Dr. Chakwas closed the windows on medbay as the crew continued to cheer outside. "You did it, Shepard." She motioned for Garrus to assist her with taking Shepard's armor off.

"We all did it," Shepard replied, looking fondly at Garrus, so concerned with her. Liara sat on a nearby bed. Shepard gasped in pain as they took off her greaves.

"Sorry, Jane. It's the only way to get it off your arm. I'm trying to be gentle. Can you give her something for pain, Doctor?"

"Yes, of course," Dr. Chakwas quickly went to her cabinet and came back, giving her a shot. The doctor looked over her injuries as Garrus anxiously stood by.

Dr. Chakwas instructed Garrus to take off his armor as she finished her assessment of Shepard.

"You're going to need surgery on that shoulder." She said.

Shepard sighed, "I figured. How's my knee?"

"Cartilage damaged, I can fix it with a laser. Liara, let's take a look at you." Dr. Chakwas went over to her.

In his underarmor, Garrus limped over to Shepard. "How bad is it?"

She shrugged, then winced in pain, "Ugh, knee's okay. I'm going to have to have surgery on my shoulder. It's shattered."

"Damn."

"What about you? You're limping."

"No big deal."

"Garrus – sit down please so I can check out your injuries." Dr. Chakwas directed him.

He compiled and Shepard watched as he tried to re-focus Dr. Chakwas to attend to her.

"Okay, Liara, you're fine, just some soft tissue injuries that should heal in a few days. Garrus – you have a hairline fracture in your leg, I'm going to use the bone conductor to heal it, it should take about 10 minutes. No moving once I get it setup, clear?"

He nodded, and Liara left medbay.

"As for you, I'm going to have to prep you for shoulder surgery. After everyone else is out, I'll put you under and we'll get to work. Once we can get you to a better hospital, we can have a specialist look at it, but to prevent permanent nerve damage, I have to do something now."

"Okay, Doctor." She tried to keep it still as she watched her get the equipment set up on Garrus. He sat on the edge of the bed and watched as Dr. Chakwas gently cut the bloody uniform off her arm and cleaned her wound. She got her equipment ready on the tray and turned to Shepard. "I'm giving you a sedative now. The surgery should take a few hours, depending on how extensive the damage is."

"I trust you doctor. Thanks."

Garrus was by her side, looking down at her.

"Hey – you were supposed to be-" she started.

"I know, it's finished. I'm fine. I'm worried about you. I'll see you after you're done," he hesitated. "Do you want me to call Kaidan in?"

Shepard furrowed her brow, "What? Kaidan? No, I-" and she drifted off.

She woke up after surgery to see Dr. Chakwas looking down at her. "It went just fine. You need to stay here and sleep it off for a little while longer."

Shepard reached up for her.

"Yes, just relax. What is it?"

"Garrus," Shepard said softly.

Dr. Chakwas nodded and Shepard closed her eyes again. A few hours later she woke up and turned to see Garrus sitting next to her, holding her hand.

She smiled, "Hey," she said hoarsely.

He leaned in towards her, "Dr. Chakwas, she's awake."

The doctor came to her side and checked her equipment. "Looking good, Shepard. You can go back to your quarters if you'd like. Just go slow, you'll be a little unsteady for an hour or so."

She slowly sat up with Garrus' help. She looked down at her shoulder. A faint scar was visible. She tried to moving it around.

"It will be stiff for a few days, but you'll have full functionality soon. It wasn't as bad as I feared. I think this will pretty much take care of it, but I still recommend seeing a specialist in a few weeks," Dr. Chakwas brought up her omni-tool, "I'm sending you some rehab exercises. Do them. That will get you full strength and range of motion back."

"Okay, doctor I promise. Thanks for everything." She scooted to the edge of the bed and stood up, holding onto Garrus for support.

"Oh, and I fixed your knee too. If you have any issues with it or your shoulder, let me know as soon as possible." She started cleaning the bed off.

Shepard walked carefully towards the door. She stood up straight and looked at Garrus. "Thanks for being here for me."

"You know I wouldn't be anywhere else." He opened the door and they walked out to cheers and clapping from the crew.

Shepard smiled and waived them off, "Thanks, but everything was a team effort."

Garrus put his arm around her waist, "Come on guys, the Commander just got out of surgery."

He guided her across the mess to her quarters as the crowd made way for her.

"You don't have to fuss over me so much, Garrus." She laughed a little.

"We thought we lost you down there. It was the worst 30 seconds of my life." He gently guided her to her bed.

She looked up at him, touched by his caring.

"I'm going to get you something to eat," he pointed at her computer, "You've got messages from the Council and Captain Anderson, when you're up to it."

She nodded. The next day she met with the Council, who praised her actions and thanked her for their lives.

"This is just the beginning. There's more going on here than just Saren. The Reapers are waiting, and we've got to continue the fight." She walked away as Anderson, her recommendation for the Council seat, continued to talk to the Council members about their next move. Back on the Normandy, she spent the next few days recuperating under Garrus' watchful eye. He was doting, encouraging her to do her exercises, helping her with writing up her reports on the events of the attack on Sovereign.

A few days later she found him down in cargo bay working on the Normandy systems.

"Hey there."

"Hey, what are you doing down here?" he asked her.

"Oh, I'm just the ship's Commander, you know."

"Yes, I know. You doing okay?"

"You hover too much, Garrus, you know? I'm stronger than I look."

He sighed, "I don't mean to. I'm sorry."

"No," she said quickly, "I'm not mad or anything. In fact, it's kind of nice. It's been a while since I've had someone in my life that cared so much about me." She could feel a blush creeping up her cheeks and turned to the empty space the Mako had been. "I guess we'll have to get another one."

He sighed, "Yup. We'll be moving out soon."

"Yea, I've gotten some preliminary orders to stamp out the rest of the geth threat in the region. You know, I'm just afraid they're going to try and sweep the Reaper threat under the rug. Hopefully Anderson can help keep that in the forefront."

"I agree. Of course, we can keep working on it, even if they're not."

"True."

"I ordered you something. If a package comes with your name on it, it's from me."

She brightened, "Really? What is it?"

He shook his head, "It's a surprise. Something to help you relax."

"Hmm." She walked to the elevator, "Looking forward to it."

Later that night, the promised box came. She called Garrus to come see it.

He walked in, "You didn't open it."

"Oh, I thought you wanted to watch. It's big, I can't imagine what's in it." She took out her omni-blade and opened the wooden packaging. It was a vid screen.

She looked up at him in surprise. She'd thought it was some new armor, or a mod. "A vid screen?"

He nodded, "And a chip with complete library of vids. You need something in here other than your computer."

"That's great, Garrus."

He picked it up, "I'll mount it on your wall."

"You shouldn't have, I mean, I can watch vids on my computer too."

He scoffed, "That little screen? And I know you, if that computer's on, you're doing work." In a short period of time he had it on the wall and on. "How about this," he turned it to a nature scene.

"What's that?"

"It's Palaven. Famous waterfalls," he turned to her, "Maybe I'll show you someday."

"I would like that a lot." She felt herself blushing again. Dammit.

He picked up the packaging trash and went to the door, "Enjoy, Jane. You deserve it."

"Thanks, Garrus," she called out as the door closed. She sighed, she was so glad to have him in her life.