This is a lovely trip down the memory lane!
The first part of how Valery Shepard realized she was in love with Garrus and somehow managed to confess? We'll see!

(This part of the series was inspired by a lovely fic written by KNACC, "A Different Sort of Romnce", go check it out over on AO3!)
[Since I also agree with their opinion of the pretty-agressive-and-way-too-sexual begin of Shakarian romance, I decided to try my hand at it with my Shep!]

PART ONE

If there was an adjective that Valery Shepard was sure no one would ever use to describe her, it would have been shy. One does not yell fiercely in the face of every power figure or punches ill spoken journalist in the face if one is shy. But what did the world know of Valery Shepard if not what she wanted them to see? The truth was far from her front façade, and the pills she kept stashed everywhere were proof enough.

So it wasn't really surprising that now, faced with the avalanche of her feelings, she had been reduced to a babbling mess, incapable of looking at herself in the mirror without blushing profusely.

Why was that, one might ask?

It all had started some days prior, during their raid of the derelict reaper. As it had become of habit since rescuing the young quarian engineer, she had selected Tali and Garrus for the mission and promptly boarded the dead machine with dread and determination mixing in her blood. She had a blind trust in her team, and despite the usual concern that followed her everywhere, she knew she could count on them to keep themselves and her alive. And they had handled the situation fairly well, with Tali drone doing crowd control and keeping the husks at a distance, until one of those blasted abominations had fired a biotic shockwave directly in Garrus' face. Shepard had seen everything though the scope of her Widow, and suddenly she wasn't trekking through a reaper anymore, but standing on that safe house in Omega, watching the turian take a rocket to his face and nearly dying on her. If the thought had been unbearable then, now it was simply impossible to sustain. Panic had taken hold of her, a primal scream raising from her guts and ripping the air. Sustained by blind fury, she had emptied thermal clip after thermal clip into the Scion's twisted skull, stopping only when it disappeared into ashes. Then Tali had taken care of the remaining husks, while she rushed to Garrus' side, heart pumping so hard she could feel it in every single inch of her body. Medigel ready at hand, she promptly fixed him up, checking for sustaining injuries why she waited for him to regain consciousness.

Never she had witnessed a more relieving sight as when his eyes lit back again, mandibles twitching in discomfort as he came back to it.

'Hey, take it easy big guy. You got knocked out pretty badly there' she had whispered, a bright smile painted on her lips.

The turian groaned and whined, but ultimately got back to his feet. After a roll of his stiff shoulders, he was as good as new.

'I'm fine Shepard, no need to worry' he brushed her concern off. He was never rude to her, but she knew he tended to squirm under her worried look.

'Fine? You almost gave me a heart attack there Garrus!' she half shouted, shoving him accusingly.

He raised a brow plate in confusion, not really sure what he had done to elicit such intense response out of her. It wasn't as if he'd never been knocked out before, especially in situation where he could not stay behind cover for too long.

'I don't wanna interrupt Shepard, but we better move. We are close' Tali prompted them , her eyes trained on her omnitool while she scanned the door ahead.

She had put the matter aside for the rest of the mission, not bothering to examine her gut-wrenching reaction further.

But once she had been back on the ship? Back in the peace and calm of her cabin?

She had methodically gone over every single frame of the memory again and again until she came to one simple answer.

Valery sighed against her pillow. She had been curled up in her bed, hugging her pillow for god only knew how long, incapable of setting foot out of her cabin and go make her usual round around the ship's crew.

No, she could not muster the courage to even slightly by chance running into Garrus.

Not when she had realized her feelings for him.

If she had to be honest, she'd always liked the big turian to begin with, but after Horizon something had shifted in her. She had just attributed it to the strengthening bond of friendship that they shared and noting else. Certainly not to love.

Love.

Valery felt her cheeks go on fire as the word ghosted behind her eyes, haunting her now more than ever.

Valery Shepard knew nothing of love.

The only time she had thought she'd fallen in love, it had been back on Mindoir, when she was fourteen. Marcus had been her best friend since childhood, and she had found that, growing up, her feelings for him went over the friendship they shared. It hadn't ended well, of course.

And now she had gone and did it again.

She was in love with her best friend.

And she was so not going to tell him!

She knew little to nothing about turians relationship, and what little she did actually know did not involve humans in any fashion, if not in some fetish.

She did not want to be a fetish for Garrus.

Was he even attracted to humans? She didn't think so, otherwise he would have manifested his interest in some way before.

A frustrated groan left her lips and echoed against the hallow walls of the haul.

'Shepard, your heart rate has significantly increased. Shall I contact Doctor Chakwas?' EDI's voice came through the comms, making her jump up to a seated position.

She was having a hard time remembering that this new Normandy was equipped with an AI that was always watching and analyzing. The thought was a bit disturbing, but the advantages of EDI's presence outweighed the creepiness by a long shot.

'No EDI, don't worry about it. Everything's fine' she responded, still somewhat unsure where to look when talking back to the AI.

'But your body is showing signs of both physical and mental distress. Maybe I should ask Officer Vakarian to come up and check on you?' the AI continued, relentless.

This prompted Shepard to yell a vehement no to the voice, but it seemed it was already too late as Garrus' voice answered her instead, mild concern filling his voice.

Shepard is everything alright? Why were you shouting? he asked, and she could see him with her mind, talons pausing on the console, eyes wearily checking the roof of the battery as if he could see her through the ship.

It was unnerving.

Valery cleared her throat, suddenly very dry, and tried to come up with an excuse.

'I uh…was having a bad dream…' she trailed off, mentally slapping her face as she fell back on the pillows.

Uh. Any particular reason you called me, then?

Of course he wouldn't just let her have it.

He knew something was wrong with her. She never called without a reason, and certainly not to scream randomly at him.

'That was EDI's doing. – she admitted, glaring at the room around her. – I'm sorry I disturbed you' she said apologetically, hoping he would accept her dismissal and leave her to wallow in her self-pity.

There was a pause on the other side, but the comm link remained open.

I can come up, bring something to drink, if you want. I'm done here, and I also wanted to talk about something… his voice said, ever so slightly twisted by the link.

Shepard felt her heart jump in her throat. For all the panic inducing situation she'd ever been in, this was nothing in comparison. It was, in fact, much worse.

She hadn't seen his face for about a day and a half after her big revelation, could she trust herself not to give anything away? Probably not, but at the same time she couldn't stand not seeing him. Alone. In her quarters.

Oh god.

'Sure. I'll be here' she replied, trying to sound way more relaxed than she really was.

Be right there Garrus replied, the comm link shutting close.