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A lot of parents probably relished the idea of going to work just to escape the chaos that living with a toddler could be, but not Shepard. She hated leaving, she hated goodbyes, even when they were just momentary and not forever like they had been too often for her. Every day she left home in the morning, her heart broke a little, but when she came back later and was greeted by her daughter running up to her, laughing hilariously and genuinely happy to see her, all was mended.
Any aches and pains, physical or otherwise, completely erased and replaced with the warmth and love she felt when she came home to her bondmate and their daughter. This was what she'd fought for even when she hadn't realized it. At the time, she'd thought she was fighting for humanity, then for the galaxy, for everyone who existed at that time... and while that was also true, in her heart, she'd fought for even a little chance of this.
At the very beginning, she hadn't imagined this was where she'd end up with Liara. She wasn't sure what she'd imagined back then. Only after she'd been brought back from the dead only to almost die again (and all just because no one had listened to her warnings, had she been a teenager, she would've scoffed "what a bunch of fucking bullshit!" as a response and walked away), she had finally found a reason to live.
Liara hadn't said as much, but that night, back on Earth... when she'd given Shepard her gift... she hadn't needed to say anything. Shepard hadn't been sure, of course not, but... it had been the main reason why she'd stubbornly kept fighting, kept drawing breaths to sustain her beaten and battered body even after she'd crashed from the top of the world -quite literally- once more and plummeted to what should've been a certain death. But it hadn't been. Not for Shepard. It probably never would be; if dying ever became a matter of simply being too stubborn to die, Shepard would live forever.
I will live, for you and our children.
That had been Shepard's mantra when she'd gotten blown to hell by a reaper. The words she'd told herself with every painful step she'd taken to reach the conduit. The only thought in her mind when she'd destroyed the reapers and put an end to the war once and for all.
"I love you," Shepard told her daughter after picking her up in her arms. She was dressed in full armor, prepared as if once again stepping out to take on armies of monsters, when in reality, she was getting ready to go out to work as an instructor.
"I love me too," her daughter responded in all sincerity, patting Shepard's face with her hands and Shepard laughed gently, kissed her daughter's forehead and turned her attention to Liara then.
"And I love you, with all my heart," she said and leaned to plant a gentle kiss onto Liara's lips, kissing her deeply and softly, almost like it could be the last time they kissed, a habit of hoping for the best but expecting the worst never having let go of Shepard... but it wasn't a bad thing, if anything, it always ensured the most loving and sincere kisses.
"I love you," Liara whispered into the kiss before reluctantly breaking it before Shepard would be late for work.
Shepard stepped outside, but paused at the door, taking a few more moments to stare into the kitchen where the love of her life was busying herself with their daughter's breakfast. She smiled and closed the door quietly. She'd found a reason for her entire existence. It wasn't to save the world, to save the entire galaxy, it was for something much more. Her family was her reason for every breath she took now... and it was more than she ever could've imagined or hoped for, her meaning in life now larger than existing to save an entire galaxy. A galaxy was nothing compared to her family.
End