~Garrus~

While in the middle of a report, Garrus' visor omits a soft ping, inaudible to his fellow Officer who shares his office, and he flicks his mandible in a knowing smile.

Anytime he is sent a message from another Officer, it immediately sounds from his Tool but he hadn't been able to keep himself from chatting with Jane when his shift ran slow or he was being buried under paperwork. He had sent up a private connection between the two and whenever she would ping, it would automatically send an alert to his visor.

Quickly glancing at his office mate, Garrus activated his Omni-Tool and read her message. "Want to meet up for noodles on your lunch?"

Garrus checks the time, noting that he is due for his time off, but gives a slight shake when his hopes are dashes by the fact that he still has the rest of his report to complete. "I still have more work to do. I won't be done for at least another hour, maybe two."

"I could always wait for you. I don't think I'll die of starvation by then."

He can't help the quick flick of his mandible at her obvious exaggeration. Why she always waited until she was starving before eating he'll never know. "Alright, give me some time and I'll message you to see if you're still alive."

"Cough, cough…I'll try…" With a soft shake and a flicker of a smile, Garrus changes focus and moves to working on completing his report with renewed vigor.

Hopefully he can be done with it before he'll have to admit he won't be able to make it and send her off to eat alone. He's sure they'd both enjoy the company and he would certainly like not having to eat something out of the break room synthesizer.

Thanks to the boost of determination in efforts to meet with Jane, Garrus is able to stick with his report and manages to complete it within the hour like he had hoped. He sends a message to Jane letting her know just as he writes up the last lines. Unfortunately, he hadn't considered the amount of time it would take for him to get approval to leave, since it was now after his usually allotted lunch.

While he waits for a superior officer to send him an approval for leave, which already has him angry because the approval itself adds more time than if he would have just left, he gets a soft ping in his visor again. He is alone in his office, his roommate having already left to his own work, so he doesn't bother trying to hide it as he pulls up his Omni-Tool.

"Should I meet you there or meet you outside of C-Sec?" He had already warned her of the need for approval but it seems like she's getting a bit anxious.

"Sorry, still waiting for approval. I could've been out by now by the rate this is going." He growls softly in his disapproval of the idiotic regulation as if she were in the room.

There is a pause before he receives her next message and Garrus thinks it's almost like she is here with him. He can clearly picture her nibbling on her bottom lip as she weighs her options. Then she offers, "What if I went and picked it up and brought it to the Presidium side of the Academy?"

He flicks his mandible in a soft smile, amazed that she still wants to meet up despite the mess his approval is causing. He is about to thank her for sitting through the pain when he gets a message sounding from his Tool.

He glances at the sender and with the reveal that it's from his father, he huffs in exasperation. Why did I ever let Jane convince me to become an Investigator again?

Preparing for the worst, Garrus pulls up his father's message, hoping beyond hope that is isn't a lecture about staying later than his allotted time. He quickly scans the message, passing over the usual 'make sure things are right' that always dots his conversations with his father and quickly catches the statement stating, "Turn your report in personally and take the rest of the day."

That sentence causes him to stutter in place and reread the entire section over, making sure his eyes weren't just deceiving him. It'll be a bad day when a sniper can't see straight and reads his best wishes in his father's disapproval, he muses as he carefully goes over the mail.

To his surprise, he is being given the rest of the day off due to the fact that he does not have a pending case at the moment and because his latest big case, the damn Saleon fiasco nearly two months ago, had made him pile on overtime. Not needing to be told twice, Garrus sends a quick message to Jane to go ahead with her plans, wanting to surprise her with his now free rest of the day.

Her acknowledgment comes as a "Hurray! Finally some sweet sustenance!" and he can't help the soft chuckle as he collects his report to take to his superiors. No need to sit around and chat when he has the whole rest of the day to do just that, but in person, once he completes this simple task.

~Jane~

When she arrives to the Presidium ahead of Garrus, she quickly takes possession of the one open bench that rests under the shade of a nearby tree. The Citadel's artificial lighting doesn't really pose harm, but the thought of eating a nice meal under the overhang of the branches feels like a luxury in and of itself so she doesn't fuss over the logistics.

She pulls the two bowls of noodles that she had brought, still hot and smelling of mixed levo and dextro meats, and places them aside in hopes that Garrus will show before they are able to completely cool. Once set aside, she relaxes against the bench's back and takes in the surrounding sights of the Presidium.

She chuckles softly at the contrast between the dignitaries that either mull about, meant to do nothing more than decorate the park, or rush through the area, no mind for who may happen to stand in their way. She's not sure which of the two polar opposites she would ever be if put in the same position, the ones with no care or those too stressed to stop and smell the roses, and finds the thought even more amusing.

I'd sure feel bad for whoever put me in charge. I'd suck as a politician, she muses as she glances over her shoulder to the elevator that leads to C-Sec Academy, checking to see if Garrus will make an appearance.

As she's turning her attention back to what she likes to dub as 'people-watching,' her attempts to make Garrus show by means of thinking hard enough not panning out, she hears her Omni-Tool chime.

Well, close enough, I guess, she thinks herself as she pulls the Interface to see if her assumption of the sender is correct. She chuckles at the news that it is in fact the person she's expecting and his message states that he's on his way into the elevator now.

She closes the Tool and moves to containers of noodles, figuring that she can give him more time to eat if she already has his food open and utensils ready once he makes it out of the long elevator ride.

Just as she gets his food open and ready to eat, she hears the familiar footsteps she's gotten so acquainted with approach the bench before the sound of his soft rumble reaching her ears.

"Lunch and nice company?" She looks up with a smile to see the smirk in his mandible. "Sure wish I knew what I did so I could do it again."

He sits next to her on the bench, a professional distance about and not nearly as close as they both crave and want, and she hands him his meal with a raised brow and a smirk of her own. "It had to have been the fact that you left me to starve to death…" she trails off her thought, leaning to get her own meal out and holding in her laughter at his resounding huff of frustration.

"That's coming from the woman who seems to always be eating and blaming it on being a biotic." She throws him a mock hurt expression and he chuckles.

She can't help the quick snort no matter how hard she's trying to keep the hurt act up, but quickly composes herself and says dejectedly, "I guess I just can't help how much of a frail human being I am…"

He answers with a snort of his own around his bite of food and shallows before responding. "You're the farthest from frail…at least by squishy human standards."

At this, she actually scowls and shoves her chopsticks in his container to grab a piece of whatever dextro meat he has before quickly pulling it out and popping it in her mouth. She stares straight into his eyes as she makes a show of chewing the morsel extra slowly, but he just shrugs her off with a shake of his head, clearly unimpressed.

Accepting his call of her bluff, she moves to her own meal with vigor. Of course she exaggerated on just how hungry she was just to rile him, but she was actually hungry enough to consider the thought of food better than the thought of winning their little back-and-forth, for now.

She hears a deep chuckle from beside her and Jane, mid bite and with noodles hanging from her lips, looks sideways to him with a raised eyebrow before biting down and using her chopsticks to ease the noodles back into the broth. Once she is no longer in danger of dripping broth down the front of her shirt, she throws him a glare which only makes him chuckle more.

"Calm down, Jane," he says as he takes a leisurely bite of his own lunch. "We aren't on a time schedule."

At that she exclaims a short laugh, "I doubt C-Sec would agree with that."

He hums with a smirk, clearly knowing something she doesn't. "Well now, that's where you're wrong." He shifts on the bench so that his stance is more relaxed. "Since I'm such a good employee, I've been granted the rest of the day off."

She smiles around her food at his confident air of satisfaction as he brings up another bite. "They kicked you out, didn't they?"

She laughs at his sputter, only to receive an irritated mandible click once he recovers which doesn't help his case and only makes her laugh more, forgoing any attempt to eat and most likely choke.

He huffs and returns to his meal with a mock pout. "They did not 'kick me out,' I just had too many hours stacked up so they let me off."

Jane snickers at the sight of him clad in the black and blue light armor and sulking like a child, she can't believe she's thinking this but it looks damn cute. She nudges his leg with her own boot, cooing playfully, "There, there, I believe you."

He glances over to her and she bites her lip to hold back the smile. She catches his mandible flicker outward in a smile of his own and he shakes his head with a soft huff before turning his attention back to his food.

They eat the remainder of their meal in comfortable silence, no longer in any hurry and just taking in the calm of the Presidium. Once finished and their remaining trash is taken care of and properly disposed, they each relax on their own side of their bench when Jane sudden gets an idea.

"Hey," she sits up and looks directly to Garrus, who has perked up from her excitement. "Let's people-watch."

"What's 'people-watch?'" He shifts uncomfortably and Jane can only imagine what that must sound like in his own language to get him so anxious.

She pats him on the shoulder with a smirk, "That, my dear friend, is the amazing pass time where in you make up funny things and stories about total strangers without them knowing. A game at which I am a master."

His brow plate quirks up in skepticism. "And that's fun or something?"

She shifts back to her relaxed position with a dismissive huff. "Damn right it is. You're missing out." She lifts a brow and turns her head to him. "Unless you're too much of a stiff to play…I'd understand if you don't want to." She smirks. "Wouldn't want it to affect your Turian sensibilities."

His growls playfully in acceptance of her dare and looks out across the Presidium. "You talk a big game." He returns her smirk with his signature confidence. "You ready to hand over your title, master?"

Master, huh? Might not be too bad calling him that… Jane quickly snaps her attention out of the gutter to take up his challenge and start.

The two lose track of time as they toss the most ridiculous stories they could think up for the unknowing Presidium patrons at each other, trying to top the other. It's a tight race and despite her best efforts, Jane can feel her defeat at hand.

She would never openly admit this, though, because the damn Turian is definitely cheating. It was almost impossible to get a laugh from the plated bastard and she blames it all on his stupid Turian ability to become all stoic at the drop of a hat.

I'd be winning if I had the ability to make my face as immovable as stone,she pouts before his voice cuts into her thinking.

"What are those humans doing over there?" He voice doesn't have that jovial quality, instead he sounds genuinely curious.

"Hey, it's your turn," she remarks as she turns her attention towards where he's motioning. "You can't throw a hard one at me unless you're giving..." When her eyes finally land on the only humans in the direction motioned, she stops her thought mid-sentence.

Standing far enough to not hear Jane and Garrus' conversation, but close enough for Jane to know exactly what they're doing, stand a woman with a man on one knee before her. The woman, Jane notes she's young by her soft face, clearly holds back from screaming her excitement as she bounds on her feet, jumping into her partner's arms when he stands.

Turning back to Garrus, Jane thinks about how to go about explaining that they just witnessed a marriage proposal. It's a weird concept, even to her, to have a guy take a woman somewhere nice and get down on the dirty floor just to ask her something that he could say just as well standing up.

Finally figuring that she's better off not over thinking it and just letting him ask questions as she goes, she explains, "That was what humans call a marriage proposal."

"Out in the open? Is that normal?" Garrus tilts his head in confusion, his eyes shifting from her own to the couple.

"Yeah, that's normal or at least that's what some people like to do." She relaxes back in the seat, turning her own attention to the couple as they are surrounded by curious passersby of various species. "Some like to go all out with a fancy dinner and just pop the question as the two of them or with family and close friends. Others like to make this big show, but I think that seems like it's for more selfish reasons."

He seems to mull over the information, his mandible wavering a bit in silent thought. "And why does he get down on the ground?"

She shrugs, not too sure herself. "Beats me." She snorts at a quick thought. "Maybe to assure his future wife that, yes, she is now the boss?"

She admits that the joke probably went straight over his head if his confused look at her is any indication. "You have a hierarchy in bonding?"

Probably making things worse by confusing the poor guy, she silently scolds herself as she straightens up with a light cough. "Well…not exactly. I mean it's a pretty equal relationship, but it's just a joke that when a guy gets married he 'hands his balls over.'"

His mandibles flicker in silent question and she drops her forehead into her palm, "Look, Garrus, I think that it means that a man is symbolically showing his commitment to a woman, but I'm not sure. I, personally, don't think that's a good idea to go into a relationship with since they," she waves vaguely towards the couple now lost in a crowd, "should be on equal grounds with one another, but that's their business."

Garrus seems to contemplate over the thought. He then turns to her and a mandible flicked in a soft smile. "I think I understand. It's just confusing to see humans be so public about their private relationships."

"I take it Turians do things differently?"

He nods. "I've already found that humans seem to have more steps to a relationship that Turians do, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that you can't smell each other or have vocal cues to go off of. When Turians want to bond, they already know it without having to use grand gestures."

Jane contemplates over that. She never thought that maybe the way their relationship was could be different from how he was accustomed. If he was out of his comfort zone he sure didn't show it and she had to commend his adaptability to fit her crazy human ways of being a relationship.

His comments still brought up a good question, though, and she turned to him to get the answer. "If Turians usually bypass all the trivial things that humans have, is there anything that you have that shows when two Turians are bonded?" He looks to her with a head tilt and she explains, "You probably couldn't see from here, but that man," she waves the now dispersing crowd, "he was holding a little box in his hand and in that box was a ring. Humans wear rings to show they are married," she points to her ring finger, "one for the woman when they are engaged and one for each of them when they become husband and wife."

Garrus nods, his eyes brightening with understanding and his mandible wavers in a soft smile. "Turians don't have items to show they are bonded. We mark our mates with our teeth." He motions to his mouth. "All of us have individually unique bite patterns, so we leave a scar on our bondmate where others can see. I guess it is kind of a barbaric way to mark one's territory." He shrugs.

She smiles and returns with her own shrug. "Not much different from putting a metal band around your finger, and you can't remove a scar if you want to cheat on your spouse like you could a ring." He looks to her questioningly and she shakes her head in a dismissive 'don't ask,' so he drops it.

Instead, he stretches his legs and asks another question. "So if that was a proposal, what is a wedding like?"

She snorts, oh where would I begin? "It's anything from a big ceremony with hundreds of guests and a huge, very long, very boring ceremony, to a small gathering of family and friends, to just the couple going in front of an official and signing a certificate that legally joins them. It all depends on the preference of the bride and groom on the size and even if they want it to have a religious proceeding or not. We humans tend to be very diverse in our ideas of marriage ceremonies and I don't really even know everything about the possibilities." She looks over to connect to his blue eyes. "What about Turians? Do you celebrate becoming bondmates?"

"With family and friends we do, though it's more a celebration with food and festivities as a time to congratulate the two and rejoice in 'two souls becoming one.'" His last words seem different to Jane's ears, but she can't quite place the emotion that she hears in his voice.

"I never would have thought Turians would take that view on something like that." In all honesty, she had assumed that it was just like a party to celebrate a growing family much like a human reception, but it seems to delve into the spiritual side of his culture.

"Turians see everything as having a Spirit associated with it, living things, groups of people, families…The belief is that when two people bond, their bond gives form to a Spirit that then follows their future family and influencing everything they, and their children down the line, touch from then on." He looks off out over the stretch of the Presidium. "I never really put much consideration into Spirits but it's a nice way for some to look at things."

Jane nods in agreement, silent for a while before lightening the mood by smirking to ask, "Do Turians have honeymoons?"

Garrus looks to her, his eyes subtly narrowing as he must be reading the screen of his visor for the translation. After a moment his eyes relax and he responds. "Yes but not quite the same as humans, it looks like. It seems that humans take it as a vacation to spend time not only with each other but use it to explore their destination as tourists. Turians have a Seclusion, where the bondmates go off together and spend the entire time together, not caring what's going on outside and just," he shifts uncomfortably, "focused on mating."

Jane bites her lips to keep from smiling at his awkward fidgeting, "Now who's the squeamish prude? Humans do that too on their Honeymoon," she mumbles, but still loud enough for his sensitive ears, "just not 24/7, apparently." He growls in mock anger and kicks softly at her boot. She finally releases her lip to smile at him and he happily smiles back. "Want to head home? Maybe pick up some Ice Cream on the way back?"

He chuckles. "Hungry again? I'm starting to doubt that that is just a biotic thing."

She stands and slaps his leg softly, slowly making her way to the nearest transit hub so he can easily catch up. "Har, har. Pick on the biotic because she's hungry." She can't help the smile at his soft chuckle.

When they are in the cab, he agrees to stop someplace before heading home, even getting something for himself, and arrive at the apartment shortly after, cold desserts in hand, and flop down on the couch to spend the rest of the day doing nothing more than relaxing and watching vids. She's sure they'll come up with more entertaining things to do later on, but for now she's content with his company and his willingness to swap desserts half-way through.