Hello dear readers!
I would like to let you know that I added a few sentences to the last chapter where Garrus and Frank did at least talk a bit about their injured colleagues, I mean what kind of assholes would they be if they didn't even worry about them. I couldn't just leave them like that.

()()()()

There was light. Very bright light. There was some weight on his stomach. There was also a headache of epic proportions trying to burst his skull from the inside and someone was breathing against his neck.

Garrus slowly opened his eyes and made an assessment of the situation. He was in an unfamiliar room that had the nondescript look of a not-too-fancy hotel room. He sat on the floor with his back leaning against the couch, apparently that's how he had slept. The weight on his stomach was from Frank Johnson's head, who was curled up to the right of him on the floor and was using him as a pillow. Nuzzling his neck in his sleep on the other side was Nihlus, sleeping in a similar upright position against the couch.

Looking around the closer vicinity Garrus could see many empty bottles of human beer and turian brandy. That did explain the headache. Garrus tried to remember how the evening had progressed but the details were quite hazy. He remembered the metal concert, Lieutenant Shepard with the blue streak in her short hair, a krogan having sex with a human female - way to go, memory, that's what I need to remember, sure! - and then he met Frank and Nihlus back inside and they had a few drinks.

At some point they had left and had decided that Nihlus hotel room was a much nicer location for a last drink together. And then - things had apparently gotten out of hand. Garrus remembered that they had told stories and Frank had taught them a drinking game involving stacking cards on top of a bottle. Nihlus ordered beverages and food from a nearby store and then ... more drinking, more laughing. Personal stories were told, Garrus just hoped that his weren't too embarrassing. But if his friends were in a similar state as he was he needn't worry about their memory.

Nihlus breathing and nuzzling became more insistent on his neck and Garrus had to admit that it felt pretty good. It had been a long time since he had been with a turian female and Nihlus was a very interesting guy. He leaned into the caressing touch and felt Nihlus scoot closer to him. He let his hand go on Nihlus' back and scratched him lightly. Nihlus started to purr and Garrus felt a warm wave of excitement as the purr vibrated through his body. He turned his head to purr into Nihlus' fringe...

And stop right there!

Apart from Johnson sleeping on his stomach he had the distinct feeling that something was not right about this situation. Why had he woken up in the first place? He strained his neck to look past Nihlus to see more of the room and froze. Another person was in the hotel room!

On the other side of the room at the dining table sat a turian with his back turned to him, clicking his talons on a datapad. His white plates made it easy to recognize him as Spectre Saren Arterius.

Garrus felt like the mere presence of the Spectre made the room cold and unwelcoming. He felt like he had done something very wrong and was about to be scolded for that. Now why the hell did he feel that way? He wasn't a little boy anymore, caught by his dad under the covers with a Fornax issue. And nothing had happened anyway, not yet at least.

His posture seemed to have alerted Nihlus in some way and the red turian turned around to see what Garrus was looking at. On seeing Saren he sighed and laid his fringe back against the couch. "Hello Saren, what brings you here?" he asked without looking at the older turian. Saren put down the datapad and rose from the chair. He stepped over to the couch and looked down at them with a distinct expression of disgust on his face.

He made an annoyed growl with his subvocals and said, "I see you found yourself a new friend for your time wasting. And he brought a pet, how nice of him." Saren's voice was grating and he looked down on the peacefully sleeping Frank Johnson with disgust. Garrus rose up to defend his friend but Nihlus stopped him with a trill and a firm touch on his arm. Nihlus got up with a groan and barely looked at the Spectre. "Shut up Saren," he said without even raising his voice.

"Why are you here, Saren? Even I can have a free day once in a while and it is none of your business how I spend it and with who. So?" Finally Nihlus looked at Saren and there was no sense of friendship between them. Saren looked him over and pointed at his wrinkled underarmor. "You better get cleaned up. Your initiation with the council is in about one hour. The exact appointment is on your calendar. Don't be late."

On that sentence Saren turned around and strode towards the door. As the door opened he stopped and without looking back said "I removed your belongings from my ship, they will be delivered here. The council will provide you with a ship of your own if you ask for it." He left the room without turning around and for the first time this morning Nihlus actually looked flustered.

Garrus grinned at him. "So you're gonna be a Spectre. Congratulations!" Nihlus still stood unmoving and was staring at the door that had closed behind Saren. He scratched his fringe and took a deep breath as a trill of happiness was heard.

Nihlus looked up and sighed, "Spirits, I can't believe it! No more Saren breathing down my neck. And my own ship!" He sighed again. "That's just like him, no forewarning and not even a goodbye or well wishes for the future. Such an asshole." There was a sadness in his subharmonics that told Garrus that Nihlus had tried to become friends with Saren but the weird Spectre had made it impossible.

Garrus carefully moved Johnson's head away from his stomach and leaned him against the couch in a position similar to his own. He got up a bit too fast and the room started spinning around him. Nihlus noticed his swaying and grabbed his arm to steady him. He had taken a step towards Garrus for that and he was close, so very close to Garrus.

Their mandibles almost touched and they both stood still, each one waiting for the other to do something. Garrus inhaled his spicy scent, he shivered and he was very aware of Nihlus hand on his arm. But then Nihlus pulled back a little and his green eyes fixed on Garrus. "You know, you are good looking guy and I won't deny the attraction..." Nihlus said with a smile, "but I think I would rather be your friend, not your lover."

Garrus felt relief and disappointment at the same time and nodded. The sexual tension slowly ebbed away and he felt safe enough on his feet again to take a step away from Nihlus. He almost tripped over Frank's legs who had apparently woken up and was staring at them with disbelief.

Frank squinted his eyes. "Guys, have I missed something important? It looked like you two were about to kiss and make out right here and I'm really not into threesomes like that." Frank stood up, slightly unsteady and looked Garrus in the eyes. "Hey birdy, if I'd known you swing that way, I might have made a move on you myself."

"What?" Garrus didn't know what to say - Frank? No, just no, no.

Frank started laughing "Relax birdy! I'm just messing with you. I can say with confidence that I don't swing that way but you can of course do what- and whoever you like." Nihlus joined in the laughter and went over to Frank to take his chin in his talons and looked him directly in the eyes. "You know Frank, I almost feel challenged to change your mind about that swinging." He purred suggestively, his mandibles spread wide and Franks eyes got very big.

Nihlus made a dramatic arc with his arm and released Frank from his hold and sang like an opera singer "Ah but I don't have time, I don't have time! Oh love will have to wait! Farewell my little human, time does not grant us the swinging we want!" He swirled around in a circle and then bowed to Frank who had watched him speechless and with his mouth hanging open. Finally he seemed to come back to his senses and started laughing so hard that he had to sit down on the couch again. Garrus snickered and then had to laugh as well. Nihlus was such a flirt. It was probably best for his spirit that he wouldn't be around Saren anymore.

Thinking of Saren reminded him that Frank didn't even know that the Spectre had been in the room and what kind of news he had brought. Nihlus walked backwards, still humming his song and then disappeared into the bathroom with a deep bow. Garrus got himself a glass of water and one for Frank from the kitchenette and flopped down on the couch again. Frank took the drink with a grateful nod and drained it in one go. He then turned to Garrus, his eyebrows raised in a question.

"Now what the hell has been going on here? You guys kissed, Nihlus is in an exceptional good mood and I dreamt about Saren sneering around here. I mean, really, what the hell?"

Garrus drank his water and hissed at Frank. "We did not kiss! Turians can't kiss anyway, no lips, remember? And all that salvia slobbering you humans are so fond of is kind of gross to be honest." He was only half joking, his experience with Alliance-Red kissing his mandibles had been quite pleasant. But he once had another try at kissing with a human female and she was practically flooding him with salvia - really terrible.
"Nihlus and I were not ... well, not doing that. I guess we're friends now."

"Oh come on, I could sense the vibes all around you guys and I was still half asleep." Frank laughed at him and Garrus couldn't really disagree. "Yeah, at another time, in another situation maybe something could have happened but it will not. But you did miss out on the most exciting thing: Saren was here and announced that Nihlus will be initiated as a Spectre in a little while today! He already threw all of Nihlus belongings off the ship and Nihlus will get his own ship from the council."

"No shit man? No wonder he was in such a good mood, that is awesome!" Johnson looked as if he was genuinely happy for Nihlus and Garrus was glad that his new friendship with Nihlus seemed to extent to Frank as well.
He looked down on his wrinkled underarmor and took a sniff of himself and Frank. He turned away slightly disgusted and looked over to the bathroom where Nihlus stepped out in cloud of steam. "That's where we should go, Frank, right away. We stink." Garrus said and stood up to go and take a shower.

Nihlus was naked and his red plates with the white markings were glittering with water. Garrus was not ashamed to look but the sexual attraction was mostly gone. But he noticed that Frank was downright staring at the naked turian and licking his lips. Garrus smirked and suppressed his laughter as he went into the bathroom. Looks like Frank is learning something new about himself today.

When he came back out after a quick shower, Frank was eating something in the kitchenette while Nihlus was nowhere to be seen. Frank noticed him and walked towards him, presumably to get a shower himself. Before he closed the door he swallowed the last bite of his breakfast and called back to Garrus. "Nihlus already left to get to the Council Chambers, muttered something about not to be late at all cost to avoid pissing off the asshole." The door closed behind him and Garrus heard the shower start.

He was reluctant to put his underarmor back on, it still smelled of lots of alcohol. His armor wasn't much better, it smelled of human sweat from the concert. But if they wanted to watch the initiation, and he just assumed that they would, they had to get there right away, no time to get clean clothing. Garrus used a wet towel to wipe off the worst grime from his armor.

Frank came from the bathroom in his shorts and they way he wrinkled his nose as he smelled his shirt he seemed to have the same problem with his clothing. He shrugged his shoulders and put his things back on, coming to the same solution as Garrus.

"Let's go birdy, we better get there in time. I've never seen someone become a Spectre before." Neither had Garrus, he had never been in the Council Chambers before.

What an interesting day so far.

Garrus had to admit that the Council Chambers were impressive even though it was a bit dark. Real trees were lining the paths and they were in bloom, giving off a faint smell. Fountains and patches of greenery with beautiful flowers were sprinkled around the gigantic room on top of the Citadel Tower. The room made a beautifully sweeping rise towards the top and the huge window in the back showed a spectacular view of the blue tinted Serpent Nebula that surrounded the Citadel. The council was raised on a platform and across a gap on the Petitioner platform stood Nihlus.

Garrus and Frank had found a spot on one of the higher galleries lining the room to watch the proceedings. The asari councillor Tevos was making a speech.

"Spectres are not trained, but chosen. Individuals forged in the fire of service and battle - "

Garrus tuned out the speech and looked at Nihlus. He appeared to be completely composed but there was a slight smirk to his mandibles. He didn't show it but he was damn happy to stand there. Garrus let his gaze travel, looking for Saren, as Nihlus teacher he surely would be there as well.

He almost didn't see him, he was standing in a dark corner on the lower level, like he was hiding. His face showed no emotions, if anything he looked unimpressed. Garrus couldn't understand him, he should have been up there on the platform, proudly releasing his student to his new position.

Garrus wondered if Nihlus was disappointed that Saren didn't seem to care about his new spectrehood but he figured that he was probably used to behaviour like that.

Johnson leaned over to him and whispered "I wanted to ask you something about last night, did you find her?"
Garrus was confused, "Find who?"

"Lieutenant Shepard! You went outside, looking for her. Did you find her?"

Memories of the last night came back, Lieutenant Shepard smiling at him and he shook his head. "No, I didn't find her, maybe she had left. Why do you ask?"

"Didn't you find her interesting? She may not be a classical beauty but I thought she would be right up your street."

Garrus stared at Johnson for a second. Since when did Frank become an expert in what kind of women he liked? "Really now? What makes you think that?" Now this is going to be interesting.

"Well..." Frank had huge grin on his face as he spoke. "She is tall, muscular, a strong warrioress. She looks you straight in the eyes and she has that strength in her posture and the way she holds everybodys gaze, I think she wouldn't even back down from a krogan. Practically a turians dream girl. And Shepard especially is the kind of woman who doesn't take shit from anybody, you should read her file sometime. And I've been told she's also into tech and fixing things. So yeah, right up your street."

Garrus stared. "Huh," was all he could say. Frank was right, that was exactly the kind of woman he liked. Frank was more attentive than you'd think.

Frank looked at him. "And she smiled at you."

Garrus chuckled. "I'm pretty sure she smiled at a lot of people, Frank."

"No, Vakarian, she's not the 'instantly friends with everybody' type. But she smiled at you."

"How do you know so much about her anyway? It sounds like you have a crush on her." Garrus grinned at Frank to see if he would get flustered.

But Frank remained calm and shook his head. "I'm more of a fan maybe. Sort of followed her career. She's the youngest marine to ever enter and most probably finish the N7 program. That makes her the best of the best humanity has to offer." He turned towards Garrus to continue. "I'm aware that we humans are the new kids in the galaxy. I know how the other, older races look down on us. Hell, I only have to look down there and see that there is no human representative near the council and that it will maybe take years or decades until we can see a human becoming Spectre like Nihlus. My guess is that the Alliance is going to push Shepard forward for humanity, she'll be the one representing us."

Garrus turned Frank's words over in his head. He was right, a lot of the old council races looked down on the humans. Humans were curious and demanding. They wanted to play a part in the galaxy and were not content to sit at the sidelines. Especially the turians were wary of the humans. The turians were used to their position as the "police-guards" of Council space and expected a certain obedience to the rules from other species. But humans had a habit of questioning rules. They directly threatened the established position of the turians.

The turian military had once underestimated the humans in the Relay 314 incident. After beating down the small forces on the planet from orbit they had just assumed that this fight, vicious and costly as it was, had been enough to put the new aliens in their place. Only to realize that they had woken a sleeping giant as the Second Flee of the Alliance came down on the turians with massive force. Garrus shuddered thinking what would have happened if the council had not intervened. Both forces were ready for all-out-war with equally strong determination on both sides.

Luckily it never came to that but it was clear that the humans would not be the obedient allies that some wished them to be. Johnson was right, humans would keep pushing for political and military power and maybe it was wise to keep an eye on their most prominent figures.

Garrus called up a quick search for Lieutenant Shepard on his Omni-tool to let it download the information. Nothing wrong with keeping informed.

They both looked back down on the platform where the ceremony had come to an end and Nihlus was congratulated by some high ranking military representatives of the turian Hierarchy. He looked around the galleries until he spotted Frank and Garrus and they both saluted him with a grin. He turned back to someone talking to him but a short message popped up on their omni-tools to meet him down at the elevator in a few minutes.

As they turned away to walk down Garrus saw Saren move from his dark corner over to Nihlus and he actually made a short salute. Nihlus dipped his head in thanks and Saren turned and walked away. Probably the friendliest thing he could manage.

They kept walking among the spectators and Garrus noticed that Frank was the only human around and got some odd looks. He turned to Frank. "I never realized how you must feel like an outsider a lot of times."

"Ah, don't worry about it. There are thousands of humans on the Citadel but they just keep to themselves. It's a human thing, huddle up in your social circle if you feel threatened and look suspicious at the foreigners. I don't wanna do that. That's why I hang around with you!" He punched him on the arm and Garrus punched back, careful to not hit him too hard as he wore no armor.

"So that's why? And I thought it was my winning personality."

"Yeah right..." Frank snorted sarcastically and then they both laughed.

Garrus thought back to the beginning of their conversation. "By the way, she smiled at Nihlus too."

Frank smiled. "Oh but not like that, my friend. She really smiled at you."

Garrus wasn't sure what he meant but left it at that.

()()()()

I'm trying to make Shepard her own person and not a selfinsert-standin but of course some of me will blend into her personality. I'm a tech-geek so that's what she is going to be as well although she'll probably be more of an infiltrator in battle cause that's what I played. I'm also convinced that you can't be a strong warrior like Shepard being petite and girly, it just doesn't work in my head. So she is more like Vasquez from "Alien" in appearance but the rest like the default FemShep only more angular. She looks nice but she isn't a model.

As to Garrus and Nihlus...
I blame Smehur's awesome story "The Candidate" for the insistent Garrus&Nihlus shipping that happened there (even though that is a Saren&Nihlus story and I don't ship those at all). I had no idea they would do that, I swear!