Roarkshop here: Sorry about the unexplained absence last week, guys. I did blog/tweet/tumblr/FB about it, but I realize not all of you watch me on those sites so I'm sorry that you were left in the dark without a chapter last week. Suffice it to say life has gotten CUH RAZY! But I got the chap done and a huge thanks to Jasmine Alexandra for doing the icon for me last minute. It's awesome!

Thank you for your understanding. As always, you comments/reviews/PM's are always read and almost always replied to, so keep your eyes on your inboxes if you want to hear from me! ^_^

Feel free to contact me any time on my personal e-mail TheRoarkshop(at)Gmail(dot)com ^_^ and I hope you have a WONDERFUL Memorial Day!

Lovelovelove

Roarkshop

Shepard was pleased with herself for having managed to save Tali's citizenship without causing some kind of political upset, since it was pretty clearly heading in that direction by the time Shepard put 'fuck' in the middle of one of their most sacred sayings. But whatever, right? She got the job done and she didn't kill anyone. A win is a win is a win.

They stayed docked with the Fleet for the night so Tali could mourn with her friends and family before they headed out. If the girl had any sense, she would be all up in Kal'Reegar's grill right now, making the quarian equivalent of kissy face. How would that even work? Did they just like, rub their helmets together?

Shepard laughed to herself as she sat on the arm of her couch, staring into the blue glow of the fish tanks. A thought she had been trying to ignore forced itself to the front of her mind.

It was almost time.

After helping Jack with one final piece of business, it was time to get the IFF the Illusive Man had directed her towards and then take everyone through the Omega 4. Certain death was just what she needed to remind herself what a coward she was.

She exhaled as she fell back onto the couch, letting her legs dangle over the arm. She had the same old conversation with herself. What if this was the last chance she got? Maybe it was finally time to tell Garrus how she had fallen for him. Maybe she needed to take that step. If they were all going to die in the Omega 4 anyway, wasn't it time for her to finally say it out loud? Didn't she regret having not told him the last time she died? Even after the inevitable conversation of "Sorry, Shepard you're a human," they wouldn't even live long enough for her to notice the awkwardness between them after that.

And what if you don't die? She said to herself, staring up at the ceiling. What if you live just long enough to watch him walk out of your life forever?

No he wouldn't do that, right? It would be awkward for a while, sure, but he said he thought of her as family. Admitting a crush wouldn't be enough to make him lose respect for her.

Would it?

She let out a defeated exhale. Who was she kidding? She knew damn well she was going to stay just as silent as she had always been. Admiring him from afar, refusing to admit just how badly she needed him. She sat up and headed downstairs to have dinner with the rest of the crew, hoping it would take her mind off of how pathetic she was being.

I'm Commander Shepard, she thought. And this is my favorite cop out on the Citadel.

Thane sat amidst the crew in the Mess Hall. He had found himself doing so more and more frequently as time went on. He had grown rather fond of most of the crew. Even the Yeoman and Engineer girl, while tiring like small, excitable dogs, were kind and charming in their own ways. Travelling with comrades had never been a practice that Thane was familiar with, though now that he had done it for so many months together, it was hard to deny how it had grown on him.

They all watched the Mess Hall screen as Vakarian showed them the footage he had taken of the Commander shouting down the quarian Admiralty Board. It was certainly entertaining, though hardly surprising. Thane was more interested in the turian. He eyed the tall man for several moments, trying to pin point what it was about him that had Shepard, and several of the other females on board, so enthralled. While he was certain that Vakarian's large, powerful form was what mostly appealed to the woman on the ship, Shepard was an entirely different animal. She did not care for petty wants and desires, it would take something certainly extraordinary to reduce her to shambles the way this sniper did.

Thane was nothing if not observant of people. He had always had a talent for reading in between the lines and accepting what was his emotional bias, and what was fact.

The facts were thus: Shepard had an important mission, perhaps more important than anything Thane had ever been a part of. This mission, however, had been repeatedly put on hold so that she could personally attend to the wants and needs of her crew. She understood that a suicide mission was a lot to ask for, and sacrificed precious time and resources to making sure that everyone was at peace before they took on the impossible. She very well could have allotted a set amount of time and credits to each individual to get their issues handled on their own, but she didn't. She made sure that she had her hands, personally, on every favor. She had not only saved Kolyat, but reunited them as family and now they talked often, and like father and son should.

As far as emotional bias went, Thane was eternally grateful to her. She was the closest friend he had ever had, and she hadn't even tried to be that. She was nothing but herself, and managed to wriggle her way into his life and make him care for her in a way he had no one else. She would never be Irikah, and Thane had no intention of attempting to pretend she could be. He loved his wife, he always would. But Shepard had become dear to him whether he liked it or not, and in the moments Thane took to observe the oblivious turian, he was determined to repay her anyway he could.

Even if that meant pretending that he was trying to steal her.

She came around the corner from the elevator just in time to see her speech concluding. Her eyes widened as she recognized it, obviously having no knowledge of it being filmed in the first place.

"…you will leave my crew out of your political bullshit or so help me I will bring down hell on this whole fleet faster than you can Keelah-se-fucking-lai!"

The crew cheered and laughed, making Shepard smile, perhaps despite herself, and put her hands on her hips.

"Where in the hell did you get this?" she said, sinking into her hip.

Just about everyone in the Mess Hall pointed at Garrus who was leaning casually against Gardener's counter.

"Oh, you are all just a bunch of traitors," he scoffed.

"Well don't let Tali see it," Shepard said. "She's had a hard enough day she doesn't need to relive this, regardless of how epic my speech was."

The crew resumed eating just as Shepard crossed Thane, obviously heading to Garrus with the intention of engaging him.

Thane made sure that didn't happen.

"Siha," he said just as she started to pass him. "How is your shoulder?"

"My shoulder?" She said as she turned to him, putting a hand on the aforementioned appendage and rolling it out with a smile. "Not bad, though a little sore still. I'm surprised you remembered."

Thane leaned his elbows onto the table and held his hands together. "Of course I remember. I believe you owe me a match because of it."

"That's right!" Shepard said, hitting him in the arm playfully. "I do owe you a match."

"A match?" Kelly said, leaning into their conversation. "You two are going to spar?"

"Awww shit," Jack said, standing up. "This I gotta see."

"You know what a match means," Kenneth said, leaning back in his chair. He put his index finger in his mouth and raised it in the air as if he was checking for a breeze. "I think I feel a wager coming on."

"Children, please," Shepard said. "We never said we were going to spar now."

"And why not?" Kenneth said. "We're docked for the evening, aren't we?"

"Yeah, Commander," Miranda said. "Though, if you're afraid to lose we'll understand."

"I think we all know that is not the case," Thane defended with a reproachful eye in the operative's direction.

"I suppose I've got nothing better to do," Shepard said, crossing her arms with a playful smile spreading across her lips.

"It is my experience," Thane said as he stood, locking eyes with the increasingly frustrated turian across from him. "That if the chance presents itself, there is no reason not to act. You never know when the opportunity might be taken from you."

"That was oddly sentimental, Debby Dramatic," Shepard said with an oblivious eyebrow cocked.

"Perhaps it was," Thane said with an apologetic smile in her direction.

Shepard laughed and patted him on the shoulder. "Alright Krios, downstairs in ten and I'll wipe the Cargo Bay with you."

"I look forward to watching you try."

Thane found himself a little apprehensive of the whole exercise. Not that he was afraid of losing, but he was afraid of truly hurting her. His instincts had been honed since childhood. He did not fight for exercise, he fought to kill and only to kill. As he waited for her in the Cargo Bay, the entire crew having assembled outside the window to watch, he wondered if fighting her face to face, in a well lit room, was enough to her advantage to throw his instincts off guard.

"Shepard obviously doesn't know how long ten minutes is," Thane could hear someone saying outside the window. They had activated EDI's speakers so that the sound from each room could be heard in the other. This was promising to be quite the spectacle.

"Who did you bet on?" Hadely asked.

"Battlemaster, of course," Grunt said with a scoff.

"I had to put my money on Krios. Shepard's powerful sure, but he's a trained assassin. Shepard's a grappler."

"Which is exactly why she'll win," said Jack.

"What the hell is this?" Shepard said, coming into the room and unzipping her hoodie. "Did someone sell tickets?"

"Come on, Commander. You can't think we'd miss this! There's too much coin to me made!"

"Kenneth, this Pit Boss thing you do is going to get you in trouble."

"Your concern for my wallet is appreciated, Commander."

Shepard found Garrus standing behind everyone, still perfectly visible as he towered above the congregation. Their eyes locked and she wondered why he looked so pissed; Arms crossed, brow plates lowered, mandibles double-clicking. Maybe he thought this was a bad idea. Maybe it was. Thane was a killing machine, and Shepard knew it. But the worst that could happen was that she lost a bout in front of her crew. She wasn't so proud that she couldn't lose to a worthy opponent.

"If you are uncomfortable with an audience," Thane said. "We might post-pone."

"Don't be ridiculous, you're the one who was all 'if the chance presents itself, there is no reason not to be in awe of how wise and all-knowing I am'." Shepard said in her best wise voice.

"That was quite a lot of embellishment," he said, letting his eyes travel over her form as she removed her sweatshirt and tossed it to the side.

"Regardless," Shepard said with a smile, sinking into her back foot. "I've done more nerve-wracking things than this in front of a crowd."

"WOOOOOOOOOO!" Joker shouted.

"Not that, damn it. Joker, get your mind out of the gutter."

"Aw lame."

"Kick his ass, Shepard!" Jack shouted with a fist in the air.

Thane laughed and started to remove his jacket, folding it over once as he tossed it off to the side. A severe silence went through the crowd as the women all started whispering to each other and giggling like children.

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you," Shepard said.

"The jacket is too restricting for hand-to-hand," he said with a smirk, turning to face her.

"Yeah we'll just go ahead and pretend you didn't enjoy that."

"Maybe a little."

Shepard couldn't stop her eyes from traveling down his chest, looking at the black markings that accentuated the ropey muscles under his skin.

"You look like a green tiger," she said.

"A…what?"

"You have stripes."

"Oh. Yes. How very astute of you."

She laughed and turned to the audience outside the window, crossing her arms and sinking into a hip. "What are the odds?"

"Thane's the favorite by five," Kenneth said, looking at the data pad.

"Nice. I love being the underdog," Shepard said, pumping a fist.

"Enough! Get on with it already," Grunt shouted.

Thane put his hands behind is back as he stretched his neck by rolling his head from one side to the other and Shepard rolled out her shoulders before tying her curls up into a pony-tail.

"Alright, alright," she said, putting her hands up in a boxer's stance. "Let's dance."

Thane sank a foot back to turn to her sideways and lowered his center of gravity, raising his hands to chest level palms down.

Their eye contact locked for a moment that seemed an eternity, both waiting to see if the other moved. Thane could almost hear the anticipation in the crowd. A small smirk played across Shepard's lips, and he knew she was coming.

Garrus stayed silent with his arms crossed at the back of the crowd, watching as Thane and Shepard prepared for their match. He did his best to ignore the flirtatious banter and the way Shepard was eyeing him up and down appreciatively. In whatever part of his mind was still capable of logical thought, he knew this whole thing was a bad idea. If Joker hadn't pulled him along, he wouldn't have even come down here. He didn't want to watch this. But now that he really analyzed the situation, he had to. As far as Shepard was concerned, it would have been more out of character for him to not be there and that would have tipped her off that something was up. Spirits, he was already walking on glass, he didn't need to give her any clues. Regardless that Garrus did not want to see Thane's hands on her, he really did want to see her beat the crap out of him.

Shepard smiled, ever so slightly, before she threw her left fist in an obvious test jab, which Thane side stepped and blocked with his forearm. They both backed up a step and circled each other for a few short moments before she came in again, this time with a juke jab and an uppercut, which Thane deftly blocked before ducking under her arm and planting a quick elbow into her side. She winced, but didn't slow, using her own momentum as she spun around. She threw her arm horizontally at his throat, forcing him to catch it and giving her the opportunity to bring her other fist around and punch him in the stomach.

A chorus of sympathetic "oohs" and "ahs" echoed through the crowd and Garrus tried to ignore them. While he wanted to see Shepard win, he didn't want to see her get hurt in the process.

Thane smiled that annoying smile of his after taking the fist to the gut, obviously pleased with the speed of her reactions. This time he was the one to move.

Thane came in quickly, alternating fast and precise strikes to keep Shepard on the defensive. She concentrated so hard on getting her blocks in place she didn't see that he was backing her into a corner. Garrus fought the growl he felt stirring in his stomach and felt his mandibles click against his jaw in aggravation.

"Jesus, look at them go," Joker said.

"They're moving too fast, I can barely follow them," Hadley said.

Once Thane successfully backed Shepard up against the wall, her eyes widened with the realization that she was cornered. She dropped to the floor just in time to make his fist connect with the wall behind her, and used the opportunity to sweep his legs out from under him with her own. Thane fell forward, but caught himself on his hands in push-up position. When she came back around to kick him again, he sprang up from the ground, over her leg, forcing the momentum of the missed kick to spin her around. As he bounced onto the balls of his feet, he deftly lifted his knee into her stomach as she was crouched, making her stay buckled over and drop to all fours. Thane took the opportunity to come from behind her to wrap an arm around her throat and hold the back of her head with his other hand, keeping her in a head lock. She stood up against him and punched her toes into the ground, slamming him up against the wall. Then she lifted her foot as high as she could and slammed her heel into his instep. He grunted against the pain, lifting the effected foot off the ground instinctively, giving Shepard the leverage she needed to reach back and grip the back of his head and neck. She roared with the effort as she hurled her weight, making him fly over her shoulders and slam onto his back on the ground.

The force of throwing his weight made her fall onto all fours over him, panting. She had a hand on either side of his head, looking down at him on his back. He smiled as he looked up at her.

"You are deceptively good at this," Thane said between tired breaths.

"I could say the same to you," she replied with that wicked smirk of hers.

The girls in the audience squealed. Garrus exhaled a hard breath, reminding himself that it was a fight, forcing himself to keep his act together.

Thane and Shepard both tried to regain their footing. Shepard pushed up from her hands and Thane quickly rolled away and lifted himself into a crouch just in time to fire his foot into her stomach as she tried to stand. The force lifted her off the ground momentarily before she fell back onto her knees, accentuated by the pained cries of the crowd.

"Look out!" someone cried, just as Thane was spinning around to kick her again. Shepard had already seen it, however, and had thrown herself onto her back and watched his foot soar over her, right where her head had been. She used the momentum of rolling back to spring up on her hands and back onto her feet, but that was all she could do before Thane started advancing again. One right after the other his strikes came after her, Shepard was disoriented and barely able to get her blocks in place. But they got there, that's all Garrus cared about.

Thane, again, tried to back her up against the wall, anticipating her intention to duck out of it and take out his legs.

Come on, Shepard, Garrus thought as his talons started to tingle with the anticipation. He's waiting for you. Don't fall for it.

Like she always was, Shepard was two steps ahead of him, and knew the same trick wouldn't work twice. Instead she planted the flat of her foot on the wall and used it to rocket herself forward. She wrapped her arms around Thane's waste and tackled him to the ground. The drell made a surprised sound in protest as he made contact with the floor, and before he could regain his composure she fired the heel of her hand into his jaw, making his head shoot to the side with a grunt.

Garrus smiled.

That's my girl.

She lifted her arm again, intending to take another shot, but Thane gripped her wrist and used the force of her strike to pull her while simultaneously lifting a knee and pushing it against her side, forcing her to roll off onto her back. He climbed on top of her and put his knees against her hips to pin her down. Shepard took the opportunity to fire her free hand into his side. It connected, but only because Thane allowed her to make contact in order to open her up as he jabbed the flat of his hand into her throat. She coughed, choking on her breath, and Thane moved his hands to her wrists, figuring it was his opportunity for victory.

Garrus felt a soft elbow in his side.

"Hey," Joker said softly. "Keep the murder sounds to a minimum."

Garrus cleared his throat, realizing he had started growling. He rolled his neck out and exhaled a slow breath and reminded himself, maybe for the hundredth time this minute, that it was only a match.

Shepard lifted her knee as fast as she could and hit Thane in the small of his back, giving her the second she needed to lift both her knees up and press them into his sides, holding him in place as she turned onto her side. He rolled off of her and got to his knees just as she was pushing herself up with her hands. He grabbed her nearest wrist with both hands and pulled her to him, making her fall forward onto her face. She used her other hand to lift herself onto her knees, just as the flat of his hand fired into her stomach. She doubled over before moving her legs out from under her and punching her heel into his chin, making him release her wrist. She got back to her feet, but he took her by a shoulder and spun her around, putting her back to him. She raised a knee to attempt to mule kick him, but he was too fast. He wrapped his arms around her waist and fell into a sitting position, pulling her with him and throwing her over his shoulder in a suplex. She fell backward with the momentum and crashed onto the mat, his positioning forcing her shoulders to take the impact.

More sympathetic moans from the crowd.

Both opponents took the opportunity to catch their breaths as they lie side by side, panting.

"Agh," Shepard said, holding her sore shoulder. "God damn it. Cheap shot."

"I am sorry," he said with a smile, rolling his head to look at her.

"No you're not,"

"As you wish."

He rolled back up to his feet and she lifted herself up onto hers, swaying a bit with her exhaustion, only then noticing that Thane's lip was bleeding.

"Oh hey," she said, pointing to her own face to illustrate. "I drew first blo-WAGH!"

Thane was advancing on her before she could finish the thought, and Garrus could tell she was exerting tremendous effort to block his strikes. They were getting more and more sloppy as she backed up, staying on the defensive. He connected a blow to the side of her face and she grunted in pain before reaching up to grab his wrist quickly, throwing her other fist into his collar bone and her knee into his abdomen. She used the second that gave her to turn sideways and plunge her foot into his chest, which quickly proved a terrible idea. Thane caught her foot with both hands against his chest and, moving on reflex, turned it in his hands. A sickening snap echoed through the space and the crowed groaned as if they were the ones to get hurt. Shepard cringed against the pain and Garrus could see that she knew she was in for it if she didn't think fast. Thane looked down at Shepard's foot in his hands, obviously regretting his decision. Garrus may not have liked the drell, but he knew that he had never intended to seriously hurt her.

Not like that made Garrus feel any less inclined to rip him in half, however.

In the moment Thane spared to look down at what he had done, to the moment where he looked back up at her, she had jumped and threw her free leg over her other one, sacrificing her stance to get a hit in. Her foot crashed into the side of his face so hard, the crowd could see the blood fly from his lips. Since he had been holding her other foot, she had nothing to land on and had no choice but to fall onto the ground with him.

Shepard quickly climbed onto Thane's back and screwed his arm up behind him, making him grit his teeth against the pain. He tried to push himself up with his free arm, but she firmly planted her other arm onto the back of his neck, keeping him pinned. He didn't push her off. He was either too tired, or unwilling to risk hurting her again. Either way Garrus was glad it was over.

"Very good, Siha," Thane said, panting. "I yield."

"Oh thank god," Shepard said, tiredly collapsing onto her back beside him.

The crew around Garrus erupted, some unbelieving, some exuberant. Garrus couldn't help but smile. He had known she was going to win.

Garrus lowered his arms finally and started to relax as Kenneth doled out everyone's payment.

Thane lifted himself up on his elbows and looked over at the tired Shepard. He licked his lip where it was bleeding and laughed, raising a hand to wipe the blood away. She rolled her head to the side to look at him, her wild curls fanning out under her.

"Good fight," she said with a smile. Her chest was pumping with her breath and her eyes were bright from the exercise.

"Good fight," Thane confirmed. A moment passed that Garrus thought went on a little too long before Thane pushed himself up and made his way back to his feet. He then offered a hand down to Shepard. She took it and he lifted her up to standing position.

She cried out against the pain in her ankle and fell against Thane's chest for support. She had obviously forgotten how badly he had hurt her.

"Ah, god damn it," she said, lifting the affected foot off the ground.

"I apologize," he said, taking her by the shoulders so he could look at her feet. "I had not intended to-"

"Oh shut up," she said, waving a hand. "I'll be fine, I just need to stay off of it."

She tried to use him as support and limp out of the Cargo Bay, but as soon as she tried to put any weight on it, it gave out.

"It must be broken," Thane said, bending to lift her into his arms.

"No don't," she protested. "I can make it to the Med Bay."

"Do not be stubborn," he chided, his brow furrowing like scolding parent. "I injured you, I will take you upstairs to get treated."

She rubbed her forehead and hobbled on her good foot with an angry exhale.

"Fine," she said. "Though I think you're being overly gracious, considering you lost."

Thane smiled as he lifted Shepard into his arms against his chest, simultaneously locating Garrus outside the window.

"Did I lose?" He said with that damned smirk of his. "I hadn't noticed."

If Garrus had a gun, he would have shot his way through the glass and pounded the superiority right off of Thane's stupid green face. He felt his heart speed up as his adrenaline kicked in and spent a few moments trying to figure out the quickest way to them to rip Shepard out of his arms. His logic mind told him how ridiculous he was being, secretly competing in a competition he had already lost, but that didn't stop his instincts from telling him to go after them. He was interrupted by Joker's hand on his shoulder.

"Come on, Buddy. That's a fight for another time."

Garrus exhaled and looked down at the frail human.

"When did you become so insightful, Joker?"

"Pffft, Man, I'm like… the insightfullest person you know."

"Aaaaand it's gone."

"Yeah. Insightfullest was probably a bad call."