Miranda was pacing by the airlock. They were supposed to be going to the research facility to study Shepard's biotics and how they interact with the anomaly in her brain to see if there was any clue as to what it was for and what impact it would have on Miranda. But Shepard was late.
"EDI where's Shepard?" she finally demanded.
"In the Loft Operative Lawson." EDI answered calmly.
That was it. Miranda stormed back to the elevator, her arms crossed and her toe tapping in sheer frustration at the woman as she impatiently waited to ascend to the Loft. Time was of the essence and Shepard was wasting it. Barging into the Loft she looked around and determined that Shepard was in the bathroom. About to storm in she stopped herself at the door. Images of the last time she'd burst into the Commander's bathroom flashing across her mind.
Anger abating a little she cleared her throat and knocked, "Shepard is everything okay?" she called through the closed door.
A moment later came the surprisingly unsteady response, "Yeah. I'll... meet you there Miranda."
Miranda hesitated. With her own anger subdued she could feel a deep sense of loss that wasn't her own. Shepard was clearly not okay. That growing sense of concern for her Commander urged her to go in anyway. She stepped through the door into the bathroom and found Shepard once again staring at her reflection. This time she had a towel around her though and her chocolate brown hair was damp but brushed into a semblance of order.
"I thought we agreed if you came into my bathroom to yell at me while I'm naked you'd have to abide by the same dress code." Shepard deadpanned, not looking at Miranda just yet.
"Perhaps when we don't have an appointment to keep." Miranda quipped thinking it was an attempt at humour and analysing Shepard closely. There were no tears, was no look of horror, her back was straight with her shoulders squared and her gaze was lingering on the reflection of her face. "I can feel you're not okay Stephanie. What is it?" her tone was soft though the question was abrupt. She watched as Shepard's brow furrowed and she looked frustrated or anxious, Miranda couldn't decide which.
"Yesterday you were devastated about finding out we share biotics and demanded I leave. I respected that even though all I wanted to do was be there for you." Shepard voice was soft and huskier than normal, she didn't register that Miranda had called her by her first name.
Miranda stiffened and felt her heart beat faster, Shepard was getting angry, she could feel it beginning to swirl through the ache even though her voice was soft.
"Today I asked you to leave but you ignored me and came in anyway." that soft voice began to growl slightly.
Miranda's brow furrowed and she took a deep breath, taking a moment to understand the ache, anger and hurt she was feeling in Shepard. She hadn't wanted to look weak in front of Commander Shepard and here she was barging in on a vulnerable Shepard who didn't want to appear weak in front of her. "I apologize Commander." she turned to leave but was stopped by Shepard's low voice.
"Should I have stayed?" she asked softly, so softly Miranda almost missed it as the door swished open.
The thought of Shepard consoling her was a little mortifying, the great Commander and hero seeing her so weak and emotionally unstable. But right now and back then it had been Shepard who had been broken, and she'd walked away to leave Shepard alone... isolated from everything she knew and feeling trapped by an organization she abhorred. "You told me to get out last time." she reminded, her voice cool to hide the feeling of guilt that was creeping through her.
Shepard closed her eyes and bowed her head a little as the tears welled, "Last time you had been the cause of... your choices were directly responsible for what I was going through." she murmured.
The guilt intensified in both of them.
"Am I..." Shepard's voice was a whisper and choked with emotion, "Is it my fault?"
Miranda hesitated, what exactly was Shepard referring to, "Is what your fault Stephanie?"
"The biotics, the mental block, the brain anomaly... they're all to do with me and they're-they're..." she couldn't hold back the tears and turned her back on Miranda with a choked out, "Goddess..."
Miranda tossed all thoughts of leaving the anguished and guilt ridden woman out of her mind and strode over to her. Reaching up she gently held Shepard's bare shoulder, swallowing at the increased surge of emotions just like on Purgatory, she reached out to soothe Shepard. "It's not your fault. Others have done these things to me, others who've sought to make to make me the perfect tool and have used parts of you to do that."
Shepard sobbed as that didn't make her feel better at all given how Miranda felt about that.
"I don't blame you or hold you responsible for any of this." Miranda meant every word and hoped that Shepard could feel that, she gave Shepard's shoulder a gentle squeeze of encouragement.
The stiff tension in Shepard's shoulders eased a little as she felt the sincerity of Miranda's words flowing into her and that tender gesture that was surprising from the normally cold woman.
Miranda could sense it wasn't enough to breach that wall of chaotic emotions swirling through Shepard though, "I really am sorry about your scars..."
Shepard shook her head, "You couldn't have known how I felt about them, but you should have known how important it is to remember the journey you've been on."
Miranda was caught by surprise as Shepard turned and looked up at her, something wasn't quite right and it wasn't seeing the tears on her face...
"Doesn't matter if it was shit, it still plays a part in who you are by how you respond to it and the choices you make because of it." Shepard was pulling herself together quickly now with the help of Miranda's encouragement and the fact that she'd stayed. "I may be a mess right now but I have no intention of staying this way. I just need to... process." she frowned at Miranda's suddenly changed expression and the new surge of emotions that rippled through the woman, "What?"
Miranda gently reached up to touch Shepard's warm, damp cheek looking into her eyes. Her dark brown eyes. Gone were those beautiful golden amber hues and with them a light seemed to have dimmed within Shepard.
Shepard had not expected to feel a powerful ache from Miranda's heart that mingled through her own tumbling emotions suddenly and without warning.
"What have you done?" Miranda managed to breathe, shocked and dismayed by what she was seeing, what she was feeling from Shepard. She was still reeling from being able to feel the other woman's emotions so strongly, as though they were her own somehow.
"I told you I'd do whatever it took. My eyes were the cause of..." Shepard's voice hitched in her throat and the tears welled again.
With Miranda's hand on Shepard's cheek and their highly emotional states raging, their biotics swirled together stronger and more uncontrolled than on Purgatory. They couldn't track who was feeling what for a moment until a soothing tenderness and warmth, that was identifiably emanating from Shepard, washed through the tumultuous jumble wrestling with their hearts and calmed their shared inner storm.
I'd do anything for you Miri. Shepard's voice whispered in Miranda's mind this time.
Miranda shook her head slightly, wiping the tears with her thumb tenderly, "You didn't have to do this, we could have found another way." her voice was just above a whisper her throat was so tight with the emotions still simmering through her. She could scarcely comprehend this completely foreign sensation of feeling Shepard's emotions though they felt so right. She could feel what Shepard was saying and not saying, what she was wanting to share and the truth of what she really felt through the underlying emotions that accompanied her words.
Miranda knew Shepard was already struggling with her changed appearance and self identity with the removal of her scars. Right now that struggle beat within her own heart as she herself was struggling with who and what she was. Which made this an even more powerful gesture from Shepard. The fact that Shepard had gone out and done this, had chosen to change one of her most beautiful and defining features for her, tore through the walls Miranda had so painstakingly built over the years.
A professional working relationship? Miranda almost mentally scoffed, not likely. While they had been working together better this one act of self sacrifice threw all thoughts of maintaining that professional distance out the airlock.
Shepard closed the distance between them, not caring she was only in a towel, and gently slid her arms around Miranda, burying her face in the crook of the slightly taller woman's neck. She could feel the crumbling walls in Miranda but she didn't want to break them or Miranda while she was in such a fragile state. She hadn't realized just how much Miranda finding out her biotics had been copied had rocked the strong, intelligent and stoic woman to the core.
"This was the easiest. Besides they can fix it, it's only temporary." Shepard murmured.
Miranda closed her eyes and held Shepard tightly, "It's not the easiest, the easiest would have been wearing a visor that can display tactical data and enhance your vision during hostile engagements. I was having one made for you..." she murmured into that damp hair that smelled sweetly of coconut and vanilla shampoo.
"But I wouldn't be able to truly look into your eyes." Shepard pulled back a little, still in Miranda's embrace, and smiled up into those glistening, tear filled cobalt blues.
"Now I can't look into yours." Miranda whispered sadly in response as she searched those glistening, red rimmed brown eyes that matched her chocolate hair nicely but were the eyes of a stranger.
"It would have killed you anyway." Shepard shook her head with a small shrug, though she was deeply touched by the sentiment from Miranda, "When the mental block's gone I'll fix my eyes. It's not permanent Miri." she was telling herself this as much as Miranda.
Miranda could hear it in her voice and feel it in her being and hesitated. Whatever this connection was between them it was still a jumble and hard to distinguish when they both experienced strong emotions.
Shepard kissed Miranda's cheek and whispered, "I'll be fine. I've got a plan." she gave Miranda a soft squeeze before pulling away from her.
Miranda felt a bit breathless when that connection with Shepard almost but not quite severed at the loss of touch and their calming emotions. She didn't move from the bathroom as Shepard left to get dressed, her mind was too busy processing all this.
Until now she had been struggling with the concept of having known Shepard in the past, that Shepard had been a friend, that all this concern and insistence from Shepard wasn't just about fixing a broken tool.
But no mere friend would do what Shepard had just done for her. Not when she was still trying to adjust to this new life of hers. Having lost so much and being forced to work with an organization she openly loathed. Shepard cared for her, cared for her deeply. Shepard really would do whatever it took to support her through this.
Miranda stepped out of the bathroom and took a moment to watch as Shepard pulled on a white sports tank top. Being a marine she was trained to dress quickly and had already donned her underwear and a pair of gray track pants. Next came on a black zip up sweater and sneakers, it looked like Shepard was going for a simple workout and not to undergo intensive testing of her biotics.
Ready to go and not really surprised that Miranda was waiting for her Shepard strode up to her, watching the play of emotions in Miranda's eyes that she could feel a whisper of through her biotics. She stopped before the always immaculate woman. "Miri, I know the others are waiting right now but would you like to join me for drinks tonight? Talk about... this?" she reached over and lightly touched Miranda's hip, slipping her thumb up under Miranda's shirt and brushing the soft warmth of her bare skin.
The touch sent a light jolt through both of them.
"We'll be discussing it during testing, we need to know more..." Miranda responded, all business now as she reached to push Shepard's hand away but found instead that her hand lingered on Shepard's wrist.
Shepard pulled her hand back then with a nod but not before Miranda had felt the flash of disappointment.
Miranda quickly tightened her grip on Shepard's wrist, "But drinks would be appreciated. Might as well get started working off your tab."
Shepard raised a brow quizzically.
"You did mention you'd owe me a few drinks once this was over when we were on the Citadel." Miranda reminded her with a small smile.
"Oh so I've worked up a tab already have I?" Shepard beamed and the disappointment vanished, a glimmer of light returning to those altered eyes. "Well then I'd best make sure I keep on top of that and shout you a drink on a regular basis, considering how often I seem to put my foot in it around you and all."
"Indeed." Miranda nodded, her smile deepening at the thought.
Rana wanted to run both Shepard and Miranda through a gauntlet of biotic tests. She wanted to see if having Shepard in close proximity with Miranda altered anything from yesterdays tests.
Stripped down to skin tight gym shorts and tanks Shepard was strangely shy about seeing Miranda so underclothed! Those long slender legs, her gorgeous alabaster skin, her deliciously smooth abdomen, her toned physique that made the term perfect seem inadequate. Miranda's silken locks were tied up in a high pony tail that looked so damn sexy that Shepard felt decidedly homely next to the goddess of perfection.
Feeling her self-consciousness Miranda touched the small of Shepard's back and tried to reassure her wordlessly.
Shepard's breath hitched in her throat as there was no words, only a powerful sense of acceptance, of admiration even a small flicker of desire that Miranda didn't realize she was projecting. She straightened her shoulders and nodded appreciatively to Miranda.
Rana brought over a box of round silver pads about the diameter of her little finger that Shepard recognized as monitoring patches. Rana smirked mischievously, "I'll let you two sort yourselves out." she handed the box to Miranda.
Miranda took it and looked to Shepard, in business mode now despite their lack of attire, "I assume you know what these are?"
Shepard nodded and took one from the box in Miranda's hand, "They'll track the flow of dark energy through my nodes."
Miranda just nodded and began to apply them herself, watching out of the corner of her eye to make sure Shepard put them in the correct positions. Though she was getting a little more distracted with the graceful movements as Shepard leaned down to do her legs, those long, slender, battle toned legs a few shades darker than Miranda's, how those powerful muscles stretched and rippled with each move...
Shepard was oblivious to Miranda's close attention as she was remembering where all the dozens of dots needed to be placed on her body. That was until she picked up the shift in Miranda through her biotics. Curiously she looked over to see Miranda watching her intently, well watching her hands at any rate. If she couldn't feel the specific warmth in the shift that had her own pulse rate picking up she'd have thought she was doing something wrong... she bit back her grin, "Am I doing it right? It's been awhile..." she asked innocently, fingering a dot on her elbow and studiously examining it.
Miranda smiled and moved to her side, "Here." she offered, fixing up a couple of the dots and placing the ones on her back that traversed down her spine, her fingers lingering a couple times. Standing behind Shepard she leaned in close and murmured into her ear, "Totally saw through that by the way."
"Do I at least rate a cute?" Shepard grinned, turning her head slightly towards Miranda and giving her more access to her neck.
"No." Miranda answered matter-of-factly, her lips tantalizingly close to Shepard's soft, warm skin, Shepard's scent of coconut and vanilla with a hint of something more... metallic filling her senses.
Shepard sighed, tingling from the close proximity of the near naked goddess behind her, the heat of Miranda's breath on her sensitive skin sending hot shivers through her body. She jumped slightly as Miranda's hand lightly grazed the small of her back and made actual contact with her skin. It sparked an increase in her ability to sense the desire and teasing swirling in Miranda and thus increasing her own.
"Cute is not the word I'd use." Miranda purred seductively in Shepard's ear leaving little room for interpretation as to what she was implying.
While not all the monitoring patches were in place Rana was still starting to get information coming through the system and what she was seeing was very interesting... biotically speaking of course.
Shepard's mouth went dry and her knees almost buckled, unconsciously she swayed back into the warm, soft body of Miranda closing the little distance that had separated their bodies. She bit her lip to try and stop the gasp but it came anyway when Miranda steadied her by taking hold of her hips and didn't pull away, the corner of Miranda's lips now against her neck so she could feel her smile. When had Miranda started feeling like this!
It was not a new phenomenon to Miranda to have someone dazed and lusting after her, nor for hapless fools to think they've fallen in love with her and try to 'win her heart'. It was new that she had found someone she actually wanted to feel that way and could feel what they felt. In this moment it wasn't lust, oh she was definitely arousing the great Commander Shepard, but there was more, so much more to what Shepard was feeling. It was tentative but deep, as though it had been percolating in Stephanie since they were children, it wasn't sure yet if it wanted the love of friendship or something else.
The longer they stood like this the more aware they started to become of each other at an unprecedented level. Words weren't coming to either mind only emotions, feelings, warmth that flooded through them.
Rana was staring intently at the screen with wide eyes. They were melding. Sure it was very basic right now but they were showing the initial steps of asari children when they first began to explore sharing their minds with others. This was incredible! Someone had discovered a way for humans to meld like asari. She wished they'd hurry up and get the rest of the patches on Miranda but she also didn't want to disturb this as the scanners continued to map out the unique biotics of these women.
Shepard finally found her knees again and pulled away from Miranda, feeling instantly cold as she did. Turning to face Miranda with a small smile she took those smouldering cobalt blues captive and gently took the small box from her. There was absolutely nothing cold or icy about those eyes right now. Not breaking eye contact she strode around Miranda, Miranda half turning to keep eye contact until she put a hand to the woman's shoulder to stop her.
While Miranda couldn't read those deep brown orbs like she had the delightful amber ones the desire they contained was plain as day and she felt a pang as they were lost to her line of sight.
Shepard pressed the first dot under the pony tail at the base of Miranda's skull, the warmth and silkiness of her skin a strange sensation to her battle hardened finger tips. Miranda's intake of breath was not lost on her but one thought came crashing through all these wonderful sensations.
How will Miranda react when she finds out about her being Persephone?
Shepard's hand hesitated in the box as she was reaching for a patch. She frowned slightly and reluctantly quashed these dangerous feelings. They were here to study biotics and so Rana and Miranda could show her more clearly how they were going to restore Miranda's memory pathways. Quickly but gently she applied the rest of the pads along Miranda's spine, no longer lingering and eyes firmly concentrating on the patches and not that magnificent body she was attaching them to.
Miranda frowned slightly at the sudden change in the woman behind her. What just happened? Looking back with her brow raised curiously as Shepard moved away she saw no answers in that averted gaze and felt uncertainty as the dominant emotion in Shepard. She said nothing as Shepard returned the box to Rana who's expression was schooled into a medical mode.
"I'm going to put you through a battery of tests individually. Then we'll test you together and see if either of your biotics are altered by each other's presence." Rana had a strong feeling they would be.
Shepard flashed Miranda a quick grin and mock salute before the operative left for an adjoining room that was biotically shielded.
Miranda returned with a small smile of her own and a brusque nod as the door closed to separate them.
"Alright Rana, hit me with it." Shepard warmed up her biotics in readiness, wary of that smirk that crossed Rana's elegant asari features.
"Well, you asked for it." Rana's smirk deepened and she activated the program on its highest setting, one that would challenge a matriarch.
Shepard was on her arse in seconds with an undignified grunt.
I realize there's still more questions to be answered but here seemed to be a good place to split and I know there are some anxiously waiting fans chewing fingernails in their anticipation of more! You guys rock!
Thanks for all the reviews. I do plan to bring in some more characters the game wouldn't. Conrad Verner is NOT one of them.
Enjoy!