Tali's heart hammered in her chest as she looked at the towel-hooded Garrus. She honestly had no idea what to do, and kept drawing a blank except for 'call Shepard.' Shepard usually knew what to do when weird things happened.

Garrus began to shiver. Gently, Tali began to pat his head and crest dry. When he didn't protest, she worked her way to his shoulders and cowl, tugging at the towel until it slipped down so she could see his face. He didn't look terrible—his carapace wasn't flaking or showing any other alarmingly obvious symptoms—though a little sick…and a little haunted.

Shepard was right to worry about him. "I don't think you're going down to the docks today," she said firmly. She hoped it sounded firm as opposed to bossy.

Garrus nodded shakily. His nostrils kept flaring, and he kept sniffing the air as if to identify something unpleasant.

What had he said? The other day he had the smell of the docks stuck in his nose, an olfactory hallucination. Apparently, he was having it again. "Or tomorrow," she added firmly.

He nodded again, seeming to wilt—though whether from relief or disappointment, she wasn't sure. Garrus was like Shepard: he didn't like to take too much of a break unless he had to; even then, he usually needed to be told by someone higher up that the time had come for a rest. And he needed to feel like he was helping…but sooner or later, helping took its toll. Here was the result.

Tali took a knee so she no longer loomed over him, then took his face in her hands. To her surprise, he reached up and wrapped his own around them. She could feel him buzzing beneath her hands, physical evidence of a sound she couldn't hear. "In fact, I don't think you'll be down there for the rest of shore leave. You need a break."

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes and nodded a third time. Then, he leaned forward to rest his head against her shoulder, shivering slightly.

"Are you cold?" she asked, biting her lip.

"No. Just feeling shaky," Garrus answered, as if a little dazed, or distracted.

"Is it that phantom smell again?"

"Yeah," Garrus answered. "I was fine, and then…suddenly I wasn't." He shuddered at the memory.

Tali bit her lip again. The Council hadn't summoned her to talk about the Embassy, but there were other things she could do. Just because they didn't have an Embassy didn't mean she and her people weren't going to help. "Well, you can stay here today while I'm working. Take it easy."

Garrus swallowed, then shook his head. "I…don't think I'd like to be alone just now," he answered, blue eyes appealing.

Tali removed her hands from his face and hugged him. He looked so vulnerable. "You can always come to work with me. It's mostly logistics, but it does mean talking to a lot of people. Not much for you to do, but find a seat and play on your omnitool." She tried to inject some levity into her tone, but it didn't work. "You can be my moral support."

"Did the Council get back to you?" he asked, looking up from his knees. "Already?"

"No, they haven't. But I didn't point out the logistics as to why my people are a good investment just so I could hold the Council to ransom," Tali answered, unoffended. She knew Garrus hadn't meant to imply that she would—Quentius probably thought so, but mostly because he would have.

She was bigger than that. Her people were bigger than that. And now was the time to show it to the galaxy.

The geth—so she understood—seemed to think that the Reapers might leave Rannoch alone for the time being, even if Rannoch became the beating heart for dextro war supplies. Why? The Geth and Quarian fleets made Rannoch an exceedingly hard target, and there were so many easier worlds to attack. Priorities.

She hoped they were right.

"Of course not," Garrus mumbled.

"Can you still smell it?" Tali asked nervously.

Garrus nodded.

"…do you think you can handle breakfast?"

He shook his head slowly. "I don't think that's a good idea just now."

"Okay. I'm going to give you until I finish putting breakfast away to get dried off and dressed. Then, I'll come in after you again. We can sit in the lounge and catch an episode of…something…if you'd like."

Garrus nodded, and she got up.

Once she was back in the hall, "EDI, could you keep an eye on him?"

"Certainly," EDI answered promptly. "I have cross-referenced Garrus' symptoms with multiple sources. Keeping him out of the docks, and encouraging rest and relaxation—both mental and physical—should be enough. I have apprised his contacts not to expect him, though not the reason why."

"Good. Thank you."

"Is there anything else I can do?"

Tali considered, then shook her head. "I'm sorry, EDI, I don't think so. Nothing more, anyway."

"Very well. If you think of anything…"

"I'll let you know." With that, Tali began cleaning up the breakfast, putting the untouched meal into the fridge. It would reheat, but it wouldn't be nearly as tasty as it would have been fresh. Part of her regretted that it wouldn't be eaten at its peak of deliciousness.

Garrus slunk out of the bathroom after about ten minutes, dropping into one of the unused chairs facing the galley corner.

Not knowing what else to do, Tali began to chatter at him to fill the silence.

When she looked up, she found Garrus still at his seat, poking at his omnitool. When she stopped speaking, he looked up as if to see where the sound had gone.

Well, she wasn't really saying anything important, she thought as she turned the chatter back on. And if it helped to have it as background noise, that was a very good thing, in and of itself.