Author's Note: I wrote this story with the assumption that Thane's internal dialogue is a little more forgiving the persona he shows the world. If you think he is very out of character let me know and I will consider relevant comments for any future writings about him. That's the last thing I want...he's brilliant as-is. Characters and Mass Effect universe are not mine. As always, reviews are very welcome! Enjoy.

Observations

The whole of Shepard's team was gathered in the mess. They were en route to the Citadel from Omega and it was a trip of several days. To help fill the down time, Shepard had gathered them all for a team dinner.

Thane could hear the sounds of raucous laughter even before the doors of the elevator opened to the crew deck. Rounding the corner he was greeted with several shouts of welcome and the sight of the group gathered around a smorgasbord of food suitable for all species present.

Shepard was at the head of the table, her head thrown back in laughter, a plate of pizza in front of her and a beer in her hand. Garrus, the origin of whatever joke had made their leader laugh so, sat to her left, his mandibles flaring in their shared mirth. Jacob and Miranda were sitting at the table too, chuckling along with the other two and looking more at ease than they had in weeks. Jack was perched on the counter a few feet away feigning disinterest, but Thane could tell by the tilt of her head and the quirk at the corner of her mouth that she was listening too. Samara, Tali, and Dr. Chakwas were deep in conversation seated by the wall of the med-bay. Grunt was focused entirely on a large platter of food, which seemed to contain several haunches of meat. Mordin, who could not be separated from his work for a moment, was tapping away furiously on a datapad, pausing every once in a while to take a bit of food or comment on the conversation. Even Joker was there.

The assassin approached the table cautiously. It was filled with foods he recognized and many that he did not. The pizza was familiar; Shepard's love affair with it was a source of constant amusement among her alien crew. But the other foods, the smallish round green things, the pale crescent-moon shaped wedges with colorful edges, the pale yellow flat items…he did not know what they were. The commander seemed to sense his discomfort as he eyed the huge variety of food.

"Thane, let me make you a plate." She eyed him. "Any human food is okay for drell to eat, right?"

He inclined his head. "Yes, Shepard. Any food suitable for levo-protein based species, including humans, is suitable for drell."

"Good…" she drawled, loading up a plate. Handing it to him, she identified the various items. "Veggie pizza, pretzels, pasta salad, grapes, some apple slices, chicken wings, and…" she grabbed another object from a tray. "And a chocolate chip cookie." She balanced it on top of all the other items. "It's not exactly a traditional human meal, but it's all delicious." She winked at him, and his fingers would have twitched but for the weight of the plate. "Enjoy!"

She moved away, back to her seat. He leaned against the wall, contemplating his meal. At least he recognized what grapes and apples were now, and knew them to be fruits from Earth. Thane picked up a grape in his long fingers. It looked safe enough. After all, just because he could eat the food didn't mean he would like it. He placed it in his mouth. It tasted like…nothing. He bit down. The explosion of flavor was exquisite, sweet and yet tart all at the same time. Grape juices trickled refreshingly down his throat. He took another.

The sound of Shepard's boisterous laugh drew his attention to her again. He liked her laugh. It was not reserved or held back; if she thought something was funny you would know it. His stomach clenched oddly as he looked at her laughing there, surrounded by friends. He hoped it wasn't the grapes.

It occurred to him as he surreptitiously watched her that he knew little about humans. He knew how to kill them. They were easily breakable, unlike turians or krogan. Approach them from behind, a quick shoulder check to immobilize, then snap the neck with hands on chin and the base of the skull. Shepard chose that moment to tilt her head back and take a long draw from her bottle, exposing the long column of her throat. He watched her swallow, and was disinclined to think anymore about the subject of neck-snapping.

Thane knew basic human anatomy, it was part of any good assassin's training. Such knowledge was key in exploiting weak spots. It was the subtler things he did not understand. He watched his commander press the cool glass of her bottle against her flushed cheek. What did human skin feel like? He had never touched it with bare hands; the assassin always wore gloves when killing. It looked soft, and was not scaly like his own. Were there places on the human body where it was different?

Hair. That was something else he had no experience with. Turian, salarian, krogan…all hairless. Even the asari only had eyelashes. Humans had whole heads of the keratin-based stuff. Thane's eyes drifted back to Shepard again. Hers was fair, the color of sun on sand. When loose it fell to her shoulders, now it was pulled up and swept back in what the humans called a 'ponytail'. He didn't know what a pony was either; perhaps he would ask her later. What was the texture of hair like? Hers looked soft, and it gave easily when she ran her fingers through it or tucked a stray strand behind an ear. It looked different from Jacob's, but then his was cropped so close it was hard to tell.

And then there were…the breasts. Drell women did not have them, there was no need. They were intrinsically…pleasing, for reasons the drell could not understand. His traitorous gaze slid over to Shepard again. Tonight, out of her uniform, she was comfortably lounging in a tank top and sweats. It was a particularly good view. She wore a thin silver chain around her neck, which trailed down over her strong collarbones and disappeared into… Thane jerked his gaze away and stuffed a pretzel in his mouth without even looking at it. He hadn't felt this giddy since…he didn't think about it. About her. It wasn't the time for such memories.

Hmph. Breasts.

What does she see when she looks at me, he wondered. I am not human.

Jacob's deep laugh rolled over him. Shepard was teasing him about something, gesturing wildly with her hands. The man laughed again and she clapped a hand to his shoulder, smiling broadly. Thane's empty hand clenched a little, unconsciously. Jacob was like her, Jacob knew about human women.

Thane had never served under a human before, and after boarding the ship he had done some research in his spare time, learning about Earth and its creatures, human history and culture. He'd spent a great deal of time in particular watching vids of reptiles like desert horned lizards and komodo dragons. Was that how she saw him? As an overgrown, talking alligator? He shook his head, chagrined with the idea.

Give yourself some credit Krios, he thought. You both have two arms, two legs, two eyes, a nose and mouth. They both smiled when they were happy and wept when they were not. She came to visit with him almost every day, and she always seemed reluctant to go.

He looked at her, and found that she was already looking at him, her clear blue eyes meeting his with no hint of aversion. She grinned crookedly, and he couldn't help but smile back.

No, he thought, perhaps we aren't so different after all.