Once the door hissed shut behind the younger soldier, Liara got up then returned to her spot on the edge of Shepard's bed.
"Your stress levels have risen," Liara murmured softly, her fingers trailing along the bandages situated over Shepard's throat and the top of her chest which was peeking out from the hospital top she wore.
"Yeah well, can you blame me?" Shepard replied, wincing at the touch.
"No. And I understand it, too. We all thought we'd be able to relax after destroying the Reapers... unfortunately people like to take advantage of such things and strike when other people are weakest," Liara said, pulling her hand away.
"I meant to ask... how do you have so much money to pay your brokers?" Shepard asked curiously, bandaged fingers trailing gently along the other's blue thigh. She smiled as the asari wiggled a little bit as if trying to get away from the Commander's touch. Liara seemed to also be trying to stifle a giggle.
"Your credit chit," Liara said. Shepard's fingers stopped roaming.
"What?" she asked.
"I am kidding. The yahg had quite the large bank account. I haven't even gotten through a single percent of it while I've been the Broker," Liara said, smiling lightly at the look on the Commander's face.
"You... oh, wow. That's... so he probably rivaled the Illusive Man when it came to money, then. And what about the current task, finding out what Cerberus is up to? How much is that going to drain?"
"I wouldn't worry about it, Shepard. Let me handle this on my own for once. I will have plenty of money left over once I get the information we need," Liara said softly. She then lied down next to the marine on the bed, curling up to her side as gently as she could.
"I'm going to, I just don't want you to blow all of that money so early in the game," Shepard said, gingerly putting an arm around the asari's shoulders.
"As I said, let me worry about it. You only have one assignment right now: get better. We're going to need you at one hundred percent regardless of what I find out. You know that, I know that," Liara said, closing her eyes. She snuggled in a bit closer to her bondmate.
"I didn't know I took orders from you," Shepard said, amusement in her tone and sparkling in her eyes.
"You do now," Liara said smugly, eyes still closed.
"Sir, yes, sir," Shepard murmured, chuckling gently to herself. Before she knew it she had drifted off to sleep.
When she next woke, Liara had vacated the bed and seemed to be extremely busy using her omni-tool. She glanced up when she felt Shepard's eyes on her.
"The Lieutenant Commander came by while you were sleeping. She was able to get a hold of that mercenary, Zaeed. He says he's in the Attican Traverse, checking up on the colonies like the one on Horizon. It seems you two think a lot alike, even if he did go in a different direction than where you were wanting," Liara said before the marine could voice any questions.
"Ah, good. What about Jack and her squad of biotics?" Shepard asked, shifting a little bit in bed.
"She flatly refused to work with Zaeed, citing the fact he had founded the group that kept her locked up in Purgatory. She did however agree to check out the Terminus Systems as you asked," Liara answered promptly.
"And what about our krogan friends?"
"Vega is on his way to Tuchanka but Ashley did get into contact with Wrex. He claims to be unaware of any attempts to expand just yet, insisting he would never go back on his word to you. He's dispatched Grunt's unit to track down the source of the expansion rumblings. As for the Primarch, he thanks you for the information and wishes you a speedy recovery. Mr. Taylor basically said the same thing."
"Any news from Hackett?"
"The Lieutenant Commander didn't mention he had contacted the Normandy again."
"Could you do me a favor and write up a report to him about what I'm doing?"
"To my knowledge, Miranda is already doing so. She seems much more cut out for the job than me, anyways. My kinds of reports are a little bit different than what needs to be done."
"All right. Thanks, Liara. I guess that really does leave me with one thing left to do: heal."
"I was going to say the same thing. Congratulations, Commander, you've earned a real rest."
"Heh, thanks."
Shepard sighed, closing her eyes again. She hated downtime especially when she knew so many other people were running around following her orders.
Liara rejoined the Commander on the bed, smiling softly.
Before Shepard was able to doze off to sleep she felt Liara shift a little bit. She opened her eyes to stare down at the asari. A smile formed when she caught the fact that her blue lover had fallen asleep. The smile faded quickly as her thoughts darkened. Shepard's normally dark eyes began to glow green as she accessed the memories of finding the Prothean beacon as well as the subsequent footage of Javik both on Eden Prime.
The same images ran through her mind. It took all of her will power to shake herself out of it before the visions went too far. When she did all she could remember was the mouth opening and screeching. She could better understand the visions thanks to the Cipher and Liara, but it was still slightly jumbled and made her head hurt.
She took in a breath then let it out before leaning her head back. She stared up at the ceiling, subconsciously putting an arm around Liara's shoulders. A soft sound escaped the asari but she didn't wake.
"Good night, Blue Angel," Shepard murmured softly before sleep finally took her.