Together, Unwavering

Fire burned without mercy, unstoppable. It cascaded down nerve, skin and muscle like white-hot tar, peeling away feeling and turning the moisture droplets trickling down flesh into warm, steadily rising mist of gray. The extremely durable polyethylene carbon fibers of what was left of her armor began to gradually infuse with the carbon mesh undershirt and underclothing she wore beneath. Inevitably however, the remnants of the armor soon burned clean through and made its way to the flesh beneath that. The searing, vicious pain of skin melding with carbon armor was sustained agony and she couldn't stop the raw agonized scream that bubbled up from her constricted, ash-filled lungs. Her body was slowly shutting down and all the energy she could spare was turned into a breathless, anguished sob.

She had done it. It was over and now, she had to slowly burn to death. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, everything just hurt. The smell of her own flesh scorching and infusing with the polyethylene fibers assaulted her senses, sending a powerful wave of nausea crashing down on her.

A loud creaking noise alerted her reflexes, which put all available effort into looking up to the source of the sound. A large bulkhead hung dangerously loose right above her. It creaked again as it slowly began to brake off from the main support. She couldn't move, she couldn't do anything… A quiet, constricted, aggrieved moan escaped her again as she closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry, my love" she whispered raggedly through her burnt, chapped lips "I'm so sorry…"

The bulkhead groaned horribly as it came loose and she closed her eyes tightly and she braced for the inescapable impact.

Commander Shepard shot up off the bed, gasping for air and patting herself down frantically, making sure that she was indeed, not on fire. She was covered in cold sweat, which in turn made her hair cling to her face and scalp. She greedily swallowed down large portions of cold air into her lungs as she tried to regain some form of normal breathing. The strands of hair at the back of her neck where dripping sweat down her back and she swatted at it in frustration.

"Shepard?" a soft worried voice came from beside her on the bed. Shepard buried her face in her hands and ignored the unspoken question from her lover.

"Shepard, are you alright?" a slender blue hand landed softly on her shoulder. Shepard flinched violently as if the touch had burned her and turned beaten, agonized eyes on the Asari beside her. Liara was shocked by the commander's reaction and the look in her eyes. It took a few seconds to recover and saw that Shepard looked but she wasn't seeing. Her eyes were unfocused and stared right through her.

The pained and lost expression in Shepard's eyes was heartrending. She put a hand up to cover her mouth in worry before again addressing her lover.

"Love… It was just a dream" Liara tried to soothe "It's okay now…"

The young Asari moved carefully closer to the distraught Commander and placed herself a little behind her. Liara reached forward tentative hands and gently placed them upon Shepard's shoulders in an attempt to provide some comfort. Shepard winced slightly at the contact at first but seemed to calm slightly. Liara took this as a sign to offer more support and gently wrapped her arms around her lover's shoulders before she heard a quiet, muffled sob.

It wasn't the first time the Asari had calmed the Commander down after a harrowing, anguish filled nightmare, especially after the destruction of the Reapers. The recovery of Shepard's body and those four long painful months it took to pimarily get her back from the dead… again. Being on the receiving end of more than a few ugly injuries over the years was one thing, but having actually been gone and then being brought back twice, had taken a toll on the Commanders psyche.

Liara didn't want to think back on that difficult time when they had found Shepard in the rubble of the Citadel tower, burned half to death, bruised and beaten to a near unidentifiable mess. It was more than a miracle that she had been able to get back on her feet, let alone gain consciousness.

Liara had spent that time during the Commanders recovery worrying and burying herself in her work. Barely eating, even when Chakwas or Garrus tried bringing her food a few times, she neglected it had more often than not. She also found herself without sleep, because slowing down meant thinking about things and these things often relayed to Shepard. She would often cry herself to sleep or experience some horrid nightmare, so she preferred collapsing out of sheer exhaustion instead.

Both times, Shepard had endured a long and torturous road before death would even come and that is what is causing most of her torment. When she lay down to rest that is when her subconscious mind began bombarding her with these unbearable images of suffocation, a blazing inferno and death.

A few times Liara would hold her until she calmed down and was able to settle back to sleep. Once however, Shepard had lashed out angrily at her and in her furious temper she had told her lover to get out and leave her alone. The young Asari had complied in the end, figuring Shepard needed to calm down by herself. The Commander had later apologized wholeheartedly and wrapped the Asari in a gentle hug. Liara had never been angry on that occasion because she knew Shepard thought she was trying not to burden her with what she saw was her own concern and the entire situation had resulted in the Commander's outburst.

As Liara now sat with Shepard wrapped in her arms she knew that this nightmare must have been worse than the others she'd had before. She had never witnessed such a reaction from her before. Liara gently hugged Shepard tighter toward her before she placed a kiss on the back of her neck and murmured words of comfort.

A few minutes later Shepard sniffled and wiped impatiently at her eyes. Liara straightened slightly but didn't let go as Shepard quietly ran a hand through her hair and cleared her throat softly. She gently disentangled herself from her lover and softly padded to the bathroom without saying a word. Liara heard the faucet turn on and imagined Shepard to be splashing her face with cold water.

Liara cast a quick look at the holoclock on the bedside and judged it far too early to be bustling about and lay back down on the soft sheets, thoughts churning in her head. She gazed up through the window in the ceiling of Shepard's cabin and felt a little more at ease as she remembered what she had shared with Shepard back before the assault on Cronos Station and that there lay not a threat above them anymore. At least not that of the Reapers…

Shepard was still on duty from time to time even now, seven months after the end of the Reaper war and after all the ceremonies, speeches and parades. The relays had been more or less fixed with the cooperation of all species, just how the war had been won. Together, they helped in rebuilding the worlds which had been hit by the Reapers. They had also already begun repairs on the Citadel and even managed to reactivate the remaining Geth. So now, during the rebuilding efforts, the Alliance or her Spectre duties, would sometimes call upon her help. Be it for a consultation or a quick recon mission, Shepard was still needed in the galaxy and she was happy to do it for it kept her mind sharp and focused. Almost like she born for it..

Liara at the same time used her network as the Shadow Broker to help with reparation and rebuilding as well as ration and material supplies and she was content doing it on the Normandy where she could be close to Shepard. Everyone else from the team had stayed on in their desire to aid with the rebuilding efforts. Soon enough though, a few of them would probably move on as expected.

The young Asari had decided to be careful with the Shadow Broker network, since even though if she hypothetically wanted to give it up, she couldn't just up and walk away. And if she were to hand it over to someone else, she'd have to more than thoroughly examine that someone before doing so, for the repercussion in this matter could ultimately be perilous if it where handled defectively.

She heard the faucet turn off and a few seconds later the bathroom door opened, revealing Shepard. Fatigue clear in her matte eyes and water dripping from a few strands of hair that covered her face as she slowly crept to her wardrobe and pulled out a N7 hoodie and a pair of cargo pants.

Though the Commander had voiced an eager desire to start on those little blue babies, Liara had reluctantly persuaded her that she needed to fully heal and recover before that was a good idea. Apparently, she had been more correct than she would have wanted.

Liara sat back up in bed "Are you okay, Shepard?" she softly addressed her lover who has now in the process of buckling her pants.

Shepard gave her a quick look "Yeah, fine…" She mumbled gruffly. Liara obviously didn't buy her answer as she furrowed her brow in concern.

"Where are you going?" Liara asked softly.

"Got some work to do…" was the cracked and short reply that came from the Commander.

Liara sighed "Shepard, love… Please, you must rest. It will do you no good to stare at a terminal screen for hours on end this early" she tried to reason, anything to get through to the stubborn warrior. Shepard would drive herself into a void if she continued in this manner.

"I can't…" Shepard said in a soft rasp before swallowing thickly and slightly slumping her shoulders. However, Liara hadn't quite heard her and stepped out of bed to carefully walk over to the Commander. She gently wrapped her arms around Shepard's waist from behind and leaned her cheek against her shoulder.

"What was that love?" Liara asked tenderly. Shepard seemed to freeze for she tensed up, making Liara raise her head back up in concern.

"I-… I can't go back to sleep" She took a deep breath "I don't want to"

Liara quickly grasped what her lover meant and hugged her closer briefly before she placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder and gently turned her so that she faced the Asari. Liara silently placed a tender, chaste kiss on the Commanders lips before proceeding to wrap her in a loving embrace.

It took Shepard a few moments before she her neurons kicked in and she returned the embrace, hugging Liara tightly to her and burying her face in the crook of her neck.

They stood like that for a while before Liara pulled back slightly in order to look into Shepard's red rimmed eyes. She placed a hand on her cheek and Shepard responded by closing her eyes slowly and leaning into her lovers touch.

"Love, come and sit with me" Liara offered delicately before she grabbed the Commanders hand with her own and gracefully led her to the side of the bed. Shepard followed her lover trustingly as she sat on the bed against the headboard, and pulled the Commander down beside her. Once they had settled on the bed, Liara wrapped her arm around Shepard and gently pulled her down until the Commander's head was resting just below the nook of Liara's neck

Liara proceeded to lovingly stroke her fingers through Shepard's hair as the Commander relaxed in her arms.

A few moments later Shepard spoke up "Liara?" she asked huskily.

"I'm here, Love" Liara responded kindly

"I love you" Shepard said before she sighed contently "… so much" she finished a little above a whisper.

Liara smiled affectionately down at her lover before she replied, her heart swelling with the warmth and affection she felt for this woman "I love you too, Shepard"

Slowly but surely Shepard's body began to feel heavy, like it was going to sink right into the mattress. Her eyelids began to grow heavy and she hardly resisted the oncoming passage into slumber. Before she fully succumbed to sleep however, she managed to utter in a slur "Thank you"

Liara continued to stroke Shepard's hair and smiled once again. She vowed that she would help Shepard through this, however long it would take and however many nights she had to lull her to sleep. They were indestructible and this was by far not even close to the worse they had already overcome. They would get through this together, just like they had gotten through everything else and when they were good and ready they would start working on those little blue babies.

~FIN~

Hope you enjoyed this short story and thanks for reading! This was revised and edited by the author in 2018.

/E.V