AN: I own nothing. Rated m, and thanks to my reviewers.

OoOoOo

In his dreams he sees her. The night torments him with vivid images of her so tantalizingly close that he can run his claws across her soft and supple human skin. Her strange wide eyes stare at him, and they haunt him in a much different way, that causes his chest to rumble as if it will come apart. His mandibles brushed across her odd human fringe.

Garrus sat up in his bed, half awake and the other half disoriented. His heart pounded rapidly beneath his plates. His talons shook at the end of his fingers. With a heavy sigh he rubbed his face trying to merge the thoughts in his head back with reality.

What the heck was that?

He snarled in disgust at himself. Where had that come from? He must be working too much and this conflict with Shepherd-his informant- was weighing on him more than he'd previously imagined. He needed to stop this quarrel between them soon. His avian eyes glared harshly at his omni-tool which pinged with the alarm that normally woke him from his nights of usually peaceful slumber.

With a groan of frustration he flung himself backward onto the bed, which was a tad harder than it sounded thanks to his lack of flexibility and he cursed inwardly when he heard a semi-audible 'pop' which emanated from his knee.

This was already shaping up to be an excellent day for him. And, where in the name of the Spirits was he going to find information of Shepherd's excursions? His mandibles clacked close at his displeasure. That human was really infuriating at times and he wasn't entirely sure which part of it bothered him so much.

The image floated from his memory and into his thoughts of Shepherd drawing Tassus closer. The shape of her strange alien face as it curved gently into a smile. The way her strange eyes lit up with such a sweet light that it caused an ache to throb deep in his chest. He could hear her laugh, and see those silly blunted human teeth that had almost no purpose as far as he was concerned. Garrus ran his tongue on the inside of his own sharp teeth and wondered briefly what had caused humans to evolve in such a way.

In his experience they were akin to glass cannons. Humans could pack a punch, and even endure quite a few things. Yet, they were so soft and… squishy. They were easily wounded and as a race Garrus could not comprehend how they had prospered. He had taken to educating himself on a few of the lesser animals humans associated with and found several of them to be superior physically.

He rubbed a taloned hand over his face and tried to focus his thoughts. He could still smell her scent when he thought on her long enough. Her limp fringe that swayed when she moved and the image of her smiling up at him from her illegal side job, and… and… Spirits! What was wrong with him?

She was just another human. He'd seen plenty of them they were prolific. Avian blue eyes narrowed in the dimness as the C-SEC officer fought to think on the sharp planes and angles of a female Turian. He thought on the hard hide and how he could sink his talons in without harming anything. Yet, the planes rounded into soft curves like an Asari and that… hair which humans possessed. Hair and not fur, which apparently was a social taboo among their kind to say.

This, again, did not make much sense. They classified every other fuzzy thing on their planet as possessing 'fur' and not 'hair'. How it was different for them and no other living thing he didn't understand at all. On Pavilion, a spine lizard still had plates just as his people did. It did not suddenly become a leather hide or coat of armor, or any other such nonsense.

Shame filled him at his strange concern over the human female. It was simply that he didn't want anything to happen to her. She was…

She was what?

It was there wriggling at the back of his mind and he chose not to examine it too closely. However, there was most certainly something going on inside of him for a scraggly orphan child that did not even possess a clan name! Or did humans call it something different? Oh yes, it was last name. Shepherd did not even have a last name.

His omni-tool protested at his slothfulness with another series of shrill pings. There were days that Garrus truly hated modern technology. However, duty was calling and like any self-respecting turian, he was there to answer. He dragged himself out of his bed and trudged toward the nearest shower. He made short work of his normal morning routine and after dressing, made his way to the local ward. He had given himself ample time to stop and grab something hot to drink to revitalize his senses.

With bleary eyes, he waited semi-patiently for his turn to order from the vendor's console. With four quick taps he selected the size, quality, flavoring, and paid the seven credits (Which was too damn much if you asked him) for his drink. He turned to see equally disoriented turians and even a quarian waiting in line behind him. With a trill of complacency he moved forward.

The familiar white markings stopped him in his tracks. His azure eyes honed in on the other turian with the age old ability of a predator. Now, what was Chellick doing in this part of the wards? If Garrus recalled correctly, and he usually did, the good detective lived six wards over in the residential block E6. Garrus stalked silently toward the nearest cover. His drink sloshed slightly and the purple liquid bubbled at him unhappily.

Garrus watched intently as Chellick discreetly checked all around him. With training provided by years of service and the prestigious Turian military, Garrus slipped back silently behind cover slowly enough not to draw suspicion and the fact he was known to Chellick would serve at not alerting the detective to his presence.

Now the question remained, what was the good detective up to?

A PADD appeared from Chellick's breast pocket, it was compact and Garrus recognized it well. Someone was leaving assignment details. Though it was strange that they would choose a neighborhood frequented by C-SEC, Garrus waited patiently for the scene to unfold in front of him. Luck was on his side, however, as not more than fifteen minutes later a hanar child came into view. He…she… it passed by once. Then twice, and finally a third time before wrapping a tentacle around the PADD concealed in the crook of Chellick's arm.

It appeared that Chellick was meeting with an informant, and Garrus felt his heart sink a little at the fact it was not Shepherd, before the pleased rumbling of his chest plate reminded him that the absence of Shepherd from this was a good thing. Garrus continued to watch as Chellick mumbled something to the hanar who then departed as quickly as it had come. They entire chance meeting had the gears in Garrus' head turning as to what it could be about. There were several unsolved cases from larceny to murder that Chellick oversaw on a daily basis. The hanar could easily be a part of any of those cases.

Rumbling to himself Garrus turned around again. His drink had long grown cold and he gulped it down quickly to get past the bitter taste.

"You really shouldn't poke your nose in places it doesn't belong, C-SEC," a voice chided from his right.

Garrus chocked down the startled noise that was threatening to emerge from his throat. He raised his mandibles wide to hide his surprise.

An angry turian child glared at him.

"Ah, Tassus," Garrus said mildly, "I didn't see you there."

The child rattled a noise of reproach. "I could tell."

Though he was an adult, there was something about this brat that made his hackles rise. Perhaps it was because the child was so rude with his inflections and sub harmonics? Garrus took a moment to imagine a boot upside Tassus' backside which improved his mood dramatically.

"Shouldn't you be with Shepherd?" He looked around quickly to see if he could spot the human. However, she was nowhere in sight.

"That's not any of your business C-SEC,"

Garrus nearly snorted at the petulant undertone of the child. He really didn't have time to dawdle much more. He had planned on being early to work, and if he left now he just might make it on time. He still had some questions that needed answered and some digging to do. His gut told him that all was not as it seemed in this situation.

He warbled a farewell to the child and started back toward C-SEC. He would let the child glare at him, which seemed to appease Tassus.

"Wait, you can't go," Tassus called out abruptly.

"What?" Garrus asked askance at the change in the sub-harmonics emanating from the boy. He had switched from rude to terrified in half a heartbeat. Garrus was suddenly on edge. He appraised the area around them for threats, but came up short.

Tassus' mandibles fluttered and he trilled in distress. Other turians passing by them turned their attention toward the child and gave Garrus looks of displeasure.

"She didn't come back last night," Tassus blurted out and clacked his teeth together. "She was supposed to drop something off for someone, she wouldn't say who, and come back. She didn't."

Garrus felt the very blood in his veins freeze.

"She's never late," Tassus continued dejectedly, "and Shepherd always comes back. Always," the child emphasized while staring up at Garrus with hard eyes filled with tangible fear. "I've asked everyone to look for her. But Shepherd apparently is in real trouble. The others, Mark, Shroud, Thane, Tunneler, and everyone else said she said if she went missing not to look for her. I even went to Consara, and she's been exiled." The Tassus preened in despair. Garrus couldn't stop the reassuring rumble that echoed as she attempted to calm the boy with soft trills. "Nobody will tell me why, or what is going on. The others and I have been put under Shroud's care and I… I want to make sure Shepherd is alive."

"Calm down and tell me exactly what happened yesterday," he stated firmly.

Tassus fluttered his mandibles in distress as he attempted not to appear weak in front of a turian he obviously didn't like. "Nothing out of the ordinary; At least not until Shepherd left to talk to that person she said she was going to see."

"Did she tell you a name?"

"No."

"Do you know what species or what it was about?"

The turian child hesitated. Garrus saw it in every line of Tassus' body. The child knew something, or thought he knew something. Angrily the child hissed at Garrus. "If I knew," he growled, "I wouldn't be coming to you C-SEC."

Garrus raised a hand a cuffed the child softly. "Now isn't the time," he reminded Tassus reprovingly. Whatever Shepherd had needed Chellick for; whatever the reason that she'd gone to that white-marked varren instead of him didn't matter so much. What mattered was the fact that Shepherd was out there in a lot of trouble, possibly even dead, and the duct rats were told not to look for her.

Something about the whole situation screamed at him that Shepherd had made a preemptive disappearance in order to protect the children, which seemed like something she would do. His brain mulled over the fact she'd left the children in the care of someone the duct rats had named 'Shroud'. It doubtlessly had a meaning, as Shepherd had told him not so very long ago.

A range of emotions, most of which promised retribution if she'd been harmed flared to life inside of him. And, some small part of him couldn't dismiss Chellick just yet. There had to be a connection, he was nearly sure of it, between Shepherd disappearing and her recent involvement with Chellick.

"I don't know for certain," Tassus warbled with ill-disguised concern, "but recently Shepherd has been avoiding the factory district."

The factory district was notorious for shady deals and more than once Garrus had been witness to bodies that held strange mechanical wound marks prior to death. There was talk of a few highly wanted individuals running crime rings down there. All unsubstantiated, of course.

Still. He wondered why she would suddenly be avoiding the entire district, and why she would suddenly vanish. All of the probable reasons were gruesome at best.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

The young turian shook his head leaving Garrus with an unparalleled sense of urgency and late for work.