Past: Nine Months Post War
Liara sat in the low chair on the beach with Nan and Helen, watching as Vega horsed around with the young varren cub. Though the hour had long gotten late, the air was still warm and comfortable, and no one was inclined to call it a night. The paper lanterns strung overhead cast cheerful reflections on the water. Some couples still danced, others ate, a few waded barefoot in the surf.
Del was over with the band, having brought her guitar down from the house. Liara smiled softly as she watched her talking and laughing with Flatwood and the others as they discussed music and instruments.
"How are you feeling, Liara?" Helen asked, drawing her attention. Li was idly rubbing her stomach, a habit she'd fallen into more and more often as her condition became obvious. "With the little one?"
"Oh, I have felt very well," she said. "Some small amount of backache, but Del has been helping me with those with some massage."
"Good to hear. Baby kicking a lot?"
"On and off. She feels…" Her expression went a bit wistful, distant.
"She feels..?" Helen asked gently.
"Well, she feels not at all as I would expect," Liara told her. "I mean, being a child of Shepard's."
"How do you mean?"
"It is…it is silly, I suppose. I know the research and what is believed about asari pregnancy, that the father does not truly contribute anything to the development of the child, but-"
Nan reached over and took her hand, and Liara gave it a gentle squeeze. After a moment, she continued. "The child is so serene," she said. "Even her movements…they are very languid and gentle. Her spirit is happy but…calm. Almost thoughtful somehow."
Helen smiled. "And none of those things seem like Del?"
Liara chuckled faintly. "She is often thoughtful…I suppose I was simply expecting the baby to have a more forceful personality. Be energetic. I fully expected that Del and I would have to be constantly chasing her about, keeping her out of mischief. Instead, it is as if she is truly an embodiment of her name, even before we had chosen it."
"You chose a name?" Nan smiled excitedly. "You didn't tell me that! What is it?"
"Well, we only just decided," Liara replied. "It was a word that Shepard used, to describe tonight. Irie."
Helen nodded. "Peace and harmony. It's a beautiful name, Liara. As for the baby herself, I wouldn't worry. I have a feeling you'll still be chasing her about and keeping her out of mischief. Besides, you two weren't planning on stopping with just the one, were you?"
"We have not really discussed it. Shepard has been wonderful about the whole thing but she is still trying to adjust to the idea, I think. She still fears she will not be an adequate parent."
"A common fear for all first-time parents, believe it or not. You know as well as we do that any child would be blessed to have Del Shepard watching out for them."
Liara smiled again, glancing over toward the band. Del was perched on a stool, a cigar in her mouth as she strummed a duet with Flatwood.
Then, far down the beach, a glimmer of light caught her eye. Sitting forward a little, she knit her brows as she looked that direction.
"Li? What is it?" Nan asked, also turning to look.
"I think a few couples have wandered off toward the cliff," she said. "I thought I saw an omni-light. It-"
Flashes of cherry and orange flame licked out of the dark, the unmistakable rumbling staccato of automatic weapons-fire shattering the evening. Part of the pavilion shredded as bullets chewed through cloth, a string of the paper lanterns breaking free and collapsing.
Though almost the entire party was made up of seasoned fighters and marines, very few of them were actually armed. The krogan immediately rushed for the shadowy attackers, Wrex and Grunt's battle roars almost as loud as the gunfire.
Shepard had dropped her guitar, knocking over the stool as she jumped to her feet, shoving Flatwood to the ground even as she whirled around. Helen grabbed hold of Liara, she and Nancy trying to pull the pregnant asari under cover.
The gunfire turned back toward the pavilion as Del turned her head, looking for her wife. "Li?"
"Shepard!"
Three blood red roses bloomed from the front of Del's shirt as a trio of bullets stamped over her back. As she collapsed, Liara screamed, tearing away from Nan and Helen and…
…snapping awake with a faint gasp, eyes staring wide into the darkness of the bedroom. The sheets were tangled around her legs, the faint sound of the surf outside soothing and calm. Heart racing, Liara slumped back into the pillow in relief, covering her eyes a moment.
A dream. After all they had been through in the last few years, the occasional nightmare was to be expected, however that did not make them any more pleasant to endure.
As she lowered her hand, she realized she was alone in the bed. The clock read that dawn was still a few hours away. Concerned, she cast aside the sheets and carefully got to her feet. Within, little Irie moved and stretched a bit, and Liara paused, pressing a hand to her stomach.
"Shh, sweet one. It is all right, "she whispered, then padded to the door.
The wedding had been two days before. Contrary to her nightmare, everything had gone beautifully…more perfectly, in fact, than she ever would have dared imagine. The only hitch to it now slept just outside the bedroom door, flopped on his side and twitching as he drooled a little.
Del had been unable to tactfully send the varren cub back with Wrex and Grunt. The younger krogan had seemed so pleased with the gift, she lacked the heart to really press the issue, not wanting to hurt his feelings. She had promised Li that she would find it a new home, but for now things were what they were.
Stepping around the snoring cub, Liara went into the living room, finding Del standing just outside the garden door, thin streams of smoke filling the air. Liara smiled softly. Shepard had been so careful not to smoke around her, confining the activity to outside.
Silently sliding the door open, Liara stepped outside as well. When Del saw her, she immediately snuffed the stub of the cigar in a nearby tray. "Hey," she said. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you."
"You did not," Liara said. "Are you all right?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. Just…restive, I guess. Thinking."
She folded Liara into her arms, the asari going willingly and embracing her just as closely. "Concerned about tomorrow?" she asked, her forehead resting on Shepard's shoulder.
"Concerned? No. I trust Tali and Helen. It'll be interesting, I think…and nice to have both baby browns back again. Not that I'm not endlessly dashing and charming with the eyepatch…"
Liara laughed softly, straightening and lightly tracing the scars on Del's face with her fingers. "It is still hard for me to believe, sometimes- that the war is over, that we are truly together."
"Yeah. Winning a war is only the first step, sadly. Letting it go is a whole different monster."
Liara nodded, then leaned in close to her bondmate again, once more resting her head on Del's shoulder. Between them, little Irie shifted again, the joy of her little spirit brightening sleepily a moment before fading back into slumber once more.
Tali and Chiktikka had remained behind when the Normandy departed. A quarian transport was due to pick them up at the end of the week and bring them back to Rannoch. Helen had arranged for room at the clinic in Beaty to perform the experimental surgery to replace Shepard's eye, and the morning was bright and cheerful as they arrived in the small colony.
Beaty was not large, made up of only a thousand or so souls who had originally been sponsored by a Binary Helix exec. He was hoping, when he retired, to make Virmire a resort world. Unfortunately, when the nuke destroyed Saren's cloning facility, fully half of the colonists he'd wooed into settling there left the planet, and it became almost impossible to lure any more.
It was this very lack of colonists that had caused the Reapers to completely bypass Virmire for far more densely populated human settlements on other worlds. Not a single hostile foot had set down on the island planet.
The exec's plans for a resort were abandoned for good when he was killed in the initial attack on San Francisco, and the remaining colonists were more than happy to just quietly abide. If any of them knew Shepard and Liara's true identities, they only winked and nodded and let live.
While Tali was finishing the final adjustments on the Prime and the pod, Helen showed Del and Li the aquatic birthing center where Irie would be welcomed into the world.
Shepard crouched at the edge of the currently empty pool, scrutinizing it with the same hesitant intensity she would a bomb that may or may not be wired to blow. "You're sure this is safe?"
"It is very common for asari mothers to give birth in the water," Helen said. "And nearly fifty percent of human births are done the same. Irie and Liara both will be just fine, I promise you."
Del scratched her forehead and straightened, still looking unconvinced. "What about music? I read on the extranet that sometimes that helps."
"The room is fully wired for sound. You may play any music of your choice."
"How…will this go, exactly?"
"Well, about a week before the due date, Liara's biotics will weaken and become unreliable. About four hours before the onset of physical labor her biotics will cease to function completely. It's an evolutionary safety measure. As with most mammalian organics, childbirth for asari is physically and hormonally very taxing. Biotics are difficult to control with such intense circumstances, and newly born infants could inadvertently be harmed by their own mothers were their biotics not suppressed."
"So we'll know when it's time?"
"Yes, without a doubt. When her biotics fade completely, you'll call me and head here. Once physical labor begins it takes on average between two and four hours before the child is born, unless there are complications."
Del looked alarmed. "Complications?"
"Shepard, I will be fine," Liara said, taking her hand. "Irie will be fine. We are both in good hands."
"There's nothing to fret over, Shepard," Helen said. "Carrying a child and giving birth are risky endeavors, there's no getting around that. However Liara is young and healthy, Irie is growing well, and there are no warning signs or indications that anything might go wrong."
"So you can guarantee me that nothing is going to happen to them?"
"Of course I can't. There is always a measure of uncertainty in life, whether at the beginning of it, the middle, or the end. No one can ever know for sure what will happen. What we can do is minimize all risks, and be prepared in case that isn't enough."
Shepard didn't look comforted. If anything, she looked even more worried. Liara gently cupped her face.
"Del, you know as well as I do that Helen will not let anything happen to me, or to Irie. We are both going to be just fine."
"I know, I just…"
I just know my luck.
"Del? Liara? We're ready, I think!" Tali's voice called from the corridor.
"Ok, we're on our way in," Shepard replied. She threaded her hand in Liara's as they followed Helen out of the birthing room, doing her best to put her worries out of her mind.
The geth pod looked odd in the stark white examination room, wired into the power feeds that Tali had fished from the wall. As Del took off her boots and her omni-tool, Tali explained the basics.
"It won't be like going into the geth server," she said. "You'll be able to use the Prime's optic and auditory processing centers to see and hear the normal world. It might be different than you're used to, but it won't be the surreal landscape presented to you the last time we did this. You have to stay in the pod to maintain connection, so Helen will be performing surgery on you while you're still in there."
"We'll make sure you're fully integrated with a series of tests," Helen said. "Once I'm sure that it's safe to proceed, you, Tali, and Liara will have to leave the suite for sterilization purposes. I will be able to communicate with you via wireless to make sure you're doing all right and to let you know how the surgery is going. It should only take about two hours."
"All right."
She sat down on the edge of the pod, Liara bending in and giving her a quick kiss.
"I'll see you soon," Shepard said with a faint smile, before she climbed in to the pod, laying down. Chiktikka took over the controls.
"We have modified the pod to allow connection with the door open," she said. "You will see a series of flashing lights. Do not be alarmed."
Del blew out a breath and nodded, giving Liara a quick wink as the asari looked down at her.
A moment later, the lights flashed in her face, bright enough that she closed her good eye against them with a wince. The lights merged into one brilliant flash and she felt her stomach drop abruptly. Instinctively, she lifted a hand.
"I forgot how bright that is!"
"You will adjust in a moment," Chiktikka said.
"Shepard, how do you feel?" Liara asked anxiously.
"I feel fine, it's just that light…" It slowly started to fade, the suite reappearing around her. She lowered her arm, realizing she was standing in the corner of the room, looking down on the others from at least four feet higher than normal.
Everything looked much the same as it did to her human eyes, save a faint curving around the edges of her vision. Lifting her arms again, she looked at them, seeing the Prime's arms in place of them.
"This is weird."
"So is your voice," Chakwas said. "You sound like a geth."
As Del tried out her new 'body', Helen turned to the now unconscious form in the pod. Liara watched in amusement as the Prime flapped its face-plates, bobbed its head up and down, and whirred the guns on its shoulders.
"I could get used to this," it said happily. Liara gave her a look.
"Do not get too used to it. I do not fancy cuddling up to a Prime, thank you."
The top pair of face-flaps waggled up and down as if they were eyebrows, and Liara shook her head with a faint laugh.
"Ok, Shepard, I'm going to try some physical stimulus. Tell me what, if anything, you can feel. Oh, and face the other way, would you?"
"Why?"
"If you can see what I am doing it might affect the results."
"Ah, gotcha."
The Prime turned, facing the door of the suite. Behind it, Helen lightly touched a scalpel to Del's cheek…not enough to cut the skin, but enough to be felt.
"How's that?"
"Don't feel anything."
"Good. How about this?" She moved the scalpel to Del's earlobe.
"Nothing."
"Excellent. All right, I'm going to try a small electronic signal directly to your sciatic nerve. Were you conscious and in your body, this would be extremely painful so…if you can endure this, then we know you will be able to endure the surgery."
"All right, hit me."
As Chakwas applied the signal, Del felt something in the back of her mind, like the memory of heat. It was so distant as to be inconsequential- she'd had paper cuts that hurt worse.
"How was that?" Helen asked.
"I was aware of something but I wouldn't really call it pain," she replied with a mechanical shrug.
"Excellent, that's just perfect. All right. I'm going to sterilize the room and get to work then. I'll stay in communication, so if you feel anything at all unpleasant let me know immediately."
"Come on, Shepard. Let's give that Prime a test drive," Tali said, taking hold of one big hand. It took Del a moment to really get the hang of walking…she felt as if she were on over-tall platform shoes, and had to duck to fit out of the door. Liara and Chiktikka followed close behind as they worked their way out of the clinic and then outside.
{Shepard, can you hear me?}
"I hear you, Helen."
{Excellent. I've just finished the sterilization and am setting to work. Have a fun outing.}
The guns on the Prime's shoulders whirred again, and inside the chassis, Del grinned.
Present: 217 Post War
After Irie and Liara had left, Mel sat silently for a long time, watching Del and Lily sleep, before she suddenly rose and walked down the hall to the study. Daenys stood up and followed her, pausing in the door with a faint frown.
"Mel?"
The younger asari was standing in front of a shelf, holding a carved wooden box in her hand. As Dae said her name, she looked over at her. "I'm all right," she said. "Just…worried about Mama."
Daenys, who knew better, walked over and looked at the box. "Shepard made that for your mother, if I remember correctly? An anniversary gift?"
"Birthday gift. She didn't make it, not herself," Melara told her. "Shortly after they first met, they fought a thresher maw. Mama knocked its tooth out, and Bába gave it to her as a trophy. Years later, she had an artisan make the box, using the tooth to inlay the top, you see?"
She ran her fingers over the top of the box, before she slipped it open. The box was empty. Mel shook her head a little. "She's never put anything in it. I'm not really sure why."
"She has her reasons, I am sure."
Mel closed the box again, setting it on the shelf. "It's hard to imagine," she said. "Bába not being there. She always seemed so…indestructible. I…sorry, Dae. That sounds incredibly selfish of me."
"No," Daenys replied, sliding an arm around her waist and resting her forehead against Mel's temple. "You are not selfish-"
"I am. I wasn't thinking."
It was easy to forget, sometimes, that Daenys had never even met her father. Sydney had died long before her daughter was born. Navis had kept pictures and recordings, of course, but they were few. All Dae really knew of the woman who had died to keep her and her mother safe was stories from others.
"Hey." Daenys gently took her chin, turning her face and meeting her eyes. "It is all right."
Mel looked down a little, then nodded. Wiping a hand over her lips, she drew away and walked over to the window, looking out. She could not see the beach from here, of course, but she looked that direction regardless.
"I should have gone with them. If something goes wrong-"
"Nothing is going to go wrong, Mel. It is best that you let Irie handle this. You tend to get…emotional, where she is concerned."
"I wonder why that is," Melara said bitterly.
"She is not going to hurt them. You need to trust your sister."
"Irie I trust. It's the feng mu gou I don't."
Dae took her shoulders, turning her away from the window and looking at her sternly. "Trust your sister. Trust me. I know how you feel but it is not like that, not any more. Neither Irie or I would ever put your mother into any danger, you know that. This is important, Mel."
"Why? Why now? Why today? Why couldn't she just stay gone? Mama doesn't need this, not when her bondmate is dying! Doesn't she have enough to deal with right now?"
"This is only partly for Liara, Mel," Dae said. "The rest-"
"What, the rest is to assuage her conscience? She's a goddamn abomina-"
She broke off as her eyes landed on a figure that had stepped in the study door. Del Shepard looked weary, but her eyes were as dark and intent as they had ever been. Mel immediately felt ten years old again under that gaze, stiffening.
"Bába-"
"What is only 'partly for Liara'?" Del asked. "What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, I thought you were sleeping-"
"I was, until my youngest started shouting in my study," Del said. "What is going on, Melara?"
"I can't tell you."
"You can't tell me? You can't tell me who the 'goddamn abomination' is? That's what you were going to say, isn't it? Why can't you tell me, Mel?"
"Because if I tell you you're going to upset yourself and- what are you doing?"
Del had turned and plucked her battered old swagman off her desk, setting it on her head before turning and pressing her thumb to a tall, secure cabinet. The door beeped and slid open, and Shepard reached in, pulling out her rifle.
"Upsetting myself, apparently. There's only one person I know who you call an 'abomination'."
"Del, stop, please," Dae said, stepping forward. "You are in no condition to-"
The look Shepard gave her could have melted steel, as she ratcheted a thermal clip into place. Wordlessly, she turned and headed toward the study door, only to jolt to a halt as a biotic field enveloped her. Mel held her hand out, her face stone.
"Mel," Shepard said with a deadly calm. "You let me loose right now."
"I can't do that, Bába," Mel replied firmly. "I won't let you do this. You're not strong enough-"
"Fuck my being strong," Shepard said furiously. "If your Mama is in danger-"
"She's not. She'll…she'll be fine."
"It is true, Shepard," Dae added hastily. "She is not in danger, I swear it. You know that we would never put Liara in harm's way. Please…there is no need for the gun, nor for you to go rushing out. We can discuss this."
Shepard was silent a long, tense moment. Daenys edged around Melara and walked in front of her, meeting her eyes. Reaching out into the biotic field, she gently took hold of the rifle.
"I swear it to you, Shepard."
Shepard glared into those burnished gold eyes a moment, before her grip on the rifle loosened a little. "All right."
Dae nodded at Mel, who let the biotic field die. Dae very gently took the rifle, then passed it over to Melara before she took Del's hand.
"Come. We will talk."
Irie sat with Liara on a smooth, polished rock at the edge of the sea. The tide had shifted a little, and Liara let the waters swirling about the base of their seat play over her toes. Irie, her arm loosely draped around her mother's shoulders, watched the hem of her dress dampen as it dipped into the sea.
"We should go back," Liara said softly. "I want to be there when Del wakes up. Sometimes she is…disoriented."
"Mel is with her," Irie replied gently. "We will go back in a little while."
"What is it you are up to, Irie?" Liara asked, looking at her daughter. "Why are we out here?"
"You have been cooped up in the house for weeks, Mama. You needed some fresh air, some time-"
"Mel is a far better liar than you ever were," Liara told her. "I know better, darling. What is it you feel you cannot tell me?"
Irie's gaze softened and grew damp, before she gently cupped her mother's cheek. Leaning over, she kissed her forehead. "I love you, Mama."
"I love you too, but that does not answer my question-"
"Hello, Liara."
The voice came from behind them. Though it had been years since she had heard it, she knew it instantly. Surging off the rock, Liara whipped around, grasping hold of Irie protectively even as she sent a biotic wave over the sand. It crashed into the lone figure standing only a dozen yards away, violently casting them off their feet and sending them tumbling to the beach.
"Mama, no!" Irie grabbed hold of Liara's arms as the older asari bared her teeth, her eyes fixed on the form on the ground. "Mama, no, stop!"
"Let me go, Irie!"
"No, no, please…I asked her here! I asked her here! Shh, stop, please! She's not going to hurt us!"
Liara's fury turned to confusion as she stared at her daughter. "Why did you…you asked her? What is going on?"
"Yes, Mama. Yes, I asked her here. Please just…she just wants to talk, that is all. No one needs to hurt anyone."
The figure pushed herself off the sand, sniffing a little as she gently swiped a smear of blood off her upper lip. Liara stalked forward a little, lighting up again in warning as she put herself in front of Irie.
"Do not move."
"Hello, Liara," the turian said, straightening a bit, still dabbing at her nose. Liara's sky blue eyes narrowed a little, no warmth in her face.
"Hello…Athena."