Chapter 2

Once the shuttle door opened in the cargo bay of the Normandy, Kolyat stepped off and slouched toward the elevator. Shepard let him go; the shuttle ride together had been bad enough. Not that he could really blame him…

"Shepard!" Tali waved to them over an opened cargo box near the elevator. "Hi, Kolyat."

Kolyat emerged slightly from his brooding silence. "Hey."

Tali cocked her helmet, perhaps sensing his mood. "We picked up some components for the new shielding system. Want to help me install them later?"

"Uh, sure." Kolyat hesitated a moment then continued on toward the elevator. Shepard walked over to Tali.

"That'll be the last of the repairs, right?"

"Should be." Tali tapped some information into her omni-tool.

Shepard clapped her on the shoulder. "I'm not sure what we're going to do without you, Tali."

Tali's luminescent eyes glanced up at him. "I won't be gone long. The Reapers are coming, and I'm going to be there when you take them down."

"I know, Tali. Thanks." Shepard grinned and folded his arms across his chest. "But before we let you back on the Flotilla, Garrus and I need to vet this guy—Kal'Reegar. He's a good soldier, sure, but we're not quite sure he's good enough for you."

"Shepard!"

"Hey are you blushing under there? It's hard to tell," he teased.

Tali turned away from him, helmet in her hands. "Keelah, just tell me when this bad dream is over."

Shepard laughed. "Let me know if you need anything."

"I will."

Shepard continued to the elevator. He got out at the mess, glancing around. Miranda was seated at the table, chopsticks poised above an almost empty bowl, eyes on the datapad in front of her.

"Operative Lawson," Shepard said, passing by the table on the way to inspect whatever Gardner had prepared for the evening meal.

"Commander," Miranda responded coolly, not looking up from her datapad. Shepard filled his bowl with steaming rice and a spicy mix of vegetables and meat to go on top. He sat down at the opposite end of the table from Miranda, wondering if he should take a bowl to Kolyat. He didn't feel like he should force the issue, but they had to talk about it sometime and soon since Thane wasn't likely to last very long.

He didn't know which would be worse: a slow, lingering death, or a quick, unexpected one. Both were painful, but in different ways. Either way, Kolyat was not going to come out unscathed. Shepard knew from experience…

"Commander?" Miranda stood from the table, chopsticks set over her empty bowl. "There's something I want you to look at later concerning the repairs to the elevator."

Shepard raised a brow. "I thought the elevator was fixed?"

A small furrow appeared between her eyes. "Read the report and you can decide for yourself," she said in a firm voice. "It's nothing big. Possibly only 200 credits, but I would like your…. input."

Shepard looked determinedly down into his bowl, stirring the food with his chopsticks. "I'll see to it."

"Thank you, Commander." The clack of her heels faded as she left to her office and Shepard was left alone with his thoughts.

Shepard yawned as he stood at his terminal in the CIC, glancing up at the time. Noticing that it was nearly two o'clock, he finished his work and logged off the computer.

"There's something I want you to look at later concerning the repairs to the elevator."

Shepard rubbed the back of his neck with a grimace and shut down his terminal. "EDI, I'm going to bed. Wake me if there's an emergency."

"Understood, Commander. Logging you out."

Shepard ambled to the elevator and tapped the console, not at all surprised when it headed down first instead of up. It stopped at the crew deck, opening to reveal Miranda, arms crossed, a scowl on her full lips.

"Still awake, Operative Lawson?"

"Shut it," she snapped with uncharacteristic vigor and entered the elevator.

The doors had barely closed when she was on him, scowling lips melting into a smile of pleasure as they met his. "I thought you weren't going to make it," she murmured against his throat, trailing kisses along the underside of his jaw to the hollow of his collarbone. Her hands snaked under his shirt, teasing the skin on his stomach.

"Miranda," Shepard said in a tight voice—this woman did know how to… "We talked about this—"

"Mmhm." Miranda's hands were going lower and she let out a throaty chuckle at the look on his face.

Shepard managed to reach out to the elevator console, tapping the button to his quarters as Miranda looped her arms around his neck, her lips tracing hot fire across the hollow of his jaw. Their desperate encounter on the Engineering Deck before entering the Omega-4 relay had been an isolated incident—or so Shepard thought. In the months following, between keeping a safe distance from Cerberus agents, getting necessary repairs to the Normandy, and getting the word out to allies about the Collectors, they hadn't had much time for many such intimate moments. The ones they did have, however, were so secret as to be ludicrous.

He would like to be able to admit to Garrus, Jacob, and Joker that he and Miranda were a couple instead of sneaking around like some kind of criminal. It wasn't too much to ask, right? But Miranda was a cautious woman—she did things in her own time. He supposed he would just have to be patient.

Miranda suddenly stopped her mission to rid Shepard of all his clothes, and traced absent circles on his chest with her fingers. "I… I've been thinking, Shepard… about… about us."

Feeling like someone had dangled a brand new M-12 Hurricane assault rifle under his nose and then jerked it away, Shepard struggled to switch gears. It was doubly hard with her waist still cradled in his hands. "Yeah?" he managed.

"Well, I got to thinking about why you were on Kahje, and I wondered what I would do if that were you in that hospital room, not Krios." She glanced up at him and he was startled to see tears sparkling in her eyes. "I… I couldn't stand the thought that you could be taken from me, and I would never have the opportunity to tell you that… that…" She blew out a frustrated breath. "Why is this so hard?" She bit her lip, looking away from him. "I… I love you."

Shepard lifted her face gently, stroking the sides of her face with his thumb. "Who said anything about love? I'm just trying to get you into bed."

Miranda laughed. "Ass."

"Good idea." Shepard used both hands to grab Miranda on her backside, pulling her up so that she straddled him. She yelped in surprise, and laughed, folding herself more comfortably into his embrace. A moment later, the elevator stopped at Shepard's cabin and nothing more needed to be said.

In case you're interested, here's a shortened URL to a pic of the Shepard that was in my head as I wrote this story: bit[dot]ly[dot][backslash]aJLmqp