The Show Must Go On (Talks His)

Garrus is going to have a chat with Jane but he isn't going to find her in a very nice place. And she hasn't been spending the last few months living the high life either. Brief summery at the end of the section.

Garrus was going to be so happy to sleep in his own bed again. He'd spent the last month sleeping on the couch in the common living area. He could have taken the guest bedroom but Liara was officially using it during her frequent stay overs. He was sure that his father knew as he did that Liara spent her nights in Solana's bed. But if his step-mother wanted to maintain the illusion that her little girl was still a virgin little angel Garrus wasn't going to stop her.

Fortunately he had no need to maintain such illusions about himself. His father was a little more down to Palaven about things. Garrus had made his father a grandfather when Leto the elder was just 64. Had things been normal than grandchildren should only begin to be coming now, some 20 years later. But Garrus wasn't good at normal. After all, normal people don't blow a small fortune on expanding a house on the Citadel. Normal people would have just moved.

A fun fact about the Citadel is that nothing on it was static. Every wall, floor, roof, and tile could be moved around. Only the keepers were allowed to do it because only they understood how to do it safely. And it was expensive as all get out. There was a reason real estate on the Citadel was the most expensive in the known galaxy. But Garrus let himself be hopeful and had spent all of his bounty money from the last job on a rather large addition to his living area.

A small bathroom connected to a modest bedroom wasn't going to cut it anymore. He had bought enough space to expand the bathroom, added a small foyer to give additional privacy, made his bedroom into an office, thrown in a small kitchenette and dining area, and created a master bedroom. And to appease his step-mother for all the construction noise and inconvenience he was causing he gave her the money to do that kitchen remodeling she had been hounding his father for.

Garrus was fairly sure his little building project had put ideas into his sister's head. She'd become very interested in helping plan the extension and taken notes on the costs. Garrus idly wondered if Liara might become a more permanent fixture at the Vakarian residence. And he wondered just how Solana was going to convince her mother to allow it. Normal turians don't settle down until they are 40 or so and that is even considered on the young side. Then again, normal turians don't have a quarian sister.

Speaking of quarians, it was because of the brother of that particular pair that he was trudging through the deep lower wards. When Liara and Solana came to him asking him for a favor in finding Jane, he had stayed out of it. He'd gotten their side of the story and it was enough to convince him that it was their problem not his. If Jane didn't want to be found then that was her business. The girls though hadn't given up and had hounded Adrian until he broke.

Solana was a force to be reckoned with but Adrian had learned to put up with her over the years. Liara was a new and unknown element in the equation but she had appealed to his emotional side instead of trying to use blunt force to get what she wanted. Garrus could see that she was good for his sister. However, the thing that broke Adrian was his sister. Garrus had never known Adrian to stand up to his sister for very long and once she joined forces with the forlorn lovers the young quarian had buckled under the pressure.

At least he had tried to be discreet about it. Which might have worked if Adrian had been anyone else. It was technically against regulations but every now and again someone would need a favor that might require C-Sec capabilities. C-Sec had a great intelligence network and a few favors here and there normally got you what you wanted to know. Unfortunately for Adrian, everyone knew just whose protégé he was. It wasn't long before someone had told Garrus that Adrian was trying to cash in his few favors for information about a certain redheaded TV star that had dropped off the grid.

So Garrus had stepped in and used a few of his favors instead. The kid really didn't have enough favors to burn just yet. He was still a uniform and the kinds of favors he had to cash in wouldn't have taken him very far anyway. Now when a respected and known lead detective puts out word he wants to find someone, then things get done.

It was all off the books of course but it had only taken a few days to find her. In the mean time Garrus had gathered all the information he could on one Johanna "Jane" Jones. There was very little on Johanna "Jane" Jones. She'd magically appeared on the Citadel a few years ago. She'd worked at a restaurant as a server and acted in a few commercials. Until she hit it big with Mass Effect. Since people don't magically appear out of nowhere Garrus had dug deeper using what few clues he had. And those were third hand as any possible personal information had been filtered through Tali who told Solana and Liara, who told him. But Garrus wasn't a lead detective for nothing and had managed to narrow down a few possible planets that had matched the description of being mining planets. That did fishing with explosives. And had middle school drop outs turned prostitutes.

It was hard to narrow it down further than that. The records he found were of arrests and releases of girls that matched the physical description. The charges were always the same. Prostitution and drug use and/or trafficking. It would be impossible to tell which of the handful of profiles he had were Jane's until he talked to her. That is if he had even found her profile. It was evident that she had changed her name, possibly even stolen the identity, when she came to the Citadel.

His tips had lead him to the deep lower wards and he was glad he had come in civilian dress. Glasses and a hat helped with his disguise. He found the building he was looking for. It looked run down and seedy, even considering the surrounding area. The deeper one went into the lower wards the darker and grimier things got. Every place had its poor, even the bright and shiny Citadel.

Garrus pushed open the door of the apartment block. Inside was dimly lit and the air was stale with alcohol and sex. To his right he could see a hall way with doors on either side. A small red or green light was above each door indicating if the room as ready for visitors or not. In front of him was a check in desk. This must have been a motel before. No wonder it had been converted into a brothel. The manager, for lack of a better term, was a cool looking asari who was studying him with her eyes. No doubt gauging him as a customer.

"What can I get you?" The manager asked.

"A friend of mine was in here and said you had a fine redheaded human gal. Great fuck and even better cock sucker. Knew all sorts of biotic tricks." Garrus said sliding up to the counter.

"Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But we do offer those sorts of services here. If you can afford them. And I hope you can. Not every day we get a turian as built as you in here." The manager punctuated the end of her sentence by slowly running her tongue across her lips.

"I'm sure I can show a girl a good time, provided you have what I'm looking for." Garrus said shooting down the manager's clear advance on him. This earned him a pout. Before it could become much more Garrus quickly produced a small plastic bag with red powder in it. "And I can pay, as you can see."

The manager made to reach for it but Garrus kept the bag out of reach. "Do you have the girl I'm looking for or not?"

"She's busy right now. And supposed to have a break after seeing customers."

"I'll wait. And surely it can't hurt if she sees me right after. I don't want to wait that long." Garrus produced a second small baggy. That sealed it. It was fortunate the manager was an asari. They had a special weakness for red sand. Even if the manager wasn't an asari, red sand was a known currency in the lower wards.

Garrus had made Adrian buy the drugs for him as payment for taking up the hunt for Jane. Plus everyone assumed a kid with Adrians background was a druggy anyway. In reality what Garrus had done was introduce Adrian to one of the drug runners who skirted the more gray areas of the law. He'd been a long time quasi-ally of C-Sec but only for the right people and the right sort of favors. Garrus was one of those people. Introducing Adrian was just a step in helping Adrian set up the sort of contacts he'd need as a detective in the future.

Garrus waited until one of the lights down the hall turned from green to red and the door opened letting out a pair of krogan businessmen. They were slumming it to get their thrills judging from the suits they were wearing. Once they had exited the building the asari manager escorted Garrus down the hall and let him into the room the krogans had come out of. With a call of "Holler if you want more company" the manager left leaving Garrus to close the door behind him.

He could see why Jane was supposed to have a half hour break. It was to clean up. She was still splayed out on the bed naked, fluids leaking from her exposed sex and the side of her mouth. It was a miracle she wasn't torn in half or bleeding. If it weren't for the small rise and fall of her chest Garrus would have thought she was dead. She looked a lot skinnier then he remembered her. What the hell had happened to her in the last 4 months?

"Jane." Garrus called out but didn't get a response. He did a quick sweep of the room, which he should have done in the first place but had been rather shocked by what he had found. The room was dank and mostly bare. The bed dirty with stains of obvious use, and the wall barren. There wasn't any camera that Garrus could see. In fact, apart from a single dresser that had seen better days, the bed and the small night stand next to the bed, the room was empty. On the night stand was a small button, which if Garrus had to hazard a guess was what switched the light outside above the door green and red.

Garrus went to Jane's side and looked her over clinically. She didn't appear to be drugged even though her eyes were dull and had a faraway look to them. He figured she had retreated from this place into the safety of her own mind. He'd seen this sort of thing before during his time as a uniform. With rape victims mostly, but the few times he'd been part of busting a prostitution ring he'd seen this look in their eyes as well. Once the krogans had finished with her she must have moved just enough to hit the button before just lying there. She must know she has a half hour to herself and retreated from the world for some of it.

Garrus checked the dresser. Inside were a meager collection of clothing and an empty suitcase at the bottom of the dresser. He packed what there was to pack leaving out a dress he could put on Jane once she was more responsive and collected the few toiletries he found.

After about 15 minutes of waiting Jane finally started to stir. Still she didn't react to Garrus at all. So he watched her mechanically get up and limp to the bathroom leaving a trail of fluids on the floor. He'd thought she'd stopped leaking by but with gravity kicking in, clearly he was wrong. Garrus listened as the water in the shower turned on. He could hear when she stepped under the water and listened to her cleanse herself. He had packed away the towel that was hanging in the bathroom so he had to listen for when the water turned off to give it to her.

Once the falling of water could no longer be heard Garrus got up and entered the bathroom. He handed Jane the towel and she took it as it was the most natural thing to do. Now he was getting really worried. He'd sort of been down this hole himself, but he'd had work and a son to keep him from going too deep. Hopefully Liara and Solana could be enough for Jane. Though he wondered if he was really doing everyone a favor by finding her. He was really doubting his plan now. If she was this far gone already...

She dried herself off in a stiff mechanical manner she was doing everything else. This was routine then Garrus observed. She could shut off her mind and still get things done. Near as he could tell the show had wrapped almost 2 months ago, right before he got back to the Citadel. Just how fast did she fall? Given her alleged background though he could see it. She'd probably gotten down in the dumps over something and turned to drugs for comfort. Drugs would be old and familiar and thus a comfort in themselves, apart from the chemical highs. Drugs of course cost money and she had been a wild partier. He'd seen the pictures of the parties himself.

And once all the money was gone she'd probably gone back to prostitution to sustain herself. The theory made sense. He was apprehensive about his sister being in a relationship with someone with a such a colored past but he was no prize either. He had his demons; his own drug issues and as far as he knew, Jane hadn't killed anyone. She had that up on him at least. Probably.

Garrus watched Jane put on a simple green dress he had left hanging in the dresser. It was sleeveless with a gaping neckline that showed plenty of Jane's ample cleavage. And it only dropped down a third of the way down her thighs. But it did the job of covering her up and that was good enough for now.

Garrus checked the time on his omnitool. The half hour was almost up and just like clockwork, when it was the light came back to Jane's eyes. If light could be the word to describe it. There was no shine like he remembered when Jane was playing Commander Shepard. That had been a bright burning inferno full of life. This was the dying embers of that fire. Then again, Commander Shepard was a person Jane had taken to and enjoyed from what he could tell. Whatever persona she had on now was one necessary for survival. Nothing more.

Jane started, having finally reacted to his presence. "Garrus, what are you doing here?" The question added a little more warmth to her eyes. Garrus wondered when the last time she had seen a friendly face.

"I came here originally to help and talk to you. However, after spending the last half hour with a mindless drone, I'm here to talk to you. And maybe to help you."

"Okay..."

"Look, we're friends right? Or at least we got on well enough on set. Either way I'll help if I can but you have to give me a reason to help you." Garrus explained.

"Then why are you here in the first place?" Jane reinstated her original question.

"Solana and Liara sent me." Garrus moved to the corner of the bed and sat on it, leaving a respectable distance between the redhead and himself. "In a manner of speaking. They miss you. They're a half step away from offering up a reward to find you."

"What? No they can't find me. Especially not like this."

"I couldn't agree more." Garrus' agreement put a shocked expression on Jane's face. "You are a mess if you're reduced to this sort of work. Again."

"Again? What do you mean by 'again?'" Jane's eyes narrowed as she did her best to do something. Possibly intimidate Garrus. He wasn't sure, but the look had no effect on him whatsoever.

"Given what you told Tali, and what I could find, you are one of several working girls from mining worlds that came to the Citadel to seek a better life. One, I might add, you threw away for some unknown reason." That seemed to take what little wind there was in Jane's sails and deflate her. Good, it would be better if she was as non-confrontational as possible.

"They shouldn't be around a person like me."

"Probably not." Garrus agreed. Honestly, if it were up to him he wouldn't be here. However, Solana and Tali teaming up to get something made it impossible to say no. Especially now that they actually had more resources then just sad pouts and pleading eyes. Still, Garrus wasn't going to bring Jane back and present her like everything was okay. Because it wasn't. There would be a lot of issues to work out before things could even begin to go back to being okay. "But, that doesn't stop them from loving you."

Garrus' words were met with silence. "You know, everyone has a past. We're not always proud of it, but it shapes us. Molds us into what we are today. You've fallen back into your past. I've recently come back from doing the same thing. That doesn't make us bad people or unlovable. If anything it just makes things harder for everyone and turns people like us into idiots."

More silence. Except Jane's expression had changed to one of great interest as she silently urged Garrus to continue talking.

"From what Tali told me, you have a good idea of what I used to do."

"You killed people. Because hunting implies failure." Jane stated flatly.

"Tali knows that and she still loves me despite of it." That really seemed to get the human's attention. "You can't just turn off how you feel. Not for any real length of time anyway. You've been trying to convince yourself you're unlovable and all that time Solana and Liara still loved you from afar. They still love you now. And your friends still care about you. But all of that doesn't matter if you shut yourself off from everyone and everything. At the end of the day no one can save you but yourself. Everyone else can only help. Believe me, I've been down the road you're on right now."

"What?" Garrus wasn't sure what the expression on Jane's face was this time. It seemed to be a mix between shock, disbelief, and relief.

"I wasn't in this exact line of work but I know what it is like to have to be intimate with strangers for a job. And to do so against your will. It eats at you, drains your soul. I know you know what that is like. I can see it in your eyes."

Jane just nodded in silent agreement.

"If you keep going down this road I imagine you'll end up dead soon enough. Maybe a patron gets too rough or you overdose on something. Either way, it won't be pretty. You have a chance though Jane. You can crawl out of this hole you've dug. Get a real job again. Be a real person again. There are those that want to help you be a real person again, but all their work and effort won't mean anything if you don't decide to live like a real person."

"Real job." Jane snorted. "What sort of person would hire someone who's last job fucking anyone who had the money?"

"Well before that you were a popular actress on a TV show. Tali is pretty desperate to have you back as Commander Shepard."

"I died."

"Yes, you did. And you are still dying right now. But you can rise up from the depths, Jane. It's a TV show, they can cook up any explanation they want to put you back on it." Garrus reasoned. It wouldn't be the first time a character was killed off and put back in a TV show. It would be up there through with the fastest turnarounds from dead to alive again. "Learning to actually read the scripts might make a little easier. Actually learning to read in general makes things easier. How did you do it by the way? You always knew your lines even when we had rewrites."

"I had an electronic reader read me the entire script. And I just memorized the changes when you guys would talk about them." Jane muttered sheepishly. And it made immediate sense to Garrus. Everything was electronic so everyone got their scripts and the rewrites on their omnitools. Plus Jane's costume had an ear piece that she could use to pipe the script into her ear without anyone ever knowing.

"What have you been using to combat your depression?"

Jane's shock was quite clear this time. "What?"

"You're depressed. Deeply so I would wager. The sex is just part of the job judging from how your eyes glazed over when I found you. And not in a good way glazed over. That isn't driving you to stay alive. So I figure you must be using drugs of some sort."

"And if I am?" Was the guarded reply.

"I just want to know is all. Been there too. Combat stims. Hell of a high. Hell of a crash. Spent a month in rehab. Tali wasn't happy at all." Garrus let out a small chuckle.

"I can imagine." Jane wryly commented.

"If you want to get out of here drugs can't be the reason you get up in the morning."

"I know."

"You have to find a new purpose in life. What that is only you will know. I found purpose in my work and my son. That's what got me out of my hole. I stay out for Tali. No one can force you to find one, but we can help Jane."

"I know."

It was Garrus' turn to sit in silence. He'd said what he needed to and wasn't sure what more he could add.

"You done talking to me?" Jane asked.

"Yes."

"Are you going to help me?"

"Depends."

"On what?"

"If you want to be helped or not."

"Yes." This time Jane's response was barely more than a quiet plea.

"Okay then." Garrus watched the relief visibly wash over Jane's features. He let her have a moment before continuing on. "There will be rules though and it won't be easy."

"Of course."

"You have to go to rehab."

"Naturally." Jane agreed.

"You need to get a real job of some sort."

"I will." Jane promised quickly.

"You have to let us help you. You aren't alone Jane. It's going to be hard the next few weeks while you go through withdrawal and all that fun stuff but you aren't in it alone. If you need to you can always talk to me. Like I said, I've gone through what you have. Trust me when I say having people around you helps. Now what do you say we get out of this place?"

Leaving the brothel wasn't as simple as just walking out the door. Garrus had to knock out two bataarian who were enforcers. They were big guys too but Garrus was bigger. Once they were down Garrus flashed his badge at the manager who was glowing blue with biotic energy.

"Now look. We can do this the hard way or the easy way. The hard way is you keep your biotics up and we mess up your lovely little office here. That will piss me off and after I get done beating your ass I will come back with my C-Sec buddies. And we will close you down. And then we'll find out who your friends are and close them down. Or we do this the easy way and you let me walk out of here with my friend. I'll pretend this place doesn't exist. So what's it going to be?"

The C-Sec badge helped but it carried little power this deep in the Citadel. It was probably the fact he had taken off his gloves and was brandishing his talons that got the manager to back down. Biotics or no, turian talons were well known for leaving some very nasty scares.

Once they were outside and safely on their way Jane spoke up again. "Remind me never to get you angry."

"It's a smart policy to never get anyone angry." Garrus replied. The rest of the trip was in silence between them. Garrus made a few calls. One to Adrian and one to a doctor friend of his who he could trust to be discrete. Garrus just hoped he wouldn't regret his decision to bust her out of that brothel. He wasn't too afraid of anything the owners might do. He was more afraid of things not working out like everyone at home was hoping for. It would devastate just about everyone involved and probably drive Jane back down that hole so deep there wouldn't be any chance of saving her. So, Garrus hoped things worked out. The alternative was too grim to think about.

Summary: Garrus talks Jane into seeking treatment and reintegrating back into regular life. He talks about how he has a bad past as well, but that doesn't stop Tali from loving him. Just like Jane's past doesn't stop Solana and Liara from loving her. Jane also reveals that she managed to learn all her lines for the TV show by having her omnitool read her the electronic scripts in their entirety and memorized them.

A/N: To my 4th reviewer who reviewed as a guest: I don't have a beta reader nor do I have an editor. And yes these go up pretty much as soon as I'm done with them. Originally this was to be a one shot ending with chapter 1. Then I decided to do Tali's side of things. Then I just sort of kept going as I realized there was a lot more story to tell. Anyway, here is the latest installment. No promises on ETA or when I will get around to adding in more commas. I'll get around to doing more editing someday. But first Garrus and Tali have to spend some time together. 4 hours together in the span of 4 months is a little cruel on my part. I must fix this.