4.

Shepard was so cold, he almost didn't feel Larrin's warm body next to his.

"Your hands are like ice." She told him wrapping her own hands around his. Shepard couldn't control the shaking as his body started to warm up next to hers.

"I can't feel anything." He confided. The sharp cold had stilled the blood flow so much he couldn't even command his hands to clench a fist.

Larrin pulled her body in closer to his. His arms wrapping around her,. Those ice like hands reaching, searching for warmth. Finding it finally in contacting her skin.

Larrin took a sharp intake of breath as she felt his cold fingers graze over her back. Reaching underneath her shirt to her hot skin beneath it. She said nothing as Shepard, seemingly unaware of his actions, nuzzled his face deep into her neck.

"Your nose is cold to." She said with a laugh.

"Sorry about that." He said softly. "Tell me about what you were saying before. About the Selection."

For a log time, Larrin didn't respond. It had been drilled into her mind to never reveal any information to anyone about Efrafans. They were a secretive people. Xenophobic. Isolated. Militant. Protecting their way of life and its secrets at all costs. For all Larrin knew, this man could be a trap or test. She wouldn't put it past Efrafa. A handsome helpless stranger, sent to test her. Sent to see if she would betray her own kind.

"That's boring." She told him. "Tell me about your people. Tell me about Atlantis."

"I never told you I came from Atlantis." Shepard said pulling her into his embrace tighter. Like a lover would. His breath reaching her breasts.

"Where else could you be from? Is the city still there?" She asked.

It was a primary directive to never reveal to any outsider anything about Atlantis. To many innocent lives were at stake.

"I can't tell you anything about my people, Larrin. Not because I don't want to. Not that I'm not grateful to you for saving my life. Its too dangerous for others to know about us. It would be too dangerous for you to have that kind of information." He admitted.

"Well, it's the same with the selection." She told him sadly.

She sighed heavily.

"Lets talk about something else. What do you do for your people?" She asked. She felt a grin come across his face as he finally looked up at her. His face so close to hers, she could pick of the smell of his toothpaste.
"I do a little of everything I guess." He told her. "Mainly, no matter what fancy title they give me, I'm just a taxi driver. I pilot the Jumpers wherever people need to go."

Larrin laughed.

"Glorified transporter?" She teased. "I've been there."
"Ah, I love it though. I wouldn't want to do anything else." He admitted. "The minuet I stepped through that Star Gate, I felt my whole life change. It got so much better."

"What was your life like before?" She asked. She could feel his body start to warm next to hers. His hands, no longer ice.

"Sometimes... no matter what I did, even if was the right thing, it always went wrong. It was just so..." Shepard started to explain but found himself searching for the right words.

"Bleak?" Larrin finished.
"Yes." he conceded. "What about you? What do you do for your people?" He felt her body relax more into his.

"Whatever I'm told I guess. I'm a pilot mainly. I normally go on long range scouting missions." She reveled. "My sensors detected strange activity from a planet that has no Star Gate in orbit. Nothing like a Wraith attack. I was sent to check it out."

"Lucky for me you did." Shepard said casually. "How do your people avoid the Wraith?" He asked

"Was never a problem until recently. There was always easier pray out there. Lately, they've come back in a stronger force. We don't know why yet."

Shepard remained silent.

"We have our ways of avoiding them. We've had to adapt." Larrin finished. "What about you? Do the Wraith give you a lot of trouble?"

"More then we'd like." Shepard admitted.

"How?" Larrin asked.

"We don't mean to, but we always seem to find ourselves looking for trouble." Shepard said with a smile.

"Ah." Larrin grinned.

John found himself smiling back.

"Your skin is really warm." He commented moving his hands up her back till he felt the lacy clasp of her bra.

Without warning, she kissed him. A simple matter, being as how both of them were already so physically close. John returned her affections. His hands leaving her back and running up her hair, Her face.

For Larrin's part, she was unsure why she was doing this. Perhaps the thrill of meeting a stranger. The knowledge that once she put him back on his ship, she would never see him again. That no one from Efrafa would ever know. Efrafa, a place where they knew everything you did.

A exaltation of freedom had seized her. Took control and left her wanting more.

When she broke free of their kiss John was roaming her face and body with his eyes.

"Well... that was unexpected." He breathed. Not hiding a smile.

"Shut up John." She scolded him as she rolled on top of him, deftly removing her top.

"You do this will all the men you rescue?" He teased as his hands went to her breasts.

The barrier of her bra preventing his skin making contact with his. Her lips were on his again. Her hot skin and breath keeping away the frighting cold outside their privet world.

Her hands, her long warm fingers were slipping into the folds of his shirt. Undoing the buttons, exposing his chest to her touch.

Larrin could vaguely recall John whispering that she was beautiful before she lost control.