We spent the remaining months until the Eden Prime attack in fear. We didn't move out. It was important that we didn't show that we were afraid but I felt like I was followed every time. I felt two piercing eyes bear into my back every time I was out of our flat and sometimes even in it.
Garrus told his father about the data pad, though and the old man pulled a few strings to make sure we were safe. At lunch, we didn't linger in a diner any more. We grabbed sandwiches at the C-Sec cafeteria and went to the shooting range. He insisted. I didn't rebuke long. I was afraid enough to actually desire to at least know how to shoot straight. I also stopped to indulge in too much sugary treats and started a gym course. I chose the most popular because it would be the most crowded. I had Butler or Gilmos accompany me on the way back and forth when Garrus couldn't and made sure to make a lot of friends from the course that were not living too far from home in case the three were incapable of escorting me. We had lied to them about the threat, only showing them the data pad with the turian script. For all they knew, we just realised that my apparition on the Citadel was not self-combustion but a real attempt at my person that I didn't remember of, probably because of a trauma.
One night, exactly two days after Eden Prime's attack, I didn't have anybody. The friend I was supposed to go back with, a gorgeous three hundred years old asari, was going for a drink with co-workers in the wards. I asked her if I could come and she shrugged.
"They're probably completely wasted, by now." she said with a shrug. "They won't notice."
I followed Kelu to the club, sending a message to Garrus so he could pick me up when he finished his shift. It ended later and later every night because I insisted that he did all his paperwork now. He only agreed just so he could be beyond reproach. I might also have said that Spectres were bullies and called his father to have this debate. Saren being a turian that had bullied me for more than a second (which was already too much by my dear turian's standards), that had managed to at least get him to do his paperwork properly.
I sometimes felt like I already had a child and was only making sure he was doing all of his homework. I sincerely hoped that John Shepard was a Paragon, otherwise we might have a serious parental problem.
It was at the club, when a TV broadcast caught my eye. It repeated the news about Eden Prime's attack and I thought about it without a jest. What would happen if Garrus was not on the Normandy and decided to stay with me, to protect me ? He would definitely stay, now. How could I have been so stupid ? If I left him just for that, he'd be joining Shepard for the wrong reasons... Or I could explain it all about the games. I was afraid that if I talked about it, I'd be definitely fucked and in the Shadow Brokers files for good, especially with someone wanting me, probably Saren. The news of his death wouldn't please him and he would kill me... If Sovereign didn't do it before him.
And there was no way I'd come near the Normandy, except for a good bye hand weave. Not only, the Alliance vessel would be going near the Reapers, but I was really far from Alliance regs about physical standards and three months in a casual gym training course didn't make for years of gene therapy that strengthened the bones and being Pallin's personal secretary only guaranteed me an experience as a diplomat, not a soldier. The shooting range with Garrus, Tribes : Ascend and Team Fortress 2 didn't count. (Not that I could have a fish to fight with anyway !)
Unless they let me in as cook. Garrus and Tali would love to eat proper cuisine, even if it was mostly turian gastronomy. This thought was dismissed with a smile. Poor Gardner wouldn't know how to make himself useful with me in the décor !
I shook my head. In vain. The music was a delicious nectar to my ears. I started to move, ever so slightly. I hadn't drink a drop of alcohol, not wanting to compromise me more. I already knew the effect music had on me. Soon, I was dancing with Kelu, my friend from the gym. She was lean and strong, with well defined muscles and I've never been that much into womanly curves, but she a the kind of rack that caught the eye. I lost myself to the music, head banging, my curls bobbing on my scalp. Kelu got closer. Suddenly, I stepped back. I felt wrong. At first, I just thought I felt guilty about being attracted in another person while I was already committed. Then, I realised that we were alone, somewhere I didn't know and void of any lifeforms. Kelu smiled and I felt a presence behind me.
"I've got my eyes on you, Eliza." I heard him drawl behind my ear.
"Méléagant." I whispered.
And the world faded to black.