Sorry about such a late update my dears. It is finals week and it really took me all week to write this chapter. You most likely won't get anything else out of me until finals are all over in a week. Until then I am studying and working on projects. Wait for me my darlings..
Disclaimer: Still not mine. But Christmas is coming up so cross your fingers...
The door opening to the main battery usually meant that John was coming for a visit. But with John away on a mission and the harsh smell that assaulted his nose, it was clear that that was not the case. Turning quickly with his hand over his nose Garrus's eyes grew slightly at the sight in front of him.
Jane stood with a large grin across her face, one that he had grown used to seeing quite often. She was dressed in a large white Cerberus shirt that almost looked like it was covered with human blood around the neck area. Her hair was pulled up and seemed glued to the top of her head by some sort of gel that was the source of the harsh chemical smell. He took a small step back as his eyes narrowed slightly. "What the hell is on your head?"
Jane's eyes moved up as if she was trying to look at the hair on the top of her head. Her smile grew as her hands locked behind her back. "It's dye." She seemed to believe that was such a simple answer. Like he would understand what she was doing and why dye was on her head.
"Okay, so dye. Why is there dye on your head?" His eyes watched as she moved over to sit on the crate that usually was John's perch when he visited him. As she sat he reached out his hand not covering his nose in an attempt to stop her. "Don't get that stuff everywhere."
She chuckled once more as she sat up straight so that her back and head did not rest on the wall behind her. She gave a small tilt of her head as she studied him. "Don't worry. I used to do this all the time. I'm a pro really." With her chuckle he relaxed slightly as a small trill of confusion filled the room. He was at a complete loss. Just what was this human doing?
She seemed to pick up on the sound and gave a small sigh. "Human hair is one of our defining features. It's something that we have that is completely different than anyone elses. Sure, you could have the same color as another person but the style and texture would be different." Her eyes moved to look up at a small little curl that fell slightly to the middle of her forehead. She raised a finger to push it back to place. Slowly her eyes moved back to him.
"John and I share a similar hair color. As you know I always tried to branch away from being marked as his sister. Taking a different last name. Changing my military field. I even dyed my hair so that we didn't share that common feature. I was always trying to be my own person." Garrus chuckled slightly as he slowly lowered his hand, having gotten somewhat used to the smell. A small smirk rose to her lips as she gave him a look that seemed to urge him to explain.
"I don't think I would ever think of you as a John copy. There is no one saying you are not your own person. You might have similar traits and sure, I have compared you. But your personality makes you stand out far from anyone else." He chuckled once more as he leaned back on the console behind him. He couldn't help but notice the bright blush that seemed to spread across her face as her eyes moved away slightly. Had he embarrassed her? Or maybe she was flattered? EIther way she had not been expecting that from him. Nonetheless she continued with her explanation with her eyes trained on the floor.
"Even with that, people who didn't know us personally would simply look at us and see a copy. Our mother even felt that way. She never said it out straight but it was clear that she saw John as her successful child while I was always the runner up. Anything I did was always second best to John. To gain her praise I could not just be as good as him, I had to completely surpass him." She gave a small chuckle as her eyes finally moved to look back at him. "And then he saved the Citadel. How do you beat that?"
She rose as she began to pace slightly around the room. Garrus gave a small nod as he watched her. Of course he didn't fully understand, having a younger sister. But he understood not being able to rise up to a parents expectations. He himself never seemed to be able to make his father proud. Nothing he did seemed to be quite what his father expected of him. His thoughts were halted as she paused and turned to him.
"I stopped dying my hair after John went down with the Normandy. I didn't take his name back and I didn't change my field to honor him. But by keeping my hair the color that I had shared with him, it was like a small salute to him. A way to think about him every now and then, keep a little of him alive."
Garrus's mandibles clicked slightly in a turian grin as he looked her over. "But now he's back and you don't have to keep that memento?" She smiled and pointed to him. "Bingo!" Garrus tilted his head in confusion at her exclamation. Her grin rose higher as she gave a small shake of her head. "It means 'exactly' or 'right on the mark'." She gave a wave of her hand as she moved back over to the crate. "Just another human saying that would make no sense to explain."
He chuckled slightly as he moved over to sit next to her on the crate. Leaning back he looked over the dark substance all over the top of her head. "So human hair can be dyed... You know when I first saw hair I thought it was like colony markings. That humans with the same color of hair were from the same family group."
She smiled to him as she shifted so she could look at him, one leg pulled up onto the crate. "You know you are almost right. Long long ago, before humans began to travel to different lands on Earth it was kinda true. Different nationalities had hair colors that seemed to be linked to the nation. But as humans began to travel and mix, it was all lost. So now hair does not define a nationality or family. It just defines the person."
Her eyes grew sad for a moment as they drifted down to her foot. Her hand rose to her neck where her necklace usually hung with the turian military tag. She must have removed it to keep the nasty dye off of it. Garrus gave a small tilt of his head as his subharmonics began to sing a little song of uncertainty as well as worry. Her eyes moved to him quickly, which took him aback. He knew that she seemed to be able to hear his subharmonics, but he never thought that she completely understood what they meant. Now he wasn't so sure as she gave a small shake of her head. Her smile was back as she looked to him.
"It's nothing, really. Just thinking of something that I shouldn't." Her smile rose to her lips once more as her omni-tool beeped. She stood up and looked down to him. "Time to go wash it out and see how I did."
He gave a small nod as he watched her move towards the door. As it opened he called out to her, "Come back when you are done!" He paused for a second as he realized how demanding that sounded. "So I can see how it looks?" He added timidly. Her eyes moved to him in what looked to be a small state of shock. After a moment the shock wore away to her smile as she nodded and turned back to move down the hall. As the door shut Garrus sighed and let his head fall back to rest on the wall behind him.
Where did he come off acting like a child like that? It wasn't like he wouldn't see her again. And she very well might have had plans to come back anyway. John had taken Jack and Thane on this mission. This mission. It was one of the ones he really would have loved to have been on. It would have been good to see Tali again. Especially if she decided not to join John while he worked with Cerberus.
But John had left him aboard once more. Was it because of all the new crew, he had to test their skills? Last time around there were only five others besides him. Well that was until Virmire. Then their was only four other crew. And with John always taking two at a time and the amount of missions they had, they switched out regularly. Now there were over twice that many. And he never really got a chance to work with any of them. Whenever John picked him for a mission Jane was always coming along with them.
He didn't mind Jane, in fact he quite enjoyed her company. But it seemed John always kept them together. Was his friend trying to hint at something? Surely not. He had given him a warning about other males getting near his beloved sister. There was no way John would be pushing everyone else away just to try and set them up. Would he?
Garrus gave a frustrated growl and raised his hands to his face as he leaned forward. This was getting twisted and corrupted right in his mind. He didn't even know if he was attracted to Jane. Sure, she was fun to be around and he preferred her company to almost anyone on the ship besides John. But that didn't mean that he was ready to jump her or anything like that.
Actually he had never really thought about that before. He had never been attracted to a human. Sure, he had had a few flings with asari, but they were closer to a turian than a human. Lets face it, almost all species were attracted to asaris. It was just how they were built. The question was how close were humans to asari? Was it enough to find a common interest? He had known a few other turians that had been attracted to humans. Something about liking their soft features, mostly in the chest area. Once in C-Sec he overheard one of his fellow officers commenting on how frail a human could feel but at the same time they could take more than you would expect. So maybe there was something interesting there.
Another growl was torn from him as he laid his head back once more, his hands still covering his face. Just what the hell was he thinking? They were getting ready to walk right up to the gates of hell, kick the door in and start shooting up the place. It would be a miracle if any of them lived. This was no time to be thinking about this sort of thing. At least not that he thought. The last thing he needed was to put a mission in danger because he was worried about a fellow crewmate.
His thoughts were halted as the door swished open. A smile rose to his mandibles as he thanked her for her timing. Any more thought process in that direction and he may be in trouble.
"Have you even moved since I left?" Her voice drifted closer as he listened. Suddenly cold glass brushed against his arm. Out of shock he gave a small jump and took his hands away from his face so he could look at the offending item. There in front of him was what appeared to be a cold glass of turian brandy. He smirked and reached out to take the glass.
"You have no idea how much I needed this..." His eyes drifted up from the glass to where she stood just a foot from him. He took note that the ruined Cerberus shirt had been discarded for a simple black top that had a low neck and no sleeves. As his eyes moved up further he saw red.
Around her hair the smell of chemicals still lingered but there was a sweeter scent tied in, her hair soap most likely. But what really got him was the color. It was such a bright vivid color of red in the upper area while in the lower area it seemed to be a deep burning red, almost a black red. It was quite fetching and he had to admit that it suited her.
He noticed that he was staring very blatantly at her so he moved back and brought the drink to his lip plates. After a small sip he gave her a nod and rose to his feet.
"That is a good color. Very... daring if I may say so..." His hand not holding his glass reached out to run the back of one finger down a strand that framed her face. As his finger cleared her chin he trapped the curled strand between his finger and his thumb. Slowly he pulled the hair up so that he could feel the texture but not hurt her.
"Hair is such an oddity to me. Its dead, or so I have been told. But it acts almost alive, being able to be flat one minute or have curls the next. You can dye it and change its color. I don't think I have come across anything like it before." His eyes moved to her face and became rooted to the spot. Her face was almost the same shade of red as her hair. Her eyes were trained on the ground as a small teasing smirk worked its way to her lips.
"Damn Garrus, if you get this forward from one sip I'm getting you drunk more often." Her eyes moved to his and he would have been mortified if it wasn't for her look that told him she wasn't being serious. Slowly he let the strand slip from his fingers. Taking a step back he raised his hand in mocking defence.
"In just did something I shouldn't have, didn't I?" She chuckled slightly as her fingers rose to move the strand behind her ear. A smile grew on her face as she looked away from him once more. "It all depends really..."
She chuckled as she moved over the take a seat on the crates. Her eyes found him as she began her explanation. "Humans, as you may be aware have a wide variety of meanings for gestures and words. We really don't have a specific set of rules most of the time." Her hand rose to run her fingers through her hair. "Touching someone's hair, a girls hair, could mean different things. A small gentle ruffing of the hair could be playful, caring gesture while the same gesture but a little rougher could be viewed as bullying. Running your hand through someone's hair could be admiration or envy of the hair or if done gentle, as you did, it could be viewed as romantic, or very personal. Almost on the same level as stroking a turian fringe."
Garrus's eyes grew wide as he took a small step back. Had he really done something so personal? Something so intimate? He moved to apologize, to give her some sort of explanation, but she held up a hand followed with a smile. "It is alright. I know that you did not mean it that way. Just keep a mental note for next time."
She smiled once more as she took a sip of the bright pink liquid in her glass. Relieve filled him as he took a drink of his own glass. That was something he need to remember for the future. He told himself that it was to make sure it never happened again.
As they sat in comfortable silence, drinking, Garrus could tell there was something on her mind. She would look up to him for a moment, seemed like she was going to say something, then she would halt the action, take a sip of her drink and look away. After about the fourth time his subharmonics sang out in confusion with a small hint of curiosity. She gave a huff and gave him a look that seem to fit all too well on a child caught red handed stealing candy.
"Look, I wanted to say I'm sorry..." His was so surprised by her sudden apology that he was speechless. What could she be sorry for? Had she done something that she thought might have offended him? Once again the species barrier blocked him.
The clueless look on his face seemed to tell her he had no idea what she was talking about. She gave a small sigh as she brought her feet up on the crate and let her arms lay out straight across her knees. "It's not fair that John leaves you on the ship all the time to look after me. You are a good shot and he would really benefit from having you on the ground team. But it seems you are the only one he trusts to watch over me when he's not around. Not that I think I need to be looked after..." She raised the glass to her lips as her eyes finally moved to him having been trained on the floor during her whole explanation.
Garrus was slightly taken aback. This answered his question earlier that was tearing his brain apart. John wasn't trying to set him up with Jane. He wanted him to fill in for him when he was off the ship. How could he not have seen it before? He chuckled slightly as he looked to her and shook his head.
"John has plenty of help for the ground missions. I learned on our last trip that John needs help in different areas. This isn't my mission. Wherever John needs me to be I will be. There is a reason he is leading this suicide hell mission." He studied her face as a small smile grew. After a minute she stood and moved over to stand beside him leaning against the console. Leaning slightly she bumped his arm with her shoulder.
"I didn't know you were such a good turian." He could hear the tease in her voice but he still felt like he needed to correct her. "Actually I like to think myself a bad turian. Especially if you hear what my father has to say about me."
A small laugh escaped her form as she looked up to him. "So is it my witty humor or my devilish good looks that makes it okay?" He couldn't help but return the smile as he tilted his head to the side. One finger rose to his lip plates as he seemed to think over something.
"I don't know about that... It may be the constant state of delusion you seem to be in. Don't want you to hurt yourself, the crew or even worse, myself." He chuckled as she punched his arm lightly.
"Ass..." They both shared a small laugh right before her omni-tool lit up. Pushing of the console she opened it as she spoke and slowly paced the room. "Must be John on his way back. Checking to make sure I haven't blown anything up with Mordin or maybe tried to jump someone." She chuckled as she opened the message and began to read.
As she did so Garrus turned away and took a sip of his drink. He hated the idea of watching people when they read a private ping. It almost felt like looking over their shoulders. And that was just no polite behavior. He was about to make a comment about John when he heard the crash of glass hitting the ground.
Garrus turned quickly to look her over. What could the ping have said to make her drop her glass? Had something on the mission gone wrong? Did they get there too late to save Tali? Or worse, had something happened to John? If so, what would happen to this whole mission? Before he could get too carried away he let his eyes study Jane. He was not a pure expert on human expressions, but her look did not say fear or worry. Her eyes were narrowed in an evil glare that would make stronger men shrink back. Her hand that had been holding her glass was now in a white knuckle fist. Even with his inexperience he could tell, she was beyond pissed.
When she spoke she did not look up to him or move. She just simply stood her ground glaring at the message as if she meant to disintegrate is with her gaze alone. "It's a message... from Sidonis..." Garrus's eyes narrowed just as hers did. A song of anger in his subharmonics joined a deep growl that almost shook his body. Damn his manners and what was polite. He was going to see that message.
He moved over to her after setting his glass down, he didn't want to have even more broken glass to clean up. As he stopped behind her he leaned down so he could look over her shoulder, his front almost pushed against her back but neither seemed to notice. "Are you sure it's from him?"
She gave a small nod as she turned her face so that she could see him more clearly. "Yeah... He's the only one that calls me Ja-Na.. It's the first two letters from my two names." She waved her hand slightly at his confused glance as she looked back to the message. "It came from a drinking game we played one night. You know sometimes the jokes last until the next day? Well that one lasted a little longer than that..."
Garrus gave a small nod as he looked back to the message. He couldn't stop the snarl that escaped him as he read the message. Reading it over it really did seem like Sidonis.
Ja-Na, If you are getting this that means you are alright. I have been thinking about you and what I did. I can't say much. Just know that I've been thinking about you. I don't think I'll ever cross your path again, Fist is making sure of that. But if I do, I hope we can have a drink together, for old times sake. Take care of yourself Ja-Na. Spirits guide you.
Garrus read over it three times before he turned and began to pace. Already ideas began to filter through his mind. He needed to get to this Fist. Find him and then find Sidonis. But where should he start? He may have to call in some old C-Sec favors. He looked up to Jane who was watching him all too clearly. She was waiting on him, this was mainly his revenge. It was very honorable of her if he thought about it.
"Are you still game for helping me get him back?" She scuffed slightly before raising her hand to point to her forehead. "I promised remember? We are in this together. Besides," she crossed her arms as she moved over to lean near the door. "You read what it says. He is trying to kiss up to me. Like he knew if you made it out of the Blue Suns then I would come after him. It would be real easy for me to get him in a position that would be good for us." She scuffed again as she looked away. When she spoke at first it was in a mocking fashion. "'Oh Ja-Na, I'm so sorry I did a bad. Please don't be mad. I'm thinking about you. I promise.' How stupid does he think I am? Like a simple 'I'm sorry' would make up for handing me over to the Suns and leaving me there to die."
He gave a nod with a small hint of a smile. It was kind of good to not feel alone in this. With help it would be far easier to accomplish their goal. He turned and began to click away at his private terminal.
"I'm going to pull some string that I still have at C-Sec to find out who this Fist guy is. As soon as I do we can get a shuttle and get to where he is. From their we may have to do some... interrogation to get the answer we want but -" He was halted by small fingers wrapping around his arm. He paused in his typing and looked down to her.
"Tell John. He would understand. And I'm sure he would rather take the ship to a port that we pick so he could get repairs done and get supplies as we do our task than to lose us for an unknown amount of time off to somewhere unknown. Besides he might even want to help."
She leaned in closer like what she was going to say was a secret. But with his adrenaline running now and his blood pumping other thoughts were going through his mind. Now he was all too aware of how close she was. How her little fingers were gripping his arm tightly but not too tight. How her body was pressed so very close to his. The way the light was catching her hair and giving her a bright glow. The soft, delicate scent that he couldn't quite place surrounding her. Maybe the thoughts he had had a few minutes ago were not so outlandish and bizarre. Giving a slight mental shake of his head he tuned back into what she was saying.
"John told me the other day that more and more people were approaching him about unfinished business. He wants a team with clear minds as he goes to face the collectors. So he plans to make sure everyone's lose strings are tied." He gave a small nod as she pulled away from him and took a step back.
"We will get him Garrus... And he will pay..." There was a moment where she seemed to be thinking about something. Subconsciously her arms drifted to cover her chest and stomach. Garrus watched her slightly retreat before giving a small trill of confusion. He realized that when it came to this woman he might as well stay in a constant state of singing his confusion. Everything she did seemed to be so odd and unexplained. Her eyes moved to him as she waved it off before turning to the pile of glass.
"Sorry about the mess... I'll get something to clean it up with." She turned to move out of the room but was halted as Garrus grabbed her wrist. Soft stormy blue eyes meet fierce blue ones. He couldn't explain the sudden need to comfort her, she just seemed to need a friend at the moment. He was about to say something when the door opened to John.
Quickly Garrus dropped her wrist and stepped away. Jane gave her brother a small nod as she moved the side of the door. John's eyebrows rose as he looked between the two of them. "Am I interrupting something?" He seemed a little wary but Jane stepped in to save him.
"Not at all. I was about to get something to clean up the glass I dropped. I stumbled and Garrus caught me so I wouldn't fall in the glass." Her eyes turned to Garrus who gave a small nod of agreement. He wasn't quite sure why she was lying to her brother, but if she felt the need to then he wasn't about to call her out on it. She moved over to pick up his almost empty glass. As she leaned she let her eyes move to his and she whispered to him. "Now is your chance. Tell him everything. He will be on board. I promise."
As she moved away she gave him a small wink then looked to her brother. "I'll leave you two to guy talk. I'm sure there is a lot to talk about and I think I'm going to go check on Kasumi. When I last saw her she was muttering ominously over stacks of papers about boxes and guns and parties."
As she moved past John he looked up to Garrus with a wide grin. "We got Tali, Garrus. She is down in engineering!" Garrus chuckled slightly at John. He could already see a small bit of romance budding there. As the door was about to close he let his gaze move back up to watch Jane walk down the walk way. As she did she gave one last look back to him and waved her finger with a smile before the door finally shut.
There was no doubt now. He was going to end up in trouble. He knew it. He just didn't know if he would like it or not.