Chapter 8: From Hospital to Cargo Bay
Executor Pallin had been less than pleased when Garrus had told him he was not going to return to active duty. It was a blow the C-Sec force to lose such a high-ranking officer. Still, the elder Turian respected Garrus' decision even if he did not agree with it. He had been more than a little put out when he found out that it was because Garrus had chosen to become a member of the Alliance Military's Normandy. That – was a little more than he could willingly condone in favor of. Still, Garrus had resigned and eagerly joined the Normandy.
It had taken nearly a month for the crew to be back. There was a lot of protocol to get through, red tape. Clean up and repairs after the battle. Not to mention the commanding officer had to heal. For all the technology in the world, fusing her arm back onto her body with the mechanical shoulder they had designed for her was not an easy feat. It would take a couple weeks for it to heal. He knew it bothered her, as she could be seen stretching it and rotating it from time to time. Though her features schooled any visible pain, he knew it hurt.
He knew because she had told him.
There was a new Mako, but Garrus couldn't bring himself to claim it as his job like he had with the first one. Instead, he had decided to help with calibrating the weapon systems. As they were Turian in design, he had a better understanding of the mathematics behind them than the humans on board. Not to say they weren't capable of doing a great job, he could just do it better.
It fit, he had always used the room as his personal quarters and now it was his workstation as well. He liked the quiet and the solitude that being tucked away in the room brought him. It also was a good place to have privacy when people came to talk to him.
And they did.
Not just Shepard either. Though their friendship had grown in a way he had not expected. From the time they spent with the Mako to the few days they shared in the hospital to now – Shepard was undoubtedly his best friend. She had been open and raw with him in the hospital. Anything he asked her she had answered. And she had done the same. He had finally explained that his mother's illness was incurable and it resembled the human disease: Dementia. Told her about his first day as a Turian officer, the first time he shot a bullet that ended a man's life. He explained to her why he couldn't eat human food and laughed when he explained what kind of food he could eat. Her expression had been one of wonder and disgust. He understood - but she ate leaves...so they were even.
He didn't touch on subjects that were too personal, however, due to them being in a public forum.
But he knew now that the stars were her favorite place to be. That being in space had been a dream of her's that she was living out. One that she had not thought would come to pass. Not with what happened on….she hadn't finished that thought but she continued. She spoke about Admiral Hackett finding her, bringing her back to his space cruiser and ordering his XO at the time to tend to her. That XO had been Captian Anderson. She tried to explain what Anderson meant to her, but the words got caught in her throat and he had just told her he understood. No words needed.
Anderson was not the only relationship they discussed. She talked about Kaidan. The talks that they would have in private and her concerns about his hesitancy to speak on the Reapers. She was worried that he was becoming docile at the threat. Garrus wanted to say that he was being a complete ass, but just reminded her that he was a soldier first and it was probably hard for him.
She didn't like that answer. Garrus was actually glad that she didn't.
Soldier first be damned, the Reapers were bigger than any of that.
He knew this, she knew this – but that didn't seem to register in Alenko. She had asked him a few times if she were being foolish over her feelings for someone who obviously wouldn't back her if the time ever came and Garrus wanted to tell her that he believed she was being foolish.
But he didn't... He instead told her simply, "The future is as undecided as your questions are right now, if Kaidan is the thing you want now – in this moment – screw whatever happens later."
She had smiled at him after that. The smile was soft, and kind and it tickled his spine in an appreciation that he was a lucky Turian. He had been lucky the moment he had stormed towards the Towers and damn near Krogan headbutted his way into the mission against Saren. He was lucky because Shepard was his friend.
And because the rest of the team had become friends as well.
Liara and him had grown close since Sovereign. Something about being trapped together in that building created a foundation of understanding between the two. It turned into a friendship he had grown most fond of. Liara had all but bursted into his room one night - wide eyed and with something gasping to be told. She had talked to him about her mother at first. It was a strange conversation at it had no reason to take place. The Asari had just come into the room and started babbling about history books and yellow dresses and he had sat back on his bed and watched her pace as she spoke. In the end, she had cried into her hands softly. As if the dam that she had carefully constructed since Benezia's involvement and death finally gave way. That night, he had given her a hug similar to the one he had given Shepard. And Liara accepted it with a slow sag of her shoulders.
He realized then that Liara was a force of nature in her own right. She was wise beyond her young years, caring, empathetic and had a way of seeing things that dissected and unwound them. But still, she was young. And she had been forced to partake and watch the death of her own mother. He could understand how that would crumble someone. He wondered would he have been brave enough to do the same if it had been his own mother standing before him? Would he have been able to accept her fate and not hate Shepard for it.
He frowned at that. It hadn't been Shepards fault. And Liara had expressed gently that she had been glad the commander had been there. Because...she didn't ever finish that sentence and Garrus hadn't needed her to.
She had brought him books onto the Normandy. It had been a gift to him that he had found on his desk, tied with a blue ribbon and attached by a small note written in Turian script, "For all the questions you never ask."
Books about the Krogan, Quarians, Humans and the Asari. They were thick and weighed wonderfully in his hands. They were scientific rather than fiction and he appreciated that more than anything. No use trying to learn about another's species if the words were laced in opinion. When he didn't understand something, he would often times seek her out for her help. She really knew more than she should for someone so young. He had asked her about that once, and she shrugged her shoulders and said something about 'researh is my passion'.
Probably explained why she had decided on becoming a Prothean Expert. Thousands upon thousands of years to study, learn and make connections with.
When he had reached out to Tali about a certain part of Quarian anatomy that the book didn't go into detail about, the Quarian had laughed at him long and hard. It had made him angry at first, ready to turn and leave the room before she reached out and grabbed his arm. She apologized in her thick accent and explained the differences between what he assumed and what was real. The Quarian were not a bunch of tentacles creatures all huddled in their suits. They were surprisingly similar to the asari in features though she did mention that they were more angled and muscular. The asari seemed soft and pliant, where the Quarians were hard and stony. 'Like the Turian', he had said to her and though he couldn't see it – he knew she smiled. 'Yes.' She had answered.
Their friendship was solid. Tali and him. They were both strong willed and fiercely protective of the humans on board. One in particular. When Shepard had questioned Tali about her Pilgrimage, she had simply said: "I decide where I spend that, and I choose with you."
And that was that. Tali was on board.
The Pilgrimage was important to the Quarian people. It was similar to the Turians becoming a member of the Turian Military at fifteen. Everyone did it. But where Turians became a part of something grander, something intimately tied to the greater part of Turian society …Quarians were required to leave the comfort of their Fleet. They were given direction and told to go and experience life in worlds they were not able to fully exist in. It was their responsibility to bring back something that would benefit the Migrant Fleet. Something that would help them advance or sustain their nomadic ways.
It was a beautiful concept, if not a lonely one.
Tali had already sent back data that Shepard had given to her about the Geth. It had enough information on it to secure her return and advancement in the Quarian society. However, Tali had said she wasn't ready to return yet.
"When you return, you are expected to find a match on another ship," she had told him one night as they played cards, "You join their crew and are matched with a member to produce a family. It is how we keep our species from becoming to close in DNA."
"Have you been matched?" He asked. Turians were used to arranged bonding. It was about power and stability for the greater good rather than personal relations.
"There is only one person I want, and he is never on the Fleet," she had told him softly. "He's one of the Quarian marines, one of my best friends."
He frowned, "Why not get matched up with him then?"
She shook his head, "He is a solider through and through."
A part of him understood that. A larger part of him was upset for Tali and the small soft acceptance in her voice that she loved someone she could never have. He shook his head.
All in all, he found a small group of people from different parts of the galaxy, and he was grateful for each other them. They were important to him in a way he had not felt before. Almost like his own family, but this one was created out of war and bullets rather than being born into. Turians were not big on intimacy. It was not something that was accepted easily throughout his brood. There was love for parents and siblings, but friendships seemed to be based on mutual benefits rather than actual trust and understanding. It was odd to see that there were ways to have friendships without the need to see why someone would be worthy of his friendship. He attributed his new found appreciation of this kind of relationship on the humans he had been surrounded by for nearly a year. They were passionate, loud, caring and - at times - invading. But they taught him to slow down and read expressions, to try to understand someone's words AND body language.
Learning from these friends of his was making him an even worse Turian than he already was. And he was okay with it.
He even valued Alenko. Though he had felt a shift in their relationship since the hospital. Garrus no longer initiated conversation with the human, but he didn't outright ignore him. Being back on the Normandy made it difficult to avoid anyone so he couldn't do that either. As the days passed into weeks and each trace of Geth along the border was handled – he was beginning to think that he was wrong about Alenko.
The man was still the kind and gentle sort that worried over the rest of them with an almost 'brotherly' affection. It did not extend to Shepard. There was love there. Unspoken still, but plain to anyone who watched. And Garrus watched. He had vowed that he would never be blindsided again.
So, he kept an eye on the crew. It was how he had been there when Joker had fallen in the men's showers when the man slipped on the wet tile. Garrus had been the only person to notice the pilot slip into the washroom as the majority of the people were settling in for mess and heading to bed.
He wondered why the humans had a certain time for showers. It was in their military protocol – everyone showered within the same time frame. The strange ritual made his plates itch. Being that close and intimate with …strangers…made him weary of the humans the first few times he had witnessed it. Now, after months of being a part of the Normandy, he knew it was because this was not a leisure cruise. Everyone had shifts, even their downtime was scheduled. Their sleep was scheduled. They were all actively on duty and he regretted his initial assessment of them.
Joker, however, never showered during that time frame. He would wait and do so when most were eating.
Garrus never questioned why Joker was allowed to skip the ritual. It wasn't his place.
But when the sixteen minutes it usually took the pilot to complete his shower came and left, Garrus' mandibles tensed. Another minute followed by one more and he lifted himself from his seat across from Tali and headed towards the showers. Her little curious question registered, and he waved her off as he closed the distance and keyed the code to enter.
It didn't work.
He frowned and glared at the keypad before overriding it with the code Shepard had given him. He wasn't allowed to use it unless it was an emergency. Something about this situation had felt like one. He didn't know why. But he knew he needed to get into the room.
And he had been right.
The moment the doors swooshed open he saw the bright red cascading in a circular motion towards the drain in the middle of the room. Garrus rushed in and almost recoiled at the sight before him. Joker had slipped and trying to catch himself, he assumed, only snapped his arm in half. He fell face first on the floor and Garrus could tell his brow bone had cascaded inward. "Joker?" He gasped the name; one step brought him to the naked man on the floor. "Tali!" He bellowed.
It was a howl that curled through the closed door and into the hallway. He could hear it echo and heard her heavy footsteps running high speed to him. When the door opened, she scanned the room, quick to a stop, gasped and immediately said, "I'll go get Chakwas."
The doctor was much calmer than the Turian was.
She had come into the room and eyed the situation immediately. Her eyes darting back and forth over the obvious injuries before she looked to the drain and the blood that was still mixing with the water. "Lift him," she instructed Garrus, "Mind his head."
Garrus nodded, bending down he angled Joker to be cradled against his large form. One taloned hand easily shifting to the base of his skull and let it sit there as he moved through the room and followed Chakwas the short distance to the med bay.
A crowd of the crew had gathered around curiously – gasps of worry and horror fluttered through the atmosphere and he snarled at them. Joker wouldn't want to be seen like this. Tali understood without a word coming from him and she rushed forward, gentle hands guiding the crew back and clipped accented words about 'privacy' and 'respect' got the crew to leave the hall and make way for them to get into the medical wing.
When she instructed him to place him on one of the beds in the back of the room, ones close to the expensive medical equipment he had noticed upon his first day here on the Normandy so long ago – he realized then that there had been reason behind it. He frowned and released Jokers head. The man was unconscious thank the Spirits.
"Can you help me," the doctor asked, and he let her guide his hands to his snapped arm. Fuck. He wanted to say but didn't. "Hold it steady."
That was all she said as she went to work. Her hands were so agile and moved so quickly he had to blink a few times to adjust to the speed. He didn't really understand what he was watching, but when she started sewing weird colorless tubes back together, he gulped.
"Hold it together, Garrus," she said softly. As if she knew he was beginning to be affected by what he was seeing. "If it helps, tell me what happened."
And it did help. He looked up and away as he explained to her that he knew the crew's habits. He knew schedules and had made sure to keep an eye on things. She hummed at him to continue. He told her he noticed Joker never showered with the crew and only ever showered during mealtime. Chakwas looked up at him when he said that and with a gently sadness lacing her features before, she dipped her head and continued.
Her voice came softly, "Jeff is…self-conscious about his body."
Garrus looked down to the man on the bed and dared to look the length of the body now. Chakwas had draped a privacy sheet over his midsection, but she had left his chest and legs bare. No doubt because she had to tend to the bruising that was finally beginning to show itself.
Joker, Jeff Moreau, looked like he had been chewed up by a Thresher Maw and spat out. Ten times over. Everywhere he looked there were scars. Scars on top of scars on tops of strange notched and odd angles of his legs. Like they had been removed and replaced wrong. Not lined up, curved and shifting. He now understood why the man walked with a heavy limp and used a crutch to get around. The Turian felt a pang of pity before it was immediately ripped into an aggressive anger. His growl came first then his words, "Who did this to him?"
At his demanding question, Chakwas sighed and answered in a tired voice, "Biology I am afraid, Jeff has Vrolik's Syndrome."
"What is that?" He asked.
The answer came from the other side of the room as Shepard entered the med bay. Her green eyes were wide, her hair was wet and down against her shoulders and she was wearing wrinkled Alliance issued dress downs that – he suspected – had been hastily pulled off the floor and back onto her body when she had been informed about Joker's accident. "Brittle bones disease, his bones never developed properly. They break and snap all the time if he doesn't manage with his medicines and takes care of it. Its why he doesn't leave the cockpit much."
Garrus' frown deepened as he watched her walk towards the two working on Joker. Her gaze dropped on his Joker's face and she grimaced, "Is he okay, Karin?"
"He's fine," the Doctor immediately responded.
How as he okay? He wondered, but when he looked down to see she had already sewn his arm together and was beginning to work on his brow plate….no bone…humans didn't have plates…he understood that this was not the first time this had occurred, and he knew it would not be the last.
"Thank you," Shepard said to him as she reached out and grabbed the pilot's hand.
Garrus didn't feel like he had any reason to be told that. He had waited three full minutes before he had taken any action. The Turian stood there in silence, watching the Doctor fix the bones that had shattered. This time, he didn't look away. He watched as she added small screws, poked large needles, and sewed tiny stitches. When she placed the skin graph over it and it immediately melded into place, he released a breath. Joker looked like Joker for a small second before the graft shifted, bubbled, and adhered itself sickeningly against him. He knew it would take a few days for the man to be able to leave. He blinked. Only a few days for everything that he saw raw and open and bleeding to be good as new.
Technology was beyond anything he could grasp.
Later, when Joker had regained consciousness and found the Turian still lingering in the room, the dry clip of a snark came out of a thirsty throat, "Enjoying the view?"
Garrus chuckled once as he walked over and handed Joker the water that Chakwas had left out for him. "Not my type, sorry."
"Ah," Joker and sipped the water and grimanced at the motion of his head, "No plates and pinchers..."
"Mandibles," Garrus grunted, feigning offense.
"I feel like I got hit by a truck," Joker groaned.
"You look like you did," the Turian quipped.
Their eyes met and Joker let out a little laugh, "Ass."
"Not the worst thing I've been called." Came the amused rebuttal. "Though is seems to be the most common."
When the pilot found out that it had been Garrus that carried him, he only quipped that he wasnt awake for the threshold carry so they would have to do it over again. But behind the lame attempt at humor, he had caught Garrus' eye and thanked him with a grin.
After Joker's accident, any humans on the crew that had still been apprehensive about the aliens on board, had swiftly lost their uncertainty. The Normandy's very own XO Pressley who had never even looked Garrus in the eyes had walked straight up to him, extended his hand, and thanked him. From that moment on, there was an over all ease that fluttered within the Normandy. A quiet calm of peace. Even as they moved through the Terminus System and back taking care of lone Geth factions, there was a comfortable security within the Normandy now. They were all in this together. This was their ship; this was their home.
He was pulled from his musings as Tali walked into his room and cleared her throat, "Garrus, Shepard wants you and me to team up with her on the next raid."
He nodded, grabbing the cloth at his desk, and cleaning the grease off his talons. "How long?"
"Couple of hours still," Tali shrugged. "Want to prepare together?"
Garrus grinned devilishly and eyed her heavily. He straightened his shoulders and walked towards her, voice dripping with a challenge, "Feel like a little Turian sparing?"
The Quarian chuckled and the sound was featherlike coming from her filters, "Bring it on, Garrus. Cargo Bay – five minutes."
And she left. He felt his mandibles flutter in excitement. Tali was the only one on the ship that found hand to hand sparring before a fight as normal. Then again, the Quarian was probably one of the few that could take a full punch from a Turian and not have something break. The first time she had suggested they do it, he had taken it easy on her. Worried about her suit and his strength.
When she knocked him on his ass with one hard uppercut, he realized that she was not weak and feeble at all. He rubbed his chin at the memory. He was surprised one of his fanged hadn't snapped when his jaw snapped together at the force.
From then on, the two sparred frequently. It was a good way to blow off steam and to exercise. Being stuck on a ship in the middle of space didn't help anyone's physical readiness. It was why the humans worked out twice a day.
Garrus entered the elevator to find Shepard and Kaidan there. He hesitated only for a second before he took a step into the small room and eyed them both curiously. They seemed at eases, soft smiles passing between them.
"Going down to spar a little?" Alenko asked.
"Tali figured it would help us prepare," Garrus shrugged, curious as to how Alenko would know that. Was it that much of a habit now? He looked to them both and smiled behind his words. "It's a good warm up to the mission."
"Should be a quick swoop, we only got word of two Geth towers. Quick and easy with Tali's new addition to her omnitool," Shepard informed him easily.
"Wish I was coming," Alenko said, "But biotics against machine…" he ran a hand through his haid and shook his head. "Just make it a quick one, yeah?" But he was talking to Shepard and the way he looked at her made the Commander blush.
Garrus cleared his throat.
Alenko eyed him with an apologetic glance before the door to the elevator opened and he stepped on onto the CIC. Garrus frowned and looked out to the room and then waited patiently for the door to close.
"You hate this elevator, don't you?" Shepard asked as he felt it slowly lift the two of them. He had been the last one in the shaft, so his destination would end up being the last.
"Its not my favorite place," he admitted.
"Yeah, of all the things they did with this ship, I think they forgot to actually install an elevator of our time. Its…ancient…" she poked the wall.
"Not helping me out here Shepard," he grunted and felt her hand poke his side.
"I'm just teasing," she would say, and he smiled in response to her smile.
He reached out and pinched her side, rewarded with a giggle as she stepped back trying to get out of his reach. "Not fair!" She chimed.
"Then don't tease the Turian," Garrus said as the elevator came to a level on the Normandy he had never been allowed access to. He knew it was the way she connected with her commanding officers so it was top secret and accessible only by her, XO Pressley and Joker.
"Go get your ass kicked again, Vakarian," she pulled out his last name longer than it needed to and smiled warmly at him as she stepped off the lift.
"Right," he pretended to look scared, "Big bad Quarian waiting on me…"
Her laughter caused his own as the door to the elevator closed and he was left standing in the lift as it shifted and began its descent to the Cargo Bay below.
AN: The next few chapters will follow Canon, but only barely.
This is where the bulky part of this FanFiction begins.
If you've gotten this far...thank you! I hope you've enjoyed it and continue to do so.
Have a great day!
-CM