This is Their Story- Chapter 1
Rating: M
Pairing: (F) Shepard/Liara T'Soni
Summary: Commander Samantha Jean Shepard has just defeated Seran, and wants nothing more then to rest for a while, preferably with her Asari; Dr. Liara T'Soni. But the visions from the beacons still haunt her dreams with death and destruction, and she knows the fight isn't over; it had just been delayed. But before she has a chance to start preparing, she is killed. Liara T'Soni, after handing over her lovers body to Cerberus, becomes an information broker; splitting her time between her work and her personal life. Her only hope at this point, is that Shepard wasn't lying when she said she would love her for the rest of her life.
A/N: So, I've decided, that I was going to branch out a bit, see how well I could write a story for one of my favorite games. Now I just have to gain the courage to post this and the other two video game fic's I have... Or is it three? *Ponders* Oh well...
Oh, just so you know, I'm more or less skipping the first game, This starts literally right after the fight with Seran; and continues into the second game. I will explain certain things that happened in the first game's timeline as I go, mostly to give the few OC characters I have a background history.
Also, last thing, I promise (If anyone is even reading this) I'm still looking up a lot of info about things in the games, even though I've played all three games at least four times. Please, don't be afraid to tell me if I messed something us or if something is just completely out in left field. Thanks! ^^
I don't own anything related to Mass Effect. Pointless to sue, don't got money.
Shepard walked slowly through the ruble, up a slanted piece of wall and stood tall. Or well, as tall as she could with her ribs hurting like they did. She looked down at her friends, smiling gently at Liara as the Asari walked towards her. Ashley was wrapped protectively around Tali, glaring at the Quarian softly while muttering something.
"Shepard." Liara said softly, wrapping her arm around the Commanders waist when she got to her.
"Hello." The Spectre said back, placing her arm around Liara's neck and pulling her into a hug. She nuzzled the side of the scientists face, purring gently, "I love you, Lia."
"As I love you." Liara whispered, pulling back so she could give her lover a proper kiss, "Now, Dr. Chakwas is waiting. Let's see if you actually broke those ribs of yours."
Shepard nodded, allowing her lover to help her down the pile of rubble and through the majority demolished Citadel to the docking bay that housed the Normandy. Dr. Chakwas confirmed that she had fractured two of her ribs, but as long as she rested for the next few days, Medi-gel would fix it. After she was warned properly, Shepard left the Med-bay; letting Chakwas focus on patching up Liara and Tali. She headed straight for her room, reclining on her bed with a data-pad, intent on writing Liara another letter. She had been doing so since a little after the Asari had gotten on her ship, and had loved to bring it up to the scientist, since she would show off the cute blush she got when she was shy. It was only twenty minutes later, when she found herself falling asleep.
When Liara was finally free to go, told to be careful of her right arm and to favor the right leg for a while, she headed to the Commanders room, opening the door to see Shepard asleep with a data-pad resting on her chest. The Asari couldn't stop the chuckle as she walked over and placed the mini computer on her humans night stand before laying down next to her.
"Mm, Liara?" Shepard murmured, rolling over and nuzzling closer to the Asari.
"Yes?" Liara asked gently, holding on tighter.
"No lookie." The savior of the citadel responded, "Not finished with the letter."
Liara giggled, "Ok love, I won't look."
Shepard murmured something else before falling back asleep. Liara was close behind her, with both of them wrapped protectively around each other.
~o0o~
"Ashley, I'm fine." Tali said softly, sitting on a bed in the med-bay, watching her girlfriend pace back and forth.
Ashley didn't respond, just kept up her relentless pacing. There was a scowl plastered on her face, and after a minute, she stopped and looked at Dr. Chakwas.
"Are you done Doctor?" She asked, hiding her annoyance with everything that was going on. She had not been happy when the Commander had chosen Tali for the Ilos mission, but had not argued; knowing she could get in serious trouble for it.
"Almost. Oh, and the Commander OK'd it." Chakwas said, remembering Shepard asking her to pass the message on.
"Thank you." Ashley said, relaxing slightly at the news.
"Ok'd what?" Tali asked, watching the Doc patch up the last small tear in her suit.
"We're not staying on the ship tonight." Ashley answered.
Tali nodded, forgoing trying to argue. She knew that Ash would win, the gunnery chief always won their little arguments. Not that she complained any, she loved seeing her girlfriend angry. When she was done, she allowed Ashley to help her out of the med-bay, then out of the ship and towards the Commanders apartment. They rode the elevator and typed in the access code. They walked in and found Audri sitting in a chair reading a book.
Audri was a rather tall African with a tan that was noticeable. Her long light brown hair was pulled back into a pony-tail, and as she glanced up, the two could see the slight red tint of her cyberetic implants through her eyes; almost making them look purple with the blue that was her real eye color. She smiled at them, making the scar that ran through her left eyebrow show more,
"Hello ladies." She said, her voice having a Russian lit to it, "I'm glad you came over today, I need you to sign the papers." She added, activating her omi-tool. She transferred the data to Ashley, before going back to her book.
Ashley sat on the couch next to her girlfriend, who was fidgeting with curiosity. The soldier smiled at the Quarian gently as she pulled up the document on her omi-tool, reading over the document slowly to make sure everything was right before signing her name and smiling as she sent it to C-sec and the apartment manager. She turned back to Tali,
"Would you like to go for a walk, before seeing your surprise?" She asked,
Tali tilted her head, "And what might my surprise be, My Human?"
Ash chuckled, never minding that Tali called her 'My Human'. For them it was always a term of endearment; though it had taken them a while to understand that. Now it was something they used both for fun, and for the hell of it; mostly for fun though.
"Ah. I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait and see." Ashley said softly, grabbing Tali's hand and gently pulling her back out the door. Right before the door closed, Ashley thanked Audri for her help, who nodded her head with a small secretive smile.
The two of them walked slowly around the presidium, staying close to the apartments just to be on the safe side of things. Ashley didn't want her lover getting an infection if her suit teared open again, not before she could show her what the human had been planning the past few weeks; with their Commanders help. After a few hours, there was a beep on Ash's Omi-Tool, and she looked at it to see a small note.
'The place's ready. I even left a few boosters for Tali. Have fun.
-Audri'
Ashley laughed before standing from the bench they were sitting on and steering Tali towards the apartments again, but this time going up to a different floor then Shepard's. She stepped in front of a door marked with numbers and opened it with the pass code she had asked Audri to set up. The door opened and she stepped through, turning to watch Tali as the Quarian entered.
Tali looked around in awe, wondering in the back of her mind why they were there. She turned back to Ashley, who then gently reach out to her, resting her hand on the side of her helmet.
"This is our place... If, you want that..." The Human said softly, a nervous tone showing through. The soldier never usually let her fears be known, but after the two had gotten together, Tali had broken down those walls; making sure the Gunnery chief knew she could trust the Quarian with her heart.
Tali leaned into the touch, "Our place?" She asked, a hope building in her chest.
Ashley nodded, "Only if you want."
Tali laughed gently, "You should know better, My Human. I want."
Ashley smiled, laughing softly at herself, "You're right. I'm being dumb." She turned and walked into the living room. The space was large, with two chairs and a couch facing the window, that doubled as the TV. She stopped at the coffee table and grabbed one of the three small containers filled with liquid. She turned back to Tali and held it out.
"I've been taking boosters for the past month, I've also had Audri get this place ready by sterilizing it as much as she could. If you want... You can take one of these and be able to walk around outside of your suit for a few hours." Ashley explained, letting her voice hint at the hope she felt.
Tali could swear that her breathing got faster. She could hear the hope, and it mirrored what she was feeling. Throughout the seven months that they'd been dating, this was never brought up. Ashley had told her in the beginning that she would just be happy with having Tali as her own. They would bring it up in passing, wondering what it would be like, but they had never planned anything. Tali had been debating with herself for about a week on whether she wanted to bring it up or not. But now, the choice had been taken from her, and she wasn't sure if she was ready.
She looked back up at Ashley, realizing that she had tilted her head down while thinking. The look the Human gave her was enough to shock her back to reality. The hope in Ashley's eyes had dimmed a bit, and the hand holding the container was now at her side.
"I-I... I guess... We c-could wait..." Ashely muttered, closing her eyes to hide the tears that wanted to fall.
The words were like a punch to Tali's stomach and she moved forward, finally noticing that her silence had hurt her lover.
"No, Ash." She said softly, reaching out to grab the vile, "I want this too... But I don't know what you will think of me... when you finally get to see what I actually look like."
Ashley looked up, a soft laugh leaving her as a few tears trailed down her cheeks, "I'll tell you what I will see, Tali'Zorah. I will see the woman I love for the first time, and I will love her more."
Tali nodded slowly as she injected the booster into her system. She gave it a few minutes to go through her body before reaching up. Ashley's hands stopped her, taking their place and slowly unlatching the Quarian's helmet. It fell to the floor a moment later as the Human smiled widely at her lover.
~o0o~
Audri looked up at the window above her, smiling. She was standing on the small balcony, watching the shadows play across the closed window curtain. She was happy for them, her friends. She gave a chuckle at the thought; she had friends now. She was so use to only having Shepard as a friend, since no one trusted a person with Cyberetic implants. Something she had had for a long time now. She gave another chuckle as she left the balcony, grabbed her leather jacket, and walked out the apartment.
She wouldn't be alive today, if it hadn't been for the Commander. Thanks to the car accident when she was sixteen, that left her in a coma for almost a year. The Commander had always had a knack for anything she put her mind to. She had been working on that little cyberetic project for years, trying to figure out a way to help others with it. When she had gotten a call about Audri being in a coma, she had worked herself to near death to get it usable. Audri was told by the Doctor that if it hadn't been for those implants, she would have very well been in that coma for the rest of her life, while her body tried in vain to heal the wounds she had gotten even with the help of medi-gel.
"What has a lovely lady like you so upset?" A voice asked, making Audri snap out of her thoughts. She turned to face the asari that spoke, smiling brightly at seeing her girlfriend standing in front of her,
"Nothing Sweetie, just thinking about my accident." She stated, grabbing Sha'ira's hand and pulling her closer; giving her palm a gentle kiss.
Sha'ira chuckled, "Remind me to thank the Commander. If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have met you."
Audri nodded, her smile brightening even more with her happiness, "Ready for our date, love?"
Sha'ira nodded, linking her arm with Audri's and guiding her down the street; to the restaurant that she had made reservations with before Saren had attacked. As they walked, felt herself being pulled into her own memories.
She had seen the woman next to her several times throughout the few years that Audri had lived on the Citadel. But it had always been at a distance. Sha'ira hadn't been willing to try to talk to the beautiful lady that always sat on a bench in the park, staring up at the sky; lost in thought. She had been dealing with her old Turian friend, and was afraid of something like that happening again with the human.
But that had changed after News spread that there was a Human Spectre, and that Saren was discharged. The Human Spectre had passed by her Chambers one day, laughing with a Quarian and an Asari over something that had happened on the ship; from what she could hear. An hour later, she passed by again, this time coming to a stop, with the woman Sha'ira had been watching wrapped around her arm. A Jealous rage had nearly made her collapse, followed by a wave of sadness. The woman she was starting to have feelings for, was taken.
She had thought wrong though, and all of her anger and sadness dissipated when the woman looked up and caught her eyes, smiling happily as she started to wave at her while tugging on the Spectre's arm.
"Sammi. That's her!" She had said, dragging the woman over to where she was standing.
"Ah, the mystery woman of your dreams." She had said, smiling, "Hello, My name's Shepard. This is Audriana."
"Love?"
Sha'ira snapped back to the present, "Yes?"
"Now who's lost in thought?" Audri said, a playful smirk tugging at her lips.
Sha'ira laughed, "I'm just remembering the day Shepard helped me... Both with getting you and taking care of my old friend."
Audri nodded, a happy little smile stretched across her face at the memory of their first date. She looked at her Asari goddess and made her stop. She reached out and wrapped her hand around the back of her girlfriends neck pulling her into a deep, heartfelt kiss, "I love you." She murmured, when she finally pulled back.
Sha'ira smiled, "As I love you."
A/N: So, I think this will be the preview/introduction to my story. I have a lot more then this typed out, but I'm going through and editing it all bit by bit. I thought this would be a good starting point though.
Hope you Enjoyed! ^^