I just pictured sort of a young Ali Hillis for human teenage Liara.
It had been a miserable week and now this. It wasn't enough that she'd caved and agreed to go out with Jason, and now had to endure pointless, self-important drivel. Oh no. They also happened to be sitting only a few tables away from Shepard, her friends, and the cute blond girl who was very obviously her girlfriend. They were disgustingly sweet together, and the entire horde of them appeared to be having a blast.
Unlike Miranda, who had to ward off Jason's attempts to touch her all the time. When he tried to kiss her, she got up and rushed to the toilet, where she locked herself into a stall and sat down, staring at the cubicle wall for minutes.
"Are you alright in there?"
"I'm fine!" she pressed out.
"You've been in there a long time."
Not a voice she recognised.
"I think your date is getting worried."
She groaned.
"Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?"
"I don't even know who you are."
"My name's Liara."
Reluctantly, Miranda got up and opened the door. Only to grimace when she saw who that voice belonged to.
"You're the girlfriend."
Liara laughed.
"I see. News travels fast."
Miranda had never met a person who radiated kindness like that before. The smile Liara gave her made her look away.
"So... your date not going well?"
She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried in front of anyone. Perhaps it was easier to let go in front of a total stranger. She'd felt the tension building all week, wondering vaguely when she'd crumble.
"It's alright."
She should have been embarrassed, but there was something just so very right about crying against the other girl's shoulder. Liara's hands stroked her back and she didn't seem to mind the slightest bit.
"Hey, what are... oh."
Miranda jerked back and wiped at her tears when she heard Jane's voice behind them.
"Is there anything I can do?"
"Just gives us a few minutes."
"'kay."
The door closed again and Liara put her hand to Miranda's shoulder.
"What would make things better right now?"
"I just want him gone."
"I can do that."
Miranda watched her leave with a small frown. She moved over to the sinks after a moment and splashed some water on her puffy, red eyes. It didn't help much, but felt pleasant.
Liara returned after a few minutes.
"Done."
"What did you tell him?"
"That you had a female hygiene emergency, didn't want to bother him with the gross consequences and that it would be best if he left you to my care. Frankly, I don't think he heard much after 'female hygiene', but he paid and left pretty quickly."
Miranda's laughter verged on hysterical.
"Oh god, you didn't!"
"I did."
Miranda sighed.
"Thanks. I suppose I'll have to walk home now, though."
"Nonsense. Come sit with us. Jane can drive you home."
"Oh no, I shouldn't..."
"It's alright. None of us bite. Come on, it'll be fun."
"I'm a mess," Miranda muttered.
Liara reached into her handbag and handed her a small box of compact powder.
"Put some of that on, no one will know."
"How much do you charge for problem solving?"
"Give me a smile and we're even. Yes, that's it."
So she squeezed herself between Liara and Jacob, who gave her a kind, albeit slightly confused look. For a brief moment, everyone looked at her, but then they returned to their conversations.
Miranda had expected to feel a lot more awkward, but it was actually quite nice. She did not join in much, but the laughter and talking washed over her in a soothing manner, while she nipped her ice tea.
It was almost midnight when Jane dropped her off in front of her house.
"Hey. If you need to talk, here's my phone number and email address." Liara pushed a piece of paper into her hand. "I mean it. Anything you need to talk about."
"Thank you," Miranda whispered.
. . . . .
"Do I tell you often enough that I love you? Because I do, so much."
Liara smiled.
"Do you not think this is an odd thing to say, considering that you caught me on a toilet with another girl in my arms?"
"Well, if she hadn't been crying her eyes out..."
"The poor thing. She must be so confused. Look, I know you mean well, but maybe you should stop before you make everything worse."
Jane frowned.
"Isn't she making it way worse for herself? She obviously didn't like the guy, why was she on a date with him?"
"Beats me," Liara muttered. Then she looked over at Jane.
"I love you, too, by the way. Once we get home, I'll show you just how much."
Jane blushed deeply, but grinned.
. . . . .
"You've been out long."
"I'm sorry."
"Had a nice date?"
Miranda stood up a little straighter.
"No. I spent most of the night with friends. I won't be going out with Jason again."
Her heart raced, but it felt so good to just say it the way it was.
"This is very immature of you, Miranda. But I'm sure you'll change your mind in due time."
"I won't."
Her father raised his eyebrows.
"I see."
. . . . .
Miranda sat, once again, in the library. She couldn't afford any weak points right now, so she was working harder than ever.
But as she looked out of the window, she froze.
"No," she whispered. Then she jumped up, without even thinking about it, and rushed out of the library.
. . . . .
It wasn't exactly a fair fight. Jack was fast and she fought dirty, but there were three of them. She should probably have known better than to let herself be baited.
There was no way she could keep an eye on all of them at once. Two was fine, but three...
She managed not to cry out as her legs were kicked out from under her and she crashed to the ground. She rolled off fast enough to avoid another kick, tried to get to her legs, but was shoved down again. She had their back towards them now, a bad position, and for a moment, she didn't notice something was going on. Then she managed to turn and cursed as she realised she had very unexpected help.
And boy, could the princess fight. She was all precise kicks and flying fists. While her attackers were utterly distracted, Jack got to her legs again, and managed to overwhelm one of them.
And when the insufferable redhead came running towards them as well, those fuckers just scurried off.
Jack turned to Miranda, beaming.
"Fuck, you were awesome!"
But she lost the smile at the expression that greeted her.
"Are you insane? Are you entirely out of your mind? What were you even thinking? Did you want to get yourself killed? You are impossible!"
And before she could even say anything in reply, Miranda had stormed off.
"Hey, are you alright?"
"What's it to you?" Jack snarled. Her mood had gone from delighted to abysmal in mere seconds.
"Shit, you're bleeding. Come on, you don't have to pretend you're tough right now. Let's get you cleaned up."
"Mind your own fucking business!" Jack replied, and wiped at the trickle of blood running from her lower lip.
"You've fallen hard, haven't you?"
"Nah, that's where that bastard hit me the first time..."
"I mean for Miranda."
Jack froze.
"Fuck off before I forget myself."
"She likes you too, you know?"
Jane easily avoided the blow. It seemed half-hearted, anyway.
"Well, maybe I was wrong. Maybe you don't care after all," she said with a shrug, watching Jack glare at her, all tension, hands balled into fists.
"Maybe I should just leave and not tell you how Miranda hid from her date in a toilet and cried in my girlfriend's arms last Saturday night."
That did the trick quite nicely, Jane thought. Jack's expression grew confused, then guarded, then she seemed to relent. Looked away, pushed her hands into the pockets of her trousers.
"Fuck you," she said softly. "But alright. You've got me there."
"Now will you come with so we can get you cleaned up?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope!" Jane said cheerfully.
Jack trudged along beside her, cursing her in her head.
"Where are we going?"
"My place. It's just around the corner."
Jack stopped.
"There aren't going to be any parents, are there? Because parents do not, as a rule, like me."
"My mom's at work, but she'd be cool with you. I suppose."
It was a nice place, small and a little untidy, but something about it was just cosy and spoke of family life and care. Jack suddenly felt a slight, but acute pang of loss.
Jane dragged her into a tiny bathroom, sat her down on the lid of the toilet and had the cloth she'd wanted to clean Jack's face with snatched from her.
"I can do that myself!"
"Course you can," Jane said pleasantly.
"I'm here, aren't I? Now tell me."
Jack allowed her to dab at her lip with disinfectant.
"What do you know about Miranda?"
"She has a tight schedule."
What did Jack know? Nothing material. That there was a sweet, sharp, lonely girl hiding behind a tightly controlled, stand-offish persona. With beautiful blue eyes that widened quite promisingly when you tried to flirt with her.
Jane frowned at her.
"I know nothing, really."
"Love at first sight, huh?"
"Shut up. Aren't you new, too? What do you know about her?"
"Unlike you, I have friends."
"Yeah, fuck you, too."
"You realise you're covered in mud, do you? Want some of my clothes? I can wash yours."
Jack looked down her body.
"Huh," she muttered. Grimaced at the sight of a deep tear in her trousers, at the knee. She sighed.
"Why are you being so awfully nice? I'm not going to put out for you, you know?"
Jane snorted.
"Don't flatter yourself. You're not my type." Then she shrugged. "I have a hard time not involving myself in other people's business. I don't watch much TV."
Jack's eyes narrowed.
"So this is entertainment for you?"
"Come on, birdie, strip. I'll get you clean clothes that might just not drop off you."
"Don't ever call me that again!" Jack yelled after her.
When Jane returned, Jack was still fully clothed.
"Shy, are we? Here, I'll leave for the moment."
Jack changed quickly, trying not to catch too much of herself in the mirror as she did so. The other girl's clothes, a simple black tee and a pair of jeans, felt and looked odd on her, the jeans being too long, as well, but part of her appreciated the gesture. She left the bathroom, followed the sound of tuneless humming into the kitchen.
"You want a sandwich?"
"What are you playing at? Just tell me already."
Jane realized she'd pushed the other girl to her limits.
"Alright. It appears your crush has daddy issues. Big ones. He basically appears to be dictating her life. What she does, who she hangs out with – who she's dating..."
Jack frowned.
"That's sick."
"I thought so. In any case, she was at that pizza place with that twerp Jason, and we were there, too, and at some point she just raced off to the toilet and didn't come out anymore. He was so pissed-off. Liara went in to see if she was alright, because she does girl things just so much better than me..."
"Who?" Jack asked quizzically.
"My girlfriend. Anyway, then she was gone, too, and I went after them after a while and she was crying all over my girlfriend. And then Liara told Jason that Miranda had female troubles and the look on his face, oh, it was glorious. He vanished and your little crush sat with us for the rest of the night."
"So she doesn't like him..."
Jack bit her nails.
"Doesn't mean she likes me."
"I saw her unpack your little present in the library. Believe me, she likes you."
"What?!"
"Hey, if you want things to be secret, don't do them in public."
Jack glared at her. Jane requited it with a cool look of her own.
"Now, what do you want on that sandwich?"
Reluctantly, Jack sat down at the kitchen table.
"What do you have?"