He sat on the bed; his legs crossed at his ankles with his arms behind his head and watched her work, typing away at her terminal with the occasional mutter beneath her breath and a tilt of her head to work the kinks out of her neck.

He found it oddly relaxing to just watch her in silence and not to mention how aesthetically pleasing it was either. If she caught him her cheeks would flush, her eyes would flutter in embarrassment but she would smile and bit her lower lip which he had learned was a gesture she only did for him.

Upon his joining the Normandy he hadn't thought very highly of the other races that graced the ship. During his cycle they were primitives; the humans lived in caves and wandered restlessly, searching for answers being the ever curios species they were, the Turians were just beginning to have a spoken language, the Salarians had yet to evolve to walk on two legs, and the Quarians had not even learned how to light fires, but had mastered the art of depicting their lives on stone.

It was interesting, however, that his race had taken such a liking to the Asari. At the time he had chalked it up to the fact that it was because they were an all female species, but now that he had time to learn, understand, them he knew it was for different reasons. They were a patient people; they never rushed headlong into something without serious thought but they did live for over a thousand years so for them time meant something else entirely.

His people had tried to uplift them and bring them forward, but the Reapers put a halt to that. It seemed, however, that some of what his people had done carried over into this cycle such as their mastery of biotics and logical thought. He remembered that even with all the influence they had in the Asari lives they had struggled with writing and he, now, felt ashamed of his words to Liara almost a year ago.

On Earth he had told Shepard that he would return to Eden Prime and join his people, but Liara had changed that. When Joker asked him if he wanted to stay the look on her face was enough for him to shake his head and not to mention he had grown, despite his best attempts, to care for Normandy and her crew; even that damned AI which he would never openly admit to anyone.

"You're staring." Her voice was quiet and if it wasn't for his training he probably wouldn't have heard her. His lips turned up in a small smile, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"And you said you'd only be a few minutes," he retorted, his deep flanging voice carried softly across the room. Her cheeks deepened in color, a dark blue, and instantly he felt aroused by the sight, knowing that the rest of her turned that shade when they were alone in her bed, pressed together and sharing themselves with one another in the most intimate and trusting ways.

"ETA to Earth is 2 hours. Fucking finally," Joker's voice crackled over the intercom, startling both of them. She glanced at Javik from the corner of her eye.

"It seems we have a little while."

"So it seems." He let his eyes travel over her body slowly, taking in every detail of her form. She turned away from the console and made her way to the bed, but stopped at the foot to give him a flirtatious smile. "You're taking too long," he growled and leaned forward to grab her arms and pulled her on top of him, smothering her laughter with a deep kiss.

Upon Traynor's entrance into the Med-Bay Garrus excused himself, albeit limping and leaning slightly towards the left, and Tali rolled her eyes, trying to suppress an amused smile. Over the last few days he had questioned, endlessly, her about her relationship with Sam. It had been quite annoying, but considering they were both "confined" to the Med-Bay they had not much else to discuss since Chakwas had given her express orders (and for being the kind, patient woman that she was she sure could make you cower under intense glares) they were to let the rest of the crew, mostly Liara, handle their business with their people.

Sam tossed a concerned glance at Garrus' back as the door shut behind him. "I didn't intend to make him feel as though he had to leave," she said apologetically, her eyes darting over Tali's form as if checking for new injuries or any sign of problems in regards to her health, as she perched herself on the edge of Tali's bed.

"Don't worry about that bosh'tet; he just acts like, well, Garrus," she said laughing, interlacing her three-fingered hand with Sam's five-fingered one and bringing her knuckles to her mouth to press a light kiss against them. With EDI's help, along with Chakwas and Liara, she was safe to go without her mask and enviro-suit, a debt that she could never repay them but she would try dammit.

She felt Sam's hand on her cheek and looked at her, feeling her heart swell and her stomach dance with the intense look that graced the dark human woman's features. Her eyes fluttered shut when Sam slid her fingers through her ebony hair, stroking it lovingly. "I love you, Tali," the English accent laden voice said. Her eyes opened and she stared at her, her eyes going wide. "Shit. I-I just blurted that out, I didn't mean – well, I mean it, obviously, but I-I just mean that I didn't want to say it without, fuck. This is not how I imagined this going. At all."

She raised a light skinned hand towards Sam's face, forcing her to look at her, a small smile playing at the corner of her lips. "I play for keeps."

Sam groaned and buried her face in the blankets on her abdomen. "She told you about that, did she? God, I feel like a fool. You must think horribly of me."

You should tell her.

No, that's private.

Come on, you silly Quarian. You know about her proposition.

Different circumstances require different actions. And I had sex with Shepard, she didn't.

All the more reason to tell her.

Go away.

No.

Yes.

Make me.

You really don't want me too, bosh'tet.

Going, going. Don't blow OUR brains out on account of your –

"Not at all," she reassured her, trying to convey her meaning through her silver, luminescent eyes while ignoring the stupid miniature figure of herself sitting on her shoulder. It would be hypocritical of her to be upset that she had tried to seduce Shepard when she, herself, had physical contact. "I understand. But Sam," she nudged her, asking, silently, for her to look at her. When Sam turned her head enough for her to see the dark chocolate brown she smiled. "I love you too."

The look on the human woman's face made her body burn with heat, her heart pound against her chest and her breath catch. The look that Sam was directing at her was something she had only observed from afar when Garrus or Eliza looked at each other. She could never compete with that; what they shared was true love and only a dummy would stand in their way and was something she had learned the difficult way, but was truly happy for them.

Sam leaned forward and pressed her lips against her light purple ones softly, a smile playing at the edges of her mouth. "Good, I would be upset if come to find out you had other options." Tali laughed a soft chiming sound without the warbled effect of her helmet.

"ETA to Earth is one hour people. Get your party hats out," Joker's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Thank the ancestors," Tali murmured, playing with the ends of Sam's short dark hair.

"It's been a long time waiting. I can't wait to see the look on her face." She gave her human a confused look and Sam broke out into a face splitting grin. "We decided not to tell her. Garrus wants to surprise her when she least expects it. Her mother and Hackett will also be among the shore party."

"Keelah, she is going to die from happiness."

It would definitely be worth it to see the look of shock, happiness and sheer unadulterated joy on Shepard's face.

"30 minutes," Joker mumbled to himself, fidgeting in his seat from the barely contained excitement. It had been too long since he had seen Shepard and he wanted, no, needed her aboard the Normandy. It wasn't the same without her and he felt out of sorts without her coming to bullshit with him. Garrus had tried to fill the void and though he would never admit it he was thankful for that.

He might not have liked Garrus four years ago, but the Turian with the stick up his ass had finally won over his affection and he would, if need be, die for him which isn't something Jeff took lightly. The only other's he would die for were Shepard, Tali, Liara and Wrex. Oh and definitely Chakwas, she was a badass. EDI was a given, but someone would be hard pressed to take EDI considering she was installed aboard the Normandy and after the stunt with the clone their security had tightened. Whenever they had shore leave Shepard would make sure that guards were posted and rotated out.

When he finally saw Shepard he wanted to give her a bone-crushing hug then yell at her for almost killing herself just to save the galaxy, but he would refrain from the yelling. Bone-crushing he could handle especially with Chakwas being nearby.

"I am looking forward to seeing Shepard again," EDI said, flipping through the console settings with a smile.

"You and me both, babe."

Kaidan sat in his room, looking over a message from the Council when Cortez entered. He closed his omni-tool and smiled at the darker skinned man.

"I guess you heard Joker's last announcement."

"I did," he said as Steve threw himself down on the couch next to him unceremoniously and sighed, running a hand over his face before scratching at his goatee.

"Jesus. It feels like forever since I last saw her talking to Sophie, the little mech dog, down in the shuttle bay. She loves that damn dog."

"She loves dogs. She told me once that she wants to have a real one on the Normandy. That would be a sight, wouldn't it?" Steve laughed, leaning his back against the couch.

"Only Shepard would be able to get away with it. It'd be nice though, having a warm, furry creature around that you can play with, love on and just talk to when you need to. Maybe a Lab or a Golden."

"Nah, she needs a Labrador/Shepard mix. I had one once, they're amazing animals. Husky/Chessy works too, but they are a pain in the ass as puppies. They grow up to be big babies once their older."

For a few moments they sat in silence imagining Shepard with a little puppy on the Normandy, watching her laugh when it licked her face or holding it in her arms and stroking its head, crooning to it when it wanted her attention.

Kaidan leaned his body against Cortez who snaked his arm around the other man's shoulders, squeezing lightly.

"It'll be great to be back on Earth," Steve said, tilting Kaidan's face up to his and placing a kiss on his lips.

"That it will," he conceded before looking up at the ceiling, hearing Joker's excited voice.

"ETA is five fucking minutes until we land. Gonna be one helluva party, people!"

Kaidan and Steve smiled at each other.

On that they could agree.