Later in his quarters, Garrus tried in vain to focus on finishing the gun calibrations. He kept picturing her in her doorway, feeling her skin, seeing her look down and blush when he talked to her. She'd done that before, he never realized what it was. Looking back, it made him wonder if Shepard might actually have some romantic feelings for him. And what about his feelings? He felt excitement and trepidation that he was actually turned on by her. It was ludicrous, right? He, a Turian, she a human and his Commander, his best friend. He gave up on the same computations he'd been working on the past half hour and sat down on his cot. He thought back to their time together, their friendship. He remembered her reaction when he almost died on Omega, how she'd stayed by his side in medbay as he recuperated. Moreover, he remembered Dr. Chakwas' reaction, looking sweetly at how Shepard doted on him. Was there something going on all this time that he never saw?

Her death two years ago had torn him up. Pushing his feelings aside, he'd only been able to deal with them by trying to emulate her in some way, try to incorporate her ambition, her leadership, her sense of justice into his own self, living for her. Finding out she was alive had been a miracle, no other word for it. Since then he'd felt more protective of her, closer to her. Even though he'd joked with her about being his girlfriend all this time, he never did that with anyone else. Was there something under the surface he'd never been brave enough to acknowledge before? Suddenly considering it for the first time, he tried to imagine them together romantically. Could they? He shrugged his shoulders involuntarily, other interspecies couples were out there. Why not them? She was everything and more he could possibly want in a bondmate. It struck him how obvious that was to him, once he stopped thinking about her as a human, and just thought about her for who she was. He shook his head, all this speculation could be for nothing if he was misinterpreting her actions.

Well, he wasn't a human after all. Trying to read human body language and facial expressions wasn't exactly his strong suit, especially regarding romantic intentions. He stood up and started pacing around his quarters. Maybe he should ask Tali. They were pretty good friends. Suddenly he stopped and remembered Shepard's comment about her the other day, 'You guys seem to be pretty close,' she'd asked, and hadn't looked happy about it. Was she jealous? Jealous of him and Tali? There was never anything but friendship between them, he thought of her as a little sister, but Shepard had mentioned more than once how they had 2 years of time together that she didn't have with him.

He needed to get an opinion. He didn't want to embarrass Shepard any further if he was completely off base. He couldn't go by Kasumi's opinions. She liked to spread gossip and poke fun at the crew. Garrus made his way to the cockpit.

Joker turned around, "Hey big guy, didn't think you'd be up here so late. What's up?"

Garrus sat on the arm of the opposite chair, "I need to get your opinion on something, on someone, more specifically."

Joker was intrigued by his discomfort. "Okay, shoot."

Garrus looked up at the ceiling. "I – oh, wait, can we talk in private?"

"Yea, sure, sure." Joker turned around and hit a few buttons, shutting EDI out of the cockpit. He grinned, "She doesn't know I know how to do that." He gave Garrus his full attention, sensing the seriousness of his demeanor. "Go ahead, what's bothering you?"

Garrus looked down, "Alright, this is strictly between us."

"Okay, you have my word."

Garrus looked up at him, "Do you think that Shepard is interested in me?"

"What?"

"You know, romantically, like a boyfriend."

"Uh, I know what you're asking, I'm just surprised. I didn't expect you to say that." Joker saw the pained look on his face and resisted the temptation to make a joke. "Well, I'm not sure, I've never really thought about it. I don't see why not, though. She likes you a lot, she takes you on practically every mission."

"Yea, but I don't know if I'm misreading her."

"Well, what are the signs you think she's giving you?"

Garrus told him what he'd been noticing, and as he talked, he realized how little it was. "I guess maybe I'm making a lot out of nothing."

"Not necessarily. More often than not, it's a feeling you get, a vibe. It's hard to put that in words." He looked at Garrus, touched by how he was struggling with his feelings for Shepard, trying to sort out how she felt. The sensitive side of Garrus was one Joker hadn't seen much before. It said a lot that he trusted him to come ask him for his opinion, and Joker wanted to help him.

"How do you feel about her?"

Garrus sighed and rubbed his forehead, "I'm not sure, I feel different suddenly. I, I feel like I want more from her, and that surprises me."

"Because she's human?"

"To be honest, yes."

"There are other Turian / human couples out there. It's not such a big deal anymore."

"I know. I've never been with a human before. I don't think she's been with a Turian before either. It's just – you know, you're best friends with someone, and then you start to see them differently, and it's like you can't go back. I don't know."

Joker nodded, "And you think she's feeling this way about you?"

"Yea, I kind of do. Oh – and another thing, she got mad at me for calling her my girlfriend last night. She was really pissed about it."

Joker frowned, "That doesn't make sense."

"Yea it does, you know I do that as a joke, and she told me to quit it, and when I told her I was only joking she said something weird, what was it?" Garrus struggled to remember what she said in the elevator last night, "She said 'I know it's a joke, and that's the problem.' She looked really hurt like she was going to cry."

Joker snapped his fingers, "Of course, like you were making fun of her feelings. That fits." He looked up at Garrus, "Look, the only way to know for sure is to talk to her about it, find a way to figure out how she feels."

"Can't you just ask her for me?" Garrus asked.

Joker shook his head vigorously, "Oh no, that's a bad idea. You've got to do this yourself."

Garrus was frustrated, "I don't know what to do, I don't want to ruin our friendship if I'm wrong."

"She cares about you, loves you, as a friend, maybe more, whatever. She's not going to be offended if you are honest with her. You have to figure out what you want first, though."

Garrus slowly nodded his head. "You're right. Thanks. I appreciate your insight and advice." He got up and patted him on the shoulder.

"Think it over. You'll know what to do. And I'm here if you need me. I'll be turning in soon, but we can talk more about it tomorrow if you want to."

Garrus nodded and left the cockpit, going back down to his quarters. He mulled it over some more, then looked up some information on the internet on human – Turian relationships. Feeling a bit more confident about it, he finally turned in.

"Garrus, you're not up yet?" Shepard was standing in his doorway this time, looking critically at him.

Garrus shot up out of bed and blearily looked at her as she put her hand on her hip, grinning at him.

"Spirits, Jane. I overslept."

She laughed, "No problem, we seem to be taking turns at that. We'll be arriving at Tuchanka in about 2 hours," she pointed at his console, "Those calibrations take more time last night?"

He rubbed his eyes and walked towards her, "No, it wasn't that. I was just up thinking."

"Oh," she said. She took a deep breath. He was standing very near her in his underwear only. Looked closely like human boxer shorts. She forced herself to keep her eyes on his face.

"You're doing it," Garrus said, a smile forming on the corner of his mouth.

"Doing what?"

"Blushing. I know what it is now," he pointed at her face, "when it gets red."

Trying to act casual, she crossed her arms, "I've never seen a Turian in his underwear before, that's all."

He took a step closer to her and lowered his voice, "Like what you see, Jane?"

Her eyes got wide and she felt her face get hotter, "Maybe."

He nodded, then backed up, "Well, I'd better get ready. We've got a long day ahead of us."

"Right." She turned and walked out of his quarters, stopping just outside of the door, stunned at the way the conversation had gone. He didn't seem like he was joking that time. She could feel the physical tension between them. She realized she was still standing outside his door, and collected herself, walking back down through the mess hall.

In his quarters, Garrus smiled to himself. Her reaction had pretty much told him that she was interested, at least enough to encourage him.