Rêver Dans Le Chocolat
Shepard chewed angrily on her stylus, glaring daggers into the Spectre report she had spent the past two hours trying to correct. The amount of red underlining when it was sent back to her was staggering, and she was almost ashamed that she had sent in such an unprofessional looking report. Spelling errors, missing words, incorrect totals…Could she feel any more like a moron? There were still plenty of hours left in the Normandy's day cycle, and plenty of opportunities left to make her feel completely idiotic.
"Shepard, do you have a minute?" Garrus stepped through the door of her cabin, data-pad in hand. "I need to talk to you about those parts for the Mako you picked up."
She sighed, and ran her hands through her distressed hair, sticking up at odd angles from her agitated fingers twisting and pulling at the red strands. "Garrus, I'm really busy right now. Can it wait?"
"Well, not exactly. The parts aren't the right ones; they're not even for a Mako."
Shepard rubbed her throbbing temples and took the data-pad from the turian, "I'm so sorry, I'll get some more ordered just as soon as I can."
Her disheveled appearance hadn't really been anything new to Garrus. During their down time, she often hung out in her cabin and watched old vids in over-sized pajamas, her hair wild from tossing in her sleep. But her voice was heavy, and her actions were lacking in the usual enthusiasm she possessed. "Hey, are you okay?" He reached out and pushed her hair away from her face, and found her skin unusually pale. "You're not feeling ill, are you?"
"No, not exactly," She leaned back in her chair and offered Garrus an exhausted smile. "I just have a lot of work to do, and I'm tired," a long yawn escaped her mouth. "But I promise I'll get those parts ordered for you."
Her computer beeped, alerting her of an incoming message. Shepard clicked to approve the connection, and dismissed her friend with an apologetic smile. "This is Shepard, go ahead Admiral…."
Garrus quietly slipped from her cabin, worry marring his usually stoic turian features. He'd seen the Commander have bad days, but she looked completely depressed setting before him, surrounded by scrolling data-pads and requisition forms. Seeing her so down-and-out made Garrus feel anxious and uncomfortable, and struggling with ways to try and make it right. He didn't like it. At all.
He punched the button on the elevator, making his destination Normandy's engine room. He and Tali had some things to discuss.
Tali's answer to every one of Garrus' answers was simple; chocolate. In any form or variety, and as much as he could carry back to the Normandy. Of course, he had to bring back dextro-chocolate for her, in return for the "amazing advice" she had provided him with.
Two shopping bags, and four-hundred credits later, and Garrus was making a triumphant return to the ship. The most expensive purchase, but the one he took the most pride in, was a simple, round cake. The baker had told him the icing was 'milk chocolate', and his translator denied him any explanation. In the center were several 'white chocolate roses', but by that point Garrus was beyond trying to understand human culinary terms. If it tasted anything like dextro-based goodness, then he had done a very good job, indeed.
When the doors to Shepard's cabin whooshed open, she looked even worse for wear since he had left her. A chewed stylus was holding up her hair in a messy pile on top of her head, her bed was covered in data-pads and miscellaneous forms that seemed to annoy her more by the second. "Whoever that is had better be dying or already took out Saren. I don't have time for any shit right now."
"Do you have time for cake?"
Her head shot up, and Garrus' heart wrenched at the pitiful sight. Her eyes were glazed with pure exhaustion, underlined by dark patches. Shepard's bottom lip was raw and had started to scab from her worrying it between her teeth, and Garrus winced when she offered a smile and it bled slightly. "Did you say cake?"
He sat the bags on the bed in front of her, and he envisioned the scenes in the old vids where children were opening gifts around a brightly decorated tree. "I wasn't sure what you liked, so I bought a bit of everything."
"No kidding! Chocolate bars, chocolate with nuts, chocolate cherries…And this cake!" Shepard practically beamed as she studied the intricate petals of the roses. "It's beautiful!"
Garrus' mandibles clicked happily as he took a seat in a chair across from her. "I'm glad you like it. Seemed to me like you could use a little pick-me-up."
She nodded and tore open one of the bars. "I did, indeed." Upon taking a large bite, she gave a satisfied moan that almost made Garrus question if he should just leave the two of them alone. "Damn, this is amazing."
He chuckled and rose from his chair. "I hope you enjoy it, just make sure you don't eat Tali's dextro-bars." Garrus said, pointing out the shiny green wrappers.
"No, no! Stay and watch a vid with me!" The clatter of data-pads hitting the floor filled the room, and the turian turned to see his commanding officer dumping her work off the bed.
"Don't you have work to do?"
Shepard smirked and motioned to the piles of confections littering the sheets. "I do, working on eating all this!"
Garrus surrendered with a chuckle, and settled in a comfortable spot on Shepard's bed. As the vid wore one, something about fifty first dates, the more wrappers that were emptied. An hour or so later, Shepard's light snoring woke him from his dozing. He rose up, dumping several empty dextro-chocolate wrappers onto the floor. A half-eaten bar rested in Shepard's hand, and he eased it from her grip and lay it on the bedside table. He had every intention to get out of bed, and head down to his cot in the lower levels of the Normandy. But he was just so damned comfortable. As the thought of moving slipped from his mind, Garrus eventually fell asleep, lying with Shepard amongst an ocean of chocolate.
Author's Note: Just a bit of nonsense fluff for my dear friend and Super Minion, Wolf126! So here's to you, my friend; some fluff and chocolate...Because flames are mean. ;)
Title roughly translates to "Chocolate Dreams". :D Reviews are LOVE.