Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

BOOM! BOOM!

“I can take care of myself, Wrex.” the female said dryly, shoving the shotgun back into Wrex’s arms after blasting the Cerberus troopers, leaving him momentarily speechless.

“Women.” said the krogan quickly recovering himself and heading to the Kodiak. He growled at the three soldiers staring at him. The human male quickly looked away, but Garrus and the Commander did nothing to hide their amusement. He’d hear about it later. Damn them!

As Wrex seated himsel beside the female,he noticed the marine, who were now part of Shepard’s squad, stopping next to shuttle as the Commander herself approached – pistol in hand – those last Cerberus’ lackeys that were now profusely bleeding on the ground; Garrus kept himself a few steps behind – assault rifle still drawn – watching her attentively.

“Shouldn’t you be out there with Shepard?” he eyed the soldier who just shrugged lightly.

“Nah! Scars got her covered,” he replied with something like resignation in his voice. “Plus, Lola told me to stay near the shuttle.”

“Um,” was the only reply the warlord let out as he turned his gaze towards his old friends. Shepard crouched near one of the dying men on the floor, seemed to exchange a few words with him – weapon pointed to his head – and got up again as the subject of her attention stopped moving. There was a distressed look in her eyes as she turned over and started making her way back to the vehicle holstering her gun back at her hip in perfect sync with the turian.

Until that point, there was nothing really out of the ordinary in the scene, but as she approached Garrus and looked up, her steps faltered just so barely that if you didn’t know them, you’d never notice anything unusual at all.

“Hmmm...” the old warrior’s red eyes narrowed just slightly and, when the two of them boarded the Kodiak, Wrex had a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Cortez, we’re clear to go.” she declared, closing the door and sitting between Garrus and the salarian.

“Aye aye, ma’am.” the pilot replied and they soon could feel the momentum as the shuttle ascended.

For a while, there was an almost absolute silence just tampered by the thrum of the engines. As the shuttle exited the atmosphere, things got a little messy when the vehicle made a sudden movement to the left, tossing everyone out of their seats.

“What the hell, Esteban?” Vega grunted rubbing his head where it smacked against the bulkhead. Wrex got hold of the female to keep her from falling and noticed that Shepard was tossed pretty far away from her seat and would’ve ended up on the floor if Garrus hadn’t caught and pulled her almost to his lap. The turian’s arm remained loosely wound around her back afterwards.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” the pilot said. “The starboard motion dampener took a bad hit during the fight, so we’ll have a bit of turbulence till we dock with the Normandy.”

“Copy that,” the Commander looked concernedly at the krogan female when Mordin activated his omni-tool to start scanning.

Wrex snarled suspiciously at it. “What’s that for?”

“Turbulence interefering with patient comfort.” the salarian answered without taking his eyes out of his tool interface. “Monitoring life signs to guarantee health stability.”

“Mordin knows what he’s doing, Wrex,” Shepard informed the krogan who gave her a pointed look.

“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of, Shepard.” he retorted.

She rolled her eyes and looked around. “Is everyone else okay?”

“Please, Shepard,” Garrus gave her a derisive look raising his browplates and flaring his madibles. “I used to go to ground with you piloting the Mako.”

Wrex felt a shudder climb over his hump. “Don’t remind me...” he groaned ignoring the Commander’s cold glare. “That damn tank still gives me nightmares.”

“Bah! That’s because you’ve never went for a ride in the Death Hammerhead...” Garrus quivered theatrically.

“Grunt has told me horror stories about that.” the krogan mentioned.

“Shepard’s ineptitude to drive ground vehicles proved excellent team building exercise.” Mordin interjected still flicking with his omni-tool. “Personally suggested application on new STG recruits. Impressive results.” Shepard gaped at the salarian with an ‘Et tu, Brutus’ look in her eyes. Vega laughed haphazardly.

“Now, now. Don’t be like that, Commander,” Garrus nagged her. “Even when you suck at something, you do it inspiringly.”

“You’re such an ass, turian.” Shepard gave him a mock punch with a small grin on her face.

Garrus’ arm tightened a bit around her. “I’m still your favorite turian, though...” he drawled, his voice getting an octave lower.

“For now. Just keep at it...” she let the sentence hang in the air.

“Ha-ha! I’d watch myself there, Scars.” Vega quipped.

“Nah! She’d never find another turian as stylish as I am...” he said dismissively.

Wrex guffawed loudly, eyeing the two. “Well, ain’t the turian full of it?” he stated shaking his head.

If he were really honest, he wouldn’t say he saw the two of them getting together – because they were, and about that he had no doubt – during their hunt for Saren. Sure, they’d always worked well together; he and Garrus were the most frequent squad members taken ashore with the Commander, but the turian then wasn’t worthy of a female like Shepard. Not with the awed way he seemed to look at the human, constantly looking for her approval and his ingenuous will to cleanse the Galaxy of all injustice.

Looking at them now, though, the Warlord could see the way Garrus had hardened in the last couple years, he could see the unmistakable deadly warrior of his demeanor,  and the sight in front of him – the evident more-than-just-camaraderie banter and comfortable touching they seemed intent to not acknowledge – wasn’t such an odd feeling, after all. He just regretted not being around the two of them when things started to happen to give them a hard time.

The delight he felt for two of his closest friends – as odd as it might be for a krogan to befriend a turian and a human – was overshadowed by his duty to his people. He trusted Shepard more than he ever trusted anyone, but this time around he wouldn’t allow her to talk him down on curing the Genophage; there won’t be a repetition of Virmire. Plus, once she’s in a relationship with a turian, she couldn’t be considered a truly impartial part in the negotiations. He needed to be more attentive than ever and could not – would not – allow his judgment to be clouded.

Until his people get the cure they so desperately needed in order to avoid extinction, he should keep his distance – bantering aside.