"Well that was fun," Roxanne said sarcastically as she unstrapped herself from the chair and stood, Garrus following suit. "That's pretty much the norm for a mission with Shepard," the Turian told her with a shrug. Roxanne scoffed and stretched her neck, still feeling irritated and frustrated from just how much the entire ordeal had gone to shit. She couldn't believe that this guy was the famous Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, first human Specter, yadda yadda yadda. She did a better job leading missions!

Garrus frowned at her, "You got something to say?" He asked her, his tone deep and growling.

"Yeah, actually I do!" She snapped at him, "But it's none of your fucking business you space turkey!" The comradery that had started to form between them on the Collector ship was apparently gone. She blamed stress for it happening in the first place. "You're not the XO on this ship, so the only people who I have to take lip from are Shepard and that Cerberus bitch Miranda, not you."

"Miranda might be the XO on paper, but everyone on this ship knows that when Shepard isn't around, I'm in charge," The Turian came right back at her, the two of them both leaning forward, glaring at one another menacingly. "I've followed him to hell and back, I'll do it again, but I wouldn't follow you down the street!" Garrus snarled at her, "You're selfish, cold, and you act like a big fucking baby when things start going hairy!"

"I do not! I don't like going into a situation blind! Shepard should have been more cautious! He shouldn't just take the Illusive Man's word for anything!" Roxanne snapped at him, "He's too fucking trusting! You and I both knew going in there that something wasn't right, he did too!" She flung her hands around as she shouted.

"What did you expect him to do then Roxanne? Just not go? We couldn't afford to pass up that kind of opportunity!" Garrus asked her, his blue eyes burning, angry and outraged.

"You want to know what I would have done?" Roxanne asked, Garrus opened his mouth, no doubt to tell her that he didn't want to know, but she told him anyway, "Shepard is the commanding officer right? All the people on this ship are here because of him right? I think we both know that if he dies again, then once again, things will just fall apart. He shouldn't have set foot on that ship without knowing it wasn't some kind of a trap. I would have sent a team without me, people who are far more expendable, to get the information that was needed." She told him, still talking with her hands, a habit of hers when she was angry.

"Well, that's the difference between you and Shepard isn't it? That's what makes him a good leader, he doesn't view anyone on his crew as expendable, everyone is important, everyone matters!" Garrus snapped at her.

"A good leader values his own skills and recognizes his importance! He does not put himself in a situation where he will be killed, there by rendering his team useless! That doesn't do anyone any good!" Roxanne shouted at him. "And what the hell would you know about being a good leader? You got your entire team on Omega killed." She hissed, and then found herself stumbling back as Garrus hit her, hard. She felt her back hit the hull wall and Garrus rushed her, pinning her there, raising his fist to hit her again. Roxanne reacted on impulse, jabbing him hard in the waist, where his armor was leather instead of plating, putting all of her strength into.

Garrus flinched and she shoved him back as hard as she could, bringing her right leg forward and hooking it behind his, tripping him up. He crashed to the grated floor, but was quickly scrambling to his feet, ready to attack again when a biotic blast knocked him back. "Chill out Garrus!" Came Jack's voice. They were not too far from her hidey hole and she'd obviously heard them arguing and come to see what was going on.

"Stay out of this Jack!" Garrus snarled, fixing his gaze back onto Roxanne, baring his teeth. Roxanne was still in a fighter's stance, ready for him. The Turian moved to charge.

"Garrus!" He stopped instantly, tripping over himself a bit to do so and looking up to see Shepard running towards them from the elevator, looking pissed off. "What the hell is going on here?!" He demanded. Roxanne and Garrus glared at each other, but neither said a word. Shepard let out a tired sigh and ran a hand over his face, "Garrus, go cool off, Roxanne, debriefing room, now." The woman and the Turian glared at one another for another moment before Roxanne stalked off to the elevator, leaving Garrus and Shepard.

…...

Garrus let out a deep breath through his nose, trying to calm himself, though his hands were still curled into fists. "I don't want to talk about it," He snarled. Shepard glared at him and then looked at Jack, obviously thinking she'd tell him something. The tattooed young woman put her hands up.

"Sorry Shep, I'm staying out of this," She said, and walked off back towards engineering to go back to whatever it was she was always doing.

"Garrus," Shepard said, looking back to his friend, "What happened? She must have really said something to get under your skin like that." Garrus could have a temper, but not like this. He'd never seen him attack a fellow crew member, no matter how he disliked them.

Garrus let out a growled and rubbed his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. "Nothing she just... she's really good at doing just that, getting under your skin," He sighed, "Honestly," He said, looking at Shepard and frowning, "She reminds me a freaking Turian with her attitude about how to lead men. I think I even had a captain once who was just as good at getting in people's heads and really screwing them up." He was trying really hard to act like everything was fine. "I guess I was still just wound up from the mission, it won't happen again."

Shepard frowned, not happy that Garrus was refusing to tell him what had happened, but he wasn't going to push it. "See that it doesn't." And started for the elevator.

"Shepard," Garrus said, and the Commander looked at him over his shoulder, "If you ever get in a fight with her, be careful. She fights mean."

Shepard got on the elevator and Garrus was left by himself, fuming. He was so angry. Angry with Roxanne, angry with himself for losing his temper, and angry all over again for what a failure he'd been on Omega. He'd let his men down. Roxanne was right, what did he know about being a good leader?

…...

Roxanne stood in the ready room, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her jaw where Garrus had hit her. It would probably bruise if she left it alone, she'd have to go see Dr. Chakwas and see if she had anything for it. She wasn't angry, surprisingly. The fight had let her vent a lot of that out, and she didn't take it personally. She'd purposefully pushed Garrus, she'd said what she had knowing it would probably make him react. She'd probably have hit her too if he'd have been him. She sighed, leaning back against the table arms crossed, waiting for Shepard to come and yell at her.

Sure enough, the doors opened and Shepard walked in, and he looked pretty steamed. "You mind telling me what happened down there?" He asked and Roxanne shrugged.

"Just a disagreement, nothing more," She assured him calmly.

Shepard let out a frustrated noise and ran a hand over his face. "I told you, when you came on this ship, I told you two things. Follow orders," He held up one finger, "And don't pull any shit." He held up two fingers. "That's two strikes in one day," Shepard told her. "You ran off on your own and nearly got yourself killed, and now you're picking fights with crew members!" He shook his head, a hand rubbing his fore head, the other on his hip. He muttered something under his breath, not looking at her, and then lifted his head, glaring. "Be happy that I'm a forgiving man, I'm giving you one more chance. Pull anything like the shit you pulled today and I'll eject your ass."

Roxanne inclined her head, a calm look on her face, "Of course, Commander." She told him, and straightened. "Is that all?"

"Yes."

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to med bay, that Turian hits pretty hard," She smirked.

The next day, everyone seemed to be talking about Garrus and Roxanne's scuffle, Roxanne just shrugged off the questions, giving cryptic answers about the reason they'd been fighting, and how it went. Thankfully, Jack took the hint and just kept her mouth shut, though Roxanne knew she was dying to tell everyone something. Despite how she pretended like she just wanted to be left alone and her attempts to scare people off, Roxanne also knew that she craved attention on a deeper level. Eventually, when things settled down Roxanne made her way to the battery, walking in to see Garrus tapping away at the console, it seemed to be how he spent most of his time.

"Hey space turkey," Roxanne smirked, leaning her hip into the nearby railing, but keeping a respectable distance between her and the Turian.

Garrus lifted his head and looked at her over her shoulder and looked back at the console, "What do you want?" He asked her flatly.

"Aw come on, you're not mad at me are you?" She asked, walking over and leaning against the console, battle her blue blue eyes at him with a demure smile. "What's a scrap between friends?"

"We're not friends," Garrus told her, glancing at her and then looking back at the console.

Roxanne gasped, putting her hand on her chest and feigning insult, "But, Garrus, I'm your friend." She insisted.

Garrus let out a frustrated noise through his noise and straightened, crossing his arms and glaring at her, "No you're not, you don't know how to be some one's friend. You're selfish and cold." He growled at her. "What in the hell is wrong with you? Why are you so fucked up?" He asked her, waving his hands about in frustration.

Roxanne laughed and shook her head, "You don't want to know, Garrus," She told him, smiling. "Look, I'm sorry about what I said okay? Forgive me?" She asked.

Garrus glared at her for a long, silent moment, and then let out a huff of a sigh, "Fine, but only because I'm just that awesome." He told her before going back to tapping away at his console. He did this for a moment before he realized Roxanne was still standing there, watching him, her arms crossed. "What is it?"

"So what happened?" She asked.

Garrus blinked, "What?"

"On Omega, what happened to your team?" She asked him.

Garrus glared at her, "That's none of your business." He snarled.

"Look, I can tell it bothers you, you wouldn't have slugged me in the face if it didn't," She told him, rolling her eyes.

"Ah..." Garrus groaned, rubbing the back of his neck, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it, you hit like a Salarian anyway," She grinned.

Garrus scoffed, "I do not," He growled, trying to be angry, but he was fighting off a grin. When Roxanne laughed he couldn't hold it back and just shook his head, chuckling softly and rubbing his forehead. "You're a strange human, Roxanne." He told her.

"Yeah, I know," She shrugged. "Now, are you gonna tell me or do I have to beat it out of you?" She asked, grinning at him.

Garrus let out a sigh. The only person he'd talked to about this was Shepard, he barely knew Roxanne, he knew he should just tell her to fuck off, especially after what she'd said the day before, but he leaned against the railing and crossed his arms. "Well, I told you about how I went to Omega right, and got a team together?" She nodded. "There were twelve of us," He continued, "Former military, ex cops, the usual. Had a Salarian explosives expert, pretty sure he'd spent time in the STG." He shrugged, then laughed, "My tech expect was a Batarian, believe it or not. Not the friendliest guy, but he could hack into worked well together. I had a good team. There was no red tape to slow me down, and there were plenty of criminals that no one seemed to be able to touch. We hit them where it hurt, stole shipments, disrupted activities and movement, killed anyone who had gone too far, hurt too many people." He told her, his voice full of fire. "I didn't even have to recruit, they just came to me. Mercs who wanted to atone, security agents tired of playing by the rules, I gave them hope."

Roxanne watched him, listening, impressed by his passion, his conviction. She could see why those men had followed him, he believed so strongly in what he had been doing.

Then he hung his head and looked away, letting out a long, forlorn sigh, "And now they're dead..."

"What happened?" Roxanne asked, her face impassive.

"One of our own betrayed me... It was my own fault, he lured me away, pretended he was in trouble. When I got there, he was gone, there was no one there. I went back... and all of my men were dead. And the one who betrayed me, fled." Garrus's voice was low, but seething. He was almost growling, his head down, staring intently at the floor. "Everyone except me is dead because of him, and because I was too blind to see it coming."

"That bastard... I trusted him, they all trusted him. And what does he do? Takes a bribe, books transport, lures me out so that merc scum could kill them all, and then clears out his personal accounts and skips town," He snarled, turning and suddenly slamming his fist against the railing. "He sold me out, and ran."

Roxanne watched him quietly for a moment, his back to her, "I'd kill the bastard." She whispered.

Garrus gave a harsh laugh, "Believe me, I plan on it. I've been trying to track him down, but his trail went cold. But when I find him..." his hands tightened on the railing, and she could see his body beginning to shake with rage. "I'll correct my mistake." He straightened and looked at her. "You were right yesterday, that's why I got so angry. I'm not a good leader, my poor judgment got my men killed."

Roxanne scoffed and rolled her eyes, "Will you shut up about that? I was just trying to get under your skin yesterday," She told him, "Besides, whining doesn't suit you." She stood and walked over to him, looking up at his scarred face, arms crossed. "You're better than that shit."

Garrus just looked at her, a strange look in his eyes, before he looked away, shaking his head with a laugh. "You sure you're not part Turian?" He asked, looking back at her.

Roxanne laughed and shrugged, "Who knows, maybe I'm some sort of top secret genetic experiment combining the bad assness of a Turian with the good looks of a human." She tossed her head, flipping her hair, which was down today.

Garrus scoffed, "Good looks? Hardly."

"Oh what? At least I'm not missing half my face," she teased.

"I'll have you know that some women find scars very attractive, mind you they're usually Krogan..." He told her.

Roxanne smiled at him, one her smooth, predatory smiles, "I like scars." Garrus just stared at her, eyes widening a bit as she reached up and ran her fingers over the bandage covering his scars. Then she pulled her hand away, walking out of the battery, "See ya round space turkey." She told him, then called over her shoulder, "I owe you for that punch by the way! Be expecting a request to duel some time."