Authors note: Wow its been a long time since I updated this fanfic. Life got in the way and before I knew it 7 months had passed. Anyhoo I'm back on this fic now and this chapter is particularly important as it is posted on the great Commander Shepards birthday. Happy birthday Shepards everywhere.

Chapter 15

Garrus awoke early the next day. He had hardly slept, his brain refusing to shut off the thoughts that whirred there.

He now sat on the sofa, a mug of calming Dextro tea in his hands, trying to figure out who was best to help him.

His Omni tool beeped with a vid call, which he answered in record time.

"Garrus," Tali's masked face appeared on the screen. "Glad your awake. Where's Shepard?"

"Asleep still," the Turian smiled. "What's up Tali?"

"Oh nothing much," Garrus could hear the sadness in her voice. "Kal's just going away for a few week and we wont have much contact… that's all."

"Oh," he had known that Tali and her friend Kal'reeger were more to each other than either let on, but he didn't know how deeply she had felt about him till now. "Say Tali. What are your plans for today?"

"Nothing Garrus….why?"

"I can't tell you here….." Garrus glanced nervously over his shoulder. "Could we meet up somewhere?"

"Sure, I'm on the Normandy right now, I could bring the shuttle and meet you….. Hold on," the Quarians face moved out of sight for a few moments and she appeared to be talking to someone off cam. "Liara's here," Tali came back into view. "Is this a secret just from Shepard or from all of us." Her eyes squinted accusingly.

"Liara can come too," Garrus called. "More the merrier with what I've got planned."

"Oooooooh," Tali chirruped. "OK Garrus, be all secretive. Liara and I will meet you at the co-ordinates you chose, just send them to my tool."

"Thanks Tali," Garrus felt his earlier stresses melt away.

Once the call ended, Garrus headed back to the bedroom. Jane was still asleep, her red hair splayed on the pillow, soft sighs coming from her mouth. Spirits, how he wanted to just climb back in bed with her and ravage her when she awoke.

But instead he left the data pad on his pillow, a simple human act, leaving her a note saying he wouldn't be long, then dipped once to breathe in her heady scent.

Leaving was harder than he thought. I was, he realised, the first time they had been parted since the war was over. And it tugged at his heart to leave her. She had become a part of his life so much that simply being away from her felt like the whole world was spinning wrong on its axis, and that he was going to fall into the darkest fathoms of space.

He met Tali and Liara in a café on earth that accommodated for both levo and dextro based life forms. They both hugged their Turian friend at his arrival before sitting down at a small table in the corner.

"So," Liara asked, her voice all proffesional. "What is so important that we had to meet here and not at your house. And why all the secrets to Shepard? You two have always been honest with each other."

"I do tell Jane everything," Garrus protested. "But this is one thing she cant know about, not yet anyway." He rummaged in the pocket of his civilian clothing and pulled out the small box. He opened it and showed his female companions. Their faces lit up. "I need your help. I want to ask Jane to marry me, in both the Turian sense of the word, and the human way. I know little of the human custom, nothing about how to go about it. Liara, I know Asari customs are the closest to humans so would you mind helping me prepare for that. Tali, I want to find somewhere special to do this, I would say where we first met , but the Citadel is hardly fit for that at the present time. Will you help me do this, both of you?" Liara and Tali shared a look at each other, broad smile on the Asari's face, and Tali looked happy too.

"Lets get started," they said in unison.

Garrus sighed in relief, maybe this wasn't going to be as hard as he thought.

Shepard awoke with a yawn, stretching her long, lithe body until she heard a satisfying crack in her spine.

Her arm then hit against a data pad on Garrus' side of the bed. Curious she picked it up, to find a note from Garrus himself.

Jane, it read. I have a few errands to run, which shouldn't take more than a few hours. Don't worry I will be back before you know it. Love you, G x

She smiled. This was a particularly human thing that her alien boyfriend had done, and she loved him for it. She dressed, pulled her long hair into a high ponytail on her head, then went in search of food. Sometimes being a biotic sucked, the amount of food and calories she needed to sustain her abilities was ridiculous.

She was just tucking into a bowl of muesli, when her Omni tool beeped. She opened the message on the screen.

Hey Lola, it read. Mind if I pop over in a while? I got something I wanna run by you.

James. P.S I'm bringing someone with me, hope that's OK.

James, she sent back. I could use the company, Garrus is out doing errands. And this 'Companion' you want to bring had better not be one of your 'female friends'. Come over anytime. Shep.

James arrived about thirty minutes after their conversation. He entered the house like he owned the spot.

"Lola," he called, surprising Shepard with a hug. "Your looking as lovely as ever."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Lieutenant," she smiled smugly when the muscular man blushed. "So where's this companion of yours?"

"She's parking the car," James flopped down on one of the armchairs. "Scars still gone?"

"Yes," Jane was less than impressed with the nickname James gave Garrus. After all there was soo much more to the Turian than his scars. She was about to tell James exactly what he could do with that nickname, when another person entered the house.

"Ash?" Jane was shocked to see one of her eldest friends walked over to her. She smiled warmly at her old CO, before settling herself down on James's lap.

"Hey Jane," she said. "Guess your wondering what's going on huh?"

"Well, I guessed something might be going on between you two, especially after that game of tonsil tennis you were playing at that party," Shepard was delighted to see both of them blush.

"Yes," James cleared his throat. "Well, me and Ash have been secretly dating ever since. We didn't want to tell anyone because we didn't know if we would even survive the Reapers. Then you killed them all and we decided that life was too short not to be together, tell all our friends and take the next step."

"The next step?"

"We're getting married Shepard," Ashley cried. She held out her fingers and waggled her finger, a stunning ring twinkling there.

"Congratulations you two, really," Jane said. She meant it too. Even though her heart was wracked with jealousy. She longed for marriage, but didn't want to bring it up to Garrus, lest she chase him away.

Garrus made a timely reappearance then.

"Hey Hon," he nuzzled her neck. He then spotted their two guests. "James, Ash, what are you two doing here?"

"We're getting married," Ashley declared again. And the congratulations and hugs and handshakes were exchanged again.

"Sooo," James eyed Garrus mischievously. "Scars, when are YOU going to pop the question to our illustrious leader?"

"James," Shepard warned noticing how her Turian boyfriends jaw clenched and his eyes nervously darted round the room.

"What?" James smiled. "He knows I'm winding him up, don't you scars?"

"Yeah," Garrus managed a smile. "Of course I know that.

What the Turian kept to himself was this: In just under 24 hours he was going to propose to Commander Shepard, war hero, paragon of justice, his best friend and love of his life. And he couldn't wait.