Today was just not Shepard's day.

Granted, it wasn't the worst one she had ever had. There was always that time she had actually died, after all. And also that day when she had almost died back on Akuze. And then again later on after that on Eden Prime, then Ilos, Feros, Virmire, the Citadel…

She shifted in her seat. So no, this wasn't the worst day Shepard had ever had. But it was definitely trying to be. She ran a gloved hand across her face, wishing the action could wipe away more than just the dried sweat and dirt. Her eyes drifted over to the window next to her. The cab Garrus had hailed for them was a newer model, sleek and fast as it sped through Omega, and the buildings outside flicked by quicker than she could count. At this rate it wouldn't be long before they reached Toombs' base.

The shuttle's thin synthetic leather squeaked as Garrus shifted in his own seat beside her. The muscles on the back of her hand twitched in response, surprising her, and Shepard clenched the offending hand into a fist. It's just because you want to punch him for his insubordination back at Afterlife, she told herself. Like you did to Zaeed that time on Zorya.

Yes, that was it. It was anger that made her body hum with tension as she did her best to ignore the turian next to her; anger that made her so suddenly aware of his presence – just mere inches away – and the heat she swore she could feel radiating off of him. It definitely had absolutely nothing to do with the comment Aria had made just before Shepard had left the club, or the thoughts that had spawned like varren inside her head since then.

She swallowed. No, that had just been Aria getting revenge on Shepard for making her play 'delivery boy'. A stupid joke, really. She hadn't seriously meant anything by it, Shepard reasoned as she leaned forward and braced her elbows on her knees. Everyone knew there was nothing like that between Garrus and her. She was his commander after all, maybe even a mentor to him. Not to mention a human. Of course he'd never see her in that way.

Not, that is, that she wanted him too. She certainly didn't feel like that about him. Sure it was true that Garrus was important to her – he was her best friend after all; her constant comrade on missions, his rifle raised and ready as he covered her six as naturally as if it were his own; her escape on the nights when the silence and dreams grew too loud for sleep, his voice warm and grounding while they talked about nothing and everything as the hours passed like minutes– but wasn't that always how it was with the bond that formed between crewmates? Besides, Shepard had never once claimed to have a thing for aliens, despite what that damn Citadel vid said about her. And even if she did – which she didn't – was it even possible for a turian and a human to…?

Shepard laced her fingers together, retreating from the dangerous thought. No, Aria's comment had been completely off base. Garrus and Shepard were just friends, and that was just the way she wanted it.

…Wasn't it?

Garrus' omni-tool beeped, alerting him that they were nearing the drop point Aria's co-ordinates had led them to. He tapped a talon against his leg, thinking, and his eye caught the way Shepard's hands twitched slightly at the sound. Looks like she hasn't exactly forgiven me for Afterlife, after all, he thought, remembering the brittle glint he'd seen in her eyes when he'd refused her order to leave. His mandibles clenched quietly against his face; when this was all over and done, he'd have one hell of a debrief with her waiting for him back on the Normandy.

His omni-tool beeped again, reminding him his impending reprimands and possible beating could wait until later. He cleared his throat. "Commander?"

"What is it?" Her voice twinged with an emotion Garrus couldn't quite identify. Anger? Annoyance? Spirits, why did humans have to have such flat voices? It made deciphering their emotions so much harder.

"We're getting pretty close to the coordinates Aria gave us. ETA about ten minutes now." he said, glancing over at her.

It was almost amazing, watching the transformation she went through in the next few seconds. He had seen it almost more times that he could count over the long months they had spent together, but it was still fascinating to him how quickly her entire bearing could suddenly shift; one moment she had been hunched over, her body rigid and her face creased with her thoughts, and then the next it all just drifted away. There was no single overt action that gave away the change either as he watched her, but rather a thousand little ones; her hands stayed clasped together like before, but they no longer grasped at one another as if desperate for something to distract them from their idleness; her heart rate in his visor quickened, and her next breath came out long and clean; her eyebrows lifted as she blinked, her eyes suddenly bright inside the dim cab. He could almost feel the determination that radiated out from her in that moment. This was the Commander they told stories about, the woman who had saved an entire galaxy almost single-handily and planned on doing it again.

This was the woman Garrus respected more than anyone else.

And I went and pissed her off, he thought as his mandibles twitched slightly.

"What do we know so far?" she asked, looking over at him.

He pushed the thought from his head and opened up his omni-tool. "Not much," he admitted as he sifted through the information Aria had given them. "We've got the location and few estimates of their numbers, but that's about it."

Shepard nodded and opened up her own omni-tool to a map of the area. "Are you familiar with this Kenzo District?"

Garrus felt his mandibles pull tight against his face. "A little, yeah." Shepard tossed him a glance, raising one of her brows. It was almost as if she really could understand his sub-harmonics, human or not. She never missed a thing, regardless of what she thought about herself.

"Something I should know?"

"It's nothing, Commander."

"Garrus."

Spirits, he thought as he tapped a talon against his leg. She was a like varren sometimes, always asking questions, always picking at things. "I went there a few times with my squad. Nothing heavy. Mostly raids, get in-get out. It was Blood Pack territory back then and we didn't have the forces to take them on."

"And?"

He looked away and tapped his talon again, a little harder this time. "And nothing. The last time I went there was a couple of days before you showed up. Sidonis comm'd me and said the Blood Pack had pulled a fast one on him and he needed back up." He left it there, but the memory of that day played on in his head; he remembered rushing through the streets, the hitch he had heard in Sidonis' voice edging him to go faster; he remembered finding nothing - no trace of Sidonis or the guns - and the way the truth had crashed into him like a krogan; he remembered praying for the first time in years as he clutched his gun close to him and ran back to his squad's base; and more than anything else, Garrus remembered getting there too late.

His hand curled into fist.

A minute passed, maybe two, before Shepard broke the silence and said "I see."

And the damn thing was, Garrus thought as he turned back to her and found her eyes watching him, he knew she really did. She saw it all so easily, while Garrus himself could do nothing but fumble in the dark, blind and helpless.

"I guess it's a good thing you're here after all then." she continued, giving him that familiar crooked smile. "I won't have to go in blind."

Garrus blinked at her words, so similar to his own thoughts and yet so different. He cleared his throat. "Yeah. Glad I can help, Commander."

She held his gaze for a moment longer before turning back to her omni-tool. "So, got any intel on this building they're in?" she asked, looking it over on her screen.

He scratched his scars with his hand as he looked over hers as well. "Nothing aside from what you already have. Just these scans of the general layout." He paused for a moment as they studied the screen before them."You know, I think EDI's spoiled us. If we were in range of the Normandy she'd have gotten us the blueprints and best infiltration routes before we'd even asked."

Shepard's eyebrows rose up in agreement. "Never thought I'd miss an AI, that's for sure. I guess we'll be plotting our own entrance strategy this time around."

"Looks like it." Garrus said and then pointed with a talon to the top floor of the three-story building. " Toombs will probably be somewhere up here. He'll be expecting us, and that would be the best place to set up a defense. It gives him sight lines here and here for snipers to pick us off before we can get too close."

Shepard nodded. "Chances are his mercs will be spread across the lower levels to try and slow us down too. Estimates on their numbers?"

"Aria's numbers place them at over two dozen, but likely no more than forty all together. Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure."

"No doubt. It looks like there's a main entrance here, and that'll probably be where the bulk of the first wave will be. Slipping in through here, though," Shepard said as she pointed to the back side of the building, where it dropped off into a balcony and reached out into the Omega sky. "Would put us right at their backs."

"We'd flank them and take the bastards by surprise." Garrus nodded. "The shuttle could probably get in close enough for us to climb up over the railing without them seeing if it stays low enough."

"My thoughts exactly. From there we should be able to clear the place out level by level, that way there won't be any stragglers who can sneak up behind us."

Garrus looked up at her. "And then?" His mandibles flicked. "How do you want to handle Toombs when we find him?"

Her jaw tensed slightly and she closed the omni-tool, throwing a sudden shadow over her face as the amber light disappeared. "Just watch my back, Garrus. I'll take care of Toombs myself."

He nodded. "Understood, Commander."

A/N: So here it is, finally! I'm so sorry this chapter took me over a month to get up on here. Mid-terms and work made things crazy busy, and then I just had the hardest damn time writing this part for some reason. (I swear I must have rewritten the beginning like five times before I finally figured how I wanted it to go.) Still, I shouldn't have let it take this long, so I really am sorry about that. Also, I'm sorry I didn't get back to any the reviews for the last chapter yet either, and I'll go get on that right after I'm done here. And that's it really, so I hope you guys enjoy and I promise I'll do my best to make sure it this doesn't happen again, honest.