~Garrus~
Garrus has just enough time to head to his apartment, shower the smells of Jane from his plates, and get dressed before he hears his door chime signaling his mother's arrival.
Still has that sense of timing, but I beat her this time, he muses as he disengages the lock to let her in.
A smile widens his mother's tannish silver mandibles. "Garrus… so good to finally see my son."
She moves close, cupping his face and pulling him down to rub her mandibles against his own with a soft purr. He pulls back with a quirked brow plate, "Mom, I've seen you every day since you arrived."
She snorts with a jerk of her head, "My son is not the man I saw with tight plates that hung on every word coming out of his mouth." His shoulders drop, reluctantly ready for the lecture about his dad. "Don't give me that…I know you two don't get along and I thank you for trying to be civil, but I missed you." She pulls him back to bump her forehead to his own, "I don't like seeing my son so stressed when he's supposed to be around family, the one place he should relax."
Garrus doesn't know how to respond. He knows the one thing his mother wants more than anything is to see her family happy and the rift between him and his father puts a serious damper on that, but he's tired of explaining his numerous efforts and failures to give her that.
"Well," his mother pulls away and makes for the kitchen. "I know you told me we had plans for dinner, but your old mother needs something to drink."
Walking behind her, Garrus motions for her to go to the table while he looks for something. "Did dad take you out to lunch?" He opens the cabinets in search for a light snack, pulling out a box of drink mix, figuring his mother probably didn't want to drink plain water and anything else he had was alcoholic.
"He did, actually." He holds the box in silent question and she nods. She continues as he turns around to grab her a glass of water, "we went to a little place with the most amazing Kishea…" He turns to her, with full glass in hand, wondering why her sentence just drifted off, and sees her attention on the table.
More specifically, on the long claw marks from his talons from one of his romps with Jane.
His mother runs her fingers over the deep scratches in the wood, her head tilted to the side in thought, and he clears his throat, hoping to not have to explain. "Here mom," he hands over the glass once she looks up, "there are various flavors of powders. Feel free to try anyone of them."
Her mandibles open in a warm smile. "I'm surprised, when I used to visit your off duty dwellings, you'd only be able to offer water or liquor." She sets the glass down to look among the flavors, "This is a much appreciated change."
Garrus hums absently in acknowledgment before taking the open chair and pulling it to the side before sitting down. He relaxes, watching as she reads each little package, trying to decide which to choose, before she stops with a confused brow lift.
"Garrus," she pulls out a packet of flavor and holds it out, "why do they sell levo flavors with dextro?"
He knows that his reaction to this is pivotal. If he lets his face or vocals portray his inner oh shit reaction, she'll definitely know something is wrong, but if he plays it off, she may just accept it and let it drop. There's no question which option he's going to choose.
"I have co-workers over and they can't always drink when they visit." Good enough, not a total lie but enough to explain that and the smell that still lingers, he hopes.
"Is that the scent in here? It doesn't smell like Asari or Salarian…" she must have accepted enough because her attention moves back to her flavor packet of choice as she opens it and pours it into the water.
Realizing he forgot something to stir the drink, and appreciating the chance to use some of the tension from her questioning, he gets up and moves quickly to grab a spoon. "It's human actually. C-Sec has human officers and some of them are actually friendly enough people."
Just keep lacing some truth into the lies. Garrus thanks Spirits he doesn't really believe in that he isn't very good at being a proper Turian because he doesn't think he'd be able to keep this up.
"That's good," she stirs her drink, "C-Sec should let every race have officers no matter what happens with the Counsel. Plus, I'm sure it helps with relating to citizens on the Citadel." He nods in agreement.
The two are quiet as she takes a drink, humming at the taste. "This is actually really good, I think I should get them for home." She smiles a warm smile that he remembers from his childhood.
One that always lit her face while she worked at her garden or when she cooked large meals for the family. One that had always gave him the feeling of her love without need for words or harmonics.
"So, where is it you'll be taking me tonight, hmm?" She asks before taking another sip.
"I know that staying at home with your sisters, you don't get to enjoy the best meals without us around so I decided to take you somewhere that reminded me of your cooking and home." He sits and leans back in his chair. "It'll be just like we are home except without all the work of actually having to cook. How's that sound?"
"I think that sounds delicious, but I guess that's all you're telling me?"
He flicks his mandible playfully, surely, she hasn't forgotten her own son. "Pretty much."
His mother huffs, but takes another drink, figuring it'd just be easier to drop the subject, as she mumbles under her breath. "As stubborn as your father…"
Normally, Garrus would take offense to being compared to his father, but he knows that his mother uses it without malice. He also knows that she is the only person he would ever allow to compare them without rebuttal.
Instead, he merely shrugs in response and begins to ask her about the events at home and with other members of the family on Palaven. In return, he relays stories of C-Sec, what little he can say of his cases, his position, funny situations during routine postings.
He makes sure to leave out the one thing he so desperately wishes he could tell her, despite his very being urging otherwise. He and Jane had a mutual agreement that it was best for both of them to not let their relationship be known, the consequences were too great even if only his mother knew.