Author's Note: I might skip around with meeting certain people or cut the 'scenes' short. I always want to get right to the better bits; meaning Garrus. Again, thank you for the comments and sorry for my chapter mess ups. Which I just realized, I still haven't fixed one of them. Please leave more feedback or whatever. Enjoy my most worded chapter so far! That made sense right?

Disclaimer: The Mass Effect world and lives are owned by Bioware, except the story plot and OC's.

...

Bailey tapped the elevator button, the doors closed and up we went. Another thing that had stayed the same: Elevators. I watched what little scenery I could see through the side windows move at a descent speed. We were going up smoothly, not quite as fast as I hoped but fast enough. That was the lucky part of the ride; the unlucky part was the silence. No music, no talking, nothing. Bailey was on his omni-tool and with Delek here…

"If you stare any harder, I'll have holes in the back of my head." I quipped, turning a bit so I could look at the Turian who stood behind me. He blinked slowly not saying anything. I rolled my eyes and went back to looking out the side windows.

"I know that I'm going to meet the Ambassador but where exactly are we?" I asked, trying to break the silence.

"The Presidium." Bailey answered. He hadn't even turned to look at me, just kept his eyes on his omni-tool. Location: In the 10km wide central ring of the station. "The Presidium is home to the various government offices of the Citadel Council, as well as embassies for all of the species represented in the Citadel."

"Okay." I responded. It was a straight forwards answer. The elevator finally stopped moving taking a second to open the doors. I didn't have a lot of time to look around or at any of the people walking around as Bailey and Delek hurried us to the left and into an area with multiple offices. We stopped at a door labeled "Human Embassy" and waited patiently as the door chimed our arrival. Out of the corner of my eye I spotted what I recalled being a Hanar; turning I could see a very tall and pink, jelly like creature that stood on tentacles. No eyes or face. The door opened, Bailey walking in first, and when I didn't move Delek gently placed his hand on my shoulder to lead me thru the door.

"Ambassador Osoba, may I introduce Aurora O'Reilly. She is…" Bailey trailed off a bit as the Ambassador studied me from behind his desk. It would be difficult when introducing what I am exactly. Especially since human testing was thought taboo...

"Experiment 07 of 14 of the Cryogenics and Experimentation Learning Program. Or whatever they called it." I finished for Bailey. I was sure that the Ambassador would have been informed of the situation and the- 'standings' that I, and the others, were in. The Ambassador sat unmoved in his chair, his jaw twitching in barely noticeable movements, as if he was either trying to keep his jaw from dropping or trying to formulate a sentence. Bailey and Delek stood still waiting for the shocked Ambassador to move or say something. I tilted my head to the side slightly watching the man closely. His eyes quickly darted between Delek and me. Well at least the people here were quick. The Human Ambassador looked to be older than myself, possibly in his 40's, with dark brown hair, tanned skin and these pale grey-tinted-blue eyes. The lightness of them reminded me of Garrus' eyes, although his eyes were much much prettier and much much bluer. Especially the colors near his irises; they were this sea foam green with flecks of gold. I lifted my head from its tilted position and shifted my weight to one foot.

"I-it's a pleasure to meet you Miss O'Reilly." Osoba finally said.

"Thank you sir, it's nice to meet you as well." I responded. Osoba twitched a bit at my voice. Have to get used to that… Osoba motioned to the chair in front of his desk. I moved away from the C-Sec officers and sat down mumbling a 'thank you'.

"Commander Shepard had the information sent to Admiral Hacket of the Alliance, who told Shepard to forward it to the myself and the Human Councilor since your destination is the Citadel." Osoba sat forward in his chair, leaning on his elbows. "I have read the reports from Shepard and Hacket with a man named… Adams. Then there were also the files that your people supplied us with. You were the only one who allowed yourself to be studied. Why is that?"

I thought for a second, gathering my thoughts. "The Commander made it very clear that he did not trust us, which I understand. Forming some sort of trust was the most logical conclusion." The Ambassador nodded his head at my words. "There's also another personal reason. I don't want to be a part of that… group anymore. Not that I have any grudges against what happened or the people, I just don't want to deal with more testing; so if having a doctor look over me is one step closer to being a free citizen then so be it. I want out."

He grimaced. "Of that I can only imagine. Dr. Mordin was very thorough in his findings and with the information provided we can only hope to have you cleared as a citizen soon as well as your comrades." I smiled as he spoke. I was almost there.

"Now, about your financials…"

...

Coming to the Citadel for an emergency. – GV

Garrus! What happened? Is everything alright? Are you okay? – AO

Kaidan was injured. Going to Huertta Memorial Hospital. ETA 3 hours. – GV

I sat up from my lounging position on the couch, re-reading the message over a few times. It had been a few weeks since our arrival on the Citadel. Everyone, except for the kids and Barbara and Charlie had gone our separate ways. The Council had deemed us an 'UNKNOWN' which required 1 month of guarded-partial-house-arrest to see how we would react to being around people. Tomorrow was the last day. After the meeting with Ambassador Osoba, we had received our financials. Being frozen for almost 200 years had been good to the bank. I could live comfortably anywhere for the rest of my life (possibly for multiple lifetimes if I played my cards right) and do whatever I wanted; within Council limits of course. Right now, finding a place to live and be able to kick my feet up was perfect. I knew that there was a war going on. I had donated some money to the war effort already, always checking to see how much more I could do. It was selfish of me to just want to sit and do nothing. Especially since a friend of mine was out there risking his hide to save us all. Said friend had only been able to send me a few messages, replying when he could. But right now I just wanted a moment to myself…

Is he going to live? – AO

While I had not left on the best terms with Kaidan, that didn't mean I wanted him seriously injured. I glanced at the time. It was a little after 10 am CT, getting to the Huertta wouldn't be so bad. I got up from the couch and took a deep breath.

Seriously injured. Huertta is the best. – GV

Garrus pinged me back telling me not to worry, saying that I didn't have to show up, but that wasn't going to happen. What needed to happen was for me to stay calm. I wasn't his friend but freaking out a little bit wouldn't help. I jogged upstairs and quickly stripped my clothes, hopping into the shower. The water was cold when I got in, and I let out a yelp. Luckily it heated up quickly. I took a 45 minute shower doing everything slow and calm. Freaking out won't help anyone. I turned off the water, grabbed a towel and started drying myself off. I got dressed, dried the top of my hair and put on a small amount of makeup. I kept glancing at the clock, trying to drag out everything I did. When there was an hour and a half left, I left my apartment locking the door behind me.

"Miss O'Reilly, are you planning on going somewhere?" My guard at the moment was Frenze. He was a dark brown Salarian with lighter brown markings on his face. The markings were unnatural, kind of like how the Turians tattooed/painted their faces, although I had never asked if they meant the same thing.

"Huertta Memorial. A friend of mine just messaged me that an acquaintance, Major Alenko of the Normandy, is going to be there." Frenze didn't say anything and just followed as I walked past him. It wasn't a far walk to get outside, but before I could call a Skycar from the terminal one had already dropped down and hovered in idle, the door opening. Frenze thought of everything. I stepped inside, Frenze following and asked to be taken to Huertta. The cab driver nodded his head, closing the door and taking off.

...

I quickly walked out of the elevator, Frenze following me closely. Even with the cab drivers knowledge of the 'side' fly-zones Garrus had already told me that Kaidan was admitted having arrived earlier than expected and was rushed to the Hospital. Calm. I slowed myself down and walked towards the receptionist's desk. I didn't make it all the way before I heard someone call my name.

"Aurora!" I turned my head and smiled at the person who called my name. Shepard briskly jogged over to me. He looked tired even with the smile on his own face. His smile dropped a bit after a second though,"You heard about Kaidan I'm guessing?" I nodded.

Shepard looked at Frenze before looking back at me.

I shrugged. "Under guard by order of the Council." Shepard sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. I gave him a small smile even though he couldn't see it.

"It's temporary. No need for you or Garrus to come in guns-a-blazin. How's Kaidan?" I asked.

Shepard opened his eyes and he sighed once again.

"I'm not sure. He's in critical condition right now until the doctors finish assessing how seriously injured he really is." I nodded slowly.

"How's everyone else?"

"They're alright; if anything they have some bruising or scratches. They're still aboard the Normandy till-" Shepard's omni-tool flashed with an incoming message. Shepard muttered a 'sorry' as he checked the message. He gave the message a tired smile before writing his own message and sending it out. "Good, the crew needed some shore time."

"Commander Shepard, a moment of your time please?" A woman with short red hair, in green a green doctor's outfit and with a European accent walked up to Shepard, who nodded his head in greeting and response.

"If there's anything that the doctors and Kaidan nees, let me know. You and you're crew are the best hope the galaxy- or so I'm told. If you have time, maybe we could catch up Shepard." Shepard's eyebrow rose in a silent question but he nodded his head all the same. "Send me a message sometime." I said already turning to walk away. I walked next to Frenze, back to the elevator. Ping.

Meet me at Docking Bay D-24. – GV

"Hold the door!" I took the last 2 strides quickly, readjusting my grasp on my bag to keep it from dropping, and stepped into the airlock.

'Now adjusting cabin pressure to outside atmosphere.' Edi's voice was heard over the almost silent hiss as the pressure was changed to match the air pressure of the Citadel. Which was weird since her bo- she was standing in the air lock with me. This had to be a really weird adjustment for all, including and with the exception of Joker. They hadn't left each other's sides since Edi had reactivated the body.

"Spending the night in a hotel Garrus?" Tali asked. She didn't have much with her, well anything really. Liara was leaving, so were Joker and Edi in her brand new body. I nodded my head once to Tali's question; she sighed in response to my lack of answer. At the moment I wasn't big on being near Tali, of course it didn't jeopardize any mission. I was still a good Turian when it came to that. It could be called a 'falling out'. She expressed interest, I expressed interest; she ended up going to Kal Reegar and not telling me till much later. The bag I carried held an extra change of clothes as well as my concealed pistol; though I still wore my armor. Still couldn't be too careful, even on the Citadel. Running around with Shepard had taught me that, being on Omega had taught me that. Like Shepard I was over working myself, unlike Shepard I knew that I needed to take a breather. Aurora and I had been talking as much as we could, being on a dangerous-mission-riddled-ship allowed. At first I kept talking to her because part of me felt bad that she was alone in the world really. Sure she had the rest of… the Experiments but no one else. And according to her, they all parted ways. It had been 3 weeks since Shepard dropped off Aurora and the others. Now I talk to her because I like to talk to her; because I like her… Not like-like of course. She is pretty. She might not be into Turians. Stop thinking Garrus.

The airlock doors opened, the crew moved out going to their already chosen locations to rest. I stepped out, shouldering the… what did the humans call it again? A duffel bag? Close enough. I looked around trying to spot one of the few humans I'd taken a liking too. There she was! My mandibles flared out into a smile seeing her. She as standing on her toes looking around but froze when she looked in my direction, a big smile was spreading across her face. She looks nice smiling. She moved in my direction and I moved in hers, but I froze. A dark brown Salarian with light markings was shadowing her. And not well. My brow plates shifted down more so then was usual for a Turian. Something I had made more prominent since I had been with Shepard. Glaring. When Aurora was less than an arm reach away and the arm that was not holding the bag reached out and moved her behind me. I stood at full height and stared down at the Salarian, a growl rumbling out of my chest that I knew he could hear.

"You'd better take a step back from her."

"Garrus!" Aurora grabbed my arm tugging me away from the Salarian. I could practically smell the fear from him, but he stood his ground his hand reaching behind him to a possible sidearm. "I'm under guard by order of the Council. Frenze is just doing his job- Frenze don't." I didn't move away from him. "Garrus!" Aurora's harmonics flared out in a plea. I stepped away from 'Frenze' before turning to look at Aurora. She sighed softly.

"I know I should have told you."

"Damn right you should have." I growled out. "I thought he was shadowing you as a target!" She gave me a smile.

"Didn't know you cared." She teased. She was teasing me… This was not funny! What if she was- Wait. Under guard? The Council is having her watched? She then looked me over, taking a moment to stare at my shore bag. "Where are you staying?"

She was trying to change the subject. The C-Sec side of me that still resided wanted to question her even further, wanted to question that Salarian- Frenze was it? But if she was under guard from the Council it had to be for a reason, and if she wasn't worried or hadn't called to tell me then there might not be a problem. I still had contacts in C-Sec, which is where this Salarian most likely worked, I'd figure it out sooner or later. I glanced around a bit before I answered, like I said can't be too careful, "Some place in the Lower Wards, saving money." Okay, that was somewhat of a lie, it's not that I couldn't afford a nice place to stay.

One of Aurora's eyebrows rose, then she tilted herself to look at the Salarian behind me.

"It's not the best place on the Citadel" he said, answering some unspoken question. Aurora rolled her eyes as she righted herself.

"You can stay with me Garrus." She finally said.

"I'm not sharing a room with-"

"It'll be just like a hotel. Your own room, a warm bed, all you can eat, and you can come and go as you please." She stepped up to my empty side and linked arms with me, pulling me towards the elevator. Frenze followed behind as he pulled up his omni-tool. "Plus it's free and I won't even charge you to bask in my glowing friendship."

She couldn't see it but I had the biggest smile on my face. I hummed gently, not caring that Aurora could hear me. Spending shore leave with Aurora. I hummed a bit louder.