I must say I was surprised when these two had the potentially to hook up in the game. They were always my crack pairing since ME 1 so it was almost surreal... Also the ending had been altered slightly to fight the story.

Tali had been okay with her promotion to Admiral because she was in charge of things she knew inside and out, things she was the leading expert on in the Migrant Fleet. Now, though, the title put a fear into her because it made her the highest ranking quarian known to be stranded on Earth and all of her people looked to her for guidance, for answers, for a way to survive. Garrus, thankfully, suggested she coordinate the quarian and turian engineers, organizing repairs and projects while he dealt with the rest. On top of the other responsibilities that found their way back to him. It often lead to her finding him braced over a desk cluttered with reports, head bowed and sleeping on his feet. Tali would have to tug him over to a cot and at first he woke up every time and protested, claiming he had too much he still needed to get done. Now, though, he barely stirred as she settled them, easing his visor off, resting his head on her lap and lightly stroking the scars that marred his face until she fell asleep.

They weren't going to survive long. She knew this. He knew this. But they never said anything because they'd both lost so much already they didn't want to think about losing each other as well. Almost 80% of the hydroponic pods were reserved for dextro-amino compatible foods but it still wasn't enough. Not with more quarians and turians finding their way to London every day. Rations were spreading thinner and thinner and Wrex had krogan guarding the dextro food storage because of it. She limited herself to one meal a day. Garrus secretly put most of his rations into Primarch Victus's share. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Garrus eat and when she saw his steps wavering as he did his rounds, checking up on his troops, Tali was determined to fix that.

The moment she'd finished her meeting with a salarian science team (they needed to find a way off the planet, they needed to find one that was dextro-amino based, that was the only way her people and Garrus's people would be able to survive), she cornered her teammate in a shadowed area of the motor pool, between a couple tanks fit only for salvage and the Thames River. She shoved a ration bar at his chest and demanded, "Eat."

Garrus tried to laugh and wave it off but his eyes weren't focusing exactly right. "I've already had my allotted food for the day."

"Like hell. Eat, you stubborn bosh'tet, or I'll have Wrex cram it down your throat."

They stared each other down for a moment, but Tali was full of righteous stubbornness and all Garrus had was self-inflicted starvation. He sighed and went over to the railing that looked over the river. He sat, unwrapped the bar and took a bite. Satisfied, Tali took a seat next to him, close enough so their arms brushed together. Both would rather stare out at the silhouette of the Reaper crashed into the river than look over the camp. It was difficult to see the physical change in turians- even more so in quarians -but they could see it in the hunched shoulders and gaunt angles of limbs. Their people were slowly starving. They were slowly starving. They helped saved the galaxy three times over and now they were doomed to die a slow, lingering death, far from their homes and families.

"What a way to go," Garrus said, almost under his breath.

"We're not gone yet."

"Unless there's a miracle, it won't be long."

"Don't say that." But Tali's voice was weak because she knew it was true.

They stayed silent for a moment, the sun on their backs, before Garrus said, "I'm sorry you're stuck here. After finally getting your homeworld back... I'm sorry."

Briefly Tali's hand touched one of her pouches. The one with the rock Shepard had given her on Rannoch. The small piece of her home she carried with her everywhere. "I'm sorry you didn't get a chance to see your father and sister again."

"They're safe." It sounded like he was trying to convince himself. "With the Reapers dead, I'm sure they're safe."

"That's why you need to eat. So you can see them again."

Garrus just laughed, a strained, bitter thing. Tali wrapped her arm around his, pressing her helmet against his shoulder and trying so damned hard not to break. "Don't leave me alone here."

"You won't be alone. There's still Wrex and Liara."

"But they're not you." Her grip tightened and Tali hadn't felt so young since her Pilgrimage. "Don't leave me."

There was a sound, something between a purr and a coo, that vibrated low in Garrus's throat as he nuzzled against Tali's helmet. "I won't." It wasn't some empty platitude or a selfish boast. Just a soft promise to do the best he could. "Us dextros have to stick together, after all."

Tali just nodded and held him close.