Thanks for the reviews, reviewers! It's wonderful to know that people are reading my story and enjoying it. I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint.
The crew that Shepard had collected thus far was a rather eclectic mix of species, especially considering the organization providing the funding for this mission: Cerberus. Known throughout the galaxy as a human-centric organization, Cerberus had been associated with a variety of unsavory, unethical, and downright terrorist-like activities.
Thane had seen firsthand some of the atrocities committed by Cerberus in the past in the name of furthering the cause of humanity. They had infected their own people with a parasite found on the human homeworld. In nature it infected ants, causing them to climb to the tops of blades of grass in order to be eaten by large mammals, in whose stomachs the parasite could mature. Cerberus had genetically engineered the parasite in an attempt to control the minds of their subjects. What they ended up with instead were gibbering idiots, incapable of performing anything but the simplest of tasks. Thane had discovered them during a mission to assassinate a scientist performing experiments on missing Hanar. They were being used as slave labor, and most had been executed by Cerberus guards before Thane had been able to save them; more deaths on his conscience. The three who had survived had been dropped off at a hospital. The last that he had heard, they were not showing any signs of recovery. He had of course been concerned when he discovered who this mission was being funded by, but conversation with the other members of Shepard's team allayed his fears. This was Shepard's mission, not Cerberus's, and she didn't like their methods any more than he did.
Shepard was a fierce young woman, as he had gathered upon first encountering her. Anyone who stood in her way had to be crazy or suicidal, but she had a softer side as well. Not long after joining Shepard, Thane had been selected for a mission to help Miranda, the Cerberus operative and XO, keep her sister out of the hands of her megalomaniacal father. Shepard had stopped Miranda from firing on her friend, who had betrayed her, and had comforted her afterwards when the young man, Niket, had ended up dead regardless. Then, in a move that had Thane rather confused initially, she had stopped just before leaving the cargo port they had been fighting through, and picked up a small necklace that had been left on a crate by the door.
Thane hadn't understood it at first. It wasn't a particularly valuable piece of jewelry, and Shepard had never worn any adornments that he could see, so he could see no reason for taking that small, insignificant piece of metal from its resting place. Her reason quickly became obvious when they had been passing through to where the Normandy was docked. Shepard had stopped by a distraught Asari woman, and handed her the necklace. It contained a photo of the human man the Asari had been mated to before his death, and was the woman's only memento of her husband to give to her daughter. This touched Thane. Shepard was a warrior, yes, but she was good, and not only in the sense of being good at what she did. She was a good person, and the more Thane watched her, the more he could see that.
Over his time aboard the Normandy, and on missions with Shepard, he watched as she saved a brainwashed Krogan scout by giving him the motivation to not give in, convinced an angry Asari to release a group of human colonists from a contract forcing them to undergo medical testing, and proven a young Quarian woman innocent after she had been accused of pickpocketing an angry Volus. Throughout all of this, Shepard had kept her cool, acting with tact and diplomacy, only letting her ferocious side through for a moment when, after proving the Quarian innocent, the Volus had said she "could have" stolen it, and the Citadel Security officer who had been questioning the pair threatened to run the Quarian in for vagrancy. Shepard had been fierce in her denouncement of the two men, calling them out for their racism and classism, a judgement that Thane silently agreed with. She had been like an avenging angel, swooping down in defense of the defenseless, and Thane began to find himself fascinated by her, watching her not just when they were on missions together, but when she went about her business on the Normandy.
In the Mess, she joked and bantered with the crew members, slipping easily into the social aspects of ship life that Thane, a much more solitary, pensive creature, had never quite mastered. She was such a strong person that a less observant individual might have missed it, but there was a vulnerable side to Shepard as well, and Thane felt himself becoming more and more drawn to this woman. She reminded him of something that he'd had, and lost, and she had awoken him. When they first met, he had been asleep, moving through life without feeling or caring, waiting for his death. Now, he felt truly alive again. Speaking to her about his past had been difficult.
During one of their conversations, Thane had asked for Shepard's help with a personal matter. He had explained about his wife, Irikah, his son, Kolyat, his failure to protect them, and how that had resulted in Irikah's death. Shepard had been kind, and helped him to prevent his son from traveling down the same path that his father had taken, even using her rapport with Citadel security to prevent Kolyat from being sent to prison for his attempt at assassination.
The last time they had spoken, Thane had called her a friend, and she had replied that friendship "was a start". He had felt his heart flutter at those words, and had called her by the name he had been thinking of her by for the past month, "Siha". Her reaction had been one of curiosity and puzzlement, and Thane found himself replaying the bewildered look on her face more than once, finding it very endearing. She was perfect, and he intended to tell her how he felt.
The opportunity came sooner than Thane had expected. She came to speak with him in his usual haunt down in Life Support, and told him she had been thinking about him. A smile came unbidden to his face as he confessed that he had been thinking of her as well, and began to explain to her what Siha meant. As he told her of his resignation to death during the Dantius mission, a small frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. Then he explained what had changed,
"But someone else was pushing to reach the target, forcing me to move faster, challenging me. I had to reach her first." He could see the faintest hint of surprise and disbelief cross Shepard's face.
"You're alive because I wounded your pride?" He chuckled to himself, inwardly, at her unimpressed tone and explained that pride is the difference between a professional and a thug, and then explained what Siha meant.
"One of the warrior angels of the goddess Arashu, fierce in wrath, a tenacious protector." He decided that it was now or never. He had to tell her how he felt, if only to face the rejection. "I confess," he began, "I've… come to care for you. Perhaps I'm being foolish, we are very different…" He trailed off, and sat for what felt like the longest second of his life, before she spoke,
"I'm not sure we know each other well enough to call it love," his heartbeat picked up. This did not sound like rejection, and she reached her hands across the table to hold his. She continued, "But I feel something for you too. Something more than friendship." He was paralysed by a strange mix of emotion; happiness at her shared affection, apprehension about drawing another woman into the life he led, fear for what the future would bring. Her hands were so soft against his own, an interested contrast against his scales. He realised that he had no idea how to proceed, having never been involved anyone who was not Drell. He voiced his concern,
"I've never felt affection for another species. I-I'm not sure what to do now." His voice waivered and he cringed, mentally, at this show of weakness. Shepard was not the woman he was falling in love with without reason, however, and she simply smiled at his hesitation, and replied,
"We'll just have to figure it out." A smile broke on his face, genuine and slightly shy, and he said,
"I look forward to the memories." An answering smile stretched across the commander's features, and Thane tucked the memory away for the future, knowing that he would be able to watch that slow, feminine grin over and over again. While perfect memory could have its drawbacks, making it difficult to get over a lost loved one or past wrong, it was times like this that he was glad to be able to recall in perfect clarity, because they were often over all too soon.
As if reading his mind, Shepard withdrew her hands from his,
"I should go," she said, "I haven't slept in about eighteen hours. The Collectors won't need to shoot me. I'll fall asleep on some pirate freighter and they'll just chuck me out an airlock." Thane chuckled, knowing that would never happen, and nodded to her,
"Pleasant dreams, Siha," he said.
"You too," she replied, and left the way she had come. He smiled to himself again – he was doing a lot more of that recently – and leaned back against his hands laced behind his head,
"Of that, I have no doubt," he said, to no one in particular.