When Shepard woke up next morning, Garrus was gone.
It disappointed him. He had been looking forward to waking up and feeling the warm weight of the turian by his side.
Damn it.
Instead, the side of the bed next to him was empty, and there was a slight crease on the sheets where the turian had slept. He placed his hand on the spot where Garrus had slept.
It was cold.
He sat up, putting his hand to his forehead. He hated waking up in space; no matter how much one got used to being in a starship, one always missed the warm sunlight of the early morning, among other things.
He stood up, and quickly got dressed, while staring outside the resistant-glass window beside his bed.
Always stars, he would think, suddenly tired, and also annoyed by those white points of light hovering carelessly in the black void. He was tired of seeing stars. It seemed it was all he ever saw.
I'm tired, he thought. I don't know how long I can keep this up.
The minute he walked into the Combat Information Center, Miranda, who seemed to have been waiting for him, looked up at him, with a noticeable expression of relief in her face.
"Commander," she said, walking up to him, holding a data-packet in one hand. "Straight from the Illusive Man."
He grabbed the data-packet, skimped through it.
More Colonies Abducted: Santanni, Comporelleon, Niyasha, Gliese.
Updated Reported Sighting of Mysterious and Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) in: Vega, Delicass, Balut.
"God-damnit," he sighed. Even with the Collectors destroyed, there seemed no end to the wave of disappearances. With a flicker of despair, he considered that the Reapers had already entered the galaxy, and that it was only a matter of time before they reached Citadel space.
He wished he had been born different; he wished that he could have been born into a normal family, enjoyed a normal childhood. He wished that the Reapers had never come into existence.
But damnit, he thought. If my life had been any different, I would have never met Garrus.
"You alright, Shepard?" came Miranda's voice from what seemed to be a galaxy away. He focused his eyes on her, and it took him a few seconds to recollect himself before answering,
"Yes, Miranda. Thank you for these reports."
She nodded, and walked away.
He wished he could have gone down to see Garrus. But he knew he couldn't. He had to act professional; people were under his command, and he needed to set an example. Besides, he didn't want to distract Garrus from anything productive.
He held on to the reports she had given him, and walked over to his personal terminal.
Well, no matter what he thought or did, things didn't take care of themselves.
At least not yet, anyways.
He was sitting in the mess hall by himself, listening to an audio-log Miranda had given him. The information given by the log was invaluable – it pointed to what appeared to be yet another specimen of Reaper technology found on a small interspecies colony world called Tralfamadore.
The Reaper artefact, according to the audio-log, had been discovered by a band of children during a school field-trip. The area where it had been discovered had purportedly also been known for electromagnetic disturbances and for odd animal behaviour.
"Hey there," said someone behind him. He was startled from his reverie, and he turned off the recorded audio-log.
He turned around, to see the turian behind him, leaning against the wall.
"Hey, Garrus."
"Commander. You've been here quite a while."
"Yes; been busy with some intel-"
"I heard. Something about an ancient artefact on some colony."
"Exactly. But not just any artefact. A Reaper artefact."
The turian looked up, suddenly interested.
"A Reaper artefact?"
Shepard stood up, grabbing the audio-log and putting it into the pocket of his pants.
"That's right," he said, smiling, walking up to Garrus and putting his arm around his waist. The turian responded in kind by pressing his mouth against Shepard's forehead.
"God, Commander," he said softly. "you really manage to outdo yourself every time, don't you?"
"Only for you, Garrus."