A/N: Thank you all for the reviews: spoodermanpls, Defiant Anjeru, Lady Aleynia, InaYasha, Suilven, nicky sykes2, CyanB, PureEmperor, and my wonderful beta Spyke1985. All your comments made me very happy! :)

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Warning: This chapter has adult content.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Going through the reconnaissance data, the requisition lists and writing her own reports took longer than she'd expected, so by the time she was done with her shower and exited her bathroom, wearing her white, fluffy robe and nothing else, Garrus was already there.

He'd been sitting on the couch, the wine and two glasses lined up neatly on the low table in front of him, but he stood up with a happy smile when he saw her come down the stairs.

"Sorry, things took a little longer than I'd thought," she said, noting (with no small amount of satisfaction) that he had changed from his armor into his civvies. This made things so much easier. Removing all that metal always took a fair bit of time, and she couldn't wait to snuggle up to his bare skin and caress his plates.

"That's all right. I like to see you in your robe," he chuckled, his sub-harmonics vibrating with a deep quiver as he pulled her close and bent down to nuzzle her neck.

He inhaled her intoxicating scent, filling his lungs, his soul, his whole being with her essence. Slowly lifting a trembling hand he ran his fingers through her hair, reveling in the feel of the silky strands sliding between them. They were still a bit damp from her shower, but they felt as wonderful as he remembered. He'd dreamed about this so many times during those lonely nights, and now here she was in his arms, warm and soft, and he wanted to soak in every part of her and commit each little detail to memory.

A soft sigh escaped her lips when he nipped at her ear then dragged his tongue over her skin, and she slipped her hands under his tunic to stroke the sensitive areas between his plates.

"Let's take this off," she suggested in a husky voice and tugged on his shirt, then watched with breathless anticipation as he stepped back to give himself a little more room, grabbed the hem on the bottom and pulled the cloth over his head.

And then she saw it: the silver chain with the locket that she'd given him all those months ago, hanging around his neck, its polish in perfect harmony with the slightly metallic shine of his carapace.

She stood there, speechless, as she gaped at the jewelry, her heart filling up with so much emotion that she thought it was going to burst.

"Are you all right?" he asked, worried about the expression on her face and the tears brimming her eyes. This wasn't exactly the reaction he'd expected when he'd removed his top.

"You've been wearing that?" she asked back without answering his question, her gaze fixed somewhere around the middle of his chest.

He looked down to check what she was staring at, and he finally understood what she meant. During these past months the necklace and the locket had become as much a part of him as his fringe or his talons or his cowl, and he instinctively lifted his hand to caress the medallion that had been faithfully safeguarding his treasure inside.

"Yeah. You were right—having this was a little bit like having you with me," he said with a warm smile. "Thank you."

The next moment she closed the distance between them in one quick step, threw her arms around his neck and showered his mouth plates and mandibles with hot kisses.

"I missed you so much," she whispered, stroking the soft patch of skin on the back of his neck.

He kissed her, long and sweet, before he answered. "I missed you, too."

"I wished I had a certain part of you with me while I was locked up," she said with a chuckle when their lips parted and her hands moved down to his narrow waist. "But I had to make do with my own fingers while I was thinking about you." She leaned back to look into his face and she winked at him with a mischievous smile.

A low rumble erupted in his throat and his plates fully opened at her confession.

"You fantasized about me?" he asked in a raspy voice, his blue eyes boring into hers, sending shivers down her spine, and she had to swallow hard before she could answer. Even though what she'd said was true, she'd merely meant it as a joke and did not expect him to latch onto it. Of course, she should have known better than that, but now it was too late.

"Every night," she said in a low voice, almost a whisper, and when he put his hands on her shoulders and began to pull the top of her bathrobe open her knees got so weak that she had to clutch his cowl to hold herself up.

"Tell me," his voice hummed as he slid one hand under the terrycloth fabric, cupping her breast and palming it gently.

"What?" she asked, licking her suddenly parched lips and desperately trying to stay coherent despite the way his callused fingers were teasing her nipple, making it hard to breathe—let alone talk.

"Tell me about your fantasies," he purred again and licked the crook of her neck.

"Ohhh," she whimpered, blood rushing to her groin, and it took all her strength she had left in her to get out the words and tell him about one of her little scenarios. "We... would get undressed," she stammered as she clumsily tugged on his pants, "then you'd pick me up and carry me to the bed."

He let go of her, kicked his boots off, then undid his pants and pulled them off, dropping them on the floor beside them. Next, he pulled the belt of her robe open and peeled the whole thing off of her body, his gaze drinking her naked form in with hungry eyes, then he picked her up, putting one hand behind her knees and cradling her upper back with his other arm, and carried her over to her bed.

He carefully laid her down on the mattress and climbed over her, settling down between her legs as he rested his weight on his elbows.

"Then what?" he murmured, nuzzling her neck and inhaling her sweet scent. He could feel her vein rapidly pulsing under her skin, its beat perfectly matching the frantic thumping of his own heart.

"You'd nip at my throat and shoulder... ahhh... Just like that... Then first your hand would move down and caress my breast, then you'd bend down and lick my... umhh... nipple..."

She clung to his fringe as he did just as she said, fondling her breast with careful fingers and licking the hardened little peak in the middle. As he grazed her skin with the slightest touch of his teeth, careful not to cause any damage, he could feel her body tremble and her grip on his fringe intensify almost to the point of pain. He closed his mouth plates around her breast and swirled his tongue around her nipple, his hand still massaging the underside of her soft mound, and he hummed happily when her hand slid down onto the back of his head, dragging her fingernails across his leathery skin.

He loved the familiar feel of her squishy flesh under his fingers and the taste of her skin on his tongue, but his groin was throbbing with desire, and he longed to touch other parts of her body. But, since she seemed to enjoy his little game, he wanted her to ask for it first, no matter how much effort it took for him to wait. So he turned his attention to her other breast, lavishing his attention on that side now, and asked between two licks, "And then?"

She shivered and her fingernails dug into the back of his neck as she answered in a breathy voice—oh yes, she definitely liked this game, "Then... your hand would travel down... and...uhhh... you'd push a finger in between my legs..."

He faithfully followed her instructions again, slowly dragging his talons down her taut stomach until he arrived at her pubic area and started to draw little circles in the coarser hair down there, trimmed but still incredible to touch. She inhaled sharply and bucked her hips, impatient for him to continue, encouraging his fingers to move lower, and when they did, she let out the most lustful moan he'd ever heard from her.

It didn't take more than that for his cock to fully emerge, and he could hardly wait to push himself inside her hot channel, but he was determined to see this through, so he dipped a finger into her wetness and started to circle her clitoris.

Her breathing rose and fell in rhythm with his movements as he rubbed the little bud with his thumb around and around and up and down, then pushed another finger inside, curving it slightly, and slowly started to move it in and out. The rumble in his chest joined her ragged gasps as she ran her small hand up and down his muscular arm while he continued to lave her breasts as he worked those sweet spots between her legs. Her thighs started to quiver and he could feel that she was close, so he increased his pace and pressure and soon she cried out and her whole body shook, her channel clamping down on his finger so hard that he couldn't help but hiss at the sensation.

She went limp after a few moments, and he pulled out his finger and dragged his hand up her body, cupping her breast on the way, then gently stroked her arm and bent down for a kiss. He purred contentedly as she caressed his fringe all the way from the top to its underside, and when she whispered, "Garrus, make love to me," he couldn't have been happier to oblige her.

He aligned himself to her entrance and slowly pushed in, watching her face for any sign of discomfort, but all he saw was pleasure and anticipation, so he started to move in long and deep strokes. Her warmth enveloped his shaft and her inner walls constricted around him as she matched the roll of his hips with her own and they rocked in a smooth, gliding motion, the air still and quiet around them but for their heavy breathing as they moved in perfect harmony.

Waves of pleasure washed through their bodies as he pumped in and out, his face buried in the crook of her neck and her fingers running up and down his back, caressing his plates and the sensitive areas between them. It felt as amazing as he'd remembered to be inside her, to meld with her, be one with her, and she couldn't get enough of touching his hot skin and inhaling his scent as he moved with just the right speed and pressure, his ridges rubbing just the right spots with each and every thrust.

"Did you... ahhh...fantasize about... mmm... me?" she asked, panting, her hand settling down on his waist and squeezing lightly.

"Y-yess," he replied in a strained voice as he lifted his head to look into her eyes and started to piston in and out with faster and harder strokes.

She tried to keep her gaze on him, but soon she couldn't focus any more and had to close her eyes as the increased speed and friction pushed her over the edge and she reached her climax with a shudder, crying out his name, her inner muscles spasming around him. He kept pumping as she came down from her high, then he flipped them on their sides, cradling one of her legs and lifting her other one and hooking it over his waist, settling it down on the little ledge above his hip bone, as he continued thrusting into her.

"This was... one of... mine," he murmured as he pushed and pounded harder and harder, his fingers running down her back, her waist, her buttocks—squeezing and relaxing and caressing again and again.

The new angle let him press in further than ever before, and she almost forgot to breathe as her nerves lit on fire, sending jolts after jolts of delicious electricity to her brain, and she couldn't hold back the whimpers and mewls that erupted in her throat. In no time he pushed her over the edge again, and she came with a sobbing moan, her back arched and her body shaking, clutching his cowl and holding onto him through her orgasm.

He followed her soon after with a loud growl, his hips jerking erratically a few more times, spilling his seed inside her until he finally quieted down with a contented sigh. He stroked her hair from her scalp all the way down to her back with a shaky hand as he tried to catch his breath.

"That was way better than any fantasy," she said in a breathless voice when she could finally talk and he flared his mandibles in a happy smile as he brushed his forehead against hers.

"Definitely."

They lay there in blissful contentment, whispering sweet nothings to each other, forgetting about the world around them, until they dozed off.

Later that night Garrus woke up with a startle, and for a second he thought that he was back on Menae, alone on his cot. His heart sank when his hazy mind told him that his reunion with Shepard had been just a dream, but when he rolled over and bumped into her warm, sleeping form, right next to him in the bed, his heart filled with so much joy that he could barely contain it. He put his arm around her and nuzzled her hair, and for the first time in six months he could go back to sleep knowing that she was still going to be there in the morning and that he would never let her go. Ever again.

—THE END—