Garrus woke up and saw Jane was still sleeping, curled up on her side next to him. He looked at the clock on her nightstand and saw he had time before he had to meet Joker for breakfast. Garrus took another look at the nightstand when he noticed there was a tan colored varren stuffed toy with red stripes next to her clock. Is that the varren toy I bought for her when she was in the hospital after Sovereign's attack on the Citadel? Did Jane really keep it this whole time? I bet Kaidan loved that. Garrus chuckled to himself as he decided he should take a shower. He got out of the bed as slowly and quietly as he could and headed towards Jane's bathroom. I should really talk to Jane about me bringing some change of clothes if I'm going to keep sleeping in here. It's getting a little awkward going to the Crew Quarters just to change clothes every morning.
"Good morning, Vakarian." Garrus heard Jane call out to him as he was stepping out of the shower. He looked and saw she was leaning against the doorway to the bathroom, holding his clothes from the night before.
"Ah-Jane!" Garrus exclaimed in surprise as he quickly grabbed a towel to wrap around his waist.
"Now who's being shy?" Jane laughed.
"You just surprised me, that's it." Garrus tried defending himself.
"Uh huh. You know, you should bring some extra clothes here if you're going to continue staying with me." She told him as she handed him his clothes. "But if you're finished, I need to shower before I go talk with Victus and Wrex."
"Oh, thanks." Garrus told her as he grabbed his clothes out of her hands. He noticed she was wearing a black robe with a small N7 emblem on it. "Do all your clothes have N7 labeled on them?" He laughed.
"Perk of the job." Jane smiled as she walked past him. She removed her robe, revealing her bare backside as she went into the shower. "Enjoy your breakfast with Joker."
"Joker?" Garrus questioned quietly as he caught himself staring at Jane. "Right, yeah. I'll see you later then." Garrus shook his head. He got dressed and headed out the door.
"So, EDI has the footage of Jane yelling at the salarian Dalatrass if you want me to forward it to you. There's no audio, but it's still really fun to watch. Wrex is wearing the biggest smile I've ever seen." Joker told Garrus as they were eating.
"That does sound pretty funny. Wait, there's cameras in the conference room?" Garrus asked him.
"Well, yeah. They're all over the place. This is a military warship." Joker told him.
"Uh, what?" Garrus spoke up, almost choking on his food.
"Don't worry. There's none in the Captain's Cabin or Crew Quarters or bathrooms. That'd be a little creepy." Joker laughed. "No one's seen your nighttime activities. Just try to keep them confined to her room and out of the Main Battery."
"Ha, well, that's a relief." Garrus calmed down. "So, I just noticed the stuffed varren toy in Jane's room this morning."
"Oh? Yeah, it's the same one you bought her. Tali gave her your gifts and relayed your lie." Joker told him.
"Lie?" Garrus questioned him.
"That they were from 'C-Sec'." Joker told him using his fingers to make air quotes.
"Right." Garrus said. He had remembered he was going to confess to Jane that he liked her back then, but got jealous and upset when he heard Kaidan was with her. "I bought those before the first Normandy got destroyed though."
"Pretty sure she knew it was a lie, too. But, yeah, she had grabbed it when we evacuated and threw it in my escape pod before she…" Joker trailed off. Garrus took notice that he always tried to avoid the subject of Jane dying. "That stupid little thing is really important to her. I think because it's the first thing you ever gave her."
"Joker, you know you don't have to avoid the fact that Jane-" Garrus started but was interrupted when Jane joined them.
"What are we talking about?" Jane asked as she sat down.
"Oh, just guy stuff." Joker told her.
"Oh?" Jane questioned him, looking suspicious. "Like where you got those 'instructional' human intimacy vids?" She smirked while raising her eyebrow.
"The what?!" Joker exclaimed, choking on his coffee. He then turned to look at Garrus. "You know, Garrus, everyone's talking about how tired you must be since no one sees you in the Crew Quarters except to change in the mornings. They've been wondering what you could be doing ALL night?" Joker smirked at Jane.
"Joker, you-" Jane started when Joker abruptly got up and limped his way out of the mess hall. "Gotta go. Bye!" He called out cheerfully before he disappeared around the corner. Jane was scowling in Joker's direction while Garrus sat there looking confused at what happened.
"I'll get him later. So, we're going to Tuchanka." She told Garrus.
"Tuchanka? Did Mordin finish the cure already?" Garrus asked her.
"No, not yet. The Primarch said a turian platoon crashed while doing some secret mission on Tuchanka. He wouldn't tell me what it was, that it's classified." She told him, sounding annoyed. "I guess his son is the Lieutenant in charge."
"Huh. That could be bad." Garrus told her. "A secret turian mission on Tuchanka doesn't sound good, and it'll be worse if he promoted his own son without merit."
"Yeah. Well, why don't you go suit up and I'll go get James and we can hopefully figure out what's going on. I don't like keeping this from Wrex." She told Garrus as she got up and left.
"I have a bad feeling about this." Garrus said to himself as he got up and headed to the Shuttle Bay.
Jane asked Cortez to get a communication line with Lieutenant Victus when she, Garrus, and James arrived at the NavPoint the Primarch had given them. He said he was Lieutenant Tarquin Victus and told her they were pinned down by Reaper Harvesters and he had other men scattered among the crash trajectory. Jane told him to send out a flare so she could find his location and headed towards it when they saw it in the air. While they were among a cluster of old rubble, James called out that there was a Harvester dropping enemies in front of them. They saw a brute and several husks coming towards them.
"Great, I hate those things!" Jane called out while she ducked behind a piece of rubble.
"One of them did knock you off a wall on Palaven." James told her.
"No, I meant husks." She said as she took a husk out with her sniper.
"Seriously, Lola? Those things are easy to take down." He teased her.
"They're creepy!" She defended herself, as she threw a grenade at the brute.
"Lola?" Garrus questioned her as he took out another husk.
"Vega thinks he's funny and likes nicknames. Apparently, I remind him of a buddy's hot sister." Jane laughed, as she took a shot at the brute.
"That's right, Scars!" James laughed as he used his shotgun on a husk that got in front of him.
"Well, he's not wrong!" Garrus agreed. "Heh, Scars. I kind of like that."
"Really, Garrus?!" Jane exclaimed, as she threw another grenade.
"It's a compliment, Jane!" Garrus told her as he took a shot at the brute, killing it.
"Keep it up, you two. I'll bring Liara and EDI next time, instead." Jane shook her head as they made their way forward.
"Come on, we both know they can't watch your ass- I mean back like I can." Garrus said as he caught himself staring at Jane as she walked in front him.
"Garrus!" Jane chastised him while James laughed. James then gave Garrus a high five while they saw Jane shaking her head.
They fought their way through husks and passed dead turians until they reached a group of turian survivors.
"Which of you is Lieutenant Victus?" Jane asked as she holstered her rifle.
"That'll be me, Commander Shepard." A lighter colored turian with white face paint, walked towards them. "Thanks for the help, we're in your debt."
"What happened?" She asked him. That's when another turian ran up and grabbed Victus.
"He screwed up. All these men are dead because of him!" He said while shaking Victus.
"Stand down, soldier!" Victus yelled at him.
"I just saved your asses, so you'll both knock it off right now!" Jane raised her voice at the two turians and she went up and physically separated them from each other. "Now, tell me what happened."
"Commander's a badass." James said to Garrus quietly.
"Yeah, she is." Garrus said in an impressed tone. It's not the first time I've seen her get ballsy with other races, but I never tire of it.
"I messed up and my men paid the price. I saw there was heavy Reaper resistance in our way, so I decided to take us low to avoid them. Problem was, we didn't have room to maneuver when things got dicey and well, you saw the result. Our mission is a failure." Victus told Jane.
"Bad calls happen, soldier. What was your mission exactly?" Jane asked him.
"We were sent here to diffuse a bomb, Cerberus has it." He told her.
"Whoa, what?! If Cerberus has a bomb on Tuchanka, you have to finish your mission!" Jane raised her voice.
"Even if I wanted to, you saw how they see me, these men won't follow me anymore." He told her.
"I don't give a damn! You do what whatever it takes to make them follow you. Yell at them, kick their asses, appeal to their honor! This mission must be completed!" Jane continued raising her voice at the lieutenant. He initially looked confused when she had started yelling at him, but then looked like he had found his resolve and turned to talk to the other turians. He relayed what Jane had told him, that they had to stop Cerberus and when they had shown reluctance, he told them they had to do it for their turian honor. They all agreed to finish the mission and Tarquin turned back to Jane.
"We could really use your help, Commander. We're down a lot of men." He told her.
"Yeah, this is important. Send me the NavPoint and I'll see what we can do." She told him before they turned to return to the shuttle.
"Wow, Lola. I can't believe you just yelled at them and changed their minds. I mean turians are some tough bastards." James spoke up while they were in the shuttle back to the Normandy.
"Ha, yeah, I had plenty of practice with Wrex." Jane smiled.
"No way?! That big krogan dude?! You yelled at him and survived?" James sounded impressed.
"She still does." Garrus laughed. I still remember her yelling at him back on Virmire when he went on a rage about Saren's cure for the genophage. Garrus saw Jane smirking while James just looked at them in surprise.
"Yeah, but goddammit, Cerberus again. How in the hell did they get a bomb on Tuchanka? And how did the turians find out? I need to have a chat with the Primarch before we head to that NavPoint. It won't take long so stay suited up, boys." Jane said as she looked troubled.
"We'll stop them, Jane." Garrus said as he put his hand on hers.
"We have to, Garrus. This jeopardizes the alliance I've been working my ass off to make work." Jane told him as she held his hand back and James was looking at them, puzzled. Shit, I didn't think about showing affection in front of other people. I hope I haven't embarrassed her. Garrus panicked to himself as he quickly removed his hand and cleared his throat.
Garrus and James were in the Shuttle Bay waiting for Jane to come back from talking to the Primarch and James was looking suspiciously at him.
"So, Scars, you and Lola?" He spoke up.
"What?" Garrus tried playing dumb. "We've been working together since we took down Saren and Sovereign over 3 years ago. I guess you can't count the two years she was dead, and I was a vigilante on Omega." He told him trying to change the subject.
"You did what on Omega!?" James asked him. I thought that might work. Garrus smiled to himself.
"Ever heard of Archangel?" Garrus smirked.
"No way that was you!" James yelled out.
"Alright, let's go." Jane told them as she walked in and grabbed her gear.
"Did you get your answers from the Primarch?" Garrus asked her.
"Of course not. I feel like he's hiding something from me, but he isn't saying what." Jane told him, sounding annoyed.
"This is Lieutenant Victus with the Ninth Platoon. Does anyone read me?" They heard the intercom on the shuttle.
"This is Commander Shepard. We hear you and we're heading to the NavPoint to aid you." She told him.
"That's a relief but Cerberus has a heavy presence and we're having trouble getting to the exact point!" He told her.
"No choice then. We land here and fight our way there. Now, tell me about this Cerberus bomb." She told him.
"It's not Cerberus, it's turian. We set it up years ago, right after the genophage, in secret." He told her.
"You fucking what?! How the hell did Cerberus find out? You know what, never mind. We'll meet you there, just get your asses to that bomb and diffuse it!" Jane told Victus over the intercom before ending the call. "Garrus?" She glared at him, with her arms crossed.
"Whoa, no! I had no idea about this. It does make sense, in case the genophage hadn't worked." He told her. She continued to glare at him. "Seriously, I had no knowledge about this. I would've told you."
"It doesn't matter. Let's go take care of this before another war starts." Jane said as she rubbed her face with her hand, while the shuttle prepared to land.
They fought their way through Cerberus until they met up with Tarquin at the bomb site. Garrus saw the bomb was as large as a building and guessed Cerberus had dug it up. Cerberus attacked them and took out a few turian soldiers.
"Okay, diffuse that bomb and we'll cover you!" Jane told him. "If that thing goes off, everything and everyone within miles will be eviscerated!"
"Right, shouldn't take long." He told her as she went behind a large chunk of rubble and started scoping out remaining Cerberus agents. "Crap. The codes aren't working, Cerberus must have done something to it. I'll have to remove the cells manually!" Victus told her as he started climbing the bomb to reach the cells.
"I got your back-ouch! Fucking Cerberus!" Jane yelled as Garrus saw she had taken a hit to her left arm.
"You okay, Shepard?" Garrus called out with concern.
"Fine. I'll slap on some medigel once we take of these assholes!" Jane called out, then threw a grenade at a small group of Cerberus men.
"I got this, Scars! Go make sure they're good!" James yelled out to Garrus as he shot an agent point blank with his shotgun.
"Right, thanks!" Garrus told him as he ran towards Jane. He switched his assault rifle out for his sniper and kneeled behind cover next to Jane. "I got your back, so go ahead and take care of your arm."
"Thanks, Garrus." Jane sat down and took out her omni-tool to use her medigel but yelled out after the lieutenant before she could use it. Garrus looked and saw Victus was hanging on an arm of the bomb removing cells. The arm gave out and Victus fell into the crater below with the cells and the area he fell into had a large explosion. Garrus knew there was no way he survived it, but the bomb was taken care of.
"No!" Jane yelled out as she started to get up.
"Jane, no! There's no way he survived that." Garrus held her back.
"Dammit!" Jane cried out as she threw another grenade at the last Cerberus agent. "We better get out of here." She sighed as she stood up.
Jane was quiet on the shuttle ride back to the Normandy and Garrus knew she was taking losing the Primarch's son hard. I wish I could make her feel better. She wants to save everyone, and I wish I could make her see it's okay that she can't. Even though her compassion is one of the things that made me fall in love with her in the first place, it kills me seeing her looking dejected every time someone she wants to save dies. Garrus was still with his thoughts when they arrived at the Normandy. Jane told them that she needed to go speak with the Primarch about his son and she'd see them later, still looking upset. Garrus thought it would be best to talk to her in private after, so he waited for her outside of her cabin door.
"Garrus? What are you doing here?" Jane sounded surprised when she walked up and saw Garrus sitting outside her door.
"I was waiting for you. I wanted to talk to you about what happened." He told her as he stood up and followed her inside.
"You could've just went in. You practically live here lately, anyways." She told him as she sat down on the couch.
"Yeah, just didn't feel right to do that." He told her as he sat down next to her. He saw she was sitting with her face in her hands. "Jane…"
"We failed to protect Tarquin." Jane told him, with her face still in her hands.
"Look, I know you don't want to hear this. I told you before, you can't save everyone. But, because of you, he died with his honor. For turian soldiers, dying in action is one of the highest honors we can have." Garrus told her as he took her hands from her face and held them.
"I'm sure the Primarch would rather have his son, although, he did say something similar. Is that true for all turians? Dying with honor is what you all aim for?" She asked him, looking concerned.
"Usually, yes. But don't worry, I have something to live for, something that means more to me than turian honor." He smiled at her, trying to get her to smile back.
"You do?" She asked him.
"Yes. Jane, I would kill for you, I'd even die for you." He told her.
"Garrus, no. I don't want-" Jane started to protest with a worried look on her face.
"You didn't let me finish." He interrupted her. "The most important thing is I'll make sure we both survive. You've given me the will to live for you. With you." He told her as he pulled her into his arms and hugged her tight.
"Thank you, Garrus. I don't know what I would do without you." She said as she hugged him back.
"You'd have to find a different turian to influence to your ways." Garrus chuckled. "So, what's next for us?"
"Sleep." Jane laughed. "Tomorrow, we need to go check out a company of Wrex's that went missing."
"So, more diplomatic errands? Damn, thought we were done with that since the Council isn't here." Garrus chuckled.
"Apparently not." Jane sighed. "Let's go to sleep." She told him as she let go of him and went to change into a tank top and shorts. "Did you ever bring extra clothes?"
"Yeah, but I sleep naked." Garrus joked.
"You what?" Jane looked at him in surprise right after she sat down on the bed.
"Lately I have been." Garrus laughed. "Usually, just pants though." He chuckled as he took off his shirt and went to lay in the bed with her.
"You're horrible." Jane laughed as she lightly tapped him on the chest.
"It's fun watching you blush." Garrus smiled. "Now, come here." He told her as he put his arm around her and pulled her close to him.