Garrus really didn't know what to think Roxanne, one minute she was a complete bitch and he hated her, the next she was personable and he actually enjoyed being around her. She was certainly an enigma. She refused to talk about her pass, and all Joker could tell him was that she was from Earth originally, born in a city called New Orleans. Besides that, no body really knew much about her before she joined the Alliance. All that was known for sure was her birth date (November 20th 2156, which made her the same age as him), where she was born, and that she had no know father, the spot on her birth certificate having been left blank. After that, records were few except for the usual school records and then her enlisted documents.

He didn't know why he was researching her, maybe because she infuriated him so much. She knew enough about him to be able to say things that just got to him, but he knew almost nothing about her, not enough to be able to get back at her. Jabs at her status as a pop star didn't phase her, nor did jabs at her military record. If you believed Roxanne, she didn't give a shit about either one, it was merely a means to an end, which was making sure she had food to eat and a roof over her head. Garrus didn't believe her of course, out of curiosity he'd listened to some of her music. It was supposedly written by her, and most of it was sad and melancholy. Garrus had a sneaking suspicion that Roxanne was not as callous as she appeared. Oh he did not doubt that she had no qualms with killing for her own survival, or because some one got in her way, and he didn't think she was faking the lack of compassion she felt for others, but he didn't think she'd be so flippant about people she cared about. She just also seemed determined not to care about people, or to let them care about her.

That was neither here nor there at the moment though, Garrus was far more preoccupied trying to figure out her physical weaknesses rather than her mental ones. She'd sent him her request for a 'duel' and he'd been happy to oblige.

Roxanne was just as mean a fighter in when sparring as she was when when she was actually trying to hurt you, and what she lacked in raw power she made up for in speed and agility. Garrus could tell he was going to be sore all over tomorrow. She was fond of jabbing his weak points, disabling him long enough to get in a shot, she always seemed to somehow be able to wriggle out of his holds, and he couldn't count how many times she'd knocked him off his feet. He'd gotten in a few good hits too, but she was slowly but surely beating him down.

"Stop it you... stupid... pyjak!" Garrus snarled, so flustered he couldn't even think up a good insult, quickly scrambling to his feet. She fought more like a damn ninja than a soldier. "Stop dancing around and just fight me," He growled at her.

"Aw, I'm sorry, am I too fast for you, space turkey?" She grinned, hands up.

"Come here and say that to my face," Garrus growled.

"Okay," And she darted in, ducking under his arm as he swung a punch at her, punching him hard in the waist, but Garrus grabbed her before she had time to dart back out, gripping her arms, and twisted her around, getting her in a lock. Using his superior size and strength he flipped her over his shoulder, dropping her hard on the ground. She landed with an 'oomph' and rolled away as Garrus kicked at her. She jumped to her feet, but Garrus was already rushing at her, colliding with her with a snarl and knocking her to the ground, grabbing her wrists and pinning her down. Garrus panted, and he was at least satisfied to see that she'd broken out a sweat too, her black hair pulling back in a pony tail, leaving both sides of her buzzed head exposed. "Yield!" He growled.

Roxanne smirked, her blue eyes glittering at him, "Make me," She whispered, and then some how her foot was up next to his head, she hooked her anklet around his neck, and pulled, hard, forcing him to roll off of her until he was on his back. She was on top of him in a flash, her knees on his shoulders, applying pressure so that it hurt just to move his arms. Her hands were on the mat on either side of his head, and she looked down at him, panting. "Give up, Garrus," She smirked.

Garrus glared up at her, her black hair a mess, her face red with exertion, and her blue eyes triumphantly, and suddenly he could see why everyone seemed to think she was so beautiful. He shook the thought from his head and growled, trying to bring his arms up to grab her, but she twisted her knees into him and he let out a snarl of pain. "Alright! Alright!" He shouted and she got off of him, reaching down to help him up. "Spirits," He muttered as he stood, rubbing his shoulders, "I'm going to feel that tomorrow." He'd get her back, next time. He hadn't been expecting her to fight so unfair.

Roxanne laughed, "This old Japanese guy lived in my building when I was a kid, he taught me a lot of moves, mostly power points and grappling stuff." She told him, walking over to where she'd left her bottle of water. "He said a girl shouldn't go around the city not being able to defend herself. I think the stuff he taught me was way more useful than any of the crap they tried to cram in my head at school." She laughed again, sitting down and pouring water into her mouth.

Garrus watched her for a moment, a little mesmerized by how some of the water spilled out of the corners of her mouth and ran down her chin, and trickled down her throat, which was bared temptingly with how she had her head back to drink. Garrus shook his head, wondering what in the hell was wrong with him, and went to sit beside her. "I think that's the first time I've heard you talk about your childhood." He told her.

Roxanne stopped drinking and shrugged, "So?"

"So, that's not fair," He told her, "I told you about my horrible failure as a leader. Now it's your turn to give up the goods."

Roxanne looked at him and grinned wickedly, leaning towards him a bit, "I'll give you my goods any time Garrus." She cooed, batting her eye lashes. Garrus felt his pulse quicken and he took a quick breath to calm himself, but only ended up getting a nose full of her scent, which was surprisingly pleasant, usually humans stunk when sweating, and then she pulled away and laughed, starting to stand. "Maybe some other time," She told him. But Garrus grabbed her by one of her tattooed arms and pulled her back onto the bench.

"Ohhh no," He said, "Tell me."

Roxanne frowned at him and jerked her arm out of his grasp. Garrus was surprised by the angry look in her eye, "No. It's none of your fucking business." She snapped at him and stood, walking off quickly.

Garrus watched her leave and sighed heavily, shaking his head. Roxanne was without a doubt one of the strangest women he'd ever met. He never knew what to expect with her. And he was surprised as he realized that despite how she could get under his skin, he liked that about her.

Garrus didn't see Roxanne around for the rest of the afternoon, which was unusual, they usually ran into each other, seeing as the battery was right off the mess hall, where most of the crew spent their time. Including Roxanne. He knew she was avoiding him, and that in itself was surprising. She was one of the most confrontational people he'd ever met, and yet here she was, hiding from him because he'd asked her to share some of her past with him. Garrus decided to take a page from her book though and wasn't going to let her run away from his question. He refusal to tell him only made him more curious and more determined. So he went to her room that evening, pushing the panel on the door to chime for his arrival, but some how it was unlocked or he pushed the wrong thing and it opened on it's own.

Loud music burst from the open door way, throbbing bass and electronic melodies. And there was Roxanne, singing and dancing, half naked, wearing a pair of pants and that strange chest harness that he always saw human women wearing. His blue eyes went wide, and he flinched, expecting her to start screaming at him, but she hadn't noticed, her back to him and the music loud enough to cover the sound of the opening door. Over the music he could hear her singing, her voice high and proud, singing along and bouncing around, her hips shaking and swaying. He just stared at her, somewhere between amused and fascinated. He'd never seen a human woman in so little clothing, he was surprised by how... smooth she looked.

Then she turned around, and stopped, mid hip gyration, her mouth open, stopping mid note. She looked ridiculous, so Garrus laughed. He didn't really mean to, but it came out as a bit of a snort and then he just started laughing.

"Sacré nom de putain!" She shouted in surprise, and then fixed a furious glare on him, "Casse toi, trudouc!" Roxanne ran at him, one hand futilely trying to cover her chest, the other pushed him, hard, back out of the door and then it shut quickly in his face. Garrus just stood there laughing, doubling over and holding his sides, the image of her frozen, mid dance, stuck in his head. It was so ridiculous if only because he knew that with Roxanne's ego, she found it incredibly embarrassing.

The music shut off and he could hear her talking on the other side, but he couldn't understand what she was saying, partially because she was muttering and his hearing was good, but not that good, and partially because she seemed to be cursing in that language she had a tendency to lapse into when angry or surprised. "Roxanne," He laughed. She didn't answer him. "Come on Roxie, put on some clothes and let me in."

"No! Go away you stupid cuillon!" She shouted at him.

"Hey come on, stop calling me things that I don't understand!" He said, still laughing a little. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. "Alright, I'm not laughing anymore, come on, open the door." He said, still grinning a little. There was silence from the other side, "Please?" He added, and that seemed to do the trick since she opened the door.

Roxanne walked away from it quickly and sat on her bed, glaring at him, now wearing a simple black t-shirt. Her face was still a little red and her blue eyes were glaring at him viciously. "What the hell do you want?" She snapped, "And what is wrong with you?! Don't you fucking knock?"

"I did! The door just opened! I don't think you had it set right or something," He told her, walking in and shutting the door behind him. "Come on, I'm sorry." He told her, then burst out laughing, "Okay, no, I'm not. That was hilarious." He said, laughing so hard he doubled over again. Roxanne let out a snarl and opened the door, trying to push him out. "Okay okay, Spirits, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He told her, grabbing her arms so she couldn't push him, holding onto them, trying to calm down, "I won't laugh anymore okay?" He told her, smiling.

Roxanne scoffed and walked away, sitting back down. Garrus closed the door again and leaned against the door frame, smirking at her. "At least you dance better than Shepard," Garrus laughed softly.

"What?" Roxanne asked, looking confused.

"Shepard is a horrible dancer. Seriously, it hurts to watch him," Garrus said, straightening and doing an impression of the Shepard Shuffle, his hands up, moving up and down as he shifted from foot to foot. He stopped when Roxanne finally laughed. Garrus smiled and went back to leaning against the door frame, arms crossed.

"Hey, I'm a great dancer, that was just goofing off," She told him, still laughing a little.

"Yeah sure," He grinned.

"Oh yeah like you can dance!" She scoffed.

"I can, thank you!" Garrus laughed, "Next time we're on shore leave, we're going to hit up a club and I'll wow you with my amazing moves." He said, waggling his brow plates at her.

Roxanne rolled her eyes but smirked, "Alright, deal. So what did you want?" She asked him.

Garrus shrugged his shoulders, "First, what in the world is that language I always hear you spouting out?"

Roxanne shrugged her shoulders back at him, "It's called Cajun, it's kind of like French... but different, it's got some Spanish and English mixed in, and a lot of slang." She explained, "People from my neck of the woods speak it. I can't speak it perfectly, but I understand it pretty well, and I know most of the cuss words." She laughed.

"New Orleans right? That's where you're from?" Garrus asked.

"Been browsing the fan sites huh?" She asked, smirking.

Garrus scoffed, "Hardly, Joker seems to think we should all be well-informed about you, keeps telling me things I really don't care to know." He lied, partially. Joker did tend to start telling him random things about Roxanne, but he had asked about where she was from. "Like, I know that your least favorite color is yellow, and you really hate sour candies." He laughed.

"I do! They make my mouth feel like it's trying to implode..." She muttered.

"So what's a cool-yawn?" He asked, having heard her use it twice now.

"Cuillon?" she laughed softly, "Uh... jerk, asshole, but like, top tier, so like 'little prick of an asshole' or something." She explained.

"Oh..." He said, then frowned, "Hey..."

"Well you were laughing at me!" Roxanne glared.

"And you were dancing around like an idiot," He smiled.

"Whatever, what do you want?" She asked with a sigh, her cheeks having turned a little red. Garrus hadn't realized how easy it was to embarrass her, he'd have to remember that.

"I want you to tell me about yourself," He told her.

Roxanne's eyes narrowed and she let out an irritated scoff, "I already told you no," She growled. "And I meant it, it's none of your business."

"Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"Why do you want to know so bad?" She snapped at him quickly, "Why the hell do you care?"

Garrus opened his mouth, but couldn't really think of an answer, "I... don't know really. I just..."

Roxanne sighed and looked away from him, "Look, I didn't have a very good childhood okay? it's not something I really enjoy revisiting. So please, just leave me alone about it." Her voice was quiet, almost sad, two things that were rather uncharacteristic for her. "I don't know what you want me to tell you, I never knew my father, my mom was a druggie and an alcoholic and I had to pretty much fend for myself. I joined a gang when I was ten to make that easier and the rest... is complicated." She told him, then lifted her head to look at him, "There, happy? You know some stuff about me." Roxanne snorted and flopped back on her bed, staring up at the ceiling. "Can you just go now?"

Garrus sighed, surprised that he felt bad for pressing her, "Sorry, I didn't mean to make you upset." He told her quietly.

"I'm fine," She told him, not sitting up or looking at him, "You can go now."

Garrus sighed again and opened the door, opening his mouth to say... something to her, but he didn't know what so he walked out of her room, closing the door behind him and going back to the battery. He'd known since he'd heard her sing that night at the concert that Roxanne had experienced her own fair share of pain. She hid it well, either by being exuberant or abrasive, but it was always there, effecting every decision, every thought. Garrus never thought he'd feel bad for Roxanne Lachance, but he did.