The water was hot and soothing. Shepard felt very decadent as she let it run over her skin. She could count the number of times she'd spent a night groundside without taking off both boots, and she'd certainly never spent any of those nights in a room this nice.

Well, they had just taken down one of the most powerful men in the galaxy. She supposed they deserved something for that. For once.

"Siha, do you intend to use up all the water on this planet?" Thane had approached with his customary silence, and was leaning against the doorway, watching her through the glass door of the bath. Instead of his usual armor or leather, he was wearing civilian clothing, but managed to look sleek and deadly despite the loose gray robes.

She grinned at him from under the curtain of water and winked. "Join me? The water's lovely and there's plenty of it."

"Drell do not need water to keep clean, siha. I don't believe I have ever bathed in water before."

"All the more reason to try it when you can. Come on!" She tried to strike a seductive pose--hard to do with soap suds in her hair and water dripping in runnels down her face, but his look as his eyes swept over her body made her feel like the sexiest woman in the galaxy. Still, he hesitated. She knew why without asking.

"The water shouldn't be a problem for you any more. The bandages came off days ago, and the cuts are almost completely healed. You should come enjoy yourself. There's plenty of room for two. And you don't know what you're missing if you've never had a bubble bath. It's wondrous." She winked again and wiggled her hips.

He chuckled. "How could I resist an offer such as that, siha?"

However, instead of stepping over to the shower, he walked over to the window, and pulled the blinds wide, letting the golden-red dawn light of Ilium pour in.

"Thane! What?" Shepard yelped. "People can see in, you know!"

He turned, silhouetted against the light. She was reminded of the day they had first met. It had been sunrise then, too, and he had just killed a roomful of guards, several with his bare hands. The familiar mix of admiration, awe, and lust swept over her.

"Let them, siha. I wish to see the sun against your skin." He seemed to have no modesty himself as he slowly slipped out of his robes. She forgot her embarrassment as she watched the soft cloth slide to the floor.

Shepard let her eyes roam over his body. She didn't think she'd ever seen him naked in full sunlight before, and the sight took her breath away. Subtle patterns of iridescence ran over his scales and the jagged-lightning pattern on his arms were revealed to have tones of gold and brown. He posed in front of the window like a malachite statue.

"Spirits, Thane, you are such a show off," Shepard managed to say after a sufficiently admiring pause. "Get your scaly hide over here already."

His rare laugh sounded over the running water that was filling the tub. "My impatient siha, enjoyment is never to be rushed. All good things are worth savoring." He raised his head, basking in the sunlight.

The water had reached Shepard's ankles by now. She knew what he was doing, the sneaky son-of-a-drell, and he wasn't getting out of her bubble-bath fantasy that easily. "Right. Really, the water isn't going to bite you. I promise, you'll like it once you try it." She swept her hand up so that sudsy water arced over the glass partition and splashed over his face.

Thane smiled at her as he reached up to flick a droplet of water off his chest. "I see that I cannot fool you, siha. But truly, the idea of bathing in water is very unnerving."

She shook soap out of her eyes and pushed the transparent door open. "You'll never know if you like it until you try." Shepard mock-scowled at him. "Orders, Thane. Get in here, now."

He was completely naked, so his twitch when her voice dropped on the last word was quite clearly visible. Reluctantly, eagerly, as if compelled, he came close enough to grab the open door.

She stepped back to give him some room, busying herself with switching the taps from overhead to tub to fill the water more quickly, but kept watch on him out of the corner of her eye. She could hardly believe that the greatest assassin in the galaxy was so uneasy about a bit of water. She would need to fix that.

Thane balanced on one bare foot, the other he extended toward the water that now reached Shepard's calves. His rather long primary toe hesitantly dipped into the rising water for a moment, then swirled around a ripple. "It's quite...warm, is it not? Hmmm."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Of course it's warm, it's a bath. Aren't you from a hot planet? Here, let me turn it up." She pulled on the hot water tap, causing steam to billow through the room, thick enough to fog up the still-open window. He actually flinched and almost lost his balance.

"I..siha, the humidity..."

"Thane, your body should be able to handle anything from a rain forest to a sandstorm now. Get in here!" She slid her hands around his waist and pulled. The condensation from the steam made the floor slippery, and he fell against her. They both splashed into the tub, the hot water surging around them.

She came up snorting water from her nose and looked around for Thane. Even in an unfamiliar element, his reflexes were much better then hers. He was already sitting up calmly, his chin resting on his knees.

"There, now what do you think?" she asked him. She nudged around until she was sitting between his legs. The water came up to their chests now that they were sitting down.

He still looked slightly nervous, but he answered calmly enough. "It's very interesting, siha. The warmth is very relaxing, if odd. What am I to do next?"

Shepard reached over to the array of bottles and jars that lined the luxury tub. "Now? Now we add the bubble bath."

"What, exactly, is bubble bath?"

She was unstoppering various containers as she answered. "It's soap and some other stuff to make the water foam. It usually smells nice, too. I've only had a few, but they are superb. We just need to pick a nice one." He looked dubious, but willingly sniffed at the bottles that she held up to him. Near the back, she came across a particularly ornate container. Curious, she opened it. The scent that wafted out was heavenly.

"Oh! Strawberries!"

A/N: Written for the MassKink meme. Characters property of BioWare, I own nothing except my obsession.