A/N: Just needed something a little more light-hearted to write about while I work on the drama-fests that are my other two stories. This is a short story (either two or three parts) I have been hoping to do for awhile. For those who have played ME1, you become quite familiar with the lovely little vehicle called the Mako, which you could use to hop off of mountains with its weak thrusters, drive up and down steep inclines and declines in a vain attempt to shorten your time to your destination, or run over geth to kill them because your cannons and guns have overheated. I personally hate it and when ME2 first came out, I was so happy the vehicle exploration had seemingly been cut out. Until the Firewalker DLC introduced us to the Hammerhead aka Mako 2.0, the inspiration for this story.

I can picture my Shepard gaining a reputation among the SR-1 crew as a terrible driver (which is actually a reflection on me and my terrible video-game driving skills, but I digress :P), a reputation that follows her to the SR-2.

And of course, what is one of my ME stories without Shakarian thrown in? ;)

-1-

There were many things Commander Jane Shepard was good at. She could pick off people in a row, with clean headshots that left no collateral damage in their wake. She could talk anyone down, reason with someone who had a fully loaded gun pointed at her unshielded face without batting an eye. She could make friends with those who weren't looking for one, just by giving them the time of day and actually caring about their problems. She could inspire those who followed her to journey into hell itself without any hesitation or thought of desertion.

But there were two things Garrus Vakarian would stake his Viper rifle and vigilante salary on that Shepard was not good at.

Dancing and driving.

When Garrus had arrived back on the Normandy and was up and about after his run-in with the gunship, he took the time to thoroughly explore the ship. There had been no sign of the Mako that would have inhabited the cargo bay like on the old Normandy. It had given him something to work on, certainly, but Garrus could not say he would miss it.

Truth be told, he was ecstatic. No more would he have to ride around with Shepard behind the wheel, as he dug his talons into the leather seat, trying to hold on so he wouldn't be thrown violently around, even with a seatbelt on. The front seat was the safer place, but he was still susceptible to bumping his head on the roof that only hovered a few inches above him or jamming his knees into the underside of the panel in front of him.

No one wanted to be in the back. Whoever had designed the Mako had made the brilliant decision that seatbelts in the back were not necessary. Unless being tossed back and forth from side to side like a rag doll sounded like fun, anyone with sense tried to avoid the bench seat like the plague. Unfortunately, Garrus found himself back there on numerous occasions. At first, Garrus was forced to death grip the head rest in front of him, until he found a small cut-out beside him in the seat big enough for his talon to slide through and grab onto.

Sometimes when they were in a hurry, or being shot at and needed to get back in, both squadmates were forced to sit in the back as it was the easiest area to get to, which came with its own problems. It had hurt like hell when he smacked his face plates right into Wrex's shoulder pads one time, and they would have collided head on if Wrex hadn't reacted fast enough. Not the only instance where he got too close for comfort with his other squadmates.

If it wasn't that, it was the nausea. Garrus liked to think he had a strong constitution, but take a ride with Shepard, even someone with an iron stomach would have trouble getting his bearings after stepping out of a Mako that had just done flips in the air as it glided off the top of a mountain.

So when that cargo door opened on the volcanic planet of Zeona to reveal the Hammerhead, Garrus's stomach lurched at the fevered glow in Shepard's sapphire eyes he could view through her helmet.

"Spirits have mercy," he murmured, one half teasing, the other dead serious.

Shepard turned to face Garrus, presumably overhearing him. "Come on, Garrus. You know you want to take a ride."

"I agree. We really should test it out, make sure it's worth bringing along." Miranda. The calm, icy Cerberus operative who liked to have her finger on the pulse of every little thing that happened on the Normandy. Why Shepard brought her along, Garrus had no idea, but Shepard seemed to trust her, even like her. She had told him helping Miranda rescue her sister allowed her to see a more likable, softer side. Garrus certainly hadn't seen it yet, but he would take Shepard's word for it.

How in the hell am I going to get out of this?

"I'm sure it's fine. They wouldn't have bothered locking it back up if it wasn't," Garrus said, watching with dread as Shepard approached the tank.

"We don't know anything, which is why we should test it," Miranda replied, not bothering to hide her irritation towards Garrus's reluctance.

Garrus wished Tali was there. She would have understood, even joined in on his protest. Why did she have to take fire on the Alarei and get an infection?

"You hear that, Vakarian? My XO agrees we should test it. You're out-voted two to one." Shepard ran her gloved hand over the metal plating, finding the handle for the hatch. "So what do you say we hop in and put this through her paces?"

Seeing no other way out, Garrus slowly followed Shepard through the small opening. The space was even more cramped than the Mako had been. The extra front seat had been sacrificed, with only the driver's seat in the front and a two person bench seat in the back. Great, just what he wanted. Risk toppling onto Miranda and ending up with a biotic blast to his already damaged face.

He slinked into the Hammerhead at Shepard's insistence to hurry. He really didn't like the eager look in her eyes, like a child waiting to open presents on her birthday. Not to say he didn't find it attractive, how her eyes lit up like that, illuminating her whole face (now hidden by her helmet), but just not for this.

He scooted to the farther end, growing more discouraged by the lack of any type of harness or the very least a place to properly death grip in cases of sudden jumps.

Miranda climbed in after him, closing the hatch behind her and positioning herself besides Garrus. The air immediately began to pressurize, allowing everyone to take off their helmets or masks, in Miranda's case.

Garrus could proudly say he didn't jump off his seat when the VI came online, welcoming them to the M-44 Hammerhead infantry fighting vehicle, but he did twitch at the sudden noise.

Shepard tossed Garrus her helmet, obviously trusting him to hang onto it for her. "Little nervous back there, Vakarian?"

"With you behind the wheel again, Shepard? Couldn't possibly imagine why." When he first joined up, they hadn't really bantered back and forth like this. As he got more comfortable around her and stopped seeing her as this superhuman icon, saw her as a real friend, it became more natural, especially during missions. The banter only increased on the SR-2, partly as a coping mechanism for Garrus after everything that happened to him (he had always relied on humor to make a situation better), but also for a different reason entirely.

Shepard turned back up front. "So many buttons up here. Wonder what they all do?"

"We have a VI, Shepard. Let it tell you!" The last thing they needed was Shepard to go around pressing buttons when she had no idea what they did.

Apparently Shepard decided to ignore that advice, and like a child who had been warned against touching something, she tapped it and the Hammerhead jolted up into the air like it was on a trampoline before gliding back down to the rock surface.

"The thrusters seem intact and the jump mechanic's adequate," Miranda remarked, completely unfazed by the sudden jump. Even Garrus had to admit that wasn't too bad. It could have been a lot worse. At least the Hammerhead jumped up in a straight line and Shepard wasn't going to try to move forward while jumping, attempting a landing that would end with scrapes and bruises.

"On one of the panels, it's got something marked on the radar. Looks like it could be a mineral deposit," Shepard called back over the hum of the engine. "This is great! Now I can retrieve minerals while out on missions instead of spending all that time scanning planets on the galaxy map, wasting all those probes."

The pain and misery it could cause to everyone riding with her would not be worth a few bits of iridium here, a few bits of platinum there.

"Now let's see if we can get this to go forward. Everybody hang on while we make the jump over this ledge up ahead."

Garrus clenched his gloved talons down on the bench seat, prepping himself.

Miranda just stared at him, a puzzled and slightly exacerbated expression on her face. "What's gotten into you, Vakarian?"

"He doesn't have faith in my driving abilities," Shepard replied from up front, hand hovering over a thruster control, ready to push it forward. She didn't sound offended at all by it. Nor she was denying how reckless she was in a combat vehicle. Rather she sounded extremely amused.

"For good reason, Shepard. Still trying to figure out where you learned to drive." He then turned to Miranda, Shepard's hand falling on the control out of the corner of his eye. "You'll understand soon enough, Lawson."

Almost on cue, the Hammerhead propelled forward, jumping over the ravine and landing across in a not-so-gentle fashion, prompting its occupants in the back to jettison forward. Garrus was able to hang on, having already clutched the underside of the seat, but Miranda was not so fortunate, gripping the back of Shepard's seat to prevent herself from toppling forward even more, knees digging into the chrome floor. That must have hurt in that skin tight outfit.

Shepard fiddled around with more of the buttons until she finally caved and requested the VI's assistance at mining the minerals underneath them.

Forceful vibrations shook the Hammerhead as it extracted them, the trio shaking in complete synchronization with the movements. Garrus didn't bother to hide the sigh of relief when it was over and he was pretty sure he heard Miranda do the same.

"Don't remember the Mako ever doing that," Garrus commented, releasing his grip ever-so-slightly. He could already feel the headache building in his head.

"Never had to retrieve minerals with it," Shepard pointed out, straightening herself out. "Looks like the VI is picking up a few others out there, all scattered around the area. We still need to test out the weapons systems too."

Garrus didn't know how much more of this excitement he could take. It was almost laughable. He had shown no hesitation in taking on all three of Omega's most powerful gangs, yet the moment he climbs back into a vehicle with Shepard behind the wheel, suddenly his adventurous streak has run dry.

"We are running low of our supplies for upgrades." Miranda sounded less certain than before. Judging by the uneasy look in her eyes, she had begun to realize what Garrus had dreaded all along. "It would be good to have more. And test the weapons in a contained environment, not while out in the field."

Shepard didn't need anymore incentive to continue forward in this maze of volcanic rock and lava. She combed through this barren wasteland in search of precious minerals, shooting at silos blocking their path (proving the efficiency of the cannon firing system), jumping from ledge to ledge, jostling Garrus and Miranda around in the back. He kept his eyes closed rather than watching them pass by their surroundings at a ridiculous velocity. Less of a chance of his stomach churning than it already was.

Garrus had long ago given up on trying to stop Shepard and instructing her on her driving, but Miranda shared no such reluctance. As time went on, her voice grew more shrill and more urgent, like she was convinced the longer she stayed in the Hammerhead, the more likely Shepard was going to crash it into the side of a rock.

Shepard. Making cracks in the ice-queen's shell in more ways than one.

Shepard kept on shouting back reassurances over the loud roar of the thrusters mid-jump, saying she hadn't killed anyone in her driving yet. That was true, but Garrus didn't think he or Miranda wanted to test those claims.

"Pull up, Shepard! Higher!" Miranda cried at the final jump for the last mineral.

The Hammerhead landed in a spectacular fashion on top of the mineral pile, smacked towards the ground like it had been biotically slammed, propelling both of them forward again, but at least neither of them ended up on the floor.

Garrus couldn't have been happier when the VI declared all mineral deposits in the area had been picked clean. Shepard wasted no time in contacting the Normandy for extraction. Garrus chanced a quick glance at Miranda and swore the color of her face seemed slightly green. He stopped himself from telling her he told her so, settling for a look inside. Miranda sent a piercing glare back, though it didn't have the same bite as her glares usually did.

When they landed in the hangar bay, Miranda was the first one out, informing Shepard she would file the necessary report to the Illusive Man before scurrying out the tiny opening despite her obvious queasiness, as if fearing Shepard would suggest going back out there in the Hammerhead.

"Looks like I lost another one."

She still didn't seem remorseful or irritated, still amused.

"That's an achievement to make your XO crack under pressure. You should feel proud," Garrus replied. He hadn't realized it before, but he liked it, seeing Shepard so care-free, a luxury they could rarely indulge in these days, all in the name of defeating the Collectors. Really hard to truly relax with the fate of billions on your shoulders.

"She may be my XO on paper, Garrus, but as far as I'm concerned, you'll always be my second-in-command," she replied softly. When Garrus made to argue against it, she cut him off. "You are a good leader, Garrus, you just had bad luck. It happens to everyone."

Listening her speak about him with such confidence, he almost believed it. She truly was an incredible woman, unlike anyone he had ever met. The fact she had showed an interest in him, when she could have had so many others. She had told him she didn't want something closer to home. She wanted him, the broken vigilante and failed C-Sec officer...he still couldn't believe his luck.

"Maybe, but you're still a better one." He took pleasure in seeing the tender light appear in Shepard's eyes. "And you'll need all your charisma at the forefront if you have any hope of convincing Miranda back inside this metal death-trap," Garrus said, resuming the banter between them.

"I have nine other people to charm into coming with me if she won't, Garrus. Provided you and Tali don't talk," Shepard said, following along, in a tone that she fully expected them to spread the rumor about their commander's abysmal driving skills and that she should be kept leagues away from any driving vehicle.

Garrus raised his hands, palms up. "Point the finger at Joker. He's the gossip, not us."

Shepard unstrapped herself from her seat, climbing to the back to retrieve her helmet, which Garrus handed to her without being asked to. Surprisingly, she placed it down on the seat behind her, inching closer to Garrus.

"But Joker doesn't have the same experience you guys do. And you were in it more times than Tali," she continued, her hand reaching out to gently grasp his wrist.

"Only because you insisted on taking me on more missions," Garrus brought up, sparks jolting through him at the contact. He suddenly felt warmer than usual as Shepard continued moving closer, almost to the point the chest plates of their armor were touching and their faces were only inches apart.

"It's all in my charm. I can be pretty persuasive on occasion."

Garrus's browplate rose. "How could I refuse the requests of a beautiful woman? That wouldn't have been very gentlemanly," he said, his sub-harmonic dominant, desire for her plain in his voice.

Her eyes glittered feverishly again, but for a different reason entirely. She hoisted herself onto his lap, steadying herself on the collar of his armor. Though surprised, Garrus immediately placed his hands on her hips to keep her in place. They hadn't touched each other like this before, gotten so close in each other's personal space. Garrus didn't think this would happen so soon.

"Thought...we agreed...disrupt the crew as little...as possible." Garrus's words came out raggedly, fighting the urge to strip her armor off one piece at a time and take her right then and there against the rock-hard seat. He wasn't some overly-hormonal teenager anymore. He had more self-control than that, but Spirits it was difficult.

"We did." She undid the latches of her glove, tossing it beside the helmet. Her hand rested on his shoulder then ended up on his scarred plates, stroking what was exposed with her thumb. "I'm hopefully just giving you something more pleasant to think about when you end up back here."

"How do you possibly hope to do that?" he breathed harshly, sending barely visible ripples across Shepard's skin at the contact.

She responded by placing her lips against his mouth plates in a human kiss.

Turians never did anything like this, but he had seen enough human couples out and about on the Citadel to know the basic gist behind the concept. His mandibles started fluttering against her cheeks, tickling her skin and sending little shivers down her body. One hand moved of its own accord to tangle itself in her shoulder-length auburn hair, keeping her almost sweet-tasting lips locked onto his plates. He now wished he had taken his gloves off, so he could properly feel the strands between his talons for the first time, but that would have to come later. She emitted a small pleased groan into his mouth at the contact, which sent his own pleasurable jolt through his body, hearing her respond like that to him.

When she finally pulled away, he took in her flushed face and rounder lips from kissing him, the longing for him in her eyes mirroring his. "Was that enough, Garrus?"

Garrus hummed, pretending to deeply think about it. "Might need a little more reassurance. I'm all about being thorough."

She leaned back down to kiss him again, not needing further encouragement, but her lips only brushed against his plates before they were interrupted by EDI, calling for Shepard and informing her Samara asked to see her once she arrived, a matter of great importance.

"Guess that'll have to do for the moment, big guy," Shepard said, moving off him and forcing herself to calm her own heavy breathing.

Not wanting to break physical contact yet, Garrus latched onto Shepard's gloved hand, lacing her five fingers through his three. "Building up the anticipation will be worth it."

A wide smile curled on Shepard's face. "Savoring the last shot before popping the heat sink?"

"Something like that."

Shepard pulled away her hand, albeit with some reluctance, grabbing her helmet and glove. Before she climbed her way up out of the open hatch, she shot Garrus another mischievous grin, silently promising him that he would end up back in the Hammerhead, whether he liked it or not.

He decided as he followed her up, that if it allowed him to see that gorgeous and care-free smile more often, any moment of nausea, bruising or feelings of weightless as they careened through the air in the tin can that passed for a vehicle would be worth it.