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Shepard was just finishing up with the shopkeeper at Elkoss Arsenal on the Presidium when Joker shouted, "Hey, Shep, he's finally gonna jump!" She whipped around and saw Garrus running to the railing, his entire body broadcasting his panic. In the distance at the top of the Presidium stood James Vega, his back to the long vertical drop.
"Shepard, that's Vega! We have to help him!" He started to drag her to the rapid transport hub but she dug in her heels and wrenched her wrist out of his grip. He spun around, wild in his impatience to be off to save James, but Shepard just laughed.
"Garrus, it's fine. Really. He's been talking about doing this all day." She joined Joker at the railing and hollered, "Come on, Vega! Don't be a pussy!"
The turian just stared at her in horror. "You want him to kill himself?"
Shepard gaped at him. "What? No! Oh my god, Garrus." She patted his arm reassuringly (she wasn't sure how effective that was, he was still looking at her like she'd grown an extra head or something) and pointed up to where Vega was psyching himself up. "Just watch."
Vega appeared to take a few deep breaths, then bent his knees and hurled himself out into empty space. Garrus eeped and his hand clenched on the railing as the man fell, but then he saw the black cord that spun out behind him. The cord stretched taut, Vega's descent slowed, and he bounced up and down, his body swinging back and forth as he rebounded.
Shepard whooped and whistled. "Way to go, Vega! Show 'em how it's done!" She glanced over at Garrus and saw that he was significantly calmer, but no less confused.
"He just jumped," he said, trying to make sense of the situation.
"Uh huh."
"Off the top of the Presidium."
"Yeah."
"For fun?"
"What can I say? We're a bunch of adrenaline junkies." Shepard winked at him and he shook his head. "Wanna try? I'll bet that rope's got another few jumps left in it."
"Hell no! Are you kidding me? Why would I want to hurl myself off a bridge?"
"Because it's fun?" She gave him her best cute-face and gazed up at him. "Please?"
"Absolutely not."
"I'll go with you. We can tandem jump."
"You're insane."
"Well, I did kill a thresher maw on foot, so . . . I'm gonna have to agree." Now it was her turn to pull him to the transit hub, and he wasn't really putting up his best resistance; she had him now. "Come on. I promise you'll love it."
His heart was beating double-time just thinking about going up there, but there was no fighting her. Shepard had a way of getting what she wanted, and he wasn't any more immune to it than anybody else. "The things I put up with for you . . ."
__________
"I wanna go back down."
"We're already all strapped in, Garrus. Might as well do it." Their ankles were secured to the rope, which was coiled up next to them like a snake. It didn't look very sturdy up close, Garrus thought.
"You are so gonna owe me for this, Shepard." He clung to her and refused to look at the drop; he had looked less terrified of the Reapers than he did of bungee jumping.
"Oh, I think I have a few ideas of what I could give you," she said, grabbing his ass and pulling his hips tight against hers. At least it was distracting him from what they were about to do.
"I'll just bet you do."
"Come on, guys!" came a shout from below that sounded suspiciously like Tali. "I've seen plants move faster than you!"
"Shut up, 'bosh-tet'!" Garrus yelled, and Shepard thought she heard the quarian giggle.
"Ready?" she asked.
"No."
"One . . . two . . . three!" They jumped off, and Garrus yelped when they left the solidity of the bridge and sailed out over the water. His eyes stayed open, though, and they both watched the pool rush at them. The sensation of free-falling was so fantastic and freeing that Shepard laughed as she screamed, the bungee cord tightening around their legs. After Garrus was reassured that the cord wouldn't snap under their combined weight and send them plummeting to their deaths, he allowed the exhilaration to wash over him and he laughed right along with her. From somewhere behind them he heard Joker, Vega, and Tali shouting at them but they seemed so far away.
"See, that wasn't so bad." She kissed his mandible and smiled.
"Actually that was . . . kind of fun." He grinned back at her. "Think we could go again?"
"Oh, yeah." As they were reeled back up, she said something that made his blood run cold again. "Maybe next time we'll go skydiving."