her cuticles as she nervously studied Nava and seemed to practically hop from foot to foot.

Jaksus pulled her hand away from her mouth before she could cause herself to bleed and managed to silence Maria's upcoming protest with a single look. The human quieted, but did not still and soon turned back to the green-clad Quarian riding along in the elevator beside them. "You're going to go back to the Clinic aren't you? You need to get proper treatment. Jaksus alerted C-SEC so they'll make sure to look after you. Isn't that right?"

The Turian nodded but failed to add that C-SEC would also be waiting at the clinic to take the Quarian's statement. Jaksus, in the meantime, had sent on the information Nava had given him earlier…although it turned out to be nothing more than the e-mail logs of one of his attackers. All the disk had managed to reveal was that the Batarian's had in fact been hired by someone. C-SEC were convinced it was probably some other Batarian with a grudge against humanity and were following up based on that line of logic.

But Jaksus remained unconvinced. Killing Maria would earn the Batarian's nothing. All it would accomplish would be to set humanity on edge and to step up human sympathies on the Citadel. It just didn't seem to add up. Still the Turian had to let it go. He had more pressing concerns on his hands. Such as how to move an injured Quarian into the two-bedroom apartment he was sharing with his human ward.

He hated the idea of simply giving Nava his room, however he was pretty convinced Maria would object to making the abandoned engineer sleep out on the couch. He outrightly loathed the idea of letting Nava and Maria share a room and yet was hesitant to bring up the only option he actually was comfortable with. Mainly because he was surprised he was comfortable with it at all. What's more it raised all sorts of new issues.

As they saw the Quarian off to the clinic Jaksus felt his stomach sink as he realized he was left with no option….he'd have to move Maria into his room and share it with her.

It'd be fine he told himself….wouldn't it?

…..

Maria sat on the couch in the apartment she currently shared with Jaksus and would soon share with Nava as well….and felt her face grow as red as her hair. For nearly the first time in her life her thoughts ran along a mostly singular track. Yet as normal they were anything but quiet.

Sleep in the same room with Jaksus? Possibly the same bed? Share a bathroom and living space? It was both an exhilarating option and an extremely frightening one. On the one hand she'd be able to study a Turian's sleeping habits first hand. Jaksus might even let down his guard enough for her to see how he naturally acted while going through his normal morning and evening routines.

On the other hand…the idea of his voice in her ear…the idea of being nearly naked around him… the utter idea of being so close to him at her most intimate hours…made her chest hurt and her legs feel like limp noodles. Having the barrier of several doors and a living space between them was one thing. This was something wholly different.

Yet Jaksus seemed intent on it. He sat across from her, hands folded across his knees, regarding her in his grimly serious 'I'm your bodyguard and this is my say-so' way that he did when he set his mind on something. She wanted to say she thought the idea had merit but that she'd prefer if they came to some other arrangement but her mouth didn't seem able to communicate properly with her brain and all that came out was an odd squeak. Jaksus rose a brow in nearly amused confusion and Maria slapped a hand to her mouth before looking around as if for an escape.

"But…I… you…what about? Oh…oh dear…it's just…in the same bed?" Maria stammered, her last few words rising to an awkward high-pitched utterance.

Maria couldn't quite tell, she was still getting used to Turian facial expressions after all, but it seemed like Jaksus was smiling at the tone in her voice. "Maria if you're that uncomfortable with the idea then I can sleep on the floor or out on the couch."

Maria frowned, glaring at her bodyguard a bit before she furiously shook her head and stood abruptly. "No. It's…it's fine. You can't just…the floor is …I'd feel bad kicking you out of your bed. I…it's okay. I can…human beings are nothing if not adaptable." Maria told herself more than she told him, trying to convince herself that she could get used to sleeping with a giant wall of heavy male flesh beside her.

She took a moment to take a deep breath and remembered the nights she spent as a child snuggled up to her brother and sister before they'd all grown old enough to have their own beds. It wouldn't be so bad. Right?

….

The red on Maria's face remained throughout the entire time it took to move her things from her room into Jaksus'. The Turian found the embarrassment endearing…even a bit cute. In the way women tended to see small animals as cute.

Jaksus was surprised to find that there was plenty of room for her things in his suite. The most the Turian had to do was shuffle a few of his things into more organized piles within his drawers and cabinets. The only problem they found was where to stash Maria's generous book collection. Eventually they agreed to keep the books beside Jaksus' desk in the bedroom half of the suite.

They were moving the last couple of boxes when Nava at last returned from the med clinic. He appeared to be much better and even in quite a fine mood when he walked in, despite the obvious sling on his arm. Jaksus had a feeling that it wasn't just good news from the Doctor that had the Quarian sauntering in as if he'd just won a fortune at Quazar. Jaksus had to hide the almost smug smirk that crossed his face as he carted one of the last boxes he'd filled from Maria's bathroom and into his own. He could almost hear the nearly curious disappointment in the Engineer's voice as he caught Maria carrying her towels and toothbrush (the last of her personal items within her detached bathroom) out across the living room toward Jaksus' suite.

"Did something happen while I was gone?", Nava asked, the lift in his shoulder's practically deflating before Jaksus' eyes.

Maria, in all her naive glory, didn't seem to notice the mood of either male and simply smiled in her carefree way, "Yes! I mean err no…not exactly. We, I mean I just, "Maria stammered, clearly caught off guard by both Nava and the nervous energy she'd been carrying around since her talk with her Turian bodyguard. She nearly dropped one of her towels and she took a minute to catch it, compose herself, and clear her throat nervously. "I'm just moving my things in the other room," she began, smiling a bit more naturally this time as she rounded Nava and the couch and headed toward Jaksus and his room. Well…THEIR room now. "That way you can have a bed and bathroom to yourself. We notified the staff that you'll be staying with us so there's a few sanitation bots decontaminating your room right now. But they should be done in a minute. Then they'll see to the bathroom. Jaksus says they're not very thorough though so you may want to do your own sweep of the rooms. We'd be more than happy to-"

"So you're staying in a room with the Turian now?" Nava asked, interrupting Maria and annoying Jaksus with his tone and his now aggressive body language. Jaksus actually bothered to remove himself from the doorway to his room and took a step forward, his brow furrowing.

Maria's smile faltered but remained as best it could as she nodded. "Yes. We agreed it was the best option for while you're staying here." the human explained the pink slowly returning to her cheeks as she stopped in her tracks and attempted not to spill the items in her hands.

The Quarian shot a glance toward Jaksus and the Turian could almost swear he saw the Engineer glare behind his green-tinted visor. "Did you? That is…very generous of you."

Maria seemed to miss the context, as well as the subtle irritation in the Quarian's voice because she smiled and began to carry on toward Jaksus' room. Her bodyguard on the other hand, shot a glare in the Quarian's direction and was on the verge of telling Maria that Nava would just have to go. As usual Maria interjected and left Jaksus needing to curb himself once more. "It's nothing! Honest! I mean you nearly got killed because of me so it's only fair that I be the one to give up a room. And this way-!"

But no one ever got to find out what Maria was going to add because in her haste the girl tripped over a slipping towel and went flying face-first toward the sleek metal floor of the living room. Thankfully Jaksus was right there and had quick reflexes and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. Unfortunately Nava had also tried to intervene and wound up with a face-full of towels and tooth-brushes and other feminine hygiene products that Maria had apparently been hiding under her assorted collection of towels. All of which Maria had apparently thrown up into the air as she'd descended. All save for the towel Maria had tripped up which had somehow wound up amongst the tangle of limbs that was now Maria and Jaksus.

All three of them wound up sprawled on the floor in a jumble of objects and bodies. And somehow Jaksus found himself with a handful of Maria's backside, which was surprisingly firm considering how soft she looked. In fact, Maria's body was quite nicely pressed up against him and Jaksus was almost in awe of the fact that Maria was indeed quite firm all over. All save for one soft spot which was smutted against his upper shoulder.

Somewhere in the back of his mind something laughed and said 'Right. Humans have mammary glands on their chest like Asari.' Which, really, had nothing to do with the situation at hand. Yet like a nervous tick in his mind it was there whether he liked it or not. An awkward moment of stilled silence fell as everyone tried to gauge what, exactly, had happened and just how they'd wound up in whatever position they'd found themselves in. It took a moment but after a few nervous heartbeats Maria mad a strangled sound and scrambled off of her bodyguard with a face as red as a giant red star. Like a chittering pyjak Maria sputtered out a stream of syllables that made utterly no sense and frantically began to pick up her things.

Jaksus tried, but utterly failed at withholding his laughter and ended up collapsing in a burst of chortles on the floor. Nava sat up, pulled a towel off of his head, and began to chuckle as well which had Maria sitting back and looking almost lost before she buried her face in a towel. At first Jaksus thought she was crying and quit laughing immediately to reach for the tiny human girl, when he heard her muffled giggles …which only made him resume laughing even harder. Maria finally dropped the towel after awhile and threw back her head in laughter before snapping her towel at Jaksus and giving him a frown that twitched up at the edges constantly as she fought off future giggle-fits.

"Stop..pffft… stop laughing and help me! Poor Nava got knocked on his ass and he's covered in my tampons." Maria sputtered, trying to pry things off of Nava without interfering with his arm and fighting the giggles every inch of the way.

Nava did his best to help, but seemed to be fighting with his laughter so much he was practically useless. Somehow through endless break-downs of chuckling and tiny pot-shots at each other either for what they'd tried to do, what they had done but fucked up, or what they had done, gotten right, and then taken advantage of. Either way all tension from before was forgotten and everyone wound up helping Maria putting away the last of her things in Jaksus' bathroom. When they'd finished Maria convinced them both to go out for dinner, despite Jaksus' misgivings and Nava's complaints.

Thankfully for the boys Maria insisted on a nearby cafe' that lied only a block away from their apartment. Jaksus was rather proud of the way the human was able to understand the concerns both of her dextro roommates had with traveling too far so soon after nearly being killed. Their dinner was small and was actually rather comfortable, although Maria couldn't help but analyze the way Nava ate and drank, the differences in taste between Jaksus and the Quarian, and even the differences in their table manners. The only consolation Jaksus had was that someone else was suffering Maria's normal obsessive and invasive behavior for once and thus could share his pain.

At the same time, although he wasn't sure why, he was slightly irritated that Maria was sharing the attention she normally spared for just him. He shoved the feeling aside, as it made him uncomfortable, and somehow managed to not strangle Nava. Even if he did hit on a rather clueless Maria more often than he could really stand. He could only thank the Spirits that Nava was subtle and Maria was apparently dense.

…

Maria had no idea why she'd agreed to this situation. Everything was exceptionally nerve-wracking. Dinner had been fine. Hell it had even been fun after that little laugh-fest they'd had in the apartment. But once they'd finished their meal everything had gone down hill. Both of the men had gone quiet. Jaksus pensively so. After that point Nava retired to his room, apparently taking Jaksus' advice to heart hoping to get some sleep after being awake for so long. Which left Maria and Jaksus alone in their living room. Normally Maria would have felt comfortable this way. After all she'd been on the citadel for two months, living alone with Jaksus, and had had no problem. Or at least…no problem like this.

She felt as if she couldn't sit still, what's worse was she couldn't keep her mind on her work. For the first time in her life Maria found her mind constantly assaulted by what the night could hold and what had already happened. Finding herself in a tumble upon Jaksus, strewn across him like some sort of lewd piece fabric in an old painting, was absolutely …stimulating. And she was…unsure what to do about such a feeling. She'd been so embarrassed, not by what she'd done, but by her body's reaction that all she'd wanted to do was run away.

She'd been attracted to others before. When she was eighteen she'd finally given in to her college roommate's insistence and allowed her to fix herself up on a date. The memory brought a smile to her face as she remembered the shock on her room-mate's face when she'd told her that she'd not only slept with the boy she'd been set up with. But that she'd been more than prepared to do so. She'd tried to explain that yes, she loved learning, and yes…she might not always get all the social niceties…and yes sometimes she could be a little naive or dense. But she at the very least knew about intercourse, attraction, and her own body.

Her father had always told her that sex was nothing to be ashamed of, that it was natural and apart of everyone's everyday life, and that it didn't matter who you were attracted to or what you did in the bedroom so long as you were safe and happy and could respect yourself at the end of the day. And Maria had happily lived by those rules…though she had waited until she was eighteen simply to make sure that everything was legal. After all, she'd been on a college campus since the age of thirteen and she'd been sure then, just as she was still sure now, that it would have been illegal to just 'have at' the second she got to campus.

And since then she'd been attracted to well…quite a few people… over the years. But this sort of intense reaction was new for her. It was almost…frightening how much she'd reacted to being so close to Jaksus. Having his arms around her in that protective way she was so familiar with. And…to have him (probably not on purpose) squeeze her buttocks. Well…that was rather… erm … titillating.

Simply sitting there thinking about it was turning her face red and making her heart pound almost painfully in her chest. She'd tried to rationalize it. After all he was a whole other species. But it didn't quite seem to matter. It seemed she was attracted to Jaksus regardless. She was sure his voice and his presence had a large part to do with it. The deep tones and strange way his voice resonated nearly made her legs turn to water. And she was sure no one could say that Jaksus did not radiate pure, unadulterated, 'maleness'. She could always feel him when he walked into a room because he always seemed to fill it.

And, if she were honest, she was honestly enamored by the sharp lines and deep colors of his face. His strength and the breadth of his chest was impressive and his legs made her feel like a pixie siting next to a giant… but it was amazing and rather flattering that that strength was dedicated to protecting her.

None of this, of course, did anything to make her feel any less nervous around Jaksus however. In fact, it only made things worse. After all, he'd admitted that he didn't like humans, and she'd hate to make him feel uncomfortable. Especially after he'd given up his room to her just so that her friend could stay with them. Eventually she gave up and retreated to their now shared room, muttering some sort of excuse about being tired that she was sure neither of them actually believed.

She grabbed the overly large Alliance trainee shirt she normally wore as pajamas and locked herself in the bathroom, taking the time to run through her nightly ritual as best she could. Somehow she'd managed to miraculously get her things together, change, and collect her own clothing before Jaksus even decided to turn off the TV. Grateful for her surprising luck, Maria climbed into the giant bed before she could put too much thought into the situation and psyche herself out.

It was almost like that night when she was six and she was finally forced to sleep in a bed on her own as all of her siblings had gone off into the world to make names for themselves. She had been so nervous, so frightened, and so excited by the change she hadn't been able to sleep…or even get into the bed at all. Instead she spent that first night simply standing there…staring at the bed as if it would eat her.

When her Turian bodyguard finally did decide to hit the hay Maria feigned unconsciousness, feeling too uncomfortable to attempt any sort of small talk. She squeezed her eyes shut and simply lay there listening, each sound muffled by the beating of her heart in her ears. Faintly she could hear Jaksus go into the bathroom. She listened, lying still and not daring to open her eyes as the water ran, then shut off, the toilet flushed, the water ran again. And then the bathroom door opened and Maria could hear Jaksus pad across the floor on bare-feet and go to his closet. And then, almost as if she were possessed, Maria decided she had to take a peek. 'After all,' she told herself, 'when is the next time you're going to be able to see a real live naked Turian?'

…

Maria was playing at sleep when Jaksus finally decided it was about time he turned in. Problem was, she wasn't doing it well. Her breathing was piratic and her ears were a stunning bright red. Jaksus didn't bother to hide his smile, seeing as how Maria's eyes were nearly glued shut.

He shook his head and proceeded with his regular routine as if Maria wasn't even there. Which was rather hard to do considering the fact that her things were everywhere. Her scent, that sweet, feminine, but rather sharp smell seemed to seep out from her and her things. It invaded everything he owned to the point where it was almost all Jaksus could smell.

He didn't mind. The scent was almost pleasing after all. But the very fact that he actually "liked" the smell of her unsettled him. He chased the idea from his mind, knowing that it would do nothing to help his current situation. He finished his regular routine in the bathroom and kicked off his shoes before he went to change into his sleeping wear. He tucked his shoes away in the corner of the closet and pulled out his usual sleeping pants and tried to change as casually as he normally did…but couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

He shoved the idea away and simply climbed into the bed with Maria topless. He almost had to laugh at the fact that the human was still squeezing her eyes shut and that the red at her ears had spread across the rest of her face. He gave a light chuckle, shook his head, and rolled over onto his side away from her. He almost wanted to say something but ended up deciding against it and just resigned himself to sleep. He gave only the slightest amount of attention to the voice in his head that told him this was a bad idea.

….

Neross: Where there you go guys. I hope you all enjoyed this latest chapter (as it gave me no end of trouble) and I hope everyone is excited for what comes next. I'm very sorry for not having the chapter up sooner but I've been having a few health concerns lately (amongst other real life issues) that have been a bit taxing on my creativity and emotions. Either way thank you to those who left me a review as they do wonders to help inspire and motivate me.

And now for the part everyone's familiar with. Remember to leave a review and if you'd like to know about what I've got coming up then you can check me out at .com or you can hear it all from the mouth of Scarab at .com. For more news and updates go ahead and check my profile or feel free to shoot me a message. And most importantly…

Until next time, keep on rocking out!