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“What is this again?” asked Shepard as she swirled the brandy in the glass.
“Brandy made from coconut flowers,” said Kaidan. “Apparently its super expensive back on Earth.”
“And how did you manage to get a bottle of this stuff?” asked James as he picked up the bottle to examine it.
“One of my old buddies gave it to me. His family made the stuff and they had grabbed a few bottles when they left Earth. Since we’re going to stop the reapers, he gave me a bottle as a good luck charm. Well he more or less wanted the Commander to have it. I think he wanted to impress you ma’am.”
Joker asked, “When you say expensive, how much are we talking?”
“Based on my search of this particular brand, it can go for close to a million dollars back on Earth,” put in EDI.
James carefully put the bottle down and tried to move farther back from it. “Now I’m scared of breaking it just by breathing on it wrong.”
“We might as well enjoy it since we did get it for free,” said Shepard as she took a tentative sip. “Huh, that is quite smooth.”
“Coconut flavor too, which I guess makes sense,” said Kaidan after taking a drink from his own glass.
“I wonder if it would be safe to drink if I filter it,” said Tali.
“I don’t think this has been checked to see if other species can handle it,” said Liara. “Perhaps it would be best if we do not, just in case.”
“It’ll be fine,” scoffed Garrus. “Every other alcohol I’ve had from Earth wasn’t an issue.” He gestured for Kaidan to pour him a glass.
“You say that Garrus, but from what I’ve seen, humans sometimes make alcohol from weird ingredients that might not work with our systems,” said Liara.
“From what I can find on the extranet, there have been liquor made form ingredients such as human toes, mice and even seagulls,” put in EDI.
“Please stop before I lose my lunch,” Joker said quickly.
Shepard shook her head as she leaned back on the couch to enjoy the atmosphere. With everything going on with stopping the reapers, it was nice to have some time to relax in her apartment. Originally only Kaidan was going to come over to give her the bottle of coconut flower brandy, but Joker had found out and one thing led to another and now they were having a small get together with a few members of the Normandy.
“It looks so pretty though in a glass.” Tali held up a glass of the brandy to the light. “Maybe I will try to see if I can filter it.”
“Just don’t drink too much that you collapse in my bathroom again,” chuckled Shepard. She glanced over at Garrus who was leaning against the back of the couch, his eyes slightly closed. “Garrus? You alright?” She put down her half-finished glass and got up to check on him.
“Ah didn’t see you there Shepard,” he said slowly, his words slightly slurred on the edges.
“Wait, did you get drunk off of that?” she asked in disbelief. He had only gone through one glass.
“Of course not.” He pulled her into a hug and nuzzled his face into her hair. “Your shampoo smells nice today,” he murmured.
Shepard definitely wouldn’t call this Garrus’s usual behavior when drunk. He might be more verbally affectionate with her around other people but being physically affectionate was always when no one was watching.
“Maybe I won’t filter this.” Tali quickly handed her glass to Joker.
“I have to assume whatever the specific flower is used for this alcohol, it probably has a strong effect on turians,” said Liara.
“That is quite obvious,” said Kaidan in amusement. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen our commander look so flustered.”
“She’s blushing,” chuckled James. “Never thought I would see the day.”
“Stop it you two,” said Shepard. She tried to pull away but Garrus hugged her tighter and glared over her head to where Kaidan and Liara were sitting.
“Shepard’s mine,” he said, his words still slurred.
“Trust us, no one wants to take her away from you,” said Liara gently.
Garrus nodded. “Good. She only likes turian bad boys.”
“Alright, maybe you should go upstairs and lie down for a bit,” Shepard put in quickly.
“I’m fine Shepard.”
Based on how he was leaning against her and how he was talking, she doubted it completely.
“Come on Commander, we should let Garrus hang out with us like this,” said Joker. “It’ll be fun. EDI, make sure we get some good pictures.”
“I don’t think that’s ethical Jeff.”
“Come on Garrus, let’s go upstairs.” Shepard tried to pull away but Garrus did not seem to want to let her go. She sighed and lowered her voice so the others wouldn’t hear. “I’ll pet your crest but only if we go upstairs.”
It was comical how quickly Garrus released her and then almost fell over.
“Save some brandy for me, I’ll be right back,” Shepard told the others before leading Garrus upstairs. She was very careful on the stairs. The last thing she wanted was for him to fall over and possibly injure himself. The others definitely would not let him live it down.
Finally getting to her room, she thought she was home free as she had Garrus lie down on her bed but he was quick to grab her arm and pull her on top of him.
“You said you would pet my crest,” he said.
Of course he would remember that.
“I’m surprised how needy you are drunk or whatever this is,” she said as she grabbed a pillow and put it on her chest so Garrus could rest his head there without his mandibles digging into her while she ran her fingers over his crest. As he put it, it felt nice since she had five fingers.
“I’m not needy,” he mumbled as he closed his eyes and put his arm around her. “I just want to be close to the love of my life. You’re always running around, you never give yourself time to rest.”
“I can rest after the reapers are done and gone.” After she said it, she wondered why she was even bothering to argue with him about it. It was also probably not good to work him up since he wasn’t in the right state of mind and she did want to go back downstairs to drink more of that brandy. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that Garrus. I’ll rest don’t worry.” She glanced down and was surprised to see his eyes were closed, his breathing slowed.
She was really surprised at how quick it had taken him out. Usually when they cuddled, it took Garrus a long time to fall asleep, or he would fall asleep after she would. He said it was because it took him longer to fully relax but one time he did slip and mentioned how he wanted to make sure she was resting when she could.
She was happy to finally really get to see Garrus asleep but then she was quick to realize another problem. His head was resting on her chest, an arm and her so half of his body weight was pressing down on her. She wasn’t sure if she could get up without disturbing him.
Shepard tried to move but Garrus grumbled and moved slightly in place and she froze until he settled down again.
With a sigh, she reached for her ear and called Joker. “Make sure they save some brandy for me. I won’t be able to come back down.”
“Damn, you two getting it on up there?” Joker replied with a chuckle.
Shepard rolled her eyes. “He fell asleep on me and I don’t want to risk waking him up. Make sure they leave some brandy for me!”
“Yes ma’am. I’ll also make sure everyone else cleans up before we leave.”
Now that it was taken care of, she settled in her bed and closed her eyes. Might as well get some sleep herself since she wouldn’t be able to go anywhere for a bit.
***
Shepard was in the stage of half-awake and asleep while having a weird dream about her space hamster, Mr. Squeakers talking like Joker when she felt Garrus move. She opened her eyes to see Garrus sit up clutching his head.
“You okay?” she asked.
“Sorry, did I wake you?” Garrus squinted as he looked at her.
“I was already half awake.” She sat up. “Hangover?”
“Probably the worst I ever had,” he grumbled. He shut his eyes. “Are the lights always that bright?”
“They are unfortunately,” Shepard said softly. “I don’t think I have any turian hangover remedies here. You want me to go get some?”
“Normally I would say no and get it myself, but I feel like Wrex is running around my skull right now so its probably for the best you do it.”
Shepard got off the bed and grabbed a change of clothes from one of the drawers. As she got changed and freshened up, she knew Garrus was definitely not feeling great as he would usually make a comment or two about enjoying the view.
Thankfully the store down the strip had some turian hangover pills. When she got back, Garrus had not moved from the bed and he gratefully took the pills and some water. Not wanting to make his headache worse, she went downstairs to make breakfast for herself while she waited for him to feel better.
By the time she had finished breakfast and had the kitchen cleaned up, Garrus wandered downstairs looking much better than earlier.
“I didn’t do anything strange right?” he asked.
“Do you not remember?”
“No, it’s all just a blur...I’m not liking that expression on your face.”
Shepard debated on the best way to put it. “Well, you were very vocal about what you felt about me. Uh physically.” She gestured to her hair. “You kept nuzzling it in front of everyone.”
“In front of…” Garrus let out a long sigh. “They’re not going to let me live that down.”
“I’m sure they’ll get bored of it soon enough.”
“Uh huh, between Joker and James, I’m going to be hearing about it for months now.” He focused on her. “How were you though? I wasn’t too much of a pain right?”
Shepard shook her head. “Besides secondhand embarrassment, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.”
Garrus cleared his throat. “Well, uh that’s good. What happened with the brandy anyway?”
“Joker said they drank a bit more last night, but they left the rest for me at the bar.” Shepard had checked it earlier when she was downstairs and was glad to see there was a nice amount of it left. It was really good and she really wanted to savor it.
“I guess I know to stay far away from that one. Now, I know you had breakfast already but I’m starving and need some food myself. I know it’ll probably be boring for you to come with me while I eat—"
“It’ll be a date,” Shepard said with a smile.
“Oh, that would be one huh,” mumbled Garrus. “Maybe I should make sure the place has food humans can eat as well…”
Shepard went to Garrus’s side and took his hand and tugged him in the direction of the door. “Don’t worry about that. Come on, let’s get you something to eat.”