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"Garrus, would you come up to my cabin, please?"
Garrus read the message a few times before replying. It was the middle of the night cycle; how did Shepard even know he was still awake? How could he not be after watching the camera feeds from Feros. He'd bet everyone had taken longer-than-regulation showers that night. He finally gathered his thoughts and responded.
"Is everything alright?"
Her reply was simple and swift, "Not exactly."
"I'll be right up."
Not exactly? Something had to have been terribly wrong for her to call him up at this hour.
The crew deck was completely silent; not a single stray crewman. The door to her cabin slid open as he got close. "Shepard, what's up?"
She was still in her armor, which was odd since they'd been back on the ship for hours now. He couldn't quite read the expression on her face but he could tell she was in pain by the way she listed to one side.
"I'm sorry to bother you, Garrus, but..." She paused, choosing her next words carefully. She was silent long enough that Garrus took a step forward and asked if she was hurt.
"You don't look well, Shepard. Should I get Dr. Chakwas?"
Her eyes got wide, "No. Just... Can you help me out of my armor? I can't quite move properly and I think I know why," was her cryptic answer.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"If I wanted to play 20 questions, I'd have asked Alenko here instead."
"20 questions?"
With a frustrated sigh she huffed, "Are you going to help me or not?" She finished with a wince as she clenched her fist.
He didn't understand what was going on, but he moved up to her and began unclasping her chest plate. Her eyes were closed as he made quick work of the fasteners.
Though he would deny it if anyone asked, he had thought of stripping the commander of her armor, but not like this. She was with Alenko. He knew it, everyone on the ship knew it. So why wasn't he here with her now?
She turned to give him better access to her back when finally he spoke. "Shepard, I just don't understand why..." The question died on his tongue as the last of her armor fell away, showing that her undersuit was covered in muck and blood.
"How bad is it?" She asked, sensing his sudden tension.
"Spirits, how did this happen?"
"Fucking Thorian creeper. I thought some of its vomit had gotten under my armor but I couldn't tell for sure."
"You're bleeding!" He shouted, subvocals dripping with anger. "We need to get Chakwas, now."
Shepard turned to face him and placed both hands on his forearms. Her fingers felt like ice even through his civvies.
"I already saw Chakwas," she reassured him. "I went to her first thing when I got back." She was gripping him firmly and looking him right in eyes. "I've taken some pills to counter the venom, but she also gave me a cream," she motioned to the table. "But when I couldn't move to get my armor off, I knew I needed help."
She gave his forearms one last squeeze before turning her back to him again. "You're going to have to cut through my undersuit an apply that cream for me."
"Why call me?" The question slipped past his mandibles before he could pull it back.
"I swear I'll answer any questions you ask if you'll just get me out of this. It's really starting to burn, Garrus," she begged.
"I'm going to use my talons to cut the back open," he said as he removed his gloves.
She barely nodded in reply.
"Peeling this off is probably going to hurt," he added.
"I can take it."
He grabbed the top with one hand while he pierced the suit with the other and drew a talon down. She hissed as the suit began to give and his mandibles tightened at the idea that he was causing her pain.
Before he could get a good look, his nostrils were accosted with an acrid stench that elicited a cough from him. He turned his head and took a step back.
"I'm sorry," she groaned, embarrassed. "I'm completely disgusting."
"Is that what it smelled like on Feros?" He asked, still trying to get used to it.
"Yea. I guess I hadn't realized that lingering odor was me." She tried to reach back to pull the suit off herself but cried out in pain at the sensation.
"Stop," Garrus said firmly before grabbing her arm. "You asked for my help, so let me help you," he added, a bit more gently.
As he began to peel the suit (and some flesh) away, every whimper only made him angrier. How had this happened? Why weren't Alenko and Wrex paying more attention to Shepard on Feros?
He had finally peeled away enough to see that the damage was fairly extensive, running along her spine between her shoulder blades from the base of her neck to just above the top of her underwear. He helped her shimmy out of the suit completely until she stood there in nothing but under garments.
She looked so much smaller without armor; but her myriad of old scars told that she was a lot tougher than she looked.
"You'll need to cut the bra off too," her voice jarred him from his thoughts. "You know, when you're done taking in the view."
Garrus smiled, grateful that she couldn't see his face. He wanted to reach out and run his fingers across some of those scars; ask her where they came from or if she even remembered how she got them.
"Garrus?" She began to turn but he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.
"Sorry," he said. "It's just that," he couldn't very well tell her that her body was distracting. "...this looks really bad, Shepard. It needs more than just cream."
"Chakwas made a special blend with medigel, antiseptic, antihistamine, and lidocaine. She left it here while I made my rounds."
"This would be easier if you lay down," he said.
She chuckled, "Are you trying to get me in bed, Vakarian?"
"I don't know, Commander. You're the one who asked me to your cabin in the middle of the night..."
"You've still got to cut me out of this bra before you can apply the cream," she reminded him.
"Right," he said as he made one quick slice through the fabric and slowly peeled it off her skin. She hissed and grunted, and even stomped her foot once but he was finally able to remove it completely. He couldn't begin to imagine how painful it was to stand there while someone literally peeled your skin off.
She stepped forward to her bed and laid on her stomach on top of her covers. Garrus grabbed the bottle of cream and a chair from the table and walked over to the side of the bed.
"I bet you're glad you weren't on this ground team," Shepard mumbled into the bed.
"Actually, I'm not," he admitted. "I want to know why no one was watching your six," he said as he sat down next to her.
Shepard turned her head to look at him. "We got ambushed. I'm pretty sure I accidentally shot Kaidan's shields down at one point. It was a giant clusterfuck."
Garrus' face remained unimpressed.
"Don't look at me that way, Garrus," she said as she turned away from him.
He held his tongue, for now, and brushed her hair out of the way so he could have better access to her upper back. As soon as he touched her with the cream, she tensed up and grunted into the mattress.
"Shepard?" He questioned, stopping his movements.
Her breathing was labored, like she'd been running. "It stings, but keep going," she rasped as she turned her head back toward him.
Every muscle twitch or cry of pain made him want to hurt someone. If he ever came across one of those creepers, he'd rip its head from its body. He was sure he'd get the chance at some point in the near future.
"Why me?"
"Why you what?" She asked through gritted teeth.
"Kaidan, Ashley, even Liara, they all have more fingers and a gentler touch than I do. Why call me to your cabin?"
"Every time Liara touches me, I see flashes from the beacon I got caught in on Eden Prime," a primal grunt ripped through her and she bit her arm to stop the scream that was building.
Garrus paused to look at her. When she finally opened her eyes, she nodded at him and he continued applying cream. He was half done.
She went on, "Ash is too by-the-book and she might report me. Wrex is, well, Krogan. And let's just say I would never trust him to be gentle with anything, especially me. Tali is Quarian and I wouldn't risk exposing her."
"You mean to tell me on a ship filled with humans, you trust a Turian -- all sharp teeth and talons -- to be gentle with your soft, very exposed, human body?"
"No, I trust you, Garrus."
"And Kaidan?" He hoped she couldn't hear the jealousy in his voice. Garrus and Shepard had fallen into an easy friendship when he joined her crew. He had liked Kaidan at first but when he noticed that their relationship was more than just professional... Well, let's just say it took him a while to realize the feelings he had were jealousy.
"Kaidan," she hissed as Garrus worked the cream farther down her back. "I don't want him to see me weak."
"Weak?" Garrus snorted. "I just peeled your undersuit and some of your flesh off your back. There's nothing weak about this, Shepard." He sounded defensive.
"To answer your question, Garrus," she continued, "I asked you for help because I know you've always got my back. You don't have me on a pedestal either. You see me as a soldier and you follow my lead, killing anything that gets in our way."
"But you and Kaidan are..." He trailed off, unable to label them.
Shepard groaned, "We were trying to be discrete."
Garrus laughed bitterly, causing Shepard to look over at him. "I'm sorry, Shepard, but there's nothing discrete about the way he looks at you."
They were quiet for a long while as Garrus finished covering her back with the cream. He couldn't help but look at her prone, marred form as she laid nearly naked before him. It was the first time he'd seen a human female in such little clothing.
She was very different from Turian women; with her fleshy curves, soft skin, and tiny digits. Why did humans need so many fingers and toes? He shook his head, realizing that the same could be asked of Batarians and why they needed four eyes. He looked her up and down once more and decided that he might not get the chance to be so bold again.
"Why wasn't I on your ground team?" Garrus finally spoke. There had also been Geth on Feros, and he was (aside from Tali) the tech expert on the crew. He'd have made a better choice than Wrex.
"Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. I knew there would be Geth, and figured my tech would be enough to cover it. So I chose a perfectly balanced crew: an Infiltrator, a Sentinel, and a Vanguard. No where in the reports had it mentioned anything about venom vomiting zombies," she looked at him as she shifted her position on the bed. "At the time, the decision was sound," she added and she finally settled into her pillows.
Garrus stood up and pulled the covers from the other side of her bed to cover her lower body, leaving her back exposed. He put the chair back under the table and was walking toward the door when she stopped him.
"Goodnight," she called out.
"I'll have Chakwas check on you in a few hours," he said, not turning back to face her.
"Thanks, Garrus. For everything," she added through a yawn.
"You're welcome, Shepard," he said. He made himself turn and look over his shoulder before adding, "I've always got your six."