A/N: Warning - more sexy times in this chapter.
Garrus found himself in the loading bay a good half an hour before Shepard and Kaidan were even expected to arrive, just eagerly waiting for her.
He suddenly didn't know what to feel when the loading bay doors finally opened though. He was excited for her to be back, and they needed to have this conversation that he had been fretting over for the last few hours, but he was scared about what she might have to say, having created this whole narrative in his head that she wasn't happy about what had happened.
When the doors to the shuttle opened, it looked like Kaidan had his arm resting on the small of Shepard's back as they were waiting to depart. She had a smile on her face, like she didn't mind the contact. Almost flirtatious even? It was doing nothing for his confidence.
Shepard jumped out of the shuttle, and her smile grew even more when she saw Garrus. That was at least a good sign. Hopefully. It wasn't exactly enough to change Garrus' attitude though, as she came over to greet him warmly, he was somewhat standoffish as he reciprocated her hug.
"Hey, you okay?," she asked, concern flooding her voice. Apparently he'd been more obvious with his confused feelings than he had intended.
"Uh, yeah. Do you think we could go talk though maybe?"
She looked at him somewhat confused as she started unclasping her armour for Steve to check over and put away before her next rotation.
"Of course. I'll always make time for you, but do you think it could wait a bit? There was a group that hit us right before we left, and I used my biotics more than I had planned on. I'm famished."
"Oh, yeah, I suppose there's no rush. You should eat," he said, still sounding somewhat dejected.
"Have you eaten yet? Come join us," she said, holding his hand, still picking up on his mood.
"Yeah, okay," he agreed as he finally started to help her get out of the rest of her armour.
She stayed in her undersuit, not even bothering to take a shower first, she was so hungry. Kaidan seemed to be in a similar situation so he also joined them again for meal time.
Garrus hadn't eaten since breakfast either, but did nothing more than pick at his food and shuffle it around his plate as he watched her eat across the table from him. Liara had joined them too since she wasn't on the ground team right now either.
They laughed and enjoyed their time together, and she kept smiling at Kaidan still, but worse than that now, was Liara. 'She used to have a thing for Shepard too, didn't she?,' Garrus tried to remember. She kept placing her hand on Shepard as they joked and had fun, while he wallowed in self pity.
The jealousy was starting to boil over. He found himself becoming mad. Feeling as though Shepard was just rubbing her oblivious attitude right in his face. Like she wasn't willing to acknowledge how their relationship had changed. Almost as though she was embarrassed, and just wanted to sweep it under the rug.
He had finally had enough after Liara held Shepard's hand as they laughed. He wasn't even paying attention to anything they had been talking about, but he was sick and tired of Shepard treating him like he was barely there, or like he wasn't important. Especially when he felt like whatever they had might be slipping away with her barely seeming to care.
He finally slammed his fork on the table, looking at Shepard, practically seething now, entirely fed up.
Everyone just stopped what they were doing as they stared at him, wondering what happened.
"Garrus?," Shepard finally questioned.
"Can we have that talk now?," he finally asked.
She just looked between all of her friends at the table apologetically before answering.
"Sure," she offered simply before getting up, and heading to the elevator, leaving her tray and mess behind her.
Garrus barely even acknowledged the others before he ran after her.
They took the elevator ride up in silence, Shepard didn't look too pleased. Garrus couldn't say that he felt much different.
She waited until they were safely in her cabin before speaking.
"What the hell was that about, Garrus?," she asked, more softly than the words had warranted. She wasn't happy with his attitude, but she was going easy on him, knowing he had been rightly out of sorts thanks to recent events.
"What do you mean, 'what was that about?' I'm sick of your attitude ever since we got back. Do you really not have anything to say about what happened?"
She looked at him, completely dumbfounded. To her, she didn't think she was acting differently at all. If anything, maybe more happy than usual, but she figured that should have been a good thing.
"What do you mean?," she finally asked, confusion lacing her words.
He finally just pulled his shirt away from his neck, acknowledging the bite mark.
"Oh. That. To be honest, I kind of thought you liked it with the way you had acted after it happened. I guess I figured we didn't really need to talk about it," she finally said, looking down at her feet, realising she should have apologised sooner. She did still feel bad about it, with how serious of an injury it had become. "For what it's worth, I am really sorry. I just did what I thought I had to do to get you back."
He felt like his heart was shattering with those words. His worst fears were coming true. She practically just admitted to this being nothing more than something to save his life at the time, not caring at all about what it had meant.
"You're sorry?," he barely managed to whisper out, feeling like his throat was filling with lead.
Shepard never expected for him to react so poorly to this. She knew that she had hurt him, but he was acting like she had betrayed some kind of trust. She had always figured that him living through that would have been enough for him to forgive her for it, but apparently she was wrong.
"I don't know what you want me to say, Garrus. I never wanted to hurt you. You can't imagine how hard it was for me to want to do that to you, but I thought I was losing you."
"So that's the only reason you did it?," he asked, emotion flooding his voice.
She had never heard him like this before, and couldn't believe that she had managed to hurt him so deeply with this. It was a bad injury, but it was only a bite mark after all. She didn't understand.
"Of course it is. I never would have wanted to hurt you willingly," she said, finally starting to plead with him, trying to get him to calm down.
"Do you even love me anymore?," he keened out.
That had taken her aback. Sure she had bitten him, but this was starting to seem overblown, and it was starting to make her angry. She didn't regret doing something to save his life.
"Of course I love you! I love you more than I've ever loved anyone, Garrus. How could you even ask me that?!"
"Are you kidding?! You're making it sound like this was all a big mistake."
She just stood there with her arms out in complete confusion, finally realising that they might be having two different conversations.
"Alright, I think we need to take a step back here. We seem to have our wires crossed somewhere."
"What's there to be confused about?! You bonded us and now you're regretting it!," he finally yelled out, entirely upset. "Bonding isn't something to be taken lightly for turians, Shepard! How could you?!"
She looked at him, mouth completely agape in shock. "I did what now?!"
Well he wasn't expecting that reaction. It was enough for him to completely change his attitude now too.
"Uh oh," he said simply as he relaxed his posture. "Uhh…"
"No no no no no, you need to explain this to me. What did I do?"
"Here I was thinking we were over most of the cross-cultural issues," he said, finally understanding everything a little bit more.
She just stared at him expectantly, not particularly caring for the sudden lighthearted attitude.
He just let out a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck, wondering how to begin.
"Yeah, so... turians bond themselves by marking their mate with a bite. And uh, you just happened to bite me in the exact spot that we tend to do that."
Shepard let out a regretful sigh. "Oh my god. Garrus," she said, sounding completely apologetic. "I'm so sorry. I never-"
"Hey, hey. It's alright. You didn't know," he said, immediately coming to her, wrapping his arms around her comfortingly. "Honestly, this explains a lot. I was wondering how you could have been going on with everything as though nothing had changed. It was starting to make me worried."
She just buried her head in his chest, still upset with herself. At least he was being really sweet about it.
"Yeah, but Garrus… this is really serious. I never would have done something like that without talking to you if I had known what I was getting myself into."
He just stroked her hair, trying to be reassuring.
"Well, accidental bondings aren't exactly common. They're supposed to be for life, but there are ways to have them annulled in extreme circumstances."
"Oh," she said softly, just melting into his hold. "Is that really what you want?," she asked, hesitantly, finally gaining enough strength to look him in the eye again.
He shook his head lightly. "No. I understand now that you were just doing something to try to save my life, but the moment that I came to and I realised what you had done - well. I think that might have been the happiest moment of my life, even with the circumstances that were surrounding it."
That made a soft smile spread across her face. "I know I was excited to start working again, but that doesn't change the fact that I want a life with you, Garrus. I think I was just struggling to find meaning in a galaxy without war, and I felt like I had to find some kind of purpose out here again. I'm sorry if any of that made you feel like I was trying to run away from you, because let me tell you, I never regretted it more than when you were struggling to stay conscious down there. I don't regret biting you because I'm pretty sure that was the only thing that kept you alive. I may not have planned for things to turn out quite like this, but what if I said I don't regret bonding myself to you either?"
"I'd say that you just made me the happiest turian alive," he said, looking at her with more sincerity than he ever would have thought possible. It made the most beautiful smile spread across her face, as he touched their foreheads together gently.
"So what does this mean?," she asked quietly.
"That we get to live happily ever after?," he said, teasingly, which had elicited a small laugh from her.
"Well that's great, but I mean what happens now?," she said, finally standing up to look him in the face, curious about what this actually entailed.
"Well nothing much has to change really. Once we finish the process, you'll have legal rights as my partner. We can always do the human equivalent too if that's what you want, but I mean it. Nothing much changes. We get to live out the rest of our lives the same way that we would have otherwise, but now we get to do it a little more closely."
She smiled at him before bringing him into a kiss, never in a million years having expected this conversation to go down this road, but insanely happy with how her life had just changed.
"So how do we finish the process then?," she asked, coyly.
"I have to mark you now too," he said, grazing his talons along her shoulder lightly. "I was trying to on Noveria, but I think I was so out of it, that I just couldn't do it in time. Maybe that was for the best, since you probably would have been confused, and probably not expecting it at all."
"Yeah, that could be, but it also might have saved us a lot of trouble, getting the confusion out of the way right at the beginning," she chuckled.
"Maybe. But maybe I'm glad things turned out this way now. I can't honestly say that it was the best way for this to have happened, but it's kind of involuntarily made us talk about it. Now we both know for sure that it's what we want."
Shepard still had a slightly apologetic look on her face. "Yeah, well I'm still sorry to have more or less forced it on you though."
"You didn't force anything, Shepard," he said, as he brushed the hair out of her face with both hands, before placing them on the back of her neck, pulling her closer to him to capture her lips in a gentle kiss.
Shepard opened her mouth slightly more, prodding her tongue along his upper lip, gesturing her need for more. He granted her access by reciprocating, allowing their tongues to meet, and their tastes to linger. Their kiss hadn't stayed gentle for long, as it fueled their desire.
They had fought, and made up, and their lives had suddenly changed. They both felt the need to show each other what it had all meant.
Garrus slowly started guiding them towards the bed, still on the upper part of her cabin, not having managed to get much farther than the door in their haste to have their conversation. He slowly started unzipping her undersuit as she sauntered backwards, never relinquishing their kiss.
He gently slid it off of her frame, leaving her to kick off the remnants in a fit of haste as she simultaneously unhooked her bra, and threw it somewhere haphazardly. He picked her up as soon as she was free, signalling for her to wrap her legs around his waist. As she did so, he cupped her backside, and grabbed her furiously, resulting in Shepard hitching her breath.
He rubbed his blunted talons along her newly exposed flesh, tugging at the fabric of her panties. He had half a mind to rip them off in his need, but this wasn't like the last time they had sex. It wasn't a fumbled attempt to keep him alive. This was their gesture of what they meant to each other without the haze of confusion or miscommunication over it. He would take his time, and show her the appreciation she deserved.
He walked them down the stairs slowly, placing her delicately on the bed, allowing him a chance to undress himself as Shepard went to their nightstands to get their meds. As much of a mood-killer as it may have been to have to interrupt things, it would have been a bigger mood-killer if they had been left convulsing and gasping for air if either of them had accidentally ingested anything. Their love was worth the inconvenience.
Garrus joined her on the bed, recapturing her lips momentarily, before he trailed his way down her body. He nipped at the base of her neck, noting the perfect spot for his mark. It was so tempting to just do it now as his teeth softly grazed over her flesh, but he knew this was going to hurt her, and he wanted to make it as pleasurable and meaningful as he possibly could to ensure that this was a good experience.
He slowly trailed his way down through the valley of her breasts, cupping her left one with a gentle firmness as he rubbed his thumb over her nipple. It drew out a hitched breath of pleasure, spurring him onward. He trailed his kisses and nibbles lower, pausing at her belly button briefly, lapping his tongue at it in a tease of what was to come. He went lower still, pausing at her panties, inhaling the sharp musty scent that was stronger than usual thanks to her having just come back from a mission. It was intoxicating, making it difficult for Garrus to want to draw this out, but he would.
He started to peel them off of her with a tantalizing pace, lightly scraping his talons down her legs along with the motion. She just watched him, desire flooding her eyes, pupils blown wide in anticipation. As soon as they were off, he threw them to the side, not even caring where they landed.
He gently lifted her right leg as he nibbled it down to her core, resting it over his shoulder as he made his way closer to his destination. When he reached it, he spread her legs open more widely, and she reciprocated in kind, granting him access.
He eased his tongue between her already wet folds, prodding it at her entrance teasingly, before running it up to meet her nub. He ran soft circles around it, steadily increasing the pressure as he went, captivated by her writhing, begging for more contact. It made his own arousal hard not to gratify, as he began grinding into the mattress to alleviate some of his need.
Her desperate panting was making her impending orgasm well known. He didn't want to be a tease for her today, but he also didn't want her to finish like this, so he eased out of the motions, much to her discontent as she let out a frustrated groan.
He didn't leave her waiting for long though, making his way back up to her quickly, sloppily recapturing her lips with her slick juices still on his chin. He slid himself into her easily, as she had readily been waiting for him.
He picked up his thrusts, both of their needs already close to their precipice, as he lowered his hand to start running his knuckle over her clitoris, bringing her closer to the edge again.
Garrus lowered his head to her shoulder, finding that spot he had already sought out, and nuzzled into her affectionately. He could feel her getting close, but he needed to know that she was prepared for what was about to happen.
"Are you ready?," he asked.
She didn't have any words for him and just nodded her head furiously, which he could feel with his proximity.
He was patient, waiting for her to be pushed over the edge so he could make it the perfect moment. He quickened his pace, and finally felt her release, taking that moment to make his mark. His teeth sunk into her flesh, and she let out a soft scream of pleasured pain. He kept his teeth in her for a moment to make sure the mark was good, finding his own release easily now, knowing that they had fulfilled this commitment to each other.
He relinquished his hold on her neck, trying to be as delicate as possible, seeing her blood trickling onto the sheets beneath her as he raised himself up.
Shepard gently grabbed him on either side of his face to get him to look at her instead. He was immediately captivated by her enamoured smile. Any lingering doubts of the last day had completely washed away with the way she was looking at him. It was as though she was penetrating his soul into a bond that could never be broken. He had never felt more sure about anything in his life than in this moment, completely and utterly so in love that it almost hurt.
He bent down and lingered in one last kiss and grazing of foreheads before he finally got up. He knew Shepard was perfectly capable of walking and taking care of herself, but he picked her up, and carried her over to the bathroom where he started running the shower. He wanted to take care of her the same way that she had taken care of him, even when she hadn't known the significance of her actions.
He watched her as the water gently eased over her frame. She didn't even flinch when it hit her shoulder. He knew it must have stung, but she had gone through much worse in her lifetime, and it hadn't phased her in the least. The realisation almost made him sad, knowing the things that she had dealt with throughout her past. But this was the woman he loved. Strong in every facet of her life, and it was admirable.
He knelt down to help her clean away the remnants of his seed that was now trickling down her legs. He steadily held her still with one hand on her hip, and washed with the other. She rested her weight on his shoulders, as she caressed the underside of his fringe, appreciating the gesture of being taken care of for once.
He stood again to check on her wound, happy with how it was being washed out, and left her to finish rinsing off the rest of the grime from the day.
He quickly dried off and put some pants on in order to go prepare everything so that she could be comfortable after she was done. He changed the sheets now that it had been stained with her blood, and got out her pyjamas so she could have something to change into after her shower. He made his way back to the bathroom, having picked up a tube of levo medi-gel and some gauze from his stash of supplies that Chakwas had given him for his own injury.
He set her pyjamas aside and noticed that she was already finished, with a towel wrapped around her torso, looking at the bite mark in the mirror.
"How does it feel?," he asked as he walked up behind her, looking at her eyes through the mirror.
"It stings, but it's okay," she offered with a slight smile.
"Well here, this will help," he said, showing her reflection the medi-gel in his hand.
He then went to unscrew the lid and get a decent glob of it in his palm before he gently rubbed it into her wound. He didn't take his eyes off of it, making sure he was thorough, and Shepard didn't take her gaze off of him, with a softness adorning her features now.
She felt a little stupid for how this had happened. She even felt a little ashamed for not having learned about such an important part of his culture before now. It was one more thing to blame on the reapers, the war leaving her with little to no time to actually put into learning anything about it. Nevertheless, she was also insanely happy. She had already pictured themselves here sooner rather than later. She might have preferred that they had discussed it first, and she hated that she had left Garrus in a haze of self doubt, but things had worked out for the best in the end.
He finished with the medi-gel and put some gauze over it, taping it to her skin. He did one last check to make sure that it was secure before he finally met her eyes again. This is when he realised that she had been watching him intently. They both admired their matching marks now, bandaged and healing. Their symbol of how they were now forever tied together, and the prospect offered nothing but elation to the either of them.
That's when she finally turned around.
"I love you, Garrus," she said as she brought him down to touch their foreheads. "There's no Shepard without Vakarian."
"And now I'll have your six in everything that we do," he said with a chuckle, bringing her into a proper hug, nuzzling his head on top of hers, towering over her slightly. "I love you too, Shepard."
They stayed like that for a moment, before Garrus finally continued. "Here, I brought your clothes. Why don't you get dressed, and then we can just relax on the bed and try to let the medi-gel start working."
"That sounds perfect," she said, as she moved to get dressed.
They made their way back over to the bed, and Garrus waited for her to get in before laying down beside her. He put his arm beneath her head, so he could wrap it around her torso, holding her tightly up against his chest.
"Feeling any better yet?," he asked, as they settled.
"It's starting to. You being here helps."
"Good, because there's nowhere else I'd rather be."
She just hummed in agreement momentarily, before feeling herself beginning to relax.
"We're definitely taking that vacation as soon as this assignment's done now. I don't care what Hackett has to say about it."
Garrus let out a chuckle at that. "You won't hear any complaints from me."
That was enough for them both to find comfort in one another, contemplating what the rest of their lives now held in store for them. Garrus could feel Shepard's breathing calming down, assuming she was getting closer and closer to sleep when she suddenly stiffened.
"Oh shit!," she exclaimed.
"What is it?," he asked worriedly. The abruptness of her change in attitude had him concerned.
"What are we going to tell our parents?"