Which turned out to be three weeks. In that short expanse of time, Thane had trained a dozen men and women in his deadly style of hand to hand fighting and they in turn trained a dozen each, until the whole company was skilled in the art, not all of them masters but definitely faster, stronger. In a few weeks, they would be ready to be deployed for real. There had already been a couple attacks on colonies, the culprits never discovered. Garrus had his suspicions who was responsible but kept it under wraps until it could be confirmed with his own eyes.

Garrus got permission from his father to clear an old vineyard west of the main house and this was where his troops came to drill, it was perfect for it. The ground was loamy and soft, difficult to run on, he'd had crates which could be broken down and moved as they needed. It also meant he could surprise them with night drills, much to the soldiers' displeasure. But they loved him for it, and he loved them all. He was proud of them, his deadly little army.

He and Thane watched them from a nearby hilltop as two teams of eight assaulted a 'tower' where a team of three defended. The two men groaned and laughed as the battle progressed, gains and losses on both sides. He was exceedingly pleased with the clever tactics both sides employed and shouted encouragement from his perch, which seemed to drive the teams to even greater heights.

The two men exchanged friendly little wagers on the outcome of this sortie. It was still up in the air who would be victorious, that is until one of the defenders fell over 'dead'. Garrus shouted in dismay.

Thane chuckled evilly, "And I believe that's the game, my friend. She was their lynchpin and it's only a matter of time...ah, see there they go."

The remainder of the blue team stormed the tower and a few seconds later, one of them was waving the red team's flag in victory.

Garrus groaned, "Aw, taken out by a 'husk' what was she thinking?"

"Probably that there were five more flanking them, which she took out. And now, I believe you owe me 50 credits."

"Pirate." Garrus made a show of reluctantly handing over the credits, then shouted down to his men to set it all back up again, ending with, "Use some damn ordinance!"

They settled back down to watch the company scramble to set up, moving with practiced precision. Like a well oiled machine. Thane hummed with approval and shot Garrus a sidelong look, "Do you know what I heard one of the privates say the other day?"

"What?" The turian used his visor to zoom in on the figures below.

"They've taken to calling themselves Vakarian's Vagabonds." The drell had a tiny little smile on his face, inviting comment with one quirked brow.

"I know, it's impossible to stop that sort of thing from happening. But at least it's better than what they wanted to call themselves at first."

"And what was that?"

Garrus braced himself for ridicule, grunting, "Vakarian's Vigilantes."

A loud peal of laughter burst from Thane, drawing confused looks from below. Garrus leapt to his feet and shouted angrily, "A little damned distraction and you lot stop like pyjaks in a mako's headlights! Move! Move!"

Suitably chastised, the soldiers attacked with renewed ferocity. Garrus plopped back down next to the assassin, whose shoulders were still quaking with laughter. He shoved him with a bump of his shoulder and the drell limply rolled onto his back, tears of mirth rolling out of his eyes, "Spirits, Thane. It's not that funny."

"I, ha, beg to differ. Hmmm, I shall have to pass that little tidbit on to Shepard if I happen to see her again." Thane laughed again at the expression on his face.

"Don't you dare, you sneaky devil." Garrus mocked throwing a blow and Thane rolled away from him, clutching his sides and coughing a bit.

Thane waved off assistance and sat up, "So I guess I shouldn't tell you that your precious troops are planning to ambush you tonight in your tent. A little revenge for all those late night drills."

With interest, he cast his gaze over the 'battlefield' where the defenders were doing much better this time, he smiled with glee at the clever, clever bastards, knowing they wouldn't be able to make out his expression from this distance, "Oh, are they? Shall we re-enact my last stand at Omega? You're no Shepard, but can you imagine their faces when you start laying into them from behind?"

Thane laughed, nodding to say that he was indeed up for the game and they started strategizing, laughing so hard that the outcome of the next three 'battles' came and went without a single wager placed on them.


That night, Garrus lay prone on top of the 'tower' which he'd had the troops reconstruct on high ground and crates placed in such a way as to make a corridor to it, all with the excuse and the promise that the morning's drills would be harder than anything they'd done so far. The saps. He grinned to himself when his thermals picked up movement down there, stealthy prowling around his command tent. Shouts of surprise when they'd jumped in and found not a single sign of him. He zoomed in on one as it exited his tent and let fly with his light concussive rounds. Sounds of dismay as they realized the game was up. He laughed loudly at them as he popped a few more and they finally spotted him in his high perch.

He heard an excited murmur as they caught on, heard the sound of weapons loading from where he was lying in cover. He grinned as they started moving like a team towards his position, if the mercs at Omega had done that, he would have been done for for sure, but he'd learned a few things since then and as they charged up his killbox, he fired into paint containers at their feet. Those were 'bombs' and following the rules, the ones hit by paint fell 'dead'. It was exhilarating, being at the barrel end of this weapon he'd created, this beast he'd trained. Concussive rounds bounced off his 'battlements' and he ducked down out of their line of fire. They were so brilliant, striving towards his perch. They started baiting him, drawing his fire with deceptively lifelike decoys, trying to deplete his ammo.

He lit a cigarette and took out three soldiers who were trying to climb up his backside. He had full 360 degree view of the grounds from here and pushed back several skirmishers as they sought to flank him. They nearly succeeded a couple times and he felt a rush of pride. He could almost hear them thinking down there and put a round in a crate near where they were hiding just to remind them that he was waiting. His company was already down to half strength and he knew, just knew that it would occur to them soon that the only option he'd left them was a full on assault and so, with a stealth born of many lonely excursions to sniper nests deep in enemy territory, he crept down, leaving his favored Black Widow up there so it would look like he was still trained on them. There were also some carefully laid 'presents' for them and he set the tripwires as he passed. With painful slowness, he crawled to his next post further up the hill. His Mantis waited up there and he'd just reached it and dropped into cover when the sound of many booted feet tromping the grass behind him signaled their final assault.

He smiled to himself as he watched them climb the tower and with a loud 'poof' his booby traps went off, spraying everyone on the tower with paint. Garrus crowed and picked off all the remaining stragglers that he could see and leapt to his feet with a shout. Something, some small detail plagued him then, like he'd forgotten some vital piece of information. Just as it came to him, hands grabbed him from behind and a thumb dragged itself across his throat and with a dark chuckle, Thane said, "You're dead, Vakarian."

"Aw, Thane!" His loud groan brought cheers from all around as his defeated company walked up the hill. After a moment of looking at the assassin with anger and consternation, Garrus joined them, laughing at his own hubris. He spread his hands helplessly and said, "Who would have thought a knife would do the job a rocket couldn't?"

Thane smiled in a sinister way and said, "Me."

Garrus guffawed and clapped the smaller man on the shoulder and the troops took up a chant, "Krios. Krios. Krios."

The assassin looked nonplussed, not sure how to react, when the soldiers picked him up on their shoulders and carried him back down to camp. Garrus followed, shaking his head, he collected his Black Widow, which sadly was now covered in blue paint. He'd clean it later, instead using it as a kind of baton, keeping time with the chant, lifting his voice to join theirs, in congratulations to the one who'd outsmarted their commander.

He plopped down on a box next to the assassin, they'd stoked the fires again and the area was aglow with light. The soldiers passed around some beers, being in high spirits despite their failed ambush. Garrus passed out compliments and criticisms with an even hand, taking jabs at his own 'death' at Thane's hands with aplomb. He smiled at Thane, "You sure you have to go tomorrow? You're going to miss this."

"I'm sure I will, but all good things must come to an end. I have business matters awaiting my immediate attention, plus I'd like to see my son."

Garrus dropped his voice and said with a tone of longing, "If you see her again, will you tell her-I-well, you know, that I'm thinking about her."

"I can do better than that if you let me take some of those blossoms from your garden." Thane flashed a secretive smile in the dark and tapped his wrist, where Garrus belatedly realized that sometime during the scuffle, his wristlet had come out of his sleeve, "Careful, my friend, your heart is showing."

Garrus jerked his sleeve back over the thick cord of red hair with a wince and a glance to see if anyone else had noticed, then leaned conspiratorially toward Thane, "I, uh, don't suppose you'd forget you saw that."

Thane scoffed and Garrus thought, oh right Thane forgetting, fuck. "I will not mention it to anyone. You have my word."

Garrus breathed a sigh of relief and hugged the man with one arm, "Thanks, buddy. For everything."

"Anything for Vakarian's Vagabonds."

Garrus groaned, rolling his eyes and pushed the man with his shoulder, laughed when he pushed back. Yep, he's going to miss the deadly bastard.


Garrus dropped the assassin off at the spaceport with many heartfelt farewells and a box of flowers, stored in a vacuum to preserve them. There was no telling when Thane would make it back to Earth, if he did before the end. There was only hope...and it was enough.

He'd just pulled away from the curb out into traffic when Kasumi popped into existence next to him. With a startled yell, he swerved into oncoming traffic, only his reflexes saving them from crashing as he fought to regain control of the car. Once they'd settled into the right lane, Garrus looked at her, panting heavily, "Didn't I tell you to stop doing that?!"

Those full lips under that hood curled into a smile mysterious enough to be worthy of the man who'd just vacated that seat. She shrugged and said, "Did you miss me, Garru-kun?"

He glared at her askance and said sarcastically, "Yes, I missed you. I missed you so much that at the sight of you, I almost crashed my car and nearly crapped my pants at the same time."

She flung her arms around him in a quick embrace, "I missed you, too."

He grinned into her shoulder, trying to see around her to drive, "I better not be missing my wallet."

"You're no fun," She leaned back into her seat with a pout, crossing her arms, "I just wanted to come see your home. Thane's been sending pictures of it to Liara and of course, I've been intercepting them."

"Just my house, right?" Surely, Thane wouldn't send pictures of his top secret government training project over the extranet.

Kasumi's smile was devious as she said, "Why? What else is there to see?"

He rolled his eyes at her, "Oh you know, rare sculptures, prize paintings, lots of what did you call it...gilt."

She smacked him on the arm, "Garrus, gilt means it just looks expensive, but it's crap really."

"So, how long might I have the pleasure of your company?"

"Trying to get rid of me already? I have to say, you're a terrible host and I haven't even gotten to see your house yet." She threw him a crooked smile and he sighed.

"You can stay with me for as long as you like, Kasumi, but just to let you know, I'll be heading out to the colonies in a couple weeks on assignment. Some of us have jobs to do." Garrus flexed his mandibles at her in mock consternation, "I'm only going to tell you this once. My room is off limits, anything in the house better stay exactly where it is, or I'll feed you to my sister."

"Oooh, scary."

"She's terrifying, so keep your distance." Garrus parked the car and got out, coming around to help her exit with an offered hand. Kasumi smiled at the convention but took his hand nonetheless. He grabbed her bag from the back, slinging it over his shoulder, "I'll show you to your room."

"Such a gentleman. Are you sure your room is off limits?" Her hips swayed with her words and Garrus blinked, mouth suddenly dry.

"Yes." He said shortly, clamping his mouth shut. He sent a message to his father and sister that he had yet another visitor and got a reply almost immediately stating that it was understood and they'd be happy to meet him/her. Thane had been a ghost in the house while he'd stayed, eating a few polite meals with his family but otherwise meditating in the garden. In fact, his father had taken to the assassin and his quiet ways in a surprising twist. They were often seen meditating together among the mosses and flowers.

Garrus was sure the men had things to talk about, sons for example and it seemed to have helped the older Vakarian get over his grief having a kindred spirit roaming the place, despite the drell's nefarious past. Garrus didn't know what his family would think of Kasumi, hoped her very active career as a thief wouldn't cause any friction in the house. He put her in the same room Thane stayed in, pointing out the amenities, then excusing himself to go weed the garden, like he did everyday around this time.

The soldiers of his company had left earlier on leave, four days where they would be gone to celebrate or spend time with family or whatever they needed to do before he sent them into hell. He knew these reminders of what they were striving for were a necessary part of what he was trying to accomplish here so leave was mandatory. He missed the sight of their tents on that hill though, missed them.

He was pondering all this when Kasumi decided to join him in the garden, wearing a heavy robe of some kind, drawn tight at the waist with a wide purple sash. Her hood matched the rest of her outfit and she wandered through his garden with a smile on her face, "The pictures don't do it justice, Garrus. This is positively amazing."

She sank to the ground gracefully, beneath a tree, her back to him. He saw her raise her hands and push her hood back. His natural curiosity nagged at him to go look at her face. He'd never seen the whole of it, just the suggestion of parts of it in the gloom. Garrus suppressed those feelings though and kept working, humming a bit. After an hour, he straightened, popping his back loudly. He stood with his face to the sun, letting it warm his plates and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, willing his mind to still and heartbeat to slow. His father wasn't the only one who'd learned a thing or two about meditating. Garrus preferred to do it standing, to feel grounded through his feet.

A soft sigh from Kasumi brought his attention around to her. Her hood was back up and she was just watching him, she gestured around them, "This is almost Japanese. It's peaceful here, you are at peace here."

He felt a pang of loss, he wasn't quite at peace. There was a piece of him missing, a very large piece, but knowing she was alive and well out there on her homeword let him forget that little fact at times. He waved his hand dismissively, "What's Japanese?"

"Japan. It's a country on Earth, or was, before all the borders were dissolved. It was a country full of ancient tradition, where the ruling class had a whole caste of warriors called samurai to fight for them. It was all very ritualized. They fought ferociously, then went home to make tea, or paint or tend gardens with equal ferocity. Every facet of their lives was done with the same amount of devotion." Kasumi walked toward him and he fought the urge to back up. Obviously, he'd been too long without companionship if he was looking at her that way. He'd have to take care of his urges later, alone. She grinned, "Don't suppose turians have tea?"

"I...don't know. Describe it and maybe we have something close." Garrus listened closely as she told him about dried leaves steeped in boiling water and nodded, yes they had something like that, "It sounds like cha. If you like, we can go into town tonight and get some. Maybe they'll have some tea as well."

She flashed a smile at him, "I'd like that, Garrus. There's some other things I'd like to pick up, too."

He quirked a brow at her, making his voice come out teasingly, "Like what? Primarch's ceremonial staff of office?"

Kasumi slapped his shoulder and he put his hands up in surrender, laughing at her pout. "Garrus, I'm not here to steal anything. I just wanted to visit my good friend, Garru-kun and meet his family. I'm sure they're delightful."

"Dad's a cop, so...unless you want him to arrest you, you better not be."


They wandered through the markets, the two of them idly arm in arm. He laughed at her amazement at some of the merchandise on display. He was sure a lot of it was a complete mystery to her and patiently explained why turians needed a motorized grinding tool to blunt their talons, what significance certain small idols had for households who still believed in spirit worship. He was surprised however that she knew what the longhandled brushes were for. Kasumi tutted under her breath, "Of course, I know what a back scrubber is, Garru-kun. You think turians have the monopoly on itchy backs?"

"No, I just figured humans were flexible enough to scrub their own backs." She was wearing another one of those long robes, very colorful with patterns of birds flying across an azure sky with clouds and mountains along the bottom. The exotic sight turned many a head in this square and Garrus wondered what they made of this bright little bird in their midst. He kept his body language completely platonic toward her and that only seemed to increase other males' interest, much to his surprise. He hadn't thought other turians found humans attractive, had worried for a time that he was some kind of deviant, but here was evidence of changing perspectives among his people and he felt a flush of hope. All the old prejudices were being set aside, it was good to see.

She begged leave of him and went into a pottery store, of all things, well she wasn't about to get into trouble in there so he wandered a bit, picking up the odd trinket to inspect it when a voice almost at his elbow startled him, "Excuse me, are you Garrus Vakarian?"

He turned to see a salarian in black armor with gold stripes looking at him amiably. With a puzzled frown, he replied, "I am. Can I help you?"

"Jondum Bau, Special Tasks and Reconnaissance, I was wondering if I might trouble you for some information about an acquaintance of yours. A Miss Kasumi Goto."

Garrus kept his face schooled in a bland expression and kept his eyes from darting to the doorway through which Kasumi had just disappeared. So this salarian was a Spectre, he felt irritation at the little thief for dragging him into this, whatever this is. "Bau, was it? Always a pleasure to help a Spectre. What do you need to know?"

"Certain items have disappeared from Kahje recently and the leadership there would like them back." The Spectre was tall for a salarian, with broad shoulders, Garrus was pretty sure he could take him if it came down to it. But he really didn't want to, not with all these witnesses. He cursed Kasumi silently.

"You're tracking a thief? Isn't that a little low...priority for a Spectre?" Honestly puzzled, Garrus waited for an explanation.

"A master thief. Her intelligence and skill are almost salarian." There was more than respect in that voice and Garrus just barely kept the shock from his face. A salarian showing...interest. He thought Mordin said salarians have little to no sex drive. Maybe he wasn't after sex, hmmmm. Curiouser and curiouser.

Just then, an arm latched onto his and a familiar voice wheedled, "Honey, you said you'd take me to the beach today-Oh, I'm sorry, have we met?"

The salarian looked to the woman on Garrus' arm and smiled affably, "Jondum Bau. Special Tasks and Reconnaissance."

Kasumi shook his hand and gushed, "Oooo a Spectre...I'm Aya Hirano. Garru-kun, is this one of your exotic friends from the Normandy?"

"No, dear. We've only just met." He smiled down into her face, which was held in a petulantly vapid expression, "He's asking me about Kasumi, you remember Kasumi, you met her at the party after I came back, right? Seems she's been naughty, taking things that don't belong to her again."

There was the tiniest warning flash in what he could see of her eyes and he lifted a brow, a wicked thought crossing his mind, "I thought we could invite him for tea this afternoon, so I could tell him what he wants to know away from curious ears."

The corners of her mouth lifted and she turned a gentle smile on the bemused salarian, her tones colored with entreaty, "Oh, you must come to tea, Bau-san."

The salarian seemed reticent to intrude, but eventually acquiesced, "I would be delighted, indeed."

The three of them piled into the aircar and off they went. Garrus was a little nervous about being able to pull off this ruse. Good thing his father and sister weren't due back til tomorrow, it would be impossible to get around the older Vakarian's strict sense of right and wrong. As it was, he had to do this carefully. Spectre's weren't exactly known for their tolerance of subterfuge and misdirection.

Once home, he left Kasumi to get the garden set up for their little meeting and showed the salarian around the house. He looked at Bau sidelong, "So, how are things out in citadel space?"

"There's a troubling amount of worlds going silent. It's not the Collectors, as you well know. Commander Shepard's report on the Collector base was thorough in its description of how she and her crew dispatched all of them. I understand you were there in the final push?"

"I was, it was the stuff of nightmares. Right out of the darkest, most traumatizing nightmare you could think of." Garrus shuddered, thinking of the huge figure of the Human Reaper hanging limply from its umbilical cords like a puppet. "Dark days ahead indeed."

The salarian watched him closely. "Miss Goto was there, as well?"

Garrus coughed, scratching his fringe, "Yeah, she was brilliant, fast and deadly. All of them were brilliant, even me, which I'm sure surprised the hell out of Shepard."

He laughed with the salarian, putting the man at ease. Kasumi called them outside and the men sat in places on the ground she pointed out to them. She sat in quiet stillness as the men watched. Then she started to move, her deft hands moving from cup to cup, flying gracefully through this ritual, as Garrus could see now that it was indeed a ritual. There was reverence in every move, every gesture, from drawing boiling water out of the kettle to setting the tools down in front of her in neat patterns. It was a dance of nimble fingers and he followed them entranced, almost forgetting the salarian sitting across from him. When she bowed over the pot at the end, he breathed a sigh, "Aya, that was lovely."

She smiled in the gloom under her hood, cheeks dimpling prettily. She turned the bowl in her hand twice before handing it to him, repeating the action for Bau's tea. The salarian sipped thoughtfully, "Miss Hirano, I've never seen this human custom before. May I ask what it's called?"

"Bau-san, it is the Japanese tea ceremony and it is hundreds of years old. This pot-" She gestured to the clay kettle, which Garrus knew didn't come from Palaven. She must have brought it with her, "-has been in my family for generations."

The salarian smiled at her then said to Garrus, "So, about Miss Goto. Do you have any information on her whereabouts? Any intel at all would be useful."

"I wish I could tell you that I'd seen her, but-" He left it dangling, not really willing to lie. Lying wasn't something turians really took lightly. He'd do it if he had to to protect his friend, but he really didn't want to. Luckily, as he'd hoped, the Spectre finished his thought for him.

"-But you haven't...I see. Well that is disappointing. I shall have to investigate elsewhere then. She must be as clever as her partner was." Bau made to stand and was halted by Kasumi's sweet voice and her hand on his arm.

"Are you sure you can't stay longer, Bau-san? Tell us more about this thief and her partner?"

Garrus was concerned that he heard a note of something like desperation in her voice, but it was clear from Bau's expression that he was oblivious to it. Which was a relief to say the least. For a second there, Garrus thought the gig was up and tensed slightly. Bau smiled indulgently, saying, "For you, dear lady, anything. I must repay your hospitality somehow. Hmm, where to start..."

The salarian settled back down, his large expressive eyes becoming pensive, "I found out about Miss Goto when I was actually tracking her partner, Keiji Okuda. There was a chain of thefts across dozens of worlds, and I knew that Keiji was involved but it seemed impossible for him to be behind every single one. The dates and times almost matched up, but they were too close together for it to be him every time. The worlds were light years apart. It occurred to me that it must be two thieves, with similar M.O.s, having, of all things, a sort of competition. As the scope of the thefts grew larger and more complex, it was clear to me that this was indeed the case."

"I set up a sting operation, putting false information out through trusted contacts that a certain rare art piece could be acquired by enterprising individuals. What I didn't count on was both of them showing up, working in tandem against my agents, knocking out the video surveillance. I was on my way up to the hotel room I'd set up for this when the elevator stalled. I was stuck, my targets not forty feet above me, even the lift hatch was welded shut. They'd missed one bug in the hotel room and I listened intently for any clue as to the other thief's identity. Apparently, the thieves, one male, Keiji, and one female, at that point unidentified, decided the room was a good place for a-ah- ahem- liaison-"

The salarian paused, looking faintly embarrassed. Garrus watched a blush creep over Kasumi's neck and cheeks but her voice came out almost too smoothly, "How scandalous. And you...listened to this, did you?"

"I am a professional, I needed clues. And I got my wish, in the midst of all the, um, noises, I distinctly heard Keiji say 'Kasumi'. Needless to say, I spent the rest of my time trapped in that elevator searching databases and sending messages to contacts. I had a rudimentary dossier in a matter of hours. Thus began my pursuit of the most successful criminal partnership since Gray and Gnorgath sacked three volus casinos in one night. Sadly, my contacts informed me a year ago that Keiji Okuda had been killed. A shame that I wasn't able to stop them before one of their jobs went bad."

He could hear Kasumi's heart beat quicken, but her face and body language never changed. She made a noise of sympathy, "It sounds like you admire them."

Bau smiled ruefully, "They're artists. It's a shame that practicing their art meant breaking the law. If they had the penchant for espionage and were working for a government agency, the chances of me ever needing to pursue them would have been next to nil. As it is, they broke the law, scoffed at it at times and I think being incarcerated is better than being dead, don't you, Miss Hirano?"

She hummed an affirmative, taking his bowl and refilling it with tea, still in that graceful ceremonial way. The ladle dipped, poured and was laid gently across the lip of the kettle, balanced there beautifully. "Maybe doing what they were doing was the only way they felt truly alive."

"Preliminary psych profiles suggest that the thrill of possibly being caught could account for such behaviors, but I believe that was only part of what they were trying to accomplish." Bau elucidated with animated gestures, looking vaguely upward as he was caught up in his thoughts, "A lot of these things they'd stolen were in private collections, rarely seen by anybody, hoarded greedily by rich men. Items that Miss Goto stole invariably wound up in public collections, her fences only sold to true art lovers. It is very...admirable."

Garrus exchanged a glance with Kasumi as the salarian mused quietly to himself. Kasumi smiled at the Spectre in amusement, her vapid mask still in place. Bau sipped his drink, and she said, "So why do you chase her, Bau-san? If she is so...admirable."

"I have never before been...challenged by a target, let alone two. When Keiji died before I could finish the puzzle, it was most...jarring. I need to know the inner workings of her mind. It must be quite a singular thing to understand." This was said quietly, and Bau looked at her over the rim of his bowl. Garrus felt his hackles want to raise, surely the salarian was just playing with them now. Any minute now the guns would come out and there'd be blood sprayed across his garden, red and blue mixing in the stream next to them. Garrus thought longingly of his rifle, in the house behind him. Tension rose between the three of them, but the salarian smiled and stood, bowing graciously, "Thank you for the wonderful time, Mr. Vakarian and Miss Hirano. I must be going, there's a lot of catching up I need to do."

"I'll drive you back into town, Bau." Garrus stood and walked the man to the car.


Garrus burst in on her, his face a mask of rage, "What the hell were you thinking?!"

Kasumi looked up from the glow of the grey box, tears streaming down her face, "I'm sorry, Garrus. I didn't mean to bring him to Palaven."

"This is my family's house! What if he'd decided to kill us, what if he'd killed them?!" He picked her up by her arms and shook her slightly. She went limp and he set her down with a growl. "Of all the stupid, inconsiderate-"

He raged at her for a good twenty minutes, stomping around the room, waving his arms in the air. He was so angry at her, it boiled in his veins. She took it all in without complaint, sitting up on the bed, her arms hugging her knees to her chest, tears still streaming down her face. Finally, he wore himself out and glared at her, his voice low, "That damned box-"

He jabbed a talon in its direction, "-with its damned ghost don't give a damn what you do, what happens to you. He's not in there. Do you steal to keep his memory alive? Is that what he'd want? Let him die. You're so stuck in memories that you're missing out on moments."

He snarled coldly, "You've jeopardized everything I'm trying to do here, Kasumi. The whole damn galaxy is at the brink of extinction and you're still playing games. You leave tomorrow and take that cursed thing with you."

Garrus stalked to his room, wishing he could break something. He flopped down on his bed, still dressed in his civvies and draped one arm over his face. Guilt was creeping in around the edges of his mind, he shouldn't have shaken her like that. Shouldn't have been cruel about Keiji's grey box, the words had left him like arrows dipped in poison. He'd seen her cringe as they struck. Shame crawled up his spine, a friend wouldn't have picked apart her weaknesses like that. Self-recriminations plagued him as he sought sleep. He'd apologize in the morning, that's what he'd do.

He must have dozed for a moment because a warm shape wriggled into bed with him, startling him awake. He looked down to see a hooded head nestled against his chest plates, "Uh, Kasumi, I thought I told you my room is off limits."

She took a hitching breath and said softly, "I'm so sorry, Garrus. I didn't think. That Spectre could have killed you and your family and it would have been my fault. All my fault."

She sobbed and he pulled her face up so she could see him as he smiled down at her, "Hey, look, it would have been partly my fault, too. I'm the one that invited him over for cha, after all. We're okay, you're okay, no harm done."

Her sobs grew louder and he crooned to her until she quieted, her warmth a welcome sensation against his side. If he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine it was Shepard curled up next to him. Eventually, Kasumi said, hesitantly, "You're right...about moments and memories. When Shepard let me keep the grey box, I thought I was keeping him close, but he's not in there. He's somewhere...better."

"Yeah, better." He squeezed her with an arm around her shoulders, "I'm sorry...for shaking you, and those awful things I said, it was cruel. And...and you don't have to leave, if you don't want to."

She sniffled, balling her fist in his shirt, "Can I ask you a favor, Garru-kun?"

He thought about jerking her around for the whole Spectre thing, but thought better of it. "Sure, Kasumi. What is it?"

"I'm ready to let it go. But I never got to bury Keiji, can I put the grey box in the soil of your garden?" She held her breath as she waited for his response.

"Yeah, we'll put him near my mother on the east lawn." He smiled at her relieved sigh. "Only on one condition."

She looked up at him, her eyes glittering from under her hood. She played with her bottom lip as she waited for him to continue. He stretched his mandibles in a mischievous grin, "I want to see your face."

She laughed and thrust her hood back stridently, revealing a heartshaped face crowned in a waterfall of perfectly black hair. Which hung impossibly straight down around her face. It was a young face, younger than he'd thought it would be, unlined, unscarred. Her eyes were dark, almost black on black. Garrus took her chin between thumb and forefinger and turned her face left, then right, "Huh, just what I thought...human."

"Was there any doubt?" She smiled, saucily.

"For all I knew, from the nose up you could have been a volus."

She covered her mouth and in a cunning imitation of the breathy way volus speak, said, "*gasp*...Not... *gasp*...funny."

They laughed easily and Garrus pressed his mouthplates to her temple, rumbling at her giggle. Garrus settled back on the bed, closing his eyes. She laid her head back down on his chest and said, "So...Bau-san's kinda cute."

"The salarian? Isn't he trying to put you in jail?"

She shrugged, "It's how he gets his kicks, obviously."

Garrus chuckled, "No, voyeuristically listening to two people have sex is how he gets his kicks. You don't find that off-putting at all?"

"What, that a man who'd never seen my face is so obsessed with me that he chases me across the traverse simply because I'm intrigue him? No, I think it's kind of romantic."

"Oh, well when you put it that way. Are salarians even compatible?" His curiosity was piqued, though he wasn't even sure why. Maybe it was just the strangeness of the whole thing.

"They are."

"Okay, I'm not going to ask how you know that. What about the low sex drive thing? Mordin was pretty strident about that."

"Maybe there are exceptions. I don't know if you noticed, but Spectres tend to be an exceptional group."

"Well, you're a big girl. You know what you're doing. There's worse men out there." He was getting really sleepy, and it should be safe enough to sleep with Kasumi in the bed if he was fully clothed.

She sighed, yawning, "Thanks, dad."

With a last chuckle, he fell off to sleep. For once, peacefully. A warm body lay next to him with its regular breaths and beating heart drumming softly in his ears. He'd missed the simple comfort in it.