Author's Note: Okay, it's time to get away from the doom and gloom and put a little ray of hope (no pun intended) into Shepard and Kaidan's romance.

Everyone reading, please keep in mind that this is labeled as Drama and Romance (not Angst). And, honestly, while Shep may mentally understand why Kaidan did the things he did, that doesn't mean that it didn't hurt her and it doesn't mean that she doesn't have the right to express just how much.

"Garrus," Shepard said, peaking her head into the forward battery. "Wanna do some hand-to-hand?"

He almost told her than he couldn't because he was in the middle of some calibrations, but…something about her voice had him turning around. "Sure."

"Meet me down in the Cargo Boy in five?"

"Sure."

By the time he had made his way down to the cargo bay, Shepard was already stretching. He admired the view for a few seconds longer than was acceptable. She was a stunning woman- it didn't matter that she was human- and he still wished that she hadn't been so wrapped up with Alenko.

Maybe, then, she would have gone to him.

When she stretched her bare arms over her head to stretch, he saw bruises in the distinctive shape of human fingers- too big for them to be her own. He also knew that James would never leave marks like that on her arms.

No, he was a man of fists and he was too slow to get many hits on Shepard anyway.

That left only one other man.

"Shepard," Garrus greeted, sounding kind of disgruntled.

She gave him a small nod and gestured him forward. "I need someone to go against that isn't James," she explained, rolling her head and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Looks like you already have.

It was a close one- it very nearly came out of his mouth, but he managed to keep his mouth shut against those words.

Garrus stalked closer and shrugged. "I'm always up to beat you- you know that."

She went deadly still and then smirked. "James!" she called out, not pulling her eyes from Garrus. When James came up to her side she gestured him over to stand beside of Garrus. "We're doing two on one."

When Garrus opened his mouth to argue, she gave him a look that promptly shut his mouth. Apparently she needed this more than he had realized.

And it was all one man's fault.

When Garrus and James squared up in front of her, she smiled serenely- completely relaxed. From her posture and expression, a person wouldn't know that she was about to spar with two of the best hand-to-hand experts on the ship.

Of course, she was the best.

James and Garrus rushed her together- needing no kind communication between them. They were going to use their size and numbers against her.

However, by the time they had reached her previous spot, she was gone.

She was gone and they hadn't seen her move at all. Before either of the men knew what was happening, James was on his stomach and Shepard was taunting Garrus.

"How the hell d'you do that, Lola?" James sputtered out.

She ignored him. "Come on, Garrus. We're not finished yet. Now we're even."

He shook his head and tried to keep his eyes on her. "There's not a person in this galaxy that is your equal- so we could never be even," he informed her and feinted right before throwing his left fist.

However, she wasn't fooled and blocked the hit by grabbing his arm and flipped him on his back. She threw back her head and laughed at the bewildered look on Garrus' face.

"Maybe you should focus more on hand-to-hand and not so much on calibrations, Gar-bear," she teased, patting him on his chest and. She smiled at the two men, grabbed her jacket, and made her way to the elevator.

"Hell of a woman," James murmured, his eyes never leaving her.

After the argument- or whatever the hell it actually was-, he had felt the beginnings of a migraine, so, in order to stave off the harsh penalties, he had headed it off by deciding to lie down and maybe get some sleep (he felt extremely exhausted from dealing with Hope).

Unfortunately, it felt like he had just closed his eyes when he was being shaken violently and his eyes snapped opened to deal with his attacker and saw that it was a pretty angry looking Garrus.

Now, it wasn't every day that Kaidan woke up with a pissed off Turian in his face. He was pretty sure that it happened to some people (like, say, a certain Alliance Commander)- but it sure wasn't something that he had ever experienced.

And, Kaidan found, it was a very sobering experience.

"Garrus!" he exclaimed, eyes wide and suddenly awake. "What're you-" he broke off as Garrus yanked him by the shoulders out of bed.

Well…shit….

"I warned you!" Garrus hissed, mandible flaring.

Apparently it wasn't sobering enough because he had to ask, "What?"

Yeah, there was very little worse than being face-to-face with a pissed off Turian and having no way to defend oneself (that wouldn't cause serious harm, anyway) except, maybe, being in that situation and not quite sure why.

Shepard was on her way down to the mess and had just got into the elevator after having a shower in her quarters when Joker came over the comm.

"Uh…we have a situation on the crew deck," he said meekly.

She sighed and nodded- knowing that he could see her on the security feed. "I'm on my way down there, anyway."

Joker hesitated for a minute. "It's, uh, in the Starboard Observation Lounge."

"Excuse me?" she demanded. "What the hell's happening?"

"Well, it seems Garrus is using that stick up his ass to beat Kaidan up."

Her expression hardened and she wished that the damn elevator would go faster. No way in hell should Garrus have thought that that was okay. Kaidan was hers- it didn't matter that they hadn't actually figured out where they stood- and no one on the Normandy was permitted to beat the shit out of him (except, maybe, her).

He ended up being thrown into the wall on the other side of the room. Garrus was on him in a flash. "I told you not to hurt her- did you think that I only meant mentally?" Garrus growled, catching Kaidan across the cheek with his fist, opening a long gash.

"I don't-"

"It was a Spirits damned mistake for Shepard to let you on this ship. All you know how to do is hurt her- apparently in every way."

Garrus threw him again and, that time, he saw stars. "Had you been anyone else," he hissed, picking Kaidan up by the throat, "you'd have been lucky-"

"Garrus," a low warning came from the somewhere by the door and Garrus instantly tensed. "Put. Him. Down."

Kaidan was dropped to the floor and Garrus turned around only to be glared at. "Shepard-"

"No," she snapped, shaking her head. "I have Quarian Admirals boarding in less than three hours- I should be preparing for their arrival, not dealing with you. So, I'm only going to ask this once, do you get me? What happened?"

Kaidan watched as Garrus lowered his head shamefully. "I saw the bruises on your arms," he muttered, trying to look anywhere but at her.

She stared at him, stunned, and glanced at Kaidan with an unreadable expression before shaking her head. "Garrus, he didn't mean to-"

"Stop," Garrus snapped. "Quit making excuses for him. Every time he does something, you have an excuse for him."

Shepard and Garrus both stared at each other in shock- neither had expected him to say anything like that. "Would you like a chance to rephrase that?" she asked with a distinct hard edge in her voice.

Garrus knew that he was in trouble. Shepard didn't tolerate anyone messing with her crew- even if it was infighting. And she definitely didn't tolerate anyone messing with Kaidan.

But, instead of doing the intelligent thing, he shook his head. "No," Garrus said firmly. "He left marks on you, Shepard. He deserves to be taught a lesson."

She fixed him with a glare. "Get out, Garrus. Go wait for me in the forward battery," she ordered.

"But-"

"Now."

Kaidan and Garrus watched as Garrus sulked out like a punished child. Kaidan could tell from the tense set of her shoulders that she was furious.

Exhausted, but furious.

When the door shut to leave the two of them alone, she walked over and knelt down to examine his face. Her fingers played lightly over the skin on his face as she studied the scratch across his face with a soft expression.

"Oh, Kaidan," she murmured, trying to look into his eyes. "You need to get to Chakwas. That's a pretty nasty scratch."

He nodded silently and stood up slowly (fearing a concussion), not looking at her. He leaned heavily against the wall in order to allow the room time to stop spinning. She waited patiently for him.

"Don't worry, nothing like this'll happen again, I'll make sure of it," she promised, a hand under his elbow to help steady him.

"Go easy on him," Kaidan said quietly. "He only did it to protect you."

She scoffed and helped him across the room. "When is everyone going to figure out that I don't need protected- that I can do it myself?"

He stopped and leaned against the doorframe. Without thinking, he cupped her chin in his hand and waited for her to look at him. "When're you going to realize that you don't have to?"

With a small smile, she tilted her head enough to kiss his palm (which shocked him more than he would ever admit). "You trying to flirt with me, Major?"

Kaidan gave her a small smile and was relieved when she didn't shrink away from him. "If you have to ask, then I'm clearly out of practice."

She smiled and helped him the rest of the way to the Medbay. Before she left him completely in Chakwas' hands, she half turned and suggested, "Then maybe we could practice."

It took him a minute to realize what she meant and, by the time he had, she was out in the mess heading towards the forward battery.

"What happened?" Chakwas demanded. "Were you down in the cargo bay with James?"

He moved his attention to the doctor. "No."

Chakwas frowned and picked up an application of medi-gel. "You and Shepard get into it?"

"No," Kaidan sighed and rubbed his temples. "Garrus had a point to make. Shepard stopped it before it got any worse."

She frowned at him- suspicious. "What d'you do?"

Kaidan winced as Chakwas worked on the gash across his cheek. "The Commander and I kinda got into it after the last mission."

"What happened?" she sighed.

"I…we…we got into an argument…and I may…may have left…bruises on…her arms," he muttered.

Chakwas stilled and stared at him- trying to read his soul. "You hit her?"

"No," he assured her. "We figured it out, though."

"You're lucky she got there in time- Garrus would've happily killed you."

Shepard stood silently in the doorway of the forward battery. From the tense set of Garrus' shoulders, she could tell that he knew she was there.

"Garrus," she began quietly and he winced at the sound of her voice, "we need to talk."

He turned around slowly, his eyes not meeting hers. "I'm not going to apologize for what I did to him," he informed her. "I am, however, sorry that you saw it."

"What came over you, Garrus? It's not like this was the first time I've gotten marked up by someone."

"But he hurt you…again."

She laid a hand on his arm and waited for him to look at her. When he did, she gave a small smile and explained, "But, at the same time, he took the first steps needed to fix things."

Garrus shook his head and laid a hand on her own arm. "You want me to go apologize to him, don't you?"

With the smile that she gave him, he knew that he didn't have the willpower not to apologize to Kaidan. "I'm not going to make you, Garrus, but it's the right thing to do- and you should want to." Stepping away from him, she left without another word.

He found himself repeating James' words: "Hell of a woman."

Author's Note: Yeah, I called Garrus "Gar-bear." I couldn't help it. I was doing a play through of ME2 and I just kinda called him that…so I decided to share my nickname for the wonderful, glorious Garrus Vakarian. :D