Rigel woke up in smooth sheets with a warm, welcome presence pressing into him.
"Morning." Tela said quietly, shifting to press her forehead into his shoulder from where she lay on her side. She must have woken up before him.
"Morning." Rigel said back, pressing a light kiss into her forehead.
Rigel and Tela had been in her home for close to a month now. The days had fallen into a routine. Rigel would school Tela on Stasis and help her control her new abilities in the day, then the two would relax in the evening, often leading to intimate moments.
It had been literal centuries since RIgel was intimate with anyone. Tela made him feel comfortable, safe, cared for. Rigel still felt guilt for the misfortune that befell Tela as a result of entering his mind, but Tela had told him time and again that she didn't blame him. He still blamed himself, but he didn't allow himself to wallow, especially not when Tela regularly touched his mind.
What felt like years ago, Nova had forced Rigel to watch that documentary on Asari courting habits and sexual practices but words insufficient to describe the feeling of melding. It was as if every nerve ending in his body was struck by lightning at the same time while he simultaneously felt each nerve ending in Tela's body undergo the same phenomenon. Their minds had briefly touched, but neither of them explored too deeply, their focus too consumed by the heat of the moment, but Rigel wanted it to happen again. He wanted to share the things he'd seen with her and wanted her to share her experiences with him. Rigel couldn't remember ever wanting to connect with someone on the level he did with Tela. It was nice. He felt safe, wanted.
"Last night was really nice." Tela said, burrowing her forehead into his chest, her crests brushing up against Rigel's chin.
"Yes. Yes, it was."
"Click!" a third voice yelled happily as a bright flash lit up the bed. Rigel and Tela cringed away from the light as Nova cackled aloud. "Ahahahaha! Blackmail material!"
Tela grunted irritably and sat up to smack Nova with a pillow. Nova moved with the blow, giving the illusion the pillow strike had actually done something to the paracausal entity, before disappearing with one last laugh.
Tela sighed. "There's my plan to lay in bed and cuddle all day thoroughly shot to hell."
Rigel sat up and pulled Tela against him, pressing his cheek into the crests atop Tela's head. "Who says we can't start over?"
"It's no good now." Tela complained, going limp as she laid her weight into Rigel. "I'm fully awake now. All the vids say cuddling works best when you're half-asleep."
"You watched vids on proper cuddling technique?"
"I was a lonely Spectre trying to make myself feel better by planning out all the ways I was going to do everything I knew I would never actually get the chance to do. Let's just forget I said anything and move on." Tela finished with a huff, pulling away from Rigel to swing her legs over the bed and stretch.
Rigel reached out to run a hand down her back. "You're beautiful."
Tela snorted, turning to look at him over her shoulder. "You're not so bad yourself."
"Must…Escape…Cheesy…Organic…Romance…" Nova croaked dramatically, her shell jolting with each word as she slowly drifted towards the door. Tela threw another pillow at her.
Nova laughed as the pillow bounced off her, floating over to the duo. "So! Where should I post this?" Nova projected an image of the picture she took of the two of them cuddling. The sheet was high enough to preserve their modesty but not high enough to hide the happy smiles on each of their faces. "I was thinking I should drop it on this messaging board I found detailing all of the great 'Spectre Vasir's' exploits. I mean, this is a pretty serious exploit if you know what I'm saying."
Tela sighed, rubbing her forehead as she said, "You're not going to do this every time we fuck, are you?"
"Nah. I just felt the need to commemorate this occasion because you both looked so cute. I'm sure you'll always remember it…especially when the supercomputer that lives in your boyfriend's brain randomly projects a picture of you cuddling while you're giving interviews in your capacity as a super serious Spectre."
Tela's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare."
Nova didn't say anything, just laughed low and menacingly.
Rigel flicked Nova's shell, causing her to whirl on him and scrunch her shell at him. "What was that for?"
"Play nice, Nova. Please don't scare off the nice lady that really likes me."
"Oh, Rigel, I won't scare her off. She likes you too much for that. More to the point, I'm so proud of you!" Nova proclaimed, flying above Rigel to pat him on the head. From where Tela was sitting, it looked like a floating, misshapen rock was slamming itself up and down onto Rigel's head repeatedly.
Nova sniffed dramatically as if she'd been crying. "My baby boy's all grown up. Why, it feels like just yesterday that–"
"Alright, this somehow went from awkward to tedious." Tela said dryly, standing off the bed and beginning to pull her clothes on. "I'm going to go start some breakfast." she said, pulling Rigel's shirt over her head as she walked towards the door.
"That one's mine, Tela." Rigel said.
Tela stopped in the door and frowned at him. "I know. This is supposed to be some sort of ritual that girlfriends enjoy. I'm trying it out. If I don't like it, you can have your shirt back after breakfast." She turned and left without another word.
Nova snorted. "She's almost as bad at this as you are."
"Truly, your support is the only thing that keeps me going, Nova." Rigel said dryly.
Nova slowly floated up in front of Rigel. "Seriously, Rigel, I'm happy for you. I'm glad you're taking this step, and I'm glad it's making you happy. You deserve it."
Rigel smiled at his ghost. "Thanks, partner." He lifted his fist up. Nova gently bumped her shell into his fist, then vanished in a flash of blue light. Rigel hopped off the bed and pulled his pants on, following Tela downstairs to the kitchen.
"What's the preliminary analysis on the girlfriend shirt wearing ritual?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen.
Tela had her back to Rigel as she powered on the stove. Without turning around, she quietly said, "It's nice. It smells like you, feels like I'm being hugged."
Rigel smiled and walked up behind her, wrapping his arms around her in a loose hug.
Tela hummed happily, leaning back into him. "This is better."
"What's on the itinerary for today?"
Tela closed her eyes, laying her head back on Rigel, her crests hooking over his shoulder. "Stasis lessons, right? I know you said I was getting good, but good isn't enough."
"You've got everything under control now, and that's the most important thing. Combat effectiveness will come with time." Tela had dedicated herself to Rigel's lessons with fierce determination, and the results spoke for themselves. She was in control of her powers now. While there was still room for improvement, Rigel felt confident she'd be able to use them in combat.
"Good. That means we can stay in bed all day."
"I thought you said you were too awake for cuddles."
"Cuddles? Who said anything about cuddles? I think we've both earned a day full of screwing."
Rigel chuckled, planting a kiss on Tela's crests from behind. "I am certainly up for that.
"Good. Let's eat then…" Tela's eyes snapped open as her omni-tool lit up on her arm. She frowned as she pressed a command and said, "Shepard."
"Tela. Saw that show you and Aria put on in Alunya. You've got the entire galaxy tripping over themselves to get ships made." Shepard's voice spoke from Tela's omni-tool.
Tela scowled. "It was Aria's play. Rigel and I just made sure she didn't have an accident on the way back to her ship."
"Either way, good job. You did more in one afternoon than I could do in years."
"Did you call just to tell me that?"
"No. The Normandy's upgrades are done, and I've fulfilled my obligations to my crew. We're ready to meet up with you and Rigel to hit that Collector ship that tried to trap you on Ilos. I'm sending you coordinates to a rendezvous point."
"Negative, Shepard." Rigel said, leaning over Tela's shoulder to speak into her omni-tool. "We don't know if hitting the ship will give us a limited window to hit the Collectors' main base, and I don't want us taking two ships through the Omega-4 relay." Rigel, Tela and Nova had discussed the possibility on Mercury, but had ultimately decided that a single ship would be better for infiltrating, and the Normandy was a better choice for an operation that needed to put troops on the ground. The Blind Well was tailored for space combat, not working as a dropship.
"I can see the logic. Where do you want to meet then?"
"The Citadel." Tela said. "We can leave the Blind Well in Anderson and Tevos's care and join you on the Normandy. Assuming you'd have us?"
"Both of you are welcome on my ship any time. Just refrain from unshackling any more AI without warning me."
"Will do." Nova said, appearing next to Tela's arm. "I'll run stuff by you in the future."
"Good. If you have any last minute stops to make, now's the time."
"We don't." Tela said. "We'll see you at the Citadel."
"I'll meet you there. Shepard out." the call disconnected.
Tela sighed, shutting off the stove and reaching up to hold onto Rigel's arm. "So much for screwing all day."
"It'll take a few hours to get to the Citadel. I can fly if you two want to inspect each other's quarters." Nova said suggestively.
"In the future, please refer to sex as sex." Tela said, sounding exasperated. "I don't want to know what other euphemisms you've come up with."
"But saying 'sex' doesn't get a rise out of you. What's the point of you two being a thing if I can't make you embarrassed?" Nova protested.
Tela shook her head. "Let's just get going. The sooner we get to the Citadel, the sooner we can blow the Collectors to hell."
"I can get behind that." Rigel said, following Tela towards the door.
"I thought you were getting behind Tela?" Nova said slyly.
"Goddess, Nova, you'd think you were the horny one here." Tela said, exasperated.
"Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting to tease Rigel about his romantic partner? I have multiple blocks in my memory set aside for raunchy jokes I've thought up."
"Put them on hold until the Reapers are dealt with, then you can tease to your heart's content." Rigel said tiredly.
"I'll hold you to that. I'm gonna get the ship ready to launch." Nova said, disappearing a moment later.
Rigel followed Tela out the door and stood with her while she punched some commands into the terminal in the wall. The lights shut off and the door locked when Tela inputted a code. Tela sighed, pressing her hand against the wall.
"What's wrong?" Rigel asked.
Tela shook her head. "Nothing. This just might be the last time I can spend the night here. If we can't stop the Reapers before they get to Thessia, the odds aren't very good on this place being in one piece when I get back."
Rigel hugged Tela from behind. "If that happens, we'll find a new place."
Tela turned to look at Rigel, a smirk on her face. "Already asking me to move in, Rigel? You're not afraid we're moving too fast?"
Rigel raised an eyebrow. "Well, it's not like we haven't been sharing space inside each other's heads for the last month."
"True. Now come on. Nova volunteered to fly, so I want to take advantage of every second it takes us to get to the Citadel." Tela said, grabbing Rigel's hand and dragging him towards the ship.
Rigel let himself be led along with a smile on his face.
X
The trip to the Citadel took just under five hours. Tela was able to coordinate with Tevos to get the Blind Well docked in a private docking bay. It shouldn't be touched until they got back, but even if it was, the defensive upgrades on it would stop anyone from being able to do anything to it.
Once the Blind Well was locked up, Rigel and Tela made their way down to the main docking bay. The Normandy and her crew were already there waiting for them.
"Tela, Rigel." Shepard greeted. She, Garrus and Miranda were standing outside the ship waiting to greet them.
"Shepard." Tela said with a respectful nod. "Is your team ready to go?"
"We've been waiting to hit the Collectors since Shepard corralled us all together. We're ready." Garrus said.
"Come aboard." Shepard said, turning towards the ship and motioning for everyone to follow her. "We'll get underway and see about putting a permanent end to the Collectors."
As soon as everyone was through the airlock, Shepard turned towards the cockpit and called, "Joker, EDI, get us moving. Nova, if you're listening, give EDI that frequency you got from the Collector Ship over Ilos."
"On it. EDI and I will find them." Nova said, appearing long enough to say her piece before disappearing again.
"That's going to take some getting used to." Garrus said to himself, staring at the empty space Nova had just vanished from.
You and EDI got this? Rigel said in his head.
Please. I could do it on my own. With EDI's help, we'll have their location pinpointed in five minutes.
Let us know when you've got a lock.
Will do.
"Welcome to the Normandy." Shepard said as the ship slowly flew away from the Citadel. "You're free to bunk in the barracks. If that doesn't suit you, find somewhere out of the way that isn't occupied and feel free to bed down there. It's how the rest of the squad operates, so I don't see any reason to hold you two to a different standard."
"Is anywhere free?" Tela asked, looking around suspiciously at all of the humans wearing Cerberus emblems on the Normandy's deck.
"The AI core and the hangar are both vacant, Spectre Vasir." EDI's voice said over an intercom system.
"Call me Tela, EDI. The hangar sounds promising. Can you tell me how to get there?" Tela asked.
"Of course, Tela. Rigel, would residing in the AI core be amenable to you?"
Rigel smirked. "Thanks, EDI, but I'll just tag along with Tela." A lot of the Cerberus personnel pretending not to pay attention to them were shocked at Rigel's announcement, some freezing completely. Rigel found it amusing.
"Of course. Please proceed to the elevator." EDI said cordially.
"Give us a call when it's time to go over our approach." Rigel said to Shepard, prompting the woman to nod. That done, he and Tela went to the elevator and descended, following EDI's instructions to get to the hangar. As EDI said, it was vacant. The only ship within was a small kodiak. Maybe Rigel should have thought to outfit the Normandy with more landing craft? No, with such a small group of combat-oriented personnel it wouldn't be needed for the Collectors, but it was something to look into when they got back.
"This is it." Rigel said, leaning against a large crate near the wall.
"What is it?" Tela asked, leaning against the wall next to him.
"This is the first enemy I'm going to fight that my vision showed me. It took a while, but I'm finally getting around to dealing with the problems I should have dealt with ages ago."
Tela grinned. "Guess so. Just don't go killing them all yourself. I'd be pissed if I tagged along and didn't get to shoot anything."
Rigel chuckled. "I'm sure there will be no shortage of things for both of us to shoot once we get through the Omega 4 relay."
"But first we're going to go have a word with those bastards that tried to kill us."
Rigel's smile was evil as he said, "You're right. First things first."