AN: Thanks for the comments/reviews, they are appreciated! Also, I forgot to mention last time: English is not my native language so there WILL be grammar errors, but nothing too major, I hope.

Chapter 2: Catching up

It was nearing midnight on the Normandy's clock when Garrus entered the elevator and pushed the button for Deck 1. He was casually dressed, in his hand was a bottle of an expensive drink, one of the rare brands that could be safely digested by both DNA types, and in the other one he was carefully balancing a tray full of food. On the one side of the tray was the most edible looking stuff he could find among the ship's food supplies; on the other one some levo-DNA based weirdness he couldn't quite identify. However, he remembered Shepard liking that particular weirdness and eating it quite often, so he picked it for her.

It has been two days since they met on Menae, and Shepard was burying herself neck-deep in work. If she wasn't trying to organize the diplomatic summit, she's been trying to find Cerberus lairs, help ships and people stranded in Reaper infested systems, or doing anything else she could think of to help the war. He knew her and her sense of duty, her burning desire to help people and fix any problem she encountered, but he was afraid she'd burn out if she keeps up the tempo. Now when their relationship has advanced to another level, Garrus felt responsible for her well-being, and was aware she tended to skip meals when saving the galaxy. Also, she promised him they'll catch up for the past six months as soon as there's time, but he felt it won't happen anytime soon unless he creates the opportunity.

"Hey." Garrus called out as he entered her spacious private quarters. There were several datapads scattered on both her bed and desk, and Shepard was sitting at her private terminal with her back turned on him. Her reaction when hearing his voice was different than what he expected. With a quick tap of her fingers on the screen, she closed what looked like a mailing program, although he didn't catch what message was she reading or composing. It struck him as slightly odd, but he decided not to pay much attention to it. It was probably some sensitive Alliance-related message. What else could it be?

"Hey." Shepard replied, cracking a tired smile when she noticed the items in his hands. "Awww, my favorite!" She continued her smile deepening as she examined the contents of the tray further.

"You skipped your dinner, so I decided to make myself useful." Garrus said as he walked past her and set the tray and the bottle on the table under the glass display full of ship models. Then he took a seat on the couch next to the table.

Shepard stood up from the desk, fetched two glasses and sat down close to Garrus. "Thanks, I needed the distraction. The paperwork is killing me."

Garrus poured a glass for her and then for himself. Sipping from her glass, Shepard said thoughtfully: "Hmm, why is it still being called 'paperwork', when we've had holographic displays on everything for decades?"

Garrus chuckled: "Well, I guess you primitive apes, uh, humans still need some time to adjust to the civilized and high tech society you've joined." He knew this was bordering on insult, but was counting on her being aware of his respect for her and his sense of humor.

Shepard seemed unfazed by his barb, as she scoffed dramatically and replied: "I've heard of a human who defeated one of the most famous turian Spectres."

It was Garrus' turn to scoff: "She defeated him by talking. That's what humans do: all talk and no work."

Shepard smiled sweetly: "Then she defeated his body which was brought to life by Sovereign, allowing the combined fleets to kill him."

Garrus suddenly turned serious. After a pause he continued: "You know, when you say it that way it's no wonder nobody believed us for years. If I haven't been there, I probably wouldn't have believed it myself."

"Yeah." Shepard took a long gulp of her drink. "Sometimes I wish it was all a delusion." Her usually bright eyes became clouded, no doubt because of some dark memory.

Garrus cursed himself inwardly. He got her to smile, to forget what was happening around them and then he blew it. He really wished he was a smooth talker. Unsure what to say, he offered honesty: "I feel the same way. I guess some parts of our story told to the future generations will have to be left out to keep the children sane."

"Not just the children. I can't imagine anyone wanting to hear about the interior of the Collector ship, or their base, or the dead batarians, or-" Shepard was interrupted as Garrus put a taloned finger gently over her mouth.

"If you keep talking like that you'll never eat your dinner." Garrus said, his voice taking a commanding tone. He removed the talon from her lips. "And you know I never leave a job unfinished. So, have at it!"

"Yes, Dad." Shepard replied, with mocking tone returning to her voice and her face brightening up a little.

They ate their dinner in near-complete silence, interrupting it only occasionally to throw a funny remark or a chuckle. Garrus saw Shepard visibly relax, and it helped him find some peace too.

Once the tray was empty, Shepard lowered her head and started rubbing her temples with each of her hands. With a sigh, she said almost too quiet to be heard by Garrus: "I don't know if I can do this…"

Garrus heard her and said seriously: "You can't. Not if you insist on keeping up this tempo." Then he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. He carried her to the bed, ignoring her half-hearted protests. "You must sleep and eat regularly. And if you won't take care of yourself, be sure that I will."

Surprisingly, Shepard stopped protesting. "You're right. It won't do any good if I die of starvation or lack of sleep. It's just so easy to forget that when everything you know and care for is about to go to hell. Luckily, I have you to remind me… Thanks."

Garrus sat on the bed next to her, and began stroking her face as gently as he could, careful not to scratch her unnaturally soft and gentle skin. Shepard grabbed his hand and kept it close to her face. "Stay for the night… please?" The last word came out as a question. It was so strange to hear her ask for something, and not demand it. What was worse, he didn't know how to answer. He wanted to stay more than anything, but was afraid what would happen if he was found in his commander's bed. As he was silent for a moment, she continued, still with that uncertainty in her voice: "Can't promise you a rematch though. Too tired."

"I… uh… don't know. Is that a wise idea? What if someone sees me in your bed?" Garrus asked, rubbing his forehead with his free hand.

"Come on, Garrus. The crew respects my privacy. And so what if somebody sees you? If we're making this 'official', we might as well start now. Someone is going to figure it out sooner or later." Shepard's voice took the "commander tone" again, and Garrus found no valid arguments to counter anything she said.

He slipped into the bed next to her, carefully putting the covers over them both. Once he was nicely settled, Shepard snuggled close to him and they wrapped their arms around each other. She turned the lights off then, and they were left in near darkness, the only light being provided by the fish tank. Garrus felt the tension he was feeling lately fade away as they lay together in silence.

Shepard seemed to relax too, her head resting on the crook of his shoulder. Garrus almost started to drift away when he heard her say, in a very quiet voice: "I saw my home burn twice…" His embrace tightened at the pain he heard behind the words. "I lost Mindoir first." Garrus just kept quiet, wanting her to let out whatever feelings have been brewing in her. She continued in the same voice: "I still felt connected to Earth, although I wasn't born on it. A lot of us 'early colonists' did. So I kept telling myself: 'You still have Earth.' And now I lost it too."

Still not saying anything, Garrus found her chin and brought her lips to his mouth to kiss her. He felt that any reassurances about not losing Earth, or defeating the Reapers would sound hollow at this point, so he offered what he could: a kiss upon kiss, hoping they would chase the dark thoughts away. When he pulled away, her head found its way back to his shoulder. He heard her murmur something that sounded like: "What would I do without you…" before finally giving in to sleep.

When her peaceful breathing confirmed that she was asleep, Garrus kept very still and let the sleep come back to him. Soon they were both far away from the problems around them.

When Shepard woke up, she was glad she didn't have any nightmares. She's been having them ever since Mindoir, but lately they increased in both frequency and intensity. In fact, she couldn't remember when was the last time she woke up feeling so refreshed. She looked with an expression of thanks at the sleeping turian next to her. He was making the cutest sound, kind of a cross between a hum and a growl as he breathed, obviously still fast asleep. She rolled to the side, careful not to wake him, and looked at her bedside clock. It was well past 8 AM.

Crap.

She would usually be on her feet two hours earlier. Luckily, nothing around indicated she missed something important while getting the much needed sleep. She was even considering snoozing a little more, when the door suddenly hissed open.

"Shepard! My contacts from Thessia have important info about the asari gover-" Liara's melodic voice filled the cabin, stopping abruptly when she noticed Shepard still being in bed. "Oh sorry, I thought you'd be up by now and… and…" Liara trailed off when she realized who was sleeping next to the commander.

"Alone?" Shepard jumped in helpfully. Liara glanced to the side bashfully. "Don't worry, Liara, we're dressed." Shepard's voice sounded amused. Ever since she became the Shadow Broker, Liara was getting hard to surprise. A part of Shepard enjoyed this. "Don't tell me you didn't know about this." She added as Liara was still looking for words to say.

"I, uh, knew, but didn't expect to find, uh, him in your bed." Liara stammered, still having a hard time to look at the bed.

Garrus stirred at the commotion, and sat up abruptly upon hearing a voice other than Shepard's. The poor turian looked like his worst fears had come true. Shepard patted him on the back lightly, hoping he'd notice Liara being almost more unsettled than him. It didn't seem to help much. Well, she told him they aren't likely to be seen, but not even Commander Shepard could predict everything, now could she?

"Morning, Liara…" Garrus finally managed to have some words out of his mouth. Although he was still groggy, he got out of the bed before Shepard could stop him.

"I… have something to work on at the main gun so…" Garrus managed to say as he hurried through the door and out of the room. Shepard shook her head slightly.

"Garrus is still Garrus." Shepard told Liara as she got out of the bed. Any chance for getting some more rest was ruined. "You were saying something about the asari government?" She asked, hoping to get the conversation in the more familiar waters.

"…Yes." Liara replied, finally regaining her composure. "My contacts say the asari won't be joining the summit for as long as the krogan are there. Too much bad blood. I believe the asari councilor will make a call soon and make it official, so I thought I'd give you a heads up. It's important to know what to expect in diplomacy."

"Damn. One would think that with Reapers around some of the old grudges could be forgotten. No such luck, it seems" Shepard sighed, feeling the weight of her duty returning to her shoulders. "Now that we have the asari refusal, I think that about covers it. The rest of the species confirmed their arrival. The summit can start once it goes official." Shepard added, not feeling exactly happy at the prospect of having krogans, turians and salarians aboard her ship. Hopefully, there won't be any hull ruptures.

Liara nodded: "I agree. The sooner we get this rolling, the better." She seemed to hesitate for a moment. "There is… another thing I want to talk about."

"Yes?" Shepard crossed her arms across her chest. For some reason she didn't like the sound of this.

"You… received a message with an interesting invitation. What are you going to do about it?" Liara asked, still hesitant.

"Liara! Stop reading my mail!" Shepard exclaimed, trying to cover up how this particular issue made her feel unsettled.

"I'm the Shadow Broker, remember?" Liara's smile betrayed that she was now enjoying this. "You still need to do something about it. Will you?" She added, her voice losing the previous hesitation.

"I'll… I'll visit him. I owe him an explanation." It was Shepard turn to stammer. She was awful at this.

"Good. After all, he ended up in hospital because he was protecting you." Liara said, leaving an uncomfortable silence after her words. "I'll leave you to your work, Shepard." With that Liara left the cabin.

Being alone again, Shepard went straight to her private terminal. She brought up the same message she was reading when Garrus brought her dinner last night, and punched the "reply" button. This probably wasn't going to be pretty, but it had to be done.

Kaidan,

I'm glad you're feeling better. I'll visit you soon, maybe even today. There's a big diplomatic summit coming up, and I'm in charge. There won't be much time left for socializing then, I'm afraid. We'll discuss the Spectre topic once I'm there.

See you soon,

Teresa

With a sigh, she punched the "send" button and watched the message get sent. Then she brought up Joker on the ship's intercom and said: "Joker. Plot the course to the Citadel."

"Aye, aye, ma'am." It was all he said, sparing her any comments.