Chapter 33

A Different Honeymoon

June 5th, 2187

There was an eruption of cheers and applause from the assembled crews. Tali and Markus, courtesy of Kolyat functioning as the clergyman, kissed each other, making their marriage official. Tali was the one who jumped first, grabbing Markus by the head and pulling him to her. "Totally worth it," Shepard whispered to her when she finally pulled away.

The group moved to the makeshift dance floor. Tali and Markus were the first ones out. Several members quietly opened the recording function on their omni-tool. Shepard's dance skills – or lack thereof – were legendary. And now he was here, ready to dance in the open without a drop of alcohol. It was sure to be amusing for everyone who was to witness.

As the music started, the crowd was surprised at the selection that was first. Music aboard the Normandy were always been chosen by whoever got to the speakers first. Shepard was among a select few that didn't seem to have any preference. "The sweet memories you gave-a me," It was a classical one by one of the more famous Earth singers, Dean Martin, a classic from the early twentieth century.

More shocking than the song choice was the spectacle before them: Shepard was dancing and not looking like a mildly spastic fish out of water. To everyone, save for his biological family were staring with slack jaws.

"Sh-Shepard! W-w-when did you?" Tali asked as he held one of her hands, his other on her hip.

"When did I what? Learn how to dance? I always knew how. I just prefer more…traditional dance forms. Besides, it amused me." Lifted one arm and spun her around, a small, coy smile on his face as he did.

"Don't forget a small moonbeam. Fold in lightly with a dream."

Markus' sisters and parents were the next ones to join the floor, taking a number of the crew with them.

Garrus' mandible was proverbially on the floor as he saw his former CO "I have seen Shepard do a lot of things, but this? This is certainly a first."

"So what?" Sirilia said. "He kept a few things hidden. Most people do. Did you tell him about your mother, how much you risked by giving out Collector biological samples? Before you ask, I focused on biotic, viral and biological threats to Council space. Seeing that appear in a corporate facility on Nasurn was an eye raiser."

Liara, who was in the process of being pulled into the floor by Amanda, grabbed Garrus by the collar. "If I have to go out there, so do you, Vakarian. Besides, you're the only one who isn't a Shepard who has an actual date with them."

Slowly, humans moving first, everyone joined in, enjoying the music that stayed in the range of slow swing to jazz to blues. For what felt like endless hours, the crews and family of the Normandy danced and laughed together. The sun slowly moved to set, and the darkness began to creep in. The stars began to shine down and lights that were strung up around the perimeter came on and illuminated area. But the celebrations continued on unhindered. Many of the group moved on and off the dance floor.

"But if I steal your heart, dear, I'll keep it close to mine." Another song by Sinatra was playing. This was the fourth one that day. Ash and James approached Markus after having been together for most of the night. Despite it being slow dancing Markus was beginning to move a bit sluggish. He decided to momentarily rest at one of the dining tables, a plate of shrimp creole that had gone cold. It was the first time he had ever eaten it cold. The spices had a stronger kick without the temperature.

"So, listen, Shepard," Ashley said. "We – the crew I mean – we're gonna be heading out. It's getting late and Hackett is wanting us in the Kepler Verge. Sounded like an Agebinium situation is developing out there."

He took a moment to recall 'Agebinium'. After a few seconds he was able to remember; the ringleader of the Skyllian Blitz had stolen a leftover Alliance nuke from the First Contact War and used it to lure an Alliance squad in to be executed. The ringleader and the few loyalists he had were killed in the subsequent firefight and the nuclear bomb attached to the relay probe was recovered. Tali moved to give Ashley a hug while Shepard shook James' hand.

"You're experienced enough that I won't have to tell you to watch yourself out there. Treat that boat well, Ash," Shepard told her, standing up. "And above all else, don't follow in my footsteps. Make the call you would take. Good hunting." They saluted each other before he embraced her in a tight hug. "Ahh, it's been a helluva ride, Ash. Be sure to stop by and visit from time to time."

Breaking away, she smirked and said "Sure thing, Skipper." Then she left. Her final salute was to call him by the nickname he held during his command of the first SSV Normandy. Shortly after most of the guests began to follow suite. By midnight, only the immediate family was all that stayed and they were still going strong. After they ran into each other on Horizon while he worked for Cerberus, Ashley hadn't called him by the name, only 'Commander' or 'Sir'. It felt nice to hear the name again.

Hannah laughed as she finished a number with her newest daughter-in-law. "I haven't had a day like this in, oh! Not since before the war. And now," she stopped and held her side in discomfort. "I'm starting to remember why I preferred conducting the war from a bridge and not the mud. It takes a lot out of you, moving like that. Heh."

As their own reserves of energy depleted, Hannah and Tali retreated back to the tables for the scraps of food left on the plates and half emptied glasses of water. Despite it being night the heat on Rannoch was slow to dissipate.

"Um, there's something I want to ask you," Tali said nervously. She had been wrestling with it for a while now. "Why have you and everyone else been so supporting of us – Markus and I? I would have thought you'd prefer someone…"

"Human?" Hannah replied. "Well as far as you not being human, one of my daughters is married to an Asari three times my age. So marrying out of the species isn't entirely too shocking. Actually I wonder if Sonya will hook up with a turian. I'm rather certain she and Vakarian would get along but I do believe he's about to be spoken for. Well, with any luck for him he will be. Hmm… Now as for you, I won't lie, I wasn't certain about you at first. I mean, you were the daughter of the quarians' senior leaders. With Markus being a Spectre, part of me wondered if you were using him to restore the quarians' standing with the Council."

Tali's head slunk down and a dejected look crossed her face. She'd heard as much from several human reporters, none of whom had even met her or Shepard. But hearing it from a now member of her family … it was very painful to hear.

"Hey don't get that sad look on your face. I'm not done yet. Yes, part of me thought you might just see him as a political tool or have been instructed to use him as one. But he trusted you back then. And to be honest, humans had their own coming of age traditions years ago, though most didn't involve as much exploring.

"He spoke a little bit about you during your time on the SR-1, what we could. Mostly one-way messages. He thought rather highly of you even back then. And after that, I obviously didn't hear much from him. But shortly before you threw the party we managed to speak. For over an hour. I had already heard about how close you two were from those damned rating whore vultures. But the way he talked about you, I could just tell how much he loved you. Even if he didn't outright say it. Part of him must have been worried about my reaction. And his father's. I know we're open but there's always a worry that children have when they present their significant other to their parents."

"He was worried?" Tali asked. The sadness she had been feeling was eroded as Hannah spoke, eventually being replaced by surprise. "Why would he be worried? I thought human families supported each other."

Hannah shook her head. "Not always. Williams? Her family is a pretty good example of a healthy one. Actually it's a very good one. But our family isn't quite as good. I spent most of my children's' lives at one military base or another. Because of that they mostly grew up with their father except for the times we were lucky to be stationed together or one of us had leave. Some families will just barely tolerate each other. Some will fight, try to take advantage of one another. Others just … abandon their children. Either because they don't want them or can't agree with life choices that they made. I should know…" Hannah's own face had a look of sadness cross it for the first time that Tali had ever seen she'd seen on the family's matriarch.

"Anyways, while I was never entirely behind the decisions one of my children would make, Sonya and Markus' enlistment in the military. I know they did it to make their father and I proud, but I do wish they'd chosen something more stable and safer. But there's something you need to know; the amount of worry on he felt while the ship was missing was … well it was rather extreme. I've only seen that kind of pain in him once before and it told me just how much he cared about you. The reaction you had when you first saw him too, was too genuine to disguise.

"You two care about each other. And for whatever issues someone has, wanting to do good for your significant other then you can make it through without being too worse for wear. Sigmund and I have had more than our fair share of arguments. Ones that sometimes peeled paint off the walls. But once the dust settled and one or both of us calmed down, we'd start again, calmly. Because for as angry as we got, not once did we stop caring about each other. I don't think you two have quite hit any arguments.

"But here's the thing you should be aware of, whether I care for you or not, the only one you need to want to be with is him. It doesn't matter who approves of your relationship as long as the two of you do. And for the record, I have no issue whatsoever with you being married to my son. Just so long as you don't break his heart. And if you do, our family has a lot of connections." Hannah winked, giving all the indication of what she meant behind the facial movement. It was an act that Tali would never do herself. Not ever.

"Well then, enough of this depressing chit chat," Hanna said, setting her glass down. She stood up and moved for her husband who was sitting down with one of the other members of Isabella's ship. "I think I'm going to get some time with my husband. And unlike most men, he loves to dance so I figure this should get me a few months if I do enough numbers with him tonight. You understand." She fired a wink at Tali then suggested that she do similar but for different reasons.

"If you want, I can do a little something to give you an edge."

She wasn't entirely sure what the senior Shepard would do but was fairly certain of the end result. But she accepted the offer all the same. Within two hours everyone else had cleared out, leaving Tali and Markus in their home.

His family was the last to go. Once they did, they retreated to their bedroom in the house. He had barely gotten his jacket off when she spun him around and threw him onto the bed. He bounced slightly, moving further back as he did so. She then crawled atop him, straddling his pelvis.

Unlike him though, she was still fully clothed. And she knew how to use that to her advantage. Before their first time she had received several (hundred) links. Most were from Mordin who sent her videos recommending positions that would be pleasurable for both of them and techniques that humans tended to prefer for their 'foreplay'. Chakwas had sent similar such links, just fewer of them.

The uncomfortable ones were Joker and worst of all, the ship. EDI's recommendations were a mix of physical recommendations, not too different from Doctor Chakwas' own. But they also had the unfortunate habit of being more thematic based, similar to Jokers. The pilot, meanwhile, was almost random. More than a few were with krogan or asari. The others were at least kind enough to use turian videos for ones that required more complicated leg positions. Joker's were … less so. His tags were a lot more basic. Things like "schoolgirl", "anal beads", "schoolgirl", so on. There was one now though that she knew she could use. It was written only in English letters: CFNM. It took some time before she discovered what it meant. Acronyms were not kind when used between species.

But not for tonight. She wanted a bit simpler, like their time aboard the SR-2 when they first joined.

Pulling the zipper that ran down her back, she pulled the top down enough to expose her chest to him. As she did, a bulge in his pants pushed against her. "Do you like that?" she teased.

He responded by leaning into her, nibbling at her collarbone and bare breast.

The two had to be careful when they were close. Most of their kissing was confined to locations other than their lips due to their biological makeup. She'd seen dozens of vids with humans-asari, quarian-turian, dozens of cross-species romances. But in all of them, not one had a levio and dextro kiss directly. It was regarded as too dangerous even for that. It wasn't until much later that she learned that it was due to the need to re-shoot scenes. As a child it had been viewed as just being that dangerous.

But tonight she wasn't having any of it.

She pushed him off her. He fell against the bed that they'd soon disturb. Easing herself a bit higher, she pulled off the dress. While she worked with the long white gown, he scrambled for his pants, sliding them out from under her in a quick, swift motion.

Not a second after they finished, he spun her underneath him, his arms resting just above her shoulders, his legs still between hers.

Pulling him in, she locked her thin, pale lips against his and darted her tongue out. He tried resisting but she pushed through and began playing with his. She could feel a faint groan come from deep in his throat.

Adding his own assertiveness, he pushed through into her, though from below.

Every time they would sleep together Tali would let loose a short wail when he would first penetrate her. She was tight. While she never admitted it, he thought that quarian and human reproductive components weren't one hundred percent compatible. Ninety, ninety-five probably. As a kid he'd watch a number of extranet porn vids of women taking sometimes ungodly large objects. Ones that by all intents and purposes, should cause internal strain. The cries Tali had were somewhat akin to those.

While he didn't want to hurt her, it also fueled the more primitive part of his brain that took over when he became intimate.

His hands held her hips as he rocked the first half or so back and forth. Tali's legs locked around him, refusing to let him withdraw. After a few thrusts she began to pull him in closer, legs still viced around his hips.

Her hands moved down as he was pressed farther in until her nails were digging into his shoulder blades.

As he reached his base, her lips released from his, loosing in her primal wails of pleasure. She dug in tight as he rocked faster and faster. The abstinence they'd been subjected to over the last few weeks had left them both it seemed with a reduced stamina.

She wasn't there yet but he couldn't hold on much longer. "I'm gonna," was all he could say – growl to be more accurate – before he exploded inside.

Grabbing her by the sides of her hips, he pulled her in even tighter, trying to get every last millimeter he could.

"Ahhh-haaaaaaaa," Shepard moaned as the last shot fired. The bliss washed over him, muscles and spine in his lower back just melting away.

Giving a few seconds to recover mentally, Markus re-locked his lips on Tali's, hands grabbing her by the jaw to hold her tight against his own face. It didn't take much to re-harden inside her.

He continued, using short thrusts as far as his previous had been, sending her hands to dig into his shoulder blades.

"Yes! Yes! YEEAiiis!" She screamed, squeezing him even tighter as she reached her own limit.

The two continued trading orgasms through the night to break-in their marriage. It wasn't until the beginning dawn light began to crest over the horizon. Neither saw it however as they both passed out from exhaustion of both the celebrations with the family that day and their own afterwards, intertwined and hugging each other tightly.

A/N:

Yeah, not actually dead or ditching this story. Had to go on a serious pause due to a combination of a lack of inspiration and other IRL stuff going on that I don't feel like going into. I got back to this after a year and a half almost of it sitting in the full version of my story file on my computer and decided to wrap it up. Been taking a few classes to hopefully improve my writing.