Garrus absently tapped his talons on the windowsill as he looked outside.

"You can see all over the Presidium from here," he mused. Not that this fact needed pointing out—the window was huge. It took up practically the entire wall. "Great view."

"Yeah, well... I'm not exactly here for sightseeing." Shepard massaged her neck and he couldn't help but feel she was maybe a little embarrassed. "I'm honestly just supposed to shake hands, stand around and look representative... Show everyone that humans aren't to be afraid of."

"Then what am I doing here?"

"Helping." She raised an eyebrow. "It doesn't hurt to have someone else stand around and look scary. I'm already getting more recognizable than I would like."

"You're making good progress; you even got your own office." He smiled. The room was small, tucked between the large hanar embassy and the joint one of the volus and elcor, but it was an office of her own nonetheless. For a completely new species, it was a huge accomplishment. Garrus didn't doubt for a moment that it was thanks to Shepard's diplomatic skills. "Nice job, Ambassador."

Shepard tensed visibly. "Acting ambassador," she corrected him. "This is just a temporary job, remember?" She crossed her arms, clearly uncomfortable. "If everything goes well, I'll be back in the military within a week."

Garrus looked down. He didn't say anything because he didn't want to sound rude or unsupportive. Her going back to the navy would probably mean her getting shipped off somewhere, and he wasn't so sure their not-even-two-month-old relationship would survive that. They hadn't even been on a real date yet; it was hard to say that they were serious. Then again, they'd already gone through the saying I love you to each other stage of the relationship... Damn it, why was this all so complicated?! And now there was this whole political mess in the picture, too.

"Ready to head out?"

Garrus shrugged. "It's your call." He only said so because it was.

"I have a meeting with the Council in twenty minutes." She brought up her omnitool. It was no longer the strange human-made tech Garrus had seen her using earlier. She must have gotten an upgrade—this one was a better model than his own. "If we leave now, we won't have to hurry so much."

Just three days and she was already good at getting around the Citadel—or at the very least around the Presidium.

Shepard was decisive and methodical when she walked. She didn't look around that much, clearly set on a goal. Her moves weren't that different from those of a marching soldier—just barely more relaxed. Garrus followed a step behind her, making it as abundantly clear as he could that they were together. That didn't stop people from staring, of course. He didn't blame them. He'd be staring too if he were in their place. But at least (or so he hoped) his presence scared off any potential trouble. This was the Presidium, but there was still no way to tell how people would behave when faced with the unknown.

It happened every now and then that a new sentient species was discovered, but it hadn't happened in Garrus's lifetime yet. He didn't know what the procedure was here; he only understood that it included Shepard—and, apparently, himself—in some vital way.

There were two turian C-Sec officers standing guard by the entrance to Citadel Tower, but that wasn't so out of of the ordinary, if Garrus could remember from the last time he'd been on the Citadel.

"Jane Shepard. I have clearance." She brought up her omnitool, allowing the turian officer to scan it. "I have a meeting with the Council scheduled for... soon."

"Of course, ma'am. Go on."

Shepard and Garrus exchanged pleasantly surprised looks before heading toward the tower.

"Oh! No, um..." The C-Sec officer stopped them at the door. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but that turian can't enter with you. You were explicitly named as the only one who's allowed to see the Council."

"He goes wherever I go," Shepard said—calmly but firmly. (Garrus wasn't going to lie, he liked her standing up for him.)

"He has no clearance." The turian tapped his foot on the floor, annoyed. "I'm sorry. He's staying."

Garrus huffed.

"I hate C-Sec so much," he muttered. Damn sticklers for the rules. He turned to Shepard. "It's fine. I'll stay here."

"Are you sure?" She sent the C-Sec officers a sour look. "I don't think this is fair."

"It is. Besides, it's all right. I'm a turian, I blend right in." It was supposed to be a joke, but she didn't laugh.

She looked to the side, her cheeks coloured with a rosy blush.

"Not for me, you don't."

He could feel his mandibles twitch involuntarily when she said that and he immediately wished his body didn't react quite so visibly to all the confusing ways she made him feel.

"Well..." Shepard laughed nervously as she stepped into the elevator—alone. "Keep your fingers crossed."

Garrus tilted his head at her. "Why would I do that?"

She didn't get to answer because the doors closed between them, and Garrus was left to wonder what she'd meant by that.

Some strange human ritual? Or just a figure of speech?

He tried crossing the fingers on his right hand and managed to make a skewy-looking X shape. He had no clue what significance this could hold in human culture, or if he was even doing it right. Having five fingers probably changes the gestures you can make, he thought. He decided to ask Shepard about it later, if he remembered.

It was around that moment that he realized he was being watched.

There was an asari, dressed in a business suit and a black jacket, observing him from not too far away. In fact, she was clearly moving in to start a conversation.

Damn it. How long is Shepard going to take up there? It had been a few minutes already.

Garrus tried ignoring the asari, but she just came up closer and kept sending curious gazes his way.

He sent her a passively threatening look, baring his fangs a little bit—just enough to show he wasn't in the mood for talking and probably shouldn't be approached. He looked ahead, ignoring her, hoping that would be enough.

The asari moved so she was looking at him from a safe enough distance. Garrus felt his nose twitching with irritation. She was beginning to get on his nerves.

She moved in way too close for comfort, studying his face with her brows knit in thought.

"It's you, isn't it?" she asked eventually. She said it in a completely casual way, as if she hadn't been stalking him for the last few minutes.

"What?" he snapped at her, already angry at the very beginning of the conversation.

"You're the turian soldier who fell in love with the human officer."

Great... So people know. He had no idea how to answer that. It wasn't even a question.

"Some people are saying that war ended because of you two, you know."

"That's not true," Garrus noticed.

"I know. But you can't always control what people think. Personally, I think there's potential in your story."

"My... story?"

"Yes. It's got all the makings of a good romance. How you met as enemies but cast that aside for the sake of compassion and understanding and empathy... Love always comes through, that kind of message. It's always a great selling point."

Garrus shook his head.

"What are you even saying?"

"Look, this is the story of the decade. If we're lucky enough, might be the story of the century. Uh... Have you watched Fleet and Flotilla? This would be the next big interspecies love story, like that one! Even better, because this one would be based on real events. Here's the deal: I am willing to pay good money for a chance to interview the two of you. We're talking hundreds of thousands."

Garrus took a step back.

"Yeah, no, I'm... I'm sorry, but... That's my personal life. It's not for sale."

"I don't think you understand what—"

He had to use all of his self-restraint not to grab her wrist—or worse yet, her throat.

"I'm not interested," he growled. He hoped the amount of hostility coursing through his subharmonics would be enough to get the message across without the use of violence.

"Garrus?"

He perked up immediately. "Shepard." He shook his head, getting all the violent thoughts out of his head almost immediately.

Shepard ran a hand through her hair. She was watching from a small distance and she seemed concerned.

"Is everything okay?" She pursed her lips, looking between him and the asari he'd been talking to.

Garrus nodded quickly.

"Yes... Let's go." He grabbed her hand and walked off quickly. Shepard reluctantly let him drag her along with her through the Presidium. It wasn't until they had made it a sustainable distance from the tower that he started to slow down. He let go of her hand, too.

"Are you okay?" Shepard ran a few steps ahead as to catch with him. "What did that woman want?"

"Oh, nothing much," he said jokingly. "Just all the details of my personal life in exchange for some credits."

"Wow."

"I know."

There was a moment of silence. Shepard stared at her feet.

"Was it because of me...?"

Garrus shrugged. "Doesn't matter if it was. It'd be creepy nonetheless."

"So it was."

Garrus stopped. He looked over the large lake that took up a good part of this level of the Presidium.

He leaned on the railing.

"What happens now?" he asked quietly. "Where do we go from here, Shepard?"

"I... don't know." She stood by his side. "So far, I've just been making it up as I go."

"I couldn't tell." He could tell perfectly well. But he didn't blame her for that. Not like he had been prepared for any of this, after all. Not for being thrust into galactic politics, not for having to deal with a certain level of fame, not even for trying to make an interspecies relationship work.

"This is all just... so much more difficult than I thought." She put her arms on the railing. "I don't know why I thought it'd be easy. It's so easy between us—I guess I thought everything else would be easy too, but... It's not." She paused. "I just wish I could be as sure of what I'm doing all the time as I am with you, I..." She stammered when their eyes met. "I look at you and... I don't know, it's easy. I just... know what to do."

Garrus flared his mandibles. This got very real very suddenly.

"Do you know what to do now?" He gently touched her cheek, the tips of his fingers just barely ghosting over her skin.

"Hm..." She smiled. "Yeah, I do."

Garrus had been expecting her to kiss him at that moment, so when Shepard collapsed into his arms, he staggered backward, not prepared. He looked down at her, surprised. She was hugging him tightly, her face hidden in his chest. He wasn't sure what to do.

He hesitantly put his arms around her, hugging back. He rested his head on hers. Her hair tickled his throat a bit, especially when he spoke.

"You'll... figure it out," he said softly. He slowly stroked her back, hoping maybe that would help. "I know you will."

"You have ridiculously too much faith in me." Shepard's voice was muffled by his shirt in her face, but she didn't pull away.

Garrus chuckled. He kissed the top of her head.

"There's people staring at us," he whispered.

"What, haven't they seen a human hugging a turian at the banks of an artificial lake on the biggest space station in the world before?"

"Hm. You'd have to assume they haven't."

She pulled away just enough to look up at him.

"Does it ever bother you?"

"Not really." Garrus shrugged. He wouldn't say it aloud, scared of how she'd take it, but he had an answer. You're worth it. He hesitated. "...It's worth it."

She pulled away from the hug, but she didn't stop holding his hand. Garrus couldn't help smiling at that. The logistics of hand-holding were kind of messy with all the additional digits humans had, but he loved the way Shepard's hand fit in his. It always felt so genuine, so right.

"This place could actually be kind of romantic," she said as she looked over the lake. "Once it gets dark, at least."

"It won't. This is all artificial sunlight. On this level of the Presidium, they never turn it off."

"Hm." Shepard wrinkled her nose. "Bummer."

Garrus looked at her. "What does that mean?" he asked. Yet another new word.

"Just an expression... Basically, it's a shame. Bad luck. Not fun."

"Huh."

They stood like that for a while longer, holding hands and pretending they didn't see the looks everyone around them gave them. For once, even Shepard didn't seem to care about what people thought.

"What did the Council want from you?"

"Not sure," Shepard replied absently. She rested her head on his shoulder and Garrus completely froze, all his muscles tensing in an instant. She either didn't notice or didn't care. "I think they were trying to intimidate me more than anything. Trying to get some sort of reaction."

"Did they?"

"Come on. It's me," she chuckled. "Besides, it's going to take more than a few armed turians to scare me."

"Much more, if I recall correctly." Garrus shot her a look. He hadn't forgotten Shanxi. "You never were scared... I don't think they anticipated that. Are all humans like this or is it just you?"

Shepard shook her head, amused. "I've got to keep some secrets," she joked. "Besides, there should be plenty of other humans here soon. You can decide for yourself then."

True to her word—and to the diplomatic agreement signed on Shanxi—not even a week later, Shepard was joined by a few other Systems Alliance officers, as well as several human diplomats. That group took up work immediately and as soon as they did, the little peace Garrus had just barely started to build in his life was shattered. Shepard was hardly ever alone now and even though he still rarely left her side, it was always in a professional context. Never casual.

The only upside of the situation was that from observing Shepard's behaviour, he'd managed to come to the conclusion that she was even more tired of this than he was. And if he knew her as well as he thought he did, she probably wouldn't stay in a position that actively irritated her for long.

For some part, he was right. She didn't stay in that position for long.

Because a few weeks later, Shepard was asked to be the human ambassador on the Citadel.