A/N Inspired by Evanescence "Bring me to Life", Salser's amazing story "Forever as One" and my own loss… Title inspired by Garbage's verse from "My Lover's Box."

I'm absolutely thrilled by how many people reviewed, added and fav'd. The more I get, the longer this story becomes.

Thanks to Salser for proofing, you're the best! Tayg, your teasing is STILL just so "_" (insert comment here).

Bioware owns all, I just make them cry.

Piece by Piece

The colour drains from her, as life seeps back into her. "Goddess, she's…. alive!" Liara's body is wracked with sobs, this time with hope.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Engineering is a buzz of frenzied excitement. Adams, Kenneth and Gabby have worked non-stop, calling upon anyone who knows how to solder wires and hold a hammer to come to their aid. The rush felt by minimal systems finally coming online is almost intoxicating.

"We have thrusters back on line!" Exclaims Gabby. "Joker, do you read, thrusters are back online!"

{"Copy that Gab… Firing up the core."}

An ominous blue glow radiates from the huge circular mass effect core. Static electricity radiates from it as the room's atmosphere suddenly gets very think with the smell of pure energy.

Adams monitors the core closely: "Energy and eezo emissions within safe parameters, opening core vents to expulse residue plasma…"

The engineers all stood in silence, they had become accustom to a certain voice confirming their procedures, and it was no longer there.

Adams looks to the ceiling, where EDI'scam-intercom is located and solemnly shakes his head. "Damn it… I once tried to unplug her being a Cerberus AI and all, but god damn it, I miss her."

"Adams, Lieutenant sir, what do you surmise happened to her? It seems almost unreal, like a bad case of Scottish after grog bog, one minute she's fine, the next she's been instantly expelled sir."

"Kenneth, I don't think the Lieutenant wants to hear about Scottish hangovers, what we need to be focusing on is how to get FTL speeds back, and what the hell happened to EDI!"

"Cool it you two, once we get FTL back online, and the comms room re-establishes communication, we can then try to figure out what happened to EDI… as well as the rest of the universe." Adams curtly says.

"Aye-aye Lieutenant."

Adams stood in silence as he recalled the "plaque" ceremony. His heart wrenched at Liara's pain and how he sympathized with her having been the one to hang EDI's name on the dreaded wall after Joker refused to do it. 'God damn this war.'

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

She runs out of her office, feeling delirious, light headed, and pleasantly nauseous if such a thing could be felt. 'Goddess, I knew it…'

"Yo Blue, where's the fire?" A very perplexed Vega asks.

"She's alive! Shepard's alive!" As the blue haze vanishes from his sight Vega is suddenly hit by the reality of Liara's words.

"Lola, I should have never doubted you." He whispers to himself, then suddenly energized by hope he yells: "Listen up everyone, Lola is alive! Repeat, the Commander made it!"

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Back on the bridge Traynor is delighted by the engineers' news. 'Finally we can almost get of this horrendous planet.' She continues inputting various QECP (quantum entanglement communications protocols) commands, desperate to hear about any sign of life other than their own. If they were to be stranded on this planet, she at least wanted to know what people, if any, occupied their new, unwanted home.

A captured Cerberus vessel, fascinating. And they've asked me to help with the retro fits. Well, this is certainly much different from working in the lab. Shepard handed this over didn't she? And now Anderson wants to use it as a Mobile Command Center.

So far so good, no Cerberus booby traps or viruses, but my god, that VI, EDI has got to have the sexiest voice I've ever heard…

Oh bloody hell… shit… shit… oh crap, oh my god… is that a Reaper? Jesus that's huge, oh crap I'd rather a Collector any day… Oh fuck (blushes at her own profanity) they're here… Thank god we're out of here, but those poor, poor people… I hope we get back in time…"

"Specialist Traynor…"

Wow. That's her. Not at all what I pictured… Much, much more beautiful… The vids do her no justice. Oh dear, here she comes…

'At ease soldier, what's you're name?'

'I'm co-comm specialist Sa-Samantha Traynor ma'am.'

'I said at ease soldier, relax Traynor, christ you look like you're about to burst a vessel.'

Shape up Traynor, she looks like she's about to laugh in your face…

"Specialist, hello?" A very irate and agitated Asari "someone" snaps her out of her day-dream.

"Uh Dr. T'Soni, wh-what can I do for you?" She always felt particularly nervous around the object of her desires' lover. Not that the Asari was ever curt with her, just there was a level of inexplicable discomfort between them. Although she knew she stood a snowball's chance in hell with T'Soni's bondmate, especially after she'd embarrassingly misread the Commander's intensions and was then very graciously turned down by Shepard; the tension between the two women was always there. God, I think I'd rather deal with an ovulating Vorcha than have to face Liara's glare…

"Has the Normandy been able to establish any long range communications?"

She looked up and saw the desperation in those oceanic blue eyes. If she weren't such a frigged bi… No. The Commander loves her, god only knows why. Is it mind magic? What ever they share is something you'll never be privy too… "Without EDI, our comm monitoring efficiency has been reduced by 66.132%. In laymen's terms, that means no." Well done. She crossed her arms and almost defiantly stares at the Asari.

Liara felt a rage build within her. She was too tired, too spent, too heart-broken… Was Traynor being smart with her? She knew the specialist had a "thing" for her bondmate, but was this aggression towards some obvious jealousy? You're a Matriarch's daughter, and she was the most influential person in the galaxy. What would she do? She then suddenly thought of what her father would do, but quickly dismissed the idea. Head-butting the Comm Specialist would be less than productive at this time, although very tempting…

"Specialist, my assistant VI, Glyph, is programmed to monitor all lines of communications, and has comm specific upgrade re-write abilities. EDI blocked it from accessing any of Normandy's systems as it tried to re-write her scheduled tasks, in order to comply with mine. And I assure you I am well versed in keeping with current comm tech Miss Traynor."

"What makes you think your VI program will help? And wh-what makes you think you're qualified, as you say, to integrate anything into the Normandy's communication's systems, being a simple archaeologist?" It's about bloody well time someone put her in place without protection from… Traynor almost swelled with pride.

{"Uh Sam… You may not wanna go there, she's qualified, trust me. Yeah and Joker out, just don't break anything, we've had enough repairs as is and we don't have enough materials to fix you know… well biotic blow outs… Joker out, for real this time, good luck and take pictures!"}

Liara paced back and forth in front of the Specialist, almost like a lioness observing her prey. Biotic energy surged in and out as she fixated a stare upon the seemingly now very nervous Traynor. I'll have to thank Joker for this…

"Specialist Samantha Traynor… Do you have any idea what my function during the Reaper War was?"

"You were Commander Shepard's XO, Prothean expert, and squad-mate due to your biotic abilities." Not to mention onboard lover.

A small predatory smirk forms on her lips as she continues pacing. "While your assessments of my known ship's functions during this war are correct, you are missing a key element; I, am also… the Shadow Broker…"

Traynor stands stunned at the revelation, shocked. "The Sha-a-d…" She was incapable of finishing her sentence. Her life plays out before her eyes. She was face to face with the most dangerous person in the Galaxy, save Commander Shepard. A sudden, blinding flash of light hits her face… This is it, I'm going to die.

"I've got your picture Joker…" Liara bursts out laughing before glaring back at Specialist Traynor. "If you would kindly remove my VI's system block and synch the QECP frequency to the sub-space channel 945.4352, I believe we may be able to communicate with Alliance command."

"Consider it done, ma'am."

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~

Meanwhile, in engineering:

"Ship's ready to fly sir! All systems are a go!" Kenneth proudly states.

"Run mass effect drive core analysis alpha beta 2203-lgbt protocol Adams quantum charlie 7631." Adams patiently waits for the results. 'Well I'll be damned, guess we're going home.'

"Joker, Adams here, fire this bird up, we're going home!"

{"Roger that Lieutenant… Joker to all Normandy's crew, we're leaving this shit hole, strap down, strap in, or strap on, what ever floats your boat, we are outta here, Woooooooooo!"}

TBC Ok I said 1, maybe 2 more chapters then it's a wrap… but I have a flood of ideas that could continue this story, if enough people are interested, if not I'll just end it next chapter. Reviews, comments, your ideas and feedback are most welcomed!