Author's Note:Ok so I posted this story once before with an OC and it wasn't super popular (actually it was pretty hated lol but that's ok it doesn't bother me, in the end the story I had initially wrote felt...not as good as it could have been) and as I continued to edit, shape the story, write, and continue it on my own, I realized an OC was pointless here, and this story would work better with Jane Shepard instead. After re-writting it, it finally started to feel cohesive and together. Thus, I am releasing the new and improved The Universe We Missed! I hope you guys like it! Don't forget to check out my tumblr for updates, story boards, character designs, and little posts/additions and questions!
~Chapter 1 Start~
Garrus heaved a sigh as he leafed through yet another file that needed to be closed. It was another noise complaint from a repeat offender. Annoyed, his mandibles tightened against his faceplate as he entered the data into the computer. He wasn't sure which was worse, the boring cases, or the fact he wasn't allowed to deal with them.
The bustling of the bullpen had become a comforting noise during his shifts. The room wasn't as big as the one in the Wards, having need of less beat officers and more detectives. The walls were a muted light grey, with only the one window stretching across the expanse of the back wall in a small slit. Pallin's office was across from theirs, with a larger window and more space. It was beyond inviting and he had his Sergeants seated in a sectioned off office alcove.
The rest of them were tightly packed in like sardines. Dark silver desks lined up and down the room, each row had their desks pressed against another row. It wasn't his favourite place to work all day, it was cold and unassuming. Dull and boring.
Pointless and a waste.
Ever since Garrus left the Wards, he had been stuck on desk duty until Executor Pallin felt he was ready. He couldn't complain, with his father's large file on his actions weighing down everyone's opinion of him and his work. He was lucky Pallin even gave him a chance.
'You do good work, Vakarian. If you learned to follow proper protocol, you could be a force to reckon with.' Pallin's words echoed in his mind as he tapped his tablet
Pallin had taken him in. Thus giving him a chance to be out from underneath his father's thumb.
'Don't mistake what I am saying for flattery. Your file does not paint a pretty picture. No one else, other than your father, will take you in if I have to transfer you. Remember that.' another reminder, another warning.
With a tight leash in hand, Garrus had spent the last four months working in the Presidium, closing files, doing data entry, compiling evidence, and keeping his nose down. He had spent the last few months working quietly and he was starting to grow increasingly restless.
The custom visor he wore on his left eye glowed a soft blue as it hummed quietly. The tinted light brightened his ash scaled plates, accenting his vibrant blue clan markings. He rarely went anywhere without it, it was a gift from his father and he hadn't bothered replacing it despite how old it became; opting instead to upgrade it himself to suit his needs. Turians by nature weren't normally so sentimental, but it wasn't rare to see such sentiments in younger Turians.
"Vakarian." Pallin greeted, nodding his head. Pallin was a larger Turian in stature than others. He had a way about him that seemed to loom over everyone in the room. It probably explained why he got along so well with his father.
Pallin's plates were darker than his own, coming in closer to a dark brown. He had white clan markings largely on the top half of his face plates, with small tethers of white snaking down towards his mandibles, with a small line on his chin.
"Executor." Garrus greeted back. He turned to give his full attention to Pallin, hoping he didn't have more files to close by end of day.
"We are short for tonight's shift, if you feel you are ready. How would you like to do some field work?" His mandibles spread wide in a grin in response to Pallin's request.
"I am ready for anything, Sir." Garrus felt giddy, he would finally see some action. Pallin nodded and turned to go back to his office. He made a slight clicking noise often reserved for young Turians.
"Remember yourself, Vakarian. Anymore fast and loose with the law actions will see you grounded permanently in the Wards."
Garrus didn't need to hear his sub-vocals to know it was a threat.
~Break~
Garrus had been paired with a slightly more senior Officer. His name was Nathan, he was painfully Human with short brown hair, honey brown eyes, and tall for his race. A few freckles littered his brow from his vacations on earth, or so he claimed. He smiled a lot, and was very liberal with the on the job chatter.
Garrus didn't care for him much. While these weren't the wards, it still felt like his 'partner' was much too lax. He wasn't horribly used to the familiarity humans seemed to have towards everyone they met.
"So I hear you're a legacy." Nathan's smile was that of a good ol' boy. He was beyond jovial in his words.
"A...what?" Garrus had no idea what that meant. He had hardly dealt with Humans while working in the wards, most of the C-sec agents there were divided up by race to handle their specific districts. The Presidium, however, was for the elite. Filled with rich wealthy families, Diplomats, and various other government officials; Money didn't discriminate. Suddenly, he was surrounded by the newest addition to citadel space.
Humans.
"It's a Human idiom, means your family works in the biz." As Nathan talked, all Garrus could think about was how often Humans seemed to wave their hands around as they talked. He curled his nose plates at the slang word Nathan had used; Human language was spoken in such a guttural fashion. It was bastardized beyond all belief. From the articles he had read, they had many different dialects, which made communication hard even on their home planet, Earth. If translators were not standard in all implants, it would have been almost impossible for Humans to interact on the Citadel.
"And next we are going to check out the new club that's opened up recently. We've had a few issues with drugs being passed around; most of them tame Human drugs. We have also had some complaints of drunken disorderly from the neighbors."
Garrus had completely missed what they were doing, so he simply nodded. It must have been enough because Nathan's grin grew wider as he lead them towards a building decked out in neon lettering that read 'Sativas'. He had no clue what that meant.
"Odd name yeah? A very retro name, but this place is owned by a Human so I'm not surprised." Nathan was smiling, but his eyes were all business. The lineup to enter was mostly Humans, some Asari, and the rare Turian. It wasn't surprising, considering most other races wouldn't have the credits to get up here, much less get in. Some races wouldn't even be able to fit comfortably through the door.
It was clear what kind of clientele the owner wanted. Xenophobia wasn't rare, especially with Humans it seemed.
A scream erupted from a nearby alley, followed by an assortment of shouting. Nathan was already moving towards the entrance when Garrus turned to look at the sound.
Following pursuit, he found a girl sobbing on the ground, her tight pink dress dirty from a drink that was clearly poured over her. Spots of deep red were apparent from where a stain had started to set in. She had long, slightly curled, light brown hair and eyes the same shade. Her equally pink jeweled nails were gently clasping her reddened cheek. Beside her attempting to comfort her was a slightly smaller girl, with short black hair and dark amber skin. She was wearing a pair of skintight black pants, and a shirt, if you could call it that, that covered her front but left the back bare being held up by nothing but a small bit of string.
Three other girls were standing further down the alley. Two of them close to what appeared to be the club's back door. They were dressed in short skirts, skin tight tops, and uncomfortable looking shoes. One had her hair in a messy ponytail; bleach blond hair had started to grow out leaving dark coloured roots. The other had bone straight hair that framed her face and fell along her back.
"Fuck off bitch!" The third girl, who was standing across from them, shouted. Garrus barely noticed her as her dark lace dress, that clung tightly to her curves, blended in with the dark alley. Her hair was a mix of blues and purples that she had tied to the side in some sort of intricate knotwork. Her eyes were a startling blue, and seemed to glow in the dim lighting.
"Puhlease, like you can tell us what to do." The girl with bleach blonde hair advanced, grabbing onto the purple/blue haired girl.
With a scream the bright blue haired girl clawed at her face before kicking the girl in the shin with her spiked shoes.
With a howl the first girl let go as Nathan intervened, grabbing onto her.
"Fucking cunt! You pulled out my hair!" Sure enough there was a large clump in the grasp of the girl Nathan was holding back. With such quick fluidity the purple/blue haired girl lunged forward, her hands connecting with the girls hair pulling relentlessly.
Garrus moved and grasped her around the waist, removing her effortlessly. She reared her head backwards almost hitting him in the nose plates as she squirmed, kicked, and flailed. Sure enough though, the girl had a clump of dark brown and bleached hair in her fist.
"Enough!" Garrus commanded as he pulled her out of the alleyway to break sight. He had read in his orientation that Humans needed to have their eye contact broken to stop a fight.
Clearly what he was taught was wrong. The girl kept screaming, scratching at his plates, and had bumped his nose painfully a few times as he was trying to calm her down. For such a small creature, she sure packed a punch.
Vaguely, he noticed the other two girls approach and say something to the ferocious girl. He missed what it was, his implant fizzing out at all the foreign swear words she was spitting out in haste.
"Jay stop it!" The short haired girl finally shouted. The girl in his arms stilled and he placed her down, his hand still holding onto her arm.
"She fucking deserved it Ronnie!" 'Jay' defended.
"This isn't helping Mia at all, so please stop!" The girl he assumed was Mia let out a strangled sob, holding tightly to Ronnie as Ronnie lectured Jay.
The two girls glared at one another, until Jay finally sighed.
"Alright, ok, fine." Her ruby red lips pursed together as her brow furrowed. She took in deep breaths trying to quell her fury.
"Now that you have settled down, want to tell me what this was about?" Garrus interrupted.
"Yeah, that back-alley bitch threw a drink at Mia and cornered her because her boyfriend left her fat ass." 'Jay' spat out, getting worked up all over again.
"Jay!" Ronnie scolded, "Her size is irrelevant, plus she isn't even that fat."
"Bitch has a fat assed personality then."
"Oh stop being jealous because she has junk in the trunk and you have a flat white girls ass."
"Ladies, enough," Garrus chided as he turned to Mia, "What happened Mia? If she assaulted you, we need to take your statement."
Mia sniffed, her makeup smudging slightly.
"I started seeing a guy I met at CAU, apparently that's his ex, and she threw a drink in my face when I tried to leave. When I told her to fuck off she slapped me." Mia sniffled again and blubbered a few more things trying to convey what happened. It was clear she needed to fully calm down before he could get a full statement.
"Shit this place is supposed to be high brow. How did trailer trash Trisha end up here?" Jay muttered. She had stepped in taking the attention off her blubbering friend. She didn't seem as furious anymore.
"Oh come off it, she's not trailer trash." Rolling her eyes Ronnie flicked Jay in the forehead. Jay muttered a swear and glared at her friend, rubbing her skin she turned to look back at Garrus.
"Alright Garrus, we are going to have to head down to the station with them," Nathan eyed the three girls in suspicion, "These two had a bag of meth on them." Nathan didn't look pleased. Along his face was a scratch mark. He had the bleach blonde girl in handcuffs, while her friend walked beside her quietly, avoiding eye contact.
"Told you they were fucking trash." The smugness in Jay's words oozed through so thick, it was almost as if she had her own sub-vocals.
"Jay shut the fuck up!" Ronnie's hands were moving through her hair in nervousness as she fidgeted with something in her pockets.
"All of you, into the vehicle, no more talking." Garrus shouted before anymore arguing could occur.
~Break~
"While you were the victims in this assault, we did find ecstasy on you. Unfortunately we are going to have to charge you as well" Garrus explained to the three girls sitting in the interrogation room. He placed the evidence bag onto the table in front of them. The long table seated all three of them without issue, but the two girls decided to squish in close to the girl with the intricate knotwork instead.
When they arrived at the station he had Nathan search everyone, finding a few illegal weapons on the two antagonistic girls, and some pills on the three victims.
Nathan had already started booking the two other girls, knowing Garrus wasn't super comfortable with Humans enough to handle all the steps it took to book them. Fingerprints, DNA samples, retina scans, body scans. etc.
"Oh this is b.s., this wouldn't even be happening if those two whores weren't even let up here in the first place." Arms crossed, Jay, or as Garrus had found out Jane, glared.
While the presidium had free access during the day, at night it was more controlled to prevent those who didn't live there from entering. It was a recent decision made by the different neighborhoods in an effort to keep crime in the area down.
While it worked for the most part, it wasn't foolproof.
"Possession is still illegal." Garrus started.
"Oh please Officer, we won't be charged and you know it," Jane started, "Mia got hurt by some druggies from the Wards, how will this look to your superiors when her father hears you also detained her afterwards?" she leaned forward all business. Her eyes had changed from aloof 'devil-may-care' to a dark and authoritative sharpness.
"Are you threatening me Miss Harper?" Garrus matched her movements without flinching. She had this strange fire in her. It was that moment Garrus realized the front she put up hid a very smart and manipulative girl.
"No, Officer Vakarian, just offering some friendly career advice." She sat back looking smug. Her lips tilted in a way that showed defiance. Garrus swallowed slowly not really sure how to handle her. Most Human females he met were demure, quiet, and submissive in nature.
Maybe it was an act they put on. It would explain why Human males always complained about them 'busting their balls'
It was then Executor Pallin walked into the room.
"Let them go." He ordered. His mandibles clung tightly to his face. His sub-vocals going off in warning.
Garrus had virtually seen red, as Jane gave him a pointed look as she walked past him, with the two other girls trailing after her.
~Break~
It had been almost a week since that night, he was again sitting at a desk closing files. While he wasn't in trouble, Pallin felt it was best he become more acquainted with how things worked on the Presidium.
That was basically code for 'learn who the important people were and leave them alone'.
While Garrus hadn't done anything wrong, he had still searched the girls without just cause. They were victims and all he should have done was taken their statements and sent them on their way. They were basically off due to a technicality.
Money talks, Garrus' hands were tied.
Pallin told him he was lucky the girls didn't feel the need to notify their families. Jane in particular, as he learned, was from a very wealthy and influential family. Her family owned a weapons and biowarfare research facility, as well as a company that created tech for the Alliance. He wasn't 100% on the details, but it seemed like her father worked with the Alliance military and had a lot of pull.
Her friends had parents in the Alliance Senate. All influential families.
Garrus was really starting to hate working for C-Sec.
~Break~
While Garrus worked in the Presidium, he didn't live there. He lived in the Wards Turian district in a small bachelor apartment, most of his money going to his Mother back on Palavan.
His apartment wasn't impressive. While his family was well off, he was hardly raised rich. There was a time when his mother's health was better, where they both had worked and provided more than enough to maintain a certain lifestyle, but that had all changed when she had become sick. So now they only had his father's income, and his, to help pay her medical bills.
Thus, Garrus lived in a small, old bachelor's suite. He bought his monthly supplies frugally and sent most of it home for his mother and sister.
The faded and peeling blue walls of his apartment did little to cover how dark the streets were in this area. They did not have the same fake day and night schedule the presidium had. His kitchen was old, mostly chrome and steel coloured. He had a small island countertop, a small sink, and a little stove/oven combo beside a modest sized fridge.
To the right of his kitchen was a small alcove that was separated by a built-in shelf unit. The bachelor was modest in decoration, but liberal with space. That's why Garrus chose an older apartment over a newer one. More bang for his buck. He had some nice bay windows, tinted for privacy, showing him the view of the Turian District from his 27th floor apartment.
He had one closet by his bed, and another near his front door. Just to the side of that closet was his built in washer and dryer duo. On the same side of his apartment was the door to his bathroom, which only had a shower, toilet, and sink with built in storage.
Washing his dishes from dinner, he decided due to his shitty work week, he would head down to Purgatory Bar for a drink. It was a bar that was located between the Wards and the Presidium, so the clientele tended to be better than Chora's Den or Flux. While it wasn't a nightclub, it had a similar atmosphere and was inclusive towards most races.
This was because most places still didn't allow Quarians into their establishments. Not that they ever wanted to enter a bar/club anyways.
Dressing in his blue and black civvies, Garrus locked his door and headed towards the bar.
~Break~
Garrus had been there about an hour when a very loud, and very familiar voice stirred him from his thoughts. Garrus had spent most of his time at the bar nursing the same drink. A few Turian women had approached him, offered to buy him a drink. Knowing what the intent was he declined, feeling uncomfortable enough at the bar on his own.
Turning he saw Jane, clad in a tight leather dress that looked to be more like a top. It dipped low into her cleavage, and had the zipper adorned on the front. Garrus never understood the fascination Humans had towards their fleshy bits; her hair was probably the most attractive aspect about her. The bright colours and the length was largely a masculine feature for Turians, but the vibrant myriad of colours, as well as its flexibility had Garrus curious. Tonight she had it down in waves that caressed her collar bones. Her black spiked heels finished the look. She looked like she was arguing with some tall guy who was grabbing her arms roughly.
Standing Garrus pushed through the crowd and grabbed the man from behind. While he may not like Jane all that much, he was still a cop at heart and the tall man looked to be harassing her.
"Excuse me sir, I think it's time you leave." The man turned and was about to say something when Jane stomped on his foot.
"You might need a hospital darling, I'd suggest you go get that checked out." The guy cried out and almost fell to the ground as he balanced on his remaining good foot, his fleshy hand reaching down to cradle his injured appendage.
Deciding he was outnumbered, he limped away glaring at Jane as he went.
"My pleasure, this bitch is crazy." it almost looked as if Jane was going to respond to the insult, so Garrus stepped in to prevent any more damage, to either party.
"Must you always use violence whenever I see you?" Garrus chuckled as Jane glared at him. Her cheeks puffed red in embarrassment or anger, he wasn't quite sure which.
It wasn't until this moment that Garrus realized how expressive Humans were.
"You don't need to save me Officer." her blue eyes gazed defiantly into his. Her brow pinched neatly atop her eyes. She looked like a petulant child and he almost laughed, his sub-vocals ringing in amusement.
"Not saving you, and I am currently off duty." he corrected.
You could see the wheels turning in Jane's head as she looked around the club. She tapped a perfectly manicured finger against her chin. The colour matched her hair and he caught himself wondering why Humans spent so much time altering how they looked.
"Well if you are off duty you can buy me a drink then." She turned on her heels and walked towards the bar, her hips swaying ever so slightly. Garrus gulped, while he didn't find fleshy Human bits attractive, her waist was thoroughly female by Turian standards.
In this moment Garrus realized how little he knew about Humans.
~Break~
After getting her and himself a drink, he turned to his feisty companion.
"Where are your friends?"
"Double date, I didn't want to play third wheel all night, so I figured I'd see if I could get lucky." She wiggled her eyebrows with a smile and took a drink.
"Get lucky at what?" Garrus was sufficiently confused. Jane almost inhaled her drink as she choked on a laugh.
"Ah...nevermind." there was an awkward silence that hung to them like sweat.
"Garrus." Garrus spoke, breaking the silence. He wasn't sure the social protocols with Humans, but he remembered seeing Nathan introducing himself to every Human he seemed to meet.
"What?" her brows moved against, both raised high in what Garrus assumed meant confusion. Did he do it wrong?
"That's my name, I figured it was only fair you knew my name since I already know yours." he cleared his throat, deciding it was a good time to take a sip from his drink.
Jane nodded and took another drink herself. She looked like she struggled for a moment before speaking.
"For the record Garrus, I don't actually do drugs...Ronnie and Mia just had a shitty week at school and sometimes...you just want to forget for a bit."
"I...I wasn't thinking anything."
"Oh please you were, I can tell you have a huge hate on for drugs. For the record, that shit we had is virtually harmless. It's not like how it was back in the 90's, that shit was cut with everything till the silk road." With a shrug she finished her drink.
"I didn't know Humans partied so much." Garrus responded, not knowing what to say. Turians were usually direct with what they wanted to say or ignored what wasn't their business and he had no idea what a 'Silk Road' was.
"We don't, not all of us. But when your parents are never around, you have money to get what you want, it's pretty easy." She shrugged nonchalantly. He could see the appeal in her personality, she was aloof, unafraid, and confident. But her narcissism left much to be desired, she knew she was attractive just a bit too much.
"Turians don't do stuff like that." it was a lame response, but he couldn't help but lament his thoughts.
"Course not, you guys are all rigid as fuck," She laughed this time and turned to look at him, "For once let loose, be a bad Turian." She purred the last bit. Garrus wasn't aware a Human's vocal cords' could even create such an effect.
She tipped her drink at him and downed it. As she slammed it on the bar, he had a feeling the social protocol here was to follow suit.
~Break~
The night had continued on, Garrus had told her about his problems at work, and Jane had listened, bought him drinks, called his father an asshole; of course she didn't know he was his father from the stories thus the expelative, and talked about her school.
She was attending the new University for Humans located of the presidium. It was called Citadel Alliance University. It catered mostly to Humans, but accepted anyone with enough money to get in. Apparently it was a spin-off of a prestigious university down on earth.
"What are you taking?" Garrus finally asked, his mind feeling foggy.
"Oh you know, this and that, haven't really picked a specific major..." She trailed off shrugging. She downed her drink signalling Garrus to do the same.
If Garrus wasn't so drunk he might have picked up on her hesitation to answer the question.
"Enough about the boring stuff, come, live with me." She whispered, her hot breath flitting across his mandible. It stunk heavily of alcohol, but he couldn't help the shiver.
"I don't dance."
"Oh my dear Turian, that is where you are wrong. Everyone dances, it's whether they choose to or not." She pulled his hand and he followed, hypnotized by her unique take on life.
He followed her for a moment before he stopped on the edge of the dance floor. He shook his head and he noticed her brows pinched together again.
Annoyance...
As quickly as he saw it, it was gone. With a smile she shrugged again and took off towards the dance floor.
Somewhere in the night he remembered her dancing in the middle of two other Humans, grinding against each other in such a way he was reminded of sex.
~Break~
With a groan Garrus awoke to a pounding head and swirling colours. Attempting to get his eyes to focus he noticed a few things.
One, he was on his couch, his neck cricked at an awkward angle.
Two, he was shirtless and felt clammy.
Three, Jane was asleep in his bed.
He gulped trying to remember what happened last night. Had something 'more' happened?
As he sat there stunned, trying to find out what was going on, Jane started to stir and he had to resist the urge to hide underneath his blanket.
She sat up, checked her Omni-Tool then swore lightly under her breath.
"Well fuck me, I'm running late..." she jumped out of bed, wearing barely anything at all. She approached her purse from last night and pulled out a few items.
"What...what are you doing?" At the last moment Garrus wussed out of asking what he wanted to know.
'What happened last night?'
"Ahh getting ready for class, thank god I brought my walk of shame kit, I won't have time to stop by my apartment before class." She wiggled her hips into tight black pants and threw on a baggy blue t-shirt with a v-neck. It had the logo for CAU on the front.
"Walk of...shame?"
"Sorry, have to go, feel free to call me later if you want to grab lunch or something, you're pretty fun when you want to be." She smiled wickedly and stuffed her dress into her purse, threw her hair up into a bun, and disappeared out the door.
~Break~
The minute she had left, Garrus almost tripped over his couch as he scrambled to get up.
Did he have sex with the Human?! Would he need to go to the hospital and make sure he wouldn't have an allergic reaction?
Trying to calm himself he looked up the phrase she used, hoping the shame was in the lack of sexual intercourse.
Upon opening the first link, his blood drained.
'Walk of Shame
(Human Idiom)
Informal
1. an instance of walking back home on the day after an unplanned casual sexual encounter, typically dressed in the same clothes as the previous evening.
"if you're at his and have to make the dreaded walk of shame home, steel yourself" '
Oh Dear God!
He rushed over towards his bed and sniffed. It smelled like her. No scent of sex though. Smelling himself he found only her faint scent.
Letting out a sigh he sat back down, arm covering his eyes.
She spent the night, no matter what everything will probably smell like her.
Still seated on the bed, his head in his hands, he let out one final groaned.
He really was the worst Turian ever.
~Chapter 1 End~