Inspired by Kelly Clarkson's "All I Ever Wanted"

Thank you all for the reviews and comments. They are always appreciated. Happy 4th of July!

All I Ever Wanted

Garrus Vakarian sat by the window of the warehouse, sniper rifle propped against his body. It had been a year since he first arrived on Omega feeling like a rookie straight from the C-Sec academy. Now he had his own team and base of operations.

Omega was nothing like the Citadel. There was no red tape and no end to the criminals…it seemed a perfect fit for the justice loving Turian. Still, Garrus did find that he missed looking up and seeing the false night sky projected above him as it was on the Citadel presidium. A small price to pay for doing so much good.

"Hey."

Whipping around, Garrus shut down his OmniTool hurriedly, his ice blue eyes alert. It took a moment for him to relax once he saw it was his unofficial second in command, Sidonis. The fellow Turian smirked, holding out a glass filled with some form of dextro amino alcohol. As he accepted the glass, Garrus offered the other Turian the smallest of smiles as he settled onto some boxes across from his leader, his gold eyes glittering in the dim light.

"All quiet out here, eh Vakarian?"

Wordlessly nodding, Garrus sipped at the burning liquid. "A nice change. But let's keep an eye out, just in case."

"Come on Vakarian, you've been up here all evening on lookout. We all know something's up."

Garrus couldn't help but wince inwardly at Sidonis's tone. Now he knew how Shepard felt when he'd been able to pick her façade apart after she'd so carefully constructed it for whatever occasion. Still, he knew exactly what the other Turian was getting at.

Reluctantly, Garrus raised his OmniTool, resting it on the ledge so that Sidonis would be able to see the picture displayed on the tangerine screen.

Erin Shepard beamed up at them, her likeness frozen forever on Garrus's OmniTool. Blue eyes sparkled with laughter and a smear of frosting was seen beneath her right eye. Despite himself, Sidonis leaned forward, intrigue shining in his amber eyes. It was no secret among Garrus's crew that their leader had worked with the late Commander Shepard, but aside from that the extent of the pair's relationship remained a complete mystery. Of course the VI for the base had been named 'Shepard' after her, but whenever someone tried to ask Garrus about it he pointedly changed the subject. Eventually they just stopped asking.

"She would have been thirty this year."

The emotion in Garrus's voice caused Sidonis to snap his attention to his leader. Garrus's ice blue eyes seemed to soften as he stared out over the bridge that led to the base, a new emotion tingeing his melodic voice.

"We took that picture on her birthday last year…it seems like so long ago now. She looks so happy…"

Sidonis swallowed hard before speaking again. "You two were close."

A weak chuckle answered the other Turian as Garrus shook his head. "She was my best friend. Before she left we became bond brothers."

The other Turian's surprise was obvious, seeing as he choked on his drink. After a few moments of sputtering and choking, he managed to get enough air to reply, amber eyes wide. "You're kidding, right?"

"Why the hell would I be?" Garrus was abruptly hard and cold, fury weaving through the many tones in his voice. "We were best friends. She watched my back and I watched hers. She understood and didn't care that I wasn't a great Turian or C-Sec officer. Shepard just wanted someone she could trust, and I could do that."

Quickly Sidonis raised his hands, leaning back a little. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry. I just…well, I was surprised. I've never really met anyone who had a bond brother of the opposite sex, much less another race."

Silence enveloped the pair, each lost in thought. Garrus stared out over the bridge, his drink forgotten while Sidonis finished his own beverage, gazing at Garrus.

"You know, she would make a really good bond brother." The other Turian's tone was apologetic, his eyes seeking Garrus's ice blue orbs. "Although I'm not sure if the term bond brother would apply to her."

Before Garrus could release the feral snarl he'd built up in the back of his throat, Sidonis kept talking quickly, almost as if he knew that he was in trouble. "I had two younger sisters before the Blood Pack killed them. We were always close and when they got older they chose their bond brothers. But they always told me that for girls they called each other 'soul sisters' instead of bond brothers. What I'm trying to say is that you might have been Shepard's bond brother, but she would be your soul sister."

Tension hummed between the two for a moment before Garrus heaved a sigh, backing down. "I suppose."

"Is that why you came here? To Omega?" Sidonis pressed on. None of the other members of Garrus's team had gotten this close to figuring out why someone with his skill set would come to a dump like Omega and he wasn't exactly telling them.

Had Sidonis not been so intently listening, he might have missed Garrus's reply it was so softly spoken. "No. I came because it was the only thing I could do left for her. She died fighting for what she believed in, so the only thing I can do to honor her is the same. If I die here, it will be in her name."

"So you came here to die."

"No. I came here to try and forget." Garrus seemed determined, his voice hardening. "I tried everything. I put away the pictures, I left the place that reminded me of her, but she still has followed me here. In the end, I want a simple way to forget her yet remember her at the same time."

Sidonis pressed his mandibles close, confused. "So you came to this pisshole, formed a team like hers, and now you're just waiting to die?"

Shrugging, Garrus pushed aside his drink silently. Truth be told, this was better than when he'd first arrived on Omega. In a blind rage, he'd gone on something of a drinking binge and gotten pretty beat up. That had truly woken him up to what he was doing. The Turian had completely revised his plan, almost completely giving up alcohol and starting to build up a team systematically while building his own reputation.

Sidonis had approached him in Afterlife one evening, claiming he'd heard of the other's actions and wanted to help. It was only a few weeks later that Garrus had earned his new name of sorts. He'd rescued a human family from a gang of Blue Suns who had been pressing them for money using incendiary bullets. When he approached to see if they were all right, he'd had to step over the flaming corpses, giving him the appearance of a fiery halo. The family praised him as their savior, their Archangel and the name had stuck.

Fate apparently had a sick sense of humor. Garrus could still hear Shepard telling him about archangels back on the first Normandy and now he was stuck with the name.

"Sidonis, it was that or wait for her to return from the dead." A hint of his old humor crept into Garrus's voice. "Besides, this way I can honor her and remain true to myself. Shepard taught me that I had to do what I thought was right…she always followed her gut and I'm doing the same."

Abruptly standing, Garrus snatched the glass up and held it out the window, gazing into the liquid for a long moment. "One year ago she left my life. To Shepard."

He tipped the cup over, sending the liquid splashing to the pavement below before patting Sidonis on the shoulder, moving towards his own room. "Think about what I said. Keep a sharp eye out for Eclipse mercs."

Archangel had barely made it to the door before Sidonis's voice rang out from his perch near the window.

"You miss her, don't you?"

The tan-gray Turian could feel the other's eyes boring into his back, through his royal blue armor. Still, he lowered his gaze to his boots, clasping his rifle a little tighter.

"A woman like Shepard is irreplaceable. I'm reminded of that fact every time I wake up."

Sidonis didn't need to hear the tremble in his leader's usually steady voice or see the way his shoulders slumped. A year had passed since the savior of the Citadel had passed into the void, her spirit shooting to the stars, but Garrus Vakarian had never stopped feeling the pain that her absence caused. It was also obvious that no matter what anyone told him, Garrus Vakarian continued to blame himself for her death, even a year later. He had left everything he knew on the Citadel to try and forget only to find that here on Omega she was still following him. Even in death, Commander Shepard was watching over her bond brother.

All he had wanted was to forget, but in leaving he remembered her more clearly than ever.