~Jane~
She thought telling Garrus of Akuze days ago would help the nightmares. That somehow if another soul knew of those she lost that the pain would fade to be more manageable. Now though, as she runs towards an incoming evac with the heavy thuds of Jameson's boot steps behind her, she only knows that here, in her head, she is alone.
It isn't until the distance between herself and the hovering shuttle lengthens to seem endless that she realizes that tonight, the dream is different. No matter how hard she pushes her legs, the gap doesn't shorten and the air grows more silent in anticipation for the final throw of acid from the nightmarish beast behind her.
The sounds of shouts, footsteps, and frantic panting cease, and time seems to slow and her body feel like moving through sand. The only noise that cuts through like a knife is of the rush of inhale and sharp, fluid exhale of the Maw at their six.
She feels the sensation and weight of heavy fluid splashing onto her back and it takes long enough to question the toxicity of it before her suit begins to sizzle. She knows that taking the armor plating off will stop it from reaching her skin if she's fast enough, but her limbs don't move the clasps no matter how hard she screams in her head for them to obey. Skin burning with the pain and smell she will always remember, she doesn't notice the echoing of her slow steps until a dead weight lands on her back, pressing against the weeping flesh.
"Where are you going, Shepard?" The flesh stripped face of Jameson says over her shoulder and his bony fingers wrap over the lips of her armor. "You belong here, not on that shuttle."
She shakes her head and pushes harder, but finds her slow moving legs collapsing mere meters from the shuttle entrance, pain erupting from Jameson's body rubbing against the raw and still burning flesh like sandpaper. "You don't exist, Jameson, not anymore, so, fuck off." Her words sound braver than her actual thoughts. She fears that with his weight on her back and pinning her to the ground, Jameson will hold her so that the Thresher Maw can return and finish the job it started.
Jameson laughs, a horrible phlegm filled thing, and bloody, acidic, pus flies from his lips. "Your family is here, the only people who ever cared for you and you cared for in return. What could you possibly want out there? Someone to share your pain?" He leans down so that he whispers directly in her ear and she cringes at the searing sting it brings, "Him?"
Her eyes widen at the image of Garrus flashing through her mind at his words. She has never had a dream of her memories pull people and things from outside of its events and use them to torture her. Using every bit of her last remaining strength she tries to get her hands under her chest and push herself up, clenching her teeth against the pain. He laughs again and the sound drains her, causing her to collapse back down with a cry.
"Face it, Shepard, all the people you ever gave a shit about are dead. You can't find it in you to put faith in another." At that, he grabs fistfuls of her hair and jerks her head up in time to see the Maw fling its giant head back.
Jane starts awake in the dark bedroom. She didn't wake screaming, so she takes that as a good sign. The dream was strange and a bit frightening, but nowhere near as painful as the ones before. Maybe talking it out had started her on the path to getting over it.
She stands quietly and wades to the bathroom for a glass of water and upon returning to the bedroom she finds that she was actually able to sleep almost seven hours. Surprised at that, she feels slightly strange to have gotten so much sleep, almost like she slept in late and should be expected to go outside and have missed out on the entire day.
She walks into the living room to find that Garrus must have already gone into work. The two have shared a few nights sleeping in bed together, one on each half of the bed, just talking until one of them falls asleep. Nothing ever came of anything and he never acted like he expected or wanted more and had only touched that first night, but they both appreciated the feeling of the soft bed and friendly company through the night.
A bit disappointed, she hopes that he won't be out until after midnight like he has been since his last day off. Hopefully, if he guessed right, it should mean that he'll going to be taken out of Enforcement and placed into Investigations to train on the field under a detective. If that was the case, then Jane was fine with a few days where she didn't get a chance to hang out with him before he passed out.
Grabbing a quick breakfast bar, Jane heads to get dressed with a light feeling she hasn't felt in weeks. She may very well just spend the whole day traveling the wards and filling up the remaining pages of her sketchbook with something besides the dark images of her nightmares or she could spend the day playing guitar. It didn't matter much, she thought, as she packed her things.