Author's note:
Hi! This is (ta-da!) my very first fanfiction blerp. Just a few bulletpoints:
- Writing that isn't well structured/proofread is a pet peeve of mine. So let me know if there are any grammar/spelling mistakes!
- In this particular version, both Kaidan and Ashley survived. Some poor schmuck from Kirrahe's team died on Virmire.
- I may continue the story after this, we'll see.
- Hope you enjoy it!
An alarm suddenly was blaring off, and Shepard shot up out of bed, only to realize it was her alarm clock. She grabbed it and threw it against the fish tank, making a hole in the glass. Oh well. The damn thing didn't even have water in it yet. And if the Illusive Man spent four billion credits minimum to resurrect her, he sure as hell shouldn't mind spending five hundred more to repair the glass.
Since she awoke from her, well, state of unconsciousness three weeks ago, she had found herself to be much more on edge than she ever had been before. Maybe it had something to do with working with the organization that killed Admiral Kahoku and tortured that poor guy Toombs. Or maybe it had to do with having been dead for two years. The first time Joker had called her Frankenstein she practically punched him in the face. Since then everyone had been a bit more tiptoey around her.
She completed her usual early cycle routine, including a shower, clothes and makeup. She put her short red hair up in a bun. It had been long before she died, but, as she thought begrudgingly, even Cerberus miracle workers can't give you amazing new hair.
She stalked down to the mess to grab two ration packets. Gardner's grub was beyond repulsive. Not to mention she wondered if he actually washed his hands after he cleaned the toilets.
She heard the new salarian doctor telling some of the crew about a turian whose face he had patched up a few weeks earlier. She slumped into a seat at the table and everyone around the table went silent, watching her out of the corner of their eyes.
"Ah, Shepard," said Mordin. "Going to Purgatory to get Jack today, yes?"
Shepard nodded.
"Use caution, Shepard. Read reports of criminals in Purgatory... Not safest place in galaxy."
"Doctor Solus, anywhere we go is bound to be dangerous," replied Shepard sullenly, biting into a chunk of the random crusty brown shit that was her ration packet.
"Ah yes, but Purgatory particularly dangerous. Warden has auction of prisoners every few months." He inhaled. "Sells to the highest bidder."
"Then it's good I'm not a criminal," replied Shepard. "Come on, Jack's only my second recruit and he's probably not as dangerous as the reports say. Besides, this prison ship has high ratings on the 'rate my prison' extranet site."
Shepard was in for the surprise of her life.
Warden Kuril had led Shepard, Mordin and Jacob through parts of the ship as if he were giving a tour. Shepard wondered if he was hoping she would bid at the next auction. He sounded like a real sicko.
They turned a corner and came into a room that led to outprocessing. A man stood at their left on a computer. He nodded to the warden.
"So I hear you auction off your prisoners... Like slaves," Shepard said. "Is that true?"
The warden turned to face her. "Commander, do I seem like the kind of man that wouldn't respect the power these people hold?"
"You seem like the kind of man that wouldn't mind another way to make money," she said, one eyebrow raised, body tense, face deadpanned.
The warden's mandibles flared and he straightened his posture. "As I said before, Commander, these are despicable people and I always keep them locked up."
Shepard crossed her arms and continued to follow the warden.
Shepard laughed as she saw Garrus running towards the club. Turians had the funniest run.
He stopped running and looked back to see her laughing at him.
He turned towards her. "What are you laughing at?"
Shepard wiped her eye with her hand as she finished giggling. "You look like an overgrown praying mantis trying to run." At this conjured image she laughed again, this time harder.
Garrus put his hand on his chest plates in mock offense. "Shepard, you've hurt me deeply. I don't think we can be friends anymore."
It had been three days since Sovereign and Saren were defeated, and some stores and restaurants were just getting back to working again. Shepard decided to take the whole crew to Afterlife to celebrate their victory. She anticipated lots of drunken dancing and lots of fun.
They were all in their civvies or clubwear. Shepard wore a short, long-sleeved dark blue dress that scooped open in the back almost all the way down to the small of her back. She was getting lots of looks, which told her how great she really looked. Even some of her crew members seemed a little red-faced and tongue-tied around her that evening.
She was thankful Kaidan wasn't there. He had one of his migraines from his L2 implant. He was resting in her bunk back on the Normandy, so she felt that, in some ways, tonight she could really be free.
She had drunk too much the night before they reached Ilos, and somehow Kaidan had ended up in her quarters. She remembered vaguely that they slept together.
The thing that bothered her the most was that to her it was one of her rare one night stands. To him, apparently their sleeping together was just an expression of their eternal love and how much they were meant to be together.
Therefore in the past couple of days, she had been doing to best to avoid him. And tonight, she was just going to enjoy herself. After all, sleeping together once does not constitute as being in a relationship.
The celebration tonight would be a much-needed release for the crew as well as the squad. It was also Tali's first time at a bar as a customer, so Shepard was anticipating teaching her some drinking etiquette- which was really code for drinking games.
The crew pushed together a table all together on the lower level and immediately began shouting out drinks to the bartender. Some of them already seemed drunk, but Shepard knew it was just out of giddiness.
She sighed in contentment. This was going to be a good night.
Shepard had a feeling shit would hit the fan at some point on this ship but she didn't know when. She happened to be glancing down for a second at her omnitool when someone overloaded her shields and she could hear a cold metal click as the barrel of a shotgun was placed on her temple.
Shit, she said inwardly.
It only took a moment to understand the situation. Several guards surrounded the three of them. Their shields were disabled and guns were aiming at them.
One of them shot Shepard in the stomach with a pistol. Even with her shields down her suit still absorbed the impact but she knew she'd be bruised there tomorrow.
"Just so we're clear," hissed the warden who had his shotgun at her face. "Drop your weapon, all of you!" he yelled.
Shepard rolled her eyes and dropped her gun. This was little more than a diversion till they figured out-There was a sudden, sharp blow to the back of her head... Then everything went dark.
Half an hour later and two drinks into the night, Shepard found herself at the bar with Ashley and what seemed like the whole club watching. The bartender, taking the cue, poured them each a shot.
Ash was one of Shepard's closest friends; they had all but shared their deepest secrets with each other. She was the only one who knew that Shepard and Kaidan had slept together. Still, whenever the possibility of a competition arose, neither woman would pass it up.
Ashley stared at Shepard and narrowed her eyes. "Pansy," she said, and downed her drink.
Shepard laughed, low and seductive. She wouldn't let Ash ever beat her. In anything. Even if it was just out of good humor.
"Pussy," Shepard countered, and downed hers.
"Alien sympathizer." Ashley guzzled it like she was kid drinking milk.
"Racist," sneered Shepard.
By now there was plenty of cheering and betting going on. Tali's hands were over her helmet in discomfort but everyone else was leaning forward in immense interest.
"Homeschooled freak," said Ashley, referring to Shepard's upbringing on Mindoir.
"Religious bigot," said Shepard.
It was all they could do to keep from laughing hysterically at this point, especially seeing the sparkle of humor in each others' eyes. But they had a tough act to keep up.
"Vanguard," said Ashley emphatically, the beginnings of a smile creeping on the corners of her mouth. It had been a long running joke between the two of them that Ashley was the brawns and Shepard was the biotics- and that therefore Shepard was physically weak, even though she was anything but. Whenever Ashley made a reference to Shepard being a vanguard, she was prodding her friend by implying she was weak.
"Oh, you did not just say that," said Shepard quietly, inhaling her drink.
Ashley leaned forward and slowly said: "Puny. Little. Farm. Girl."
Shepard narrowed her eyes and smiled. "I'm stronger than you, brawns-but-no-brains," she said.
"Prove it," said Ashley.
A bunch of onlookers were yelling what they should do. Push-ups, crunches, other standard strength training. But it was Wrex who gave them the really brilliant idea.
"Spar, you idiots!"
Ashley and Shepard looked at each other and smiled, each raising an eyebrow. Then they stepped out to a more open part of the club and faced each other in sparring position, fists raised at eye level.
Within about ten seconds, a few of the bouncers broke up the sparring match. Shepard was still sober enough to rationalize that she didn't want her and her whole group to get kicked out, so she and Ashley backed down.
By then, a lot of the fanfare had died down and everyone was basically back to whatever they'd been doing before- dancing, talking, drinking, laughing... Or in a couple of the crews' case, making out.
Shepard went to the upper level where most of the dancing was going on. She sat at the bar and ordered a shot of Bailey's. She'd had enough hard stuff for the night; she wanted something delicious.
She was pleasantly tipsy so she wasn't quite sure why she was ordering another drink. Whatever. She was enjoying the bass and the beat of the music, the blaring of the blacklight across the people on the dance floor, and the smooth, energetic movements of the dancers. The environment itself was so pleasant. She wanted to never leave. And the only thing that would make it better would be if Garrus were next to her.
She surprised herself a little by that thought. She had been harboring strange interest for the turian for a few weeks, but hadn't been able to admit it, even to herself. To her, it was just too weird to be interested in a turian. It was as unnatural to her as being attracted to- well, a volus. The idea that she found him attractive (at a purely artistic, aesthetic level, of course) was frightening to her.
Her behavior toward him hadn't changed in the least- she was, at times, too good at controlling her behavior- but how she saw him had been gradually changing. She wasn't totally sure how, but it had. Because she was mentoring him to some extent (not to mention she was his commander) she knew she had no choice but to treat him as she always had. Somewhere deep down, her sense of honor was very much intact and she knew she would never act on her feelings. If they could be called feelings.
She was very surprised when suddenly a familiar shape sat on the barstool next to her and ordered a dextro drink. She was tipsy enough that she had to turn to clarify who it was.
"Garrus!" she said, smiling a little too much.
His mandibles flared, almost unnoticeably. "Hey Shepard."
"Hey," she said, still smiling and looking into his beautiful blue eyes. She knew she was making an idiot of herself, but she didn't care.
"Sooooo..." he began, watching the bartender make his drink. "That could have been quite a spar down there."
"What? Oh, with Ash? Yeah, I would have totally kicked her ass."
Garrus snorted. "Maybe."
She punched his shoulder. "You know I would have."
He turned fully toward her and raised a brow plate playfully. "Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. You need to have more faith in your commanding officer, Garrus. Come on, I just took down a fucking Reaper and you think I can't take down Ashley Williams."
"I will note that you needed my help to take down the Reaper."
Shepard snorted. "Cocky bastard. I didn't need your help. You just happened to be there."
"Is that so?" he said, clicking his mandibles, his face doing the turian equivalent of smiling.
Maybe it was just the alcohol, but... his voice... Had it always been so damn sexy?
Shit, what was wrong with her? It must just be the alcohol.
She pulled her shot glass to her mouth only to notice it was empty. The bartender noticed it too and filled it again.
Garrus nodded towards the bartender. "This one's on me," he said, and drained his glass.
Shepard blushed and flashed her most charming smile at him. What an amazing man.
Shit, yeah, it was definitely the alcohol. It had to be.
Garrus seemed to appreciate her smile, because when he looked back from his empty glass to her he cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably. "Just thought you might appreciate another round, Commander," he said, as if he had to explain it.
"So it's Commander, now, huh?" she laughed, leaning forward a little.
She watched his face. From the sharp intake of breath he took, he must be inhaling her scent.
He quickly recovered his senses. "Well, when your commanding officer gives you such a charming smile, someone has to recognize the rank distinction."
"A charming smile?" she repeated, laughing. "You think I have a nice smile?"
Garrus glanced at her mouth then back at his drink. "You have a lovely smile, Shepard. It's nice to see you smiling so much tonight."
Was he hitting on her?
Shit, he was right though. He was her subordinate. Someone had to keep it real.
She cleared her throat and put her "commander mask" back on.
"So what do you plan to do, now that you're officially unassigned from the Normandy?" she asked a little stiffly.
He paused a moment and cradled his drink while she downed hers, and ordered another. Garrus nodded at the bartender to indicate this one was on him as well.
Shepard caught herself staring at his lips- or lack thereof- and she moistened her own with her tongue. Why did he look so damn kissable.
"I originally planned to stay on the Citadel, maybe get my job back at C-Sec, assuming they'd take me... But now that I'm here again, it's like nothing's changed. I don't think I could handle it. Shepard, I need to..." He turned fully towards her and looked her in the eye. "I need to fight injustice. It's what I'm made to do. And the Citadel... isn't really a place I can do that. Not on a large scale at least."
Shepard leaned forward. She could tell her scent was really affecting him. She spoke quietly and breathily. "Garrus... Don't ever let the bastards keep you down."
He leaned in closer to her. "I don't intend to."
She leaned closer too, only a few inches from his face. "Good," she said, her voice low and seductive.
His eyes looked so deep and blue and open to her, her heart started beating like a drum in her chest. He looked at her mouth then back at her eyes, and she looked at his mouth then back to his eyes.
She shocked herself by feeling her body lean in and kiss him-not just a simple peck, but a full open-mouth kiss. To her surprise he fully returned the kiss. Her tongue found its way inside his mouth and gently dragged itself along the edges of his sharp teeth. With one hand he found the naked small of her back and pulled her closer, drawing circles on her lower back with his claw; he buried the other in her hair. He pushed his tongue into her mouth, pulling it along the inside of her lips, then intertwining with her own like some beautiful dance. He pulled his hand down to her neck and began to gently pull one of his fingers down along her throat.
Very suddenly he pulled away and spoke very quickly. "What the hell am I doing, Shepard; you're with Kaidan and I'm a..." he trailed off. He pulled a large sum of cash from his pocket, threw in on the counter, and hightailed it out of there.
He left Shepard with her hair messy, lips moistened and open, hands reaching out for him, eyes glassy.
She quickly recomposed herself and ordered five consecutive shots of whiskey.
Shepard hadn't seen Garrus even once since that night. She often wondered if the kiss meant anything; if it was just fueled by alcohol and hormones or if it was real- if he really felt something for her.
She had to wonder about the humor of it too- how did he even know how to kiss? Turians didn't kiss. He'd probably been with an asari, because everyone loves asari. Including, apparently, Garrus Vakarian. She wondered how many other women he'd been with.
Hell, she shouldn't even be thinking about this. He was a turian. And it wasn't any of her damn business.
Shepard awoke with the pleasant memory of her kiss with Garrus, which to her only felt like it had happened a couple of months before. She could still feel his stiff lips on hers, his tongue caressing hers in her mouth, one hand in her hair and his other drawing circles in the small of her back with one of his claws.
She was jolted back to reality when a ton of cold water slammed into her face. What the hell?
She opened her eyes to see a female turian above her in a guard's uniform.
Wait, what? Where the fuck was she?
Dammit, that's right, thought Shepard. She'd forgotten that that turian bastard Kuril had taken her as a prisoner. Shepard looked around to find herself in a prison shower room. She saw several women, some undressed, some in towels, some in what looked like hooker outfits. Alarmed, she looked down at herself and gave a sigh of relief. She was still in her black underarmor. However she had cuffs around her wrists which were chained together to another big chain which was held by another female guard.
The turian guard above her held a gun at her. "Commander Shepard," she said, "your omnitool and weapons have been removed and you have no kinetic shields or heavy armor. I suggest you comply."
Well shit.
"Which includes what?" asked Shepard, rolling her head to look up at the woman above her.
"Go take a shower, then there's an outfit for you to wear."
"You mean a hooker costume? What, are you planning on auctioning me off to the highest bidder?"
"Get up, Commander. Don't make me ask you twice."
Shepard showered in the lovely latrines of the prison ship, then was taken to a special room where an asari applied way too much makeup and did her hair. Shepard scanned the room for any sharp enough instruments to damage her guard, but no such luck.
Then the asari held up a very skimpy outfit.
"What the fuck," Shepard said under her breath, but complied and put on the outfit.
It was a sheer black bikini top with a black corset underneath, then lacey black panties and stiletto heels with black ribbons that went halfway up her thighs. With the chain around her wrists, she was quite a sight. She looked like she was straight out of a Fornax magazine.
After that, the turian women led her to a stage and threw her on it. She was standing behind a line of several other scantily clad women in chains. They were in front of an audience of mostly men, maybe a few hundred of them, all holding up signs and yelling. The room was fairly dark, except for the stage.
Shit. Mordin was right.
If she could just find Mordin... or Jacob... or even Jack.
The woman in front of her had pretty impressive tattoos all over her body as well as some big scars. She was bald, with really quite a beautiful face and very bitter, angry eyes. Her wrists and ankles were secured by three separate cuffs, all made of very thick metal.
"Hey," said Shepard.
The woman glanced at her then ignored her.
"We need to beat the living shit out of this warden," said Shepard, hoping her fellow prisoner would commiserate with her.
"No, we need to blow his brains out so he can't fuck with anyone else," retorted the woman.
"True," said Shepard. She liked this woman's attitude. "Hey, can you tell me who Jack is? I've been trying to find him."
The woman snorted. "Jack? You mean Subject Zero?"
"Yeah. Him."
"That's me."
"Oh. Great. My team and I came to release you."
Jack snorted again. "Nice job."
"Hey, the plan is still in action. I need your help."
"Like hell," said Jack, turning away.
Shepard wasn't daunted. "You ever heard of the Collectors? They've been abducting human colonies, and I'm building a team to find out why and stop them."
Jack seemed curious. "What do you need my help for?"
"You're a powerful woman, Jack. You'd get payment."
"What's the catch?" she hissed.
"It's a suicide mission," said Shepard.
Jack turned fully towards her. "I'm in, on one condition. I want access to all your files, see what Cerberus has got on me."
Shepard raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know I'm with Cerberus?"
"The warden brought me out of cryo and told me about you. Before he tried to whore me, that is. Fucking idiot. I can think of a few things to do to him before we leave this ship." She paused. "So do we have a deal or not?"
"Deal. But first we have to get out of here."
Suddenly the whole crowd went quiet.
All eyes were on the back of the room where a single turian strode in, assault rifle out but lowered, helmet covering his face. His stride was confident, even cocky. He started walking to the stage.
"I hope you're not here to cause trouble," said the warden.
"If I wanted to cause trouble," replied the turian, "you wouldn't be alive long enough to find out."
"Then welcome... Archangel," said the warden.
"Shit," said Shepard under her breath. "That's one of the other people I was gonna recruit... How the hell..."
"What do you want, Archangel?" asked the warden.
Archangel was silent for a moment. "I want to buy a prisoner. Maybe two."
"I wouldn't have expected this from the scourge of Omega," sneered the warden.
"Everyone has needs, Warden. You of all people should know that by now."
Archangel surveyed the row of prisoners. He walked to one side, then back. He stopped right before Shepard and seemed to be staring at her. Shepard's cheeks were red. Not exactly an ideal meeting for leadership demonstration. She looked him straight in the eyes- or, at least, straight in the helmet. It was a challenge on her part, a dare.
Although if this guy was buying prisoners, she didn't want him on her ship. Unless it happened to be a farce- which, if it was, it was a very good one.
Archangel cleared his throat. "I want this one," he said, nodding towards Shepard.
Maybe he knows it's me, thought Shepard.
"She's not for sale," the warden snapped. "Not for you, at least."
"And why not?" Archangel asked, meaningfully clicking the safety on, then off his assault rifle.
"She's... expensive. I mean to sell her to the Shadow Broker."
Shepard's eyes widened and her nostrils flared. Shit.
"How much is the Broker offering you?" asked Archangel.
The Broker's agent, a krogan, lifted his hand. "One million credits."
"Then my price is two million," countered Archangel. "Is that satisfactory, warden?"
The warden's mandibles flared and he looked at the Broker's agent. The agent raised his arm. "Three million."
"Ten million," interjected Archangel.
The krogan's eyes narrowed. "Fifteen million."
Archangel turned fully towards the warden. "A billion. A billion credits."
The krogan waved his arm in dismissal and shrugged. Shepard was glad to not see him charge.
"Clearly you know who this woman is, Archangel," said the warden, apparently amused. "Why do you want her?"
"Why I want her is my business," replied Archangel.
Shepard was flushing madly. She wasn't used to not being in control. Or being bargained over by a vigilante, considered a hero by many. Or being in lingerie in front of hundreds of people. But she had to admit, if she wasn't worried about her safety, she would probably think it was kind of hot.
"I want the woman next to her too," said Archangel, nodding at Jack. "I'll pay ten million for her."
"Sold," said the warden.
"Fuck you," said Jack quietly to Shepard.
Archangel meandered up to the warden, pulling out some cash.
The warden was about to take it, but paused. "Archangel, why again do you want these women?"
"I think you know, warden," Archangel replied.
The warden chuckled. Son of a bitch. "You know what I think, Archangel?" he said. "I think my customers deserve a show. I think you need to prove why you came here for the redhead. Don't you, boys?" he called out to the crowd. Lots of cheering, leering and wolf calls ensued.
"I... don't think that's such a good idea," replied Archangel.
"Oh? So you admit you have other interests in purchasing these women? Do you want to tell these fellows about it?"
Archangel's hands were clenching and unclenching on the rifle. Shepard was tense. The men were cheering salaciously. Jack looked like she was ready to pound someone into meatloaf.
The warden spoke quietly to Archangel, but just loudly enough for Shepard to hear with her enhanced hearing, courtesy of Cerberus: "If you don't fuck her here and now, there's no deal and I have my men kill you and her."
Oh that fucking son of a...
Archangel handed the warden his money and strode determinedly up to Shepard. She tensed.
As soon as he reached her, he started quickly backing her against the wall behind the stage. A spotlight followed them, as well as lots of lewd calls and cheers. Shepard looked up into his helmet, her face steeled. Bring it, she thought, mentally preparing herself.
He reached up and pulled off his helmet. If the spotlight wasn't glaring in her face she might have been able to see his features, but for now-Shepard gasped as he licked his long tongue from her collarbone to her jawline. He grabbed her wrists and pulled them up above her head and held them there. He nipped at her neck and lapped at the little pools of sweat gathering there.
And Shepard was actually enjoying it. Her breathing was getting faster and she was barely able to suppress her moans. Maybe all she had to pretend was that it was Garrus. It was hard to not be very conscious of his armor rubbing up against her breasts which were only thinly hidden behind a translucent piece of cloth.
Shepard was jolted out of her hazy-minded reverie by three very quiet clicks above her head.
Oh my god, she realized, he's putting on my omnitool and breaking my cuffs. What a clever bastard.
She could feel her kinetic shields powering up.
Archangel pulled her head to one side and vigorously licked one side of her neck, then by her ear. A quiet moan escaped her.
"I think she's enjoying this more than you," said the warden. Everyone laughed.
Shepard looked into what she thought were his eyes, and wished she knew who this man was.
He drew his hands down along her very contoured sides, then drew them in at her stomach and lowered them even more and hovered over her panties. He moved even closer to her, so they were right up against each other.
He grabbed one of her legs- the one nearest the warden- and pulled it up and put it on his waist, then used one hand to gently stroke her inner thighs. Her cheeks were a fiery red and her breathing was coming faster and faster.
His other hand reached inside his armor and pulled out a very small pistol. He leaned in towards her ear and put the gun in her hands, hidden by her leg.
He nipped and licked her ear. "Shepard..." came a purring voice that sounded so very familiar.
Was he enjoying this as much as she was?
"Shepard... Listen to me."
"Yes," she managed in a moan probably audible to the whole room. She almost didn't care.
"Shepard, it's Garrus."
What...
Whatthefuckholyfuckingshit- Garrus, this whole time, turning her on like his life depended on it... Well, technically it did.
"I need you to listen closely, Shepard. All right?"
"Yes!" she gasped again.
"I'm here with your squad. We're going to save you and Jack, but I need you to follow me and not take chances. All right? At least not until you have your armor."
"You're taking too long!" someone shouted.
Garrus continued. "We're going to fight our way to the ship. Does Jack know you came for her originally?" He was tracing his fingers along the curve of her breasts. Shepard managed a whimper and a nod.
"I'm so glad you're here," she said quietly and breathily, gazing into his eyes.
"Me too," he said. "Me too, Shepard."
Then he kissed her deeply and passionately, just like their kiss at Afterlife. He grabbed her ass and lifted her onto his waist, and she wrapped her legs around him. Then he spun her just enough for her to lift her gun and shoot Warden Kuril in the face.
The next thirty seconds were chaos. Garrus ran towards a table on the ground, his arms around Shepard, and Shepard grabbed Jack and pulled her with him as they went. She could hear Zaeed's laughter across the room and see about 30 mercs and buyers floating biotically.
The mixture of hormones was perfect for her- adrenaline and some other stuff too of course- and she began laughing almost hysterically as she lifted and shot mercs in the face.
The fight in that room was resolved pretty quickly as most everyone was dead or gone in sixty seconds. As soon as things quieted down, the three of them stood and saw Miranda, Zaeed, Kasumi, Mordin and Jacob on the other side of the room looking classy and heroic. Shepard was so happy to see them she almost ran over and hugged them all- then realized that might not blow over so well in her current dress.
"Commander," said Miranda. "Your armor's in the next room."
"Got it," said Shepard, back in "commander phase" again, despite her shirt being see through. "Let me get it on and let's blow this ship the hell up."
"Hell yes," said Jack. "But a little help here first?"
Jack's hands were still cuffed.
"Oh! Right, sorry," said Garrus, and immediately hacked the controls on her multiple cuffs. All of them fell off and Jack practically cackled with joy.
They fought through a few mercs but most of them were already on their ships by the time Shepard had her armor over her outfit (minus the stilettos). Jack was a pretty impressive biotic; she tore out rows of mercs at a time. Shepard was glad, even with all that had happened, that they came for her.
Shepard decided to turn off the orbital sustaining controls and just let the ship burn up in the atmosphere of the planet below versus spending money to plant explosives. It was great to be making decisions again.
They were on the Normandy twenty minutes later and Jack and Shepard were immediately taken to the med bay where Chakwas looked after them and eventually gave them a green light. Then Shepard grabbed a ration pack on her way back up to her quarters, still in her armor. Her crew did not need to see her in her outfit.
When she was in her quarters, she inhaled her ration pack, eventually got out of her armor then her idiotic corset, took a shower and went straight to bed. She didn't want to think about everything that had happened on this cycle.
But she couldn't help it.
The fact that Garrus would risk his life for her in the first place, then- do what he did- it was just so damn sexy.
But he was a turian. And he made it clear back in Afterlife that a potential relationship with her wasn't something he could do. She wasn't sure if he wasn't interested or he just felt that it was inappropriate.
But if he'd felt that kissing her in a club was inappropriate, why was fondling her breasts in a slave auction okay? Even if it was just for show?
Maybe Garrus was just a different man than the one she used to know. He certainly seemed more capable. The Garrus she knew two years before would not have had the confidence- or the cool- to pull off what he did on Purgatory.
What was he been through? Her heart twinged a little bit. She had noticed subconsciously as they fought through some mercs that part of his face seemed cybernetic now... But that must have just been her imagination.
Garrus made himself at home at the forward batteries. He locked himself in the room, calibrating his heart out.
It was her. It really was. Shorter hair yes, skimpier clothes this time around definitely, but it was her. For the first three hours he calibrated after they returned, he was in a state of total shock. Even though he had found out earlier that she was alive, he hadn't really gotten it. She was alive. Now he got it.
After that he was practically in a state of euphoria. He calibrated with all his heart. Shepard was alive. In fact, she was only two stories up. He wished he could go up and just be with her, but he felt it would be inappropriate considering what had happened on Purgatory.
The next morning cycle, Shepard went down to the dining room for breakfast, dressed in her usual officer's wear with her hair in a ponytail. Mordin, Garrus and Jack were sitting at the table eating their own breakfasts. As soon as she walked into the room, she saw Garrus' head swing up from his food and his eyes glimmer at her. She smiled gently and grabbed a real plate of food, willing to take a chance on Gardner's cooking on such a good day.
"Morning, Shepard. Up later than expected," said Mordin.
Shepard placed her plate at the head of the table between Garrus and Jack.
"Good morning," Shepard replied, salting the scrambled eggs.
Garrus looked briefly at Shepard to find her looking at him, then both looked back to their food.
"Oh geez," said Jack, standing up and taking her plate to Gardner.
"Shepard," Mordin started, "aware of stress of last mission. Maybe should wait a bit before going to Korlus."
"No, we're going today," said Shepard. "ETA in two hours."
EDI interjected over the intercom: "That is correct, Shepard."
Mordin shrugged. "Never hurts to rest a day. Also Shepard, told story of turian that needed face patched a few weeks ago? Turian was Garrus!" He pointed to Garrus.
Shepard raised both eyebrows. "Really Garrus, what kind of trouble did you get into on Omega?"
"It's a long story, Commander. Maybe after Korlus?"
"No. I want to hear it now." She bit into her whole wheat toast.
Garrus audibly sighed. "Basically, my feelings got in the way of my better judgment. I'll tell you the whole story later."
"But how did you get the...?" She stroked her jaw.
"Merc gangs fired a rocket at me," said Garrus.
"They did what?" said Shepard loudly.
"Shepard, I'm okay now. Really. Mordin patched me up good- I don't know how he afforded it, but...""Blue Suns owed me money," offered Mordin. Then in a more mischievous voice: "I reminded them."
"Speaking of affording things," said Shepard, "how did you pay the warden?"
"Ah," said Garrus, adjusting his collar. "Forgery. Not from me, but the gangs do some pretty convincing work."
"Uh-huh," said Shepard, chewing nonchalantly.
Mordin stood. "Will be in lab if you need me."
The two of them were silent for a whole minute.
Eventually Garrus stood. "Well, Commander, I had better get back to my calibrations."
"Understood. I'll be in in a half hour or so for debrief."
Garrus inwardly grimaced. Shepard did always have a habit of personally debriefing everyone. "Yes, Commander."
"And Garrus?"
"Yes?"
"It's good to have you on the team again."
Shepard came into the main battery thirty minutes later on the dot. She sat down on a nearby crate.
Garrus worked furiously on his calibrations. Better delay the "talk" as long as possible. Whatever she meant to say, it would suck, and he'd rather not hear it.
"Garrus..." she started out. She wasn't even totally sure what she came in here to say... or find out.
"Garrus, what have you been up to these past two years?"
Garrus stopped his calibrations and turned to face her. "Oh, you know. Odds and ends."
"That isn't an answer."
He shrugged and explained his work in Omega to her- the forming of the squad, the squad makeup, his leadership failures (as he saw them), and finally the betrayal of Sidonis.
"I was wondering why you're so different," Shepard said slowly. "Now it makes sense. You were betrayed."
"I'm not any different," Garrus shot back. "But Sidonis... opened my eyes to the evil in the galaxy. And Shepard, there's lots of it."
"Remember who you're talking to," said Shepard, a quirk forming at the corner of her mouth.
Garrus laughed. "True." There was a brief pause. "And I was told you were on an operating table for two years."
"Yeah. So everything that happened two years ago- including my death- feels like it happened three weeks ago."
"Damn, Shepard."
"I know."
She leaned back. She was appreciating the return of the old camaraderie, but she knew there were some things that she still needed to address.
"Garrus... about what happened... on Purgatory..."
Garrus's mandibles flared out. He watched her face for a moment to gauge what she wanted him to say. "I hope you didn't feel... violated?" he asked lamely.
Shepard laughed. "No Garrus, not at all. I just wanted to... check in with you, see that we were cool." She was blushing furiously, and Garrus would have been too if he could.
"Spirits Shepard, I'm fine. I thought I'd scarred you for life."
Shepard laughed. "Oh, anything but." Realizing the weight of her words, she turned even redder. "What I mean is, I'm not scarred for life."
Garrus' mandibles flared in what she was sure was amusement. "Glad to hear it."
She stood up quickly. "A-anyway, I have duties I need to perform before Korlus as I'm sure you do also. So... I'll talk with you later."
"See you in the shuttle."
Shepard laughed. Before she died, she would always pick him to, as their quote went, watch her six. It was a rare mission that Garrus Vakarian was not on with Commander Shepard.
As Shepard left, a queer feeling of disappointment settled in her stomach. That was when she found out she cared for Garrus Vakarian.
Garrus watched her go. The doors closed behind her and he murmured, "Don't ever leave me again, Jane. I can't do this without you." And he quietly returned to his calibrations.