Chapter 29
Shepard was greeted outside the Normandy's airlock by two guards and Anderson. She sighed at the guards but otherwise just stood, waiting for orders.
"Shepard." Anderson said, his voice heavy. Shepard's mouth twitched a little as she realised that he didn't like this any more than she did.
"Anderson." She said, neutrally. She had her hands clasped behind her back in an attempt to stop her from fiddling, not with her hair, but with her holo-locket which was tucked beneath her top. She had opted for a white vest top with her dark blue jeans and white trainers, not wanting to intimidate with the casual clothes she normally wore on board the ship.
One of the guards moved forward and began to scan her with his omni-tool. He stopped over her chest and turned to Anderson, looking a little alarmed. She rolled her eyes at that, pulling the holo-locket from beneath her vest.
"It's a locket. It shows me pictures." She said, a little tersely. She had only been separated from Garrus for little over a day and it was already taking it's toll on her temper. She figured it was a combination of the distance and the knowledge that she wouldn't see him again soon. The tugging feeling in her chest was never far from the forefront of her mind.
"Sir, it could be a concealed weapon and even if it isn't I would suggest that given Shepard's tech expertise, it be taken from her anyway." Anderson gave her a look that suggested that if she could, she should just hand it over. Shepard just raised her eyebrow.
"I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or annoyed." She smirked, coldly. Anderson looked concerned, he hadn't known Shepard to be so... confrontational. "If you want to take this, you'll have to kill me." Her expression was dead serious and Anderson nodded.
"I don't think even Shepard could construct a weapon from a holo-locket." Anderson said and the guard stood down, although he looked as if he didn't agree with Anderson. "This way, Shepard." She followed Anderson and found, to her surprise, that, they were headed to the VIP quarters. Although, as soon as they entered, the door locked behind them.
"I was expecting the brig." Shepard admitted and Anderson smiled, sitting at the desk as Shepard perched on the end of the bed. She noticed that all of the tech had been removed from the room including the terminal and couldn't help but smile. She hadn't realised that her reputation was so great.
"Shepard, most don't agree with how this is being handled. We recognise the need to pacify the batarians but... Dammit Shepard, you're a god damn hero in most of our books." She blushed a little, going to push her glasses up her nose before remembering that she had handed them over at the airlock. She settled for fiddling with the holo-locket, careful not to activate it.
"Thank you, Anderson. That means a lot." He nodded before continuing, watching her closely as she twisted the locket's chain over and over.
"Are you going to be alright, Shepard?" He asked, leaning forward and looking at her intently. Shepard sighed at that, still twisting the locket.
"Yeah." She managed, swallowing hard. Trying not to think too much about what she had left behind.
"Really? Because you're about to snap that locket off of its chain. The locket that you said you would protect with your life and that looks suspiciously like a-"
"Yeah, okay. Maybe it's not going to be easy for me to leave everyone behind. I'm not used to having... so many friends." She said, not meeting his eyes.
"So, who is he?" She looked at him questioningly, pain in her eye.
"Shepard, I'm not blind. You're fidgeting incessantly with a wedding ring." He pointed out and she sighed.
"I know, I just... haven't really told anyone yet. So, if I tell you then you can't tell anyone. Especially not my parents. I don't need them hearing this second-hand." Anderson looked at her and sighed. He'd always watched out for Shepard, ever since the mission to the batarian slave camp. He had trusted Hackett's judgement and given the quiet, young girl a chance despite the fact that she hardly looked like anything. But looks can be deceiving as he found out and, while she never seemed entirely comfortable with other people and kept to herself so well most of the crew wouldn't even recognise her, she was one of the deadliest soldiers he had ever seen. Putting her in for special ops training had just made sense to him and she had excelled, determined to prove that his faith in her wasn't misplaced. Now, it seemed that she needed someone to talk to and he knew that she would trust no one else.
"You don't have to tell me Shepard but if you want to then I'm here." She took a deep breath and nodded.
"I need a dry-run anyway before I tell my parents." She said and he nodded.
"So, who is it? On your paperwork you didn't state a husband, just your parents and Vakarian under 'other'." She nodded.
"Yeah, well, we're not technically married. Not under human laws, anyway..." She bit her lip, trying to decide how to approach it.
"So he's not human?" She shook her head and Anderson gave her a look. She tried to determine whether it was a good or bad one but couldn't.
"Yeah, so you can imagine why I want to be the ones to tell my parents." She joked a little before sighing. "So, we are the equivalent of married but I didn't want to put 'husband' on the forms because he had never technically asked me, or at least he hadn't until just before I came here. So, I guess he's my fiancée. That feels so weird saying the word..." She trailed off and Anderson narrowed his eyes as the pieces fell into place.
"It's Vakarian?" He asked and she bit her lip, nodding. "I had assumed that you had put him on the form because you said, in the report that you after cutting ties with Cerberus, that he was essentially your XO." Shepard shrugged at that.
"Well no, Miranda was still in charge of all of the XO stuff. It was just that I would never enter a battle without him on my six, you know?" Anderson sighed at that, shaking his head.
"Yeah Shepard, I know. Figures, you two are too alike for your own good. Both trouble makers, you're just smarter about it." He said, smiling and she smiled back. They both knew that her report was only clean because she was very good at finding loopholes and covering her tracks when she bent regulations. "So, You really love him, huh?" She nodded.
"I really do. Anderson, I can live with being locked up. I've lived on ships my whole life, I'm used to small spaces and solitude. But being away from Garrus for an undetermined amount of time? It's gonna be tough." Anderson just nodded. There was nothing he could say, no platitudes to make this better. She was going to hurt and it was only going to get worse.
"Garrus! It's not true, is it? I told them it wasn't but they wouldn't listen!" Kara cried out as soon as he entered the bakery, startling the few customers and causing Elle to shake her head at her. Garrus sighed a little, how was he going to explain the extenuating circumstances to a ten year old?
"Kara, it wasn't her fault. There was nothing she could do to stop it." He said and the girl nodded.
"There was no way out..." It wasn't a question but he shook his head anyway. He had forgotten that Kara had spent the last year or so on the streets of the Citadel and had probably learnt the hard way about making the tough calls. She was probably more grown up than anyone ever gave her credit for. Anyone except Jane.
"How are you holding up, petal?" Elle asked and he shook his head.
"It's hard not being near her." He admitted, his hand moving reflexively to his bondmark. Elle watched him carefully as she drank a cup of tea.
"I was wondering how long it would take you two to mark each other." She commented and he shrugged.
"I guess we were just trying to find a balance between turian and human customs. I figured she might not be so keen on me slicing up her neck to give her a scar." Elle smiled at that.
"You figured wrong, I take it?" He nodded, smiling himself. Right up until he heard a voice from behind him.
"Garrus! I've been looking everywhere for you." His sister approached him, shaking her head. He sighed at that.
"Sol, this is Elle and Kara. Elle, Kara, this is my sister Solana." He introduced them all and they nodded to each other, and although Sol smiled it wasn't warm as she kept her eyes on her brother. She seemed a little annoyed but mostly just tired.
"Garrus, please don't just wander off without telling me where you're going. Dad asked where you were. It seems like you're avoiding him." Garrus sighed, shaking his head.
"Sol, you should have just messaged me instead of coming to find me. You should be with Mom." Sol rolled her eyes at that.
"So should you, Garrus. She's fine, Dad's with her. Which is why you're not, I assume. You are avoiding him. Why?" Garrus sighed and Kara spoke up, still listening in to their conversation.
"He doesn't want to get told off for going out with a human. It's weird." Kara explained and Sol looked at her, surprised. Garrus just shrugged.
"Sol, Dad's going through a lot right now and finding out about Jane and I isn't going to make it easier for him. Mom's always been more tolerant of my reckless behaviour and hot-headed nature than Dad has so I knew that it wouldn't be an issue with her but Dad? He's never exactly been a fan of humans or of my life decisions which I get, I really do, but right now it's a problem that we don't need." Sol shrugged.
"So then don't tell him." She said simply and he sighed.
"Sol, you figured it out after five minutes with Jane and I. Mom figured it out before I did from a letter I sent home years ago. So, how long do you think it will take Dad, the famed C-Sec investigator, to figure it out?" Sol sighed, shaking her head. Her brother really could be an idiot sometimes.
"Garrus, you're barely present when I try to talk to you. If you can barely concentrate, imagine what it's like for Dad. He only noticed that you were absent because it's so obvious. If you were actually there, even for a little while, I don't think he'd even notice your facial scars. But it would lower his suspicions. He's not going to see your bondmark because he won't be looking for it. He's too... distracted." Garrus nodded, sighing. She was right, of course.
"Yeah, I'll go back to the hospital in a bit. I promised Jane I'd keep an eye on Kara for her." He said, gesturing to the young girl who was now across the room, drinking a hot chocolate. Sol gave him a sympathetic smile.
"I'm sorry about what happened, Garrus. I know this must be hard for you." He nodded.
"Yeah but you guys need me right now and Jane needs me to keep an eye on everything for her and Palaven needs to be prepared for the Reapers so I can't afford to dwell on it too much." Sol nodded in understanding, putting her hand on his arm.
"You should try asking Dad about the Reaper problem Garrus, he might surprise you." He nodded.
"Yeah, maybe."
Shepard's cell was surprisingly comfortable. She hadn't expected it to be a horrific dungeon but she also hadn't expected a space that largely resembled her old quarters on the SR1. Large enough to be considered comfortable without the emptiness of her quarters on the SR2. Or, at least, the emptiness that she had experienced those nights before she had told Garrus how she felt, the nights when she had been alone with the memories of being spaced and the visions from the beacon on Eden Prime. She never used to dream. Maybe once or twice a year, when she was particularly stressed, but not often. Certainly not nightmares every night. Somehow Garrus' presence returned her to the days before, when she slept peacefully each night. Now, though, the dreams were back in full force, yet another reminder of her distance from Garrus.
The room, much like the quarters on the ship that had brought her to Earth, had been stripped of all tech. She frowned a little, wondering when her reputation had started to precede her. Sure, she was well known as a close quarters combat expert and her biotic power was well known but her tech abilities had always been forgotten by others in the past. She wondered if the world had stopped underestimating her and, if they had, was it good or bad?
She was still musing when a huge hulk of muscle entered the office adjacent to her cell. The cell itself didn't have a door, although the small bathroom did, but she was separated from the office by a kinetic barrier which she could see and hear through, although not pass through. She turned her attention to the huge guy who could easily be mistaken for a krogan as she realised that he was her guard. She carefully watched him as he approached the barrier and gave her a salute.
"Commander." He said and she smiled.
"I don't think you're supposed to call me that any more." She pointed out and he shrugged.
"I'm not supposed to salute you, either." He reasoned and she kept smiling.
"So, what's your name?" She asked, folding her arms.
"James Vega. I'm your protection detail." She raised an eyebrow.
"You mean guard?" He shrugged.
"Yeah but they figured someone's more likely to try and assassinate you are to try to escape." She nodded at that.
"Fair enough. You seem alright Vega. I thought they'd probably stick me with some pendejo who didn't know the meaning of fun." Vega raised an eyebrow at the swear.
"Tú hablas español?" He asked and she nodded.
"Yeah, but I haven't had much practice lately." She answered in Spanish and he nodded.
"Sounds fine to me." He shrugged. "But I could help you practice if you want. Not much else to do here anyway." She nodded. Maybe keeping her language skills sharp would give her the distraction she needed, although she doubted it.
AN: My apologies if I screwed up the Spanish. I was going to write more but then it hit me that since it has been a year since I've had occasion to speak any Spanish I'm a little rusty. Also, thank you everyone who has reviewed and followed and favourited, it means a lot to me that you guys like what I'm writing so thank you! Hope you enjoyed!
