If You Only Knew, Chapter 2

Almost blind with rage, Shepard fired her gun one last time. The superheated round buried itself in the tank of the gunship and it exploded in a great fireball of shrapnel and chunks of steel. She shielded her eyes from the blast.

As the fire from the explosion died away, so did her fury. The red haze vanished from Emily's mind and she slowly began to take in the recovering figures of Miranda and Zaeed, and a hulking, prone figure lying unmoving on the ground. Garrus…Garrus… Dread collected in the pit of her stomach.

"Garrus," she muttered, stumbling over to him. She fell on her knees in a growing pool of turian blood. She shook him gently and his eyes fluttered open. He opened his mouth in a strangled gasp as he struggled for air.

"Garrus!" she cried, her eyes widening in panic. No. She could almost feel his consciousness slipping away from him. No. His eyes were beginning to close.

"Radio Joker!" The order came as a cry of anguish. "Make sure they're ready for us!"

"We should hurry," Miranda said tersely. "I don't know if we can move him."

Shepard resisted the urge to cry as Zaeed waved his omni-tool over the turian to apply a dose of medi-gel.

"…the doctors did the best they could, but he took a bad hit."

Shepard's heart sank. She didn't come this far to lose someone else, did she?

"He's probably going to be out for a few hours, but he should be back on his feet—"

Jacob broke off. She turned around and her spirits suddenly rose again when she saw Garrus walk through the door of the comm room. Speak of the devil.

"Tough son of a bitch," Jacob said, impressed. "I didn't think he would be up yet."

He left, leaving the two of them alone. Garrus looked pretty bad. A chunk of his armor had been blasted off, and one mandible was a raw, bloody mess. Pain gripped her when she realized how much it must hurt.

And yet, he managed to maintain a cheerful disposition.

"Nobody would give me a mirror. How bad is it?"

Emily smiled. Some things never change. "Hell, Garrus, you were always ugly. Slap some face-paint on there and nobody will even notice!"

He laughed, then grimaced with pain. "Ugh. Don't make me laugh, damn it…my face is barely holding together as it is."

She chuckled. "Noted."

There was a long silence between them. His ice blue eyes flashed with an array of emotions. Concern, regret, relief, and…something she couldn't quite identify. Couldn't, or wouldn't.

"This is real, isn't it?" he croaked.

"Pretty much."

He sighed. "I, ah…I missed having you around."

"Me too."

Another pause. Shepard felt color rising to her cheeks for some reason.

"Well, then."

Shepard cleared her throat. "Why don't you get settled in, Garrus…get some rest."

He nodded, acknowledging his orders. "Understood, Commander. I'm ready for duty whenever you need me."

He left, leaving Shepard alone to decipher what had just passed between them. She could feel a small seed of emotion take root in the pit of her stomach, spreading its warm tendrils across her chest. She stubbornly pushed it down. There were other things to attend to.

A/N: Sorry for the wait! Thanks a million to everyone who favorite this, alert it, or both. It's nice to know someone's reading. =) Thanks also to ITestedGarrussReach for her lovely reviews and whatnot, and yes this is for you. Hope you enjoy it! I've got a pretty good idea of where this is going to go now. Once this semester is over I should have a lot less on my plate so expect more consistent chapters in the near future.

As always, please review. Feedback is every writer's drug.