Note: When playing ME2 Lair of the Shadow Broker & ME3, Liara's reaction to wanting to restart their relationship felt unnatural. It seemed to come down to Liara saying, "I know you've been dead for two years, and I seemed uncomfortable with our relationship when you for saw me on Illium. But do you want to get together now?"

Then after you agree with her nothing happens, and only after major events do Shepard and Liara talk about their relationship.

I understood this why this was like that in the game, but it got me thinking, how would they work things out?

So this is my attempt to put down the thoughts and motivations of both Shepard and Liara, and how what they have been thru, has damaged them both.

Please read and review if you like, any feedback will be welcome.

Thanks.

Chapter One: Last Known Surroundings

XXXXXXXXX

I should have never turned myself in. It's been six months that I've been stuck here, and not a goddamned thing has been done.

Alia Shepard thinks to herself with a sigh, she began drying herself off from the shower she just took. She ran her hand thru her dark red hair, checking on how it was growing since she woke up almost bald, from what Miranda told her, her hair had just started to grow back a few weeks before she was forced to wake up from her two year death. It was now about neck length and was starting to even out.

Alia was never one to really look at herself in a mirror; in recent months it got harder for her to look at herself; she avoided the mirror for weeks at a time. Shepard was surprised how different she looked from the last time she check herself. She was a tall woman, just over six feet tall, with a muscular figure, that of a person whose job requires a lot of activity and not of a person who was addicted to working out. Her skin was a shade of olive, slightly darker then usual; since this is the longest period of time she has spent on a planet in over five years. Shepard's skin was also crisscrossed with scars, the older ones having faded to match her skin tone just changing the texture. A knife wound on her abdomen from Mindoir, a burn on her shoulder from Akuze. Her most recent scar stood out the most, a three inch scar on her forehead just above her left eye, courtesy of a console on board the Normandy. It was fading as well, but still a light pink that stood out on her darker skin. Shepard rubbed the scar on her forehead and laughed a bit.

I start a fight at the Collectors home world, and damn near knock myself out and give myself a concussion before I even get my feet on the ground. I have the best luck.

Alia finished dressing and went into her living area; she grabbed a datapad and started to look thru book titles. Shepard has been held in Vancouver under arrest since she turned herself into the Alliance six months ago. In an instant, Alia lost everything she'd been working for since she joined the Alliance, her ship, rank and even her Specter status. Even her current "accommodations" weren't her own doing, Anderson's and Hackett's good word got her house arrest; else she would have either thrown into the brig, or just handed over to the Batarians. She even got a liaison, Lieutenant James Vega, courtesy of Anderson.

Officially, Shepard is to be held until she is brought before a military tribunal, they already stated what she is being charged with within two days of turning herself in, going AWOL, illegal procurement of Alliance material & genocide. The AWOL charge was dropped due to her being listed as KIA; apparently you can't go AWOL if you're dead. The illegal procurement charge came from the fact that some of the weapons Cerberus provided her were in fact stolen from the Alliance. So when she turned herself in and handed over the Normandy, she also gave the Alliance a ship full of evidence to use against her.

After two weeks on earth, Shepard realized that she was going to be stuck here for a while. Officially she was to be held until a military tribunal was to decide how many life sentences she was to serve. In actuality, the Alliance was dragging their feet. Alliance brass didn't want to admit any fault regarding the Batarians, and politically, since they removed them selves from the Council, there wasn't anything the Batarians could do other than empty threats war.

Her quarters weren't huge, but it was the size she had been accustomed to living in. It was slightly larger then her cabin on the Normandy. The extra size came from a small kitchen, which must have been someone idea as a joke considering the only thing she could cook was a MRE. She had floor to ceiling windows that allowed her to look out at the Vancouver sky line. The biggest issue with her room was the silence. Alia had spent years of her life on board one ship or another after she left Mindoir and a ship is never silent. You can always hear the life support hissing or the engine humming or people moving about, but it's never as quiet as planet side can be.

So for six months all Shepard did was hit the gym for an hour a day, talk to an assigned shrink twice a week, read books approved by said shrink (which weren't many), and think. All of the unbidden and unwelcome thoughts and doubts running thru her mind, remembering the friends she's lost, the deaths she was responsible for and, most of all, Liara.

The pain familiar pain begins to spread in her chest as Liara enters her thoughts for what seams to be the thousandth time today. Shepard and Liara didn't exactly part on the best foot, but a step in the right direction. Before Alia died, their relationship was beginning to turn serious. So much so that she was looking into Bondmate rituals and they were discussing their future together. Shepard understood that she had been dead for two years and that everyone moved on. The hardest part was that she didn't, when Alia woke up in that Cerberus station, she felt like the same person she was two years before. She didn't even believe Jacob and Miranda when that told her how much time had passed. Liara was, understandably, less then willing to start up where they left off. She had asked Shepard to give her some time, to let her understand what she wanted and what she was feeling, Alia was willing to wait for Liara.

Before Shepard was detained, she told Hackett to get Liara to research what they were going to need to fight the Reapers. The Admiral said he would give her whatever she asked for. Last Shepard heard was that Liara accepted Hackett's offer and was working with him.

Shepard sighed to herself and looked at the overcast Vancouver sky.

I wonder what Liara is doing right now…

A knock came from the door behind her. Alia turned around and dropped the datapad she wasn't reading on her bed.

"Come in."

The door opened and Vega walked in to the room. Vega was several inches taller the Shepard and weighed at least 100 lbs more, and she was no light weight herself. From her time with Vega, she learned that his favorite past time was working out. While she worked out to stay in shape during her down time, Vega actually enjoyed the activity.

"Hey Commander."

"You know I'm not a Commander anymore." Shepard replied bitterly.

Vega grinned slightly.

"Yeah whatever you say Commander."

Vega's grin was infectious.

"What can I do for you Lieutenant?"

His grin got wider and Shepard sighed to herself for giving him such an easy one.

"Oh, you know, this and that would be nice. But it's going to have to wait; Anderson wanted me to bring you to him."

"What's going on?"

XXXXXXXXX

Liara was sitting in the mess hall of the Alliance Mars Research Facility, eating a simple lunch and reading her latest findings on her datapad. She had just forwarded her initial report to Admiral Hackett. It looked to be a Prothean weapon developed to destroy the Reapers, but there was no evidence if it was ever built or if it would even work. It was all they had to go on so far. Liara put the datapad down and pinched the bridge of her nose, a habit she picked up from Shepard from their time together. She could feel a headache forming behind her eyes. It had been over twenty-four since she had slept and it was catching up to her.

Alia wouldn't be happy if she knew how much I was working.

A small smile formed on her face at the thought of Shepard.

Shepard had been willing to give Liara the time she needed. Certainly more than they both were expecting, after Shepard's incarceration. But it gave her the time she needed to think. Liara was scared; the pain she had felt when Alia died was on par with the death of her mother, except she had lost her only support when Shepard was killed.

Liara thought she had moved on after Alia's death, now she wasn't so sure. She had been stuck in the moment she saw the Normandy destroyed; she had even blamed herself for a little for not being there for Shepard. She shook those off as irrational, but those feeling were still there.

Liara shook her head, feeling the pain settle behind her eyes. The headaches had been common for her, taking stims to stay awake for days at a time, was not a healthy habit to maintain. With her report sent to Admiral Hackett, Liara decided now would be a good time to get some rest. She collected her things and began heading to her quarters, her mind focused on Alia. She had accepted that still had strong feelings for Shepard, in retrospect, those feelings never really went away.

And all it took was to see Alia back from the dead to figure that out. Liara thought somewhat bitterly.

Liara wasn't sure where their relationship would go from here; she and Shepard will still have to work things out. But she knew that she at least wanted to try.

As Liara entered her quarters and began to undress, the lights went out and the emergency back up kicked on. Seconds later she could hear weapons fire and screaming.

XXXXXXXXX

Following Vega out into the hallway, Shepard noticed two things, the armed guards that normally stood outside her door were nowhere to be seen and the hallway was full of activity. Personal were walking with purpose, others were running yelling for others to make a hole. It was like someone kicked a bee hive. To Shepard this could only mean one thing, war. But the question was against whom?

The estimate Shepard had was that it would take close to a year for the reapers to make it to the closest mass relay and began their attack. It could be the Batarians, but they didn't have a military that could stand up to the Alliance. They were vengeful, but not suicidal. But considering how many people she killed with the Alpha Relay, they might be desperate.

All things considered, Shepard hoped it was the Batarians. They still needed time to prepare for the Reapers.

At the end of the hall, Alia saw Admiral Anderson round the corner and head straight for them. It had been a while since she had seen Anderson; he would stop by every month or so to talk to her, let her know how everything was going. The look on his face was grim.

"Shepard."

"Anderson. The Batarians or Reapers?" Alia replied as the three of them head back the way Anderson came from.

He eyed her briefly before answering.

"We're not sure, but we don't think it's the Batarians. There were minimal ship movements the last few weeks. Ten hours ago, they went dark. According to Hackett, we are losing contact with major colonies. He's mobilizing the fleets now and began evacuation of Arcturus Station."

"Shit! Admiral, it has to be the Reapers. No way the Batarians could hit us like this."

"I agree. The defense committee is gathering now, they wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, so they had me locked up for six months, took away my rank and my ship, all so when the Reapers show up they can talk to me about our defense." Alia said full of anger and more than a little bitterly.

"Goddammit Shepard! You destroyed a mass relay, that in and of itself almost got humans ejected from the Council! The pressure to just hang you out to dry was immense. No one wanted to start a war with the Batarians so we couldn't make it look like there were not consequences for what you did."

"I only did that to stop the Reapers from walking straight in, we needed time." Alia replied looking down at her feet. Sounding more like she was trying to convince herself more than Anderson.

"I know." Anderson said softly, and put his hand on Shepard's shoulder. "A lot of us do in fact. Speaking of rank…"

Shepard looked back up at Anderson as he activated his Omni-tool and brought up personal records.

"I'm giving you full re-instatement into the Alliance and returning you to the rank of Commander." He then reached down into his pocket, pulled out her tags and handed them to her.

"Let's go Commander."

Shepard stood there shocked for a few seconds before she began following Anderson again.

"Aye, aye sir"

As they approached the committee's chambers, Ashley Williams was stepping out. Anderson turned to Vega.

"You can stay out here and wait for us."

"Yes sir" Vega looked a little disappointed that he wasn't going to be able to see what was going on, for about the three seconds until he noticed Ashley coming towards them. Ashley saluted Anderson.

"Admiral."

"LC, you can stay here as well. We can catch up a bit." Anderson responded as he opened the doors to the Committee's chambers.

Alia didn't care much for catching up with Ashley. Aboard the original Normandy they never really saw each other eye to eye, and she made it known that she did not approve of Shepard "consorting" with an alien. Shepard then made it known that she didn't "give a thousand flying fucks" that Ashley didn't approve of her love life, and if it was a problem for her Shepard would find a place for her to transfer. From that point forward they kept their talks all business, they would work with each other but that's it.

Then there was horizon. Ashley seemed personally insulted that Shepard would "fake" her own death and not tell Ashley about for two years. Shepard had to make it clear to Ashley that there was nothing "fake" about how she was spaced, and as soon as Ashley heard Cerberus was involved with bringing her back Ashley turned from insulted to openly hostile. Shepard then told her to fuck off and left Ashley on horizon. To say they were not on good terms was putting it lightly in Alia's book.

"Um… Shepard." Ashley said, not sure how to address her.

"Williams." Alia responded coldly as she walked past Ashley without much of a glance and entered the chambers.

As the door closed Vega approached Williams.

"Do you know the commander?"

"I used to." Ashley responded.

The Defense Committee's chamber was set up almost like a courtroom. Ceiling was maybe ten meters high, the left and right sides of the room were lined with manned workstations. Screens were suspended three meters or so above where everyone was working. In front of Shepard and Anderson was a stage with a very wide crescent shaped desk. At the desk were six men and woman, all admirals. Behind them was a window over looking Vancouver. Six sets of eyes focused on Alia.

"Shepard." A woman on the committee began. Anderson cleared his throat.

"It's actually Commander, I have decided to offer re-instatement to Shepard" Anderson said. A few members looked shocked at this, but none voiced any concerns at the moment.

"Commander, as Admiral Anderson has briefed you, ten hours ago all contact with the Batarians was lost. Shortly there after we began to lose contact with colonies closest to Batarians space. Over the last several hours we have been losing contact with several colonies, the projections say that whatever this is, it's headed to Earth. Ten minuets ago we lost contact with Arcturus Station."

"Admiral Hackett?" Anderson jumped in, this obviously being news to him.

"Last we heard was he was beginning evacuations of Arcturus Station and preparing the fleets. As of now, the sol system is cut off from standard communication."

"What we need to do is to evacuate any populated area, starting now." Shepard began. "Give the fleets in orbit orders not to engage them directly."

"Wait. Then you know what we are up against?" A man on the committee asked.

"Do I need to spell it out for you? The Reapers are here, we ran out of time! We need to sal-" Shepard was cut off by a woman at one of the workstations.

"We just lost contact with Luna base!"

"The moon?! Why haven't we heard anything from the third fleet?!"

"They must be jamming the coms." Shepard offered a guess.

"The UK spaceport is reporting in that they are under attack! They have a visual!"

On the large screen a grainy video began to play. It showed a Reaper, about the same size as Sovereign a long with half a dozen smaller ones, attack the spaceport. They only seemed to be attacking ship and any sort of defenses that were visible. On the bottom of the screen an estimated deaths tally was raising, but not as fast as one would think with such wanton destruction.

"They're cutting off our defenses and our ability to escape! They're going to trap as may people as they on here so they can harvest us."

"But that would take years!" Someone shouted.

"They have time, we don't. We have to evacuate as many people as we can and plan a counterattack." Shepard stated.

Behind her Anderson was trying to get Williams on the com, he was having limited success but was able to get a message across.

At that moment, there was a rumble that filled the air and could be felt thru the building. Thru the overcast sky a Sovereign class Reaper was lowering itself into the middle of the city. Everyone stood in stunned silence.

"Oh my God." Someone whispered as The Reaper fired some sort of energy weapon at the near by spaceport.

"Back away! Get a way from the win-" was all Shepard was able to get out before the Reaper fired on their building. The beam hit ten meters from where Shepard was standing, right in the middle of where the defense committee and their aids were standing. The beam vaporized those nearest to the glass and those that were in the beam. The other were severely burned and thrown from the shockwave of super heated air. The shockwave hit Shepard square in the chest and threw her backwards, her head cracking the concrete wall.

In an instant, the world ceased to exist.