Garrus regained consciousness just as he saw two alliance soldiers clearing rubble off of him. Damn, I'm alive, he thought as he let one of the soldiers help him to his feet. He looked around and saw a couple more soldiers helping Kaidan out of some more rubble. Just then he saw Anderson run towards him.
"You're alive! Shepard is going to be so-" Garrus started when he stopped midsentence to look around. He couldn't see her anywhere. No. Spirits, it cant be. Not her. He thought, panicking.
"Where is Commander Shepard, soldier?" Anderson asked him. Garrus couldn't speak. He just looked in the direction they all ran from and all they could see was rubble everywhere. He saw Anderson's face fall with a sadness and imagined his probably looked the same as he felt his heart sink. Just then, they heard the sound of rocks moving and looked in time to see Jane walking over the rubble. She was holding her left arm and limping but she was alive. Garrus ignored all the pain he felt throughout his body and limp ran towards her. He was damned if he was going to let a little pain stop him from helping her. He got to her just in time as she fell into his arms. Anderson came and put her left arm over his shoulder just before Garrus almost fell over himself. Anderson then called his men over.
"You grab her other arm. And you two help Vakarian here." Anderson hurriedly barked orders.
"No. I can help you." Garrus tried arguing.
"No. You all three need medical attention. You did good, soldier. Thank you for keeping her safe." Anderson said sternly but Garrus could hear the gratitude in his voice also. He gave her hand a light squeeze as he let the other soldier take her arm and put it over his soldier. Garrus then let the other soldiers help him but he kept his eyes on Jane the whole time until they were taken to separate rooms in the hospital.
It took a whole day before Garrus could convince the doctors to let him leave his room. Lucky for them, some of the Citadel had survived intact. He purchased some flowers and a varren stuffed animal from the gift shop for Jane. He remembered that Joker had told him that the red flowers called roses were a popular earth tradition for showing interest in someone for courtship. He was going to stand by his promise to himself and tell Jane how he felt. He was nervous as all hell but he steeled his resolve as he made his way towards Jane's room. Then he saw Tali, Liara, Joker, and Wrex outside her room.
"How's she doing?" He asked as he approached them.
"Better. They were able to patch her up pretty well. A few broken bones, some fractured ribs and a concussion but they told us she'll make a full recovery. She's in and out if conciousness but rest is the best thing for her now." Liara informed him.
"Bet she'll recover faster now that Carn is in there with her." He heard Wrex speak up.
"Wait. How did you-?" Garrus started asking confused.
"Shepard ain't the only one with persuasion skills." Wrex laughed.
"He kept bringing him in until they finally gave up on kicking them both out." Liara said.
"Heh. Heh. It worked!" Wrex chuckled with a smile.
"Hey, are those for Shepard?" Tali asked looking at the gifts in his hands.
"Yeah. I wanted to-" Garrus started then he saw Kaidan in Jane's room holding her hand as he kissed her on the forehead. "What's up with them?"
"Oh. I think they finally got together." Tali said.
"Uh oh." Joker mumbled.
"Kaidan went straight to her room after they let him out of bed and hasn't left since." Liara chimed in.
Garrus felt his heart sink and his hands went down to his sides. He wanted to go in there and tear Kaidan off of her and confess his feelings but he just felt foolish. How could I ever think a turian like me could get a girl like her? He thought dejectedly.
"Uh. Just tell her these are from all of us from C-Sec. And that we hope she feels better soon." He said as he hurriedly put the roses and stuffed varren in Tali's arms and walked away feeling defeated.
"Hey. Turian, stop!" He heard Wrex holler after him.
"Garrus…" He briefly heard Joker say but he kept walking.
Damn, he beat me to it. I shouldn't have waited so long but I didn't want to distract her from the mission. Damn that Kaidan. Garrus thought as he made his way to C-Sec.
After a couple weeks, he heard Jane had fully recovered and was saying goodbyes to everyone before heading out on her next mission. He also heard she requested that Anderson become the human councilor. He made sure he was out on patrols constantly until she left. He couldn't face her knowing she was with Kaidan. He heard she was looking for more signs of the reapers and feared she would ask him to join her. He knew he'd accept in a heartbeat but he just couldn't do it. Not while she was with him.
"There you are." He heard a familiar voice and his heart stopped. He turned around and saw Jane with her hand on her hips. "You're a hard turian to track down."
"Oh, hi Shepard." He greeted her.
"Shepard? What happened to Jane, Garrus?" She questioned him.
"I'm on duty and you're a commander and a hero. Need to be professional." He replied trying to sound unemotional.
"So you did go back? How is it?" She asked with what looked like a sad look in her eyes.
"It's great. Better than ever." He lied. He hated it more than ever. Damn those eyes and those spots on your face. Why do I always get lost looking at you? He thought to himself.
"That's uh great. I'm happy for you." She said with a smile. Damn that smile. Stop smiling at me. His thoughts were getting the better of him.
"Yea." He mumbled out.
"I missed you these last few weeks. You helped me out of the rubble and didn't even come visit." She confronted him.
"Yeah well I figured you could use the rest and I was recovering myself plus there was a lot to do at work with all the damage. Sorry." He hung his head. She made him feel guilty but he just couldn't bring himself to go see her.
"I wanted to thank you for the flowers and the stuffed animal." She said, lifting his head.
"Oh, yeah." He cleared his throat. "It was from all of us at C-Sec."
"That's what Tali said. Well I already said goodbye to her and Wrex and wanted to see you before I left." She informed him. "Tali decided it was time for her pilgrimage to end and Wrex wants to try and fix things on Tuchanka."
"Oh. So it's just you and Kaidan?" He asked even though he didn't want to know the answer.
"Well, I guess. Also Joker, Pressly, Adams and the rest of the crew."
"Okay well it was a pleasure working with you." Garrus spoke as professionally as he could as he held out his hand to shake hers.
"Yeah. Don't be a stranger, Vakarian." She said looking a little hurt but shook his hand.
"Sure." He said as he turned to walk away. A moment later he turned around to see her walking in the opposite direction. "Goodbye, Jane." He whispered to himself."
A few months had passed and Garrus was in the C-sec office when an officer came running in and told them all that the Normandy was destroyed and only some of the crew had made it out safely. He then looked at them all solemnly and informed them that Commander Jane Shepard had been pronounced dead. Garrus couldn't breathe. He told his captain he needed to take off early and clocked out. He went straight to his apartment and fell to his knees.
"Why, Jane? Why did it have to be you?" He spoke to himself as his picked up his padd and looked through his emails. "You tried contacting me so many times since you left and I didn't even have the guts to answer back. I've been miserable since you left but at least you were alive." He went over to his nightstand and grabbed the photo he had taken with the Normandy crew. "First Ashley and now you. I'm fucking sick of losing people."
He heard a ping from his padd and opened it to see a message from Joker saying he was sorry and to message him whenever he needed something.
Right then Garrus realized he needed to get out of there. He knew he wasn't making a difference with C-Sec and now he had no reason to stay. He didn't even feel like he had a reason to live and he set off to find a place with impossible odds where he might make a difference. He decided to head off to Omega and left.
