Hello one and all! Welcome to the first chapter of my Mass Effect story, written in exemplar American English, because my beta wouldn't allow my Britishisms. Before we start this thing off, I'd like to clarify a few things, so that you all know what you're getting yourself into before you start reading!

This story will start at the beginning of Mass Effect 2, heavily featuring FemShep/Liara romance. Because that's the only way to go, of course. If you know my from my Frozen fan fictions, you know I only write lesbian romance, and that's not going to change in this story – just so you know.

Also, this story will be assuming many of the choices I take during my playthroughs of Mass Effect games, and I'm a big paragon-whore. Just so you know: My Shepard isn't a bitch, and is generally a good person. She might occasionally headbutt a krogan, though!

This story is beta'd by a good friend of mine, who doesn't like Britishisms: t3l4m0n. He's been a large part in the conception of this story, as well as brainstorming with me for ideas, and reading my chapters in advance, notifying me of typos, lore-errors and stuff that could be improved on in general. Without him, this story wouldn't exist.

I don't own Mass Effect or its characters. I do not make any profit with this story, and no copyright infringement is intended. Bioware rocks, and I'm grateful for the awesome trilogy they delivered. I'm very fond of reviews, but won't ask for them. I'd just like you to leave one if you think I've deserved it! I'll also try to keep author's note to a minimum throughout the story, though I might occasionally leave a short message for you lovely folks.

Also, since this is my first fic in this fandom, here's a short little introductory thingy. My name's Caitlyn-Elizabeth (yes, that's my first name), I'm a woman in my twenties, lesbian, and so far I mostly wrote fics for Frozen - if you think it's something you might like, be sure to check it out! :)

And that's all, enjoy the read!

There was a smile on Liara's face as she turned her chair around and let her gaze wander over the Illium skyline. Her eyes roamed around, following the movement of the skycars zipping by without really seeing them. Anyone knowing her well enough would recognize the glassy look in her eyes as one of deep thought, and her smile as wistful, rather than joyful.

Then again, no one who really knew Liara was still around. Hadn't been for some time. Calling her a private person would have been an understatement, she thought to herself. Only five people had ever gotten to know her, in varying degrees.

Three of them were now off to far-away worlds. Two of them were dead.

The past few years had been rough. During their struggle against Saren and Sovereign, everything had fallen to pieces. Liara had made new friends, even found love, aboard the Normandy. But the cost had been… high, to say the least.

Liara's new friends had been forced to travel to Noveria, where they'd found Matriarch Benezia – Liara's mother – who had been indoctrinated by the Reapers. Despite their attempts to convince her to see reason, they'd been forced to watch her take her life. And then there had only been four people left that knew Liara well.

But, in the end, justice had prevailed, and both Saren and Sovereign had been killed. The cost had been high – too high – but they'd done it. The Alliance's reaction? Sending them out into the Terminus Systems to hunt for more geth. It had seemed such a waste of their time and skill.

And then they had attacked. Who- or whatever they were, Liara still didn't know. Their weapons had torn through the Normandy like a knife cuts through butter. They never stood a chance. Most of the crew aboard the ship had managed to reach the escape pods. But those that didn't mattered a whole lot more.

Commander Shepard. The most exceptional human Liara had ever met – the entire galaxy had ever met – had sacrificed herself to save one of her crew. Liara watched as she got vented into space, tears in her eyes and her cries drowning out the voices of the others in the pod.

Shepard had been the only one in the galaxy that remained of Liara's loved ones. Their relationship had been short – their mission against Sovereign had kept them occupied, after all – but that did nothing to lessen the sting of anguish she felt as she watched her take her final breaths.

When they had all gotten to safety, the Alliance and the Council had apparently decided that their work over the past months had been their simple duties. Without their leader, the crew of the Normandy scattered like leaves in the wind, and neither the Council, nor the Alliance did anything to prevent it.

The three persons she could call friends were now spread throughout the galaxy. Tali'Zorah had returned to the Migrant Fleet, finishing her Pilgrimage and becoming a full member of the Quarian fleet. Liara was happy for her, although she was saddened by the fact she'd probably not see her again. Quarians weren't well-known for moving outside their fleet once their Pilgrimage was done.

Urdnot Wrex had returned to his homeplanet, Tuchanka, where he was apparently trying to do the impossible: uniting the krogan clans under one banner and ending the everlasting in-fighting between them. Liara would wish him luck if she could have reached him, even though there was a reasonable chance Wrex wouldn't live long enough to receive the message.

Garrus Vakarian had disappeared for a while, and no one seemed to know where he went off to. Some said he had returned to his home planet as well, Palaven. Others said that he had returned to C-Sec at the Citadel – but at least Liara knew that wasn't true. It had been some time before she had caught any intel on his actual whereabouts, though.

And thus, her three best friends were spread out as far as they could possibly be, with no way for Liara to contact them. She had traveled to Thessia, taking care of her mother's personal belongings, before turning her attention onto more important matters.

She had lost her mother. Quite possibly, she had lost her friends too. But Goddess, she would be damned if she allowed herself to lose Shepard. She had to do something. Liara recalled that one night they had spent together, right before their mission to Ilos. Neither of them knowing whether they would survive to see another day, they decided that this could very well be the last chance they'd have. And it had been glorious.

Liara had pulled every favor she could from everyone she knew, and eventually discovered that Shepard's body had been recovered. By unsavory characters.

Thus she traveled to Omega, the place where all unsavory characters came together. A little hiccup with the captain and crew of the freighter she traveled on couldn't keep her from reaching her goals – though she was happy with all the practice her biotic abilities had gotten due to the fight against Sovereign.

Eventually, she found her contact in Omega's Afterlife, a drell named Feron. Unfortunately, the two of them were soon cornered by Blue Suns mercenaries, hired by the illusive Shadow Broker. Liara could still picture their leader's head being torn apart from the high-power sniper rifle shot that had torn through it.

Turned out Cerberus had some interest in the matter as well. A small cell, led by the insufferable Miranda Lawson. Still, seeing as they actually talked about bringing Shepard back, Liara didn't see much reason to oppose them. A quick chat with the Illusive Man clarified a lot: the Collectors were after Shepard's body, the Shadow Broker tried to obtain it for them, and he hired to Blue Suns to do the dirty work.

It seemed like some twisted treasure hunt, Liara figured in hindsight. Being sent from Feron to Cerberus, back to Afterlife to meet with the Pirate Queen Aria T'Loak. But not before biotically smacking Feron for being a Cerberus double-agent. Still, she needed him, so there wasn't much else she could do.

Aria was unpleasant – worse than the Batarian that harassed her and the Volus that wanted to buy her – and once she learnt of the Collectors' involvement, she and Feron were thrown out of Afterlife. But at least Aria was polite enough to give them the location of the Blue Suns' meeting.

The meeting was exactly where Aria told them it would be. No surprise there, Aria knew everything that went down on Omega. Feron kept her from storming the meeting when she heard that Shepard's body was there. As it turned out, his inadequacies still betrayed them, allowing the Shadow Broker's agent to flee Omega with Shepard's body aboard his ship.

Luckily, the drell had been able to convince her that it really had been an accident, otherwise she'd have done some serious harm. Using his ship, they pursued the agent, eventually ending up at one of the Broker's bases – Alingon. And there, they came very close to losing Shepard again.

They trailed a Collector, and somehow Liara ended up in the base's command center, speaking to the Shadow Broker himself. He acted as if it was all one big business transaction, but Liara was too smart for that to work. She quickly deduced that the only reason the Collectors would be this interested in Shepard was if they had dealings with the Reapers.

A frightening thought.

One destroyed command center later, she and Feron continued their little trip through the station, eventually breaking up the deal between the Broker's agents and the Collectors through a combination of subterfuge, chaos and cunning.

At the end of it, Liara managed to take off with Shepard's body in tow, although she found herself forced to leave Feron behind on the Broker's base. As of now, she still didn't know what had become of him. But the Broker was now at the top of her list of enemies. She'd make sure to get revenge.

She returned Shepard's body to Cerberus reluctantly. The pro-human organization did not have a good reputation. Some even went so far as to call them terrorists. But the Illusive Man felt confident they'd be able to bring Shepard back exactly the way she was. And that was an opportunity Liara could not allow herself to go by.

That had been almost two years ago, now. Liara had spent her time well, building a far-reaching information network, spanning most of the galaxy, from her office on Illium. Much like the Shadow Broker, she now had agents working for her, informants in large and important organizations, blackmail and bribes to get her way.

The only difference was that she used her resources for the betterment of the galaxy, and not for her own selfish gains. She sighed deeply as she turned her chair around again, focusing on the screen of her console. The message she'd just received had been very clear – no room for misinterpretation: they were close to reviving Shepard.

Which meant that her agent, also the Shadow Broker's agent, would soon betray her. Which, in turn, meant that there were some preparations for her to start working on. After all, she couldn't lose Shepard again.

First thing she needed to do was patching into the camera feeds of Lazarus Station – Cerberus' top-secret facility, of which she was not to have any knowledge. Too bad for the Illusive Man, though. Surely he would have known Liara wasn't about to just hand her beloved's body over without keeping tabs.

Operative Wilson worked for the Shadow Broker, but Liara had found him quite willing to double-deal for her as well. He would betray her, of course. But for that she was well prepared. At least he had given her access to the surveillance feeds. Bringing them up on her console split her screen in four segments: Shepard's motionless body lying on a table, Wilson in his office, Miranda Lawson sitting at her desk, and Jacob Taylor – the head of security – doing his patrols.

It seemed there was still time. For once, Liara allowed herself a genuinely happy smile. Shepard might never forgive her for handing her body over to Cerberus and bringing her back to life… But at least she'd be alive. Just knowing that took the edge off the sorrow she had endured for two years.

Now that she had eyes on the situation, it was time to take steps for long-term surveillance. And she knew just the person to ask. Browsing through Cerberus' classified files, she punched in her security code on her console and looked up the contact information she needed.

Sitting on the hard and uncomfortable chair, he was forced to look up at the three Admirals behind the desk on the dais. He wouldn't say he was an expert at reading people and their expressions, but still – he didn't like the looks on their faces.

"Flight Lieutenant Moreau," the eldest of the men started. "The Alliance recognizes your contributions against the dreadnought Sovereign during the Battle of the Citadel, where you piloted the SSV Normandy – as well as your missions leading up to this event."

Joker nodded anxiously, knowing that wasn't all they had to say. And he was right, of course.

"However, we cannot disregard the fact that the SSV Normandy was destroyed with you at the helm. Good men and women were lost with the Normandy, and while we're not saying anyone was at fault for this… incident, we believe that this is a good time for you to be relieved of your duties."

"Your appointment as the SSV Normandy's pilot was already a controversial and much-discussed case, considering your affliction," one of the other admirals continued. "And we believe that, because of this, it might be in the Alliance's best interest – as well as your own – to keep you grounded from here on out."

Joker opened his mouth to object, but the admirals cut him off before he could even start. Before he knew it, he was being escorted out of the room by two hefty Alliance soldiers. They walked him all the way to the main entrance of the Vancouver Alliance Headquarters. For some reason, it felt as if he was no longer a part of the Alliance now, but just a simple civilian.

He sighed. Life wasn't fair, sometimes. First, it had taken his health. Then, it had taken his best friend. And now the Alliance took his only remaining love away from him: Flying. It felt like there was really nothing left for him. Which made his omni-tool signaling an incoming message such an odd occurrence.

"Yeah?" he grunted after accepting the call, not at all in the mood for any social duties.

"Joker? It's Liara T'Soni… from the Normandy," the female voice came from the other end. As if Liara had to remind him who she was. He'd not soon forget the shy-yet-brave asari that had managed to conquer the unconquerable Commander Shepard.

"Liara? Where have you been all this time? And why are you calling now?"

He could have sworn he heard a soft chuckle on the other side. "I'm on Illium, taking care of a few problems. I'm sorry to hear the Alliance grounded you."

"How did you- Never mind, I don't even want to know."

"I hear a lot of voices over your omni-tool, Jeff. Could you go somewhere more private? I have a sensitive matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"Yeah, yeah, of course." He looked around, looking for 'more private,' but only finding the men's restroom as a suitable location. Quickly ducking inside and scrunching his face in disgust – you'd think with all technological advancements, humanity would manage to keep their public restrooms clean – he locked himself in one of the stalls.

"Alright, I'm all ears," he sighed, half-curious and half-annoyed at the secrecy. "What do you need?"

There was a longer-than-usual silence from the asari scientist. "Shepard needs our help."

Surely, he had misheard that. Shepard was dead, had been for two years, and no one could help her with anything ever again. He played the last sentence back three times, but really couldn't make anything else of it. Which led him to the next conclusion: grief had turned Liara mad.

"Liara, you know Commander Shepard didn't survive the SSV Normandy blowing up, right?"

"Of course, Joker," she sighed in return, sounding annoyed.

"She's dead."

"I know." This time, her voice sounded… almost teasing. As if she knew something he didn't. Considering the fact she already knew about the Alliance grounding him, that would actually make a lot of sense.

"So…?"

"I have some sensitive information to share with you, but you must let me finish talking, without interrupting me." There was another pause, before she continued. "Cerberus recovered Shepard's body, and they have been working on bringing her back for the past two years. The Illusive Man and his employees have gone through great lengths to ensure that she'll be exactly who she was before the incident, despite the damage done to her body."

"Cerberus? Why would they get involved in this? And is that even possible?"

"Yes, Joker, it is possible. As for their reasons – it's a long story."

Joker sighed again, shaking his head. This was just too much. "So what do you need from me?"

"Cerberus is behind the decision to get you grounded by the Alliance. Their agents have infiltrated Earth's military system on a large scale. They'll be contacting you soon, making you an offer to come work for them."

Joker was silent for a while. He felt Liara was waiting for him to say something, but he simply couldn't wrap his mind around all the new information being provided. Him being speechless did not happen often.

"Joker, are you still there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here."

"I need you to accept Cerberus' invitation."

"Y-You want me to work for those terrorists?" he stammered.

"No, Joker. I want you to work for me. Cerberus has been building an improved version of the Normandy – the Normandy SR-2 – and they'll ask you to pilot it. I don't trust Cerberus, and I'm not asking you to do so either, but we need to keep an eye on Shepard. We need to make sure she's still her, and doesn't get into any trouble."

"You realize that those two don't go hand in hand, right? If Shepard really is the same person she was, she'll inevitable get into trouble."

"I know," Liara sighed. "I'm counting on it. Which is why I need your help."

"So… I'll get to fly an improved Normandy, work with Shepard and get paid for it?"

"Yes."

"Count me in, then."

After the call had ended, Joker remained seated inside the stall for a moment. The implications of his decision had not fully sunk in yet, but deep down, he felt he was doing the right thing. Liara was right – if Cerberus was bringing Shepard back, someone needed to keep an eye on her. Someone who knew her. And if Cerberus would indeed extend an invitation, it would provide them the perfect opportunity.

He was about to leave the restroom when his omni-tool signaled again.

"Hello, Mr. Moreau, this is Miranda Lawson. We've received news of the unfortunate turn of your career. Unlike the Alliance, Cerberus knows valuable talent when we see it. We would like to arrange a meeting with you to discuss the possibility of working together on a large project…"

Joker smiled to himself. Wherever Liara got her intel, it seemed to be solid.