Seeing the destruction on Earth when the Reapers invaded had been bad enough. Shepard dealt with the nightmares of red-tinged smoke and ash nearly every time she managed to fall asleep. But it was mostly because of all the people they couldn't save, not because of Earth itself. Earth had never really been home for Shepard; home had been whichever ship her parents had been assigned to, not a single place, and definitely not the planet that she'd only set foot on a handful of times.

Seeing Thessia burn was ten times worse. Because it was Liara's home, and because Shepard hadn't been able to stop Kai Leng from getting away with the information they so desperately needed. If there had been anything she could do to stop it, to fix this, she would have done it in a heartbeat.

But nothing was ever that easy anymore.

And as if the Reaper invasion wasn't enough by itself, finding out that the asari deities had actually been Protheans… To find out that everything you believed about your species' history, everything you knew about how your civilization had evolved was a fabrication… Shepard couldn't even imagine.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. The emotions rolling off of Liara through their bond gave her some idea, even if it was drastically muted. It was enough to make her pause outside the door to Liara's cabin, trying to gather her thoughts and think of what she was going to say. But words eluded her, and eventually she reached down to palm the control panel anyway, hoping that her presence would be enough. Glyph whirred from his docking station as she strode into the room, buzzing about her head. "Commander Shep-"

"Privacy mode, Glyph," Shepard instructed him, not breaking stride as the command subdued the drone and he returned to his dock. Liara looked up from where she sat on the bed with datapads spread in front of her, tears running down her cheeks, eyes bloodshot from crying. Without preamble, Shepard kicked her boots off and slid onto the bed next to her, pulling the asari into her arms. Liara stiffened, and for a moment Shepard thought she would pull away, but then her bondmate melted into her arms, burying her face in her shoulder.

"I don't know how this happened," she whispered tearfully, words slightly muffled by Shepard's hoodie. "My people's history, everything we knew and believed about our culture… It was all a lie." Liara took a shuddering breath, and Shepard once again wished there was something, anything she could do or say to make any of this better. Liara felt this betrayal deeply, she knew. She'd dedicated most of her life to studying the Protheans, only to find out that they had acted as gods to the asari early on. No, there was nothing she could possibly say for this, so she did the only thing she could think of- she rested her cheek against the top of Liara's crest and stroked her hand gently up and down Liara's back, wordlessly lending her strength.

Now that she'd started talking, words continued to spill out of Liara. "I should've been there before. I should've been helping. We don't even know what the Crucible is, and I abandoned my people to chase after it. Instead the asari are dying by the millions, and I promised I would help them, and it's my fault."

That was where Shepard stopped her. "No," she said firmly, pulling back just far enough to put a finger under Liara's chin and gently tilt her face up so they could make eye contact. "Liara, none of this is your fault."

Liara shook her head stubbornly, and in any other instance Shepard might have chuckled at her bondmate's obstinance. "Shepard, that isn't true. I-"

"Have been warning them about the Reapers for years," the commander cut her off. "The same way I've been warning my people, and we've been warning the turians, the salarians, the krogan, and everyone else. Sovereign almost destroyed the Citadel, I died and they all just tried to sweep it under the rug and act like it wasn't a problem." Gently, she wiped away the tears from the corners of Liara's eyes with the pad of her thumb, letting her touch linger tenderly on her cheek. There was a momentary flash of pain in the asari's eyes at the mention of Shepard's death, and the human winced inwardly at having reminded her while she was already in so much pain. "This is absolutely not. Your. Fault."

Liara closed her eyes for a moment. "I… want to believe that, but…"

"Liara… even if we had beat Cerberus there. Even if Kai Leng hadn't gotten away with what we needed. The Reapers still would have already been there. As much as I hate to have to admit it… every time we've taken one of them down it's been exactly that. One. When they're swarming like they were on Thessia, on Earth…" Shepard swallowed around the lump forming in her throat. She would not cry. Not now, not when she needed to be Liara's strength. "The Crucible is our best shot at stopping them. It might be the only one."

"I know," Liara whispered. "Tell me, Shepard… How were you so strong when the Reapers invaded Earth? All this destruction, and yet you managed to leave, and to come find me…"

"It hurt for different reasons," Shepard admitted softly. "Not like this. Earth's humanity's home, but it's not mine. The six months the Alliance had me locked up was the longest I've ever spent there. Home was always wherever my parents were, whatever ship we were on at the time." She leaned forward, brushing her lips gently against Liara's forehead. "And now it's with you. So I would've come to find you even if Hackett hadn't ordered us to, because I needed to know you were safe." She paused for a moment, trying to gather her thoughts into coherence. "I just… kept telling myself that humanity has spread itself far enough across the galaxy that even the loss of our home planet doesn't mean the extinction of the race. And just because we lost Thessia doesn't mean we've lost the asari."

Liara opened her eyes again, gazing up into Shepard's face, and the commander offered her a small smile. "You're right." She nodded once before slipping from Shepard's arms and moving across the room to her terminal. "The network… I can find resources for the refugees. Ships to move them, places to go. I can still help them." Her fingers flew over the keys as she logged in, and the screen array came to life as she began to filter through her droves of assets.

Shepard smiled at Liara's new resolve and scooted to the edge of the bed, shoving her feet back into her boots before following her across the room. "I knew you'd think of something," she whispered softly, kissing her bondmate's cheek fondly. "I'll let you work. Call me if you need anything?" She turned toward the door and took a step, only to be stopped when Liara's hand closed around her wrist.

"We're not done yet," Liara murmured, turning away from the screens for a moment and pulling Shepard back to her.

"No?" Shepard wrapped her arms around Liara's shoulders, willingly letting herself be drawn back into the asari's embrace and pulling her closer at the same time until they were pressed against each other.

"No." Liara's arms tightened further around her waist. "I need you to stop almost dying. Please." Fear and panic slipped through the bond as they both remembered Shepard clinging to that ledge, dangling above the drop to oblivion.

"This one really wasn't planned," Shepard mumbled, having the good grace to let Liara feel her embarrassment, remembering how her bondmate had raged and screamed at her for going after the Reaper on Rannoch alone.

"I don't care. I know you'd sacrifice yourself in an instant if you thought it would end all of this, but…" Liara's voice broke.

"But I've promised you twice now," Shepard finished for her. "And you're right. But I refuse to believe that that's the only way this will end, and I have every intention of keeping those promises to you, because after this is over, after we're done fighting…" She let her voice trail off for a moment, and when Liara looked up Shepard was smiling down at her. "We're going to help rebuild Thessia. Find ourselves a little house on that beach you showed me, maybe have a couple of those little blue kids we've talked about." She reached up, cupping Liara's face gently with one hand. "And we're going to live."

"Shepard…" Liara's eyes clouded with tears again, and she pulled the human's head down to hers to kiss her.

Shepard rested her forehead against the asari's after, and smiled. "I'm making you another promise, Liara. We're gonna make it through this." They kissed again, comforting one another. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." And then finally Liara smiled at her, and Shepard knew her bondmate's resolve had been restored. With one last caress, Shepard turned and headed for the door. Just before she crossed the threshold, Liara's voice stopped her again. "Krae? Thank you."

The commander turned, meeting Liara's gaze. "Always, love. Always."