#kate shepard

Because you know Hyacinth wrote to her brother IMMEDIATELY and was like

Dearest Brother, Do not let Mother get to you. That woman made a fool out of Gregory and HE NEARLY DIED. I will never forgive her. And you are not allowed to either. -Your favorite sister

And Anthony is eternally protective of his younger siblings even historically noted against the people they chose to love.

But then Anthony got to London and all Lucy reminded him of was Daphne. Maneuvered around by the men in her life. Almost paying with her life because of their mistakes? And how Lucy’s absolutely irresponsible brother had failed to support his only sister.

And that simply would’t do in Anthony ‘the most eldest child to ever eldest child’ Bridgerton’s book, so while she wasn’t yet a Bridgerton by marriage he decided she was already his sister and would be afforded all the love he already had for his now nine sisters.

Kate Shepard aka my most traumatised OC

Colonist/Infiltrator/Sole Survivor

Written for @cactuarkitty‘s MERweek. It’s one of a few one-shot ideas I’ve had for a while, so this was a good opportunity to get it written. It’s set in the aftermath of the attack on the Citadel by Cerberus in ME3, and revolves around the tragically short relationship between Shepard and Thane. It was also largely written between 3am and 5am while I was watching the UK election results, so bear that in mind when reading!

Garrus lay on the med-bay bed, talons drumming against the covers, the only sign of his impatience. Dr Chakwas had patched him up pretty well, but she was adamant that he wasn’t going anywhere without her permission, and it was grating on him. He didn’t need to be there anymore, and there was too much that needed doing. Not on the Normandy, for a change, given that all the fighting had been ground side, or what passed for it on the Citadel, but the clean-up had been bad enough after Sovereign; he shuddered to think what it would be like after Cerberus had attacked the entire station. At least with the geth, most of the damage had been collateral.

Shaking his head to try and get rid of that dark thought, his mind drifted to Thane. The Drell had been stabbed by one of Cerberus’s more efficient drones, and last Garrus had heard he was in surgery. It was not a happy situation, but Thane had been through worse even before he joined the Normandy. If anyone could laugh off such an injury, it would be…well, probably not Thane, now he thought of it; for all that he had a dry sense of humour, the assassin treated events with the weight they deserved. He would be calm about it though, Garrus was sure of that much. Perhaps it helped having Shepard there to worry about things for him, took the pressure off somewhat.

The med-bay doors swished open. Garrus turned his head a little, and let out a theatrical groan.

“Spirits, who let you in?”

“Heard there was someone crying like a baby over some chicken-shit scratches,” Vega said with a broad grin. “You know anything about that?”

“I’m here purely on medical advice,” Garrus replied shortly. Vega smirked, but said nothing. He was intimately familiar with rule one of military service: don’t piss off the doctors.

“Any word on how long we’re sticking around? I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to help with clean-up, but I’d have thought Shepard would have better things to do.”

“Haven’t heard anything specific, but it’ll be a couple of days, I imagine.” He didn’t explain why. He wasn’t sure if the Alliance knew about Shepard’s relationship with Thane, and if they weren’t it wasn’t his place to say. “The Council’ll probably want to debrief Shepard pretty thoroughly.”

He realised what he’d said as soon as Vega started chuckling, and he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, I’m dosed up on painkillers that’d kill you, Jimmy.”

“Whatever you say, Garrus, whatever you say.”

The doors swished open again, and Dr Chakwas strode in, her face troubled. She set about freeing Garrus from the battalion of monitors he was hooked up to before saying so much as ‘hello’. It wasn’t like her, and Garrus shot Vega a worried look before addressing her. “Doctor? Thought I was in the for long haul – not that I’m complaining, of course…

She shook her head. “Ideally yes, but I think you’ll need to be up and about, I’m afraid. I’ve just heard from Dr Michel. Thane didn’t make it.”

Garrus stared at her for a moment, speechless. “He – what?”

“There were too many complications with his Keprals,” she elaborated. “The blade went through his lungs. If it had just been that, or if the wound had been somewhere else…”

Garrus tossed the wires aside, clambering to his feet. “Where is she now? She knows, right?”

Chakwas nodded, her eyes starting to shine a little. “Yes, she…she was there at the end, at least.”

“Sorry, I’m confused,” Vega chipped in, his gaze flitting between them rapidly.

“Thane Krios – he was one of our team against the Collectors,” Garrus said shortly, pulling on his armour. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Chakwas looking at him curiously, but she didn’t say anything.

“Oh, the Drell that Cerberus asshole stabbed? Dios, that sucks. I didn’t know he was a friend of yours. I’m sorry.”

“He…” Garrus trailed off, then sighed. “He wasn’t just a friend to Shepard.”

“Oh.”

He supposed that was all that needed to be said, really.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Garrus and Vega had combed all of Shepard’s usual calling points on the Citadel looking for her, but to no avail. Her comms were off, and Traynor had been unable to track her through the station’s still glitching systems (Garrus suspected EDI would have had better luck, but the AI was busy lending her assistance to C-Sec). Inevitably then, it was when they returned to the Normandy that they found her, talking stiffly with Kaidan Alenko.

Garrus growled a little, unsure whether it was sub-vocal or otherwise, and not really caring either way. He didn’t really have anything against the major – for all that he’d hurt Shepard back on Horizon, it was fairly understandable under the circumstances – but of all the times for him to try and talk to her…

As he and Vega drew near, Kaidan broke out in a wide smile, and hoisted a duffle bag to his shoulder. Shepard nodded at him, then made her way onto the ship, the major falling into her wake like he’d never left. Garrus increased his pace to catch up, and Kaidan looked over his shoulder. His smile was a little wary.

“Garrus, good to see you!”

“Major,” he acknowledged before brushing past him. He reached out and placed a talon on Shepard’s shoulder. “Kate…”

She shrugged him off. “Get Kaidan set up somewhere, will you? I’ll be in my cabin.”

She disappeared into the elevator, leaving the trio gathered awkwardly around it.

“I’ve missed something, haven’t I?” Kaidan said, regret in his voice. Garrus sighed.

“It’s good to have you back, Kaidan, but…this might not have been the best time.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

One day stretched into two, and they should have left the Citadel, but Shepard hadn’t yet left her cabin. It seemed like half the crew had tried to visit her at one point or another, only to be ignored. Dr Chakwas had forced her way in, persuading EDI to override the doors on medical grounds, but she would only say that Shepard needed time. There was no-one aboard who begrudged her that, but Garrus and Kaidan had had a quiet discussion about which of them might have to field the call from Hackett, if it came.

It was in the early hours of the morning, or at least the night shift, when Garrus heard it. He was still awake, tweaking a minute misalignment on his rifle, when the sound of drilling reached him. He cocked his head, startled and curious, then picked up his sidearm before leaving the gunnery. The mess was empty, but the drilling was louder. It stopped as he made his way through the mess, and as he rounded the elevator shaft he heard the doors closing again, and the faint whine of the elevator moving.

There was an addition to the memorial wall.

He approached, reaching out to brush his talons over the rough plate. The other names on the wall were laser-etched, neat and professional. This one screamed of the personal touch. He wasn’t entirely sure that the name hadn’t been carved into the plate with a knife, going by the marks. It was messy, rough, but spoke far more for what the plate meant to someone than the official ones.

It would be the only outward sign of Shepard’s grief, Garrus was sure. She might, eventually, confide in someone, maybe even him, but the crew as a whole would never see her blink. He wasn’t sure that was a good thing. He knew there wasn’t much he could do about it.

“So long, Thane,” he sighed, coming to attention a little sloppily. He was out of practise. “I’ll keep an eye on her for you, as best I can.”

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Months later, the carved plate gained a twin.