Chapter 11: a little TLC
Garrus stormed through to the cockpit and conveniently Tali was there, once again examining EDI's ground unit, Joker was looking up extranet articles, they looked like diagnostics or something.
"Tali, I found these, any clue what they are?" Garrus thrust his hands toward her.
"How the?" she snatched the tiny chip excitedly and didn't excuse herself.
"Dornak. Found him about to dump them in some salvage store for creds"
"This is a good find Garrus, I think…THINK this is EDI's back up" she rotated the chip repeatedly, Joker perked.
"Seriously?!" he became excited.
"Yes…although it looks a lil fried…" She tried to look closer.
"I'm sorry guys, can I leave this one with you? I've left Shepard for a little longer than I wanted"
"Sure sure" Tali waved Garrus off, deeply into examining the new pieces in her hands.
Garrus finally made his way back to Shepard's cabin; Chakwas had managed to get her up there mostly for comfort, and the hiss of the doors - just knowing she was behind them made him feel comfortable… Only she wasn't
"The hell…?" he began walking down the steps to examine the now empty bed, He heard water and looked the side. "She can't be for real" he walked to the bathroom door and the door automatically hissed open, he found her doubled over in what seemed like pain, holding her arm out of the way of the stream of water. "Amy!" he called concerned.
"I know, I KNOW" Shepard winced aggravated. Garrus got a towel and began wrapping it around her, paying extra attention to her wound on her torso. "I just wanted to be clean, I'm still covered in blood, and I stink…I STINK" she sounded frustrated.
"You're also beat up and need rest, if you move too much you'll open these wounds again, I think being stinky outweighs the cons of these getting infected don't you agree?" Garrus offered a hand out to her.
"I guess" she almost pouted taking his hand and hobbling towards her bed.
"I got chocolates" Garrus grinned, he was more excited to eat them himself. Shepard smiled.
"You shouldn't have" she flirted
"You commanded me too!" he became confused
"Oh yeah…" Shepard sheepishly grinned, she climbed into her bed carefully as Garrus tucked her in and opened the posh like wrapping from chocolates for her, she popped one into her mouth and began making sounds Garrus had heard before…but not over food.
"I guess that means they're good" he paused from eating his own chocolate fascinated by the sounds that Shepard began to produce.
"mmm" she began to nod and wipe the sticky centre that had dropped onto her lip off, Garrus' eyes danced as he watched her suck it from her finger like a dreamy advert girl…albeit a beaten one. "So so good" she huskily continued closing her eyes, delving in for another and mmm-ing and ahh-ing some more. Garrus shook his head to shake away any thoughts he was beginning to get - now's not the time to get excited - he cleared his throat and shifted the quilt over himself. Soon the image faded as Shepard turned to him with chocolaty sticky spit connecting to her lips and teeth as she asked,
"Where were these from?!" she asked like an excited schoolchild.
"Oh just in the town" he waved off "Nice though huh?" Shepard nodded in agreement. "Now all we need is ambiance and a movie" he grinned.
"Oh…What movie?" Shepard wasn't a keen movie buff.
"Fleet and Flotilla" Garrus began "I thought some romantic movie might be nice"
"Yay" Shepard attempted to feign some kind of excitement, only she had already endured part of it with Tali, but for Garrus she'd do anything once. Garrus offered his arm to wrap around Shepard and she obliged. 30 minutes into the movie Shepard felt her eyelids slightly drop and shook her head, Garrus noticed.
"So…Did you hear from your mother?" her head shot up.
"Yeah, she called me from Anderson's - Our apartment the day of the party" she replied.
"Oh, you didn't say" Garrus frowned, although he felt bad he hadn't asked until now.
"It's OK, it slipped my mind to be honest, and last I heard she was working on the crucible"
"Maybe you should ask Hackett about her" Garrus replied as he touched her face "I'm glad you got to hear from her though, I know the pain you had gone through not knowing if she was safe"
"Yeah" Shepard huskily replied back. "She was just. The best. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be who I am today." She began to lament.
"Oh? Well, why don't we talk about her?" Garrus was keen to hear about her and knew it was time for Shepard to just talk about something other than war. She laughed to herself.
"Where do I begin?" she smiled appreciating what Garrus was doing.
"From the start preferably" Garrus laughed with her.
"That'd take forever but I'll do my best" she smiled. She shifted down into the bed somewhat and wriggled her feet not knowing if she was nervous about the subject, but she began anyway. "Well as you know I literally grew up on ships, my mother was and is Alliance until she dies"
"Same as her daughter then" Garrus cocked his head jokingly.
"I learned from the best" Shepard sighed "She was just the best, even though she never had much downtime, she made the most of it. Those memories I have I treasure. Going down on planets, looking at new and random things, running about, collecting various objects"
"You almost sound like Liara and Benezia" Garrus laughed.
"I guess we kinda were. But I wasn't a boffin like Liara" she grinned. "She's headstrong don't get me wrong. but knows how to be carefree too. Most Asari are all about the knowledge and work...or dancing" she hunched forward as she laughed her stomach hurting slightly with the muscle movement involved in doing so.
"And your father?" Garrus asked, she hadn't even mentioned him.
"Wasn't there." Shepard was cold with her answer, Garrus assumed the worst. "No he isn't dead, well, I don't think he is. Neither do I care." Garrus stared not knowing how to even begin. "He was part of a science team on one of the ships my mother was assigned to, things happened, she thought he loved her…Until she fell pregnant with me."
"Do you mean he left your mother whilst pregnant?" Garrus didn't like the sound of that.
"Not exactly, he stuck it out for some time, but things weren't right. I was born, and my Mother dove in head first to care for me, she didn't get that from him. Work came first, and there was reason for that." She folded her arms. "He never wanted me" Garrus felt sad, awkward but he could see this had an effect on Shepard, he placed a hand on hers. "It's ok" she began "It's in the past…just a sore part of it."
"I can imagine" Garrus squinted his eyes emphatically.
"But I never needed him, I had everyone I loved and love around me. Mother had a great friend who I'd probably say was like a father to me when I was younger" she smiled "They became great friends although it took a while…the ship was a mix of Humans and Turians to improve relations after the first contact war was over. It was rough going" she nodded.
"Really? They did that?" Garrus sounded shocked.
"Oh yeah, it worked out really well a few months later. But in the beginning it was horrid, I recall one Turian beating me over the head as I was 'in the way'" She chuckled "He didn't realise Humans and biotic powers were coming along nicely though, the slam my mother pulled on him was immense" Garrus snorted "and it was then she made great friends with this Turian, Caeren. I remember him kneeling down to me, asking me if I was ok and helping me up" Garrus was intrigued. "And my mother warmed to him, it was like within weeks he never left my mother's side. If I couldn't go to her, Caeren was who I turned to."
"So, I guess that explains the attraction to Turians" Garrus laughed.
"What? That has nothing to do with it!" Shepard spat.
"Oh c'mon" Garrus bickered. "Anyway it seems evident that your mother and Caeren were more than friends."
"How did you even come to that conclusion?" Shepard frowned.
"She trusted him after he helped the person she loved most? He was around and cared for you alongside your mother, you claim he was practically a father figure?"
"No, they never were together, they never told me they were" Shepard looked away pouting.
"Well maybe there was a reason for that. You don't know, but I think there was more to it" He leant back into his pillow and took another chocolate. "So was she the reason you enlisted?" he tried to bring the subject away from an argument.
"Yeah, I wanted to help…fight the good fight" her fingers hovered over another chocolate. "Anyway you can't say 'They were more than friends' after a 5 minute conversation" she picked a strawberry one and looked upon it like it were something magical.
"You should ask her" Garrus shifted "Only way you'll know the truth is from asking her"
Shepard hmm'ed, then looked at him with eyes that were comfortable, she had longed for this for some time.
"How about your parents?"
"Huh" Garrus features softened "My dad and sister are fine last I heard although my sister's leg got broken"
"Ouch" Shepard winced.
"Ouch coming from the woman whose beat up top to bottom" Garrus grinned, He looked at Shepard lovingly and got up, placing his arms either side of her, his body over hers. "Ouch coming from the woman who saved the Galaxy, who can do anything she puts her mind too…Coming from the woman I love." Shepard tried not to well up. "I was so worried…When I thought you were…were" Shepard placed a hand to his face.
"I only die once… Never again it was a crap experience" they both laughed hard.
"Seriously Amy. Because I never said it enough before. I love you"
"I love you too" Shepard replied as their lips finally met for what had seemed forever. Each second as electrifying and soft as the last.
