December Nineteenth
Garrus watched his Shep as she dreamed beside him. He almost couldn't believe it. He had gone with her on her first Spectre mission not expecting to make it back home; that was years ago now, and they were both still here. They'd been through the Collectors and the Reapers since then, not to mention the truly uncountable waves of mercenaries, slavers, pirates, and anyone else in the galaxy stupid enough to cross Shepard. Sure, she'd died once or twice, but that couldn't stop her. Nothing could.
Shep shifted in her sleep, looking for warmth, and Garrus settled her against himself. It was amazing that they even worked. Once you got the armor off her, Shepard was all smooth curves and soft skin. Nothing like his unforgiving angles and—what had she called it?
Sandpaper, he remembered. His sandpaper scales in some places, that they had to be careful with. But they were. He hadn't hurt her, and it was his most important calling to make sure he never did. Not in bed, not in anything he said to her.
Garrus placed a hand on her flat belly, suddenly wishing he could be the one to put a child there. He wanted everything. He wanted to get his Shep pregnant, to watch as she grew softer and clumsy, and eventually brought his child into the world. He let the fantasy run for a few minutes before he dashed it. It wasn't even the species issue. Garrus knew all her looks. She had said they might adopt someday, but she hadn't meant it. She'd thought she had, but really she hadn't.
Even this, I do for you, love. He growled lightly, letting his harmonics tell the story of his love for her.
Shepard murmured in her sleep, smiling, and Garrus couldn't help smiling in return, mandibles wide. She wasn't supposed to be able to hear his truest words of love, but he'd caught her at it several times already. If it was quiet, and she wasn't distracted, she could just barely catch some of it.
I love you, Shep. I love you forever, he told her, inaudible to almost any human he could have tried.
"Love you too, big guy," she mumbled.
It was enough.