Chapter Text
Something was making noise.
Something was making noise, and it wouldn't stop. It was a beeping that only seemed to get faster and louder the longer it went.
Shepard rolled over and scrunched her eyes tighter, hoping that if she ignored it the beeping would go away.
She heard Garrus rumble as the sound woke him too. He rolled to press against her back, throwing an arm over her waist. "I think it's for you, Shepard," he murmured into the side of her neck. "I remembered to silence my Omni-tool before bed." The movement of his mandible against her skin tickled. "Granted," he continued, "it's hard to remember things like that when you're busy doing...other things."
She laughed, remembering just how he'd kept her busy the night before. All she wanted was to stay in bed with her boyfriend and revisit those memories. But even though she was supposed to have some freedom to choose assignments these days--and she thought she'd done enough already by destroying the fucking Reapers--she knew that there was always some mess that apparently no one else could clean up. She pulled away from Garrus and sat on the edge of the bed.
It was always a little bit of a relief to wake up in her own cabin, on her own ship. After the months spent in hospitals and rehabilitation centers, it felt good to know exactly where she was and what was around her. Garrus had officially moved into the cabin with her, but other than the new additions of his armor, possessions, and a few Turian-designed pillows, her quarters were essentially unchanged since she’d gotten the ship back from the Alliance.
Shepard stood and walked to the desk with her comm terminal, the alert still squawking at her. It was a message from a Council liaison. Because of course it fucking was. Even with the Citadel mostly restored, they still seemed to need her to put out fires (that were, except for one memorable instance, metaphorical) at every hour of the day. And they seemed to have an uncanny ability to call exactly when she was in the middle of finally enjoying something, whether it was a good night’s sleep or a moment with Garrus.
Jaina scrolled through the message, scanning it for anything that needed to be taken care of right away. Like a lot of the messages she seemed to get lately, it was not nearly as urgent as the sender made it out to be. But her presence was “requested” at the Citadel embassies, so she send a message to EDI to divert their course in that direction. In the meantime, she figured she could take at least a few more hours to sleep before they actually arrived.
With a groan, she pulled herself out of the chair and stretched, popping the kinks out of her spine. Miranda’s rebuild notwithstanding, you didn’t serve as a career marine without accumulating your fair share of creaks and aches. She crossed back to the bed and collapsed onto the mattress, burrowing under the covers. Garrus had rolled to face away from her, so she curled up against his back and wrapped her arms around the barrel of his chest.
Turians weren’t exactly built for easy cuddling, but by now she’d had plenty of practice. Garrus was very angular, yes, but he was warm, and he was hers, and, most importantly, he was Garrus. And she’d take hours of awkwardly shifting into position over spending a single night without him.
“Anything important?” Garrus asked, twining one of his hands with hers.
“Nothing that can’t wait until I’ve gotten some damn sleep,” she replied. “They want us back on the Citadel as soon as possible, but the Council can deal with the mess themselves for a little while. It's probably not another invasion of evil AIs bent on destroying all sentient life in the galaxy.”
“Don't even joke,” said Garrus. “Given our luck, I think we're overdue for another crisis and a suicide mission or two.”
“As long as the night before the mission is as good as last time…” Jaina said, running her fingertips teasingly over Garrus’ keel bone.
Garrus rolled to his back and pulled Shepard to his side. “I seem to remember someone who looks a lot like you complaining about needing some damn sleep. Someone who’s going to need the rest if she has to deal with the Council first thing in the morning.”
Jaina groaned. “I hate it when you’re right.” She tucked her head against his chest. “Well,” she said, yawning, “we’re all due for some shore leave anyway. We’ll dock at the Citadel, take care of what we need to, then take a few days off for some R&R.”
“Sounds good,” said Garrus, already halfway back to sleep.
“’Night, Garrus.”
“Goodnight, Shepard.”