Notes: Alternate ending AU F! Shepard/Garrus/Liara
I have this habit of starting things but not finishing them…
Lunar Valentine
Shepard opened her eyes. It felt like forever since she had felt the weight of her eyelids. Being comatose was hard.
Her vision was blurry but there stood Dr. Chakwas and a male turian she had never seen before. He wore white, like a doctor. It was safe to categorize him as such until she could feel her fingertips, her swollen knuckles and each joint crackled under slight pressure. She groaned and one arm grabbed her opposite ribcage and the other on her heart. It was just then that she understood how much breathing could hurt. It was shallow and she wondered if maybe she shouldn't have sat up so quickly. The doctors surrounded her, now too many to count. It felt like numerous hands were on her, checking her every vital. Dr. Chakwas was speaking to her but all she could hear was a whispered "I love you," from another time. There was a stream of light in her green eyes, one at time, each pupil performing symmetrically. She was reacting to light properly but she could not breathe. Her chest felt so heavy.
Everything was sore and it felt like every joint, bone and ligament was aflame. Her very tissues were burning, molten in her core. She had not even realized the bandages on both of her hands. She had lost every finger on her right hand after firing at the red barrier that sent out the pulse to destroy the Reapers.
Then she remembered. Thane. Ashley. Virmire. Mindoir. Rannoch. Menae. Earth.
"If I'm up there in that bar, and you're not…I'll always be looking down. You'll never be alone." She couldn't bear to say another word. She knew this very well may be their last moments together. She'd be damned if he saw her cry. But when he whispered "…never", she froze and squared her jaw and wiped her eyes. Then she kept walking.
It flashed over the screen in her brain like a vid, a screenplay of vivid images frozen in her psyche. They traced back to her childhood, her parents being slaughtered in front of her by batarians. Signing up into the Alliance when she turned 18. Her team being brutally and violently murdered by thresher maws. She gasped, gripping her chest harder.
"Dr. Chakwas? How long…?"
Her ears finally opened, the white noise of pure terror mellowing to a soft baritone of voices in her head.
As she stared at her doctor's mouth to try to understand, the words came out incomprehensible.
"15 months..."
Her vision tunneled, and she soon was embraced by the indifferent darkness.
It was 3 am when he got the phone call. He had snuck out of bed to answer. He hadn't been able to sleep since hearing the news.
He stared out of his apartment window, his view of the busy streets of Illium. Multi-colored vehicles swept past his view, some barely missing the corner of his bedroom. He sipped his dextro coffee slowly.
He shook his head and heard his lover's throat clear from behind him. He then heard the sound of her dress hit the floor, the unclasping of her bra, and the soft sound it made when it hit the wood floor of their apartment.
He turned and a blue hand reached for him.
"Liara, I can't." He pulled away from her hand, moving into the kitchen.
He placed his coffee cup down.
She paused before him, then used one arm to cover her breasts and touched the scarred side of his face with her other hand.
She sighed and walked back to her clothes on the floor. She slipped them on and smoothed out the wrinkles as best she could. "Garrus."
He was staring at a corner of their apartment, the smooth metallic tile in their kitchen. They had picked out the tile together, and Liara designed the pattern with her biotics. It was intertwined with the mixture, forming what felt like an inseparable bond.
She reached out to grab his hand.
Garrus looked at her and pulled away from her touch. Guilt and shame flooded his veins. He placed one hand on the counter, trying to hold himself steady. His vision was blurry. His heart was racing. He found he had to look away as he slowly said the words:
"Shepard's…awake."