There she was at the end. In the warmth and the glow of the white light which seemed to come from no particular point. There she stood in front of two doors. The one on the left alliance blue and the door on the right Palaven blue. She stood there contemplating what door to walk into. She loved both of them at one point and broke things off with Garrus when the war started but she never let him go. Always thinking that she fucked up when she chose kaidan. She told herself that it was because of politics and that the galaxy wasn't ready for a Turian-human couple, but why should she care? She was saving the galaxy and it shouldn't have mattered who she was with. But she chose kadian anyways. Would he even want to she her again after the war now that it was all said and done?
Gathering all her strength she walks into the door on the right. There he was sitting at the bar he said he would meet her at. Drowning his sorrow alone. He looked so young and he was in the civvies that he wore during the week they all vacationed on the Silver Sun Strip. She just stood there looking at him and wondering what he was thinking. What if it was hateful thoughts about her. She couldn't think about that now. Now that she couldn't turn around because the door behind her disappeared. That small gesture made her think that she had made the right choice, but she was still nervous. Why was she nervous, she was Commander Shepard savior of the galaxy three times and friend to everyone. She has faced people before that she knew disapproved, but what Garrus said was more important to her than anyone else.
"Is this seat taken?"
"No… why aren't you with Kaidan?"
"I think I realized that I fucked up those years ago. Even though I was with him he was never the person I would go to when I had a problem. Even after I broke up with you. That's not love. He doesn't deserve someone who won't listen to him, and I guess my stupid brain thought that you would somehow give me a second chance now that there isn't a war going on and we literally have all the time in the galaxy. There is no reason to think that one of us may not return and have to live with a dead lover on our conscious for the rest of our days. So Garrus Vakarian will you give me a second chance?"
He was quiet for a while, thinking back to the SR2 when she came in and told him that she just wanted to be friends, and how she would always come down to him when she had a problem. He even asked about it few times. She would always brush it off or change that subject to avoid answering the question.
He poured her a drink something that smelt strong and had a dark brown color, then slid the glass to her. She hesitantly pick it up and sipped from it. She wasn't really a heavy drinker and had only been drunk a few times in her life. Then he started to speak.
" When you broke things off… I was lost for a while. I thought that I had found someone who would be with me the rest of my days.
"Garrus" she tried to interrupt. tears threatening her eyes but he continued like her didn't hear her.
"I thought that we would be together forever. Ha how naive, I guess I hadn't grown up as much as I thought I did. Then tali came trying to pick up the pieces but she had her own lover problems with Kal'Reeger dieing and so we didn't really do anything and finally decided that we were both hopeless romantics and that we were more like family than lovers. Then after the war I ended up becoming the primarch and ended up becoming too swamped with the rebuilding process. I never found another mate."
"Garrus" she was talking in a very low volume because if talked any louder she wouldn't be able to control her voice. "I thought… I thought. I don't know what I thought. I let public scrutiny get in the way of who I really was. But now I wish I could have changed that, so that I didn't have to be here pleading for someone to love me like I loved you all along. I don't think that I ever stopped. That was the reason I would always come down to see you on the SR2 even after I broke your heart, you were still the only person who I cared about and I would hinge on your every work like it was the bible to a religious person. You the most important thing in the galaxy to me and I let bullshit get in the way." She sips from the glass again and slams it onto the bar top, shattering the glass. She watches the liquid slowly pool up and then trail to the edge of the counter and drip off.
drip
drip
drip
She was so focused on the liquid that she hadn't even noticed Garrus get up and grab a towel and the medkit from behind the bar. He puts the towel over the mess and wipes off the counter then proceeds to open the medkit and address her wound. She hadn't even noticed the shards of glass in her skin and the dripping of blood on the counter.
He takes a pair of tweezers from the kit and starts to pull out the tiny shards of glass, then applying medi gel and finally bandages. Never making eye contact.
"I'm a mess aren't I? If you don't want me here just show me the door. That way at least it will be clear then." Then it appeared right where it was before. She started to make her way to it only looking behind her once to see Garrus' back turned to her.
When she got to the door she looked behind herself again still seeing the back of him made her heart clench so tight she couldn't breath. When she turned back to the door it was gone again. Then she felt the familiar hand on her shoulder. She turned around to see his face. Younger but the scare was still there and his eyes as blue as the ocean. She fell onto him crying in his arms. They both slowly fell onto the floor. Shepard in Garrus' arms crying and him thrumming in his chest. Something in between happy and sad.
" I-I thought you were going to let me go."
" Not going to lie I was. You broke my heart and I wasn't sure that I could allow it again. But the more I thought about it I realized that you were the single most important thing in my life and, letting that go would have been the dumbest thing that I have ever done."
"Are we going to be okay?"
"Yeah in the end we'll be okay. There's no Shepard without Vakarian, you know that."