AN: Mass Effect and its Characters are property of BioWare, I just try and make you laugh.
Title inspired by music from a movie of my favorite games. But...after playing ME2 recently, I got to wondering why Shep was so nonchalant about Liara's near rejection of her return. I mean, not even taking the LoTSB into account, Li was pretty apathetic to the woman she so loved, almost shunning her. I seriously doubt any sane person, marine or civilian, would remain calm when to them only mere days had passed. And having a marine in my family who himself dealt with a breakup after returning from Afghanistan I KNOW marines have a tendancy to react in a rather unsual way to certain stresses. So, this little rant is what I think Shepard's reaction would be to Liara's brush off.
"Did that really just happen?!" Shepard asked more to herself than the turian by her side as she stormed down the corridor toward the Normandy. As much as she wanted to turn around, go back into that office and sweep Liara into arms, tell her how much she wanted, no, needed the Asari, she couldn't. Liara no longer held the same feelings for Shepard as she once had, or so the human thought.
"Shepard, put yourself in Liara's position. She watched you die. All of us saw a part of her die that day as well, her love for you was that deep."
"Uh...yea...keyword there was. I guess I couldn't blame her, I mean people move on. But god damn it I didn't. I just, fuck it..." Shepard squeezed her eyes shut, to force back the tears as her heart broke in two. "Garruss, call everyone back to the ship, we're leaving."
Looking down on his friend, his trained eye clearly seeing through the bravado, but not wishing to push her, he simply nodded. Sending a ping out to the crew, he recalled everyone to the Normandy.
"Shepard, you need to talk to her. Find out what's really going on." Garrus gave the commander a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder as the two stood at the entrance to the frigates airlock.
"There's nothing to talk about Garrus. She's moved on. I just need to do the same." Shepard breathed deeply, as if the stale air would cleanse her.
Walking into the Normandy, the pair was greeted by the widely grinning Joker, who was returning to his station with his evening meal in hand "Hey Shep ,you and Liara react any scenes from Vaenia yet? I want pictures."
Shepard glared at him. The faint red of her still healing scars glowed as she pushed past the pilot, heading toward the elevator, almost knocking the frail man over in her haste.
"Hey, Shepard what the fu.." Joker stammered before he was hushed by an equally irritated turian.
"Not now Joker. Set a course for Omega. Now."
"Who made you XO all of a sudden?" Joker quipped to the former c-sec officer.
"Things did not go well on Illium, and you know I've always had Shepard's six. I doubt Miranda would even care, this isn't something Cerberus would even understand."
Down on the engineering deck, Garrus was filling Tali in on what happened at the good doctor's office.
"I can't believe Liara did that, and Shepard just accepted it at face value." Tali shook her helmeted head, disbelief evident in the quarian's voice.
"I'm sure there has to be something more to this. I didn't hear the entire conversation, but from what I understand Liara has a vendetta against the Shadow Broker. She's determined to find and confront him."
"Keelah, when did our little archeologist turn into such a bosh'tet. I'll call her, but what do we do now?"
"Shepard needs some R&R away from the ship for a few days we're headed to Omega." Mandibles twitching in a turian version of a smile, "We'll need to keep an eye on her. "
Meanwhile, up in her cabin, Shepard stripped her armor, indiscriminately throwing pieces in every direction, not caring where anything landed. Standing in her under armor bodysuit, the redhead pulled an unopened bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy. When she picked up the bottle for Dr. Chakwas, she also purchased one for herself, hoping to share it with Liara.
Ripping the cap off, not bothering with a glass, she took a deep pull off the bottle, hissing as the warm liquid slid past her tongue. Bottle in hand, she walked over to her desk, noticing the picture frame displayed to the right of her terminal. For a moment, she stood silent, eyes closed, damp with tears, before releasing a guttural scream as she ripped grabbed the picture, frame and all, tossing against the far wall, shattering it.
The synthetic hum of EDI's voice interrupted the Spectre's thoughts as she took another large drink of brandy.
"Commander Shepard, you appear to be experiencing acute distress. Shall I inform Dr. Chawkwas? "
The marine, irritated, pinched the bridge of her nose as she paused in her drinking to address the AI "No EDI. In fact, please stop monitoring my cabin for the next several hours, engage the locks and inform the crew I am not to be disturbed. Have Joker let me know when we've reached Omega."
"Of course Commander." EDI's display dimmed as the AI activated both the door locks and restricted elevator access.
She was Commander Shepard, Savior of the Citadel. Shepard had defied death to be rejected by the only soul in the galaxy that mattered to her. Omega was as good a place as any to forget. Standing in front of her wardrobe, the resurrected marine pursued her clothing to find an appropriate outfit for her upcoming excursion from the Normandy.
"Shit, don't I have anything except these God awful Cerberus uniforms." Shepard grumbled before coming across on old standby, smiling when her fingers found the leather and denim "Someone read my file."
While not an overly fashionable person, Shepard had acquired a passion for denim. With the popularity of synthetic fibers, and near extinction of cotton on Earth, simple jeans were almost wiped out. However, when a smile contingent of Asari fashion designers grew to appreciate the way denim enhanced certain assets of not only the human anatomy, but Asari as well, a small niche market of jeans had grown. Shepard spent almost an entire months credits purchasing the four pairs she acquired before the original Normandy's destruction.
The originals were lost, but someone had obviously made the attempt to make the commander more at ease with her new situation and stocked her wardrobe with not only identical pairs, but matching tops and accessories as well.
Shepard set a pair of blue jeans and a low cut vest on her bed. Tossing clothes as she stripped on her way to the bathroom, a devilish grin spread across the commander's face as a thought entered her mind. Stepping into the steaming shower stall, Shepard sighed, "Fuck her. If she doesn't want me, there are plenty who do."
AN: I wonder what Shepard has planned. And oh don't we know how fired up Tali can get. Wonder if she call Liara sober or not? We shall see.
I threw this together spur of the moment, I'm making it up as I go along. Writing is helping me deal with some personal BS, so I should have another chapter completed shortly. Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thank you for reading.
