Shepard woke in the med-bay. Her head still pounded, but it was tolerable. She opened her eyes to stare at the dimly lit ceiling above the bed. Her fingers played with the soft cottony sheets nervously as she considered trying to sit up. She didn't want to get woozy again.

"How long was I out this time?" She asked the doctor, whom she assumed was nearby.

"Not as long as the last time you blacked out." A much deeper and rumbling voice answered.

Shepard sat up quickly in surprise, only to lay slowly back down with a groan at the sudden pain and dizziness that swallowed her head.

"Take it easy," Nihlus said, assisting her back down to the pillow. "You know, I'm not sure you're ready to be a Spectre. You seem to require a lot of saving."

Shepard suspected the doctor was out of the room because he was clearly teasing her. She would have laughed, but her head was swimming in a sea of hurt.

"Very funny, Nihlus." She grumbled. "Let's have all this crap shoved in your brain and see how stable you are after it."

She could almost feel him grinning.

"I was angry with you for not telling me about the visions, but I can understand why you may have with held the information. If I had not seen the ship at Eden Prime for myself, I would have thought you were crazy before today." He said with a hint of apology. There was a lot he had to apologize for. "I still think you're crazy, but for different reasons." He teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"Are you teasing me again? Because I don't know how much of this I can take right now. Where's the doctor anyway? You shouldn't be harassing the sick." She teased back.

Sonya rolled over on to her side to face him. The turian was leaning against the desk in the corner. His arms were crossed over his broad chest, a turian's toothy grin on his features. She was in the same bed she had been in after Eden Prime. It was all very reminiscent.

"Doctor Chakwas is taking her lunch. I told her I'd watch you while she was out." He answered.

"Oh, and you just happened by when she was hungry?" She was grinning at him now.

"I 'happened' to want to check in on an important member of my crew and Commander of this ship. I think those are acceptable and professional reasons to see a patient in the med-bay."

"Okay. Fine." she groaned.

"How's your head?" He asked.

"It hurts." She said flatly. "But I'll get over it. What's our next step?"

"Virmire. Saren has a research facility there. There's a Salarian force that we're meeting there. We're the rescue team."

"I see."

Shepard was less than enthused about the possible implications of the mission.

"When the doctor releases you I'd like you to come to my cabin. I think we should discuss... some issues between us."

"Issues. Really. Which would you like to start with? The innocent people you killed, my insanity, your insanity? Or are you still offended I asked you to be more gentle next time, if there's a next time."

Nihlus furrowed his brow. She thought he was offended and that was why he was short with her. How was am I ever going to explain it to her now? He let out a sigh.

"I'll get something for us to drink and we'll talk things out calmly. Are those terms acceptable?" He said, figuratively offering a hand out to her.

Sonya looked up at him for a while, considering his proposal. She wasn't sure what to expect from him. His personalities from professional to private were like night and day - on different fucking planets! She sighed and nodded her head in agreement.

Nihlus nodded back. He was about to speak again when the doctor walked in the room.

"How is she?" Chakwas asked. "Oh, she's awake! Why didn't you alert me?"

"She seems fine, but I'll let you do your job." Kryik responded without answering the question.

He left the med-bay for his quarters. He had a rather interesting report to write and a recommendation to send. Regardless of his personal feelings, humanity needed her to be a Spectre.

Dr. Chakwas waited for the doors to close behind him.

"The Spectre is a fine officer, and a good man, if I read him right," the Dr. grinned, "But be careful. I don't want to have to come up with an ulterior reason why either of you are in here with anaphylactic shock."

"Uhm, thank you, doctor?" Shepard responded, confused. She had rarely felt more uncomfortable. "Am I free to go?"

"Yes, you may go when you feel you're ready. Don't strain yourself, though. Your brain has taking quite a bit lately."

"How about alcohol?" She teased.

"Just a little." Chakwas smiled back.

The doctor watched the Commander leave the med-bay a few hours later when Shepard could get up without the room spinning. Young love was so blind. It reminded her of her more romantic days. They were bitter sweet memories. The solders she loved usually ended up dying either on the battle field or on her table from mortal wounds, like Jenkins. He reminded her so much of a beau from long ago...

Shepard walked right passed Alenko. He glanced up at her, but she clearly had no romantic interest in anyone. She was so focused on the mission that she ignored everyone and spend much her her free time discussing the missions with the Spectre. He couldn't blame her. The success or failure of the mission could effect the whole galaxy. It was a lot to carry. He wished she would let him comfort her. More than that, he wanted her to comfort him.

The doors to the Spectre's cabin hissed open. Shepard strode in as she always did, letting the door close before taking a seat on the sofa. He hit the send button just before he got up to join her. He rested his arm along the back of he sofa and leaned against the arm, crossing his ankle over the opposite knee.

The same bottles of wine sat out on the low table. The glasses were already full. Sonya had taken the liberty of downing half of hers. It seemed not only to help her nerves, but also the pounding in her head. She eased back into the cushion and rested her head near his hand.

Nihlus took a sip from his own glass before he drug up the courage to open his mouth.

"You were right."

Sonya turned slowly to him then, her brow furrowed. "What?"

"You were right. I was focusing on my revenge instead of the goal. I was loosing my way. You're words brought me back," he admitted somewhat bashfully.

He locked his eyes on hers. What he saw there was not the anger he expected, but the softness and warmth he'd grown so attached to. He saw that 'something else' he didn't understand.

Sonya was quiet for a while. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to something like that. If she had been about fifteen years younger she might have said 'told ya so', but she wasn't in school any more.

"There's something else too..." he added hesitantly.

His heart rate increased to a rapid pulse. If he didn't tell her now, he might not find the courage to do it again. He wasn't sure he had the courage to tell her now. He never felt so weakened by a female. He finished off his glass before he found her eyes again. She was waiting patiently for him to continue, her own glass nearly empty. He leaned forward and cupped her face in his hand, talon tips touched the smoothed hair that collected neatly in a bun at the back of her head. Her deep eyes searched his brighter, more intimidating ones for answers to questions left unasked.

"Sonya, you give me a feeling... I've never felt before. It's becoming more impossible to ignore every day that I'm with you. The way you look at me, the way I can smell you over everything else around me, it's driving me crazy."

He lowered his hand to his own lap.

"I thought, at first, it was lust... but after we... the com room, well, it just got worse. I can't focus on the mission. I haven't been training you for the Spectres, though you hardly need it." he waved his hand mildly with the compliment, dismissive. "I've been distracted by my hatred for Saren and I just want to be sure that I'm not loosing my mind." He shook his head.

"Nihlus..." Sonya started to speak, unsure of what she would say. Her heart was beating hard and fast in her chest. "I..."

I what? Do I love him? She wasn't about to drop the 'L' word if he wasn't even sure of what he felt yet. What the hell am I supposed to say?

"I don't know." She thought aloud.

"After you blacked out on Feros the asari told me something. She told me to listen to the spirits, not to betray my own heart." He at his glass on the table and took her hands in his, "Shep... Sonya, you have the strongest spirit I've ever encountered in a single person. My heart feels as though it would leap from my chest if my flesh and carapace did not stand its way. I know it's early to say such things, but I think we belong together."

He took her face in his talons again. He wasn't sure what he was going to do next, so he stopped thinking about it. He let go of the control he maintained as a Spectre and became just Nihlus.

The turian leaned forward. HIs tongue found hers before her lips ever touched his mouth. Everything in her told her this was right, that he was right. Those were the last coherent thoughts she had as they left a trail of clothing to the bed.

Nihlus kept his unspoken promise to be more gentle with her. The love they made echoed softly off the walls, but did not escape the confides of the room. His penetration was slow and deep. His growls low and purring. She panted and moaned his name, and exalted him as a god. Their scent together was a sweet musk in his nostrils. The music of their passion was a masterpiece of bliss. Talons raked across silken skin as delicate fingers twisted the white, cottony sheets. Her breath on his face was the breath of a goddess. The intensity of her climax matched his as they soaked the sheets together. She shuddered beneath him in ecstasy as he receded out of her and into himself. Her body pulsed with the pleasure he brought to her.

He slept that night with her in his arms and his face buried in her soft hair. As alien as they were to each other she fit perfectly against him. With the galaxy beckoning at the door for rescue, he found a peace at her side. He knew she found some security in him as well when she sighed her contentment in her dreams.

Sonya woke early the next morning. It took her a second to remember where she was. She rolled over under the arm draped across her waist. The turian slept soundly beside her. She traced the white lines on his face with one finger. His steady, deep breathing was soothing, calming. She didn't want to leave his bed, but she knew she had to. The crew could not be allowed to find out about them.

While Chakwas had given her word to silence, the rest of the humans on board may not feel the same way. She already knew that Pressly wasn't fond of aliens, especially turians. Williams had expressed concerns, and Alenko had a bad past experience with a least one. While he didn't hold it against all turians, she wasn't convinced he'd keep his mouth shut about his commanding officer being in an intimate relationship with one, or a Spectre. She had a pretty good idea that Garrus wouldn't care in a 'none of his business' kind of way. She had a good feeling about him. Then there was 'Daddy' Anderson. Will he approve? She would have to tell him eventually. The secret would ride on her tongue waiting to spring on its own if she tried to hide it, and he would notice. He noticed more than people thought he did.

Sonya sighed, then lightly kissed the mouth of her lover before carefully climbing out of the bed to pick her clothes off the floor and dress. She needed a shower and she needed to do it before the other women on the ship took theirs so they would not see the unavoidable scratches on her inner thighs from Nihlus' plating. She just finished zipping up her trousers when she heard a stirring in the sheets behind her. She glanced over her shoulder to see his bright green eyes peering at her from the pillow.

He knew what she was doing and why. He was glad she was thinking straighter than he was. He didn't say anything and neither did she. He rose from the bed, leaving the sheets in a heap, and began picking up his own clothes. He could smell himself on her, even through her clothing. It put a fire in the pit of his stomach. He dropped what he gathered on the bed and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind her. He purred softly in her ear when she leaned against him and caressed his neck with one hand while putting her other over the corresponding arm on her waist.

"I have to go." She whispered.

"I know." He whispered back.

"I don't want to." She lay her head on his chest.

"I know." He grinned.

She smiled up at him. He pressed his mouth to hers, kissing her that way as best he could, then released her.

She left through the doors, pausing to glance at him over her shoulder. His nudity as striking as it was strange. He was like a living expression of modern sculpture. He's... magnificent.

Alone in the shower she noticed the scratches along her ribs as well as the ones on her thighs. She hadn't even felt them when he drug his claws along her skin to make them. She knew enough of turian culture to know that the one's on her ribs were not accidental. On a female turian he would have to try harder, but he was still marking her as his own in a private way. It made her smile to know he felt strongly enough about her to claim her, even if no one would ever know. Between them and behind closed doors, she was his.

On the command deck Commander Shepard gazed out the windows of the cockpit as they dropped out of FTL. The blue planet below reminded her of the first time she saw the Earth from space. She felt a little home sick. Not for the streets of crime and pollution, but for the familiarity of home. It occurred to her then that she had no home. She didn't belong on Earth, even though she was human. She lived on a star ship. If she was pulled off it and left of the Citadel, she had no where to call her own. She began to wonder about what she would do when she was done playing solder when Joker interrupted her thoughts.

"Commander, I'm reading a signal. Must be our salarian infiltration team."

Kryik's deeper voice rumbled behind her, almost startling her. She hadn't heard him approach.

"Drop the mako. We'll go in hot and take out the defense towers."

"I'll get you in under the radar, Spectre." Joker responded.

"We're taking Vakarian and Williams with us, Shepard. We may need the gun power."

He met her eyes. They no longer distracted him or made him feel weak. Now they gave him confidence beyond what he had before and a new found strength. He would need it. Saren was sure to be waiting for them down there.

He turned to leave and Shepard followed. His assured swagger catching her interest as she walked behind him, but she kept up her professional stride and averted her eyes ahead of them. Once in the privacy of the elevator it was a different story. As soon as the doors were closed he took her armored hand in his. It was a small thing, but it was meaningful. They both found courage in the gesture. He looked down at her to find her eyes already on him.

"When we get down there, don't do anything... crazy. I want you to come out of this alive, even if..." He trailed off deciding not to finish the sentence.

Sonya eased her free hand up onto his mandible, drawing him down to her for a tender kiss. Their lips parted enough for her to taste the tannin of his tapered tongue as it ran across her sweeter one.

"It won't come to that." She said looking deeply into his bright eyes.

He grinned at her and nuzzled her face with his in a simple gesture of trust, and maybe... love. Yes, I think I do.

He lifted his cheek and nuzzled her forehead with his. She wouldn't know about the sent glands on his forehead that were marking her as his. It would wash away with soap and water the next morning, but it would send a clear message to Garrus. The ex C-Sec officer hadn't made any obvious advances, but there was no reason to leave temptation out there. It also might throw Saren off enough for him to get in a good shot in and exact his revenge as well as save the galaxy. Or it might just piss his former friend off. Saren had no love for humans; a subject they had always strongly disagreed on.

When the elevator came to a stop the lovers reluctantly resumed appearances, releasing the other's hand. Garrus was loading the last of the ammo for the mako's guns. Kryik stepped out of the elevator first.

"We're going in hot. I hope you and Williams are ready." He nodded to the dark haired human in the tank.

"Ready and able, sir!" She responded in typical military fashion.

Kryik moved aside, opposite Garrus, to let Shepard by so that she would pass between them. He caught the look on Vakarian's face when the scents on her caught in the air. At first the other turian seemed confused. Then a knowing look passed over his features.

Garrus' eyes flashed over to Nihlus for a spit second. He had never thought of Shepard as more than a friend, but clearly Nihlus had wanted him to know she was taken, at least temporarily. The marking scent was not the bonding scent. Garrus wondered how well this would turn out after they returned to the Citadel, or if the Spectre had placed his mark on her for his benefit alone. Surely Kryik wouldn't risk causing riots or his career, but it wasn't his concern, and he let it go. If they wanted to be together, it was their business. He climbed up into the tank and strapped in. Kryik followed him and closed the hatch.