When they arrived back on the Normandy Jane gave everyone an hour of reprieve before she wanted a debrief in the conference room. The Journey back in the shuttle had been one of the most tense Garrus had ever endured, Jane had sat in the front clinging to her shawl like a defence while Kai Leng had been sat in the back of the car with Garrus. Garrus didn't know what to make of the events that occurred that day, other than the clearly very alarming and discontenting news on Ettlemen's Project Jane. Garrus didn't know how to process what had been passing between Leng and Jane. Wrex was wrong Jane wasn't suffering Stockholm's syndrome, she was purely just in a bad mental state and trying desperately to be what everyone remembered her being. Yet she didn't have the memories off that woman, she had the memories of a fifteen-year-old child who clearly very much enjoyed the company of the assassin. Garrus felt enraged when he watched Kai Leng pull her onto the dance floor but that had slowly boiled down to a doubting dismay as Shepard seemed to relax in the mans arms and actually began enjoying the dance. Then abruptly she seemed to remember herself and something cracked, now she was in her quarters with Lanaya who had been in the care of Samara during the mission. Garrus felt guilty, here he was trying to pretend everything was normal but for her this was all but normal, she had no memory of this she just had familiar feelings, the only true memories she had was off that damned man. He groaned as he dressed himself in some Turian fatigues, once dressed he slumped down onto his cot in the main battery and put his head in his hands. This was more emotional stress than one person should have in a lifetime, yet here he was again, dealing with it all poorly. He would make this right somehow, he would go back to her quarters with her and make an effort to invest more time into helping her remember, instead of letting his urges drive him forward like he always did around her. He hadn't been with another woman since she'd died, Turians used sex as a method of stress relief and could completely detach from it like a useful tool unlike Humans. When they had bonded she was from then on out his life partner, even though she knew what she was accepting back then the Jane now didn't have a clue of the predicament he was currently in. He saw her bond mark had gone along with a lot of her other scars, a result of the repairs to her body curtesy of Kai Leng. The thought that she was no longer marked his drove his mind crazy, his body raging with the need to just claim her as his again. The bond they had cemented causes a chemical reaction in a Turians brain rendering them incapable of bonding with another person, usually when he doubted his worthiness of being hers he would look at her bond mark and remind himself that she was, he could no longer do that. The blasted assassin wasn't making the situation any easier, he hated the man anyway but along with his clear intentions towards Shepard and the fact he could smell the male humans desire for her when she was near was almost enough for him to bludgeon Leng to death.
"Commander Shepard is requesting your presence in the debriefing room." EDI stated simply then left as quick as she'd arrived.
Scratching the back of his fringe he looked at the time and saw he'd lost track of it, slipping his visor back in place he left the main battery and went straight to the conference room. When he arrived everyone needed was already there, Jane was at the head of the table with Kai Leng stood diagonally behind her, ignoring the man he looked to the others. Zaeed, Tali and Kasumi were dotted around the table none of them having changed from their combat gear and all looking different levels of disturbed.
"Dozed off Vakarian?" Jane asked with an amused smile and Garrus smiled back at her. Despite her emotional turmoil she still put up a strong front, he loved this woman still even if she lacked the memories that made her Commander Shepard.
"Something like that." He uttered dismissively and stood to her side, furthest from Leng. Jane nodded once he was settled and looked to Tali
"Tali give us a rundown of what you found." Jane ordered and folded her arms over her chest as she cocked back on one leg.
Tali moved to the end of the table where the footage would project and began, "Doctor Ettlemen's Project is further under way than the mere two weeks," she began and scrolled through her omni-tool, "our finds suggest he has been working in secret for quite some time, perhaps even before they recovered your body from the crucible." She explained and Garrus felt uncomfortable with the information. "Ettlemen was responsible for the clone we fought back on the citadel, we found evidence backing his statement in the footage from Aeia. It looks like after the first clone was taken care of by yours truly-" she gestured to Shepard before continuing. "-Ettlemen tried to replicate his work, but…luckily for us he didn't have enough genetic data to create a successful subject." Tali paused for a moment before breathing in deeply and trying to gain her bearings. Zaeed took pity on her and cleared his throat to resume where she left off,
"It wasn't a pretty sight down their Shepard. His failed experiments were badly deformed…after that I looks like he tried to make a, baby or something and that didn't survive." His statement was grave and the ex merc looked troubled which was testament to what they witnessed in Ettlemen's estate. "I'll let the rest finish because I don't really understand all this crap, all I know is its not…right." He breathed and Kasumi nodded in agreement next to him, bowing her head further under her hood.
"That's putting it lightly. From what we could tell it seems like he's taken your genetic material and restarted and now he's got a fully formed, uh, you, under sedation it seemed. Then other copies looked to be in stasis, or different stages of gestation." Kasumi added, scrunching her face up in distaste.
Garrus looked to Jane to see how she was handling all this, if it wasn't for the tightening of her jaw he wouldn't have been able to tell it was hard news for her to receive.
"How did he manage to do this without you knowing?" Garrus asked, clear mistrust in his voice as he directed his question to Kai Leng. The man looked furious but not at Garrus but in general at the situation they had at hand.
"Simon used to leave Aeia at least every month for supplies, he'd be gone a week at a time and when it was clear Jane was happy and healthy he'd sometimes be gone longer." He explained and Jane snorted and glared at him,
"Happy and healthy. That's using the words loosely. Drugged and manipulaited I would say." She growled and Kai Leng had the decency to look a little sheepish. Garrus scoffed and shook his head trying to quell the rising anger, now wasn't the time for an argument.
"You said you had footage?" he questioned and Tali nodded. She sent the footage to the screen and it projected onto the large wall. It was recording from the head camera in Tali's suit,
"Let me fast forward to the lab." Tali said under her breath and did as she said.
The footage showed large tubes filled with water and what looked like humans in sacks suspended within, hooked up to multiple different tubes with different needles injecting stuff into them. Upon closer inspection Garrus could see the blonde hair and facial features of his bondmate on one of the bodies, some of which with varying levels of clarity,
"Are they-" Jane began but her voice caught, "Are they alive?" she asked and steeled her eyes removing herself emotionally from the sitatution,
"Yes, as you can see some of them aren't fully formed but they're not far off completion. The sacks you see surrounding them seem to be a type of womb Ettlemen has created for them." Tali explained professionally but it did distract from how horrific this was for everyone.
The screen panned and Garrus could count maybe ten or so tubes with copies of Shepard within. Further into the obscenely hospital white lab was a window overLooking a room, the door into it was locked and you could see Kasumi try to hack but was failing to do so. Tali turned back to the window and on her head cam you could see clear as day Jane Shepard, except it wasn't her it was her clone. The clone was lying on a hospital bed wrist chained to the bar, belt fastened around her neck and she had different IV trailing out of her arms and hooked to multiple bags. She was naked save a sheet of clear plastic that slightly obscured what was underneath. In the footage you could hear Tali gasp, "What, the fuck?" Zaeed breathed off camera as Tali zoomed in on the clones face.
"Switch it off." Jane whispered. Garrus turned to her and saw her leaning heavily over the table looking down at her hands. He could hear her teeth grinding and see her elevated heart rate and breathing, on the outside though she seemed to be handling it rather well but Garrus knew she was just good at saving face.
Tali complied and closed the footage down, causing the room to go silent. Everyone stared at Jane who was taking a few moments to comprehend like the rest of them. Garrus couldn't begin to understand what it as she was going through, everything that has happened to her in her life and somehow, she still was just a pillar of strength to everyone around her.
"EDI, send a message to Aria T'loak. Tell her I accept her offer." Jane finally ordered then pulled back into a parade rest. "If someone could procure me an outfit for tomorrow evening, just please, make sure I'm showing less skin." She uttered before adjourning the meeting and fleeing before anyone could discuss the matter further with her. Garrus found his feet taking him back towards the main battery where he started typing away at the console absently.
"Uh, Garrus, I have an incoming call from Castis Vakarian." Joker's voice echoed around the room and Garrus huffed out in exhaustion. He still hadn't told his father or sister about his departure a couple weeks back and he assumed this was the response to that.
"Great…patch him through." Garrus said reluctantly, he made his way to the right to the communications console in his room and waited for his father's voice to come through.
"Garrus?" Castis Vakarian was a difficult stubborn man and his voice fitted his persona. "Where have you been? Victus told me you left your position as his advisor to go off on a mission." His father growled clearly disappointed in this knowledge. Garrus winced at his tone and inwardly sighed.
"Dad. Victus and I have agreed to currently put my duties on hold until such time as the mission is completed." Garrus tried to inform but before he could even take a breath Castis jumped back on him,
"He told me you resigned." He corrected and Garrus didn't know how to answer that so his father continued, "What Is so important that you have left everything you have built back on Palaven? The Reapers are gone Garrus, and in no small measure to you." Castis voice took on a hint of pride and Garrus felt a little happy with himself if just for a moment.
"Dad, just trust me it's important." Garrus reassured lamely and was met with silence. He heard his dad sigh heavily and wondered what he was about to say next,
"Its about her isn't it?" Castis breathed and Garrus was momentarily stunned, he paused and looked at the console in a bewildered manner as if he was actually staring at his dad.
"Jane was reported as KIA over a year ago, why would you think it was about her?" Garrus defended his voice and sub harmonics going gravely with annoyance.
"Because it's always about her! Ever since you joined her crew back against Saren, your whole life has always been about her!" Castis growled in anger and fraustraion. Garrus narrowed his eyes feeling the anger start to bubble up, this was an argument they had many times over, each time it seemed to be worse than the last.
"The best times of my life were spent by her side! I can't just forget them when she needs me!" He snarled back and felt his talons clench around the consoles edge.
"She's dead Garrus, the sooner you can accept that the sooner you can move on with your life." Castis voice took on a suddenly sympathetic tone and Garrus had to bite down hard on his sub harmonics to stop them from trilling in grief at Shepards previous demise.
"I can't dad, I can't move on without her…she is my life. I think she always had been." He breathed out in admition and his father went quiet. 'fuck' Garrus thought to himself as he realised he may have said too much.
"Garrus, you never bonded with her did you?" he asked. Garrus paused and that was long enough to confirm to Castis. "Garrus. I know she was an incredible woman, she saved the galaxy for spirits sake. But, she's human and there is no future for you there. You can't have children with her!" Garrus snorted at that, thinking of Lanya smugly "she was human Garrus, you couldn't possibly have bonded with her. You don't know what you're talking about." Castis breathed with exasperation.
"Goodbye dad." Garrus snapped and dismissed the call before Castis could go on any further. Looking at the time he found it was dinner and headed to the mess to grab himself something to eat, despite the lack of wanting to he knew he needed the distraction. Seating himself in front of Tali he was glad to see her eating with her mask removed. The Quarian race had come along way since the end of the Reaper war and even though Tali had to wear her full suit most of the time, there were rare occasions where she would take off her mask. She was prettier than Garrus thought she would have been, a soft grey skin with dark grey freckles spattering across her small button nose. Eyes that reflected light so well they seemed to glow a bright white in colour and raven coloured hair that tumbled down the back of her suit.
"Still getting used to seeing me without a mask on?" She asked though it was more of a statement. She took a large bite off her fork from her meal,
"Don't think I'll ever get used to it!" He exclaimed honestly and they both chuckled before falling into a companionable silence. After a few minutes Garrus had wolfed down his food and pushed his plate to the side as he leaned back,
"Jane hasn't come down for her food again." Tali observed and Garrus frowned at her.
"What do you mean again?" He asked in concern and Tali raised her eyebrows up at him in surprise.
"I thought you out of all of us would have been the first to notice that." Tali uttered in a scathing way which irked Garrus who coked his head and regarded her.
"If you haven't heard I've just got the woman I love back from the dead and she doesn't remember a single thing, oh and I'm a dad suddenly as well. Sorry if my attention is lacking." He snapped and Tali scowled at him. Pushing her plate to the side she leaned in closer to him,
"Stop being a self centred bosh'tet!" She cursed with venom and Garrus was stunned, "think of how she feels! Actually think about it for once instead of being a stubborn asshole. She has NO memories! The one man she did trust who she thought was her husband betrayed her and was responsible for her memory loss. She also just found out that the 'orphan' she was caring for was actually her own hybrid baby with a Turian she doesn't even really know!" Tali was yelling now and earned a few glances but she ignored them and carried on lecturing him. "As if that wasn't all enough to deal with! She also has had to come to terms with the Reapers, Saren, collectors, Illusive man all of the crap that has been thrown her way over the past few years. Hell anyone of those is hard enough to believe but she doesn't just have to believe she has to remember! And yet still…" Tali's eyes seemed to be growing brighter with rage, something Garrus had very rarely seen burn with this intensity. She prodded him hard in the chest with a finger." And yet still! She has taken the mantle of Commander and is doing so without any doubt she is the best person for the job. And now after literally everything that has happened she has to somehow deal with Ettlemen and his clones!" She stopped finally and sagged back into her chair with an angry huff, crossing her arms over her chest.
Garrus was staggered, he never thought he'd be on the receiving end of Tali's anger,
"I've been giving her space." Garrus uttered quietly and could her how terrible the excuse sounded. Tali snorted indignantly,
"You have been giving yourself space, because you can't deal with this. But maybe you need to grow a quad and be the man Commander Shepard chose as her bondmate." With that she stood up abruptly and departed the mess, leaving Garrus mulling over her words. They seemed to echo around his brain and the more he thought about it, the more he realised she was right. He was just wallowing in self pity waiting for Shepard to get her memories back and come back to him, he needed to be more proactive. Grabbing a tray he piled it high with food and drinks he knew Jane liked before heading to her quarters.
When he arrived on her deck he found the door locked with a big angry holo pad.
"Garrus," EDI's voice echoed and Garrus looked up at the speaker, "I'm under strict orders to not allow anyone entrance. But Jane and Lanaya are exhibiting high levels of stress and I believe it is in her best interest for me to belay her orders." She said calmly and Garrus could hear the concern in her voice. He smiled and gave his thanks before entering the room and was overcome by the loud shrilling sound of an infants cry and sub harmonics that sang with discontent. Jane was frantically rocking Lanaya trying to calm the infant at the same time as offering her a bottle which the baby kept refusing.
Jane looked up at him in shock and for a moment seemed a little angry then it turned to desperation.
"Please help I don't know what to do! She won't stop crying!" She pleaded and Garrus sat the tray down on her desk before striding quickly down to the lower level. Janes face was flushed with stress and her heart beat was fast,
"You should have called me." He spoke softly and gestured to hold Lanya. Jane quickly deposited the child into his arms before throwing her hands into her hair in an anxious way,
"I didn't want to disturb you! I keep palming her off on other people and I hardly feel like I've been acting like a mother to her!" Jane admitted and chewed on her lip. Garrus sighed and sat with the screaming Lanaya, her vocals doing a multiple different sounds from human whimpers to Turian chirping and hissing. He pulled her up to his chest tucking her head inside his cowl and under his chin and started to rumble a deep soothing sound, letting his sub harmonics chime reassuringly and he lightly stroked her fringe. Jane sat down heavily on the end of her bed and watched with wide eyes in silence.
Lanya lifted up her hand and gripped his mandible with her talons, tugging it for comfort. He chuckled as the infant began to mewl softer, after a few more minutes of his rumbling she settled and he glanced up to Jane who had desperate tears down her cheeks.
"Jane, where should I lay her?" He asked and Jane seemed to snap out of a trance before making a nest in the bed surrounded with pillows and blankets. Garrus settled Lanaya in the bed before turning to Jane who was watching her daughter with an incredibly sad gaze. "Come here." He whispered and pulled her to him. She didn't object and buried her head into his cowl as she started to shake, he shushed her and carded her hair through his talons in comfort.
"I don't know how to do this, I especially don't know how to be a mum to a Turian baby. " she mumbled into his neck and Garrus hummed in reassurance. He held her till she stopped shaking, then pulled her back to see her face tear stained. He rubbed the marks from her tears away with his talons and let his forehead rest against hers in endearment.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her up the steps to her desk where food waited for her. He sat her down in front of it then pointed, "Eat." He said simply and Jane shook her head,
"I'm too stressed-"
"It wasn't an offer Jane, you're the commander and as your XO I need to make sure you fit and healthy. Your lack of eating jeopardises the mission." He stated with a smirk and she rolled her eyes at him in annoyance before tucking into a sandwich. He moved down into the lower quarters as she ate and started grabbing some blankets and moving the coffee table over so he could place his feet on it like he liked to once he'd sat down. He looked over to see Jane glancing through the partition curiously and snickered at her,
"Eat, and then get a shower. You don't have anything to be worrying about tonight." He ordered and Jane mock saluted him before doing as he bid. He would have to thank Tali, too consumed by his previous grief over the past year to see the obvious emotional turmoil Shepard was combating silently. When she finished her food Jane went into her bathroom and he heard the shower turn on and water pouring down. His mind began to recall shared memories in that bathroom under the pleasantly warm water wrapped together in each other's embrace. His plates twitched at the thought and he gave a strained moaned and forced the thoughts away, tonight was about being there for her. Yet he kept thinking about their encounter before the art gallery, the private hidden moment where he'd let his instincts run away from him. But he wasn't blind to his effects on her, he could smell how aroused she became at his ministrations and he had done well not tearing the dress from her then.
He distracted himself with setting up the living area for his plan tonight and moved to the secret fridge, which he wondered if Jane even remembered was there. Grabbing Levo and Dextro beer and popped the cap off both, stilling when Lanaya fidgeted. When she was settled again he sat himself down and propped his legs up in the coffee table, waiting for Jane.
He smelt her before he saw her, the coconut scent travelling faster than her feet. She appeared at the top of the steps and quickly came down to the lower level. Her hair was wet and dripping down her shoulder blades, she hadn't dressed yet and was stood with a short towel wrapped around her middle. He missed her blond locks already and voiced his opinion as she searched for some clothes.
"I miss your hair." He said quietly and Jane looked up from her draws to give him a shy smile,
"The girl assured me it's temporary. Enough washes will get the colour out." She reassured with a shrug. Grabbing the clothes she turned to him with a thoughtful look, "I suppose it'll be pointless trying to be modest about my nudity around you?" She asked and Garrus chuckled albeit a little nervously,
"Pointless? No, you do whatever you feel comfortable. I know what you're hiding under that towel if that's what you were saying." He purred and Jane blushed with a devious smirk. She chewed on her lower lip before her eyes flashed with mischief she then turned with her back facing him. Garrus thought she was about to head back up the steps to the bathroom to dress when she dropped the towel from around her middle and he was left speechless. He bit back his growl but only just, digging his talons into his leg to stop from reaching for her. His eyes roamed over her form, he missed the scars on her body each of them having told a story of her life but the flawless skin looked soft and he had the urge to run his tongue over her her shoulder to feel how soft it really was. He gritted his teeth together as she bent down in a purposefully provocative way as she slipped her legs into her sleep shorts. Seductively swaying her hips from side to side as she pulled them up around her waist skipping underwear, she turned to him then and beamed a genuinely happy smile at his openly staring,
"Enjoying the show big guy? Thought you said you already knew what I was hiding under the towel?" She breathed coyly. Going on her tip toes she clasped her fingers together and stretched them upwards above her head, her breast moving with the action and juggling when she rested solidly on her feet again. Her nipples were hard from cold or arousal Garrus couldn't tell,
"Just because I knew what was under there doesn't make the package less appealing." He whispered hurriedly and Jane caught her lower lip with her teeth and winked at him and an overly sexy way. Garrus groaned and let his head fall uncomfortably back onto the back of the sofa, closing his eyes and controlling his breathing.
He heard her moving around and tensed when he felt her settle by him. Cracking one eye open he was happy to see she had out a top on and then growled at her playfully.
"Spirits Jane, do you want to kill me." He complained and Jane laughed at him but stilled and glanced over to Lanaya to see if the noise desturbed her, thankfully she seemed out for the night.
"So Mr Vakarian, I've eaten, I've bathed…what's my next assignment?" She asked teasingly and Garrus realised how much he missed the way her eyes sparkled when she did so.
He hummed in excited anticipation and brought up his mini-tool. "I thought I could reminisce. And give you a little insight into your life before all this." He said without a hint of the anxiousness he felt at the proposal, maybe she would hate the idea.
She looked at him with wide eyes and mouth a gape slightly stunned.
"I would love to do that!" She exclaimed excitedly and Garrus couldn't help her contagious smile, his mandibles spreading into a grin.
Great! Well we'll start at the beginning. As you already researched we were on the hunt for the rogue spectre Saren and you'd been named the first Human spectre. That's where I came in, the handsome C-sec investigator that jumped at the chance to work on the crew of the first Human spectre…"
As he began to tell the story of the past she pulled his arm up over her shoulder and nestled into his side. He carried the on flicking through pictures of Saren, scenes of Jane being instated as a spectre, Garrus next to the Mako. She leant in and lightly kissed his mandible,
"Thank you." She said simply and Garrus nuzzled her hair in response before continuing the tale of Commander Shepard.
Thank you for reading! i do hope your enjoying it. I would appreciate any reviews or feedback, let me know what you're thinking! Enjoy x :D