Disclaimer: This author in no way profits from the writing of this story. All characters, dialogue, or other referenced material from the Mass Effect trilogy belong to BioWare.
Author's Note: This story does not necessarily follow any particular timeline and may not be considered chronologically accurate.
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Unlike her turian companion, Cass was not as quick to forget the topic of sexual organs—and intercourse. As Samantha wrapped up the presentation, the redhead could focus on nothing else.
Granted, it wasn't like she had never slept with an alien before but salarian sex drives were almost nonexistent, so any overnight stays with the Citadel's most amphibious race were more emotionally driven than anything else.
The few drell she'd taken on as clients had been rather memorable, given their slightly venomous skin. Any hallucination that had accompanied them had only served to increase the evening's pleasure. As for the sexual logistics, it had been essentially the same as any human man she'd allowed into her bed; the only major difference was that the drell men, likely due to their species' greater muscle density, had far greater stamina—so much so that Cass had always been the first one to need a nap.
Asari clients, similar to the salarians, really only needed assistance with the more abstract interpersonal aspects of a committed relationship: communication, empathy, prioritization, and the like. Cass had never spent the night with an asari, at least not with a sexual overtone. Anara had stayed over several times, and likewise Cass at her friend's home, but it was usually because they were too drunk to leave.
Duron was the only turian with whom she had interacted in a romantic way. And that short interaction had left Cass wanting. A lot. She already knew firsthand that a turian tongue could do wonders for her orgasm, so the bits and pieces she had just learned made her even more curious.
She caught Samantha's eye, trying to convey that she needed to speak with her without having to say the words aloud.
"Cassana?" Vadix, ever the gentleman it seemed, was waiting by the door for his partner. "Are you coming?"
"Oh, um," she hurried to come up with an excuse. "I, uh, just need to talk with Samantha for a moment. I'll catch up with you."
His head tilted to one side. "Are you sure? I can stay, if you'd like," he offered.
"No!" Cass exclaimed too quickly. "I mean, no, that's alright. It's, uh, it's a girl thing," she ended, knowing it was lame to pull that card, but she didn't know when she'd get another opportunity like this.
It wasn't like she could just go around asking everyone on the ship what they knew about xenosexual relations.
Now the turian looked like he couldn't get out of there fast enough. "Right, sure, of course. I'll just—" And then he was gone.
The other woman arched an eyebrow at her. "I wonder what 'girl thing' this could possibly be," she drawled in her cute British accent.
"I know, I'm sorry, that was so lame," Cass gushed. "I couldn't think of anything else to get him to leave. Sometimes he's just too…"
"Present?" Samantha suggested.
Nodding, the woman agreed. "Exactly."
The dark-haired marine sat sideways on the table, one foot tucked behind the other knee. "So, what's going on?"
Cass felt herself blush once more. "Well," she began, dipping her head as she took a nearby seat on the tabletop, "I was hoping you could tell me more about turians."
Again, Samantha's brow jumped. "About turians," she repeated, a question mark tucked behind the words.
"Yes."
She didn't answer for a moment, simply watching the redhead. "You're going to have to be more specific," she finally said, gently. "I'm even less of an expert on alien races in general than I am on their first aid basics."
Her blush deepened. "Yes, right, of course. I mean, more about turian… sex."
Both eyebrows rose, one nearly hidden by her black bangs. "Oh," she murmured.
Now Cass felt like an idiot. She shouldn't have brought it up outside of the classroom setting. "Forget it, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." She moved to get up, then felt a firm hand on her forearm.
"It's alright, really," Samantha assured her. "I suppose I was just surprised as I thought—well, it doesn't matter. I'm not sure I'm the right person you should ask about this though."
Hearing a sad note ringing in the sentence, Cass probed as much as she dared. "No, tell me. What did you think, before?"
The other woman laughed without humor, her own cheeks pinking slightly beneath their chocolatey exterior. "Well, you see, I thought you were, uh, flirting with me. Whenever I flirted with you." Looking up from beneath her lashes, Samantha looked vulnerable and beautiful.
This admission surprised Cass. "Oh," she repeated the marine's earlier response.
"I'm sorry," Samantha started, "I thought you knew. It's just that you were so attractive and kind and intelligent, I couldn't help myself." Then she smiled cheekily. "But it seems you're more like Commander Shepard than mere physical appearance. So perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that you're into Vadix. Just remember: if you shag a coworker and then it goes sour, you can't escape that person. And it makes the close quarters like hell for all of us, not just you."
"What?" her voice pitched several octaves above normal. "No, no, I'm not talking about Vadix! We're just— He isn't— I'm not—" she began several sentences and finished none. Doing so would have been a lie every time. Shutting her mouth, Cass pondered how to remedy the misunderstanding and still tell the truth.
After all, she was totally into Vadix, just like Samantha said.
She finally settled on an explanation. "There's someone back home," she said simply, trying to hide a smile as she thought about Duron, his vivid green eyes and tortuous tongue.
"Oh, I see," Samantha said sagely, her own face reflecting Cass's expression. "Well then, I can't speak from personal experience but you could always ask the Commander; she's definitely the most up to speed on interspecies relations, if you know what I mean."
The smile dropped from her lips, replaced by an O of horror. "I could never ask Commander Shepard for sex advice!" she stage-whispered. Somehow she couldn't bear to use the words "Commander Shepard" and "sex" in the same sentence at full volume.
Samantha raised her hands in surrender, giggling. "Fine, fine, have it your way. Liara might be able to talk to you, but the whole 'embrace eternity' thing doesn't really compare with regular bedroom intercourse, now does it?" The dark-haired woman smirked at the thought.
"The only other women on the ship are Ashley, Karin, and Diana. They're all human as well but I don't know how much firsthand knowledge any of them would have either. Ashley is a bit of a xenophobe, to be completely honest. Karin, well, she's a bit older than us and I'm not sure I'd want to know anything about her 'conquests'." The pair of them grimaced at the thought.
Dr. Chakwas was the sweetest woman, but Traynor was right: it would be like getting the dirty details on your mother's nighttime antics.
Gross.
"That leaves Diana, the reporter. She's an interesting woman, I'll give you that, but there's no bullshit when it comes to anything she says or does. I know she's gotten some creepy fan mail from turians but I'm not sure if she's actually slept with one of them, fan or otherwise. But you could always ask; I'm certain she'd give you a straight answer. Unless, of course, you'd rather just ask the big turian man himself," she winked.
Cass's mouth dropped open at the idea. "Hell no!" she exclaimed. "If I need more information about the logistics of it, I'll try Diana. But for now, I think I'll just stick with the extranet."
"Hey," Samantha placed her hand on the recruit's knee. "This isn't just about sex, is it? Because that's not fair to anyone, regardless of their species."
A soft smile stretched out one corner of Cass's mouth. "No, it's not just about sex," she replied, thinking deeply about how to answer. Was it just about sex? With Duron, she wasn't sure she could answer that question right now. With Vadix, however, it was definitely not just about sex. So, although she'd denied it earlier, Cass felt the need to express her feelings for her turian work partner and not her turian bedroom partner.
"I mean, of course I want that with him. But it's more than that." The words slipped slowly out of her mouth as she measured their weight before releasing them. "There was a sort of instant connection the first time I saw him, but, the more time I've spent with him, the more I want to spend time with him. It's strange really, like he makes me a better person."
Now she paused, the next sentences frozen in place by fear. Finally, she whispered, looking down at her hands clenched in her lap, "But I'm scared. I'm scared that once he knows about my past, he won't want anything to do with me. And losing his friendship would be so much worse than never sleeping with him."
After a moment, "What do you like about him?" Samantha prompted quietly.
Cass smiled, still not meeting her new friend's eyes. "I like how unapologetically himself he is, as though anyone else's opinion doesn't matter. I like how he treats me, like I'm someone worth investing in and protecting. I like how dedicated he is both to his family and to his work; I'm sure that carries over to his friends as well, but I haven't seen him interact with any yet." She bit her lip, thinking without speaking once more.
"Does he know how you feel?" This question was even softer than the last.
Her eyes flicked up to see Samantha's kind, dark eyes. There was no judgment there, and Cass knew she'd approached the right person for this conversation. "No," she admitted. "I don't think so."
The other woman smiled more broadly. "Well, if you've never told him then I'm certain he doesn't know. I may not have much interest in pursuing men, but based on my friends' experiences, the opposite sex never has a clue about a female's true feelings."
Chuckling, Cass agreed, "Yeah, I suppose you're right." She exhaled all the air from her lungs before asking the next dangerous question. "So, what do I do?"
Samantha cocked her head, pondering. "Well, that's ultimately up to you. But the way I see it, you have several options. You could just tell him how you feel and let the chips fall, as they say. Though that may be a conversation you'd rather have in person, once we return to the Citadel, whenever that is. You could also ask him how he feels first, you know, protect your side of things rather than jump all in at once. You could pretend nothing has changed and just remain friends without ever bringing it up." The woman's expression turned sorrowful, and Cass wondered if she was speaking from personal experience on that one.
"And then of course you could always just use him as your sex toy without getting feelings involved at all, the 'friends with benefits' route, but I wouldn't recommend that course of action." The attempt at humor (Cass thought it was humor anyway) gave her a much-needed smile, like the situation wasn't as dire as her heart thought it was.
"As fun as that sounds," she responded to the last suggestion, "it goes against everything I believe in, everything I teach my clients."
"What clients?"
It felt like her heart stopped momentarily. Cass hadn't meant to bring up her past, the one she was so worried Vadix would hate. But it had slipped out. "Um," she floundered, wondering if she was about to ruin the one friendship she'd developed on the Normandy.
Then Samantha again reached out, resting a comforting palm on her arm. "Hey, it's okay. You can trust me," she reassured the panicking woman.
And somehow, Cass believed her.
"A lot of people thought I was a sex therapist, or worse just an escort, but I thought of myself as a relationship coach. The main difference was that I use more hands-on methods than the licensed ones."
Samantha stared at her.
So she filled the silence with more words, hopeful a lengthier explanation might be sufficient to prevent any judgment from forming, any rapport from crumbling down.
"To me, it was never really about increasing pleasure in the bedroom, though that was certainly a common side-effect. The reason I helped people was so they could have more fulfilling relationships, more successful in every aspect: mental, emotional, spiritual, physical—whatever aspect was most important to them. Because, ultimately, I believe that everyone deserves to be in a happy, wholesome relationship. But it does take work, hard work, and sometimes we need someone to coach us through the hardest spots. So, that's what I did."
Still Samantha stared, though her expression seemed to have softened into something akin to admiration.
Admiration? Cass wondered incredulously.
"Wow," she finally murmured. "That's actually kind of… extraordinary."
Now Cass stared.
The other woman continued, eyes alight and warm and effusive. "I mean, definitely not your run-of-the-mill kind of job, but you clearly believe in your work and it's something that benefits others, which combination doesn't happen very often. I think it's brilliant, though I can see why you might worry about a potential lover's reaction. Especially if you were still taking on clients while in a committed relationship." This last thought engulfed the enthusiasm that had illuminated Samantha's face.
Cass felt similarly. "I know," she groaned. "That's why I'm so scared."
A moment of silence slipped between them. But it was a comfortable one, one that both women appreciated.
"Regardless," Samantha began once more, "if he's too prejudiced or closed-minded to see how beautiful your passion is, then he's not worth it." She grinned again, her mirth infectious in the room. When she saw Cass hesitantly mirror her own expression, she remarked, "Now, surely you've got stories to tell, and I am dying to hear them."
She linked her arm through the redhead's and stood them both up, looking expectantly at Cass.
"Well, there was this one guy who worked at a morgue and started having fantasies about the corpses…"
Laughing uproariously, the marine dragged the younger recruit out the door and down the hallway.
Overall, the conversation between the two humans had left EDI, ever the silent observer, with many questions, mulling over the possibilities presented therein. On the one hand, Cassana Arvius regularly had a physiological response to the proximity of Vadix Ramraka which was similar to the physiological response of Samantha Traynor to the AI's voice. She knew what these signs indicated, but now, by her own admission, Cass indicated she was interested in someone else.
This called into question EDI's earlier conclusion that the newest recruits were half in love with each other yet completely oblivious to the other's feelings.
Was it possible the human was merely reacting to the nearness of a turian? That her automatic response had nothing to do with the man himself?
If EDI had been wrong about that, then Jeff's intervention on her behalf could have some unexpected results.
Either way, it would be an interesting experiment.