Author's Note: Colt's tale was held up by a broken computer. For once the wait wasn't because of writer's block... it's a step. The good news is that I have written five chapters, and I will post these one right after another. It will be like a five day With Lions bonanza.

Chapter Forty Nine: Talking is Good... I Think

"So tell me exactly what he said," Aethyta sat across the table from Liara. They were at Apollo's Cafe.

"He said that he didn't have feelings for me anymore. That he had come to this realization in prison, and it would just be better if we stopped seeing each other. Then he said he hoped we could still be friends," Liara wasn't going to cry. Not in front of Aethyta; she would probably call her some degrading name. She was too tough and self respecting to cry in public. She could handle it.

"That's it! I'm gonna kill him. Let's hope the Alliance can pull another hero out of their asses, because Commander Shepard is going to be found dead in the gutter," Aethyta rose from their table, and started towards the direction Shepard had left.

"No!" Liara hissed, and grabbed Aethyta's arm. Aethyta wouldn't really do it, but on the other hand Liara didn't want to take that chance. "You can't just kill the only hope for the galaxy," Liara found herself laughing at how serious Aethyta was. She also felt humbled that Aethyta would kill the only person between the Reapers and everyone else just because of his dumb and vague break up. They had just met ten minutes ago and yet her other parent was already ready to defend her.

"Oh, so now you're on the enemy's side?" Aethyta sat down heavily, and stared at Liara like she was the one who had orchestrated a murder.

"Colt is hardly the enemy... There's something weird going on with him," her change of subject was noticeable even to her. "He's been so distant lately, and not to just me, to everyone. The way he broke up with me was so abrupt, and...just not him."

"There is nothing wrong with Shepard, just assholeitis. Apparently he's too dumb to know when he's got something good. You're better off without some airhead, trigger-pulling idiot anyways. You're too smart for someone who doesn't know the difference between a Varren and a volus," Aethyta took a deep breath, "Look I have a male client, human since you seem to have a thing for them, that comes around to Apollo's a lot. Nice guy, who you'd get along great with. Now I could probably set some-."

"No...I, I couldn't. Shepard and I have this connection you see. You know a mental connection. Just because he broke up with me, doesn't mean the connection was severed. That's why I think something is up; his emotions are all weird," Liara took a second to remember what she had felt from Colt. "Whenever he's around me, there's such an all consuming feeling of guilt. I don't understand what the problem is," Liara felt a single tear of frustration spill down her face.

"Now the bastard is making you cry? I'm gonna kill him, I specifically told him not to be a jerk to you and look. The only option we have is to kill him, but if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I'll understand," before Liara had thought that Aethyta wouldn't kill Shepard, but now she wasn't too sure.

"The rest of the galaxy is more important than my feelings. So don't harm him," Liara tried to sound commanding, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Well I think you're more important than a crapton of greedy dumbasses, but I won't do anything. I can see that you're still hung up on him," Aethyta looked disappointed, maybe bartending didn't provide enough excitement. Taking on the best soldier in the galaxy probably wasn't a good alternative, however.

"Maybe I did something," Liara said this to herself, but Aethyta heard.

"Ya? Like what? Being too useful to his cause?" Aethyta snorted at her own words.

"I have no idea; do you have any ideas what the problem could be?" Liara turned her bright eyes to her other parent.

"Look kid. It's probably not the wisest idea to ask me about romance. After all, your mother did leave me," Aethyta was still in love with Benezia. It was easy to see, and Liara's heart panged for Aethyta. She didn't want Colt and her to end up in the same regretful boat.

"Benezia was indoctrinated," Liara placed her hand gently on Aethyta's shoulder.

"What?" Aethyta turned to look at Liara directly.

"She didn't willingly help Saren. Sovereign, the first documented Reaper, indoctrinated her. She wasn't herself at the time. Shepard had to kill her," Liara drew in a deep breathe at the memory. That was one of her most painful memories.

"Shepard killed her?" Aethyta asked, but she didn't seem surprised.

"Ya, she was going to kill me, but he shot her before that could happen," Liara had never talked about the incident before. Whenever she brought it up near Shepard, he would look very apologetic. He would try to tell her something, but got too choked up.

"So I guess he's useful for something," Aethyta's laugh was dry and humorless. "I'm glad you told me. For years I thought she had aided Saren... on her own terms. I didn't know if I could get over her being the enemy, but this will help," Aethyta wore a similar face to the one Shepard had after Kaiden's death, only Aethyta's pain was a hundred times stronger. "I think it would be a good idea to talk to Shepard," Aethyta smiled sadly at Liara

...

"What the hell are you doing?" Garrus asked, while standing above Colt.

"Oxygen angels," Colt replied, he was waving his arms, and feet while on the ground.

"Why?" Garrus was staring at him weirdly. He had been on public transportation before - this shouldn't have been the weirdest thing Garrus had seen.

"Just nice to know I can still breathe," in reality Colt had experienced one of the worst nightmares of his young lives. He had dreamt vividly about dying, specifically suffocating above Alchera. He was still shaking from the dream. About ten minutes ago he had stumbled out of his commander cave onto the crew deck. The urge to just simply enjoy oxygen was too much. So naturally he started doing oxygen angels.

"Alright, carry on," Garrus stepped around him, probably to engineering.

Other crew members were watching his oxygen angels from the Mess Hall tables. He decided that he should probably stop creeping out his crew, plus Rosebud decided to start licking his face. He clambered to his feet, and observed those watching him. Liara was amongst those in the crowd, and watched him keenly.

Everyone who had witnessed his oxygen angels was laughing, everyone except Liara. He felt so guilty about the whole situation. On one hand he would break her heart by dying long before she did, and then on the other hand, he would do the exact same thing by breaking up with her. He had been so stupid involving himself with anyone. No one deserved to be in love with someone who would probably die in some gruesome way.

He had to tell her this. To make her understand why he had to leave her. She was an awesome person, and deserved that. Colt approached her reluctantly, ignoring the people wondering why he did weird things constantly.

"Liara, you see...I," he had come to a road. Colt could tell her he was dying, he could explain how he wasn't willing to cause her more pain, he could beg her to take him back, and be incredibly selfish, or he could be a coward.

He almost went with being selfish. Colt wanted to be Liara's man friend, more than anything. He stopped himself though, he didn't want to hurt Liara anymore. Breaking up with her had ruined her day, maybe the week. Dying while they were together would be much worse. That awful recording had shown him that. He went the coward's route.

"Never mind," he muttered. Colt's hand went up, and rubbed the top of his head. A nervous habit that he had developed after the Alliance cut off his hair.

"Let's talk in my room," Liara murmured. She could probably feel how conflicted he was.