She was standing in front of her terminal when the door opened. Liara did not need to look up to know who had come to visit her, because aside from herself only Commander Shepard had access. "Commander," she greeted Shepard, her hands flying from the control panel. "Doctor ..." something in the way Shepard emphasized the word made her stop. She locked her terminal, and then turned to the human, to give the Commander her full attention.
"Can I do something for you?" Shepard was obviously not come in private intent – then she greeted Liara always with their first name - so it must be on duty. "The Asari did not change their politics." It was no question but still Liara nodded and frowned. Shepard crossed her arms and shook her head, exhaled annoyed.
"Then these meetings with the Councillor were a waste of time?" Liara's eyes widened. "And here I really thought if I give you a little space, room to manoeuvre you'd be able to accomplish this small task." Shepard took a deep breath. "You are the purest disappointment. It is obvious that the Councillor is attracted to you. Coquet with her, let her fuck you, but you can't even do this? What did you do all those times you went to her? You just talked?"
Liara's cheeks burned and she felt sick. "The Asari are known to get into bed rather quickly without being particulary picky. Bring results or I forbid any further meetings, because then I might suspect the Councillor is the one taking advantage of you in order to get information, not the other way around."
Shepard looked into her eyes and her look was cold. "Are we clear?" Liara nodded, even though she was not quite sure to what she agreed. "I hope so," Shepard said as goodbye. "We're returning to the Citadel in two days, arrange a meeting with dinner, you can stay overnight."
Liara looked after her and stared five more minutes at the closed door. Had Shepard always been so cold, calculating and cruel or was it just because of the tension of the war and the enormous burden on the human's shoulders? Liara blinked and noticed that she was crying. She shivered as she thought over the words. Walking numbly back to her terminal, she finished the message she had worked on before. Then she went to one of the two sofas and sat, stared into space, tried to understand. Not only that the Commander had deeply offended her, she had put Liara's race into a single category: whores of the galaxy.
Liara hung her head and sighed. She did not know how, but she knew that Tevos was not using her. Why did it bother Shepard that much? Had she not said it herself, that it's good to have someone to relax with? To talk to? Shepard had offered her friendship, but their relationship felt like a minefield at the moment. And Liara seemed to take each mine she found. She rubbed her eyes and activated her Omnitool, wrote a message to Tevos with a secured line, requesting a meeting.
She would certainly not do what Shepard had proposed. They were all grown up and if she wanted to see someone, she would continue to do so. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The back of her temple throbbed violently, but she was startled when she heard EDI, informing her that they had reached Tuchanka.
Liara had hoped to be able to let her earlier wounds heal. She hoped that Shepard took someone else for once on her team, but it did not happen. Shepard took her to each of the missions and more often than not, Liara had to work late into the night to evaluate results. She knew that if she went on in that way, she would soon collapse, but Shepard turned her down every time she asked for a change.
"Have you gone completely mad? Do you want to get yourself killed?" Liara was just lying with her eyes closed. She was brought to the infirmary after she had been caught by a flash grenade. Liara had not noticed it, she had been distracted by Cerberus. The soldiers had tried to corner her. Then she heard Lieutenant Victus call something and that moment was enough. The garish explosion had immediately robbed her senses and she was downed. Without James she would have died in the dust of Tuchanka, but the soldier had defended her until Shepard could join them. It had been a slaughter. Cerberus had tried everything to get the ancient Turian bomb and in the end the son of the Primarch sacrificed his life for them all.
Shepard was not finished with her tirade and Liara just breathed in and out slowly.
"Commander, maybe we should just give her a little rest," Dr. Chakwas finally said and Liara heard how the commander left the infirmary. She blinked, but before her eyes, she only saw bright stars. "I'll keep you a day here Liara. You need to sleep." Liara tried to smile, but everything in her hurt. "Thank you, Doctor, but I must return to my studies."
Chakwas put a hand on her shoulder. "You can´t even see, don´t force me to give you something." Liara sighed, because the doctor was not wrong. In addition, her head was pounding terribly. She closed her eyes again. "Okay, but just a few hours, I have to finish some analysis and ..." She felt Chakwas give her something. "Very important stuff and a lot of it... I understand. But it does not help when you kill yourself. And do not worry about Shepard. She is just upset because she's worried."
Liara said nothing. Maybe the doctor was right, but she did not want to talk or think about it. This was probably because the doctor had given her something or she was just too exhausted, for she felt herself slowly drifting off.