Dropping Garrus's hand, she took off, racing down the slope into the crowd, an exasperated sigh and three choice curses chasing her. "Lemmings of the galaxy," she called out, spreading her arms wide as she stopped in the center of the square, "you are all doomed for you do not know the blessed word of the Enkindlers."
The crowd evaporated around her, all trying to get as far away from the lunatic with the guns as possible. Chasing a salarian a few metres one way, and a turian back the other, she embraced a wild, childish lack of control. Sometimes a deep, gleefully furious part of her just needed to slip off the leash, and to hell with the consequences. Throwing her head back and stretching her arms out to the side, she twirled around and around until she bounced off a skycar and nearly fell on her ass. Dizzy to the point of clapping a hand over her mouth to hold back her breakfast, she leaned over, bracing herself against the vehicle.
Once the dizziness and its accompanying danger of spewing vomit passed, she leaped up and ran toward the crowd. "But you can all be saved!" she hollered. "Yes, you can. All you have to do is pull your . . .." She pointed and winked at an asari hiding behind her turian partner. ". . . very pretty blue head out of your ass and realize how fragile all of this is." She looked at the car, and recognizing the C-Sec paint job, raced over to clamber up onto the roof.
Seeing Garrus doing his best to disappear into the environment, she grinned and pointed both index fingers at him. "You, sir, are far too handsome to be able to vanish into that plant. Instead, embrace the light of the Enkindlers and rejoice."
Turning back to the crowd, she reached out as if trying to hug them all. "Good people, I beg you, listen. The Enkindlers have blessed me with a vision! This place heralded the beginning of their destruction, their arrogance blinding them to their vulnerability." She spotted four hanar moving in on her from the bridge and spun to face them. "Brother hanar, you know this! You know the light of the Enkindlers. Spread their word so that these poor souls, blind and fumbling in the dark, can know the truth."
One floated closer than the others. "This one does not believe the Enkindlers would wish their truth to be used to cause alarm for the honourable people passing by. Respectfully, this one does not believe you are representing the Enkindlers' message with a high degree of accuracy."
Shepard flung her arms out, embracing the entire Citadel. "They'd want the people to know they are all living on a giant trap, and one day, it's going to spring closed to kill them all. Glory hallelujah and praise the Enkindlers' great, glowing backsides."
A second one came forward. "This one believes that although your enthusiasm for the word of the Enkindlers is laudable, it may be advisable for you to proceed down off the car and regain control of your faculties." It reached up with a tentacle as if offering a hand to help her down. "This one respectfully requests that you cease distorting the word and light of the Enkindlers in this manner. They gave the hanar language and gave the galaxy the mass relays. Their legacy is one of generosity not fear."
"You poor, deluded . . .. I can't come down until everyone understands!" Shepard turned back to the crowd, but tentacles wrapped around both of her wrists. "Hey! Let me go, you manhandling . . . er . . . womanhandling jellies!" Looking up, she locked stares with Garrus and yelled. "C-Sec! Where is a C-Sec officer when you need one? I need a cop, here! Bad touching! Bad touching!"
A C-Sec officer raced across the square toward them. "Hey! Lady, what are you doing standing on my car?" The blond human looked up at her, then at the hanar, then back to Shepard. "What in the name of god is going on here?"
One of the hanar trying to ease Shepard down off the car let out a strange harmonic sigh. "These ones are merely attempting to prevent this human from alarming the good people in the crowd with her falsehoods regarding the Enkindlers."
"Let her go." The officer raked his fingers through his crew cut, grumbled and then jabbed a finger at the ground. "And you, down off my car."
Shepard shot narrow-eyed glares of death at the hanar until they released her and backed away. Once they moved off, she hopped down. "Thank you, Officer . . .?"
"Don't thank me yet, lady. You were disturbing the peace, and you scuffed the roof of my car, earning yourself a visit to the station." He gripped her elbow and pulled her out of the way so he could open the top of the car. "Get in."
For a moment, Shepard thought that Garrus would let her be arrested. She ducked out from under the hand trying to shove her head into the car, twisting as she tried to pull her arm free of the officer's grip. "Oh no you don't. You can't arrest me. I know my rights. I have an evangelical permit."
He snorted. "Oh, really? Show it to me."
Struggling, she grumbled, "It's in my other pants."
"Hey, Lamont, let me take it from here." Garrus strode up from behind the car. He stared into Shepard's eyes and deadpanned, "I have a history with this lunatic. You could take her in, but trust me, she's not worth the migraine that'll be beating its way out of your skull after about twenty minutes." Garrus leaned down over her, his stare deepening into a glare. "I thought I warned you about what would happen if I ever caught you screaming your craziness out here again?"
Shepard widened her eyes and bit her lip to keep from grinning like a maniac. She supposed she should have expected him to punish her. Sighing, she let her shoulders slump and hung her head. "I'm sorry, Officer Vakarian, please . . . don't drag me into a back alley and shoot me." Turning pleading eyes to the blond human, Shepard whispered, "Please, don't let him take me. He's crazy. He said he'd shoot me."
Lamont shook his head and held up his hands. "I've already had my fill of crazy. Deal with it, Vakarian, and get her away from my car. I just got it detailed." He backed away a couple of metres before turning and disappearing into the crowd.
"You know," Garrus said, his voice heavy with growling subvocals, "suddenly, I do sort of want to shoot you." He pulled her down the presidium, passing the base of the tower and continuing on to where the crowds thinned out.
Shepard cackled, dragging along behind him a little. "Yeah, but just imagine the look on Udina's face when he sees that vid. That will cheer you up."
"What about when the council sees it?" He didn't let up the vice grip on her arm as he guided her off the main thoroughfare and into a park area.
"They'll bury it until they need to discredit me, and in the meantime, it'll reassure them that they can easily discredit me if they need to." She worked her arm loose, rubbing the bruised spot between armour segments. When she felt him looking at her, she shrugged and bumped him with her shoulder. "It's more effective to make a hero look like a crazy woman than to kill her. I'm not completely suicidal, Garrus." She nodded back toward the square. "That was about giving the council an out. The last thing they want is to turn me into a martyr."
"And what about your credibility with the rest of the galaxy?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her, turning down a narrow path into a sheltered little copse of trees and flower beds. "You establish yourself as a lunatic, no one will ever take anything you say seriously."
She smiled and shrugged. "No one will ever believe that woman was Captain Jane Shepard, hero of Elysium. Trust me." She leaned into him, relishing feeling safe for the first time since she'd set her plan in motion. "Even now, they couldn't tell you the colour of my hair. Half of them are pretty sure I was a hanar. Active amnesia, Garrus. You know. You've seen how it works."
A reluctant grunt of agreement answered that. He led her over to a bench and sat, tugging her down next to him. She pressed in against his side and slipped an arm around his waist, looking up at his face as he stared at the traffic zipping overhead. Working on her own case of active amnesia, she searched past his reaction to her antics to see how he fared dealing with her other adventure that day.
"Sorry about springing my plan on you," she said, genuine sorrow sneaking in on the heels of the madness. "I just . . .."
He nodded. "Didn't want to fight me over it." Shrugging, he looked down at her. "And you shouldn't have to . . . either fight me or explain it to me. This is your mission, Shepard."
Garrus put his arm around her and pulled her tight against his side. "I understand what you did, Kahri. You did what you had to do to save the rest of us." He turned to nuzzle her temple, his breath warm and gentle against her hair. "But now, I get to do what I have to do. I don't plan on this relationship being a short-term deal."
Shepard pulled away far enough to turn and look up into his eyes, gratitude and frustration interwtining. "I won't let you turn your entire life . . . our entire lives into trying to keep me safe, Garrus. That's no sort of existence for either of us. I can't spend my life in a cage of fear . . . at least no more than I do now. And you can't spend yours chained to me, terrified that something might happen if you leave the room."
She kissed him, softly but allowing the depth of her affection to bleed through. He turned, leaning into the kiss, deepening it with a passion that surprised her. Lifting her onto his lap, he wrapped one arm around her, the other cradling the back of her head, his breathing deep and rapid.
"I just found you," he whispered, his mouth brushing her lips, the rough texture of his hide teasing every nerve ending to life. "And I've gotten used to having a tiny, soft heating unit in bed next to me."
She wrapped her arms around his neck, fitting herself into all the angles of his armour, and tucked her face into his neck. "I know. I know you care about me and just want to protect me, but I meant it this morning, Garrus. I'm a grown woman, a N7 operative, and a Spectre candidate. I need you to trust and respect me enough to let me look after myself. I'm actually pretty good at it . . . if a little unconventional." She kissed the groove of his neck, smiling at the steady, quick thump of his pulse. "I care about you, Garrus . . . so much, but one day, the over-protective thing will shatter us."
A knuckle under her chin lifted her mouth back to his, the kiss deepening until every particle of Shepard's being burned with it. She arched into him, hands wandering over him far too familiarly for a public place, but then he broke away, touching his brow to hers.
"All right," he said, panting softly between the words in a way that just stirred the fire smoldering its way through her. "I do trust you, and I respect you more than anyone I've ever known."
"Thank you." She nuzzled his cheek. "We'll bring Saren down and disappear to Omega, plan for the Reapers far away from the council's reach. It'll all work out, Garrus. Somehow, it will all work out." She sighed and leaned into him. "So, should we go get some normal people food? Ooo, we could go watch a couple of matches at the Armax arena . . . get some hot dog substitutes and watch other people get shot for a change."
He shook his head and then lifted her off his lap. "No way, Shepard. I'm not spending our one evening off the ship sitting in a crowd, watching people shoot holograms, and eating vat protein." He stood and let out a long sigh, turning a slow circle as if orienting himself. After about a minute, he stopped and nodded. "Okay, I've got a plan." A wide grin spread across his face, making her heart ache with the lightness of it. "Call Kaidan and Pressly, let them know you'll be back aboard an hour before we're cleared for departure. Barring any emergencies, of course."
His grin infected her. "We're staying out all night?"
He just shrugged, that cocky, smartass bob of his head that she loved seeing, and activated his omnitool.
"What are we doing?" She tried to see what he was looking at, but he turned his back and started walking back toward the square.
"We need to catch a cab," he said and held out his hand.
They caught one out to one of the wards. "Zakera Ward," Garrus informed her as he brought the cab into park at the base of a tall building.. "It has the most diverse population of the wards. Lots of humans mixed in with everyone else." He opened the car and swung out, looking around in a decidedly familiar way.
Shepard climbed out and looked around at what appeared to be a residential district. A nice park spread over the block across the street, buildings very much like the one in front of them surrounding it. Kids of all varieties played, while parents of all the same varieties called out for Tom to be careful and Sisak to stop picking on his sister.
She turned to look into Garrus's eyes. "Where are we?"
"At what used to be home." He held out his hand. "Come on."
Suddenly nervous, Shepard edged around the car, her heart beating hard and fast. "Umm . . . just so you know, C-Sec, I've never gone home with a guy before." The chuckle she managed to get out sounded more like a terrified moan and made her cheeks burn. If he noticed it, he didn't let on, just taking her hand and leading her inside.
They rode a surprisingly speedy elevator up ten floors, disembarking to walk down a long hall.
"This is a really nice building," she commented, checking out the art on the hallway walls and the granite-tiled floors.
Garrus chuckled and shook his head. "And you thought I'd live in what? Some dingy little hole with stained walls, black mold, and a constant drip in the bathroom from the apartment above? Not to mention the dirty clothes, old food wrappers, and energy drink bottles strewn everywhere."
"Don't forget the gun oil stains, random rifle parts, and mods laying around." She grinned and bumped him with her hip. "Nah, I just didn't know C-Sec grunts made this sort of cash. I might be in the wrong business."
He shrugged very matter-of-factly. "Well, first of all, I wasn't a grunt, and second, I worked all the time. Didn't have any vices or hobbies to waste cash on except my rifle and shooting range fees. Why not have a nice place?"
She squeezed his hand, knowing all about being so married to the job that she didn't have time for anything else. Before the Normandy, she'd donated almost all of her wages to Martin's rehab center . . . well, and a handful of stray cat rescue charities that she'd never admit to in a million years.
Garrus stopped outside the door to the end apartment and keyed in his lock code. "It might smell a little musty."
She let out an exasperated grumble, his apparent nerves helping settle hers. "It's a real apartment after living on a small frigate for two months, I would've probably been able to overlook the dirty clothes and food wrappers as long as there were no bugs." She shuddered. "Just open the door."
He looked back at her. "I've never brought a woman here before. It'll be a first for us both." He opened the door to a very dark space. "Come in. Let me get get some light in here. I had the windows blacked because I worked odd hours." He chuffed. "You know, compared to the banker's hours I work now." A few seconds later, light spilled in through a long wall of windows to reveal a very handsome living room appointed with turian-style furniture. Two low sofas made out of a tough but soft woven fabric faced a massive vid screen set in the center of a wall of shelves. A large, low, beautifully carved table sat between the couches, displaying an impressive array of electronic gadgets.
She entered and looked around. "It's gorgeous. A little barren, very bachelor-y, but not a dirty pair of undies or pizza box to be found."
He walked through an arch into the kitchen and headed for the fridge. "About the only thing I can offer you for the moment is an icepack for your face." He opened the freezer and pulled one out, then opened a drawer to grab a towel to wrap around it. "Here." Returning to the living room, he guided her to the couch and pressed the ice to her jaw.
Shepard leaned into the cold, relishing the momentary increase in the pain. It would numb. She looked around, her eyes following him, taking in the comfortable way he moved around the space, putting everything in order. "So what's the plan, big guy? Watch elcor reality vids or hanar soap operas?"
"Damn! You discovered my deep, dark secret . . . the hanar soap operas. I'm months behind; we'll have to marathon them." He opened a door next to the kitchen and disappeared through, calling back, "First, I thought you might want to indulge yourself a bit, considering the fact that the average vorcha can spit with more pressure than the Normandy's showers."
She jumped up. "Don't even . . . you have a real shower?" She followed him into a bedroom as handsomely appointed as the rest. A large bed covered in a navy duvet sat in the center. "Next you'll tell me that your bed isn't made out of sandstone."
"The bed is very comfortable, but I didn't think you'd be interested in heading straight there." He peered around the door frame, looking altogether too pleased with himself.
"Very smooth, wise-assless." Defying the sudden trembling in her gut, Shepard clamped the ice pack to her face and sat on the edge of the mattress, bouncing a little. "Oh, this is comfy. Very not rock-like." Avoiding his stare, she looked around, hoping he would move on. He didn't.
"Come here." When she just glanced at him before starting an in depth study of the swirl pattern on the carpet, he grumbled. "You don't have to make everything difficult, Kahri. Just come here."
A sad frown creased her brow and the corners of her eyes. She pushed herself up and crossed the room to stand in the bathroom doorway, her arm pressed against his. Why did she have to make everything difficult? She'd never cared about anyone the way she cared about him. She trusted him . . . enough to let him see the real, crazy parts of her that she kept hidden behind false crazy when it came to everyone else. Why couldn't she just let go of the giant ball of fear that slammed up into her throat at the thought of intimacy?
Garrus took her hands and turned her, pulling her up against him, a faint sigh accompanying the movement. "You never have to wonder or doubt if I want you, Kahri." He leaned down to nuzzle her ear. "I do, very much. But, I'm not going to pressure you. I won't ever make a joke that's intended to be some sort of passive-aggressive hint." Wrapping his arms around her, he whispered, "Ever. So, relax and take a bath, we'll order pizza, watch vids or play a video game, and just have a disturbingly normal night." He pressed his mouth to hers, the kiss chaste and soft.
At least until Shepard wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down into her, returning his kiss with a passion born of gratitude and respect and a giddy sort of astonishment. It almost renewed her faith, having stumbled upon someone so completely remarkable . . . someone so completely what she needed. For a moment, she gave into the smoldering ache his tongue—nimble and teasing—and his breath—warm and panting with want—set loose in her belly. Her hand slipped down his arm, reaching behind her to grip his talons, guiding them back around front and up to the seals on her chest guard.
Giving her a soft kiss, Garrus eased back, leaving one arm wrapped around her. He smiled down into her eyes for a moment, then jutted his chin toward a fairly large bathtub with water-jets along the sides and bottom. "How does that look to you?"
A shiver of regret whispered through her, but then she nodded, a significant amount of ironic annoyance heating her neck and cheeks. For all she barked at him about trying to protect her, he really did know what was best for her far too much of the time. She looked into his eyes, reaching up to caress his cheek and mandible when she saw that it had cost him to pull away, but also how much more it would've cost him to accept her invitation just to have the door slammed in his face.
She glanced over her shoulder at the tub, then passed him the ice pack and pushed him out the door. "That tub looks like you'd better have a robe or shirt or something I can wear when I get out."
He nodded and backed away. "I'll leave something on the bed. Take your time. The towels and everything else you could possibly need, other than the soap for your hair are in that cupboard." After pointing to a large set of double doors next to the shower stall, he turned and headed back into the living room.
Shepard filled the tub with water hot enough to cook seafood, then turned on the jets and eased her way in. Laying back, a moan of sheer, decadent pleasure bubbled from her lips, and she closed her eyes, letting the water beat out the built up stress of the past two months. At some point, she thought she heard his door chime, and sat up, poised to leap out of the tub and grab her guns. A few breathless minutes ticked past before the lack of gunfire eased her back into the water and dozing, blissfully mindless relaxation.
A knuckle rap on the door pulled her out of a gentle sleep to discover the water had begun to edge toward uncomfortably cool. "I set something on the bed for you, and I'm ordering the pizza," Garrus called. "Unless you've drowned in which case I'll call the rescue service."
Shepard chuckled and climbed out, wrapping herself in a huge, fluffy towel. "Not drowned." She opened the door. "See? Completely alive if a little pruny." She held up her fingers. "Do turians get pruny?"
He laughed and shook his head, taking her hand and lifting her fingers to his mouth to nuzzle them. "Turians aren't soakers." His brow plates lowered a little, and he lifted a hand to her shoulder, the pads of his talons playing over the joint and along her collarbone. After a second, he cleared his throat and stepped back, nodding toward a box sitting at the end of the bed. "I hope you like it and it fits. I had to describe your size to the woman at the store."
Shepard pulled her hand back and stepped around him. "Did you get me pretties?" She grinned and lifted the lid of the box. Inside, she found a dark emerald nightgown and robe made out of a material that looked like silk but felt insanely soft. Pulling it out, she held it up against her. "It looks like it'll be perfect." She returned to take his hand, tugging him down to kiss his cheek. "It's beautiful, Garrus. Thank you."
"It's tussat silk." He shrugged, looking sheepish. "A little bit of Palaven."
She hurried past him into the bathroom. "I'll be out in a minute." She closed the door then towelled herself off and dressed in the amazing material. Compared to her t-shirt and shorts, it felt like a lover's caress over every inch of her skin. The nightgown was a simple sleeveless, a-cut that hung in gentle folds around her knees. Tiny floral buds and spikey leaves had been embroidered around the neck, arms, and hem in a shiny thread the exact colour of the material. Simple, but classy. She smiled and twirled a couple of times to watch the skirt sway. Sweet baby Jesus, but she loved the way he saw her.
She slipped the robe on over top and belted it, running appreciative hands over the wide lapels covered in the same embroidery. Just beautiful.
The door chimed just as Shepard finished piling her armour next to one of the dressers in the bedroom. She laid Ingrid and Roger out on the floor, but took her sidearm and headed out.
"I thought you ran off to join Captain Shepard and a Spectre on some grand crusade, Vakarian," a jovial, male voice called from the other side. Thick paper rustled. "Couldn't cut it, Rookie? Missed the old grind, the piles of paperwork, and red tape so badly that you had to come back?"
Garrus laughed. "You know me so well, Ridgefield." He shook his head and leaned against the door frame, his body language relaxed and at ease enough that Shepard stuck her pistol in one of the robe's deep pockets. "No, we're on twenty-four hours leave before heading out in the morning. I thought it might be nice to sleep in a real bed."
Shepard walked up behind Garrus, using him to cover her state of undress, but peeked out to see past him. The fellow at the door was another C-Sec officer. Tall, thin, and balding, he seemed approachable and friendly, an impression that solidified when he saw her and his face creased into an easy grin.
She lifted her hand in a small wave. "Hello."
His smile widened. "Well, hi." He looked up at Garrus and backed away from the door, holding up a hand to stall the introductions. "I can see that you're busy, so I'll just get going. You can owe me for the soda, eggs, and toilet paper." A raucous laugh told Shepard that Garrus's messages would be filled with a great deal of teasing and speculation the following morning.
Stepping up to the door, Shepard watched the C-Sec officer hurry down the hall.
"Thanks for picking this stuff up for me," Garrus called after him.
"No problem." The officer hit the elevator control and turned back. "I can see why you wouldn't want to waste time shopping." Still chuckling, he backed into the open doors.
"Ridgefield?" She glanced up at Garrus, seeing the affection and amusement in his expression.
"Yeah." He palmed the door control. "My first partner at C-Sec. Good man." He passed her one of the bags. "Here, make yourself useful."
By the time they'd unpacked the drinks, breakfast food, and other sundries, the pizza had arrived.
"I didn't even know they made dextro pizza," Shepard said, flopping down on the sofa next to him. She flipped open her box, cracked her soda, and wriggled back in against his side, tucking her bare feet up behind her.
"This place makes really great dextro pizza. They make all the human junk food but in dextro versions . . . hamburgers, fries . . . no idea how they compare to levo, but they're good." He let out a long, contented breath and leaned back, one arm slipping around her, his hand resting on her hip.
Shepard took a bite of her pizza. "You and Ridgefield are close?" She glanced up at him and burrowed in a little tighter.
"Yeah. Best friends. He was the only one who didn't tell me I was nuts for signing on with you. He just said it was about time I went out and did something crazy. Said I needed to get out from under my father's heel." Chuffing softly, he shook his head. "Funny . . . it felt like that at the time, but now . . .."
She wriggled out from under his arm and sat crosslegged, facing him. "But now . . .."
He let out a thoughtful hum and shrugged. "Now, I think Pari saw really hard times coming for me if I stayed on that road. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know how much harder it gets than murdering someone." After finishing off the piece, he turned, lifting a knee up onto the sofa so he faced her. "You've said all the same things to me Pari did. I just couldn't hear him through all the resentment I'd built up over everything. His not being there for me or Solana . . . or even Mari. The pressure I thought he was putting on me to follow in his footsteps." A dry chuckle followed, sounding self-depreciating rather than bitter. "Mari told me years ago that the pressure I felt was all in my head. I don't know. Maybe I have just been an ass for the last decade."
Shepard reached out and took his hand. "Have you spoken to your mother or sister since you ran off with me?" She looked down at their linked fingers and talons, her thumb caressing the inside of his wrist where the hard plate that encased his forearm ended.
"No. I should." He slipped his hand out of hers and activated his omnitool, tapping at it for a second. "It's still really early in Cipritine. Remind me to call them later?"
She smiled and reached for another piece of pizza. "You know it." Nodding toward the gigantic vid screen, she gave him a wide, guileless stare. "So what's that for? You're not really going to force me to catch up on months worth of your hanar soap-operas?"
His mandibles flicked hard. "Well, I could, just to pay you back for your performance in the square earlier, or . . . I do have a pretty amazing gaming system. We could see how well you handle a sword or bow after we finish eating."
She swung her legs off the sofa. "Why wait? Fire that bad boy up, and I'll show you . . . wait, before I get cocky . . . what are we playing? I suck at racing games. Spend all the time upside down and on fire." She blushed even having given him the opening.
He laughed, choking on his bite of pizza for a second. "Should I even try to look shocked by that admission?" Thumping on his chest with one hand, he reached for the remote with the other, lurching ahead as she elbowed him. "Hey now, no violence. The truth is the truth." He turned everything on, then handed her a headset and a controller.
Shepard shoved the last half of her pizza slice into her mouth. "Okay," she said, trying to talk around it. "What am I about to kick your ass playing?"
"How about Galaxy of Fantasy? You can impress me with your monster slaying prowess." He got up and walked over to a shelf of various games and vids.
"Sure." Shepard settled into her gear, then washed the last bit of her pizza down with soda. "You know, I am pretty wicked with the two handed weapons." She frowned, reconsidering. "Although my mage skills are insanely awesome. Bring on the raining fires of doooooooooooom," she crowed, a grin spreading over her face. Being there with him . . . hell, being anywhere with Garrus just felt so damned easy.
You know, that's because you've fal—
She cut that idea off before it could force its way forward. More than enough strange and unexpected stuff rattled around inside her without adding more. Later. Much, much later, she'd let new complications in.
They battled their way through mythological monsters for a couple of hours, proving to be a decent team once Shepard stopped randomly attacking him just to watch his character flop around in death throes as his carcass slid down stairs and ramps, or fell off walls and cliffs.
When they started to wind down, Garrus closed the blinds and turned on the lights in the bedroom and bathroom. Finally, as Shepard missed her fourth straight shot at the boss Beluan monster, he shut everything down.
"Come on, Kahri, we can get into bed, and I can read to you until you fall asleep." He slipped the headset off her brow and took the controller from her hands.
She leaned back in the couch, her head resting on the low, rolled back, and closed her eyes. "Go call your Mari and sister first. I'll wait here."