who ; Parker and the residents of the Shephut
what ; Parker's crew is gone, and staying alone in the empty apartment is not working out quite as well as she'd thought.
where ; Normandy Haus
when ; ...now? Now's good.
warning(s) ; Sad Parker. Which probably means Parker lashing out, at some point.
[She'd refused Shepard's offer to come stay at the
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He froze for a moment as he spotted Parker, hand moving for a weapon - and then he relaxed as he recognized her. He took a step toward her, voice low.
"Parker? What are you doing here?"
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She stepped forward, looking vaguely guilty. She really hadn't meant to wake anybody up.
"I..."
She hesitated, and then shrugged. It was hard to explain exactly why she was here, when she'd been so determined to stay back in her own apartment and wait for Hardison and Eliot to reappear. Finally, she went with the easiest truth she could think of.
"I couldn't sleep."
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"I think we still have some of that hot chocolate stuff in the kitchen if you feel like having some. Never understood the appeal myself, but the stuff also kills me if I drink it."
A poor joke, but Garrus found that poor jokes tended to break the ice.
"I can't sleep either and I could use the company, if you want to stick around."
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"Okay."
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"Come on."
It was a very short walk. Once they arrived he started rummaging around in the cupboards. Where the Hell did Shepard keep the stuff again...?
"So, aside from insomnia, what brings you over?"
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"I just wanted to be here."
Talking about her feelings wasn't Parker's strong suit. Really, Garrus was lucky she hadn't turned and fled the moment she'd seen him.
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This should be easy, right?
"What's on your mind, Parker?"
Because he could tell from across the room that something was bothering her.
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"...Hot chocolate?" she offered, and decided to change the subject while she was ahead. "Why can't you sleep?"
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A lot of demons in his past, really. They added to his paranoia. Fueled it. Plus there were a lot of unpleasant memories that tended to worm their way into his brain when he was sleeping.
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Hey, just because she didn't like it when people tried asking her about her personal life didn't mean she wasn't going to pry.
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"Mostly because I can't sleep. Keep thinking about the base and Hypatia."
Mostly true. He wasn't mentioning the memories.
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"Garrus, do you like it here?"
The question was as unexpected and surprising to her as it likely was to him. But she was curious.
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"...I wouldn't say I like it here, but it's better than some of the alternatives. And we're stuck here for now, so I live with it. That's life - you suffer through the hard parts."
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Parker slid her elbows on the table and rested her chin in her hands, watching quietly as Garrus prepared the hot chocolate.
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But on the other hand, life being easy all the time would've been... what? Boring? Or just lacking something?
He finished up the cocoa (or thought he did; he was just following the instructions, really) and brought the mug over to Parker. "I think we'll be fine."
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Those hard parts were fun. But things like this? Being reunited with her team at last, only to lose them again? Parker would be just as happy never to have to face that sort of thing again.
She took a sip of the cocoa, watching Garrus' face. Her own expression was carefully neutral.
"What would you do if Commander Shepard disappeared?"
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