Author's Notes:
Thanks go to my Beta; Blueglaceon, who despite having little knowledge of the Mass Effect universe, agreed to edit the series anyway. Thanks, Blue!

First Night takes place immediately after Reception.

Union – First Night

"Oh, Garrus..." Shepard felt her eyes prick with tears as she took in the room around her. "It's beautiful."

"And it's all ours," Garrus purred in her ear as he rested his hands on her shoulders.

"Ours?" she questioned, awestruck, as she turned her head to look at him.

"Other than the Normandy, we don't really have a place to call home. So..." He gestured around them.

A lump formed in Shepard's throat, incapacitating her of her ability to speak, so she had to resort to other means to show him what she was feeling. Turning to him, she wrapped her arms around her beau.

"We do have one other place to call home, though," she whispered after a moment.

Garrus drew back a little. "Oh?"

"Intai'sei," she said simply.

"The apartment you won at Pinnacle Station? It's still yours?"

"Last I checked it was."

Garrus chuckled as he leaned down to press his forehead to hers, taking in a deep breath, inhaling her soothing scent. Part of him still couldn't believe that this was happening, that for once in his life something was going right.

Eventually Shepard drew back. "Where's the bathroom?"

Garrus took her by the hand and led her through the apartment, coming to a stop outside the bedroom, where she shot him a confused look. "Ensuite," he explained. "Your mother dropped off a bag of stuff for you before the ceremony, it's on the bed."

With a smile, Shepard made her way inside, but when Garrus didn't follow she turned back to look at him. "You're not coming?"

"I just need to check something first, and then I'll join you."

"Alright," she retreated into the room, leaving Garrus alone.

With an uneasy feeling, the Turian turned and made a bee-line for the computer.

The mention of his baby sister earlier in the evening had reminded him that his mother was due for another round of treatment for her illness today, and that he had yet to check in with Solana to find out how it had gone. Taking a seat, he logged into his e-mail account, where a message from Palaven was waiting for him.

Preparing himself, he opened the message.

~ o ~ o ~ o ~

Fifteen minutes later found him seated, bare-chested and bootless, in an armchair in front of the fireplace, his skin and plating absorbing the heat the blazing fire was giving off. But inside, his thoughts were a turmoiled wreck.

Solana's news had been grim: their mother's condition was getting worse.

'The Doctor's say that she hasn't got long left,' he closed his eyes as he recalled the message clearly in his mind's eye. 'That her Corpalis was already too far along by the time we started the Salarian's treatment. That all we can do now is to make sure she's comfortable until she passes...'

"Garrus?" Shepard's voice interrupted his thoughts, his eyes snapping open as he was startled back into reality to find his mate standing in front of him, dressed in a white, spaghetti strapped, thigh length, silk nightgown, and he felt his protective folds moisten as he noticed the way the material clung to her curves like a second skin as she stepped between his outstretched legs.

"Hey," he murmured.

"Hey," she murmured back. "Everything okay?"

Clearing his head of all the unpleasant thoughts, he smiled up at her, giving her his full attention as he leaned forward and rested his hands on her hips. "Everything's fine."

She could tell that something was on his mind, that there was something he wasn't telling her, but she didn't push; she knew he'd tell her when he was ready. Instead she climbed into his lap. His hands moved from her hips to slip under the fabric to rest on her thighs as she straddled him and he buried his face in the crook of her neck as she slid her hands around his neck, the scent of her arousal reached his nose, stirring him into action.

He stroke his roughened tongue across the sensitive column of her throat, laving it with his saliva, and Shepard moaned as she tilted her head back, giving him full access to her neck, her skin breaking out in goose-flesh as he continued his attentions. He rewarded her act of submission by gently nibbling her skin, and she moaned again as he continued to arouse her.

Garrus couldn't help but purr at her whole-hearted reactions to his attentions. He was no longer the unsure and inexperienced male he had been the night of their first coupling. The nights of exploration they'd shared since they'd returned from the suicide mission had made him a master of her body.

And he intended to use that knowledge to make this night a memorable occasion for the both of them.

Sliding his hands along her slender legs, he grasped her hips, being mindful not to pierce her warm and pliable flesh, and pulled her form flush against his and she began to grind against him, rousing his turian-hood and earning a groan from him as he raised his head to nuzzle her cheek.

"Love you," she murmured as she tilted her head so that she could kiss him.

"I love you too," he purred in return as he claimed her lips.

The kiss soon took on a life of its own as their hands came into play, caressing erogenous zones and removing the last pieces of clothing from their bodies. He couldn't help but purr as Shepard settled above him, her legs resting on the armrests of the chair, giving him an unrestricted view of her glistening folds. "Spirit's Kat, you are beautiful..." he purred ardently as he continued to ogle her body, his shaft extended out of him in preparation of their union.

Shepard blushed as she guided his member to her entrance and then slowly sank onto him until he was buried to the hilt within her.

They both paused, resting their foreheads together as they savoured the moment; the beginning of their life together. Their path wouldn't be easy one, and they both knew that. There would always be those who would oppose their Union. But, no matter the opposition, they would face it together.

They began to move together, then, in the age old pleasure motion, their moans, groans and purrs spurring their dance of passion onward and it wasn't long before they were on the precipice of their climax. Shepard moaned as she felt Garrus swell within her in preparation. But when he made a move to bite her, she stopped him with a hand on his muzzle, which confused him. But then she leaned down and bit into the left side of his neck as hard as she could, hoping that her omnivorous teeth would be able to break though his tough skin and leave her bond mark on him as they continued to come together. It didn't take before her orgasm claimed her, and as she flew into ecstasy, she tasted the fruits of her effort, his blood leaving a bitter taste on her tongue. Her action's triggered his release and as his member locked itself in her rippling channel, she released his neck to cry out his name as his seed flooded her feminine core and he bit down into her neck, re-marking her, completing the bond marking ritual as their combined release overflowed and began to trickle out of her. He continued to hold her in place with his teeth, purring softly and soothingly, as they came down from their high.

When some semblance of mind returned, Garrus released his hold on her and slumped back into the chair.

"You shouldn't have done that," he rumbled, when his ability to speak returned, in a worried tone-of-voice as he watched her wipe her mouth on her arm, his blood smearing her skin blue, "You could have had an allergic reaction to my blood."

"I'm fine," she assured him. "I've been taking a course of immunotherapy to bolster my immune system.

"Since when?"

"Since Omega. After he realised that we were getting serious about our relationship, Mordin called me down to the Lab while we were patching up the Normandy."

Garrus was gobsmacked and didn't know how to respond to his mate's revelation, yet another sign of her acceptance of who and what the man that she loved was, but she saved him the trouble when she yawned widely before snuggling up to him, basking in the afterglow of their love-making.

"I know I said it before," she murmured softly after a time of silence. "But, thank you."

"For what?" he rumbled back.

"For everything you did today to show your acceptance of me becoming your life partner, from altering your outfit to include human elements in its design to partaking in the first dance, even though Turians don't dance all that well."

"I owe you that same gratitude as well, Kat. You chose to wear traditional Turian ceremonial wear and to partake in a Turian Union ceremony."

"You have to give and take for a relationship to work..." she murmured sleepily as her eyes fluttered shut and she drifted off.

Purring in contentment, Garrus nestled into the chair, softly stroking Shepard's back until sleep claimed him as well.

Fin.