#AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH I AM GOING TO BLOW UP

[solspectre]

one of the most notable things about shepard is her ability to be a force of nature all on her own. whether that be to take down a a seemingly insurmountable threat or stop someone she cares for from making a mistake, there was nothing that could get in her way for long. and she knows that she can be clumsy when it comes to something far more personal, deeper. shepard is far from perfect and certainly no saint, but she has faith in what her experiences has taught her. there is hope that her words could reach through a swirling storm, no matter how violent it is.

so when she feels his face against her shoulder, embrace returned, she knows that they got through the wall of sorrow that threatened to drown him alive and can finally breathe her own sigh of relief.

shepard makes no other movement besides holding him a little tighter. times of peace were rare and far between back home and even with this strange phenomenon going on, there is no danger. right here and now, it was just them– that grey world around them forgotten entirely.

" We're a team, Garrus. No matter where we are, no matter what happens, that won't change. " she speaks as if it were a fact, pulling back just enough to rest her forehead against his, her eyes meeting his without hesitation. lips pulled into a lopsided grin as one hand rises to curve against the scars that have long since healed over. firm, present, there. another silent reminder that the pain of the future has yet to pass.

" There's no Shepard without Vakarian, got it?"

A SILENCE RUSHES INTO THE EMPTY SPACES between them, and for a moment, they're parted by it. he's never been very good at being vulnerable, speaking to his feelings and "letting it all out", that sort of thing. whatever's going on, it's unearthing his deepest regrets and darkest fears, whether he liked it or not. all of that sentimental crap, the he usually saves for a rainy day was spilling out, and some of the things it forced to the surface surprised even him.

i just didn't think i'd lose you too.

it probably sounds pathetic, to mourn something that, for him, hadn't even happened yet; to grieve for somebody who's right here beside him. the mere prospect of it ever happening, the fact it could and probably did for her... that's what sits uncomfortably in his chest. it all seems... insane, the misalignment of their memories... his head was dancing circles around him, and now he just feels sick.

amidst that storm clouding his thoughts, she flows in like a soothing wave. her body fits flush against his, like a missing puzzle piece, and it takes her warmth swathing him, fighting away the cold, before he fully realises her embrace. a hand settles gingerly upon her arm, and he doesn't know what to do at first, nor how best to answer the gesture. her red bleeds slowly into his blue, like a blot of ink falling into the ocean, mixing together into something new. it... calms him down, tells him everything will be okay.

a potent relief surges through him, and garrus lowers his head to her shoulder, gathering her into his arms tightly. that's all it takes.

after all this time, fighting alongside her and the normandy's crew... he can't imagine the galaxy without them, or without her.