~Garrus~
Today had been a long day and though he is tired and achy all over, Garrus can't find it in himself to complain. He is happy to be on his way into Investigations and is more than willing to do the hard work to get in.
The only negative about his situation is that he doesn't get to be home as often as when he was just patrolling for Enforcement. That means he also doesn't get to see Jane as much during her leave, but the two make sure when he has time to enjoy themselves even if by just watching vids at home.
He gets out of his cab at the hub outside when he hears a peculiar sound coming from the nearby family center where crowd has gathered. As he moves closer he begins to recognize the sound as a human instrument that he's heard from performers on the wards, but it's usual to hear one in a Turian apartment complex.
The performer has obviously attracted the group of adults and children as the some adults even bob their head and hum along with the music. It's then that the beat slows slightly and he hears a very familiar, yet very unexpected voice, cut in tenderly. "They say the devil's water it ain't so sweet." Shocked to hear Jane as the source, Garrus begins to push his way through the crowd. "You don't have to drink right now but you can dip your feet in, every once and a little while."
The instrument picks back up speed and power. She begins to sing shortly after as he finally makes it to the front of the crowd. "You sit there in your heartache, waiting on some beautiful boy to, to save you from your old ways." Jane is surrounded by a group of young Turians who watch in awe as her fingers strum over the strings and her voice envelope the group. She smiles looks down to the children as she sings with a smile on her face, even focusing on one in particular as she says one thing or another.
He doesn't notice that the song is at its end until the crowd claps and she bows her head in silent thanks. The children bound on their feet and some from their spots sitting on the ground, all thrumming in excitement and happiness and Garrus is surprised to hear some of the adults do the same.
He admits that Jane definitely has a way with people if she can get some of the older Turians in the crowd to let out a thrum or two before they clamp down on them. She may not know it, but she definitely has the charisma to get break through the standard Turian façade of control. Part of him also admits that she probably would've been able to convince him to sign up for Investigations even if he hadn't have wanted to.
She notices him then and he nods in acknowledgement. She turns to the children around her as the applause quiets and concedes, "Alright kids. Looks like I attracted the attentions of C-Sec." The children look to him, some with frowns and some with scowls, and some of the parents chuckle, the good mirth from Jane's performance still permeating the group.
"Time to call it quits," she adds, to which an audible amount of 'ahhs' and grumbles ensues from the group of youth. "Now, now, be good and run along. I've just about rubbed my fingers raw to appease your insatiable appetites." They all either giggle or laugh at her mock grimace over her fingers and the crowd begins to disperse as they and their families go their own ways to their homes.
"Well, Officer," she directs towards Garrus. "Here to take me in for disturbing the peace?" She holds her hands up with wrists crossed one over the other. "Take me quick then, while my adorning public is not around to see," she says with a smile.
Chuckling while he shakes his head he moves to help her up off the bench. "I think I'll let you off with a warning ma'am." She chuckles at that and he motions for her to lead the way back to the apartment.
It isn't until they are in the hallway opening his door that he asks the question he's been mulling over since he found her at the other end of the music that had attracted such a crowd. "Where did you learn to play? Something you've known, or something you just happened to pick up and be able to do flawlessly and immediately?"
The two enter and as he goes to sit on the couch, she places the guitar against the wall by the door and goes to the fridge and pulls out a beer for each of them. "Actually, I learned how to play as a kid." She sits and offers his beer over, to which he accepts appreciatively. "When my mom, you know, entertained guests I would be left to either sit in the hallway or find something to do with my time. Usually, I would stay late at school if it was one of the days I managed to go, but if not, I would just sit outside the door with my back against the wall and wait until she finished because the building wasn't safe enough to explore.
"I remember this one man who lived in the building on the same level as my mother. I always thought he was this mean old bastard with nothing better to do than yell at me as he passed by me or kick my feet as he walked by as he went to his room.
"Then, one day, he came up the stair well carry a bag of groceries and stopping at my feet, he plopped them down and told me to 'do something productive' and help him carry it to his apartment." She takes a large gulp from her bottle, thinking over the past. "Of course," she continues, "I know now that anything could've happened, but at that age I did nothing else but listen and followed him to his apartment.
"The size was just the same as mine, but occupying part of the main room was this big, light golden piano." He tilts his head to the side at the name, not recognizing it and she elaborates with a smile, "it's a large instrument that you sit at like at a desk with keys that, when pressed, play different notes instead of like a guitar with strings." She sighs and sifts back into the couch and begins picking at the label of her drink.
Garrus doesn't speak, knowing from their time when they would message each other that she tended to stop mid story. She seemed to need the pause to think about her past and wade through the dark waters that usually came with it.
With a deep breath, her expression changes and gains confidence once again. "I couldn't pull my eyes from the pristine instrument. As he stepped into the other room I even pressed down on some of the keys to hear the crisp notes. He must have seen my interest and heard my fiddling with it, despite by best efforts, because ever since then he would put me to work whenever he saw me sitting outside in the hall.
"I was made to do everything from bringing his mail up from the mailboxes on the bottom floor, to going out and buying him milk when he ran out, to cleaning the dust that magically collected every day in his tiny apartment. I would've hated being put to work, but every time I completed a day of work, he would sit down at the piano, wave me over, and show me something new.
"At first it started with simple notes and learning scales but eventually he was teaching me songs. I couldn't believe it, I wasn't good at anything by any means - I couldn't read, I couldn't complete the simplest of math problems, and I couldn't write - but when I sat down at that piano I felt so proud that I could produce such beauty from my fingers." At that, Jane raises her free hand and looks at it with a sad smile.
"Eventually, he went to his room and brought out a golden guitar to match his piano. He would play that while I played piano. I was amazed that as time passed, I could also learned how to run my fingers over its strings and produce music as well. It was the happiest time of my life."
She finishes off her drink and props the bottle on the floor at her feet. She sits with her elbows on her knees and speaks sadly. "One day, I returned from school to the hallway filled with large cardboard boxes. He had passed away that morning in his sleep and they were cleaning out his things. My first friend I had ever had and the first person who had shown me any sort of love was dead, and I didn't even know his name."
She sighs, "I had to get his name from a letter of his the building was going to just throw away in the trash. His name was John H. Shepard. It was only as an adult that I learned what importance that name really was when I recognized a photo of a man with a golden guitar and golden piano.
"John Hannah Shepard – don't ask about the name – was a country blues singer. Journalists compared him to another great artist that was from way before my mother was even born. How such a man found himself in such a shithole apartment I'll never know, but to this day I wish I could thank him somehow for giving me the escape that piano and guitar gave me."
She looks to Garrus with a sad smile and he finds himself purring softly in comfort. He doesn't expect her to hear, but the thought it enough as he speaks, "I think he knows that you appreciated it in his own way."
She nods and moves to change the subject to their possible dinner options, to which he agrees if only to help ease the wrenching he feels at her sadness. The rest of their night falls into the more familiar as they share delivery on the couch while watching nothing in particular.