"I didn't buy it from the last guy, and I've got no reason to buy it now." The dark skinned human started with a firm grit. Garrus' eyes fell to her omni-tool before moving to take in the other two that were in the protective shield. They must be the engineering students that Kahlee was talking about.

"The square root of 906.01 equals…" a calm voice cut in before anyone else could speak. Garrus looks to the man that was squatting by the generator.

Shepard stepped closer to the shield, "30.1."

"Hello, Commander Shepard." The man responded.

One of the other students looked down at him, "David, you know him?"

"Yes," David answered, "He rescued me from Cerberus. Sent me here. He made it quiet."

The other students looked at one another for a second before relaxing their stances and letting down the shield.

"You did a great job keeping yourselves safe," Shepard stepped close to the younger woman, "The biotic students are up there, stay close, they'll get you out of here."

"Okay," the student said, rubbing her shoulder - most likely sore from how long she had been holding the shield. "Thanks," she said and Garrus watched as she and the other student moved towards the door. He looked back at David as he stood. He looked healthier than the last time he saw him. Then again, anyone would after that. Having been hanging in that contraption, physically tied to the platform with tubes, metal and fluids pumping into him. Garrus' gaze swept over him, noting his biometrics, "He looks better."

David turned his attention to Garrus and looked him in the eyes, "I remember you. Normandy crew." He stopped just two steps in front of Garrus, his face shifting to a frown and for a moment Garrus saw a small boy appear upon his features as he softly said, "Sorry."

Something close to indignation for the boy in front of him slithered down his spine, hot anger pulsed along his shoulder blades as he held David's gaze, "It was never your fault."

Shepard nodded and asked him, "Has Grissom Academy been alright?"

"Yes," David answered, "I've been counting."

"Anything in particular?"

"The number of days you've lengthened my life."

Garrus turned off the mission review feeds with a sigh. David had showed them where some mods and guns were after that statement, but the only true reward that he felt was the words. Shepard needed to hear things like that. She deserved it. She needed to know that people saw her. That people knew she was fighting this fight for them.

It pained him to think that David was out there in all this. He was glad, though, that he was being taken care of by the Alliance. More importantly, people like Jack.

He would admit to everyone that he was proud to call her a friend. Perhaps he had felt differently in the beginning, but after passing through the Omega-4, a camaraderie was formed with the crew. Jack had saved Shepard and himself on many occasions and seeing her doing so well was a good thing.

Good things.

They needed more of those.

"EDI," he said, "Save these files in another database, label them Good Things."

"Of course, Garrus," EDI responded through the intercom of the Main Battery. "I want to thank you for remembering that I am still within the ship."

Garrus blinked, switching off his omni-tool, tired of looking at footage as he, instead, looked to the monitors in front of him. A whole quadrant of Palaven was dark. There was comm static, still movement, but the grids were gone and traffic in and out was almost impossible. "I don't…oh…" he looked up to the speaker, "Your new body."

"Most have started seeking it out, you - have not. It is refreshing to speak without having to use the mech's oratory function."

"Less work," he nodded. "If it makes you feel better, as impressive as the tech is in the new body, I prefer you like this."

"I do not know if it does or not. I am glad that you are supportive of both of my forms, however."

"You do you," Garrus shrugged as he walked towards a blinking light on the HUD, "Is Shepard going somewhere?"

"Yes," EDI answered.

Garrus waited for her to elaborate, but when she didn't he sighed and, "Where is Shepard going?"

"Admiral Hackett has asked her to recover some data at a Cerberus lab." EDI answered, "I am with her in the armory."

"You are going?"

"It is important to test out combat operations on the new platform. To ensure its successful usage for the Normandy crew." EDI's voice seemed confident, "We must know if it will run at optimal capacity, just as I do here."

Garrus frowned, "Who else is going?"

["Hey Garrus,"] a new voice entered the room through his omni-tool, he glared at the orange glow, ["Stop interrogating my ship,"] Shepard barked, ["I am taking EDI and James, Cortez is shuttle man - we won't be long."]

"Hm," he opened the link, "Last time you said that…"

["Shove it, Vakarian," she barked, "I'll be back - I'll be fine." ]

"Shepard," he frowned, but what was he supposed to say? Don't go? Don't go be the Commander? Don't follow the Alliance command? He sighed and shook his head, "Just make sure you watch your six, Vega forgets to stick close."

And they both knew that was true. The brute was just that - a brute. He was damned good in battle, but he was a one-man-tank. He would oftentimes go fight an entire front alone, with ample success, but in doing so it left a huge hole for the rest of the team.

["Sir, yes, sir!"] She teased and he could almost picture her smirk behind the words.

He shut off the link and rolled his eyes. When he looked back towards the room, his gaze landed on the reports from Palaven again. It seemed like he was obsessing over them. The way he had over Sidonis. He frowned at the thought and the amount of time he had turned his back on the crew of the SR-2. He had only a few regrets, but even those were not as high as the ones he had for pushing Shepard away all those times.

Not after two years of mourning her.

He still felt it was too good to be true that she was back.

It had been an odd thing to find out the truth about what had happened to her and the small confrontation and rekindling he had had with Liara on Illium had not been enough. He missed his friend, though he doubted they even knew each other turned quickly and left the Main Battery, lucky to be on the same floor as the new Shadow Broker. He knocked on her door and stepped back when it spread open, her little drone drifting up to hover just in front of him.

"Officer Vakarian!" It greeted. "Dr. T'Soni does not have an appointment with you. If you will please confirm a date in the future, we will be happy to assist." He watched as a list of available times came into view, hovering just to the left of the drone.

"Glyph," Liara came up behind the blue drone, "He can come and go as he pleases."

"Officer Vakarian and Commander Shepard?" The little bot stated, "Any others that need to be added to the list?"

Liara's eyes narrowed as she looked past the drone to catch Garrus' eyes, "No."

"Affirmative," it swirled back to angle towards Garrus, "Officer Vakarian, Dr. T'Soni will see you now. Good day!"

Liara shook her head as Garrus stepped into the room, "He is a nice guard dog."

"He is invaluable to my business," the asari reached out to grab his gloved hand, "Garrus," she squeezed it before he pulled her into his front and her arms curled around his waist. "Garrus, I am so sorry about Palaven."

"Mm," was all he could reply. He still didn't know how to speak on the fact that his world was burning. He didn't know his feelings on the matter that as they stood, his dad and his sister could be….his subvocals wobbled and he closed his eyes and sighed.

"I know, Garrus," she looked up at him, her chin resting on his chest piece.

Garrus stepped out of her embrace, looking around her cabin. She had no less than twenty monitors and enough mainframes to power an entire planetary system. "Impressive," he motioned to her computing console. "You have set up quickly."

"I had to," Liara would answer, moving over to run fingertips over her keyboard, "There is so much I must do for this war, Garrus."

He nodded, looking away from one of the monitors that was a feed of Earth, and taking in her profile. It seemed like every time he saw Liara she was older. Far too old. Far older than her century. Again he had to remind himself that the asari aged differently than the turian. She was just a child. He was not much older then her in mind set. He looked down at one of the other monitors. Rakhana. He frowned at that and stepped closer to it. It seemed quiet there. Dirt and sand and sun. "What of Kahje?"

Liara clicked a few buttons on her computer and the monitors picture changed to the ocean planet. His breath caught in his throat when he notice the Reapers on the horizon. "They arrived there a week ago. It is not a warzone, however," Liara sighed, "The hanar government is primarily in the ocean, the Reapers can not breach the surface."

"The drell population?" He asked, looking towards Liara.

"I am afraid that many of them have been wiped out. There are evacuations in process, but the hanar's technology is not stealthy. Not many shuttles are making it."

"But the drell…"

"May not make it past this war."

He blinked. It didn't seem like he had heard her correctly. "What, what do you mean?"

Liara frowned deeply, it was clear that she did not want to elaborate, her hesitation was obvious. Bright blue eyes left his gray-blue as she keyed something on her computer. He turned his attention back to the screens when she made most of them into one image. A graph.

"There are not many drell left," she would say, her voice hardened, the Broker was talking now, "There are roughly 63,000 registered drell in the known galaxy. Ninety-four percent of that number live on Kahje," she typed something else and the graph morphed into another, this time it was labeled deaths. "As reported last week, the drell on the surface of the hanar homeworld have been reduced by seventy-two percent. There are still some fighting - the ones trained to do so, like Sere Krios and Feron, however, the majority of the drell were familiars, butlers, cleaners, nannies, political representatives, they were not trained to be warriors."

Another few clicks of keys.

The monitors returned to their previous screens, the one directly in front of him a picture of a live feed of ground views of Kahje. The destruction was almost absolute. Buildings were burning, the bodies of those who could not escape into the sea littered the streets and he closed his eyes to it.

"Enough," he sighed and turned his back to the monitors. His body heavy with dread, his mind light was a sense of complete overwhelming grief. Monteague. Thane. The family of those he cared deeply for were dying if not already dead. He wondered where Thane's son was. "Kolyat?"

"He is on the Citadel," Liara answered immediately, as if she knew he would ask. "He is Lieutenant under Commander Bailey, lives close to Huerta Memorial."

"Why so close to the hospital? Surely it would make more sense for him to live in the subzone of E, like the majority of C-Sec."

Liara frowned, "He wanted to be closer to his father, for visitation hours."

"Thane?"

"He is at Huerta Memorial under the name of Tannor Nuara."

Garrus shook his head, did Shepard know this? Surely she would want to go see him. "Does Shepard know?"

"According to my knowledge, he has informed her." Liara said quietly.

"Monitoring her emails?"

"Of course I am," she looked at him defiantly. "It's important that we know what she knows. It's important that we keep up with her on all platforms. She cannot do this alone, I refuse to let her."

"She's not alone."

"No, but she will try to do it alone anyway. How many times had she known something and kept it to herself for the sake of our peace of mind? Shepard cannot be overburdened any more than she is. So –" she pressed a few keys and the monitors all turned off. "I am going to know what she knows."

"You sound like you are expecting me to reprimand you."

"Aren't you?"

"I think it's the best move you've made yet, T'Soni."

Her thin brows furrowed, "I was prepared to fight you."

Garrus shrugged. He had long since known that Shepard would have to do things differently this time around. He knew that she had too much on her shoulders. He knew that so much more than just the war was weighing on her. "Shepard needs us to support her in any and all ways."

Liara stayed quiet for a full two minutes before she asked, "Are the two of you still seeing one another?"

He had not expected the subject change nor the topic to be so intimately involving him. "I…" he actually didn't know how to answer that. He wanted to be. He wanted her like he wanted nothing else. She had told him once that there was no Shepard without Vakarian, but it was so much more the other way around. She could take on worlds. She could fight entire armies. She could broker peace and stop infighting with just her words without him. Easily. Him? He had run off and become some dark version of C-Sec. He had tried to fight criminals as a criminal. He had gotten his squad killed.

He had lost it all.

Truth was, there was always going to be a Shepard.

Regardless of Vakarian.

"When she and I spoke after she helped me take on the Shadow Broker," Liara said to him as she moved to stand closer to him, her small blue hand grabbing his forearm, "I asked her what she wanted," she looked him in the eye, "After all this, I asked her if she wanted to give you some peace and she said yes. That you had been hurt, betrayed and you deserved better." She shook her head, "She said she never would have thought she would find her peace in the arms of a turian…"

Garrus swallowed thickly at her words. He wanted to take them and run with them. He wanted to let his subvocals dance with affirmation and he wanted to pull Liara into a bone crushing hug, but the only thing he saw in his mind's eye was her reaction to Kaidan. The way she unraveled. The way she was mourning the man who was not dead.

"She is always my peace," the words fell from him, knowing all too well that Liara has known this far longer than he ever has. "I just don't think she knows what she wants."

"How can you say that?"

"Kaidan."

Liara's gaze dropped to his chest before she sighed and stepped away from him, her hand lingering as she stepped out of his space, then dropping to her side. "Shepard loves you, Garrus."

"I have no doubt that she does," Garrus agreed. "But Kaidan and her had something intense, something special."

"And he has betrayed her at every turn," Liara said with an almost snarl, her biotics flaring over her skin, "His near death has just spooked her, Garrus. You must know that."

"I know that Shepard has a heart large enough for a galaxy to be loved."

"You sound like Feron," she mused, a small smile on her lips, "The drell have a way of speaking everything like a poem. Funnily enough, I do not think they even know what a poem is."

He watched her features, "Feron, huh?"

Liara's cheeks turned a deep purple, "He is a very good friend."

"Friend."

"He has been through a lot, Garrus," she sighed, "It would be unfair for me to admit any…feelings I may have. He…he was tortured and held prisoner because of me. I, I don't see how…"

"Time," Garrus cut in, "And honestly. Our days are not guaranteed, Liara. You should at least tell him - even if in the same breath you give him an out."

"Do you really think so?"

"Wouldn't you give me the same advice about Shepard?"

She looked at him thoughtfully before smiling at him, "When did you get so wise, Garrus? The turian I remember on SR-1 was hotheaded, eager and impulsive. The reports from your time before the Collectors you were…" her words died out as she suddenly remembered the key component to his growth.

"Mourning. I was mourning. You learn a lot when the way you do things gets everyone you care for killed, it changes you fundamentally. Being betrayed by my own man…" his hands came up to hold the lip of his armor as he stretched his neck, "I guess it just caused me to see a bigger picture."

"Forgive me," she would say, "That was careless of me."

"There's nothing to forgive, Liara, you didn't kill my squad."

"Neither did you," she would tell him, "As all reports indicate."

"Just as you are not responsible for Feron, didn't he choose to distract them? To get you and Shepard free?"

"I never should have asked him to help me - he didn't owe me two years of his life," she glared hard at the monitors in front of them. "I can never repay him for any of that. He…he's the reason Shepard is with us. Not me. I…I did that out of some sick obsession." She looked at him, "I was selfish. I couldn't say goodbye to her. I had to have her back. I know she had chosen Kaidan but…"

"I think we were all a little in love with the Commander at one point, Liara, you can't keep beating yourself up over something that turned out…"

"You weren't too happy with me," she reminded him.

He sighed, "I was not."

"You had a point, I played creator…"

"Let's call it a good move, now– Shepard needs to be here."

Liara frowned at him and then deflated, running her hand over her forehead and over the top of her head, "Shepard is the only person that can do this."

"It's unfair to her."

"It is."

They locked gazes again. Both knowing that they, too, were putting the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders. What kind of support team were they? How were they able to stand looking in the mirror? How were they able to look at Shepard and tell her that they had her back when in reality - no…he frowned at his thoughts. No.

"Spirits," he would push out, "Honestly, we have got to stop doing this."

"Pardon?"

"This is war," he said, the turian in him coming alive. "We make calculated risks. You are one of the Generals in this war," his hand coming out to wave towards the monitors. "The power you wield is intangible. You are invaluable. The steps you took to become this powerhouse figure standing behind Shepard cannot be regretted. We have done what we have done. Liara, we have done what we have had to do to get from one day to the next. I spent nearly three years mourning for the dead. I spent so long regretting every decision I made while I was on Omega and you know what I just realized?"

"What?"

"That is dangerously close to regretting my time on Omega. With Monteague. It's close to regretting my time with SR-1 and its crew. You, Wrex, Kaidan – Shepard. Why mourn what was and not embrace what is?"

She smiled sadly, "It does seem intermingled if we regret it."

"Doesn't it?" He took a deep breath. "We have…this war could take us away from each other for good." Garrus reached out and grabbed her shoulder, "Each and every moment we breathe should be something good."

"Something good."

"Yes."

"I agree," EDI cut in making both Liara and Garrus jump, "Shall I save this file to the new database, Garrus?"

He smiled, his mandibles falling loose at his cheeks, "Definitely."

Liara looked at him in confusion, but even that didn't stop the wide smile that slowly came to her features at his wide toothed grin.

Garrus stood in the cockpit, looking at the video from the mission on Eden Prime. Shepard had taken Liara and James with her. A part of him was becoming worried that she was choosing James so much on her ground missions. Or perhaps it was just that each mission seemed tailored to someone else's specialty. He frowned at his thoughts as they dangerously bordered jealousy.

"A real life Prothean," the pilot said to him. They both watched as the alien grabbed Shepard by her upper arms. "The fuck…"

"Liara has a barrier on her," he said, bringing his hand down to comfort the tense pilot at seeing the display. "And I think James would feed him a grenade if he dared anything."

"Still," Joker shrugged his hand off, glaring over to him and then to the mech that EDI used which was seated in the co-pilot chair, "Its a hands off policy with the Commander, damnit."

"I agree, Jeff," EDI would say and Joker gave a nod of acceptance to her support.

"Where are we putting it?"

"Him," EDI corrected, "With what we know from research they need a much more humid environment. I suggest the Cargo Hold."

"Grunts room?" Garrus and Joker asked at the same time. Both sounding against the plan.

"It is the only room in the ship that has constant moisture as it is where the filters are for air circulation. The only other two rooms available are Life Support which is the direct opposite of what he would need to breathe and Starboard observation."

"Put him there," Joker grunted out.

"That is where Shepard likes to meditate. I will not do that to her." EDI informed him. "It is the Cargo Hold or we let him roam the ship."

"Fine," Joker glared at her, "Grunt's room it is."

"The Cargo Hold."

"Grunt's room," he corrected her. "It will always be Grunt's room, just like Thane's room..."

"Will always be his," EDI finished. All three of them knew that nothing in that room had been touched. Even the drell's favorite cup still sat waiting for his return. Shepard had made sure to put it exactly as it had been. Her intention to get him back onboard was well known to the crew. Their next trip to the Citadel she had told him she would ask.

Garrus hated that she had such hope. He turned his attention back to the ground team via the feed. Thane wouldn't be coming back. He would bet his life on it. The man was on his last days and if he knew him, like he did - he would choose to remain near his son. Too much time had been spent away from him. Garrus did wish that he would be missed Thane. He missed fighting with him at his side. Missed the way the man had been the only true shield for the Commander for months without a motive. Without any reason other than he chose to. Even Garrus had only begun to follow Shepard for his need to bring down Saren.

"Who's gonna tell Shepard where he will be set up?" Joker asked suddenly.

"Not it," Garrus said quickly, touching his forefinger to his nose and Joker laughed at the display just as EDI followed with the same movement and declaration. Joker's laughter died off at the implication.

"Shit."

Garrus grinned at him, "Good luck."

"Yeah yeah," Joker said, "You know how I said I was glad to have you back on board?"

"You still mean it?"

"Just barely," the pilot quipped.

EDI turned quickly to Joker, "Jeff, that is not accurate. Garrus' homeworld is burning. Palaven is not safe and his presence here is a statistical anomaly. By all accounts, finding him on that moon went against the odds. You should be very glad that he is here."

"EDI," Garrus tried, but the AI cut him off, "No, Garrus," she looked back at Joker. "Commander Shepard's biometrics are closest to normal range when Garrus is around. The only time she ever has close to the same kind of readings is when Thane was on board AFTER they did meditation. Not having him on board goes against what is good for the mission."

"EDI," Joker would say, reaching over to take her hand, "I was just joking with him."

She looked at Joker steadily and then turned her gray eyes up to Garrus who nodded at her, "Oh."

"It was a joke."

"A joke." She repeated, "Perhaps we should begin to express jokes until my core processes can pick up the undercurrents of dialect and body languages."

Joker smiled softly to her, his thumb running over the back of the metal hand, "You got it."

He looked away from their exchange, feeling slightly like he was intruding on something he should most definitely not be witnessing. He watched as the ground team entered the kodiak, the Prothean looking around him with unveiled disgust. He certainly didn't look happy that he had been woken thought about the Summit with the Krogan just two days away, the very first stop in this war that felt too large and could understand why the Prothean would not be happy. He had chosen to go to cryo to survive one Reaper invasion only to be woken up in another.

One nightmare to another.

Perhaps they shouldn't blame him. The Cargo Hold needed to be refitted for his humidity starved lungs. He sighed and turned away from the two in the cockpit and moved to start letting the crew know to prepare.

"We need to create a shallow pond to make the air thick," he would tell the communications specialist. "Get one of the engineers up here," he ordered and she nodded, immediately getting on the comms to call for Adams. "We have an hour before they're back on board. Let's make sure it's ready."

Author's Note:

Hey ya'll!

I just wanted to see how everyone was doing! The third game is upon us and there's a LOT that goes into it. I'm hoping it's as smooth as it can be.

I'd love y'all's input and suggestions! Garrus is all grown up!

Hope all is well,

-C