The cold faded. Shepard blinked, coming back into the present gratefully to meet Liara's sombre eyes.

"You almost died," Liara murmured, her voice tinged with the lingering grimness of what she saw and experienced.

"It was a near thing," Shepard said softly. "They kept me down for several weeks. I didn't realise I had a bad concussion. They showed me the helmet. One side of it had a deep dent. The visor was broken, that's why it didn't work. It's a miracle my skull wasn't flattened. With blood loss, internal injuries-," she sighed. "I was lucky. When I woke up, they had already retrieved whatever bodies they could find. There wasn't many."

"The thresher maw?"

"They went down with heavy artillery but there was no sign of it during the recovery. It didn't make sense. If the region was its territory, it should have been attracted to the ground activity but there wasn't a single tremor. I looked up what information I could find on those creatures but there wasn't much. Of course nobody would think its presence was dictated by an outside agency."

"They are gone now." Liara touched Shepard lightly, disturbed by the anger and hatred in her voice. "Cerberus is dead."

So they were. It was the touch of those memories, the lost of friends that was fueling her fury, Shepard realised. She tried to calm herself. With effort, she forced herself to think of nothing but a forest. The sound of chirping birds, cascading water of a waterfall and streams. Her tension slowly ebbed away.

"I know." She patted Liara's hand. "I'm glad I'm here and they're not." She clasped her bondmate's hands and focused her attention on the fingers. They were lovely fingers. Long and supple.

"You have too many close brushes with death."

"Just practising for the real thing," Shepard said jokingly and saw Liara's face. What a stupid thing to say, she realised. "I kept my promise to come back, didn't I?" She kissed her lightly in apology before moving in closer to nuzzle her bondmate's neck, hands moving to caress gently, seeking to leave the unhappy moment and memories behind.

The change from roiling disturbance to ardor brought Liara back to herself. She held Shepard to her as she was borne back down into the pillows, allowing the dark vestiges of the past slipped back to where they belonged. It was the present she wanted to feel. The sensation of her bondmate's touch, her body, her scent, the strength of her personality and the love they had for each other. A tiny tendril of hope flared at the back of her mind. Was it time? Five years had past. They were ready, were they not? She was ready. It was what she wanted most. What they wanted. Shepard had promised her.

Mentally she reached out as her body quickened to her bondmate's caresses and rousing touches. There was no need for spoken words in preparation for the meld, already she could feel Shepard reaching out for her. They gasped in unison when they meshed smoothly, the feelings and pleasures of both colliding and fusing. Almost. So close. Sensitivity steadily heightened at every touch, building to a heated crescendo that banished any coherent thought. Limbs entangled, they lay on rumpled sheets.

As minutes passed and thought reassembled, Liara felt wretched. It shouldn't be and yet she was unfulfilled. The Joining was not complete.

Goddess, when would we be?

It was not the same. Not since the night before the attack on Chronos Station was there a complete joining. Whose fault was it? Hers? Shepard's? Her bondmate would have said something if she was aware there was a problem but she didn't. She never knew or perhaps she pretended there wasn't a problem. Unhappiness welled up. Liara shielded quickly before stamping it down. Patience, patience. They would find it again. Lightly, she stroked her bondmate's back, distracting herself with the feel of smooth skin, the ridges of scars down the back. A soft chime. Seconds later, another chime.

"I'd prefer to stay in bed," Shepard muttered.

"On any other day but not today." Liara dimpled, pushing her bondmate off her gently. "Today, you have to make a good impression."

"Good idea. Perhaps I'll report in, in my birthday suit." Shepard laughed. "Garrus always says the news of my impending presence is enough to send shock waves. Imagine what my birthday suit would do."

"Less of a shock wave than you imagine. You are on Thessia."

Liara climbed over her bondmate, waved a hand over the face of the chronometer that was chiming more loudly and rapidly. The chimes stopped. She stood beside the bed, hands braced on her hips. "On your feet, soldier," she said with mock severity before holding out a hand with an impish smile.

"Yes sir." Shepard jumped to her feet before taking Liara's hand and led her to the bathroom. "You might make Admiral one day."

"Really?"

"Yes, Admiral of the showers...ow!"

Avoiding another pinch from Liara, Shepard pulled her into the bathroom. Much later, she examined her neck in the mirror of the wardrobe, certain Liara had given her a hickie or two when their shower turned passionate. Her back was burning slightly from the scratches delivered by Liara's nails. It was not unusual to receive such attentions but they tend to be lighter. She twisted around to take a look at her back. Were those gouges? Ouch, Liara was definitely more aggressive in the shower. Odd. Stranger still, she thought Liara was angry about something and took it out on her. Yet she said nothing. That peeved her a little.

Perhaps I'm too idealistic. Bondmates can't exactly share every little itty bitty thought.

A sound from the bathroom warned her that Liara was about to emerge. She reached quickly into the wardrobe and pulled on her underclothes. Hesitating for a moment, she looked at the black tunic before pulling on a dark grey round collar shirt and black pants. She combed and braided her hair before sitting on the bed. After drying her feet, she pulled on socks and boots. Going back to the wardrobe, her hand reached into it and halted. As she stood there, a blue hand opened the other side of the wardrobe to bring out a cream colour suit. Moments later, it reached for the uniform tunic and held it out to her.

"Shepard."

Reluctantly, she took it and drew it on, saying nothing when Liara turned her and fastened the seal before stepping back. They stared at each other.

"How'd I look?"

Shepard held out her arms before tugging at the tunic. The uniform had undergone a revision after the war. Strained resources dictated a redesign, the removal of extraneous piping and side panels. The only piping that remained was on the sealing seam. The blue hue of the uniform had gone to black. She rather liked the plain look. The rest remained the same. Four strips on the sleeves, a single four pointed star on shoulder boards, silver diamond-shaped insignia of rank on the collar. Metal salad and the Systems Alliance insignia on chest, service stripes on the upper sleeves. The only thing missing was the ship patch. The cap was folded neatly and tucked under the shoulder board.

"Spiffy." Liara smiled before hugging her, feeling the tension in Shepard's body. She took her hand. "Effia has already prepared breakfast."

Hand in hand, they went out of the room and down the corridor to a graceful flight of spiraling stairs to the ground floor. On the left was a large hall with small streams winding along the length on both sides. They headed right, into one of the smaller rooms in the adjacent wings where as Liara had mentioned, breakfast was set out for them at one end of a long oval table.

After five years on Thessia and more years before that of food trays, mess cooked food, MREs or depending on circumstances, energy bars and worst, paste, Shepard still felt a little strange and formal to sit down to properly laid out crockery, cutlery and eat food that looked right at home in a restaurant. The times she could recall sitting to a planned meal, was in her childhood and as a teenager invited to the occasional party.

She reached for the round Reilio vegetable slices lined up neatly in a row on a side plate and layered on a spread, from a side dish. It wasn't jam but it tasted like blueberry to her. It took her quite a while to get used to the taste of reilio, a plant eaten raw. It reminded her somewhat of brussel sprouts though its strong nutty flavour made up for that slight raw bite. Not a favourite even after five years but she was growing into it.

One for Liara, one for herself. She tucked into the stew, still steaming. It was creamy and grainy, with slices of meat from one of many edible fish from the oceans of Thessia. Its name was unpronounceable but she called it a snorker, having seen a picture of it. It had a snork like snout. Its flesh was tender and sweet. Pieces of fruit, slightly tart, rounded off the breakfast.

Conversation was desultory as they ate and read the news displayed on the small screens of their omni-tools. Shepard read the updates on the rebuilding progress and the campaign against the indoctrinated on Earth. The former was going dead slow and the latter seemed to be advancing well, but she knew better. If she wanted to know how the fight was going, she could read the Alliance reports readily available to her but she wasn't going to. She was out of the fight as far as she was concerned.

There were messages Liara had to deal with. Updates from the medical center, agents that managed to survive the war and a few personal emails. A tagged message popped up at the corner of her screen. She shielded her thoughts quickly, flicking her eyes to Shepard who did not look up. The message was shunted to another section, she would make the call later. More messages appeared and automatically dumped into various email boxes as she finished her meal. Once done, she shut down her omni-tool and gently tapped Shepard's hand when she saw she had finished. Together, they left the dining room and made their way to the skycar at the entrance of the mansion.

As they lifted to the air, Liara looked down at their home, one of the few T'Soni estates to survive intact from the Reaper invasion. Set into the side of a mountain near a lake, it was far from the city of Kelice and remote to be overlooked by Reaper forces. The same could not be said of most of the rest of Thessia and the asari however. The population was badly decimated and most of the habitable cities devastated. When the war was over, their chosen footholds had to be laboriously and slowly cleared by the survivors returning from other worlds and colonies.

Their first task was to destroy surviving husks. Without the Reapers' direction, they simply stood where they were. They and whatever mutations that remained were gathered and loaded on board freighters, shuttles and pitched into the sun. The same was done with the dead Reapers though this task was not accomplished by the asari. It would have been done by mechs but the Geth had volunteered for the task. They divided their forces accordingly among the council races for this task. It was slow work but considerably faster than remote controlled mechs.

There was also another concern. Even though biotics themselves, the surface of Thessia was riddled with countless Reaper armaments and various contaminants that were hazardous. They had only managed to clear and repopulate two cities in the last five years, Kelice and Sharzis.

Evidence of that rebuilding began to appear as they approached the city. Completed and renovated buildings gleamed while the foundations of other projects lay incomplete. Streets, bridges, promenades were filled with people engaged in various activities in rejuvenated gardens and parks. Skycars streamed to and fro in the sky. Signs of a bustling, breathing city. It eased Liara's heart very much to see such a sight. She reached out to touch Shepard's arm who looked across at her. She was pleased to see Liara smiling.

Her relaxed mood slowly changed however, as they neared their destination. Anxiety began to seep in. Liara felt it. She said nothing until Shepard set the skycar down in front of an imposing building. They sat in the car, watching uniformed asari moved in and out of the building. The soldiers on guard eyed the skycar carefully but none made to approach. Yet.

"Shepard, you'll be fine," Liara said finally when her bondmate did not move after a few minutes. From where she was sitting, she could see a stir at the entrance. The asari commanders would be watching for Shepard's arrival.

"I..guess so." Shepard took a deep breath, having noticed the same thing. Was she ready?

"I'll see you later. Go." Liara pushed Shepard gently, urging her out of the skycar and then turned her bondmate back to her when she was about to open the door to kiss her deeply. "Think of tonight."

"That's.," coughed Shepard, a little red faced," that's not exactly the right attitude or thought to bring with me."

"It's just exactly right for you." With that Liara reached across, opened the door and propelled Shepard out. With the help of a little biotic push.