A/N: Sorry about the slow update everybody. Things in my life have suddenly become busier. But I will continue to write an update when I can! You have all be very supportive of this story, and I want to see it through to the end for you.

Counting Down

"We're approaching the relay now. We should be at Noveria in less than an hour." Joker's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Thanks for the update, Joker." Shepard replied. "Keep me posted."

"Aye aye, Commander."

Shepard stepped out of the elevator and onto the crew deck. In spite of having slept hard the night before, she still felt exhausted. The evening had been full of stressful events, the last of which had kept her mind reeling all morning. When she had brought Liara up to her cabin, she certainly hadn't expected their conversation to lead to confessions of love. And though Shepard now felt a sense of relief, the change had brought with it new questions. Now that their feelings were out in the open, what did it mean for their relationship?

The med bay door opened as Shepard approached, but instead of entering she simply leaned against the door frame.

"Hello, Commander." Chakwas greeted with pleasant surprise, spinning her chair to face her superior.

"Morning Doctor." Shepard replied.

"Is there something I can do for you?" the doctor tilted her head slightly.

"When you see Liara, could you tell her to meet me below deck?" Shepard asked casually.

"I know she's already awake if you want to tell her yourself." Chakwas offered, knowing the commander was fond of speaking with Liara. "She came out to borrow a data disk for research."

"What kind of research?" Shepard pondered aloud.

"Human physiology." The doctor said matter-of-factly.

"And you don't find that strange?" Shepard's eyes narrowed, unsure if she was asking out of true curiosity, or paranoia.

"Not at all. She's like a sponge." Chakwas chuckled. "Absorbing as much information as she can get her hands on. Humans have been her fascination as of late."

Shepard knew she shouldn't have been surprised, despite how she felt. Even though Liara was unfamiliar with the human species, Shepard hadn't thought about the asari studying about them before. But Liara was quite the scholar and solved most of her problems through research. Shepard was more surprised that she herself hadn't considered the obvious solution.

The commander's eyes rested on the door at the back of the med-bay, knowing full well that it was the only barrier between her and Liara. More than anything she wanted to drop what she was doing to simply talk with the young asari. The suggestion that Chakwas made was incredibly tempting, but Shepard knew that she would waste precious time. She had important business to take care of before docking on Noveria.

"If you don't mind telling Liara for me," Shepard turned her attention back to the physician, "I have a lot to do, and little time to do it."

"Of course, Commander." Chakwas nodded.

"Thank you, Karin." Shepard smiled at the doctor with a sincere gratefulness.

The ship jolted as it's speed increased suddenly, being accelerated by the power of the mass relay. It wasn't enough to knock a person of their feet, but Shepard was glad she had braced herself against the door frame nonetheless. If she had walked away a moment sooner the jerk would have caught her unaware and sent her off-balance.

They were one step closer to their destination. But what awaited them there? How could she prepare for the unknown? What could she tell her squad? Her memory burned as it recalled living the worst-case scenario; stepping onto the planet with no clue of what lurked beneath their feet. Fifty marines dead in minutes…

Hearing the doors close behind her, she let out a soft sigh, as if releasing a build up of tension in her chest. She had hoped that telling Liara how she felt would relieve some of her stress, but so far she felt that it had only added to it. She forced the horrifying memories to the back of her mind. She wouldn't be reliving that day. Not again.

She shook the thought out of her head as she crossed the deck towards Kaidan's station. The Lieutenant looked up as he saw her approaching and stood up respectfully.

"Commander." He greeted with a gentle nod. "Do you need something?"

"Yes Lieutenant." Shepard replied cheerfully. With the dangers of the mission looming she wanted to keep a good outward attitude. "I wanted your thoughts. Do you have a moment?"

"I always have a moment for you, Commander." Kaidan's face remained unchanged, leaving his comment ambiguous at best. Of all the human crew, Shepard found him to be the hardest to read emotionally. And now, was he flirting with her, or simply being friendly? Choosing to ignore it, she continued.

"From what I understand, the Matriarch has quite a following. If things get violent, I don't want her commandos having an advantage. You've spent the most time around Biotics. What should we be prepared for?"

"Uh," Kaidan stuttered and motioned towards the med bay, "Don't you think Liara would be better suited to answer this question, Commander? These are her people after all."

Shepard resisted the urge to follow his gesture and look over her shoulder. She had already turned down one opportunity to speak with Liara. All morning visions of her dreams the night before flashed through her mind, tantalizing her with possibilities and desires. It was hard enough knowing she would be taking Liara groundside, but now she needed to focus. So much was riding on the success of this mission.

"Liara's not Alliance. I need a soldier's perspective." Shepard covered. After all, it seemed true enough. Liara would more than likely provide hard facts, but she knew Kaidan would give her more than that.

"Okay." The lieutenant shrugged. "One of the first skills a Biotic learns is Barrier. You can bet that they'll have those up before attacking."

"So we'd be shooting through barriers, shields and armor." Shepard sighed.

"More than likely. I don't know how long the asari can maintain a barrier, but I would recommend taking evasive action until it wears off."

"Alright." The commander nodded. She hadn't been in a firefight against Biotics before, and so far this was useful information. "What else?"

"Abilities like Warp and Throw are common, but they take time to reach their target. If you keep your distance it should give you enough time to take cover."

"You recommend long range weapons?"

"Absolutely."

"Thanks for your input, Kaidan." Shepard nodded with a smile.

"Let's hope you don't need it, Commander." Kaidan replied honestly.

"Hey, Alenko!" a shout came from the elevator. Shepard turned to see a smug looking Ashley stepping off the lift. "You and me have a score to settle later." The chief mockingly shot an imaginary ball.

"We both know who will win." Kaidan folded his arms. "I only play so you think you have a chance." Ashley simply laughed at his rebuttal.

"Hey Skipper," she addressed Shepard now, the teasing still evident in her voice "how'd things go last night? You know, after I left?"

"Really well." Shepard answered casually. "Liara was a bit shaken up, but we talked and she's doing better now."

"Oh, I'm sure you took real good care of her."

"I'm almost positive there's work you should be doing right now." The commander replied dryly.

"You're right." Ashley's pep was nearly tangible at this point. "Alenko, I won't even need a shower after I'm done with you."

"Giving up so soon?" Kaidan jested. Ever since Ashley boarded the Normandy, the two had made a habit of poking fun at one another, but Shepard had noticed an increase in their playful harassment lately.

"As if!" Ashley puffed up her chest. "I play to win."

"Then you'll be playing a long time, Chief." Kaidan said with a smirk.

"Oh-ho-ho! It's on, Brain Boy." Ashley strutted away. Shepard turned back to the lieutenant.

"Some friendly competition?" she asked.

"Yeah, uh," Kaidan cleared his throat, "She's a firecracker."

"I'm just glad she's on our side." The commander grinned. "I'll talk to you later."

"Sure thing, Commander."

Shepard stepped onto the elevator to head down below. Every second brought them closer to the unpredictable. She took advantage of the brief moment of privacy to close her eyes, rub her brow and wish that some solution would suddenly strike her. There was a second jolt; the ship had been released by the relay. She knew they had arrived at the Horse Head nebula before Joker announced it. But the pilot stayed true to his orders and updated her on their position. The door opened and she resumed her confident posture before stepping off.

"You call that clean?" Wrex shouted at a trembling marine in the corner. "I want to see my enemy's face in this gun before I shoot them!"

Shepard recognized Corporal Greico almost immediately. As his punishment for the upset he caused the night before, she had passed him off to some of the non-human crew temporarily. But she didn't come down here to monitor their treatment of the troublemaker.

Garrus stood next to his locker, inspecting his assault rifle. Shepard took long strides to meet him.

"Garrus!" she greeted. The turian turned with a look of surprise on his scaly face.

"Shepard." He nodded. "Always a pleasure."

"I need your keen eyes on this mission. You up for it?" the commander came to a stop next to the turian. The mandibles around Garrus' mouth shifted into an enthusiastic smile, his jagged teeth catching the light.

"It's nice to know my skills are appreciated." Garrus said with a proud laugh. "You point, I shoot."

"Excellent." Shepard clapped her hands together. "As soon as Liara gets down here we can go through the briefing."

"How is Liara?" Garrus' voice became filled with concern. "I heard about what happened. No one got hurt?"

"I think Marcus' pride took the worst blow." Shepard quickly looked over her shoulder toward the corporal, who was frantically rubbing Wrex's shotgun with an oil-spotted cloth. Turning back to Garrus, she added "Liara's okay. She was just upset about the whole ordeal."

"That's good to hear." The tension in his brow softened in relief. "I understand Chief Williams was quite the hero."

Shepard laughed and rocked on her heels. "Yeah, you don't want to mess with Ashley."

"Greico's lucky I wasn't there." The turian scowled.

"So you're making up for it by forcing him to clean your weapons?" the commander raised a brow.

"Well, I take what I can get."

"Honestly, things could have gotten much worse if Tali hadn't messaged me. She did the right thing." Shepard noticed a change in Garrus at the sound of the quarian's name, almost as if he had caught something important that she had missed.

"Tali's very brave, but I'm glad she didn't try anything else." He responded, nervously shifting his weight.

"She's tough." Shepard watched Garrus with a wary suspicion. "She would've been able to handle herself."

"Oh, of course, I have no doubt." Garrus stumbled slightly on his words. "But if she had gotten hurt, I-"

He stopped abruptly. It was more than just a loss of words; it was as if he were trying to keep himself from saying something he shouldn't. Shepard had never seen him act so strangely before.

"I would have been upset." He finished calmly, regaining his regular demeanor. "No one should be injured over something so petty."

"Agreed." Shepard nodded, making a mental note of what she had witnessed. At least she wasn't the only person going crazy on this ship.

"Looks like we're ready to get started." Garrus motioned behind Shepard. Turning her head to follow his gaze, she saw Liara walking briskly towards them.

"Commander, I-" Liara began, but stopped once her eyes met Shepard's. Her cheeks grew flush as she took a place between the turian and the human, forming a circle with her future squad mates. Swallowing hard, she quickly averted her look to Garrus. "I hope I have not kept you waiting."

"Not at all." Shepard stated as warmly as she could manage. She had hoped that she and Liara could coöperate together without making things awkward, but it was clear that they had some work to do. She herself couldn't suppress the sudden, rapid pounding in her chest, and she began second guessing their conversation the night before. Perhaps it was rash of her to admit how she felt so soon.

"So, what's the plan?" Garrus asked, bringing the commander's wandering subconscious back to the present.

"Well, in all honesty, we have no way of knowing what we'll be facing down there." Shepard crossed her arms. "Which means that we need to be prepared for anything. As much as I wish violence was out of the picture, my gut is telling me otherwise."

"Versatility will come in handy." The turian nodded. With his background he was no doubt keeping track of everything the group had to their advantage. That was one thing Shepard found particularly useful about Garrus; he had a head for strategic planning.

From the corner of her eye, Shepard could see Liara's head drop slightly. Though the young asari had known, deep down, that this mission would more than likely involve fighting, she had hoped against hope it wouldn't happen. The thought of battling her own people, her own mother, was already proving a challenge. In her mind she ran through facts, probabilities, any and all information she could process. But Liara knew that she was the unknown. How could she possibly predict what she would do in the heat of the moment?

"We'll avoid confrontation as much as possible." Shepard said, subtly comforting Liara.

"Commander, we're in the Pax system. Once we've entered the atmosphere, we'll dock at port Hanshan in a matter of minutes." Joker's voice resounded over the intercom once again, reverberating against the metal walls of the deck.

"I'll get the equipment together." Garrus offered, turning toward the lockers. "I took it upon myself to calibrate a Raikou for you, Liara."

"Oh, thank you." Liara smiled shyly.

Shepard took a step closer to the asari and placed a hand on her shoulder. "There's still time for me to find someone else if you're having second thoughts."

"No." Liara shook her head. "No, Shepard. I can do this."

"Okay." Shepard smirked. "You're part of the squad. Garrus and I will have your back. If there's anything you need, you let us know."

"I will." Liara nodded. Her bright blue eyes met Shepard's for a moment. "I trust you. I know that, whatever happens, you will do what is right."

Her comment lay on Shepard like a weight. In her military career she had certainly made mistakes, and Liara unintentionally put pressure on her to perform perfectly. Shepard knew that her crew followed her faithfully, and that must have been for good reason. Liara watched the emotions playing across the commander's face in curiosity.

"Are you ready?" Shepard asked, breaking away from her inhibitions. Liara simply nodded, afraid that words would give away her uncertainty. If there was anything that she could do to sway her mother, she knew it would be worth it.

"Alright," the commander steeled herself, "Suit up."