He sat quietly in the shuttle, his eyes only for the picture in his hands. He would have looked almost peaceful to anyone who didn't know him, or why he was there at all. Perhaps another turian might have recognised the emotional hurricane that was spinning inside him, maybe his father, or sister. As it was, the shuttle was occupied by four of the only people in the universe who could truly understand the mission they were on; Zaeed Massani, Londoner, merc and one-time head of the Blue Suns; Tali'Zorah vas Normandy, quarian, admiral of the Migrant Fleet; Dr. Liara T'Soni, asari, archaeologist and Shadow Broker; and James Vega, Alliance marine, shameless womaniser and all-round Pacific coast bad boy.
After the fall, after the Reapers had been destroyed, Garrus had immediately attempted to launch a rescue mission to save Artemis, the legendary Commander Shepard. He had barely taken two steps before nearly falling unconscious. Being side-swiped by an exploding Mako tank, it turned out, was not all that good for your health.
A few hours later, though, he had recovered and was already organising a rescue party. After Tali and the Normandy's engineers, except for Adams, who was still in the infirmary, had fixed the Normandy's drive core, they wasted no time in getting back to the Citadel. It took them a week to do, with the relays down.
But now they were here, thanks to Joker using the nearby stars gravity to slingshot them to Earth. The crew had split into two teams. Jacob, Jack, Samara, Wrex, Traynor and Ashley had taken the other shuttle. Miranda, Javik and Dr. Chakwas were coordinating the search from the Normandy.
But, despite their best efforts, they were still no closer to finding her after three days. All the medical statistics said that she was already dead. With no water, food or medi-gel, Shepard should not, could not, have survived this long. But Miranda had put better odds on her cybernetics. There was so much synthetic in her, Miranda had argued, that she may well still be alive. No one voiced the obvious flaw, that the Crucible, along with the Reapers, the geth and EDI, had probably fried her synthetic parts.
It was the only hope that he could cling to. The only chance she had left. He had only ever told her once. Only when she had made the final run to the beam did he tell her that he loved her. No jokes, no awkward 'reunion protocols', just the straight truth. For his sake, more than anything, she couldn't be dead.
Spirits, please, he begged to himself. Not now. Not after everything. Please, don't take her away from me.
"30 seconds to the LZ!" Cortez shouted from the front. The team stood up, ready to disembark, but Garrus remained where he was, still staring at the picture. Tali leaned over, and place a hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find her, Garrus." She encouraged him. "We'll find her." Garrus lowered his hand, placing the other on his shoulder, holding on to Tali's hand for a moment, before he too stood up. The shuttle touched down, and Cortez opened the door. The five stepped out.
"I'll wait here." Cortez spoke over the radio. "Contact me if you find anything."
"Roger that." Garrus opened a channel to the Normandy. "Miranda, we're at the site." He activated his omni-tool, as did the rest of the group. "Can you focus the search through our omni-tools?"
"I'm picking up bio-signs roughly 200 metres to your left. You'll have a five metre zone to search."
"Got it." He immediately jogged away to the site, leaving the others to try and catch up. Although they had spent several hours that day alone following false leads, and the others were physically exhausted, Garrus couldn't give up on her. And that thought alone drove him on.
He came to the site, and brought up his omni-tool. He scanned the environment, and found the target behind a pile of rubble. He turned the corner, and his hopes were dashed once again.
"It's just a keeper. Nothing more." He relayed to the team and the Normandy. "Damn."
"Sorry, Garrus. I'll do another scan." Miranda spoke back, sensing his dejection.
"Sure," he mumbled to himself. "Another scan." He was about to move away, when the keeper wandered off, kicking a sheet of rusted metal out of the way. It revealed something that caught his eye, and immediately his hope soared: the label 'N7'. He moved towards it with trepidation. The last time he had found that label, it had belonged to a half-mauled marine who was stationed on the Citadel when it had been captured.
With shaking hands, he grasped the edge of the metal, and lifted it away. It was heavier than it looked, but he managed to heave it to one side. He looked back at the marine – and straight into the face of his beloved. He had found her!
"Bravo team, I've found her! I repeat I've found her!" He nearly shouted into the mike. "Transmitting coordinates now." He pressed the locator button on his omni-tool, then he leaned in and placed a finger on her neck, just over her carotid artery. A faint, slow and arrhythmic pulse was present, but after ten days, a pulse was all he needed.
"Joker, she's alive! Spirits above, she's alive! Swing the Normandy round now…"
They had taken her to the emergency medical facility in London, being the closest hospital they could get to without the relays. The chief consultant on site had found her an operating theatre in minutes, and she was rushed in without further ado. The entire Normandy crew had waited outside the theatre in St. Barts, one of the only buildings left standing after the invasion, for hours. Every time a nurse or surgeon came in or out, Garrus would almost threaten them with questions, until one of the others – usually Tali – calmed him down. Eventually, exhaustion took them, as one by one they went back to their bunks on the Normandy. Eventually only Garrus, with Tali sleeping on his shoulders, was left. But no matter how exhausted he was, sleep wouldn't find him.
The next morning, Dr. Chakwas, who had helped oversee the surgery, came out, and sat next to him.
"Well?" He said, never a man more desperate. "Did she…"
"We managed to stabilise her." Dr. Chakwas started, the bags under her eyes betraying her exhaustion. "It seems that the Illusive Man had implanted software into her implants to protect them from the Crucible. Sneaky bastard. We have her on a drip to restore her fluids and energy levels. She's still critical, but the next 24 hours will decide it. There's nothing more we can do but wait… and pray, I guess. You can go in if you want, both of you. If you need me, I'll be on the Normandy, though probably fast asleep." She punctuated her assertion with a deep yawn, and when she looked around, Garrus had gone. He was already in the theatre, sitting on the chair next to her bed, both hands around her left, his head bowed, as if in prayer. For all the doctor knew, he might well have been.
Vega came down the corridor then, and saw him with Shepard. A shared look with Karin said everything, and he picked up Tali's sleeping form and carried her back to the Normandy with the doctor.
The next day passed by theatre 9 in a blur. As the Normandy crew either slept off their exhaustion or helped around the hospital area, Garrus sat next to Artemis, hoping beyond hope that she would wake up. At some point, he fell asleep, his head resting over her stomach. As he slept, his dreams took him back to the final assault. The Mako clipping his side; Tali, of all people, half carrying, half dragging him up the Normandy's hangar bay ramp; the look on Shepard's face as she turned and headed towards the beam.
He was just remembering the time where they had first gotten together, just behind the Thanix battery – the banter about 'letting off steam' and 'reach and flexibility' bringing a smile to his face – when he felt something. It took him a moment to realise that it was Shepard. He lifted his head, slowly, hoping beyond all hope, and looked up to see her smile weakly back at him. And the last shred of turian dignity he had left finally abandoned him, as he broke down into tears of pure joy.
"Hey, Garrus." She whispered. "So, a turian in a London hospital. You come here often?"