When their conversation was ended, Garrus felt himself renewed. Seeing Shepard, no matter her condition, woke him up. Though his engineering skills remained fixated on combat, he knew he had something to offer. He thought of all of the projects that could be done when they got back to the ship, crashed on the planet below. So much remained to be done.
Repairs to the hull were almost finished, but with EDI's untimely demise so many questions floated in the artificial air of the ship. They did not know what had to be done to fill the void left by the AI, many of the Normandy's systems once relying on her computing processes. Consoles on the bridge offered manual access to some of these, but so few people could manage the cyberwarfare suites.
Perhaps a new VI could be constructed to fill the role, but he had no skill there. He waited with his family for the return of the shuttle that promised to take them back to the surface, looking at the galaxy map before him with an intent focus. The Sol System was not that far away. Enough fuel, and maybe they could manage the trip on the Normandy. He desired a quick trip. The Mass Relays lacked the capacity to lead them where they needed to go, and they would not be working for a long time.
The Good Doctor had gone to retrieve further supplies and additional engineers to help with the effort, growing as restless himself as the crew aboard the Normandy. The ship did not deserve to be grounded, business still waiting to be done. They had to get back to Shepard. They all knew it, and the doctor would see it done.
He did not understand his motivations. Beyond knowing that the doctor talked of knowing her as a child, Garrus knew nothing of the doctor's background. He never said why he did these things, only that he did them. He claimed to have no sensational reason. The galaxy needed someone to coordinate rebuilding efforts, that much was certain, but the doctor focused so much on Shepard.
"She seemed nice," Solana said to break the silence.
Garrus had hardly said a word since he came to stand with his family. It was always his sister that felt called to fill moments like these with words. With her on one side and his father on the other, he knew they expected him to talk about Shepard.
"Most of the time, she's nice," Garrus responded, a brief and unclear statement.
"Hopefully, her injuries heal quickly."
"She's hurt, but that human that brought her in worked on her during Project Lazarus, the Cerberus operation that brought her back. Shepard will be alright."
He shifted uneasily. Though he felt better knowing she was safe, he did not feel like himself. Shepard's soft whimpers floated fresh in his mind. He missed her. He wanted her to feel better.
"Good," Aurelius said," I would like the chance to sit and speak with her someday. I don't know if it was her injuries, but she was nothing like the interviews on the news vids."
"Especially not that one that we watched with mom, when she snapped on that reporter. I had a laugh at that," Solana smiled to herself, casting her gaze to her brother," It was a few days before mom died, and the interview was live on Earth, when they were taking her to that 'trial'. Spirits, that reporter asked the wrong question."
"What did she ask?" Garrus looked at her.
"She asked about all of the aliens on her ship's crew records, real xenophobic like. Commander wouldn't have any of it and just opened up on her. It was all live, so there was no covering it up. Mom had a good time with it. It was one of her good days."
Aurelius made a sound of acknowledgement to confirm his daughter's words. He remembered that day very well, as it was in the last few days of his mate's life. He remembered her wishing Garrus had been there to see the interview. Felidra always seemed to approve of whatever the Commander did and all she led their son into, calling it chances for growth and proving exactly what Garrus was capable of doing. Looking back, his wife had been right about it.
Sure, he did not approve when he learned of Garrus' resignation from C-Sec, two months after the fact. He did not approve when he went into Spectre training, and he certainly did not approve when Garrus went missing for almost two years. He was not surprised when he heard his son found his way onto the Commander's ship again, but he had hoped the boy would have come home after his stunt on Omega, when his mother's illness was getting worse.
At least he made it for the funeral. At least he came home at all. Garrus more than proved the worth his time with Shepard had given him. He did well with the command given to him by primarch Fedorian. His son had grown into a good turian in all respects that mattered. He knew now why Shepard had such an impact on him. He knew now that the woman inspired him to his own greatness. He became a suitable mate for her.
He wondered if Felidra knew of Garrus and the Commander long before he did. She had always been closer to their son, as most boys were with their mothers. She never said a word to him about it or left any clues for him to follow. She kept her secrets well. She had to if they were to have any.
He remembered when it all started to click together for him. Parts of Garrus' story seemed to miss pieces, key things that he felt he should have known. In the greater picture, those moments did not matter. Small things were easy to look over in the epic elements of their story. The hours before the attack on the Collector base were empty, All personal moments made silent. Every day after he laid out the pieces for his father to put together, Garrus' distraction rang out in everything he did with his family. When he worked, nothing else exsted. He was thinking of the Commander without a doubt.
"Your mother liked what she saw of her. She always saw things I couldn't, especially in humans. I never saw past face value unless my gut told me there was something bad about them."
[Shuttle 147 has returned from Engineering vessel Hephaestus. Awaiting passengers before returning to the surface.] Tan'Keyell's voice called through the ship on loud speaker.
"There's our ride," Solana said as she started for the shuttle bay, moving ahead of her family.
Garrus followed behind, his mind once more swimming in the thoughts of how he could busy himself when they returned to the Normandy. He assumed that the quarian left for the Hephaestus to gather more volunteers to take care of the ship, help her get in the air. Concern still existed about how they would reach the Sol system. Not one member of the crew was willing to wait for the Mass Relays.
When they arrived in the shuttle bay, they found their ride full of unfamiliar faces, only one of them familiar at all. The back of the Doctor's helmet shined in the artificial light as he spoke with Tan'Keyell. Two more quarians were aboard, a single salarian, and a human female. She carried herself in a way which reminded Garrus of Shepard, and the N7 tattoo on the woman's neck told him exactly why.
A voice behind him alerted him right away," Garrus! I almost didn't recognize you without seeing your visor wrapped around your head. What are you doing here?"
Jacob Taylor. His was a voice Garrus thought he would never hear again. The last time he saw him, they evacuated ex-Cerberus scientists from a tricky situation, and he thought he would remain with them. Maybe he did. The doctor seemed to keep many of the Illusive Man's former agents close.
"I could ask you the same thing, Jacob. When did you wind up here?" He turned to face the former Cerberus soldier, made note of his worried expression.
Jacob felt like he did just moments ago. He missed and worried for his woman. They were similar in that, light years away from those they cared about.
" Some of the Cerberus scientists we got out of that base wound up here, called in some favors from the Doc. Brynn asked me to go with them, so I did. They're pretty well protected without me. Doc has a lot of former C-Sec hard asses on the live ships keeping refugees in line, and order keeps itself on the engineering vessels. Thought I'd go down to the Normandy with this bunch and check in. How's Shepard?"
Garrus wondered how many times he would hear that question," Not good, but Miranda's got it taken care of. She brought her back from the dead, so she can keep her from going there again."
"We don't hear much on the other ships. Any information goes to Doc first. He runs a tight operation, most of the time."
Aurelius shifted in his stance as he looked to Jacob, making obvious note of the familiarity between him and his son," Who from C-Sec is out there?"
"A couple old school guys from the Presidium and Zakera wards. Mostly turians and no one I got familiar with. Garrus' old man, right? You might know some of them."
" I am anxious to see Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and help with her home ship," the female quarian aboard the shuttle spoke up, " it has been many years since I saw her last."
"I'll be glad to get aboard!" The N7 human barked out, as if calling for silence on all other ends," We'll get the beauty off the ground before the week is out. I built it after all."
"Put your Alliance attitude away, Ariadne. Your bullshit is showing," Jacob teased her as he squeezed into a seat.
"Lets not talk about bullshit, tough guy. Half your stories about joyriding with the Commander must be bullshit. Cerberus hired me to put that bird down there together. She's quick, but not that quick!"
"I can vouch for Jacob's stories, its all true," Garrus joined in.
Short blond hair whipped around as the female turned to look at him, " Yeah? Who the hell is this, now?"
"Garrus Vakarian, y'know, the turian who took a rocket to the face."
"I can see the last part. Goddamn," Ariadne started," Jacob is a chatty fuck. Heard a lot about you."
"There's a lot more to hear now," Garrus tried to remain friendly, but the engineer who relaxed in her seat was an unpersonable sort. She reminded him of Jack now that he heard her speak.
"I can imagine. Stick with Shepard at any point in her life, and you come out with stories to tell."
"You know her?" Solana chimed in as she took a seat for herself.
"I did, a long time ago. We were in the N7 program together. God, we were what? Twenty-five? She helped a lot of us out. When Cerberus started putting out the call for ship engineers, I couldn't refuse the schematics. Glad the old bird did her job for Shepard."
"How long were you with the Alliance?" Aurelius asked.
"Twelve years. I resigned and joined Cerberus when I got stonewalled about what happened to Shepard. I just wanted to help, give anything to honor her memory beyond carrying her empty casket," she calmed a little as she spoke of Shepard," I didn't know what was going on with Cerberus, but the sight of a ship so like the Normandy set me straight."
Garrus and his father remained standing in the shuttle as silence settled in, no one wishing to speak further. The Kodiak shuttle was always cramped, and this model was no exception to the rule. Keeping the two bulky, male turians out of the seats left room for the Doctor took a seat at the controls with the pilot, looking over his shoulder.
"I hope that's everyone, because we're on our way out. Tell your volunteers what you're planning for when we get down, Ariadne."
She nodded to the doctor as she straighted up in her seat,"Absolutely! The shuttle that left with us from the Hephaestus is carrying down some Reaper parts from Rannoch. We've done our research and retrofitted the energy output used to fuel their travel to optimize fuel consumption on our big bird in the sky by the Mass Relay. We're going to do the same damn thing to the Normandy, giving it the capacity to get the hell out of here and pick the Commander up. Easy stuff for you lot. Its not perfect but we'll make it work. You've got twenty minutes to say your hellos to friends down there before I drag you to the drive core by your suit tubes."
"Charming," The salarian commented.
"And you by your horns, hot stuff," Ariadne teased.
The Normandy would be an eventful place with so many colorful characters coming aboard. He hoped that time would go by quickly and the repairs with it. These people must have been experienced if the doctor specifically went for them. Perhaps they had some stake in it. The more work they put into it, the faster they could all get home.
The darkness drawn in by the sedatives swimming in her blood reminded Shepard of how tired she was. The war against the Reapers had delivered her to death, lead her to being revived, and into this medbay where she felt it all in her broken bones and her aching skin. The unending battles once sustained her. She could get out of the bed in the morning knowing there was work to be done. The time where the Commander could not leave her little space in Vancouver was similarly painful to now. She had no wounds then, but all she had were her thoughts. The medbay, veiled in the shadows of her sleep coming in, reminded her of being stuck there.
To her right, she saw the implants that Miranda planned to replace inside of her. She recognized the solid bar of white steel, a central blue light glowing as the piece that was on her spine. Shepard wondered what that did for her. She had no idea, but the few tools she did recognize would be put to work on her skin and bone weaves. Hopefully her body's upgrades could restart without full replacement, or she would know nothing but this medbay for weeks.
Her talk with Garrus relaxed her for the rest of the day until she came to lay down for her first surgery. Shepard rested easy knowing everyone was safe and that her choice would eventually lead her to what she was looking forward too through the whole war. She could not admit it, especially toward the end. All she wanted was to be a mother. She would do it active duty like her mother before her if she had to, and there was no safer ship than the Normandy if that's how the hand was dealt. She rationalized such desires as her biological clock ticking down.
One day of consciousness with constant aching everywhere and her eyes seeing the synthetic weave under her skin void of glow in the places it showed, Alice Shepard started to wish it was just Project Lazarus all over again. At least then, she was unconscious for the whole damn thing. The sounds of activity outside made her curse the various gods of each species on deck. They went about preparations for going to the surface and helping the wounded. She heard the telltale cry of the baby turian she saw earlier in the day, still unhappy. Her maternal instincts built a knot in her chest before relaxing away, put down by her sedatives.
She pressed the side of her head to the scarred side of his face, humming quietly as they sat upon the couch in her cabin, relaxing on their way to the Migrant Fleet. When she got off of the Normandy during a visit to the Citadel and met him on the docking bay, she had not been prepared for his shooting contest, or the question that he had for her. She always thought herself a one turian woman, but establishing it as a fact made her feel so much better.
Her hand rested on his knee as they sat in silence, simply enjoying each other's company. She sat on her calves to even be able to touch her head to the side of his face, a fact which often made her feel small. Not today, she told herself. His height advantage lost its hold on her mind. Shepard merely relaxed with him, enjoying the little things they had to share during the war.
"You should start staying up here with me, Garrus."
"Your bed is a lot more comfortable than where I sleep," He said, laughing.
"Mm, and you being in my bed with me makes it more comfortable."
"I can't imagine why."
She smirked softly at his words, ever aware of the sarcasm underlining his words. She only held herself closer to her turian lover, thinking in moments like these about how pissed off her father would be. It never upset her to know Alan Shepard would have stared her lover down with disapproval. She knew she had the same waiting for her whenever she met Garrus' father. He must hate the human woman who convinced his son to try for Spectre training, quit C-Sec, and go gallivanting around the galaxy dispensing justice, no holds barred.
She imagined his father would be proud of him now, direct advisor to the primarch, gunnery officer on the vessel leading the fight against the Reapers, and the second best shot in the galaxy. He did not need to know about the human lover just yet.
"Where you are is home to me, and I sleep better when you stay," her voice was soft.
"Are you having trouble sleeping?" He reached with one hand to tilt her face upward.
Concern replaced sarcasm, and he looked down at her with questioning eyes. He conveyed so much through his voice and the little cues she could see in the way his eyes moved behind those dark eyelids. She had learned him this way, his turian face hardly as expressive as a human's. Sometimes, they did not even need to speak. The look in his eye and undertones to sounds he made expressed to her what her body language told him. She began to realize there was not much difference in turian subvocals compared to some human physical signals during the time she worked with Cerberus.
"Yes. I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately."
"Then I can do that. I'll be right next to you every chance I get, Alice."
She lifted herself from sitting on her calves to press a kiss to his cheek," My hero."
"I do try," he held onto her a little tighter for emphasis.
Shepard let out a soft sigh, content to be near him. She could stay with him like that forever, the worries of the galaxy left beyond her door. Nights like these helped her to keep it all together, even when they were few and far between. Garrus' long chats with the primarch about turian strategies kept him as busy as her own work with the Alliance. She was proud of her friends and especially of Garrus. Leadership suited him as much as he tried to deny it in the past.
"We're getting close. Its almost over," she moved to straddle him, eager for the enhanced closeness.
He rumbled against her as a soft purr came up in his throat. He pressed his forehead to her own, and she felt his talons trailing against her back, as if looking for the right places to tear her fatigues. She knew where this would end by the end of the night, her own movements not so innocent.
"I'm glad you family got out of Palaven, by the way."
"I don't know where they are going, but as long as they are out of the path of the Reapers, I don't care."
"My mother is helping organize efforts for the Crucible, so she's safe... We are lucky people, aren't we? Our families are safe, and we get to be together through all of this," Shepard sighed.
"Nothing better to do when the galaxy is going to hell," he trilled to her.
"In between the battles and the long days in the war room, I'd have to agree. We're on forced shore leave tomorrow, so we'll get some legitimate rest. You should stay with me in this little apartment I'm being told to go to."
"I'll meet you after I finish some business of my own."
She let out a soft hum in response, resting her face in the space between his neck and the ridge of his cowl. Relaxation was coming easy that night, pre-contact human music coming from her sound system. She kept her father's old library of music always open to her, and the tribal sorts of music he saved helped her find calm. Garrus no longer minded the sounds of the drums.
"I can't wait for a serious shore leave."
