Weekend is over! Yay! So, here is the next chapter. Garras and his dad, one on one! Ring side tickets are 50 creds!

We'll do lunch. Have a pleasant meal while we talk about what you've been doing with this human. In an all turian dinner. At a table with only two chairs. While pretending that she does not exist.

Fuming was the right word for it. Everything today seemed to be working again her, and had it not been for the words Garrus had spoken to her no more than half an hour before Jane Shepard might have grabbed the older turian by the mandibles and flung him from one arm of the Citadel to another.

She had never liked Garrus' father. She had never met him, and she had never liked him. Every time the vigilante she found herself loving more by the day so much as mentioned his name, she could feel the tension that he all but radiated. It was little wonder, given the warm reception she had received. She might have wondered if it was because of her status as a Specter, or her species, if she had cared enough to wonder what he thought about her. Anyone in the galaxy who could look at Garrus, and not be proud of the son they had raised did not deserve her respect, her concern, or a moment of her time. If Garrus had not been roped into having this conversation, if it could be called a conversation, she would have informed the older turian about what exactly he could do with his feelings about their relationship.

"An honest assumption that you have been sleeping with this human," she heard him drone on. And drone was exactly the right word. His voice held no emotion that she could detect. She almost felt the need to check him for a pulse. "Given the fact that she had her hands all over your fringe and you made no point to keep your hands off her waist."

The logistics of the conversation were odd as well. Despite the insistence that Garrus be the one to take a seat across from his father, or perhaps because of that insistence, he had all but swept her into the chair before she had been given a chance to protest. He could have done it for any number of reasons, though the most likely was to make it impossible for him to simply ignore her as they spoke. Garrus had taken his place behind her, like some honor guard hovering close enough that she could feel the heat even through his armor. It was comforting, because the ice coming from the other direction was as close to absolute zero as she had ever encountered.

"Honestly, I'm surprised by the assumption, father," Garrus rumbled from behind her. She could tell that he was in strict control at the moment, with his voice kept level and calm, though she could certainly feel the tension in the air between the two. "Not to say that your 'hunch' is not correct, but you've never been one to hold personal relationships against anyone. I mean, mother is..."

"Your mother is not the concern here. And she is turnian at least, so that voids your argument."

Shepard couldn't believe what she was hearing. His swift decition to dismiss what his son had said reminded her of a court hearing. Was that really how he felt when he was facing his son? Like he was some sort of judge overseeing a criminal?

"After your disappearance from known space, your lack of communication to anyone in the family, and quitting C-sec for the second time, I am almost wondering if I am looking at my son at all. You have set aside everything that I have taught you, everything that we stand for. Law, Order, Justice, Loyalty..."

"There is no one more loyal than Garrus, Inspector." As calm as both males seemed, Shepard just couldn't keep her mouth shut anymore. But the little comment was also meant to test the waters, see if maybe she could get a rise out of the elder turian.

His eyes, a cloudy gray that reminded her of the storm clouds on earth, turned to focus on her for a moment. As calm as he was, there was a predatory glint in them when he looked at her that left her little question as to where Garrus had gotten that particular look. After little more than a second, he turned his attention back to his son as of she had never spoken. "I am aware of most people think of you now, Garrus. They still sing your praises as one of those who helped save the Citadel. And now your funeral dirge on Omega... Archangel."

Shepard felt as if she had been hit in the gut. According to all reports out of Omega, Archangel was dead. Nothing had said otherwise, save for some 'idea' that Aria had in her head about Archangel being turina, and Shepard suddenly showing up with a missile blasted turian at her side. But even Aria had not know Garrus name. How the hell did this retired C-sec inspector know? Where had the information come from? The pressure of Garrus' hand on her shoulder prevented her from saying anything, though she studied the faded turian in front of her more closely now. She was starting to see more family resemblance than she cared to admit, and she saw a lot of Garrus in him. Obsessive, intelligent, strong willed, and dangerous. Very dangerous.

"What I was on Omega has no bearing on what I am, or what I am doing now," Garrus commented, though even she knew that it was a weak argument. Even according to him it had everything to do with what he was now, and what he had been before. "Every mistake that I have made in my life is my own doing, and you can no more blame Shepard for that than I can blame you. I chose to follow her, to chase after Saren. Afterwards, I chose to enter Specter training rather than go back into C-sec. When she died, I lost my will to do even that. Do you remember the last letter I sent you?"

"Of course I remember the last letter you sent me," his father replied, almost seeming insulted that someone would believe he might forget a detail. "And I remember my reply to it as well. How I told you that you sounded like an infant for all of your whining. You did everything but blubber incoherently at the funeral, making a fool of yourself simply because your commanding officer had..."

"My mate!" Garrus snarled, making Shepard jump as he stormed around her chair to slam his fist into the table between them. It also caused the first emotional reaction that she could remember from the elder turian, as his eyes narrowed and he glared at his son. A glare that was returned in a manor that would have made most back away for fear of being torn to shreds. "Ignore me, and call me what you will father, but you can't ignore her any more! She saved the Council, she saved the Citadel, she marched into death because no one wanted to listen to her. But she was loyal! To them, to the galaxy, to the people who follow her, while everyone turned their back on her! Called her insane, called her a loose cannon with dilutions about non-existent threats to every species in the galaxy! I wasn't blubbering, I was seething. I was furious! I wanted to pull the Council down from their fucking throne on high, and shove their face into every fact that they were ignoring because they didn't want to cause a 'panic' by releasing news on the Reapers. If they had listened to begin with, Sovereign never would have reached the Citadel to cause the mass destruction, and the thousands of deaths that it caused! That was a Reaper, and that was panic!"

Now she was left to watch as Garrus and his father, who had stood halfway through the rant, stood toe to toe. They were exactly the same height, almost the same build, and had it not been for the obvious signs of age and the color of his eyes, Shepard would have been hard pressed to tell the difference between them. Not that either one of them seemed particularly intimidated by the other.

"Now you will look at my mate for who she is, or we have nothing else to say to one another!"

When he finished what he was saying, he jabbed one gloved talon in her direction as if to make sure that his father would know exactly where to look. This also had the side effect of letting every turian in the place know exactly who Garrus had referred to as his mate, and the buzz of conversation was heard from all around them.

"Might I ask what everyone is doing?" Miranda asked as she walked into the mess hall. It seemed like every member of the crew was gathered, watching one of the screens on the far wall. Her eyes scanning those around, she first noted that most seemed to completely miss the fact that she had spoken at all. Something that set a frown on her lips, and caused her to march in front of the screen everyone was watching. She drew cries of protest and a few unfriendly threats from Jack as she stood there with her hands on her hips. "What is going on he...!"

"My mate! Ignore me, and call me what you will father, but you can't ignore her any more! She saved the Council, she saved the Citadel, she marched into death because no one wanted to listen to her. But she was loyal! To them, to the galaxy, to the people who follow her, while everyone turned their back on her! Called her insane, called her a loose cannon with dilutions about non-existent threats to every species in the galaxy! I wasn't blubbering, I was seething. I was furious! I wanted to pull the Council down from their fucking throne on high, and shove their face into every fact that they were ignoring because they didn't want to cause a 'panic' by releasing news on the Reapers. If they had listened to begin with, Sovereign never would have reached the Citadel to cause the mass destruction, and the thousands of deaths that it caused! That was a Reaper, and that was panic! Now you will look at my mate for who she is, or we have nothing else to say to one another!"

Miranda, having whirled around as soon as she heard Garrus' voice on the screen, was standing in an almost slack jawed state of shock. Clear as day, there was a news cast with the translation of the words being spoken scrolling in a dozen different languages. On some level, she heard Jack laughing like a lunatic in the background. Of course Jack would take delight in it. She had been one of the first to 'know for a fact' that Shepard and Vakarian were 'knocking boots' as she had so tactfully put it. Tactful for Jack, anyway. The other terms she had used on the many occasions in which she had brought the subject up just to get on her nerves included banging, fucking like rabbits, clam humping the shell, and the one time she had caught Miranda so off guard that she had lost control of the coffee she had been sipping; 'So, Cheerleader. You think Shepard will tell me if all bones on the bird man are hollow?'

Listening with one ear to the conversations behind her, she kept her other ear on the new report. "And so it seems that Specter Jane Shepard, well known as the key player in stopping the Geth mother ship Sovereign from destroying the Citadel, has a well defined relationship with former C-sec officer and standing Specter candidate, Garrus Vakarian. In terms of Turian relationships, experts all agree that the aggressive stance seen here, and the use of the word 'mate' in reference to the Commander are all clear signs that this is anything but a casual affair. We take you now to an interview with the Commander and Officer Vakarian shortly after the tape we have just shown."

The image panned to what was obviously a quickly moving bot in pursuit while filming, trying to catch up with the retreating backs of Garrus and Shepard. For Miranda, seeing them walk together from the outside as she was now, she was taken by how much larger than Shepard Garrus seemed. Maybe because Shepard was larger than life when faced with her in person, seeming to exude authority and an attitude that left little questions about who was in charge.

"Commander Shepard! Commander Shepard, can we have a moment of your time?"

"I wonder if she realizes what kind of mine field she's walking into?" Jacob muttered, mostly to himself as he watched with rapt attention.

"Who cares!" Joker quipped, turning his head back towards the end of the kitchen. "Gardner, popcorn! We need popcorn!"

"I'm not making any damned popcorn. I might miss something."

"What's.. Popcorn?" Tali cut in, looking like she had no desire to take her eyes off the screen no matter what strange words or foods were going between the human crew.

"Aww, come on. It only takes like..."

"Shut. Up!"

Everyone in the room went quiet in the face of Grunt's sudden demand for silence, but most were quick to forget it when the reporter managed to stop the Commander and Garrus. "Commander Shepard, given lingering tensions between Turians and Humanity after The First Contact War, there is some speculation as to the validity of your relationship with a turian ex C-sec. Is it true that this is actually an attempt to draw further attention to what you call 'The Reapers?'"

"Ohhh, bad way to word that question," Joker snickered as he leaned closer to the screen. He was not disappointed, as Shepard whirled on the reporter (why did she look so familiar? Maybe the haircut...) and without saying a word in reply to the question, introduced her fist to the underside of the woman's jaw. Unlike the last time she had slugged the woman (ah ha! That's it), when she went down this time, she was out like a light. The cam-bot focused on the reporter, then panned the image back to Shepard and Garrus. Just in time to have the Turian vigilante snarl at the unfortunate machine.

Everyone in the room was treated to fifteen seconds of cursing and growling as the bot was swung from one side to the next, apparently being slammed into any hard object nearby before the screen went dark and the blond who had started the report appeared again. "And.. There you have it. A statement from C-sec is still pending, but there have been no charges filed as of yet."

"Ha! Worthy of my battle master indeed. Did you see the way he..."

Silence was quick to fall over the all around amused crew when the elevator swooshed open, Shepard and Garrus walking out. The change in their attitudes from violent to seemly amused and content was obvious. Everyone listened with rapt interest when Shepard continued whatever she had been saying without noticing that most of the crew was within earshot. "...it's not my fault that your growl is a turn on. Vices, remember?"

She paused, partly because she realized that he had stopped walking, and partly because she could clearly see the reason why. Groaning a bit inwardly, she still managed to pull herself to attention as she faced over half the crew. Faced the grinning faces, hands covering mouths, barely controlled laughter, and one Quarian with her face plate buried in her arms to hide embarrassment no one could see anyway. Somehow, she managed to keep herself from turning many different shades of red and her face remained calm and stoic as she looked around at all of them. "If there is anything anyone wants to say, say it now."

To everyone's surprise, it was Miranda who spoke first. She sounded exasperated, and confused as one dark eyebrow perked upward while she looked between the two. "Growling, Commander? Really?"

And so ends another chapter. I'm not really sure how I feel about this one. I think Shepard was too quiet, but that will change soon enough anyway. Daddy will show up again in the near future. I'll bring more light to the end of that little conversation later, when it actually means something to the story. For now, added just a little crack at the end. I myself, Paragon or Renegade, always slug that bitch of a reporter. It's just fun. :) Falcon... Punch!

Next chapter up as soon as I can write it. :)