After another icy shower that did little to dampen the smoldering heat of fantasy, Kaidan tried to lie back on his bed. But sleep eluded him. His mind was filled with images of her, haunted by the memory of her lips on his. He tossed and turned, claiming only an hour's worth of fitful, uneasy sleep before giving up. The dawn was just starting to blossom in earnest when he finally arose and dressed in jeans and a clean t-shirt.
This was definitely a morning for coffee.
Scratching at the implant scar behind his left ear, he headed out to the living room, but stopped dead in his tracks. The scene before him was not something he had ever experienced in his life.
His living room was a mess. There were trails of ripped paper littering the floor, shards of glass from a broken picture frame he gingerly stepped around. A few of his books had been yanked from the shelf and thrown onto the ground, some were missing pages. He suspected that was the paper confetti that dotted the carpet. And at the epicenter of this hurricane of destruction, was Nora.
She was lying on the carpet, curled over into a ball. Her knees and arms were tucked underneath her, her forehead resting on the carpet. He couldn't tell if she was asleep or just unconscious. He picked his way through the debris and crouched by her side. There was no way to tell how long she had been out here. Guilt gnawed at him ferociously. Had she come out here after he had turned her away? He tentatively stretched out a hand and rubbed her back.
Nothing. She didn't move. He rubbed a little harder, shaking her gently. She awoke suddenly with a shriek. Kaidan shouted in surprise and jerked back from her. He threw his hand behind him to catch his fall, and his palm landed on a shard of glass. Pain shot through him like a bullet, and he lifted his hand to look at the damage, wincing. The glass had embedded itself deep into his palm, and now it was bleeding profusely. In one quick motion, he yanked the shard of glass from his flesh with shaking fingers and hissed with pain.
He looked up at Nora, grimacing, and was relieved to see she was less panicked than before. She crawled over to him, brushing aside the shards of glass, to look at his palm. He recoiled with another hiss when she touched his hand.
"Are you okay?" he said softly, through gritted teeth. This was the second time she'd inadvertently injured him. She looked up at him with those mossy eyes, tearing her gaze from his bleeding hand.
"Me? You're bleeding."
"You screamed."
She looked away from him now, but he caught the blush blooming across her cheeks. She stood up without responding, and fetched a medical kit from the hallway closet. She returned to his side, carefully picking her way through the sea of broken glass to sit beside him. He watched her as she applied medi-gel to his injured palm. When she pressed down too hard on his wound, he grunted and jerked back a little.
"Don't be such a baby," she teased. He glowered at her.
"Did you have to destroy my living room?"
She had begun wrapping his hand in a bandage now, but her movements jerked to a standstill when he spoke. She refused to meet his eye as she resumed winding the gauzy bandage around his palm. He relished the feeling of her skin against his. Maybe this would help abate the fantasies that had been plaguing him. He noticed she had removed the bandaged around her forearms. There were fresh scratches along her skin, and he frowned.
"I'm sorry," was all she said in response, as she tied the bandage in a neat little bow at his wrist. She was standing, and by the time he stood, she had replaced the medical kit and returned.
His uninjured hand came around her wrist and he lifted her hand, to look at her forearms. She didn't resist, didn't speak. "Nora, let me help you," he pleaded, and he met her gaze. He wasn't surprised to see anger there. But he was disappointed. She yanked her arm away from him and turned towards the kitchen. She was striding away before he could stop her.
"You got a broom?"
"Next to the fridge," he replied wearily, scrubbing the back of his hand across his forehead. She returned seconds later, and shoved the dustpan into his uninjured hand. Together, they silently cleaned the mess she had made.
In her rage, she had destroyed the picture of his father, smashed the frame and ripped the photograph to shreds. He guessed it was because of the family resemblance. Once again, guilt ate at him as he worked. But what else should he have done? Just let her into his bed and given in? Taken her out and enabled her addiction. In his mind he knew he made the right decision. But his gut wasn't buying it.
Once the living room was cleaned, Nora sidled up to him slowly, almost shyly. That was unusual in itself.
"Are you going to go after him?"
"Who?"
"Harbinger."
Kaidan hadn't considered this. He supposed as a Spectre, it was his partly his responsibility to root out criminals and dispense justice. But he had never heard of this Harbinger until now. How big of a crime boss could this guy be if no one was aware of him? He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought, and she waited patiently, rocking back and forth on her heels.
"I-I don't know, Nora. I mean, I'm not a Justicar. I can't just drop everything to go hunting for this guy."
"I might be able to help you find him."
He blinked. "How?"
She wasn't looking at him again, and he abruptly knew where this conversation was going.
"Shit. Nathan wasn't the one involved in Harbinger's business, was he?"
She shook her head, looking down at her hands.
"You were the one that worked for Harbinger." It wasn't a question. She nodded tentatively and Kaidan pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers. He could feel a migraine coming on.
"I'm sorry," said Nora, in a very small voice.
"Damn it, how am I supposed to help you if you lie to me?"
She fidgeted, and finally looked up at him. "I didn't mean to lie… I-I just…" Tears flooded her eyes and Kaidan almost wished he could die right there on the spot. He reached out and grabbed her chin with his thumb and forefinger, forcing her to meet his gaze. He brushed away her tears with an absent swipe of his thumb. Bad idea bad idea bad idea! His brain screamed at him, but he wasn't listening. She was so close, her stomach pressing lightly against his, her breaths warming his throat and chin.
"Just. Stop. No more lies. I have to be able to trust you or this isn't going to work and Bailey will ship you off to Purgatory. And I won't be able to stop him."
She nodded, a tiny movement of her head that he only caught because they were mere inches apart. He could feel her heart hammering against her ribcage, reverberating through him as well, down to his very bones. He swallowed and pulled away, berating himself for making such a stupid mistake in the first place. He definitely did not want to get too attached to this woman. She murdered Ashley, she murdered Ashley, she murdered Ashley… The thought became a mantra to him, steeling himself against her disarming advances.
"Alright, we hunt Harbinger. First things first, you need some clothes and I need some food. Preferably some coffee to go with it," he grumbled and sat on the couch to pull on shoes. She stood there, wearing his t-shirt and briefs, watching him, rocking back and forth. She scratched at her forearms.
What the hell was he going to do with her?
He stood up and cleared his throat. "M-maybe you should stay here."
Her rocking halted. "Why?"
He gestured to her bare thighs. "Not exactly dressed to be seen in public, are you?"
She looked down at herself, holding out the hem of his Spectre t-shirt to get a better view of it. "Yes, I suppose I would draw some attention to myself." She nodded in mock solemnity, and Kaidan smiled in spite of himself. When she smiled in return, Kaidan's heart skipped a precious beat or two. And his brain immediately threw up several red flags.
You stupid shithead. You are falling in love with the crazy woman that killed Ashley.
He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, and stumbled backwards toward the door. "Uh… I-I better go. Don't… go anywhere. Um. Don't answer the door, either." He turned towards the hook that held his leather coat, stopped and turned back around to look at her reproachfully.
"And don't touch anything."
She rolled her eyes in the sassiest way imaginable, and pressed both her palms together under her chin, like a praying nun. She cast her eyes heavenward and fluttered her long eyelashes, in an impression of a perfect innocent angel. Kaidan couldn't help but laugh a little.
He plucked his jacket off the hook and hesitated only a second before pulling it on and exiting the house.
As he slid into the driver's seat and started the car, he realized abruptly that he didn't want to leave her. He knew she'd most likely be fine by herself for a few hours, but the thought of her being alone and needing him for something wasn't pleasant. And he wasn't sure which scared him more – the fact that he was afraid for her safety, or the fact that he didn't want to be apart from her.
Nora watched him from the window as he left, and after a few seconds of watching his sky car recede into the distance, she brought up her omni-tool.
"Vega? You there?"
There was a few seconds of silence, and then:
"Yeah, Lola. I'm at the gate. Can you let me in?"
"Gimme a minute. I don't know where he keeps the buzzer…"
She searched around Kaidan's house, looking for the intercom that would allow Vega entrance. She finally found the little intercom box mounted on the wall in Kaidan's bedroom. She pressed the button, held it for a heartbeat and let go, and spoke into her omni-tool again.
"Did that work?"
"Yeah. I'm comin' in."
"Don't let anyone see you."
Vega snorted derisively over the omni-tool call. "Don't think we have to worry about peeping toms, Lola. This fucker doesn't have a neighbor for miles. I've been scoping the area since breakfast."
There was a quiet knock at the front door. Nora skipped over to open it, and there stood Vega, looking smug and oh so suave, leaning against the door frame.
"Delivery," he said with a cheeky smile, and then he could say no more, because she was yanking him in by the t-shirt he wore and kicking the door shut behind them. He didn't need much more encouragement than that, but her smoldering eyes were certainly a good incentive, too. He closed the distance between them and then his mouth was over hers in a desperate, brutal kiss, eliciting an excited gasp from her. He pinned her against the door, his arms around her waist, crushing her against his chest. His fingers fisted in her hair, and he pulled, exposing the curve of her neck. He bit and nibbled at her pulse point, making her writhe.
"I missed you," she gasped into his ear, and he growled against her neck appreciatively. He pulled her away from the door and carried her, quiet easily, over to the couch. He deposited her unceremoniously onto the sofa, and crashed down against her, groaning as he felt her fingers pulling insistently at his jeans. Well, he was never one to leave her wanting. He sat back, his fingers joined hers, and he undid the fly of his jeans. She was wriggling out of the borrowed briefs.
"Ugh, what the fuck are you wearing?" he teased, leaning down to kiss her again, one arm sliding underneath her back and bringing her hips to his. She whimpered as his tip pushed against her slick folds.
"Shut… up… and fuck me!" she gasped, and he chuckled against her neck. Her hands encircled him, guiding him forward. In one smooth movement, he slid home with a groan. She arched off the couch to meet him with a shocked, pleasured cry.
One arm curved around her waist as he set a pace, brutal and hard and fast. The white hot coil of pleasure began spiraling tighter and tighter, wound up ever tauter by his powerful groans and her whimpers of desire. He bit down against her shoulder as his free hand moved between them to rub with clumsy, over-large fingers, and she arched against him with a ragged moan.
"Fuck! Oh fuck, Lola!" he gasped into her ear as she clenched around him, and he could feel them both nearing the edge already. She reached up and seized his face, pulling his mouth down to hers in a breathless kiss, their tongues sliding across one another's fiercely. And she bit down on his lower lip. With a few final thrusts, they fell over the precipice together, amidst grunts and moans and breathless gasps.
Vega collapsed against her, bracing his forearms on either side of the couch to prevent crushing her beneath his weight. She sighed, content, and leaned up a little to kiss him again, her arms slipping around his neck. He sighed against her mouth.
"I missed you, too, Lola." His hand came to cup her face, to bring her in for another sweet kiss. "Now, down to business, no?"
He sat back on his heels, adjusted himself and re-buttoned his pants. He lifted her borrowed briefs from the floor and slipped them back on her, his fingers lingering on her bare thighs. She shifted, watching him through lidded eyes. And they almost got started again right there, but she sat up with a sigh and got to her feet.
"He wants to go after Harbinger, and I want to help him," she said, taking him by the hand and leading him into the kitchen.
Vega snorted derisively, allowing himself to be led. "What for?"
"Think about it. We catch Harbinger, kill whoever the hell he is and we can take over! We could be the richest sons of bitches on the Citadel!" She turned to face him, standing on tiptoes to plant a teasing kiss to the corner of his mouth.
Vega didn't look convinced, but he turned his head to kiss her on the lips, and she shivered against him. "What makes you so sure you can find him?"
Nora wrapped her arms around his neck. "Have a little faith, Vega." He rolled his eyes. "Are you hungry? This guy's got some good grub. He's got some beer, too." Her voice took on a slight singsong quality and she backed towards the fridge.
He chuckled and followed.
Kaidan returned two hours later, laden with a few bags. He found Nora napping on the leather couch, the blanket from her bed tucked around herself. He looked at her for longer than he'd like to admit, before slipping into the guest bedroom and depositing the bags containing the thing he'd bought. He felt more than a little strange at purchasing things for a strange woman, but he tried not to think about it too hard.
When he left the room, she was there, standing by the door and he tried not to look as startled as he felt.
"S-sorry. Did I wake you?"
She shook her head, and leaned around the door the see what he had left in the guest room. A hot blush crept up his neck as she slipped past him and began rifling through the bags.
"I-I had to guess the size for a lot of things. Women's sizes make no sense," he mumbled, and she looked at him with a smile.
"Thank you. Um… Mr. Alenko?" She grimaced.
"Uh, Kaidan is fine."
"Thank you, Kaidan."
He nodded and ducked into the kitchen. He didn't want to admit to himself that his name had never sounded so good before. Until it had come from her mouth.