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Beta Reader: OinkyThePiggy

Chapter Twenty-One

They Set the Universe on Fire

The trip back to the grounded Normandy was made in absolute silence. Garrus, sure that nothing that would come out of his mouth would be helpful—as all he wanted to do was storm back and knock some damn sense into the Council—just followed his sullen commander.

By the Spirits, what could they do now? The Council was just sitting back and letting Saren win. Here was Shepard, giving them a chance to fight, and all they wanted to do was call her names and kick her to the side now that they were done with her.

Bastards. Each and every one of them.

Boarding the ship and exiting the airlock, Joker all but ambushed them. Shepard, lost in her own head, instinctively reacted and Garrus, who was at her side and saw her heart rate spike on his visor, had to grab her wrist before she lashed out.

Joker didn't even notice as he moved closer to them with a scowl on his face that wasn't from any pain he was feeling from his illness.

"Shit, Shepard, I tried calling you but they blocked the signal and they fucking grounded us," he bit out harshly. "Please tell me this is some insane plan where the Council is only pretending to have their heads up their ass so, when we all jump through the Mu Relay, Saren won't know what hit him?"

Shepard gritted her teeth, her jaw flexing as she struggled for an answer. Only she didn't have one so she just yanked her hand from Garrus' grip and stormed past the pilot.

"Shit."

Liara blew out a hard breath through her nose. "That is my sentiment as well."

Garrus watched Shepard storm away, hand clenching around thin air, and the crew jumped out of her way as she went. She descended the stairs to the lower level and no one dared follow her.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" Joker asked, looking between the two soldiers.

Just like Shepard, neither of them had an answer.

When it was clear the crew was vacating the second level to escape Shepard's wrath, Garrus headed down to, well, he wasn't really sure what he was planning on saying or doing, just that he needed to check on her.

"Son of a bitch!" Shepard yelled as she threw her gantlet at her locker stationed near the med-bay. She was dressed in her dark blue regs and her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows.

Her gauntlet bounced violently off the locker, leaving a deep indentation on the metal door. She stalked over and picked it up—he noticed it was the only piece of armor she had out and wondered if she forgot it when she first put away her armor—and she yanked open the locker and threw it in there, slamming the door shut. She turned and fell back hard against it, slowly sliding to the ground with a look, that tore at his chest, on her face.

He hated seeing her so lost.

"I know you're pissed when you treat your armor like that," he stated in a light, gentle tone as he approached, trying his best to push aside his own distress.

Shepard snorted and pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. "What? No comment about that clusterfuck back there?"

Garrus crossed his arms as he shifted his weight to one hip. "I was there, you know. I don't think reliving it is going to help anything."

She looked up at him as she dropped her hands in her lap. She held his gaze and he watched as her brows drew together with a frown.

"Back with the Council, about my visions. If they really thought I was crazy they wouldn't have made me a Spectre to begin with," Shepard started with a hard edge to her voice. "Did you really…?"

Garrus flared his fringe, holding back the offense he was feeling at her thinking he would lie like that, but his mandibles still gave an irritated snap as he spoke up.

"I didn't lie," he assured, never breaking eye contact. "Liara showed me the visions in the waiting room."

Shepard eyes widen as she gave a shocked gasp. "Why the hell did she—"

"Because I asked her too," he interrupted. Then quickly added, knowing her next question, "Because I wanted to know what exactly we're dealing with." And even though he didn't need to tell her, he still said, "And, I know they bother you and I wanted to know…"

He looked away, unable to fully explain. He couldn't help her if he didn't know what was troubling her, and Shepard never talked about her problems easily, so he had to see the visions for himself.

Laughing. She was laughing.

Garrus watched, plates shifting in slight embarrassment that he was being too emotional about everything, and Shepard just laughed into her hands.

"Of course that's why," she exclaimed breathlessly as she ran her hands down her face and dropped her head back onto the metal of the lockers with a hard thud. He wasn't prepared for how sad she looked. "You really do care for me that much, big guy?"

Was that rhetorical? Please let that be rhetorical.

Shepard sighed and ran a hand through her short hair. "Thank you for that," she said, sincerely, as she looked up at him from the floor, so small and far away. "You've done more for me than you'll ever know."

Then she sighed again and moved back to their original subject, and Garrus was a little thankful for it, as he wasn't sure what to say. It was easy in his head; she had helped him in so many ways, made his life meaningful again, became someone important—vital—to him. Just saying it was… hard.

It wasn't hard with Sparatus, his mind growled in annoyance.

Well, he was a little bit too angry to think all that clearly then, and Sparatus seemed to dislike Shepard a little bit too much for it to be platonic. And, from working with people of all species, Garrus knew even adults tended not to be able to convey their emotions properly.

While Garrus wasn't the jealous type, it was his instinct to ward off other turians if they showed similar… interest.

When did his life turn into a damn soap opera?

"I don't care that they grounded me, but they refuse to go after Saren. If they don't stop him from finding the Conduit, we're all dead."

Garrus nodded. "I know." Then he tilted his head to the side and gave a challenging look as he baited, "What are you going to do about it, Captain?"

Shepard huffed out a quick puff of air before she weakly grinned. "We lost the battle not the war, Vakarian. I'll figure something out."

Garrus nodded and reached down, offering his hand to hers, which she took without hesitation.

"That's my girl," he said without thinking and froze once his words hit him. Today was just not his day.

Shepard, now on her feet, hand still in his and body only inches away, softly inquired, "Your girl?"

He swallowed hard. "Ah, Commander, I didn't mean—"

Her free hand lightly cupped his mandibles, making his mouth snap close, and her cool fingers stroked his plates; lightly at first, then harder with an edge of want to it. Fire erupted under his plates and rocketed through his body at her firm touches and his harmonics hummed in pleasure as he leaned into her.

"Mmm, that doesn't sound too bad, Vakarian," she cooed as her eyes twinkled, pulling his forehead down to touch hers, and he swore his heart skipped a beat. "Not too bad at all."

She was still pulling his face closer to hers and her chest pressed against his armor as she closed the space between them. He gripped her full hips as he took a few long steps forward, forcing her back against the locker as he let himself drown in her deep, dark eyes….

"Commander!" Joker yelled through the comm, making Garrus pull back with a light, agitated rumble in his chest. "Got a message from Captain Anderson."

Shepard pulled away as well, her hand lingering on his chest as she called out, "Give me the message."

"The captain said to meet him at Flux. That club down—ha, look who I'm talking to."

Garrus chuckled and Shepard shot him an amused looked.

"Alright, see if Liara's still suited up and, if she is, let her know we're heading out again."

"Aye-Aye, Commander. I hope the captain has a plan, because things are getting pretty out of hand," he merrily rhymed and Shepard smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"Aw, Joker, you don't trust me to make it all better?"

"No disrespect, but seeing how in our last conversation you just growled at me—"

"I didn't growl."

"—you can understand if I'm a teeny bit worried."

Shepard just smiled wider as she turned to open her locker and pull out her armor.

"Commander Shepard!" A vaguely familiar voice called out as the commander and her current team rushed through the Wards.

Seeing that Shepard wasn't bothering to slow down the voice tried calling her again and Garrus could hear the person break into a run to catch up to them.

The news reporter form a few months back, Al-Jilani, was now blocking Shepard's path.

Last time, the commander had stopped and even gave the woman a full interview, sharing all the details she could about the current threat to the galaxy. While what the woman was saying in person was on the rude and pushy side—but nothing someone like Shepard, who was used to the spotlight and to all kinds of negative attitudes, wasn't used to dealing with—the resulting news broadcast on the other hand was a complete circus. Editing scenes and twisting her words around to the point that Alliance Brass had Hackett contact her and actually verify what was the real context of her words.

So Shepard was far from pleased to see the reporter at the moment.

"Commander Shepard," Al-Jilani said as her cam-bot's spotlight flared on and blinded all three of them for a moment. "Is it true that the Normandy is grounded and that you've been dishonorably discharged because of crimes committed in Council Space?"

"What?" both Shepard and Garrus asked as Liara rubbed her forehead while muttering, "Oh, by the Goddess, we do not have time for this." And the asari walked smoothly past the commander and him and decked the reporter square in the jaw, causing her to fall flat on her ass.

Garrus and Shepard stared at Liara while the reporter was in a slight daze, sprawled in the ground.

Liara shrugged.

"I have needed to hit something all day."

Shepard blinked before her shouldered slumped and she pouted.

"But I wanted to do that…"

Then she sighed as she sadly walked away, just as Al-Jilani started yelling at them.

"With that obnoxious woman, I am sure there shall be a next time, Shepard."

Garrus just shook his head and laughed.

And people thought he was hotheaded?

"Aw come on!" Shepard gasped as they heard a very familiar sound over the comm.

While Anderson's plan had not gone over too well with them, breaking into Udina's office and overriding the lockdown order was the only plan they had. Shepard had agreed to it on the condition that the captain kept his comm open in case Shepard needed to mount a rescue.

They clearly didn't need to mount a rescue.

"Why is everyone else punching the people that screwed me over?"

Joker gave a happy cheer. "You hear that, Shepard? Now that's how a badass rolls!"

Shepard mumbled a few unhappy things under her breath just as Joker announced they were clear for departure.

"Shepard," Anderson called. "Stay safe and get that son of a bitch."

Shepard perked up for a moment as her back straightened. "Aye-Aye, sir. I won't let you down."

Anderson chuckled. "You never do."

Garrus, as Wrex loved to remind him, was quadless.

They were on their way to Ilos, a half-day's journey, and Garrus needed to speak with Shepard. Not about anything important, he just needed to talk to her, to be near her for a little bit, because he was a wreck.

Did they just go pirate?

No, he groaned and rubbed his fringe, don't be stupid. They were going after Saren. Plus, he didn't feel pirate-y at all….

He really needed to talk with Shepard.

Yet, it was late and she needed her rest. Last thing she needed to do was spend a few hours calming his sorry hide because he was feeling on edge about what they just did. It needed to be done, he knew that, but making sure there was enough evidence to send away a well-known drug dealer for a few years was a long way away from stealing a military vessel and defying the Council's direct orders.

"Um, Garrus?" Tali's soft voice caught him off guard and he jumped in his seat at the weapon's bench. "Are you… alright?"

He cleared his throat as he nodded.

"I'm fine. How are you holding up?"

She shifted her weight around on her feet as she shrugged.

"Okay. I stay in my room for one day and next thing I know we're fugitives," she weakly joked.

"Thrilling, huh?"

Tali feebly laughed before twisting her hands together. "Is… is it bad I just want to go home? It was so exciting at first and then… they, and… I… I just miss my dad, Garrus."

Garrus reached out and pulled her over to him. She sat down onto the bench next to him and he put his arm around her. He just let her head rest on his shoulder as her arms went around his waist in return.

He would talk to Shepard later.

Garrus didn't get a chance to speak with Shepard for a few hours, as it didn't feel right leaving Tali's side. They were about to take out Saren and that guaranteed a hard fight, so he wanted to make sure Tali was in fair spirits.

They ended up tuning up the Mako together and they both fell into an easy back and forth with each other. Garrus was even feeling better once he stepped back from the Mako and Tali was standing with her hands on her hips, surveying her work.

"Shepard's going to have to work hard to wreck it this time."

"Don't let her hear you say that; she'll just take it as a challenge."

Tali laughed, genuinely amused, before asking with some seriousness, "How's she taking it? Going rogue, I mean."

"She didn't go rogue," he defended. "Her superior supervised her sudden departure."

"Uh-uh, in the Flotilla we call it 'going rogue'."

"Anyway," he drawled, suppressing a grin. "I don't know. I haven't talked to her since we departed."

Tali sighed and rubbed her helmet. "You suck as a boyfriend."

Garrus choked on a breath. "What? I'm not—she's not my, uh, not that it would be a… bad thing—"

Tali yanked him along as she started walking towards the elevator with a giggle, cutting off his awkward denial.

"Come on, I think we need to check on somebody."

So, a little under a half a cycle away from Illos, Garrus was now standing at Shepard's door with Tali at his side.

The commander quickly answered the door and Garrus, to his slight shock, spotted Kaidan standing on the far side of the room. The biotic sent Garrus a very dark glare and Shepard looked slightly torn as she looked at up at him.

"Tali… Garrus, this isn't a good time," Shepard said evenly as Kaidan quickly crossed the room.

"No, we're done here, Commander. I believe I need to make sure the crew's ready for any kind of combat we may see."

"Alright," Shepard said and Kaidan pushed past Garrus and Tali without waiting for dismissal.

"So…" Tali was the first to speak up as she invited herself into Shepard's room. "I'm guessing you finally broke poor Kaidan's heart?"

Shepard looked down, guilty, and shrugged. "Yeah… he showed up and I had to…"

Tali looked back over her shoulder and sighed. "I was joking, Shepard. He'll be fine. Garrus here ripped mine out—"

"And stomped on it," he added since she wanted to be dramatic.

"Oh, yes, the stomping. Quite brutal. But he's still my favorite turian on the Normandy."

"I'm the only turian on the Normandy."

"Yes, the ranking was pretty close between you and nothing."

"Ouch, Tal, that's cold."

Tali chuckled as she walked over and put an arm around Shepard, who was now smiling at their banter. Garrus wanted to pull her aside and ask what exactly was said between the commander and LT, but that didn't really feel like any of his business.

"If you're free," Tali went on, "we've already tuned the Mako up and our gear's all set, and I was hoping you two would like to watch a movie with me?"

Garrus narrowed his eyes. "Which movie?"

"Well, since a little birdy told me that some people," Tali glanced at both him and Shepard. "Don't appreciate heart wrenching romances, Blasto; Armed and Deadly was my idea."

Garrus racked his brain but couldn't think of how she would know, as he just mentioned it to Joker that morning and….

"Damnit, Joker."

The comm beeped on. "Someone call my name?"

Garrus just shook his head as Shepard gave a merry laugh.

It was in the middle of the movie, playing in Shepard's room and in other places around the ship, that Garrus moved closer to her on the couch they were sharing with Tali and Joker (who left the ship on auto pilot and in the hands of a lesser flight lieutenant with several threats). He hooked his arm around her shoulders and leaned his head down so his mouth nearly touched her ear as he softly asked, "You okay?"

She gave a small shudder, as his mouth ended up lightly brushing the shell of her ear, and she turned to him, her face close enough that their breath mingled.

Her bright eyes looked up into his and then she turned, softly kissing the side of his jaw and whispered in his ear; "Yeah, Garrus, I'm okay."

And even though he knew it was a lie, he just nodded, pulling her tight to his side, letting her snuggle close as they finished watching the movie, trying not to think of the inevitable.

It was clear that in Commander Shepard's mind, Liara and him evened her skills out. He held the same amount of tech and combat skills as her, and Liara brought in force what they both sorely lacked; biotics.

Kaidan was left in charge of the Normandy, in preparation of any type of space combat. The LT, while he still had to be upset over whatever happened between him and Shepard, looked genuinely worried as the three of them prepared for departure without him.

Adams had requested Tali stay and help with the Normandy's systems, if it was possible, and Shepard had thought it was a good idea that Kaidan have backup onboard. Even if the whole crew was trained to handle weapons, only Tali and Kaidan had firsthand experience fighting geth.

Garrus swore the Spirits hit the fast-forward on his life, because one minute the Mako was plummeting towards Ilos at breakneck speeds (a common occurrence with Shepard, of course), then they were talking to a Prothean AI named Vigil, making a mad dash through the Conduit, crashing onto the Citadel, and Saren shot himself.

The Destiny Ascension, with the Council onboard, was the main target of Sovereign's geth and had called for the aid of the Alliance fleet. The call on whether or not to help them had, of freaking course, fallen onto Shepard.

The commander didn't miss a beat as she ordered all fire power to focus on Sovereign.

Killing the Reaper was their top priority and saving them risked not having enough ships to fulfill it.

In the heat of the moment, fighting a monster that was taking out entire ships with one glowing red blast, it looked like the right call.

Hopefully it would still look the same later.

Then, with the Fifth Fleet engaging Sovereign outside, they had to deal with him inside as he took control of Saren's corpse and they had to fight, what Shepard had fondly named, Zombie Saren.

It was a pain killing the fast moving puppet, and their relief was short lived once the husk disintegrated. Everything slowed to a painful crawl as a piece of the now destroyed Sovereign crashed into Council Chambers and Garrus quickly lost track of Shepard.

She had turned, yelling for them to move as the huge chuck of steel impacted with the glass wall of the tower, tearing through it like paper. For a moment the room's pressure destabilized and Garrus fell to his stomach and reached out, grabbing the person next to him, Liara, and dug his gloved talons into the grooves of the floor as the vacuum of space tried to claim them.

It only took a few seconds for the room's mass effect shields to active and for the room to re-stabilized, but he couldn't rest as the piece of Sovereign hit the ground, sending sparks and pieces shrapnel hailing around them. Garrus looked back as he pulled himself up to his knees in time to see a large piece of metal fall right toward them.

Liara looked back as well and threw up her shields as Garrus pulled her body under his. Something hit his back and he was jolted forward. He did his best not to crush Liara and to make sure she was still covered he sent a panicked prayer to the Spirits.

The grinding of metal on metal tore apart his ears at the close range and he ducked his head, wanting to block out the awful sound. A burst of heat along his back and another hit made him grunt in pain, but everything seemed to calm as the metal around him groaned in low protests, but stopped moving.

Slowly, Garrus eased away from Liara and he ignored the flare of bright pain in his left side.

They sat in silence as they listened to the crackle of a fresh fire and the whine of shifting metal, and they realized they were trapped under a section of Sovereign.

In fact, Liara's biotics were the only thing keeping the whole of it from falling down and crushing them to death. A few small pieces had penetrated the shield and Garrus tentative touched his side to feel bits of shrapnel in it. From the way his back was also in pain, he was willing to guess he had a few more pieces lodged back there as well.

"We are trapped," Liara huffed, struggling to maintain the shield. It took a hell of a lot to not only make it to the tower, but to take Saren out, and Liara wouldn't be able to maintain her shield much longer.

"Garrus to the Normandy, do you read me? Garrus to the Normandy," he tried in comm as he looked around at their small prison, not seeing a way out. "Shit, I think all this metal's blocking the signal."

The metal groaned mockingly as the shield shrank in size and Garrus shifted as close as he could to Liara in the bright glow of her biotics.

Futilely, he tried pushing different sections loose, but the metal just kept pressing down around them. His visor wasn't picking up an weak points as well.

Trapped. They really were trapped.

"Garrus… I don't think I can hold—"

Garrus placed a hand on her shoulder. "Yes you can," he said encouragingly as he could.

She gave a strain laugh. "Telling me I can does not make it any more possible."

Garrus smiled. "Hey, you cut me off. I was about to give the most riveting pep talk, one so amazing it would put Shepard's to shame."

"Oh?" she grunted. "Now I must hear this."

"I start off telling you how quiet and meek you were when you joined the Normandy."

"I can feel my strength returning," she bit sarcastically.

He laughed. "Let me finish. Then you met me—"

"Is this a pep talk or a list of all my mistakes?"

"And through my guidance and natural charm you found your inner badass, kicked some major ass, and saved the whole damn galaxy. All while becoming the foremost expert on Protheans on the side."

Liara's eyes twinkled in the cerulean light as she smiled fondly up at him, but Garrus could see the growing fear in them.

"Hmm, that was inspiring."

"Absolutely. I'm a natural beacon of hope after all."

She laughed, about to add to their exchange, only she gasped, eyes clenching shut and painful looking spasms started ripping through her body. "Garrus, I'm sorry, but I can't… I can't…" Her hands clutched into fist on the ground and violet blood leaked from her nose.

Garrus felt his heart drop at the despair in her voice. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and tucked her head protectively under his chin.

"It's okay," he soothed, hoping she couldn't hear the way his heart was beating frantically in his chest.

The shield began to flicker erratically, blinding light dancing around them, and Liara grunted in pain as she gave it her all to hold it.

The metal whined and groaned and hissed as it compacted, slowly falling down around them until only the shield haloed them, pulsing against the darkness that was straining to swallow them whole.

"It's okay," Garrus repeated as Liara shook in his arms.

"I'm sorry, Garrus," Liara sobbed as her biotics flickered faster, in a rhythm that matched her heartbeats on his visor's screen.

Garrus pulled her tight against him and muttered, "Don't be."

Then the light stopped.

And, as the metal and darkness consumed them, Garrus found his thoughts turned to his commander and her bright smile that he treasured so much.