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As the movie ended and the credits rolled, Shepard turned off the holo projector and turned onto her side, facing Garrus. She watched him stretch his arms high over his head and yawn. His knuckles knocked the headboard behind him. His jaw opened much wider than her human anatomy would ever allow. She was slightly jealous. It looked like it felt fantastic. She watched his left hand flop down to his side while his right hand drifted to the scars on the side of his face and rubbed them absentmindedly. He turned to her with a tired smile.
"I'm starting to doubt Blasto has had this many adventures."
Shepard nudged his leg with her foot. "Hey, Spectres get up to a lot. I've been on all kinds of adventures."
Garrus closed his eyes. "Yes you have. Can the next adventure be going to sleep?"
Shepard snorted. "Sure." She pulled the covers up over the two of them and turned out the light.
Garrus pulled his pillows around his head and back. He reached over, ran his fingers through her hair, then curled into a ball.
Shepard lay flat on her back, staring up into the darkness. She counted to sixty, then with practiced casualness said, "Hey."
"Hm?" Garrus was already half asleep.
"I had a thought."
"Those are dangerous," Garrus mumbled.
"Smartass." Shepard scooted lower under the covers. "But I was wondering. If they invented teleportation and it became super common. Would you use it?"
Garrus exhaled. "What?"
"Just...entertain me. Would you be okay with teleporting?"
There was a pause. Shepard couldn't tell if Garrus was thinking or if he had fallen asleep. Then, "It's commonplace? Like it's been tested and proven safe?"
"Yeah like everybody uses it casually."
"I guess."
"You guess you'd use it?"
"Sure. Why not?"
"You're not worried about being broken down on one side and reconstituted on the other?"
"It's just the process, right?"
"Yeah, but," Shepard took a deep breath, "how do you know you're going to come out the other side?"
"You just would?" Garrus shifted under the covers. "If it works, it works. Same way we trust the Normandy's airlock won't randomly malfunction and invert the ship in the middle of space."
Shepard shuddered. "Fuck you, now I'm gonna be thinking about that."
Garrus rolled a leg across hers. "Forget I said it. EDI'll take care of it."
"But for real. How would we know if our consciousness carried over through the teleportation? What if when we got broken down on one side, we died, and the reconstruction was just a copy with our exact memories? It thinks it's us, but it's not. It's a copy."
Garrus reached out and pulled Shepard into his chest. "Sweetie, it was just a movie. Blasto can teleport all he wants. Lucky for us, we don't have to answer philosophical questions at 0130."
Shepard pressed her back into him. She sighed. "Yeah. That's fair. G'night."
Garrus pressed his forehead against her shoulder. "Night."
In the darkness, Shepard wrung her reconstructed hands. When she gulped, she felt the ring of scar tissue around her neck stretch and contract. From her pupils, a faint red light shone.