An insistent, repeated chime sounded loudly. Garrus and Shepard awoke, both groggy. Garrus managed to stand up and throw on some pants and a shirt. He glanced at the time next to the bed: 05:03. It would still be dark outside.
"What is it?" Shepard mumbled.
"Probably a security call. I'll let you know if we need you."
"Okay." Shepard rolled onto her stomach and closed her eyes again.
Garrus slid open the door and walked into the living area, then to the front door. When the door whooshed open, it revealed, not a security officer, but Solana, annoyance and worry plain on her face.
"Dad didn't come back last night," she announced. By her tone, she obviously thought Garrus was somehow at fault.
The news caused adrenaline to pump through Garrus' body, his mind becoming more alert. "Shepard!"
He heard her struggle out of bed. She came down the hall wearing a bathrobe, rubbing her eyes. "Yeah, what's up?"
"Dad didn't make it home last night."
Shepard looked over to the guest bedroom. The door was closed. She assumed Hannah was behind it.
"Maybe you should check on your mother," Garrus said suggestively.
Shepard turned to Garrus. "You don't think…"
"I hope not, but you'd better check."
Solana huffed and folded her hands over chest, her face now more angry than worried.
"But what if they're, you know…" Shepard pushed the image of her mother and Garrus' father in an intimate position out of her mind. She didn't want to go there.
Garrus simply waved a hand, encouraging her to find out what was behind the guest room door.
"Alright." Shepard walked to the door and knocked softly. "Mom?"
She heard a rustle and then a strained, "Yeah?"
"Can I talk to you?"
"What's wrong?"
"I just need to know something."
"Just a second." There was more rustling. After a few seconds the door slid open. Hannah appeared, wearing a black bathrobe, her hair disheveled and her face exhausted. Shepard directed her gaze past her mother. With relief, she didn't see Cadmus anywhere.
"Cadmus didn't come back last night," she told her mother. She saw worry pass over her mother's features. "What did you do last night?"
Her mother ran a hand through her hair and yawned loudly. "We went to a human restaurant, picked up some chicken Alfredo, then went to his Turian place."
"You were there all night?" Shepard asked incredulously.
"No, we took a walk through that big park for a while. Then I said it was way too late, so I headed home. He said he wanted to walk some more."
"What time did you get home?"
"I think it was around 01:00." Hannah looked at Garrus. "I don't know where he is."
Garrus turned back to the hall. "I'd better get suited up and call in security." His heart pumped. Where was his dad? Had he been mugged? Murdered? Not another thing that goes wrong, please, he pleaded with the spirits.
Security started with the park. Units scoured it. Garrus paced up and down by the lake, peering in, afraid he'd see a body afloat. It had happened before several months back when he'd broken up that Batarian slaver ring. An informant's change of heart had resulted in his death.
After the park, he sent his teams into the entertainment district. They went from club to club, bar to bar, hall to hall. After about two hours, Garrus' comm link beeped.
"Yes?" he asked, his heart thumping.
"I think we found him, sir," he heard one of his officers, a Salarian who spoke in staccato, report.
"Where is he?" He couldn't keep the concern out of his voice.
"He's alive, sir."
Thank the spirits! "Is he alright?"
"He's…not dead. Not injured. I think you'll want to come get him, sir."
Garrus cocked his head quizzically, but spoke into his comm. "Where are you?"
"At the Red Moon."
The Red Moon? Not the seediest place in the district, but close enough. "I'm on my way."
Garrus walked the few blocks to the Red Moon. Two bouncers stood outside. They both nodded when he approached.
"If we'd known it was your dad, we'd have called you," one of them insisted. Garrus knew they didn't want to be on his bad side.
"At ease, boys," Garrus said as he passed them and entered the bar. Sezish, the Salarian that had called him, was standing at the end of the bar with a couple other security officers. He waved Garrus over. As Garrus approached, he saw his father unconscious, sitting on a bar stool, his head on the bar. Garrus shook his own head, managing to contain his surprise in front of his men.
"He's passed out, sir."
The bar owner stood next to Sezish. "Look, Garrus, I'm sorry. I would have had a cab take him home, but I couldn't find an IdentiChip. I just figured I'd let him sleep it off."
Garrus glanced at the bar owner, a short, heavy set man in his fifties. "No harm done, Gordon." He turned to Sezish. "Send a security speeder. I can take him from here."
Sezish nodded and spoke into his comm. "Send a speeder to the Red Moon ASAP."
Garrus put a hand on Sezish's arm and looked confidentially at him, his other officers, and Gordon. "Let's just keep this between us, alright? No press." He had to do something to preserve his father's reputation. What a great bit of scandalous news this would be: Turian Ambassador to Earth Revealed as Constant Lush.
Everyone nodded. Garrus knew he could trust his men; he'd handpicked every one of them. His hard eyes remained on Gordon.
"I won't, Garrus, I don't want no trouble," Gordon said and held his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I'll make sure it's all hush-hush."
"Good. I'd hate to shut this place down."
Gordon bobbed his head up and down, scared out of his socks by the grave Turian looming over him.
When the speeder arrived, Garrus took over for the driver. His men put his dad in the passenger seat. He drove back to his office alone, just he and his dad.
"So, dad," he asked when he pulled up to the administrative building. "What's got into you?" There was no answer.
Cadmus stirred, groaned, and put a hand to his head. A cough roared out of his body, exploding into the room. His eyes opened. This wasn't where he remembered being last. It was too bright and the light hurt his head.
"My father, drunk as a skunk." Garrus sat at his desk with his arms folded across his chest and watched as his father slowly sat up, keeping his hand on his head. Cadmus looked around. He was on a couch in Garrus' office.
"Drunk as a what?" he whispered.
"Saying of Shepard's," Garrus explained. "It means you couldn't hold your liquor."
"Ah." Cadmus leaned against the back of the couch.
"Since when did you start drinking?" Garrus inquired.
"First time in about forty years." Cadmus rubbed his neck. "I forgot how uncomfortable it is to get a hangover."
"I never knew you drank at all. You always preached against it." Garrus stared at his dad with narrowed eyes. "Makes the mind slow and the body weak, as I recall."
"It does," Cadmus asserted. "I think I'm proving that right now."
Garrus shook his head. To tell the truth, he was highly disappointed. With all the tension between himself and his dad, he'd still always held his dad up as paragon of virtue, a man who kept to his principles no matter what.
"We need to get you sober." Garrus stood up from the desk, picked up a cup of steaming liquid and handed it to Cadmus.
"Dyox," he informed his father. "Should do the trick."
Cadmus took the Turian drink, the equivalent of the human coffee, although even stronger. Garrus sat down next to him on the couch, leaning back and crossing his arms again. Neither spoke for several minutes as Cadmus sipped the drink pausing every so often to cough and shake his aching head.
Finally, Cadmus put the cup down on the floor and leaned back onto the couch sighing. He then turned his head to look at Garrus. Unexpectedly, he reached out a hand and patted Garrus' knee.
"Garrus, I've never told you how much you mean to me."
Garrus shifted uncomfortably. "Stop, dad. You've still got a hangover. You're not yourself."
"No, I am," Cadmus insisted. "I've spent enough time not telling you and Solana how I really feel."
Garrus wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore. He felt embarrassed for his father. Never did they speak this personally. "Dad, if you keep talking you'll regret…"
"I won't. Stop and listen like a good soldier," Cadmus commanded. Garrus closed his mouth.
Cadmus took a breath. "I never told your mother how much I loved her, not until she'd deteriorated so far that she couldn't understand what I was saying."
Garrus knew the marriage between his mother and father had been essentially arranged: two important families connecting themselves through their children.
"But I did love her, Garrus. And I've spent every night since her death regretting that I didn't let her know."
Garrus wasn't quite sure what to say. But his mind pulled up a memory from when he was a child. He could picture his mother, young and beautiful, waiting at a spaceport for his father to return from a work trip. He saw clearly the look of excitement that appeared on her face when she saw him. He also remembered their tender embrace.
"I think she knew," Garrus spoke quietly.
Cadmus nodded. "She did. I'm sure of that. But I still should have told her." Cadmus paused. Garrus waited respectfully.
"When Solana and I fled the Reapers, I wondered if I'd ever see you again," Cadmus finally continued. "Even when it was all over, I still couldn't find the words to say to you or your sister."
"You don't have to, dad. We know." Just like mom, Garrus thought.
"But I don't want to wait until I'm dying to say it." Cadmus took a breath. "I love you both, Garrus, you and your sister. I'm proud of you. It's true I still don't like how you've handle some parts of your life, but that doesn't change the fact that I am proud."
Garrus nodded and had to force himself to get his next words out. "Thanks, dad." This conversation was way too weird. Cadmus put his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands.
"Remind me never to drink, Garrus," he asked seriously.
"Will do. Out of curiosity, does this sudden openness have something to do with Hannah?"
Cadmus chuckled. "She got me thinking. She's human. Very open with every emotion."
"I thought you hated that trait in humans." Garrus could remember at least a dozen conversations on the subject.
"Hum, yes, I did, didn't I? Well, maybe there is something to be said for letting emotions show every now and then." He paused a moment, his head still in his hands. "It occurred to me last night that your wife would never die without knowing for sure her mother cared about her. Admiral Shepard was about all Hannah could talk about."
Cadmus turned to look at his son who was smiling. "It was a little annoying, to be honest," Cadmus professed. There was another long pause.
"Solana thinks you're falling for Hannah," Garrus revealed, his smile even broader.
"I like her, Garrus. She's not your mother, no, but she's lively. I think she brings out a better me."
"So does that mean…"
Cadmus stood. "I think we need to head back. I'm sure Solana's in a panic."
"She is, but…"
Cadmus headed towards the door. "Let's not waste time, Garrus."
Garrus trailed behind his father, his voice halted, but his thoughts active. Surely, his father wasn't falling for Hannah. Because that would be entirely disturbing.