Nirvana for Shepard would be a refreshing drink in her hand filled to the brim with tiny umbrellas on some remote, untouched beach with Garrus at her side. Not on some icy shithole planet, named Nirvana.
The planet, once under Alliance authority, had now become one the many fueling stations for the growing pirating parties of the Exodus Cluster. And it had become her job to scout out the once automated ice cracking facility and report back on measures to take it back.
Instead of successfully getting intel on the base, a newly reinstated model of the Mako was now head first into a snowbank from the thousands of meters it fell from beneath the facility, with Shepard at the wheel.
Shepard's side pressed into Garrus' with her left leg bent awkwardly to the side. Pain shot up from the leg, causing her to bite back a cry. Her leg may have been successfully replaced almost two years ago with cloned tissue, put it still ached and throbbed when put to the test. The cold weather that seeped into her skin wasn't helping matters either.
She pushed herself up from Garrus as panicking alarms called out at her. Thrashing winds and sleeted ice crashed against the Mako as they tried to gain their composer. The view from the windows was completely blocked and filled with snow.
"Well, shit." Shepard cursed as she hit the boosters, but it was not enough to free them from the snow bank. Shepard pushed back her cropped hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "I hate the Mako."
"Oh, but how I've missed it." Garrus coughed out as he almost routinely began shutting off and powering down the needed systems. "Shields are fried, cannon and machine gun are unresponsive, and I think we may have lost the back axis about a third of the way through the fall."
He reached out to pull the onboard computer towards him and looked over the damages. "This is actually quite impressive, if she were on fire, I'd say this would be your best work yet, Shepard."
Shepard scrunched up her nose at him, trying not to laugh as she sent out a distress call to the Normandy . They were stranded and had no way of getting out on their own.
"This time is totally not my fault."
"You drove off the side of a cliff," Garrus stated.
"It's this damn storm! I couldn't see!" Shepard threw up her arms in frustration and lightly huffed as she spoke. "I may be the savior of the Galaxy, but I can't control the weather, not yet anyway, I'm working on that."
Through the raging snow storm, Shepard hadn't even seen the cliff's edge until the Mako had already been over it. The storm wasn't even supposed to come this way through their excavation, but that was just their luck.
"How long are you going to keep using that title to try to get out of trouble?"
A smile pulled at her lips as she leaned over and pecked a kiss onto his brow. Her dog tags shifted under her armor as she moved towards him with her engagement ring in between the tags pressing tightly into her chest. "Forever, so get used to it."
She grunted as she leaned back into her seat, more shooting pain ran down her back with her left leg growing stiffer under her armor. Her hands useless rubbed at her side in hopes to relief the pain.
Ever with the extensive reconstructive surgery, resources were limited, she was never going to completely back normal. Reconnaissance missions were going to most she could handle, and even somehow she found a way to fuck that up.
"How are you holding up?" Garrus asked with concern.
"I've been better," Shepard said, trying to keep her voice light. "But are you alright? You got knocked around too." She reached over to him while lightly placing her hand on his scarred jaw.
Garrus leaned into her hand as he spoke. "My visor got tossed around somewhere, but other than that I'm fine, how about your leg? You were already complaining about this morning."
"Don't worry about it; it's just a little stiff."
"Want me to massage it?" Garrus flicked his mandible into a smile as patted his thigh for her to place leg.
Shepard perked up at the offer and kicked her leg into his lap. "You spoil me."
"Anything for the love of my life who just loves to hurdle herself off cliffs," he said while quickly stripping his gloves off.
Shepard gave a relaxed sigh as a reply while leaning into Mako's door to get into a better position.
Garrus' talons quickly unfastened her left armored greave, exposing the under armored leg underneath to the cold air. Shepard shivered as it cut through her skin.
"Need help warming up too?"
Shepard laughed in response while pressing her leg into his. "First, get to work big guy."
Rough, leathered hands worked their way up and down her leg, slowly massaging away the knots. After several minutes, with her guard down, Garrus carefully traced his talons across her calf muscle, knowing she was ticklish there. Shepard couldn't help but snort.
"Bastard."
"I try." Garrus laughed as continue to ran his hands over her.
Shepard sunk back trying to think of sitting on the side of a beautiful beach to keep herself warm. Why were they freezing their asses off for the Alliance again?
Shepard closed her eyes and sighed. As much as she complained about working, staying still, wasn't something Shepard could easily do. With the Galaxy still in upheaval, people still dying, still trying to get by with the aftermath of the war, relaxing just didn't seem right. But these moments, even at trapped at the bottom a cliff, made her want something more than just constantly working.
Ten more minutes had passed with her muscles more relaxed, and there was still no word from the Normandy. The backup generator would last at most several hours. Any more and they'd be shit out of luck.
Shepard leaned back over at his side and tried to place her head on his neck, only to be annoyed with their armor in the way.
"So how do you see us getting out of this one?" Garrus asked as he curled an arm around her.
"We'll just have to wait for the storm to pass and we can dig the old girl out, and I can watch you fix her up."
Garrus fluttered his mandibles in her hair as a response. "No way in hell am I going out there just to freeze to death."
"Oh, but you be so good at fixing Mako for me, why else do you think I brought you along some much?" Shepard giggled while he tickled her scalp.
"I was hoping it was for my sparkling personality and good looks."
Shepard turned towards him and grabbed at his neck, nuzzling a kiss in him as she spoke. "That too."
He returned the gesture with a happy vibrating hum as the computer beeped a message finally came through. She kept her lips trailing up his neck until the inane beeping grew louder.
Shepard rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the computer. " Normandy says we have about an hour or so until the storm passes, and then they'll send help to get us out. And here I was looking forward to putting you to work. "
"You could in other ways," Garrus' voice trailed off with his talon trailing down her exposed leg.
"Maybe we'll just have to huddle for warmth just to survive?" Shepard laughed while grabbing his hand and guided him back to the more spacious area of the Mako.
It may not be at the side of a beach with a heat lapping down upon her, but being trapped in the Mako had its benefits with Garrus at her side.