Cass could feel her chest tighten as her mother looked at her expectantly. Swallowing the growing lump in her throat the girl spoke. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Us." Shepard spoke softly. "Everything that's happened and is happening. I- Are you doing okay?"
"I'm fine." Cass responded automatically.
"I don't think you're just fine, kiddo."
"I'm fine." The girl repeated, wincing slightly at the pet name.
"Cassandra." Shepard sighed.
"What?" Cass growled, impatience growing.
"Please, I just want to talk, I don't want to argue." Shepard stated softly.
"Well, maybe we should just forgo the talk then." Cass frowned, "Because I really don't think we'll make it without arguing."
"Cass, come on. Give it a chance; when we were back on Earth there was a moment when we were like us again. Let's aim for that now."
"Like us?" Cass stated incredulously. "There hasn't really been an "us" in a long time, mother. "
"Cut the crap, you saw it too, and that's why you took off." Shepard's arms folded over her chest.
"Well, maybe because I didn't want to get fucked again!" Cass sneered. "Because in my experience every time we play happy family you take off and die."
"Honey-"
"Just don't!" Cass stood and threw her hands up defensively, and winced painfully; the movement agitating her blistered palms.
"Baby, please. I'm sorry, but it's my job. I can't- I can't just stop-"
"You don't think I know that?!" The teen began to pace furiously in front of her mother seated on the cot. "I know it's wrong for me to want my mother to stop saving the galaxy. I get that it's selfish, but you're MY mom. Mine! I can't deal with losing you over and over again! It's not FAIR!"
"Oh, Cass." Shepard sighed, standing and placing a hand on the girl's shoulder, only for it to be shoved away.
"Don't you see it?!" Cass exclaimed. "We can't be US, without you putting yourself above others and you can't do that! You can't! So we don't get to be us! I can't even stand to be around you anymore! It fucking hurts! I hate you! I hate you so much! I hate you for leaving me again and again! I can't take it anymore! I'm done!"
"Cass. Please-
"Just stop." Cass' tone growing cold; facing away from her mother, "We're done with this."
Shepard sighed once more; her voice gentle. "We can't just stop, kiddo. We need to talk about this."
Cass turned on her mother, eyes incredulous. "Haven't you had enough?! I keep avoiding you and pushing you away! I don't get it! Do you like the abuse?!"
"You're my daughter." Shepard smiled sadly, "I'm not going to stop being your mother just because you're angry with me."
"You should just stop." Cass whispered.
"What?" Shepard frowned.
"You should stop trying to be my mother! I'm giving you a way out now! Take it!"
"Cass-"
"Take it! You can choose! You HAVE to choose!"
"Cassandra! Please-"
"Choose! ME or your job! Commander Shepard or my mom!" Cass exclaimed; eyes wild.
"Cassandra! ENOUGH!" Shepard shouted. "I will always choose you, but I can't stop being me! I will always be your mother, I have said this time and time again."
"I know." Cass sighedshuddering as her gaze dropped to the floor. The mother frowned, placing one hand atop the girl's shoulder and the other under Cass' chin, to force their eye contact.
"I want you to choose me." Cass' voice came out strangled. "But- but you can't, so we don't need to do this."
"We are going to do this, I am absolutely not going to stop being your mother; you're stuck with me kiddo, whether you want to be or not. So you can push all you like, but it's not going to change anything."
"But-"
"No. No buts, I'm here right now and I am choosing you."
"I- Mom-" Cass choked out, pushing away the older woman and brushing aside her tears with her forearm.
Shepard lowered at the loss of contact, but swiftly pulled the distraught teen into her arms. As the girl struggled to tear herself away once more, the commander only tightened her hold until her daughter willowed in her arms.
"So you're getting along with her then?" Liara asked the teen who was lazily tapping keys on Liara's Broker console.
"Hmmm. Well if you mean yelling and then crying as getting along, then yes. Swimmingly." Cass replied dryly, moving to hit another key.
"Hey! Don't touch that!" Liara exclaimed slapping the teen's hand.
"Ow! Abuse! Abuse!" Cass laughed as she was shoed away to the bed.
"So?" Liara questioned, moving back to the super computer.
"So?"
"You're getting along…?" Liara's brows rose questioningly.
"Eh, I guess. We had like a moment or some shit-"
"Langauge."
"English."
"Cassandra." Laira warned.
"What?" The girl grinned.
"I don't know why I even bother."
"Hell, neither do I."
Liara rolled her eyes, continuing her work, only to look up as Shepard appeared in the doorway.
"Hello, Shepard."
"Hey, Liara." Shepard greeted, her smile growing her eyes met her daughter. "Cass!"
"Hey." Cass frowned, "I'll just um- there's stuff-" Cass trailed off nearly flying off the bed and out the door, only to have her mother's arm catch her midsection, drawing her back into the room; the girl doing her best to suppress a grimace.
"Not so fast, kiddo." Shepard smiled, nearly carrying the girl back to her original spot, sitting down on the bed with her. "So what're you up to?"
"Nothing." The girl replied back quickly.
"Cass was just telling me how you two are getting along." Liara smiled, earning a glare from the adolescent.
"Oh." Shepard struggled to suppress her grin.
"Well, this had been great, but I've got to go-"
"What's the hurry, sweetie. Why don't you stay and sit with us?" Shepard beamed.
"If you haven't noticed, there's a bed in this room, so forgive me if I don't want to wait around for you two to start fucking-" Cass yelped as her mother slapped her thigh. "Hey!"
"Language!" Shepard scolded.
Cass rolled her eyes as she shimmied out of the commander's grip and bounded out of the room. "Have fun!"
Liara laughed and Shepard blushed slightly.
"She really is your daughter, you know." Liara smiled. "Are things going between you, really?"
Shepard frowned. "I'm not sure. There're still a lot of issues there, but I think our talk yesterday helped a little, or at least it helped enough, for now. Even though she's acting like our talked never really happened…"
"Well, regardless, things seem to be a little better, from what I can tell, that is."
"Yeah, I hope so."
"What's wrong with you?" Joker frowned, head cocking to one side.
"Well, I was trying to eavesdrop on the meeting, but those two guards won't let me through." Cass pouted.
"Oh. Well, you can blame your mother for that; she might have specially mentioned your penchant for eavesdroppery and ordered them to not let you in." The pilot explained, "Besides I think that last place anyone would want to be is in a room with and angry Krogan and a snobby Salarian."
"Isn't the Turian Primarch in there too?"
"Yeah, but it's Wrex that worries me; all of my bulkheads better remain intact." Joker replied seriously.
Cass laughed before turning to her robot in the co-pilot's seat. "Hey, EDI?"
"Yes, Cass?"
"You can get footage from the meeting right? Aren't there like cameras or something."
"Yes, but it would be against Alliance protocol."
"Ugh! Fine." Cass pouted, knowing the robot wouldn't help her out; pouting further she folded her arms over her chest and shuffled down the deck toward the galaxy map.
Continuing to sulk, the girl stepped up, leaning over the railing over the holographic map.
"Um, hello." Traynor greeted, awkwardly waving her hand.
Cass frowned, turning around to greet the older woman, squinting the girl frowned further. "Who are you?"
"Oh, um, I'm Specialist Traynor, Samantha Traynor."
"Have you been here the entire time?"
"Yes. I-"
"Where'd Kelly go?"
"Um, Who?"
"Annoying Cerberus, red head. Super perky. Chipper."
"Oh, well, I'm assuming most Cerberus officers left the Normandy when it was turned over to the Alliance."
"Oh. Well, I doubt you can be any worse than her."
"Um, thank you, I think." Traynor frowned, brow knitting together in confusion.
"I'm Cassandra, but you can call me Cass."
"The Commander's daughter, correct?"
"Yup." The teen rolled her eyes.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Cass."
"Likewise, I guess." The adolescent replied before sauntering off to the elevator in search of something fun to do.
The teen scowled at the empty fish tank. Where were all the fish? She bought so many fish last time she was here, but now, they were likely all dead. Shaking her head, Cass shuffled over to the music player next to the bed; turning it on, she twisted the volume up only two clicks away from full sound. Flopping less than gracefully on the bed, the teenager closed her eyes; enjoying the vibrations coming from the base beats. So much for fun…
"What- Hey-" Cass scowled at her mother, not even noticing her until the sound disappeared.
"I can hear that down on deck two." Shepard replied. "It's too loud; you're going to damage your hearing."
"Yeah, well, I can always get corrective surgery." The girl replied, reaching across the bed to turn it back on, only to have her hand shoed away. "Hey!"
"No. I already have a headache; and we only have a few hours until I have to go down to Surkesh." The mother explained, rubbing her temples as she sat down on the couch.
"What for?" Cass asked, sitting up.
"The Salarian's have a cured female Krogan."
"Seriously?!" Cass exclaimed.
"Yes, so we're going down there as a third party to retrieve her."
"No shit!" Cass exclaimed, only to wane slightly after the hardened glare she was given. "Yeah, Yeah, I know, language, sorry… I can't believe Wrex is going to let you go down there and get her; you think he'd want to go with-"
"He is. He's still on the ship right now, down in the war room."
"For real! Sweet!" The girl bounded off the bed toward the door. "Bye mom!"
Shepard shook her head, and continued to rub her temples. Maybe she should warn Wrex that he was about to deal with an over inquisitive teenager, then again…
"So you're going to get another planet?" Cass asked excitedly, sitting atop the console next to the Krogan warlord.
"You'd be surprised how fast Krogan pop them out." He responded gruffly.
"Really?" Cass smiled coyly. "Who're you going to be-"
"Ahem." Shepard coughed, "I don't really think this is an appropriate conversation for-"
"Come on, Shepard!" Wrex bellowed. "If we can't talk about this, when're we going to talk about you and Liara on a desk?"
Shepard scowled as she turned multiple shades of red. "THAT did NOT happen!"
"Yeah right." Cass laughed, "Sure you didn't-"
"You!" Shepard thundered, pointing at her daughter. "Need to stop telling people we did that-"
"So you admit it." Wrex interrupted.
"I- we, we did not."
"Mmhmmm." The Krogan cajoled, turning back to his screen.
"We didn't." Shepard blushed further; eyes narrowing as her daughter began to giggle harder. Grabbing the girl by her arm, the mother began to march her away. "I'll be back for you in a few, Wrex." Shepard grumbled, while the teen managed to wave goodbye as she continued to laugh.
AN: Sorry! I know I am like a week late in terms of updating! I've just been so busy! I will try to be better haha! I know this got lighthearted and a little fluffy really fast, but don't worry there's still a lot of unresolved issues… But I think it's about time they started to get along! Please Review! And thanks for being patient with me and my lateness!