Disclaimer: All Characters, locations, technologies, concepts, etc belong to Bioware/EA.
Need
"Goddess… You were dead."
In Shepard's cabin aboard the Normandy, Liara hunched over Jane's desk with tears in her eyes. The leftovers sat on the elevated coffee table along with their wine.
After the final confrontation with their enemy and Liara's sudden induction as the new Shadow Broker, Shepard had all but demanded they returned to the Normandy to have their wounds properly treated.
As she predicted, Doctor Chakwas had wrathfully chewed Jane out for pushing her biotics past the safety limits of her implant.
'Must you always make a point to put yourself in the most immediate danger possible!? I've seen children a quarter your age with better self-preservation instincts than you!'
After sufficient scolding, the good doctor treated the team's wounds: Shepard had come out of the confrontation with a nearly burned out biotic-amp, several fractured ribs and damage to her central nervous system. Liara had a minor concussion, an injured scalp crest, a fractured radius and a shattered ulna in her right arm which had needed immediate emergency surgery. Feron had severe neural damage that had accumulated over two years of near constant torture. Garrus had sustained several painful fissures along his outer chest cartilage, two moderately sprained ankles and a fractured kneecap.
Tali had been obstinately determined to help Garrus with his temporary crutches despite his insistence that he was fine. She hid the new thermal scope she had discreetly purchased on Illium in one of her many suit pockets and waited for the right moment to present it.
After appropriate treatment, Liara and Feron had returned to her new ship to begin preparations for her unexpected career as the Shadow Broker. She had also not expected Jane to follow her aboard, and they began to chat. Liara had shown Shepard the various features of the ship, the many useful resources the previous Broker had acquired (including a rather humorous investment opportunity to disrupt the business proposal of a certain corrupt politician on the Citadel to the Council) and after much not-so-concealed flirting, Jane had convinced Liara to come back aboard the Normandy for dinner and a drink.
Edi took care of guiding Liara on a proper tour of the newly rebuilt Normandy and introducing her to many of the new faces aboard -except for Samara. Edi had also read about delicacy in organic relationships and was already aware of Shepard's intent to address Samara herself.
After a much needed shower, Jane had forgone her usual officer uniform in exchange for the sleek black dinner dress Kasumi had acquired for her during prep work for the heist on Bekenstein. Kasumi had insisted on Jane keeping it as thanks for helping her reclaim her late lover's graybox. She had also said it would be a shame to throw it away when it did such a good job at showing off Shepard's "assets", to which Jane replied by snorting as she waved the cackling thief away before she biotically threw her out.
Shepard had Mess Sergeant Gardner prepare a meal (after practically forcing him to wash his hands several times under her intense scrutiny) of shrimp linguini, one of Liara's favorite Human dishes she had discovered after the Battle of the Citadel.
Shepard set the plates down onto the table in her cabin along with a bottle of one of Karin's finer Sur'kesh brewed white wines. She had to negotiate with the still incensed Doctor over the bottle but managed to bribe her with the promise of purchasing a new medical interface VI. With one final once-over, Shepard activated her omni-tool to raise the coffee table to a suitable height to allow for comfortable eating while on the couch and set proper atmosphere music for her cabin.
Not a moment later, Liara –dressed in a lovely purple gown that gleamed with each step- came through the door with a smile on her face and a gift in her good hand. Her other hand was wrapped in bandages and a medical stasis field to help the broken bones settle and heal. The date was going well enough, the food was great, the wine was better and they had had a laugh once or twice.
And now, Liara was bent over Shepard's desk, tears escaping her eyes.
"I'm here now, Liara."
Jane came up behind her and rested a hand on her shoulder gently.
"Shepard… Jane… I… I've mourned you for two years. Every waking moment, every second I've missed you…"
Liara suddenly turned and buried her face into Jane's shoulder, wrapping her hands around her waist. Shepard embraced Liara's back, holding her urgently. Shepard could smell the scent of lilacs and the wonderfully familiar aroma that was old data pads, paper, electronic equipment and simply Liara. She could feel Liara's consciousness tugging at her own, begging for entry but not pushing beyond the boundary that separated them.
"I'm so sorry! I'm sorry for the way I… I treated you with disrespect, shunned your feelings, and demanded your help when you had every reason to turn away! And then you, out of the kindness of your heart, came to me with information to help. I-I don't deserve you, I don-"
At this, Jane removed her hands and placed them on Liara's cheeks, forcing her out of her shoulder to look directly into shimmering green eyes. Without so much as a blink of an eyelash, Shepard opened herself to Liara completely and wholly, and Liara could feel it. She could feel it and she dove in without hesitation. She swam in her Commander's consciousness, felt every emotion: every twinge of fear, every burn of anger, every stab of regret, and every pang of longing.
As she neared the origin, all of it was washed away in an overwhelming tidal wave of compassion and forgiveness and love.
Finally at the birthplace of all these swirling emotions, each one following her and gently caressing her mind, Liara could only gape internally as she found the source of every single one of these feelings.
She found herself staring into a mental image of her own face.
Unable to contain herself, Liara lunged forward to fiercely capture Jane's pink lips with her dark blue ones in a bruising kiss. Goddess, how she missed those lips. She could feel Shepard's arms weave themselves around her neck and brought her own hands to the curves of Shepard's hips, careful of her injured arm, and brought their bodies closer together. Bursts of emotions exploded through their shared consciousness filled with affection and adoration.
Affection and adoration quickly transformed into thoughts of lust and passion. Their kiss turned sensual as Liara brushed her violet tongue over Jane's moist lips, gaining entrance to writhe and wrestle against its pink counterpart.
Two years. Two years of pent-up frustration welled up in Liara's gut. She felt the pronounced heat settle inside herself –no doubt Shepard could feel it as well- as Liara pushed Jane all the way to the armor and clothing storage compartment on the opposite wall, never daring to separate their lips. Thoughts intensified as Shepard brought a hand up to the base of Liara's crests at the nape of her neck, massaging the deep blue folds there and forcing a gasp from the Asari's throat and a passionate moan into Jane's mouth.
Blue tendrils of biotic energy radiated from Liara's body, encircling them in a mist of biotics as they were lifted up off of the floor. Shepard chuckled into their kiss as she felt tingling sensations run up and down her arms and legs as they floated over to the bed, her heels fell off of her feet to clatter onto the floor. Biotics are an integral part of the lives of most Asari. Depending on how well developed they were, biotics were part of their daily routine and had a role to play in many activities, including (and sometimes especially) acts of intimacy.
Landing softly on the bed, Liara rose up from Shepard's lips to gaze down at her beloved Commander. Jane was breathing heavily, her hair disheveled and spread across the bed in a sea of crimson while her face was blushed and her lips swollen from the intense make-out. Liara didn't even have to look into Jane's mind to know what she was thinking, not with those half-lidded emerald eyes staring up at her, smoldering.
I want you.
The thought drifted between them, and it was unclear from which one of them it originated but it didn't matter. Liara felt Shepard's own biotics grasp clumsily at the small zipper at the back of her dress.
Amp-enhanced species including Humans didn't have nearly as much precise control over biotics as the Asari. Even the great Commander Shepard –one of the most powerful biotic vanguards in the System's Alliance- could be considered second-rate to the top-of-the-top echelons of the Asari military. Of course it didn't help that Shepard would be needing repairs on her amp soon.
Smirking, Liara used her own biotics to grab hold of the zipper while unclipping Jane's collar with her uninjured left hand. With a swift movement, the zipper was brought down as she unhooked the clasp at the front of Shepard's dress, moving down to place hungry open mouthed kisses on each patch of skin revealed. Human skin was always incredibly fascinating to Liara. The texture, color, indentations and discolorations widely varied from Human to Human, more-so than any other species. But Liara didn't care about other members of the Human race's skin at this moment; she cared about Jane's skin.
The former archeologist lapped at Shepard's throat, eliciting a soft murmur that vibrated along Liara's exploring lips. Jane's skin was –for lack of a better word- incredible. Small freckles dotted almost every inch of her body, so faint that they were almost invisible unless you had a good, close look (and Liara would be damned if she was going to let anyone get as close a look as she did). Liara had often taken pleasure in tracing them across her face and down her wonderfully muscled body with a blue finger. The taste should be considered a drug, at least for her. Jane tasted faintly like sweat, salt, an interesting soapy flavor reminiscent of the curious Human fruit 'banana', and the earthy taste of what can only be described as heat.
Liara felt Jane's hands make contact with her exposed back, fingers gliding and pressing against her spine in a delicious massage down her back that made her groan and suckle into her lover's neck in earnest. Bringing her hands to the dress, the Commander pulled the unzipped portions to blue shoulders as Liara extricated herself from Jane's throat with some effort. Sitting up and straddling her Commander's hips –the shimmering purple dress bunching up along her thighs- Liara pulled her arms through the purple sleeves and brought the top half of the dress to her front and down to the top of her naval in a slow, teasing manner.
Shepard brought her gaze downward, dragging along Liara's long regal neck, protruding collar bones, and finally to full, well developed breasts exposed to the cold air of her cabin. Like Liara's fascination with Human skin, Jane had an infatuation with Liara's skin. It wasn't quite scaly, like Drell or certain sections of Turian skin but not fleshy like Salarian or her own Human skin. It was as if her Asari's skin was lovingly crafted from the finest and most supple leather imaginable, near completely smooth, utterly hairless and delightfully warm –standard Asari body temperature was several degrees higher than the Human standard of 37 degrees in Celsius.
Jane's hand began its exploration with Liara's soft cheek. The new Shadow Broker sighed in joy and nuzzled into the calloused hand, pressing a soft kiss into her love's palm. Jane's fingers trickled downwards over a smooth blue throat, across her collar bones and to the warm center of the Asari's sternum. She felt the strong, quick heartbeat beneath smooth blue skin. Jane looked back up to the infinitely deep, ocean blue eyes with a question.
May I?
The delicacy of the look in her eyes, the soft pressure on her chest, the way the thought floated through their mind. Jane was being cautious, and then she understood. Jane wanted to go slow. For her. She knew Liara has been hurting for so long. She saw the images in her beloved's head: Liara bawling into her pillow every night, Liara at the military funeral and memorial ceremony, Liara working well into the morning through hot tears that just wouldn't stop. Liara trying desperately to keep herself composed when faced with the burned and mangled remains of Jane's body.
Liara… blaming herself for…
Jane shot up from the bed, hands on Liara's cheeks as fresh tears poured from her eyes. Jane rested her forehead on Liara's.
Don't you dare! It was no one's fault.
You died! You almost died again, right before my eyes!
But I'm right here.
You're going to leave again…
Liara brought her hands up to wrap around Jane's shoulders.
I am…
Promise me.
Anything.
Promise me you're going to come back.
I'm not planning to die again anytime soon.
Their bodies pressed together, heat and desire and love in abundance.
I've missed you so much
I can't live without you
If you'll have me again
I want you
I need you
Lips seared against each other, hands wandered, clothing fell away. Neither could track what was happening anymore. Words and concepts melted into emotion and feeling. Identities blurred as two minds became one consciousness. Two bodies became one being. Two hearts began beating the same rhythm.
The only thought that manifested itself was the one thought that was needed. The only thought that would ever be needed.
I love you
Two-thousand-three-hundred-seventy-one: A Justicar must always preserve the life of her charge. They are not to be harmed until the Justicar's oath is fulfilled.
Two-thousand-three-hundred-seventy-two: A Justicar must eliminate any Ardat-Yakshi who refuses a life of peace and seclusion.
Two-thousand-three-hundred-seventy-three: A Justicar must take her own life if she refuses to fulfill the requirements of the code.
Samara sat in her usual haunt in the starboard observation lounge, mentally reciting the Justicar Code during her normal regime of meditation.
Two-thousand-three-hundre-
The sound of the door at her back opening caught the Justicar's attention.
"…Shepard."
"Samara…"
Samara turned slightly to glimpse at Shepard in the reflection of the reinforced glass window they faced, dressed in her officer's uniform. The Commander looked slightly uncomfortable, and Samara knew exactly why.
"Look, Samara I-"
"Shepard, please sit."
Samara shuffled to the side to allow Shepard enough room sit herself down next to the Asari. Hesitating for a moment, Jane sat inches away from Samara; both looked out toward the endless abyss that was the galaxy.
Samara was quiet, no doubt waiting for some kind of explanation. Luckily Shepard wasn't one to dance around the thresher maw in the room.
"Samara, I'm sorry about my behavior. I shouldn't have put you in that kind of situation. I was at a… really low point, emotionally, and I ended up hurting you because of it. I know you're married to your principles and your Code."
Samara had to smirk to herself. One of the things she absolutely adored about Humans was their almost obsessive need for self-affirmation and self-betterment. They simply couldn't sit still and be content with themselves. It could have been for good or for ill, depending on the Human, but it was one of the things she admired about them, and how it would eventually lead their kind into being one of –if not, the most powerful species in the galaxy.
"I was trying to reach out for comfort and your reaction made me realize just how wrong I was on a lot of levels… I just… I came here to apologize and I hope this won't adversely affect our performance."
At this, Samara couldn't hold back a chuckle, an action that had Shepard eye her curiously.
"Shepard, listen well. I do not blame you, and there is absolutely no need to apologize. It is no secret aboard this vessel that you and the young Miss T'soni are a pair, and I am genuinely happy for you."
Shepard blinked in confusion. Were they that obvious about it? Samara smiled and brought her gaze to Shepard's emerald eyes.
"Things happen in the galaxy for reasons neither you, nor I, nor can anyone else even begin to imagine. We must learn to live with this fact. If it was my role to aid in yours and Miss T'soni's resolution, I am content with that."
The Justicar brought her eyes down to look at her hands, open and outstretched.
"Just as you should be content with helping me realize… that perhaps there is still a small amount of happiness waiting for me, somewhere in the galaxy."
Samara brought her bright silver eyes back to the void of space outside. Her face was as unreadable as ever. Within the depths of her mind, the Justicar could see flashes of deep blue and orange-red.
"My previous bond-mate was just as kind and innocent as your Liara. I loved her, with all my heart and soul."
Shepard's eyes widened. She had expected Samara to have simply calmed down at this point, not to open herself up further. Samara turned again to Shepard, placing a hand on Jane's clothed knee. The Justicar looked deeper into Jane's eyes, shimmering with hushed emotion.
"I am glad I could assist you after you had assisted me. Cherish your time together, for it is rare that we get a warning for when that time will be taken from us."
Removing her hand, Samara returned to her observation of the uncountable stars before her. Jane was dumbfounded. She had just caught another small glimpse at the stunningly complex and eloquently beauteous persona beneath Samara's Justicar exterior.
Samara began inhaling and exhaling in an obviously practiced breathing exercise and a thought occurred to Jane.
"I… I'd like to participate in your meditation. If you'd teach me."
Another smile came to Samara's thin purple lips.
"You are a remarkable biotic, even by Asari standards. My exercises may be of great benefit to you."
Shepard returned her smile.
"I'd be honored."
"Very well. I do not know the extent of control you possess, so let us start slow. Close your eyes and focus on your center of gravity…"
Almost four and a half hours of basic meditation passed. Two of them were spent trying in vain to teach Jane how to create and maintain a solid ball of dark energy, not just a hollow sphere, for extended periods of time –Jane had attributed her failure to her biotic amp being damaged, to which Samara could only chuckle.
Shepard exited the starboard observation lounge with a contented smile adorning her face. Approaching the elevator, the door slid open to reveal the familiar ginger hair of Yeoman Kelly Chambers. Kelly jumped in surprise and saluted.
"Commander!"
Shepard smiled and saluted back.
"At ease. Kelly. Looking for some grub in your off-duty hours? Gardner's cooking's got a lot better since when we first shipped out."
Kelly glanced down at her feet and quickly brought her sea-foam eyes back up to Jane's and smiled nervously.
"I'm just… making rounds on my off-time. You can never be too careful, y'know? Especially considering what we're up against…"
Jane had to suppress a smirk at the concealed lie. Whatever her true intentions were, the psych major was obviously disinclined at discussing them with her Commanding Officer. The ironic thought brought a surge of amusement to her eyes, hidden by their normal sharpness.
"Well, don't work yourself to death. Everyone on this ship has a part to play, and I need all of them at their best."
Kelly had to look away from the Commander. The intensity of those eyes could still make her knees weak, but Kelly knew her place. Shepard was taken before they had even met, and besides, there was another set of eyes that she was intending to see right now.
Saluting once more and excusing the Yeoman, Shepard punched in her destination for the engineering deck. She assumed since Garrus wasn't at his usual post at the forward batteries, he would be down near the drive core room with Tali. As the only members of the original Normandy aboard aside from herself, Joker, and Karin, there was a matter to discuss with them.
Samara had returned to her meditations alone. She had long retired from teaching others of biotic meditation, but teaching the Human Commander was fulfilling and strangely soothing. She silently hoped there would be future sessions with Shepard.
The Commander's sincere apology was heart-warming, if relatively unnecessary. She understood the plight Shepard faced; she'd had over seven hundred years of experience in nearly all matters of love and war. To have the young Human look to her with eyes of such affection had sparked a change within her. A change she had thought impossible for so long, one she was quick to capitalize on with a connection that had already been gestating deep within her that she had tried to bury since coming aboard the Normandy, before Shepard's actions.
The door to the starboard observation lounge opened yet again to a red-haired Human.
"Miss Chambers, to what do I owe the pleasure?"
The Yeoman pouted and Samara couldn't suppress her delighted smile at the adorable Human's antics. Kelly walked beside Samara's sitting form in the center of the room, cocking her hip while resting her hand upon it.
"You know I told you to call me Kelly…"
The Justicar giggled lightly as the ginger haired Yeoman bent down to sit next to Samara. She yelped in surprise as the pull of biotics shifted her trajectory and forced her to land gently into Samara's lap. Wrapping her arms around the Human's waist, Samara cuddled herself into Kelly's shoulder and allowed Kelly's smaller frame to snuggle into the warm Asari body behind her. Yeoman Chambers felt her tension ease away as she sunk into Samara's powerful and protective arms.
Yes, Samara had been extremely grateful for Shepard's actions. She had walled off the majority of her emotions since that day so many centuries ago when she had first taken the Oath of solitude, her first step to becoming a Justicar. To have them flood her very being yet again was an experience she could no longer afford to live without.
Both sighed in absolute serenity as a Joining link was made.
As you wish… dear Kelly.
