Roarkshop here: My goodness it's great to be back! Please check out my blog for an author's note about upcoming chapters. Links to the many ways to contact me still found on my profile. Thank you for waiting out my Hiatus with me. While I returned a few days later than I originally wanted to, it feels great to be back and I'm so glad to have you all along for the ride. Also thank you to Kagarbett for making the wonderful art that I used as the icon for this chapter. You can find it on my blog and my Deviant Art! Send her some love!

All comments/reviews/private messages are read, cherished, and loved. I try to reply to them all so keep your eyes on your inboxes!

Love and laughter

Roarkshop

P.S. Did I mention how GREAT it feels to be back? =D

Garrus had left the sleeping Shepard in the Med Bay with Solana and the doctors early that morning; since he was just getting in the way. He needed time away from her anyway. He still had a lot of sorting out to do in his own head and he wasn't going to get it done if he stayed in the same room as Shepard. Every time he was around her now his brain was about as useful as Wrex in a chess match, not to mention how the images of her in that chair were singed into his subconscious, flashing across his mind whenever he looked at her. He needed to stay busy, to stop thinking about it. Garrus checked in on the Main Battery to make sure the Normandy was still operating at optimum capacity, which of course it was, then headed up to the Cockpit to check on Joker and try to figure out their next destination. He told the pilot to start heading back to Omega until Shepard told them differently, to which Joker responded with "You're not the boss of me," and proceeded to do as he was told. Garrus laughed and headed back downstairs, having satisfied himself in wasting a few hours before thoughts of Shepard took over again.

The mood of the ship had very quickly returned to its regular upbeat one now that Shepard was safe and recuperating in the Med Bay. The engineers would flirt with each other, Grunt ate, Jack cursed, Mordin rambled. Garrus smiled to himself. Nothing was different. He could do this.

He thanked Mess Sgt. Gardener for the tray of, completely foul-smelling, Levo-amino food that was supposed to serve as Shepard's breakfast, before crossing the Mess Hall and making his way to the Med Bay.

"Garrus!" Shepard cheered before the doors could even finish sliding open. She threw her arms in the air and hurled herself onto him. Lucky for him he'd had the presence of mind to move the tray of food into one hand and hold it out to the side so she didn't run into it as she leaped and wrapped her legs around his waist. Her fingers linked together behind his neck and he instinctively caught her with his other arm around the small of her back to keep her from falling.

"….Uh…" was all he could really think to say.

"Good morning!" she sang, tilting her head to the side. Her bright eyes and smile illuminated her face and he could feel her heart beating through her wrists pressed up against the back of his neck.

In the instant that Garrus stood there with Shepard straddling him; her waist in one arm, her breakfast in the other, he realized just how different everything was, and that there was absolutely no going back. Not anymore.

He cleared his throat. "Good morning?"

"Solana!" Shepard said, turning to look over her shoulder at the nurse. "Have you met Garrus? I love this guy!"

Solana laughed. "Yes. Yes I have."

"Whatcha doing?" Shepard slurred, turning back to face Garrus.

"I'm bringing you breakfast?" He said, motioning his head to the tray, but still wildly confused.

Shepard looked over at the food and then, wide eyed, looked back at Garrus. "This…this is all for me?"

"What's the matter with you? Of course it is. Do you see anyone else in here incapable of getting their own breakfast?"

Her eyebrows upturned and her bottom lip trembled. The glisten of tears filled her eyes and Garrus looked back and forth between them trying to decipher what the hell was going on. Her chest heaved and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck as she started to cry.

"You…are… the best…best friend….ever…" she said between sobs.

Garrus looked over Shepard's shoulder at Solana hoping she could read the panic from his face.

"Did I just walk into an alternate reality or something?" Garrus asked.

"Pain killers," Solana corrected. "Lots of them."

"Unethical!" Mordin raged, hands in the air. "Administered more than twice recommended amount of anesthetic pain killers for human form. Side effects obvious!" He pointed at the loopy Shepard to accentuate his point before turning to Chakwas. "Took Oath! Do no harm! Do no harm!"

Chakwas shrugged her shoulders. "I needed to keep her in the Med Bay," she said, confident that it justified her actions.

"Oh. Good call," Garrus said, laughing. He was relieved. Feelings aside, if this became the norm for Shepard greeting him it would be problematic. He tried to ease her down, but her ankles were linked behind him and he couldn't get her to move. "Shepard, you need to get down now."

"I love you, man," she wept into his throat.

"Spirits," he said walking awkwardly with her attached to him. "She's got a grip like a wild pyjack." Once he got her back to the bed she let go and slowly slinked off him and onto her knees.

"Why are you so good to me?" She sobbed into her hands.

"Would you stop crying, you crazy human?" He put the tray down in front of her and she picked up a square piece of cardboard and smiled at it.

"Awww yeah," she said, having completely stopped crying. "Toast! I love toast!"

Shepard proceeded to eat like she had never seen food before, and everyone in the room laughed. Well, everyone but Mordin.

"Sol," Garrus said, taking a seat across from Shepard. "I told Joker to head back to Omega so we can drop you and Dad off by tomorrow."

"Whaaa?" Shepard said. "Waf's revicurumf!"

"Jane, don't talk with your mouth full," Chakwas chided.

"That's ridiculous," Shepard clarified after swallowing a large portion of food. "Why would we go back to Omega?"

"As much as I like it here, Jane," Solana said. "I'm afraid I'm not exactly cut out for ship life. I want to get my feet back on solid ground."

"That'sh not what I meant," Shepard said, arms flailing. "I mean we can take you back to the Citadel. Why take you back to Omega and make you take the trip back when you're already on a ship now?"

"That's out of your way isn't it?"

"No," she said waving her toast dismissively. "We have to go to there anyway."

"Huh? We do?" Garrus asked.

"Yeah. We gotta do that heist thingy for Kasumi-chan."

"Jane," Chakwas said, the light-hearted tone disappearing. "You are in no shape to be undertaking a mission!"

"Hey, whoa! Take it easy, Mother Goose," Shepard said with her hands up defensively. "I'll have plenty of time to heal up on the way there, it's like a week out. Besides, it's a heist so I get to play spy! No guns required."

"Yeah," Garrus said with a smile, leaning his chin on his fist. "Because your plans never stray from the path and turn into giant explosions with legs."

She smacked him in the face with her toast.

"Damn it, you!" she said. "I was only gone two days! How did you manage to turn back into the Pessimism Fairy?"

Garrus laughed and reached a hand up to wipe his face off where she had hit him. When the the Med Bay doors whooshed open and Thane peered into the space, he very quickly stopped smiling.

Shepard threw her arms in the air and squealed again, throwing her toast.

"Thane!" Shepard clamored to her feet and threw her arms around the drell's neck just like she had done to Garrus. Krios caught her with his hands under her thighs and Garrus fought the urge to rush over and punch him. "Good Morning," she sang.

Thane, obviously a little confused, cleared his throat.

"Good Morning, Siha," he said before urging Shepard off of him. Garrus realized his hands were aching from bunching them into fists, so he shook his head out and put his hands on his knees.

"Garrus," Shepard said, turning to face him, pointing back at the drell. "Have you met Thane? I love this guy!"

Garrus needed to inform his dad of the new plan, and get away from Thane before he did something stupid, so he headed down to Engineering to find him. When he did, Teryk was sitting with Gabby and Ken playing cards on the floor.

"Haggis-burgers!" Ken cursed. "How in the bleedin' hell do you do that?"

"It's a gift," Teryk said, nodding to Garrus as he entered.

"Your dad is kicking our asses," Gabby said with a laugh.

"I kicked your asses only a few months ago," Garrus said. "What makes you think you'd beat the person who taught me to play cards?"

"Well shit," Ken said, throwing his cards on the floor and standing. "I didn't even think of that."

Teryk laughed as he stood. Ken and Gabby dismissed themselves for breakfast and Garrus cleared his throat as the awkward silence filled the room. Uncomfortable silence was Teryk's sharpest weapon, and Garrus knew it. If he was going to get his dad to talk about this, he was going to have to make the first move.

"How did you know?" He finally asked once he was sure Engineering was empty. He didn't clarify, he could see from the look on his dad's face that he knew exactly what Garrus was talking about.

Teryk exhaled and leaned against the railing. "I just saw in you everything I refused to see in myself all those years ago."

Garrus rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled, leaning his elbows on the railing.

"When did you realize?"

Teryk laughed. "Garrus," he said. "We've had our disagreements in the past, but you've never pushed me in your life. Never, that is, until you stepped between Shepard and I on Omega."

Garrus scoffed and hung his head. "I was wondering why you got so pissed off about my scar. You weren't mad about that, you were mad about her."

"It was certainly unexpected."

"What do I do?" Garrus said, turning around to lean on the railing shoulder to shoulder with his dad. "How did I let this happen?"

"It's not something you let happen, Pup," Teryk said, crossing his arms.

"I should have seen it," he sighed. "I could have stopped it."

"Should have, would have, could have. But you didn't, so it's no use dwelling on it now. You'll feel better after you talk to her about it."

"Are you insane?" Garrus snapped, shifting his weight. "I can't tell her. Not now. Not ever."

Garrus couldn't remember the last time his dad was stunned into silence and thought idly whether or not he should mark the occasion.

"I'm the only real friend she's got, Dad," Garrus explained, sensing the confusion. "I've heard her say, several times in fact, that she would never do anything to risk our friendship. It's that important to her, so it's that important to me." He sighed and looked down at his feet. "So it has to come first."

Teryk's heart sped up, only slightly, but enough that Garrus noticed it. What about all of this rubbed him so wrong? Nothing like this should bother him enough to cause a reaction.

"So what," Teryk said finally. "You're just going to keep up the act until you both die?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to do," Garrus said. "Chances are we don't even survive the Omega Four anyway. What's the point?"

"If you're going to die anyway, what's the point in staying quiet?"

"What do you know?" Garrus barked, waving a dismissive hand. "You don't know her; you don't know how much our friendship means to her. This isn't some 'Fleet and Flotilla' cross-species liaisons. I'm nothing if not logical; Once it's out in the open there's no going back to what we are now. There's just that awkward conversation where she confirms that I'm a fool. The damage would be irreparable, and I care about Shepard too much to hurt her by making her tell me she doesn't feel the same way."

"That's ridiculous," Teryk scoffed.

"Why are you pushing this? You can't want me to have her. I thought you'd be pleased to know I gave up on it."

Teryk exhaled through his nose and crossed his arms. "I'll admit," he said. "I wasn't exactly thrilled to realize that you had fallen for a human girl. But, I figured you and I had enough problems just being who we are without openly disapproving of your choice in mates. I don't know which is more unsettling, Garrus; The fact that you've fallen for a human or the fact that you're such a coward."

"Shut up!" Garrus snapped, pointing at his dad. "You don't know anything."

"Really, I don't know anything?" Teryk advanced on his son, equaling, if not surpassing, Garrus' intensity. "I know that happiness isn't something that is handed to you when you have reached a certain point in your life. Happiness is earned. I have watched your mother slowly die for five years while you pursued your life. Knowing that I am going to outlive her haunts me every moment of every day. But I only feel that torment, that terror, because for thirty-five years before that I shared in a love that is so powerful, so perfect, that those years aren't worth trading for anything else in the galaxy. She's my entire world; I would destroy planets if I thought it would cure her. But nothing can, Garrus. And though her fate has been sealed, I have never, ever once regretted falling in love with her." He exhaled and rolled out a shoulder as a means of composing himself. "I taught you better than that."

Garrus blinked several times, unsure of how to even react to his dad being so passionate about something. He reached up a hand and rubbed the back of his neck with an anxious exhale.

"It's not the same situation," he said finally. "You can't compare Shepard and I to you and Mom."

"And why not?"

"You mean besides the fact that you and mom are the same species?" Garrus snapped.

"Yes. Besides that, how is this so different?"

"Because, Dad. Mom has always told us that the instant she laid eyes on you she knew you were the one for her. This isn't like that. Shepard doesn't want me. How could she? We look like science fiction monsters from her planet. You said it yourself; The drell makes the most sense."

"Spirits of Palaven, Garrus, I only used the most likely target to get under your plates and get you to realize what was happening around you. I didn't think you'd actually believe that something was going on between them."

"I've heard her talking about it, Dad. I know she wants that green son-of-a-bitch. What do you expect me to believe, hmm? What I want to believe? Or what I know to be fact?"

Teryk raised his hands and took his son firmly by the shoulders, his features softening in a way Garrus hadn't seen in many years.

"Neither," Teryk said softly. "Believe that when she was dying in that hospital bed, the first thing she said when she opened her eyes was your name."

Garrus' eyes widened and his heart leapt into his throat. He swallowed, trying to push it all down, but he could see that his dad had heard the thrumming inside him.

The image of her in the Med Bay flashed across his mind. Her eyes fluttering open as she reached out for him, called to him, only to realize he wasn't there.

The doors of Engineering whooshed open and snapped Garrus out of his thoughts. Solana strode in before taking notice of the moment between the two men.

"Oh… Sorry I was just-"

"No, it…" Garrus sighed and moved out of his dad's grip to head out of the room. "I was just leaving anyway." The doors shut behind him and the two listened as he loaded himself onto the elevator.

"Everything okay?" Solana asked.

"He's an idiot," Teryk said. "So no."

"Ah. This is about Jane, then."

"Yes."

"So he figured it out?"

"Yes. But he's being a coward."

"Daddy," she said, crossing her arms. "You can't expect this to be easy for him to process. Don't push him away again. Mom needs to see him before…" She cleared her throat and rubbed her forehead. "Anyway, I want him to come home."

"I know, Sol," Teryk said, taking her by the side of the neck. "I do too. He's just so damn stubborn sometimes."

"Really," she said, tilting her head to the side. "I wonder where he gets that."

Teryk laughed.

Shepard startled awake in the Med Bay, the white-hot pain of the electric chair still flashing across her mind, Gideon's taunting echoing through her. Sweat rolled down her body and her heart was racing. She put a trembling hand on her head and commanded herself to regain control. She'd reached her quota for "crazy-allotted-in-a-single-lifetime", so she needed to get it together. Gideon shouldn't still have a hold on her. Not now that he was dead, rotting in space somewhere. Why couldn't she get away from him? Why couldn't she forget?

Shepard cleared her throat and bit back angry tears. She couldn't just sit there thinking about how much pain she was in, about the burn in her limbs, about Gideon and his dirty tricks; and her heart was beating too fast to fall back asleep. She needed to busy herself. She needed to do something.

She turned and hung her feet off the side of the bed, only then noticing that Garrus was sitting next to her, asleep in the chair. She smiled. He had spent the last night there too, watching over her while she slept. Though it's not like he'd had a choice; Teryk was asleep in the Battery and Solana was up in the loft. But still, waking from a nightmare to see him there made everything a little better. Well… everything except the pain.

Shepard slowly lowered her feet onto the cold floor of the Med Bay and fire instantly shot through her calves as they tried to support her weight.

God-damn-mother-fuck, she cursed to herself, trying not to make any noise that would wake Garrus up. She only managed to take three excruciating steps before she failed.

"Where exactly," Garrus rumbled. "Do you think you're going?"

"What the eff," she said turning to him. She could see his bright eyes focusing on her through the darkness of the Med Bay. "I didn't even make any noise. How did you wake up?"

"I wasn't asleep."

"Oh. Well shit."

"Put yourself back," he said in a low tone. "Before I put you back."

"Come on," she said with a smile. "I'm wounded; surely you can't be rough with me in this state."

"I'll do what I have to," he said coldly.

She faltered briefly, swallowing down her nerves.

"And here I thought there was only one dad on board," she said with a humorless laugh before taking the painful steps back to the bed. She turned and put her back to it, gripping the edge to hoist herself up, but Garrus was on his feet beside her before she could even attempt it. He put his hands on her hips and lifted her back onto the bed and she sighed as relief shot through her calves. "Thanks."

He didn't say anything, just sat back down and leaned his elbows on his knees, keeping his scrutinizing gaze on her.

"Feeling any better?" he asked tiredly.

"No," she admitted. "Worse. I don't understand. I remember jumping on you earlier today. I wasn't in any pain at all. Now the pain is…just…immense."

"Probably because Chakwas gave you enough pain killers to put down a thresher maw."

"Ah yeah, I remember something about that. Everything's a little fuzzy. I also remember something about Tali videotaping me on her omni-tool. Remind me to scold her for that later."

Garrus laughed. "Do you want me to go wake up Chakwas? She can give you something for the pain."

She waved a hand dismissively. "Leave her. She's been fussing about me enough these past two days. Let her sleep."

He exhaled through his nose disapprovingly.

"Don't give me that," she said. "Look at you; you look like you haven't slept in weeks."

"I haven't."

"What? At all?"

"Not much. I got some sleep last night once you were safe and I knew you were going to be okay. But before and after that… well it's been restless."

"I don't get you," she said with a laugh. "You know what a badass I am. Why do you worry over me like this?"

"I'm not worried," he defended. "Well not anymore. Sure, I was when you were on the Augustine..."

"You're a soldier, Garrus. You could sleep during the apocalypse if you really wanted to, so something is obviously on your mind."

He laughed. "That's just like you."

"What is?"

"Shepard, you just spent two days being tortured and you're worried about me because I can't sleep."

"Don't change the subject," she said with a laugh, tapping him in the knee with her bare foot. "Talk to me."

He exhaled and studied her face for a long moment before hanging his head over his knees.

"We saw it all, Shepard," he said with a sigh. "Tali hacked through the Augustine's security footage a few hours before we got there. We saw what they were doing."

"Ah, crap," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "That's the last thing I wanted. Was she okay?"

"She is now. She was pretty shaken though."

"Ugh," she scoffed putting her face in a hand. "Damn it. She's too good at this crap. She just gets herself into trouble." Shepard sighed and put her hands back on her knees. "Well, what about you? Is that what's got you restless?"

He put an elbow on the edge of the bed and leaned his forehead on his palm.

"I know that it's hard for you to understand," he admitted. "Humans especially don't seem to really grasp our nature. You can't possibly comprehend how strong my instinct to protect you is. It possesses me when you're in trouble, Shepard." He cleared his throat. "I mean, you said it yourself; we're like family now. I'd be just as outraged if someone had tried to hurt Sol." He covered his eyes with his hand as the frustration started to build back up. "I can't get it out of my head Shepard; the image of you in that chair…bleeding and bruised and fighting. Spirits, I see it every time I close my eyes. I should have been there. I shouldn't have let them get to you."

"Hey," she said reaching a hand to take his. "It's okay now. I'm fine."

"I know," he said turning to look at her, squeezing her hand. "It'll pass eventually."

She lifted herself up on her hands to scoot over closer to him, putting her feet on his knees to keep herself up. He looked down at his knees and laughed.

"What?"

"Is that what your feet look like?"

Shepard looked down at her feet and wiggled her toes, quirking a brow. "You've never seen my feet?"

"No," he said taking her right foot in his hand and lifting it up to eye level. "I mean I guess I have but I never really noticed how weird they were. Look at you; too many fingers, too many toes."

"Well, I'll give you that one," she with a laugh, pointing her toes. "The number of toes really serves no purpose but to match our fingers."

He tilted his head to observe it. "Are all humans feet flexible like that?"

"Yeah," she said, illustrating her point by flexing her foot and then pointing it again. "We're not like you, primed to start sprinting on a moment's notice. We're flat footed."

"I remember seeing that somewhere," he said, running a talon along the arch in her foot as he spoke. She twitched, giggling and pulled her foot away, then winced with the pain as she did.

"What the hell was that?" he asked with a click of his mandibles.

"Don't do that," she said, suddenly sounding angry.

"Ho-lee-crap," he said with a grin.

"Ah, shit."

"The great Commander Shepard, pinnacle of humanity, Commander of the Normandy, and Reaper killer extraordinaire, is ticklish." He took her by the ankle and began to run the tips of his talons softly along the length of her foot. She squealed and tried to pull her foot away as she laughed but he had a good grip on it this time and she couldn't do anything but laugh and flail. He released her ankle, figuring her pulling on it must be hurting her, but that didn't stop him from laughing.

"Son of a bitch," she said angrily, tucking her feet under her. "I'm never going to live that down, am I?'

"No, Bug. No you aren't," he said, leaning his chin on his hand.

"Great," she scoffed, biting down a grin. "If you tell anyone I will lock you in Grunt's tank."

"Why would I tell anyone?" he said with a wicked grin. "That's going to be my little secret that I can lord over your head whenever I want to."

"Oi," she said. "I don't know which option is worse."

He laughed and sank back to prop his elbow up on the arm of the chair, leaning his head on his fist. She tilted her head to the side in that way she always did when she was thinking something over, studying his face.

You can't possibly comprehend how strong my instinct to protect you is.

"Hey," she said. "I'm okay now."

"I know, Shepard."

"And I'm glad you weren't there. I mean if you were, they probably would have just used you against me."

He lifted his head from his hand and focused his cold eyes on her.

"If I had been there, they wouldn't have taken you. Period."

Shepard sighed. She couldn't imagine what he was thinking, having seen her go through that torture. If the tables were turned Shepard would probably have done much worse. Though the simple truth was he cared enough about her that he couldn't sleep because the thought of her being hurt was haunting him. True; he pretty much admitted to thinking of her as a little sister, but Shepard would take that. She didn't expect him to ever think about her the way she thought about him, and if she was important enough to him that he considered her family, that meant that no matter what happened he would stick with her. And that was enough. It was more than enough.

Shepard hung her feet off the bed and jumped back down, wincing as the pain shot through her again.

"Now where are you going?" he said, sitting up and preparing to stop her.

"Just shut up," she said as she turned to him, putting her hands on his knees. His mandibles clicked as he watched her slowly climb onto his lap and curl herself up against his chest. She tucked her head under his chin and wrapped her arms around his neck, settling against him. He wrapped her in his arms and lifted a hand to run it down her hair, thankful she couldn't hear how his heart had started pounding.

"Do you ever think about the old days?" she said with a sigh. "About how much you hated me on that first mission to Luna?"

"Ugh. Why do you have to bring up something I'm so ashamed of?"

She laughed. "I don't know why you're ashamed of it. It was perfectly reasonable."

"Maybe at the time. But thinking back on it, about how close minded I was, it's embarrassing," he said with a laugh. "So no. I don't think about it."

"I do," she said, starting to get tired again. "I think about it all the time."

"Why?"

"Because look at us, Garrus. I can't even imagine what I'd do without you now. But back then, I don't know. We were so close to not being friends at all."

"Nonsense," he said, nudging the side of her head with his muzzle. "I would have come around eventually."

She laughed.

"You know what I think about a lot?" he said softly.

"Hmmm?

"How small my universe was before you came into it."

"Pfft. What are you even talking about?"

"Think about it. Before you ran into me on The Presidium; there were no Reapers, no Collectors, no Normandy. It was just me and my anger; angry about C-sec, angry about my father's rules, angry at the Council. Humans were overambitious fools, quarians were the scavengers who created the geth, and krogan were just bloodthirsty killing machines. Now look at me," he said, shifting to get comfortable in the chair with her against him. "One of my closest friends is a quarian, my family has more or less adopted my best friend; a human, and krogans…well…they're bloodthirsty killing machines."

Shepard laughed as they both settled and started drifting.

Garrus exhaled a slow breath against her hair. "My universe got a whole lot bigger once you walked into it."

"Mmm, yeah. So did your ego."

"Way to ruin the moment."