A/N - I know that Lair of the Shadow Broker is a very popular DLC - perhaps the most popular - and for the most part I agree, even if it makes me jealous of Shepard/Liara shippers (why do they get DLC AND a romance scene with their LI and we get... an email? *glare*). However, there were a few things I wanted to 'fix' - the biggest one being Liara herself. IMO, she's so out OOC in LotSB its startling - if she had been that thick-skinned badass in ME3, I could consider it character development, but since she's not, I dialed back on it here :-) Everything contained within is property of Bioware!

Thanks so much for your reviews Gabe97, eve, spaceconveyor, and Guest reviewer and to everyone reading, following, favoriting! I finished the actual writing of TTT yesterday (now it just needs tons of edits before its ready for you) so I'm starting the sequel I mentioned... apparently my muse wants it as much as you do!

As always, sincere thanks to StoneburntHeart for... everything!

Shepard, Garrus, and Kaidan arrived at Liara's office the next morning to find it empty.

"Thought she was going to meet us here to plan the mission?" Kaidan questioned.

"That's what she said when I forwarded the information Miranda gave you to her," Shepard replied. "Something must have come up, let's look around."

A quick search revealed a note addressed to Shepard on Liara's terminal.

"Looks like she wants to meet at her apartment," Shepard read from the note, "She had preparations to make there."

They took a taxi to Liara's apartment building and were met with the chaos of police scurrying around. They crossed the police barrier and entered the apartment, alarm rising.

"What's going on here?" Shepard questioned the nearest cop. The answer came from a new arrival – an asari in full body armor approached the group at the door.

"Someone tried to kill your friend, Commander Shepard," the asari said. Then she turned to the police milling around and added, "Thank you, Officer, your people are dismissed."

Once the police left under protest, the asari turned back to Shepard and introduced herself, "Tela Vasir, Special Tactics and Recon."

"Another Spectre?" Kaidan questioned with raised brows.

The asari laughed without humor. "Yes, though not nearly as famous as your Commander," she replied to Kaidan. "I might have her sign my chest plate." She turned back to Shepard, "So, I take it you had business with your friend, Commander?"

"We were planning to meet here to follow a lead," Shepard confirmed vaguely. "What happened here?" she repeated her original question.

"About twenty-five minutes ago, someone took a shot at T'Soni," Vasir reported. She pointed with a hand to the bank of windows behind her and added, "Note the bullet holes." Then she added, "She stuck around for almost four minutes before leaving the building. Whatever she was doing was important."

"So where is she now?" Shepard questioned, holding on to the important part of Vasir's report – that Liara had left the building.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be sifting through her crap trying to find her," Vasir snapped back. "There's no blood, no body. Looks like she got away safely. Apparently the sniper didn't plan on her kinetic barrier. Clever girl. Paranoid, but clever."

"Did the police find anything?" Garrus – former C-Sec to the core – asked.

"Just the mess and the bullet holes," Vasir answered flatly. "I gave them a gold star for finding the bullet holes."

Shepard shared a glance with her squad and found they were in agreement – none of them liked or trusted this new Spectre.

"Thanks for your help, Vasir," Shepard turned back to the asari in an attempt to dismiss her, "We'll look around and see if we can find a clue to Liara's whereabouts."

"Oh, I'm not leaving, Shepard," Vasir stated firmly, "You can look around, but this is my investigation – I'll wait here."

Shepard gave Vasir her best Commander Shepard stare but the asari refused to back down. Shepard finally sighed and resigned herself to the small defeat. They needed to find Liara; they didn't have time to play games. She motioned to Kaidan and Garrus to move past the Spectre and further into the apartment. They gathered near the far windows to confer.

"Shepard…" both Garrus and Kaidan spoke together.

"I know, I agree," Shepard replied to their unspoken warnings. "But Liara's the important thing right now. Let's look around and see if she left us a message." After receiving nods of confirmation from her squad, Shepard went on, "Garrus, you take this floor. Kaidan and I will search upstairs."

Garrus nodded, and then he added before they wandered off, "No funny business, you two!" with a turian grin.

"Very funny, Vakarian," Shepard shot back over her shoulder.

After getting over the slightly distasteful feeling of voyeurism of searching a friend's bedroom, and raising an eyebrow at the fish tank that stretched the full wall over Liara's bed that reminded her of the one in her cabin on the Normandy – with the notable exception that Liara's was full of fish – Shepard honed in on the holo of the Normandy SR1 on the bedside table. She reached for it and immediately noticed the picture flicker to a shot of a Prothean dig site. Kaidan noticed the change as well.

"Set it back down," he told her. When she complied, and the holo once again displayed the original Normandy, Kaidan reached for the frame. When he touched it, the image didn't change. "Keyed to you personally," he murmured, careful that only she would hear, "that's our clue."

Shepard nodded and they walked back down the stairs to join Garrus.

"Just a doctoral degree and some ruined Alliance armor down here besides the bullet holes," Garrus said as he saw them approach. "Any luck up there?"

Shepard inclined her head toward Vasir, who was studying her omni-tool in the far corner, then answered, loud enough for the Spectre to hear, "Nothing so far – let's check out some of the artifacts down here." She noticed that Kaidan had wandered toward the case holding the armor Garrus had mentioned and winced at Liara's gruesome display. Why would she do that? When Kaidan turned back to her, she answered the unspoken question in his eyes with a quick, "Not now." She watched him tuck away his curiosity with effort and reminded herself that she needed to fill him in on Liara's role in his resurrection. She ignored the mental voice that screamed to her that information that wasn't the only thing she was keeping from him. Kaidan rejoined them and she motioned to the Prothean artifacts displayed in cases around them.

There were three and they each separated and took one. Whether by instinct or dumb luck, the one Shepard searched revealed a hidden door that slid open with an audible click. She quickly turned to look at Vasir and found her fear that the sound had been loud enough for the other Spectre to hear when she saw the asari approaching.

"Ah, a data disk hidden in plain sight," Vasir stated with satisfaction. "She is clever. Let's see what's on it," she continued as she took the disk from the door and headed to Liara's desk unit. The squad huddled behind Vasir, resigned that their subterfuge had been all for naught. The disk played back a recording of Liara's conversation with a salarian contact named Sekat. Apparently Sekat had narrowed the Shadow Broker's location down to a cluster, perhaps even a system and wanted to meet Liara in person at his office in Baria Frontiers to discuss it further. Well, shit. Now Vasir knew pretty much everything.

"The Shadow Broker?" Vasir drawled, "A dangerous enemy to have. Looks like our friend stepped on the wrong toes. Baria Frontiers is in the Dracon Trade Center. I have my aircar outside," she offered helpfully.

"We'll take a taxi and meet you there," Shepard replied dismissively. She may be stuck with the Spectre for now, but she wasn't sharing a car with her. Vasir nodded and left.

When they were alone in Liara's apartment, Garrus summed the situation up perfectly. "That asari makes my fringe tingle – and not in the good way."

~x~

The cab deposited them at the base of Dracon Trade Center and they met up with Vasir as she exited her car. As they approached the tower, Vasir informed them that Baria Frontiers' offices were on the third floor. Shepard glanced up to find the bank of windows that enclosed their target and saw the flare of light in the instant before the sound and force of an explosion rocked them. They were knocked back as fiery debris fell around and on top of them. When the ringing in her ears cleared enough to allow sound to penetrate, Shepard heard Kaidan's voice crying her name and her heart started again.

"I'm ok," she reassured him while her eyes searched frantically for Garrus. She spotted him coming to his feet on their left, apparently unharmed. Her momentary relief that they were all safe immediately disappeared as the thought of why they were here struck. "Liara," she cried around increasing panic.

"We'll find her," Kaidan said, trying to reassure.

"Or her body," Vasir added grimly, and undid whatever good Kaidan had done. "I'll grab my aircar and seal off the building from the top!" She ran for the car.

"Ok, let's start down here and work our way up," Shepard said to her squad and motioned them toward the building.

Shepard wanted to ignore the injured civilians milling outside, she wanted to get to Liara, ensure she was safe. She refused to think of any other outcome. But she set aside her impatience and motioned to Kaidan to do what he could for the suffering people, refusing to think that the precious minutes may make the difference between life or death for Liara. When the innocents were stabilized, they entered the building and began to search the wreckage. They quickly discovered that the elevator was damaged in the explosion and headed for the stairs. As they walked, they surveyed the bodies littering the ground and found several dead from bullet wounds, not the explosion. Clearly, this had been more than a random attack.

They reached the Baria Frontiers office and the electronic log showed that Liara had signed in moments before. They opened the door into the inner office and the flare and boom of a flash-bang grenade immediately struck them. They rolled to cover momentarily blinded and deaf from the small explosive but recovered quickly. They returned fire and advanced through the offices, dispatching resistance as they went.

They met up with Vasir who was standing over the corpse of a recently-dead salarian.

"Damn it! If I'd been a few seconds faster, I could have saved them," Vasir said as she saw the squad approach.

"I take it this is Sekat," Shepard replied, studying the corpse.

"Must have been," Vasir muttered.

"No sign of Liara," Garrus called as he searched the surroundings. Kaidan's small head shake as he studied his omni-tool told Shepard that Sekat's information was also missing.

"You didn't find your friend's body in the other offices?" Vasir asked with a note of alarm creeping into her voice.

"You mean this body?" Liara asked as she approached from the shadows with her smg drawn on Vasir.

"Liara!" Shepard exclaimed in pleased surprise as she turned her own gun on the asari Spectre and glanced to her side to see that Kaidan and Garrus had mirrored her action. She nodded to them, grateful that they had followed her lead and turned back to Vasir. "Now why don't you tell us why you're really here, Vasir?"

"This is the woman who tried to kill me," Liara stated for the record, although everyone else in the room had already drawn that conclusion.

"You've had a rough day," Vasir replied condescendingly as she retreated from the drawn weapons, "so I'll let that slide. Why don't you put your guns down? You can't kill a council Spectre."

"I have before," Shepard replied with a humorless laugh.

"She must have Sekat's data on her," Liara cried before Shepard could fire. The distraction was enough to give Vasir time to react.

"Not that you'll ever see what's on it, you pureblood bitch!" she gritted out as she flared biotics, then she threw a huge bolt at them.

Kaidan and Liara immediately threw a barrier around the quartet, protecting them from the impact. It gave Vasir time to flee. She jumped off the side of the building, using her biotics to cushion her landing from the three story fall. The squad watched in astonishment as Liara flared her own biotics and jumped after Vasir.

"I really need to learn how to do that," Kaidan stated in wonder of the biotic trick.

"You and me both," Shepard agreed. "Come on, I guess mere mortals have to take the long way." She motioned them back out the way they came.

They picked their way through new Shadow Broker troops until they met up with Liara outside. She had a car waiting for them.

"Come on, she's getting away," Liara said as she saw them approach.

"We're fine, thanks," Kaidan said as he climbed into the car. As he surveyed the interior of the vehicle, he added, "Uh, Shepard… only three of us are gonna fit in here."

"We don't have time to find another car," Liara cried impatiently.

Shepard swallowed a sigh of impatience and climbed into the driver's seat. "Take a taxi back to the Normandy, Garrus. We'll be back soon." She ordered as the door closed behind her. She didn't hear Garrus' smart comeback about her driving.

~x~

They took the air and quickly spotted Vasir's car ahead of them. Shepard hit the thrusters and closed the gap between the vehicles and narrowly missed clipping a building on a tight turn.

"This isn't the Mako," Kaidan offered dryly from the rear seat, his hands clenched in a death-grip on the bar beside him.

"Yeah, thanks, backseat driver," Shepard shot back sarcastically as she careened around another turn and hit the boost again. Then she grinned. She was enjoying this, despite the look of abject horror on her passenger's faces.

Vasir swung a sharp left ahead of them and Shepard swerved their car to follow.

"We're not going into the construction site are we?" Liara asked in disbelief. She added, "Oh goddess, we are," from behind hands covering her face to block out the sight of narrow tunnels and construction barriers whizzing by outside the car's windows.

"Relax, I've got this," Shepard patted Liara reassuringly with a maniacal grin that did nothing to help her efforts.

"Commander - both hands on the wheel!" Kaidan exclaimed from behind her.

Shepard growled a bit but complied. They closed the gap on Vasir again to discover that Vasir had now maneuvered into a stream of traffic.

"Traffic! Oncoming traffic!" Liara exclaimed in alarm.

"I see it!" Shepard yelled back, turning the wheel sharply to avoid a truck, then again to avoid the cab behind it. "We'll be fine," she added in a more normal tone once the danger had passed. Then she regretted her words when she saw evidence of Vasir's newest trick.

"She's dropping proximity charges!" Liara piped in redundantly.

"I noticed," Shepard gritted back as she narrowly avoided the first explosive. She asked a question to which she already knew the answer in the hopes of distracting Liara. "What kind of weapons does this vehicle have?"

"It's a taxi – it has a fare meter!" Liara cried in alarm. Apparently the distraction wasn't effective. "Goddess, a head on collision at this spe- Truck!" she cut herself off to point out the obvious lumbering obstacle in their path.

"I see it!" Shepard cried back impatiently, then took a deep breath and held her temper when Kaidan let go of the bar and placed a hand on her shoulder. She hit the thrusters again, and their car was nearly nose to tail with Vasir's car after the burst of speed.

Vasir noticed and tried to boost her own car, swerving at the same time. The maneuver backfired and caused her to crash into the vehicle to her right. Her car spun mid-air then lost thrust, and began to fall to the top of the building below. She hit with a fiery crash. Shepard circled the building from the air, spotted a safe landing, and set their car down nearby.

They exited the vehicle and headed toward Vasir's crash on foot but their progress was halted by the whirring sounds of cars arriving behind them with reinforcements. They took cover and prepared to defend themselves. They fought off multiple waves of enemies until the silence indicated that they were safe. Shepard motioned them out and they headed to Vasir's car.

The wreckage was still on fire despite their delay and they saw that the ground beside it was covered in blood. Shepard shook her head and followed the blood trail, thinking that she wasn't the only crazy bitch in this scenario.

"She's lost a lot of blood, she couldn't have gotten far," Kaidan offered hopefully.

"She's tough, I'll give her that," Shepard said with grudging respect.

"She's a council Spectre," Liara pointed out, as if that summed things up. Since their only other examples were two badass turians (one completely insane) and Shepard herself, it pretty much did. They continued tracking the blood until they caught Vasir at an open-air restaurant. They approached slowly, weapons drawn, all too aware of the innocents around them. Their worst fears were realized as Vasir noticed their approach and grabbed one of the patrons and draped the poor woman over her as a shield.

"What's your name?" Vasir inquired of her hostage in mock kindness.

"Ma-Mariana," the woman stumbled out nervously.

"Mariana, you want to live, don't you?" Vasir asked rhetorically, "Tell those people that you want to live," she instructed.

"Please…" Mariana pleaded at Shepard and her squad.

"We'll get you out of here safely, Mariana," Shepard replied but kept her eyes and gun trained on Vasir. She used her free hand to gesture slightly behind her back - two fingers pointed in either direction. She saw Kaidan and Liara move slightly to follow her signal out of the corner of her vision.

"Well, that's good to hear," Vasir returned, also concentrating on Shepard and not noticing the slight movement of her squad, "All you had to do was walk away. Now it gets ugly." She pointed her pistol directly at Mariana's head in emphasis.

"Please," Mariana repeated pitifully, "I have a son." Tears were streaming down the woman's face.

"A son?" Vasir repeated slowly, "I hope he gets to see you again. I've heard losing a parent can be just horrific for children. Scars them for life."

"I'm going to end you, Vasir," Liara threw at the other asari, her patience snapped. She subsided with a bit of shame a second later when she caught Shepard's slight head shake out of her peripheral vision.

"It's ok Liara," Shepard said pointedly, "We'll handle this … the usual way." She placed special emphasis on the last part of the phrase, knowing that her biotics would catch her hidden signal. She noted both Kaidan and Liara flare blue fists behind their back and turned back to Vasir knowing her message had been received.

Vasir once again missed all the byplay, concentrating on her hostage and Shepard, or perhaps her wound had distracted her too much. "You want Mariana's little boy to grow up without a mommy, Shepard?" she taunted, "Weapons on the ground. Now."

"Is that it?" Shepard taunted back.

"What?" Vasir questioned in surprise.

"Vasir, I sacrificed thousands of human lives to save the Destiny Ascension. I unleashed the rachni on the galaxy," Shepard taunted back while she nodded almost imperceptibly to her squad. "So for your sake, I hope your escape plan doesn't hinge on me hesitating to shoot a damn hostage!"

"You're bluff-" Vasir started to retort before she was cut off as a table and a chair, both suspended in blue mass effect fields, hit her from either side. She was knocked back from Mariana into the water feature behind her. Shepard rushed forward, helped Mariana to her feet and yelled at her to run. The squad converged on Vasir, but she recovered quickly and took off to the far side of the terrace in a blur of biotic speed. Shepard shrugged and charged after her.

Kaidan and Liara took a moment to glance at each other with equal expressions that translated to 'oh, shit, two vanguards' before they rushed to follow – at normal speed.

The ensuing battle was a chaos of biotic charges and shotgun blasts between Shepard and Vasir as they furiously matched equal powers and strengths in a toe-to-toe struggle to wear the other down. Kaidan and Liara quickly gave up on trying to track Vasir – or Shepard – between their blinding rushes and instead concentrated on removing the lesser threats that Vasir seemed to summon at will. Eventually, Vasir lay broken and defeated beneath Shepard's raised biotic-charged fist.

"Ugh, damn it, damn it," Vasir groaned, as Liara retrieved Sekat's data disk from the Spectre while Shepard remained in place, ready to strike the death blow.

"You're dead!" Vasir spat at Liara, "The Shadow Broker has been in power for decades. He's stronger than anything you have ever faced!"

"Is that why you sold out the council to work for him?" Shepard asked in disgust.

"You think I betrayed the council, like Saren?" Vasir replied, "Go to hell. The Broker's given me damn good intel over the years. Intel that saved lives and kept the Citadel safe! So if the Broker needs a few people to disappear, I'll pay that price without hesitation!"

"Spectres don't blow up buildings full of innocent people!" Shepard retorted.

"Sure we do," Vasir countered. "We get our hands dirty so the council doesn't have to. The councilors may complain about our methods to soothe their consciences, but they never look too closely. You know that – you're with Cerberus. You have any idea what your terrorist friends have done?"

That hit a little close to home and Shepard gritted her teeth and shoved aside the logic of it. "I'm not working for Cerberus," she began, and then she sighed, realizing that this was neither the time nor the place for long explanations. "It doesn't matter," she trailed off.

"I think it does," Vasir gasped out around her pain, "you want to judge me? Look in the mirror."

"That's enough," Kaidan snapped at Vasir in a low menacing tone. He turned to Shepard and lowered her fist gently with a hand on her arm. "Let's go," he told her quietly. "She's finished – we have what we need." Shepard resisted a moment, her eyes still locked on Vasir's face as the asari gasped and died, finally. Kaidan stepped close and placed an arm around her shoulder. "You're nothing like her," he spoke next to her ear, quiet enough to not be overheard. "Let's go," he repeated and she finally nodded and fell into step beside him.

When they rejoined Liara, she was playing the final message on the Shadow Broker's data disk – clear instructions to eliminate Liara and any help she may have.

"Vasir's dead," Shepard said in a flat voice.

"I'm putting the data through to the Normandy's computers," Liara replied, "We can be at the Shadow Broker's base in several hours. He'll know about Vasir before long. If he decides to kill Feron…"

Shepard grabbed Liara's arm to halt her progress. "We'll get Feron out of there alive. I promise," she told her friend when their eyes met. Liara nodded and continued walking.

"I know," she answered softly. "You're here to help, just like always. No matter what I've done…" She trailed off at Shepard's grimace and nod toward Kaidan.

"That's what friends do," Kaidan put in, missing the byplay between the two women.

"When we first met on Therum, you saved me from the geth," Liara replied gesturing to Kaidan and Shepard, "You fought a krogan Battlemaster while I cowered. Now you're doing it again. And I'm still leaning on you for help. I don't think that's a great sign of friendship."

"Don't say that, Liara," Shepard cried in protest. "You helped me when I needed it – both with Saren and now with Cerberus. "

"Perhaps," Liara replied with a nod. She changed the subject. "I can get us there, based on Sekat's data. The Normandy's stealth drive will keep them from detecting us. So things are simple. Get in, get Feron, get out. And kill anyone that tries to stop us."

"Sounds like a plan," Kaidan replied with a grin.

"Go Team Original Normandy," Shepard cheered with an answering grin. "I wonder if we can stop by and pick up Wrex on the way?" She wondered aloud. When she saw the looks of bemused humor on Kaidan's and Liara's faces she quickly added, "Just kidding," and continued walking toward the car.

"Don't mind her," Kaidan said to Liara before they followed, "She's been hit in the head too many times."

"It's good to see her happy," Liara said softly, her eyes on Shepard's retreating back.

"It'll be good to have you back on the Normandy," Kaidan added, then hooked his arm in hers to escort her as they rushed to catch Shepard.

~x~

Once they were back on board the Normandy and Shepard had plotted a course for the Shadow Broker's base, she offered Liara a quick tour of the rebuilt ship. Liara declined, stating that she'd rather visit with Joker and then Dr. Chakwas in the med-bay to catch up. As Shepard and Kaidan headed to the elevator, Liara called after them, "Do you mind if I stop in to speak with you after I've seen Dr. Chakwas?"

Shepard could guess what she planned to say and turned to meet her friend's eyes. "Give us a few minutes, Liara," she said with a world of meaning.

Liara shook her head. "I think it should come from me, Shepard," she stated firmly. She turned to head to the cockpit after Shepard gave a slight nod.

When the elevator doors closed around them, Kaidan turned to Shepard with a questioning look, "What was that all about? What's going on between you and Liara?"

Shepard sighed and dropped her gaze. "Apparently she wants to tell you herself," she mumbled in answer to him. She straightened and met his eyes again, "Please just be patient?" she asked him.

He studied her for a moment and then nodded. They completed the rest of the journey to their cabin in silence.

Once inside, they took turns in the bathroom, taking military-quick showers and changing into casual shipboard clothes. They were reclining in the seating area, each reviewing their own datapads when Liara's knock came on the door. Shepard rose to open the door and escort their friend to a seat on the couch opposite Kaidan. She reseated herself and turned to Liara.

"Kaidan," Liara began in a soft, pain-filled voice, "I have something to tell you. Something that I think Shepard kept from you out of a desire to protect us both."

Kaidan sat forward in alarm, breath held in worried anticipation, eyes studying Liara's face. He felt Shepard's hand on his arm but ignored the comfort for now, "What is it, Liara?"

"After the Normandy went down," Liara began with a deep breath, "I started my career as an information broker. One of the first things I stumbled upon in my new job was a plot of the Shadow Broker's. He intended to retrieve your body and sell it to the Collectors. Apparently they were offering a good price for anything that could get them to Shepard. I… interfered with his plans and retrieved your body myself. That's how Feron was taken. And then I turned your corpse over to Cerberus."

It took a moment for Kaidan to actually comprehend what she said. When the meaning of her words struck, he stood and walked away. He was vibrating in shock and anger, and part of him wanted to take back the last few minutes and unhear Liara's truth. He took several deep breaths and ignored Shepard calling his name before he felt he had the control to continue.

"Why?" he asked in a curiously flat tone. "Why would you do this to me?"

"I didn't do it to you," Liara protested, tears falling down her face, "I did it for Shepard. Cerberus said they could bring you back. I saw how she was… after… I thought I was doing the right thing…" she trailed off.

Kaidan flinched a bit as he realized that she had said the one thing that he might ever consider an excuse for her actions. He wanted to be angry - to blame her for their ridiculous situation. One some level, he still did. But he loved Shepard even more than Liara, and he understood how powerful a motive love could be. He couldn't think of a single thing he'd refuse to do if it meant making her happy. Liara was wrong, but her intentions were good. And if Miranda and the other doctors had a solution soon, they'd be one step closer to the happy ending Liara had planned for them. In the end, he was happy, and had a second chance to be with Shepard – and even more freely than they had ever been before. He was starting to let himself hope for a future beyond Cerberus and the Collectors. And right or wrong, he wouldn't have that without Liara's interference. He walked over to the asari and placed a gentle kiss on her wet cheek. When he pulled back, he looked her right in the eyes, and spoke.

"Thank you, Liara."

She started in surprise and then she smiled warmly. "I'm so glad you're back, Kaidan. And that you're together," she added gesturing at Shepard, who was also openly crying. "I want to go over the data again," she added as she stood in preparation to leave, "but I have something for you before I go." She pressed an object into Kaidan's hands. He looked down to see two lumps of mangled metal – his old dog tags. He nodded his thanks to Liara and she left quietly.

Kaidan watched her go, still clutching his tags, and then he turned to Shepard. He met her teary gaze and spoke quietly. "Her – I forgive. She had the right intentions, even if she went a lot wrong along the way. But why?" his voice lowered in angry frustration, "Why didn't you tell me this? Even after we talked about my death?"

Shepard didn't look away from his questioning gaze, and he gave her points for that. Fresh tears ran down her cheeks as she swallowed and visibly tried to compose herself to reply. Finally, she broke in a quiet, broken whisper. "At first, things between us were so bad - I didn't want to add to the mix. Then, when Liara gave me the information about Oriana, I let my excitement cloud my judgment. I didn't want to hurt you – either of you – anymore. But, Kaidan, I'm so sorry. I was wrong." She broke off on a sob.

No matter what she had done – or not done – Kaidan had never been able to watch this woman cry and not comfort her. This time was no different. He fell to his knees beside the couch and reached for her hands, taking both in his. His heart hurt to watch her in obvious sorrow and pain and he forgave her before he had really had a chance to be angry. He transferred both her hands into one of his, and moved the free hand to her face. He wiped away her tears with gentle fingers then placed them under her chin to lift it to his kiss. He kissed her softly, lovingly, then pulled back and met her eyes again.

"We're in this together," he told her quietly, "you don't need to protect me. You need to tell me these things, even if you think it might hurt me. I have the right to know," he didn't understand when words he intended to comfort and forgive instead made her sob and cry harder. He drew her into his arms fully, cradling her head against his chest and stroking her hair. "Ssshhh," he said with his chin resting on her head. He pulled her gently to her feet and walked awkwardly to the bed with her clinging to him. He laid them down together and gathered her onto his chest.

She continued to cry as he held her, until she finally drifted off into an uneasy sleep. He stayed awake and watched over her until they arrived at their destination.