A/N: I try to make my works here more G rated, but just couldn't do it for this one. So warning: sexy times ahead.

"Shit," she uttered out under her breath again. One threat dealt with, only to have another one immediately after. If it wasn't going to be a quick death by fiery explosion, it was going to be a long drawn out one by freezing.

At least Garrus should be fine for a little while, but they needed to figure something out to make sure he didn't get hypothermia. Maybe she should have thrown his armour into a corner of the building. Then they might at least have a fire in here. Probably still not the best idea, even if it was too late already anyway.

"Hey, you okay?," she finally asked, wanting to make sure he was alright.

He just moved his gaze back to her from out the window.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, I guess so," he said as his mandibles clattered against his face, still in disbelief at how close he had just come to death.

"Let's get you back over to the crates. We'll get you wrapped up in that blanket. Maybe you'll start feeling better."

He just nodded his head as Shepard led him over there. She put the blanket over his shoulders, and sat him down on the crate. She was glad he had the forethought to get one of the waterproof ones, that was slick with melted snow on one side but nice and clean and soft on the other side.

She opened up his thermos for him, pouring some in the cup. "Here, drink this. It might help you warm up."

He graciously took it, and started sipping it slowly, still shivering under the blanket. He was suddenly thankful that he hadn't decided to spike them with alcohol, knowing that in the long run it would have made him freeze faster, even if it might have made him feel better temporarily.

"Did we bring that first aid kit? It should have one of those emergency blankets in there too."

"Yeah, it should be over by the entrance somewhere," he said.

Shepard ran to go look for it. Anything to provide more insulation for him couldn't hurt. She just hoped that he hadn't already lost too much body heat for it to help. She knew the temperatures were dangerously low in here already for not having environmentally controlled armour, and every second wasted was probably chipping away any chance that Garrus had to get out of this.

She managed to find the kit relatively quickly and ripped open the package that had the blanket in it on her way back over to him. She had taken the other blanket off momentarily to wrap this one around his body, and then put the waterproof one on over top again, already shaking uncontrollably.

Shit. It wasn't enough. She hadn't really expected it to be, but she had hoped it might at least help. It didn't seem to be doing much of anything though.

She paced back and forth for a second, as she used her earpiece to try to get in contact with Joker.

"Joker, come in."

::Whaddya need, Shepard?::

"There's been an accident. We need immediate extraction."

::Yeah, I'm afraid that won't be happening. The Blizzard's too strong right now, Steve won't be able to control the shuttle down there.::

"Shit," she huffed out as she continued pacing.

::Everyone okay?::

"For now. It's a long story, but Garrus's armour malfunctioned, and things just got a lot colder in here. I don't think he can wait very long."

::Ah, Shit. Okay, I'm going to have everyone on standby for extraction, but I don't think the storm is supposed to pass for another couple of hours.::

"Can't you come with the Normandy?"

::There's nowhere to land, Shep. Sure I could control it down there, but it would be pointless if I can't even get anywhere near you with the mountains everywhere.::

"Goddamnit," she said a little more angrily this time.

::I'm sorry, Shep. There's not much I can do.::

"No, it's not your fault. Just have everyone on standby and come as soon as you're able, do you hear me?"

::Yes ma'am. Over and out.::

She just stood there for a second, trying to think of anything, coming up with nothing. All she could do was be there for him, and try to keep him awake and talking.

She finally walked back over to the crates, and sat beside him, putting her arm around him. With her armour on, she wouldn't have been able to give off any of her own heat this way, but she figured at least it could be comforting to him.

For the first time, she was pissed that they didn't have the same body shape so they could just take turns regaining heat in her armour, but as things were right now, she didn't want to risk taking it off unless this became dire so she could be there to be conscious and help him should things get bad.

"So… you missing the Mako yet?," she finally asked, trying to keep things light.

He laughed at that, still shivering away. "For what? Just to have made it this far, only to go out in one of your joy rides? No thank you."

She laughed at that too. It was funny, but truth be told, it could have saved them a lot of trouble. She loved Steve and his shuttling skills, but the Mako could have made it out of there in this blizzard. Or at the very least, it would have had its own environmental controls to keep them comfortable if they had been locked in here under the same circumstances.

She wasn't going to dwell on the what-ifs right now though.

"Do you think the Alliance will allow us some shore leave after this?," she laughed out questioningly.

"I don't know, Shep. They're your military."

"Hasn't stopped you from being on their payroll for a while," she said with mirth.

"Heh. That doesn't mean that I understand them. But why?," he asked through clattering mandibles.

"I guess I've just suddenly realised that we deserve a vacation. I don't know why the hell I was so rushed to get back to work."

"Oh, I don't know... I was enjoying it right up until this mess," he said with sincerity. He was spreading his words out more though, starting to speak more slowly, but he was at least still following the conversation, and even joking a bit. That being said, Shepard could see where this was going, and she didn't like it.

"So where would you want to go?," she asked, trying to get him to be the one to keep talking.

"Mmm," he grumbled out, starting to slouch forward, as he shivered more. "I still like the sound of that beach," he struggled to get out through his clattering mandibles. "Maybe Virmire… That way, we could see… Ashley… again," he said before finally slumping against Shepard's shoulder.

Well that wasn't good. Clearly he was worse than she thought. His memory was becoming confused, or his reality was distorting. He was losing strength, and seemed to be on the verge of losing consciousness. This wasn't working.

"Garrus?!," she asked, as she shook him gently.

"Hmm?," he said as he tried to straighten himself out a bit more to look at her, but it was clearly getting hard for him to keep his eyes open.

Things had quickly become dire. It was pretty cold in here, and that breeze wasn't doing anything to help. She figured she hadn't noticed just how cold it was thanks to her own armour still keeping her safe, but it seemed to be enough for Garrus to be declining more rapidly than she had expected.

"Alright, Garrus. You need to try to stay awake for me, okay?," she basically yelled at him to startle him out of his stupor as she went to the pile of crates. She started to arrange them into a bit of a cubby to at least try to prevent any more wind chill from making things worse.

He had slouched over more, still shivering, but only barely. He was starting to lose motor functions. She quickly grabbed his arm to help him walk over to the little safe haven she had just created, keeping the blankets wrapped around him as best she could before helping him lie down on the ground.

He was at the point that he barely seemed to notice Shepard unzipping his under suit and helping him out of it. He kept opening his eyes slightly, but only because the movements from Shepard's actions were just inconveniencing him from his inevitable sleep.

This was bad. It was time to take the situation into her own hands. Help wasn't coming. Not for a while, and Garrus' organs were going to start failing if he continued to decline like this. She needed to start sharing her own body heat in order to prevent that. She had wanted to wait as long as possible before going down this route to make sure she didn't end up dooming them both to a state of unconsciousness before they could be rescued, but it was time to intervene. She figured if she started to get really bad, she at least still had the option to go back into her armour to regain some heat if she needed to, but Garrus was out of options.

She quickly stripped down to nothing and arranged the blankets to encapsulate them as much as possible before resting on top of him gently. He was definitely cold to the touch, even under the blankets, still shivering, but only barely.

"Garrus?"

He just let out a small groan.

"Is that any better? Come on, talk to me."

"Uh huh," he struggled out, with slitted eyelids, still finding it difficult to keep them open.

It wasn't enough. She needed to do something. She looked him in the eye, as she slowly trailed her hand down his torso. She grazed her fingers gently over his sheath, trying to coax some desire in him. These were extenuating circumstances, but a nice tease had never failed her before, and being active wouldn't hurt in the heat making department, not to mention keeping him conscious for a bit longer.

Not even a stir. She shouldn't have been surprised really. "Hey. Maybe now would be a good time to see what those human-turian babies might look like," she said as seductively as possible through her worry, trying to rouse something in him, not willing to give up that easily, as she continued to gently stroke her fingers along his sheath.

He let out something that almost sounded like a heartfelt laugh, and she swore she saw a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, but even still she could see the life draining in him as his colours dulled.

She relinquished her hand, because it was just starting to feel like she was trying to take advantage of him. It was a good attempt, but it wasn't working.

She just clung to him then, trying to situate herself in a way that would give him as much of her heat as she could while she tried to think of something else.

She could feel his shivers coming out even less violently than before, and she was pretty sure it wasn't because this was helping.

"Shepard," he whispered out, and she sat up slightly to look him in the eye. "I feel… like I need to say…"

"Garrus," she tried to interrupt, thinking she knew where he was going with this.

"No. I lov-"

"No! Don't you dare say that to me right now! You did not live through the reapers just to give up now, do you hear me," she basically yelled at him, as she sat up a bit more, straddling his lap. "You tell me that when we're out of here, and you're good as new."

He could feel the darkness beckoning. He wasn't going to listen to her. If this was his last chance, he was still going to say it, despite her sentiments.

"I lo…," he whispered out as he lost consciousness, not being able to finish his thoughts.

"Garrus?"

No response.

"Garrus?!," she said again, as she began to shake his entire body violently, trying to wake him.

Still nothing.

She took her right hand, and slapped him across the face as hard as possible then. It would probably leave a welt, and on the unblemished side of his face too. She would have thought it was worth it if it had worked, but it hadn't.

"God damnit, Garrus!," she huffed out, as she just lay on top of him again, wanting to make sure he lost as little heat as possible.

She nestled into him, feeling like she wanted to cry for the first time in as many years. She couldn't believe this was happening. The astronomical events that they had survived through only to end up here.

She definitely regretted not taking things slower now. She shouldn't have rushed back into work. They should have taken some time for themselves. It may not have prevented their circumstances, but she suddenly felt like she hadn't appreciated Garrus as much as she should have, just assuming that he would be around for whatever their future had to offer now that the war was over.

She rested her head in the crook of his neck, taking in his scent, looking longingly at the pulsing underneath his flesh. He was still alive, but for how much longer?

That was enough to give her an idea. She had already tried slapping him, but that was only one short burst of pain, and possibly not enough to bring him out of his stupor. Pain itself still had potential to bring him out of it. She almost hesitated, because she already felt bad enough for slapping him, and if this didn't work, she didn't know if she'd be able to forgive herself, knowing how much this was about to hurt.

But then she thought that she didn't really have much to lose in the matter. If he lived through this, she already knew that he would forgive her. That was enough to know this was worth a shot.

She quickly reached over to the satchel on her leg plating that she had thrown off in a hurry and grabbed her meds. She was going to bite him, and she didn't want to go into shock from an allergic reaction of accidentally ingesting his blood on top of everything else.

She popped the pills, and swallowed them quickly before steeling herself for what was about to happen. She situated herself back on top of him, holding him for comfort, not only for him should this work, and he wake up in searing pain, but also for her, not wanting to put him through this. It was better than doing nothing though.

She inhaled deeply as she eyed a spot that looked safely away from his main arteries right at the base of his neck and took the plunge, sinking her teeth deeply into his flesh. She felt him squirm. It was working. She bit down deeper until she heard a whimper. Deeper still, until she heard a gasp as Garrus was trying to sit up weakly with the shock of it all.

Shepard took some of her weight off of him, placing her hands on either side of his torso to steady herself, her breasts practically in his face. He just looked at her in awe, seemingly totally aware and conscious again, almost as though the cold was nothing anymore. There was a small trickle of blue blood coming from the corner of her mouth that he become fascinated with. The pulsating, searing pain on his shoulder could only mean one thing. She had marked him. Bonded them. He couldn't believe it.

Shepard felt the warm trickle coming down from her lips and wiped it away with the back of her hand. Instead of cleaning it off, it just spread itself all over her chin. The sight of what that meant brought out a hunger in him, even in his weakened state.

"Garrus?," she questioned, wanting to make sure that he was okay after all of that. She could barely believe the change. She hoped that the bite would have woken him up, but she never would have expected it to work to this degree.

Without answering, he wrapped his arms around her with more strength than she would have thought possible, bringing her back down to rest on top of him, before he rolled them both over, wanting to take charge of the situation.

He licked away the remnants of his blood on her chin, and tugged on her bottom lip with his own, sucking on it gently as much as he could with the awkward fit of their mouths to clean off what was still there, trying desperately to show his appreciation for what she had just done for them.

Shepard suddenly felt his hardness pressed low against her pelvis, and she looked at him questioningly as he finally pulled himself out of the kiss to look at her, filled with adoration.

"Gees, if I knew you would have liked that this much, I might not have waited so long," she said jokingly, mostly for the sheer reaction that it had elicited.

"Really?," he gasped out, excited to learn just how much she cared about him.

She just looked at him seriously, caressing the right side of his face, not wanting to irritate the other side that had already started to swell slightly. "I'd do anything for you, Garrus. If it was really that important to you, of course I would."

He didn't even care to talk anymore, suddenly overflowing with the need to show her how much he loved her in this moment. He recaptured her lips the way that she liked, finally appreciating the gesture in his own right, and not only for hers.

He started grinding against her pelvis, his need becoming overwhelming as instinct started to take over. He was grateful that Shepard seemed to reciprocate his feelings as she helped guide him inside of her, never relinquishing their hungry touching of mouths, and caressing of tongues, except for the moment he slid home, and she gently flung her head back as she let out a pleasurable moan to the satisfying stretch.

She was happy to suddenly be partaking in this experience for pleasure rather than just helping Garrus sustain some body heat.

And speaking of, he almost felt hot to the touch. The difference was night and day, as she caressed her hands over his back. She was scared that he was on his deathbed barely a few minutes prior, but now he was so invigorated and full of life, spurring her on with his thrusts, still safely under their blankets.

Each movement he made, found new and pleasurable depths, eliciting hitched breaths and a delightful tingling sensation over her flesh. He joined his forehead to hers, hoping that it gave Shepard the same loving connection as it had for him. He closed any other gaps between them, resting his forearms on the ground beneath her back as he held her body more tightly to his own, wanting to lose himself in her in every way, and to completely feel as though they were one.

Their slight change in position had left little to be desired, his need fueling her own, but their new proximity and a subtle tilt of her pelvis had met her with perfection. the ridges of his sheath and the base of his manhood rubbing against her clitoris, pushing her towards absolute pleasure.

She let out another moan with the new sensation, and Garrus quickly swallowed it into nothing more than a whimper through their rejoining of lips.

His thrusts had become more needy as he could feel the overwhelming sensation of his nearing climax. Shepard's panting, and the tightening of his arousal with hers was making her own impending orgasm well known, and it was making it harder for him to hold back.

But he wasn't done yet. Garrus wanted to reciprocate her gesture from earlier. The one that woke him up, and showed him that she would always be there for him in his time of need. He kissed and nibbled down her neck, trying to find the perfect spot.

"Oh, Garrus," she forced out before letting out a moan of pleasure as she started fluttering around his length.

He had wanted to find the spot before she found her release, but figured he'd better hurry before she brought him over the edge with her.

"Shepard, I'm going to-," he started, before she cut him off.

"It's okay, Garrus," she said, trying to reassure him that she had taken her meds. She assumed that he was going to say that he was about to finish, thinking that he would be worried about her going into anaphylactic shock if he didn't pull out.

It was too late anyway. Shepard could feel him pulsating inside of her, as he let out a silent grunt of what she thought was pleasure, when in reality it was at his own discontent for not being able to fulfill his side of their union.

She just grabbed his head gently, and brought his forehead to her own, knowing how much he loved that, helping him ease out of his climax, also being able to appreciate the intimacy that the gesture held in this moment. Garrus just assumed it was to comfort him for his failure to reciprocate her bonding.

::Shepard? Shepard can you hear me?::

She immediately held her hand up to her ear, trying to calm her breathing slightly to at least hopefully make sure that it wasn't obvious what she had been doing mere seconds ago.

"Joker, is that you?"

::Yeah. Man is it good to hear your voice. We've been trying to hail you for the last half hour. Steve's on his way down to you. He should be getting close. Kaidan and Liara are with him.::

"Oh thank god. We'll be ready, Joker. Tell him to park around the side of the loading bay with the windows. The power's out, and the doors are all locked."

::Will do. Glad you're okay.::

"Thanks, Joker. See you soon."

::Sure thing. Over and out, Commander.::

Garrus had been calming down throughout their conversation, still inside of her, looking dejected. Or maybe he was beginning to feel the chill again, now that Shepard's sweat was adorning the front half of his body.

Shepard definitely took that to be the latter.

"Okay, big guy. We should probably get you dressed quickly and wrapped up again before we head out there. You going to be okay?"

"Yeah," he mumbled out, finally relinquishing himself from her hold. He slowly went to dress himself, fumbling with the clips and zippers, as the coldness had begun to ravage his body again.

She had put her own under suit on with ease, barely having lost any of her own heat thus far, and quickly went to help him with the rest of his own suit as soon as she was done.

Just as she was finished wrapping him up in the blankets again, she saw the shuttle landing outside of the window.

She rushed over to it, and helped Garrus climb out, shivering more easily now that he was directly exposed to the elements.

Liara and Kaidan came running over, checking to make sure that everything was okay. Shepard directed them to grab whatever remnants of armour and supplies there were still lying around inside the building, as she took Garrus over to the shuttle to get him warmed up again.

She helped Garrus sit down on one of the longer benches, before joining him and offering her lap as a pillow. She draped an arm over him as he lied down, trying to provide as much comfort as possible as he warmed up. His shivering began to slow, and it was a comfort this time unlike the last when it just felt like the life was draining from him.

Liara and Kaidan made it back to the shuttle as quickly as possible, wanting to get out of here before the storms picked up again, also knowing that Garrus would probably need medical treatment. They got themselves settled as the shuttle took off.

Kaidan was sitting right across from them, and he was looking at the pair, simply trying to make sure everyone was okay. He noticed something off about Shepard though.

"Hey, uh, Shep. You've got something, right about here," he said, pointing to his own chin, trying to show that there was some of Garrus' blood still left on it.

"Oh. Thanks," she said as she licked her thumb, and rubbed the general area that Kaidan had been indicating towards.

Shepard felt a grumbling reverberating from Garrus' chest, and she almost wondered if he had fallen asleep, but as she looked down at him, his eyes were locked on Kaidan's.

"Hey, you okay," she asked, gently as she rubbed his arm.

"Hmm?," he questioned, his brain needing to catch up with what she had just asked since he had been so focused on Kaidan. "Oh yeah. I think I'll be okay," he said as the words finally made sense, and he grabbed her leg that his head was resting on a little more possessively than before.

Kaidan gave Shepard a questioning look, wondering what that was about. She just shrugged at him, hardly knowing herself, as she continued to rub Garrus' arm for comfort and added warmth. He was bound to still be out of it after all.