A/N - I bet you thought this story was dead! So did I, to be honest. But it's amazing what you can put together when you have a moment of inspiration.
The Normandy had arrived on Omega 48 hours earlier. The Commander had been in to see her once or twice since their reunion, but she could tell that he was already keeping his distance. She wasn't surprised that he was already maintaining a distance and keeping their relationship professional. It's how he was during nearly the entire time on the old ship. But she was in two minds. Part of her appreciated him for giving her time and space to deal with her own personal feelings on everything that had happened. It had been a real whirlwind since that first meeting with Miranda Lawson on the Citadel. Part of her, though, wanted for the both of them to sit down and discuss… well, the relationship, if one could call it that, between themselves. She had little doubt he felt the same way for her. She remembered that night before Ilos vividly. Seeing him again had awoken her own feelings that had lain dormant for the past two years.
She was aware that he wasn't happy with his current situation of working with Cerberus and perhaps kept his distance in some strange way to keep her safe. But he knew the mission that he had been given was important. He was human. And humanity was under attack. So she knew he would do anything to solve the problem. But she could already see him struggle with his situation.
He had already recruited a salarian by the name of Mordin Solus. Shepard had introduced the Professor to the rest of the crew and she hadn't laughed so much when Shepard eventually led the salarian out of the med-bay. The salarian was clearly a genius, but he never shut up! But she was of little doubt he would be an asset during the mission, already mentioning numerous ideas of research that would help Shepard and his team going forward.
Her train of thought was broken by an announcement. "Doctor Chakwas?"
She looked up at the ceiling, thinking it silly she always did that, as whoever was calling her name would still hear her. "What is it, Jeff?"
"I have a priority one message from the Commander. He would like the Professor to accompany you onto Omega. Apparently there's been a bit of trouble during the recruitment of Archangel."
She was up and out of her seat in an instant, grabbing her kit-bag and pacing towards the elevator. "Known injuries, Jeff?" she asked, while boarding the elevator.
"No, Doc. He just requested your presence immediately."
"He could have just used his in-suit camera," she said quietly. She wasn't afraid, it was just an unusual request.
"He either didn't think of that or it's serious enough where he's requesting your presence ground-side."
She nodded her head in agreement as the elevator made its slow descent to the shuttle bay. Once at the bottom, she was met by the salarian and the boarded the shuttle together. She gathered Mordin was accompanying her for protection as he carried a submachine gun, already cocked, loaded and ready to fire. Taking a seat opposite the Professor, the shuttle quickly took off. The journey took only a matter of minutes before she felt the shuttle start to descend, and then a slight rocking as it touched down on the ground. The salarian opened the door to reveal their arrival on some sort of bridge, with numerous dead bodies on the ground, dressed in at least three different colours of armour. She also took note of the races as she walked towards the building. Human. Turian. Batarian. Krogan. It had clearly been a firefight of epic proportions. She wondered what she was going to be left dealing with.
"We're up here, Doctor," yelled a female voice with the distinct accent she already knew well, Chakwas looking up to see Miranda waving them into a building a few metres away. She hurried in, noticing more bodies lying around, plus a few more covered by sheeting, before walking up the stairs and into the room where the others were waiting. She came to a brief stop as she noticed Miranda and Jacob standing side to side, obvious concern as the Commander was on one knee, holding the hand of a turian. Wait a minute, is that Garrus? Garrus Vakarian? He's Archangel? She shook her head and stepped forward, taking a knee opposite the Commander.
"Shepard," she said softly, "I need to check him over."
He looked up at her with a blank expression, before he gave a brief nod, letting go of the turians hand, placing it on his chest as he stood up and took a step back. She assessed his injuries with her eyes to start off with. There was clearly a lot of blood. On him. On the ground. She looked up and could see Shepard was also covered in blue. She was slightly relieved that the turian appeared unconscious, as there was little doubt he'd be in tremendous pain, though he was still alive as she could hear the gurgle of his breathing.
"What happened?" she asked, looking up at the Commander while keying her omni-tool at the same time.
"It was a rocket," Shepard replied simply, "I should have...," he started, before he trailed off, looking away. She simply nodded and resumed her assessment. His armour appeared to be somewhat intact and her scan revealed no major internal injuries, though the blood loss was a concern. His face was a different story though, his right side a particular concern. Once she'd finished her scans, she looked up at the Commander again. "Shepard, we have to get him back to the med-bay now."
He nodded his head, gesturing towards Jacob. Carefully, the pair lifted the turian and carried him towards the waiting shuttle, Chakwas and Miranda following closely behind. "How bad is he, Doctor?" she asked quietly.
Chakwas nodded. "He'll live. I'll give a far better assessment of his injuries once we're back on the Normandy though."
The other woman nodded and the quartet hurried to the shuttle. Carefully placing the turian on the ground, the shuttle took off in moments and was back on the Normandy it seemed even quicker than the journey to pick up Shepard and his crew. The Commander and Jacob helped carry the turian towards the elevator, Chakwas, Miranda and Mordin following them in, leaving the elevator slightly crowded. Once at level three, the group quickly made their way towards the med-bay, Shepard and Jacob carefully laying the turian on the nearest bed. Everyone except Shepard then made their way out of the med-bay. Chakwas simply watched as the Commander's shoulders visibly slumped, running a hand down his face. She then heard him gasp as he looked at his hand, finally noticing it was covered in blue. She stepped forward and lightly touched his shoulder.
"Shepard, perhaps you should go clean yourself up," she stated, turning him around so he was looking at her. His face as covered in a mesh of different colours but it was his eyes that concerned her. They were a mixture of all sorts of emotions. "He'll be fine," she added softly, gesturing towards Garrus, "I promise. Go clean yourself up first and I'll keep you updated of his progress."
He looked away towards Garrus, before he looked back at Chakwas. There was no smile this time. Nodding his head, Shepard turned and slowly walked away out of the med-bay. He stopped and turned around at the door as if to say something. "He'll be fine, Shepard. Don't worry," she stated again. And again, he just nodded before he walked through the open door.
Once Shepard disappeared, she wandered towards Miranda's office and requested her help. She could do most of the work by herself, with the assistance of robotics, but sometimes a second set of hands came in handy. She actually felt grateful when Miranda immediately followed her back to the med-bay.
The pair got to work on Garrus. She was confident that there were no major injuries, at least internally, from the assessment she had made earlier. The right side of his face had taken significant damage and she started work on the mandible as it was almost detached. It was delicate work but soon she had the mandible reattached with the help of cybernetics, already aware of how much help they had been in rebuilding the Commander.
"I'm not sure if it's a compliment, but you're quite good at this," Miranda remarked.
She couldn't help the slight chuckle. "I've put together enough young men and women over the years. Working on a turian is a little different, but I've studied most alien biology, particularly after working with them during the first mission."
There wasn't a lot she could do for some of the bone plating that had cracked and lost, but she could at least cover the exposed areas with gauze and bandaging, while making sure there was an application to keep the area sterile and allow the diffusing of medi-gel at times. She figured he may be in some pain for the time being, but considering he was alive after practically taking a rocket to the face, then he should be just fine.
The pair were still hard at work when the Commander reappeared, having showered, changed and looking slightly better than he had before. He didn't say anything, simply letting them get on with the task at hand, and being respectful enough to keep his distance and not get in the way. She looked up and gave a slight grin. "He'll be just fine, Shepard. He'll probably have some slight scarring along his right mandible. But even that should clear up over time. He's lost a bit of blood, but he'll recover from that too. All in all, it looked far worse than it actually was."
She noticed him almost sigh with relief. "Is it okay if I sit and stay a while once you're done?"
She could only grin. "Of course, Shepard. I'm going to keep him sedated at the moment to keep him comfortable. I'll probably keep him under until tomorrow morning but you're welcome to stay as long as you want."
"Thanks," he replied.
They were done a few minutes later, offering her thanks to Miranda for the assistance. "No worries, Doctor. Glad to help."
"Thank, Miranda," Shepard offered, and she didn't miss the slight surprise on her face.
"Of course, Shepard. The good doctor asked and I have enough experience putting you back together that assisting here wasn't a problem."
After Miranda exited, Shepard grabbed one of the empty chairs and placed it near the bed, sitting down and letting out another deep breath, running a hand over the top of his head.
"Are you okay, Shepard?" It was a stupid question. She remembered the two had established a close friendship during their time on the old Normandy.
"Yeah," he replied quietly, "Just all a bit of a shock. I certainly wasn't expecting Garrus to be on Omega. I thought he would have headed back to C-Sec after… you know. If not C-Sec, then I was of the opinion he was interested in becoming a Spectre. We'd certainly talked about it." He paused, then looked at her. "Did you know what had happened to him?"
She hooked her head. "No. I fell out of contact with everyone once I was re-assigned."
She noticed the look of surprise. "Was it that bad?"
She shrugged her shoulders. "There's plenty I could tell you about what's happened in the past two years, Shepard."
He just let out another sigh. "Finding him was, to be honest, brilliant. It was nice to know that I'd have another ally on this ship. And then this… Well, at least he's okay now."
She walked around the bed to stand beside the Commander, laying a hand on his shoulder and simply giving it a squeeze. "What was he doing on Omega?"
"It's a long story."
"I'm not going anywhere, Shepard," she replied, grabbing her chair and taking a seat next to the Commander. "Tell me what you know."
The pair talked long into the evening.
She yawned into the back of her hand while sitting by herself in the mess the next morning. It was still rather early and the rest of the crew were either not up or already at their stations. Miranda had been out to grab a drink earlier but disappeared back into her office, leaving Chakwas to wonder if the woman ever actually slept. At least the XO had been pleasant, Chakwas offering her thanks again for the day before, though Miranda wouldn't hear of it. At least they were establishing some sort of rapport. Shepard appeared around from around the corner, heading towards the mess to grab a drink of his own. He turned and noticed her sitting by herself at the table, walking towards her while taking a sip of from his mug.
"How is he?"
"He's still asleep." She checked her omni-tool for the time. "But he should be awake shortly. If not naturally, I'll wake him up."
She stood up and gestured for the Commander to follow her into the med-bay, walking through the door and stopping, almost jumping slightly, as she noticed Garrus sitting up on his bed. She gathered herself and continued walking forward, stopping just short of the turian.
"How are you feeling, Garrus?"
"Doctor Chakwas? What are you doing here?" he asked, his tone one of complete surprise.
"I'm here to help the Commander. And trying to patch up your ruined face."
The turian ran a talon over his bandaged mandible. "How bad was it?"
"Nothing I couldn't fix with a bit of gauze, bandages, medi-gel and some cybernetics."
"Could I have a mirror to check it out? Chicks dig scars, right?"
Chakwas stifled a chuckle while Shepard just burst into laughter behind her. "Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on it and no-one will even notice."
Garrus laughed before wincing in pain. "Dammit, Shepard, don't make me laugh. My face feels raw."
"I wouldn't worry too much, Garrus. Your face should heal over time," Chakwas assured him.
"Probably for the best, eh, Doctor? Everyone was always ignoring Shepard and hitting on me. Time for him to get a fair shot at it."
Shepard just laughed again as Chakwas gave Shepard a knowing glance that the Commander didn't miss.
"Am I okay to go, Doc?"
She heard the tone, remembering her first meeting with the turian. "I'd take it easy for a few days, Garrus, but you can go. I remember how much you hate med-bays."
Garrus laughed again as he leapt down from the bed and walked past the Commander out of the med-bay. Shepard stayed where he was for the moment. "Thanks, Karin," he said quietly.
She returned a slight grin. "No thanks necessary, Shepard. But you're welcome. And I'm glad Garrus is here as well. I know what he's like, so if he has any issues, send him my way."
"Aye-aye, ma'am," he replied, giving a mock salute before he walked out of the med-bay. Chakwas sat down at her terminal and started to write up a new file for the turian. She couldn't help but feel the slight smile on her lips as she worked. She knew having Garrus on board would certainly help set the Commander's mind at ease going forward.
