Chapter 2: Smartass Nurse

Days had passed since Garrus made any rounds to Doctor Michel's clinic, and the human he had encountered just outside of the doctor's clinic during that last time claimed to be a friend of hers. A former colleague, he'd said when the turian questioned him. Yet, there was something about the man that rubbed Garrus the wrong way. So he had decided to wait and watch the man from afar, feeling something was amiss.

Soon enough, Doctor Michel came out to greet the other human. Working with so many humans and even having dealt with so many human perps during his career had its advantages: they were generally weaker than most turians and krogan and always more willing to share information. But for all the time he'd spent with humans, Garrus still had trouble discerning the species' body language if it wasn't obvious or basic.

Luckily for him, the doctor seemed to be very evidently uncomfortable, and as he neared his targets, looked to be almost on the verge of tears. "Doctor Michel," Garrus voiced once he was behind the man, "is everything alright?"

"You again. Everything's fine, turian, now leave. We're trying to have a private conversation." A rather odd thing to have in the middle of a busy sector.

"It's Officer," Garrus corrected him, "and I didn't ask you. Doctor?"

The redhead didn't hesitate. "Everything is fine, thank you, I was just about to 'ave lunch with a friend." Garrus tensed his mandible, knowing full well the doctor understood alien cues better than almost any human he knew. He was showing her he didn't believe her. But without much else to go on, he let her go. That had been nearly five days ago.

He shouldn't have taken so long to check in on the doctor after that small encounter but with a new assignment from the higher-ups and a promotion in line, time flew from his grasp.

Had the sector been less crowded, he would have allowed himself a smile when he saw that the doctor's clinic was still open after his last visit. It wasn't often that doctors or people with businesses in the Upper Wards went 'missing' but it did happen now and then, and that would have been a nasty surprise all around.

He entered through the front as he brought up his omni-tool, a sign that many falsely took as if he was about to record and question someone. As soon as the doors shut behind, his omni-tool faded back into its nest.

A quick scan revealed nothing out of the ordinary, save that in place of the doctor was that human nurse of hers that he'd met some weeks ago.

He could see another human, female, talking to her, so he went around the partition to wait for her to be freed. "Thank you so much, my bondmate will be happy to learn it wasn't anything she did." The patient finally took her leave, but when she spotted Garrus, her face took on a pink tinge. "Oh! Excuse me," she said quickly as she exited.

Garrus waited for the nurse to finish cleaning the area, herself, and punching whatever information on a datapad when she took a seat. After a while, he was surprised she hadn't taken notice of him. Humans. She should have keener senses. What if he was up to no good? What then? It would be too late by the time she noticed.

"May I help you?" she asked dryly without taking her eyes off the datapad.

The turian cleared his throat as he walked up to the nurse's small desk. "Is Doctor Michel here?"

"No, you just missed her." With a metal clank, she set the hardfile down and looked up at him in one motion. "Why? Have any more poor souls that need to be tended for police brutality?"

The question took Garrus aback; as far as he knew, human females weren't so… so bold. "No, unfortunately." His mandibles would have flared in a boyish, proud smirk of sorts had the other person caught on to his sarcasm, but her glare gave away that his joke went right over her. Too bad; for the most part, a lot of humans seemed to appreciate his sense of humor, at least more so than most other turians. "I meant to say I haven't had the need to. And that poor soul you're talking about has been involved with slavers and redsand dealers; I wouldn't feel too sorry for him." Maybe the man wasn't closely involved with the big guys, but she didn't need to know that. He wasn't going to bare his teeth in a grin as a show of victory, but he crossed his arms expecting the human to concede.

Except her gaze was steady and unalarmed, like she imagined herself in the right. Typical stubborn human. "If he's guilty of all of that, then why didn't you take him in?"

"Because there is always bigger, more dangerous pray to hunt, and if a little mouse can lead me to it if I spare his life, then that's worth it."

"I hope that isn't standard C-Sec policy." She held his stare for a moment like she was judging him before returning her attention to the formerly discarded datapad. "Doctor Michel isn't in and won't be back for at least half an hour. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"A few days ago there was a male here, human. Paying the doctor a friendly visit not a medical one. He took the doctor out to lunch. Has he been back?"

She raised a brow at him and the corners of her mouth curled up in what he could only guess was a mischievous fashion. "It is not my place to discuss the doctor's private life."

"You do know I'm a C-Sec Officer, right?" This reminder usually managed to get most people to spill out answers.

"And if this was an actual investigation, I would be required to comply." She pressed her lips in a tight smile that looked unnatural on her plump mouth and Garrus was really not sure whether she was trying to joke or not. "As it is," the nurse went on, "this is not an actual investigation and I'm not very familiar with the doctor's private life." No. Not joking. And to make it worse, what she'd said was right. "Anything else I can help you with?" she asked as she resumed her task.

His mandibles widened into an unconscious smile; Garrus was amused, to say the least. He was used to xenophones and idiots giving him a hard time and this girl seemed like neither, but what was that human expression Baily was always using? Can't judge the cover on a book... A book by its cover… the pages… Something like that. He'd gotten the gist of it.

He was also annoyed; he usually could figure someone out very easily. Not her. "No, that's all, Miss…"

She looked up again and now he could see dark circles under her eyes- she didn't seem this tired last time he saw her but the marks were familiar to him. He'd seen them on Doctor Michel's eyes, Baily's and on a few other of his fellow officers when they were dead tired. His own pair flickered to her neck unintentionally, and once there, they followed a chain with dog tags hanging off it. The kind the human military wore. "Shepard," she said at last, her rigid tone bringing his eyes back to her face like a magnet.

"Are you Alliance?" he asked, more out of curiosity than any relevant thoughts.

"No. But my parents are, as are Doctor Michel's, and as was my brother." For a second, her hand flitted to the dog tags she was wearing, then left them as quickly as it had gotten there. Despite the sadness implied in her response, Garrus could tell her answer was a bit of a warning. He was by no means an expert when it came to humans, but he could easily spot defensiveness across any species. He would be no good to C-Sec if he couldn't.

Before he could say anything to her, however, his omni-tool pinged. It was a call from Pallin that he couldn't miss. Feeling a bit rushed and at a loss for words, he simply nodded and bid her a good day.