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Echoes of the Past	By : ArcadiaJones Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 6854 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or ideas of Mass Effect. I am not making any money writing this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Ransom
- 2-Ambush
- 3-Hunt
- 4-Memories
- 5-Hunt
- 6-Rescue
- 7-Escape
- 8-Healing
- 7
- 8
Author's Note: Story is now complete. Hopefully you all enjoyed. :)

Chapter Eight
Healing

Shepard remained unconscious in the medbay for a week. Jacob shared the bunk next to her for a few days before he was deemed ready to return to duty. Every crew member of the Normandy found themselves visiting her at least once, and every time they ventured down, they would find Thane sitting a silent vigil at her side. The only times he ever left were when Dr. Chakwas or Mordin chased him out to conduct one surgery or another or if he needed to use the restroom. Garrus brought meals to him, often sitting down to eat with the drell—partly because he wanted to get to know the man who had taken his commander’s heart a bit better, partly because he hoped that Shepard would finally open her eyes, and partly so he could make sure that Thane was actually eating. Without constant prodding, the assassin would ignore his tray, dark-rimmed eyes persistently watching his lover’s comatose form.

In the hours when the rest of the crew went to sleep, Thane would hold one of Shepard’s pale hands in his own, tracing the lines of her flesh lovingly. Occasionally, she would murmur something in her sleep. Most of the time it was incomprehensible; sometimes she would relive the nightmares of what had been done to her; sometimes she said his name. Whatever the case, Thane just waited patiently for her to wake.

It was one of the rare nights that exhaustion had finally taken its toll on him that Shepard finally awoke. Thane was bent over, his head resting next to her hip. Her eyes opened slowly in the dim light, caked with the grime of sleep. Shepard tried to lift her hand to rub the offending substance away, only to find it trapped by Thane’s possessive grip. She looked down at him, smiling softly as she weakly squeezed his palm.

Inhaling sharply, Thane lifted his head, looking up at her blearily. When he realized that she was staring back, the lingering heaviness of sleep immediately dissipated and he sat up fully.

“Siha,” he breathed.

Shepard opened her mouth to speak, but ended up falling into a coughing fit instead. Thane jumped up and hurried across the room to a water dispenser, filling up one the glasses Dr. Chakwas had kept around for just such an occasion. He handed the cup to the choking woman, who thanked him with a nod and drank greedily. Shepard downed the drink in a few, desperate gulps and then sighed in contentment. Thane took the glass from her, setting it on a nearby table before taking his lover’s good hand in between his own once more.

“Thanks. I feel like I could drink an ocean.” She laughed. Her voice was still weak, but at least her throat no longer felt dry and crusty.

“How are you feeling?”

Shepard started to shrug, only to stop partway, hissing in pain. She had forgotten about her shoulder. Quickly, she squeezed his hands reassuringly as Thane’s brows knit even further together in worry.

“I’m all right. I think I’ll have to wait a while before I do any jumping jacks, but I never much liked those anyways.”

Thane bowed his head over their hands, his shoulders heaving slightly. Panicking, Shepard shifted so that she was leaning towards him.

“Really! I’m fine! You don’t—“

It was then that she realized he was laughing. The drell threw his head back, lips opened wide in a smile as the deep, hearty sound vibrated up his throat. Shepard was floored. It was the first time she had ever heard him emit such a sound…and it was beautiful. From that moment, she vowed that she would make him laugh more often.

In a mock-hurt tone, she said, “Are you laughing at the invalid? That’s pretty low!”

Thane fought to quell his outburst, though he couldn’t stop smiling. “Forgive me, siha. You always manage to surprise me. Even here, with you like this, you find a way to shrug the world off.”

Realizing the irony of what he had just said, he began laughing again. Shepard joined him this time, and the two shared the blessed moment. In the eye of the storm, after the worst possible situation that could have occurred, they found comfort in one another with such a simple gesture of friendship. When the laughter subsided, they smiled at one another. Carefully, Thane leaned over her and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. Shepard leaned into it, lifting her hand out of his so that she could cup his smooth cheek. Thane placed a second kiss on her brow before resuming his seat.

After a moment of comfortable silence, a look of fear and guilt flooded Shepard’s face. Frantically, she shot up in the bed, facing him as her hand reached up to grasp his shoulder tightly.

“Did everyone make it out alive?” she asked, voice bordering on panic. “Is Garrus—“

“Everyone is fine, siha,” he assured her in a soothing voice. “A few bumps and bruises, but alive.”

Shepard fell back onto her pillows with a deep sigh of relief. A cold sweat had broken out on her brow from her exertion and Thane quickly wiped it away with a soft rag. Her selflessness was one of the many reasons he loved her, but at the same time it drove him insane. He was certain that when she died—gods, give her a full life—it would be because she put the life of someone else before her own. This characteristic reminded him of Irikah…sunset eyes in the scope…

“I thought for sure that I was gonna have to kill someone,” she murmured, beginning to slip back into healing slumber. “You bastards always trying to supersede my orders…”

Thane smiled, gently stroking Shepard’s brow as her eyes slid closed. Within moments, her breathing evened out and she was asleep. Thane knew that he needed to inform Dr. Chakwas or Mordin that their patient had finally awoken, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her side just yet. And so he watched her sleep through the night, his smile never once fading.

Two more weeks passed, and Shepard checked herself out of the medbay. Dr. Chakwas did her best to talk the commander out of it—even threatened to strap her to the bed—but Shepard’s tenacity won out in the end and she returned to her own cabin. And even though she had to limp her way to the elevator, she did it with her head held high.

She was seated in her cabin a day later—bad leg elevated on a chair—when Garrus came to visit her. Shepard was going through an update on her terminal when the door to her cabin swished open and the turian stepped inside. She smiled at him and started to rise to her feet to greet him properly.

“No, please don’t get up,” he said. “You need to rest.”

Shepard rolled her eyes, ignoring him as she rose to her feet. “Don’t you start treating me like some fragile doll, too. I feel fine.”

Garrus shifted nervously, not looking too eager to enter the room any further. Sighing, Shepard hobbled over to him, once again ignoring him as he protested the movement. When she was in front of him, she wrapped her arms around his middle in a friendly embrace. Taken aback, Garrus could only stand straight and stiff, unsure how to respond. She finally let him go, taking a step back so she could look up into his eyes.

“Thank you for coming to rescues me,” she whispered. “I’m sorry that I almost got you killed. Again.”

He couldn’t help but smile. “I promised you once that I would follow you into hell. I keep my promises.”

Shepard chuckled. “Well, I’m glad then. Now, would you please tell me how bad I look? Those damn doctors wouldn’t let me look in a mirror and Thane put some kind of ‘voodoo’ on the mirror in my bathroom, so all I can see is black.”

Garrus gazed down at her, taking in the features he knew so well. One side of her face was still bruised, but the mark would fade soon enough; there would forever be a scar over her left eye; her lips, though they had healed up, were still more purple than red; and she looked thin, her cheeks beginning to look hollow. In spite of it all, she was still beautiful. To him, she would always be beautiful.

“Well, you were always ugly, Shepard,” he replied mockingly.

She threw back her head and laughed; a moment later, he joined her. For the rest of the afternoon, they sat and talked, sharing a bottle of wine that the commander had been hiding under her desk. There was an intimacy between them, but nothing like what lovers shared; it was a mix of reciprocal adoration and closeness that only the best of friends were lucky to know.

Thane waited in Life Support until he heard the sound of the elevator returning to the ground floor and the heavy, drunken footsteps of Garrus stumbling back to his post at the main battery. A while before, he had noticed the turian heading out and guessed where he would be. Respectfully, he backed off and allowed the pair to talk without his hovering presence. But now that the turian had returned to his quarters, there was no reason he shouldn’t go and visit her.

But as he rode the elevator up, a nagging thought in the back of his mind disagreed: She’s been through a lot…all because of your carelessness. Do you really think she wants to see you right now?

He had convinced himself to return to his own room when the elevator reached her cabin. The doors slid open and he moved his hand to press the third floor button once more, when he realized that he wasn’t alone. There she stood, hair lightly tousled, clad in nothing but a skimpy nightgown that hid next to nothing of her body. The doctors had done good work; most of the gashes had disappeared—though a few scars would always remain—and there was only a light bruise here and there. Shepard’s hungry eyes locked onto him, and she launched herself at him, kissing his lips with a desperate abandon.

“Siha!” he exclaimed breathlessly as her hands immediately reached down to cup him through his pants. “W-what are you doing?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” she growled, moving her hands to fumble at the clasps of his jacket.

Thane gripped her wrists—firmly, but not painfully—and pushed her back to arm’s length. Her cheeks were flushed a light pink and he almost gave in, but the fierce look in her eyes kept his lust in check. Without a word, he led her out of the elevator and into her cabin. Shepard obeyed him with a barely restrained fury emanating from every pore in her body. Once inside, he sat her back on the couch and took a step back, gazing down at his lover apprehensively.

“Siha…I don’t think this is right. I can’t…I won’t take advantage of you like this. It’s barely been three weeks since your ordeal…” His eyes passed over an empty wine bottle on the table. “And you’re drunk.”

She scoffed scornfully. “I’m not drunk. Garrus downed most of that.”

Shepard rose to her feet slowly, approaching him with a seductive, cat-like prowl. When she moved to wrap her hands around his neck, Thane grasped her wrists once more to hold her back. A cry ripped itself from her throat, a mixture of fury and despair before she slumped down. Thane gathered her in his arms as she fell, hating himself even more as tears stained the fabric covering his shoulder.

“Please…I need to feel you…only you…” Shepard’s hands gripped the fabric of his jacket tightly, her body trembling. She threw her head back suddenly, looking him straight in the eye. Her hazel orbs were wild, just a few steps removed from primal. The need was evident there, as was the pain and the humiliation she had suffered.

“I need to wash him off my skin! Please, Thane…please…”

Thane ran a hand through her hair. The blood and grime had finally been washed away, and it was soft and silky as he remembered it. His fingers continued their journey, tracing the line of her jaw, her lips, before finally resting against her cheek. There were no more tears in her eyes, only pleading desire. His rational side told him this was wrong—that she wasn’t ready—but there was no way that he could deny his lover anything she wanted.

Shepard gasped as he pressed his lips to hers in a feather-light kiss. It felt so good to feel him again, and even that light touch sent shockwaves of pleasure coursing through her body. But it wasn’t enough. She needed to feel him now, everywhere, hard and fast. She needed him inside her, needed to feel the pain of a good, hard fuck in order to forget about Anu’ok. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she intensified their kiss, crushing herself to him with a frantic fervor. But Thane thwarted her again, pushing her back so he could look her in the eyes once more.

“No, siha. I will do this for you, but you will let me lead. I understand what you are feeling…but you mustn’t let the monster overtake you. Please, siha…let me make love to you.”

It was the most beautiful thing she had ever heard, and in an instant all of her feelings of distress faded away. The scars remained, but they weren’t scalding her like they had before. A lone tear trickled down her cheek and Thane quickly leaned forward to kiss it away. Defeated, Shepard nodded, and his lips were on hers again, his arms gently lifting her off of the floor and towards the bed.

Thane laid her back against the sheets before covering her with his body, trailing sweet kisses down her throat. He nipped at her collarbone, sending a rush of pleasure through her body. Meanwhile, his hands softly stroked her body through the silk negligee, running down her sides to her thighs and back up. Everything he did was tender, loving, and Shepard let him take control. With each kiss and caress, a part of her pain seemed to be melting away.

Still moving slowly, his hands came up under the gown, carefully lifting it off and over her head. Shepard now lay naked beneath him, and for the first time, she felt nervous—ashamed almost—as he gazed down at her. Self-consciously, she started to cross her legs, moving her hands to cover her breasts. Gently, he stopped her by laying his hands on her knees, easing them open once more.

“Trust me, siha,” he murmured, lowering himself so that he could kneel in between her creamy thighs.

Shepard shuddered as Thane began licking the tender flesh of her inner thighs. Her legs opened wider, inviting him inside. Thane obliged, softly kissing her sex before his tongue took control. She gasped and arched against his mouth, reveling in the feeling of his tongue on her clit one second, delving deeper the next. The feeling was quickly driving her over the edge; when Thane added a finger, Shepard went insane.

With a cry of pleasure, she came—the shockwave rocking through her body. Thane continued his ministrations, lapping up every last bit of her as he brought her to climax again and again before finally tearing himself away from her wet entrance. Shepard panted from the exertion, a light sheen of sweat glistening on her bare skin. Thane smiled, removing his jacket before he laid himself on the bed beside her, wrapping his arm around her slim waist so that he could draw her close. She snuggled close to him, her head tucked beneath his chin.

They lay like that for a while, Shepard nearly falling asleep as Thane ran his fingers through her hair. But when she moved her leg to find its comfortable niche in between his, her knee rubbed against his groin. Thane tried to bit back his groan, but failed. Bringing pleasure to her was making it painful to keep his pants on, but he had endured the discomfort for her. Moving quickly before he could stop her, Shepard flipped Thane onto his back, straddling his waist.

“Siha, no—“

“Shut up,” she commanded as she carefully unzipped his pants. “You said you were going to make love to me…was that a lie?”

Thane smiled warmly and stopped struggling. A moment later, his pants and boxers joined her negligee on the floor, freeing his firm erection. Shepard licked the shaft lovingly, stroking him with just the feather-light tips of her fingers. He groaned, fists kneading in the sheets. Satisfied that she had sufficiently moistened his length, she crawled atop him, lining up the head of his penis with her entrance. Before she could lower herself, Thane steadied her hips with his hands and sat up, slowly pressing himself inside. Shepard threw her head back and moaned as he gently rocked his hips. Thane lifted a hand to her chin, forcing her to look him in the eye as they moved together. He smiled at her and she returned the gesture, cupping his face lovingly with her hands. Their lips met in a tender kiss, and then they lost themselves in the moment.

It wasn’t hot or hard; it didn’t make either of them feel as if their bodies were on fire, begging for release. It was soft and warm, full of affection. They enjoyed the feeling of being close to one another, connected in a way so completely that it was hard for either to tell where one body ended and the other began. When they came, they came together; gasping and reaching out to hold one another close before collapsing on the bed.

Thane pulled out to Shepard’s dismay. She enjoyed the way that he so perfectly filled her. But it was enough to rest in the circle of his arms, her head resting on his shoulder. They laid like that for a long while in comfortable silence.

Then something occurred to him. “What if it hadn’t been me in the elevator?”

Startled by the question, Shepard craned her head back to look up at him. “What?”

“What if someone else had been in that elevator when…you know…”

Her cheeks flushed; it made her look adorable. “Oh…well, then I guess it wouldn’t be you lying here right now.”

She laughed at his shocked expression, wriggling so that she could reach up and plant a light kiss on his chin. “I’m kidding. I probably would have died of embarrassment. Instead of thinking of what might have been, just be happy that it was you.”

Thane smiled. “Indeed.”
- 7
- 8
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Echoes of the Past