The Girl - City and Colour
Shepard and Garrus were curled up in bed, watching the news vids with distinctive frowns on both of their faces. Their worlds were burning, and their only hope to help was to broker peace between the krogan and the turian. A disconcerting amount of pressure rested on their success in collecting the female krogan from the salarians the next day, and the vids were a jarring reminder of the necessity of their task.
Tired of having to watch hordes of his people die while he relaxed in bed with his love, Garrus closed the vid. He felt Shepard's muscles relax as he did.
"I was just thinking," he began, searching to take her mind off of things, "you never really gave me a rundown of my new XO duties."
"Oh!" She sat up, brushing her hand quickly through her hair. "Well, you know the basics: you have the deck when I'm away, and in case anything happens to me you take control of the ship." They both had to pause and laugh at the absurdity of the statement. "But I'm also going to grant you unrestricted access to all areas of the ship, as well as all files that I have access to and my messages. I always keep on top of checking my messages, but in case I fall behind I'll need you to sort through the junk and give me information of the highest importance. It wouldn't be a bad idea for you to occasionally make rounds like I do and check up on the crew members, see if there's anything they need."
She had an ulterior motive to her appointment of him as her XO; back when she was on the Shadow Broker's base with Liara searching through the dossiers, it had bothered her to no end to see the previous Shadow Broker's estimation that Garrus's leadership potential was being overshadowed by his loyalty to following her. She hoped that by making him her XO, she was presenting him with an opportunity to showcase his leadership qualities and give him a potential for a brighter future after the Reapers were gone.
"I'm here for anything you need me to do," he responded dutifully.
She kissed him quickly. "That's why I knew you'd be the best damn XO out there."
Garrus sat alone in the mess, a steaming cup of black coffee beside him. His carapace was cupped in his hand and his eyes were closed; he wavered between consciousness and sleep.
After his most recent sojourn onto Sur'Kesh with Liara and Shepard, the three of them as well as Mordin and Wrex had stayed up late into the night discussing the Reaper invasion and the state of the galaxy. Although the discussion had been serious, it was comforting being surrounded by his old friends.
Duty called, however, and Primarch Victus had requested his aid once they arrived onto the Citadel with refugee delegations. So, running off of three hours of sleep, he was attempting - and failing - to wake himself.
"Vakarian."
Garrus jumped out of his seat, his right hand flying to his forehead in a salute. "Yes, Primarch, sir."
"At ease," Victus growled, taking a seat across from him with his own dextro coffee in hand. "We were fighting together days ago, no need to go formal on me now. Besides, we're the only two turians on this zoo of a ship, we have to stick together."
"Commander Shepard has been known to recruit a rather rag tag group."
"That's an understatement. Never thought I'd be on an Alliance ship with two krogans, a salarian, an asari, a Prothean, and a mobile AI platform."
Garrus couldn't help but laugh. "Shepard has that funny way of bringing people together to fight for a good cause, regardless of where they come from."
"You seem very fond of the commander."
"She's the best commander I've fought under," Garrus said, his subvocals portraying his dedication. "She's an incredible fighter, she's compelling, she-"
Victus held a hand up to silence Garrus. "Don't be coy, Vakarian, you know what I mean."
Garrus's mouth snapped shut. "Well I... She... What makes you say that?"
Victus let out a hearty laugh. "I can read you like a book, son. You look at her like she's the only person in the galaxy, and she looks at you the same way. But there's no need to hide it: happiness is few and far between these days, we need to appreciate what we have regardless of our concerns about others' opinions."
"Just... Please, don't tell my father." Garrus hung his head low.
The Primarch cocked his head sympathetically. "I've known your father for many years, Garrus. He fought at my side during the First Contact War, so I know he isn't the fondest of humans. I also am aware that he can have irrationally high expectations of people, it's what made him such an excellent officer. I know he doesn't say it, but he's proud of you. If you brought home a human mate like Commander Shepard, he may be angry at first, but deep down he would just be happy to see you happy."
"Thank you," Garrus muttered hoarsely.
Victus's mandibles twitched into a warm smile. "I'll let you in on a secret, Garrus. I've been in your boots before: I loved a human woman once, long ago. So I know the way that human women work, and it can be damn confusing at times. Keep me in mind if you need help decrypting her motives."
"You had a human mate? That must be a hell of a story."
Victus stood to drop his mug in the sink. "When this is all over, I'll buy you a drink and tell you the story."
"Can't say no to that offer, Primarch."
Victus made his way to the elevator, but stopped just before he entered. "Please, call me Adrien."
"James, I'm thrilled you saved our commander's life, but did you really have to trash the Kodiak this badly?" Cortez had his hands on his hips as he studied the engine bay of the shuttle.
"Hey Esteban, if you were a better mechanic you wouldn't have to complain so much."
"You fix the leak in the drive core then!"
"If I could do that, I wouldn't be out there putting my neck on the line every day, would I?"
"Just because you're not smart enough to - Commander, glad you're here!" Cortez said with a snap salute as Shepard stepped off the elevator, quickly ending his banter with Vega.
"What's the issue with the Kodiak, Cortez?"
"It's a leak in the drive core, ma'am." Shepard could detect that her new shuttle pilot was still nervous near her. "It still runs, but it's using twice the amount of fuel while getting half the power."
She ducked her head into the engine bay, whistling tunelessly to herself. "Can you start it for me?" Cortez jumped into the cockpit and started the shuttle while she ran her hands over various hoses and wires. "Ok, that's good!"
Cortez jumped back out. "Find the problem, ma'am?"
"Oh yeah," she responded, digging into her tool bag. "It's not the drive core itself. One of the eezo injection ports is damaged and leaking. The manufacturer for those parts was based on Earth, however." She sighed, taking her time to prod around the engine while she considered a potential solution. "Do we have a tig welder?"
"Only mig, commander."
"That will have to do. Can you bring it to me?"
"Aye aye."
After Cortez brought her the necessary tools and a welding mask, Shepard worked in peace and quiet, hoping to finish before they reached the Citadel. She was exhausted, but with so many people needing her attention she had cut her sleep short.
Loud footfalls echoed through the cargo bay and she heard a gruff voice behind her. "Shep-arrrrrr-d."
"Wrex," she grumbled back, her head remaining in the engine bay. "Missed me already?"
"Wanted to talk to you."
"About what?"
"You and the turian."
That piqued her interest. She turned to face him and lifted her mask, nodding at him to continue.
"So you two are a couple, eh?"
"What makes you say that?"
"I could smell it from a mile away. You two don't hide it very well."
She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Can't hide anything from a krogan."
"Well I'm happy for you, Shepard." He clapped her hard on the shoulder. "You may be crazy for liking a turian, but if you're going to pick any turian, Garrus is the best damn one I know."
Shepard couldn't help but laugh. "Thanks for the blessing, Wrex. Means a lot to me."
Wrex's omni-tool pinged. "Mordin needs me for more damn tests. See you around, Shep."
Zoey lowered her mask and continued to work with a faint smile on her face.
Shepard walked into her cabin and fell face first onto the bed, fully dressed. Garrus stood from the couch to sit beside her and massage her back.
"Long day?" he asked as she let out a long sigh of contentment.
"Well, let's see. I fixed the Kodiak, and I brought together the Blue Suns, Blood Pack, and Eclipse under Aria's leadership. I brought down a rogue hanar diplomat, recovered the Book of Plenix and... the Pillars of... Strength..." And with that, she let out a loud snore and fell promptly asleep.
Garrus couldn't help but laugh. He knew that she woke this morning at 0600 hours, and it was 2330 hours now and she was finally resting. He couldn't blame her for falling asleep. He gently lifted her head to take her hair out of its tight bun, turned off her omni-tool and forwarded any incoming messages to his own, set an alarm for 0700 hours, and began to remove her uncomfortable clothes before tucking her under her sheets with a swift kiss on her forehead.
He loved her more than anything in the galaxy.
He quietly left the cabin, checked in with Specialist Traynor (who found a distress call from Grissom Academy, which he requested to be plotted on the CIC), asked EDI to set course to the Krogan DMZ, and made the quick rounds to check on the crew.
When he made it back to Shepard's quarters, she was lying on her back with her arms and legs wide open, covering most of the bed while snoring. Wanting to leave her to rest, he threw a pillow and sheet onto the couch, turned off the lights, and slept. He awoke three times to incoming messages for Shepard, but deeming them unimportant, he left her to sleep peacefully through the night.
A/N: I have this idea for a fic that's been floating around in my head about the story of Victus meeting and falling in love with a human woman; it would be set post-First Contact War around 2165, and it would discuss overcoming human-turian prejudices. If you think that this would make for an interesting fic, please let me know to inspire me to write it!