ENIGMA

EPILOGUE

July 16, 2183

1733 hours.

Captain's Quarters, Normandy-Class Stealth Frigate SSV Normandy SR-1, Docked with Port Hanshan.

Commander Marcus Lee Shepard, Machinist Tali'Zorah nar Rayya.

"Tali, stop it! I have to work!" Marcus stated with a grin as Tali wrapped her arms around his neck, holding her head close to his. Marcus finally gave up and leaned his head into her neck, kissing the bottom of her helmet's chin as he did so. Signing off his terminal, he spun his chair around, Twisting until he could fully face his quarian lover.

Without thinking, Tali stradled him as she kept her arms around his neck, leaning her mask against his forehead, "Well, maybe you need some time off from that work. What do you say, Marcus?" With that, Marcus smiled as he brought her head down and kissed the top of her hood.

"Sounds good, Miss Zorah. But what shall we do?" Marcus asked. Tali seemed to roll this through her head for a little bit before formulating a proper response. She knew sleep was out of the question as was a shower and she really didn't want to leave the cabin. A matter of fact, she didn't know what to do except just sit in his lap.

"How about...we just keep doing this?" Tali suggested.

Marcus smiled, "Sounds good to me." With that, Tali just embraced him deeper and buried her head under his chin. He began stroking the back of her hood as he thought of something.

"I've never told you about my childhood," Marcus declared.

"Never really asked," Tal responded, "What was it like?"

"Well, it was mostly uninteresting. Mostly just travelling from ship to ship." Marcus answered.

"Sounds like my life." Tali answered and the two of them just returned to holding each other, not caring for what they could be doing. Shore leave was going to continue for a fortnight, so they could do what they wanted.

Marcus thought of the future. Of what might happen after the reaper invasion. It was coming, that much was certain and he knew he, they, could stop them. But after? He had the perfect woman sitting in his lap. Maybe she'd reveal herself to him some day? Maybe they'd get married? So many things they could do. When he met Tali and got to know her more, he just knew that she was the woman he wanted to grow old with.

Tali thought of the same things. What her future life might be like with Marcus. At some point, she would be able to feel his skin on hers, but it wouldn't be for a while. And eventually she would have to tell him about quarian bonding ceremonies. If Marcus was invested and really wanted to be with her, they would have to bond at some point and that scared her. What would Auntie Raan think? Keelah, what about father?

Then they both realized, as if working in mental unison, that they were thinking too far ahead. They needed to slow down and let their relationship develop before they even reached that level. They had plenty of time to figure this stuff out. For now, they could just enjoy the present without the worries of the future.

It wasn't long before Tali fell asleep and Marcus quickly followed. They both dreamt happy dreams, but Tali's dream was vivid.

Tali's opened as she lay down, sitting in a field of grass. The sky was a brilliant blue, the bright light of the sun striking through the atmosphere of the planet as it impacted the surface. She knew this planet, but only saw it through pictures of ancient history. She felt the wind blow against her face as she closed her eyes, inhaling as she felt the wind brush against her naked skin. It was euphoria like no other.

"Tali!"

The quarian turned around to watch Marcus as plopped down next to her. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him. She wore standard quarian attire, not in her suit. Just behind them was a large, two-storey house made from wooden planks and bricks. Marcus smiled back as he kissed her lightly on the lips, Tali letting his taste be breathed into her.

Releasing their lips from each other, they both just cradled each other as they watched the beautiful sky. Rannoch, the garden world, the homeworld of her people's dreams. Rannoch's three moons shone brightly in the sky, their presence enhancing their moment. They lay down in the grass together and looked up into the sky. She felt five fingers slip inbetween her three and she clenched her hand into a fist, squeezing her husband's hand.

Tali began to laugh as he tickled her, causing her to leap up onto him and stradle him as she held her hands at bay. With a smile, she lay ontop of him, her face inches from his. They indulged in each other in the look of each other. Finally, Marcus spoke up, stroking her cheek with his free hand.

"You're beautiful," Marcus complimented.

Tali blushed but her dream was suddenly stopped when a synthetic horn tore through the sky. She screamed as she leapt off of Marcus, looking up into the sky. Reapers, all in the form of Sovereign, rained from the sky. Their numbers darkned the sky as literally millions of them fell from the sky, raining beams of death.

She screamed as she felt a red hot beam cross across her.

Tali gasped as she woke, finding herself still in Marcus' arms. She sighed as she leaned back into them, apparently not waking the slumbering spectre. Tali ignored the nightmare about the reapers and thought about the dream she just had. The feel of his touch. The sound of the wind as it brushed past my bare skin. The feeling of the grass prickling at my thighs. The taste of his lips.

Then she remembered that the dream had been on Rannoch, Marcus had the line down the center of his forehead symbolizing their bond and the house behind them. Home. Marriage. A house? She remembered the promise her father made about building them a house on the homeworld. Had that been the house she saw in her dream? Was that what she wanted her future with Marcus to be?

She stroked his cheek and sighed as she felt nothing but the glove rubbing against his face.

She went back to sleep and all she thought about was that house. How beautifully enticing it looked.

Some day.

Friends, it's been a fun ride, but it's far from over yet. Enigma II is in the works and will be released at some point, but it will be the longest and probably least complicated of my stories, but that may change (it's still in early stages). I'd just like to warn you that Enigma II will take a while to produce and while an enticing prologue 'teaser' of sorts will be released, it won't be much in way of actual writing for a while. Maybe...a fortnight? Hey, I love writing fanfiction and too me? That's a long friggin time! :P

And I feel like I could have done more with this chapter, but I guess the energy got sapped out of me. Anticipation for Enigma 2? No excuse. I will edit this in future and extend it but for now, I was getting nowhere with it and decided to go with this.

See you in Mass Effect 3: How It Could Have Happened? folks.

Remember to sterilize and Keelah Se'lai.

Warning: May be changing author name. Just a litte heads up. ;)