Maggie Shepard and Garrus Varkarian Oneshot
Shepard put down the datapad, rubbing the sleep from her tearing eyes. She had been up for hours pouring over available data Edi had on the Reapers. It didn't help that there was little to no data at all. Of course, there were things she already knew. The Reapers wiped out the Protheans, they lived fifty thousand years ago. Shit like that did not ease her mind of the suicide mission the Illusive Man was sending her in on.
Shepard needed to be ready. She looked up, her eyes roving over the ceiling of her bedroom. A shadow quickly skittered across the light, sending it onto the ceiling. Jumping and her heart pounding, she laughed. It was silly. Some little bug had gotten into her quarters. So hyped up about Reapers and the suicide mission, she was amped to do something.
Was it truly all right to risk all her friends on this mission? Or friends she's made? Thane just getting back in touch with his son. Jacob knowing what happened to his father. Garrus getting revenge or coming close to getting revenge on Sidonis. The group of people who gathered around her finally had their lives on straight. Would it be right for her to ask them to risk all that and kill themselves? Shepard shook her head, such heavy thoughts were poison late at night.
Humming tunelessly, she got ready for bed, pulling off the leather overalls. Another shadow jumped across her ceiling and wall. Shepard sighed in annoyance. She couldn't be jumping every few minutes at a shadow. Now she would have to go bug hunting.
Shepard grasped the shoe she had just flung off her foot and approached her desk with the look of a hunter: face scrunched together, knees bent to get a better jump on the damned thing. What she wasn't prepared for was an eight-legged passenger just sitting on her datapad, staring at her with those eight tiny, creepy eyes.
She jumped back, stifling a scream. Shivers involuntarily crawled over her skin, poky, hairy legs pushing into her flesh. "No. No. No. I will not..." Her sentence trailed off as she squeezed herself into a corner between the wall and her bed. "I can't. I can't!" Her breath came in fast, panic seizing her chest as she tried to think of something.
Who could she call this late at night to kill a spider and not end up looking like an idiot? No one. That's who. Shepard couldn't sleep with a spider crawling all over her quarters as it pleased. What if crawled onto her? What if it crawled into her mouth?
Shepard jumped from her spot in the corner to her door where the comm was. She paused, looking at the buttons. Who was she going to call? Garrus. Yes, Garrus. The Turian would definitely make fun of her, but he would get it done. She stabbed the comm button, ignoring the pain that flared into the tip of her finger. "Garrus," she whispered. Shepard let go of the button. No answer. "Garrus!" That time louder. Still no answer.
Shepard threw on a robe and stalked out of her room, into the elevator and down two levels. She found herself on the crew deck. Dim lights lit up the empty deck. She made her way to the main battery, something she could do in her sleep.
Shepard paused outside the main battery, standing back far enough as to not to set off the motion sensors. Did she honestly need Garrus to kill a small spider for her? She could stand in front of a Reaper, stomach barely clenching in fear, but a spider. A spider would send her hiding under the bed if she could guarantee there would be no more spiders.
Sighing, she stepped forward, the door swooshing open. The room was barely lit by small lamps attached to the walls. Shepard could see Garrus hanging unattractively off of his cot, mandibles quivering in time with his snores. One arm was thrown over half of his face, the other resting on his keel. "Garrus!" She said it louder than she did on the comm.
Garrus startled awake, his movements graceful as he pulled his gun from under his pillow and aimed it straight at her, claw poised on the trigger. Shepard took a step back, uncertain he wouldn't pull the trigger. Garrus' eyes were still partly closed, staring at her. He dropped it into his lap when he realized who it was. "Shepard, it's," he looked at his clock, "three in the morning. What do you need?" Garrus rubbed his hand over his spikes and put his gun back under his pillow.
"A spider, Garrus," Shepard said. She held her fingers a few inches apart. Her stomach flipped when she told him about it. Shepard didn't want to look weak in front of anyone, but something so small that could take her out. Well, that fucking scared her. "It's huge! Can you please, pretty please come kill it?"
Garrus rubbed his hand over his face once more, eyeplates furrowed deeply. "Can't you kill it?"
"That's just it! I can't. I just can't get close to it. Don't make me." Shepard shivered, pulling her body into itself.
"Fine."
Shepard jumped up and down for joy. The joy spread into her chest, filling her with warmth. Maybe he wouldn't make fun of her.
"Could you turn around? Or leave? I need to get dressed." Her face flushed. Part of her wanted to stay and watch him get dressed. Ever since she approached him about blowing off steam, she thought of him more often.
It wasn't a crush, she realized when she turned to leave. The door swooshed closed behind her. Shepard was alone with her thoughts as she waited.
Garrus came out in a sweater and sweats. He was straightening the hem as she stood in front of him. "Come."
Garrus stood in the office portion of her quarters, presumably looking for the spider. "How big did you say it was?" he asked, glancing back at her.
Shepard squeezed between the wall and Garrus, holding her fingers a few inches apart while staying mute. If she stayed quiet, the spider couldn't hear her then it couldn't find her. She led him to the desk, pointing at the dark datapad. There was no spider. "It was there! I swear!" Cautiously, Shepard approached the datapad, watching for any shadow or eight-legged freak. "I'm sorry."
Garrus approached her desk far more confidently than she did, turning over the datapad and papers that were scattered across it. "It probably went back to its web."
She shivered again, skipping away from the desk and onto her bed. "That's disgusting, Vakarian."
Garrus cracked a smile through the glass. "It won't bother you."
"But it will, Vakarian. Haven't you heard of the fact? We all swallow eight spiders in our sleep a year." Shepard huddled under her blankets, unwilling to take off her robe in fear of a spider crawling on her skin.
"Extra protein," Garrus said. "I'll see you in the morning. Or in a few hours."
"Garrus, please stay. I can't stand the fact I would be in the room alone with that blood sucking spider." Another smile appeared on his mouth for a second. It seemed to amuse him, her fear. Shepard glared at him, her blanket hiding the lower half of her face. "Please."
Garrus sighed. He walked down the steps and sat on her couch, grabbing the blanket folded on the back of it. "Good night Shepard. Don't let the spiders bite." Amusement laced his voice as he turned away to face the couch.
Shepard settled down into her bed, pillow cool on her head. She breathed deeply, watching the breathing form of her big, brave Vakarian. "Good night Garrus."
A/N: Hope you enjoyed it.