A/N: Well, it's a little daunting to be flying solo again after a month and a half, but I think I'm better prepared for it now. Anyhow, this kicks off what I hope will be a multi-chapter arc of fluff and smut between Shepard and Liara. Sorely needed at the moment, if you ask me.

So I think I can get one more chapter out...and then I have to A) prepare for a two week trip to Japan, and B) go on a two week trip to Japan. The good news is that with a combined total of 26 hours in the air round trip, there's a very good chance I am going to get a TON of writing out of the way. But it will be a while before I publish again.

As always, please keep those reviews coming! They are always much appreciated!

With a soft, sharp hiss, the eezo infusion chamber opened, separating into four segments, which pulled back to reveal Liara, laying on the padding inside. She was dressed in a small bikini, allowing for as much eezo to saturate through her pores as possible. Aside from that, she wore a light pair of display goggles, so that she could keep herself occupied during the two hour sessions currently required.

As she emerged from the chamber, she trembled like a leaf in a stiff breeze, as if stricken with palsy. Despite this, she made the labored effort to push herself back up onto her feet.

Aethyta reached out, helping her up, a expression composed of equal parts concern and disapproval burned onto her features. She sighed heavily, gripping Liara by the shoulders, looking her over in silence, holding on to her as if she were afraid something very precious was slipping through her fingers, no matter how hard she tried to hang on.

Despite herself, she suddenly leaned down, hugging Liara tightly, as if the act of enfolding herself around her daughter would somehow spare her the cruel indignities life had currently seen fit to inflict upon her. She leaned further in with her forehead, resting it against the younger Asari's.

Liara in turn hugged her Father back tightly, drawing strength from her affection and concern.

V'Lork cleared her throat, prompting Aethyta to reluctantly pull back and step away to the side. The Doctor then pressed a hypojet against Liara's neck. With a sharp, soft hiss, the injection was made, and the effect on Liara was practically instantaneous; her trembling calmed, disappearing fully within twenty seconds.

"That should help with the initial tremors, as well as settle any uncontrollable physical restlessness caused by the forced stimulation of your nervous system, for the next eight hours; you will, however, have issues with nausea...an unfortunate trade off due to the use of the neohexa-trelnisone

Liara nodded in silence, a sour sensation blossoming in her stomach already. She closed her eyes and allowed Jefela to guide her over onto one of the beds in the Destiny Ascension's medical bay.

Aethyta leaned against the wall, crossing her arms. She murmured, in a somewhat dark tone. "Don't do anything to take that away, Doc. Would do her good for something to remind her what an incredibly stupid thing she's doing.

Doctor V'Lork shook her head, unable to resist cracking a bemused smile. She never anticipated a time, in the decades that she and Aethyta had been at loggerheads, where they would be of one mind with regards to any more of her daughters.

She continued, "There will be some other...unusual side effects. Especially if you happen to meld, although that...will be far less unpleasant."

Liara simply glanced to the side, perfectly still save her eyes, and focused on her Father.

"I would have thought you'd be the first to champion me...Dad. After all, isn't this the sort of headstrong, romantic thing you would do?"

Aethyta gave a single, bitter laugh, "Headstrong is sneaking into the bedroom of a woman whose Mother has absolutely forbidden you from seeing her. Risky and romantic is walking across town, naked save for a trenchcoat, and breaking into a lover's apartment in order to surprise her. But this shit? Little Wing, this is fucking insanity!

"Father..."

"No...you listen to me, this...this is crazy! It's one thing to put your own life in danger...but the baby..."

"...is fine. Is she not, Doctor?" Liara glanced to Jefela.

The other Asari did not answer immediately, glancing between Father and Daughter, and weighing her words carefully.

"Well technically, yes. Your daughter is in perfectly acceptable health at the moment...but that is rarely an issue until the very end, in cases such as this. The whole point is that your own body is sacrificing your well-being for her sake."

She then turned away from her, quickly busying herself with looking over readouts at a side terminal. Liara could tell she still hadn't quite forgiven her for forcing her into this situation. Tevos, she was lead to believe, had leaned on V'Lork quite a bit, to get her to agree to continue on treating her for the duration of this "diplomatic outing." She was chagrined to discover this later on; She had enough faith in Jefela to know that she didn't need that sort of coaxing, and no doubt resented it. She had made it clear to her that she was just as dismayed by what Tevos had done in that particular situation.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath; while the intensity of her current treatment regimen had drained her of her strength, her voice was still rock-solid with conviction.

"You've seen the same broadcasts I have. Both of you. You can't tell me she doesn't need me at her side right now. And I need to be there with her as well. Both of us. Now more than ever. You'll...you'll see. When we arrive."

As if on cue, Tevos was suddenly walking through the door, having heard the Liara's last statement.

"I couldn't agree more! Colonel Shepard is serving a very important cause on her birthworld at present; it seems to me that Liara's presence can't do anything but be a tremendous boon in a matter that has potential ramifications affecting Galactic stability as a whole."

Aethyta and Jefela wore almost the exact same bitter, angry frowns at this. Matriarch suddenly turned to Doctor...

"V'Lork, I never thought in a thousand centuries I would ever say this to the likes of YOU...but lets get the hell out of here and have a drink!"

Giving a clipped laugh, Jefela called out, "Gladly! However...". Ignoring Tevos pointedly, she walked over to Liara's bedside, and clipped a white, polished metal band around her wrist. Despite her outward appearance of anger and annoyance, she still couldn't help herself from running a soothing hand over Liara's forehead, her tone of voice softening as she spoke.

"You're to keep this on at all times. It's a biomedical sensor, that feeds in a continuous stream of data to my monitoring VI; if I find you've taken it off...we're going home Liara." she locked eyes onto her patient, and for a moment, it would have been hard for an outside observer to decide who had the greater share of determination.

V'Lork concluded by saying, "And if I say it's time to go home...then no arguments. Is that understood?"

Liara narrowed her eyes for a moment, and considered; she had pushed Jefela, a woman who was as an Aunt to her, about as far as she had ever pushed a loved one before.

She simply nodded once, and murmured softly "Yes...Drishni".

The Doctor, shook her head slightly in response, but Liara couldn't help but notice the smile on her lips all the same. Finally, Jefela walked out, heading for the door.

"Come on, Aethyta. I believe you said something about drinks..."

Tevos waited until both were out of the room before she walked up to Liara's bedside, taking one of her hands in both of hers. "There now. They'll...come around, sometime. I'm sure. You're being quite brave, I must admit."

Liara nodded, but appraised Tevos with something of a cool, steely eye. She tried not to come off as too ungrateful; after all, without her considerable pull, none of this would have happened at all. Still..."

"I wish you would let me send word to Holly ahead of time, Ambassador."

"Oh...Liara...we've discussed this. I...really do think it would be better if we kept it a surprise. Imagine what a wonderful thrill it will be, for your bondmate. I've...asked so little in return, for arranging all of this, after all."

"Yes...I...suppose so. Ambassador. My apologies. Very well then."

A mere handful of years ago, she might have innocently accepted such an explanation at face value, or otherwise perhaps emphatically pressed and pleaded her case. However, the years on Illium, her experiences right before and during her time as the Shadow Broker had stripped away the last vestiges of pure, wide-eyed innocence from her. It wasn't very difficult to see a political play was in motion; one she couldn't immediately see the full scope of, but she imagined it involved some sort of public imaging and manipulation...with Shepard being one of the manipulated parties involved. She tried not to let her anger rise up, for her own sake as much as that of her child. Despite the situation, her faith had not wavered: She needed to be on Earth. She needed to be at Holly's side.

Tevos smiled, and said, "Good girl, then. I'll see you again, very soon." before squeezing her hand once again, and walking out of the room.

Liara could excuse T'Naori's almost sweetly condescending tone and demeanor. She herself still had trouble accepting and appreciating the fact that despite her "older" worldview, she was still very much a young woman in the eyes of her society; barely past her teens, by human stands.

She let her strength return to her, over the course of of the next half hour, and eventually was able to rise up. Grabbing a cane for support, she left the medical bay, and made her way through the wide, curved corridors of the Destiny Ascension.

The concentrated infusion treatments had been the worst of what she had to endure thus far, with regards to managing her keppakefex. V'Lork certainly had warned her they would be, but it still did not properly prepare her. The only saving grace was that what would start out as a daily regimen would quickly taper off to every few days, and then eventually once a week, as her blood was brought to full eezo saturation.

Still...It was worth it. She just needed to get to Earth. They needed to be with each other. It seemed irrational to everyone else, on the outside, but she had never been so sure of anything in her life.

Finally, she made it to the cabin that Ryal was occupying; she had been kind enough to accompany her. Had insisted, really. Beyond simply wishing to see Earth for herself, she felt it was imperative to personally oversee Liara's continued training.

As Liara made her way inside, she found the room completely darkened, to the point where the cabin portholes had been fully polarized. Once the doors closed, it seemed as if the pair were floating in absolute inky blackness, save for the sharp swaths of light that candles placed upon the floor were throwing out, cutting cleanly through the darkness.

She sat in front of the elder Asari, and smiled softly in greeting. Ryal noticed the look of curiosity in her eyes...this was their first training session together since they had embarked upon the voyage to Earth, and she took a few moments to explain.

"In the absence of the familiar and intimately studied courtyard of Hachana, sometimes a near complete...lack of detail, helps things along almost as well. I believe your level of achievement, will allow for the use of this more advanced technique, as this is not something I would do with a neophyte. Indeed, I will admit to you that I'm very proud; you're progressing faster than even I had originally expected."

Liara nodded once. "I have no small amount of motivation, Ryal. I will see my bondmate. She and I and our child will be together again, as we need to be. And I will..." she stopped short, the weighty spectre of the price of failure pressing down against her shoulders for a moment.

"I will see my daughter born, alive and well. And I will be there to see her grow up."

Ryal smiled, trying not to let her pride in her pupil shine through too readily. She merely spoke, in a very soft tone, "And so I believe you shall, Liara." She pulled out a familiar brazier, opening it up, and allowing the red hot coals to be revealed.

"Now...let us begin, once again..."

One Week Later

"Steven, remind me why the hell I'm here, at...4 A.M? Oh God, is it really that early? Ok, WHY am I here, here being anywhere but my nice, warm, cozy, yet depressingly Liara-free bed."

It had been a long week for Shepard; nine days, really, since she had arrived back on Earth. There had been any number of events, carefully controlled and oh-so-finely-crafted media spectacles, designed to play up on the larger-than-life presence Shepard seemed to have acquired at this point. Much of it involved meeting with various dignitaries, including the heads of the Nova Fed and Bloc Monde political parties, while very pointedly snubbing anyone even remotely connected to Humanis...even though the assholes actually had the temerity to put in a request for a meeting of their own.

Holly figured they were probably having a freak out at the moment, and desperately clutching at straws as part of some full on damage control mode. She had to hand it to Allers; while it was sleazy as hell, the surprise revelation of Khalisah al-Jilani's "indiscretion" on her show, the first day Shepard got back, had all but neutralized not only her, but Westerlund New Service as well.

Khalisah spent the first two or three days almost shriekingly protesting her innocence; first denying she had anything to do with Falana T'Dano at all, before being forced to admit that yes, they had been lovers, briefly, but that there was no way that she was the Father of her child. Ultimately, Westerlund yanked her back, essentially muffling her while they figured out how the hell to regain their footing.

This wasn't going to drag them down forever, but it hurt them, badly, for a good two or three weeks at a minimum... probably even longer. By that time, Shepard hoped that this whole little "goodwill tour" she was being forced to undertake would have generated all the spin that was needed to send Humanis to the dustbin of history.

But God, was Holly exhausted at the moment; she had traveled this way and that, over most of the North American continent, and into parts of Europe as well, especially London. It hadn't quite been a year yet, since the end of the War, and she had to admit that the progress made by the rebuilding efforts was truly startling to behold.

Of course, the Reapers were doing most of the work. Holly still couldn't stand the sight of them...literally. At one point they had gotten rather close to one of the things, and she could swear she felt...eyes...all over her. She didn't remember having such a visceral reaction provoked by their presence in the past...but perhaps it was something that had always existed, but in the past had been washed away in the heat of combat. These were now, to put it bluntly much different situations.

The only thing even vaguely amusing about it all was that some of the Earth-based construction companies had been bitterly complaining about the cleanup efforts; with all the free labor being provided by the Reapers, there was little for them to do, including and especially cashing in on fat government contracts for reconstruction. In the South of the old US, in places such as Georgia and Mississippi, and in the Middle East, and in China, these companies had used their deep pockets and lobbying power to launch a plan that seemed absolutely ridiculous on the surface:

Ask the Reapers to stop rebuilding in those areas.

The got the politicians to justify it by saying that Humanity was being "demeaned, being denied the honor and the right to rebuild their own homes, with their own hands."

It wasn't about money, oh no...it was about dignity!

Enough people actually bought it, apparently, and so a simple, plaintext message had been transmitted out towards the massive, lumbering behemoths, asking them to please please PLEASE NOT kill them for asking, but could they maybe kindly think about going away, so that the Humans could feel useful again? If it wasn't too much trouble?

Much to everyone's incredible surprise, they transmitted a single response back, about a minute later:

"MESSAGE RECEIVED AND UNDERSTOOD. WILL REALLOCATE RESOURCES ACCORDINGLY. INSTRUCT AGAIN IF SITUATION CHANGES."

And then they promptly left. Some Reapers joined their brethren to accelerate the pace of the reconstruction efforts elsewhere on Earth, in places where they were still welcome; others reportedly headed off to other nearby worlds for the same purpose.

Many found it a rather intoxicating victory. Although not every government decided to go down that particular route afterwards, more than a few cities, states and countries made similar requests. Others however, especially Britain, Japan, Australia, Canada and Brazil, felt that it was lunacy to turn away such an amazing and powerful resource, especially one with an incredible burden to bear, as they had been the ones who caused all the damage in the first place.

The spin in these places then became "extracting just and due compensation from our vanquished foes." That forcing the Reapers to do the rebuilding not only helped save government funds for other goodies citizens might like, but it also helped "put the damned Reapers in their place".

Holly had gotten the previous day off, although she had had to fight hard for it, saying she needed some time to recharge, or else risk completely burning out. Hackett's sudden request for her to come meet him at Cape Canaveral stung sharply, given that she was supposed to be enjoying her break time; all he would say is that she would thank him later.

She yawned heavily, taking a long, noisy slurp of her coffee; that was the one saving grace of the morning. She was finally back on Earth, back on the Ancient Birthworld of Coffee...and no longer did she have to put up with that nasty, foul-tasting but incredibly inexpensive Elcor-produced crap.

Hackett wore a placid expression on his face, although he couldn't help but crack a smile, despite himself, at the end of Shepard's remark.

"Believe me, Shepard. You'll find this...worthwhile, in the end."

"Really? I can't get a better answer out of you than that?"

"Well, that would completely ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

Holly heaved out an overly-dramatic sigh, taking yet another sip of coffee. She reached into the bag in the seat next to her, in the jeep they sat in on the landing strip, and pulled out a chocolate croissant, upon which she began to nibble, semi-contentedly.

Another few minutes went by, and just as Shepard was about to issue another complaint, they could suddenly make out a ship approaching over the horizon. She continued to watch, bleary-eyed, and tilted her head curiously when the craft revealed itself to be of obvious Asari design; indeed, it was a Starblade-class transport, almost identical to her own.

Holly turned to Hackett, and with a slight frown asked, "Admiral...please don't tell me you've brought Tevos and her assistant here? I think we've got Khalisah on the run as it is, without having to actually BRING them here to rub it in people's faces."

Hackett made a snort of derision in the back of his throat, shaking his head "Please Holly, you know me better than that. Although you're half-right...the Ambassador IS on that ship, I'm lead to believe.

Shepard placed her half-eaten pastry on the dashboard, dusted the crumbs off her hands, and rose out of the vehicle, grabbing her coffee and starting to walk towards the landing pad itself in anticipation.

"Good...I'd like to have a talk with her...I haven't heard from Liara in a few days, and honestly? I'm starting to get just a little bit concerned."

"Didn't you say she was studying in some remote mountain monastery?"

"Yeah but...but not THAT remote."

"Well, I'm sure she's fine, and there's a perfectly good reason for it. But yes, by all means, feel free to ask her, if you think it's appropriate.

She nodded once at that, squinted slightly as the sun began to creep up into the sky. Even in the early dawn hours, it was unpleasantly hot and humid, and she had taken to wearing a loose fitting green tank top and black cargo shorts. She shielded her eyes and noticed the media crews pulling up in their own transports; cameramen quickly jumping out and setting up position as the ship made it's final approach and landing. A few turned their attention to Shepard as she approached.

Holly offhandedly waved and merely murmured out "Morning, kids." She had been surrounded by the press almost constantly, to the point where they seemed to fade into the background for her, wherever she went, and it seemed that she was becoming yesterday's news by comparison, as most of the crews were now solely fixed on the ship in turn.

Hackett called out, having now left the jeep himself, and walking over to join her.

"I think you're really going to enjoy this, Shepard! I've got 50,000 from the last time I bet on you , that I'm willing to put up."

Holly merely shrugged and waved a hand dismissively in the air. While she had no idea what Hackett had in mind, she learned long enough not to go up against him when it came to betting.

It's landing cycle complete, the rear main gangplank of the ship began to lower with a soft *whirrrrrr*. After another minute she could just start to make out a party of two or three Asari, surrounding a fourth, who was being pushed along in some sort of hovering chair.

Shielding her eyes against the increasing intensity of the sun, she could just start to make them out...that was definitely Tevos, leading up the front and...was that Aethyta? Wait a second, if Aethyta was here, could that mean...

Holly was transfixed as she could finally make out Liara, being pushed along by Dr. V'Lork

The scene took on a dreamlike, surreal quality, and in her mind Holly had eyes only for her bondmate. Everyone else surrounding her suddenly disappeared, as if they had never existed. Feeling an inexorable tug, a compulsion like a siren's song, she began to make her way over to meet them mid-way, without even fully realizing what she was doing; so entranced was she, that she failed to notice her cup of coffee falling out of her hands, splashing onto the ground.

She could barely make Liara out, surrounded in the golden nimbus of the sun, low upon the horizon...almost as if the Asari herself was glowing with a gentle, painful brightness, the center of Shepard's entire world. As they finally came close to one another, Holly found herself having to fight the urge to drop to her knees before her, in unadulterated reverence.

Their eyes locked, and Holly felt herself engulfed, drawn inward. Liara was smiling so brightly now, a curious mixture of childlike glee and seductive invitation.

Time seemed to draw out so slowly, Liara rising up, in one smooth, eternal motion, onto her feet. Cameras flashed, questions being shouted out, but neither could hear; at this one moment in time, the world existed solely for the two of them alone.

Holly stepped up, merely inches away now, her senses so wholly attuned to Liara...she could feel the heat coming off her skin, could smell the lingering scent of her floral perfume...every detail in her skin and of her head ridges had never seemed so sharp to her before.

Had she ever truly looked upon her bondmate, before today? It seemed like every moment spent together with her before were hazy memories, compared to the brilliance of now.

She was scared to speak at first, unable to bring herself to break the spell she was under...afraid that she'd suddenly wake up, find out that it had all merely been a dream.

Holly couldn't remember falling into her, but she had, her arms wrapped against her, clinging like a drowning woman lost at sea; the soft crush of Liara's breasts against her own, burying her face against her neck and inhaling sharply, shuddering hard at the sensations in produced, thrumming up and down her spine; hands running over her back, and up to her neck and head. Up and down, she planted a line of frantic kisses, between her neck and shoulder, eliciting a sharp,shuddering thrill of delight from her bondmate.

"Oh God...it's you...it's really you. Please tell me this is real!" Holly begged, in a tight, high voice, "Please tell me you're here, somehow...that I'm not dreaming or going crazy!"

Holly paused, "Or at least lie to me, if I am."

Liara cupped Shepard's face in her hands, giving a soft little laugh, and silently nodded. She then swallowed hard, as she looked into her lover's eyes, and could see the depths of want and hunger, see how much Holly needed her, as she needed Holly in return. She was utterly unshakable now, in her conviction in the rightness of coming to Earth, despite the risk.

"It's me, love...I came...I knew you needed me...that we needed to be together. I simply could not wait until you could return home to Thessia. So I did what I had to, to be here. With you."

Holly was breathing in shallow, ragged gasps, on the edge of tears. She returned the smile, almost painfully wide, as she asked in a soft whisper.

"Are...are you okay? If I kiss the hell out of you, do you think you can handle it?"

"Dear Heart...I won't be truly okay until you DO kiss me."

However, Liara was not entirely prepared for what came next: Shepard scooped her up into her arms, pinning her own arm slightly upwards in the rush, and dipped her back a bit low. Their mouths met; the sensation was intensely electric, Liara could almost feel literal sparks between them, as her mouth happily accepted Shepard's tongue slipping past her lips, her own wrestling passionately against it.

There were whoops, cheers, and catcalls, but neither heard. Aethyta nodded, smirking approvingly at the couple for the moment, while V'Lork seemed positively aghast, preparing for the worst, with regards to the effect it would have on her patient. Tevos had simply walked over towards the Admiral, to speak with him in private.

As much they both hoped the kiss would never end, they ultimately had to come up for air. Holly gently guided a now trembling Liara back into her chair, the pair still smiling brightly at each other.

This time, Shepard did allow herself to fall to her knees, next to the hoverchair. They were content to stay that way for the next few minutes, trading long lingering looks, stroking each others hair and skin, and trading tender kisses, while they answered various questions from the media.

Shepard had been happy she hadn't bet against Hackett...although it was a bet she would have been ecstatic about losing.

Several thousand miles away, in the darkness of her control center, Diana Aller's looked on, a wicked grin nearly frozen onto her face.

"And you know what the worst part of all of this is, Vid?"

"Uhh...hold on Di, this onena them trick questions?"

"No asshole. The crime is that I should totally be getting a Pulitzer this year for my sheer awesome awesomeness, but I probably won't because it's all rigged. But I told Hackett if we kept it a surprise, we'd get gold. But this? This is fucking eezo! Man, I'm like a media alchemist. Oh! That's good...Media Alchemy. Remind me to ask Jillian to see if we can trademark that..."

"..right. Well...yeh...I will admit to havin' to adjust the meat and two veg a bit...blimey that was a hell of a kiss."

Allers tilted her head down for a moment, shaking it and pinching at the bridge of her nose, making a disgusted sound in her throat. She then suddenly whipped her head back up. "Hey...is it me, or did that whole grabbing her and tilting her backwards to kiss thing look familiar for some reason?"

"It did at that..."

Allers pulled up the buffered video feed, and began rewinding back until she found the scene again. Tracing a search selection box around the two of them, she nodded with satisfaction as a black and white photo came to the top of the search results list. Touching the result in the floating display, and bringing it to the forefront, the text underneath it read:

V-J Day In Times Square
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Life Magazine, 1945

She leaned forward, propping her chin up with her hand and elbow, giving a little dreamy smile as she took the scene in, glancing over and realizing how similar the picture was to the kiss from a few minutes back.

"Di...you still with us?"

"Ohhhh yeah. Sorry...just...this is great. This is going to make a gazillion people fall totally in love with them. So...you know...Go! Take these photos, do that meme thing you do, get them side by side, get people on OUR side. It's old, but it's still a famous enough photo, it'll probably strike a cord. Or six! Especially...you know...the soldier returning home from the war aspect. Shit, I'm GOOD..."

Vid's voice took on a slow, cautious tone, "Uhhh...right. Okay...you realize that in that photo, that's some bloke who just up and grabbed some poor bird he didn' know, and just forced himself on 'er. You know that, right?"

Diana smacked herself hard on the forehead. "Vid. Seriously? Shut...the fuck up. NORMAL people don't know, or care. Only idiot savants with a head full of useless knowledge like YOU remember shit like this."

"Oi! I didn' hear you complainin' the last time we did the pub quiz in Liverpool, and I won us free pints for the rest of the evenin'."

Diana straightened up and hmmmed. "You did, at that. Speaking of which, I think Jillian and I need to come over for a visit. Friday?"

"Huh, well now...dunno. You think you can deign to be seen with an 'idiot' like me, wot? Maybe I got me some plans that evening, instead."

"Okay, yes...look...sorry."

"Oh oh, sorry she says, like that's gonna..."

Allers sighed heavily, interrupting him sharply "Fine! I'll bring weed."

"...right. See you on Friday then, Di! Cheers!"