Chapter Text
Garrus glanced around the shuttle bay, observing the crew. They were in various stages of exhaustion, disbelief, and shaky joy. They were all there. The entire crew. How was that possible? How had they not lost a single person?
Chakwas, Kelly, Gardner…even the ground team… She had done it, she had actually done it!
Some were crying, someone was laughing a little erratically, while others still sat quietly and stared at nothing, as if shocked to be back on the Normandy at all. Garrus, who had collapsed to sit exhausted and sore next to Shepard against a crate, turned to look at her.
She was leaning against the crate as well, her face pointed up to the ceiling, eyes closed. She had a pinched line between her brows, a bruise forming along her right jaw, and deep circles under her eyes. There was some dried blood flecked across her face, like freckles. He had never seen anything more beautiful.
He was a little surprised that she wasn’t running her eyes over her crew. “Shepard?” He asked, reaching his hand out to place it over hers where it rested on the floor.
“I just need a moment, before I have to take stock of who didn’t make it,” she said quietly back at him.
Garrus looked at her confused, realization dawning. She didn’t realize…she had been too focused on that final battle, the final push back to the Normandy , to realize they had all gotten out.
“Shepard, no one is missing,” he said. She opened her eyes slowly, turning to staring at him.
“What?”
“You saved every one of them. There is no one missing. You did it Shepard!” He squeezed her hand.
Shepard’s gaze finally snapped over to the rest of shuttle bay, her eyes bouncing from face to face, as if she couldn’t believe it.
“You’re sure…”
Garrus laughed, reaching out to turn her face back to his. “Yes I’m sure! You crazy human!”
He placed both hands on either side of her face and pulled her to him, pressing his mouth to hers in a forceful, closed mouth kiss. He knew it likely wasn’t comfortable for her, pliable yet still firm plate against the soft flesh of her lips, but he couldn’t help himself. He crushed her lips beneath his.
She reached out, her arms going awkwardly around him, thanks to the armor they both wore. She held his body tightly to hers, as if through sheer will she could press their bodies together through the hardsuits if she just tried hard enough.
She had already done one impossible thing today, why not go for two?
They held each other like that until Garrus heard Thane politely clear his throat. Opening their eyes and pulling back slightly from each other, Shepard and Garrus turned to face the crew. The crew that, just a moment before, had been wrapped up in their own reactions to being rescued. They now stood or sat around the shuttle bay, watching them.
He knew the Normandy ground team were unperturbed; that motley bunch looked at them with various expressions of indulgence (Samara) to good-natured annoyance (Grunt). The Cerberus crew, as far as Garrus was aware, weren’t as up to date on Shepard’s current inclinations. Garrus quickly scanned the expressions of the ‘humanity first’ half of their crew, readying himself for looks of disgust or horror. Instead, he saw confusion, some surprise, but mainly…they stared at Shepard, and by proxy Garrus and the rest of the ground team, with open, unabashed adoration.
Gardner stood up, moving over to Tali and reached out a hand. Tali didn’t hesitate to clasp his hand in hers, grasping it firmly. As if awakened out of stasis, the Cerberus crew started to cheer, various members now moving to shake hands, clasp shoulders, or outright hug various members of the ground team. Kelly wrapped her arms around Thane, another crew member appeared to be shaking Zaeed’s arm off in a fierce handshake. Daniels and Donnelly had surrounded Legion, shaking each of his hands simultaneously. The sounds in the shuttle bay grew loud again, and Shepard and Garrus were, if not quite forgotten, at least left in peace for a moment as the team celebrated in truth.
Garrus looked back over at Shepard and watched her as she watched her crew, her eyes glassy. He waited, and finally she turned to him, that smile now, finally, crossing her features. “We did it,” she said, still, somehow, sounding like she couldn’t believe it.
“We did.”
Sometime later, after a completely inappropriate party/recovery period in the shuttle bay (which involved music, drinking, dancing, and a harried looking Miranda, a slightly drunk Dr. Chakwas, and a nonplussed Mordin patching up various crew members as they tried to celebrate), Shepard and Garrus had made their way back to the captain's cabin.
Garrus knew that part of Shepard had wanted to stay. It was obvious she was exhausted, barely able to keep her feet. When he had suggested treating her to a joint shower she had come along gladly.
They helped each other with their armor, an act that was more intimate, somehow, then when they had watched each other strip down bare a few hours before. Shepard leaned heavily on Garrus as he helped her into the shower. She washed him, he washed her. He took care to be gentle as he worked his fingers through her hair. He loved that hair. They spent a few moments holding each other, sharing wet kisses as the water sprayed them. Despite being very willing, neither Shepard nor Garrus had the energy to do much beyond that.
Clean and dry, and, for the first time in a long time, with no immediate demands on their time, Garrus and Shepard laid down in her bed. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep, he wasn’t entirely sure he had earned the right to ‘spend the night’ just yet. When he tried to get up, thinking Shepard had fallen asleep herself, he felt her arm grip him tighter where it had been flung across his chest. She nuzzled deeper into him, her head holding him in place at his shoulder.
“Don’t go,” she muttered, eyes still closed.
“I won’t,” Garrus said softly back, tightening his own arm around her.
~~~
Shepard woke sometime later to intermittent vibrations against her back. She had given EDI strict instructions that she was not to be disturbed until she physically walked out of her cabin. Even if a reaper landed on top of them. She had also mentioned, off-handedly, that if they couldn’t find Garrus to not come looking for him, either.
They had earned a little R&R, before dealing with what came next. She trusted Miranda to care for the crew and get anything emergent sorted until they could next speak.
The vibration she was feeling along her back accompanied a soft…vocalization of some sort from Garrus. As far as she could tell he was still asleep. A turian snore, perhaps? Shepard smiled to herself, indulging in the feel of him at her back, his heavy arm draped over her waist.
In the aftermath of the final assault on the Collector base, after Garrus had not-so-slyly enticed her up to the cabin, she had wanted him to take her then and there. Unfortunately, her body had not cooperated. Months of exhaustion had begun immediately catching up with her without frenzied adrenaline to overpower it.
She knew, no matter how successful they had been, no matter how many countless human and alien lives they had saved by defeating the Collectors, that soon she would have to face the music. Now officially on the run from Cerberus, with a court martial awaiting with the Alliance, Shepard’s time aboard the Normandy was about to run out. She also knew, unfortunately, that the work was not over. The reapers were coming, and the galaxy was not prepared.
She only had, at most, a week, maybe two, before she needed to get back to Earth. She and Miranda would have to figure out how and where to safely relocate the crew members the Alliance would want to arrest or that Cerbereus would want to ‘reclaim’. She only had so much time and she planned to make the most of it.
Moving deftly, she slipped out from under Garrus’ arm, trying not to wake him. She sat up and turned to look at him. She was glad to see that not all turians slept in their armor.
His chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm that Shepard found soothing. They had fallen asleep right after showering. Neither had taken the time to redress, and their clothes had been left trailed across the floor near the bathroom. The blanket that had been pulled up to their shoulders the night previous by Garrus had been pushed down in sleep, and currently sat low over his hips.
Shepard took her time studying him. It was rare that he wasn’t hidden behind his visor or the scope of a gun. Her eyes trailed over his blue tattoos and the healing scars along his lips, right cheek and mandible. His face was relaxed in sleep, and he looked…almost gentle - a very weird descriptor for a turian, that was for sure. She traced along the warm brown skin of his neck, hard plating of his cowl and his chest, eyes dropping further to the firm, dense muscle at his slender abdomen and prominent muscling down his arms. She paid especial attention to the spots where solid plate began to break up into smaller pieces of plate scattered on skin. Her gaze drifted finally to the areas without natural armor at all. At Basic, she had learned of these areas as weak spots; the best places to stick a blade or aim a gun when fighting humanity’s number one enemy. Times of peace be damned, apparently. Turians and humans both held long grudges.
Now she knew these areas in a new way: a caress here to make Garrus shudder, a bite there to make him moan, a scratch along his lower abdomen to send those delicious vibrations that underlay his voice her way.
Shepard moved to sit atop Garrus, settling herself on her knees to offset her weight. She watched as he registered the pressure and slowly came awake. His piercing blue eyes, still hazy from sleep, took stock of the situation he now found himself in. A naked woman sitting at his waist. A slow, dreamy smile crossed his features and his mandibles flexed. Shepard felt her heart stutter in her chest.
“Well, this is new,” he said, voice rough from sleep.
God, that voice. She felt it through her entire body. Shepard laughed lightly as Garrus wrapped his large, three-fingered hands around her hips.
“I wanted that round two,” she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him. His grip at her waist tightened as he returned the embrace. His tongue flicked across her lower lip and she opened her mouth, allowing him entry. She was very grateful he had taken to kissing. She stole an opportunity to run her tongue along the underside of his jaw, tasting again that soft metallic… Garrus taste she had first sampled on Omega. Shepard felt him growing hard beneath her as his subharmonics rumbled. She pressed her forehead to his, gently butting against him, and heard Garrus groan in regret as she pulled away, moving to sit up again. “Seems like you are fully awake now,” she said.
“Yes, that might have something to do with the heavy human sitting on me.”
Shepard cocked a brow. “Not that it matters, but I feel confident saying that my weight is perfect for my height and muscle tone,” she responded. Garrus chuckled.
“I never said you weren’t perfect,” he said appeasingly, his hands flexing at her waist. She felt him move slightly under her, rolling his hips.
Shepard glanced down at the deep blue of his cock, now fully out if it’s genital plates and erect, and wrapped her hands around it. She heard him hiss. When she had first felt him, she remembered being surprised at the softness of him. Even Garrus’ ‘soft areas’ - his neck, his waist, under his chin, the insides of his thighs - had a texture more akin to very smooth leather. This was soft, and already slick; a definite improvement over the human version. The size had been…a little intimidating at first, but they had managed all right. He slipped through her fingers easily, his groans making her pulse beat hot beneath her skin.
She watched him closely as her hands moved. He was breathtaking: the way his eyes squeezed closed as he moaned, head tilting back, the subtle movement of muscle in his arms as he periodically tightened his grip on her in response to her touch. She could watch him come undone all day. Her gaze flicked down to his erection and she felt her skin flush. When she glanced back up she caught him watching her. His expression was…hungry.
“I want to...” she started, rocking her hips forward. Garrus’ own hips bucked upwards, he was still in her hands and he groaned.
“I…ah…need to get-”
“I can get it,” she said, moving to climb off of him. He made a regretful noise as her weight left him. “I’m assuming you have one in a pocket somewhere over there?” she asked, gesturing to their trail of clothes piled outside of the bathroom. Garrus, his eyelids still partially lowered, from sleep or arousal she wasn’t sure, nodded. As she moved across the room to retrieve the condom, she sauntered back over, her brow raised. “You had this on you at the Collector base?” she asked as she climbed back on top of him.
He huffed in mild laughter and embarrassment. “You had said you wanted a…round two…after. Seemed wise to be prepared.”
She settled herself back atop him and busied herself with the silver package. She ripped the corner and pulled it out. She glanced down at what she had to work with and then slowly slipped the condom over him.
She shifted, releasing him as she positioned herself over him. His gaze seemed to melt into hers. She held it as she slowly lowered herself onto him. They both moaned in unison. Garrus gripped her tightly, tight enough that she felt his talons digging into her skin. It hurt, just a little bit. She…liked it. She began to move on top of him, up and down, slowly, indulgently. She wanted to feel every inch of him, to remember every moment of him inside her.
She felt his subharmonics vibrate along his body and, now that they were joined, along hers. She tried to stifle her own moaning, wanting to commit the sounds he was making to her memory. He felt so good inside her, filling her entirely, that she couldn’t quiet herself.
At first, Garrus’ hands at her hips helped guide their speed, supporting some of her weight as she went up and then back down. Then his hands drifted up, and now both held her breasts, thumbs playing with her nipples. Shepard let out an almost whining sound. She was always surprised by the noises Garrus teased out of her, noises she had never made before.
At the sound Garrus’ eyes flashed and he leaned upward, resting his weight on an elbow as he used his other hand to slip behind her neck, pulling her face down to his. “Jane,” he rumbled softly, forehead pressed to hers. After a moment his mouth wandered, placing soft bites and licks where her neck met her shoulder as he continued slowly pumping himself into her. She felt goosebumps race across her skin wherever his tongue touched or a mandible flickered. Her hands trailed over his back, scratching at the hard plate beneath her fingertips.
They took their time. With no clock counting down the seconds until they arrived at the Omega 4 relay, they could pretend that they had all the time in the world.
Garrus roamed his hands all over her body, he apparently wanted to touch all of her. Her hair, her shoulders, her back, her buttocks, her thighs…even her navel. His thrusts remained steady, and the feeling of him inside of her was making her lose focus, her thoughts all centering around the warm heat building at her center.
He was busying himself at her breast, licking there reverently, as she felt herself getting closer. She smiled to herself. No matter the species, breasts were a hit, it seemed.
She gasped as he shifted his position, using his hands to tilt her hips up as he continued to drive into her. She reached down to grab his face, bringing his mouth to hers as she closed her eyes. She was so close…She could feel the heat of his gaze on her and she opened her eyes - he was staring at her like she was the only thing in the universe.
He continued to hold her gaze, hand behind her neck. He had the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. The way he looked at her and the feel of him rocking into her at that agonizingly slow pace undid her. She squeezed her eyes closed as her orgasm began to crash through her. She felt his forehead press against hers as the pace of his thrusts increased. A taloned hand dug into her hip as he followed her, groaning and subharmonics thrumming, with his own release.
As their heart rates settled, she felt him pressing kisses against her lips, her cheek, her jaw. She slowly opened her eyes to see him staring at her, blue gaze burning.
“That…was a very nice way to wake up,” he said in that low, rough way she liked.
“I’m glad I didn’t disappoint,” she responded, giving him a grin. He ran his thumb along her cheek as he kissed her once more. She savored the contact for a few moments before she slipped off of him, laying again at his side.
Garrus didn’t waste any time in pulling her blanket back up to their shoulders. Shepard fought the urge to laugh.
“Do we have to…go back to reality?” Shepard asked sometime later. She could have laid there quietly meeting his gaze and feeling him run his talons up and down her back forever, but now that they had…finished, she could feel the needs of the real world, and all its problems, pulling at her like an anchor.
Garrus sighed, nodding slightly. “I think Miranda might break down the door, otherwise.” His expression turned apprehensive. “How much time do we have?”
“A few weeks, at the most.”
“You’re sure going back to the Alliance and letting them lock you up is the right call? You’re a Spectre, Shepard. Surely you operate outside of human law?”
Shepard sighed. They had had this discussion at various points during the past few weeks. She didn’t think she’d ever convince him to see it her way. Garrus didn’t always like playing by the rules, after all.
“I’m still a member of the Alliance military, so yes, technically, I still operate under human law. They have been inconsistent in what they have chosen to ignore so far. Now, working with Cerberus, the Batarians…”
“You had no choice,” he said roughly.
“There is always a choice. I don’t regret that decision. I do regret that I had to make it at all. That kind of debt, the weight of all those lives…I don’t think there will be any getting over that. Maybe being punished will make me feel a little better about it.”
Garrus snorted.
Shepard put a hand on his face, and he settled. “I doubt they’ll keep me locked up for long. I have Anderson on my side. I have to go back. I have to warn Earth about the reapers, try and convince them to ready themselves.”
Garrus sighed. “I know, Shepard. I know. I just…I don’t want…” his voice faltered.
“I know, Garrus. I don’t want to leave you, either. The reapers aren’t going to wait for us, and I doubt you’ll be satisfied hanging around an Alliance holding facility, waiting for me to be released.”
“I wonder what security system they use…”
“No, Garrus!” she said, laughing. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him close. He returned the embrace.
“Let’s just enjoy ourselves, while we can,” she said.
“Yes, Commander,” he responded, leaning in to kiss her again.
~~~
Time flew more quickly than either of them had anticipated. They did, however, take advantage of every second of it. As they flew around dropping crew off; at Omega, on Ilium, the flotilla, etc. Garrus and Shepard stole every moment they could.
A few minutes of lips and tongue and mouth plates in the main battery.
Hands on each other in Miranda’s office, after she had left the Normandy to see to relocating the remaining Cerberus crew. (She might have killed them, otherwise.)
Garrus sliding up behind Shepard outside the drive core, her suggesting they revisit that fantasy of bending her over in the shuttle bay…
Shepard wasn’t an exhibitionist, hell neither was he, and so they were careful, always making sure they were alone. Such precautions didn’t save Joker that one time though, the poor man may go blind. After that they made sure to keep their activities behind the closed doors of Shepard’s quarters.
Unlike the slow, timeless moments they had spent together in her cabin after blowing up the Collector base, each time they touched over those next two weeks was almost frantic. They couldn’t seem to hold each other close enough, couldn’t kiss or bite or lick enough to satisfy either of them for long. They were still learning the other’s body; sometimes a position would send them both tumbling to the floor or into a wall, sometimes a gentle caress ended in the wrong spot being pinched, hair being pulled, teeth or talons scraping. Neither seemed to mind. He would have willingly spent months, years even, learning what made her moan, what made her sigh, what made her sigh his name as she…but their two weeks were coming to an end.
Shepard, oddly enough, took dropping Grunt off on Tuchanka the hardest. He could have sworn he saw a tear escape her eye, although she denied it. Garrus, on the other hand, didn’t worry too much about the little guy. Just to be safe, though, he had given him Wrex’s old Claymore for luck.
Their time was finally, truly, up. The Normandy was currently docking at the Citadel, its last stop before Shepard and a skeleton crew (EDI, Dr. Chakwas, Joker, Daniels, and Donnelly) flew back towards the Sol system. Towards Earth.
Garrus and Thane were the last two of Shepard’s hand-picked crew on board, both having wanted to be dropped at the Citadel. Thane, to be closer to his son. Garrus, as this was a good place to catch a passenger ship to Palavan. He needed to see his father and try to get the Hierarchy to prepare in some way or another for the reaper threat. It also happened to result in the longest possible time with Shepard before she turned herself in.
Shepard was standing with Garrus and Thane, the latter two getting ready to exit the Normandy. “Say hello to Kolyat for me,” Shepard said, leaning forward to hug the assassin. He returned the hug, replying, in that quiet way of his, “Safe travels, Siha.”
Shepard then turned to Garrus. She still looked tired, Garrus thought. When would she ever get the chance to rest? As far as he was aware, she had been running around since Eden Prime (two years dead not-withstanding).
She smiled up at him as he stepped forward. She hugged him, as she had Thane, but a little longer and tighter. Garrus didn’t want to let her go. The last time she had dropped him at the Citadel while she stayed behind she wound up spaced. Finally she released him. He held onto her arms, not wanting to break contact yet. He pressed his forehead to hers. He didn’t care that Thane was a few feet away, surely the drell had the decency to be staring at the wall or something.
“Take care of yourself, Shepard. I mean it,” he said, pulling back to stare down at her, attempting to commit her face to memory.
Shining green eyes met his, and she smiled, “See you soon, Vakarian.”