Shut Wide Eyes
Chapter 7 – Girls & Guys Night Part 1
So this chapter ended up being so long I had to split it into two parts. Thank you so much for the reviews and all the faves and alerts. It makes my day when those come in!
"SQUEEEEEEEE! That's so exciting!" Kelly shrieked when she saw Kate's hand the next day. Kate hadn't even raised her hand or done anything out of the ordinary to signal it was there. Kelly had apparently been looking out for the ring to appear. "Oh my gosh, that's so romantic! We're throwing you a party. Just us girls to celebrate! Joker can coordinate a party for Garrus too. Tonight before we get to Illium!"
"Uh, ok Kelly, but nothing much ok? I'm not big into the whole party thing."
"Of course Commander. We'll gather everyone in Kasumi's quarters tonight. I'll come up and fetch you from your quarters," Kelly smiled mischievously as she turned back to her terminal and started furiously typing away.
"Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into?" Kate wondered as she walked over to her terminal.
xx-xx-xx-xx
Joker had asked Garrus to stop by as soon as he could. He wasn't sure what the pilot could want, but it sounded urgent so he went up as soon as he finished breakfast. He found Joker and Donnelly looking over a couple of data pads in the cockpit.
"You wanted to see me Joker? Is this something I should get Shepard for?" Garrus asked as Joker waved him over.
"Hah, no nothing like that. Just had to let you know us guys are planning a little party for you tonight."
"For me? What in the world for?" Garrus' mandibles flexed out at this unexpected information.
"Well on account of you putting that ring on Shepard's finger, man!" Donnelly exclaimed his arms outstretched.
"Wait, that happened just last night. How in the universe do you know about that?"
"Well, Kelly has been on the lookout for that for a while now. Apparently, she just knew something was going on. She saw it on Shepard this morning and, well, now everyone knows. Relax, it's cool. We're all really happy for you and Shepard. She needs someone to take care of her, but don't tell her I said that, ok?" Joker finished in a whisper.
"Anyway, Kelly's putting something together for the girls and Joker and I are putting something together for the guys. Don't tell me you've never heard of a bachelor party before," Donnelly smirked at him.
"No, can't say that I have," Garrus wasn't sure of what to make of all this fuss over a ring.
"Seriously? Wow, don't Turians do anything before they get married?" Joker raised his eyebrows.
"Of course, we have our traditional ceremonies for both families involved," Garrus stated very matter of factly.
"Sheesh, you guys make everything boring. Well this is so much better than that. Us guys get together, hang out, and drink," Donnelly enthused.
"We do that most nights."
"Yeah, but this will be better since it's just the guys. No ladies around," Donnelly winked at Garrus.
"I'll work on getting us some entertainment with EDI. Normally we'd have real dancers, but we'll have to make due since we're out in space and all. Trust us. It will be a great time!" Joker smiled.
"If you say so, Joker."
"Great, someone will be up to get you tonight. I think Kelly's claimed Kasumi's quarters so we'll probably set up down in engineering. See you tonight!" Donnelly said cheerfully as he and Joker went back to their data pads.
Garrus walked back through the CIC on his way to the Main Battery, he had some work to do and some weapons checks to go through for the mission.
"Hey Garrus! Congratulations! Have fun tonight!" Kelly called as he walked towards the elevator. Garrus nodded at the exuberant woman as the door closed.
xx-xx-xx-xx
It was quiet up in the loft. Kate was going over her messages and Garrus was cleaning his sniper. All packages had been delivered to their safe house on Illium and Liara had sent the codes that would let them in. She had also sent the additional instructions for the performers and their escort. Kate was going to go over those with Thane when they got to the safe house so she didn't bother reading it all the way through. Kate shut down her terminal and went down to sit next to Garrus. Someone would be up to fetch them both soon and take them to their respective parties.
"So did Joker fill you in on the festivities for tonight?" Kate asked leaning against his side as she sat down.
"Sort of, I'm still unsure of the point of all of this. Wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate together?" Garrus asked polishing the barrel of his gun.
"Yeah, that will come later. But tonight is separate so girls can be girls and guys can be guys," Kate reached up to caress his neck.
"Ok, so what can we do separately that we can't do together?"
"Just relax Garrus, I'm sure you'll have a good time. Just think of it as a way to relax and blow off steam before our mission."
"So, will there be sparring?" Garrus asked hopefully.
"In a way, I bet there will be," Kate grinned and kissed Garrus' good mandible.
Garrus was about to say something when EDI interrupted, "Mr. Taylor, Mr. Massani, Miss Chambers, and Miss Goto are requesting permission to enter."
Kate smirked at Garrus, "Show time. Let them in EDI." The door slid open and the four entered the upper level. "We're down here guys," Kate called. Garrus finished putting the last pieces back together and collapsed the rifle down.
"Ready to go?" Kelly asked cheerfully.
Kate and Garrus looked at each other. "As we'll ever be," Kate said as they both stood up.
"Great! Come on girl let's get this party started!" Kelly grabbed her arm and Kasumi placed a tiara on her head with some white fabric hanging down the back.
Jacob and Zaeed looked at Garrus. "Sorry man, we don't have a fun hat for you," Jacob laughed. "But we were requested to bring you down to cargo hold."
"Don't worry about the hat, I think I'll live. Why the cargo hold? Donnelly mentioned engineering earlier," Garrus asked.
"We thought a bit more room would be necessary," Zaeed replied.
"Well lead the way," Kate said as the six piled into the elevator. It stopped at the crew deck where Kate, Kelly, and Kasumi got off.
"Take good care of him boys. And you all play nice now ok?" Kate winked at Garrus as Kelly dragged her to the observation deck.
xx- - Garrus - -xx
Garrus waved after Kate as the door slid shut and the elevator continued down to cargo hold.
"So why would we need more room? I'm still a little fuzzy on what's going on tonight," Garrus looked from Jacob to Zaeed.
"You still don't realize what you did, do you?" Jacob looked at him incredulously. "You put a ring on the hand of the most sought after woman in the galaxy. You just won the prize!"
Garrus rolled his eyes at the man, "It's a wonder any woman would be interested in you. They are not prizes to be won. I earned her love and respect and give her the same in return."
"Right, whatever you say. So you've earned her love and respect. Let's go celebrate by watching a live feed from Afterlife and getting drunk!" Zaeed pushed off of the back wall he had been leaning against as the doors opened. Every male on the ship was in cargo hold and Gardner had set up a makeshift bar in the corner.
"Hey, the man of the hour's here!" Joker called from across the room. "EDI, fire it up!"
The holo screen came to life and two Asari and two Human strippers appeared. The guys all gathered around cheering.
"Hey, this is great," Zaeed said as he walked past Garrus clapping him on the shoulder. "We don't have to tip them or anything."
Garrus took a seat with the guys and accepted a drink from Grunt.
"This better not be any of that Krogan stuff, Grunt. I don't feel like falling on my face quite yet," Garrus laughed as the large Krogan sat down next to him.
"Nah, something nice and Turian for you," Grunt laughed. "So you're my battlemaster's mate huh?"
Garrus wasn't quite sure how to answer that or what Grunt was getting at. "Yes, I will stand by her until the day I die."
"Good, you are strong and worthy of her affections," Grunt nodded as he drank half of his green drink.
"Yeah, not like Alenko. Always thought she deserved better than him," Joker agreed.
"Who's Alenko?" Thane asked taking a seat next to Joker. Thane nodded at Garrus and lifted his glass in congratulations. Garrus raised his in return showing no hard feelings.
"He was a crew member back on the SR-1," Joker explained. "He followed Shep around. Practically worshiped the ground she walked on. Pretty sure they had a night together before we landed at Ilos."
"Well where is he now?" Thane inquired.
"Exactly, where is he now?" Garrus asked sarcastically. "The bastard appears out of nowhere on Horizon while we were investigating the missing colonists. Hugs Shepard and then calls her a traitor to her face. Said she turned her back on him since she partnered with Cerberus. Left her standing there. Shepard showed me the email apology he sent later, which wasn't a real apology, just a we'll see what happens later. I swear the next time I see that pretty boy sorry excuse for a soldier, he'll wish he were dead."
Garrus was growling at this point and most of the other males looked murderous as well.
Donnelly looked around at everyone, "Well it's good she got someone new that's not going to leave her hanging like that anymore. So more drinking and more strippers! By the way Garrus, do you think Shepard could do that?" he asked pointing at one of the human strippers who was hanging upside down on a pole doing the splits.
"Donnelly, if I answer that question, I'll wish I were dead if she ever heard about it," Garrus winked at him.
"Really? Well what if you were reeaaallly drunk and weren't in control of what you answered so to speak?" Joker prodded.
"That's doesn't sound like a good…" Garrus started.
"Gardner! More drinks over here and make them strong!" Donnelly yelled across the room smirking at the Turian.
The strippers continued to twist and turn around the polls as the guys watched and cheered on Garrus as they brought him drink after drink.
"Kinda sucks not to be able to interact with them, huh?" Joker asked no one in particular.
"The ladies had Tali work out an interactive system for their party," EDI interjected. The guys all looked at each other mouths open.
"Interactive? Interactive what?" Zaeed asked the blue orb.
"Did you think the ladies would just sit around, talk, and drink, Mr. Massani? They have arranged entertainment as well," EDI explained.
"No way!" Joker and Donnelly shouted together.
I believe we'll leave it there for the time being. What could the girls be up to? Until next time.
