WELP, you asked @a-cosmic-elf - Enjoy! Happy N7 Day Ya’ll!
There was nothing but static on his com line… her chest and stomach constricted as her eyes darted around the civilians. There was no hint of his familiar silver and blue plates.
“GARRUS!” she called.
Shit. Shit, shit, shit - there was absolutely no way a bunch of Cerberus dogs could have gotten the drop on him when they were separated… right?
He wouldn’t let that happen, of course not.
Shepard dashed down the dock a ways and put her hand up to her mouth. “Garrus!”
He wouldn’t… unless he was outnumbered. Nah, he’d been in that situation before.
Panic slithered through her belly as her gaze dropped to the floor, searching the scattered victims laying in rainbow pools of intermixed blood. Every spot of azure made her hold her breath. She’d long since left Javik behind.
Dammit.
“Garrrruuus!” Her voice cracked as she yelled.
People were turning to look at her as she weaved through them, desperately snapping her head back and forth, searching. Still no familiar slashes of cobalt. There was a turian in familiar armor collapsed near one of the columns… in a pool of blood. She could feel a black line of fluid begin it’s trail down her lip and she wiped furiously at it before bending to roll the soldier over.
Shepard heaved a relieved exhale. Not him. She propelled herself back to standing, then running.
Were the docks always this long? She clutched at a stitch in her side as she sprinted through the throngs of refugees. “Garrus!”
Nothing, nothing, every time she turned her head. There! A turian with blue marks. She beelined for him, but as she moved closer there was no way - all wrong. Different mandibles, skin too light, fringe too short, back not wide enough.
“Fuck,” she muttered, and took off again, gaze roaming bodies and people, the crowds murmurs unable to reach her ears. Every step made the Leviathan twist and rumble as it reveled in her mounting fear and panic. The hum of it was deafening - she wiped angrily at her nose again.
“Garrus!” The bellow was hoarse. Every eye on the dock was pointed at her. The media, these people - they could think whatever the fuck they wanted - about her, about him.
She was in over her head. You can’t do this without him. The thought rattled loudly in the hollowness inside her and The Leviathan writhed at the admission. It could take her and use her as it willed if Garrus was laying anywhere— no. No, she couldn’t go down that path yet. Not yet. She took a knee next to another dead turian with silver plates, and turned him over. A delicate set of hoops pierced through his mandibles tinkled as she moved him. Shit, this one was young - the crest wasn’t fused yet. Fucking Cerberus. Fucking Udina.
Shepard dragged herself to her feet once more and took off. She rounded another column and noticed there was a large crowd of turian soldiers standing on her right far down the dock from her. She could just make out their heads bobbing. Hope fluttered weakly in her abdomen.
“Garrus!” she screamed.
A shrill noise answered from the pack of bodies, and sure enough, he stepped out where she could see him.
She’d know that outline anywhere in the galaxy.
“Shepard!” he called back.
The relief that flooded her buckled her knees and sent her crashing into the ground face first. In the back of her mind she knew that’d be on the news later but her elation was too high to care. She leapt back up and burned a trail as fast as her aching muscles could take her. The crowds of beings parted to let her pass.
Garrus skidded to a stop as she approached - he had the best slack-mandibled look on his face as she threw herself at him. Shepard locked her arms around his neck and buried her face in his hide, breathing in the burnt ozone and spent heatsink smell of him, the mineral scent of his sweat. Thank god and whatever spirits he was always talking about - he was alive.
Garrus nosed into her shoulder, humming soothingly as he clutched her to his chest.
“Fuck...fuck, shit,” she murmured into his neck. “Your coms busted...I couldn’t find you...I thought…”
He chuckled, the noise vibrating through his keel. “If you say you thought I was dead, I’m going to be offended.”
This stupid, stupid bastard. She was fucked. Absolutely fuckered. It was him. It was always him, had always been him.
Would always be him.
Even after all the years she’d told herself she couldn’t. Wouldn’t.
“Just shut up, Vakarian.” Curse her shaky voice.
His flippant tone shifted immediately. “I’m sorry, Shepard. I was coming to find you before they crowded me… the downside to being recognizable I suppose,” he sighed quietly into her hair and her insides clenched painfully.
Dammit.
The muscles in his neck flexed and she instinctively burrowed further into his collar. ”Don’t move. I don’t need anyone to see my face right now.”
Joker already had his chair swiveled towards the hatch the second the decon door slid back. “Oh my god, here she is - Shepard did you see the news you ar—”
“Stuff it Joker, I don’t want to hear it.” She snapped and whirled past him to stomp down the neck of the CIC with Javik right behind her.
Garrus sighed. “Joker, do you have to—”
“Oh, absolutely.” The pilot propped his fingers on his chest, mockingly indigent. “This is my time honored right! Do you know how much shit she gave me when I fell for the cafeteria girl back in basic?”
Garrus slid a palm over his fringe.
“A metric fuckton! So I’ll milk every second of that gooey display for all it’s worth! Did you know the news already has you both on replay right now?”
The sniper sighed. “I don’t know anyone else in the galaxy stupid enough to mess with her you know - even Jack shut up when she told her to knock it off.”
“You didn’t hear Wrex’s call with her - he literally just called to laugh until she hung up on him.”
“Do you always listen to her personal calls?”
“Only when I think they’ll be funny, I promise.”
Garrus rolled his eyes. “She might not beat your brittle ass - but you do realize when you rile her up it’s me and Vega who get the brunt of her frustration right?”
“I know, isn’t it great?” Joker leaned back with his arms propped under his head. When Garrus narrowed his eyes at him he sat back up and held out a placating hand. “Look that’s got to be doing you some favors at least.”
The suggestive lilt of his smirk was not lost on Garrus. Bait. Don’t answer. “If you want to see what a real turian can do Joker - all you’ve got to do is ask.”
The pilot scrunched his nose. “I think I’m good on my blue dick quotas, but Shep’s might be a little light - ask her.”
Garrus turned on a chuckle to move down the neck of the ship.
“Hey Garrus?” Joker called.
He turned back to face the pilot.
“Good for you man.” The hesitant little smile he flashed was nearly endearing.
Man Im really having the time of my life writing this story. Femshep is going THROUGH it in Me3 (I mean, of course, there's a war on deborah) but she is absolutely feral losing it a few times and its really great when ol’ Gare-bear hasto corner her like a wild dog and essentially let her sniff his hand while she snarls and lashes before he can pet her.
