Survivor

Chapter 16

Garrus
  Garrus moved fast to keep beside Samantha's bed as the nurses and doctors moved her to an operation room, where Doctor Perez and Chakwas were to work on restoring her vision.
  She held his hand tight and he could practically feel the skepticism coming off of her.
  "Garrus?"
  "I'm not leaving," he answered immediately.
  Samantha nodded and gave his hand a squeeze. "Do you think this is going to work?"
  He glanced at Miranda who was giving him a steely look and her reminder of the way Samantha led came to mind. Feed the hope and victory is more likely. He cursed himself for not believing the hope himself but he couldn't put that on Samantha.
  "Of course it's going to work. Between having the best care and you being one hell of a fighter? It'll work."
  Miranda visibly relaxed and Samantha nodded and eased back into the pillows stacked behind her.
  "They've got a reputation as the best for a reason, Shepard. I highly doubt it's for their good looks," Miranda chipped in which made Samantha chuckle.
  "While Karen does have some looks, I know she's got the skill," Samantha agreed.
  "It's good to know you have faith in my abilities, commander," Chakwas commented as they stopped the bed next to the operation table.
  "How could I not after you saved my ass so many times? It would be a disgrace to discredit you for all that."
  Chakwas chuckled. "You did manage to get yourself pretty roughed up at times. Even I wonder how you're still alive sometimes."
  "A lot of synthetic implants," Samantha replied instantly with a grin.
  Everybody chucked and Garrus ran a hand over the fuzz of hair growing back on her head.
  "We're moving you over okay? To your right."
  The staff lifted her with ease and laid her gently on the table.
  Garrus noticed her suck in a breath and clench her hands into fists.
  "Are you okay?" He murmured as he leaned down to her ear so only she could hear.
  "Yeah. Just a little nervous."
  "Like going into a battle not knowing the situation?"
  She gave him a grateful smile. "Yeah. Exactly."
  "We always trusted you to get us through. Will you do that for us? Believe that you're in good hands?"
  Samantha bit her lip and turned her head as if she was looking at him before she nodded. "Okay. I will."
  Garrus kissed her forehead and ran a hand over her head again. "I'll be here when you wake up okay? I'm not allowed to stay for the operation but I'll be here when they give you the anesthesia and when you fall asleep."
  Samantha nodded, her eyes closed as she worked to control her breathing.
  "Don't worry about me, okay?"
Garrus smiled and shook his head at her. "Samantha, I'm your boyfriend. It's my job to worry over you."
She chuckled and smiled at him. "You'll lose 20 years off your life if you do that."
"It's worth it for you."
A nurse approached slowly and smiled at Garrus.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but are you two ready for the anesthesia?"
Garrus squeezed Samantha's hand and she nodded hesitantly.
"Yes. We're ready."
The anesthesiologist brought a small tank up and a mask, which he warned Samantha he was going to put over her nose and mouth.
With her consent, he placed the mask and started the gas, which was when he asked her to count backwards from 100. It wasn't long before her hand loosened around Garrus' and she stopped counting.
The anesthesiologist checked her brain activity and function, then her vitals before he removed the small tank and attached a different tube to Samantha's mask. He pressed a few buttons on the display of the system she was now hooked up to, checked her vitals again and then nodded at the head nurse.
"Officer Vakarian, we need you to leave the room now," the nurse announced. "We need to have the room misted and dried for sterilization. We can't have any foreign DNA in the room for it."
Garrus nodded and walked out with his mandibles held tightly to his face in worry.
He was met by Miranda, who gave him a nod.
"She's going to be alright. It'll work, and she's got the best doctors to head the operation the Galaxy could provide."
Garrus nodded but said nothing. He wasn't in the mood for casual conversation when the love of his life was on an operating table.
  "I hope you don't intend to hover out here the whole time. You're making the staff nervous."
  Garrus blew out a frustrated breath and spun to face Miranda. "Well what the hell else do you expect me to do?"
  Miranda raised an eyebrow at him as if to say really? "Well for one we can start with not blowing up in the halls. Then I could get to telling you the Normandy is docked here at the Citadel. Usual spot, D24. I figured it would be a welcome distraction for you both. Go. I'll keep an eye on her."
  Garrus hesitated, his gaze back on the door he had come out of.
  "Go, Garrus. Before I have the staff sedate you and I have to drag you there myself."
  Garrus snorted a laugh and shook his head. "You're over a foot shorter than I am. That won't work."
  "You forget I'm not an ordinary human. I'm made to be perfect, much like Grunt. But better still."
  Garrus let out an exasperated sigh and walked away. He wasn't going to stand there and listen to Miranda rant on about how perfect she thinks she is. He didn't even like her, for crying out loud.
  Visiting the Normandy seemed like a good idea anyways. It had been too long since he had seen the crew. The last time he had seen them was when he put that plaque on the memorial wall for Samantha. Maybe he could take it down now.
  He made his way easily to the airlock of the Normandy and stepped aboard to be surprised by the crew waiting by the door for him.
  "Garrus!" Everyone greeted him at once and he grinned.
  "I see I've been missed."
  Joker snorted a laugh. "Yeah, only because nobody else can keep James in line besides you and Shepard. He thinks he's all it still."
  "I know I'm the best. There's nothing wrong with that." James shrugged as if he were stating something as obvious as the Citadel being a space station.
  "I see not much has changed," Garrus chuckled.
  To his surprise, the crew sobered.
  "Yeah, actually... Things have been different without you, Garrus," Joker murmured. "After the blast, we didn't have Shepard to lead us anymore. We held the memorial for her and then you left. Who knows where, you just left. Caught a ride apparently. We've been kind of lost without you two. Liara is off on her Shadow Broker ship again trying to arrange help for the colonies that need it most, and Grunt is back on Tuchanka helping Wrex with repairs. That's four gone right there. Tali, she's here right now as you can see but she's going to have to go back to help her people. We picked her up on the way."
  Garrus was in shock by this. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.
  "So what have you been doing?" He asked cautiously.
  Joker shrugged and winced from the motion. "Supply runs, mostly. Kaidan and James are our main men for hauling our cargo. We've been delivering whatever cargo the Alliance and Liara need to be taken to colonies and even larger planets like Thessia and Tuchanka. Occasionally Kaidan or James has a mission but it's rare. There's really no one in charge of the ship anymore besides Admiral Hackett ordering us on supply runs."
  Guilt gnawed at Garrus and he shook his head. "I'm sorry. I left you all when I was needed most. We should have been able to face this as a team and I walked out from that team. There's no excuse for that."
  "We know you were grieving, Garrus," Tali cut in. "We understood. It was just harder for us to deal with the loss when we lost a  part of her right after we lost her. We lost you."
  "Nobody has ever laid blame on you, we simply wish to state how much you were missed," EDI cut in.
  Joker smiled and jabbed his thumb her way. "What she said."
  Everybody laughed and Garrus shook his head at them but his guilt faded a bit.
  They survived as usual. It was hard, but they survived nonetheless.
  "Hey Garrus," Joker piped up again. "We all took a vote on this and it turned in favor, so you're locked out of the main battery as long as you're on board. We don't need you getting busy calibrating things in there. We'll never get you back otherwise."
  "Haha. Real funny, Joker."

  ((A/N: The crew is back together! Mostly. Anyways! I'm so so so sorry it's been so long since the last update! I've been really busy, hunting season and I lost a pet so it's been a pretty hard time for me. Not going to dive into any more details but let's focus on some amazing news! Survivor has hit 515 reads!!!!!! This is amazing and awesome news!!!! Thank you all so much for reading and the support through the reads! They're what keeps me writing so let's finish this thing! Eventually. Lol still a long way to go but that's a good thing! No short stories! Haha! But hey, don't forget to vote and leave a comment as to what you think and what you would like to see!! Thanks again guys!!!))