It was finally morning according to the alarm. Shepard felt a pair of arms gently embracing her midsection as she woke from a long night's slumber. She knew Liara was the one lying behind her with her body pressed up against her back. The last thing she wanted to do was to wake the resting asari but still knew she had to get up out of bed to begin her daily duties as Commander of the SSV Normandy.

Shepard had to admit to herself that it felt great waking up with Liara's arms wrapped around her. Unfortunately, it needed to end. Shepard carefully picked up Liara's arm by her left wrist and lifted it up and off from around her midsection. She gently sat up on the bed and turned to face the sleeping asari. Liara was breathtaking while lost in slumber; her breathing was soft and peaceful; her face beautiful and relaxed. This sight would put the most troubled of minds at ease. It definitely did for Shepard who felt a moment of pure contentment as she gazed upon the sleeping Liara, in spite of the mounting difficulties and hardships already faced during the mission and the ones that she knew were yet to come.

Suddenly, Liara opened her bright blue eyes and looked up at the human. Shepard wondered if Liara sensed she was watching her sleep. Liara smiled as she greeted the human sitting next to her on the bed.

"How are you feeling, Shepard?"

"I actually feel pretty good for once," Shepard replied with a smile of her own. "I wish I could stay here all day...with you...but I have to get ready for work."

"I will be busy myself, studying the Prothean data you gave me yesterday."

"Ah, well. Do you plan on pouring through that data all day?"

Liara replied with a bit of a tease in her voice as she continued to lie in bed, "I was planning to, Shepard...unless you have something better in mind?"

"Well, why don't we have another movie night? I believe it was your turn to pick the movie?"

Liara sat up and smiled. "Yes, you owe me the next two movies if I recall. I will have to think of something good for tonight."

"I'm sure you will. I'll stop by your room when I'm off duty tonight and we can figure out what to do from there."

"Okay, Shepard. I ah...need to go prepare myself for the day. I should head back to my room. I..." Liara paused briefly before continuing. "...I really enjoyed spending time with you last night."

"I did too." Shepard started to feel a bit uncomfortable. She wasn't sure how to end this properly. In the past, Shepard had been dismissive to women that she had shared her bed with. However, those times had always involved sex; meaningless sex to be exact. Shepard took the easy way out and just avoided the 'goodbye' entirely. "I have to get ready too. I'll see you later, Liara."

Liara simply smiled at the Commander and left the room. She was still clothed in her night outfit, the one she wore when she slept in the sleeper pods on the Normandy. At this point, it finally dawned on Shepard that someone may see Liara leaving her quarters and jump to the incorrect assumption that the pair had sex last night. It was too late to do anything about that now as Liara had just left. Shepard scolded herself for not thinking of this sooner. Liara was starting to cloud her usually acute mind.

Shepard showered and dressed herself before she left the cabin and entered the mess hall. At that moment, the mess hall was empty and Shepard desperately hoped it was also empty twenty minutes ago. The scuttlebutt would be unbearable if someone spied Liara leaving her room.

Shepard forced the paranoid thoughts back deep inside her head as she made her way to the elevator. She remembered that Wrex wished to have a word with her today. Additionally, her current duty included making the daily rounds in the lower deck. Just another exciting day for the galaxy's first human Spectre.

The lower deck sounded busy with chatter as Shepard exited the elevator. She quickly located the source of the commotion. Garrus, Kaidan, and Tali were all huddled around the work station of Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, who was quickly spied by Shepard leaning against her workbench with her arms crossed.

"That's not fair! That last kill was all mine!"

"We split that kill, Ashley. Regardless, I still won."

"You can't split a kill, Garrus! Are you sure you didn't make a mistake, LT?"

"Sorry, Ash. Garrus had one more kill than you."

Garrus' mandibles flared, "You owe me some credits, Ashley."

Shepard assumed Tali was a mere spectator as she remained quiet during the entire exchange. Shepard wondered if quarians made bets with each other; bets over who could kill more enemies in battle or if this behavior from her new comrades was completely foreign to Tali.

Shepard made her way past the crowd towards Wrex until Tali noticed her and greeted her, "Shepard...there you are. How are you feeling today?"

The others immediately halted their chatter and turned to face the Commander.

"Commander," Kaidan replied as he stood up straight and faced Shepard.

Shepard interrupted before any of the others could speak. "Carry on with whatever you were doing. I'm on my way to see Wrex. Oh, and Williams?"

"Yes, Skipper?"

"Just pay up and stop whining about losing to Garrus."

Garrus smugly twitched his mandibles as Ashley scowled at the turian; both watched Shepard as she walked away from the group.

Shepard quickly located Wrex leaning against a wall beside a row of lockers.

"Shepard."

"Wrex. You wished to talk?"

"I need to ask you a favor."

Wrex continued by telling Shepard a story from his past involving his father, Jarrod, and a 'disagreement' the two had over the future of the krogan. This disagreement resulted in the death of Jarrod by Wrex's own hands. Ultimately, Wrex desired Shepard's aid in acquiring a piece of family armor currently in the possession of the turian, Tonn Actus.

"We can go there to get the armor, Wrex, if we have time."

"Well, what else are we doing now?"

"Nothing much at the moment. Still tracking leads on Saren...damn Council's not much help."

"I hear you, Shepard. They're useless...do more damn harm then good."

"Well, they're funding this mission and we are to rely on them for intel. Anyway, I have to go check in with Engineering. So long, Wrex."

"Shepard."

Shepard relaxed in her bed for a moment after her daily duties as Commander of the Normandy were completed. She had finally decided to set a course for the Pheonix cluster to help Wrex look for his armor; it's not like they had anything else to do at the moment and keeping Wrex happy was always a good thing.

Shepard felt excited and a little nervous as she sat in bed thinking about about the upcoming 'movie night' with Liara. Her stomach was acting up even though she had just ate something; or perhaps that's why it was feeling even more unsettled by the nerves. She decided to just invite Liara to her cabin to watch the film of the asari's choosing instead of meeting her first in Liara's room and was currently waiting for her to arrive. Shepard wore her standard Alliance fatigues. She was a little self conscious about dressing up too much for the night. She still made sure she smelled nice, at least, she hoped she smelled nice for Liara; she didn't know what scent an asari would find attractive so went with a floral perfume and strawberry vanilla shampoo. Shepard still had no idea what was going on between Liara and herself but she knew that whatever it was felt great and it brought her a gentle wave of happiness on which she could ride through the sea of misery she usually felt lost in.

The door's entrance finally chimed, signaling Liara's timely arrival. Shepard allowed the asari passage into her cabin, smiling as Liara entered.

"So, what are we watching, Liara?" Shepard said, getting right down to business.

"I have a human film, actually. I watched this a few years ago. I considered bringing an asari film, but those tend to be long and a bit convoluted for non-asari." Liara smiled, "I also have plenty of documentaries on the Protheans but I doubt you would wish to sit through one of those."

Shepard smiled, "What film is that?"

"The film is called, 'Occam's Razor', a murder mystery. I believe it was released only two years ago."

"I've never seen it. I did hear it was pretty good. I honestly don't take much time to watch movies anymore."

"I am glad you are taking the time now to watch some with me, Shepard."

"So am I, Liara," Shepard smiled at the asari. Shepard motioned Liara over to the chairs she had set up for the night's event. Liara handed Shepard the holo-disc that contained the movie before taking a seat on one of the chairs. Shepard loaded the movie onto her computer and took the seat to the left of Liara's. She pushed a few buttons on her omni-tool and the movie began to play.

The movie was your typical 'whodunit' murder mystery that followed a Los Angeles detective named Sierra Menendez as she tried to solve a string of murders that were taking place within her district. Portions of the film reminded Shepard a bit of her own youth, though, she was always on a different side of the law from Detective Menendez. Shepard still enjoyed the movie. It was very suspenseful with excellent acting and included a surprise twist that caught her off guard at the end.

The movie ended too soon for Shepard. She desperately wanted Liara to stay longer and just talk about...anything. She didn't know where to begin but luckily Liara started talking.

"Did you enjoy the movie, Shepard?"

"Very much so, Liara. The ending was a bit of a shocker...wow."

"Indeed, it was. I was even surprised by it the first time I saw this film."

"It was much better than my zombie movie."

Liara laughed, "Well, that is hardly a difficult accomplishment."

"You really hated that movie, didn't you Liara?"

"No offense to you but...yes."

Shepard laughed softly. She realized she didn't know too much about Liara personally, except that she hated gory horror flicks with zombies but liked murder mysteries.

"Tell me something about yourself, Liara; something I don't already know."

"You already know everything there is to know about me."

"I doubt it. You've been alive for over a century and...wait, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be prying."

"Oh, no. I don't mind you asking. I am just not very interesting as I mentioned to you before."

"You don't have any wild stories from your youth where you and a bunch of your friends got into trouble?"

"No, nothing like that. I never had any friends growing up, to be honest."

"Oh, sorry Liara, I didn't mean..."

"It comes from being the daughter of a powerful and influential matriarch plus...being a pureblood. Well, it was especially the fact that I am pureblood."

"I didn't realize the stigma against that was so bad."

"It is, actually. Many asari forbid their daughters from ever befriending a pureblood asari...not that these young asari would even want to in the first place after hearing all the awful things said about purebloods from other asari; for instance, from their mothers, from other relatives, and from various media sources."

"I'm so sorry. I...I didn't realize this was so awful for you. I know we humans do things like this to others but..."

"...but you never expected the asari to do this as well. Don't worry about me, Shepard. I lived with this my entire life and it no longer troubles me."

"But, it did trouble you when you were young?"

"Yes it did, as a child of course, but I have learned to live with it."

"I admire your attitude and your resolve in getting past that, Liara."

"Thank you, Shepard," Liara said with a smile. "So, now you know why my childhood was quite uneventful. I spent most of my time in my room reading anything I could get my hands on. I especially loved reading about history and, of course, the Protheans. I found them remarkable and fascinating ever since I began reading about their history in my youth. What I found really compelling was...wait, I need to stop before I bore you with stories about how I read books as a child."

"No, it's not boring. You can continue, Liara. Your youth actually sounds...peaceful." Much unlike my own, Shepard thought to herself.

"Thank you, but you do not have to lie. I know it is very uninteresting." Liara smiled and turned towards the left in her chair to face Shepard. She gently reached for Shepard's right hand with her left one and the two hands softly clasped together. "But I appreciate you listening nonetheless."

Liara inched closer to Shepard. "Perhaps someday I will think of something more interesting to share with you, Shepard."

Shepard's heart began to flutter and her pulse raced frantically as Liara drew nearer to her, their hands still locked together.

"I would like that, Liara," she whispered, barely audible, though Liara could still hear it since she was getting even closer to the Commander.

Liara's face was now inches away from Shepard's. The Spectre gazed longingly into the tranquil pools of cerulean that stared back into her own eyes. Everything was still for a moment while the asari and human stared tenderly into each others eyes. Without a word spoken, Liara lifted her right hand to Shepard's chin and lightly cupped it on the right side of the Spectre's face. Carefully, Liara moved her head closer to Shepard's. Shepard couldn't move. She felt completely weak in all of her joints. Her core was suddenly made of lead.

Finally, Liara's soft lips tenderly brushed Shepard's. The Commander's lips were stuck in place as Liara planted the feather soft kiss on them. The kiss seemed to end before it began and Shepard was left wanting more as Liara quickly pulled away.

"I...I am sorry, Shepard. If I was out of line..."

Shepard finally found her breath again. She was amazed that such a fleeting and gentle kiss could suck it all out of her so easily. "No, you weren't out of line."

"Still, I need to control myself."

Shepard desperately wished Liara wouldn't control herself and wanted to tell her so but instead replied, "It's okay, but we can take things slow if you want...like we discussed before."

"Yes, we should. I am sorry."

Shepard smiled, "Don't apologize...it was the moment."

"The moment? We need to be wary of these 'moments' then Shepard," Liara said as she smiled.

Shepard nodded wordlessly as Liara continued, "Thank you for inviting me, Shepard. I greatly enjoyed your company tonight. I must make my leave as it is getting late. We shall do this again sometime...avoiding any more potential moments, of course."

Shepard laughed, "Okay, that sounds like a good plan."

Author's Note: This chapter is a bit shorter than usual. I wanted to make something a bit 'fluffier' before going into Virmire (which will be starting in the next chapter) and then Noveria and the end game run shortly after that.