Neross: Hello my dears and welcome to chapter two. I hope you all enjoyed the last chapter. And I apologize for their short length but as I mentioned in chapter one I had originally planned for this to be a one shot. Oh well. At least I can update much more quickly this way. I hope you all enjoy this next chapter and I hope you enjoy my sweet Valentine's gift to you all. Enjoy my sick little darlings.

Warning: This fanfiction may contain violence, strong language, adult situations, and sexual situations.

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He'd begun noticing her more and more after that. Subtle things about her that he'd missed before. The way she bit her lip when she concentrated on things she didn't like, or didn't think were important...like mission reports. The way her eyes would light up at the thought of a single good drink or at the smell of something she thought was particularly delicious. The way her eyebrows would draw together when she was focused on something interesting or intriguing like cultural notes or a good book. The way her smile softened around Liara in a way that was at the same time affectionate and distant. The way her eyes would watch places where people were before that weren't there anymore...and never would be. And the funny way her nose crinkled up when she laughed.

But the one thing Garrus noticed more than ever before was how she'd stare at old pictures. He didn't catch her doing it often, but there were a few times he stumbled upon her glancing at holos of herself, or people he didn't recognize. Young impulsive looking people dressed like punks and the sort of trouble-makers he'd brought in a dozen different times back on the citadel for petty crimes. She looked different in those old photos, her hair loose and wild like the night he'd caught her in the gym. Her smile small, confident, and filled with mischief. The look of defiance in her eyes in those pictures reminded him of the times she'd speak to Udina, her nose up in the air in indignation but her hands clutched to her sides in resignation of her duty. The pictures of her younger self were pictures of an almost entirely different person.

And she stared at the photos with a varying mixture of emotions. Sometimes he'd catch her smiling wistfully, an older reflection of the girl gesturing rebelliously in the old holos. At other times she'd be staring, almost in disappointment, at those old pictures, her mouth pulled into an unidentifiable line of mixed regret and affection. And yet at other times she'd gaze at them with a look so full of longing and heart-break it would seem as if Garrus was witness to her heart slowly shattering before his eyes. It was only shortly before they left for Ilos that Garrus learned what significance the photos held for her.

He'd wandered in to the mess hall for a late night snack when he found her lying on the dinning table, once more barefoot, her hair undone, her regulation jacket hanging open to reveal the black t-shirt underneath. She was gazing up at a holo of herself and a group of fellow teenagers, all wearing the clothes of delinquents and staring out with reckless defiance and rebellion against a backdrop of a mountainside at sunset. Her expression was wistful and lost in a grin not unlike the one her younger self revealed upon a tower of rocks, surrounded by friends and followers. The whole situation was like some sort of happy joke and Garrus couldn't fight the smile that worked it's way onto his face as he sat his tray down beside her and stared down at her with a snarky grin. "Reminiscing Shepard?" he asked her, her startled look of mixed frantic embarrassment quickly falling back to that defiant grin that spoke of her rebellious youth.

"Yeah." She told him, sitting up on the table and pushing the holo to the side. She crossed her legs and smirked at him as if daring him to tell her to get off the table, he didn't bother. It was more fun to see her sitting there like that , a perfect image of a younger woman filled with wild abandon. "You have a habit of doing it on tables?" he asked her. An eyebrow rose in humor and her lips twitched into a wicked grin. " I dunno Garrus," she started leaning forward to stare him in the eye with a suggestive and seductive tilt to her voice, the way she moved her shoulders as she leaned forward toward him spoke of dark intentions. "Do you?" she finished, her tone humorous, but filled with lecherous suggestion.

The Turian groaned at his mistake and slapped a hand over his face as he heard the commander begin to laugh at his expense. "Right Shepard thanks for that." the ex-C-Sec growled, his grin still standing despite his incredulous tone. She merely smirked back at him and whipped a hand through her hair, pulling it away from her face, sitting upright once more. "Anytime Garrus." she told him with a slight chuckle before her eyes drifted back to the holo sitting upon the table, a highlight to the mood.

"We took this just after my graduation from high school. We were still laughing over the look on Jamie Pimm's face when she found out I'd beaten her for the Valedictorian spot. Guess she always figured I was too much of a punk to do well. After my name was called our whole gang rang up with a chant." She grinned and stuck her nose up in a victorious way as she sang out. "Jamie Pimm lost to a lousy crim! Gene is the punk of punks! Jamie Pimm lost to a lousy crim! Shepard really rocks! Jamie Pimm can out cheer us for a lousy buck! But Shepard won so we don't give a fuck!" She laughed again and Garrus couldn't help but chuckle a bit as well, seeing her face turn back into that young girl both proud and embarrassed at the same time, cheering a victory while laughing at her own short-comings.

She sighed and turned the holo so she could see it better and pointed out the mountain in the background. "They called me up there that day to show me what they'd done to the town's letters. They'd been painted on the rocks on that hillside for as long as any of us could remember...as if we couldn't remember the name of our own town and had to constantly be reminded that we lived in Victoria Hills." She scrunched her nose at this and then settled back into her easy smirk as she drew her hand away. "They'd painted over the letters that day with my initials. So for a full year it was G.S. staring down at us...of course I didn't see much of the hill that year. The second I turned eighteen I signed up with the alliance and shipped out for basic training before the paint had even dried. I think they knew that though. I just couldn't stay there...and I tried so hard to get the others to leave too...to find better jobs off planet. Respectable jobs that'd pay them without asking for their souls in return. But I was the only one who left. "

Her smile fell and became a small and sad ghost of her earlier defiance. Regret filling the place where that old youthful abandon had been. Without thinking Garrus placed a comforting hand on her knee. Immediately Shepard turned to stare at him, as if suddenly made aware of where she was...of who she was. Her lips pulled for a brief moment into a reassuring smile and she patted the hand on her knee in recognition before she let her hand and his slip away and turned once more to the picture with a true smile, this time one of pride and affection. "I can't blame them. Earth is their home...it's been our home for thousands of years. Guess I couldn't ask them to give that up. And I miss it more than I'd like to admit. "

Garrus smiled at her sympathetically. "I know what you mean." he told her sincerely. She'd smiled at him then and turned to hop off the table, turning around to grin at him one last time before she shot him that defiant gesture of her youth and sauntered off to her own quarters.

That was the first night Garrus dreamed of her. Upon waking he cursed his subconscious...but already he knew it wasn't entirely to blame. Because that defiant and wild smile of hers was stuck in his mind and had no intention of leaving anytime soon.

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Neross: Alright my darlings I do hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. And remember the best way to get me to update quicker is to leave me a review to let me know how I'm doing. Because while being favorited is a nice treat it's much more of an incentive to hear from my lovely readers and to find what I'm doing wrong and what I'm doing right.

Until next time my darlings, stay tuned for more of my sweet torture won't you?