Make sure you read chapter nine as I've uploaded two chapters again. Yay me!
TEN
It was 0800 hours on the day of departure. It had taken another week to complete the repairs to the Normandy, but finally the crew were in place to take-off; all eagerly anticipating the beginning of their journey back to Earth.
In the cock-pit Joker was a barely contained bundle of excited energy. Not only was his baby fixed, but EDI was whole and real beside him; her dry humour off-setting his tactless sarcasm nicely whenever they were required to communicate with the rest of the crew.
Commander Shepard stood in her usual place, over-looking the galaxy map in the CIC. Liara had chosen to monitor the proceedings from a console close by; facing her lover so she could enjoy the sight of the woman she adored in her element.
They had spent the last week, while not on duty, excitedly planning their future together. Now that the war was actually over, the future seemed to stretch on gloriously long in front of them. Though Liara knew that there would come a day when she would have to say goodbye for the last time, she anticipated enjoying a century of bliss together before that happened, and when they did finally part, she envisioned them being surrounded by their daughters and their extended family; not torn apart in a desperate fight for survival.
Liara thought back to the night after she'd had the all-clear from the doctor. Going into the appointment, she'd felt confident that the effects of the drugs had finally worn off, but Shepard had needed Karin's confirmation before she'd been willing to revisit their conversation about children.
(( As they'd entered their cabin after dinner, the commander had pulled the Shadow Broker into a firm hug, her breath tickling the asari's crest as she huffed out her relief.
"Liara, maybe I should have just taken your word for it, but I'm glad Dr. Chakwas confirmed your recovery." Jane had pulled back and was looking for any sign that her lover was upset with her.
Recently their disagreements had become less volatile and more logical, and though arguing was never a pleasant experience, they both appreciated the difference when they could remain relatively calm.
"It's fine, Jane. I would have wanted the same peace of mind if I were in your position," the young maiden reassured the commander, even as she began unbuttoning the human's shirt.
Shepard raised an eyebrow at the sudden wanton playfulness directed at her. She felt her pulse quicken as nimble fingers explored her newly exposed skin and felt her own hands automatically responding in kind. "So, I guess we're not going to waste any time then? Are we really going to do this now?" There was a hint of trepidation in her tone, but she had already made up her mind about going ahead with the mating meld, she'd just assumed that they would have a long discussion about it first.
Liara had managed to strip the shirt off Shepard's shoulders and was working on unbuttoning her pants as she moved backwards with her lover toward the bed. "We can talk about that later," she mumbled between kisses to the commander's shoulders and neck. Though she hadn't needed the doctor's confirmation, she was excited by the news nevertheless. "Right now, I just want you!"
Jane grinned as she stepped out of her trousers. Eager hands reached for the fastenings on the asari's clothing as Liara's arms wrapped around her neck and pulled their mouths together. The human groaned into the kiss, the overwhelming relief of finally having her lover back healthy and happy gave an extra injection of enjoyment to their sudden passion. She laughed when the asari reversed their positions and pushed her onto the bed. Warm hands and lips began to explore her torso, turning her mirth into another groan of delight.
"God, Liara."
Shepard gasped while her fingers entangled themselves in the crevices of her lover's crest. The blue alien took her time to map out every sensitive inch of the hero's body. Her scientific proclivities motivated the long drawn out torture until the human was a mass of shivering nerves. When she couldn't take any more teasing, she looked down at Liara and was met with an intense ebony gaze looking back at her.
The young information broker abandoned her exploration and crawled up between Shepard's legs until she was hovering over the soldier. She captured a wrist in each of her hands and imprisoned them above splayed red hair. She felt one of Jane's legs wrap around her waist, opening the commander up to whatever Liara desired. As she lowered her hips into her lover's and began a slow rocking rhythm, she let her consciousness sink into Shepard's.
Jane felt Liara capture another long moan with a kiss and let herself submit completely under her partner's unexpected dominance. In the meld she could feel love and desire surrounding her, stoking her need and reaffirming the depth of emotion they each shared for the other. She felt Liara's climax building in waves and her own responding in tandem.
'Goddess,' Liara whimpered inside the meld.
Jane experienced a fleeting moment of clarity through their link before Liara grabbed hold of it and tugged it back with effort. The commander knew immediately what had begun to happen and was surprised by the intensity of her own disappointment as she lover controlled her instinct to mate.
'Do it.' Shepard thought across the meld. She felt the asari's surprise and then the spike of arousal that followed. The young maiden's movements slowed and her eyes opened to gaze down at Shepard questioningly. The commander rose up as best she could from her trapped position and kissed her lover tenderly. "Jane?"
"I love you. I want this with you." Shepard told her earnestly. "Do it," she encouraged again.
Liara left one hand tangled with one of Jane's and slowly trailed the other over sensitive skin as she began to take control of the meld again. Her fingers slipped through course hair that no longer felt strange to her and entered the human easily. Jane's newly freed hand slid around the back of her neck squeezed in time with the asari's thrusts.
Their heightened desire returned with fervour and Liara didn't hold back this time as her mind burrowed deeply into the commander's and began mapping her essence.
The feedback Liara felt from her partner surprised and excited her. The pure ecstasy Jane was experiencing had not been there during their previous mating and the asari was in awe at the stark contrast of having the commander's consent.
Shepard climaxed first; her entire body over-stimulated by this new experience. She cried out into the spacious cabin and rode out her orgasm on Liara's talented digits. Even as she began to recover from the high, her lover reached her peak and the echoes sent Shepard over the edge once more.
While they lay in a tangle of limbs and sheets, the commander felt an uncontrollable smile take over her face. A moment later a chuckle tripped over her lips, followed quickly by another, and then another, until she was laughing so hard she thought her sides were going to split.
Liara laughed along with her, after some initial concern. It was just beginning to sink in for both of them that there was a chance they would have their happy ending after all. ))
Without thinking about it, Liara's hand travelled once again to her mid-section and out of the corner of her eye she saw Jane glance her way. They exchanged a brief moment of silent communication before the Commander turned back to her task and began issuing orders.
Moments later the low hum of the engines could be heard and there was a collective holding of breath as thrusters were ignited and the subtle sensation of upward motion was felt by all. There was a slight relaxing of shoulders as the ship rose gracefully and swiftly into the bright blue sky. However, no one really relaxed until Joker had brought them up alongside the Cornucopia and the Commander had confirmed her standing order to tail the Normandy and be prepared to offer assistance in the event that the ship encountered difficulties.
For the next few hours everyone worked diligently at their stations, checking and rechecking sensors and system functions. They were like a well-oiled machine and Shepard was proud to see that they still took their duties seriously though the threat of galactic extinction had been eliminated. At 1200 hours, when Shepard was convinced that they weren't in danger of losing power, being pulled into a neighbouring planet's atmosphere and plummeting to their deaths, she gave her crew leave to operate light duty rotation and stepped down from her 'crow's nest'.
First she turned to her Com-Specialist, throwing her a grateful smile. "Good work Traynor, it's nice to see you haven't decided to slack off now we're not out saving the galaxy anymore."
Traynor blushed slightly under the Commander's praise, not having quite gotten over her crush yet. "Give it time Commander; I'm sure there'll be another crisis with your name on it sooner or later."
"Ugh, don't jinx me Sam." Shepard replied with an exaggerated groan of annoyance. "Besides, I don't plan on being available for at least the next decade. The next century if I can help it." She glanced over at the asari in the lab-suit, who was pretending not to watch them. She chuckled inwardly, still finding her lover's jealousy amusing and then turned back to the woman in front of her. "I think I've earned my retirement," she added in a quieter voice.
Traynor stood speechless for a moment then finally chuckled to herself and smiled, hiding the sliver of disappointment that was sharp in the back of her mind. "I guess it has been a long four years for you."
Jane nodded slowly, "Sure has, and I was dead for two of them." A sad smile twitched at the corner of her mouth. "It's not just that though; I'm almost thirty three years old and I've spent most of my life either on a ship or in combat. I want to know what it's like to be ground side for a while; to not have to worry about anything more complicated than what to put on my grocery list and which movie to watch on Saturday night. The fight's won and it's time to hand in the towel," the Commander's voice gained a little more of that forcefulness that she was renowned for towards the end, and with a parting nod she stepped around the Com-Specialist. "Make sure you get some rest Sam. I don't want you to burn out," she added without a backward glance.
Shepard brushed a hand across Liara's back as she moved passed her on her way to the nose of the ship. She glanced back to share a short flirty glance, breaking one of the staunchest rules in the military regarding fraternisation on duty. After the events of the last few years, such things no longer bothered her much.
In the cockpit, Joker hummed to himself contentedly as his synthetic co-pilot reacquainted herself with the formerly missing part of her 'soul'.
Shepard grinned to herself. She'd never have predicted a scene such as this. The often sullen pilot had been full of criticism for anyone and everyone when she'd first met him, and though he still spoke with a heavy dose of sarcasm, his outlook on life had been much improved. Most of that social development had been in direct correlation with the amount of time he'd spent with EDI, with or without her new eye-catching form. If Jane had been asked about it before bringing Dr. Eva's body on board, she'd have said then that he was half in love with the AI.
"You gonna skulk in the doorway forever commander? We're both taken now you know. It's a bit late for you to decide that you've been secretly in love with me all this time," Joker teased her from his worn in leather seat.
Shepard chuckled to herself. "Ah Joker, you're out of luck. You know, once you go blue, no one else will do," she quipped, then added, "Beside, I'd never think of trying to compete with EDI."
"That is fortunate commander. I would hate for you to be my first victim." There was a silent moment where Joker and Shepard shared a half amused glance. EDI continued to push buttons for a moment longer then slowly turned to look at them. "Ooops. Did I say that out loud?"
Shepard chuckled to herself. "Never change EDI. How does it feel having your body back?" She gestured to the bulkheads around them.
"It is comforting. Operating out of the tight-range band of the Normandy was not without its difficulties."
"We should probably stay on the ship for like, ever now," Joker announced as he turned back to his control panel.
Shepard continued to grin at her comic duo as she wandered back through the CIC. Liara was intent on her work by the time the Commander came back to hover beside her. "So, Dr. T'Soni," Shepard whispered beside the young asari. "Do you have anything you would like to confess?"
To her credit Liara barely faltered, her fingers continuing to fly across the screen as she ignored Jane's knowing smirk. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," she answered emphatically.
She knew exactly what her lover was referring to though. A few days ago Jane had been talking to Samantha Traynor in the war room and Liara had entered in the middle of the conversation and been none too pleased at seeing the two together, alone. Her displeasure must have shown on her face because Shepard had followed her rapidly retreating figure back to their quarters where she badgered the blue alien for half an hour before Liara would admit to hearing about 'the shower scene' that the lower deck hands still gossiped about on occasion. She still wouldn't admit to being jealous though.
"You know, I was thinking about this whole dilemma regarding Commander/crew-fraternisation gossip. I think I have a solution." She paused, waiting for her lover to take the bait.
She didn't have to wait long; with a sigh Liara shifted her weight onto her left hip and shot Shepard a long-suffering look. "And what would that solution be?"
"Simple," the red head smiled mischievously. "I just open my shower out to the entire crew; let them see that I'm treating them all the same."
Liara shook her head with exasperation, though she couldn't help but laugh a little at Jane's playfulness. "And where exactly do you propose we shower? As I recall, you have a fondness for conserving water." She shot the Commander an innocent look. "At least I assume that's why you invite me to join you so often."
Jane found herself temporarily stumped as her mind took her back to many hours spent worshiping Liara's body under the spray of her power-shower. "Yes, we have to keep saving water," she murmured robotically. Only when the asari smacked her across the stomach did Shepard's unfocussed gaze shift back to normal; the dazed expression that replaced it giving Liara more fuel to tease the galaxy's saviour.
"Then again, you do have a point about being fair to your crew. We wouldn't want them to mutiny after all."
Shepard's expression hardened comically. "You know, you didn't used to be this mean."
Liara shut down the station she'd been working on and grinned at the petulant Commander. "I learned from the best." She swayed towards the elevator, the red head stalking after her, now appearing quite proud of herself.
The crew didn't bat an eye-lid at these antics. After living as a small community for the past couple of weeks they'd learnt to relax somewhat during their downtime, and not one amongst them could begrudge their saviour the chance to goof around a bit.
All across the ship the morning shift was being replaced by the afternoon shift. They would all be on call at the drop of a hat until they reached their destination so those who were about to take a break had to stay alert, which was tough going for what would be a week long journey, but they were soldiers and well used to the pace. As soon as they were given leave to depart from the Normandy they would really let their hair down.
On the Cornucopia Miranda was still hard at work; the Commander's direction to stand down had fallen on deaf ears. She couldn't stop; she had to keep working to keep her thoughts from drifting. Ever since Shepard had given her access to her logs she'd needed a distraction to avoid facing the reality of some of her choices.
The first day she'd been intrigued by the slow change in her opinions and loyalties. The lengths that Shepard had gone to in helping her to save her sister and her sister's family brought an unexpected stinging to her eyes. The Illusive Man on the other hand? His need to take control of the human reaper was disturbing and she couldn't help but cringe at the memory of all the times she'd lectured Shepard on the pros of Cerberus and how they were working to help humanity. Though she was secretly proud of herself for telling him where to shove his job and all its associated perks!
For almost the entirety of the second day she'd become engrossed in her travels after returning from the Omega 4 relay; ship to ship, station to station, and planet to planet in her search for her sister; finally culminating in a most satisfying discovery of her father's death at her hands.
Finally she'd spent half a day rereading the mission logs from the final battle to retake Earth. She hadn't really needed to access the files again; it was stored in her eidetic memory, but it was hard to feel confident about her mental abilities when she'd lost the best part of a year from a simple gunshot wound.
Most people would consider themselves lucky to be alive after being shot by a sniper, but Miranda Lawson knew her body was more resilient than that. Only a direct shot to the head or heart would have killed her outright. The amnesia had to have something to do with blood loss and over stimulated nerves, which could have possibly caused a severing of pathways in the brain. It was likely that her body was right now attempting to rebuild those pathways, and once the right link was found the memories would come flooding back.
Only she wasn't so sure that she wanted them to anymore.
During her reading she had come across some shocking entries regarding the psychotic ex-convict, Jack. Entries that convinced the XO that, somewhere during her travels, she must have completely lost her mind.
They were subtle at first. The usually scathing comments she wrote on occasion, when Jack had succeeded in really ticking her off, were replaced by odd observations of the sadness behind her eyes, or concern over the amount of time she spent alone down in the bowels of the ship, to speculation over what the young woman would have been like had she grown up in a loving family. The change from avid disapproval to grudging respect was understandable Miranda supposed, particularly after returning from their mission to destroy the Teltin facility, but what she had stumbled across not more than a month into her personal logs was not!
At first she'd assumed that it was a bad joke of some sort; that Shepard had planted it in an attempt to make her feel at home. It wasn't entirely an illogical thought; the Commander had been known to pull pranks on her friends from time to time. But it would have taken quite a lot of work to go through all her personal files, to adapt to her writing style and place these (at times adolescent) nuggets of emotion into her end of the day musings. It didn't make sense. They had to be her thoughts, but at the same time they just couldn't be!
Miranda continued to read through casualty reports then moved on to crunching figures for projected rebuild costs and dates, but no matter how hard she pushed, those insidious thoughts remained at the back of her mind. After a further two hours of stubborn refusal to give in, she finally closed the programme she was working on and shut down the computer.
Feeling the gnawing hunger in her stomach the blue-eyed brunette sighed in defeat and decided that she would have to make an appearance in the MESS area. She just hoped she could manage it without running into Jack.
As the elevator deposited her on deck five her acute hearing picked up on the sound of children chatting, and where the children were, Jack was sure to be around somewhere. She groaned.
Shepard had suggested that the children move to the Cornucopia where there was the option of having dorm rooms for the boys and girls, instead of camping out on the floor of the observation deck. Knowing that Jack wanted to be close to Miranda was also a good reason to relocate them; it gave the struggling biotic an excuse to leave the Normandy.
Jane had suggested a gradual approach to let Miranda get used to her presence, but Jack had given up on that strategy after just one day. A big part of their relationship had always been about conflict, and Jack had no intention of changing that. Liara might respond to all that sensitive crap, but she was certain that Lawson wouldn't have the patience for it. Their forceful and stubborn personalities were the fuel for the passion that had so often inflamed their moments of unbridled lust. Jack was sure that if she could just push the right buttons, Miranda would be hers again. Of course, it wouldn't hurt to also let the other woman see the somewhat responsible person she had become. After all, there was no longer the threat of imminent death to send them crashing together in some short-lived attempt to escape from reality.
Jack was not actually in the MESS hall as Miranda feared. She had checked in on the ravenous gannets briefly and grabbed herself a quick snack before disappearing into the lounge, where it was usually quiet during the early afternoon. Mute had followed her down there, and though Jack had considered telling her that she really just wanted to be alone she reconsidered, actually finding the girl's quiet presence somewhat calming next to her turbulent thoughts.
"Hey kid," Jack greeted the timid brunette, not troubling to hide the shade of despondence in her voice. "You not hungry?" Mute shook her head and shuffled her feet. "Wanna play some pool?" the girl screwed up her nose and shook her head again. "Watch a movie?" Jack suggested, searching for something they could do that would help take her mind off Miranda, but her companion simply shrugged.
Mute looked around and spotted a chess board, much like Samantha's. She walked over, picked it up, and placed it on a low table where she sat on the floor to play with it.
"Chess?" Jack queried somewhat nervously. "Don't think I got much in the way of brains for that game," she confessed uncomfortably. Mute smiled winningly at her though and gestured to the floor space on the other side of the table and after releasing a small sigh of resignation the skinny ex-con took her place before the game board.
Partway into their third game Jack realised that she was actually starting to enjoy herself. Mute was a gracious winner and smiled often enough to make the insecure woman feel good about herself. "So Mute, you played this game a lot?"
The girl scrunched up her nose again but nodded confidently.
"Why'd you keep doing that?" Mute shot her a questioning look. "You keep screwin' up your face." Mute looked down quickly, hiding her face again. "You don't like the name or something?" Mute nodded. "Don't think they mean anything by it, givin' you a nickname. They don't know what else to call you."
What Jack heard next was such a tiny sound that she barely caught it, but luckily she'd been paying attention at just the right moment to hear the one whispered word, 'Penny'.
She tried not to seem too shocked or to suddenly jump on the kid with encouragement for more words, but somewhere inside she couldn't stop a well of excitement from bubbling up. "Penny huh? It's a pretty name, I'll give you that. Could get away with murder with a name like that." She smiled widely, injecting a teasing tone into her voice. "I guess now I know you do got a voice I couldn't keep calling you 'Mute' anyhow."
Penny blushed and pulled a lock of mousey-brown hair into her mouth. She looked up at Jack through her curtain of hair, her big brown eyes begging the young woman not to ask her to say anything else.
"No worries kid, no one has to know you can talk. You're gettin' on ok without it aren't ya?" She winked at the overly shy young biotic who giggled softly back at her.
That small sound of happiness did something to Jack that she'd never felt before, a surge of emotion so strong that it very nearly brought tears to her eyes, welled up inside of her. Still determined not to give in to anything so sappy though, she gathered Penny into her arms and swung the now openly laughing waif over her shoulder and began turning in circles.
On their third rotation the door whooshed open and Jack slowly came to a stop. The sight before her silenced Penny immediately but made the ex-con chuckle out loud. Miranda stood in the doorway, mouth open and eyes wide.
"Hey Princess, you see a ghost or something?" Jack continued to chuckle as the XO's mouth snapped shut and her eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. She felt Penny's arms tense up around her neck and turned briefly to offer her a reassuring grin. "Don't go getting your panties in a bunch. We're just goofin' off." She set Penny on the ground and cocked her hip while still grinning unrepentantly. "Unless you want some help getting them un-bunched?"
Miranda flushed at Jack's implication, firstly with embarrassment then with anger. "Whatever sick scenario you're thinking of you can disregard right now, it will never happen," she hissed.
Standing lopsidedly and still chuckling to herself, Jack quickly brought to mind an occasion where Miranda had had her panties un-bunched by the young rogue. She had been required to wear a dress during one of their many visits to Illium and Jack had teased her endlessly about it. In a dark corner of the club where Liara's father had worked, the tattooed biotic had miraculously convinced the XO to let Jack remove her underwear and she'd walked around all afternoon with nothing but the breeze teasing her nether-lips. Jack had been so turned on by the whole scenario that by the time they were back on the Normandy hours later, it was all she could do not to jump on Miranda in the decontamination chamber. The uptight cheerleader must have found it equally stimulating as a short time later Jack had slipped effortlessly inside as she took her from behind over her office desk.
"Too late sweetheart, it already did, and guess what…?" she sauntered into Miranda's personal space and leant in to whisper hotly in her ear, "You loved it."
Miranda resisted the urge to retaliate, partially because of the curious girl who was staring at her from behind the painted woman's legs, and partially because she didn't trust her own body with Jack around. Her brain was telling her to give the woman a good hard slap, but her body was tingling in ways that suggested that it knew Jack was telling the truth and wanted to experience her rough touch again.
She turned on her heel and marched off to her quarters for a much needed drink… and a cold shower. It was easy enough to douse the anger with a shot of perfectly aged rum and a quick mantra, cooling her ire the way she'd been taught to very early on in life (minus the intoxicant), but the throbbing arousal was something new.
From the moment she'd reached the age of consent, sex had been just another part of her life that required total control, from choosing a potential lover to how to stimulate the most satisfying orgasm. She had also become proficient at taking care of the problem by herself if the situation called for it. Control was her legacy…
…Except around a certain ex-convict apparently.
She resisted the siren's call for all of five minutes while she washed her hair under the cool spray of her personal shower, but as she applied soap to a sponge and brushed it across her over stimulated skin she felt her will cave in.
She turned a dial to provide a warmer spray and let a hand drift straight to the source of her problem. Her head hit the cold metal of the cubicle as dextrous fingers plied through tender flesh, hitting well known hot spots, gliding back and forth in measured strokes while small whimpers escaped her open mouth.
It wasn't long before a second hand joined its sister, reaching directly for the well of arousal that flowed steadily from her sensitive opening. First one, then two digits entered with firm deliberation, thrusting four, five times before Miranda came with a long groan of satisfaction, her last thought as she straightened herself of how Jack's fingers would feel inside her.
She banished the thought as she'd banished her anger and towelled off with precise movements, feeling more like herself again. Only two weeks, she told herself, until they reached Earth and she could make her excuses and put a whole planet between herself and the volatile young woman who so easily broke through her cool exterior.
"Just two weeks, then you'll be free of her," she whispered to herself, deciding that this would be her new mantra.