Scene 1, act 1:
Falling in love with a co-star really wasn't on her plans when she sighed up the contract for the Sci-fi franchise, love was messy, it was problematic, especially if it involved your co-star; it was a continuous effort, one Jane Shepard hadn't been willing to make, not until she met Garrus roughly five years ago. Falling in love with Garrus Vakarian, Turian heart-throb of the Milky Way, really wasn't what she had planned; what either of them had planned.
Shepard sighed as she snuggled closer to her co-star, planting a kiss on his neck.
"Insatiable," Garrus muttered with a rumbling of his subvoclas, amused, even as he raised himself on his elbow to kiss her properly.
"For you? Always." She grinned into the kiss, fingers ghosting over his bare waist. Both of them naked on Jane's trailer before the start of their day, enjoying each other's company, they still had a bit of time, hopefully.
"Jane..." he rumbled with a sigh, gripping her waist tighter, fingers-
"Shepard? Vakarian? Five minutes to make up and 30 to start!" Came their Salarian understudy's voice, followed by a knock on the door.
"Going!" They shouted back, Jane slumping back and away from him with a sigh, Garrus' hand coming to rest at the nape of her neck, a laugh escaping his throat.
"To work?" He grinned.
"It's almost over..." she agreed with a certain melancholy that had become her norm for the last few weeks of filming, as the end neared for the shooting so did her cheer and Garrus hated seeing her like that.
"I'll be here remember?" He gently bumped his forehead against hers, mandibles fluttering in a grin, a gentle reminder that the movie wasn't the last of the two of them, not by a long shot.
"You always are, some days it feels like you always were," she smiled as she looked up at him, quickly stealing a kiss before forcing herself back on her feet, "to work then!"
He grinned as he looked her up and down before donning Adviser Adrux Kryik's Heavy armour, the thing was nearly impossible to put on, regardless of what their Hierarchy contact said about 'keeping things real' and 'making an example out of the Turians.'
He glanced at his fiancee - the word still bringing a pleased knot on his gizzard accompanied by gentle disbelief - as she put on Commander Valkyrie Hawthorn's armour, the X7 in her chest - fictional as it was because humans didn't really care about 'keeping things real' - was the final touch in her transformation.
"Let's go kick some Reaper ass, Vakarian," she said with a blinding smile; Garrus was struck once again by how lucky he was.
Scene 2, act 1:
"Need some company?" Adrux Kryik asked, walking into their room, Commander Hawthorn was looking at the datapads, looking for a last effort, a last something she could dig out of the ass-end of nowhere so they could have a chance at winning.
"I don't know how we're going to win this Adi," she whispered, confirming his fears, putting the data pad away and looking up to him.
"With you leading the Victory Fleet my love; focus on getting the weapon going, I'll clear a path for you, let me take care of the rest." He smiled, crossing the room slowly and sitting beside her, "you've got this, we've gone over the plan over twenty times Kyrie, you've got this, you were born for this."
"Adi, Adi promise me..." she gripped his vest forcing him to look at her. "Promise me we're gonna make it."
"I- I can't," he paused, "Valkyrie..." he whispered as he looked away from her, head hanging in sudden shame, "I wish I could lie to you..."
"Adrux..." she whispered, taking hold of his hands, carefully removing his gloves, "Adrux, I want you to hold me, just for tonight, please! It might be the last time we-"
"Kyrie-" he breathed, a whine in the back of his throat, Spirits if he lost her-!
"Make me forget tomorrow's coming, make me forget everything but you." Valkyrie pleaded, entwining their fingers, them kissing his knuckles, her eyes pleading, "let me pretend we're gonna have forever, just the two of us."
"Yes," he whispered, caressing her cheek, "anything for you, my love."
"Adrux, Adrux I-ACHOO" Jane reeled back, staring at him unblinkingly before breaking down in giggles, leaning back and ignoring Garrus' disgusted face, "Spirits... your face! I'm sorry," she breathed between giggles falling back on the bed and turning to their director, "sorry can we take a break?"
The man, one Alec Freeman, looked at his wrist, the old watch still working perfectly, "okay, that's gonna be two and a half hours, you both still have that interview with the Empire to sort it out."
"Ugh, don't remind me," Jane sighed, "I've no idea why they have an investigative reporter covering a movie."
"You know why, Jane," Garrus muttered besides her removing the prosthetic from his face with a shudder, he hated that thing, "she's still in trouble over the Salarian's egg incubators and the scandal with the Hanar priest," he prodded his right mandible with a finger, flexing it to regain the proper movements.
"And since she did nothing wrong, there's no reason to fire her, but to put her out of the proverbial limelight for a while," she said, eyes far away before she focused on him, "stop probing your face, Garrus, your mandible's already tender," she frowned at him, swiftly getting up and planting a kiss on the offending part, putting his hand away.
"Ma'am," an Asari understudy called her, handing a datapad, "the reporter is asking if we can move things earlier," she was a pretty little thing, probably not even 90 yet.
They glanced at each other briefly, before Garrus sighed and leaned down to kiss her temple, "I'll order something and then meet you there ok?"
"You're just leaving me to the wolves," she scrunched up her nose in mid distaste while he laughed.
"You are Commander Hawthorn," he mock saluted her before heading in the opposite direction, ignoring her muttered complaints.
Scene 2, act 1:
Jane smiled as Al-Jilani continued to talk about the movie, the needled sentences made her want to punch the woman, she wouldn't, of course, she wasn't a barbarian; Spirits knew she wanted to.
"-he battle with the Reapers is the highlight of the movie, uniting all species in a common enemy, bringing all the galaxy together, personally I think that's quite a feat." The reported said, lacing her fingers together.
Jane remained silent, just nodding in agreement, it was quite a feat, the council, in their 1500 years of existence, had never managed that.
"Do you think, theoretically speaking, that the humans could do that? Would a Human councillor be able to do that?" Al-Jilani asked, eyeing the actress sitting in front of her.
"I don't think humanity will get a seat for at least another hundred years," Jane laughed without humour, "we're the newcomers, the fact we have an embassy on the Citadel, when other species still don't, is a credit in and of itself," she laced her fingers together, staring at the reporter with curiosity instead of animosity, "I still don't think humanity as a whole has proven itself to the galaxy, the events in Mass Effect, are, as one would expect, extenuating circumstances."
"Do you think Humanity's not ready for that responsibility then?"
"I think Humanity as a whole has a lot to offer the galaxy, but we still have not given anyone a reason to trust us," she paused briefly gathering her thoughts as she drank from her cup of water, "after working with such a multilateral team I've come to realize that we need to cooperate more with other species, instead of working on the 'Humans first, Humans only,' the Terra Firma party would have you believe. They're not the enemy here, mindless racism, mindless violence is our true enemy."
"Is that instance influenced by your relationship with your co-star?" al-Jilani asked with a gleam in her eye.
"Definitely, have you ever found that one person you can be yourself with? No walls between you two, no acting? That person you want to be better for? Not because they make you, but because they inspire you? That's Garrus and I."
"Does Vakarian feel the same way? Can those barriers really be breached between people of two different species?" The reporter asked with a dubious frown, Jane didn't blame her, her history with former lovers had been well documented, but Garrus-
"Sure they can," Garrus answered, walking, no, swagging into their interview, a plastic bag with something that smelled heavenly - probably their lunch - in his hand. "If I didn't love her half as much as she just proclaimed to love me I wouldn't be bonding with her," he sat beside her, his face plates arching in the equivalent of a human eyebrow. "The feeling is entirely mutual by the by," he grinned at al-Jilani, an amused flicker of his mandibles.
"Given that you two met on set, can we assume the chemistry between Commander Hawthorn and Advisor Kryik shares the same intensity?"
They looked at each other, a flicker of her eyes, a twitch of his lips before Shepard turned to the reporter shaking her head, "their chemistry is different, their whole dynamic is different, Hawthorn has the weight of the galaxy on her shoulder, the hopes and dreams of humanity, Kryik has the eye of the Hierarchy, the duty of carrying the Turians through the war, but he is her subordinate."
"A relationship between captain and subordinate isn't really frowned upon in the Turian Military -" Garrus begun, easily stepping in before Khalisah could question them "- and we tried sending in that message, their relationship is entirely consensual, but there are some things Hawthorn has to do alone and Kryik can't follow, no matter how much he may want to."
"Such as?" She asked, interested for once.
"Sorry Khalisah," Jane interrupted, with an amused smile, "spoilers."
Scene 2, act 2:
"You know," Jane started as she speared one of her steak cubes with a fork, the meat just that side of rare with a tender red centre, just how she liked it, with a side of potato salad.
"Eat, we still have the cabin scene to finish," he smiled, amused.
She snorted, swallowing a mouthful, "you just want to kiss me again."
"I do like kissing you," Garrus shrugged, unrepentant. "I prefer doing it in private, but kissing Hawthorn is just as good."
"To think you didn't get my advances until I kissed you," she grinned before turning back to her food, ignoring the people passing them by, most of the crew knew to leave them alone between takes, especially since the news of their engagement spread through Council space. Sometimes Ashley or Jeffrey would join them, but it was rare, their fellow actors in their own convoluted romance to care about anyone else.
"I got your advances, make no mistake," he smiled at her, idly putting a lock of hair behind her ear with a caress of his finger, seeing the goosebumps on her skin. He did love the reactions she had when he touched her.
"Honey you only realized I was interested when I insisted on practising the kissing scene in the second movie and may have groped you a bit during it," she smiled, looking at him through her eyelashes, chasing the warmth of his hand with a hum.
"There was no 'may,' about it Jane; you definitely groped me." He grinned, leaning back in the chair, watching as she sighed and went back to eating, she did love watching her.
"And you still didn't get the message," she snorted in between bites of steak, foregoing the fork for a moment as she picked the cubes, savouring them, they still had thirty minutes of lunch.
"Finish your food, Jane," he rumbled, amused.
"You're just gonna stand there and watch?!" She laughed, cleaning her hands on a napkin, picking up at the salad, she knew she would need it, they would be filming most of the scenes between Kryik and Hawthorn.
"By the by, have you seen Nihlus?" She asked between bites; they had met Spectre Kryik at the very start of the franchise, during pre-production, the Spectre got a kick out of having his name on a movie, 'almost as awesome as Blasto!' he had said at the time.
"He called you when you were finishing up the scenes with the goodbyes yesterday, said he wanted to be present at the wedding, still moaning you chose me over him though, also that I choose you over him," he smiled at her, an embarrassed flick of his mandibles, he had somewhat forgotten about the call since Jane had gone home upset with the scene, it was finally hitting her Mass Effect would end, sooner for them rather than later. "He said he'd be by whenever we marked the wedding, just make sure he knows about it."
"Was there gunfire at his end?"
"Surprisingly no, I think he was at the Citadel or maybe Illium, I hope he was at the Citadel anyway."
"Remember last time we were on Illium? Jackie almost got sold to slavery if not for Nihlus," she laughed remembering, more of a giggle than a full-out laugh.
"Come on, finish it up, we have that scene to finish," he smiled at her again, the softness that settled over his heart whenever he saw her laughing something was something he hoped never to get used to.
Scene 2, act 1, take 2:
"Need some company?" Adrux Kryik asked, walking into their room, Commander Hawthorn was looking at the datapads, looking for a last effort, a last something she could dig out of the ass-end of nowhere so they could have a chance at winning.
"I don't know how we're going to win this Adi," she whispered, confirming his fears, putting the data pad away and looking up to him.
"With you leading the Victory Fleet my love; focus on getting the weapon going, I'll clear a path for you, let me take care of the rest." He smiled, crossing the room slowly and sitting beside her, "you've got this, we've gone over the plan over twenty times Kyrie, you've got this, you were born for this."
"Adi, Adi promise me..." she gripped his vest forcing him to look at her. "Promise me we're gonna make it."
"I- I can't," he paused shutting his eyes tight before he could look at her, "Valkyrie..." he whispered even he looked away from her, head hanging in sudden shame, "I wish I could lie to you..."
"Adrux..." she whispered, taking hold of his hands, carefully removing his gloves, "Adrux, I want you to hold me, just for tonight, please! It might be the last time we-"
"Kyrie-" he breathed, a whine in the back of his throat, Spirits if he lost her-!
"Make me forget tomorrow's coming, make me forget everything but you." Valkyrie pleaded, entwining their fingers, them kissing his knuckles, her eyes pleading, "let me pretend we're gonna have forever, just the two of us."
"Yes," he whispered, caressing her cheek, "anything for you, my love."
"I love you, so much," she whispered even as tears gathered in the corner of her eyes, even as he lowered her down on the bed and they rested against each other, a gentle bump of their foreheads."
"Cut!" Alec shouted, looking at the datapad in his hands, "we definitely got it this time, thank you."
Jane smiled, caressing her lover's mandibles, Hawthorn's personality and Shepard's intertwining, looking at the gorgeous man on top of her. She felt him caressing her face, wiping out her tears even as she felt him rumbling, "Garrus?"
"Right, scene over," he smiled weakly at her, a rumbling in his chest that clearly signalled distress, that much she had learnt.
"I love you big guy," she leaned forward, stealing a kiss from him. They usually avoided PDA's on set that weren't between their characters, but in such a heavy and emotionally draining scene. She looked at their audience from the corner of her eye, all of them politely looking away from the two of them, and hugged her partner her hands resting at the back his neck. "I love you so much," she smiled, indulging in a second kiss even as he stood stock still, hands gripping her waist even as he relaxed against her.
Alec cleared his throat pointedly, and they parted in somewhat embarrassed silence, they never had to have the 'Talk' from the director, not about being professionals; Jane looked at the man rolling his eyes at them, smiling sheepishly, looked like they wouldn't be breaking their form, not that day at least.
Scene 1, act 3, 'home':
"So what happened today?" She asked as soon as they finished wrapping up the day, walking side by side to their shared trailer, mostly to remove make up and, in Garrus' case, the prosthetics on his face.
"Got overwhelmed, just-" he stopped, taking her hand in his, caressing her fingers.
"Intrusive thoughts?" She asked gently, rubbing his knuckles, "stop poking at your mandible, it's gonna be sore the whole night." She admonished, changing sides so she would walk on his right, taking a hold of the offending hand and dropping a kiss where the prosthetic usually went; Garrus had zero patience for letting make up crew remove it.
"Just don't want to lose you, not now," the 'not ever' was silent but she still squeezed his fingers.
"Lucky for you, you'll never have to."
"Jane," he sighed, a displeased note to his subvocals, he hated platitudes.
"I'm not gonna promise forever unless I mean it, Garrus, and I do, you know I do," she sighed, their trailer was in sight, but she didn't want to go inside, not yet. "How's this, I'll never voluntarily leave you, I'll try my damned best to honour that promised," she smiled at him again, impish, "and you know my best is pretty damn awesome."
"Because you're Commander Hawthorn?" He asked lightly, his thumb running through her knuckles, a gentle caress neither of them were exactly aware of.
"No, because I'm gonna be your wife, and that's one role I cannot fail," she grinned, suddenly stuck with a thought and dragging him back to their trailer.
"Jane? Jane!"
"You know when we talked about living together? Getting our own place? I may or may not have gone ahead and gotten a contract signed up for a flat on the Citadel, one of the nicer Wards, just you, me and Commander Whiskers. What do you think?" She turned to him with a blinding smile, her hands shaking slightly, it was almost like asking him to marry her all over again.
"I think you need to show me the place, then we need to buy furniture," he gripped her hands tight, drawing her into a hug and getting her off her feet, "I think your collection of ships are gonna look awesome next to my collection of riffles."
"I think… I think I'm gonna stay with you for the rest of my life."