18

"But I am not lying to her" Tali protested .

"You" she poked a finger into Kaidan's sternum "need to cover your tracks better. That Comm Specialist is all over the Commander's communications. "I don't have time to fix it. Being an Admiral, an engineer and giving men hopeless romantic advice. I have no time for this!" She shook her head turning back to the drive core. Neither man was fooled that she was really annoyed.

"And you are loving every minute of it Admiral Vas'Normandy." Garrus chuckled giving her a squeeze and managing to duck under her halfhearted attempt at a swat to his scarred face. Nodding his head toward the door Kaidan followed the Turrian to the elevator and back to the main floor.

"Ah an Admiral, a Major and hell some sort of General I guess. What a messed up group we are eh Kaidan?" The thick gravelly chuckle made Kaidan smile.

"Yea well I don't know about Turrian Hierarchy but Earth's chains of command are getting pretty funky. Hell Commander is a term they just kinda throw around anyway. Anderson is pretty much leader de-facto of the resistance. Somehow Admiral or Ambassador don't cut it."

"Well if you four Alliance types start saluting each other all the damn time like Jacob did last time around we won't get a damn thing done." The two start walking toward the battery. There were yeomen still around the mess and Kaidan was quick to note the stares and averted eyes. Garrus gives a smile and nod to Dr. Chakwas before they pass.

"I don't think you have much to worry about there. Hell I don't think I have seen Joker salute anyone let alone me. And Vega…. Well maybe for Shepard." His voice had an edge he did not like but Garrus had the good sense to wait until the battery door closed behind them before saying anything more.

"Kaidan why did Anderson stonewall Shepard after the Council reinstated her Specter status?" He leaded on the command console facing the human. For once calibrations seemed to be the last thing on his mind.

"What? I don't know what you are talking about? Remember I was stationed on Horizon for months before the Collectors attacked. I had gotten some weird reports about Shepard with Cerberus but that was a day or two before you guys showed up."

Garrus mandibles clicked independently. Kaidan assumed that was the Turrian equivalent of sucking ones teeth.

"First thing Shepard did after getting to Omega for me and Mordin was meet with Anderson. He set it up, claiming he heard rumors she was alive. We arrived and aside from the glowing orange cheek Anderson treated her the same as he always had. Until she asked about you." His head tilts analyzing the Major's reaction before continuing.

"Everything you said to her about being a puppet, about owing them was nothing she hadn't already worried about. Hell all she had to do was look in the mirror to see what they had done to her. "He gestures one thick finger in the direction of med-bay then rubs the scar on his face.

"The first few days were brutal. Between me and her I don't think Chakwas or Mordin slept more than six hour shifts combined. But she demanded, she needed to know who….what she was. Every test the two could think of they ran on her. Hell I learned more about human physiology than I ever needed to know."

Kadian raised an eyebrow at that before Garrus realized what he had implied.

"Huh? You know what I mean. My cybernetics were extensive but mostly superficial grafts. Helped with the healing. Yes before you say anything they WERE worse before." His eyes narrowed but his bluster was mostly jest.

"But Shepard?" Kaidan pushed afraid to ask.

"Well she was not handling it so well. The first few days I expected her to tear Miranda apart. But she bottled it all up and got back to work at least on the outside. Inside she wouldn't admit it to anyone but she was terrified."

"That's kinda hard to believe Garrus. When I met you guys at Horizon she was giving orders like nothing had happened."

"Yea well after MRI's, Cats and any other invasive procedure that struck Mordin's interest they both gave her a clean bill of health. And to this day I have no idea what felines had to do with anything." He shook his head not understanding most of human medicine. "I just know Shepard woke up after two years- to the sound of gunfire over her head. Took a Reaper fragment to the gut and the idea of being part- one of them made by her enemy scared the hell out of her. Hearing you say it just made it more obvious."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

It wasn't bad enough that he had lost all this time. Had treated her like a traitor and left her alone when she needed him most now Garrus needed to rub his face in it?

"I can't really explain it. But there was something different about her." Kaidan's eyes went wide and the Turrian held open his hands trying to think of a way to explain it accurately.

"No I mean when she was in combat or giving orders it was the same. Same tone, same quick thinking, same "damn wish they could make more like her" sarcastic wit. But otherwise there was this rage and aggression like I had never seen before. It was like they threw some Krogan in the mix for good measure."

"While we were being examined she had me go over every mission with her, detail by detail just to test her memory of them. Make sure they were really hers not something Cerberus had just kinda implanted."

"Can they even do that?"

The idea gave Kaidan chills, the idea that the memories that had haunted him when he had lost her she might not even have anymore. Or worse that someone had gone in and somehow altered her own memories to make her more aggressive or violent was such a perversion of her strong character.

"They brought back the dead. Not mostly dead , Not "I don't want to go in the cart" dead. Stone dead." He pointed out. "But we sat up going over mission after mission from SR-1 and she remembered it all. She remembered Binthu , way I figure it if Cerberus wanted to make themselves out to be the good guys that is the one they would have patched. " Garrus gives an odd looking shrug.

"If you are trying to cheer me up Garrus you are just as bad at it as always." A wry smile crossed Kaidan's features but his friend had given him a bit of perspective about their rebel without a military days.

"No what I am trying to tell you is you keep spouting off about lost time and missed opportunities and I am giving you the background to make decisions. Don't treat everything like it should have been three years ago. It's not. "His mandibles click frowning. "Hell the night terrors and Joker's broken tibias can attest to that."