Chapter Text
“So what now Shepard?”, Garrus Vakarian sat on the cave floor with his arms crossed in front of his chest leaning against the back of the wall, his long legs stretched out in front of him.
“I dunno. We’ve covered our hunt to for Saren, mutual acquaintances and the past and current crew of the Normandy; weapon mods we have, mods we want to have, mods that don’t exist but would be cool to have, upgrades to the ship, what the weather’s like on both Earth and Palaven, and you’ve tried to explain exactly what you do when you calibrate the Thanix with little success or hope of me ever understanding a word you said. I don’t know Garrus, but I think we may have officially run out of small talk.”, Shepard smiled at her teammate in the dim light of the emergency lamp that sat in between them.
“Well, hopefully it won’t take the others too long to dig us out of this. Mind you we are talking about being at the mercy of Grunt here.”
“What? I have faith that he’ll be able to pilot the shuttle back to the Normandy on his own and get help. Don’t know how long it’ll take to get through the rocks without caving the rest of the tunnel in, but I think we won’t have to worry about it being days.
“You always know exactly what to say to make me feel so much better, Shepard”, the turian drawled, his flanging voice laden with sarcasm.
“Look at it this way Garrus, even if we are stuck in here for an extended period of time, at least you don’t have to worry about cannibalism, my dear dextro.”
“I reiterate my previous statement.”
The situation wasn't as bad as they had initially thought. While yes, being trapped on the wrong side of a landslide in a cave was never a good thing, it could have been much worse. They quickly established that there was enough airflow coming through a small crack at the back of the cave so there was no risk of suffocating. There was also enough food and water to last them at least three days if they combined what was in their survival kits with the supplies that had belonged to the mercs they had taken out. The icing on the cake had been when Shepard had opened a crate to discover that it contained blankets and sleeping bags.
The only downside is that they had already been there talking for hours and felt like they were ready to climb the walls out of boredom. As close friends as they were, there was only so many times they could listen to the same war stories. Making it more difficult was the fact that had they were frequently both on the ground team for most of the chase after Saren, so there was no point in telling a story to someone who had been there.
"The only thing I can think of right now is would you want to try and play a game?", Shepard said after a few minutes of contemplative silence.
"Now you're going mention that you have a deck of cards, really? What else are you holding out on me?"
"Not cards. Though packing a set just in case wouldn't be bad idea after this. Don't you have games that just involve talking on Palaven?"
"What do you mean?"
"Games like I Spy, Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare, or 20 Questions? You know, games that usually kids or teenagers usually play at parties or sleepovers. Something to do to pass the time and keep you from going insane on a long transport ride, that kind of thing."
"What by the Spirits above is I Spy?"
"Basically it's a guessing game where you pick an item in the room and you have others try and guess what it is by it's colour, shape, the first letter of it's name, et cetera. Here I'll give you an example. I spy with my little eye, something that starts with "V"."
"Vakarian."
"No."
"Visor."
"Damn."
"Yeah, I don't know Shepard, that would probably get really old, really quickly," Garrus said as he rubbed the back of his neck.
The silence crept in again. Shepard stood, grabbed a couple of blankets from the crate and dropped down beside Garrus, and tossing him one and wrapping the other around herself. The temperature in the cave was dropping, more than likely due to dusk setting in. It wasn't freezing cold, but chilly enough that Shepard wanted to cocoon herself in fabric.
"What about 20 Questions? How do you play that one?", Garrus said, only half paying attention while he peeled off the wrapper to his water bottle.
"Mmm, with that one you pick a topic and the person who is guessing has only twenty questions to guess what it is. The person who picked the topic can only confirm yes or no to the question, and is not allowed to lie. The only exception is you can say if you don't know or can't answer."
"Pass."
"Well there's the other way that some people play it. It's not really the correct title, but some people play with the rules being that you get to ask twenty personal questions without the players being able to refuse. I don't mind if we give it a try, but if we're going to play, we are so doing a quid pro quo thing. No way you get to grill me without offering up some juicy tidbits about yourself."
"That could be fun. Potentially very dangerous, but fun," Garrus said flicking his mandibles into a turian equivalent to a grin.
"Oh really," Shepard gave her companion a gentle nudge with her shoulder. "Why, what else could you want to know? You already know a ton about me. You'll probably make a fortune off the unofficial biography you'll write when this is all over."
"I don't know as much as I should as your best friend.
"What makes you say that? Not counting my mother, you probably know me the best in this entire universe, big guy. You've followed me across the damned galaxy watching my six the entire time. Between your guns and tech and my biotics, we tear up the battlefield. You laugh at my jokes and my dancing. You helped make sure I didn't die when that asshole bartender tried to poison me, even after I puked on your boots. In fact you were the only one who didn't mock my driving in the Mako, and you had to fix the thing afterwards," Shepard stopped and narrowed her eyes when she thought she heard him mutter something that sounded suspiciously like 'At least not to your face' under his breath. "Alright fine, how about I go first. Why do you think you don't know that much about me?"
Garrus quickly turned to look at Shepard, before muttering, "Shepard…I…"
"Spit it out Vakarian. You know the terms of our game. Spill." Shepard said with a chuckle.
His attention had drifted to a small spot on the floor, which Garrus gently nudged with one toe of his boot. Shepard began to worry when his mandibles began to flutter in the way they only did when he was nervous.
After a minute, without taking his eyes off the spot, Garrus spoke. "At your funeral, well the semi-public one that wasn't just for high-level Alliance brass and close family, it made me realize how little I knew about you personally. Most of it covered your career in the Alliance, how you became a Spectre and stopped Saren. All the stuff you could find out in an extranet search. Recounting your life made me realize I didn't know what was your favourite colour, or what type of music you preferred or your favourite meal. The type of simple things friends know about each other."
"Garrus…," Shepard started, trying to work out the uncomfortable lump that had suddenly formed in her throat.
"And it's not like we didn't have the opportunity to talk. Spirits, when we were en route somewhere and you would come down to the cargo hold and do your paperwork just to be closer to the majority of your team, we all had some good conversations. Looking back though, you usually tried to find out more about us than we did trying to find out about you. I regretted that."
Shepard smiled and gave another playful shove with her shoulder. "Well, we can fix that now, can't we?"
"Yeah, we can."
Gauging that the tone of the conversation was growing a bit too melancholy for her tastes at that given moment, Shepard quickly tried to change the subject. “Sappy moment officially over. It’s your turn. Fire away.”
“This question is going to sound stupid and kind of goes to prove what I was saying before, but uh…hmmm…what by the Spirits is your first name?” Garrus asked quickly, his embarrassment visible by the tone of cyan the skin on his neck was quickly becoming.
“Really Garrus? All the dirt you could get out of me and you ask me that? I think the only people who actually call me by my first name is my mother. Anderson does too occasionally, but very rarely and only when we’re both off duty. Which lately has been never.”
“I’ve always been curious.”
“Even though no one ever uses it? C’mon, don’t you think a list of my top ten greatest fears would be more tempting?” Shepard said with a wide smile and tone of voice that was usually reserved for when she would use her silver tongue to get what she wanted.
“Cough it up, Shepard. Besides, this is only the first round so I have lots of questions left. This has been bugging me for a while.” Garrus paused as he brought up a dozen articles he had saved on his omni-tool, ranging from reports of her survival on Akuze to an opinion piece on what would become of the Alliance’s chance at a seat on the Council with the death of the first human Spectre. “All I have been able to find is your first initial. I was beginning to think that the only way to find out would be to try hack into the Alliance personnel files, as none of the Normandy crew actually seemed to know or wouldn’t say. Even Chakwas just smiled and gave me the “patient confidentiality” spiel. ”
“Alright, alright fine…,” she sighs. “It’s Elizabeth, Elizabeth Shepard.”
“See that wasn’t so bad.”, he said consolingly. “Not a fan of it I take it?”
“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that it’s so bloody long. Shepard’s shorter. Easier to type, easier to remember. The full thing is actually Elizabeth Jane Catherine Shepard, and believe me, when you go through life with a name as long as mine you’re bound to want to shorten it as much as you can.” Shepard catches herself subconsciously reaching for the steel plates and chain missing since her resurrection. “Plus there’s only so much you can squeeze on a dog tag.”
“I guess turians are lucky in that way; we only have a surname and a given name. Although turians usually stick to names that are in already in the family so there’s not a lot of variety. Although in my family I’m a bit of an exception. Dad insisted I be named after my grandfather but Mom could never stand the man, so Garricus got shortened down. It took them three weeks after I was born for them to finally agree.”
“No kidding? Well I’m pretty sure both my parents had no problem with the moniker they laid on me, seeing how it was pretty much a testament as to how they first met.”
“Should I get nestled in and get ready for story-time Commander?”, Garrus said as he made a small production of covering himself with the blanket, pulling it under his chin for dramatic effect.
“Don’t get your hopes up, it’s not that exciting. Both of my parents joined the Alliance to help get their education, and they met in an English literature elective class. They were studying the old Earth novel Pride and Prejudice which happened to be one of Mom’s favourite books, but Dad was completely lost. Mom offered to help tutor him and as a thank you Dad took her out for a nice dinner which led to them discovering they had more in common than they initially realized. In honour of what brought them together they named me after the main character and half her sisters. End of history lesson.”
“For what it’s worth Shepard, I think it’s a good name.”
“Thanks. If you…wanted to call me by it when we’re off the clock, I don’t mind. Fuck, if anyone’s earned the right, it’s you. If they didn’t even use it once during my funeral I might as well let a couple more people call me by it before Shepard is all I’m known by.”
“True. If you ever get a promotion to anything higher than Commander, people probably won’t know who’s being talked about.”
“Ha ha. Smart ass.” Shepard scoffs while giving him her best eye roll.
“You know I try.” Garrus replied with his best shit-eating grin. “Your turn, Elizabeth Jane Catherine Shepard.”
Shepard cringed at the use of her full legal name. “Ugh. Please, not the middle names. Now I feel like I’m in trouble. Use that sparingly Garrus, or I’ll start calling you just by Vakarian.”
A bark of flanged laughter echoed the cave as Garrus shook his head. He stuck his hand out to the human female sitting beside him, who promptly grasped and shook it. “You have yourself a deal…Elizabeth.”
“Alright, alright, alright. My turn.” Shepard tapped her left index finger against her lips as she thought. “Let’s see here…I know you’ve mentioned that you have a sister and you brought it up quite a bit when we were on the SR1 that you’ve never really seen eye to eye with your father. I’m really sorry that your Mom isn’t doing the greatest right now. I hope that they’re able to figure something out,” Shepard slowed before she could dig herself any deeper, her shoulders drooping the higher Garrus’ eyebrow plates raised. “Aww crap this isn’t they way I wanted it to come out. Okay, I’m just going to get this out there. Other than your immediate family, are there any other Vakarians out there? I’ve never really understood if turians did the whole extended family thing. Aunts, uncles, grandparents?
A brief look of remembrance cross Garrus’ face before his mandibles flared in a wide smile. “Yeah, I have other family. More on Dad’s side than my mother’s. Mom was an only child and both her parents had already passed by the time Sol was just an infant. I have some memories of my maternal grandmother, but not a lot. As for Dad’s side, it’s been years since I’ve seen most of them, but growing up they were frequently around, especially during the holiday times. Dad was the youngest of four kids, and with the way he is, things usually got interesting when his siblings were around. With us he was the head of the household and usually he had to have the last say. Uncle Elcid and Aunt Jocasta blew that out of the water. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s part of why he’s so stubborn, although I think Dad’s just a natural curmudgeon.”
Pleased at the content look in Garrus’ eyes while reminiscing about his family, Shepard set on keeping him on the topic as long as possible. “Are those are your Dad’s siblings, or are they a couple?”
“Elcid and Jocasta are Dad’s eldest brother and sister. They’re the ones I remember most growing up as we would see them most often. My aunt Alethia is married with three kids out on Oma Ker, so I think I’ve seen her and her family in person only once or twice in my life. Other than that I’ve only chatted with them by the occasional vid call.”
“But you have good memories of your other aunt and uncle?”
“Oh yeah, I mean, Aunt Jocasta was kicking my ass in hand-to-hand even before I landed in boot camp. She was one of the instructors there. People assumed that because I was her nephew she was going easy on me. Haha…Nope, not a chance! The reality was it was probably the opposite. I couldn’t get away with anything, I always had to watch my back lest I become the recipient of her glaring scowl which was enough to scare anyone straight. The other recruits didn’t know how tough she was, but I did. I was the only one there that knew she had served as a member of Blackwatch for a couple of years.” Garrus stopped himself before continuing. “Before you think my aunt’s a major hard-ass that’s only when she’s on the job. Off it, I think the best word you humans would use to describe her would be “bubbly” and “outgoing”. I think the two of you would get along really well.”
Clearly impressed Shepard replied, “Your aunt was special ops? That’s pretty hardcore. Why did she leave, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“To put it plainly, love. It was love plain and simple that made her give it up. She had been on a mission against a group of krogan pirates that had become a threat to one of the commercial transport routes near Palaven and the main force of the military was having some trouble dealing with them. Turns out the same group had pissed off my Aunt Teelah’s team of huntresses on a separate hit, and the two of them wound up working together to take the pirates down. You know what they say, the family that slays together stays together. Anyways…as it turns out Aunt Teelah moved into her matron stage shortly after that and the two of them wound up settling down and getting married. Jocasta wanted a position safer and closer to home so she took up teaching at the academy.”
“Awwww, I didn’t know you had family that were asari, that’s awesome Garrus.”
“I have an aunt and two cousins. They’re just one of the many reason why my Mom hated my grandfather. He refused to acknowledge them even though turian and asari relationships aren’t all that uncommon. Flat out told my aunt he would never accept a former asari commando into our family, or any offspring that would come from the union. Mom and Jocasta were always close, and she defied him by including Jocasta and Teelah and their girls at every family gathering that was hosted at our house. I give my mother a lot of credit. Not only has she had to put up with my father for all these years, but she stood her ground against my grandfather even though he was the Elder of our family. Even though Dad sided with Mom on that topic, I was told it was difficult for him going against his father.”
“Seems like butting heads with the patriarch of the family is a Vakarian trait.”, Shepard said with a snicker.
“Maybe. I hope I’m not an asshole if I have any kids in the future. I do give my Dad some credit. From the stories I was told, it sounds like I would have hated my grandfather.”
“Being the oldest I guess Elcid takes the role of being the family Elder now?”
“Theoretically yes, but he’s usually not around a lot so Jocasta fills in while he’s on duty. He’s a lifer in the military. Research and Development in the Ammunition and Arms Division on the main base on Palaven. He works on things that make the Thanix looks like a child’s toy. He’s a bit eccentric when it comes to his work. With the crap he manages to come up with, there are times I can see similarities between him and Mordin.”
Shepard replied with a snort. “He’s like Mordin? I call bull on that one. Mordin is his own kind of special.”
“He’s not exactly like Mordin, but there are definitely similarities. Even down to the fact that he’s missing half of his fringe due to…mishaps.”, Garrus said as he tried to illustrate what he was talking about by covered half of the crests rising from the back of his head with his hand. “I do have to say, you can tease me all you want about calibrating the Thanix, but if it wasn’t for Elcid, I probably wouldn’t be as interested in getting as much of a punch out it.”
“You know, with the way you talk about your family, I can definitely start to see why you are the way you are Garrus.”
“We’re a crazy bunch. Anyways, I’ve lost count at how many questions you’ve managed to sneak into that ONE, so I’m going to take my turn from here. What about you Shepard? Have you spoken with your mother since you’ve…come back?”
The moment he finished speaking Garrus instantly regretted his inquiry as he watched the smile disappear from Shepard’s face.