During the next few days Garrus worked on the firing algorithms, upgraded the shields on his armor, and cleaned his rifle - twice. He ate and slept and went about his day as though nothing unusual had happened in the past week. He refused to think about what had taken place on Omega, or the incredibly awkward conversation he'd had with Shepard afterwards.

Which of course meant he'd actually thought of very little else.

He and Shepard acted normally around each other, but to Garrus it was pretty evident that acting normal was all they were doing. There were a lot more throats being cleared uncomfortably and a lot less eye contact than there used to be. Not to mention, conversations between them had become stilted and based solely on the mission.

He had also started noticing other things.

Like her scent and how it permeated the air around her. It was earthy, musky, with just a bite of something sharp he couldn't quite associate with anything other than her. It was more invasive than he had realized, finding himself noting that it took at least 15 minutes for it to dissipate after she left a room.

He would have recognized it anywhere, of course. Hell, he could have picked her out from a crowd blindfolded just by that alone. That wasn't in itself unusual, he was a turian after all, it was second nature to learn to recognize individuals by scent.

But he hadn't realized just how much he appreciated her particular musk. It was pleasant and familiar. He could only describe it as warm, and it was actually quite.. comforting. The type of comforting which had him wanting to lean towards her so he could breathe it in more closely to the source. Maybe bury his face in her frin... ah, hair, and breathe her in deeply.

He also found himself, over the next few days, subconsciously dropping the tone of his voice when he spoke with her. She'd said she found his voice sexy. Well, his voice was sexy, even by the most stringent of turian standards. He knew that. But he hadn't known she thought so. And now that he did ...it was hard not to show off a bit, even if he didn't mean to.

Of course, he'd catch himself doing so and then over correct himself, making him almost sound like a young male just coming into his prime. Immature and pitchy.

He could only hope she didn't notice. But she probably did. Shepard didn't miss much.

Then, just the night before, Garrus had the bright idea to do some research. Some of which might have scarred him for life. As if he didn't have enough scars already.

The first vid he clicked on very nearly put an end to his curiosity.

Immediately upon opening the most unfortunate sound reached his ears. The human female was positively screeching 'oh yeah' repeatedly over and over again in a high pitched, reedy whine. If he were capable of grinding his teeth together he would have. He quickly shut the vid off, wondering what the fuck he had gotten himself into. Did they all make that noise? What the male in the vid deaf? He had to be, because no turian he knew could put up with that spirits awful noise and maintain an erection at the same time.

He gathered himself and tried another link, turning the volume down as low as possible. The next vid did not (thank the Spirits) have such an enthusiastically vocal female.

The act itself that the turian was performing on the vid was pretty much exactly as he would with a female of his species. So... they had that in common.

Well, most of it. He learned that the rumor he had heard about human customs was, in fact, true. Not only was it true, it was actually a fairly common act. While he couldn't deny that he was intrigued by the idea (one vid in particular, of a female on her knees staring up at the male while she... ahem) but, intrigued or not he was also a bit intimidated by it as well.

While blunt human teeth couldn't damage the leathery hide that covered most of him, and probably couldn't do much more than scratch a plate, there was one part of his anatomy which was most assuredly unprotected once emerged. He couldn't quite imagine allowing anyone to surround it with teeth, no matter how blunt those teeth were and no matter how much he trusted their host.

He wasn't certain he'd ever want to try that.

He probably didn't want to try that.

He might… want to try that.

And he was certainly intrigued.

In fact, he was so intrigued his mind repeatedly returned to the subject until he decided to do another search. Instead of turian/human sex, this time he tried researching turian/human couples.

The results were more of the same images he saw before, fleshy human females and mostly barefaced turian males in one position or another. He scrolled through several quickly before he finally stopped on one.

A turian male, his father's age, perhaps even older standing next to a human female who appeared similar in age to Chakwas; although the couple wasn't touching in anyway the male's body was angled towards the female, and her face was turned up, as though she had been looking at him just before the image was taken and the photographer was an afterthought.

Garrus stared at the image for several minutes before he left the battery and headed towards Shepard's quarters.

Five minutes later:

He was nervous when he stepped out of the elevator. He stared at the door of her cabin for several minutes, unmoving. He'd never had any problems with females of his own species, a great voice, good record and the Vakarian name certainly did wonders when it came to the opposite sex. But this was different. Though her attraction to his kind was clear, she was not interested in trying anything with him. What if she turned him down? That would lead to inevitable awkwardness.

On the other hand what if she didn't turn him down? How would he even proceed?

He suddenly realized that, much like the video, over thinking this was a bad idea.

He took a deep breath and hit the buzzer.

The minute it took for the door to open seemed to drag on for hours and he was considering turning tail and returning to the battery when the doors opened.

She didn't motion him inside, instead she took up position in the door frame, leaning casually against it and folding her arms across her chest. Her hair was sticking up and she stifled a yawn, it suddenly dawned on him just how late it was. Sleepily she asked, "Something I can help you with, Garrus?"

"Shepard… about what happened the other night, we, ah, have to talk."

"I thought we had that sorted?" She regarded him for a moment and sighed before speaking. "I'm sorry, Garrus, if I made you uncomfortable," she said, repeating her words from earlier.

He raised his hand for her to stop where she was. "You're not the one who needs to apologize, Shepard. Just hear me out."

She tilted her head to the side and waited for him to continue.

"I shouldn't have sent you over to Gavorn, knowing what I know. But, more than that, I shouldn't have reacted like I did. I overstepped, like I said, and I am sorry for that. It's just…" He paced a few steps before turning back. "When I saw you with Gavorn, laughing and flirting, with his hands all over you-" his voice descended in tone, ending in a deep growl which he tried to cover by clearing his throat. "I didn't like it, ah, as you probably guessed. I just reacted, I didn't think."

"Garrus, it's fine. Really. You know that your friendship means everything to me, and I promise that I won't ever put you in that sort of situation again. I don't want anything to come between us."

He moved before her, towering over her as his words rushed out. "Then trust me when I tell you that if you become involved with another male that it WILL come between us."

His display didn't seem to please her and she snapped. "I know that, you made it perfectly clear. No turians. Fine."

"No, I didn't. …" He didn't back down, instead he moved towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Shepard... why not me?"

Well, that seemed to wake her up. Her eyes snapped to his and she turned pink once more. It really wasn't an unpleasant color, he thought, tilting his head, and the flush of warmth rushing to her skin seemed to make her scent more pronounced.

"I didn't think you're interested ..."

"I don't have a things for humans but... well, you're not just any human, Shepard. And I ...I care about you. You mean a lot to me. More than anyone else. "

She opened her mouth to speak and shut it. Swallowing, she tried again, "Garrus, you're my friend and I trust you. There aren't many people I can say that about. I can't risk anything coming between us. I... -" she stopped herself, shook her head for a moment and continued, "I can't risk our friendship."

"Shepard, maybe it's not a risk," He took a step towards her, she stepped back until she was against the wall. He leaned in close, close enough for her scent to overwhelm everything else, and rumbled in her ear, "maybe it's a chance."

A/N: Hey... at least I didn't make you wait another year for the update? We're in the home stretch guys, one more update after this one and I will be able to click that "complete" button! It amazes me how much love this silly little crack story has received. Amazes and delights me, so thanks everyone for reading and commenting and enjoying!