Always Be There Chapter 3
#3 of Always Be There
Sorry, no sex in this one. Not really. But a lot of sexual reference to go around, in just about every way possible.
The next chapter will be sexy again, and following that maybe I'll throw in some drama for good measure. Don't worry, I am going somewhere with this. It's not just a random bunch of stories.
Twelve hours later.
She could hardly move. Four hours of sleep had certainly not been enough to allow her to recover from eight hours in bed with Garrus. Not that every last moment had been spent having sex. Just... Most moments.
Sex might not have been the word for it either. It was like finding what joy there was in life again; remembering that the universe itself held happiness and pleasure in sacred moments like this trapped between the struggle to survive. She didn't envy the people who were allowed to live their lives like this. Days where both the man and the woman would come home from a simple but honest days work, talk about their days over dinner in their planet side home, and then make love before falling asleep in each others arms. Those were the people she was fighting for, and she wouldn't have changed that if given the chance.
But sometimes, even a soldier like her could have little day dreams as the hot body of her Turian lover lay nestled against her back. The fact that her daydreams included someone who was very far from being human didn't matter to her. In some ways it simply amused her to think of him walking into their home on some out of the way colony, saying something completely off the wall like 'Honey, I'm home!' like she had seen on an old Earth vid once. The very idea of it, even in her sleepy daze had a throaty chuckle bubbling out of her that tuned into a full laugh a moment later. The sound, or motion, or both was quick to awaken the man beside her. Something that made her laughter fall off as she snuggled back against him when his arms squeezed around her midsection to pull her closer against him under the covers.
"Hm... Something funny, Shepard?" The fact that the low rumble of his voice gave her an almost heady feeling of euphoria allowed her to forgive the fact that he was still calling her Shepard instead of Jane. That and the fact that against everything she might have expected given how long they had been in bed, she felt his erection nestled against the curve of her rear only moment after he stirred to wakefulness. That caused a hot flush of pleasure to roll through her. As a soldier, it was sometimes hard to feel like a woman. And given the way he had handled her the night before, and the fact that being close to her clearly excited him on such a level, she was feeling very feminine for the first time in a very long time.
"Oh nothing. I was just wondering what it would take for me to domesticate you." She grinned as she felt him shift to sit up on one elbow and look down at her over her shoulder. Turning to look up at him while doing her best to keep a serious face, as if she were actually considering something. "You know. A job planet side, maybe teach you to cook since I would most likely set myself on fire if I tried, some fuzzy slippers and a four poster bed on a quiet hillside? Oh, and maybe a dog! We can name her Miranda."
Had she not nearly been high on her good mood, she would have been able to hold the serious face longer to keep the act up. Which would have been worth it, because the Turian leaning over her was looking at her as if she had sprouted wings and suddenly grown mandibles of her own. But it only lasted for a moment before she burst out laughing, turning to bury her face into the pillow as she reached back to pat the un-scarred side of his face lightly. After a long moment, where he simply leaned over her and patiently enjoyed her laughter, she managed to take a deep breath and look up at him again. "I'm sorry, Garrus. But the look on your face was.. Oh that was classic."
The twitching flare of his mandibles told of his good mood, and the humor that sparkled in his predatory eyes was only slightly overshadowed by the hunger she saw in them. But it was more than enough to send a slow tremble rolling through her as she felt his talons easily sliding down the curve of her side, stopping at her hip to take a firm hold as he arched his own hips against her. Somehow, the hard plating behind the just as hard erection nestled against her only added to her desire. Maybe because she knew it was Garrus, or maybe because she wasn't a soft flower of a woman in general. But he seemed to know exactly how to set her off, as he leaned close to her with a clicking purr against her ear as he replied, "Somehow, I can't see you in this situation with a 'domesticated' male. Who would scope the mercs trying to sneak in on your flanks? They are very nice flanks, by the way."
Laughter might have come at his last comment, had they not come as he nipped the soft lobe of her ear. She had to wonder how in the hell he did that without giving her an unwanted piercing, but it was something she could not bring herself to question as tiny shocks of pleasure coursed through the skin along the back of her neck when he did it. A firm press of her hips into his hands and her buttoc into his already throbbing length was as clear a sign that she could give. She ached, but he was very quickly making her forget that fact as the moan that slipped past her lips told him.
That moan, however, was interrupted by toneless voice of the ships AI, which seemed to come from all directions at once. "Commander Shepard, XO Lawson is searching for Officer Vakarian in regards to the delay in repairs to the main gun. Shall I inform her that he is otherwise occupied?"
Had they not already been hidden under the covers, she might have been far more embarrassed than she already was. A soft groan that had little to do with arousal pulled itself from her throat before a slow sigh left her. They really did need to get back to work sometime. Half a day was a long time in the life, even if they were technically on shore leave. "Inform Miranda that he will be in the main battery at..." She paused, as she glanced at the time. "0800."
"Understood, Commander."
When silence followed, and it was obvious that they were alone again, she felt Garrus start to breath beside her, something which caused a grin to form as she turned her head to place a kiss on one mandible. "Duty calls. Just remember, domestication has it's advantages."
Her grin grew when he snorted and to find his own way to get her back for teasing him, one rough hand easily slipped forward along her body to cup the soft mounds of her breasts. Such a sudden touch, along with the way his rough fingers brushed along her nipples caused a cry to escape her before she twisted out of his grip. Indignation the face she turned towards him, though she could tell by the Turian version of a grin that he wore that he was pleased with himself. "Fine, no domestication. But I gave you fifteen minutes to meet with Miranda, so get your Turian ass out of my bed before she sends out a search party. I'm going to take a shower."
It wasn't until she started to walk towards the shower that she realized how much effort she needed to put into keeping herself walking in a straight line.
The interruption by EDI had not managed to kill his good mood, really. Being stopped in the middle of a seduction was not the ideal way to start his day, but Garrus decided that nothing could actually frustrate him. Even given the unsatisfied desire, he could hardly say that he was not sated. In fact, he was pretty clearly stunned. Mordin had warned him about humans apparent inability, or lack of desire, to engage in sex more than once or twice in a given night. He had a mind to give the Salarian something to think about with a story about how his human lover had not only engaged in sex more than twice, but had all but ravished him every time their eyes had met.
Watching her stumble towards her bathroom caused his mandibles to flicked in amusement that he didn't even try to hide as he pulled himself out of bed. The fact that he was still erect irritated him just a bit, something he would be sure to take out on Miranda with a snarky comment or two, but otherwise he managed to pull himself together within a few moments. Gathering his scattered armor (How exactly had one of his gloves ended up under her bed while the other one dangled on the edge of her desk?) and starting to snap everything back into place with the ease of someone who lived in it, he was allowed a moment to clear his mind.
His reluctance to leave was obvious, but he was not a recruit with a crush on his commanding officer. While the idea of slipping into the shower with her was tempting, he knew she had set a time limit that he had to follow. Aside from the fact that it would keep Miranda from asking too many questions that he didn't want to answer, she was still a person he respected more than any other. The fact that he was her lover... No, that wasn't right. She had made it very clear that lover was too simple a term for their relationship. He was her mate now. While that might have afforded him more leeway than most on the ship, he was not going to be the type to ever test it. She needed a weapon at her command as much as she needed a mate at her side. He would find a way to become both for her.
She deserved it. She had earned, it a thousand times over and knowing her, she would earn it a million times more.
These thought still running through his mind, he clipped on his left glove while he head for the door. The fact that his mind was distracted by such thoughts wasn't the exact cause for his surprise when the door slid open in front of him. More that he was not expected to see the reflective surface of a Quarian face plate heading in the other direction.
Both of them froze. While he couldn't see the look on her face, he could see the way her arm was frozen in mid reach for the call button next to the door. He could also see was the look on his own face in the reflective surface of that face plate. Wide eyed, mandibles flares out slightly in shock, frozen almost in mid step. Seeing this caused his mandibles to draw close to his face in embarrassment. What the hell was he supposed to say now? His eyes followed the slender arms of the Quarian as she set her hands on her hips. Hips that cocked to the side slightly as she stared at him. He couldn't see her face, but he simply knew that she was grinning at the stunned embarrassment on his.
"Tali. Uh. Hello. I was just talking about the Collector mission with the commander, and..." He blinked slowly as she stepped towards him. Towards him when he had no space to step around her in the narrow doorway, something which caused him to take a step back. And then another, as he lamely tried to continue. "Now, I have a meeting with Miranada in the main battery..."
He swallowed, visibly, as he took another step back and the woman in front of him glanced around the room. Following her eyes, he could not hold back the groan that left him when he noticed that Shepard's clothes were still scattered around the room. Including parts of her clothing that made the Turian wish he could crawl deeper into his armor than he already was. Combined with the fact that a running shower was very obvious in the background, he was one embarrassed male.
As if on cue, when all he wanted was for Tali to either let him have it and get it over with, or give him a chance to slip through the door and hide in the main battery for a week, the sound of a running shower stopped. A hint of panic clutched him, as he gave a low growl to the obstinate women in front of him. "Tali, Shepard won't be..."
"Garrus? Are you still there?" The sound of Jane's voice filtered through the bathroom door made him freeze, and Tali raise her hands to the voice synthesizer at the front of her suit. "You really should be more careful with my clothes. My bra is ruined. I'm not complaining, mind you." She seemed to insist on continuing to talk even as Garrus buried his face in his hands. And continued to wish he could simply vanish, even as the door to the bathroom opened and a wet Shepard stepped out wearing nothing but a white towel. And some very obvious bite marks on her neck. And her shoulder. And her hips. And scratches on a few other parts of her body that were visible. "Next time we..."
And the look on her face when she saw Tali standing there was all it took for their Quarian to fall into peals of laughter, very much at their expense.
Once Garrus was gone, and Shepard was dressed, she joined Tali on the couch as the Quarian engineer looked at her with a posture that she knew meant her friend was excited and expectant. While Shepard was not exactly one to share intimate details, it was impossible to refuse the only woman on the ship that she actually liked, and considered to be a friend. Certainly more than bossy Miranda, bat shit insane Jack, or Kelly, who could have talked the ear off a Vorcha in ways that would have made it impossible to regenerate. So she sat on the end of the couch while watching her friend, feeling only slight trepidation. She wasn't even sure what was running through the other woman's mind, despite the obvious fit of laughter that had taken her after catching her and Garrus with their pants down, so to speak.
"So," Tali began, mercifully sparing her from having to strike up the conversation herself, "I was wondering when the two of you would get together."
It was enough to leave her stunned. Something that she herself had not even considered in the past, and it was obvious enough that innocent young Tali had noticed it? "What..?"
"Oh come on, Shepard. I might have my head stuck in the engines most of the time, but anyone could see how you two behaved around each other." Un-phased by the stunned look on the Commander's face, she continued, "I mean we all know that you have the habit of checking up on everyone, asking questions, just talking. But every time you went into the main battery, you would disappear for a while. Joker said you were trying to work the stick out of his ass, whatever that means, and Kelly would always get this dreamy look on her face. At least until Zaeed grumbled something about the Turian getting more tail on a ship full of humans than a human could. And I'm rambling now, because I just realized that I walked into my Captain's cabin without actually being invited, and I'm questioning her about her love life..."
"Tali!" Calling her name was the only thing that did finally shut her up, which made Shepard sigh slightly in relief before reaching over and placing on hand on her friend's shoulder. "Don't worry about it. It's not like you hacked my door to get in here. And at least you're not Miranda. Now that would have been a moment to remember."
She could have sworn she felt the smile from her friend, followed by soft laughter. The tension that had built in the air slowly eased away as she settled back onto the couch. It was her turn to talk, before Tali went on another triad of information that made her want to throttle half of her crew. "I didn't know it was so obvious. I mean, I didn't even realize it myself at first. The idea never even crossed my mind on the SR-1, you know... With Kaiden, and..." She allowed her voice to trail off before she shook herself out of a daze and looked at her friend. "I know that when I first saw him on Omega, when he took that helmet off and I heard the sound of his voice, it was the first time I think I really felt like myself. Like something in the galaxy might have been working for me again. Then I came close, too close to loosing him."
She was forced to swallow the memory of two things. Watching him gunned down in the middle of a crappy apartment on Omega before a missile took half of his face, and watching him pulled down by the Collectors, thinking that her only chance to make things right between them again had been stolen from her. She had to draw on the fact that she was a Commander in the middle of a war to calm her sudden desire to break down into tears. "Twice. I came close to loosing him twice. The first time, I promised myself that I wouldn't let him down again, that no matter what happened, I would find a way to keep him on this ship with me. And the second time..." She paused as she remembered the fact that she had been the one to hurt him the night before they hit the Relay. Absently, one hand reached up to rub over the spot on her neck where he had bitten her in the elevator.
The distant look that had come over her face kept Tali silent for a long moment, until Shepard felt a gentle, gloved hand on her shoulder that made her raise her eyes. "It wasn't just a one time thing. You love him... Don't you?"
The smile she gave the Quarian was unlike anything she had ever seen light the face of her Commander, and it was one that she would never forget.