TITLE: Three: A New Beginning.
CATEGORY: Drama
PAIRINGS: FemShep/Liara
SPOILERS: Start of Mass Effect 2, Shepard history.
RATING: T
WARNINGS: Nudity, strong language possibly. Alien/human relationship.
FEEDBACK: ;) Naturally – that's why we're here aren't we?
DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect is the property of BioWare and EA Games. I do not make any money out of this, though rewards through reviews would be appreciated. I do not intend any harm by writing these fics.
AN and SUMMARY: I'm still playing Mass Effect 2. My personal writing has come to a grinding halt as the only thing I can dish out is ME fan fic (when I'm not replaying the game). Is there anything that can help with this brain itch?
This story continues along my previous 'Three' line. Again, it will be three chapters of varying length. Reviews are appreciated, constructive feedback even more. Thank you for reading.
Also – a nod in drwells123's direction. If you are a Miranda/Fem!Shep fan, do yourself a favour and read her (his?) Recovery. I was really impressed with that.
Chapter 1
Liara.
It was a name and it had meaning. It hung in her consciousness, the eco in a void. The tether to reality. Where was Liara? She had to find Liara.
Riana Shepard clawed her way to consciousness, fighting against the unknown darkness that held her. She tried to take a breath, but couldn't. No air, she thought. Liara... I can't breathe. Please... God...
Air was forced into her lungs, painfully, precisely. She opened her eyes, and tried to scream but the air was sucked out again, and she was suffocating once more.
Liara, Shepard thought as she felt hot tears trail down her cheeks, burning them like knives slicing through her skin. Liara, I'm sorry... Liara...
888
The warning beeps of the monitors were screaming overhead as Miranda stormed into the room, fumbling to tie her hair back and out of her face. She had only been sleeping for what felt like a few minutes, her first break of the day – when her omni-tool flared to life, warning her that she needed to be back in the lab.
"Wilson what the hell is going on?"
Her assistant seemed to be panicking as he scrambled from Shepard's body to the monitors. "My god Miranda," he exclaimed. "She's waking up! She's conscious!"
The words shocked her into a second's immobility. "That can't be right," she snapped. "She's not ready yet." She turned to the bed and realized with a shock that Shepard's eyes were open, tears streaming down her cheeks as she fought to breathe against the ventilator. Her naked body convulsed and she made a soft, primal sound in the back of her throat.
The sound spurred Miranda to action as she rushed to the bed's side, quickly putting her hand on the woman's shoulder to keep her down, for once not caring if she had gloves on or not. "Stay calm Shepard," she said quickly, meeting the woman's brilliant green eyes as she stared at her with a look of absolute terror. The last time she had seen those eyes, she had been carefully reconstructing them in her lab, growing them and sculpting them to the synthetic mould they used as a base. They had transferred them to Shepard's body almost two months ago and so far – the test results had come back positive, hinting that the woman would be able to see through them.
But, to have them stare at her with so much emotion...
Miranda would never have dreamed that it would be possible.
"Her heart rate is still climbing," Wilson was saying, dragging her back to reality and the severity of their situation. "Miranda, she's going to have a stroke at this rate!"
She straightened up sharply and went to her own monitoring station, quickly scanning through the recent medication that they had given Shepard. She saw the mistake immediately, but had the sense to remain calm for all the fury that suddenly raged inside her.
He made a mistake.
"Give her the sedative Wilson," she snapped and returned to the bed, where Shepard's eyes found her immediately. To her private delight, the woman reached out to her, her hand shaking – but moving... Success!
"Easy there Shepard," she said, kinder this time as she took Riana's hand and squeezed it slightly. "Just try to stay calm and try not to breathe; the machine will do it for you. Just relax, everything's going to be alright."
The human Spectre closed her eyes in a grimace of pain as more tears trailed down her cheeks. There was a hiss as a sedative was injected into the IV line and Shepard flinched when it entered her system. Miranda carefully put her hand on the woman's head, running her hand through her inch long red hair until she thought that she was asleep. She was about to pull away when Riana opened her eyes again, her features calmer as she allowed the ventilator to push air into her lungs unhindered. She reached up to Miranda again, making a vague motion with her hand. She wanted to write something.
Reasoning, moving, seeing... Even crying. It took a lot of self control for Miranda not to smile like the Cheshire cat as she took Shepard's hand and put it on her palm.
"Trace on my hand," she said. "I'll follow, Wilson – give her another dose, she's not going under fast enough."
The Spectre blinked in the harsh lab lights and slowly, carefully, traced her finger over Miranda's palm.
L
There was a hiss as another dose of sedative entered her system. Shepard closed her eyes, her grotesque face, still raw and unhealed for most part.
I
Miranda knew what she meant immediately. "Liara," she whispered. "Do you want to know about Liara?"
Riana opened her eyes groggily, clearly fighting the sedative now as she blinked purposefully. Surprised, Miranda nodded slowly and put her hand on Shepard's forehead again. "She's fine," she said softly. "Don't worry. Go to sleep Shepard, things will be clearer next time." She wasn't sure if Riana heard the last, her hand relaxing in Miranda's as she finally surrendered to the sedative.
Feeling as if she was able to breathe for the first time since this happened, Miranda let out a slow breath – then rounded on Wilson. The man was looking at her, his face unreadable as he stared from her to Shepard. Miranda had to struggle with her self-control as she purposefully walked to him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.
"What the hell happened here Wilson?" she snapped. "Why did you adjust her medication?"
888
She had a headache, no – she had a migraine.
Miranda sat in her office overlooking the lab, watching as two of her most trusted people carefully disinfected the open wounds on Shepard's body, taking away dead skin and tissue that either stopped growing, or didn't start to begin with. She should've been there with them, but in her current state, she could hardly stand up right.
She had read Wilson the riot act and then she had stopped his access to Shepard's medication, resolving to never leave him alone with the woman again. Whether it was negligence or intentional – he had almost destroyed two years of her life. Two painstaking years that she had spend reconstructing a corpse.
Doing the impossible.
And succeeding, Miranda thought as she swallowed nauseously. Shepard had moved, communicated, reasoned... She was alive! After all these months of theorising and guessing, she had proof that her project might well be a success.
If she had felt better, she would've taken more pride in it, but as it were – all she could think of was her migraine. She was about to head down to the infirmary and find something to help her when her door opened and a white coated figure stormed in. There was only one person on this infernal base who dared interrupt her without announcing herself. Without looking up, Miranda closed her eyes and tried to gather her senses so that she could face the force that was Elizabeth Chakwas.
"Doctor," she said and tried to pile together some semblance of her dignity. "What can I..."
"What the hell happened today Miranda? I looked at the data and it was chaos!"
The older woman's face was a picture of fury as she threw a data pad on Miranda's desk. The woman didn't have to look at it to know what it was about so she merely pushed it aside and sat up, entwining her fingers as she faced the ex-Alliance doctor. By Miranda's guess, she was the woman who had known Riana the longest, having been part of the team that responded to the emergency call on Mindoir. Her participation in Project Lazarus, though it had been as a silent partner in the beginning, had been invaluable. She had given up her position on the Mars Station two months ago to join Cerberus permanently.
Or, not us, Miranda thought. Shepard.
There was no use denying what had happened. "Shepard woke up," she said. "Wilson had been fiddling with her medication balance for the past couple of days. I gave him parameters in which he should stay but he gave her the wrong cocktail."
Dr. Chakwas seemed to steel herself as she slipped her hands into the pockets of the white lab coat she was wearing. She had been sleeping when Shepard woke up and as was her habit, had probably gone to the lab even before she had had a proper breakfast.
"What's the report?" she asked simply. She rarely referred to Shepard by name, as if it offered her some protection against the anticipated disappointment when the project failed.
We won't fail!
Miranda wasn't sure how to answer the question, but her head hurt too much for her to try and mince words. "She was aware," she said. "She tried to fight the ventilator –I think she's ready to breathe on her own." She swallowed down a wave of migraine induced nausea. "She asked for Liara."
Dr. Chakwas paled visibly as her hand travelled to her mouth in shock. "How?" she asked. "She wouldn't be able to talk..."
Miranda shrugged with one shoulder and put her head on her hand again. "I let her draw on my hand," she said. "Ni... A childhood friend and I used to do that when we couldn't speak. Write to each other on our hands." Thinking of her childhood friend suddenly made her throat constrict and she had to take several deep breaths to stop herself from crying. Damn this bloody headache!
Dr. Chakwas made to comment, then paused and studied Miranda critically.
"Miranda, are you alright?"
The younger woman chuckled bitterly, thinking that so few people ever asked her that. "I have a headache," she managed. "But... It's nothing. It's that time of the month and..." She trailed off and swallowed. "It's nothing."
Dr. Chakwas approached the table with a cautious expression, coming over to Miranda's side without asking for permission. "It doesn't look like nothing," she said softly. "Here, let me have a look at you." She made to touch the woman, but Miranda jerked away.
"I'm fine," she said with steel in her voice but the doctor was having none of it.
"Don't be silly, you're as white as a sheet." She knelt beside her and rested a hand on her wrist to check her pulse. Miranda closed her eyes and turned away from the woman, but didn't pull away from her. She heard the faint click as Dr. Chakwas activated her omni-tool and waved it over her, checking her basic stats.
"I think we should give you something for this," the doctor said softly. "Come with me Miranda."
Too tired to fight, Miranda nodded numbly and allowed the doctor to pull her up. When she was on her feet, her world swayed and she just managed to turn away from her desk before she threw up. Dr. Chakwas immediately stepped to one side, but kept a hand under her arm to support her and used her other to keep Miranda's hair out of the way.
"This is not a headache Miranda," she said, her tone almost stern. "This is a migraine."
Miranda almost sobbed as she sank down to her chair again. "I know," she said simply. "I... I can't go out there. Not like this."
In her favour, Dr. Chakwas didn't protest, didn't even ask her what she meant. She knew. She knew that Miranda was too proud, too collected to show herself in such a weakened state to anybody on the base. She rubbed the woman's back before she moved to the door. "I'm going to get you something that will hopefully help you to walk to my office in a straight line, don't go anywhere."
Swallowing against another wave of nausea, Miranda closed her eyes to the mess on the floor and turned so that she could rest her head on her desk. "I have to keep an eye on Shepard," she said softly. "I can't just leave her."
The doctor paused by the door and turned back to look at the woman.
"I think that she'll be fine on her own for an hour or two," she dropped her voice softly. "I doubt anybody would try anything stupid for the next day or two. I'm going to get you something for the pain and then you are coming to my office. Your boss didn't spend a fortune furnishing it out for nothing. No arguments Ms. Lawson, I don't take no for an answer easily."
888
"Well," Dr. Chakwas said later as Miranda lay on the bed in front of her, her eyes closed to the bright light of the overhead lights. "I think I can safely say that it's not a brain tumour."
Miranda snorted and reached up to carefully pull the wet cloth Dr. Chakwas had placed on her forehead over her eyes. As archaic as the practice was, it worked. She was starting to feel better, but then – it might also be the two injections the woman had given her. She couldn't even remember what it had been, even though she distinctly remember Dr. Chakwas saying something about it.
"Skippy do," she muttered. "Can I go now? I have work to do Dr. Chakwas. I feel much better."
The older woman snorted and put a firm hand on her chest, motioning to her to stay still as she continued scanning her body with the med bay's instrument. "There is only one place you are going from here Miranda," she said. "And that is straight to bed. When was the last time you had any sleep? Proper sleep?"
The truth was, she couldn't remember, but she wasn't going to share that with the doctor. Now that she felt a little better she didn't feel like just submitting to her every wish. "I don't need a lot of sleep," she said defensively.
Again, Dr. Chakwas snorted, the sound clearly telling of her disbelief. "You need just as much as the rest of us," she said. "Miranda, your body is exhausted. This migraine is its way of telling you that you need to slow down a little. You've been pushing yourself much harder than you've been pushing everybody else. You're not a robot, it's time to rest. You have been under a lot of stress and I think – seeing... the results that you had today released some of that."
Miranda lifted up the cloth and peered at the doctor, even though she still had her back turned towards her. She was scanning the area over her abdomen, though for the life of her, Miranda couldn't understand why.
"So what?" she queried. "I gave myself a migraine from relief?"
"It's not the strangest thing that can happen," Dr. Chakwas said. "Miranda, when last did you see Dr. Grenway?"
She blinked and tried to think. The last time she saw her gynaecologist was... well... before she met Dr. Chakwas. She had never bothered going back for another appointment; things had been so hectic...
"Why?" she queried, her heart cold. "Is something wrong?"
The doctor didn't answer immediately, but spend a considerable time studying her monitor. "I'm not in a position to say Miranda," she said finally. "Honestly? I'm better at evaluating blood and gore than the finer details of the female reproductive system." She was frowning as she turned to look at Miranda. "But, it might be a good thing to have everything checked out. Before we enter the final phase of Project Lazarus."
Miranda blinked at her, the headache starting to throb behind her eyes again. "I can't leave now," she said. "Wilson..."
"I'll keep an eye on him, he won't fiddle with anything while I've got my eye on him." The doctor said softly. "Miranda, I think you should go see Dr. Grenway. Just..." She hesitated. "Just make sure that you are alright. You are invaluable to this, more so than any of us."
She had to close her eyes to gather herself, pushing away the cold fear that washed over her like a wave of darkness. "Everybody can be replaced Dr. Chakwas," she said softly, trying to keep the tremor from her voice. "I can be re-engineered. Shepard can be rebuilt. None of us are irreplaceable. Even with ourselves."
The woman didn't comment, but sat down on the bed beside Miranda and just looked at her, carefully slipping her hand into the woman's.
"I'll make an appointment," she said. "Now, I'm going to give you a light sedative Miranda – I don't think you'll sleep if I just send you to bed. I think it's the best course of treatment for your headache. You can stay here till you wake up, I'll go down and check on Shepard."
She should've protested as the older woman went to her drug cabinet and fixed a syringe but the cold pit in her stomach stayed her tongue. It had nothing to do with the nausea of the migraine. It was a tumble of self doubt and the realization that something might be wrong with her. It was what had driven her to Dr. Grenway in the beginning, but when Dr. Chakwas interrupted that meeting, she had unknowingly broken Miranda's bravado and she didn't have the guts to go back.
The doctor returned and silently, without asking permission, spread out Miranda's arm and carefully swabbed the inside of her elbow with some medi-gel. Then, she deftly slipped in the thin needle and injected her with the sedative. It burned and Miranda had to take a steadying breath to quell her fear. She felt vulnerable suddenly, frightened, but the doctor made a soothing sound and sat down beside her again, taking her hand in hers.
Just like she had done for Shepard.
To Be Continued...