AN: Thank you again to the ever amazing Im The Sweet for being my Beta reader and putting up with all my random messages and weirdness. Re written (6/20 ) new scene added no big plot points added. Comments and reviews are always nice and appreciated! :D

Chapter Two: Family

Jane awoke the next morning slowly as sunlight danced through the lightly colored room. She was pressed against the warm and leathery thing in her bed, she couldn't quite remember what it was, but all Jane knew she liked the feel of it next to her. As Jane snuggled closer to the object a purring sound seamed to reverberate around the room. Slowly, as she became more conscious, the memories from the day before started to trickle into her mind. The white dress, her father's arm linked with hers, the sad look from her teammates as she passed them, and then him stand there at the end of the isle waiting for her.

Jane's eyes flew open and looked at the soft grey plate she had snuggled up against during the night. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and looked down at the Turian lying next to her. Her eyes were wide as she took in his bare form; he was large for what she had seen of Turian's. Not large as in fat but he was tall and broad chested. And what she had gathered from the reception last night was that Garrus was good looking for a Turian male. She had seen the looks females of his kind had given him, which he either ignored or didn't notice. Maybe he didn't care?

His markings were interesting; she had never seen many that were a blue like his before. Garrus' markings were a beautiful cobalt, and the marks swept along underneath his eyes and framed the jagged edges of his plates, reminding her of Native American war paint. Jane's eyes drifted to the arm that hand snaked around her hips sometime during the evening and his hand had splayed out over her stomach. His grip was soft enough where he would not hurt her but it was protectively around her so she couldn't easily roll away from him.

Jane had never been this close to a live turian, She had seen them in their armor in battle as they ducked for cover, and she had seen the bodies strewn around the battlefield, but never a real, living, breathing, and… naked turian up close. Curiously Jane softly touched his talons; they had obviously been dulled and cut to a rounded shape to not hurt himself or others, but if need be they could still do damage with enough force. Slowly her curious fingers crept up his arm and on to his chest plates, gently enough to not disturb him from slumber. She knew she shouldn't touch him, Jane knew she should be repulsed by the idea, but curiosity overwhelmed her. The slate gray plates had looked rough and jagged, almost painful to the touch, but when she ran her fingers over their edges she realized that they felt like soft worn leather. Just like Jane's fathers motorcycle jacket, Jane smiled softly at the faint memory. There were scars within the plates, some were jagged lines while others were old gun shot wounds that had healed over. Jane remembered being the cause of some of them, and like Garrus, Jane had some of the same healed wounds from his sniper riffle.

Jane had lost track what time it was or how long she had been looking at Garrus until her eyes drifted up to his face to see the glazed over, crystalline blue, eyes observing all of her movements. His mandibles flared open a little in what she guessed must have been a smirk.

"Like what you see, Jane Vakarian?" Garrus spoke slowly; his voice was laced with sleep and a deep hum from his sub harmonics filled the air. She couldn't tell if he was picking on her or flirting, but no matter what, something about his voice made her heart flutter. What scared and confused her though was somewhere in the back of Jane's mine she liked that feeling, not that she would ever admit that out loud.

"Sorry." She stated quickly and scooted away from him, "I must have gotten cold during the night or something." She murmured as she almost slipped out of Garrus' grasp, until she felt his hand wrap around her wrist keeping her successfully in place.

"Jane," She turned and looked at him, Garrus had pushed himself into a sitting position, "We don't know each other more then our battle tactics. I don't know your culture, and you don't know mine either, but I have made a promise to you. I would be a bad turian to not keep that and not treat you like I would a mate I picked and cared for prior to the bonding." Silence lingered between them. Jane didn't know what to say to that; she felt like she should say something witty or maybe even a smartass remark, but every time she opened her mouth nothing came out.

"I'm going to get coffee." She finally blurted out, Garrus' mandibles fell slack as he sighed and let go of her. She looked away from him and slid off the plush bed. Once her feet hit the hardwood floor we was off to the kitchen to try and find that substance to kick-start her brain, and far away from the thing in her bed that confused her. Jane went down the stairs double time. What did he think he was doing? With being nice and trying to make her comfortable, maybe even happy one day; they should have turned the house into a war zone, trying to murder the other one, but no, she woke up snuggling him and he flirted with her. She should be repulsed, her skin should have crawled at his touch, but most of all Jane should have told him to never be in the same room as her.

Jane walked into the sunny, happy, kitchen and started to fix herself coffee. She tried desperately to forget the confusing alien in her bed.

oOoOoOo

Garrus watched Jane leave the bedroom, once he heard her trample down the stairs he let out a small breath he had been holding in. What was he doing? He should have slept on the couch or the guest room. They were sworn enemies yesterday and now his instincts were telling him to dote on her. With a deep grumble he rolled out of the large bed and strolled into the connecting bathroom. Maybe a shower would give him clarity on his thoughts of the confusing alien he had woken up next to. The talons on his toes clicked against the chilled tiled floor, the room was large enough for him to move around in comfortably and like everything in this house this room was neutral colored to not offend either of their tastes. Garrus quickly slipped into the glass-enclosed shower and once the hot water hit and ran in between his plates, his mind was finally allowed to start wandering.

Garrus had read Jane's files over and over again in the months leading up to their union. He knew every fact that had been in there from her early childhood till the day the fighting had ceased in the "first contact war" as the humans had called it. Earth born, in some place called Vermont, her paternal grandparents had emigrated from England and found a chunk of land in Vermont. Her mother's family though, seamed to never stay in one place long, constantly moving and exploring the world. Her father was in the Alliance since he had turned eight-teen. He married Jane's mother when he was twenty and she was eight-teen and had their first child six months later.

Jane was born on April 11th, 2134 and she had three older brothers each one was two years older then the last. All four of the Shepards had followed in their father's footsteps and joined the Alliance on their eighteenth birthdays. Jane went up rank quickly due to a mix of her name and her skill… that, Garrus could confirm. Her two oldest brothers had passed away in action, information pertaining to their death was classified, but there had been a side note that both of their last missions had been in the same platoon as Jane; this caused Garrus to make the very real assumption that she had watched both of them pass right in front of her.

But those were facts typed on a data pad, not real life. They were made to help the two simulate a real relationship. Garrus noticed it never stated in the data pad how her green eyes were so expressive, or how soft her skin was for a warrior of her caliber, or how she even talked in her sleep so quietly his translator couldn't pick it up, and he knew it never stated what it felt like to wake up with her fingers gently running over the wounds she had given him.

With a sigh the turian leaned up against the wall of the shower, what had he gotten himself into? Frustrated Garrus turned the water off; he grabbed one of the cream towels and started to dry off as he walked back into the bedroom. He rummaged through draws to find a simple pair of lounge pants, remembering the note he had read about how most humans did not agree with nudity. Once the pants were found, he slipped the soft material onto his body and walked down to the kitchen.

He found the confusing female in front of the sink staring out of the window into the back yard, clutching a mug in both of her hands. Garrus stood there and observe how the sun touched her skin giving her a light glow from the early morning. She wasn't that bad looking, he guessed. Her features were softened with her wild, flame colored, fringe. Her skin was fair in color making her plump pink lips and wide green eyes stand out. She had to be attractive for a human, Garrus had observed the males of her kind, and they had looked at her with intense interest last night, but she didn't seam to notice. Maybe it was a human thing to ignore the gaze of potential suitors? But it was not a turian thing to ignore the potential threats of other males, every time Garrus had caught their eyes he let out a little growl of warning, making the human males quickly avert their eyes.

Garrus gulped, he didn't understand what this feeling was, he had found himself wanting to protect the small human, and keep her close to him, but Garrus had never been attracted to any of her kind before, it was odd. He found their fleshy bits odd, their fringe could be morphed into what it wasn't naturally, but most of all they were small and delicate. How could he trust himself around his mate if he knew he could break her bones so easily? So what was this feeling of excitement for as he looked upon her? Garrus sighed deeply and watched Jane for a moment before she turned around and watched him stand in the entry way. He watched her green eyes slide over him, cautiously calculating the situation.

"Good morning Vakarian, I made you some tea… I read that most of your kind can drink human tea… so I thought…If you don't-"

"Thank you, I was going to make myself some." Garrus walked towards the island where the steaming blue mug sat. They stood there eyeing one another, the island of the kitchen separating the two. Jane being satisfied that everything was okay for the moment, turned her back to Garrus and went back to looking out of the window. With tentative steps Garrus crossed towards Jane to see what she was staring at. Out side of the window lay nice, medium sized, back yard with dark green grass and a white fence around the perimeter. Even though the area was spacious and pleasant there seamed to be something missing. The area was void of anything, it was just a green space. Maybe the fact that it was just the two of them in this large house alone made the yard seam a lot larger and emptier then it should have been… this house had been obviously designed for a large family, not a turian and his human mate.

"I'm going to make a garden." Jane stated as she walked out of the kitchen, coffee cup in hand. She climbed up stairs to get changed, as she walked away, somewhere in the back of Garrus's mind he wondered what a half-turian half-human child would look like running around the back yard, but he would never admit that he though of that.

oOoOoOo

"Mom, I'm fine, really." Jane interrupted her mother on the other end of her omni tool as she pulled weeds out of the mix of flowers. Her mother went on about all the problems that could occur from her being left alone with a turian. "Mom seriously, I'm fine, we leave each other alone to do our own things."

"Jane, your father says-"

"I love dad, but I'm fine," and Jane was fine. Garrus and her talked only when necessary, interacted almost none, and after the first night Jane had taken up sleeping in the guest room. Jane's mom fell silent.

"If you truly are fine then, I won't say any more on the matter…We still think maybe you should come home for a bit."

"I would love to mom but-" Jane pulled on a deep-rooted weed. As she felt the root give, She could feel herself starting to fall. Jane's ass hit the ground hard, she groaned softly as she pushed herself off the ground, " but I cant, we're under district arrest." They were only allowed to go to the grocery store and a few other establishments in the suburbia they were subjected too. Jane could hear her mom sigh softly on the other end of the connection.

"Well, we all love you. Your brother miss's you like crazy, you should talk to him more."

"Alright, I need to go, mom." Jane smiled as she wiped her muddy hands on her old, patched up, overalls. With that, the two women said their goodbyes, and ended the connection. Jane sighed at the realization she had as silence washed over the yard; Jane missed her home on Earth. She picked up her tools quickly and put them away in the shed. Jane stretched her now tired muscles, now it was time for a shower. Then she could possibly order take out, curl up on the couch with a movie and a beer. Yes that was what Jane would do, she decided as she pulled off her mud caked shoes and left them on the back porch.

Jane took the stairs two at a time as she quickly unhooked the straps to the tattered overalls. When she had entered the master bedroom, without a passing thought, Jane took off her dirty clothing and tossed them into the hamper as she walked into the empty bathroom. The hot shower was what Jane needed to relieve her tired and sore limbs. She washed away all the grime and sweat she had worked up and watched it swirl down into the drain.

Jane stepped out of the glass enclosed shower and wrapped a cream towel around her body and walked back into the master bedroom to grab a change of clothing, just to be met with a shocked looking Garrus Vakarian. He was sitting in one of the armchairs near the floor to ceiling window. His mandibles were slack and his eyes were as wide as saucers, the data pad that he had been holding had fallen out of his talons and onto the floor. Jane stopped in her tracks and stared at him. Water dripped off of her and onto the wood floor.

"How long have you been there?" Jane asked in a hushed breath.

"Long enough," He whispered back, hinting to what he had seen. Jane felt her face turn red with embarrassment as Garrus looked away. With a pregnant pause Garrus got up from the chair, grabbing his data pad, and walked out of the room shutting the door behind him. Jane starred at the door before going toward the dresser, grabbing her comfy clothes and quickly putting them on. Jane grabbed a hair tie and pushed her damp hair into a large messy bun a she hopped down the stairs and to the kitchen to grab the Chinese take out menu. Jane found Garrus standing in the kitchen looking at a menu for something. Jane cleared her throat as she walked in, Garrus turned and looked at her.

"Oh, I-" Garrus paused and sighed, "Do you want to call in something tonight? I read somewhere that this… food… if you want to call it that… is enjoyed by humans all over. I thought that since they now serve Dextro versions of everything on the menu, that maybe you and I could have dinner…together." Garrus held up the take out menu Jane had intended to grab. His eyes seamed to be pleading for her to agree with his request. In all honesty Jane was a social creature and missed being with people; even if Garrus was turian, she was stuck with him. Jane looked between him and the menu and gave Garrus a quick nod. It couldn't hurt, it was just one dinner, and it wasn't like they were going to be separated any time soon.

They sat together on the couch eating the Chinese food, drinking, and talking as they watched movies from the others culture until the early hours of the morning. Jane didn't realize until that night when she had gone to bed how much she missed talking and laughing with others. As Jane fell asleep she couldn't help but think that Garrus wasn't all that bad, even if he was turian. Maybe if he had been human Jane would have fallen for him that night, if he had been human, Jane would be imagining their life together as a couple. But Garrus was a turian, so Jane dreamed of a world where that didn't matter.

oOoOoOo

Days passed, then days turned into weeks, which turned into months. The two of them kept the same schedule during their required time off. They would wake up, have small talk over tea and coffee, Jane would go out and work in the garden. Meanwhile Garrus cleaned and calibrated his sniper riffles. They would then meet for lunch and inform the other about what they had accomplished so far in their day. Again after that they would part until dinner, where they would talk about the second half of their days, and have random conversations about whatever the other could think of.

Garrus had learned that Jane had been a tomboy growing up, but secretly loved to cook and garden. While he had informed her that he had never had a close-knit family, and how he would sneak away to his friends Nihlus's house where he was treated like a second son. It wasn't just secrets they discussed, no they would talk about a mix of things, ranging from movies they grew up with to who beat who in the war.

"Don't you remember Shanxi? I beat you in that one, you can not deny that." Jane pointed out as she washed a pan. Their argument through dinner stretched into the clean up.

"Okay but what about Epyrus and Gothis. I had you in a corner and-"

"-And I got out with out any of my men dead. It was unfair odds, the weather sucked, and you had colony advantage."

"Bad weather is not an excuse to loose a mission Jane. How ever did your superiors allow your back mouthing and excuses?" Garrus chuckled as he dried the pan she had pushed to his chest.

"Easy, the old bastards just nodded when I proposed a new course of action, and let me go do my thing since I delivered results." Jane started to put away the newly washed dishes stretching up on her tippy toes to reach the shelf. Garrus looked over at her with a small smile, they had been mated for three months in total and they may have not been romantic, but she had opened up to him nicely. He would even be bold enough to call them friends.

His eyes slipped down her neck and to the scar he had given her, every time he looked at it his blood pumped a little faster. He was bonded with her all right, excitement filled him when he felt her near and when she was too far from him he became anxious and nervous. He would find himself pulling at the link between them to give him constant updates on her well being and to see if he could do anything to make her happier. He had read and been told that most turian males were the weaker and more clingy of the two sexes, when it came to mating, but he had never believed it. Garrus' eyes traveled to her face, he didn't believe them until now when he would worry over a little cut from one of her thorny human flowers.

"So, I was thinking that maybe since its been a few months, that it might be a nice idea that we have a nice dinner… with both of our families… here… at the same time." Jane spoke slowly and softly. Garrus had expected this question to come up soon, Jane had been talking and thinking of her family a lot recently he had noticed, she must have been home sick.

"If you want to… I see no reason not to but-" before Garrus could finish he heard a loud thank you and felt her practically jump onto him causing him to stand there in shock. Before he new it Garrus had wrapped his arms tightly around her delicate form and pressed his forehead against hers, in a turian kiss. Jane stilled in his arms knowing full well what he was doing and without thinking she slowly relaxed into the embrace. She had grown attached to him, even if every instinct in her told her not to because of all the blood on both of their hands. Garrus' sub harmonics flared to life betraying how happy he was in that moment alone with his mate, who was now happy with him.

oOoOoOo

Jane and Garrus ran around the house cleaning and prepping, both of their families would be there any minute, and neither of them understood why they hadn't finished this cleaning sooner. Both a levo and dextro meal were in the oven and almost done, two bottles of wine were sitting on ice awaiting the guests, and both Jane and Garrus were partially dressed in the chaos soon to be called the first dinner with the family.

So maybe Jane was putting on a front as the house wife with the gardening, cooking, and now the nice dress blouse and slacks, but she chose to do this… she was a woman after all, she didn't just like shooting, war games, and fixing old military equipment. She chose to play house, and to her surprise, Jane liked it. She liked having a home again that wasn't a cold ship floating through space. She liked the lack of adventure and liked the routine of being in one place. Jane liked having the sunlight on her back as she cared for her plants and not wounded men. She liked hot meals instead of packages of bland MRE's. But most of all she, surprisingly, liked her home with her companion more then some of the people she had in her unit. As Jane was slipping on her other shoe she heard the doorbell ring. With quick nimble steps she ran down the stairs and into the main hallway, meeting Garrus before either of them got to the door.

"Took the turian dinner out of the oven, it is done and looks very good. I don't know about your human dish though, left it in for a little bit longer incase." He quickly said as they slowly walked to the door. Both were trying to mentally prepare them selves for who ever was the first family to come in.

"Thank you, you ready?" Jane looked up at Garrus who gave her a quick nod as Jane reached the door. She quickly opened it to just be met by a giant pot of blue hydrangeas that were being pushed into her face. Her family, Jane took a sigh of relief while Garrus stood up a little taller and his fringe seamed to poof up a little more.

"Here honey, I brought you these from the house. I know how much you love them. What a gorgeous place! It look's just like house back on Earth, just modernized! I like, it's so…Urban…Oh sweet heart we should do something like this to the house back in Vermont, you know I've been wanting to redo it for a long time…" Jane's mother, Juliet, pushed past her daughter and Garrus into the home to analyze everything, to Garrus it seamed like the older woman never took a breath. Juliet was a short pudgy woman with short curly red hair that had started to gray, but her age never slowed her movements or her mouth.

Jane stepped back and smiled at her brother and her father who were quietly standing there waiting to come in. Jane set the pot of flowers down on the side table and smiled at the two men.

"Hey Dad. Hi Joker." Jane whispered and gave them both a hug. She could hear her mother wandering through the house talking to herself… or maybe she had ahold onto Garrus' ear? Slowly the two other men walked in and shut the door behind them.

"How was the ride here, did you find it ok?" Jane asked softly to not draw the attention of her mother.

"Yeah no it was fine, we just told the cab driver to bring us to the home of the human turian family." Joker smiled softly "Seams like you guys are getting a fan base." Jane rolled her eyes and looked at her father who was staring (glaring) at Garrus, who had, in deed, been trapped by her mother's long winded, one sided conversation about some "cute little shop" on the citadel she had found, and this beautiful hat that she just HAD to get before their vacation ended and went back to Earth.

"Dad, it's fine. Everything is ok." Jane touched her dad's hand to get his attention. He just gave her a slight nod and turned his attention back to Garrus and her mother. Joker looked at Jane and shrugged.

"You got anything to drink, I am parched honey!" Jane's mother yelled over to her. With that the group of them walked into the kitchen. Jane pointed out to where the cups were as she peeked into the oven at the chicken potpie, slowly she pulled out the now golden pie and set it on the counter to cool enough to be served. When Juliet finished her glass of water, to her father's and brother's dismay, she grabbed Garrus' hand and stated to pat it as she started her conversation with him again.

"I am so rude, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Juliet Moreau-Shepard, this is my husband, Jane's father, Alfred Shepard, but we call him Al for short. And this is my little baby Jeff Moreau-Shepard, Jane's youngest older brother… but for some odd reason his little friends call him Joker. I don't understand kid's these days with nick names that don't make since…" She kept going on with her rant, but no one really listened after that.

At some point Jane could hear the doorbell ring a second time, Garrus and Jane looked at each other with wide eyes before they excused themselves to go answer the door. Together the two of them stood in front of the red door looking at it, both trying to get ready for what was to come. Slowly Jane, with Garrus standing behind her, opened the front door with a smile plastered to her face. She was greeted by three turians standing on her stoop. Garrus's mother and sister looked pleased to see the two of them while his father had the sourest look on his face.

"Welcome! We are both glad you all could make it, please come in." Jane sidestepped out of the doorway. The small group stepped into the home quietly. It wasn't until Jane shut the door behind them when she heard one of Garrus's family members speak.

"It is nice to finally meet my brother's bond mate. I am Solana, you may call me Sol, if you wish." The younger, shorter, beige turian smiled at Jane as she came closer, once they were in front of one another Sol took Jane's hands into hers and pressed the side of her face against Jane's before stepping away. "This is our mother, Amora." The older woman stepped closer to Jane and gave her the same greeting that her daughter had given her. "Finally this is our father Bellus." Jane looked at the slate gray turian, who looked like a much older version of Garrus. She smiled slowly at the older turian, but he did not move or give her a greeting like Sol and Amora had, he just stood there glaring at her. With a slow nod Jane led them into the dinning room for dinner.

oOoOoOo

The dinner, in Garrus' option, was awkward. Jane's father and his never stopped glaring at one another. Jane's mother seamed to start talking about anything she could think of, she even at one point started talking about Jeff's love life and how he needed to find his own mate, so she could have grandchildren, since Jane and Garrus weren't going to have any. Jeff/Joker made comments about turian/human get together being a great idea after having a war with each other, and how he didn't realize that they had gone back in time to dark ages with the arranged marriage. Garrus' mother and sister would comment every now and then how good Jane's dextro cooking was, even though Jane was a human and Garrus couldn't have made it, since it wasn't like a good bonded male turian to make his own dinner. All the while Jane just pushed her food around the plate muttering how much of a bad idea this was to him, and repeating, "You should have told me this was a bad idea".

Finally at some point, the dinner had finished, the families had said their goodbyes and left, promising to see one another again during the time they were staying on the Citadel. When Jane closed the door Garrus was standing right behind her with two glasses and the second bottle of wine that no one had touched. Jane pressed her back to the door with her head in her hands. As she slid down the door Garrus sat down next to her, silently pouring her a glass of the dark red wine.

"It wasn't that bad." He whispered as Jane took a giant gulp of wine he offered her. She slowly looked over at him and laughed. It was a full body laugh that Garrus couldn't help but join in. "So, that may have been a lie." Garrus confessed with a smile as her giggling died down.

"You think?" Garrus rested his head against the door and looked over at her. Her cheeks were pink from the rush of wine into her system. Slowly she unraveled her hair and let the fiery red curls fall down her shoulder. Jane took another gulp of wine and looked over at Garrus, her eyelids were heavy and her eyes were glassy, filled with a mix of unshed tears and something Garrus couldn't distinguish.

"Your sister seams nice," Jane looked away from him and down the hall "I like her. Your father he's…well…" Jane sighed softly and didn't continue on

"He's old fashioned, he'll get over it." Garrus finished for her.

"Your father and mine couldn't stop locking eyes, I was afraid they were going to jump each other and try and kill the other with the butter knives."

"And here I couldn't help but think they would be the best of friends." Jane laughed at that, it had become sadder then the first. Garrus put his hand on her knee and gave it a squeeze.

"My mother likes you."

"Your mother likes anyone who will stay quiet long enough during her little breaks so she can keep going." Garrus retorted.

"Point for Mr. Vakarian." Jane took the last gulp of wine and looked over at him again.

"Dinner was good, two points for Mrs. Vakarian." He whispered softly and rested his forehead against hers. He was gladly surprised when he felt her hand rest against the side of his face and begin to lightly stroke his warn mandible there.

"I'm glad someone enjoyed it, even if our families hate each other. Do you want to know a secret?" She asked with a smile, Garrus nodded weakly. Jane set her empty glass on the hardwood floor. His heart fell when she pulled away from him but as soon as he knew it Jane had swung her leg over, pushing her entire body against his and pressed her forehead against his. Garrus' arms instinctively wrapped around Jane slender frame, trapping her against his body, so she would never pull away from him again. Jane's hand snaked up his chest and up behind his fringe.

"I don't care." She whispered as she stroked the delicate skin that rested there.

Garrus could not hide his excitement and want for the human woman in his lap any longer. Silently and with out breaking contact with her, Garrus got up and led them to their bedroom. That night Garrus showed his mate how much he had learned to care for her, and that night Jane let him.