This is a work of fan fiction from all Mass Effect games owned by EA and Bioware. I do not claim any ownership of the characters or the Mass Effect universe. My thanks to Bioware and EA for creating an amazing story with characters we have all come to know and love.

Chapter 37: Supportive Endeavors

Listening to the muffled conversation between Shepard and EDI, Garrus walked back and forth in the dimly lit hall outside the captain's cabin. They would be leaving orbit of Hagalaz in a few more hours, and he had to tell her. He knew she would let him go without a second thought, but he secretly hoped that wasn't the case.

He knocked, making his first mistake at an undemonstrative approach to this conversation, and the doors slid open as EDI greeted him. "Officer Vakarian, your vital readings are showing signs of erratic stress patterns. I would recommend a visit to the medical bay for an evaluation."

"Thanks for letting me in, but that won't be necessary."

The desk chair swiveled around to reveal Shepard with legs crossed and one foot wrapped around her delicate ankle. "What's going on?" she said.

His attention broke away from her unwieldy sitting habits. "Hmm?"

"You knocked. Even without EDI's intervention I would've figured out something is amiss."

"Yeah, about that." Supporting his weight on the bathroom door behind him, he noticed a new accessory adorning her neckline. "Is that what I think it is?"

"My tags?" He nodded, watching as she lifted them to adjust the chain. "Liara gave them to me. Said she got them from Admiral Hackett - Do you need to sit down?"

"Nah, this is good. I came to tell you I got a message from Solana."

"How's your mom?"

"Things aren't looking good, and that's why I stopped by, actually." Unable to control the uneasy crawling sensation in his legs, he began pacing in the fish tank's glow. "I'm going to need to head back to Palaven."

"I'm sorry, Garrus. I thought you still had options."

"It wasn't enough."

"Anything you need, just let me know."

He halted. It was an opportunity, and he would take it this time. "Shepard, I don't know how long I'll be away, but I need you to stay safe. Nothing crazy."

Shepard scoffed and eased back in her chair, unwinding her legs. "I think you should be more worried about your family right now. I'll be fine."

Irked by her relaxed manner, he said, "It doesn't bother you that I'm leaving?"

She gave her fullest attention to a mess of datapads, disks, and papers, sorting them into no particular order that he could understand. "Well, of course it bothers me. What am I supposed to say, Garrus? It's your mother, I'm not getting in the middle of that just because I like having you around."

"That's all you're going to say?"

"What do you mean?"

"You seem like you're unfazed."

Staring at her terminal keys, her shoulders lowered. "You wanted me to say no? To tell you that you're not allowed to leave the ship when there's no reason for me to keep you here? Garrus, this is your family. You have your own life, and you've given me so much already, I can't ask any more of you. That wouldn't be fair to them or to you."

Indicating to each of them, he said, "What is this?"

"What's what?"

"This."

Shepard rose to lean on the hall partition across from him with arms guarding her chest. "In all honesty? This is me, holding it together."

"You don't need to hold it together for me."

"Enough about me, this is about you."

"As much as I hate to disagree with you, you're wrong. This is about both of us."

"I'm afraid I need some clarification."

"Ell, I don't want to set a foot off this ship and be wondering where we stand after everything we've been through. I need to know if... if you'll be here when I come back."

"Like I said, I'll be fine. I've got a good ship, a solid crew, and I've got nothing dicey to do. The Collectors are taken care of. No surprise attacks. You have to do what you have to do, I've always known that."

"You're going to be at the Citadel."

Cocking her head, she said, "What does the Citadel have to do with anything?"

He wielded his hand in impatience. "Alenko. Krios. Who's to say what happens if I'm not around. What if you get into a fight with another reporter?"

"You're worried about my fighting with a reporter?" she asked, one brow higher than the other.

Shaking his head in frustration, he explained, "No, I'm worried - concerned that maybe you'd find something better suited for you. Something closer to home... Or run into trouble and someone misses their shot."

Her complexion paled as she stared at him mutely. There was a lot firing away in that mind he could never see. He returned to pacing, trying to fill the unsettling silence, and rambled, "I know it's crazy to think this could work, but I'm not giving up on it. I don't want to leave all of this, but I have my own responsibilities elsewhere right now. I'm not asking for your permission, or demanding anything from you-"

"Stop. Just stop." Her palms flattened against his waistline, blocking his path. "I think I know what this is about now."

Her sweet fragrance hit without remorse. She took his hand and scrutinized each of his fingers against her own. "Here's the deal. I hereby promise to put all my efforts into not getting myself killed, should the situation arise. I also promise not to get into a position where I may be swept away by another handsomely intriguing man, of any species.

"However, I only promise these things if you go home to be with your family, give them my regards, thank them for raising such a wonderful turian - even if you're terrible at avoiding head trauma - And most importantly..." Slender hands pulled his face closer as she said, "You have to stop worrying."

"I can do that."

"You're sure?"

"Yes..."

"You don't look sure."

"I'll do everything except for the worrying part. I don't know if I can do it, but I'll try."

"I can accept that." She patted the back of his shoulder and hugged him tightly. "Now, go pack your things and relax."

He nodded in confirmation, deciding to take the chance to put his mind at ease with her terms, and exited toward the elevator. It would be enough. "There's a turian frigate departing from the Citadel at the end of the week."

"All right."

He backed up and pressed the button for the crew's deck, examining the slant of her hips as she stayed in the doorway. "After you're done with T'Soni, we can discuss the details about things for when I'm gone. In case there's anything that may need to be taken care of. Not that you'll be leaving the Citadel anytime soon."

"Okay."

The muscle at the back of his neck grew taunt. Massaging it loose, he glimpsed down at his planted feet. She was going to wait for him.

"Garrus." Shepard smiled as his eyes returned to hers. "I love you too."

Air caught in his chest as the elevator shut, leaving him gaping at the detached metal barrier between them. EDI would be paging the medical staff shortly if his heartbeat didn't control itself soon.

The walls hummed to match the floor's vibrations, and he rubbed his hands over his face washing away all the doubt he had drowned in. The way she said it told him she meant it, and that thrilled him beyond all expectations. It was more than enough to give him hope for the future, no matter how bleak the rest of the galaxy seemed to be. He had Shepard. She was his.

The doors opened to reveal the bright light of the crew's deck, shining on a barren wall.

"What the hell am I doing?"

She stared at the orange gleaming terminal, dumbfounded, numb, and bittersweet about the entirety of what he had and hadn't said. Ellure perched on the edge of her chair, smoothing her hands over the top of her legs, coming to brace on her knees.

The train had derailed, like she had always known it would. The cards for her life weren't meant for normalcy. Her life was destined to be stolen moments amongst war, loss, and unpredictability. And now she had promised him to keep herself safe, sane, and single. That last one would be easy. The first two? Not so much.

The look on his face put a smile on hers. Priceless. It was rare, catching him off his guard and blowing away that calm, confident exterior he was always hiding behind. In front of the Dracon Towers, she perceived it an accident, due to her own failure of keeping her footing, till she saw him beautifully covered in smoke and the eyes - the eyes of a frightened and relieved man. It just never occurred to her as to why.

Chin in palm, elbow digging into the desk, she said, "You're an idiot."

"I realized that."

"I wasn't talking to-" After taking in the fierce "target acquired" appearance he held, she switched gears. "Welcome back. You didn't knock this time."

"No. I didn't."

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I know you're busy, but I was thinking about what you said."

"All right."

"Yeah." Reaching down his hand, towing her to him, he said, "And I know that I'm supposed to be packing right now, but I was hoping you could spare a few minutes of time for me."

"I don't know. You may be asking too much there."

"I was only being polite. I won't take no for an answer." He reached behind her and set his visor on the desk.

"Interesting... Log out, EDI. Cease and desist with the recordings, please."

"Ending all of this cabin's audio and video recording until further notice. Logging you out, Shepard."

Tightening one eye, she said, "Is it just me, or did her voice sound like she was humored by that?"

"How about we ignore the prying AI."

"I'm afraid I'll need a good reason to do that."

"You need a reason?" Equipped with a light smile, he pressed against her ear. "I want you. As a matter of fact, I need you."

She bit the corner of her bottom lip, replying simply with a shrug. "Well, you have me."

"For how long?"

Led by her wrists, she was pursued back to the glass. "I guess that depends on you and what you're offering."

He sighed through his nose and shook his head. Debating what his next move would be, she turned away as he closed in and tried to plan her own course of action. Hotly against her throat he breathed, "Name it."

"You're off to a decent start. I'm afraid that... Back up a second here." She gathered her top overhead and tossed it behind his shoulder. "Where was I? Oh, right - I'm afraid that I need someone supportive of my endeavors."

Removing his shirt, he said, "You have a lot of endeavors. Most of which end up being suicidal." With one hand on her back, drawing her to him, the other slipped beneath her bra. "But I can provide excellent support."

"Ah, that's not fair." She discarded the strappy nuisance.

"What's not fair?" Brushing the back of his finger over her in a not so subtle maneuver, he ran a talon under her chain of ID tags as he scrutinized them.

"You killed my chance to use that against you anymore."

"How?" Dropping the chain, both of his hands cupped over her, caressing her body into submission while his tongue traced along her collarbone.

"You see," she said, unfastening the top of his pants. "Once you've used the joke against yourself... Okay, that's slightly distracting."

"Don't say slightly. Now keep talking."

Eyes closed and palms resting on her head, she resolved to stick to her guns as his breath shadowed between her breasts and past her navel. Forfeit was on the horizon. "I can't think when you're doing that."

"Finish telling me why you can't use it against me."

"Because you've taken your own blunder and used it..." The words dropped away as his fingers slid under her waistband and gradually slinked her shorts down over hips, thighs, knees to legs and reaching their limit at her ankles.

"Keep talking."

She kicked her garments aside while he knelt in front of her, allowing his hands their return ascent as he kissed the inside of her thigh. She tightened her fists trying to keep up her controlled approach to this. "It's no longer effective for me..."

Feeling his wet tongue against her skin, she panicked. "Okay." Using her hand to signal surrender, she cracked. "That's enough. I can't - You can't... DNA issues."

"Keep going, I'm not getting the point yet."

"About what? What is the point of anything we talk about?"

"You're a terrible liar."

"I swear, not lying about that one. I really can't remember. This has gone on too long."

With a softly flanged laugh, he said, "Doesn't matter anymore."

Jerking her knee up over his hip, he trapped her between the heat of his body and the chilled glass as they appraised each other's gaze. "I hate you."

Pressing his forehead against hers, he said, "Now that one I know is a lie."

"I meant... to say - I am going to hate you."

"What? Why?" He leaned back from her with astonishment written all over his face. She had him off balance. It was a start.

"Because we need to move... to the bed."

Rubbing intimately against her as if to prove his argument, he reached down to grasp her other leg and slid his hands to support her hips. "No, I won this."

"If you insist. Just don't look behind my shoulder."

"Okay then." His eyes shifted.

"You can't tell me that's not creeping you out."

"They're not actually watching us."

"How do you know? If you can ignore that, then go right on ahead. I'm not the one who has to look at them." She was seconds away from defeat, but as he glanced behind her shoulder a second time, she established that he'd taken the bait.

Garrus exhaled sharply while one finger tapped against her skin as he held her in position. "I would have never even noticed, but now... since you've drawn it to my attention..." He hoisted her up and carried her down the steps.

Lacing her fingers behind his neck, she pressed the side of her face to his. "Remember when you told me not to look over the side of the Broker's ship?"

He slowed to a stop at the end of the bed.

"Same thing."

"Spirits..."

Ellure awoke to find herself entwined in a mangle of legs and arms with the side of his face resting against her chest leaving inviting mouthfuls of air to roll across her skin. If he kept this up, she'd need a logbook just to keep track of the tally. She couldn't let him get too far ahead of her, after all. She needed some pride.

Kissing the top of his head, she filled her starved lungs of his scent, experiencing a sinking down to her bones. He was leaving in a week.

Leaving. That reminded her of something.

"Damn it. EDI, what time is it?"

"Nineteen hundred hours."

"Crap. Wake up, Grumpy."

"I'm already awake. Your heart is starting to race again. Five more minutes and I'll let you up."

"I told Liara I was going to drop off that data before we left, and I don't want her staying up all night waiting for me. Let's move out."

"I'm afraid I can't do that. It sounds like an unsafe rhythm. It's not the same as when I make it dance."

"You're proud of that one aren't you? I can feel your face twitching."

"Why are you in such a rush?"

"The rush is, that you need to make it to the Citadel, and Jack is going to kick my ass if she doesn't get off the ship sometime soon."

"She doesn't scare me."

"Some of us bruise when we get hit in the face."

Lifting off her, touching his nose to hers, he dragged a finger through her hair. "I can share you this time, but up until that ship leaves don't plan on getting rid of me that easy."

"That's really cute and all, but I have to go. This is important." He sighed and closed his eyes as he rested his forehead on hers. "Please? I'll order you if I have to." Groaning exasperatedly, he moved back and waved her away.

Shuffled out of bed, she pulled her denim casuals out of the armor locker and stopped to sift through the clutter on her desk, move his visor to the shelf, and hook up a blank datapad. "EDI, can you upload the collector base data?"

"It will be uploaded as decided upon prior to Officer Vakarian's arrival."

Done with a swift shower, she peered through the glass and snorted with amusement as she combed out her hair. He was stretched over the bed with a sheet draped over only the essentials, scowling as he flipped through Mordin's datapad.

"Did you read this?" he growled.

"Yes I did, if you must know."

"He's not running any tests on Joker personally is he?"

"Not to my knowledge. I doubt he would do anything without consent, Garrus." After dressing and grabbing the data for Liara, she said, "Thank you, EDI."

"You're welcome. Do you need me to prep the shuttle bay for your departure?"

"Just tell Joker I'm on my way. We don't need you to steal all his work."

"Aye aye, Commander... that was a joke."

"Don't let him hear you say that either." Discovering her abandoned snack bar, she unwrapped it and held it in her teeth as she jammed on her boots and hurried toward the door.

Garrus said, "Forgetting something?"

Turning around, she saw him hanging her tags off a finger as he approached up the stairs. She removed her poor excuse for dinner to speak. "Yes. Thank you."

"Make sure you keep them on."

"Why?"

"Never know. I'd rather not see them anywhere but on you. Still breathing, of course."

"Yes, sir." Lowering her head, she waited them to drop around her neck. Sharing a quick peck, she said, "Why don't you pack away your stuff already?"

"Okay then. Now, I'm definitely beginning to think you're trying to get rid from me."

"Not the kind of stuff I was talking about." She stuck the snack bar back in-between her teeth and winked before she left.

Liara flitted through file after file. Giving in to exhaustion, she lie her head down on her scattered notes and closed her eyes.

"Greetings, Shadow Broker."

"Hello... Glyph, right?"

Liara smiled and sat upright. "Yes, that is what I decided on."

Shepard tossed a datapad to the center of her desk and parked a hip on the corner, knocking over a picture that displayed the two of them with Tali in the SSV Normandy's dining area. Setting it back upright, she said, "Sorry about that. Are you okay?"

"I'll be fine."

"Your eyes say you're done in. Feron seemed worried."

"That didn't take you long."

"What?"

"Don't play coy with me." She put a palm against her forehead. "I don't know how Tali does it. How's Garrus?"

Shepard's face heated as she twirled her foot. "He's good. Sadly, he'll be going back to Palaven soon."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, it'll be okay."

Shepard smiled halfheartedly, she thought. Certainly they had grown used to being together over the past several months, but Garrus didn't seem the type to stay away for long. In addition, Tali and Joker would still be there to keep an eye on her, and as for the rest of the crew, she didn't know them well enough to say.

Shepard poked her fingertip to the datapad. "Are you even going to look at all my hard work, at least so I know if you can get some use out of it?"

"You're wanting to know if I'm seeing what they're seeing?"

"Pretty much."

"You don't agree with Joker and Garrus?"

"I'm not sure if I believe it's coordinates exactly, but I'm not the expert here."

"Does Cerberus have this data?"

"Yes."

"I'll try to see if there's anything important then. In case we may need to beat them to it."

"That sounds good, but we don't even know what it is. Is it even an it?"

Liara studied over the abundance of information as Shepard continued, "I gave you everything I could scrape up with EDI's help."

"I'm not for certain, but... some of it looks like prothean."

"I figured as much."

"What makes you say that?"

"No one else could read any of it, and the biggest giveaway was when your eyes lit up." Shepard gave a slanted smile as she balled up her fist and gently pushed her cheek away. "You're a good kid."

"I'm older than you. I'll be a hundred and nine soon."

"By asari years, you're young. By human years, I'm getting old. That makes me older than you."

"Whatever increases your confidence, Shepard." Liara laughed as she set the device back down and sat on the desk beside her. "So how are you? I mean, really. Not just what you tell your squad to keep morale up."

"I'm alright. It's been rough, but I'm not giving up yet."

"You've certainly made a good start, even though those idiots on the Council won't admit it. You and your team destroyed the Collectors and walked out alive."

"We fought them in their own base and won."

Liara examined her face carefully. "I'm still amazed. Seeing you sitting here the same as you always were."

"That could be a bad thing."

"I can't believe that." She hugged her tight and grinned as Shepard gave her a light squeeze before releasing. "I hope you'll visit me again sometime."

"Of course. Once everyone on the Normandy gets squared away and with nothing else to do, I'll be back. I don't like to sit in one place for too long."

"Be careful out there, Shepard."

"You too, Liara."

Shepard waved to her one final time and walked away, leaving her alone to echoed footsteps. Adjusting the picture on her large, grey desk, she realized her heart was filled for the first time in years.

Feron nodded a hello to her as she looked up. Worried she was grinning like a loon the way he smiled at her, Liara said, "Is everything all right?"

"I came to see if you needed my help with anything." he said, "Shepard also told me to make sure you get some sleep."

"Greetings, Shadow Broker."

Feron scowled to the sphere as it circled behind him. "I hope you've found a way to correct that."

"I'll get right to it after I check in with our informants." Sitting down, she pulled up the voice alteration program with a smile. It was a good feeling to find your calling.