Tanith couldn't remember the last time she slept so hard.
She did wake a few times, though. The first, Garrus was still curled up around her, arm possessively squeezing her middle in his sleep. The second time, he was up and working, Tani catching the faint, tinny sound of music; 'Fire In The Courtyard', if she wasn't mistaken. It was coming from the visor he always wore.
Didn't realize she'd made noise until he was by her side, a bottle of water and some pills in hand. She was going to ask him what they were for as she tried to sit up, but then the world tilted and she felt her face go figuratively green.
"Chakwas said you've been on stims for weeks," he said softly, his beautiful voice grating across sensitive nerves, accentuating the throbbing, nauseating headache that rang behind her eyes. He offered her the meds as she fell back, closing her eyes against the glare of the lights. "She said you'd be effectively hungover for a few days getting them out of your system. These are supposed to help you do it without puking." His mandibles offered a flicker of a smile.
She said nothing, taking what he offered and chasing it with the whole bottle. Murmuring her gratitudes, he smiled again as he pulled the blanket up to her chin. The apologies burned in her, though, and when she tried to express those as well, he shook his head at her.
"Shut up, Delano," he muttered, his tone affectionate. "Cortez is covering for you, but told me he's got nothing on you and that you'd better get your ass well."
Smiling weakly, she curled up again and closed her eyes.
The next time she woke, the lights were dimmed for the night shift and Garrus had her sprawled across his chest. Breathing quietly, she watched him with heavy lidded eyes, noting he barely snored, and that he'd arranged the pillows around his cowl so it was easier for him to sleep on his back and tuck her against and atop his body. Without his visor, the angles of his face seemed so much more vulnerable than she could ever recall, even without seeing his scars.
She brushed his cheek with careful fingers, down the sweep of his jaw, feeling a gentle tremor radiate through his mandible. He sighed and turned towards her, eyes still closed, still wrapped in sleep.
She smiled a little, feeling her own slumber calling her; her head still felt like it was stuffed with wool, her whole body aching. She surrendered eagerly, anxious to get better.
The next time she woke, it was first shift and the forward battery was empty.
Sitting up carefully, she assessed her overall well-being with slow movements, watching her hands, checking to see if she still had tremors or if her limbs still ached like death. To her relief, her head was clear and her body felt sound. A quick glance at Garrus' console told her she'd been out of a little under two days, and that they were docked on the Citadel.
That was a hell of a surprise.
Her clothes had been replaced by clean ones, folded on a crate nearby. There was an energy bar and a bottle of water next to them, and she went at both before she'd bothered dressing.
Dusting the crumbs off her chest and face before attacking her water, she decided she'd rather shower first before putting on clean clothes. Garrus was still out, so she stopped waiting, put on her old pants and headed out to the communal women's room.
"Cerberus has made an attempt to take over the Citadel, but the coup has proved unsuccessful. Commander Shepard is in pursuit of the Council. It appears Councilor Udina is responsible for the infiltration ," came EDI's clear voice. Seems Tani's face was giving away her thoughts again.
She flinched. Cerberus, here? That wasn't going to end well. "Who's down there with her?" she asked.
"Garrus Vakarian, Javik, and Lieutenant James Vega are with the Commander. My mobile platform is attempting to bypass security manually, Liara is using her sources on the Citadel to aid in the recapture of the station. The rest of the crew is onboard maintaining the ship per the Commander's instructions, and on standby should we need to retreat." Even EDI's voice sounded doubtful that would ever happen.
Tani paused in front of the women's bathroom, frowning. Cerberus having access to the resources on the Citadel would make everything problematic. "Do you need me for anything, or are we just going to sit tight and wait for instructions?"
"I'm assuming you're inquiring as to whether or not you have time to shower, Crewman Delano?"
Tani laughed despite the seriousness of the current situation. "Yes, EDI. Bathing can wait in life or death situations, much like anything else."
"As you are neither deployed as pilot or soldier, I think it's safe for you to shower, Tanith."
Tani smiled at EDI's tone; both affectionate and amused. "Thanks, EDI. I'll try to make it quick regardless."
Waiting was hard.
This wasn't like waiting on missions before the Collector situation. The feelings were different now, stronger, and the fear for her friends was-
Her feet brought her to her work station, free to wander as they were. She decided not to fight it.
It wasn't that she felt no emotional attachment to the Cerberus crew; there was a sense of comraderie that was new to her and to many of her fellows. It had been what had made leaving the Normandy so hard after the mission, it was why they had banded together even in the welcoming colony of Sorrow's End. Risking your lives for each other did that, and then almost dying together ... well. That had made them family.
It was probably why she still had nightmares, Tanith surmised.
After her respite triggered by Garrus, it was easier for her to process what had happened, no longer feeling the desperate need to lock it away for later. Now, she wanted to deal with it, wanted to accept it, and for no one else but herself. She couldn't be there for anyone else if she didn't look after herself first. Letting Garrus take care of her had made her realize that, driving it all home with a clarity common sense hadn't been able to.
So it was that while her hands were busy in the cargo bay, repairing a varity of firearms and upgrading several sets of armor, Tanith let her mind wander in a near meditative state. The images that birthed her nightmares still had her brow furrowing more than concentration did, but to her vague surprise she found none of it stung quite like it used to. Had it already been so many weeks? The loss was still there, deep and open, but not as raw; no, it was an ache more than a gaping wound, the kind of soreness that came with healing. It was a new sensation.
But still. She missed her friends.
Kelly would have laughed at her for being so sentimental, but she would have hugged her too. Barbara Allen would have brought her a cup of tea, one for her and one for herself, and, belly round with her pregnancy, would have smiled in that way she did that seemed to set the Universe to rights. Miles Jacobson would have rolled his eyes and offer to let her use one of his tampons, then grin when she slugged him in the arm. Tabitha Yu would offer to spar with her. Mason Patel would have taken her to the mess and cooked her something fantastic that his mother had taught him how to make. Gardener would have chased them out of his kitchen with a broom.
Tears streamed down her face as the hours went by, and still, Tanith's hands stayed busy.
EDI had done as she'd promised and kept her appraised. Apparently after some tense moments through a firefight across the Presidium and up an elevator (!), it had all culminated in a serious showdown against Ashley Williams, the Council, and ended with Udina shot in the head by none other than Garrus. She was certain she wasn't getting the whole story, but she saved the questions for later; it would still be several hours at the minimum before the team made it back to the ship.
After eight hours of work, she decided it was time for a break. Stretching, she made her way to the portside observation lounge. It was vacant, the rest of the crew grabbing sleep while they could. Tani still felt fairly rested and took advantage of the solitude to check her messages, hopeful that maybe Garrus had contacted her.
Several missed calls had her checking her omnitool settings. Since she knew she hadn't changed anything, it must have been Garrus that had set it to silent. Swearing at him under her breath even as she smiled, she flipped through her call log. One was from Cortez, after she'd crashed on Garrus' cot. The other two were from Noveria.
Tani felt her heart flutter.
He hadn't left any messages, but knowing Lorik, he probably did this to err on the side of caution. She had yet to call him from her omnitool, she hadn't had a chance to test out the new software EDI had installed after weeding out all the Cerberus spyware.
Keying up his private code, she bit her lip and wondered if he'd be there, a thousand thoughts flitting behind the simple musing.
What should I say? she thought, flushing. 'Hi, I missed you, had great orgasms, wish you were here'? She rolled her eyes, five seconds into the call notification. 'I think I might be in love with someone else, but that doesn't seem to affect my relationship with you; can I just have two boyfriends?' That last one had her face over-hot and, no doubt, beet red.
It had been near a minute, distracted as she was by her irrational thoughts, and when she'd realized just how much time had passed she made to end the call. Her right hand lifted to do just that when the vid clicked on the other end.
A very woozy looking Turian gentleman peered at her. He blinked a few times, dark features behind white clan-marks.
"Oh goodness," Tani blurted out, feeling foolish; a glance at the time had her flushing with embarassment. "I forgot the time difference, Lorik, I'm so-"
"Tanith?" her lover murmured, comprehension dawning on his face. His mandibles fluttered and-
-why does he look so smug?
"Did I wake you?" she asked sheepishly.
His smile deepened, his eyes sparkling. "No, my dear, not at all. I couldn't sleep so I was ... distracting myself."
Her lips quirked into a half smile. That sounded promising. Settling into the chair in the corner of the lounge, she crossed her ankles and pillowed the back of her head with her free arm. "Oh really?"
"Indeed. I received a lovely present yesterday morning. I wasn't able to open it until tonight, but I must tell you..." He leaned closer in the feed. "It was completely, totally, incredibly worth the wait. I've watched it four times, and I must say, Tanith, you look absolutely delectable."
Now she frowned. "Am I missing something? Watched what?" she asked, lost.
The look on his face- It went through a series of changes. Perplexed, confused... and then understanding, amusement. He threw his head back and laughed.
"...oh my. He didn't tell you what he was doing, did he?" Smug! Again! He was thoroughly enjoying himself.
"Lorik, what's going on? What who was doing? What did I miss?" She sat up a little, lips curving in a smile even as she pressed him; his joy was infectious.
"Didn't you bother to wonder why he kept his visor on the whole time?"
That pulled her short.
Visor? Garrus? The whole time he-
...he ...
Tanith clapped her hand to her mouth, eyes wide, face scarlet with heat.
Outside the port observatory on her way to the showers, Dr. Chakwas stopped abruptly as a squeal akin to a shriek sounded muffled through the doors to the lounge. Pausing, she looked in that direction as another high-pitched exclaimation burst forth, followed by some loud words that sounded vaguely like 'OH MY GOD!' and 'YOU BOTH SET ME UP!' and a peal of laughter.
Recognizing Tanith Delano's voice, Karin shrugged and smiled; at least someone was finding a little joy in the day, either that or a very good joke.
"HESENTTHATTOYOUICAN'TBELIEVEYOUBOTHDIDTHATOHMYGOD DIDYOUDOTHATONPURPOSEHOLYFFFFFFFFFF-"
Face bright red, flailing alternately at her omnitool feed smacking herself in the face with her free hand, Tanith was the picture of comedy. Lorik couldn't stop laughing and she couldn't stop squealing at him.
"Lorik! It's not funny-!"
He was chortling. She'd forgotten how he was inclined to snort when he really found something amusing. It was adorable and incredibly endearing but son of a bitch-
"Oh, but it ... it is... Oh Spirits... your face-!" he wheezed.
"You can't- I mean it's just- you don't- you can't record me and then just-"
"But I didn't-!"
"LORIK QUI'IN DON'T THINK FOR ONE MINUTE I BELIEVE YOUDIDN'T PLANT THIS WHOLE SCHEME INTO GARRUS' BRAIN-!"
His laughing took on a breathlessness, his laughter louder. "Tani... Tani I swear, it was his idea-"
She covered her face in the crook of her elbow and screamed. That's just so much worse-! Knowing that Garrus was, by action, kinkier than he'd let on and far more adventurous than she'd given credit for was not going over well with her; that meant she was in for more such surprises, and if he was going to bring Lorik into it-!
Her laughter faded into a groan, Lorik's chuckles still resonating from her omnitool.
I am in so much trouble.
And why, why oh why did that make her smile so much?