I.

Shepard sat in the dark, quiet of her quarters on the new SR2. It had been three weeks since Horizon and Kaidan's letter, only a couple of days since Garrus had tracked down Sidonis. She'd stopped him from killing his former team member. Garrus was angry and giving her a wide berth, and she wasn't in the mood for her normal rounds. With Garrus angry she'd begun thinking on all her old team members and how they'd reacted to her reappearance. She didn't really know what she thought would happen with Kaidan, but she hadn't expected him to attack her verbally. She was angry with herself for her inability to respond to his accusations. She'd just been so unprepared for his reaction.
'No,' she decided, 'I do know what I expected,' and from the man she loved, who claimed to love her in return Jarris Shepard expected more relief and less aggression. Something more like Garrus' reaction, she realized. Garrus was still not really speaking to her, and when he did he was very curt and to the point. Her thoughts turned toward her closest friend and most trusted ally. He had just accepted that it was her, there in the hideout on Omega, even when she wasn't sure she was herself. He hadn't asked her to prove she was the same Shepard he'd known. Which she was thankful for because she didn't know how to do that even now, weeks later. She felt like herself, but as a clone would she feel different? Wouldn't she feel like herself no matter the circumstances?
She'd spent countless hours pondering this between the small tasks that The Illusive Man, Cerberus, and the crew were asking of her and gathering supplies for upgrades and the actual upgrades themselves. She still had no answers, and wondered what it was that had Garrus so convinced she was herself. Tali had seemed to accept that she was not a copy, and Shepard understood completely that the duties to her people were now the Quarian's top priority. She even understood Liara's need to find the Shadow Broker was something that could not be put aside after so long searching for him. Hell, even Kaidan's loyalty to the alliance she understood, she just didn't understand how he could be so hateful. She knew that, after the loss of his team, Garrus didn't really have anything else in the works, but why follow her? He could have done any number of things, and he'd chosen to join her crew once more.
Shepard stood abruptly. "EDI, located Garrus for me." To hell with the fact that he was royally pissed with her for interfering in his plans for the traitorous member of his team, she needed to know why he didn't doubt who she was.
"Officer Vakarian is in the Main Battery." Said the metallically, cheerful voice.
"Of course, thanks EDI." The AI logged her out and Shepard made her way down to Garrus' duty station.
The doors swished open and his back was to her as usual. She waited while he finished the string of numbers he was tweaking and let the doors close behind her.
"Something you need, Shepard?" He asked without ever having turned to see who'd entered. His voice was not normal, but there was less anger than the last time they'd spoken.
"How do you do that?" She asked slightly irritated.
"What?" He was curious as to her odd tone.
"Know it's me without turning to check the door." She clarified. "How did you know it was me and not some copy that showed up on Omega? No one else seems to be able to tell."
"Oh, that," he was silent, and she could see him thinking how to answer. "You want the official story or the truth?" He gave her a look that was honest in it's questioning.
"The truth would be nice."
He cleared his throat. "We…Turian's…uh," he started hesitantly. Shepard caught the brief panic that flashed across his eyes, and the nervous flutter of his mandibles.
"I won't bite, Garrus. I just really need to know how you are so sure I'm me." Her voice dropped, became tentative. "How do you know I am now who I was before?" She was staring at the deck plating, and didn't see him shut off the console.
"Is that what this is all about, Shepard? Are you afraid that Cerberus did something?" He was starting to worry now.
"I just don't know how I'd know if I'm me or a clone or even a bot with a Shepard VI running." For anyone that didn't have the exceptional hearing of the turian race she would not have been easily heard. "Is Kaidan right?"
She heard the oath that Garrus let loose in his native tongue. "I'll kill him," he said at last. He took her chin in the fingers of one hand and lifted her gaze to his. "I knew it was you by the way you did, well, everything. There is a specific way that you walk, you favor your left knee, so your hips sway just so. The way you've always rolled your shoulders when bored or have been doing something tedious for too long. The way you pop your knuckles before we get into a battle. The little almost snort at the end of your laugh. You know things that only the real Shepard would know, references to things that happened on the first Normandy, conversations that no one was witness to. Then," he hesitated again, "there's your scent."
"I smell." She sounded mesmerized looking into the bright blue, alien eyes.
"Everyone smells, doesn't mean its bad. Turians have amazing olfactory senses, I got familiar with your scent on the original Normandy. All those times the team would hang out in your quarters and play poker, I was surrounded by the pheromones that make you, well, you. I was almost sure from watching you through the scope, and as soon as you entered the room on Omega, I was certain it was you because your scent wasn't any different than before."
Suddenly, her arms were around him and she'd thrown herself against him. She hadn't noticed before that he was out of armor, and she kinda liked that she could hug him with out the bulky gear in her way. She'd wanted to hug him since he'd removed the helmet on Omega. "Thank you, Garrus." She buried her face against him and he felt her shaking with emotion. Garrus was a little nonplused for a moment, but wrapped her in his arms and let her hold on as long as she needed.
"Any time, Shepard." He lay the uninjured side of his face atop her head and breathed in that unique scent that had convinced him irrevocably that she was the Shepard he'd thought lost forever. "Shepard," he hesitated to bring this up, but knew that he needed to clear the air.
"What is it?" She still had her face pressed to him and he could feel the moist warmth of her breath as she spoke.
"I wanted to thank you for stopping me. You were right. I'd have regretted killing Sidonis. It took a few days of introspection, but I'm glad you were there to look out for me, to risk our friendship protecting me from myself." He tightened the grip he had on her as she let out a shuddering sigh.
"You always have my six, Garrus. I thought it was time you understand that I've got yours too. Even if you don't think you need it."
"That's the point that I need it most, when I don't think I do." He rubbed his mandible across the silky, black curls on her head enjoying the strange sensation.
"Any time, Garrus. I'm here if you need me too." She said, and started to pull away. "Hey, I thought you turian bad boys wore your armor constantly."
"I was just back from a shower, and an idea struck on optimizing the Thanix Cannon's recharge time, I got sidetracked and forgot all about it."
Shepard laughed hard at that. "You and those calibrations, Garrus, I swear." She absently pecked his mandible and took her leave. "Good night, Garrus."
"Night, Shepard." He watched her leaving with his fingers unconsciously touching the place she'd pecked.
"Call me Jay, Garrus, my closest friend's always have." She called back over her shoulder.
"Maybe I will, as long as we aren't on duty, Jay." Then she was gone, and he headed to bed. A couple days later Garrus found himself telling her the story of his sparring match, and accepting her proposal to hold a tie breaker of their own. He knew that he wanted more than he let on, and he hoped she did too. Then the crew was taken and he learned that he'd never get enough of this woman. After the collectors were destroyed and the Shadow Broker replaced with Liara he found out that she wanted more too.