Garrus Vakarian felt extremely pleased with himself, which in itself, wasn't that common of an occurrence.
It was hard, coming up with an idea what to buy Shepard - he had never brought a present for a human before. Never felt the need to. But now, now that they were calming down from all that excitement and were together again, no immediate threats on horizon besides the usual ones... well, he did promise to make her living space a little bit more livable. Of course, he was a little unsure at the beginning. Knowing his record with her, he was sure he would do something wrong, break some unspoken rule and offend her. There were so many different kinds of offerings for friends, couples, lovers... a multitude of possibilities. Research was one thing, the practical part was a lot more complicated, as seemed to be a rule in their relationship.
But in the end, all that thinking got him on the right path. Or so he hoped.
"You can open your eyes now." he stated when they finally reached her quarters. His first idea was for her to put on a blindfold which he acquired from the suspiciously over-enthusiastic Kelly Chambers (who also took the time to explain some of human gift customs to him), but seeing her smirk at him in that knowing way of hers... he made a wise decision against it (and probably saved his sanity along, too). He could swear she was the most dirty minded woman he had the pleasure of meeting in his entire life and that was something coming from someone who knew Shepard on the most intimate level.
Some of his old associates would be really jealous if they ever met her.
There was a moment of silence as Shepard assessed the room, before her gaze finally turned towards the left side...
"You brought me... fish...?" he didn't detect disappointment in her voice, just morbid curiosity "You know, Garrus, when you told me you have a present for me I thought it will be some kind of weapon upgrade or even some secret secret Turian massage technique to get rid of all that tension. Hell, I even hoped for a moment that you would make use of that blindfold of yours. But... fish, Garrus...?"
"That fish tank couldn't be empty forever, could it?"
"I guess..." he watched as Shepard stepped closer to the fish tank, drumming her fingers against the glass as in deep thought "You are so going to take care of them." she said turning to face him, just in time to see his failed attempts to hide his own amusement. Her eyes widened a fraction as the realization drowned on her and she bursted out in laughter "You-" she tried to speak, but it seemed quite difficult while trying to subside her humor "so that's your evil plan, huh, Vakarian? Needed an excuse to sneak in the Commanders quarters, did we now?"
"Ah, it seems I was caught." he gave her a Turian version of a grin, noting how her tone gained a playful quality. His visor's readings told him that it wasn't the only thing that changed. Mission accomplished.
"Indeed," she smiled, slowly advancing towards him "insubordination... that calls for some punishment, don't you agree?"
Step. Step. Step... and then his back met the doors.
"You know... you can come by whenever you want. It's not like we have to keep it secret anymore."
"I know." he spoke, leveling his head to let their foreheads touch. He didn't miss the wicked smile that appeared on Shepard's lips.
"I think I'll hold on to this thing." she sneaked her hand to grab the black material from where he hid it "Maybe it will come in handy... someday... soon."