I'm thinking this might just go all the way to the end... Whatever that is.
Shepard disconnected her call from the Illusive Man with a groan. It had been three hours since they'd gotten back to the Normandy, and Chakwas was still keeping Garrus hidden. She turned around to see Jacob leaning against the wall.
'Is he...?' The words went unspoken, but the meaning was obvious.
'He's out of the woods. You can go see him now.' Shepard fought to keep her face neutral and strode forward, but Jacob stopped her gently. 'You- you should know, Commander... We had to use a lot of cybernetics to keep him alive. He'll have full functionality, but there's some serious scarring.' Shepard swallowed.
'Thanks, Taylor, I-' She broke off as Garrus limped into the room. She couldn't keep her eyes off the angry raw patches on his mandible, or the way his armor was charred and broken. The corner of her mouth twitched. Of course he'd still be in it. Stubborn turian. Jacob whistled.
'I didn't think he'd be up yet, the tough son of a bitch.' It was then that he noticed neither of them were listening to him, and he shrugged.
'Well, uh, I've got a lot of work to do, so...' He let his sentence trail off as he slunk out of the room.
'How bad is it, Shepard?' Garrus asked wryly. 'Nobody would give me a mirror.' Shepard smiled.
'Hell, Garrus, you've always been ugly. Slap some face paint on, and nobody will even notice,' she teased, and he laughed.
'Hah- oh- don't make me laugh, damn it. My face is barely holding together as it is.' He paused. 'You know, some women find scars attractive,' he purred, shooting a sideways glance at Shepard, 'mind you, most of those women are krogan.' Shepard shook her head and laughed.
'Don't worry about it, Vakarian. I'm sure you'll find someone just as mangled as you are.' His mandible twitched as he moved closer.
'You're really reassuring, you know that, Shepard?' His tone was dripping with sarcasm. Shepard quirked an eyebrow.
'I try my best. If you ask me, they just make you look like more of a hard-ass.' She couldn't keep the shiver out of her voice at the thought, and frowned at herself. Garrus, not one to let anything slip past him, folded his long arms over his chest.
'You all right, Shepard? As humans say, you seem a little hot and bothered.' Shepard scoffed.
'In your dreams, Vakarian. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to make my rounds.' She walked past the turian as calmly as she could manage, only to find her path blocked by a suddenly unfolded arm.
'Not so fast, Shepard. I believe we have some things to talk about, remember?' Normally, Shepard would have argued with him until he relented (which took a lot of work), but this time, she just smiled wearily.
'It won't take long, Garrus.' Meet me in my quarters in half an hour, and we can talk then.' The turian nodded reluctantly, and dropped his arm.
'If you're not up there when you say, I can't be held responsible for property damage,' he said dryly, and the Commander shook her head.
'If you touch my space hamster, Vakarian, I promise I can add to your scars.' She left without another word, disappearing around the corner, but not before she heard a bemused 'space hamster?' from the loyal turian.
True to her word, Shepard stepped into her quarters exactly thirty minutes later. A quick look around revealed the former C-Sec officer stretched out on the end of her bed, fast asleep. She smiled to herself and sat down at her desk, directing her attention to her personal terminal. She checked her inbox and sighed at the unread messages that had piled up. Mostly from the Illusive Man, she rifled through them quickly until one caught her eye.
'Nalah Butler?' The name was unfamiliar to her, and curiosity took over. She opened the messaged and skimmed through it. 'Husband on Garrus' team... Died in a trap? Blames himself? Oh, Garrus,' she muttered sadly. Quickly composing a reply, Shepard sent it off.
Nalah,
Thank you for telling me this. Garrus is one of my most trusted allies. I will do my best to keep him out of guilt. I'm truly sorry for your loss, and I will make sure your husband is honored properly.
Commander Tracy Shepard, Special Tactics and Reconnaissance
She leaned back with a sigh, raking her fingers through her long brown hair.
'What am I going to do with him, Jenkins?' she asked absently to the small hamster on her shelf, and picked him up, letting him crawl up her arm and burrow into the place where her shoulder met her neck, where he promptly fell asleep. She stroked his soft fur gently, her eyes settling on the sleeping turian.
She placed Jenkins gently back in his enclosure and tiptoed over to where Garrus was situated, his long legs draped over the end of the bed, his visor still in place, as always. She lowered herself to the steps, smiling to herself. It was nice to see him catching some sleep. His face lost the sharp edges brought on by stress, and couldn't stop herself from thinking that he looked damn adorable while he slept.
Slowly, Garrus stretched, his eyes opening and searching the room in confusion. They settled on Shepard and panic raced through them. He sat up in a rush, fumbling for words.
'Shepard, I was just- I wasn't- you were late- no, was I early?' Shepard grinned.
'Relax, Garrus. It's good to see you get some sleep.' The turian grimaced.
'I could have chosen a better place than my commanding officer's bed, I think.' Shepard shook her head.
'Garrus, I couldn't care less where you sleep, as long as it's not in a turian-sized coffin.' His brow raised.
'Good to know,' he drawled, 'maybe I'll have to make a habit of this, then.' He remembered why he was there, and grinned painfully.
'You thought I was dead for sure,' he said plainly, enjoying the blush that crept up her neck.
'Yeah, okay, Vakarian. I just didn't want to get your weird alien blood all over my armor,' she excused, but Garrus wasn't having it.
'No way, Shepard. You thought I was gone for good this time.' Defeated, Shepard raked her hand across her scalp again.
'Yeah, Garrus, I did.' She stood from her place on the stairs and sat next to him on the bed, studying her hands intently.
'Come on, Shep,' Garrus said gently, 'it'll take more than a rocket to the face to put me down, you know that.'
'I know, you big stubborn turian. I- you should know that I sort of- uh- I sort of lost my head back there.' He smiled.
'The great Commander Shepard, breaking down over me? I should be honored, I-' He stopped in the middle of his sentence, the aftermath of the battle coming back to him. 'You were crying,' he stated. Shepard shifted uncomfortably.
'I- you were delirious, you didn't know what was going on.' Garrus narrowed his eyes.
'No, this much I remember. You were crying for me, Shep. Why?' Shepard let out a bark of mirthless laughter.
'Why? Garrus, how could you even ask that? Didn't you ever wonder why I took you with me on every damn mission back then?' Garrus shrugged.
'I was the most capable fighter you had back then. It only makes sense.' Shepard turned to him and cocked her head.
'You know, for someone who's so aware of his surroundings at all times, you can be a big fat idiot, you know that?' Garrus raised his brows in surprise, but Shepard kept talking. 'You remember when we first fought together, for that doctor?'
'Dr. Michel, of course I-' Shepard interrupted him.
'I knew what you were going to do before you did it. I've worked with a lot of agents, Garrus, that kind of connection isn't something that's built up over time. It just happens.'
'So, what are saying?' Garrus asked carefully, 'are we some sort of fight-oriented soul mates then?' Shepard chuckled.
'Sure, Garrus, let's go with that.' She bumped his shoulder lightly with hers. 'You're stuck with me now.' Garrus slung his arm casually around her.
'I wouldn't have it any other way, Shep.'
I know, kind of a filler chapter, but I can't exactly follow through too much until I actually know what happens in the game.