Jane fidgeted as she sat at her desk, an empty cola can threatening to jump off the edge on her right and a list of teaching methods on her left. She chewed gently on the end of her stylus and squinted down at her student's papers in near disgust. This was simple algebra, not even calculus and they were struggling. Seriously, how do kids these days make it to high school and get confused by foiling? Her hand fumbled for her full soda for a moment before she remembered to try and regulate her intake. When she was in the black her caffeine addiction was basically sanctioned and encouraged, her appreciation for good coffee had been taken out back and shot, and on leaving she found herself craving sludge and worse. Jane winced slightly as she pictured her father staring slack jawed and disapproving at her generic store brand instant coffee. So with a heaping of parental guilt she had switched to cola.
Jane wondered if she would get diabetes some day from the sugar content, and other days just didn't care as she consumed two liters at a go. She had bought one of those 72 oz cup from the local eezo shop (it glowed blue in the dark) and had abused that for a long while.
Liara's gentle face appeared, complete with disapproving frown and worried eyes, in Jane's imagination.
For no particular reason Jane was working on cutting her soda consumption down.
Jane Shepard is not a puppy dog following after an asari doctor, tail wagging between her legs and pissing on the carpet out of sheer excitement.
Jane snorted. I like that fairy tale, tell me another.
Post Marine Corps was not something that Jane had really considered when she signed up. Probably the only time she had considered what her life might be like as a civilian was when she was face up in a tiny concrete tube with drill instructors yelling at her that she was both a failure and that she could do it no problem. The rest of the time she fell into the category "too stupid to quit" and had tried to kick every challenge in the teeth. She had meant to be a lifer and had climbed pretty far until the last mission, which as far as she could tell was a common theme when injury caused discharge. She tried to not focus in on the servos helping adjust her balance or the hearing aid skillfully hidden in her right ear.
But there she had been, sobbing ugly and being a soup sandwich at her mother's house when the knock had come on the door. Her mother had uncertainly called up the stairs.
"Jane, there's an asari at the door, some sort of doctor?"
She had managed to hobble down and not burst into further hysterics when she saw Liara T'Soni standing awkwardly in the front hall. She had to stoop a little as the entry was only six feet tall, and was wearing a pair of ragged shorts and a long sleeve shirt with a thesauras rex on it. She looked flustered and ready to bolt, and had been worrying at her bottom lip. She had been perfect. Jane smiled at the memory of spending several days meeting up, finally getting forced out of the house for something other than therapy, and generally making her mother look exasperated at her inability to make a move. It turned out that Liara had shifted gears pretty hard over the last few years and was teaching at a local high school after her father had poked and prodded her. It was summer break, it was almost the end of summer break.
Jane had panicked and asked what she would need to do to teach physics. After all, Jane was actually rather good at it and had earned a bachelor's for it thanks to military coursework. She often wondered what Liara had to do to get Jane a spot that winter, but chalked it up to her nearly scary ability to just make things work.
So here she was, trying to not drink cola until she keeled over and viciously covering her student's paperwork in red marks. Because it turned out that Jane Shepard is a puppy dog.
Her mother's glare seemed to hover in her mind's eye along with her rueful, "You seriously would rather fist fight with krogan then ask that nice girl out to a movie? If I had been such a wilting flower you would not be born kiddo, god bless your father but he was jumpier than a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs!"
Jane pinched her arm to cut off the rest of that rant. Her parents sex life was not of interest to her, and she did not want to associate their awkward dance with her and Liara's love life.
Lack of love life. Lack of romantic relationship. Pathetic. She was Commander Jane Shepard! Hero of the Blitz! She would find some steel in her spine, besides the medical implants, and ask Liara out to a movie. Or ice cream. Or a run. Something. Steel spine!
Locking the pad, Shepard stood up from her backless chair and glared around the empty classroom. She could do this. Her feet stayed planted. Maybe she should do those power poses that Kaidan had been talking about? She lifted both arms in the air as if in victory and then balked as a student stared at her through the window on her door. Seriously need to put paper over that. To do after asking Liara to dinner or the gym. Determination! She only wasted a few more minutes arranging things on her desk before marching out the door into the commons. She noted with a fair amount of amusement that someone had jury rigged a bar over the rachni statue, Miranda would have a fit, and marched across the grass to the main building. Woo her, make jokes, smile, don't flex like a meat head, ask her out for coffee or a trip to the convenience store. Shepard tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as she walked to J hall. I am a confident beast, people love me. Ask Liara out to the parking lot to get something from the car or offer to help her out at those AP history study periods she holds. Jane took a deep breath and paused outside of the holy space known as J10, Liara's room. Ask Liara what she thinks about the petition to change their mascot from the blood thirsty rachni to the pyjack or see if she needs some red pens.
Baby steps.
Jane glared at the brown butcher's paper covering the window of the room. Liara probably wasn't even here. She always took a quick walk during prep periods. She should probably go and let Liara have some down time. Not giving herself more time to make excuses Jane opened the door.
"Hey Li can I," Jane paused as a sea of students swiveled to look at her, "Uhm, so you're in class." She coughed and began to back out of the classroom.
Right, this semester Liara no longer had prep at the same time as Jane.
"Hey can you…?" Liara's smile was warm and encouraging. Jane felt her heart melt and simply wanted to crawl under Liara's desk and sit there listening for a while.
Don't flex. Say something. Something professional!
"Er, is it alright if I borrow our model of the universe?" She shuffled in slightly. Be confident, be bold, be in charge. Her eyes desperately looked around. "Hey Bowe, you still owe me chapter five." Yeah, good, in charge and professional. Not awkward. Don't be a jarhead. How long has Liara owned that dress?
"Am I getting it back in one piece?"
Jane immediately saw a broken mirror from two years ago, the ripped jacket from last winter, and the new prothean spire model she had bought to replace the one she'd destroyed when students launched golf balls from their trebuchets. "Yes."
"Without the use of super glue?" Liara teased her, her smile threatening to become the only thing Jane could possibly look at.
Seriously, how does someone have such a perfect mouth and face and everything?
"Sure?" What was the question again?
Liara's smile disappeared to be replaced by a frown. Oops. "Shepard!"
Lifting her hands in defense Jane huffed, "Ok, ok, no glue!"
"Or magnets."
Ok Jane thought that one had been clever, magnets to hold together the mass relay model. She'd even put one in one of her ship models to show where the ship would enter from. Liara had been less than impressed. "You are just, you are just not even fun you know? Fine I'll make sure we don't break, destroy, mangle, maim, or harm your model. Yeash."
Yeah, be cool. Jane put her hands in her pockets. Sexy people do that right? Be casual but hot, and approachable. She watched Liara walk to her cabinets and did not stare at her backside the entire time. Seriously, how could a dress be both that professional and complimentary? She refocused and found Elissa looking at her with the most grateful eyes she'd ever seen. Students. Right. All watching me. Jane felt an irrational urge to begin lecturing on Newton's three laws to fill the empty space.
"Alright, class please try to focus while I deal with this." Liara began to lecture from the back, but everyone still stared at Jane who by now was feeling pressure to do something. Like lightning she remembered making a few crewmen laugh back on the Normandy by pretending to be in awe every time Liara mentioned protheans. It had become a game to the crew, pretending to be in complete awe until Liara would notice and chew them out like they were children. Which really, they basically were, big children who were allowed to play with guns and beat up mercs.
"The Protheans architecture was a pretty big deal at the time and today…" Jane waved her hands slowly and let her eyes get huge. A few students locked onto her with grins. "…considering their structures are still used as the bones by our civilizations it's obvious that the Protheans…" She held her cheeks as if seeing both the most amazing and adorable fluffy baby animal she'd ever seen. "Which is why prothean—" Shepard popped on leg up the way people in movies did when kissed, which was so dumb that she laughed every time. Liara had punched her over it when they were watching Valentis Goes on Holiday. Apparently one did not mock Liara's celebrity crush without getting hit and covered in popcorn. "Prothean, Prothean, Prothean, yes I know what you are doing up there thank you very much."
Busted. Lowering her hands as the class laughed Jane felt a warm glow inside. Students liked her, Liara liked her. Liara liked her. She tried to not smile like a complete idiot as the asari spent time helping Jane to hold everything in her arms. Jane may or may not have pretended to have trouble holding everything to draw that out. Professionalism. A warm smile and, was that what twinkling eyes look like? Jane tried to suppress her heart rate and fought a wave of tingly nausea at being liked. "Thanks for the model. We should do this more often. I should go." Jane backed out of the door trying to keep Liara in her sights as long as she could. Failing to shut the door with her foot, Liara gave her one last fond look before shutting it gently in her face.
Jane stood there, lazily spinning discs rotating around her arms, staring at the closed door. Progress!