The first sensation that came to Shepard upon regaining consciousness was an enormous headache, pounding like a hammer behind her eyes. The second sensation was acute nausea. Bile rose in her throat and she sat up quickly, opening her eyes and scanning her surroundings for somewhere safe to throw up.
She managed to choke down the feeling and tried to figure out where she was. She was dizzy and disoriented, the dim light filtering through the shades on the window still too bright for her hungover eyes.
She was sitting on a couch in a small living room; a granite coffee table and a large vid projector were in front of her. She was in someone's apartment, mercifully fully clothed. A cursory glance to her right revealed Wrex lying on the floor next to a dining table, snoring soundly. Behind them was a tiny, pristine kitchen. An open door to the right of the kitchen led to a bathroom.
Turning back around to face the wall with the vid projector, she noticed a closed door on the far end of the wall near the windows. For the moment, she couldn't investigate. It was all it took not to throw up as she sat completely still against the couch.
She couldn't remember the last time she'd had that much to drink. What had she done? The last thing she remembered was discussing levo-dextro relations with Kaidan, Garrus, and Wrex. She could at least conclude that she hadn't slept with anyone, thank God for that. She could just imagine the aftermath of drunken sex with one of her squad. She was just starting to get to know them, what a start that would be. Still, even if she hadn't had sex with anyone, she might have done something else. Had she kissed Kaidan? She had no memory of what had occurred or how she had ended up…wherever she was.
After nearly half an hour of sitting still trying to get the room to stop spinning, she slowly ventured to move, holding onto furniture as she made her way into the kitchen and looked for a glass to drink water from. She opened the first cupboard in the kitchen to find sets of plates and bowls with odd spouts on them. The next cupboard revealed the glasses, also with odd spouts. She picked one up and examined it. Her brain hurt too much to be thinking at all, but she realized as she turned the glass over in her hand that the spout was the right width and shape to fit to a turian mouth. Was this Garrus' apartment?
She turned the faucet on and poured herself a glass of water and then moved to the dining table, where she sat sipping from the side of the glass that didn't have a spout. She desperately wished she had some medicine for a headache. She had her omni-tool, but it was only stocked with medi-gel, which wouldn't help.
Shepard wasn't sure how long she sat there sipping the water, her senses slowly returning, though her stomach was still uneasy and her head continued to throb. As she neared the bottom of the glass, the closed door against the far end of the wall flew open and a familiar turian stepped out, rubbing his temples and reaching blindly for a chair to steady himself.
It was a startling sight to see him in such a personal environment, even after the night they had all spent getting to know each other. He was clad in a pair of unusual cotton trousers, with no shirt on to speak of. Shepard became acutely aware that she had never seen a turian without its shirt on, outside of pictures from military training. His chest had a prominent ridge in the center and a cowl of cartilage wrapped around his neck. She knew turian cowls were a physical part of their bodies, but never having seen one beneath clothing, she had mentally attributed it to their armor. It was jarring to see it as it truly was.
Garrus grabbed onto a chair and blinked slowly.
"Shepard," he said, his voice gravelly and flanging. She was staring at him with her mouth slightly open, but was not immediately aware she was doing so. "Shepard?"
She shook her head. "What happened last night?"
"You and Wrex got physical," the turian's subharmonics hit a pitch she'd never heard before, giving him away.
Shepard laughed, though it hurt her head. "I think I'd be hurting even more than I am now if that had happened."
Garrus moved to the kitchen and poured himself some water and then sat down across from her at the table. Wrex continued sleeping soundly on the floor next to them.
"We passed out. One minute we were talking and the next thing I knew, I woke up and Wrex was carrying both of us to my apartment. He found the address on my ID. Smart thinking, really. I told him to let you sleep on the couch and offered to get him a cot from my closet, but he said the floor was fine," Garrus shrugged.
"Did I…do anything with Kaidan?"
Garrus chuckled. "No. You begged me to keep him from dancing with you. Like you couldn't take care of him yourself."
"I'm sorry," Shepard felt embarrassed.
"It's fine. We never ended up dancing. But you might want to sit down and talk to the lieutenant. That's just my opinion. I think it would be better to address the issue. There might be more times like this in the future. Even if we aren't…inebriated. We're going to have downtime on these trips. If you don't address the issue now, it's only going to become a bigger problem."
"Ugh, I know," Shepard groaned. She hated that Garrus was right. He was so damn helpful. "I'll talk to him before we leave."
"How are you feeling? I would offer you some medicine, but I only have dextro-meds."
"It's fine," she shook her head. "I feel like shit, but what can I do? I'll grab something when I head out. I've got to meet Liara at the museum at three. What time is it now?"
Garrus glanced at his omni-tool. "Almost eleven."
"Damn, how late were we out?"
He shrugged. "I didn't check when we got home. I just threw up a little and went to sleep."
"Well, I guess we're all more comfortable with each other now," Shepard laughed, "So that's something."
"Definitely," Garrus agreed.
He sipped his water and she stared at his cowl again. It was such an unusual appendage. She wondered what purpose it could serve. She was absolutely fascinated by the sight of it, the little nook it created above his shoulders and around his neck. She normally wouldn't have stared in such a rude way, but she was hardly aware she was doing it.
"Shepard? What are you staring at?"
"I'm sorry," she shook her head. "I've…I've never seen a turian without a shirt on before. Your cowl…it's just…different."
Garrus craned his neck, trying to see it, though he physically couldn't. "Why?"
"Well it's just not really comparable to any human parts. Why do you have them?"
"Why do you have hair?" he replied.
"It used to provide protection for our bodies. I don't know why it looks like it does now."
"I don't know that my cowl serves any purpose," he shrugged. "When I was little my dad would put me in his to carry me while he got things done. And male cowls are larger than female cowls, so I guess there's some sort of sexual preference for them on the female's part."
"Can I touch it?" Shepard blurted. She immediately wished she hadn't said it. Sure, everyone had gotten a little more comfortable with one another last night, but Garrus was still a practical stranger in the grand timeline of both of their lives. She wasn't sure what had compelled her to say such a thing.
"Only if I can touch your hair." Garrus didn't seemed bothered in the least.
"Okay," she agreed readily. She was just too intrigued to pass up the opportunity. After all, when would she have the chance again?
They both stood up and met each other halfway, near where Wrex lay sleeping. They stood awkwardly in front of each other for a moment, then Shepard reached her hand out and gently touched the sides of his cowl. She hadn't actually touched turian skin before. They were always wearing gloves to conceal their sharp talons, so even when she shook hands, it was never skin-to-skin contact. The part covered by his plating was rough, like stone, but the skin that wasn't plated was soft, almost leathery against her fingers, and incredibly warm; his entire body seemed to be radiating heat. It made sense, she supposed. Turians had to keep cool on a hot planet like Palaven. Exuding heat quickly would help cool their core temperature.
She clasped the edges of the cowl and felt her away around it, absolutely enthralled by the feel of his skin and the odd shape of the bone and cartilage and metal that comprised the cowl.
As she was doing this, he stood still for a moment, then brought his hand up and delicately touched the hair on her head. He wasn't wearing his gloves, she realized, but he was remarkably careful with the long talons extending from his fingers, careful not to catch them against her skin. He ruffled the hair and his subharmonics made a strange sound. He laughed.
"It's very soft," he said.
"Your skin is scaly," she replied, again wishing she hadn't said anything. It might be insulting.
"Yes, we have metallic scales to protect us from the radiation on Palaven," he shrugged.
He was having a wonderful time mussing her hair, she could tell, bringing up his other hand to join the first. They stood there, probing each other in what must have looked like an insane display, completely unaware of anything else until a low grumble sounded from the floor.
"What the fuck are you two doing?"
They stepped away from each other with alarming speed and looked down to see Wrex, his eyes open now, staring at the two of them with a sly grin. Shepard felt like she had been caught doing something dirty, though really, they had both just been curious. It was the way Wrex looked at them that made her feel that way.
"We were…uh…" She stammered.
"Shepard had never seen a turian's cowl before and er…" Garrus tried to make it seem less strange than it had been.
Wrex pushed himself off the floor and stood up. He held a hand up to silence them. "Never mind, I don't want to know." He belched loudly. "I'm starving, and I'm willing to bet Garrus hasn't got any food we can eat. Put a shirt on, Garrus, and let's go grab something at the Elbar diner in Zakera ward."
Shepard exchanged a glance with Garrus and he hurried away to get dressed, then they followed Wrex in an awkward, embarrassed silence, out the door and toward the Citadel rapid transit.
A/N: Really short fluffy chapter! I'll be posting another one tonight to make up for the shortness of this one. Thanks for reading as always!