Chapter Text
He enjoyed watching her in action. That was one of the reasons he asked for her help with this mission. The other reason being not many people chose to cross her, and she would be able to find information faster than he could. For instance, the interrogation- they had been in there no more than a few minutes before they got all the information they needed; Shepard made one threat using her Spectre status.
His son was in trouble, and he was there to stop him from making a stupid mistake. He knew it was his fault, no matter what the Commander said. She was young, younger than he had thought, given her history.
He didn’t know what her plan was, but when she held the data pad in her hand, she told him that Taliad was going to die. He just hoped she didn’t mean by his son’s hand.
“Thane, do you see your son?” Her rich voice came through the headset; smooth like silk.
“Yes, I see him,” he told her. He watched his son, eyeing his quarry.
“Where is he?” she asked.
Thane glanced up for a moment, spotting her high on the catwalk.
“To your right- three feet, leaning against the wall,” he answered, unsure why she wanted to know. “Are you watching Taliad?”
“Don’t worry about him; I already have plans for him,” she hissed through the headset.
Shepard moved quickly, leaping off of the walkway, making the twelve foot drop with a black flip; she landed on her feet gracefully. She turned to his son, using her biotics to place him in stasis. Thane knew that no matter how strong his son was in biotics, there was no way he would be able to free himself from anything she did to him. She was a very powerful biotic.
She turned to Taliad, running towards him fueled by her biotics, landing a round house kick across the side of his head. She moved quickly hitting him with an upper cut that snapped his head back viciously, breaking his neck in the process. Thane shook his head as he saw her hands glow a bright blue. Worry slid through him; he knew she was on edge, and that wasn’t good. The Krogan gave a bellow, charging towards her. Using Throw on him, she sent him flying, and without hesitation she pulled her gun, killing him with one shot. She turned towards Thane’s son, letting him out of the stasis shield.
“Why did you do that, human?” his son asked her.
Thane heard the annoyance in his son’s voice and wondered how Shepard would take it. Shepard didn’t answer. She stood there coldly, taking the boy’s measure, and Thane hoped his son didn’t say anything that would upset her. Right now there was no safe spot to go to.
“I’m doing a favor for a friend,” she answered him; her voice was brisk, but that didn’t hide the smooth velvety sound of it.
His son’s eyes widened at the sound of her voice. Thane didn’t blame him; it was the same reaction he had when he first heard her. When he saw Shepard for the first time, her voice had an odd affect on him; it wasn’t sexual but it was soothing.
“And who is this friend?” Kolyat asked harshly; his fringes turning bright red from embarrassment for staring at her.
Kolyat wasn’t sure what to make of this woman. She had dark smooth skin; chocolate brown in color, her rich black hair was pulled away from her face, showing exotic bright green eyes. She had full lips, and very little marred her smooth skin. He blinked his inner eyelids, trying to get himself under control.
Shepard glanced over his shoulder with a nod. He turned around slowly, not sure what to expect. Anger, betrayal, and something close to rage, rose inside of him; beneath all of that was hurt. Year’s worth of pain at the sight of the man standing behind of him came out in one word.
“You!” he hissed. “This is some kind of joke, isn’t it?” he spat belligerently.
“Kolyat, listen to what he has to say. You want to hear this,” Shepard interjected, cutting across his anger smoothly.
She cut him off before he said something he would regret. He turned to his father again and tried to contain his emotions. He didn’t want this man to see his pain, to see how much his absence actually affected him.
Shepard watched as father and son talked. Kolyat looked a lot like his father; he was good-looking, lean and muscular. Thankfully, he didn’t wear the same type of clothing his father loved to wear, clothing she found a bit too revealing. Most of the time Thane’s choice of wardrobe made her uncomfortable. Thane had an exotic look; his clothes fit him like a glove leaving little to the imagination. His smooth chest showing through his vest was one thing that Shepard tried hard to avoid looking at, especially with her history. Kolyat was wearing a skin tight outfit that once again, left little to the imagination, but it at least covered him.
Shepard looked around the bar and noticed that they had everyone’s attention. “Hey boys, we should take this elsewhere,” she muttered; a pointed look towards the crowd around them.
“Where would you suggest we go that would be more private?” Thane asked; he too noticed the growing attention of the crowd. He didn’t want to be presumptuous and suggest the Normandy.
“Where else, the Normandy,” she answered with a roll of her eyes. “Come on Kolyat, I don’t trust you enough to let you out of my sight.” She stated pointedly. “Thane, you have the lead!”
Shepard and Thane talked quietly with each other as they walked side by side behind Kolyat. He could hear the soft murmurs of their voices. Kolyat wasn’t sure what to make of it. He kept glancing over his shoulder at the Commander, his skin feeling hot every time he looked at her. As far he was concerned, that was a very wrong reaction to have with her; she was human, not a Drell.
Plus, this was the Commander Shepard, the savor of the Citadel, and the one who took down Saren. This was the woman who was reputed to be the most powerful human biotic known. Rumor had it that she was cold, distant with no sense of humor.
“Problem, Kolyat?” she asked softly, when she caught him looking at her once again. She wasn’t sure what had caught his attention about her, but it was becoming annoying.
Hastily, he turned his focus forward without answering. He could feel his red ribbing burning from embarrassment once again. His father looked at him with a questioning look. He avoided those eyes, not sure how to answer and hated that he was caught.
The large ship loomed ahead of them; Kolyat eyed the ship in awe. Shepard walked by him punching in a code, and when the doors opened, she led the way. The doors closed behind the three of them. Thane stood there rigidly not looking at anyone. Shepard moved closer to Thane, concern in her eyes, giving him a questioning look. She knew not to touch him, so this was the best she could do for him. Thane nodded reassuringly to her. His problem right now was a son he didn’t know how to interact with. Shepard gave him a soft smile full of sympathy.
Thane looked down at her, a soft smile coming to him as he regarded her. Kolyat felt jealously well up inside of him; he scowled at the two of them. So that’s how it is; she’s my mother’s replacement. So nice of my father to forget about his dead wife so easily, he thought snidely. The doors ahead of them opened when the decontamination finished. Shepard moved forward without waiting for them.
A Turian stood before her with a mug that held steaming liquid in his hand. He passed it over to her when she leaned on the console next to him.
“Thanks Garrus,” she murmured, taking a deep breath of the liquid, followed by a sip. She moaned in appreciation, her eyes closed; her skin was flushed from the steam. Her face relaxed with a look of pleasure.
Kolyat couldn’t tear his eyes away from her and from what he had noticed, neither could quite a few other males, including his father and the one she called Garrus. His father finally tore his eyes away from the woman with an amused shake of his head.
“Follow me,” Thane said to Kolyat when he noticed the younger Drell was enraptured in the antics of the Commander.
Shepard and her coffee; he never understood why she loved it so much. It reminded him too much of what a woman looks like when she had found her pleasure. Garrus had said the same thing too, as have some of the males on board.
He led Kolyat into his room, wondering how he was going to have this talk. He hoped his son would listen to reason, but there was too much anger there.
Shepard left CIC with her mug held in her hands, barely noticing anyone about. She scolded herself for using too much biotics, and now she was paying for it. She could feel the dark energy coursing through her. She knew had to go dockside and soon.
For now, she went to her quarters to do some work that had been building up. For the last few days since she found out about Thane’s problem with his son, she spent as much time with him as possible, trying to help him through it. It wasn’t easy since he closed himself off, ashamed of himself. She tried to nip that one in the bud as quick as possible, but it was like talking to a wall.
Data pads were strewn across her desk, so much so that she couldn’t see the wood anymore. It was very depressing. With an aggravated sigh, she started working, reading over everything with annoyance. She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she noticed that her hands were starting to glow a faint blue. Fuck! I have to get out of here, now! She thought desperately.
She was about to leave when her door buzzed. She grumbled beneath her breath and unlocked the door. Her eyes widened when Thane and his son walked in. Thane had a blackening eye; Kolyat had a bruise forming on his cheek. Anger burned bright in both of their eyes.
“This had better be good. I was just heading off of the ship,” she bit out coldly.
They both stared at her, shocked for a brief moment. Thane was the first to recover; he glanced down at her hands and noticed the faint blue glow. He looked at her warily and was about to force his son to leave. It wasn’t safe in here right now. She was too close to losing control of her biotics.
He never got the story of why she had this problem. He asked a few times and the only answer he got was a cold, lethal glare. He asked Garrus once, and he had informed him he couldn’t answer that question.
“Kolyat, we need to leave right now,” Thane warned, placing a hand on his son’s shoulder.
“What? Why?” he asked, looking at the Commander with a confused expression.
She didn’t answer and Thane wasn’t going to answer. This was her personal life and she hated anything about her being spread around like gossip, few people had already learnt that the hard way.
“Don’t ask!” Shepard bit out, her crystal green eyes had turned cold and deadly.
Kolyat stood there transfixed by her eyes; they were amazing, and he couldn’t tear himself away even if he wanted to.
“Kolyat!” his father’s urgent voice cut through his haze.
His eyes flicked to him, and he could see fear on his father’s face. He turned back to the Commander and noticed a faint glow to her, giving her an angelic look. A sigh escaped him; his body relaxed without thought as he took a step towards her. She hissed, backing away quickly.
Thane stopped his son, shocked by his reaction to Shepard. If he would have touched her in this condition he wouldn’t have survived. Shepard’s energy would have barreled through him, killing him. He had a dose of her energy once and that was enough. It had ripped through him painfully, bringing him to his knees. He tried to keep his expression closed off but he couldn’t stop the cry of pain from coming out. Later that night he woke in the Med Bay with two very worried people- Mordin and Chakwas. He remembered seeing the fear in their eyes. He remembered them explaining to him to never touch the Commander again.
He remembered the first time they had met and offered his hand to seal their deal.
“You don’t want to do that,” she had stated coldly.
He reeled back in shock at her rudeness. After that, he hadn’t been sure about being aboard this ship. He had thought it was because he was an alien that she reacted that way. Later that night he found out differently when he found her awake late at night. She looked like something was bothering her as she sat drinking her coffee. He had taken a seat across from her; he had planned on finding out what she had against aliens.
The question stopped short on his tongue when she looked up and gave him a halfhearted smile. He was confused; he didn’t know what to think, so he decided to go ahead and ask.
“Why didn’t you take my hand before?” he asked her.
“There are a lot of questions I will answer, but that is one that I won’t. Just know it didn’t have anything to do with you personally.” She told him softly, her eyes never leaving her hands. “A few words of wisdom, ones you will want to remember on this ship if you want to live- Don’t touch me.”
At first he thought it was a threat, but there was so much sadness in her eyes that he knew it wasn’t.
He flashed back to the present; he now understood her words. She was protecting him, not threatening him; just as she was now protecting his son, by backing away.
When she wasn’t over ridden by her biotics, she was a good friend. She had already made it quite clear that she didn’t want anything more from him. He understood and agreed not to act on his attraction towards her, though that attraction wasn’t there anymore. He looked at her more like a daughter, someone to look after. So now they were very good friends, she had shown him a life of forgiveness, and woke him from his battle sleep.
“Thane, get him out of here,” she hissed urgently, swaying in place.
She grasped at her desk but missed, stumbling forward before catching herself. Before Thane could do anything, Kolyat reached out for her, catching her arm to steady her.
A low moan escaped Kolyat’s lips, his head bowed as her biotics washed over him; his breaths came in pants as the pleasure of it shot through him. He met her stare with heated eyes. She looked at him in shock, her other hand reaching out hesitantly, brushing lightly against his cheek. He caught her hand and held it against his face tightly as her biotics still ran through him. He had expected pain, but that was not what it felt like at all. It was like the wind caressing his body; where she touched, it felt like water smoothing over his skin. It was soothing and erotic at the same time.
Thane was about to reach out to his son, but it was too late. He said a silent prayer in good bye to his son. He knew as soon as contact was made, that Shepard would lose full control and his son would take the brunt of it.