*Sighs* Is Garrus a hero or what? Wouldn't mind him coming to my rescue at all! Damn, Dani is a lucky woman! Now, this chapter is lighter than the previous ones (thank the spirits!) and I had a lot of fun writing this. Let's just say that Garrus is not too happy with Torque and Alex at the moment *evil grin*. Thank you, as always, for the lovely reviews. Really, they mean a lot to me so keep them coming! And now, on with the next chapter XD. Lines and scenes you recognize are owned by Bioware.
The lies of defeat
Her eyes fluttered open. There was something . . . something buzzing at the back of her mind. And she heard fighting, raised voices yelling at each other. Shards of memories penetrated her consciousness.
The gauntlets, the explosion, Alex' too soft lips, running to safety, someone always checking on her, the floor crumbling, screams, the turian.
Her eyes widened and Dani pushed herself upright.
"She's back!" she heard someone say. Footsteps running over, someone crouching right beside her. Where was she? The guest room. She was on the couch in the guest room where a fire in the hearth burned when it was winter.
"Darling, are you okay? You gave me quite a scare, love!" Alex. Alex was sitting next to her. Alex who was always pushing her, Alex who had lied to her.
"I will be," she whispered. "I will be as soon as someone can explain to me what the hell is going on!" She finished loudly and Alex winced at her sudden anger.
"I'm so sorry you got caught down there," he tried to hush her. "They're sorting things out as we speak and the culprit has been caught, one of our former employees. As to his motives –"
"Not – what I was referring too, Alex!" Dani hissed. "I'm talking about how people I cared about, loved – people you assured me were dead – suddenly appear to be not so dead after all!"
"That was a mistake, love. We didn't know any better. We really thought Shepard had died on the Normandy."
"Shepard?"
"Yes, isn't that what you're talking about?"
"Yeah, it is. But if my memory serves me well, you told me everyone on the Normandy died. Now you only mention Shepard?"
"Well, Shepard and part of his crew."
"Did you know?"
Alex started to look a bit nervous. And suddenly Dr. Torque was with her as well.
"Dani, dear. It's okay. I already explained to Commander Shepard you won't be joining the Normandy again. I told him the wonderful news of your full recovery and how you formed a deep attachment to Alex. He's totally fine with it."
"You did what?" Dani whispered. Her eyes searched the room and she found Shepard leaning comfortably against the wall, next to the door, his arms folded. He winked at her.
"You better start talking fast Dr. Torque, if you want to convince Dani to stay," Shepard addressed the nervous man in front of her. In all her time, she'd never seen him floundering like this. "Garrus is on his way and he is not happy."
"You lied to me," Dani stated. "All of you. The people I've always trusted the most. And you lied to me."
"Yes," Dr. Torque at least had the decency to admit. "But, in our defense, we only had your best interest at heart. When we first learned about the fate of the Normandy, we assumed the entire crew had perished and that's what we told you. It was weeks later that we learned. . . Well, that most of the crew had survived. Not many casualties, but one of them was Commander Shepard."
"Then how can he be standing here?"
"It's okay Dani. They got this part right, I was dead, or mostly dead anyway. If you want, I can explain it all later. It's all of the other stuff they got wrong. And when they found out their mistake, they saw an opportunity. Isn't that right, Dr. Torque?"
"No, that is certainly not right, Commander Shepard!" Dr. Torque bristled. "Look Dani, by the time we learned that most of the crew had survived,
we had already told you the terrible news of what had happened. You thought they were gone and seemed to put the past behind you. You were in a fragile state, still recovering from your own ordeal. We didn't want to upset things. You needed to concentrate on getting well, not pining after long lost friends who – even though alive – were out of reach anyway."
"That's your excuse?" Dani asked incredulous. "You let me go through hell these past years because you thought comforting me with the news they survived, would upset me? What kind of backwater thinking is that?"
"Oh, it gets better, Dani. Ask them if they tried to contact you."
Her eyes snapped to Shepard, he nodded at her.
"No!" Dani whispered. "Of all the things. . . Is that true, Dr. Torque? Were my friends reaching out for me? Was Garrus?"
Dr. Torque couldn't even look her in the eyes and he licked his lips nervously, as she was so prone to do.
"Tell me, Dr. Torque!" Dani's voice was raising again. "Were they trying to get in contact with me?"
"Go on Dr. Torque. No need to be shy of your own actions. Once we found you, Dani, we informed Tali. She would have tried to call, or at least send a message. Liara, who was there with us when we found you, also would have tried to establish contact. Or how about Garrus, Dr. Torque? Why don't you tell her about the hundreds of messages Garrus sent, or the tons of calls he made but remained unanswered."
"He what?" she could feel her throat closing up. All this time she had gone through hell, believed that the man she'd been falling in love with was lost to her forever, all this time he had been trying to reach her?
"Oh yes. He even went as far as to travel to Earth. He didn't get very far though. Didn't even get within ten miles of the complex. Oh wait. Alex, you finally did get around to sending him a message. Isn't that right?"
"Shut up, Shepard!" Alex hissed through clenched teeth. "You're not helping!"
"Oh, I'm helping all right. Just not you!" Shepard said with a chuckle.
"You sent Garrus a message?" Dani had trouble articulating the words, her teeth had started chattering. "You let me think he was dead and behind my back, you sent him a message?"
Heavy footsteps sounded in the hallway beyond the guest room. Brisk strides, made by someone apparently very angry, getting closer and closer to where they were.
"I do believe that's the sound of time running out, Dr. Torque. And I don't think you managed to convince Dani to stay yet."
Alex shot up from his kneeled position and pointed an angry finger at Shepard.
"Then you don't know her very well, Shepard!" Alex yelled. "We've got a good thing going on. We're in love. If you really think she's going to leave us because we we're trying to protect her –"
That was all he got to say. The door crashed open, wood splintered and the door fell from its hinges.
Garrus, still wearing his armor stalked towards Alex, grabbed him by the throat and dragged him along to the other side of the room where he threw the guy against the wall and held him pinned against it by pressing his arm against his throat.
Dani could only stare at the back of the man she had longed for, mourned, for so long. Maybe she should feel sorry for Alex. Had he been the friend she needed for her, she would have. She did not feel sorry for this pushy and lying bastard!
"Hello Alex!" Garrus upper vocal cords sounded completely level and calm, it was the undertones created by his lower ones that chilled even Dani.
"Did you ever get around to telling Dani I was never even on the Normandy when it crashed to begin with? I guess not huh?" Garrus let Alex go and took a step back.
"Come on Vakarian. We can work this out. We only wanted to protect Dani."
"Is that what you tell yourself? Does that make you sleep easier at night?"
"No, but Dani sleeping in my arms does!" Alex smirked. Before Dani could cry out in offense, Garrus kneed him in the balls. Hard.
"That had to hurt," Shepard stated. "Maybe you should try not pissing off the turian even more. He's looking pretty angry. I think someone should break this up. Dr. Torque? You're closest to them," Shepard said to Torque, who was still standing somewhere near Dani, his eyes bulging in shock.
Dani wasn't sure if she should yell or laugh.
"I know Dani. You must have been really good at manipulating her to manage that," Garrus growled at Alex, who was on his knees, panting.
"I didn't manipulate her," he insisted. "We fell in love. All we wanted was for Dani to be able to move on, without her alien friends' survival pinning her to the past. We never wished you ill will. Your attachment to Dani was just very inconvenient," he coughed.
Dani gripped the arm-rest of the couch so tight, her knuckles turned white. She clenched her jaw trying to keep her teeth from chattering. Her insides felt like they were trapped in a loop of some diabolical roller-coaster. Anger, love, relief, hurt, longing... all those feelings warred within her.
"Inconvenient? Oh, I bet," Garrus mocked. Alex struggled up and was immediately greeted by Garrus' fist pounding him against the wall before he fell to the floor again.
"Know what else is very inconvenient?" Garrus asked, putting his large armored foot on Alex' throat. "A broken neck!" Garrus put a bit of pressure on until Alex started to make choking noises.
"Dani, please! Help!" Alex pleaded. The mention of her name seemed to be more than enough. Garrus let him go.
"Well, this was fun. We should do this more often," Shepard said while he pushed himself from the wall. He hadn't even flinched when the door got reduced to fire wood.
"But, we have to go now. You know, save the Galaxy. Again. Dani, we came back for you. I'd love to have you back on my crew and Garrus, hell he just loves you. But it's up to you. If you really moved on with your life, that's okay. We just want you to know, you have a choice."
"Dani, please!" Alex started to beg. "Don't go. What about us?"
Dani stood up from the couch and looked at the man she once considered her closest friend, and felt nothing but disgust.
"There was never an us, Alex," she finally said. "I was expected to move on with my life and you all seemed to kind of agree I should move on with you. I only did what you expected because apparently that would be the normal thing to do. I felt like I wasn't allowed to be myself so I got pretty good at pretending. And I don't feel sorry for admitting that. Not after all the lies you told me."
"Go Dani! I guess this means you're coming back with us then? Hah, just like old times! You've got things to pack?"
Dani stared at her hands, noticed the gauntlets still on them and the belt still snuggly around her waist. "Nope, I believe I've got everything."
"No wait!" Dr. Torque exclaimed. "You can't take that! It's property of Torque Enterprises!"
"You can consider it payment for past grievances!" Dani spat. "All your work and money spent on my body doesn't even begin to cover it! I'm done with this place!"
Garrus pulled out his gun. "Can I?" he seemed to ask Shepard for permission. "Just a round in the leg. For past grievances."
"No Garrus, you can't shoot the body guard," Shepard sighed. Dani stared at Alex, scrambling to his feet and shooting her an apologetic look.
She turned her head away from him.
"Damn!" Garrus told Alex. "You're in luck!"
Shepard turned around to leave and Garrus made quick use of the situation. He quickly head-butted Alex whose head snapped back with force. Human bones were no match for hard turian face plates and blood was streaming from his now obviously broken nose. Alex cursed. Shepard rolled his eyes.
"What?" Garrus asked. "I didn't shoot him!"
Dani smirked and passed Alex without a further glance to join Shepard and Garrus. Watching the two men in front of her, walking in comfortable friendship, her heart started doing those flip-flops again. Huh, it had been two and a half years since she last felt them. Garrus suddenly held in his pace, wrapped his arm around her and pulled her tightly against them.
"Welcome back, sweetheart," he whispered and Dani leaned into him with a smile as they walked.
