You Travel With Fascinating Companions

Inside the lobby of the Normandy, many of her crew members were enjoying their short free time. The war with the Reapers certainly had taken its toll. And even if the ever impending danger of dying loomed close, the crew tried their best to enjoy their time off.

But now some of them couldn't do that as they watched as their quarian member, Tali 'Zorah, literally (and really rather poorly), tried to "sneak" to Doctor T'Soni's quarters door. A quick knock and the door opened immediately and the quarian stepped inside before anyone could ask any sorts of questions.

Like most of the time as this has happened.


Meanwhile...

Commander Shepard was enjoying her loneliness within her quarters. While that might have sounded a bit negative, for the tired Commander it was a bit of a relief. Even though she loved hanging with her crew and even more with Liara, she liked to simply have some "me-time" as well.

And now it seemed like a good time, even though the war with the Reapers was still ongoing. But that soon changed when Garrus stepped inside.

"Enjoying yourself Shepard?" Garrus asked with slight amusement.

"You could say that." Shepard replied, getting up from her bed. "But company is always welcome."

"Good to hear that. But there is something I would like to talk about." Garrus then said, his tone now more serious.

"Oh really, and whats that?" Shepard asked, sitting on the edge of her bed.

"It's... well..." Garrus started, his entire being now looking embarrassed. "It's about Tali..." he slightly muttered. Shepard now grinning.

"Oh really now?"

"Oh! It's nothing like that Commander!" Garrus raised his hands in defense quickly. "I'm just, well, I guess worried that she has been spending more time at Liara's quarters." Shepard raised an puzzled eyebrow at this. "Or rather... tries to sneak into it..."

Now Shepard found her heart taking one extra beat.

"And she..." Garrus coughed. Feeling more and more uncomfortable. "Has stayed there for rather long hours... I mean really long hours... and it has been like couple days now..."

"What are you exactly getting at, Vakarian?" Garrus swore he was sweating now. He never liked when the Commander used his family name, and with that strict a tone.

"Uuuuh..." Garrus didn't feel like continuing. "Sorry Commander..." he then said with a sigh. "I just might read this differently and..." he stopped himself when seeing Commanders look. "I'll just take my leave then..." he slowly said. Taking slow steps, expecting some kind of reaction from Shepard.

But nothing came.

So far so good... he thought. And soon was out of the Commanders quarters.

Shepard was in deep thought about what Garrus had said. About Liara and Tali. Liara's been... distracted, I guess. But that's no doubt because of the whole war and being a Shadow Broker... she tried to convince herself that there was nothing wrong. But EDI has reported that Tali has been going to Liara's quarters more frequently than usual...

A small shiver ran through her then. And Liara had disconnected every camera and mic there! Now sudden dread started to fill her. Have I've been so busy, and not noticing Liara so she... she couldn't even finish her thought.

It just felt so surreal. Her with Liara. It was just not right...

"Commander." a familiar voice suddenly broke her trail of thought. "I just wanted you to know that we are reaching the Cerberus base, and I recommend you to suit up."

Shepard nodded at this. "Right. Thanks EDI."

"Who would you like to bring with you this time?" the ships AI asked.

Shepard thought for a short minute, unsure if she wanted to say, what she was thinking. But quickly gave up. "Let Tali and Liara know that I'll be waiting for them with the shuttle."


"Are you sure about this, Liara?" Tali asked. Nervously walking around Liara's quarters.

"I'm sure Shepard will understand." Liara replied from other side of the room.

"But what about the other crew, or Garrus?" Tali asked.

Liara's head then appeared from the corner of her door. "You are not backing down now, are you?" she asked, a bit confused.

"It's just..." Tali said, rubbing her hands together. "Well, I guess it's just something I've never thought about..." she said. Her tone shifting between nervous and amused.

"Well," Liara started. Now walking in full view. "If things don't go so well, we know we don't have to do this again. And again. I'm sure Shepard will like it." Liara chuckled, while Tali let out a giggle.


Shepard was pacing around the hangar. "Come on Lola." James Vega tried to calm the pacing Commander. "It can't be that bad of a mission. You've raided these Cerberus bastards before haven't you?"

"It ain't anything like that Vega!" Shepard slightly snapped in reaction.

"Alright, alright." James raised his hands in defense. "Just wanted to help out here."

Shepard sighed, running her hand through her red hair. "Sorry about that James..." she apologized.

"It's just something I heard from Garrus, little while ago..."

James raised an intrigued eyebrow. "Care to tell me about it?"

"No need to pry our Commander, if you wish to stay for the rest of the war on this ship Mr. Vega." their pilot Steve suddenly called out from the Kodiak.

"Just curious, that's all Esteban!" James called back. "And honestly hoping I could help our Commander." Shepard couldn't help but smile and let out a quiet laugh.

"I appreciate it James. Really, I do."

But before Shepard could say anything more, the elevator to the hangar beeped, which told Shepard that her current companions were now here. OK Shepard... just stay calm and just try to see if what Garrus said was true...

The door then opened and Tali and Liara stepped out. But something was bit off about them. At first Shepard wasn't sure what, but once they got closer, she realized what. And what she saw simply baffled her.

First was Liara, who was mostly wearing her regular white labcoat/armor. Only, it now had few brown and green colored question marks. She was also wearing a hat that also had a few question marks on it. And then there was her Sub-Machine Gun which also had a question mark on it.

And then there was Tali. If Shepard didn't know any better, Tali almost looked the same. Well, almost. If you could count a purple top hat as normal to what Tali would usually wear. And then there was the also purple coat around her armor.

But unlike Liara, Tali seemed to be really uncomfortable with her new clothing, and Shepard couldn't help but agree. But she wasn't thinking exactly like that.

"What- what am I looking at here exactly?" Shepard asked fully puzzled, her previous thoughts forgotten. "Also: Why in the hell are you two dressed up like that!?"

"Well, we, kind of got caught up with..." Tali started mumbling so Shepard, or James, couldn't hear her. It seemed that Tali was still bit embarrassed by this.

Liara decided to continue and back Tali up. "What Tali wanted to say, is that I thought that we could try something bit different for our next mission." Liara said, no doubt trying to ease Tali's burden.

"And what gave you two the idea of dressing up as the Seventh and Eleventh Doctor?" Shepard asked, not believing the scene before her.

Now it was Liara's turn to be embarrassed. "We, we might have gotten bit too much into the show..." she said.

"A bit?" both Shepard and James almost exclaimed.

After that, a hefty long silence fell. Tali and Liara standing there, looking bit crestfallen and embarrassed. While Shepard had closed her eyes and her hands were on her face.

First Shepard let out an annoyed sigh, but that suddenly turned into a full laughter. "So that's what you two been up to Liara's quarters!?" she laughed loudly. Liara and Tali now blushing.

"You knew?" both of them asked.

Shepard shook her head. "Not really, I just heard Tali had snuck to your quarters a lot recently."

"Oh..." Tali only said. Facepalming.

"But why did you do it in secret anyway?" Shepard then asked.

"I... we... well, truth to be told: I'm not sure." Liara replied.

"Guess we just thought that it wouldn't look right if a couple of aliens watched something like that..." Tali then said. Yet it was rather muttered.

"OK. I guess I can understand that..." Shepard said. Rubbing her forehead. "But answer this: Why the hell didn't you tell ME about this?" Liara and Tali looked at each other with puzzled looks, while in the background James just looked completely lost.

"Uuuh... sorry?" Liara asked confused.

Before any of them could ask more, Shepard interrupted them. Raising her hand. "You know what:

Forget it." she then walked past the two aliens. "Just, just wait there." she said. "I'll be back soon!"

The two of them shared glances before shrugging at what had happened before them. This wasn't exactly the kind of reaction they had expected.

They waited for a while and soon the elevator returned and its door opening. And inside stepped Commander Shepard. But now with a brown hat, what looked like a smaller version of a big brown coat and finally: A long multi-coloured scarf.

Shepard then smirked at their reactions. "So, I guess you like it then?" she asked.

"Uuuh..." Tali said, unsure what to say.

"I guess we do." Liara on the other hand, with her own smirk.

Shepard then walked right in front of her friend and lover. Putting her hands on their shoulders. "So, what you say we go and make some jelly babies out of some Cerberus creeps then?"

Liara just smirked back.

While Tali suddenly activated her Omni-Tool. "Geronimo, Commander." she said. The Omni-Tool then emanating an all familiar sound as they entered the Kodiak. James Vega was just shaking his head.

"This is completely loco!" he sighed.


Heheh, well, I hope you guys liked this little one-shot. And if you didn't, sorry if it sucked. But yeah, this was one random idea I had while thinking about the coolness that is "The Lair of the Shadow Broker" and that one line the Shadow Broker said. Then I started thinking about Doctor Who and Mass Effect crossover, and you can guess the rest.

But again, I hope you guys liked this. So don't forget to comment/review!