Time lost all meaning as she slipped in and out of consciousness. His scent a constant presence. His voice a soothing rumble that penetrated the fog of her mind. Knowing he was near was enough; a primal certainty that she was safe in his arms. The air seemed cleaner, easier to breathe, though each inhale was a struggle. He offered water, and she tried to swallow, but her throat rebelled against the simple act. Her body burned, and fever made the world shimmer and twist. She knew she was hallucinating, because when she tried to open her eyes she saw the stars.

Garrus didn't know what to do, how to help her. What did humans need when they were burning up? Whatever it was, he didn't have it. She couldn't drink much, and didn't eat anything for over a day now, ever since he got them out. He knew humans could not survive without sustenance as long as turians.

No one met them on the surface. The rats probably didn't even know the emergency hatches were operational. By the look of it, they had not been used for decades.

Once they were out, Garrus prepared for a long sprint. Katie didn't weight anything, but exhaustion and malnutrition did their job. He was tired within an hour and needed to find a place to rest. It was nighttime already, but he didn't even feel the cold. His human was like a thermal sink of an overheated gun. She didn't move much, didn't open her eyes, she would utter an occasional moan, but that was about it.

They finally settled in in a spot deep inside the bushes. He sat on the ground, holding her in his arms. The first thing he did was check the batarian's omni-tool for anything useful.

There was no way to establish long-range connection with his ship—the signal was weak, disrupted by the planet's dense atmosphere and electromagnetic interference. Reaching out to a potential search team was dangerous. The last thing Garrus needed was to inadvertently broadcast on the slavers' frequency, which was all too likely given the circumstances. The planet's surface could be crawling with hostiles; one wrong move and he would be leading them straight to his location.

As he sifted through the data on the omni-tool, it became painfully evident that it wouldn't be much help. The limited storage contained no valuable maps or schematics. Most of the data was irrelevant—routine log entries and mundane operational details of the slavers. The internal systems were malfunctioning, probably due to the damage the device had sustained during the fight.

Fuck.

Garrus took a pack of water out of the bag and made a sip. He tried giving the human some as well, but her mouth never moved. His fear was bordering on panic at this point. How was he supposed to help her? Was she dying?

He sat there with one hand holding her, the other one on the gun. The edges of his vision blurred, fatigue clawing at his consciousness.Damn it. He couldn't afford to drift off. The turian reached for a stim, acutely aware they didn't have many. He needed to ration them carefully just like food. With practiced ease, he pressed the injector to his neck. The familiar sting was followed by a rush of clarity. His senses sharpened and he could hear the beating of his own heart, so loud and fast compared to hers. The soft flutter in the female's chest was almost indiscernible. He prayed to the Spirits it wouldn't give up. Stay with me, Katie.

Sometime in the middle of the night she finally stirred. He almost jumped at the feeling.

"Katie! Can you hear me?"

She moaned softly and opened her eyes. She looked right through him into the open sky above. He offered her water and this time she took a sip.

"It's ok," he took her in his arms.

"Garrus?" she whispered as if realizing he was with her. Then she closed her eyes again and made a labored breath.

"I'm right here with you. Just hold on."

She looked terrible. Worse than he'd ever seen her. That's it, he decided. He had to risk giving her a stim. It couldn't make things worse at this point. The problem was where to inject it. He studied her frail, pale form. The shot needed to go into a muscle cluster, but she didn't seem to have any. He gently probed her arms and sides, trying to find a suitable spot. With her body so limp, it was hard to tell where the best place might be.

Garrus pulled her up closer to him. "Katie. I need to give you a shot. It's medicine. Tell me where to administer it."

She looked at him with glassy eyes.

"Please Katie…"

Her neck didn't seem like the right place. The needle wasn't long, but it could still do serious damage if he hit the wrong spot.

"My arm," her voice came so weak he thought he imagined it. "Below the shoulder."

He examined the place in question—soft like all the rest of her. He had no choice but to trust she understood what he wanted from her.

Garrus's hand trembled slightly as he gripped the stim. He positioned the injector against Katie's arm. A quick press, and—

"Fuck," he hissed. The needle sank in deeper than he'd anticipated, human skin offering barely any resistance. Her body tensed, a pained whimper escaping her lips. Garrus's mandibles flared in distress.

As the booster emptied into her system, Katie's muscles relaxed incrementally. Her breath came in short, shallow gasps. He gently withdrew the injector, eyes fixed on the tiny bead of red that welled up where the needle had been.

Without thinking, he pulled her close, cradling her head against his cowl. His subvocals thrummed with a mix of concern and self-recrimination. "I'm sorry," he murmured, though he knew she couldn't hear the layers of meaning in his vibrations.

They remained motionless as the stim took effect. It provided Katie some relief, just enough for her to open her eyes. Her gaze, still unfocused, struggled to comprehend Garrus's attempts to give her food. Her expressionless face suggested no sense of taste as she managed a few bites before turning away. He didn't insist, instead, he carefully positioned her atop his chest for the night. Katie's body trembled against him, soft gasps escaping her lips. She was still hurting.

Sometime later at night, she started whimpering into his chest. The she suddenly convulsed, and she uttered a strange sound. The human jerked away from him, weak but determined. Garrus didn't know what was happening, but let her crawl off him and away. He anxiously watched as she spasmed a couple of times and regurgitated her food. He didn't know humans could purge just like turians. Except she didn't seem to be doing it on purpose, she looked like it was painful. Spirits, what was he going to do, if her stomach couldn't hold food anymore? It was levo, there was nothing better he could offer her.

When she was done, she crawled to him and let him pull her back up. She was still shivering, but there were no more spasms. She fell asleep, leaving him listening carefully to any changes in her vitals.

As dawn broke, Garrus consumed a dextro ration and sipped some water. He then gathered Katie in his arms, her form still limp and hot, and resumed the journey to their destination—a rise in the terrain he'd spotted as they emerged from the bunker. The elevated position would offer a crucial vantage point. From there, he hoped to pinpoint their location on Lindor's vast landscape to figure out where they needed to be headed.

But as the first rays of Lindor sun hit his back, Garrus realized he had a serious problem. The sun. It was radioactive for his human. She had landed on the planet having full protection gear, now all she wore was a turian tunic. Fuck. Why didn't he think about it before? How long could she be exposed to the sun? A couple of hours? Till the sun was in zenith? He searched the omni-tool for data, and found it—the sun rotation schedule with specific periods highlighted in red. Batarians were susceptible to solar radiation just like humans, so this would really help. The file indicated a three-hour window. Garrus intended to use every minute of it, pushing his pace.

At noon, he found a suitable camping site deep inside the green of the forest. He had four hours of rest before they needed to move again. He calculated their progress—at this pace, they'd reach the hill in a day. The speed was far from ideal, but they were advancing. Slowly, steadily, they were moving forward.

Katie's fever went down slightly, and Garrus was hopeful. She took more water, but no food. He allowed himself an hour of sleep, then took another stim shot and set off to his objective. He tried to walk quietly not to alarm any potential patrols that might be searching the forest, his turian senses ever vigilant.

Garrus couldn't be sure if the other rats were aware of what went down at the bunker. Odds were, they knew. There had for sure been a shift change by now. The lack of alarms meant little; the compound and its dwellers operated in secret, trying to remain undetected by orbital scans. That was the whole point. That's how Garrus got into this fucking mess in the first place. The bastards were likely hunting them now. Heavily armed squads of batarians and krogan, silently combing the forests for escaped slaves.

The only thing that gave him hope was that scumbags probably had no idea where to look exactly. So it would take them more time, make them cover more ground. But then again, it really depended on their numbers. The turian chose not to dwell on it now, as he had other worries. He needed the female to get better, that was all that mattered to him right now.

That's how he spent most of the day, walking and thinking.

He found another camping site for the night, this time in a rock formation riddled with deep caverns, very common for Lindor. The caves were ideal to hide from the heat of the day and to rest for the night, as they preserved temperature and gave shelter from radiation. Lindor slavers used them quite often. These smelled and sounded empty. He chose one and settled inside.

It was almost night time when she stirred in his arms and opened her eyes. He touched her face checking the temperature—still very hot. But her eyes were more lucid now, they focused on him right away.

"Garrus… I saw stars," she said weakly.

"We are out, Katie," he told her softly, caressing her cheek.

"Out," she repeated dully.

The fur of her brows moved in a human frown, as his words sunk in.

"You can't stay here with me. You need to go," she said urgently.

"I'm not going anywhere without you," he answered.

"It's too dangerous. You can't stay like this…" She looked at him with her beautiful eyes. "You need to go, now. You need to leave me."

What? What was she saying?

It was Garrus's turn to frown, "We are going together."

"I can't," her voice faltered, her eyes glistened with water. "I can't go with you…"

She didn't know he was carrying her, he realized. She thought they were still near the bunker and was afraid the slavers would find them.

"I will carry you, don't worry," he promised.

"No," she sounded more agitated now. "I will only slow you down. Please…" Her hand reached out to touch his mandible, so soft, so gentle. "You said you would get me out," she whispered. "And you did. You kept you promise."

He nestled his face into her palm, purring slightly.

"Garrus," she pleaded. Water started running down her cheeks.

"I'm not leaving you," he rumbled with affection. Overwhelmed by emotion, Garrus leaned in, pressing his crested forehead to her smooth one in a turian kiss.

Her eyelids fluttered closed, more crystals of water falling, but she didn't say anything else. She fell asleep not knowing he hadn't let her out of his arms ever since they'd got out of that horrible place.

The next morning, Garrus stirred from his light sleep to find Katie already awake, gaze fixed on him. She offered a tiny, weak smile that made his chest tighten. It meant everything to him, that small sign of recovery. With careful movements, he helped her sit up against the cavern wall. Her eyes, though still shadowed with exhaustion, held a spark of awareness that hadn't been there before.

He coaxed her to eat, watching anxiously as she sampled the food. Surprise flickered across her face at the levo taste—it wasn't as disgusting as the neutral paste they'd endured in captivity. She managed about a third of a ration and drank plenty of water. All good signs, he hoped, allowing himself a moment of cautious optimism.

His spirits had lifted considerably, and he was ready to move. Katie said she could try to walk, but he didn't let her. It was the stim boost talking.

In one fluid motion, he lifted her into his arms, just as he had for the past two days. But this time was different. She was fully present, her violet bright and focused.

As they set off, something else happened—they talked. Really talked. It wasn't just terse exchanges about survival or whispered words of comfort. This was an actual conversation, the kind they'd never had the luxury of sharing before. An hour into their journey, Garrus found himself regaling her with tales from his 'glamorous' days as a slaver hunter. He carefully chose less gory episodes, not wanting to upset her.

It was either the boring stories or her weak state, but she was falling in and out of sleep. He didn't mind. He held her close, savoring the warmth of her body against his. What else could he ask for?

They camped in the middle of the day, seeking refuge from the relentless sun.

The conversation drifted to their journey ahead. Garrus pointed towards the distant high ground, his voice carrying a note of optimism. "From there, we'll get a better vantage point. It should help me pinpoint the crash site's location."

Katie nodded. "How long until we reach it?" she asked with a strange quality to her voice that alerted him.

The turian studied her face intently as he replied, "At our current pace, we should arrive by noon tomorrow."

A subtle change came over Katie's expression. Her brow furrowed slightly, and something flickered in her eyes—an emotion Garrus couldn't quite decipher. It was a look he'd never seen on her before, and it sent an uneasy ripple through his plates.

He waited, mandibles twitching with suppressed curiosity, hoping she might elaborate on her own. But Katie remained silent carefully fixing her gaze on some distant point beyond their camp. He wondered if he should ask, torn between his need to understand that fleeting shift and his fear of upsetting her fragile recovery. Eventually, he too decided to say nothing, but it bothered him nonetheless.

The conversation trailed away to something trivial. They discussed the vibrant flora of Lindor, so different from the metallic landscapes of Palaven. Katie told him about Earth's diverse ecosystems, her face lighting up as she described forests and oceans of her home.

They talked about many things, everything but the War, carefully omitting topics related to military life or the conflict. Yet it hung between them, like an invisible barrier, an unspoken truth that threatened to shatter the peace they had found in each other's company. Garrus wondered if it bothered her just as much as it did him. What was she thinking behind those violet eyes? Did she also feel the ticking clock, the approaching end to this surreal interlude? Was she grappling with the implications of their growing closeness as he was?

With every stride he made they were getting closer to the reality of things. The War wasn't just some distant concept anymore. It was here, between them, in every unasked question, every careful omission. It was in the way his hand sometimes hesitated before touching her, remembering that she was, technically, the enemy. It was in the fleeting shadows that sometimes passed over her face, as if she too was remembering who they were supposed to be to each other.

Garrus spent most of his time considering their options. Being captured by those rats again was not one of them, of that he was certain. He'd prefer death, and he knew so would she. The very thought of his human back in the hands of the slavers made his blood boil, his talons itching to rip apart anyone who dared touch her. No, that fate was unacceptable.

The other option was rescue. Maybe tomorrow, maybe in a week, but they would get out of this place. Garrus dreaded what would happen then. He was a turian, she was a human. Things that were so simple not that long ago suddenly weren't.

It hurt to think about it. The pain was a constant ache in his chest that intensified every time he looked at her. What would he do? What could he do? He had his orders, burned into his turian brain by years of military discipline. And if he followed them, she would become his prisoner. A war prisoner.They both knew exactly what that meant. And just like in the case of being recaptured by the slavers, she would prefer death.

His mind went to places his heart didn't want to follow. He imagined himself putting her in restraints, handing her over to his superiors. He saw the betrayal in her eyes, the light dying as she realized he had chosen duty over... whatever it was that had grown between them. The scenario played out in his mind like a horror vid, leaving him feeling hollow and sick.

He was conflicted—probably for the first time in his life. Could he disobey? Was he really considering it? The concept was so foreign, so contrary to everything he had ever been taught, that it left him reeling.

But even if he did do it, then what? Not capturing her meant letting her go before the turian military learned about her. Which in its turn meant leaving her here, on Lindor. Something that was impossible. He couldn't abandon her in this place, alone and vulnerable. The very thought made his protective instincts flare up.

His head hurt, a dull throb behind his eyes that matched the ache in his heart. His brain knew it was a stalemate. No winning, just pain and confusion, a swirling vortex of emotions he had never experienced before.

I will figure it out, he thought, the words echoing hollowly in his mind.When the time comes, I will figure it out.

Garrus was never a delusional type, but this was the first time he ever lied to himself so blatantly.

"How did you crash land on this planet?" he suddenly asked.

Katie's eyes widened slightly, caught off guard. They were still resting in the shadow of Lindor's forest, and she had just finished another portion of her levo-food, much to Garrus's relief.

He watched her smooth soft features. The female's face was still pale, with those dark circles around the eyes. But the eyes themselves were more vibrant now, full of color. She'd mentioned her hair was a mess, but Garrus couldn't fathom why—to him, it was so beautiful, free and defiant like she was. Katie sat in one of those incredible human poses, her legs criss-crossed, each foot resting below the opposite knee. His tunic hung loosely on her frame, slipping off one smooth shoulder and offering tantalizing glimpses of her frame whenever she leaned forward for food or water. Garrus couldn't take his eyes of her. She was the strangest creature he'd ever met.

It was all so wrong, he thought. She should never have been here. In this terrible place. And a question that bothered him from the very beginning sprung back to his wondering mind.

Katie's eyes met his, alert and guarded. He could see her weighing her options, deciding how much to reveal. Was it classified, he wondered. Some secret human military operation? Yet nothing about her screamed Alliance. Was he wrong? He doubted it. She had no armor, no heavy weapons, when he found her. She was a biotic who had never really fought other biotics.

"We were answering a distress call," she finally spoke after a long pause. "Got hit by something… ground cannons probably. The command bridge was completely obliterated, the black box irretrievable. So we didn't know exactly what happened. Just five of us survived," her voice faltered, as she remembered the crew. She never spoke of them before, never even mentioned them to Garrus. "They killed the rest of my people, didn't they?"

That's what she assumed, the turian thought. That other survivors were butchered by slavers. She looked straight at him with her question. He couldn't hold her gaze.

"They didn't." Garrus couldn't lie to her. "I don't know what happened exactly," he said slowly, carefully choosing his words. "The slavers jammed our signal, as I split from my squad and chased after you. It was probably my team that did it. This whole thing looked like a human ambush, so they were forced to…"

He didn't need to tell her the rest, she understood. Katie sat quiet for a while, not looking at him. Her eyes full of pain and loss. The batarians played them all. Lured the human ship to the planet and crashed it. Then ambushed those who came after the survivors. She avoided thinking about her crew for so long, telling herself there would be time to grieve if she survived this hell. Deep down inside, she knew they were dead. But she needed to hear it from someone else. Tears came, but never dropped, she stopped them before they could.

"Why were you in the Hourglass Nebula?" Garrus ventured to probe further.

She gave him a completely different look. The same one that alarmed him before. Still so unreadable and troubling. This was the part she was not willing to share with him, he realized. Garrus understood it all too well. He would probably do the same. He was a turian, and she was a human. As much as it pained him to think it, she didn't owe him anything, whereas she owed everything to her people—her loyalty first and foremost. She was bound to them by duty and honor. A turian such as him knew exactly what that was like.

"I have something for you," he decided to change the subject, having remembered something else.

Curiosity replaced the sadness in her eyes as she watched him reach into his bag. He produced a small handgun, so comically tiny in his huge grip. He'd found it in the bunker just before their escape, thinking she might need protection when she recovered. Now that she was improving, it seemed like the right time. Without her biotics she was exposed, defenseless. Garrus thought Katie would feel better having a gun. He knew he would for sure.

It was an asari Acolyte pistol, light but powerful, very different from Alliance-issued weapons. "You know how to use one of these?" he asked.

She gave him a look. The one he understood. It was a what-sort-of-a-stupid-question-is-that look. A smile tugged at his mandibles as she took the weapon. She firmly gripped the handle, her finger finding the trigger naturally. Garrus remembered how her hand had shaken the first time he'd seen her hold a gun, how her face had faltered at the moment she'd had to pull the trigger. Now, her grip was steady, her gaze focused. He knew without a shadow of doubt that she wouldn't hesitate to fire if needed. A tiny smirk played at the corner of her lips, eyes glinting with a mix of gratitude and something else—something dangerous, something that made Garrus's heart race.

This female, he thought, unable to look away.

In the afternoon, Katie insisted on walking on her own. He protested, of course, but she was dead-set on it. Stubborn human.

"Come on, Garrus," she argued. "You haven't had a proper night's sleep since God knows when. You are exhausted, just as I am. And you are only standing because of those booster things. What happens when we run out?"

"We cover more ground if I carry you," he objected.

"And if you collapse, we go nowhere. Let me at least try. If I fall over, you can always carry me again, and even do the whole 'I told you so' routine," she smiled at him. The last part was a joke, he decided. Turians were not good at understanding her species' humor, or any humor for that matter. He liked hers.

Garrus opened his mouth to argue another point, but it was a point he didn't have. He knew she was right. The logical part of his brain agreed with her completely. But there was another part, a part he was struggling to understand, that wanted to keep her close.

With a reluctant nod, he helped her to her feet. Her steps were unsteady at first, and Garrus hovered nearby, his hands twitching with the urge to catch her if she stumbled. He watched her intently, noting how her determined expression mirrored the stubborn set of her jaw. It was admirable, he had to admit. Here she was, still weak and recovering, pushing herself to walk just to ease his burden.

They moved much slower now. Katie could not keep up with him. His one turian stride was two of her human ones. But it didn't matter. She was walking on her own, and there was a pride in her eyes that made Garrus smile.

Her biotics was completely gone, though. He didn't know for how long. She tried to flare it a couple of times, but nothing came. He had no intricate knowledge of how the element zero worked. She had never experienced a full depletion before. Their best bet was it was just like with her sickness—she had to wait until her body recovered.

Garrus was lost in his thoughts when he noticed Katie stumble. His reflexes kicked in before his brain could catch up, and he found himself with an arm around her waist, supporting her weight.

"You okay?" he asked, thrumming with concern.

Katie nodded, but he could see the exhaustion in her eyes. "Just... need a moment," she panted.

Without a word, Garrus lifted her up into his arms. She started to protest, but he silenced her with a look.

"You've proven your point," he said softly. "Let me help you now."

She relaxed into him, her head once again resting on his shoulder. The trust implicit in that simple action made Garrus's heart swell. He held her a little tighter, savoring the feel of her in his arms.

As the sun began to dip towards the horizon, painting the sky in hues of green and yellow, Garrus found a spot to make camp for the night. He gently set Katie down, his talons lingering perhaps a moment longer than necessary.

"Thank you," she said softly, her eyes meeting his. In that moment, he felt as though she could see right through him, could read every conflicted thought and emotion swirling within him.

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak, and focused on setting up their makeshift camp. The place was nice, had a small stream nearby that gurgled softly, its sound a soothing backdrop to the alien chirps and calls of Lindor's nocturnal creatures. The trees were wide-branching, entwining among themselves high up over their heads.

He went to the stream to fill the empty water packs. When he returned, his human was laying on the ground, looking at the stars that were shining through the leaves. Without really thinking about it, he laid down next to her, close enough to feel the warmth radiating from her body, but not quite touching.

She was saying something about it reminding her of her home world. He tried to listen, he really did, but found himself captivated by the sight of her. Her face was calm, almost serene. This was the first time he saw it like this, in all its true fairness. The lines of stress and pain that had marked her features for so long had smoothed out, leaving behind something that took his breath away.

She closed her eyes, inhaling the night air. Her chest lifted up, then down, in a hypnotic rhythm. His gaze trailed down to it, and he felt a surge of guilt at his body's reaction. Her breasts looked just like those of asari. Garrus wondered how they would feel. Just like her skin probably, smooth and soft, way softer than the waxy cool asari hide. The female was everything other species weren't, and that both terrified and exhilarated him.

Her scent enveloped him, overwhelmed his turian senses, cutting through the artificial clarity of the stim he'd taken. Garrus felt dizzy, disoriented, yet hyper-aware of her presence beside him. The need to touch her, to be closer, was almost painful in its intensity.

This wasn't just about comfort or protection anymore. His body pulsed with a primal urge to connect with her on a more physical level. The longing consumed him, a fire burning through his veins that he couldn't extinguish. He'd never experienced anything like this before, never knew he was capable of feeling so deeply. He never knew many things before he met her.

He felt his pelvic plates shifting, responding to her proximity. His body was preparing itself, offering itself to her. To his female. The possessiveness of the thought startled him, yet felt undeniably right. He wanted her to look at him, to see what he was, how he was, to accept him the way he was accepting her.

Garrus shifted uncomfortably, fighting against his reactions. Spirits, what was happening to him? With monumental effort, he forced his plates back into place, taking a deep breath to calm himself. But the action only filled his lungs with more of her, making his head spin anew.

He tried to rationalize it away. It was just exhaustion and the boosters, the turian told himself. He'd been taking too many stims, pushing his body beyond its limits. This had to stop. He had to stop it. It was madness, pure and simple. She wasn't turian. She would never wat him, not the way he was beginning to want her. And yet... her eyes… Why were they dilating like that when she looked at him? He knew what he saw, but he didn't know what it meant. And that would make all the difference.

Desperate for distraction, he rolled onto his back, staring up at the night sky of his respite was short-lived. As Katie began to drift off to sleep, she instinctively moved closer to him, pressing her back against his side. Without thinking, Garrus wrapped his arms around her, pulling the female into him as he had done so many nights before.

He marveled at how perfectly her soft human form nestled against his sharp turian body. Where he was hard angles and protective plates, she was gentle curves and yielding flesh. His hands tightened their grip, face found its way to the back of her head. As sleep began to claim him, Garrus was unconsciously nuzzling her hair, surrendering completely to the intoxicating scent that was so uniquely her.

Katie.