He can't deny that he is nervous with what Jane was trying. Now this isn't about just him anymore. No, now she's involved, risking her own life for him and if her idea to alter the samples would fail, she would be in big, very big trouble. A hand on his neck as he rubs it, his body tenses as he waits for her to return from her superiors after presenting her new finds. Spirits please… make it go well for her.
He knows that there was no way out for him, a delay at best and he accepted it. But her being in danger? Because of him? That made it difficult, he cared about her wellbeing more than about his own. But on the other hand…
It is selfish, but he really doesn't want to die. He wants to spend time with her. Get to know her better. For the first time in his life he had a…
Before he can finish his thought the door opens with a hiss, his heart stopping for a second as he waits to find out who will come through it. When they come into view, he closes his eyes for a second and purrs softly. "Jane."
She rushes into the lab with a huge grin and slides to a stop just before the glass, bouncing in excitement. "It worked!"
"Really? What did they say?" His smile is wide. "How long did they delay it?" Garrus asked with a tilted head.
"They dismissed me before they told the project leads, but the General said it's too risky to cut you open without knowing if the quarantine procedures will keep them safe." Jane smiles and lays her hand on the window. "They want to try to get more samples to confirm my findings, but with the complete lack of it on your armor, I think it'll be a while before they lift the orders… You're safe, Garrus."
Safe… His three-fingered hand dwarfs hers as he lays his hand at the window, smiling at her. Never lose your innocence… "That's good news, Jane. You did a hell of a job… risking your life for me." This will change nothing. Maybe I've won a day… two or three if I'm lucky.
She blushes and ducks her head shyly, not seeing Garrus drop his hand as the door slides open. Jumping, she pulls her hand away and spins to the visitor, seeing Dr Lawson fuming in anger, storming into the lab.
"I can't believe it! They've delayed my research!" he shouts as he paces, finally turning to her. "And you thought it was better to tell the General before me?!"
"I just found-"
"Because of your 'findings', our entire work has been put on hold!"
Garrus snarls at the man, glaring in anger. If he only could get out of the cell, he would teach him manners. His fists clench, his heart racing as a result of something he doesn't know, doesn't understand by now. "He better apologize or he'll be the first on my shitlist once I'm out of this fucking cell."
Jane ignores Garrus, not reacting to the noises her one ear hears that Lawson hears too. The older man narrows his eyes, walking to the cell wall. "What? You have something to say finally?"
"I don't think-"
"Oh, this thing understands, alright. It's understood since the beginning." His words make her bite her lip in embarrassment, realizing Garrus has been able to hear her the whole time. She not sure why she didn't already guess that after their short conversation. Guess it slipped my mind with all the excitement of talking to an alien. "It's us who hasn't been able to understand it."
"Then you should be more careful with what you say or I'll keep your skull and spine as a trophy, you old piece of shit." It is really difficult to contain his anger, his boiling rage.
"It definitely has something to say now." He turns to Jane, eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How did you get it to talk?"
"I… uh…"
Lawson shakes his head, saying, "It doesn't matter. You clearly seemed to have bonded with it. It's comfortable with you." Crossing his arms, he scowls at the massive turian. "Go get a hazmat suit from the lab supplies. You're going into the cell."
"What?" Jane gasps, eyes widening in shock. Not that she really fears Garrus, but the idea of the what if of a possibly dangerous alien that was 'proven' to be poisonous doesn't bother Lawson, doesn't mean anything to her safety. "But General Hackett-"
"Doesn't know what he's talking about. Now go. Get suited up."
Garrus is completely stunned, his eyes wide and his mouth hangs open. How can this man be so cold to put her in such a dangerous situation? And more importantly, what the fuck is he supposed to do now? No matter what, he is in a very bad situation, they both are.
She will be in here and they will know that he's no danger for her, leading to them using her for all kinds of duties involving him. You will definitely die from my hands… He growls at the doctor.
"You understand you are close to death, don't you?" Dr Lawson says to him as Jane steps out of the room. "It will start with finding a way to safely negate your natural defences and will end in us finally being able to see what makes you tick."
He chuckles, smirks and laughs. "No. You are close to death. Only a few more days and your whole fucking species will be wiped out and then you'll understand that I'm the fucking harbinger of your destruction!"
Lawson narrows his eyes, not understanding the words as the door opens, Jane holding a white hazmat suit in her arms along with the protective mask. "Jane," he orders as he walks to her. "I must attend yet another meeting with the General and Doctor Harper. I want samples from 575. Stool, blood, saliva, everything."
"But… it could attack me." She frowns and looks to Garrus, hoping he understands she doesn't actually believe it, but has to show fear.
"Have you never gone to the zoo? They are animals. Show no fear and you will be fine." He passes her before adding, "You're a smart girl, you can figure out something."
Smart girl indeed. He looks at Jane, humming proud of her. The way she acted was really impressive and, if he wouldn't know better, even he would believe that she's actually scared of him. He smiled and then it struck him.
She will be in the cell. With him. Well…
Not really in a position to deny, Jane simply nods and drops her eyes to the suit as Lawson leaves, the door sliding shut with a hiss. With a sigh, she looks up to Garrus as she brings the suit to set on the counter to get it on. "Now would be a good time to tell me if you really do have poisonous gas or something," she says with a chuckle, pulling the suit up over her legs.
"Haha, funny," he says with wide spread mandibles, chuckling. "I guess you have to come in and find out. But I'll warn you, it's rather boring in here. Not much to do… I wouldn't recommend this for other tourists…"
"Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not paying for this visit." She smiles and zips up the suit, grabbing the mask and pulling it on. "God, this thing is already hot." Her voice is distorted by the mask's speaker.
He barks a laugh and chuckles as he sees her in the over dimensional suit. "You do know that I killed the cameras in here, right? They won't see it if you keep that ridiculous helmet off."
"And what if Dr Lawson comes back in? Seeing me without a helmet will make him know I was wrong."
"Then I'll block the view with this work of art," He says, chuckling, and motions his body as his mandibles spread in a smirk.
Snorting, she shakes her head with a blush and smile. "No comment."
"Well, what are you waiting for? I don't think it'll rain in here today so…" Garrus takes a step back from the window to let her in.
Going to the door along the far side of the cell that connects to a small chamber with a secondary door to the actual cage - because that's exactly what it is - Jane taps the release, using the same code to access the lab doors. It releases with a loud hiss and she pulls the heavy thing open, stepping in and closing it, one step closer to actually standing face to face with him.
Garrus, full of anticipation, watches her reach for the second door, the code a bit more work to get into the console. It finally opens and, unsure, Jane pauses at the threshold of the actual cell and entry chamber.
"You gonna stand there all day long?" He smiles and purrs warmly, taking a step closer to her and slowly reaching out, offering his hand to help her make the final step. "I don't bite… Unless you want me to." Uhhhhh, bad timing, bad joke, Vakarian. What was wrong with him?
"Ha," she says nervously, looking at the floor. "Says the seven foot tall alien with sharp teeth."
It's not that she's afraid or uncomfortable by him, necessarily, but this is like being told that, well, aliens really do exist. Quite literally. Reaching out, reality hits as her gloved hand lays in his, the fact that nothing divides them making it all sink in after how long of being actually in the somewhat same room?
Here we go, here we go… Three fingers close around five, and even though she wears gloves, it feels really good. Being so close to the only friend he has, being so close to… Jane. "What a surprise to see you here. Who would've thought that you're here as well? The galaxy really is just a small village." Spirits, what the fuck are you talking about? Stop making horrible jokes, you stupid turian!
She chuckles and smiles through the mask. "Your, uh, apartment is nice. Cozy."
"I do what I can. You know, limited resources and all." His vocals sound a bit nervous to him. "So, uhm… would you like to have a seat?" Garrus asks as he motions the bed with his head. "It's not much, though."
"Um, yeah, but… I probably should at least get something before we get comfortable." She makes a face in the mask he doesn't quite understand. "As much as I'd rather not, it's the most believable source of samples."
"Uhm, okay? What do you need? Blood?" Before she knows he offers his arm.
Jane shakes her head with a chuckle and lays a hand on his arm. "As easy as that would be on me, I don't think it'd be believable that we don't know each other, are comfortable, if you just offer to take blood with a sharp needle". Understanding english or not, I don't think someone in your place would offer knowing it'll lead to being experimented on."
"I have no idea what you want from me, Jane…" He tilts his head in confusion, humming. "Do you want me to fight you? Knock me out?"
"What? No!" She shakes her head rapidly, sighing. "Poo, Garrus. Dr Lawson wants some poo. It carries DNA."
"I... Okay... So, you want me to take a dump in the toilet without flushing?" Garrus can't really believe that he actually just asked that. A connection of words he never would've thought he'd ever use.
She blushes bright red at that and her mouth falls open. "Uh…" Not sure how to respond to such a blunt question.
He shrugs and turns around, sitting down on the rather uncomfortable toilet, humming as he starts to push, looking at the ceiling to make it a little less awkward. She yelps and spins around at a dizzying speed, a hot blush over her cheeks.
"Oh, jeez, this is… really awkward… I'm so sorry…" Her eyes look around at the room, not wanting to catch a glimpse of what's going on behind her back.
He snorts, sounding amused. "It's not the worst I've ever done. I mean, yeah, being captured by a pre-FTL species, about to be experimented on makes it unique but it's still just shitting." He snorts and sighs as his bowels empty in the toilet. "Whew..." He chuckles as he stands up, grabbing for some paper to clean himself. "I think you should take a sample before I put the paper in there as well..."
"Can we just imagine I'm not about to stick my hands in my best friend's poo?" She clears her throat and ducks her head shyly as she goes over, fetching a sample collection bag from a pouch on the suit.
"Only if we can pretend that I not just took a shit so my best friend can stick her hand in it?" He says with an amused growl as she squats down.
"Easy Jane, this is just like in the field… You collected animal poo, you can collect alien poo," she says to herself as she collects a sample with the plastic swap and puts it into the bag. "Okay." Standing, she practically slams her hand on the flush, Garrus hastily tossing the dirty paper in the gurgling water. "Thank god, that's over."
"So... Uhm..." He takes a small step closer to her, his talons clicking on the concrete floor and eyes searching for hers. "Want to sit down for a bit now?"
She pockets the samples and looks to him. "One sec." Smiling, she pulls off the mask, and answers, "I'd like that."
His breaths comes short for a moment as he really sees her in front of him, no glass between them, no mask. "I..." Why was this so much more difficult than talking with her through the glass? Why is his throat dry? Why can't he form proper sentences?
She simply smiles and looks over his face, truly looking at him for the first time without glass or the plastic of a mask in the way. One thing that didn't show through those is the slight shine to this plates, like smooth, polish metal. Pulling off her gloves, she reaches up, but stops to ask, "Can I touch you?"
He blinks a bit surprised, smiling as he leans down to come within her reach. "Of course... But only if I can touch you as well."
Nodding in absolute agreement, Jane slowly lays her hand on his forehead and runs her palm along the long spines extending out from his head. The surface is smooth, but slightly rough if touched the wrong way and give slightly under her hand like the hard rubber of the tires on the old cars her dad used to work on for the richer of his clients.
He chirps and purrs, his purrs sounding like a cat as Garrus softly nuzzles her touch, his own hand lifting to her face, cupping her cheeks and his thumb stroking over the soft and warm skin. "Wow"
Chuckling, she lets him stand completely, figuring bending over to her short height probably isn't too good for his probably aching back. "You feel cool."
Garrus can't hold back a chuckle at her reaction as he steps a bit closer. "You're so soft... It feels so nice."
"Soft?" She chuckles and covers his hand. "Compared to?"
"Krogan, asari, salarian, turian, batarian, vorcha... Even drell."
"Ah… aliens," she says with a teasing smirk, taking his hand and pulling him to the bundle of stuffing and mattress he turned into some sort of nest. "You know, this bedding arrangement doesn't help the whole 'giant bird' thing everyone is saying." Chuckling, she sits down.
"Well... We like our beds soft... And to be honest, your species is not the first to call us birds." Garrus sits on the bed, humming a bit awkwardly at being in bed with her.
She snorts and scoots closer to him, laying her head on his shoulder. "Well, shoot, us humans are always behind on everything."
His arm wraps around her waist, holding her to his side, feeling so comfortable, her fitting so good against his side. "Well, actually the krogan were the first... A long time ago, over thousand of years ago..." and with that he starts to tell Jane about the Rachni war and the following Krogan rebellion.