This is really well done. Poetic, emotional, intimate, and primal, all at once.

I love Cortez here, amused and long-suffering and curious and rooting for his friend despite himself.

It's good for him to see her as vulnerable, as someone who can break. Gives him a fuller picture of who she is, and a way to deepen the way he feels for her.

She certainly got under his skin - better than the batarian, apparently, given that reaction. He's going to have to get it together if he's ever going to get beyond flirting.

I think if I were Shepard, I'd go to Vega for dance instruction, too. This was lovely - hot, but also sweet and funny.

Oh, he's far gone, but believably so - it's easy to imagine him, especially in this condition, seeing something unearthly, more than human, in her, and equally easy to imagine that from her perspective, she's being as human and vulnerable with him as she is with anyone.

I like that his appreciation for Shepard is all of a package - the physical, yes, but the force and daring behind it, as well - and that he has come so naturally to accept the inevitability of his falling for her.

I'm not crying matter what chapter I read i like the laugh it started with, bioware owns my... I'd get the food back and the nail polish. thank you for this.

This may well be my new head-canon Vega/Shepard romance. You have Vega, tough but vulnerable, so perfectly here, and the hints of Shepard's vulnerability that only someone looking very closely can see are so believable.

This was beautifully flirtatious, with that fine edge of danger that seems to hover around Shepard anyway keeping James's brain from dissolving too much.

Oh my god this is so good. I spent the past few chapters just chanting oh my god oh my god. You've got James down perfectly, the jarhead with a heart of gold. It isn't even the Spanish. It's just the way he talks, think. i love this. this is brilliant.

This is just beautifully written. Perfectly in voice, the battle sequence tight and descriptive and gritty, a nice balance to its undertone of heated Vega libido, and Shepard's mix of bloodlust and cold command (and a possible hint of response to Vega's pheremones?) is so evocative of her character. Lovely chapter!

I love how Shepard doesn't have to do much in this scene to be the dominant figure in it - she looms large as a character in her own right through the lens of Vega's overwhelmed impressions of her. And I love the Vega/Steve dynamic. I look forward to more of that.

I really like this opener. James is a mass of anger and lust, which suits him well, and already well under Shepard's thumb, which fits also. Looking forward to seeing where the rest of these vignettes go.

So glad it ended happy. Great job!