Jane was humming lowly to herself as she carried her tray over to Tali and Garrus. She'd been giving them a lot of time to each other lately, trying her best not to feel left out. Those were petty feelings, she didn't want to entertain them.
It would have helped to have Liara around, though. Now that was a thought she only had every five minutes.
"Not long now," she muttered to herself as she put her tray down.
"Jane!"
"Hey you! Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all!" Tali beamed at her and made room for, moving a little closer to Garrus.
"How was your weekend?"
"Oh, quiet," Tali replied. Garrus just blushed and smiled to himself. "What about you?"
"The usual. Chatting with Liara a lot. Helped my mom paint the kitchen. Quiet, all in all."
"Oh look, it's your dramatic friends."
Jane craned her neck, then waved at Jack and Miranda. After a moment of whispering to each other and some eye-rolling, the two of them walked over.
"So glad I brought my own food, what the hell is that stuff?" Jack ogled her tray warily.
"Some sort of stew. I hope."
"Gross."
Jane shrugged and started eating. She was suddenly strangely aware of being surrounded by couples, reminding her with unexpected intensity of Liara's absence. She let her spoon sink.
"Do you guys want to do something this weekend? Liara's visiting, we could all do something coupley."
"Shouldn't coupley things feature just two people?" Jack asked.
"I'd like that!" Tali replied. "What do you have in mind?"
"We could go dancing! I love to dance."
Garrus snorted lowly and Tali nudged him in the side, but grinned.
"Can't. Sorry."
Jack turned to Miranda.
"Why not? Not that I want to, watching her dance kinda hurts, but you have plans already?"
Miranda pursed her lips.
"Yes, I do."
Jane frowned.
"That's too bad. The entire weekend?"
"I'm busy, okay?"
"Doing what?" Jack asked.
"Dammit, Jack, later."
"Well, we'd like to," Tali said quickly.
Jack managed to contain herself, but only until they were out in the hallway.
"So what are your big weekend plans?"
Miranda frowned.
"That was a lie. I have no plans."
"You wanted to be polite? That's not really you."
Miranda gave her the smallest smile, then shook her head.
"No, that's not it."
"What is it, then?"
"It's just... I'm really low on money again." She took a deep breath, then said in a rush: "He said he'd cut me off. I might have a babysitting job, though. Not much success anywhere else I asked for jobs or internships, though. Everyone's cold-shouldering me."
"Oh." Jack stared at her feet.
"I'll manage, though."
"I'm sure you will. But fuck, he's a jerk."
Miranda let her fingers grace Jack's hand, furtively.
"I know." She sighed.
"We could still go out though. I can pay for whatever, and if that's bothering you, you can get back to me whenever you can?"
"You don't want to go out, do you?"
Jack shrugged.
"Not really, but I think you'd like to."
Miranda smiled at her.
"No, I'd rather just stay in with you. We can still dance." She winked, making Jack grin.
"That's a euphemism, right?"
Miranda just raised her eyebrows and smiled.
. . . . .
Jack usually didn't answer the door when the bell rang and she didn't expect anyone. Sometimes Liz would answer it, but when Liz was away, Jack usually just hoped whoever was trying to bother her would leave again. The few people who mattered had her phone number.
But whoever wanted to pester he now was persistent, and eventually Jack cursed, pulled on some pants and reluctantly went to open the door.
"Hello, Jennifer."
Jack's eyes narrowed.
"I fight dirty, you know?"
"Don't worry, I have no intentions whatsoever of getting my hands dirty on you."
"Funny, your daughter can't keep her hands off of me."
He grimaced.
"Crude, though I didn't expect anything else. Fine. I don't like you, you don't like me. This will all be easier if we just acknowledge these facts."
"I've never pretended otherwise." Jack glared at him. "Neither have you. What do you want?"
"How much?"
For a moment, Jack could only stare at him.
"With all due respect, fuck you."
He laughed.
"Come on, everyone has a price. This is what everything in life comes down to, if you take an honest look at it, business transactions. Better to learn that young. I have heard you are an aspiring artist. Care not to be the starving artist you will inevitably become?"
Jack just snorted in disbelief.
"You seriously think you can pull that one off? Just take out your check book and... fucking buy me?"
Her anger was merely met with a sneer.
"You and me both know this will blow over, eventually. Just look at you. You are not, nor will you ever be, a worthy partner for my daughter. Let's be realistic here for a moment. She is being rebellious and you're just a fad about to ruin her life. Why don't you think about it as an incentive to make the inevitable happen faster?"
"Get out."
"You know I am right. Give it a thought. And have a pleasant day."
"Oh, fuck you."
She threw the door shut behind him, then stomped through the flat, obscenities steadily flowing from her lips as she threw herself onto the bed and stared at the wall.
. . . . .
It had been a great evening, but Jane was glad that is was over, too. To be alone with Liara, finally. It seemed like it had been forever since she'd last held her close. Her fingers traced slow circles at the base of Liara's neck, making her sigh.
"Are you happy?" Jane asked.
"More than happy."
She gave Liara a wide smile.
"I'm glad."
Liara stifled a yawn and snuggled up to her.
"I hate being away from you more than anything. Except maybe speaking in public."
Jane chuckled, but then asked:
"Does the idea of college scare you?"
"Not really, no." Liara looked up, then kissed her nose. "And you have nothing to be scared of, either."
"I'm not scared. It's more a mixture of painfully excited and utterly terrified. But you'll be there. I can't stress how much I'm looking forward to living with you."
Liara tilted her head to the side.
"But?"
"You can read me like a book, can't you?"
"Pretty much."
"It feels odd to leave my mom alone. We've had only each other for a long time."
"Won't your mom be glad to have some time to herself? I'm pretty sure mine is already planning what she's going to do with my room once I'm gone."
Jane pulled a face.
"That doesn't bother you?"
Liara just shrugged.
"I love her, but I'm glad to move out."
"Did you argue again?"
"It's not so much arguing and again, it's more like questioning all my decisions and constantly."
"Still not happy with archaeology?"
Liara heaved a sigh.
"She'll never be happy with archaeology. 'Give politics a try!' It's not like I'm not interested, I just don't want to do it for a living, you know?"
The topic came up every once in a while. Jane admired Liara's mom, but she made her feel distinctly intimidated, too. Liara knew what she wanted, though. Jane loved that about her. Then again, there wasn't much she didn't love about Liara.
"I know."
"I think she's finally starting to accept it. But distance might do us both good. Eh. We were talking about your mom, not mine. Sorry."
"She doesn't say anything, and she is happy for me, really, but she just seems sad sometimes, you know?"
"You can come back and visit a lot, it's not that far. And call. Chat."
Liara yawned again.
"Yeah... you're probably right. Hey, are you falling asleep? I had plans..."
Liara chuckled.
"I am. Sorry."
Jane kissed her temple.
"Nah, it's okay. Sweet dreams, love. I'm so glad to have you here."
"Love you, too."
. . . . .
Jack's heart raced as she met Miranda after she was done with work. The smile that greeted her made her insides ache.
"Hey you. Long day? You look pale."
She backed away as Miranda reached for her, and Miranda frowned.
"What is it?"
"We need to talk."
"Oh?"
Jack dug her hands deep into the pockets of her trousers.
"I'm sorry, okay, I'm really sorry, but this isn't working."
Miranda looked utterly confused for a moment, but Jack could positively see it sinking in a second later. She looked away as Miranda's eyes bore into hers.
"What?" she asked lowly.
"I can't do this."
"Are you breaking up with me?"
"Yeah."
"Why?"
"It's just... too much, too soon, I can't..."
"You're realizing this now? After everything? Are you kidding me?"
She took a step backwards, folded her arms in front of her chest and shook her head in disbelief. Jack's eyes remained trained on her boots.
"I'm not going to beg, you know?" Miranda said coldly.
"I didn't expect you to." Jack closed her eyes. She couldn't say more. Everything else would have been a concession.
"Fuck you, Jack. Just fuck you."
Miranda turned on the spot and walked away.
With a deep sigh, Jack let herself fall into the grass and just stared up at the low sky for a long time.
. . . . .
Miranda had slammed about every door she'd passed, and wasn't surprised when her father knocked, then entered her room.
"Come to gloat?" Her voice didn't sound like her voice in her ears anymore.
"So this farce is finally over?"
"Leave me alone."
"I'm glad your friend saw reason. We had such a pleasant chat."
Miranda turned to her father, very slowly.
"What did you do?"
He smiled pleasantly.
"Nothing. Just pointed out the reasons why this was a bad idea. Oh, and I offered her generous compensation."
Miranda felt all blood drain from her face. Her hands started shaking.
"You what?"
"Oh, Miranda. This has all been ridiculous to begin with. Just move on without embarrassing yourself any further."
Miranda laughed.
"Oh. Oh, I will move on. You won't believe how I am going to move on."
She got to her feet, crossed the room, pulled a sweater from the wardrobe and stormed past him.
"Miranda, what are you doing now, for heaven's sake?"
"Leaving. Damn, I should have done this much sooner."
"Running away? You're such a child."
She ignored him, until his fingers closed around her upper arm painfully, forcing her to turn around.
"Let go!"
"Be sensible, Miranda. Where would you even go?"
She wrenched her arm away.
"Any place is better than here. Anywhere without you!"
There was no pain. Just the left side of her face numb, tingling slightly. Her lips twitched as she looked up at her father. She'd never been hit before. He looked startled for a moment, but quickly composed himself. Not the slightest trace of regret in his expression.
"Miranda..."
She just turned and ran away.