A/N: Surprise fluff and smut chapter! :) ENJOY!

Sea of Love - Cat Power

Shepard felt like a fool as she stood in the empty main battery.

The way she had acted on Menae was a perfect example of her excitement overtaking her logic. She had thrown herself onto Garrus like a cat in heat, having no idea if he met someone else on Palaven or if he even still had feelings for her.

Finding his usual haunt empty reaffirmed her foolishness.

She sighed, turning to leave while reminding herself that taking down the Reapers came first with her romantic feelings a distant second. Regardless of Garrus's feelings for her, she respected his abilities in combat and his value as a team member and she knew she needed him on the Normandy.

The Alliance clearly put faster elevators low on their priority list during the retrofits, and she let out a groan of exasperation as it crawled to her quarters. She closed her eyes and hit the back of her head repeatedly against the wall, desperate for the quiet respite of a hot shower and a series of mind-numbing reports.

She dragged her feet as she stepped out of the elevator, removing her gloves and starting to unclasp her armour before opening the door to her quarters.

Her heart stopped at the image before her.

Flowers - stunning purple flowers, with wide petals and an intoxicatingly sweet scent - were set in bouquets at every corner of the room. The lights were dimmed, the flicker of candlelight bouncing off the walls, and she distantly recognized the ballad playing over her record player as a Cat Power song. Her jaw to the floor, she took a tentative step into her quarters, nearly jumping to the roof when Garrus stood from her couch. When his eyes lit up at the sight of her, all of her prior concerns were wiped away.

"Zoey," he whispered, his subvocals inflecting in a mix of excitement and nerves. He crossed the room in three long steps and swept her into his arms, spinning her in circles while he spread kisses across her face and neck. She giggled like she was young and carefree again.

"Garrus... I..." He placed her gently on her feet while she stammered. "I was so foolish on Menae, I thought... I assumed... that you still felt the same way, but it never crossed my mind that you could have moved on, forgotten about... about me... and..."

He silenced her with a taloned finger over her mouth. "Zoey, you must be crazy if you think for one second that my feelings were with anyone else but you.

"Leaving you on the Citadel six months ago shattered me, but the moment I saw you again on Menae all the pieces came back together again."

At a loss for words, she swallowed hard and ran her fingers along his mandible, cherishing his warmth.

"There's something I should have said a long time ago." He clasped her gloved hands in his own, his gaze falling on the depths of her eyes. "I love you, Zoey Shepard."

A lump caught in her throat and her eyes stung as she fought back the tears that threatened to overtake her. As a result, her voice was hoarse when she responded, "I love you, Garrus Vakarian."

She threw her arms around his cowl and held his fringe as she pulled him in to a deep kiss, her tongue tasting his sweetness. Her hands roamed over his body, searching for the clasps of his armour, desperate to feel their bodies together again.

He responded with a groan, his body shaking with anticipation as she methodically removed his armour piece-by-piece until he was wearing nothing but the thin, skin-tight fabric of his underarmour.

"This just isn't fair," he purred, kissing down her neck. "You're far too dressed for the occasion." His hands shaking, he removed her armour, kissing every bare inch of her ivory skin that he could find. When they were both down to their underarmour, he hoisted her up onto his hips by her thighs and led her to the bed. He laid her down before lowering himself on top of her, moving with increasing desperation as he removed her shirt to kiss and lick her stomach and breasts.

She closed her eyes and reveled in the warmth that spread from her torso to her fingers and toes, a giggle escaping her lips as he removed her pants and kissed and nibbled up her legs.

Powerful need was overtaking him, his breath coming in short gasps as he tore the panties off her body to reveal her glistening womanhood. His eyes never leaving her, he threw off his remaining clothes, quickly positioning himself above her before thrusting his manhood deep inside her with a loud moan. The pure pleasure of feeling her wrapped around him, tight and wet, almost sent him over the edge. She cried out his name and arched her hips towards him, waves of pleasure rolling through her body as he pressed into her over and over again.

His pace was becoming progressively more rapid, and she dug her fingers into his fringe as she felt herself reaching her peak. "Please, I need more," she whispered, her grip tightening. He responded with a feral growl as he thrust himself into her hard and fast, passionate moans escaping her lips as her body was set alight when she reached her climax. He gripped the pillow beside her head, letting out a mix between a purr and a growl as his own body was woken with darts of pleasure, closing his eyes and sighing as he reveled in the convulsions that overtook him.

Needing a moment to regain his breath, he rolled beside her, attempting to keep his eyes open to fight off the overwhelming desire for sleep.

"Good to have you back on the ship, soldier." Lying on her side, she carelessly flung an arm over his chest and snuggled in close to her turian. He rested his mouth in her hair, inhaling the sweet fragrance that was radiating off of her.

He loved the way that she smelled after battle. There was something so raw and primal about the sweat and adrenaline that radiated off of her.

When her breathing had deepened and he believed her to be asleep, she muttered nigh inaudibly, "Be my Executive Officer."

"You must be talking in your sleep because there's no way you're consciously asking me that question."

"I'm completely awake and serious. Be the Normandy's XO."

"This is an Alliance ship, how can it have a turian XO?"

"Because half of the Alliance are numb nuts who couldn't tell a ship's port from its hull. You know the ins and outs of the Normandy better than anyone - except perhaps Tali - and Hackett's already approved my request. So if you say no, I'm going to look foolish in front of him."

"How? I've been on the ship for two hours."

Her eyes were closed but she still raised her eyebrow. "I'm Commander Shepard, don't doubt my ways." Truthfully, he had approved a non-human Executive Officer instead of Garrus specifically, but she was too hell-bent on his approval of the offer to dive into semantics.

"In that case, do I really have a choice?"

"Nope."

And with that, she promptly rolled over and fell asleep.

Although Garrus stayed awake briefly to run her offer over in his head, he eventually drifted into the most restful sleep since he was last aboard the Normandy.