"Commander Shepard. Just the person I wanted to see." An unmistakable accent startled Lillian to attention as she barged out of the elevator, nearly running Dr. Chakwas over in the process. She'd been completely lost in thought and the possibility of another person waiting outside of the elevator doors hadn't even occurred to her.
"Hey, Doc…" She slowed to a hesitant stop and stared at the woman with confusion in her eyes. "You wanted to see me?" She couldn't imagine why. She wasn't due for a routine checkup anytime soon, she wasn't injured, and neither was anyone else that she knew of. The only thing she could think of was Ashley's current condition, but that would certainly breach doctor-patient confidentiality. "If it's about Williams…" she began, her voice low.
Dr. Chakwas shook her head and motioned for the younger woman to join her back in the elevator, cutting Lil off mid-sentence. "I'm afraid it isn't. Though I am glad she decided to tell you. She has few people to confide in onboard."
Lillian wordlessly stepped back into the elevator and crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to entertain that particular conversation topic any more than necessary. Her eyes followed the doctor's finger as it sought out the button for deck three, awaiting an explanation.
"I wanted to speak with you about some interesting observations I've made in the past few days." Karin paused for Shepard to interject, but the look on the Commander's face was one of notorious impatience, so she folded her hands behind her back and continued.
"Members of the crew have undergone noticeable changes since landing on this planet. I've been running some tests, and all of the results indicate minor alterations to their DNA. Some of these changes are more noticeable than others." A small smile crept onto the doctor's face as she continued. "Mr. Moreau's condition has… miraculously improved. And our resident Quarian's immune system's efficiency has spiked drastically, as well. It's truly fascinating."
Shepard's brows furrowed together as she listened. "Their DNA is just changing?" she questioned, unable to wrap her brain around what she was being told. "How is that possible?"
The elevator came to an easy stop and the doors slid open to reveal the memorial wall. Shepard's mouth twisted to the side as she contemplated how sick of that sight she was while Dr. Chakwas turned the corner in the direction of the Med Bay, expecting Shepard to follow.
"To be honest, I have no idea. That's what I'm trying to figure out, though it's becoming increasingly difficult to discern whether or not these changes are due to our presence on this planet. I may not have any answers until we're back in Citadel space." The doctor crossed the room to her terminal and began typing up a storm, a severe look of concentration painted on her face.
Shepard hung back by the doors, itching to get on with her day, but curious all the same. And a bit concerned. The first question that popped into her mind was, "Is your DNA different?"
Dr. Chakwas nodded without looking up from what she was doing. "Yes, it is."
Shepard pursed her lips and looked down at her midsection, running a hand over her belly absent-mindedly, as if subconsciously double-checking that she was still made of squishy, organic matter. "Do you think my DNA is different?"
The doctor smiled then, satisfied by either Lillian's inquiry, or the data she had pulled up on her screen. She turned to look at the Commander and folded her hands once more. "I'd like to find out. This is the data I've collected so far. You're welcome to sift through it now, or I can forward it to you…" she offered.
Shepard pointed at her to signal the latter option and shifted her weight uneasily. "Okay. Were you planning to find out right now?" She took an involuntary step back towards the door, not knowing what kind of tests the doctor had in mind. Surely they could wait until after she got out of this claustrophobic ship for a little while, couldn't they?
Karin chuckled knowingly and gave Shepard a look that confirmed she wouldn't be getting off so easy. "I won't keep you long, Commander. Please take a seat." She gestured to the examining tables, her smile only growing as Shepard sulked to the closest one and plopped onto it like a child being put in time-out. She had never liked taking orders, a fact that made her rank in the Alliance surprising, if not understandable.
While the older woman prepared her equipment, Lillian decided to pester her for information on the planet they were currently calling home. "So, Doc… Has anyone left the ship yet?"
The doctor pulled on a pair of gloves and approached Shepard with a syringe in one hand and a phlebotomy tray containing specimen tubes in the other. "Only to scout out the surrounding area. No one's ventured far from the ship though, if that's what you're wondering." A knowing look crossed the woman's face as she tied a tourniquet around Shepard's arm. "And if you're planning on doing so, I must insist that you exercise caution. You know as well as anyone the dangers of barging into unknown territory." Though she had no doubts of the younger Shepard's abilities, she had been out of active combat for some time, and her mental state was… questionable since her return from the Collector base. "I hope you would at least consider taking someone with you."
That suggestion elected an obnoxious groan from Lillian. "I appreciate the concern…" she began, watching as the needle pressed beneath the surface of the skin of her forearm. The tube attached flooded with crimson as the plunger was pulled back, and in a matter of seconds it was time to replace that tube with an empty one from the tray. "But I can take care of myself. Anyway, it's been days. If anything truly horrendous was out there, I think it would have found us by now…" Whether or not she believed that herself was irrelevant. She wanted to go alone.
Dr. Chakwas smirked and shook her head. "Need I even say how naïve that sounds?" One last tube was filled before the doctor pulled the needled back out of Shepard's arm and replaced it with a cotton ball. "Hold that there," she instructed.
Shepard did as she was told and watched the doctor label each of the tubes and replace them in their respective slots. "I'm a cybernetic powerhouse and a Shepard," she reminded, a cocky smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "I took down Saren and the Collectors. Bring on the beasties."
Karin didn't miss the joking note in her voice, and like an exasperated parent, she turned away with a sigh. "Just be careful," she cautioned. "True though those things may be, you're not invincible. And I don't have Miranda's skill to sew you back together a second time if need be."
"I'll come back in one piece," Shepard assured, hopping down off of the table. "Is that all you needed?" she asked, pointing at the tray of blood samples.
"Ohh, unfortunately," the doctor joked. She turned with a piece of medical tape between her fingers and spread it over the cotton ball Lillian was holding down. "You're free to go, Commander."
She nodded thanks and turned to leave the med bay. "I'll sift through that data later today," she added before disappearing through the door. Once she was out, she let out a breath of relief and crossed her fingers that no one else would get between her and the airlock.
Dr. Chakwas shook her head at the young woman's stubbornness and sat down in front of her terminal to begin analyzing her new blood samples. That girl was a firecracker, but she was a capable firecracker, and she would most likely come back in one piece.
After reaching deck two, Shepard nearly evaded EDI and Joker on her way to the decontamination chamber, but not quite. "Going somewhere, Commander?" the pilot questioned, spinning around in his chair to give her an odd look. The gun holster and armor that she wasn't wearing didn't go unnoticed by the pilot or his better, artificial half.
"On a field trip," she answered with a jerk of her shoulder.
"That is inadvisable, Shepard," EDI chimed from beside Joker. "We haven't collected sufficient data about the wildlife inhabiting this planet to gauge the potential threat outside of the ship."
As Shepard opened her mouth to respond, Joker interjected. "EDI's right. Who knows what's out there? Shouldn't you at least take a gun? Or two?"
Shepard frowned at all of the babying she was receiving today and sighed. "If I ever need lessons in self defense from a cripple, Joker, you'll be the first to know."
"Hey, this cripple kept the Normandy safe from a swarm of giant bugs," he defended gruffly.
EDI tilted her head to the side. "Technically, Jeff, the Collectors were Protheans."
He turned back around in his chair and continued what he was doing prior to Shepard showing up. "Yeah, whatever, same difference."
"EDI, can I breathe out there?" Shepard questioned while peering into the cockpit.
"Yes, Shepard. This planet's atmosphere is very similar to Earth's, so that is not a concern."
Joker snorted and rolled his eyes, grumbling from his seat, "That's gonna discourage her."
Shepard fought the urge to stick her tongue out at the snarky pilot and instead punched the button for the airlock. She shot a brief thanks EDI's way before stepping inside and closing the door behind her.
As soon as she was in the decontamination chamber, Joker let out a sigh and pressed the com button for the battery. "Hey Vakarian, I've got something you might be interested in hearing."
Garrus glanced up from his terminal with a look of intrigue. Joker rarely contacted him for anything, but he sounded eager now. "What is it, Joker?"
"The Commander just left the ship."
Garrus blinked at the wall for a wordless second before asking, "What?"
"Shepard just left the ship," Joker repeated slowly. "Unarmed," he added.
The Turian's brow plates furrowed worriedly. "Did she say why? Or where she's going?"
"Yeah, she's going to the corner store to get snacks," the pilot answered sarcastically. "Of course she didn't say. I just figured you might want to keep an eye on her. Y'know, on the off chance that she gets kidnapped by slavers, or swallowed whole by some carnivorous plant…"
The pilot's comments were intended to be funny, but they put Garrus on edge. Neither of those scenarios were entirely impossible, or unlikely with her penchant for getting into trouble. Plus, she was unarmed. How could she be so irresponsible?
He groaned as he weighed his options. If she caught him following her, all hell would break loose. But if he chose to stay behind and something happened to her… He'd never forgive himself. He valued her safety far more than the state of their tumultuous relationship.
He cut the call with Joker just minutes before he was stepping into the decontamination chamber himself. When he stepped off of the ship, he couldn't immediately see her, but he could smell her. He would recognize the smell of her shampoo anywhere. By following the scent of her recently washed hair, he was able to track her easily.
He found her about a quarter of a mile away from the ship, weaving her way between the enormous, leafy trees. While he followed her, she would occasionally stop to look at something, or slow down to kick a rock ahead of her, or pull a clump of leaves from a branch and leave them torn and scattered in her wake. He made sure to keep a safe distance between them, dodging behind tree trunks and moss-covered boulders frequently when he feared that she would turn around.
She didn't appear to be going in any purposeful direction; she was merely exploring. More than once, he forgot that he was following her to make sure she was safe and lost himself in her childlike fascination with everything around her. He considered the fact that she'd been in space for years, and most of the planets they'd travelled to hadn't been particularly lush. A few had been, but there was no time to enjoy the view. The wondrous look on her face now made more sense in that context and he smiled at the rare display of Commander Lillian Shepard's soft side.
She finally stopped after a couple of miles and tilted her head to the side, obviously listening to something. Garrus held his breath in anticipation of being discovered and watched her head turn this way and that until he realized what she was listening to.
Running water.
She walked off in a different direction and he trailed behind like an obedient pet until they came upon a riverbank. In her excitement, she sprinted towards the river and skidded to a stop before careening over the edge. She plopped down on the dirt and peered into the watery depths like a cat lurking over a fish tank.
Staring into the water, she relaxed visibly and he moved to get into a comfortable, well-hidden position where he could keep her in his sights… but he made a fatal error while doing so. He glared down at the branch that had snapped beneath his heavy foot, internally cursing himself up and down while Shepard jumped to her feet and turned around, fists balled at her sides while she tried to peer through the trees. "Hello?"
He stayed silent, but she didn't buy it and continued; "If you don't come out, I'll come find you."
Garrus didn't doubt her threat, but he kept quiet still... until she began moving in his direction, at which point he gave up. He stepped out of his hiding place with his hands in the air, his mandibles twitching with embarrassment.
Relief painted her face for a brief moment before those beautiful eyes of hers narrowed into vicious slits and her body tensed defensively.
"Goddamit, Garrus. What are you doing here?" she snapped incredulously. She remembered Joker and EDI's earlier warnings about leaving, and her glare intensified. "Did Joker send you or something?"
A guilty smile crossed his face as he reached up to rub at the back of his neck with his gloved talons and he shrugged a shoulder. "Sort of. Coming out here unarmed seems a bit reckless, even for you."
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to discern whether he was smirking at her or not. "I'm fine, okay? I'm fine. What is it with you people today? I'm far from helpless out here. There's nothing out here!" To prove her point, she bent down to pick up a rock and lobbed it into the forest aimlessly. A distinct thud could be heard as the rock collided with something else, and a few birds scattered from where they were perched in nearby trees, but other than that, complete silence.
"See? Nothing," she grumbled, turning to face him again. "No tigers, or bears, or wild varren…" she continued, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Hypothetically speaking, if a pack of varren were to show up, do you plan on fighting them off with your fists?" Garrus countered with legitimate curiosity.
She opened her mouth to argue with him, but realized she didn't have much of a counterpoint for that hypothetical. She went the defensive route instead. "I'm not going to fight with you about hypotheticals. Just go back to the ship."
Garrus shook his head and leaned backwards into the nearest tree, crossing his ankles. "I really don't think that's a good idea." He hadn't followed her this far just to say screw it and leave her unprotected. She didn't have to talk to him, and she definitely didn't have to even acknowledge that he was there, but he wasn't going back to the ship until she did.
"I didn't ask what you think, just go. I can protect myself. I don't need a bodyguard." When he didn't move from where he was standing, she snarled. "Why can't you just leave me alone?"
His expression fell at her question and his mandibles drew against his face. "I wonder that myself sometimes," he muttered, fidgeting with his gloves.
The honesty of his answer surprised her and threw her off guard for a moment before she squared her shoulders and told him matter-of-factly that, "I'm not going back with you."
Her resolve didn't seem to faze him, because he stayed put and kept his eyes locked with hers. "That's fine. I'll follow behind."
She threw her hands up in frustration and turned her back on him to keep from punching him again. Looking back into the green water at her feet, an idea suddenly struck her and a sly smile spread across her face as she kneeled down to untie her boots.
During the brief moment of silence in which Shepard appeared to have given up, Garrus allowed his blue eyes to survey the area. When they turned back to the woman in front of him, his jaw nearly dropped. "What are you doing?" he demanded, unease evident in his wavering subharmonics as he watched her tug her pants down over her hips.
"You turians aren't the best swimmers in the galaxy, are you?" Shepard asked, kicking her boots and pants to the side. She turned to look at him over her shoulder, wearing that infamous grin of hers that meant she was about to do something stupid, and she knew it.
Garrus pushed away from the tree, his brow plates furrowed in concern. "Don't even think about it, Shepard. Who knows what's in that water!" He took a few slow steps towards her, and though he knew he wouldn't be able to grab her in time, he was determined to try.
She shrugged and peeled her shirt off before stepping to the edge of the riverbank. "I'm going to find out."
The turian dashed forward but the distance between them was too great, and she was already in the water by the time he got to where she had been standing just a second before. When she surfaced a few feet away, the childish smile on her face was a vast contrast to the infuriated frown on Garrus'.
"Dammit, Shepard!" He looked down into the water and took an involuntary step away before he began pacing back and forth.
She'd heard something about turians and water not getting along very well, and apparently it was true. "What's wrong, Vakarian? Afraid of a little H2O?"
Now it was his turn to be angry with her. He briefly debated jumping in after her, but he wasn't quite ready to throw himself into a body of water and hope to figure out how to stay afloat. He could send someone else after her, but she could be miles downstream by the time they'd arrive. He could sit and wait for her to get out on either side, but the dilemma was the same either way; she could stay in the water, or put the entire river between them. No matter what, she was out of his reach.
"This is stupid, Shepard. There could be something seriously dangerous out here, and now you don't even have clothes to protect you!" He gestured to the discarded pile of clothes at his feet. It hadn't even occurred to him yet that she was only in her underwear now, but it would eventually. The image of her smiling over her shoulder as she slid out of her pants would surely come back to haunt him later.
She flipped her wet mass of dark hair out of her face and reached up with one hand to push the leftover strands away from her eyes. "You say that as if you expect me to care half as much as you appear to," she snorted.
"I do expect that," he growled, shaking his head in disbelief of how childish she was being. He'd seen this side of her before, but he'd never had to directly deal with it. She didn't like to be challenged, and he normally had no problem with that; but her being chin-deep in a murky river was a definite game changer and he felt more than a little helpless for the first time in a long time.
She started drifting backwards towards the opposite embankment, taking her sweet time while the turian grew increasingly anxious with every paddle and kick away from him.
"Just go back to the ship," she commanded for the third time. When she reached the other side, she took hold of nearby vegetation and used it to pull herself up onto the grass, panting lightly and dripping wet. She flopped down on her back like a dead fish and laid like that for a handful of seconds, staring up at the sky and listening to him pace tirelessly along the opposite bank. Trying to come up with a plan to follow her, no doubt. He was persistent, she'd give him that.
She propped herself up on her elbow and her hazel eyes met blue across the murky river, narrowing into little half-moons as she smirked. It seemed to have the desired effect; his mandibles practically caved in and his eyes looked ready to pop out of his skull. She couldn't help but laugh as she got to her feet. "I'll be fine," she assured for what felt like the hundredth time that day.
And before he could get a word in edgewise, off she went. The woman of his dreams, trampling through a mysterious jungle on a mysterious planet, clad in only lacy underwear, soaking wet, telling him not to worry…
His chest heaved with a defeated sigh as he considered what to do next. He could go back to the ship, and possibly send someone out looking for her… especially if she didn't turn up by nightfall. Or he could wait for her right there, next to the clothing he was sure she would eventually come back for. The choice seemed obvious to him, and he eased himself down onto the ground and attempted to position himself comfortably in his cumbersome armor.
He turned his head up towards the sky and admired the view he had of the planets above, thinking that perhaps, if they had to crash-land anywhere, this place may not be so bad. And if they had to spend an undetermined amount of time here while the Normandy was being repaired, maybe that wouldn't be so terrible. At least it wasn't Tuchanka.
He shifted around a bit and pulled his gun into his lap, prepared to wait there all night if he had to. He'd been at the side of at least one of the Shepards for the past three years, running from gunfight to gunfight, even venturing into a quarantine zone littered with dead turians. Sitting in the shade of a tree beside a river in the middle of a lush forest waiting for Lillian to act her age, well… He didn't have many complaints about this particular task.
Thinking back to the first time he met Lillian Shepard, he couldn't help but smile. She'd been curt, and blunt, and completely uninterested in him just as she was now, and he'd found her oddly appealing regardless.
He was in the middle of appealing to Executor Pallin for a time extension to further investigate Saren when a trio of humans sauntered up the chamber steps, all outfitted in Alliance-issued gear. They approached the two turians just in time for Pallin to reject his request and quickly depart.
With a bitter sigh, he turned to introduce himself and was promptly interrupted by the dark-haired woman in front who he recognized to be Commander Shepard, Admiral Shepard's younger sibling.
"Commander Shepard. Officer Vaka-."
"You're investigating Saren?"
The blunt manner of her question did little to offend him, but rather intrigued him, and he flexed his mandibles. "I was," he answered shortly, crossing his arms.
She mimicked him by crossing her arms as well and shifted her weight to one side, raising an expectant brow at him from underneath her jagged bangs. "You were? Why aren't you now?"
"Saren's a Spectre. Most of his activities are classified. I couldn't find anything solid." He shook his head and looked to the side, choosing his words carefully. "But I know he's up to something. Like you humans say, I can feel it in my gut."
He looked back at her then, blinking up at him with large, multicolored eyes. He didn't know of any turians with a human fetish, and he certainly wasn't one, but he couldn't deny that there was an element of attractiveness to her. She didn't take the same care as other human females he'd encountered to fashion her hair neatly atop her head, like the female soldier behind her. Rather, her hair fell around her face in varying lengths, completely untamed and boyish. Though her posture was rigid, her shoulders squared, and her expression hard, she still looked… soft. Her pale skin was punctuated by tiny freckles, and her lips were… scowling at him.
Afraid that she'd caught him staring, he cleared his throat and diverted his gaze guiltily.
The human male behind her spoke up. "I think the Council is ready for us, Commander." Judging by the look on his face, Shepard wasn't the only one to catch Garrus staring, and he appeared to appreciate it even less than she did. Garrus briefly wondered if perhaps the two were involved romantically…
The Commander nodded in agreement and marched past the turian, ignoring him when he wished her luck. He watched her lead her team up the rest of the stairs to meet with the council, admiring the subtle way her hips swayed when she moved, unlike a turian female. The encounter left him with a strange feeling, and he turned to leave only once she was out of view.
Since joining up with the Shepards, he'd had plenty of chances to watch those hips in action, and he felt flush just thinking about them. Though it wasn't her appearance that cemented his feelings for her, it was her impossibly strong personality. Confident at her best and bratty at her worst, she was a fearless machine at one point in time. And even though the Omega-4 relay had sucked some of that fearlessness out of her, Garrus knew it wasn't gone completely; the same fire that had driven her to hunt down Saren and the Collectors was the same fire that had just driven her to run into the woods practically nude.
How could he possibly stay angry with her when he thought about like that?
A/N:
Oh my gosh, I can't even believe I'm posting this chapter right now. I have no idea how I feel about it, I just know that if I spend any more time staring at it, I'm going to punch my laptop.
I'm sorry if this update seems wicked delayed. Life's been extremely crazy for a while, and I went through a Game of Thrones phase that totally tore me away from Mass Effect for a bit, and I'm in the process of moving and working a jillion hours and... ugh. SO I'm sorry if any of you have been worrying that I've abandoned this story.
I definitely have not and will not abandon it, but updates might be slow for a while. I've gotten a good start on chapter 5 already, but I'm not making any promises for when it'll be published. xD
ANYWAY. Thank you mucho, mucho, mucho for reading, and I hope you enjoy this update at least more than I enjoyed writing it! ;)