That same night, Liara left the Normandy, disembarking onto the Illium docks without saying goodbye to the others. She headed back to her office and sat at her desk, bringing up work on her monitor that she had been in the middle of prior to Shepard's reappearance. Liara pushed herself to read her agent's reports, but she was unable to absorb any of the information. She just couldn't get the image of a broken Commander Shepard out of her mind. How had they become so detached? So foreign? Today had been a flurry of emotions. Liara was simply exhausted.

Giving the reports up as a bad job, she rested her head in her hands with a sigh.

"I don't know what to do anymore," she whispered to the empty office. "Someone tell me what to do."

This job was incredibly lonely. Shepard had helped her become the new Shadow Broker, but for all her new contacts, Liara still felt isolated. She was drowning in information, unable to process any of it while her heart was this broken. Mind and body had to be one. Liara needed to meld with Shepard to understand her now, but that looked like it was never going to happen. Shepard's rejection of her earlier was unexpected. Liara cursed herself for the damage she had caused. She cursed the Collectors and the Reapers and everything else that had come between them.

Suddenly her Omni-tool began to ring. Liara jumped at the unexpected buzz and checked the interface. She quickly accepted the call.

"Shepard?"

"Liara…"

"What's the matter? Is everything alright?"

Silence followed Liara's question. She could hear Shepard breathing on the other side, struggling to word a response.

"EDI told me you left."

Shepard's words were soft, but they sounded like an accusation. Liara bit her lip. "I did," she said. "It did not seem like you wanted me there."

"You know that's not true," came Shepard's sharp reply. "Damn it, Liara. I just don't think I'm ready for… that."

"What?" Liara breathed.

"Your actions! Hot one minute, and then cold the next?" Shepard sounded agitated. "I just don't know where I stand with you."

"That is why you rejected my advances?" Liara asked. "Shepard, you know I never stopped loving you. Goddess, I just don't know how to pick up where we left off."

"Neither do I," Shepard sighed. "So… maybe we shouldn't see each other until this business with the Collectors is over."

A bitter laugh escaped Liara, surprising even herself. "It is never over though, is it? There is always another war to fight."

"What do you want me to do?" Shepard pled. "I'm a soldier, Liara. If I don't win this war with the Reapers, there won't be a world left for us to live in. There won't be any kind of future for us together. How am I just supposed to sit by and do nothing?"

Liara felt a rush of warmth. "So that's what you fight for. Even now..."

"Always," Shepard promised.

She was so sincere that Liara didn't have a reply. She stared around the lonely office and both of them fell silent. This war was testing them in every manner. How could something as simple as a relationship sound so unattainable to them? It was the life of a soldier, Liara knew, but she wasn't quite soldier enough herself to come to terms with it.

Finally, Shepard cleared her voice.

"Look I…I'll leave you to it, alright? I don't want to get in the way of your work."

"And I don't want to get in the way of yours," Liara said sadly. "Just...Shepard..."

"Yeah… I know. I'll be careful."

"Good," Liara said, placated. "I don't want to lose you twice."

"You never lost me the first time," Shepard corrected. "Goodnight, Liara. Take care of yourself. Maybe I'll see you when this is all over."

The Omni-tool went out, and Liara's office was plunged back into semi-darkness. She stared down at the interface. "Good night...Shepard."

Liara buried her head on the desk, breaking into loud, heaving sobs.

Back in the present day, Liara shook herself. She continued working alongside Specialist Traynor, mending the galaxy map interface, having been in a daze for the past few minutes.

"Dr T'Soni, are you alright?" Traynor asked, tinkering with the fiddly bits of the GUI that Liara wasn't familiar with.

"I'm not really sure how to answer that question anymore," Liara said, handing her another tool to try.

Their supplies were only basic, but Traynor had successfully brought a few of the other monitors up and running aboard the Normandy. The most important was the galaxy map though, as it might bring up what system they were in and help them find their bearings.

"I don't know if this is much help," Traynor said. "But I believe she's still alive."

She looked up from her work and met Liara's shocked expression. "Don't give up hope, Liara. If Shepard had, then we would all be dead right now. She kept the faith against a hopeless cause. Now it's our turn to do the same for her."

"I...You're right," Liara said, taken aback by the effusiveness of Traynor's words. "I suppose I have been wallowing a lot recently, haven't I? That's not going to get us back to earth anytime soon."

Traynor chuckled. "No one said you're not allowed to wallow. Truth be told, I don't think any of us will escape that bloody war unscathed. All I'm saying is, try not to lose yourself amidst the grief. We all need you."

Liara found herself smiling, and she patted Traynor's arm. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Ma'am," Traynor said. "Come on you blasted—" She flicked a switch and held it in place until Liara reached the focal point of the galaxy map. "Here, try it now!"

Using Shepard's command sequence that she had hacked off one of Shepard's private terminals, Liara tried to jolt the machine into life.

"EDI we need more power!" Liara yelled, over the sparking interface in the CIC.

"I am operating at limited capacity, Dr T'Soni," EDI said. "I do not have enough without breaking into my reserve power source. We may not have enough for takeoff, should the Normandy be repaired."

"Do it!" Traynor shouted, shielding herself against the amber sparks she was being showered in where she sat holding the vital parts in place. "Arghh!"

"Traynor!" Liara watched the woman's skin get scorched under the heat. "EDI, do it now! We don't have time! We'll sort takeoff out later."

"Using reserve power source," EDI said reluctantly.

Liara activated the galaxy map again, while EDI powered up. All of a sudden, the CIC was filled with bright neon orange and speckled blue.

The rest of the crew fell into silent awe, seeing the interface finally come to life. Liara rushed down the small ramp, around to Traynor's position, and they began to bind the broken bits with whatever sturdy material they could find. The galaxy map sparked and flickered, but didn't go out.

"Phew!" Traynor exclaimed, lying back on the steel grate flooring and exhaling. Her arms were speckled with tiny burns, but victory was theirs.

"Good work, Specialist," Liara grinned. She reached out a hand and helped her up, before turning to the others. "I'm going down to the Med Bay. She needs medical attention. See what you can learn from the galaxy map while we're gone."

"Yes, Ma'am," Joker saluted. "With pleasure. EDI what can we learn from this thing?"

"I'm alright. Honest!" Traynor protested as Liara walked her to the elevator.

"I know," Liara soothed. "It is just a precaution. We are on a strange planet. Best not to have any open cuts in case of infection."

"I suppose you're right," Traynor relented. "Did I ever tell you I hate Doctors?"

Liara giggled.

The elevator door pinged when they reached the correct floor, but didn't open fully. Together, they both wedged a gap large enough for them to scrape through. The doors sprung back into a fixed position when they squeezed out.

"I keep meaning to have a look at that," Traynor said, annoyed. "Having been onboard for most of the Normandy's retrofits, I'm about the closest we have to an expert now with Adams gone and Daniels and Donnelly still needing to heal."

"Yes, you are. Another reason we need to keep you healthy," Liara smiled. She punched the entrance to the Med Bay and they both stood in the doorway.

"It's strange coming down at not seeing Dr. Chakwas," Traynor sighed.

"She will be terribly missed," Liara said sadly. "She was there with us from the beginning. A crash of this magnitude was too much for an old lady however. She was a hero."

"You were with her, weren't you? At the end?"

Liara nodded. "She was at peace. Her coffin is in the cargo hold, ready to be brought back to earth if we ever make it."

"Good," Traynor said, fighting back tears. "At least she and Engineer Adams aren't alone up there...Along with all the rest."

Traynor wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and Liara guided her onto the medical bed. The Asari rustled in what remained of Chakwas' supplies. To her surprise, she found a half-drunk bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy.

"Unbroken?" Traynor laughed. "Give it here."

Liara giggled, handing it over and watching her take a swig.

"You next, Dr." Traynor offered it back.

"I don't know," Liara hesitated. "I don't think—"

"You've got a broken heart," Traynor reminded her. "Humanity states that if you have a broken heart, you've got to have a drink."

"I never read that anywhere when I studied your species," Liara laughed.

"It's an unwritten rule," Traynor teased. "Now come on. Don't let me drink alone. You look like you could use it."

Liara took a swig of brandy and cringed. "Ugh, I don't think I like that."

"You don't have to, but it is tradition," Traynor grinned. She raised the bottle in toast. "To those we loved and lost."

"Here, here," Liara said, inclining her head as Traynor took another swig. "Now let me see those burns. I have an ointment here that might help."

Later that day, what remained of the Normandy crew stood around the functioning galaxy map, trying to figure out where their co-ordinates had them.

"I don't think we're still in Alliance Space," James said. "The Mass Effect relay we hit was supposed to take us to Council Space."

"Yeah, but I think we got blown off course when it exploded," Joker grumbled. "EDI had us heading for the Attican Traverse before I realised and plotted another course when she fell offline. The Traverse was the first part of the galaxy to completely fall, unless you count the time Shepard blew up the relay in Batarian Space."

"Yeah, that little party piece fairly got swept under the carpet once the Reapers hit," James said.

"Shepard will still answer for her war crimes if what remains of the Council has their way," Liara said. "I overheard chatter on the few remaining Comm Lines that the Citadel is already starting to rebuild. By the time we make it back I'm sure the universe will feel like nothing has changed."

"Well, here's hoping," Joker said. "Better than us getting back and it being a bloody, gory mess. I might even grow to love all the politics."

The others chuckled. Garrus leaned over the map then, drawing closer.

"I've found something," he said. "I recognise it from my C-Sec days."

"What is it?" Tali asked.

"There," Garrus pointed. "I don't know what system we're in, but this is close to our co-ordinates. It was supposed to just be a myth as no one in this generation has ever reached it."

"And?" Tali prompted.

"And it's a worm hole," Garrus finished.

"An Einstein-Rosen Bridge?" Traynor gasped. "Holy mother of...A gateway to another universe?"

"Another system hopefully. We want to stay within the Milky Way," Garrus said. "But if we could do a fly by, maybe we could view the other side and see if it gets us where we would need to go."

Liara pondered his plan. "It may be the only opportunity we have to get back to earth."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," James interrupted hurriedly. "Let's not jump the gun here. I didn't sign onto going through some unknown wormhole that could lead us even further away than where we need to go."

"The Mass Effect relays are damaged," Liara reminded him. "Maybe some, but it could be all of them. This wormhole could be our only way of travelling to another system."

"But if it led to Sol, wouldn't there be a wormhole on our end?" James said. "And I don't know about anyone else here in the Alliance, but I didn't get no reports about any big black hole in the stars waiting to take us safely to another system."

"He has a point," Traynor admitted. "If that was the case then there'd be no need for a relay and the Alliance put everything they had into those. The most we can do at this point is get the Normandy powered up and then plot a course to observe it. That way we'll at least have an idea as to what we're up against."

"And what shall we do in the mean time?" Tali asked. "Garrus and I have been working on the drive core, but a lot of it was fried by the Bosh-tet Mass Effect relay exploding. We need to get out and explore whatever planet we are on in the hopes of finding some more material for the repairs. There has to be some Ezo lying around."

"Tali's right," Garrus said. "Even if we were to risk going through the wormhole, the Normandy needs to be in the best possible condition. Shepard taught us better than flying headfirst into the unknown. She had the Normandy running on all ends before hitting the Omega-4 relay and even then it was a close call. We're not ready. Not by a long shot."

"Then our plan is set," EDI called out overhead. "Repairs of the Normandy must be priority, with the intention of a probable jump through space and time."

"Agreed," Liara said. "Tail, Garrus and I will venture out and see if we can find some supplies and equipment."

"And maybe another power source?" Traynor interjected. "EDI did have to go into her reserves remember."

Liara nodded. The tasks they faced just kept multiplying without any solutions. She could see it in the face of all her remaining friends, as they mumbled something in dismissal and went back to work.

Liara made her way down to her room to prepare.

"Glyph, scout ahead before we leave on our scavenger hunt," she ordered. "We don't need any more trouble, just an easy path to follow."

"Yes, Dr. T'Soni. Would you like me to notify you of any landmarks along the way?"

"Yes, Glyph, but mainly any signs of danger so that we're prepared. Make sure that you remain unseen, if it appears we aren't the only ones on this planet."

"Affirmative. Commencing Operation Scavenger Hunt."

Liara laughed as the eccentric VI set off on his mission. She grabbed her sidearm and her white lab jacket from the wall, then sat down on her bed to check her supply bag. Something at the bottom caught her attention. It was one of her old datapads from the Mars Archives.

Curious, Liara replaced the leaking battery with another heating console and turned it on. It surprisingly still functioned. She flicked through her old data, smiling at the memories. They had been so eager back then to find anything to help in the hopeless battle against the Reapers. It was strange to have come out the other side of the war alive.

On the bottom left of the interface, Liara spotted a folder that she had kept of her research to find Commander's Shepard's body. She could hear the desperation in her words as she read back through her old notes, labelling potential locations and probabilities of Shepard's survival.

In another folder within was saved emails Shepard had been sending to Liara from earth through encrypted transmission after her dishonourable discharge from the Alliance. The brass hadn't taken too kindly to the Batarian system's destruction, even if Shepard had prevented immediate Reaper invasion. Only Admiral Anderson's word kept her on the fringes, ready to throw her back into the fight when the real enemy came.

Shepard's emails stopped abruptly after a few weeks, most likely when she realised Liara wasn't reading them. Liara had stored them in her datapad and pushed them to the back of her mind while working in the Mars Archives, afraid of the distraction, afraid that it would interfere with her work. Survival had been the most important thing back then. She had neglected Shepard when the Commander needed her most. When they eventually met again on Mars after the Reapers attacked earth, Liara was hurt by what her own ignorance had created.