Shepard looked up in frustration from her issue of Women's Marine Monthly as she heard the whoosh of her private quarter's door slide open. Her angered look from being disturbed quickly turned to one of surprise as Garrus stepped in. She closed the magazine, placing it on her desk face up to reveal a woman wielding powerful biotics on the cover, under which read the caption "empower your biotics", before turning in her chair to face him.

"Garrus?"

"Commander." He nodded in reply, coming over to stand in front of her and glanced casually at the cover of the magazine she'd been reading. He clasped his taloned hands behind his back, the corner of his mouth curling to reveal his sharp teeth. His blue eyes stared at her without blinking. Shepard understood his reservation to mean Garrus was reluctant to speak, so she spoke first.

"Something on your mind?"

Garrus bowed his head, mandibles twitching slightly before he looked up again to meet her gaze.

"I was just talking to Zaeed down in the cargo hold," he admitted. "He mentioned something which disturbed me."

"What's that?" Shepard asked flatly, her gaze never leaving the turian.

Garrus' gaze dropped back to the floor and he began pacing again.

"Speak up, soldier!" Shepard demanded, her tone increasing in anger. The turian's reserve was beginning to annoy her.

Garrus stopped and nodded once. "Well…" He started. His teeth were visible as he looked at her again. "He said you'd had the intention of betraying me back on the Citadel with Sidonis. I just wanted to know if that was true."

Shepard's scowling look quickly turned to one of dismay.

"Oh," was the only reply she gave before turning her head back to her desk and staring into space in front of her.

"Shepard. Be frank with me." Garrus became tense. His voice became more forceful as it was his turn to be angry. "Did you?"

"Yes, Garrus. But when we talked in the cab on the way there I changed my mind." Shepard did not turn to face him again.

Garrus' heart panged. He felt betrayed. The only thing he managed to get out was a simple, angry "Why?"

Shepard became defensive and turned to face him, her face alive in agitation. "Do I have to explain myself to you? Just leave me alone, Garrus."

Garrus' growing anger abated suddenly when he viewed the defensive look on Jane's face. He had not come into her room with the intention of upsetting her, he merely wanted answers. And something had just clicked inside him as he realised something from her look. He gave a small nod.

"That's all I wanted to know. Thank you Shepard," he said as he turned, hands still behind his back, and walked out the door.

Shepard placed her head between her elbows on her desk and scratched her hands through her hair, causing her hair to become unruly. She sighed and closed her eyes.

Garrus returned to his station by the battery. It was perhaps the least damaged part of the ship. He sure as hell was glad he hadn't been stationed down in Engineering like Tali and Jack had, when the Drive Core had exploded, causing major damage to rip through the lower decks of the Normandy.

Garrus idly tapped at the calibrations console as he mused on what he'd just discovered. He liked the Commander. He couldn't figure out why exactly, but her spirited nature and 'no shit' attitude had always appealed to him on some level. Sure, when he first met her on the Citadel he'd found her unruly and perhaps a little crazy, but he'd pinned it down to being typical human behaviour.

But the more he'd learned since about humans told him that the galaxy view of humans wasn't accurate at all. They weren't as ruthless and quick-acting as others who'd never really got to know them thought they were. They were a lot more complex. And he'd just figured out that even Shepard, rash and unpredictable, perhaps even a little suicidal, was just as complex, if not the most complex person he'd met during his now considerable experience with humans.

She was also like him. She didn't let anything stop her, and always achieved justice, even if her justice was a little different from his. He admired that about her. He couldn't say he approved of all of her rash actions, but he did enjoy getting the bad guy at the end. And he also admired her strength. She wouldn't let anything hold her down, not even after finding her allegiance to her worst enemy. She'd just figure it out again, until she was back on her own terms and a little further ahead then she had been before it had all started.

He'd found a deep respect for her, and had found himself cringing every time he saw the look on her face he'd come to recognise as pain buried deep within her psyche. He was certain not even she knew about it. Which was what Garrus had just seen in her eyes. He felt long ago she'd shut herself off from the pains of life, and now she was merely living as a response to it. Her reckless nature and apparent disregard for life was rooted from a deeply ingrained distrust, perhaps even fright of the galaxy. He'd known she'd lived on Earth as an orphan. He could only guess how horrible that had been for her. Turians mostly held their family close to them, despite Garrus' own remoteness from his father. And then, when Shepard had gotten the strength to drag herself out of that shithole, a few years later she was shot down again when her entire unit died on Akuze thanks to none other than Cerberus. He felt sorry for her. Hell, he felt sympathy for her.

Garrus clutched the side of the calibrations console as he looked up into the battery. There was one more thing. When she'd looked at him so defensively, it was like he'd looked into her soul and seen just how frightened she actually was. A sense of protectiveness welled up within the turian as he considered her.

And despite her intentions to betray him with Sidonis, she hadn't. She'd changed her mind at the last moment and had stopped him from making a mistake which would have changed him into a monster. She'd acted completely out of character at that moment, all because… because they were friends. They were all either of them had to each other in this whole damned galaxy. And then she had ensured he lived through the suicide mission when she'd seen the rest of her squad as expendable.

His mandibles twitched. No, he thought, I think I get it now.