A/N: Hey, everybody! Just felt the need to put a bit of a warning her, this chapter is going to be a bit ... racy compared to the rest of the story. If that's not what you're into, just read up to the (second after the Author's Note one) line cut. If that's what you're into, please continue beyond it! I confess this is the first "love scene" type scenario I've ever written, so I hope it was appropriate and at least a little tasteful. As always, thank you so much for your patience with me while I write this fic, and thank you for continuing to read Aftermath!

"We're probably breaking protocol a thousand times over," Traynor giggled, catching Shepard's arm as she stumbled forward.

"They can't have a lounge on a military ship and be surprised their soldiers drink," Kaidan argued, gesturing with enthusiasm. "Especially when they keep it restocked."

"With turian alcohol on top of it," Garrus chuckled as he nuzzled his mandibles into the top of Shepard's hoodie.

"I suppose you have a point," Traynor said with a wide smile. "Night-cap, anyone?"

"Maybe we can convince Joker to come down for one," Adams suggested, to which the group enthusiastically agreed.

The streets seemed muted besides the sound of their footsteps and chatter. Garrus had noticed Shepard's quietness as they walked, but he didn't push the issue. She gave his arm a quick squeeze when he gave her his "Wanna talk about it?" look, meaning she would talk to him later. For now, they walked with majority of the Normandy's crew back to the docking station. Shepard had politely declined when Liara offered for her to stay the night in her bedroom at the house. Kaidan was the one to suggest having her go back to the Normandy with the rest. After some rather loud encouragement, Shepard agreed to spend the night in her old cabin, but with one rule.

Garrus was to come stay with her. And what kind of man would he be if he refused?

Shepard laughed as Traynor pulled on her arm, joking about something or other. To a third party, it was probably obvious the group had been drinking, but it was also probably obvious that these people didn't really care who knew they were half-drunk. Garrus drank his fair share, of course, so he enjoyed the calming effect the alcohol had on him. Right now, seeing Shepard socializing, walking with her friends with a smile (even if it was slightly forced) … it made him calmer than anything else had in months.

As reliable as always, the Normandy came into views as they turned past a building in the docking station. Its windows reflected their profiles under the pale streetlights that guided their path. Garrus could only assume that there was an Alliance officer somewhere beyond them, holding a quiet post for anyone that may be traveling to or from the station. Shepard's quick inhale made him focus his attention to his right.

Even under the darkness of her hoodie, he could see her eyes perfectly clearly. They were focused intently on the Normandy, her ship. For a moment, the turian was confused by the nervous, semi-shocked look on his girlfriend's face … then he remembered. This was the first time the commander had returned to the Normandy since she was on the Citadel. It felt like a different millennium, a different life. Her eyes followed the curves of the ship, stopping to read the white letters declaring her name.

He took her left hand in his, squeezing it. Unfortunately, it took a moment for her to register that he was touching her hand (there was still a delay in her nerve reactions, Miranda guessed). Shepard snapped her head in his direction, her eyes wide fierce. Garrus recognized it as her fight-or-flight response, which she explained to him a few times before. Naturally, Shepard was all-fight, as she had been since he knew her. There's my girl. Her eyes softened up when she realized it was his hand.

"Not what you were expecting?" he offered jokingly.

"I admit I'm kind of surprised," she said. "It's like I never left her. I thought, with the crash landing and all …"

"Joker's been working with the crews here to put to fix the damage," Kaidan explained. "The Normandy's his baby, after all."

"Needs just a few more parts, and it's like nothing happened," Traynor sighed. "Joker is definitely dedicated."

"I … think he needed something to focus his attention on. We asked him to come over to the cook-put with us, Liara even came up to ask him, but—"

"It's okay," Shepard cut in a little too forcefully. Garrus noticed the pitch change in her voice: tense, slightly rushed … She was trying to avoid Kaidan's topic of conversation. "I completely understand his reasons."

The group took that as a sign to continue their conversations among themselves. Shepard's hand twitched in Garrus's grasp, but he was fairly certain it wasn't from the prosthetic.

"So, Commander Shepard, now that you are officially home," Garrus announced with a flourish as the two of them stepped into her cabin, "what would you like to do?"

"Honest answer?" she wondered, walking up to admire her surprisingly healthy, perfectly undead fish.

"I wouldn't expect anything else."

"I would like, no, I would love—" She paused to turn and grin at him, "to take a shower."

Garrus couldn't help laughing as he walked up to her, running a gloved finger up her arm. "A shower, huh? Honestly, not what I was expecting …"

"Well, last I checked, I didn't say I wanted to take one alone."

The woman went up to her tip-toes to meet his lips. Without pause, the turian ran his hands down to her hips, holding her waist firmly against him. Citrus came to his mind again as he tasted her tongue with his. Kissing Shepard was by far the strangest, but thrilling, thing he had ever done. Her lips were so soft against his mouth plates, her tongue danced around his in powerful and dangerously erotic twists. Running patterns, her fingers moved gracefully over the cloth that covered his neck, dragging her nails with the slightest pressure under his horns on the back of his head, teasing his exposed skin. A deep growl came from the turian as he stepped to put his legs on either side of Shepard's own, all but pinning her against the aquarium behind her.

A small breath of a laugh escaped the woman. Of course, Shepard couldn't let him completely run the show. Somehow, her legs came up from between his own, wrapping themselves around his middle, above his hips. Heat radiated from the woman as her legs tightened around him and his hands squeezed into her hips, his still gloved talons pressing into her soft flesh. Another growl escaped him as she stretched up to nip at his mandibles.

He couldn't stop his hands from wandering from her hips. Reassured that her legs held her in place, the turian pushed up the hem of her sweatshirt, exposing her skin. Goosebumps erupted across her entire body as he ran his fingers along her stomach, enjoying her sharp inhale of breath. She moaned against his mouth plates as he continued reaching under the sweatshirt, his talon now tracing just under her breast.

Garrus remembered in slight frustration how much he hated her bras. He also recalled how hard she had struck him after one particularly passionate night, where he lost patience to safely remove the garment from her. Instead of waiting for her to free the clasps or put his research to use by doing it himself, he used his talons to tear through the fabric in the front, ripping it in half. Shepard exclaimed that they were expensive and finding one that fit properly was extremely time-consuming. Personally, Garrus thought it was more time-consuming to just get the damn thing out of his way so he could touch all of her. As his sheath tightened between his legs, feeling his own temperature rise as his blood pulsed through him, he had a feeling he was heading toward destroying another piece of his girlfriend's clothing in a more than rapid pace.

But Shepard seemed lost in the moment, her eyes closed with her head leaned back against the glass. Her back arched into his touch as his fingers went under her bra, tracing just around her most sensitive areas. She coiled against him as if possessed, her pelvis squeezed against his frame and rocked instinctually as he ran the pad of his thumb slowly over her nipple.

Spirits help him if he didn't love Shepard this way, driven just as crazy as he felt.

His growl intensified as her hand came between her pelvis and his. Cool fingers ran over his sheath through his pants. The woman's breathlessness didn't stop the smile from her face as she felt him become fully exposed under the fabric in seconds. Her fingers wrapped around him, running along his length.

"Something tells me we're not making it to the shower," she gasped as he leaned his head forward to reach her neck. Her pelvis rocked again as his tongue ran along her skin, his mandibles flexing as he inhaled her scent again.

"Not a chance in hell," the turian answered, his deep sub-harmonics sending a wave of shivers through her.

His hands stopped their torturous exploring of her stomach and breasts, returning to wrap around her hips. Offering his mouth plates to her, the two kissed once more as Garrus pulled her back from the support of the aquarium wall. Shepard made a note to compliment her turian's concentration later as he didn't miss a single step, not even stumbling on the few stairs leading down to her bed. Garrus's body dropped on top of her as she was consumed by the familiar comfort of her sheets.

She was gasping again as he pulled away her jeans and panties in one swift pull. His hard kisses down her body practically made her convulse in response. The heat was too much. She was worried she wouldn't be able to take much more … until the cool sensation of his bare talon came across the skin of her inner thigh. Her love's breath was ragged, coming out in strong puffs against her stomach. Garrus's talons ran slowly up her inner thigh, making her breath quicken and her pelvis jerk once more, as the heat inside of her all but exploded as his talon and tongue touched her, alternating between quick and concise to slow and teasing, purposefully missing their mark, making her back arch and her body ache.

Finally, he allowed her to fall over the edge, holding her middle firmly in place as she screamed and bucked against him. Once the washing heat subsided, Shepard reached down to touch his mandibles.

Garrus turned his head up in her direction. For a moment, their feverish actions cooled. Shepard's eyes searched his blue ones in that moment, the smallest hint of a smile playing on her lips. The flush of her skin, the glisten of her beads of sweat, the fresh seawater scent filling his nostrils, calming the frantic haze around him … all of it reminded Garrus that she was here. This wasn't a fevered dream where he woke up in the main battery, pressing his hand to his forehead and scolding himself for thinking that way about his commander. Or a daydream brought on by the belief that she was really gone, that his mate would never look at him that way again. No, this was real.

And, as long as she allowed it, she would always be his.

Shepard's fingers traced his mandibles once more as he came up to kiss her. They didn't need the words. Both of them already knew.