Chapter Six: A Very Blue Birthday

"So…Shepard. I was thinking that we should go out to eat tonight. Relax a little bit, you know?" Doctor Liara T'Soni was trying to use her best seductive voice to win over her…boyfriend? She didn't actually know what they were, but she knew it was more than friends and less than bond-mates. She had decided to try, and convince Commander Shepard to take her out for her birthday without actually telling him it was her birthday. Goddess knows what he would do if he found out.

Shepard looked a little disappointed, "I don't think I can today, how about tomorrow?" They were in Liara's room thing.

Liara never knew what made her say this, she had practiced not telling Shepard, but it slipped out nevertheless, "Well it's my birthday today, so I wanted to celebrate a little bit." When she had finished she couldn't believe that she had done that...Then she saw Shepard's face.

Alark bells were screamed in her head. She should have ran, and found the nearest helmet. Shepard blinked thoughtfully for a moment, and ever so slowly a huge grin started to appear. The little twinkle in his eye got brighter and he leaned close to Liara, causing goose bumps to spread across her body. He whispered in her ear, "Well if it's your birthday, then we'll definitely have to celebrate." Liara decided that telling Shepard wasn't a bad thing at all.

Liara started leaning in for a kiss, and she could feel the heat coming off him they were so close. They had barely touched lips when Shepard jerked back and stepped away, his grin once again appearing. "Not so fast T'Soni, I have to get you off the ship so I can…plan. How do you feel about window shopping with Wrex?"

…

"So one time this Batarian was coming at me, murder in its eyes, and guns blazing. And you know what I did?" Wrex paused a moment waiting for Liara to respond and when she didn't, he continued anyways, "I charged that pyjack, and ripped his puny head off. His gun was still going even with his head gone. Hehe. I would have admired the spectacle more if Batarians hadn't of come around a corner, and started shooting at me. I probably would have taken the body, and buried it. We honor our enemies… So I guess that's the really exciting moment when I was five. Six was much better, more killing and stuff."

Liara interrupted him, "You were five years old? I thought Krogans were at least eight before they killed."

"That's true if you don't have father like mine. He insisted I started early, and quickly. I took pleasure in killing him." Wrex did his deep chuckle at the thought while Liara stayed silent. She had quickly given up on the idea of window shopping with Wrex. It was hard to explain why a Krogan was wondering around an asari department store. So they had settled in a park on the Citadel. Wrex was mostly talking, while Liara commented occasionally on his exploits. It was relaxing, and she enjoyed his company immensely.

Liara was also keeping watch for Shepard, because she had seen him occasionally go by, his arms full of stuff. She wondered what he could be doing; after all she had only wanted to go on a date with him. The thought of the whole crew knowing about her birthday, and decorating for her was embarrassing. Someone calmer, someone not so high strung would have just taken her to dinner. A celebration free of embarrassments, something safe. But sometimes it was good to take risk, especially with someone like Shepard.

Wrex was still talking, she got the vague idea he was discussing different looking guts of individual species and tactics on killing them, but Liara couldn't be positive. She had zoned out.

It was weird, she thought, how different she and Shepard were. The Commander was probably a little insane and engaging, while she had a...steady personality. They were polar opposites. She loved it. He was also charismatic and funny, both things she lacked.

To try to improve her sense of humor, she looked up jokes on the extranet. That idea had exploded into a fiery clump of horrible. The exchange went like: Liara- 'Knock, knock!' Shepard- 'Who's there?' Liara- 'Orange!' Shepard- 'Orange who?' Liara- 'Orange you glad I didn't say banana?!'

The expectation was great excitement and laughter from Shepard, instead she could only see horror in his face. He had approached her slowly talking about how she should never look up extranet jokes, and how he hoped this hadn't ruined her hopefully blossoming sense of humor. Going back on the extranet wasn't something she could do for a few days after that.

Although that little blunder was horribly embarrassing, something good had come out of it. Shepard had started coming to her little alcove more often. They didn't talk, instead they had both worked. While this seemed horridly awkward, it was actually comforting having him next to her. Occasionally she had looked up, and found Shepard looking at her. When this happened he would give her a smile, then return to work.

"LIARA!" Shepard's voice yelled in her ear. She jumped approximately a thousand feet in the air, and had to stop herself from letting out a screech that would attract varrens.

…

Colt was satisfied with himself. Liara had squeaked in terror when he shouted her name, and it was fucking hilarious. Only a few seconds later did he realize that what he had done could potentially piss Liara off, but he couldn't stop laughing. When Liara turned around she was not a happy camper, but she appeared to have stopped herself from getting mad. Her eyes softened when her eyes met his.

"Lets...go back to the... ship, everything's ready!" Shepard said; laughing, and talking proved difficult. He gestured for Wrex, and Liara to follow him.

When they arrived at the ship everything was dark. Nothing seemed to be powered on, and there wasn't any sign of the crew. Shepard immediately split up Liara, Wrex, and himself to search the ship. When Wrex started to leave to his part of the ship, Shepard grabbed his meaty arm, pointing to Liara and raising a finger to his lips. Wrex understood, and soon the pair were following Liara.

When she entered the Mess Hall the lights flashed on and all the crew members stood up, and screamed, "HAPPY KINDA SURPRISE PARTY!" Shepard watched as Liara stood there frozen, turning her head. He walked up behind her and asked, "So...was it surprising? Kinda-maybe?"

The asari jumped a little at his voice. She looked at him, a frown starting to form across her face. Oh shit. Oh no. Holy balls. When she was silent for a long time, he started out, "I'm sorry, Liara. I thought it would be funny." He would have said more, but her frown was cracking and soon a huge smile spread across her face.

"You know Shepard; you're not the only one that can surprise someone," Liara said, mischief dripping from her words. Thank God she was just playing around.

"Cut the chatter, there's a full bar and we're on shore leave!" Someone shouted from the back. It was probably Joker...actually it was probably Chakwas. It was definitely Chakwas.

…

The decorations were amazing. There was a banner saying 'Happy Birthday Liara!' There was also lots of colorful ribbons, and music in the background. It was spectacular and she couldn't help but glance at Shepard, knowing that he had set up all this. Her mother always tried to do something for her, but usually that consisted of the two going to a resturant rather than having a party. Later on when she was in Prothean dig sites, she never celebrated. When it came along she usually had a little celebratory drink, and that was it. Never had anyone put so much time, and effort into her birthday.

Commander Shepard, and Liara had been going between groups when someone had mentioned cake. The whole crew migrated to the cake and Shepard proudly announced that two cakes had been made, one for Tali and Garrus and one for everyone else. "I think Liara gets to cut the cake since it's her birthday!" Shepard announced, looking at Liara. Looking back on that moment she should have known that something was up, but she didn't, so she gladly took a knife and started cutting the non-dextro cake.

Liara admired how tasty the cake looked, then slammed the knife down hard. As soon as she had gone down about an inch there was a loud pop. Chunks of cake flew everywhere. It mostly got on Liara, but nearby spectators also got hit. The frosting literally coated her entire face. Only when someone handed her a towel did she see Shepard and Garrus standing next to each other, laughing uncontrollably. They were slapping each other on the back, and hitting their knees. Most of the crew was laughing, but Garrus and Shepard were out of control. After a few minutes everyone except the the two stopped laughing. They went on for a good twenty minutes.

Doctor Chakwas announced, "It looks like you and Garrus have some cleaning up to do, Commander." This quickly sobered up the pair as they glanced around at the carnage, their faces dropping.

"Well, we have to do presents first, then we will clean up," Shepard said, still looking at the exploded cake. Liara groaned at the mention at another party activity, as she was hoping that she could go back to her room after the cake incident. She cringed at the thought of what her presents might be.

Everyone sat in a circle, all eyes on Liara when the presents started getting handed to her. The first present was from Doctor Chakwas and it was a bottle of Serrice Ice Brandy, the best she said. Then the next present was from Joker, which she was a little afraid to open, but it was actually a pretty funny card with some creds tucked into it. Wrex gave her two gun mods (Liara had no idea how to put them on, luckily she lived on a ship full of weapons specialists). Garrus handed her a copy of this years best Turian comedy 'Bird People'. A lovely mug with SR-1 inscribed on it was Tali's present. Adhley delivered another card with some creds in it, then the rest of the crew gave her a handsome amount of 100 creds. No one except for Liara seemed to notice that Shepard hadn't given her anything. The party was probably his present.

After the presents, Liara's party started to wind down. So she decided to head to her cabin after saying goodnight to everyone. Once she reached her destination, she started to do a little more research into Saren's capabilities.

An hour into her research she heard a knock on the door."Come in!" She called. The Commander strode in lacking his usual confidence. He had a small box in his hands and for the first time in the history of forever, Shepard looked shy. He extended the box out without a word and watched as she opened it. Inside she found a small rearing horse, with diamonds as eyes. She immediately loved it, but wondered why it was always back to horses with Shepard. Then she remembered the small Shepard she had seen in the meld.

…

Shepard had bought Liara a necklace for her birthday, but he quickly wondered why he had gotten a horse. She had never once expressed interests in horses. Deep inside he knew why he had gotten a horse but he pushed that thought away, determined to enjoy her party.

Hours later when he had presented her the necklace, he was relieved that she seemed to like it. It was a fairly weird and out there for her but it was nice looking, and he hoped it would make up for the cake debacle. In fact, Liara had been a good sport all through the party and he was glad that he hadn't driven her away with his pranks.

"So, do you like it?" Shepard asked.

Liara looked up from the necklace and replied, "Oh yes, it's beautiful Shepard. It's probably one of the best presents I've ever recived!" This made Shepard relax; his out of the blue purchase had been worth it.

"Do you think we celebrated sufficiently?" Commander Shepard asked, taking on a low tone.

"Not quite, I think I need one more thing," she said returning the same tone of voice.

"Oh? What is that Doctor?" During this whole exchange they had slowly been getting closer to each other. Now they were only inches apart.

"I think you know, Commander," Liara said, her voice barely a whisper. Their lips connected and they stood there for who knows how long kissing. Both could only concentrate on the sensations running through their bodies.

Shepard was stunned by how soft Liara's lips were. Liara was stunned by how great of a kisser Shepard was. Liara's lips parted slightly, so Shepard took that as an indicator to start exploring Liara's mouth. She tasted sweet and simple and the inside of her mouth was smooth.

When they finally pulled away, Shepard grasped her shoulders and said, "Happy Birthday Doctor Liara T'Soni." Then he walked out of the room leaving a slightly confused and very satisfied asari.