Always Swooning

“Garrus."

He hadn't heard her come in. He never did these days. At least he'd stopped jumping when she announced herself. A quick tap to save his progress before he turned around.

There was the flash.

His hide shifted and he pressed his talons into his wrists. He felt the puncture of hide and smelled the metal of blood. Shepard tilted her head.

Finally, words came to him. "Shepard. Need me for something?”

She looked around the battery. Her gaze touched every surface. Garrus felt it move across his habitat like she was looking at the surfaces of his body instead. "Nothing in particular. Is it okay if I hang out in here for a while?"

She had always visited, but never for long. He touched the edge of his console with a hand behind his back to ground himself. "Yes. Yeah, of course."

"Thank you." She sank down against the wall, until she was settled under EDI's hologram. He waited for her to pull out a datapad or start tapping on her omni-tool, or perhaps even make the overture toward a conversation. She did none of those. Instead, she let her head fall back and she closed her eyes.

She didn't make a noise, but Garrus didn't think she'd fallen asleep. Or if she had, it wasn't sleep in a way that he could recognize. As he tried to distract himself with firing algorithms, he felt . . . perceived. It had been a long, long time since turians had been someone's prey, but those instincts were still there. Run, leave, go while you still can.

He stayed, and so did she; at least for another few hours. When she finally rose, she did so with a sigh. "Thanks for letting me hide out. It's . . . weird, here."

You're telling me. "Any time, Shepard."

Flash.

Shiver.

I will always take baby elcor requests!! The Elcor homeworld doesn't get very cold, so parents may.. uh.. over correct in other places where there's winter.