Chapter Thirteen: Feel Something

Garrus didn't even realize he had fallen asleep until he awoke at the sound of the door to Shepard's quarters clicking as they opened. He roused himself then, sitting up to see the offender. The door closed behind Shepard, a small thing with tiny bristles in one hand and her wet hair dripping onto the damp towel she had around her shoulders. She was wearing the tight uniform she usually wore underneath her armor when on missions.

It showed the perfect curve of her waist and he felt the saliva start to pool in his mouth.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," she said with a grin, voice soft, but eyes wide awake.

"I thought you'd be passed out from all that alcohol you drank last night," he murmured, leaning back against the headboard of the bed. Garrus was still in his own under-armor uniform.

"I woke up a little while ago, went to Chakwas for some stims." She shrugged, and he flicked his mandibles down in a frowning motion. Stimulants would only last so long before she crashed. "Needed to get a shower, get the stench off me."

She was right. The room still had a thick alcohol cloud, but he could smell her soap and the shower water in her hair.

"Figured I'd let you sleep in. I'm taking Williams and Tali with me on this trip." His harmonics showed his dislike for it, and she laughed at him. "You sound like a hummingbird."

"A what?" Garrus asked, watching as she laid the towel across the back of a chair and slowly walked toward the bed. He could see his armor laid neatly out on the small couch attached to the wall near her desk, but his eyes went back to her form as she climbed onto the bed and crawled up his form. Garrus was still, not sure how to handle her attitude, but she did nothing more than press her forehead to his – something that shocked him into silence for a little longer – and lean against the headboard beside him.

Garrus quickly swallowed the saliva in his mouth before he began to drool.

"Shepard," he said softly, not able to meet her eye. "You do know what the means, right?"

"Yeah." Of course she would brush off something like that. They needed to talk. Soon. Garrus was trying to keep track of everything, but there had been no advancement in their relationship until then, and he was confused as hell. "It means I have great respect and admiration for you. The longer I hold it, the more it could mean, so I only did it for a couple of seconds."

Garrus took a deep breath and when he hummed again in thought, she put her hand on his stomach and it shocked him enough to make him hum a little harder. "Shepard, what are you doing?"

"You were doing it while you were sleeping. It felt nice."

While he was sleeping?

"Commander, Ash and Tali ae waiting for you in the shuttle bay whenever you're ready," Joker said over the intercom, interrupting the moment. Shepard gave him a look that he knew he was going to be deciphering for some time, before rolling off the bed and onto her feet.

It was when she began the process of putting on her armor that Garrus stood and helped her. She understood the base of the forehead-touching, Garrus could give her that much, but if she had only held it for a little while longer...

Snapping the last clip of her armor, Shepard felt the armor power up and suddenly her body didn't feel so sluggish (even with the stims she still felt her hangover). She said a small thanks and gave him a smile when he handed over her helmet. Shepard pulled a small flask from a slot in her armor and drank from it quickly. She wiped her mouth with the back of her glove, and replaced it.

He did frown, however, once she was out of sight. Garrus wasn't an expert on human physiology, but he knew enough that humans couldn't survive off just alcohol, and that was all he had seen her consume over the past few days.

"I'll be waiting for you," Garrus told her and she nodded. He watched her walk out of her quarters and to the elevator.

Firm with a little give.

.

"Fuck!"

Shepard launched herself from the driver's seat of the Mako and into the guns. Williams, after finding out Shepard couldn't drive, took it upon herself to teach the commander how. The Mako was not a very good vehicle to use. She could press on the accelerator with the softest foot and it would still lurch forward over the rocky terrain and she would curse again and swerve until slamming on the brake. Tali wasn't very happy about smacking her helmet against the screen of the scanner for the third time.

It was supposed to be a simple drive and pick up, but geth had showed up and now they were having to fight their way to the facility.

Ashley took over the controls again pulling them out of the way just before a missile from one of the geth could hit the Mako. She didn't need Garrus chewing her a new one because she destroyed his pet project. Shepard saw the way he looked at the thing when she first went to see him when they boarded the Normandy.

With a few cannons, the geth were taken care of and only ten percent of the shields were used. They would regen soon enough. Or so she thought.

There was a gate facility not far away overrun by turrets and more geth, which were taken care of until they had to rock-paper-scissor who would have to get out and open the gate. Shepard, much to her disdain, lost and ran (quickly, very quickly) for the keypad. One more geth down and a gate open, they continued on their way.

Another squad dropped down, armatures and troopers and a god damn colossus, and they spent the better half of an hour fighting them off before catching a break. The guns had overheated a few times and the heat of the planet was getting to them. Shepard's fans were working extra hard to keep up and she was sweating through her armor – the stimulants would only last so much longer with her sweating so quickly.

"I'm ready to get off this god forsaken planet," Williams grumbled over the comm and Shepard agreed fully with her.

When they came across a jut in the mountains that made it impossible for the Mako to continue, the three counted their prayers and took on the heat. Shepard instantly started to curse more the second they came across more geth. Snipers, too.

She crouched behind a boulder and changed out her pistol for her own rifle, checking the scope. There had been no time to tune it after the Edolus mission, and now she was regretting it.

"Commander, I need you to take out those snipers!" Williams yelled.

Shepard growled over the comm and set herself up, lining up the shot. "I'm on it, chief, but it's hot as satan's balls out here and sweat is getting in my eyes."

This mission wasn't going to end well if they spent the rest of the mission snapping at each other. Tali was the mediator for the moment, yelling for them both to shut up before cocking her shotgun and firing at another trooper.

They took a break in the shade, but it did nothing as they tried to cool off. Their fans were running twice as hard and still it did little help.

"Almost there, my scanners are picking up the dig site is just over that hill," Tali said, her synthesized voice sounding strained over the heat baking them slowly.

"The first thing I'm doing after picking up this Dr. T'Soni is having the sergeant make me a big lemon slushie. Whatcha say, chief?"

"Please don't talk about ice, it just makes me feel hotter," Ashley groaned, checking her fans again to make sure they were at max speed. Shepard laughed but stopped when she felt more sweat fall into her eyes. Damnit, it was already hard enough to see with the heat making the scenery waver.

"Almost there," Shepard said, trying her best to keep them pushing forward. Through the snipers and up another hill was the facility that Dr. T'Soni would be at. However, they also found another troop of geth. A colossus was already hard enough to get down with the Mako's cannons, and now they had to do it on foot?

"You gotta be kidding me," Shepard groaned over the comm before dodging behind a crate in a scramble to not be hit with a geth missile. "Tali!" she yelled, leaving cover to make a few shots with her pistol before going back under. "No offense, but your ancestors really made a bad choice in making these fuckers."

"Noted!" the quarian replied, and the trio worked to wear down the machines.

.

The moment the Mako was back in the Normandy, and Shepard was not breathing in sulfur-rich air, she yanked her helmet off and unlocked the clips of her chest armor. Each piece dropped to the floor of the cargo bay as she fell to her knees and pressed her face to the cold metal. There was sweat pooling in the middle of her back, dripping down her face and soaked in her boots.

"It couldn't have been that bad, Shepard," Garrus said with a twitching mandible. She looked up at him, tongue almost sticking out as she panted like a dog.

"Lava. Just… nothing but lava. In lakes. Huge lakes. It was bad."

"Palaven has constant radiation from our sun. Why do you think we adapted to grow plates?"

Shepard held up her middle finger, and if it wasn't for his history with working for C-Sec he would have been completely clueless as to what it meant. Garrus thrummed with amusement and gave her his version of a chuckle as he walked over and offered a hand to her.

"All you had to do was ask."

"Smug shark bastard," she murmured.

Alenko threw towels at Williams and Shepard, and the two females were quick to drench it with sweat that had procured from them during the mission. They threw them back, almost simultaneously, at the lieutenant and he shouted out in shock as the warm wetness touched him. The soldiers headed up the elevator, Garrus and Tali following them. Garrus had quietly decided to himself that he would tackle the Mako later – he would hate to see the damage done by the so-called 'lava lakes'.

Liara had been whisked away by a crew member to be checked up by the doctor. While Shepard and her team may be use to near-death experiences, the same could not be said for the young asari.

The sergeant of the mess was waiting for the two soldiers with two large cups of ice and a half dozen bottles of water.

"Oh thank god," Shepard murmured, taking the first bottle and chugging it quickly. Soon, somehow, sh and Ashley turned it into a competition of who could drink faster, then who could burp louder, than who could eat the most ice cubes before they got a brain freeze. The non-humans of the ship were confused by their antics, but no one else seemed to be phased with it.

Humans are weird.

Once the two finally stopped, having to call a draw as they both proceeded to deal with agonizing headaches, Ashley stood and claimed she would be dumping buckets of cold water on herself in the bathroom if anyone was looking for her. Shepard laughed and mentioned something about joining her soon as she dug out a few pieces of ice from her cup and pressed them against the side of her neck.

It was then that Garrus saw the look Kaiden was giving her, and he didn't like it one bit.

Shepard sighed softly and sunk into the cool, plastic chair a little further. She was finally fully out of her armor instead of just half way, and the under-armor uniform clung to her with sweat. The ice cube between her fingers slipped under the collar of her shirt and she didn't bother to dig it out, shivering at the nice chill as she cooled off.

When she shivered a second time, it was then that Garrus (and Kaiden) realized she wasn't wearing a bra.

Alenko coughed loudly as he stood quickly, making an excuse about going to mod his pistol, before running down to the cargo bay where the weapons bench waited for him. Shepard didn't give him a second glanced, but she did let her eyes fall on Garrus.

Shepard winked at him before closing her eyes again and relaxing. She didn't move for some time, and he almost thought she had fallen asleep. When the click of the women's showers opened and closed, and a clean Ashley walked out in fresh fatigues and her wet hair hanging down to dry, Shepard slinked out of her chair and took over the showers for herself.

He briefly debated about waiting for her in her quarters, but thought better and instead decided that he best tackle the Mako now.

(Garrus would beat himself silly later on, because he would miss the slightly disappointed look as Shepard walked into her quarters, clad in only her towel, and found it empty.)