When Garrus asked Tali for help, for a moment she was too dumbfounded to reply. He could imagine the wide eyed, disbelieving expression she must wear beneath her mask. He hadn't wanted to ask for her assistance in this. There had been tension between Tali and Miranda since the moment they met. The quarian's innate distrust of Cerberus was not assuaged by Miranda's cavalier attitude, and she had made it quite clear that she only tolerated working with them for Shepard's sake. As much as he hated having to ask her to put her feelings aside again, he had to. He could steal the omni-tool data himself but it would take time that they did not have. While there were others on the crew capable of the task there was no one he trusted more than Tali.

"You can't be serious," she said incredulously. "There's evidence that Miranda is working against us and you want to destroy it?"

"I know how it sounds, but I swear I know what I'm doing." He grimaced. "Or at least I hope I do."

"You can't possibly believe her about this – she has to be working for The Illusive Man."

"She chose to switch her loyalty to Shepard, just like the rest of the crew."

"And up until that point she was the perfect Cerberus office! She did everything according to their protocol, probably spied on us and sent reports to The Illusive Man."

Garrus sighed, exasperated. He had his own serious doubts about trusting Miranda and he was in danger of letting Tali talk him out of helping her, wasting time they didn't have. "Tali, believe me, I've been arguing with myself about this since Miranda approached me. But what it really comes down to is that Shepard trusts her, and I trust Shepard. I won't start second guessing her judgement now."

She stared at him for a long moment, and Garrus got the feeling he was being studied intently. "Keelah," she muttered to herself, sagging against the closest wall. She drummed her fingers against her leg, staring down at the floor, clearly trying to come to a decision."Alright," she finally said. "I've followed more questionable decisions of Shepard's."

"Like taking on a thresher maw?" he ventured.

"Like bringing an active geth onboard," she replied, a smile in her voice.

The mood changed subtly as Tali pushed herself upright and straightened her shoulders. The time for jokes, however small, had passed as they faced the daunting task of stealing data in the possession of an Alliance commander.

"How are we going to do this?" asked Tali.

"That depends on how close you need to get to the omni-tool."

"I can access it remotely but I would guess that I need to be inside his apartment. A normal apartment would not be a problem, but it looks like the Alliance entrusts Kaidan with some fairly sensitive information these days. He probably has decent security."

Garrus nodded. He had been cherishing a small hope that he would not have to get her into Kaidan's apartment, but really he had known better. Nothing was that simple. "We could sneak you in but I think it would be better if we both went to see him openly. To welcome him aboard the crew, discuss the mission, all of that stuff."

"And how am I meant to get to the data?"

"I've already spoken to Thane about that. I'll let him know when we're nearly at Kaidan's apartment and a few minutes after that he'll contact you with some made up problem. Ask Kaidan if there's somewhere you can talk privately. Hopefully he'll take you to another room and you'll have a chance to get into Miranda's omni-tool."

Tali nodded. "Let's hope he keeps it in a separate room," she said grimly.

"I doubt he'll keep it on his coffee table."

Plan in place, they began to make their way to Kaidan's apartment. Garrus would have been lying to himself if he denied feeling nervous, and not just because of what they were about to do. Three years ago, he and Kaidan had been friends. They had disagreements from time to time, normally stemming from the difference in Kaidan's cautious approach and Garrus's tendency to charge in headfirst, but whatever arguments they had never lasted longer than a mission. He might have been uncomfortable when Kaidan's relationship with Shepard turned to romance, but he had never had a problem with the man himself. They had both changed in the time since Shepard's death, but Garrus liked to think that if Kaidan had joined the Normandy's crew they could have been friends again.

But instead there had been Horizon.

The rational side of his mind (which he found he was rarely in the mood to listen to when it came to people who hurt Shepard) tried to insist that perhaps he would have had difficulty believing Shepard's story if she hadn't sought him out immediately. When she found him on Omega there was no denying the extent of her injuries. Her face and hands, any visible skin, were still laced with that network of strange, glowing scars. There was something strange about the way she moved: most of the time she walked with ease and purpose, but occasionally she would falter as if suddenly uncertain. By the time she reunited with Kaidan, however, her scars were almost completely healed and she had regained her old confidence.

Despite the sense of betrayal, it must have been easier for Kaidan to believe that Shepard had faked her death and spent the missing years working deep undercover. The truth was too fantastical, and painful, to be believed. Garrus sometimes wished he could pretend that Shepard's death had never happened. The thought of what she had suffered was too awful to think about. But Shepard couldn't ignore the reality. Sometimes she still had nightmares about gasping for air in that empty void, of desperately praying for rescue even knowing it would never come. He would not leave her to suffer through that alone.

That was exactly what Kaidan had done when he had turned his back on her on Horizon. Garrus couldn't forgive that.

Tali nudged him with her elbow, bringing him out of his thoughts. "I think this is the place," she murmured, pointing to a door. He nodded and turned to his omni-tool, sending the prearranged signal to Thane. That done, he strode up to the door and rapped on it purposefully.

When Kaidan opened the door for a moment Garrus could only blink in surprise, startled by the change in the human's face. He didn't just look tired, although the dark circles under his eyes and slack set of his mouth spoke of deep exhaustion, he looked older. He had not noticed this on Horizon. Perhaps the change had not been evident then, or perhaps after the failure to save the colonists and the exhausting battle they had fought he had simply been under too much strain to notice.

Kaidan stared back at him, clearly surprised to find Garrus at his door at this late hour and when they both had so much work to do.

"Kai – Commander Alenko?" ventured Tali quietly.

Kaidan turned his eyes on Tali and his expression became welcoming. He had always had something of a soft spot for her. "It's still just Kaidan to you, Tali. Or does it have to be Tali'Zorah vas Neema now?"

"Just Tali," she said, and hesitated before adding, "Although it's vas Normandy now."

"Right," he muttered. There was a long silence before Kaidan seemed to remember himself and gestured them inside. "You should probably come in."

As he entered, Garrus glanced around the apartment, impressed in spite of himself. Kaidan's new position had clearly come with a pay rise. The room he led them into was spacious and filled with expensive furniture. Despite that the place felt impersonal, more like a hotel room than somebody's home. There was very little clutter: a few vids stacked neatly on top of a table, an Alliance jacket thrown carelessly over the arm of a chair. There were no holos, no evidence of happy days with family or careless nights with friends. Garrus was willing to bet that the fridge was almost bare. It looked like Kaidan didn't spend much time at home.

There were several doors leading off the main room, all but one of them closed. From the surreptitious glances he stole he guessed it was an office. A large desk, covered in neatly stacked datapads and files, took up most of the space. Kaidan had probably been working in there when they had disturbed him. The omni-tool was there; it had to be. With any luck Kaidan would allow Tali use of the room when Thane's call came through.

Kaidan showed them to their seats and they perched on them awkwardly, everyone staring studiously at the walls or floor, completely at a loss for what to say. Garrus clenched his fist, irritated with himself. In the last couple of years he had formed his own mercenary gang, stopped a rocket with his face and helped take down the Collectors. A little small talk should not be beyond the reach of his abilities.

Finally Tali broke the silence. "How have you been, Kaidan? We haven't talked since..." she trailed off, the unspoken words hanging heavily in the air. The last time they had all been together like this was when the Alliance had finally called off the search for Shepard's body and held her funeral.

"Busy," he grunted. "Anderson – Well, I can't really talk about what Anderson has me do. But it's normally far too complex and dangerous for my liking. What about you two?"

They exchanged glances. What to pick? Assisting adolescent krogan through rites of passage, perhaps? Or maybe breaking a dangerous biotic out of a prison run by a turian intent on enslaving them?

"Also busy," said Tali finally.

He looked between the two of them, watching them closely. "Confidential?"

"No, it's not that. It's just-"

"We wouldn't know where to start," finished Garrus.

They lapsed back into silence. This time Kaidan was the one to break it. "What are you doing here?" he asked shortly. "I would have thought you'd have a lot of preparations to make."

" We do," said Garrus. "We won't take up much of your time. I know that Anderson has already briefed you on the mission, but we were wondering if there was anything else you want to know."

Kaidan's expression darkened suddenly. "Let's start with why you're allowing Miranda Lawson anywhere near this mission. She's Cerberus, she can't be trusted."

"Shepard disagrees," said Garrus coolly.

"Shepard hasn't displayed the best judgement recently."

"That's not fair, Kaidan," Tali cut in quickly, seeing Garrus's eyes narrow dangerously. "You don't understand the kind of pressure she has been under."

"Perhaps that's because no one bothered to fill me in," retorted Kaidan heatedly. "If she hadn't cut me out of the loop-"

"You isolated yourself!" interrupted Garrus furiously. "She wanted you back, she practically begged you to join the crew."

"I don't work with terrorists," he snarled.

"We're not arguing about this, Kaidan," growled Garrus, resisting the urge to dig his talons into the arm of the sofa. "Lawson is loyal to Shepard and she is our best chance of finding her."

Thane, displaying his excellent sense of timing, chose this moment to contact Tali. She threw up one hand and used the other to tap the side of her helmet, indicating someone was attempting to talk to her. "Excuse me, one of the crew wishes to speak to me," she murmured. She brought her hand up to her face mask and lowered her head as if concentrating. "What's wrong, Thane?"

Kaidan leaned forwards in his seat, watching Tali intently as she listened to Thane. When she looked up to meet his eyes he said urgently, "What is it? Has there been news about Shepard?"

"No," she said gently, and Garrus could hear the guilt in her voice as Kaidan slumped in his seat, disappointed. Turning to Garrus she said, "Thane is having trouble accessing the account, and without credits we can't house the crew. Do you have somewhere I could speak privately, Kaidan?" she asked apologetically. "This won't take a minute."

"Of course." He rose and beckoned her to follow him. Garrus breathed an almost inaudible sigh of relief when he saw that Kaidan was taking her to his office.

As Kaidan turned to leave her, Garrus heard her say, "Alright, Thane, I'm trying to access the account now." From the glimpses he could catch of her around Kaidan, he could see that she was performing brilliantly. Her fingers flew rapidly over her omni-tool, but in a manner that was purposeful rather than furtive. She stood confidently, nothing in her pose speaking of guilt. Her voice was neutral, tinged only by a slight irritation, as she spoke to Thane, issuing instructions that he wouldn't follow and relaying progress that hadn't happened. He was relieved to see that she had chosen to stand just inside the doorway, in full sight of Kaidan.

As Kaidan resumed his seat, Garrus quickly turned his eyes back to him. Tali would be furious if he blew the whole plan by gawping at her like an idiot. "Kaidan," he said, making sure the man's attention was fully on him, "if we're going to stand a chance of getting Shepard back, we can't argue with each other."

Kaidan's eyes flashed and for a moment Garrus thought he was going to argue. Then his shoulders slumped and any vestiges of hostility seemed to dry up. "I know. I'm sorry about before, I didn't mean to..." he trailed off, pinching the bridge of his nose. "It's this situation. I've been hoping to hear from Shepard for weeks, and when Anderson contacted me tonight... Well, the last thing I expected to hear was that she had been abducted."

"It's been hard on all of us," said Garrus quietly. "We care about her, too."

"At least you –" Kaidan began, heated again, before stopping abruptly and shaking his head. He seemed to make an effort to collect himself before continuing in a tone of forced calm, "I still don't like the idea of having Lawson onboard my ship. If you're wrong about her and she's still loyal to Cerberus, we could be walking into a trap."

"We're not asking you to trust her blindly," said Garrus, suddenly grateful that if any sign of guilt showed on his face Kaidan probably wouldn't be able to decipher it. "She handed her omni-tool over to you."

Kaidan waved his hand almost impatiently. "Even if I find nothing incriminating it won't prove her loyalty. It will just mean that she's worked hard to cover her tracks. But I should get back to going through it, I want to get it done by the time my ship is ready to leave."

His eyes flicked towards his study and Garrus had to resist the impulse to jump up, drawing attention away from Tali. He relaxed into his seat when he saw it wasn't necessary: she was already walking back into the room,

"Is everything alright with your crew?" asked Kaidan.

"Not quite," she said wearily. "I think I'll need to straighten things out in person."

Garrus jumped up, relieved for the excuse to leave."We should let Kaidan get back to his work, anyway."

Kaidan nodded and rose to his feet to show them out. "I take it you're coming with us?" he asked Tali as they made their way to the door.

"Of course," said Tali. "I couldn't stay here waiting to -" She broke off. Waiting to hear if Shepard is dead, Garrus completed silently. From the sudden tightness around Kaidan's eyes, he guessed the commander's mind had jumped to the same conclusion.

Kaidan attempted a smile. "Glad to have you along."

"It'll be just like old times," said Garrus. The words had tumbled out before he had time to think, and immediately he wished he could take them back. No matter how hard they might try, they could never return how things were onboard the old Normandy: they were like pieces of a puzzle that had become warped and no longer fit together. Everything that had happened in the last three years stood between them. The memories – the blood of the friends he had failed, Tali's betrayal by her own people, Shepard's empty coffin – were so strong they felt like a physical presence in the room.

He needed to leave. Their subterfuge had distracted him for a while, but now it was over Shepard came rushing back to the fore of his mind. He needed to plan and prepare; he needed to know he was working towards finding her. Most of all, he needed to get away from Kaidan. The last time the three of them had been together like this was Shepard's funeral, and that was the last thing he wanted to be reminded of.

He muttered a goodbye and hurried from the apartment. Behind him he heard Tali make a much politer goodbye and rush after him. She caught up and fell in with his quick pace. He knew he should ask her whether she had succeeded, but for the moment he couldn't bring himself to.

"Garrus," she began hesitantly, "are you -?"

He wanted to answer questions about his welfare even less than he wanted to talk about the mission. "Did you do it?" he interrupted.

"Yes."

He slowed down and smiled at her. His abruptness was unfair, particularly when she had betrayed a man she considered a friend because he had asked her to. "Thank you," he said with relief. "I know it wasn't an easy decision for you to make."

"It wasn't," she said shortly. "And I have chosen not to trust Miranda blindly. Garrus, I didn't just delete the data. I took copies of her transmissions to The Illusive Man. Give me a chance to look at them. Perhaps I can figure out whether she's telling the truth about being loyal to Shepard."

He stopped completely and turned to look at her with admiration. He had debated the idea of asking Tali to obtain copies, but quickly dismissed it. There would only be enough time to delete the data before Kaidan grew suspicious. He had not factored in Tali's superior speed and skill. "Do it," he ordered quietly.