Garrus Vakarian knew he should try to get just a little more sleep before the artificial sun just above the Wards activated yet that was proving to be an impossible task. His mind was jammed with so many problems that didn't have immediate solutions that he thought he might start drowning in them. Solana had more medical bills for Mom neither of them could pay, he was struggling at C-Sec to put criminals away in a 'by the book' manner, and most importantly last week Nihlus had given him a vague message about something being wrong and that he should stay alert. Garrus hadn't heard from Nihlus since his latest break up with Saren a year ago so whatever the problem was it was probably going to involve the entire Citadel. Why else would a SPECTRE ask a random low-level C-Sec street cop to keep an eye out for trouble? Albeit Nihlus could be considered family thus giving him some reason to call Garrus, it just felt like more than that was at play. Luckily, Garrus could take comfort in Chloe who was cuddling up against him as always.

The two of them had met as soon as Garrus became affiliated with C-Sec's criminal division, and it had been desire at first sight. Despite the rather taboo species difference, he had loved her sweet, caring, innocence no matter who she was dealing with. If a suspected mass murderer needed medical care, she would be the first to offer assistance without expressing any kind of judgement towards them. He couldn't deny that her personality was a refreshing change of pace compared to what his brother ranted about Humanity all the time. Plus, her skin was so soft and warm that he found it impossible to deny her affection. In contrast, she told him that his physical as well as emotional sharp edges drew her to him. According to Chloe, he had a lot of mystery to him that she wanted to get to the bottom of. While he had to admit that might not be the best foundation for a long-term relationship, it was fun in the moment. As long as the two of them understood that this might not lead to a happily ever after he was fine with the arrangement.

Chloe let out a tired yawn opening her brown eyes to look up at him, "Ztill having trouble sleeping huh?"

Garrus nodded slowly while offering an apologetic smile at her in return, "I'm sorry if I woke you, I just have a lot on my mind."

She kissed him on the chin tenderly before taking his hand to kiss it as well, "You don't have to apologize for every little thing that goez wrong Garrus. I should be getting up soon anyways to go check up on my patient."

Garrus let out a reluctant groan before sitting up in the bed they shared last night, "I guess you're right though part of me wants to lay in bed all day with you."

Chloe sat up as well. "After this week is over, I should be able to take zome well deserved time off. As it iz I don't want a patient to be alone in the clinic for twenty-four hours straight."

"Isn't it a little odd for a patient to stay at the clinic for two whole weeks? Aren't there hospitals they can go to for more advanced care?" Garrus asked genuinely curious if this was a normal thing for her.

Chloe began getting dressed at his bedside giving him a smirk, "Something tellz me you are getting jealous Garruz. Do you honestly think I would be looking to be with another man right now after the night we had?"

No of course not was his immediate thought though saying that instantly might only make her more suspicious. Around two weeks ago they had a dinner date planned that she had to cancel at the very last minute. He had literally landed near the restaurant when he received the message, she had a patient drop on her when she was closing up the clinic. At the time, Garrus understood completely since Chloe was a trauma doctor and the Wards could be a dangerous place. However, he did find it a little strange that this same patient was still a topic of conversation after fourteen days had come and gone. Ultimately Garrus didn't own Chloe so if she had met someone that she found more attractive than him, she was welcome to pursue that relationship. His instincts were telling him though that Chloe got herself wrapped up in some trouble seeing no way out of it. The dead giveaway was coming from the fact that her voice displayed more and more of her native accent. All he could do was leave the door open for her to talk in case she needed to.

Garrus made a placating gesture with his arms as he got up to look for his boxers, "Nothing like that, I am merely curious about your work. I'm not a doctor so I can't tell if you're doing a good job or if I should be teasing you about a stubborn patient."

She teasingly threw a light fluffy pillow from the large bed at him in mock frustration, "Oh I zee, you want to make sure all of your friends don't get zicker under the care of a Human physician." After a brief pause washing her face she continued, "I would tell you all about the patient but, they have a right to privacy."

Garrus bowed his head to show her he understood, "If you need anything you'll tell me though, right? Your clinic is right next to the C-Sec office so I could be there in five minutes tops."

Her facial expression changed to one of sadness for a second before she became unreadable, "Of course zweetheart but I don't know what you're expecting. Day to day at the clinic can be a quite boring affair compared to patrolz near Chora's Den." She kissed his left mandible pulling away before he could return the favor, "How about I make breakfast while you get ready to leave the house?"

He grinned tugging her back towards him for one last kiss on the lips, "Thank you Chloe, you can just leave it on the kitchen table if you have to run out the door."

She shook her head happily already retreating from the bedroom, "I'll leave when you do, like you zaid, we don't work far away from each other. Now go get a shower, you smell."

He followed her advice slipping into the hot steaming shower leaving him alone with his thoughts. Unfortunately, those thoughts were currently swirling around his dysfunctional family. Solana was the only one remotely still talking to him and that was mostly because she needed credits. Mom only remembered him half of the time, honestly, he wished it was none of the time due to the stain he supposedly placed on House Vakarian. His dad had taken Saren's side, like every other time they had a sibling rivalry so there was no point trying to talk to him. Which only left Saren who he had very few kind words to say to right now given the events on Kajhe. What had happened to their once close-knit family to make them all so distant from each other? Garrus was tempted to blame it all on Nihlus for breaking up with his brother though he should probably just be blaming Saren period. In any case, Garrus should be moving on with his life to make a House for himself on Palaven, yet he couldn't bring himself to do it. At least not right now when there was still some hope of reconciliation.

After washing up, Garrus reapplied his House Vakarian face paint in the few spots Chloe unintentionally messed with during their liaison. The face paint showcased the status of an individual's house for other Turians as part of their caste system. As a result, damaging face paint designs could theoretically make it acceptable for another Turian to treat Garrus like shit but, he could care less right now. Not only did his family not care about him right now, but Chloe also needed someone who would show her affection. He always enjoyed making out with Chloe as best he could even if it sometimes led to some inconvenience. Maybe that made him a bad Turian, or perhaps he was learning to live with the times. They're relationship couldn't be the first time a Human and Turian hooked up. Right? Regardless, Garrus slowly retrieved his scattered C-Sec armor putting it on to prepare for work.

"Can I turn on ANN while we eat?" Chloe asked from the kitchen as he made his way into the living room.

Garrus wondered why she was so interested in the news as of late since she wasn't in the recent past but didn't want to bug her too much today, "Sure, but if you're hoping to see me on there I wouldn't bother. A big case hasn't come my way for awhile now."

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder while the two of them sat at the table, "You will, I'm zure of it."

He didn't respond as a female Human reporter appeared on the vid screen, "In other news today, Kate Bowman of the Terra Firma Asteroid Foundation has announced her team has landed on Asteroid X57 which is currently approaching Terra Nova. Her team hopes to have rocket equipment designed to push the Asteroid into a safe location installed by the end of next month. Calculations conducted by Alliance engineers concluded Kate's team will direct the Asteroid away from an apocalyptic crash course with plenty of time to spare."

Chloe was chewing her food slowly as though she was expecting to see something else on the news, "Have you talked to your brother at all?"

Garrus had to stop eating himself to process how far out of left field that question was. Why would she even ask that? He had told her what Saren had done to his career. Would she talk to someone who framed her for committing a few hundred murders? Although it was possible Chloe was merely worried about him since Turian families were supposed to be close, Garrus had the feeling this was more than that. Ever since she started taking care of her latest patient two weeks ago, Chloe had been acting strange. Sometimes she would ask what kind of candy dextros liked, and then never buy any, while other times she would ask about Nihlus. Now Saren came into the mix seemingly out of the blue? He was beginning to suspect whatever Nihlus told him to watch out for had to do with Chloe and perhaps Saren as well. Did Saren threaten her for dating Garrus since she was a Human? If he left the question left unsaid forever Chloe's behavior was going to continue making no sense, so he decided now was a good a time as any to confront her.

"Are you sure you're doing alright? You've been acting a little strange as of late." Garrus asked while ignoring her own rather absurd one.

Chloe grabbed her omni tool before standing up, "I don't want to worry with anything that might not happen."

Garrus lifted a browplate in a mixture of confusion and frustration, "Why don't you just tell me so I can help? You're worrying me by keeping quiet."

She glanced at the front door before staring back at him, "After today I promise I'll tell you everything. I'm sorry for the zecrecy... All you need to know iz I may have gotten into some trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Garrus asked anxiously unsure of what to do with himself now that she admitted he was right to assume she was keeping something from him.

Chloe bit her lower lip starting to walk towards the door, "The kind that requires thoze gun skillz of yourz. Could you please keep your omni tool on you? I might call you later if I need you at the clinic."

Garrus noticed her accent was getting thicker making his own anxiety go through the roof, "Did my brother approach you? Did he threaten you to end our relationship? I know he's a SPECTRE but if he tried to harm you that could be grounds for-"

Chloe cut him off not making him feel any better, "It'z not about uz...I'll call you when I get out of work. If all goez well, I will have worried for nothing. Go to work and relax. I'll see you zoon."

Unfortunately, she was out the door before he could argue any further. He could rush out the door demanding she tell him the whole truth, however, he could put the pieces well enough on his own. Saren had been racist towards Humans from the very beginning so of course it tracked that he wouldn't want his little brother to have anything to do with them. Furthermore, as a SPECTRE, Saren definitely had the resources to threaten her with any number of punishments he deemed appropriate. No matter their other problems, Garrus wasn't going to let Saren shape his life without any consequences. For the first time since Kajhe, Garrus scrolled through his contacts on his omni tool to call Saren directly. As the device buzzed against his arm over and over again, Garrus locked the door to his apartment knowing he was going to have a long day ahead of him.

When the device finally went to voicemail Garrus couldn't hide the raw anger in his tone, "You know I could understand you thought I messed up Kajhe. That you genuinely believed I didn't belong with the SPECTREs in that warped mind of yours. What I will not understand is why you thought it was a good idea to harass my girlfriend. I swear to the Spirits that if you do that again I will get your SPECTRE status revoked. Stay away from her."

A part of him wondered if he had gone too far out of frustration. While Chloe appeared to grow increasingly nervous when Saren was brought up, that didn't guarantee he was responsible for her troubles. Saren could use the recording in any future proceeding to illustrate Garrus as a deranged psychopath who just wanted to take him down. The problem for them both was that anyone who knew Saren well would happily accept he would threaten an innocent Human for fun. His brother wasn't always so open with his disdain for Humanity, otherwise Garrus may have had turned out as much of an asshole. Yet, when the Skyllian Blitz started Saren chose to take the Batarians side in public debates on the subject. Even when confronted with evidence that the Batarians were torturing people, Saren pushed the talking point that the Humans were ultimately to blame for the violence. He compared their campaign to that of 314 so often that Garrus had to quit talking politics with him. What changed to make him so cynical and cruel? The question was going to have to wait, Garrus had a lot of paperwork to get through before the day was over.

At least he thought his day was going to be filled with paperwork until he entered C-Sec headquarters. The lobby was filled with agents from all over the station standing at attention waiting for Executor Pallin to arrive. Had he somehow forgotten an important Citadel politician's birthday? With the bliss of spending the night holding Chloe in his arms combined with the drama surrounding Saren, a scheduled office gathering could've slipped his mind. That said, all of the agents had serious expressions on their faces indicating to him that something big was happening. Though he realized it was insensitive to be excited at the prospect of a crime spree on the Citadel, Garrus was looking forward to the chance to prove himself as a detective. It wouldn't be too long before people in C-Sec's halls recognized him as someone with real value inside headquarters instead of just, 'The SPECTREs brother.'

Garrus carefully made his way through the crowd so that he could stand next to his friend Chellick, "What's going on?"

The veteran C-Sec detective shrugged nonchalantly, "No idea, Pallin called everyone to let them know there was an emergency... Where have you been?"

Garrus ignored him keeping his gaze straight ahead, "I wasn't called at all, I've been spending time with my girlfriend all morning."

Garrus' heart sank when he realized he was the only agent Pallin hadn't called back to headquarters in order to deal with this emergency. Despite his work in bringing Dr. Saelon to justice, Pallin apparently didn't see him as anything other than a random street cop. What made it worse was that all the other detectives knew Pallin purposefully shunned him out. How could he request evidence transfer from the Zakea Ward if the police in the district knew he didn't have the backing from headquarters? On some level he knew Pallin saw him as a screw up with a silver spoon that he had to hire, yet he was under the impression the Executor would still have some basic decency. Especially considering he had the work product to prove he was more than a spoiled brat. At this rate he felt as though Pallin was putting off his appearance to prolong his embarrassment.

Before Chellick could respond Pallin was taking the podium, "Good morning everyone, I'm afraid I have some bad news to report. According to a message we received from the Human Ambassador, SPECTRE Nihlus Kryik was killed in a top-secret mission on Eden Prime..."

The rest of the words flew past Garrus' understanding as the news washed over him. Nihlus had been a part of his family since he was a baby, he was as much of a caregiver to him as Castis. When everyone else had taken Saren's side in the account of what happened on Kajhe, Nihlus trusted him more. Even though the dispute definitely contributed to breaking them up, Nihlus chose to believe the truth over his lover's word. His knees grew weak at the realization he was never going to have someone trust him so implicitly again. A dark part of his mind wondered if Saren could be responsible for Nihlus' death only to immediately shoot down the assumption. Saren absolutely loved Nihlus even after the two of them separated. How could he forget hearing Saren's sobs after his last conversation with Nihlus? Someone who cared that deeply for another person couldn't kill them.

Recovering from the initial shock, Garrus understood why Pallin hadn't called him in today. He was way too close to this thing to be an impartial investigator. Pallin had been discussing some of the finer details of the murder and all Garrus had done was remember the happy times in his childhood. At least he could rest easy knowing Pallin hadn't set everything up this way to make him look bad. Garrus on a logical level knew he should head home to help Saren with the funeral arrangements, but his heart told him he should be the one working this case. Nihlus had warned him specifically to keep his eyes open for a vague reason. Having seemingly told no one else, Nihlus had effectively chosen him to look into the murder before it occurred.

Pallin placed both hands in his pockets approaching Garrus after the briefing was over, "I'm sorry you had to find out like this son. We had to make sure the news wouldn't leak through public channels before we know what to say."

"Do we know how he died?" Garrus asked keeping his tone as stoic as possible for a hope to stay on the case.

Pallin studied him for a few more seconds measuring an appropriate response, "I'm afraid that's classified to people outside of the investigation. As soon as we get the guy you will be the first to know, I know he was like an uncle to you."

Garrus lied knowing an argument would only make things worse, "I understand the integrity of the investigation has to come first. Do you mind if I take a few days off to make funeral arrangements? House Kryik will most likely want the burial on Palaven."

Pallin nodded sagely letting out a breath after the discovery this wasn't going to be a fight, "Take as much time as you need. We'll be swamped with this for a long time, I think. Chellick may want to talk to you in case you know anything, but the Spirits must come first."

Garrus went back outside to his shuttle trying to decide where to go first. Nihlus' office on the Presidium was going to be surrounded by C-Sec so there was no way he could get anything useful on the sly. He could ask a few other SPECTREs Nihlus knew for information on what he was up to lately though that might be a fool's errand. If they were here enjoying shore leave it was highly unlikely, they would know anything about Nihlus half a Galaxy away. Luckily, Garrus recalled Nihlus had a small apartment in the Wards for his own time off. He was going to have to go home to dig out the address to the place as soon as possible. As far as he was concerned, Garrus was in a race with C-Sec detectives to get the smoking gun first.