Damn, I had forgotten all about poor Joker! Thanks for the reminder, CyanB :)
Soundtrack: In My Time of Dying – Led Zeppelin
In my time of dying, want nobody to mourn
All I want for you to do is take my body home...
Garrus watched Shepard drift into a fitful sleep. They had set camp between a large moss-covered boulder and a tree leaning drunkenly towards it. Using the ultralight tent-canvases they had made two makeshift shelters. Kaidan and James were setting up traps, planting the last of the mines, creating a safe perimeter around their small camp. If the Blue Suns were on their trail they would at least hear them coming.
It had started to rain again. The sound of it drumming against the leaves, the canvases, was almost hypnotic.
Shepard thrashed in her sleep, mumbling incoherently. She was calling out for her parents, her brother. The family she had lost on Mindoir. Garrus put a hand on her brow, frowning when he felt how hot she was. Her fever was rising again. She winced and curled up like a child, a scared sound clawing its way up her throat. "Mum... They shot Johnny!"
"Hush..." Garrus stretched out next to her, pulling her shivering form into his arms. "It's okay. You're safe, Shepard." He brushed his face against her hair. "No one is going to hurt you. You're safe..." The soft, soothing sub-harmonics in his voice must have penetrated her delirium because she turned around in his arms and buried her face in the crook of his neck.
"I hid", she said in a small, trembling voice. "I heard them come into the house. I heard them kill mum and dad. I hid and I stayed quiet like they told me to."
There was nothing he could say to that. Garrus' heart bleed for the child she had been, for the woman she was now. She had been through so much, lost so much. And all he could give her were platitudes. "It will be all right. You're safe. I got you and I'm not letting you go." Platitudes. But he meant every word.
As evening turned into night the rain stopped falling and the jungle slowly filled with the sounds of night-living creatures. Kaidan and James had returned to the camp. Kaidan was watching over Shepard while James slept and Garrus walked the perimeter.
Shepard was thrashing again, restlessly moving her arms and legs. Her dark hair was plastered to her forehead, sticking to her cheeks. She was hot, burning up almost and yet she trembled, teeth clattering like she was freezing. Kaidan had given her as much medi-gel as he dared but it didn't seem to have any effect. The fever continued to rise.
"How's she doing?"
Kaidan looked up to find that Garrus had returned. "Not good", he said. "She is fighting though."
Garrus' mandibles moved in a smile. "Of course she is. That's what she does after all." He came over, knelt next to Shepard and brushed the damp hair away from her forehead. There was something so gentle in that simple touch, something so loving. It cut through Kaidan's heart. Jealousy. He told himself sternly he had no right to feel jealous. Not after Horizon, not after the things he had said. But he had felt betrayed and he'd had a hard time believing that it really was Shepard standing in front of him after believing for two years that she was dead.
"How did you know?" He asked, his voice rough.
"Know what?"
"That she was really Shepard and not some clone or an AI installed in an advanced synthetic body, designed to look like her?"
Garrus pondered the question for a few moments, he unconsciously touched the scarred side of his face. "You humans have a saying", he finally said. "The eyes are the window to the soul." His voice was soft, the flanging effect making it sound even more so. "I looked into her eyes and I knew..."
You have to hide, darling...
Mum, no! Please, I want to stay with you and dad!
You can't. They're coming! You have to be quiet, honey. No matter what happens! You have to survive. You have to!
The girl hid behind the sacks of fertilisers in the back of the stockroom, curling up, making herself as small as she could. The sound of gunfire came closer and closer. Then she heard her father shout, telling the slavers to stay back, to leave them alone. There was a loud bang and the sound of glass breaking. Her mother screamed.
The girl pressed her hands over her ears, and hid. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood so not to make a sound. The sound of a rifle being fired was impossibly loud.
Her mother cried out. A long wail of desperation and grief. Then a second shot rang out and her mother's voice was abruptly cut off.
The girl stayed behind the sacks in the dusty dark, listening as the slavers went through the house, breaking things, tipping over cupboards and shelves. She remained there, unmoving, hands pressed over her ears long after everything had gone quiet. She wanted to stay there forever but something drove her to crawl out from her small hiding-place. She made her way over to the door. It was locked but she knew the code. She was shaking as she left the stockroom.
Glass crunched under her feet. It looked like a hurricane had gone through the house. Then she saw the blood. Rivulets of red on white floor tiles. She heard a scream without realising that it was her own.
Her mother lay on her back in a pool of blood. Her father lay a few feet away on his side like he was sleeping. He seemed unharmed but when she turned him over, half of his face was a raw mass of gore. The slavers had shot him in the head.
"No! No! Daddy!"
It was a nightmare. It had to be. It couldn't be real.
Shepard had cried. Cried for her dead family, for herself. But she had climbed to her feet and left the house. Everywhere she looked she had seen blood and bodies. She had kept moving with a sort of numb stubbornness. She wouldn't give up. She had to survive.
But in her fever-dream Shepard lay down, curled up next to her mother's body. She was so tired. So tired of being strong. Tired of the struggle. The bad memories...
Shepard closed her eyes. She stopped fighting and gave into the drowsiness, the seductive darkness.
Kaidan put a hand against the Commander's cheek. Her breath had become erratic and then weak, so weak he couldn't tell if she was breathing at all. "Shepard? Shepard wake up!" He looked up and met Garrus' worried eyes. "She is dying. We're loosing her!"
The panic in his voice woke up James who had been resting in the other shelter. He blinked the sleep out of his eyes, his hands automatically going to his assault rifle. "What's going on?" But one look at the scene playing out told him enough. "Oh shit!" The feeling of helplessness was paralysing and he sank to his knees amongst the wet leafs that covered the ground, unable to do anything but pray.
Kaidan took Shepard's head in both hands, tilting back her face, about to attempt resuscitation on her lifeless body."Stay with me!" He took a deep breath of air and lowered his face to hers, pressing his warm lips to Shepard's oh so cold ones. He breathed long and deep into her still form. "Stay with me, Shepard... stay with me!" He did the chest compressions then breathed everything of his life into the woman he loved. The woman he had lost.
He felt a sudden convulsion in her body, then another as she fought to draw air. Tears welling in his eyes as Shepard's fluttered under lucid lids. She coughed and gasped, sucking oxygen into her lounges.
"Thank the Spirits!" Garrus had grabbed Kaidan's shoulder and was squeezing it so hard it was going to leave bruises.
Kaidan moved back a little. He rubbed a hand over his eyes. Relief mixed with heartache as he watched Garrus gently take Shepard into his arms, bringing his forehead to hers, whispering something quietly. Kaidan couldn't hear the words but the soft, purring sound spoke volumes. He loves her...
Shepard struggled to open her eyes. Using his visor Garrus could tell that her temperature finally was going down.
"Garrus...?" Her voice was weak, barely a whisper.
He smiled, gently touching her cheek. "Welcome back."
"What happened?"
"You nearly died", Garrus said. "Please don't do that again."
"I second that." James added from where he was still sitting on the wet ground. "It would look really bad on our service records if you did."
Shepard managed the palest hint of a smile. "I didn't know you where a career-man, Vega."
The marine shrugged and grinned, relieved to hear at least the shadow of that teasing tone in her voice again. "What can I say, you're rubbing off on me, Lola."
Shepard didn't reply. Her eyes had already closed again but in sleep this time. The crisis was over. James climbed to his feet. "I'll check the perimeter."
Garrus nodded. "All right", he said without taking his eyes off the woman in his arms. "You should get some rest, Kaidan. I'll wake you if anything changes."
Kaidan looked for a moment like he was going to say something, then he nodded and headed over to the second shelter.
James could see the tension in the way the Major squared his shoulders. He might not know the details but he knew enough. Even a blind man could tell that Kaidan still had feelings for Shepard. He couldn't help but to feel sorry for the man.
The rain had stopped. Water was still dripping from the leaves as he pushed past them to walk the perimeters of their camp. It was well past midnight. In an hour or two the night would start to fade into grey dusk but for now James had to use the night-vision goggles to penetrate the shadows.
The camp was quiet save for the distant sound of crickets and the occasional rustle of leaves. Shepard was sleeping soundly for what seemed the first time in ages. From the other shelter came the sounds of Kaidan snoring softly. Garrus could feel his own eyes grow heavy. The last days events were taking their toll on all of them. When James returned to the camp Garrus let him keep watch over Shepard while he woke up Kaidan so he could be on stag, and then got an hour of sleep himself before the sun rose.
I've had a truly awful week. I was suppose to move but the house I'm moving into has been flooded because the last tennants managed to break a pipe or something when they unplugged the dishwasher. There's water everywhere and it sucks.
At least I won't have to pay for the damage. And I'll get new floorboards in the kitchen.
Its been a real struggle to write and it reflects in the chapter. I'm not very happy with it but at least its posted. I'll do my best to make the next chapter better :) Thank you all so so much for following the story and posting reviews. Hugs and kisses to you all!