Gifts: Liara

"Jack has hair!" Shepard keeps repeating this as though it is some sort of revelation. By the time they are halfway to the Presidium Commons, Liara is tired of hearing about Jack's hair. As soon as she fails to respond to the observation however, the commander regards her suspiciously. "Are you jealous, T'Soni?" she asks.

"Jealous? Of what? Your preoccupation with Jack's appearance?" Liara thinks that if anyone should be jealous it is Kaidan or Thane. Kaidan and Thane? She knows that Shepard received another email from Kaidan, but her friend has not mentioned plans to visit the hospital again. Shepard is trying so hard not to hurt the two men. It would be insensitive to tease her.

"Of her hair!" Oh, Goddess.

"No."

"I don't believe you."

"Alas, I do not care enough to attempt to convince you of my sincerity." They have arrived at Apollo's Café. The Normandy will not be staying at the Citadel long. Mordin has completed his work on the genophage cure. All that remains is to figure out how best to distribute it among the population of Tutchanka. The frigate will depart tomorrow. Still, they have a little time.

Liara sits at her favorite table in the restaurant's courtyard. Shepard remains standing.

"Let's have a drink," the human says. "My treat." Before Liara can remind Shepard that it would be a very bad idea to be hung over tomorrow, the commander smiles her wry smile and adds, "I know. Just one drink, I promise. Then I'll leave and you can work."

No one has ever accused Liara of being a bacchant, but this is the first time in a while that she has felt particularly tedious. Shepard looks so forelorn, one would have to be a monster to refuse the invitation. She nods, and Shepard leaves before she can make a drink request. Knowing the commander, Liara will be subjected to—she shudders—beer.

Ah, well. She has spent so little time with Shepard of late. After the successful rescue mission at Grissom Academy, the commander and Garrus have spent the majority of their waking hours helping Jack train her students in more traditional forms of combat. Using biotics tends to drain humans, so it makes sense to give the teenagers some weapons training. Shepard also insisted on teaching the basic elements of marine hand-to-hand, enlisting Lieutenant Vega as her assistant and poor Garrus as a good-natured practice dummy for her enthusiastic demonstrations. When Shepard was not acting as an instructor, she was hovering over David Archer, wanting to know whether his teachers were gentle with him, whether he felt safe in school, whether the other students were kind to him, whether he was happy.

Liara realized long ago that once Shepard rescues someone, she never stops looking out for them.

The commander is taking rather a long time to return. Liara glances idly around. She had not thought that the café was particularly busy when they arrived—

What is Shepard doing talking to her?

Shepard comes back without any drinks. Unsure as to whether she should be relieved that she has been spared an abysmal-tasting human beverage, Liara feigns interest in her datapad. The human sits down quietly. A bad sign. Liara takes a deep breath, and asks if Shepard needs to borrow some credits, since she did not seem to purchase anything.

"Yeah," the commander sighs. "Um, about that. Did you see the bartender I was talking to over there?"

"The one you were yelling at? The matriarch hired by the asari government to track my movements?"

Even though Shepard was there when Liara became the Shadow Broker, she always looks surprised when Liara mentions this sort of thing. "You know about that? Of course you know about that."

Why do so many humans touch their head or face when they are agitated? Shepard is no exception. She attempts to run her fingers through her hair, and inadvertently pulls her bun apart. The pained face she makes as wisps of hair fall into her eyes almost makes Liara laugh.

"I—" Shepard appears to be searching for the right words. Liara can imagine what she has to say. "Liara, she's your father."

"I know." The commander means well, but she cannot possibly understand. Matriarch Aethyta may have fathered Liara, but she is not really her father.

"You know?"

"I'm a very good information broker."

"And you haven't talked to her?"

"If I did that, they might send someone who was not as sympathetic to me." The situation is really quite simple.

In her frustration, Shepard nearly knocks over her chair when she stands. It is very funny. "Liara!"

"This is hardly the time for family reunions," Liara points out.

"This is exactly the time for family reunions!" the commander snaps. She pushes her hands through her hair again. "God, if I—Go talk to her, T'Soni."

"No."

The commander slams a fist on the table. The noise startles Liara. For all her pranks and levity, Shepard is usually very gentle. "That's an order." Liara narrows her eyes defiantly, but Shepard refuses to back down. The asari looks away first.

"Tell you what," Shepard says kindly, as Liara crosses her arms and stares at the Presidium lakes, "next time we come back here, if you see my dad waiting tables, you can make me talk to him."

Despite herself, Liara glances over her shoulder and studies her friend. Shepard speaks of her mother from time to time, but she has never mentioned a father. At times, Liara has wondered whether Shepard sprang from her mother's head fully-formed, like the ancient human war goddess she studied in comparative xenomythology.

"I find it hard to believe that you do not get along with your father, Shepard."

The commander snorts. "Believe it." More quietly she adds, "He's a doctor. Wasn't really pleased when I decided to be a soldier instead of… well, more like him. But we're not talking about me." She puts a hand on Liara's shoulder. "It's better to make sure that you hate her than to risk never finding out."

"Oh, fine." Liara hesitates. "Will you… come with me? Just at first? You do not have to stay."

Shepard smiles. "I'll stay until things get too awkward for even me to handle. Unless there are baby holos. Nothing in the galaxy is going to drag me away from your embarrassing baby holos."

"You did threaten to flay someone alive with your mind," Aethyta points out. To Liara's fury, Shepard nods in agreement. She stops when Liara glares at her.

"I had to make him take me seriously!" Liara protests. "I was not going to actually do it," she adds sullenly. "And… you bugged my office on Illium!"

"That'd be the logical conclusion, yeah." To her credit, Shepard has the decency to look indignant on Liara's behalf, but she keeps quiet.

The conversation turns to more acceptable topics. The war. Why the asari refuse to commit troops to the war. Aethyta glances sidelong at Shepard, and comments that it is good the krogan and turians are capable of doing 'the heavy lifting.' The commander pretends to be engrossed in studying the café's drink menu.

When Aethyta tries to convince Liara that having a krogan grandparent makes her a quarter krogan, Shepard looks up, clearly amused. However, she catches Liara's eye when the young asari vehemently insists that 'That's not how it works!' and goes back to hiding in her menu.

Finally, Aethyta seems to be tiring of teasing Liara about her heritage. "I'll bet you that Shepard knows what I'm talking about," she says, sounding almost wistful. "You've head-butted a few krogan in your time, haven't you, Commander?"

Liara turns to give Shepard a warning look, but the human has vanished.

Aethyta tells stories about her time with Benezia. The expression on her face—Liara recognizes it. Her parents had loved each other very much. Despite everything that vids, novels, and poets claim, true love is the rarest thing in the galaxy. Liara wants to know everything.

"Nezzy—uh, your mother, was the only one who listened to me when I said the asari were stuck in the past." Liara nods, aware of her father's problematic political opinions. "She actually agreed with me, if you can believe it. The only difference was, I wanted us to stand on our own. She wanted to form alliances with other species."

"Is that why…"

"Why it ended?" Aethyta starts to shake her head. "Nah." She stops, cocks her head to the side, thinking. "Well, maybe. Shit, I don't know.

"Mostly it ended because she wanted to solve things the smart way. I wanted to fight." A shrug. "Guess those aren't mutually exclusive, though. I mean, look at you, kid. I hear you've racked up quite a body count. But then—"

"Do not say it…."

"—you are a quarter krogan."

"Now you are doing it on purpose!"

"I am not. Maybe. Before you were born, you used to give your mother hell. She said you were kicking. I knew better. Head-butting even before you had someone to fight. That's part of the reason I made her promise to let you go your own way. No matter what she wanted."

As annoyed as she is right now, Liara is also touched. "Really?"

"I knew you'd be special, kid." The words sound almost gentle. "Any daughter of hers…" Aethyta clears her throat, uncomfortable. "Yeah. I told her, 'You're treating her like a baby bird, Nezzy, but trust me, she's gonna raise one hell of a storm with those little wings."

If no one has punched Liara, why is she having trouble breathing? "Little wing?" she gasps.

"You okay?"

It takes a few moments, but Liara manages to nod. "I do not understand," she admits after a while. "It sounds as though you loved her, so why—"

"Of course I loved her! She was so smart," the matriarch says. "Always thinking. Nice, too. Hell of a lot nicer than I am. And damn, that rack! I mean, even before she hit the matriarch stage…." Aethyta whistles, the way Shepard does sometimes when she is trying to make Lieutenant Vega blush.

Maybe Liara does not need to know everything.

"I don't know why it ended. All I know is that it was pretty clear that she was leaving. Can't be the wise counselor when you're married."

That is ridiculous. Liara says as much.

"Sex appeal," Aethyta promptly responds. Liara wishes that she had not asked. "Most species only pay attention if they want to have sex with you. So you have to be available, mysterious…"

"What?" That is also ridiculous. "That is not true!" Liara protests. "Shepard listens to me!"

"And you're single, aren't you?"

"You think Shepard wants… no. No!" No. Goddess, no. Shepard respects Liara.

"If you say so." Aethyta smiles awkwardly. "This has been nice, kid. Talking about your mother. It's better to remember her like than as whatever she turned into with that Saren bastard."

"That was not her fault," Liara snaps. She should not have to defend her mother to her father. Aethyta should believe in Benezia no matter what. "She was trying to stop Saren, to guide him as a force of good. But she was indoctrinated."

A hopeful expression spreads across the matriarch's face. "I heard stories about the Reapers messing with your head."

"They're more than stories," Liara assures her. "I've seen it. Every Cerberus soldier is a slave to the Reapers. Mother—" It is suddenly hard to form the words. "Mother fought it with every fiber of her being. She said it was like beating your hands on glass, watching what your body was doing. Still, she managed to break free and even helped Shepard before she died."

If Aethyta was the sort of person who cried, Liara would assume that her father is on the edge of tears. "All this time, I blamed Nezzy for it," she says quietly. "I'm a thousand years old and I still don't know crap. Thanks for telling me."

She straightens her shoulders. "Hey, kid. I've, uh, I've called a few friends." Is the matriarch going to invite Liara to a party? "Commandos. Mostly Eclipse girls who owe me some favors. They're all yours. Just tell 'em where to go."

Better than a party. "You're giving me asari commandos?"

"Well, you're too old for me to buy you a damn pony," her father growls. "Just take care of yourself out there, okay, kid?"

"I will… Dad."