Chapter 14 has come! Prepare yourself for more stuff! All who are reading this now: you're amazing! Thank you for reading my story, it has over 3000 views now! Now let us return to the realm of storytelling! Mass Effect is still owned by Bioware, so enjoy!

Ch.14: Relations Part 2

Normandy SR-2

Tali'Zorah

Tali was at her console in engineering typing away at a standard drive core diagnostic. Her mind, however, was elsewhere. It almost felt too good to be true! Shepard had survived and was still walking! He wasn't horribly injured (although he didn't have a pleasant injury) and he was still able to perform most of his duties and would be able to do all of them when he was fully healed. 'Cerberus sure knows how to make implants.' She thought as she continued to type away at the console.

Tali was too deep in thought to notice someone come into engineering and walk up to her. She was still typing away and thinking as a five-fingered hand tapped her on her shoulder.

Tali turned around rather eagerly at the feeling of the five fingers on her suit, but when she had turned around she noticed the hand didn't belong to who she thought it had. Liara was standing rather awkwardly in front of her.

Tali shook her thoughts out of her head, hid her disappointment, and spoke, "Hey Liara, what can I do for you?"

Liara fidgeted a little and gestured towards the door, "Can we talk in private?"

Tali nodded, "Sure, we could go to Jack's old hidey hole I guess."

Liara looked confused, "What?"

Tali shook her head at Liara, "Never mind, just follow me."

Tali and Liara walked down to what used to be Jack's 'hidey hole.' When they were both down there Tali went up to a crate and sat down, and gestured for Liara to sit next to her, "Now, what do you need Liara?"

Liara fidgeted again and spoke, "I … heard from Garrus you and Shepard are planning on marriage."

Tali's eyes widened and she turned her head away. 'Damn it Shepard, you and your big mouth. You promised to keep it quiet!' "Well, yes we are Liara… Is there something wrong with that?"

"Oh no, no. I just... wanted to confirm it with you is all." Liara and Tali continued to sit there and for a few moments an awkward silence drowned out everything.

Then Liara decided to speak again. "What are Quarian marriages like?"

Tali turned her head back to Liara. "Well, they're really simple and only close family and friends come. We don't really have any big ceremony like Shepard wants us to have, we just say we want to be together and we type it into our ship's logs. We still give each other a small gift, but it's usually a new hood or something else that's practical. Shepard gave me this..." Tali took the ring out of her pocket and showed it to Liara. "I admit it's beautiful, but he wasted so much money on it just for me. Keelah, humans are so wasteful... He could have just bought me a new omnitool or something for how much he spent on this."

Liara's eyes widened at the sight of the ring; it truly was beautiful! "Wow Tali, that's incredible! Does it actually fit on your finger?"

Tali put the ring on her finger, "Of course it does, it fits perfectly... He still wasted so much money on it though..."

Liara smiled at Tali. "I doubt he thinks it was a waste of money, Tali. He's trying to show you in his own human way how important you are to him."

Tali laughed a little at Liara's comment, "Yeah, I know. I still think it would have been better if he got me a new omnitool, but what can I do? He can be a silly bosh'tet sometimes."

Tali looked at Liara again, "Is that all you wanted to talk about Liara?"

"Well, that wasn't everything... I was wondering who you had chosen as your maid of honor?"

Tali wringed her hands for a moment. "Shepard mentioned something about that earlier... I haven't really decided on anyone yet... I know I should... Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason…" Liara fidgeted again. "I mean, I'm sure you'll find someone who can get the job done and do it right..."

Tali tilted her head at Liara, "Liara, are you saying you want to be my maid of honor?"

Liara nodded solemnly. "I'd... like to make sure both of you have a good time on your special day."

Tali's looked away from Liara for a moment; she knew what this was about. "I'm sorry, Liara... We never really did talk about what happened between us, did we?"

"There's nothing to talk about, Tali." Liara replied sadly. "He picked you, and I'm happy for both of you."

"But there is something to talk about, Liara." Tali placed her hand gently on Liara's shoulder. "I know what I did... hurt you, but I was running a fever that day... my mind wasn't working properly, and when he said he felt the same way I..."

"I know Tali... I'm the Shadow Broker, remember?" Small tears began to form in her eyes. "You didn't betray me, and neither did Shepard. I was the one at fault..."

"Liara..." Tali rubbed Liara's shoulder lightly. "You brought him back to life for us all, don't beat yourself up..."

"And then I told him to go hack terminals instead of kissing him and telling him how much I missed him..." Liara covered her face in her hands and began sobbing softly.

"He was dead for 2 years Liara. Had he not mentioned the Geth data he gave me, I wouldn't have really believed it was him either." Tali tried to reassure her. "And even though you were the one who gave him to Cerberus, I can understand how seeing him return after all that time would cloud your judgment."

Liara attempted to wipe the tears from her eyes. "I... thank you, Tali... for understanding. I don't know why I thought you would yell at me... Blame me... Make me feel worse than I already felt..."

"You're my friend, Liara, I would never do that." Tali reassured her.

Liara sniffled, then turned to Tali. She opened her arms and gave Tali a hug, and Tali returned it. "I see why Shepard picked you... you're one of a kind, Tali."

"Thanks, Liara..." Tali said as they ended their hug. "And don't worry, you'll find someone new. I promise."

"You're probably right, Tali..." Liara attempted to regain her composure. "So, may I be your maid of honor?"

"If that's what you really want, then yes, Liara." Tali nodded. "I'll have to tell Shepard later."

Liara smiled and got up. "Good, I'm glad this has been settled. I should let you get back to work."

Liara stood up and left, leaving Tali alone in Jack's 'hidey-hole.' She hoped Liara could finally forgive herself and move on now, but she didn't know what Liara would do next. Tali sighed, stood up, and made her way back to her station. Before she opened the door to engineering, however, she had a strange feeling that she needed to check on Javik...

She knocked on the door to Javik's room and the Prothean opened it. "What do you need, Quarian?"

"Are... you doing alright, Javik?" Tali asked hesitantly.

"No." Javik replied coldly. "But I do not need your help."

He closed the door and Tali reluctantly returned to her post. She wasn't sure what this was about, but she wasn't going to ask any more questions until Shepard got here...

Normandy SR-2

Commander Shepard

Shepard stood in the elevator as it descended to engineering. It was such a relief that nothing was happening anymore, but in the back of his mind he still felt something was off. 'I might just be paranoid.' Shepard thought as the door opened and he walked out. He walked into engineering and tapped Tali on the shoulder.

"Liara, if you want to talk more we can..." Tali said as she turned around. Then her eyes widened a little at seeing Shepard and not Liara. "Oh Shepard, I... I didn't mean to call you Liara, I..."

Shepard just smiled and he put up his hand, "Relax Tali, its fine. I just wanted to see how everything was doing down here."

"If you mean the engines, they're fine. If you mean me…" Tali took a step forward and put her hand on Shepard's arm. "… I'm more than fine now that you're here."

Shepard's smile widened. "Glad to hear it. But EDI said something about Javik?"

"Oh, yeah… Javik seemed upset for some reason and I'm not sure what we should do. He locked himself in his room after I asked if he was ok."

Shepard nodded. "Alright, I'll go talk to him and see what's up."

Shepard walked out of engineering and towards Javik's room. Tali followed him a few steps behind. Shepard stood in front of Javik's door and knocked on it three times, "Javik, what's wrong?"

They could barely hear Javik's muffled response. "It is nothing you should concern yourself with, Commander."

Shepard knocked again. "Javik, come on out. You know it's my job to concern myself with these things."

"No, I must be alone. Leave me to my thoughts." Javik replied.

Shepard turned to Tali with a concerned look in his eye. Tali shook her head and looked down. Shepard turned back to the door, "Please Javik, we're your friends. We want to help you."

Javik opened the door, and immediately turned away from the couple. "Fine, Commander. It is of little consequence... but I will tell you."

Shepard and Tali approached him carefully. "What's going on, Javik?"

"The Asari, Liara..." Javik began. "Made me remember something I had hoped was gone completely from my mind. There was a comrade, in my past... All I remember is that I loved her, and that I thought I had removed all traces of her memory from my mind... but it seems I left something locked away, should the war finally end."

"Oh, I understand..." Shepard replied cautiously. "You had a girlfriend you didn't want to remember, but didn't truly want to forget either?"

"Yes... and now I am once again tempted to touch the Echo Shard." Javik turned to the couple. "What would you do, Commander, if you lost all memories of your Quarian, Tali? Would you want to remember everything you had, even though you know you will never see her again... Even though you know trying to bring back the happy memories and her face would bring all the bad memories as well?"

"I..." Shepard hesitated for a moment. "I... don't know for sure, Javik. But I stand by what I told you before regarding the Echo Shard. Let old ghosts rest."

"You're right, Commander... the pain would not be worth it..." Javik nodded and turned away again."I wish to be alone."

Shepard and Tali walked out of Javik's room and the door closed behind them. Shepard looked at Tali for a moment, and smiled.

"We'll check on him again later, Tali. Now that his purpose has been fulfilled... he really doesn't know what to do with himself, so we'll need to keep an eye on him."

"I agree Shepard, but I'm sure he'll be ok." Tali turned to engineering and started walking back to it, "I'll talk to you later. Dinner at 18:00?"

Shepard smiled as he pushed the button for the elevator to return, "Of course Tali, I'll see you then."

Tali nodded and walked through the door. Shepard stood in front of the elevator waiting for it to return. 'I guess there is something going on after all...'

Author's endnote: What a fun little chapter, wasn't it? What does the future hold for the Normandy? And what about Shepard and Tali's wedding? Or maybe that party? And what about, ya know, a real plot with something happening? All questions will (hopefully) be answered in future chapters! Oh, and one more thing, the idea of Quarian marriages isn't my own. I should probably tell you it comes directly from Calenstel's To Survive series with only minor tweaks. The ideas about Quarian culture are great, and they make sense. It doesn't actually mean I'm stealing... I mean adapting all of the ideas about Quarian culture from it, I just liked the idea of Quarian weddings used in that story, and I should give credit where credit is due. Anyway, I hope you continue to read and maybe review, rate, etc.

P.s. to answer a question I raised last time for myself I'll say 1. I always thought Sovereign was the more 'intimidating' Reaper. He just didn't care about you at all and thought he was some kind of evil badass, and when I first saw him I just thought 'oh shit I'm screwed aren't I?' With Harbinger I didn't feel the same, he seemed a little less scary… but it's only my opinion. 2. The collectors. I know the Reapers and collectors are on the same side but the collectors were not easy to fight, especially on higher difficulty… Scions I swear! XD But also that's only my opinion. Don't be offended if I don't agree with you, it's only opinion. Hope to see you next chapter!