Oh... Hey there... It's been what, three months? Are you sure? Naaahhhhhh...
Shepard stepped out of the elevator and walked up to her terminal. She opened the folder of dossiers and rifled through them, pausing when she came across Garrus', still not deleted. Noted sniper. Hah. Best damn sniper in the galaxy was more like it. She smiled at the 'strategic brilliance' line. She'd do well to keep this away from him. His ego was swelled enough as it is. Tell him that Cerberus thought he was some sort of military genius... She shook her head and deleted the file. It was best to keep him in the dark on this one. That left four dossiers: the warlord, the thief, the convict, and the professor. She smiled wryly. Garrus wouldn't like this. She trotted through the bridge and stood beside Joker's chair.
'Joker, pull her into the Omega docks again. We've got some things to do down there.' The pilot frowned.
'Uh, if you say so, Commander.' He chuckled. 'I'm sure Garrus will be thrilled to go down there again so soon.' Shepard winced.
'I wouldn't go down there if it wasn't important. I have enough bad memories from there, myself.' There was a pause, and Joker grinned.
'Yeah, I heard about what happened when Garrus got blown up. Didn't know you loved turians that much, Commander.' Shepard smacked the bill of his cap down.
'Shut up, Joker. There's nothing between Garrus and me. There never has been, you know that.'
'You sound awfully sad about that, Commander. You sure nothing's going on?' She narrowed her eyes.
'Can it, Moreau, or did you want EDI to recite statistics for four hours?' She leaned in menacingly. 'Because I can make that happen.' That worked.
'Okay, okay, I'll drop it. Jeez, Commander. No need to be so touchy.' Shepard shook her head.
'Just bring her down. Please.'
'I'm on it.'
While Joker was getting approval to dock, Shepard pulled her small squad into the briefing room.
'You're not going to want to hear this, but we're going back down on Omega.' Miranda and Jacob sighed, but Garrus just stared at her, his expression absolutely unreadable.
'I know, I don't want to go back either, but this is a recruitment opportunity, and a good one at that. We're after a salarian doctor, Mordin Solus. He's operating a small medical clinic in the slums-'
'Oh, there's a difference?' Miranda said sarcastically, and Jacob laughed wryly.
'Yeah, I thought it was all one big shithole down there,' he said, distaste dripping from his voice.
'I get it, it's nobody's favourite spot, but we need this guy,' Shepard insisted, 'we're leaving as soon as we get permission to dock. Jacob, Garrus, you're with me.' Jacob sighed dramatically, but Garrus hadn't taken his eyes off her. His face was stony, but still, he said nothing. Shepard swallowed awkwardly and turned to Miranda.
'Normally I'd apologize for leaving you behind, but...' Miranda waved her off with a smile.
'Trust me, Commander, I'm glad to sit this one out.'
'Right. Everyone, dismissed.' Jacob and Miranda all but ran out of the room, having picked up on Garrus' disposition. The turian didn't move, leaning against the wall near the door, his arms folded.
'So,' he growled, 'Omega.' Shepard wasn't fazed.
'Omega.' She nodded. 'Problem, Vakarian?' Garrus barked out a harsh laugh.
'Nah, none at all. But, oh wait, there was this one thing- I don't know if you remember- where I pissed off every merc gang and took a rocket to the face.' He looked at her pointedly. 'Trivial, really.' Shepard raised an eyebrow and walked toward him, stopping inches away. She pulled him down by the armor, levelling his face with hers.
'If I didn't know you better, I'd think you were frightened, Garrus.' His eyes, looking at her in confusion at her proximity, suddenly hardened.
'Don't test me, Shepard. I'm not the same starry-eyed C-Sec officer you met back then. If you need me for a mission, I'll do it. But don't expect me to rise to every taunt you send my way.' He picked her hand off his armor and brushed past her. 'I'll be in the airlock.'
The small human sighed and leaned against the table. She knew this would happen, that he'd rise to her challenge and go on the mission, but something about the way he was acting left her unsettled. Garrus had changed. When they argued back then, it was always about testing the other's limits. It was never as cold as that. She shook her head and made her way down to the airlock.
'Joker, are we a go?'
'You bet, Commander. We'll hold down the fort as usual.' Shepard nodded at Jacob and Garrus, who followed her to the dock.
'Commander, I've received new reports regarding Archangel.' EDI's smooth voice filtered through the groups' comms. Shepard's heart lurched as she resisted the urge to glance back at Garrus. 'The local merc groups believe him to be dead.' Shepard and Garrus let out a breath.
'Works for me,' he growled, 'let's get this doctor and get the hell out of here.' Shepard nodded and led them through the dark alleys. After a brief confrontation at the entrance, they were allowed into the quarantined zone. Garrus sighed.
'A quarantine zone for a plague that kills turians. Why don't we ever go anywhere nice?' Finally, Shepard turned around to look at him.
'I could really use your help on this one, Garrus.' The turian shrugged.
'Fine. I won't let a little cough stop me,' he replied coolly, holding her gaze. 'Are we going or what?' Shepard snapped her head back to the front.
'Let's go.'
The trio fought their way through wave after wave of mercs, Shepard and Garrus falling back into their old routine, despite their feelings. Shepard, as usual, had positioned herself a bit farther ahead, taking the mercs out one by one with quick precise shots, while Garrus hung back on higher ground, watching for anything Shepard had missed, his powerful rifle slow but deadly. At last, the waves stopped, and they allowed themselves a moment to breathe. They regrouped and were continuing along, when Garrus stopped.
'Is it hot in here, or is it just-' he trailed off with a loud coughing fit. 'Crap, that's not good.' Almost immediately, Shepard was at his side, her anger all but forgotten.
'Are you all right, Garrus?' She cursed. 'I knew I should've let you rest more. God, this is all my fault.'
'I think he might have caught that pla-' Jacob faltered when Shepard turned to glare at him.
'You don't say, Taylor.' Her tone was biting and sarcastic. 'We have to find the salarian now. Scout our route while I help him.' Jacob nodded and rushed forward, clearly looking for any reason to leave, his pistol at the ready. Shepard slung Garrus' arm over her shoulders and let him lean on her.
'Shepard, I didn't- back on the Normandy-' She shushed him gently.
'It's all right Garrus. Let's just focus on getting you better, okay?' The turian nodded.
'Yeah, okay.' He coughed again, gasping for air. 'Shepard, I feel like shit.' The Spectre grit her teeth as tears gathered in her deep blue eyes.
'I know, Garrus. I'm so sorry for bringing you down here. I let my feelings get in the way of my better judgment.' Garrus chuckled.
'I think I've heard that somewhere befo-' his legs gave out and he fell to his knees. Shepard blinked away her tears and sat beside him.
'Jacob! I could really use your help over here,' she called, her hand unconsciously twining with Garrus'. The young Cerberus agent appeared around the corner.
'It's all clear through to the clinic,' he replied, 'you all right, Vakarian?' Garrus laughed mirthlessly.
'I've been better, now that you mention it.' Jacob and Shepard hauled him to his feet, and together, they got him to the clinic in one piece. The door slid open, and they were greeted by a human receptionist.
'Hello, what brings you to us today?' Shepard shot him a withering look.
'You seen this turian here? Let's figure it out together.' Beside her, Garrus made a choked noise that she recognized as him stifling laughter, though the other two humans took it as a symptom.
'Right, let's take him to Dr. Solus,' the man said hastily, and led them down a short hallway, where a salarian was barking orders to staff.
'We've got another one, sir,' the receptionist interrupted, and the doctor whipped around to face them.
'Mordin Solus?' Shepard's voice was calm, betraying none of her dread. Solus tilted his head and pulled up his omni-tool.
'Turian physiology resilient, with simple immuno-booster. Should be fine now,' he chattered, scanning Garrus as he talked. The trio sighed in relief, Shepard catching Garrus' eye and flashing him a quick smile. As she turned back to the doctor, she realized he was still talking, deducing on his own why they were there.
'Cerberus sent me. I need your help for a critical mission.' Solus shook his head.
'Mission? What mission? No. No, no, no. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast.' Shepard sighed again.
'Listen, Mordin, we all need to work together to take down the Collectors. We can't do this without you.' His eyes widened.
'Collectors. Interesting. Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it. Our goals may be similar.' He turned away. 'But must stop plague first. Already have a cure. Need to distribute it at environmental control centre.' Shepard nodded grimly.
'Just once I'd like to ask someone for help and hear them say, "sure. Let's go. Right now. No strings attached."' She glanced back at Garrus. 'How are you feeling? You can stay here if you'd like.' The turian smirked.
'Like I'd let you run straight into a vorcha den without me. You wouldn't last five minutes.' She narrowed her eyes at him as she took the cure from the doctor.
'We'll see about that, smart-ass.' As she tucked the cure into her armor, every fan in the room ground to a halt. Shepard turned to Solus, her eyebrow raised. 'What the hell was that?' He was still for a long time.
'Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power back on before district suffocates.' Garrus put a hand to his head.
'It's just one thing after another on this damn rock.' Throwing an apologetic glance at him, Shepard turned back to the salarian.
'We're on it.' She motioned for her team to head out, but he stopped her.
'One more thing. One of my assistants,' he muttered, 'went into vorcha territory. Looking for victims. Hasn't come back.'
'I'll keep an eye out for him.' Mordin cracked a fast smile at her.
'Thank you. Losing him would be... Problematic.' She gave him one last glance before rushing off to join her crew.
An hour later, they dragged themselves back into the clinic. Shepard found Solus and looked at him pleadingly.
'Please tell me you'll come with us now. I can only handle so much, Mordin.' He nodded.
'Yes. Going over final instructions with Daniel. However, working with Cerberus... Unexpected. Will be on ship before you leave.' Shepard let out a long breath.
'Thank God. We're heading back now, but we won't leave without you.' She turned around. 'Garrus, Jacob, let's get the hell out of here.' For the first time since he'd been shot down by Shepard in the battery, Garrus smiled.
'Spirits, I thought you'd never say that.' He pulled her over and slung his arm around her shoulders, and- with Jacob trailing behind- they walked back to the Normandy together.
New story, all! Garrus and Shepard as usual. It's on my profile, y'know, if you want to read it. If not, that's cool too.