Someone to Talk To

Parable

The crew deck laid comfortably bare when the lift had brought Garrus and his mate down thanks to the late hour. The mess hall, usually a bustling room during the simulated daytime hours, had been abandoned by the majority of the crew as they took to their bunks for sleep, and those not turning in for the night where at their stations as they worked the 'graveyard shift', as the human term went.

Given how talkative Jane often became when drinking, the empty deck was a boon after he just watched his tiny mate manage to down enough hard liquor to put them in the danger of her slipping some important, and secret, information to anyone within range. While he wasn't too concerned with her possibly shouting across the deck about the current mental capacity of the running commander of this ship, it didn't bode well for the two of them if the resulting backlash happened before they managed to get off this damn ship and back to their own reality.

Though she wore it well, Jane was drunk. First went her self-control, which she illustrated by nearly getting into a physical altercation with the other Shepard, then came her tendency to not quite listen when someone speaks, like when she confused psychic connections with physical ones. For her sake, Dawn Shepard's mental breakdown and resulting incapacitation did what he didn't want to stand up and do. In the presence of anyone who would be looking for a sign of weakness - pointedly the two males in the room just as quiet and as observant as himself - he was worried about making a scene of stopping Jane from falling into the pit of her self-made hell. Had he moved, he'd only have brought more attention to her state and, as in any questionable predicament, shown a weakness better off kept close and hidden.

Dawn Shepard 'losing her shit' - as Jane put it in the elevator - had shown Garrus the responses of the two males in the room. They were as attuned to her as Garrus was his own mate, and he had no doubt that, despite the woman's thoughts on death for the cause, at least the other version of himself would hesitate to stand by and let her go through with it. This man may be a better turian in this universe, but his reaction up in the Captain's Cabin spoke enough of a struggle to accept Dawn Shepard being harmed - whether by her own choosing or not. It only took one glance to the younger man to see his reaction when she had mentioned death to figure it out, even if he tried to hide it.

It wasn't easy to hide the pain of losing a mate, no matter the specifics of the bond.

When they arrived in the port observation, his and Jane's armors and weapons had already been laid out. While their armors didn't necessarily hold any valuable data or value to be found by prying eyes, his prized weapon held a special place by his side and under his care. As a result, Garrus was insistent that his Widow merely be brought down there, its maintainance left to his hands only. Like hell would he let anyone tend to a weapon that saved his life a thousand times over. Especially on a ship that's no better than unknown territory despite its looks.

Jane, on the other hand, had no such qualms about her 'boomstick', as she called it. So long as it remained intact enough to fire and, barring that, bash anyone to death who got too close, she was happy. He had agreed to leave his armor and other weaponry to be cleaned and maintained by this other Jacob Taylor, but insisted on keeping his sidearm, and making Jane figure out where to put her own. Even if she had to hold it in the waistband of her pants, as the example she tried to use in protest, she would have a weapon on hand while he had both his own sidearm at hip and a blade concealed within his artificial arm.

Helping Jane to the bed, Garrus let her fall into a deep sleep knowing that he'd feel her discomfort through their mental connection should she become plagued with nightmares. Once he was sure of her even breaths and motionless form outlined by the low, natural light of the stars beyond the thick observation room's glass viewport, Garrus grabbed his battered Widow, some cleaning supplies left behind by the armory operative, and a maintenance kit from his armor for his prosthetics. It had become habit to check his and her prosthetics after battle just as he would their armors and weapons, but he could let Jane sleep for now and bother her to calibrate her legs later.

With a last glance towards her sleeping form, letting his visor read her vitals, Garrus flicked his mandibles in silent approval over her peaceful state. Hopefully, he thought as he walked towards the dim mess hall and took a seat to get to work, she would remain that way. It's been too long since she had known a night without nightmares and, though he'd have chosen otherwise, the heavy drinking and bit of camaraderie seemed to have helped.

Garrus laid out his tools along the table, setting his cleaning supplies out within reach before breaking down his Widow. Viewing it as no different from his own body, he disassembled it fluidly and without thought, fingers ghosting over the numerous and varied scars on its surface. He set down each piece and looked over the parts for a moment, humming in thought as he remembered the battles it joined him in. Picking up the modified scope, he brought it up to his uncovered eye to make sure none of that disgusting orb fluid managed to get into it.

As he clicked the gauge, mentally checking to see if it was thrown off in the jump - or whatever could be used to describe what happened to bring him and his wife here - he heard the rumble of the lift as it moved. From the sound of the reverberations in the shaft, it was descending. He was sure whoever it held was unlikely to be one of the routine crew because, if it was correct when he changed it to this Normandy's time, his visor still read in the middle of the shift.

Tilting his head to turn his uncovered ear towards the sound, he rumbled at his guess being proven right with the sound of a turian's stride. Strange, he considered, to hear his own gait and not even be standing, let alone moving. He watched the other version of himself round the corner, a tight pull to his mandibles Garrus recognized.

Unless he was blind up in the Captain's Cabin, this turian has bonded to a mate that, despite his best efforts, could not be repaired by his sheer will and stubbornness alone. He raged in helplessness, and it was not a feeling all that foreign to Garrus himself.

Prying, and getting enough of the situation to suit him, Garrus turned back to this task at hand. Wiping down the barrel in preparation for the cleaning rod, he heard the other turian stop for a breath before changing direction.

"Mind if I join you?" He heard the younger version of himself ask and he nodded, motioning to the seat before him and in the vague direction of the other man without looking up from scrubbing at a particular scuff.

Looks like yet another scar on this weapon.

He looked up to the man and hummed in curiosity. "I have the distinct feeling tonight was not a first."

"No ... but if it helps, it was unexpected. Sorry for the commotion. I'm sure it's done nothing to help the two of you feel comfortable here." He sat, his back to the wall as expected. "It's been awhile since Jane pushed for control. I didn't think… I should've considered it a possibility, but things have been going better lately."

He lets the younger turian think over his guilt before speaking up. "Not a very easy thing to expect alternate versions of yourselves to appear. Let alone for Jane to be so different from Dawn and her circumstances."

Probably won't do anything. I know it wouldn't have made a damn to me at his age.

The other Garrus chuffed, his mandibles fluttering a moment. "I suppose not. Jane - sorry, her Jane - isn't exactly stable. She's been set off by less."

"And none too happy about the fact that someone doesn't fit the norm of live, die, repeat until you become a damn wreck." He shook his head and set the, now clean, barrel down. "But I don't suppose many get out of what we've all seen in one piece, let alone however many times Jane - or whoever - has."

"Hmm. I think it was really feeling Shepard - Dawn - die and the Lazarus Project that did her in. Before then, they struggled to communicate, and though Jane could see and hear what went on around Shepard, she didn't feel things." The man hands over a clean cloth when Garrus motioned silently for it. "Being awake for what Miranda did… I think it'd make anyone crazy."

Garrus flicked his unscarred mandible as he stilled and stared down at the rifle stock in his hands. The thought wasn't a good one, but it doesn't take physical torture to make one crazy. With all the hellish things the war still held for the Normandy crew, he wondered just how many more would be just as unstable as their commander. Just how many of them would be like ticking time bombs ready to be unleashed at the slightest provocation.

"I think it was…" the younger man said and Garrus looked up to his mirrored self, catching the slight fidget to the younger man's fingers as he looked over the disassembled Widow. "How did Shepard put it… 'the last straw' for Jane."

Chuckling, Garrus nodded and added what he's learned of human sayings from his own mate. "Before 'all hell broke loose and the shit hit the fan', as Jane loves to say." The man across from him laughed and nodded in agreement. "So, I have to ask. How did you miss out on the scars that never cease to attract the ladies?" he asked as he motioned to his own face, curious just how this Garrus Vakarian managed to miss a rocket becoming part of his diet.

The younger Garrus hummed and swallowed visibly. "She warned me…. She also warned me about Sidonis." Garrus didn't respond himself to that, merely clicking his mandibles against his chin.

Would've been a hell of a lot easier for me.

The man cleared his throat. "So, when I finally got to Omega, I shot him the second he said his name." Garrus watched the other's visor flick with constant readings as he adds, "Killed him for something he never even had the chance to do, because she told me he would. I still formed a team, some of the same people, some different ones. Set up in a different district."

Garrus started to reassemble his weapon, lining up the modified pieces back together. At the differences from his own past, he merely hummed and nodded. "Makes sense. Use what information you're given."

Where he just wanted to find a death worth while, this man actually went in knowing what could await him, what he had to do, and picked up the slack that was created with Liara's death. Despite Garrus' refusal to allow anyone to join his crusade for death, idiots still followed him to the point he had no choice but to take them in and try to train them in order to not get themselves killed.

A whole lot of good that did.

The younger turian seemed to relax a little at the apparent agreement to his own thinking. "I don't think she was too happy about it when I told her." He scoffed. "She hasn't been too happy about a lot of the choices I made while she was dead."

"Then she doesn't know what you had to go through, what situations laid out those choices for you."

He hummed. "No, she's just stronger than I am. Always has been. And for awhile, I hated her for it, for making me watch her die. For having to be the one to find her and take her to our enemies. For having to spend two years struggling to keep faith that it wasn't all for nothing." He paused, running a hand over his crest. "I'd like to say I did the best I could under the circumstances, but it'd be a lie. I was in pain and I was angry, so I lashed out at everything around me. Drank too much, slept with too many women, killed people I probably shouldn't have… anything to dull the pain."

"On that, we are the same." Garrus set his reassembled rifle back down. "The pain was made worse the more I saw her, the closer she'd get to me, only to disappear when I tried to touch her. She came in my dreams, spoke to me from the shadows, and it got so bad I took stims to keep myself from ever sleeping until my body just passed out from exhaustion. Those were the only times I didn't dream, because I was in a deeper level of unconsciousness."

The younger man's hum is void of judgment, the two of them one in the same in their means of coping through their pain. "How did you two meet, if you don't mind my asking?"

"I don't," Garrus said with a chuckle and shook his head at the thought. "I was on patrol on the Presidium still and, right as I was about to head to the Academy to clock out, I was approached by a diplomat. Apparently, a human woman was bothering her." He growled at the audacity. "Just by being out of place. Wanted me to run her off."

"...was she not supposed to be on the Presidium?"

"Let me ask you this first, Nassana Dantius." He lifted a brow plate at the younger man. "Did Shepard ever run into her? Did you ever get to see the kind of woman she is, or was?"

"We killed her sister, and then Thane killed her." The man rumbled deeply. "Shepard actually had a bit of a breakdown when she first met Dantius. It was the first time she had a…" he waved his hand and clicked his tongue, as if searching for the right words, "waking vision. She looked at the woman and saw how she'd die. It was before we'd met Thane."

Garrus nodded, the basics still the same. "She was the woman that wanted Jane off the Presidium."

At that, the younger turian chuffed in response, shaking his head in dismay. "Guess her life wasn't completely worthless."

"True." Rolling up his sleeve, Garrus grabbed for his tool kit. "Any more probing into my life you want to do, detective?" He smirked, finally being able to tease another C-Sec officer like Jane often did him.

Not too many of us left in my life. Strange how Jane and I now run a mercenary organization C-Sec would often look down at as 'against regulations and protocol'.

Just before opening up the panelling for his fingers' conduit, Garrus caught his younger self run his eyes over the Widow. "Your Widow's seen better days." He flicked a mandible. "Suppose you have, too."

Garrus couldn't help it, he laughed and nodded. "That obvious, is it?" He rumbled and flexed his artificial fingers, testing the connection. "That Widow has been with me since Jane gave it to me during our hunt for Saren. I took it with me to Omega, Palaven, Menae, and to every battle during the war. Now, it joins me on any contract Jane and I take on."

"Contract? You sound like Thane. Do I have 'assassin' to look forward to adding to my list of skills?" He flicked his mandible in jest, and Garrus chuckled, shrugging.

"Depends on if a job pays enough." He lifted a hand to stop the need for further explanation. "But I leave the vent climbing for someone much smaller."

"So, your wife, then?"

That, and the thought of Jane ever doing something with any amount of stealth, made Garrus laugh hard enough he had to stop his work on his arm. "You obviously don't know Jane." He snorted at the proud grin on the younger man's face and set the small electric conductor on the table. "Jane would much rather rush in and shoot or punch anything that moves, damn all consequences. If not that, she does this…" he sticks up his thumb and extends his forefinger, "thing with her hand, and expects me to be fast enough on the draw to take whoever out with surprise."

"I bet you've never let her down." The other Garrus hummed. "Vanguard. Shepard's training is Vanguard, but she likes the sniper rifle too much not to know how to be quiet when she needs to." He flicked his mandibles, tilting his head a little. "And she's been training with Thane lately."

With the mention of the drell, Jane's nervousness from upstairs flashed in Garrus' mind. He rumbled low and gave a curt nod. "Yeah. Jane didn't much train with Thane, their styles are just so different, but she often spoke with him about religion."

The other man shifted slightly, taking a glance towards the medbay for no apparent reason. "It was his suggestion. He thought that through training and meditation, he could help her get a grip on Jane. Keep things from getting even more out of control. I don't really know if it's helped or not, there's nothing to compare it to, but if it has… I'd hate to see where she'd be now if he hadn't made the offer."

"If it works, then no complaints," Garrus said as means of simplifying than actually agreeing. How would he know if any of what these people are doing is any good? He just saw one outburst and, by the looks of things, it wasn't all that 'controlled'.

"One complaint." When Garrus looked up, he saw the younger man's mandibles flare as his attention returned to himself. "Her training alone already made her hell to take down when need be. The first time I dealt with Jane in the flesh," he said, scoffing with an obvious bitterness and distaste, "she shot me before Thane got her in a choke hold." He pointed to the faint scar on his neck.

"And now this Jane can also train with Thane through Dawn," Garrus concluded, it only making sense that, if this other Shepard could see and hear through Dawn, then she - or it, or whatever the Shepard was - could learn as Dawn learned. "Sounds like a double edged sword."

"Exactly. So far we've been lucky. That incident was the worst to date." The younger turian touched the base of his skull. "She freaked out on Shepard when we let Mordin implant a device he designed out of collector tech to disrupt the seekers' ability to view us as anything but more collectors. Jane took over and tried to cut it out of her head. EDI alerted me to her odd behavior, and Thane was with me at the time…. She really wanted the tech out." He dropped his hand to the table. "When we got to her cabin, she'd locked herself in the bathroom. I could smell her blood through the door. Thane went in through the ceiling panels, I tried to talk her down, but she pulled her gun on me when EDI opened the door. She swears she didn't really mean to shoot, but I think she did. To be fair, I lunged for the gun. But still, she made this whole point about my not being 'her Garrus.'"

"You see it as she has no reason to really care about anything but Dawn breaking this cycle. Meaning you and everyone else are expendable to this Jane." Garrus growled. "And to hell with what the consequences of that are. No wonder you despise this woman, thing, in Shepard's head. So would I."

The other man's mandibles fluttered and he smirked. "Sounds about right, Detective Vakarian." Chuffing, he glanced down at his hands. "We both know I shouldn't be talking about all of this. And we both know I'm not going to shut up, either. So, hmmm, thanks." He opened and closed his fists, and Garrus let him take his time before his younger self said, "It's more than that… I think ending the cycle is all that matters to Shepard now, too. I mean, I know she cares about what happens to everyone else, too, but in the end … She doesn't want to end up like Jane, and I can't really blame her." He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Jane is - she's trying. I guess. For awhile though, she wasn't. She thought the only way to save herself was to conquer Shepard. She put the woman I love through hell. Deliberately terrorizing her. And when she does take control, it's like switching places. Shepard gets locked inside with all the others, and from what she's said, most of them are far worse off than Jane." He glanced at the medbay again. "Either way, even when she's not trying to, just being there, Jane's killing her."

Garrus understood the pull his younger self describes, in a way. Even if his own mate isn't suffering from multiple reincarnations in her mind vying for control - if that's what this Shepard really does have - Jane, too, had to fight a war not for herself or for anyone she cared for, but for the masses without faces, names, or meanings to her. How many times did Garrus just want her to fight for herself, not make the call to put herself in the line of fire for others she'd never know? How many times did Jane choose the path that'd often ended in pain in their personal lives in order to do what was best for the galaxy?

Drumming his talons on the table a moment, he thought about what Dawn Shepard had been looking for in his wife with her questions. Whether or not Jane would ever admit to even herself, reliving the war for this woman, to try and save a woman who only wanted everything to end - even if it means losing her own life - is only going to bring back the visions that haunt her dreams. Even years after the war, he must hold her in the dark hours of the night as she cries and screams over the dead.

"I don't know what Jane saw up on the Citadel when she activated the Crucible, but if I can, I'd like to try and keep her from reliving the war." He looked up to the unscarred turian across from him. "I can answer nearly everything except that, but like hell if I'll put Jane through it because she's too damn stubborn to say she can't take it."

"I honestly doubt it'll help either way. I thought it might, but after tonight …." He sighed and nodded. "I'll talk to Shepard in the morning."

"We might not think it'll help, but your Shepard hopes it does. That hope is enough to make Jane think the relapse is worth it."

The other man rumbled in agreement. "I hear you." He cleared his throat, pushing down the faint sound of a keen that he couldn't quite stifle. "So, metal arm?"

Garrus saw no reason to dwell on the pain and nodded. "How about you find us something to drink and I'll answer any questions about my beautiful physique you have."

Humming in thought, the younger Garrus motioned to the main battery. "I think I have another bottle of brandy in the main battery?"

TLADOCS

Garrus pushed himself up from the table, already chastising himself for getting so comfortable with the other turian. He needed it, though. Someone to talk to, someone not … invested. It didn't hurt he was effectively talking to himself, either. He still struggled to wrap his mind around the concept.

He made his way to the main battery, moving as quietly as he could, knowing he'd wake the batarian anyway. The overheads were dimmed for the night, the track lights leaving the room with just enough of an ambient glow for them to get to their stations in case of an emergency, but not enough to really get in the way of a solid night's sleep. Two feet into the room, and Grundan Krul rolled over, his black eyes tracking Garrus' movements in silence.

"Sorry," Garrus muttered, waving a hand at his friend. "I'll be out of here in a few seconds. Go back to sleep."

"Everything alright?" Grundan Krul yawned, exposing long rows of little, pointed teeth.

"Yeah … just looking for … ah!" Garrus pulled the bottle out from behind his cot and held it up. He rarely spent the night in the main battery anymore, but he kept a cot in there anyway, just in case. "Night."

"Night." Grundan Krul rolled back over, hiding his face in the darkness of the shadows next to the wall.

Garrus left the main battery, taking a few steps before stopping in his tracks and fluttering his mandibles. Jack sat in the spot he'd just vacated, eyeing the older turian with the devilish, amused smirk of hers plastered on her face. The turian didn't seem to be paying her any attention as he worked to calibrate the mechanics of his prosthetic arm.

Fantastic.

Garrus started moving again, the last thing anyone needed was for Jack to be left alone with either of their visitors for too long of a time. He loved her, but her people skills were seriously lacking and she had a way of finding buttons she ought not push, and then stomping them to pieces. Dawn would kill him, and then kill Jack.

He cleared his throat, drawing their attention, and flared his mandibles as he approached the table. "Jack," he said, sitting back down sideways so he could face her, "can't sleep?"

She scoffed, a derisive sound she used when she wanted to tell him he'd asked a stupid question. Still, she turned that smile of hers on him and he couldn't help but to grin right back. She knew she treaded into territory Dawn wouldn't want her in, and she didn't give a damn. It's what he'd come to love about the woman; her fuck-it-all attitude gave him perspective, helped him to relax when it felt like the weight of the galaxy rested on his shoulders, especially during the times when things with Dawn wound him up so tight he thought he might snap and fall apart completely. It defied all reason for him to be with someone as lawless and feisty as Jack, but he tried not to think about it too closely. Complicated didn't even begin to adequately describe his life, if he found a few moments of peace with the woman, why should he question it?

"Hmmm. Don't suppose you're here by accident." He flicked his mandibles and glanced at the other Garrus. "Did you ask if he minded before you sat down?"

"Fuck no. Why should I?" Her grin widened as she turned her attention back to the older turian. "I'll sit wherever the fuck I want to sit, I was on the ship first."

The grizzled turian shrugged, not really bothering to lift his gaze from his work. "You act like I've never met any version of Jack before."

"No," Garrus said, dragging the word out, "but I bet you haven't met a version of Jack who, if given half a chance, might try to sleep with you just to make the comparison between the two of us."

"Fuck off." Jack eyed the bottle in his hand, the light upturn of the corner of her mouth giving truth to his words. "You gonna open it or just talk shit?"

Spirits, but I'm glad she's here. Truth is, I probably shouldn't be alone with him either. I've already said too much. I wonder what dark thoughts are keeping her up tonight.

I shouldn't have pushed Dawn to tell them about Jane. Obviously his wife is just as much of a mess as Dawn is, in her own way, and neither of them can make it through the conversations it'd take to find the one little speck of information that might be able to help. Jane wouldn't have gotten so worked up and pushed against Dawn like she did if not for my brilliant idea.

The older turian looked up, glancing at the brandy. "She's got a point."

Garrus chuffed, flicking a mandible at the other turian. "For that, I won't offer to let you use a glass."

"Glasses are for pussies anyway, give me that." Jack grabbed for the bottle, but he pulled it out of her reach, giving her a playful growl.

"It's mine. I'll open it." Garrus popped open the top and took a swig. "You know it's not going to do much for you, even if it doesn't make you sick."

She snatched the bottle from him and shrugged. "I'd say go get my bottle from Shepard's cabin … but I heard everything when EDI called Mordin up earlier." Staring at the collector in the tech labs became one of Jack's favorite pastimes when she couldn't sleep. It didn't seem to bother Mordin, so long as she didn't start touching his things, and she said it helped her think. "I'm out downstairs right now, so whatever." She put the bottle to her lips, tilting her head back to take a swallow before holding it out to the other turian.

"Hmmm. There may not be much left in your bottle upstairs, either." Garrus fluttered his mandibles. "Shepard and his wife," he said, tilting his head toward the other turian, "broke into it after they killed the rum."

"Damn." Jack sneered, but then just as suddenly it shifted into a pleased grin and she snickered. "Dr. Chakwas is going to be pissed."

Garrus chuckled and nodded, he couldn't argue. Dr. Chakwas had been on Dawn for a while about her alcohol and caffeine intake. She'd definitely gone over even the idea of a limit up in her cabin.

The older Garrus took the bottle from her and knocked back a drink before stopping to look over his shoulder toward the hall. "You're supposed to be asleep."

Garrus turned to look in the same direction, hearing the door to the observation slide shut. He hummed and glanced at Jack.

"I had to piss," Jane V.—as Dawn dubbed the other woman—appeared around the corner, her words cutting off before a look of pleasant surprise lifted her eyebrows. "Jack!" She grinned and shrugged, chuckling. "Well, a Jack."

"Not Shepard!" Jack smirked, adding just as much enthusiasm to the statement, and Garrus shook his head. "You drank my vodka."

"Damn." Jane V. walked over to the table and dropped down heavily on the bench beside her husband. "And I didn't bring the rest down here."

"Fucking bitch." Jack's smile widened, her tone light and playful. "I already don't like you."

The grin on Jack's face and the older turian's earlier words were the only thing keeping Garrus from groaning in dismay. The other Garrus was right, no point in trying to protect them from the antics of a woman they'd both already known for years.

"And now I can't sleep tonight." Jane V., to her credit, picked right up on what must've been a familiar game with her Jack, splaying her fingers out over her chest and pouting her lip. "Oh, Garrus, hold me." She leaned against her husband.

Garrus chuckled, letting his gaze drift over the couple before settling on the older turian's metal arm. He supposed it'd no longer be appropriate to ask about the prosthesis, he didn't want to create waves with the other turian by distressing his wife. He cleared his throat a little, turning his attention back to Jack. Looping his finger through the strap around her chest, he tugged, urging her to come a little closer. "If it makes a difference, Shepard made sure they didn't disgrace your alcohol by pouring it into glasses."

"Because she knows I'd kick her ass." Jack turned, sliding closer between his knees and leaned her back against his chest.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, and breathed in the pervasive scent of a storm rolling in; she always smelled of rain and a fresh lightning strike to him. He figured her constant use of her exceptionally strong biotics created the smell, but it didn't really matter, it was her scent and exactly what he needed.

Jane V. gave Jack a solemn nod, as if showing complete respect for the vodka before she looked down at her husband's handiwork. Slipping the slender electric probe from his hand, she tossed it on the table. "No more 'calibrating.'" She grinned and motioned for the bottle. "Drink!"

"I liked you better when you were asleep." He smiled as he glanced at her, giving Garrus a firsthand view of what he must look like to everyone else when he looked at Dawn or Jack. Everything about the gruff, older turian's body language proclaimed Jane V. as his mate, and one whom he dearly loved.

His wife snorted. "I like you better when you're in bed, but we can't all have what we want."

Jack tilted her head back to meet Garrus' gaze and rolled her eyes, mouthing the word 'gross'. He laughed, and ran his hand over the top of her buzzed head before pressing his mouth to her hairline. She reached up and gave his mandible a light, playful jerk before turning her attention back to the other couple.

"So, if you're not going to drink it, give it back." Jack pushed herself back up, slipping away from him as she cocked her eyebrow at the other two.

The older Garrus took a drink before passing the bottle back to Jack. Garrus assumed he was all too happy to hand it over to the biotic as opposed to his already intoxicated wife. Jack grinned, taking a heavy swallow before offering it to him.

"So, did you tell them about your time you let a gunship blow its load on your face?" Jane V. smiled, patting her husband's scarred face.

Jack snorted, her gaze shifting between the other two, her expression giving way to her awe at their existence even if she'd never admit to anything of the sort.

The other turian flicked his mandible against his wife's palm. "Not quite so eloquently."

Garrus hummed. "I've heard the story. Well, Shepard's version of the story. Notice the lack of gunship 'load blowing' scars on my face."

"No shit? She told them?" Jack arched her eyebrows.

Garrus nodded, a quick jerk of his head. "I asked her to, I thought it might help. Hmm, I might've been wrong. I think it made things worse."

"Shut up," Jack said, elbowing him in his abdomen, making a thumping sound against his armor. "Shepard's fine. You know she's got this." Turning her attention back to Jane V., she tilted her head back, lifting her chin. "I want to hear the story."

He rumbled, grabbing her arm before she could pull it away again and looped his hand with hers. He knew she wouldn't leave it there for long, she never did. It didn't bother him; much. Even though she'd developed feelings for him, and told him as much, expressing them openly always seemed like a huge struggle for her. Especially around other people. He just felt grateful for her presence, and her show of support; for both him and Dawn.

Jane V. chuckled, glancing between the two turians. "That's no fun, Garr—other Garrus. You, Garrus." She pointed at him before looking at Jack, pulling a soft chuckle from him. "You know the whole 'vigilante on Omega' story, right? Or did he not do that?" She waved her hand at him.

"Yeah, he rocked Omega. And?" Jack quirked an eyebrow.

Garrus chuckled, shaking his head at the childish behavior from both women. He glanced at the older version of himself, trying to get a feel for where he stood in their current situation, having their quiet, private conversation hijacked by the two women. It relaxed him a little to see the older turian seemed comfortable, even happy with his wife's change of pace. It definitely made Garrus happy to see the tension in Dawn's cabin didn't completely damage the awkward yet peaceful relationship they'd established with the other couple.

"This one!" Jane V. glared over at her husband. "Was an idiot and pissed off all the merc bands. Enough that they all wanted him dead bad enough to team up. Fucking idiot."

Garrus hummed softly, squirming a little in his seat as he fought back the inexplicable urge to defend the actions of his older self. After all, if not for Dawn's warning, he'd likely have found himself in exactly the same spot and paid exactly the same price.

Seemingly unbothered by her ire, the other turian shrugged. "Managed to take out the Eclipse and Blood Pack until the Blue Suns bastard had a gunship."

"Fuck yeah!" Jack grinned. "That's badass." She freed her hand from Garrus' and took the bottle from his other hand, knocking back a drink before passing it to the other turian. "I'll drink to that shit."

He accepted the bottle from Jack and took a drink before handing it right back. His wife cocked an eyebrow at him, but didn't say anything. Garrus figured she'd realized the same thing he did a moment before—her husband didn't intend to make it easy for her to drink anything else for the night.

"Any more stories you want to tell them?" The older turian chuckled, his attention on his wife.

"Tell me about the other me. Shit's trippy," Jack spoke up before Jane V. could answer. "I love hearing that shit from Shepard."

"Huh," Jane V. said, scratching at her jaw. "I don't know how far to tell you without 'messing up the timeline' or some such shit …."

"You two initially didn't get along. At. All." The older turian offered, glancing at Garrus.

"Us two?" Jack asked, motioning between herself and the older turian, before doing the same to his wife. "Or us two? Because really, I can see it both ways."

"I don't think the timeline is going to be much of an issue in our case … hell, I think it might be half the point for Shepard." Garrus flicked his mandible.

Jane V. snorted. "Garrus was such a recluse he wasn't even around enough to make enemies." She grinned and shook her head. "Nah, you—well, that you—and I were in a pissing match of who had the biggest biotic dick or something. Can't quite remember."

"Shit, sounds like an easy enough argument to solve." Jack grinned. "I do."

"It all seemed to work itself out after I touched her boob." Jane V. laughed.

"Yeah, fuck that shit." Jack raised an eyebrow. "You touch my tits and I'm taking your hand off."

"Jack." Garrus rumbled in warning at her.

"Fuck you, too. Shut up." She waved him off. "She knows me well enough to know when I'm bullshitting her." Jack glanced back at Jane V. "Right?" She lifted an eyebrow, but Garrus could see the hint of challenge behind it.

He rumbled at her again and she sucked on her teeth, rolling her eyes at him.

She laid a hand on his knee. "Relax, shit."

Leaning over he nipped at her bare shoulder and she smiled, shrugging him off before wrapping a hand around his head to pull him to her and kissed him. She grinned and gave his cheek a light slap, barely hard enough for him to feel through his plates. He smirked, fighting to keep his mind from wandering to the things he wanted to do to her. For Jack, a light slap equated to foreplay, and he saw the spark in her eye telling him she knew exactly the effect she had on him.

Jane V. shrugged and shifted to lean her back on her husband's side, pulling a leg up on the bench. "I don't see any reason for dominance plays. I'm not your commander, so I couldn't give two shits whether you follow orders." She chuckled. "So, I'll only touch your tits if you ask nicely," she finished with a smirk.

Jack snorted. "Now you sound like Shepard." She leaned forward against the table. "So … you touch people's tits to get them to follow orders?" Arching her eyebrows, she glanced back and forth between the married couple. "It's got to be against regs, right? Even Cerberus regs."

Both Jane V. and her husband shifted to look at each other before laughing. Garrus chuckled and shook his head, but Jack continued to stare at the other couple with a brow raised waiting for an answer.

Jane V. stifled her laughter. "Fuck regs. Regs say things like 'don't have sex in the conference room', but we did that, too."

Jack grinned, turning her gaze to Garrus, and he flicked his mandibles. He made a mental note to remember to thank his older counterpart later. No way was Jack going to leave it alone until they 'fucked' in the comm room now.

"So, just you two, then?" She asked, nodding toward the two of them.

Garrus hummed, taking the bottle from her and taking a heavy swallow before passing it to the other Garrus. "Not our business, Jack."

Jane V. sobered up and nodded, laying an arm on the table as her husband took a drink. "Trust was, and still is hard for me, so yeah. It's just him." She glanced up at the older turian. "And you?"

He shrugged, as if the question didn't really warrant an answer, but he gave her one anyway. "I don't really have a reason. Just you."

"Lame." Jack propped an elbow up on the table and rested her chin on her palm, apparently bored with the conversation.

"So … hmmm." Garrus shifted a little, buying himself time to think of something a little less awkward to talk about. "Your Jack work at Grissom Academy?"

The older Garrus took another drink before handing Jack the bottle. "Yes. And she and I have a running competition on whose arm is better." He moved his prosthetic arm, rotating it until it caught Jack's attention.

She frowned. "No. You're fucking with me, right?"

Jane V. shook her head. "You saved your kids. That's all that mattered to you."

Jack narrowed her eyes, clearly not buying the sentimental aspects of the story. "Fuck's sake. Does it fuck with my biotics?"

"No," Jane V. said with a smirk. "You're still kicking ass and taking names, Jack."

"Damn right." Jack turned her gaze back to the older turian's prosthetic arm and nodded at him. "How the hell did that happen, anyway?"

"I tried to play catch with a Mako," The older Garrus said as if it were the most mundane thing to ever happen, closing the panel on the metal forearm.

His wife snorted.

"I take it Jane V. was driving?" Garrus asked, flicking his mandible.

Ah, the good old days with Shepard behind the wheel of the Mako. Thank the Spirits for Cerberus shuttles.

"Hey now." Jane V. waggled a finger at him, chuckling. "For once, it wasn't me."

"Hmmm." Garrus fluttered his mandibles and shrugged. "I figured it must be one of those things not even an alternate universe can change about a Shepard."

"Lucky us." The grizzled turian's voice remained flat, lacking even a hint of humor.

By his side, his wife pouted, elbowing him in the ribs. "Ass," she muttered, just barely loud enough to be heard.

He leaned over, butting the plates of his forehead against hers. She smiled, cupping his cheek in her hand.

Jack let out a loud breath. "Fuck. I'm tired." She pulled herself up from the table, grabbing the bottle for one last swig before setting it down. Leaning over, she took Garrus' hand and tugged, tilting her head back toward the elevator. "Walk me down?"

He smiled and nodded, standing up and glancing back at the couple, breaking their affectionate moment. "If you two need anything, have EDI let me know. Shepard should be out for at least a couple of hours, but with as late as it is, she'll probably sleep through the night."

"Actually," Jane V. said as she stood, picking up her husband's Widow and leaning it on her shoulder with a smirk, "I think it's time we make sure Tali and Kal'Reegar will need to decontaminate that bed when they come back." She nudged her husband—already in the process of standing himself—and he grabbed his toolkit.

Garrus chuffed. "I'm sure they would've anyway, but thanks for that imagery." He turned when Jack started to pull on him and took a few steps. "It's not like it's at all awkward considering," he said, glancing back over his shoulder to nod his head at the older version of himself, "we probably share identical DNA." He chuckled. "Have a good night."

Jack turned, walking backwards long enough to lift a hand in a half wave.