Chapter 48

Anya flopped onto her bed unceremoniously, all but glaring at her ceiling. She took a few moments to focus on her breathing, trying to rein in her frustrations with how the day had gone. Minutes ticked by as she slowly let the anger subside, until she finally felt like she had a chance of being able to interact with people.

Once she had more or less centered herself, she opened up her omni-tool and began to type out a message for Garrus.

Honey, I'm home!

She took a breath and let her head roll to the side so she was looking at her fish tank. She watched her koi and the Khar'shan circle each other, and she hurried to get up and make sure the fish were fed. The alien eel was prone to being aggressive when it was feeling peckish, and Anya was keen to keep all of her fish intact.

Her omni-tool beeped as the flakes descended and she opened the message quickly.

Nearly done, I'll be back in less than 20 minutes.

She smiled at that, her fingers flying to respond.

Don't hurry on my account. I may hop in the shower to kill some time.

She glanced back to the tank, searching for the dartfish. She let out a relieved breath to see them eating with what appeared to be as much zeal as a fish could muster. She wondered at the sound of her omni-tool going off again, and she looked to see the newest message from the turian.

Make that 10 minutes.

She laughed aloud, shaking her head.

I can hold off on the shower if you're trying to get here in time for it. We can get naked whenever. Take your time, honey.

She glanced at the tank one last time before she walked away, heading up the stairs to her desk. The hours she'd spent away from the Normandy had been busy, working on cleaning up the last of the problems that had started after the attack by Cerberus, and she was sure that she had messages.

She checked her computer to find a confirmation that the batarian fleet would be coordinating with the Alliance for the foreseeable future. She couldn't help her frown at the recent memory of Balak's pistol in the small of her back, the batarian's sneer etched in her mind. She closed the message, ready to move to the next one.

This message was a reminder that a shipment of dextro-friendly medi-gel would be leaving tomorrow for turian space, and she smiled a little at that one.

She hurried to begin writing a message to the Primarch, but stopped, unsure if she should wait for Garrus to send him a head's up first. She finally settled for typing out a rough outline of what she wanted to say, then saving the message as a draft. She leaned back as she contemplated the situation, wishing in vain that Victus hadn't complicated things.

She jumped when she felt arms wrap around her shoulders from behind, though she was quick to relax at the words, "It's just me, sweetie. I didn't realize that you didn't hear the door open. You okay?"

"It's fine, I'm just being twitchy," she murmured, her hand coming up to cover his big one for a moment and squeezing for a beat. He released her after she let go, his hands traveling up to her shoulders. She groaned at the way his thumbs felt as he started to carefully rub her aching muscles.

"Why are you being twitchy?" he asked.

"It's been a long day," she said ruefully.

"It has, but that doesn't tell me what's wrong."

"Well, I started out my day running into my number one fan," she started, and he laughed.

"We started off the day in bed together, of course you ran into me," he chided, and she snorted.

"My crazy number one fan," she clarified.

"Again, we started off the day in bed together."

"I'm talking about Conrad." That made him take pause.

"Verner? The guy who pretended to be you?"

"Yep. That crazy superfan."

"How'd that go?" He started up his careful massage again, and she sighed.

"He apologized for claiming I aimed a gun at him. Ran into Jenna, from Chora's Den, too. Between the two of them, I didn't get shot, so that was pretty good. Now we've got a surplus of medi-gel bound for the turian fleet, so it seems like a solid win."

"I'm sorry, what? You almost got shot?"

"Yeah. Conrad tried to dive in front of the bullet, but Jenna had sabotaged the gun, so he didn't get shot, either. It was a weird morning."

"Sounds like. Should I start tailing you when you go out? This is not the kind of day I thought you were going to have." He sounded anxious now, and she winced.

"You're not going to like hearing about my afternoon, then."

"Oh, spirits. What else happened?"

"I ran into Zaeed while taking care of a mole for the Primarch," she said slowly.

"Is Zaeed still alive?"

"He is!"

"I don't know whether to be relieved or concerned," he muttered.

"That's fair, but that was honestly the errand I ran that had me in the least amount of danger. Zaeed shot the baddies before they even got close to getting me, and we saved a colony, on top of getting some bombers for the war, so it was honestly a lot smoother than I thought it would be there at the tail end." He was silent for a beat, and when he spoke again, it was clear that he was trying to choose his words carefully.

"Do you understand why I'm worried that hanging out with Zaeed is the safest that you have been since I saw you last?"

"I do," she admitted.

"Well, at least today is over." She grimaced at his words before speaking.

"It is, but I didn't get around to the last thing that happened before I came home."

"I already regret asking, but what else did I miss?"

"I accidentally had a meeting with Ka'hairal Balak, at gunpoint. I would like to point out that I also did not get shot during that," she managed, and he stilled again.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"Yeah, the human hating terrorist did not shoot me. I'm...just as surprised as you are on that one. We got the remainder of the batarian fleet on our side, though."

"You are going to give me a heart attack. I am not krogan, I don't have an extra. Please be more careful," he said, the words clearly unhappy, and she sighed.

"I'm genuinely sorry, honey. None of this stuff was actually supposed to be all that dangerous or I promise that I would have called you."

"I really wish you had, anyway." He restarted his careful ministrations, and she leaned into his touch.

"Me, too, in retrospect. I just kept thinking, 'Well, he's busy, and this next thing should be fast and easy,' and I was wrong every. Single. Time."

"I am never too busy to come help you. Maybe we need to start doing regular check-ins when you're out of my sight. You get into so much trouble when you're by yourself," he grumbled.

"I'd be on board for that. I do love hearing your voice," she joked, glancing up in time to see one of his mandibles twitch, though most of his expression stayed serious.

"This isn't funny, Anya."

"I know," she said quietly, looking back down and feeling guilty. "I really didn't mean for things to happen the way they did today. I feel terrible."

He let out a breath, and she nearly started at how quick he was to lean down and wrap his arms around her. She returned the embrace as well as she could, a lump starting in her throat.

"I've complained more than enough, I think," he murmured, nuzzling her hair for a beat. "I'm just...glad you didn't get injured. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," she admitted, her breathing shaky for a moment, "but better now. It's been a long day and I needed to come home."

"I understand."

"How was your day, though?"

"Well, nobody even almost shot me today, so relatively uneventful," he said drily, and she snorted in spite of herself.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. I made us a reservation for lunch at that steak place you like for tomorrow. Figured it would be nice to get a little us time in before someone else tries to destroy the Citadel or something. We should be done right before it's time for us to leave for the Far Rim. It's not quite what I was hoping for when it comes to a date, but it's better than not getting one at all. Unless you already had plans to flirt with getting shot at again?"

"I do not," she assured him, a smile starting on her face.

"Did you want to get lunch with me, then? I can cancel the reservation in less than two minutes if you don't think you'll feel up to it."

"No, it sounds lovely. I will definitely be there."

"I'm glad." He finally straightened, putting his hands back to work on her shoulders. She made an appreciative noise and let her head fall forward a little, enjoying the firm circles his thumbs were kneading into her aching flesh.

"You are way too good at this," she mumbled, and he laughed.

"It's not a big deal. Just got better at watching the vids," he said, clearly amused.

"So you'll watch the back rub videos but not the porn?" she teased. "Not that I'm questioning your priorities right now…"

"It's a little easier to watch vids when I spend the majority of my downtime in a room with more privacy than the dorms or battery," he pointed out, and she snorted at the thought. "It's probably better that I've only gotten around to...certain material recently. I could have ended up very discouraged by your lack of screeching in ecstasy every time I touched you."

She had to bite back a giggle. "Well, we did it the way that worked best for us, and I'm not mad about it."

"It worked out perfectly," he said confidently. She groaned softly when he shifted to the base of her neck.

"Perfect might be an understatement right about now."