Hey Guys new chapter is up!

Sorry it's a little short haven't had much time over the past few days but still wanted to publish something.

Hope your enjoying the story so far =)

Like I said in Chapter 2 if you have any ideas on where you would like this story to go please tell me =) Hopefully i'd do them justice!

Thanks to SergiusTheGreat for pointing me out on a few things I did wrong in the first 2 chapters, hopefully this one is a lot better!

If you could review no matter how small that truly would be awesome, even if it's something small it would still be much appreciated!

Might focus on a romantic scene for the most of the next chapter (hopefully it won't be too bad!)

As always much love =)

AsozMania

Tali was in heaven, the threat of the Collectors now purged from her mind, Shepard holding her close in his strong arms, her mask fitting just perfectly in between his arm and his shoulder, the list of just how perfect things were could have had her lost within her mind all day however Shepard had other ideas.

'Finally' Shepard reiterated that word many times over in his mind 'I can have some alone time with Tali, I'm so glad I found her aga…. Awh shoot' he cursed many time over in his mind 'forgot to give my weapons back to Jacob; damn what a way to ruin the moment'.

"Tali honey?"

Tali let out a satisfied groan hinting to Shepard that she didn't want to be disturbed.

"Miss Vas Normandy?" He tried again but still got the same response as before, suddenly an idea popped into Shepard's head, it was fortunate that they were the only occupants in the elevator; he moved his right arm slowly towards Tali's waist and gave a small pleasing squeeze.

Tali was sure that Shepard would have done something that would have made her move but never expected something quite like that, she jumped at his touch and almost fell out of Shepard's arms, regaining her composure she attempted to make herself comfortable; 'Grrr..Stupid Bosh'tet' she thought 'he'll pay for that later'

"Now that I finally have your attention I'm sorry to say that I forgot to leave my armour and weapons with Jacob" He looked into Tali's beautiful silver orbs shining through her helmet and added "are you going to be ok up here for a couple of minutes?"

"Shepard if I were you I'd be more worried about yourself trying to cope without me for those few minutes"

"Fine then" Shepard's voice was now emotionless and cold "You won't want me coming back then?"

Tali realised she had said something that had upset Shepard instantly started to apologise.

"Oh Keelah Shepard I'm sorry, I didn't realise something like that would upset you so much" She wormed her way out of his grasp and then grabbed him squeezing as hard as she could trying to stay as close to Shepard as she could, she looked into his blue eyes; the warmth that he reserved only for Tali was there.

"It's ok Tali, it's just I really do mean what I said back down in CIC, I'm so glad you came back into my life and I really don't want you to leave my side" He looked away from her clearly embarrassed from what he had just said; she slowly rubbed his cheek with her gloved hand to make his focus back on her.

"Listen to me Shepard, I know how you feel because I feel that connection too, I felt it ever since the demise of Saren but I didn't want to act on it because I felt you didn't feel the same way, when I found out you did well" she paused for just a second tears welling up in her eyes "let's just say you have made me so happy and I never want you to leave me" She let out a stifled sob surprised at how open she was being to someone else.

"There is no chance in hell that will ever happen Tali; I will be with you always"

"Keelah…. Thanks Commander"

"Can I ask a question?"

"Of course John"

"Why have you started calling me Commander?"

"Well that's for me to know and you to find out" Tali's voice had taken that sultry tone that made Shepard shiver.

"Now go on down to the armoury!" her voice now normal again shooing Shepard back into the elevator "Jacob won't wait forever!"

"Ok, ok I'm going! Back in a flash"

"One last thing John"

"Yes?"

"Please do us a favour and never say that again"

Shepard sighed with a fake sad look appearing on his face "Ok" adding an exaggerated sniffle for added effect and then vanishing from view as the elevator doors closed.

Tali was now left alone in Shepard's cabin, 'time to finally repay back all of what he's done for me' she smirked slightly at just how confident she was getting; Shepard was a good influence on her.

Shepard exited the elevator in CIC and looked up towards the cabin ceiling

"EDI?"

The familiar blue hologram flew up, this time right in the middle of the deck causing a few of the crew members around to interrupt their careful cleaning of their work stations and glare at EDI before frantically returning to their work; not wanting to be the one to face the rest of the crews wrath for not being able to go to Pleasant Moons.

"Yes Commander?"

"This ship is the pinnacle of all technology to date, we have some of the greatest minds in the galaxy on board, so could you please just get one of them to take a look at making the elevator going just a little bit quicker!"

Not sensing the Commander's half-joking attitude EDI replied with a simple.

"Yes Commander, Mordin has been notified"

Shepard facepalmed, 'EDI is supposed to be the most intelligent AI to date; hell a toaster would have been more suited to the task'.

Walking now into the armoury or "Jacobs Secret Realm" as it was dubiously known to some of the crew members which Shepard still didn't know why he saw the ex-Alliance marine cleaning Grunt's hulk-of-a shotgun, Shepard could just hear Jacob muttering under his breath, he attempted to listen closely but could only catch a few words, The and Prize to be precise, Shepard sighed; 'what it would be like to have a normal crew'.

"Ah the hero of the day returns" Jacob stands giving Shepard a quick salute before returning to his work.

"Jacob how many times have I told you that I don't want this ship to be formal like those Alliance ships, and also you were just as much a hero as me going into that Collector base; we did it as a team"

"Hell Commander I don't want you going all soft on me, that may have been the case but we wouldn't have been able to achieve it without you; me? Well I'm just glad the Lazarus Project worked and we gave the Collectors what was coming to them" He saluted again at the Commander

This time Shepard returned the salute

"The honour is mine Jacob" he paused for a second and then continued realising he was still in his armour "mind if I leave this armour here with you?"

"Sure thing Commander, I won't keep you any longer"

"It's been nice talking to you Jacob"

Jacob just turned back to cleaning the weapon, 'strange that he never says goodbye' Shepard thought and he strolled back out into the CIC. He had managed to sneak past Kelly while she was in some trance like state trying to tie up all her loose ends; and still battling over who she should wanted, 'Thane? Jacob? Is there really any chance with Shepard? Damn it was hard being a woman'

Shepard was just about to enter the elevator when EDI's voice rang out.

"Shepard, Mordin would like to see you in the Lab"

"Alright EDI Ill check it out; thanks"

Shepard entered Mordin's lab to find the veteran Salarian scientist like he always had done, with his head pouring over a terminal that sat on the desk in the middle; 'I bet he's not really doing research and playing Alliance Corsairs 4 or something' Shepard wondered 'Damn he better not beat my all-time high score'.

"Ah Shepard good to see you, good work on Collector Base, glad you didn't give in to Illusive Man's requests, far too dangerous to let human hybrid reaper survive, would come to how do you humans say" he paused for a incredibly small amount of time before adding "bite you in the ass later" he glanced up at Shepard eyes blinking insanely quickly. Typical Mordin.

"Hey Mordin I'm glad you thought I did the right thing, I was told by EDI that you wanted to see me? Is it about the Genophage data?"

"No no no no no Shepard that is currently" he paused from his work for a moment and without even looking in the direction he pointed over his back showing to Shepard that it was in that general direction amongst piles of datapads, he continued "somewhere over there, don't know where, not too bothered at the moment though, it's about something much more exciting; it's about your relationship with Tali Zorah".

Shepard was suddenly a lot more curious.

"What about our relationship?"

"Well a few days ago before the attack through the Omega 4 Relay Tali came to me asking for some herbal supplements and some anti-biotic injections to bolster her immune system with, and now has come to see me just a few minutes ago before you came in…"

"What? I thought Tali had stayed on Deck 1? I swear I would have heard the elevator come down"

Mordin was now holding up his Omni-tool and reading off a data pad.

"Shows here that you have elevated heart rate, high blood pressure and that you now have no kidneys…"

"That's nothing too seri…..WHAT!"

"Only joking Shepard, not possible for you to live without kidneys or at least would be almost impossible, might have to research some of this"

"Ok Mordin but what does that mean?"

"Well I'd have to conduct some tes…"

"No Mordin about my blood pressure"

"Ah right much more simple, shows that you are under severe stress and so consequently may not be functioning to full capacity"

"Hell Mordin you're starting to sound like Legion"

"And you're starting to look like him"

Shepard frowned and crossed his arms "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing really, weak willed attempt at popular human comeback" Mordin inhaled deeply "Need to work on that".

"Ok Mordin could you please get to the point?"

"Ah of course Shepard, reason I wanted to see you was to warn you and to watch out when you go back onto deck 1, Miss Zorah probably has a surprise for you…"

"Oh" Shepard was surprised that Mordin had offered to talk to Shepard about as something as trivial as his relationship, normally it was something like Quantum Leaps and Quasars.

"Thanks Mordin I'll keep that in mind"

"No problem Shepard, proud to be here"

"I'll let you work"

'Wow that was possibly the most pointless conversation I've had with Mordin. Ever. Can't complain though; least it was something I could understand'.

Shepard exited Mordin's lab and finally managed to get into the elevator without anyone else collaring him, he would talk to the rest of the crew later; he pressed the button for Deck 1 and prepared himself for what was to come…