A/N: Hello again! Sorry this didn't get posted earlier, the site has been having intermittent issues.

Anyway, I just have to say this before you read any further. I did not come up with the idea to use the name "Tortuga". It's actually part of the real Galaxy mission. I am not making this up! LOL, but I'm gonna run with it!

Hope everyone has a good week! ~J

"Make way for Tortuga!" – Captain Barbossa, Pirates of the Caribbean - On Stranger Tides

Chapter Fourteen – A Whole Lotta Awkward

John found Miranda alone in the mess hall. Well, almost alone. Gardner was there of course. And Jacob. But as soon as he arrived John shot an intimidating look at him and the soldier quickly excused himself, stating that he had some things he needed to attend to before they landed on Tortuga. That suited John just fine. He didn't need him in there making eyes at Miranda anyway.

It was funny, really, how time changed all things and how different everything was in this alternate universe compared to how he knew them to be. Once upon a time Jacob had been a trusted and loyal member of his crew, a brother in arms. Now he was regarded as an interloper, competition for the one person John desired most of all.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," he said conversationally. He flashed her one of his most debonair smiles and hooked a leg over the table so that he was half sitting on it.

Miranda looked up at him from her seat with thinly veiled disgust. "The only foot in question is the one you seem to continually insert into your mouth."

"Ooh, ouch!" he laughed. "You're quite the spitfire."

She frowned. "Is there something you wanted, Commander?"

"I just stopped by to see how you were acclimating. I like to get to know each member of my crew."

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear before we go any further," she said icily. "I am not a member of your crew."

"What's wrong about being on the crew?" he asked, determined to keep his mood light and flirty. He'd broken down her barriers once before, he could do it again. "We work well together."

"I do hope you are referring to your crew, and not to you and me."

"Maybe…maybe not," he grinned.

She twisted in her chair and got up with an exasperated sigh. "I'm not here to make friends. I'm here to do the job I was recruited to do."

"Straight to the point. I like that."

"Can we cut the small talk?" she demanded suddenly. "There's a lot I need to do and I don't have time to waste chit-chatting with you."

"We're not wasting time; we're getting to know each other," he said calmly.

"You just don't get it, do you?" she said, the irritation now clearly evident in her voice. "I don't want to talk to you!"

"Why not?"

"Why? Because I find you to be abrasive, ill-mannered, and completely self-absorbed."

He stood up, but the smile never left his face. "Those are only some of my best qualities. You forgot short-tempered, egocentric, and extremely good looking."

Miranda's mouth dropped. "You are unbelievable, you know that?"

"I know."

"We're done here." The last part of her statement wavered just a little bit, and he knew he'd caught her off guard.

She shook her head and hurried out of the mess hall, not bothering to look back once. John waited until she had almost disappeared around the elevator shaft before he called out, "Just remember: it's a small ship. You can't hide from me forever!"

He turned around with a quiet laugh and nearly jumped out of his skin when he came face-to-face with Ashley.

"Jesus, Williams! Where the hell did you come from?"

"I was talking to Shepard in her office. Who was that?" she demanded.

He made a big show of twisting around to look back down the hallway. "Who? Her?"

Ashley nodded.

"That was Operative Miranda Lawson. She's with Cerberus."

"Hmm," she grunted. "She's kind of a bitch."

"Yeah, well, you're no picnic yourself sometimes, Williams."

"At least I don't have a stick up my ass," she retorted.

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" he prodded.

"Of having a stick shoved up my ass? No, she can keep it. It suits her much better."

He laughed.

"So um….you wanna…" She flicked her head toward the elevator.

John stared at her for a moment, realizing what she was implying. "Wha–? Uh…no." He cleared his throat. "No, I've got a…a headache and a lot of work to do."

Ashley's face darkened as her gaze wandered in the direction Miranda had gone.

"Oh. I see."

.x.x.x.

Once Miranda and Jacob were settled comfortably, and after a brief chat with Ashley, Jane returned to the terminal in her office to research the planet they were heading to. Where others would call the task boring or just downright overkill, she found it oddly comforting. She believed in being informed about a place they were about to visit; that way she knew what to expect and could prepare for it. If they needed extra fire power, she was ready. If there were any valuable resources the Normandy could use, she would mark it on the map. The neighboring planet of Bekke, for instance, had an especially high concentration of element zero.

Tortuga was the stuff of legend. Named after the famous port city of Earth's 17th century, it served as a hub for the various pirates, gangs, and smugglers to get together, drink, and boast about all their nefarious and underhanded dealings. For that reason it was one of the most heavily guarded planets in the Nemean Abyss.

It was the perfect place for an arms dealer like Illo Nazario to go.

Enough, Jane thought after an hour had slipped by. She raised her hands over her head and leaned back in her chair to stretch the tight muscles in her neck. It wouldn't be much longer until they reached the planet and she wanted to freshen up before they did. She still covered in all the dirt and grime from the encounter with the batarians at Fringe.

As she walked out of her office a glimpse of blue caught her eye. Liara was seated in one of the chairs in the mess hall. She had both elbows resting on the table with her head cradled in her hands, and looked to be intently focused on whatever was on the datapad in front of her.

"Liara? What are you doing out here?"

The beautiful asari was probably the crew's shyest member and kept to herself almost as much as the salarian scientist did. It was rare to see her leave the starboard observatory unless they were going on a mission. So Liara's presence in the mess hall startled Jane, and she hoped nothing was wrong.

"Garrus came by a little while ago and asked if he could have some time alone to think in a room with a view," she said.

"Garrus?"

"Yes. He looked rather troubled. Of course I told him that I didn't mind at all and to take as long as he needed."

Jane felt her heart give an involuntary squeeze of sympathy for the turian. He hadn't been the same since the morning after they went to Afterlife, and she was beginning to think it wasn't just because of that calibration error he claimed was keeping him busy. It was something deeper than that.

"How do you do it?"

"Huh?" Jane blinked.

"With Garrus. How do you look at him and not see…well, you know."

"It's not easy," she confessed. "But believe it or not, there are subtle differences between the two of them. It's those changes that make this Garrus his own person. He's not a complete mirror image and I try to focus on those differences instead of how much they're similar."

"That's a good way of looking at it," Liara smiled.

"Just do me a favor, please don't tell anybody on John's crew. I don't want them to know."

"Why not?"

Leave it to T'soni to ask the probing questions.

"Because it will just complicate things even more than they already are," she said finally. "This is a personal matter and I would like to deal with it that way."

"Okay Shepard, I won't tell anyone. I promise."

Jane breathed a sigh of relief, thanked her friend, and continued on toward the women's restroom for a quick shower. The door of the starboard observatory glared ominously at her, causing her to pause in the hallway. The panel was green. Should she go in there and try to talk to him? Was it her place to invade his space like that, or should she just allow him his privacy, hoping that things would go back to normal between them once he resolved what was bothering him.

What was normal anyway? Especially between the two of them. It surprised her just how deeply she had missed his wisecracks and gentle teasing. The same nagging feeling she'd had earlier resurfaced, and once again she couldn't shake the notion that it had something to do with her, though she couldn't for the life of her figure out what she'd done wrong.

She approached the door and stopped. What was she doing? Why the sudden overwhelming need to comfort him? Deep down she knew why, and just allowing herself to acknowledge that thought left her heart pounding and her palms sweaty. No, it was absurd and highly inappropriate to even be thinking that! Jane swallowed and turned to go back to her room. The shower could wait. Right now all she wanted to do was put as much distance between her and Garrus as possible.

That single movement was enough to trigger the sensor on the door and as she spun around it slid wide open behind her. Caught, she froze, trying to come up with a logical reason as to why she would be standing outside the door.

The rebuke she was expecting never came. In fact, Garrus said nothing at all, leaving her to wonder if he'd left while she was talking to Liara and went somewhere else on the ship without her noticing. She turned around slowly and surveyed the room before her. It was completely dark inside, the only light coming from the stars outside the large picture window. It illuminated the tops of the leather couches, bathing them in an ethereal bluish glow.

Swathed as the room was in shadows, she almost missed the dark figure that stood to the left of the window, gazing out broodingly into the empty space beyond. He didn't give any indication that he saw or heard her come in, for he hadn't even turned to look in her direction at all. Jane didn't know which was worse, being caught eavesdropping behind the door or being totally ignored and left standing awkwardly inside the room.

The light shining through the window danced over the edges of his armor, making the blue seem even more vibrant compared to the rest of the dull room. His mandibles were pulled closely to his face, and there was a certain sadness apparent in his unfocused, predatory eyes.

"Garrus?"

He jumped, confirming her suspicion that he had no idea she was there.

There was no turning back now.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't mean to startle you."

He didn't say anything, leaving an uncomfortably silence to hang in the air between them. Jane felt her mouth go dry.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked in a small voice, taking a dozen brave steps until she was standing directly in front of him. "Something that maybe I can help you with?"

Garrus shut his eyes and looked out the window again. "No. I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" she prompted. "Because you haven't been yourself lately and I've uh…" She hesitated. "I'm worried about you."

His eyes swung to hers first, and then his head followed suit. His features softened as he reached up without warning and brushed the spot on her forehead where he had injured her during their sparring session. The cut had healed nicely, thanks in large part to Dr. Chakwas' insistence that she put medi-gel on it. No one would even be able to tell it had been there if they didn't already know. But the unexpected contact made Jane's breath catch in her throat. It was fleeting, his touch, but the place where his finger had been tingled long after he removed it.

"I didn't mean to hurt you," he said eventually.

"Hurt me?" She almost laughed, but the look on his face made her think better of it. "Garrus, you didn't hurt me. I've taken worse hits than that on the battlefield before. Hell, you were there for one of them! You just surprised me, that's all. Is…is that why you ran off?"

He was silent for a long moment, as though debating on whether or not to say anything else. One of his mandibles twitched unconsciously as the war raged on within him. Finally he said, "Haven't you noticed how things have changed between us?"

"Yeah." This time she did laugh, although it was more to dispel the nervousness she felt rather than to express amusement. "I used to be the one avoiding you, and now it's the other way around."

"That's not what I meant," Garrus said in a whisper that sent shivers down her spine.

He placed a hand on each of her shoulders and eliminated the distance between them. Jane's heartbeat thundered in her ears, her mind reeled at his nearness. She couldn't—shouldn't be thinking about him this way.

He leaned in closer, so close that she could feel his breath on her lips. "Don't you remember the last time we—"

"Jane!" John exclaimed. "There you are!"

Garrus let go of her and stepped back so fast it made her head spin. At least that was the reason she was going with.

John raged on. "Damn it! I've been looking all over the ship for you! It's time to go. You too, Garrus. Get your shit and let's get on with it!"

Jane never moved so fast in her life. She dashed out of the room without a backward glance. It wasn't until the doors to her own room were safely closed behind her that she let out the breath she'd been holding. Every bit of her was shaking, so much that she was having trouble getting her armor on.

"Get a grip, Jane," she whispered angrily to herself.

Finally she gave up on her armor and put her hands on the doors of the cabinet to steady herself. She inhaled slowly through her nose and exhaled several times in an effort to still the rapid beating of her heart and calm down.

Eventually the surge of adrenaline subsided and she was able to finish dressing for the mission. But her mind wandered as she snapped the last piece of armor into place and she began to analyze just why it was she'd run from the observatory in a panic. It wasn't because she didn't want to know what Garrus had been about to say; oh no, it was far worse than that. It was because in those few short moments before John barged in she had been overcome with the desire to throw herself into his arms and let him…

Her eyes popped open as she realized she was daydreaming. Guilt flooded through her.

"Shit," she muttered. "What am I going do to?"

.x.x.x.

It was going to be interesting, to say the least, working with Miranda and Jacob again. The two operatives were waiting quietly by the shuttle when Garrus arrived in the cargo bay, and he took a moment to think about just how crazy it was to see both of them standing there. After all, they'd died back on the collector station. And if he was having that much trouble wrapping his head around their presence now, he couldn't imagine what John was going through. It had to be devastating seeing the reincarnation of a former lover, knowing full well that they weren't the same person while at the same time being unable to forget the memories of what once was.

Poor John.

He gazed absently around the cargo hold. That was odd…Jane hadn't arrived yet. Usually she was the first one ready and waiting when there was a mission. He didn't have too long to focus on why she was running behind though, because John and Mordin exited the lift and walked over to them.

"Where's Jane?" John demanded as soon as he realized she was the only one in their party that was missing.

"I don't know," Garrus shrugged with his best attempt at nonchalance. He shouldn't have given in to his desire to talk to her. Damn it! That was why he'd made it a point to stay away from her, why he hadn't fought back during their sparring match. If she had feelings for someone else, it was selfish of him to burden her with the knowledge of how he felt. He'd made that decision days ago, so why was he so hell bent on ruining that?

She appeared a few minutes later, wearing a stoic mask about her face, her features determined and unreadable. She didn't give a reason for why it took her so long and John didn't ask. She walked past the group and climbed into the shuttle.

"Everything okay, Shepard?" Mordin asked as the rest of the shore party followed in behind her.

"Yes," she replied quietly. She took a seat by one of the small windows and crossed her legs. "Let's just get this show on the road."

Garrus took a seat on the opposite side and watched as the salarian pulled out his omni-tool and performed a quick scan on Jane.

"Hmm, elevated adrenaline and pheromone levels suggest otherwise. Could mean many things; nervousness about the mission, altercation with another crew member, or recent sexual encounter."

Jane's face went two different shades of red.

"The latter would explain the delay," Mordin said, more to himself this time than to anyone else. "Jane Shepard usually very punctual."

"I said I'm fine, Mordin!"

Garrus got up and put a hand on the scientist's shoulder. "Relax, Mordin. Don't analyze the Commander anymore. She got some sort of a message from the Alliance a little while ago and was vocalizing her frustration to me when John showed up." He patted him on the back and steered him toward the row of seats. "I'm sure she doesn't feel like talking about it right now."

"Oh," Mordin accepted. "Simply enough reason. Why not just say that in the first place?"

Garrus laughed and sat down next to him. He met Jane's gaze conspiratorially and she gave him a grateful look.

Miranda took over once they landed on Tortuga, leading them through the markets and alleyways on their way to who knows where. Everywhere they went was dark, dirty, and dangerous. He'd thought crime had been bad on Omega, but here there wasn't even the slightest chance of someone being able to clean things up, and Garrus got the feeling that the inhabitants liked it that way. As the six of them made their way down another narrow street he could feel the hostile, wary eyes of those inhabitants regarding them as intruders, just waiting for just the right opportunity to strike. He checked the thermal clip on his sniper rifle, readying himself for an attack if it came.

It continued on in that manner until the group finally came to a stop. Miranda signaled that everyone else should wait there, and once everyone agreed she approached a shifty looking salarian that was standing by himself in a corner.

"Ish, what do you have for me so far?" she demanded.

"Ah, Miranda," Ish laughed nervously. "I'm glad you're here."

"These two know each other?" Jane whispered to John.

John shrugged one shoulder in response.

"What's the latest intel?" Miranda asked.

"I haven't seen Nazario for weeks now. He's cut out on the last couple of deals," Ish informed her. "Something's definitely not right here."

"The last couple of weeks, you say?" John inquired. Miranda shot him a look of annoyance for butting in, but he ignored her.

"Yeah," the salarian said. "He's normally very good at following up on transactions."

"Sounds like he's planning something," John said.

"Or something happened to him," Jane agreed. She turned to Ish. "Nothing like this has ever happened before?"

Ish nodded.

"Considering the type of people he does business with," Miranda said, "I'd say both are possibilities."

Jane frowned. "So what now?"

"Do you still have the codes to Nazario's compound?"

"What? Oh. Yes, yes." Ish activated his omni-tool and tapped a few buttons. Miranda's beeped in response. "There you are."

"Thanks." She turned to the rest of the crew. "Let's go."

The fun really started when they broke into the arms dealer's compound. Almost a dozen turian guards charged them the minute they burst through the door. Jane took out three of them with a biotic shockwave, clearing the way for the team to get to cover. Jacob pulled an unsuspecting bodyguard into the air and while he was suspended Mordin lit him on fire. While Miranda worked on overloading the guard's shields, Garrus swapped out his sniper rifle for the assault rifle and helped John lay down suppressive fire.

With six people in the shore party instead of the usual three, they had dispatched the whole battalion of bodyguards in no time.

"That's a pretty impressive display of biotics you've got there," Jacob said to Jane once they'd cleared the room.

"You're not so bad yourself," she said amicably.

Garrus swore he saw Jacob's chest puff out as the biotic smiled back at her.

"Well, you can fight by my side any day."

Oh, give me a break, Garrus thought. He laughed as John followed his gaze and then rolled his eyes. Apparently he wasn't too amused either.

They carried on, pushing through the interconnecting rooms in search of Nazario. They'd gone through almost the entire compound and still they had yet to come across him.

"Maybe he's not here after all," Jane mused as she worked on hacking the panel to one of the last rooms. It turned green and the door slid open. "It certainly fits with the theory that he's—"

A stray bullet whizzed right between her and John, effectively cutting off the rest of her sentence.

"Stop. Don't come any….closer."

A single turian lay on the ground before them. He held a pistol in a hand that shook, the muzzle of it resting lightly against his knee. He didn't appear to be outwardly wounded, but he was having trouble breathing and had made no effort to move.

"Or you'll want?" John said sarcastically. "Shoot and miss again?"

The turian laughed, but all that came out was a painful series of wheezes.

"I don't think you're in any kind of position to be making demands." John walked up to him and kicked the pistol out of his hand. It skittered across the floor. Jane bent over and picked it up and then strode over to them.

"Are you Illo Nazario?" she asked.

"Who wants….to know?" he gasped.

She knelt down to meet him at eye level and calmly pushed his pistol against his chest.

"Okay! Yes, yes that's me," he cried. He shifted to distance himself from the barrel of the gun, but Jane kept it firmly in place.

"What do you know of the batarian terrorists' plans?"

"I—" he began, but a spasm of violent coughs prevented him from continuing.

"What's wrong with him? Mordin, can you see what's wrong with him?"

"Certainly." He sidled up to Jane and ran his omni-tool over the ailing turian.

"I…have been infected with…a…virus," Nazario said between breaths.

"Are you contagious?" John took a precautionary step back. Garrus shook his head. He'd said the exact same thing when they recruited Thane.

"N-no. Those damn batarians…they did this to me."

"Why?" Jane queried.

She pulled the pistol away from his chest and handed it to Garrus. He took it from her, but kept it trained on Nazario just in case. He didn't trust the barefaced turian one bit.

This time he managed a quiet chuckle without too much effort. "Because I found out…what they…were up to." He winced, pausing to take a few more shallow breaths. "I heard one of them talking about a vaccine. You get that for me, and I'll tell you anything you want…to know."

"Why should we trust you?" Garrus cut in.

Nazario angled his head up and regarded him with a sardonic smile. "I'm dying. Why would I lie to you?"

"Garrus is right," John said. "What guarantee do we have that you'll tell us anything once you've gotten the cure?"

"There are six of you here," he said. "I don't really think you'd let me live…for long if I didn't…cooperate."

John looked down at Jane as they weighed their options. "Take him with us," she said as she got to her feet and dusted off her hands. "Mordin can keep an eye on him in the shuttle while we go get the vaccine."

Jacob and Mordin stepped forward and helped the turian to his feet. Once he was in a standing position John closed the distance and grabbed him by the collar. "You'd better not try anything funny."

"Do you have any idea where the batarians might have this cure?" Jane asked, always the diplomatic one.

Nazario nodded. "The Ahn'Kedar Orbital Station."

A/N: Be sure to check my blog in a couple of days. I will be posting my thoughts on some of the themes in this chapter.