As soon as they'd returned from Horizon, Shepard had sequestered herself in her quarters with the order that no one was to disturb her "unless the goddamn Reapers themselves show up." Not that Garrus could blame her; he'd had to summon all his control not to slap Ashley upside her head and make her see just how thick she was being. He'd finally decided that if Shepard could take the verbal assault without losing her trademark cool then the least he could do was help her deal with the fallout, but she'd kept silent on the shuttle ride back to the ship and was off like a shot before the engines had even had time to power down.

It wasn't until later that night that Shepard emerged, and only then because she was pretty sure everyone else was asleep. A starship was never completely deserted, but since she'd gotten her hands on the shift rotation schedule she'd discreetly created a two hour window from 2 am until 4 am where the only people on duty were Joker and Donnelly. She liked to come down to the mess hall during that time when she couldn't sleep for a cup of tea or just to sit and listen to the hum of the engines. Sometimes it would put her to sleep. Mostly it didn't.

Garrus came out of the battery for some water and saw Shepard, lying on the table with her arms thrown out to either side in a T shape. She was wearing her pajamas, which consisted of a white tank top and a pair of baggy flannel pants, and was staring at the ceiling. He made his way over to her and she gave him a wan smile when his shadow fell over her face.

"Hey," he said with a smile of his own.

"Hey, yourself." She sat up with a sigh and looked up at him. "It's good to see you out of your hidey hole. I was afraid you and that console were going to fuse together if you spent any more time working on your 'calibrations.'"

"Someone's got to do it." He took the seat nearest her and she took his hand in hers, playing with the calluses on his trigger finger. He reflected (not for the first time) on what a touchy-feely race the humans were, Shepard in particular. When she was in her role as Commander Shepard she was all business, and pity the poor bastard who got in her way, but when she was around her team that hardened exterior fell away to reveal a woman who was much more approachable. While turians were not big on casual affection, he made an exception for her; the fact that she trusted him enough to show him the unguarded side of her personality more than made up for the initial awkwardness, and he had even come to like it when she'd slip an arm around his waist or lean against him in the shuttle. But then, he'd always said he was a bad turian.

"Yeah, but I'm beginning to regret upgrading to the Thanix. You've been spending all your spare time in there lately."

"Jealous, Shepard?" he asked, raising a browplate in amusement.

"Of an inanimate object that just so happens to be monopolizing my best friend? Yes."

"I might say the same thing about your fish. They had you all to themselves today." It was meant as an invitation to tell him what was on her mind without really asking, and she took him up on it with a heavy sigh and a shake of her head.

"I know it's been over two years for everyone else, but it only feels like a few months for me. To hear Ashley of all people call me a traitor . . ." She bowed her head and Garrus gripped her hand tighter. "And even though I know it's not true, it hurts to think that she really believes that."

"If it's any consolation, I don't think you're a traitor." He chucked her under her chin and she looked up at him through her eyelashes, her smile more genuine this time.

"See, that's why you're awesome, Garrus. You could have walked out of the med bay and gone right back to Omega, but you didn't. And I didn't even have to give you the full run-down of the mission, either, you just jumped right in with both feet like there was never even a question about it. All I had to say was, 'Hey, Batman, you know you wanna come with me and kick the bejesus out of a bunch of crazy aliens again, right?' and you were like, "Hell yeah, Shep, let me just grab my stuff and I'm'a go work my turian mojo on the guns, 'k bye.'"

Garrus laughed out loud at that and after a moment, she joined in. "Did you just call me 'Batman'?"

"Yeah. He's a human superhero, star of DC comics—"

"I know who Batman is, Shepard," he said as though it should have been obvious. "I always thought of myself as being more like the Punisher."

"Why am I not surprised that you read Batman comics?"

"I give up. Why?"

"Because you are the single biggest nerd I have ever met."

Garrus scoffed and made a big show of being offended, earning a grin for his efforts. "I am not a nerd."

"You are so. You read instruction manuals like they're romance novels, you pirated all nine Star Wars movies, and I've heard you and Tali geeking out over the new shotgun mods." She poked him in the chest. "Nerd."

"What about your Galaxy at War game? You belong to a guild and everything."

"That's different," she said with a regal wave of her hand. "Anyway, Batman is way more badass than the Punisher."

"The Punisher's a vigilante who fights evil with big guns."

"Batman has a cape."

"I don't have a cape."

"You have a point." She called up her omnitool and started typing away on it.

"What are you doing?" he asked, craning his neck to look.

"Ordering you a cape."

"Bullshit."

"You want it in black or blue?"

"I don't need a . . . blue. It'll go with my armor."

Shepard grinned and, after placing the order, put her omnitool away. "There, now you're totally Batman."

He knew better than to argue any more. "I'm not wearing it into battle."

"Of course not."

"I'm serious."

"Uh huh." She rotated her shoulder and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands.

"You should get some sleep," he said. She'd never been able to sleep well for as long as he'd known her, but lately it had gotten worse. Coming back from the dead probably had something to do with that but, since she hadn't broached that personal subject, he hadn't asked.

"I tried that already. Even watched about an hour of that all-elcor Hamlet production, but it didn't work."

"Oh wow, you must really be desperate." She chuckled and nodded, but Garrus just looked at her, a pensive expression on his face.

"What?"

"I was just thinking . . . I could help, if you want. Relieve stress, that is."

"Oh yeah? You give massages, Vakarian? And if you do, why am I just finding out about this now?"

His mandibles spread wide in a smile, but his eyes stayed more serious. "I wasn't talking about that, although if you want me to I can certainly try. I was thinking of something a little more, um, active."

She was really confused now. "What, like sparring?"

"No, like sleeping together." Shepard's mouth fell open and she stared at him in shock. Garrus hoped like hell that he hadn't offended her, and scrambled to explain. "Just between friends, that is. You know that turians don't think of sex the way humans do. It's a lot more casual for us."

"Yeah, I know that, but . . ." She trailed off as she thought about it. Garrus was her best friend in the galaxy and she valued that more than anything. Was it possible for her to be with him and still hold on to that friendship without it turning messy and weird afterward? It was true that turians didn't put the same emphasis on sex that most humans did, and casual hook-ups were common on turian vessels. She was pretty sure she would be able to stay friends in the morning, just with a few . . . additional benefits. And she did need a little stress relief, that was for damned sure, and he was definitely attractive in a hard and pointy sort of way. So it was with all that in mind that she answered:

"Sure, why the hell not?"

Garrus squeezed her hand and stood, pulling her to her feet. "All right, then. Let's go."

"What, right now?"

"Well, yeah. You want to sleep, right?" She nodded and let him lead her down the hall.

They made their way to the elevator and Shepard's stomach was doing happy backflips as they waited for the interminably slow piece of crap to make its ponderous way up to her cabin. She kept glancing over at him out of the corner of her eye and saw that he was doing the same, and a mischievous smile spread across her lips. Like a flash, her hand shot out and smacked his butt. He jumped away and glared at her as though he'd been scandalized. She laughed and stepped out of the elevator, which had finally opened up onto her floor, and started to punch in the code that would open the door. Garrus stepped up behind her and nuzzled her neck. Her finger slipped on the buttons and the keypad buzzed at her.

"Damn it."

"What?"

Her heart was beating faster and it was hard to form full sentences. "Fucked up the code." She tried to enter it again when he licked the sensitive spot behind her ear and her knees went weak. The keypad buzzed again.

"Shit."

"Want me to do it?" he asked, his chest rumbling against her back.

"Ass."

"You know you like it," he said, nibbling on her earlobe. Her breath hitched in her throat and she had to really concentrate on the buttons, but he wasn't making it easy on her. Finally she got the code right and the doors hissed open. She dragged him inside and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down so she could nip along his mandible.

"You're so mean," she said, her lips brushing against his jaw as she spoke. He gripped her hips and walked her backward until she bumped into the wall. "And I'm okay with that," she whispered, really laying on the sultry undertones, and he ground her ass into the wall with his hips.

"You haven't seen anything yet, Shepard," he said, fumbling with his armor. She tried to help him, but he gently slapped her hands away with a smile so she stripped out of her pants and tossed them in the general direction of the couch. Garrus was out of his armor in record time and hooked his talons under the edge of her tank top to lift her shirt off but she twisted away and giggled when he brushed her side. He stopped, confused.

"What was that?"

"Sorry; I'm ticklish on my sides." Her eyes widened in horror as Garrus grinned wickedly at her. "No, Garrus, don't—" All her protests dissolved into giggles as he mercilessly attacked her. He was amazed at her completely ineffective efforts to fight him off; the great Commander Shepard, undone by tickling. The strength went out of her legs and she almost collapsed to the floor, but he finally let up and she leaned back to catch her breath.

"I'm gonna get you for that," she warned, and as soon as she got his undersuit off (and she took a moment to marvel at his lean, muscled body), she tried to tickle him but the sounds he made were decidedly more pornographic than playful as her fingers worked into the skin between his plates. "Oh, what's this?" She ran her hands up and down his waist, watching as his eyes rolled back in his head and he shivered.

"That's . . . keep doing that." Encouraged by his reaction, she raked her fingers from his chest to his hips and he actually moaned. And it was the hottest goddamned thing Shepard had ever heard, tightening the muscles low in her body.

"So, where else can I touch to get you to make more sounds like that?" she asked, teasing lightly along the edges of his plates.

"I'll tell you as soon as you take off the rest of your clothes." He chuckled as Shepard ripped off her tank top and underwear in mere seconds, throwing the offending garments across the room. "Here . . ." he took her wrist and guided her hand up to the spot just under his fringe. She massaged it experimentally and he leaned his head back into her hand and purred. She was distracted from her efforts by an insistent poking at her thigh and looked down to see his member, thick and cobalt blue, standing at attention. Her eyes widened; it was definitely impressive, and shaped enough like a human penis that she was pretty sure there wouldn't be any compatibility issues. This night just kept getting better and better.

"Shepard," he groaned, and stopped her ministrations on his fringe. "Go get on the bed." She cocked an eyebrow playfully and walked over to the bed, her hips swinging back and forth. She situated herself on the pillows and watched as he positioned himself over her. She was struck by how strange and somehow right it felt to be here with him like this. It wasn't something she had expected, for sure, but she knew that the friendship they had would survive this, just like it had survived everything else the galaxy threw at them. This was just a new facet of that, a different part of it that she was learning to cherish just as much as their easy companionship. She stroked his face, taking in the possessively masculine set of his jaw, the heat in his eyes that she'd never seen before.

"What?" he asked, pulling her out of her reverie.

"Huh?"

"You looked like you were thinking hard about something."

"I was just . . . looking at you," she said with a gentle smile. Garrus' heart beat faster and he bumped her forehead with his affectionately.

"I knew you liked men with scars." She laughed and wrapped her legs around him, pulling him close enough that he pressed against her opening. He watched her face as he pushed inside her slowly, giving her time to adjust to his size. She threw her head back and gasped when his hips met hers, and he bent his head to nibble and lick along her collarbone as he started moving inside her. It was like nothing he'd ever felt before; she was so tight at first, but as he thrust deeper into her, she seemed to draw him in. Turian women were more muscled, ridged like he was, but Shepard was smooth and slick and so warm. The sheer foreignness of her body was threatening to send him over the edge more quickly than he'd expected, and he had to slow his pace to regain control over himself.

Shepard rolled her hips against him and he shuddered, his elbows buckling. "Faster, Garrus," she pleaded.

"Can't," he gasped, "not if you want me to last until you come."

She kissed his mouth, running her tongue across his bottom lip and he moaned softly. "Roll over. Let me be on top." They managed the maneuver without having to separate, and she braced her hands on his chest as she rocked back and forth over him. This position had him hitting her g-spot on almost every stroke and within minutes she was breathing hard, her thighs quaking. Garrus gripped her hips hard, his talons dimpling her flesh, as she rode him hard toward the brink.

"Garrus . . . I'm so close, oh god—"

"Don't hold back," he murmured, the pressure building up from his thighs to his stomach and pooling heat between his legs, "come for me."

Her fingers dug into his chest plates and her eyes met his as she cried out, her muscles spasming erratically around him, her whole body shaking with the force of her orgasm. It was as though all the tension she had been carrying around since she'd woken up in that Cerberus lab was pouring out of her and all he could do was hold her while the waves of pleasure rocked her to the core. He found his own release soon after, arching his back and spilling inside her in a hot rush. The feeling of him coming inside her made her climax again, riding hard on the heels of the first orgasm until she collapsed, utterly spent, on his chest.

After their breathing had slowed and she thought her limbs were functional again, she crossed her arms just under his keelbone and rested her chin on her arm. "That was . . . just . . . wow, Garrus."

He chuckled and brushed an errant lock of hair out of her eyes. "Nice to know your vocabulary has improved over the last two years."

She smiled lazily and cupped his jaw, rubbing his cheek with her thumb. "I think I should be offended, but I can't seem to care right now." Her eyelids drooped and Garrus helped her lay down, covering her with the blankets.

"See? Told you that would work."

"Hmmm. We're gonna have to do that again sometime," she said, her voice muffled somewhat by the pillows.

"Anytime, Shepard. Just let me know." He got out of the bed and started putting on his armor again. By the time he was dressed, Shepard was asleep and snoring softly. Before he left to go back to the battery and his own cot, he leaned down and laid his mouth on her temple in the closest approximation of a kiss he could manage.

"Sleep well, Shepard."

After he was gone, she smiled to herself. Friends with benefits, she thought. Now that was an arrangement she could live with.