Sorry for the very long delay and my absence from FF for this story folks. A lack of inspiration and time for it has kept me from finishing this chapter until now. I know you're all eager to find out what has happened to Garrus (I am too!), but, I'm sad to say this is not that chapter… The next one, I promise! And I'll get it out sooner! Of course, reviews, likes and the like may just shorten that time. Anyway, on to it. Enjoy!

"Commander. Time to get moving." It was Jacob's voice, filled with careful concern. Through the throbbing in hear head, and her tiredness, she felt dimly aware of his armoured hand placed gently on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking through the dusty light of the planet – now a hazy yellow. They mustn't have stopped for more than a few hours. Her legs still ached painfully.

She looked up at Jacob, offered him a nod, before taking up her crutches and stumbling wearily to her feet. She had to lean against a fallen building to steady herself. As she did so, she took the opportunity to take in their surroundings.

Her teammates, and herself included, were layered thick with the dust. Even through her visor she felt it irritating her eyes, felt it fine on her skin beneath the suit. She wondered if even Tali's suit was completely impervious to it. Around them, everything looked much the same as it had yesterday – the ancient Prothean ruins stood still, sad, rust-coloured monuments of a former, long forgotten age. There was no jamming device in sight. She looked up at the sky. The clouds were high in the atmosphere, but were still as thick as ever. Far above, the geth fleet would be waiting, a fox ready to pounce at the mouse as soon as it dared spring out of its hole. Somewhere out there too, Garrus and Mira fought their way through that very same landscape, the only chance Shepard and the Normandy had of escaping.

She dimly wondered how Tali and Jacob were getting along, without sleep.

"Alright. Let's get this over with," she alerted her crew. Tali nodded, once more turning on her omni-tool to lead the way. The three of them once more continued their long, trudging march toward the source of that signal, which all of them hoped was slowly getting closer.

They had been walking along for hours in what seemed a straight line, with Tali in the lead, Jacob and Shepard not far behind. Most of their journey they took in silence, until Jacob could hold out no longer.

"Commander, I know this isn't the best place or time to talk, but I've been wanting to ask you something for a while now." He glanced forward at Tali in the lead ahead of them. She was just far enough ahead to not hear them. Shepard noticed this, her gut instinctively tightening.

"Now's as good a time as any. Ask away, Jacob," she replied, despite herself.

Jacob reached up to scratch the back of his neck, a gesture of nervousness Shepard had never seen him use before when he'd talked to her. Finally he spoke, his voice stern. "I wanted to ask you about Garrus."

Shepard gazed up at him more intently as they walked. "What about him?"

Jacob was silent again as they walked forward, until finally he continued:

"I know you two are together. That's fine, I'm happy for you both. But… I just wanted to make sure you're certain you can trust him."

"I trust Garrus with my life, Jacob."

"It's just… the way he's been acting. All dark and broody like. I don't think it's wise to trust him. I don't even think he trusts himself."

Shepard stopped suddenly, turning toward him.

"Garrus has been through a lot. He's still finding his way through all of it. But he'll be all right."

Jacob nodded. "I hope you're not just telling yourself that, Commander."

"What are you getting at, Jacob?" Shepard asked.

"Stand back a moment and look at it practically. He doesn't know himself, let alone anybody else. If he was pushed to it, he'd snap, and it wouldn't matter who was there trying to stop him. Take the other day for example. If you hadn't come back, he would've reached that breaking point."

Through her dusty visor, Shepard was glaring at Jacob. But she understood where he was coming from. She'd spent many long nights in her cabin before her fall worrying about exactly the same thing. She continued walking before Tali realised they'd stopped. Jacob followed on after her. After a moment, she spoke.

"He was still sane, as you put it, when you found me."

"That's because some little part of him still refused you'd died."

Shepard looked at him funny.

"Sorry. But it's true. I shudder to think what he'd be like when he'd completely lost hope. I wouldn't put it past him to even be as brutal as a krogan."

"Garrus knows he doesn't have to go through everything alone. We've already come to that agreement," Shepard replied, her voice harsh.

"You might not be able to help him, Commander. There's a lot of hurt there. If he wasn't in your team, he'd be dead. One way or the other. Hell, we barely even got to him in time as it was." He kept on walking. "Don't doubt that he'd do it again."

Shepard was silent again for a long moment. "That's not going to happen," she said finally, quietly.

Jacob realised now was the end of the conversation.

"Sorry Commander. I just wanted to be honest with you. I'm sure you know him better than I do," Jacob apologised.

"Thank you, Jacob. I'm glad you told me how you feel around him."

Jacob nodded, and they went on again in silence.

A short time later Tali paused in front of them. She lent down, rubbing at something. She let out a short gasp.

"Look!" She cried in excitement to the others.

Jacob and Shepard quickened their pace to catch up to her. "What is it?" Jacob asked when they had reached her, looking down.

"Probes. All around us. We must be getting close," Tali replied.

"Well that's good," Jacob commented.

Shepard looked down at the shiny surface Tali had rubbed clean. She recognised it, as Tali had, to be a Volus probe. Looking around, she saw many more like it scattered about the Prothean ruins, all belonging to various races. There were even a few human ones among the wreckages. They looked like they had been there for varying amounts of time, as some were more degraded than others, some still in good condition. All were covered by a thick layer of dust.

"Looks like the Normandy isn't the first craft to get stuck here," she said. "But it will be the last."

Tali nodded.

The three of them, heartened anew by this discovery, quickened their pace across the rubble, following the loud static piercing from Tali's omni-tool.