[A/N] I updated this chapter based on the feedback I got. Thanks everyone for your advice I really appreciate it. I promise that the next chapter will also be a better length too. Hope you enjoy.
4 weeks later
Kneeling down in front of the stone marker on a foreign world, the former turian detective under the tearful gaze of his hooded companion grasped a handful of dirt from the plot of land that was to be where his commander would build her a house. Slowly, he let it drain through his hands back to its rightful owner.
The planet of Rannoch, long lost to the Quarian people for hundreds of years, once again had one of its children buried beneath its soil. To the dismay and anger of some of his former crewmates, he couldn't bring himself to attend the official burial.
Kasumi went in his place doing as best she could to come up with reasons as to why the last member of the team to see them alive and arguably the person they were closest too was not there. What they couldn't understand, not even his human mate was that a part of him was being buried as well.
Focusing on the grave before him, there were so many things he wanted to say even if expressing emotions was not his strong suit. Shepard had once nicknamed him 'the quiet man' which had puzzled him for some time till he learned that Shepard thought of him as a deep thinker as well as a turian of few words.
'You were right, Shepard.'
So many words were lost to him that could better convey what he was feeling, but only one came to mind which he softly spoke …
'Rest.'
Coming to his feet with his hands at his sides, he felt the turian in him desire to salute a fallen comrade, but he thought better of it. The relationship he shared with her was beyond any military calling. She was more than just his friend.
She was his family more so than those who claimed him as a blood relative. With his actions during these past years, those willing to admit kinship with him were few and far between, including his own father. With her and the rest of the crew however, that was never the case.
Shepard had told him once that through all his travels he saw the worst in people. The hatred that had destroyed many lives made him wonder if organic life was worth saving or were we deserving of our coming destruction. It would have been easy for him to become what he was fighting against.
Many times Garrus had wondered if that had already happened after viewing him alone surrounded by many bottles of liquor in various stages of completion. His thirst attempted to drown away the anguish in his heart after those he trusted had turned him away; first on Horizon and then on Illium.
In his young quarian engineer however, he had found a semblance of what he called "humanity" which gave him a reason to fight for something better. Just as he had saved her from the fall from the platform after the defeat of the human Reaper, she had saved him by pulling him out of the despair that was his existence and gave him the strength to defy Cerberus and destroy the collector's base.
Seeing him deep in thought with his composure clearly faltering, Kasumi came up to his side grasping his three fingered hand with her five, gently rested her head on his shoulder while moving her arms around his waist.
"You going to be okay?" She inquired with a heavy heart, knowing the answer to that question even if he wouldn't speak it out loud.
"No. I won't ... " He said before turning to look at the hooded figure next to him, a tear running down her cheek that before this had happened he would have never hesitated to wipe away.
'He's changed so much …'
Garrus had aged much in these past weeks. The joy in his eyes was a distant memory; replaced with a stare that was empty at best. The smile that would cross his lips as well as the playful twitch of his mandibles when Kasumi would lightly run her fingers across his skin only returned a cold, lifeless response.
He would never admit it, but he blamed himself for what happened. No matter how much his mind knew this to be lie, his heart would not accept the truth, nor let anyone inside to comfort him, not even her.
Reluctantly, he turned his gaze back to the single head stone before him, the single head stone that gnawed at his very being; a single head stone that without a word cursed him due to its very nature of existing, crying out for a life that was gone before its time.
Grabbing ever more tightly around his waist, she spoke with whisper.
"I still can't believe they buried her here. Alone."
Looking up at her mate for strength, an angry twitch crossed his mandibles as her words sunk in.
"Neither can I."
1 week after the burial on Rannoch
"She held on for 30 hours, but her body couldn't take anymore …." Garrus tried to explain before coming to an awkward pause, fighting with all his being to keep his composure without being at a loss for words to Admiral Raan, Tali's surrogate mother for all purposes.
'You can do this. You owe them that much and more.' He thought to himself.
Even making the explanation via a holo-transmission instead of in person was of little solace to the former turian detective; especially having to explain the details of what he had found when he entered their home made it even harder.
"Tali often spoke of her desire to return and live on her home world, and, well, if you don't mind me saying, Shepard only wanted to be with her. He had also promised to build her a house there …"
Garrus stopped when he saw the Admiral lose some composure at the mention of what Shepard had planned to do for Tali by keeping a promise that her father had made to her that cost him his life and honor in pursuit of it.
Knowing where this was going, the Admiral replied.
"Shepard returned our world to us by forging peace between the Quarians and the Geth. No one has any more right to be buried on its soil than he and I doubt Tali will truly be at peace till that day comes. I will do all I can. Thank you officer Vakarian for telling me what happened, I know it was painful for you to recall as it was for me to hear, but I needed to know how she … how they were lost to us."
With a hint of anger not directed at the Admiral, his voice quivered slightly as he spoke.
"They were stolen from us Admiral …"
His words generated a gentle nod from the Admiral, acknowledging his grief.
"Keelah se'lai."
Were the last words spoken before the transmission ended to the relief of both parties.
"That went better than I expected." The hooded figure said de-cloaking over his shoulder; her hand still resting on his shoulder offering their support through the ordeal.
Shaking his head, he stood up and made his way over to the window. Staring out at nothing in particular while reaching for a cigarette, a habit he had taken up ever since that day, he spoke.
"I just hope that they can at least be buried together someday."
Shuffling his feet nervously while changing his gaze to the floor, he continued.
"In the mean time, I've got work to do."
"I really wish you would give that up …" Kasumi stated quietly as she slowly made her way out of the room, knowing that was his way of saying he needed to be alone.
'I miss you.'
She thought to herself while taking one last look at the obviously fatigued Turian who was returning to his familiar position at his desk. Focusing her eyes on a half empty bottle of Turian liquor that stood next to his seat, she made her way through the door.
Unfortunately as Garrus had suspected would be the case, the subject of who was to be allowed on Rannoch was a touchy one. Many of those who should have been most grateful to the Commander who had made it possible for their return to the home world forgetting the sacrifices made to achieve it.
There were also political considerations that had to be addressed prior to any formal burial for Command Shepard who in death was being pulled in more directions than he was in life. For the time being, the resting place for the Commander would be a freezer in an unremarkable morgue till things were settled.
As the hours grew long into the night and his mind succumbed to fatigue and the liquor he consumed, he fell into an uneasy sleep. Dreaming of better times, the light hum of a picture frame with an image of his fallen friends locked in an embrace kept him company.
