"So, uh, Shepard," Garrus began, clearly hesitant to broach whatever topic was on his mind, "About you and Jack…"
"Is this really the best time to talk about it?", Shepard asked tersely as the sound of Geth rifle fire sang through the sky about the two soldiers. The commander popped out from behind the fallen stone column she was using for cover, snapping off a shot that caught one of the Geth troopers in the head before ducking back down. "We're a little busy at the moment."
"Well, it's hard to find the time, what with the Collectors luring us into one trap after another," Garrus replied, activating an overload pulse that disabled the shields of an approaching Pyro before striking it's fuel tank with a round from his Widow. The Geth exploded in a burst of flame, and Garrus continued, "Look, what you do is your business, but I'm worried about Liara. How do you think she's going to react when she hears about this? I don't know what happened between you two on Ilium but…"
"Liara and I…" Shepard paused to roll a grenade in the direction of the last remaining Geth, catching a rocket trooper and two others in a fiery blast. "We're not together any more."
"What happened?", Garrus asked, taking advantage of the lull in the attacks to pick up some spare thermal clips for his sniper rifle, taking care to stay out of the harsh light of the Haestrom sun.
"I don't really want to talk about it." How could she, given her reasons? "Anyway, how do you even know about Jack and I?"
"It's a small ship," the turian observed in that dry tone of his, "And Jack can be somewhat loud."
Beneath her helmet, Shepard suspected she was blushing fiercely and in an effort to avoid any more conversation on the topic, she radioed Tali. "How's it coming?", she asked the quarian. "You get your lot taken care of yet?"
In the background, she heard a shotgun blast. "That's the last of them," the quarian assured her. "I'll head back down and rendezvous with you two in a minute."
Shepard signed off with Tali, but unfortunately, Garrus wasn't letting their previous topic of conversation drop so easily. "Shepard," he told her, "I don't want to be a pain in the ass here, but as your friend, I'm a little worried about you. You'd been acting tense for weeks, then you and Liara broke up, and now you're sleeping with Jack. I'm not saying she isn't good in a fight, but she's not exactly the picture of mental health either."
The commander sighed. "Garrus, I appreciate your concern, but I know what I'm doing. And Jack is… more complicated than she seems. She's making a lot of progress."
She wasn't the only one either. Though the commander still had little idea what to make of their arrangement, Jack's help had gone a long way to bringing the Spectre off of the ledge she'd been on that night in the cargo hold when they'd first hooked up. The sex was a big part of it, sure, but it was more than just that. The biotic had a way of keeping Shepard out of her own head, of making the strangeness both in her body and all around them feel like it wasn't the end of the world.
Before any more could be said, Tali made her reappearance, the engineer strolling down the ramp preceded by the glowing ball of light that was her drone. Garrus quickly shut up, having clearly decided not to continue their talk with Tali there, but though the conversation turned back to their mission, Shepard's thoughts lingered on her friend's words. She'd been certain Liara would be disgusted by her new body, that she was protecting her former lover by staying away. Now, she worried that she was just going to hurt the asari in another way, one that, unlike her change, she actually was responsible for.
"So, anyway, apparently half the ship knows about us."
Jack shrugged at Shepard's statement. "So they know we're fucking", she snorted. "What's the problem with that?" The biotic started unlacing her boots as she added, "And speaking of fucking, I thought that's what we were here for."
The commander wasn't taking the bait though, keeping her distance from Jack as she protested, "It's a little more complicated than that."
"Isn't it always with you, girl scout?" Jack tossed away her boots and flopped down on the big bed in the commander's quarters, which, she had to admit, was a lot more fun to screw on than her tiny cot. "All right, I'll humor you. What the fuck's the problem this time? It's not like they known about your dick, right?"
"It's my ex," Shepard told her. "That asari on Ilium, Liara, who gave us the intel on Thane and Samara. was part of my crew on the old Normandy. We used to be together and I don't want this getting back to her."
Jack could hear pain in the commander's voice as she talked about Liara, and for some reason, it bothered her. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't like she and Shepard were a real thing, and even if they were, why should she give a fuck who the commander had slept with before they met up? "So," she said with a shrug, trying to cover her discomfort, "Who cares if she finds out? You two are done, right?"
"We are," Shepard agreed, "But I'm still not sure she'd take it well, and I don't want to hurt her any more than I need to. I've done enough damage already."
"Jesus, Shepard," Jack laughed, "You really are the galaxy's biggest girl scout. I mean, here you are on a suicide mission, running around fixing the problems of me and every other head case on this ship, and you're still worried you might be an asshole. Trust me." The biotic reached up and grabbed her lover's belt, yanking her down on the bed next to her. "I've known plenty of assholes and you ain't one of them."
In spite of her obvious discomfort with the topic, Shepard smiled. Goddamn it, Jack thought unexpectedly, she really did have a great smile. "Thanks," the commander chuckled, before asking a second later, "Jack, have you ever actually met a girl scout?"
Jack rolled her eyes at the question. The truth was that because of her fucked-up childhood, she'd never met a girl scout, or a cheerleader, or done any of those other, normal types of things that regular little kids got to do. "Nah," she confessed, "Just heard about them from vids and shit. They're supposed to be friendly, and help people out, and crap like that, right? Kind of sounds like you."
"They also sell cookies," Shepard informed her with a widening smile.
"Cookies, huh?" Jack laughed. "I wish you'd get some of those here. I've eaten enough k-rations on this boat to last a krogan's lifetime."
"Sorry, no such luck," Shepard shrugged. "I guess I'm not much of a girl scout after all."
"Nah, fuck the cookies," Jack replied, a devilish grin spreading across her face as she began to unbutton her cargo pants. "I have something else you can eat instead."
Liara closed the message on her terminal screen, frowning deeply as she got up and paced across the floor of her apartment. She'd sent all of the invoices associated with the Lazarus Project that she'd been able to find to a bio-medical researcher back on Thessia who owed her a favor, and Doctor L'Rai's analysis was unsettling to say the least. Most of what it suggested was what one would have expected given the nature of the project: investment in bleeding edge cellular regeneration and tissue re-growing technologies, work on the preservation of stored neurological information, and other relatively innocuous expenses.
According to the doctor, however, there was something out of place. Some of the purchases and hires apparently only made sense if Cerberus intended to alter Shepard's nervous system and hormones as they reconstructed her, and worrying about what those changes might have been sent shivers of guilt through the asari's troubled thoughts.
Brushing back the tears that threatened to form in her blue eyes, she walked over to the case that held the piece of the commander's armor that she'd recovered along with her body. Her hand brushed over the cool glass, and the information broker whispered, "Oh my love, what did I let them do to you?"
It hadn't been an easy decision for Liara, helping Cerberus to obtain Shepard's body, and giving it to the human supremacist group afterwards had been one of the most painful things she'd ever done. She'd feared that they'd fail, feared that they'd use Shepard to advance their own schemes, and perhaps more than anything, she'd feared this. Feared that the Illusive Man would bring back her lost love, but change her, twisting the Spectre she'd fallen for in Goddess only knew what way.
Whatever it took, Liara needed to make this right, but before she could do that, she had to know exactly what it was that had happened in the first place. She needed more information, and one of the few places she could think to start was with someone else who'd spoken to the commander both before and after the Collector attack. Garrus or Tali would have been good choices, but as crew members aboard the new Normandy, there was too great a risk that any message she sent to them would be monitored by Cerberus. Still, if the reports that had crossed her desk were to be believed, there was someone else she could call.
"Liara?" Ashley Williams smiled when she saw the asari's face on the other end of the call. "It's been too long." Since shortly after the first Normandy was destroyed, Liara realized. Over two long, bitter years ago.
"Indeed," the information broker agreed. "And I am sorry for that." After Shepard had died, she'd cut herself off from the rest of the crew, losing herself first in grief and then in work and the desire for revenge, feelings that Cerberus had exploited all too easily.
"You were hurting," Ashley replied gently before adding, "We all were." Liara just nodded. Her pain was far from past, but she couldn't let it control her anymore. Shepard needed her and the galaxy needed Shepard. "She's back now though," the marine told Liara. "I don't know if you've seen her…"
"I have," Liara replied flatly, "And that is why I called you. Something…" How best to put this? "Something is different about her."
"Well, she's working for Cerberus," Ashley said with an angry snort. "That's a pretty big change. I mean, you were there with us when we fought those assholes. You saw the experiments, the dead marines: how does it make any sense that the Commander Shepard we knew would join up with the people behind that?"
"That is part of my concern," Liara said tentatively, her own part in bringing about Shepard's new allegiance causing a fresh pang of guilt to spike in her gut . "But I think there may be something more going on here. A deeper change. When you spoke with her on Horizon, did something seem wrong?"
Ashley paused, running her fingers through her long, dark hair as she thought back to the meeting that had prompted Liara's call. It was a mark of how much things had changed between them that the asari had made it at all. When she'd first joined the crew of the Normandy, Ashley had been suspicious of her intentions and disapproving of her relationship with Shepard, one of the last members of the crew to warm to her. She had though, day by day, and Liara had learned that although a marine's friendship wasn't always easily given, it was also most reliable.
"I think there was something, now that you mention it," Ashley finally told her, "But it's hard to define. Shepard was, I don't know, off somehow when we talked. In the old days, she was always patient with everyone but on Horizon she seemed really on edge. And uncomfortable too. I put it down to her having died plus working for Cerberus, but do you think there's more to it than that?"
"I do," Liara confirmed. "I believe that Cerberus may have modified Shepard somehow, and that her unusual behavior could be a reaction whatever changes they made." She could see the look of disgust on the marine's face at the idea, and she decided to see if her old comrade was willing to go further. "Ashley," she told her, "I need to do some further research into this matter, but if I Cerberus really has done something to Shepard, it may be up to us to help her. Can I rely on you?"
"Of course," the marine said, no hesitation in her voice. "Just let me know; I'll find a way to get some leave." Liara smiled gratefully at her, and Ashley added, "Don't worry, Liara, we'll get these bastards and fix the skipper up right."
The call ended and as Ashley's image, faded from her screen, Liara's smile turned rueful. She wished she could share the marine's optimism about a happy ending, but if her time in the information business had taught her anything, it was that sometimes, the bastards won.