Tali and Garrus spend some time before the battle for Earth.

Request was for dextro-fluff. My effort come seasoned with angst. Reviews/feedback is my addiction of choice. Please help out.

"So, where's this dextro-chocolate stash?" Tali was already in the process of donning her suit, and Garrus leaned back against cool metal bulkhead of the the main battery and just watched as she gracefully shrugged the suit around those delectable hips. The cot they'd just shared wasn't meant for cuddling afterward unfortunately, and time pressed on them with the weight of a dreadnought. The jump to Sol was but hours away.

"I knew you were using me. First for my body, now for my chocolate? Mean."

"Hah. The last time Shepard made us go on a suicide mission, I promised myself one thing. If we survived, and he dragged us through another one, I'd do three things before. Set foot on Rannoch, and have sex and chocolate the night before."

"So I'm just a checklist to you?"

She turned around, faceplate now on, but he could still make out the grin glinting underneath.

"You're the one who wanted test your reach against my flexibility, Vakarian."

"Ha! Chocolate's under the cot, vas'Normandy. Third box to the left."

"We should've asked Liara if we could use her cabin. She's definitely spending the night at Shepard's." She took a block, broke it in half, and stuffed her half in one of her pockets. Garrus looked at her inquisitively.

"One guilty pleasure at a time."

She got up, stretched her arms. Garrus looked away quickly, then summoned his courage. He'd faced brutes and banshees and geth primes in open combat. He could do this.

"Tali...I..."

"Stop. We will have this conversation, but after we beat the Reapers."

"What if..."

"Then it won't matter."

"No. It matters. It matters now."

She came back to the cot, and he sat forward and put his arms around her. She leaned into him. He could feel her trembling under the suit, and he let his fingers stroke across her back.

"Why did...why did we waste so much time?" Her voice was unsteady.

"I don't know. It never seemed like the right time. I was on Omega, you were with the Fleet. Then we were fighting Collectors and trying watch Shepard's back with Cerberus and...I don't know. All seems so silly now. Lets not do that though. The hindsight thing. Dealing with Sidonis taught me that at least."

"I wanted to say something after Shepard went back to the Alliance and they impounded the Normandy. I knew you were going back to Palaven, try and convince the Hierarchy. I was thinking of asking if you wanted some company and then..."

"The Admiralty Board recalled you. Duty to the Fleet and all that. You would make a great turian. Better than me."

"Ha! You might fool Shepard with that renegade policeman act, but if our positions had been reversed...?"

"Yes, I would've gone."

"Its all a bit Fleet & Flotilla isn't it?"

"I don't know. I'm much better looking than the turian leading man in that. I hear some women really like the scars. Non-krogans even."

"Oh yes. The scars are very sexy. Do try to avoid headbutting missiles in your future though. One set is enough."

She clutched him tighter, and he leaned his forehead against her faceplate. He wondered if she knew what that meant. It was a gesture of affection amongst turians, akin to a human kiss. She ran her fingers along his scars, feeling them individually, letting her fingers wander over the side of his face.

"Keelah, Garrus. I...need you. I need this. Come back alive." She whispered the words against him, letting them go reluctantly. He needed this too. The last few years had been rough, taken a toll on them both. What little happiness this had provided, what little warmth they drew from each other was precious beyond words. After all, isn't this what they were fight for? A chance at happiness. At love. He knew Shepard drew strength from his relationship with Liara, and she from him. They should be a similar font of strength for each other.

"You too, Tali. Come back, and I'll show you Palaven. Well, what remains of it. You won't want to miss the grand tour of my homeworld. You stay alive you, you...little bosh'tet."

"Hey now, don't go all quarian on me. I like the stern turian thing. The scars. The armour. Too much time hanging around military men in my precocious youth I suppose."

"Yes, Admiral."

"Oh like you can talk, Mr. Generals-salute-me-and-call-me-sir-and-I'm-ranked-on-the-Primarch-succession-ladder..."

He rolled his eyes at that, and punched her lightly on the shoulder.

"Don't even joke about that. Shepard would shovel me into it, and think he was doing me a favour to boot."

"Regular, run-of-the-mill legendary galactic hero thing. Still can't believe he talked Han'Gerrel out of firing on the geth back on...at home. I would've though uprooting a mountain with your barehands would be more doable."

"So, you never...?"

"Shepard? Keelah, no! He's more a like a older brother. Plus him and Liara were meant for each other. Sickeningly so."

"Older brother huh."

"Yeah, Vakarian. You break my heart by dying or something, and I'll sic Shepard onto you without a second thought."

Garrus grinned.

"Mercy, not that. Anything but Shepard kicking my ass up and down the road for you."

She laughed. He loved her laugh, and it sounded like music in his ears. She poked his shoulder with a finger.

"Yeah. And Liara too. She'll flay your mind. And, of course, I always have my trusty shotgun and Chiktikka."

"Sounds worse than when three merc companies had me under seige in Omega. I know my limits."

"Seriously. Do you think we can do this? That Shepard can do this?" Her voice steadier now, and he held her eyes for a long moment.

"Honestly? I don't know. If anyone can, we can. We beat Sovereign at the Citadel. We went through the Omega Relay...and came back. Shepard makes doing the impossible look routine. He talked the krogan into helping Palaven. He talked the quarians and geth into a peace. You, me, Ashley, Liara...we'd all follow him to Hell itself. We have in the past."

"Save the galaxy or die trying, right?"

"I'll drink to that. Might have a bottle of the good stuff around here. Might even have an emergency induction straw for you. One last toast."

"Make it good, Vakarian."

He poured the dark blue liquid into two glasses, and put a straw in hers. Silently she stood up and joined him at the battery control panel.

"To absent friends..."

Legion, sacrificing his life for peace. Mordin, doing the same. Thane, fighting till the end. Kal'Reegar. Emily Wong. Hundreds and thousands of others.

"To those who fight at our side..."

Anderson, desperately rallying a defence on Earth. Wrex, forging a new beginning while still staring annihilation in the face. Javik, last defiant scream of a forgotten civilization. EDI and Joker, establishing new ground in what barriers love might be able to conquer.

"To the future..."

Those little blue children Liara and Shepard dreamed of. For an unborn krogan child who would be named after a salarian. For the refugee girl on the Citadel whose parents were never coming to meet her.

"Victory."

"Peace." They clinked their glasses and drank in silence. His fingers curled around hers. They waited together.