Laughing with Garrus!
ShepardXGarrus
He keeps wincing at his damn scars… It's driving me insane! I can't talk to him because I'm afraid his face'll spilt into a million pieces! (He could probably say the same thing about me though… ) And I don't think Cerberus would extend the same courtesy of rebuilding his face like that did mine. Don't want Garrus to be burdened with the drudgery of blowing hacked mechs to little bitsies on a Cerberus space station.
Sigh. But I just keep thinking back to when I saw that missile heading straight for him in that God forsaken apartment on Omega… I lost it. (Something that doesn't happen often mind you). Jacob told me I thrashed that gunship with a biotic field so strong Jack got jealous. I guess that's something to be proud of... But it made my implants almost melt into my nerves. I didn't even notice what I had done until Garrus was in the Normandy's infirmary watching Chakwas patch him up. Those moments keep prodding at my mind as well…
When he got up Jacob and I were in the Debriefing room giving overviews about the mission. I was only half listening though. As soon as I heard that door open my eyes shot up to see… Him. His armor scared almost as bad as the left side of his face. He strutted in with an aura of self-reliance that always seemed to put me at ease. "Shepard." He greeted with a nod. All I could do was smile… Oh God I reeeallly It wasn't one of those silly "SQUEEE" smiles teenage girls get when they meet their idols…. ANYWAY! My train of thought of how good the Doc did on his face ended when Jacob said "Tough sunavabitch, didn't think he'd be up yet." Garrus smiled at what Jacob said (I think… You can never tell with these Turians) and Jacob dismissed himself to the armory.
Garrus turned to me with his slight grin (?) and said, "Nobody would give me a mirror… How bad is it?" I thought to myself, "Well, I could either tell you… Or show you.." Not wanting to come off as a Xeno-creeper (yet) I said, "Hell Garrus, you were always ugly," LIES!," slap some facepaint on there and no one will even notice!" Oooo! I love the facepaint! He let out a laugh and then quickly winced while saying, " Ugh, please don't make me laugh. Damnit, my face is barely holding together as it is!"
"Join the club…" I said dryly.
He laughed and winced again, "You know… Some women find facial scars attractive," Damn right they do… "Mind you most of those women are Krogan…" Damn... Remind me to keep you away from female Krogan camps…. Some scaly bitch might seduce you… And kill my if I try to stop her! Oh wait! That's what guns are for!
"Oh Hardy, har har…" I playfully said while giving a mocking wince.
"I am the only Turian you will ever meet that will make you laugh. Don't forget that." He stated clearly catching my joke. You're the only Turian that I want to try to make me laugh, Garrus. Now his tone more serious he came out and said what was on his mind, "Frankly, I'm more worried about you… Cerberus, Shepard… These are the people that thought doing tests on those Thorian-thingies was a good idea, along with ExoGeni. They may have brought you back but… One miracle can't cover up what they've done in the past or what they'll do in the future." I just stared for a second and said to myself… Miracle? He thought bringing me back was a… miracle? I had to pull myself out of the trance to answer him in a serious manner that matched his own. "I know. I hate it. I tried to go back to the Alliance but… When I saw proof that the Collectors taking entire human settlements and that the Alliance was doing absolutely NOTHING to stop them… I had no choice. And besides…" I started in a lighter tone, "Would they really spend billions of credits to rebuild myself and the Normandy just to screw me over with false information that will kill me again?"
He thoughtfully looked at the floor. "I guess… Hope… You're right…"
"When am I ever wrong?" I said smiling.
"Well…." He said jokingly. I giggled after this comment and then we just stared at each other. Something in his eyes changed after that… I couldn't quite place it. Was it happiness? No. Sadness? A little. Something alien (no pun intended) was finally shining through his eyes while we stared at each other… He took a few steps towards me, I don't know what the hell he's doing… but I wouldn't object to him persisting… He put his talon on my shoulder and nearly in a whisper he said, "Thank you, Eve… For everything… I'm… glad you're back." Holy Crap! He never called me by my first name before!
I felt a smile unconsciously creep across my face and a flush of color situate itself on my cheeks. "I-… I am too, Garrus…" Realizing that he'd just used my first name instead of just "Shepard" he broke our gaze Damn… cleared his throat Damn… and said in his normal (if a bit rattled) "I'll a… settle in and uhhh… see what I can do with the forward batteries." And then he practically ran out the door DAMN! I let out a huge breath of air realizing that I was breathing the whole time.
Wow…. That's never happened before. It really hadn't… Even though Kaidan had a… crush (?) on me during the investigation on Saren I never really… saw him the way he saw me… Oh sure he was a handsome fella, but he wasn't what I was looking for. But Garrus… He was… something else. I felt something for him the first time I saw him arguing with Executor Palin over Saren. I haven't been able to shake that feeling even when I woke up I still… felt that exact same thing for him. He was good… really good at hiding his feelings. But after what just happened… he showed me a tiny bit of what was under his mental armor. I want him to show more (no innuendo intended… well maybe a little).
Suddenly I saw a blue, translucent ball on the debriefing table derailing my train of thoughts as it spoke in a monotone voice ,"Shepard, you have been standing the same vicinity for approximately 1 hour and 11 minutes. Do you require medical attention?'
AN HOUR AND 11 MINUTES? Damn…. "No EDI, No. Thank you for concern but I'm just… contemplating battle strategy…" A rather... strange metaphor… "Very well. Logging you out, Shepard."
Sighing I said,"I guess I need to go… do that thing… that involves guns and… stuff…"