The dark-skinned human C-Sec Officer crosses his arms, and leans against the desk suggestively. His eyes scan through the holofile in his hand. He looks dissatisfied with what he was given. With a disgruntled sigh, he places the holofile on the table and faces the light blue skinned Asari once again. In the strictest and most confident voice he can muster, he says,

'Ms. T'Loak, please explain again how three Asaris, two humans and one drunken Turian managed to vandalize and destroy C-Sec lower wards sector B to sector G.'

Ariena looks up at the officer and snarls. 'Let's put aside the fact that I don't even know where Sector B to Sector G is, might I remind you little humans that anything is possible with heavy liquor.'

The Turian officer beside the human flings him a look, before turning his gaze back to Ariena. He's the more lenient one of the two, apparently. When they first took Ariena in, the human kept asking things about Code 9.282 or Sector D7, whatever the hell that means, while the Turian just looked onward probably wondering if Café Apollo was still serving those delicious steak buns they were so famous for.

Ariena hasn't told them anything. Hell if she'll ever. There are a few things she absolutely knows how to do. Fight, kill, manipulate, and lie.

She can do all four right here, right now. But she's decided against it. It would just make her seem like a criminal.

With a roll of her eyes, Ariena straightens her back, and faces the human. 'Look, Mr. Human officer sir, I was just an innocent bystander who just so happened to be with a bunch of crazy madmen, who managed to convince me to reap havoc all over the Citadel. That doesn't necessarily make me a murderer or unjust criminal.' At that, she turns to give the Turian a look. A playful smirk lies mischievously on her face. 'Don't you think an Asari should be given a little more respect around here?'

The Turian visibly gulps.

'Bullshit.' The human slams his hand on the table inches away from Ariena's face and glares her down. 'We caught you right in the middle of flying a flamed skycar towards the top of the Presidium, where everyone knows is illegal to go to.'

'I never said I remained innocent.'

The human pulls away and flings his Turian friend a defeated look.

Ariena clicks her tongue, and leans back. What more do these officers want? She's told them everything worth telling. Besides, all she can remember from the drunken haze she was in was that she and her mother were doing some kind of mission before the cops showed up and busted them both out. She doesn't remember her mother being as drunk as she was, but then again Aria willingly let them hand-cuff her. That just proves she wasn't herself when the event took place. Ariena shakes her head, and stares up at the officers in boredom.

'Okay, let's make this easy and simple.' Ariena stretches her legs out, and places both hands behind her head. The human seems tired, and the Turian seems conflicted. At this point, there's only one thing left to do. She has to get out of this room to find her mother. She's dealt with a fair share of cops before. Omega may be dangerous but it has officers too. Occasionally, she'd get into spats with a few of them. Whenever that happens, she'd often pull out a gun and kill them easily— if she was feeling lazy. But when she knows she can't afford to increase her kill count, she pulls out the advantage to being a young, manipulative and gorgeous Asari.

'You know, I was hoping it wouldn't come to this.' In a few short seconds, Ariena's eyes blacken out, and she reaches out to grab the human officer's shirt by the collar. She pulls him in, until their faces are only inches apart, and stare at him beadily with her blackened eyes.

'Embrace eternity.'

She lets the human fall limply onto the ground, and turn her gaze towards the Turian. A sly, mischievously satisfied smirk rests on her ever so smug face.

'Your turn.'

27 HOURS EARLIER

'Um,' Shepard cocks her head to the right, and stares at the younger Asari in confusion. 'So, can I come in?'

Ariena has to blink several times before finally being able to answer the Commander in a casual way. 'Y-Yes. I mean, Aria is—She's just—Um, yeah, she's at the ba—H-How do you know her?'

So much for being casual.

Shepard grins awkwardly. 'She helped me with, uh, the Reapers.'

'Oh, right, I heard of that. Um, sorry,' Ariena side-steps, and gestures to the party inside. 'C-Come on in.'

Shepard nods, and enters the house with much discomfort. She doesn't look to be too uncomfortable, just extremely awkward. Ariena can't figure out why she'd be here. On her birthday. Looking for her mother. Who, by the way, had never mentioned Shepard before in her entire lifetime. She examines the Commander's human physique for a short moment, noticing her greying brunette hair, her wrinkled tan skin, and her old, aging features. There's no doubt the Commander has aged quite a lot in the past few years. But Ariena's pretty damn surprised Shepard's still standing. It must have something to do with her synthetic implants.

In a rush of the moment, she asks, 'D-Do you want something to drink or—'

'Actually you know what, some beer would be nice.'

Ariena smiles retardedly and nods. She races off to the kitchen in search of an appropriate bottle of beer for the nervous-looking human Commander. By now, countless of people from her party have spotted Shepard, and are now crowding around her asking her questions about the Reapers or her personal life. Ariena tries her best to move her thoughts from the fact that a legend is standing in her apartment, to rummaging through her various drawers and fridges in search of that beer.

A tap on her shoulder causes her to whirl around in panic.

'Woah,' A surprised Aria stands behind her, an eyebrow raised in shock. 'What are you doing?'

'I'm getting a drink!' Ariena exclaims, smiling widely. 'You will not believe who's here.'

Aria smirks. 'Try me.'

'Commander Shepard.'

In less than half a second, Aria's smirk drops.

Aria can't really tell what her expression looks like. After all, her only focus is towards the intense screaming coming from inside her brain where a tiny version of her is telling her to run the hell away from the apartment and escape to the busy streets of Omega where she gets to kill some random Bartarian for no reason at all. All other reasonable thoughts seem to have flown out the window. She just stands there in front of her daughter, morbidly serious and completely speechless. She doesn't know what to say, what to do, how to react. There's one thing she's absolutely sure of, however.

Ariena and Shepard cannot realize their true relations.

'Ariena, go fetch your father. I'll take care of our special guest.'

She's surprised at how steady her voice is.

Ariena doesn't seem to notice the sudden deathly aura floating around her mother, and instead shoots her an appreciative smile. 'Alright.' She leaves Aria, racing off in search of her long lost father. Little does she know her true father stands in her apartment surrounded by a bunch of fangirls and fanboys.

Aria has no idea what to say.

She takes a step back, gulps down the bile at the back of her throat, and exits the kitchen.

Fuck. She knew something was gonna go wrong. She didn't expect this! Why is Shepard even here? What does she want? Did Liara call her? Did Liara tell her about Ariena? No, it's not likely. After all, Aria was more or less with Liara the whole time she was here. There's no way Liara could've made a call without Aria knowing about it. Maybe she sent her a message through her omni-tool. Questions flood Aria's already-throbbing head, but she shakes them away, and approaches the mass of people in the centre of the room surrounding one particular human.

With a heavy sigh, she starts to push her way through.

'Move!' She orders, shoving past one of Ariena's friends from her Academy, and accidentally jabbing an Asari stripper in the eye. She doesn't stop to apologize, and instead pushes forward on her assault.

Finally, she makes it to Shepard.

The instant she sees that familiar smile radiating from the Commander's face, she flinches, and stands rooted to her spot.

'Fuck,' She whispers, the sight of Shepard's aged face causing a full-blown blast to explode in Aria's inner conscious. She grits her teeth together, and wraps her slim fingers around the Commander's wrist.

Shepard hasn't noticed her yet, so when Aria starts dragging her away from the group of people, she has no idea who's doing it. With a surprised gasp, she's yanked away from her adoring fans, unable to see the person dragging her due to the sheer shock she's still suffering from. Several seconds later, Shepard finds herself on the balcony. She looks up at her captor, and sees that familiar tint of blue skin.

'Um,' Shepard straightens her back, and stares at the back of Aria's head with a discomforted expression. 'Can I help you?'

'Yes, you can.'

Before Aria even turns to reveal her face, Shepard already recognizes her voice, and her discomforted expression disappears.

'What are you doing here, Shepard?'

The human barely has time to register Aria's presence before going into full-nervous-wreck mode. She opens her mouth to say something, but finds her words stuck in her throat. So she closes her mouth, and attempts to get her breathing straight. That doesn't work out too well either. The sight of her past lover makes her very thoughts stop functioning properly. In the end all she can muster out are a few inaudible words that sound relatively close to the yahg's language.

Aria stiffens. 'Did Liara call you?'

'Did she—No,' Thanfully, Shepard manages to find her set of English words. 'I was—I mean, I knew that Liara left the station to head to Omega but I had no idea why. I just—I guess it was just instinct to follow her.'

'That doesn't explain how you know she came here.'

Shepard wants to turn her gaze down to the ground in guilt. After all, she did kinda hack into Liara's omni-tool to extract her location. But... She just can't bring herself to tear her gaze away from Aria's face. After so long, here she is.

'I can't believe it's really you.'

Aria tenses up instantly. The sheer emotion in Shepard's voice causes all proper thinking to stop. She feels herself go back to the past. In a flashback she sees a slightly younger version of herself sitting by the bar in Purgatory, sipping on a cup of thin Turian tequila. The version of herself that couldn't quite control herself around the Commander, because of the human's confident and suave bravado. They talked, and they laughed, and they complimented, and they confessed. All in all, the night ended well.

In a sense that Shepard knocked her up.

Then Aria remembers the holofile Shepard had sent her after she was nearly killed by human Welthshores, and how she was so confident, deep inside, that she'd meet Shepard again even though the human decided to go to Earth, and she decided to stay on Omega. Everything she had done since then—Realize she was pregnant, give birth to Ariena, raise her, teach her the ways of seduction and destruction—has all boiled up to this very moment.

But now with Shepard in front of her, speechless, and a little awkward, the only thing running through her mind, after the whole flashback, is Ariena.

'Shepard, you have to leave.'

Shepard's expression shifts slowly into one of mix confusion and pain. 'What?' She feels her insides brew a storm. This Asari—This alien she loved—is asking her to leave, after meeting up with her again after 80 years. Just when she feels the undying need to stand up for herself to say no, she stops.

Aria's expression is so sad. Shepard... doesn't think she's ever seen that expression on her before.

It's almost pitiful.

Shepard has made a lot of hard choices in her life. Choosing to save the Council and killing thousands of human lives back when she was dealing with Sovereign. Destroying the Collector base from the man who put in the resources to rebuild her from scratch after the Alliance declared her dead. And allowing herself to fall for a woman who she knew wouldn't ever let her in. In the end, Aria did. She let her in. And when they parted, it was probably the hardest choice Shepard had to make. Not because she's some petty hopeless romantic, but because she told Aria things she had never told anyone else before—And she understood.

The point is, Shepard has made a lot of hard choices. It came to the point that she now knows how to choose responsibility over her own selfish needs.

So she knows now that if Aria wants her to leave, she'll leave.

But she had to know one thing.

'Why?'

Aria shakes her head with her eyes shut closed. 'Because, Shepard,' Think of an excuse. Please. 'I-I can't—I have a different life now. And you do too. What happened before was in the past. And you of all people know I never look back.'

Shepard feels herself slowly start to unravel the knotted tension in her stomach. She finds herself starting to disagree.

'Just because we have different lives, doesn't mean it can't coexist together.' She takes a step forward towards her, and feels in no discomfort when Aria doesn't pull away. 'Ever since you saved my life, I've been thinking of ways to repay you. But it all turned out to be in vain, when I realized I probably won't ever see you again. 80 years, Aria, it's been 80 years.' She chuckles silently, and shakes her head in disbelief. 'How can you say you never looked back when obviously, you feel the same way too.'

Well she has a daughter, and she can't possibly deal with Shepard with Ariena just a few rooms away.

She just can't fall for Shepard again. She has so many reasons why. First off, it would only put her life, Shepard's life and most of all, Ariena's life, in danger. Secondly, Aria's not one of those 'stay-in-one-relationship' kind of people. To think she, Shepard, and Ariena being one big happy family is like saying a Vorcha's ass is prettier than an Asari's. She just can't possibly let that happen. With a boosting confidence, she opens her mouth to retaliate, but she's interrupted by the sliding doors beside her.

Liara pauses once she sees the two of them only a few inches apart, both sporting frustrated and red (or in Aria's case, blue) faces.

'Is this a bad time?'

'Liara,' Shepard murmurs, eyes widening at her roommate's arrival. 'What are you doing here?'

'I could ask you the same question, Shepard.'

The Commander tenses, and shrugs awkwardly. 'After you showed me the holofile, I couldn't—Um, ' She shakes her head, and turns her gaze down. After a second's pause, she turns her gaze back up to Aria. 'I know you have a daughter.'

Oh, shit.

Well good thing is Liara loves great drama, especially if it involves her hard-headed irritating party-obsessed roommate. Bad thing is this leaves her in an uncomfortable position of being the third wheel, just awkwardly staring as the conversation unravels.

Liara truly has absolutely no idea what to make of the situation. The two seem like ex-lovers, reunited, but conflicted on getting back together, yet at the same time they almost look like complete strangers. She can't tell if they're both truly angry at each other, because when Liara looks into their eyes, she notices that spark of despair. That hint of longing. Ariena had come bounding up to her not more than fifteen minutes ago asking her to follow her to the kitchen. In an awkward attempt to seem casual, she nodded, placed her drink down, and ended up accidentally spilling it all over the marble floor. Ariena said it was no big deal, and led her to the kitchen, where she left her to go clean to mess up. Liara contemplated just staying there to wait for her 'daughter', but then she saw Aria dragging a familiar looking human out to the balcony. Of course, curiosity peeked at her, and Liara had to go see who it was.

She did not expect to see Shepard here.

And the fact that the two had already met up is a little nerve-wrecking.

What did Aria say to her? And how did Shepard react to it?

Aria seems absolutely speechless at the thought of Shepard knowing. Questions and accusations run through her head—What holofile? Of course, Liara told her. But it's unexpected considering how fond the Asari is to the Commander. What in hell's name is she going to say now?

She turns away instantly to face the cold Omega night. Thank the goddess her apartment has a balcony. And to think she nearly let Tadus talk her out of buying it.

'Aria.'

'What?' Her voice is irritated, frustrated, and guilty.

'Who's the father?'

Aria turns around to face her, but fails to read Shepard's hard expression. She knows that Shepard's upset. She knows that she's a little hurt. But what else is among those blue orbs?

'I don't think—'

'We had sex.' Shepard says confidently, proving a rather awkward point. Especially with Liara standing not too far from her with her hands behind her back. 'We had sex, Aria. I don't know about you but that's not something I do casually. Plus it was mind-blowing sex, okay? I don't know if you remember, but it was freakin' mind-blowing.'

Ah. There's the Commander Aria had fallen for.

She has to shake her head in amusement, but she manages to keep a smile from escaping.

No, T'Loak! Don't fall for Shepard's funhouse of mirrors and deceiving charm.

'Shepard—'

'I love you.'

Aria instantly tenses up.

Shepard notices it, and presses more. 'I love you, Aria. Doesn't that mean anything to you?' She takes a few steps forward, until she's merely a few inches away. So much for choosing responsibility over her own selfish needs. Now that she's on a roll, it's kinda hard to stop. 'I don't wanna be some overly obsessed lovesick teenager confessing her love to the Asari she loves, but I've waited 80 years for this moment. And I'm not letting you slip through my fingers again.'

At this distance, she can easily capture Aria in a lustful kiss.

But she decides against it.

It isn't the right time. It isn't the right place.

Aria can't do anything but stare at Shepard's face. It's hard to look anywhere else, really, considering their proximity. Her words leave her, and her senses kicked in.

She wants to kiss her so bad.

By the corner of her eye, she sees Liara. She looks over Shepard's shoulder to the younger Asari as she flails her hands wildly in front of her to try and catch Aria's attention. Liara then gestures behind her and mouths 'Ariena'. Aria knows what she means. Quickly, she turns back to Shepard's face, and though it kills her, she forces out a bitter voice. 'I don't love you.'

Just like that, she brushes past her, and flings Liara a look before sliding through the double doors and disappearing within the apartment inside. That leaves just Shepard and Liara standing awkwardly in the brisk cold Omega air.

Liara can't see Shepard's face. She's still facing the city. But she can already tell how torn she must be. As cruel as Aria is, stating that she doesn't love her in such a fashion was a lil bit much. Especially since it's Shepard that she said it to.

'Shepard?' Liara takes a few steps toward her. When the human makes no move at her call, she hesitates. 'Are you alright?'

Liara watches from behind as Shepard slowly shakes her head. She turns around with a morbid look on her face. She looks so pained. Liara hasn't seen this face since she told her that Aria refused to visit her back in the Huerta Memorial Hospital.

'Shepard, I'm sorry—'

'Do you really think she meant that?' Shepard asks quietly. 'Cause I don't.'

Liara looks away, slightly tense. She doesn't think so either. But she's met Aria's daughter. And though she isn't her real father, she does kinda like her—She looks so much like Shepard. Plus she's charismatic, sweet, and beautiful. At that thought, a realization hits her.

Could Ariena be Shepard's child?

This is her 80th birthday. And Aria did sleep with Shepard 80 years ago.

'Shep—'

'I need to find her.' Without another word, Shepard rushes past Liara, and makes her way into the apartment.

'Wait, Shepard! There's something you should—'

Too late. With a frustrated sigh, Liara presses on her temples with her two fingers, and shakes her head. What a crazy night, this is.

Back inside, Aria searches around the house for her mischievous little daughter, who had apparently disappeared after realizing Liara wasn't in the kitchen anymore. Aria growls in frustration after exiting a rather empty bedroom, and makes her way back to the living room. But then something catches her eye.

A strand of silver hair.

Quickly, she side-steps, and makes a turn to the few guest rooms by the corridor on her left. She weaves pass a few people, and approaches a silver-haired human girl with great confidence.

'Ms. Casstone,' She says coolly. 'I don't suppose you know where my daughter is.'

The human turns around in shock, staring at Aria's demeaning form with a slightly fearful look in her eyes. 'A-Aria,' She stutters out nervously. 'I don't—Um, she's—She's by the bar. L-Last time I checked.'

Aria smirks. 'Thank you,' Just before she leaves, she says, 'Oh, don't forget to tell your father I'm gonna kill him and his bodyguards the next time he tries to take any shipments from my cargo again. Got that?'

The girl smiles nervously. 'I'll pass on the message.'

'Thank you, Ava.'

Aria then makes her way towards the living room, where the bar's located. Damn, why didn't she think to check there first? Then again, why would Ariena be in the bar when her girlfriend is mingling with the guests by the guest room corridor? Of course Aria knows about her daughter's little relationship with the Casstone daughter. Aria knows everything, after all. She had decided not to say anything about it, considering it's not like Ariena's gonna stop seeing her if Aria confronts her about it anyways.

She brushes past a few people, ignoring some of their crude insults and flattering compliments, and approaches a lone Asari seated by the bar in silence.

Once she reaches, she leans on the bar and faces the younger girl in wonder. 'Enjoying the party?'

'Yeah, I threw up twice and now I seem to have lost my dad.'

Aria stifles a sigh of relief. She reaches out to grab the tequila shot from Ariena's hand, and places it far out of the girl's reach.

'Hey!' Ariena exclaims, bringing her head up to glare at her mother. 'I was drinking that.'

'I know. But get up,' Aria pushes herself off, and gestures to the doors. 'We're getting out of here.'

'What? Why?'

'Because you only turn 80 once. And I want my daughter to remember it.'

Ariena shoots her mum a weird look. This is kinda out of character. Unless Aria decides to attack her, then it'd be completely legit. But then again, she does feel kinda woozy and feels she needs some fresh air. With a roll of her eyes, and a silent sigh, she pushes herself off the bar stool. 'Where to?'

'The best place to reap havoc and chaos.'

'Illium?'

Aria rolls her eyes. 'You child. No, I'm talking about somewhere with a higher reputation.' With an evil grin, she grabs her daughter's wrist and drags her out of the alcohol-filled apartment towards the skycar parked downstairs. There's a plan in everything. She knows that Shepard'll chase after her. She'll confess her heart out, and Ariena will eventually find out about her. So what better way to avoid that happening than to drag Ariena and herself out of the equation by bringing her away for some serious fun?

Halfway down the elevator, Ariena stifles a burp, and turns to her mother. 'I still don't know where we're going.'

'Ariena,' Aria purrs wistfully. 'We're going to the Citadel.'

Author's Comments: I know this is pretty short. Honestly I had a massive writer's block, because I've stopped playing Mass Effect to focus on school and whatnot. But I managed to get it done either way.

Now, there's a lot of talk about age, even in the previous chapters. Just to clear things up, humans in the ME universe CAN live up to 150. Shepard said that to Liara in Mass Effect 3, if my memories serve me correctly. I believe he/she said something along the lines of "I'm sorry, only a hundred and six (?) years old? Humans that live over a hundred and fifty are a rarity." Okay well that's not at all accurate but yeah, Shep did say something like that. I took it to mean that humans are able to live up to a hundred and fifty, and those who live over that extent are either lucky or just really healthy.

The other thing is that even though Shepard is still alive, how is she still looking good? That's an excellent question. I assume that with her synthetic implants and if you consider the fact that she was re-built by Cerberus at one point, she can maintain a *sorta* youthful appearance even at that age. But like I've mentioned in the story, her hair is already greying, her skin is already wrinkling and her age clearly shows on her face. I hope that sums things up. If not, I'm sorry for the inconvenience. If it does, then yay for Shep and Aria!

By the way, thank you for all of you who've reviewed! Sorry I can't reply all of them individually but I must emphasize that I really do appreciate it! They help me keep this story going. And for those who have favorited and followed this story, thank you as well!

Thanks, -K.