Chapter 14

Shepard settled on the sofa, now wearing a t-shirt and a pair of jogging bottoms. She had pulled her hair into a loose ponytail at the base of her neck. Miss Al - Jillani was sat in a chair, her back ramrod straight, looking around the place with scrutiny.

Garrus took up residence beside Jane, passing her the glass of water he had then taking her hand and glaring at the reporter, watching her intently. Khalisah met his gaze and swallowed nervously, crossing her legs.

"So," Jane took a sip of water. "What do you want to know?" She snuggled closer to her mate, totally oblivious to the gaze of the reporter, who's eyes were flicking venomously between the couple.

"What happened," the reporter recovered her disgust quickly. "As Hammer Squad ran towards the beam, contact was lost. You and your team were among them if I heard correctly," Shepard nodded. "What exactly happened?"

"I'll be truthful, Miss Al - Jillani," Jane lent forward, all professional, and Garrus looked at her with awe. "It was a massacre from the start. Almost all of Hammer Squad was decimated," she looked over at Garrus with sadness in her eyes. "I almost lost Garrus too. But I survived long enough to get to the beam up to the Citadel. The rest is hazy. I remember Anderson was with me….. But that's it." Garrus rubbed her neck calmly, keeping a close eye on her expression.

"Really?" Khalisah's eyes widened. "I didn't quite realise things were that bad." Her voice was a whisper. Garrus looked at the reporter in shock. In all their encounters with the venerable Miss Al - Jilliani, she had always been prodding and poking for the truth, doing anything to get a story. Now that the Turian looked at her up close she looked dishevelled, and well….. Lost. Jane clearly sensed the same thing as she leaned closer to the reporter, who flinched back, clearly remembering the time that Shepard had gotten upset and almost hit her, had Garrus not stopped her.

"Khallisah," she said. "They are gone, truly." She reached for the other woman's hand. The reporter suddenly burst into tears.

"I've seen thing," she sobbed. "Horrible things. I always tried to report the truth, but when the truth is so shocking… well I just wanted to report on something happy for a change." Jane smiled.

"I think a story on my survival is happy, don't you?" She handed the reporter a tissue.

"That's true," Khallisah smiled, dabbing her eyes.

Jane stood and pulled Garrus up with her. He glanced at her strangely but she just smiled.

"Would you like to see the house?" She offered. " You can do an interview on what we both intend to do now the war is over."

Several hours later Khalisah left, surprising them both with a hug. She had enough to write a heart warming story on the survival of the galaxies hero. They had supplied her with snippets of their cross species relationship, how they made their different anatomies work, their plans for the future.

But they hadn't told her about their plans to attempt to bring a child into the world. Especially a half breed one. Nope that was a whole different report on its own.

Garrus and Shepard were laying in bed later on that evening, he working on a modification to his visor, she reading a book on a data pad. The headache she had had that morning had returned and she massaged her temple with her free hand. Her body was feeling tense from not using her biotics, and she hated it. It made her feel out of control.

Garrus saw she was suffering, and it killed him. He didn't know how to make this whole thing easier on her. Not using her biotics for this period of time was bound to be making her tense. He put his visor down on the side table and stroked a hand up her arm, only to be met by a small shockwave of biotics that gave his fingers a zap. He pulled away shocked.

"Oh god," Jane looked appalled. "You OK?" She lifted his fingers to her mouth and kissed the ends of them, careful of his sharp ungloved talons.

"I'm fine," he told her, securing her hand in his. "I'm more concerned about you." Jane smiled.

"Its just a build up of un used biotic energy on my skin," she told him. "It just makes my body tense. It usually never gets this bad as I always used my biotics all the time. I'm not used to feeling like this."

Garrus pulled her closer and wrapped both arms round her, rewarded with another shock of energy that made him grunt. "Is… is there anything I can do?" he begged feeling helpless.

"I don't know," she admitted. "This is all new for me too." Garrus watched as her body rippled painfully.

"Shepard," he gasped. "Sweety," he held her as she shook. "Here," he pulled her in front of him and began to massage the tops of her shoulders and her neck. He felt her body slowly un tense and she soon relaxed into him, a moan escaping her lips.

"Where did you learn that?" she mumbled.

"The vids Joker gave me back on the Normandy," Garrus' voice was laced with embarrassment. Shepards body began to shake less and less. The rippling reminded Garrus of the muscle spasms his mother suffered in the final stages of her Corpalis Syndrome, which had ended her life months before the Reapers hit. He sighed sadly. He had never got to tell his mother about Jane. And he knew she would have been OK with it, being more open minded than his father. He missed her.

"Garrus?" Jane murmured, spinning to face him. He had stopped his ministrations unbeknownst to him. She looked up at him with her eyes, warm and green, full of concern. "Are you OK?" Her body was still now and her hand no longer shook as she lifted it and stroked his scarred mandible.

"I was thinking about my Mother," he informed her, dipping his head solemnly to her shoulder, inhaling her scent.

Jane stared at her lover mutely, unable to form the words to comfort him. He had spoken about his mother often when they had been alone during the down time on the Normandy. When they had reunited again after Menae he had sadly told her of her death, then broken down on her shoulder, something he hadn't been able to do till then. It had humbled Jane that he had thought so much of her to be able to show his emotions so openly like that.

"What was she like?" Jane asked him.

"Beautiful," Garrus looked at her. "She always wore bright clothing, was kind, really listened to you." He kissed his mates nose. "Just like you she saw the best in people even if they didn't see it in themselves. She would have loved and accepted you."

"I'm sure I would have loved her too," Jane smiled.

"What about your Dad?" Garrus asked. "What was he like?"

"He was always laughing and joking," Jane sighed thinking about her father, hard to believe he had been gone 10 years. "I was the apple of his eye. No one cared more about anything that he did. He was a soldier, a protector and my role model." Unwilling tears sprouted in her eyes. "I still cant believe he's gone sometimes. I wonder whether he would be proud of me."

"I know he would be," Garrus shifted so that Shepard was now laying beside him. "You should try to sleep, you've had a long day." He ran his fingers through her hair and let it fall in a heap around the top of her head like a red halo. He kissed her affectionately. "I love you," he reminded her.

"Love you too Garrus," she closed her eyes and sighed contently. She was asleep within minutes.

Garrus watched his lover dream, he rise and fall of her chest comforting to him. He sighed and fished in the top drawer of his bedside cabinet, pulling out a small box. He opened it revealing a small gold band. He had read somewhere this was a traditional thing to give a human if you wanted them to be your life partner, mate, wife, whatever you called it. Glancing back at Jane he smiled.

Spirits be damned, he thought. He was going to do it….. But he was going to do things right.

Authors note: Hi guys, this is the first authors note I've added on. I would like to say thanks to all the people who have faved and reviewed. Sorry this chapter has taken a while (life gets in the way :( ). Also don't kill me for ending the chapter on such a teasingly wonderful cliff hanger. More to follow soon I promise. ;)