Chapter 11

Garrus woke up to find the medbay empty. He frowned as he got up.

"Erm... AI?" He asked hesitantly, his mind still a little foggy with sedatives.

"The crew refer to me as EDI, Officer Vakarian." Garrus groaned.

"Sorry EDI. But please, just call me Garrus."

"Of course." She replied as his head cleared.

"Where's Shepard?" He asked as he found his omni-tool on the doctor's desk.

"She has just returned to the ship." He frowned at that.

"Returned?"

"Yes. She awoke early and started looking into acquiring the professor. That's when she found out that the professor was within a plague zone. The plague was not harmful to humans but it was lethal to turians. The doctor then informed her that your cybernetics were not taking as well as she had hoped and you needed to be kept sedated for an extra six hours to aid the healing process." Garrus shook his head. He didn't believe the sedation was completely necessary but then he also figured that had he been awake nothing would have kept him from Shepard's side and she knew that.

"So, where is she now?"

"In her quarters. She has requested that you give her half an hour to 'get rid of the Vorcha guts'." Garrus chuckled a little, making his face hurt. He figured whatever drugs Chakwas had given him had worn off a while ago. Just as he thought that, the doctor appeared.

"Good to see you up Garrus. I'll just check on your cybernetics and if everything's healing nicely I'll discharge you." He nodded as she activated her omni-tool.

"So, what was wrong in the first place?" He inquired, trying not to move too much.

"These cybernetics are based on the ones used to reconstruct Shepard. They weren't designed for turian physiology so I've had to tweak them a bit. Well, they're working now and you should be able to take the bandage off in a few months and it should be healed, apart from scars, in six." He nodded, scars were a small price to pay for taking a rocket to the face.

"So, I can go?" The doctor nodded and he headed out to explore the ship. As he walked into the mess hall, he almost walked into Miranda.

"Officer Vakarian-"

"People need to stop calling me that." He muttered. It reminded him of his father.

"Would you prefer Archangel?" She asked, misunderstanding him.

"No, just Garrus." She nodded in response. She didn't seem too friendly but Shepard had decided to give this crew a chance and he wasn't going to make things difficult.

"Alright then. The commander has cleared you for access to the main battery." Clearly the woman didn't agree with that decision but she didn't say anything. "Because, and I quote, 'there's no Mako for (her) to destroy'." Garrus smiled at that before thanking Miranda. That was when the cook got his attention.

"You must be Vakarian. I'm afraid I don't have much more than the standard ration packs for dextros at the minute but word is we're headed for the Citadel next and the commander promised she'd pick up some fancier grub next time we were there so if you have any favourites just give me a shout." Garrus nodded, a little taken aback by how friendly this Cerberus member was being to him.

"Thanks. I appreciate it." He said before heading to the CIC. The first thing he saw when exiting the elevator was a red haired woman with her left arm in a sling.

"You must be Garrus." She said as he exited the elevator. He nodded in response.

"That's me. And you are?"

"Yeoman Chambers, but you can call me Kelly." He nodded again.

"Okay, Kelly. Did you need me for something?" Something about the red head unnerved him.

"No, just wanted to see how you were settling in." He shrugged.

"Fine, I guess." She smiled.

"Good. The commander has certainly seemed to relax more since you came on board. She's still a little scary but now she doesn't seem as highly strung." He almost laughed at that last part. Sure, Jane could be terrifying but usually it was only during battle or when someone really pissed her off. "Part of my job is keeping an eye on the mental health of the crew so if you ever want to talk, I'm here." He nodded.

"Thanks, I guess." She nodded before returning to her work, leaving him able to talk to Joker but he instead found himself walking into the armoury, curious to talk to Jacob more. He hadn't really spoken to him when they were being attacked. He had gotten the sense that the two Cerberus operatives weren't too thrilled to have him on board.

"Hey." He said, walking into the armoury to see Jacob working on one of the rifles. "Chakwas took my guns off me and I figured they might have ended up here." Jacob nodded.

"Yeah, I put your stuff over there along with a new rifle the commander picked up for you today. Something about saying sorry for going on the mission without you." Garrus just nodded as he inspected the weapon. He figured that Cerberus paid well but he didn't think that it was this well. Jacob watched him for a moment before talking to him again. "I'm sorry if Miranda and I were a little cold when we first picked you up. Shepard was keeping to herself and it had us more than a little worried. We figured it was a trust issue since she spent the entire trip to Omega chatting with Joker but we feared that when you came aboard she'd close off to us even more in favour of her old crew. As it happens, you seem to have had the opposite effect." Garrus shrugged at this.

"Shepard trusts everyone and I have never seen her judge someone without giving them a chance even when that put her in danger. She knows this so she was holding off judgement of you for as long as possible."

"So, why does having you on the ship change that?"

"Because I've got her back no matter what and she knows it. It makes giving someone a chance easier when it's not as dangerous." Jacob nodded at that.

"Alright then. Thanks Vakarian. I'm glad you're on board, she seems happier for it." Garrus nodded before heading back out and towards the cockpit to talk to Joker.

"We leave you alone for two years and you end up surrounded by enemies and taking a rocket to the face. That is so you, Garrus." Garrus laughed at the bad joke as he sat down next to Joker.

"Hey, it was working well right up until that last month." He joked back but his heart grew heavy at the thought of the crew that he had let down. To Joker's credit he didn't ask.

"Well, I'm just glad you're back. Shepard refused to talk to anyone else on the ship but it was like she had two years of energy to get rid of. We spent three hours arguing about which super heroes could beat each other in a fight. It was like talking to a salarian hopped up on red sand."

"That bad, huh?" Joker shook his head.

"If you want to know just go talk to our new crew member and you'll get a fair idea of what she was like."

"The professor, right?" Joker nodded.

"Yeah, she picked up him and some merc called Zaeed. Zaeed scares the crap out of me in a straight up merc way, Solus is scary in a mad scientist kind of way."

"I bet Shepard loves him." Joker laughed.

"Yeah. I think she's in there now."

"Well, I was but listening to you two is way more fun." Shepard said as she approached. Garrus frowned a little, how had she heard from so far away?

"Gah! Don't sneak up on me, I'll break bones by jumping out of fright!" She laughed as she turned to Garrus.

"Hey, got a minute? I want to talk to you." He shrugged.

"Sure." He followed her back into the elevator as she hit the button for her quarters.

"So, I know you're probably mad that I didn't take you with me to get Mordin but I figured getting sick wouldn't help you heal so..." He sighed.

"Jane, I'm not mad at you. Well, I'm a little mad, but I get it. Although, I refuse to be left behind for any mission ever again." She grinned at that as they entered her cabin.

"Good because I don't plan to. It's so weird fighting without you..."

"Nice place." He said as he entered the huge cabin and she shrugged.

"I guess. I don't really like it. There's too much space."

"Too much space?" She shrugged again.

"I grew up on ships and at my Aunts I shared Sarah's room. I've never owned an apartment or anything so this is weird." She put her hands on her hips and he realised that she was wearing an all black outfit made up of a sleeveless, high necked top and jeans with heeled boots. He raised a brow plate.

"What are you wearing?" She shrugged again.

"What? I'm not allowed to wear nice things?"

"You look good but also like you're about to pull a knife from your boot." She laughed at that and shrugged again.

"That's what I was going for. I still don't fully trust Cerberus and I want them to take me seriously. Plus, I like this outfit. It makes me look badass." He had to agree with that but he also found it to be very tight and he was more than a little distracted by it.

"Now I understand what Chambers meant by you being 'scary'." She blushed a little, ducking her head.

"Yeah, that might be to do with something else..." He grinned a little.

"What did you do?" She pulled a face.

"It wasn't my fault! She's a psychologist or whatever and she has my psych profile. It's her fault if she ignores it!"

"So, what did she do?"

"I wasn't talking to anyone and she decided to fix it by hugging me. She caught me by surprise and... I flipped her." She looked a little sheepish, folding her arms.

"Well, that explains the sling." She narrowed her eyes at him.

"Laugh it up, Garrus." But she smiled, putting her hands on her hips again.

"So, how's the new crew member?" He changed topics, hoping to take his mind off of her. She sat down on the sofa and indicated that he should do the same.

"Which one?" She asked as he sat down next to her.

"Both, I guess."

"I like Zaeed simply because I know where I stand with him. He's here for the paycheck and for revenge. I can deal with that. Plus I took him with me to get Mordin and he's pretty good in a fight. And Mordin? He's brilliant! I talked to him for an hour and we figured out how to make adjustments to the settings on my cybernetics. We turned up my hearing and my eyesight. Okay, check this out; I'm going to turn off my translator and then you say something. Okay, go."

"What do you want me to say?" She smiled as she concentrated for a moment.

"Mostly confusion with a little trepidation. I can hear sub-harmonics now. I can only understand them as far as I researched while Mordin was setting it up but I figured you could teach me so that I don't have to rely on my translator when I'm talking to you. I mean, I can't use the sub-harmonics so I couldn't speak turian but I could at least hear it. Plus I may have a solution to that problem too." She spoke at a million miles a minute and he rolled his eyes so that she could see. She always got like this when she was excited about a new project but if he didn't stop her, she'd be talking about it all night. Not that he didn't want to talk to her all night but he had some other things to say.

"Does the solution involve more tinkering with your cybernetics?" She looked a little guilty.

"Maybe... But it's fine. We're running everything by Chakwas and she made me promise to be careful and stop at the first sign of it going wrong. Plus I want to add Turian to my list of languages."

"How long is that list now?" She grinned at him.

"Human Common, English (I know HC is just a variation of English so it's not that hard but still), Spanish, Mandarin, a little Japanese, a good chunk of Asari and bits and pieces of Turian. You know me, I don't like relying on technology, you never know when it's going to break down." He grinned at her logic.

"Yeah, I know. Maybe we could watch a Turian vid without translators and see how much you pick up." She grinned at him before yawning.

"Sounds great but not tonight. I don't think I could concentrate."

"Maybe I should go. Let you sleep."

"No! I mean... I've been having nightmares." She admitted sheepishly. "This room's too big and I keep remembering... anyway, I don't know whether it was because I was so exhausted or because I wasn't alone but I didn't have any last night so can we just watch something I've already seen? I'll probably fall asleep in the first half hour and then you can, you know, do whatever."

"Do whatever?" He joked and she blushed.

"Well, you've slept in my room before and I don't know if you've got anywhere else set up yet. So, whatever." She shrugged, looking nervous.

"Jane, I'm fine with the couch." She smiled and went into the bathroom to get changed. He had put his armour on over his pants that he had been wearing in the medbay. He'd even found a white t-shirt which he was now wearing under his chest plate. He took the armour off and felt strangely self conscious as she walked out of the bathroom in her vest top and joggers. She then walked over to the bed and climbed in.

"I'm not falling asleep on the sofa, Garrus. Just come sit next to me and you can move or whatever after I go to sleep. Geez, we've fallen asleep next to each other before." They had but it had always been an accident, never planned out. But he had to agree that lying next to her wasn't so bad as long as he kept his eyes focused on the screen in front of him.

"So, what are we going to watch?" She flicked through her selection before coming across something that made her eyes light up.

"I know! Star Wars! This is brilliant." He frowned.

"Why does it say episode four?" She laughed a little at that.

"You watch four through six and then one through three. It's the order in which they were released." They were about five minutes in before she spoke again. "Garrus?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for keeping it safe. I owe you one." He looked over her head and saw her book on the night stand, still in the same condition it had been in when she'd given it to him. It was the one possession that he had valued. He figured that she had visited his apartment and gotten his stuff for him while she'd been on Omega.

"No problem. And Jane?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the crazy expensive new gun." She laughed a little and shrugged.

"No problem."