Chapter Text
"Officer Vakarian!"
Garrus forced himself to continue taking his sip of beer and not to look up. No one outside of his growing team knew who he was. And none of them would be stupid enough to actually say his name outside of their base. As far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned Garrus Vakarian was MIA.
He was surprisingly okay with that. Garrus refused to dwell on why that might be.
Trying to seem casual, he placed his glass on the table and looked up.
He couldn't quite place the human walking towards him, a wide grin on his face. The man was wearing battered N7 armor. A comrade of Shepard's perhaps? After Saren's defeat, back on the Citadel, a number of people, mostly Alliance soldiers, would walk up to him and thank him for his service. Whenever it happened, his plates itched. Felt like he had a target on his back. Thankfully, since his arrival on Omega, not one person had come up to him to shake his hand. He liked that.
"I can't believe it's really you! Here on Omega. I don't suppose you remember me, it's me, Conrad Verner."
Oh, Garrus remembered all right. He remembered how seriously Shepard took him, worried that there were others out there, just like him. He could tell how much being put up on a pedestal, even by strangers, had bothered her. That was the moment Garrus had quietly tried to knock down the pedestal he had placed her on.
He just never expected it to crumble as completely as it did. The bitterness he felt when he realized that she was stealing the Normandy, ignoring all the rules that she had so painstakingly told him to follow still tasted like ash in his mouth.
He should have asked her about it when he had the chance. Maybe Shepard would have been able to explain the double standard, make him see why she was able to break the rules while she told him he couldn't. Sure, she saved the galaxy, but he fought for the people who lived in that galaxy. And when he looked closely, he simply couldn't see the difference.
Instead, Garrus let his resentment build. And when he heard that she was dead, and after he attended her funeral, there was no reason to even pretend to follow the rules anymore.
Garrus motioned to Verner to have a seat, all while reacquainting himself where the exits were. He didn't often go out alone anymore. While he mainly wore a helmet on the job, there was always the chance someone, somewhere could recognize Archangel. Simple pleasures like sitting in a bar and having a beer were rare these days.
"I can't believe I'm running into a member of Commander Shepard's team today. I mean, it's today!"
So Conrad kept track, too. A year. She had been gone for a year. A full year. Where the hell had the time gone?
"Keep your voice down, Verner," Garrus said sharply.
A knowing look crossed Conrad's face. "Understood. Still learning the ropes."
"The ropes?"
Conrad patted the N7 logo on his armor. "Decided it was time to make a difference."
"Thought you told Shepard that you were going to stay at home."
Thought you told Shepard you were going to stay at C-Sec.
Garrus pushed the errant voice away. He refused to listen to that voice with its pang of guilt whenever he thought of what Shepard would say about his life on Omega.
"How are you making a difference?" Garrus asked finally.
"Figure I would talk to people," Conrad said eagerly. "She took the time to talk to me, didn't she?"
Did she ever talk to people. There were times it was almost embarrassing. What right did she have to talk to strangers about genetic therapy? Or chastising someone over their drug use, assuming it didn't interfere with their job? Granted, a lot of people seemed to call her over for help as well. Shepard just had this way of taking a problem and whittling it down to the bone.
"True enough," Garrus admitted. He took another sip of his drink.
"Then I can try to help them with their problems," Conrad said. "I also have this."
Conrad put a pistol on the table. It was a Kessler I, just about the crappiest pistol on the market. Also obsolete, since everyone seemed to have moved on to thermal clips. Conrad looked ridiculously proud of his weapon.
"You know how to shoot that thing?" Garrus asked, unimpressed.
"No," Conrad said at once. "It's mostly for show."
Garrus shook his head. Only show that thing would star in was a comedy vid. "Any chance I can convince you to do what you told her you'd do? Stay home?"
Conrad picked up the weapon and cradled it in his hands. "No."
Standing up, Garrus quickly threw a credit chit on the table. "Follow me." If Conrad Verner wanted to be an idiot in Shepard's name, Garrus would do his best to keep him alive.
He ignored the voice in his head telling him that she'd be pleased.
Garrus led them to the back alley of the bar. There were a stack of crates. "Shoot the top one," he instructed.
"Actually use my gun?" Conrad asked, looking slightly fearful. Garrus nodded. Conrad took a deep breath and muttered to himself a bit. "Okay. Here goes."
His stance was all wrong and aim was off. He ended up hitting the building. But Garrus realized quickly that this wasn't an impossible task. Garrus took the pistol from Conrad's hands and started explaining the basics of shooting. When he was done, Garrus handed the pistol back to Conrad.
The human looked at the gun, and followed Garrus' instructions to the letter. He was a surprisingly quick learner. His next shot wasn't perfect, but he hit the crate.
"Verner," Garrus asked, suddenly curious. "What'd you do before you came here?"
Conrad got quiet and started looking intently at the pistol. "I was a researcher at Sirta Foundation."
Garrus flexed his mandibles in surprise. That corporation only hired the best. "What'd you research?"
Conrad's eyes closed. "Dark Energy."
The look on Conrad's face was one Garrus recognized. It was the look of a man who had seen too much, knew too much and wanted nothing more than to forget. Garrus had seen that look on Shepard's face. But while it had driven Shepard to new heights, it seemed to have broken something in Conrad.
Garrus couldn't help wondering what exactly Conrad knew.
"I believed her, you know?" Conrad said, taking another shot with the pistol. This time he was just left of center. "About the Reapers. Based on what she said, and what I've seen..."
"Yeah," Garrus said, taking the pistol back and adjusting the targeting system just slightly. He handed it back to Conrad.
"We don't have much time left," Conrad said, taking aim. He shoot dead in the center of the crate. "I want to spend it helping people. Why does dark energy matter if we're all going to be dead soon?"
Garrus had no response to that. The certainty in Conrad's voice chilled him. So instead he asked, "You got a place to stay tonight?" He would never bring Conrad back to the base, but he could send him to Helena Blake. Garrus and Blake had a fairly good working relationship, now that she was a legitimate social worker. And Garrus had sent more than his fair share of people to her, knowing she would help, whether freed slaves, addicts, or sex workers.
"There's a shelter over in the Fumi District I stay at," Conrad told him.
"Low on credits?" Garrus asked.
"Who isn't these days?" Conrad said, shrugging his shoulders.
Garrus paused, wondering just how pissed Shepard would be if he spilled her secret. He smiled, deciding she wouldn't mind. "You know, Conrad, there a trick I learned from Commander Shepard herself."
"Really?" Conrad looked more animated than Garrus had seen since they started talking.
"See these crates? They're useful in more ways than one." Garrus walked over to the stack, hoping they'd have what he needed.
He looked in the top crate. Nothing. The second crate, however...
"You mean someone just left a credit chit lying around like that?" Conrad said in wonder. He picked up the chit. "This has a hundred credits on it!"
"That'll last you a while," Garrus said, pleased.
"And Commander Shepard did this?" Conrad asked eagerly.
"Damn straight she did," Garrus said. "It gets better. Bring out your omni-tool."
Conrad complied, and Garrus sent him the hacking program Shepard wrote. "Shepard broke into people's stuff all the time. She said if they didn't care enough to protect their things from a hacking program, they didn't need it."
"Thank you so much! This will really help," Conrad said. "Maybe I could even start saving some credits to donate."
"Not a bad idea," Garrus told him, slapping him on the shoulder. "I need to get going. Don't want to stay in one place for too long."
"I've heard that rule." Conrad tucked his pistol into its holster and held out his hand. "Thank you, Vakarian. I really appreciate the help."
Garrus nodded and shook the man's hand. He knew Shepard would want him to make one last attempt to send Conrad home. But the human was right. They were all on borrowed time. Garrus wasn't about to stand between the man and his dream. "You're welcome, Verner. Do good out there. For her."
"I will," he said quietly. With a nod, he turned and walked out of the alley.
He thought of Shepard, hoping that where ever she was, she was at peace. Garrus looked up at the sky and took a deep breath. It was time he stop beating himself up over the past and start concentrating on the future. He thought of his team, and how they were slowly but surely making a difference on Omega. His steps were light as he headed back towards the base. Towards home.
He was ready to do some good.