The Illusive Man lifted another cigarette, and lit it while the woman in the background stepped forward into the view of the dying sun that spread across the chamber. She stopped just in front of his chair, to give him her short report:

"The attack was repelled by the Systems Alliance fleet. Kai Leng was killed by two Council spectres."

He moved his cigarette over the ashtray.

"Well, I guess we can't have everything all at once." he replied, calmly.

"The two spectres are Jane Shepard and Saren Arterius. They came out of nowhere." Miranda added.

The Illusive Man's voice turned cold as ice:

"What a shame." he said, looking into the sun, tilting his head to the side, as a dark intention formed in his mind. "Too bad we'll have to remove them."

Saren slowly opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for long minutes, before even moving any of his limbs.

Just a night passed since their kiss, but it felt like an endless, eternal torture with no possible resolution. The memory of her velvet lips caused him a suffering he never really felt before. It felt like he tasted the sweetest heaven, only for it to be taken away. He didn't see her since that kiss, he had to fix that mess with the Council who demanded an immediate report, and once he came back to the Sovereign, she just wasn't there.

But it was for the best.

As he sat up, he wasn't even sure what the hell he was thinking when he kissed her. He loathed humans and he never thought of making contact with any of them, much less kissing one… but that was out the window now. He cursed himself, how could he be so stupid to kiss that woman. Even if she was beautiful, intelligent and strong, and probably the only possible person in the world who… he was a fool, and he made a giant mistake.

And now, one possible outcome of this whole mess was worse than the other. Now this kiss will be in the air until the end of their days, and there is no way to take it back, it will ruin everything. They are partners, both spectres, living on the same space ship, are on the same quest… and he would have to live with this, with her, with his own raging confusion about what the hell is wrong with him.

He wished none of this happened. Like he could just take it all back, and never cross that line again. They did so well, but now their relationship will be just petty, sad awkwardness until their lives run out.

He looked in the mirror in the bathroom, and hearing his own thoughts in his mind he was already disgusted by himself.

Why did he care so much about this?

So what if he fucked up their relationship? She was just a human anyway, he didn't care one bit. At least the Saren he thought he was, never did.

His mandibles tensed as he looked at his reflection, into his own blue eyes.

It was just a kiss. Nothing else.

He washed his face then left his cabin to prepare some coffee. On his way, he passed Jane's room on the deck, and slowly stopped for a second, looking at her door. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped to it, but did not do anything. He just stood there, as if contemplating knocking. He eventually looked up:

"Ilsa" he purred, his voice serious and low "Is Jane in her quarters?"

"No" Ilsa replied "She had not returned since she left with you yesterday."

It felt like he was slammed in the chest with something heavy. The fact that she did not return to the ship for the night meant that she was - at the very least - just as confused as him. But he wasn't sure what to think, he never cared about or put up with any women ever, he had no idea what she might be thinking, and all of these thoughts gave him a headache.

He decided he will relax and not overthink everything, it wasn't like him anyway. So he stepped away from the door and went to the bar to make some coffee. It worked, because the familiar routine of putting the kahve in the machine turned his mind off so well, that it immediately went into auto-pilot.

And in that, the sharp memory of her lips on his appeared, and flooded his mind. He kissed her so hard, they crashed the bed to the wall. She hugged his neck and wrapped her leg around him…

He caught himself, realizing that he was thinking about her again, and in his sudden rage almost broke the coffee machine. Then suddenly his omnitool beeped, and he saw an email arrive.

"From: Laiel Sparatus

To: Jane Shepard; Saren Arterius

Title: Dinner meeting

Shepard, Saren,

In light of your recent actions and yesterday's events, the Council is inviting you to a dinner meeting in the Mirror, tonight at 8 pm sharp. Your next assignment and your evaluation will be discussed there.

Councilor Laiel Sparatus, On behalf of The Citadel Council"

He deeply sighed at the sight of this email. The last thing he wanted to do was pose like an idiot in a fancy restaurant with the Council, in the aftermath of kissing Jane. He downed his coffee and decided to head for the spectre offices and beat all of this shit out of his mind.

Once Jane woke up, she sat up on her bed in her apartment, just staring out the window that overlooked the Wards. She felt like shit.

She shouldn't have kissed Saren, ever. He was not only the strongest, most dangerous spectre in the universe, but also her partner. She didn't join him to hook up with him, but to change this freaking galaxy together. But she had to realize that in that moment, she just couldn't stop herself.

She vividly remembered their kiss, how his talons felt in her hair, how close he held her, and it was poisoning her mind. Why would Saren ever… kiss her? He hated humans, loathed them. It was most probably just confusion on his part, and when they meet again, there will be this awkward undertone in the air, and she will not bear it for sure.

But when she thought of his face, his mandibles, his amazing silverish scales, those blue eyes… she felt like melting into thin air. She wanted to see him again, but it wasn't this easy. She thought maybe spending the night in her own apartment, instead of the Sovereign, would help make these thoughts go away, but reality was that this time she wasn't drunk. She couldn't just say that they were drunk and that was it, this was completely different.

It was a real, long, deep kiss they shared.

She still couldn't believe how amazing it was.

She needed to get rid of these thoughts. She had no idea what she would do about Saren, but it was clear that she was still under the influence of yesterday's events… She needed to clear her mind. So she got up, checked her emails and laughed at the meeting invitation, before getting some coffee and heading out to the spectre offices. Saren most probably slept on the Sovereign, and that surely meant he would have his morning training on the ship as well - it all made sense.

Saren let out a long exhale as he finished with his warm up and looked at his fists that were clenched together. A deep tension resided in him, and he was only hoping that a training session would be enough to make it go away at least until tonight. He turned around to start, thinking about what he should do first, but he froze midway.

Jane was standing in the door, visibly surprised by seeing him here. She was wearing only a black short and a black tank top, nothing else, obviously ready to train. Her face was also startled, and it was immediately apparent to him that she was just as taken aback by the recent events as he was.

"Saren.." she greeted, her voice airy, light from the surprise. "I didn't think you would be here..."

There was an unsaid weirdness in the air.

"I didn't think you would be here either..." he replied, stern, his mandible glued to the side of his face.

She almost felt his rage.

He was standing there just in black shorts, his chest rising and falling from his breaths as he clearly tried to hide his emotions. She had no idea what was going on. She wanted to train to get her mind off of yesterday, but instead, here he was, worked up already, and it started something in her too. Now they had to deal with this sooner than they liked.

But there was another way to look at this.

She was also anxious, but turians were much more primal than humans - resulting in their vast and brutal sparring habits. It seemed all Saren needed was a good sparring session right about now, and she picked up on that.

She picked up on that really well. Her mind suddenly switched into a completely different gear.

A good fight was something she knew she could give him, anytime. She knew she could help him with this… Help him release all that tension in his chest… see him move those muscles, those giant taloned fingers, feel his scent as they fight, look into those eyes… as stupid yesterday seemed to be, she realized as he stood there, that he was completely irresistable to her. It awoke a strange feeling in her.

"Well, I am here. I could use some..." she purred, her voice now lower, huskier "...workout right now."

The way she said that word tingled all of his turian senses.

Her eyes lit up differently, a tiny, impish spark appeared in them, accompanied by a small smile. It felt like she was proposing something: something they did many many times before. He eyed her up and down, and somehow all those thoughts about how he hated humans seemed unimportant… he looked at her hair, her stance, that fiery confidence that suddenly started radiating out of her at the thought of sparring. And it moved his mind too.

His eyes locked on hers and he felt excitement take the place of the anger and confusion he felt. He stepped closer to her as she did the same, slowly, searching each other's eyes for something, when both of them smiled, wide and evil, and the tension in the room was nowhere to be found now. They only saw each other and the promise of the fight, the game, just like they always did.

Everything happened so fast.

From an awkward moment they somehow found themselves going hard at each other, sparring. She came with multiple blows, hitting him in the guts, but he also blocked with his arms and soon returned the punishment. He scored a hit, shoving her back, but she returned with a jump, crashing down on him with a hard biotic blow that he took on one knee, immediately tripping her up afterwards. She kicked him away and jumped back up to hit him with her leg but he rolled away. He got up and slammed her to the lockers in the side of the training room, and dented the lockers with a hit she evaded. She slammed her elbow into his back, getting a loud grunt out of him, but he turned and caught her by the waist, and slammed her to the floor. She made painful sounds as the air escaped her but fought him off and got back up.

They were brutal, completely losing their minds within seconds. Just the fight remained.

Their energies were in synch, a confused, alien rage in both of them as they hated each other and themselves for not being able to control their emotions. They both felt their moves fluid, while they continued to beat each other, fighting their own minds in the process.

They were spectres, partners, with the same dreams and goals.

The same aggression, the same fire. That same brutal ambition that left everything in ruins behind them. The same thunderous will to win, to fight, to not care about this rotten fucking galaxy. They couldn't live without each other. They couldn't just fuck this up with some impulsive kissing.

But every second in their battle they spent catching glimpses of each other, enjoying the movements, that incredible synergy that flowed between them. He felt her cherry scent, got caught up in her beautiful fire engine red hair, and when he grabbed her waist to throw her, he felt her silky skin, and heard that beautiful evil laughter she sang when landing perfectly on her feet.

She looked at him, at his now fluttering mandibles, that cold fire in his eyes and those perfect plates on his wide, strong chest and shoulders. His growls were resounding tones of love and rage, his abs were rocks as she landed a hit, knocking him back.

And when eventually his strength won, and he pinned her down on the floor as they fell hard, he pushed her wrists down with his talons, rendering her unable to move. She was panting, looking into his eyes. Those eyes that searched her, clouded from the heat of the fight.

A low growl escaped his chest, and she started laughing.

He didn't laugh, just looked at her, returning to reality.

She was laying underneath him, her chest rapidly rising and falling from the exercise. The enormous happy smile she had on her face was proof of how she enjoyed their encounter. Her blue eyes looked at him as her laughter quieted down, and time froze. It was just them, and their bare emotions left, the thrill of danger.

The colour of her hair as it fell on the ground, the slow move of his mandible as he slowly opened his mouth in amazement of how unbelievably beautiful she was. Her heartbeat sped up as she realized he didn't let go of her hand, and remained on top of her. She got lost in his lips and his straight nose, in the deep silver of his eyes.

She never felt this excited.

Because here he was, just on the brink of taking control over her, the power in his eyes making her drunk with lust for him. She couldn't quiet down the thought, and he couldn't escape this indestructible desire in him. He squeezed her wrists, and in his frenzy, he went in for the kill.

It happened faster than a second that he moved, she opened her mouth, and they clashed in a hard, powerful kiss. She moaned and he growled, loud, as he devoured her, almost knocking the air out of both of them. His hands let her wrists go, and her fingers immediately moved to the side of his face to pull him in further, hungry for more. His one hand supported himself, while the other grabbed her waist, pulling her top up a bit to access her skin.

She sighed, catching her breath, when he broke their kiss and buried his face into her neck. A shiver coursed through her, and she couldn't keep quiet, she almost cried out for him. He smiled into her neck just behind her ears, before retaking control over her mouth, his mind completely void of any reason now. Her legs got loose and she raised them to lock them around his hips, resulting in a deep, approving rumble of his voice and he pushed his hips to her, eliminating the distance between them.

Her body was on fire. His left hand wrapped around her neck softly as he kissed her, more and more, while his right talons pushed under her top to reach her chest, touching the soft skin just under her breasts. She ran her nails down his chest, feeling his muscles down along his abdomen and below. He was so strong, holding her firmly as their kisses deepend even further and they couldn't follow what reality was anymore.

They craved each other so much, their bodies cried for the passion, for the fire that was now immoveable in them. Hands and legs twisted together as they made out, there, on the floor.

But once again, reality hit Jane who realized they were in a training room, just in front of a completely see-through window, with the potential that another spectre could walk in on them at any second.

"Wait" she moaned, putting her hand on his mouth, pushing herself up from the ground. "Bad idea."

The look in his eyes was incredible.

That cold blue was almost black now with desire, a darkness looming in it as he was still entirely intoxicated by her being. She wanted nothing but to fall back into this sweet madness in those eyes.

"Smart girl." was all he said in a ragged voice, making her sigh deeply with amazement.

He hesitated for a moment, but then stood up, helping her up too. She half expected him to just pick her up and carry her wherever they can continue this, but reality was that as soon as he regained his sanity, Saren already had a plan. He moved to the door of the training room, and before leaving, he looked back:

"You read Sparatus' email, right?" he asked, his voice now back to normal, professionally masking the inner animal he had to push down just seconds ago.

"The Mirror, tonight at 8pm." she replied, pulling her top back down to her waist.

"It is one of the fanciest places in the entire station." he purred with a dark smile, clearly implying something.

She smirked. "Don't worry. I won't disappoint." She said, already thinking of which one of her dresses could bring about a complete destruction of Saren's cold willpower at the dinner table.