Archive of Our Own

Commander Jane Shepard sighed as she made her way to the docking port on Tuchanka, thankful to finally be making her way off planet.

It's not that she really wanted to leave, it's just that she knew how much of a time crunch she was on. Every day she spent there was one she was not actively pursuing the Collectors.

And while she didn't mind spending time on the personal missions of her squad — after all, the eggheads needed to have the ability to work out the Collectors' next move — every day she spent away from the chase caused her anxiety to spike, so she was more than ready to get off planet and back into the fight, so to speak.

EDI's voice came to her over her suit's comms.

"Killing the thresher maw has caused a stir among Clan Urdnot. In addition, it has produced several breeding requests for Grunt, and one for Shepard."

She stopped in her tracks at that, the sound of Grunt's laughter washing over her.

"Ha! I knew I picked the right battlemaster. I wonder which krogan was brave enough to try and breed with you?"

Shepard didn't answer him.

Because she had a sneaking suspicion she knew exactly who had made that request, and she wasn't going to let it slide.

"Go back to the ship," she told Grunt and Garrus.

"You sure?" Garrus asked her, and she nodded.

"Yeah. There's something I have to do, and it's sort of personal. I'll raise you if I need you, don't worry about me."

Garrus gave her a long look, almost as if he knew what her plan was. After a moment, he flared his mandibles and nodded.

"Make good choices," he called over his shoulder as he led Grunt back through the docking port.

"Does my battlemaster ever make bad ones?" she heard Grunt ask, and she couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

Turning on her heel, she made her way back down the hallway and into the Clan Urdnot throne room.

Wrex, of course, was still sitting where she had left him.

She felt his eyes on her as she walked up the few steps to face him.

"Shepard," he said.

"Wrex," she answered.

"I thought you were heading back to the Normandy."

"Well you see, I was, but then EDI told me about this rather interesting development. She said that she's received numerous breeding requests for Grunt."

Wrex let out a rumble of what could only be interpreted as pride. "As he should. That shouldn't be surprising."

"It's not," she said. "That wasn't the interesting part. What is intriguing to me was that EDI said I had also received one."

Wrex let out a soft huff. "Why're you telling me?"

"Wrex."

"Shepard."

She sighed. "Do I really need to spell it out for you?"

He shifted slightly. "You want me to find out who made the request?"

She stared at him. "I think I already know."

He stared back at her. Then he turned toward one of his guards.

"I'll be in my quarters. Do not interrupt me unless we're under attack. And even then only if you think you guys can't handle it."

"Yes, sir," they told him.

He stood up and gestured for Shepard to follow him, which she did.

"Your personal quarters, eh?" she teased him slightly and he rumbled softly.

"I figured you didn't want this conversation to be had in public. I know how you humans get so embarrassed when talking about mating and breeding."

That almost stopped her in her tracks. Wrex hadn't ever really been … considerate of her feelings before.

"That's kind of you," she said cautiously.

He continued walking but let out of huff of air.

"I can be kind," he threw over his shoulder, and Shepard raised her eyebrow but didn't contradict him.

This was a different side of Wrex, one she'd never seen before, and she had to admit she wanted to see more.

He waved his omni-tool and a door that she hadn't even noticed that was flush in the wall unlocked with a small chirp.

It slid open and Wrex headed inside. She paused at the threshold, not sure if she should follow.

"Coming, Shepard?" he called, and she shook off her hesitation and stepped through the door.

She wasn't sure what she was expecting Wrex's personal chambers to look like, but what she found wasn't it. The room was actually very comfortably appointed, similar, almost, to her own quarters on the SR-2.

He had a desk that was littered with weapons, mods, and a terminal that he presumably used to keep up his correspondence, as well as a small sitting area, with four chairs and a table.

And in the center of the room, dominating the space, was a large bed that could comfortably fit at least five krogan. The concrete slab was raised on a small dias, and there was a thin mattress and blanket covering it, a form of comfort Shepard didn't expect to exist on the krogan homeworld.

"Nice place," she told him, and Wrex laughed.

"It's no Cerberus comfort, but it does its job." He set his shotgun down by the door. "Grab a seat."

She mirrored him in removing her weapons, then did what he offered, perching on one of the chairs in the room.

"So,” he began, leaning casually against his desk, crossing his arms and legs. "You think you know who submitted the breeding request?"

"I do." She searched his face, but he was keeping his expression frustratingly blank. She had the sneaking suspicion that — although he was a great warrior — his true talent did lie with diplomacy.

The krogan might actually be okay.

He kept quiet, seemingly waiting for her to continue.

"It was you. You made the request."

He stared at her, his red eyes unblinking.

He didn't say anything for so long that she actually thought she might have made a mistake.

But then he pushed off the desk and prowled closer to her. "Now, what makes you think that?"

"C'mon, Wrex. Don't you remember what we talked about back when we were going after Saren?"

A small rumble emanated from him as he stepped even nearer.

"I'm not sure." His voice washed over her. "It's been over two years."

She stood up, invading his personal space, in a silent dare to get him to move back. "Are you telling me you forgot?" she murmured.

He growled. "Of course I didn't forget."

"And now that I've proven myself, have shown you that I'm not breakable anymore…"

"I want to take you up on your offer."

She let out a huff of air that was half laugh, half exasperated sigh. "You could have just asked."

He took another step toward her; they were so close she had to crane her neck to keep his face in view. "But where would the fun be in that?"

She couldn't help it: she laughed. And damn she hadn't done that since she woke up on Lazarus Station.

And it was then that she knew that she made the right choice, pursuing this.

"So you gonna breed me, big guy?"

He began to pull off his gloves. "I'm certainly going to try."

She watched as he began methodically removing his armour, setting it on the stand that she hadn't even noticed was in one of the corners of the room.

Every piece of exposed skin drew her attention, and she wanted nothing more than to run her hands and tongue over it all.

"You just going to stand there?" he asked. "Or am I going to have to remove your armour for you?"

It had taken her ages to source something that hadn't been touched by Cerberus, and the look Wrex had given her told her that if he took it off, it probably wouldn't be usable again.

"I got it," she assured him, starting to undo her seals. "Sorry if I got a little distracted."

He smirked. "Well, we krogan are quite the specimen, I know. And with such a perfect example like myself in front of you … well. I suppose I can understand why you'd be a bit distracted. But Shepard," his eyes darkened to a deep maroon. "Hurry."

She didn't need more incentive. She removed her armour as fast as possible, pleased that Wrex had procured a stand for her.

He really did continue to surprise her.

He had finished removing his own armour and undersuit by the time she had placed all her pieces on the stand, and she took the time to appreciate his body. It was peppered with scars — proof of a life long-lived — and much smoother on the front than she thought.

She couldn't wait to touch him.

"Shepard," he rumbled, and she blinked, not even realizing that she had stopped her own efforts as she gazed at him.

"All the way off."

"Yes, sir," she said as she tugged on the tab of her undersuit, and Wrex's growl was enough to make her movements falter.

"You wanna play, Shepard?" he asked, and his voice was so low and gruff, she had to squeeze her thighs together to try and ease some of the ache that had suddenly appeared.

"I want you to breed me," she told him, and he snorted.

"Then get undressed."

He didn't stop staring at her as she removed her undersuit. When the tight material pulled away from her body, his nostrils flared and his pupils dilated.

"Damn, you really want this."

"I told you I did," she murmured, and a rumble emanated from his chest.

"So get naked and come here."

She finished removing her undersuit, then took off her bra and stepped out of her underwear. She took the time to fold them and place them with precise movements on the chair behind her.

Wrex kept quiet the entire time, his stare boring into her and setting her skin aflame.

When she finally straightened and turned back to face him, he had nothing but approval on his face.

"Your body…" he began.

"Different than what you expected?"

"Yes." His voice was rough. "Less hair. More scars."

He ran his gaze over her, leaving her feeling extremely exposed, but not vulnerable.

That was the beauty of Urdnot Wrex — and her level of trust in him.

"That a bad thing?" she asked, and she popped her hip out, giving him a full view.

"Absolutely not," he said. "You're so much better. C'mere," he said, and she walked over to him.

He bent like he was going to nuzzle her, and she tilted her head to expose her neck to him.

He inhaled deeply. "I love your scent, Shepard. But I'm going to like it even more once it's mixed with mine."

She whimpered.

"You remember what we discussed all those years ago? Back when we were going to try, regardless, before the mission got in the way?"

She nodded. "Flare if I need you to stop."

"Good," he rumbled. "Because I am going to breed you like the krogan you are, Shepard. And I'm not going to stop, no matter what. Not unless you flare."

"Understood," she breathed, and then he attacked her.

Before she could even blink, he had pressed her against the wall, her breath going out of her at the impact.

He grasped her waist and shoved a thigh between her legs, dragging his nose against her neck.

"You're already wet," he noticed, and she nodded.

"I want you," she said, and he growled.

He pressed his lips against her neck, his wide mouth covering her from shoulder to jaw. She groaned, shifting against him as his tongue fluttered on her pulse point.

"So soft," he murmured. "So vulnerable." He licked her again, then wrapped his hands against the backs of her thighs, lifting her up so she was straddling his waist.

He dragged his tongue over her collarbone, then continued on a downward path toward her breasts.

"Wrex," she breathed, arching against the wall, but she didn't have much room to manoeuver. He pressed his lips against her right breast, almost encompassing it in its entirety. The heat was practically unbearable — it seared her skin, sending shockwaves of pleasure directly to her core.

She hadn't realized just how warm krogan mouths were.

Teeth scraped against her nipple, and she keened softly.

"Yes, just like that. God," she murmured, and he continued tonguing at her peak, pulling it taut between his lips, tugging it as far as it could go before finally letting it go and switching to her other side.

He started at the beginning again, pressing his mouth to her neck, kissing her pulse point, then licking down her collarbone and chest before latching onto her other breast.

It was just the right amount of pain, and she was reveling in it.

Without warning, Wrex pulled her off the wall and slammed her against the bed.

She shuddered at the impact.

His teeth dug into the soft flesh of her chest, though she didn't think he pierced the skin.

A part of her was disappointed that he didn't.

"Fuck," she managed as he dislodged himself from her skin and started moving further down her torso.

He proceeded to kiss or lick each of the scars he came across — which were many.

"I think you almost have as many scars as me," he said against a particularly nasty one along her hip that was taking longer to heal than some of the others.

"I think I have more," she countered, and he nipped at her hipbone.

"Are you going to make us count them?" The vibrations of his laughter caused her to squirm.

"Probably," she said. "But we can do that later."

"If we're not fighting, we're fucking," he told her. "I wanna make the most out of my time with you."

That was oddly … sweet.

"Think of counting scars as a form of foreplay," she informed him, but any further discussion on the topic was cut off by a squeal as he grabbed her by the waist and flipped her over so her stomach was pressed against the bed.

"Too much talking," he grunted. "Not enough screaming my name."

He pulled at her hips so she was lifted up onto her hands and knees — the perfect breeding position.

She was already dripping for him; she wanted nothing more than for him to slam his cocks into her.

But he apparently had other ideas.

She heard him moving around the room, the sound of a drawer hissing open, then closed, and then she heard him grunt as he got to his knees behind her.

"All right, old man?"

The sound of her ass being slapped rang throughout the room and she keened softly at the sudden impact.

"Who're you calling old?" he grumbled, and he slapped her other cheek before rubbing his hands over the warm skin.

"I love watching your pale ass turn pink," he said, then he hit her again, both sides, in quick succession. "Looks so good against my cocks."

He massaged her butt a bit more before he shifted his grip down to grasp the backs of her thighs. His thumbs stroked the thin skin on the insides of her legs, which caused a shiver to run through her.

He huffed slightly, his warm breath coursing over her sensitive folds.

"Wrex," she groaned, and instead of answering her, he just dragged his long tongue up the center of her.

She nearly collapsed at the feeling of being touched so intimately after so long.

His tongue continued working through her folds, lapping up everything she gave him like he was a dog at a water bowl. It fluttered against her clit in such a way that drove her wild, and she knew she wasn't going to last long against his efforts.

He wound her up tighter and tighter, and — just before she thought she was going to fall — he removed his mouth. She groaned in frustration.

But then he began swirling his thumb over her tighter entrance, and she felt herself begin to get ramped up all over again.

"That's it," he murmured, then she heard the pop of a bottle lid and felt the warmth of lube being poured over her.

The slippery substance allowed him to breach her, and she gasped as she felt his thick digit enter her.

"So good," he said as he started moving his finger in and out.

Then he started licking her again, and she was done.

He growled into her and started thrusting his finger and tongue in tandem, extending her orgasm for much longer than she'd usually experienced.

"Fuck," she groaned, shifting her hips as she moved into overstimulation.

"You taste so sweet," Wrex said, and the vibrations of his voice caused her to clench around him again. "I could spend all day drinking you up. But I know that's not what you're here for."

He added a second finger to her asshole, and started scissoring them, loosening her up.

After a few moments, he rumbled appreciatively, removing his hand.

He groaned himself as he stood up.

"I'm going to fuck you now," he stated, and she gasped as she felt both heads of his cocks poking her — one at each entrance.

They were sharper than what she'd been accustomed to, and she felt them flare out almost immediately, growing much wider at the head than a human's.

She briefly worried that it was going to hurt, but then she remembered her new body.

Even if it did, Wrex would take care of her, and her body would heal itself eventually.

And anything that took too long she could get Chakwas to look at.

No, she had wanted this for so long, and it was about time her resurrection could be used for something good.

"What are you waiting —" Her question was cut off as he breached her fully, and she screamed.

It was so much more than she had expected. She felt like she was being ripped in two, like there was no way she was going to survive this, like his cocks were literally scrambling her insides…

She breathed through the pain, knowing it would be worth it, knowing that it was going to get better.

She just had to survive long enough for her body to adjust to his size.

He continued pressing into her, his soft grunts of effort the only indication she had that he was affected by their coupling. He gave one hard push, and then he was inside her, his heads spreading her fully, but the rest of his cocks were…

Well.

She didn't want to say small, but after they had entered her properly, she felt less like she was going to burst, and more like she was being fucked by two humans.

She let out a soft hum as she shifted her weight back experimentally.

"Ya know, after that first bit, it's really not that bad. You're not any bigger than the average human."

Wrex laughed, and it was the same sound he made before one of their enemies made a mortal decision.

She swallowed away the sudden dryness that had appeared on her tongue.

"Just wait," he assured her, and she gulped.

Well, then. Guess she just had to —

She gasped as he grabbed her hips and began pounding into her in earnest.

"I'm going to fill you up so good, you'll see," he growled and she had to grasp the blanket to keep from being flung off the bed.

He propped one of his legs up on the concrete slab, changing the angle of his penetration, and he went deeper, hitting all the right spots.

She clenched around him as she shuddered at the feeling, barely holding on as he continued pistoning his hips into her.

"Fuck, I think I'm gonna —"

"Cum for me Shepard," he ordered, and she did, letting out a long moan as she fluttered around him, causing him to groan as well.

"Fuck, you're so tight, so perfect. The tightest, wettest sheath, Gods I love how you feel when you bear down on me, like you never want my cocks to leave. Well don't worry, soon they won't be able to."

That statement triggered something in the back of her mind, like she should understand something more about what he was saying, but her brain had practically melted with how good he was fucking her, she couldn't hold a thought for more than a moment.

Without warning he grasped onto her waist and pulled her up, so her back was pressed against his chest. Gravity helped her sink down even further onto his cocks, and she hissed as she continued to tighten around him as aftershocks flew through her.

He sniffed her deeply and kissed her neck, before nuzzling her again.

"So perfect," he murmured.

He then switched their spots, twisting his body so he was sitting on the edge of the bed, while pulling her up off of him and rotating her so their chests were now pressed together. With his arms wrapped around her back, he yanked her down on top of him again, his cocks entering her with less resistance that time, though it was still intense enough to make her gasp.

She wasn't a small human, by any means, so his manhandling of her was doing something…

A gush of wetness coated her thighs as he thrust up into her in a forceful move, and he growled his approval.

"That's it, show me what a good little mate you are, your greedy holes love being filled by me, don't they? You'll never be able to take another partner again, my cocks are going to ruin you. No one else is going to be able to make you feel as satisfied…"

She groaned and pressed her cheek against his chest, reveling in the thick hide scraping against her soft skin. She could have sworn she felt him getting bigger inside her, but maybe that was just the new position making him go deeper.

He threaded one hand into her hair and used it as leverage to direct her exactly where he wanted her to go, and she allowed herself to give in, to relax and be used as a doll.

Her limbs began to tingle as her pleasure seemed to permeate throughout her body, coming from deep within her, pulling from her most inner of places.

He bounced her on his cocks, thrusting up into her and pulling her down at a pace so quick her fogged brain could barely comprehend it. He fucked into her with the vigour of a man who wanted nothing more than to give her everything she wanted and to take his pleasure as he could.

He licked along her neck and chest, nipping her skin just hard enough to mark her but not enough to break the skin.

His pace sped up, just a bit, and — no, he really was growing larger inside of her. Both of his cocks seemed to be swelling up, and she gasped as the swollen parts caught on the edge of her holes.

"Wrex — what?" she managed to gasp as their girth continued to grow.

"I told you I was going to breed you," he grunted, licking up the other side of her neck. "That means you're going to take my seed — all of it."

And from the depths of her mind, swimming up through the haze of euphoria that had basically rendered her useless, she vaguely recalled researching krogan breeding practices and discovering that they knotted their mates.

It made sense, considering their evolution, but she'd forgotten.

That's why Wrex had told her to just wait … he was soon going to fill her with two knots.

Oh god.

He continued to swell, and he started rutting against her in earnest, his knots catching every time he thrust, pushing and pulling her in a way that was driving her crazy.

She never thought sex could feel this good.

"God, keep going, just like that," she urged him on, and he pulled her down onto him over and over, shoving himself as deep as he could go.

Which was apparently very damn deep.

"Look at you, Shepard," he groaned, "taking me like the good little krogan you are."

She loved being called a krogan, loved the feeling of being stuffed full of his cock, loved getting knotted by him…

She wanted to be bred by him.

So badly.

His cocks were getting so large it was getting hard for him to keep thrusting, but he kept it up, stretching her beyond the breaking point. She could feel them rubbing against each other inside her, and she was so impossibly full. She wasn't sure how she'd be able to take him getting bigger, but she also knew he wasn't going stop until he did.

"Shit, I can feel my cocks through you," he gasped, and he shuddered. "You're so thin, so tight…"

He growled as he started losing his rhythm, and she couldn't think any more. The only thing she could do was try to hold on as he used her in that most perfect way.

She was clenching around him as her own orgasm threatened to break, and he shoved himself deep inside her, causing her to cry out, the pleasure/pain mixture almost too much.

"Please," she mewled, needing him to tie her, needing him to fill her with his cum. "I want to take you, I want you to fill me up."

"Yeah? You want my seed? You want to implant krogan babies inside you? Watch you swell up with my child?"

"Yes," she cried. "Fill me with your child, make me pregnant!"

He growled as his knots continued to grow, and he could no longer pull out of her completely. Instead, his thrusts turned shallow, and he began rubbing against those perfect spots inside her.

"Let go," Wrex ordered, and she fell, shattering around him, her euphoria so sharp, so sweet, it almost hurt. "That's it," he murmured, coaxing her through it, his thrusts having slowed down a bit as she continued to writhe against him. "Milk me, Shepard. Show me that you want me."

Tears began tracking down her cheeks as the fullness of his knots was driving her into overstimulation, but it was exactly what she wanted, exactly how she needed to be used —

Her orgasm rolled over into another, and Wrex grunted as he felt her clamp down on him again, and his knots had finally grown to the point where he was unable to fully move.

"Gods, Shepard, you feel amazing, I don't think I can … I think I need to —"

She pressed a kiss to his chest, right over where she had heard his heartbeats. "Give it to me, big guy."

With a roar that shook the room and was probably heard throughout the entire compound, he gave one last, long thrust, and then she felt him grow impossibly bigger, before she felt the burning of his spend coating both of her holes.

He kept pumping into her, and she knew that if it wasn't for his knots, she'd be overflowing. The feel of him filling her so well tripped her into another orgasm, though that one was smaller, her muscles shaking with the aftershocks as she twitched around him.

And still, he filled her.

"Wrex," she moaned as her holes stretched to accommodate the fluid. She wasn't sure how much more she could take.

"Almost done," he grunted, then pulled on her hair so he could press his lips to hers. "You're doing so good. Taking me so well. Like you were made for me."

A few more gentle kisses and spasms from his cocks, and then he was done.

"There," he told her, placing another kiss on her mouth. "All done."

"All right?" he asked her, tilting her chin so he could meet her eyes.

It took her way too long to nod her head. "I'm good," she managed, but then another shudder ran through her. "How — how long are we going to be tied together?"

"It depends," he said, and the vibrations in his chest from his voice made her feel good. "Why? Want to get rid of me already?"

"Of course not," she scoffed. "I'm just…" She tried to shift and groaned as his knots stretched her. She pulled her face away from his hands and he let her go.

She buried her face in his chest. "I just might come again. I'm so damn full…"

Wrex huffed a laugh. "Really?" He sounded way too proud of himself. "You might orgasm just from me being inside you like this? I don't even need to do anything?"

"You have no idea how good you feel," she told him. "I just —" she cut herself off with a gasp as she felt him flex his cocks inside her.

"Oh, this is going to be fun," he rumbled, and she wanted to be embarrassed, but, the fact of the matter was, she was still just too damned turned on to care.

By the time Wrex's knots had finally deflated, she had come twice more. Each time she felt herself ramping up, Wrex was incredibly helpful, running his hands or tongue over her breasts, kissing her, even biting her lightly.

It was such a weird feeling, to come on a man's cock without him finding pleasure, but he assured her he was enjoying the show, but that it was just impossible for him to get hard again while he was still tied to her.

She supposed — biologically speaking — that made sense, but it still didn't make her feel good. But he reassured her, stroked her back, and just genuinely held her throughout the entire time they were tied, and it felt too good for her to really protest too much.

It had been way too long since she was touched in any sort of non-clinical way.

And she dare not think too closely about the emotions it was eliciting in her.

She had become so comfortable in his arms that she didn't even get that mortified when he pulled out and fluid gushed out of her.

A small part of her thought that he might get disgusted by it, but he just laughed and grabbed a towel to clean up the mess.

They redressed in companionable silence, and when it was finally time to leave, he grasped her by the waist and kissed her, hard, pulling them as flush to one another as they could get.

"I'm glad we got the chance to do this," he told her, tapping his forehead to hers.

"Thanks for making that request," she quipped and he chuckled.

"Thanks for answering it," he replied, and it was her turn to smile.

"I will. Every damn time, Wrex."

He hummed at that. "Stay alive," he ordered. "I'd hate for this to be a one-time thing."

"I'll do my best," she assured him, and she knew that — for the first time since finding out she was in Cerberus' clutches — she really was going to try and survive whatever the Collectors were going to throw at them.

Wrex let her go with a pat on the ass and a promise to write, and she was surprised by how easily she was walking as she made her way back to the docking port. She was a little sore, but it seemed her rebuilt body really could accommodate krogan mating.

She wasn't ever going to be thankful for her resurrection, but she could be grateful that some of the upgrades could be used for such a self-serving reason.

When she got back onto the SR-2, she was surprised to find Garrus, Thane, and Zaeed waiting for her in the mess.

"What're you guys doing up?" She knew it had switched over to the night cycle in the hours she had been with Wrex, and she would have fully expected the guys to be asleep.

"They didn't trust me," Garrus informed her, and Zaeed scoffed, while Thane stood up a bit straighter.

"It's not that we didn't trust him, Commander. It's just that we would have been remiss to have left you on Tuchanka unattended for much longer," he said.

"I told them you were okay, that you didn't want to be disturbed, and yet…" Garrus added.

"Krogans are shifty bastards. No telling what they would have done to you," Zaeed cut in.

"I'm fine," Shepard assured them. "Wrex is an old friend. We served together. I was in no danger."

"What I tried to tell them," Garrus said. "They wanted to mount a rescue after you'd been gone for two hours, but I told them to give you the night. Our compromise was that we'd be on standby, ready to go, in case the call came through that you needed us."

Her heart stuttered as she realized that — though they all might be employed by Cerberus at that moment — she really did have people who had her back.

She'd have to tell Wrex in her next letter. He'd be pleased to hear it, she knew.

"Well," she said, clearing her throat of the emotion that had suddenly closed it. "I'm fine, as you can see. As Garrus said, I was just catching up with an old friend. Personal business, nothing you need to worry about. Thanks for waiting up, though. But go get some rest. We'll be leaving orbit in the morning."

"Yes, Commander," Thane told her with a nod. He turned to head toward the elevator, but said, over his shoulder, "I am glad to see you unharmed." She gave him a smile and watched him go.

"You have the ear of the leader of Clan Urdnot, eh?" Zaeed asked. "Good for you." He gave her a wink, then headed down the hall, presumably toward the ladder that led directly to his bunk.

She turned to Garrus with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey, I didn't tell him anything," he said with raised hands. "But you know Massani. He's more shrewd than he lets on."

"That's true," she said with a sigh, coming to perch on the table beside him.

"So…" he began, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. "How'd it go?"

"I'm not talking to you about my sex life," she said.

"Hmm," he said, and she realized that little statement probably told him all he needed to know.

"But," she added, and he turned to look at her more fully. "I will say that you were right."

"Oh? I'm correct about so many things. What, particularly, are we talking about?"

She knocked his shoulder with her own.

"Chicks really do dig scars."

He stared at her for a moment, then burst out laughing. He stood up. "Glad to hear that, Shepard. I really am."

He began walking down the hall toward his own quarters. "Knowing that I have been, once again, proven correct, I shall sleep easy tonight. You should get some rest, too."

"I will," she promised. "Soon. 'Night, Garrus."

"Good night, Shepard."

And then the world around her was quiet once more.

But where the silence had once been suffocating, it was no longer so oppressive. There were people who cared about her. Who wanted her to return.

Maybe her future no longer laid with the Alliance. Maybe that career had ended along with her life.

But she didn't have to be despondent about it.

No. It was a big galaxy out there, and she was still serving it, to the best of her ability, how she could.

She was no longer alone.

And though they hadn't discussed it, she knew that, when the time came, she'd have a home to come back to, too.

Tuchanka might be an inhospitable planet, full of deadly predators and toxic to most life, but to her, it was a fresh beginning with an old friend.

The continuation of something interrupted, but also the start of something new.

For the first time, in a long time, she finally had something to look forward to, something personal to fight for.

And she resolved, at that moment, to make sure to come back to him.

No matter what.