Greetings! I thought I would get a jump start on N7 Day 2018 with a chapter post and some much needed fluff. Please tell me what you think.

I hope everyone has an awesome N7 Day tomorrow!

~J

"Courage is not the absence of fear; it is the conquest of it." – Unknown

Chapter Forty – Reunion

"Garrus, give me a sit-rep!" John shouted. "Is she okay?"

"More agents coming down the hallway," Thane informed them.

Garrus reluctantly loosened his hold on his unconscious Commander and gently eased her back so that he could better assess her condition. "She's injured but breathing! Won't know how bad until we can get her to the med bay and take all this armor off."

"Well, then, get her up and let's go!" the other Commander ordered. "Thane, you and I will take point. Ashley, you and Liara stay behind Garrus and cover his six. Mordin, you're with Garrus. Monitor Jane on the way if you can, and then you can be more thorough once we've reached the shuttle. Everyone got that? Good. Let's move out!"

Garrus slid his arm under Jane's legs and lifted her off the ground. He couldn't be certain, since it seemed like forever ago, but she felt lighter than she did the last time he'd carried her wounded body away from the battlefield. Jane was naturally pale, but now her skin tone was closer to gray than the healthy shade of pink he was used to. Tiny, jagged lines of barely healed scratches etched uneven lines over her face. They ran along her chin, down her neck, and disappeared underneath the collar of her obviously stolen armor.

Spirits, what did they do to her?

The sound of rapid gun fire brought his attention back to the fight. John had his M-8 Avenger out and was laying waste to anyone who got in his way. Ashley and Liara picked off anyone who managed to survive the initial assault. Thane had gone to scout ahead and figure out the best way back to the shuttle that offered the least amount of resistance.

"Heart rate and blood pressure dropping," Mordin stated in his usual staccato cadence. "Need to stabilize—"

"How much farther?" Garrus yelled, cutting off the salarian.

"Thane says the entrance should be just ahead," John yelled back.

"Mordin, can you—?"

The doctor leaned over Jane's limp figure and stuck a syringe into her neck, injecting an orange-colored liquid. "Stimulants. Should help temporarily. Must get to shuttle and remove armor. Find wounds."

The turian nodded and increased his speed. He couldn't lose her now. Not after everything they'd been through. Not when he'd just gotten her back.

Finally, after what seemed like the hundredth hallway, the doors opened to the landing pad. He raced to the shuttle, barely making it inside before he was on his knees, tearing at the clasps on the shoulder pieces and chest plate of Jane's armor.

John and Ashley stood on each side of the shuttle door, covering Thane and Liara as they jumped inside. As soon as the asari's heels cleared the threshold, John slammed his fist on the door panel.

"Go!"

The shuttle lifted off, shaking the occupants side-to-side as it climbed to an acceptable height and then turned one-hundred-and-eighty degrees to take off in the opposite direction.

Shepard keyed up his radio. "Normandy. We're en route with Jane. Have Chakwas prep the med bay and stand by."

"Aye-aye, Commander," EDI's unflappably smooth voice replied.

Mordin removed Jane's chest plate and Garrus sucked in his breath. The bullet hole in her right shoulder explained all the blood he now saw pooling around the base of her throat and descending over her chest, but it didn't explain the patchwork of stitches that slithered all over her upper body.

He must have made some sort of anguished, guttural sound because John's hand suddenly seized the cowl of his armor and hauled him up and away from the horrifying scene.

"Easy, Vakarian," he said as Garrus struggled against him. "It's best if you don't look. Liara, can you assist the doc?"

Liara nodded. "On it."

"What did they do to her?" Garrus roared. "Shepard, what did those assholes do to her?"

"We're trying to figure that out. But I need you to stay calm."

He shrugged out of John's grasp and turned around, letting his forehead dip until it rested against the shuttle's bulkhead. Moments later, Ashley sidled up next to him.

"Hey. We're gonna find the bastards that did this." Her tone could have cut steel. "And we're gonna nail their asses to the wall."

Chakwas was waiting with a gurney when the shuttle touched down in the cargo bay. She pushed it forward as soon as the door opened, and together she and Mordin carefully lifted the Commander onto the stretcher.

"Shepard's condition critical," Mordin recited. "Sustained several injuries. Obvious gunshot wound here on right shoulder. Suspect multiple internal injuries as well. Heart rate and blood pressure rapidly decreasing. Tried to counteract with stims, but Shepard not responding."

Chakwas nodded curtly as she angled the stretcher through the shuttle door. "I've got the med bay prepped and ready. We'll do a full body scan once we get there."

Garrus' fingers curled into tightly closed fists at the detached and clinical way the two doctors were talking about Jane. Deep down he knew that seeing past the personal ties and focusing on the facts was what they had been trained to do, but it still grated nonetheless.

Feeling completely powerless, the turian watched as they raced the Commander across the cargo bay, his eyes locked on her face until the elevator doors severed them from view. His shoulders slumped as soon as they were out of sight. The fighting and frantic flight was over, but Jane's battle was still going. He could only hope and pray to the spirits that she was strong enough to keep fighting and win this one.

.x.x.x.

John was accustomed to shit going south. Hell, most of the time he expected it. But lately it seemed like the only luck they were finding was bad luck. He supposed he could pass off some of their recent snafus as bad timing or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Doing so made it easier to swallow that way. Maybe if he blamed their situation on unfortunate circumstances, he wouldn't have to think about how many of those setbacks the crew had suffered had really been due to the choices he'd made.

The signs had been there all along, but he'd ignored them. He'd been so blind—so goddamned hopeful—that he could re-create what he had with Miranda, that he'd turned his back on his entire crew. Worse, he'd sacrificed their safety and put his needs above their own. And those decisions had come back to haunt him in the worst way possible. Two crew members dead (if he could even count the traitorous Miranda as a crew member), several more seriously injured, and a Commander who was, at that very moment, fighting for her life.

Hours had passed since they'd rescued Jane from the Shadow Broker's base. Dr. Chakwas and Mordin had been struggling to keep her stable ever since.

"How's she doing?" John asked the turian as he marched into the mess hall. "Any news?"

Garrus had planted himself at the table facing the med bay windows and refused to move until he knew that Jane was going to be okay. The turian shook his head despondently, letting it droop as he stared down to where his interlaced talons rested on the shiny metal tabletop.

Shepard licked his lips and shifted his weight from one foot to the other, suddenly uncomfortable with the oppressive silence. He could go through the motions and tell his friend that everything would be okay, but he doubted Garrus wanted to hear it when they both knew that Jane's outcome was still uncertain.

"Look," he finally said. "If Jane's one thing, it's stubborn." He hooked a thumb toward the med bay, "And those two are the best doctors in the galaxy. If anyone can pull her through this, it's them."

"I know."

John was saved the hassle of trying to come up with more empty platitudes by the sound of the med bay door opening. Seconds later Dr. Chakwas appeared looking haggard and pessimistic.

"Commander?"

Something within John's gut twisted.

At the same time, Garrus shot out of his chair so fast that it toppled over behind him.

"I need to talk to you," Chakwas said. She swung her gaze to the turian standing next to him, her eyes softening sympathetically, and then added, "You, too, Garrus."

The two men exchanged an apprehensive glance and then followed her inside.

Jane was positioned in the bed closest to the AI Core. Mordin flitted about in his usual manner, stopping only long enough to fuss with rat's nest of wires leading to the machines before continuing on his way.

Not wanting to beat around the bush and prolong an unpleasant situation, the Commander cut right to the chase.

"Is she gonna make it?"

Beside him, Garrus tensed in anticipation of her answer.

"I'm not going to sugarcoat things, Commander," Dr. Chakwas replied. "She's in bad shape. She went through a lot of trauma. Honestly, it was a miracle she was conscious and standing when you found her. Aside from being severely dehydrated and on the brink of multiple systems shutting down due to exhaustion, she had a rather nasty gunshot wound on her right shoulder." She hesitated. "But that's not what concerns me the most."

"You found something else?" John asked.

The doctor motioned for them to follow her as she moved over to Jane's bedside. With a frown, Chakwas peeled back the blankets to reveal a network of black stitches that stretched from her face, over her collarbone, and up and down the length of her arms and legs. Each line disappeared underneath the starched hospital gown.

"We found evidence of recently healed wounds that coincide with Thane's account of her being hit by the chain gun before she was abducted. But these…," Chakwas swept her hand along one of the rows of stitches. "Our scans revealed nothing other than some slight bruising on the underlying tissues that suggests something used to be there."

John suddenly felt cold all over.

"I recognize these marks."

The doctor's eyebrows catapulted into her hairline. "You do?"

He nodded. "I've seen them before. On me. After Cerberus reconstructed me."

"What are you saying?" Garrus exclaimed. "That Jane died from being shot by the machine gun and Cerberus brought her back to life?"

"I don't know. Maybe." He rubbed the back of his neck. "But I have a feeling it's more sinister than that."

"How?" The word came out sounding less like a question and more like the throaty cry the turian had released back in the shuttle.

"Both Miranda and the Illusive Man were after information from the Lazarus Project," John explained. "You were there, Garrus. Remember when that son-of-a-bitch taunted us that he no longer needed my DNA because he had Jane? Well, I think that's exactly what he did. The Cerberus implants and experimental tech turned me into a super soldier. I think that's what the Illusive man did to Jane—installed his own version of the implants to see if he could successfully re-create the project. But for whatever reason, they decided to remove them. Maybe they didn't work. Or maybe they did, and they didn't want Jane keeping the tech."

"Scarring on tissue consistent with cybernetic implants," Mordin chimed in.

"What does all this mean for Jane?" Garrus demanded irritably.

"I've put her in a medically-induced coma to allow her body to heal," Chakwas informed them, her voice taking on the tone of the detached doctor once more. "I'll continue to monitor her closely, and when Dr. Solus and I feel she is ready, we'll let her wake up naturally. Until then, all we can do is wait and see."

"Is she stable enough that I could have a few minutes alone with her?"

"Of course, Officer Vakarian," Dr. Chakwas said with a kind smile. "In fact, coma patients can often hear what's going on around them, and I'm sure she would love the company. We'll step outside for a few minutes."

Mordin gave the machines another once over and then John followed him and Chakwas out to the mess hall.

"Thanks, Doc," the Commander said.

She spun around, fire flashing in her gray-blue eyes. "If what you say is true, if those sick bastards really did do that to her, then make me a promise. Promise me we'll find them and make them pay! For Jane, and everyone else they've hurt."

John nodded resolutely. "That's a promise."

.x.x.x.

Garrus waited until the doors slid closed before he lifted Jane's hand and cradled it between his palms.

"We didn't exactly leave on the best terms the last time we spoke," he said softly. "And I've spent the past few weeks regretting everything, thinking that those could have been the last word's I'd ever say to you. I'm so sorry. I…. Please, Jane. Please don't give up." He squeezed her hand tightly. "Please give me the chance to make things right."

.x.x.x.

The sensation of something warm and soft caressing her hand gently nudged Jane awake. She inhaled deeply, trying desperately to cling to the comforting pull of a deep, dreamless sleep. Just five more minutes. She wasn't ready to get up yet. Not when it felt so good.

An odd thought tickled her brain. She couldn't remember actually falling asleep. So why would she be so reluctant to wake up? Come to think of it, she couldn't remember what she'd been doing right before she fell asleep, either.

Suddenly, the rush of memories came flooding back. Being trapped in that room in the Shadow Broker base. Resigning herself to die. John's sudden, unexplained appearance. Garrus running toward her.

Garrus!

Her eyes sprang open.

Thane pulled back with a startled jerk, but his expression immediately relaxed when their eyes met.

"Thane?"

"Welcome back, Siha."

"Where am I?"

"In the Normandy's med bay," he said.

"I made it," she whispered. Her fingers tightened their grip on his hand. "You made it, too. And Tali? Is she okay?"

"Yes, Tali and I are fine. Although I expect that she will be doing even better when she learns that you are awake."

The drell's eyes grew dark and suddenly he wouldn't meet her gaze. The change in his demeanor was so abrupt that it immediately set alarm bells ringing inside her head.

"Thane? What is it? What's wrong?"

Still clutching her hand, he bowed his head and rested his elbows on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry. I wasn't fast enough. If I had been, I could have spared you everything that followed."

"Thane, stop," Jane pleaded. "Don't relive that. I know you; you'll torment yourself over and over about it. What happened wasn't your fault."

"It's not that simple, Siha."

She squeezed his hand, hoping that the simple gesture would convey the comfort and forgiveness he was seeking.

"I'm relieved we finally found you."

"Me too. I don't know how you did it, but I'm glad you showed up when you did."

"We can discuss those details at a later time. Right now, you need your rest, and I must go inform the others that you're awake. I'm highly certain that you'll be inundated with visitors soon enough," he said with a slight twinkle in his eye.

Her heart quickened in anticipation and she spent the next few minutes with her eyes glued to the green panel in hopes that Garrus would be the next to rush through the door. But her excitement faded when it was John, not the turian, who walked through next.

Had she dreamed it all? Had her mind, starved too long of food and water and pushed to its limits, played tricks on her at the end and merely projected what she wanted to see?

"Hey, Jane. How are you holding up?"

Despite everything she'd been through, she couldn't help cracking a smile. "What was that saying you told me after the last time I'd been unfortunate enough to grace this med bay with my presence? I looked like I'd been shot at and missed and shit at and hit? Yeah, I feel like that."

"Considering what you went through, I'd say you have a right to feel like hell," John said. "Do you feel up to talking for a minute?"

Jane nodded and tried to push herself into a position where she could see him better. Her stiff muscles protested the sudden movement, causing her to wince.

John frowned. "You sure?"

"Yes," she assured him. "It'll pass. This isn't the first time I've woken up stiff and sore like this." She gave him a self-deprecating smile. "I'm starting to get used to it."

"Do you remember anything?"

"We were ambushed," Jane solemnly told him, all hints of earlier laughter gone. "The signal I went to investigate was just a trick."

"That's what Thane and Tali said, too."

She shifted her shoulders, trying to find a more comfortable spot where everything didn't hurt so much. "I think Cerberus had it planned from the start. I overheard one of the nurses at some point. She was saying something about the Lazarus Project that the Miranda in your universe had created to bring you back to life. I think the Illusive Man wants to use that technology to start his own program."

"I think you're right." John pulled up the stool that Thane had been using and sat down. "Chakwas and Mordin were able to determine that Cerberus had implanted you with cybernetics similar to the ones I have."

"Cybernetic implants? That's what these scars are from?" She grimaced. "What do they do?"

He flipped over his forearm and yanked up his sleeve. In the bright overhead light Jane could see a faint line just like hers that ran up the length of his arm. "I'm faster, stronger, and heal more quickly than anyone else."

"That doesn't sound so terrible," she mused. "But if they're supposed to increase healing time, then why do I still hurt so bad? I've been like this for a while."

"You don't remember hearing the nurses saying anything about removing them?"

She shook her head. "Most of the time they kept me pretty sedated."

"Damn. We were hoping you might know why they decided to take them out."

"They took them out?"

He nodded.

"Jesus. No wonder I feel like shit."

"You're lucky to be alive. We all are."

Her right eyebrow rose slowly as she fixed him with a questioning look.

"You were right," John scrubbed his palms over his face and sighed. "Miranda was in on it the whole time. After you and your ground party left we docked on Omega for supplies. It was there that she met up with a small army of Cerberus troops, snuck them onto the Normandy, and sabotaged us when we weren't looking."

Jane's jaw dropped as she uttered a gasp of shock.

She knew it! She knew that woman was bad news! But the look of absolute misery and remorse on the other Commander's face kept her from throwing it back at him. Knowing John as she did, she imagined it was hard for him to admit when he made a mistake, and she wasn't about to ridicule him now by being childish and petty.

"I should have listened to you," he went on. "But I was so damned certain that she'd come around and we could be like we used to be that I was blind to everything else! We lost people, Jane. And it's all my fault."

A sickening feeling of dread pooled in the bottom of her gut. "Who?" she choked out.

"Kelly. Miranda took her hostage in an attempt to make me cooperate. I called her bluff. I was…wrong. Fuck," he moaned. "I didn't think she had it in her. She managed to injure Kasumi and Gardner before Garrus took her out. And at the same time, her Cerberus lackeys went after Legion, Gabby, Ken, Liara and Kaidan. They all bounced back fairly quickly, but Joker…."

Oh god. Not Joker. Please not Joker….

"He got the worst of it. Those assholes beat him into submission. For a long time we didn't think he was going to pull through."

"But he's all right now?" she asked quickly, her eyes pleading with him for reassurance.

"Yeah. It's been slow, but he's healing."

She released a loud sigh of relief.

"John, I'm so sorry."

His head reared up and his eyes widened in stunned disbelief.

"Look, being stranded out there, not knowing if I was going to live or die, I've had a lot of time to think about things," Jane said. "A lot of time to put stuff in perspective. Miranda turning out to be a Cerberus mole with evil intentions doesn't change the fact that you had feelings for her. I know what's it like to have lost someone you love, and then suddenly see them alive again. I'm sorry she put you through that. And I'm sorry you had to do what you did."

"Thanks."

They're eyes locked, and in that moment, something passed between the two Commanders. A mutual understanding borne from shared sorrow and loss. They'd suffered a debilitating blow, but they'd recover. The crew was resilient. They'd rally. They'd keep moving forward. And one day, God willing, they'd get their revenge.

.x.x.x.

Word of Jane's recovery spread through the ship like wildfire. True to Thane's predictions, a flurry of crew members came in and out of the med bay over the course of the next few hours. Jane did her best to stay awake and alert, but the strain was starting to catch up to her, and she found herself dozing off more than she would have liked.

It didn't matter how tired she was, though, a smile always lit up her face when someone breezed through the med bay doors. She'd missed her crew terribly during the time she had been held captive, and after John's revelations about the Cerberus coup, she was even more relieved and grateful to see each and every one of them.

Gabby and Ken came in and treated her to a few rounds of Skyllian Five. By the time a half hour had passed she had almost doubled her credits, although she was pretty sure they were just going easy on her. Kaidan, Ashley, and Liara all stopped by as well, and she chatted with each one until her eyes would grow heavy and she was overcome with the need to sleep again.

And so it went on like that; little visits here and there interspersed with intermittent naps. Each time the sound of the doors opening roused her from her sleep her eyes would fly open and her heart jumped into her throat in anticipation that the one person she longed to see most would come walking through that door. And every time it was someone else, she grew a little more despondent and a little more unsure that what she had experienced right before she lost consciousness had actually happened.

"Shepard!"

Tali's joyful cry reverberated around the small clinic, tearing Jane away from her thoughts. She glanced up just in time to see the young quarian run across the med bay before she flung her arms around the Commander.

"Oh, Jane! You're okay!"

Grunting as the quarian's arms rubbed against a row of stitches, she replied, "Hi, Tali."

"Oh Keelah! I'm sorry!" She stepped back, managing to look sheepish even through her helmet. "I'm just so happy you're back and you're all right. When you pushed me out of the way and I saw you get shot with all those bullets, I thought…I thought that was it. That you were dead, and it was all because of me. I'm so sorry," she wailed, hugging her again.

"Shh…," Jane soothed. She did her best to bring her arms up and wrap them around her friend. It wasn't the easiest feat, considering she was literally tied to the bed by a bunch of wires. "It's okay. Those bastards caught us off guard. I'm just glad that you and Thane were able to make it out of there."

Tali nodded quietly.

"Besides," the Commander added, trying to lighten the mood, "Liara told me you came up with the idea of using a salvaged piece of geth tech to help track me down."

She raised her head and Jane could practically feel the quarian's proud, beaming smile. "I wanted to do what I could to help. And with Liara's analytical brain we were able to install it in your terminal and have it search for keywords, like your name. That's how we learned that you'd been captured by the Shadow Broker. The program was able to find a message meant for John, but the Shadow Broker intercepted it before it got to him."

Feron.

She hadn't seen or heard anything about Feron since they'd been captured on Alingon. Had he survived? Was he taken to the same Shadow Broker base she was? And if so, was he still there, stranded because no one knew about him?

That last thought made crippled her.

"Tali, did the rescue party find any other survivors in the base, any other prisoners? Like a drell?"

She shook her head slowly. "I don't think so. But they were only there looking for you."

Jane let her head drop back to the pillow with a frustrated sigh.

"Why? Was there someone else there with you?"

"I don't know," she replied sadly. "A drell named Feron rescued me from Cerberus. I'm pretty sure he was the one who sent the message that you said you guys intercepted. But we were captured not long after that, and I haven't seen him since. I don't even know if he's still alive."

Tali was quiet for a moment. Then she said, "Couldn't hurt to ask someone who was there. Maybe John or Thane or Liara saw something."

"It's possible."

"Besides," Tali added, "Liara's good at sniffing out information. She found you. She might be able to track down this Feron's whereabouts."

"How long's it been?"

"Since what?" Tali asked.

"Since I was rescued?"

"Nine days. Dr. Chakwas had to put you in a medically induced coma so you could heal."

"Nine days…," Jane echoed. That was a lot of time that the Shadow Broker could use to put distance between them and Feron. He could be anywhere by now…if he was even still alive. She hated not knowing. Almost as much as she hated the fact that she had been rescued and he hadn't.

He'd sacrificed everything to give her a chance to escape, and now, she vowed to do everything within her power to find him and return the favor.

Right then, however, there was a more pressing matter to contend with. She couldn't keep up with the cycle of anticipation and disappointment. She had to know, once and for all.

"Tali? Have you uhh…have you seen Garrus?"

The quarian nodded emphatically. "John got tired of him pacing around the mess hall, so he sent him on a supply run. He's going to be soooooo angry when he comes back and finds out you came to while he was gone."

Jane breathed a sigh of relief. So, it hadn't been a dream after all.

But that posed a whole different set of problems. What was she going to say to him when she finally saw him?

.x.x.x.

"That'll be eleven-thousand-seven-hundred-and-fifty-one credits."

"You've got to be kidding me," Garrus said, eyeing the volus suspiciously.

"One set of human female heavy armor, two skin weaves, one assault rifle high velocity barrel, a pistol piercing mod, a month's worth of food stores—both dextro and amino, grey and black waste water dumping fee, and a complete refill of your ship's water tanks," the volus rattled off. "Eleven-thousand-seven-hundred-and-fifty-one credits."

"Spirits," he grumbled. The amount was at least a quarter of the price higher than their normal vendors, but they were nowhere near any of them, and Garrus would be damned if this trip took any longer than it already had.

He understood why John had suggested—no, basically ordered him to go on this mission. There was nothing he could do but wait for word on Jane's condition. But waiting around the mess hall and knowing what was going on was still preferable to be away from the ship and having no clue.

Garrus activated his omnitool and transferred the credits. "There. The Normandy is docked in bay three."

"A pleasure doing business with you."

Yeah, yeah, Garrus thought acerbically. John wasn't going to be thrilled with the final amount, but then again it served him right for sending him on this shit mission in the first place.

His omnitool pinged as he was walking away from the stall.

"Vakarian," he answered automatically.

"Garrus!" John shouted.

Spirits. Had he already found about the hit on his account and now he was calling to cuss him out?

"How soon can you get back to the Normandy?"

"I'm on my way back now. Why, is everything okay?" His heart skipped a beat. "Is Jane okay?"

"Everything's fine, Vakarian. Double-time it. Your girlfriend just woke up."

.x.x.x.

"Well, Commander," Chakwas announced, pulling the IV out of Jane's arm. "I'm not ready to let you leave the med bay just yet, but I can say that you are coming along remarkably well, considering."

Jane rubbed the spot on her arm where the IV tube had been. "Now I know how Kaidan must've felt. It's easy to go stir crazy in here."

"I know."

"Still, it feels good to be free of all those wires. I can finally move. Maybe now I can get some regular clothes?" She batted her eyelashes at the doctor. "Pretty please?"

"Oh, I suppose," Chakwas chuckled. "But only if you promise to be really careful changing into them, okay?"

"Cross my heart," Jane replied.

Chakwas disappeared and returned after a few minutes with a bundle of clothes in her arms. With the doctor's help, Jane eased her way into her comfortable blue Alliance standard issue uniform. In all the years of wearing it, she had never been more grateful to put it on.

"Here," Chakwas patted the mattress. "Have a seat and I'll see about having Gardner whip you up something for dinner."

Jane nodded and sat on the edge of the bed with a satisfied sigh. It had taken considerably more effort than she had originally thought to convince the sore muscles in her arms and legs to comply, but in the end, the slight movement felt good. Every day that passed made her feel a little bit more alive, a little more human.

The doors hissed open seconds later.

"That was fast," she laughed. "Did he already have it rea—"

Jane lapsed into silence, her mouth hanging open as she saw Garrus' rigid form standing in the doorway. She hadn't noticed earlier, since she had been on the verge of collapse, but now that she had an unobstructed view of him, she could tell by the tired set of his shoulders and the pale, almost wan coloring of his face and mandibles that he hadn't been getting much sleep lately. His deep blue eyes, however, were as sharp as ever as he riveted them on her. There was so much raw emotion in them that her breath involuntarily caught in her throat.

Distantly, she recalled the first time the two of them had gazed at each other with such intensity. Even if she lived to be a thousand, she would never forget the shock of seeing her mate suddenly resurrected mere hours after his death. But as her gaze wandered over him, taking in the way the white bandage covered the familiar lines of the colony markings that painted his face, she wondered how she could have ever doubted her feelings for him. It seemed the old adage was true after all; you never knew what you really had until you lost it.

"Garrus," she said, finally breaking the silence between the two of them. "I'm so sorry."

In what seemed like two giant steps, he had crossed the room and had pulled her into his embrace. She slipped her arms around his back and dug her fingers into the unyielding metal of his armor. He tightened his hold, squeezing her shoulder with one of his gloved hands.

"I shouldn't have lied to you," she whispered against his chest plate. "I should have told you right from the beginning. The truth is, I didn't know how to feel. I was still trying to process everything."

Garrus swallowed and pushed her back enough that he could look into her eyes. "And now?"

She bit her lip and glanced down. Then, slowly, she brought her gaze back up to meet his. "And now, I can't imagine what my life would be like without you in it. When I trapped inside that base, faced with the very real possibility that I wasn't going to make it out of there alive, my last thoughts were of you, not him. I know it's a lot to ask, but do you think you could ever forgive me for what I've done to you?"

"I will admit that at first, I didn't want to," he revealed. "I felt betrayed…used. But when you disappeared…when we thought you were dead or dying somewhere in a Cerberus lab, it made me realize that the only reason I felt that way was because deep down I knew that what we had—whatever that was—was over."

Jane sucked in a breath and held it.

"And that ate at me. Day or night, asleep or awake. It didn't matter. All I could think about was how I might never see you again, and never have the chance to tell you I'm sorry for doubting you. I'm sorry for all the things I said."

She pulled him in for another hug, and then said, "Can we start over? Will you give me the chance to prove that I fell in love with the turian standing right in front of me?"

Garrus untangled himself from Jane's hold and stepped back, a wry smirk on his face as he considered her proposal. Then he held out his hand and said, "I'm Garrus Vakarian, code name 'Archangel,' all-around turian badass and bringer of justice in an unjust galaxy. And you are…?"

Jane grinned and clasped his proffered hand. "Heh. Jane Shepard. Commander. Alliance Navy. You may have heard of me."

"Ah, yes. That does sound familiar. Pals around with this crazy guy who seems to think he's also Commander Shepard."

She released his hand and smacked him playfully on the shoulder.

"Rumor has it, though, that you guys kill reapers."

"Well, I'm not gonna lie. I'm kinda good at it."

He laughed. "What a fabulous coincidence, because I also happen to kill reapers on the side."

"Do you, now?"

"Oh yeah. And you wanna know something, Commander?"

"What's that?"

Garrus caught hold of her wrist and yanked her forward, his expression turning serious. "I will follow you to hell and back."

And with that, he pulled her flush against his body and kissed her.