Greetings All, I hope you're doing well. It took a little longer than usual for this chapter because I wasn't quite sure where or how to break it. I'm still not one hundred percent sure about it. If you have any ideas or comments don't hesitate to let me know. Besides enjoying doing this, I want to do it well.
Cat

Chapter 11 – The Lay of the Land

Shepard

At Chakwas insistence (that woman was scary firm) Shepard reluctantly stayed in bed for the rest of that day and night. The next morning with a lot of pleading, she refused to call it begging, Chakwas said she could get up and go into the main room of the suite to sit. Just sit.

Carefully, because her legs were still somewhat shaky, she enjoyed the luxury of a long hot shower. Dressed in some spare clean clothes one of the Turians had found for her, she slowly made her way into the next room. Her legs were still a bit stiff and unwieldy after everything. Fortunately the doc had found her a cane, a dark, gnarled, smoothed piece of wood that she suspected was far older than she was.

When she got into the next room she came face to face (face to cowl?) with a Turian who let out a sharp trill and jumped back, almost stumbling. Getting a better look at him, Shepard realized that this one was a youngster, or at least, way younger than the other Turians she'd met. He was, no other way to put it, scrawny and seemed to be mostly arms and legs. If she had to guess she'd say he was the Turian equivalent of a teen-ager.

"Oh sir, ma'am, er…Commander!" His voice just confirmed her thoughts. A much higher pitch than the adults with a bit of a warble to it, like it hadn't quite decided whether to go high or low.

"Shepard's alright." She said calmly. "And you are?"

Realizing again that she out ranked him, he straightened up causing his mismatched armor to clank and pull. They'd probably had had to scrounge to put together something that fit him. For an instant she was sad, wondering how many others like this youngster had been rushed into the fight. Then that voice in her head whispered again that because of her he wouldn't have to face the Reapers or their unnatural forces.

"Cadet Hendan, ma'am…er.."

"Shepard." She supplied biting her lip to keep from chuckling at him. He was SO earnest that it was actually quite endearing though she'd never say anything out loud and he'd probably die of shame if she did.

"Hendan is Garrus's aide." Chakwas had come in behind her.

Once again the youngster straightened up with a clatter of armor pieces and a thunk as one of his misfit greaves fell off. He looked so crestfallen at that that Jess had to feign a coughing fit to hide her laughter, not wanting to embarrass the youngster. When she glanced at Chakwas, the doctor was studiously looking out a nearby window. From the occasional twitches that shook her body it was obvious that the older woman was trying to hold in her laughter also.

"I..I need to get back to work on some files, unless you need something more?"

Chakwas turned around and smiled. "No, we're good, Hendan, thank you."

With a shy nod, more clunking of armor, and a quick grab to get his greave, Hendan was gone.

The two women barely waiting for him to be gone before they started laughing.
When they finally eased off.

"Oh, that poor boy." Chakwas said.

"Nice to know that some things are universal. Like over eager, under developed, klutzy cadets." Jess chuckled. "However did he get to be Vakarian's aide."

"My doing." Came an amused flanging voice.

They spun, the Primarch had just come in the door. For such large beings, even in armor they moved damn near silently.

"That's not very nice, Primarch." Chakwas chided him gently and the Turian spread his mandibles in what Jess was learning was a smile as he walked over to them. While she couldn't totally hear it, she was sure his sub harmonics were highly amused.

"So who are you mad at? Vakarian or Hendan's parents?" Shepard knew that one. Victus got as smug a look as any Turian can manage.

"Surely that would be beneath the Primarch of Palaven."

"Un huh!" Shepard snorted. "What about General Victus?"

The smug look remained. "The General might have been a bit displeased at being turned into, I believe you call it, a baby sitter."

"So you foisted him off on Garrus?" Chakwas shook her head in amused disbelief.

"I believe in sharing the experience." Victus said blandly; but Shepard could now openly hear the amusement in his sub harmonics. The two women chuckled in response.

"Besides," Victus got serious, "of all my command staff, Vakarian has the most patience. He can.." He paused to glance at the door to Garrus's room, "..he could put up with Hendan without trying to force the cadet to become a 'model' Turian – something I don't think the youngster will ever be."

"Wise." Chakwas nodded.

Victus sighed, though he was still smiling. "If it weren't for Vakarian's rank, Hendan's parents would, most likely, be highly displeased with me for allowing him to associate with a 'bad Turian'. They're a bit too obsessed with tiers and ranks instead of accomplishments."

His facial plates shifted as he changed subjects. "Are you comfortable Commander, Doctor? Do you need anything?"

"Your staff have been very good at providing us with whatever we need." Chakwas spoke up. Shepard nodded in agreement.

"If you need anything at all let Hendan know." Victus turned to go. "He'll let my aide know."

"If you're going to see Vakarian, I'd like to come along, Primarch." Shepard started to move.

The Primarch turned to her, his mandibles now tight to his face, his sub harmonics suddenly flat. "I can't permit that, Commander."

"What!" Shepard was stunned. "He's supposed to be my bond mate and you're going to bar me."

"He is and I can!" Now it was the Primarch talking and not Victus. He looked to Chakwas somewhat pleadingly. "Doctor, can you explain?"

She nodded and took Shepard's arm to hold her back as the Primarch went into Vakarian's room. Shepard yanked free and stared at the Doctor.

"What the hell, Chakwas. You tell me we're bond mates and then he tells me I can't see Vakarian. What the devil is going on?"

"Sit down, Commander." When Shepard just crossed her arms and glared at her. "Please, Shepard."

After a moment of exchanging stares, Shepard gave an angry huff and plopped down in a chair. Chakwas sat down across from her.

"Do you understand what this drug, Otak does?"

"Yeah, it breaks a Turian bond." Shepard said dismissively.

"Do you know how it does that, what that means?" Shepard shook her head, wondering where this was going. "Every point of connection between the bond mates is forcibly broken. And when you break things like that – there's pain. A great deal of it."

The anger instantly drained out of Shepard leaving a cold chill as she remembered the pain Vakarian had been in at times. She'd dismissed it as the gunshot. To now realize that it was the drug and…

"My being around him causes him pain?" It was almost more a statement than a question.

"Your being around him puts him in agony, Commander." Chakwas was blunt. "Frankly, I'm surprised that he was able to function enough to rescue you. Then again, he's always said 'he had your six', no matter what."

Shepard just stared at her, unsure of what to say. What could she say.

She opened her mouth to say something, anything just as the door to Garrus's room opened a crack and Jakan stuck his head out, looking worried.

"Doctor Chakwas could you help me?"

Chakwas stood up, "of course, Doctor." She turned to Shepard. "We can talk about this and other things later."

Shepard gave her a distracted nod and the older woman was gone.
Leaving Jess to contemplate a great many things.