Shepard was sleeping soundly. She had not caught a wink of sleep in at least two weeks, so she fell asleep in full armor. Her mind was clouded with pleasant dreams. Dreams where Earth was still in one piece, dreams in which she was happily with Garrus.
...
The Commander stepped forward with a strange amount of easiness. Her burdens were unrealistically lifted. She was in her room, but instead of its usual blue hue, it was a strange red-orange aura. Shadows consumed parts of the walls and the soft hum of music played in the background. Everything felt slow and foggy.
Garrus stood in her room waiting for her and when their eyes met, and he watched, his jaw and mandibles clenched. There was tension. His hands shook with apprehension. Shepard stepped forward, towards him. She smiled lightly and stepped out of the shadows. Garrus's breath caught in his throat and quickly advanced on her, pulling her into a tight embrace.
But she was no longer there, and all that remained was a different entity. She was cloud of light, a luminous cluster of matter. Shepard was gone. Garrus could feel the loneliness swell in him. He staggered backwards and choked. He had always known things would come to that scenario. Shepard was a selfless individual. No one was more resilient, or giving than her. He knew that he was going to lose her, or that he already had lost her to her thoughts and worries about the war and Reapers.
He stepped forward to touch the light that remained where Shepard once stood, his talons nervously shaking. But the cloud disappeared fully. The room's shadows began to consume everything in front of him, above him and, below him until he was left with the hollow feeling of grief. Of realizing that he was going to lose Shepard one way or another.
...
Garrus woke with a start, his body shaking. He peeled out of his bed and hastily made his way to the elevator. He arrived outside of Shepard's room and without knocking as he usually did, simply pushed the access button and marched inside.
Shepard did nothing more than stir with the commotion. Garrus breathed a sigh of relief. She was still there. She was still there. She was still there. He reached a hand over and brushed several strands of hair from her face. The Commander groaned.
"Garrus, what are you doing here?"
"Just making sure you were okay, Shepard. I know that the Reapers and all of this war craziness going on frightens you." Garrus muttered in a low tone. "It's justified, you know."
Shepard sleepily shook her head. "The only thing I'm afraid of right now is losing more sleep. Goodnight, Garrus."
Garrus allowed a ghost of a smile to appear on his face, but as he turned away it turned to a grim look of dread. He wished that his fears were only lack of sleep. They extended far beyond that. He needed Shepard to keep going for his own sake, and to make sure that she had the ability to keep on living, to keep on dreaming, and to keep on sleeping.
As long as she was always there to wake up for him.