The Show Must Go On (Audition Hers)
"Natalia Zorah what have you talked my imaginary brother into?"
They laugh about it now but once upon a time Tali thought that her best friend Solana didn't have a brother. After all he was never around. Always at this magical "away" land that wasn't on the Citadel. And he never visited. All Solana had were pictures. And really, they could just be of any random turian. Tali honestly thought that Solana was jealous that she had a sibling, a younger brother named Adrian, and that Solana didn't. Thus the whole fake older brother who is always away thing. But Solana swore up and down she had an older brother. Tali had just said they could share Adrian as a sibling until Solana's brother came home.
When you're eight that sort of logic works. The girls shared everything as it was anyways when they could and still did to this day. They were sisters in everything but biology. After all, Tali was a quarian and Solana was a turian. But they shared an unrivaled passion for dance which is how they met. Tali got in due to family connections backing up her abilities while Solana danced her way to a scholarship.
And it was that scholarship that kept them together over the years. The Zorah Dance Theatre Troup is highly prestigious and just as expensive. However they did put on free performances now and again. Granted one needed to reserve their ticket if anyone wanted a chance to get in but it was still free to the public.
It would be at one of those free performances that Tali finally met Solana's fabled older brother but she didn't know it at the time. It wasn't until several weeks afterwards when she was at Solana's house one weekend she would put together that Solana's brother was the same turian that had rescued 108 people from the bombed out and burning theatre. At the time she was far more occupied being terrified and hiding in a closet with Solana after the explosion occurred.
She's not above admitting that she immediately developed a crush on him. Tall handsome guy rescues you from an inferno, what's not to crush on? But she kept it to herself. He was her best friend's brother. She was pretty sure there were rules against this sort of thing. The best friend's brother thing. It didn't even enter her mind just how much older he was and that pitfall until a few years down the road.
That's not to say she didn't try her hand at seducing him. Or attempt to try to seduce him. Yeah it's as embarrassing now as it was back then. There was the attempts that included make up. Far far too much make up. And the sheerest veil that she thought that she could get away with. He did notice though. He made a comment about her using too much foundation. And that she really didn't need that much make up. Or any at all. She was pretty enough to attract the attention of any boy she wanted. He thought both of them were.
They were 15 then and that was when Solana suspected something about her best friend. A few months later Tali changed up her oh so subtle approach methods by switching to using clothing. Or really, a lack of it. That too ended in disappointing results. She wore tighter, more form fitting clothing that really flaunted her assets whenever she was over at the Vakarian household. Her parents would have killed her if they knew she even owned such clothes, so Tali kept a few choice sets of clothes in Solana's room just to throw on whenever he was home. All he said was that Solana and her turian ways must really be rubbing off on her.
That might seem an odd thing to say but it made sense. Turians aren't big fans of clothing when they are in a private setting. Clothing is nothing more than a superfluous vanity. In the turian civilization, clothing came about as a means of showing off wealth or to combat climate conditions. Later it was used as a faster means of clan identification. Add in the fact that turians were an avian species and thus their sexual organs are internal. Turians felt no need to cover up things that were already covered up. So in the privacy of a home, clothing wasn't needed to do any of those things. Tali's flaunting strip teases, for lack of a better description, were thus just seen as her feeling comfortable in the Vakarian household. And so no one batted an eye at her revealing wardrobe. This of course was very disappointing to the young quarian. She had thought about removing her veil but she was already pushing the limits of her comfort zone by wearing extremely sheer veils when she was at the Vakarian's.
Quarians, both male and female, covered their faces at all times. Whether done with scarves, masks, huge visors, helmets or veils, the face was obscured in some fashion. This even carried over to the home where the only place one didn't hide their face was in the privacy of the washroom or their sleeping room. This practice stemmed from the quarians ancient past when merchants were cross the great plains of Rannoch on long trade routes. Then it was a simple practical matter of covering up under the hot sun. Later it became somewhat spiritual.
Being the expert traders that they were, quarians traded in everything under the sun up to and including their very selves. According to legend, one such merchant had sold themselves into slavery for a period of time and had covered their face for the entire time. When the contract was up, the slave's former master asked why they had kept their face covered up. The slave had famously replied, "You bought my body, not my soul."
So while every species faces are used to identify individuals, for quarians the face is a very deep and personal thing. Showing all of your face, unobstructed in any way, to someone was an extremely intimate thing. You were after all, literally bearing your soul to someone. So while Tali's make up gambit had required that she wear a sheer enough veil so that all her work could be seen, she still was wearing a veil.
Tali had been crushed and moped for a week after the failed clothing experiment. It was enough that Solana had point blank asked her what had made her so sad. Growing up with a turian had made a few things rub off on Tali, including that terrible never lying thing. So Tali told Solana about her crush on Solana's older brother. Solana ended up falling off the bed because she was laughing so hard. Tali had responded by hitting her with a pillow. Solana naturally didn't let this go unanswered and a pillow fight broke out between the two teens. It was juvenile but it was fun and sometimes simple fun is what's needed to cure a bad mood.
A simple pillow fight couldn't lift Tali's spirits later that year. That summer Solana had been shipped off to basic training to start her mandatory 8 years of military service period. For the first time Tali was without her best friend for more than a few days. She coped with it by moping around at the Vakarian's from time to time. Mostly times that coincided with him being there. After a few weeks he had gotten fed up with her offered to teach her self defense to give her something to do that summer since she clearly had too much free time.
The first few lessons were private. Just the two of them in the Zorah family gym. And at first Tali really did throw herself into the training. Self defense is a great skill to have after all. But those lessons also meant she found herself in the strong arms of a certain turian. For a few seconds she would get to feel safe in his embrace. Then she'd feel his arms tense and he'd try to throw her to the ground while she was supposed to get out of his hold. Most of the time she ended up on the matted floor.
But she learned. Eventually she wasn't spending so much time on the floor. And she also learned how to buy herself a few extra seconds of safe time in certain situations. She was a towering 6'2" by then which was good because he was an even more towering 6'6". Whenever he was behind her this meant that all she had to do was tilt her torso forwards a little and her rear would be firmly pressed up against the front of his pelvic region. Doing that usually bought her about 2 more seconds of upright time as it were. On some level those 2 seconds made her very happy. On another level it did sort of piss her off.
Now Tali isn't vain but she knew for a fact that she had one fine ass. After her long tone legs, her ass was her best physical feature. A few asari classmates had told her so. It made her feel better about her lack of a bust to know that she still had some very appealing characteristics. To only get 2 seconds worth of reaction from him was both gratifying and insulting. At the time she was convinced that her little gesture was supposed to lead to more. How that was supposed to come pass she wasn't sure. But at the time she used to dream that somehow her little gesture would unhinge his restraint and they'd end up making love right there on the gym floor.
However, life doesn't work like a teenager's fantasies. Most definitely for the better. That is not to say that he wasn't affected. They never said a word about it but every now and again he may or may not have leaned a little into her. And she may or may not have felt a distinct bulge where one had not been before. And that is how their first few lesson's were. Plain and simple with an undercurrent of some physical flirtation and a heaping dose of underlying sexual tension.
Fortunately any flushed looks and heavy breathing could be explained away as just part of the physical work they were doing. Doubly fortunate is the fact that turian males are notoriously hard to the point of actual deployment as it were. That bulge Tali had become accustom to feeling would have been impossible to see from any distance.
Their dangerous game continued like that until she screwed it up. Maybe if she hadn't been so bold or taken smaller steps things would have continued.
On that particular day he was teaching her to get a position called The Mount. It's where you straddle your opponents chest with your knees in their ribs while you pummel on their face. And he was teaching her to get there from what was their normal standing position. Her back melded his front. The pretense of even a little space between them had quickly been dropped. She had pressed herself flush against him and he hadn't rebuked her.
He'd throw her down and try to mount her. All she had to do was flip over onto her back. When he came at her she would open up her legs and capture him between powerful thighs, locking her ankles behind his back. This kept him from getting further up her body and gave her control of the fight. It also let her press herself right up against him. From there she was to flip them over so that he was the one on his back. Then she had to shimmy up a little and she was in the mount.
Of course this is all easier said than done. Even when you are concentrating on just that alone. She wasn't. So it took until the end of the lesson until she finally did it properly. Now a few things should be noted about this position. First and foremost it allowed her to look into his eyes, something she rarely did as she was almost never facing him during a lesson. From her perch atop him she could look down and see astonishment give way to pride. But underneath that pride was restrained arousal. He may have been most gallant about keeping things mostly harmless but she had never really seen the effect of her handiwork had on him. It should have frightened her. Instead it empowered her. She shimmied her hips back down to his and ground.
He should have made her stop immediately. He really should have. But she had a way of clouding his mind. And it had a been a while. A long, long while since anyone had done anything like that to him. And honestly, the fact that the usually sweet and innocent Tali was doing such an overt action of that nature had shocked him into none action. He could argue away the previous level of physical contact they had had with each other as necessary for teaching. He couldn't with this.
The second thing that the mount is that it put her on top of him, leaning over him. Now she had long red hair that went down to her should blades. Whenever she was doing something like dancing or her lessons with him she would put it up in a bun or braid. On that day it had been in a bun. Had being the key word. All that throwing around meant that her hair was completely loose by this point so that when she leaned down towards his face her hair created this curtain around them that shut the world.
More importantly this move meant that he had a clear view of her face. The front flap of her veil obeyed gravity and swung forwards with her when she leaned down and pressed her lips to his. It's a common belief that turians don't have any lips and thus don't kiss. She knows for a fact that they do have very thin lips and that they do kiss. She knows because he kissed back.
It was then that his phone went off with a preset alarm signaling that their lesson was over. She breathlessly dismounted him, made her way to her room, and took a really long shower.
After that lessons were different. He had invited her younger brother Adrian to join in the self defense lessons. And Adrian invited a few friends so the class size grew. Word got around the neighborhood and by the end of that summer he was teaching a class of some 30 kids how to defend themselves in a fight.
It's not that they didn't talk about what happened. In between that lesson and the next they had a little chat about it. He was very turian about it. Laid out why they couldn't let anything like that happen again. He even showed her a copy of all the laws that he would be breaking if he let things get to the natural conclusion of any continued activity in that light. He explained about how he still cared for her and didn't hate her or anything like that. He thought she was just acting on hormones and that it was perfectly normal for a girl her age. But it wasn't for a man his age and he had to be the adult.
So he removed himself from the equation by making sure they weren't alone in such close proximity any more. He had had a chat with her father mentioning that it might be a good idea for Adrian to start learning self defense as well. Sure Adrian as only 13 at the time but it was never too early to start. Turians started learning at age 6 after all.
Tali kept herself together for the entire conversation and even that day that she spent over at the Vakarian's place. Her mother was grooming her to take over the management of the family business and as such Tali was a bit more mature than girls her age. She had to be to put up with all the demands her family put on her. Part of her spending so much time at the Vakarian's was to decompress and get away from all that at her own home.
However, it came in handy in that particular conversation. She was able to recognize that he was doing what was best for both of them. She was legally a child for 7 more years and nothing could happen between them. It just couldn't. She knew that an unbridled burst of passion like she had had could ruin him. He'd be sent off to a penal battalion and they'd never see each other again. Those were the facts.
That's not to say that there wasn't a part of her that wanted to scream that she loved him and they could run away together. She had the credit card her father gave her so they would have that for money. They could go somewhere far away where no one knew them. Later that night when she thought over that plan she did come to realize just how stupid it sounded and was grateful that she had had the presence of mind not to say any of that. 7 years. She could wait that long. She just had to make sure he did too.
Now relationships are more than just two people being physical with each other. They are based on trust, love, support, understanding and a whole plethora of other factors. Which is why most couples that succumb to the physical attraction to each other often break up if their relationship can't transcend from being purely physical. If the relationship removes the physical portion entirely, there is nothing left but all the other factors. And that is what she set out to build upon.
With Solana gone Tali spent her free time with him. It was always somewhere public. If she went over to the Vakarian's and it was just the two of them, he would simply go to his room, one of the few places in the house she wasn't allowed to go. So they went out on things that were not dates. He taught her how to shoot a rifle. She taught him how to swim. They went rock climbing, hiking, built an omni tool from scratch, even went fishing on the Presidium.
When Solana came back at the end of the summer their not dates both did and didn't end. They weren't as nearly as frequent as they were. Which made sense. He had work like always except Tali had things like school once again. And spent most of her free time with Solana. So maybe once a month their schedules would sync up and the three of them might go out and do something.
And that is how it was as the years counted down. They developed a real relationship and she was infinitely happy with what they had. Not that she wasn't itching for more but she was content with what they had.
Part of the benefits of having a turian as a best friend is that they will let you order things on the extranet and have it shipped to their house instead of yours. So that's how Tali managed to get her hands on something that would help scratch that particular itch. If that package had come to her house she would have had the universe's most embarrassing conversation with her mother. Again. So thanks to the wonders of the extranet that particular package was shipped to the Vakarian house with Solana's name on it.
Now due to what can only be considered poor timing, Solana opened the package in eyeshot of her parents and brother. Now having finished basic Solana was an adult but that didn't stop her mother from having a conversation with her daughter. Now turians don't lie but Solana never told anyone that she hadn't ordered that package. Her family just assumed, so Solana never had to say that Tali had ordered a turian toy. That's not to say she handed it over free of charge. She held it hostage until Tali bought her a ridiculously expensive silk dress that she had coveted for years.
If she was ever tempted to stray off herself proclaimed path it was during her early apprentice years. She had continued to develop as a fine young woman and was asked out a lot. She did go out on dates with some interesting young men. Mostly quarians but there were a few turians and even a human. And they were interesting with all sorts of backgrounds. But she always compared them to him and they always were found wanting. Perhaps if she hadn't known him she would have married one of her suitors.
But word gets around. She wasn't easy and wasn't cheap and her height intimidated some people. So after her first year of apprenticeship date offers dried up considerably. Which didn't bother her. She became rather busy with her studies and liked to spend her little free time at the Vakarian's. All date offers stopped completely her second year. That is when she started to attend the C-Sec annual gala as his date.
Well maybe more as his piece of arm candy since they certainly weren't dating. And she certainly wasn't there because she had heard from Adrian some of the stories he had heard of Vakarian the younger schmoozing with rich old ladies. Okay to be fair the women were his around his age but that didn't stop her from being jealous of them. But she would rise above.
She did a little research and saw just how much he did pull in at this donation event. And so she helped him out. Getting donations for the Theatre was something she was learning to do and so she unleashed every weapon in her arsenal to help him do just that for C-sec.
Of course it wasn't a matter of just showing up as his not date at event he had famously gone stag to for years. Fortunately she did have an in. Adrian, as a rookie and a quarian, was being forced to go by Executor Vakarian as an example of interspecies cooperation and professional development. Now he could have just as easily gone stag like his mentor but Tali wasn't going to have it. Adrian needed a date. And Solana was going to be that date. Adrian caved because she was his big sister and she knew how to get him to do things. And because he knew what she was after and she would be insufferable if he denied her. One thing that Adrian had learned long ago was that his sister always go what she wanted in the end. Life was just easier if you gave it to her up front.
Solana on the other hand did not agree as meekly as Adrian had. Now the Vakarians do rather well for themselves and Solana was never without growing up. But the Zorahs had money. Which meant that Tali had money. Always had. It wasn't something that the girls abused and it was never an issue in their friendship. But sometimes, on very rare occasions Solana took advantage of Tali's near limitless funds. The C-Sec gala was one such occurrence.
It's not to say Tali didn't let herself enjoy the spa treatments, shopping spree, and the profession hair and makeup appointments that Solana insisted on. And the end result can't be argued with. Adrian was tongue tied from the house to the gala. Garrus had recovered from being rendered speechless much sooner and complimented her, telling her she looked gorgeous.
She did not swoon. No matter what Solana says Tali stoutly refused to admit that she swooned then. Nor did she swoon any other time that evening he told her how beautiful she looked. She did not blush either. Nope. Not once. Definitely didn't blush. Especially at the end of the night when he thanked her for all her help and reached out and took her hands and gave them a squeeze. It's such an innocent gesture but it meant a lot to her.
It was represented hope that she wasn't unrequited. Maybe she was reading too much into it but she let herself have that hope. She let herself hope a little more when he used the prize money he earned for being the top earner at the gala to take her out on a very nice dinner as a thank you.
For his 40th birthday she helped Solana throw a small family party for him. In return he managed to get tickets to a midnight premier of Fleet and Flotilla. He only managed a pair of tickets so only the girls went but he escorted them to and from that screening.
Right around the time of their meeting, Fleet and Flotilla the book series had launched itself onto the galactic stage. As silly as it sounds, racism in media is still very much a things. Certain species could only be portrayed in certain fashions otherwise editors nixed the work. Above all, interspecies couples were just not a thing in the media. Even though it was perfectly okay in real life, the media lived in its own special little world.
So when a completely unknown author self publishes a book featuring a mixed species romance makes it big, the universe takes notice. Tali and Solana read the first book right after the bombing and had completely fallen in love with the series. They were both beside themselves when he got gave them their tickets to the movie.
Not long after that things got a little crazy. There was a salarian civil war that spilled onto the Citadel. Fighting was mostly contained to the salarian section of the Citadel but that didn't stop C-Sec personnel from getting hurt or even killed during the upheaval. As with every good civil war comes militia groups and with militia groups comes untrained combatants that don't play by the rules. And part of those rules include not bombing third parties.
A salarian C-Sec officer sympathetic to one of the groups had planted a bomb at a check point to the salarian sector. By chance Garrus and Adrian were headed off to lunch and walking by the check point when the bomb went off. All things considered, they were extremely lucky. Apart from being riddled with shrapnel they both lost their hearing. Both were rendered deaf by the explosion.
Now given the day and age they lived in, this was reversible through the power of omnigel and modern technology. Omnigel wasn't a miracle cure but it did help with the healing process. And one simply didn't just put in hearing implants and call it a day. There was a long drawn out procedure to it as Tali later found out.
She spent a little time at the hospital where the boys were laid up. She wasn't allowed to see Garrus because she wasn't family but she naturally visited her brother with her family. Once she found out their diagnosis she met up with Solana and they both threw themselves into research.
They read up on side effects, they looked at hearing aids, they learned sign language and made the boys learn it as well. Though they would eventually get their hearing restored, it was a long 4 months before that could happen. Til then Tali was very insistent that everyone learn sign language.
Thanks to biology, turian and quarian sign language was rather similar. And thanks to both species being space faring and in contact with each other for so long, there was an unified sign language. It wasn't perfect since quarian had a few letters that turian didn't and it's amazingly hard to sign subharmonics that make up a lot of turian speech. It can be done but signing a word that had subharmonics was a rather lengthy process.
She convinced her parents that making Adrian learn sign would be a competitive edge for his C-Sec career. It would set him apart from other officers and show that he wasn't just being lazy during his medical leave period. So that her brother a private tutor. Tali would sit in and learn the lesson as well. Then she'd go to the Vakarian's and teach them the lesson she had just learned herself. It made for some really long days and she was rather grateful when they got their hearing back.
Adrian got straight implants which were top of the line. C-Sec insurance doesn't go that high so Garrus got hearing aids. They got the job done and he had the added benefit of being able to take his out and shut out the world. He had become rather comfortable with the silence over time and enjoyed having the ability to block out people.
Life returned to normal and time marched on by. Tali saw more and more responsibility given to her and she took it in stride. She enjoyed her apprenticeship but was immensely glad when it finally ended. She was just as glad when her birthday rolled around not long after.
In accordance with tradition, her family threw a huge party. It was her coming out party, signaling the end of her childhood. There were tons of presents from family and friends and the multitude of strangers that were invited. The upper class never miss out on a social occasion and her birthday was the occasion of the season this year. Of course it was good for networking and so she put up with it. She was more than capable of working a room, just like she did at the C-Sec gala every year.
She did invite the Vakarian's to the party. Solana was there early to help her get all dressed up. They braided her hair up into a crown top her head so that it hid the circlet that held her veil in place. They put on some light make up and even some dark red lip stick. And finally they got her into a deep blue satin evening gown. It was a little bold, going in a backless and strapless gown but she was an adult now. She could do that.
Executor and Mrs. Vakarian came with the sea of guests when the party kicked off. He showed up fashionably late and made quite the entrance. Now everyone gets announced at these sorts of parties when they get there. But as one would expect, the drone of the announcer plus the buzz of the party itself all just sorts of melts to the background so unless you are paying particular attention, the announcement gets lost in a sea of noise.
However, once the stream of guests dies down and a new guest gets announced, that announcement has a way of cutting through the noise of the party. So when a Commander Garrus Vakarian arrived, people took notice for a moment. And it would have only been a momentary notice if she hadn't done something later that evening.
She of course heard the announcement but she couldn't exactly rush off to greet him. She was too busy listening to older women give her advice about everything under the sun. And everything under the moon too, which was rather embarrassing. Mercifully she was rescued by her father.
Tradition stated that the coming of age adult danced with one of their parents. In this case, Tali danced with her father in what was known as the "Last Dance." It was suppose to symbolize that the child had grown up and was on their own now. The dance floor was cleared and guests watched Tali waltz with her father. And while that was going on, young men lined the edge of the dance floor.
After the Last Dance came the "First Dance", which was supposed to symbolized the new adult's first independent decision. It also had a romantic place in quarian lore of being where many great love stories started. So would be suitors lined the dance area hoping to catch her eye while she danced with her father. Of course it didn't mean she was engaged to the fellow she picked or anything like that. Sometimes First Dances were picked for political reasons or because the new adult felt safe with someone or for shock value.
Tali had seen First Dances where it had been arranged just to get two companies' names in the paper. She'd seen one of her cousins come of the closet on her First Dance. And she'd seen quite a few people dance with siblings. Siblings were the safe, acceptable choice and would have been Tali's fall back if he had failed to show up. She had thought about dancing with Solana for a laugh but too many people would have read into it in the wrong way.
Thankfully, he did show up and had easily pushed his way to the front of the audience. He looked very handsome in his dark green suit, with a board of ribbons on one breast and a cluster of medals on the other. It really made him standout against the others in military uniforms. Young lieutenants with only a few ribbons that everyone got.
After her sedated Last Dance with her father Tali bee lined towards Garrus. She didn't even go through the charade of pretending to contemplate her choices. She knew from having dance with him before that he could dance. So she ordered up a tango and they set that dance floor on fire.
Afterwards the party resumed. Dinner was served and the dance floor was now open to all. Tali was whisked away to talk to various people. She spotted him now and again which was easy since he was a full head taller than most guests. He'd be talking with various other guests. Mostly the older military types. The younger ones seemed to avoid him for some reason.
It wasn't until after midnight she managed to get a moment to breathe. She had slipped away to one of the balconies on the second floor of the ball room. Her folks had naturally rented out the biggest and most expensive hotel to throw this party.
"So this is where you ran off to."
Tali turned her head to see Garrus close the door to the balcony, shutting out the music and chatter of the party and leaving them with the natural sounds of the Citadel during the night cycle.
"Yeah. I need a little break."
"Well I haven't had a chance to say happy birthday yet. So happy birthday Natalia." Garrus said as he walked up to her with his arms open.
Tali gladly stepped into the hug he offered her and hugged him back. Hugs had been deemed safe long ago and were perfectly normal. They didn't last very long but they were always pleasant to receive.
When he didn't step away from her and let the hug continue Tali let the reprimand she had been preparing die in her throat. She had planned on chiding him for calling her 'Natalia' as she much preferred 'Tali'. She couldn't let him know that she really did like it when he said her name. Very few people used her full name so it was special when someone did. Especially when he did it.
"I have to apologize to you. I forgot to bring your present to the party."
She felt him speak as such as she heard him. She had tucked her head under his chin and had her ear against the base of this throat.
"Oh." Was her disappointed reply. "Is this suppose to make up for that?"
She was disappointed, yes. Here she was on a star lit balcony, alone and in the romantic embrace of the man she deeply care for. She wasn't expecting to immediately jump him now that she was an adult and thus legal. She wasn't ready for that and besides they had never even talked about it. They were just them and their relationship just existed as what it was. He kept a certain distance between them and she did her best to challenge that distance in small ways. So she'd been rather delighted with this embrace until now.
Garrus pulled back a little so he could look down at her as he gently placed a talon under her chin to get her to look at him. "You look so amazing this evening." He breathed. "But this," he gestured between them, "this is just us. I got you a box of those turian chocolates you like so much. Forgot them in my room." He said pulling her back into the deeper embrace.
"Oh." Was her reply once more. This time she had said it with a mix of surprise and contentment. This was his way of accepting them and she was alright with that. They just had to work out what they were exactly. But they could do that now. And so they held each other in a comfortable silence until Tali broke it.
"Kiss me."
"Natalia."
"Please? Just once. It's my birthday."
They'd pulled apart once more to be able to look at each other. He didn't say anything as he searched her eyes with his.
"Please." Tali begged. She hadn't meant to but the silence was killing her as was his inaction. But that seemed to do the trick because one of his hands was on her neck, guiding her head just a little to the side as he leaned down to give her what she asked for. It was a good thing he already had an arm around her waist because by the end of their kiss he was helping to keep her standing.
She was left literally breathless at the end when he tucked her back into what was her spot in their embrace once again. They just stood there listening to each other's breathe slow down to a much more normal pace.
"You look really dashing. I didn't know you had this uniform." She said running a finger over one of the medals that was in her line of sight.
"Solana hid my C-Sec dress uniform and had laid this out for me. I can technically wear it no problem but I really should be wearing C-Sec colors. Dad will give me an earful in the morning."
Tali laughed. "Well you would have looked dashing in your C-Sec dress uniform as well. Just not as many doodads."
"I think that is why Solana hid my C-Sec uniform. She knew I had more 'doodads' on this old uniform." Garrus mused.
"I'll have to thank her then."
"Don't that will only encourage her."
"I know."
They couldn't stay hidden away forever so they had to return to the party. They managed a few more dances together before the party was over.
Things didn't change overnight but there was a very gradual change. They went found themselves alone more and more though their routine didn't change much. What did change is that Solana was giving them lots of space and she more often than not made sure that Adrian gave them their space too.
Now over the years Tali had been building up her own network of contacts and had worked a few small projects here and there. Her pet project had been in the works for a few years and had been waiting for her to reach the age of majority. After she did she launched her project in earnest, gathering up directors, special effects people, sound, filming, producers, and everything else that was necessary.
She just needed actors now. So she had coerced him into using up one of his personal days to audition for her new TV show Mass Effect.
A/N: I have just moved to a new country, gotten a new job and a new apartment. While everything settles down I hope you have enjoyed my stress writing. I've had this plot bunny for a while. It's nice to see it finally make it onto electrons.