This story is a two-chapter short story of my interpretation what happened in the Romance scene between Tali and Shepard in ME2. It begins a few seconds before the scene fades out.

Please inform me of any errors, grammatical or syntactical. I am German, so you might notice that I overuse commas quite a bit as I am not really sure how they are properly used in English and just put them where you would write them in German.

C&C always welcome, please let me hear what you think.

With a little 'hiss', Commander Shepard removed the young Quarians facemask. The fact that he was the very first human to ever see how a Quarian looked like under the tinted facemask of a Quarian environmental suit wasn't on his mind. Just seconds before, the young Quarian – Tali'Zorah – was babbling nervously, but the moment when their eyes both met no one said a single word. What he saw was so beautiful that he asked the gods how they could have cursed this Quarian to ever withhold her face from the rest of the world. "Oh my..." were the only thoughts he could muster. Looking into each other's eyes for the first time without any obstructions felt like an eternity to both of them.

It could have been seconds, or minutes, even hours but when Tali saw that warming smile on her Commanders face, all of her fears, her nervousness and doubts vanished in a moment's instant. It felt like a burden, as heavy as the universe fell from her shoulders. "Keelah..." were the only words the young Quarian could think of.

Now without hesitation, Tali finally found her strength as she pulled Shepard onto the bed where their lips met in a passionate kiss. With their lips locked, Shepard moved his hands gently towards Tali's buttocks where he softly grabbed them. The pattern of her environment suit felt like snake skin and the cloth that was ritually wrapped all around her, soft as silk just like her skin. Moving his right hand towards the long neck of the Quarian and softly pushed her against him while he gently caressed her back with his left hand.

Their long kisses, filled with passion and lust, felt like the world was about to end. They never wanted it to stop. The burden of the galaxy on their shoulders fell, as they both stopped caring about the rest of the world. For all they know, entire civilizations could get wiped out, they wouldn't care at all. Just a mere handful of hours from now, their quest - again - sent them against the impossible odds of defeating an entire army of Collectors that lingered in a hidden base just besides the galactic core, most probably a suicide mission they would not return from. This might be their first and last moment together and they both wanted to enjoy it to the fullest.

Finally they had to grasp for air, their breathing heavy and their hearts beating like in a orchestra of drums as the adrenaline and endorphins rushed through their veins. Shepard looked into Tali's eyes and let out a small chuckle which suddenly made her loose her smile as she blushed and replace her face with an expression of panic. "What is it?" the Quarian asked worried "Keelah, did I do something wrong?"

Shepard grinned and said in a calm and soothing voice "No, you didn't do anything wrong at all, it's just..." - he thought for a second – "...on Earth we often compliment girls, that their kisses taste sweet," he elaborated, now slightly blushing too "but with your dextro-DNA, kissing you actually DOES taste very... very sweet" he finished his explanation, now again looking into Tali's eyes and smiling. Giving out a sigh of relief the Quarian gave Shepard a nudge to his shoulder and said jokingly with a big grin on her face "Don't you ever scare me like that again Shepard!"

They both laughed a little bit and soon returned to staring into each other's eyes. "You are beautiful" Shepard said with a little pause between each of the words, smiling. Gently caressing the back of the environment suit he continued "You" and kissed her "are" another quick peck "perfect" he finished when they both sunk back into their impenetrable bubble of love while kissing passionately and with the inextinguishable fire in their hearts they both proceed to consummate their love for each other.