First off, WHOA. Got an overwhelmingly positive reaction to this last chapter, which makes me feel tingly all over. So... many... reviews... It's kinda getting more difficult to acknowledge all of you... I think that means it's working. Guess I'm gonna have to break you off into groups.
As of the moment I write this, I would like to formally acknowledge:
The Likers / Lovers ([1]R-Dash, [2]Treehuger90, [3]chidoriprime, [4]DovahofStrunx6, [5]Fattness, [6]timbryanscott, and [7]BoneRanger89, and [8]Tattoo'd): (1) I'm glad you like 'To Build A Home' thus far. And, like I said before, I agree. 'More Tali' is good in any fic. Also, is that a challenge? I certainly do like challenges... not sure if I'll be able to pull it off now that life's gotten so busy, but I can try. Give me an idea and I'll see what I can do. (2) No problem. And will do, boss. I know I did a happy dance when I finally uploaded this chapter. (3) As always, I'm glad you liked it, bro. I just had to have some Garrus-teasing in there. It'd have been no fun otherwise. Besides, I hate how ME3 sort of gets rid of your third squad-mate during cut-scenes and such. (4) Thanks, man! And I certainly will comply with your wishes to write more. I think you'll be pleased to know that, after I'm done with 'To Build A Home' and her two sequels, I have plans to write an entirely AU fic in which Nolan Shepard somehow manages to survive the Crucible's detonation and begins to build a life with Tali. What can I say? I love the ManShep my brain came up with. Also, I've got a few scientific ideas on that front that I haven't yet seen done. So... yeah. (5) Glad you like it. And will do. You know. In regards to making up for the cliff-hanger later. I blame my Minion for that little detail. Minion, you know who you are. (6) Wow, I'm glad you like it thus far, man. And don't worry about the lurking part; I was one of those for the longest time, too, until I decided, to hell with it, I'm going to write some stories and review my favorites. Much appreciated that you revealed yourself just to give me such an awesome review. (7) I'm thrilled you love it, bro. I try to get these chapters out as quick as I possibly can without losing quality in the translation. I don't like keeping you guys in suspense for TOO long, you understand... (8) Agreed, dear Minion. And I'd like to say that your reviews never cease to make my day. So, thank you.
TW6464 - Then you are missing out, my friend. And missing a trophy/achievement, I imagine. You'll just have to take my word for it, mate. Most annoying thing EVER! Having to jump out of cover just to revive the bloody idiots when you've got three geth primes firing at you... Gah! It's like they're suicidal or something. "Hey, wait. No, Tali, don't - and there she goes. Dead already. Fantastic."
The Good-Job-bers (Urd85613, gladitor118, WhiteDawn, and Alucard45): Thank you! And as you four have pretty much followed my instructions to the letter, I would totally give you each an insanely-large cookie right now if I could. God only knows that the world could do with a lot more of those. Also, WhiteDawn, you belong with the cliff-hanger haters. Alucard45, shame on you. If you'd written more, you would've earned an extra cookie.
And The Cliff-Hanger Haters (To my beloved anonymous reviewer and others already named. You know who you are.): I know. I'm evil. I've accepted that fact about myself a long time ago. Besides, how could I resist when the dark side has cookies? I love cookies. :D
00Dunno00 - You are just a freak of nature and I mean that in the best possible way because you actually LIKED my cliff-hanger. Especially after seeing all these reviews that hate it... Seriously. You're awesome. Extra cookie for you. :D
Whoo. Now for the hard one to address. PyroRaptor, I'm certainly glad that you've liked my story enough to read it and offer some constructive criticism. I shall seriously take all of it into consideration for future chapters as I work to improve my style. About the canon dialogue... Most of my reviews seem to say that they enjoy how I'm taking the canon dialogue and adding additional bits and pieces to it so I see no reason to change this. While I have plans for entirely AU Mass Effect fics and entire chapters in this one that never occurred in-game, I still want this fic to reflect BioWare's Commander Shepard and not just my own. I have plans for completely AU Shepards in the future (And I mean seriously, Shepards that were never in the Alliance but raised by Cerberus, for example). Now, in regards to canon itself: I'll admit I could have written it better and I've deleted that part that you disliked, but I was trying to emphasize the fact that Tali's always been conflicted over the entire issue. This was, after all, the only argument she really seemed to push throughout the series. I know that the quarians fired first. Just... ugh. I hate arguing. I guess I was trying to rush character development.
And while I really do appreciate your constructive criticism, PyroRaptor, I, uh, have some advice for you. I mean this in the nicest way, but when you review something, it would be most helpful if you pointed out the things that a writer actually did well and not just completely focus on the things they did wrong or handled badly. This is what I always try to do. You know. So you don't completely discourage them from writing ever again... I won't lie: I know you had good intentions, but your review was pretty harsh, man.
Also, because my lovely Minion seems to be more in love with my Nolan Shepard than I am, I drew her a picture of him and his Tali'Zorah. She kindly published it on deviantArt under her profile as I don't have one. For those of you awesome souls who're interested, here's the link. This site is kinda temperamental when it comes to links so I'll just have to break it down for you. cherokee(delete this)eyes(place a period here)deviantart(place another period here)com/gallery/#/d5h7xca
Also, please check out her other stuff while you're there!
Speaking of my Minion, many, many thanks are due to her as she drew a picture of my Nolan Shepard/Tali and kindly let me use it as my cover for 'To Build A Home'. So, thank you, Minion! In comparison to hers, my drawing sucks. :(
Constructive criticism is, as always, welcome and appreciated. Please, no flames. I am now aware that I suck at action pieces. :(
Chapter Five :
Jus In Bello
(please see author's note at bottom for definition)
oOoOo
Suddenly and without warning, Tali found herself being violently wrenched back behind the console as she tried to leap out of cover. Instinctively, she twisted in mid-air and was consequently brought to her hands and knees, face-to-face with the smoldering eyes of Shepard himself. She quickly realized that she had underestimated his superhuman reflexes. He was being overprotective again, she knew, and, immensely irritated with this one fact, she quickly summoned the initiative to hammer him with a verbal onslaught to the effect that she was more than capable of taking care of herself, thank you very much. She didn't need him to be always looking over his shoulder just to ascertain that she was okay, which Tali offhandedly took to mean that he doubted her abilities in some way.
No. If he was going to survive this war, then he needed to look after himself and not focus on everyone else. More than anything, she needed him to stop putting the needs of others always before his own.
The words, however, were just on the tip of her tongue when another shockwave, even more powerful than the last, rattled past. For a moment, the floor quaked vehemently in the wake of having so much energy be released, and Garrus, who was still standing, was forced to spread his legs apart in order to retain his balance. The sheer force of it, coupled with the unexpectedness of it all, positively stole Tali's breath away, despite the protective presence of her environ-suit.
Caught up in the heat of the moment, she'd completely forgotten about the shockwaves in favor of their more tangible enemy: The geth, her people's historic nemesis . . . She hadn't even heard it coming, which was as good a giveaway as any when the dreadnought's main gun fired.
Dazed, her mind raced like perfectly-oiled clockwork as she hurriedly took the entire situation into consideration. If she'd gone out there as originally intended, her shields would've been decimated in a millisecond, leaving her wide open to attack . . . In all likelihood, Shepard had just saved her life. Again. And Keelah, she'd been about to criticize him for it!
She looked up sheepishly, meeting his still-smoldering eyes almost reluctantly. Behind her visor, she blushed furiously as she realized how close she'd actually come to making such an idiotic mistake. She briefly criticized her own stupidity; after all, a good admiral, with even her father included, would never have made such an enormous blunder. . . .
And Shepard . . . She momentarily wished that he wouldn't appear so upset. His emerald-green eyes had hardened, regained their sharp edges, and his deeply-furrowed brow had quite literally added a few years to his pale face . . . She couldn't help but think that all of this seemed so very unlike him. She never liked seeing him angry. Especially when his ire was directed at her.
Truthfully, she should've known that he would never forgive nor condone such reckless behavior. Not when he was so overprotective of his "people," as he sometimes called his crew.
Her silvery eyes fell. "Shepard, I . . ." she began ashamedly.
Wordlessly, he turned his attention back to the task at hand, rising out of cover just enough to free the barrel of his M-99 Saber and unleash another barrage of gunfire into their enemy's midst. So it seemed that with every drawback of his Saber, every subtle click! that foretold his reloading another thermal clip, another geth's photoreceptor shattered into a million tiny pieces. Their broken bodies slumped to the ground, one after another, littering the corridor ahead with their lifeless carcasses, and Shepard merely moved onto the next target, grimly counting them as they fell with a fearful regularity . . . It was a natural and practiced motion, one he must have performed a thousand times in the past. . . . And yet, for one singular moment, Tali didn't know whether to be relieved or horrified that killing had become such an integral part of their lives. The fact that they were geth meant very little; in actuality, they could be anything and the results would still be the same. Batarian slavers, Blue Sun mercenaries, rogue asari commandos . . . It just didn't matter. Shepard could take any number of those out easily enough and without any lingering regrets.
In the meantime, a high-velocity slug whizzed by, narrowly missing his ear, and he swore loudly as he dove behind the console once again. Tali grimaced as she heard quite a few slugs impact the opposite side of their console, and she saw the sparks fly. She vainly tried to catch his eye, but he seemed to be purposely ignoring her now.
Then: "Don't worry about it," he grunted at last, still eyeing the geth over their console. Tali frowned to herself as it occurred to her how his gravelly voice was oddly devoid of emotion. So very unlike him . . .
"No, really —" she tried again.
An abrupt idea occurred to him then and he interrupted her distractedly. "I'm, uh, really sorry, Tali, but can you hold that thought for a minute?" he asked.
He didn't even wait for an affirmative, but rather turned to Garrus almost immediately. In turn, their turian friend ducked out of cover and began to eliminate geth with an even more frightful efficiency than Shepard, courtesy of his heavily-modified sniper rifle. Tali simply huffed to herself in exasperation before she too rose from cover in order to blast a geth of her own.
"Garrus!" cried Shepard over a raucous hail of high-velocity slugs.
Garrus shot him an irritated glance as he fell back into cover. "A little busy here, Shepard!" he quickly replied. "What do you need?"
Shepard's sharp eyes flickered elsewhere. "Do you think you can flank them?" he asked loudly enough, jerking his thumb towards a previously-unnoticed ladder that blended well into an alcove behind Garrus.
The turian's eyes seemed to follow the gesture, and he nodded before they even fell squarely upon the ladder. "I can try," he told Shepard rather cheerfully, "but you'll owe me one, Shepard!"
That said, he hurriedly holstered his trusty M-92 Mantis and darted over to the ladder, trusting Shepard and Tali inexplicitly enough to cover his back while he clambered up with surprising ease.
While Tali worriedly watched him go, she couldn't help but wonder if Shepard actually knew what he was doing. So far, she hadn't seen any geth on that upper platform, but she could be mistaken . . . And if Garrus did run into any geth up there, then they'd be hard-pressed to offer him any back-up.
Settled down beside her, Shepard chuckled faintly as he once again surged out of cover in order to hammer the geth with more return-fire and keep the pressure off Garrus. "In your dreams, Vakarian!" he called after their turian friend teasingly, and Garrus acknowledged this jibe by offering them a sloppy salute in return as he crawled onto the platform proper.
As he disappeared overhead, a frustrated Tali elbowed Shepard in the ribs when he finally returned to cover. He couldn't feel it through his ablative chestplate, and neither could she through her padded environ-suit, but he'd acknowledge the gesture nonetheless.
"What are you doing?" she hissed exasperatedly.
He only awarded her with a sidelong glance. "I got rid of Garrus," he said with a slight shrug. "Feel free to thank me later." Then, he paused and seemed to frown. "Now, what the hell were you thinking, Tali? You could've been killed!"
She instantly deflated. To delay the inevitable, she poked her head out of cover and fired off Chiktikka vas Paus, who immediately and almost joyfully began to entice one unfortunate geth out of its cover. With a single report of his Saber, Shepard's excellent marksmanship removed the geth from the picture quite nicely.
"But I wasn't," she defended herself rather feebly. "I'm still alive. That's what counts."
Further aggravated by this answer, Shepard growled and threw a primed grenade into a cluster of geth. Part of Tali was quite satisfied with the results when it exploded.
"Don't give me that!" he rumbled. "If I hadn't pulled your ass back in, you'd be dead right now."
His overwhelming concern and the way he was so unwilling to let this issue go touched Tali deeply, despite her past misgivings, and she couldn't help but offer him a wan smile in return. Sometimes, she reflected, his most infuriating traits were also his most endearing.
"So, the great Commander Shepard was worried about me?" she asked, her tone faintly teasing.
Caught in the middle of another one of his fusillades of return-fire, Shepard glanced at her sharply. "Worried —?" He saw the next slug coming and instinctively ducked, letting it harmlessly pass by his head. "Damn it, Tali! Of course I was worried!"
She briefly touched his forearm. "Shepard . . . thank you," she told him softly. "But you really shouldn't worry about me so much. You know I'm more than capable of taking care of myself."
By then, more than half of the remaining geth had been killed. No more than half a dozen were left fighting as their collective intelligence slowly, but surely, declined. And as the words left her mouth, Garrus unleashed a barrage of doom from above upon the last geth, who scattered in confusion as they sought the direction from which this new enemy came. Looking up, Shepard and Tali were just in time to see Garrus lithely drop down from the platform and use the butt of his rifle to knock the very last geth to the ground. He then used the flat of his foot to smash its photoreceptor.
Garrus only looked up when it finally stopped twitching. "All clear!" he announced.
Shepard and Tali exchanged sheepish looks as they stood up, and Shepard ran an agitated hand over the crown of his N7 helmet in place of his tousled shock of hair.
He sighed heavily. "I know, Tali," he said quietly. "I just . . . Just try to be careful, okay? I can't lose you, too."
Truly, this rare bout of sincerity moved her, especially the way his breath kind of hitched at the end, and she desperately wanted to tell him that he wasn't going to lose her, but she knew that it would be foolhardy to promise such a thing in the middle of this war. She didn't even know if they were going to survive yet, much less win against the Reapers. So, she said the next best thing.
"For you, I will," she told him, and, together, they rejoined Garrus, who was treading among the fallen geth just to guarantee that they were all actually dead. Following this and because Shepard seemed slightly more cheerful, Tali decided that her agreeable answer must have lifted his spirits.
"Good job, Garrus," he remarked pleasantly. "By my count, that's seventeen so far." He seemed so pleased with this outcome, in fact, that he tapped the side of his rifle to reveal just as much.
Tali knew that he was referring to his current kill-count, and her hand flew up in sheer disbelief to cover her visor. Keelah, Shepard could be so unbelievably silly sometimes! He was a mystery, she'd certainly give him that. After all, he'd given a part of himself away just now and he was already back to his quirky self.
Garrus's face, meanwhile, seemed to brighten. "Seventeen?" he repeated slowly, almost smugly. "That's not bad for the first human Spectre. Not bad at all." He paused. "I myself am sitting on eighteen."
Shocked, Shepard nearly dropped his Saber. "What? No way," he said quickly, his voice full of sheer disbelief.
"You mean you don't believe me?" asked Garrus with an audible smirk. Then, he nudged a geth carcass with the toe of his foot. "We can count these things if you want."
Shepard glanced at the body. "Er . . . No. I believe you." He paused and sighed. "You may have won this battle, Garrus, but the mission's not over yet."
To show how little he actually thought of that challenge, the scarred turian merely tossed his rifle up and deftly snatched it out of mid-air.
"Show-off," muttered Shepard with a small smile. "Now, come on, Vakarian. We've still got work to do." That said, Tali was rather relieved when he began to move on.
"Say whatever you like, Shepard, if it helps you sleep at night," Garrus wryly replied. Shepard just playfully shoved him away with a snort.
Tali rolled her eyes. Deep down, though, she really was glad to be back with the Normandy. Life without Shepard and Garrus just hadn't been the same. Not to mention the fact that it wouldn't have been half as entertaining.
It all happened so quickly. Tali had overridden the doors and locked them from the inside, but, in retrospect, she should've known that the geth, augmented by the Reapers' code, would be intelligent enough to override her hacks.
So, when the pocket of geth burst into the narrow chamber, chirping angrily in their synthetic language, she knows that they've been caught unprepared and that it's partially her fault. One unfortunate geth, however, somehow managed to fire off a premature rocket, which not only impacted part of the elevator's convoluted mechanism, but also took out the rest of the geth in the resultant blast. In return, the elevator shook dangerously, threateningly, and as a metallic screech rent the air, both Garrus and Tali scurried back onto the platform proper.
Their feet once more planted on relatively more-firm ground, Garrus and Tali both turned to ascertain whether or not their beloved CO had followed suit. Shepard, however, hadn't been quite as lucky.
Tali gasped as she saw that Shepard, who had been closest to the elevator controls and farthest from the platform's edge, seemed rooted to the spot in shock, and with his feet spread in order to retain balance as the elevator slowly sagged beneath him.
Inexplicitly, Tali's transported to another time, another place, when it's not his life on the line, but hers. She's slipping, and sliding, and grasping for absolutely anything that she can cling to so she doesn't fall into the bottomless chasm below. And Shepard, her dear, dear Shepard, throws himself after her in the truest Commander-Shepard fashion, thoughtlessly and courageously risking his life for hers . . . His hand is outstretched, his fingers grasping, so close and yet so far . . . they brushed fingers once, twice, and it's only when she finally slips over the edge that he securely grabs ahold of her wrist, leaving her to dangle precariously in mid-air. "Got you," he'd said then, oh so simply, sounding so very relieved and exhausted at the same time.
She's come too far just to lose him now.
And it is with this memory firmly in mind that she crouches down, leans dangerously over the edge, and outstretches her hand towards him. "Shepard!" she cried urgently, her tone immediately and sharply biting into his attention. "Grab my hand!"
This seems to snap him out of it, those despairing times only he knows, and into action.
As the elevator sagged dangerously beneath him, Shepard staggered quickly towards her proffered hand. Her heart skipped a beat as he passed the halfway mark. Just then, the elevator fell. Shepard leaped. His middle fell across the edge with a painful thumph! and the rest of his body is left swinging in mid-air. As his fingers scrambled frantically for better support, Tali grabbed his arm, steadying him. Quickly following suit, Garrus grabbed the other and helped pull him onto the platform proper.
Breathing heavily and left giddy from such a close call, Shepard breathed a sigh of relief and released a shaky laugh. "Phew," he said to them sheepishly from his sprawled-out position on the floor. "That was a little too close for comfort."
Garrus outstretched his taloned hand with the turian equivalent of a grin and hoisted Shepard to his feet. "You okay, Shepard?" he asked, a little concerned. "Still all in one piece?"
"I'm all right," Shepard replied, a little unevenly. "Just a little shaken is all." He paused and seemed to frown to himself. "I didn't get this far just to be taken out by a damnelevator," he went on dryly.
Needless to say, he was a little surprised when Tali, overcome with guilt and relief in equal measure, threw her arms around his middle. Emerald-green eyes wide, he patted her back awkwardly while Garrus stifled some snickers. "Keelah . . . I thought I'd lost you," she murmured into his armored chest.
He drew away and held her at arm's length, quirking an inquirying eyebrow at her. "Hold on," he said slowly. "You were worried?"
She knew she'd left herself open to attack before the words even left her mouth. But she chuckled faintly and tried to play it off all the same. "You bet I was!" she told him, sounding too relieved to really be effective. "You dying because the geth overrode my hack?" She paused and shook her head with emphasis. "Think of my reputation!"
Shepard's eyes seemed to dance happily, and he laughed faintly. "Yeah, you were worried," he said, sounding smug. "I, uh, guess we're even now, huh?"
Tali shook her head slightly. "Agreed," she conceded rather shakily. "Now, come on. The drive core shouldn't be far." She disentangled herself from his arms reluctantly, and hated the fact that it seemed to feel colder without them wrapped securely around her.
"Yes, ma'am," he cheerfully remarked as he expertly removed the Saber from his back.
Meanwhile, Garrus was inwardly wondering why Shepard did not simply cut to the chase and compliment Tali's supportive waist and . . . shawl. The man acted almost like he didn't know that this was the quickest way to a woman's heart. Or at least, Garrus amended with a small sigh, it was in his own people's culture. One thing was for sure, though: This thinly-veiled foreplay was getting ridiculous. There was, after all, only so many times a person could secretly roll their eyes (for fear of shotgun-retribution).
He almost wished that they'd just get a room already.
He'd done it yet again. Just as she knew he would.
Though their escape had proven a rather close call, they had successfully shut down the geth dreadnought, rescued Legion, and saved her people from imminent obliteration. For the moment at the very least.
And now, she was sitting in a rather cramped cargo compartment with Shepard and Garrus as their bulky combat armor seemed to take up the most space. Ordinarily, she'd vie for more room against her two companions, but the fact that they were inside a geth dropship of all things unnerved her into relative silence.
And then there was Shepard.
"I'm going to kill him," he snarled for what seemed like the hundredth time since their narrow escape.
Tali could do little more than watch him worriedly. Shepard . . .
To the casual observer, Shepard merely seemed abnormally grim through his N7 visor. His deeply-furrowed brow somehow revealed more than a lifetime's worth of worries, and his emerald-green eyes were bright and half-hidden by his dark, low-lying eyebrows; but she knew him better than most. If it weren't for their cramped quarters, she just knewthat he'd be wearing a hole through the floor with his pacing, which was something he usually did when he was upset about something or another. She was painfully aware of the fact that he had an awful habit of bottling his emotions, and burying his pain behind contagious smiles and a wry attitude. But, deep down, she knew that he was really hurting, and that there had to be something she could do to help him.
Meanwhile, with body language as such an integral part of quarian communication and culture, she had become especially attuned to his, and his currently led her to believe that he was . . . What was that human expression? Something Ken Donnelly had said once . . . 'Royally brassed off'? Yes, that sounded right. And this was especially prominent when she saw that his hands were balled tightly into fists, and she could practically feel the fury rolling off of him in waves.
In light of this and despite her dislike of him, she legitimately began to fear for Han'Gerrel's life. An angry Shepard was worse than a fully-grown krogan in a battle-rage, especially so as he grew angry so very rarely. Normally, it was what he didn't say when he was upset that affected people most deeply. This rage likely stemmed from his overly-protective nature in regards to his "people" as he did not take threats to them lightly.
And while part of Tali was concerned over his sudden anger, part of her was also amused while still another was relieved. Relieved because the geth dreadnought had been successfully disabled before there were major losses, and amused because she just couldn't imagine Han'Gerrel's dismay when he found an angry Commander Shepard running him down. Normally, she'd even lend him her shotgun as a sort of blessing, but no matter how much she hated the man right now, she wouldn't say that she wanted him dead . . . Not yet, anyway.
That said, she immediately set to work calming him down before he hurt somebody (even if he'd feel terrible enough about it afterwards), and considered how ironic it was that she was saving Han'Gerrel's life without his ever knowing about it.
"Shepard," she began gently, "it's okay. Really. All of us got off safely, and nobody was hurt."
"No, Tali," he growled in return. "It's really not okay. You just don't fire on a ship that's got your own people inside."
Tali sighed. Then, she shot Garrus a pointed glance, and the turian shifted uncomfortably, shaking his head slightly. Her silvery eyes narrowed and she sent him another look that quite clearly said 'do something!'
Garrus sighed resignedly and turned to Shepard. "Shepard —" he began dubiously.
But Shepard interrupted him abruptly. "I don't want to hear it, Garrus," he growled. "That was a bad call, and you know it. No one fires on my people. No one." This seemed to remind him of how much of a breach in protocol this actually was, and his eyes darkened even further.
"I'm going to kill him," he repeated a little more forcefully.
Garrus visibly deflated and shared a helpless look with Tali, who continued to watch Shepard worriedly. He was so incensed over this, sometimes she could swear that he'd been a quarian once upon a time. This kind of thinking, of putting the crew first, was common epistemology to those who'd spent their entire lives in space, aboard ships and space stations. Only these people were truly aware of how teamwork was necessary for survival.
Of course, following Shepard's latest outburst, Legion had to throw his two credits in. His face-plates, meanwhile, whirred in agitation.
"Shepard-Commander," Legion began, "that course of action is unadviseable. The organic concept known as 'murder' is most prominently frowned upon by human, asari, turian, salarian, and quarian societies."
As Legion spoke, however, Tali slipped her smaller hand into Shepard's, startling him. He looked at her pointedly, eyes wide, and she offered nothing more.
Even as she watched, she was amazed by the changes her touch had wrought upon his features. His face had softened again, his eyes had lost their sharp edge, and it was amazing that all of this was entirely her own doing. Contented, she snuggled into him despite the difficulty and laid her helmeted head on his armored shoulder.
"W-what —?" said Shepard, who had only heard part of what Legion had said. "I know, Legion. I just —" He broke off and sighed in frustration, though she noticed that he was particularly careful not to move his shoulder. "You know what? Just forget I said anything."
His fury placed on the metaphorical back-burner, he then settled down somewhat more comfortably in their cramped quarters.
Tali was particularly pleased with the fact that he didn't stir for the rest of the journey, which was a small victory in itself. Not once did he try to remove his gauntleted hand.
Jus In Bello (definition) - Latin for "the law of waging war." (1) "The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war (jus ad bellum) and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct (jus in bello)" (From Wikipedia). (2) "Refers to justice in war, to right conduct in the midst of battle. Responsibility for state adherence to 'jus in bello' norms falls primarily on the shoulders of those military commanders, officers, and soldiers who formulate and execute the war policy of a particular state..." (From the website of Stanford University).
I have already said too much on this subject. You know how I feel about such wonderfully lovely reviews. So, I will just say this: Please, read and review as reviews are verbal love.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you haven't read my other fic, 'No Exit' yet, I highly suggest reading it before this next chapter comes out as some minor stuff will be mentioned. No worries if you don't, but still, I thought I'd give you fair warning. In it, see if you can spot Liara's foreshadowing the future of 'To Build A Home' and where I intend to head it in regards to the game's ending.
Following this note, I have also written two other fics that delve into this Commander Nolan Shepard universe. For those interested, I highly recommend reading (1) 'Into The Void' and (2) 'Heart'. One has some Tali-fluff, the other... not so much. Excessive Joker-angst, more like.
A heads-up for the next chapter: We'll be looking at a behind-the-scenes kinda deal that I think would've been really cool if included in-game. Also, Garrus will be taking Shepard's place for the perspective of the chapter as Shepard is kinda... unconscious. Yep. Warning: more-serious content (and not so much fluff) is ahead. :D