Ok, so...I posted this up a few months ago and took it down, then back up...then back down...
This is my first ME fanfic, I started it AGES ago and hopefully it's worth posting!
I want to warn people...THERE WILL BE MISTAKES! XD I'm not perfect, I will eventually get a beta reader, but until then please endure. I have read through it myself over and over, but I will have missed a few things!
This is a Garrus and FemShep Fanfic, with all the bad-ass characters along for the ride. I really hope you enjoy!
I am not the creator, just the puppet master of the ME stuffs in the fanfic.
REVIEWS = LOOOOOVE! 3 ^^
ENJOY!
...
Shepard wondered down to the mess hall, rubbing her eyes and yawning, stretching her arms above her head. The cabin was new to her, unsure whether she enjoyed being so separate to the rest of the crew; it wasn't what she was used to. And that large bed, you would have thought it a luxury, but it made her down time sleepless.
The hall was empty and dark; with only the light of display clocks and the med lab monitor lighting the entire area. She zombie-walked to the kitchen area reaching for the fridge and pulling it open, the jingle of bottles rattling from inside the door. The light made her eyes buzz in pain. She grabbed a bottle of water seeing nothing else, and then closing the fridge reached for the freezer, she had asked Gardner to hide something for her right in the back of the freezer.
Hargen Daaz strawberry cheesecake ice cream; her little luxury hidden from the rest of the crew, especially Miranda. Some of her other tubs had mysteriously gone missing and she knew who it was.
She grabbed a spoon from the nearest draw and wobbled over to the table slumping down in a chair, her body still not quite working with her. Her head was beating with a threatening migraine. Her eyes felt sore and tired, but for a small moment when she scooped that ice cream into her mouth, it all disappeared. She sighed and devoured the lush, creamy goodness moaning with each spoonful as it melted on her tongue, letting the spoon linger in her mouth slightly, the metal warmed in her mouth before dunking it in the tub again, the spoon gliding through the soft scoop before slipping it in her mouth.
"It's a wonder how anyone can sleep around here with you making noises like that, Shepard." A flanged voice sounded from the darkness.
Shepard opened her eyes, realizing they were closed, the spoon still in her mouth. She saw the outline of her one and only Turian friend leaning against the railing just off to the side of the tunnel that lead to the main battery, his arms crossed over his abdomen. She smiled and let the spoon slip out of her mouth, dunking it back into the tub.
"I'm just doing it to torture Miranda. Didn't mean to wake you…" She said smugly, smirking at her tub.
Garrus uncrossed his arms and made his way over to the table, sitting opposite her.
"Well, if there was any doubt you weren't real, I think you can safely say they're sated, no AI could enjoy food as much as…that." His mandibles flickered as her clasped his hands together on the table in front of him.
She smiled at his friendly tone and scooped another spoonful into her mouth closing her eyes and letting of a slightly sigh before leaving the spoon in the tub and pushing it away from her slightly.
"Hm, maybe I run on ice cream. I guess we'll never know." She smirked but that was a slight pang of sadness in her tone.
Garrus shook his head. "No, Shepard, I've always known you're the real deal. I doubt they could program enough crazy into a mech to make it do the things you do."
Shepard let a soft throaty laugh echo in her mouth, her shoulders bouncing slightly as she did.
"Thanks, I think." She smirked and sat back in her chair crossing her arms over her chest.
"Couldn't sleep?" She looked up at him. She could barely see him, even his visor and armor was off, only a faint outline of him was presented with the light of the Med lab console softly glowing behind him.
"Not well, there's…too much on my mind." His voice was low and shaking as he spoke, she noticed his head dip slightly.
"Omega?" she said simply, knowing full well what he was talking about.
She just saw him nod and lean back in the chair, his head lifted slightly as he stretched his neck out to the side then back and forth. He only usually did that in his armor.
Nothing was said for a moment. "I know you don't want to talk about it Garrus, but if you need my help, you know you can come to me." She said simply, her voice flat, in commander tone.
Garrus looked to her for a moment regarding her in the dim light.
"Thanks, Shepard. I know." His voice gruff.
Shepard just nodded her head, and silence filled the air yet again. "So…" she sighed finally.
"Looks like it's going to get more familiar around here, we're picking up a Krogan from Tuchunka named Okeer. Heard of him?" Shepard's voice was lighter as she spoke looking up at Garrus.
Garrus shook his head slightly. "Not much, only that his reputation is so ruthless and fanatical that even his own people turned on him." He shrugged.
"Sounds perfect, I guess. If he joins the 'cause'." She held up her hands and made quote marks over her last word.
Garrus snorted a short laugh. "I'm sure you'll persuade him somehow, you're good at that."
"Not everyone can be persuaded…" Garrus heard the soft sad tone as her shoulders and head visibly shrunk. He knew whom she was referring too.
"Kaiden's an ass, he couldn't see through his own bullshit to accept what was really going on. It's not your fault." His voice was gruff again, a slightly pang of annoyance rattled in his throat.
Shepard shrugged. "What's done is done, there's not much I can change about it now." She sighed and rubbed her eyes leaning back in her chair her arms folded over her eyes.
"Why did it have to be Cerberus? Ugh…" She grunted and smirked laughing slightly.
"This just gets more and more complicated by the day." She chuckled throatily again.
Garrus watched her with regard for a moment. "Isn't it always. You said it yourself Shepard, it took Cerberus to realize what was going on, I'm not sanctioning their methods or their past, endeavors…but without them, we'd really be in the shit. We wouldn't have been able to get as far as we have to realizing the threat and if they hadn't brought you back…" he paused, noticed Shepard lifting her arm slightly to regard him.
"Well, you were on Ilos, I doubt the illusive man could have convinced anyone else to save the galaxy from the collectors or the reapers."
She smirked again at his words. "This is true." She said simply, yawning and stretching her arms again before sitting up right her arms resting on the table.
"Thanks Garrus." Her eyes closed as she spoke.
Garrus just nodded, his mandible fluttered slightly.
"You should try and get some rest, there's only two hours of down time left. We'll be at Tuchunka in four hours." Shepard spoke as she put the lid back on her ice cream.
"What about you Shepard, I'm starting to see some wear and tear." He spoke before she could stand.
At that moment the lights of the mess hall and lain battery flickered on. Shepard squinted away from the light and blinked frantically, adjusting to the invasion of bright lights and a soft hum of the bulbs.
She looked up to where Garrus sat, seeing he was completely bare from the neck down, she could only just see the band of his pants. Thank God…She thought.
She averted her eyes knowing his were on her. She smiled and played wit the spoon in her hands as she spoke.
"Wear and tear huh? That's ironic given that I was only made a couple months ago." She smirked. "We'll have to complain to the illusive man, about his faulty product." She jested.
Looking up at Garrus at that moment she saw him lean closer resting his forearms on the table. She couldn't stop her eyes from roaming his arms and shoulders, which of course led to his chest. She wasn't shocked; she had seen him this way before, in the shuttle bay armory when they stripped of their amour after a mission. But still, it caught her eye each time.
He just regarded her, waiting for a proper response. They kept eye contact for a while before Shepard sighed and looked away.
"Honestly, there's a lot riding on this mission, I just hope it's worth it." She looked up at Garrus to gage his reaction. He said nothing.
"I'm just glad I've got you here Garrus, I'm not sure I'd be handling this as well if I was here alone." She kept his gaze for a moment, until he was the first to break it.
"I wouldn't have it any other way Shepard." His voice soft and honest.
Shepard smiled and stretched again. "Well, people are going to be walking around soon, and I've still got dossiers to read." She stood and walked to the fridge freezer putting back the ice cream but taking the bottle of water with her.
She felt Garrus eyes on her back. She cursed herself realizing she was only wearing a tank top and skintight shorts that were more like underwear then clothing. She didn't let it show in her composure as she passed him and made her way to the elevator.
Garrus watched her leave; it wasn't unusual to see her in…that. She would wear it when sparing, training and under her amour. But it still caught him off guard every time to see so much of her fleshy skin that was hidden under so much armor.
He stood and stretched himself out before walking back to the main battery to occupy him for the next four hours, there was always calibrating to be done.
…
"This woman is PISSING me off!" Shepard yelled over the gunfire from the heavy mech, the Krogan spawn and the stupid bitch that was firing missiles at them.
Garrus got into cover to reload his rifle with fresh clips. "Pretty sure she's not here for your autograph Shepard!" Garrus called over the fire aiming the scope over the metal guard.
Shepard popped up out of cover thinking she had to reload, she instantly had to roll back into cover, and knocking Garrus slightly were he was crouched.
"Damn it! Who gave that bitch a missile launcher?!" Shepard went to switch weapons to her pistol.
"I don't think that's going to help much…" Garrus offered sarcastically.
"SOD THIS!" She rolled into another position and took out her own missile launcher waiting for her to reload she activated her cloak and ran to the other side of the tank room and fired two missiles at the witch watching as she fell to the ground gargling with her own blood.
She ran over to her and took her ammo before aiming for the heavy mech. Her cloak gave out for cool down.
"Shepard, watch out!" She could here Garrus' voice call over to her.
"SHIT!" She jumped and rolled into cover just as the mech saw her and starting firing in her direction.
Her teammates were distracted with Krogan just walking out of the test tubes. She kept her distance as the mech kept walking towards her. She waiting for the machine gun to stop, it was landing a missile, she took the chance to fire the rest of her ammo at it until the mech exploded.
Shepard ducked just in time for the explosion and swapped her gun for her assault rifle, pointing it in the Krogans direction. She was beaten to the punch when it fell to the ground with out her even pulling the trigger.
When the Krogan fell she saw Garrus with his rifle aimed in her direction, he stood up straight and holstered his weapon. She smirked his direction nodding her head.
An alarm went off loudly. "What the hell is going on now!?"
"Alarms from the lab, could be Okeer's doing, likely to distract whilst he gets away." Mordin offered walking out of cover.
"It seems the alarms are coming from the Lab Shepard." EDI's voice came over the comm.
Shepard just sighed and looked up at the window to where Okeer had been stood; only he wasn't there any more. Rushing to the stairs she saw his body laid at the foot of the console. They ran over, Shepard slammed her hand on the console to stop the alarms and a holo played of the Okeers confession.
"Damn…" she uttered before looking at the tank. Without looking at her teammates she rested her hands on her hips and sighed closing her eyes.
"Concerns?" She groaned.
Mordin was the first to speak up. "Created unnaturally, unsure what to expect, but Krogan naturally hostile anyway, suggest leaving it."
Shepard opened her eyes to look at Garrus. "Could be an asset or a time bomb, it's your call Shepard."
She sighed and put her fingers to her ear com. "Normandy, we need a pick up, we have a…heavy package."
…
Shepard was down in engineering standing in front of the Krogan tank, her finger tapped on her crossed arms over her abdomen. She heard the doors hiss open behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was as they walked up and standing just next to her.
They stood in silence for a moment just looking at the tank. Shepard looked up at Garrus who was already looking down at her; he nodded at their unspoken conversation. Shepard uncrossed her arms and stepped forward opening the tank.
They watched as the fluid drained before the door opened; the krogan fell to the floor on his hands and knees and gargled, coughing up the tank water.
Shepard and Garrus took a step back; Garrus retreated to the back of the room whilst Shepard stood still waiting for the Krogan to gain his footing before approaching him.
He stood and blinked, adjusting his eyes before growling and lunging at the commander throwing her to the wall like a ragdoll pinning her with his arm across her chest.
Garrus aimed his gun at the Krogan, only the wave of Shepard's hand stopped him from firing.
"Human, female, before you die, I need a name." The Krogan grunted, his voice low and flanged.
"I'm commander Shepard, and I don't take threats lightly, I suggest you relax." She growled threateningly.
"Not your name, mine, Okeer couldn't plant connection, the words that echo in my head are meaningless. Legacy, Okeer, Grunt….Grunt…Grunt was one of the last, it has no meaning, it'll do. I am Grunt."
Garrus kept his gun on him. Grunt turned towards Garrus and sniffed the air.
"Turian, Male, you have the stank of pheromones on you, suggests you want to mate with this female."
Shepard's gaze snapped to Garrus for a nano second before looking back to Grunt.
Garrus cleared his throat but kept his eyes on the Krogan pinning Shepard to the wall.
"I have a strong group, a strong clan, you'd make it stronger." Shepard finally said.
"If your foes are weak, I'll have to kill you."
"Our enemies are worthy, there's no doubt about that." She rolled her eyes.
Grunt took her words in for a moment before grunting and finally speaking. "Hm, that is…acceptable. I will fight for you."
Shepard smirked. "I'm glad you saw reason."
Grunt looked down to see she had a pistol pointed at his stomach. He chuckled as pulled away.
"Off in one hand and armed in the other, wise Shepard, if I find what I'm looking for, a clan, I will gladly pit them against you in battle."
Garrus visibly relaxed and holstered his weapon.
Shepard twisted her shoulder and nodded to the Krogan before leaving the room, Garrus glanced back at the krogan, who had a dirty grin on his face whilst he chuckled throatily. The door hissed shut and Shepard allowed her self to swear.
"FUCK! That huurrrrrt!" She almost chuckled towards the end of her outburst.
"We should take you to Chakwas." Garrus said is hands out as if approaching a wounded animal.
"Nah, I'll be fine, just need to work it out, besides the pain reminds me I'm alive." She smirked and rolled her shoulder.
There was a dead silence between them; Garrus rubbed the back of his neck.
"So, whos next on the agenda?" Garrus asked as they started walking to the elevator.
"We're headed to purgatory to pick up a convict named Jack. He's apparently a powerful biotic. Not too keen on this dossier though, first a vigilantly, then a mad scientist, a baby Krogan and now a biotic god convict…" She threw her hands on the air as she finished.
Garrus smirked. "A very well-known vigilantly, with a bad-ass code name." He corrected.
Shepard just raised an eyebrow at him.
He shrugged and leant against the wall his arms crossed as the elevator went up.
There was yet another long silence.
"Sooo, pheromones huh?" Shepard's voice had a peak of smug in its tone. Trying to hide her smirk, as she looked elsewhere other then him.
Garrus cleared his throat and stretched his neck. "Yes, well, you can't expect a Krogan who hasn't even come into adolescence yet to know what pheromones are…he was…probably mistaking it for adrenaline." He stuttered slightly at his words, hoping she would buy them. He wasn't even sure why the krogan could smell pheromones himself.
The doors opened to the Crew deck. "Keep telling yourself that Vakarien…" Shepard added smugly as he exited the elevator he turned to see her smirking before the doors closed.
"Damn her…" He grunted to himself, a small touch of amusement fluttered his mandibles. As he marched to the main battery to otherwise occupy himself.
…
Shepard got off on the CIC.
"Commander, you have a new message at your terminal." Kelly announced brightly from her console.
"Thank you Kelly." She wandered over to her console still rolling her shoulder.
"Something wrong commander?" Kelly all but leapt next to the commander.
"This is just my reward for awakening a test-tube Krogan baby…" She smirked and winced slightly as she stretched out her shoulder again.
"Here, let me help you with that!" Kelly stood behind the commander and started to rub the muscles. "Wow commander, you're very stiff, you should try to relax yourself more, you're wound as tight as a spring!"
Shepard winced slightly at her ministrations. "Uh, thanks Kelly…"
"No problem, you know I'm a qualified physician, I could come up to your cabin for, uh, personal sessions."
Shepard felt herself stiffen more then she was her mouth went dry. "I uh…"
"Commander!" Shepard looked up to see Joker waving her over. Thank god…she thought.
"Excuse me." Shepard tried her best not to sprint to make it obvious how fast she wanted to get away from her.
Walking down to the cockpit she made sure she was out of earshot of Kelly before exhaling heavily. She patted her hand on Jokers shoulder when she approached.
"Thanks Joker, I don't think you realized how much you saved me back there…" Shepard said relieved.
"Oh? From who, Kelly? Ahh, she a little to eager to get her hands on some bad-ass commander huh?" Joker chuckled towards the end.
"I don't think it's just my 'bass-ass' she wants to get her hands on…" Shepard remarked.
"Ha! Nice, that's an image that'll help me sleep at night!"
Shepard swatted him round the back of the head before leaning on the back of his chair.
"Hey! No hitting the cripple!" Joker winced.
"My ship, my flight attendant, my rules…" Shepard smirked. "So what's up, you wanted to talk to me?"
"Huh? Oh right, yeah just wanted to let you know that we'll be coming into the Purgatory station in just under an hour, aaaand also wondering if it's alright that I yank this AI out by it's wires?" Joker looked up at Shepard with hopeful puppy-dog eyes.
Shepard shook her head down at him. He mopped.
"No sabotaging the ship Joker…she's a part of the team so you might as well suck it up and make nice." She teased.
"So you're happy with this…thing aboard, giving us instruction and guidance like it runs the show?" Joker said bitterly.
"No, I'm not massively happy with it, but it's here, it helps, so just play nice. Besides, I feel better knowing you have a little girlfriend up here to keep you company." Shepard teased stating to walk away.
"If by girlfriend you mean nagging-pain-in-the-ass then yeah, I'm loving the relationship!" Joker called back to her.
Shepard shook her head as she walked back up the run way form the cockpit, she did her best to avoid rolling her shoulder making sure Kelly didn't feel the need to touch her again.
"I'll take my messages up in my cabin, thanks Kelly." Shepard said quickly before hopping into the elevator.
Sagging against the furthest wall more than happy with her direct evasion of Kelly's frisky hands…the thought made her shiver.
…
"Commander, we're about to dock at the Purgatory Station." Joker bellowed over the comm.
"Thanks Joker, let Garrus and Grunt know to suit up and meet me in the airlock." Shepard ordered as she got up from her desk setting her pencil down and reaching for her locker to suit up.
"Got it commander." Joker confirmed before the comm channel went dead.
She got into the elevator and leant up against the far wall her arms crossed over her abdomen. Her eyes were closed, concentrating on what to expect from this. From what she read in the dossier; the men aboard were more then willing to hand Jack over with no fuss as long as they got their money of course…She sighed hoping this would go smoothly.
"Ha! Like it ever goes smoothly..." She chuckled to herself.
The elevator doors opened to a tall standing Turian waiting just outside. Shepard looked up, the smile in her face only deepened before looking down again.
Garrus cleared his throat before entering. "Do I want to know what's so funny?" He offered raising a brow plate at her humored state.
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking of how much trouble we used to get into…still get into. Nothing is ever straight forward, and I can only imagine this one isn't going to be any different." She smirked, her green eyes focused on the floor.
"Um, pleasant thoughts then?" He teased.
"Nothing is more pleasant then getting into trouble with you Garrus…" Shepard offered leaning her head back until it softly hit the wall.
"Though the elevator is no faster…I guess that's one thing that hasn't changed." Shepard smirked.
"You feel like a lot has changed?" Garrus asked curious looking at her stretched neck for a moment before looking at her eyes as she spoke.
"Wouldn't you if you had been dead for two years?" Shepard's eyes flickered over to him then.
"I wouldn't know…though I guess the last two years have been more of a blur to me." He fell silent for a moment.
"Do you feel that I have changed?" Garrus asked looking at her intently. "Do you feel, we've changed…?" He added softly.
Shepard looked down for a moment a smile stretched her lips slightly. She lifted her head to look at him and opened her mouth to speak but stopped when the elevator doors suddenly opened.
"Huh, guess it's not as slow as I thought…" Shepard remarked casually.
"No, it's just badly timed." Garrus offered stretching out a hand to offer her out the elevator first.
Shepard chuckled slightly shaking her head; she could see their new member stood awkwardly by the airlock door.
"Grunt, you ready? I thought this pick up might be best to start you out on, since you've only been awake for about an hour." Shepard led as they walked into the airlock.
"Ready for anything Shepard, I've got a feeling they'll be more to this then you're letting on." Grunt grumbled form behind her.
"He catches on quick…" Garrus commented.
Shepard smirked. "I'm not exactly hoping for confrontation, but it's likely…that's why we're armed!" She chimed towards the end patting her pistol on her hip.
"And by armed you mean taking a Krogan shaped battling-ram?" Garrus teased.
"Exactly! I want to try out my shiny new toy!" Shepard chimed proudly.
"I'm not your toy Shepard…" Grunt grumbled un-amused.
"No Grunt, you're my 'shiny' new toy!" Shepard smirked, before leaping onto the shuttle ready to go.
…
Sooooo yeah! Let me know if you think this is worth continuing, we're here to please you guys! 3
Thanks for reading! 3