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Garrus Vakarian did not stop to breathe for a long time after the battle was over. He was either giving orders or taking them. A lot of wounded, a lot of people who did not have water or food and a lot of people were still in shock. London was in pieces- literally. When the reaper had crashed it had actually split the city apart and a lot of people were separated from their squads or buried- if they had survived. The fighting had ended, but the repairs were just beginning. He could not wait to find a moment to go out into the rubble fields. That was all he needed. He had to find something of hers. Anything of hers. She could not have just been- he stopped mid-touch of a button on a holopad in his claws. The Turian shook his head at his own train of thought. She had not been vaporized. Even then, he could find remains. James had made the comment that if they found her ashes humans had a thing called "cremation". He had nearly strangled him until Liara explained it was a respectful way to honor the dead. James had not talked to him since- nor had the rest of the crew. They were all in their own places; mourning and finding where they belonged now. It was hard with the deaths of so many friends and family to think about. Harder to work around. The old wounds burnt with his movements but they were ignored. Things needed to be done. Shepard had trusted him with getting those things done.
A hand fell on his shoulder and he turned with a flutter of hope blooming in his chest before the sight of Tali crushed it. “Garrus, you should go look. Kaidan is taking a group to search now and he wants you to come.” Her bright eyes shown even behind her reflective helmet.
He paused before shifting uncomfortably. “I have work to do here.”
Tali shook her head. “I’m sure whatever it is, I can help for an hour while you check at least some places in this city.…” Garrus did not need to be told twice and showed her what to do on the holopad before leaving down the buildings crumbling stairs. He took a gun from a pile that had been discarded; the fighting was never over for a Turian. He walked to the small group that Kaidan was standing beside. The other nodded to him in greeting and Garrus returned the gesture.
“We’re going to check the East side of the river. That’s all I’ve got time for until I’ve got to get back to my post with the others. Same for these guys. Soon as we get another break we’re checking the West.” Garrus almost argued they would find the time to check both, but realized that there were a lot of people that needed any able-bodied soldiers and their leaders as possible. So he held his tongue. Everyone was on edge at the moment.
Garrus ended up searching long after Kaidan and the others had to go back to their stations. Tali had told him it was fine. She was actually enjoying bossing around Turian commandos. She tried to cheer him up by saying she might bring home a few but it did not help his mood very much. He had only a flicker of a smile at the cheeky words before he kept looking. Several hours later, Liara and Kaidan returned with a few Krogan. A different species but no one else had the time to spare. He breathed out upon seeing them starting to search as well. Liara offered him a small smile. “There are strength in numbers,” she said softly before going to help lift the rubble up with her kinetic skills so others could dig through it. Unsurprisingly, the Krogan were amazing diggers.
When dawn was breaking overhead the next day, an Asari called out that she found something. Garrus nearly pushed her out of the way but restrained himself. Instead pulling up rocks she could not lift and tossing them back. He saw the armor. He saw the coloration. He saw the thin tendrils of red hair and the bits of pale skin that shown up through the dirt. “Shepard!” He gasped and pulled faster. The others nearby were quick to get out of the way but stayed close as he pulled her up from the wreckage. “Oh- oh-“ He whispered while pushing strands of hair out of her face. He ignored how all the movement made his burns sting.
Laira came over to hover her omni-tool above Shepard; staring at it for a moment. “Garrus, we have to get her to the medical tents. She’s very-” Her voice caught, “She’s not going to make it if-“ He was already up and running past her toward the medical tents he knew were closest with Shepard in his arms.
~~~
She slowly blinked her eyes open. The room was quiet. Very quiet. She attempted to draw breath but it ached and she quickly exhaled. Blue eyes scanned the surrounding room. She was on the citadel? It looked like the same room Kaidan had been in. Shepard shifted to see that, yes, it was exactly where she was. The citadel was in shambles but transports were flying quickly by and she could see black dots on the walls; likely people repairing and painting. She smiled a little with the realization they had persevered. Life had survived.
She turned her head to see she was hooked up to a fair few monitors. She had no idea what most of them did. Outside, Garrus was speaking to a doctor. His hands moved with his words and Liara stood beside him nodding in agreement about something. Watching their lips, she could tell they were discussing biotics and implants. She looked at herself; wiggled her toes, then her fingers. At least they were not talking about her. Garrus looked tired, but who could really tell with Turians. She claimed it was all in the eyes and it seemed Garrus was running on fumes. She laid her head back down. How long had it been since she had destroyed the reapers? What happened to Anderson after the explosion? Did everyone make it out all right? How was her crew and the Normandy?
Garrus came in after a few minutes. His footsteps were unmistakable. He had a slight limp from the vehicle crashing into him before Shepard had called the Normandy to pick him up with James. The voice was a tad bit funny and she assumed he still thought she was asleep as he spoke. “Good morning, Shepard. Another beautiful day on the Citadel. Life is returning to normal. Just spoke to the doctor about Jack. She’s doing fine; had to replace one of her arms. Could have been worse. People are still repairing everything- the relays are not behaving. They want me up there to help calibrate them but I told them I had more pressing matters. ” He sighed as he pulled up a seat and leaned on the bed. “Everyone is waiting, sweetheart…”
Shepard heard the pain in his voice and drew a breath. She opened her eyes to see him laying his head on the bed with a hand stretched out to hers. “Then why keep them waiting?”
It took a full forty-five seconds for him to slowly look up and see her. She was bruised with bandages everywhere and IVs and cords wrapped around her; but she was there. Garrus groaned and reached for her, “Shepard-“ He nearly fell over himself as tears formed and she kissed him.
“Why so much surprise?” She laughed even though she was tearing up as well. “I had a special order from my boyfriend to return alive, right? I can’t refuse an order like that.”
Garrus shook his head and ran talons through her hair. His eyes shut in a soft prayer before resting his forehead against hers. His voice was quiet, “I thought I lost you.” Shepard stayed silent for a moment as she ran her hand over the scars.
“Not yet.” He nodded and rested there for a few minutes. Coming to terms with her being alive and breathing instead of buried underneath a ton of rubble. She smiled, “How’d we do?”
Garrus was glad for the subject change and leaned back. “Everyone on the Normandy made it. Including EDI. Joker saved her AI in-ship and just put her back in her body when all the chaos was over. I suppose you heard Jack lost an arm. Hell, even the Geth managed to survive. Apparently since you ended the feud between them and the Quarians, the latter was able to save their systems like Joker did for EDI. Lot of quick work in a short amount of time that I'm not sure that even I understand. Tali would probably know more. But... everyone mostly survived. Those who didn’t… well.” He sighed and for a moment Shepard wondered if he meant more to that, "Anderson didn't make it... did he." It wasn't phrased as a question. Garrus nodded, eyes downward, "Found him not long after we found you... He died before everything collapsed." He murmured and Shepard nodded, having a feeling that when his head had rolled off to the side that he had been gone for good. "What about your family?" She whispered and Garrus took a deep breath, "Just spoke to them actually. My father and sister are safe and back home. My father is coming back out of retirement apparently to aid in the relief effort." He sighed, "We still lost good people. The reconstruction of our home worlds will take a long time.”
Shepard nodded, “I don’t doubt it. Not with the war we just went through.” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “But we’ve proven that if we can put aside our issues long enough, we can accomplish anything.” Garrus nodded slightly and grasped her hand.
“Even with a recently regrown lung, five broken ribs and four breaks in your limbs- not to mention a skull fracture and two breaks in your spine- you can still sound like you’re leading the entire group to battle. And I love that.” He kissed her forehead. “They’re talking about making you an admiral once you’ve fully recovered.”
She laughed and laced her fingers with his talons. “You know I won’t take it.”
Garrus nodded and leaned back to look outside at the Citadel being repaired. “I know. You’ve got somewhere tropical to be.” Shepard was still grinning as she followed his line of sight out the window.