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What was Cerberus thinking with the damn fish tank in the Commander’s quarters? “Honestly, what is the point?” Shepard mumbled to herself as she fed the assortment of sea creatures that now inhabited the tank. Through several weeks of trial, error, and death, she’d finally found the right combination for a thriving aquarium. Her track record had now improved to 5 solid months without any more casualties. Impressive, given she’d never even had a plant before this tank.
The door to her cabin slid open and Garrus casually walked in. A sight she’d grown accustomed to since reconnecting with him on Omega all those months ago. “For someone who complained and cursed that tank not long ago, you sure seem smitten with it now,” he said as he stepped up behind her, resting his mandibles on the top of her head.
Shepard leaned back, letting his body support some of her weight. “Yea, well, I kinda like these slimy little things now,” she smiled at his reflection in the glass. “What are you doing up here? You know I’m not letting you off the ship when we get to Omega.”
Garrus wrapped his arms around Shepard’s midsection and pulled her even more taught to him. “I’m bored with calibrations,” his voice reverberated through her, sending a chill down her spine.
“EDI?”
“Yes, Shepard?” the blue orb popped up at the station near the tanks.
“What’s our ETA to Omega?”
“24 minutes.”
“Thank you. Privacy mode,” Shepard called out as she wrapped her hands around Garrus’ forearms.
“Logging you out, Shepard,” was EDI’s reply before disappearing.
“You have 20 minutes to entertain me,” Shepard said as she guided Garrus’ hand beneath the waistband of her pants and between her legs.
“I’m so far gone, I don’t think I’ll last that long,” he muttered as he walked them forward until her chest was pressed against the tank. He slipped a talon between her folds and pressed inside. She let out a deep sigh, tightening her grip on his arm. Garrus pulled his arm away and brought his hand to his mouth, tasting her on himself. “What is it about your smell that drives me so crazy? I’ve never smelled another human like you.”
“How many other humans have you stuck your fingers inside?” she asked, as she pulled her pants and underwear down to give him just enough access.
“You know the answer to that,” he drawled in her ear as he leaned further into her, pressing himself against the small of her back.
“Damn, Garrus. How long have you been walking around with that?!”
“You’ve been on my mind all day,” he said, with his mouth still dangerously close to her ear. They both paused to reposition themselves, and as Garrus pressed slowly into Shepard he released a guttural moan that literally gave her goosebumps.
“I didn’t expect you to be so gentle with such little time,” she said as she could feel herself adjusting around him.
“I told you I wouldn’t last long anyway, no need to rush,” he replied as he began to move.
Quickly, the sounds of their pants and grunts filled the cabin -- parts of the glass on the fish tank were fogging up from their labored breathing in close proximity. They were rarely loud when aboard the ship. They’d learned early in their relationship that the only soundproofed area was the comms room. While they had never hidden their relationship from the rest of the crew, they did at least try to maintain some dignity by trying to be quiet. It didn’t always work, something that both Kasumi and Grunt refused to let them live down.
Since they were short on time, Shepard used her fingers to help herself along. She could tell Garrus was close from the way his breathing had changed. Just as she was about to call out his name, Garrus clasped his hand over hers on the glass. Shepard was actually the one to cry out, but it was because of a sharp pain on her shoulder. After turning to look back at him, her bliss switched to anger.
“Did you just bite me?” Shepard asked indignantly.
Garrus pulled away from her shoulder and nuzzled his forehead against the back of her head.
A quick hiss escaped her lips as she tried to flex her arm. She looked again and could clearly see several tiny droplets of blood on her shoulder. “I’m bleeding,” she stated, as she reached behind her with her non-injured arm and pushed Garrus back. He slid out of her which caused an indecent sound to echo through the space. Turning to face him, she quickly slid her pants back up while giving him the stink eye. “Yea, I am definitely not into the biting thing given your sharp teeth,” she chastised.
“I’m sorry,” was all he could muster. Garrus still looked like he was catching his breath. What has gotten into him, she wondered to herself. “I really don’t know what came over me. I’ve never done that before, with anyone.” It was as if he’d said that last part to himself.
“I’ve gotta get cleaned up,” Shepard began. “But the least you could do is help me bandage up the wound you caused.”
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** ON OMEGA **
“Zaeed, we’re only here for an hour. Kasumi, look for the part that Gabby needs, but please buy it -- don’t steal it.”
“Shep! I’m offended,” Kasumi joked.
“I doubt that,” the commander replied with a laugh. Everyone began to walk their separate ways and Shepard made her way to Afterlife. Before she could get to the entrance, someone called out to her. Looking to her left, she noticed Gavorn calling her over.
“What’s up, Gavorn?”
“Damn, you smell amazing,” she said as he stepped into her personal space. “I could smell you as soon as you got within ten feet of me.”
“Excuse me?” she said, stepping away from him. “What are you on about?”
“Aria won’t mind if I step away for a little while. Want to grab a drink at the lower bar with me? Or maybe come to my place for a little bit?” He reached out to grab her, but she’d stepped just out of reach.
Suddenly, Shepard regretted not having her full tactical armor on. “If you take one more step toward me, I’m going to shove you over the railing into oncoming skycar traffic.” He finally stopped advancing toward her, but continued to stare at her lecherously. She turned and jogged up the stairs to the front entrance of Afterlife.
There were a couple of other close calls with other Turians that made advances at her. Usually, no one paid her any attention when she was walking around Omega, unless they were looking for a fight. By the time she’d finally made it up to Aria’s perch, she was seething. She could feel the atmosphere change when she got to the base of the stairs below Aria’s couch.
The Asari looked down at her and smirked. “I see you finally took my advice,” she said as she motioned for Shepard to come up and sit next to her.
“And what advice was that?” she asked, trying to recall what the hell Aria could be talking about. But before she had a chance to get comfortable, Aria had pounced and was straddling Shepard on the couch. “OK, what the fuck is going on today?!” Shepard asked, unable to contain her anger. “Get off me--”
She was interrupted as Aria pulled at her jacket to reveal her bandaged shoulder. “I knew it. You’ve been marked,” the woman said as she brought her face much too close for Shepard’s liking. “I told you to find a nice young man to keep you warm, but instead you found a rough Turian to pass the time with. You reek of pheromones. I bet every Turian you passed on your way up here tried to jump you.”
Aria finally removed herself from Shepard’s lap, but wouldn’t take her eyes off the human, or wipe that silly smirk from her face. “It must be pretty serious between you two. Though I never pegged you for the type to settle down, Shepard.”
“My sex life is none of your business, Aria,” the commander tried to muster as much of her fiery demeanor as she could, but she was still processing the information.
“You keep walking around Omega smelling like that, and your sex life will be all anyone can think about. So, who is the lucky man? Or woman -- Turian women can be territorial too.”
“I didn’t come here to be harrassed, Aria…”
“If not to entice half of Omega, what did you come here for, Shepard?” Aria asked with a shameless glint in her eyes.
Shepard got to her feet. She reached behind her back, which made Aria’s guards jumpy. “Datapad,” Shep said as she paused. “I’m reaching for a datapad.” The guards hesitated a moment more before lowering their sidearms. Shepard tossed the pad to Aria, who didn’t even bother to reach for it. “I was supposed to give this intel to some Salarians here on Omega, but I’m taking a chance on you instead. You can thank me later.”
“If it’s useful information, I’d love to thank you properly. But I’m not interested in what would surely be a messy love triangle,” she finished with a smirk. Rolling her eyes as dramatically as possible, Shepard turned on her heels to walk away. “Bring your beau next time. I’d like to meet the turian brazen enough to lay claim to the most famous human in the galaxy,” Aria called after her.
“Not a chance,” Shepard mumbled to herself as she hurried down the stairs and quickly made her way out of Afterlife.
“EDI,” she called into her comms unit.
“Yes, Shepard?”
“Have Garrus and Mordin meet me in med bay immediately.”
“At once, Commander.”
She shouldn’t have left while Kasumi and Zaeed were still wandering about, but she needed to have Mordin look at the wound and figure out if they needed anything from Omega before they departed. After clearing the airlock decontamination process, Shepard scowled her way through the CIC, garnering looks from the crew along the way.
When she arrived on the crew deck, she could see Garrus and Chakwas talking in med bay. Shepard barged in without any greetings and asked, “Can we get the shutters down on the windows?”
“Of course, Commander,” Chakwas drawled. “Did something happen on Omega that fast?” the doc continued her questioning as she tapped away on her omni-tool until the windows shuttered for privacy.
Shepard ignored the question and walked right up to Garrus, grabbing him by the cowl of his armor. “What the hell did you do to me when you bit me?”
Before he could answer, the doors slid open and Mordin walked in. “What is the emergency? Was in the middle of calculating viral half life of scale itch.”
Without being asked, Chakwas pulled up her omni-tool again and made sure the med bay door was locked to outsiders.
“Garrus bit me earlier,” Shepard began talking to Mordin, but would not release her grip on the turian. “It must have caused some kind of reaction because every turian I walked past on Omega tried to hit on me. I was even accosted by T’Loak herself thanks to you,” she said directly to Garrus before forcefully releasing him.
“Hmm, sounds like you were marked. Happens with several species during the mating process, though not common with humans. Your species can only subconsciously sense pheromones whereas many other non-verbal sentient beings use marking for territorial purposes,” Mordin rambled off as he got closer to Shepard so he could scan her with his omni-tool. “Because turian hide is tough, marking by biting is most common way mates claim partners.”
“Did you mark me on purpose?” Shepard asked Garrus.
“Yes and no?” he seemed confused by his own answer.
“Garrus,” it came out as a warning.
“It was not what I intended to do, but it was almost an involuntary reaction. I was thinking how much I wanted you to be mine. But since you’re human, I didn’t think my bite would have any effect.”
“Interspecies interaction, especially human and turian pairings, is still relatively unresearched,” Mording chimed in again. “No scientific data to back up hypothesis, but could be that two alphas of different species produce opposite intended effect.”
“Humans don’t have alphas,” Shepard reminded Mordin.
“True, but even casual observer would notice Shepard has extremely dominant personality, similar to alpha. Garrus clearly an alpha turian. But because Shepard pheromones also strong, hormones combined to produce attractants instead of repellant.” Mordin paused to type furiously into his omni-tool, mumbling unintelligibly at this point.
Shepard took the opportunity to give Garrus another ice cold glare. “You know, one guy even said to me he didn’t care if it was me or some asari, he just wanted good times.” His mandibles clamped tightly to his cheek. She continued, “Another one said he wanted to know what the inside of my mouth felt like.” His demeanor had changed from apologetic to defensive. “Oh no,” Shepard noticed the change. “You don’t get to have any righteous indignation when you’re the one who put me in that position!”
Chakwas broke the tension by pulling Shepard over to an exam table. “Where is the wound?” she asked. Shepard unzipped her hoodie and slid her arm out, revealing the bandage under her tank top strap. The doctor removed the bandage to examine the wound, “Hmm… I don’t smell anything but antiseptic,” she said quietly.
“Not you too, doctor,” Shepard scolded, but her words to Chakwas carried no bite.
“Mordin,” Shepard turned to face the professor. “How long is this going to last? I can’t very well go on a mission like this.”
“Impossible to know. Could be few days, could be few weeks.”
“A few weeks?!” both Shepard and Garrus exclaimed simultaneously.
“Since Garrus’ DNA is distinctly different than Shepard’s, I may be able to inject a concentrated anti-histamine and inhibitor cocktail that will force the saliva out of the blood stream,” Chakwas interjected.
“Hmm, could work. When did biting occur?” Mordin asked.
“Just before we made it to Omega,” Shepard replied.
“Yes, when caught quickly, transmission rate of inhibitor may fully counter reaction.”
“This isn’t our first fluid exchange,” Shepard said. “Why would this happen now?”
“Special glands in the mouth that secrete pheromones. Transmission can only occur through bite. Turian evolution as species adapted to harsh conditions of Palaven,” Mordin clarified.
While Shepard was listening to Mordin, Chakwas had cleaned the wound once more and was preparing the injection. The Commander hissed at the needle going into her skin, but she did not flinch. “I was hoping you wouldn’t notice,” the doc teased. “I’m going to put a light dressing over the wound so you can get back to your cabin. After about 2 hours, remove it and leave the wound uncovered afterward. You tend to heal faster thanks to your Cerberus upgrades, but that is predicated on a positive attitude.”
“I’m positive someone is sleeping in the main battery for the foreseeable future...” Shepard mumbled under her breath.