Over the next week, Casey fell into a routine on Purgatory. She woke up and went to breakfast, where she tried to bring 'dangerous prisoners' into the conversation as often as possible. She had attempted to sit with different people for the first few days: the idea being to question as many prisoners as possible. However it soon became clear that prisoners in Purgatory weren't too keen on answering questions posed by people they didn't know, and so Casey soon moved back to her original table: with the Salarian: Dahlian, the blonde human: Emily, and the black haired human: Toni.

After breakfast, Casey went to do her work detail: back breaking labour, that required a lot of attention and so didn't leave much time to ask questions. Casey focused, instead, on attempting to listen in on the guards conversations, often seating herself as close to them as possible. After work detail, Casey hit the showers. Miranda was in isolation for a week, but so was Eileena, and so Casey at least didn't have to worry about being propositioned in the showers: the other inmates seemed to be giving her an even wider berth than usual, except for her little group. At the end of the day, Casey returned to her room, where Garrus put the bug on the surveillance cameras which allowed him to climb into bed beside her. Unfortunately, Casey was so exhausted at the end of each day, that it was all she could do to give him a kiss good night before falling into a deep sleep.

When Casey woke up that morning, however, something was different. She knew Garrus had left in the night: he always did eventually, but he was usually there when she woke up, and this morning he wasn't. She got dressed quickly and waited by her door, unable to know just how late he was due to having no method of telling the time. Eventually she heard the door lock click, and as it swung open she sighed, "I was starting to worry."

But the face that met hers, while Turian, was not Garrus. The strange Turian raised an eyebrow, "well thanks sweetheart, but I'm here now."

Casey felt her heart begin to hammer, "Where's Gar…Vakarian? The guy who usually guards me?"

The Turian still looked a little suspicious, but replied, "Got hurt this morning restraining a prisoner, he's sleeping it off in the hospital wing."

Casey's heart stopped hammering, in fact it felt like it had stopped beating at all. She was desperate to ask how Garrus was, but she knew it would look far too suspicious if she looked like she cared about her guard too much. He said he was 'sleeping it off', that must mean he's ok, she thought hopefully. Casey nodded at the Turian, and allowed him to lead her to breakfast.

She was the last one into breakfast, but the group she usually sat with had saved her a seat. She wondered if she should be calling them her 'friends' now, seeing as how they were the only ones who seemed willing to spend time in her company. And she knew their crimes too, although she almost wished she didn't. None of them seemed to have done anything particularly horrible, definitely not worth being amongst criminals like Eileena. The two humans, Emily and Toni had both killed their abusive partners in self-defence, and stolen their money. Unfortunately for them, their husbands had been powerful, with associates powerful enough to ensure the women spent the rest of their lives in the prison. Dahlian, the Salarian, was a master thief, who, like the others, had stolen from the wrong people. It made it worse knowing that these women were not heartless killers, that they all regretted their crimes, because Casey knew that one day soon she would leave this place, and they would have to stay.

"New guard?" Dahlian asked as Casey sat down.

Casey nodded, and Toni and Emily looked over at the Turian. A sudden emotion flooded Toni's face, and the guard, who had glanced over, seemed to hold her gaze for a little too long. Toni broke first, looking down into her breakfast.

"What?" Casey asked, momentarily forgetting the thoughts of Garrus which had been consuming her.

"Nothing," Toni replied gruffly.

But Emily looked stern, "Is that Tiberius?" She asked, and Toni nodded.

"Who?" Casey asked, beginning to feel frustrated as a look of comprehension appeared on Dahlian's face.

"Your new muscle, he used to guard Toni," Emily said.

"And?" Casey asked, already feeling where this might be going.

No one answered for a long time, but finally it was Toni who spoke. "Just, be careful. Most of the guards, they'll take advantage if they get the chance, but him…he's something else. Dangerous, and stupider than a box of hammers. He loves any kind of glory, and he doesn't think about consequences, he just acts. You better hope your guard comes back soon." And with that she got to her feet, allowing her own guard to lead her to work detail.

"He was her first guard," Dahlian explained. "I'm sure what she's saying is true, but you have to understand that he was the first one she experienced, the one who made her realise that this was her new life. She's always going to think he's the worst of them all."

But as Casey glanced over at Tiberius again, noticing his eyes hadn't left her since Toni left, she wasn't sure how much she believed these words of comfort.

Casey hadn't seen Thane since processing, and so when she saw that he was part of the male group assigned to her area in the work detail, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. True, they were still separated by a red line along the ground, but with Miranda in solitary confinement, and Garrus in the hospital wing, Casey longed for a familiar face. She saw Grunt standing with the other guards along the wall. He looked at her, and gave a subtle wink. Casey knew that was a risk, he was meant to look as though he'd never seen her before, but she felt as though she took that wink and locked it up inside her: it was a sign that there was someone around today who knew who she really was, and wanted her to know they were there. It made her feel good.

Casey took a seat at the table closest to the line, and Thane did the same. When they had begun, Casey hissed, "hi."

He did not reply at first, perhaps checking that the coast was clear, but eventually she heard his silky voice reply in what was barely a whisper: "hello."

"How's it going?" She asked, attempting to keep her eyes on the circuit board she was supposed to be building.

"Well enough, though I have yet to find any solid information regarding Jack's whereabouts."

"Same here."

"Are you well?" He asked.

Casey could not reply at first. She wanted to say yes, that she was fine, but in reality that wasn't how she felt. She was frightened, tired, and so alone. Even with Garrus there at night, the rest of the time he had to act as though he couldn't stand her, and though Casey was used to being lonely, she was not used to being surrounded by those who looked at her with both fear and anger.

"I'm….fine. Tired." She replied, in a voice even she did not believe.

Thane looked up from his work, and Casey did the same. He looked into her eyes and held out his hand across the line. Casey took it, and he squeezed. "You don't have to lie Casey, I feel the same as you, but we are doing something very important, and soon we will be out of here."

Casey smiled, but all too soon she realised that they were being watched. Tiberius and Grunt appeared as if from no-where to separate their hands, and reprimand them for such a blatant disregard for the rules. Thane was taken back to his cell, as was Casey.

She was there for the remainder of the afternoon, and only removed again when it was time for dinner. As they walked to the mess hall, Casey couldn't help but question a regime where the punishment for rule breaking is the day off from work, but she wasn't exactly going to mention this to Tiberius. As they walked along a long corridor, a voice drifted out of Tiberius' omni-tool. "Prisoners fighting in the showers, all available guards report to women's showers immediately." Tiberius looked at Casey, and removed a set of handcuffs from his belt. Before she could register what had happened, he had cuffed both hands behind a pipe. "Stay there," he grinned, before disappearing through a nearby door.

Casey sighed, her stomach rumbling. She looked at the handcuffs, and felt a smile play on her lips. Tiberius certainly lived up to Toni's description. The pipe he had cuffed her to continued upwards for another two feet, and then stopped. If she chose to, Casey would easily be able to lift the cuffs up and off the pipe, thereby freeing herself. But where would she go anyway? She looked around the corridor and sighed. The room opposite was signposted as 'guard office', and she could see from there that the door was open and the room empty. Her stomach sank: there might be some information on Jack in there, and Casey had the perfect opportunity to release herself, slip in, and find it. But if she got caught, she had no idea what might happen, only that the consequences would surely be much more severe than missing a day of work.

She groaned, knowing that if the roles were reversed, and any other member of the Normandy crew were here, they would have already been halfway towards the office. Without allowing herself another moment to talk herself out of it, Casey slipped the handcuffs up and over the pipe. She now had both hands in the cuffs, but was free to move around. As quietly as she could manage, Casey tiptoed along the hall and through the open door into the office. As she thought, it was empty, and she glanced around for any clue as to where she could find Jack's location. One wall was covered with monitors, each showing the inside of a cell from this block. Casey's eyes flicked over them, not really paying attention, before noticing that only one of them was occupied. She moved closer, Miranda! She was pacing in a small cell that looked even barer than Casey's own. She also looked thin and dirty. Underneath the screen there were two buttons, one labelled 'alarm' and another labelled 'intercom'. Knowing she didn't have much time, but unwilling to ignore the slightly frantic way Miranda moved, Casey pressed the intercom button. "Miranda?"

Miranda looked up, her voice came out of the speakers next to her screen. "Casey?"

"I'm in one of the guard offices, looking for information on Jack."

Miranda looked impressed, "you've got some guts, they threw me in here for starting a fight, can you imagine what they'd do to you if they found you?"

Casey rolled her eyes, "Yeah thanks Miranda, I hadn't considered that."

"Well stop talking to me and get looking then!"

Casey released the button and moved around the office, there were no filing cabinets or anything so primitive, just surveillance screens and computers. Casey turned one computer on, it wanted a password. There was no way she'd have enough time to guess it, and she kicked herself for never accepting Kasumi's offers of teaching her how to hack. She glanced around the room looking for some kind of inspiration. And there it was, on the noticeboard above her head, a small scrap of paper with the words "Password this week: Blasto123". Casey hurriedly typed the password into the computer, and the screen came to life. As quickly as she could, aware that Miranda was now pacing even more rapidly in her cell, Casey scanned the different folders for something that looked right. She found it, "prisoner information."

She had just clicked on the icon when she heard a voice over her shoulder. "Who the hell are you?"

Casey turned slowly, two guards, a Turian and a Batarian were staring at her, looks of both confusion and anger on their faces. Casey stood up, and they both raised their guns. At that moment Tiberius appeared at the door.

"This one's yours, isn't she?" The Turian asked Tiberius.

"Yes," Tiberius replied through gritted teeth.

"You want to keep a closer eye on her, anyone else finding her would've kicked you off this station faster than you can say 'not my fault'" the Batarian growled. Tiberius nodded, grabbing Casey by the arm and dragging her out of the room.

Tiberius practically threw Casey back into her cell, where she stood with her back to the bed, facing him. He slammed the door and paced angrily. She didn't know whether speaking would make it better or worse, so she kept her mouth shut.

"So….so…." Tiberius was muttering, and she wasn't sure at first whether he was actually talking to her or not. "Thought you'd make me look stupid did you? Thought you'd give everyone a good laugh?"

Again, Casey thought it best not to reply, especially when her answers would've been less than polite. But Tiberius seemed to want some kind of response, as he moved even closer. "What were you doing, hmm? Looking for your precious boyfriend?"

What? Casey began to panic, did they know about her and Garrus? Had the bug on the cameras not worked? Was Garrus in danger right now? Tiberius continued. "I'm right aren't I? You were trying to find out what cell the Drell's being kept in? What was the plan? To slip away from me and pay him a visit?"

"I wouldn't need to slip away, I'd just wait until you tied me up 'securely' again." The words were out of Casey's mouth before she even realised she'd said them. She was so relieved that he didn't know about her and Garrus that she'd let her guard down. Tiberius surveyed her for a moment, looking incredulous, but then a sly grin played on his lips.

Casey hadn't realised he'd struck her until she had fallen back onto the floor. The force of his strike had split her only recently healed lip, and she lay on the floor wondering again, how often this was going to happen to her before she learned to duck.

Tiberius' hands were on her arms, and he lifted her onto a sitting position on her bed.

"Let me make this very clear," he growled. "You don't get to be smart mouthed. You don't get to make little sarcastic comments, in fact, you don't even speak unless I give you permission. Do you understand?" Something in his voice made Casey bite back another clever retort, and simply nod.

Tiberius nodded too. "Good, glad we understand each other. From now on you speak when I say, move when I say, and…well…just do exactly what I say. Are we clear?"

Casey nodded again. Tiberius grinned. "Why don't we put this new little rule to the test right now?" He unbuckled his belt and slipped it off, holding it in his hand. It had a heavy silver buckle, and Casey thought she could see brownish red marks flecked across the surface. She wondered if he was planning to hit her with it. But when he slipped his hand inside his pants, she realised exactly what it was he was planning to do. He unbuttoned and revealed himself to Casey. He was smaller than Garrus, and she clung to this thought as a way of trying to look calm. She wouldn't let him see her fear. He was growing harder, and she noticed that his ridges, unlike Garrus' looked much more jagged, like a serrated knife.

"Touch it," Tiberius hissed.

Casey looked up at the camera on the wall.

"Don't fool yourself, no one will come to help you. You're a criminal, remember?" He moved closer, "touch it," he hissed again.

Casey looked at his face, hatred filling her eyes. Her mind was racing, and Tiberius must've sensed that she was planning something, because before she could hold up her hands to defend herself, the belt buckle had whipped across her face. She felt a gash open up on her forehead, and a small trickle of blood ran into her eye. "I won't ask again," he growled.

Casey slowly reached out with her still handcuffed hands, but instead of doing as he asked, she used this opportunity to grab the belt. She hit him with it as hard as she could, and then ran behind him, holding the handcuffs behind his neck and tightening her grip. She was mildly aware of the sound of a siren, but was more focused on trying to restrain Tiberius, who was putting up a fight. Suddenly a group of guards flooded into the room, and pulled her off him roughly. She was pushed from one guard to another, until finally one held her tightly. She looked up, it was Garrus!

"What the hell happened here?" Garrus asked Tiberius, who was bending over to catch his breath.

"Her," Tiberius choked. "Was trying to teach her a lesson. Attacked me." He gagged a little, rubbing his throat.

"You don't get to teach my prisoner a lesson!" Garrus yelled. "You know how dangerous she is, only I have the authority to deal with her. Get out!" The other guards looked at each other for a moment, before leaving, slamming the door behind them. Garrus turned to Casey, "what did he do?"

"You didn't see?" Casey asked, nodding to the camera.

Garrus shook his head, "I was leaving the hospital wing when I heard the alert. I ran here as fast as I could."

Casey felt a weight lift, she knew Garrus would never have just stood by while Tiberius did what he did. "He hit me," she began, and watched as Garrus' eyes surveyed the wounds. "Because I wouldn't….he wanted me to…" she trailed off, but it was enough. A fire seemed to light in Garrus' eyes, and he let out a roar. "He what?! That's it, I'm getting you out of here, and I'm going to make him pay." He turned to leave, but Casey shouted after him.

"You can't!" He turned back, and she continued more quietly. "We're so close, we can't leave now. I know where they keep the records, maybe you can get in there tomorrow. Then it'll be over and we'll have Jack."

Garrus didn't look too sure.

"But for now, you have to make it look believable," Casey continued. Garrus looked up, a wary expression crossing his face. "What do you mean?"

"What would they expect you to do if you found a prisoner strangling a guard?" Casey replied. She didn't need to say anymore, Garrus was already shaking his head.

"No."

"They're watching us right now," Casey whispered, not needing to point to the camera. "If they don't see you do something they'll know something's not right."

"Casey, I can't hurt you." Garrus looked torn, but broken. She knew he'd never choose to hurt her, but she also knew that he understood the importance of their mission.

"Just do it quickly, then it's over with," she said, moving closer and pushing him in the chest in what she hoped would look to the cameras like an aggressive move. She saw Garrus take a deep breath, before he struck her neatly across the face. She could tell he was holding back, but it still knocked her to the floor. Garrus ran over, "are you ok?" He asked.

"Keep going," Casey hissed. And so he began to kick her, or at least, that's how Casey imagined it looked to the cameras. In reality he stopped his foot just before her body, instead giving the bed a good beating instead. This must've gone on for around ten minutes, but eventually a voice filled the room. It was warden Kuril. "That's enough Vakarian, I think she's got the message."

Garrus helped Casey to her feet. He brought her to the bed, and laid her on it, before moving to the camera. Casey heard him plant the bug, and within seconds he was by her side, looking at her face.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, taking a cloth and dabbing at the blood from Tiberius' attack.

"Don't be, you only gave me a little bruise," she replied.

"I tried to hold back as much as I could without making it look fake," Garrus added, and Casey nodded. "I know, you hit like a girl."

Garrus let out a little laugh, and pulled Casey into his arms. "You're the bravest person I know."

"Now that's just a lie," she replied with a smile.

"You're one of the bravest people I know." Garrus corrected, smiling too. He un-cuffed her using a key from his belt, and threw the handcuffs to the other side of the room.

"I can accept that." She looked up at his face, her Garrus, and felt something uncontrollable wash over her. Reaching up she placed her hand behind his neck and pulled him closer to her, kissing him harder and more passionately than she thought she'd ever done. He returned the kiss, but when she ran her hand down his chest and between his legs he pulled away.

"Casey, are you sure you want to-"

"Garrus, Tiberius wanted to have me, he wanted to make me his." She watched as that familiar alpha male look flickered on Garrus' face and continued. "I don't want to be his, I want to be yours, and I want to be yours right now." His eyes were burning again, but Casey continued to poke the sleeping dragon. "You're the only Turian I want, and I want you to show me how strong you really are."

That did it, Garrus flipped Casey onto her back, and ripped the clothes from her body. He ran his tongue along her skin, nipping at her flesh as he did. He slipped her underwear off, and positioned his face between her legs. Casey held her breath, she'd never done this with Garrus before, she didn't even know if Garrus knew about it, oral sex not being something Turians engaged in.

But apparently he'd done some research. He ran his tongue along her entrance hungrily, dipping in and out of her with a tongue that was longer and more agile than any human she'd ever been with. He circled her clitoris powerfully and roughly, and she knew this was as much for him as it was for her: he was dominating her, tasting her, owning her. She felt herself climax again and again, and he didn't stop, even when she felt she couldn't take it anymore and tried to push him away. Eventually he backed off, licking his lips and grinning. She kneeled in front of him, helping him peel off his clothes until he was there, rock hard, in front of her. She took him in her mouth immediately, and he placed his hands on the back of her head, moving her as he wanted. She knew she'd done it this time, she'd told him to take control, to make her his, and that's exactly what he was doing.

She loved it. He let out a little groan, and pulled himself out of her mouth. Without saying anything he turned her over so that she was on all fours, and immediately pushed himself inside her. It was a shock at first, and even hurt a little, but the pain soon gave way to that wonderful feeling of being completely full up that Casey had become so addicted to. He fucked her harder than she could ever remember him doing, biting her neck and shoulders as he did so. Every now and then he let out a little growl, as though actively warding off any other men.

Then he knelt on the bed, and pulled her into his lap, still facing away from him. He put his hands under her arms and moved her up and down. She felt weak from the pleasure that kept washing over her, and let him control her like a puppet.

And just when she felt like she couldn't handle it anymore, he emptied himself inside her, as Casey's final climax weakened her so much that she crumpled against Garrus' muscular body. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, his chin resting on her shoulders.

"I'll never let anyone hurt you again," he whispered.

"I know," Casey breathed. And she believed him.

"You are mine," Garrus growled.