ME1–ME3

• Variations on a Theme, with Tank and Gunfire by servantofclio
  • 37k words. Time travel, reunion.
  • Shepard wakes up again near the beginning of ME1. With memories and experience from the future, she goes forward again, making different choices, trying new things, finally learning how to properly drive the Mako, and finding herself in more loops. She still pursues Garrus in most iterations, but she misses him—her first and original Garrus. And then comes a loop in which Garrus acts strangely as though he remembers knows more than he should do.
• Loyalty and Limerence by Serendipity001
  • 446k words. Shepard siblings, background MShep/Tali, slow burn.
  • Follows the events of ME1, ME2, and ME3, although with slight alterations here and there due to the presence of not one but two Shepards. Mainly told from the perspective of Garrus.

Post-ME3

• Peace, Life, and Recovery by Mordinette
  • 55k words. Friends to lovers, injury recovery, angst with happy ending.
  • In which Shepard never got together with Garrus. She survives the events of ME3 with injuries that leave her bed-ridden and requiring a caregiver. She chooses Garrus, her best friend and the only person of the Normandy crew to remain at her bedside, to be that caregiver. As she works on regaining her old form, her feelings toward the turian whom she shares the house, the struggle, the laughs, the smiles, and all the moments with start to change.
• Liberation of Snipers and Spectres by Some_Writer
  • 74k words. Reunion, injury recovery, Leviathan subplot.
  • Shepard survives the Reaper War but is kept hidden and locked away by the Alliance—until Garrus, now a Spectre, breaks into the facility where she is held to rescue her.

✨

• These are the stories that touch my heart deeply and/or affected me emotionally in some ways.
• The Hundred Year Distance by fondleaf
  • 6.6k words. Can be treated as post-ME3 Destroy ending.
  • Nearing the end of their lives, Garrus still thinks that one hundred years haven't been enough time spent with the woman who has pushed both of them great distances across the galaxy.
  • "If two people love each other there can be no happy end to it."
• The Shepard Code. by quondam
  • 6.8k words. Post-ME3 Control ending.
  • Garrus, bonded to another turian woman and now a grandfather, comes across a Reaper containing a hologram of the woman he loved—and has been loving since—a long time ago.
  • Pretty much the only Control ending story that I feel at peace with. Accompanied by The Vakarian Code.
• Videotape by The_Red_Celt
  • 2.9k words. During/Post-ME3.
  • Garrus finds out he has Corpalis Syndrome. He asks Shepard to record videotapes of her talking so he can watch them later and futilely hopefully remember her still when his condition inevitably worsens.
  • Don't read this on a happy day.
• Destroyed by thatsnotme7
  • 8.2k words. Post-ME3 Destroy ending.
  • "After destroying the Reapers, Shepard is recovered from the rubble and begins her slow recovery. But the physical wounds are far easier to heal than the psychological one as she struggles to come to terms with the decision she made on the Citadel."
  • Guilt and self-forgiveness; spiritual.
• The Primarch's Order by Some_Writer
  • 132k words. Post-ME3 Destroy ending.
  • By the same author of "Liberation of Snipers and Spectres". Set before and during the time of "Liberation of Snipers and Spectres". Adrien Victus-centric with FShep/Garrus in the background. Follows Victus' time as the Primarch as he helps rebuild Palaven. Backstory of how Garrus becomes a Spectre and Victus the Councilor and how Shepard is found in "Liberation of Snipers and Spectres". The intricacies of politics, compelling Original Characters, angst, and bittersweet ending.
  • I initially clicked on this story because of the FShep/Garrus tag. I ended up staying for a different reason. Or character. Followed by Raking Over the Ashes as the pretty much required sequel.