Preamble: This short story is a fanfic set after the first conversation you have with Liara in Mass Effect 1. It is intended to act as an addition to the story as a way of further adding to the romance between Shepard and Liara but not to change its basis in any way. If you spot a major inconsistency with the rest of the story then feel free to point it out and I'll do some revisions. Enjoy!

Few minor notes: Naomi is the "headcanon" name for my Femshep. Sorry if you don't like it but I don't think the default name suits her and I can hardly try to please everybody. This short story (and others I'm planning) assume you rescue Liara first when you're "let loose" with the Normandy.

Captivated

"Please, just pretend this conversation never happened," pleaded Liara.

"I should go," replied Naomi Shepard, a hint of a smile playing around the corners of her mouth.

"Goodbye, Shepard."

Liara waited for the door to slide shut again before sitting down heavily, head in her hands. She could feel the heat on her cheeks, which had turned a darker shade of blue in embarrassment. After a moment she started speaking to herself.

"By the goddess, what was I thinking? She must think I'm such a foolish young thing. 'Fascinating' indeed, 'interesting study'? And then to blush in front of her? Get a grip on yourself, Liara T'Soni."

After a few moments she sat up again in her chair and turned back to the computer, switching across to her personal log and activating the audio pickup before starting to dictate to the machine.

"Timestamp. The geth attacked my dig site on Therum and I have lost everything there and the site was destroyed. I am deeply troubled by this turn of events; valuable archaeological insights may have been lost. However it appears that they were not simply aiming to pillage or destroy the site, their Krogan leader seemed to want me, though I could not fathom why at the time. I have something of an idea now; Commander Shepard has had contact with a Prothean beacon, she believes that the Protheans were wiped out by a race she calls the Reapers and so requires my expertise. I believe someone wanted to deny her that, perhaps my mother…no, she would not, COULD not, do such a thing."

Liara paused a moment before leaning back and staring into the air.

"I would not have escaped were it not for the courageous efforts of the Commander and her team. She is really quite fascinating…no not that word again…erm…intriguing? Not much of an improvement. Never mind."

She stopped for a moment to unscramble her thoughts before continuing.

"I cannot quite understand her actions, although I am very thankful for them. Most of the crew do not trust me, even angered that I am here at all. I suppose this is understandable given that my mother has apparently run off with the rogue that the Commander is hunting. However the Commander took me at my word and has given me her trust as well as a place to stay here on the Normandy. She seems to have no ill-feeling towards me nor distrust and has been nothing but supportive and understanding. I feel…safe…here knowing that the Commander is around. Somehow it feels like nothing bad can happen so long as she is there."

After a moment or two of silence Liara reached across to turn off her log and the audio input.

Naomi reached across from her bed to switch her alarm off but only succeeded in knocking it to the floor. She swore and sat up in bed, picking up the clock. Only a few hours since going to sleep but there was too much to do. No time for more rest. With a yawn Naomi climbed out of bed and pulled on her uniform which had been left folded over the back of a chair. Mug of coffee in hand, Naomi headed out to complete her morning rounds, but as soon as she stepped out of the lift onto the engineering deck she heard an angry raised voice coming from engineering itself. With a sigh she left her drink on a ledge, straightened her jacket and went to see what the problem was.

Liara was practically cowering against the wall whilst a marine guard berated her, the look on her face best described as 'rabbit in the headlights'. Occasionally she tried to start saying something with an "I was only…" or "I just…" but she kept getting drowned out. Several of the technicians were looking on, horrified, but completely at a loss what to do.

Naomi walked over until she was right behind the soldier and tapped him on the shoulder. "Problems?" A look of relief flooded Liara's face and the marine turned with an angry look until he saw who it was, at which point he quickly composed himself and saluted.

"You could say that, Commander. I found this thing," he said, gesturing to Liara with a sneer. "Poking around here in engineering. Trying to find out about our stealth systems no doubt. If you want my opinion she's working for her mother; you can't trust any of these people. They're not real people like you and me. You should throw them all off the ship."

Naomi gave him a hard look. "I see, well…Dr T'soni is my guest here and I've told her she can go where she pleases. Doctor, I think Dr. Chakwas was looking for you, she wanted to give you a quick look over again."

"Right away, Commander," replied Liara and she hurried off.

Naomi returned her attention to the marine…just one more word, she thought.

"This is an alliance ship, I don't know why you let the…" The marine was cut off in mid-sentence as biotic energy crackled around him, lifted him off his feet and slammed him into the wall.

"Firstly, yes, this is an alliance ship. But it has been assigned to me and I'm a Spectre and can do what I damn well think necessary with it," Naomi said in a dangerous voice. "Secondly, you do not second-guess my decisions. I have invited these 'things' as you put it onto this ship to assist me. They are putting themselves at risk to help us and you will show respect. Thirdly, if you don't get the hell off the next time we dock at the Citadel I'm going to throw you out of the airlock because I will not have this kind of 'Terra Firma' attitude on my ship. Clear? Good."

The marine hit the floor like a sack full of bricks whilst the biotic fields around Naomi's hands faded away.

She dusted her hands off and looked around at the gaping technicians. "Well? What are you all looking at? I'm pretty sure you've got jobs to do." The bustle of activity started up again as Naomi pointedly made her way over to Tali and started talking.

A little way away, in the shadows by the door, Liara watched all of this unfold thoughtfully before slipping out of the room unnoticed.

Naomi sat in her room thumbing through reports. Access to the Spectre intelligence sources was invaluable but trying to trawl through it looking for something, anything, to provide more information on the Conduit or Saren or even the mysterious 'Reapers' was a tedious process. There was a knock at the door and she put the datapad down with a sigh and stood up, stretching.

"Come in."

The door slid open and Liara poked her head in.

"Commander, I hope I'm not interrupting anything but I had to speak to you. I can come back later if you…"

"No, please come in, Liara. I could use a distraction from this." Naomi gestured to the small pile of reports. "Sit down, can I get you anything?"

"No thank you," Liara replied, sitting down. Naomi shrugged and sat down as well.

"What can I do for you, Liara?"

"Well Commander I…"

"Naomi," interrupted Shepard.

"I…what?"

Naomi smiled. "Out there it may be 'Commander' but these are my quarters, my private space. In here it's Naomi. Or Shepard if you must."

"As you wish Com…Shepard," Liara smiled for a brief moment before returning to being sombre and looked down at the table. "Shepard, I appreciate what you did for me earlier but I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave the Normandy."

Naomi was visibly shocked. "What, why? I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" Liara didn't look up.

"No, no. Not that, you've been extremely kind. But I fear that my presence here isn't welcomed by some of your crew. Its not just people who just hate aliens like that man earlier. Everyone knows I am Benezia's daughter and they clearly suspect me of something and fear I might put them in danger. I promise you that is not the case but I don't want to be the cause of problems. Your mission is too important and on reflection I'm honestly not sure I can be of much use to you…after all, everything I thought I knew about the Protheans has been turned on its head and…"

"No."

Liara blinked and looked up sharply to stare at Shepard. "I'm sorry?"

"Liara, you've done absolutely nothing wrong. You're not going anywhere if you don't want to. Do you WANT to leave?"

"Well no but I…"

"Then I don't see anything that needs discussing."

"Shepard…I have to ask…why? Why would you risk this kind of dissent in your crew when you could just as easily let me leave?"

Naomi turned and looked Liara straight in the eyes. "Three reasons. One is that I make the decisions around here. I feel I can trust you, so that is the end of that. I don't care what anyone else thinks. The second is that you have far more worth than you think. I can't work this out on my own and what better person to help me than a Prothean expert?"

Naomi stopped for a moment.

"…and the third?" asked Liara.

"The third? That's the simplest and most important. When I agreed to let you stay you became a part of my crew. And NOBODY touches any of my crew. If someone wants to get rid of you then they'll have to go through me first. And they're not getting through me unless I'm dead."

Liara stared and then dropped her head. "I…thank you, Shepard. That means a lot to me. I should go. I promise that I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. Come back whenever you wish, I'm always here if you need me." Shepard picked up a datapad and started reading again as Liara got up and made her way to the door. As she was about to open it and leave Naomi spoke up again.

"Actually, there's one more reason for me not wanting you to leave."

"Yes?" inquired Liara, turning back. Naomi looked up from her datapad with a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, it's because you're cute when you blush."

Liara's cheeks flashed deep blue as she stammered "I…ah…um…I'll see you later, Commander."

As she left the room and before the door slid shut again Naomi overheard Liara muttering to herself. Most of it was unintelligible but Naomi did catch one word…"fascinating". At that she smiled and sat back. The reports might be tedious but somehow it suddenly felt like it was worth the effort.