Story Notes

Well, this story is complete. I'm just uploading everything periodically. It measured out in the end to be nine chapters.

Guest: Y U NO SIGN IN. D: But thank you.

These days, Garrus spent more time in EDI's chair then anywhere else on the ship. Where Shepard had mostly trusted the direction of the ship's navigation to Joker and EDI, Garrus wasn't even sure what to do. Shepard had spent more time talking with her crew, motivating them and protecting them, giving them sound advice, then she had ever spent in the CIC or the cockpit. Garrus was not that type. So, when Joker actually asked him for help, Garrus was more than happy to assist. But he did look at him quizzically at first.

"Joker," he rumbled. "Didn't you used to do this all the time? Keep scans?"

Joker shrugged quietly. "I did. But I feel like I should focus on flying the ship. We just did the repairs, but I still have to be... kinda careful." Garrus got the feeling from watching the man that it was more than that. Joker had really taken a hit from all of this. He had lost both the love of his life, EDI, and the commander he adored, Shepard, all in the same day. The turian could understand that. The only thing left of EDI was her empty shell, now housed in the AI Core, with the vain hope that perhaps someday, they may be able to repair the Reaper parts within her that got fried. But even Joker probably realized that EDI would never be the same again, even if they tried that.

Garrus also just assumed that he wanted some company. He didn't mind; it gave him something to do, more than just brooding and pacing the ship nervously. Now that they were off Eden Prime and travelling, Garrus was afraid of doing just that.

So, there he was, keeping a look out for fuel depots on the edge of the Exodus Cluster, with Joker flying silently beside him. He glanced over at Joker periodically, but Joker seemed to keep the same frown on his face. So, Garrus waited, examining the stars closely, until the inevitable moment that Joker commented.

"So. I've got a question for you."

Garrus swiped a screen off of his display with one talon. "Yeah?"

"What the hell are we supposed to call you now?"

Garrus looked over at Joker in confusion. "Uh... Garrus?"

Joker shot him a dirty look. "You know what I mean. It's the military on this ship, despite half of us not being Alliance."

"Oh." Well, of course Garrus had realized that, but honestly... he hadn't had some miraculous promotion. He was just doing his part on the ship. He shrugged. "I don't know, Joker. I'm not a part of the Alliance. I'm just doing a favour for Hackett. Why... what's the minimum rank for running your own ship in the Alliance?"

"Commander."

Garrus' jaw tightened. "I see."

Joker looked over him carefully. Garrus could feel his eyes on him. It was a short pause before Garrus spoke again, but it felt like an eternity. "Let's not call me Commander."

Joker laughed bitterly. "Yeah. Let's not."

Garrus' mandibles tightened for a moment, before he let them loose to speak again. "How about whatever feels comfortable? You've called me Garrus for so long... just stick with it."

"I guess." Joker paused for a moment, and then looked at Garrus. "So... do you have any plans to maybe try to keep the Normandy?"

Garrus looked baffled. "What? It's an Alliance ship. How the hell could I?" Garrus asked him.

Joker shrugged. "Lots has changed around the galaxy, Garrus. I think we're going to see a lot more cross-species interaction. Shepard made sure of that."

Garrus saw Joker look him over, but Garrus kept stoic. "Maybe, Joker. But I doubt it. That doesn't seem like more than several years down the line... by then I'll be retired out of my own hierarchy, let alone transferring to the Alliance."

Joker paused for a moment and blinked. "Wait. How old are you?"

Garrus laughed a little. "We don't live very long past a hundred and fifty. I'm a relatively young turian... probably no more than about thirty by your standards."

Joker managed to put on a small grin. "That didn't answer my question."

Garrus smirked back. "Well. I went into the military at fifteen for my mandatory years of service. I came out at thirty. I worked for C-Sec for five years, before I joined the Normandy crew. You do the math."

Joker whistled. "Nearly forty years old. Not doing bad at all. Most humans your age are lingering at Captain, not saving the galaxy from the biggest threat against organics in history."

Garrus laughed. "And most pilots your age aren't flying into no-man's land through battlezones, making sure that the entire crew makes it out alive. What does that say about you?"

"That I'm a damn good pilot."

"Well, I'm a damn good law enforcer."

Joker grinned. "Garrus, you're a shitty law enforcer. That's why you left the cop squad."

Garrus grinned wickedly back. "True. I won't deny that."

After that exchange, they sat in silence for a while. Garrus looked over some monitors. Joker looked over some monitors. But finally, Joker spoke again.

"Garrus... can I ask you something?"

Garrus looked over at Joker. "Sure."

"Do you think she knew... what would happen?"

Garrus frowned. He assumed they were back to talking about Shepard. Who else would they be talking about? But he didn't know what the hell Joker was talking about. "About what?"

"About... what would happen, when she fired the Crucible."

Garrus stayed silent, before he finally broke out into a sigh. "I... don't know if she knew all of the repercussions. But... she had her orders. Destroy the Reapers. That was what the Crucible was meant to do."

"But... Garrus, it wiped out more than that... it took out the geth... it took out..." Garrus watched Joker choke a little on his words, stopping.

"Yeah... I... I don't know, Joker. Maybe it was programmed to take out anything that possessed Reaper code." Garrus said, trying to stay calm. But he knew that look on Joker's face. It was the same look that Garrus had felt in his heart. He tried not to let it affect him. "None of us knew what would happen when she fired that device. None of us knew what kind of damage it could do. All we knew was that we had a chance to save the galaxy... and she took it."

Joker nodded quietly. "It was for the best... I guess."

Garrus glanced at Joker with worry. "How are you holding up?"

"Terribly." Joker said in his bitterly sarcastic manner. "Not having her here in the cockpit with me, not having her to talk to while she did scans... not having her here to laugh at my jokes... or try to tell her own... she was becoming her own person, Garrus. And I loved her."

Garrus wasn't good with this sort of crap. He looked to the side, glancing at the monitors, trying desperately to put some thoughts into his head that were more than a rough grunt of affirmation. He took a pause, before he said, "Well... no. Joker... you still love her. You'll... always love her, whether she's there with you or not." Garrus stared at the monitor, completely lost. "And... who knows... maybe only the Reaper code was destroyed. Maybe when you get her back to Earth..."

Joker shook his head violently. "But that's not EDI! It won't be EDI anymore!"

Garrus looked back at him. "Was she EDI before she inputted the Reaper IFF into her systems?"

Joker stared at him for a moment, and then bowed his head. "Yes..." He mumbled finally.

"Then maybe she can become EDI again."

Joker calmly nodded, and then looked back at him. "Christ, you're almost as good to talk to as the Commander. She teach you some of her tricks or something?"

Garrus' brow twitched upwards a little. "Ja-" He stopped, hoping that Joker hadn't caught his near slip. But, of course, the young pilot raised an eyebrow. "Shepard mostly conducted her business through being natural. She tried to make friends with people, tried to make the ship a giant family of... souls. People. Not just human or AI or anything, but just... beings. I'm... just trying to emulate that a bit."

Joker stayed silent for a long time, and then looked out the windows at the starry void. "I almost forgot... about you two."

Garrus' mandibles twitched upwards... the closest to a smile that the turian was going to get to. "It's easy to do that. We didn't exactly make it open like Donelly and Daniels do."

Joker raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Ashamed?"

Garrus paused for a long moment. "No. Never. I mean, we started out as just... I guess friends who really needed to blow off steam, but it just... became something more. I don't think she was ever ashamed of it. She was used to it; she used to be involved with Liara, after all."

Joker scoffed. "What person hasn't laid an asari at some point?"

Garrus had to keep his jaw shut to stop his laughter. "Joker, that's terrible."

"Have you seen how many exotic dancers they have?"

"Joker..."

"Alright, alright. Anyway... go on."

"I wasn't ashamed either. We just had our focuses, and though we did... though we love each other, we both had our duty first. I had to make sure my emotions didn't get in the way of protecting her, and she had to make sure that my stupidity didn't get in the way of her mission."

Joker laughed. "I guess that was hard to do. We all know what the Commander's like."

Garrus smiled weakly. He remembered vividly. Shepard had the expertise of an infiltrator, that was what her speciality was. She was known for getting into a place and getting the job done swiftly and silently. Unfortunately, there was a lot of situations where Garrus wondered if she hadn't gotten her reputation based on sheer, dumb luck. There were plenty of times where he had shot a Husk off of her back, or where his heart had stopped when he saw a Brute charging towards her and she practically played with it like it was a match against a thresher maw. She also thought of the stupidest plans, but they more often than not, worked. She was a good person, but she had been a major headache at times. He was sure thought that she had thought his disregard of the rules to be an insult. There had been plenty of times when they first met that he had voiced his opinion of bureaucracy rather vividly, and Shepard had been there to argue with him, saying that going too far away from the rules made them no different from Saren. In fact, Garrus didn't think he had seen her make a choice that didn't follow the law book. Granted, she was smart. She followed the rules, to the letter... but that didn't mean that she didn't dodge the rules every so often. Shepard had been great at finding loopholes, and when she knew Garrus was to be trusted, she often exploited those loopholes like a volus merchant, all the while giving him a wink.

"Stubborn, courageous, crafty, kindhearted, and quite frankly a simple sort of woman." Garrus commented back.

Joker looked at him for a moment, and grinned. "Yeah. I guess that about sums it up." He commented, and then he leaned over slightly to look at Garrus' screen.

"Garrus, you're terrible at this navigation thing. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Huh?" Garrus blinked in confusion, staring up at his monitor, where he could clearly see the ping of a recorded fuel depot. "... oh. Sorry, Joker."

"Pay attention Lover-Boy, or I'll have to tell the Commander."

Garrus looked indignant. "Lover-What?"

"You heard me."

"Shut up Joker."

"Yes sir."

Chapter Notes

- This chapter has inspired me to write a story at some point about Joker and EDI. We'll see what happens. I like happy stories.

- Songs

Absolutely nothing.