Intercept 4A

Everything was murky, fuzzy.  A single thought took a massive effort to form. She felt heavy too, like she was made of stone.  Maybe moving wasn't a good idea.
Somewhere, somehow, Shepard knew this should be a bad sign. She should be worrying.   She just couldn't remember why. There were other things she was supposed to be remembering. Important things.  Very, very important things.  It was just hard to recall why they were so very important.

Besides, it was dark.  That wasn't good either.  

Eventually some part of her remembered opening her eyes might help with that dark thing.  After some thought, she decided it was worth a try.  It proved to be harder than she remembered it being.  It felt like her eyelids were made of lead, and didn't want to move very much.   Still, for some reason she knew this was important.  Slowly, bit by bit, she forced her lids to raise.

She winced at the first crack of light that leaked. She hadn't remembered anything being that bright.  After a few seconds, however, her sight adjusted to the outside world and she forced her eyes open the rest of the way.

The first thing she saw was a ceiling.  A rather cracked and worn ceiling, but still a ceiling.  Somehow that seemed off.  She hadn't been somewhere with a ceiling, had she?  She frowned, something important nudging at the edge of her mind.  

She remembered space.  No, not space exactly…a spaceship. Crucible.

Yeah, that was it, the Crucible.  Or had it been the Citadel?  Somewhere.  Big windows.  Battles going on outside.  Then…then…she frowned harder when she realized she couldn't remember much after that.  Something about an AI and frustration and lots of red.   It slipped away when she thought too much about it.  

But okay, she had been somewhere else.  That much was obvious.  Where was she now, then?  She turned her head slightly to try and get her bearings.  This was a small, mostly bare, room.  Nothing much beside the bed, and a couple of chairs. There were a few machines around the bed though. The sort of things she would expect to find in a hospital.  Was she in a hospital?  There was that sort of disinfectant smell hospitals had about them.  She knew she'd been hurt.  She still did hurt, although it felt distant.  Painkillers, some part of her mind said.  It would make sense.  Even before she had stepped into the beam she had been…

The beam. Citadel. The Illusive Man. Anderson. Reapers.   The thought trigger a flood of memories and reality crashed back into her head.  She was alive somehow, and she had no right to be. She still wasn't sure what had happened, though, and the end of the battle was muddled.  There was a point where her memories just refused to form.  Bits and pieces of events that didn't make sense formed, then melted away before she could figure out what the whole picture was.  She just knew that she hadn't been…wherever this was.  Something must have happened.  Something bigShe had to figure out what that was.  They might still need her.

Immediately she tried to jerk upright, but it was like someone had taken out all her bones and replaced them with lead.  After some struggle she managed to get enough energy to raise her arm. One of the machines around her started to beep angrily at her in protest. Shepard glared at it, wondered why if all machines were designed to annoy her, then turned her attention back to getting out of bed.  She had no idea what had happened after…whatever she had done in the Citadel.  The Crucible must have done something if she was here.  Whether it had actually helped or not was up in the air right now.   She had to find someone, get some answers for all of this.

The door to the room flew open almost as if in answer to her vague thoughts.  On the other side was one of the last people she had expected to see.

"Miranda?" Shepard croaked.  Her voice sounded a lot rustier than she remembered it being.  It was hard to force the words out.

Still, that little sound was enough to get the attention of the other woman.  "Shepard?" Miranda said, her voice softer than usual and her eyes wide.  Then she moved, faster than Shepard remembered her being, and she was by the bedside.  "You remember my name?" she said as she checked the display on one of the machines.  

Shepard stared at her in confusion, and wondered if she had hit her head harder than she had thought.  Why was Miranda asking that? "Uh, yeah.  Kind of hard to forget it."  her throat still felt dry, and scratchy.  Like she hadn't spoken in a while.

"That's good," Miranda visibly relaxed.  "Do you remember your name?"  

"Yes," Now Shepard was fairly certain she wasn't the one who had been hit on the head.  And this really wasn't telling her where she was. At least it felt like it was getting easier to talk.  "Yes, Miranda, I know my own name. What I don't know is where the hell I am and how I got here!"   She attempted to sit up again, but her muscles were still doing their limp noodle impression.

"I'll tell you if you stop that!" Miranda placed a hand on her shoulder. "You've been unconscious for a little over a month Shepard.  I'm trying to determine if you're still mentally sound."  The other woman shook her head as she reached down and tapped something that made the head of the bed raise up a little more.  "Although with you I'm not sure 'mentally sound' was ever an accurate description.

Shepard barely noticed Miranda's last quip. "Over a month?  I've been laying here for over a month?" She tried to force herself up again, and managed to get into something like a sitting position. Unfortunately her legs had decided they didn't want to go along with her plan of getting out of bed.  Miranda moved to make her stay still, and Shepard glared at her.  "Why the hell did you let me sleep so long?  What happened out there, after the Crucible?  What about the war?  The Reapers?  Where is…"

"The Reapers are gone," the new voice came from the door way.  Both women looked up as Dr. Chakaws stepped though.  She was smiling, relief radiating from her.  "Shepard, it's good to see you again."

"Chakwas?"  Shepard stared at the doctor for a few moments of incomprehension before her brain could even try to make sense of this.  "You're here too?  But the Normandy.."

"The Normandy is fine," Chakwas moved over to join them. "And before you can ask, yes, Garrus and Tali made it out all right despite their injuries."

"They are?  You're sure about that?" Shepard said slowly as her jumbled memories of what had happened during that frantic dash toward the beam. "And the Reapers are…gone?"  She let herself sink back down to the bed as her mind tried to process that.

"I treated both of them myself," the Normandy's doctor said patiently. "and yes, the Reapers are gone. Dead would probably be more accurate, but either way, they aren't here to bother us anymore."  She stepped closer, and Shepard finally noticed the unsteady smile on her face. "It's good to see you up again Shepard. You've been out so long you were even starting to worry me" She reached down and laid a hand on her shoulder.  It weirded out Shepard a little to know that she was the cause of Chakwas being this openly emotional.

"Sorry about that?" Shepard said uncertainly. "It's good to see you too.  Nice waking up to familiar faces instead of just another scientist. I've kind of gotten tired of that."

"I would have been here sooner, but I only just got the news." Chakwas turned a glare on Miranda.

"I sent you a message as soon as I became aware of it myself," the former Cerbus agent shot back. "It's not like I could control how far away you were." She had her omintool out and was checking the readings on one of the machines, but paused, a small smile on her face. "I will have to add that Dr. Chakwas was not the only one worried.  You have a great many people waiting for you."

Shepard was sure she knew of at least one person that would fit the description.  Actually, now that her thoughts were a little clearer, she was wondering where he was.  She must have said his name without meaning too because Chakwas chuckled.  "Garrus is over at the turian command center.  When he's not by your side, he's been working himself to the bone to distract himself.  I'm sure he'll be here as soon as he can."  

"Sooner, if he can manage it I imagine," Miranda commented. "I did send him a message myself. I wouldn't want to see  his reaction if I hadn't."

That was enough to bring a faint mile to Shepard's face, and she felt a little lighter.  Time to focus on more important things. "That's nice.  Really.  But could someone please tell me where the hell I am and how I got here?"  

Both doctors looked at it each other. "You're in a hospital," Chakwas said after a moment. "It's one of the few left standing, and naturally it was considered the only place to bring the galaxy's hero. Although they are keeping it quiet for now.  Not many even know you're here."

"Before you ask," Miranda chimed in, "Dr. Tsoni and Lieutenant Vega found you at the beam site.  You were…very badly wounded when they brought you.  We weren't even sure you were going to survive.  Of course, they underestimated how immeasurably stubborn you are."

"The beam…site?" she struggled to recall where the hell that was.  "How did I get there?"

"No one knows," Chakwas said briskly. "Granted, the scientists all have numerous pet theories on the subject, but no one was willing to commit to anything until you were awake to confirm any of them."

Shepard couldn't imagine how anyone could think she would be able to answer any of their questions. Now when she could barely remember anything herself.  Then again politicians were idiots and probably wouldn't even believe that.  Miranda was saying something about exhaustion being a natural reaction to something, but she wasn't paying attention.  It was getting harder to focus on thinking again.  She was tempted to just closer her, eyes for a couple of seconds, just to rest them…at the last second she realized what was happening and forced herself awake.  She had already slept enough; she was not going to waste anymore time!

Still, she could feel exhaustion dragging at her and she cast her mind out trying to find something to keep herself awake.  Then, suddenly she realized if she had been found where the beam had picked her up from, maybe there was a chance she hadn't been the only one to come back.

"Anderson," she said out loud, "if they found me, they must have found him too, right?."  

The silence from both the other people in the room was answer enough even before Chakwas said softly, "I'm sorry Shepard. He didn't make it."  

Shepard had tried not to hold onto too much hope, but it still felt like a blow. There had been a part of her searching for  some way he would make it out alive. "Damn it!"  Something wet trickled down the side of her face.  Quickly she closed her eyes, hoping no one had seen the tears.  If either Miranda or Chackwas had, they didn't mention it.

"He died a hero, Shepard," Miranda said. "His sacrifice is already being honored."

"Still, he didn't deserve to die up there," Shepard said, and opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling again.  It took more effort than she thought it should and she could feel the exhaustion creeping up on here again.  

"No one deserved to die out there," Chakwas said firmly, "and I doubt he would be very pleased with you moping about after his death.  He would probably insist you concentrate on recovering and getting back on your feet.  You are a hero, Shepard."

"He probably would," Shepard had to admit, "and I don't feel like a hero at the moment."

"That's because you need rest," Dr. Chakwas' voice sounded far away. Shepard snorted slightly, but allowed her eyes to drift close.  She was only going to rest for a second.  That was it, all she was going to allow herself.  She swore it.

Her intent, however, seemed to matter little to her body.  She felt herself slipping back into sleep, and this time didn't have the strength to fight it.

Shepard wasn't sure how much time had passed when she opened her eyes again. There were no windows, and no one had decided to leave a clock where she could see it. Not that it really mattered anyway, but it would be nice to know how much more time she had wasted.  Long enough that Miranda and Chakwas had left, at least.  She wasn't alone though, not anymore.  Garrus was in a chair by her bedside, one hand resting on hers.  He looked tired, and hadn't seemed to notice she was awake.

Even though Dr. Chakwas had told her he was all right, seeing him again brought on a rush of relief and other emotions. He really was all right, even his head kept falling forward like he was going to doze off at any moment. That he was pushing himself that hard, just for her, was both touching and slightly exasperating. Maybe she should have felt more annoyed with him, but seeing him just felt far too good for her to sustain it.  There was that sense of peace that he always brought with him, even in the middle of the war.  As she watched his head nod forward again, she wondered if it was possible for turians to outright fall asleep while standing.

"That can't be comfortable," she croaked out loud.  Despite how bad she must have sounded the words made Garrus jerk upright all at one, all trace of drowsiness in his eyes gone.

"Shepard?" he said, a sharp keen creeping into his subvocals as he pinned her with an intense gaze. It felt like he was studying every inch of her, and if she had more energy it would have made her shiver.  She loved it when he looked at her like that.

This time all she could do was smile. "Yeah," she turned her hand over to grip his. "Hey."

He made a strangled sound, then the next thing she knew he was pressing his forehead against her, stroking the side of her face with his free hand.  "You're awake," his voice shook "You're awake! Spirits. You...you...stupid, reckless, idiotic, heroic... human. Do you know how much of a hassle you are? Blowing everything, including yourself, up, and then deciding to just sleep for days on end and let everyone else do all the work."  She could hear the desperation in his shaking words and felt a rush of guilt.

"Sorry 'bout that," she muttered, returning the pressure against her forehead as best she could. "Wasn't planning on blowing myself up but, just, you know, Reapers.  Always have to make things more complicated, even after they're dead."

"I think you have them beat out when it comes to complicating things," Garrus grumbled and slowly eased back. "Really Shepard, you don't have to turn everything into a competition."

"But that's the fun part," she had to clear her throat before she could get the words out but tried to grin about it. She couldn't put any energy into it though, and Garrus reached over to smooth a hand through her hair.

"In all seriousness, you did have me worried Shepard," he said, his voice still not totally steady. "There were so many reports coming in, all of them conflicting, and then someone told me that you'd been confirmed dead...." his voice started to keen again. Shepard squeezed his hand again.

"Come on, you should know me better than that," she said lightly. "Even I'm capable of following orders when I want too. Had some pretty convincing ones telling me to come back."  His words still echoed crystal clear in her mind. She remembered that much, even though the rest of her memories of what exactly had happened after she had activated the Crucible were refusing to cooperate with her.

Garrus flared his mandibles slightly. "I suppose I am pretty convincing.  But, I also do know you Shepard.  That's what had me worried.  If I had lost you.." his voice trailed off into nothing.

"Hey, I'm here," she said and tried to sit up slightly and reach out for him.  Her body, however, decided to inform her that she was still weak and that was a Bad Idea.  Weakness dragged her back down, and the pain of injuries that were little more than half-healed made her hiss.  

Garrus was there immediately, peering at her in horror.  "Don't do that! Can't you stay still for more than two seconds?"

"Not really," Shepard grunted as she tried to get herself back into a comfortable position. "Although it looks like I'm not gong to have much of a choice right now.  Ow, dammit."  

Garrus actually chuckled, a little shakily. "I know you like being difficult, but now might be a good idea to listen to the nice doctors."  He helped her get settled, but didn't pull back all the way. He stayed close, as if he half expected her to try this again.  She really couldn't bring herself to tell him to move away.

"I suppose I can," she admitted begrudgingly. "But only until I'm a bit better. I'm not staying here a moment longer than I have to.  Soon as I can stand I'm heading straight back towards the Normandy.  I can recover better there than in a hospital."    Garrus hadn't said anything.  He was just staring at her and gripping her hand tightly.
"What?"

"I missed you Shepard," he said quietly, not taking his eyes off her. "I just...it was lonely out there with out you."  There was so much emotion in those words, and in his eyes, that it was hard to meet them. Shepard was still having trouble wrapping her head around how long she had been out, but suddenly she was wondering what it must have been like for someone on the outside. The waiting..She wasn't sure she would have been able to deal with something like that.  If this had happened to Garrus, if she hadn't even known if he would wake up…. that was something she didn't want to think about.

She tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. Even though her arms still felt like lead she still managed to raise a hand far up enough to stroke his unscarred mandible. "Well I'm back," she told him softly. "So quit worrying about it, okay?"

That got a snort of him as he leaned into her touch. "Hard not to worry when I have a girlfriend who seems to make a habit out of forgetting about little things like personal safety."

"Like you're any bett.." a coughing fit interrupted her.  Garrus gave a shocked growl.

"What's wrong?  Should I call for someone?  I can get.."

"It's fine," she managed to get out. "My throat's just really dry.  Is there water or something around here?"

"Ah yeah, Miranda left it, hold on..." Garrus stood, and disappeared passed the head of her bed.  There were sounds of him moving something around, then he reappeared with a small paper cup in his hand.  "Here, let me."  He slid an arm under her shoulders and lifted her a bit, but when he tried to raise the cups to her lips, Shepard pulled away.

"I can drink for myself," she said dryly.  She couldn't remember a time when she was conscious and she couldn't at least eat or drink by herself.  It took effort, sure, but she was not helpless child. She could do this.  She was going to do this.  

"Are you sure?" Garrus flared his mandibles in distress.  "You really don't look good Shepard."

"I'm sure," she said as she inched her hands slowly up. She managed to get a hold of the cup, which was bigger than she thought it was, and brought it up to her mouth.   Garrus kept her propped up and watched anxiously as she sipped carefully. She wasn't shaking exactly but it was work to keep her hands steady, and she was not going to embarrass herself by splashing it all over after making such an effort to argue about it.

Even those few sips made her feel much better. Suddenly things didn't seem as hard  "See? Told you," she said as Garrus took the cup away.  He snorted and she used him turning away for a second to hide how quickly she dropped her hands back onto her lap.  Yeah, she felt better but apparently that wasn't enough.  Still have a ways to go yet, she thought as she glared at her hands.  She just hoped that the weakness was only temporary.  The mere thought of it being more permanent, of never being able to be a soldier again, made her shake slightly.  The Alliance had been her whole life since she had joined it.  What would she do if she had to give that up?

She had almost forgotten Garrus was it he room with her until a three-fingered hand wound around one of her own. Shepard jerked her head up automatically and met a pair of worried blue eyes.  

"You know," the turian said slowly. "I kept talking to Dr. Chakwas when she showed up.  You know, about how you were doing, when you were going to wake up...stuff a worried boyfriend usually asks doctors about.  One thing she mentioned to me was that you were healing faster than any decent human being had a right to be."

"So I'm not decent now?" she chuckled and squeezed his hand gently.  

He flared a turian grin at her. "You really want me to answer that, Shepard?"  He shook his head, "The point is, whatever enhancements Cerberus stuck in you seemed to be doing a pretty good job of making sure your body was fine.  Chakwas just seemed a tiiiny bit concerned that you might be a bit, hmmm, drained for a while.  Humans aren't krogan after all, so this time you aren't going to be able to dance away without some sort of consequences."

"Wait," Shepard said slowly as she started to process what he had just told her. This was what Miranda had been babbly about earlier, wasn't it? "All.. this is just a side effect?"  A shuddering sense of relief swept through her.  She tried to keep it out her voice.  Covering it with annoyance was good.  "So how long am I going to be stuck with it?"

"You know, most people like to take a break after they get back from saving the galaxy. I think you of all people have earned that," Garrus drawled. "But if you're really that intent on jumping straight back into the fray, then you're going to have to ask Dr. Chakwas. Or Miranda. They can tell you when you can expect to be back on your feet.  Just try not to kill anyone when they don't clear you immediately."

Even though Garrus was keeping his tone light, there was worry and sympathy in his eyes. Her cheeks flushed.  She didn't need sympathy, and she hadn't meant to worry him.  How had he even known what to say anyway?  He was always a little too good at figuring out what she was feeling, damn turian.  Then again, he had been a cop, and he knew her.  Knew her very well, when it came down to it.  Honestly, it kind of felt good, not having to explain why the thought of being so helpless made her shake.   He probably understood the feeling.

She felt the annoyance she had at him slipping away.  It should have been scary, being with someone that knew her that well. Earlier in her life she certainly would have tempted to run away from it.  Now, after everything she had been through with him, it just felt comforting knowing that she didn't have to stumble through words about a fear like that.  He wouldn't make fun of her about it either.  Just accept it as part of her.

"I'll keep my temper in check," she said and smiled at him. "Or at least I'll try.  Even I know it's bad manners to growl at the people who put you back together."

"As if you humans could growl, even if you wanted to," Garrus leaned forward to brush a lock of hair out of her face. "Granted, you almost manage it but nothing any self respecting turian would call a growl."

For a few moments just enjoyed having him this close. This close though, she couldn't help noticing changes that she hadn't before, when she had been a bit distracted.   There were new pot-marks and pitting on the unscarred side of his face, and even the skin of his neck had a few still healing cuts.

"I guess you've had some experience with growling at doctors," she said quietly. "Fairly recently, I guess."   He pulled away and looked at her in confusion.  "You could barely walk the last time I saw you, Garrus.  It's nice to see you on your feet."

His mandibles dropped in confusion and he stared at her for a few seconds. "You have no idea how many things I want to say to that.  My girlfriend runs straight into an alien deathbeam and she's worried about me. I'm beginning to think you really did knock something lose in your head."

"Humor me?" She asked. "You can't really blame me for being a little worried after...everything else."  Her throat closed and she tried very, very hard not to think about what happened up there in the Citadel. Anderson was something she wasn't sure she was ready to deal with.  She wasn't sure she would ever be.  Something must have show in her eyes because Garrus moved forward and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Of course, Shepard," he rumbled soothingly before pulling away just a little. "But look, I'm fine. You really think Chakwas would let me be up and walking around if I wasn't?"

He wasn't lying.  She could read him enough to know that, and it made her relax some.  "I think you could find some way around her orders if you wanted to. I'm pretty sure I remember you doing it before."

"Yeah, but," he flared his mandibles in distress, "Shepard.. Lil, I.."

"I know," she said quickly. "I believe you this time, really."

"Good," he rumbled. "Because I actually feel a lot better than I did this morning. Have a weight off my mind now."

"Yeah, sorry about that."  Shepard couldn't help nodding towards the cut on his neck. "Just noticed you had a few more scars."

"So do you," he observed, running his thumb over a spot on her hand.  Considering how bad she remembered the wounds she remembered were, she could imagine that.  There were probably a dozen other injuries that she had forgotten about that had made things worse.

"Probably," she agreed. "Guess we'll just have to show them off to each other later."  She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.  That actually seemed to hurt a little and she resolved not to do it again.  At least it startled a laugh out of her boyfriend.

"Are you really that insatiable,?" he said as he straightened all the way. "No wait, I'm not sure I want you answer that.  I do think I'll get frowned at a little for taking advantage of you before you were back to your old self."

That got a laugh out of her.  It jolted something in her chest that told her how sore she really was underneath the painkillers, but it felt good to laugh again. "I think we could debate over who was taking advantage of who in that situation," she squeezed his hand, "but I'll be good for once.  Tell me what happened with Normandy instead.  Chakwas said it was fine, but more detailed reports are always appreciated."

"She got a bit banged up, but nothing that can't be fixed," Garrus flared his mandibles in a grin. "And before you ask, yeah, everyone is fine.  Just kindly remember to send us a warning the next time you decide to fire a doomsday weapon."

"So that's what you would call the Crucible? A doomsday weapon?"  Shepard felt a tiny thrill of alarm at that. She didn't actually remember what the crucible had done only that something had happened.  She had no idea how destructive it was.  If Garrus was calling it a doomsday weapon..

"I think that Reapers would have called it one," he was grinning. "You set it off, boom, flash of light, and then suddenly all of them stopped moving.  Whatever you did got the ground forces too."

"Good," she said letting herself relax. She had fallen asleep before Chakwas could giver her any details, and it was nice hear it. "But that's it? Just a flash of light?"

"Well, light, and a lot of energy.  Didn't do much though, knocked a few ships, caused problems with some of their equipment, and did little things like short out the mass relays. That's all."

"What?" she tried to jerk upright before Garrus gave a worried keen and stood. She kept her eyes on him as she settled her shaky body back down.  "I shorted out the mass relays?"  They would be cut off from the rest of the galaxy without the mass relays. Everyone would be stranded, and if they couldn't get them operational again then there were some who might never see their homes again.

"Calm down," Garrus said firmly. "You didn't do anything. It was the Crucible, and you know that most of the people here right now would willingly have traded the relays for the death of the reapers."  

"Still a big sacrifice to make," she muttered, subsidiing a little.

Garrus snorted. "It's not like they were destroyed," he pointed out, "teams have been out working on them since they moment they could get out there.  There's no physical damage, just overtaxed.  The quarians and the geth both say they'll be able to get them working again fairly soon."  

"The qurians and the...geth?" Somehow that made her feel better.  There was something mixed in with the muddled memories of the crucible that said she should be relived and happier about this.

"Yep," Garrus was saying. "Good job you made peace between them. Otherwise we would be waiting a hell of a lot longer. It's pretty impressive what they can do together after someone knocked sense into them."

"You're sure about that?" She couldn't keep the anxiousness out of her voice and Garrus sighed.

"Yes, Shepard, I am sure. As sure as I can be without going out there myself, which, you know, is something I really have no desire to do."

"I don't really want you to leave either," she said softly. "And okay, I believe you," She tried to smile and change the subject, "so I take it the Normandy was one of the ships that got tossed around a little?"

"Umm...not exactly."

The flanging on his voice had gotten wider and he looked away.  Her eyes narrowed. "Garrus?"

"We did get knocked about a bit, yeah, but EDI going off line was kind of a bigger problem."  

"What!?" Shepard yelped, but this time before she could try to move Garrus had his hands on her shoulders.

"Would you stop that?" his mandible were splayed in distress again. "You hurt yourself again and Chackwas is going to get mad at me. Then ban me from being here. Not something either of us wants."  

"You told me EDI went offline and I'm supposed to be calm about this?"

"Went off line for a little bit," he said quickly. "We got her running again, so don't worry about it.  No one has noticed anything different about her, even Joker, and EDI  says there aren't any system anomalies."  Shepard frowned at him still not convinced, and Garrus shook his head slightly. "I checked myself, Shepard. The only thing we can't account for is why that robot body of hers won't work.  No matter what we do we can't get into it, but that's not critical or anything at the moment."
"I can call up Joker if you want. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you all about it," Garrus added.  He didn't really look happy about the prospect and Shepard sighed.

"No, no, that's all right.  I'll believe you," she sighed, "I can guess that Joker is really not happy about the situation. I don't need him talking my ear off about it right now."

"'Not happy' really doesn't cover it," Garrus agreed. "Although at the moment I think he's worried that EDI might actually take up the geth's offer to use one of their platforms."

"Please tell me I didn't hear you correctly. The geth wanted EDI to join them?" she just stared wide-eyed at Garrus, who chuckled at her expression.

"Not join them exactly. They just thought they would be neighborly and lend her a 'mobile platform' until hers was operational again."  

Shepard couldn't help laughing at the mental image that conjured up. It still hurt, but she couldn't help herself  "Please tell me someone has a picture of Joker's face when that happened. I can just picture his expression."

"Oh, I think Tali might," Garrus chuckled. "As her the next time you see her.  I'm sure she'll be more than happy to hook you up."

"Think she'll come by?" The prospect of seeing Tali again made her feel a little happier.  Tali, Liara, Joker...it would be good to see all of them with her own eyes. Hearing about how they were doing was a pale substitute to that.

"I think it'll be harder to keep her away," Garrus said.

They talked a bit more after that, about the status of the Normandy, how the crew was holding up, but gradually it became more about her listening and Garrus speaking.  She had always loved his voice.  Aside from downright sexy, it was soothing to listen to sometimes.  She didn't even mind listen to him jabber about things in the Thanix she only half-understood because of it.  It was relaxing, comforting...

She didn't realize just how relaxing it was to hear him again until his voice changed to something sharper. "Shepard?"

She jerked out of the half doze she was in. "Mmm?" she said tiredly as she opened her eyes and blinked at him.

He was flaring his mandibles at her anxiously as he leaned over.  "You all right?"

"Mmm, fine," she said putting in a mighty effort to keep her eyes open. "Just give me a minute."

Garrus relaxed slightly and ran a hand through her hair. "Don't push yourself, Shepard," he said softly. "Rest if you want to."

Somehow she felt she should be arguing against that, but she just didn't have the energy too. "...Fine," she muttered. "But could you.." she didn't finish the sentence since it would sound so childish to voice it, but it was Garrus and he seemed to understand.

"I'll be here," he said as he took her hand again. "Always."

"Thank you," she said outloud before she closed her eyes and let herself relax into sleep once more.

O0o0o0o0o

Garrus sat watching the rise and fall of her chest.  Sleeping again, but at least this time it was just regular deep sleep.  She was back.  She would wake up, and they could talk again.  No more worrying.  She was here.

He let out a shuddering breath, trying to keep it together.  He had been trying to be relaxed while she was awake and not show how much he had been worried over her. She had enough to adjust to without throwing his state of mind into the mix. The moment he had got a message from Chakwas saying that she was awake and talking he had set out toward the hospital.  Even after coming this close to hijacking a transport to get here as fast as possible, he still hadn't arrived before Shepard had fallen asleep again.  He hasn't left since then. He had to see for himself that she was all right, that she was still herself.  

That had been everyone's unspoken worry. The doctors had done they best they could, but even they didn't know what was going to happen when she woke up. She had taken so much damage that there was always the possibility that whoever came out of the coma wouldn't be the Shepard they had known. There was so much that could have gone wrong, and he had tried his best not to think about any of it. Joker had brought up old Earth dramas where a character had woken up with amnesia as a joke, but Garrus had to admit that the mere thought had shaken him. Shepard forgetting everything? Even him? How would you deal with that?

Thankfully he hadn't been the only one affected by that thought and Joker had very quickly pretended the conversation had never happened.

At lest they wouldn't have to worry about that anymore. "It's over now," he hadn't meant to say the words out loud. The sound of the them in the small room made him jump and reflexively slammed his mouth shut, mandibles clinging tight to his face. He might be happy that Shepard was with him again, but he was not going to jeopardize her recovery by waking her up when she should be resting.

The door opened suddenly and be held back a warning snarl at the sound, just as Tali stepped inside.

"Garrus," she said, not sounding at all surprised at finding them there. "How is she?" her gaze switched to Shepard. Her mask blocked her face but he didn't need to see it to read the lines of her body and the anxious tone in her voice.

"You just missed her," he said, forcing himself to relax and keep her voice low. "She was awake for a while, but she's still weak. Apparently Chakwas was right; those little bits of machinery in her are helpful, but draining."

Tali grumbled something that sounded like a quarian curse but it was too indistinct for his translator to catch.
"But you talked with her? She's really all right?" Tali had her hands clenching together.

"She's fine," he said gently, "at least mentally. I think her asking about the Normandy and the crew was a good sign."

"Thank god," Tali sagged back against the wall. "Chakwas said that she was okay, but when she mentioned that Shepard didn't really remember somethings that had happened and I got so worried. I tried to get out here as soon as I could but I kept running into problems and delays.."

"Look, Tali, don't worry about it," he said quickly. "Any memory loss she has seems to be centered around what happened right before the Crucible fired, and frankly, that might be for the best."

"That's something I'll agree on. I would rather guess about what happened with the Reapers than force anyone, most of all Shepard, to relive something like that."

"Then you'll have to help me keep the Alliance off her," he felt his subvocals shift down into a threatening growl as he spoke and it took effort to drag it back. He wasn't sure if that would wake Shepard or not. "They'll want answers, but I'm not letting them put that ahead of Shepard's health."
He knew he was being at least a little stupid about this. Maybe even very stupid about it. It was just that over the past few years he had seen what the Alliance, what even the Council had put her thought but was helpless over it. Now the whole galaxy owed her, and he was finally in a position where he could do something to make things easier for her, even if it was just chasing away politicians and paparazzi until she could do it herself.

"You know I'll help however I can," Tali said gently, then paused for a second. "How are you holding up, Garrus?" There was an anxious note in her voice, and it was only when he heard it that he realized his hands were shaking slightly.

He took a deep breath, evoking the same discipline he did to steady himself right before a shot. "I'm fine," he said as best he could. "Really. Today's just been a little emotional is all." He hadn't realized how just hearing her voice would get to him. Talking to her, knowing she was all right...he hadn't even said half the things he wanted to her. He didn't want to drag out something that emotional when she looked as weak as she did. Besides, his words had been stolen by just being able to talk with her, joke with her as if nothing had happened.
"I got to see her again, Tali," he admitted quietly.

Tali closed the few steps between them. "I know," she said as she laid a hand on his shoulder. "She's probably glad to be back too."

"Yeah," was the only thing he could think to say to that.

"You'll see her again soon," Tali said firmly, " and when she's awake again you have to call me. I will be most unhappy if you don't, understand?"

He relaxed slightly. "An unhappy quarian. Wouldn't want that. Don't worry, I'll call you."

He could promise that. Tali was right. Shepard would be with them again. He just hoped it would be soon.