"So is everything ready?"

"Ready as it's gonna get, doll." Victor answered.

Jill crossed her arms and nervously looked around the convention center. "Are you sure, Victor? That asari wasn't messing around. If she knew who we are she'd have to have some serious connections. I don't like this, we should just split town and get as far away from the Sol system."

Victor chuckled. "And then what, darling? This is what we do, Jill. We kill people for money and this guy is paying us a whole shit load of money."

"It's not about the money! I'm trying to keep us safe."

"Jill, honey, nobody is going to hurt you. How many jobs we worked together since we told old man illusive to go fuck himself?"

The woman flashed a wry smile. "45."

"45." He repeated. "And did I ever let anything happen to you? No. And I sure as hell ain't starting now."

"But the asari..."

"Screw the asari. Probably just some two bit asshole hired to scare us."

"But why?"

Victor shrugged. "I don't know. And to be honest I don't care. Hackett is gonna be six feet under either way. And then I am going to show you the time of your life, just like you deserve."

"Either way let's go over the plan. Just to be safe."

He groaned and rolled his eyes. "If it will make you feel better. Sure."

"Security is going to be tight, I'll slip in quiet and get up to the high vantage point with the Widow but we only take Hackett out with the rifle if theres no better option. That's about as public as a kill gets and I don't wanna kick the hornet's nest anymore than we already are unless we have to. So you're gonna work the crowd, get a disguise and get close to him. You try and get him alone and take him out silently. After the bastard's dead we split and meet back up at the docks to contact the client and get our money."

"Easy peasy." Victor said with a smile.

"Anyone looks at you wrong you take them out. We can't afford to scotch this."

"I'm not gonna go find a conscious now."

"Good." She said but she still looked on edge.

"I could always call in Taurus if you think we need another gun here." He joked.

Jill shivered. "Don't even joke about that. That man is a monster, he makes my skin crawl."

He chuckled. "He's not the most neighborly of hitmen. Don't think I've ever seen him without that helmet on."

"I don't think I ever want to. One job with him was enough for a lifetime."

"Only teasing, baby." He kissed her on the cheek. "I'm not bringing that ghoul here."

Jill smiled. "Well now that everything is ready here why don't we go back to our hotel room and enjoy the rest of our evening?"

"Lead the way, doll."


The house had fallen silent. Miranda Lawson was awakened from her sleep by a hard kick and the sound of her lover muttering in her sleep. An unfortunately common occurrence. Lawson sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes clear before looking over at Jack.

The convict's face twitched in her sleep as she muttered and Miranda placed a loving hand on her cheek. "Jack..." she whispered sorrowfully. The raven haired woman frowned and decided to let her sleep through this one as she crept out of bed and threw on a fresh set of underwear before leaving the bedroom.

She leaned her head against the door and sighed before padding in to the kitchen. She paused when she saw the fridge door open and when the door closed and revealed Liara T'Soni the asari jumped in surprise and clutched at her chest as she let out a little yelp. "Goddess! Miranda, you scared me."

Miranda crossed her arms to cover her breasts more than her black lace bra already did. "I apologize. I didn't know anyone else was up."

"I should be the one apologizing. I shouldn't be rooting through your fridge I was just craving chocolate and it seemed foolish to wake anyone and I..." she fell silent and her face flushed deep purple.

"Well you shouldn't be going through there."

"I know! I'm so sorry."

Miranda smiled and opened the kitchen cabinets and moved a few boxes out of the way before removing the candy. "I hide it up here. Otherwise Jack eats it all." she offered a bar of dark chocolate to the asari who accepted it with a smile.

"Thank you." Liara tried not to stare at Miranda's impressive breasts. She had only ever seen Shepard naked and Lawson was by all meanings of the phrase a knockout. "Insomnia?" she asked.

Miranda gestured to the kitchen table and they both sat down. "No. You?"

Liara nodded. "It is sometimes hard to sleep when you have a baby inside you."

Lawson smirked. "It's nice to have you two around. I know Jack really likes seeing Shepard. I do as well. but you're never an unwelcome sight Dr.T'Soni. I regret that I never had the pleasure of working side by side with you. It feels like a lifetime ago when you were helping me find Shepard's remains."

"And I'm glad I did."

"I think the whole galaxy is."

"So what's keeping you up, Miranda?"

Lawson rested her tired head on one hand. "It's Jack. She sometimes has these dreams...well nightmares really. I used to wake her up but it never seemed to help. I don't know what to do anymore."

"What does she dream about?"

"Her students."

Liara bit in to the chocolate and covered her mouth with her hand as she chewed. "The ones from Grissom Academy? My networks showed they were killed fighting the Reapers in London."

Miranda's eyes and tone softened. "They were. She doesn't like to talk about it but losing those students was devastating to her. I can see it in her eyes when I ask her about it. She cared for those children deeply."

"I saw how she was with them at the academy. It's a tragedy what happened. Shepard had a similar problem after she woke from her coma."

"Did she?"

"She was really bad. Horrific nightmares and fits, I tried to help for months but nothing seemed to make her get better."

"What did you do?"

Liara smiled and took another bite of chocolate. "I employed her as an agent of the Shadow Broker and together we took down the Terminus Ring. Well technically we didn't take them down. It's a long story. After that she really turned around. I think she just needed a reminder that there was still a place for her in the galaxy."

Miranda chuckled. "I had a feeling you two were involved in the Athame's Dream incident."

"Did you have Jack see a doctor?"

Lawson nodded. "Yes, I insisted. It ended about as you'd expect. And one doctor with a broken nose and a very expensive assault charge later she wasn't any better. I don't know what to do."

Liara took another bite. "Well I'm afraid I don't know Jack very well, but even though she says she doesn't want to talk about it doesn't mean she doesn't need to talk about it. Perhaps it will help." She took another big bite. "This is wonderful by the way."

"Oriana sends it to me from Illium." Miranda broke off a piece from the bar of chocolate and popped it in her mouth. "So why don't you tell me why you're really here."

Liara's eyes widened. "I'm sorry?"

"You didn't really expect me to believe that you two were just in town for the Alliance ball did you? Especially when you look like you're almost ready to go in to labor. So what Broker business brings you here?"

The asari looked around. "It must stay between us."

"Of course."

"Shepard and I are after Admiral Charles Shaw."

Miranda narrowed her eyes. "What? Why?" she sounded almost offended.

"He's not what you believe him to be. He fed classified Alliance information to the Illusive Man during the war. I don't know the full extent of his relationship with Cerberus but I know he was a willing participate in their trades and it had been going on for quite some time."

Lawson leaned back in her chair. "I worked for Cerberus, so did Shepard despite what she might claim."

"This is different. The information he was giving out got people killed. We can't afford to have him sitting on the council as humanity's representative."

Miranda nodded. "If it came to light our new councilor was working with them it certainly wouldn't do us any favors. Especially after Udina. You're absolutely sure Shaw is guilty?"

"Positive."

"I take it you two are planning on doing something at the ball then."

Liara covered her mouth with her hand again when she spoke with a mouthful of chocolate. "We are. One of my operatives provided us with an OSD containing the evidence we'd need to keep him off the council. We just need to get that evidence on him and have him get caught with it."

"Then how can I help?" Miranda asked.

"I was hoping you'd say that. We'll see what happens when the time comes." She glanced down at her belly. "I'm afraid I won't be much help and Shepard might need a second able body." Liara yawned and checked her omni-tool for the time. "Goddess, I should get back to bed. Goodnight, Miranda. Thanks again for the chocolate."

"Anytime."

Miranda stretched and returned to her bedroom. She found Jack still twitching and muttering in her sleep, worse than when she left her. She sighed and unclasped her bra and set it aside before carefully getting back under the covers. She watched Jack thrash in her sleep and nervously reached a hand out to her. "Jack." she said as she gently shook her. "Wake up." she stirred slightly but still her eyes didn't open. "Jack." she repeated louder and the convict's eyes shot open and she immediately sat up letting out a cry of terror as her chest rose and fell rapidly as she panted heavily. "Are you alright?"

Jack met Miranda's gaze and tears began to stream from her eyes. "Miranda?" she whimpered.

Lawson wrapped her arms around her and held her close. "It's alright, Jack. It was just another dream."

"Fuck." Jack sobbed with her head buried in Miranda's shoulder. "It was a bad one."

"You're okay. I'm here." Miranda whispered in her ear.

"It was Rodriguez again, I saw her get blown to pieces by those Reaper assholes...I just want this shit out of my head."

Lawson kissed her tenderly on the cheek. "I do too."

"I'm sorry. You don't need to deal with this. I'll go sleep on the couch." She got up to leave but Miranda pulled her back.

"I don't want you on the couch. I want you here next to me."

Jack wiped her eyes dry and sniffled back more tears. "Shit, I'm being such a pussy."

"No you're not. You don't need to hide from me, you know that right?"

The convict nodded. "Just fucking hold me, cheerleader."

Miranda pulled her in close and stroked a loving hand through her brown hair as the convict sobbed. It was moments like these Miranda can't believe she was ever cruel to Jack or that she ever felt anything but love for her. Despite her tough exterior beneath it all Jack was as damaged as Miranda was but she only ever let Lawson see her like this. The real her. She'd never shared this much about herself with someone and the same could be said for Miranda. Hell, Miranda had never trusted anyone else to share a bed with her before. It was this moment when Miranda knew one hundred percent that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Jack.


Notes- Next chapter we meet a new character that you won't want to miss as well as get reunited with an old favorite as things start to heat up! Hope you liked this chapter, there was a bit of set up here but hopefully it was enjoyable. Tell me what you thought in the reviews and I'll tell you all about how Kaidan is actually a robot. Also follow/favorite and all that stuff. IMPORTANT NOTE- The cover art for this story and all my other Jack and Miranda stories is a Fan Art piece drawn by Critter of Habit on Tumblr which I use with her permission. Since links are not allowed inside stories I urge you all to check my profile for a link to the original source image and her incredible blog filled with other great fan art.