Garrus Vakarian has only lived on Earth for three months, but he already knows there are thing humans do that he will never understand, no matter how well it's explained to him or how much he tries.
In fact, he's looking at one such thing right now.
It's an afternoon in October; the sun is on its way down, colouring the landscape in a warm, golden light.
The leaves on the trees are red, yellow and orange, though most have blown off due to the storm two days ago.
Autumn storms are not unusual, nor is the fact that some of his neighbours are out raking up the leaves to gather into manageable piles.
No, the unusual thing is what his closest neighbour is doing. She's only raked up part of the leaves, and she's currently looking around as if she wonders if someone is watching her.
Garrus doesn't think she can see him, but he moves away from the window just to be sure. Had he still been a C-Sec agent, he'd be ready to make a move, because it seems suspicious, the way she acts.
He doesn't know why, but even so, it doesn't seem like she's up to something bad.
Maybe he's getting old and complacent, living in this peaceful neighbourhood…
Then she jumps. His neighbour jumps straight into the pile of leaves, a look of pure glee and delight on her face.
Garrus stares as he moves closer to the window without being aware of the fact that he does.
He tries to tell himself he's not staring, even though he knows he is.
Humans are just so strange!
When he'd lived on the Citadel he hadn't spent much time around the humans, so he didn't know if this whole deal with jumping into piles of leaves were a human thing in general, or a humans-living-on-Earth thing or if it was something only the really strange ones did.
He continues to look (not staring) as she repeats the raking and jumping again.
She didn't look around before jumping this time, so he's got a better view of her face and expression.
She looks beautiful, and Garrus finds himself surprised to think so; he's never felt any interest for members of other species before.
Before he knows what he's doing, he's opening his window.
Garrus wants to hear her laugh, but fears she'll see him and stop if he goes outside.
But then it seems as if the spell is broken.
She either sees or hears him open the window, so she straightens up and puts on a mask he doesn't like.
It makes her look serious, unapproachable, not like she was seconds ago.
She looks towards the window, and Garrus is sure that their eyes lock for a moment, before she picks up her rake and goes inside.
Garrus hopes he'll see her the next day, but several days go by before he does.
While waiting for the chance to see and speak to her, he's done some digging. He knows her name is Jane Shepard, and that's she's unmarried, but the other neighbours doesn't know anything else about her.
She keeps to herself, doesn't have any visitors, and had moved to the neighbourhood that spring.
Had they tried to get to know her? Yes, they had, but she hadn't wanted to talk to them, so they gave up.
It's the sunlight glinting off her red hair that catches his eye. She's the only one he's seen with hair that shade of red, and although he already thought her beautiful, there's something about it with the late autumn sun shining on it.
Garrus doesn't know anything about her, but the colour makes her look fierce, and it matches her.
He can envision her being in command, charging through a battlefield, her red hair like a torch shining through the darkness.
And then he sees her N7 hoodie and understands.
Understands why she's alone, why she doesn't try to make friends with her neighbours, why she closed her moment of happiness behind an unfeeling, unrevealing mask.
She's like him. A solider closed off from others who have been through what she's been through.
So Garrus vows to change that, to let her see that she's not alone in this world.
He ends up buying her a small hedgehog figurine because he did some research and found out that they hide in piles of leaves.
It was perfect, so of course he bought a matching one for himself to have a reminder of the day he first noticed a human.
It still takes Garrus a couple more days to muster his courage. It makes him feel uneasy, because he shouldn't be afraid after everything he's been through. But this human, this woman, seems special.
He knows it's not like she needs him to save her or anything – her N7 hoodie marks her as something special, and had they fought together, she would most likely have ended up saving him more than the other way around.
But he wants to get to know her, at least in that we-live-next-door-to-one-another way, if not friends.
Garrus thinks he'd like to be her friend, if she would only be willing to open up to him, even a little bit.
And Garrus also knows that it will take time, after all, how could he not? They seem to be kindred spirits, and sometimes that's all it takes.
She wears her mask when she opens her door, but seems surprised someone bothered showing up at her door.
"Garrus Vakarian," he says and holds out his hand, hoping she'll accept it.
Garrus briefly thinks that had this been a book, it would state that 'the air seems heavy between them'. It's not, but it still feels like an apt description.
"Jane Shepard." She sounds older than she looks, sounds experienced. But her voice fits her, just like her hair.
"I…" Garrus stops, unsure as to how he's to proceed.
So he holds out the gift, stands there with it in his hand, waiting for her to accept it, hoping she will.
"I saw you the other day. Back in your garden, and when I saw this I thought of you."
Jane arches an eyebrow, but doesn't say anything. Garrus wonders how many have cowered under that gaze and how many have survived the silent scolding that seems to pour out of her.
"Ah, shit, that sounded wrong. Working in S-Sec didn't exactly offer many chances at normal interactions with humans. Just take it, please. Sorry to have bothered you."
He puts the clumsily wrapped package (hey, it's not easy when you only have three fingers on one hand and no experience in human customs) down on her front porch and walks away.
Just as he's about to cross over on to his own lawn, Jane calls out to him.
"Hey Vakarian! Thanks for the gift." He turns to her, sees her standing there with the figurine in hand and the smile she wears is the most brilliant thing he's ever seen.
He vows to make it appear again.
Garrus never understood the deal with humans and their need to have small decorative objects everywhere, but maybe the hedgehog will be his first clue to finding out.