Truth Revealed

"So what you're saying was that whole giving up the search thing was just a farce?" Joker asked, a little annoyed that he hadn't been kept in the loop.

"That's right." Shepard responded. "We did that hoping that whoever kidnapped Ash would watch and thing that we aren't looking for her anymore."

"So they'd grow lax when it comes to their defenses and stop worrying about being caught… Good idea." Garrus commented with a slight nod.

"It just would've been nice to have been kept in the loop about something like this, commander… She's our friend too, you know."

"Joker, I wasn't in charge of who to tell. It was on a need to know basis, and when it came to the Normandy I was the only one that needed to know."

"Fine… Just… consider us a bit more in the future, alright?"

"Yes Joker, I will…" Shepard responded before seeing Joker turn around and face forward in his chair to check the ships flight path.

"So, aside from Joker and me, who else on the ship knows?"

"Well, nobody as far as I know. Guess I should go tell them." he replied before beginning to make his way to the rear of the ship.

Soon enough he found himself in Dr. Chakwas office and was already in the process of explaining everything to her. Aside from her being a little hurt from not being told what was going on considering her track record, she understood.

"You might want to tell Liara as well, although I'm sure she was next on your list anyways." she told him.

"Yeah, she was next on the list."

"Well, you know where she is."

"Right, thanks Doc." he responded before waving and walking towards Liara's door.

"Oh, commander." Chakwas called out.

"Yeah?"

"Um, don't bring up the elephant in the-… That… wasn't the best choice of wording…"

"It's fine, doc. I know what you meant." he told her before walking through the door and into Liara's quarters.

The elephant in the room that Dr. Chakwas was talking about was, coincidentally, Liara. In the past three months that they had been after Ashley's kidnappers, she'd put on more weight. With roughly thirty more pounds on her frame, it was unable to hide now. The weight had been spreading out evenly throughout her entire body until the last thirty pounds made their presence known. The majority of the new weight found it's way mainly to her hips, butt and thighs giving her quite the sway when she walked.

With her growth in size, she'd had to invest in larger gear and be satisfied with going out on fewer missions due to her larger proportions. Part of the reason she was going out on fewer missions was of her own choice. She thought she would get in the way or slow the others down and chose not to be a hindrance even though she had been the only one bringing it up. To be honest, nobody else really minded her enhanced figure at all.

But…

There was one person who found it alluring. A certain crew member that usually didn't go for "aliens" as some would call them, but with the way she carried her weight elegantly to the point of exuding sexuality (or at least that's how he viewed it) he couldn't resist.

"Busy Liara?" Shepard called out as he entered her room and looking for her in the dimly lit room.

"No Shepard, I'm free." she answered before turning to him with an ever-present smile on her face. "Do you need something?"

"Well, it's actually something that the whole crew will need to hear at some point. I'm just going around to the people it'll probably affect the most and telling them individually about it beforehand." he explained before sitting down in a chair next to her bed and motioning for her to sit down as well to which she complied by sitting on the edge of her bed.

"What is it? Did something happen?" she asked, genuinely worried about what could be this important.

On one hand, she was worried that it was something bad caused by the halt in trying to find Ashley. But another part of her was hoping against hope that somehow… someway… he had finally decided to explore feelings that she knew were there somewhere inside of him…

"It's about Ash… we haven't ended the search to find her." he revealed to her.

"We made the whole announcement and speech hoping that the ones behind it would believe we had given up hope and would let their guard down." he explained to her.

"Oh, I knew we haven't given up on her yet!" she exclaimed before embracing him in a hug. Before too long though she backed away and looked down.

"I… I'm sorry for that, Shepard. I was just caught in the moment…" she stuttered before being stopped by him.

"It's fine, Liara. We're all happy that we haven't given up on her, and we will bring her back no matter what it takes."

After hearing that hope wasn't completely lost, a weight felt like it had been lifted from Liara as she had dreaded the feeling of knowing that she was the reason all of this had happened in the first place. Deep down she knew that she should come clean but she was beyond afraid of what would happen. Yet… something kept urging her to come clean, the thought of knowing that she was at least partly responsible was eating away at her.

"Shepard!" she called out to him just as he was leaving, causing him to stop and lean back into her room.

"Yeah?"

"… I… There's something I need to tell you…"

Feeling like it was something important, Shepard's face hardened as he came back. "What is it, Liara?"

Once she had seen his facial expression change, her heartbeat began to quicken. She felt like it would be jumping into her throat any minute now. Just having this stern look of his focused on her made her feelings of guilt multiply tenfold easily.

"It's… about… It's about As-" she began before hearing the intercom come to life above their heads.

"Uh, Commander. You might wanna come up here…" Joker's voice echoed through.

"What is it, Joker?" Shepard asked as he began to slowly make his way to the door once more.

"It's a transmission meant specifically for us." he responded before being met with a long sigh from Shepard.

"I'm on my way…" he told his pilot before turning back to Liara. "Sorry, but this'll have to wait a bit"

And just like that, he was gone again. Leaving her with only her thoughts and the almost silent hum of the Normandy's engine.

"I have to tell him… I can't keep something like this from him no matter what the consequences may be…"