This one goes out to the krogan whose Graal spike thrower I did not return.
Mass Effect belongs to Bioware.
"Tell me about Garrus."
The asari nodded, slowly. Shepard rounded the couch and sat across from Liara, who seemed preoccupied with figuring out how exactly to begin. "Well, he's a Spectre now. He left and joined two years ago, he said it was something he had to do."
"A Spectre, huh?" She couldn't help but smile at the thought. It had been what he had always wanted, that it accounted for his absence was secondary, what mattered was that they'd have something else to celebrate when they reunited. She would have to make up for lost time, of course, preferably in his quarters since Kaidan was occupying hers at the moment aboard the Normandy. Not to mention she'd missed his ceremony, maybe she would have to make that up to him too, possibly at once.
Liara continued, "He's been largely successful; his name sometimes passes my feeds, it appears that he is quite skilled with high-risk missions."
"I'd be disappointed if he wasn't," Shepard remarked smugly.
"Yes, he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders; he has a very important position in the hierarchy, perhaps one day he will be asked to be Primarch."
Shepard furrowed her brow, finding it difficult to envision Garrus settling for a life of political restraints and bureaucracy. He was more suited to jumping out of shuttles, guns blazing and adrenaline pumping, ready to face whatever was lurking on the other end.
"Sounds…honorable." Shepard managed.
Liara gave a slight, half-hearted nod, the gravity in her eyes palpable, "There's one more thing you should know."
Of course. Why keep such basic information hidden from her unless it came coupled with something she wouldn't want to hear. It was suddenly too quiet in the room, and something she recognized as dread settled against her chest, but she pushed the feeling away and asked, "What is it?"
Liara wouldn't look at her when she said it. "He moved on," her voice lowered, "he is with someone else now. I am sorry, Shepard."
"What are you saying?" Shepard demanded, trying to grasp the concept of Garrus leaving her like this. No, it couldn't be—this was Garrus, there was no one else in the galaxy that she trusted more to stay at her side.
The mention of someone else almost hurt worse than the thought of him leaving.
Liara sat beside her, taking Shepard's shaking hand in hers. How else could she say it? There had been no easier way to put it. No way to truly relieve the hurt that was fading into her features.
"Things change, Shepard," Liara explained, keeping her voice strategically calm as the woman left her side to stand near the window. She wasn't contemplating this time; there was grief in her eyes, poignant despite the way her body seemed to withdraw from the room, arms folded across her chest.
"So I've noticed," was her curt reply.
Liara leaned back against the couch with her hands clasped across her stomach. She thought back to those moments when she had visited the hospital room, finding him beside her like a faithful shadow. If seeing Shepard like that had been hard on her, she couldn't fathom what it must have felt for him, who never left her for longer than absolutely necessary.
"He never left your side, Shepard, even if the rest of us did one way or another," she recounted, "we each had our duties but Garrus…he had you, the woman he loved."
Liara went on, "It was killing him, Shepard, to see you like that. He wouldn't admit it, but it tore him apart seeing you so far gone. Commander Shepard, war hero, wasting away in a hospital bed while the whole world waited with bated breath." She gave a long, drawn-out sigh, "He broke down after three years and asked that they disconnect you."
Shepard turned to her, stunned.
"I agreed with him," she confessed. "We did, in fact. But then you started breathing on your own, still fighting after three years, there was nothing else we could do but wait and see. He left after that. I understood his reasons, we all did."
Shepard's arms dropped to her side, "I need to see him," she said urgently.
"Of course," Liara joined her by the window. Red clouds bloomed over the horizon, the setting sun casting its last rays over the city. It was almost difficult to fathom that there had ever been a time when they thought they wouldn't be alive to see such a sight. She wrapped an arm around Shepard's shoulders, "I am sure he is just as anxious to see you."
She drooped her shoulders. "What's stopping him?" she asked, though by now she could think of a few good reasons.
"Work," Liara said, skillfully avoiding the subject, "and perhaps he is waiting for the right time."
That night, sleep avoided her. There was too much on her mind, about Garrus and whoever the hell he was with he now-she hadn't bothered asking, didn't know what she would do with knowing. She turned over in bed, stifling a complaint; her legs ached, like she'd been running for miles. She was in such terrible shape it was pitiful, Joker could probably wipe the floor with her in hand to hand.
Liara's voice interrupted the mess of thoughts running through her head, "Feeling alright?"
Shepard turned her head. In the dim light she could see the asari sitting up in the bed adjacent to hers.
"Fine," she mumbled, "just…a lot on my mind."
Liara shifted in her bed, "The doctor prescribed you some medicine, for pain and in case you were having trouble sleeping."
"How thoughtful," she was about to decline but decided forced sleep was better than staying up thinking about her—what was he now? Her ex? No, that would imply they had both consented to breaking it off. She groaned, "Just…put me out of my misery. Maybe even for good."
Within minutes the medicine began to have effect, dulling her senses and plunging her into a dead sleep.