Garrus watched, partially amused, as Shepard sat at the table in the mess hall with her hands over her ears and clearly not listening to Miranda or Jacob as the two humans bickered and complained about things to her. After calming down, mostly, from visiting the crash site, Shepard had busied herself with talking to the crew and asking if they needed anything from the citadel before plotting a course. Now it was the waiting that was killing her. That and the two humans who won't leave her alone.

"And I'm telling you it's irresponsible."

Shepard dropped one of her hands on the table, staring up at Miranda.

"No, what's irresponsible is trying to go behind our Commanders back and attempting to block Jack's access to our files."

Shepard groaned softly and rubbed the side of her head.

"She shouldn't' have been given access in the first place!"

Shepard closed her eyes, letting the two argue more.

"It wasn't your call, Miranda. It's the commanders. You are not in charge here."

Miranda scoffed, loudly, folding her arms over her chest.

"Perhaps not, but if I was-"

Shepard cut her off by laughing, short and quiet before looking at the woman.

"If you want to take over, then by all means. Please. I'd love to see how you do."

Jacob covered his mouth to keep from laughing while Garrus full on chuckled, and rather loudly, catching the human's attention. He stopped chuckling the moment their eyes landed on him, Jacob still grinning while Miranda looked about ready to jump him and Shepard simply rose from her seat and walked over to him and gently threaded her fingers into his and gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"Sorry, Commander. I could not help but over hearing."

Shepard laughed softly, shaking her head.

"No worries, Garrus. I know that your hearing is better than ours, you can't help it."

Shepards eyes cut over to Miranda as she scoffed and muttered "He could try" under her breath and Shepard's brow lifted as she stared over at the other human.

"Something to say?"

Miranda glared at Shepard, but soon lost all of the heat behind it when Shepards body pulsed in biotic energy and causing Miranda to take a step back and hold up her hands in form of surrender. It was now Jacobs turn to choke out a laugh, winning the glare from Miranda. Shepard grinned and gently leaned over onto Garrus' shoulder, closing her eyes as he moved his head and gently nuzzled the bottom of his jaw on top her head, the purr rumbling in his chest causing Shepard to grin even more.

"Commander."

Shepard groaned lightly and opened her eyes at the AI's voice.

"Yes, EDI?"

Shepard wiggled her head gently under Garrus' jaw, making his purr stop with a sputter at the sudden movement and caused her to giggle quietly as he looked down at her with a flutter of his mandibles.

"We have begun docking procedures at the Citadel."

Shepard tilted her head up and looked at Garrus, smiling nervously.

"Want to come with me?"

Garrus tilted his head, pondering.

"That depends... What's the plan?"

Shepard made a noise, tilting her head far enough to the side to expose her neck which Garrus took full advantage of and dipped his head, gently nuzzling his head against her skin.

"I need to see the Council, maybe I'll be lucky and they will restore my Spectre status, I have some Thief to meet from the dossier's, and I have a four legged companion to pick up."

Garrus chuckled quietly at the last part, his mandibles flaring in a small grin as he nuzzled her neck more firmly before pulling back and standing straight.

"Well, I suppose we could do worse for a first date."

Shepard's face turned bright red at his words and she spun around quickly to slap his shoulder, Garrus pretended to cower away from her, laughing as he held up his hands in a defensive manner as if it would protect him from her slapping his shoulder and gently shoving him. After the fifth slap, he laughed more and quickly snatched up her wrists and held them close to his chest with one hand while his other arm snacked around her waist.

"Such abuse."

Shepard giggled quietly, smirking up at him.

"Only because you deserved it."

Garrus made a low humming noise, thinking, before dipping his head and gently nuzzled his mandible against the side of her head before releasing her and took a step back.

"Shall we?"

Shepard rolled her eyes at him but nodded, smiling as they made their way to the air lock.

Shepard blinked when she felt Garrus' hand wrap around her own, her gaze dropping form the door they stood in front of and to their fingers as her turian companion slowly worked to winder her fingers around his.

"You ok?"

She nodded once, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked back at the door that would open to Anserson's office. After talking to Kasumi through an advertising stand, she didn't think her day could get stranger and yet here she was, frozen, as she stood in front of the office door.

"Do you need another minute?"

She nodded again and Garrus gently pulled her away from the door and lead her to the far railing, giving her a moment to collect herself. She took in a heavy breath and closed her eyes, rubbing her face with her free hand.

"I didn't think seeing him again would be so hard..."

Garrus chuckled quietly, gently tugging her hand and pulling her close to him.

"It's been two years. Maybe not for you, but for us, It's a miracle to be near you again."

Shepard puffed out a breath and playfully glared up at Garrus.

"I know that. It's just..."

She looked back at the door, biting her lower lip.

"The man practically raised me, Garrus."

She looked up at Garrus, her brow furrowed so close together it looked like one long fuzzy caterpillar. Garrus sighed softly before chuckling, gently flicking stray strands of hair from her face.

"All the more reason to stop stalling."

Shepard let out an undignified squawking noise at that.

"I am NOT stalling!"

Garrus lifted a brow plate as he stared at her, her voice raise just barely at yelling pitch, and he let out an unbelieving "mhmm" noise. A loud hissing noise made them turn their attention towards the now open door and Shepard had barely enough time to register what was happening before she was suddenly on her back with what felt like a five ton body lying on top of her. She opened her mouth to sqy something, but all that came out was a very loud "ewwwww!" As a long slobbery tongue came out and started to lap at her face, and everywhere else it could reach for that matter. Garrus just stood there, blinking, as he watched the silver Varrin pounce Shepard and knock her over and now assault her with licks, unable to help the laughter bubbling up from his chest as he cupped a hand over his mouth to try and stop it.

A sharp whistle sounded and the licking stopped. Shepard laughed breathlessly and stared up at the large Varrin still on top of her, smiling fondly as she gently reached up and scrubbed behind his ears.

"Who's a good boy? You are, yes you."

She giggled loudly as Caneo thumped his head heavily on her chest and just laid there, his tail wagging happily as a low purring noise sounded in his throat. Garrus grinned as he watched, leaning on the railing as his gaze drifted over to the human standing in the doorway.

"I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come in, seems hearing your voice he got impatient. He missed you, Shepard."

She looked up from the drooling face on her chest and smiled widely. She gently pushed Caneo on the side of his neck and he slid right off of her and landed with a heavy thud before jumping upright and gently nudged Shepards side as she stood up as if he was giving her a hand. Garrus simply watched as Caneo then walked over to him and sat on his rump, the two of them watching as Shepard was wrapped up in a hug as Anderson approached her when she was on her feet again. Shepard hugged him back just as tightly, pressing her face into his shoulder as his hand gently traveled across her spine, Garrus could have sworn he heard Shepard crying.

"Come. There is much to talk about."

Anderson smiled at Shepard as he took a step back from her after what felt like forever, motioning for her and Garrus to come into his office. Shepard smiled up Garrus as he came over and gently placed his hand on her shoulder, watching as she patted her leg and Caneo came charging after them before the door to the office could close and lock him outside.

When Shepard and Garrus got back to the Normandy, Caneo tore off to explore the new ship. A small grin on her face as she watched the varrin disrupt the work of almost every single human in the bridge.

"Varrin on board the ship? What happened for this?"

Shepard grinned even more as she watched Mordin trying not to get run over by the large beast, shaking her head with a small giggle.

"His name is Caneo, Mordin. Be nice to him, he's mine."

Mordin blinked slowly, looking from Shepard over to the varrin as one of the crew shrieked so loudly it caught eveyones attention, half of them bursting out in laughter as they saw the human female had jumped up onto her console and tried shooing Caneo away with her foot.

"Caneo? Yours? Interesting."

Shepard grinned and walked past Mordin, gently patting the Salarian's shoulder as she walked over to Caneo and gently patted his neck, the large beast stopping his playful antics instantly and sat straight as an arrow as Shepard knelt in front of him.

"Listen here, bud. You need to behave yourself, ok? No scaring the crew."

Caneo tilted his head once, then to the other side, before growling quietly and dipped his head. Shepard smiled brightly and gently ran her fingers across the top of his head, watching as Garrus walked passed them with a few bags in hand. He stopped a few feet away and dug inside one of the bags and pulled out a bright orange ball, giving a sharp whistle before barely throwing it at Caneo who snapped his head in the direction of the whistle before snapping his jaws around the ball and began chewing on the rubbery orb as Shepard stood and walked over to Garrus and smirked.

"How much do you think Miranda is going to want to kill me?"

Garrus tilted his head slightly, pondering the question before he looked back at Shepard with a turian grin.

"On a scale of 1-10? About 1000."

Shepard burst out in laughter as she watched Caneo stand from chewing his ball, still having it in his mouth, and trotted over to her and Garrus as they pressed the command for the elevator. When it arrived, Shepard simply smirked as she watched the metal doors slide open to reveil Miranda standing there, data pad in hand.

"Oh, Commander-"

She took a step forward but stopped immediately as Caneo began growling at her, the surprised squeak coming from Miranda almost making Shepard topple over laughing.

"What the hell Shepard?!"

Shepard couldn't stop it. She was laughing so hard she had to use Garrus as support and he helped her climb into the elevator, pushing Miranda out so Caneo could get in, and Shepard simply grinned at Miranda as she glared daggers into her.

"Good boy."

And with that, the doors closed and the elevator was sent to Shepards Cabin.