A million questions had ran through Garrus' mind when the human spoke in his native tongue to him... Albeit badly. As a rule, no one had taught humans how to communicate and the translators tended to be reserved for the human leaders in an attempt to foster diplomatic relations... Which so far wasn't working.

He was dumbstruck for a moment while the human moved to lay down more fully. He was more taken aback by the fact that she had seemed to instantly trust that he wouldn't attack her again. He HAD given his word to truce, but from his experience humans were not a trusting species... But here she was, laying down, and really not paying much attention to him.

Finally, he found his words and the most imperative question bubbled forth.

"Where did you learn Turian?"

He spoke slowly since her early vocalization seemed unpracticed. She probably wouldn't understand him if he spoke to fast. She seemed to consider her answer for a moment before responding, but her response startled him more than anything – when he figured out what she had meant to say.

"I was trained by a turian. He was a friend."

He tried not to get hung up on the fact that she sounded like a child when she spoke, or that she had said trained instead of taught. Instead he focused on the words turian and Friend. He had not heard of humans and turians branching over the friendship barrier yet, especially since his people were attempting to invade their planet...

A snap decision was made then, he wasn't even really aware he had made it. He moved closer to her and attempted to look at her wounds without actually touching her – he wasn't sure she'd be alright with that just yet. He was going to need her help to get out of here and if she was already inclined to be friends with turians, he was going to take advantage of that.

Garrus had never been a fan of the war with humans, from what he had witnessed, they were unique and a varied species... He wasn't so prideful as to not befriend one – especially one who appeared to already be inclined to be friends with turians.

Shepard eyed the turian suspiciously as he moved closer to her. He raised his hands up in a defensive posture and apparently attempted to convey that he meant no harm. At this point she really was in no position to ward him off if he decided to attempt to attack her again. Besides, her side straight fucking hurt.

He seemed to be looking over her wound and she raised an eyebrow at him... She didn't count her luck to meet two friendly turians in a war time... But, his behavior reminded her of Nihlus.

As per most days in this blasted part of the country, it was raining. Most of her squad had been slaughtered in a surprise attack by a large group of turian commandos. Caught completely fucking off guard!

Shepard cursed as she trudged her way to a small cabin buried in the woods where she had fled. She had been shot in the back shoulder and she swore she could cook an omelet on blazing skin. Her military training kicked in as she approached the building, cautiously scouting around the area to see if there were any hostiles – whether they be human or otherwise...

Satisfied that there was no one else, she entered the single room dwelling. Before she could really take stock of everything in the building, she was knocked over by a large... thing... barreling through the door. She tried to jump back up, but her shoulder had had enough and she ended up flopping over and pointing her pistol at the intruder.

She was greeted by a red faced turian with white markings. She gulped as she raised her weapon and pulled the trigger... Only to find that she was out of ammo. In her desperation to save her squad, she had unloaded unnecessarily. It wasn't the first time she had lost so many, but it never got any easier. The turian chuckled at her predicament and clocked her in the head with enough force to render her unconscious.

It seemed like hours later when she awoke... Her shoulder bandaged and a fire raging in the shottily constructed fireplace. She was on a sleeping mat close enough to the fire to overheat her. She threw the blanket she was covered with off with enough force to startle the other, forgotten, inhabitant of the single room house.

The turian jumped and then chuckled... He said something to her that she of course didn't understand. It seemed patronizing. He offered her some water, which she reluctantly took. She figured that if he had meant to kill her he wouldn't have bandaged her shoulder... She kept a close eye on all of his movements, silently wondering what his intentions were for her... She figured he was like most soldiers and not given a translator so she just started to vocalize her concerns.

"What are you going to keep me alive and torture me? I don't know what good I would do you, just a every day soldier. Or maybe your one of those kinky folks who like to capture the enemy and have your way with them? Well I swear to all that is holy I will cut your dick off if I see it!"

Before she could really continue, he started full-bore laughing at her. She just sat there, stunned. He had apparently understood her... She didn't really like that... One-way communication. But, apparently the surprises were not over.

"You are a feisty one, aren't you... While I admit, you do have a supportive waist and a good amount of fight in you, sex isn't really my prerogative right now..."

Her jaw went slack as he spoke Human Common to her. She wasn't aware of any turians really being taught Common. She just sat there and stared at him dumbly before fumbling to ask what his intentions were.

"Well, I figured some small, injured human wasn't really much of a threat... and I was feeling charitable. Besides, I'm going to be stuck on your planet for a little while – might as well observe a human as closely as I can."

He tweaked his mandible in such a way that Shepard was certain he was smirking at her. Her cheeks reddened with indignation... She was not some pet he could simply observe... Before she could really start another indignant rant she felt herself sway. Fever. From her wound. Her eyes closed a bit as she tried to recollect her equilibrium.

Before she fell completely over, the turian had moved like lightening to her side and supported her down gently.

"Now don't go ruining all of my fantastic medical work by ripping those stitches in your shoulder... What's your name, female?"

Without really thinking, Shepard mumbled out her first name. The turian smiled at her, at least she thought it was a smile. She couldn't detect any malice in his eyes as hers closed... She heard him say something along the lines of "pleasure to meet you" and that his name was Nihlus before she succumbed to her fever and fell into a fitful sleep.

Nihlus helped Shepard recover. The entire time prodding her for her opinions on the war and turians... They were both surprised to find similarity in much of how they felt about everything. She believed the war was pointless and based off of an accident. Nihlus felt the same. They both felt that the other species listened too much to their superiors and not enough of their own intuitions.

The spent hours grilling each other over their pasts. Shepard learned about the council and Spectres. Nihlus learned of a country known as France and of Human politics. Nihlus originally had no real intentions to help Vienne more than a few days... But he found himself fascinated with everything she said. She got more and more open with him and they fell into an easy friendship.

Nihlus admitted to himself that he was attracted to the human... She reminded him of an asari commando he had once had a fling with. But, she was so unique... and had so many marks on her body. Some seemed decidedly artistic, others were obvious scars of war... But their species hadn't been at war long enough to have such scars be healed completely. Some times when he asked a question, her eyes would darken and she would get quiet... Nihlus felt that she was hiding something, something about her superiors and her unusual healing speed and strength.

Days turned into weeks and neither seemed quick to leave the small cabin in the woods. Nihlus found himself teaching Vienne how to speak basic turian, about customs and history. She seemed so enthralled... He found it so endearing.

One day Nihlus was pinged by his partner, Saren... It was time for them to meet at their rendezvous point. He looked over the sleeping Vienne... They had started sleeping side by side as they talked late into the night while she healed. She was almost completely healed in the span of a few weeks when a shot like that should have caused her to be incapacitated for a few months. He found himself stroking a finger over her cheek and pushing her dark hair out of her face...

She had the most amazing blue eyes he had ever seen and before he knew what he was doing his forehead had touched hers... He inhaled her scent... and then left. He looked back a few times... If only to cement these weeks in his memory. He would search her out when this war was over. They would see if a human-turian relationship could work.

Shepard pulled herself out of her memories and stared at the stormy blue eyes of the turian in front of her. She found his mannerisms comforting... and she let him check her wounds. Let him bandage them...and she noticed that he, too, had a wound. Sighing, she patiently laid still as he dressed her wounds. As soon as he was done, she slowly moved and motioned to his thigh.

"Your turn."

She wasn't sure she had said what she meant, but he seemed surprised and sat back to allow her access... She looked over the wound and grimaced slightly. She wasn't sure turians could get tetanus, but either way it was going to get infected. She motioned for him to remove his armor, and he slowly complied, all the while watching her closely and intently. She grabbed some medigel and motioned to him to see if it was safe to use. He seemed confused at first, but then nodded after it dawned on him what she was asking.

Cleaning the wound with water, she made a make-shift drainage line with some supplies that managed to remain in her pack and were still salvageable after she threw everything everywhere looking for her pistol. Satisfied the wound was clean, she slathered the gel into the wound and tightly bound it with the remaining gauze roll the turian had used on her.

Sitting back, she winced a bit as she tried to find a comfortable position for herself, allowing the dressing to do its work.

To say that Garrus was surprised by the turn of the events would be an understatement. He went from trying to capture, then injure the human... then possibly kill her... To them dressing each others wounds. She seemed to take great care in his wound care and he felt slightly humbled that she had been able to move past the previous incident so quickly.

If he was a wagering man he would have bet that her previous experience with whoever taught her turian Common was the reason she was so easily swayed from defender to caregiver. He eyed her closely as he took into account her physical appearance...

Long, even for a human, dark brown hair... It was disheveled due to their confrontation but was still obviously in good condition... Or at least he assumed it was. It looked ok. She had striking blue eyes, almost the colors of his markings. Every time he had seen a human up close they always seemed to have brown or subdued eye colors. From what little he could see of her skin, she was a tanner human than he was accustomed to seeing. He most commonly saw them in pasty white or a dark brown skin coloration. He wasn't sure if it was a standard or not, but either way it seemed unique to him. She had marking all over her body, some were obviously scars from something or another, but her shoulder and arm seemed to be covered in colorful artistc markings. He had thought that they were called tatus... or tatoos... He wasn't sure.

Overall, she seemed petite for a human warrior. She was maybe five foot six and couldn't have weighed very much. When he threw her it took hardly any effort. She seemed content to just sit there in silence for a little bit while they both collected their thoughts on the change of events. Finally, he posed the second most imperative question...

"What's your name?"

She smiled a bit and opened an eyelid slightly to look at him. What he could only guess was a playful smirk crossed her face as she asked him to tell her his name first.

"Garrus, Garrus Vakarian."

She nodded slightly and dispatched with the common turian pleasantries of "Pleasure to meet you", yadda yadda and then he heard the answer to his question. Something he didn't realize he wanted to know so badly.

Vienne, her name was Vienne.