It took her a while to realise she was awake. Everything was black and the only real sign was the distant pain she felt, dulled thanks to heavy medication. Shepard felt as though her entire consciousness was wrapped in damp cotton wool, warm and soft but dark and slowly suffocating.

In the end that was what jolted her to awareness. Her breath came in laboured gasps and she could feel a mask pressing around her lips. She blinked and tried to look around but still, nothing but black. She began hyperventilating, claws of panic piercing through the medicated fog.

I'm dead. I'm dying. I'm suffocating. I'm spaced. The Normandy is going down. I'm spaced. That's why it's dark. I cant breath. I cant move. I can't-

Her thoughts abruptly cut off as she realised she could in fact move, if only a little. In her fear she had begun to claw around her, searching for anything t grab hold of. her frantic movements had tipped her to one side and the sensation of falling griped her, quickly followed by a hard, cold slap.

It was the feeling of gravity that managed to pull her back into reality. Gasping, she continued to claw at the floor, feeling cool plastic tiles. She tried again to blink, but the room remained in total darkness. She tried to stand, onlly now realising that she couldn't feel her legs.

Shepard was nothing if not stoic, but some situations can overpower the bravest of soldiers. A wordless scream of fear and panic escaped her lips as she clawed at the floor, trying desperately even to sit. She didn't even hear the strident beeps of the hospital machines, nor the sound of hurried footsteps as medics piled into the room. Commander Samantha Shepard was lost, helpless and blind, and for those horrible few minutes it seemed as though her sanity had fled her.

Liara stared at the coffee mug in her hands as though it held he secrets of the universe in it's dark depths. It had long since grown cold and truth be told, she was barely even aware she was still holding it. Her thoughts were firmly elsewhere.

It had been nearly two months since she and the others had recovered Sam from the Citadel control room, barely holding on to life. Her injuries had been extensive, ranging from third degree burns and broken ribs to damage to her spinal cord. It had been almost impossible to recognise her, so bad were the burns to her face. Shards of glass had been imbedded in her eyes, utterly ruining them. She had been rushed to the best medical facilities available and against all odds, she had been stabilised. But she had yet to awaken from the resulting coma.

Liara may have been in denial, but she was no fool. She knew how unlikely it was her love would recover, the fact that she had survived at all to make the call to Hackett was nothing short of miraculous. Even if she woke, her spinal injuries made it doubtful that she would ever walk again. Her ruined eyes could potentially be replaced with lab grown copies, but with the chaos left by the Reapers it could be months or even years before that would be an option.

Deep down, she feared what would happen if Sam ever came back. Of course she wanted nothing more than to have the love of her life and father of her unborn back, but Samantha had never been the most mentally stable person to begin with, not since Akuze. The war had pushed her to the edge, and Liara was terrified that surviving only to find herself a blind cripple may push her over.

"Doctor! Doctor T'soni!"

Hearing her name startled her out of her reverie and she looked up to see one of the doctors that had been monitoring Shepard running towards her. The young Salarian's eyes were huge with shock and Liara felt her heart skip a beat. There were only two possible reasons for his haste; one was that Shepard was dying. The other…

"It's Commander Shepard!" He exclaimed, the joy in his voice causing a surge of electricity through her. "She-" Liara was on her feet and sprinting down the corridor before he could finish, the forgotten coffee mug tumbling from her grasp and smashing on the floor.
Shepard was awake.

Sam sat slumped in the wheelchair, a bandage covering her damaged and useless eyes. She had worked out the layout of the room and knew some halfwit medic had positioned her facing the window, for all the good it did her. Her soul comfort right now, her light in the darkness, was the warmth of Liara's hand in her own.

Even in her current state, Shepard was far from defenseless and she had managed to injure several orderlies before Liara had ran in, her name on her lips. It was the sound of her voice that pulled Sam out of her adrenaline fueled panic, and her timely intervention that had prevented them from attempting to sedate her. While that may have calmed her in the short term, it would only have made things worse.

"You won't be stuck like this forever, love. Doctor Chakwas-" Shepard's derisive snort made her fall silent, and for that alone she instantly regretted it.
"You can't know that Li. Chakwas said I might recover. I might get back the use of my legs. Even with therapy it's pretty unlikely. And the eyes? Fuck, you think they're gonna make growing a new set of eyeballs for some crippled sod a priority?"
"I think they will make restoring Commander Shepard to health a priority." Liara repiled and some reason that made Sam smile, imagining the irritated scowl she got whenever Shepard did something particularly stubborn. She felt Liara's hand brush her cheek and she turned her head into her touch, a soft groan of comfort escaping her. She felt another hand brushing through hair that felt far too long. "I'll cut it for you later." Liara murmured, as though sensing her thoughts.

Shepard sat up a little, turning to face roughly in Liara's direction. "Let me see you, Li."
"Let you…I don't-"
Not letting her continue, Sam reached out and clumsily groped the air for the asari before her hands were gently guided to her face. She smiled, wondering how Liara always managed to figure out what she stroked the other woman's face gently, feeling every curve and ridge. Her thumbs brushed her eyelashes ever so lightly and warm breath tickled her skin. It was an imperfect yet intimate look, and it calmed her more than she could say.

After a moment she felt the familiar warm silk of Liara's mind touching hers, and welcomed her eagerly. She was a burst of light in Shepard's darkened mind, her candle in the dark. Their lips touched in a soft, comforting kiss and Liara's voice whispered through Sam's mind;
You will get through this, my love. I know you. And I will be beside you every step.
I love you too, Blue.