Survivor

Chapter 37

Garrus
  Garrus entered the apartment carrying his bag with a bag of groceries stacked on top in one hand, and the flowers in another.
It was silent, the lights in the kitchen were still on, and the pan still laid where it landed after Samantha had thrown it.
"Sam?" Garrus called softy.
He wandered through the living room toward the stairs, his eyes scanning for any sign of her as he made his way through the apartment.
As he made his way through the hall upstairs, he called her name again, just before he got to the doorway of their room.
He saw the emptiness of it, his things packed into the bag he now carried. He saw the light in the bathroom on, shining onto the bed, where a large lump laid on his side of the bed.
"Sam?"
The lump shifted and Samantha appeared ruffled out of the stack of blankets, her eyes clouded with sleep and her face streaked with dried tears.
His heart ached at the sight of her like that, and guilt burned in him knowing that he was the reason she looked like that.
"Garrus," she croaked out, the relief clear in her voice.
Garrus let his bag fall from his hand and he made his way to her side, noting the heat sinks beside the bed, stepping around them carefully.
He brushed his hand over the top of her head and kissed her forehead firmly. "I'm sorry," he murmured.
She shook her head immediately as the words came out of his mouth.
"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been mad at you and I sure as hell shouldn't have thrown that pan at you. There's no excuse for treating the ones you love like that. I shouldn't have told you to leave. Not when you've been here all along."
Garrus held out the flowers to her, a mix of red roses and baby's breath, two of her favorites. "And I shouldn't have listened to you. I shouldn't have walked out that door. I made a promise and I sure as hell intend to keep it."
Samantha gave him a shaky smile as she took the flowers from him, and her eyes moved to his bag in the doorway.
"So you're back?"
Garrus nodded. "Yeah, I'm back. You kind of have this magnetic presence that draws me back to you," he said teasingly.
Samantha gave a soft laugh, which eased the tightness in his chest.
"I also got you a few things."
He moved to the bag full of the items Elias suggested and brought it back to her, pulling out item by item to show her.
"Ice cream, a spoon for it courtesy of our silverware collection, a blanket, chocolate, and, well, tissues..."
Samantha laughed and shook her head. "Did you search what's best for this on the extranet?"
Garrus cleared his throat. "No, but I may have had a little help from someone..."
The curiosity was clear on her face as she cocked her head to the side. "Oh? Who would that be?"
"No one important right now. At the moment, I think the importance is to eat your ice cream before it finishes melting."
Samantha laughed. "It's called soft serve ice cream. It's actually pretty great."
Garrus hummed in thought. "I hear some humans don't like it that way, though."
"Some humans are weird," Samantha shot back as she took up her spoon and dug into the ice cream.
Garrus chucked. "Glad you're aware of that fact."
"So are most Turians, though," Samantha added with a smirk.
Garrus grunted. "That didn't happen until humans added in their weird traditions to the mix. We were perfectly fine before that."
Samantha chuckled and shook her head. "So offensive."
"But you know I'm right..."
She simply stuck her tongue out at him in reply before she shoveled another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.
"So," she started. "Out of curiosity, what are the tissues for? Did you expect a bawling mess when you came back or something?"
"I mean, I didn't want to seem conceited by thinking I may find that, but I'm pretty sure you humans have a saying that goes 'better safe than sorry.' That kind of made sense for this..."
Samantha laughed and shook her head. "Well, you've always been one to be prepared. I guess I can't blame you for that, after all that we've been through."
Garrus nodded and looked away, suddenly uncomfortable with asking her what he knew he was going to have to ask her next.
Samantha caught onto this and set down her ice cream to gently turn his head to face her.
  "Garrus? What's wrong?"
  He sighed and met her eyes. "There's no easy way of asking you what I'm going to ask next. I guess it's only right since the answer won't be easy for you either..."
  She looked uneasy, but leaned in toward him. "What's the question then?"
  Garrus laid his hand over hers, which still rested on his mandible. "What happened down there on Earth? After... After the beam?"
  Samantha swallowed and looked down, as if thinking. "It's a long story. It's not an easy one, either. I'm not sure you want to know the details..."
  Garrus took her hand from his face to hold it tightly between both of his. "Sam, if it's about you, I want to know. I need to know, if it helps you let go of what happened."
  She bit her lip and shook her head, tears threatening to spill. "No, I can't do that to you. I've already hurt you enough."
  "Samantha," Garrus said firmly. "It's okay. If you could handle the experience, I can handle the story. This is me trying to help you. Let me help you."
  She searched his eyes, the conflicting emotions within her obvious to him as she chewed on her lip.
  "Are you sure? You don't have to... I don't need you to-"
  Garrus cut her off right there. "Yes, I'm sure, and yes you do need me to hear it. We're a team, Sam. On and off the battlefield."
  Samantha took s deep breath and nodded.
  She reached over and grabbed the tissues, taking her time to open the box and set them next to her as she pulled the new blanket over her lap.
  "I'm ready when you are," she said.

((A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for any mistakes in this update! Kinda rushing this one out and it's gonna be a while before I can work on this again probably. Family issues going on, I won't have access to my account.
  Sorry guys, I hope you'll understand. Enjoy this one though. Keelah Se'lai!))