Author's Note: Apologies for the delay. Life got busy again, but still the good busy, so I won't complain. As a thank-you for your patience, I fleshed out Jack's appearance a bit and added Friday, as well.

Thursday

"You're late!"

There was no real bite to Jack's bark, so Liara didn't really feel guilty. "I had to get a shower. You woke me up when you called." She'd not been surprised at the request; Thursdays had always been Beth's day to work with Jack and her students.

"At ten o'clock in the f-" The biotic glanced over her shoulder. "In the morning?" she amended swiftly. "You going soft on us, T'soni?"

"Just lazy," Liara assured her. She had been in bed, but not hiding from the world or feeling sorry for herself, simply indulging a pleasant somnolence, dozing lightly while her dreams feathered at the edges of Hannah's.

Jack cocked her head, dark eyes taking the asari's measure, weighing her words. Apparently satisfied, she nodded and turned away, saying, "C'mon, the kids are waiting."

The 'kids' had been students at Grissom Academy, biotics being trained in the use of their talents by Jack. After Shepard had foiled an attempt by Cerberus to take over the school and force students into service, they had entered the war as a support squad, providing biotic barriers and backup to the front lines. Most had survived, but their faces made it painfully clear that they were no longer children. Some had remained under Jack's tutelage to continue improving their talents; others stayed because they had nowhere else to go, their families and home worlds destroyed by the Reapers or cut off by the damage done to the mass relays.

They gathered around her now, their gazes curious, and not simply because she was an asari known for her biotic talents.

"You're having Commander Shepard's baby, aren't you?" Kiley Rodriguez asked her.

"I am," she replied, bracing herself for queries about her relationship with Beth, which would be awkward, since she wasn't sure of it herself. There were moments she felt ready to fly apart in her readiness for Lisbeth to return, but then the doubts would crowd in. There had been no word from Beth since she'd walked out the door. Not even an e-mail. She had said she would be back tomorrow, but what if she wasn't? What if she did come back, but had changed her mind? What was she supposed to tell Jack's students?

Jason Prangley spoke up first. "Man, that kid's gonna be a biotic powerhouse!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. The rest began chiming in, but the questions that they peppered her with had to do with asari biotic training, how soon the infant's abilities would manifest.

Looking past them, she met Jack's eyes, and the tattooed woman gave her a wink and a grin, then pointed to a table set up beside a camp stove. "All right, we're not here to play twenty questions! Pair off, grab some eggs and get ready to work on precision drills! Last ones finished get to do the breakfast dishes … by hand!"

She moved among them, watching as they attempted to crack and scramble eggs using only biotic fields. It was noisy … and messy, with shrieks, insults and eggs flying in approximately equal amounts until a sharp reprimand from Jack got them down to business. Even then, it was far from neat; most of them sent the eggs spraying up from the bowl, or spinning wildly over the edges. Only Kiley held a tightly controlled field, cracking the eggs and neatly separating the shells with tiny motions of her fingers, then placing her hand on the bottom of the bowl and swirling the contents into a homogeneous yellow liquid that she poured into the skillet that Jason held out to her. Her smile had a confidence that had only bloomed in the last few months.

"She's gotten so much better," Liara congratulated Jack.

"Yep," was all the biotic said, but her expression spoke volumes. "She's got tighter control than any of the others, and I'd have missed it, if not for Shepard. Precision's not my strong point," she added with a smirk, plainly not troubled by the fact.

"That's always been Beth's talent," Liara observed, a slight frown touching her lips as her eyes flitted from face to face. "You're missing a couple, aren't you?"

Jack nodded. "Anderson and Lopez," she confirmed, seeming unconcerned. "Mass relays to their colonies are up; they went home for a visit. They'll be back in a few weeks."

"More are coming on line every week," Liara told her.

"Some of them don't have homes to go to," Jack replied, her expression impassive. "Rodriguez was a spacer brat; her mother was stationed with the Second Fleet. Taylor's family was on Arcturus."

Liara simply nodded, feeling the all too familiar tightness in her throat. Tales of death and loss had become all too familiar in the months following the defeat of the Reapers, but each new one still affected her.

Jack shrugged. "They're ours now. Part of the crew, and we take care of each other." She nodded toward the swell of the asari's belly, the cocky grin back in place. "That goes for the biotic powerhouse, there. Once you and Shepard are done teaching her precision, bring her to me, and I'll show her how to kick ass."

The omelets tasted wonderful, even with a few egg shells included.

Friday

"You done with your pity-party yet?"

"Hello, Father." Liara stepped aside to let Aethyta into the flat. "I'm surprised it took you this long to make it by."

The matriarch shrugged. "Figured the company you were having was doing you some good. I'm shit at offering comfort, so I figured I'd wait until you were ready for my specialty."

"Insults and overly intrusive advice?" Liara guessed, not particularly surprised that her father had kept tabs on her guests.

"Exactly," Aethyta grinned at her. "Now, how about we get out of here and you buy me lunch someplace?"

"Someplace" turned out to be the Thai restaurant, though they got a table inside.

"So, you figured out what you're gonna do?" Aethyta inquired with her usual frankness as they waited for their food.

"I … don't know." Liara shook her head. "I suppose I should wait to see what Lisbeth wants now." No calls, no messages. Maybe she had changed her mind.

The matriarch rolled her eyes with an exasperated huff. "Yeah, and she'll wait on you, and the kid will be shaking her ass in a bar before either of you makes a move. You just need to drag her into the bedroom, tear off that uniform and -"

"Father, please!" Aethyta was, as usual, not being quiet, and heads were turning. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm getting as big as a house. I'm hardly in any condition to seduce anyone."

"Are you kidding?" the matriarch snorted. "Have you looked at your rack lately? When Nezzy was pregnant with you, I couldn't keep my hands off her!" She'd lowered her voice, at least, but that was still a mental image that Liara could have done without.

"If she was that … appealing to you, then why did you leave?" she shot back in a low voice.

Aethyta sobered and looked away, silent for a long moment before she answered. "She wanted me to marry her," she said quietly. "Me. Smartass, in-your-face, no manners me, married to beautiful, smart, classy Benezia T'soni." She shrugged. "I panicked. Took off, fucked anything that caught my eye … and threw away the best damn thing I ever had." Her eyes met Liara's. "Don't make the same mistake."

Plates were set before them, and Liara used the food as a distraction. She wanted to point out that she wasn't the type to have indiscriminate sex, but she knew that was not the point her father was trying to make.

"I'm afraid," she whispered at last, twirling her chopsticks through the last remaining rice noodles on her plate. "If I meld with Beth, she'll see … everything."

"Everything that piece of shit made you do, you mean?" Aethyta asked, eyes glinting dangerously..

"Everything I let him do," Liara replied, fresh shame heating her cheeks.

The matriarch shook her head. "That wasn't you. That was what he turned you into. He fucked with your head, kid."

Liara bit her lip. She'd allowed him to do that, too. "That doesn't change -"

"The hell it doesn't," her father said irritably. "Look, if it was Shepard that'd had done to her … whatever he did to you, would you blame her for it? Think any less of her?"

"Of course not." Intellectually, it made sense, but the spark of fear in her chest refused to listen to reason. "I just … don't know how to -" How to let go of the fear, how to trust after having her trust so badly abused, how to believe that Lisbeth Shepard could really love her, want her.

"Just don't run," Aethyta said, her voice gentler than it had ever been. "Give her a chance to show you that you're worth it."

She nodded and swallowed hard, tears stinging her eyes. "I -"

"Yeah, I know. Don't get mushy." Aethyta waved her off, but her eyes shone brighter than usual. "I got this," she announced briskly as the waiter approached, handing him her card.

"Thank you," Liara told her. "Did you want to come back to the flat for coffee?"

"Nah. Got stuff to do." Aethyta shook her head and stood. "I'll talk to you next week."

She left; Liara stayed a bit longer, finishing the last of her food, more from the awareness that Hannah required the nutrition than any real appetite. Sitting alone in the flat, waiting for Beth to return … if she did return, held little appeal, but neither did going out alone. Maybe she could call Tali, see how she and Garrus were doing.

She left the restaurant and made her way home … and it was her home, she realized with a bittersweet ache. Home in a way that the flat she'd shared with Feron had never been, and she wanted that, wanted more, but Goddess, what if she couldn't -

She deactivated the security protocols, opened the door and stared.

Flowers. Single blooms, massive bouquets and everything in between were scattered in vases around the room. Thessian lilies; desert blooms from Rannoch; roses by the dozen in delicate shades of lavender, pink, yellow; every type of flower she had ever admired over the years was here, delicate fragrances swirling together in the air, and -

"Hi."

Beth stepped from the kitchen, still in her uniform, looking every inch the dashing Alliance officer, but the tension that had marred her features earlier that week was gone, replaced by an expression that made Liara's heart start to flutter; the brown eyes were gentle, more than a bit apprehensive, but beneath that, the tender intensity was unmistakable. In one hand, she held a single red rose.

"Hi," Liara echoed, joy and fear running a race in the rapid patter of her pulse. She'd come back. She'd come back.

"I was hoping Aethyta would keep you out long enough for me to finish," she gestured around the flat, looking sweetly shy, "this."

"It's beautiful." She wasn't particularly surprised to learn that her father had been a co-conspirator. "I wasn't sure you'd be back today." She tried not to sound reproachful. "You hadn't called." But she had said she'd be back today, and when had Beth ever lied to her?

She felt even worse when Beth looked guilty instead of offended. "I wanted to," she said softly, "but I wanted to give you time to think, to be able to tell you that I'd taken the time to think, even though I was sure before I'd even been gone a day."

She took a step closer, then another. "This … has been the hardest week of my life. I couldn't think straight, I butchered my speech at the dedication ceremony," she added sheepishly. "I missed you. I missed Hannah, too, but she wasn't the one I couldn't stop thinking about. It was you."

Liara couldn't speak, could barely breathe as Beth took another step, her free hand reaching out to the asari's. "I love you, Liara T'soni," she said, her voice steady, her gaze unwavering. "I don't know how I missed it all these years, but I know it now, and there's not a doubt in my mind. Will you give me the chance to prove it to you?"

Liara looked down at their joined hands, back up into gently pleading brown eyes. "Beth, I -"

"I know you're afraid," Shepard said when she faltered. "I know that what he did to you left you afraid. We can take it slow, as slow as you want. I just want to be with you. Will you let me, Liara?" She held the rose out. "Please?"

Liara's hand trembled as she reached to accept the rose, but her voice did not. "Yes," she said softly, her fingers curling around the stem as she stepped in closer. "Yes, Beth," she whispered, tipping her face up to meet Shepard's gentle kiss.