Authors Notes:

HOLY BALLS, IT'S ME. Sorry for taking so long with this. I promise I'm not dead ;; I'm going to try and get back into the swing of things, so bare with me! 3

-Feary

Chapter 11

Eyes open wide and he has no idea where he's at. His neck and back feels sore but not as much as his head, aching with every motion. Garrus sat up slowly, growling at his aching head while placing a free hand apon it, the covers slid off his scaled chest. He opened his eyes as a bright blurring haze surrounded the room he was in, as the haze started to clear, he could feel something warm hugging his bone riddled waist. He looked over to that side of the bed he was in as his haze started to focus on the warm object. He positively exhaled as he realized it was Shepard, lying there with her arm around him. She was fast asleep with a small smile on her face, hair like fire scattered around her pillow. He didn't want to wake her so he gently scooted out of the covers while at the same time pulling them back over his loved one so she felt more comfortable.

After he was out of bed, he brushed her hair back with his fingers and placed a light kiss on her forehead. He just remembered he had to reconfigure her armor for her and there wasn't a lot of time until they arrived on Tachunka. He went over to her locker and silently grabbed her breast plate and some tools plus a holo pad for material requests.

She hardly stirred as he left the bed, the warm blankets soothing her right back to sleep as she instantly moved toward the warm spot he had left in the bed. A soft sigh left her, but she was still beyond deep sleep, so much that not even the tinkering of Garrus's tools seemed to bother her.

Shepard's desk soon became a workbench from all of his tinkering. He would have done it in the armory but he wouldn't want the crew to find out what he was doing. All the supply requests were delivered by EDI and the help of Kasumi and her cloaking ability as well. After a good while Garrus finally finished to what he believed would not only be comfortable for her but also hide the baby. For while he was tinkering, Kasumi offered to supply a part that would camouflage the baby as it grew. She however mentioned to him to keep track of the babies growth so that we know the aproximate measurement between the stomach and objects like tables or chairs when she's walking or sitting down, because all it would take would be a slight shield ripple from rubbing against something for the cloak to vanish. Garrus felt confident about this new upgrade. But it would mean that the only time she could take her armor off was in her bedroom. The rest of the upgrades consisted of a flexible plated mesh that stretched when the abdomen got bigger as well as back bionics to help not only maintain the weight of the baby but to support all of whatever Wrex was willing to dish out. With that he placed the breastplate armor on the desk and continued to look up on the data pad information on Cerberus through the C-SEC archives. He didn't like the fact of going in blind. Situations like this are what risks his family s and crew. It would give him something to do until his lover woke up.

Time moved so quickly when one was asleep, that hours seemed like only minutes. She was vaguely aware of what happened, remembering Garrus had been drunk, and she was researching, but after that her mind fuzzed over. A small yawn left her as she sat up slowly, running her hands through her now messy hair. Blue green eyes wandered her room, finding Garrus sitting at her desk with his face glued to a data pad. She covered her giggle with her hand as she swung her legs from her bed and quietly padded over to where he sat. From behind him, her arms gently draped around his shoulders, her soft lips gently smooching his cheek as she turned her gaze to the datapad. "Whatcha lookin' at?" She asked with a perk of her brow.

Garrus was so glued into the data pad that he almost didn't notice her getting out of bed. But his attention changed really quickly at her full embrace around his neck and the kiss on his cheek bone. He chuckled slightly at her curiously as he moved the seat over and lifted the data pad closer to her view. "Hehe, Nothing much love, just the normal poking into bad guys business to find out what there hiding under the bed. So far all I've found was that there hiding it in a different spot. Nothing but empty space where stuff should be. But we at least have the advantage of the lights turned off so they can't see if we're there or not. And Cerberus has been Black ever since your tangle with the Illusive Man."

She scanned the datapad as he turned it for her to view, and nodded slightly as he spoke. A flicker of stress crossed her features however she was quick to mask it with a smile. "Seems fishy to me. Nothing is ever this quiet, but it never takes too long to scare them out of their hiding holes and dig up what they've been doing." She murmured quietly as her gaze turned to the desk. It was a little messy, but she didn't seem to care too much.

He looked at her and then took a brief look at her desk. He had totally forgot he had made it a mess from his tinkering. "Hehe..Eeh..Uh.. Sorry about the desk Shepard! I didn't know it was this messy. I will clean it up right away."

"Oh don't worry about it, doesn't seem to be much use to me at the moment anyways." She chuckled, placing her hand over her enlarging belly before leaning over to place another kiss to his cheek.

"Commander, Joker has asked me to alert you about Tuchanka's upcoming approach. We will be in orbit momentarily. I highly suggest you suit up and meet with Vega and Cortez, they have the shuttle prepared and on standby."

EDI's voice seemed to echo in the room, and Shepard hardly flinched. "Thanks EDI." She replied casually as she carefully unwound from Garrus and moved over to her locker where her Armor was stored. "Might need some assistance." She chuckled, turning her gaze to him.

Garrus picked up the breast plate armor that he was working on from the side of the desk and started to walk over to were she stood. "Heh... More then willing, Shepard. I hope the modifications I have made to your armor are comfortable if braces need to be tightened or loosened just let me know and I will adjust them for you."

He unshackled the plates for each piece of armor and started to help her with putting on the airtight under-mesh and the black, red, and white plates, carefully fastening in each clip from boot to neck with a little playful poking in ticklish spots here and there. She would giggle and playfully pushed his hands away from the spots as he did so. After a good 10 minutes she was all suited up.

"Ah one more thing Shepard." He walked over to her side where her Shield Generator was and activated it. Once he did that, the slight bulge that resembled her baby belly disappeared in a blue haze as it cleared. There she stood looking strong abed as ever. "That worked a lot better then expected. You can thank Kasumi for that little upgrade. It works rather well. As long as your shields are active, it will stay cloaked." He continued to let her in on the mods and what they did. All about the positives and negatives of the armor. He then waited as she looked into the mirror at herself, inspected the armor and waited for a response on her opinion of his work.

"I'm sure they'll be more then impressive." She chuckled as he set to work helping her strap the armor into place. She was still giggling when the shield popped up, and suddenly her brows both lifted. "Oh! Well isn't that interesting." She grinned, moving her hand over where she knew the baby bump was. She then watched as the shield shimmered slightly. "I take it I will need to make precautions as to not accidentally bump into something." She grinned, inspecting the armor within the mirror.

It was just like in the old days, a little more scratched up, but still hers. "This is fantastic, dear. Thank you." She grinned, standing to her tiptoes to give him a kiss. "Now, its your turn to suit up, Mr. Vakarian." She smirked, moving around to close her locker, and open his up.

Laying within, just as blue as the day she first saw it, was his armor, definitely still scarred up, but who didn't totally dig scars? Casually, she moved about, helping him just as he had helped her, and soon enough they were both fully suited up, excluding their helms, which she handed to him after tucking her own under her arm. "Ready to go scars?"

He grabbed the helmet and tucked it under his arm as well. "Hehe! Kinda catchy when you say it. Sounds a lot better in your voice then Vegas." They both headed to the elevator as Shepard requested it to go to the Hanger Bay. Both holding hands, helmets tucked under the opposite arms they went to separate lockers outside the doors once the opened up revealing the shuttle all prepped and ready to go, And Vega next to his work bench.

"I'm sure it does." She giggled slightly as they approached the elevator. The ride was quiet, but pleasant, especially with his hand in hers. She practically borrowed from his strength as she managed to not fidget nervously as her body wanted. It wasn't every day to meet up with a Krogan or two that have been there from the start of things. What if he didn't believe it was really her? So many of these things ran through her mind that she almost didn't hear Vega at first.

"Got a little present for you Scars! It's in your weapons locker before you and Shep take off! You too Commander!"

He opened his locker up to find a sniper rifle, new in model with combined mechanics Turian and Human. Latest Model for the Aliance Special Forces and tactics groups. Garrus knodded in approval with a very pleased look in his eyes at Vega and Vega gestured the same back as he folded it up and equiped it to his back. Garrus did the same as well to his Classic Lancer and a Hand Blaster. Once he was all geard up, he notices that Shepard had arsenaled up as well.

Quickly shaking her head to clear the thoughts she put on a grin and headed for her locker. As she pulled it open, her brows lifted with excitement as she pulled out a M-76 Revenant model V. After inspecting it, she found it fully armed to the teeth and equipped with a high level heat-sink. Without hesitation, it was strapped to her back as she moved around in the locker to find many of her older weapons. Quickly she pulled out her M-9 Tempest Sub-machine Gun, and her favorite M-6 Carnifex Pistol, each strapped into her gear.

"Looks like we're all set. Ready to go meet up with Wrex? He said as he placed his helmet on his head and air locked it sealed.

As she closed her locker, she turned to face Vega with a grin. "Thanks Muscles, I'll put it to good use." She chuckled as she turned to Garrus. and scooped up her helm from the bench. "You bet, lets just hope he asks questions first." She gave him a cocky grin before pulling her helm over her face and locking it in. The hiss of air could be heard as the air seals closed, and her visor immediately displayed her ammo capacity as well as her current health status and shield generators.

Without another word she headed for the shuttle, fully aware of Garrus right behind her as she carefully climbed into the blue car. Once she and Garrus were settled she tapped her data pad. "EDI, are you going to be accompanying us today?"

It seemed just as she had finished her sentence, EDI was at the door of the shuttle. "Indeed I am commander." She seemed to have a cocky grin on her mechanical features, and this had Shepard chuckling. EDI took her place, a hand on the hand rails while she stood.

Shepard's fist quickly tapped the metal hub of the shuttle, alerting to Cortez that they were in and ready to depart.