Another kmeme challenge response, this one for a requester wanting a Shepard awash with anxiety over the impending birth of her first daughter. Frankly, I'm not entirely sure what it is with that meme and me writing these sorts of stories. Other people write smut. Me? Well, see for yourself.


Doctor Liara T'Soni gasped sharply and came awake, pale blue eyes flying open to stare blankly at the vaulted ceiling. Beside her, her bondmate murmured fretfully and rolled over, draping a muscled arm across her chest. She couldn't help but smile indulgently when Shepard's hand found her breast, tender to the touch though it was at this late stage of proceedings, and cupped it gently. Some things, it seemed, never changed, not even in sleep.

She sighed and settled back against the pillows again, willing sleep to return but uncertain as to what had awoken her in the first place. Simple discomfort, most like. It had been getting more and more difficult to drift off these past few months, barred, as she was, from her preferred sleeping positions on her side and stomach. But if she didn't get a restful night tonight, Shepard would almost certainly pick up on it in the morning, as she had on previous such occasions. She never said anything - Shepard was a do-er, not a talker - but the signs were there, the worry and the frustration coming out in sparring matches and the odd (and typically disastrous) attempt at breakfast in bed. Liara hated to see it: Shepard had been through so very much pain and suffering that she felt that the human was owed at least a few years of pure, unadulterated happiness.

She was just starting to drift back off again when pain flared, bursting out from her lower reaches and spiralling upwards along her spine, only to fade away as abruptly as it had arrived. Hands flying to her swollen belly, she held her breath and waited, silently counting. After another few minutes, just at the point where she'd almost convinced herself that she was imagining things, the pain flared anew, slightly stronger.

Oh.

Liara let out her breath slowly and looked down at herself over the swell of her breasts, grown larger yet again as her figure made the change from maiden to matronly, and felt a thrill of mingled excitement and terror. She was going to have a baby. She glanced over at her slumbering bondmate. She was going to have Shepard'sbaby.

With that thought came a strange, almost surreal calm, settling over her like a blanket. She'd become the Shadow Broker, fought Cerberus, killed Reapers and shaken the foundations of asari politics to their very core, all for Shepard, for their future together. This would simply be another item to add to that list. No need to be afraid. No need to fuss. She'd just better get on with it, as she had everything else.

She gently extricated herself from her bondmate's embrace and slipped out of bed, padding over to where she'd laid out her gear in preparation for this eventuality. She donned the traditional, soft brown birthing robe and did up the lacings loosely, as she'd been shown, slipping her feet into matching sandals. Into her small, pre-packed carry bag went her personal datapad and, after checking the clip, the sidearm she used on missions calling for discretion.

Strange, really. It wasn't so very long ago at all that she only knew how to fire a gun in theory; now she felt naked without one within easy reach. On the other hand, a few assassination attempts in recent years had made it seem a more than prudent habit.

Only when so dressed, packed and armed did she return to their bed, sitting down on it beside her lover's sleeping form.

"Shepard?"

"Hmm?"

"Shepard, it's time."

"dunno. 'bout three, four, maybe," her bondmate groused and rolled over again, reaching for a pillow and pulling it over her head. "too early."

She sighed, slightly. Another strangeness: on the Normandy, Shepard invariably went from deep sleep to total alertness all but instantly, at the slightest provocation, regardless of the hour. Here, now, in their bed, she clung to slumber like a hyfeani waiting out the long winter.

"I meant that our daughter is coming."

"'s'nice."

Liara idly stroked her bondmate's arm as she waited for her words to properly register, as she was sure they would. Even more than half-asleep, Shepard had certain well-honed survival instincts. Indeed, it was only a few seconds later that she sat bolt upright in bed and stared at her, eyes as wild as her short hair.

"What? The baby? Now?"

"I believe so."

"Shit!" Shepard exclaimed, reaching out for her swollen belly and then snatching her hands abruptly back, as though she'd been burnt. "Are you ok?"

"I am fine, for now. But we should get moving soon."

"Moving. Right! Let's go!"

Shepard all but tumbled out of bed, snatched up her own pistol from the nightstand and made straight for the door. When she reached it, she stopped and spun back to face Liara, who'd made no effort to move from her seat. The human's face carried a clear expression of worry.

"What's wrong? Aren't you coming?"

Liara hesitated.

"Shepard, it's not that I don't appreciate your body, but..." she trailed off, looking over her bondmate meaningfully. Her lover followed her gaze down and blushed as her eyes met only bare skin.

"Shit!"

"Get dressed," she said with another indulgent smile. "I will wake the others."

Liara left her swearing bondmate riffling through the contents of her wardrobe and made her way out into the common room. From there, pausing once while another sweet lance of pain spiked through her body, she slipped into the communal guest room set aside for asari visitors to find her father. Unlike her lover, Matriarch Aethyta woke instantly at her touch, brown eyes taking in everything in one quick glance.

"Time, is it?" she said quietly

"I believe so," Liara whispered back.

"Well, let's just be sure about that before we get all worked up." Aethyta sat up, stretched slowly and then reached out to place one hand lightly upon Liara's stomach, the other to her temple. The matriarch frowned in concentration, eyes dipping momentarily to black. Liara could feel the quick meld, a tickle in the back of her mind, even though it wasn't directed at her - not exactly. "Huh. Yeah, I'd say you're right. She's eager too. This is probably going to be a quick one."

Liara had reached out to touch their daughter's mind before, several times in these last few months of her pregnancy. There were never any discrete thoughts from her daughter, just a ball of vague impressions and primitive emotions, tangled together. She'd sent back in kind, as gently as she could manage, conveying her love, awed that such a blank slate was hers to write upon. Hers and Shepard's.

The urge to meld, to touch that forming mind again, rose abruptly, taking her aback with its strength and urgency. She gave into it almost immediately, gathered her focus and started to reach out, only for her father to drop the hand at her temple to her arm, pinching hard enough to break her concentration. Liara scowled at her and rubbed the spot.

"Too soon, kiddo. You'll wear yourself out. Save it for later, when it's needed," Aethyta yawned unapologetically, getting to her feet, and stretching again, joints popping. "Athame's ass! Why does it always have to start at three in the fucking morning? Some of us need our beauty sleep."

"Next time I'll try to arrange thing to better suit your schedule," she replied sourly.

"You do that." The matriarch unceremoniously shucked off her sleeping gown and rummaged around in her wardrobe for her own formal robe, dark green in colour. "Who else are we taking again?"

"Aunt Celaniza, cousin Nalla, Tali and Garrus."
"Right. And a couple of the commandos too. Don't look at me like that - you're both going to be preoccupied. You see to the aliens, I'll get the others up and-"

"Liara?"

The lights in the room abruptly flashed on at full power, blinding them both and waking the other occupants of the room. There was a renewed bout of swearing, not all of it emanating from Aethyta, and a torrent of sleepy, discontented mumbling. As her vision cleared, a blinking Liara could see her bondmate, face a mask of unguarded concern, stepping quickly towards her.

"Are you ok? Do I need to get you anything?" Shepard asked breathlessly, seemingly oblivious to the roomful of naked and half-naked asari, some getting blearily out of bed, others just simply glaring at her in profound annoyance. "Just say the word. Also, I've got someone bringing the car around to the back so you won't have to walk as far. Do you want me to take your bag? It looks heavy-"

It all came out in rather a rush, and Liara found herself staring, bemused, at the human. This was completely unlike the Shepard she knew, a woman who tended to assume that people knew their own limitations better than she did and whose complete unflappability was the stuff of legends. After a few seconds of this, she glanced back at her father, who shrugged and went back to lacing up her robe. It was a gesture that eloquently conveyed an attitude of 'don't look at me kid, I usually only deal with them when they're drunk'.

"Shepard, my gun's in there," she said eventually, turning back.

"Oh. Right." A thoughtful pause. "Should you really be carrying-"

"Why don't you go and get Tali and Garrus?" she interrupted hastily, aiming to head things off before Shepard could say something that Liara was certain she'd regret later.

"Tali and Garrus. Right."

As quickly as she'd burst into the room, Shepard was gone, bellowing for the two aliens with her parade-ground voice, the one that cut through every manner of soundproofing ever invented. Liara winced - that would be the entire estate unnecessarily awoken now, thank you Shepard - and turned apologetically back to her guests. By and large they were family, fortunately: the paltry handful of surviving T'Sonis.

Well, make that the paltry handful of surviving trustworthy T'Sonis. Her mother's older sister and the only surviving matriarch from their house, her two daughters, a scattering of other cousins of varying degrees and their children - what had once been a tribe of over two thousand, reduced to less than twenty. And to think that they'd gotten off lightly compared to some other, once notable houses! At least their name still existed.

Little wonder then that they'd all heeded the call of ancient tradition, returning to Armali for the birth of their first post-war baby. It had been nice to reconnect with them and renew bonds of blood, even if she only remembered most as vague figures from her early childhood. And even if their slowly swelling ranks, loitering around the estate, had made Shepard jumpy.

"I apologise for my bondmate," she told the room. "She is, perhaps, a little-"

"Insane," Aethyta said, sotto voce.

"-over-excited," Liara concluded, glaring at her father, who rolled her eyes.

"Not to worry, child," her aunt said, gliding over. Celaniza shared Benezia's skin tone and facial markings, but little else, being slighter of figure, breathier of voice and an engineer by trade. It was a badly-needed skill at the moment, and Liara had tasked her with managing several important aspects of the recovery effort as soon as she'd discovered that the matriarch was still alive. "It takes some this way. Go on ahead. Nalla and I will be along shortly."

It wasn't long at all after that that Liara found herself making her way down the short flight of stairs to the gardens at the rear of the estate. Shepard was at her side the entire way, supporting her arm and alternating between assuring her that everything was going to be ok and asking questions about how she was currently feeling that went clearly counter to such assurances. It was... sweet , Liara supposed, but also rather unnerving coming from Shepard. From the looks Garrus and Tali kept exchanging, she wasn't the only one to think so.

Distracted by another sharp bite of pain, strong enough that her knees went weak with it, she allowed herself to be helped into the back of their armoured skycar and belted in, Aethyta on one side of her and Tali on the other. She didn't notice until it was almost too late that Hylene, her usual driver, was standing off to one side, well away from the car, and that someone else entirely was settling into the driver's seat.

Tali had the realisation at exactly the same time as she did.

"Keelah!"

"Oh, Goddess," she moaned, closing her eyes. She'd fought Cerberus abominations, played cat and mouse with the Shadow Broker and faced Reapers on foot but nothing, nothing filled her with quite as much dread as the prospect of this. "Not today. Please."

"What?" Shepard said sounding wounded as she checked the display settings and adjusted the seat.