Notes: ANGST ALERT, towards the end. You'll know it when you see it.
This one's a bit longer than the others so far, but it's not the longest of the entire bunch. That one is still to come. I also kind of have a love/hate relationship with this one; I didn't really hit my stride until I was about halfway through.
They were on Sanctum, Garrus and Kaidan scrolling through what seemed like miles of different plans and schematics while Shepard cleared out the next room. Just as Garrus was about to ask how they were even supposed to tell which one was the Reaper artifact, Kaidan announced, "Got 'em," and began typing.
Oh, right, Garrus mused to himself, Kaidan's a tech.
They were on Cyone, the team sprinting for the vent controls until a Marauder body-checked Kaidan and sent him skidding across the ground, towards one of the ledges and the toxic fog below.
Shepard whipped about, eyes widening in panic as he realized he was too far away, until Garrus lunged and caught Kaidan by a knee before he could tumble over the edge.
Kaidan lifted his pistol and shot the Marauder over Garrus's shoulder in thanks.
They were on Ontarom, Shepard and Kaidan wrecking havoc below as Garrus picked targets off through the windows of the walkway, until a pair of Guardians began closing in on him from both sides. With no time to aim and no space to run, his shields were dwindling slowly but surely.
Blue energy wrapped around the Guardians, and they both slammed down to the floor. There was a sickening crack from a broken neck, and the other lay dazed for a moment.
"Need a hand up there?" Kaidan called from the ground below, looking far too smug.
Garrus glanced down at the Guardian rousing at his feet and fired a round into his skull. Looking down to the lower level, he protested, "I had it under control."
They were on the Citadel-all of them-chasing Shepard's unexpected clone through the archives like the most ridiculous game of high stakes hide-and-seek. For the third time, Shepard griped, "I don't want to talk about it."
"So make your clone do it," Garrus shot back, in the most obnoxiously 'well, duh' tone he could manage.
"Two Shepards…" Kaidan hummed thoughtfully a moment later.
"Kaidan!" Shepard squawked in return, voice strangled, and Garrus was never going to forget that sound.
He coughed to hide a laugh, but it wasn't much use, since he started laughing anyway.
They were in the mess hall, Kaidan sitting on a bench, leaning back on his elbows on the table, Garrus leaning against the counter with his arms folded.
"Creepiest Reaper monstrosities, and you can't pick Husks," Garrus challenged.
Kaidan rolled his eyes. "Fine, but that means you can't pick Marauders."
There was a moment of thought, and they both spit out, "Banshees," simultaneously.
"Don't get me wrong," Garrus added wryly. "I certainly always know when they show up."
"You mean because of that shriek that throws my biotics out of whack?" Kaidan wondered in return.
"Plus they teleport," Garrus pointed out. "I don't do so well with things up close and personal."
One eyebrow rose, and Kaidan asked, "No issues with Brutes?"
Garrus shrugged and waved it off. "They have issues climbing. Something about weighing over a ton."
They were in the main battery. It was dim and quiet, save for the ever-present background noise of the ship herself, and Garrus tended not to speak unless he had something to say. Kaidan sat in a corner, eyes closed, head tipped back against a wall until his migraine eased.
They were in the lounge, enjoying a moment of quiet.
"Didn't you hate Kaidan back on Horizon?" Shepard wondered curiously, as Garrus taught him how to play an old card game from Palaven.
"Hate is a strong word," Garrus protested. At the unimpressed look he got in return, he conceded, "Maybe for a few minutes. I actually had a chat with him that day."
Shepard's expression shifted to confusion, and then irritation. "Garrus. You didn't."
Shameless, Garrus replied, "I did."
"What are you, my overprotective brother?" Shepard groaned, dragging a hand down his face.
"When needs must, yes," Garrus sniffed in return. "Anyway, it was pretty civil. Mostly we talked about how you don't know how to communicate."
Whatever Shepard was going to say was replace by an audible click of teeth as he closed his mouth, instead settling a puppy-ishly bemused look on Garrus's face.
They were hurrying onto the Normandy, pausing only for a moment-"No matter what happens, know that I love you."-and Kaidan looked like his entire world was shattering at his feet as the gangplank rose and sealed with a hiss.
There was a final quiet, desperate, "Aurum," and he reached for the hatch. Garrus hauled him back, until the wound in his side stretched. There was an agonized chatter of incoherent noise and his knees buckled, leaving both of sitting on the shuttle bay deck.
Garrus could hear himself saying, "We need to get to the med. bay," but it sounded like his voice was coming from somewhere far away.
Kaidan didn't seem to have even heard him. There was no question in his voice when he observed, "I'm not going to see him again. Am I." He laughed, a raw, anguished noise. "Earth's burning, but that's the first thing I thought of."
Garrus's head dropped forward, against the back of one of Kaidan's shoulders. "I don't know, Kaidan."
It was a long time before they managed to pick themselves up off of the floor.
They were on some unnamed, unexplored garden world at the ass end of the galaxy. Nobody knew they were there, but they were alive. Repairs to the Normandy happened slowly, but they happened, bit by bit, every day.
Kaidan still walked with a limp, as he made his daily trip to the war room to check the communication channels. There was little hope of getting a reply, but he clung to whatever routines he could form.
Like every day before that, Garrus met him in the doorway to the conference room, now a repository for things that had been in the way of repairs.
"Any news?" he asked, though he knew the answer already.
"The static was a bit higher pitched than yesterday," Kaidan answered flatly.
"Well." Garrus pushed away from the doorframe as Kaidan passed, and he fell into step behind him. "That's something."
