The door to Engineering slid open as Shepard approached it. It had been a long day, and it was now very early evening. He glanced to the right, seeing that Donnelly and Daniels were thoroughly engrossed in their usual good-natured bickering about something, and he stepped quietly up to where Tali stood tapping away at her console.
Still unnoticed, he took a moment to admire her. She had a very shapely figure, and the suit hid almost none of it. So much was familiar, but there were differences too: the structure of her lower legs, the three digits instead of five on each hand and foot.
He glanced up at the hood covering his envirosuit's helmet, and wondered again if she had hair. Not that it mattered, of course.
I'd just really like to see her smile one day, he thought.
He shifted his weight, causing his boot to creak very slightly against the deck plating, and she spun around.
"John?" she said, automatically keeping her voice low so that the other two engineers wouldn't hear. "You startled me. How long have you been there?"
"Only a minute or so," he said with an easy smile, taking another step towards her.
She tilted her head to one side, and he was suddenly absolutely certain that, if she had eyebrows, at least one was now raised coyly.
"And what have you been doing for that minute or so?" she asked, earning a trace of a grin from him.
"Looking at you," he said, just barely loud enough for her to hear, without breaking eye contact.
Tali flushed inside her helmet, feeling a warmth twist through her body. His voice had been almost neutral, but there was an additional message in his eyes.
Keelah, she thought, suddenly glad that she was leaning against the console. I want that too, John.
"Is that... OK?" he asked, this time with a small smile to take some of the charge from the air.
She nodded, quickly checking that Donnelly and Daniels were still oblivious before closing the remaining distance between them.
"I like it when you look at me," she said, running a finger down his cheek for a moment. "And I want you to know... I've started doing some research. I don't want this to always be in the way." She gestured towards her helmet, and he nodded.
She glanced away briefly before meeting his eyes again.
"I've never shown my face to anyone," she said, "but I want to show you. I want us to be... together. I'll find a way."
He took her hand and squeezed it.
"I want that too," he replied quietly, "and I'll wait as long as it takes. Your safety comes first. I'm not going anywhere."
She smiled inside her helmet, and nodded gratefully.
"Thank you," she whispered, and he smiled, taking a step back.
"So," Shepard said, "what time will you be free to have some dinner?"
She glanced briefly back at her console before replying.
"This energy profile is set to run automatically," she said. "I can check the results in the morning. I'm ready whenever you are."
"Great," he replied, "I thought we'd eat in the mess area, then we can go... somewhere quieter to talk."
"I'd like that," Tali replied, and they both walked out of Engineering side by side.
As the door slid closed behind them, they could still hear Donnelly and Daniels' argument continuing unabated.
The mess area had still been fairly quiet - the main dinner crowd wouldn't arrive for another half hour or so - and Shepard and Tali had been able to eat in relative privacy, talking of inconsequential things and the various duties each had performed during the day.
They were now headed back towards the elevator, and Tali tensed up slightly when she saw Miranda walking along the corridor in the opposite direction, coming towards them.
"Hello, Commander; Tali," she said, with a nod and a polite smile.
Shepard returned the nod, as all three of them came to a stop as they met.
"Hello Miranda," Tali replied, keeping her voice neutral and resisting the temptation to take Shepard's arm.
"How's everything going?" Shepard asked.
"Very well, actually," Miranda replied. "I should be ready to give a full briefing in a couple of days. It was helpful to be able to go over the idea with you at lunch today."
Shepard groaned inwardly. He'd been planning to tell Tali about his conversation with Miranda, but he'd wanted to wait until they were alone to do so. He knew that Tali was jealous of his XO, and could imagine what her reaction would be to the discovery that they'd had lunch together today.
He simply nodded, with a small smile.
"Well, I won't keep you from dinner," he said, "I'll check in tomorrow morning. Enjoy your evening."
Miranda gave him a warm smile. "Thank you; same to both of you," she said, before continuing along the corridor and out of sight.
He glanced at Tali, but she looked away and after a moment they resumed their course towards the elevator. They reached it and stepped inside, and Shepard pressed the panel for deck 1 with a sigh.
"I was waiting til we were alone to tell you that I bumped into Miranda at lunch," he said, facing her. She looked at him carefully, not saying anything.
"We ate in her office because she wanted to discuss her project," he continued. "And we talked about... something else, too."
Tali felt an icy sensation in her stomach. The elevator reached its destination and the door opened, and they both walked along the short catwalk and into his cabin.
He gestured towards the couch and they both sat down. Tali clasped her hands in her lap.
"Miranda... she sort of... apologised for this morning, in the briefing room," he said, and Tali made a small noise of indignation.
"She said that she'd been... um... a little forward," he said, hesitantly, and he knew that she was instantly furious.
Tali stood up abruptly, shook her head, and took a step towards the short set of stairs leading to the exit.
"Wait, wait," Shepard said, leaping up from the couch and closing the distance between them in one smooth motion, placing his hands gently on her shoulders. He could feel that she was shaking, but he was unsure whether it was from sadness or anger.
"I will not let her do this, John!" she said, with equal parts anguish and fury in her voice. "We've only just found each other, and now she wants to steal you away from me."
"Tali, I told her that I wanted to keep our relationship professional," he said, keeping his voice soft to try to soothe her.
Her head snapped up and her eyes searched his face.
"You said that?" she asked, and he nodded, with a gentle smile, allowing his hands to move down her arms until he clasped both of her hands in his.
"Of course I did," he replied.
"What did she say?" she asked, her voice now clearly more hopeful.
"Well," he said, clearly slightly uncomfortable with the topic, "she said she appreciated my honesty. She seemed OK."
Tali lowered her eyes to look at their hands intertwined, lost in her own thoughts for several moments. At last, she looked up.
"I never wanted her to be hurt. Thank you, John," she said, her voice catching slightly. "Thank you for... choosing me."
He realized that she was crying, and he pulled her into his arms, rocking her very slightly from side to side.
"I chose you a long time ago, Tali," he said, feeling her arms snake around his waist.
She clung to him and allowed the pent-up storm of emotions of the previous twenty-four hours to flow from her. She felt the warm tears rolling down her face, but she was smiling.
She didn't trust herself to say anything, but her thoughts were drawn to the bonding ceremony of her people. The words were familiar to every quarian, but for the first time their meaning was clear to her.
She felt his reassuring heartbeat echo against her chest as she recited the simple vow in her mind.
~ I will be yours always, John'Shepard vas Normandy. I will try every day to deserve you. ~
~ Whatever may come, wherever you may go, my home will be by your side. ~
~ This is my promise, because I love you. ~