A/N: NSFW. Enjoy.

"I've been told of your success in recruiting Mr. Krios. Well done." The Illusive Man said with a nod of approval, "What are your first impressions of him?"

"Pragmatic. Religious. Great at killing people."

The man in his sleek chair took a deep drag and studied Thane's dossier hovering over him thoroughly. Seemingly finished with the browsing, he stared past the hologram to John. "The properties that make an exemplary assassin. Devotion to faith can be pushed to your favor. I take it the 'tenets' and 'sacred' texts he follows won't be an issue?"

"Not that I'm aware of." John shrugged as he crossed his arms. John thoughtfully looked the Illusive Man in the eye, or at the very least, his hologram, and decided to ask the man a question.

"You believe in god?"

The Illusive Man stamped out his cigarette before retrieving another.

"Which one would you be referring to?"

"Any of them."

He lit his cigarette and inhaled before returning the stare. "No."

John nodded at the straightforward answer. Nobody did anymore. A good thing John supposed. It was a rarity to ever find entire countries killing each other over holy things. People and governments had better shit to do, with the whole galactic community and all. Still amazing though, seeing the earthly deniers, claiming the whole society of aliens and humans together was nothing but a fabrication of naysayers and devils. Other than the roll of an eye, John never did pay attention to them much.

"Me neither." He answered, "I'll keep in touch."

The Illusive Man simply nodded and ended the call.

When the circle descended into the floor, John stepped back and saw Tali standing behind him with her arms crossed and all her weight on a foot.

"Hey." She said in a soft voice with an equally soft smile, "Ready to get out of that gear?"

"Yeah." He nodded, taking a look at the time and noting that it was 2200 hours, "Ready for a hot shower too."

She gently reached for his hand and led them to the hallway. "Then let's go."

They reached the elevator, took the ride up, and entered their antechamber. Only after getting sprayed down for nearly a minute do they finally get access to their cabin.

"How do you feel?" John asked as they stepped through, "Tired?"

She stretched slightly and nodded at him with a glint in her eye. "Yeah. Glad to be back home."

John nodded himself and went to his dresser to start unloading his gear. "Olasie's team are really one of a kind. Really glad we had them join us."

"They're good at what they do."

"Been meaning to ask, but how long have you known Olasie anyways?" John asked and he unclasped the hooks on his chest rig first, "You guys seem like old friends."

"We are." Tali answered, removing her dirty realk, "Known her for just as long as Juel really."

"And how long is that?"

"Two years."

John did some math in his head and figured that was around the time she had to go back to the Migrant Fleet after he died. Odd putting that in the past tense, John thought to himself.

"I really like them." He decided to say.

"Any favorites yet? Out of the whole team I mean?"

"You know I don't pick favorites. But from what I've seen today? Talukh and Kylie. They did their jobs really well."

"You only get the finest on the Normandy." Tali reminded with a smile, slipping off her boots and wiggling her toes. "God it feels good to take off your boots."

By now, the only thing John had to take off was his boots himself. So when he took them off, he nodded in agreement. "Hell yeah. It's been a long day."

"We were only gone for five and half hours, believe it or not."

"Not too bad."

"And no casualties. That's always good." She remembered before taking off her visor and setting it aside on her nightstand. She grabbed the man's attention by twisting him around slowly and giving him a good kiss.

"Oh. Why hello there." He murmured, staring at her pretty face, "And your name is, miss?"

She giggled and slapped his shoulder playfully. "Oh stop it."

"Sorry. You know I love to tease you." He nuzzled her nose with his and gave her another kiss before separating and turning on his hotplate to boil up some water for tea.

"Hun, could you get the shower started?"

"Of course, huneey."

He smiled at her and got his mug ready.

Walking past their desk, she went into the bathroom, turned the shower knob, and watched the water come spraying out of the shower head. Just to pass some time, she stared at herself in the mirror and splashed some water on her face while the water warmed up.

Every day she felt a little stronger in their little ecosystem here. She'd still get some weird new reaction or sickness that would pass in a day. But she was proud to say it was beginning to fade. Soon enough, given time, she'd feel nothing. And it only took… what? Four weeks of repeated exposure? She nodded to herself, remembering the first time she had sex with John at the Mara Horizon, on the 25th of January. And now it was the 21st of February today. She hardly felt anything now. Plus, with all the remedies and supplements and medical advice coming from two excellent doctors to help it all along?

They were finally able to start measuring their progress.

She stepped out of the bathroom, took off the rest of her helmet and suit, and stowed them in her closet before putting her earpiece in.

Naked and next to John, she shot him a look and saw him sitting down on the sofa biting his lip, looking back at her.

"Water's ready." She cooed, walking up to and taking a seat on top of him. Instinctively, he placed both hands on her hips.

"…Hot damn you're beautiful."

"Thanks."

They shared another long kiss and she squeezed both his shoulders lovingly.

"Come on now. Before we start wasting water."

"Good idea."

She got up off him, watched the man take off his own clothes, and followed him into the steaming shower.

They both went under the stream of water and sighed at its pelting and warm embrace.

"Best part of the day, Tals." John said as he went for the shampoo to pour himself some. He showed her the bottle. "You want?"

She held out a hand. "Please."

Ignoring her outstretched palm, he used the shampoo that was for him by massaging it into her hair for her. That got her to laugh.

"What're doing?"

"Seeing what it's like to wash your hair. Very soft." He said with a caring and soft smile.

She hummed as he massaged her locks of hair and closed her eyes. The hot water showering her back and butt felt great too.

"That feels nice."

"Does it? Want to try it on me?"

She nodded with a smile and put some shampoo in her own hand before doing the same to him.

"Not as much to play with admittedly." Tali said with a focused look on her face. She had him go under the stream to rinse the suds off his head.

"Easier maintenance." He replied, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

John went for his loofah and lathered some body wash to scrub himself with.

"Really diggin' this peppermint body wash."

"I like it too." She nodded, helping herself to some also.

They carried on in silence for a minute. Then Tali shrugged and faced John with a toothy grin.

"You know, I was thinking. What better time than to go down on you now?"

John was in the middle of exfoliating his armpit with his loofa. "Ha ha, what?"

"You heard me." She said in a sultry tone, "I wanna go down on you."

John felt himself stiffen when she gave him a deep kiss and gentle stroke.

"Pretty straightforward today." He grinned, "I love it."

"How much you love me right now?" She asked to be funny.

"A lot."

She pat his manhood. "Pretty sure that might be your dick talking."

"Just a little."

She gave him a bright smile and laughed. Then she got down on both knees, looked him in the eye, and did what she set herself out to do.

She felt him melt on contact.

The informational porn she watched the other day made it look easy. And to Tali's surprise, it was. Tali would even go so far as to say it was pretty fun. It was a high to see him squirm like this.

She gave it a good lick from bottom to top and kept up the momentum by using her hand and stroking.

"How am I doing?"

"Jesus Christ."

"Good enough for me!"

Taking in a mouthful, she smiled at his positive reaction, or as much as she could given the obvious obstacle, and continued. She set up a killer technique and gradually sped up her timing for the finale. Then, when John was about ready, she stopped, grabbed him with a hand to beat him off just to keep up with her pace, and gave him a big grin.

"Hey John."

"…Yeah?"

"Spitters are for quitters."

She took him in full and swallowed. Textbook blowjob, she thought to herself proudly.

Ten minutes later…

With Tali's feet on John's lap, they both sat on the sofa while he browsed through his tablet. In nothing but her pair of green sweatpants and cozy white tee, she sipped her steaming mug of tea and leaned deeper into the pillows supporting her back.

Absently playing with her toes, he looked up from the pad and gave her a warm look. "I love you hun."

She beamed at him. "I love you too."

He took a deep breath and looked at the ceiling with a satisfied look on his face.

"Damn Tals."

"Was it that good?"

"Yeah."

"Amazing what a little research gets you." She laughed as she took another steady sip from her mug, all cute like, "I'm glad you liked it."

"I guess it'll be my turn next, huh?" He grinned.

"Mhmm. Yes please."

He pat the legs laying on his lap and rubbed them lovingly. Then he turned off his tablet and set it aside.

"I'll surprise you sometime."

She bit her lip and imagined his face buried between her legs. "Oh god… just thinking about it…"

"Think about it a lot," John said before gliding a hand up her inner thigh and testing her, "It'll help."

"Whoa there," She chided lightly between a moan and squeak, "Remember? No underwear. Don't need to stain my new pants already."

All he did was wink at her.