"You are horrible," Shepard announced the first chance she got. She didn't want a lot of people around her sickbed, but she didn't mind so much about her crew—and apparently, all or most of them knew by now that she'd had an alteration. Goodness knew she'd worry if Garrus or Tali ended up taking a drop like the one she'd suffered.
Garrus would probably fuss the ways he felt like fussing: I'm fine. I just need to recover, so let me get on with it!
Wrex leered at her. "Come on. It was hilarious."
Shepard couldn't argue this. The look on Alenko's face, coupled with the spray of water as he spat it out, was hilarious. It took a lot of effort to contain the laughter that would have followed the initial shriek that accompanied Wrex's 'innocent' announcement that some krogan (who might or might not actually exist) was 'interested' in her.
Containing the laughter had been almost as painful as the laughter itself. The medication she was on to dull the pain was just that: enough to dull the pain. So she remained well aware of lacerations, bruising, strains, and fractures if she wasn't calm and settled.
She felt certain that Wrex would put the kibosh on any real breeding requests firstly because it just wouldn't work—human and krogan? Seriously?—and secondly because he knew she was involved with someone already.
The fact was that, in all the years she'd known him, Wrex never tired of getting under Alenko's skin.
Poor Alenko, she mused, hadn't learned how to deal with it.
"You're still horrible," she chuckled, shaking her head.
"I am. I'm a horrible person," Wrex agreed so mock-contritely that Shepard laughed again.
Her face hurt from smiling, but Wrex's visit already had her feeling better. Wrex had an outsider's perspective; of course he knew how to make her laugh. Knew how, and could follow through. It was nothing against her crew or Alenko; she was truly grateful for their concern, even if she wished they weren't burdened by it. Wrex wasn't down in the trenches every day; he didn't worry over what he didn't see.
"Want me to see if I can get him to do it again?"
"Do what again?" Garrus asked, entering the room.
"I said I was family and Alenko backed me up. How'd you get them to let you in?" Wrex asked, wrinkling his nose.
"Easy. I told Bailey I wanted to see Shepard. He called ahead, said he was sending an officer down to talk with her," the turian shrugged flippantly.
"Hmph."
"I know." Garrus sat down on the foot of Shepard's bed, bright blue eyes checking her over. "How're you feeling?"
"Better now that I'm dry. That water was frikkin' cold." Wrex's good humor helped put her in good humor, so she might as well spread the joy.
Garrus grinned at her, then pinched her toes. She jerked her foot, and he nodded approvingly. "Where's Joker?"
"Patched up and gone home. I offered to let him crash at my place but…" she shrugged.
"You need a little space. Let work be at work," Garrus answered.
Shepard shrugged. Part of her felt guilty at so much space being wasted. Part of her almost looked forward to housesitting because she had successfully inveigled Alenko into helping her do it. Especially now that she was all banged up. A little time, just for the two of them, sounded like a good way to spend an enforced shore leave.
"Are they keeping you overnight?" Garrus asked.
"Yeah. They might try to keep me tomorrow night, too." She had no intention of doing so. If the doctor wouldn't sign off on her papers, she'd just leave against medical advice. There wasn't really anything wrong with her that required her to stay here (except a knock to the head, but it wasn't a bad one); Huerta was simply supposed to be a safe place.
She wasn't allowed to carry a gun. How safe could it be?
"Any word from Bailey?" Alenko asked, sitting down on the stool by Shepard's bedside.
"Looks like a small, isolated thing, but he's raising all kind of hell down there." Garrus' mandibles flicked the way they did when he was mildly annoyed about something. Probably about C-Sec's recent track record. He was gone, but still maintained strong sympathies for the overworked, underpaid policing agency. And now they were really overworked because they were so understaffed.
"It's just the equivalent of potshots," Shepard said somberly, the echoes of the would-be assassins ringing in her ears. In fact, as she thought about it…
She glanced at the calendar on the wall. Yes. It made sense.
"Are you sure?" Alenko asked.
"I'm sure. No, really," Shepard protested when all three men looked dubious. "It's just Harbinger's idea of an anniversary card."
"You're sure?" Garrus pressed.
"Yes, I'm sure," Shepard repeated, beginning to feel irritated. She had to give the thing credit for being vindictive. Unfortunately, it only made her angry rather than driving her into the depths of despair. Apparently it bought into the idea that she'd maintained tight connections with Mindoir when, in fact, that had all been political stuff while she was…out of commission.
It was reassuring to know Reapers could miscalculate.
The turian's expression twitched, but he didn't question her further. He merely leaned forward, resting one hand on the back of her neck, and brought their brows together affectionately. "I've got a half-dozen people downstairs who don't have C-Sec clearance. I'll let them know you're okay and to save their well-wisher visits until you're out of the hospital."
"I'd appreciate it. And Garrus? Give Tali my love," Shepard said as Garrus reached the door.
His progress hitched for just a moment as if he wanted to ask why he should do it.
Oh. He was cottoning on, then. Good. "She's the biggest worrier, after all," Shepard finished innocently.
"That's very thoughtful of you, Shepard," Garrus observed before exiting the room.
