Garrus woke up to bright lights and he realized he must've been in the hospital. But how? He thought. As he tried to sit up, he let out a groan as he felt a sharp pain on his face. He felt where the pain was and felt a gap in his face covered with stitches.
"So I didn't die?" He asked himself, aloud.
"It was touch and go for awhile but you pulled through, Garrus." He heard a familiar voice.
"Doctor Chakwas? But how? Where am I?" He asked her.
"You're on the Normandy. Rebuilt, of course. Renamed too but I'll always think of her as just The Normandy." She replied as she checked him over. "You're lucky the commander responded as quickly as she could. I heard she contacted Joker as soon as the fight was over and demanded a pickup immediately. Then she and Zaeed carried you into a shuttle and rushed you here."
"I'll have to remember to thank her. I thought I was done for." Garrus replied as he touched his face again. "And thank you for saving me, Doctor."
"You're welcome, of course. I couldn't let my favorite turian die." She smiled. "Now off with you. They want you in the meeting room."
Garrus thanked her again and went on his way. He felt his face again as he walked. Well, Jane saved me. I really owe her now. No matter what, I won't leave her again. Not that I was planning on it, anyways. He thought to himself as he approached the doors to the meeting room before walking in.
"Hey there." He spoke up as he saw Jane and a young man talking.
"Garrus! You're okay!" Jane replied with joy in her voice. Damn, it feels good to see her smile, Garrus thought.
"Hey there, Garrus. I'm Jacob Taylor. It's good to see you survived." The young man introduced himself as he shook his hand.
"Okay, but seriously. How did you survive a rocket to the face?" Jane spoke up.
"Hell if I know. Your luck must've rubbed off on me. I mean, you did die and come back." He said to her.
"Huh. I did, didn't I?" She smirked.
"The doctor patched me up pretty good although she said the scar will probably stay. But I hear women like scars, mostly krogan but oh well." Garrus shrugged.
"Pffft. You were always ugly. Slap some of your blue paint on and no one will notice." Jane joked which made Garrus laugh.
"Ouch! Don't make me laugh. It's still tender." He exclaimed.
They all chatted a bit more until Garrus decided to make space in the Main Battery. He told them he wanted to make sure the guns were properly calibrated. Not long after he settled in, Jane came to visit him. He questioned her about working with Cerberus. He knew how much she hated them and how much pain and suffering they had caused her in the past. She told him they weren't working with them but just using their resources to help the colonies. He knew it was important but couldn't help but to think her growing up as a colonist might be part of it. She then told him that if she was walking into hell, she wanted someone she could trust like him with her. He remarked that her plan had him walking into hell as well and joked about it being just like old times. Damn, he had missed their visits together. After some catching up, she said she should go and went on her way.
Later that day, they had returned from looking for the krogan warlord. He had sacrificed himself to save his creation: a tank bred krogan which he called perfect. Jane had the Normandy pick it up and Garrus had questioned her about what she was going to do with it. She casually said she was going to open it. She told him that he'd either be helpful or a ticking bomb and she'd rather find out which sooner rather than later. When he asked her how it went, she told him that he had initially attacked and pushed her against a wall. She then explained that she told him they had worthy enemies to fight and he could fight with them but she didn't take threats kindly. She told Garrus he had agreed and told her if their enemies weren't worthy, he'd kill her and picked the name Grunt for himself. Garrus was sort of relieved he wasn't with because he knew he would've fought him as soon as he attacked Jane and they probably wouldn't have had him as an ally after that. And he was impressed she managed to get a krogan to back down by getting in their face once again, just like she did with Wrex on Virmire. Damn, he kind of missed Wrex also and hoped they could've had him with them on their mission, but he knew Wrex was busy with his own problems on Tuchanka.
Later on, Garrus had went to the cockpit to chat with Joker. They caught up and shared some jokes with each other when Miranda came on the comm and asked where Shepard was.
"Oh. She wanted to go to the wreckage of the old Normandy. She was adamant on finding the dog tags of the ones we lost for their families." Joker replied into the comm.
"She what? By herself? On whose authority?" Miranda answered back, angrily.
"Uh, have you met her? She went on her own authority. I wasn't about to tell her no and she wouldn't have listened anyways." Joker replied while shaking his head. He heard Miranda sigh and turn off her comm.
"She really went by herself? To shift through the wreckage of the ship she died on?" Garrus asked Joker.
"Yeah. I tried to convince her to take at least you but she said she needed to do it herself." He replied.
"Oh." Garrus replied. He was a little hurt she didn't want to take him with on something so important but he knew Jane and understood why she wanted to do it alone. They chatted a little longer when Jane showed up with a small crate in her hands.
"Make sure these get to the alliance. They're the dog tags I found amongst the wreckage." She told Joker and then turned to walk away.
"Of course, commander. Wait. Is something wrong?" Joker asked her.
"I- I'm going back to my cabin. Don't tell anyone I'm back yet though. Wait like twenty minutes if you can." She replied, solemnly.
"Okay but-" Joker tried talking but she had already left. After a moment, he just gave Garrus a "go talk to her" look.
"Right. I'm going." Garrus said, taking the hint.
He knocked on the door to Jane's cabin. When there was no answer, he talked through the door.
"It's Garrus. I know you're in there, Jane."
"Come in." He heard her reply softly.
When he entered he saw her sitting on her bed, hugging her knees.
"What happened down there? Why did you go alone?" Garrus asked, sitting on the bed next to her.
"I was their commander. It's my responsibility to return their dog tags to their loved ones. I was responsible for their safety." She replied in a soft voice.
"Hey. From what I heard, their weapons ripped through the ship and you ordered an evac as soon as you realized your ship had no chance. It wasn't your fault. You die- you risked your life trying to get as many people as you could out. You saved Joker." Garrus tried to console her. "But that isn't what's bothering you, is it?"
"What?" She looked at him in surprise.
"Anderson. The crew. Me. Hell, everyone knows you did everything you could to save as many people as possible so I know you have to know that, too. So what's wrong?" Garrus replied to her.
"My.. dog tags." She sniffled out with a tear escaping her eye.
"What about them?" Garrus asked.
"They weren't there. I looked everywhere and found everyone else's but mine weren't there. If I had stayed dead, there wouldn't be anything left for anyone to remember me by. Everything I was and did, it would be just gone. All I found was my damn helmet." She said as she set her N7 helmet on the bed. Garrus saw it was scratched up. He then hugged Jane.
"Hey. None of that is true. I went to your memorial and heard Anderson talk about how much you meant to him. All the crew members were there as well as any alliance marines on the citadel and even the council paid their respects to you. You matter to a lot of people and there's so many that would never forget you. Tali, Wrex, Joker, Liara, Kaidan, Anderson. And me. I would never be able to forget you, Jane. You're too damn important to me." Garrus told her as he held her to calm her down.
"You really mean that?" She looked up at him.
"Of course. I mean, no one else has kicked my ass at target practice in a long time." He joked.
"Thanks, Garrus. I don't know what I would do if you weren't here with me." She smiled. Damn, she's so beautiful. He thought as he smiled back.
"I should probably head-" Garrus started before she interrupted him.
"No. Could you stay and just talk for a bit?" Jane asked as she grabbed his arm.
"Of course. But first thing's first." Garrus picked up her helmet and placed it on the nearby desk. "This thing has been put through the wringer and is still here in one piece, just like its owner. Keep it here as a reminder of how strong it and you are."
"I will. Thank you." She smiled. They then sat and talked until they both fell asleep.
