Shepard had been making her daily rounds around the ship. However, today, her visit to Mordin was a highly anticipated one. Her stomach turned in both anticipation and dread. She wasn't certain what to expect from his results and it left her nervous. When her next to last visit brought her to the Starboard Observatory, Saren was nowhere to be found. In a way his absence left her feeling somewhat disappointed. Lately it seemed that she had been uncovering a Saren she'd never known existed. Knowing there was something beneath that cold and calculating plated exterior left her wanting to discover more. She was strangely beginning to enjoy his company.

Quickly making her way back to the CIC, she headed straight for Mordin's research lab, her eagerness at what he had uncovered growing with each step. When she arrived, to her surprise, she not only found the salarian, but Saren as well.

"Ah, Shepard. Glad you are here. Have much to discuss!" Mordin said cheerfully.

"Did you find out more about the neuro-core?" Shepard asked him, shooting Saren a questioning glare, which he casually ignored.

"Yes!" Mordin confirmed enthusiastically. He motioned for her to follow him to a clear containment unit.

Peering inside she could make out a tiny chip. "Is that the core?"

"Yes. Just a few more tests and it will be ready for use," he informed her.

"So… How do we use it?"

"Core originally designed for synthetic use only. Created to quickly integrate new Reaper species into the network by implanting into central processing unit. Rentin altered it in several ways. Most notably, to be compatible with organic neurological systems."

"So it can be grafted to the nerves in organic bodies?"

"Precisely! But, more specifically, to the organic brain."

"So we implant it… Then what? We can control the Reapers with our thoughts?"

Mordin shook his head. "Organic brains not advanced enough to communicate with Reapers by simply using core."

"We need to get inside a Reaper and connect to its central processing unit," Saren put in, moving to stand with them. "The one with the implanted core must connect directly to the Reaper and override its processes. From there, they can send out new directives to the others in the network."

Shepard sighed. "Even getting close to a Reaper will be dangerous, let alone navigating inside one."

"That's why I'll be doing it," Saren stated.

She turned to stare at him, mouth agape. "What?"

"Who better than me? I'm the only one who has been inside a Reaper—"

"Not true," she quickly interrupted. "How else do you think we got a Reaper FTL?"

"This one will be alive, Shepard. And due to already being exposed to indoctrination, I'll have less of a chance of succumbing to it again."

"No use in arguing about it now," Mordin interrupted. "Core requires more tests before implant takes place."

"Fine," Saren snarled. "Just know that I'll be ready when the time comes." And with that, the turian stormed from the lab.

Shepard sighed and shook her head. She wasn't sure why he would be so insistent about taking this on. Was he that adamant about proving himself? Did he feel that he owed this to the galaxy due to his past actions?

"Shepard," Mordin said, interrupting her thoughts. "Would like to discuss another matter.… If you have the time"

She studied the salarian's expression, which of course revealed nothing. "Is it about Saren?"

"Actually, yes. Noticed tension between you. Several reasons evident."

Shepard raised a brow curiously. "Was it really that obvious?"

Mordin took a few moments to poke at his omni-tool before appearing satisfied. "There. I have forwarded you reference material that should be useful."

"Uh… Thanks?"

"Anytime Shepard. Can also provide creams and ointments for possible chaffing."

"Wait—what?" she stammered. "Mordin, what the hell are you talking about?"

He stared back at her, somewhat perplexed. "Sexual tension common among both turians and humans—"

"Um… No. I think you're mistaken," she interjected.

"Not mistaken. Have research to support," he stated, making his way to a nearby cabinet where he promptly began sorting through medical supplies.

"I mean about Saren and I. There's no way—" She jumped back when he approached her holding a bag. "What is that?" she demanded.

"Best to be prepared."

"I'm not taking that!" she objected.

He stared at her with large black eyes and a coaxing little smile on his face, relentlessly presenting the bag of goods.

Groaning in frustration, she snatched the bag from his hand. "Fine. At least I'll have something next time my armor makes me chafe," she grumbled. "And you'd better not tell anyone else about this!"

"Shepard! I'm offended. Patient confidentiality is a top priority!"

"Uh huh…"

"Now if you'll excuse me, there is much work to be done," he said dismissively, turning his attention to his reading.

Shepard was more than happy to escape to her quarters. However, the entire way back, she could think of nothing but the ridiculousness of Mordin's assumptions of her and Saren. Her and Saren. The idea was almost laughable. It's not that she was a xenophobe; she of course had many friends of all different species. She'd just never given much thought to cross-species relationships. At least, not for more than a few seconds… maybe minutes. They were actually quite common on the Citadel, but, for she to be involved in one? She always did admire the appearance of turians. Their physique presented them with a natural form of combat readiness. Plating and claws defined a strength that humans just didn't have. However, this turian was Saren; one of the biggest offenders of speciesism. Leave it to Mordin to come up with such a crazy idea…

She habitually flipped on the screen of her personal terminal and navigated to her mail. There was a message from Kirrahe, thanking her for her help in liberating the Sur'kesh facility from the Cerberus threat. He also ensured her that the salarian diplomats had agreed to pledge their fleets to the war. That was most certainly a relief.

Her eyes trailed down to see another message. This one was from Mordin, titled "Reference Material". For several minutes she sat there, just staring at the unread message. However, always being the curious one, she gave in and clicked it. She quickly skimmed through the text. It went on about possible chaffing of human skin due to the roughness of turian plating, and the use of creams to prevent said chaffing. There was also a section dedicated to oral sex:

Because it is not commonly practiced in turian culture – due to the construction of the turian mouth – many are prone to exploring oral sex while in a cross-species relationship. However, a human-turian couple must take the proper precautions before practicing this form of intimacy. To the party performing the oral sex: it is important to take the recommended dose of allergen medication (as prescribed by your doctor) as ingesting bodily fluids of the other party can cause mild to severe allergic reactions.

For a brief moment her mind wandered, contemplating how that could be accomplished with turian physiology. While turians didn't have actual lips, they did have long tongues... She remembered the feeling of Saren's, rough and wet against her skin. The memory caused her cheeks to flush and she quickly willed it away. After she finished skimming through the rest of the text she decided to move on to the attachments.

Saren glared down at the portable terminal. He couldn't believe he was looking at this. More-so he couldn't believe that the salarian thought there was something going on between he and Shepard. She was a human. Not to mention their past was rather… conflicted. And the fact that he was sitting here, looking through the various images of positions that had been included in the reference materials Mordin had forwarded him? Well, he would just chalk that up to curiosity.

He was surprised to find that there were a rather vast number of sexual positions that could be performed by such a pairing. Turian females were flexible… but not that flexible. Additional attachments to the message included various vids. These, however, he was a bit conflicted about opening…

It was purely curiosity that caused her to click that vid. It conveniently featured a male turian and a human female. She briefly wondered to herself if Mordin had all these materials archived for every possible species pairing. If so, what other pairings existed out there? She shuddered at the thought that there may be elcor, volus, or even hanar porn out there somewhere. When the turian's clothes came off, revealing his rather sizeable equipment, her interest was suddenly peaked. His organ was a purple-blue hue perceptibly due to the turian's light brown skin color and the blue of his blood. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when she realized she couldn't stop staring.

Soon enough the woman and turian were going at it. From that point on her attention became fixated on the couple's movements. Their lovemaking was so feral yet passionate. It was like a fight for dominance with each stroke and every thrust. His claws dug into yielding flesh as their desire soared to new heights. Shepard's breath quickened and her typically cool room grew warmer when the turian proceeded to flip the woman onto her hands and knees, entering her again. He had seemingly given into his feral tendencies when his teeth sank into her shoulder, holding her in place while he had his way. Guttural growls nearly drowned out feminine moans of pleasure as—

"Commander." The male voice that echoed through her room broke her trance, causing her to jump in her seat.

"What is it, Joker?" She found it difficult to leash the breathless irritation that accompanied her reply.

"We'll be arriving at Thessia within a couple of hours, in case you'd like some time to ready the ground team."

Quickly snapping into Commander mode, she turned away from her terminal to give him her full attention. "Thanks for the heads-up, Joker. Any word on the state of Thessia?"

"They seem to be in the clear for now."

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way." According to the reports, the Reapers hadn't hit any other homeworlds aside from the batarians and humans. Some colonies belonging to various types of galactic races had been hit so far, but thankfully these had been relatively small. It was a mess, but not the worst case, yet.

Releasing a sigh, she returned her attention to her terminal. With the mood killed and the vid over, she just stared thoughtfully at the darkened screen. She had certainly been taken in by the content of the vid. It had her blood pumping in a way she hadn't felt since before Akuze. It was then that she was first shocked into her own mortality and that of those around her. When she'd lost him that day, she decided it'd be best that she swear off any serious relationships.

She shook her head and frowned. Put it behind you, Shepard. You've got shit to do, she scolded herself.

Saren closed the vid long before it ended. Much to his aggravation, he had been seeing her face the whole time it had played. It had taken him a while to catch his breath, the thoughts still fresh in his mind. His plates had been fully shifted long ago and it was damn painful against his restrictive clothing. His reaction to what he had just witnessed was embarrassing, to say the least. Just as it was that day he had fought with her. Even then, he had wanted it to be more. Wanted her to submit to him, not only as a combatant, but as a sexually desirable female.

Tossing the compact terminal on the couch, he peered vacantly out the large window. He could be fairly certain that the salarian had sent the attachments to Shepard as well. A grin flashed on his face as he wondered if she, too, let curiosity get the better of her.