Garrus was incredulous. Vienne knew Nihlus – and apparently well with how Nihlus' subharmonics seemed to coo when he laid his eyes on Vienne. Garrus didn't like it.

Before he could really stop himself, Garrus' own subharmonics chimed in with a steady "backthefuckoff" growl. He quickly cut himself off, but not before Nihlus quickly removed his attention from Vienne back to Garrus. Well, Garrus' plan to get him to stop paying attention to the woman worked.

"Garrus, I was looking for you. Your team had mentioned that you had... gone missing... At around this part of the shopping center."

Nihlus dropped down some rope for Garrus to climb up. Garrus was wondering what his plan for Vienne was but before he could voice the question the answer was made apparent.

"Garrus, go meet your team down that far ladder. They'll want to make sure you're ok. Your sister has been particularly vocal about how quickly I should find you."

Nihlus' mandibles fluttered in amusement and before Garrus could confirm or deny the order/request Nihlus was shooting out more "requests".

"Go on back to the base, I have another reason I wanted to speak to you and now it appears you've given me yet another reason to seek you out."

Garrus didn't miss the not-so-subtle way Nihlus moved his eyes back down to where Vienne was still hidden. Garrus wasn't sure he wanted to leave the two alone, but it wasn't like he really had a whole lot of a choice about it. Nihlus was his superior – bothin the military sense and with the counsel.

Grudgingly Garrus nodded and made his way back to the ladder. He was lost in his own thoughts about the situation he found himself that he hadn't realized that he had traversed the rest of the roof and had climbed down the ladder. In fact it wasn't until a curled, feminine fist met with his gut that he allowed his thoughts to shatter back to the present.

Solana had a way with "hellos" and "I was worried about yous".

Shepard hadn't moved since she first realized that their rescuer was Nihlus. It hadn't escaped her notice the weird way Garrus had reacted towards the whole situation – but she really didn't have time to process it. She chalked it up to some weird turian male thing.

She found herself rooted to the spot as Nihlus talked to Garrus, waiting for some indication that it was safe for her to... Well, do anything. She was confident enough in front of Garrus despite their short time of being "friendly", but she wasn't sure if there was anyone else up on the roof out of her line of sight.

Eventually Garrus stomped off and Shepard could tell by his footfalls that he wasn't happy – at least she thought that's what it sounded like. Turians didn't normally stomp despite their large size; they were usually quite quiet surprisingly enough.

Either way, Shepard was brought forth from her musings when Nihlus' form again crouched at the opening in the ceiling. Shepard wasn't really sure why she had felt such elation at seeing Nihlus again – she was quite put off when he had left without so much as a goodbye. She had thought they'd become friends while they were stuck in that cabin.

But what did she really know about how turians determined friendship?

Either way, she had felt momentary joy at seeing Nihlus again and that same joy was bubbling up to the surface again as he smirked down at her and lowered the rope again. She couldn't help returning the smirk as she proceeded to gingerly climb – her shoulder still hurt and her wounds from Garrus were smarting her as she hoisted her body weight up the distance.

It would have amazed Shepard had she considered how she knew Nihlus was smirking at her – prior to meeting Nihlus she was as functional at discerning turian facial expressions as a blind person was telling you what color the sky currently was. As it was, she didn't have long enough to deeply ponder her new advancing turian knowledge because as soon as she was within arms length of Nihlus he reached down and pulled her up and held her above the floor in a tight embrace.

Shepard returned the embrace and sighed as she smelled his familiar scent of woods and gun smoke. A scent she hadn't realized she had missed. Huh. She had missed Nihlus. The thought was a bit shocking – she wasn't supposed to be attached to an alien, an enemy. But she was, and more so than just a blasé friendship.

Nihlus was trying to control himself because while he would have experience in relationships with other species, Shepard most decidedly would not and he did not want to scare her off.

But spirits he was so glad to see her. He had been thinking about her a lot since the cabin and he had found himself missing her more than he was comfortable with. Any reservations he may have had, however, went flying out the window the moment she had said his name.

He had been looking for Garrus – he was going to sponsor him into the spectres and it did not do to have your future apprentice go missing in a shopping center after chasing after a human. He had been relieved to find Garrus unharmed and he had been shocked to find exactly who was trapped with him.

He wasn't surprised, however, that Vienne and Garrus had managed to apparently cohabit the same trap. She had that way about her. It was easy to like her. It was easy to feel like you could trust her. Spectres often had to make snap judgments about people based off of the vibes they got from them. Nihlus fancied himself a fairly good judge of character and he had easy judged Vienne to be a good person. Good people were inherently easy to get along with.

Nihlus couldn't really stop himself from crushing Vienne to himself as she got within arms length. Her scent had invaded his nostrils and he suddenly felt the need to remind himself that she was really there.

He didn't expect her to press her face against his neck and it nearly dropped him right then and there when she did. She couldn't know that the neck was such a sensitive area on turians. He told himself this over and over again as he stared down at the top of her head as best he could.

Momentarily her grip on him tightened and she buried her face harder against his skin and he lost a measure of control. He fell gracelessly to sit on the ground and he buried his own face against her hair. His subharmonics trilled with a mixture of relief and adulation that she was embracing him like this and that he could be near her again.

Spirits he had never been this far gone for a woman he hadn't even bedded yet. He was in trouble.

Shepard held her breath as Nihlus fell backwards but then sighed contently as he continued to hold her close and even pressed his face to her hair.

It was only a few moments before Shepard remembered herself and jerked backwards to look around. Garrus was gone and there was no one else in sight. She also realized that she was effectively straddling Nihlus' lap and blushed profusely before moving to get off of him. He held her tighter and let out a... growl.

She looked up at his face and read something there she wasn't sure she was ready to face. Desire. The same desire she had been wrestling with just moments before.

Nihlus had moved one of his hands to her lower back and the other had slid up to the side of her face, forcing her to make eye contact and hold. She gulped and her blush deepened. She would be lying if she said this wasn't something she was curious about – but how feasible was it really? She wasn't even good with relationships with her own species let alone an alien one.

"Nihlus I..."

Before she could finish her sentence Nihlus had silenced her in a very human kiss. She was surprised at the feel of his pliant-but-not-quite-soft mouth plates against her lips. It was not an unpleasant feeling and she was certain she could get used to the differences. That is, until his tongue ran across her lower lip and even the Great Wall of China couldn't keep in her moan of surprise and pleasure.

Nihlus directed her hand to rest at the base of the back of his neck and he moaned in chorus with her as she griped him firmly. She knew this wasn't the place for something like this – there were too many opportunities for them to be found, but suddenly she couldn't give a rat's ass about that. These sensations were too sharp, too feral for her to be able to focus on any one thing.

Garrus felt like he shouldn't have left her alone with the spectre. Normally Garrus envied the spectres, wanted to be one of them. But right now he just wanted to shoot one.

Garrus couldn't really place a digit on why he didn't want to leave Nihlus alone with her human. Something about her stirred something in him that made him want to protect her. That must be it.

But then the fact that she seemed so pleased to see Kryik should put him at ease, right? Negative. It made him more irritable. More than a few times Garrus stopped walking towards the base and made to turn around. He just wanted to make sure Kryik wasn't hurting her, yeah.. He was concerned for her safety after she helped patch him up...

Solana made sure Garrus never actually went back to the shopping center. He still looked back religiously, making her wonder, but he eventually stopped making moves back towards the infernal place.

Just concerned with her safety...

Nihlus couldn't believe his ears. She was moaning right along with him and with the simplest of incentives. Then she moved her fingers over the base of his skull under his fringe and he had to restrain himself from going what Shepard had once called "full retard" over the situation.

Eventually, and hesitantly, he pulled her lips away from his and stared into her eyes. They were both breathing heavy and appeared to be on the verge of a mental lapse in judgment – if playing war of the tongues with the "enemy" wasn't enough of a lapse.

Even so he couldn't bring himself to full estrange himself from her. It felt too good, too much like something he had wanted but had previously been unwilling to openly admit to himself.

He found himself leaning towards her again, bringing his mouth close to her neck. Running his tongue over the smooth, soft skin, he growled again as she dropped her head to the side and opened her neck to him.

She couldn't know what this meant to him, what she was offering him. His body instantly reacted and he found himself running his teeth over her flesh.

It took every ounce of self control for him to pull back. The force of his feelings and desires scared him a little. He had never felt the need to take someone as a mate, not even ones he loved. But no one had been quite the enigma... No one had smelled so right, felt so right...

Again he had to snap himself out of it. She was looking at him with her big, beautiful blue eyes.

Spirits grant him strength! He had to complete his mission. He didn't have time for this... Spirits did he wish he had time for this.

"Vienne... It kills me to say this, but I have to go."

Shepard was sure she was about to engage in something only comics and stories fantasized about. Hell, she was sure that she was about to break every rule of engagement both spoken and unspoken about this war with the alien species.

But damnit, she didn't give a shit. What he was doing felt too good, made her feel something she had long since buried.

It was over too fast, and the abrupt change left her reeling. Still clothed and mind racing, Nihlus helped her to stand and followed suit. He was saying something about mission and duties.

Fuck duties!

She understood, however. The soldier in her understood more than the woman wanted to admit. She nodded as he spoke, half listening. Blood was rushing in her ears as she suddenly thought that maybe she had done something wrong.

Insecurity did not become her, she was no longer accustomed to it. Nihlus apparently noticed the change in her behavior and forced her to make eye contact with him. He brought her lips to his and allowed them to linger together in a gentle kiss.

She sighed as he ran off, obviously distancing himself from her before they re-engaged each other in... Well... That, again.

She had duties to complete too. She was a soldier, not some love-struck horny school girl. Like hell she wasn't horny. She needed a good book and a bath.

Trudging her way to one of the utility ladders, Shepard cursed under her breath as she went to find herself a new back pack, new supplies, and importantly a real bra.

She was affected one bit. Not. One. Bit.

Bollocks.