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“James, come find me after shift-change and we’ll run those numbers.”
“Sure thing, Lola.”
Garrus’ brain stopped.
He replayed the conversation.
Lola?
She hadn’t glared at him. Hadn’t acknowledged it. Hadn’t punched him then and there to make an example of his insubordination.
...Lola?
Shepard. Commander. Commander Shepard. Shepard-Comander. Skipper. Shep.
He ran through every conversation he could remember in his years on the Normandy for every variation he’d ever heard her addressed by.
Spirits, he’d had sex with the woman and this hadn’t come up?
In fairness, he was rather distracted by the whole xenophysiology bit. He’d spent hours holed up in the main battery pretending EDI was not listening in on the… extensive research material Mordin had sent him. He had studied diagrams and mating rituals and old holovids for courting until his head spun to make sure he got something right.
The night itself had been a blur.
How often did he use names, anyway?
He tried to remember the first time he had addressed Tali by anything but… well, probably only when talking to someone else about her. But to her face? Names just… weren’t needed.
Sure, that was a reasonable explanation.
He let his head sink into his hands.
What a terrible boyfriend.
He thought through possible courses of action.
He could just… ask her. It would be a reasonable enough question. They had cleared the hurdle of defining their relationship, and she was clearly interested in—someone who did not know her first name.
Scratch that.
He could have Liara run a search. The infamous shadow broker was only a few meters away and it wouldn’t be hard to just ask her to—completely invade his girlfriend’s privacy after he had spent a long afternoon on the citadel enjoying her trust.
Bad idea.
Well, he could run with it. He could take the bit of information and make use of it. Humans loved the tall dark and handsome mysterious trope. He could wait until she wasn’t expecting it, and steal a moment of intimacy and whisper gently in her ear…
Humans went wild for whispering. And Shepard had a curious fascination with his voice.
Content with his plan, he went back to his calibrations.
Shepard rubbed at her temple, waiting for the cup of coffee to percolate. After hours of reviewing troop movements, supply runs, and communications re-routing she was ready to tell EDI to put her line on Do Not Disturb and take an hour to de-stress in her cabin.
She heard the doors to the Main Battery sweep open, and suppressed a smile. De-stress, yes. Good idea.
She collected her coffee in both hands, savoring the warmth, and allowed Garrus to ‘sneak up’ behind her. He closed the distance, and gently placed his hands on her hips, leaning down to put his face close enough to hers that she felt his mandible tickle her cheek.
“Long day?”
She hummed into him, taking a long sip of coffee and enjoying the warmth inside and out.
“I think I can help with that.” His hands eased up her waist and he pressed his thumbs into the sore muscles at the base of her spine. Oh yes. Definitely time to put her comms on Do Not Disturb. “Why don’t we take this to your room, Lola.”
She choked on her coffee.