Disclaimer: I don't own Mass Effect or the worlds, races or characters.
Author Note – This is my first Mass Effect fic. It's nothing special, I just felt like writing it. I'm not sure if I'm going to continue it because it just popped into my head but I can see some potential in it for a bigger story, so I might if anyone likes it.
The hum of the Normandy's engines was soft and familiar as John Shepard stood at the weapons bench fiddling with his rifle. Trying first one mod and then another, unsure of what he needed most when they seemed to face a new enemy each day. One moment it was Cerberus, the next it was husks and now it was nightmarish creatures that looked like elongated skeletal asari. It was like the stuff nightmares was made of.
He was aware, as he always was, of Liara's gentle presence beside him as she worked on her own gun. Polishing and cleaning it, having decided on her own mods ages ago and never changing them. She was a creature of habit, but he liked that about her. It wasn't that she was boring, as he knew she worried, it was just that she was constant and unwavering.
Liara had always made him feel slightly clumsy and uncomfortable. She was too good for him and he knew it, breathtakingly beautiful, almost ethereal with her shimmering blue skin and eyes that seemed to see into his soul. He'd been in love with her for years, but had never quite believed she felt the same way. Instead he'd tried to find love in the arms of other women, but it never lasted because they never measured up to her.
If only he hadn't been such a coward, but then Liara had never encouraged him as a human woman would have. She'd blushed and stammered around him when she first came on board as a nervous scientist back when he was after Saren, but he'd never really taken that as attraction. But after years apart and all she'd done for him, he knew it was something more. Maybe if he'd been braver when he was younger they might have already been together.
They were facing the end of days and he was sick of being alone. Too many nights he'd lain in his lonely bed looking up at the stars and wondering if she was thinking about him down below. He had to know where they stood. He had to know if the tension he sensed between them was as strong for her as it was for him.
It was time for him to find out where he stood.
"Why did we never hook up?" Shepard stopped fiddling with his rifle and turned to face Liara, his face serious as he considered the lovely asari beside him. "There was always something between us, but we never did anything."
Liara looked at him with an eyebrow raised and shook her head slowly, "You didn't know what you wanted, John. First it was Ashley and then it was Miranda, and," She shrugged, "As attractive I found you, I never wanted to be another conquest for you."
"You would never had been just another conquest to me." John said sadly, wondering if he'd ruined any chance he had with her. Abruptly he smiled and there was something very mischievous in his eyes as he looked at her, "Besides, know you mean more to me than that. I fought a Yahg in hand to hand combat for you. A man thinks you're special if he does that, just ask Vega."
"Oh, John!" Liara laughed and nudged him with her shoulder, "You're so pig-headed you probably fight Yahgs even when you're not taking down the Shadow Broker!"
"Nah." He smirked at her, "Only for you, T'soni."
She blushed, a faint purple-blue colour that spread across her cheekbones, "Shepard…"
"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He put his gun down and turned to face her, leaning on the bench, "I just want to know where we stand. I want to know if there is a chance for us. I know I don't have the greatest track record when it comes to women but, to be honest, I also ever had eyes for you. I just thought you were out of my league."
Liara's eyes widened, glistening under the docking bay lights, "Shepard, I…I don't know what to say. You have to know how I feel about you! I never tried to hide it!"
John tried hard to quieten the thumping in his chest at the way she was looking at him. Was it possible that after all this time she still loved him? That he hadn't fucked everything beyond belief with the one person he truly cared about?
"Shepard, I love you. I've always loved you and I always will." She stepped closer to him, a delicate fine-boned hand closing about his forearm as she moved her trembling frame close to his.
John caught her in his arms and pulled her close, "Liara…"
He murmured her name quietly, reverently as he bought his mouth to hers in a gentle kiss that betrayed none of the stormy emotions crashing inside of him. He'd wanted this, her, for so long. He deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding along hers as she clung to him, her breasts squashing against his chest as they eagerly held each other.
Suddenly a piercing wail interrupted their tryst and with a startled yelp, the dream shattered around him and John Shepard sat up in his bed, covered in a fine layer of sweat and wishing with every fibre of his being that Liara was still with him.
But she wasn't; he was alone.