Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story. All the credit for these flawless fictional beings belongs to the great minds at Bioware.
Chapter 1: The Good Doctor
Brooklyn Shepard stared up at the ceiling in her modest captain's quarters in a trance like state with her arm draped across her forehead. She had tossed and turned most of the night and just couldn't fall asleep. In fact, most nights were like this. And even when she managed to fall asleep it seemed like she was wide awake two hours later starting the entire battle all over again.
This had been a lifelong problem for her though. She had never fallen into slumber peacefully, not even in her childhood, where living on the streets among the various criminal elements had forced her to have one eye open at all times; and while her childhood had not been ideal those streets had made her strong and had taught her how to survive when things were tough. She knew that without them she would not be the woman she was today. A woman in charge of an entire ship and it's many crew members. While she was more than competent, the weight of the responsibility sometimes wore heavy on her psyche. These days instead of being restless over finding a blade shoved into her back she lost precious moments of serenity over the loss of life she was responsible for. She abhorred the idea that people could be hurt, or even worse killed due to her decisions that she often had seconds to make.
Finally, she realized it was no use. Sleep was only going to continue to allude her. Sitting up she swung her legs over the side of her bed onto the cold floor sending a chill up her spine. Wearing nothing but a pair of boy short boxer briefs she padded across the cold floor and slipped on a black compression tank and a pair of gun metal grey leggings.
Pulling her auburn tresses up into a messy ponytail and grabbing a hand towel from her bathroom she began her trek down to the cargo bay. When she couldn't sleep, and other means of physical release were not available in the form of a bedroom companion she found working out helped and the cargo bay was usually empty at this time of night or early morning depending on how you looked at it. As she walked down the corridor it was deadly quiet, however, Shepard did a double take as she walked by the ship's lab noticing it was still dimly lit. As she peered in she saw the source, the newest squad mate on board the Normandy, Liara T'Soni. Well, Dr. Liara T'Soni, Shepard still found it incredible that this twenty something looking humanoid was actually a 106 year old Asari, "barely an adult by Asari standards" as she had told them upon the initial meeting with her crew who had a doctorate in archaeology to boot. She was not like other Asari her age, many of whom became mercenaries or danced for credits in risqué clubs. At 106 most Asari were looking for lives of excitement with a little peril mixed in before they settled into the years in which they would bear children and raise families with their bondmates, but not Dr. T'Soni. Instead, she had lived a life of relative solitude on archeological digs across the galaxy, studying the ruins of a species long extinct. Here and there she may have run across a few bad guys she had to deal with but for the most part it seemed she had just wanted to be left alone to study her craft away from all other contact. She seemed very content with that life based on the few brief conversations the two of them had, had. It was no exaggeration to say Liara T'Soni was a bit of an enigma to Shepard and for some reason Shepard wanted to learn everything about this extraordinary creature she now found residing on her ship. She knew she shouldn't, but for a brief moment Shepard stood admiring the doctor as she sat hunched over a computer terminal switching between typing furiously and reading the droves of information that uploaded onto the monitor.
"Whatchya doing?" Shepard finally inquired as she casually leaned into the doorway.
The cerulean colored alien turned around slowly. "Oh Commander Shepard, I'm so sorry I did not know you would be stopping by," she spoke as she tried to straighten the many papers strewn across her small workspace.
Shepard sauntered in nonchalantly making her way towards Liara's location, "Oh, well I didn't know either. I just couldn't sleep so I was going to go down to the cargo bay to workout. I just didn't think anyone else would be awake at this time of night," she smiled devilishly towards the scientist, "but...here you are."
"I…I see," Liara stammered seeming a bit off put by the presence of Brooklyn Shepard hovering over her, "Well we Asari do not require the amount of sleep most species do."
Shepard loved it when Liara got all explainy, especially about her own species. She hadn't been with the crew long but Shepard knew right away she would be a valuable asset to her team. She found her slight awkwardness interacting with the crew to be endearing but anything that she lacked in social prowess she certainly made up for with a beyond genius intellect and extremely powerful biotics. It would be easy to be fooled by her innocent countenance but Dr. Liara T'Soni was no damsel in distress even if she was "technically" rescued by her upon their meeting in that Prothean ruin several weeks ago. Shepard had no doubt though, had no one come along, Liara wouldn't have gone down without a hell of a fight.
Walking around to face Liara she casually leaned against the desk crossing her arms over her chest smiling playfully at her newest shipmate, "You know, I'm learning from you every day that Asari seem to be fairly superior in all aspects."
"That is not what I meant Commander..." Liara softly spoke as she averted her sky blue eyes from Shepard's intense emerald gaze.
Shepard laughed as she put a hand on Liara's shoulder and watched as a deep purple spread across her cheeks, "Liara, I was joking. It's fine. We'll work on it."
Brooke Shepard wasn't exactly a womanizer but she was certainly not a chaste virgin either. She had been involved in a few short "relationships" that always went nowhere when her other half realized they just couldn't take the pressure of her military lifestyle. Beyond that everything else was just a series of unserious one nightstands meant to blow off steam. A consort here and there. A woman met at a bar that would share a single night of passion with her and that that was the extent of her romantic history, but here she was finding herself unable to get sweet, unassuming Dr. Liara T'Soni out of her thoughts.
There was just something about her that Shepard couldn't seem to shake. The moment she saw her trapped inside that energy field she knew she was going to be in trouble with this one. She was physically attractive without a doubt but there was something more. She just seemed to have a gentleness and a purity that Shepard hadn't experienced in her whole life; a steady calmness. She was sensitive and shy but also strong and independent minded. She was also beautiful beyond compare. Shepard had met more than her fair share of Asari in her travels through the galaxy, hell, she'd slept with one or two along the way as well but Liara was all together at another level of gorgeous. The fact she didn't even seem to know it made her all the more appealing to Brooke.
Liara stayed silent clearly unsure of how to continue the conversation at hand and Brooke could hardly take her she was so heartbreakingly precious. Not wanting to torture her anymore she pushed herself off the desk and stood up straight, "Well Dr. T'Soni I will leave you to it. Don't stay up too late." With that she flipped her towel over her shoulder and walked towards the door but just as she was about exit the lab she turned back once more, "Hey doc."
"Yes, Commander," Liara said as she once again found the courage to meet her eyes.
"You can call me Shepard. The rest of the crew does. Commander is so…impersonal. We're a team, a family of sorts and you're part of that family now," Liara rewarded her with a shy grin and Brooke Shepard couldn't explain it but she was nearly giddy to be the receiver of the small gesture.
"Yes of course. Well have a good workout Comm…I mean Shepard." With that Shepard headed down to the cargo bay with the smile of Liara T'Soni filling her thoughts.