"That really necessary?" Shepard asked as I pulled out my heavy armour from the closet I was forced to leave it in when we arrived on this wonderful island. There was little around our little getaway to remind you of what was still out there, and Shepard said she wouldn't let me stay if I were to keep the armour on.

Civvie clothing it was.

"That really need answering?" I asked her right back, giving her a quick look of 'I'm sure you already know it's absolutely necessary Shepard' a drop of my right mandible along with a raise of my left brow plate and a sight tilt of the head.

She rolled her eyes a little then gave in "fine, when you start whining about how you can't combat roll in armour don't be whining at me"

"Rolling requires ducking Shepard, and I don't know how to do that –have the scars to prove it- besides, while your busy rolling around in your tactical cloak, I'll be shooting the bad guys." I said.

"Bad guys? we're heading to a ghost town, you only want the armour cause you miss it." she said, I threw my hands in a half careless-half casual manner and replied "Too bad there won't be anything to shoot"

Shepard shook her head and looked down her banter smile fading away and I could tell she was looking as forward to this trip as I was. I'd rather let James recalibrate the Normandy's systems then do this; but it's something that Shepard feels she needs to do, and I plan on being with her every step of the way.

I sighed and looked at her as if that would give me any more insight onto how she was doing than what my visor was already telling me.

Hey, the smart thing would be to go remind her she's not alone. I thought to myself.

I walked behind her, half dressed in my armour and put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Shepard. There's no bullets this time…. Or… rockets" she turned and gave me a half smile "so, that means I can guarantee that I will be with you this entire trip. and I'll be there after, may as well get this over with together"

"Mmm, I do kind of miss that comfy 'huggy' feel of wearing armour." She said, reverting back to the beginning of the conversation.

"yeeahhhh, and you can just think it's-err… nevermind" I stopped myself before I said something stupid again but of course Shepard knew where I was going with it anyways

"and just think it's you hugging me the whole way. Hah that's a good one" she laughed and smiled at me the way she does whenever I manage to cheer her up.

–good job Vakarian, keeping those cheering-up skills sharp, now if only you were good at those romant-

Satisfied, and with Shepard a little less solemn I returned to putting on my armour, still with the dents on the front from EDI a few weeks back. I rubbed my hands over them before turning it over and putting it on. That same old comfort as the seals clamped shut and the internal padding and gel layer presses firmly over your body. That hum you can feel as the internal computers turn on and all the lights flicker to life.

And the flow of new information as my visor receives vitals and other information from my suit. Almost expected a 'welcome home Garrus, we missed you' to scroll across from the damn thing. Everything in order I rolled my shoulders and turned my head each way,

* Crack * damn, you're getting old.

Then I just sat and watched as Shepard lazily rifled through her messy side of the closet and pulled out her armour. One of her older pairs from back in the Cerberus days she had kept in her closet on the Normandy along with all the other armour she bought, but never wore.

She had bought some really high end stuff before Thessia, massive shield, backup and redundant generators, reflective armour with advanced gel layer for maximum energy dispersal, limited edition medical computer with extra Medi-gel reserves for maximum efficiency, 'all the bells and hollers' I think is what humans say.

I spent around 5-6 hours looking through the specs of her new armour, comparing it with what she already had, and what I could possibly get my hands on to improve it, and when satisfied that there was nothing better on the market, I tinkered with the computing system to add 34% to her shields, added a remote vitals tracker to her medical computer to input directly to my visor with a 4 mile range and even managed to add a personal radio sync in case she was interested in getting into some actual music, -and not the regular tracks she keeps in her quarters- while killing reapers.

I Like to think it accomplished something because there was literally nothing left of the armour when we picked her up back on earth. Some half melted outer pieces, gel layer fried with cooked medi-gel into her wounds which were barely sealed, burns everywhere like she decided to just jump into one of the burning barrels on omega. From how it looked when she left me on the Normandy at the Beam to how It looked when I saw her again on earth 3 days later; I just shudder to think what would have happened if she would of been wearing anything less.

After Shepard finished suiting up, she placed her radio-piece in her ear and said "Normandy, this is Shepard, Garrus is done prettying himself up for pick-up, what's your ETA?"

"Really Shepard?" I gave her an unamused look, last thing I needed was for joker to have more banter to use against me at will, 'stick-up-my-ass-Vakarian' and "The commanders"... nah, I don't need you guys knowing that one. Shepard ignored my protest and just sat, waiting for a reply, though I'm pretty sure I saw a small smirk escape from her.

Another moment and Joker Crackled on, followed by EDI, who was sounding more herself these days

"Oh? you too love birds finally deciding to come out of retirement? We're just finished re-entry checks, will be over Hawaii in a few minutes."

"Was that a pun Jeff? Due to Garrus resembling some of the avian creatures of Earth?" EDI asked "and I apologize for the delay, the crew insists that my own pre-flight checks are insufficient, to which I insist on the fact that I can take care of myself."

Shepard turned at me and smiled waiting for my reaction to yet another bird reference which 'I love soo much'

I really don't.

I just shrugged my shoulders at her, as if I couldn't really give a damn.

"Yes EDI, PUN oh so very much intended, you get that Garrus? And EDI you're not gonna go through a young and rebellious phase are you? Don't want to feel like my dad. Cause, you know, that would be weird, and you totally didn't lock the forward shielding before initiating descent, so uhh, I would of gone blind." Joker said, speaking rather rapidly.

Shepard and I didn't say anything, instead EDI said "As weird as dating an AI?... That's connected to your ship? That IS your ship? Hmm, maybe I am feeling a little rebellious. I AM the Normandy, and you're always riding aboard it. Thought it was time I get to ride YOU."

"OHHHKAY EDI, you can stop right there!" joker exclaimed over the comms to which I said "Just so you know joker, I can hear EVERY word"

"dammit, I—just give me a minute, we'll be over" with that, the radio cut out and Shepard and I both sat laughing to ourselves.

Then Shepard added "you know EDI, it's not just joker who rides aboard the Normandy, now I will probably feel a little dirty stepping aboard her now"

don't care how dirty I feel, joker is never living this moment down.

"Careful Shepard, wouldn't want to make Mr. Moreau jealous". Joining in the verbal bully circle.

"oh this so isn't happening right before we all get shoved onto the same ship for the next 8 months" joker whined, I could picture seeing him shaking his head in his hands.

Then the three of us replied to him all at once "oh it so is".

Within a few minutes the Normandy came screaming overhead, Joker didn't even bother dropping down the shuttle, rather he brought it over to the cliff near the house and opened the Cargo bay door. With a short march out the front door each with a pack of things we brought from the Normandy and a couple mementos from our time on this island we jogged over to the cliff and jumped the meter wide gap between the Normandy, land, and a 200 foot drop into the ocean below, with the two of us back on board we took off back out into space. Back out into everything we left behind.

Holiday is over. Time to get back to healing the scars of the Galaxy, starting with the heart of it.