Chapter 20

The Benezia hadn't been in system ten minutes before I got the data burst from her, informing me of, among other things, the address of the apartment she'd rented for me while the Normandy was in dry dock. It was a good location only a few minutes away from the space port. Her message had also indicated that there would be transport waiting for me when I got off the ship. And there had been, the very same taxi that Liara and I had 'borrowed' when we set off in pursuit of Vasir. I had a feeling there was a story there, and that I'd be hearing very soon. I shrugged and got in. I didn't regret anything I'd done, even if the trip back without Liara had given me the chance to reflect on ways I probably could have handled the situation a bit better.

Miranda's message hadn't been rude, hadn't even been grumpy, but it had been formal, and I'd gotten the distinct impression she wasn't happy about something. Well, that was just too bad. I didn't blame her, but I also didn't answer to her. I was the one in charge of this mission, and where I went and what I did was my concern first, and hers if I decided to include her. If she didn't like that, she'd just have to deal with it. Liara replacing the Shadow Broker had given me resources and options I hadn't had before, and I was less inclined than ever to let Cerberus, The Illusive Man, or Miranda tell me what to do. I still intended to play the game, but I was playing on my terms now, and I needed to figure out just what the meant for mine and Miranda's relationship.

I'd always know the time would come where she'd have to pick between me and Cerberus, and after the stuff with her sister, I'd been fairly confident that she'd ultimately side with me. But that had assumed I played the long game with her. Now that I might have the opportunity to accelerate my plans in regards to Cerberus, I had to accelerate my plans with Miranda. In the immediate sense, that meant drawing her deeper into my plans. I'd talked to Garrus and Tali a bit about this, and they'd helped me come up with a version of what had happened while we were away that would satisfy requirements for the moment. So, as the air taxi angled in on the apartment's landing pad, I quickly rehearsed the story, looking once again for anything that might twig her suspicion. Nothing. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the car.

The apartment was a penthouse, something I approved of but found a bit surprising for Miranda to have picked. I'd assumed she'd have gone for something more cost effective and efficient. Well, the private landing pad was certainly convenient, so I wasn't going to complain. Miranda met me at the apartment's door. "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back, thank you for taking care of things in my absence." It never hurt to start off with praise.

"I do my best." She nodded and stepped back, letting me enter before passing me a datapad. "I assumed you'd like to go over the details, make sure everything is the way you want it, so I've prepared a report."

I pushed the report back into her hands. "I would like to go over the details, but later. For the moment I'm sure you took care of everything that needs immediate attention. First thing I'd like is a shower, then I'd like to sit down with you. There are some things we need to go over."

She considered that for a moment. "Alright." She pointed to a door at the end of the hall. "Your room. There's a shower in the bathroom and I took the liberty of having your clothes delivered from the Normandy. They're in the bag on the bed."

I thanked her and headed down the hall. Once the door opened though I stopped, momentarily stunned. The room on the other side was huge. In addition to a king sized bed, the room had space for a formal seating area, an informal seating area, and an entire wall of windows that offered an incredible view of the skyline. I walked more fully into the room, still a little dumbfounded. I'd known this was a penthouse, but damn, you could fit the entire Normandy CIC in here. A surge of pride rushed through me. After everything I'd accomplished in the last few days, this was what I deserved. I made a mental note to contact Liara and have her buy this building at the first chance I got. Whatever I did after defeating the Collectors, I'd need a place to stay whenever I was on Illium, and I wanted it to be this place. After a few more seconds of staring I shook my head and got back to what I'd been doing.

The bathroom across the room from the bed was just as impressive as the bedroom itself, but I didn't waste anymore time gawking. I wanted to get clean, get into some fresh clothes, and get started on advancing my plans with Miranda.

I was most of the way through washing my hair, busy spreading the cleaning gel around my scalp, and didn't notice the whisper of sound as the bathroom's door slid open. The click of the shower door's latch was the first warning I got that anybody else had entered the room, and by then it was too late to do much about it. I started to turn towards the door, hands dropping into a position to ward off whoever the intruder was, but they intercepted me. A pair of expert blows knocked my hands aside, leaving me open for a second, and they pressed forwards. Their body pressed up against mine, and I had the flash impression of two soft points of pressure against my chest before lips were pressed against me and Miranda drove me against the wall. Her arms encircled me, and my own mirrored them, reacting on instinct as much as by my own desire.

I pulled her closer, one arm slipping down around her waist, holding her to me, and the other slid up her belly. Her breasts were pressed against me, but I cupped the underside anyway, taking advantage of the unexpected situation to the best of my ability. For a few seconds we just kissed, and the heat of her passion rivaled the steamy water spilling over both of us. Then she pulled away, getting her head out of the spray and flashed me a smile. "Hope you don't mind the interruption, Shepard."

"Not at all." I said. "I appreciate the company."

Miranda's hand slipped down between us, sliding across my soapy skin, and she wrapped her fingers around the head of my cock.

"So I can see." She said dryly, giving my rapidly hardening head a squeeze. "Does this mean you missed me?"

"Of course I missed you." Her ambush had taken me completely off guard, and my brain was still scrambling to reorient from the future planning it had been doing to focus on the new opportunity directly before me. The way her hand had started to twist lazily around the head of my cock wasn't helping that process any.

"I bet you say that to all the naked women who invade your shower." There was a merry twinkle in her eye as she said it. "I've missed you too though." She leaned forward, putting her mouth right next to my ear. "Want me show you how much?"

"Yes." The single word came out much more quickly and eagerly than I was happy with. This wasn't how things with Miranda were supposed to go, damn it. I was supposed to be the one in charge, the one seducing her. But even as I thought that my body reacted to her. Her stroking hand had traveled further down now, her palm rubbing up against the underside of the head while her fingers tugged a swirling pattern around the shaft. My hips pressed forward, grinding against her leg. She made a soft sound of pleasure at that, and I felt a little more in control again. I lowered my hand on her hip, taking a big handful of her ass, and craned my neck to kiss her again.

She cheated away from me a bit, mouth still turned up to mine, giving me better access to her chest as she continued to stroke my cock. Her fingers started to tug faster, more insistently, and the opening between us also meant shower water splashed down on it. Soon, between the water and her hand, my dick had been scoured clean of soap, and her fingers began to drag against me. That was when she broke the kiss for the second time, pushing away from me and turning to press herself up against the glass wall of the shower. The new position also pressed her hips and ass directly against my cock, and I groaned at the pressure. Bracing both hands on the glass, she turned and looked over her shoulder at me. "Well, what are you waiting for, Commander?"

That, apparently. This wasn't precisely a new side of Miranda that I was seeing, but it was a far cry from the grumpy, confrontational version I'd expected to encounter when I returned. But I wasn't complaining. Shifting my hips a little, and pulling my head out of the direct water stream, I pushed forward. My cock slid forward, missed its angle, and pushed up between her asscheeks. Pulling back I tried again, this time slipping forward and brushing over her clit as I poked out between her legs. With a growl I reached down, steadied myself, and tried for a third time. That one worked, and I sank myself halfway into her.

We both gasped as I entered her, hers pushing away some of the steamy condensation on the glass near her mouth, and mine letting a little water run down my face into mine. I didn't care. The heat of her was so different from the pounding water, a tight, eager warmth that drew me further into her. For a second I just stayed there, enjoying the feeling. Apparently she wasn't as interested in savoring it was I was, because after that second she pushed back against me, taking more of me and forcing me to brace a foot behind me lest I slip. Okay, if that's how she wanted it, fine. Taking her hips in my hands, I let myself go. My next thrust drove completely into her, shoving her right up against the glass and making her gasp. "Shepard!"

My name, said in that tone, drove a spike of red hot need through me. I didn't care if Miranda wasn't acting the way I expected, of if she'd tried to start this off as the one in charge. I was back now, I was ready to take everything she wanted to give me and more. I thrust again, and again, my hands on her hips pulling her hard against me with each one. I growled as I took her, letting myself just feel and enjoy this moment. Her moans quickly lost meaning, my name and scattered other words falling apart under my hungry thrusts. Once I'd found my rhythm, I took one hand off her hips, pushing it between her and the glass to claim her breasts. She shoved back against me as I fucked her, her own body demanding more and more from me. I was happy to give it to her.

Going like that, it wasn't too long before I reached my peak. I forgot myself, growling as I shoved myself forward, pressing myself deep and unloading inside her. Her moan as I came was a long and drawn out version of my name, each syllable given a kind of breathless importance. It made me feel powerful. She bucked in my grip, body shivering and shaking in the throes of her own climax, and her scrabbling fingers left wild trails in the fog on the shower door. I held on, riding out both of our orgasms. The heat of my load in her pussy was an inferno around my sensitive head, but I didn't pull out until she'd stopped shaking.

It was Miranda who pulled away first, drawing her hips forwards and off my cock. Her step became a turn, ended up facing me again. Her pale skin was flushed, and her eyes were wide as she looked up at me. Leaning back she placed her shoulders against the glass, pressing her hips forward, and slid a hand down between her legs. Using two fingers she spread her folds, giving me an excellent view of my creampie as the water began to wash it away. My eyes flicked from her pussy up to her face. She raised an eyebrow, lips curling into an inviting smile. I wasn't hard again yet - definitely on my way there, but not fully up again - so instead of taking her right there, I pushed off from wall and pressed myself against her, once again wrapping an arm around her waist. This time though, instead of groping her chest, I aimed my other hand elsewhere, slipping two fingers inside her. She gasped as I did, and her hips bucked a little in my hand, grinding her clit against my palm. Hooking my fingers a bit I started to move them back and forth, dragging their tips along the top of her pussy. At the same time I bent down, pressing my face between her tits.

She shifted, and I felt a leg brush against mine as she did something. A second later the water hitting my back stopped. At the same time, one of her hands slid along the wall, fingers questing blindly for the latch to the door. She found it, pushed, and opened it, letting a wave of cold air in to crash against the steamy heat of the shower. I didn't have much time to complain though, because as soon as the door was open she pushed off from the wall, grabbed my hand, led me out of the bathroom, and over to the massive bed, our feet leaving a trail of sloppy footprints on the wooden floors. Neither of us cared at all.

Half an hour later when the front door chimed, I answered it wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around my waist. The delivery person, a young Asari, blushed as she passed me the containers of food Miranda had ordered before joining me in the shower. I smiled at her, paid for the food with my omnitool, and left her a bit of an extra tip. Then I let the door slide closed again and returned to the bedroom. Miranda had pushed herself up on one arm in the middle of the tangled blankets. Her hair was mussed, parts of it that had gotten wet in the shower drying in a tangle as we'd… reconnected. She smiled at me as I returned to the room and nodded her head towards the couch and coffee table set against one wall. I deposited the food on the table, taking the time to open each container and lay it out as she got out of bed. I half expected her to take the time to pull her catsuit back on, but she just gathered a robe up off one of the nightstands, and slipped it on. She didn't really bother belting it, letting plenty of skin show through and smirked as a tent started to form in the front of my towel.

That was all the attention she paid it though before crossing over to the couch, sinking down onto it, and crossing one leg over the other. Matching her level of dress I didn't bother changing out of my towel. I could play this game if she could. Conversation was light as we ate, mainly focused around the food. It was fantastic, and I made a note to find out where she'd ordered from. I'd have to make sure to order from them again. As I ate I watched her. I'd been certain she'd at least have been frustrated with me for taking off without warning. Hell, I'd picked up on some of that when I'd comm'd her on my way back. Had it just been that she missed me? It wasn't the craziest idea, and it would certainly explain her jumping me in the shower like that. Not that I was complaining about it.

Miranda must have picked up on what I was thinking about, because I saw her smirk a little. She popped a bite into her mouth, chewed, then asked casually. "So, are you going to fill me in on what you've been doing?"

Ah. There it was. I finished slurping my noodles to give myself an extra second, then put my bowl down. "I helped Liara track down the Shadow Broker and negotiated a truce between them. Incidentally, the Broker will be sending me everything his people have on the Collectors. I'm hoping you or Cerberus's analysts can find something useful in it." I put a slight hesitation between her and Cerberus. "I'm hoping the data might help us figure out some kind of pattern we can use."

"You negotiated a truce between the Shadow Broker and T'Soni." She eyed me skeptically. "How exactly did you manage that?"

I shrugged. "Killed a bunch of his mercs and blew up his stuff until he realized it would be cheaper to work with me than against me."

"Just like that?"

"Pretty much." She didn't look convinced. "Fine, we did have to give a bit ourselves. I agreed to copy the Broker on any other discoveries we make in our hunt for the Collectors. That data packet will include instructions on where to send the information going forward."

"And T'Soni? I notice she didn't return with you."

This part was gonna be tricky. "She's stayed behind. Part collateral, part my representative. I'm not stoked about it, but it was her idea. She's joined the Broker's network to some degree, and she has enough information hidden away about him that if anything was to happen to her it would do serious damage." It wasn't a lie, not fully.

Miranda leaned forward, expression intent. "She has that kind of information?"

I nodded. "We have the location of his base. I can't share it with you, that was part of the deal, but the Broker knows that if anything happens I know where it is now. And Liara is going to be our main point of contact with them, so we'll know if anything happens. On that note, I'd like you to handle those updates. Once this is over, Liara is going to be my intelligence officer, and I want the two of you to be comfortable working together."

I hoped that would make Miranda feel involved enough in that process not to dig too far into it. Liara and I had rehearsed the cover enough, and I'd briefed Tali and Garrus on it, but I still wanted to do what I could to reduce the chances of her feeling the need to poke holes in the plan. Besides, I really did want her and Liara to get better at working together. Whenever I ended up severing ties with Cerberus, I wanted my command team as experienced with each other as possible.

She considered me for a long moment, eyes searching, then finally nodded. "Alright, I won't say I'm happy about giving away our intel, but I can handle that. Anything else I should know?"

"No, those are the high points. Thank you for understanding. Now, why don't you catch me up on what I've missed?"

I hadn't notice her grab her datapad when she came over from the bed, but now she slipped it out of a pocket and powered it on. "Okay, lets start with Vasir's body."

She gave me the detailed run down on everything she'd been doing over the last few days. I asked a few questions, getting clarifications on some points, but mostly just sat and listened. She'd done an absolutely fantastic job handling all the loose ends my abrupt departure had created. As she filled me in, I was struck by how lucky I was that she'd been the one put in charge of my recovery, and by how stupid it was of the Illusive Man to let me keep her after she'd put me back together. Sure, my mission was an important one, and he certainly wanted to include one of his best people on the team, but still, he'd made a mistake. If I'd been the one assembling a team to send on a suicide mission, I'd have kept Miranda as far from it as possible. And that wasn't even considering the impact I was having on her. The Illusive Man might not have realized it yet, but I had. Her little stunt in the shower was proof of that.

She finished her report with an update on the Normandy's repairs. "I've managed to get the yard to lock the timetable down to twenty seven days. It's better than the thirty five they were initially estimating, but it still means a month stuck planet side."

"Not quite." I said, grinning. "Liara's giving us the Benezia. It isn't the Normandy, but it's a ship. I'm thinking we can use the time to clean up some of those errands we've put off." Cerberus, Aria, and even a few contacts in the Alliance had reached out since discovering I was alive. Most of them were offering favors in return for me running some kind of mission for them. I'd put most of them off while we were hunting the Collectors, but now that we had the time…

"That should work." Miranda agreed. "I recommend we start with Zaeed's little problem. He's starting to grow restless."

"That should work. Is it time critical?"

She checked her pad. "Not immediately, but it should be soon. The target's been stationary for a while, and our information suggests he may move again in the next week or two."

No rest for the weary apparently. "Okay. We'll get on that tomorrow then. The Benezia can fit five plus the pilot. Besides you, me, & Zaeed, any suggestions on who we bring along?"

She considered for a moment. "Grunt would be useful muscle, and he's unlikely to be too concerned over the mission." Then she grimaced. "And Jack."

That caught me off guard, and I blinked at her. "Really?"

Miranda shrugged, and I couldn't help but notice the way her robe fell a little more open as she did. "The team needs to see that she and I can still work together after that little spat we had the other day. This seems like a low stress way to prove that."

I nodded, scooting a little closer on the couch. "That makes sense, provided you guys really are good?"

"We've reached an understanding." She said it levelly, still looking down at her pad. I remembered the night before everything happened with Liara and the Broker. They'd certainly seemed to reach something alright. Miranda made a note on her pad. "Okay, we have an immediate plan. We should really start making plans for what to do once the Normandy's out of the yard."

I leaned forward. "Without more information to go on, there isn't a lot we can plan for. We'll see what the Illusive Man's team finds in their investigation of that Reaper corpse, as well as what you can pull from the Broker's data. Until then, I'd rather work out what we're going to do after we've beaten the collectors."

She cocked an eyebrow, expression skeptical. "After?"

"We're going to beat them, Miranda. At least, that's the assumption I plan on operating under. If I make plans and I die, then I guess it won't matter. But if we survive and have no plans for after, then what? With the Normandy in the yard, we have a bit of down time, and I want to use that time to look forward."

For maybe half a moment something darkened her expression, then she caught it, and her skeptical expression returned. "I guess that's reasonable. What did you have in mind?"

This was gonna be a bit tricky. I had to give Miranda enough that she'd trust me, but I couldn't flat out invite her into my organization. Not yet. I trusted her, was certain she had my back and was fully committed to this mission, but I wasn't stupid enough to ignore that she still harbored loyalty to the Illusive Man as well. I had to entice her, give her a vision for what my organization could be without making it a direct recruitment pitch. And I had to sell it. Which meant it was time for a bit of calculated sincerity.

"I'd like to form an organization, maybe build it off what Liara's managed to accomplish here. The Reapers are coming, Miranda. We both know that. When they get here, we need to be ready. I need to be ready. The Alliance isn't the way to get that done. Even if Ashley's report about Cerberus backing me didn't blacklist me completely, they aren't the people I need them to be. There's too much red tape. Too many politicians and admirals that I'd never be able to convince to listen. Not in time. And the Council's the same way."

"There's always Cerberus." Miranda said quietly.

"There is." I agreed. "And if I thought the Illusive Man would give me the freedom to do things my way, to handle problems and formulate strategy, I'd consider it."

"He would." She insisted, leaning forward, her data pad falling into her lap. "The Illusive Man respects you. If you - no - if we went to him with a plan, he'd listen. He'd give you whatever you need."

"Maybe." I hedged, eyes locked on hers. "I'm not ruling it out entirely, but I don't think it's the right move. Cerberus has its own problems, Miranda, you have to know that. If nothing else, if I joined Cerberus I'd have to sever any remaining ties I have to the Alliance and the Council. They both see Cerberus as little better than terrorists. So, I'll keep it on the table, but at the moment I'm leaning towards going independent. With Liara's resources, and the money I put away while hunting Saren, I should have enough to start up my company, something with a bit more legitimacy than Cerberus. That doesn't mean we can't still work together though. This little arrangement the Illusive Man and I have going right now has been mutually beneficial, and I'd be open to continuing it after we've dealt with the Collectors. Provided he's willing to keep loaning me you, that is." That was further than I'd meant to go, but as I watched her expression shift, I had a good feeling about it.

"Me?" She asked, a smirk spreading slowly across her lips. "Now why would you want me?"

I felt my own mouth mimic hers. "Because I'm going to need an exceptional executive officer if I'm going to make this work. And if I'm being honest, I've gotten used to having you around."

"You've gotten used to me?" She asked, expression growing a bit arch. "Is that all?"

"Not quite." I crossed the rest of the distance between us, my hand slipping into the open flap of her robe, and kissed her. We had almost a month to delve deeper into these plans. Her smirk, and the way her robe hung open, hiding nothing, had pulled other interests to the forefront. Miranda returned the kiss, arms wrapping around my neck and pulling me on top of her.

An hour later, Shepard was in the shower, finally getting that wash he'd wanted. Miranda lay on the bed, idly running her fingers through the slowly drying cum pooling between her breasts. She'd declined the invitation to join him this time, dryly noting that they'd hardly get clean if they were in there together, which had earned her a laugh. Now he was getting clean, and she was left alone to think. Bringing her fingers up she examined the cum on them, closing and opening her fingers to watch it stretch as she thought.

Today had gone considerably better than she'd expected. She hadn't planned on jumping him like she had, but she also hadn't planned on him brushing her off like that when he arrived. She'd been prepared for an interrogation, and instead had mostly gotten ignored. The shower thing had been her way of getting his attention back. And it had worked. He'd been more forthcoming than she'd anticipated. Clearly he'd left some stuff out about what had happened with T'Soni, but she could dig into that. If nothing else, she could have EDI pull the Benezia's navigational data. The way Shepard was talking, he'd met face to face with the Shadow Broker, and that was information the Illusive Man would want to know. As for liaising with T'Soni, she could do that. Who knew what kinds of information the Asari would let slip.

But to what end? The question nagged at her. She was doing everything she could to get closer to Shepard, to slip into his confidence, up to and including sleeping with him. And for what? Orders? Because the Illusive Man had told her to keep an eye on him? Shepard was certainly a threat to Cerberus, anybody who wasn't part of the organization was, but he was also an opportunity. Miranda had worked with mercenaries and Alliance special forces, she'd trained with Asari huntresses, and run over a hundred combat missions, and yet she'd never seen somebody like Shepard. She understood now why the Illusive Man had insisted she put him back together. Even understood why he'd insisted she do it without making any precautionary modifications just in case they had some kind of detrimental effect on him. Shepard was a force to be reckoned with. He might actually be one of the few people able to pull this mission off. As for his plans after that? Miranda had no doubt that if Shepard asked, the Illusive Man would second her to him without hesitation. He probably wouldn't even have to ask. As soon as she reported that Shepard was planning on striking out on his own after they took down the Collectors, he'd order her to go with him. After that, the question would just be what she did as the executive officer of whatever organization he was planning on putting together. Would the Illusive Man order her to steer him towards Cerberus' next target? What about if he became a problem? What would her orders be if Shepard's new organization became a threat to Cerberus? Would she be given the chance to bring them back into line? Or would she get the kill order? Could she follow that order?

The warm glow she'd earned with both success and sex soured, turning cold, and she violently rubbed her hand clean on his sheets. If that was what she was ordered to do, she'd do it. Cerberus and their mission was more important than any one person, even someone like Shepard. She shoved herself up out of the bed and pulled her robe off the floor. Wrapping herself in the soft fabric she went in search of her own shower, suddenly feeling a desperate need to get clean.