Three Little Lovebirds

Chapter 24 – Mrs. Blue Skin

The sound of buckling metal echoed down the blood-stained hallway as its sole organic occupant was slammed into a bulkhead with bone-shattering force. Polan counted the lucky-stars now swimming in his vision that the armour he was wearing was stronger than the partition walls of the Citadel.

"You know I don't have to do this." The Shadow Broker was saying, his voice penetrating the Salarians foggy mind with surprising clarity "Perhaps I've been around your kind too long but I feel something akin to pleasure in watching biological specimens suffer. I think I'll run a diagnostic on myself, but not before I'm finished with you."

With minimal effort, Polan was sent flying through the air; the arc of his body almost graceful, until he landed amongst the eviscerated remains of his comrades. He wheezed agonizingly as the breath was knocked out of him for a second time.

"I want a name." The Shadow Broker snarled, kicking aside the charred body of a now-unidentifiable merc. "Who informed you of my location?"

"I don't know!" Polan tried to scream, instead managing a barely audible croak "We were just the hit men. The bosses are the ones who deal with that shit. I just point, shoot and open doors."

"Your lies are transparent and worthless. You have a graybox implanted just beneath your right horn. Only high-ranking members of Eclipse use them; you were the leader of this operation, and no-doubt report directly to Jaroth. There is a 96.5 percent chance that you yourself were the one that met with the informant. Now, give me the name."

Polan had been a mercenary ever since he could lift a gun. He knew how these things worked, and he knew that there was no way the Shadow Broker would let him live, whether he got the information or not. With that realisation came an almost euphoric sense of power. Nothing he could do would change the outcome, so he might as well spite the monster which had slaughtered his team and was trying to brutalize him into submission. There was no way this bastard would get anything out of him.

"Go fuck yourself you metal freak!" he spat with every ounce of venom left in him.

The synthetic eyed his battered form. Covered in cuts and scrapes, and smeared with blood that was not his own, the Salarian was in no position to resist a direct mental intrusion.

"That, would be impossible." he said, as the familiar chime of an extending spike sliced the silence.

Liara wasn't a clumsy person, at least not by human standards. She'd always lacked the same grace as some of the more elegant members of her species, but her profession demanded a certain amount of hand-eye coordination. There'd been the occasional incident of course, a particularly humiliating episode where she'd dropped a priceless Prothean tablet in front of her entire second-year class at university came to mind, but for the most part she was aware of what she was doing. In this case however, her body acted before her mind in its haste to get up and turn around, muddling the two actions into something that sent a stack of data pads crashing to the floor and left her leaning heavily against the desk to stop herself joining them.

"Whoa, geez, are you okay?" A pair of strong hands took her gently by the shoulders, helping her to a more stable footing, "Sorry, I should have realised I'd startle you."

"Shepard!" Liara wasn't so much surprised as she was aghast. As if tripping over her own feet wasn't bad enough...Lucy had see everything. At least, she'd seen enough to know exactly what Liara had been doing.

Why did things like this always have to happen to her? Perhaps one day she'd spend more than 5 minutes with the spectre without doing something mortifyingly embarrassing.

"I-I was just, erm..."

"Curious?" Lucy finished the sentence, smiling at the abashed Asari. She knew it was probably mean, but she couldn't help but tease Liara bit; the cerulean blue her cheeks went when she blushed was quite simply adorable.

The Asari visibly steadied herself, although she was still looking somewhere near Lucy's feet rather than straight ahead.

"Yes." She admitted sheepishly.

Lucy sat herself down on the camp bed in the corner and motioned for Liara to sit beside her. She did so with only the slightest hesitation, nervously waiting for Shepard's reaction. Would Lucy be pleased or angry? Or worse, would she look down on her for having to research such basic things in the first place?

"I'm sorry to sneak up on you like that." Shepard began, lazily snaking an arm around Liara's shoulders. "I didn't mean to, but when I saw what you were doing and that you hadn't seen me...well, I didn't want to disturb you."

She tightened her hold, encouraging Liara to meet her gaze.

"There's no need to be embarrassed; it's perfectly natural to be curious. Everyone wants to know who - *ahem*, what they're getting into." Lucy winced, not only at the slip up but at how patronising she sounded. It was sometimes difficult to remember that Liara had lived for more than 3 times as long as she had. Then again, she was also pretty sure that she had more experience when it came to personal issues, so perhaps it wasn't such a problem. "You know, I had a similar experience when I was about 16 years old. Only, it was my mother, not a partner who walked in on me, and, erm...well I was doing a little more than just watching if you know what I mean."

The look on Liara's face made it clear that she didn't. Quickly moving on before things got even more complicated, Lucy continued.

"Anyway, that was how she found out that I was into girls. Kinda hard to deny it when the video you're watching has an all-Asari cast."

"How did she react?" Liara spoke up, apparently glad that the focus of conversation had drifted away from her curiosity "My, um...research about human culture indicated that 'homosexuality' was not always accepted by everybody."

"It's not as bad as it used to be." Lucy pointed out, "Now that humans are able to go off with any number of different species, the so called 'traditionalists' have more to worry about. I was lucky though I guess, my parents just accepted me for who I was. I think it gave dad a bit of a shock when I brought home my first girlfriend." She chuckled softly, "He never did get those coffee stains out of his shirt."

"You have never mentioned your parents before." Liara said, feeling warmed to the core that Lucy would choose to share information about her family life with her. She had not seen the spectre do the same with any of the other crew members, except for Tali of course. "Do you still speak with them?"

The sorrowful look that greyed Lucy's eyes immediately made her regret bringing it up.

"No. They died on Mindoir when the slavers attacked."

Liara wished she could take back her words. How could she have been so stupid? She had read Shepard's file a dozen times, it stated categorically that she had enlisted with the military after an attack on her home colony. Why hadn't she put two and two together?

"Goddess, I-I'm so sorry Shepard, I forgot completely...I should never have mentioned it, I..."

"Hey, it's okay Liara." Lucy twisted round to put her other arm around the fretful Asari, hugging her tightly, "It's better they died on their home soil than got hauled off to be worked to death as slaves. It still hurts sometimes, but the past is the past; I've put it behind me."

Liara nodded, feeling slightly less wretched now that her partner was holding her so tenderly. It seemed she still had much to learn about relationships. All she could do was be thankful that she had found a woman who was so understanding and patient.

"Lucy?" She ventured tentatively, wanting to convey her gratitude but not sure if it was appropriate, "Can I...can I kiss you?"

To her delight, one of Shepard's dazzling smiles lit up the room.

"I think you can assume the answer to that will always be 'yes'."

Liara could feel the butterflies tickling the base of her stomach; a heady mix of nervousness and anticipation. The only other kiss she'd ever initiated had been one of desperate need and longing; it had been truly intense, almost painfully so. This time she was determined to do it right, in a way that could convey her love when her words so often failed.

She let her mind wander back to the daydreams she'd had before her coma; how she'd fantasised for hours on end about how this moment would go. The images in her head guided her as Liara slid her hands up Shepard's back, fingers tangling in the golden mane that fell just past her ears. Liara loved Lucy's hair; it's texture was so alien, so fascinating, so wonderfully silky soft. She wanted to bury her face in it and inhale Shepard's subtle fragrance.

Hesitantly, still a bit unsure but determined not to let nerves overcome her, Liara raised her head to meet Lucy's. The spectre was a bit taller, at least when they were sitting like this, and Liara found that her face fit snugly into the hollow of Shepard's neck. She could see the taut muscle just beneath the skin, tendons flexing subtly as Lucy breathed in and out. She couldn't have resisted even if she'd wanted to. Liara pressed her lips softly to the pulse point, feeling it flutter beneath her as Shepard's heart rate increased. It was intoxicating, knowing that at this moment, that strong heart was beating for her.

She wasn't sure if she was doing it right, but for once, she didn't really care. All that mattered was this connection; the sweet warmth of Lucy's body against her mouth. She kissed the offered neck again, letting her lips trail over the exposed flesh; worshiping it softly.

"I love you Lucy." She whispered, feeling the sudden need to explain how she felt; how much the spectre affected her, "Goddess, I-I love you so much that it scares me. When we're together...like this...I can't describe it, i-it's overwhelming."

"I know darling, it's okay. Love is terrifying, especially for the first time. It's a big risk, putting your heart in someone else's hands; just please believe that I'd never, ever intentionally hurt you."

Lucy tilted her head, capturing the next kiss aimed at her neck with her mouth instead. Liara's eyes widened, but she didn't stop, instead holding Shepard's head against hers with a gentle intensity. Lucy was delighted to feel an inquisitive tongue probing the tips of her teeth. She welcomed it in, realising the importance of letting the Asari explore at her own pace and pleased that Liara felt she could initiate their intimate moments.

At long last, the kiss came to an end, leaving both women panting for breath and quite giddy with excitement.

"Goddess," Liara murmured, "Is it always that good?"

"Only gets better from here," Shepard grinned, feeling inordinately pleased with herself, "Listen...I was meaning to say before we got so pleasantly sidetracked. About your, uh, research. You know you can ask me anything. I don't want you to ever think that I have some silly expectation of you, or don't have time to discuss anything that you're worried about. Relationships are difficult, and I'm no expert, but I realise that we're in a very unique situation. I'll always help you as best I can; just like I know you'd do for me."

Lucy chuckled slightly.

"Also, porn isn't exactly the best way to educate yourself. Not that I have anything against it at all, it just aint that realistic."

Liara was blushing again, but her shy smile indicated that she didn't mind the gentle teasing.

"It did seem somewhat exaggerated," She admitted, trying hard to keep inappropriate images of naked flesh and writhing bodies out of her mind, "I felt that the likelihood of two relative strangers engaging in such...intimacy was minimal at best."

Lucy smiled, stopping to place a delicate kiss on Liara's cheek.

"I guess it's a good thing we're not strangers then."

Liara just blushed harder.