Chapter 55

Shepard sat back in her desk chair, taking a breather from reviewing the files in front of her to instead watch the crew in the mess hall. She smiled as she saw Liara and Feron together. They had picked Feron up when they had retrieved Miranda as he had finished his current assignment for Liara and she had suggested that she would like him to stick around and help her organise data. Of course, the drell had leapt at the chance. Although, Shepard figured it was probably a good thing that Liara couldn't hear drell sub-harmonics because every time Javik walked in the room Feron's went into full on jealousy mode.

"I figured I might find you here." She spun her chair around, bringing her knees up to her chest as she heard Garrus's voice form across the room. She smiled at him, pushing her classes up her nose.

"Hey." She said as he walked over, eventually leaning against the wall next to her desk.

"You've been in here all day." He pointed out and she shrugged.

"Chakwas and Miranda keep asking for more tests. Plus, I figured I should try to hack Mordin's files again but it turns out that they were programmed to unlock as soon as certain scans were entered into the medical systems.

"I still can't believe he didn't tell you what he was doing." Garrus muttered and Jane shrugged.

"I... After we met Kara I did a little research. Just to see if it was really as impossible as we thought. I had a few preliminary ideas, including using some kind of buffer between the two DNAs, when Mordin caught me. I shrugged it off and told him that it was just wishful thinking. I said that I didn't want to get my hopes up and so I stopped my work. I figured it was a problem for another day. I guess Mordin knew me well enough to not accept that bullshit... The files themselves are pretty informative but not as much as I would like. There's still so much we don't know..." She trailed off, running her hand through the loose strands of hair that had fallen over her face, pushing them back out of her way.

"You're worried." Garrus said. It wasn't a question, he could feel her worry through their bond, mirroring his own.

"Of course I am, Garrus. As much as I want to believe that this will all work out wonderfully, I have to be realistic. My body wasn't designed to be able to handle this and it might not be able to cope. Add to that the fact that no one knows what a human turian baby would be like... There are just a million ways this could go wrong." She sighed and he nodded.

"I know, ani. But there are also quite a few ways it could go right. Mordin knew what he was doing, and I don't think he would ever do something if it might cause you any pain or distress." He reasoned and she nodded.

"I hope you're right Garrus, spirits, I really do..." She mumbled into her knees as she sighed. "When did you become so optimistic?" She asked with humour in her sub-harmonics as she frowning a little.

"I think we've both had enough worry and pain for one lifetime. Come on, ani. There's nothing more you can do. Try focusing on something else for a bit." She sighed again and nodded at that.

"You're right. I have to go and talk to Miranda anyway. I think I have an idea about the Omega problem." She said, getting up.

"Do you want me to tag along?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yeah. You're a part of this plan anyway." She said before they made their way to the observation deck where Miranda and Oriana were staying. They were both in the room when they entered, pouring over data pads.

"Hey Shepard. What can we help you with?" Miranda asked as they entered and Shepard sat down opposite her friend.

"I had an idea about hitting Omega." Miranda nodded at that as Shepard handed her another data pad. "You mentioned that we would have to flush them out and that would take superior numbers, right?"

"Right. There really isn't another way to get rid of every operative from the station. We would have to retake control of all of they key systems at once and that would take several small task groups. Add to that the fact that they would all have to know Omega in order to be effective enough." Shepard nodded at that.

"I think I know where we can get help..." She said and Garrus growled.

"Jane..." He warned but she shot him a silencing look.

"You may not like her Garrus but you have to admit, Omega is better under Aria's control than that of Cerberus." He continued to frown.

"So you're planning on just going to her and asking for her help?" He asked and Shepard shook her head.

"I'm not asking for her help, I'm giving her ours. Let's face it Garrus, she is going to retake Omega. Frankly I would just wait it out and let her deal with it but the data on Cerberus activities we could get is too valuable. So, I offer our help in exchange for any and all data we find." Garrus didn't look happy and his sub-harmonics were all over the place but she gave him a look that kept him quiet while she went over the plan with Miranda.

"Aria has a whole army of mercs at her command. What could we possibly add to that?" Miranda pointed out and Shepard smiled.

"Me and Garrus. I figure nobody knows Omega like Archangel and this is pretty much a textbook N7 exercise. She doesn't need an army, she needs a few well-trained operatives that can take back control of the station's key systems before Cerberus even knows what hit 'em." She told her and she nodded. Shepard took a deep breath and suppressed a frown as she felt Garrus seething next to her. "Can you two work out the details of our plan to present to her? I'm going to tell Joker to set a course for her base. Liara should know the coordinates." Miranda nodded as Shepard and Garrus left the room. Shepard walked over to life support, which was empty, and turned to face a livid Garrus.

"Okay, let me have it." She said, her arms folded, ready for whatever he had to say. The daring look in her eye was damn near one of the sexiest things he'd ever seen and wasn't helping his irritation any.

"Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He shouted, angrily and she just raised an eyebrow.

"I am once again loving your confidence in me." She said sarcastically, fuelling his anger.

"Fucking Aria, Jane?! She'll stab you in the back the first opportunity she gets!" Shepard scoffed at that, shaking her head.

"And what are you basing that assumption on? I'm giving her something she wants for a very reasonable price. She has no reason to cross me and Aria doesn't strike me as the type to do things for no real reason." She told him. Her tone was cold, logical and analytical and he hated it. He hated the fact that she could be so fucking calm about it.

"Right, you're giving her your services. You're just going to walk into a Cerberus controlled space station and hope they don't recognise you and focus all of their attentions on killing you?!" She shrugged at that outburst.

"That's why you're going to be there. At my six. Just like old times. I mean, come on, we've been in worse situations. This is actually a pretty simple mission by our standards. It's exactly the same as any other time we've gone on a mission. I don't see the diff- Oh, Garrus..." She moaned as she realised what was bothering him. She sighed, her voice softening as she shook her head. "Look, let's get one thing straight, okay? I am not sitting on my ass for nine months, or possibly longer. I will wear heavy armour with medi-gel dispensers but I am going to keep working and part of my job is going on missions and leading ground teams." Her tone was sympathetic and her eyes told him that she understood his concerns. But that didn't change her mind. His sub-harmonics growled with frustration but he sighed, scratching his fringe.

"You are the most infuriating woman I have ever had the misfortune to meet!" He growled and she smiled, taking it as a compliment, before frowning again.

"Garrus, this isn't like you. Well, the protectiveness is but you can normally put the mission ahead of that. And I've certainly never seen you this worked up before." He groaned in frustration at that.

"It was easier before. It was a psychological reaction, not a physiological one." He tried to explain but her frown just deepened.

"How so?" She asked and he sighed, trying to stop the frustration trilling through his sub-harmonics.

"You know how turians depend more on pheromones than humans?" He asked and she nodded.

"Yeah, that's how you identify bondmates." She said and he nodded.

"They're used in a bunch of different way, although most are to do with mating. Humans don't have them so any response you triggered from me before was purely emotional. But since the crucible fired..." He trailed off and she nodded, understanding.

"When the crucible fired, I was heavily injured and when my cybernetics healed me, they rewrote some of the DNA in the new cells. So, what? I'm producing turian pheromones now?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Not exactly but close enough. Especially now." She sighed, nodding.

"So, what you're saying is this is a turian thing about being protective of your bondmate and child?" He nodded and she sighed, smiling and shaking her head.

"Garrus, that's sweet but-"

"Knock it off?" He finished for her and she laughed a little.

"Yeah. I promise I'll be careful but I can't have you stressing out every time there's even a little bit of danger. You'll never get any rest." He laughed a little and sighed.

"I don't know how easy it'll be to stop but I'll try." He said and she nodded.

"I can't ask you for more than that."