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It was halfway through station darkshift when the Council finally turned him loose.
Nihlus had trouble keeping his eyes open as he leaned against the slick, cold walls of the tower elevator for the long ride down. His last mission had been nothing short of brutal and the Councilor’s assistants had kept him close for hours going over every last detail of his report.
There were a lot of benefits to specter status, but people tended to forget that a specter was still a normal person who needed things like food, rest, and medigel.
He rather doubted that they were done with him, but they’d excused him for the evening and he planned on making himself scarce before one of those pencil-necks thought of “Just one more question, Specter Krylik!”
Despite his best efforts, Nihlus actually fell asleep standing up there in the elevator and didn’t wake up until the carriage reached Presidium ground-level. He snorted awake and blinked at his surroundings blearily before he staggered off in the direction of a cab. The tower taxi station had shut down for the night, which meant he had to go all the way over to the financial district.
Thankfully there was a cab waiting by Barla Von’s office and Nihlus booked it without a second’s thought (beyond the instinctual check for bombs and guys hiding in the backseat with a gun). If he made it back to his apartment without hitting anything or anyone then if reflected better upon the onboard VI piloting assistance program than any mental acuity on his part.
One of the few perks of being a specter when your job description pretty much consisted of ‘being shot at’ was priority housing, which was no small benefit on the Citadel. Nihlus was even more fortunate than most. One of his housemates was a C-sec investigator and was in a key position to let his friends know when certain properties were about to hit the auction block. Sure there was still a hole in the basement subfloor where the authorities had been forced to jackhammer up the ceramacrete to get at a stash of bodies, but the rest of the place was impossibly spacious with a view of the lake that could not be beat.
Nihlus looked forward to the day he retired and could actually enjoy that view for once. Preferably with someone warm and curvy sitting in his lap... speaking of…
He tested the air as he stepped in the front door. There were lingering traces of both his denmates, but only one was strong and warm enough to indicate their actual current presence in the apartment; a unique mixture of gun polish, exotic alien soap, and the essential oils produced by soft flexible skin underscored by the scent of medigel.
Shepard was only half awake when Nihlus opened the door. She blinked sleepily up at him and smiled as she recognized his silhouette. It wasn’t lost on him that one of her hands remained hidden underneath her pillow until after she’d identified him as a friend. “Nihlus, you’re home.” One thin strap of her camisole slipped down over her shoulder as she sat up in bed to greet him.
Nihlus savored the pleased sound she made as he buried is face in the crook of her shoulder and breathed her soft warm scent in as deeply as he could. He felt the muscles in his back and thighs start to unwind at long last as his lover’s agile hands found the catches on his armor and wasted no time in stripping him of his hardsuit. He bit back a hiss as she found a spot where the medigel had effectively glued his gorget to the plates on the back of his neck.
“I’m going to have to dissolve this.” She muttered and idly massaged the more delicate skin surrounding the abused plates to take away some of the sting.
“Hmmm…” Nihlus couldn’t manage much more than a mellifluous warble in response. Turians weren’t much into social contact in a general sort of a way, but humans had the habit of constantly touching and caressing their loved ones. It had been strange at first, but Nihlus had learned to find shared pleasure in it as she learned how, when, and where to touch him. Now he actually felt a minor pang of loss as she left the bed to go root around in the medical kit for a scanner that could dissolve cured medigel.
“Here we go.” Shepard slipped back into bed with him and Nihlus pulled her into his lap, enjoying the face she made. “You are no help at all.”
“Ask me if I care.” Nihlus replied, enjoying the way her new position forced her to wrap her arms around him in order to get at the back of his neck. Then again, she technically didn’t have to press her chest up against his like that so she was probably enjoying herself too.
“There we go. Got it.” She detached the recalcitrant bit of armor and tossed it in the direction of her workbench to go over later. Nihlus was capable of fixing his own armor, but Shepard was a combat tech wizard and he wasn’t about to complain. The way she constantly fussed at and modded his gear had saved his life more than once. “Oi, none of that. I need to check your wounds.”
Nihlus ignored her and kept nibbling at her clavicle. He’d been out in the field for nearly eight standard weeks and had missed more than the hot food and clean sheets waiting at home. He almost didn’t hear the front door open, but he didn’t miss the way Shepard tensed momentarily in his arms and then relaxed as she recognized the cadence of familiar footsteps.
“Nihlus!” Garrus was already out of his armor when he stuck his head in the bedroom door, having most likely dumped the majority of it in the automated refresher. “When did you get in?”
“Just now.” Nihlus didn’t bother to hide his pleased rumble as the other male butted foreheads with him and then nuzzled Shepard’s shoulder. The last vestiges of stress eased out of him as the addition of Garrus’s scent soothed the most primal bits of his hindbrain. “You’re getting in late.”
“The executor has me working swing shifts.” Garrus grumbled as he attempted to wriggle out of the last of his clothes without actually getting out of bed or breaking contact with his two lovers. If Nihlus had taken a while to get used to intimate human behavior, Garrus had embraced it wholeheartedly. “Until we catch whoever it is who’s cutting up volus in Tayseri.”
“Bastard.” Nihlus growled and then yelped as Shepard pinched him. “What was that for?”
“For thinking you could trick me into forgetting about checking your wounds.” She replied tartly. “Hold him down for me, Garrus, and no funny business until I give the all-clear. I don’t want to wake up with him slowly dying of bloodloss in bed with us. Again.”
“It happened just the one time!” Nihlus yelped as Garrus shoved him down onto the bed.
“You have the right to remain silent, Nihlus.” He advised, locking him into a submission hold. “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a later argument.”
“Tyrants.” Nihlus grumbled into the sheets, but couldn’t actually muster up any indignation. “I should leave you both for a nice stable asari investment banker.”
“Oh please.” Garrus snorted. “You’d be bored in a week and begging us to take you back.”
There wasn’t a lot that Nihlus could say to that. It was true after all.
-Fin