chapter 30

It took another six hours for Tali to finally emerge from the airlock, Jason held back a smile as he noticed the sheepish posture she had, like she had been doing something she shouldn't supposed to be doing as he got up and walked over.

"You okay?" The question served to get her attention on him instead of her omni-tool.

"Eh? Oh yes, the infection passed," Tali replied as she furiously typed away at her omni-tool, "if only the Bosh'tet suit scrubbers wouldn't keep signaling a pressure fault over the air recycling through my helmet, it'll stop after a few minutes."

"Good," Jason answered by handing her one of the nutrient paste tubes, "this is for you."

Tali seemed excited at the prospect of food, "Thank you, I have been starving since I woke up, but I had to sterilize my suit and check for any damage."

"Any problems?"

"No, just some regular suit upkeep in order to keep everything running smoothly," Tali was busy attaching the feeding tube to the tube as she walked alongside him towards the elevator, unaware of the glare sent towards Pressley as they passed the man, "I do not recognize this meal, wonder if Shepard ordered some better provisions."

"No," Jason prepared to drop the bomb as nonchalantly as he could, stepping into the elevator and hitting the button for the cargo bay, "I made it myself."

From the way her head snapped to the left so sharply, Jason made it a note to give her another massage for the kink she managed to put there as she began scanning first the tube and then her right arm, which contained a passive self-diagnostic medical implant that was much more effective than a regular medical status display from her omni-tool before looking at him.

"You….you can cook?" The way her eyes were looking at him through her visor made him mentally congratulate himself for taking the time to research and download the information required to prepared both levo and dextro foods, "Dextro amino acid based foods?"

"Yes?" For some reason, Jason felt like he should be cautious.

XXX

"AAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!"

Jackson abruptly jumped six feet into the air, discovering that he only had about a foot of clearance underneath the Grizzly and did a bang up job of knocking himself senseless, no pun intended as he lay there dazed wondering what was going on.

"Is somebody dying?" Garrus asked after he retracted his claws from the ceiling grates and dropped back to the floor, "Sounded like a scream."

"Nearly gave me a heart attack," Ashley sighed, "is the ship under attack?"

Wrex tilted his head to the side before shrugging, "Been awhile since I've heard that."

"Heard what?" Garrus asked while Jackson could be seen pulling himself to his feet by crawling up the threads of the Grizzly track and shaking his head in the background.

"A Quarian scream like that."

"Oh you mean like when Tali tackled Jason in the drive core?" Garrus replied, the video having circulated a majority of the crew before it was suddenly deleted even from the most secure encrypted files.

Again the hulking Krogan battlemaster left out an amused huff, "Not even close, it happened when a Quarian was finally able to consummate with an Asari whore, raised a huge ruckus with the bar owner before they quieted down, lasted about six hours."

A second of stunned silence before Jackson decided to butt in, "So Tali is doing the dirty?"

Wrex shrugged, "Or something similar."

"I thought something like that would kill her," Ashley appeared to be very uncomfortable with the current topic, "why would she just shriek like a dying banshee all of a sudden."

"Isn't she in the airlock sleeping off an infection?" Garrus commented.

"Yeah and Jason was waiting for her to wake…oh," Ashley glanced over at Jackson, who had a massive shit eating grin plastered on his face that was growing bigger by the passing second, "would they actually?"

"Might as well," Wrex grunted, "they are attracted to each other."

"You could tell as well?" Garrus asked and nodded once he got a non-verbal affirmative from Wrex, "Thought it was just me."

"How?" Ashley was now edging away from Jackson very slowly.

Garrus waved a hand dismissively, "It's an alien thing, you wouldn't understand."

"I'm afraid to know," Ashley glanced over at Jackson, "is he going to be okay?"

Jackson giggled madly before walking towards the elevator, "I must congratulate them."

Wrex sighed, "Ten credits says the whelp hits him."

"Twenty on launching him across the cargo bay with a biotic attack." Garrus betted.

"Hmph, deal."

XXX

It had been a very good idea to download thirty-six hundred hours of assorted intergalactic cooking channel episodes to his memory, along with four thousand different dishes to prepare for any manner of amino acid, Jason thought to himself.

From the way Tali had literally squealed his eardrums to the point of rupturing inside the enclosed elevator, bouncing up and down several times in sheer joy before executing her signature "Tali pounce" attack with devastating effectiveness at close range had been any indication that he made a most excellent choice indeed would have been considered a massive understatement of the century as he found himself pinned to the floor of the elevator by a hysterically happy Quarian engineer would be forever one of his most cherished moments.

Except for one little fact that was becoming an issue.

Due to the fact that Tali was applying a literal bone crushing hug onto his already tender ribs that were threatening to break again.

"Um, Tali, my ribs." Jason looked into her visor.

"OhI'msosorrypleaseforgivemeforhurtingyou!AncestorswhatwasIthinking!?" Tali jumped backwards before staggering and landing on top of him, "whoa, I feel light headed."

"Your recovering from an infection," Jason gently nudged her leg to the other side of his waist so her knee wasn't sitting on top of his ribs, "you're forgiven."

"But I hurt you," Tali protested as she tried and failed to stand, slumping to land on top of his chest, "ugh the room won't stop spinning."

"Deep breaths," Jason mentally put in for a reminder to look into obtaining some kind of protective vest for whenever he had injured ribs, not that he would ever complain about having Tali resting on his chest, pain be damned.

Alluring silver eyes looked back at him before Tali let out a tired sigh and looked away, "How does it not bother you?"

"Some pain cannot be compared to what has been felt before," Jason shrugged, activating his omni-tool without looking and keyed in the commands to shut down the elevator, "this is nothing."

"No I mean how this," Tali gestured to herself, "cannot bother you."

Low whistle, she isn't pulling any punches.

"I can't move and it doesn't bother you having me on top of you," Tali sighed as she laid her helmet on top of his chest, "most people wouldn't want to share a room with a Quarian, much less want one to touch them."

Not going where I thought she was going, big sigh of relief.

Jason wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting his thumb dig into the tender knot of muscles at the base of her neck, "Good thing I'm not most people."

An amused huff escaped her before she could stop it, "That is most obvious."

"I mean it Tali," her head turned upward so she could see his face, "if I was what you considered most people, then I would have never turned out the way I was."

"A human with more biotic potential than any previous human biotic with skills ranging from a professional soldier that knows more than should be possible, a multi-species medic, a really good weapon manufacturer and now a gourmet cook," Tali laughed as she snaked her arms around his chest, "what can't you do?"

"I'm not perfect," Jason pointed out as Tali appeared to be making herself comfortable, no doubt her body was running on near levels of exhaustion due to the infection being purged and now her body had a ten thousand plus calorie meal to digest on top of that, "I have flaws."

"Nope," she even managed to pop the p as she did it, "I haven't found any yet, I wouldn't mind taking you back with me as a Pilgrimage gift to the Flotilla."

"Really?" Jason smirked as he watched her helmet bob up and down, "Think I'd approve among your people?"

"Mmhmm, all we need to do is get rid of these extra digits," Tali said as she played with his free hand, "put you in a proper environmental suit, feed you some levo nutrient paste and you'd fit right in."

Thoughts of what was becoming his old life came back in a rush as Jason laced his five fingers with her three and relaxed his left leg, letting her legs remain draped over his right.

"Sound like fun, however you forgot one thing," Jason smiled as Tali's eyes lazily looked at him, "you'd need to find someplace for Jackson."

"Oh, I don't think he'd like life on the Flotilla," Tali yawned again as she curled up on his chest and yawned like a content cat about to take a nap, "he would have to sit still for one."

Images of Jackson attempting at being on a Flotilla ship brought a smile to his face as Tali nestled the edge of her helmet into his unbroken ribs.

"Sounds like an interesting place."

"The Flotilla? It isn't glamorous, a lot of hard work and some risk associated with it, but it is home," Tali sounded happy, failing to notice the pained look crossing his face, "I think all of the Geth data would be approved, but you'd do nicely."

"Must be wonderful," Jason smiled sadly to himself as he squeezed Tali's hand gently, "to have a home."

That you can return to.

XXX

"So let me get this straight," John carefully worded as he sat next to his wife, "sometime after Jason and Tali enter the elevator, a loud scream was heard by every single person on this ship and the elevator is currently under lockdown by means that is currently giving our resident techs the runaround and we have yet to establish contact with either member of our MIA squad mates, is that correct?"

"Affirmative Commander," Ashley piped across the omni-tool chat message, "it's been over an hour since the lockdown was initiated and we're prepping to enter the elevator manually, Juggernaut has been most helpful in removing the required wall panels to reach the elevator."

John paused, "Is the elevator running off a separate ventilation system than the rest of the ship?"

"As far as I know from the schematics no, however I am beginning to question the level of stability Jason as exhibited since well," Ashely looked uncomfortable for a moment, "sir, how should we proceed?"

Thoughts of Jason finally snapping and offing the young Quarian engineer in the elevator on a whim were immediately cast aside, "Joker, do you have access to the visual feeds to the elevator?"

"Yes, however I refuse to obey any order that were to put myself as the one to be the first to view into the elevator commander."

John frowned, "You usually don't have a problem with doing that in the first place, why the sudden change of heart Jeff?"

"Life or death choice and I actually prefer life."

"Send me the visual feed when you can," John mustered as much of a commanding tone as he could at the ceiling, "on the double Joker because I want to know what I'm about to stumble into before I charge in."

"Take a souvenir picture for me please, that is if you survive."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence wiseass," John mumbled as he turned to face his wife and spoke in a normal tone, "any ideas?"

"Worst case scenario we find Tali in pieces and Jason finger-painting on the walls with her blood," Jane had her commander mode on full alert, "and there is the other and more likely scenario."

"Like what?" John was busy reaching for his armor, thinking that this wasn't the first time he had been forced to put one of his own down, dealing with Juggernaut troubled him the most if this whole situation turned south as his terminal pinged with the message from Joker.

"They could be engaged and otherwise occupied," Jane went from fabled commander mode to squealing schoolgirl in seconds as John felt a massive sweat drop forming on the back of his head, "we should look first, just a peek."

"Fine, you want to do the honors?"

Jane squealed as she activated the command prompt and leaned in close to get a decent look while John braced himself for the worst as the picture appeared.

The interior of the elevator was clean and bare of any blood splatters, which surprised John to no end because he had honestly been expecting something like this to happen as he looked closer.

"Aaawwwww," Jane was practically melting in her seat, "they look so cute together."

Sure enough, it appeared that Jason and Tali weren't engaged in a life and death struggle, much the opposite in fact, they appeared to be cuddling, which was something that not even John Shepard himself was above doing with his wife on occasion as the tension in his body slipped out.

"Look how they are holding hands," Jane was being gooey, "it is so cute! I wonder what he is doing now?"

John glanced at the screen in time to watch Jason tilt his head to nuzzle the side of her helmet, not doubt to either whisper something into her ear or, if he was a betting man, to plant a chaste kiss there instead.

Jane was practically doing cartwheels around their private quarters as she fist pumped triumphantly, "Yes! I win!"

Putting the question at the top of his mind aside, John cleared his throat when he noticed something on the visual feed, "Yeah, I think we might want to find something else to do."

"Huh?" Jane looked at the screen and blanched, "Oh…right, I think you are right."

XXX

"Do you think he could hear us?" Ashley asked as they crowded around the terminal next to the elevator, everyone aside from Garrus of course, the Turain in question had bolted for the nearest place to hide after seeing the feed for a few seconds.

Wrex frowned, "I doubt it, but with the noise the other one is making, probably."

Jackson was running laps around the cargo screaming about he lost the bet and how his twin was going to kill him.

Ashley shut down the feed immediately and felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders as she set her assault rifle down.

XXX

Joker felt beads of sweat rolling down the back of his neck at an alarming rate as he continued to stare at the screen in front of him, a piggyback of the direct feed being sent to Shepard, though he was glad that he hadn't stumbled across a gory scene, but right now he felt an overwhelming homicidal aura transmitting through the visual feed.

Somehow Psycho managed to the do the least manly thing possible with a potentially hot alien chick laying on top of him in a locked elevator and then stare at the camera with an uncanny accuracy so he was looking directly at the camera, like he could see who was watching and the look on the man's face was downright frightening. Back when Gary had been terrified out of his mind because all he done was get a little touchy with the guy seemed like a joke to him, but now he could see how another sentient species would be terrified of this guy. For one he had the most sinister looking snarl on his face that amplified his scariness by over nine thousand that looked like someone had taken it out of a horror film and painted it onto his face and then there were the eyes.

There were the people who acted tough and had weak eyes and then there were the ones that eyes directly to the soul kind of thing, Joker was pretty sure he managed to find the one guy who had an viewport straight to his because it was like he knew beyond a doubt that Psycho would bring down a world of pain. It didn't help that the guy was glowing like a damn reactor about to explode, all the swirling lights seemed to magnify the clearly demonic grin on this guy's face belonged on a mass murder or serial killer.

Come to think of it, that was kind of this dude's job description and Joker couldn't tell if he managed to piss this guy off or not.

Needless to say he filled out his obituary after logging off and finished plotting the final coordinates.

XXX

Jason figured that The Glare would be enough to scare off anyone watching after about a solid sixty seconds without giving them permanent mental issues to deal with in the near future as he adverted his gaze and powered down his little biotic display.

Tali had been out like a light, his own scan of her medical interface had revealed that she had left the airlock under sheer willpower, no doubt her guilty conscious getting the better of her before she braved a trip back to the drive core, it was her assigned duty station aboard the Normandy. He'd have to get the point across to her that some things on this ship would survive without her for a little while before she ran herself into the ground, but that was for later.

For now he had a tuckered out engineer using his chest as a pillow, several aching bones still in the process of fully healing and he himself needed some sleep, so he closed his eyes and let sleep take him, just for an hour he told himself.

He didn't know why he had done it, kissing the side of her helmet gently, maybe it had been because she was mumbling engine repair routines in her sleep.

Or maybe it had been because she wrapped her fingers around his free hand when he tried to activate his omni-tool to turn off the lockdown, either way he didn't care.

XXX

"They're both asleep!?" Jane sounded mildly upset as she pouted at the terminal hours later, an opened bottle of wine sitting on the desk next to her elbow, "No heartfelt confessions? Words of love? Why must they torment me so?"

"Maybe they were just tired and decided that the other made a good pillow." John remarked idly from his spot on the bed, watching his wife with amusement evident in his eyes.

"I'll be giving them a stern talking too when they finally wake up and get out of there," Jane continued to rant, sipping the last of the wine from her glass, "sleeping in elevators after locking it down for who knows how much longer, not professing their love for each other when they had the chance, mark my words, I'll see them get engaged at the least."

John chuckled as he got up from the bed and walked over to the desk, a whole whopping four feet and snagged the bottle of wine, "As long as they are alright, that is all that matters, we informed the rest of the crew that we're having a minor mechanical failure with the elevator and should get it back up and running again in a couple hours."

Jane pouted, "Don't defend them mister, they are in very big trouble."

"Of course, now let's get you to bed before you pass out on the floor." John was successful in tugging his wife out of her seat and towards the bed, which she happily crawled into.

"I wonder if they'll ever stop dancing around the subject," Jane spoke softly as John climbed into bed behind her and slid close to her, "I'd love to at least see a date."

"Ah ah ha," John reprimanded her by tapping her on the nose, "none of that business, let them figure it out on their own."

"Since when did you care about my hobby?" Jane accused her husband, who simply smirked.

"Because if I didn't, you'd forget about me."

"Oh? Well then I should take care of my beloved husband."

"Is that a challenge sweetie?"

"Shut up and kiss me already."

"Yes ma'am."