Shepard leaned against the counter, peeling an orange with a concentration that bordered on obsessive. She wanted to avoid the sticky messiness of puncturing the flesh of the fruit from peeling too quickly. At the same time, however, she wanted to eat it before she lost interest and decided it was too much work for a quick midnight snack.
She was so engrossed in this activity that she didn't even hear the faint swoosh of the kitchen's doors opening and letting in Garrus. Watching bemusedly, the turian stood as still as possible, willing his breath to quiet so that he could watch his Commander without interrupting her. She wore only her sleeping clothes, a beat-up tank top and baggy grey pajama bottoms. Her feet were bare, and for once her old gang tattoos were visible; three circles formed by snakes biting their own tails.
Meanwhile, Shepard finally managed to peel off the last of the skin, and whispered a quick victory whoop under her breath. Tossing away the orange peel with a victorious flourish, she plucked away a wedge of the orange and gobbled it up, uttering a small moan of pleasure and contentment.
Garrus coughed lightly, alerting Shepard to his presence. She flinched, nearly dropping her orange in her surprise.
"Dear God! Garrus, you nearly scared me out of my skin!" Shepard laughed, placing a hand over her racing heart.
"I guess we know where all the oranges have been disappearing to now," Garrus teased, pointing to the stolen fruit in Shepard's palm. She shuffled from foot to foot uneasily, but was smiling all the same.
"I'm sure Gardner would be pleased to know where all of his oranges have gone." Garrus chuckled, his mandibles clicking quietly. Shepard cocked her hip, and raised one eyebrow. Garrus felt a faint fluttering in his chest; Shepard's feminine curves were much more obvious when she wasn't wearing combat armor.
"Well that's too bad, because he's not going to know, now is he?" She plucked away another slice of the orange and offered it to Garrus. He accepted the stolen fruit with relish and nibbled at it.
"I guess he doesn't have to know. We can always say one of the crew tossed them because they smelled bad, or something." Garrus replied.
"Besides, it's not like he was doing anything worthwhile with them. Just tossing them into his god-awful cooking, that's all. This is almost a mercy for the poor oranges." Shepard laughed, setting the fruit down on the counter and licking the orange juice off her fingers.
"When you say it that way, I guess it is." Garrus agreed, finishing off his slice and reaching for another. Between himself and Shepard, the fruit never had a chance. Licking the last vestiges of the orange from her fingers, Shepard smiled in a satisfied way, and leaned a little closer to Garrus. Her short-cut hair fell around her face in a messy, but highly attractive way, which Garrus noticed for the first time.
"So, what were you coming to the kitchen for?" She asked.
"Er – same as you, I guess," Garrus replied embarrassedly, rubbing the back of his head. "I've been telling Gardner that I'm fasting, as part of a turian ritual before suicidal missions. Then I sneak in and just eat some of the leftover ingredients, or whatever I can find. Honestly, it is really easy to steal food from the man. He never checks inventory."
Shepard lauged, then covered her mouth to muffle the noise. The Commander was known for her loud, distinctive laugh. Garrus grinned, in spite of himself.
"Well, now that my stomach's no longer complaining, I ought to head back to my rooms." Shepard said, heading towards the door. Garrus watched her leave with a feeling of regret, like he should have said something more to her.
"Goodnight Commander." He managed, just as she reached the door. Shepard looked back at him, one of her wide, wolfish smiles in place. It hadn't escaped her notice that Garrus wore little more than a pair of well-worn sweatpants, a turian design that stopped at his knees, but left his chest bare. She took a moment to admire the amazing physiology of her turian squad member; he was strong and lean, with a well-defined waist that was common in turians. All in all, he was a very attractive turian, with a magnetic and gregarious attitude to go with it.
"We've reached that point that I think you can call me by my name, Garrus. Sleep well." She left, her footsteps faint and shadowy, like a sound that Garrus was imagining.
"Sweet dreams…Shepard."