AUTHOR'S NOTE: Since Garrus's last chapter was way, way depressing, here's a slightly happier one. Enjoy! And thanks so much for all the follows and reviews and favorites! It's really encouraging!

Her name was Johanna Holt and her parents died three days after the Reapers invaded Earth. Her hair was the color of sunlight and her eyes as green as the grass they stood on. She barely came up to his waist, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in sheer presence. She was forceful when she needed to be and she was compassionate at times no one would have been otherwise. She was his right hand girl, his constant companion. It was hard to believe she was only thirteen years old.

She reminded him of Shepard.

"Everyone's gotten their rations for the day." Johanna reported. She had scabs on her knees and bruises on her arms. The girl spent too much time breaking up fights and not enough time being a kid. It wasn't fair. Then again, life wasn't fair for any of these poor kids. Being an orphan was tough. Knowing most of them probably watched their parents get decimated by a giant, malignant machine made it even worse.

"What about you?" Garrus asked, scanning the crowd for disturbances. Babysitting a bunch of pissed off little kids wasn't exactly a job everyone wanted to take, but he volunteered for it the moment he stepped off the Normandy. They landed on Earth first, as the majority of the crew was human. Garrus didn't mind. It was nice to have familiar ground under his feet. They'd spent three months on that foreign planet. That strange, strange place. Three more months trying to get back to what once was Citadel Space.

Everyone cheered when the Normandy entered Sol. That was one week ago. Exactly.

Johanna bobbed her head. "Yeah, I ate."

Garrus wasn't convinced. Johanna had a tendency to lie about her eating habits. "Are you sure?"

She sighed. "Yes, Garrus. I'm positively positive that I ate today."

"Just checking." He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair. "You should get some rest. I'll take over from here."

Johanna smiled. She pushed Garrus's hand away without a hint of malice. She pretended to be annoyed with him and he pretended to be annoyed with her. It was a game they played, a coping mechanism. Garrus pretended to be her parent and she pretended to be his irritated daughter. Though he had a feeling she wasn't pretending this time. Kids never liked it when their parents were too pushy. Garrus knew that from experience.

"Are you sure?" She echoed his earlier question.

"Positively positive." He replied.

"Well, if you say so." Johanna scurried off to join her fellow orphans, making sure to offer him a small salute before leaving.

She hasn't eaten today. Garrus realized. She only ran off that quickly if she skipped her rations. He'd have to watch her more closely next time. Sighing, the turian began his rounds. This "recovery facility" was just one of many that'd cropped up since the Reapers were defeated. Just as he predicted to Shepard before the final battle, there were a lot of parentless kids running around. Not only on Earth, but across the galaxy. It was a heartbreaking reality.

He checked the Hub first. The Hub, once an asari embassy, served as shelter for the younger kids. Half of its roof had been blown off and the white walls were spattered with blood, blood that, no matter how hard they scrubbed, wouldn't come off. It was a constant reminder of everything these kids had lost. As if they needed any more reminding.

Two rows of cots lined each side of the building, tapering off where the roof ended. The aisle in the middle was filled with tables. Each table was used for something different. One was covered in medical supplies, another stacked with clothes donated by those who had enough to spare. The one at the end was where Johanna sat, surrounded by her friends. She stuffed a sandwich in her mouth, laughing at something the girl across from her said.

Seeing Johanna laugh bolstered Garrus's confidence a little, made him believe that, one day, things would get better. They had to. With the Reapers gone, there was nothing standing in the galaxy's way. The road to recovery was long and bumpy, but it'd be worth it in the end. It had to be.

Garrus, satisfied with how things were going in the Hub, went to check on the older kids. Teenagers, mostly. They slept outside in crashed shuttles or makeshift tents. Suitable shelter was hard to come by around here. The Reapers hit this particular metropolis with an unusual amount of force. Garrus assumed it was because this was where Shepard was staying. Damn Reapers and their inability to let go of a grudge.

So Shepard killed a few of them singlehandedly and foiled their plot to destroy every single organic life in the galaxy. That was no reason to decimate entire planets.

"Hey, Vakarian!" A boy's voice wrenched Garrus from his thoughts. "Over here!"

A brown haired kid Garrus recognized as Henry Marshall waved at him from his place outside his tent. Though he'd only been helping out a week, the kids in this "recovery center" all knew Garrus by name. Apparently he'd been elevated to celebrity status after being part of the crew that stopped the Reapers. Or maybe they just recognized him because he was one of the only turians here. The rest of them went back to Palaven.

"Henry." Garrus said upon approaching the young man. "Need something?"

Henry nodded, his hair flopping into his eyes. "Yeah, uhm…Listen, have you ever, uh…"

Garrus waited. He wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was going.

"Have you ever…You know…" Henry fidgeted, acting as though whatever he had to say next caused him physical pain. "Been in love?"

Ignoring the sharp pang in his gut, Garrus said, "Yes. Once."

Henry looked relieved. "Oh. Well, how…How did you tell the person that…"

"That I loved them?" Garrus put in helpfully. He had no idea why Henry was coming to him for romantic advice. These kids came to him for all manner of assistance, but romance was a new one. Henry must've been desperate.

"Yeah." The boy said. "How did you do that?"

Garrus paused to think up a good lie. He couldn't tell Henry the truth because he didn't want to hear the truth himself. He'd told Shepard he loved her in London after getting badly injured by Harbinger. She forced him on the Normandy and ran off to die for the good of the galaxy. Alone. Not exactly an encouraging story.

"I stopped giving a damn," Garrus decided. "I stopped giving a damn about everything else around me for just that one moment. And I told her. She needed to know and I needed to tell her."

"Did she say she loved you back?" Henry asked.

No matter what happens here, I'll always love you.

"Yes." Garrus said. "She did. Thankfully."

Henry's face screwed up in confusion. "So, what you're saying is that I should stop giving a damn what other people think?"

Oh, spirits. Garrus thought. What the hell am I doing?

"More or less."

"Okay," Henry muttered. "I think I can—"

The shuttle blasted into the atmosphere just then, a blue and white ship bearing the Alliance crest. Garrus checked his omni-tool. There weren't any drop offs scheduled for today. Supply shuttles had specific time slots to land in. They couldn't fly in whenever they wanted to because they often carried tons of rations, rations that had to be unloaded by an army of people. Garrus didn't have an army today. It was just him and a few officers.

The shuttle didn't land at the Hub, however. It landed on a patch of grass near the city council building, a tall white structure that had been under construction for the last three months. It was nearing completion while no less than one hundred orphans were sleeping in tents. Garrus hated that stupid place.

"What's going on?" Henry wondered as a group of people ran from the council building to meet the shuttle.

From Garrus's vantage point, they looked like a bunch of little ants scurrying across the road. He reached back and grabbed his sniper rifle, bringing the scope to his eye, following the diplomats as they moved. Henry gasped.

"Whoa, that's a big gun."

"Yeah, don't ever use them." Garrus murmured. "They're bad for your health."

"What are they doing?" Henry asked.

That was a good question. Garrus didn't know how to answer it. The shuttle door opened, he saw that much. Just what (or who) stepped out of it was a complete mystery, thanks to the swelling crowd. They swarmed the shuttle like a pack of enthusiastic bees.

Garrus lowered his rifle. "I don't know. It's probably just some politician flying in. Nothing to get excited about, I'm sure."

Henry's shoulders slumped. "Aw, that sucks. We could use a little excitement around here. The good kind."

"Yeah," Garrus agreed. "We could."

"Oh, crap." Henry said suddenly. He dove back into his tent. "Here she comes! Don't tell her what we were talking about, okay?"

Confused, Garrus turned to see which "she" Henry was referring to. Blond hair. Green eyes. Johanna. Well, well. Garrus thought. Henry's aiming high. Good for him.

"Hey, Garrus!" Johanna bounded over to him. "Have you seen Henry anywhere?"

Garrus shook his head. He was feeling charitable today. "Not yet. But I'm sure he'll turn up soon."

"Yeah," she said. "I guess so. Have you seen what's going on at the council building? I heard from Alyssa that the shuttle is carrying some…Really important cargo."

"Important cargo, huh?" Garrus said. "Maybe it's some brandy. I haven't had a good brandy in a long, long time."

"I don't think so." Johanna replied. "Alyssa said something about it being a person. Must be a really, really important person."

Garrus remained silent. He could only think of one person who deserved this amount of ruckus.

And she was dead.