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Nothing like being accused of first degree murder to really cap off a girl’s Friday night. Jane Shepard was no innocent when it came to the ways of the world. The people in power fucked over everyone to make a few more credits and the poor just got fucked.That’s how she was here, handcuffed to a desk on Earth after her gang - her family had sold her out. The human across from her was playing bad cop, and not very successfully.“We have you at the scene of the crime with the murder weapon in your hands! I don’t have to tell you how bad that looks Ms. Shepard.” His hands rested on the metal table as he stared down at her, his face sweaty.“With all due respect,” she leaned forward into his space, “you don’t have shit.” The officers face turned an interesting shade of red as he sputtered in indignation.She thought she heard a stifled laugh from the other cop - a turian, in the corner as he stepped more fully into the light. Damn he was handsome with his blue clan markings across his angular face that classified him as a male of his species.She had always had something of a ‘thing’ for turians though she had hidden it well from her family. Being a xenophile wasn’t a good thing to the racist underbelly of Earth. Shepard had been thrown into it when she was just a kid. Human gangs stuck together, though admittedly there weren’t really any homeless turians on the streets of Earth. There was something about the stability of turians that drew her in. Their insistence on order and rules was another world to a kid with nothing.In the turian culture she could have enlisted to rise above her station - or at least that’s what she had heard. On Earth she was lucky that she made more as a mercenary than on her back or else she was sure she would have turned to that eventually. There wasn’t much upward progress for thieves other than a stint in prison.The turian that stepped towards her was tall like most of his species, his arms crossed over his chest - face unreadable to her as she relaxed back in her chair.Here comes good cop.“Don’t make this harder on yourself Miss, it doesn’t look that good for you right now.”No shit sherlock.Jane raised one eyebrow at the turian who’s mandibles fluttered slightly with what she thought was interest.“I’m not an idiot, you need a confession to tie this case up neatly with a bow but I. Didn’t. Kill. Leon.” She leaned forward towards the enigmatic turian, hoping he’d believe her or else she was in for a long night in this hard plastic chair that was making her ass go numb.“Walk me through what happened.” He sat down in the chair opposite her, his hands folded neatly across the table.Shepard rolled her eyes in frustration.“Why so you can misconstrue my words and accuse me of something I didn’t do? I’m good handsome.” She smiled bitterly at him. She wouldn’t go down for killing her friend, she was a merc not a murderer.“Tell us what we want to know!” The human slammed his fists down loudly on the metal table, Shepard didn’t even flinch - she had been hit by bigger bullies than this one. She had no use for him.She thought she saw a flash of irritation in the turians eyes, but she blinked, and it was gone.“Harris.” The turian spoke, his human partner turned - his eyes still locked on me.“Give us a minute.” The human scowled at his partner before he stormed out of the interrogation room. The room was abruptly silent the moment after the door slammed shut. Shepard could only hear the hum of the camera in the corner of the room as it recorded their every move.“I want to know what happened.”“Eat shit.” She may have been attracted to him but that didn’t mean she had to be nice. He was a cop after all.He nodded and then turned on his omni tool, Shepard eyed the tech greedily - an omni tool. A new one at that, it was soundless and intuitive as the turian flicked through page after page before coming to the one he needed. He pressed a few buttons and the room went dead silent. Her eyes flicked to the camera which was now off before glancing back at him.“Better?” She smiled, oh she liked this turian.“Won’t you get fired for that?” She asked truly curious.“Can’t fire me - I put in my resignation a week ago.”“Why?”“An answer for an answer?” A wicked gleam flashed over his face before falling back into a neutral expression.Oh, he was good.He had read the interest on her face and knew she’d want information. Shit if this wasn’t the worst timing in the world to meet a turian who not only could make her sweat but one who could keep up with her mentally?Sign. Her. Up. He looked at her with a challenge in his eyes, could she detect a hit of interest. No, surely he wasn’t into humans. That would be just her luck. He cocked his head in an oddly bird like manner, waiting her out. With a sigh she launched into her story. “I was at our hang out as usual, everyone knew I was leaving soon - they weren’t too happy, but I had decided to go legit. I had enough saved up for my own cruiser - a shitty one but it was going to be mine. I know someone in my family betrayed me and Leon - he wanted me to go, you know? I knew him since I was a kid, he always looked out for us younger ones.” She shook her head to clear it, unwilling to think too fully that her friend was dead now.“I was on my way to buy my ship but before I left I ate something from the communal kitchen and the next thing I know I wake up in an alley uptown covered in Leon’s blood holding a knife.” She gulped and looked away determined to keep going, it’s what he’d want. She was glad they had had to take most of her clothes for evidence, she had even been allowed to clean off the rest of his blood from her arms, but she could still feel the sticky warmth of his blood coating her skin. She would never forget it. “I was laying right next to him. He was cold and...he’d been...eviscerated.” She swallowed hard. If it hadn’t have been for the tell tale scar down the side of his face from an old fight and his brown jacket he always wore, she wouldn’t have known it was him. “You arrested me and now I’m here.”He nodded as if he had figured as much.“Why did you quit?” She asked unable to stand the silence.“Let’s just say I have a job on Omega calling my name one with a little less red tape.” She glanced up at that, his blue eyes sparkling with veiled mischief.“Is that right? Most jobs on Omega aren't strictly...legal.” Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip as she leaned into his space eager to take her mind off Leon. “Is that right?” He said throwing her words back at him.“A turian like you, well I would have expected at least a little hesitance at leaving your hierarchy- approved career.” She cocked an eyebrow at him, goading him. If he seemed surprised that she knew anything of the hierarchy he didn’t show it. “Who do you think killed your friend?”She felt her face drop back into neutrality as she leaned back, her mind racing.“Kalen Turner, Leon’s second.” She said after a moment, still hesitant.“He was jealous of Leon?”She nodded her head turning it over as she thought it through.“Kal always thought Leon had a thing for me - that’s why I was always ‘given’ the best jobs. Not that I was better at his job than him, of course not, but that Leon made sure I had the easy, lucrative work.” She spat out with disgust.“Did he?” His head cocked to the side.“Did he what?”“Have a thing for you.” His tone sounded a shade too interested.“I’m sure if I had a dick he might have.” She smirked at his surprised expression.“Look,” She sighed, tired with this whole shit show of a day.“Our hideout has hidden cameras because Leon barely trusted anyone. If I can just get over there and pull the feed from the kitchen - you’ll have your evidence.” She sat back in her chair unsure what his next move would be. He had surprised her up till now with his willingness to listen but as Leon always said - once a cop, always a cop.His face was thoughtful as he cocked his head to the other side. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, Jane felt her eyes widen with scepticism. No way was it going to be that easy. He reached over and unlocked the cuff that was attached to the desk, she smiled at him as he stood - gently encouraging her to stand as well. She did as she was bid, wondering where he was going with this.He very deliberately stepped around the side of the table till he stood next to her.Fuck, he’s tall.Her chin tilted up to meet his eyes, a single eyebrow quirked. Without dropping her eyes, he snapped the other cuff on his own wrist.She glanced down before looking back up, her smile still in place.“Kinky.”A dusky laugh escaped him as he smiled down at her.“Where you go I go, at least until we find the evidence to clear your name”“If we’re going to be working this closely it would probably be good for me to know your name handsome.” She jingled the chain between them as an odd expression crossed his face.“It’s Officer Vakarian, Garrus Vakarian.” He let their wrists drop to the center between them.“Nice to meet you Garrus. You can call me Shepard if you want, everyone else seems to.”His face abruptly turned serious.“If you’re lying to me Shepard we’ll be back her faster than you can say ‘murderer’.” His stare was deadly and she felt something warm flicker to life in her stomach. Man she was messed up if the thought of him manhandling her into submission got her going. “If I’m lying you have my permission to.” She said with a grin. ----It was surprisingly easy to get out of the police precinct. By sheer luck - or Garrus’ foresight, there was a shift change happening as they snuck out a fire exit into an alleyway outside.It was almost too easy to get back to the place she had called home. She knew the abandoned looking building didn’t inspire confidence in Garrus. She could feel when his steps slowed as she led him through the bad part of town and then into the worse part of town. Where else did he think the tenth street Red’s would have their home? Uptown?Tenth street was a shit neighborhood with a shit reputation, but they took care of their own. Shepard had been dropped on these streets when she was a kid. No parents, no clue to her past and no future.She didn’t even know her real last name - she’d made it up to feel like she belonged. Most of the Red’s had done it at one point or another. The Red’s had been a small gang back then – more talk than anything but once Leon got older and made more contacts - we hit the bigger marks, stealing what we needed to get by and then some. Leon has been the one to find her and feed her. He was the one who taught her how to steal without being caught. How to hide in a crowd and how to lose anyone who was tailing you. It was Shepard who had convinced Leon to get into the merc business when she was twelve. She had seen the writing on the wall even at that age. New Seattle wasn’t going to let them get away with their thievery for very much longer. They had found one bug in the living area of the old hideout and knew that the police were behind it. It wouldn’t matter than the companies that they stole from underpaid their workers and didn’t pay medical when their staff was hurt on the jobsite. They probably didn’t even feel the loss of what the Red’s had stolen over the years other than a misaligned ledger somewhere.Shepard glanced at Garrus who was still at her side on this misadventure. She still couldn’t believe he had unlocked her from that desk and come with her. That he believed her. She smiled as she pushed through a chain length fence that was cleverly cut to hide the entrance to her home. She had to crouch to get through the opening, Garrus had to almost crawl. Luckily that was the only small entrance to get through, next came a different kind of difficult to get through.If her suspicions were correct and it was Kal that had set her up, he had probably also voided out her entrance code. If that was the case then she would need to come up with a way to break the door down. She looked at Garrus, maybe they could both break it down - not the best option but it was an idea. Approaching the inconspicuous door, she placed her palm to the right side of the frame. It glowed green for a moment and then flashed red.Shit.“I was afraid of this.” She turned to Garrus who was watching the alleyway behind them. He turned to her.“They revoked my access, I can’t get in.” He nodded and lifted his left wrist - the one connected to her pulling her forward towards him.“Sorry.” He murmured as he brought up his omni tool, his focus on finding something in his files intent.“Basic Toolkit won’t work, Leon was paranoid to the extreme with his family's safety.” She looked at his screen wishing she could read turian.“There’s nothing basic about my toolkit,” He looked up at her snort with a grin of his own.“I’ve made some calibrations to it that definitely void out the warranty.” He turned back to what he was doing, his three fingers flying as he worked. Shepard turned back to the door and watched it flash green twice before a small hiss of a lock unlatching sounded in the quiet of the alleyway. She grabbed the door handle before it could relock and opened the door.The silence of the place she once called home was eerie.It was too quiet.She heard Garrus open his mouth with a breath to speak but Shepard stopped him with a look over her shoulder. Eyes sharp, he nodded, his free hand drawing his service pistol as he took a step forward.“Unlock me.” Her voice was quiet.“Not until I have the evidence to prove your innocence. You could be a better liar than I think you are and you actually did kill Leon. I don’t know my way around here - what’s to stop your friends from shooting me and then hiding you away? I believe that you’re innocent Shepard, but I don’t trust you yet.”Well shit, when you put it that way.“At least give me a knife or something so I’m not just a sitting duck here.” She jingled the chain between them. He hesitated for a moment before saying something untranslatable and reaching for his boot. Shepard leaned down with him as he slipped a wicked looking knife out of the inside of his shoe.“Handy.” She said with a smile as he handed it to her.“Do me a favor and don’t stab me with it, I’m partial to this shirt.” She stifled a laugh as she lowered the knife to her side and pressed onward into the place she once called home.They encountered no one at all as she led them to Leon’s room and a faint scent that she couldn’t put her finger on pervaded the air. It was wrong, this whole thing felt wrong. Where the hell was everyone? If Kal had had Leon killed but pretended it was me there should have been a war meeting being held. There should have been the sounds of angry children ready to find the one responsible for it. The one who Kal would say was responsible for it. Her.But there was nothing. The air wasn’t even on, the stifling air was oppressive as they walked cautiously toward the innermost sanctum.Her room lay to her right - the door closed. She knew she should head to Leon’s room, but she had to know what had happened to her sanctuary, her home. She pulled Garrus to the side towards her door. The door slid open on her approach, the entryway set to automatic where she usually had it set to privacy mode. A knot of tension settled in her gut as she walked through the door.From the light spilling in from the single large window near the ceiling of her old room she saw chaos. Her bed had been ripped apart, the mattress stabbed as if someone was looking for something she had apparently hidden inside. Her clothes were torn to shreds vindictively, every single piece. Her two books she had owned were strewn across the floor and her shelf was overturned. Her guns were missing and so was her data pad.Her eyes glazed over the destruction as she hyper focused on one section of the floor that had been torn up.No.Not that.With no thought to Garrus attached to her she fell to her knees, devastated.It was gone. Every credit she had ever earned, every credit she had bought with the blood of mercenary battles and parts of her innocence...was gone. Every credit chit, every piece that she had set aside for herself. Smashed into shards of broken metal and plastic. The bastards hadn’t even taken them to spend. No, they wanted her to see this. They knew- she stood back up just as abruptly as she had fallen and whirled to face the door.They knew she’d come back for evidence to clear her name.Shitshitshit.“What is it?” Garrus asked stepping towards her, creating slack in their chain.“They knew I was coming back. Or at least Kal did. That’s why the building is empty. It’s a setup.”“Then why wait for us to get so far in the building? It would have made more sense to blow the door up in our faces or spirits forbid, send the building crashing down-”Shepard turned and fled out the door dragging Garrus towards Leon’s room as the first explosion sounded from behind them. The fuckers had wired the building to blow. That’s what the smell had been - an accelerant that would make the whole place go up in flames.“The exit’s the other way!” Garrus yelled as he tugged on her wrist. Already the hall was filled with fire spilling across the floor as it ate up the older carpet.“Too far, there’s an escape tunnel through Leon’s room!” She shoved her way through her friend’s door as another explosion shook the building. She pushed her way to the closet and shoved his clothes aside, there in the corner was a seam. She pushed it and a door popped open slightly.Nearly panicked she shoved the door aside, cursing as it got stuck. Garrus lifted his hand and helped her push the door inward. Smoke was filling the room as the bed caught fire behind her. They soaked it in accelerant she thought faintly as the door finally gave way.It was dark in the tunnel but no matter, the only way to safety lay in the cool black darkness of the foxhole.They ran as they heard the roof start to give way behind them. By some miracle the tunnel didn’t collapse as they ran together.They reached the end of the tunnel by literally running into the door and out in an alley about six blocks from tenth street. Stumbling into the fresh air, Shepard breathed heavily, her lungs desperate from the sprint. Looking around, Shepard knew the area and could hear sirens already responding to what was sure to be a merciless blaze of what had once been her home.She leaned on the dirty alley wall as she and Garrus caught their breaths. All the evidence to clear her name was gone now - literally up in smoke. Her home was destroyed and her family had turned against her. She swallowed hard and fought to get her breathing even. Even as she tried to fight it tears stung in the corner of her eyes.“Fuck!” She yelled as she kicked the wall behind her. What the fuck was she supposed to do now? A tear rolled down her cheek, she wiped it away furious with herself. She should have known that Kal would do this, should have been one step ahead of him. It wasn’t like he was the smartest tool in the shed.She paused.Kal wasn’t cunning enough to pull this off. No, he was more the brute strength kind of guy. Drugging someone? Staging a crime scene? That wasn’t his style.She raked a hand through her short red hair. If it wasn’t Kal then who? Blowing up the building was Kal’s MO to the tee; fire and destruction? Sign him up. But the timed delay? The two forms of arson to ensure the job was done?That stank of Calista Monroe of the Seventh Street Greys.“Shit.” She said quietly as the realization washed over her. This was a turf war, plain and fucking simple and Kal had sold her and Leon out. It was only by the grace of Leon’s paranoia and trust issues that he even had the escape route at all, and that Jane was the only one who had known about it.“We’ll figure out how to clear your name Shepard.” Garrus’ voice had a soothing note to it as she tuned back into the world around her. He was still standing beside her, the side of his angular face just barely singed with smoke.We had been close to being trapped in that house. She felt a wash of gratefulness come over her. She was suddenly glad Garrus hadn’t uncuffed them - she might have fallen behind, or he might have and the thought of him, the goodness of him ending in a blaze of agonizing fire was intolerable to her.She placed her free hand on his arm, his flesh warm under her bare palm.“Thank you Garrus. For trying.” He was the one person left that believed her, the one person that she hadn’t fucked up with yet. She let her hand fall back to her side as she pushed away the warm feelings bubbling in her chest. He probably doesn’t even like humans she reminded herself bitterly as she turned from him.“Did Leon have a backup copy of the feeds? Someplace they downloaded to every so often?” His voice was soft and reasonable.“No, he was too paranoid that the ‘asshole cops’,” she looked up at him, “no offence - would find a way to crack his video files.”“None taken, though that does put you in a bit of a predicament.”She quirked an eyebrow at him.“Now there’s no evidence to prove you were drugged before being taken to the scene of the crime. Seems to me you’re pretty much out of options Shepard.” His voice was kind for all that his words cut her.She had no one and nothing. She was a glorified street rat with dreams of owning her own ship and running her own merc crew. A dream that just went up in smoke.“You offering a solution handsome or just pointing out the obvious?” She smiled bitterly at him.That same odd look passed over his face as she looked at him.“I don’t know if it’s the best solution but...you could come with me to Omega.” She felt her jaw drop slightly.“Why? Why would you help me like that?”He reached into his pocket for something, pulling out the key to the cuffs. She froze wondering what he was doing.He grasped her locked hand with infinite care, his hands warm as he unlocked her wrist first and then his own. He dropped the cuffs back in his pocket with the key.“Because I believe you Shepard.” She didn’t know what to say.“Come with me to Omega, there’s just as much opportunity there as there is here, and on Omega at least you won’t be wanted for first degree murder. Kal won’t be able to get you there.” His voice was low and reasonable.“Calista.” She muttered, mind racing.“What?” “Calista won’t be able to, Kal’s too dumb to pull of something as sophisticated as that.” She pointed down the dark tunnel. “Kal sold us out so Calista could expand her territory. Leon and I just got in the damn way.” “I’m sorry, Shepard. Either way, you’ll be too far out of reach for a minor Earth gang.” He was steady and reasonable and she wanted to believe that he meant well but...“What’s in it for you?” Eternally suspicious she asked him what had been on her mind from the moment he offered.“Call it intuition or gut instinct...but I feel like the spirits meant for us to meet. I was meant to help you and we were meant to be together.”“Together?” She said with a sly grin trying to ease the sudden tension she sensed in him.“Well obviously not…” he coughed into his fist and looked away. “Together together just two people traveling to the same place in each other’s vicinity for an...extended period of time.”If a turian could blush she figured the big guy would be as red as her hair. She had never trusted this easily before but she didn’t really have much of a choice and besides...she happened to agree with him. From the moment she met him he had felt...safe and he felt like he was meant to be in her life.“Okay.” She said suddenly breaking the small silence.He looked surprised.“Okay?”“Is there an echo? Yes, I’ll come with you to Omega but...I don’t have a credit to my name Garrus. How are we getting off this planet?”“I know a guy, I’ll owe him a favor but I don’t mind paying it.”“You don’t have to do that, I pay off my own debts.” She said her spine straightening.“I’m sure you do. Either way, we’ve both gotta lay low for the next week.”“Both of us?” She questioned leaning back up against the wall.“Did you forget I sprung a suspect in an open murder investigation out of police custody? Because I guarantee you they haven’t. “This,” He lifted his left arm, the one with his omni tool attached, “is untraceable. Hopefully they’ll assume we died in the fire, but our luck has to run out sooner or later.”She stared at him for a moment before smiling broadly.“You’ve got a bit of criminal allure going for you Garrus. It must be a hit with all the ladies.”His mandibles fluttered as he adopted the same causal pose against the wall that she had as he crossed his arms over his chest.“It’s a burden but someone has to bear it.” He put on a ‘woe is me’ tone and shook his head sadly.A laugh burst out from her unbidden, he was clever this turian of hers. She pushed that thought aside as soon as it rose. He wasn’t hers, she was just clinging to the first friendly face she had met. It didn’t mean anything.She didn’t let the smile fall from her face as she spoke, even though her thoughts had turned dark.“Where can we go? My usual place is full of fire right now so I’m out of suggestions.”“I have an idea, my contact was scheduled to arrive later this evening for repairs and shore leave, maybe he’ll let us onboard beforehand.” He raised his left arm and called up his omni tool. Within a few seconds he had opened a chat and started typing quickly. The response came just as fast. Garrus nodded and closed the chat before looking back at her.“He’s early and said he can sneak us aboard though we’ll have to change into something a little less conspicuous.” His tone was just a little too playful as he smiled at her showing a row of sharp teeth.---“Tell me again how are military uniforms inconspicuous?” She hissed under her breath as they walked side by side towards the ship that would take them to Omega.“It’s a military ship, it would be odd for us not to be in fatigues. Zander will say we’re operatives for a secret mission on Omega and he’s been saddled with our transportation. No muss, no fuss, no hard vegetable as you humans say.”“I have literally never heard a human say that.” She grumbled under her breath as she wiped her sweaty palms on her green military pants. They were going to be caught, she could feel it. They were going to be caught and tried for impersonating an officer and then she’d be tried and hung for murder. Never mind that there was no death penalty on Earth any more or that Garrus had said it would be fine. Her mind was racing and landing on the worst possible outcome. She swallowed thickly as she blinked rapidly trying to calm down.A hand on her low back stopped her mind with a screeching halt. Garrus’ hand rested lightly on her, gently guiding and letting her know that she wasn’t alone anymore. She took a deep breath and settled into herself. She was Jane Shepard, nothing got to her. They’d get onboard the ship and get to Omega and she’d fight to live just like she had done every day since she could remember.And maybe...she looked up at Garrus’ profile as he walked beside her.She wouldn’t be so alone anymore.