AN: I decided there isn't enough family fluff for Femshep/Liara in the Mass Effect Universe, and plus I'm struggling to write anything angsty/action/serious so hey, why not stick to what I'm comfortable with right? So yeah.
This will be a series of one-shots following the Reaper War, it won't really have an end, I just figured it would be easy to collate all my Shiara fluff in one place :)
Enjoy!
So here she was, faced down with the hardest thing she had ever had to do in her entire lifetime. She'd defeated the reapers, stood toe to toe with one as it fired lasers at her; she'd torn husks apart with her bare hands, blood splattering her armour; put bullets through the heads of Cerberus lackeys and defended the universe from everything imaginable, but this?
Shepard bit her lower lip, steeling herself. Her hands flexed and un-flexed instinctively as she struggled to find the willpower within herself to prepare for what she was about to undertake. She sighed heavily, swallowing a lump in her throat as she prayed for someone to come along and save her from having to perform this duty; nothing in life could prepare her for what she was about to face.
"You can do this," she whispered to herself bravely, giving a small nod as she took another deep breath.
She stared down at the squirming blue baby on the changing table before her, clad only in a diaper that she could smell was in dire need of changing, and she knew the second she pulled the sticky tabs free that she would be met with the scent times ten.
"Okay little blue, here we go," she cooed softly, smiling despite herself as the barely two-month old made high pitched humming sounds as her daddy's hands finally found their way to the sides of the diaper and quickly tore open the tabs.
"Oh... OH!" her nose crinkled and she felt her eyes literally begin to water as the full force of the smell hit her sinuses, burning with a ferocity she felt that even that of ryncol could not match.
She swore she was a good father, really she was. Shepard got up at all hours of the night, warming bottles of breast milk that Liara kept in the fridge from using a breast pump, letting her wife get as much sleep as she could to recover from the majority of lethargy being a new parent caused. She sung little Amira to sleep, human lullabies her own mother had sung to her when she was a child.
Shepard would bathe, clothe and play with their daughter, her face almost breaking in half from the constant smile that she wore. Certainly, being a happy family with her daughter and her gorgeous, braniac wife was the life she was sure everyone else in the Universe was jealous of. She was even- somehow- jealous of her own life some days.
How did she just ever get so lucky? Perhaps she would never know, but she was equal parts grateful and elated. However, this was the one thing she had always dreaded. Usually, Liara would still be awake enough to be able to deal with diaper changes and to this day, Shepard had not needed to come face to face with the demon she now stared down at. Liara had been out cold and had swatted the Commander away despite her insistence that her motherliness was needed, the asari mumbling something in her sleep about 'a varren that had babies with a krogan'.
So here she was, using a single finger to carefully pull back the front of the diaper, her eyes widening and a cough making its way painfully out of her chest as she resisted the urge to gag. There was the culprit, that pile of goo that had been smushed all over Amira's tiny backside.
"Oh Amira... honey, stop squirming, you're making it-" Shepard watched with disdain as her daughter lifted her pudgy little legs up into the air, grabbing a hold of them momentarily before letting them go again, mashing them into the mess in the diaper underneath.
Amira must have felt it, because her face screwed up and Shepard could clearly see that the little bundle was about to start sobbing at the horrible wetness now covering the back of her thighs. That's when she decided it was now or never; the last thing she would have would be a crying infant and a wife woken and cranky from an otherwise peaceful sleep.
"Okay, heeerrre we go!" in the most soothing voice she could muster, she took Amira by the ankles with one hand, lifting the child just enough that she could pull the messy diaper away from her body in one swift motion with the other. The diaper was quickly wrapped up and thrown into the waste bin beside the change table, a wave of relief overtaking the human now that the worst of it was out of the way.
Now she just had to clean up Amira and put on a new one, and all would be good.
Peering down, she saw the mess now staining the the top sheet on the change table. Well, nothing a round in the washer wouldn't fix, she supposed. Reaching under the table, she retrieved the baby wipes and a clean, pre-packaged diaper. This couldn't be too hard, I mean, she'd watched Liara do it more times now than she could count.
The lid of the wipes popped open easily, revealing the white, moist cloth poking out through the hole in the top. She tugged one out, took a moment to ponder it, then pulled out another two. Amira struggled as she lifted the girl's first leg and began wiping at it, small, keening wails beginning in her little throat.
"Oh Mirry, shhh you'll wake mummy, shhhh it's okay daddy's here and she's gonna' get you all cleaned up, okay sweetie?" trying her best to take on a soothing tone didn't help much, when she could feel the panic rising up in her chest. God, please don't wake Liara up.
Wiping down the second thigh while 'shhh'ing' Amira seemed to settle the child a little more, her whines slowly subsiding as her big, ice-blue eyes looked up into her father's so inquisitively it captured the woman's heart. She has your eyes, my love. She recalled Liara's voice in the back of her mind, her first memory of Amira being brought into this world, wrapped up firmly in a blanket in her mother's arms as they lay in a hospital bed.
A cheesy smile cracked across Shepard's face; she reached down with both hands held in a claw like shape and tickled the pudgy little tummy in front of her, a squeal of delight singing from tiny vocal chords in response to the tickle attack. A rich chuckle escaped from the Commander's own throat, her fingers easing off their torture as she gave the pot-belly a gentle pat with her palm.
She retrieved one of the other clean wipes and with renewed vigour got to work cleaning off the rest of the mess between Amira's butt-cheeks, making sure to get every last bit. As she tossed the dirty cloths into the waste bin, she tore open the new diaper, unfolding it and placing underneath the now placid child. Well, I guess that didn't turn out to be so bad after all. An afterthought, that left a tender smile on her face as she pulled the paper off the tabs and firmly secured the protective padding, giving it a tug to make sure it wasn't too loose.
"Look at that! Daddy changed your diaper allllll by herself! Reckon' mumma' blue would be proud?" picking Amira up carefully, Shepard secured her against her chest, pressing a few tender kisses to the soft, freckled crest. A high pitched cry of contentedness came in reply, making the woman let out a soft laugh, followed by more kisses.
"I think mumma' blue would indeed be proud," the soft, sleepy voice that interrupted the tender moment between father and daughter was half welcomed, part of Shepard's gut instinctively sinking as she realised she had woken up her lover, her face dropping with guilt as she turned to meet ocean-blue eyes.
"Babe, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to-"
Her voice, barely above a whisper, never got around to finishing as she took in the sight before her.
Liara was clad in black panties and a thick cut bra, the kind that had special cups that unclipped for breast-feeding. They fit her and supported her swollen mounds perfectly, barely an inch of cleavage revealed from underneath the thin, satin nightgown thrown lazily over top and tied loosely at the hips. The best part though, was the look of absolute adoration the asari had on her face.
Her lips curled into a loving smile, her cheeks rosy and eyes puffy, the look of just being woken somehow making her look more radiant than ever as she shuffled over. Her mouth and Shepard's met in a long, lingering kiss, the two practically melting against one another.
"Mmmm... I guess you're not mad at me then?" Shepard asked quietly, her voice lowering as she pulled away scant millimetres. Liara tipped her head sideways just a touch, bumping their noses together in one of her favourite gestures of affection as a stray blue hand explored the backside of Shepard's black boxer shorts.
A mischievous smile made its way across the Asari's face, her eyes sparkling despite the obvious tiredness in her features. She reached out and gingerly coaxed Amira from the humans arms, shushing the babe and pressing a kiss to the same spot Shepard had, cradling her carefully before turning back to her wife.
"How could I be mad at such a wonderful, doting father?" inquiring in a tone that suggested it was a fact rather than a question, causing a light blush to creep up Shepard's cheeks and ears.
"Yeah well, y'know, I still feel bad for waking you up. But... you look absolutely fucking gorgeous right now, just thought you should know," Shepard tried to hide her slight embarrassment, leaning in to grasp Liara firmly at the hips, fingering the silken fabric underneath her hands ever so slowly.
Humming softly in approval, Liara pressed another sweet kiss to the Commander's lips, shifting her arms to adjust Amira's weight as their daughter wriggled restlessly.
"You can show me later how gorgeous you think I am," a promise the asari knew her wife would have no trouble fulfilling as she already saw the human bite her lower lip; heard her hum low in her throat.
"But right now, you can go make us breakfast. I'll dress Amira and be down shortly."
"Right. Breakfast. I can do that. You go do mummy stuff and daddy will be downstairs preparing a feast fit for a Queen and Princess," as she finished her sentence Shepard leant down, pressing a warm kiss to Amira's cheek, then standing tall again and pressing another to her wife's waiting lips.
"I love you Li," she whispered, enjoying the way those blue cheeks grew just a little darker at her words.
"I love you too, now go make me food, I'm absolutely famished," her voice both commanding yet jovial, her eyes revealing to Shepard just how much and how deeply she really did love her bond-mate.
A grin broke across the commander's face, and she was downstairs in a flash. She did indeed keep her word, serving up a breakfast that, in her opinion, would make even the Royal Family of England envious. Only the best for her two favourite girls in the entire Universe.