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Shepard Finds Her Soul Mate	By : KTT2123 Category: +M through R > Mass Effect Views: 5865 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect nor its characters. I am making no money from this.

Chapter List
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The slim likelihood of surviving the impending suicide mission provokes each squad member to ask Shepard for help. Each mission brings the squad closer; with each mission the Commander understands and trusts her team members more.
Jack’s mission is quite satisfying. Shepard is proud of the biotic. Jack had allowed Aresh to leave. Jack may never be normal but Lily knows she has a good heart underneath all that brash tough girl act and that decision shows it. She’s had a hard, fucked-up life but she has changed being on Shepard’s team. Jack has made friends, real ones. With people who will have her back instead of awaiting the opportunity to take advantage of her. When Jack breaks down in her cell, Garrus respectfully exits the room. Curled into a ball on the floor, Lily wraps her arms around her. She thinks of her own childhood horrors: seeing the deaths of her family. Shepard may not have been tortured but she knows the pain you experience growing up never really leaves, at least not the kind that she and Jack have endured. She is almost as happy as Jack to see that terrible place blow to smithereens.
Shepard first catches a glimpse of the actual human being under Miranda Lawson’s bitchy persona while helping her with her sister. Miranda actually cares for Oriana. Lily feels compelled to help, if nothing else she wishes to help someone avoid the pain of losing a twin. Miranda and Oriana may not be twins like she and Leeloo but their love is just as genuine. After successfully rescuing Oriana, Shepard encourages Miranda to talk to her genetic twin. Watching the pair interact, Lily realizes that the supposed ice queen is not as cold and unemotional as she tries to seem. She can see the broken pieces of the ‘perfect’ biotic and has to help her heal. It’s her nature. Lily has never been able to turn away from someone who needed help. She’ll earn Miranda’s trust and friendship, no matter what it takes.
At Lily’s first attempts at building a friendship with Miranda, she is met only with suspicion and mistrust. Miranda has no friends and the one she once had, Niket, betrayed for mere money. And to her immoral father no less! Yet, Shepard doesn’t let that dissuade her; she knows it won’t happen overnight. She’s already gone through this process with Jack, aka Subject Zero. Jack was the most distrustful person Shepard had ever met and for good reason. The tattooed biotic had never had someone who didn’t betray her or use her or abuse her. If she was able to gain Jack’s trust, she can do the same with the Cerberus agent. *I wonder if Jack and Miranda realize how alike they are. Both have learned to be extremely distrustful and regard kindness with suspicion as if no one could possibly want to be nice to them without an ulterior motive. It is no wonder they can’t get along, they are far too alike. Although Miranda projects more of a cold, hearted bitch persona while Jack just goes for a crude bitch,* reasons Shepard. Lily takes Miranda’s distrust and suspicion in stride, never reacting when she lashes out in anger and general bitchiness. She knows Miranda is simply trying to protect herself the only way she knows how: by pushing people away. Gradually, just as Jack had, Miranda recognizes the authenticity of Shepard’s offer of friendship.
For the first time in her life, Miranda learns some social skills: how to interact with others in ways that influences others to actually like her instead of dislike her. Shepard gives her companionship, support, and friendship. Lawson gains her first true friend, one that has no ulterior motive. Shepard asks for nothing in return. She never asks for anything and is completely willing to take as little or as much as Miranda is willing to give.
In return for easing the loneliness Miranda feels, the biotic gives Shepard unquestionable loyalty. A little patience, attention and caring is all it takes to teach Lawson to trust, to rely on someone besides herself, another first for her. She trusts Shepard implicitly and vows to never doubt her. Miranda knows she is unworthy of Shepard’s trust but is willing to do anything to prove to her that she will never betray the Commander. She’d leave Cerberus and the Illusive Man behind without glance if Shepard wanted her to. While still having the tendency to be bitchy, arrogant, judgmental, and controlling, the others have actually seen glimpses of the lonely, insecure girl underneath it all.
To the surprise of everyone, Thane actively pursues Miranda after seeing the cracks in her ice queen façade. Krios sees the isolation of being ‘perfect’ has created for Miranda. She is as much as outsider in this world as he is himself. Through Shepard’s friendship, Thane begins to see the woman underneath; the one crying out for love.
Miranda initially rejects his advances. She is incapable of believing he is sincere, feeling she is entirely unworthy of love. However, Krios is persistent and will not take the opportunity to find love once more before he dies for granted, ironically thanks to Shepard, a woman he once had feelings for. Miranda’s wicked tongue does not change Thane’s mind. He has seen the gentle creature inside of her that is lonely and completely desperate for love. She cannot push him away. No, his certainty is unshakable. Miranda is his to love and one day she will stop fighting him.
Thane’s persistence and patience pay off. Her attempts to push him away gradually cease. The little opening of her heart is all Thane needs. The drell woos Miranda, showering her with affection and love. It is not long before Thane begins to call Miranda Siha when he recognizes she is his true warrior-angel. Miranda reacts in the only way she knows how. In her fear and panic, she reverts to her harsh ways in an effort to hide her inner turmoil, her fear, desperation, and hopelessness. She wants to believe Thane is genuine in his interest but can’t ignore the inner voice telling her she doesn’t deserve love. Garrus taking pity on the clearly miserable woman clues her in on what the assassin is telling her by referring to her as Siha. With time and a few secret crying sessions in Shepard’s arms, Miranda finally overcomes her insecurity and grabs hold on her chance at love.
Over the next few weeks, the odd couple astounds the crew with the strength of their relationship. Miranda starts to emerge as a warm and happy woman. She smiles and laughs. She has even begun to find acceptance and friendship from the crew…
LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV
On the shuttle to Tuchanka, Garrus warily eyes the restless krogan. Shepard is taking Grunt to the krogan home world to try to figure out what is going on with him, as well as helping Mordin find his former protégé. After a typically unfriendly ‘welcome’ made especially hostile when the krogan see she has brought along a clanless krogan, a turian and a salarian. Garrus is surprised and thankful not to be shot on sight.
Shepard makes her way to the clan leader. Lily and Garrus are both equally amazed to see it’s Wrex. “Shepard! Vakarian! My friends!” The krogan gives Shepard an eager handshake and a hearty punch for Garrus in way of a greeting. “You look well for dead Shepard. Should have known the void couldn’t hold you. Ah, the benefits of a redundant nervous system.”
Mordin and Grunt watch the reunion silently but with interest.
“Yeah, humans don’t have that.”
“Must have been painful then…but when have you ever let anything stop you, even apparently death?”
Shepard laughs, happy to see Wrex hasn’t changed despite his surprising new status. He always could make her laugh with his boisterous personality.
The krogan switches his focus to the turian, “Garrus, it’s been a long time. I haven’t seen you since Shepard’s funeral. I still occasionally get calls from Liara and Tali worried and wondering where you are. Can’t say I’m surprised that Shepard managed to find you in whatever hole you were hiding in.”
Garrus wonders a bit about that, about how she found him when no one else had. *Maybe it was fate? I don’t have any other explanations.* He smiles, replying “It’s good to see you, too, Wrex. Clan leader now? Taking impossible missions like uniting the clans? Shepard has rubbed off on you.”
“She does that, doesn’t she?”
Lily rolls her eyes as the two men converse as if she isn’t standing right there. “I’m right here.”
Gatalog Uvenk aggressively shifts toward them ever eager to voice his protest at Wrex’s leadership choices. In response, Garrus moves from Shepard’s left side to stand slightly in front of her, his body tense and protective. The Commander smirks a bit at his obvious, yet completely unnecessary protectiveness. She is not only a biotic but a fucking vanguard! She lives for up-close combat, unlike him who is a sniper. Shepard finds it humorous: Garrus’ need, his drive to protect her even though both of them know it is completely unnecessary. She doesn’t need his protection and they both know it.
Mordin tilts his head a bit with interest; the turian seems to be becoming bolder everyday with his mating instincts. Grunt gives his little crazy giggle at Garrus’ reaction, his bloodlust rising in hopes of seeing him battle against the other krogan.
Wrex headbutts the other krogan as a rebuke before grinning openly at Vakarian’s move, “Finally got it together, huh, Garrus?”
The turian tears his gaze away from the other krogan to look at Wrex puzzled. “What?”
“You finally challenged that fool Alenko for Shepard. It’s about time you stopped moping around and took what was yours.”
“Uh…” Vakarian’s eyes look quickly to his right to meet amused violet ones before again focusing on Wrex. “How did you—?“
“I’m a krogan, Garrus. The genophage has only made krogan that much more protective of what is ours. You don’t think I would recognize territoriality? Your protectiveness of Shepard has gotten even more obvious since her death. If you don’t want people to know, you probably should stop that.” Wrex pauses before adding matter-of-factly, “Also, your scent is all over her.”
Lily quirks a brow as much in question as amusement glancing from Wrex to Garrus, she obviously has no idea she has been walking around covered in Garrus’ scent.
“Seriously, Shepard? Is human sense of smell that bad?” asks the krogan.
“Apparently it is…” she drawls.
Garrus looks embarrassed at being caught. He has taken full advantage of how much less sensitive the human nose is by secretly scenting her. It’s both a subtle and obvious claim by the turian. Subtle in that Shepard hadn’t been aware of it until Wrex opened his big, fat mouth. Yet, obvious to any species with a strong enough sense of smell, which includes many non-human species. Lily has unknowingly been walking around with his scent apparent to any nose sensitive enough to smell it. Vakarian has relished the looks he has gotten from the various species they have encountered when they had realized that Shepard is his, especially since she somehow always seems to miss the looks. The turian is hoping that she is not going to kill him now that she knows he’s been scenting her, claiming her to anyone with a strong enough sense of smell.
Wrex takes pity on Vakarian, “So. Did you battle it out, is he dead? Alenko?”
“Uh…that is not quite how it happened. And, no, Alenko isn’t dead, the bastard.”
The krogan wonders about the vehemence behind those words. He’d never been overly fond of the human sentinel, especially after he and Shepard got together. In his opinion (not that anyone asked him), Alenko was never and could never be strong enough for her. The biotic’s spineless reaction after Shepard’s death had made that perfectly clear.
“Focus! You ladies can gossip later,” Shepard declares dryly.
Wrex laughs loudly before getting back to business.
LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV
Mordin’s personal mission goes smoothly, even after they discover Maelon had not been kidnapped. Shepard convinces Mordin not to kill the other salarian. She hopes he will take the second chance and do something good with it. No matter how good his intentions, Maelon had done horrible, unspeakable things to his test subjects. Maybe the data, despite the bloodshed to acquire it will prove useful in the end. Lily can only hope.
LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV
Although it takes some convincing, Shepard takes Mordin inside of Garrus along for Grunt’s rite. She has a feeling that Garrus’ sniper rifle will be worthless on this mission. It is a krogan rite of passage and not a single krogan that she’s ever met or seen has used anything but a shotgun as their primary weapon. Plus, Krogan seem to enjoy close fighting quarters as well. Shepard shrewdly uses battle strategy to convince Garrus to stay behind. The turian clearly isn’t happy at being left behind from the disgruntled expression on his face but agrees despite his unhappiness. He doesn’t like not being there to watch her back but he is smart enough to realize that he’d likely be less of an asset and more of a weakness for this mission. Shepard would probably spend more time saving him than anything else.
Grunt is in his element in his rite of passage. As enemy after enemy falls, his bloodlust seems to rise. That scary little giggle is heard a few times too many, showing exactly how much he is enjoying himself. Shepard is far too similar to Grunt. She is having the time of life fighting wave after wave of enormous bugs. Her own giggle as she slams into enemies with her biotic charge is vaguely disturbing. Grunt and Shepard should not be allowed on missions together. Mordin may be a bit of a mad scientist but Grunt and Shepard are scary. The three of them are all covered in blood from those damn exploding klixen, not that either Grunt or Shepard seem to notice.
“A thresher maw? Really? The krogan really don’t pull any punches during this rite of passage, do they?” Shepard mutters, mostly to herself. Thankful for her Cain weapon, she, Mordin, and Grunt make short work of the maw.
When Gatatog Uvenk and his krantt show up, Shepard isn’t even surprised. “Oh, so now that Grunt is worthy, you suddenly want him on your side?”
Uvenk sneers at her, “I wasn’t talking to you human!”
Shepard rolls her eyes, ignoring the krogan. “It’s your decision Grunt. Join or fight?”
Grunt’s blue eyes blaze, “Fight!”
Uvenk and his warriors fight hard but in the end like all the rest, he falls at Shepard and her squad’s feet.
Grunt’s rite of passage is successful and he is eagerly welcomed into Clan Urdnot.
As they leave Tuchanka, Shepard hears krogan raving about how they are the first since Wrex to defeat the thresher maw. Beside her both Grunt and Garrus puff up with pride. EDI informs them that Grunt has numerous breeding requests…and one for Shepard. Grunt laughs hysterically while Garrus growls which only makes the krogan laugh harder. Lily tries to hide her own amusement but can’t and a smile spreads over her lips. Nonetheless, she grabs Garrus’ arm. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. I have no intentions of breeding with a krogan. Would that even work?”
Mordin’s face reflects thought, “Improbable.”
“See, nothing to worry about. Plus, the thought of a naked krogan kind of disturbs me. What would that even look like?” Seeing the devious expression on Grunt’s face, Shepard warns, “Don’t even think about it! I better not be seeing your naked ass any time soon!”
LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV*LS*GV
Back on the Normandy, Shepard and Garrus are alone in the mess hall. Mordin is back in his lab, working on who knows what. Grunt is off bragging about his rite of passage to the others. “So…were you ever planning on telling me about that?”
He gazes at her confused.
“The scenting. Wrex seemed to imply it was quite deliberate, that you were deliberately marking me with your scent.”
“Uh…” Garrus mumbles embarrassingly, trying quickly to figure out a way through this conversation without being killed. “Well—I—er—um.” It was too much to hope she had forgotten.
Lily eyes him intently and asks softly, “Was there an answer in there somewhere, Vakarian?”
The turian is scared because he can’t seem to read her. He is not sure if she is furious or amused or what. Garrus is wracking his brain for a way to first not die and secondly to not have Shepard break up with him. “Lily, I—um, it’s a turian thing?” Garrus explains weakly. It’s the best answer he can come up with. Frankly, it is the only one he can think of that she might buy. Although there isn’t much of a chance at that considering complete lack of certainty in his voice when he says it.
Shepard has been laughing inside the whole time. She is astonishingly not mad. Somehow, she seems to be okay with his repeated transparent possessiveness. It doesn’t seem to matter to him or her that their relationship just started. And no one is more surprised by that than her. There is something about him, about them, that makes her react differently and completely out of character. She should be mad, furious even that he has been secretly scenting her and that he is so possessive of her. Any other man doing so would but not him. Shepard doesn’t know why he is different and silently acknowledges that whatever the reason, Garrus is different.
Lily finds Garrus’ embarrassed and fearful reaction to be unexpectedly comical. Watching his mind work furiously in an attempt to explain his secret behavior is pretty damn funny to see. Figuring she has made him suffer long enough, Lily cracks a smile. “So, turians scent people they just started dating, huh?” she asks teasingly. She can tell she’s got him when he grimaces.
“Uh—well—some do?” Garrus mutters. He can see Shepard isn’t buying his explanation. Technically, turians do employ scenting, so that’s not exactly a lie. But it is not exactly the truth either. The problem is that it is done exclusively by those in a serious, committed relationship like bond-mates or marriage. It is rarely, if ever, employed so early in a relationship. And it is never done without permission.
Vakarian should feel ashamed because he laid a claim on her without her knowledge or permission but he doesn’t. He knew it was wrong at the time but couldn’t or didn’t want to stop himself. Deep down, the turian recognizes Shepard as his mate, his yazani, the one person made solely for him. It is why he marked her with his scent so early because she is his as much as he is hers. It is why he is so possessive and protective despite the fact they only just started dating. It is why he doesn’t feel guilty for scenting her, embarrassed at getting caught yes but not guilty. Garrus simply could not bear to have his yazani unclaimed, couldn’t bear to have their bond challenged by anyone especially when she doesn’t have his bonding mark on her neck.
“Uh-huh. You know, you could have just asked,” she proclaims.
“What?” His head snaps up in shock.
Shepard shakes her head in disbelief. “Come on, Garrus! You can’t tell me you didn’t see my reaction to threatening Thane? Joker sent it to everyone! I’m surprised it isn’t on the extranet yet!”
Garrus is startled. Although he has seen the vids and assumed she had too, they have never talked about the incident. He asks with incredulity, “You aren’t mad?”
The Commander laughs, “Surprisingly no. Apparently I completely okay with your possessiveness, I can go far enough to say that I even enjoy it for some odd reason. Why that is, I have no idea.” Shepard honestly does not understand her own reaction, it completely baffles her. She has no idea why she is okay with and even amused by his blatant possessiveness. Lily has had a few men try to act possessive of her before and it had made her furious. It had made her feel like she was a possession, not a person. But with Garrus it is different. She feels…warm and loved and cherished even by his possessiveness. It doesn’t make any sense but it is how Shepard feels. Somehow even his protectiveness is okay, which is astounding. Her reactions to other men’s attempts at that were much different; each man got a very obvious reminder that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. Yet, Lily feels no impulse or desire to do the same to Garrus.
Vakarian wonders at that, her acceptance and confusion. It sounds to him like the stories he has heard of how true bond-mates, how yazanis behave. He has never seen a pair of yazanis in person before.    *Perhaps deep down Lily recognizes me just as I have her. Have I actually found my true bond-mate? My life-mate? My yazani?* Garrus desperately wants to believe that. It would explain why he is so drawn to her, so possessive of her and maybe why she is so accepting of his behavior. It would explain why he took her death so hard, why his life had felt meaningless without her in it.
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Shepard Finds Her Soul Mate