A/N: Vague M warning in this one. The story finally earned it's rating! Barely.

Also, if this is too sad, you have Raven to blame.


Liara shifted in her seat. She'd been sitting or standing and pacing outside the medbay for hours. Garrus held vigil with her for a time, helping her stare aimlessly at the clouded medbay windows. Tali came by as well. They are very good friends. Shepard came by a time or two, but mostly has been gone, doing what, Liara didn't know. She felt… lost. There has been no prognosis yet. Liara didn't have any idea what was going on in there.

Williams was still in the medbay, as well, assisting the doctor. She had extensive medical training in her early days with the Alliance, was now a trained field nurse, as talented at assisting a doctor in surgery as she was in giving her enemies a reason for surgery. It is a… strange balance of talents, but Williams has never expressed guilt or reticence about it. She is life-long military, from a family of military. She knows where she stands, and what she is fighting for.

Liara reached up to her neck as she thought, fingering a delicate sliver of a necklace. Samantha gave it to her just a week ago. One of many gifts the specialist has gotten for the asari. It was a simple silver chain with a single, small diamond pendant on it – an Alliance soldier cannot afford much, especially during wartime. But it was lovely, and Samantha got something that would last, paying sharp attention to quality within the confines of what she could afford to spend.

Liara frowned, her fingers immediately travelling to her left hand. It was a human tradition that was meaningless to Liara until she looked it up after some of the human crew spoke about it on the SR-1. She thought it strange, but pleasant and simple. She began noticing them on a lot of humans wherever she went, as well as asari bonded to humans. Now she wore one. Given to her the very night before. Also silver, with another single diamond in it.

What will she do if Samantha does not survive this?


Liara stands at her workstation in her quarters. She is wearing very little, enjoying the chill of the room. It is cold in space. The ship is kept at a temperature that allows the electrical equipment to run and no warmer. It makes the heavy layers of the Alliance uniforms more than necessary, but it conserves vital energy. Sometimes, though, Liara does this, enjoying the chill.

Samantha lies naked in her bed, snuggled up in the covers cozily. Liara pushes through her work. It is vital to be done as soon as possible. She will be freezing by the time it is done, but she has a warm bed and a warm woman to return to when she is through.

Finally, after nearly an hour of standing barefoot before the monitors, she is through. Glyph can monitor and compile data, but it cannot do everything. It cannot make decisions, decide what is important and what to actually do with information. It can only collect it and analyze it for trends.

Liara's toes are cold, her limbs stiff, as she walks softly back to bed. She removes the one nod toward clothing she made when she awoke to do work – her undergarments – and gently pulls the blanket away from Samantha so she can slide under it.

"Oh, God, you're bloody freezing!" Samantha yells, making it clear she had not been fully asleep by waking up so swiftly. "Why do you do this, Liara?"

Liara smiles sheepishly, shrugging. "Sometimes I enjoy the chill."

"Well," Samantha says, turning away from the asari, "if you think you're going to-" She breaks off in a squeal. Liara, knowing exactly what the specialist was about to complain about, took both feet and placed them firmly against the small of the human's back. It is unlike her to be this playful, but the human woman brings it out in her.

Soon they are in a wrestling competition, Liara trying to find new places to freeze the woman while Samantha tries in vain to find the asari's most ticklish spots. Liara enjoys the playfulness, the intimacy, juxtaposed so tragically against the horrors of this war.

They lost Thessia days ago, are now on the Citadel so that they may restock and refuel. Samantha tracked down where Kai Leng likely went, and while she had felt accomplished for it, she had come to Liara to help her grieve. The asari was devastated – still is, in fact – but she also feels foolish. She felt sad for her friends losing their home planets, watched the horror in Samantha's heart as the human shared her experience of losing Earth to the reapers, but she had never thought… Oh, she was so foolish! She never thought Thessia would fall, never imagined she would see this pain for herself.

Even having seen it in Samantha, she had not anticipated it being so visceral.

She has been doing better, though. It lit an even brighter fire. She will track down Kai Leng and make him pay, for Thane's death, for the fall of Thessia, and for falling prey to the creatures who took her mother from this world before they could truly reconcile. The fire feels good. She is sad, angry, but mostly she is determined. Cerberus will not get away with this.

Tonight they finally made love again since Thessia fell. It was wonderful, and cleansing, healing the wound in her heart. Thessia fell, but the asari have not. Nobody in this galaxy is just rolling over and taking it from the reapers, least of all herself and Samantha. They affirm life, and they celebrate that they have not just survived but prospered, finding love in the most unlikely of places.

The possible end of the world has a way of setting one's priorities.

There was a wall this time as they made love, but Liara is not upset by it. It is a wall that is surrounded by… giddiness. Samantha has something planned. And she has learned to keep it from Liara. The asari cannot wait to find out what it is.

Samantha wins the wrestling match, pinning Liara's wrists above her head and digging her fingers into the asari's groin, her most ticklish of spots. It immediately makes the asari laugh, bucking and kicking to get the human off. She could use biotics, but that would hardly be fair. Continued tickling only serves to arouse her, however, something Samantha well knows.

Soon she is bucking into the human's fingers in orgasm, Samantha's hands buried deep inside of her as she fights the urge to reach out with her mind. Asari can have orgasms without the meld, just as they can Join without the need of physical sex, but it is never a fulfilling thing until done with the Joining. It excites Liara to know that they are not nearly done this night.

Having Samantha be so assertive is also incredibly thrilling.

But almost as soon as Liara has settled from her climax, Samantha is gone.

"Samantha?"

The human returns swiftly, straddling Liara's lap, a large grin on her face.

"Samantha? What's going on?" Liara suspects something. Surely she is about to be drenched in ice water for her earlier transgressions.

The human reaches for her hand, pulling her to sit. "Liara, I… God, I just love you so much. And I can't stand the idea of not letting you know just how much. I…"

She flushes furiously, her dark skin taking on a distinct red hue. Liara is perplexed. She reaches up, cupping the human's cheek. "Samantha, is everything alright?"

The human shakes her head. "I had this big bloody speech planned, and I can't even remember half of what I wanted to say. My heart… you make it beat so fast. You make my skin flush and my stomach fill with butterflies, and I want you to keep making me feel this way. Liara…" Samantha holds up a little box. Liara is just starting to recognize what might be happening, and it makes her own heart begin pounding wildly against her ribs.

The box opens, and inside is a simple silver band of metal, adorned with a single diamond. "Will you marry me, my beautiful blue wonder?"

Liara is speechless. They have talked about having a future together, yes. Children and dogs and a big house in the country. But it was always… in the abstract. Like they were afraid to make plans.

Samantha looks uncertain now. "I… I know it's not very big. I didn't do a lot of planning, or I would've saved money by not buying that necklace and instead bought a better ring, a bigger stone, but-"

"Samantha," Liara says, silencing the human in her lap. "Samantha, it is lovely, and perfect, and of course I will marry you."

Samantha laughs, collapsing into the asari for a moment. Liara can feel the poor woman shaking. Somehow they get the ring on her finger, and then they are making love, all assertiveness and sexual aggression lost to giddy relief and a swelling feeling of contentment Liara did not know possible.

Tonight, they celebrate. Later, they will go to Horizon and find Kai Leng. They will also see what has become of Samantha's family, who have not responded to the communications specialist since the asari "met" them over omnitool. But for tonight... tonight, they have each other, and nothing can take that away from them.