A/N: As always, a million hugs and kisses for LTFran for correcting my errors because I am too lazy to do it myself ^3^

Chapter 10
A Crazy Revelation

Garrus followed his tracking beacon over to the Citadel residential district and found himself in front of a large apartment complex. Shepard and Alenko are here, Garrus thought as he inspected the building. There were several floors… more than twenty. I'll break down every damned door in this place if it means finding Shepard, he resolved and began to head towards the doors.

"Perhaps you should re-consider your impulsive decision before you act upon it."

Garrus swiftly grabbed the rifle off his back and turned to see Samara standing serenely behind him. He sighed and replaced his weapon. "I don't know how you always sneak up on me like that. I must be losing my senses."

Samara smiled. "Your senses are perfectly fine. I have hundreds of years worth of experience in this sort of thing." She glanced at the door and then back at Garrus. "I hope you were not planning on destroying the entrances of several homes in order to find Shepard."

Garrus grimaced. "Was mind-reading also one of those things you also picked up with your hundreds of years of experience?"

"I do not have to be a mind-reader to know what you were planning on doing," she replied.

"Are you here to stop me?" Garrus asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Tali'Zorah expressed her concern after you left her behind. I was nearby, so I decided to accept her request to speak to you before you did something rash," she said idly.

"I wasn't going to do anything rash," he grumbled.

"That is good to hear. It would have been unpleasant for me to apprehend someone who I consider to be my ally." Samara stepped up to stand by his side, and they both stared up at the apartment building.

"Don't you think we should go get Shepard?" Garrus asked, annoyed at Samara's presence.

"Why?"

"Because she's in there with Kaidan Alenko, and she's most likely…" he realized what he was about to say and immediately stopped himself. "Er… she might be in need of help."

"Why?"

"The guy is an Alliance Commander. Remember those messages we intercepted from the Shadow Broker? What if he might be planning on bringing her into custody to the Alliance brass?" Garrus tried to explain in an unconvincing tone.

Samara's expression remained serene. "I am aware that Commander Alenko was a former teammate of Shepard's. I find it highly unlikely that he would betray her in any way…" Samara turned her eyes to Garrus. "I also find it unlikely that you would be so desperate to find Shepard because of the small possibility of her being turned into the authorities."

When Garrus didn't answer, Samara returned her eyes towards the building. "I apologize in advance that I do not have sufficient knowledge about interspecies relationships… are you feeling jealousy towards the likelihood of Shepard being with a potential romantic interest?"

Garrus stiffened. "No."

"I see." Samara's reply was just as short.

After a few silent seconds, Garrus cleared his throat. "Did all you girls go through all that trouble because you really believed that I would be a good match for Shepard?"

"Of course," Samara responded.

Garrus turned to face her. "Why did you all believe that Shepard would be compatible with me?"

"I cannot speak for the others…" Samara lifted her eyebrows. "But I personally feel that Shepard should be with someone who she can trust. You have proven yourself as a honorable individual and I feel it shows in your bond."

"Our bond?"

Samara nodded. "It is obvious to us all that she feels most relaxed in your presence than with anyone else in our group. I believe you would make Shepard feel at ease in such intimate matters."

Garrus tried not to get discomfited by Samara's frank answer. "You do realize that Shepard is a human and I'm a turian, right?"

"Why would that be a worry? Asari strive to find different species for mates."

"That's because you're Asari," he replied wryly. "Your whole… ritual is different from the rest of us."

"So your main concern is that you are feeling uneasy about your physical compatibility?" Samara now turned to face Garrus, genuinely interested in his answer.

"What do you mean by physical compatibility…? Wait, no! What I meant was…" he trailed off.

Samara simply tilted her head to the side and Garrus awkwardly continued. "I know that Shepard and I are good friends, and I know she trusts me." He sighed and brought a hand to his face. "But I don't think Shepard would ever look at me in that way."

Samara fought the urge to smile. Even though she had always felt it difficult to distinguish the emotions of turian males, it was apparent that Garrus was feeling embarrassment from this conversation. "I think you shouldn't make these assumptions over Shepard's feelings without verifying them with her first."

Garrus shook his head. "There's really no point in that. I know Shepard."

"Very well." She turned away from him. "I think it's about time I left you alone then. I trust that you will be no danger to the residents of this facility."

Garrus cursed under his breath at Samara's smug words. There was no point in searching the building, now that the infamous Justicar would be monitoring his actions. As Samara strolled off, one last question came to his mind. "Hey!" Garrus shouted at her retreating back. "Tell me the truth. You already knew who Alenko was… so why did you prefer me over him?"

Samara paused and turned around to give him a small smile of encouragement. "It is not about preference. I simply want what is best for Shepard."

Her head was clouded with confusion and turmoil. All she could feel his hot lips on hers, his breath on her face, and his calloused hands all over her body. This is Kaidan… her shy, soft-spoken Kaidan. Her former lieutenant who was embracing her so fervently and pressing his hard body against her own.

It didn't make sense. She couldn't think.

Shepard's brain couldn't register the overwhelming surge of romantic passion and reacted the only way she knew how.

Her fist made a loud cracking noise as it landed squarely against his jaw. Kaidan's head jerked back as he fell to the floor.

Shepard panted for breath as she gathered her senses. She saw Kaidan on the ground rubbing at his face and immediately scrambled off the couch to check on him. "Oh my God! Kaidan! Are you okay?"

"Yeah…" His eyes were still out of focus from the impact. "You still have one hell of a punch, Shepard."

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, moving his hand away from his jaw to inspect the damage she had inflicted. "I really didn't mean to. It was a knee-jerk reaction."

"I guess I should be grateful you didn't react with a knee-jerk," Kaidan tried to joke.

Shepard gently held Kaidan's chin and held it to the light. "Good… it doesn't seem like I broke it. You'll have some bruising though. I'm sorry, Kaidan."

He waved her off and shook his head. "No… no. I'm the one who should apologize. I shouldn't have forced myself on you like that."

She pressed her lips together to form a hard line. "I really am sorry. To be honest, I really don't have much experience when it comes to matters like this. I didn't how to react."

Kaidan chuckled. "Your first reaction is to punch me in the face when I confess my feelings? I think that means you've never thought of me as anything more than your former squad mate."

"A friend," Shepard corrected him, her brow furrowed with worry. "I never saw it coming, Kaidan. I'm not really used to being… admired."

"You're kidding?" Kaidan laughed in disbelief. "You… Commander Shepard, Savoir of the Citadel… isn't used to being admired?"

"You know I didn't mean it like that." Shepard frowned. "People only see me as Commander Shepard, the hard ass and the military eunich. They don't really see me as… you know… anything else."

"As what?" Kaidan asked.

"A female. A girl. A woman," Shepard answered irritably.

Kaidan took hold of Shepard's hand. "I think of you in that way."

She gave a derisive grin and slapped at his arm. "Whatever."

He kept his hold on her hand. "Do you see me as anything else? As a male. A guy. A man?"

His stare was so intense that Shepard had to shift her eyes to her lap. "Kaidan, you've got to let me think about this for a little bit. This kind of puts our whole relationship in a brand new perspective."

"What do you mean?" Kaidan asked.

"For one thing, I've done things in front of you that I never would've done if I knew you liked me that way. God!" Shepard began to recollect the old memories. "Do you remember when we had that hot dog eating contest back on the old Normandy?"

"Oh yeah." Kaidan laughed. "I remember that Adams had you beat by two. I lost a lot of credits that day, my money was riding you. But I made it back when you beat him in the belching contest afterwards."

"Ugh." Shepard was mortified, her past deeds showing in a new light. "And all that raunchy talk during Skylian Five poker night?"

"To be fair, Joker was way worse than you were by far… even though everyone knew his tales of sexual escapades were all BS."

Shepard paused for a moment and looked Kaidan straight in the eyes. "If you loved me… then why didn't you join me back on Horizon?"

Kaidan let go of Shepard's fingers. "I'm… I'm sorry about that, Shepard."

The realization slowly began to trickle down into her mind. "If you really cared for me… why did you let me face the Collectors without you?"

The same flimsy excuses he had made previously before now became even more inadequate with Shepard's new grasp on the events that had occurred back on the colony. "I thought you were somehow being controlled by Cerberus… I didn't know."

Rather than getting angry at Kaidan's reply, Shepard let out an amused "Huh" and slowly stood up. She picked up her bottle of water from the table and strolled over to the kitchen to toss it in the garbage chute.

Kaidan rose to his feet. "Shepard… Are you mad at me?"

She shook her head. "Didn't I tell you earlier? I don't have any hard feelings…" She glanced at him standing at the kitchen entrance. "But I'm going to need some time to think about all this."

"About us?" he asked softly.

Shepard let out a chuckle and placed her hands on her hips. "About this crazy revelation you just brought down on me. I'm going to head out, Kaidan. Thanks for helping me sober up." She went towards the door.

He smiled deprecatingly. "So I guess you're turning me down?"

She pushed the button on the door and the panels slid open. She turned around and gave him a tired smile. "I didn't say that, Kaidan."

Kaidan took two long strides until his face was just inches away from Shepard's. "Good, because I had no intention of accepting your rejection."

Shepard's laugh was incredulous. "You've got a lot of nerve, Commander Alenko. What did you do with the soft-spoken soldier?"

"I just had two years worth of all this pent up. I finally broke the dam, Shepard." He bent down so his forehead touched her own. "Can't stop the flood now."

Shepard placed her hand on Kaidan's chest to stop his advancement. She could feel his heart beat against her fingers and felt her mouth go dry as she whispered, "I'll see you later." She stepped back and watched Kaidan's intense eyes disappear as the door slid shut between them.