Liara's hands pressed gently into the soft, cool leather wrapped snugly around the outside of the book. They were common enough in museums and private collections, but it was considered a luxury for the general population to own them. This one was quite large; a deep ocean blue, like she'd seen on Earth from the observation room on the Normandy. Silver script was etched onto the binding in both human and asari letters. Shepard had undoubtedly spent a small fortune on it, considering the detail was custom. Liara suppressed a smirk at the thought of Shepard's last gift; a stuffed Varren in a horrid shade of pink with giant, green, plastic buttons for eyes. It was a terrible gift that Liara had kept despite Shepard's embarrassment. Its lopsided grin always made her laugh. Liara concluded she must have consulted their friends before making this purchase.
Carefully her fingers gripped the cover, lifting it to reveal the same silver lettering from the binding on the first page. She traced her fingertips over the glittering, embossed shapes. Shepard watched. Unable to tear her gaze from Liara, she admired how the light reflected off the book and onto her face; glowing in her eyes as she tilted her head. Shepard wanted to speak, to ask if she liked it, but her mouth felt as if it was filled with sand and Liara hadn't even gotten past the first page. Instead, she sat frozen, hands twisted into a knot between her knees.
Liara gently turned the page and let out a soft gasp as she revealed a photograph, somewhat grainy and a little out of focus, of Therum. She studied it with a puzzled look on her face, noticing both Tali and Wrex leaned up next to the old Mako. Briefly she glanced up at Shepard before looking down again at the image. Suddenly, realization dawned on her, "All of those times I caught you staring off in the distance...at me, I'd ask you what you were doing and you'd reply "just taking a picture"…you were really taking pictures?" Noticing her confusion Shepard finally spoke, "Oh! You didn't know?" Shepard nervously rubbed the back of her head. "My helmet has a camera interface. It can take still images and video," Her voice sounded a bit shaky, "Used to be that Alliance command periodically filmed missions to use for combat training. They phased that program out. But my helmet still had the camera." She fell silent.
"Since I didn't notice a camera I always thought it was just a human expression for appreciating the moment." Liara laughed at herself. She was smart, but she could also be embarrassingly dense. Shepard laughed along with her as Liara turned the page. More images of Therum with a sort of clumsy and accidental beauty that tended to emerge from the untrained eye. Shepard spoke again. "I started using it a lot. I never had any intention of showing them to anyone. It was just something I did to remember…people, places. I wanted to share them with you."
Liara remained quiet as Shepard spoke, a warm and fluttering feeling settled in her stomach as she listened. It was a side of Shepard she was simultaneously surprised and not at all surprised to see. The woman was fiercely private, even with her at times. She found herself recognizing certain images from their melds, but there was something pleasant and comforting about being able to look at them with her own eyes. All at once a jolt of emotion shot through her as she gazed down at herself. Well, the back of her head, walking toward the Mako after escaping the ruins. Shepard grinned and moved to sit next to Liara so they could look at the images together.
Page after page of places they'd been, people they'd met. There were also several images that they had taken together with Shepard's omni-tool. They spent a good amount of time exchanging memories and stories as they explored the book together. After a while Shepard had relaxed a bit, feeling confident that she'd overcome her embarrassing reputation for giving bad gifts. She was leaned back against the couch, hand rubbing gently across Liara's back. She noticed the asari had stopped turning pages and was sitting quite still. She'd been careful only to include pleasant images, although she had captured many emotionally jarring ones as well. But with Liara having grown quiet and still she worried one may have slipped in by accident. "What are you looking at?" she asked.
With eyes still cast down at the book of photographs in her hands Liara replied, voice quivering with emotion, "Your smile."