Vacation over! This chapter came to life in pencil on paper at the beach in Denmark.

Garrus returned to Shepard's side after hours of briefing and debriefing. Multiple directors, bosses and former bosses wanted to know about the attack on Eden Prime and the ship that had arrived at the Citadel with the husks and geth-traces on board. Director Schaefer of ANIS had decided with Captain Anderson to keep Nihlus's status a secret, but to freely give out all other information. This was probably as much a show of goodwill as it was simple desperation, nobody had any idea how the attack on Eden Prime and the empty ship with the husks and geth-traces were connected. By throwing the information at everyone, hopefully someone would come up with an explanation.

So far the the latest consensus agreed that the husks on Eden Prime and the ones on the security vids from the ship were of the same kind. Since they had seen them being made on those metallic spires on Eden Prime, someone had to have brought them on board the ship. The traces of geth fluids and the witness report they had managed to get from Tali before C-Sec had "lost" her, linked that job to the geth.

The Citadel was in uproar. The geth! In Citadel space!

It took only about an hour until the first special geth-protection programs appeared on the market and traders began advertising their weapons as geth-killers. Security firms and mercenaries advertised themselves as bodyguards against geth attacks and people began hoarding supplies and weapons.

C-Sec formed a special task group to deal with the panicked calls from people all over the Citadel who were convinced that there was a geth lurking around in the maintenance tunnels. It always turned out to be a keeper. One of the many ancient robots, who was doing it's job of keeping the Citadel clean and intact, unimpressed by the poor C-Sec officer who had to chase after him.

Garrus was pretty sure that the Council was not happy about this development, the Council had always preferred to keep things secret as long as possible. This new way of freely giving out information was not their usual way of handling things. In other cases, the Council had only given out information when they had been forced by some news leak. A whole line of investigative reporters lived on the secrecy that the Council tried to hold up.

Yet another human change. Garrus wondered if they even realized how much they changed and how much some people hated that.

Garrus looked at Shepard's sleeping face, her mouth pressed into the pillow, slightly open. Salvia was wetting the pillow. She had called it drooling once and had been quite embarrassed about it. He didn't understand why, but he had noticed that humans had a tendency of feeling embarrassed about bodily functions that they had no control over. Humans tried to control everything, a whole line of implants was designed to control hair growth for instance. They were willing to infuse their bodies with tech in ways that before had only been known by the quarians.

She moved in her sleep turning her body around. He smiled, watching her curl herself into the cover. No wonder he needed his own blanket, she was wrapping herself up completely.

Garrus returned to the program on his omni-tool, changing a few parameters and then watching the variable returns for expected and unexpected results. He felt himself slip into the zone of concentration that he loved so much, just concentrating on little parts of the program, fitting things together and testing them. It was soothing work.

He was so deep in his zone, that he didn't notice for several minutes that Shepard was awake and watching him with an amused smile.

"Hey," she said with her smile lighting up her face, "what has you so concentrated?"

"Just an update to a game I released a while ago. I had promised to update some stuff but it kind of fell off my list." Garrus added a few comments to remind him where he left off and closed the program. When he looked up, Shepard was staring at him.

"You released a game?"

"Yes, a while back but I'm still adding things to it. It's just a hobby. I have a few people following my site for it and they had gotten worried because I had not updated in so long." Her dumbfounded look made him grin.

Shepard still stared at him, her mouth open. She realized it herself and snapped it shut with a smile. "You made a game?"

"More than one, actually. It's a hobby. But this one is my biggest." Garrus started the game on his omni-tool to show her the title screen of 'Wandering Lights'.

"Wow." Shepard looked at the picture with delight but then looked up at him with a strange expression that Garrus could not quite interpret.

"What?"

"I just realized that I don't really know you." She said. "I mean I know you... but I don't really know you."

She was right, he thought, they had stumbled into this relationship with faster-than-light speed, driven by desire, curiosity and a feeling of belonging. But they really did not know much of each other.

"Well..." He wondered what he should tell her.

"Let's change that, show me this game of yours." She raised the back of her bed so that she was sitting upright and leaned against his shoulder. Garrus was slightly annoyed that he had not taken off his armor.

He pulled up some screenshots from the game and a file where he had roughly outlined the, admittedly flimsy, storyline. "It's a labyrinth, you play a turian hero that has to find his or her way through it and I made up riddles and puzzles that you have to solve to open doors and such. And there are monsters of course, those you have to fight. I read through some old legends and designed them to look like the monsters in there." He showed her pictures of the monsters, he was quite proud of the design and it had taken him a long time until they looked like that.

"That looks very cool!" Shepard said as she flipped through the screenshots and design models. "What does the hero look like?"

Garrus showed her the character screen of the male and female version, and told her about the algorithm he wrote that let the hero improve during the game and the logic puzzles and riddles he made up. It had been a while since he had someone to talk about his game besides his sister, and Shepard looked absolutely fascinated. He talked about his ideas and the story, and she asked questions and made suggestions. He had never had someone like that, who loved to hear him talk about his game like that.

She smiled up to him. "Can I play it?"

"Sure, I can just transfer it to your tool."

"You are giving this away for free?"

"I am, but I sold the first version, the base game, for a few credits while I was still at school. I actually made a little money with the game, I was so proud of that. The game was part of a graded project at school and I was pretty good at developing. After basic, I wanted to get an apprenticeship at a game developer but..."

"Why didn't you?"

"The Vakarian clan is known for their soldiers and police officers. Serious occupations that support the Hierarchy." His subharmonics hummed out a sad tune.

Shepard took his hand. "Making entertaining games..."

"...does not support the Hierarchy like it is expected of a Vakarian." Garrus continued.

Her thumb was stroking the softer skin between his fingers. "So you went to C-Sec instead."

"I actually wanted to stay in the military, go into information analysis and cyberwarfare." He said, still looking down at her strange little fingers stroking his hand.

"Would that have been acceptable?"

"For the clan? Yes, but not for my mother. She lost a brother on a pirate patrol in the Terminus Systems and she is terrified that she would lose me or my sister in an attack. So C-Sec was the most acceptable position and my sister is an engineer at Armax Armory."

"Is C-Sec that much safer than the military?"

"Not really, but for my mother it is." He took her hand up to his nose to nuzzle it, taking in her scent. He wanted to take her in his arms but he was not sure how well she was.

Shepard leaned forward and placed a kiss on his forehead. It was a strange gesture, like a mixture between a turian forehead touch and human kissing. His subharmonics sounded out the shudder that went through him.

"That explains what she said to me." She murmured.

"What did she say?" Garrus asked.

"First she asked me how serious I was. I had the distinct feeling my life depended on the correct answer for that." She smiled up to him. "I guess my answer was okay or else I wouldn't be here. Then she made me swear to take care of you and to protect you. She said something about not stopping you from choosing your own way again, that she had done that before and it had been a mistake."

"That's what she said?" Garrus was surprised, his mother was always very private and not known to say personal things to someone like Shepard, who was basically a stranger.

"Not quite those words but it was clear what she meant. I think she feels that you were unhappy and... she wants you to be happy, that was obvious." Shepard gave him a crooked smile. "I may not be quite the expert on turians like you are on humans, but I'm pretty sure I know what she meant."

A warm feeling spread in his gizzard and he pressed his forehead against hers, spreading his scent on her. "She said that she likes you."

"She did?" Shepard pressed her forehead against him. "I'm so glad." Her hands went to the back of his head, softly walking her fingers under his fringe. When she found the hidden bundle of nerves and rubbed it, a not so quiet moan left him.

"That's not fair." He mumbled, his subharmonics buzzing in need.

"I know, I'm sorry," she chuckled, "but I love the sounds you make when I do that."

His hands went to her sides, stroking down to her waist. He knew that the waist was not the same erogenous zone for humans as it was for turians, but Shepard was soft all over and loved his stroking everywhere. To touch her waist like that had more of an effect on him for it's sexual implications than it had on her but she still threw her head back and breathed in with a sigh when he touched her.

"The files never mentioned the waist as a special zone for humans." He whispered in her ear.

"It may not be for other humans but I know what you mean," she whispered back, "and that's what makes it hot."

Garrus was simultaneously cursing and thanking his armor as it was successfully hiding his arousal now, his plates loosening up rapidly. He began looking around the room, knowing that he could not have sex with her in a hospital room but still secretly entertaining the idea. She pressed her face against his neck, kissing and nibbling the softer skin she could reach. A growl rose from his sub-vocals, his hands roaming her back.

Some sensible part of his brain reminded him that the fantasy of bending her over the bed and taking her now was not the wisest plan in their current situation. His hands clenched around her waist as he nibbled along her throat. He fluttered his mandibles against her skin and found her lips, loving how she willingly opened them for him, tilting her head back in a turian sign of submission. He wondered if she knew what she did to him with that gesture. A growl was shuddering through him, heat rising up his spine.

The doors opened and in stormed some human, all energy, constantly talking, laughing and throwing two long arms around them in a crushing embrace. Garrus felt disoriented, his lips still pressed against Shepard's and receiving kisses on his mandible from this stranger while Shepard giggled against his mouth.

The blond man was constantly talking. "I'm so glad you are alright, baby, and you, her wonderful hero are here with her and aren't you just fabulous, she told me so much about you, I'm sure you have no idea how crazy she is about you, I'm so happy to see you both, oh baby, are you okay? What happened, they wouldn't tell me anything, but you woke up and it looks like you were about to get it on right here, so I guess that's a good sign, ah, maybe I should leave..."

Shepard laughed out against Garrus's lip plates and released them. "Hello Svend, good to see you, no, you don't have to leave. This is not exactly the time and place..."

"We got a bit carried away, I guess." Garrus mumbled. He turned his head which brought him in kissing distance with the blond man, his skin even paler than Shepard's, and his eyes of an almost electric blue. He was grinning at him and made no move to change his position.

"Hm, I never kissed a turian before..." The human purred suggestively.

Shepard pushed him back with her hand on his chest, a friendly smile on her face but her eyes firm. "Yeah, you're not starting with this turian, girly."

"Of course not, baby, I would never..." He rose and stepped back.

Shepard leaned back against her bed. "Garrus, this is Svend, we've known each other for a long time. He was on Elysium and fought with me against the batarians there."

Garrus remembered the face from the news-vids now, framed by blond hair but he looked different. There was some kind of paint around his eyes that made his blue eyes look more dramatic.

The human smiled widely and held out his hand for Garrus to take. Garrus stood up and took the offered hand. His grip was firm and he shook Garrus's hand enthusiastically. "Svend Lee, very nice to finally meet you. Sorry for interrupting... whatever you were trying to start here."

"Garrus Vakarian and it was probably a good thing that you interrupted us." He stepped to the side to give him some space to talk to Shepard but the door opened again and Kaidan Alenko walked in.

"Oh, I didn't know that you had so many visitors." Alenko said, stopping in front of the door. "I'll come back later." He turned around and left again.

Svend kept staring after the Lieutenant even after the door had closed behind him again. "Baby, who was that hot piece of booty?"

Shepard grinned widely. "Oh girly, that biotic booty is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

"Biotic booty?" Svend's eyes got so wide that Garrus was afraid that they would pop out of his head. "I'll see you later, baby." He said absentmindedly and ran to the door.

"Go get him, girly!" Shepard called after him and then fell back against the bed laughing. "Poor Kaidan has no idea what's happening to him."

"Why do you call him girly?" Garrus asked.

"Oh, Svend doesn't believe in gender. When I met him first, he called himself Svenja and dressed like a girl, frilly dresses and the brightest colors possible. Drove the Alliance nuts because he refused to give himself a gender. About a year ago he decided to be Svend again but I've always called him girly so I keep doing that."

"And he calls you baby..." Garrus was pretty sure that that expression was an endearment among lovers, if he remembered his lessons correctly.

"Yes, he always does but don't worry about it, I'm not his type, never was. He's into guys, men like Kaidan." She said, taking his hands into hers again.

Garrus sat down again. "And Kaidan?"

"Kaidan is pretty open minded, as far as I know. Not that I know much about his sex life but I have seen him leave a bar with men or women before, and with an asari as well." Her fingers were stroking the skin between his fingers again. "He keeps these things very much separated, just like a good Alliance soldier should." She looked up to him. "Kaidan and I kissed once, we were very drunk but it never went further than that. You don't have to worry about him, there is nothing going on between us."

Garrus let out a breath he had not realized that he had been holding. How she knew that he had worried about her and Kaidan, he did not know. He had not even been aware of it himself. He didn't understand what was going on with him, he had never been jealous before.

Shepard kept stroking and rubbing the skin between his fingers, her eyes following the movement. He watched her four digits, almost disturbingly slim and small compared to his two long fingers. "There is only you, Garrus, I hope you know that. I was never a shy girl but I'm not fucking around."

"I know." Garrus said. his voice strangely rough. "I mean, I'm still glad to hear it but... yeah, I... I mean... it's the same for me." He leaned down and caught her lips with his own. She leaned her head back and he let a talon softly scrape down her throat. Her tongue mapped the inside of his mouth, tangling with his own tongue and they both moaned.

With a sigh they broke apart, only their foreheads touching. Shepard said out loud what he thought himself. "This will have to wait."

"Yes, I know." Garrus said.

"When Chakwas let's me go, I want to speak to Nihlus if possible. Do you know how he is?"

"Dr. Chakwas said that he woke up a few hours ago and he knew who he was and what had happened." Garrus said with a happy trill in his subharmonics. Only the worry and the relief about Shepard's situation had distracted him from the fear he had felt for his friend. Dr. Chakwas had been genuinely happy when she had told him about Nihlus's recovery, he did see it in her face.

Shepard's feet were twitching and Garrus found it very amusing how her whole body was radiating impatience. "Gawd, I hope the doc let's me go soon, I can't sit around here anymore, I need to do something. I need to talk to Nihlus, and the Council, and the Alliance. I hope I don't have to talk to the press..."

"That might actually not as bad as you think because Frank is the main reporter for this case."

"Frank? Your Frank?"

"Yes, he talked Anderson into letting him be the official reporter for the Alliance." Garrus said. "Or is it ANIS? It's confusing..."

Shepard smiled at him. "Believe me, you're not the only one. I'm never quite sure who I am reporting to."

"The boss and director Schaefer asked about you, Dr. Chakwas had to send them hourly reports about your status." He watched her head fall back against the pillow and brushed her hair back from her face.

Shepard raked one hand through her hair, letting the short strands slip through her fingers. "Did my hair grow already? I think the doc had to turn off my implant."

Garrus tried to remember if the strands had been shorter but he could not say. He wondered what it would feel like if her hair was longer, how the bundles would slip through his talons.

The door opened and Kaidan entered with Frank in tow. Kaidan looked absent minded and Garrus heard Shepard quietly giggle. "Hey, Lieutenant, attention!" She called out in her Commander voice. Kaidan automatically snapped to attention and then looked slightly embarrassed. Shepard laughed out, "Oh boy, you've met Svend, haven't you? Your hair is all puffy."

Kaidan tugged his fingers through his hair and his olive skin turned a shade red. "Yes, he's... very energetic."

"Oh yes, he is." Shepard said. "But he's a good guy." She waved him over and gave him a light punch on his arm. "You better be nice to him."

Kaidan let his head hang and his face turned even redder. He coughed. "Captain Anderson wants to see you as soon as Dr. Chakwas sets you free. The doc will be with you soon, how are you feeling?"

"I feel fine, Kaidan."

"Headaches?"

"No, no headaches, and I also slept quite nicely." Shepard had placed a hand on Kaidan's arm and it occurred to Garrus that she was saying these things for his benefit. He remembered that Kaidan had blamed himself for her situation.

Kaidan looked relieved and turned to leave. He nodded to Frank and Garrus and gave Shepard a friendly salute. Shepard's smile fell from her face as the door closed behind him. She murmured, "I'm sure that wasn't the last time I heard about that." She seemed lost in thought but then focused on Frank and smiled at him. "Reporter Frank! Where is your hat and the notebook and pencil?"

Frank grinned at her and placed himself on the footend of her bed. "Well, Commander, I had asked about that myself but they just threw a bunch of programs on my tool and kicked me out into the Citadel streets."

"But the hat, Frank, I'm sure you could totally work the hat!" She moved her hands to her head as if she was placing something on top of it and pulled something down in front. Garrus was completely lost but Frank obviously knew what she meant, making the same kind of movement over his head. They both giggled like kids and he had to admit that he felt left out. There was so much he did not know about her and her human history.

She took his hand and turned his attention to her. "I have to show you what kind of hat we mean, it looks cool." She turned back to Frank, her hand still holding his. "Well, Mr. Reporter, you want to ask me some questions?"

Garrus wondered if he should leave but she kept holding his hand as she answered Frank's questions. Her fingers were still too slim and small in his hand. And still just right.

"What aren't you telling me, Nihlus?" Shepard's eyes were thin slits, barely controlled anger radiating from her. She had been cleared by the doctor to get up and start working again and the first thing they did was visit Nihlus. After a few friendly questions, Shepard had run straight into the core of the problem, asking Nihlus about his strange behavior. He clearly did not want to talk about it.

"Please, Shepard..." Nihlus sighed. Dr. Chakwas had cleared him for visitors but it was obvious that he was still not well. Half his face was covered in bandages and his whole left side was set in an orange glowing omni-brace. "I can't tell you."

"Can't tell me what?" Shepard growled out. "You knew, didn't you? You knew he was there!" She began pacing back and forth in the small room. With an angry glare she pointed a finger at Nihlus. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

"I couldn't and I can't tell you." Nihlus answered with his subharmonics sounding out anger. "Unlike humans, turians tend to follow orders!"

Shepard stopped her pacing and stared at Nihlus. The hurt on her face was obvious and Nihlus already sounded out a quiet apology. But her expression was quickly replaced by the neutral look that Garrus had come to call her Commander-look. Her face turned hard and unreadable, polite interest covering up any emotion.

Her voice was cold when she spoke. "Of course. Then I guess that is all, Spectre Kyrik. I have to make my report to the Alliance now." She turned around and left the room.

Nihlus let his head fall back on the pillowroll. "Futuo. Now I pissed off the best friend i have ever had." The sounds from his subvocals spoke of the pain he was in, caused by his injuries as much as by the fight with his friend.

Garrus thought about the position he was in, unsure where he stood in this game. He decided to get to the bottom of this mess. He trilled at Nihlus to get his attention and to tell him that he was there for him. "The Council ordered you to keep the information secret?" He asked with his best investigator voice.

Nihlus head snapped around. "What would you know about that?"

Garrus let a smug grin play in his subharmonics. "We know that Sparatus protects Saren out of some obligation to his brother Desolas. So he probably ordered you to keep all information to yourself."

Nihlus growled in annoyance. "Damna stercus. So I pissed her off for nothing, great."

"Shepard understands orders."

Nihlus sighed. "Yes, but she wouldn't have followed them to the letter. She would at least have given me a hint in her place." His hand went up to the bandage, feeling around the wound. Two spines of his fringe had been shot off and he felt around the stumps with a sad hum. "Maybe if I had told her about Saren's strange message, I wouldn't look like a crooked garlef now."

"He sent you a message?" Garrus leaned forward and automatically set his omni-tool to record.

"It was the strangest message ever," Nihlus said, "and let me tell you, Saren is not exactly known for his flowery letters. It was a vid-file and he looked so strange. He has even more ports and amps on him, he looks half-machine by now. He told me to stay away from Eden Prime at first, and then suddenly he spoke of something entirely different and ended the vid mid sentence." There was a hum in Nihlus's subharmonics that spoke of his worry for his friend.

Despite what Nihlus had said about Saren before, calling him an ass and other things, his subvocals told of friendship and admiration for the older Spectre. Garrus wondered how close Saren had let Nihlus come, how much friendship he had allowed himself.

"When you saw him on Eden Prime..." Garrus let the question hang, an old investigator trick to get someone talking.

"I knew he was there, I knew it as soon as I saw that strange ship on the transmission. When he showed up on the platform, I wasn't even surprised. He told me some stercus about the Council ordering him there but I knew it was a lie. I always know when he lies." Nihlus hummed quietly in sadness. "You should have heard him, he spoke so sure and calm but his subharmonics - they were drifting."

Garrus tried to imagine the famous Spectre sounding out confusion like that and failed. In some way Saren Arterius was still the hero from his childhood, ruthless, strong and unfailable.

Nihlus's voices had become very quiet by now. "I knew something was wrong but I never thought... I was his student, maybe even his friend... I never would have thought..." He keened in sadness. "I turned my back to him, I trusted him! I heard him move his arm and I guess I took a step to the side... maybe... Saren would normally not miss a shot like that..."

"That's what Shepard said too. We wondered if maybe he hesitated?"

"I wondered about that too, believe me, but I thought that maybe that's just wishful thinking." He turned his head to look at Garrus, his green eyes full of sadness. "He shot me. He shot me when my back was turned, me, a friend. I just can't..." He looked away again and his subharmonics sang out in pain.

Garrus stayed with Nihlus in silence, just quietly humming for him until he fell asleep. Shepard had sent him a message that she had debriefed Captain Anderson and had a meeting with the Council next. Her next message contained some explicit curse about the Council and where they could shove their fringes, tentacles and horns, and to meet him at the ANIS office.

At the office he found Shepard at his desk, her feet on the table and her head leaning on the back of a human chair. Her eyes were closed and she was gently snoring. He let himself slide into the turian chair next to her and watched her. She looked relaxed, calmer than she had looked all day. There was a new scratch on her cheek that had already closed and begun to heal. He wondered what other injuries she had on her body, her soft skin so malleable to cuts and scratches, but healing so fast.

He lightly brushed over her cheek with the back of his finger, enjoying the silky smoothness. Her eyelids began to flutter and she woke up with a sharp intake of air. For a second she looked disoriented but then her eyes settled on him and filled with so much joy that it almost hurt to look at her.

"There you are." She whispered, her hand raising to cup his mandible. She let her feet fall to the floor and leaned forward, closer to him. Her thumb was stroking over his lip plates and she smiled at him. Spirits, how he loved her smile.

He pulled himself back into reality. "So, the meeting with the Council did not go well?"

Shepard pulled her face into a grimace. "You could say that. They didn't believe anything besides the geth being on Eden Prime. Saren was there too, via vid-conference, and that smug bastard acted like I shot Nihlus and somehow fucked this all up." Her hands were clenching in her lap and a deep scowl had formed on her forehead.

"Did he say why he was there?" Garrus asked.

"No, and they didn't even ask him about that. He was acting all superior, dismissing the witness and everything I said. If we don't find some evidence, they will just let this case drop."

Garrus brushed over the frown on her forehead with the tip of his finger but it didn't go away. "Did you tell them about the prothean beacon?"

Shepard sighed. "I did tell them that it touched me and that I fell unconscious but I didn't tell them about the vision. I didn't want to give them more that would make them label me as crazy."

"But it might be important."

"We'll see, I'll tell them when it comes up again. I didn't want to give out too much information while Saren was there, there was something about him and the projection..." she began fiddling with her omni-tool and Garrus got impatient.

"What? What do you mean?"

"Wait, here, I recorded it, look at him and listen, isn't his voice strange? I think I have a pretty good ear when it comes to turian voices and something is wrong there." She held out her arm and played the recording. The vid was at a strange angle because she had left her arm hanging and the sound was a bit tinny but he could still understand everything that had been said.

"The Council doesn't allow any recordings, you know," he mumbled.

"Yeah, the Council can kiss my shiny ass after all this." She snarled back.

Garrus chuckled and kept listening. "You're right there is something... his subharmonics, they aren't transmitting correctly. There's only part of them and they are drifting."

"Drifting?"

"Yes, we call it drifting if the subvocals and the mainvocals don't match, if they say different things. It is usually a sign of insecurity or lying. In severe cases it is a symptom for a mental illness. Nihlus had said it too, when he spoke to Saren, his subharmonics were drifting."

Shepard looked pained and Garrus took her hand in his. "Nihlus is sorry by the way, he never meant to hurt you. He was ordered to secrecy by the Council."

"We both know who gave that order. It pisses me off but I can't really blame him for that." Shepard said quietly. "I'll talk to him later." She leaned back and folded her hands behind her neck. "What now, Garrus? We have nothing."

"Not nothing."

"Not something either," she said, "we have geth on Eden Prime and geth traces on this ship of yours, we have zombies on both..."

"Husks." Garrus interrupted, trilling a grin at her.

Shepard rolled her eyes. "Fine, fucking husks then. We saw how they were 'made' on Eden Prime," she shuddered, "did you find these silver spires on the ship?"

Garrus shook his head.

"So they've brought the husks with them. We don't know how those two things are connected but something about it makes me think they are." She scratched her neck, leaving reddish marks on her skin. "What about the quarian with the geth memory files? How does she fit in?"

Garrus sighed. "I'm not sure. But from what I read about geth, they are all connected, they have one shared mind. So the data Tali had downloaded from the geth core could contain information about the attack on Eden Prime. There was a map that looked very much like the excavation site where the prothean beacon was found. And she played a sound file that was severely corrupted but I'm sure it was a turian speaking, I could hear subharmonics, he was content and sure of himself."

"You sure it was a male?" She asked. "Could it have been Saren?"

"It could be. We would need to clean it up some more to get a voice match."

"Pauly could probably fix it so that it sounds like an opera singer sang it, she can do magic like that."

Garrus sighed again. "We still need the file for that and so far we could not find the quarian who hopefully still has it."

"Do you think she would sell it?" Shepard asked with wide eyes.

"Why not? I'm sure she could use the credits and the Shadow Broker would probably pay quite well for a file directly from a geth memory core." He said, grumbling in his subharmonics.

Shepard looked thoughtful. "Dealing with the Shadow Broker could be dangerous and we don't know if Saren doesn't have any agents on the Citadel. If that's him on that voice file, he will do everything to get his hands on it, to make the evidence disappear."

Garrus nodded. "And he would not hesitate to make a quarian disappear as well, if necessary."

"Shit."

"Yes."

"We have to find her, Angel." Shepard cupped his mandible again and looked at him seriously.

Garrus leaned forward and softly placed his forehead against hers, onlookers be damned. "I know, Sunshine." He hummed quietly. "Did I tell you already how glad I am to have you back?"

Shepard chuckled. "No, I don't think you have." He could feel her smile.

"Well, then I'll have to do that sometime." He grinned and turned to the terminal. He heard her laugh out and she punched him on his shoulder, which he did not really feel through his armor. But he felt the weight of her leaning her head against him as he began searching for traces of the quarian in C-Sec reports.

Yeah, it's a bit shorter, I'm trying to get the next chapter out quickly for you. Things will get moving now.

Edited by Credete.