Garrus had done his best to look natural after leaving the apartment. He'd checked her pulse before he left, just to make sure. Still alive. He took the longest path to the ship. He needed to walk it off.
"Just walk it off." He told himself. "She'll be fine. Won't even care. She's the one who took a turian home. Still, he shouldn't have..." He pushed the thoughts and images way. He needed to think about something else. He ran into something and knocked it to the floor. Returning to reality he saw he'd knocked someone down. Ran right into them.
"I'm sorry." He helped the human female to her feet. She wore pink and white armor. "I was thinking about something and I... I'm sorry."
"Vakarian?" the woman seemed to recognize him.
"Yes, who are... Ashley Williams." He clinched his jaw. "You turned your back on Shepard."
Ashley looked a little worried. She took a few steps back before she responded.
"She was working for Cerberus. What did you expect me to do? You saw what they did. Why did you follow her?"
"I followed her because I'm loyal to my friends, Williams. She was using Cerberus to help people. She turned on Cerberus. She always planed to. She took out the Collector base. Williams. The Collectors! She went through the Omega-4 relay, and brought us all back alive. Today she gave the Council proof the Reapers exist. What's you're excuse now, Williams?" Garrus seethed at her. "What can you say for yourself betraying the Commander?"
"Garrus, I..." She was cut off with a bump to the shoulder as the turian walked passed her. He didn't care what her reasons were. Just like Sedonis, only her betrayal hadn't cost them their lives. He made his way back to the ship and holed up in the forward battery. He had to get out of this rut he was in or he was going to loose it.
A few hours later everyone was on board the Normandy. Shepard picked a destination from the galaxy map and went to meet Thane on the port observation deck. She decided to stop by and see Garrus on her way. He seemed to wonder off on his own a lot lately, and it was bothering her. Something was wrong.
The doors slid open behind him. Garrus didn't turn around. He knew it was her. He could smell her.
"Shepard. Do you need me for something?"
"Have a few?"
"Yeah. Sure." He turned to look at her, leaning against the console and crossing his arms. He gave her a his best turian smile. "I was bored anyway."
"Really, 'cause I can find some 'stuff' for you to do. By the way, Anderson says 'hi'. He asked about you when he met us on the Presidium."
"Nice to know the old man still cares."
"So, what's goin'on?" She crossed her arms and leaned back on one leg.
"Well, I've been recalibrating the Normandy's guns..." He gestured to the armaments below.
"That's not what I mean. You've been acting strange lately. Tell me what's wrong." She looked concerned.
"Shepard, I've know you a long time. I consider you my friend. If there's something bothering me, you're the first to know." He was lieing through his teeth. He hoped she didn't notice.
Shepard studied him for a second. Then a sly grin spread over her face.
"You've met a girl and you don't want to tell me! Afraid I'll get jealous?" She laughed. "Or were you just running off to get laid? I bet you made an appointment with her! You went to see the consort, didn't you?"
"I did see an asari today..." Garrus trailed off leaving it to her imagination.
"Garrus, you sly dog. I didn't think she was your type." She was smiling at him. "Well, I'm glad you worked off some tension. I don't know how much longer I was going to be able to keep Mordin from trying to sedate you." She was teasing, of corse.
Garrus laughed. "Ok, Shepard. I should really get back to work."
"See ya latter." She walked away and down the catwalks.
He knew exactly where she was going. It's where she always went. She knew he cared about her. He knew she cared about him. She was happy. Part of loving her meant wanting her happiness. She had that with Krios. He wouldn't take that from her. Gradually these little pep talks to himself would change his mood. He stated thinking about his 'sparing partner'from his turian military days.
"So, we're in the merc killing business now?" Garrus shouted over gunfire.
"No, this is just for you!" Shepard shouted back.
"Reminds me of Omega, with a better view!"
They'd been systematically taking out every merc base they could find. Eclipse, Blood Pack, Blue Suns... Eventually they hoped to weaken them until they couldn't stand. Shepard shot a Blue Sun trying to sneak up on Thane's flank. The turian hit the ground in convulsive shutters.
"Must have hit a nerve," she thought with a smile.
Thane shot a merc popping up to fire. 'Got him right between the eyes...', Garrus would say. The the turian would snipe one coming around the corner or through a door.
"Sniped one!" He'd shout to Thane, and the drell would ignore him. Thane and Garrus were competing for the most head shots. The one with the most one shot kills at the end of the day was the 'winner.' The 'looser' got to buy the other one a drink. It wasn't so bad when Garrus won, he liked to drink. When Thane won, the drink was more of a punishment. He didn't drink, and Garrus always insisted he take at least one shot. Shepard thought it was to discourage him from winning so Garrus could drink on someone else's credit. She was partly right.