Greetings All. I hope that everything goes well for you. Sorry for the delay; but this chapter wandered off into territory I wasn't quite expecting. I'm happy with it - just surprised. Thank you a million times for all the favs, follows, reviews, and comments. You make this worth while. As always these awesome characters and Universe belong to Bioware - I'm just playing with them.
Roundabout
Garrus
Garrus had settled back into his pillows. Not really dozing, but not exactly awake – waiting on Shepard. Though he knew that might take awhile. She loved to take ridiculously long showers when there were no water restrictions, and there were none at the mansion. Given the rain – he was inclined to think there were none in the whole of England.
He was drifting in that limbo between awake and asleep when he picked up the sound of heavy feet. He thought he recognized the tread, a faint sniff at the air confirmed it.
"You're a better pole dancer then an infiltrator – Vega." He called out.
"Damn." Came the low voiced curse from the other side of the curtains. "How do you do that, Scars?"
"I'm Turian, James. I hear better and smell better than you." Garrus tossed back as the curtains were pulled aside and Vega strolled in. The big N7 was grinning as he pulled up a chair and plunked himself down next to the bed.
"I hear nobody smelled good after Feros." Vega shot back holding out his arm. Vega had long ago learned a Turian handshake and Garrus obliged.
"Nothing smelled good after that." Garrus's nose wrinkled just remembering the foul stench of the 'creepers'. "It took me three days just to get the MAKO to stop reeking."
Vega chuckled at that then set forward in the chair. "How you doing, Scars?"
"I'm tired; but otherwise okay." He paused to take in Vega's face. "I see you've met Lieutenant Tafero."
Garrus couldn't be sure but he thought James was blushing. Hard to tell in the dim light and with Vega's skin tone.
"Damn, does everybody know about her right hook."? Vega muttered under his breath.
"Everybody who's been on the, as you say, receiving end of it – yes." Garrus told him. Vega perked up at that and eyed him.
"You too, Scars?"
Garrus sighed. "Yes, and most of the senior officers. About the only one she hasn't gone a round with is Victus."
"I get the feeling he's trying to avoid her." James commented.
"Yes, well she's been offering him something he doesn't want."
"Stress relief?" Vega asked and Garrus nodded. "I thought you guys were okay with that?"
"The Primarch's wife was on Palaven when the Reapers hit and he's had no word of her since." Garrus explained. "He…" Garrus faltered, trying to explain why Victus didn't want to do it.
"Madre de dios." The big N7 murmured. "I understand. He feels it would be unfaithful of him to do that."
"Yes." Garrus agreed a bit surprised by Vega's perception. Then again, everyone saw his size and muscles and assumed that he was just a human battering ram, not seeing the intelligence behind those muscles.
"Hey…" Vega changed the subject. "I hear congratulations are in order. You and Lola."
"Er…yes." He was unsure how to respond to that. He'd been well aware that the N7 had a crush, as the humans say, on Shepard. Though he'd never made a move on her that Garrus knew.
"You…you're alright with that?"
Vega laughed. "Scars, it was obvious from day one that Shepard only had eyes for you. Despite your scaly, scrawny, scarred ass." He teased then went on. "Did I want a chance, not going to lie – sure I did. But where I'm from if you went after someone else's woman – you were a creep. And my abuela didn't raise me that way and would have slapped the hell out of me for even thinking such a thing."
"Thank you, that means a lot James."
James slapped him on the back with a laugh, rocking him. "This just means I get to be in charge of your bachelor party, Scars. Do Turians jump out of cakes."?
"What?" What in Spirit's name did cakes have to do with anything? "Ah…Shepard still has partial amnesia, Vega." Garrus had to point out, somewhat sadly. "Might never get to a bachelor party."
Vega laughed. "Might still have partial amnesia; but it's obvious that she cares about you deeply. It may take a little while but I don't think you've got anything to worry about in that department." He paused then with a glint in his eye. "And I get first dibs on kissing the bride."
Unbidden, a growl rumbled out of his chest at that. He was startled and embarrassed; but James just laughed. "Touchy aren't we?"
"Turians are when it comes to our mates." He admitted to the N7, pleased when the big man didn't seem to be at all upset at his attitude.
James was about to say something when Garrus picked up the sounds of someone walking towards his area. A Turian someone.
"You better hide, James." He spoke up suddenly. "Sol is headed this way."
With several muttered curses that Garrus's translator couldn't handle, Vega scurried into the bathroom. Given everyone that seemed to be hiding in his bathrooms – maybe he should rent out space.
The door creaked shut moments before Solana came through the curtains.
"Hey Sol, how are you?"
Sniffing slightly she glanced around, taking in the chair, the bed, and her smiling brother.
"Alright, what are you up to, Garrus?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Up to?" He returned innocently.
"You just greeted me like a normal person."
"Can't I say hello to my sister." He asked.
"Not like that you can't." She retorted, examining the room again; but overlooking the closed bathroom door.
"I'll have to remember – being normal for me is abnormal for you." Garrus grinned at her.
He got a mandible click and a very annoyed hum out of her. Despite worrying, slightly, what would happen if she found Vega – he was actually enjoying giving her a hard time. Usually the boot was on the other foot with the two of them, her giving him the hard time.
"Hey Sol. " He settled back into the pillows again. Sitting up was tiring him far more than he had expected. "Could you get me some ration gel?"
"You actually want to eat that stuff?" She was stunned. Nobody liked ration gel – he'd even seen Varren refuse it and try to bury it.
"Not really." He admitted, "but I'm hungry and you can get that without having to go down to the kitchen."
She gave an approving click at that and turned to go. Just before she stepped out of the curtains she turned to him. "I'll see if I can find any e-rat bars."
"Thanks Sol." And he was grateful. "You're a good sister."
"You tell anyone that and I'll rip your fringe off." She threatened; but there wasn't any real venom behind it. He could hear the tones of her sub harmonics. He'd managed to embarrass her. After the curtain closed behind her – he smirked; but waited until he heard the outer doors close.
"You can come out now, James." He yelled at the bathroom.
After a second, the door opened and James stuck his head out. "She gone."
"Just temporarily." He told Vega. "So I'd get going before she gets back; unless you like arguing with her."
"Well, she is kinda cute when she's all fired up." Vega commented and Garrus just gave him a dour look.
"Don't even think it, Vega." He grumbled. "If she doesn't kick your ass – I will." Vega laughed at that.
Vega gently, well gently for him, slapped him on the shoulder. It still rocked Garrus, so obviously he wasn't as recovered as he'd hoped he was. Vega headed for the curtains..
"We'll talk more later." He paused at the curtains and grinned. "I want to know what Turians have at their bachelor parties."
"I hate to break it to you James; but we don't have bachelor parties." Garrus was honest.
"Then we'll just have to show you guys how it's done." With a final grin he was gone; leaving Garrus to wonder what in Spirit's name he might have gotten himself into.
He had no doubts that Vega would indeed try to introduce Turians to the odd human concept of a bachelor party. And some Turians might actually enjoy it. Then Garrus groaned as it occurred to him that the big N7 would, no doubt, get Joker to help him. Throw in Donnelly, Grunt, Spirit's forbid; Wrex – and you had the makings of a galaxy wide catastrophe. At least as far as he was concerned.
Despite worrying about what Vega and the rest of the delinquents, as Shepard had labeled them, could get up to; he was warmed by the thought that one day there might be a need for this bachelor party thing. Yes, he and Shepard were life mates; but she hadn't known it and there hadn't been any sort of celebration to mark it. Given that they'd been desperately trying to stop the Reapers – very understandable.
He'd seen pictures of some of those formal white dresses that human brides wore and the thought of Shepard in one of them was oddly rather appealing – in more ways than one. Realizing where his thoughts were tending and how his body was reacting – he switched to thinking about anything else to 'cool his jets' as Joker would say.
He was hardly up for that kind of activity, Spirits damn it; and she was still uncertain of him. Mates they were; but he was not going to push the sexual aspect – that would be wrong on so many levels. Plus, he didn't delude himself; Shepard was fully capable of damaging him, in non-lethal ways, if he got too forward with her.
Thinking of Shepard driving the MAKO finally calmed things down. He still, though he'd never admit it to her, had the occasional night terror about riding with her. Wrex had made a drunken admission one night that he did also; then threatened to rip Garrus's plates off if he ever told anyone. They were united in the face of the galaxy's most demented driver. He suspected that if you said 'MAKO' around any of the original ground crew they'd all flinch.
He was trying not to relieve any of their 'missions' when the outer door opening and a solid tread caught his attention. Though it'd been over a year he recognized it immediately; and it brought him instantly alert. Once they'd been crewmates, brother's in arms, friends; but now he wasn't sure what they were except that Shepard stood between them.
The homemade mattresses didn't work so well with hospital beds; but he'd managed to get the bed to bring him up to a sitting position. In no way was he going to appear at a disadvantage.
The curtains parted and Alenko stepped through.
"Garrus."
"Alenko." Garrus returned.
"Er, where's Shepard?" Kaidan glanced around cautiously checking for her. Wise since he'd basically been banned/ordered from seeing her by everyone from Hackett to Victus. At him using her name, Garrus felt a low growl try to erupt from his chest. He throttled it, but realized that something had been triggered and he was now shifting into some sort of protective mode.
"Gone to, what is it you say, freshen up." He didn't elaborate; it wasn't any of Alenko's business.
"That's good." Alenko sat down in the chair Vega had recently vacated. Again something inside Garrus twinged at the biotic's easy assumption that he was welcome.
"How are you doing?" At least Alenko pretended to be interested.
"Tired of being in bed." Garrus replied honestly.
"I hear that one."
On that, Garrus could agree with Alenko, neither man had ever liked being stuck in sickbay or on bed rest.
"How's Shepard doing?"
Again Garrus had to throttle back on the growl that threatened to erupt. Damn, whatever had been awakened by the biotics presence was trying to force its way to the surface. Some sort of old instinct he'd never felt before. He kept it hidden, unsure if it could be used against Shepard or himself and unwilling to find out. Alenko had proven himself untrustworthy once – it would be a long time, if ever, before the Turian gave him a second chance.
"Doing better." Garrus kept his answers short. Saying too much put you at risk of revealing too much.
"Once the storm lets up, we can get back to the Normandy." Alenko glanced out the window at the still; thank the Spirits, heavy rain.
"Yeah." Garrus was non-committal as he, again, stifled a rumble from deep inside, feeling a lot of rage beginning to coil up inside like some kind of fiery rope.
"Shepard is very popular with everyone on our stops." Alenko said admiringly.
"Shepard is very popular with most everyone." Garrus returned, " except Batarians and some Asari."
Alenko winced at that "She's humanitie's hero, Garrus."
This time Garrus barely managed to control himself. "She's the Galaxy's hero, Alenko, not just humanities. There isn't an intelligent living being in this galaxy that doesn't owe her their lives."
"Yes, but she's human." Alenko protested.
"So. There were and are heroes from every race, not just Shepard." Garrus knew that Shepard despised being singled out as the Savior of the Galaxy. In her mind she was just a soldier doing her job, along with thousands of others. Something Alenko should be aware of but obviously wasn't.
"You don't understand."Alenko began.
"I do understand, Major." Garrus snapped back. His sub harmonics beginning to make his voice sound gravelly. "
"She needs to be with her kind…" Alenko went on as if not even hearing him.
"You mean someone like you?"
"We're both human…it would be better for her to be with a human." Garrus could hardly believe what he was hearing. It sounded like something a Cerberus recruit would spout, not an Alliance Major. "Better if you release her to her own."
This time a low growl did escape him. Now he knew why Alenko was here. Since Shepard said no he was going to try to get Garrus to repudiate her.
"What's best for her is what she wants." Garrus snarled, interrupting him, as he began to lose his cool. "Not what you want, not what the Alliance wants, not even what I want – what she wants. And I will see to it that she gets it."
He was shocked to discover that he'd forced himself to his feet – to confront Alenko – and it wasn't as a friend. Alenko was too wrapped up in trying to convince him to let Shepard go to realize that he was in danger.
Whatever old instinct Kaidan had triggered, Garrus dimly realized that he was descending into the rage filled haze of a Turian defending their mate; and the more the biotic talked the heavier the haze.
Hendan
"Praetor Vakarian is going to tear my fringe off." He moaned to Nema as they headed for the medical suite.
"He doesn't seem as rule bound as most of the senior officers." Nema said quietly. "He actually seems quite nice."
"He is." Hendan squeaked as his voice cracked, again. "But I just left several of his important data pads in the med suite. Where anyone can find them."
"Given the earlier emergency, I doubt anyone is paying attention to them, Hendan." Nema put a hand on his arm and he let go with a purr that sounded more like a human burp. Spirits but he'd be happy when his voices finally settled. Right now everyone either winced at his voice or was laughing at him. Hard to be an effective aide when you were a laughing stock.
They turned the corner to find the door to the med suite ajar. One of the guards was standing just outside; the other was just inside talking to the night nurse. Just as Hendan went to ask them what was going on – he heard it. Heard it – he felt it like a physical blow. A Turian on the precipice of a killing rage. And not just any Turian, though he barely recognized the tones, it was Praetor Vakarian.
"What's wrong?" He demanded of the guards.
The guard turned to say something and got a good look at him. "Nescal, maybe the youngsters can help." The other guard and the night nurse turned to look at them.
"We have to do something." The Night nurse exclaimed. "But none of us can go in there."
"Why?" Hendan was confused.
"It's the rage of Turian defending their mate, and we're all adult males. Our presence will just make him angrier." The Nurse explained.
Hendan was about to protest that he didn't know what to do when Vakarian's sub harmonics began to spike. Without being told he knew he had to make some sort of move now. Vakarian was shifting from threat to action.
He gulped and headed for the curtains, ignoring his greave, which fell off – again.
"The human biotic is in there so be careful." One of the guards warned.
"I'll see to that." Nema told them. Her voice formal and strong, not soft and shy as she normally sounded.
Hendan stepped through the curtain, Nema behind him, to find the Praetor standing against the bed, confronting the human biotic. Alenko, Hendan thought his name was. Vakarian didn't look any different from normal till you noticed that his talons were twitching ever so slightly and ticking against each other, his pupils had pinned. His sub harmonics were low, but were beginning to rise in jagged spikes. A very bad sign.
"It's for the best, Garrus." The biotic was telling him. Hendan was startled to realize that he had no concept of just how angry the Praetor was.
"What's best is what she wants, Major." Garrus's voice sounded like it was forcing its way through gravel.
"Major." Hendan interrupted, terrified that the biotic would trigger an attack. "Your Admiral Hackett is looking for you." His voice broke, again; but he ignored it. "It seemed to be something urgent."
"Thank you." He told Hendan, turning to go and putting his back to Vakarian. Hendan about swallowed both voice boxes at that. Putting your back to a Turian that enraged was a good way to die; but before something could go wrong – Nema stepped up. Her presence short-circuiting any response on Vakarian's part.
"I'll show you where he is, Major." She indicated the curtain.
The Major nodded and started towards her. Just as he got there he was about to turn and say something to Vakarian when Nema grabbed his arm.
"We really need to hurry, sir. The Admiral seemed very concerned about something."
"Alright." Distracted, Alenko followed her out without saying anything. After a moment the outer door closed. Hendan heard the night nurse ordering the guards in a low voice to keep the man out no matter what.
He turned to face the Praetor. He'd known Vakarian was widely considered a fierce warrior; but the mellow, low-key man he worked for had never seemed fierce or all that dangerous. The man in front of him now was the embodiment of all that – he was lethal – and every bit the soldier his reputation painted him to be. And he, Hendan the useless, had to try to talk him out of his rage. What was it humans said – they were doomed.
"Sir.." He cursed mentally as his voice squeaked. "You…you should get back in bed." He didn't miss the fact that though the Praetor was standing up, he was braced against the bed.
The older man stared at him and Hendan could literally see him weighing if he was any kind of a threat. After a moment, he gave a sharp nod of his head. Hendan knew Garrus was on the border between rational thought and instinctive response and it wouldn't take much to trigger the latter.
Hendan's throat was dry as he took a slow step towards his boss. He might never have dealt with a Turian this angry; but it was common knowledge as to what you had to do. The major things, if you were so suicidal as to get near one of them, being to move very slowly, calmly, and quietly. The very last thing you wanted was to give them another focus for their rage. Like yourself.
Vakarian watched him, weighing his every move. Hendan could see it in his eyes, read it in the way he shifted his weight, and his fingers slowly opening and closing, his talons rubbing together.
He finally got next to his boss. Now what did he do? For a second Garrus's deep rumble, growl really, from his chest spiked up – then it calmed.
"Do you need help getting back in bed, sir?" To his shame, his voices ratcheted up even higher than usual.
The Praetor tilted his head down to study him. Now Hendan knew exactly what prey felt like – there was little of the laid-back man he'd worked for and come to admire. He had to somehow get the Praetor to calm down, to slip back into rational thought.
Just then the curtains opened and someone stepped through. Vakarian tensed, and Hendan thought for one horrible moment that the biotic had come back.
"Garrus?" It was Solana, Vakarian's sister. "Are you okay?"
Vakarian turned to face her. Wary; but not near as feral as he'd been a moment before. The sight of a female and a blood relative seemed to do something – good. Hendan took a moment to breathe.
"Solana?" His voices still sounded deep and jagged; but Hendan caught the faintest touch of easing in them.
"I hear you're in here scaring the youngsters." Sol said. She was moving very slowly, her tone light and teasing. Hendan got the impression she'd done this before though probably not with her own brother. For several long moments, no one said anything then
Garrus let a breath whistle past his teeth, and shook himself, hard, releasing some of his physical tension.
Sol had eased up besides him now and Vakarian turned to look down at her. As the rage receded, Hendan could see the old Garrus begin to reassert control.
"Sol." There was a world of bewilderment in that one word.
"It's gonna be okay, Garrus. We're here for you." She softly patted him on the arm. As she did so, Hendan saw her give him the shot she'd hidden in her other hand.
He gave a little click of his mandibles; but otherwise didn't protest.
"Hendan, can you help me get him in bed?" Sol slipped around him to pull back the covers on the bed.
"Yes ma'am." Hendan moved up beside her.
There was the faintest of chuffs from Vakarian as he looked at his sister. Obviously amused in some way. Hendan had never been so happy to hear that – it meant that the rage was dying away and the Praetor was turning back to the mellow, rational man he normally – truly was.
Vakarian didn't put up any resistance when they got him into bed; but Hendan could feel the tension pooled in the muscles of his arms and legs. As he settled back into the pillows – his over exertion caught up with him and he passed out.
As he did, Solana pulled several medical devices out of a nearby cupboard. Quickly she got Vakarian hooked up to them. Starting a IV drip in one arm.
"Er, ma'am, what about his..er..stress." Hendan whispered to the medic. The Praetor had to be carrying an immense amount of stress now.
"That's what the shot was for." She returned quietly, scanning her brother. "Since he can't release it any other way."
Hendan had heard about the shot, an alternative to normal stress relief, but he'd never seen it used before.
Once assured that Vakarian was fully unconscious she turned to Hendan and fixed him with a look much like her brother. "Now tell me what in Spirit's name brought this on."
