AN: Kink meme fill (as per usual). Rated M because of minor citrus towards the end. This is probably the first time where I'm filling a prompt, but the whole point isn't just to get to the sexytimes - sexytimes are just sort of something that happens during the plot. Weird, right? Title comes from an episode of Voyager for those of you who might be curious.

I kind of like the idea of exploring ME1-2 through this, but at the same time the idea makes me very very weary... It's a lot to go through. I may end up adding more to this if I can think of any particular scenes/aspects I want to address. We'll see how it goes.

I feel somewhat guilty posting this as I have other, incomplete stories to work on, but the prompt caught my attention. And sometimes it's just easier to get back in the swing of things with something completely new.

Infinite Regress

As she lay in the belly of a dying Reaper, leg pinned and useless under a fallen beam, a heavily panting turian somewhere behind her, Jane Shepard wondered what had gone wrong. They had been close - so close - to winning this thing. To saving Earth. So goddamned close... Only to have it fall apart at the end.

She didn't know where the rest of her team had ended up. If they were even alive. She prayed they were but knew they were better off dead. The Reaper was falling towards the surface, stuck in the embrace of Earth's orbit. Anyone still breathing wouldn't be for much longer.

Shepard wondered if she should be comforted that she'd die on her people's home planet. Better than being suffocated in the vacuum above some remote rock whose name she only knew because it had once held her remains. But at least then she'd thought humanity stood a chance. Thought her sacrifice might mean something...

There was spitting and a mumbled curse that just came through her translator as garbled static. "What was that?" she asked, brought back to the present. She turned, contorting her spine just to make eye contact. She stared at Garrus coughing up blue blood and doing his best to hold his organs in. She had this odd sense of déjà vu, like she was back on Omega saving his sorry ass. But the terror she'd felt then was replaced with a cold knowing. This was it. No Normandy waiting on standby. No Chakwas to save them. There wouldn't be anything left of them to pull from the wreckage.

Hell, there'd probably be no one left to even look.

"I said, 'Aw fuck.'" He gestured towards the empty medigel pack between them. It would have been useless - she could feel the Reaper picking up speed as it fell to their combined doom - but it would've made the last couple minutes a little more bearable. But that self-righteous asshole would've probably just used it on her leg, and then she'd have to die feeling even more guilty.

"Always the poet, Vakarian." she mumbled. So much hung in the air between them. It didn't seem fair to make declarations of love that would go unexperienced. She didn't want to think about what could have been. There was enough destruction going on around them that she didn't need to add whatever they had to it. All they had left to share was a few moments of strangled breathing and the clenching feeling in their guts.

And the knowledge that they'd failed.

"You know me. I try."

Despite herself, she smiled, but then immediately forced it away. She was glad he was there with her, at the end of things, and felt really fucking selfish. How could she be glad he was dying with her? It wasn't even a blaze of shared glory. It was in the shame of defeat on a monumental level.

Her ears popped as the pressure changed. They were in the atmosphere. Not long now.

She felt Garrus come up behind her, leaned into him. Why did someone so good have to die with a failure like her? What could he have accomplished if he hadn't been stuck following her orders?

He wiped away the tears she hadn't noticed. Shepard sniffled slightly and almost broke. She could feel the words start to jumble together as they tried to force their way out. "I'm sorry, I'm so fucking sorry. I can't believe I let it get this fucked up."

The look in his eyes was intense. "Don't you fucking dare apologize for this."

Things start to shake violently. Somewhere an explosion thundered. Debris fell. Garrus' grip tightened, but it was still pathetically weak. She closed her eyes and buried her head in the crook of his neck, lips firmly pressed against his plates.

She didn't know if she believed in an afterlife. Whatever was left behind in her head after she was spaced - the jumbled nightmares and confusion and the sound of Ashley's voice whispering in her ear - she just didn't know. But if there was one… If there was anything after this…

"Follow me," she whispered. She hoped he understood.

"Always."

Part of the Reaper must have made contact because an impact threw them into the air. Shepard instinctively put up her biotics, their dazzling blue light deflecting some of the debris. The noise was gut wrenching, impossibly loud. She thought she heard Garrus call her name, but as she tried to protect her face she couldn't be sure. She wasn't even sure he was still with her.

If it were even possible, the noise became even louder, tearing apart her eardrums. It was stupid to keep struggling, like fighting a tidal wave, but she forced her biotics outward. She could feel it arcing around her, away from her. She screamed in an effort to drown out the noise and power her futile resistance. Her anger, her rage, her enormous guilt rained out around her.

There's no point, part of her chided. You're seconds from death. Just accept it.

But then she thought of Earth ablaze under the Reaper's constant onslaught. The millions, the billions she couldn't save. Of the ones closest to her already gone.

In a final act of sheer emotion - that huge mix of everything it's possible to feel, enough that it should have weighed her down and crushed her - her energy spiked once more. This little defiance in the face of death was her last stand. No one could say she'd given in, even in the end.

Somehow one of the projectiles got through. Something too big to deflect in blind fury. And as quickly as the crash had thrown her from Garrus, the impact to the back of her head threw her into unconsciousness.

It was dark for a long time.

Slowly, very slowly, she felt herself wake up. Her life flashed before her eyes, just like it had as she suffocated above Alchera, but it was different now. It played in reverse, the most important moments of her life coming and disappearing in quick succession so that she barely had time to process it. She wasn't awake enough, whole enough, to think yet. Her mind was open to experiences but wasn't able to process them.

The images calmed. She became more aware of the details in them. Her backwards motion through her life slowed and came almost to a standstill. Old thoughts mixed with more recent ones. There was a convergence inside of her. Two distinct personalities, meeting and fusing. Neither side resisted, but neither embraced what was happening.

Her first conscious thought was, This is harder than the last time.

With a start she realized she was standing in the cockpit of the Normandy. Shepard stared blankly at the scene around her, the eerily familiar place and the eerily familiar words echoing around her.

The SSV Normandy SR-1, Systems Alliance Space Vehicle Stealth Reconnaissance, part of her mind supplied.

Destroyed in an attack by the Collectors in orbit of Alchera, another added.

Co-developed by the Alliance with the Hierarchy. Turian and human, the first part countered.

Turian and human, the second agreed wistfully. Turian and human...

"Commander?"

Her head snapped automatically to see Joker starring at her in confusion.

"You alright? You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

"I'm fine," she said automatically. She sure as hell didn't feel fine.

"Well, I think Nihilus and the Captain are waiting for you."

She nodded and headed back, trying not to look as shaken up as she felt.

It was weird (no, it was wrong)to be there, on that ship. Part of her felt at home, but the other part felt extremely antsy. It was strange feeling two parts of herself at war with each other. One half perfectly content to lead Jenkins and Kaidan onto Eden Prime. The other half of her wanting nothing to do with this mission. The half of her that knew all too well she wouldn't like what she found at the end.

She should've stopped Jenkins from dying. In the seconds before it actually happened, she saw it. But she didn't. She needed to... to test what she was feeling. Know if she was right. If her mind was slipping into some sort of dementia or if what she remembered was real.

And then she was right. It was real. There was Jenkins' body lying at her feet to prove it.

"Ripped right through his shields. He never stood a chance." The words echoed in her head before Kaidan could even say them.

She said the right words, ones she'd said before, all the while thinking about what would come next.

Ashley, a dark part of her whispered. Dread or joy at the possibility of seeing a fallen comrade…

She stifles the emotion and memories. This isn't the time.

They rush ahead and Shepard realizes for the first time that this might be tricky. Never in her life had she felt like less than what she should be. In every conceivable way, she found her body lacking. It was, quite frankly, unacceptable. Her body was slower than she was used to, the weapons not as good, the armor not as thick. When she stretched her mind to use her biotics, she found them missing.

Biotics? the younger part asked in alarm. Stories of mistreated biotic children raced to the surface, the idea of biotic amps implanted throughout her body making her almost queasy.

The older part of her conjured up a memory of her charging toward a mech and unleasing a heavy shockwave.

The younger part gaped in awe, a greedy longing beginning to grow.

You don't want to know the price, she warned, even as she herself was willing to pay it.

For a moment she feels oddly complete, having Williams and Alenko at her sides again. Even after all that's happened, in the back of her mind she's always seen them as part of her crew, Virmire and Horizon aside.

But the memory of Ashley's death, the explosions that would consume the young woman at her order, had her wondering, Would I make that call again?

A shot rings out across the valley, and all too easily she pictures Nihilus' body at the end of this path. A warning, one word, is all it would have taken to stop it. And in the echoes of that shot, she knows the answer to her question.

Yes.

Her shields give out briefly from a stray shot. She curses like a good marine should as she dives behind cover.

Well done. The amusement fades as the younger self realizes the surprise. That didn't happen last time.

She finds herself reaching for a new heat sink, too distracted to realize she doesn't even need it. Shepard manages to play it off and Kaidan just quirks an eyebrow before laying down fire.

I'm not fighting like when I was you, she admits. A dozen names float to mind, people she's used to having at her six. Not the dead Ashley Williams who only just met her. Not Alenko, who might know the old Shepard but who's not used to the style she's trying to use. Instead she longs for people who would have never let that shot through.

A hole inside of her grows where a certain sniper should be.

Kaidan moves too close to the beacon. Again. She lets the pattern continue. Prepares to run in to push him out of the way.

She wishes she could skip this part. Having those images drilled into her brain again... It was an unappealing prospect, especially given that everything was already there inside her head, as clear as it had ever been (which is of course to say, not that clear).

She has a feeling that this time, when Liara tries to make sense of the images, she's going to have to resist the young asari even more. How would Shepard explain to the young archaeologist that she'd be the Shadow Broker in a couple years after working with Cerberus to save her body from the Collectors? God. That on top of the Prothean Beacon? They'd have her committed.

You sound crazy to me, agrees part of her.

The Beacon seems to fix something inside of her mind.

They feel a merger between both sides, old and new. They don't need to converse any more. They share the combined information of two lives, use it to create a third. They look for ways to improve it, to give Earth a better chance.

Shepard barely listens to Anderson and Udina, goes through the motions. All the while thinking, planning, looking for opportunities.

In the end, they can't find anything they can do now that wouldn't be too risky. Things barely came together the first time around. The Citadel. The Collectors.

The Bahak System...

Killing Saren now might mean destroying Earth tomorrow. It was all about balance. Knowing how the ripples she started today would shape the events years from now was absolutely essential. So they agreed not to change anything until they had a better idea of what those changes might mean.

Her mind just about exploded at the sight of him.

Vakarian, part of her cooed, saying his family name like the sweetest of endearments.

She's staring at him shamelessly and she knows it. The first time through, she'd been too focused on the mission. Now all she can do is fake her way through the conversation as she re-memorizes his face. He looks younger than she remembers, but of course that makes sense. It almost makes her smile to see his face whole, not hidden by a bandage and marked by betrayal.

He says the right words, does the right things, but he's looking at her with an intensity that the situation doesn't warrant. The older part of her knows that look very well. But it doesn't belong here and now. He's too confident, moves a little differently.

For a moment she has this odd recollection of their first talk after Omega. She'd gone to the Main Battery, expecting him to be the same as before she'd died. But he'd grown too much since then that she had to superimpose the new Garrus on top of the old one. She'd expected a C-Sec Officer. She got Archangel.

She realizes she hasn't been listening to a word he's said. She knew it all like a well-rehearsed script. Just the tone was enough to have her mind reeling. It was the most alive she'd felt since she came back.

They shake hands before parting, and they both hesitate to let go. A surge of hope rolls through her gut. Maybe...

For the first time, she almost breaks from the script. She wants to force him to join her now. "Come watch me argue with the Council and tell Saren where to shove it." The only thing that stops her is the thought of Doctor Michel. Garrus coming with her now means the poor doctor dies in her office.

The timeline. Always have to think about the timeline.

Ashley and Kaidan escort her away, both aware that something has just happened. Shepard can't help looking back as they make their way up the steps to the Council. A slight blush crosses her cheeks when she sees him watching her go.

Her equilibrium's off. The earlier sense of completion she felt having Kaidan and Ashley back has shifted to a quiet discomfort.

The ghost of her dead/not dead friend makes her ill at ease. The guilt of having been responsible for her death had always been a huge weight on her. Now… to become friends with a woman and at the same time enduring the knowledge of her imminent death… It was draining.

And the looks Kaidan keeps giving her... Had his affections always been that obvious? It made her uncomfortable, given the nature of their current/future camaraderie that was strictly platonic. All the emotional bullshit had been talked out, dealt with, and they'd moved on. Now the spectre/lieutenant, the ex/future lover was distracting her. She didn't like having to act, to pretend to feelings she no longer had.

Wrex on the other hand, was just Wrex. No guilt or confusion involved.

It took her all of three seconds to decide to send Kaidan back to the ship. She cites the timeline as her excuse. Really, any time with Ashley, as guilty as it makes her feel, is better than no time.

Shepard is nearly bouncing as they head to the good Doctor's clinic. She feels ridiculous, like a kid on Christmas Eve, but she can't help the unrestrained joy growing inside of her.

She tries to tell herself it's not him, not really. It's Garrus but it's not. At least not the one she's known the past few years…

But it's like with Ashley. Some Garrus is better than no Garrus.

Word for word, beat by beat, shot for shot it goes just like before. The Doctor's safety taken care of, Ashley sent back to the Normandy, they can finally head off to deal with Fist (that insufferable ass).

She can feel his heat behind her. Every step he takes in time with hers. Somehow she knows his eyes are boring into the back of her head.

He's walking too closely to her. She worries briefly that he might scrape the back of her heels that's how close he is. It doesn't bother her – not at all – but it's closer than he should be. At least, closer than C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian had ever dared walk behind Commander Shepard.

Maybe Garrus Vakarian, Chief Gunnery Officer and former freelance vigilante. He might get that close. He is, in fact, quite often encouraged to do so…

She shakes her head to dispel the memories. Not the time, she repeats like a mantra, a prayer to her self-control.

But she can't escape the heady feeling rushing through her. The more she tries to ignore it, the more it threatens to overtake her senses.

For a moment she slips completely into that future self. The one who was seconds away from dying inside a Reaper; the one who thought she was about to lose him; the one who survived and gets a second chance.

They near a door and she just can't help it.

Shepard stops abruptly, stepping to the side just enough to keep Garrus from running into her. Taking advantage of his surprise, she pushes him off balance and through the door.

"Shepard!" he calls in shock, stumbling backwards and nearly landing flat on his ass.

She ignores him, instead wheeling around to Wrex. She points a finger at him menacingly (he seems quite amused by the "threatening" gesture) and snaps, "Don't let anyone in here. That's an order."

She expects him to drawl out a complaint, saying he doesn't follow her orders, but the krogan is clearly amused and would much rather find out what the great Commander Shepard has planned for the turian she just threw into a bathroom.

It isn't until she follows Garrus inside and shuts the door behind them that she realizes that that's where they are. A lonely Citadel bathroom tucked away in the back of the Wards.

He's staring at her like she's crazy, and really, she must be. This is way off the beaten trail. Jane Shepard never accosted him like this.

"Shepard, what the hell?" he demands, but he's not as upset as she'd expect. They did, after all, just meet a few hours ago. He should be pissed off. Instead he just sounds wary. Like he's testing the waters.

She doesn't know what to say to him, how to find out what she so desperately wants to be true. So she goes with her gut.

She throws herself at him, arms locking around his neck, body pressing into him in a highly inappropriate way. He collapses against the wall behind them just as her lips meet his plates. Even if he doesn't know Jane Shepard from any other human, there's no mistaking her intentions.

As soon as she's kissing him, she realizes how dumb she is. This isn't her Garrus. Not yet. And now he might never be because whatever made him look at her like that in the first place, I guarantee you it wasn't anything like this.

His first instinct should be to push her away, then to get the hell out of there. Find some other way to investigate Saren, as long as it means getting away from this crazy human with boundary issues. His hands come up to grip her shoulders. For a horrible second she waits for him to push her away. If he does, her heart swears this will be the third time she's died in so many years.

But then his right talon follows her armor up to her neck, the other floats down to the small of her back, both pulling her forward greedily.

It really is like she's died again.

He does eventually push her back and she moans in protest. Gently, he brushes a lose strand of hair behind her ear and then cradles her face in his hand. The way he's looking at her right now…

"I told you I'd follow," he rumbles deeply before leaning in for more.

Suddenly it doesn't matter that they're in a damn bathroom on the Citadel with an amused krogan not fifteen feet away. This is officially the most romantic moment of her lives.

At first they're tender, nuzzling and kissing and just taking comfort in their shared survival. Shepard's not foolish enough to question it. It was miracle enough for her to survive and be here. She wouldn't tempt the gods to take him away by voicing her doubt.

But then tender just isn't cutting it. They're alive. They're together.

The pieces of armor start to fall as they scramble to get it off each other. They'd had such a rhythm before. Now it's almost awkward. His old armor doesn't have the same buckles and joints that she's used to. Her standard issue N7 armor isn't as good as the custom one from Cerberus – hell, she could've told you that as soon as she stepped onto Eden Prime – and apparently it wasn't designed with talons in mind. But somehow they manage to get it off each other and to a point of mutual undress.

Garrus looks the way he always has underneath his armor. Maybe he seems a little less worn down, but except for his unscarred cheek she can't see a physical difference.

The way he's gawking at her, and she instantly knows he sees whatever Cerberus did. Or rather, hasn't done yet. For the first time in a long time, she feels self-conscious in front of him.

He pulls her back to him and nips her ear. Any tension she felt instantly diffuses and they're back in their rhythm.

She almost giggles when she realizes that this is technically their first time. In comparison to their actual first time, this is…

'Not awkward' is the description she decides to go with.

Garrus is on his knees in front of her, tongue gently wrapped around her left nipple while one hand strokes her right breast, thumb gliding across the hardening nipple. She finds the soft spots of his neck and fringe, teases him with her nails. She's so lost already that she nearly cries out when his other hand slips over her clit. The intensity of her response surprises them both, but Garrus presses his advantage and strokes her again and again.

She only lasts a couple minutes like that, completely at his mercy, before she pulls away and forces him to his feet. Never one to miss a cue, he presses her against the wall and pins her arms above her head.

She has time to briefly wonder if it matters that she doesn't have the skin weave and the other "upgrades." The two of them had never had any issues with turian-human compatibility, but that was in truth a different Shepard, at least physically. This Shepard, the first one (she refused to think of it as the "real" her), was more… breakable.

Not that she isn't willing to risk it.

There's a moment of hesitation as he thrusts gently against her thigh. Clearly he has the same concern.

"It's fine. I'll be fine."

"I don't want to hurt you-" she interrupts him by shifting slightly, moving him towards her entrance. He braces himself against the wall and growls in warning.

"Come on, Vakarian, man up," and a roll of her hips almost forces him inside of her.

"Spirits, Shepard, don't do that." He takes a deep breath before slowly entering her.

She sucks in a deep breath and bits down on her lower lip. It really is like their first time all over again. The depth of the emotion she feels for him mixes with the feeling of him inside of her. But behind all that is the younger Shepard, temporarily separate and outside of the combined self they'd managed to create. This woman can't process what's going on. She's seen what they'll be together, knows what Garrus will mean to her, but it's so far ahead of what she's ready for. To feel connected to someone else like this, across time and space and death itself. Never mind that he happened to be a turian.

He seems frozen in place. He's already panting and she wonders if he's feeling what she does. If the younger part of him doesn't know what to make of this.

She kisses him gently on his right cheek, still marveling at the pristine skin. "You still with me?"

"Yes," he manages. His look is distant, but he finally focuses on her face. "I just… needed a moment."

She draws her legs around his waist and completely trusts him to support her. "Take as long as you need, just keep in mind, we're on a deadline."

"Greeeat, because I really need the added pressure right now."

"Get moving, Vakarian," she laughs. "That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am." He pulls back and thrusts in slowly. The second time he does it with more force, and again a little harder. But his pace never goes as fast as she's used to.

For a while she just enjoys herself and lets him take charge. She wants more but doesn't want to push him yet. This moment is strangely delicate, stolen from some other time and place, another person's life.

Shepard knows he's straining not to hurt her. His left arm is supporting her but the other is digging into the wall, cracks slowly spreading out under the pressure. "Garrus," she says, "It's me. It's okay." She pauses. "Please."

That helps a little. She feels the muscles in his back loosen up. He picks up his pace a little, but soon slows down again. Seeing an opportunity, she braces both hands against the wall and then pushes off.

"Shepard!" For the second time today, she throws him off balance. He lands on his back this time, Shepard sitting on his lap and still straddling him.

"Shhhh, just relax."

The change in position helps. He lets her take control, moving harder and faster and deeper than he was willing to risk. Soon he's groaning and struggling not to thrust up. They both feel the desperation as they meet again and again.

"Shepard," he mumbles like a prayer. She hopes he doesn't say it. It'll break her to hear him say it.

Silently they agree not to use the dreaded L-word.

Towards the end she slows down. She can tell they're both close, but she wants to drag it out. Wants to keep him as long as possible before dealing with the galaxy's mess.

His hand help her guide their love-making. He's in no hurry either. They leisurely make their way towards the end.

Somehow Garrus muffles a cry as his release hits him, almost knocking him out with the force of it. His final upward thrust sets her off and she rides him a little longer while she tries to recover.

About to collapse, she's grateful when he pulls her on top of him.

They've wasted too much time. They both know it. Without a word, Shepard pries herself away from him. It hurts too much to look at him, so she avoids eye contact as they begin to get dressed.

She doesn't want the moment to end. "You know," she starts reluctantly, "it has to be like it was from here on out. Up until the trial, nothing can change."

"Of course." He's found one of his greaves. He's too calm. Hasn't figured it out yet.

"Everything needs to be the same," she reiterates, hoping she doesn't have to say it. He still doesn't react the way she expects and she knows he hasn't thought through what he's agreeing to. "That means Alchera, too."

Finally, he freezes, a tenseness rippling through him as the understanding spreads. His mandibles twitch as he tries to regain control of himself. "No," he finally manages in an almost strangled way. Then, more firmly, "No."

"We barely escaped that base with everyone alive. I can't risk changing that-"

"I won't risk Cerberus not bringing you back this time."

"Not your decision."

"Why the hell not," he snarls then immediately looks away in shame. She waits patiently. This had always been a touchy subject for him. That infamous two years were harder for him to talk about than even Sidonis. "It was agony the first time, when I knew you weren't coming back. How can I do it again? How can I sit around and do nothing while I know Liara's helping? How can I just wait, hoping you'll come back but still not really knowing?"

She looked him square in the eye. Tried to convey everything with that look. That they were both risking a lot. That this was more than about just the two of them. That everything needed to be perfect or it would all go to shit again. She didn't think she could do this a third time. "You're just going to have to trust me." It really was as simple as that.

There was a long pause. He relaxes a little in resignation, but then seems to hesitate slightly. After carefully avoiding her eye, he just sighs and asks, "Does this mean you're going to sleep with Kaidan again?" He sounds more exasperated than jealous or annoyed. His tone almost makes her laugh, until she realizes what he's just said.

Shepard makes a face. She... hadn't really thought about that yet. The emotional complications were... something she hadn't exactly enjoyed her first time around. "I, uh..." she coughed slightly, turning away and trying not to blush. "We'll see." Just lie back and think of defeating the Reapers...

He nods absentmindedly. "Do I really have to say the line about popping the heat sink again?"

This time she can't help the snort of laughter that threatens to turn into an outright guffaw. "Let's uh... agree to skip the more awkward parts of our courtship when we get to the SR2, alright?"

"Agreed. Could you also take it easy on the Mako? That was my one grievance serving on the SR1, and I'd really rather-"

"Be calibrating?" she deadpanned. He scowled in mock offense. She rolled her eyes. "I'll see what I can do about the Mako. No promises."

She walks over and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Seriously though, thanks for doing this." Thank you for being so good about the "Kaidan" issue. Thank you for letting me die again. Thank you for letting your team die again. Thank you for almost dying while killing the Collectors. Thank you for letting me go to Aratoht alone. Thank you for letting me try to make it right in the end. Thank you for being with me through it.

He tries to smile reassuringly, but the gesture seems a little hollow. His mind is clearly in the future, dreading the day she'll die. No doubt the day she gets spaced, he'll be sitting ramrod straight at his desk in C-Sec, waiting to be told what he already knows so he can grieve again.

While she doesn't look forward to her part in this, she wouldn't want his either. She claps him on the shoulder a couple times before turning to find the rest of her armor. "You've got three years to find out what we did wrong and make it right, soldier."

"Me?" He was so stunned he nearly dropped the leg piece he'd been buckling.

She shrugged and hoped she looked nonchalant. "I've only got a couple months til I die. Again. Then it'll be two years before I can really do anything about it."

His face paled to an ashy blue. He looked like he was about to object again, but he swallowed his pride and just nodded. Thank god. She didn't know if she could handle doing this all again if Garrus wasn't with her.

It took her another minute or two to finish getting dressed. To put the mask of "Commander Shepard" back on. Garrus stood patiently by the door.

"What are you going to tell Wrex?"

Shepard popped on her helmet to help cover the embarrassment and her tousled hair. She'd forgotten about that damn krogan and his keen sense of smell... "I'll tell him to mind his own goddamn business."

Before they push open the door, he pulls her close and presses his forehead to hers. The contact is very brief, but they both know what it means.

"Until the Omega 4 Relay."