If You Need Me
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His words meant more to her than either of them realized. Shepard/Garrus, late ME2.
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Disclaimer: This author in no way profits from the writing of this story. All characters, dialogue, or other referenced material from the Mass Effect trilogy belongs to Bioware.
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I'll be here if you need me.
It was such a simple statement, but after all Shepard had been through, those words meant more than she could have ever imagined they would.
After losing two years of her life she was thrown back into it as if she should be able to immediately reconcile and go on as she always had—there was a galaxy to save, after all. She wanted to yell and scream that everyone expected too much of her and that she was just one person, one rather unstable person at that, but there was no one to say it to, not really.
Those who she had depended on were gone, and those who wanted her trust were unworthy of it. She missed him. She missed all of them.
When Archangel removed his helmet to reveal a friendly face, someone she knew and trusted, it was the first time she'd been truly happy since she came back from the dead. He didn't fight her, didn't question her or judge her. He was right behind her, putting his trust in her implicitly, backing her no matter what, like he always had.
She didn't understand how rare that was at first, not until so many of the others turned her away. When Kaidan rejected her without even giving her a chance to explain herself, her faith in everything was so shaken that she wasn't certain she could put it back together.
But in the wake of that, there was one person who was always there. Her trust in so many people had been broken, but he'd always kept his small promise.
I'll be here if you need me, he said. He always was.
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