There were saliva and moans and two bodies sweating together. And when the ecstasy came, two minds joined and time stopped.
Their nervous systems were connected, but for Liara it was more than a physical connection: all Shepard's emotions and memories were there for her to explore. She could feel what Shepard felt, the excitement, the caring, the love… and the fear, the trauma, the pain surrounding the darkest memories.
"I love you." It was a whisper from mind to mind, but Liara knew that Shepard could not hear it since she was not a biotic. She would always say that, nevertheless.
She came back, her eyes fading from pit black to blue, and found Shepard holding her, still breathing heavily. Liara traced Shepard's eyebrows with the tip of her fingers.
"Liara, what's wrong?"
"Hm? It is nothing," she lied.
"Then why you look so sad?"
Liara wanted to look away but she couldn't. She never could whenever Shepard captured her with those striking green eyes. She didn't believe anyone could actually do it –this was one of Shepard's special abilities.
She said nothing, and Shepard moved even closer and embraced her.
"What is it, Li?"
And then she surrendered.
"I… I just wish you shared your pain with me. When we join, I can see your memories haunting you. And instead of facing them, you have locked them in some corner deep inside you. But they won't go away until you deal with this properly."
She felt Shepard getting tense and she regretted having brought the topic up.
"They will never go away. I can't deal with them."
"Shepard, please…" she begged. "Why will you not let me help you? I want to be there for you, like you have been here for me so many times."
The human didn't answer and buried her face on Liara's neck.
"You're already helping, Liara. You're the last bastion of my sanity. I've been through a lot of shit in my life, but it's been worth it because now I'm with you. All the pain, all the blood… I'd go through that again a hundred times if you were waiting for me at the end."
Shepard met Ashley and Garrus at a café in the Presidium. They were the only ones off duty and Ashely thought that all of them three needed to relax before they left the Citadel for a new mission. And Shepard believed that her fellow Spectre was damn right.
The café was calm and certainly invited to chill out. The decoration was sober and even though there was a large window facing the street, the glass was dimming out the bright afternoon light.
"So, did they tell you what's the next assignment?" the turian asked.
"Kind of," she answered. "There's plenty of problems to choose from: small rebellions, mafias taking over a few colonies, some terrorists… The usual stuff after a war, but this time affecting the whole galaxy."
"Earth is seriously fucked," Ashley said, "and it's only one planet! I don't know how they'll do it to pacify all the Council Space."
"Yeah, that's the other part," Shepard added. "They're recruiting lots of new spectres to deal with this, since most of them died in the war. I'm actually going to have some kind of apprentice."
And then, they could hear it: the noise of a burst of bullets crashing down the large window, which shattered into thousand of fragments.
"FUCK!" Shepard shouted.
The bullets continued to fly, ricocheting and destroying glasses and furniture. Shepard, Ashley and Garrus ducked behind the closest cover they could find: an array of huge metallic plant pots.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Shepard shouted again. She looked around for a few seconds: everyone was screaming in panic, some bodies laid in the ground in pools of blood.
"Damn! What do you have?" Garrus asked and pulled out his Carnifex. "I've only brought this one."
"Same here," Ashley quickly replied, her gun already in hand. "Shit! Here they come!"
Four people jumped through the large broken window and resumed shooting their assault riffles. More screaming, more blood.
"Garrus, Williams, I'm going to overload their shields. You'll get a few shots, try to make them count."
"Understood."
"Aye-aye."
The turian and the soldier got ready and Shepard started to manipulate her omnitool frenetically. She was getting prepared for the attackers to reload…
"NOW! Deploying overload!"
Garrus and Ashely popped out and shot their guns. Three attackers fell, and they ducked again back to cover.
Some people who remained able to move ran in panic. The rest were dead, or heavily injured, or paralysed by terror.
"One left, Commander. He's covered."
"Fuck! How do we do this?" Ashley asked. "We don't have our armours."
"You two give me suppression fire," Shepard ordered. "I'll run till the bar counter and see if I can grab one of the dead guy's riffles."
"That's-"
"Do it!"
Garrus obeyed immediately and shot his gun towards the column the attacker was behind of. Ashely followed one second later and Shepard ran to the bar. She ducked to pick up a gun from one of the attackers' bodies and glided the two meters left…
"ARGH!"
She was shot before she could reach the counter. Her right leg was burning in pain, and she clenched her teeth.
Another agony scream was shouted, but it was not hers this time. It was the attacker being shot down.
A few seconds later, Ashely was with her.
"What the hell happened, Ash?" Shepard muttered.
"I don't know, he was suicidal!" Ashley teared off the fabric of her trousers to expose the wound. "Shit, we need to get some help!"
Garrus arrived to their position.
"They didn't bring medigel with them," he informed. "I've called Miranda for help. Shepard, I'm going to get some alcohol from the bar, it'll help with the pain."
"Try to find… an expensive bottle," she tried to joke but a moan chocked her words. "Oh, fuck, Liara's going to kill me."
"Neither Garrus nor Ashley wanted to tell me what happened exactly. I am assuming it's something I will dislike." Shepard turned her face towards Liara, who sat in a chair beside the bed she was lying on in the Huerta Memorial Hospital. She could tell the asari was both worried and angry.
"It was just a shot," she said trying to sound casually. She knew it was going to be futile.
"For Goddess' sake, Shepard! You wore no armour! Just a shot could have get you killed!" Liara exploded. "What in the world were you thinking?!"
Shepard rubbed her eyes, trying to think what to say. "What was I thinking?," she thought. "Going out of cover was the only way to get a gun… It would have worked if those bastards hadn't been suicide terrorists. But that's always a possibility in an attack like that one. Oh, shit…"
"I'm sorry, Jeanne," Liara interrupted her thoughts. "You were attacked by terrorists and here I am, reprimanding you." She paused and sighed. "It's just… You got me scared."
Shepard grabbed Liara's hand and kissed the back of it. "No need to apologise," she said. "I made I mistake, I was reckless. I should have been more cautious."
The room's door swooshed open and Miranda, brand new XO of the Normandy, entered carrying a pair of crutches.
"Shepard, you've been released. Dr. Chakwas said you'll be fine in a few days," she said and handed the crutches to Shepard. "The Council spoke with Ashley while you were being treated, we have a new assigment."
"Let me guess: take those bastards down."
Shepard left the bed and used the crutches to lean on them. She started walking out , Liara following her.
"Yes. The Normandy will reamain drydocked here in the Citadel until the end of the week, so we can get a few upgrades and discuss with the Council our next move and do a bit of research."
"Miranda, is there a recording of the attack?" Liara asked. "I can send it to Feros and see if he can give us some leads."
"Sure, I'll send it to your terminal. By the way, Shepard, Hackett sent the dossier of our new team member. She's… weird."
"Good, she's a spectre candidate, how many spectres do you know that are not weird?" Shepard smirked.
"Williams."
"Ashley."
Both Liara and Miranda answered simultaneously.
"Touché," Shepard grunted.