So, last chapters were all uploaded right after each other and I kept forgetting addressing you, the reader. Since editing and saving uploaded chapters is a pain, I'm going to leave those first chapters alone. So, tadaa, here I am :-) I'm really glad this story is viewed pretty well and I hope you find this story entertaining. Reviews would be greatly appreciated though, so please don't be shy and drop me a little note :-)
Again I'd like to thank the wonderful Daedalus30185 for his patience and his help making sure this piece of fiction is readable. For a good read, check out his Rubble & Ruin fic, good stuff, really! But, let's get on with this story first, shall we?
Do you think this is a joke?
For a while, Dani felt like she was the butt of a joke she didn't understand. All she knew was that it had something to do with her inquiring after Garrus' sniper rifle.
When she'd asked, his mandibles had gone slack and she heard snorts of laughter coming from Wrex and Ashley. Garrus had started spluttering, just incoherent words she didn't understand, but she did understand she had somehow put her foot in her mouth, as her fellow humans liked to say. Though she often wondered what a foot had to do with making an ass of yourself.
Suddenly, everywhere she went people asked her if she'd seen Garrus' big gun yet. Even Tali and Liara doubled over in squeals of laughter and teased him mercilessly with his rifle.
Not getting the answer she wanted, she soon acquired the holographic schematics from Commander Shepard. When he asked her for the reason and she explained, his face had started twitching in the oddest places. He then quickly asked her to leave since he was 'busy' but once she was outside his office, she clearly heard him roar with laughter.
Though most of the banter had seemed to be in just good fun, there was one incident that still made Dani feel uncomfortable when she thought about it. After that incident, the jokes had suddenly died down.
It had happened after the Requisitions Officer had sent her a message via omni-tool, alerting her that the supplies she had ordered had been delivered after their last docking. . .
The software mod she'd written for Garrus' visor had been waiting patiently, Dani just needed to implement it and test it. It did mean she could now at least proceed with the hardware part. She exited the crew's quarters and made her way to Engineering. When she was about to round a corner, an arm suddenly shot out, blocking her path. She glanced up the arm and found it attached to one of the marines on the Normandy.
"Hello Dani," he greeted her in a manner that made her feel like maggots were crawling up her neck. "I'm hearing some interesting things about you," he said while leaning in to her, severely intruding her personal space. "I hear you like guns. Big guns."
Dani flinched as she felt his foul breath tickling her cheek. Her path was blocked by his arm and he was so close she pressed herself back into the wall.
She glanced in the direction from where she came, but before she could turn around his other arm shot out as well, effectively trapping her against the wall. Her heart started racing. She didn't like how her apparent fascination with guns seemed to arouse this man.
"Not really, just the ones I'm researching, " she replied, hoping she made it clear enough that fire arms didn't interest her any more than the menu of the day.
"Oh really now," he said on a groan while he pressed his lower body hard against her. "Well, I might know a nice big gun I would really like you to . . . research."
"I don't like the way you are addressing me. I don't care much for your conduct either, for that matter. Please step away from me, you're invading my personal space."
She was surprised she had managed to sound so collected, because her insides felt like a quivering mess.
"Oh come on sweetheart, I just want you to check out my big gun . . .and feel it," he breathed in her ear. Her knees started to wobble but before she could do or say anything, a vicious growl vibrated through the dim corridor. The next moment a black and blue blur streaked by and the marine suddenly crashed against the wall at the far end of the corridor.
"Do you think that's funny?"
Dani recognized the voice solely because of the flanging. It resembled in nothing the voice she had come to associate with Garrus Vakarian. The marine, who had sagged against the floor, got dragged up the wall again, his throat nearly crushed in the death grip of three sharp talons.
"Do you think assault is a joke?"
The sub-harmonics distorted the words so badly, Dani's translator had problems spitting out the right words. The sounds were increasingly predatory and less civilized. To top it off, Garrus drove the marine's head hard against the wall, punctuating each word. Or scream.
"You're not laughing now, are you?"
The marine yelled, pleaded at first but lost coherency each time his head hit the wall. Blood trickled down his face and smeared the wall.
"Garrus!" Dani finally managed to scream. Whether he reacted to his name or the fear in her voice, she couldn't tell. But at least he stopped beating the marine to a pulp. He let the man fall to the floor and lowered his head, turning it away from her.
"Are you okay, Dani? Did he . . . hurt you?" His voice had lost all volume. It was still course and raspy, but barely above a whisper. She shook her head, but of course he couldn't see that. In the long stretching silence, his head drooped even further. "Go away Dani, please. Just go . . . and be safe."
He didn't need to tell her twice. She quickly turned around and fled, completely forgetting the supplies she'd wanted to pick up.
Days later, tears stung in her eyes while she sat behind a small desk in her room. The hologram of the HMWSR X hovered in front of her. The marine in question had been patched up in med bay, before Shepard had shipped him off the Normandy without ceremony as soon as Shepard got wind of what had transpired. He was probably back on Earth awaiting to be court-martialled.
Though no specifics were revealed, the atmosphere among the crew had suddenly grown glum. Like thunder in the evening after a hot and humid day. The gun jokes died down, mainly because Tali and Liara would rip at anyone dense enough to even mildly make a joke with the word 'gun' in it. Though she didn't like the tension caused by their obsessive behavior, she had to admit that a couple of times she really had to laugh at Tali's antics. One time one of the marines merely stated the intention to clean his gun when Tali, who was sitting next to him, nearly pounced on him.
"It's not funny anymore you Bosh'tet!" She yelled followed by a clunk when she hit the poor guy over the head with her omni-tool.
The most upsetting thing about the entire ordeal had not been the marine assaulting her, but that dejected look of defeat displayed by Garrus when he realized how much he had frightened her while trying to protect her. He had avoided direct eye-contact since that day and she hadn't been ready yet to approach him.
Dani, time to get your shit together, she scolded herself, You just need to reconcile the gentle turian you got to know with the predator you feared from the beginning and no longer see them as separate entities. Accept that we all have our dark little corners we don't want anyone else to see.
That was something she could work with. She took a shuddering breath and left her work alone to go to the mess hall.
"Dani, come join us," Liara greeted her with her always warm and serene voice. Dani smiled at her.
"Hi Liara, hi guys," she greeted as she took the seat Liara offered her. It had become increasingly easier to interact with some of the crew. Easier, simply because of the way they reacted around each other, even her, the ease and comfort of comrades and sometimes old friends. Those few together she secretly called the Inner Sanctum.
Shepard was the ring leader, the main man, the big honcho of course. Everyone else just seemed to hover around him. He was the glue that kept them together. Joker was part of it too, even though he sometimes annoyed the hell out of everyone with his raunchy jokes. There was Karin Chakwas, always keeping a close tab on the health status of each and every individual on the Normandy.
There was Navigator Pressly who could sometimes be a real ass in his attitude to the alien crew, but was trying really hard to change that. Engineer Adams who was kind of quiet, but always had time for a friendly word. Ashley Williams and Kaidan Alenko could in a way also be counted to the Inner Sanctum, though Dani was wary of them and preferred no contact with them at all.
And then there were the aliens. Tali, Liara, Garrus and Wrex were as much part of the Inner Sanctum as any one of the humans.
The rest of the crew pretty much minded their own business or had friend groups of their own. Where she herself stood, she wasn't really sure. Neither here nor there. But, she was glad with the offerings of friendship she'd received from Tali and Liara.
Soon a cold drink was passed down to her, a bit chemical in appearance but she had come to like the sweet and sour taste.
When she grabbed it, she noticed Garrus quietly sipping his drink. She sighed. She knew she was about to make an idiot of herself again. This time on purpose.
She still didn't understand why her fascination for guns was such a rich source of hilarity. It confused her because she was no more fascinated by them than any other regular person. But, her own failure to grasp the humor aside, one thing she knew for sure, all the others found it extremely funny. And all she wanted was for Garrus to not feel so bad anymore. If she had to make an ass of herself to reach that goal . . . Well, it was a small price to pay.
"So, Garrus," she faltered for a moment, before bravely trudging on. "You never got around to showing me that big gun of yours. Since the mere mention of your gun sets everyone into fits of hysterics, either the size is in fact disappointing or my phrasing didn't do it justice. Either way, I feel a bit insulted you haven't shown it to me yet."
The glass that Garrus had been in the process of bringing to his mouth, crashed to table, sending tiny pieces of glass in every which direction. There was a long moment of stunned silence as everyone looked at her as if they saw water burning. For a moment Dani was afraid she had misinterpreted the entire situation and had only made it worse. It was Joker, of course, who finally broke the silence.
"Oh. My. Fucking. Baseball hat! Is she brilliant or what?" He said in complete awe, right before dissolving in convulsive laughter, complete with tears rolling from his eyes and trying to keep himself from hitting his thighs lest he'd break a bone.
Liara, who had clamped a hand in front of her mouth finally erupted in a full guffaw and Tali just keeled right over shrieking. Shepard threw back his head and roared with laughter.
Garrus settled his gaze on her, the old sparkle back in his eyes and now accompanied with affectionate warmth. "Dani, you can have a look at my gun any time of the week!" He said with a smirk, his voice sounding oddly shaky.
Thunk, Wrex had dunked his head against the table and groaned 'tee hee hee hee' over and over again. Probably the krogan equivalent of laughing his
ass . . . or head . . . off.
"Good," Dani said with satisfaction, feeling very proud of herself. "Cause I have some tinkering to do."
Joker wailed, "Please, no more. Have mercy! Crap, I think I just pissed myself!"
