The last chapter was the longest so far, so i wanted to do this chapter a bit shorter, not as heavy to read. I´m thinking of rewriting the first chapters when i "get the time" (Which mean when i feel like it). Because i am more pleased with the latest ones where i put a bit more effort in it. Maybe the first chapters will be better if they get a bit more "colour" to them.

One thing you will notice in this chapter is that you will get to wiev shepard through the eyes of all the crew, i wanted you to know how "they" felt about her, thinking that maybe it would make you feel closer to them or something else as stupid! ^^ . well thats what i did, hope you enjoy it! hugs and kisses, Alpha

Chapter 10 - Through their eyes

Romance: Rehna Nahima Shephard - Garrus Vakarian

Vanguard, Colonist, War Hero.

All the charakters are owned by bioware and some of the segments of the conversations. I´m just trying my own version of the events!

Garrus woke up early that morning, there was no one else awake so he thought that Rehna was probably still asleep as well. He was gonna keep good to his promise about making her breakfast, he did not only do it to make her eat, he needed to check that she was okey, see if it had helped that they spoke last night. The elevator made a low humming sound on its way to the crew deck, the dim lights casted shadows where he went, making him feel a bit uneasy. There was not alot that could make the big turian scared, but he was so used to have people around all the time that the occuring silence was somewhat disturbing. When he opened the fridge he suddenly remember he had no idea how to make human food, they did not share the same DNA, which also made them have to eat different sort of meals. If they by accident ate something that was of the other ones they could get really sick, he was certainly not gonna kill her now that he had gotten her to feel better. He remembered that the chef used a list to seperate the different ingredients, making sure not to mix the food which could result in poisoning the crew. By searching through the drawers he found the list he was looking for, combined with some recipes, the easiest thing to make looked to be something called "Sandwich", he had seen shepard eat that before and she seemed to enjoy it. Returning to the fridge he picked out the things needed and started working, this was actually pretty fun, making breakfast for his new found best friend.

This was a human ship but they had tried to make it comfortable for the new sort of races that had joined the team, buying a new stock of kitchen supplies so that those who had different DNA could eat without risking getting ill. There where two brewers, the fridge and freezer had been separated into two parts, one for dextro food (Turian and quarians) and one section for the Levo food (the other races). Although there where a risk of getting ill, both types of DNA could be "immune" to the other, not give any infection or reaction at all.

Garrus was not use to this sort of cooking, the thing called butter made him most confused, he wondered if it really could taste that great, being all yellow and slimy. After spreading the butter over the bread he slapped the thing called sausage on top, he looked at what he had made and chuckled to himself, he felt ridiculous. He would have wanted to make something better, he knew how to cook, but only his own type of food, the sandwiches would just have to be enough. He put the meals on a tray and went to shepards cabin, hoping she would not throw him out once he was there. He knocked softly, sharpened his hearing, trying to investigate if she was moving in there, but he heard nothing and decided to go in. She was still sleeping, her bright red hair spread out over the pillow, breathing softly. He put the trey on her desk and walked up to her, wondering if he really should wake her up, considering what she would most prefer right now, to continue sleeping or having a great cosy breakfast, the latter seemed like the best option. He ran his hand over her arm carefully, not wanting to startle her, she stretched before opening her eyes looking up at him. She looked really surprised but did not say anything, just yawned and sat up leaning against the wall.

"I decided yesterday, after we had talked, to bring you breakfast today, you must be starving, since you haven´t eaten for.. what is it now? two days?"

"seems like i made the right decision to bring you on this mission Garrus, i am absolutely starving... But... do you know how to make human food?"

"I struggled some, but i looked at a recipe while cooking, you don´t need to worry, you won´t get sick by eating it"

He handed her one plate full of sandwiches and her cup of coffee before he sat down on a chair digging in to his own food.

"I know your trying to be nice and all... but was it really necessary trying to kill me by overfeeding me? There are enough sandwiches here to feed the whole crew!" she laughed friendly at him before throwing herself over the plate, the first bite sent a shiver of pleasure through her body, she shewed fast, almost swallowing the sandwich whole, before picking up a new one and continue eating.

"I don´t know how much you humans can eat but for me that wouldn´t last long, we turians need alot of food to keep us going... I hope it tastes good, there where some strange ingredients i had to use, do you really enjoy that... slimy butter?"

She laughed so hard she almost choked "Yeah, it tastes great, you would enjoy it if you could eat it!"

He let her enjoy her breakfast in silence, did not want to disturbe her now that she seemed so at ease. He hoped she would appreciate that he atleast tried to make something similar to food, wanting to make her feel happy. After they where done he poured up another round of coffee for both of them.

"Thank you for this, you didn´t have to, but i appreciate it very much" She looked at him, her eyes shined with the same brightness they used to do, that was all he needed to know he had made her happy.

"But i liked it, was really fun to try, gave me some challange, next time i´ll try out that thing... what was it called... soup?"

"That would probably be a bit more difficult since you would need to taste it to make sure it´s good"

"Even if i follow a recipe?"

"I suppose you don´t, but if your going to keep up with this, i´ll have to learn how to make turian food in return"

"You don´t need to do that, i do this for fun, not because i feel like i have to"

"But i want to learn! This could actually turn out to be something really fun, we could compete, see who learns the fastest how to make the other ones food!"

Now it was his turn to laugh, she was returning to her normal self, wanting to compete again."you don´t want to do that, you know i would win!"

"You are such a smart ass! who won the sniper cometition, yeah that´s right! I did!"

"I didn´t even know we where competing at Noveria! If i had known i would have won!"

"Don´t start, we compete on every mission, never forget that!"

He laughed, she was right, she had won the competition, he had tried to beat her at first, before realising what state she was in. But as he gave it deeper thought, he realised that she would have won even if she was not acting all reckless killing machine, she still had the same power in her, she just had to use it. He wondered if he was ever going to be able to beat her, he decided to practise hard.

One day shepard... i´m going to be the one who win.

Rehna stood infront of the mirror studying her own reflection, a pair of lively green eyes stared back, her face was framed by the bright red hair which was long enough to reach below her shoulders. Her body was tall and slim, filled with muscles from the years of training. Rehna did not give much thought to her appearance, She was a warrior, her art was the one of killing, always protecting those who could not fight for themselves. Therefor she did not want to spend any time with such trivial things as make up.

She combed her tousled hair before putting on some casual clothes, today was the day to put away the strict and assertive commander, becoming simply, rehna. By coming closer to Garrus she had realised what it meant to be friends with the crew. Although she had always seen them as close she had never let down her facade completely, always keeping them at a safe distance.

So by removing everything that made her look and feel strict, maybe she could interact with them the way she would have if she was not their commander. And today was a perfect day since it was a long trip to their next mission, giving lots of time to spare.

Rehna gave one last glance at herself in the mirror, she shrugged and went out the door towards the crew deck.

Kadian looked at her walking towards him, making sure she did not notice how he stared, he could not help but feel amazed, she looked absolutely beautiful. He was chocked by the fact that she looked so casual, noticing her gorgeous hair, those striking eyes, that damn smerk. He had thought long and hard about his feelings towards Shepard, realising that he loved her so much that his heart ached, knowing she did not feel the same for him. Atleast that was what he believed, she had never shown him any signs of affection, never answered to his attempts at flirting. The first time they had met she had looked at him with that confident stare of hers, challanging him, testing to se if he was gonna give in to her superiority. From that moment on his love for her had continued to grow stronger and stronger for each day, till it was so strong that he would die for her.

As she approached, he could feel how his pulse started to raise, the palms started to sweat and he blushed uncontrollably.

"Hi alenko, i see you still working hard at that console"

"Hi.. Commander!.. uh.. yeah.. it will have to start working correctly some time!"

"Yeah it probably will. you look quite pale, is everything okey?"

"I´m feeling terrific! It´s just... hot... in here, makes me a bit dizzy.." He stuttered, before another shiver of embarrassment ran through his body and made him blush.. Damn, what she did to him without even trying, it was excruciating.

"Hm.. Hot, yeah i guess it is a bit warm in here, maybe its because you stand so close to that console!"

"Yeah, that could be it.. .. " Or it is because you stand merely 3 feet away from me, if i reached out my hand right now i could touch you, feel your skin under my palm...

"What are you thinking about?" she put her hands across her chest, looking at him with a questioning glance.

Damn, she was on to him, he had to move fast, think of something else... old ladies butt... Shepards butt.. NO damnit!.. old ladies butt... old ladies butt...

"I´m just thinking about our upcoming missions, you know... what´s at stake, it kinda scares me..."

"I can see why, its powerfull enemies we are facing, something we don´t know alot about yet" She let her arms fall back at her side and looked at him with sympathy.

Good job kaidan, she bought it, now i just have to keep pretending like that´s what is making my body shaky...

"Yeah, we don´t know what´s coming for us, its making me uneasy.."

"We will find out soon enough, i´ll make sure of it!"

I can see her lips move, my mouth answers, but by god my thoughts are elsewhere.. Why can´t i control myself, she will notice that something is wrong again.. But I feel so warm around her, everything feels..just, right!... she is the one, the only, the one i would like to spend the rest of my life with.. God i´m such a dork!

"Well Kaidan it was nice talking with you, i´m gonna get going, see you later!"

He could not remember their diskussion if he tried, had been to busy thinking about her. Next time they spoke he would try harder to get her attention, make her realise they could be something more then friends, even though only the thought of asking her out made him nervous. He watched as she walked away, hoping that she would be back soon

Liara sat by her desk as usuall, working with some prothean data, trying to make sence of it, she heard someone enter her cabin and spinned around in her chair to see who it was. Her heart started to spinn when she saw that it was shepard, Liara was not use to this kind of feeling. It made her body feel all warm and butterflies invaded her stomach, flapping their wings all over the place. She stood up to greet shepard who now was standing right infront of her, she feelt something similar to a blush as her face got hot.

"Hi Liara, are you settling in fine on the ship?"

"Yeah, i actually really like it here, everyone is nice to me, and it feels good to have people around, i was alone for so long, now i have to get use to all the sounds again. Humans still confuse me though, i have not really learned how to communicate with you properly yet"

"The way you communicate is proper liara, you don´t have to change it"

"But it feels like i´m making a fool out of myself, i´m afraid that i will say something inappropriate"

"If that would ever happen, i assure you that most people would understand that it was not your intention to insult them"

"Maybe you are right, but it won´t keep me from trying, i´m gonna master your human ways of expressing yourselves!"

"Maybe its inappropriate for me to ask this, but i feel that i have to, to make sure that you are okey... It couldn´t have been easy... to see your own mother die"

Her heart pinched as she remembered her mothers last words, I´m proud of you, it was hard to think about, and it hurt more then she let shepard know.

"No, it was not easy, but i try to remind myself of all the good times i had with her, my childhood, the times when we went out having picknicks, when she tried to teach me about protheans... I can still see her in that beautiful yellow dress she used to wear, it was her favorit"

"I think that´s a good way of handling it, even in the end she realised that she had been wrong, she tried to redeem herself, a good person"

"You are right as always Shepard, you are very speciall, i just want to dig into that brain of yours, discover your secrets"

Shepard looked at her with a surprised expression "You want to...dig into my brain... wasn´t that what you did when we... melded?"

"look! now i have offended you! I just meant that you are very interesting, you are part prothean now, and you where touched by one of their beacons!"

"It feels like you are talking about a prothean dig site you want to explore"

"see! this is why i have to learn your human ways, i keep offending you!" She got hot in the face of embarrassment, starting to get really nervous, rubbing her hands together not knowing where to put them.

"Relax Liara, i am just joking with you"

"Oh... alright.. well, i guess it could be fun to explore you sometime"

Now shepard burst out into a high pitch laugh, she tried to force it down but it was impossible.

"please, just forget this conversation ever happened!"

"If it will make you feel better, just remember that i am here whenever you need to talk" Shepard chuckled and winked before she turned away and left the room.

What did that mean, that thing she did with her eyes, oh god, i have to search some on human behaviour. She must think i´m an complete and utter fool!

There must be something seriosly wrong with me, i feel so strange when around her, even though its a good strange. It feels like her eyes penetrate my sole, like they can look into my heart... Maybe i should speak with dr Chakwas, she may know what´s wrong with me. until then I´m going to learn how to communicate with humans, she won´t see me as a fool next time she visit!

Wrex saw shepard walk up to him, he was proud to have her as his leader, she choose strong enemies, always tried her best to keep the crew happy. She had even helped him find his family armor, he would follow her for as long as she needed him.

"wrex"

"Shepard"

Her talks could be so annoying sometimes, he was not much for conversating, rather kill stuff. She always kept pushing to find out more, made him have to tell her about his time at Tuchanka. But when they talked about what he thought interesting the conversations could be fun. They had talked much about his homeworld, she had made him realise they needed a leader, to get some order to all the mess that was Tuchanka. Maybe he would return there once this mission was over, he could try to lead his people to become something better. He would give that some deeper thought , wrex, BIG leader of the krogan homeworld, that certainly sounded good in his ears.

There she was, the one that everybody loved, Commander Shepard. Ashley could not help but feel a bit jealous, she had been fighting her whole life to get some respect back to her family name. Never got any good missions or the chance to prove that she was worthy, it seemed so easy for shepard, wherever she went everyone just loved her, even Kaidan. The first time she had seen him she could only think about how dorky he was, but later, she realised what a great person he was. The fluffy bunny she needed in her dangerous life, and yet shepard just needed to walk past him for him to crawl by her knees. Yes, she was actually mighty jealous, on top of that there where aliens all over the ship. Ashley was cautious around aliens, thought it was dangerous to have them running all over the ship, being able to explore it as they saw fit.

"Hi Ashley, What are you up to?"

"Not much, just got done speaking with my sis"

"Yeah i could here her as i walked up here, so.. Kaidan huh?" Rehna winked at her and ashley started to blush immediately.

"Please, just forget that conversation ever existed... i´m sure he is already taken..." The last part was barely a whisper.

"If you say so... But just so you know, the easiest thing would be to just talk to him, tell him how you feel"

"I don´t feel anything for him... He is just, cute, you know"

"if you say so.. How are you settling in, do you enjoy being here at the Normandy?"

"Yes, it definitely is a great opportunity for me... its just..."

"Go on"

"Well, these aliens, can we really trust them?"

"What do you mean, exactly, ashley?.." Shepard did her usual strict commander pose, by crossing her arms over her chest.

"Nothing really commander, i´m not used to being around aliens, that´s all"

"Good.. And just so you know.. yes, they can be trusted, fully" Shepard glanced over to where Garrus stood and worked with the mako, a sudden warmt in her voice as she spoke.

Did she actually have feelings for that stupid turian? She forced down a mocking laugh, that surely was unexpected, she could have some fun with this..

"I´ll trust your judgement commander"

Shepard left and ashley watched her with an evil grin on her face. i´ll get back at you for stealing Kaidan from me...

Tali admired the commander, she had let her join the normandy crew without second guessing, not like other aliens who despised her for being a quarian, they saw them as mere scavengers and thieves. They ate dinner together, laughed and chatted like they had been friends forever, it was quite cosy actually.

"So tali, tell me more about the quarian culture!"

"Is this really something that you find interesting?"

"Yeah, it actually does, I have always liked to study about other races"

"That explains alot about how you behave around us"

"What do you mean?"

"Can i speak freely? You won´t throw me out the airlock?"

"Permission to speak freely" shepard laughed

"Well, you don´t judge us, you act the same around us as the rest of the crew, it feels like we are actually a part of it, i think that can only come from knowing about us, not having any prejudices"

Shepard got quiet for a moment, looking like she considered what to answer to that.

"I studied alot about other races when i enlisted, gave me something else to think about, a time for pause." She winced, like she had remembered something bad "I learned to, like we humans say never judge a book by its cover, I have meet such amazing people from all over the galaxy, some of the best memories i have are those with other races."

"I agree, this team is such a mixture of different cultures and religions, its fun being a part of it, i never thought my pilgrimage would be so exiting! Thanks for letting me follow you on this mission Shepard, it means alot..."

"The pleasure is mine Tali, its great having you aboard!"

She would remember this for the rest of her life, thinking back at it, telling her future children about it. How she, Tali´Zorah nar Raya was part of shepards crew.