STORY NOTES

Kasena: "N-Noo Solana!" Wait. Wat. -goes back to read chapter four again-

Blausen: I will try to keep the creepy! -salute-

Guest: Oh. Honey. There's more of that teasing where that came from.

When Joker had returned with James, Gabby and Solana in tow, the news hadn't been good. The artifact at the spaceport had been the one and only. According to records from the central computer system, the artifact was set to be transported to Citadel space for further examination and instructions almost a year before, before the staff of the spaceport had been driven insane. Camera footage showed different reactions to the artifact; some people went practically comatose, others into a state of lethargy... and some became increasingly violent. It seemed to have a different effect based upon the psychological profile of each person that came into contact with it. Either way, the entire shipyard had been disabled in this manner, no communications were answered nor sent from Franklin, and the reports in the beginning brought up the question of whether or not the Reapers were involved. But that had already been debunked by Jane the minute that they brought that information to the conference table.

"The Reapers were destroyed nearly a year ago. How the hell would the personnel still have the indoctrination effects on them?" Jane asked warily.

The group gathered around the table was an odd one. Captain Rolten had come over to the Normandy finally; he was an elderly turian, with a face almost as scarred as Garrus'. He had a darkened brown tone with burgundy clan markings over his eyes in a vertical stripe, stretching down to his mandibles. That was where the markings became unclear; both mandibles had been so scarred that Garrus couldn't even imagine what had happened to make them that way. The only way he could picture having those kinds of scars would be if the gunship on Omega had shot him twice, once on each side of his face. There was no way this captain had that. He also wore burgundy armor that matched the colour of his markings. Garrus wasn't surprised by that though. That was why he wore blue armor himself.

Beside him on his right hand side was Solana, as was expected of his XO, and on her right hand side rested Joker. Beside him was Gabby, followed by Jane at the end of the table, Garrus beside Jane, and finally James on his right hand side. James kept a seat between him and who he now called "Scarface". That had rankled Garrus a bit, since his nickname was Scars. He had accused James of being unoriginal, but James had shrugged and tried to say that Scarface was more of an insult than Scars. Which had made Garrus question the nicknames entirely; was it just James' way of mocking people?

Captain Rolten clasped his fingers together (all six of them) and stared at Jane from across the table. "Captain Shepard... I recognize that you have more... first-hand experience with the Reapers than almost everyone in the galaxy... but let's be reasonable here. We still don't know much of anything. We didn't know much of anything about that Crucible that your asari scientist found the plans for either. We don't know whether the Crucible had a range or not. There's a small possibility that a Reaper could still exist-"

"They don't." Jane replied darkly.

Garrus had never seen Jane so angry in his life. It was as if a cyclone had clouded her face. In the two seconds that Rolten had spoken his last sentence, Jane's face had gone from pleasant and neutral to violent and dangerous. It was just another mark of the kind of trauma that Jane had gone through when she destroyed the Reapers. Garrus always had the impression that Jane knew more about what happened that day then even she let on. The way that she said the Reapers were dead, with such conviction... it was a clear giveaway. Garrus wanted to reach out a hand to her, but he wouldn't break ranking like that. Instead, he leaned over and coughed once.

"Captain... Captains, rather. Let's be reasonable here." Garrus replied quietly. His electric eyes shot up to Jane, and Jane took a breath, letting her shoulders hunch a little bit. Meanwhile, Rolten looked like his feathers had been ruffled a little too hard. Solana was quietly massaging her temples with her finger and thumb. Garrus glanced at them both and continued.

"The Reapers were creations based upon the DNA of the races that they harvested. It could very well be that remnants of a race that the Reapers harvested could still exist, and that could be where they got their method of indoctrination from."

"The Reapers were very thorough with their harvests." Rolten replied calmly.

"Actually, they weren't." Garrus quickly countered. He could see the growing look of anger on Jane's face again. "In 2183, we found a facility on Ilos that housed cyro-pods with Protheans inside; literally thousands, enough to restart a race. In fact, the only thing that killed the Protheans in that facility was their own caution; they wanted all traces of the Reapers gone before they emerged from stasis, and they waited too long. Otherwise, the Protheans probably would have survived. There were also other accounts of Protheans surviving; the Normandy crew found and worked with one of them in 2186. He was instrumental in the end of the Reaper War. Without his aide, Captain Shepard would have probably never made it to the beam in time to transport to the Crucible."

Jane's eyes glanced over Garrus. He could see it out of the corner of his eye. But he refused to look; instead he kept his gaze on Captain Rolten, who seemed to be examining Garrus carefully. Garrus kept barrelling through his monologue. "Also... if they were thorough, then they did a bad job with our cycle. We're still alive, aren't we?"

Rolten sighed calmly, and his gaze went up to Jane. "Captain, you are absolutely sure that the Reapers are non-existant."

"The Reapers had a master. I confronted that master, and it was destroyed."

Garrus' body became numb with shock. That was a piece of information that he had never been told. His eyes trailed up to Jane, who was stiff and rigid. She looked as if each word she had spoken was painful. Garrus' eyes ran over her form. He only knew what happened in the encounter between the Illusive Man, Anderson and herself... he had only seen her go up on the platform into the ceiling of the Citadel. What had happened at the top of the Citadel to her? A master?

Rolten crossed his arms. "That's information that I'm sure the Council would have liked to know."

"The information is information that until this day, only the Council knew. They did not disclose it on my request, and my prompting that it was unimportant information. I told no others..." Jane's eyes slid down to Garrus'. There was an apology in those platinum orbs. "Not even my crew."

"Well then... I'll be sure to keep it from leaving this room by my mouth." Rolten replied. "I'm curious about it, but I'll take your word for it, Captain. Now... Officer Vakarian, your theory on it being a previous race. Was that founded upon any scientific proof?"

"No." Garrus shook his head. He kept his gaze upon Jane for another moment, before he managed to wrench his eyes away to look at Rolten. "Just a gut feeling... a guess even."

"That's hardly something to go off of." Rolten chided. Garrus felt a minor annoyance buzzing in his brain... Rolten was rubbing him the wrong way. It was like trying to get past C-Sec red tape. While Garrus' patience had improved drastically over the last four years, he still couldn't stand when authorities pointlessly obstructed him from his goals. Why the hell should he even feel obligated to this guy?

Then, he realized why. It wasn't the turian captain that he was justifying his actions to. It was his underling, Garrus' sister. He glanced up at Solana's face. Solana was keeping a passive look on her face, one that didn't betray any thoughts that she may have in her head. His mandibles twitched in annoyance, pressing to his face, and she spotted it. She tilted her head in question, and Garrus' eyes narrowed. He was trying to communicate through facial expression alone that he could really use her in the conversation. He was starting to get discouraged; was she understanding what he was trying to tell her?

"Captain Rolten, aren't all hypothesis based off of a theory... a gut feeling?" Solana asked Rolten inquisitively. Garrus could've grinned. Good girl. "If it IS a race that did have the indoctrination methods, one that was hunted by the Reapers... if the race is somehow still alive, or perhaps an evolved form of the race, doesn't that present a threat to galactic security?"

Yes! Yes Solana! Garrus could hug her.

"Irregardless, anything that may be tapping into the same methods as the Reapers is something that can be considered a threat. It's within our interests, and the interest of our human allies, to investigate what the Franklin team found on 2181 Despoina." Solana's eyes slid over to Rolten. "Don't you think?"

Garrus was amazed. Within a few seconds, Solana had wrapped her words around Rolten's mind like a blanket. She would've made a damn good politician. Garrus and Jane could never measure up, no matter how charismatic Jane may have been. People loved Jane as a person, and Jane may have had a talent for leadership, but Solana could only be defined as an advisor... and a damn good one at that. The perfect XO. Unlike Garrus, who was better at providing support and being a faithful watchdog.

The old turian thought for a moment, and then he nodded. "I suppose you're right." Garrus got the impression that Rolten was a traditional and stubborn turian... the ones that you saw vids about. The old turians who croaked about how they remembered the war with those damn humans, maybe even scoffed about how they allowed the poor fleshy pyjaks to win. However, when he was presented with logic and reason, he warmed up to it.

Rolten leaned on the table. "However, it is a shame that you lost that artifact."

"You didn't want that artifact. I'm not entirely convinced that it was an incident isolated to humans, anymore. Well..." Jane paused for a moment. "At least, I wouldn't take that chance with my crew. I think it has to do with the amount of exposure, not the biological structure. Our team managed to retrieve one of the victims... a human child." Jane clasped her hands and stared at the turian across the table, while the turian stared at her.

"Then I think we both agree that the child should stay on your ship." Rolten replied. "Have you gotten any answers from it?"

Garrus felt a bit miffed. A low growl escaped from his throat, though it was hardly audible. "Rolten, he's a kid. We have to treat this carefully, otherwise he's going to be screwed up for the rest of his life."

"No, Vakarian, what you need are those answers." Rolten replied calmly. "If your crew can't get it, my specialists will be happy to do so-"

"Well then, it's a good thing that you can't speak to the boy. He has no translator. We'll get those answers, Captain, when he is ready to talk to us." Jane replied. "For now, the plans of the SSV Normandy is to go to 2181 Despoina." She looked at Solana. "We're happy to have your assistance on Franklin. You're a very capable technical specialist, Solana, and you saved Garrus' life as well as the child's."

Solana's mandibles quivered. "He's my brother, Commander Shepard. Father always taught us that family came before anything else."

Solana must have known what kind of effect those words would have on Garrus. He visibly winced. He didn't know if she said that deliberately or not... but he hadn't been the best about tending to his family for the last few years. Ever since Jane had swept him away from the dull frustration of C-Sec, and brought him aboard the original Normandy, Garrus hadn't been able to tell his family anything about his whereabouts, and hadn't been able to visit them. Granted, he probably could have... the crew of the Normandy disbanded and rejoined quite a bit over the last few years. But Garrus had spent so much time centred on his own life, he had forgotten what it was to protect family.

Garrus kept his eyes on the table as the talk continued, as the turian captain replied that they would continue to proceed to the Far Rim as previously discussed. Garrus should've known that he wouldn't have much time left with his sister... and quite frankly, it had been so many years, he wasn't sure how he fit into his family anymore.

Some of the crew of the Normandy had taken shifts to stay with Jon, talk to him, and make sure that he was okay. Mostly it had fallen to Joker, James and Samantha Traynor to keep an eye on him. Garrus knew that Jane wanted to, but she was pouring herself over her datapads, mostly trying to come up with a plan to eventually get home. So, on the way back to the main battery, Garrus decided to check in on the boy.

Joker was with him today. Him and Richards seemed to have a good arrangement; while Joker was healing up, Richards got to fly the ship. But the minute that the ship was in emergency mode, Joker got his cockpit back. There was a pot for betting on how long it took Joker to get back into his seat; Garrus was betting half a day.

Garrus walked into the med bay and over to Jon's Corner, as the bed had been dubbed. He was surprised at Jon's progress; the boy was sitting up in bed while Joker talked with him, and he was either nodding or smiling constantly. Garrus' mandibles twitched and Jon looked up.

"Garrus!" Jon exclaimed as he pointed at the turian. Garrus froze in place, while Joker turned to look at Garrus. Garrus raised his hand and gave a shy little wave, while Joker nodded.

"Hey Garrus. I was just talking with Jon."

"No, that's fine, keep doing that." Garrus looked Jon in the eyes, yet spoke to Joker. "Does he have an omni-tool yet?"

"Not yet. Sorry Garrus."

Garrus' mandibles flattened with disappointment. He had quite a few things different about him then the rest of the human crew, but it had never really bothered him until now. Sure, his food was different, the beds were uncomfortable for turian physiology, and he was now the only alien on the ship, let alone turian. But never had he been unable to speak before. It was mildly disconcerting.

"Hey... I'm sure we'll find something for him."

"Yeah, I guess." Garrus grunted.

Jon ended up saying some words to Joker and Joker looked at Garrus. "Stop frowning Garrus, you're scaring the kid."

Garrus' mandibles fell slack from his face. "Am I really?" He asked in surprise.

"Yeah. He's worried about you. Says you frown too much." Joker grinned a little. "I'd tell him that's just normal, but-"

"Hey wait... that's not normal." Garrus frowned again. "I don't frown a lot."

"Bull." Joker replied lightly. Garrus narrowed his eyes.

"Joker, count yourself lucky that you're a cripple."

"I'm touched." Joker quipped. He leaned back in the chair that he was resting in and looked at Jon, who was looking at them both with a raised eyebrow. Joker laughed. "Don't worry about it. He was just threatening to hit me." Jon looked shocked, and Garrus felt ashamed. He glared at Joker.

"I never said that!" Garrus snapped.

"You were thinkin' it." Joker replied, which got a little laugh out of Jon. Garrus was surprised by it. He glanced at Joker and blinked.

"Does he... know what I said?"

"No, but he's a real smart kid. You'd like talking to him, Garrus. Really picks up on things fast."

Garrus looked Jon in the eye, and saw Jon's amber-hued eyes staring right back. "How old is he, Joker?" Garrus asked. Joker repeated the question to Jon. But, instead of Jon replying back verbally, he looked at Garrus and held up nine fingers.

"... Nine years old?"

A confirmation from Joker. A nod from Jon.

Garrus pulled up a chair beside Jon's bed, not taking his eyes off Jon. He tried to look as friendly as he could. "Jon."

"Garrus?" Jon replied back, this time with a question in his tone.

"How did you get on that station?"

Joker repeated the question, and Garrus saw Jon grow rigid. He held out a hand to Jon's arm, and his mandibles twitched outwards. "It's okay... you can tell Joker and I, Jon. You won't have to tell anyone else if you don't want to... but Jane... you remember Jane?"

After Joker translated, Jon nodded. Garrus continued on. "Jane needs to know, Jon. I came here to ask, because Jane's busy right now. You'll only have to tell me once... I promise I'll remember."

Jon took a breath and then started speaking. Joker translated, but instead of saying that Jon was speaking, Joker chose to translate what he said directly. It took a couple of starts, as Jon was distracted by Joker speaking at the same time that he was, but eventually they got it down. "I'm a spacer kid. My dad's in the marines. Our ship was fighting Reapers out here. We've been here ever since they died. Dad wanted to stay at Franklin."

Garrus sighed quietly. "Was your dad at Franklin with the others, Jon?"

Jon spoke, and Joker looked alarmed, but shakily continued. "Yes. He was one of the first to die."

Garrus was alarmed. Jon spoke about it so calmly, so collectedly, yet his eyes looked haunted. A nine year old, who already was battle-hardened. Not even Garrus could speak of the death of a family member or friend so calmly... he couldn't imagine what kind of horror it took to make a young boy's resolve be that hardened. "Where's your mother, Jon?"

"The Reapers got her. She was stationed on Luna Base." Jon said it with incredible calm, but Joker's voice was getting shaky. Apparently Joker was as freaked out by this kid's predicament as he was. Garrus wanted to ask so many questions of Jon. What happened to his father? His mother? Did he have any other family? Then, Garrus realized... these questions wouldn't really serve a purpose. They were stranded out in the Terminus Systems, with no way of getting Jon home to any of his extended family, and to have the kid dwell in the past was stupid and pointless. Garrus looked down at his hands for a moment, and then looked back up at Jon.

"Jon... I need you to tell me... Do you know what that object was? The one I found you beside? Do you remember?"

Jon tilted his head curiously and Joker translated. "What? I don't know..." Jon paused, and so did Joker. "What happened?"

The boy didn't remember. Garrus rubbed the back of his own neck, coughing quietly. "I found you in one of the labs. You were beside an object, an orb that was... I think possessing the dockworkers. It... got you, Jon. You were talking to me, but it wasn't you. It was something else."

Jon looked disturbed. He said something, and Garrus could hear the panic in his voice. But Joker quickly soothed him without translating. "No, we don't think it's there anymore. You're okay. The object was destroyed. You'll be okay now." He reassured Jon, and then he glanced at Garrus. Garrus raised his hand; he didn't need a translation, Joker's response was enough. Jon must have thought that the voice was still there. He smiled at the boy reassuringly, and Jon seemed to grasp his meaning. Jon smiled a small smile back.

"Now, we're going to stop talking about that. How are you feeling?"

Jon replied, and Joker grinned. "He says he wants out of the bed."

Garrus laughed a little rumbling laugh, and Jon looked curious about it. Garrus nodded, raised one finger, and then looked to Chakwas, who was writing some records at her desk. "Doctor, is it alright for me to take Jon for a tour? He's getting restless, will a walk do him some good?"

"Perhaps." Chakwas mused as she tapped at the datapad in front of her. "In fact, it might be better for you to do it then most on the ship... you can carry him back if he gets too tired. Don't strain him, and don't go far." Chakwas warned. Garrus nodded and looked at Joker.

"Are you good to tag along?"

"I... really should get back up to the cockpit." Joker said apologetically. "Do you need me, or...?"

Garrus looked at Jon for a moment and shook his head. "No, I don't think so, as long as Jon's okay with it."

Joker quickly asked Jon, and Jon gave a nod. The boy started to crawl out of bed. The boy was short, even for his age, so the clothes he had been given to wear were a little baggy. His feet started to get tangled in them. Garrus chuckled and helped him get untangled, then looked at Joker.

"You may want to tell him that if he rolled up his pant legs, he'd have an easier time."

Joker translated and the boy's face lit up. "Oh ya!" Jon exclaimed. Garrus knew what that one meant, and he grinned. Jon rolled up his pant legs messily, and Garrus shook his head. It would have to do. He motioned Jon to take Garrus' arm, to which he eagerly obliged. Then, the small boy and the turian started to walk slowly from the bed, while Joker watched them both. What Garrus didn't see was Joker smile, shake his head, and look up at the ceiling.

That day had been a new experience for both Garrus and Jon. Garrus hadn't looked after a child since he and Solana were young, and Jon had never really had interactions with turians before. As Jon walked around the ship, many of the crew had stopped to ask how he was doing. Most of the time he would answer with wide, innocent eyes. Then, the crew would remark on how pleasant or polite he was, and continue on their way, giving a significant look to Garrus. It had been an odd sensation for Garrus, to learn more about someone through the eyes of others. So far, all he could tell was that Jon was a very polite and quiet young man, with a hidden maturity and intelligence. What he could tell immediately by looking at him was that he was frail. It could have been because of the interaction with the artifact, but Garrus thought that he was incredibly weak physically. Granted, again, this was his first experience with human children.

That day had a very short walk in store for the two of them. Jon and Garrus walked around the crew deck, and by the time they got back, Jon was dead tired. Yet he never gave any sign or signal that he wanted to be carried. He was a stubborn little thing. When Garrus got him back to the med bay, he helped Jon climb into bed. Jon smiled gratefully at him, and then promptly went to sleep.

They would continue that habit for several days... Garrus would always come to the med bay at the same time, no matter what he was doing at the time. He was actually enjoying helping with the little human's rehabilitation, and Jon seemed to like it too. Besides, it hadn't been the first time; Garrus had been at Jane's side the entire way through her rehabilitation, and Garrus didn't truly mind helping at all. He was always better at supporting then being supported anyway.

Solana and Rolten had kept close by for some unknown reason. Garrus had a distinct suspicion that Solana had something to do with it though. She always did have a talent of keeping people wrapped around her fingers. It was good for Garrus. While Jane disapproved of Solana's behaviour, she constantly stated that she appreciated her help. It was when she had said it repeatedly that Garrus finally called her out on it.

"Jane, you've said that. Twice." Garrus called out from underneath the guns.

Garrus was underneath one of the main guns with a repair tool and a mask on, soldering two of the pieces back together. Jane was in one of her favourite places; she was perched on a box, watching Garrus work. While normally she just came in, stayed quiet, and they both worked, she seemed extra chatty today. Garrus spotted her feet kicking in the air and couldn't help but smirk a little. She was short enough that she needed to jump up on the box, so her legs normally swung around while she was sitting there. It was endearing, in a way.

"I know... I know... I just want you to know that I do truly appreciate her." Jane commented. There was the sound of a datapad tapping and Garrus turned off the tool. He slid himself out from underneath the gun and sat up, shifting the mask to the top of his head.

"Noted." Garrus examined her for a moment. She looked to him like she wanted to say something else. She was fidgeting too much. "Is that it?"

"... No." Jane looked up from the datapad. Her platinum eyes stared at Garrus, unblinking. "I feel like I judged her too quickly... I'd like to be able to get to know her, but there's so little time before they pull out for the Far Rim."

"There will be plenty of chances." Garrus replied dismissively. He chuckled a little. "Besides. Just because she's my sister, that doesn't mean you have to automatically like her. She can be a tricky little pyjak at times, and I wonder sometimes if she has any sense of morality... definitely not like Dad, that one."

"Is she like..." Jane was about to finish the sentence, and then she drifted off. Garrus raised an eyeridge.

"Like who?"

"Well... I don't know..." She shifted quietly. "You've... never told me what your mother was like, Garrus."

Garrus paused for a moment. Mixed feelings started to well up. The loss of his mother was still pretty fresh, and it did hurt. But yet, amongst that sting, he felt a sense of warmth, as if this was the right time to have this conversation, and this was the right person to have this conversation with. He smiled a little and looked off to the side.

"She was... a very no-nonsense kind of woman." Garrus commented. "But yet, she wasn't anything like Dad. She expected her kids to behave properly, not because it was expected of them or to cohere to any mold, but because she felt it was nothing but polite. She also didn't really like talking with anyone but her immediate family. She was always reading, and barely spoke unless she had to... but Spirits could she carry on an argument if she wanted to." Garrus chuckled. "Sol and I always wondered what brought a very disciplined turian like Dad and a scholar like Mom together, but they just... seemed to work somehow."

"Which one of you two do you think is more like your mother?"

Garrus thought about it for a long moment. "Honestly... I don't think either of us were really like our parents. Sol and I always kind of... wanted to do things on our own. Mom was the one who let us- she always said that we needed to learn from our own mistakes, or we never would learn at all. Dad was always the one who tried to tell us what was expected of us." Garrus smiled and shrugged. "But... that was a very long time ago. Before I joined the military... which is coming up on almost thirty years ago." Garrus rubbed his forehead. "I never thought I'd live to say that."

"Hey. I never thought I'd live to say that I was thirty-three." Jane commented wryly.

"You barely lived to say that you were thirty." Garrus jabbed back.

"I didn't live to say I was thirty. I was meat and bones in a coma." Garrus didn't want to wrap his mind around that. He shuddered visibly. Jane seemed to pick up on that, and she hopped off her boxes. She kneeled down beside Garrus and her fingers caressed the side of his face. Garrus' mandible twitched and he looked over at her.

"You're not allowed to die again."

"I only died once." Jane commented. "It's not like I make a habit of it."

"That doesn't stop you from trying though, does it?" Garrus replied wryly.

"Oh be quiet." Jane huffed. Garrus chuckled and he gently took her hand in his. He placed his mouth on her palm and watched her blush a little. Another human trick that he picked up. Then, he actually thought for a little bit.

"Y'know... that night was horrible."

"Mmm?" Jane hummed.

"Well... the night the Normandy was destroyed. I was pushed into an escape pod with Tali and Wrex. We saw the Normandy explode, and an escape pod fly out from the blast, and we thought it was you and Joker. Tali was even cheering..."

He saw Jane lower her eyes, but he continued on anyway. "Then we got rescued by an Alliance ship... Liara was the first one to your pod... and I'll admit that I wasn't that far behind her. But we opened it up, and there was only Joker... he was curled up on the floor and shaking. I think it's the only time I've seen that guy cry. He told us what happened, how he saw your body descending and I..." He stared up at the wall.

He was recalling when Chakwas told him that he had been talking in his sleep, the day he took the missile on Omega. He honestly wondered by now why he was saying things in his sleep to make Chakwas wonder if they were romantically involved... but then he remembered.

He had been dreaming that day.

He had been dreaming about the escape pod. About Joker's tear-stained face. About his story. About how he himself had become weak at the knees. About how he felt, for some inexplicable reason, like he had lost one of the most important things in his life. He had honestly thought of Jane as a teacher-figure for so long, but that day he had felt the same as when he lost his mother... like the galaxy had deprived him of a light, and suddenly that light was gone. He thought it was mourning for a friend and a teacher... perhaps even an older sister. But really, he had felt so deprived in his heart, so malcontent, that he had spent the next two years trying to make a difference, because Jane couldn't be there to do so. Then, when Jane had come back into his life in the form of a mercenary team, he felt complete again... but at that time, he thought it was just the fact that he had seen a friend after all of the friends around him had either betrayed him or been killed.

What if it had been something more?

Well... he would never know, and it didn't really matter now. He was brought out of his thoughts by Jane guiding his face towards her own and resting her forehead tenderly against his. He wasn't used to the woman being over him rather than under him, but it was nice. It felt really nice. He closed his eyes and hummed with content.

"I can't promise you that I won't do something reckless for the team again... I never will be able to promise that." Jane stated. She smiled quietly. "But I'll promise you this... as long as you are able to keep up with me, you are more than welcome to come along to make sure I don't get killed again."

Garrus sighed and opened his eyes. Jane had wrapped her arms around his large body as protectively as she could... which wasn't all that convincing, considering her small body. But, he got the gist. He brought their foreheads apart and looked up at her.

"Not exactly the response I was looking for, Jane."

"The best I can give you, big guy." Jane giggled a little.

"Fair enough." Garrus grasped her waist and brought her down to his level. They leaned against the gun for a little while, staring at the wall, before Jane spoke again.

"So. How's Jon doing?"

"Getting a lot stronger." Garrus replied. "He's actually put on some weight, which Chakwas tells me is good. Kenneth's fitting him with an omni-tool as soon as he can get it done for him-"

"Kenneth?"

"Oh. Donelly."

"I didn't know you were on first name terms with him."

Garrus shrugged. "I'm on first name terms with almost everyone. They've always called me by my name, I don't see why it should be any different for them." He looked down at Jane, who had an odd look on her face. "What?"

"Everyone's always just called me Shepard, for some reason. Even Liara called me Shepard."

"... really?" Garrus blinked. "Well, it's probably because you're the captain... I'm just some gun nut turian that you happened to pick up."

"Some gun nut turian that I've always brought on every mission and has been with me for almost every important event for the last four years of my life." Jane replied dryly.

"I always just assumed you put me on each mission because I was the best damn shot you had."

Jane stared at him. "Hey! I'm not something to sneeze at!"

Garrus looked up at the ceiling with a fake dreamy haze. "That's still my favourite spot on the Citadel."

"I missed on purpose!"

"Keep telling yourself that, love."

"Dammit Vakarian, don't make me wipe that smug look off your face! I'll rip out your damn mandibles!"

"But I thought you liked how I moved them during fore- Plmmph!"

He didn't finish that sentence before he was met by his nearby cot pillow in his face, a nastily strong arm powering the charge. He deserved that one too. He pulled the pillow away from his face to see Jane's toothy, mischievous grin. He adjusted his now askew visor, and Jane broke out into a quiet fit of laughter.

"Laugh it up." Garrus tried to say sternly, but he couldn't help but laugh himself. It was too infectious. He sat there, staring at her for a little while, and watched her as her smile started to fade. The pondering frown that she always had when she was thinking etched onto her face, and Garrus rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Hey... credits for your thoughts?" Garrus asked.

"I... was just thinking. You told me about the escape pod... and it got me thinking."

"Oh?"

"Well... yeah... about..." She took a deep breath. "About the Crucible."

Garrus froze up. He didn't know what to say. Although he wanted to know the full story, his brain was telling him that he shouldn't ask... but she brought it up. "Jane... if you don't want to talk about it, I'm fine-"

"No... I..." She tried to smile, but Garrus could see that she was badly shaken. "I... won't say everything... not yet... but I thought about you that day."

Garrus stayed silent, while Jane collected herself. He didn't want to hear about this... Jane had her insecurities, and Garrus knew it for quite a long time... but the day the war ended, a little bit of Jane died. He wanted her to be as comfortable as possible... he even thought that this mission would've been good for her, had it all gone to plan. A nice, soft reinstatement into the military. That went horribly wrong.

"I... was sure I was going to die... I remember shooting at the Crucible to fire the destroy mechanism... and I couldn't help but think that I didn't want to see you at that bar, waiting for me, that I'd rather wait for you and watch over you." She lowered her head. "I still didn't know if you'd survive, after that Mako blew up-"

"Jane." Garrus rested his forehead on hers once again, and she grew quiet. He looked into her eyes this time. "Listen to me. It's... okay. You can tell me when you're ready."

"Captain, that turian bastard wants to talk to you." Joker's voice sounded through the speakers. There could only be one 'turian bastard' that Joker could be referring to... Captain Rolten. But Garrus was glad for the interruption. It meant that Jane would have some more work to focus on. Jane looked up at the ceiling, although it was highly likely that his voice wasn't coming from there. She seemed to have a bit of her composure back, and managed to put a small smile on her lips.

"Can I tell him to get in line?"

"Nope." Joker replied dryly.

"Damn." Jane looked back down and caressed Garrus' cheek once. Then she wriggled out of Garrus' grip around her waist and stood up, holding a hand out to him. Garrus raised an eyeridge, registering the size difference, and then took the hand, barely using it for support as he got to his feet. "C'mon. We'd better go see what Captain Hardass wants."

Garrus' brow wrinkled. "Jane, he's just a predictable turian."

"Thank God not all of them are like that, or I might be more inclined to dislike you." Jane joked wryly. She walked away, leaving a very confused Garrus to follow her. Jane had recovered so fast... or at least she looked like she did. But there was still one very clear thing; Jane had the strength to recount her story on the Citadel only once. It would be a long while before Garrus would get her to try a second time for him.

Captain Rolten and Solana were standing opposite Jane and Garrus, and it made Garrus incredibly uncomfortable. It felt like they were in peace negotiations... which was odd, because they were never in any true conflict. Also, it seemed like his own sister was on the 'other side', which was even odder for him. Joker was sitting down at the conference table between them; Joker was attending a lot more of these meetings as of late, something that Garrus found very odd. But then again, Joker had always attended these meetings, whether they wanted him to or not; everyone knew that Joker and EDI watched over the conversations on the ship and snooped. Now Joker just felt secure enough in his position to snoop while everyone knew about it. He had quads.

Rolten kept his hands behind his back. "Captain, at the counsel of the team on the Menae, I've decided that we will be at your disposal, should you wish to pursue a partnership with my vessel."

Garrus blinked, and Jane smiled. Garrus watched Jane fold her arms. "Why the change of heart, Rolten?"

Garrus watched Rolten's eyes flicker for an instant to Solana, and Garrus couldn't help but grin. Damn. She said something. 'Counsel of the team' his ass. More like Solana said something that the old turian simply couldn't ignore. Rolten straightened himself and cleared his throat. "It would be a shame for the heroes of the galaxy to suddenly fall to whatever force happens to be on Despoina. I don't think that it's in the best interest of the Hierarchy to have you die, Shepard. You seem to be the only one who can get off of their ass and get things done, pardon the informality." He looked to Garrus. "I also feel that endangering one of the former advisers to the Primarch isn't in our best interest either. We don't know when we will need the expertise of Vakarian again. He saved millions of lives on Palaven with his advice and actions, more then most of our advisers have ever done."

Garrus stared at the old captain for a moment, his thoughts spinning around an empty void. He had never truly thought of his job as the... what even was he... top Reaper authority? He never thought of it as a valuable position after the war. Maybe it was because he felt like it wasn't the place for him.. it was a position he took as a necessity. He also hadn't paid attention at the time to the lives that he saved... he had seen only the death statistics. He bowed his head bashfully.

"No... I... I only did what had to be done, Captain."

"Which goes back to my former point. You get things done. The both of you, and the rest of your crew." Rolten looked them over. Garrus thought that he seemed genuine in his words... Rolten just seemed like a very genuine and down-to-planet kind of turian. One who didn't say useless things. Rolten folded his arms and continued. "And frankly, if we are dealing with a race that was wiped out by the Reapers, as Vakarian's theory so follows, there's a good chance that the race had the same technology as the Reapers, or something very similar. They might know something about the mass relays, and how to reactivate them."

Garrus and Jane shot looks at each other. He knew that Jane was only thinking of how to stop the indoctrination effects, and about how far-spread the indoctrination went. They both hadn't even thought of utilizing some kind of technology from whatever was controlling them.

Joker inputted at this point, studying Rolten. "The activation isn't the problem. It will take time to repair all of the mass relays, and it activates the same as it always did. Velocity is the problem. After reaching FTL speed, it becomes very hard to control. It runs at a speed that only an AI could process and actually survive through. It becomes near teleportation speed. We fleshy organics can't take that kind of pressure." He glanced at everyone at the table. "We have two options; we put the speed down to organic levels, or we find something to deal with the speed. Frankly, the former's probably more likely to happen in our lifetime."

Rolten seemed surprised by this interruption, and pointed at Joker. "This is...?"

"Our top pilot on the ship."

"More like our top pilot in the Alliance. Name's Jeff Moreau. You've probably heard of me."

Rolten frowned, and shook his head.

"Wait." Joker paused. "You've never heard of Jeff 'Joker' Moreau? I'm a living legend in the Alliance, and there has been no other pilot of the Normandy. You seriously have never heard of me?"

"Excuse his arrogance, Captain." Garrus quickly inputted. He looked at Joker. "Joker, we'll discuss your claim to fame later. But no matter how much he wants to sing his praises, he is probably the best authority we have on the current state of the mass relays. You'd be able to gain valuable information from him, our engineers and our black box. If we find anything on value on Despoina, we could certainly use the help of the Engineering Corps to get us home. It would be of value for you as well. When you're done your mission on the Far Rim, you'll need a route home. If we can manage to tweak the settings-"

"Your sister and you are of the same mind, Vakarian." Rolten interrupted with a raised hand. "She has already brought these things to my attention, and I agree. We'll help you and your ship. I will personally be leaving Solana here on the Normandy, both as my representative and as an additional assistance for you. Solana's word will be my word." Rolten glanced at Solana, who was quietly smiling. Garrus smiled back at her, and then looked at Jane. Jane beckoned him with one hand, and Garrus turned his head back to the other two.

"We'll give her full access to our systems, the same as any crew member." Garrus nodded at Solana. "Sol, they could probably use your help down in Engineering between missions. I think you'll enjoy yourself more there then anywhere else on the ship."

"Probably." Solana chirped. "I'll grab my things." Solana then looked at her brother and grinned. "Who knows... maybe I can even help with the Normandy's guns."

"No." Garrus replied flatly. No way was his little sister messing with his calibrations.

CHAPTER NOTES

Sorry for the delay. I like to keep a chapter ahead. So although this chapter has been written since my last chapter was released, Citadel DLC consumed me, and made me wish I had taken this fic in a different direction. But no matter; I've come back now.

I just have some notes to say about the Citadel DLC.

Wrex was amazing. If it had only been good because of Wrex, I would've considered it a good purchase.

However, the romance scenes were amazing as well. Traynor and Garrus. 3 And James and Ashley hooking up for the night made my night.

Also, drunken Garrus is best Garrus. But he's not allowed to set up explosives in my apartment, no matter how cute he makes the disarming password, thank you very much.

Also, Javik the Trollthean.

Also, Mordin broke the first rule of Omega.

... I'll stop before I try to give away important spoilers.