Garrus threw away the last bottle of liquor, its contents sloshing about at him from the bottom of the waste chute. He'd gone through the battery, cleaning up the mess he'd left it in for the last few weeks, trashing every stashed bottle he could find. He just didn't feel the need for it any more. That aching need that haunted him during his time on Omega. The spirits had granted him a second chance and he wasn't going to mock them by ruining it even more.

Kasumi phased into being next to him, where he was staring at that last bottle deep in thought. She mewled a little disapproving sound, "Seems a shameful waste. If you'd just told me, I would have gotten rid of them for you."

He looked at her askance, "You mean, you would have restocked. Don't think I didn't notice the lounge you have set up in your little hidey-hole."

She jumped up onto the counter next to him, "Speaking of hidey-holes, does this mean you'll be spending more time among the living?"

That was a little close to home, he winced inwardly, gut flipping. The thief was observant, probably just as observant as he. He had to remember that while he was watching, he was also being watched. He reached into the chute and handed her the full bottle of turian brandy, "A gift. Not like you can even drink it, with your weak little levo intestines."

She hummed in approval, eyes glittering from under her hood, "Maybe not, but I do like to occasionally...entertain."

He leaned his elbow on the counter next to her, smiling wickedly, "I'm sure you can be very...entertaining."

"Trying to make me blush, Garrus?" She smiled, one of her fingers played with her bottom lip, pulling it down ever so slightly. It was a little distracting, his mind kept wanting to imagine Shepard doing that. He leaned dangerously close, inches from Kasumi's face.

"Consider me...entertained." He laughed at her expression, pleased to see an actual blush on what he could see of her face. She punched him playfully in the arm, before phasing into her tactical cloak again.

Spirits, I missed this...comraderie, he thought with a happy little hum. He thought about Shepard, away on a few missions on Illium right now. He'd declined to join her so he could clean house, so to speak. And he did feel much better looking around the spotless gun battery. The only thing he didn't scrub away was the talon scratches and traces of his blue blood on the wall, a reminder of what might have happened and what indeed happened. He never wanted to forget that low moment. There was a human saying, trite but true, 'Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

He was in the cargo bay when Shepard came back, polishing his weapons. The shuttle landed with little fanfare, settling in a gentle rocking motion. The hatch opened and an unfamiliar male figure, a drell he recognized the species now, stepped out onto the deck gracefully, turning immediately to hold out a hand as if to assist the remainder of the squad out of the compartment. First, came an asari who must be the Justicar that Shepard had briefed them on, she made a noise of gratitude as she took the man's hand , then Miranda, who blushed prettily at the convention. Jack just leaped past him with a derisive snort, stalking back to the territory she'd staked out below decks. Garrus smirked when he thought about what Shepard's reaction would be, a woman who never seemed soft enough to accept a man's help doing anything as mundane as getting out of a car. What arrogance.

But, no she was taking his hand, smiling softly as she stepped down from the shuttle, words of thanks on her lips. Did it seem that her eyes lingered on that drell's face a little longer than necessary? Shepard turned and waved a greeting to Garrus. Garrus meanwhile had to rip his clenched hand from his rifle in order to return it. The two men locked gazes across the shuttle bay. The drell bowed to him, face unreadable as he followed Shepard to the elevator and presumably, CIC.

He must be our assassin, thought Garrus, disconcerted by the display of feminine softness that Shepard exhibited. That man is trouble.

Finishing up quickly, he took the lift up to crew quarters, deciding to eat in the galley for once, so he could...keep an eye on things. Miranda and Kasumi were talking, heads together like schoolgirls. Their whispered conversation was getting to him, he couldn't quite catch the words. Maddening. Finally, he said to the pair, "Ladies, while I appreciate the extra eye candy when you both happen to be in the mess, but if you don't tell me what you two are giggling about, I will have to deprive you of my magnificent presence."

Miranda tossed him a cheeky wink, "Have you seen our newest...crewmember?"

He nodded, "I assume that's the assassin? Smaller than I thought he'd be, considering the size of his reputation."

Kasumi laughed from under her hood, "Apparently, he's very...impressive."

"That's my word. I trademarked it." He huffed at them in mock severity. "So why are we impressed?"

Miranda gushed, "You should have seen it, Garrus. We were tracking him to his next hit, some asari named Dantius-"

"Nassana Dantius?" He leaned back, thoughtfully. He was with Shepard when that viperous woman tricked them into killing her sister. Maybe Shepard should have killed her back then. Probably didn't because they had bigger fish to fry, namely one crazy turian bent on galactic wide genocide.

Kasumi kicked his foot, making his attention snap back to the two women, "Stop interrupting."

"So, we're working our way up this tower, there's dead workers everywhere. Apparently, the mercs Dantius paid to protect her were ordered to kill them. So, naturally, Shepard starts the whole let's kill them all routine," Garrus nodded sagely, he knew this routine, had danced it many times. He waved for Miranda to continue, "The entire time, it's like he's just ahead of us, I mean, like a couple seconds ahead, but we never caught a glimpse of him. The man was a ghost."

Kasumi leaned towards him and patted his arm, "This is my favorite part."

"We get to the top and that asari starts in on Shepard, 'who hired you to kill me, why'd you kill my guards, blah blah blah'" Garrus wondered briefly if Miranda knew how piercingly high her voice was already and she didn't really need to hike it even higher when mocking other women. Her face became animated as she pressed on, "That's when he dropped out of the ceiling, snapped the neck of the last two mercs and shot Nassana with her own pistol. You could hear a pin drop, he was so quiet. He laid her gently on the desk, almost like a haha ahem...lover, and crossed her arms. Then he just stood there, with his head kind of bowed."

Kasumi interjected with a sigh, "They never guard the ducts. Every building has them. They're an assassin's bread and butter. Well, mine, too."

"And what did Shepard do?" He prompted, imagining the scenario in his mind's eye as they talked.

"Shepard waited a whole minute before she said anything. I think she was impressed." Garrus was probably betting that Shepard was just working the numbers, putting together observations about the man before she recruited him. The fact that he killed for credits must be a little galling to her. But, desperate times and so forth. "Then she said, 'I've come a long way to speak to you.' then, he said, 'A moment, prayers for the wicked must not be forsaken.'"

"'She certainly was wicked.' said she. Krios looked at us and said 'not for her. For me.' I swear my jaw dropped. Jack said, 'wicked.' Then he said something all philosophical about the measure of a person being apparent in their actions. I think I kind of zoned out for a minute, I was just watching him move. It was like...silk." Miranda sighed.

"Mmmmm dangerous silk." Kasumi had her chin in her hand.

"And then I realized the bastard was being cheeky to Shepard. Shepard of all people. He was berating her, even."

Garrus interrupted, "How is the man still breathing?"

Miranda ran her hand through her hair, shaking her head, "I dunno. Maybe it was shock. It's really hard to read Shepard. Anyway, then he said to her 'You were a valuable distraction.' I scooted a couple feet away so none of the blood would get on me, I was sure she was going to go ballistic. But calm as you can be, she smiled at him and said 'Let's cut to the chase. I need you for a mission.' She was all Commander then, getting him to sign on, telling him in not so many words that we weren't expected to make it back, and then it was Krios' turn to look impressed, saying how 'she made a career out of doing the impossible.' She deadpanned him."

"What's deadpanned?" This was a new one on him, picturing a frying pan as a lethal weapon.

"It's like, no expression on her face. Not blank-" Garrus knew exactly what she meant so he held up a hand and nodded, waving her to go on, "They moved up to the window and I couldn't really hear any more, but I was content that the mission was a success so I just started watching his ass." The two women laughed uproariously at that. Ugh, not enough information, I hate a mystery. Scratch that, I love a mystery. He couldn't shake the feeling that Shepard had been impressed.

Really impressed.