Curious Jealousy- a F!Shenko Fic

Chapter Thirty-Three: Ramifications

"Garrus," Shepard said, peaking her head into the forward battery. "Wanna do some hand-to-hand?"

He almost told her than he couldn't because he was in the middle of some calibrations, but…something about her voice had him turning around. "Sure."

"Meet me down in the Cargo Boy in five?"

"Sure."

By the time he had made his way down to the cargo bay, Shepard was already stretching. He admired the view for a few seconds longer than was acceptable. She was a stunning woman- it didn't matter that she was human- and he still wished that she hadn't been so wrapped up with Alenko.

Maybe, then, she would have gone to him.

When she stretched her bare arms over her head to stretch, he saw bruises in the distinctive shape of human fingers- too big for them to be her own. He also knew that James would never leave marks like that on her arms.

No, he was a man of fists and he was too slow to get many hits on Shepard anyway.

That left only one other man.

"Shepard," Garrus greeted, sounding kind of disgruntled.

She gave him a small nod and gestured him forward. "I need someone to go against that isn't James," she explained, rolling her head and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Looks like you already have.

It was a close one- it very nearly came out of his mouth, but he managed to keep his mouth shut against those words.

Garrus stalked closer and shrugged. "I'm always up to beat you- you know that."

She went deadly still and then smirked. "James!" she called out, not pulling her eyes from Garrus. When James came up to her side she gestured him over to stand beside of Garrus. "We're doing two on one."

When Garrus opened his mouth to argue, she gave him a look that promptly shut his mouth. Apparently she needed this more than he had realized.

And it was all one man's fault.

When Garrus and James squared up in front of her, she smiled serenely- completely relaxed. From her posture and expression, a person wouldn't know that she was about to spar with two of the best hand-to-hand experts on the ship.

Of course, she was the best.

James and Garrus rushed her together- needing no kind communication between them. They were going to use their size and numbers against her.

However, by the time they had reached her previous spot, she was gone.

She was gone and they hadn't seen her move at all. Before either of the men knew what was happening, James was on his stomach and Shepard was taunting Garrus.

"How the hell d'you do that, Lola?" James sputtered out.

She ignored him. "Come on, Garrus. We're not finished yet. Now we're even."

He shook his head and tried to keep his eyes on her. "There's not a person in this galaxy that is your equal- so we could never be even," he informed her and feinted right before throwing his left fist.

However, she wasn't fooled and blocked the hit by grabbing his arm and flipped him on his back. She threw back her head and laughed at the bewildered look on Garrus' face.

"Maybe you should focus more on hand-to-hand and not so much on calibrations, Gar-bear," she teased, patting him on his chest and. She smiled at the two men, grabbed her jacket, and made her way to the elevator.