First Admissions
The cargo bay of the SR1 is sparse of life, except for Commander Sophie Shepard. The human woman is dressed in her work out clothing, a short grey vest which leaves most of her stomach exposed and a pair of black slacks. As she works the punching bag that was set up by the crew she fails to hear the elevator door open behind her, admitting the Normandy's resident archaeologist, Liara T'soni. A recent addition to the crew but the asari has adapted quickly to life on the ship, and after the last mission to Feros, and the debriefing afterward the shy alien has something she wishes to discuss with the commander, and this is the place she was told to come.
It doesn't take long for Liara to spot the commander, who is still oblivious to her presence in the cargo hold, something however causes Liara to freeze to her spot just a few steps out of the elevator, as blue eyes glance over Sophie Shepard knots start to form in the asari's stomach, she isn't quite sure what she's feeling right now but as she tries to gather the courage to approach the woman, the commander spots her instead as she rounds the punching bag.
"Liara!" calls out Sophie. Clearly happy to see the Asari is okay after she exerted herself in the debriefing room with the meld to try and decipher the vision with the aid of the Cipher now in Shepard's head. The Asari is still frozen to her spot near the elevator, her eyes evidently fixed to the commander's sweaty body, more specifically her breasts and abdomen. Sophie raises her brow as she realises that she is being checked out, and she can't help but smirk a little as she calls out again "Hey, Liara. My eyes are up here." She watches Liara jump slightly as she is snapped from her reverie.
"Goddess! I.. um" starts the nervous wreck of an Asari, her hand reaching to rub the back of her neck, something she had seen Sophie do a few times during the many times the human has visited her in the back of the Med-bay, her eyes unable to meet Shepard's. "I am sorry, Shepard. I do not know what came over me. I came to see you and well.. I made a fool of myself again."
Shepard can't help but smile as she approaches the timid asari, she wipes her sweaty hands on her pants and says softly "It's okay, you know. It's been quite some time since I was last looked at like that." starts Sophie, placing one hand on the Asari's shoulder. "What did you want to see me for anyways?" she asks as Liara's head lifts up "It's usually me that comes to see you." she jokes, earning a small laugh from the asari as her embarrassment fades.
"I wanted to pick up where we left off last time and I asked Doctor Chakwas where I could find you." the asari seems relaxed again as she speaks. Sophie smiles as she remembers how their conversation ended last time.
"Alright, I believe you ended by saying that you'd like to do an in depth study on me. Then something about pretending that the conversation never happened." the human chuckles and Liara blushes a shade of blue.
"Actually.. I was trying to express my interest in you." starts the Asari.
"Are you sure it wasn't just the vision in my head that interested you?" interrupts Shepard, her eyebrow raising as she studies the asari in front of her.
"It was at first." starts Liara who looks to Shepard with a small smile. "But now, I am certain there is something going on between us and it makes no sense, we hardly know each other, we are from two different species and yet I feel so drawn to you." the asari takes a deep breath and lets out a sigh.
"Well. You're right that there is something going on between us." admits Sophie, smiling to Liara reassuringly "The thing is though, you can't analyse this like you would a piece of data, with relationships you just... get swept up in the storm."
"You make it sound so chaotic" states Liara timidly.
"It's not as bad as you think, Liara. You already came down here and admitted your... attraction to me and that took courage. I admit that you beat me to it, I wanted to tell you how I felt and it's been on my mind since the Feros debrief ended, I am not the best at admitting my feelings so freely...N7 training does that to you, I guess." Sophie keeps eye contact with Liara as she finishes speaking.
"Shepard, this is all so much to take in. I had never expected you to reciprocate the feelings I had for you. I thought I would make such a fool of myself that it would make you avoid me." Liara sighs and looks to the floor, obviously overwhelmed.
"Liara, I'd never avoid you for one, secondly you should take all the time you need, we can talk more later though if you want. I'm always here for you, no matter what you need." states Sophie firmly, gently rubbing the Asari's shoulder.
"Thank you, Shepard. I would like some time to just process everything. I look forward to our next talk too." Liara smiles and steps into the elevator, pressing the button to go up to the mess hall, before the door can close she sees Sophie turn around to go back to working out and her eyes glance to check out the human's rear.
"I may have my back turned, but I can feel those eyes on me! Also, you can call me Sophie when we're alone!" shouts Shepard as she goes about working the punching bag.
When the lift's door finally closes the blushing Asari inside can't help but smile, she knows the commander's first name, something so private was so willingly shared and she can tell that she will thoroughly enjoy her time on the Normandy.