Set right before the end of Mass Effect 2, Miranda is trying to keep her mind off the inevitable when Kasumi Goto shimmers into view; femslash. Hope you like it!

Perfect genetics, perfect eyesight, a perfect brain, not to mention a high tolerance for sleep deprivation…and yet here she was nodding off as she worked. This wasn't like her. She had so much to do and so little time to do it all.

"You need to relax more."

Her lips curved into a smile even as she let out a sigh. "Kasumi, how long have you been there?"

"Long enough to see how tense you are," she replied smoothly, bending down so that her head was at the same level as Miranda's from her seat behind her desk. "You can't do anything else, Miranda. We're as prepared as we're ever going to be."

The words meant something, if only because it was Kasumi saying them. Kasumi Goto wasn't one to deal in platitudes; she'd tell you exactly what she was doing while she stole your life savings.

"I don't like feeling helpless," was Miranda's reply. What else could she say? It was true. Shepard was speeding them towards what had to be certain death, and they got to spend the next few days with nothing to do but think about it.

The ship was so quiet with the crew missing. Miranda had hardly spoken to any of them outside of their duties, and yet…she missed them. More than she'd thought she ever would. Sleep came difficult as she imagined what their fates had been (Shepard maintained they could live, but Miranda was no fool, and she did not hope more than she dared).

Kasumi looked at her, eyes shining from under the hood. A long moment of silence passed between them. No one said anything, and Miranda shook her head, unsure what she had expected. Of course Kasumi couldn't do anything. Kasumi couldn't ease fear she was no doubt feeling herself.

Kasumi reached up and pulled the hood down, revealing her face. In their nights together the lights had been off so that Miranda could never fully glimpse the other woman's face. This was new. This…this meant something.

Kasumi was beautiful, but Miranda had already known that. More surprisingly, tears were bringing in her eyes.

"I'm scared," she said calmly, wiping her eyes free of liquid. "I'm so scared, Miranda."

Miranda could hardly believe she was hearing this, but what was even more surprising were the words that came out of her own mouth.

"So am I."

Kasumi smiled. "I know. Thank you for telling me."

She stood there, uncloaked and unhooded, black hair falling into her eyes and blinking away tears. Miranda almost knocked over her chair in her haste to get out from behind her desk, to make it to Kasumi, because fear was on every side and while they didn't have much, at least they had each other.

"I'm a thief," said Kasumi evenly. "I steal things. I wasn't prepared for this."'

"I know," said Miranda.

"Were you?"

Miranda wanted to say yes. After all, this had been her project. Shepard had been her project. But this was no longer vague plans to be realized sometime in the future, where the lives at risk were hypothetical. This was real, and people had died. Those people could include either of them soon enough. Either of them, or both of them.

"No," said Miranda. "I had no idea what it would feel like to fly in the face of certain death. Not this way."

"Thank you," said Kasumi, because she knew Miranda, knew how difficult that was for her to say.

They stood there for several seconds, a distance between them, Miranda's hand gripping the edge of her desk as she searched Kasumi's face, trying to memorize it while she could, because the hood would go back up, and the only time she might ever see it again was in death.

"What're you waiting for?" said those flawless lump lips, the purple mark stretching as Kasumi smiled. "You've never hesitated before."

Miranda closed the gap between and crushed their lips together, all the fear and worry and uncertainty escaping her as they kissed, Kasumi's fingers tightening in her hair, pulling her head towards her, telling her stay, stay, god please stay. Miranda wrapped her arms around the smaller woman, holding her close, the feeling of helplessness receding for the first time for what felt like years, the only thoughts in her head focused on this woman in her arms.

It was nice. It was more than nice. It was something good, something important. Something Miranda didn't want to lose.

She broke their kiss to draw breath, noting with satisfaction that Kasumi's lips were kiss swollen and red. She smiled, the curve of her lips turning into a smirk.

"There's the look I like to see," said Kasumi. "There's Miranda Lawson."

"I can show you a lot more, given the night," she replied.

When Kasumi laughed, Miranda could see her eyes crinkle with amusement, her whole face lighting up. Miranda leaned forward and kissed the top of her forehead.

"Oh? What was that for?"

"If we make it through this," said Miranda. "We should keep doing this."

"Is the sex that good? I'm flattered," said Kasumi, her expression light but her dark eyes watching Miranda. The gaze was intense; perhaps part of the reason she wore the hood?

"It's not just the sex," said Miranda, who was grateful that she was capable of speaking her mind, for being able to say the difficult words that resisted the journey from her throat out through her straight white teeth.

Kasumi didn't reply to that, but her smile became a little more genuine, and the next kiss was sweeter. She was so soft and so warm that Miranda lost herself in the body in her arms, and she had almost forgotten the subject at hand when Kasumi spoke.

"I'd like that," she said. "When we survive this, we'll keep this going. Whatever this is, it won't end."

"You always know how to cheer me up," said Miranda, who wasn't joking.

They kissed again, speeding towards certain death on a nearly empty spaceship.

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