The missions continued, intense and grim. The more they discovered, the more confused she was. One thing was for sure, the Reapers and collectors had to be stopped. After a particularly grueling mission on the shadow broker's base, she took some time off to recoup. The yahg battle had been tough on her, and she'd ended up in medbay with injuries. She refused help from a few of the crew, isolating herself in her quarters, continuing working on her research and reports. As Miranda took over mining planets for resources, they made their way back to Omega to finish up a short mission for Aria. It was a small mission, helping the Patriarch out, but Shepard felt it was necessary. "Nothing wrong with staying on Aria's good side." To be honest, she admired her in a way. A tough, hardened warrior, a queen. They would be close friends, if she didn't teeter so much in the criminal element. "Maybe if I lived a few hundred more years I'd end up like her too, who knows." Battle and betrayal takes its toll.
Not wanting to burn out the crew, Shepard announced shore leave on Omega for 2 days. Feeling healed, physically, Shepard finally allowed Kasumi to take her out, much to her delight. She excitedly showed Shepard the better shops and hidden gems on Omega. They ate out, and as she knew it was inevitable, Kasumi led her to a dance club. Soon Kasumi left her at the bar and melded into the pulsating dance floor. Shepard stayed at the bar and nibbled at some snacks, taking very small sips of the one drink she would allow herself to have. Soon more of the crew showed up, taking Kasumi's advice on the best place to go on Omega. Shepard amused herself by watching the different species of dancers, listening to the pounding music. She thought back to the night she enticed Morinth in Afterlife. Leaning her elbows back on the bar, she scanned the room again and saw Garrus with the small group of the crew. She turned, forcing herself not to focus on him. Joker sat next Shepard, keeping her company. Over the loud music he cracked jokes and told her about funny things he'd seen the crew doing on the vid feed.
Some things never change, she thought.
Joker leaned over to her, "You know, I think that guy is trying to get your attention."
She looked in the direction he was gesturing to and saw a Turian suddenly look away, then back at her from across the bar. He was standing next to a small group that was talking and joking with each other.
She turned to Joker who nodded at her, "He keeps looking at you when you turn away"
"What?" she made a face and looked down in her glass. She took a drink, then looked directly at the Turian, catching him staring at her.
Joker looked over his shoulder at him, "See," he grinned, "what did I tell you. He thinks you're hot."
She shook her head, "Nah, he probably recognizes me from the vids or something."
"Well, maybe you should find out, that's all I'm saying."
She straightened up, "Looks like I will."
Joker turned to see him making his way around the bar towards them.
"Hi, I don't mean to interrupt," he looked at Joker inquiringly.
Joker put his drink down, "Nope, not interrupting at all, I think I'll go out on the dance floor, break a few bones. See you later, Jane."
She made a face at him for using her first name, and introduced herself to the Turian. He leaned against the bar and they made small talk. Joker was right, he was definitely interested in her, and it didn't seem like he had any idea of who she was. They chatted for a while, and he asked her to dance. To her surprise, she heard herself say yes, and she followed him out on the dance floor, holding the hand he held out to her. She caught a glimpse of Kasumi giving her a thumbs up. She tried her best to follow his moves without flailing her arms around and hitting him. He wasn't that great a dancer either, so she didn't feel intimidated. She relaxed, allowing herself to have a good time, for the first time in a very long while. He got closer to her, putting his hands on her shoulders. It was nice, comforting and exciting at the same time.
She caught a glimpse of Kasumi gesturing to her from across the bar, by the front exit. "Hold on a minute, I've got to go see what my friend wants, I'll be right back." She weaved her way through the crowd to where Kasumi, Jack and Joker were standing near the exit.
"I've got your credit chit," Kasumi handed it to her, "you might need it for later, for a cab or whatever." She gave her a mischievous smile.
"Thanks," Shepard put it in her pocket, "What do you mean, 'whatever'?"
She leaned forward to Shepard's ear, "They have rentable rooms upstairs."
Shepard rolled her eyes, "Kasumi-"
"Hey, look, enjoy yourself tonight, okay?" she flipped around and joined the other crew at the exit and left.
Shepard smiled and turned back, making her way to the dance floor. She didn't see the Turian she was just dancing with. Straining to look through the crowd, she finally spied him back at the bar, ordering a drink. She quickly went up to him, "Hey, there you are," lightly touching his arm.
He looked down at her, "I enjoyed dancing with you, but I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause any problems,"
She shook her head, "No, they were just leaving, she was giving me my credit chit."
He stood stiffly, "I didn't mean to intrude, I didn't know you were spoken for."
"What are you talking about?" she was thoroughly confused.
He gestured towards the front door, "He indicated you were with him."
She spun her head around and saw Garrus by the front door, making a hasty exit when he saw her looking his way. She turned back to the Turian, "He said what?"
He shook his head, "It's not anything he said, I saw him watching us as we were dancing, and when you left he walked by and vocalized his disapproval and ownership."
Her eyes got wide and she put her hands on her hips, "What the fuck did he say?" she raised her voice.
"It's a Turian thing, he didn't actually say anything, but the growls and the look, as you humans would say, were clear. You know him, right?"
"Yeah," she said angrily, "I know him."
"Look," he held out his hands, "I like you, but I'm not going to get between you guys. It was nice to meet you, have a good night." He bowed and walked away.
She spun around and fumed out of the club and out in the street, looking around for Garrus. "What the fuck," she brought up her omni-tool but couldn't find his location. Frustrated, she shut it off. "He must have turned his locator off." It wasn't uncommon for the crew to do that on shore leave, keeping Cerberus' prying eyes off their free time. She made her way back to the Normandy, her anger spurring her along. "He's got a lot of fucking nerve."
"EDI," she brought up her omni-tool as she walked briskly through the CIC, "Where is Garrus?"
"Garrus Vakarian is not on the Normandy, Commander."
She grit her teeth and went up to her quarters. She thought about what nerve he had to try and block her from having a social life when he was flaunting his in her face on her ship with her friend. She furiously scrubbed her hair in the shower. The hot water pelted down on her, but did little to extinguish her rage. Getting dressed she checked the time. 01:16.
"EDI, is Garrus back on the ship?"
"Yes. Garrus Vakarian is in his quarters."
"Thanks, EDI," she started for her door, then stopped, "Is he alone?"
"No, Tali Zorah is with him."
She slammed her hand on her wall, "Fuck!" She looked down at the floor. "Fine, I'll have to see him in the morning."
She paced around her quarters for a bit, then put on a vid, falling asleep on her couch. In the morning, she got dressed in her casuals, then made her way down to the mess hall.
Miranda approached her, "Commander, good morning. I wanted to get with you on the plan for today's mission-"
Shepard held her hand up to her as she scanned the mess hall, "Yeah, I'll get with you on that in a minute," she spotted Garrus walking around the tables towards the elevators. "Excuse me," she rushed past her and around the corner.
"Hey," she hissed at him, "I need to talk to you."
He stopped and looked at her casually, "Sure."
She furrowed her brows, "I want to know where the fuck you get off telling that Turian guy last night to back off."
He took in a deep breath and looked up at the ceiling, silent.
She smacked his shoulder, "Who the fuck do you think you are, Garrus? You have no right! No right!" her voice crackled with anger.
"I couldn't help myself, I didn't think he would actually tell you that."
She looked at him, confused, "Couldn't help yourself? Well he did tell me, and what I do Garrus is none of your damn business!"
"Keep your voice down," he leaned forward and said sharply.
She grabbed him and moved further away from the mess hall. She crossed her arms in front of her and glared at him.
He paced in front of her, "Look, I was just thinking we could maybe, spend some time together. I didn't want some guy messing that up."
She narrowed her eyes and curled her lip, "Are you totally deranged? What do you think your girlfriend would think of that?"
He stopped pacing and stood still, looking at her pointedly, "We're not together anymore."
"What?"
"We broke up."
"When?" she shook her head in disbelief.
"A week or so ago."
"You didn't tell me that, you never said anything." She said accusingly.
"I thought you knew. Word usually spreads quick around the ship."
"Not to me." She shook her head and thought about what he was telling her, "Why did you guys break up?"
"She's been having a relationship with Kal Reeger. Apparently it's been going on for a while now. Things with us had been fizzling out, and we decided to just be friends. I'm sorry I didn't realize you didn't know."
She put her hand over her eyes and started shaking.
He walked up to her and put his hand on her shoulder. She quickly smacked it off. She laughed, "I can't believe it, she cheated on you," she looked in his eyes and laughed again.
"It's more complicated than that."
"Oh, I'm sure it is," she looked down at the floor, shaking her head, a wry smile on her lips.
"So, I was thinking that we could spend some time together."
She snapped her head up to look at him, incredulous, raising her eyebrows, "Really?" she let out a rueful chuckle, "really." And she started to walk away.
"Hey," he reached out for her, "Come on Jane, we need to talk."
"Talk? Now you want to talk." She talked through gritted teeth, "After everything you've put me through over the past months, you've got a lot of fucking nerve. You ignored me, pretended our relationship never happened, like I meant nothing to you!"
He put his hand over his face.
She pointed at his chest, "You were with Tali just last night, why don't you go talk to her."
"I was talking to her about you, I needed her advice." He pleaded.
She put her hands up to the sides of her head, "This is ridiculous, just leave me alone, Garrus, just go away." She waved her hand at him.
Suddenly Miranda appeared from around the corner and approached them, "Sorry to interrupt, Commander, you have an emergency call from Admiral Hackett."
Shepard collected herself and took a deep breath, "Okay, I'll take it up in my quarters."
Miranda nodded, looked between the both of them and made a hasty retreat.
Shepard punched the button for the elevator and stared at the door.
"Jane, listen to me-"
"No Garrus," she spat out, "I'm not going to be your plan B!"
He moved so quickly towards her she leaned back, intimidated, "Dammit Jane, she's the plan B! Don't you get it? Tali was the plan B!"
The elevator opened and she froze in front of it. Garrus had her by the shoulders and shoved her in, the doors closing behind them.
His voice growled, "You don't know what I've been through, having to squelch my feelings for you since I woke up on the Normandy to find the love of my life alive again, a dream I'd had for two years miraculously a reality."
She shook her head vigorously, "The first thing you did was ask me about Tali."
He laughed with frustration, "You don't understand Turians, Jane. We're fiercely loyal, valuing integrity above all else. I was in a relationship for over a year with her. I couldn't just dump her after finding you alive, no matter how much it ate me up inside."
She huffed loudly, "What about your loyalty to me?"
"You were dead, dammit, for years. Or so we all thought and were told. We had a funeral for you too, it was hell. You can't expect me to stay loyal to a corpse."
She closed her eyes and held her hands palms up, "I can't get over the pain of the past few months just because Tali rejected you and now you're lonely."
He slammed his fist against the wall of the elevator, "It's not like that, Jane!"
She refused to look at him.
He waited, then punched the button on the door and left the elevator. He held it open and faced her, "I'm sorry. I'm – " he shook his head, and left. The doors closed and she collapsed on the floor.