My long awaited follow up to After the Normandy. Sort of. Call it a small filler piece

I really appreciate the feedback I have gotten from last year's stories, and with the release of ME3 in a few weeks (!) I think I will finally get the whole damn thing finished.

Thank you for reading, and please enjoy

Smooth.

The door hissed shut. He stared at it for a little while longer. Maybe it would explain to him what had just happened. Maybe Edi would pop up and give him a quick rundown. "Yes. The commander wishes to seduce you, Mr Vakarian..."

But Edi's monotone voice never came. Garrus turned back to his console, not quite returning to his work, but he made a good show of pressing some buttons. He stared intently at his console as barely buried feelings clawed their way to the surface. She had gotten even closer to him since their reunion on Omega. Maybe he even saw it coming, in some way.

He tested the waters, talking about the turian back in the military days. He wanted to see if her reaction had changed. Back on the old Normandy, talk of other women didn't bring out the slightest hint of jealousy. Had she changed?

Apparently she had. He baited her, she gave him the reaction he wanted and he still stammered like a fool. Smooth.

Garrus gave up the facade of work and stormed out into the corridor. He thought he needed a shower.

Three days earlier he had killed Sidonis. Three days earlier Shepard stepped to the side and he took his shot. He would never admit that it was not as satisfying as he had hoped, but he figured everyone already knew that it never really was.

Shepard sat with him in the bar afterwards. They sat watching the entry way. Dozens of c-sec agents were rushing around outside, dealing with the fallout of an assassination in broad daylight, and a violent assault in the cargo deck. Garrus nonchalantly observed the commotion.

"And you are sure no one will trace it to us?" Shepard finally enquired.

"Shepard..." Garrus motioned towards himself and shrugged in exasperation. "Please..."

"Ok, I see your point...but people have been keeping an eye on me around here. How can we know no one recognised me?"

"Shepard you are not as interesting as a man being shot dead." Garrus rose to his feet and headed for the bar, using their long established hang signal to ask if she was thirsty. "Trust me. No one was looking at you"

She smirked at him and nodded. He strutted off to the bar and ordered their drinks. Upon his return, Shepard continued to eye him suspiciously.

"What about Harkin?" She asked, taking her drink from him. "Think he won't talk? He seems like he would be only too happy to mention us."

"I know the people who will be interrogating him." He took a sip of his drink and turned to face her. "They will not be interested in his side of anything."

Shepard laughed at him. But the laugh was full of...something he could not quite register. Beneath her jocularity, he thought he could sense something new. She cleared her throat and Garrus watched her take a sip of her drink. This was a situation they had played out a million times before. A few quick drinks in the cargo deck to help justify a difficult choice, to a full scale celebration that everyone was a part of. It was just something they did, they drank after they killed. Back on the old Normandy, they were often joined by other crew members, but now days it was just them.

He loved it. He had her back, and quite often, he had her to himself. They were closer, even Tali commented to him on that. Shepard still saw Cerberus as a threat, he knew that. The Normandy was under Cerberus surveillance and Kaidan had turned his back on her, even Anderson had shrugged her out of his office. She wanted to be with people she trusted.

"You really do have it all figured out now don't you?" She said quietly.

"Yeah," He replied as a part of him finally accepted the shift. "I really do."

They drank well into the end of the cycle. The C-Sec agents had thinned out hours ago and they had no reason to stay. Empty glasses littered the table and they sat on the same seat, still looking out the exit. Sidonis was a special occasion, and they had celebrated and justified accordingly. On the lowest deck of the wards, in the seediest area, Shepard and Garrus still managed to be judged as 'too drunk' by other patrons. They sat next to each other in the corner booth, away from everyone else.

"He sent me a damn mail you know..." She slurred suddenly. Garrus looked up from his drink. Last he remembered they were talking about Grunt.

"He can write?"

"What?"

"Huh?"

"Kaidan...he sent me a mail."

"Oh..." Garrus looked back at his drink. Possibly the last person he wanted to discuss. But, Shepard persisted.

"He said he was sorry...for Horizon. Said we should talk...maybe...after..." She shifted uncomfortably, leaning heavily on her companion. "Said he might be going out for drinks with some...doctor...hope she finally diagnoses him with...asshole syndrome..."

Garrus looked back up from the drink and chuckled. "I don't believe that's a real ailment, Shepard."

"It is for him." She downed the last of her drink, but her eyes stayed fixed on the bottom of her glass when it was empty. When she finally placed the glass down, she stared him in the eye.

"Don't ever walk away from me like that, Garrus. If you think...if you think I'm ever doing what Kaidan thinks I'm doing...Don't abandon me. Shoot me instead."

"No, Shepard..." He started. It always came to this when humans drank too much.

"No! Promise me!" She sat back in the seat to face him. "Don't ever make me watch you walk away too."

"Look!" He put his drink down and gently grabbed her shoulders. "First, I don't think you would ever do what Kaidan thinks you did." She relaxed into his grip.

"And second...I could never shoot you. No matter what you did, I don't think I could ever pull the trigger with you in my scope"

"But today you shot Sidonis. He was your friend once."

Neither of them said anything. He took his hands off her shoulders and they both faced back to the table. She was right.

Shepard cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Garrus. One more?"

The Normandy was docked on the other side of the ward, and neither of them were in a state to walk back. While Shepard dealt with the bar tab, Garrus crossed to another part of the ward and set them up with a room. The salarian behind the counter winked at him when he mentioned there was just one single left, but two were welcome to share it. He even offered to reduce the price if they were 'only staying for a few minutes'. Garrus mustered up a half-hearted glare and took the key.

When Shepard staggered back from the bar and caught up with Garrus at the room she immediately collapsed on the bed.

"Dibs"

"What?" He asked.

"It means I own it. Kind of like that thing Joker has with the pilot seat."

Garrus slumped down obediently onto the floor, already resigned to his fate. Shepard shrugged, pulled and wrestled her armour off. She stripped down to her underwear, completely unashamed that an alien was watching her every move. Sitting up on the bed, she looked down at her fully clothed companion lying down on the floor.

"Can't be comfy" She mused.

"You've seen where I sleep on the Normandy..."

"No, the armour," She was so tired and drunk that her words were barely coming out. "You can take it off. I won't look." Shepard laid back onto the bed and disappeared from his sight.

Garrus chuckled. Everything was hazy and unfamiliar. He was drunk, exhausted and a little confused. The way she laughed at him before. The way she talked about Kaidan. The way she had been glued to him lately...drunken memories flooded back to him. The way he thought about her after their brush with Sovereign...that shameful display during the after party. Not now. Not like this. It seemed more sordid than she deserved. The armour was staying on.

"It's a Turian thing" he explained. While it was true, Turians were not big on unnecessary nudity, he felt close enough to her. He knew that he always really had.

"Liar..."She chuckled. Garrus tensed up as she leaned over the bed to face him. She half slid of the bed, possibly by accident, and ended up propping herself above him, with her face inches above his. "I think you're full of shit, former Officer Vakarian."

Lost for words, he just stared at her. One of his hands clasped around her waist to steady her. He couldn't feel her skin for his gloves, but he could feel her warmth. He could feel the small movements her muscles made. For a brief moment he wanted to flip her onto her back and finally get it out of his system.

"I think you are just a perfect gentleman and you don't want to make me feel uncomfortable. I think Archangel, the gunnery officer and the cop are liars. I think you are just too damn sweet, Garrus."

"Yeah...that's m-"

Her mouth briefly dropped to his. The smallest of kisses planted on his mouth. He closed his eyes and even though she had pulled away, he still felt her small delicate lips pressed gently over his mouth. The bed creaked as she climbed back up and settled herself in to sleep.

"Good night, Shepard." He said, but her quiet snoring meant that she had not heard him.

The light from the presidium bounced off the polished hull of the Normandy. It was a little too bright for the both of them. Shepard and Garrus walked back down the boardwalk towards the airlock. They had spent the morning in relative silence, leaving the room quickly and stopping for some food on their way back to the ship. The only talking they did was necessary communication.

Shepard licked her lips quizzically, slowly running her tongue backwards and forwards, her brow furrowing in concern.

"Did I drink some of your drink last night?" She quipped, finally breaking the silence. "My lips are tingling...might be having a reaction. You've got to stop me from doing that!"

Garrus' tongue searched his own mouth. A small oval of sensation was still dancing over his lips, but he could not place where it came from.