Disclaimer: Too crazy to own it, too lazy to try. So don't sue!

Warnings: AriaxTevos pairing. Eventual Dom/sub and some mild BDSM, magic ejaculating dildos, and sex in general, so if you don't like crazy hot asari sex, you are reading the wrong story. Also plot spoilers for ME2, language, intrigue, intense situations, brains, great green gobs of greasy grimy gopher guts . . . . okay I'm just kidding.

A/N: This story is a sequel to "Bargaining With the Devil," though it stands alone. This takes place during the events of ME2, kind of my interpretation of why things seemed to fall into place for Shepard during the events of the game, and what had to happen behind the scenes for things to work out. I have never read the ME comics, so if there's some conflicting plotlines there, just keep that in mind. But as far as the game goes and what happens to Shepard, it will follow a Paragrade Shepard recruiting all possible allies and completing all missions, including the DLC. But there will be very little actual Shepard, as this is about Tevos helping Shepard in secret. This isn't AU, I'm going to stick to the story of ME as closely as I can, mostly filling in the gaps that the game leaves open-ended.

Dedication: I dedicate this story to Rae D. Magdon and all her gloriousness, and to all shippers of Aria and Tevos. ^_^ And of course, to give credit where credit is due, thank you Rae, for all the inspiration and for letting me fashion their relationship (somewhat) after your portrayal! Mine is definitely less intense lol but you definitely inspired me for this story. *E-HUG*

The Price of Guilt

Chapter 1

Councilor Tevos sat in her office on the Citadel, staring at her holo-display with growing stress, annoyance, and anger. Her contact aboard the Normandy was late with his weekly report via a very illegal and secure channel they piggy-backed through Aria's network. Granted, he didn't exactly have a habit of being on time, but he was a good four hours late this time. And as important as his calls were, she had better things to be doing. Most of them involved Aria, who was currently waiting for her in Tevos's extravagant apartment in the upper wards.

She stood for the umpteenth time and began pacing her office, wringing her fingerless-gloved hands together all the while. What if something had happened to the Normandy? What if something had happened to Commander Shepard? What if the Illusive Man found out about her contact aboard the Normandy? These were all questions she'd asked herself at least a thousand times in the past four hours, and many times before that since first asking Pilot Jeff Moreau to be her contact aboard the Normandy.

And this whole mess started because Commander Shepard just had to go and die. Part of her blamed the information broker, Liara T'Soni, for all of this. She was the one who had handed Shepard over to Cerberus in the first place. Then she had the nerve to come to Tevos asking for help, and Tevos had felt just guilty enough to do it. Shepard had ordered a lot of humans to their death to save Tevos and the rest of the Council. She bit her lower lip. She wasn't sure if she would ever stop feeling guilty about that. She was well aware Shepard could have easily chosen to ignore the Council's pleas for help and focus solely on Sovereign instead. She was actually still surprised Shepard had shown such compassion in the heat of battle, given her reputation. Not to say the formidable woman wasn't known for compassion, she was simply known for always putting the mission ahead of everything else, including the possibility of casualties.

The only somewhat good thing about this whole mess was, she now had an incredibly reliable information broker working for her on Illium. And although Miss T'Soni was far too motivated by her own personal goals to ever be her number one informant, she was still damn good at what she did. In return for intel, Liara had asked that Tevos help Shepard in the event that Cerberus somehow managed to bring her back to life, and had provided Tevos with Shepard's dossier of recruits. And ever since Shepard had miraculously come back to life, it seemed to be all Tevos did lately in her spare time. She had somehow managed to get the rest of the Council to agree to reinstate Shepard's Spectre status, had convinced Aria to help keep two members of Shepard's dossier on Omega alive long enough for Shepard to recruit them, and had (with exorbitant sums of money) convinced Purgatory's Warden Kuril to put "Subject Zero," another member of Shepard's dossier, in cryo to keep the crazed biotic from getting herself killed.

Tevos was also the only reason Mr. Moreau had even considered working for Cerberus. She knew he wanted to help Shepard, but he also was fiercely loyal to the Alliance, despite the fact that they grounded him. It had taken some of her best skills of bribing, coercing, and even a little intimidating before he finally agreed. Tevos never ceased to be amazed and annoyed at how stubborn humans could be sometimes. Her only stipulation after giving him a fat load of credits was telling him that, under no circumstances, could anyone, not even Shepard (and especially the Illusive Man), know that he had any contact with Tevos. Thus far he'd held good on his end of the deal, but she constantly worried about their communications being discovered, especially knowing there was a very talented A.I. aboard the Normandy watching his every move.

Her comm suddenly buzzed, startling her out of her thoughts. She bolted back to her desk and flipped on her holo-display and a familiar, bearded face appeared.

"Councilor," the human said, his voice cold as usual.

"Mr. Moreau," she replied, trying not to let her eyes wander to his beard. She always found human hair, especially male hair, to be rather disconcerting. It was probably why she preferred the company of asari. "Why were you so late? Has something happened?"

"No, we're on our way to Purgatory to pick up someone named Jack. I took so damn long because Aria's network is a bitch to navigate while trying to hide from the fucking A.I. aboard. I'm not much of a hacker."

"I'll have Miss T'Loak simplify it for you if you wish," she offered, inwardly smiling at the thought of Aria hearing her called "Miss T'Loak." Tevos would probably get punished for it, which, strangely, made her want to call her that just to see what Aria would do.

"She can do that? Then why the hell hasn't she done it already?" he demanded.

"Do you have any news pertaining to the movement of the Collectors, Mr. Moreau?" she asked, steering the conversation away from Aria. She knew exactly why Aria's network was so unnecessarily convoluted, but she also knew telling the human would probably demonstrate a knowing of Aria that was less than professional.

"No more than last week. We just left Omega after recruiting Garrus and some crazy salarian scientist named Mordin. Oh yeah, the guy named Archangel is Garrus. Remember him?"

"Garrus Vakarian? The turian former C-Sec officer?"

"Yeah that's the guy."

"That is the best news I have heard in weeks. I am glad to hear Commander Shepard got him successfully off Omega. From what Miss T'Loak told me, he was in considerable danger from three separate gangs."

The human snorted. "You could say that. They blew off half his damn face, but he's alive. Oh yeah, I was talking with him about some possible gun upgrades to something called Thanix Cannons. We're going to need a pretty large cache of Eezo to install it. Think we could get some from Aria? Garrus didn't want to go around asking Cerberus for favors, so he asked me if I knew anyone. I could ask the Alliance, but I seriously doubt they'd help."

"How much Eezo?" Tevos said, mentally bracing herself. For as much as she loved Aria, she really didn't like bargaining with her. Not to say Aria was unfair, she just didn't like owing things to the largest criminal kingpin in the Terminus Systems. Being the Asari Councilor, it wasn't exactly the safest thing to do. But when they started their relationship, they had very specifically agreed on one thing—never mix business and pleasure. When they made deals with each other, they always ensured they had something to offer up as fair trade from a business standpoint. They never asked for the other to do business with the excuse of "do it for me because you love me."

"A few hundred kilos," he replied casually.

Tevos winced inwardly, but was careful not to let it show on her face. "And when do you need it?"

"Umm . . . as soon as possible?"

Tevos pursed her lips. "That is not helpful, Mr. Moreau."

"Look, I don't even know. All I know is, once we've recruited a strong enough team, Shepard plans on taking us through the Omega 4 Relay."

Tevos's eyes widened in shock. Normally she was extremely good at hiding her emotions being a seasoned politician, but going through the Omega 4 Relay was suicide. "Why in the name of the goddess would you do that? I thought Shepard was recruiting a team to find the Collector ship and destroy it?" Apparently Mr. Moreau wasn't as reliable as she thought. Then again, the last time she talked to him was only very briefly after Shepard went to Freedom's Progress and found out about the Collectors at all. Apparently he had incorrectly assumed they were simply going after the Collector ship.

"Because the Collector's base of operations is through that relay. And if we don't take out their base now, they may never stop. We know they're working for the Reapers. And despite the fact that the fucking Council doesn't believe the Reapers exist, they are very real. And we're doing something to stop them, unlike the rest of the fucking galaxy."

She was slightly surprised by the anger in his voice, so she raised disarming hand to calm him. "If I did not believe the Reapers were a very real threat, do you really think I would be helping you?"

He scowled. "Maybe not. Unless you're just helping because you feel guilty about Shepard saving your ass from Sovereign."

She was again surprised, this time by his observation, given human male's reputation for being extremely unobservant. "I believe the Reapers are a very real threat, Mr. Moreau. Make no mistake about that."

"Good. So can you get us the Eezo?"

She sighed deeply. "I will let you know in our next communication when you can pick it up at Omega."