An: Thanks for the reviews! They mean so much
I own nothing. Rated M.
OoOoOo
He's been following some of her more normal movements. Only some because she's still damn near untraceable and he's ready to shred his couch in frustration. He's been in plain clothes twice just to try and catch her walking by. However, even stopping by the store where she infrequently worked didn't help. Shepherd had apparently ended their deal until an unspecified date.
Garrus snarls and warbles in distress.
He blearily looks at the local time and groans. He doesn't have long before work and he doesn't even want to go. Still, ever the dutiful Turian, he showers and dresses. He feels listless and cannot even think of a reason why.
Work is only barely tolerable and the jokes from his colleges serve even less purpose today than usual. By the time he leaves, he's ready to commit genocide on the volus. If one more comes to him complaining about a business transaction that was by all standards perfectly legal, he's going to simply lose it.
He storms out of C-Sec like a there's a fire hot on his heels. Normally, people had the good sense to move out of the way of a distracted Turian, but he collides with a body of warm flesh. He crushes his arms around them to stop them both from careening to the ground.
His avian eyes narrow at a familiar face that has been plaguing him for a while now.
"Oh damn," Shepherd mutters, "of all the people."
"Good to see you too," he rumbles half-annoyed.
A flash of silver catches his attention, as does the shape of the object.
"I don't have time for this."
"Make time," Garrus demands roughly, "whatever you're up to its bad news if you're carrying a gun."
"Shit. You can tell? Look, if I'm not being placed under arrest, you can't detain me."
"What is all this about then?" His mandibles flutter and his face plates shift angrily.
"Nothing!" she shouts at him.
"You are so confusing," he mutters darkly. "Is this because of-"
"Not everything is about your sex life Officer." Shepherd cuts him off with a half snarl.
Whatever his brain had been about to tell his mouth to say is forgotten to the wind. "My sex life?" His face plate rises above his left eyebrow in surprise. "What's my sex life got to do with any of this?"
She sputters, and turns a funny red color. "Nothing. Absolutely nothing," she forces passed clenched teeth. Her hand wipes at her face, and he can see the bags under her eyes. He's worked with enough humans to know what a lack of sleep looks like on them.
He watches her intently, as she hugs herself for a moment. "Look, I have something to take care of," she finally says and her eyes don't quite meet his, "I really don't have time to stick around."
He feels it in his gizzard that something isn't right with this situation. Shepherd doesn't even know how to shoot a gun to his knowledge. If she did, it would elevate her on the C-Sec watch list, from non-existent to minor annoyance. And, he can't let her get hurt. She's obviously being stupid about something, or is in some sort of trouble.
"Then I'm coming with you," he warbles with finality.
She looks like she's about to tell him where to go, how to get there, and how often he can take the trip. He bares his sharp teeth at her, to show her he's serious and he can tell she recognizes the gesture from Tassus. Shepherd drops her head for a moment.
"Fine," she mutters with resignation. "Just be sure that you keep up."
She doesn't give him time to react to the words before she is moving across the floor toward the wards elevator, with her head held high. He doesn't give her the chance to close the door in his face, as he squeezes into the enclosed space with her. He realizes just how small she is compared to him, as she resolutely presses the button over and over again.
"That doesn't make it go any faster," he informs her with a touch of amusement lacing his words.
Shepherd ignores him and continues to punish the innocent button.
Finally, the door opens as she is already moving with her feet flat on the floor. They weave, and move through the crowds. He notices that she moves like she's done this countless times as she seamlessly slips through the throngs of Citadel masses. Garrus takes a look at his surroundings, and notices that they are heading into the less than reputable districts.
He nearly has a heart attack when Shepherd leads him into the red light district.
"Are you sure you're going the right way?" He trills uncomfortably as one or two prostitute's cat-call him from the sidelines. Shepherd nods her head and plows onward.
Garrus is so busy trying not to be seen down here that he nearly runs into her when she comes to a dead stop in front of him. His avian eyes narrow at the building slightly buried away toward the back.
"A hotel?" His heart races with the implications. She's young and it's wrong, but some sick twisted part of him entertains the thought for a full twelve seconds before he crushes it. "Shepherd, this isn't – I'm not-"
She blinks at him in confusion. Her eyes look back at his rapidly moving mandibles and the hotel a few times. "I'm going there to get someone."
His earlier embarrassment is replaced swiftly with anger. "Is that Drell in there?" He'll kill him if he is.
"No. I've got business to take care of."
"Shepherd, what's this about?"
She keeps her gaze away from him and flexes her hands gently. Finally those haunting eyes he finds so fascinating look at him with that same open honesty that makes him forget the rest of the problems in the Citadel.
"Someone I know is in a bad situation."
He shoots a glare at her. "Is that a euphemism?"
She shakes her head. "No."
"Then why are you involved?"
"It's complicated," she mutters pushing back some of her loose fringe.
"That's not a very detailed answer. Are you the one in trouble, Shepherd?"
She snorts rudely at him. "I'm not stupid enough to get into bed with the Shadow Broker's people," she retorts dismissively.
The Shadow Broker? Shepherd shouldn't even know about him, and Garrus can feel his shock at her words. He doesn't believe her, and the look on his face must give him away, because she levels a withering stare at him. Garrus ponders her reaction.
"Then why are you here? If it's not you, then…?" He trails off for a moment with his mandibles flaring.
Shepherd eyes him with emotions warring on her face until she finally gives in. Her eyes soften slightly and she looks away dejectedly. "I said I wasn't stupid enough."
"Oh," he mutters as he pieces it together. "So, one of the others?"
She sighs long and low. "Yeah."
"Which one?"
She shakes her head. "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters," he replies in surprise. His harmonics resonated with his shock.
She aims a blank look in his direction. "Let me rephrase that. It doesn't matter for you who it is."
He bites back the insulted snarl that threatens to work its way out of his throat. "Shepherd, you should have come to me."
She turns toward him fully with those strange penetrating eyes watching him carefully. He can see she didn't even consider him an option and it stings. He can't exactly say why, but it irks him like something jabbing into his fringe repeatedly. It's a jarring feeling that just will not go away.
His blue eyes wander over her. "You're really telling me that you came in here with a gun you can hardly aim to save someone?"
Garrus is torn between wanting to laugh at the lunacy of this plan, and wanting to throttle her for putting herself in danger.
Her lips twitch and he thinks he's finally getting somewhere. His instinct is to pull her close, tell her she's an idiot, then save whoever this is being held hostage, and finally sit her in a C-Sec cell until she has the good sense to apologize for being a reckless fool.
"Who are we saving?"
"We aren't saving anyone," she informs him defiantly. "I am taking care of my own."
He tamps down on his irritation. She's clearly getting hysterical if she's talking back to him like this. "Shepherd," Garrus warbles in a chastising tone.
"It's not your life. Not your problem C-Sec."
He begins to wonder when his job became a curse word amongst the duct rats. It seems as if she and Tassus like to bandy about his title when he displeases them. His mandibles tighten close to his face and avian eyes narrow at her menacingly.
"I'm making it my problem," he growls lowly and he sees her shiver slightly.
"You want to come along and rescue a duct rat that bad?" He thinks that the sneer decorating her features is completely wrong on her. It unsettles him; she should never look at him like he's the enemy. It makes his plates itch between his shoulders, and causes him to feel slightly hostile.
"Hand over the gun Shepherd, you're not authorized to have one, and you know that. We do this my way."
She glares at him, her eyes darting toward the hotel angrily. "Fine take it," she snarls and flips the safety on. Then she throws it at him, Garrus dodges it with a startled hiss of displeasure. "I don't need it anyway."
Shepherd lurches forward, and nearly topples him over as he's reaching for the pistol she tossed at him. He clicks his jaw in irritation as he pockets the weapon away and follows her. Her shorter legs nearly outpacing him as she streams passed the front desk despite the objections of an employee. Her limp fringe bounces teasingly in his view as his eyes wander her shape. He mentally corrects himself and forces any thought other than helping her, out of his mind.
A trembling hand pops the nearest circuit lock, and he watches her strange five-fingered hands work quickly. The door gives a sputtering groan, before the doors open with a pressurized hiss. Silently, she stalks inside and his thoughts are whirling with how experienced she seems to be with this.
He has some questions for her later.
The room is lit sparsely, and his avian eyes focused on a mass of moving limbs on a bed.
Shepherd stills next to him looking like an animal ready to pounce. The lines of her body are sleek and smooth. There is a subtle tension around her that leads him to believe she's close to attacking the pair of Asari twined in a lover's embrace on the bed. Her haunting eyes are consumed with a fury Garrus finds impressive as his mandibles twitch in approval.
"Consara!" She barks out with a roar and the paler of the two lovers jumps.
"Sh-Sh-Shepherd?!" Garrus watches the girl try and pull up the nearest sheet to cover her nakedness. "What are… what are you doing here? Isn't that the C-Sec officer?"
Shepherd's eyes are focused solely on the darker Asari who is wearing a smug grin.
"Sharta," Shepherd growls and Garrus feels himself lean more protectively towards the human at the open hostility she is radiating. Instinct tells him the darker asari is a threat.
"My, my, is that you Shepherd?" The one called Sharta all but purrs and sits up proudly in her purple hued skin. Garrus warbles an uncomfortable noise. The pair is naked, and he's the one who is embarrassed.
"You know damn well who I am," Shepherd spits out in anger, eyes bright and ready for a fight. Her gaze swings to the blushing maiden asari still trying in vain for a touch of modesty. "Consara what the hell have I told you about getting mixed up with the Shadow Broker?"
"I'm not!"
"She works for the Shadow Broker Consara! I told you that, and not to get involved with her because I knew you were better than this." Shepherd's volume is close to screaming.
"Better than what?" The other challenges haughtily. "Digging food out of trash bins? Watching you work yourself to the bone? Forgive me if I want more than the life of a duct rat."
"Damn it Consara! I was helping you get a better life. Why do you think we scrapped together enough to get you those night courses? You're almost old enough to get a real job! Better than shaking your ass in some seedy bar or getting passed around like some ship whore for Sharta's crew." Shepherd's eyes glitter with hurt and betrayal. "We could have gotten you enough qualifications for a good career."
The light blue woman looks slightly ashamed, "I'll have a good career and life with Sharta. She'd never use me."
Both Shepherd and Sharta snort, one in disbelief, the other in amusement. Garrus feels his agitation grow. This was not a good sign.
"It's not about the Shadow Broker Shepherd. Sharta and I love each other," Consara continues with conviction.
Shepherd laughs, a bitter and hollow sound. "You blind and misguided fool. Didn't even have the decency to tell her the truth, did you Sharta?" Her human finger points in accusation.
The purple asari shrugs in disinterest, "Guilty as charged."
"Wha-?" Consara turns aghast.
"This was never about you Consara, Sharta doesn't give a damn about you. Never has and never will. It's about getting information. It always is."
"Oh come now Shepherd, you're spoiling all my fun."
Consara pulls back as if slapped. "Sharta?" Her wide eyes are nearly brimming with unshed tears.
Sharta sighs and stands up unhurriedly. "You're good in the sack kid, but that's about it." She grabs for her clothes, sliding into her pants smoothly.
"But you said I had useful skills that were needed."
"I lied."
"Consara, why do you think I never pushed to have you enrolled in an asari school? Your biotics are weak at best, and you don't have a knack for hacking, encryption, or anything else the Shadow Broker requires. You don't even have combat training. What is it you think you can do that would catch the attention of someone like Sharta? The best you can do Consara is take a bullet in the line of fire. She used you Consara to get to me." The human draws herself up to her full height. "My answer is still no Sharta. It always will be. So stop coming around."
The purple asari grins and her eyes flash with a wicked light. "You've always been too damn smart for your own good Shepherd."
"Seems like it's good enough if it keeps me from people like you," she hisses out and Garrus feels himself copy the sound. The Turian in him rises to the surface in the face of an opponent, and he's positioning himself closer to protect Shepherd. Whoever Sharta is, she's not getting within a light year of Shepherd after this ordeal is over. He'll make sure of that.
Sharta eyes him in speculation. "Calm down C-Sec I haven't done anything illegal." Her head jerks toward the other asari quickly, "She's legal among my kind."
He knows it's true but it doesn't stop him from feeling sickened. And, it galls him that he can't touch her. Shepherd's word would hardly stand up in court and if Sharta was a decent agent, she wouldn't be a resource left to rot in a cell. Bastards.
"How could you?" Consara screams out, her figure shaking in barely suppressed pain. "Do I really mean so little to you?"
"In a word…yes." She doesn't bother to turn to her former lover; instead her eyes are focused on Shepherd with a hungry predator's gaze.
"Damn you Sharta," Shepherd says moving forward to get Consara away from the other asari.
"What? You always warn them Shepherd."
The human's face closes down into a blank mask, and she gathers Consara's clothes and hands them over quietly. The blue asari bats them away with a mewl of despair.
"Always?" Garrus has the feeling he already knows the answer before the asari speaks through a smiling mouth.
"Don't you know?" Sharta's faux innocent look causes his stomach to clench tightly. "Little Shepherd here has been taking in the strays since-"
"Shut your fucking mouth Sharta."
The older asari looks at Shepherd with amusement, "Since I've known her. That's what? Ten years now, isn't it?" Her gaze meets Garrus' and Sharta winks at him. "She was always warning the others not to get mixed up with 'recruiters', such a cute name by the way Shepherd, says we're a bad influence. Can you imagine? It's such a pity they never listen." A mocking sigh leaves her lips and he quells the urge to scratch her lips off her face.
Garrus swings his sight over to Shepherd, who is quiet next to Consara. Her eyes are fierce and he can tell she's ready to throw herself at the asari with everything she's got.
"Have you heard from Latra? Pamela? Dazre? The one who follows the Enkindlers in bleakness? How about Nick?"
Almost unperceptively, Shepherd flinches at each name. "You would know better than I, Sharta."
"Yes," the smug look is back on the purple face, "I would. Wouldn't I?"
Garrus watches as Sharta walks around the bed. Consara whimpers in pain, as the older asari leans closely to Shepherd's ear. "They're all dead," she pulls back with a smile of pure venom, "but you knew that already. Didn't you Shep-herd?"
The human's eyes are glassy and Garrus rumbles a note of warning at the asari.
"Oh well, this reunion was nice. Until next time Shepherd," Sharta purrs out and struts her stuff into the hallway only half clothed.
"Bitch," Shepherd growls a few seconds after the door closes.
"Shepherd," Consara sobs into the human's shoulder. "Goddess I was such a fool. I'm so sorry."
"I know Consara," Shepherd says with a deep sigh. "But Sharta did bring up a very good point. I warned you when I took you in that you couldn't be part of anything to do with those people. That's why we do things the right way, the legal way. And that way sure as hell does not involve the Shadow Broker. Don't bother coming home," she says quietly, "you're no longer welcome."
"You're kicking me out? No! It won't happen again. I've learned my lesson."
The human shakes her head sadly. "No, you got caught. There is a difference."
"You can't. I have nowhere to go. You can't do this."
"You were perfectly happy to disobey my rule when you thought you had some place to run off to. You made that choice, not me. Now that Sharta has left you where she found you, you think 'sorry' is going to make it all better. Life doesn't work that way Consara." Eyes of steel are on Shepherd's face. "You only get one chance. I told you that when we first met."
"Forgive me Shepherd! Forgive me," the asari cries out pitifully. She sobs openly as her knees hit the floor. Her blue hand stretched out in supplication.
"I cannot compromise the safety of the others. Just as I threw Dazre out right after I took you in, I have to do the same here. I'm sorry Consara but you forced my hand."
Shepherd disentangles herself from the girl sobbing on the floor. Her head turns away as she marches past Garrus, and she pauses at the doorway. "The courses are still paid up. If I were you," she says softly and Garrus hears the emotions she's trying to stifle, "I would finish them and look for a legitimate job. You can still have a good life."
She doesn't look at him, and her hand grips the doorframe tightly. "Looks like I owe you one again C-Sec."
"Shepherd! Shepherd! Don't go!" Consara wails as she crumples further into the floor.
Garrus feels his mandibles flatten along the planes of his face as he puzzles the mystery that is Shepherd and what, by the Spirits; he's supposed to do with a young naked asari crying on the floor. He does the only sensible thing he can think to do. He calls C-Sec and asks for an asari back-up.
OoOoOo
He's still reeling when he goes into work a week later, trying to not replay everything that happened. He tries in vain to keep Shepherd's words out of his head and he does a good job right until he sees her walk through the door.
Shepherd. His Shepherd, dressed in clean clothes walking into C-Sec with Chellick at her side and Tassus clinging to her hand. She doesn't glance at him, but he knows somehow that she's aware of where he is. His back goes impossibly straight as he assesses all the possibilities as to why she's here.
Chellick ushers them into his office and shuts the door.