(Enjoy this very overdue update.)

Garrus fiddled with the datapad in his grasp. Running his talon nervously along the edge of it. This was the second time Shepard had invited him up to her quarters, and he wasn't sure if it'd be the last.

To his surprise the door opened in front of him and his plan-B came to a shrieking halt. Thalassa stood there with a startled expression and crossed her arms.

"Were you going to come in?"

Her hip was cocked to one side, shortening her stature which was average to start with. Her lips curved into a curious grin. He could swear that her eyes saw into his soul- reading him like a book.

"Hm, yes. Of course I was- I just got here." He went into the room and sat on the couch. Setting his pad aside on the coffee table.

She followed before long and crawled into the bed- fluffing the comforter up and opening her laptop.

Her hand fanned at him- gesturing for him to come over. When he didn't move, she pulled him in with her gaze.

They curled up on the bed together as she put on an old human movie. Regardless of what it was even about, he had a hard time breathing because of how close they were. He could hear her breath and how it filled and left her chest- he marveled at the power behind that breath; Oh, how the universe would be as good as dead if she quit breathing.

The movie ran for about 20 minutes before she let out a sigh and paused it. Giving Garrus a pretty disappointed glance. "You're not even watching it are you?"

He blinked at her in surprise and shook his head. "I am watching it."

"No- everytime I look at you you're eyes are on me. What's the matter? Is my hair bothering you?"

She had it it down for the first time in a while and he'd only seen it down a handful of times, but that was not why he was distracted. He reached up to run his talons through her hair.

"No. I like it like this."

She shifted her body to face him more. Seemingly desiring to accommodate all of him. "Then- what?"

The breath hitched in her throat as she regained consciousness. It wasn't the first time she had woken up with nausea and dizziness. Her extremities ached. She didn't have the strength to get up. A couple monitor lights blinked in the darkness.

Something shifted at her side and then she heard what sounded like a light gargling noise. It was then that she became aware of something or someone holding her hand.

She reached out with her other to touch whatever was beside her- the warmth that radiated from the body felt familiar.

She could make out a fringe and felt the familiar texture of Garrus' bare hand in hers. A smile worked its way onto her lips.

She had never heard Garrus snore before.

Her mind drifted away and within a few hours she woke again and supposed she had slept a while because the body beside her was gone.

She attempted to sit up and managed it with a seering pain in her side. The room was definitely the medbay.

The cold floor beneath her feet met the barrier of warm socks. Garrus knew her all too well- she hated sleeping without something on her feet.

She painfully shuffled toward the door- interacted with the interface and opened it. The light paralyzed her and she had to lean against the door frame to keep herself from falling over.

"What the hell are you doing?"

A voice came from somewhere in the sea of light. Her head throbbed when she squinted to make out the figure coming at her.

"Oh look- you're still alive." She retorted and by his demeanor, it was obvious that he wasn't having it.

"Get back in the room-" He had to peel her from the door frame to carry her back to the hospital bed. "Vakarian, I don't appreciate you man-handling me."

"I don't care what you do and don't want right now. You are on bed rest."

She scoffed and let out a sigh. Shepard pulled the blanket up over her legs.

"Let me guess, concussion and some sort of lasceration in my side?"

"Don't forget your broken rib and fractured nose."

"Oh yeah! Hell. Can't forget those."

The glow of his visor illuminated a portion of his face. He moved in the dark swiftly- like a shadow.

She grasped at the air until she caught a part of him and held it with all the strength she had.

"Where are you going?"

"Do you not want me to leave?"

"I want you to tell me what's going on."

"Look, Thalassa. I don't know why you are behaving this way, but I am finished here. You are resting- your body has had enough. Chakwas is worried that if you don't rest your body- you could go into shock."

Her hand ventured a bit lower on him- unsure of what body part she was holding. Her fingers investigated a material that wasn't part of his clothes. "Garrus, are you wounded?"

He chuckled and lightly pried her fingers away. "Yeah. Shrapnel wounds mostly. Don't worry- I'm fine." He reassured and touched her face with the back of his hand.

"You rest. We can talk later."

"I can talk now."

The air in the room shifted and Garrus sighed. "You know, Thalassa. I've only met one person other than my father who is just as stubborn as I am. You want to take a guess as to who that would be?"

"What happened, Garrus?"

He stayed quiet. He didn't move- he didn't give her anything to go off of.

"There was a bomb. Where's Victus? Is he okay?"

The edge of the bed gave way, yet her eyes stayed on the shape of Garrus' face that was now beginning to come into view.

She felt a fluffing of the pillows behind her and his face closed in on hers. The gentle touch of his hands on her face made her close her eyes.

"Victus is fine, Thalassa. Now- do me a favor and please rest?"

He could feel her body begin to relax and lay back into the pillows. He mimicked a kiss against her cheek and caressed her shoulder.

"Don't leave, big guy..."

"I'm not going anywhere."

It was days before Garrus had allowed Shepard to move around independently. Since being close to the point of death after the fight with the reapers, her body was still recovering. Even months later any subsequent injuries made it harder for her body to recover from the trauma.

Trauma. Trauma was something that Thalassa understood at a personal level, but never felt the need to put any precautions in place to prevent it. Afterall, the only true method of prevention in her case would be to die or completely go off the grid, neither option seemed appropriate.

After a week of fluids and good bed rest, Chakwas had finally given Garrus the green light to move Shepard into their room.

It had proven to be difficult for Thalassa to sit and do nothing other than attempt to walk every now and then. It was especially difficult for her to know that a bomber was out there and she was currently unable to track them down efficiently.

Garrus was working closely with the Turian task force, but with all the conflicting stories of witnesses, they hadn't found much to incriminate anyone.

Shepard was scrolling through some report files in bed while trying to wrap her mind around recent events. She hadn't even heard Garrus come in as she rubbed her forehead in quiet frustration.

"Having a hard day?"

They had agreed never to assume that a day was bad. Their standard of bad was a lot worse than most- hence why it made more sense to focus more on the difficulty level of the day than to have a pessimistic outlook.

They were both trained to withstand more than a stack of reports.

"Yeah, I- guess you could say that."

Shepard brushed her hair back with her fingers and tossed a datapad out of the way. Garrus brought an aura of serenity into her stress-filled bubble, and per-usual it reminded her to relax. He sat beside her and gazed briefly at all the files in front of her before pushing them away from her and toward the foot of the bed.

"You know- in Turian culture they say it's bad luck to go over any kind of paperwork in bed. It is said to "taint the sheets"." He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close to him, caressing her side.

She stayed silent- gazing off into the void of her own mind.

"Thalassa."

It wasn't her name that caused her to look at him, it was his tone, broken and desperate. "None of this is your responsibility. You have done enough."

She listened resolutely, unmoved by his reasoning.

"The primarch could have died, Garrus. Or worse- you. I can't just wait around to see if it will happen again."

"It's done."

"No, it's not! The primarch wanted you to work on this, remember? We have to-"

"No."

Again, his tone caught her by surprise- it was heavy and firm this time. Almost as if a ship had crashed into an ocean- she gazed at him incredulously.

"No?"

He shifted uncomfortably, she already knew what was coming.

"The General Assembly filed a waiver stating that you cannot and will not be a part of the investigation. The primarch didn't want to pass it, but he wanted to appease the Assembly."

"Garrus, I've already done research on this. I found that the bomb was placed there right before we arrived! Remember when I told you about the suspicious Turian who had run into me on our way to see the primarch? I know he was-"

"Thalassa, stop."

He had moved now to face her, holding her shoulders to steady her. Her face was pale, almost as if she was draining away by the minute.

"The Assembly gave Victus an earful for letting you be present in a classified intelligence meeting. They made it clear to me that I cannot allow you to be involved regardless of our relationship status."

The air began to feel oppressive. They both felt it.

She got up from the bed. "What about the fact that I sacrificed everything to help save the galaxy from the reapers? Or the collectors?"

She was pacing now- the tension made Garrus' mandible flutter.

"Maybe this is for the best. You still need time to heal, Thalassa. There's only so much that omni-gel and pain killers can do."

He tried to reason with her- but his words fell upon deaf ears.