(Sorry for the bit of time between updates, updates are about to come quicker. Last week I was horribly busy at work. Here's the longest chapter so far to make up for it!)

And It All Seemed Harmless: Chapter 6

Despite Aethyta's less than chivalrous exchange with the taxi company, a driver arrived in less than 10 minutes. When it arrived, the elder bartender helped Liara carry the unconscious Spectre to the backseat. The pair slid her in with a gentleness usually reserved for fine artifacts and Liara herself slid into the backseat the second Shepard was situated, her head in the asari's lap. Aethyta herself settled in the front seat to give them some privacy and to allow the Spectre enough room to lie comfortably.

As Liara stroked Shepard's cheek, she couldn't help but notice how warm she was. The Spectre was absolutely boiling, though the trails left by her earlier tears were taking their time evaporating. Liara leaned over the soldier, scattering small pecks on her cheeks and in her hair, as if every one had the potential to aid in healing the Spectre. Shepard sniffled a bit, and immediately the asari sprang into action, nestling her head in the mop of red hair below her, whispering encouragement.

"Oh Shepard, it'll be okay love. I promise... I love you. Oh goddess, I love you. Please be okay Jane, please be okay."

Aethyta kept facing forward in the front seat, careful not to disturb the two behind her. The driver beside her did the same thing, though she could tell by his face that he had noticed the silent whimpers and whispers behind him. It was raining a steady, yet non-violent pour and Aethyta reveled in it, listening to the rain and the soft radio instead of the two behind her. Admittedly, it was a beautiful night. The situation they were in was anything but, and yet the sky was a mixture between dark blue and a velvety black, framed by storm clouds that seemed to reflect the lights of the bustling colony below.

"I don't want to be rude." The driver began in a soft voice, addressing the asari that wasn't enthralled in a human with a flick of his eyes, though he kept focus on the sky ahead. "But your friend back there looks a lot like that one crazy dead Spectre, Commander Shepard."

Aethyta nodded slowly, barely giving the driver any attention but the man continued with a chuckle. "Only difference is the Commander would never have gotten all shit-faced and snivelly. She was stronger than a Krogan on steroids. Could've emptied in a thermal clip in her mouth and that woman wouldn't have even thought about shedding a single tear. If your friend changed her attitude, she could really look like just her."

Aethyta took a deep breath before responding. Though she wanted to tell him to go get fucked by a raving Vorcha, being overly defensive could attract more attention to Shepard, and she was not going to risk a cab driver selling Shepard out to a tabloid for a few extra credits.

"You calling my friend weak?"

"Oh, oh shit! No! Everybody has those nights... I'm sorrry, you know I just meant..."

"I don't care what you meant. Shit happens. Doesn't mean anything about how strong she is. That sort of hero worship isn't realistic either. The Commander..." she said drastically imitating the man's voice, "probably was just as fucked up as the rest of us. Probably more. With assholes like you expecting her to be perfect, she was probably getting shit-faced nightly but that wouldn't have made a fucking difference to how strong she was."

"I think you've spent too many nights at the bar watching lesser marines get shit-faced over the pressure in their lives. Shepard wasn't like that. I mean, have you seen that vids? That woman..." he said shaking his head with disbelief. "That woman was unstoppable! Best humanity had to offer. Probably inspired generations of soldiers to be better at their fucking jobs and not lose a damn battle on account of a hangover. Too bad she had to go out and fucking die. We could still use her you know."

Aethyta wanted to keep arguing with him, but she knew it was futile. This was how most of the galaxy saw Shepard. The perfect soldier that never made a mistake. Fuck, and the poor kid tries to live up to that.

Aethyta sighed. Sure, Shepard hadn't lost many planetary battles, but from her research, Shepard had lost a lot of the smaller ones. Saving her friend and the nuke on Virmire had to have been a battle the young soldier wished she had been able to win. Or the battle of Akuze, that wasn't a victory. To the Alliance it might've been, but to Shepard, it had to have been a slaughter.

And what he said about her death. She clenched her fists as she recalled. She knew most of the galaxy wished Shepard was still around, but only because they wanted to continue using her. That was all the soldier had ever been to them. A tool. And tools are only useful when they're not broken...

Aethyta spent the rest of the ride turning up the radio and cycling through channels to give the man beside her a clear signal she was done talking to him. Thankfully, they arrived at Liara's apartment quickly, and the second the younger asari had a secure hold on the soldier, Aethyta paid the fare and refused the driver even a shitty tip before helping her daughter guide the Spectre to the elevator. When they finally got to Liara's apartment, Aethyta took over holding Shepard as Liara fiddled with her omni-tool to unlock the door. Thankfully, though Liara's fingers were shaking heavily, it only took her a few attempts before she was able to open the door. As soon as the door was open, Liara rushed to Aethyta's side and began supporting Shepard's left side, completing the set of Asari crutches that were currently carrying the Commander.

"You got a guest bed we can lay her on kid?"

"Well um, actually, well, I'm a very busy woman that doesn't have time for the likes of….. guests. The only bed in the apartment is mine and it's upstairs."

"Fuck. I don't think we can carry her all the way upstairs safely. Guess she's couch surfing tonight. That one over there looks comfortable enough. And expensive."

Liara blushed a bit at the mention of her fortune, as if she was embarrassed to have done so well in the past few years but Aethyta paid no mind, already walking the Spectre over to the dark leather couch. The two of them laid Shepard down gently on the far side of the couch, positioning her on her side across several cushions. Shepard shivered a bit as she settled down, but Liara made no move to sit beside her, suddenly overcome with nerves as the image of Shepard in her apartment finally dawned on her. She had dreamed about seeing Shepard in her apartment since the day she had bought it, but she had never actually thought it would happen. Especially not like this. It was like a collision between the two worlds she had never thought to associate. Her life as an information broker seemed so separate from her life on the Normandy, as if two Liara's had really existed, and yet, here was Shepard to unite her broken pieces all over again. But it would take heat to mold her back together, heat Liara was not ready to face.

Aethyta cleared her throat to shake Liara out of her thoughts. To the matriarch, it was obvious there was a lot wrong with her daughter, but she couldn't convince herself it was her place to ask.

"I think your friend's cold. That leather couch is pretty and all but it doesn't seem very warm. Both of you are still wet from the water and I dumped on you earlier too. Why don't you go change so you don't catch something and I'll get some blankets for the kid. You got a place where you keep stuff like that?"

Liara shook her head, looking admittedly guilty for not having an abundance of blankets. It seemed almost absurd to Aethyta, but she had been in love once. She knew the feeling of wanting to provide for the one you cared about, the want to do anything from taking a bullet for that person to making sure they had a damn blanket.

"No problem kid. I'll just take some from your bed."

Liara nodded and bounded up the stairs, Aethyta lazily following as they ascended to the younger asari's room. Aethyta tried not to be too curious as she started to strip the bed of its largest blankets, but she couldn't resist taking a look around at the room that very obviously reflected her daughter, standing near her rifling through a dresser of clothes.

"You interested in the Protheans?" she said casually as a piece of Prothean artwork caught her eye.

"Um, well yes. I wrote my thesis on them. And their disappearance. They've always...fascinated me. The mystery of them really. To think, the pinnacle of all species, could just vanish." She said with a touch of wonder in her voice as she spoke.

Aethyta smiled though Liara couldn't notice. I can just tell by her voice she really loves this.

"But they didn't. They didn't just vanish I mean. A sentient species wiped them out." Liara stated coldly as she the wonder slipped from her eyes a bit. The reapers. Aethyta thought. Yes I heard. She remembered the claims Shepard and her Normandy crew had made before the Alliance had all but stifled all mention of the Reapers. Aethyta knew it to be improbable, but hearing Liara's voice saying it, it felt real.

"I believe you ya know. Those Reaper bastards probably did wipe out the Protheans. It's the only explanation that makes sense right now. And it must have some truth to it if those Alliance dicks tried to cover it up like they did."

Liara's eyes lit up for a brief moment and she blushed a bit at the vote of confidence.

"So, you wrote a thesis on the Protheans huh? For what degree program?"

"I have a PhD from the University of Serrice. I used to be an archeologist studying the Protheans." Of course Aethyta already knew that, but the idea of quizzing Liara on her life like she had already read it and just wanted some clarification seemed creepy. Besides, she liked hearing her daughter's life from her own mouth.

"Used to be huh? You not like it?"

"I...well, no." Liara said, leaning back on the dresser and chewing on her lip in thought.

"I loved it. It was an amazing opportunity, a tad lonely, but a great opportunity."

"So why did you leave?" Aethyta asked, a bit unsure of herself. Dammit, you're how many centuries old? And you're nervous talking to your own daughter.

"Well, I didn't actively choose to leave. There were...complications. I'm lucky Shepard was there. After that, well I guess I just stayed with the Commander on the Normandy. The work she was doing seemed more important than my digs and I helped her with any knowledge of the Protheans I had. It was nice. I mean, aside from the whole trying not to let the whole galaxy get destroyed, it was nice. A lot less lonely."

The connotations of Liara's last statement weren't lost on Aethyta, but she was still unsure if she should pry into her daughter's relationships.

"Why didn't you go back? You know, after Shep got spaced."

Liara's eyes flashed in painful memory and Aethyta regretted bringing it up, and doing so in such an insensitive manner.

"I, I don't know. A lot had changed. I wasn't an archeologist anymore."

In an attempt to bring the mood back to a more cheerful place, Aethyta cracked, "Are you sure? Your apartment's a dig site in itself. If your room ever caves in, some poor archeologist in a few thousand years is going to be very confused as to why there are so many Prothean artifacts in this one place."

The joke earned a smile from Liara, and Aethyta silently thanked the goddess for the distraction from her mistake. She finished pulling the bedding from the bed as Liara began to walk to the bathroom to change. Aethyta chuckled a bit under her breath at her daughter's modesty. She definitely wasn't most asari.

Aethyta walked down the stairs though she nearly tripped on the tail of the comforter several times. Fucking dammit she thought, who would've known walking with a comforter would be more dangerous than being a commando was for me?

Shepard was fast asleep on the couch, still shivering a bit when Aethyta approached her. She used her biotics to suspend Shepard in the air for a moment as she placed a layer of sheets over the leather on the couch, folding them a bit clumsily but hell, she wasn't a homemaker. After she was satisfied with her placement, she lowered the Spectre back down carefully, and placed the largest blanket over her, folded at her shoulders. Shepard was still shaking a bit, but the matriarch was at least satisfied that she wouldn't freeze to death. After a few moments, Shepard's shaking completely stopped and Aethyta noticed Liara had entered the room. It's almost like she could sense her presence. Or her mind. Liara you little minx.

Liara didn't notice the flash of pride on Aethyta's face as her attention turned to Shepard the moment she entered the room. She sat down beside the Spectre and began stroking her hair, pushing it out of her face in a way that Shepard would. She hated her hair in her face. Unless she was...well, otherwise occupied.

An image of Shepard thrusting into Liara from above suddenly crossed the asari's mind. The Spectre's dark red hair was in her face, but she didn't seem to mind and her green eyes held Liara's gaze as her entire body worked above Liara's. Liara tried to get the thought out of her head in a panic. It had been a while since a thought that explicitly detailed about Shepard had crossed her mind. She usually blocked them out. She blushed a bit with the knowledge that she was thinking about sex with Shepard in the same room as a Matriarch, and when Shepard was so obviously facing other dilemmas.

"Well I think I'm going to get going, call another taxi asshole and go the fuck to sleep. Take of her kid. And yourself."

As Aethyta began to stand, Liara suddenly jumped to her feet.

"Wait." Aethyta cocked an eyebrow in surprise as the gesture.

"I mean, well, you've been so helpful in taking care of Shepard tonight...the least I can do is have you wait here until the taxi comes. I'll make you a drink, I have…well,water. And tea I believe. Maybe."

Aethyta chuckled at the other asari's earnest gratitude and pleading look, before striding towards the kitchen.

"No need to thank me T'Soni, but a warm drink sounds fine."

Liara smiled in relief and followed, rummaging through the cabinets while Aethyta called the cab and then took a seat at the small bar at the edge of the kitchenette.

"I don't think I have much in the ways of Asari beverages around here, I have some human ones though. Have you ever had coffee? I think it's pretty good, though it does contain a mild stimulant. I think have some without it around here somewhere."

"Coffee's good, I've had it before. Don't you dare give me decaf though, that tastes like shit."

Liara flashed a smile and stopped rummaging through her cabinets, grabbing a bag of coffee near the top.

"I don't like it either."

As Liara made the coffee, Aethyta surveyed the kitchenette, chuckling a bit at the sight of dirty dishes in the sink. For someone so organized, she didn't expect Liara to overlook a sinkful of dishes. Or more suprisingly, be cooking instead of ordering food.

"What's up with all the dirty dishes? Were you not expecting an asari matriarch and drunk Spectre to be visiting tonight?" Aethyta teased, smiling at her busy daughter.

Liara raised an eyebrow, though her composure was playful.

"Matriarch, I can only assume you've seen far worse messes than a sink full of dishes."

Aethyta chuckled.

"Fair enough kid. Seriously though, you cook?"

"A bit." Liara admitted shyly, and Aethyta chuckled again.

"I'm a shitty cook. Had a girl that was a great cook when I was younger though. You remind me of her. She was a horrible cook and then BAM! One day I come home to the best fucking meal of my life and her amazing tits. She was smart. Like, really smart. When she put her mind to being good at something, she became fucking great. Guess she wanted to learn to be good at cooking that day."

Liara's bright smile told Aethyta she had learned cooking the same way. In about a day when her studious mind decided she wanted to do it.

Liara finished the coffee, pouring the pot into two small mugs that looked official, like they belonged in the office of a lawyer somewhere. For some reason, Aethyta's usual distaste for the upclass didn't surface and she loved the mug anyway. Her daughter's taste wasn't half bad. She sipped the coffee slowly, staring into the mug as she did, observing the dark liquid as it contrasted with her purple lips. When she looked up, Liara's eyes had clouded again, but before she could speak, the young information broker did.

"I don't know if I said thank you. But thank you. I don't know what...what would've happened to Shepard if you hadn't been there." Aethyta didn't miss the pain in Liara's voice as she spoke, and the way her voice quivered when she mentioned Shepard.

"Don't mention it kid. And don't think about it. It didn't happen okay? She's fine."

"She's not though." Liara said quietly, looking down into the table. "Those bags under her eyes, they didn't develop in a night. And some of this was her own choice. Something drove her to alcohol tonight."

Aethyta reached over the table and tilted Liara's chin so the asari looked at her.

"Don't. Look, I don't know the full story, but getting drunk is a normal part of a soldier's life. They see a lot of shit. She would've been just fine had it not been for that other bitch. She alone fucked her night up okay?"

Liara nodded and Aethyta released her, sitting back in her chair and curling her hands over her mug. Both sat similarly, with their heads tilted toward their drinks and hands curled around their mugs, absorbing the heat. An awkward silence followed, but while Liara shifted in her seat, Aethyta finally scrounged up the courage to ask the question she had debated asking all night.

"So kid, what's up with you and Shepard?"

Liara didn't look up. She just took a shaky breath and continued to appear enthralled in her coffee.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's going on with you two? I understand friendly concern, but you didn't have that tonight. Your whole world seemed on the verge of falling the fuck apart all night. A friend doesn't have that kind of power. Especially not over a woman like you."

Liara took a sip of her coffee, obviously thinking over what Aethyta said so the Matriarch continued.

"And you were the only thing that kept her calm all night. I'm not fucking blind kid, I saw how the two of you reacted whenever you touched each other. If she was in better condition, I'm sure I wouldn't be here and you be peeling off her uniform on that couch over there."

Liara looked up in shock, her face so purple Aethyta could've sworn she had dyed her cheeks the color.

"I..I...I don't know what you're talking about."

"Look I'm not criticizing it, she's a good looking gal. Not the best rack in the galaxy, but definitely attractive. It'll hurt your power status a bit to be with her though, most species only listen to you if they want to have sex with you, and if you're not available, well that means less species care about your opinions."

Liara gaped at her father, mouth wide as she recovered her thoughts.

"One, that isn't true. I've never acted sexually available to get an opportunity and two, stop assuming I am involved with Shepard!"

"So you're not?" said Aethyta incredulously.

"No." said Liara tersely, sinking down in her chair as if she could hide from the matriarch's arched eyebrow and surprised face.

"Wow. That's a real surprise, way you've been acting I would've thought the two of you were either married or having really great sex."

Liara's groaned and put her face in her palms.

"Can we please stop talking about intercourse with Shepard?"

"Intercourse? Can't even use the word sex? Kid, you are a bigger prude than I thought."

Aethyta chuckled a bit, enjoying the mortified look of disgust on Liara's face before she leaned in, a more serious look on her face.

"Look, I'm not interested in whether or not you and Shep have ever embraced eternity together, but there's something between you and I've been at the bar longer than you've been alive kid. I know when a girl comes in looking for a drink to solve her relationship problems."

Liara looked away, tears leaking from her eyes, but to the Matriarch's surprise, she spoke.

"I, I don't understand why she's doing so badly. I thought she was over this. When I knew her, she still bottled up her problems but she never turned to a bottle. She stopped doing this."

"Liara" Aethyta said softly, drawing her attention, though she didn't quite know what to say. She was good at serving drinks not solving problems. "Like I said, soldiers see a lot of shit. Sometimes they see something particularly bad and they need a night to forget about it. I've done it, Shepard's done it, hell that Anderson fellow has been in my bar doing it. No harm."

Liara cringed, her earlier research on Shepard's mission at the Atlas facility coming to mind. Goddess, what had happened? She took a deep breath, preparing for Aethyta's likely teasing with her next admission.

"If I, goddess, if I hadn't left." Aethyta's eyes flicked with pain for a moment, and the matriarch surprisingly stayed quiet.

"She would have come to me tonight. Told me what she saw, showed me so she wouldn't be so alone... She wouldn't have gone and attempted to wreck her liver and risk her own life in a shady bar. Shepard's more intelligent than that. I mean, what the hell was she doing drinking as much as she did? It's not like she was on the Normandy. And she didn't even have a weapon on her! Any one of the billions of people that are hurrying to send her to her death again could have walked in and shot her while she was so intoxicated she could barely sit up! And what in could have possibly made her think it was a good idea to go with that, that woman! Shepard has always been the best in the galaxy as reading people, did she honestly think that drinking alone in a private room with her wouldn't end in that bitch trying to get in her uniform? Or, or is that what she wanted to happen."

Liara's eyes reddened at the thought. Sometime during her rant that had turned furious, she had stood up, the dangerous information broker persona washing over her again. Now, she leaned over the counter as if she needed the support, and her head hung low, broken by the thought that Shepard might have wanted to sleep with the other asari.

Aethyta took a deep breath.

"Kid, if Shep had wanted to fuck that other bitch, she would have much earlier in the night. She had plenty of opportunities to get on top of someone and she turned them all down. She just wanted a drink, she wasn't trying to use sex to forget. Just booze."

"She hasn't been sleeping well." Liara stated with a faraway look in her eye. "She always slept well after, well, after..."

"Hah! I knew you had spent some time underneath her! Guess you're not the prude I thought you were."She said chuckling, her face lit with pride.

" . point! Yes, Shepard and I have joined together. Happy?" Liara's face had completely turned purple to Aethyta's amusement.

"Very."

"Still not the point. The point is, she always slept well after. What if she knew she needed sleep to keep her senses alert for the mission, so she went out looking for a….well, a whore….to assist her?"

Aethyta wiped her eye, catching a tear that had leaked during her fit of laughing. She caught her breath under Liara's cold glare and turned to the asari, coughing a bit before steeling her voice.

"Kid, Shep sleeping well after sex had nothing to do with the sex part of it. Well maybe a little, but not much. It was who she was sleeping with. I'm sure after you guys joined you stayed the night with her, didn't you?"

Liara nodded, a bit hesitant at the talk of her and Shepard's sex life.

"I stayed with her every night while we were together."

"And did she sleep well? I mean, on the nights you didn't fuck each other's brains out."

Liara cringed but continued, liking where this talk was going despite the crude nature of it.

"Well, there's weren't a lot of nights like that..."

"Didn't you say you spent the night in her cabin every night when you two were together?"

"Yes..."

"How long were you two together?

"Little more than a month.."

"That's still like 30 days...hahaha I really underestimated you kid, guess I can't call you a total prude anymore. Unless the sex wasn't good. Was it all vanilla or did you let Shep go all Commander on you a couple times?"

"Back to the point please." Liara scolded though her blush answered Aethyta's question for her.

"I'm so proud! Hahahaha ahem. Well, my point, right. How did she sleep on those nights?"

Liara tilted her head, staring at the ceiling in an attempt to remember.

"Well. Well, I think. Sometimes she had nightmares, Akuze,Virmire, Saren, Noveria...they all got to her sometimes. She didn't sleep well then, but those happened whether we joined physically or not. I knew how to calm her down. How to rub her back, stroke her hair, and when to wake her up and have her talk about it when it got too bad. If it was horrible, I would meld with her and replace the dream with my own memories of her. The good ones. It always worked."

Liara swallowed, as if a lump had suddenly appeared in her throat.

"She said I was the only one that could stop the nightmares." The memory was still vivid in Liara's mind, Shepard opening up, completely vulnerable though the soldier hated it. Telling her she was the only one that had ever helped her like that, her green eyes swimming with pain and weakness, before a smirk tried to cover it all up.

"Do you believe her?"

"She could have found something else."

"She had a lot of time before you to find something else. Said you were that something else alone. Do you believe her?"

"I...yes."

"Good because kid, I've been here all night. She always calmed down around you. When you touched her, even when you entered the room. She wasn't looking for something else, because for her, there is nothing else. Believe her okay? Even if she's not saying it, her body is. I don't think she could say it right now. She'd probably slur too much and mess it all up. Trust her anyway okay?"

Liara nodded, letting the words sink in for a moment before she grabbed Aethyta over the counter and pulled her into a slightly uncomfortable hug over the bar between them.

Aethyta froze for a moment, unsure of what to do in such a soft gesture before imitating Liara and folding her arms around the younger asari. I'm fucking hugging my kid. Hah, not how I expected this day to play out.

When the doorbell rang, Liara pulled away and shifted embarrassedly from toe to toe.

"Sorry, I, it's just, you've helped so much."

"Don't mention it kid. Don't mention it." Aethyta wanted to tell Liara that she could always count on her for help, but the words felt stuck in her mind. Maybe another time. She walked to the door briskly, but stopped before leaving.

"Oh and Liara?"

"Yes?"

"If you get back together with Shepard, make sure she treats you right. If she doesn't, call me. I know how to fight dirty like your girl wouldn't believe. And she better quit Cerberus soon. A girl in a Cerberus uniform isn't good enough for you. Not someone like you, capable of raising hell with those little wings."

Without looking back to see Liara's reaction, Aethyta stepped out and headed for the taxi, feeling like a father.