I'll follow you down while we're passing through space,
I don't care if we fall from grace,
I'll follow you down…
Garrus returned to the table his father and sister were seated at, his blood hammering in his ears. That vid was the first solid piece of evidence and first ray of hope they had of Shepard still being alive. He tried not to get his expectations up too high. Being an ex-cop, Garrus knew the stakes. He knew that the first several days of someone reported as missing were crucial. He also understood that as time passed, the likelihood of that missing person being found alive decreased dramatically. The vid could have been have been shot in the days following the end of the war. It could have been filmed a week ago. Garrus shook his head. No matter what he did or how he thought, the security vid shook him to his very core, unsettling him dramatically.
Upon reaching his family, Garrus was visibly distressed. Tychus took notice first, standing up, concern etched upon his aged features.
"Garrus?" he said slowly, though Garrus seemed not to have heard him. He tapped a quick message in his omni-tool. The package may be delivered on time. Brief and to the point, yet cryptic enough if it were to be intercepted. Hoping it was comprehendible, he sent the message first to Tali, then to Urdnot Wrex, Shepard's closest allies.
"Son, what is it?" Tychus repeated.
"I have to leave Palaven… First thing tomorrow morning…" Garrus trailed off.
"Leave?! Garrus! We just got back!" Solana whispered quite angrily.
"Sol… I'm sorry," he said.
"Sorry?" her voice steadily rising to a shout. "You want to abandon your family? Again?" More than a few heads swiveled in their direction.
The Primarch quickly finished what was left of the brandy and followed after Liara.
Once outside, Liara cast a glance behind Garrus. Noticing his father and sister running after him into the warm night air, she grasped his hand and squeezed reassuringly.
"I'll meet you back at your apartment. And Garrus? We'll find her. You have my word," she said.
He nodded his thanks to the asari and turned to greet what was sure to be the wrath of his sister once more.
Tychus reached his son first. "What was that about?"
"Sol. You asked me if I was bonded with anyone…," Garrus braced for the inevitable impact. "Aurora Shepard was… is the most important woman in my life."
Sure enough, his sister gasped and exploded, "A human?! You've bonded with a human?!" Her anger was expected but the insult following was not.
"My own brother, in bed with a lesser species. I never thought I'd see the day," she scoffed.
"Did you learn nothing from the war, Sol?" Garrus' own voice and subharmonics rising as well. "I thought we had put all our petty differences behind us. We fought and died, together, against the Reapers, fighting for our survival, fighting for our right to live the way we see fit, and not by some damn synthetics trying to dictate our futures.
"The galaxy is no longer black and white, and I don't give a shit if you agree with the choices I've made, but I'm sure as hell not going to let you insult the only person who has always accepted me for me, without question," Garrus finally snapped. He supposed it had been a long time coming, first with his father, now, his sister. He knew the Vakarians were a very old clan. Many of them still clung to tradition. He assumed Solana had adopted a similar mentality.
They use to be close, nearly inseparable. When had they become some distant?
"Do you really love her?" Tychus finally asked.
"Yeah Dad, I do," he said, exhausted.
"Then we better get packed. We have a shuttle expecting us tomorrow."
"Dad?" both siblings said together, incredulously.
"I'm going with you, of course! That is, if you'll have me…" Tychus said, his mandibles twitching in what could have passed as a smirk.
"This is unbelievable!" Solana said, throwing her hands in the air. "Send me a message when one of you have come to your senses." And with that his sister begrudgingly stalked off into the night.
"Are you sure Dad?" said Garrus, still uncertain of what he was hearing.
"The galaxy has changed in ways we could never have foreseen. You've grown Garrus. You're a leader now, and I don't know when that came to be. You're my son, and I've missed some of the most important moments in your life. Besides, you've spent nearly the last four years with this woman, I want to know why," said Tychus.
"If I agree to this, we do it my way," Garrus said.
He extended his hand to his father. Tychus took Garrus' hand, clasping it as if they were brothers in arms rather than father and son.
"What about Sol?" he said looking in the direction his sister had left. Tychus ran a hand over his fringe. "She'll come around. She took losing your mother very hard. Solana sacrificed a lot to care for her. I think she just wants to have some sense of normalcy in her life, and this little bombshell of yours doesn't seem to bode well with her."
"Shepard risked her life to pull me out of the fray when a Mako landed on me. I'm not returning to Palaven until I know for certain that she is either safe from harm or dead." Garrus said defiantly.
"Then I suppose we had better meet your asari friend and prepare," Tychus said, placing a firm, reassuring hand on Garrus' shoulder.
Tychus followed his son to the skycar, and the pair took flight. They rode the 15 minutes to Garrus' apartment in comfortable silence. He supposed if he was in his father's place, he might feel something similar, wanting to make up for lost time.
Garrus had felt the same way, seeing Shepard for the first time after six months of her being in lock up. At first however, he had found himself terrified that she no longer felt the same way about their relationship. After all, he hadn't even so much as received a message from her during that time. It wasn't until Liara messaged him, saying she was unable to speak with anyone from her crew, did he fully comprehend what was happening.
The Alliance had said it was to keep her safe from the batarians, after she crashed the asteroid into the Alpha relay, destroying nearly the entire species. He had also heard rumors that she was to be put on trial for working with Cerberus, or they were going to question her sanity for being so persistent about the Reapers. In the end, she had been right the entire time. Everything was true and tied in with the other. Even lock up wasn't enough to keep the inevitable from happening. They all eventually paid the price for not believing her.
They had spoken briefly after their rendezvous with the new Primarch, Adrien Victus. Around 2300 Alliance standard time, Garrus found himself outside Shepard's door, holding a bottle of quarian wine for himself and another of batarian ale for her. He recalled while the ale would knock most levos out after a single drink, she simply got wasted off a couple and blamed it on her Cerberus implants.
According to EDI, she had just finished her rounds on the ship. He tapped in the passcode to disengage the lock and let himself in.
Shepard's cabin was still the same as it had been while they used Cerberus. All of her model ships were in the glass casing surrounding her desk. The fish swam lazily in their oversized tank, unaware of how insignificant their lives truly were.
Garrus stopped dead in his tracks, shaking his head. No, he wouldn't think like that. Thinking of an organic's life as petty and meager, no matter how small they were, was along similar lines of the Reapers justifying their means to harvest the galaxy, or of Cerberus thinking humans were the apex of their time. Both were wrong.
He glanced at the shelf beside the bathroom door. The ugly little hamster was still in its container, peering at him through the glass. Shepard's bed sat at the bottom of the stairs, it was made up perfectly. The sheets were tucked into the corners tightly, no wrinkles showing. The pillows were propped against the headboard, meticulously arranged. Armor had been stripped off and thrown near the couch haphazardly. Her Alliance casuals lay discarded by the coffee table, along with several of her… underthings. Listening to the water run in the shower, Garrus smiled inwardly at himself. She was alone… in the shower… naked… probably scalding hot water pouring down her soft bare skin…
He quickly set the bottles of alcohol down on her desk, unclasping his clothing as fast as he could manage. Shedding them like a second skin, he tossed them aside and made a beeline straight for the door. It opened with a whoosh, revealing her standing under the steady stream of water. Her forearm was against the shower wall, her head resting against it. She bore most of her weight on one leg, keeping the other bent. Her red hair clung to her face. Garrus noticed she had gained several large bruises and one nasty looking gash on her left side. In the moments he watched her, Shepard didn't move a muscle. He decided to change that.
Walking up behind her, wrapped his arms around her torso, careful to not brush her injuries. Resting his chin on her shoulder, she leaned her head against the side of his, her hair plastering to his scarred mandible. The pair remained there for a time, enjoying the comfort of the other, allowing the hot water and the steam to wash away the dirt, the grime, the blood and the worries.
Shepard turned around to face him, wincing ever so slightly as his hand brushed against her laceration.
"You have no idea how much I've missed you Garrus," she said, throwing her arms around his neck. "You're all I've thought about these last six months."
"I didn't realize my… what's the word… 'swag'? made that much of an impression,"
Shepard threw her head back, shaking with laughter, "Alright Mr. Vakarian… three things. One. Don't ever use that word again. You sound ridiculous. Two, stop taking advice from Joker, because I'm betting he taught you that word in the first place."
Garrus nodded, his mandibles widening.
"And three. I lied when I said you're the only thing I've thought about. I've thought about you and the impending doom we're all facing with these 'Reapers'," she emphasized the last word with quotation fingers.
He leaned his head against hers, saying, "That word did seem a bit silly. But I made you laugh, so that's all that matters."
He pushed her gently against the shower wall and kissed her. She returned the favor by brushing her fingers against the soft skin at the base of his fringe and running them down the upper portion of his spine. He shuddered in ecstasy.
"Don't ever leave me for that long again," he whispered.
"I won't. I promise. The same goes by the way. There's no Shepard without Vakarian. And I'll be damned if I can't do this without you," she said.
He nodded his head in agreement, "I've always got your six."
In time, they both eventually broke that promise.
"Damnit Shepard," Garrus swore angrily, punching the dash in frustration. The elder Vakarian eyed his son sadly. Of all people, Tychus knew how heartbroken Garrus was.
The skycar swept into the parking garage of Garrus' apartment building, and he eased it down gently. Upon exiting the vehicle, Garrus turned toward his father, placing both arms on the top of the car.
"You're going to meet a wide range of people I've worked with, Dad," Garrus warned. "Some of their identities can, by no means, get out to the public. Others do not take kindly to insult or racism. Mercs, soldiers, doctors, biotics, asari, humans, quarians, krogans, I've worked with them all. If there is one thing we have in common, it's our fierce loyalty to Shepard. Whatever has happened to her or whoever is behind it, it's personal now, not only to myself, but to every member of her crew."
"I know we very rarely agree on much of anything. But Garrus, I want this. I don't care if it's the damn Shadow Broker or that crazy asari that claims to rule Omega, I'm coming with you."
Garrus had a feeling his father would be eating his own words before too long.
Updated 6/6/14