"Hey, Doctor, do you have something for my throat?" Shepard stopped short and looked around medbay at two engineers, laying down on beds, coughing and sniffing. "Oh shit."
Dr. Chakwas turned towards her. "Not you as well. Come here, let me take a look at you."
Shepard looked at the other crew members as Dr. Chakwas got her instruments. She had been working with them just two days ago on a problem with the wiring on the ship. "Dammit."
"Hold still," Dr. Chakwas reprimanded her and looked in her mouth, then used her scanner on her. She put her hands on her hips, "Well, it looks like you too."
Shepard held out her palm, "Give me some medicine doctor, and I'll be on my way."
She shook her head, "Unfortunately it's not as easy as that. It's a rare and potentially dangerous virus. You'll have to be on isolation for 4-5 days."
Shepard smirked, "You've got to be kidding. Give me the treatment and I'll be on my way."
Dr. Chakwas folded her arms, "I'm not kidding. So far it's isolated to just the three of you, and I intend to keep it that way."
Shepard narrowed her eyes slightly, "You're serious. Look, I understand you are trying to keep everybody healthy and all, but I have a mission to complete, and I'm not going to let a little cold keep me down for a week." She folded her arms in front of her.
Dr. Chakwas walked towards her, "Commander, this virus strain is more than just a common cold. It has potentially dangerous side effects of heart damage, particularly if patients fail to take precautions-"
Shepard held her hand out, "So I'll take precautions,"
"Yes – to rest."
Shepard looked down at the floor, "I can't believe this," she turned to go.
"Wait a minute," Dr. Chakwas called out, "You have to be under isolation, to protect not just yourself, but the rest of the crew."
Shepard turned at the door back to look at her, "There must be some other way."
"There is not, believe me, I've done my research. I have medicine for you to take. You can stay in your quarters, you don't have to be isolated in sickbay. The virus is contagious to humans and Asari, but not Turians or Krogan."
Shepard eyed her suspiciously, "What about you? Don't you have to take precautions?"
Dr. Chakwas waived her off and laughed, "I've been doing this so many years I've got the immune system of a vorcha. I've had this strain of virus before." She handed her a bottle of medication. "I'll come over once a day to check on you and bring you anything you may need at any time. Don't hesitate to call me over the comm. I'm sending information to your computer about the virus and my recommendations. Any questions?"
Shepard set her lips tight, "No."
"Oh, and by the way, don't get any bright ideas. I have full authority to relieve you of command if you go outside of the infection protocol," she looked her in the eye, "Understood?"
Shepard nodded reluctantly, "Yes, understood."
She left medbay and as the doors closed behind her, she muttered, "Great, just great," and stormed off to her quarters. As she entered her room, she looked down at the bottle of pills in her hand and took one per directions. She brought up her computer, intent on getting ammunition to fight Dr. Chakwas' conclusions. Instead she found there was a high rate of organ damage, not just heart but brain and circulatory system as well if the condition was not closely monitored and managed. Excessive heat had to be avoided with hydration and medication a priority.
She clicked off her computer, "Well, that puts the next mission off." She knew the Alliance military didn't fool around. If she tried to push the issue, Captain Anderson would be put back in command, and her record would be soiled. "Guess I'm on vacation – in my quarters." She got up and remembering what she'd read, drank a large glass of water. She changed into her casuals and went back to her computer, doing research. An hour later she started to feel worse, her eyes a little blurred, coughing. She gave up and went to bed.
A ping at her door woke her up. She sat up and put her hand to her head, "Come in," she called out. She yelled a little louder, "Come in!" she didn't want to get up, but she threw her legs over the bed and groaned. She could feel a fever coming on. She couldn't remember the last time she was sick. She got up and went to her door, opening it.
"Garrus."
He stood in her doorway, smiling, "I brought you something to eat. Can I come in?"
"Yea, yea, I was calling out for you to come in, didn't you hear me?" she looked outside her door at a table by the wall set up with bottles.
He went in past her, "It wouldn't open. I think Dr. Chakwas has it locked out so no one can come in, you can only open it from the inside."
Shepard nodded and closed it behind him. She pointed back, "What was that table of stuff out there?"
He put the box of food on her table, "That's a cleaning station. When we leave we have to spray ourselves with sanitizer to avoid spreading germs around the ship." He stood up straight and got a good look at her, "How are you feeling?"
"Like shit."
"You look like shit."
She laughed. She appreciated how he treated her like a friend, not with kid gloves or reverence like some of the others. "Well, having a deadly virus tends to have that effect on you."
He looked concerned, "It's not really that bad is it?"
She shook her head, "As long as I'm a good patient and follow doctor's orders."
"Which I intend to make sure you do."
"Oh, yeah?" she sat down across him at her table and smiled. She opened the box of food, "How do you intend to do that?"
He sat back in his chair, "Doctor Chakwas asked me to come in and take care of you. I'm going to keep you company, bring you food, whatever you need."
"Be my personal butler and nurse?" she grinned at him.
"I prefer to think of it more as your health assistant."
She laughed, "Well, you're the only one I'd like for the job."
"Good. Go ahead and eat. I'll pick out a vid for us to watch. I've downloaded a whole library of ones I think you'll like."
They watched a vid, and Garrus left. Shepard wondered how Kaidan was taking things, she didn't send him a message, but he was sure to know she was sick. Dr. Chakwas had sent out a general message to the crew.
The next morning she woke up feeling much worse. She took a shower, as cold as she could stand it, and put a t-shirt and sweatpants on. She checked her messages, Dr. Chakwas was coming over later to check on her. Garrus had messaged her several times, asking her to let him know when she was up and wanted to eat. Nothing from Kaidan. She frowned. They had a on again, off again relationship going. It wasn't known to most of the crew, but they weren't blind either. She messaged Garrus she was up. He was there in a few minutes with a box of food and a drink.
"Hey, going casual today I see." He put the food down and came over to see her. He took notice of her red, swollen eyes, her demeanor. "Has the doctor been in to see you?"
She shook her head, "No, she messaged me she'd be over this morning."
He sat down next to her on her bed, "You sound bad too. Have you taken your medicine this morning?"
She shook her head no. "I have to take it with food."
He jumped up and starting setting her food up on the table, "Then sit down and eat. I brought you something to drink too." He looked around and grabbed the medicine from her desk and put it next to her plate. He brought up his omni-tool and messaged Dr. Chakwas to come over.
She stood to walk to the table and ended up falling back down on the bed. Garrus ran over and grabbed her elbow to steady her. "Take your time, I'll help you." She nodded and stood up again, getting her balance before attempting to take a step. Garrus held her by the waist and her arm and slowly walked her over to the table. He gently helped her down on the chair as Dr. Chakwas came in the room. He looked up at her, "She looks much worse today doctor."
Dr. Chakwas walked over and started scanning her with her equipment, "I expected as much. Today and tomorrow should be the worst, then you should start getting better." She gave her a shot. "This should help your immune system. Be looking for signs of vomiting, disorientation. Anything out of the ordinary, let me know." She sighed, "I'd be able to monitor you better if you were in medbay, you know."
Shepard squinted up at her, "The fact that I'm not on Virmire right now is a compromise already, doctor."
Chakwas rolled her eyes and Garrus chuckled. She left her quarters and Garrus turned to her, "Go ahead and eat. I'm going to go out and get some more things to stock up, I'll be back soon."
Shepard nodded and ate the meal he brought her and took the medication. The shot helped, and she did feel a bit better. She got up and went to her bathroom. She heard the ping at her door while she was in, and struggled to hurry up and come out to open it.
Garrus was standing there with a bag and some more boxes of food.
"I've got to give you a code or something so you can go back and forth." She said. He came in the room and put the boxes in her cabinets.
"Here's some food for the today, some snacks and things."
She nodded, "I figured you'd have to get back to work."
He shook his head, "No, calibrations are up to date. Won't be a big deal for a day or so. We're not taking the Mako out anytime soon." He pointed to his duffle bag, "I'm staying here tonight. You need someone to make sure you're okay."
She raised her eyebrows in surprise, "Oh, you don't have to do that, I don't want to put you out."
He stopped and turned towards her, "You're sick and you need someone watching over you. That's me. Unless you want to spend tonight in medbay with the engineers."
She shook her head no, "I really appreciate it Garrus."
"I'd rather be here than worried sick about you in cargo bay."
She smiled. "You're a great friend."
The rest of the day she slept a lot with Garrus working on her computer and keeping a careful watch over her. She ate with his encouragement. Later that night, she started to feel more feverish, and Garrus quickly messaged Dr. Chakwas who came over and gave her another shot, but said it was not anything to worry about.
He sat on her bed watching as the doctor left and she held her hand out to him as he took it and started absentmindedly stroking it.
"You worry too much, Garrus." She said, her voice hoarse.
"Battlefield, I can handle. This – is different."
"I don't know what I'd do without you." She smiled weakly.
He cleared his throat, "Well, it's late, so I'm going to get ready to turn in." he stood up and pointed at her couch, "That is definitely more comfortable than my cot in cargo bay."
She looked up at him as he took his duffle bag, "Why don't you sleep in the crew pods?"
He shook his head, "Wrex and I are too large to fit in those. I'll be back in a minute." He went in the bathroom and she lay back on the pillow, feeling the room spinning.
"Ugh, I can't wait for this to be over." She leaned over and drank some of the water he'd left her at bedside.
He came out of the bathroom dressed in loose shorts and a t-shirt. She put the glass down and tried to hide her surprise. She'd never seen a Turian dressed in so little before. He was surprisingly muscular.
He looked around, "You got extra sheets?"
She pointed to a drawer, and he retrieved them, putting them over the couch. He lay down, "Ah, that is much better. And for a bonus, I won't have to hear Wrex snore."
"How do you know I don't snore?"
He laughed, "I'm sure it's nothing like a Krogan. If so, you have a serious problem."
"True." She reached over and turned off the light.
"Jane?"
"Mm-hm?"
"This won't be an issue with you and Kaidan, will it?"
"What?"
"Me staying here overnight. I don't want to cause problems for you. He understands why, right?"
"I actually don't know. I haven't heard from him since yesterday morning before all this happened."
"Indeed – that is puzzling."
She sighed, "Not really, I think it's just more of an indicator that the relationship we have isn't really a relationship."
"Hm."
She turned over in bed in the darkness towards the direction of his voice, "It's not working out. He hasn't messaged me or anything. What kind of boyfriend is that?"
"I see."
She grunted in frustration, "It's probably for the best. It complicates things, you know."
"I suppose."
"Well, it does if you're both in the Alliance. Chain of command and all that. Not that it doesn't happen all the time, they just expect you to keep it under wraps."
"So, things are definitely over between you two then?"
"You know what, I think so. I always got the feeling he only wanted me because of my position, not who I really am. It was all surface, you know?"
"You mean shallow."
"Yes, that's it. Anyway, whatever. I'm not torn up about it. It's not like he's like you."
Garrus cleared his throat, "Well, goodnight, Jane."
"Goodnight, Garrus. And thanks for being here. I feel better that you're here."