"So…I guess this is…"

"Just like old times?"

It was dark. He didn't know where he was.

"Might be the last chance we get to say that."

His head was pounding.

"You think we're gonna lose?"

"No. I think we're 'bout to kick the Reapers back in to whatever black hole they crawled out of."

His whole body was sore, really.

"Then we're gonna live somewhere warm and tropical and live off the royalties from the vids."

Spirits, what day was it?

"Maybe we'll find out what a Turian-Human baby looks like."

"I'm game. Though I think adoption's a better idea. Biology might not cooperate."

He took a deep breath, but let it out with a harsh, hacking cough.

"I suppose there will be a lot of little Krogan around soon."

"We just have to beat the Reapers first."

His lungs felt like they were full of sand.

"James told me there's an old saying here on Earth: May you be in Heaven half an hour before the Devil knows you're dead."

His eyes wrenched open, revealing a still-somewhat blurry world around him.

"Not sure if Turian Heaven is the same as yours, but if this thing goes sideways and we both end up there, meet me at the bar. I'm buying."

He lifted a hand to wipe it down his face. His shoulder made him groan in pain. It was in a sling at his side.

"We're a team, Garrus. There's no Shepard without Vakarian. So you better remember to duck."

As his eyes focused, he slowly realized where he was.

"Sorry, Turians don't know how. But I'll improvise."

It was the medbay. The Normandy SR2 medbay.

"And Shepard –"

He was alone.

"Forgive the insubordination, but your boyfriend has an order for you."

It was dark. The only light came from the monitors across the room.

"Come back. Alive."

His swallowed, panic rising in his chest. He hated the goddamn medbay. Why was he in the goddamn medbay?

"It'd be an awfully empty galaxy without you."

He pushed himself up with his good arm, ignoring the straining pain in his muscles. Someone had removed his armor, leaving him in just the thin cloth beneath. It was dirty and smelled like blood.

"Goodbye Garrus. And if I'm up there in that bar and you're not, I'll be looking down on you. You'll never be alone."

He stumbled as he made his first step forward, his legs giving out beneath him. He fell to his knees and stifled a curse. He hadn't felt this awful since he got his fucking face blown up.

"Never."

Garrus kneeled on the floor of the Normandy medbay, feeling dizzy and tired. His mind raced as he tried to put the pieces of what had happened back together. They had said goodbye, but they'd fought at each other's side, right? He'd been watching her six, keeping her safe in that hellzone that was London. He tried to access his visor before realizing it wasn't there. He cursed, out loud this time. He was going to strangle whoever had moved his shit.

Slowly, he got to his feet. His legs shook, but he forced them to move. He paced slowly across the floor, over to the monitors. First, he checked the time. 1:10 a.m. Then the date. Approximately twenty-four hours since the Reaper invasion of Earth. Twenty-four hours since…

Where was Shepard?

His gut clenched in panic. He couldn't remember when he had last seen her. His memories were so fuzzy…

Garrus lurched for the medbay door and opened it, stumbling out into the hallway. It was dark in there as well, which made sense. He was unsure where to go, only knowing that he desperately needed to speak to someone, anyone.

Hoping for the best, he turned himself toward the canteen. Walking was difficult, but he didn't stop. He didn't even care that he was basically wearing nothing but underwear. He had questions, and those questions needed to be answered as soon as possible.

He opened the door to the canteen and was relieved to find Kaiden sitting at a table, staring blankly at a glass filled with white liquid.

"Kaiden," Garrus rasped. His voice sounded foreign.

The human glanced up. His eyes were dull. "Garrus," he greeted. "You're up."

"Of course I'm up," Garrus snapped. He was much too anxious to be cordial. "Where are my things?"

"In a box by your bunk," the soldier said, lifting the drink to his lips. "Geez. You act like we confiscated it. You were bleeding everywhere, Garrus."

Garrus huffed. He turned to walk to the elevator, but instead crumpled again, his legs betraying him once more. Kaiden made a noise of surprise and got up, jogging over to his teammate. He knelt beside Garrus, offering his arm. The Turian took it. He wasn't proud enough to deny help when he needed it. Kaiden helped him over to a chair and Garrus practically fell into it, his shoulder jolting in its sling. Garrus hissed in pain.

Kaiden's eyebrows were drawn together in concern. "Are you okay, man? I don't even think you're supposed to be walking around yet."

"I'm alright," Garrus muttered. "But my memory isn't serving me too well. Considering we aren't dead, we won the Reaper war, didn't we?"

Kaiden glanced away. His lips pursed. "I guess."

"What do you mean, 'you guess'?" Garrus said, some of his characteristic snark coming back into his voice. "Wasn't the Reapers' goal to eliminate organic life? In that case, they missed a few."

Kaiden didn't laugh. If anything, his frown deepened. "We lost people, Garrus. Admiral Anderson, Edi –"

"Edi?" Garrus interrupted. "She's part of the ship. Can't we just find her a new body?"

His sqaudmate looked down at his hands. They were covered in cuts. "What do you last remember, Garrus?"

Garrus thought for a moment, raking his blurred memories. "We were running to the beam," he said, after a moment. "Taking heavy fire. There was flaming rubble falling from the sky." He stopped, thinking. "Something happened. Were we hit?"

"A car exploded next to us," Kaiden offered. "You were thrown. You hit your head and dislocated your shoulder. Shepard ordered an evac." He began to chew his lip. "She left us behind and kept going."

Garrus' heart was thudding. He felt shaky. It was all coming back to him – the explosion, the evac…

Her goodbye.

The panic began to bubble up again. "Kaiden, is she okay?"

The biotic's eyes were filled with tears. "She saved everyone."

Garrus growled and forced himself to his feet. "Is she alive? Answer me!"

A tear forced its way passed the human's eyelid. As it fell, it left a shiny trail down his cheek. "No."

The world fell away. Dimly, he felt himself fall back into the chair. Dead? Shepard couldn't die. She'd already died and come back, and that's how good at not dying she was. Of course, they'd always known it to be a possibility, going into a war they couldn't possibly win. But the sheer reality of it didn't make sense.

She said she'd come back.

"Did you find…anything?" he rasped. His throat suddenly felt very tight.

"If you mean tags, then no," Kaiden said. His voice was quiet. "But there was no way someone could have survived that blast."

Garrus remained silent for a moment. Then, without a word, he stood up and walked shakily to the elevator. Kaiden watched him go, tears still dripping down his cheeks.

The area of the Normandy that housed crew quarters was silent. Garrus opened the door to his tiny room, feeling sluggish.

His bunk was cold.

His bed was made, and on top of it was a large crate filled with his blackened armor. Next to it lay his visor.

He picked it up, turning it over in his hands. Should he wipe it? It held a lot of memories. He'd have to wipe his Omni-Tool too. Garrus laughed bitterly. If only he could wipe his own brain, just forget about all this shit.

Without really thinking about it he put on his visor and turned it on. All of his usual stuff came up immediately, which gave him a tiny sense of relief. It felt normal again.

And then something caught his attention.

It was a very normal setting someone like him would have. Just a little blip informing him of his squadmate's vitals. He always programmed it before going on missions. It was so usual that it could have been a clock, but now it drew his attention and made his heart stop in his chest.

It was her vitals. The little line was not flat, but dipped into tiny hills and valleys, almost imperceptible. It was evident of one thing.

Shepard's heartrate was still going.

She was alive.