Thank you for the favorites and follows, and special thanks to jediserenity82, Tuffet37, heidi00, Candle in the Night, Suilven, Kyo12591, and Elizabeth Electra for taking the time to leave a review and for giving me some ideas for this chapter. :)

Big thanks to Suilven for beta reading.

If there was one thing Garrus remembered in vivid detail from the scarce amount of information he'd been able to gather about Watson before they'd landed on the planet, it was the stories about the vicious-looking predators that tended to come out at night. In packs.

Apparently, the wildlife experts were still waging heated debates about their classification and, consequently, their scientific name, but locals simply called these monsters "beasts." In Garrus's opinion, that designation was richly deserved: from the illustrations he'd been able to pull up on the extranet, these creatures had incredibly powerful shoulders and front legs, large mouths with sizable, razor sharp teeth that also happened to be filled with venom, and feet with claws that could rip a smaller human in half.

Garrus desperately hoped not to encounter any of these things as he headed out from the Blue Suns facility in search of the path that would lead him to their ship.

Despite the heavy clouds that must have gathered in the last couple of hours and now blanketed the sky, blocking out most of the light from the moon and the stars, finding the service road Shepard had talked about was not too difficult. And, as she'd suggested, traveling on the pavement, clear of gnarly trees and dense bushes, was much easier than their way up the hill had been. Everything seemed calm and quiet, except for the loud chirping of some unknown insects in the grass and the rustling of the leaves in the sudden wind that had begun blowing in from the west.

It wasn't easy to keep checking their coordinates with Shepard in his arms, but Garrus did his best to keep track of where they were and where he needed to veer off into the forest.

According to his map, they still had a way to go before he'd reach the point he needed to get off the road when he first noticed the glowing eyes in the dark.

They were on the opposite side from his eventual direction, still a distance away. He hoped that whatever the creature was, it had not noticed him and his precious cargo yet. Intending to keep it that way, he slunk into the forest, hoping to blend into the shadows. It was a little early to do so, but if he had to choose between fighting an unknown predator while weighted down with his unconscious teammate, or finding his way through a slightly modified path, he'd pick the latter anytime.

Things went rather well for a while. Walking as quietly as he could, he made his way through the vegetation, checking and adjusting his direction every few minutes. Shepard stirred a few times, groaning with untold pain, but didn't open her eyes. He was starting to believe that they were actually going to make it without much trouble when his ears picked up the sound of careful steps around them.

They were slow and deliberate, but there was no mistaking the small cracks of twigs in the underbrush. Soon, he could see those same glowing eyes again: not one pair, or two, but at least half a dozen, if not more, spread out in a circle in the dark.

Outrunning them was not an option. He had to fight.

Gently, he lowered Shepard's body to the ground and stood guard above her as he detached his assault rifle. Sniping would have been more precise, but there was no time—and not enough distance—for that. The beasts were already coming, charging through the bushes, their growls echoing with deep thrums among the trees.

Garrus aimed at the one that had made it the farthest and pulled the trigger, sending a solid round into its large head. The creature let out a startled yelp and collapsed, its blood, thick and dark red, gushing out from between its eyes.

There was no time to check if it was properly dead (it would have been a miracle if it wasn't, anyway); there were more on the way, and they seemed to be running even faster now. Garrus pulled the trigger again and again, mowing down as many of them as he could, but as soon as a few would drop, others would appear from the deep shadows.

He cursed, slamming in a fresh heatsink, and raised his rifle to fire again when he felt some movement at his feet, and a blue wave of incredible energy burst out in a wide circle, launching the creatures up in the air and crashing them violently into the tree trunks around them. For a few moments, the reverberating sound of thuds and yowls filled the air, then everything went silent.

Eyes wide, Garrus looked down at Shepard. Her right arm was still outstretched, her upper body raised on her other elbow, her whole being enveloped by a shimmering aura of blue. Apparently satisfied that the enemy had been dealt with, she glanced up at him, shooting him a weak smile.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah. You?"

She nodded, closed her eyes, collapsed back onto the ground, and drifted off again.

Garrus huffed out a sigh. That was too close. The ship, on the other hand, wasn't. They still had a way to go before they reached the safety of its metal hull, and he had no desire to have a repeat performance of what had just happened.

They needed to find some kind of shelter; a cave, an old mine, anything to keep them safe for the night. He checked his map, searching for some kind of structure in the forest, but came up empty. Still, there had to be something out here. There were so many abandoned facilities on the way to the Suns' operation before; there was no way there wasn't some place they could withdraw to and wait for morning to come.

He turned off his omni-tool and put away his weapon, detaching his sniper rifle instead. Switching on his thermal scope, he scanned their surroundings, looking for anything that would indicate some kind of structure, natural or manmade, in their vicinity.

There. Not too far away, there was something. It looked like a small building, dark and as long as they could take refuge in it, it was all they needed.

Garrus collapsed his rifle, snapped it to his back, and picked up his teammate from the ground.

The building was about a hundred feet away; if they were lucky, they were going to make it without another ambush.

~ooo~

The structure in the distance turned out to be an old miner's cabin. It appeared to have been abandoned by necessity, not choice: a few tools were still lined up in one corner, and the small dining table in the kitchen area was still awaiting the hungry occupants with two sets of plates piled high with some kind of food that had long ago turned to an unrecognizable, rotting mess.

Judging by the layer of dust, the cabin had been unoccupied for several months—if not years. It had probably been erected by some enterprising souls wishing to make a few credits by extracting the treasures of the earth underneath their feet. If not for their present circumstances, Garrus might have pondered the fate that had befallen them; right now, however, it was enough to know that they were gone, mercifully leaving their modest home for him and Shepard to take refuge in.

Still, not willing to risk any unexpected visitors, he punched a few lines of code into the door's control panel (seemingly serviced by its own emergency power supply, since it was the only source of light in the entire room), and locked themselves in before taking a more careful look around the place.

Besides the kitchen, the cabin only consisted of two beds shoved up tight against one of the walls, a storage box by the door, a small bathroom with a sink and a toilet, and a generator that hopefully still had enough juice left in it to start up the electricity in the rest of the building.

It would have to do, at least for a few hours.

Garrus walked over to one of the beds by the wall and gently laid Shepard on top of the blanket, pulled taut a long time ago by careful hands. Shepard groaned, brows furrowed and eyes squeezed shut, and he reached out to run the back of a finger along her cheek.

"You all right?" he asked.

A thin line of wetness trickled out from the outside corners of her eyes. "It hurts."

Garrus's chest tightened. "Where?"

"Everywhere."

He sucked in a deep breath as he sat down next to her, and tried to keep his hand steady as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Shepard, it's… going to be all right." He swallowed, hoping that she couldn't hear the distressed thrum in his subharmonics. "It's going to pass, and you'll be back to normal in no time."

She reached out for his hand, and he met her halfway, squeezing her fingers until they went lax when she drifted off again.

In all honesty, he had no idea what was going to happen. That case on the Citadel didn't end well for some of the mercs that had taken too much of that damned drug. They certainly went through hell as their systems tried to eliminate the toxin, and not all of them made it in the end. He desperately hoped Shepard was not going to be in that group.

He wished Mordin was here; he would know what to do, and he might even have some cure or anti-serum or something to prevent the worst from happening.

Or… maybe he didn't have to be here. Maybe he could help, even through this distance.

Garrus let go of Shepard's hand and, with quick fingers, tapped on his omni-tool to start up his messaging program.

To: Mordin Solus

From: Garrus Vakarian

Mordin, I need your assistance. Shepard has been exposed to large amounts of Minagen X3. What do I do?

Use this channel. It's safe and I've bypassed the buoy limits for faster communication.

G.

With a last glance at Shepard, he stood up. Even with his hack, it was probably going to take a while to hear back from the doctor, and he wanted to check out that generator and the storage cabinets. If they were lucky, these people had some medications stored somewhere. If they were not, then… well, he hoped Mordin would have some ideas.

~ooo~

The only things he could find were some long-expired painkillers and a few rolls of bandages, but at least the generator started up without too much trouble. And, by the time the electricity came online, Mordin's reply had arrived as well.

To: Garrus Vakarian

From: Mordin Solus

If patient still alive, take her to medical facility. Needs antidote. Possibly IV solution as well. If hospital not available, let her rest but don't let her fall into coma. Wake periodically. In case of fever, cool body down. Administer medication for pain. Replenish fluids if vomiting. Still see doctor as soon as possible.

Let me know if Shepard survives.

Garrus's hand froze in the air as he glanced over at Shepard's body. Her temperature readings in his visor's thermal display were definitely much higher than he'd been used to. He cursed, remembering the snippets of conversation he'd caught about that case on the Citadel; something about the overtaxed nervous system of Minagen X3's victims manifesting itself in highly elevated temperatures which, if went unchecked, could result in brain damage, and even death.

He rushed over to the small refrigeration unit and yanked it open—then closed it just as quickly. With the power on standby for who knew how long, everything it had once contained had long since gone bad. He sucked in a deep breath through his nose, trying to dispel the unpleasant smell that had escaped the box, and charged over to the sink instead.

The faucet turned on with a squeak, gushing out a brown liquid and sending it down the drain. Garrus let it run, hoping that the sediment would soon clear up, and went in search of a small tub and a towel in the bath. He found both.

By the time he came back to the kitchen, the water was, indeed, much cleaner. He filled up the small container with the liquid and carried it, together with the towel, to the bed.

He paused as he looked down at the human on the mattress. Applying the cold water to her face would probably not be enough—not with her armor keeping her warm. It definitely wouldn't work with a turian; with her species, he could only guess, but it made sense to expose as much of her thin skin to the air and to the water as he could.

He put the tub and the towel down on the floor, and set to work removing the hard metal encasing Shepard's body. He didn't get far; the storm that had been brewing in the distance suddenly swept in above them, bringing with it deafening thunder, blinding lightning, and beating rain—and an agitated commander who'd been awakened by the sound.

She sat up, eyes wide and hand trembling as she clawed at her back, trying to pull her rifle off her shoulder. "We're under attack. Get into cover!"

Garrus grabbed her hands and tried to keep her still. "It's just a storm. We're fine."

"Assault rifle. Or SMG. Rockets! Mercs? Those damned robots." Her entire body glowed blue as she struggled against his arms, and Garrus held her, cooing soothing words until her ethereal aura dissipated and she collapsed back onto the mattress.

Garrus clamped down on his distress and returned to his task, removing Shepard's armor and undersuit, stripping her down to her underwear. She moaned and shivered, but didn't stop him, and he sat down on the bed by her side, pulled off his gloves, and dipped the towel with his bare hands into the cool water.

He started with her face, wiping her forehead, then continued on to her throat, her arms, the inside of her wrists. Her breathing slowed and her tremors stopped almost immediately; dropping her temperature down a few degrees, however, took a bit longer. The water turned warm and he had to change it a few times, but gradually, her readings began to normalize, and she opened her eyes.

"Garrus?" Her voice was weak, flat. She swallowed, and wheezed out a small cough. "What's going on?"

He met her gaze for a moment but continued on with his work. "You have a fever. I'm trying to cool you down."

"Oh." She followed his hand with her eyes as he wet the towel again and slid it down her arm. "I was hoping you were doing something a little more… exciting."

Garrus looked up. She was smiling, her cheeks flushed and her chest rising sharply with every breath.

"You feel better?" he asked.

"Yeah. A little. My head is killing me, though." She lifted a hand and pressed her fingers into her temple. Her eyes flitted around the room and her brow crinkled, mouth curling down in a confused frown. "What's this place?"

"An old miner's cabin. Had to get away from those damn beasts. It was getting too dangerous out there, and with your condition…" He waved a hand at her prone body. "Sorry we didn't make it to the ship. We'll make a run for it once the sun is up."

She watched him, her eyes narrowed in concentration. The drug must have still been having some effect on her brain cells, for she took a few long moments before she answered. "Okay. We'll… do that."

Most of the storm had passed by now, but there was still some pattering of rain drops on the roof, and she looked up at the ceiling, eyes searching for the source of the noise.

"It's raining," Garrus said.

Her hand, already on its way to her back to snatch an invisible rifle out of its holster, stopped. "Oh." She bit into her lip and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry to be… such a bother."

Garrus dropped the towel in the tub and bent down, brushing his forehead against hers. "No. You're not. If I were injured, you'd do the same."

She looked up at him. Her hand, so anxious to mete out justice a moment ago, gently slid up his neck, cupping the side of his face. "Yeah. I would."

Garrus watched as she dozed off. The good news was, her temperature seemed to be in the normal range now. He waited for a few minutes to see if her fever returned, and when it didn't, he pushed the tub with the water and the towel aside.

A wave of exhaustion shuddered through his body, and the fresh wound in his arm and leg, suppressed by medi-gel and adrenaline until now, began to throb again. Slowly, he gathered himself up, peeled off his armor, and stocked the pieces in a neat pile in the corner. There wasn't much space for him on the bed he'd laid Shepard down on, but he didn't care. He needed some rest for the next day's trek, but more than that, he needed to know if she was all right and if her condition changed through the night.

Moving her closer to the wall, he slipped in behind her, and snaked his arm around her waist.

He closed his eyes and fell asleep in a few seconds.

~ooo~

Garrus woke up to the sound of Shepard's moaning.

He shot up in the bed, nearly falling off the edge as he did so, and leaned over Shepard's face. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her forehead shone with a light sheen of perspiration, but her temperature seemed to be normal.

"Shepard," he said, nudging her shoulder gently, "you all right?"

Her eyes fluttered open. "I'm hungry."

Garrus laughed. "You must be feeling better, then."

"Yeah." She sat up, and moaned again, grabbing her forehead with both hands. "Ouch. My head still hurts like hell."

Garrus got up and walked over to the other bed to grab her undersuit he'd thrown on the empty mattress the night before. "Let's get out of here. You can take some painkillers on the ship."

She nodded, and caught the fabric he held out for her. "Thanks."

He kept an eye on her as they got dressed. She seemed to be wobbly and a little weak, but the fact that she was able to stand on her own too feet was definitely a good sign.

He peered out the small window above the sink. Outside, the world looked cheery and calm, with the sun already high up in the sky.

"Ready?" he asked, bringing up the map and the positioning system on his omni-tool.

"Yeah."

"All right, then." He stepped closer and wrapped an arm around her waist, encouraging her to put at least some of her weight on him. She tried to wave him off, but he ignored her protests. Good thing, too, for her knees almost buckled as they began to walk. "The ship's not too far," he said as he unlocked the door.

"Good."

She took a deep breath as they emerged into the forest, and she leaned into his side as they began making their way through the trees.