Goodnight, Tali
Part 3

Tali's mind was a mess.

She knew she still hadn't mentioned her true reason for intruding on him yet. She knew John wasn't angry at her. She knew that she'd hit the wrong buttons when he'd walked in on her, that it had been turned on by accident. She knew that the same could be said of her, if her growing knowledge of human idioms wasn't failing. She even knew that John had somehow managed to not notice the true reason behind her clipped and barely-coherent answers.

If she was thinking straight, she'd have been relieved that he hadn't suspected her of using it. It, however, had kept any of those discrete bits of knowledge from developing into anything beyond a meager proto-thought.

As he embraced her, a thousand simulated sensations raced across her shoulder, the mere suit pressure from his hand amplified a hundredfold into an uncountable amount of loving caresses. Despite having her teeth sunk deep into her bottom lip, she was unable to stop herself from moaning.

"Uuuuuhchonn..."

The rational part of her wanted to be embarrassed, to push away and quietly excuse herself so she could turn it off. Or failing that, at least reach a more private part of his room for a few minutes.

Keelah!

If not longer.

She drew him closer, and the sensations spread over her like a blazing fire. Her neck, her side, her hips, her breasts... It was intoxicating, her mind diving ever deeper into a haze.

"N-neeed you here, r-rightherenow."

The word "rational" wasn't part of her vocabulary at the moment.

Something cut through the fog for a brief moment, slashing a portion of it away like a dagger through a shower curtain. She knew she should have been worried by his chuckles, but that line of thought stalled almost before it even started.

"It's alright, Tali. I'll keep the nightmares away."

She had no clue what a nightmare was. It was an abstract concept, something that may or may not have truly existed. Bad dreams were unfathomable, incomprehensible. Wet dreams, on the other hand...

Dream...? This isn't a dream...

Tali fought her way through the fog, pushing him back to arm's length. Should... turn it off... before I... Need... excuse... Kasumi!

"H-Havt'call Kasumi," she breathed, her tongue tripping over the words between breaths. "Had... plans. Cancel." She reached for her omni-tool, but John pulled her hand away before she could turn it off.

Damn it.

"I'm sure she'll understand," he said softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. He gently dragged her down to the bed, torturing her with his numerous fingers as he tucked her in. She twitched as the program amplified his simple touches into a maelstrom of ecstasy.

Daaaaaammmmmmmmit...

"For now, let's get some shut-eye. I know you're exhausted."

If by that, he meant "drift off into a blissful state where she was completely unconscious of the world around her as her brain supplanted reality with fantastic images and sensations", then that's exactly what she did.

Getting to sleep had been easy enough. Almost too easy with the quarian clinging to his side. Even so, he found himself being dragged back into consciousness in the middle of the night. Were it any other, he would have considered grabbing the sleeping pills in a drawer off to his left, or maybe a bottle from his shelf.

Then he heard her hum softly, the feel of her suit against his body as she steadily breathed in and out. All thoughts of rising vanished, and he grinned as he noticed the arm draped across his torso, his own eyes still closed.

John couldn't believe his luck. A month ago, she was afraid of being in the same room. But now... She's actually here. With me.

She hummed again, the sound ending with a soft purr as the quarian clenched tighter around him for a moment. He lifted an eyelid, just enough to see that her visor was completely dark.

She's adorable when she sleeps. I wonder what she's dreaming about.

Tali hummed once more, her grip on the human constricting for a fraction of a second between her breaths. He placed his right arm over her left, the one that had encircled his torso. He absently began to stroke the limb, near her elbow.

I don't have the heart to tell her about the humming. It sure beats snoring though, that's for sure. Angels don't snore.

"Mm-Kh...lah..." she murmured. He snuggled closer to her as she nudged him once more, tilting his head toward the helmet on his left shoulder as he wrapped the other arm around her back.

She looks so gentle.

"Mmm..." She bumped her helmet against him as she pulled herself closer.

So serene...

"Ohh..."

So carefree...

"More..."

So innocent...

"Harder..."

So- Wait, what?