A/N: Hello! I was playing through ME3 on insanity and dialogue in the docking bay between the turian citadel guard and the teenage refugee girl breaks my heart every fucking time. So I wrote this one-shot, inspired by the song "I Will Wait For You" by Connie Francis. Cheers!
If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
Till you're back beside me, till I'm holding you
Till I hear you sigh here in my arms
Anywhere you wander, anywhere you go
Every day remember how I love you so
In your heart believe what in my heart I know
That forevermore I'll wait for you
The clock will tick away the hours one by one
And then the time will come when all the waiting's done
The time when you return and find me here and run
Straight to my waiting arms
If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
Till you're here beside me, till I'm touching you
And forevermore sharing our love
Till you're here beside me, till I'm touching you
And forevermore... I will wait for you
Wednesday Afternoon
Angel sat in the D24 docking bay, having only arrived on the Citadel moments ago. It was bustling with the sick, wounded, and starving, but she was okay. All she had to do was wait for her parents. That was an easy enough task for the eighteen year old blonde.
"I'm sorry ma'am, the shuttle is full. We can only fit in one more person before the next shuttle arrives."
"When will that be?" Her dad asked
"ETA is 20 minutes, sir."
"Angel, baby, go on the shuttle." Her mom urged, placing a firm hand on her daughter's back.
"Bu-but Mom," she whispered, tearing up at the edge of her bright brown eyes, "I can't leave without you guys, what if something bad happens?"
"Honey, bad stuff happens every day." Her father said in a deceptively soothing tone.
"Babydoll, just meet us at the docking bay on the Citadel with everyone else." Her mom whispered, cradling Angel's face with her calloused palm.
"We promise to meet you there, Angel." Her father said quietly, much to the displeasure of his wife. Angel completely missed the dark glare from her mother, a look that clearly said 'stop making promises'.
"Okay… I love you guys so much." Angel whimpered, holding her tears at bay. She was ushered onto the shuttle, not taking her eyes off of her parents the entire time.
"We love you too, baby." Her mother whispered, her father echoing the sentiment. Before anyone could say anything else, the shuttle doors slid shut and noise was drowned out by rumbling engines.
Now Angel was by herself among hundreds of beings, humans and aliens alike. She was scared; she's only been to the Citadel for family vacations. She scanned the area for a noticeable place to stand and stay still. She saw a front desk with a young turian guard standing behind it. Upon getting closer, she saw he was tall, even by turian standards, he had skin the color of milky chocolate, his face was intricately designed with fluorescent orange colony paint and he was wearing C-SEC armor.
She bounded to the desk, standing right in front of him and rocking on the heels of her feet.
"What are you doing here?" he asked shortly in his dual toned voice, she wasn't necessarily good at reading alien expressions but concern was written across the pulsing fluttering of his mandibles.
"I'm waiting." She said casually, wiping off imaginary dust from her purple coveralls.
"Waiting? Waiting for who?"
"For my parents. They put me on the rescue transport and told me to wait for them here." She pulled her hair into a high ponytail and he watched her with a curious tilt of his head. She paused. "They'll come find me as soon as they can."
"Well…" He hesitated before nodding. "I guess this is a safe enough place. Look, if anyone bothers you, let me know. I'll take care of them, okay?"
"Sure thing sir, thanks!" She grinned, before taking a seat by the desk, still keeping the docking doors fully in her line of sight. He peeked over the edge of his desk, he didn't have much in the way of experience with humans, he wasn't entirely sure what she intended to do. But she just sat there, oblivious of his attention, fiddling on her omnitool. He shrugged it off, pushing back the mounting feeling of dread he felt. Not many refugees had happy endings these days.
Friday Morning
"Hey there." He said, surprised to see her still sitting off to the side in front of his desk.
"Oh! It's you again." She smiled. "Hi."
"Your parents get here yet?"
"Nope, it's okay though. I mean... They'll get here. They always keep their promises." She tucked some hair behind her ears; her ponytail had gotten disheveled since he's seen her. "They… next shuttle was probably just late or something. That's all."
"... I'm sure you're right. I look forward to meeting them." He said kindly, swallowing the impending bad news rising up in his throat. "My name is Rocanov, by the way."
She smiled sweetly, lighting up her whole face with the pull of her lips, "I'm Angel.
Sunday
Rocanov walked briskly onto the docking bay. Last night he'd been tempted to call his boss and ask for more hours, so he could check on her daily instead of every other day. He didn't, but he'll probably have to resist the temptation yet again tonight. He set the two bags he held in his hand on the shelf under the desk. He saw the top of her head from over his counter, little blonde hairs sticking up from her scalp. Her head popped up, so only her eyes, nose, and hair were peeking over. "Hey!"
"Oh. Hey. It's you." His mandibles flared out in a friendly smile, tapping his talons nervously. "Still waiting I see. Any news?"
"Well.. no." She admitted quietly, but then perked up. "But they promised right? They'll get here soon." she smiled tightly.
"I'm sure they will." He nodded "I'll drop by later to check in on you, if that's okay."
"Okay… Yeah, that sounds nice."
"So." he said, his subvocals ringing out a little shyly, but luckily she was unable to detect this. "I went to the commons for lunch and I also picked up some stuff for my shift partner, but she called in sick."
She raised her eyebrows in confusion so he continued hastily. "She's asari. So it's levo. I don't want it to go bad. Have you eaten today?"
Her face relaxed into a soft smile, "I could eat." She looked away as he put one of his bags on the top of the counter, "Honestly, I haven't been able to eat much since I've come here."
He looked at her sharply, a low growl coming from the bottom of his throat, "Don't the refugee officers pass out rations here? They should have a fairly decent supply of levo friendly options."
She nodded absently, "I just haven't been feeling it. I'm really… excited to see my parents."
She looked anywhere but his face for a few moments, then made direct eye contact with him, "C'mom Roc, you know how it is when you're excited about stuff."
He nodded slowly. This dread with getting harder to swallow with each passing day.
After work, he found himself in the presidium commons again, but this time in the C-SEC office. He was going to try to find her parents. It was a long shot, he barely remembered her family name, and the systems were overloaded with the sheer amount of refugees and misdemeanor crimes. His search was fruitless. He resigned with a sigh and just talked to the human at the desk about levo amino food. He visited her in the docking bay that evening, bringing a datapad with games and a bag full of snacks that a human in the commons recommended. She smiled thinly, and they chatted for a bit. At the peak of the evening, past when the Citadel skies fell black, he quietly mentioned to Angel that he was going on paid leave for a few days to visit some family who had narrowly escaped the reaper invasion on Palaven. She took it in stride, nodding quietly, but she didn't say much after that. He asked her to take care of herself.
"You don't want your parents to be so worried when they first see you, right? If you keep this up, you'll be skin and bones by the time they land!" He felt sick when he goaded her into eating by dangling the slim possibility of her parents' arrival over her head. He literally swallowed bile back this time. It was getting harder and harder to keep her spirits up by encouraging her like this.
He stood up, leaving his datapad and her snacks with her; he silently passed her a sheet of paper with his omnitool address.
"In case you need anything."
He smiled wanly, "Who knows, maybe they'll be here before I even get back, then you won't even want to see me."
Her lips quirked up in a one-sided smile, "Nah, I'll ask my parents to take us all out to dinner to celebrate."
"It'll be my treat." He promised.
Wednesday
He returned that evening from the off-planet turian refugee camp more tired than before. He was pleased to see his family in mostly one piece though. He treasured it actually. He spent extra time hugging them closely and reminding them of his love.
He walked through the docks, knowing it was only to see her. Angel was stillsitting by his desk. She was reminding him of a lost baby animal. It tore at his heart. Most refugees were asleep, but she was wide awake, her cheeks gaunt with worry and hunger, her eyes dark with devastation, her hair limp with lack of washing.
"Hey there."
"Hey…" she whispered, not lifting her head from her knees.
"Looking mighty low today. You okay? Anyone been bothering you?"
"No… It's not that. I'm fine really."
"Ah. I see. So… any news?"
"No. They just.." she choked on her breath, "Their shuttle must be real slow, that's all."
Silence engulfed the two of them. Tears formed and quickly started cascading down her cheeks. "Do you think they're okay? They promised to come and get me, no matter what they had to do, But it's been so long."
"I don't know, kid. I'm sure they'd be happy knowing you're safe." he said carefully
"It's just, I miss them. I miss them so much."
"I understand, Angel," he paused, "Listen, the docks are closed for the evening. There won't be any activity for at least twelve hours."
She looked up at him bleakly and he continued, "Why don't you come with me? I have a roomy apartment, and empty bedroom. You probably haven't showered in while, and I personally know you haven't had a full meal since last week."
He sighed. "Please just stay with me tonight.. I worry about you. Once you get a shower and a hot meal, you'll look good as new. I work first thing in the morning too, we'll get up bright and early and be there before the docks even start to open."
She froze, and then nodded slowly. "That would be nice."
He smiled down at her, before offering a gloved hand to help her up.
Time didn't exactly fly when they were together. Before he knew it, he was now a man supporting not only himself, but another being. It felt right -maybe a little forced- but right. Soon enough, her small hand was engulfed by his on a daily basis, she shyly started touching her forehead to his, and got bolder with her touches as her nights got lonelier. Soon they had something that wasn't quite love, not with the war going on, but was pretty close. Her evenings were no longer spent holding herself in a crowded docking bay while the turian sat beside her, she now watched vids with him in the comfort of their warm home.
She still looked at every human face in the crowd, expecting to see the strawberry blonde pouf belonging to her mother, or the rough stubble of her father's square jawline. She dreamt of a shuttle lost in space, but with no reapers and plenty of rations. She always went to the D24 docking bay at opening hours and right before they closed for the night. She often felt a twinge of loss, but that was to be expected
The mother and father watched with fearful anticipation, as the engines roared to life and carried their daughter away. It was sad to watch their colony evacuated, after spending the last year rebuilding from the collector attack. The couple let out a collective sigh of relief as the shuttle flew out of sight. They heard the growls, snarls, and hissing of reaper creatures approaching the horizon of the colony, it was only a matter of time before actual reapers lowered their robotic claws into the soil of Freedom's Progress and halted all shuttle activity. The last thing they heard was a inhuman, shrieking wail pierce their ears before the hell truly began.