Roarkshop Here: YAY! Here is your SUPER LONG AND SUPER LONG AWAITED chapter! I worked really SUPER hard on making this chapter perfect (even in my delirium cuz I've been really sick). So I will pray to whatever God's I can that you all enjoy it as much as I do. (I have never been this nervous in my whole life...ever.)

Side note: Please don't freak out as there may be a delay in chapters because I officially have NO MORE CHAPTERS WRITTEN! Most of you know i like to have 3 or 4 chaps written in advance but I literally spend SO MUCH TIME writing and perfecting this chapter that I have ZERO material left so I'm pretty much starting from scratch again.

Which also means that I'll need people to do chapter icons for me! PM or E-mail me if you're interested!

I seriously hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I know how long you have all waited for it and I wanted SO BADLY for it to live up to, not only your expectations, but mine as well. And I hope i have done that.

I seriously love you guys.

Roarkshop

Garrus watched from the Battery as Shepard made her rounds. He watched as she came out from the Starboard Observation and headed to the elevator, he watched as she looked into the dark, empty Med Bay. She shook her head and dragged her feet to the elevator, obviously resolute in her decision to distract herself.

"EDI," Garrus said, turning to lean on the console. "Alert me when Shepard turns in for the night."

"Very well," the AI chimed.

Garrus tried to work after that, but he couldn't get her out of his head; The anger in her eyes as she wrestled Stretch onto the bar, the fury in her voice as it rang out through the crowd.

I have killed for Garrus, I would die for Garrus.

He exhaled and put his head in his hands. On top of everything else, they had lost the crew and ruined whatever plans he was brewing for shore leave. The look on her face when she got the message from Joker made it very clear anything he wanted to say was going to have to wait. Now here he was…waiting.

He had a decision to make: Either he gave her the inevitable speech tonight, or he forgot the whole mess and just did what he did before Ilos; make her feel better.

Ilos. It seemed so long ago now.

"Mr. Vakarian," EDI chimed.

The sound startled Garrus out of his thoughts. "Agh, what?"

"The Commander has retreated to her quarters."

He was out of time. As he turned to head to the elevator, he knew he had to make a decision.

"She is currently stepping into the shower."

Garrus froze mid step. Maybe he should wait a few more minutes.

After Garrus paced around the Battery for 15 minutes, which he decided was long enough to get a shower done but not so long that she'd have time to settle into bed for the night, he rode the elevator up to her quarters. He tapped his talons on the elevator wall, running over what he wanted to say in his head, but it was all gone already. He decided to stop stalling and just go in, and do what he did best. He was Garrus-fucking-Vakarian, and he had something to say.

Shepard was pacing back and forth reading through a data pad when Garrus entered. Her captain's casuals were un-buttoned and messy like she had just thrown them on. Her hair hung down her shoulders in her usual careless curls, still damp from the shower.

Her scent was intoxicating.

"I've gone over these reports a thousand times," she said, putting the data pad on her hip and rubbing her eyes with her other hand. "I've made sure there was nothing else to upgrade, everyone was ready, and everything is operating like it's supposed to; and yet…" her exasperated sigh finished her sentence for her.

"You've done everything you can, Shepard. We're ready."

"We're going to have to be," she said with a humorless laugh, before finally meeting his eyes.

The moment hung in the air as their eye contact lingered.

"Shepard," he started.

"Listen, Garrus" she interrupted, holding a hand up to motion for silence. "I'm not sorry for going postal on What's-Her-Plates last night. She said some things that just…" she cleared her throat. "I mean I attribute a little bit of it to the booze, but… Just trust me when I say you can do a lot better than her."

"I intend to," he said, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh. Okay so, that's not what you came up here for?"

"No. It's not."

"Oh good. Then what's up?"

"Do you remember what I said, Shepard? The night before Ilos?"

She tilted her head to the side with a smile. "You said a lotof things the night before Ilos."

He started to walk toward her.

"Kaidan had just left the room, jilted. 'Can't say I blame him,' I said. 'Hours before certain death, it's natural to want to spend it in the arms of a beautiful woman'." As he closed the distance between them, she started to back up to match his steps.

"I remember," she said, her hesitation obvious.

He reached across and grabbed the data pad from her hand and followed it with his eyes as he tossed it off to the side.

"Now," he continued. "Do you remember what you said next?"

"I do," she confirmed, just as she backed up into the wall.

He pressed his palms against the wall behind her, effectively trapping her between his arms.

"Say it."

She swallowed, pressing her back against the wall like she was trying to disappear through it.

"Is that why you're here, Garrus?"

"That's exactly why I'm here, Shepard."

He listened as her heart throbbed in her chest, watched the heat rise in her face and her ears redden. She laughed, a nervous sound, and ducked under his arm to walk past him.

"Very funny," she said. "Did you just come up here to give me shit?"

Garrus saw it for what it was; a way out. She was giving him a chance to back down. He snatched her wrist to stop her from walking away.

"I wasn't trying to be funny," he said, closing the door as quickly as she had opened it.

She shook his grip off of her wrist and started to default on her anger to bolster her defense.

"Then, what? I messed up your booty call and now I have to pick up the slack?"

He smiled, and approached again. "Is that… jealousy I hear in your tone?"

He saw her tense, regardless that she tried to hide it. She sank into her hip and crossed her arms, smiling her usual sarcastic smile.

"It would appear," she said, matching his condescending tone, "that you're looking to play the part of Kaidan Alenko in this year's 'pre-impossible-mission-rejection'."

"This is different," he growled, trying not to let on how that got under his plates. "You actually want me."

"That a fact?"

"Lie to me if you feel you have to, Jane. But remember that I can hear your heart beating," he said as he traced the pads of his fingers up her throat. "I can feel the heat rising in your face. I've been watching your body react to me for too long without doing anything about it."

He felt her insides shudder but she just batted his hand away and turned to walk passed him.

"I admire your commitment to the mission, Garrus, but no one has asked you to take one for the team."

"What did you just say to me?" he asked through his teeth, an edge sharpening his tone that only whispered of the hostility building in him.

She didn't look at him, but more spoke to his reflection in the giant window next to her bed.

"Garrus, out of everyone in my life you are the only one who has never pitied me. My past, my insufficiencies, none of it has ever mattered to you. You've always just been there. You've never walked out on me and you've never taken that god damn patronizing tone when you talk to me. And now you're here to, what? Try and sate the poor, over-stressed Commander? Our friendship has survived a lot, Garrus. But it won't survive you swallowing down your nausea for some kind of…pity fuck."

"Shut up," he snapped, pointing at her. "The fact that you know me well enough to know how I feel about humans should tell you that nothing would make me come up here for any reason other than I wanted to. I've heard you say something like that before, that I think you're repulsive, I didn't like it then and I don't like it now. That couldn't be further from the truth."

"Don't patronize me, Garrus, you can't want me. I'm the complete opposite of what you want in a woman."

"Yeah," he scoffed, crossing his arms. "Strong, intelligent, funny, compassionate; What kind of idiot would want that in a woman?"

"Damn it," She said, turning around and holding her arms out to the side "Look at me, Garrus."

"I am looking, Shepard," he said as he took a step toward her. "I've been looking at you. I saw you when you found me on Omega and ran into my arms; I saw you when you were on the Augustine, covered in blood and still standing regardless of the beating you'd taken; I saw you when it all came crashing down; and I saw that the only thing that helped you pull it together was that I held you and told you everything was going to be alright. I see the way your face lights up when you laugh and the way your eyes brighten after a particularly risky kill. I've always been looking, Shepard." He exhaled a hard breath to ease the frustration in his chest before taking another step toward her. "I'm not going to insult your intelligence by pretending to have a fetish for humans. Not only because I will never lie to you, but because that would somehow cheapen this. The fact that I'm here, telling you that I want you, should show you just how unique you are to me. I don't care that you're human, Shepard. This isn't about that. It's about us. And I've never thought anyonewas as beautiful as I think you are now."

She swallowed down her nerves and crossed her arms tight against her chest, trying to make that barrier between them. She was trying desperately to process this information; thoughts were flying through her head so fast she hardly even knew what they were. Finally she managed to latch onto one, the one she had been telling herself since the very beginning.

"It's not worth the risk," she croaked out.

"Risk?" he said. "What risk?"

"Garrus, a roll in the hay… pleasant though it may turn out," she cleared her throat. "It's not worth the way our friendship will change. It's not worth ruining a good thing over."

He let that sink in for a few long moments before he spoke. He crossed the room and brushed the backs of his fingers along her cheek. He tried to think his words over carefully, but the more he thought about it the less sense it made, so he just started talking and hoped it would all fit together.

"Jane I…I've seen so many things go wrong: what happened with Sidonis, my work with C-sec, The Normandy, Spectre Training. But you… you have been the only thing right about my life for a long time. Do you think I would take this chance… do you think I would risk losing that for some kind of… casual fling? Do you think I'm an idiot?" He swallowed and spared a moment to think about how dry his mouth was getting. He looked at the floor, rubbing the back of his neck. "Jane, I fixed Krios' shelves because I was the one that broke them. I saw you leave his room the other night. I went in and found him covered in your scent so I threw that tiny green menace right through the glass; I told Stretch to piss you off with the specific intention of trying to figure out how you felt about me." He met her eyes again, and exhaled; Weighing whether or not he should even bring his next point up at all. "And I killed Gideon Torren, in my only true act of revenge to date. He died a slow, merciless death because he managed to truly hurt the only thing in this life that is precious to me: You."

Shepard wasn't as stunned as he anticipated, though her eyes did widen. Anger seemed to be the most prominent feature as her brows started knitting together.

"Why?" she whispered as the veil of tears filled her eyes. "Why are you telling me this now?"

"I should have told you a long time ago," he said with a disappointed sigh. "But by the time I realized what was happening I was already too far gone to stop it. I didn't think you'd… I never thought in a million years that you'd...I mean look at me, I'm not exactly-" he motioned a haphazard hand at the wounded side of his face. "I'm a mess, Shepard. I've known for a long time that you deserved better than whatever it is I can give you. I mean, I can't… pinpoint exactly where everything started to change for me. Spirits know I've tried. All I really know for a fact is that when I found you on the Augustine, I realized there was nothing in this universe I have ever wanted as badly as I wanted you to be mine."

Her throat started to strain under the amount of effort she was putting forth to keep her cool.

"Garrus… No. I…That can't happen."

"And why not?"

She looked down and took a deep breath before looking back up at him, trying to put the Commander Mask back in place.

"I think you should leave," she said, as coldly as she could muster.

He smiled.

If you let her make you back out, you'll never get another chance.

"Tell it to me straight," he demanded, sinking into a hip and crossed his arms.

"Tell you what, Garrus?"

"Tell me you don't love me, Jane, and I'll go."

Her jawline tensed and she looked up at the ceiling in a desperate attempt to keep the tears in her eyes. When she looked back at him her eyes were red. She squeezed her hands into fists and gnashed her teeth. He couldn't help but smile as he saw how she choked on the words.

"I'm waiting," he taunted.

"God damn it," she sneered. "Garrus, I don't-"

He didn't want to hear it, even if he knew she'd be lying.

He quickly gripped her shoulders, pulled her into him, and stopped her with a kiss. She inhaled a sharp breath through her nose and tensed, going rigid in his hands. One of his hands instinctively moved down to the small of her back and pulled her against him. His mind went white, all his thoughts melted away against the sensation of her kiss. All that remained was the overwhelming need to eliminate the space between them. The touch of her lips, feather light against his, sent a devastating wave of weakness through him. He felt her give in as her body eased in his hands.

They both lingered; both trying to stretch out the moment, both secretly wishing it wouldn't end.

When they parted, they did so slowly, each feeling the other exhale. When he opened his eyes, tears had streaked both of her cheeks.

"I…I'm sorry," was all he could say. It came out like a reflex.

She shook her head and her brows started knitting together again, angry tears welling up in her troubled eyes.

"This is bad," she whispered.

"Well that wasn't exactly what I was thinking but-"

"You're going to ruin everything, Garrus."

"Stop pushing me away, Jane. Or at least, if you're going to, give me a reason."

"Don't you get it?" she cursed, raising her fists and slamming them into his chest. He made a surprised 'oomf' noise, but caught her wrists in his hands and held them where they landed against him. Defeated, she dropped her forehead her hands as she spoke. "We do this and everything is changed forever," she whispered, knowing full well he could hear her. "And then, one day, when everything goes to hell, like everything inevitably does, I'll have to watch you walk away like I've watched everyone else walk away."

"Is that what this is about?" he said, moving his hand to run it through her hair, unable to stop the small laugh that escaped him. "You're scared?"

"I'm glad you find it so amusing."

"It kind of is," he admitted. "Commander Jane Shepard, Star of Terra, Destroyer of Reapers, afraid of one little turian."

She laughed once through her nose. "Sure, maybe compared to fucking Reapers you're little."

He laughed and the sound made her relax a little.

"All this time," she said, exhaling against his chest. "I've just kept telling myself that I would rather watch you be happy with someone else than take the chance and eventually not have you in my life at all."

"All this time?" he said, pushing her back by her shoulders so she'd look up at him. "How long, exactly?"

"I don't… I mean I don't know when exactly, you know?" She moved to wipe her eyes with her sleeve. "After Noveria, I mean I don't really remember a lot of our conversation, when I yelled at you in the Med Bay, but I remember the darkness, and the numb quiet. And then I…there was just you. 'I don't want you to die,' you said. God, I remember it so clearly. You were so sad for me, it made me want to wake up. And when I did finally come to, there you were, right where I had left you, beside me. After that it was just… I don't know…little things. I didn't realize just how fucked I was until after we killed Sovereign, when we were sitting out on the hangar that night, you remember? You told me you were going back to Spectre training and I…" She swallowed down her tears, desperate not to let her voice crack. "I smiled and I told you it was alright, but…It wasn't until you told me you were leaving that I realized just how desperately I wanted you to stay."

He was stunned. He blinked several times trying to process the information. It went back that far for her and he hadn't had a clue?

He was doing his oblivious father proud.

"Years?" He said softly. "It was years ago?"

"Afraid so," she said, clearing her throat and taking a deep breath. It was finally time, no backing down. It was now or never. "Garrus, for me it… it's always been you."

She laughed, unable to contain it as the wave of adrenaline crashed over her. It was amazing, the relief she felt as she finally said something she had been waiting to say for the longest time.

He exhaled through his nose, observing the nervous movements of her hands as they folded over each other.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm sorry it took me so long to realize. You were never… I mean we were always close but…" He shook his head and sighed again, cursing himself for how he was failing at making his mouth do what his brain was telling it. "I had no idea. And before I could even start to figure it out you-" He pushed out the memories. He didn't want to think about it. "I didn't even have time to process that you were alive before we were back on the path to a glorious suicide and I took a rocket to the face. I mean the side of my face looks like I sent it through the shredder, how could someone like you ever…"

He sighed and looked down at his feet. It was the most vulnerable she had ever seen him.

She swallowed down her nerves, and mustered up whatever courage she had.

"I had no idea," she said, raising her hand to run the pads of her fingers down his wounded mandible. "That this still bothered you so much."

He cleared his throat, trying to ignore her touch against his face. "If you'll recall," he said lilting his head to the side. "I once told you that you could punch me anywhere but my face, it being my money-maker like it was."

"Was?" She said with a laugh. "You're going to pretend you're not still six-foot-four of solidified handsome?"

He laughed and raised his hand to hold hers where it was, against his face. "I'll have to remember that one." Silence filled the room again, and he saw how her smile started to fade as the weight of their situation fell on her. "Listen," he said, brushing her curls behind her ear, and sliding his other hand to her hip. "I know you're afraid, but… Jane this is me. I traded a life at C-sec to be your number two, and I don't intend on stepping down any time soon. At your side is where I belong. I will never turn my back on you."

She looked down with an exhale, fighting how her emotions started to well up again. "It would be so much easier," she said quietly. "If you just left and we pretended none of this ever happened."

"It most certainly would be easier," he said, putting his hand under her chin and forcing her to look up at him. "But when have you and I ever done anything the easy way?"

She laughed, though a tear escaped one of her eyes and rolled down her cheek. He kept his grip on her chin and ran the pad of his thumb along the length of her bottom lip while his other hand instinctively moved to the small of her back.

He was done talking.

He pulled her chin to him and kissed her again. Once their lips connected his hand moved from her chin and slid down the length of her jaw to hold her tight on the back of her neck. Shepard inhaled and went stiff for a moment, taken aback by the urgency with which he touched her. His hands spoke of his longing and her toes curled with the tingling sensation that shot through her. She moved her hands to rest on his chest, though her movements were timid and unsure. Slowly she traced her hands up his chest and up the sides of his throat. His mandibles clicked against the side of his face, she figured that meant she was doing something right. That low rumble started in the pit of his chest, and she could feel the vibrations echo through him.

Garrus was putting significant effort into maintaining control over himself. While he knew there was nothing he could dish out that Shepard would be unable to handle, he was dancing dangerously close to losing whatever reason he had left.

The hand on her hip moved to trail up the center of her back, and she unknowingly arched under his touch, pressing herself against him. He moved his hands to her hips and pushed her back against the window behind her and she reached her hands to the back of his neck to pull him, eliminating the distance between them. The thoughts of keeping her safe only whispered at the back of his mind as his hands moved up her sides and over the top of her shoulders, pushing the top jacket layer of her casuals off. She released her grip on his neck only long enough for him to slide the sleeves down her arms, breaking their kiss briefly. He only managed to catch a glimpse of her before she had thrown her arms back around him and pressed her lips to his, more open, more confident. He didn't just feel her mouth on his this time, he tasted her, and it ignited a hunger in him.

He could feel the rumble in his chest getting stronger, and he didn't fight it. No matter where he touched her, her body would respond, arching under his hands. He had never wanted anything in his life the way he wanted her in these moments. He had never felt anything like it; this desire. He was wading in very dangerous territory, he just didn't have the presence of mind to realize that.

Garrus pulled away from their kiss, pressing his palms against the glass of the window behind her in an attempt to catch his breath. She looked up at him, seemingly confused by the sudden lack of contact.

"What's wrong?" she asked, breathlessly.

"Nothing," he assured her, pressing his muzzle to the side of her face and kissing her, feeling his own breath as he panted against her skin.

The sight of him trying desperately to stay in control did nothing but make her yearn to watch him lose it.

Garrus felt her silken lips press against the soft exposed skin of his throat, and he closed his eyes despite himself, trying to muster up some last-minute resolve. He gnashed his teeth in his mouth and exhaled a hard breath. Again she kissed his neck, but this time her mouth opened and he could feel the soft caress of her tongue against his skin. His hands flexed, making his talons scratch the glass accidentally, and a shiver rushed through him. He groaned against the sensation and he heard her heart leap in response to his voice. Her face was so close to his he actually heard the movement of her throat as she swallowed down her nerves. He used her moment of hesitation to remove one of his hands from the glass and press it to the flat of her back, moving her away from the window just enough that he could bend down and slide his hands under each of her thighs and lift her. He wrapped her legs around his waist and used his body to press her back against the window. She linked her ankles behind him, squeezing his waist with her legs in an attempt to hold herself up as she tugged at the bottom of his shirt, slowly lifting it up his chest. Confident in her grip around him, he released her legs to lift his arms up while she pulled the shirt up over his head. He moved his hands back under her thighs for support before noticing how she was staring at him.

She was looking intently down at his chest, now bare. She very gently ran her hands down it, tracing the tips of her fingers around the edges of his overlapping plates, a bright smile spreading across her face. She had wanted to touch his bare chest since she very first saw it all those years ago, after Therum. He smiled. The sight of her so plainly adoring him… it wasn't something he'd ever forget.

She exhaled a ragged breath before meeting his eyes again, only then realizing he had been watching her looking at him. He raised one of his hands to her face, cupping her cheek with his palm and leaning into a soft kiss. He felt her legs tense around him, which urged him to slowly move against her. She tossed her head back, letting a short, almost startled groan escape her throat, and her body shuddered against him. He gripped her legs hard and took the few steps backward necessary before the back of his knees hit her bed, making him sit. Her knees hit the bed on either side of him and she moved her hands to the back of his neck, pulling him back into their kiss. He snuck his hands under her shirt and explored the soft, bare skin of her back before slowly sliding the shirt up over her shoulders.

Garrus felt her hesitate, but it was brief before she lifted her arms and allowed him to lift her shirt over her head. As he did, her curls swished as they fell back around her shoulders, swirling the citrus scent of her hair around him. He tucked his face into the crook of her neck and fluttered his mandibles against the soft exposed skin there. She tilted her head to the side, allowing him easier access, obviously not knowing what the gesture would mean to him.

He pulled his face away before he did something very stupid.

She put her hands on his chest and pushed him onto his back. He put his elbows down to support himself, watching as she ran her hands down the length of his chest to his waist. She leaned forward, kissing his collar bone, and up the crook of his neck. He turned his head, putting a kiss on her jaw before running a hand up her back, very deftly unhooking the harness around her chest with one hand. She sat up, putting a hand across her chest urgently. He laughed at the surprise on her face.

He lifted himself up, wrapping an arm around the small of her back and pulling her down, turning them both as they went so that she was on her back and he was leaning over her. Her curls fanned out under her on the bed and she moved her other arm so that both of them were clutching the odd garment to her chest.

"How in the hell did you know how to do that?" she said, narrowing her eyes and fighting a smile.

"Jane," he said nonchalantly, idly running his hand down her side. "I can field strip and reassemble a Helix Nine S.O. in twenty five seconds. Blindfolded. You think your human contraptions are going to stump me?"

"You looked it up didn't you?"

"I absolutely looked it up."

She let an anxious laugh escape, still holding the thing against her chest. Regardless that he already knew what to expect, he could tell she was nervous about letting him see her. Her reasons for being wary were obvious, and he wondered if she'd want him to turn off the lights. Though he knew it wouldn't matter; they both knew he would still be able to see perfectly well.

Instead he kissed her, making them both close their eyes as he moved on top of her. He traced his hand up her bare side and tugged the harness out from between them before pressing his chest against hers. He didn't want her because of how she looked; he wanted her because she was her. He hoped she knew that.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, her dexterous fingers tracing up the back of his neck to the back of his head, making him tense against the sensation. He felt her bend her knees, lifting up her legs to either side of him as he moved.

It had been a long time since either of them had been intimate with another person, compounded with a first for either of them with a different species. The more intimate they became, the more timid Shepard seemed to get. They continued to undress each other before they were both completely vulnerable, and despite her bashfulness, her hands spurred him onward. She tugged at his hips and entwined her legs with his, her touch passionate and leaving trails of fire on his skin. He was trying to stay cognizant of her fear, but her touch coupled with the sound of her voice crying out for him made it impossible to keep his carnal impulses restrained. The low, sensual growl echoed through him as the more primal part of his brain started to overtake his reason. Everything faded away into the dark recesses of his subconscious until all that was left was the plain, fundamental, powerful fact that he wanted her.

He lifted her hips and pulled them against him, taking her in one quick, feverish movement.

Her back arched and her whole body shuddered. Her face spoke of the pleasure, peppered with pain that she felt. Her voice rang out around him and his teeth gnashed in his mouth. Her bashfulness evaporated along with his resolve to keep his instincts in check. They moved with each other, in sync, both losing a little more of themselves in every moment. She threw her arms around his neck and lifted herself up against him. He slammed his hand into the wall, using his hold on it to support their weight. He raked the talons of his other hand down the center of her back, making her arch her body against him and giving him more range of motion. She called out his name, and the sound of it sent him reeling. She reached down and tugged on his hips, demanding he move faster, and he instinctively complied.

Garrus felt the tension in her building, heard the ecstasy in her voice coming to an apex. His talons cracked the drywall as his staccato movements intensified. Her back arched and she moved her hand to her mouth, biting the back of it as if she was trying to stop herself from calling out. He would have none of that.

He took her wrist in his free hand and pinned it above her head.

"No," he growled.

"But… I-"

He sneered viciously through his teeth and the rumble in his chest sent vibrations coursing through her. She tossed her head back, her whole body arching as she moaned. He leaned into her, tucking his face against her neck and baring his teeth as he trailed them lightly down her skin. He could feel her body quake which incited his own reaction, their bodies meeting a final few, furious times. He moaned against her throat as his frenzy eased away, and both of their bodies slowed in unison.

He pressed both of his hands flat to the bed in an attempt to hold himself up. He was weakened, however, as he looked down at her and his arms trembled with the effort of holding his weight. He fell to one side, buckling an elbow so he could support himself on it. He leaned down to her, lightly pressing his brow to hers and moving his other hand to hold her face.

Their chests heaved in unison as they forced out their tired breaths. He could feel the sweat dripping down his throat and saw how her skin was also glistening. He lowered his face to kiss down the length of her throat, and he felt her smile as she relaxed into the bed.

He rolled over her to lie on his back, and worked his arm under her to pull her against his side. She looked up at him, her eyes fluttering as she tried to keep them open.

"Hey, Ugly," she breathed.

"Hey, Bug," he said with a smile.

Garrus had never seen her fall asleep so fast, though it shouldn't have surprised him. She was already exhausted before the night started. Still, he couldn't help but chalk it up as a win. It seemed like species didn't matter; a satisfied woman did wonders for his pride.

This woman, especially.

He laughed to himself and combed his fingers through her hair, resting his face against the top of her head and exhaling a contented sigh. He drifted into sleep, her scent all around him, the feel of her silken skin against him, listening to her heartbeat and her steady breathing.

As they slept there, in each other's arms, it was a peace that neither of them had ever known. The mission, the past, the dangers; none of it mattered. There was nowhere either of them would have rather been, and nothing that would take this bliss away from them.

There they slept, together; two pieces finally of the same whole.