-A Ship Without Sails-
A slow black haze lifted from the Turians eyes as his talons glided across the hub in the Main Battery with frightening precision. How long had he stood there with nothing but the metallic hums of generators filling his ears ? Every swear he muttered to himself bounced off the metallic walls and machines as if they fed off any organic life crazy enough to linger for longer than a minute inside that room. Just like the damned Reapers, he'd thought, speeding up his algorithms just from the the mention of those horrific killers. He shifted his weight between both legs, hoping to stir what little energy left back to life. The Normandy had to be in quintessential condition, nothing but the best for his Commander and her crew. He knew nothing could stop him, not sleep, not even Shep-
"Garrus, it's late. Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" He'd been so focused on atom chargers and unit stabilizers he'd blocked out the sound of metallic screeching as the doors opened. Her voice was like a symphony after the constant hums of working metal. It had never been this soft, though. He finished his last calculation before turning to her "Why Commander, are you worried about me?" a little shameless banter was just the way she liked it. She always had a way of taking charge even in the darkest of hours. He'd respected that, for that was the true measure of Turian strength and to find it radiating so brilliantly off a human, no less. She did die and come back after all. Something that had haunted him for years as he battled through the masses of degenerate mercenary clans, hoping to do the name of Shepard justice, however small it had been. But there she stood with her red hair, like fire and blue eyes as deep as water, how contradicting the human species were. No natural armor to encase their soft extremities, no sharp teeth or claws to defend themselves from enemies, yet here they stood, thriving and living like any other race. Her lips curled into a smile to show her blunt, white teeth, another thing Garrus found amusing- Smiling. Something adapted through the races from humans, thanks to how infectious it had spread. Baring teeth before had been nothing but a warning, a visual threat to warn others to back off. He'd never gotten use to it, but he couldn't argue that he didn't enjoy it.
"Just want to make sure you're well rested for tomorrow, can't have you falling asleep while watching my six now, can I? " she teased, He chuckled. The drop off turning into a rumble as his translator clawed, desperately looking for a word to replace it with.
He shuffled his feet,"I'd never let you down, Shepard." trying to shake sleep from his mind. Realizing the tenderness that replaced his stark words he quickly averted his eyes and locked them to the floor. Damn translator, why'd that come out so...sympathetic . He made a mental note to check for malfunctions later,, something had to be off. "I know, Garrus." Shepard retaliated with a matching tenderness, "You are one of the few I can trust on this ship. One of my most loyal and fiercest friends." She took a few steps forward placing her hand on his arm, and oh how warm she felt, so alive. It wasn't typical for Shepard to be so physical, at least not off the battlefield. Garrus didn't budge, too afraid to let this slip through his fingers. But she was human after all and nothing would come of this but unending shame to both races. "You're right, Commander. I should head to bed before I'm useless tomorrow. And so should you, The Normandy without its Commander is... ehm, what's the metaphor you humans have for it... damn, i can never get this one right..." his mandibles flared as his nerves set in, thinking of her warm soft hand around his arm. Now overthinking it, and panicking. "A ship without a sail?" she batted back, without even taking a moment to search for the answer, as if she already knew before he even began to speak. She was too good at reading him, knowing what he was thinking. Her hand moved up towards his shoulder tracing his armour lightly on it's way up. Quickly, say something to stall her! "Right. Ships, no sails. I'll try that one again another day." he huffed, sentences became shorter thanks to his growing anxiety. Damn her.
Shepard giggled, a strange noise he'd never heard escape her soft ,red human lips before. What the hell was going on? The fearless Commander had turned into a love-struck schoolgirl. He'd heard a lot of humans (and a few Turians) from C-Sec use the term before, for any girl who mistook their inebriated roll in the hay as a mark for marriage. What the hell was hay, anyway? Damn humans and their euphemisms, they were way too catchy. How long had he stood there, battling with himself on the subject of human expressions?
Shepard was closer now, he could feel her shallow, smalls breaths against his neck as she inched her hand towards it. "How about later,in my quarters. I could show you a thing or two about rolling in the hay, Vakarian."
"Wait. What?" Garrus took a step back, but Shepard advanced with surprising speed, closing whatever gap he'd created. Her hand now tracing up his jaw line, tracing the scars along his mandible and cheek. Her breath hot against his face as blue eyes bore into his. Slowly his arms found their way around her waist and even he'd been shocked by his actions, his subconscious screaming at him to never let go. He could hear them already, the outbursts and insults from both races. They'd shun them both for sure. Garrus Vakarian former C-Sec Officer, Archangel and Human Lover. To see Shepard encased in his arms, the last one didn't sound so bad. 'Fuck them.' he thought, 'Our whole universe may come to a screeching halt in a matter of days so why the hell not ?'
"Vakarian," she said softly, smiling "That wasn't exactly an objection." noting his silence.
Her words lingered in his ears, and how he wished they'd stay there forever. Oh,Spirits. How strongly he wanted to pull away, to convince himself that this was wrong in so many ways. But the one woman he'd ever considered stronger than him lay soundly in his arms, waiting for him. The one person in the world he could lean on without fear of falling, whom he trusted with every fiber of his body. "Not in a million years." he managed to purr out before going in to kiss her. Another strange thing humans did with their mouths he'd seen while walking through the Citadel. As alien to him as the girl he was kissing Garrus slowly warmed up to the sensation, although his mouth was hardly made for it. Gnawing and biting, causing massive damage, maybe-but not kissing. Shepard didn't seem to mind just how much of a rookie Garrus was at the whole kissing thing. His grip tightened around her as she trailed his scars with light touches of her lips. How long had it been since he had felt so alive? Maybe he never had been until then.
A low rumble bellowed from his chest as her skin touched his unarmoured neck, feeling her blunt teeth sinking into exposed skin. The deep rumble in his chest emanating into a purr which escaped from his mouth caused her to stop, meeting the turians startled look with wide eyes. Had she realized how crazy this was and come to her senses? He'd hoped not. His arms already cold from her withdrawal, he couldn't imagine the universe without those soft lips on him. "Shepard I-" he fumbled ,scanning for anything he might've done to push her away.
"Did you just PUR?!" A voice shot out of the darkness, using Shepard's lips to speak like a puppet on a string. The darkness engulfed her, Shepard's presence receding until not even her scent was left behind. The world grew gloomy and still for a few heart beats and he'd cursed at himself for not realizing it sooner…
Light flooded into view, cleansing the lingering images in his mind as he rubbed his forehead in disappointment . Stale light from the ceiling of the Normandy's Crew Barracks and the pissed off look on Jack's face drew him out of his groggy state, already missing the absurd dream his mind conjured up, the pit in his stomach twisting.
"Just the person I want to wake up to..." he sighed , ramping up the sarcasm to the max in hopes she would just go throw a fit somewhere else. Garrus knew better, Jack never backed down from a fight.
Jack folded her arms, contorting her mouth into the most disgusted of frowns, "Cut that shit out!" her harsh voice hurting his eardrums from volume alone. Jack only knew two ways to voice her thoughts, loud and very loud,"I can't sleep when there's a damn Turian moaning and having weird sex dreams three beds over!" That got Garrus going. With one quick swoop he was out of bed, and if he could've blushed it would've been a dead giveaway that the following was nothing more than a bluff, "We purr when we sleep, it's the equivalent of humans snoring." he argued, already opening the door leading to the Crew Facilities ,"which you do rather loudly!" he added as the mechanical doors quickly closed. He could hear it then, muffled swearing from the other side of the door followed by loud clamoring and a surge of biotic charges.
Shepard would not be thrilled.
Pushing his fresh dream to the furthest stretches of his mind, he headed down the hallway hoping no one would pick this day for idle chit-chat with an already frustrated Turian. If there were ever a chance for rapid evolution that would give him the chance to spew acid from his mouth , it would be today.
The Mess hall was deserted just as he had hoped, it was four in the morning after all. Even after all the commotion Jack had made no one stirred from their slumber. Most of the ship consisting of humans meant 8 hour rest periods for the entire crew. Turians slept for only half of that time, given that they weren't plagued by nightmares. Conditioned from a young age to be soldiers, sleep was usually the last thing on the priority list. No time to lay around and dream of beautiful wome- stop that. Growing pressure closed around his neck and the thought of Dream Shepard nipping at him with her odd teeth surfaced once again. Nerves very well close to their peak at such an early hour, Garrus stalked over to the coffee machines.
There were three in all, happily whirling with life as burners kept the smell fresh in the air. The last machine had seen some use, it chugged with a greater effort than the others. Someone had taken tape and slapped the word 'DEXTRO' in sloppy handwriting to it's glass pot. His first week aboard the Normandy Joker had found it amusing to switch the two around, resulting in a full sick bay and a stop at the Citadel for a restock of antihistamines. Joker was never good at knowing when to quit.
Grabbing the lukewarm cup he'd just poured, Garrus headed for the Main Battery. His safe haven, a spot where most humans -save for Shepard on occasion- dared to enter. The Spirits had blessed him with devout concentration and persistence within it's confines. Surely the nightmares couldn't reach him there, not when the console beckoned him to calibrate.
Garrus's motions became increasingly robotic as time went on, lights scanning complex mathematical variants with the Normandy's schematics, calculating better weapon outputs. The residual emotions from his lucid dream became less of a reality and in time he saw Shepard for who she really was again. Commander Shepard, First Human Spectre, Savior of the Citadel! Not some silly turian-crazed schoolgirl he'd conjured up in spite of his loneliness. How he quietly wished he could have the best of both worlds.
His calculation faltered and lights blipped to remind him of his mistake, 'This is all wrong. I need to get off this ship and blow off some steam.' .At a loss he leaned over the terminal, his mind between work and those blue eyes of hers. Garrus had been so ensnared by his thoughts he failed to hear the mechanical whine of the Main Battery doors once again.
"Garrus, it's late. Shouldn't you be getting some rest?" His Commander's voice, stark in nature with a tinge of worry pressed him for an answer. What a hell of a day this was starting off to be...