~Garrus~
Today was a good day, not that it was any different when considering his patrol, but today was the last day he would be posted to walk the Zakera Ward. It also marks the hopeful end to his long shifts because he can now focus solely on his position in Investigations. All he had to do was get to 1800 today and he would be through with the near sixteen hours days and in a position to do something for the better.
The day has been uneventful so far, only having to deal with a lost credit chit, which was left in a store's kiosk and not lifted by an Asari dancer from the club, a handful of lost tourists who have never heard of Avina, and a group of duct rats that he was able to talk out of a ventilation shaft but was pretty sure they used anyways once he turned his back. Not bad for his last day considering that he was patrolling one of the more densely populated areas of shops and entertainment.
Walking by the doorway of a shop that offers various drinks and refreshments from different planets, he stops short when he hears a feminine that he immediately recognizes. He walks in to find Jane in mid conversation with an uninterested Turian clerk.
"You see, if you offer this with chocolate and cream," she says, pointing to the cup in her hand, "you'd be able to serve it as a dessert drink and a coffee. More bang for the buck." She has the bag she bought months back from a gift shop for her sketchpad slung over one shoulder and she holds her guitar by the long, thin section as she waves the drink around haphazardly. It seems like she's had a bit too much caffeine.
"Ma'am," he replies, exasperated, "If we wanted someone to have two drinks in one, it wouldn't be very good for business."
She stops moving and squints at the clerk, then down to her drink. "I see your point." A quick pause, "you should still probably warn a girl about the amount of caffeine is this Salarian coffee." To this, the Turian groans and throws his hands up.
Figuring that Jane has probably been at it for a while by the pleading look and buzz the clerk throws him over her shoulder, Garrus steps up to the counter. "Is there a problem?" he asks with a mocking stern edge to his vocals he knows the clerk won't catch, but that Jane can recognize.
She looks to him with a smile, "of course not, Officer. I was just about to apologize for keeping this," she motions, "dashing fellow for keeping him when he is clearly busy," taking in the empty store. With all seriousness, she bows her head to the clerk in a very Turian apology, to which he responds to with shock. She turns to him and motions to the door. "I'm leaving now, so there won't be any problem."
He follows her out with a smirk and once they are out of view of the store he turns to Jane. "I take it that our meeting isn't coincidence?"
She finishes the sip she was taking and shakes her head. "Actually, no. You never told me where you go when you patrol and I was exploring around, looking for something to draw that can fill up the last five pages of my sketchbook."
He motions to her to start walking beside him as she continues. "I was originally on the Presidium, but then I was rudely asked to leave by some Volus politician because I was dirtying up the place or something." She waves dismissively with a look of distaste on her face. "Then I went to Tayseri Ward and asked the Turian woman from that restaurant I got your food at if I could draw her cooking. She agreed and gave me some fruit pastry thing." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a small white package. "I tried some of it, since it was only right if I was to be carrying it around all day," she says with a smirk. "Now I'm here and I'm all done with the book."
"And the guitar?" he questions.
She smiles and raises the hand holding said item, "I think I look cool with it." He shakes his head at her and she laughs in response. "I thought that if I ran out of things to do I could find somewhere somewhat quiet to play. Maybe go back to that park by your apartment and entertain those kids. I did promise them after all." She smiles over to him, then her face lights up with an idea. "Hey, want company?"
He looks down to her quizzically. "What, on my patrol?"
She nods emphatically, "I can give you company and if anyone approaches or we see any C-Sec, I'll just pretend I'm asking for directions, or I can be belligerent. Whichever is easier," she says with a shrug and a smile.
"Asking for directions is definitely easier, less paperwork." He says, she laughs and he chuckles good naturedly along with her.
They walk down the ward as she finishes off her drink. It isn't until they reach the level below that they hear an alarm sounding from a distant store.
"Help," an older human male runs out pointing at a figure running away from them and down the ward. "That kid stole from me!"
Snapping into his professional, Garrus moves to take chase, but before he can move, Jane shoves her guitar and bag into his chest and he has to react quickly to grab them before they drop. A second later and Jane is across the way, a blue glow dissipating from around her, and the escaping figure on the ground with her knee against its back as he rushes up. The suspect is a scrawny Salarian and along the ground by his hands are an assortment of jewels and metal jewelry.
"Get off me," he struggles, "this is illegal. I'll have your badge C-Sec!"
She laughs as she steps up, pulling one of his arms back behind his back. "Then I guess it's a good thing I'm not C-Sec. He is," she moves over for Garrus, who proceeds to put the cuffs on his wrists. "Consider this a citizen's arrest."
Garrus hides his chuckle as the store owner runs up to them. "He came in and asked to see what I had in store, then he grabbed them and ran." He charges the Salarian and Jane steps in front of him as Garrus searches his suspect. "I'll make that slimy bastard pay!"
Jane's mouth opens in a silent 'O' at his insult and her eyebrows raise, she always tended to get a bit of entertainment from the imaginative stereotypes and derogatory but oftentimes it was at the insulter's expense. She steps side to side and back and forth to keep herself from the shop owner and his suspect, for which he is grateful.
"Sir, calm down," Garrus orders. The human looks like the words do nothing to appease his need to revenge, but Jane's presence around so many aliens much help to keep him from jumping the handcuffed man. "I'm going to need you to return to your shop and someone will be able momentarily to take a statement and help you submit a damage report."
The man nods, but bends down to grab as much of his stolen merchandise as he can before heading back to his shop. Garrus holds the suspect with one hand and with the other he puts the call into C-Sec for a pick up and assistance.
Reinforcements arrive shortly after and Garrus hands over the suspect, dreading the paperwork that he'll have on his last day. He turns to Jane, who has been completely respectful to all of the officers despite her obvious tension and distrust.
She walks over to him standing outside the shop and nods back towards the officers working inside. "I've already given my statement and they told me that I'm not going to be charged with anything. I get off with a 'shouldn't do that again, but good job' and that they don't want anything more from me." He nods in acknowledgement and she looks up to him with a smirk, "Sorry if I stole your thunder. You weren't moving so I figured I'd help you out. Wouldn't want to guy to get away now would we?"
He chuckles, "No, I guess not. Having you take out my suspect was oddly satisfying and emasculating all at once."
She laughs and swats at his arm with the back of her hand. "Don't you worry your little head over that, you'll get your chance to show how manly and strong you are once I leave back to Earth. Until then," she shrugs, "you'll just have to deal." She quiets and looks to him, "I guess you'll be going in to fill out paperwork?"
He sighs and nods in agreement, "yeah, definitely not getting out early today like I had planned."
"Well, at least you get to go out with a bang." She offers and the two walk towards a transport so she can be on her way wherever her ramblings may take her and he can go to C-Sec academy to fill out the report on his arrest. As she gets into the cab, she holds the door open to get his attention. "Maybe I can order you something to be delivered so that way it's at the apartment and warm by the time you get in?" At his nod she adds, "Send me a message of what and where you want and when you are getting out and it shall be done." She smiles and waves her hand in a mock curtsy from her sitting position and closes the door.
When he returns home that night, he finds her sitting on the couch laughing at some comedy on the vidscreen and a warm plate of Louza wrapped up on the counter. Nowhere near serves it raw like he likes, but it's still good when considering he hasn't had much besides mess fare all night. As he sits next to her to eat his food, she smiles and the two watch the show is cheerful silence.
After he is done with his food and places the container in the disposal, he returns to the couch to have her shove her sketchpad into his lap. "Have a look. I'm really happy with how today's sketches came out." She is smiling wide and practically bouncing with anticipation.
He flips to the last five pages because they were the ones she said she had worked on today and she scoots close to his side to look down with him. The first is a drawing of two Krogan standing at the railing around the Presidium Lake, looking into the water and pointing at something she must not have been able to see. It's an oddly peaceful depiction of a usually violent and crude species, and he finds it strange that it feels almost as if he is seeing the two through Jane's eyes, with her perspective.
Turning to the next page, he finds a quick sketch of a young Asari, probably a working for one of the embassies, resting on a bench with a handful of flowers. She holds them in her hands and has a look of serenity he's never seen before. In the corner of the picture is another quick sketch of the same Asari, though it shows a close up of the young woman with her nose pressed into the petals of the flowers, eyes closed in bliss.
Another drawing is also from the Presidium, though it is closer to the wards entrance and depicts a young human couple hand in hand. They stand in front of a terminal for Avina, obviously asking it all sorts of questions if the quality of the artwork is any indication of how long they stood there.
The two have the clearest signs of happiness in their bright eyes and large smiles. They lean against one another and if he looks closely, he feels a bit of sadness at the image. The way Jane has depicted the two gives the impression that it is being seen from someone who has never known the emotions their models feel and can only try to relay the same through visual cues alone. He flips the page, trying not to look up to Jane to see if her emerald eyes reveal the truth of his suspicions.
Next is the sketch she had described of the Turian woman who had made that delicious meal that reminded him of home. She is easily a woman of at least ninety, which is surprising not just for the fact that females that age usually tend to stay in the home system with family, but also that she is up and cooking vigorously in her tiny kitchen.
Jane has drawn her rolling out the dough for the pastries that she had given Jane one of. The plates on her long, thin fingers are chipped and dulled from age, but her expression is one of contentment as her brows are lifted to a relaxed position and her mandibles are flicked out into a small smile.
The drawings depict and portray such joy and beauty that saddened him to see that that same joy doesn't always carry into the life of the artist. He looks up to her, hiding his inner turmoil, and sees her smiling up at him. He looks back to the notebook and flips to the last page and stops short. The drawing is of him from earlier today and he remembers clearly what she managed to jot out, it was when he was talking to the duct rats.
He looks to her with a raised eye plate and she shrugs with a smile. "So I fibbed a bit on my time frame. I got to Zakera Ward with one page still blank and nothing jumping out at me, then I saw this and I can't help it, it was damn adorable."
He is crouched down onto one knee to lower himself to the height of the human boy before him. He has a tender look on his face as he is trying to convince the boy to avoid the ducts, knowing that it is a lost cause. The little boy's dirty hands twist in the bottom hem of his shirt and his head hangs to stare at his bare feet.
Garrus has never seen himself from the eyes of another and he feels like he's looking at someone not himself. She has drawn him as if he's some kind hearted hero who pleads at the feet of someone he is trying to save. It feels as if more emotion is present in the art than what was actually there on the ward today, but when he looks to her to see her smiling down at the scene, he can't bring himself to argue over her creative license.
They are silent for a moment before she speaks. "I want to thank you, Garrus." She holds up her hand before he can respond and continues, looking up to his eyes with an emotion he can't place. "I want to thank you for everything. From letting me stay at your apartment, to sleeping on your couch, and to sleeping in your bed, kicking you out in the process. For also being there when I was going through all the shit with my nightmares." She chuckles halfheartedly, "Hell, thanks for even holding me down and slapping me back into reality.
"Thank you for being there when I needed, and when I didn't know I needed it. For supporting me by listening to all the fucked up things in my life, for being my shoulder to cry on and not bringing it up, and even for yelling at me to get my act together and do something instead of tear myself and the bed apart." She sighs and looks down to her lap. She fiddles with the material of her shirt and he holds out his hand, palm up, in a silent offer, which she accepts with a small smile. "I don't think I could've gotten through that without you."
He smiles at the sight of their two hands, his three, long fingers intertwined with her five, tiny ones. The first night they took each other's hands, her fingers had immediately grouped off into a comfortable position for the two without thought. Her thumb lay between his thumb and forefinger, with the next two of her fingers between his forefinger and outer finger, and her last two clasps against the outside of his hand. "I'm sure you would've, Jane." He looks up and into her eyes, "you're strong."
She smiles and nods absently, which he admits is as close to an acceptance as she'll get. She never has to thank him or apologize for all the things he has done since he met her. He would have done everything over in an instant. "You're more than a friend to me, Garrus. I don't know what other word to use because even that doesn't say what you mean to me, so I guess all I can do is just hope you understand."
As weird as her words seem, he does understand because he feels the same way. In this one human has found a person that he could do anything from staying in watching bad television and eating the dessert, ice cream, to offering to carry the weight from her shoulders. He's been told that that is a sign of something deeper than friendship, but he has no personal experience and doesn't want to ruin what he has by philosophizing.
Instead, he squeezes her hand and speaks over the deep, nearly silent purr he's never heard or felt before, "I do understand," he smiles and she returns it with her own. "I feel the same way, Jane." Her eyes finally light up and the purr lowers in pitch and he thanks the fact that she must not be able to hear it because he's not sure he can explain the cause even to himself.