Fire on the Horizon

Chapter 46: What Happens on Shore Leave

Glyph asked Jane if she wanted the party to be quiet or upbeat. She would have enough quiet later. Right now she wanted a full party. She and Garrus separated during the party. It would have seemed odd to her years before. She was always used to staying by whoever she was dating or with at the time during parties. This didn't seem odd to her. It seemed comfortable. She could almost feel Garrus throughout the apartment. She even tested the theory by stopping during a conversation with Jeff and looking in the direction she thought Garrus was in. There he was. Exactly where she thought he would be.

He just looked at her and nodded his head smiling as he kept talking to the group. A few minutes later, after convincing Jeff to dance with EDI, she moved around to everyone. She made sure to talk to everyone, to have fun, mingle. Get the feel for the party.

She stepped into the bar area after talking to Tali. Wrex, Garrus, Cortez, and Jeff were talking shop. She shook her head as she walked behind the bar and let her hand casually slide across Garrus' waist and back. He let his right hand drop from the bar and found his fingers touching hers. He kept talking as he squeezed her hand lightly.

"You boys talking shop?" She quipped at them as she poured herself a drink.

Cortez answered first. "Nah, Commander. We like this. It's fine. It's all in fun."

She listened for a bit as they picked on Jeff about not having a firearm in reach and it being a long time since he had qualified on the range.

"A weapon you can't reach is no weapon at all." Garrus chimed in.

Jeff tried to use EDI as his reasoning. Jane shook her head. She thought about it for a minute. She knew that Garrus was as good, if not better in certain cases, a shot as she was. In fact, she would admit sniper wise, he was better. He could be right there beside her, wide awake, and she would still have a gun within palming distance. She was about to make her point when Wrex chimed in.

"This is a man-mergency!" He was slightly drunk and she could tell by his small hop and hand clap. This was going to end with broken things and she knew it. She just smiled to herself and shook her head as she patted Garrus and let her hand trail over his back.

She made her rounds again and the drinks started pouring a little more freely. That's when she heard the door open. She turned from her place on the kitchen counter where she was perched. She and Jack were laughing as they teased each other about MIranda.

Jane looked at her and laughed. "Hey all I'm saying is that tension is a good thing to blow off with someone and she..."

Jack laughed and threw back a shot of whiskey. "Stop right there Shepard. Besides she'd probably start cheering in the middle of it and I'd have to punch her in the throat."

Jane looked over at the door and let a wide smile across her face. Now it was really a party. There stood Victus, someone she had considered to be a closer friend that anyone else, next to Garrus, at this point. He got her, he got Garrus, and they got each other.

He was in casual clothes and holding a bag that she was certain was full of drinks. She jumped off the counter and half jogged to him. He was a bit surprised when she hugged him. He hugged her back with his free hand as he nodded over her shoulder to Garrus.

"Thank you for coming." Jane said in his ear.

He smiled at her and kissed her cheek. "I wouldn't be anywhere else."

He moved from the embrace and moved to Garrus with his hand extended. Garrus took it and pulled the Primarch into a hug.

"Glad you could make it Adrian. This party has been good, but it's early." Garrus stepped back and took the bag. Taking a look inside of it he smiled. "Oh hell, you didn't."