It was nice, Shepard decided, to be able to watch her bondmate do something she was passionate about, instead of constantly being embroiled in battling for their lives. Shepard lay on the couch in the apartment that Anderson had given to her, that she and Liara had slowly been making into their home. Her head was in Liara's lap, and the asari's fingers were slowly and gently caressing her hair. She'd been taking a nap after she and Liara and been out to lunch- walking a lot still exhausted her- and now she was pretending to still be asleep while her bondmate poured over the details of the latest Prothean dig she'd been following.
Shepard's omni-tool buzzed with a priority message, making her jump in surprise, but she quickly settled back down, hoping Liara hadn't noticed. Whatever it was could wait. She was enjoying seeing her enraptured look as she absorbed the information on her datapad.
Liara smirked without looking down at her. "I know you're awake, Shepard, so you might as well stop pretending and see what it is.
With an exaggerated sigh, Shepard sat up and pulled the asari into her arms to give her a slow, tender kiss. "One of these days I'll surprise you, T'soni," she whispered teasingly, before tapping at her omni-tool to pull the message up.
"Not likely," Liara scoffed gently at her. "I know you too well, love. And we spent too many sleepless nights together. I always know when you're awake." She tilted her head to the side at Shepard's furrowed brow. "What is it?"
Shepard's sigh wasn't exaggerated this time. "Hackett wants to see me." She let her head flop back onto the couch. "I guess I knew this was coming. It's been four months after all, they weren't gonna let me just sit around forever." She saw the look of concern flash across Liara's face before she schooled her features back to a more neutral look. Shepard took the datapad from Liara's hands, set it down on the coffee table, and pulled the asari back into her arms. "I'm not going back into combat," she promised, as much for Liara's reassurance as her own. "We'll disappear somewhere far away if they try that. Who knows, maybe they finally decided to accept my resignation." She rested her head against Liara's, kissing her bondmate on the forehead.
That at least rewarded Shepard with a small smile. "Again… not likely," Liara mused. "When does he want to see you?"
"Now," Shepard grunted, annoyed. She looked down at her clothing- loose hoodie and a pair of yoga pants. The pants were a favor to Liara- Shepard had never particularly been fond of them before, but the asari enjoyed how they framed certain parts of her body, and who was Shepard to tell her bondmate no? "I'm going like this just to prove a point," she decided aloud.
"Shepard…" Liara warned, but the former Spectre's mind was already made.
"Nope!" Shepard exclaimed cheerfully, claiming another kiss before slowly extracting herself from Liara's embrace. "He wants to interrupt my afternoon with the most beautiful asari in the galaxy, he can deal with the consequences." She was rewarded with a lilac blush that spread quickly across Liara's face. "Ha! Got you," she teased her lover, bending over to give her one last kiss. "I'll make this quick, I promise."
"Don't make promises you can't keep, Shepard," Liara said over her shoulder, reaching for her datapad again as Shepard headed for the door.
"I always keep my promises to you, love. I'll be back before dinner." Shepard winked at her, and then the door slid shut behind her.
Liara smiled despite herself. "That you do, darling… That you do."
Shepard stood outside of Admiral Hackett's office at the embassies, using every bit of her substantial training to stand still and not pace a rut in the floor while she waited for the admiral's meeting to finish. She hadn't been looking forward to this meeting, though she'd known it was coming. The Council had taken her resignation from the Spectre's with surprising grace, though she suspected that was mostly Councilor Tevos's doing- the asari seemed to feel that since Shepard had saved her life not once, but twice, that she owed Shepard both a personal and professional debt. Shepard wasn't about to argue with that, especially considering that it meant she was marked as retired on the Spectre roster but still had all the clearances and privileges that came with the position.
The Alliance had not taken it as gracefully. Hackett had granted her a few months of shore leave to rest and recover, but had asked that she rescind her resignation and think it over while she was off. Shepard had grudgingly done so, mostly because at that point all she wanted was to hide herself away from the eyes of the public and start to make up for all the time that she and Liara had lost. But she didn't want to go back to combat… She wouldn't go back to combat. She owed Liara- and herself- that much.
Finally, the door to Hackett's office opened, and Shepard snapped herself to parade rest- an action that felt distinctly odd in her choice of clothing. Hackett waved her into his office as the vid screen on his desk blinked out of existence. She obliged, taking a seat at his gesture. "Shepard," he greeted. "How's your recovery coming?"
"Well enough," Shepard conceded. "Not as fast as I'd like it to, but the limp is mostly gone and I have full range of motion back in my arm again." She leaned back in the chair and crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm just gonna skip the pleasantries, if that's all right with you… Have you decided to accept my resignation?"
Hackett huffed a sigh. "You're persistent, Shepard, but we all knew that already. Your resignation is not accepted, but I do have a compromise to offer you."
Shepard raised an eyebrow and relaxed her arms. "I'm listening."
"I know you don't want to return to a combat role. Truth be told, I don't want you in one either- you've given the Alliance, hell you've given the galaxy enough of yourself that I think you're entitled to that. Instead, I'd like to offer you a teaching position at the new joint military academy we're opening here on the Citadel." Hackett picked up a datapad lying on his desk and offered it to her. "The details are here."
Shepard took the datapad from his hand and started skimming through the information on it. Startled, she looked up at him. "Half of the year?" she asked in astonishment. This was almost too good to be true.
Hackett nodded. "The other half is yours to do with as you please, Shepard. I think I speak for everyone when I say that while we're lucky to have you still with us, we'd also like to see you live your life for something other than the Alliance military."
Shepard bit her lip as she looked back at the datapad and decided to press her luck. "I want the Normandy."
"Granted." Shepard raised an eyebrow at how fast the answer came. "Honestly, Shepard, brass has basically written you a blank check for demands. If you didn't want the Normandy back they were going to decommission it anyway."
She took a deep breath. "Then I accept, with one more condition. I need another two years, 5 months, and seventeen days of shore leave, Admiral."
It was Hackett's turn to raise an eyebrow. "That's an… oddly specific amount of time, Commander."
Shepard offered him a lopsided smile. "I have a few promises I need to keep, and some time to make up for."
Hackett heaved a sigh, but nodded. "Also granted. I do have one more item of business to discuss with you, though." He opened a drawer of his desk and tossed a square velvet box at Shepard. She opened it to find a gleaming new rank insignia nestled within. "Congratulations, Captain Shepard. Your shore leave starts tomorrow."
"Thank you, sir." Shepard stood and snapped a salute. "Can you uhm… maybe wait to get the new name plaques engraved? I need to discuss something with Liara first." Hackett nodded, dismissing her, and Shepard turned smartly on her heel and headed for the door. Just as she reached it, the admiral cleared his throat and spoke again.
"Oh, and Shepard?" The newly minted captain turned to look at the Admiral, and despite the gravity in his voice there was a twinkle in his eye. "Don't ever come into my office in those clothes again."
Shepard grinned at him over her shoulder and let the door slide shut behind her.
When Shepard bounded back into the apartment, Liara was in the kitchen, retrieving ingredients to make their dinner. She looked up from the recipe on her datapad, preparing herself for the worst, but Shepard swept her up in her arms and spun her around, kissing her soundly before sitting her back down on top of the counter and pulling her in for another. Liara pulled away, laughing at her bondmate's antics. "Shepard, what in the world?" She hadn't seen a smile like that on Shepard's face since the day Liara had told her she wanted to spend her life with her.
"Here." Shepard pushed the datapad into Liara's hands. It had been updated to include Shepard's demands on her trip home, though Shepard had made sure to scroll the screen past that part so Liara would see it last.
The asari skimmed the information quickly, a happy gasp escaping her. "Instruction? Here?" She reached a hand up and threaded it into Shepard's hair, pulling her bondmate closer until their foreheads touched. "Thank the goddess…"
"There's more, keep reading," Shepard gently kissed her on the nose as Liara swiped down the screen. "The Normandy? Captain? And…" Her voice trailed off as she saw the note for Shepard's shore leave duration.
Two years, five months, and seventeen days.
It was the exact amount of time Shepard had been dead.
Liara's hand flew to her mouth, the datapad clattering to the floor with a shattering sound as she tried to stifle the sob that suddenly tore through her. Shepard didn't say anything, just pulled her off the counter and back into her arms, anchoring her. The sob turned into a cry of joy, and Liara used the hand that was still entangled in Shepard's hair to pull her bondmate's face down to hers and kiss her lovingly. The kiss left them both gasping for breath, but somehow Liara managed to find her voice again. "Congratulations, Captain Shepard."
Shepard's face could've lit up the room, Liara thought. "There is one more thing," Shepard murmured to her, "but it's not on the datapad. Which is good, because… I think you broke it."
Liara whacked her lover on the arm playfully. "Tell me."
"Well…" Shepard drawled, tightening her arms around Liara and burying her face in the crook of her neck. "I don't think I want to be Captain Shepard."
Liara's confusion was almost tangible. "Shepard, the datapad said you'd already accepted the position. If you didn't want it, why did you agree?"
Shepard pulled back far enough that she could see Liara's face and offered her the lopsided grin that made Liara melt every damn time she saw it. "It's not the position that I don't want. I just think that Captain T'Soni has a better ring to it."
Liara froze, unable to breath, her mind whirling at the implications of what her bondmate had just said. She remembered reading something a long time ago, about humans taking the name of their mate when… "Did you just propose to me?" she asked breathlessly.
Shepard leaned down to kiss her slowly, thoroughly. "Nothing would make me happier than being able to call you my wife and show the galaxy that I'm yours, Liara," she whispered lovingly when they'd pulled apart. She rested her head against her bondmate's, silently asking a question.
Liara obliged and reached out for her, melding them together until it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. The entire galaxy knows the name of Shepard, Krae.
I don't care. Shepard's eyes shone brightly, fiercely with her love. I don't need my name. All I need is you. She wrapped Liara up tightly, both mentally and physically, and for a while they just stood there in silence, basking in each other. Slowly, Liara eased the meld back until they were barely entangled with each other. "I love you, Liara T'Soni," Shepard whispered in her aural, one hand gently caressing her crest ridges while the other kept Liara snug against her body.
"I love you, too, Shepard," Liara replied, equally as soft. "Of course I'll marry you." A few seconds later, she started giggling, and her bondmate peered down at her in mock indignation.
"This is a serious moment here!" Shepard protested. "Is this what I get for not having a ring ready?"
"No, no," Liara assured her, reaching up to cup Shepard's cheek in her hand. "I was just thinking that I'm going to have to start calling you by your first name more often if you're going to take mine."
Shepard grinned wolfishly at her, picking Liara up and nudging her legs around her waist. "I might make an exception. Just for you, though." She kissed her bondmate and started up the stairs toward their bedroom.
"Shepard, what about dinner?" Liara asked, all of the food still lying on the counter, forgotten.
"Glyph, order us a couple pizzas and tip the delivery guy!" Shepard called out, not breaking her pace. "We'll be upstairs."
"Certainly, Commander Shepard, the drone replied, floating over to the comm station next to the door.
"Great, we're gonna have to teach him my name again," Shepard grumbled jokingly as she carried Liara down the hallway to their bedroom. "So, love, shore leave starts tomorrow…" any further conversation was muffled by the door sliding shut behind them. The pizza would be cold by the time they got around to eating it, but that was fine. They had each other, and that was all they needed.
