Ante Up Chapter 24: Apologize

Cami flinched a little as she administered the depressant into the soft tissue of her stomach. She really hadn't meant to get that carried away and was mentally scolding herself for even thinking of pointing a knife at the commander.

As she discarded her syringe into a red biohazard disposal container, she noticed the human doctor (Chakwas, wasn't it?) was looking at her with concern. Cami didn't like that look. It reminded her too much of the look her mother had given her as she boarded the shuttles off Palaven, bound for Menae.

"Don't worry so much, I'll be back before you know it."

Yeah, right. Even if she did return to Palaven soon, all that would be waiting for her would be Reapers and rubble. Cami didn't let her mind wander. If she did, it would be too easy to remember that she hadn't been in contact with her mother for weeks, that she could very well be...

"No, no." The soft voice caught Cami's attention and she turned to see an older turian woman waving off the silver-haired doctor. She jolted a little as she noticed the blue paint across the woman's face-Garrus and Sol's mother. "I can get it myself, thank you."

Tacita strolled to the cabinets and sorted through medications until she had amassed a collection of pills in her palm. When she turned to the sink, Chakwas had already filled a glass with water and was offering it to her. She accepted with a happy chirp that offset her apprehensive undertones. Wasting no time, she threw back the entire handful and chased them with a loud gulp of water.

That settled, she regarded Cami, who was staring. "Good morning."

Cami fumbled out a greeting. She was trying to riddle out what all those pills could've been for. It was common for aged turians to take supplements to reinforce their plates, but Tacita didn't look nearly old enough to need them.

Tacita inclined her head toward Chakwas. "I'll be staying on the Citadel for a while this time. Would you mind forwarding my records?"

"Of course," Chakwas replied. "I'll refer you to Huerta Memorial."

"Thank you."

Cami felt something tug at her stomach. Records, as in medical records. Tacita was sick. Cami couldn't help but wonder what the illness was, but she held her tongue as Tacita spoke to her.

"You look like you've had better mornings," Tacita said warmly.

"Not every day you get beat down in front of the Primarch and a whole squad of people," Cami admitted. "But, I did manage to hold Shepard off for a little while, so, all things considered, I think I've had worse mornings."

"You fought with Shepard?" Tacita asked, her browplate quirking.

"Yeah," Cami admitted a little sheepishly. "She challenged me this morning, said we could have a quick match. I wasn't expecting her to be so serious about it, though. She didn't cut me any slack."

"Did you expect her to?" Tacita asked mirthfully.

"I don't know," Cami grumbled, sitting on one of the beds. "I was so surprised by the challenge." Lowering her tone a bit, she muttered, "She seemed angry, for some reason."

"Well," Tacita hummed, "everyone is under a lot of stress. I'm sure she needed a good fight."

"Maybe," Cami said. She shrugged, leaving the topic, and asked, "You were with the Blackwatch, weren't you?"

"I was," Tacita chirped. She was vaguely aware that Cami and Solana were friends and assumed that the younger turian knew about the Blackwatch connection because of Sol. She gestured toward her head. "Still would be, if not for this."

"That?" Cami pressed. She immediately wondered if it rude to ask, even though Tacita had mentioned it.

"Corpalis," Tacita said simply.

Cami shuddered at the word. The condition was so rare that she'd never seen anyone with it before. It was often used as a plot device in cheesy vid-dramas, but was otherwise nearly unheard of. Why did Garrus and Sol's mother have to be the one in thousands? "Spirits, I'm so sorry."

"Nothing to be sorry about," Tacita said. "My current treatment is very effective."

"But not... a cure?" Cami wondered quietly.

"Not quite," Tacita replied, unfazed, "but I imagine I'm no closer to death than anyone else, especially not with this war." She frowned, her subharmonics wavering. Clipped phrases formed in rapid-fire, and Cami trembled as the meaning of the vocalizations reached her. He's gone. I miss him. I should have been there.

Cami shivered with guilt, realizing that the mentions of death made Tacita think of Fedorian. Cami unconsciously responded in soft subharmonics. I'm sorry for your loss. It'll be okay.

Tacita attempted an appreciative smile, but barely managed half a flick of her mandibles. Cami tried to change the subject. "Victus ordered a rendezvous with the Blackwatch squads. They're supposed to be here before we even get to the Citadel."

"Are they?" Tacita said, trying to wrangle in her undertones. "I haven't heard from them in months." Her subvocals lifted slightly. I'm anxious to see them again.

"You miss it?" Cami asked, hoping to continue her distraction.

"Always," Tacita chirped. "My squad, the assignments, I miss it all. I'm not exactly cut out for a calm lifestyle."

Cami laughed. "I can only imagine." She paused for a moment, then said, "I've never met a Blackwatch operative." Her subharmonics betrayed a sort of anxiety.

Tacita chirped, "Nervous?"

"I always imagined them as being uptight," Cami admitted, "and I don't think they'd take too kindly to someone like me."

"The daughter of a traitor," Tacita mused, recalling what Sol had relayed many years ago, when she'd first met Cami. "Your father... Did he ever actually do anything wrong?"

"No," Cami defended. "He refused to take on a colony mark, but he never acted against the Hierarchy."

"But he didn't conform to their laws, either," Tacita guessed. "That puts you in an awkward place, I imagine." She shrugged. "No matter. You need not worry about the treatment you'll receive from my men. You serve the Hierarchy, just as they do."

"Glad someone realizes that," Cami muttered. "I'm sick of being called barefaced by association."

Tacita barked out a laugh. "I guarantee they won't say anything like that." Her smug vocalizations emphasized, They wouldn't dare.

Cami decided not to ask. Instead she smiled and hopped off the bed. "I'm going to go see what Sol's up to."

____________________________

Sol was still in the hangar, chatting up Vega and the primarch. Cami slinked in as quietly as possible and took a seat on a crate beside Sol. Across the room, Victus' men jeered and whooped. Cami rolled her eyes, trying her best to ignore them. Beside her, Victus stood with his arms crossed tightly. When his squad's taunts didn't wane, he whipped towards them, hissing out an order. Quiet down, all of you.

They quickly silenced themselves and went back to cleaning their guns. Cami gave a soft, appreciative click, turning as Sol spoke to her.

"Feeling better?" Sol asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Cami muttered, rubbing her stomach unconsciously. "Shepard's one hell of a sparring partner."

"No kidding," Sol spat. "Fought her once and she nailed me in the gut." When Cami shot her an offended look, she defended, "She didn't know we aren't plated."

"Fair enough," Cami said. "Maybe."

"If she knew it was a weakness, she wouldn't have hit there," Vega said from beside the Kodiak. "S'not her style to go for low-blows in a friendly match." Cortez was working on the shuttle engine, handing tools out to Vega as he finished with them, and Vega was wiping grease off the parts as they were passed to him. "She didn't pull any bitch moves on you even though she coulda ripped out your, uh, face rings."

Cami touched the loops on her mandibles gently. "Okay, sure, but you can't tell me that our fight was just a friendly match. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she was making an example out of me."

"You paranoid?" Vega teased.

"No," Cami barked. "My suspicion is justified." She held a clawed finger up to emphasize her point. "She was really eager to challenge me, but she had to know how outmatched I was. Was she just trying to rack up an easy win?"

"If you'd just had a match with me," Sol insisted, "none of it would've happened."

"I'm not going to fight you," Cami snorted. "What if I re-broke your leg?"

"I'd like to see you try," Sol challenged, flexing her claws excitedly.

Cami frowned at Sol. "If Garrus would've just went a round with me, this all would've been avoided."

Victus, who had, until that point, kept mostly to himself, uncrossed his arms and supplied, "You shouldn't have challenged Vakarian."

"What?" Cami sputtered, a little surprised that the primarch was speaking with her. Outside of barked orders and the occasional reprimand, he had never bothered with communication.

"I said you shouldn't have challenged him , Pulex," Victus said, taking an unamused tone, as though he was trying to talk sense into her. He waited for Cami to come to her own conclusions.

When she didn't, Sol groaned, clearly annoyed that this was going nowhere. "Cami, Shepard knows about how we relieve stress and assumed you were offering more than just sparring."

"Oh, don't tell me she's going to uphold the human rules against fraternization," Cami grumbled. "I mean, if she's going to allow other species on her ship, she should at least-"

"She doesn't care," Sol cut, "but you propositioned the wrong person."

Cami was quiet for a moment, mandibles whirring as she pieced things together. She understood what Sol was implying, but didn't quite believe it. "You're joking, right?" Sol didn't budge. "He's with Shepard?"

"Exclusively," Sol warned.

"Son of a bitch!" Cami hissed, jumping up from her crate. "Why didn't he say something?"

Sol grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "Because they aren't saying anything about it. Mom and I found out, but Dad still doesn't even know." She glared up at Victus. "Which begs the question, how do you know?"

"I suppose the threat of death makes a man more forthcoming of information," Victus said. "He never made an attempt to hide it." He chuckled slightly. "Oh course, it seems fairly obvious."

Sol sighed. "Yeah, once you already know about it, maybe. Those two are surprisingly good at hiding it, believe it or not." She reclined back against a crate. "I'll be glad when we reach the Citadel. Mom and Dad will be staying behind for a while and we won't have to worry about keeping Dad in the dark."

"Shame they won't be staying," Victus hummed.

"They'll join us the next time we circle back to the Citadel," Sol explained. "Dad thought Mom could use the time away, clear her head a bit." Sol forced a smile. "It'll be good for everybody. Mom can pull herself together and Garrus can lighten up a bit. Win-win, I guess."

Cami scuffed her feet against the floor, humming thoughtfully. Offhandedly, she muttered, "Made an ass of myself."

Sol nudged her shoulder. "Pretty sure Shepard got her payback."

"Fuck," Cami cursed, barely listening to the other woman. She tugged away and headed back to the elevator, ignoring Sol's protests to stay.

As Cami boarded the elevator and zipped upstairs, Sol sighed loudly and allowed her head to droop. "Day just gets better and better."

Vega appeared at her side, flipping a grease-smudged towel over his shoulder. "Did I hear you right? That bitchfight this morning was over Scars?"

"Scars?" Sol echoed, giving him a nearly amused look. "You come up with that yourself?"

"Easy to remember," Vega defended.

"You're a simple one, aren't you? And, yes," Sol answered, "that's apparently Shepard's way of saying back off." Sol clicked in thought. "Pretty close to what a turian would do, actually."

"Those two..." Vega muttered. "No wonder she keeps shooting me down."

Sol trilled indignantly. "Better watch yourself. I just said fighting is the way turians defend their mates. Don't think my brother is is above being territorial."

"Yeah, yeah," Vega said, packing up tools and toting them back to Cortez's station.

Sol chirped out an elaborate string of turian words that translated to something like block-headed idiot and turned her attention to Victus. "Sir, there's something I wanted to ask."

"Hmm?" he inquired lazily, his attention divided between Sol and his men, who were exchanging gun pieces and talking loudly.

"The Blackwatch squads have been transferred to you, haven't they?"

"As of last night, yes," he replied. "I sent out a signal for them to follow us. We'll rendezvous before before we pass into the Serpent Nebula."

Sol's mandibles flicked with her next words. "Have you also acquired the Ninth Platoon? Before Mom got sick, I was their CO, but I can't seem to get in contact with them."

Victus held back a guilty click, answering, "They're on a classified assignment at this time. I can't say anything more than that."

"Oh," Sol murmured. "So they've been assigned a new CO?" She frowned at Victus' affirmative chirp. "I see. Where will they be sent after this mission?"

"I don't know yet," Victus replied, shrinking back slightly. He'd sent Sol's men to Tuchanka, where Reaper attacks were increasing. The area they were headed for had yet to be targeted, but it was only a matter of time. He knew their assignment could end in heavy casualties, but he didn't want to worry her. "The results of this assignment will affect the next."

"Sir, I'd like to reconnect with them," Sol insisted.

He backed away entirely, breaking out of normal conversational range, and swallowed the subvocals that threatened to betray him. "I'll... see what I can do, Solana."

"Thank you," Sol said, trilling at him in question as he moved farther away.

"I should return to my post," he answered. "I was in the process of arranging coordinates in neutral territory for both the krogan and salarian dignitaries to meet."

"Of course," Sol said, nodding at him.

As he walked away, she brought up her Omni-tool and connected to Garrus' private systems. Quickly, she formed a message and sent it to him. By the time Victus had reached the elevator, she had closed her Omni-tool again and had turned to chat with Cortez.

________________________

Garrus' message alert rang out from and echoed around Shepard's bathroom as he finished placing an adhesive bandage over the shrinking wound on his mate's side. He smoothed the bandage against her skin, smiling as his claws ghosted over her stomach and she gave the slightest tickled laugh. He gave her a final once-over. When he was satisfied that she was properly slathered in Medi-gel and mummified with bandages, he opened Sol's message.

[victus is hiding something -s]

Garrus' mandibles whirled as he responded, [explain now]

As he waited for a reply, he watched Shepard take down her hair and bend her head over the sink. She splashed water up, wetting her hair enough to loosen the blood that was clotting into the locks. When he turned away to receive Sol's reply, the water was dripping dirty red from the ends of her hair.

[masking vocals when I asked about my men] Immediately after, she sent, [something's wrong. find out what he's done with my squad]

Garrus grumbled and replied, [what do you expect me to do about it?]

[he's your friend] Sol shot back. Garrus could almost hear the bite in the words. [figure it out]

[will try]

He closed out his Omni-tool, turning back to Shepard as she ruffled a towel against her head. Garrus grinned, reaching out to take control of the towel. She complied, dropping her hands. He gently fluffed the wetness from her hair, sweeping the auburn strands out of her face once he finished.

He laughed as he examined her closely. "You have a black eye."

"What?" Shepard gasped, whirling to look in the mirror. The skin around her left eye was swollen and tinged with blotches of varying colors. She cursed. The thing would be healed within the hour, most likely, but that didn't make it any less annoying. "Cami better at least be walking with a limp when I see her. She actually managed to bang me up pretty good."

"Well, she is a top-ranked hand-to-hand specialist." Garrus paused when Shepard shot him an unamused glance. "Don't look at me like that. You still won."

"I did," Shepard said smugly.

Garrus wrapped his arms around her shoulders and squeezed her tightly, burying his face against he neck. "No one's ever fought over me before."

"You liked it."

He laughed. "I won't deny it." He nipped lightly, grazing over her bite-scar, which had smoothed and faded considerably since morning. "It's almost gone again."

"Yeah," Shepard muttered, stroking over his fringe and horns. "Do something about it."

That was all the invitation he needed. He bit down, growling as she shuddered against him.

______________________________

Cami decided that she liked the lower engineering deck quite a lot. Since she'd retreated to the dark corner at the bottom of the stairs, she'd yet to see anyone pass by. She could hear the faint footsteps of the engineers upstairs as they shuffled back and forth across the main deck. For a moment, she could even hear a voice echo through the pipes, as though someone was holed up in the duct work. The voice was human but it lilted in a strange way that Cami had never heard before.

She mostly ignored the sounds and paced around the room. There were a few crates stored in the area and some were stacked on top of a desk that had been shoved to the side of the room. Trying to get her mind off the conversation in the hangar, she poked around the room, looking into the desk drawers absently.

Within one of the drawers, she found a treasure trove of papers. Some were stacked and others were crumpled up and stuffed inside. Curious, Cami dislodged one of the paper wads and unfolded it. A message was scrawled across the bottom of the paper in messy handwriting. Above it, some words were scratched through and smudged. Cami studied it, determining that it was a human language. Her translator compensated for her, allowing her to recognize to words.

-Shepard,-
-Wanted to thank- Thanks for- You didn't have to-
-Fuck-
-It was hard going back to-

FUCK

-Shep-
-Thanks for Pragia-

-Hey-
-Thanks for going with me. I don't think I could've done it by myself. Tell Garrus I said thanks too.-

-Shepard-
-I appreciate what you and Garrus did for me-

Shep
Thanks for taking me back there. I had to do it. I don't know what

Cami quirked a brow at the words, confused by them. She discarded the paper back into the drawer and picked up another one that wasn't balled up. The words were less messy and seemed to be in a more organized format. Reading a few sentences, it seemed to be a handwritten journal entry of sorts.

2185

I blew the place to hell. Shepard said it might not make me feel any better. I hate when she's right. There was another survivor. I didn't shoot him, but I'm sure he died in the explosion. If he managed to survive all those years ago, who else did?

I want to hunt them all down again, make sure they have obituaries and graves and grieving fucking families. I want to piss on their tombstones. I won't be satisfied until then.

Cami shuddered at the last bit, wondering who the hell had written it. In her mind she conquered up a battle-worn sort of human man to match the harsh tone of the words. The next page had worn edges and a permanent crease down the middle where it had been folded and unfolded multiple times.

Jack

You don't have to thank me. You said you couldn't focus on the mission until it was done, so we did it. Simple as that. If you need anything else, I'm here for you.

Shepard

Under that was a scratched datapad. Cami turned it in her hands, noticing the company name engraved on the back. The datapad was a sort of wireless messenger device that worked in the absence of Omni-tool programs. She switched it on, breathing deeply as the screen lit up and displayed an archived conversation.

J: im not using a fucking omnitool on this ship

J: everything is bugged

G: EDI shut down Cerberus' direct link to the systems, remember? I double checked myself.

Cami blinked at the third line. It was in a turian typeset. She realized that Garrus was the one speaking with "Jack."

J: humor me

G: Fine. What's wrong?

J: whens shep coming back? supply runs dont take this long

G: She's fine.

J: how do you know?

G: I spoke to her less than 5 minutes ago.

G: She got distracted at rodam expeditions. New pistol mods.

J: oh tell her to hurry up. im hungry

J: hey

J: you there?

G: She says there's plenty of protein bars left.

J: tell her i said FUCK YOU

J: and she better bring steak you hear me? STEAK

G: She says they didn't have any

J: damn it

G: but that she got something called bekken

J: what?

G: I don't know. Human food.

J: you mean BACON? is it for breakfast?

G: Yes

J: FUCK YES

There was a page break and a new conversation began. The time stamp indicated that at least a month had passed since the previous chat log.

J: so have you fucked yet?

S: That's none of your damn business

S: How did you even find out?

J: kasumi

J: she knows fucking everything

S: Of course she does

J: is it barbed?

S: What?

J: his dick

J: someone told me theyre barbed

J: shepard

J: hey

S: I don't know

J: fuck

J: you haven't fooled around yet?

J: im patching him in

S: Don't you dare

J: alert sent

S: JACK

G: What's wrong, Jack?

S: DO NOT read the history

S: Sign out now

J: READ THE FUCKING HISTORY

S: Garrus

G: Who the hell told you that?

J: doesn't matter

J: is it or not?

G: OF COURSE NOT

Cami slammed the datapad back into the drawer, regretting that she'd ever started the exploration of the desk. The last log had been pretty funny, hilarious actually, but it had made her think of her current predicament again. The time stamp had said the year was 2185 at the time of that conversation. Spirits, Garrus and Shepard had had a thing going for well over a year, and not just a fuck-for-fun thing, a legitimate relationship.

Cami growled and slammed a fist against the desk. "Um, AI? Do you have a terminal down here?" There was a pregnant pause and Cami groaned, "Of course not. I'm just talking to myself."

Overhead, EDI's synthetic voice answered, "Sorry for the delay. I am still becoming accustomed to having a remote terminal."

"Remote... terminal?" Cami said, glancing around the room to find the source of the voice so she could face it.

"A body," EDI clarified. "How may I assist you?"

"Um, Commander Shepard... is she..." Cami struggled to find the right words. "Do you know where she is? I need to tell her something."

"The commander is currently in the elevator," EDI replied. "It appears that she is going to the CIC."

"Could you tell her to meet me somewhere privately?"

_______________________________

Shepard strolled into the battery, crossing her arms as she spotted Camilla leaned against one of the side terminals. Cami perked up, standing at attention as the doors hissed shut behind the commander. She was a little surprised that Garrus hadn't tagged along.

"Is something wrong?" Shepard asked.

"No," Cami said quickly. "I mean, yes, but..." She gulped down her shaky subharmonics. "Sol told me."

"Did she?" Shepard said quietly, busying herself with some controls on the center console.

"Yes," Cami insisted. "Look, I'm sorry." Shepard glanced up, looking entirely too regal for someone with a black eye. "I didn't know the two of you were..."

"I know," Shepard cut. "I overreacted a bit." She was stating a fact, not apologizing.

"No," Cami denied. "I would've done the same thing." She hummed out a low, meaningful apology, mentally kicking herself when she realized it wasn't translating. "You stood up for me and then I acted like that. I can't tell you how sorry I am. Really. It won't happen again."

"Just like that?" Shepard mused.

"What?" Cami asked.

"I was almost expecting another fight," Shepard said, a glint of humor in her voice.

"I'm not going to make an enemy over recreational sex," Cami blurted. "I'm not stupid."

"Garrus is a good man," Shepard said, trying to get a rise out of the turian. "Handsome, strong... from what I understand, his family is high ranking. How can I know you're telling the truth?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"People really like to spit on your name," Shepard said. "Vakarian markings on that pretty face of yours would shut them up."

"Spirits, no!" Cami gasped, holding her hands up in surrender. She nearly laughed as she spoke. "I wouldn't ever consider mating with him. The two of us can't be in the same room for more than an hour without going at each others throats. There's no way I could put up with him for the rest of my life." She gestured towards Shepard's neck, which she assumed held a concealed bite. "Besides, aren't you already committed?"

"Yes, but I'm not a turian," Shepard said bluntly. "Your government hasn't updated it's laws to recognize humans the way they have for asari and quarians."

"I've never seen a human mated to a turian," Cami said. "The laws are only updated when the need arises." She attempted a smile. "Bondmarks are absolute. Our laws will recognize you."

"Glad you think so," Shepard said. "So, I don't have to worry about you?"

"No," Cami insisted, "not at all."

Shepard pulled the most sincere smile she could and clapped Cami on the shoulder as she headed for the door. "Good. Sorry about, uh, pushing you too far earlier."

"S'fine," Cami replied, walking out of the battery beside Shepard. "Nice eye, by the way."