Unseen: Mass Effect FanFiction

Chapter 3

Shepard woke up several hours later to an empty bed.

He must have gone while I slept, Shepard thought getting up from the bed and grabbing her hoodie from the floor.

After a quick shower and a change of clothes, Shepard made her to the kitchen and stopped short.

"Garrus," Shepard said surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you wanted me gone so soon," Garrus said sitting on a barstool with a mug.

"N-no," Shepard stammered. "I-just-of course not."

"Relax," Garrus said. "It was a joke."

"Funny," Shepard mumbled going to the cabinet to grab a mug.

"It's a devo brew," Garrus said as Shepard poured herself some coffee. "Found it in one of the cabinets."

"Yeah, I found a couple of devo food when I moved in," Shepard replied also taking a seat. "Never found the time to clean it out."

"Maybe you don't have to," Garrus said staring at her.

"Why is that?" Shepard asked taking a sip of coffee. "Planning on staying with me? Or is the plan to forget this all happened?"

"I have a proposition for you," Garrus said instead.

"I'm listening," Shepard replied, curious.

"In my line of work," Garrus began. "I'm always gone for days, weeks, months at a time. After a while, you get used to being alone."

"It's nice to have a place to stay," Shepard whispered not wanting to interrupt him.

"Given the circumstances," he continued. "I normally wouldn't be doing this but seeing how life gets tiring I figure I change things."

Shepard knew exactly where he was coming from. Once everything had settled and the peace treaty was in effect, the Alliance wanting to show good faith "loaned" Shepard to the Council to use as they saw fit. It wasn't long before she was being sent on personal errands, missions of retrieval, and other non-essential tasks. After the assassination had been foiled, John was promoted and Shepard was seen as a runner-up for Spectre. That changed when, her father Anderson, told the Council that she specialized in espionage and infiltration before the war and it wasn't wise to waste her talents on meaningless things. Sure enough, Shepard was given the missions and the resources but never the title of Spectre.

"I've grown tired of the solitude and it's nice to have company."

"You're more than welcome to stay here," Shepard said slowly. "It's not impressive or anything but it has its perks."

"You can say no," Garrus replied.

"I feel the same way," Shepard said. "It's nice to have company and besides I like the view."

Garrus grunted and didn't say anything.

"I'm assuming last night was just a one-time-only deal?" Shepard asked, having him around when it was possible was definitely a huge perk if it came with a reoccurrence of last night.

"I don't expect you to be exclusive," Garrus replied. "But if we happen to be here at the same time, I have no objects."

"Alright," Shepard agreed. "With one condition"

Garrus waited patiently for her to continue.

"We don't bring other partners here."

"Deal."

It wasn't long after that Garrus left, saying something about grabbing his things from the ship. Shepard took the time to clean and make room for his stuff. Knowing what she knew about turians, Garrus would appreciate having some room on the workbench. Once everything was moved, Shepard took the time to go through some unread messages and found one from Anderson. He wanted to grab dinner with her at the Ryuusei Sushi place, the message also mentioned wearing something nice. Shepard looked at the time and cursed, she was supposed to be meeting him in 30 minutes.