3 Months Later

Questions

Garrus was mad. He was angry. Confused. Pissed off. Fortunately Wrex had come to his rescue and took him away from the things that were making him so angry namely the Citadel Council and her.

The Council had tried to tear him a new one for the whole asteroid incident. All the debris had cost a bundle to clear the nearby shipping lane. Never mind that prior to Garrus's solution that particular shipping lane was constantly attacked by the pirates who had been on the asteroid. Really in the long run Garrus had saved untold amounts of credits and lives. Garrus had had to point that out to the Asari Councilor in particular. If you could get to her generally you were safe. The Salarian never said much to Garrus, and the Turian was either chewing him out or praising him depending on the mission. The asteroid one had left him speechless.

And then there was her. Garrus couldn't believe he never noticed that he was being tailed back to him place. Nor that she had come in while he was showering. That didn't stop Garrus from finding out there is one thing better then a shower after a long mission; sex in the shower.

After the first few days of love making Garrus and Tali managed to actually have a conversation that lasted more than a few words. He never asked why she left the Flotilla. The reason seemed obvious but it still bugged him. He really didn't think he was worth giving up her entire people and culture for. Taliwas going to have to learn a lot more about the outside world than she did during her Pilgrimage.

Just like Garrus was learning a lot about her. After the lust had left his mind Garrus had panicked. He had been a lot rougher than he should have been. Soft bodies like Tali's weren't made for the rigors of Turian mating. On top of having Tali out of her biosuit for a few days, Garrus was sure he had somehow infected her with something. After all, he had bit her in the clef of her neck and they hadn't even thought of using protection.

Thankfully Tali calmed his fears by going with him to visit Dr. Michelle. Quarians had a weakened immune system, not a nonexistent one. Plus Tali was tough. She'd been shot before, 3 years ago before the whole Saren mess. All Dr. Michelle told them was that they shouldn't be so playful and the bruising would go away on its own. The bite mark would scar but if Tali kept it clean it shouldn't bother her too much. Her immune implants should be able to handle it though Dr. Michelle didn't recommend that Tali get bitten again. Lastly, the good doctor told them plainly that she didn't know if Garrus could get Tali pregnant. Cross-species fertilization was highly unlikely.

That was just the first few days. Garrus had had to put up with Wrex for having not make their traditional after mission meeting down at Chora's Den. Whoever, Wrex was too put out. He had like Tali since she was smart and hadn't bugged him in the Normandy days. Plus she had made him a lot of money too. Turns out there had been a bet placed amongst the crew prior to everyone splitting up. After welcoming back the little tweep Wrex went off to place a call to Joker to collect his winnings. The bet had been that Tali would be the one to find Garrus, not Garrus going off to find Tali. The time limit had been 5 years.

Liara of course knew about Tali and had told Jane. The welcome back party had been very enjoyable. They had gotten both the Spectres drunk. Both had been foolish enough to try to drink Wrex under the table. Both had failed miserably and had to be taken home by their respective partners. Wrex ended up sleeping it off in a corner of Flux. Would you have told him that he couldn't?

When the fun and games were over the practical matters of life took hold. Garrus went to the bank and set it up so that Tali could use his account. They got her a spare biosuit and Liara and Jane took her shopping. Tali didn't like wearing her biosuit in his, their apartment not that he complained.

Even so, just like during their Normandy days, most of their communication was nonverbal. They still used their special hand signals to talk to one another even when it was just them at home. And it worked for them. Sometimes words really just made things awkward. Besides, when Tali wasn't in her biosuit she didn't have a translator on her. Same went for Garrus when he got home at night. Tali had taken the liberty of getting him some clothes. Before Tali, Garrus had exactly 2 sets of civilian clothes; a formal and casual set both of which just stayed in the closet.

So they were slowly learning each other's language and cultures. Garrus hadn't been able to talk his way out of why he had bitten Tali in the first place. All Turian wear was made with a large collar to accommodate their physic, namely their large feathery shoulders and hood and show off their collar areas and any bite marks one might have.

It was an old evolutionary throwback of marking mates. One bite mark to say that the female was spoken for. Two bite marks was for the alpha female in a flock. Polygamy wasn't common but not unheard of in Turian culture.

So now Garrus was, as Jane had put it, in the dog house. Tali wanted Garrus to bite the other side of her neck and leave a scar there. Garrus didn't want to, citing Dr. Michelle's medical advice. Tali hadn't bought it. So Garrus pointed out that no one would see it since she didn't go outside of their apartment without her biosuit. At that Tali had thrown up her hands and not spoken him in any manner for days.

Tali hadn't even helped him put on his armor before this mission. Since she had come back Tali had always helped him put on his armor. Tali had said it was an ancient throw back of her own culture when they still fought with melee weapons on her homeworld. The woman of the house would help put the man's of the house armor on before he went to battle. It was supposed to be a bonding experience and it was. Garrus had to trust that Tali was putting on his armor right after all. Even if she was a mechanical genius Garrus had to admit that he had triple checked everything later to make sure it was done right the first time. After that he just trusted Tali to do it right. After all, she wanted him to come back home alive too.

Garrus wasn't too sure this time though. She really was mad at him and he didn't know why. This fight had been far worse than their usual ones. One of the positive things about communicating nonverbally was that it is hard to fight that way. The down side was that when they did have their translators on there was about a 50% chance they would end up fighting. Normally though by the time they made it back to their place they had settled the argument and had mind blowing make up sex. Maybe that was why they always fought.

Still Garrus knew that this fight was different and he knew Tali. This wouldn't end until he figured out just what he had done wrong. That didn't stop him from being mad at her for being stubborn. If she would just tell him why she was so angry with him than he could fix the issue and try not to do it again.

Unfortunately he was on mission once more. A nice month long one. He probably wouldn't have taken it if he hadn't been so mad. With Tali at home he did't want to be gone so long and hadn't taken missions that were more than a week. Wrex had liked the change of pace for the first few weeks but the shorter missions tended to be easier ones. And easy meant less things to kill. Less things to kill meant a bored Wrex. So Wrex was more than happy to go on a long mission with Garrus again. A pissed off Garrus. One that like to make things go boom.

Garrus had been gaining a reputation as the last Spectre anyone wanted to see. He talked back to the Council, often not listening to them. He did get results though no matter the cost which generally appeased the Turian Councilor and as long as he kept civilian casualties down the other Councilors didn't complain too loudly. He also took the most dangerous or morally questionable missions. As a result though, he had become Saren in a way. He had the most free reign and was the clear favorite tool of the Council.

He's blown up transports to kill criminals. He's killed people after they have surrendered. He blew up astral bodies. Still, he's got a perfect record and acts as the iron fist for the Council. When it gets really bad, they send Garrus who brings along Wrex for the ride.

It worked for Wrex, he got paid and was gaining all kinds of clout. Wrex was practically a Spectre himself but extension. As long as he was working for Garrus Wrex could get away with even more then he normally could, which was quite considerable already. His personal favorite perk though, was that he didn't have to be questioned every single time he came back to the Citadel. Now he just walked through C-Sec giving what Shepard called a one fingered salute. Looked a little odd as a means of insulting someone, but when Wrex found out what it meant to Humans he really enjoyed greeting Human C-Sec people that way.

The other thing that Wrex did was be Garrus's guy friend. Shepard was the fellow Spectre and coworker. When Shepard was just plain Jane, she and Liara were female friends. Wrex was his guy friend, the one he could do guy things with like head down to Chora's Den to get a few drinks and dances. Three years of friendship had built a bond between the two to where they could help each other out with problems.

Like now. Wrex had been the one that had made Garrus get a mission from the Council to get him away from Tali. Wrex's 1400 years of life experience meant he knew a few things about women and relationships and a little separation can do wonders. It might even stop the current fight the love birds where having. Of course, being guys there were certain protocols they had to go through if they were going to have a conversation which there were emotions. For them, it meant they had to be killing things.

And killing things for a month meant that they could do a little talking here and there without being forced to cram all the talking in just a few days. Plus it meant Garrus could chew over and advice that Wrex might give him. Hopefully, it would be good advice. Wrex might have a lot more life experience than Garrus but Garrus was the one with a woman at home. Granted she was mad at him now but at least she was there. Now all Garrus had to not screw up enough to keep her there. He had a month to figure it out.

A/N: I know I know, it's been a long time since I last updated. I have two excuses, writers block for the first week, then no time the second week. I serious got stuck on how the reunion between Tali and Garrus would be like so I side stepped it. In a week I barely managed a page. The second week was work being a pain. Seriously. We did so much extra PT that it hurt to climb into bed at the end of the day.

Thanks to all of you who have put this story on the story alert list. Extra thanks to those that put me on your fav author/story list. And huge thanks to all of you that review. Feed back is nice. I gave lots of ammo to you this time. There is what Garrus screwed up so bad on. And Tali's immune system is always fun. Also Turian culture. Being Roman based has given me a good idea I think you will all like. I have to torment Tali first though. I'd write the next chapter but I get to go run for an hour with a gas mask on in the morning so I have to go to bed.