Chapter 49

To Be Needed

"You sure you're okay with this?"

Garrus didn't spare Shepard a glance as his entire focus was locked on the forlorn figure of Lantar Sidonis prominently displayed on the security footage of the small bleak cell.

"It's fine. Another Lantar has helped me with my grief and anger. Now I just want to talk."

"As long as you're sure."

"Let's go," was the immediate reply as Garrus led the way, nodding at the C-Sec officer who politely opened the doors and allowed the pair through to the cells.

The noise was practically deafening and the smell indescribable. Shepard wrinkled her nose in disgust but still noticed that Garrus was unfazed, clearly prepared for this by his own time serving in C-Sec.

Her turian was striding forward purposely and even pulling away from Shepard who was feeling her pregnancy a bit too much on her feet and ankles.

"Garrus... wait up!"

Her shout was unneeded as Garrus came to a halt and peered into the cell he stalled outside.

"Lantar Sidonis," he rumbled darkly.

"Shit!" came a panicked voice from within. "How the hell did you find me?!"


Victus reluctantly handed over the very chatty Atticus who chirped and squeaked to the whole world it seemed. This morning in particular the baby was very active.

He gently stroked the tiny little fringe before stepping away.

"He'll be fine."

Victus flickered his gaze to the peaceful face of Miranda who held their baby in a secure grip.

"I know. I just... I hate this."

"You can stay. There's nothing stopping you," Miri gently teased while Atticus rolled his big blue eyes towards Victus and chirped at him happily.

"I wish I could. You've no idea how much..."

"The only thing forcing you is, well, you."

He pondered Miri's words carefully. "I'll do a half day. See how much I can do at home. Even just a few hours."

Miranda stepped close, got on her tiptoes and gently kissed him with Victus's grateful rumbles echoing from his throat.

"Good," she whispered as she drifted back down. "We love having you home with us."

"Maybe I should be considering retirement then," he joked mid nuzzle.

"Maybe you should."

He froze, almost taken aback. "I... I wasn't expecting that."

"What?" Miri replied with her head cocked to the side, an act the baby attempted to copy.

"If I did... you wouldn't be upset at me?"

"For what? For wanting to spend more time at home? For wanting to enjoy the retirement you have earned?"

A smile peeked out from the corner of his mouth which he immediately attempted to smother. Miranda sighed before she lifted back on to the tips of her bare toes and kissed him once more.

"I want us happy. Whenever you are ready to retire then just say the word," she breathed out against his mouth-plates.

"You've no idea how much that means to me."

"Did you think I'd fight you on it?"

"A little."

Miri laughed. "You better go or you'll be late."


"If you're gonna shoot then do it!"

Shepard found herself a little dumbstruck. Even though she'd prepared for this, having the young Lantar Sidonis before her was disconcerting. In his place for the briefest second flashed the image of an older and wiser Lantar who bore his scars and burdens with a quiet dignity.

This Lantar was young, brash and clearly expecting Garrus to shoot him on sight.

"I'm not here to hurt you," Shepard heard Garrus say with a clipped tone. "How did you end up in here?"

"What's it to you?" Lantar asked suspiciously as he dragged back on a jacket he'd discarded to the floor.

"Just curious," Garrus spat back just as quickly.

"I got into a fight."

"Must have been quite the battle if you're in jail," Shepard added while she finally approached the shimmering wall that locked the turian in.

"Guy attacked my girlfriend. Had to step in," Lantar replied quietly. "I mean we both walked away from the scuffle. Next morning I'm getting picked up for murder. The guy walked away for spirits sake! He barely had a scratch on him!"

"Says here..." Garrus murmured as he reviewed the case-file on his omnitool, "... that he was found with multiple stab wounds. And your knife still stuck in one."

"I was with Kate that night! I didn't leave her... except once."

"Once?"

Lantar shuffled. "I had an appointment."

"Where?"

"Kor'is jewelers. Couple of blocks over from the C-Sec academy."

"I imagine they can confirm that," Garrus added with a hint of sarcasm.

"Yeah. Just... don't tell Kate will you?" Lantar added as he rubbed the back of his neck ruefully. "She doesn't know."

"Know what?" Garrus asked thoughtlessly before Shepard lightly prodded him. "What ar... oh. So marriage huh? Thought you weren't the settling type, Lantar. At least you always proclaimed that."

"People can change, Vakarian."

Garrus stared at what had been a close friend once. "Yes they can. Look we're actually out of time for this. Could only get a few minutes but we'll try to get to you. We're gonna take a look at this. See what we can do for you."

"Why would you do this? For me of all people!"

Garrus glanced at Shepard before returning his attention to the bewildered Sidonis in the cage. "You won't understand this but there was a man once who did my son and my family a great service. I owe him a debit that I don't believe can ever be repaid. And he's... he's not here for me to attempt to even do so. Instead I intend on helping others in his name. Any message for Kate? We'll be calling on her after this."

Lantar blinked rapidly, dumbfounded by what was happening. "Just that I'll see her soon hopefully. That I'm thinking of her."


"Ahhh. Miss Locam isn't it?"

Victus greeted to the young turian woman who met him at the reception to his office.

"Yes Primarch! Ayius Locam at your service. I'm so glad that you remember me! And I'm extremely grateful for this opportunity to work for you. It's a real honor!"

"No need for the platitudes," he replied with a small cough. "Well, I better get started. What is the schedule for today?"

"List of appointments on your desk along with kors coffee. Freshly made, Primarch."

Victus beamed. "Why thank you. I think we'll get along quite well if this is how every morning will go!"

He'd barely stepped inside the door of his office when he remembered an important item and turned to his new temporary aide. "If Miranda calls, please put her through. If I'm in a meeting and it's not an emergency, inform me and tell her I'll call her back."

"Of course, Primarch."

He nodded and gave a polite smile before heading to his desk, just missing the chim of an incoming call to the reception desk.

After a brief and polite greeting, Miss Locam listened carefully to the caller before replying, "I'm sorry Miss Lawson. I'm afraid the Primarch hasn't arrived yet. I'll inform him to contact you when he does."

Ayius Locam sat back in the seat following the call before she suddenly wrote a small note regarding the call on a datapad and made a plan to slip it unnoticed on the Primarch's desk later that day.


"Shit!"

Miranda panicked. Adrien hadn't taken his omnitool to work that morning, forgetting to take it with him in the enjoyable haze of the early morning wake up call that Miri had indulged him with.

"Come on baby! Breathe!" she said in a trembling voice to Atticus, the baby struggling to take in air to his lungs.

"TIB!" Miri shouted out to her toddler who rushed to her in his pajamas.

"Come on, sweetie! Get into your seat in the car! We gotta get to the doctor!"


"And you two... you know Lantar?"

Kate Parker had been hard to persuade into letting Garrus and Jane into her apartment.

"Old colleagues," Garrus rumbled as he took a good look around. "A very nice place, Miss Parker."

"Thank you. It's really just a bit of a mess right now. Lantar's just moved in and..." Kate trailed off. "Can you help him?" she asked quietly.

Jane glanced at Garrus before giving her most reassuring smile. "We will. But we have a few questions for you. We need a timeline of what happened. We didn't have enough time with Lantar to get an itinerary."

"Of course! Would you like a drink or anything before we start?"

"No need. Tell us what happened, Kate."

The slim brown haired human sank down into a seat at the nearest table. "We were out for dinner. Haven't had the chance to just enjoy being with each other in so long. Was really nice."

"Been busy?" Jane asked with a smile.

"My concert program is extremely tough. Touring isn't for everyone. Lantar being my bodyguard makes it so much easier but still leaves us with little time to just be two normal people in a relationship."

"If you don't mind me asking..." Garrus rumbled, "... how did you two end up together?"

Kate beamed. "He saved me! In London during the war. I'd lost everything. My family, my friends... everything. But I helped out as best I could with getting people and supplies to shelters around the city. In the lead-up to the final attack, I was trapped in a building collapse. I was certain it was over for me and just sat there waiting for the husks to come. And instead, I got Lantar. He got me out of there and safely to another shelter."

The slight human chuckled. "I think I scared him a little at the start because I clung to him like a limpet! When the war was over and he brought up leaving Earth, I immediately knew I had to go with him. I, ahem, I loved him a lot earlier and for a lot longer than he loved me."

Jane laughed. "But it's clearly even now."

"I hope so," was Kate's soft reply. "We had dinner out at the Craxius restaurant. Not certain of the time as I'd left my omnitool at home. It was dusk in the station cycle. I remember that at least! Shortly after leaving the restaurant, I was accosted by a man on the street. Human like me. No idea of his name. He was very vocal about his disgust at seeing me with a turian. Started shouting about needing to repopulate after the war. It was very upsetting. Then he grabbed my arm painfully." Kate rubbed her upper arm reflexively as if reliving it in her mind. "Lantar punched him. There was scuffle and eventually they were broken apart. Lantar took me home and that was it. I thought it was all over with."

Garrus tilted his head a little. "Lantar told us that he left you later that evening?"

"Oh! He did. For about an hour in fact."

"Did you notice anything different? Was he behaving normally? Any changes of clothing?"

Kate shook her head. "No. Nothing. He just came back with a bottle of wine and we watched some really cheesy films until late."

Jane leaned forward and grabbed Kate's hand. "We need you to remember every detail, every tiny bit that might help us. So... let's go through this once more and see if there's anything else we can add to flesh this out a little."


"-and of course Senator Hitritis didn't approve!"

Victus laughed heartily at the amusing story which Ayius related to him. They sat having lunch together in his office while going through a number of files and important events scheduled for later that week.

"Well, I imagine he wouldn't considering," he replied with a voice rumbling with good humor.

"His wife was not too impressed either. Neither was his girlfriend!"

They both erupted into peels of laughter once more before their moment was interrupted by the arrival of an incensed Attilius who strode in purposefully.

Ayius quickly got to her feet. "Sir! You can't just barge in here like this! The Primarch-"

"Shut it!" Atilius barked out angrily. "Get to your post outside. NOW!"

Victus shot up. "Apologize to Miss Locum! I tolerate a lot from you, Marcus, but rudeness to someone who doesn't deserve it is unacceptable."

"Just get out! And you!" Atilius snapped at Victus. "You get your shit together. Now. I gotta get you to the hospital."

Victus paled. "Why? What's-"

"It's Atticus. Just... get your things," Marcus replied in a low stuttered tone that suddenly had Victus terrified to his core.