The first dinner on the Normandy was a slightly awkward affair. Well… perhaps more than awkward. Garrus was sure that he had seen Krogan and Salarians find more things to make pleasant conversation about. The Mess Sergeant, a balding man named Gardner, may have had the worst sense of humour for a human that Garrus had ever seen—and humans in general were only surpassed by the Hanar. Unfortunately, he had been strong-armed into a far too lengthy conversation with the man about his unique nutritional needs, when all he wanted was to simply grab bland nutrition paste and escape back to the main battery. He really wasn't in the mood for people.

Unfortunately, the other new recruit, Mordin, a Salarian, had waved him over to his table almost immediately, and began speaking at such a rapid pace that Garrus simply couldn't process anything he was saying quickly enough to formulate a reply. Apparently, Mordin took silence as encouragement to go on.

"…Wonder if a live seeker can be obtained for study? Seem to be primarily artificial in construction. Perhaps electromagnetic pulse may disable long enough for capture. Still risky. Too risky? Perhaps Cerberus has dead specimens on hand. Will need to ask…."

"Dr. Solus, and it's Garrus Vakarian, right?" It was one of the Cerberus operatives who had gone with Shepard to… well… rescue him. "I'm Jacob Taylor. We met before. Figured I'd introduce myself now that we aren't under fire. Glad to have you both on board. How's the face feeling?"

"Fine." Garrus replied quietly, trying to find a reason to leave.

"That's good to hear. You looked like a goner when we brought you in." Garrus didn't respond, leaving Jacob to turn to Mordin instead, "How is the lab setup? You know you can talk to Miranda if you need anything else."

"Lab is excellent. Reminds me of time with STG. Impossible task ahead. Many available resources. Plenty of brainwork." Mordin gave a satisfied smile, "Glad to be here."

"Wonder where we're headed next." Jacob said, smiling as well, "I've got to say, it was really great working with Shepard thus far—haven't served under such a good commander in… well. In quite a while."

Then it struck Garrus. Shepard wasn't here. There was nothing particularly unusual about different members of the crew, or even members of the mission team taking their meals at different times—after all, everyone was on duty at different times. However, Shepard had been on the mission with them. Back on the old Normandy, he would have been down, getting to know everyone, making sure that everyone had everything they needed and encouraging candid feedback. And now, he was nowhere to be seen. Garrus sighed, realizing that he was likely not the only one who had changed in the past two years. Being on a new Normandy, that was still different in all the little ways that got under your skin was bad enough, but Garrus didn't know what he would do with a reclusive Shepard, barely more than a Cerberus puppet. Come to think of it, though, Shepard had seemed quite like his old self when they had reunited back on Omega.

"You okay Garrus?" Jacob asked, cutting into his thoughts.

"Yeah." He replied, rising, "I just remembered, I have to talk to Shepard about something." He nodded to Jacob and Mordin, leaving them to a fast-paced discussion on weapon modifications that might be most effective against Collectors.

He was met with a closed door. Well, the doors were always closed, but at least on the old Normandy Garrus would have just given a swift rap and walked in. But on the old Normandy Garrus had never needed to. Shepard had been down to talk to everyone after missions, and Garrus had been utterly satisfied with his choice to leave C-Sec. Mostly. Now, after everything that had happened on Omega… well let's just say that a friendly chat about the many ways by which Saren was going to be brought down would have been welcome.

He knocked. Nothing. Perhaps Shepard was elsewhere on the ship. Then he heard a voice coming from inside Shepard's quarters, "Garrus Vakarian to see you." It was that AI. Garrus frowned—at least he was unimportant enough not to be spied on while he was sleeping—or so he thought.

"Garrus?" Shepard said, opening the door and waving the Turian inside, "What can I do for you?" He looked exhausted.

"Just here to thank you again for saving my life. We didn't really have a lot of time to talk after that gunship showed up." Garrus replied, trying to remember how they usually fell into conversation, "If you're busy…."

"No." Shepard replied, turning away from his personal console, "No. Nothing more to do today, at any rate." He gave a small smile, "How are you Garrus?"

"Oh, you know. Only missing half my face. What about you? I hear you were dead."

"Well you know how it is. You save the galaxy once and all the crazy terrorist organizations decide that they simply can't live without you around to do it all again."

"So you were actually…."

"Sounds like it. I don't really remember much." Shepard replied with a sigh, "I know I should be grateful… or… I don't know. I just can't shake seeing all those Cerberus experiments and wondering… I can't get a straight answer out of Miranda either."

"You could ask Mordin." Garrus suggested, "I'm sure he would be interested. Just can't guarantee he wouldn't try to dissect your brain or something."

"Maybe later." Shepard replied, with a faint smile, "Do you know what happened to everyone else?"

"Well… um…" Garrus scratched his fringe, shifting awkwardly, wondering how to put this, "I guess it just all… well… fell apart after you, ah, died. All the Alliance personnel was reassigned to different ships since the Normandy was gone, and I only saw the rest at your, um, funeral. Tali and Wrex both said they had to go back to help their people, but you could tell that they would have stuck around for you in a heartbeat. And, well, Liara took it really hard. I don't really think she ever forgave herself for getting off the ship when you didn't. And you know my story. Last I heard, she was trying to find you."

"Did the Council say something nice?" Shepard asked, raising an eyebrow, "Or were they just happy to be finally free from all my near-constant messages?"

"Oh no."Garrus said, mandibles flaring into a wide Turian grin, "They all said very nice things. Gave you a posthumous medal and everything. Although they might take it away now if you start harassing them again."

"Marvellous." Shepard snorted, "But in all seriousness, I didn't really hear your story. All I know is that you managed to get Omega's gangs to find common cause—actually, come to think of it, maybe I should quit and let you deal the Council."

"Probably not a good idea." Garrus replied with a wince, "Things didn't really turn out… well." He sighed, "Don't really want to talk about it."

"No problem." Shepard replied, nodding in understanding and changing the subject, "Do you know how I could contact everyone? I don't necessarily want to draw them into this mess, but if they still think I'm dead…"

"I'll see what I can do," Garrus replied, "I only know for certain where Wrex is, but I have no idea how you would contact him on Tuchunka. Same with Tali."

"I ran in to Tali, actually." Shepard said, expression unreadable, "She seemed good. Had her own squad to lead and everything… a new ship name and perhaps more frighteningly competent than ever. Had to stay with the Fleet though. Sounded like she was needed."

"I'm not surprised," Garrus said with a chuckle, "I swear she worked more in her downtime on the ship that most did when on duty."

"Says Mr. Callibrations."

"Ouch Shepard. That hurts."

"Well you were here, what, all of five minutes before you declared your face healed and made off for the main battery?"

"Ah. Well." Garrus said with a self-depreciating laugh, "You know how it is. New ship. Callibrations calling your name. Its much more fun to work on the guns than it ever was with the Mako. I'm still amazed that thing survived as long as it did."

"Oh please." Shepard replied, a glint of his old spirit back in his eyes, "We only ever rolled it over twice."

"You. Commander." Garrus pointed out, "You only ever rolled it over twice. The rest of us were cowering in the backseat."