Shakarian
(takes place in ME2)
••Shepard is having trouble sleeping. Garrus does his best to soothe her worries.

The door to the main battery slid open with a soft whoosh. Garrus briefly lingered in the entrance before stepping into the hall to allow the door to close behind him.

It was 2 a.m. and far later than he had expected to stay up. Late night calibrations had become a habit for him—maybe even an obsession. He toiled tirelessly over the Normandy's guns to ensure they were in peak condition for when they would inevitably be put to use. Without her guns, the Normandy wasn't entirely defenseless, but it was like pulling all of a varren's teeth and then commanding it to bite. Zero percent effectiveness, and it put the entire crew in a really bad spot.

They had already lost one Normandy to a surprise attack. He refused to lose another—though it wasn't so much the ship he was worried about. It was her crew. One woman, to be precise.

When he saw said woman sitting alone in the mess hall while he making his way to the crew quarters, he had to stop and do a double take. Were his tired eyes deceiving him?

"Shepard?" He called, gentle surprise evident in his subvocals. "I thought you were asleep."

Shepard wrung her hands together and forced a sigh through her nose. "I was."

"Bad dream?"

She hummed in response.

Garrus approached her, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her muscles tensed under his touch, but she made no move to pull away.

"Well, I finally finished those calibrations. If you want, I could keep you company in your quarters. That way I'll be there if you happen to wake up again." He offered, his blue gaze soft upon her.

"You gonna fight my demons off for me, Garrus?" She chuckled. Her head tilted so she could look up at him.

Garrus twitched his mandibles in a slight grin. "I'll make sure they think twice about messing with Archangel's girl."

"I'm sure you will."

•
•
•

"GARRUS!"

The force of the explosion had thrown them apart. She shoved herself to her feet, her ears ringing. The gunship outside spun towards the street, engulfed in flames, but her focus was on him.

He'd taken the brunt of the explosion; it was clear from the damage. He was just lying there, motionless, blue blood gushing from the gaping wound in his face. She ran to him, nearly slipping in it.

"Garrus! Garrus, can you hear me?" Her voice cracked. She could hear him wheezing, blood bubbling up from his throat. "WE NEED AN EVAC NOW!"

The edges of her vision began to fade. All of the chaos surrounding her just became noise. She gripped Garrus's hand so tight, like she could keep him alive through sheer will alone. He was looking at her, but his eyes were unfocused.

"Garrus, c'mon big guy... you're gonna be okay."

"He's not going to make it, Shepard..." Zaeed's voice barely came through the haze before everything faded to darkness.

Shepard woke with a sharp gasp, her eyes flying open. She laid still for a moment. Her fingers curled against the soft sheets of her bed and she sighed.

She was in her quarters. Safe.

Behind her, Garrus snored. Poor guy must've truly been exhausted if he fell asleep instead of maintaining his 'vigilant watch' over her. She slipped out from under the sheets and made her way to the bathroom.

The steady thrum of running water soon filled the silence. Clouds of steam curled out of the top of the shower. Shepard stood under the piping hot stream of water with her eyes closed, letting it run down her face and body. Whenever she couldn't sleep—or anytime she was feeling down, really—a hot shower was usually the remedy. If it wasn't, at least it made her feel clean.

"Mind if I join you?"

Garrus's voice, slightly deepened by drowsiness, filtered through the white noise of the shower and brought her back to reality. She turned and used her hands to wipe away the excess water on her face.

"Those demons must've put up a hell of a fight." She said, a hint of teasing in her tone as she stepped further into the stream of water to make room for him.

A shiver ran down Garrus's spine when the mist of the water made contact with his plating. He leaned against the tiled wall, thankful he made the decision to take his visor off before going in there. All he saw was Shepard—that's all he needed to see.

"Nah, they ran like cowards. Must've been scared of what I'd do to them." He replied. His head lowered, gaze lifting to meet Shepard's. "Mm.. but in all seriousness, it was late and I was just so warm and cozy in your bed. I couldn't help it."

"Uh huh."

Shepard beckoned for him to join her under the water. He gladly obliged, a deep purr rumbling in his chest as he stepped into the hot stream. She slipped her arms around his waist and pulled him up against her. His hands settled near the small of her back, talons gently caressing the soft, supple skin of her ass.

Every inch of Shepard was beautiful, though he was partial to her ass and thighs. Turian women had no asses to speak of, and something about the possibility of being crushed between Shepard's thighs, should she ever choose to, drove him crazy. Garrus leaned in to nuzzle her cheek, offering his affection.

"Do you want to talk about it?" His tone was genuine, subvocals softly laced with concern.

Shepard closed her eyes. She felt his scarred mandible against her cheek and shakily exhaled. Images of his face, blown apart and bleeding, flashed in her mind.

"I just keep reliving that day on Omega, when we came to save you from those mercs." She murmured after a moment had passed. "Finally seeing you again after being dead to the world for two years... then nearly losing you right after. I remember every detail. I'm screaming your name. You can't answer because you're choking on your own blood and I can't do a damn thing about it—"

"Shepard."

"If I had just done a better job sabotaging that gunship, it wouldn't have even been there to—"

"Jane."

Garrus moved his hands to cup Shepard's face. He touched his forehead to hers, his serious blue-grey eyes meeting her guilt-ridden emerald ones. Water droplets traced the contours of their faces as they stood still in a moment of silence that felt more like an eternity.

"None of that was your fault, you hear me? None." He asserted. The pad of his thumb carefully stroked her cheek. "Tarak caught me in a bad position. I should've been behind cover. Frankly, I was running on fumes at that point, but that's no excuse."

A sigh left him and his gaze softened.

"All I'm saying is it wasn't your fault. I'm here now, I'm alive. A little scraped up, sure, but then again... women love scars, don't they?"

Shepard managed to chuckle, her lips curling in a small smile. "This woman does." She murmured. Hugging him closer, she released another sigh through her nose. "Don't ever scare me like that again, Garrus. I mean it. We've come too far for you to get yourself killed by mercs."

"Understood." Garrus replied, chuckling a bit himself. After a brief moment, he added, "We should... probably stop wasting the hot water. Miranda might throw a fit when she goes to take one of her hour-long showers and finds that it's ice cold."

Shepard laughed despite her reluctance to leave the comfort of the shower. She shut off the water and wrung out her hair.

"Good idea. You coming back to bed?"

"Of course. Though, it may make waking up when the time comes that much harder."

"We can sleep in. I'll tell EDI to set a do not disturb reminder."

"Never thought I'd be using an AI to avoid my duties, but if it gives me more time with my lovely girlfriend, why the hell not?"

"That's the spirit. C'mon, I'll grab some towels."