"Mango," Garrus muttered under his breath, trying to stifle a laugh. Human fruit had such funny names. There was one called passionfruit (or so his translator claimed at least) and an orange one that, unless Shepard was pulling a joke on him, was literally called orange.

He picked out two large mangoes that looked ripe enough for him and was about to bag them when his phone started ringing.

Another call from his father.

Garrus wrinkled his nose, displeased at the noise but determined not to pick up. Ever since Garrus had called him once, his father had taken that as an invitation to keep in touch - which it definitely had not been.

It was awkward enough shopping for groceries without everyone staring at him for not answering his phone.

Garrus clenched his mandibles when his omnitool pinged again just as he was about to pay. He pointedly ignored whatever the message was and only focused on the shopping. The total was a lot higher than what he'd been used to when living alone. Stupid levo/dextro stuff. Now he understood why so many turians in relationships with asari were angry about it. Buying separate food was annoying to say the least, and even though most basic food ingredients were neutral, there was very little that could be made from them. (They'd tried a few times, mostly just for the simple contentment of dining together. At least they got to agree that the food wasn't good.) In the end, it was just easier if Shepard cooked her own meals and he his own.

As he waited for an elevator in the wards, Garrus absently thought about how much time he wasted in elevators on the Citadel. He knew there were no better ways to get around, but it was still annoying.

He left the grocery bags in the kitchen before immediately going to wash his hands - a stupid human habit he'd somehow gotten used to so much that he felt uncomfortable when he didn't do it.

He had to admit that his mostly empty apartment had started to feel a lot more homey since Shepard had moved in (there was stuff in the fridge other than just takeout, for one) and it felt like a natural evolution of his old childhood home.

"Shepard?" He found her in the living room, sitting in the armchair with her legs tucked under her chin. She was holding a few stacks of documents, some of them not even digitalised. Garrus frowned. "Are you still going over these? It's not healthy."

"But this is my fault, Garrus. This is my fault. Do you know what the net migration rate has been for humans this last month? Negative four per mil. People are leaving. They shouldn't be leaving! How can we expect to be part of the galactic community if we run away from the galactic community?!"

Garrus sighed. He grabbed a blanket and put it over her shoulders. He doubted she would have even noticed that it was pretty cold.

"I think I missed the part where this is your fault."

"Clearly, humans don't feel safe in Citadel space. Who's responsible for making humans feel safe here?"

"I don't know." He had a feeling her question was rhetorical.

"Me. I just need to get to work, I need to put more effort into this, I need to…"

"Do you think I don't see what you're doing?"

"I'm doing my job."

Garrus hesitated. Shepard had been distracted lately and, as annoyingly so as always, she'd chosen to throw herself into work rather than let herself think about things she couldn't control.

"I'm just worried about you."

"That's sweet of you. Don't be." She continued to read through her paperwork, completely unfazed. "I'm okay."

"Are you?"

Shepard sighed.

"It has been almost three weeks. They locked up Antares and Ordo Veris've been quiet. It's over for now." She raised her eyebrows. "What are you expecting me to do, Garrus? Do you want me to get hung up on something that doesn't matter anymore?"

"Of— Of course not," he stammered. Damn, he really hated how she'd always been better at arguing. Part of what made her a good diplomat; she knew just where to hit to get a reaction. "I just… I don't think it doesn't matter."

She didn't even look at him. "I have work to do."

"You always have work to do."

"There's always more to be done."

"Oh, spirits above…" Garrus had to resist an urge to roll his eyes. "Anderson was right - you're a workaholic."

"Yep," she agreed absently. "Guilty as charged… Hey, does this look weird to you?" She handed him a report, which Garrus almost immediately put away.

He sighed.

"Shepard."

"Yeah?" She hadn't even actually looked up in this conversation. Garrus got the impression she was only half-listening, too.

"Shepard, will you look at me?" He clicked his mandibles, irritated at her for choosing this coping mechanism of all things. "I'm quitting my job at the embassy."

That one succeeded in making her look up at him. All of a sudden she wasn't so interested in her work anymore as her surprise turned out to be stronger.

"Is it because of me?"

"No! No, nothing like that. It's just… A friend of mine at C-Sec offered me a job there. I'm thinking of taking it."

Shepard looked away. "Is it because of what I said? Because you wanted vengeance on that turian?"

"What? No. I mean… Maybe at first," he admitted reluctantly. "But mostly it's just… I want to do more. To ensure what happened to you doesn't happen again. To anyone." He clenched his fists. "You survived. Not everyone gets that luxury. I just… I don't know where I'd be now if you'd died. Halfway to Omega with a sniper rifle on my shoulder and all caution down the wind? Sulking in some rundown bar? I don't know, and I don't want to know."

He looked down.

"I was lucky, because you survived. But not everyone is that lucky. Every time someone dies, it's someone else's loved one, someone else's Shepard. And it keeps me up at night." He clenched his mandibles, biting back a growl. "I want to make a change. Not sure if this is the best way to go around it, but… it's the one that's available to me right now." Garrus clicked his mandibles, looking at Shepard with some fear. "It's hard. But I want to work on it."

Shepard put a hand on his forearm. "You know I'll support you in whatever you choose, right?" She smiled. "Thanks for telling me about this."

Garrus slipped his hands underneath her shirt. His fingers trailed over the many, many bandages on her torso.

"Say... How badly are you still hurt?" He dropped his voice almost an octave lower, immediately eliciting a reaction from her in the form of goosebumps on her arms. "Did the doctor clear you for any physical activity?"

"I can go for a walk," she answered slowly. She wrinkled her nose. "Not so sure about a run, though."

"Hm." Garrus flared his mandibles. "Damn shame."

"Why, had something special planned?"

"Every time with you is special," he pretended to be offended as he placed his hands on her waist. "I was hoping for something extraordinary."

"Extraordinary, huh?" She smirked, leaning in closer. "We'll get right to that as soon as I get better, then."

Garrus hummed a disappointed note. "It's been three weeks. We'd better." He cleared his throat, moving away from her. "Um… In other news… I talked to my father."

"You mentioned him before… He lives here on the Citadel, right?" Shepard sat on the table, but Garrus couldn't tell what she was thinking. "I've never met him before, have I? I can't remember."

"You haven't," he assured her. "Dad's not on the Citadel. He used to work for C-Sec, but now he lives on Palaven with my mom." As always, his voice trembled at the mention of his mother. "That's... actually why I called him. You know that group who tried to have you killed, Ordno Veris?"

"Yeah, I seem to recall," Shepard deadpanned.

"Well, they're actually very notorious in turian space. They're responsible for several attacks on Palaven and the nearest colonies."

"I thought they were just out for humans."

"Oh, no. They're a separatist group; they believe turians shouldn't be on the Council, that we are strong enough to get by on our own. Build an empire and whatnot…" Garrus wiggled his nose. "Load of crap, but some people buy it. It's mostly an excuse to justify more violence." He cleared his throat; he'd been getting off-track. "Either way, I called my father. He's technically retired, but he's been working odd jobs as a PI on Palaven and he's friends with the Primarch. I figured he'd have some information."

Shepard nodded along.

"Did he?"

"I— I guess. From what I gather, he's been building a case against their leader for a while now, even long before first contact with your species. I mean… It was an awkward conversation. I didn't get a lot out of him." Garrus absently stroked his shoulder. He was feeling cold. "We don't get along. I..." He wiggled his nose, unable to ignore it anymore. "Okay. Did you change the thermostat again?"

"Uh…" Shepard blinked slowly, almost as if she were trying to think of an answer to that simple question. "No, I did not."

"You did! It's cold again."

"Well, you— You always change it back!" She pointed a finger at him in a way that was almost accusatory. "It's not my fault you want to keep it nothing short of tropical in here!"

"Tropical? Oh, come on! You'd rather see me freeze to death in this refrigerator of an apartment!"

"Get. A blanket." Shepard crossed her arms. "God, I'd hate to see you in winter. You are such a big baby."

"Winters on Palaven are pretty tame compared to other planets from what I've heard, actually."

"Yeah, you wouldn't survive a snowstorm on Earth." She raised an eyebrow when she saw how flustered he looked. A reluctant smile broke across her features. "God. I love you, you big idiot."

"So I can adjust the thermostat?"

"Sure, why not." She smirked. "Worse comes to worst, I'll just walk around in my underwear."

Garrus's mandible twitched.

"Should have opened with that."

Garrus absently flicked his omnitool on and off. His new C-Sec ID was prominent and visible when he brought up his personal information. He still wasn't sure if this had been the best decision, especially after that enthusiastic email he'd gotten from his father as soon as he'd joined up.

Worst of all, he had enough military and diplomatic experience to start off from Sergeant - which almost felt like nepotism of some sort to him. He didn't feel like he'd fully earned that position, so the last few days he'd been working as hard as he could to prove (at least to himself) that he was worthy of it.

He turned off his omnitool again in favour of tapping his fingers on the table.

"These are amazing, by the way." Shepard cut off another slice of mango. The fruit was a completely different, yellowish colour inside. "You should definitely try some."

Garrus looked at her from over the table, unimpressed. "Thanks, but I think I'll stick with the fruit that won't give me diarrhea."

"Prude," she scoffed with an exaggerated roll of her eyes. "You're not allergic. It won't really hurt you."

"Just because you try all my food doesn't mean I have to do the same."

"Come on, give me a break." Shepard leaned back in her chair. "I'm here surrounded by all this alien food no human has ever tasted before. What do you expect me to do? Me eating your food is a cultural experiment."

"No, you eating my food is you eating my food."

Shepard wrinkled her nose, but she let it go.

"Changing the subject… How's police work been treating you?"

He let out a long moan, hiding his face in his hands.

"If I'd known how similar it would be, I never would have quit my job at the embassy." He made a short, dissatisfied whimper. "Not to mention there's also my father, the C-Sec legend. Everyone knows I'm his son." Garrus massaged the plates on his nape. "Honestly the only good part of this ordeal is that he's on Palaven - light years away from here. I don't know if I'd survive him breathing down my neck."

He sighed and only silence followed for a long while.

"What's it like?" Shepard asked all of a sudden.

Garrus looked up, the question throwing him off for a second.

"P—Palaven?"

"Yeah."

"It's… It's blue and green and silver. Metallic ground under a radioactive sun. All the plants and animals—hell, even turians—everything hardy and rigid and so, so amazing. Entire species evolved just to survive under that burning red sun… Surviving. Living. Thriving." He smiled fondly. "It's not all bad. If you take away the radiation, the planet's beautiful. There's oceans as far as the eye can see, and deep tropical forests around the equator. And the cities… Oh, Shepard, the cities! You haven't seen anything in the galaxy until you've seen a turian city. Glistening in the sunlight like the finest of silver, perfectly planned out and executed and perfected to the last centimeter—and then, at night, under the light of all of Palaven's moons, seemingly shining with its own light… You could just sit and look for hours, you…" He drifted off, realizing too late that he'd gotten carried away.

Shepard frowned.

"You really miss it, don't you?"

"Well, I…" He clicked his mandibles. "I can't say this is my first time away for this long. It's just… It's where I come from. It's hard not to miss that." A new light appeared in his eyes. "Maybe I could take you some time."

Shepard looked at him, but the very complex expression on her face was indecipherable to him.

"Maybe one day." She tensed her shoulders. "Not anytime soon."

"Well, what about you?" Garrus squinted his eyes a bit. "Wouldn't you want us to visit your home planet?"

"What? No." She dismissed the idea almost too quickly. "Earth's boring. Come on. We can go wherever we want, no need to waste our time on that old place. No, let's see one— one of those colonies, you know? The ones you keep hearing about wherever you go. Perfect paradise, all that. Somewhere with nice views."

"Warm," Garrus added.

"But not too dry."

"With lots of trees."

"And water."

They looked at each other and Shepard could barely stifle laughter.

"Is this what holiday planning is going to be like now? We just pick some planet who knows how far away, somewhere out there in the galaxy, and just fly there?"

"Are you alright? You look pale."

Shepard bit down on her lower lip.

"I've never been on an alien planet," she admitted quietly.

"You… Really?"

"Yeah, I… Hey, you know. You were with me all the time. It was straight to the Citadel from Shanxi. We didn't really make recreational stops."

Garrus flared his mandibles. "Well, now I'm— That's really sad. That's just sad. I... You've gotta take a vacation."

"Where? Palaven?"

"I think that'd be a bit too logistically difficult," he chuckled. "But good to see you're keeping an open mind about it."

She smirked.

"Not as much of a workaholic as you thought, am I?"

Shepard bit back a yawn as she leaned back in her chair. She wasn't generally one to stay at the office so long, but things hadn't been as easy ever since Garrus had left. In all honesty, she hadn't really realized how vital each member of her office was to the whole team operating smoothly until she'd lost one of them. Fair enough, she had let him go and she definitely wouldn't force anyone to stay, but the team was small. Everyone's job was important.

Damn, she really should hire someone to fill that empty spot. She just hadn't made up her mind if they should be human or not.

Shepard rubbed her eyes. She'd just logged the final report for today, which meant that finally, she was free.

She scowled at the young turian standing by the door.

Almost free.

She sprang to her feet, trying to ignore him as she stretched out. She definitely shouldn't have spent that much time sitting behind a desk without a break.

She said a half-hearted goodbye to the only other person still in the office without really even noticing who it was, all the while aware of the turian staying a few steps behind her.

She turned back, exasperated at the bodyguard following her.

"Can't you please just leave me alone for one minute?" She put a hand to her forehead. "It's been a month. I'm fine, Tarkin. I think I can walk home from my office on my own, thank you very much."

"I'm sorry, ma'am. I have my orders."

Shepard sighed. Tarkin was a nice young turian, but he was rule-obedient to a fault. According to him, most turians were; apparently, the first one she'd met wasn't a very good representative of his species. Maybe that was a good thing. Anyone else might have killed her.

"Of course you do," she snarled. She knew her anger was probably misplaced right now. One of Tarkin's superiors at C-Sec was probably the one calling the shots on this. She even had a suspect in mind.

And now, she didn't really feel like going home. She could probably stop by the C-Sec academy, see how Garrus was handling things, maybe complain about Tarkin doing his job with such conviction… But at the same time, she also wanted her freedom.

Maybe she could lose him.

It took some wandering, venturing into some of the less up-and-coming districts of the Citadel's wards, and going through several crowded spaces, but she eventually made it.

She looked around the less than clean alley she'd wandered into and while this type of place would usually have her on her toes, right now she was feeling proud of herself more than anything else. On Earth, places like this were bad news and while Shepard had the luxury of only interacting with the higher levels of the Citadel, she didn't doubt that the same probably held true here. Certain things were universal. Crime and poverty often went step in step, even on alien space stations.

Slowly, Shepard started to feel some underlying uneasiness. She took the turn into another equally narrow, equally dimply-lit, equally unkempt alley. At this point, she didn't know where she was anymore, and though the relief of finally being left alone was still somewhere in her, she was also starting to wish the place weren't so silent and empty.

She brought up her omnitool and sent a short message to Garrus, just so he wouldn't worry if she came home late.

By this point, she'd gotten trigger-happy enough to jump at the next thing that moved, so this new sound from behind her could have potentially activated her fight-or-flight insticts.

Except she'd lived with one for long enough to be able to easily recognize the sound of a turian's footsteps.

"Okay, now you've officially angered me—" Shepard spun around, but even though she was ready to scream at her bodyguard even more than she already had, she didn't do it.

Because the turian standing in front of her wasn't Tarkin.

She opened her mouth, ready to apologize, but she felt something in the atmosphere shift and relied solely on instinct as she ducked and the turian ended up grasping nothing as he lunged at her with a glistening metal knife.

Now her fight-or-flight instincts were definitely engaged. And all her life, Jane Shepard chose to fight.

This time was no different.

She bit back a growl, slowly moving away from him while also trying to stay aware of her surroundings. Bad. This was bad. She didn't have a gun, she didn't have a knife, she didn't have armor on… Everything she'd been used to her whole life as a soldier were things that a politician didn't carry around. The turian was larger than her and possibly stronger than her; he wasn't of impressive stature for his species, but still easily towered above her. In any different location, she would have attacked him head-on, but this narrow alley gave the larger opponent an advantage. She continued backing away, her eyes fixed on the knife in the turian's hand.

Her next step back was one step too many, because at that moment, a strong pair of arms grabbed her from behind. She opened her mouth to scream and a damp cloth was pressed there, forcing her to inhale whatever crap it had been soaked with.

The world fizzled out of existence.

"You did what?!" Garrus practically roared at the already scared young turian.

"I'm sorry, sir, I—"

"You had one job! One job!" Garrus grabbed at his fringe. "Fuck!" He really wanted to kick something right now. "How could you lose her?! Never mind that, why the hell did you wait before telling me?!"

"I'm sorry, sir, I had no idea who to report this to…"

"No idea?! You could start with your superiors! What good are you, even?!" Garrus clenched his fists. "If she's hurt, I'm holding you personally responsible! I swear by the spirits, if anything happened to her, as much as a single hair fell off her head, I'm going to find you and throw your sorry ass in jail for negligence of duty!"

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

Garrus rubbed his forehead, already exasperated.

"Where did you see her last?"

"I…" Takin moved away from him.

"Talk fast," Garrus growled.

"Near the warehouses down in Bachjret Ward," Tarkin said quickly. "But I can't say for sure if that's where…"

Garrus didn't stay around long enough to hear the end of that sentence. As soon as he got the information he needed, he was out the door. He didn't care for Tarkin's excuses. He only cared about one thing at the moment; finding his girlfriend, making sure she was safe, and then hugging her tightly if only because he was beginning to develop a strong need to hug her.

Shepard wrinkled her forehead at the dull aching in her head that accompanied her waking up. She didn't remember drinking, but this felt like a hangover… Her tongue was all stiff and her head hurt.

She tried getting up. When she couldn't, her eyes shot open, fully awake within seconds. She frantically looked around and found herself bound to a chair with restraints on her ankles and wrists.

"Oh, come on!" she complained.

Garrus is going to kill me. She was close to groaning. Or worse yet, he might gloat. She could easily imagine he'd be saying "I told you so" about this later. And yes, he had told her so. Didn't mean he was right. He was, but it didn't necessarily mean that.

Getting kidnapped certainly hadn't been on her to-do list. It was barely better than another assassination attempt, too.

"Hey!" She really didn't have the patience to deal with this right now. The sooner she could get out of the whole thing, the better. "Hey! Anyone?!" She just hoped that continuing to scream would eventually get someone to check up on her.

She was really glad she hadn't been gagged.

"Hey! Anyone want to come here?! Hello!"

"Fuck— Get this noise to stop." A tall red-plated turian nearly kicked the door open. Shepard could notice the outline of another person behind him, but she focused on her victory for now.

"She's awake," the first turian stated matter-of-factly.

"She's annoying."

"She can hear you," Shepard added - not a wise choice, probably, but she was at her nerve's end.

The turians shared a look and she immediately regretted talking back. She was in no position to do that.

"You still there?" This new voice came from some sort of portable radio one of the kidnappers was carrying. "Is the human secured?"

He looked at Shepard before taking the radio into his hand.

"Yeah. She woke up and started screaming murder, but seems to be contained and unharmed."

"Good. Keep her that way for now. Tell Derius we've got transportation."

The red-plated turian turned to his companion.

"You hear that, Derius?"

"I did. It's about time. Let's get the hell off this station."

We're still on the Citadel, huh? Shepard smiled to herself. True, the ground lacked the soft timbre of a moving spaceship that she'd grown to know so well, but until now she hadn't been certain she hadn't been taken onto some alien planet. She still didn't know how long she'd been out.

"So you're keeping me alive?"

The turian guard, Derius, sighed. She got the feeling that she was getting on his nerves - for some reason, that thought brought her some joy.

"That's the plan," he grumbled.

"You don't know much about humans, do you?" Shepard looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

"No, and I don't really care."

She smirked. "By the way, did you know that, when in danger, a female of my species can produce a toxic gas in her lungs?"

The turians stopped to slowly look back at her.

"Quite honestly, right now it's only a matter of releasing it," Shepard continued. "I'm not very thrilled about the idea of dying here, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't survive, either, so it's a good enough deal for me. The poison works just as well on dextro and levo life forms."

Her captors exchanged looks.

"You're bluffing," Derius said, but he didn't sound entirely convinced.

"Am I?" She narrowed her brows. "Are you really willing to bet on that? Because I can tell you that I will not hesitate to release the gas. Unless of course you're convinced you're not in danger. Unless you think I'm lying. Go on, then." She gritted her teeth. "Try. Me."

The turian flared his mandibles, looking for any indication on her face that she was bluffing. Shepard merely raised an eyebrow.

"...Call it off," he said eventually. He dropped his gun. "Capturing one human isn't worth dying over. Let her go."

Shepard smirked.

"Good choice." She took in a deep breath, causing an alarmed reaction from the guards. "Now untie me."

They weren't the brightest, probably, but the fact that her species was still so much of an unknown quantity definitely helped.

She quickly took away their guns and now that she could actually give a genuine threat, tied the turians up with the same restraints previously used on her.

"Great." Shepard reloaded one of the pistols. She wasn't really planning on killing anyone, but she'd been annoyed enough to start considering it.

She exited the room into a narrow hallway. Just as she'd suspected, this place was some sort of warehouse, probably down in the Wards.

Just as she was about to turn the corner, an armed turian took the same turn and froze in shock upon seeing her.

And all of a sudden all those sparring sessions with Garrus were coming in handy, because she brought the turian guard down with just one sweep of her leg over his shin. She pressed him into the floor, grateful for her paranoid boyfriend teaching her basic self-defense against his species. (She also guessed he wasn't so paranoid after all.) It was definitely proving to be a useful skill.

She disarmed the guard and gagged and bound him, too, for good measures.

Good. Shepard couldn't fight off her reflex to smile.

Now she wasn't helpless anymore.

Garrus tried to focus on the sound of his feet beating on the cold metal floor, trying desperately to find some calmness in at least the monotonous rhythm of his run. He couldn't find it.

His heart was beating so loudly that his blood pumping in his ears was the only sound he really registered anyway.

Shepard was in danger. Again.

And he hadn't been there. Again.

He couldn't really rationalize the way his body was responding to the situation. The emotions he was feeling were ones he recognized as anger, but for some reason, his legs felt weak as he scoured the empty warehouse, trembling as if they might give in under his weight. His heart was pounding as if there was no tomorrow, as if he were in life-threatening danger. His throat felt dry and his mandibles were twitching completely involuntarily.

Those weren't signs of anger.

Garrus was afraid.

He had every right to be afraid, every reason to, but it still disturbed him. He'd already almost lost her once. He couldn't go through that again. He was afraid and that fear was putting him on edge and he feared that might make him sloppy or careless.

He couldn't imagine what it'd be like if they hadn't gone into politics. Even if they'd managed to somehow be together as soldiers, he couldn't imagine having to live every day under the crushing weight of this fear that he might lose her. Every day having to face the knowledge that she's in danger. Every day not knowing if she might return. Every day worrying about her, fighting with her, seeing her run into danger and fire and death.

He wouldn't have been able to do it.

"Can I help you, officer?"

Garrus blinked. In all the haziness of his fear and anger, he'd forgotten he was still wearing his C-Sec uniform. But maybe that was a good thing.

He turned to the salarian warehouse worker who'd probably seen him desperately looking around and decided to help.

"I'm looking for someone," he said quickly. There was no time to waste. Every second was precious. He didn't even dare to think what might be happening to Shepard right now. "A human woman, around this tall." He gestured vaguely. "Hair as red as the sun, impossible to miss. Have you seen her today? She should have been here."

"I'm sorry." The salarian compressed his lips. "I haven't seen your human."

"She's not mine. What's that even supposed to—" Garrus shook his head. "I don't want to know. Have you…" He felt his throat tighten. "She… might not have been conscious. Are you sure you didn't see a human woman? There might have been a few armed people dragging her with them."

"I don't know… There's so many humans around lately, and they all look the same."

"You'd have recognised this one."

"With red fur?"

"Yeah." Garrus twitched his nose, hoping his desperation wasn't too obvious. "Please. Are you sure?"

"I… I think I saw one with red fur, but… We're not supposed to stare. I didn't get a good look."

"But it could have been her?!"

"If you're looking for a human with red fur, I… I suppose." The salarian nodded his head. "Unit 30-C."

"Thanks," Garrus whispered.

He ran in the direction the salarian had specified, his grip on his gun only tightening with every step he took.

This is the place. It has to be.

He kicked the door open.

"Shepard! I…"

He drifted off, beyond shocked to see her - with a pistol in hand, unbound and unharmed.

"Garrus? What are you doing here?" She seemed only slightly less surprised than him.

Garrus lowered his gun, completely confused at this point.

He looked around. No one was attacking her. She didn't seem to be injured (though she was definitely in for a thorough inspection once he got her home).

"I came here to rescue you…"

"Oh, that's cute." Shepard stroked his mandible with a warm smile. "I don't need rescuing. But you're cute to think of it."

"I wasn't being cute," he protested. "I was saving you."

"Yeah, I already saved myself. But really. Thanks. It's flattering."

"It's not supposed to be flattering, I'm… I was trying to be there for you."

"I don't need you to be there all the time." She rolled her eyes. "Garrus, I can take care of myself. It's nice that you want to help, but I really have everything covered. Here, I'll show you. Come on."

Garrus reluctantly holstered his gun and followed her. She did seem to be completely alright, but it was the same annoying attitude like the one that'd followed the assassination attempt on her. As soon as she was fine, she completely dismissed any danger she'd been in in the first place.

"Damn." Garrus shook his head, staring at the five bound and gagged turians sitting on the warehouse floor. And she'd done this after being drugged and bound and stripped of all her weapons. "Remind me to never get on your bad side."

"I wasn't always a diplomat," Shepard laughed. "Something those knuckleheads probably didn't take into account."

"Jane Shepard. Ambassador of humanity, war hero, supersoldier, and master sharpshooter." Garrus shook his head, genuinely impressed. "Did I miss anything there?"

"Loving girlfriend," Shepard suggested. Garrus chuckled when she put her hands on his nape.

"I'll put that right at the beginning of the list," he purred.

"You'd better." She looked at the turians she'd tied up, who were watching with wide eyes. "Oh. Sorry, boys. Did that burst your little bubble about humans and turians? Well, here's a newsflash for you: we can and should coexist. Peacefully." She turned back to Garrus. "Come on. Help me get these guys out of here."

"We should report this somewhere," Garrus noticed soberly.

"You're C-Sec," she pointed out. "You arrest them. I'll take care of the rest. Okay?"

Garrus hesitated.

"Okay," he agreed eventually.