Never Alone, Mass Effect 3 Tali/Garrus

[RediChalyn]

Tali stood over her console in Engineering, muttering under her breath. They had been back on the Normandy for a couple days now, and the infection she'd picked up by taking her mask off on Rannoch was growing more obvious as she sniffled. She wished Garrus was here, she wished she hadn't been such an idiot to take her mask off, she wished Legion hadn't died, she wished Garrus was here. Garrus...the Turian had always been able to make her feel better and had never treated her any differently because of the fact she was a Quarian. When the Fleet had recieved word on Palavan, she'd cried alone for hours thinking about how he might have been killed by the Reapers. She'd felt such a surge of relief when she'd boarded the Normandy with the other admirals and seen that Garrus was alive and well, serving on board the Normandy once more. In truth, that was as much the reason she'd volunteered to serve on board the Normandy again as being able to be with Shepard was. They were both her friends, and they'd been together since the beginning. Finding Saren, exposing the Reaper threat, taking down the Collectors...and now they had to stop the Reapers once and for all. She sniffed and her head tilted back a bit. Heh-Hih--HIH'CHHSH! She groaned softly as she sneezed.

"Got an infection after all, Tali?" Garrus had been standing at the door to the Engineering room for awhile, leaning against the wall. His mandibles flared as he spoke, his subharmonics humming with his words.

Tali whirled around to face Garrus. "Oh,Garrus I-I didn't see you there. I was just...I-hiih-" Her body pitched forward with another sneeze. HIXCHT'CHU!

Garrus stepped forward and steadied the Quarian on her feet. "Easy there," he said softly. "Why are you working when you're like this? You should let Dr. Chakwas see you; she made sure she had plenty of dextro-based antihistamines and antibiotics on hand when you boarded."

Tali looked at her feet, feeling like a child. Of course that was the sensible thing to do, but...she sniffed, shuffling her feet. "There's just so much to do," she said softly, sounding congested, "we have to stop the Reapers before anyone else-"

Garrus put a talon on Tali's mouthpiece, his mandibles flaring. "We will, Tali. But right now you need to take care of yourself. Nobody here wants to see you suffer. I...don't want to see you suffer." Tali looked up at him silently as Garrus wrapped an arm around her shoulders, escorting her out of Engineering and to the elevator. They went up to the Crew Deck and into the med bay, where Dr. Chakwas was going over reports on her console.

The older human doctor turned in her seat and looked at Garrus and Tali entering, standing up at once. "How can I help you? You feeling alright, Tali? Garrus?"

Garrus's mandibles flared in his way of smiling. "I'm fine doc. Tali got an infection on Rannoch though; can you help?"

As if to prove a point, Tali's breath started to quicken. Heh-Hih--HIH'CHHHSH! HIH'CHHSH! She coughed, shivering a little so Garrus tightened his hold on her, keeping her close. Dr. Chakwas smiled sympathetically and went to a cabinet, looking in for a bit. "Ah," she pulled out a tray of vials and turned to face them, tilting her head toward one of the beds. "Alright Tali, on the bed let's see what we can do here." Garrus escorted Tali to the bed and Dr. Chakwas pulled one of the vials out, swirling the contents a bit as Tali sat on the bed. Dr. Chakwas helped Tali enable the clamps on her suit, isolating an area on her arm before she opened the suit in that area, revealing her pale complexion skin with implant markings. Dr. Chakwas filled a syringe with the contents of the vial and squirted the air bubbles out before injecting the Quarian and reclosing her suit. "There you are dear. You'll feel a bit drowsy soon but that's good. I've got some supplements to take with your food and in a couple days you'll be good as new."

"Thank you, doctor." Tali's voice was already drowsy sounding and she sniffed. Garrus gently eased her down to lay on the bed before looking at Dr. Chakwas for a moment. He pulled up a chair and sat beside Tali, holding her hand in his while she slept. He'd always known she could get infections easily, but that hadn't mattered to him. She was fierce on the battlefield, cunning in the planning room, and witty in their time off. He listened to the sound of her breathing, somewhat labored, and caressed her hand through her suit.

"You'll never be alone," he whispered to her.

[Cutelittlenose]

Aww, fluffy fluff. That was adorable. I liked the ending. Or, at least, the ending to the first part.

[Sitruuna]

Oh my gods this is adorable.

[Dynein]

This is adorable. Tali is just the right level of loyal and sassy, and Garrus is quite sweet. Good work! I've also noticed the the "male" and "contagion" tags, and am now even more excited for upcoming chapters, since I've got a bit of a thing for Garrus.

[Care]

So cute !!! I love it !!

Can we have more ?

[Snapdragon]

Oh, this is so sweet and perfect and I love the way you spell out Tali's sneezes!